Title: This Feeling That Remains.

Summary: In the aftermath of the car accident, the Gilmore Girls try to pick up the pieces and move on.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Gilmore Girls. This story idea is my own, although it does contain some scenes from the actual show in places. (mainly at the beginning)

Authors Note: This fic starts during the episode Teach Me Tonight, right after Lorelai leaves Rory at the hospital to go and find Jess. It's a Java/Lit fic.

Tye, Jayde, ILoveJess, blackrose, sleepless-dreams and Roganu-chan, (and anyone I left out) you guys are the best. Thank you so much for reviewing so frequently. Thanks also to lilacmoon, Firehawk, Kris, meffy and gilmoregurl1928763 for reviewing the last chapter. I really appreciate you taking the time to read my fics. The reviews are a bonus.

*~*~*~*

Luke looked up and smiled as Lorelai walked into the diner. She returned the smile, but took a sudden step back as Jess walked in front of her carrying several plates full of food.

"Hello to you, too." She said sarcastically.

As usual, Jess ignored her, and she made her way over to the counter.

"I see that wonderful happy mood is still with him." She commented as both she and Luke followed Jess with their eyes.

"Oh yeah. And today he added this… 'breathe and I'll rip your head off' scowl to his repertoire." Luke rolled his eyes.

"What do you think he'd do if I cleared my throat?" Lorelai chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know… maybe he'll rip your head off slightly slower?"

"Hey, Jess?" Lorelai called to him cheerfully.

"You wanna get us both killed?" Luke exclaimed half seriously.

Lorelai placed her hand over Luke's mouth to silence him, before turning her attention back to Jess.

"How's your day been? Luke tells me you've been practicing a new facial expression."

Jess turned around and scowled at Lorelai. She cringed slightly and looked at Luke.

"That it?"

"Yep. That'd be the one." Luke nodded.

"Wow… It's so much more menacing than the regular scowl." She laughed softly.

Luke shook his head as he watched Jess. He'd given up trying to figure out what went on in his head months ago.

"So… Rory's home in a week?"

"Yep." Lorelai grinned. "Just six more days to go!"

"Is she excited about coming home? Or do you think she'll miss living in dorms."

"Away from me?" Lorelai raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"I didn't… that's not what I meant." Luke stammered as Lorelai maintained her offended expression.

"She loves me! There is no way she'll miss living away from me, Luke!"

"I know! I didn't mean…"

"You think she won't want to come home to me? You think I'm so awful to live with?" She continued.

"No! I just…" Luke sighed and tried to re-arrange his thoughts a little. "I just meant that she's always wanted to go to college and… living in dorms was a part of that experience and maybe she's been enjoying the experience and… Of course she'll want to come home to you, who wouldn't?"

As Luke's words sunk in, Lorelai blushed and smiled, averting her eyes to the counter. Luke simply stared at her in horror.

"I… I didn't mean…" He started and she laughed softly.

"It's ok Luke. I was just messing with you the whole time anyway. I take full responsibility for your flustered… outburst."

"Good… ok… I have to…" Luke pointed in several directions and finally retreated into the kitchen.

Lorelai watched him, smiling and chuckling to herself.

* * * * *


Lorelai woke from her dream in shock. She sat up quickly in bed and looked around the room.

Just the one alarm clock. So it couldn't have been real.

She felt a slight wave of disappointment wash over her as she allowed herself to rest back on her elbows. She glanced at her clock beside the bed and sighed when she saw that it was just past 5am. Too early to call Rory and still be considered a good mother. But she had a feeling it was too late to try and get back to sleep. The dream had woken her up to such an extent that her mind was busy with thoughts. Too many to quiet down enough to catch a few more hours of rest.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and yawned, reaching idly for a scrunchie on her nightstand and pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail.

It occurred to her that she didn't know what to do at 5am. Was it too early for coffee? She smirked at the very thought. It was never too early for coffee!

After a few minutes of sitting and yawning, Lorelai pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt and made her way downstairs to start some coffee brewing.

"No!"

The shriek of horror would have woken the whole neighborhood if it had been any louder.
Lorelai picked up the coffee bag and tipped it upside down over the coffee maker. Shaking it frantically, her jaw dropping further at each futile attempt to get something coffee-like out of it.

"5am, and there's no coffee. I'm awake… 5am and there's no coffee. I need the coffee. It's 5am and there's no coffee. Lorelai needs the coffee! I'm speaking in third person… this is bad!" She muttered to herself as she paced in circles around the kitchen.

She looked down at her hands, realizing she'd been scratching one with the other. As she watched, white zig-zag scratch marks appeared in the center of the red patch on the back of her left hand. One thought went through her mind, and she said it out loud.

"Must have coffee."

She hurried towards the front door, slipping her feet into a pair of sneakers and grabbing her jacket from its hook on the wall before pulling the door open and darting out into the hazy 5am sunrise of Stars Hollow.

Wandering around town at such an early hour on a Sunday morning was new to Lorelai. And to her surprise, she realized she liked it.
She liked the way the birds sang, as if each tree was a church, and they'd all gathered to sing hymns together.
She liked the way the streets were so quiet, and she could hear every little sound. That was a new experience. Usually she was only awake and wandering around when other people were. The sound of cars passing or people talking, blocked out the singing birds, rustling leaves and the sound Apricot made as he scratched the trunk of a near by tree.

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of Luke's. And a smile spread across her face. She wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling, but in this quiet hour with nothing else on her mind, she realized for the first time that stepping into Luke's Diner gave her the most comforting sensation. Maybe it was the smell of pancakes, or the promise of coffee. Or the guarantee that Luke would always be there.

She stepped up to the entrance and watched Luke taking chairs down from tables in the deserted diner. She tapped lightly on the glass and Luke looked over at her. He was visibly shocked to see Lorelai standing at his door at such an early hour.

"What's wrong? Are you ok? Is Rory ok?" He asked almost desperately as he unlocked and opened the door.

"Calm down." She chuckled warmly. "Everything's fine. With one exception."

Luke stared at her expectantly, still holding the door open. Poised to race out and fix whatever was broken. Find whatever was lost.

"It's like… 5:22am and I haven't had coffee yet!" She smirked in reply to his questioning gaze.

He let out the panicked breath he'd been holding and shut the door.

"What are you doing up at 5:22am anyway?" He asked with a frown as he went back to work. "Isn't it against Gilmore rules to rise before 8am at the earliest?"

"I know. But I had this weird dream and I just couldn't get back to sleep." She sighed, taking a seat at the counter. "And then I went downstairs to make coffee and, shock horror, there was none!"

Luke smiled knowingly as he stepped behind the counter and turned on the coffee maker.

"So what was this dream about? Coffee?" He teased.

"Kind of." She laughed softly.

She picked up a saltshaker and idly turned it upside down, letting some of its contents spill onto the counter.

"Hey, I just wiped that!" Luke protested.

"I'll clean it up before you open. Junkies promise." She grinned, holding her right hand up, her index and middle fingers crossed.

Luke rolled his eyes and started sweeping the floor behind the counter. Lorelai began drawing circles in the salt, staring at her 'art' musingly.

"There were like… twenty alarm clocks in my room. And they all went off at the same time."

"Why would you have twenty alarm clocks in your room?" Look paused and looked at her as if she were crazy.

"In my dream." Lorelai clarified. "And I went downstairs and you were in the kitchen making breakfast."

"That sounds about right." Luke smirked. "My coming to your home to cook for you so you wouldn't have to struggle all the way to the diner. Something that would only happen in your dreams."

"Actually…" Lorelai paused as she tried to restrict the large smile that stretched across her face. "I think we were married."

Luke's head snapped up and his eyes widened. If he hadn't been listening intently before, he was now.

"Wh… What makes you say that?" He asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Well, for one thing, you had access to my bedroom to set up the alarm clocks. And… you hid my regular coffee and replaced it with decaf. Apparently it wasn't the first time."

"It was for your own good." He smiled slightly, leaning on the handle of the broom and watching her as she continued to talk contentedly about her dream.

"I found the regular coffee though. You offered to put a toy in my cereal if I could go one day without coffee." She chuckled.

"Did you go for it?"

"I think it got a 'dirty'. But no firm commitment."

"Of course 'dirty', what else would it be?" He replied sarcastically.

"And then I told you we needed cotton balls and q-tips… and you said you'd be home early…"

"We lived together?"

"Hello, I said we were married. Try to focus, please." She teased.

"Oh, yeah… sorry… continue."

"That's it." Lorelai sighed. "Except…"

"Except…?" Luke eyed her curiously.

"I think… actually, I'm pretty sure I was pregnant…"

Lorelai looked up at Luke and smiled at his surprised expression.

"See… you, um… you kissed me goodbye, and then you talked to my stomach. You said 'Goodbye Sid and Nancy.'"

"Sid and Nancy?" Luke managed to choke out after a brief pause.

"Twins I guess." Lorelai shrugged.

They stood and sat in silence for a while, Luke staring in disbelief at Lorelai, Lorelai staring in oblivious pensiveness at her pile of salt.

There was a 'click' as the coffee maker switched itself off and it seemed to wake them both up.

"Coffee?" Luke asked quickly, leaning the broom against the wall.

"Thought you'd never ask." Lorelai smiled warmly as he placed a mug in front of her.

* * * * *


"Independence Inn, this is Lorelai speaking."

"Hey mom, it's me."

"Hey babe… shouldn't you be in some kind of … lecture?" Lorelai asked, glancing at her watch.

"Should be." Rory sighed. "Remember the lunch Paris and I were going to yesterday?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, Paris thinks that, somehow, a shrimp fell into her food."

"How did a shrimp fall into her food?" Lorelai frowned.

"I don't know. But something caused her throat to close up and she's blaming the shrimp."

"Oh my gosh… is she ok?"

"Well, she's talking about lawsuits, so I'd say yeah." Rory chuckled slightly.

Lorelai paused and smiled as she heard 'I don't care what you think, get me Richard Blumenthal!'

"Wow… she really is on the war path." Lorelai smirked.

"Yeah… hold on."

The was a strange noise as Rory covered the phone with her hand, and Lorelai could just about hear Rory telling Paris she needed to take her meds. She couldn't help but laugh to herself.

"Sorry, back. Paris was having trouble breathing. They have her on these pills she has to take for 48 hours."

"Bummer."

"Yeah. So much so… that we're coming home early."

"How early?" Asked Lorelai, trying to hide her excitement.

"I'm packing as we speak." Rory sighed. "The bus gets in this evening at 7pm."

"You ok?" Lorelai asked with as much sympathy as she could muster.

"Yeah, I'm just a little disappointed that we're going to miss the breakfast mixer with members of Congress and the Senate." Rory said despondently. "But the doctor told the program coordinator that Paris would be better off at home, and I can't stay on my own. I'd feel really bad. I'm only here because Paris forced me to run with her… I wouldn't feel right staying if she leaves."

"You're too sweet, you know that?"

"I hate me." Rory mumbled.

"Well, I miss you. And I'll be at the bus station in Hartford at 7pm, with coffee, eagerly awaiting your return."

"Ok. See you soon. Bye mom."

"Bye sweets."

Lorelai smiled to herself and hung up the phone.

"My baby's coming home." She giggled quietly as Michel walked over to the front desk. "My baby's coming home!" She repeated a little louder.

Michel rolled his eyes and gave a grunt of displeasure before walking back in the direction he'd come from.