---

The bill had been sitting on the table for nearly ten minutes, but Kirk seemed oblivious to it. Not that Lorelai minded paying or anything, but...

"My mother is very controlling, but she has her reasons..." Kirk was saying to Lorelai who was trying to do her best to remain interested. "...but then- hmmm..."

"What is it?" asked Lorelai, who snapped out of her Kirk-talking-about-his- childhood-induced-trance.

"My watch stopped, I think..." Kirk said, tapping the face of his watch.

"Hey, um Kirk..." Lorelai said, grasping the opportunity of Kirk's silence. "Do you want to get an ice cream or something?"

"Soy?" asked Kirk, intrigued.

"Uh, sure." Lorelai replied, not sure that there even was such a thing as soy ice cream. She would ask Rory when she went home.

"I'd love to Lorelai..." Kirk looked at her and snatched the bill off the table. "I'm sorry Lorelai," he blurted out quickly, "but I simply can't let you pay. I'm the man and that's just-"

"Don't worry about it Kirk!" Lorelai said, trying to calm him down. "I guess it'll be okay this time."

"Alright." Kirk replied stiffly, taking out his wallet. When he had given Jess (who was still smirking) the money at the counter, he and Lorelai walked outside into the night air.

"...but really, I think you should stand up for..." Lorelai was saying as they walked through the town square, ice cream (and soy) cones in hand.

"Lorelai..." Kirk said, stopping to look at her.

"Yes Kirk?" asked Lorelai, also stopping.

"Do you...do you think I could hold your hand?"

"Sure," Lorelai smiled, slipping her hand into his.

Lorelai and Kirk had circled the square a few times and eventually stopped to sit in the gazebo. Lorelai (having gotten her hand back) was rolling the napkin between her fingers. Kirk sat next to her, obviously smitten.

"Lorelai, I just wanted to say that this has been one of the greatest nights of my life." Kirk said, gazing into her eyes.

"Well Kirk..." Lorelai was saved from answering when Kirk jumped up with a small scream.

"Oh, oh! I'm late! Oh, I'm so sorry, so sorry Lorelai," Kirk said, looking around somewhat wildly as if his mother were about to jump out of the bushes. "I really sorry Lorelai."

"Don't worry about it Kirk," Lorelai said, standing up.

"I meant to walk you home and everything!" Kirk cried.

"It's okay. Next time."

Kirk looked at her hopefully. "Next time?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, next time." Then Lorelai did something she had never thought that she would ever do. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on Kirk's startled face. "Good night Kirk." He stood stock still, shocked beyond belief. "Uh...don't want to be late..."

"Oh, right!" Kirk said, colouring from Lorelai's affection. "I've got to go. I'm really sorry about this..." he said, and started to job down the gazebo stairs. "Lorelai," Kirk said, turning around.

"Yeah Kirk?"

"I'll call you." With that he was off.

"Oh, okay..." Lorelai said softly.

---

"Honey, I'm home!" Lorelai called out, dropping her bag and coat on the couch. Rory came padding out of the kitchen with an opened tub of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other.

"How was it?" asked Rory, seating herself on the couch next to Lorelai. "How was dinner?"

"Humiliating."

"What, why?" asked Rory, and offered Lorelai the spoon.

"Well, Luke completely-"

"Wait a second," Rory interrupted. "Luke?"

"Yeah, Al's was closed."

"Kirk must have been upset."

"Yeah, but I cheered him up."

"I'll bet you did," Rory said, giggling.

"Quiet you. Anyway, I learnt a lot about him. It was fun."

"Is it true that he has 12 brothers and sisters?" asked Rory, shoving a hunk of the sugary goodness into her mouth.

"Yeah. And he's allergic to everything."

"Wow...poor guy."

"He had SOY ice cream."

"There's soy ice cream?"

Lorelai nodded. "Poor soy ice cream. He's probably the only one in the whole town who eats it. It just sits there, watching all of the other flavours get picked and he has to wait and wait and-"

"So? Are you going to go out again?" asked Rory impatiently.

"I dunno. He said he'd call."

"Do you think he will?"

"If he's a typical male, probably not."

"But since he's Kirk..." Rory prompted.

"Well-" Lorelai was interrupted by the ringing phone.

"I'm going to be in my room if you want me," Rory said smugly to her dumfounded mother. "Good night."

- FIN -