These characters are not mine. Oh, how I wish Luke was.

Previously: Luke kissed Lorelai. Lorelai kissed Luke. Rory slept with Dean. Lorelai found out. Rory hated Lorelai. Lorelai left, spent night with Luke (not dirty) after Luke chased Jason away forever (YEAAAAHHH!!!!). Rory left for Europe to think. Lorelai and Luke went on a date. Luke came over and watched movies the next night, but left before much happened. Rory called and Lorelai told her she was dating Luke, Rory echoed our sentiments when she said, "About time." Are we all up to speed now? Good, lets move on, shall we?

Tuesday morning- Lorelai's

The phone rings and Lorelai runs over to answer it as she towel dries her hair.

"Hello?"

"Mom?" Rory asks.

"Hey kiddo. How are you?"

"Okay. This trip is not as distracting as I thought."

"Sorry. So, how's grandma?" Lorelai asked to take Rory's mind off of Dean.

"Oh, she good. She misses grandpa, but I think this is what she needs. So, um, how are things there?"

"Hmmmmm, good? Okay better than good."

"Really, do tell. I could use some good news."

"Well, I'm dating Luke." Lorelai blurts.

"Thank God."

"What?"

"Well, it's about time."

"What?"

"The little dance you two have been doing for years around each other was starting to get really old."

"What dance?"

"The 'I don't like you like that but I can't stand to see you with someone else because they are not as right for you as I would be' dance."

"Oh," sighed Lorelai. "That dance."

"So things are going well with you two?"

"Yeah. We are just taking it slowly."

"Mom?" Rory began.

"Yeah?" Lorelai answered.

"Just don't hurt him, okay? He loves you."

"What did you say?" Lorelai demanded.

"Don't hurt him?" Rory answered.

"After that."

"Ohhhh. He loves you." Rory said quietly.

"What makes you think you know that?"

"Mom, everyone knows. He has for a long time. That is what makes this so great."

"Listen Rory, I have to get to the Inn. I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Mom, was it something I said?"

"Nope. No. You didn't say anything at all. Talk to you later. Have fun with grandma. Bye." Lorelai said without feeling as she hung up the phone.

In Europe, Rory sat on the bed, holding the phone in her hand staring at it. Emily walks into the room and asks, "Who was that?"

"Mom."

"Why are you staring at the phone then?"

"She hung up on me."

"Why?"

"I kinda told her Luke loved her."

"The diner man, Luke?"

"Yeah."

"Why would you tell her that? And why would she care? Rory, you make as much sense as your mother sometimes."

"Well, she told me she and Luke are dating now."

"Dating?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then what is the problem with him loving her?"

"Grandma, I have no idea." And with that Rory hung up the phone and stood up to walk out of the room.

Tuesday morning- Luke's

Lorelai walks into the diner and sits at the counter.

"Coffee?" He asks.

"No." Lorelai says

"Are you okay?" Luke asks as he looks into her eyes. "What's wrong."

"I just got off the phone with Rory."

"How is she? Is everything okay with your mom?"

"Rory's fine. My mother's fine. Luke? Where do you see our relationship going?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Do you want to go upstairs and talk about this?"

"If that is what you want," Lorelai responded coolly.

As they walked up the stairs, Luke began to think to himself. "What is going on here? Yesterday we were fine. We laughed, we kissed. Now she talked to Rory and we are about to talk. TALK. What the hell did Rory say?"

"Okay, now that we are in private, will you please answer my question?" Lorelai asked curtly.

"Yeah, I will. After you tell me what kind of bug bit you in the ass."

"Answer me. Where do you see this going?"

"Fine. I see us continuing along like this until we are both comfortable to take it further. Why?"

"How much further?"

"God, what are you talking about?" Luke asks incredulously. "I don't know. That depends on you. Would I be content just to date you forever? No. Would be I content to be friends? No. Will I ever be truly happy until I am truly with you? No. But Lorelai, I don't know what you are asking me or why."

"Rory said you love me, "Lorelai blurted out as she began to cry. "And I don't know how I am supposed to feel."

"You are not supposed to feel anything except what you feel. Jesus, Lorelai, I can't tell you that."

"Do you love me?"

"What?" Luke yelled

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I do. It will be there whether you accept it or not. If you want to run, run. If you need to be scared and freak out and leave, fine. Go. At some point, if this is going to work, you need to open up. You need to let me be a part of your life. Your whole life. Rory, the Inn, your friends, your family, your life. I love you, because you are Lorelai Gilmore. You are beautiful, funny, intelligent, and have more strength than anyone I know. You possess the ability to make my knees turn weak whenever you walk into the room. I know you may not be ready to love me, but I don't care. You are either in this or you're not. You are either with me or not. You can't just have me at your beck and call. You want a guy you can go out with every now and then, talk to about superficial stuff, and then dump after 6 months, fine. I am not that guy. You either let me in your life, your whole life, like I have let you in mine, or this is not going to work. I have laid it all out on the table. I took the risks. I made the move. The ball is in your court now and I am done." Luke then looked at Lorelai as she ran crying down the stairs and out of the diner.

Luke's- Kitchen

"Oh god, did I have to be so harsh. She is going through so much and she is scared." "I'm scared too," Luke voiced in a whisper to himself, "But at least I know what I am scared of. I am scared of losing her."

Lorelai's house-

She went running upstairs into her bedroom. "Think. Don't get emotional. Think! Damn you! How could you let him talk to you like that? What was he talking about? He is mean, don't forget mean." Lorelai flung herself onto her bed and began to cry. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore and she was no longer sad. She got angry then. Angry at the way that he had made her feel. "If he doesn't know how I feel about him by now, then fine. If he wants this to end here, then fine. I'm done too. I don't need you. I don't need your shoulder. AND I don't need your coffee!" She shouted at the walls before she broke down for another round of crying.

For days, Lorelai stumbles through her routine, avoiding the diner. Eating all the Pop-Tarts she owns, not leaving the house unless for work. Luke meanwhile is also in a bad mood, snapping at customers and being completely unreachable. The townpeople all wonder what happened since a few days ago they both seemed to be genuinely happy for the first time in a while.

Friday morning-

As the phone rings, Lorelai wakes up and thinks, "Luke" as she reaches for the phone to answer and says, "Hello?" she hears her father say, "Good, Lorelai. I'm glad I caught you at home. Can you come over tonight for Friday night dinner?"

"Umm, well, I really wasn't planning.." Lorelai began

"Do you have plans already?" Richard interrupted.

"No." Loreali replied.

"Good. I will see you at seven." Click.

Lorelai stood there staring at the phone. "Great. Just what I need. I don't want to talk to anyone. But on the other hand, at least I will be able to eat without going to the diner."

Friday night- Gilmore Estate

"Dad, Hi," Lorelai said, as her father opened the door. "No maid tonight?

"No, just the cook. Come on in. Can I get you a drink?"

"Something strong. I don't really care." Lorelai sighed.

"Is everything okay?" Richard asked her

"Fine, Dad. Just fine. Can't a girl have strong liquor without everyone wondering of something is wrong?" She asked tersely.

"Fine, a strong drink it is," he said as he poured some whiskey in a high ball. "Turkey on the rocks. Enjoy."

"Thank you," she mumbled sipping her drink.

"You can bring your drink into the dining room if you like during dinner," Richard added as he stood up.

"So, Dad, how are you doing?" Lorelai asked trying to get a conversation started.

"Well, Lorelai, that is why I asked you over to dinner."

"Dad, is everything okay?" Lorelai asked, suddenly concerned.

"As you know, your mother has left me. And apparently she felt the need to not only get out of this house but to escape to another continent."

"I feel for you Dad, Rory's with her."

"But you and Rory couldn't have left things the way your mother and I left things." Richard said

"Yeah, Dad, we could. And we did. Rory needed to run away and she too felt the need to not only leave me behind, but all of North America."

"Well then, maybe we do have something in common after all." Richard said as he sipped his drink. "Anyway, I have come to a realization. I want your mother back."

"What made you think of that?" Lorelai asked looking at him.

"Loneliness, Lorelai. It is enough to make a man crazy."

"Apparently." Lorelai mumbled under her breath.

"What?" Richard asked,

"Nothing. Continue." Lorelai covered.

"Well, as I was saying. I love your mother. I always have and I always will. I have neglected her lately and poured myself into my business, but no longer. I don't have the desire anymore to make it my life. I see now how much I missed out on. I want your mother back Lorelai, and I need your help."

"Dad, I am the last person who is qualified to give you advice on love," Lorelai said as her voice broke. "I can't even figure it out myself."

As she broke into sobs, her father got up and walked over to her and they embraced for a minute while he rubbed her back.

"Do you want to tell me about your problem? I think it is probably a little more specific than you are letting on." Richard asked tentatively.

"No. Yes. I don't know. I mean, it's Luke." Lorelai began

"The diner man?" Her father asked.

"Yes, the diner man. Well, we were dating, but then Rory told me he loved me..."

"How did Rory know? Did he tell her?" Her father broke in to ask.

"No, she just knew. She said he had for a long time and that everyone knew but me."

"Well, now, that is something." Her father said with a smile.

"What?" she asked, still crying.

"You admitting not knowing something. Please continue." He told her.

"Well, when I asked him about it, he said he did and he saw that I was freaked out by it and then he got mad and yelled at me and told me to figure out what I wanted and that he wasn't there just to be a 6 months kinda guy, but that he wanted to be with me for the long haul. I just stood there. I could have said something, anything, but I was too mad and hurt, and now it's been days and he hasn't called and he probably hates me and thinks I don't love him, when I think I do." Lorelai said between sobs.

"You love this man?" Richard asked quietly.

"I think so. I get all fluttery around him and I am so scared of messing this up. And now I think I really have." Lorelai said as she tried to breathe.

"Well, how did he leave it?" Richard asked her.

"He told me that when I figure it out and decide that I want him in my whole life, not just a part of it, that I should come back, but not until then."

"Well do you?" Richard said, then seeing her puzzled face he added, "Want him in your whole life?"

"Yes. I do. I can't imagine it without him. Oh Daddy, this hurts so much."

"Good." He replied.

"What? How is this good?" she asked, still teary eyed.

"Because when you two are my age, you won't have to put each other through the hell your mother and I have put each other through recently. To solve your problem simply. Tell him. Go to him and tell him how you feel. Tell him everything and hold nothing back. That is a piece of advice I am qualified to give." He said standing her up.

"But we haven't solved your problem yet." She said as she smiled weakly.

"Oh, I think I solved it myself. I am going to take my own advice. I am going to go to her and tell her. I am not going to hold anything back. This time, it will be different. She will know how much I love her." Richard said forcefully.

"Awww Dad." Lorelai said as she hugged him. "We really are a pair huh?"

"Yeah, now go fix this before it is too late." Richard said, and as Lorelai began walking out he added, "Oh, and I will expect to see this gentleman at a Friday night dinner soon right?"

"Why Dad? So you can make sure he is good enough?"

"No, dear. If he truly loves you then that is good enough for me. Now go."

And with that, Lorelai walked out to her car and drove home as it began to rain