"Do you love him? Are you in love?"
Lorelai stared at her daughter. Calmly, she took a lick off of her ice cream cone, never looking up. She spent a minute considering. Was it love? Suddenly, something clicked.
"Yeah, I think I am. In love, that is. Wow!" Lorelai's face lit up with a mega-watt smile.
Rory giggled. "Mom, he's your Luke. As I previously stated, he's your forever. Enough said, right?"
Suddenly, ideas flooded Lorelai's head.
"Wow, this is amazing. I feel…mature. I haven't even told him yet and I want to sit down and plan out our entire future. I love him," Lorelai repeated in a dazed tone.
Now it was Rory's turn to be surprised. "You want to plan your future. Miss Let's-fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants wants a detailed map of her future? That's a huge step in some direction!"
"It's just, now I want the whole package. I never have wanted it before-our life was it for me, satisfaction complete. Now, I don't know. I kinda want to be married, have that whole white picket fence, golden-retriever in the yard with the kids…Whoa! Kids? I am thinking ahead. Gah! What am I thinking? Rory, tell me I'm crazy!" By now Lorelai had stood up and was furiously pacing the room.
"Mom! Calm down!" Here Lorelai stood still for a moment, cautiously looking at Rory. "This is normal. You finally found your guy, now you want to hold onto him. This is great! I'm so happy for you that I want to cry! Not sure quite why, but tears are forming! Seriously!" And sure enough, tears rolled down Rory's smiling cheeks.
"I'm so happy!" exclaimed Lorelai.
"Hey, Mom? I really love Luke too, I want you to know that," as Rory put on her serious face.
That was enough to set Lorelai off. Presently, both girls were hugging, crying, jumping up and down and generally making noise. Deep down inside, Lorelai felt something change. It was back; she and Rory were back. Nothing was perfect, but it was close.