Author's Note: Last time Christopher told Lorelai he was divorcing Sherry and Lorelai got the impression that Christopher still had feelings for her. Rory and Lorelai made up and they all decided to go to Luke's for his famous chocolate chip pancakes. I don't own Gilmore Girls. They are the property of ASP and the WB. Watch the Frog.

Luke walked through the diner and attended to the crowd of regulars, but this morning the diner was emptier than usual. Luke deduced that the people of Stars Hollow were still stuffed from the food they gorged on at the Dragonfly test run.

Luke thought back to the test run and he smiled to himself. It was a smile of mixed emotion- happiness and regret. He was happy because the test run had gone so well. Lorelai had never been more excited about anything. She looked beautiful and she had a glow about her. Not that she didn't always have that special glow. The light in her eyes that seemed to show her youthful energy and her sprite-like spirit.

Luke had also fondly remembered the kiss. The kisses, actually. He still couldn't believe what had come over him but in one instant he had the compulsion to kiss Lorelai, really kiss her. And for once in life he finally acted on impulse and he pulled her close and finally tasted the sweet lips he'd thought about for years. Much to his surprise, she initiated a second kiss and suddenly things clicked. For Luke it felt like what some people describe as phantom limb pain. The pain people can still feel after they've had a limb amputated. For years Luke had felt an ache where he supposed his heart should be. Kissing Lorelai stopped the ache and filled it with a hope and joy that he never knew existed.

But oh the regret. The regret he felt when he thought of what he should have said when Lorelai asked to put things on hold. He wanted to tell her no. He wanted to tell her that they needed to move forward. He was sorry Rory was having a difficult time, but they had waited too long to keep whatever was between them on hold. But he didn't. Instead he resorted to old reliable Luke and agreed with her. He said he was fine with it when in reality he wasn't at all fine. Especially when he saw Christopher.

Christopher was the bane of his existence. There was something about his smile. There was something about the way he proclaimed that 'his girls' needed him that made Luke territorial. He had wanted to ask him who taught Rory how to parallel park when she was 15. He had wanted to ask Christopher where he was when Lorelai's roof leaked and it needed to be repaired. But he didn't. He had really wanted to ask him who made their meals at least five times a week. But he couldn't. He was old reliable Luke. And old reliable Luke didn't rock the boat.

Luke continued to busy himself with the tasks of the morning. Making coffee, wiping tables, running the register, but in the back of his mind he wondered when he might see Lorelai again. He didn't have to wonder much longer.

Lorelai, Rory and Christopher came into the diner laughing and looking, to the casual observer, like a family. Lorelai's head was turned behind her when she entered the diner so she didn't see the brief specter of anguish in Luke's eyes. By the time she turned her attention to Luke he had blinked the pain away. Lorelai pointed to a table and Christopher and Rory obediently walked over to take a seat. Lorelai made a beeline to the counter.

"Hey," she said brightly.

"Hey," Luke replied.

"So, I know Caesar usually does the cooking on Sundays, but Rory specifically asked for your special, fabulous, scrumptious chocolate chip pancakes," Lorelai said buttering him up.

"Sure, no problem," Luke said fidgeting with the rag in his hand.

"Good," Lorelai said. She leaned into the counter as if she wanted to say something private to Luke. "I'm sorry I didn't call you yesterday. I know I said I would, but then things with Rory were so ugh that I didn't. So I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Luke said. He was ashamed to admit that he had waited for her call. When she didn't call he had all these strange thoughts about Lorelai and Christopher. He knew nothing could have happened because Rory was there and that was the only reason Christopher was even around. However, the imagination can play tricks on a person, depraved tricks.

"So are things okay with you and Rory?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah," Lorelai said steeling a glance over to the table. Christopher and Rory were talking and it looked like they were having a good time. "Yesterday I was the Black Death, today I'm a Care Bear."

Luke gave her a quizzical look.

"You know, today she she's all friendly and loving, yesterday not so much," Lorelai explained.

"Right," Luke placated her.

"Are you okay?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm great," Luke lied. "How long is he gonna be around?" Luke nodded his head in Christopher's direction.

"Oh I don't know," Lorelai suddenly got the picture. "He said he'd stay as long as Rory needed him around."

"Well she looks pretty good right now," Luke ventured.

"Yeah she does," Lorelai agreed. "But she has a long way to go."

"Oh," Luke replied. "Well I better get in the back if Rory specifically requested my pancakes."

"Oh, okay," Lorelai said dispirited. She had hoped to talk to Luke a little longer. She was hesitant to admit it to herself, but she missed him. It was ridiculous because it had only been a day since their kiss, but in that moment something clicked in Lorelai's head. She watched Luke turn and walk away when she remembered to add, "And don't forget—"

"Bacon, hash browns and two blueberry muffins," Luke finished for her.

"Right," she nodded with a small grin. She watched Luke walk into the kitchen and she turned to take a seat at the table.

"Chocolate chip pancakes coming up," Lorelai smiled at Rory.

"Thanks Mom," Rory said.

"So how are things going here? It looked like you two were catching up," Lorelai said.

"Yeah, I was just telling Rory about work and Boston and Georgia," Christopher told her.

"I kept meaning to get to Boston to see you more often. I think the last time I saw Georgia was Easter," Rory said.

"Yeah," Christopher agreed. "Well she knows you. Every time she walks past your picture she points and says Rory. It's really cute," Christopher informed her.

"Oh, that's so cute," Rory said excited. "I really have to see her soon."

Just as Rory was finishing her thought Luke came to the table with platefuls of pancakes, bacon, hash browns, sausage and more. With Caesar's help they finally piled everything in the table, including a pitcher of orange juice.

"There you go," Luke said gesturing in presentation.

Christopher looked confused. "We didn't order yet," he said to no one in particular.

"Well Luke knows what we like," Rory said digging into her stack of pancakes.

"True, although the orange juice is a mystery," Lorelai added looking at Luke.

"You need orange juice," Luke said simply. "It helps the immune system."

"Well thank you for caring, but our immune systems are just fine. They run on coffee and chocolate milk," Lorelai told him.

"And today they can run on orange juice," Luke smiled.

Lorelai crinkled up her nose and gave in by pouring Rory a class of orange juice from the carafe.

"Okay," Luke said satisfied. "If you need anything else, let me know." He turned to walk back to the counter.

"What? He won't just instinctively know when you need something? The bat signal won't go up?" Christopher mumbled snidely.

Luke heard his comment and stopped dead in his tracks. Lorelai shot Christopher a look and glanced at Luke to find he was just about to turn around. Heading him off at the pass she quickly jumped up from her chair, planted a firm hand on Luke's shoulder and steered him toward the store room.

"Excuse us a minute," Lorelai said hurriedly as they walked away.

Lorelai led Luke into the storeroom and shut the door behind them. Neither of them spoke for a moment, but Lorelai could tell Luke was fuming. It was a simple, if not rude comment, but Lorelai had a feeling that Luke's reaction had a lot more to do with pride and territory than anything else.

"Christopher was out of line with that comment," Lorelai finally broke the silence.

"Yeah well he's entitled to his opinion," Luke replied bitterly crossing his arms over his chest.

"You don't have to like it," Lorelai said inching closer to Luke.

"You're right I don't," Luke agreed.

"And I get why you don't like Christopher," Lorelai said still advancing.

"I like him just fine," Luke said gazing at the floor.

"Hey," Lorelai said finally standing within arms-length of Luke. She took her hand and placed it on his chin, forcing him to look her in eyes. "I know you don't like him and it's okay. He's Rory's Dad and I know that's probably a little weird for you."

"Please, I didn't think a stork dropped Rory down your chimney. I've seen Christopher before. He's not a bad guy," Luke tried to lie.

"I know, but before when you saw him things with us were different," Lorelai replied. Now it was her turn to avert her gaze and avoid a serious talk. 'Why couldn't it be like the night at the Dragonfly?' she thought to herself. That night they were able to lay their cards on the table and they didn't fear repercussion. They didn't fear what their feelings might mean.

"They're no different now," Luke said.

His comment shocked Lorelai. "They're not?" she asked dumbfounded.

"No, they're the same as before. You said the other night that we shouldn't move forward. I thought we were on hold," Luke told her simply. The way he saw things, on hold meant that they would just go on like before and ignore everything that had happened between them from the wedding on.

"I didn't think on hold meant just go back to how it was before," Lorelai explained.

"Well then what does on hold mean?" Luke asked confused.

"I thought it meant that we just wouldn't go any farther than what already happened," Lorelai replied cryptically.

"What the hell does that mean?" Luke asked perplexed. It was his turn to be confused.

Lorelai, normally calm and in control, now seemed flustered and flighty. She couldn't understand why it was so hard for her to tell Luke that she wanted to continue what they started with the dating and the kissing, but anything beyond that was too much for the moment. She stood there looking at his gentle, honest face and she knew that her inability to tell him what she meant was hurting him. It was the last thing she wanted to do.

Before Lorelai knew what she was doing she had advanced toward him even closer than before. She grabbed his face with her hand and pulled his lips toward her own. Luke instinctively advanced forward and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer to him. Their bodies were pressed tightly against each other as their lips connected in the heat of passion. Lorelai threw both arms around Luke's neck and they were lost in each other.

Amid the fervor of their kiss they hadn't realized that they were moving. Lorelai was walking backward and Luke forward until he absently pushed Lorelai against the shelves in the storeroom. Her back was pressed again the cold metal and it felt good as she kissed Luke hungrily. Luke realized that he had backed her into the shelving and immediately pulled back.

"Sorry," he said apologetically. "I didn't mean to—"

Before he could finished his thought Lorelai had pulled him forward again to finish what they had started. Moments later, breathless, they parted and just stared at each other.

"Wow, okay that wasn't what I was expecting," Luke said as he picked up his baseball cap from the floor and arranged it on his head.

"Me either," Lorelai admitted.

"You started it," Luke replied like a five-year-old.

"No, that isn't what I meant," Lorelai said. "I mean, it's what I meant, but...ahhhh," she sighed. "You get me so flustered I can't even form a complete sentence!" Lorelai let out in frustration at her inability to communicate.

"I do?" Luke smiled at her. He was obviously pleased with his affect on her. At one time Luke thought that Lorelai was the only one with the bewitching power between them.

Lorelai reached forward and slapped him playfully. "Yes, okay? Are you happy that I turn into a babbling idiot when I'm around you?"

"Maybe," Luke gave her that same wicked grin. He sat down on the edge of the table in the middle of the room.

"Thanks a lot!" she exclaimed good-naturedly.

"So can I ask what that was about?" Luke ventured.

"Well Kirk interrupted us the last time so I owed you one," she said sitting next to him.

"Who would've thought I'd actually thank Kirk for running naked through the town?" Luke chuckled.

"But seriously, when I said I thought we should put things on hold I didn't mean go back to how things were. I meant we should do the date thing that we talked about. And I meant that this kissing we have going is really great too. But anything beyond that right now is just too much," Lorelai explained finally.

"Lorelai," Luke said quietly, "I'm not asking you to marry me. I just want to go out with you, share a meal with you, just be with you."

"You're not asking for marriage now, but get a few drinks in ya and you're the Elizabeth Taylor of Stars Hollow," Lorelai elbowed him playfully in the stomach laughing.

"Ha, ha," he turned his face to her and said good-naturedly.

They stared at each other for moment and Luke quickly leaned in and gave Lorelai a soft lingering kiss.

"So feel better now?" Lorelai asked him placing her hand over his.

"Much," Luke admitted.

Luke was just about to lean in again when the door to the storeroom opened and Christopher came walking in. Lorelai and Luke, behaving like guilty teenagers dropped each other's hands and stood up quickly.

"Lore we need to go," Christopher said plainly.

"Is Rory okay?" Lorelai said rushing over to Christopher.

"We just need to go," Christopher said. Lorelai followed Christopher out of the storeroom leaving Luke alone to think about what had happened. Even though she'd made an abrupt exit Luke was confident that she was ready for whatever was to happen between them.

"Chris, what's going on?" Lorelai whispered as they walked back out front.

"Dean paged Rory and then we saw Lindsey outside the diner. I think it's too much for her. She's got a lot of guilt right now," Christopher said.

"Got it," Lorelai nodded.

Christopher turned to look at Lorelai again. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm great, why?" Lorelai replied.

"I don't know, you look flushed or something. It's almost like you have a rash," he told her.

"Where?" Lorelai asked, stopping.

"It's not bad, but your face and your neck look really red," Christopher said.

Lorelai knew immediately why she was red. She was going to have to have a talk with Luke about the length of his manly stubble the next time they spoke.

"I'm fine. Let's just go help Rory," Lorelai said and she walked back into the diner with Christopher.

TBC