Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Not Lorelai. Not Rory. Not Luke (wipes away a tear). Nothing.

Chapter 6- Not ready for goodbye

In the seventeen years Luke and Lorelai were married, Lorelai grew accustomed to waking up alone. Of course, there were anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, special occasions, days off, the daring days Luke would play hookie from work, Sundays, and the uncommon off chance of Lorelai waking up at questionable hours of the night when Lorelai would wake up next to Luke. He rose everyday at four thirty and was out the door at four fifty. By five, he was already opening the diner. It never bothered her that Luke wasn't always in bed with her when she woke up. She knew that would be the case when they got married. So you could imagine the shock she was in when she woke up the next morning and hit Luke when she was stretching.

It didn't register in her head that she had hit him for a while. When she finally realized he was still in bed, her eyes flew open and she shot up into a sitting position. She looked over at the clock on her night stand. Six thirty. What was Luke doing in bed at six thirty on a Tuesday? Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone. Luke didn't even stir by the ringing, but Lorelai still answered it quickly as if it would wake her husband.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Lorelai, it's Caesar," Caesar said. "I don't remember Luke asking me to open today, but I may have forgot. I was just calling to see if everything was ok. I sorta freaked out when the boss wasn't here this morning."

Lorelai looked over at the sleeping Luke and rubbed her temples. This was giving her a headache fast. "Yeah, um, Luke's still in bed. We had a long night last night with the whole Richie thing and all. I'll try to get him up and to the diner as fast as I can though."

"If he can't come in, I understand. Lane and I can hold down the fort until the boys get here."

"Thank you so much Caesar."

"You're welcome. See you later Lorelai."

"Later Caesar."

Lorelai put the phone down and stared at Luke. Why hadn't he gotten up this morning? They stopped using an alarm clock to wake him a long time ago. He was always up at four thirty. She put her hand on his forehead and noticed he was getting a little warm. He didn't have a fever, but it might be headed for one. Lorelai picked up the phone again and called Sookie at the inn to let her know she wouldn't be coming in today because she had to take care of Luke.

Sometime towards the end of the conversation, Luke began to stir in his sleep, slowly waking up. Lorelai sunk back into the bed and rested a hand and her head on Luke's chest. His eyes slowly opened and he looked questionably at his wife.

"Morning sleepy head," she teased.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Six forty-five."

"Six forty-five? Why didn't you wake me up?"

He tried to get up, but Lorelai stopped him. "I wouldn't have been able to wake you up anyway. Besides, I have an even better idea. Today, you and I are going to play hookie."

"But the diner…"

"Caesar and Lane are going to cover the diner until Josh and Will get there after school." He took a deep breath as a sign saying he was going to go along with her plan. "Why didn't you wake up this morning?"

"I don't know," he replied as he stroked her hair. "I'm really tired I guess."

"You're feeling a little warm this morning. Are you getting sick? Should I call the doctor?"

"No. No doctors. Lorelai, I'm fine."

Lorelai sat up and faced Luke. "Luke, you slept in two hours, you're warm, and you're tired. You could be running a fever. Please, let me call the doctor."

Luke sat up against the headboard. "Lorelai, really I'm fine. I probably feel warm because of body heat. We do tend to lie very close to each other at night. And I'm tired because Will and I were up pretty late talking last night."

"We do much more tiring activities until very late."

"Yeah, but you see talking with your son is much less entertaining than doing something dirty with your wife. Really honey, I'm fine."

"Can I at least take your temperature?"

"You're not thinking of doing it the old fashioned way where I have to bend over are you?"

Lorelai laughed and shook her head. "No. We've got that one you stick in your ear. I'm gonna go get it and I'll tell the kids to just have cereal for breakfast."

Luke nodded. The minute Lorelai left the room, he let out a sigh. He hated lying to Lorelai, but he couldn't tell her what was really going on. She'd do exactly what she was doing now. She'd drop everything to take care of him and that wasn't fair. He didn't want to be the reason she put her life on hold. A minute later, Lorelai walked back into the room with the thermometer. She stick it in his ear and pressed the button, making a face as she read the results. "Ninety-nine point eight. You've got a slight fever," she sighed. "I can't remember you ever being sick."

"It's because never have been," he remarked.

"Well you are today mister. You are going to stay right here in this bed and I, the loving caring wife I am, will take care of you." Lorelai smiled mischievously and climbed into bed next to Luke. "And if you're feeling better later, maybe we can play doctor."

Luke grinned. "Full physical?"

"With a possibility of a sponge bath. But first, you need to get some sleep. I'm gonna go downstairs to make you tea and I'll ask Sookie to bring some chicken soup over."

"I'd like that," Luke smiled. He laid back down and closed his eyes.

Lorelai stopped at the door and watched as Luke fell peacefully back to sleep. She didn't know what hurt her more: not knowing if there was something wrong with Luke or that there was something he wasn't telling her. One thing was for sure though. She couldn't live with out him. She wouldn't.

Emma had two kinds of best friends. The kind she could do things with and tell secrets to. They were the ones that made her feel daring, like what Paris was to Rory- Lynn and Tiffany. And then there was the kind she could actually talk to. The one that knew her better than anyone and told everything to. That best friend happened to be her niece, Lori Huntzberger. Lori was six months younger than Emma. Because Emma was born in November, the school board decided to put her in Lori's class.

"Grandpa's sick?" Lori asked in shock.

"I know. I was shocked too," Emma laughed. "I can't remember him ever being sick. I mean, really sick. Not pretending to be just so he can stay home and do…stuff with Mom."

"Ok. Let's end this conversation before I throw up. So, how mad was he at Will yesterday?"

"Very. He yelled until I thought he was going to explode. He grounded Will."

"Let me guess- kitchen duty, extra chores, no car, and no TV for a month?"

"Two."

"My God."

"I know. It's harsh."

"No. My God." Lori pointed across the street to Tyler who was jogging across the street.

"Hey," he greeted when he approached them.

"Hey Tyler," Emma smiled. "You remember my niece Lori Huntzberger right? Lori, Tyler Doose."

"You don't look like the Tyler Doose I know," Lori remarked, looking him up and down.

"Puberty hit," Tyler stated simply.

"The wonders of the world." Lori gave Emma a 'he's hot' look.

Tyler laughed. "Hey, do you guys wanna get some ice cream or something?"

"Um, sure," Emma replied. "I mean, if Lori wants to."

"Ice cream sounds great," Lori smiled.

"Cool. Follow me," Tyler said. The three of them headed toward Taylor's Ice Cream Shop. They were about to walk in when Lori stopped.

"Oh, you know what? I totally forgot I was supposed to help my dad out with something today," Lori said innocently. It was obvious she was up to something. Well, to Emma at least.

"What thing?" Emma asked, reading right through Lori's lie.

"That…thing. With the…stuff."

"The thing with stuff?"

"Yeah. I better not keep him. He's been cranky lately. But you guys go on ahead. I wouldn't want to keep you from ice cream." Before Emma could protest, Lori started down the street. "Call me later ok Em? Oh and Tyler, it was nice seeing you again."

"You too," Tyler said, waving to Lori. He turned to Emma and smiled. "So. Shall we?" He held the door open for Emma. She smiled nervously and walked inside. "What'cha in the mood for?"

"Um. Chocolate's fine."

Tyler walked behind the counter and started looking through the ice cream. "You want regular chocolate, chocolate-chocolate, chocolate fudge, chocolate swirl, chocolate moose, chocolate peanut butter crunch, or chocolate-chocolate-chocolate? Wow. We have a lot of chocolate."

"How about I just have some coffee?" Emma laughed.

Tyler moved around the buckets in search of the coffee ice cream. "I could have sworn we had a whole container of coffee last night. Hey Wendy, where's all the coffee ice cream?"

"Gone. Someone called this morning and asked for the whole container," Wendy replied.

"Who would buy a whole container of coffee ice cream for themselves?"

"Oh I have an idea," Emma said with a smile.

"Says here it went to 341 Peach Street for a Mrs. Lorelai Danes," Wendy said.

Tyler looked over at Emma and smiled. "How about a traditional banana split?" he laughed.

"I can do that," Emma replied.

Tyler fixed them up some banana splits, telling funny stories of his time away from Stars Hollow in the process. Emma listened intently, laughing at all the right times. She couldn't believe that this was the same Tyler that had tormented her when they were younger. There was no doubt she found Tyler Doose attractive, but now something else was happening. She was becoming attracted to him. There was a thrill in that. He was forbidden because he was a Doose. She never defied her parents, unlike Will. He pissed his parents off on a daily basis, but never about something like this.

Emma wondered how her father would react if she brought Tyler home for Friday Night Dinner. No. Luke could never know she was hanging out with Tyler. It was an even bigger thrill to be doing something forbidden without her parents' knowledge. Little did she know, Will had seen Tyler and her walk into the ice cream shop and was now watching them through the window to the diner. And he wasn't liking what he saw.

"I think you're over reacting," Finn commented as he poured himself another drink.

"They were together Finn," Logan said. He was slouching in his big leather chair as he rubbed his forehead. This whole situation was giving him a head ache. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"You caught them in bed?" Dean asked as he placed his beer on the table.

"No. They were at Weston's."

"Doing what?" Finn asked.

"Hugging."

"They were hugging?"

"Yes."

"Oh of course! Rory and Colin have to be having an affair because you saw them hugging," Dean mocked. "How stupid were we to think otherwise." Logan glared at Dean. "Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, it really was an innocent meeting between them? Maybe they were just getting some coffee and maybe it got emotional. You assumed something was going on and you know what they say about assuming things."

"What would they get emotional about?"

"Emily Gilmore died no more than a month ago," Finn said. "Maybe Rory's still suffering from the loss of her grandmother."

"This isn't about Emily."

"How do you know?" Dean asked.

Just then, the front door opened and Lori walked into the house. "Hi Daddy," she greeted, kissing her dad on the cheek. "Hi Uncle Finn. Hi Uncle Dean."

"Hello Lori," Finn smiled.

"Hey Lori," Dean said.

"Where's Uncle Colin?" Lori asked. Finn and Dean looked down at the glasses in their hands. Lori took it as a sign as it wasn't something to talk about. "Oh. Ok. Um, where's Hope and Nathan?" Nathan, or Nate, was her eight month old baby brother.

"Upstairs taking their naps," Logan replied.

"Ok." Lori stood there for a minute, trying to figure out what to say to her father. She'd been afraid to talk to him for weeks now. He was always in a bad mood and she was scared of being yelled at. "Daddy?" she finally said. Logan looked up at his daughter. "I don't know what's going on between you and Mom, but I hope everything turns out fine. No matter what happens, me, Hope, and Nate are always going to love you."

Logan motioned for Lori to give him a hug. When she did, he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Everything's going to be fine sweetheart. I promise." He let go of her and smiled. "Go on to your room and do your homework now."

"Ok. I'll see you later Uncle Finn and Uncle Dean." She waved to them as she went to her room.

When her door closed, the men resumed their discussion. "I don't know about you," Dean said. "But I think that's reason enough to talk to Rory."

"Maybe this is one big misunderstanding. And maybe it's not," Finn added. "There's one thing that's for sure: you won't find out sitting around here drinking booze with us."

It was late. Rory left the house before Logan got there. They'd been fighting as she couldn't deal with him today. So she got dressed and started walking. She wasn't sure where she was headed until she was knocking on the door. There wasn't anyone else she could talk to. It took a few seconds before the door opened.

"Hi," Rory greeted. "Can we talk?"

Jess stared at Rory for a few seconds before letting her in the house. He had already been sleeping when some lunatic came knocking on his door. Rory took a seat at the breakfast table and Jess leaned against the island counter with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What happened this time Rory?" Jess asked.

"I think Logan might leave me."

"Why?"

"He thinks I'm having an affair with Colin."

"And you're not?"

"Of course not! I love my husband!"

"Did you tell him that?"

"Yes. He's just angry that I decided not to go back to work."

"That's understandable. By the way, what do Luke and Lorelai have to say about that?"

"They don't know."

"You're kidding me. You tell Lorelai everything."

"Well, not this."

"I think you need to go talk to them. Tell them what's going on. Your mom came to the office the other day looking for you. She's worried about you."

"Oh. You're one to talk. I'm not the one that's been avoiding Luke for the past three months."

"I am not avoiding Luke."

"Yes you are. He's been worried about you sick. Don't think I don't know you've been asking to work Friday nights to get out of dinner. Now I expected that. But I never expected you to skip out on Sunday service just so you didn't have to see Luke."

Jess scratched his head and walked around the counter. He pulled a glass out of the counter and poured himself some water. "I didn't stop going to church because of Luke."

"You were the one that got us to start going and we haven't seen you in those pews in three months. If isn't Luke what is it?" Jess just stared at Rory as he drank his water. "This is about Joan? Jess, it's been nine months."

"No matter how much time passes, it's not going to stop hurting."

"Just because she's gone doesn't mean you had to stop going to church."

"I'm not going to lie to God Rory. It's funny. You and Logan go to church on Sunday to make people think everything's fine when they're not. I, on the other hand, am not going to church because things aren't ok. It's hard to lose someone you love and I can't pretend that I'm over it and that everything's ok. Because they're not and it's not right to lie to God in his own house."

Rory sighed. "You're right. It is hard. Ever since Grandma died, Logan and I haven't been the same. I miss her Jess and I don't know how to make it stop. I just want it to stop."

Jess took a deep breath and went to grab another glasses and the vodka bottle in his refrigerator. He sighed and sat across from Rory. He put a glass in front of each of them and poured the vodka. They both drank their vodka and then it was quiet between them.

"I'm sorry I didn't make it to the funeral," Jess said suddenly.

"It's ok," Rory said

Jess nodded. "It's funny. One day I'm married to a wonderful woman raising three boys. And in a blink of an eye I'm a single parent and a widower."

"I'm sorry about Joan. I know it doesn't help, but I thought you'd just like to hear it."

"You're wrong. It does help." Jess poured more liquor into the glasses. He held his glass toward Rory. "To Emily."

Rory picked her glass up and held it toward Jess. "To Joan."

They clinked their glasses and drank to their lost loved ones.

Next time on "Breakaway": Logan has lunch with Lorelai to talk about Rory. Will gets into trouble at school and Luke and Lorelai have to go to Chilton to have a meeting with the headmaster. Tension rises between Luke and Will. Jess and Rory spend time together.