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

Author's Note: I know that the last thing people probably want to read right now is a post season four piece, but that's where my muse is right now. I hope everyone enjoys this, regardless. Huge thanks to JeSouhaite for the beta. I was really unsure about this chapter and as usual she was able to talk me down and help me make it better.

Lorelai woke the next morning and it took her a moment to realize where she was and why the walls and ceiling were so close to her. She was in a tent. She had slept outside in a tent. With Luke. She remembered wondering if she was ever going to be able to fall asleep. It had been impossible to relax with the constant chirp of crickets, the random hooting of an owl, and what she could swear was the occasional howl of a wolf. When she couldn't shake her nervousness about the sounds of nature, she had tried thinking about Luke. That was effective in distracting her from her fear, but thinking about his fingers caressing her face and tangled in her hair and his lips on hers didn't make it any easier to sleep. She had desperately wanted to slide over next to him and let him wrap his arms around her, but after such a chaste goodnight kiss, she wasn't sure how he would feel about that. She wondered if he had as much trouble falling asleep as she did. Somewhere in the midst of her thoughts it occurred to her to wonder if he was awake and she turned to look in his direction.

Not only was he awake, but he was gone, his sleeping bag neatly smoothed out. She allowed herself a moment of concern about his absence, but then remembered that he was an unusually early riser. Sitting up slowly, she wondered what the procedure was for waking up in a tent. She pulled on her sweatshirt, then sat for a moment, pondering what to do next. She was hesitant to go outside, given that she wasn't used to encountering the world before showering and she wasn't especially looking forward to seeing TJ. On the other hand, a trip to the bathroom was fast becoming a necessity.

Somewhere in the middle of her internal debate, she heard Luke's voice at the door of the tent. "Lorelai? Are you up?"

She moved to unzip the door and let him in. "Hey. Good morning."

"Good morning. I…uh…brought you some coffee," he said as he handed her a filled travel mug.

"Thanks. Just what I needed." She sat on her sleeping bag, hugging her knees and cradling the coffee in both hands.

He knelt and sat back on his heels across from her. "How long have you been up? I didn't wake you, did I?"

"I woke up a few minutes ago. What time is it?"

"A little before eight."

"Why didn't you wake me? Doesn't the Faire open in an hour?"

"Yeah, but it seemed like you were sleeping pretty soundly and I didn't want to disturb you. Did you sleep okay? Were you comfortable?"

His concern was sweet and Lorelai forgot her brief annoyance at being left alone in unfamiliar circumstances. "Yeah I was fine. I was really tired." She paused to take a sip of her coffee. "So tell me, where did you get the coffee?"

"I heated water on the camp stove and from there I think that you're familiar with the process."

"Camp stove, huh? And I thought you just ran out to Dunkin Donuts or something. But this isn't instant. How did you make it?"

"Actually, I used a travel coffee press that I found at the outdoor store."

"Wow, fancy." She was surprised and touched at the thought he had put into making sure she would have coffee. "You must have been a great boy scout…always prepared." Her voice softened, "Thanks for this."

He shrugged, "You didn't really think I was going to deprive you of coffee, did you?"

"After all the times you've threatened to cut me off? This would pretty much have been your perfect opportunity." She grinned at him, then asked, "So, would this be a good time to take a shower?"

"Yeah, do you want me to walk you over there?"

"That's okay. I think that I can find it and you probably have some things to do to get ready, right?"

"Yeah, speaking of which, we need to-"

"Lu-uke," She could suddenly hear TJ's voice outside the tent, "We have to get those tents taken down and put away before the Faire opens. We don't want to be rushing at the last minute like that time last week."

Luke looked like he wanted to growl, but he just answered in a tight voice, "The tent will be down in a few minutes, TJ."

"Oh Luke, I'm sorry to hold you up."

"Don't worry about it. He's just…well, he's just TJ."

Lorelai quickly gathered her things and left for her shower. When she returned, Luke was stowing the last of their gear out of sight behind the booth. "So you got everything put away in time for TJ?"

He just nodded, "Did you find everything okay?"

"Yeah, I even met someone – a singer. Her name was Mildred, but I don't know if that was her real name or her stage name. I think she said she was in a group of singing nuns with ukuleles. Luke, was she joking?"

"Sadly - no."

"Wow, this place is even scarier I thought." Lorelai glanced around their now vacant campsite, thinking how strange it was to even think about 'their campsite.' "Do you have to take down the tent and put it back up every day?"

"Just the days that the Faire is open. Most weeks it's open Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

"What do you and Liz and TJ do with yourselves when it's closed?"

"I've mainly been trying to keep TJ from killing himself. He's working on expanding the booth, but he's basically incapable of handling any sort of construction. I've been helping Liz too."

"What does she do?"

"She mostly works on jewelry, filling special orders and making more of the things that sold the most."

"And you've been helping her, make jewelry?"

"No, she makes it. I just help her hold stuff and string beads. It's hard for her with her arm in a cast."

"You've been making jewelry!"

Luke looked as if he'd been caught knitting tea cozies.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. It's really sweet that you're helping Liz, and I just know that Taylor would love to sell some of your handiwork in the new Stars Hollow gift shop he's thinking of opening."

His eyes widened and he said warningly, "Lorelai."

"I'm kidding. I won't tell a soul, on one condition."

"What?" he asked gruffly.

"Make me something?" she asked tentatively.

After cleaning up the campsite to TJ's satisfaction and running several little errands at his request, Luke and Lorelai finally managed to head out to explore the Faire. Before leaving, Lorelai pulled out her cell phone to check for messages. "Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Are there any renaissance enforcers that will get angry if I use my cell phone?"

"TJ likes to pretend there are, but he is full of shit. Do you need to make a call?"

"No, I just want to have it on in case someone calls…from the inn or something."

"Sure. Go ahead," he said slowly, studying her for a moment. He looked as though he wanted to ask something, but then thought better of it.

He probably knew that she was hoping for a call from Rory. She found herself wondering, as she had several times recently, what Luke knew or suspected about Rory's sudden trip to Europe. He had asked about Rory several times, but to Lorelai's relief he never pressed when she changed the subject. Now though, she was starting to wish she could talk to him about it, not necessarily the gory details, but about the fact that they were fighting.

She would have talked about it to old Luke – 'friend Luke,' but she wasn't sure how 'friend Luke' fit into their current situation. She had never really been friends with any of her boyfriends, at least not in her adult life. It had always been safer that way, being less emotionally attached, though she felt a pang of sadness at the thought that 'something more' with Luke might actually end up being 'something different' instead. For a very tiny moment she questioned the wisdom of this relationship, then she glanced at him and saw his smile, and she knew that she wanted this new part of Luke. She just wasn't sure how it all fit together, and the uncertainty left her feeling very unsettled.

She pulled herself back into the moment and asked, "So, where first?"

"I got a program. Why don't you choose?"

Lorelai found their location on the map and looked at the entertainment schedule. "Oh hey, there's a juggling act starting up," she paused to orient herself and then pointed, "over that way. Harold the Village Juggler. What do you think?"

"Sounds fine to me."

They headed over to juggling stage and sat down on one of the wooden benches. When the juggler appeared on the stage Luke mumbled, "Oh, not this guy."

Lorelai looked at him curiously, "Why? What's wrong?"

He looked at her and shrugged, "Nothing. It doesn't matter. We're just watching him juggle, right?"

"As far as I know," Lorelai answered, perplexed by Luke's reaction.

They sat on the wooden benches and watched as Harold the juggler made bawdy jokes and tossed around a wide variety of strange props. At one point he asked for a volunteer from the audience. Lorelai raised her hand, "Me, me! Pick me!"

"Oh, don't," Luke said, pulling her hand down.

"What! Why?"

"He's just going to embarrass you, in front of all of these people."

"Okay, fine," she shrugged.

Harold did in fact embarrass the woman who was chosen, as well as juggle knives over her while blindfolded, so maybe Luke's instinct had been right on that. For the last act of the show, he pulled off his blousy shirt, to reveal his bare chest, which elicited a groan from Luke, "Oh god, now we have to see him shirtless too?"

"What's wrong with that? He's got a nice chest."

Luke shot her an unreadable look, then raised his eyebrow, "Really?"

"I mean, I'm sure that there are other guys who would look good shirtless," She gave him a pointed look, "but I wouldn't know." She rested her hand briefly on his chest. "So, I guess I'll have to settle for looking at Harold's chest." She shrugged with a 'what's a girl to do' look and pointed at the stage, where the juggler was now juggling three flaming sticks. "Besides, I think that his shirt would have caught on fire."

"Now that would have been entertaining," Luke joked wryly.

Luke seemed relieved when the show was over. As they left the stage area, Lorelai's attention was drawn to one of the food stands. "Look Luke! I smell deep-fried goodness."

"You do have a nose for it."

"What are they?" Lorelai moved to get a closer look.

"Onion blossoms - yet another example of the junk that they call food. I suppose you're going to insist on having one."

"You know me so well," she giggled as they headed to the booth, where he grumbled as he bought the batter-dipped onion flower.

"Wow! This is really good. You so need to make these at the diner."

"I do. They're called onion rings."

"This is not an onion ring. This is so much prettier than an onion ring."

"And that matters, why?"

"People like to eat attractive food, and it's fun too. Can't you imagine Kirk and Lulu sharing one of these at the corner table?"

"That's the most convincing argument you could come up with?"

"Give me some time. I have all weekend, right?"

They found a place to sit and the friendly banter continued for a few more minutes before Lorelai asked, "Luke, what do you guys do on the days that the Faire isn't open? Do you go out to eat or do you use that camp stove thingy you were talking about before?"

"Sometimes we use the 'camp stove thingy,'" he said, mocking her word choice, "or we grill. Sometimes we go out."

"But what do you do for fun? Are there other people here during the week?" For some reason, Lorelai found herself really curious about how Luke was spending his time.

"A few others, but most of them are just here on the weekends. Sometimes if there are people around we hang out and have some beers. Once someone organized a trip to the movies. A lot of times, though, I just read a book…or call you." He shrugged, as if to say, 'what else would I be doing?'

"I was just wondering how you were dealing with not being in your diner 12 –16 hours a day," she said casually, trying to downplay her curiosity.

"Okay. Hey, do you mind if we check in on Liz and TJ? I want to see if they want me to bring them some lunch, or if they need any help with anything."

"Am I keeping you from them?"

"Thankfully, yes."

"Seriously Luke. I don't want to get in the way."

"You are not in the way. No matter what TJ says, they can survive a morning without me."

They stopped by the booth and took lunch orders, which required trips to three different food stands. Lorelai took the opportunity to survey all of the food choices. "Wow, cheesecake on a stick, turkey legs, fudge, apple dumplings, steak on a stake, funnel cakes. How will I ever decide?"

"I promise you, you are not missing anything if you don't eat any of this junk," Luke grumbled.

"Aww, what a spoil sport. How have you been surviving up here?"

"That's an excellent question."

They delivered the food back to Liz and TJ and were about to set out again when Lorelai was surprised by the sound of her phone ringing. When she saw the international number, she said to Luke, "It must be Rory. I'm going to…" she pointed off toward a clump of trees.

He nodded and she answered the call as she walked away. It was in fact Rory and their conversation was just as stilted as it had been every time they had spoken since she left for Europe. They talked just long enough and politely enough to keep Emily from being suspicious until Rory said, "Well, I'm sure you want to speak to Grandma." Lorelai blinked back tears of sadness and frustration at her inability to break the wall of silence that had grown up since the night of the test run. She managed to talk briefly to her mother, before begging off and promising to talk again soon. She took a few deep breaths, then closed up her phone and put it back in her pocket. Every week that her feud with Rory continued made her despair even more about the weakening of their mother-daughter bond.

Lorelai turned to walk back to where Luke waited, thinking again about how 'friend Luke' fit into this new relationship. She wanted to talk to him, lean on him, but opening up to him as a friend now meant pulling them deeper into this new relationship and that scared her more than she wanted to admit. She was starting to realize how much she wanted this man, but she also knew that she couldn't go halfway with him. Though it was new, she wasn't afraid of the physical part of their relationship. That part always came more naturally to her and she was getting used to the attraction she was feeling for Luke. It was their closeness as friends that stumped her, because that was what made her relationship with Luke different from any other she had been in.

When she reached Liz's booth, she was surprised to find Luke talking to two women: Women who were smiling and laughing. Women who were wearing those tight dresses that pushed up their boobs. And one of them had her hand on Luke's arm. Get your hands off my boyfriend, she was surprised to hear in her mind.

"Hey. I'm back," she said as she walked up behind Luke and laid her arm on his shoulder.

She gave him a quick glance before turning her attention to the women, at which point the touchy-feely one removed her hand and said, "Good morrow, milady." She then turned to Luke, lowering her voice, "Lu-uke, you didn't tell us you had a girlfriend."

"Well…uh…"

Lorelai's heart sank as she watched Luke stammer his way around the word 'girlfriend.' Granted, she had just surprised herself by thinking boyfriend thoughts, but this still felt like a rebuff, especially in front of these…trollops. She looped her arm around Luke's and said, "I'm Lorelai. I'm visiting from Stars Hollow for the weekend."

"We are most pleased to make your acquaintance," the girl said somewhat formally before dropping her attempt at Ren Faire speak, "I'm Annie and this is Debbie. We work at the Grog Booth."

"Nice to meet you," Lorelai said, as politely as she could manage.

"We'll probably see you both later, right Luke?" Annie said as she touched his arm again briefly.

"Sure…later." As they walked away, he turned to her and asked, "That was a quick call. Is everything okay?" In the aftermath of seeing his stammering and Annie's hand on his sleeve, Lorelai was annoyed by the question. She knew she was being irrational, but his question now felt like an invasion. "Everything is fine," she said shortly, all thoughts of discussing Rory forgotten for the moment.

Luke looked at her for a moment, but then nodded and asked what she would like to do next. The concern in his eyes made Lorelai regret her sharpness and wonder where her uncertainties were coming from. Watching girls flirting with Luke definitely made her uneasy, but she knew there was more to it than simple jealousy. She felt out of her element here. Between the camping and being at TJ's beck and call she was on edge, and the thought of Luke having a whole new social life when she wasn't around made her queasy.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in an internal debate about Luke's intentions. She was having trouble reconciling the passionate kiss under the stars with the goodnight peck on the forehead and the embarrassing kiss at dinner. She thought she knew that he wanted this. It was Luke after all who had asked her to the wedding, danced with her and kissed her on the porch of the Dragonfly. But if that were true, why did he seem reluctant to touch her, to kiss her? Why did he stumble on the word 'girlfriend?' It wasn't like she wanted him to jump her, but some indication that he was attracted to her would be nice. She was probably being silly. Of course she was being silly, but she had to admit, the flirting girls had thrown her.

In spite of her conflicted feelings, the rest of the day passed pleasantly enough. Luke continued to mock her food choices and they both mocked the Faire itself. He was so much like the Luke that she had known for years that Lorelai began to wonder if she had imagined the entire beginning of their relationship. By the end of the day, however, Lorelai had managed to convince herself that she was in fact being ridiculous. She was here, with Luke, because they both wanted to be together.

Just before the Faire closed for the day, Luke and Lorelai returned to Liz's booth to help close up. Liz and Lorelai packed up earrings on one end of the table while Luke sorted necklaces on the other end.

"So, are you two coming to the party tonight?" Liz asked casually.

"Party? What party?"

"Oh, on Saturdays after the Faire closes, we always have a big party. There's lots of food, beer, dancing and singing. Some of the grog girls instigated it the first week and since then, it's become a tradition."

"Grog girls? I think I met a couple of them today - Annie and Debbie?"

"Oh yeah, that's them. Annie's quite the social butterfly. She's always organizing little gatherings, which I guess is a good thing, since it gets pretty dull here during the week."

"Really? She's here during the week too?" Lorelai looked over toward Luke, and suddenly all of the logical arguments she had spent the afternoon constructing fell apart.

She remembered the grog girl's hand on his arm. It was ridiculous to be jealous, right?

She remembered him stammering when asked if she was his girlfriend. But Luke wanted to be with her, right?

She remembered the embarrassment of the kiss in the restaurant last night and the goodnight kiss on the forehead. But Luke was attracted to her, right?

She was just being ridiculous. Right?

To be continued