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Hello one and all! Thank you all for the positive feedback you've been giving…I was initially in that 'no one would want to read this' frame of mind. So thanks for proving me wrong.

A/N: Chapter 10 will be up tomorrow, as it is almost done. But you might not get anything over the weekend as I will be enjoying a much, much needed mini-vacation and don't know if I'll have internet access, although I will be bringing my laptop to the beach so I'll still be working on it. The computer is like a crack addiction with me g

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Ch. 9: The Jealousy Monster Says, "Jay is for Jealousy, and Jealousy is for Me!"

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"Mom, are your pancakes laced with valium?"

Lorelai poked the pancake with her fork and hoped she wouldn't fall asleep face first into the syrupy stack. "No, they're fine. I didn't sleep a lot last night. They show Kids in the Hall at 3 a.m. and I wanted to see it. You know how I love the Chicken Lady."

"You've seen every Kids in the Hall episode a hundred times." Rory's eyes narrowed as she took in her mother's behavior. She hadn't seemed very enthusiastic when they went for ice cream last night, either. "Did something happen?"

"Things always happen. It's why we have the news. Without things happening, poor Dan Rather would be begging on the street for spare change." Lorelai sighed and shot a glance at Luke. He looked well rested. There was a goddamn spring in his step, even.

She decided to spill. "When I went back to get my purse, I saw Luke and Jay. They were practicing C.P.R." She edited out the part where she spied on them for a few minutes before seeing that.

Rory dropped her fork. "No!"

"Yes."

"Good for him," Rory said. "Still doesn't explain you, though." It explained her mother just fine, but Rory was pushing so that maybe Lorelai would finally realize what everyone else had seen for a long time now.

"I asked him not even an hour before that happened if they were involved, and he said no. He lied to me. He kept things from me. We're supposed to be friends; I mean, we didn't have an official 'make up' party with invitations and balloons and a dancing monkey, but it had pretty much gone back to normal. Right?"

"You guys were getting along okay recently. But a dancing monkey would have been cool."

"So I'm not insane."

"Well, you are, but not over that."

"It may be genetic, so don't be so quick with the insanity judgment."

"You are perfectly sane." Rory finished her pancakes and looked at her mom's plate. "If you're not gonna eat those…"

Luke came over to the table just then. "I saw you hadn't touched your pancakes. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Not fluffy enough?"

"No, they were fluffy. Cat in the Whiskas commercial fluffy. Big white cloud fluffy."

He cut her off. "I get it, they're fluffy. So it's just one of those days?"

"You could say that," Lorelai said, glad she wouldn't be forced to come up with an explanation.

"Can I talk to you?"

Luke had his serious face on. "You mean in private, don't you?" He nodded, and she got up. She followed him up to his apartment, not very excited at the prospect of talking.

She watched him pace back and forth for a while before sitting on the edge of the couch. Of course she had a good idea what he wanted to talk about, but she was just going to wait and make him say it.

"I just wanted to tell you before someone like Miss Patty did," Luke started. Lorelai could feel the two bites of pancakes she'd managed to take having a little pancake duel in her stomach. "Jay and I are kind of…together."

"I know." There was frostiness in her voice.

He looked confused. "How do you know?"

"Because I left my purse behind at the field and I saw you two."

Now he looked embarrassed. "Oh."

"Yeah. So thanks for the newsflash. I'll be going back downstairs."

"Wait!" he called, but she ignored him. With a few long strides he beat her to the door and blocked it with his body. "Do you have some sort of problem?"

"Yeah. There's this really great pair of boots I bought for seventy percent off, but it's too hot to wear them and they make my legs all sweaty. It's a big problem." She tried to go past him, but he was much bigger than her.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. But that's what I wanted to say."

"You do have a problem with it. I thought you two got along."

Lorelai quit trying to get past him. Maybe she could go out the window. There was a fire escape, right? Luke would probably just chase her down that, too. "We do get along. I don't have a problem with her."

He heard the emphasis on the 'her.' "So I'm your problem?" he asked, getting a little angry.

Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest and wouldn't look at him. "Maybe."

His eyebrows rose. "What did I do?"

"I thought we were friends again."

Luke didn't see what that had to do with the issue at hand. "We are."

"Well, I asked you if you two were involved and you said no. You lied to me. Of all the people in this world, you were on the very, very short list of those I will always have faith in not to lie to me. It's pretty much you, and Rory, and Abe Lincoln, but since he's dead it's just you and Rory. And now it's just Rory."

Luke was definitely getting angry. "Did you misplace your list the night Jess and Rory got into the accident?"

"Extenuating circumstances!" Lorelai defended. "And that's over now, and I apologized until my tongue nearly fell off, and you accepted it so that means you don't get to throw it in my face every time we have an argument."

"Not that I should even tell you this, but when you asked me about Jay, nothing was going on. It happened for the first time after the game." He reached the peak of his anger, taking a step closer to her so she had to look up at him.

Lorelai wouldn't be threatened; not by anyone, and most especially not by Luke. She met his heated stare without wavering. "I seem to recall you saying that you were 'just friends.' Friends don't think of each other in that way. I'm 'just friends' with Sookie and you don't see me kissing her! Or Jackson!"

Luke decided not to point out that friends thought of each other that way all the time. "All you asked was if we were together. And at that point in time, we weren't. You didn't ask me if I had more than friendly feelings for her. So I didn't mention it. But from now on, I'll keep in mind that you want to know every thought I have. Hey, here's one right now: Your shirt is stupid!"

Lorelai looked down at her Sailor Moon t-shirt. How dare he? "I have three words for you: pot, kettle, black!" She gave his flannel shirt a pointed look. "Somewhere in Scotland there are men running around freezing their naked bottoms off because you've created a plaid shortage."  She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. This would get them nowhere. "You could have told me."

"What, like you tell me about every guy you go out with? I seem to recall that I didn't even meet Max until after you two had gotten engaged."

"Okay, well, fine Mr. Spock, bring logic into this!" Lorelai said because she couldn't find a rebuttal. It was true.

They stood there, catching their breath and mulling over what had transpired. Neither wanted another four months like the ones that had passed after the car incident. When Lorelai had calmed down completely, she said to him, "I'm sorry. I was just insulted and hurt because I thought you were still secretly mad at me."

The anger had also left Luke. He took a leap of faith, because so far he and Jay had only kissed and it would be better to end it now in case… "Is that the only reason you were upset?"

Lorelai didn't see the window of opportunity he'd given her. "What else would there be?"

Luke shrugged. "Just thought it would be best to clear the air out all at once." What had he expected from her?

"So, um, we're good?"

He moved away from the door. "Yeah."

Lorelai walked out into the hallway. She lingered there for a moment. "I'm happy for you," she said, and it sounded authentic. She didn't wait for him to say anything else; she quickly went down the stairs.

The look on Lorelai's face kept Rory from asking any questions. Lorelai finished her now cold pancakes while her mind was reviewing the scene. She'd been angry because she'd thought Luke had been keeping secrets from her.

But Luke hadn't been lying to her. In fact, he had tried to tell her about it first thing the next morning. Lorelai told that stupid, achy feeling in her chest to go away. All was better now, right? Luke was still her friend. So maybe it was just heartburn. She popped a Tums in her mouth and chewed it hard. Still not better.

She started to accept the tiny, long-shot possibility that maybe, perhaps she was just a little, teeny bit jealous.

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And now the fun begins….