Breakdown
Lorelai leaned her head on Luke's shoulder as she finished her beer.
"Should I call Rory and apologize?" Luke wondered outloud. Lorelai smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
"Just let her be mad for tonight. I'm sure she'll be fine about it tomorrow." Luke still looked worried. "But if it'll make you feel better, I'll call her and ask her about lunch tomorrow. How's that?"
"Perfect. Thank you." He kissed her softly.
"For now, you can take me to bed."
"That, I can do." He winked at her as he scooped her off the couch.
"Cool hand!" She laughed. Luke kissed Lorelai's neck down to where it met her shoulder and then blew a raspberry. She laughed again, ruffling his hair.
"Luke?" She was still all of a sudden underneath him, serious.
"Yeah," he stroked the back of her neck.
"Thank you for being so worried about Rory. You've always taken care of her. God knows her dad doesn't."
Luke kissed her forehead. "And I apologize if I overstepped my bounds tonight, Lorelai."
"If you think my daughter deserves a prince, I'm not going to question you. Although, in my experience, diner men outrank princes."
Luke chuckled. "Dated lots of princes, have you?"
Lorelai frowned and nodded. "Lots."
"Let's get you to bed." Luke placed another kiss across her lips and started to unbutton her shirt.
"Mmm, you take such good care of me." He smiled.
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"Rory? Are you busy?"
"Hey, I was just getting ready to go to the library. Why?"
"Luke and I thought we'd drop by and take you out for lunch."
"Oh."
"Luke worries about you, that's all."
"I can take care of myself. And that's still no excuse for how he treated Dean."
"I know you can, babe. And no, it's not, but I know he feels terrible about it."
Rory sighed. "So what time are you coming? I have a test later this week."
"We'll be there as soon as Luke can get away. So go, study, I'll call you when we're closer."
"Alright, bye mom."
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Luke arrived at Lorelai's with a bag of coffee in hand. "Ooh, for me?"
"No, it's for Rory. I thought she might miss my coffee."
"I'm sure she does," Lorelai smiled.
"We're still on for lunch, right?"
"Yup, let's go."
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Lorelai knocked on Rory's door and where there was no reply, tried the handle. "Hello? Rory?" She called. "I hope Paris isn't here," she whispered to Luke.
Rory breezed in behind them. "Hey," she panted, out of breath. "I got stuck talking to someone. You ready?"
"Luke brought you something." Lorelai pointed. Luke handed her the bag of coffee.
"This is diner coffee!" She practically squealed. "Thanks so much, Luke. The coffee here isn't the same."
"No problem. And if you want to make it even better, buy some nutmeg and sprinkle it in. That's the secret," he winked.
"Mmm, sounds good." Rory shut the bag in her desk drawer. "Mom, where to?"
"Moe's!"
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Lorelai excused herself when they got to the restaurant.
"Thanks again for the coffee, Luke. I really miss home sometimes."
Luke nodded. "You're lucky though, you have your whole life to see the world."
"Yeah, but having your home in a place like Stars Hollow wouldn't be too bad."
Luke sighed. "I'm sorry about the other night. I have no room to comment on your relationship with Dean. That's your business."
Rory held his gaze for a moment. "It's okay, Luke."
"Are you sure?" Lorelai returned then but Rory just nodded.
"Everything okay?" Lorelai frowned at Rory, who to Luke's horror, had tears in her eyes. "Rory, sweetie?" She shot a glance at Luke.
"It's not—I'm okay." She sniffled, pulling herself back together. "I just started thinking the other night, things are so different now. I'm different. Why did I think things would change with Dean? Did I really think things would work out this time? I don't know what I'm doing or what I'm saying. I feel like I don't even have time to think about it because classes are in full-force and--"
"Sweetie, slow down." Lorelai slipped into the side of Rory's booth, giving her a hug. "No one is pushing you to be with Dean, okay? I'll support whatever you do. You didn't have a boyfriend last year, I'm sure it is hard to balance a relationship and your school work."
"Sometimes I just want to be about ten years older, so I can have what you and Luke do." Luke smiled a little and Lorelai sent him a sad smile across the table.
"And you'll have it, I'm sure." Lorelai squeezed her shoulder and slid back in next to Luke. He laced his fingers through hers.
"Of course you will," Luke echoed.
"Thanks, mom. Thanks, Luke. Rory wore a small smile until their food came.
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"Wow," Luke said when they dropped Rory off.
"I know. I feel awful."
"She's a smart kid," Luke reassured her. "She has you to talk to. She'll figure it out." Luke squeezed Lorelai's hand.
"I hope. She's right about one thing though."
"What?"
"That we're lucky. I'm lucky. I don't think I've told you how wonderful this is for me. I'm not scared, I feel safe and comfortable. It's--"
"A nice change?"
"Yes," she breathed. "We don't have to work to get to know each other because we already do."
"I just get to find out all the little things I didn't know."
Lorelai made a face. "That's probably a little scary. But you're good at putting up with me."
"Back at ya," Luke kissed her softly as they walked back to the Jeep.
fin