Thousands of miles away, Lorelai Gilmore stared out of her window, looking at the dark eastern sky. If you told her at that very moment that coffee was bad for you and should be declared an illegal substance, she would have nodded blindly and murmured something along the lines of "Whatever you say", so engrossed was she in her thoughts. Even though she was extremely tired from the long hours she had been pulling at the Dragonfly, she couldn't bring herself to sleep.

Lorelai wearily sighed and dragged her hand through her dark-brown shoulder-length hair, grimacing as her fingers tore through a large knot. She turned around and trudged downstairs to the living room, almost tripping over the clothes that were strewn all over the place. She almost expected Rory to come up with a sarcastic comment about her slovenliness or her clumsiness, but too late, she remembered that Rory was not there.

Lorelai picked up a photograph of herself hugging Rory. Great, she muttered to herself, I get to do the whole staring-at-a-photograph-to-bring-back-painful-memories thing. This has to be the low point of my life. Despite her cynicism, Lorelai couldn't help recounting that awful fight when she had walked in on Rory and Dean…

Just over a week ago

After watching Dean walk away, Rory turned to her mother and stammered, "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it first. I know I promised I would, but I swear, I didn't know that this was going to happen. I mean, I didn't know he was going to show up tonight, and it just happened. It's awful for you to find out like this, I know, but everything's okay. I'm okay, and we were, you know, safe. So, all those Trojan man jokes all these years really apparently stuck. And I'm lucky, too, because Dean, he's - well, aren't you glad that it happened with someone who's good and really loves me?" Her daughter looked hopefully at her, praying that they would somehow, through some miracle, see eye-to-eye on this.

Lorelai was in too much shock to grasp anything of what Rory said. All she could see was Rory's rumpled bed, and Rory, her baby, looking disheveled and extremely guilty. All she could say was, "But he's married."

"You don't understand the situation. It's not working out between them. They're not happy. He tried the best he could, but it didn't work. It's over." Rory spoke with conviction, but Lorelai could detect a tremble underscoring Rory's words.

Lorelai spoke slowly, "He told you he's leaving her?"

"Well-"

Lorelai said angrily, "You, of all people - the girl who thinks everything through, the list maker - you jumped into bed with a married guy?"

"He's not a married guy. He's Dean - my Dean! He's in love with me, not Lindsay!"

Lorelai countered, "He's not your Dean. He's Lindsay's Dean. You're the other woman."

"She's not good for him, okay? She lets him quit school and work himself to death and-"

Lorelai couldn't believe that this was her daughter talking. "No, Rory, uh-uh, you can't be one of those girls who blames the wife for forcing the husband to cheat."

"He wasn't cheating."

"He was cheating, Rory. He was cheating, and you were cheating with him."

Lorelai stopped and looked hard at her daughter, wishing with all her heart that she were dreaming. She said softly, "This is your first time. It's just not the way your first time was supposed to be."

Rory replied defensively, "My first time was with someone sweet and kind who loves me!"

"I didn't raise you to be like this. I didn't raise you to be the kind of girl who sleeps with someone else's husband!"

Rory was clearly furious now, and she spun on her heels and rushed to the kitchen door. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Rory. What if he doesn't leave her? Now you're all emotionally involved."

"You're just mad because I didn't come running to you to discuss whether or not I was ready for this step. I decided it on my own."

"Well, obviously, you weren't ready for this step. The very fact that you chose another girl's guy to sleep with proves that!"

"He was my boyfriend first!"

"But you dumped him! You rejected him! You picked someone else!"

"Stop it!"

"Rory!"

Rory cried out, tears streaming down her face. "I hate you for ruining this for me!" She walked out of the front door, pulling on her sweater. With shaking hands, she dialed a number on her cell phone, but hung up seconds later, sobbing, with her knees to her chest. Lorelai's heart broke, as she made her way to her daughter's side…

Present

Lorelai sighed wistfully, now turning her head towards the telephone. She couldn't bring herself to call Rory. How was she supposed to try to make sense of this when her daughter was on another continent? Part of what terrified Lorelai about this situation was also that the row that they had had was eerily similar to the one she had had with her parents twenty years back, just after Lorelai had told her parents about her pregnancy. Lorelai knew that at least Rory was safe – she trusted Rory when she'd said that she'd been protected – but her greater fear was that Rory wouldn't reconcile. These thoughts came rushing to Lorelai as they did every night, murdering all sleep for her.

Lorelai willed herself to think of something else, but she kept imagining the worst – Rory moving in with her grandparents and never wanting to speak to Lorelai ever again, never sharing the joys of movie night together ever again, never being able to hold her baby in her arms and work their way out through this mess… Stop it! Lorelai yelled at herself sternly.

Sighing, she headed towards the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards and refrigerator in the hopes of finding something to eat. She pounced on a bag of chips and absent-mindedly shoved handful after handful into her mouth. Trudging back to the living room, she stopped at the phone and noticed that there was one new message. Her heart beating fast, she hit play.

"Hey, uh, Lorelai, I just felt, you know, like checking in, just so that you didn't think I'd committed suicide at the Ren Faire, or something. Things are OK here, um, there are actually a couple of half-normal people here. I'm, uh, not really sure when I'll be back, but I'll call you as soon as I get home. Well, uh, yeah, that's about it really. Oh! And, Liz says hi, and that she'll always be in your debt. Uh, nothing more to say really. Sorry I can't give you a number to call back, but you know how it is with travelers. Anyway, um… I'll catch you later, Lorelai."

A smile spread on Lorelai's face until she was grinning like the jester at the Ren Faire. Luke's message, as inarticulate as it was, had made her mood do a total 180. She hit replay, and sighed dreamily as Luke's voice, brusque yet oddly shy, dispelled the silence in the room. After playing the message ten times over, she finally dragged herself away from the answering machine and literally floated up to her bedroom, collapsing on her back onto her bed. Staring at the ceiling, the beatific smile still on her face, she recalled every single detail of what had happened in the week before.

Wondering at the odd sensation when Luke had hauled her off the diner steps to caffeinate her. Feeling an electric shock go through her as Luke's hand lay on her stomach, while she was curved up against him, willing him to play along to ward off Sookie's new poultry man. The feel of Luke's fingers as it brushed her face when he picked hay out of her hair. The elation that she felt when Luke asked her to be his date for the wedding, and trying her hardest to be cool about it. Frantically raiding every store in the mall to find a good enough dress for the wedding… no, for Luke.

Lorelai grinned at that last memory, remembering how she had terrorized all the sales attendants a la Emily Gilmore. Rolling onto her stomach, she willed each moment to come forth.

Sharing laughter all through the ceremony. The feel of this thigh lightly brushing hers as he leaned over, begging her to find something morbid, to prevent an outburst of laughter. The jump that her heart executed when Luke asked her for a dance. The pounding her heart then gave her chest as she leaned into his half-embrace, resting her head on his strong shoulder, as they waltzed. Noticing how well their bodies fit together while they were dancing. How comfortable it felt walking back with him to her house, laughing and gossiping and reveling in each other's company. The shock that came over her when Luke asked her out on what could only be a date. God, he was so confident, so at ease, and I was standing there stammering like an idiot!

Lorelai now laughed out loud as the next moments came to her, as if on a slide show. She remembered walking into countless wall and doors, knocking things over, dropping (and even breaking) things, all set off because Luke had simply looked at her, with that half-smile dancing around his lips all the time. All that had stopped when Jason burst into the inn, made a nuisance of himself and scared Luke away. Lorelai even enjoyed the argument that they had had on the Dragonfly steps, and then… he kissed her.

No beating any more around the bush. No more denying what came to her in that instant, what she had been denying the past eight years. Her arms coiled up around his neck, her skin tingling as his hands rested lightly on her waist. His kiss grew more ardent, and she leaned into it, frowning as he pulled away. Then she pulled him back, preparing to kiss him even more soundly, before Kirk's screams filled the night air, as he ran out naked, yelling, with only a pillow to cover his groin.

That was the last time that Lorelai had seen Luke. His sister had called him away that night, begging him to come to the Ren Faire. Luke had scribbled out a note and left it on her doorstep, along with a pound of coffee beans. (Lorelai had to smile even more – would Luke never stop thinking of her?) Since then, there had been no communication between the two, and she longed to talk to him, to try to make sense of their new relationship. She hadn't told a soul about the kiss – she wasn't ready to share this new event with anyone yet. Not anyone… except Rory.

Lorelai's spirits plummeted, as she thought about how excited Rory would have been for her. But they couldn't have even shared that happiness. Lorelai didn't think that she could wait three weeks for Rory or Luke to return. Her thoughts raced through her brain, mixed with conflicting emotions and insecurity. She let out a sigh of frustration. Oh yeah. She was definitely not going to sleep tonight.