Chapter 8

..And We Have Contact

Previously:

He was halfway up the stairs when the phone rang in the diner. It was late, past eleven already, and he wondered who would be calling a closed diner at this time of night. He contemplated ignoring it, but a fleeting thought made him pause, and then hurry back down the stairs.

"Hello?"

"Hi," she replied cautiously.

--

Silence reigned as he waited for her to continue, and she waited for him to respond. It was a silence that carried on a moment too long, turning it awkward rather than comfortable. Luke, in a bid to get the conversation moving, asked, "Is there something you wanted?" His words came out sounding harsher than he had intended, and he heard her sigh in resignation.

She chose to ignore his tone, instead trying to bring back the fun and light-hearted side their relationship had always had. "So, we had pancakes for breakfast, burgers for lunch and pie for dessert, and I have to tell ya, it just wasn't the same. Too small, too plain, too cinnamony. I'd say that about sums up the worst parts of our meals. I mean, we did have pizza for dinner, but since you don't serve it, I figured there was no point in mentioning it, but I guess I just did. Mention it. To you. It was good. Not at all overcooked, just the right amount of toppings, not too little, not too.."

"Lorelai," Luke vocalized sternly.

"Yeah?"

"Is there a point or are you just avoiding the real reason you called?"

"I thought the point was obvious, Luke. Except for the pizza, the food here sucks, so I thought that would be something you might like to know, you know, in case you ever decided to franchise the diner, this would be a great place to open one. You'd have to beat the customers off with a stick. Of course, the only problem is that you can't be in two places at once, and not even Caesar can cook as well as you, so Stars Hollow would be missing out on your talent, and the diner would go bankrupt and you'd be right back where you started, only not really, cause you'd be in a whole new town. Maybe you could wait til they perfect the cloning process and.."

"Lorelai," he cut short her babbling yet again, "if you don't get serious in the next five seconds, I'm hanging up this phone."

"Ok, ok. Geez, keep your pants on!" She sighed, realising that he was beyond grouchy, and her usual incessant chatter was serving only to make him even grouchier.

"It's late, I'm tired, I was halfway upstairs when you called." He pushed his cap backwards off his head, turning it in his hands as he settled the receiver between his ear and shoulder.

"Oh.. sorry. I wasn't sure where you'd be, so I took a shot."

"And?"

She took a deep breath, ready to forge ahead, "And I wanted to tell you I got your message, and that I think talking is a good idea."

"Good." It wasn't a smile-worthy situation, but he was glad she'd made the effort to make contact, and that she was doing her best to not hide from it all.

"And um.. I've been doing a lot of thinking here, and I'm not totally sure, but I think I know what I want."

"Good. That's good. So when do you want to have this talk?"

"Um, I don't know yet. I have to see how Sookie's handling the inn. Um, I'll just stop by the diner when I get the chance, ok?"

"Fine." He was anxious, but with her still half a state away, he knew he had no choice but to wait until she was at least back in town.

"Ok, good. Well it's late, you're tired. I'll see you later."

"Goodnight Lorelai."

"Goodnight John-boy, she grinned, unable to resist.

He returned the phone to its cradle and shook his head as he headed for the stairs, hoping this time he'd actually make it up to bed without being interrupted.

---

9 Days Post Kiss, 3pm

With a ridiculous amount of begging from Rory, citing her own withdrawal symptoms from lack of good coffee, Lorelai reluctantly stopped at Luke's on their way home. Rory even refused to be her girl Friday and forced the elder Gilmore to go inside alone.

Naturally, she was relieved when only Lane was behind the counter.

"Lorelai, you're back! Where's Rory?"

"In the car. Hey, when is your shift over?"

"Pretty soon. It's been really dead this afternoon, so Luke told me I could take off early. Coffee?" she replied, already turning for the pot and grabbing two take out cups.

"Yeah, thanks. Listen, I have to go check on the inn, so Rory's gonna be home if you want to come hang out. I'll grab some chinese on my way home and we can binge and purge to our hearts' content."

"Sounds good. Tell Rory I'll be there around four."

"Ok, thanks," Lorelai replied, referring to the steaming cups. See you later," Lorelai smiled, leaving her cash on the counter and grabbing the extra large cups. She was halfway out the door when Luke appeared from the storeroom, immediately surprised to see her there. In his diner. Looking beautiful. He hesitated a moment too long, debating over whether he should stop her. Their phone call the previous night had been awkward, and not a lot was said, but they hadn't yelled, and that gave him courage to want to at least say hi.

She was already standing by the jeep, talking to Rory, so he strode quickly for the door, pulling it open and exiting to the sidewalk. He paused, watching her a moment from only a few feet away. She hadn't seen him yet, and he was glad of the opportunity to take her in. She was dressed casually in a knee length denim skirt, pink candy striped tank, and flip flops on her feet. She looked relaxed, like the time away had done her good.

He took a few quiet steps forward until he was close enough to speak. "Lorelai," he said quietly, his voice coming out raspy, like her name had caught in his throat before tumbling out.

She jumped in fright and turned to him with a scalding reply. "God, don't do that! You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry, didn't mean to. I uh, just wanted to say hi, and see it you've had a chance to figure out when we can have that talk."

She seemed exasperated, like he was a five year old annoying his parents with a barrage of questions. "Luke, give me a chance to settle in, ok? We haven't even been home yet, and I still need to go to the inn. I promise, we'll talk as soon as humanly possible."

He was annoyed by her tone of voice. He had only asked a simple question. "Fine,' he rumbled, averting his eyes and looking back at the diner. "I better get back." He turned and strode back inside before she had a chance to say any more.

---

TBC

Note: sorry this took so long. I think by reading all the other great fics, it makes me feel like it isn't necessary to write my own to satisfy my craving, but I'm not a quitter, so I am determined to finish this! Hope you're all still with me!