A/N: Thanks so much to my betas, CineFille and LulaBo. They put up with a lot of drafts of this chapter (and whining about it) as well as with me during this whole process. I've learned a lot.

And thanks to the readers for all their lovely reviews and enthusiasm. You guys make my day.

Also, there is a very Friends like situation in this chapter. Young people who don't have jobs, yet living in a nice apartment. Use your imaginations, people. : )

Part 9

These boots are broken in from always leaving you
This road takes lots of turns, each one leads me back to you
But
If you're here when I get back will you open up the door
If you're here when I get back will you pull me to the floor
And will ya kiss me like before
I couldn't ask for more, I couldn't ask for more

-John Eddie, "If You're Here When I Get Back"

October in Maine was usually spent outdoors, enjoying the crisp air before winter arrived, but the Luke's last few weeks there were spent packing up the pieces of his life and--something rather out of character for him--talking to people about his decision.

He told Liz first, because she had been badgering him about when Lorelai was coming back. "Hopefully next summer when I come visit you."

"What?" Liz was baffled by this, her eyes growing large. "Where are you going?" She paused and studied him intensely for a second. "You're moving back?" He nodded. "Finally!"

"Nice to know I'm so beloved."

"No, no, that's not what I meant." She gave Luke a tight hug. "I'm so glad. I bet Lorelai's excited."

"She doesn't know," he smiled, trying to mask his nervousness. What if he went back and she ignored him? What if he had been replaced like she thought he had replaced her?

"How romantic!" Liz bounced, calling in to T.J. "Luke's moving back to Connecticut to be with Lorelai."

"About time," was TJ's reply.

Luke toed the floor of Liz's workshop. "Any advice?"

"Don't be stubborn, bro. I know it's what you do best, but…she loves you, you'll see."

"Thanks."

"We better be invited to the wedding!" Luke nodded absent-mindedly as he strode to his truck. One thing at a time, he thought.

There was somewhere he had to stop before going back to Stars Hollow, though. He knew he had hurt her almost as much as Lorelai and he needed her forgiveness to go on, to make this real.


That was how Luke found himself trying to navigate the streets of TriBeCa. Weaving his way through delivery trucks where fresh produce, fish, or meat was being transferred from the large warehouses, he managed to find the right building. After riding up the rickety elevator, he located apartment 3B and knocked.

"Is Rory Gilmore here?" he asked the curly-headed boy who opened the door.

"Uh no, she's at a job interview."

"I'm Luke. Her mom's friend?" Friend felt too informal, but he didn't know what else to say.

"Oh yeah, I've heard about you. I'm Marty."

"Oh okay. The boyfriend, right?"

Marty blushed as he led Luke into the loft. Luke's jaw practically dropped as he saw how large the apartment was. The wooden floors shone and the exposed pillars and brick added an unfinished touch to the decoration. He noticed a spiral staircase that presumably led upstairs to the bedrooms. "I don't know if she would say that--"

"Oh well, I didn't mean to put you on the spot," Luke chuckled. "This place is really nice," he added, changing the subject.

Marty shrugged, looking sheepish. "Thanks. It was my brother's, but he moved to Boston, so he said I could use it for however long. He bought the building and sold out the other floors."

"Wow." Luke was impressed.

"Well, Rory should be back soon. I actually have to run…"

"Go, go, I'll be fine."

"Alright. Well, help yourself to whatever we have in the fridge, which probably isn't much." Marty shrugged, throwing a bag across his shoulder. He gave Luke a nod as he shut the large loft door.

Luke flipped through the newspaper and a couple of the less girly magazines before he heard keys jingling in the entryway. Rory opened the door a second later, her eyes widening at the guest on her couch. The contents of the bag in her hand started to slip out of her grasp. Luke leapt up to help her with her load as she found her voice. "Luke! Marty called and said someone was here, but wouldn't say who. I—how are you?" She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she placed the bags on the kitchen counter.

As she looked up at him with those blue eyes, her brow slightly creased, Luke was hit with the realization of how much she looked like her mother. "Better." Luke handed Rory her other bag. "I'm dealing….how I was before, that's done now." He ducked his head, clearing his throat.

"Do you want something to drink? I just went shopping."

"Water is fine. Thanks."

"So what's up?" Rory asked as she handed him a bottle from the refrigerator.

"I screwed up, Rory. I thought maybe your mom and I—well, I didn't think, that was part of the problem." Rory frowned, struggling to keep up. Luke took a breath. "I'm going back."

"To Stars Hollow?" She practically gasped.

"Yeah, I am. And I just wanted to know if…"

"If?" She urged him on.

"If I got back together with your mom--" Luke couldn't finish his question because Rory had thrown her arms around him in a big bear hug. "Would that be okay?"

"Okay? That would be great! Wonderful! Smashing! Sorry, I don't get to use words like that very often." Luke chuckled. "So how was mom's visit? She never told me much about it and I've been so busy I haven't had time to needle her about it yet."

"It went…okay." Luke couldn't think fast enough on his feet and Rory noticed.

"Oh no, what happened?"

"I just—I'll let you hear it from her. Let's just say I wasn't the easiest person to get along with while she was there."

"Aw, Luke. But everything's going to be okay?"

"I hope so. If your mom can find it in her to listen to me one more time."

"She'll come around." He must have looked unsure, because Rory gave his arm a small squeeze. "She will. She loves you."

He nodded. He knew. After everything he knew that. "Thanks, half-pint."

"Welcome back."

"Well, I should get going if I want to get…"

"Home by dark, yeah." Rory grinned at him for a moment before he pulled her into a hug.

"So does your mom know you're living with a boy?" He teased as Rory showed him out. She blushed and nodded. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He is."

Luke gave her shoulder a squeeze before stepping out. "Thanks, kid. See you."

"Good luck." Luke walked the many blocks back to his car, still in awe of how grown-up Rory had become in the few months since he'd seen her at graduation. His thoughts turned to Lorelai, however, as he started up his truck and headed out of the city.


Lorelai hadn't heard from Luke since she left and she was beginning to think their relationship since Rory's graduation and her visit to Maine was just a fluke, a good patch over the summer and fall, before winter set in.

At the same time, her patience had worn off, and after her outburst in Luke's kitchen, she hadn't really expected him to call. The problem was that he wasn't someone she could simply shut out of her mind. If she were capable of that, she would have done it two years ago when he left.

She'd had trouble sleeping again and it reminded her of the weeks of insomnia she'd experienced after Luke had left for Maine. Recently, during one of her sleepless nights, she'd thrown back the covers, mad at herself for expending so much of her time and energy still thinking about him. Ripping apart the closet downstairs, she found what she had been searching for: the Luke box. Lorelai drew out his shirt, surprised when tears sprang to her eyes. She wrapped the shirt around her and realized, a lump rising in her throat that it didn't smell like him anymore.

But there, at the bottom of the box, were the small stack of envelopes which contained the little correspondence they kept those two years. Reaching for them, she intended to tear them up and throw them in the fireplace, where she could watch them shrivel to black ash and fly up and out of her house. And hopefully out of her mind.

Lorelai marched into the living room and then cursed loudly when she remembered the fireplace wasn't working. Even the damn fireplace reminded her of Luke. She felt tears sting her eyes and dropping the letters on the table, stomped back up to bed.

As the months passed, Lorelai found the cold an excuse to stay home. She used to love going out in the snow, tracking through town just to get marshmallows and crappy movies. But since she'd been alone--finally, unequivocally reduced to spinster status--she didn't find it quite as fun. So instead of going to the store for real food, she made do with what she had at home. She ate a TV dinner, which was too cheesy even for her, and threw it out half-eaten. Ice cream followed that, a few chips, a piece of bread, then she made herself a pot of coffee and started up When Harry Met Sally, which was probably the worst movie to watch when thinking about an absent best friend. She'd always had this strange affinity with Meg Ryan, even though she'd clearly had too much botox as of late, and would never make another decent movie unless she went back to romantic comedies. But whenever people picked on her, saying she shouldn't have left that good looking husband of hers for Russell Crowe, Lorelai was quick to chime in that her good-looking husband also happened to have a drug problem, so Meg Ryan wasn't totally to blame. Although cheating on Dennis Quaid with Russell Crowe didn't seem to make much sense to Lorelai. Maybe it was the brooding.

"What's the statute of limitations on apologies?" "Ten years." "Ooh, I can just get it in under the wire."

Lorelai sighed into her coffee cup. Sometimes apologies weren't enough. She scooted back to the kitchen in her fuzzy animal socks. Rory had given them to Lorelai for her birthday, along with the shirt she was currently wearing, which had a kitten on it and read, "More pie?" Yes, please, Lorelai thought. Luke's has good pie, even though Luke doesn't make it anymore. She decided to go out and was grabbing her scarf and mittens and pulling on her boots when there was a knock on the door.

Frowning, she opened the door and then froze, not because of the frigid air drifting inside, but because of the figure on her porch.

"Luke?" She asked, when she found her voice. He looked the way she felt. The scruff had grown rather thick and his clothes looked slightly baggy, like he had forgotten to eat once she left. There were bags under his eyes and Lorelai noticed how those eyes were begging her to forgive him, to embrace him, to say everything was okay.

"Can I come in?" he asked, ducking his head slightly so he wouldn't have to look her in the eye. Lorelai nodded, letting him through to the living room. He had let her stay with him in Maine, so she couldn't find it in herself to deny him the same. It was strange, but she suddenly felt numb about everything. Maybe it was because he had hurt her before, but now she could feel herself closing up emotionally around him. She wouldn't even let herself focus on the fluttering of her heart, the small sense of hope she still possessed, as she followed him into the other room and sank down next to him on the couch. She turned the television off quickly, hoping he wouldn't recognize what she was watching.

"I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

"Luke, why--" He held up a hand. He couldn't let her talk first because it would be something silly and pointless that would leave him wondering how he was supposed to turn the subject back to what an asshole he'd been.

"What happened when you were in Bar Harbor, you have to know that girl wasn't--"

"I know, Luke. That's not why I left."

"Didn't you ever think--" He swallowed, cleared his throat. "That it was too easy?"

"What? Us?"

He nodded. "It was just…comfortable. And I think it was still hard for me—that you really wanted this, us instead of someone else."

He still couldn't explain things entirely. He wasn't sure he could put into words how much Rachel and Nicole had hurt him, had made it so incredibly impossible to be with Lorelai, even though he wanted that most in the world. It mattered so much that he was here in her house, practically begging her to take him back.

Lorelai looked fragile suddenly, like if he was too harsh, she would just crumble. It hurt him to look at her. "I don't know what I can say to change your mind."

"You did. Already." The way Lorelai's voice had fallen, so broken, in his kitchen in Maine had haunted him for weeks. "And I should have--" he shook his head, biting his tongue to blink back the tears. "There are so many things I should have done." He paused, shook his head again, and turned to finally look at her. He was surprised at how closely they sat on her couch. They had fallen into their natural state of being: Lorelai, even when they were friends, was always grabbing onto his wrist and he had often found himself touching her on the shoulder or the arm when she came into the diner. "How many times is it going to take for us to get it right? We ignored it for…" His voice broke on this last statement, and he didn't finish, letting her speak.

"A long time," she whispered, nodding.

"Now we're doing it again. What if this is as good as it gets? What if we're….missing it?"

Lorelai had to laugh. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. You're just so stubborn."

"I am stubborn. I know. And I'm stupid and I've been so blind to what I really want, Lorelai, and I just didn't know if you would even listen to me, give me another chance--" He stopped, realizing that he sounded a little like her, rambling, because he wanted her back so, so badly.

She exhaled, her body shaky. "If we do this, I need to know--" Her mind was spinning and she felt torn between wanting to lash out at him and wanting to forget it all and start over. The way her heart had leapt when she saw at her door was the same way she had felt when she saw him at Rory's graduation, when she heard his voice on the phone, whenever he touched her. It was warm and it was comfortable and it was right in front of her. But it was scary to make that leap again. She needed to know. "I need to know that you won't leave again." He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "I know, I know that you're sorry. But as hard as it is for you, it's hard for me too." Her voice broke slightly and she cleared her throat. "In Maine, everything was so intense and to just lose that all over again, God, it was like having my arm chopped off or being without--"

"Coffee," he finished.

"Yeah," she said softly.

"God, Lorelai, I--" He put a hand to his forehead, amazed and disgusted at himself. He had broken her. And now he had to put her back together even if it took him the rest of his life. She wasn't looking at him, but rather down at her lap, and when he reached over and lifted her chin, he saw the tears in her eyes. "I need this too. And I am sorry about all my shit and I just….need this to work." He begged, squeezing her hand.

Lorelai didn't look away, she held his gaze, moved her hand slightly so he noticed how it was resting on his arm. "Luke, I love you, but I can't…" Her voice choked out. "You live in Maine."

"Not anymore." Her head shot up at that and she studied him for a moment. She felt her chest rise and fall like she was breathing, but the tightness in ribcage and throat made her think otherwise. Had she really heard him right? He nodded, his fingers fluttering across her leg slightly. That was all she needed. Lorelai's hand was resting on his and she slowly slid it up his arm, wadding up the flannel of his shirt in her fist as she pulled him towards her. Her lips found his, his fingers tangled in her curls, neither of them wanting to break apart. When Lorelai broke away slightly, she refused to open up her eyes, afraid it would all be a terrific dream. She would open her eyes and Luke would still be in Maine, the TV would still be on, and she would be on the couch alone. "I'm moving back. I want to do this right. I want to be with you, Lorelai." She heard his low voice near her ear and held back the sob in her throat. He lowered his voice even further, his tone almost reverent. "I love you."

After all those months apart, hoping he would show up at her door and say those exact words, Lorelai still didn't know how to react. She felt her face blossom into a smile and she pressed her lips along his jawline. Luke's throat made a low sound and it took her a moment to realize he was chuckling. "I love you too." She buried her face in his neck, taking in his smell, the way his scruff scratched along her cheek. Being in Luke's arms had a way of making her feel safe and more loved than she thought possible. He was perfect. And he was there.

fin