Chapter 3 - Around Town After The Date

Lorelai awoke slowly Sunday morning to the sound of the phone ringing. With a huge grin on her face, she answers the insistent ringing. "How was your big date with Luke last night?" Rory asks.

"I'm fine this morning and how are you?" Lorelai sarcastically asks her nosey daughter. Rory just rolls her eyes at the mom and says "I'm fine Mom. Now dish. Tell me everything and don't leave anything out."

Lorelai laughed at the urgency in Rory's voice. "Even the dirty parts?"

"Eeew Mom. Leave out the dirty parts. Wait. Mom are there dirty parts? What did you two do?"

Lorelai laughed again. "Of course there are no dirty parts. We went to dinner in Hartford. Then we took a moonlit stroll around the lake. When we got cold, Luke drove me home and walked me to the front door."

Rory waited impatiently for her mom to finish. She was sure something more happened but Lorelai was being very quiet. Finally she couldn't take the silence anymore. "Mooommm. What happened when you got to the door? Did Luke kiss you? Did he spend the night? What? What? Tell me!"

"OK. OK! After Luke walked me to the door, he put his arms around me and told me what a great time he had. I told him the same thing. Then he kissed me. Oh honey, it was great. Better than I ever imagined. And before you ask, yes I've dreamed of kissing Luke. I think he felt the same. At least I hope he did."

Rory was speechless. She'd had no idea that her mom felt so strongly about Luke. She was so happy for her mom. "I'm so glad you had a good time. I gotta go now and study. Talk to you later. Bye Mom"

"OK. Bye sweetie."

Rory hung up the phone and thought for a while before picking up the phone again. She quickly dialed a number from memory and waited for someone to answer. Finally someone answers the phone, "Luke's."

"Hi Luke. It's me Rory." Luke was a little surprised to hear from Rory. His brain went into overdrive thinking. "Is everything OK? Are you or Lorelai sick? Hurt? In trouble?"

"Calm down Luke. Everything's fine. Mom's OK. I'm OK. I just wanted to ask you something."

Luke was getting nervous now. "OK Rory. Ask away."

"Well. What are your intentions towards my mom?"

Luke is speechless at that question. He can hardly believe Rory just asked him about his intentions towards Lorelai. "Well Rory. I really like your mom and I had a great time last night. I want to see her again if she wants to see me. Is that OK with you?"

Rory just laughs on her end and says "Of course it's OK with me if you date Mom. And it's about time too! You two have been hot for each other for ages and I'm glad you finally did something about that. Have a good day Luke. Bye" And with that parting shot, Rory hung up the phone and went to study.

Luke is left confused by the whole conversation with Rory. He's not sure what just happened but he's smiling now and can't believe his good luck. As he turns away from the phone, the door to the diner opens. Before Luke can say anything, Miss Patty and Babette ask him about his date with Lorelai last night. He doesn't even bother to ask how they know since Babette lives next door to Lorelai. He just grunts in response and asks them if they want to order anything. Miss Patty and Babette exchange knownig glances at his lack of response and say "Well it's about time the two of you got together." They left without ordering a thing.

Once Miss Patty and Babette were gone Luke got back to the business of running the diner. He served coffer and breakfast to all his usual customers. Of course each one had to ask about his date with Lorelai. Oh the perils of living in a small town. Everyone knew everyone else's business. Luke just grunted in response and told them to butt out of his business.

Several hours later the bell over the diner rang again. Luke looked up from wiping the counter and couldn't help but grin. Lorelai walked over and sat at the counter. Luke walked over to the coffee pot and brought a cup of coffee to Lorelai. Lorelai smiled at Luke and took a very grateful sip. She looked at Luke and said "Hey."

"Hey yourself." Luke said.

"Was your morning as interesting as mine? Lorelai asked.

Luke leaned across the counter and gave Lorelai a quick kiss before he answered. "I had a lot of very nosey people come into the diner this morning and ask lots of questions. What happened to you?"

"Well, first Rory called and grilled me about all the details. Then Sookie called and did the same thing. Then Babette came over to ask all the same questions. I told them all that we had a fun but nothing else."

"Rory called you too?" Luke asked before he thought better of it.

"What do you mean too? Did my daughter call you this morning? What did she want? What did you say? I'm going to kill that child of mine."

Luke just looked at Lorelai for a second. He wasn't sure what to say or which question to answer first. "Rory called me after she talked to you. She wanted to know if I enjoyed our date. She then gave me permission to continue dating you." Luke was chuckling as he said that. Lorelai just sat there stunned; she was speechless again. Luke leaned across the counter and gave her another quick kiss. They talked for a while before Lorelai decided it was time to go finish her errands.

Over the next few days Luke and Lorelai were constantly bombarded by townspeople asking when their next date would be. On Wednesday Luke finally asked Lorelai to have dinner with him on Saturday night. Lorelai agreed and asked what to wear this time. Luke just looked at her said "This week casual will be fine." After another quick kiss, the two went about their normal routines.

The rest of the week was spent answering - or rather avoiding - questions about their upcoming date. Lorelai kept trying to get Luke to tell he where they were going or what they were doing. But Luke refused to tell Lorelai anything. She'd just have to wait and find out Saturday.

Author's Notes: Thanks to all who have reviewed this story to date. The nice reviews have made it easier for me to continue. I have at least two more chapters that I'm currently writing. If all goes well, there will probably be a total of six chapters. I have an idea that would take up to ten chapters but six would also be a good stopping point. Please continue to let me know what you think. My muse finally came but I still have the cranky 14 month old daughter. Oh well.