Author's Note: Still don't own the characters. Thanks for the reviews. I love feedback! I think we're coming to the home stretch.

Weeks past, May turned to June and June to July. Things seemed to finally go back to normal. Lorelai would come in for coffee, Luke would give her a hard time and no one was any wiser to the fact that Luke and Lorelai had almost become Luke and Lorelai in the strictest sense. It was only on the inside that Lorelai ached for him. It was only on the inside that Luke yearned for her. Outwardly each appeared cool, calm and collected.

Luke had realized a week ago that he was most definitely over his hasty marriage to Nicole. She had the nerve to send him an engagement announcement. It was her message to him that she had moved on. Either that or it was her message to him that she no longer needed the alimony checks he had so dutifully sent for three months. He knew it was out of guilt that he did it. She had cheated on him, but he felt like he owed her for not being available to her emotionally or otherwise during the course of their marriage.

When he opened the announcement he had a quick pang of sadness, but when he thought, really thought about it, it wasn't sadness over her engagement. It wasn't sadness over the fact that she had moved on with the Sock Man. It was that he had the opportunity to move on with Lorelai and he didn't take it. He wanted to be sure. He wanted to safeguard his life once again closing off his feelings so he wouldn't get hurt. He had come to the conclusion that he'd never get hurt because he'd never let anyone get close enough to hurt him since Rachel. That's really what scared him the most about Lorelai. He knew, before he ever kissed her, that she was already such a huge part of him that he would be destroyed if she rejected him. He was tired of feeling this way. He wished he could talk to Lorelai about his feelings again, but things were finally back to normal. She was finally coming into the diner every day teasing him, mocking him, joking with him. Part of him just couldn't jeopardize that. So he went on as before, secretly wanting to be with her from afar.

Lorelai fanned herself with a Dragonfly Inn envelope. July was usually hot, but today seemed unusually stifling. She shifted on her feet uncomfortably waiting on the porch of the inn. She glanced at her watch and knew her mother would be pulling up any second. Over the past four weeks lunch had become a weekly ritual with her mother. Every Wednesday Emily would pull into the Dragonfly at 1 p.m. Lorelai and Emily would then go to Luke's for lunch. Luke's. It was always Luke's. Lorelai still hadn't figured out what her mother was up to. She couldn't convince her she loved diner food that much. She thought she must still be trying to figure out what was going on between Lorelai and Luke. Lorelai knew that her mother would never get to bottom of it because there was, in fact, nothing going with Luke anymore. They had gone back to being friends again. It was weird at first because Lorelai could still feel the sensation of his hands on her waist and his lips on hers, but slowly that memory faded.

At 12:59 p.m. exactly Emily pulled up to the Dragonfly. Before she could get out of the car Lorelai was jumping in.

"My goodness Lorelai, where's the fire?" Emily asked.

"Don't joke about that," Lorelai said making a face. "It's like 800 degrees out and I didn't want your leather interior to heat up while we were inside."

"Maybe you wouldn't have been so hot if you'd have stayed inside," Emily said as she pulled out of the drive.

Lorelai ignored her. "Let me guess, Luke's?" Lorelai said.

"Of course," Emily said with a gleam in her eye. Emily still hadn't gotten to the bottom of the Luke and Lorelai situation, but she knew she was slowly wearing her daughter down. She could also tell there was something going on between them even if neither wanted to admit it.

"How's Rory? Is she joining us today?" Emily asked. Normally Rory stopped by the diner to meet them for lunch.

"She's great. Actually Rory is in California with Christopher. He had a business trip planned and asked Rory if she'd like to go. She'll be back tomorrow," Lorelai said as they pulled up to Luke's.

"California? Why didn't you tell me? Well maybe she can join us next week," Emily replied with a smile.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. If she had known inviting her mother to lunch would have turned into a weekly affair she never would have done it. They walked into the diner and sat at what was quickly becoming "their" table.

"Hey Lorelai, Mrs. Gilmore," Luke said as they sat down.

"Luke, please, I've told you call me Emily," Emily said.

"Sorry, Emily it is," he said. Even though Lorelai and Emily had been coming in for lunch once a week it still seemed odd to see them in Stars Hollow together. Luke gave Lorelai a lot of credit for being so supportive while her parents were separated. He knew it killed her to be so friendly with Emily, but it just reinforced how terrific she truly was.

"Lorelai, the usual?" Luke asked.

"Of course," Lorelai smiled gleefully.

"And for you Emily?" he asked.

"Oh I don't know. I'll have whatever Lorelai is having," Emily replied.

Both Luke and Lorelai's eyes widened and they stared at Emily. She had to laugh because their expressions mirrored each other exactly.

"What? Don't look so stunned," Emily said.

"You do know that Wednesday is cheeseburger, onion rings and curly fries day, right?" Luke asked incredulously.

Emily looked slightly aghast at the thought of it and it was clear she didn't know Lorelai's usual Wednesday order. "You know what I think I'll just have the tuna salad sandwich. Thank you Luke," Emily replied.

Both Luke and Lorelai laughed slightly as Luke walked into the kitchen to place their order.

"You really thought you could handle my lunch special?" Lorelai asked.

"Obviously not," Emily replied. "But I thought I would try to see how you stomach it." Emily replied.

Lorelai noted that her mother was in a particularly good mood today. It scared her. Emily was usually only in a very good mood when Lorelai wasn't.

"So Mom, how are things with Dad? Have you started counseling?" Lorelai asked.

"No, Lorelai, we haven't. I haven't spoken to your father in quite a while actually," Emily responded.

"Why not?"

"Oh Lorelai for the last week he has left me three messages a day. Three a day, can you believe that? It's getting to be too much. I'm getting used to living without him around and I don't want to get sucked back in to relying on him all the time," Emily said surprisingly pleasantly.

"Mom! What if Dad wants to make up? What if he's been trying to tell you something important like he loves you, he quit his job and he wants you back?" Lorelai couldn't believe her mother.

"He doesn't. All his messages say are 'call me.' Well, I will call him when I get the chance," Emily said. Suddenly her eyes lit up. Lorelai barely noticed before she saw Luke coming over with their food.

"Oh Lorelai, I meant to tell you that I ran into Jason the other day," Emily said as Luke came upon the table.

"Oh, that's nice," Lorelai said not encouraging the topic so Luke wouldn't hear.

"Jason said he was so sorry about how things had ended, not only with your father, but with you as well," Emily said Luke slowly lowered the plates in front of them.

"Oh, well, I'm not sorry about how it ended Mom. Jason and I weren't going to work," Lorelai said with emphasis hoping not to upset Luke.

"Well he said he would love to see you sometime. I told him the inn was doing very well and he said he might stop by to see it completely up and running," Emily said with a repressed smile.

"So do you need anything else?" Luke interrupted.

"No, I think I'm fine Luke. How about you Lorelai?" Emily said.

"I'm great, thanks," Lorelai said giving Luke an apologetic look. Luke nodded as if he understood she was apologizing for Emily's comments and he returned to the kitchen.

"What was that about? How could you say that in front of Luke?" Lorelai demanded.

Emily seemed more interested in dissecting her sandwich than talking to Lorelai. "Mom," Lorelai pressed. "What were you thinking?"

Emily took a bite of her sandwich. "What difference does it make Lorelai? I thought you and Luke were just friends?"

"So is that what this is, some sort of psychological experiment to see if I'm telling you the truth about me and Luke?" Lorelai half-exclaimed.

"No, Lorelai," Emily said. "I did run into Jason and he did ask about you. I was simply passing on the message."

"Well aren't you a regular little Paul Revere," Lorelai said as she grumpily took a bite from her burger. She felt horrible that Luke had heard her mother going on about Jason. Emily didn't even like Jason, but she'd use him to get information out of Lorelai if she had to. Lorelai was sure that her protests served only to confirm her mother's suspicions about her feelings for Luke.

Lorelai glanced behind her to see if Luke had emerged from the kitchen again. He hadn't. She felt awful about her mother's comments. Jason was already a sore topic between Luke and Lorelai. She felt awful that her mother's sadistic quest for the truth had possibly hurt Luke.

Once again, Emily and Lorelai finished lunch in silence. It had almost become a habit. Lorelai asked her Emily to go to the car while she paid the bill. She walked up to the register and handed her bill to Luke.

"Hey," Lorelai started. "I'm sorry about my Mom. She's," she paused to think of a good word, "deranged. You know that," Lorelai tried to joke her way around the topic.

"Don't worry about it," Luke said with the wave of his hand. "It's no big deal." He tried to act as if the comments about Jason hadn't stung, but deep down they hurt more than he'd like to admit.

Lorelai took Luke's usual wordlessness as a sign that maybe everything was okay. After all they were friends again. Luke the friend wouldn't get mad about Jason. Luke the boyfriend would. It was hard for Lorelai to separate the two in her head.

"Great. So I have to go I'll see ya later," Lorelai said as she turned to leave.

"Hey Lorelai," Luke called. She turned to face him. 'Just tell her,' he thought. 'Tell her you need to talk. Tell her you love and you always have,' he willed himself. But, as usual, no words came. She just stood there waiting for him to speak. "It's fine, I'll see ya later."

"Yeah, later," Lorelai said as she raised her eyebrows and left the diner.

Lorelai and Emily arrived back at the inn and still they were not speaking. Lorelai got out of the car, but, much to her surprise, Emily followed.

"Why are you following me?" Lorelai demanded.

"I'm sorry if I upset you at Luke's Lorelai," Emily said. "I just think you're not admitting your feelings for Luke," Emily said following Lorelai into the Dragonfly.

Lorelai's mouth dropped open. "And what business is it of yours?" Lorelai demanded.

"I want you to be happy," Emily said as she stood across the desk from Lorelai.

"And what makes you think--," the phone ringing cut her off.

"Dragonfly Inn, this is Lorelai. How can I help you?" she said into the receiver. Lorelai listened to the caller as Emily waited impatiently for her daughter to hang up. "I see. Actually she's right here," Lorelai said flustered. Emily suddenly began to worry as Lorelai hung up the phone.

"C'mon," Lorelai said taking Emily by the hand and leading her back to the car. "We have to go."

"Where on earth are we going Lorelai?" Emily demanded as Lorelai dragged her out the door.

"We're going to the hospital," Lorelai said dazed. "That was Dad's work. He collapsed and they rushed him to Hartford Memorial. Give me your keys, I'll drive," Lorelai said holding out her hand.

"Is he okay?" Emily asked confused. "What happened? Why didn't they call me?" Emily and Lorelai got into the car.

"They couldn't find you so they called me. Let's go," Lorelai said as her mother shut the passenger door and they set off to Hartford.

TBC