A/N:  Thank you for the multitude of reviews, I'm glad that you are enjoying the story.  I apologize, I don't mean to be keeping everyone in suspense as I have been, hopefully the final few chapters will be uploaded in a timely manner, it's too bad that work gets in the way of writing, ha ha.  Enjoy.

Chapter 8 – A New Connection

Downstairs in the diner, Christopher was wondering what was taking Lorelai so long. He recalled that she had said she was going to find Luke and have him make them something special, but she should have been back by now. After glancing, several times, to the curtain where Lorelai had disappeared to he looked over at Rory. She too kept glancing in that direction, but didn't look concerned about where her mother was as much as worried about why her father was looking in that direction. Finally, it hit him, like a Mack truck. "Rory, your mother is dating Luke isn't she?"

Rory tried not to betray her mother's confidence, but didn't have much of a poker face. She knew that even without answering her father's question he would have his answer. Christopher rose from the table to leave, this new knowledge was too much for him to handle. However, Lorelai came sweeping back into the room just as he was grabbing his jacket. Christopher's eyes were mesmerized by the way Lorelai carried herself, by the way she commanded the attention of the room without even trying. Reluctantly he sat back down. He kept his eyes on the curtained off area and saw Luke emerge into the room a few minutes after Lorelai, confirming his suspicions.

Christopher vowed that he wouldn't let Lorelai go. He knew that Luke wasn't good enough for her and that he could give her so much more than Luke.

A few minutes passed in awkward silence at the table. No one wanted to bring up the subject even though it was on the tip of everyone's tongues. Finally, Luke brought their food and then retreated toward the kitchen. Christopher excused himself and headed in the direction of the bathrooms, but he had no intention of making it there. He intercepted Luke before he made it to the kitchen and made sure he was out of Lorelai's sight. "Diner man," he called out harshly.

Luke heard the words and knew they were meant as an insult. He wanted to ignore them and keep walking for Lorelai's sake, but his body wouldn't let him. He turned toward Christopher but refused to say a word in acknowledgement.

"Bet you feel pretty pleased with yourself right now—dating someone as amazing as Lorelai. But mark my words, it won't last. You're not good enough for her. She has made something great of herself despite everything that she had been through and she needs someone as great as she is ... and Luke, you ain't it."

Luke controlled his desire to punch Christopher in the face. He couldn't believe the hypocritical words emerging from this man's mouth, so instead of physical violence, Luke threw his words back in his face. "As I see it, you were one of the main contributors to the hardships that Lorelai had to overcome. Not only did you get her pregnant at age sixteen, you didn't stick around to help her raise that wonderful girl. You weren't there for them physically, emotionally, or even financially. I don't care what you think of me, you know why, because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to her and it sure as hell doesn't matter to me. I have been there for Lorelai and Rory far more often than you and you can't even mount an argument against that. Lorelai deserves to be happy and the big difference between us is that I can make her happy and you have failed at that for twenty years."

Luke's voice was raised throughout his entire speech and the sounds drifted into the diner causing the customers to hush their conversations in order to listen. Quickly, Lorelai moved to break up the 'discussion.' She moved to stand between Luke and Christopher, amazed that no punches had been thrown. With her back to Luke she looked at Christopher. "Christopher, you need to leave."

"Lorelai, I ...," Christopher tried to protest.

"No," she interrupted, "You need to go now." For emphasis to pointed toward the door.

Rory heard Lorelai's commands and started to pack Georgia up so that her dad could leave as quickly as possible. Christopher hung his head, he knew that he had lost. Had missed his chance to be the one in Lorelai's life and he knew that he did not deserve her. Everything that Luke had said was true and even though he was finally at a place in his life where he could commit to Lorelai, he was too late. He thought about Lorelai and wondered if she really were pregnant. He knew that if she were his last unbreakable connection to her would be lost. He had always had something with Lorelai that no one else had, they had Rory, but now she would have that same connection with Luke and with that thought he turned to leave.

Lorelai remained by Luke's side until Christopher had left the diner. She was glad that Luke had not resorted to fist fighting with Christopher, but didn't know how much longer he could have controlled himself. All eyes in the diner had followed Christopher as he left and then turned back to Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai pulled Luke into the kitchen for sanctuary. She leaned into him and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Christopher. I don't know what ..."

"Lorelai, you don't have to apologize for Christopher. You've been doing that your entire life and you need to stop," Luke offered with sincerity. "He's gone now and we have some things to deal with."

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, we sure do. Meet me upstairs after closing?"

Luke thought about how he still had another couple of hours before he could close and he thought that it seemed liked an eternity to wait to talk to Lorelai about everything. However, he couldn't come up with a better idea so he agreed to meet her upstairs as soon as possible.

Lorelai stepped out of the kitchen cautiously, aware that all eyes would be on her. Bravely she walked back to the table where Rory was still sitting, pretending to be engrossed by the menu. Lorelai sat down and reached for Rory's hand across the table top, "I'm sorry I made your dad leave, I know you didn't get to see him for long."

"No, mom, he needed to leave. He was being horrible." Rory didn't want her mother to feel responsible for her dad's actions. "So ... do you know anything?" Rory didn't know how to bring up the subject and didn't know if her mom would want to talk about it.

Lorelai glanced around and saw that everyone had returned to their own conversations, finally becoming bored of Lorelai's drama. "I need to talk to Luke first, but you'll be the first one I talk to after that, okay?"

Rory grinned, "Yeah, okay." Rory considered the subject closed and proceeded to steer the dinner conversation in other directions.

After dinner, Rory said good-bye to her mother and headed back to Yale while Lorelai headed up to Luke's apartment. She left the lights off and wandered over to Luke's bed. She laid down and thought back to the other time that she thought she was pregnant. She felt so alone and scared. She remembered thinking about how she wanted things to be different. She wanted to be older, married to someone she loved, and most of all excited about being pregnant. She found herself wishing the same things now twenty years later, unmarried, and ambivalent about the situation. Unknowingly tears sprang to her eyes.

Lorelai awoke with a start, she opened her eyes, crusted over from her fresh tears, and tried not to look directly at the offending light that had woken her. Through her squint she saw Luke and she moved over to make room for him on the bed. He sat down next to her looking tired. She pulled on his shoulder and he laid down next to her on the bed. Somehow, she figured the conversation would be easier if they were close, but not looking at each other trying to analyze each others' facial expressions.

Lorelai sighed and spoke, "So, we're pregnant." She heard Luke let out a long breath, one that he had held all night long.

TBC