Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with me through this story. I wasn't sure where it was going in the beginning, but I'm pretty satisfied with where it has ended up. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I have an idea for a short fan fic rolling around in my head. Hopefully you'll see it soon. Until then...I still don't own Gilmore Girls or this song...

Utopia by Alanis Morissette...

This is utopia this is my utopia
This is my ideal my end in sight
Utopia this is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate...

Lorelai was awoken by the sound of a hammer pounding wood the next morning. She groggily rolled over and tried to muffle the sound by pressing a pillow tightly to her head until she realized that it impaired her ability to breathe. Finally she groaned and threw her pillow to the floor. She sat up and realized that the pounding was coming from outside her window, which seemed impossible because her bedroom window was on the second floor.

Lorelai dragged herself out of bed and rubbed her eyes as she made her way to the window. Sure enough she saw Luke, on a ladder, hammering away at the windowsill. Luke caught a glimpse of her and smiled. Lorelai gave him a half-smile that indicated she was less than thrilled with his early morning visit. She knelt down by the window and opened it.

"Morning," Luke smiled when she finally had the window open.

"Good observation," Lorelai said grumpily. "You do realize it's 6:30 a.m. right?"

"Yes, I do," he said congenially. "It's 6:30 on a Friday and I don't have to be to work until 9," she tried to politely tell him.

"Right," Luke said as he seemed to be fidgeting with something.

"Which happens to be two-and-a-half hours before I have to be to work and about and hour-and-a-half before I need to be awake," she told him.

"Here," Luke said finally producing the item with which he was struggling.

Lorelai saw the thermos and knew instantly that although Luke woke her up he came bearing coffee, which she gratefully poured into the small plastic cup.

She took a long sip and finally said, "Have I told you I love you?"

Luke smirked a little and replied, "I love you too." He put his hand over hers when he said it and Lorelai got a small shiver up her spine. It was ridiculous that Lorelai should still feel so excited and unsure when Luke touched her, but the feeling would never get old, of that she was certain.

"So, I have had many dreams, fantasies, illusions of a man coming to greet me at my window like Rapunzel, but never once did this dream/fantasy/illusion include him waking me up at 6:30 in the morning with a hammer," she said sipping her coffee.

"Well you remember earlier this winter when I came to fix your window and I used your bedroom window to get in?" he asked.

"Oh yes, the now infamous drunken Barbie Band-Aid incident, how could I forget that one," she teased him.

"Well I cracked part of your windowsill when I came in and I thought it was about time I fixed it," he informed her.

"At 6:30 in the morning?" she asked again.

"Yes," he replied.

"Luke," Lorelai said. "What?" he asked innocently.

"6:30 in the morning, that's what! What's going on?" she asked him again.

"Nothing," he replied evasively looking down.

"Luke," Lorelai continued to pry.

"Fine, this is so stupid, but I had this dream last night and it scared me and it was about you and I really needed to see you this morning. I knew if I knocked on the door you'd just ignore it so I remembered I had to fix your ledge," he admitted finally. He looked down, intently studying the new windowsill.

"Luke," Lorelai said sympathetically reaching her hand through the window to lift his chin up so he was looking at her. "I'm fine. I'm great. Well actually I'm sleepy, but everything is okay."

Luke took Lorelai's hand from his cheek and lightly kissed the top of her hand. "I know, I told you it was stupid," he said trying to dismiss his concern.

"It's not stupid," Lorelai told him. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really," he replied.

It was clear he was embarrassed to have come over because of a dream, but when he woke up he was terrified. His dream had been so vivid that he couldn't be sure it didn't actually happen. He tried to go about his business at the diner, but the moment Caesar came in Luke took off for Lorelai's. He had to see her, touch her, hear her voice, to know that things were really okay.

Lorelai looked at Luke for a minute hoping he would change his mind about telling her. She didn't want to push him, but she was curious about what happened.

"It might help you feel better if you tell me about the dream," she decided to push him.

"We were at the lake swimming and all of a sudden you were floating farther and farther away from me and at first it was like a game, you were laughing, but then it got too deep and you couldn't swim. You were screaming to me to help you but I couldn't get to you because there were all these people in the way. And finally you disappeared under the water and I lost you."

"There were people watching me drown? Who were they? I want names and the list better not include Rory, Sookie or Jackson," Lorelai tried to jest.

"It wasn't funny. It scared the hell out of me. It was so real," he said.

"I know. I'm sorry," Lorelai said sympathetically. "But I'm fine, see," she said standing up and giving him a small twirl.

Luke smiled softly. "I know," he replied.

"Come in here," Lorelai said.

Luke clumsily threw a leg over the ledge and Lorelai helped pulled him into the room. Lorelai's foot got caught around a cord on the floor and she fell backward pulling Luke through the window and on top of her.

"Ow!" she tried to laugh as Luke came crashing down upon her. Luke looked down at Lorelai and brushed the hair from her face.

"See," she said softly, "I'm okay."

"I'm glad," he smiled brightly at her before he swooped into kiss Lorelai forcefully on the lips. He gathered her up in his arms and pulled her close to him. Their bodies melded into one and not a speck of light shown through their embrace.

Lorelai moaned softly as Luke's hands made their way down her face, her neck and torso. She hungrily pulled Luke's face even closer to her own. Their tongues did a risky tango as they roved through each other's mouths. Luke moved his lips to the crook of her neck and Lorelai leaned forward.

"Luke," she whispered breathlessly. "I have a bed," she breathed.

Without hesitation Luke scooped Lorelai up in his arms and gave her a wicked grin as he gently placed her on the bed. He hovered over her as Lorelai swiftly peeled off his shirt. She ran her fingers lightly across this chest and once again Luke was on top of Lorelai and they touched and kissed and got reacquainted with each other all over again.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting that this morning," Lorelai said breathlessly as she lay next to Luke, her head resting on his shoulder.

"This wasn't my motivation for coming over this morning, but it was a nice perk," he admitted wrapping his arm around her.

"You know, I have to admit that if I have to be awake at 6:30 in the morning, this is how I want to wake up," Lorelai told him giving his shoulder a light kiss.

They laid there for a moment catching their breath and basking in the glow of each other. "So, are you feeling better about your dream now?" she asked him after a moment.

"Much," he told her.

"Good," Lorelai smiled. "Me too. Now let's just hope Babette didn't see you come in through my window or we're gonna have some 'splaining to do," Lorelai added in her best Ricky Ricardo impersonation.

It was lunchtime and Rory was supposed to meet her mother at Luke's for lunch. She sat at a table with her back to the window and waited. Lorelai was never punctual so waiting for her wasn't a big surprise. Rory was surprised when Lorelai wanted to go to lunch. Usually she didn't say much of anything in the morning, especially Friday morning. However, this morning she seemed to be in an unusually good mood. Luke had brought Rory a cup of coffee while she waited. She heard the bells above the door jingle and James walked in. James walked in with a girl.

Rory sat quietly at her table as she watched James walk over to the counter and talk to Luke. He had his arm around the waist of a raven-haired girl. Rory strained to hear what they were saying, but it was lunchtime and the noise in the diner was louder than usual.

Lorelai walked into the diner and scanned the crowd for Rory. She spotted her at a table by the window and she walked over and took a seat.

"Hey," she said pulling out her chair and taking a seat. Lorelai noticed the absent look in Rory's eyes and asked, "What are we looking at?" She followed her daughter's gaze to the counter where she saw James talking to Luke. Lorelai also noticed the brown-eyed girl that seemed to be a close friend of James.

"I see, so you're just friends right?" Lorelai said. That seemed to snap Rory out of her reverie and she turned her attention to her mother. "We are just friends. I mean, we're acquaintances. He didn't tell me he had a girlfriend, so I guess that would mean we're not the kind of people who share personal things," Rory said with a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"Well, maybe she's just a friend," Lorelai replied glancing again at James and the girl.

"Fine, he should have friends," Rory said.

"Yes he should," Lorelai agreed. "I wonder if all his friends are that tall though?" Lorelai asked. "She seems tall don't you think? Like an Amazon woman or something," Lorelai said trying to make Rory feel better. "I mean that girl should be a shot-putter. Maybe she is a shot-putter! See, nothing to worry about. She'll be shipping out to Athens in a few weeks and bye-bye Amazon woman."

"Mom," Rory protested.

"What? I'm trying to make you feel better," Lorelai told her.

They both watched James and the raven-haired, brown-eyed, Amazon woman leave the diner and walk down the street. Rory tried to not to follow them with her eyes, but she couldn't help it.

"I feel fine," Rory said. "I am hungry though. Where is Luke?" Rory said scanning the diner.

"Yeah I know, where is Luke?" she asked exasperated.

Suddenly Luke appeared behind her with a cup of coffee and a plate of curly fries. "I'm right here," he said as he set the plate and cup on the table.

"These aren't ours," Lorelai said pointing to the fries.

"Yes," Luke replied. "They are. This place is packed and James is running late so you're gonna have to wait a little while for your food."

"And you brought us fries to tide us over?" Lorelai said touched.

"Yeah," Luke said quickly looking around the diner. "So what do you want for lunch?"

"Don't I have the best boyfriend?" Lorelai asked Rory as they dug into the plate of fries. "Isn't he thoughtful and caring and accommodating and—"

"Lorelai, order please," Luke asked briskly.

"Burger and fries," she said handing Luke the menu.

"Same," Rory agreed popping a fry into her mouth.

"Thank you," Luke said rather frazzled as he walked away from the table.

"Isn't my boyfriend the most irritated, gruff, Jekyll and Hyde type boyfriend ever?" Lorelai grinned as she watched Luke walk away.

"He's multi-faceted," Rory said.

"So another free Friday night," Lorelai said. "What should we do?"

"I don't know," Rory said. "I'm getting used to not having to go to dinner though. Are they having a movie in the park tonight?" "Oh yeah, I think they are," Lorelai said excitedly. "I love no Friday night dinners. I really want my parents to get back together, but the longer it takes the better."

They sat there for a moment and ate a few more fries when Lorelai saw Andrew sit down. She had something to ask him about a conference he was planning at the Dragonfly so she left Rory for a moment. Rory was gazing absently out the window when James approached the table with their plates of food.

"Two burgers and fries," he said happily placing the plates down.

"Thanks," Rory said coldly.

"You're welcome," James said. "So how are you today? No small talk? All out of witty repartee?"

"No, you're busy," Rory replied impersonally.

"Come on, I'm never to busy to kick your Yale ass with my Harvard intellect," he prodded.

"Who was your friend?" Rory finally asked.

"Jacqueline?" James scoffed. "She's a friend from Boston. She was on her way to Hartford and she stopped by to say hello," James informed her.

"Close friend you have there," was Rory's curt reply.

"She is," he agreed, ignoring her tone. "I've known her since we were four."

"That's nice," Rory said through her teeth. 'Why are you being so confrontational?' Rory thought to herself. She didn't know what had come over her. She wasn't interested in James, but seeing him with that girl made her insanely jealous. Maybe she was interested him after all.

"Yeah, she's a great person. We used to have competitions to see who could read a paperback with as few binding creases as possible," James reminisced.

"Great," Rory said trying to be polite, but failing miserably. "Well my food's getting cold so...," Rory said hoping he'd get the hint.

"Have I said something to make you mad?" James asked suddenly acutely aware of Rory's open distain for him at that moment.

"No, nothing," Rory said.

"Cause you seem mad," he persisted.

"Well I'm not," Rory replied. "I just don't have time to relive your glory days with Jacqueline back in Boston okay?"

"Fine," James shot at her with obvious anger.

"Good," Rory said feebly as he stomped away.

Lorelai walked up to the table after observing the interaction between Rory and James. She sat down and started to garnish her burger.

"So...that was weird," Lorelai said after a moment.

"I don't like him," Rory said definitively before Lorelai could interrogate her.

"Okay," Lorelai said chewing a bite of her lunch. "But see, you kind of acted a little jealous just now so..."

"Well I'm not," Rory protested.

Lorelai put her hands up in surrender. "Okay," she replied and continued to eat.

James came back into the kitchen and yanked the dishrag he has sloppily slung through his belt loop. He angrily threw it into the sink and grabbed a new one.

"Hey, you alright?" Luke asked seeing his obvious foul mood.

"Yeah, great," was James's sullen reply.

"Did someone give you a hard time out there?" Luke asked.

"You could say that," James replied waiting for his next order.

Luke glanced through the doorway and noticed that Rory and Lorelai had their food. He guessed that James' present mood had something to do with Rory.

"Those Gilmore girls are something else," he said nodding quickly to their table. "They'll drive you crazy sometimes."

"No kidding," James replied bitterly.

"But, I'll let you in on a little secret," Luke said leaning closer to James. "Half the time it's because they're confused and they don't know what they want. Sometimes you need to give them a little push in the right direction," Luke said.

"Meaning?" James asked, interested.

"Look, take it for it's worth, but Lorelai and I would fight all the time. Our most heated arguments usually had to do with someone she was dating or someone I was dating. But, it all boiled down to the fact that we liked each other and we were jealous," Luke confided in him.

"Well I don't like Rory," James protested a little too eagerly.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that kid," Luke said patting him on the back and smirking as he went back out into the diner.

James stared out the doorway and saw Rory eating lunch with her mother. He didn't know her that well but he wanted to know her. He wanted to know everything about her. Did he like her? Only time would tell.

"Isn't funny how things change?" Lorelai was telling Rory as Luke made his way to their table. "Two months ago I was single, my parents were on the verge of divorce, you weren't even in the country and now everything just seems so different."

At that moment Lorelai's cell phone started to play the Mexican Hat Dance at an annoyingly loud level. She fished through her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She was just about to answer it when Luke came up behind her.

"Out," he said pointing to the door.

"Oh please," Lorelai said defiantly.

"I'm serious, out," he said taking her by the arm and escorting her out of the diner.

"Unbelievable," Lorelai said is shock as she was escorted outside.

Luke shut the door behind her waving a smart-ass wave and she stuck her tongue out at him as she answered her phone. "Hello?"

"Lorelai, good, I thought weren't going to answer," said Emily.

"Mom," Lorelai said surprised. "I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Well I've been quite busy," Emily replied happily. "I have a life you know."

"Of course you do Mom," Lorelai replied trying to suppress the giggle that was creeping up upon hearing her mother had a life. "So, how's Dad?"

"Your father is fine. He's at the office today, but we had a lovely lunch at Andre's," Emily gushed.

"Oh, well that's great Mom," Lorelai said sincerely. "I'm glad things are working out."

"Yes, well that was part of the reason I called," Emily continued. "I moved back home so if you need to reach me that's where I'll be."

"Wow, that's terrific," Lorelai beamed. "I'm happy for you."

"Thank you," Emily replied.

"How are things with Rory? Is she feeling better about Dean?" Emily asked.

"Uh, yeah," Lorelai responded. "I think it's safe to say that she's definitely over him now."

"Well good. Rory is such a lovely girl. I hated to see her feeling so horrible," Emily said. After a beat she added, "And how is Luke?"

Emily had a knowing hint of satisfaction every time she asked Lorelai about Luke. Emily had become fond of saying she always knew they would end up together. She seemed to forget the part of the past when she expressed reservations about Luke and Lorelai being together.

"Luke is fine," Lorelai said blushing a little, but smiling at the same time.

"Things are good then?" Emily asked.

"Things are great," Lorelai admitted.

"Excellent, then I look forward to seeing you all at dinner tonight," Emily slipped Friday dinner quickly into the conversation.

Lorelai was standing outside Luke's when Dean passed her and entered the diner. He was alone, but he walked quickly to the counter and he didn't make any attempt to wave or say hello to Rory. Lorelai was so preoccupied watching him that she almost missed Emily's dinner comment. Almost.

"What?" Lorelai sputtered out.

"It's Friday night Lorelai," Emily said matter-of-factly.

"Mom we haven't had a Friday night dinner in months," Lorelai said.

"I'm aware of that Lorelai that is why your father and I will see you and Rory and Luke at dinner tonight. Seven o'clock sharp," Emily requested.

"Don't you think this is a little last minute," Lorelai tried to protest. "I'm not even sure Luke can come. Rory and I had plans."

"Well I'm sure your plans can wait," Emily said. "If Luke can't make it this week then I expect I'll see him next week."

"Mom," Lorelai started to formulate her objection to this demand.

"Lorelai, does Rory still go to Yale?" Emily asked simply.

"Yes," Lorelai grumbled.

"And, please correct me if I'm wrong, but does she not still borrow money from your father and me for her education?"

"Yes," Lorelai sighed.

"Well then I still get my Friday night dinners then don't I?" Emily said haughtily. "See you at seven," Emily said and hung up before Lorelai could say no.

Lorelai walked back into the diner and threw herself into the chair. Luke walked over to the table and said, "Thank you for obeying the cell phone rule."

"Yeah and I thought being your girlfriend would have perks, but no, just as before I'm callously tossed out into the summer heat to melt and talk to my mother," she emphatically. Lorelai looked at Rory and added, "Remember how I said everything was different, well it's amazing how things can change, yet stay exactly the same." Lorelai gave Luke a pointed look.

"How is Grandma?" Rory asked interested.

"Oh she's back and in rare form," Lorelai said as Luke refilled her coffee. "We have to go to dinner tonight."

"Have fun," Luke chuckled.

"Oh, don't be so cocky my friend because your presence was requested as well. Except with Emily, it's not so much a request, but a command."

"Me?" Luke said a little nervously. "Why me?"

"It looks like you're getting inducted into the family," Rory giggled. Lorelai joined in and the two laughed as Luke shook his head. He looked tense.

"Don't forget, we have to be there at seven sharp," Lorelai called as Luke walked past Dean behind the counter.

"And don't forget to wear a tie," Rory added.

They sat at their table laughing like two schoolgirls as Luke walked in a daze passed James.

"Everything okay?" James asked.

"Great, just great," Luke replied. "They'll drive you crazy sometimes," Luke mumbled under his breath.

"But maybe they're worth it," James said quietly.

He hadn't spoken very loudly and he didn't think anyone had heard him but all that changed when he heard two voices respond, "They are."

Luke and Dean exchanged a knowing look. One had longed for a Gilmore girl and finally got his chance. The other had had his chance and had done things that were almost irreparable. Luke and Dean nodded a manly nod and all three men glanced over at the table that sat Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. They were laughing and smiling and all was right in Stars Hollow. So much had changed in the last few months and all that was left in their collective memories were the remnants of the night.

The End.