Disclaimer:  I don't own anything but the story idea.

~~

Later that morning, with Luke at the diner, Lorelai dialed Sookie.  After filling her in on the previous evening, Lorelai came to the point of the call.

"Are you still planning on the Halloween party for the twentieth?  Isn't that too close to your due date?"

"Actually, the doctor now thinks it'll be closer to early November."

"That still means that you'll be eight and a half months pregnant with a houseful of guests.  Are you sure I can't talk you into co-hosting the party and having it at my house?  That way you won't have to do any of the prep work."

Sookie considered this.  "It is tempting."

"Just think about it.  We still have time.  By the way, for my costume, I was wondering if Jackson wears suspenders."

"Yeah, he's got a pair around here somewhere.  Why?"

"Do you think I could borrow them?"

"Sure.  What are you going as?"

"It's a secret."

"Come on!  Did you really get Luke to agree to dress up?"

"Sort of.  He won't be dressing in anything other than his normal garb, but combined with what I will be wearing we'll both be 'in costume.'"

"The suspense is going to kill me!"

"Sorry."

"So you're going to call Emily today?"

Lorelai groaned.  "I have to.  She made such a stink about wanting us to feel comfortable and she did go to all that trouble with the dessert."

"Well, good luck," said Sookie sympathetically.

"Thanks," replied Lorelai wryly.

They disconnected and Lorelai took a few deep, cleansing breaths before calling her mother.

"Hello," Emily answered the phone.

"Mom, hi, it's me."

"I'm sorry, I don't know any 'me's'."

"Lorelai," she answered with great patience.  "It's your daughter Lorelai."

"Oh.  Hello."

"Hi.  So I got your message."

"Oh."

"And I wanted to apologize again for my fruit cup comment.  I shouldn't have made light of your efforts to welcome Luke.  I am in fact very appreciative of how much you and dad both tried to make him feel at home."

"Your welcome," replied Emily stiffly and politely.

Lorelai shook her head.  "That's it?"

"That's what?"

"You are unbelievable.  I screwed up, yes, and now I'm calling to say that I'm sorry and instead of accepting the apology and moving on, you're freezing me out.  This is so typical!"

"How dare you!"

"How dare I?"

"The only reason you're calling is because I left a message on your answering machine."

"Isn't why you left the message?  So that I'd call?"

"Yes, but it would have been nice if you had just known that you'd hurt my feelings and called of your own volition."

Lorelai almost let slip the comment she'd made to Rory the previous evening about Emily not having feelings.  Luckily her survival instinct kicked in and instead she said, "Well, I'm not a mind-reader."

"That's right.  Because it takes a mind-reader to know when you've upset someone else."

And they settled into an uncomfortable silence.  Finally, Lorelai said, "Mom, again, I sincerely apologize for hurting your feelings last night.  It means a great deal to me that you wanted Luke feel welcome."

Emily didn't answer.

"What?  What do you want from me?"  She could feel her blood pressure spike.

"Some attempt on your part to make it up to me would be nice, but if that's too much to ask, I understand."

Lorelai groaned inwardly and said sweetly, "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Emily answered immediately, "As a matter of fact, yes."

Lorelai groaned again, this time audibly.  "Is everything all right?" asked Emily.

"Fine," said Lorelai, "I'm fine.  What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I thought it would be nice to get together for lunch one day soon."

"Lunch?" asked Lorelai weakly.

"Lunch," said Emily firmly.

"Okay," said Lorelai uncertainly, "lunch it is."

They agreed to work out the details of when and where later on and they disconnected, one feeling very pleased with how things turned had out and the other feeling very much uncertain.

~~

Later that afternoon Lorelai strolled into the diner for some lunch.  Luke waved from across the room as she made her way to the counter and sat down. 

"What can I get you?" he said when he finally made it over to her.

"I need a shot gun with a side of fries."

"You spoke to Emily."

"Yeah," she answered.

"Did you apologize?"

"I did, but that wasn't enough.  Now I'm having lunch with her, too."

Luke looked sympathetic.  "When?"

"Soon.  What did I do to deserve this?" she wailed.

"You insulted her fruit cup."

"Whose side are you on?"

"Yours," he said firmly. 

"Then act like it."

"Did you want anything besides the shot gun and fries?"

"Nah," she said despondently.

"Are you sure?  I've got a whole bin full of ground-up red meat in the kitchen."

"Eh," she said.

"Eh?"  Luke asked incredulously.

"Eh."

"Okay, one side of fries coming up."  He poured her a cup of coffee out of habit and went into the kitchen to get her fries.

When he returned she said, "You know on second thought, some pie might be nice."

"Pie?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.  "Pie."

"You're going to have pie and fries for lunch?"

"Mmm, and you know what?  Can you put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the pie?  That would be perfection."

"No."

"No?"

"No.  I'm not going to contribute to the hardening of your arteries."

"Dirty!  And for your information they're my arteries.  I can clog them if I want to."

"Undoubtedly, but I will not participate in the clogging process."

"You're such a big meanie.  You're Meanie Meansalot.  That's your new name.  That's what I'll be calling you from now on."

"Well, I'll get used to it.  Everyone else will still call me Luke," he replied with a smile. 

She gaped in mock protest.  "So, what, no pie?"

"No pie."

"I call my mother and actually apologize for something I said and I get no pie?"

"No pie."

"Not only do I apologize, but now I have to have lunch with her and all I want to do is wallow a little and I get no pie?"

"No pie."

"You suck."

"Dirty!" he replied.

"Not in a good way," she pouted.

"Oh, come on," he tried.  "Why don't I make you a nice tuna sandwich to go with the fries and then you can have pie."

"I don't want a tuna sandwich."

"How about a tuna melt?"

"I don't want a tuna melt."

"Okay," he said and walked into the kitchen and back out again with her plate of fries.  "Enjoy your fries."

"Where's the ketchup?" she asked sullenly.  There wasn't a single bottle of ketchup on the counter.

"All out."

"Nah-ah."

"With such sparkling conversation, it's no wonder you make friends where ever you go."

"I.  Need.  Ketchup," she said through clenched teeth.

"Well.  Tough," he replied.

"Are you seriously out of ketchup?" she asked incredulously.

"No.  All the ketchup is lost, but if you order something to go with those fries, maybe I'll find some for you."

"You're evil."

"You can call me Dr. Evil if you'd like," he said smiling evilly.  He put his pinky to his bottom lip.

"I taught you that move, don't you dare use it on me!"

"So now the student has become the master."  He knew he was goading her.  It was entertaining.  For the first time he knew how she'd felt all those years of goading him.

She glared at him and then finally she said, "Fine.  You win.  I'll have a tuna melt.  Happy?"

"Ecstatic," he deadpanned.

"Now can I have the ketchup?" 

"Just as soon as your order is up."

"But the fries will get cold."

"I'll put new fries on your plate."

"But I'm hungry now."

"Do you think I was born yesterday?  If I give you ketchup now, you'll fill up on fries and have no room left for tuna melt."  She bared her teeth and growled at him as he practically skipped into the kitchen to make her sandwich.

"You've won this time, Dr. Evil," she called.  "But you've not gotten the best of me!"

Kirk, who'd been sitting at the other end of the counter said conversationally, "It's like watching verbal foreplay.  This is better than Cinemax."

"Shut up, Kirk," she snapped.