"Come again?" asked Luke understandably.

"Yes, the executor," Kirk repeated simply, "of her will."

"Kirk, I don't feel comfortable acting as your mother's executor..." Luke tried gamely.

"Oh Luke, you must," said Kirk in sincerity. "It's the only way."

"Why Kirk? Why is it the only way?" Luke gave in.

"She didn't want to show favoritism among we boys—the executor gets a healthy percentage, see?"

"No Kirk, I don't see," grumped Luke.

"All the boys are afraid of you, so they won't make trouble," Kirk explained.

"But what about someone else in the family?" argued Luke.

"There is no one else," Kirk assured him.

"Why not? Surely some of them have families by now," Luke continued to reason.

"No," said Kirk.

"No? Out of all twelve of you, none of you is married?" asked a surprised Luke.

"No," said Kirk again.

"And what number are you again?" asked Luke.

"Eleven. I'm 'K' for Kirk, and K—"

"—is the eleventh letter of the alphabet, right," sighed Luke and rubbed his hand under his hat.

"No!" exclaimed Lorelai in delight.

"Oh yes," Luke assured her.

"She didn't!" Lorelai can't believe it.

"Yes, she did," Luke told her unequivocally.

"Mother named us alphabetically according to birth order. I feel it was indicative of her great common sense," commented Kirk.

Lorelai couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"So Luke, we are gathering at the house this evening at six to plan the funeral and schedule the reading of the will. We'll see you then," and with that Kirk stood to go, Lulu joining him.

"Kirk, wait," said Luke a little desperately.

"I can't, Luke. I have to get back to Mother's house and make sure the Georgian silver is locked up. My brother Bert is a well-known kleptomaniac."

"Oh! Oh! Bert would be number two, right? 'B' for Bert—the second one born, right?!" called Lorelai excitedly.

Kirk turned back to her, "Close, but no cigar today I'm afraid, Lorelai. Bert is short for Albert, which begins with 'A', making him the first born."

"Oh," said a dejected Lorelai. "Who's number two then?"

"That would be Leslie," interjected Lulu.

"Hunh?" asked Lorelai inelegantly.

"Short for Bill—don't ask," grumped Luke, clearly done in.

And with that Kirk and Lulu left.

Luke sat back down at the table and sighed.

"How the hell is 'Leslie' short for Bill?!" demanded Lorelai with a furrowed brow.

"I do not want to do this," Luke stated the obvious.

"I know you don't," said Lorelai sympathetically, "Hey, why don't you come over to my house tonight after the meeting?—I'll cheer you up."

"Really?"

"Sure," smiled Lorelai, "We can, you know—hang out."

"Hang out?" asked Luke with a smile.

"Yes, Luke: 'Hang out.' It is colloquial speech for 'spending time together.' Oh, I have to run to the county seat to check some papers this afternoon, and I might hit traffic; If I'm not there when you arrive, the extra key is in the flying pig's snout."

"The flying pig's snout? You mean in that pig thing with wings on the front porch?"

"Yep."

"Lorelai, how many times have I broken into your house to fix things over the years?"

"Um, I don't know—Is this a game?" she grinned.

"I'll tell you how many—dozens probably. And you're just telling me now that there has been a spare key in the pig's snout all these years?"

"Flying pig's snout."

"In the flying pig's snout—all these years?"

"No," Lorelai shook her head.

"No?"

"It used to be in the frog's mouth," she told him merrily.

Luke just looked at her a moment.

"You're trying to remember exactly what it is you see in me, aren't you?" asked Lorelai shrewdly.

"No...." demurred Luke, looking away.

"Uh hunh... Here: Let me remind you..." She stood then and crossed around to his side of the table and leaned down and kissed him softly.

"Ring any bells?" she asked when she came back up for air.

"Yes," he had to admit, "it does."

"Thanks for the sandwich," she said before she left.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::

At seven forty five that evening an exhausted Lorelai pulled into her driveway. She looked up as she dragged herself out of the jeep and saw the porch and living room lights on. She thought she could smell something good, too...Mmmm---cooking? Was that good-cooking smell coming from her kitchen?

She walked through the unlocked front door and threw her bag down, and followed her nose to the kitchen. When she got there, she leaned on the doorjamb awhile to watch.

Luke was stirring something in a pot—something that smelled heavenly. The table was set and not with the 'Charlie's Angels' plates, but with the good dishes Gran had sent her once from Paris, and there were roses in an actual vase in the center of the table.

"Hi," she called to him with a smile.

"Oh, hey," he turned to greet her happily, "I thought you might be hungry, so I made chicken vegetable soup and bread," he told her as he turned to retrieve the baking bread from the over.

"From scratch?" asked Lorelai wide-eyed. She crossed to peer into the pot.

"Well, sure, more or less," he told her with a soft smile and began ladling soup into bowls and setting them on the table. "Have a seat," he added.

She complied then looked up at him, "Luke, you did not need to do this."

"Yeah well, I thought we'd both be hungry and cooking helps me not think about stuff," he told her.

"Was it bad at Kirk's?" asked Lorelai as she grabbed the already opened bottle of wine and filled a glass for each of them.

"The worst," he told her, as he began slicing the bread.

"Were all 'the boys' there?" she asked with a grin.

"Yep, every last one of them," he said as he sat down opposite her.

"Wow. So, you're really going to have to do this, aren't you?" asked Lorelai sympathetically.

"'Fraid so," said Luke, "Eat. You look tired," he urged her.

"I am," she nodded, "I am tired." She dipped her spoon into the soup then and tasted it. "Oh, Luke," she enthused, "this is incredible!"

Luke smiled to see her so happy. "It was my Mom's recipe. When she was ill, it was all she wanted to eat, so I learned to make it for her."

Lorelai nodded, "It tastes different than when you make it in the diner."

"Yeah, it's the rosemary. I have to use dried for the big batches at the diner. For little batches, I use fresh. It tastes better."

"Well, I have to say that I am very impressed," smiled Lorelai as she sipped her wine, "And the roses are beautiful too."

"Well," Luke tugged his ear, "I can't take credit for those. Babbette brought them over from her garden when she saw me coming in with the groceries."

Lorelai laughed, "Sorry about that."

Luke smiled again, "Yeah well, what are you going to do?"

"So, how is Kirk holding up?" she asked as they continued their meal.

"Who knows with Kirk," replied Luke, "Though I have to say that Lulu seems to really care about the guy."

Lorelai nodded, "Aw, that's sweet. Poor Kirk, though. It must be awful to have your mother go so suddenly like that," she reflected.

"I don't know," Luke reflected, "No, I do know. You want to know what's awful? Watching someone you love waste away in pain. That's awful."

"Oh Luke, I'm sorry, I didn't think," Lorelai told him.

"Yeah well, it was a long time ago now," he said. "But I wouldn't want to do it again. I wouldn't even wish that situation on my worst enemy. Better to go quickly and in your sleep than to suffer, or worse, watch someone you love suffer a prolonged illness."

Lorelai nodded sympathetically at that.

"So, have you heard from Rory again?" Luke asked, trying to brighten the mood.

Lorelai shook her head, "Not yet, maybe sometime tomorrow though."

Luke nodded.

They continued to eat, happy to be together.

Lorelai took a deep sip of her wine. "I think I could get used to this," she purred happily.

"Good," said Luke, "me too."

"Luke, what do you think took us so long?" she asked him seriously.

"I don't know, but I damn glad we're here now."

"Me too," she echoed his words.

They paused for a moment then, and having finished eating, Luke stood and walked over to the table and pulled Lorelai out of her chair.

"Come here," he said, "I want to talk to you."

"Talk? Really?" Lorelai raised her brows.

"Come on," Luke ignored her suggestiveness and pulled her into the living room.

Once they were seated on the sofa and turned in to one another, Luke picked up on of her hands in both of his and stroked it lightly with his thumbs.

"I need to ask you something," he said seriously .

"What?!" Lorelai asked wide-eyed.

Luke smiled, "Calm down, Lorelai..."

Lorelai gulped, "I'm calm. I am perfectly calm. Don't tell me I need to be calm."

"O-okay... I need to ask you something about last night." Luke carefully emphasized the words.

Lorelai took a deep breath, "Oh, last night? Right. Okay. All right: What do you want to ask me about?"

"Well, after I hung up the phone..." he began uncomfortably.

"Very sexy move, by the way," she flirted.

"Uh, thank you, I think," Luke glanced down, "After I hung up the phone, well... you said something. You said something to me, that is..." Lorelai tried to follow his line of reason. "And I know you were upset. And understandably so. I mean, I still get hot under the collar just thinking about your mother. And, before you say it," he lifted a palm to stop the gleeful word about to erupt out of her mouth, "I do not mean hot in any sense of the word 'Dirty'." Lorelai nodded contritely. "I mean angry. I get angry just thinking about her even thinking those things, let alone saying them to you..."

"Luke," Lorelai interrupted, "I don't think this was the point you set out to make."

"No," he sighed, "it wasn't..."

"I told you that I love you, Luke, that's what you want to ask me about, isn't it? You want to know if I really meant it, or if I was joking, or something like that?" asked Lorelai gently.

He looked up at her then, his breath caught, and nodded. Lorelai squeezed his hands with both of hers and looked him in the eye, "Luke, I know it seems crazy... and as my mother will happily point out, I fail at a lot of things like this... But, yes, I did mean it."

Luke let his breath out and smiled at her.

"I mean I have loved you for a very long time," she continued, "I know that now. I really have. But now, it's turning into something else, Luke. It's turning into that feeling that you've never really had before and worry you'll never have again. That 'first time' feeling, the 'it's for real' feeling, only this time it really feels real, you know?"

He nodded, he did know. "I know," her told her.

She smiled then, her eyes tearing a little. "It's corny, I guess," she continued, "but there it is and it's terribly grown up. But it's sure too. And there you are," she beamed at him and lifted a hand to stroke his face. "And you are so good. So damn good. And here I am, just a mess of a woman," she placed her hand over his lips to silence his protest, "But I know things now. I mean after everything that has gone on to get me to this point in my life, I know some things for certain. And I have to add that, backwards as it is, I am terrified. Because there you are, here we are, and it's really starting to feel right, and what if I.... I mean, Luke, God... 'What if'...?"

He pulled her close to him then, "Shhh," he whispered into her hair, "There's no 'What if', because, God, I love you too. For a long time now too, just the way you said, only now it is becoming this whole other thing," he felt her nod into his shoulder, "but no 'What if', Lorelai. Just this and us trying. Okay?"

She lifted her head to look at him, "Man, all I do is cry around you these days," she told him and swiped at her eyes.

"It's okay," he assured her intensely. They gazed at each other a moment then, recognizing the moment for what it was.

"So," said Luke with a smile, "this is pretty big."

"Yes, it is. Big," agreed Lorelai, smiling too.

She lay her head back on his shoulder then and he held her close. And they simply breathed together for awhile and were very content to do so until Lorelai thought of something...

"Luke?" she interrupted their quiet from his shoulder.

"Hmm?" He stroked her hair absently.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the flying pig's snout years ago."

He had to smile at that. "That's okay."

And after another long pause, she thought to ask, "Hey, what about yours?"

"What about my what?" he asked drowsily.

"Your spare key. Where is it hidden?" she clarified.

"Oh, I don't know if I should tell you that or not," he debated.

"What?" she sat up and looked at him indignantly.

"You're not a very trustworthy woman sometimes. I wouldn't want to wake up one morning to a re-decorated diner, or missing ten pounds of coffee, or..." he teased.

"Luke! Damn it! I told you where mine was; Now you tell me where yours is!"

Luke grinned big and wide at that.

"Oh no! Don't... don't say it, I implore you..." she begged.

"You know I've got to," he told her amiably.

"All right, fine, just be quick about it," she grumped.

"Dirty!" he proclaimed with great satisfaction.