Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad a few of you are still reading. And a special thanks to lytab5 for the pm and the advice !

I'm finally on track, no more writer's block, so updates should be more frequent... depending on readers & reviews.

Oh, and this chapter is pretty long. I'm not sure that I like it all that much, but I think I can make it work later... so read it and let me know what you think; love it, hate it. I just like seeing reviews. If you hate it, I can pull a rewrite. Seriously. So thanks again and now I'll shut up.

CHAPTER FIVE : Hold the Carrots

Four days passed, and he still hadn't seen a sign of her. No glimpse of her, or her car, or her walking past in a hurry. Nothing.

He knew it wasn't a coincidence. He tried to convince himself that it was, though. And up until today, he had done a good job. He told himself yesterday that third day was the charm. She'd be in for coffee after three days, but she wasn't. And it wasn't. Who ever said 3 was lucky anyway? The magic genie? Was it somewhere in literature, was it written in stone somewhere that three had to be it? Why was three the lucky number? It didn't bring him luck, not now, not ever. Couldn't four be it? He reasoned with himself that it could, but he knew better.

This was no coincidence.

But what was he to do about it? He couldn't drag her back. He was confident she wasn't sick, like he convinced himself two days ago. But she hadn't driven by on her way to work either. Of course, there were alternate routes, but would she go that far out of her way to avoid him? No. She couldn't. But she was. She had to be, it was, after all, four days since he last saw her. What was she eating? She was driving him to insanity and she wasn't even around.

He had to fix this. Or just let her be.

He chose the latter and went back to work, continuing against his will to look up every time the bell chimed.

After the breakfast was served and over with, Sookie poured a cup of coffee to go, grabbed some leftovers and headed over to the Crap Shack. She hadn't talked to Lorelai in two days and she was beginning to worry. Of course, she figured she was taking the whole "marriage" badly, but she couldn't help the sinking feeling she had.

It didn't get better as she pulled up and saw the dark house. No lights? No noise at all coming from inside. The TV at least should have been on. She tried the door. Locked. They never lock their door. She checked under the ceramic frog. Nothing. The ceramic goat. Nothing. She checked under the empty ceramic pot holder. Nothing. Where the hell was the key? She checked under every ceramic object on the porch and still couldn't find it. The sinking feeling reached a new depth as she banged on the door.

"Lorelai!" She called out.

Silence.

She called the house; she could hear the phone ringing through the door, but the machine picked up. She hung up.

She banged again, and again, and called again and again. Still more silence.

She got back into her car and drove off, dialing Lorelai's cell phone number frantically. Voicemail. She tried again. Ringing. There was ringing.

"Hello?"

A voice!

"Hello! Lorelai?"

" Who is this?" the voice wasn't her.

"Uh, wrong number?" Damn! She thought as she hung up.

She dialed again, more carefully. Voicemail. Her phone must be off.

And so she drove to the only place she could think of: Luke's.

He looked up as the bells again, and though his face had bore no emotion but disappointment for the past 4 days, he was now completely shocked to see Sookie standing before him.

He wasn't sure what to think, let alone say, but she cut to the chase.

"Luke, is Lorelai here?" He could tell immediately that she was worried, but her face tried hard to hide it from any eavesdroppers.

"No, I haven't seen her in, four- uh, a while," he answered carefully. "Is everything okay?"

He motioned for her to come to the counter, and he took his place behind it, leaning over carefully.

" I haven't talked to her in two days. She called the Inn saying she was going to just finish some paperwork at home, but she hasn't been in since. I was at her house, and the door's locked. No hidden keys, no TV on. The machine picked up every time I called, and her cell phone's either off or dead. I'm worried, Luke," she said honestly.

He didn't answer; he just ran upstairs and returned shortly after, telling Lane to take over. He paused, grabbed coffee to go, two doughnuts and a can of soup.

"Just in case..." he explained as Sookie hid a smile and nodded.

He didn't even bother with his truck; he walked straight to her house, never stopping, with Sookie in tow. He was almost relieved she wasn't avoiding him. At least, he would have been had he not been worried to death. It wasn't like Lorelai to stay locked up in the house for days on end. Especially when Rory wasn't around.

He felt his nervousness rising as he reached her door, and Sookie was right. Locked, no spare keys. He walked around to her kitchen door, suddenly really pissed at himself for fixing that old fashioned lock. But he had anticipated that: he pulled a screwdriver from his back pocket.

"I got it from my toolbox up stairs," he explained shortly.

He carefully picked the lock, and within minutes the door was open, Sookie rushed past to get inside.

"Lorelai!" She called, walking through the house with Luke close behind. He noticed some cabinets open, and he put the coffee and doughnuts on the table, among an insane amounts of coffee scattered about her table. Too much coffee, even for Lorelai. A paradox all it's own.

"Luke, I'm checking upstairs."

"Uh, okay. I'll just be right here," he pointed to the couch but headed to the kitchen instead. He turned on the stove and let the soup cook.

Sookie walked down the hall towards Lorelai's room and just as she was about to open the door, out popped Lorelai, smiling and shutting the door behind her.

"Hey there, Sook," she said, a little too cheerfully.

"Lorelai? What, why... where have you been!" She was shocked; all this time she was worried, and Lorelai had been in bed, seemingly fine. Not even sick.

"Are you sick?" She added quickly, and Lorelai thought for a minute.

" Not sick, per se, just a little under the weather. You know how I get, I take one day off and it just spirals out of control, I get so attached to that bed... Everything's fine... are you okay?" She hoped to God Sookie wouldn't call her on that lie; She hated taking even one day off from the Inn.

"Yeah, I was just worried sick," she said, relieved.

" Well, no need to worry. Uh, how'd you get in?"

"Luke's here."

He felt weird standing in her house. Sure, he'd been here alone before, but never when Lorelai was missing. He should be helping Sookie, but what was there to help with? She was either in bed, or not. He began to think this was all silly; maybe she just took a last minute vacation; Luke did that all the time.

But then he heard footsteps; more than one pair. And as he walked back into the living room, he felt his stomach drop as he heard her voice.

There she was; in pajamas but looking perfectly fine. She gave him a small smile as she came down the steps, and as she got closer he noticed something different.

"Sorry about the mix-up guys," she was looking straight at him.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

" Yeah... I just wasn't up to work, and once I took one day off, I kinda liked being in bed, uh, so you know.. I figured, what the hell? Why not give myself a longer break...so, that was it. I was just being lazy," she rambled. She didn't have to look up to know Luke didn't believe her. She managed somehow to convince Sookie, but he was a different story.

She glanced up quickly and she saw the doubt on his face. She offered another smile before Sookie spoke up.

" Well, if everything's okay, I'm gonna get back to work. I'll see you tomorrow Lorelai?"

"Yeah, definitely. Thanks, Sook."

She left and Luke followed her into the kitchen.

" Are you cooking something?" she looked at him smiling.

" Oh, I uh, brought some soup. I thought maybe you were sick," he answered, still not sure what to think. It looked to him like she had been crying, but he wasn't sure whether to ask or not. Would that over step his boundary? Obviously she didn't want them to know.

"You thought I would eat soup?"

"If you were sick enough, I thought I could force something almost healthy into your immune system... but I brought coffee and doughnuts too," he replied, then carefully asked, " Are you sure everything's fine?"

He noticed her hesitation, but she quipped, "Besides the fact you want me to eat carrots? Yeah, everything's fine."

He smiled, but she knew he wasn't satisfied. Dirty. She couldn't help but think. She took a seat at the table, pushing coffee cans out of the way.

"Luke, everything's fine, really. I just, I didn't feel like dealing with anyone. I'm sure you know what I mean..."

He nodded. It was hard, but Luke was used to ignoring people; it was easy for him, he was the town grouch. But Lorelai had it harder.

"Will you be at the diner later?" He asked, pouring the finished soup into a bowl and placing it in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at him as he sat down.

"At least try it. I don't expect the carrots to be gone."

"I don't wanna eat it. I have perfectly good food here without your soup."

"I saw your cabinets, Lorelai. You have nothing worth eating in here, and besides coffee, you'd dehydrate."

" Not true! I have the water bottle-"

"Which is empty."

"It won't be when you replace it," she smiled, as she played with her soup. "Hmmm, to eat, or not to eat," she teased.

" Eat it."

"Ooh, I love it when you talk dirty," she crooned.

"Ah, jeez, eat the soup."

"... I don't think I want to. Want a pop-tart?" she dropped her spoon.

"You're not eating pop-tarts. It's probably all you've eaten for the past four days."

"Wrong again, I have tater tots, too."

"Well that's so much better."

"Well, you eat the soup. Then the carrots will be gone. And I'll eat tater tots. And pop-tarts. I think, if we're lucky, we can share some marsh mellows," she looked through more cabinets, pulled out a bag of marsh mellows and a box of cookies, put some coffee on and asked:

" You want some tea?"

"No thanks, I'm good with the soup," he dead panned and she shrugged before she sat back down.

"I think these marsh mellows are bad... look at them!"

" What am I looking at?" he asked.

"I definitely did not buy green marsh mellows... when did these expire!" she was turning the bag over looking for a date and she noticed Luke watching her.

"What? Seriously, these were white when I bought them..."

"I don't know why you'd eat them no matter what color they are, read the ingredients while you're searching that bag,"

"Oh, eat your carrots," she stuck out her tongue.

"If you don't eat your soup, I'm not giving you coffee for the rest of the week."

She rolled her eyes, but his face was serious.

" You're not kidding..."

"No."

"You can't refuse me coffee," she challenged.

"Oh, I can. Especially since you don't pay for it half the time."

"I don't have to pay anymore!"

" You stopped paying two years ago."

"Not true!"

"Half true, if you don't start eating the soup now, I'm not gonna let you get away with leaving the carrots."

"Evil!"

"Concerned," he said in all seriousness.

"Luke.."

"Soup."

She sighed and picked up the spoon.

"You really don't have to be worried," she said between bites, grimacing the whole time.

"You didn't come to the diner for four days, your doors were locked, no spare keys. You didn't answer your house phone. Your cell phone, previously known to be your lifeline, wasn't even on. Then I see what looks like the entire coffee supply of Stars Hallow strewn about your kitchen. You were crying, lied about it, and now you're eating green marsh mellows. For some reason, I think that grants me right to be concerned," he dead panned in a typical Luke way.

She didn't know what to say; he was right.

"Luke- I'm sorry, and you're right, it's just... a lot."

He felt horrible. He shouldn't make her feel bad for being upset; but part of him hurt that she was that upset. Sure, he was mad at the mix-up, and he was upset for awhile, but he was married to Lorelai. There wasn't too much to complain about. Besides the fact that it was a mistake. Not that he wanted to marry her for real, he just knew it could be worse.

"No, you have every right to be upset, the situation is horrible. I just was worried. I don't want you to be miserable," he answered honestly.

"I'm not miserable, I just... wanted a real wedding, you know?"

"You'll have it."

She just nodded. She didn't question him, she just accepted that. Maybe because she believed it, or maybe because she had to. Maybe she wanted it so bad she couldn't believe otherwise. Or maybe it was just the way Luke was looking at her.

"You said strewn..." she laughed, and he rolled his eyes.

"Finish your soup and I'll give you chilli fries with your coffee tonight."

"You really know how to make a girl happy."

Lorelai headed back to her room once Luke had left. She couldn't help but feel bad for worrying him. She had been avoiding him. But she was avoiding the whole town, not only him.

And he still came to check on her. He still brought her coffee, and doughnuts, and soup.

She walked into her bedroom, sighing as she realized her sulking was over. She picked up tissues off her floor and put them into the wastebasket. She stacked the magazines and put them into a pile next to her nightstand. She turned off the TV set, which she forgot to turn off when she heard Sookie.

For the past 3 days, she had stocked her room full of everything she needed: magazines, movies, pop-tarts, water, tissues.

She knew it was silly; she knew it was over dramatic. Crying wasn't going to make her single again, but she needed time. It was a lot like wallowing, only she didn't lose anyone; she gained a husband.

Things were messed up, but at least she had Luke on her side.

She always had Luke on her side.

She just couldn't figure out why that made her nervous.

Yeah, bad ending? I got a little stuck. But I do know where I'm going for once, so read, review, let me know how bad it sucked, how awesome I am, or just what you thought about this sorry excuse for a chapter. And I'm open to suggestions, because I do get stuck a lot. And I want to know what you guys wanna read. Cause half the time I just type and whatever happens, I post.

So incite is appreciated. Greatly.

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