CHAPTER 5: Revelations...

"Hey" Lorelai shouted as she walked in.

"Hey mom, where did you go in such a hurry?" Rory asked

"Yea we thought you had gone officially insane" Chris said laughing, was this to do with Luke he wondered as he thought about the conversation at breakfast when she had rushed out of the house like a bat out of hell.

"As opposed to unofficially insane" she asked raising one eyebrow looking at Chris.

"So where were you?" Rory asked

"O I just had to talk to someone" she said quickly, she would tell Rory about it later when Chris was gone, she felt a bit weird talking to her about it when her dad was here.

The phone rang and Rory ran to answer it and then walked into her room with the phone. Outside in the living room Lorelai sat down on the couch and Chris followed her.

"So is everything okay Lor? You ran out kinda fast this morning" he asked, hoping she would give him some clue as to where she had gone to this morning.

"What's with the inquisition...don't worry about it, I'm fine, just had something I needed to do" She said still smiling.

"Ok well Rory and I were talking about maybe going out for dinner and then seeing a movie if you wanted?" he said, giving up on her telling him where she went, she obviously didn't want him to know.

"Mm yea sure that sounds good", she said. They sat in comfortable silence on the couch for a few minutes watching TV when Rory emerged from her bedroom. Lorelai could see that she had been crying, Rory walked over to her mom and sat down before turning to her Mom and burst into tears.

"Hon what happened? Who was that on the phone?" Lorelai asked in a concerned voice, Chris moved over to the other side of Rory and put his hand on her shoulder, he didn't know what else he could do right now.

"That was Dean on the phone" Rory said still crying.

"Aw hon, what happened? What did he say?"

"He told me he was going to leave Lindsay for me, he kept saying he loved me and wanted to be with me"

"What did you say to him?" Lorelai asked concerned, this was a lot Rory had to deal with, she knew that Rory had made a mistake and Rory knew it too, it had been pretty big but she couldn't beat herself up about it forever. She was still disappointed that she had lost her virginity to a married guy and she was mad at Dean for letting her be the other woman, although in some strange way it was comforting to know that Dean did love her.

"I told him it was a mistake and I didn't want him to end it with Lindsay for me because I didn't want to be with him and it was such a huge mistake, god I am such a terrible person. How could I do this?" Rory said as she started crying.

"Shush" she said "Everything will be fine, it's just gonna take some time to get back to normal but you can get through this and I'll be here for you whenever you need to talk" Lorelai said hugging her.

"There's something else I need to tell you" Rory said as she turned to look at her Mom, "I called Grandma and decided to take her up on the offer to go to Europe" Rory said as she watched the look of shock register on her mom's face. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you I just need to get away from Stars Hollow for a while by myself ... I need to think and I can't do that here".

"But you won't be by yourself you'll be with Emily Gilmore" Lorelai said shocked that Rory had just made another massive decision without even consulting her. She could see why Rory had wanted to go to get away from everything that had happened, running away from your problems had always been the Gilmore way she thought as she remembered her road trip to Harvard after Max.

"I know but I just need to do this Mom, please understand that I really need to have some alone time, I'm sure grandma will give me that if I need to" Rory said in a hopeful voice.

"Mm well I wouldn't count your chickens too soon, I just wish you could have spoken to me about it first sweets" Lorelai said smiling slightly trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry about everything, I just need to get out of Stars Hollow, I know I can't avoid Lindsay and Dean forever, though the possibility is so appealing, but I think a month away will give me and Dean both some space"

"A month! Wow that's a long time ... do you know when you're leaving?" she asked,

"I asked Grandma if we could leave as soon as possible, she agreed so she's going to ring me back after she gets off the phone with her travel agent" Rory said just as she heard the phone ring, she went into her room to answer it as Lorelai sat there on the couch, stunned at what Rory had just told her.

"God I so need a strong drink right now"

"Well if you're offering maybe we'll skip the movies and go and get smashed in some bar" Chris said, he was surprised at what Rory had told him as well.

"You get the keys and I'll meet you in the car" she said looking at Chris, she was glad he was here for her right now, she didn't think she could take it if Rory had told her she was leaving and someone wasn't here to comfort her. Was it wrong that she liked Chris being here? She thought as an image of Luke flashed quickly in her head.

"That was Grandma" Rory said as she walked from her room towards the living room.

"Do you know when you're leaving? Lorelai asked, not really knowing if she wanted to know the answer or not, she could see from Rory's face that she wasn't going to like the answer anyway so she may as well brace herself.

"Tomorrow at 11" she replied frowning as she looked at her mom.

"What? Has Emily pulled off a bank job and wants to skip the country or something? ...Wow...that's so...soon" she gasped as she felt as if all the air had been knocked out of her.

"Yea well look on the bright side, the sooner I go then the sooner I get back" Rory said attempting a smile.

"Mmm yea... so... well we should start packing then" Lorelai said, suddenly one of the few times in her life where she had been stuck for something to say.

"No we have to spend some quality 'family' time together" Rory said as she looked between her mom and dad, she really did want to spend some time together before they left, there had been so much drama the last few days and she really wanted to enjoy her last night. "I can pack later tonight, I've already made a list of everything that I will need for the trip so I just need to put it all in suitcase"

"Ok that sounds good, Chris and I were talking about going to a biker bar and getting drunk, fun for the whole family, what d'ya say?" Lorelai asked trying to lighten the mood and cheer herself up, she wanted Rory to enjoy her last night at home before she left. She was going to have to spend the next month with her grandmother, 'I wouldn't wish that on anyone' she thought to herself.

"Sounds like a plan, can we go to Luke's for dinner before, I think I might need a full stomach before I go out drinking" Rory asked, she wanted to get dinner at Luke's, something familiar before she left for Europe, her grandma would probably make her eat loads of fancy stuff there she thought.

"You wanna go to Luke's?" Lorelai asked

"Yea, I haven't been there in 2 days, I think I'm getting withdrawal symptoms" Rory said as she lifted her hand and shook it gently, "See, getting the shakes. Plus I wanna see Luke and say goodbye before I go" she added.

'"Oh ok we'll go to Luke's then"

"Sounds good" Chris added.

Later Chris, Lorelai and Rory entered Luke's. Lorelai was wearing a black knee length skirt with black boots and a tight black jumper, something about tonight made her want to wear black she thought, plus she wanted to make more of an effort since Luke would see her, stupid idea it was since he saw her everyday. Rory was wondering why her mom had been so indecisive about what to wear but figured she was just weird because of her leaving the next day.

"Ok you two, go and grab a table, preferably one near a radiator" Lorelai said shivering.

Luke had seen the three of them come in, he couldn't help but stare at Lorelai for a few seconds longer than normal as he noticed what she was wearing, grinning slightly at the thought of them in the storage room earlier that day. She said something to the other two and walked towards the counter, she smiled nervously at him.

"Hey" he said smiling

"Hi"

"Recovered from earlier?" she whispered smiling as she watched him roll his eyes.

"Yes I managed, Coffee?" he asked trying to change the subject

"Actually we'll have three menu's please, we're out celebrating or in my case getting blind drunk to forget everything, so I want you to stick some vodka in my coffee, thanks" she said winking at him.

"Why what's happened?" he said suddenly concerned

"Rory is leaving for to spend a month in Europe with her Grandmother tomorrow" Lorelai said quietly as she sighed and thought about how weird it would be not to have her around the house during the summer. Even when she was at Yale Lorelai and her would talk all the time and it wasn't too far to drive if something happened...now there would be a whole continent between them. She could feel the tears start to come to her eyes at the thought of it so she tried to take her mind off it.

"What? When did this happen?" he asked shocked, he thought she was going to say something about the Inn or something happened with her parents which was usually the case but he could see she was upset about it.

"Just decided today" she said quickly as she stood there for a moment staring at the counter "but anyway I better get back there before they think we are having an affair and are planning our next secret rendezvous in the storage room" she said smiling wickedly at him, she grabbed the menus and winked at him before she walked back to her table.

About forty-five later they were just finishing their pie when Rory called Luke over to say goodbye. He grumbled as he walked over, though both Rory and Lorelai knew that he loved Rory and gladly do anything for her, he just wanted to be 'manly' and pretend it bothered him.

"I just wanted to say goodbye before I go, I'll miss you Luke and I hope you will give me and mom lots and lots of coffee when I get home as a welcome home gift" she said grinning.

"We'll see" he said gruffly and then gave her a small grin.

"Thanks" she got up and hugged him, he was surprised but hugged her back, clearly embarrassed at this public form of affection.

"Aw aren't we a walking Kodak moment" Lorelai said laughing, that was cute though she had to admit, she was glad that Rory and Luke had a good relationship. She noticed Chris sitting at the table awkwardly as he looked at Rory hugging Luke, she could see a glint of jealousy in his eyes.

"Whatever" Luke said gruffly as he walked back to the counter with a tiny grin on his face but careful not to let anyone see it.

"Ok well we're should get going if we're gonna catch this movie" Chris said getting up.

"O yeah we should go" Rory said as she stood up.

"Yeah you two go on out and I'll meet you at the car, I'll get the bill" Lorelai said quickly to them. She waited until they left and then walked up to the counter waiting for Luke to finish taking the order.

"Hey can I have two coffees to go" she asked as she placed the dinner money on the counter.

"Sure" he said as he turned round to get the coffee.

"What? No argument?" she asked mockingly

"You want one or not?" he grunted.

"Ok Mr grumpy, Coffee and a favour"

"What's the favour?" he asked, thinking it would probably be one of her stupid requests.

"Well I wondering if I could take you out to dinner tomorrow night?" she said smiling flirtatiously at him.

"Are you cooking?"

"No, I thought we could go out but if you don't want to that's fine, I'm sure I can pick up some guy called Big Frank at a Biker Bar and I'll take him home and we can...well y'know" she grinned as he rolled his eyes.

"Interesting name? But unlucky for him I would like to have dinner with you, on one condition though?" he said, he was pleased that they were going to have some time alone.

"Well I don't think that Big Frank is into threesomes but I could ask!" she said smiling as he rolled his eyes again.

"Can I take you out instead?" he said. He wanted to be able to pick her up, do all the usual stuff that guys do on dates.

"Well if that's what you want? Pick me up at 7?"

"I'll see you then"

"Look forward to it" she said as she walked towards the door taking one last look round to see him still smiling at her, she smiled shyly back at him and walked out. She was so glad that all this stuff with Luke was happening, it was good for trying to keep her mind off the fact that her daughter was leaving tomorrow, then she frowned as she walked out.