A/N: Thanks to my betas, lulabo and jesouhaite.

Part 7

Max was supposed to return from California in May. Emily called Lorelai a week before he was due back to set up plans for a welcome back party.

"Having dinner at your place will be fine, Mom," Lorelai assured her and then panicked. She knew she'd have to tell her parents eventually, but her whole body tensed up as she imagined her mother's look and the dreaded "I told you so." But better expect the worse than be naïve and expect her to be supportive, Lorelai thought. Or maybe better to expect no reaction at all if Emily was going to be disappointed with her. At least Lorelai had twenty years of practice.

"You sure you don't want me to go along? As a buffer?" Rory asked. She was skipping dinner per Lorelai's request.

"No need to expose you to the ugliness. You should at least retain your naïve view of your grandparents until you go to college."

"All right, but call as soon as you leave. Or you know, for any reason." Lorelai smiled, grateful to have such a mature, supportive daughter.

"Hello, Lorelai," her mother greeted her in the foyer. "Isn't this horrible weather?"

"It's humid. You don't like the summer?"

"I suppose it's not as bad as winter."

"I love winter," Richard announced as he came into the room.
"Would you care for a drink, Lorelai?"

"A martini. Make it a double." I'll need it.

"So are you excited about Max coming home? Oh, you must be. I still hate when your father is away."

"Oh, Emily…" Richard chuckled.

"Well, it's true. I simply can't get anything done—"

"Mom?" Lorelai stopped her.

"Something wrong?"

"Well, yes, actually. Yeah, it is. I really don't know how to say this but—"

"Is it Rory? She's okay, isn't she?" Emily sat forward.

"Rory's fine. She stayed home because I—" She breathed.
"Needed to do this on my own." She glanced up at her parents, both of whom had literally moved to the edge of their seats.

"My God, Lorelai, don't keep us in suspense."

"Sorry, dad. It's just—it's been hard on us, me and Max, I mean. He's gone so much and we've both changed, I think. We just, we couldn't make things work." Lorelai glanced from one parent to the other. Both were stunned. This is a first, she thought.

"Are you two, er, separating?" her dad inquired, finally looking up at her.

"No," Lorelai said gently. "We're getting a divorce."

"Is there someone else?" Emily asked.

"For me? Or for him?" No response. "Well, no. I mean, not for me. For him, I don't know." And she hadn't even considered the possibility. It hurt her a little to imagine him having dinner with someone every night, someone he could probably sit and read with, talk about literature with for hours. She swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on her mother's voice.

"What about the man who came to Rory's birthday party? He was at the wedding."

"Luke?" Lorelai rolled her eyes. "No, Mom, it's not Luke. Luke's a good friend, that's all." And if it was, I wouldn't tell you.

"So you aren't going to counseling? You're not even trying." Lorelai knew her mother was trying not to be accusatory, but that was the way she sounded. Lorelai bit back.

"I did. I am, but it's not easy when your husband just leaves." Lorelai's hand shook and she set down her glass. "Max asked me to move to California with him. And Rory too. But that's just—it was so irresponsible to ask me. He knew when we got married that my life was here. The inn. Rory's school."

"I suppose you're right," Richard agreed, and Lorelai was slightly surprised at her father's amicable mood. She figured he would thunder on about how she could never be the "good" daughter that he had imagined rather than an unwed teenage mother and now, a divorcee.

Emily just stared off into space. "It's…fine. I'll just go." Lorelai stood up.

"You can stay for dinner. You drove all the way here," he offered.

"Thanks, Dad, but I'm not feeling very hungry right now." He nodded and she slipped out of the dark, Hearst-like castle. Damn, she needed coffee.

"Hey, it's early," Luke greeted her as she came in.

"Yeah, things didn't go so well at the parents'—not that they ever go well, but you know—can I get some coffee?"

"Do you have to ask?"

"No, but it's considered polite." She grinned at him before he had to attend to another table. "Hey, hey," she tried to catch him when he came back.

"Lorelai, I have customers," he replied almost apologetically.

"Well, I just wanted to—it's not important."

"Wait, no. Come by later. I promise I'll throw Kirk out and listen to whatever it is."

"Okay then," Lorelai laughed.

Lorelai went home for a little while but the house felt too large and too quiet. She imagined that it would be like this every night once Rory was away at college, but she didn't want to think about that quite yet. She tried to read an article Rory had marked for her but she couldn't get through it for glancing at the clock every five minutes. "Fine," she muttered under her breath as she grabbed her purse and headed back to Luke's.

The diner was empty as she stepped inside. "Hey," she called tentatively, not sure where Luke was.

"Oh hey," Luke stuck his head out from the kitchen.

"Can I…?" She motioned to the closed sign. Luke nodded and she flipped it over, letting out a chuckle. "I've always wanted to do that."

Luke leaned over the counter, his hand coming up to cup her face as he kissed her: a slow, soft kiss and then little short ones, not wanting to pull away. "And I've always wanted to do that."

She smiled up at him, placing her hand on his and stroked his fingers with her thumb.

"So I take it Friday night dinner didn't go well."

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "It went. I didn't stay for dinner."

"You want something to eat? I could make you…" Lorelai shook her head.

"Maybe later. Right now I want you to stop talking about my parents and kiss me again."

Luke raised his eyebrows at that. "I can…okay." He stuttered, moving around the counter. He kissed her, Lorelai slipping off the stool as he did so, and soon he found them going up the stairs to his apartment. Lorelai slipped his baseball hat off and he growled at her as she retreated to his bed, somehow tripping on her own foot as she bounced down, giggling. He took her in, her curls bouncing, the twinkle in her eye. She was gorgeous.

"Aren't you glad I made you buy the double bed?" Lorelai had never imagined she would be the girl Luke brought back, but then she hadn't imagined him with any girl. Or you know, without clothes. These thoughts were pushed away, though, as Luke's mouth met her neck and she let out a little moan, almost surprised how good he was at this. He wasn't the grumpy, monosyllabic diner guy she had grown to know. He was a lot more than that. He was Luke and he was sweet and patient and softer with her.

"Lorelai," he drew his breath in. "Are you sure…I mean we just talked about taking things slow."

"I think six years is slow enough," she whispered. Luke didn't respond and she looked up at him, his eyes questioning hers. She nodded.

He carefully pulled her shirt over her head, throwing it over his shoulder as he took in her creamy skin, her dark hair swept over her shoulders. "See something you like?" She giggled, cracking herself up.

Luke pounced, tickling her, making her beg for mercy, as she tried to get away from him and breathe. "You never shut up, do you?"
He kissed along her collarbone as her breathing became more regular and grew heavy in his ear.

"Only when you do that."

Waking up in Luke's arms was the happiest Lorelai could remember being in a long time. The rush of lying next to him, however, was almost immediately forgotten because of the overbearing sense of dread. This wasn't a drunk kiss she could write off. This was Luke. In bed with her.

He shifted beside her and his hand ran through her curls. God, that felt nice, she thought and smiled. "Morning," he murmured.

"Hey," was all she could manage, still overwhelmed by all the thoughts she'd had in the past five minutes.

Lorelai suddenly felt very naked, even though she was wrapped in his sheets, and Luke was just as unclothed beside her. She stared over at his chest, rising and falling, and realized maybe it wasn't so bad. But oh shit, Rory. She yanked the sheet out from under the mattress and threw it around her, eliciting a yelp from Luke, as she looked for her phone. Seven missed calls. She dialed home without so much as a glance at Luke.

"Mom?" Rory answered.

"I am so, so, so, so, so, so sorry. Really. You get movie picks and food picks for a month. I just—I can't begin to apologize enough. I broke all the rules."

"Mom, Mom, MOM!" Rory increased her volume, making Lorelai wince. "It's fine. You're an adult. Sort out—whatever you need to. And you're so telling me every detail later," Rory giggled and Lorelai laughed along with her.

"Love you, sweetheart."

"You too. Bye."

"Sorry about Rory." Luke spoke up as she pressed the "end call" button on her phone.

"Nothing to be sorry about. Just me being the crazy mom once again." She tossed him the sheet as she pulled on his t-shirt from the night before. She giggled as it fell to mid thigh, the sleeves down to her elbows.

"Well, I won't debate the crazy part—" Lorelai hit him with her pillow. "But you're a great mom." She smiled and gave him a quick kiss, afraid he would catch a whiff of her morning breath.

"Thank you." They both grew quiet for a minute. "You don't have to rush downstairs? I thought you'd be up hours ago."

"Trying to get rid of me?" She shook her head, snuggling closer. "It's Saturday, Caesar can open." He waited a moment before saying what he really wanted to. "Are you okay…with all of this?"

"I'm good. You're good," she smiled, her eyes twinkling. Luke laughed, a low throaty sound that made Lorelai's stomach flip.

"Coffee?"

"Do you have to ask?" Luke shifted, moving out from under her. "Mmm," she whined. "Where are you going?"

"Downstairs. To get you coffee."

"In that case, forget it. Stay here." Luke studied her for a second, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"Okay. I can do that." He pulled her closer, her head resting on his chest again, his arm wrapped around her, their legs and feet tangled together.

tbc...