Disclaimer: These characters are owned by the WB, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Author's Note: Thanks again to JeSouhaite for beta-reading this chapter. As always, this chapter is much better for her feedback. I appreciate everyone's reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy this story.

As Lorelai walked into the kitchen at the inn, Sookie looked at her with surprise, "Lorelai, what are you doing here so early? Didn't you have your date with Luke last night?"

"Yeah," she replied, smiling to herself as she remembered.

"Then, did it not go well?" Sookie asked, her brow wrinkled with confusion.

"It was amazing, Sookie. Why would you think-"

"Then what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in bed all day, having fabulous make-up sex."

Lorelai grinned. "Oh, we did that. Trust me when I say that we did that. But Luke had already promised Lane the day off, so he had to be at the diner for breakfast."

"Well that never stopped you from sleeping in before. He didn't kick you out, did he?"

"No, he didn't kick me out. He told me I could stay, but …I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to be in bed alone."

"Oh my god, that is so sweet. So…good date?"

"Great date. Sookie, he told me he loved me."

"I know, you already told me about the note."

"No, I mean he told me. He made a point of saying it out loud. Sookie, he really loves me."

"Lorelai hon, I hate to break it to you, but Luke has loved you for years. You had to have known that."

"I guess I did, but with the break up, I wasn't sure. I just didn't realize how much I needed to hear him say it."

Luke looked up when she entered the diner, his eyes smiling, "Hey."

"Hey. Long time, no see." She walked to the counter, looking around shyly to see how full the diner was. Satisfied that no one was paying attention, she reached for Luke's hand, leaned in, and gave him a kiss. When she saw him glancing around the diner nervously, she giggled, "Need to work up to public displays of affection again?"

"Yeah, I guess so. More practice might help," he said as he leaned in for another quick kiss. "So, good day? You must have had a long day at the inn. It's late."

"Much better now, but I'm starving. Can I have a hamburger and fries?"

"That's what you had for lunch. I can't serve you that again with a good conscience."

"Well, serve it to me with a bad conscience, but I missed my Luke burgers, so I need to make up for lost time."

"Let me make something slightly more healthy for both of us to eat together? Please?"

"I like the eating together part. You make healthy food for you, a burger for me and you've got a deal."

"You're hopeless," Luke grumbled as he turned back to the kitchen to make the food.

"What's this? This is no burger," Lorelai said, poking at the salad and the chicken pieces on top of it.

"Chicken Caesar salad."

"It's green," she protested.

"It's a salad."

"Exactly my point. What made you think that I would eat this?"

"I thought you might want to live past your 40th birthday."

"Oh, that again."

"Well, I want you to live past your 40th birthday."

"Aww shucks, isn't that sweet of you," she teased. When she looked up at him, though, his expression was serious. "Fine, I'll eat it this time, but don't think you're going to get away with this next time."

"I have been sufficiently warned." The joking tone was back and he smirked at her.

"So when do you finish up here tonight?"

"I'll be here pretty late. I can walk you home before Caesar leaves, though."

"Come over later?" she asked hopefully.

"I can't. I have an early delivery tomorrow and for some reason I didn't get much sleep last night."

Lorelai felt a twinge of disappointment and fear at the refusal, but she hid it with her typical banter. "For some reason, huh? Was it at least a good reason?"

"Yeah, a pretty good reason."

"Pretty good? Just pretty good? I'll have you know-"

Luke cut her off with a kiss, then pulled back and chuckled. "Good to know that still shuts you up."

"Rory, why didn't he want me to stay? Why did he send me away?"

"It hardly sounds like he sent you away. Didn't he leave the diner to walk you home?"

"Well, yeah," Lorelai paused as she remembered Luke's arm around her waist as they walked home and the way he looked at her before he reached his hand behind her neck and pulled her in for a deep goodnight kiss.

"Mom, you guys were apart for a month. Isn't it going to take a little time to get back to the way you were?"

"I don't want it to. I don't want to sleep alone anymore."

"You will be back to your old dirtiness soon enough, I'm sure."

"What if he doesn't want this?"

"Mom, you are being ridiculous. He loves you, right? At least, that's what you said when you called me at an ungodly hour this morning."

A smile broke out on Lorelai's face as she said, "That's what he says."

"And he means it, Mom."

The next night, while getting ready for her movie date with Luke, Lorelai worked on convincing herself that everything was great with Luke. Sure, he hadn't wanted her to stay last night, but he had been happy to see her at breakfast and lunch. He stopped what he was doing as soon as she came in and he kissed her in public. Then there was that smile, the smile that only she got to see. Yeah, things were good. She heard the knock on the door and her stomach fluttered as she bounced down the stairs to let him in. He stepped inside and greeted her with an affectionate kiss.

"You ready?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, so what's playing?" He didn't answer right away and she noticed him looking around the room with a slight frown on his face. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I just asked you what was playing? Are you okay?"

"Sorry. Umm…I don't know, something old. Hey, you still have all those boxes piled up."

Lorelai sighed heavily, "Yeah, I guess I need to unpack them."

"Is that going to be such a chore?" There was an edge to his voice that Lorelai couldn't identify.

"Well, there are a lot of them. I just don't want to think about it right now."

He took a deep breath, and his shoulders slumped as he let it out, "Fine."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that we should get going."

As they left the movie and headed to the diner for coffee, Lorelai asked, "Are you sure that you are okay? You've been kind of quiet all night. What's going on?"

"It's nothing. You were pretty quiet too."

"We were at a movie."

"That doesn't usually stop you."

"Luke, are you sure? Because if something is wrong, if you don't want to be back together, I want to know."

"What? Why would you say that?" He looked genuinely surprised at her suggestion.

"You've been cool all night, and…"

"What?"

"Why didn't you want me to stay last night?"

"I had an early delivery."

"That didn't stop us before."

"Lorelai, it's only been two days. Don't you think that we need a little time to get used to being with each other again?"

"Not really, but you do?"

"Maybe a little."

"How long?" She tried to keep the pleading tone out of her voice.

"I don't know."

She was quiet for a moment before he said, "I would like you to stay tonight, if you will." He squeezed her hand and looked at her with a question in his eyes.

"Well, if you insist," she replied, the corners of her mouth turning up into a small smile.

Lorelai felt the familiar tingle as Luke led her upstairs to his apartment and opened the door. When she walked in, she could tell something was different, but it took her a moment to recognize the coffeemaker sitting on the counter, the blue plaid shirt hanging near the bed, and a stack of CDs near the stereo. She turned to him with a sparkle in her eye and said, "You unpacked the boxes!"

"Yeah, it was time," he said as he pulled her toward him for a kiss. She started to pull away but he held her tightly.

"Wait, Luke," she said, pulling away in spite of the wanting look in his eyes. She ran to the bathroom and a moment later ran back to give him an enthusiastic hug and kiss. "You put it back up!" She kissed him again, mumbling against his mouth, "You put my shelf back up."

In spite of Luke's words about needing time to get used to each other again, Lorelai felt a shift in their relationship within a couple of days. It wasn't anything that she could put her finger on, just a sense that they were back to truly being a couple. Rory had mentioned it this morning when she had talked to her. "Things must be going well with you and Luke. You keep saying 'we.'" And maybe that was it. She was now part of a 'we' in a way that she had never allowed herself to be before.

She popped a movie in to keep her company while waiting for Luke to close up the diner. It was comfortable to be expecting him, to have him come home to her. He knocked softly on the door, then stepped inside. That felt comfortable too. He came over to the couch and leaned over to give her a kiss. "What're you watching?"

"When Harry Met Sally. You know, old friends falling in love. Hey, what should we do this weekend? We should do something to celebrate our first weekend back together." He didn't answer, so she turned to look at him.

"Luke? What do you think about this weekend?"

"I don't know. I might be pretty busy at the diner." His face was stony and Lorelai was baffled.

"It's our first weekend together in a while. Don't you want to spend it with me?"

"If I thought that you really wanted to be with me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Damn it Lorelai, you've still got me packed up in boxes!"

"That's what this is about, the boxes?" she asked, incredulous.

"I saw that you were upset about the shelf. I unpacked, I invited you back in and you won't do the same."

"I tried." She gestured toward one box that was open and partially unpacked.

"You mean you looked through a box until you got to a movie, then you gave up? You get an A for effort." His voice was bitter.

"How dare you. You have no idea how hard it is to think about going through those boxes."

"What's so hard about it? We're together now." His voice was gentler now, questioning.

"That day that I packed up all these boxes was one of the worst days of my life. It was the day that I realized that no matter how many things I put into boxes, there was always going to be a piece of you here." She looked up at him and he took her hand. "I filled all of these boxes, and I am a terrible packer, so there are a lot of boxes, and it still didn't help. There was still the window that you fixed and the porch rail and the shingles and the lock on the door. So I tried to leave, but this whole town, even the inn, has so many memories of you. I just…I didn't think that I was ever going to get over you. And that hurt. And unpacking the boxes just brings it all back. So I'm sorry, but it's just hard."

"No, no, I'm sorry. I didn't realize." Luke pulled her into a tight embrace and held her for a few moments. "You know I'm not going anywhere, right?"

Lorelai just nodded. Talking would cause tears to flow and she was desperately trying to avoid tears.

"Hey, would it help if we unpacked the stuff together? Maybe I could come over after lunch tomorrow."

The next afternoon, Lorelai was digging through piles of clothes on her bed and on the floor when she heard Luke calling from downstairs, "Lorelai, are you here?"

"Upstairs."

As he climbed the stairs he said, "I brought you a burger, in case you hadn't eaten. Are you-" he stopped as he walked into the room. "I guess you started without me."

"Well, there was something I wanted to do before you got here. Here, take this," she said, handing him a box.

"What's this?"

"It's the Luke box."

"Aren't these all Luke boxes?"

"Yes, but this is the box that has all of your things. Some of them I already put away in the bathroom, on your shelf." She was grinning.

"My shelf?" he asked as his lips curved up into a slight smile.

"Yeah, well, don't get too excited, its just a shelf in the medicine cabinet. I didn't actually build you anything. But I do want to show you this." She led him over to the dresser and pointed to an empty bottom drawer. "This is for you. I didn't put your stuff in it yet, because I thought you might want to do that." She knew she was smiling like a little kid.

"Lorelai, are you sure you have room for this? You don't have a lot of storage space, and you have enough clothes for three lifetimes-"

"Hey stop that."

"What? You do have a ton of clothes."

"Not that. I meant, here I'm trying to invite you in and you're turning me down?"

"Oh, that."

"Yes that. Take the drawer before I reconsider and take it back."

"Okay, I want it. But let's go eat before the food gets cold and then we can come back up and work on unpacking." He started to head for the bedroom door and then stopped, turned around and took Lorelai's hand. "Hey…" She looked up to meet his eyes. "Thanks." She just smiled and kissed him before following him downstairs.

After eating lunch, they went back upstairs to continue unpacking the boxes. Lorelai watched with a secret smile while Luke carefully folded his clothes and put them in 'his' drawer. As she put away her clothes she would occasionally hold them up to quiz Luke on their significance. She was surprised at the accuracy of his memory and by the wistful look in his eye when reminded of all of the 'moments' from their past. He seemed to remember everything: the sweatshirt she wore when he gave her the chuppah, the shoe he repaired at the dance marathon, and the shirt she wore when he drove her to the hospital. At each recalled memory, they shared moments of silent contemplation, until one or the other of them looked away, or found some other item to make a joke about. Their past hung around them like a story waiting to be told, each brief reminder like a teaser for a longer chapter. Acknowledging their shared history, even without discussing it, was comforting to Lorelai. It reinforced her sense of being part of a 'we.'

Eventually the bedroom was back to normal, with storage space at a premium. Lorelai could tell that even though Luke continued to express concern about taking up space in her crowded dresser, that he was secretly pleased with 'his' drawer and 'his' shelf.

They continued their work downstairs, with Luke constantly amazed at the connections Lorelai had made between him and her belongings. He began unloading videotapes and DVDs onto the shelves, stopping occasionally to confirm the reason, "happily ever after?" or "something that I would mock?" He had filled the available shelves and asked, "What about the rest of the videos? Do you want to keep the games out or what?"

Lorelai paused and thought for a bit. "I don't really want to put the games away. Rory and I have been having fun with them. We talk more playing games than we do while watching movies."

"You do? How is that possible?" Luke said in mock astonishment.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him before her expression softened and she continued, "Maybe it's not that we talk more, it's just that we talk about more significant stuff."

"Then maybe we shouldn't put them away. In fact, I challenge you to a game of Monopoly when we're done unpacking," he said with a grin.

"Hey, you just chose that because you know I'm terrible with money."

"Maybe," he admitted.

"Okay, but you have to agree to name your playing piece, and next time we play Parcheesi."

"Name my playing piece?"

"It's a Gilmore rule," she replied, with a glint in her eye.

"Well, then. Who can argue with that?" Luke shrugged and opened up another box. "Hey Lorelai, what's this?"

"It's a lamp."

"I know it's a lamp," he said.

"Well you asked."

"I just wanted to know what it was doing in here. What does this have to do with me?"

"I got that lamp to replace the one you broke chasing Stella. You remember the chick?"

"Oh yes, I remember the chick, and I remember that night," He looked at her thoughtfully. "I almost kissed you that night."

"Really? Lorelai said, less surprised about the admission, than that he had mentioned it. She could remember the moment he was talking about with perfect clarity, and also the instinct to run that had come over her as soon as she had realized what he was thinking.

"Yeah, we were sitting on the floor, behind the counter." He looked up at her and she nodded, confirming the memory. "So…" she nodded again, waiting for whatever it was he was having trouble saying. "What if I had? Would we be where we are now?"

"If you had kissed me four years ago, I'd hope by now we'd be …" Lorelai's voice trailed off as she realized she'd been about to say 'married.' Her hesitation came not from trying to avoid an awkward conversation, but because she wasn't sure she believed the words. They had come from the Lorelai of now who knew what she wanted and believed in its possibility. The Lorelai of four years ago, the one Luke would have kissed, was not the same person at all. She felt a lump in her throat at the thought of the opportunities they had missed because of her fear.

"Lorelai?" Luke's voice had a hopeful tone, as if he understood what she'd been about to say and wanted her to confirm it. She bit her lip and tried to compose herself as she lifted her eyes to meet his, knowing her sadness would confuse and worry him. "Lorelai?" he repeated softly.

"I don't think…It wouldn't have worked then."

"Why?" he asked, uncertainty in his voice and concern in his eyes.

"I would have been too afraid of what it would mean and how it would change things. Did you think about that?"

"Yeah. I was worried about you not feeling the same way and things getting awkward between us," Luke paused. "Did you?"

"What?"

"Feel the same way. I mean, it seemed like…"

"Yeah, there were feelings. I just didn't want to admit there were."

"So why don't you think it would have worked?"

"I would have run from it, like I ran from every relationship. Especially if it were you."

"Why?"

"I would have hurt you because anything with you would have been serious, and I was afraid of serious."

"What changed?"

"I don't know exactly. Maybe I grew up. Maybe it took almost getting married to the wrong guy, or dating someone with screwed up priorities to make me realize what I did want and not to be afraid to go for it."

"And what did you want?" he asked softly, as if he were afraid of her answer.

"Love… a partner. When I did get that, I didn't run, but I still hurt you, so maybe I haven't totally grown up yet."

He was looking at her strangely, maybe uncomfortable with the conversation, maybe just at a loss for words. Lorelai broke the silence, "What do you think? Would it have worked then?

"I don't know. I was never sure of your feelings. Sometimes I thought there was something and then other times …not so much. I think I needed Nicole…" Lorelai felt her stomach tighten at the mention of Nicole. "To make me realize that I couldn't transfer my feelings from one person to another, no matter how hard I tried. But without that, I don't know when I would have gotten the nerve to tell you how I felt. So maybe you're right. Maybe we needed all those years."

Lorelai pondered this and asked the other question that had been nagging her, "Do you think we needed the break-up too?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then glanced at her briefly, before saying, "I think that it made us realize how we felt about each other and forced us deal with some things that we needed to deal with."

Lorelai heard the truth in his words and felt her stomach tighten again. She sighed and looked down.

After a long moment of silence, he continued, "I don't think breaking up was the only way for us to deal with that stuff, but it needed to be done and if we hadn't been apart, it might have taken us a long time to get there."

Lorelai looked at him with sadness in her eyes, "Are we that screwed up? Is it supposed to be this hard?"

"I don't know. But…there's nobody I'd rather be screwed up with," he said as his serious look turned into a soft smile.

"Me neither and, dirty!" Lorelai's giggle broke the tension and he pulled her close. They sat that way for a while, Lorelai reflecting on the pain and anguish that had been the past month and the necessity of it, feeling only relief that they had found their way back together again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Luke, "Now, what the hell is this and why does it have anything to do with me?" he asked, holding up a Hello Kitty keychain.

"Hmmm…Maybe that was in the 'Luke would mock' category. Or it might have been in the 'Lorelai's brain wasn't functioning properly' category. I'm not exactly sure, but you must have realized by now that logic has no part in what went into these boxes." The babbling effectively covered the dizziness she felt when she saw what Luke was holding and remembered exactly why it was in the box.

"Well, that certainly seems to be the case, otherwise how would we explain the box of instant mashed potatoes?" he said with a smirk as Lorelai let out a breath, knowing she would acknowledge the importance of the keychain soon, but didn't need to deal with it immediately.

The rest of the unpacking fell into a comfortable rhythm of banter and playfulness, punctuated periodically by shared moments of recollection. After finishing the unpacking, Luke moved into the kitchen as if he belonged there and without asking, began putting together a simple dinner.

While they were eating, the phone rang. When she didn't make a move to answer it, Luke gave her a strange look. "Hold on a sec. I want to see who's calling."

"Do you usually-" He stopped as the answering machine kicked in and they heard Emily's voice as clearly as if she were in the room with them.

"Lorelai, it's your mother. I know that you probably think that ignoring me is amusing, but it is downright childish and you should know better than to treat your own mother this way. You're obviously upset, but I'm sure we could work out our misunderstanding in a civilized manner if you would just return my calls."

Luke reached for her hand and she looked up to see his stunned look. "How can she talk to you that way? How can she call it a misunderstanding?"

"That's just Emily," Lorelai said, her voice resigned, as she felt renewed pain at the thought of her mother.

"How long has she been calling?"

"A little over a week. They just got back from their honeymoon. She started calling when I didn't show up to Friday Night Dinner."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's fine."

"No, it's not fine. It's not fine at all."

To be continued.