Previously in Part 3: The Date

Lorelai got out of the truck, rubbing her arms in the cool air. "Hey, hold on." He pulled out his fishing jacket from behind the seat. Lorelai laughed. "You're cold, take it."

"Luke, it's your fishing jacket."

"It's clean." He said defensively.

"Oh! I'm sure it is, I just meant--I wasn't sure I was allowed to touch it." She folded it over her arms, still hugging herself.

Part 4

Lorelai crept back into the house around midnight, not sure if Rory would even be back yet. She and Luke had stopped for ice cream (and coffee for her) on the way back and now she was wired.

"Mom?" Rory's voice floated out from her room as Lorelai slammed her toe into the bottom step.

"Ow! Uh, yeah?"

Rory appeared behind her and flicked on the lights. "So, how was it?" She crossed to the couch and sat down, patiently waiting for all the details. Lorelai had been afraid of this. Why did it feel so weird to talk about Luke in front of Rory? She shouldn't be embarrassed; she wasn't embarrassed.

"It was really nice," she said calmly. Rory's smile grew wider and wider as she listened to her mom talk about her evening. She could tell this was something special, she hadn't seen her mom this happy in quite awhile.

"Oh, I almost forgot! When we were leaving, Babette was on her porch and I didn't want her to see us so I made up some dumb excuse about prowlers."

"Prowlers? Whaaat?" Rory giggled.

"Yeah, I don't think Luke bought it either."

"Mom, you can't be embarrassed about this. You're happy, why are you hiding it from people? Plus, I'm sure Babette saw his truck over here and there are probably rumors all over Stars Hollow."

"But he could have just been over here fixing something! That's not fair," she whined, knowing she sounded exactly like a five-year-old.

"Mom," Rory said warningly. "You better not screw this up. Like I said before, this is a delicate situation here. If you and Luke fight, well, I think you know--" She broke off. "Want a brownie?"

Lorelai shook her head. "We stopped for ice cream on the way back." Rory looked amazed and Lorelai beamed. "He spoils you."

"Yeah, he really does. It's nice." Lorelai sank back in the chair as Rory regaled her with stories of her evening playing video games. But she realized Rory was right. They had crossed a line. What if something went wrong? Their friendship wouldn't just go back to normal. It would be awkward and awful and—Lorelai didn't want to think about it. She turned on some music as she got ready for bed, remembering instead the smell of his jacket and his hand on hers.

Lorelai stared at her freshly painted toenails and tried to ignore the emptiness of the house closing in around her. My daughter left for Europe today. My best friend is gone for the summer. Glancing at the clock, she hoped it was close enough to a meal time to venture down to the diner. Thankfully it was and she grabbed her purse and keys and flew out the door, anxious to get away from the heavy silence.

Walking to the diner, she realized she could count on one hand the number of times she had been to Luke's that week. Had she unconsciously been avoiding him? She shook it off, convincing herself she was just busy with the inn. But Rory's words still echoed in her head: You can't just date Luke. When you're with Luke, you are with Luke. And if it doesn't work out, it will be really bad for both of us. I mean, how do you feel about this? Do you want to be dating Luke?

As she opened the door to the diner, Lorelai realized her hands were sweaty. Stop that, she thought. Luke frowned at her. "Hey, what's up?"

She let out a deep breath, relieved at the realization that not much had changed in their relationship. He was still there for her when she needed it, just in a slightly different way. She had freaked out over nothing. "I'm just worn out. Rory left this afternoon, I've been running around all week checking on her and making sure the inn is still on schedule." She glanced behind her but the diner wasn't very full. "And I haven't gotten to see you at all." She paused for a moment. "I need you right now," she whispered, leaning forward and capturing his wrist for a second.

Luke studied her for a minute and then nodded. "I'll be there."

"Tonight? I'm going home after this." Lorelai saw the unspoken agreement in his eyes and smiled, sipping her coffee.

As soon as Lorelai walked back in her door, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey," he said.

"I just saw you ten minutes ago."

"I know, I was just calling to check on you. I'm closing early; I should be there in a minute. Are you sure you want me-"

"Don't even finish that question. I'm sitting here in a house all by myself. How can you not come over?"

"Point taken. I'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail." Lorelai bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Oh please tell me you didn't just say that? Where did you get that from?"

Luke groaned. "Stupid Patty has been going around all week saying that, it's her new thing."

"I didn't know you were so susceptible to trends, Mr. Danes." Lorelai laughed.

"Do you still want me to come over?" He threatened.

"I'll be quiet now."

"I don't think you've ever been quiet in your life, Lorelai."

"Have too!" She pouted.

Luke chuckled. "Bye."

"See you." Lorelai had wandered down the hall and found herself standing at the door of Rory's room. She sighed. It hadn't been open since that night. Rory had slept in her bed until she left for Europe. She opened the door and walked into the darkened room. She ran her hand over the books on Rory's bookshelf, stopping in front of the Yale board. Lorelai felt the familiar tightening in her throat and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She slammed her hand on the wall, falling onto the bed where Luke found her a few minutes later, sobbing.

"Lorelai, ah geez." He sank down on the bed, paralyzed for a second. He placed his hand slowly on her shoulder. She flinched under his touch. "Lorelai, come on."

"No," she sniffled. "I'm sorry, I can't—you shouldn't have come."

"Lorelai, tell me what's wrong. Is it Rory?" Luke frowned.

Lorelai couldn't even manage to nod. He sat there silently waiting for her to recover. "Luke, I know I asked you to come, but you shouldn't be here," she finally said. She could see him shaking his head so she tried again, "I want—I need some time. You should go."

"I can't do that."

"Well why the hell not? It's easy, just move your body off the bed, shuffle your feet and open the door. Simple!" As she spoke, she got up off the bed and started to move towards the door herself, but Luke grabbed her wrist. "Luke," she sighed. "Let go of me. It hasn't been a good week. I just want to go upstairs and go to bed."

"Lorelai, why are you acting like this?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, it's not! I realize I know you pretty well, Lorelai, but I'm not a mind reader!" Her face softened for a second and he thought maybe she was going to cave, but instead she swung around and stomped up the stairs. "I'm not leaving!" Luke called after her.

"Fine! Don't expect me to cook you breakfast in the morning!" She replied, slamming her bedroom door behind her. Again, she collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to change before crying herself to sleep.

Luke tried to fall asleep on the couch but had no luck, he kept waking up every hour or so, thinking he heard Lorelai's footsteps on the stairs or her voice in his ear, but whenever he jumped awake, the room was empty. At 4:30 he gave up. He wandered into the kitchen and wrote Lorelai a note: Meet me at the diner tonight at 6:30. No excuses or I'll come find you. We need to talk. Have a good day, Luke.

After she had stumbled down the stairs and noticed the empty couch, she found the note in the kitchen by the coffee maker. Lorelai smiled sadly and slipped the paper into her jacket pocket as she headed out the door. Damn you, Luke Danes.