Chapter 2: Pining No More

It is going to be another long night at the diner. This is obvious by the randomly placed couples throughout the place that have been sitting there for over an hour. In the meantime, he's just been standing behind the counter fiddling with the toaster, rapping his fingers on the counter, wiping down the counter over and over until he's sure he's practically sanded it down. The sheer boredom of this night reminds him of why he hates nights that he's working late at the diner and Lorelai's stuck at the inn, almost reminds him of life before Lorelai, a time he'd rather not think about.

The bell rings above the door as a new customer walks in but he doesn't look up figuring they'll just grab a seat and he'll get to them when he feels like it. "Hey!" Lorelai exclaims walking in and up to the counter. He looks up at her with surprise.

"Uh… hey…" he says, dumbfounded. She leans across the counter and gives him a soft kiss on the lips.

"Mmmm, that'll get me through the night." He still seems bewildered by her appearance in his place of business.

"What – what are you doing here?" he stammers. Lorelai arches an eyebrow in response.

"Man, I'm feeling the love now." He chuckles in embarrassment.

"No, no I meant, why are you here? I thought you had a meeting," Luke says.

"I do. But I spilled coffee on my skirt so I ran home during the dinner break to change and I realized that the shoes that go with my new skirt are here. So I came by to get them," she explains.

"You spilled coffee on your skirt?"

"Yeah."

"Should I even ask how…?" Lorelai grins.

"Do you really want to know?" He leans back, tapping a hand on the counter.

"Actually no. Go on up the door's unlocked."

"Better make sure Hoffa's crew didn't come in the back door and go after your mini-TV." He sighs with aggravation.

"Just go."

"Kay, be back in one, two minutes tops." She winks and walks into the back. Luke turns and watches her go, sighing and glancing back around the diner. One couple seems to be getting up and leaving but the other two seem pretty set to stay for the duration. Putting his head in his hands, he sighs again.

Finally, after the couple has left, Luke walks over and picks up the check and money bring it over to the register. Glancing at his watch, he realizes that he hasn't seen Lorelai come downstairs yet. With one more scan of the diner, he figures that he can leave the two couples alone for a moment and heads up the back stairs and into his apartment. There he finds Lorelai on the floor in front of his closet surrounded by various shoe boxes.

"Did you get swallowed by my closet?" he teases as he walks over to her. She glances up at him.

"Luke…"

"I thought you had a meeting to get to."

"Luke." She waves the shoebox in her hand at him.

"Couldn't find your shoes? It's probably because you have more shoes here than I do." She gives him a look and reaches out a hand to him. Confused, he sets his hand in hers and she pulls him down next to her. "Did I do something to your shoes?" She flashes him a smile.

"No. When I was looking through the shoe boxes, I found this," Lorelai says. She opens up the shoebox in her lap and picks up the gathering of petals in the form of a rose that has long since died.

"Ah." Luke takes the flower from her, gingerly running his thumb over it.

"You keep flowers?" Lorelai asks. Luke shrugs. "Seriously, flowers? That's such a girl thing to do!"

"Thanks." She hits him playfully.

"No I mean… is it from Rachel?"

"Rachel? No."

"I mean, you pined for Rachel. I remember that fabulous rhinestone jacket." Luke groans.

"I wasn't pining."

"No, you were remembering." Lorelai rubs his arm. "It's okay. I mean, you missed her."

"No, I mean yes, but no. I just felt guilty." Lorelai sits back.

"Guilty?"

"Well, it's true, she left me. But really I had left the relationship about a month before," Luke explains. Lorelai furrows her eyebrows in confusion. He nods, softly tracing a finger over her hand that sits on his knee. "Because about a month before this crazy lady had entered my diner, long dark hair, bright blue eyes and she had me instantly. I couldn't stop thinking about her." Lorelai's eyes shine with adoration. He takes a deep breath feeling utterably exposed right now. "And even when I was with Rachel, I couldn't stop thinking of her."

"With Rachel?" He sighs.

"Nothing dirty, just when I was just hanging with Rachel." She grins. Slowly he manages to take his eyes off of the flower in his hand and match her gaze. She leans in and kisses him.

"You're sweet." He nods, not knowing what else to do in his state of embarrassment. "So the flower isn't from Rachel. Did you even know it was here anymore?"

"Yeah. Yeah I did."

"Who's it from? Your secret girlfriend you've got stowed away in the next town?" she teases.

"Not a secret anymore, huh?" he jokes. Then he squeezes her hand. "It's from you." Lorelai looks back at the flower in his other hand, studying it. "You remember?" She nods slowly.

"From my mall trip with Rory." He nods. "I can't believe you kept this."

"Well I kept your horoscope in my wallet for eight years," Luke reminds her.

"That's true. But this is a flower. You're a guy keeping a flower. Girls keep flowers to remember."

"Well I had to then, I didn't have you."

"But now you do?" He nods, squeezing her hand again.

"Now I do."

"So you knew it was here?" Luke shrugs.

"Yeah." She cocks her head, pressing her lips together. She reaches over and rubs his arm with her hand that's not in his.

"You've got me Luke. You're never going to lose me," she says softly. He nods, taking a deep breath. "You don't need to keep a nasty dried up flower to remember me because I'm here. I'm right next to you. Unless you're dreaming." She pinches him.

"Ow!" he exclaims, rubbing his arm. Lorelai shrugs.

"Guess you're not dreaming."

"Okay, I've got a diner with two annoying pairs of people downstairs and I don't want them running off with ketchup," he says, pushing himself up off the floor.

"Man, McCarthy could have used you on his team," Lorelai teases. He leans down and places a kiss on her lips.

"Get your shoes or you're going to be late and then you'll blame me and I'd rather not see the results of that." With that he turns around and walks away. Lorelai watches him leave, noticing that just as he reaches the door, he drops the flower into the trashcan. She smiles to herself and goes back to searching for her shoes.