Author's Note: See disclaimer and Title in Chapter One. I am so sorry it took so long to update. I am sure everyone thought I abandoned this story. My computer crashed twice in the last week, so tonight was the first chance I got. The only good part was that without other fanfics to distract me I got a lot of writing done on paper. I have enough chapters now to update every night this week. Thanks for many more great reviews. The review amount seemed to jump after that last cliffhanger so I might have to try it again. This chapter was harder to write so I feel like the quality may not be as good as the first few. Please let me know what you think. Also, apologies to Justin because I went back and read the transcript and Luke was into Star Trek and not Star Wars, so my wonderful conversation didn't work and I had to scrap it. Sorry. Well I promise updates come hell or high water, so keep up the faith and the reviews.

On with the story . . .





Chapter 6: Deals, Dreams and Danish



"So then he starts laughing!" Lorelai exclaimed, sounding just as unbelieving as when it was actually happening.

"Laughing?" Luke frowned. He didn't see how that was an appropriate reaction.

"Yeah, I know. It turns out that this is great for him. Apparently, there is a confidentiality agreement in Jason's contract, so not only can my dad fire him, but he and all Jason's clients can sue him for violating it," Lorelai explained excitedly. Luke smiled. He was happy for her.

"Wow. So no harm came from the spying?"

"He intended it to, I guess." Lorelai sighed. "My dad went back and looked and apparently Jason offered all his clients really bad deals so that it would easy for Floyd to come in and top them. When I left, my dad was calling them all up and offering them better deals and not so subtly informing them of their right to sue," she finished with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Wow" Luke repeated.

"Yeah who knew the world of insurance could be so. . . . " Lorelai hesitated. "Well not so boring."

"That does seem like it ended well for him." Luke also sounded relieved. Lorelai thought for a minute, then frowned.

"Yeah, until my mother finds out." Luke knew no conversation about her mother could end happily. He wanted her to stay happy, at least for a while. He searched for a diversion.

"What did Richard say about you dating Jason?" He asked casually. Lorelai flinched.

"Nothing, really" She avoided looking at Luke, but he had seen it in her face anyway.

"You didn't tell him." He stared at her, demanding that she look at him.

"Not so much." She looked up. Luke looked at her like disappointed parent. "But I think he knew anyway," Lorelai argued quickly. Luke again saw a child looking out through her eyes. He sighed.

"So, what's he going to tell Emily?"

"What you said. About him overhearing Jason himself." She munched on the remaining fries in front of her.

"So everything's alright?" Luke questioned still looking at her.

"Yeah, looks like it." she said satisfied that her father would be fine.

"What about you?" Luke looked down at her almost empty mug.

"What about me?" She cocked her head, not really understanding.

"Are you alright?" His voice was deep and gruff, as if he was trying to hide his sincerity. Luke turned to make more coffee. Lorelai recognized his retreat at the seriousness of the conversation. She had seen it many times before. She smiled but decided to let it go.

"Oh, you mean about Jason?" She wrinkled her nose at the thought of him. Luke only grunted in reply. "I'm alright. I'm still pretty angry, but it wasn't really serious or anything." Luke fought his impulse to turn and look at her. He knew his face would betray him. He only nodded. Lorelai continued. "Although I did have a dream about him last night." Luke turned, relieved. Things were normal again.

"That's a scary thought. Were there twins?" He smirked inwardly, remembering her dream about him. He filled her mug again.

"Oh Luke, you know you're the only man I want to father my dream children," Lorelai said overly dramatically. "No, there were a lot of tv's though." Luke nodded as if this was totally normal. Lorelai continued her story. "Jason was chasing me and everywhere I went big tv's would pop out at me." She waved her hands around as she explained. She waited expectantly for his reaction. He just stared at her. "Care to analyze?" she asked. Luke sighed.

"Lorelai, nobody's dreams make sense, least of all yours." Her face fell. It wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"I miss Rory." she sighed. When Luke looked at her questioningly, she explained. "She used to analyze my dreams." Luke nodded. They fell silent and Lorelai stared out the window. Luke didn't want to stop the conversation on that sort of note. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you think you would have told them? If it had been serious?" It took a minute for Lorelai to register what he was talking about. She considered it.

"I don't know. Maybe. It might squash my mother's notion about my secret love for someone," she said after a moment. She immediately regretted bringing it up. Luke could tell she was kidding, but he was interested nonetheless.

"Who's that?" he asked, barely containing his curiosity. Lorelai looked at him for a moment. Both stared, each trying to read the other's eyes.

The phone rang loudly behind Luke. They both jumped at the noise. Luke hesitantly turned around to answer it.

"Luke's. Oh. Hi, Nicole," Luke said evenly.

Lorelai got up to leave. She wasn't sure why but she didn't want to stick around and hear what they talked about. She wanted Luke to be happy, and Nicole was his wife, but she made Lorelai uneasy all the same. She slid money underneath her coffee mug and gathered her things. Luke noticed. He put his hand over the receiver and called her name. She turned, but he realized he had nothing to say. She looked at him expectantly.

"Um, tomorrow's Free Danish Day" he finished lamely.

"You just had one last week," she teased.

"I own the place. I can have another. Just be there." he said sternly. She smiled.

"Bye Luke."

"Bye Lorelai."