Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters

Luke arrived at Lorelai's shortly after 5:00. There was a note taped to the door that said: I'll be back in 5 minutes. Go on in. Lorelai.

Luke went in and put the chocolate cake he brought, on the kitchen table. He felt weird being there without Lorelai. He had been there alone before, but there had always been something to do or fix. He decided to sit at the table and wait for her to return. After about 10 minutes he got bored and started cleaning out his wallet. It was full of receipts and old useless membership cards. At the very back he found some pictures. One was a picture of his parents. One was of his sister and Jess as a little kid, and the last picture was of Lorelai and Rory at Rory's graduation. Luke spread out the contents on the kitchen table and pulled out all the garbage. He got up to throw it in the trash when he heard the door slam open and Lorelai shout, "A little help please!"

Luke quickly dumped the stuff in the trash and went to help. Lorelai had two large bags of take-out, her purse, a couple of movies, four books, and had her cell phone propped up against her ear. Luke quickly grabbed the food and the books from her and she smiled at him as she listened to the person on the phone.

She ended the phone call and followed him into the kitchen, tossing the movies, purse and cell phone on the couch on her way.

"Rory says Hi." Lorelai told Luke before sitting down at the table to undo her boots. Luke was at the counter getting plates and glasses.

"What's she up to today?" asked Luke.

"She had classes all day, so she just got home. She just wanted me to pick up a few of the books she ordered from the library. She also told me that she had 9 messages on her phone from people calling her to tell her about us." Lorelai finished taking off her boots and leaned back in the chair. She glanced at the mess Luke had made on the table. "What's all this?" she asked sifting through the pile.

"Well you were a little longer than five minutes so I decided to clean out my wallet. I'll clean it up." He said walking back to the table.

The little stack of pictures caught Lorelai's eye and she grabbed the m before Luke could clear them away. "Pictures? I just don't see you as a guy who carries pictures in his wallet." She said examining them closer.

"They're just some pictures of my family, can I have them back?" Luke said reaching for them. Lorelai quickly moved them out of reach and continued to stare. "Are these your parents?" she asked looking at Luke. He nodded. Lorelai looked back at the picture, "Your mom was very beautiful."

"I know, now can I please have them back?" he reached for them again, but Lorelai got up and dodged him.

Luke sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Is that Liz and Jess? She was a total hippie! Check out her hair and dress. Strangely it really suits her." Lorelai giggles. "It didn't really suit Jess though did it?" she says flipping it around to show him.

"I've seen it before. He hates that picture." Luke smiled at the picture of Jess with a poncho on, flashing the 'peace' sign at the camera.

Lorelai smiled as she flipped over the picture of her and Rory. "I've never seen this one before, where did you get it?" Luke sees she's distracted and quickly grabs the pictures from her.

"Sookie gave it to me. She said she had tons of them." He said as he put the pictures back in his wallet.

Lorelai was touched as she watched him put the 'family' pictures back in his wallet. "Rory's right you know?"

"What?"

"You ARE a big softy." Lorelai giggled as Luke turned red, mumbled something and went back to stuffing everything on the table back into his wallet.

Lorelai dished up the food she picked up from Al's, and sat back down at the table. Luke filled the glasses with juice and sat down too. "What the hell are we eating?" he asked looking down at his plate.

"It was international grab bag night, so your guess is as good as mine."

Luke poked at his food with the fork then looked up at Lorelai who had already started to dig in, "Do you ever consider the fact that it would be safer to cook your own food at home. At least you know what it is."

"No. I would know what it WAS. The finished product would be a mystery in itself."

They slowly picked away at their meals. Luke was actually surprised to find that whatever it was, didn't taste as bad as it looked. After dinner Luke cleared away the plates and turned to Lorelai. "I brought chocolate cake for dessert."

"Oh.oh" Lorelai said looking pensively at Luke.

"What, oh.oh?"

"You only give me chocolate cake when you have something bad to tell me." Lorelai said eyeing him suspiciously.

"That's not true!" Lorelai lifted her eyebrows at him and he gave in, "Alright. Liz and TJ have plans on Wednesday, it's Caesar's only day off, and Lane can't come in until 5:00." Lorelai didn't say anything so he continued, "I can't find anyone to cover so I don't know if I'll be able to make it to your party." He handed her a piece of the cake.

"Don't worry about it. It wouldn't be your thing anyway." She said taking the cake.

"I should call your mother and let her know."

"Don't call her! She'll try to find me a date." Lorelai stabbed her cake with the fork.

"A date? But she knows you're with me now. Why would she try to set you up?" Luke asked confused.

"Luke, everyone has to be coupled up at these parties, its like Noah's arc or something."

"Really?" Luke silently wrapped up the rest of the cake then turned back to Lorelai. "So what's gonna happen if you show up by yourself?"

"She'll probably scour the room until she finds a guy who came alone and make us sit together." She looked at Luke and noticed he seemed to be scowling. "Hey, its not like I have to marry the guy or anything, I just have to sit there and make boring conversation."

Luke looked back at Lorelai, "I'm sure I can talk Caesar into working."

Lorelai gives Luke a suspicious look. "Don't worry about it."

"No, he owes me one for covering one of his shifts." Luke nodded like it was all coming together in his head.

"Luke, do you not trust me to go alone?" Lorelai asked getting defensive.

"What?" Luke asked confused.

"You seem upset over the thought of me having to sit with someone. It's not like it's the Dating Game or anything. I'm not planning on having a good time."

"That's the reason I want to go. When you tell me about having to go alone, I picture you all dressed up and looking great and sitting miserably at your table having to make conversation with some fat stock broker who smokes cigars and talks about the 'fiscal year'. Luke crouches down in front of Lorelai and takes her hands. "You should have someone to go with."

Lorelai looked back at Luke. "I'm sorry, I was being stupid. Really Luke, if you can't make it I'll be fine."

Luke gives her a quick kiss and gets up, "I'll talk to Caesar tomorrow, but no promises, ok?"

Lorelai nods. "So…" she says changing the subject, "…I brought home some horse movies tonight, to prepare us for riding tomorrow. I got The Horse Whisperer and Black Beauty, your choice." She says getting up and heading to the living room.

"I don't know, the first one I guess." He took his spot on the couch and grabbed the remote.

Lorelai grabbed the movie and put it in the machine. "Turn it to channel 3."

"I know, I know." Luke said flipping through the channels. "Oh hey, it's that trading houses show again." He looked up at Lorelai as she came back to the couch.

She thought it was cute the way he gave her the puppy dog eyes. "Alright we can watch this for a while first." Luke smiled back at her and turned up the TV. Before Lorelai sat down she asked, "Do you want a beer?"

"Yeah sure."

They sat and watched trading spaces for a couple hours before putting in the movie. Lorelai grabbed a blanket out of the closet and snuggled up against Luke's side. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They watched the movie in relative silence until they both drifted off to sleep.