Thank you guys, for all your reviewing. I love to get reviews. YAY! :)
Sorry that it took me so long to post the next chapter but I was kind of busy with studying for an exam. But inbetween my study breaks I found some time to continue with my story. I really hope you like this chapter. Please read it and tell me what you think.
Enjoy! :)

xxxxxxx

Chapter 13

Later on

Lorelai stood in front of Rory's school, leaning against the side of her car while she sipped her coffee, holding a second cup in her other hand.

She was a little too early but she could wait a few minutes. At least she had her coffee.

With a glance at her watch, she noticed that it was five and she wondered if Luke would be home by now. So she decided to call at home to check her answering machine for any messages. When she turned around to place the too cups of coffee on the top of her car, Lorelai didn't notice a man coming up behind her, tipping on her shoulder.

With a jump she turned round and looked up at him, "Max." she said, placing a hand on her heart. "Geez, you're giving me a heart attack here."

"I'm sorry." Max said, smiling and looked at her. "Hi."

"Hey." Lorelai smiled back at him. "What are you doing here? Oh well, stupid question. Of course I know what you're doing here." She laughed.

"Yeah." He looked on the floor and back into her eyes, "And… how are you?"

"Oh well, I'm fine, thanks." She shrugged. "You?"

Max nodded, "Same here." He hesitated for a moment before he continued. "So, you're waiting for Rory?"

"Yep. Her class should be over by now." She told him, well aware of the awkward situation between them.

"Yeah, it should."

"So…" Lorelai continued after trying to think about a topic to talk about. "You straightened everything out with headmaster Charleston ? I mean, the last time we talked you told me something about being on probation?"

"Yes, but I think he appreciates to good job I'm doing."

"So everything's okay now?"

"Yes, everything's fine."

"So you haven't kissed any other mothers on parenting days or something and got caught by Paris ?" Lorelai asked, a small smile forming on her lips.

"No." Max shook his head, laughing.

"Learning from your mistakes is always a good thing." She shifted from one foot to the other.

"Uhm, I wouldn't say…" Max started.

"Mom." Rory shouted, heading towards them.

"Rory. Finally. What took you so long?"

"Paris ."

"Oh. Yeah, I should've known." She handed her the cup of coffee.

"Thanks." She took a sip and wrinkled her nose. "It's cold and it's not Luke's."

"No, it's not. It's from a café here in Hartford ." Lorelai explained, shrugging.

"Oh, okay." Rory said and noticed Max. "Oh, Mr. Medina."

"Hi Rory." He greeted her friendly.

"Okay, I think we should go now." Lorelai opened the door of her car to climb in.

"Uhm, Lorelai…"

"Yeah?" she said, looking over her shoulder.

"Is it okay if I call you… I mean, sometime?"

"Max, I…"

"We could go for a coffee or something." Max offered, smiling.

"I don't think that…"

"Just if…"

"Max, I'm seeing someone." Lorelai said, looking at him.

"Oh, okay." Max nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry."

"No, why? There's no reason to be sorry. I'm sorry because I was the one who ended this. I mean, of course you continued with your life. Why wouldn't you?"

"I really didn't see this one coming. It… it just happened…" Lorelai told him, a smile playing on her lips.

Max nodded slowly, "Do I know him?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not." He let out a prolonged sigh and looked back into her eyes, seeing the happiness there. "I'm glad you found someone who can make you happy, Lorelai. I wished it would have been me but…" he said, shrugging. "…maybe this between us… wasn't meant to be."

"It's not that what we had meant nothing to me. We had a great time, hadn't we?"

"I would say so."

"See. Okay, uhm…" she opened the door of her car again, still facing him. "…I think we should go now."

"Okay. Bye Lorelai."

"Bye Max." she looked at him one last time before she climbed into her car.

"You okay?" Rory asked, looking at her.

"What? Yeah, sure. It's just…" she fastened her seatbelt and turned to look at her daughter, "…that was weird."

"I guess. You wanna talk about it?"

Lorelai watched Max climbing into his own car and driving away. Then she turned back to Rory, "Max is so nice."

"I know."

"And I like him."

"I know." Rory repeated, nodding.

"We had a lot of fun when we were together. I enjoyed our time so much. I really did. But this whole situation a few minutes ago, made me realize something."

"And what?"

"That… that despite the fact that we had so much fun together, I can definitely say now that… I didn't have feelings for him. No, wrong. Maybe I had but you can't compare them to the feelings I have now… for…" she stopped and took a deep breath.

"Luke?" Rory asked, carefully.

Hesitantly, Lorelai nodded, smiling. "Yeah, for Luke."

Rory's smile widened.

"I mean, I never thought this would happen. Luke and I. But every time when he's looking at me, I feel all these butterflies in my stomach." She touched her belly. "Which is so weird because it's not that he didn't look at me before. He definitely did. And he did it everyday. I mean, he's my coffee man, isn't he?" Lorelai grinned.

"Our. He's our coffee man." Rory corrected her.

"Oh, you're right, hon'. Then when he's touching me, I feel my knees weaken. And when he's holding me in his strong arms it feels so good… I feel so safe then. So incredibly safe. God, Rory. You have no idea how strong he is. His arms are like… wow! So muscular. You wouldn't believe it under all this flannel."

"So you looked under all this flannel?" Rory asked, grinning.

Lorelai opened her mouth, "Dirty!"

"What?" Rory shrugged, laughing. "Just asking."

"That's my daughter." Lorelai grinned. "But you know what's really bugging me?"

"No, what?"

"This whole thing with Rachel. I had some kind of small talk with her today at the Diner and she seems to be really nice. Actually."

"And where is the problem?"

"That Luke still hasn't told her about us. And I really don't know what takes him so long to tell her. It shouldn't be that hard unless… well, unless he still has… you know… some kind of…"

"No. No no no no NO! Don't say that. Don't even think that. We all know that's not true. Even a blind one could see that Luke's totally in love with you. For years already." Rory said.

"Then why is it so hard for him to tell her the truth when he's so sure about his feelings?"

"Well, maybe because he still cares about her. Don't forget that they're sharing a long past. Maybe he's just trying to find a good moment to tell her everything."

Lorelai let out a prolonged sigh, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Of course I am."

Suddenly, Lorelai's cell phone rang and Rory handed it to her. "Well, well…if that isn't your muscular flannel man."

Lorelai grabbed the phone and looked on the display. With a smile she took the call. "Hey."

"Hey."

"So, where are you?"

"At the Diner."

"Really? I didn't expect you would be back that early." Lorelai said, smiling.

"Neither did I."

"I hoped you would take Bert and break into my house in the middle of the night. Like you told me in the morning." She reminded him, grinning.

Luke had to grin at that, too. "I know but we worked pretty fast so I was able to come back earlier." He told her.

"Because you missed me and wanted to come back as soon as possible?" she asked him in a voice like a three year old.

"And what if?"

"Then I'd say that I'd like that and… that I missed you too."

Luke chuckled to himself, "Good."

"Definitely."

"Sooo… where are you?"

"Hartford, but I'm already on my way back to Stars Hollow."

"Good. That's good."

"Yep. My words." Her lips twitched into a smile.

"Are you coming to the Diner?" Luke asked, hesitantly.

"To the Diner? Well, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. Maybe it's better if I don't…"

Luke cut her off, "Rachel is not here."

"Oh, where is she?" Lorelai asked, raising her eyebrows.

"She got a call from one of her friends and told me that she'll be back later."

"So… there's no Rachel?" Lorelai asked again.

"That's what I'm saying." Luke answered, smiling.

"Okay. Well then… be sure there's coffee when I arrive."

"It's all ready and waiting for you."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Well, then make sure that it's still hot and ready when I'm there." Lorelai laughed.

"Then you better hurry."

"I'll do what I can, Mister."

"Glad to hear that."

"Okay, then… see you later."

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye" Lorelai ended the call and shoved her cell phone back into her purse. After a few seconds she noticed Rory's look. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Rory said, still grinning.

"Stop that."

"What?" she said, innocently.

"Stop looking at me like that." Lorelai tried to give her a serious expression.

"It's just so cute listening to you when you're talking to him."

"Oh Rory, c'mon." Lorelai grinned and started the car.

xxxxx

Half an hour later

Luke was standing behind the counter, scribbling something on a piece of paper when he heard the door bells ringing. Looking up expectedly he saw her, their eyes meeting. Lorelai gave him a smile before she slipped out of her coat and headed towards the counter, sitting down on one of the stools. "Hey."

"Hey." Luke returned her smile. Though he hasn't seen her for just one day, it felt like an eternity. He continued looking into her beautiful blue eyes before he noticed another pair of blue staring at him. "Uhm, hey Rory." Clearing his throat, he asked them both. "What can I get you?"

"A Coffee to go, please." Rory said.

"What? But we just came." Lorelai said, pouting.

"I know. But I have lots of homework to do for tomorrow. So, I'm going home now, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"But I could drive you." Lorelai offered, looking from Luke to her daughter.

"No, it's okay Mom." Rory grabbed the coffee Luke made her and walked back to the door. "See you later. Bye Mom. Bye Luke."

"Bye hon'."

"Bye." Luke said before she closed the door behind her.

"So…" Lorelai started smiling, her eyes meeting and holding his gaze.

"So." He repeated.

"It's pretty empty here today."

"I know." He conceded, filling her a mug full of dark and hot coffee.

"Oh, thank you. You always know what I need. How comes?" she said grinning before she took a big sip from her coffee.

"Lifelong experience?" Luke propped the palm of his hands on the counter, leaning forward a little.

"Seems so." She smiled and put the mug back on the counter, her eyes focused on him. Luke moved closer inch by inch until their lips were touching in a gentle kiss.

After they pulled apart, Lorelai whispered. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I like that."

"Same here." He said, leaning forward to kiss her again. Slower and deeper this time.

Lorelai pulled apart. "Maybe we should… I…I want…" she grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"What?" he looked at her, confusing.

"There's too much space between us." Lorelai indicated to the counter between them.

"Good point." He whispered.

"And maybe… we shouldn't do this… here. I mean, what if someone will see us?"

"You're right." Luke held her hand in his. "We could…go..." he pointed with his head into the direction of the stairs.

"Sounds good." She smiled and hopped from her stool, walking behind the counter to Luke.

After switching off the lights, he grabbed her hand and they disappeared behind the curtain which separated the Diner from his apartment.

And it didn't take more than five seconds until Luke pulled her close again, rubbing his lips over hers.

Pressed against the wall of the stairway, Lorelai threw her arms around his neck to draw him deeper and closer to her until her body rested against his. That was all she wanted. What both wanted. Lorelai's hand was caressing the back of his neck while her other hand was touching his cheek, ever so softly.

Suddenly she pulled apart. Clearly out of breath, she began. "Wow. What.. what are you doing to me?"

"No, what are you doing to me Lorelai?" Luke said, smiling.

"Nothing, why?" she grinned, ever so innocently.

"Yeah, I can see that." Luke let out a small laugh.

"This thing… between us. I don't want this to end. Ever." Lorelai whispered.

"Neither do I. Believe me, neither do I. " he entwined his fingers with hers and smiled down at her.

"Good." She bit her lower lip. "Where did we stop?"

He didn't wait to be told twice, so he crushed his mouth down on hers again and kissed her more passionately than before. Long and deep until the pleasure spread through her body and straight down to her toes. One of her hands trailed back up his neck, causing his baseball cap falling down on the stairs. But they didn't care. Both noticed how much they wanted this. How much they wanted each other.

"Hallo?" came a voice from the Diner. "Luke, where are you? And why are all the lights off? Luke?"

When they heard Rachel's voice, they immediately pulled apart, looking at each other, trying to catch their breath….

xxxxxx

To be continued... Please R&R! :)