(Just a fluffy story about Luke and Lorelai. Incomplete after three chapters. Read and review if you want. I wrote this as a sort of AU fic concerning the way Luke and Lorelai got engaged. Ho hum.

Yeah, I don't own Gilmore Girls or any of the characters.)

Chapter 1: Friday Night Dinner

The house was beautiful. It was old, handed down from generations, made of brick and mortar that had long ago lost it's colour but had managed to retain its pride. The building itself towered over a long gravel driveway, the pointed shingled roof reached into the evening sky. Large paned windows set at regular intervals around the house, some flanking lighted balconies and others dark with luxurious curtains drawn. The driveway was skirted by meticulously cut grass and neatly trimmed bushes and trees, with not so much as a leaf out of place. The mansion was intimidating, looming as if it knew it was better and richer than most that crossed its threshold. The doorway arched high overhead with old ivy creeping across. The door itself was made of thick, richly coloured wood with ornate carvings and a brass door handle. To the two young women standing under this arch and before this door, however, the novelty of this house had long since worn off. The older of the two, a tall, slender, dark brown-haired woman in her thirties, stood rigid with her hand lightly tracing the old-fashioned brass doorbell. She stood with purpose, her legs wide set and her shoulders square, completely blocking the younger woman, a pretty college student with deeply intelligent eyes, from reaching the door.

"Just ring the doorbell." The younger of the two said, though, her companion did not move. "Come on, Mom! What are you doing?"

"Shhhh…." Lorelai Gilmore pressed her ear against the cold wood of the door, her eyes on her daughter and her brow furrowed in theatric concentration. "She's in there." Strands of her shoulder length hair feel free of the ponytail she had rushed while getting ready earlier that evening. She didn't bother to brush them behind her ears, instead leaving them to dangle in front of her face while she tilted her head at her daughter, the amusement in her eyes unmistakable even in the mid-evening gloom. Rory Gilmore did not share in the fun of her moms games, at least not at this moment.

"Of course Grandma is in there. It's her house." Rory shifted her weight to one foot and put her hands on her hips indignantly, leaning in the direction of her tilting head. It was a tactic she often used to dissuade her mother from silly games, and it usually worked, but tonight its effect was lost.

"No, Rory. She's in there. In the hall. It's like she has nothing better to do but wait for us to arrive." Lorelai dropped her voice beyond a whisper, leaning away from the door and towards her daughter in a conspiratorial way. "She's waiting to pounce on us."

"If she's waiting than she's already spotted us, when we were driving up." Rory motioned vaguely towards the yellow Jeep badly parked in the driveway with two wheels in the grass. Lorelai shook her head passionately, looking at once very serious and completely tickled.

"I came up with the headlights off. And unless she's developed animal-like senses I doubt she heard us. She's waiting for one sound, the sound of that doorbell, and that will be the trigger. She'll leap at the door, pull it open, complain for our being late and then hurry us inside. I have a bad feeling that we will be here for a very, very long time tonight."

"Mom, you're being paranoid again. Just ring the doorbell." Rory moved to ring it herself, but a light shoulder check from Lorelai dissuaded her. She looked at her mother mutinously, cleared her throat and said, "Fine," She paused for affect, reveling as she watched Lorelai's face go through a series of emotions as she realized what was about to happen, and then yelled as loud as she could, "Grandma! We're here!"

Lorelai seized Rory by the shoulders, shaking her weakly in desperation. "How could you do that to Mommy?" Then, in a lower tone, "Don't think you're going to get away with this, kid." Rory responded by grinning from ear to ear. Lorelai raised a scolding finger and at the same instant the door was pulled open and an overpowering light flooded across the threshold, temporarily blinding the two.

"Lorelai, Rory! What took you so long? Traffic? Come in, come in. Really, standing out here as if you were lost. Why didn't you use the doorbell?" Emily Gilmore swooped out from the light like a phantom, placing surprisingly heavy hands on their shoulders and ushering them inside. Lorelai shot a withering glare at Rory, who stopped her answer before it left her throat.

"Hi Mom," Lorelai said with effort, struggling to remain on the doorstep but to no avail. She entered the house and stopped in the foyer. She took a breath and turned to face her mother, who was helping Rory out of her coat. "Sorry we're late, Mom. How's your hearing today?"

"What?" Emily looked at Lorelai without the slightest trace of interest. Lorelai continued despite that, swallowing a smile. Rory coughed.

"Never mind. We only looked lost because we were confused, wondering why it was taking so long for you to open the door. Didn't you hear us ring?"

"No, Lorelai, I didn't hear the bell," She paused, looking the two over. "Because you didn't ring it."

Lorelai looked shocked and hurt by the comment, "Mother! What do you think we were doing out there? Dancing in the moonlight to our own music? Of course we rang the bell. Numerous times, actually. And knocked. My knuckles hurt from all the knocking. I was personally offended for a while there- I thought you were ignoring us." She pouted and Emily rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh.

"Give me your coat, Lorelai and go make yourself a drink." Lorelai seemed to let go of her personal injury and handed her coat and scarf to Emily, who folded them neatly over her arm and motioned for the younger women to enter the living room. Lorelai took Rory by the arm and led her to the expensive, imposing sofa. Rory collapsed into the absurdly comfortable seat while her mother looked over the alcohol tray.

"You're terrible," Rory said with a stifled laugh, leaning over the arm of the sofa to get a good look at her mother. Lorelai shrugged and poured herself a drink.

"I do what I can to make these dinners bearable. But don't tell me you didn't see the look in her eyes? The 'I've-got-something-nasty-over-you-but-I'm-going-to-make-you-miserable-before-I-tell-you-what' look?"

Rory shook her head, "I didn't see it. What's it look like, again? So I'll be prepared to recognize it when Grandma comes back in."

"Oh, she'll never turn that face on you, but you watch her when I talk to her. She'll squint her eyes and her lips will get really thin and turn up at the very corners. It's the most condescending, demeaning look you've ever seen and when you're under it you just want to take her by the throat and shake her until she tells you-"

"Well, the coats are seen to. I tell you, that Sophie is the slowest maid I've ever seen. Why we hired her in the first place, I don't know," Emily flowed into the room, stopped at the drinks to pour herself one, and then joined Rory on the couch. She looked from Rory to Lorelai and gathered from their expressions that she was interrupting something. "What's so funny? Lorelai?"

"Nothing, Mom. Nothing's funny. So, this Sophie. She's slow, huh?" Lorelai nodded at Rory, secretly telling her to keep alert. Rory tilted her head slightly in return, her eyes never leaving her grandmother's face.

"Yes, and it's irritating. But she's in some financial trouble and practically threw herself at your father's feet, so until he returns I have no choice but to put up with her. Why don't you sit down?" Lorelai hesitated, took a long sip of her drink and, deciding it was in no way strong enough to help her through being that close to her mother, crossed the room to investigate a plant with feigned interest.

"Do you water these things more than once a month?"

"Lorelai, stop being silly and sit down. I want to talk to you," Lorelai turned and caught her mother's eyes for a long moment. Rory jumped and gasped, covering her mouth to keep a squeal in. Emily jumped in surprise, jerking her head sideways to stare at Rory, almost spilling her drink in the process.

"What in heavens name was that?" She asked sternly, more upset than concerned. She knew that Lorelai and Rory often shared secret jokes at her expense, and was not oblivious to the fact that this was another one. Rory shook her head fiercely while her eyes bounced around the room, looking for some sort of excuse.

"I saw it!" She blurted out, looking at Lorelai, who faked a look of surprise. "I saw… a… a mouse! It ran right out from under the sofa!"

"A mouse? Good heavens. I've never seen any trace of a mouse, and I didn't see it just now. Are you sure?" Emily didn't believe Rory, but the mention of a mouse under the sofa was enough to make her sit up a bit straighter and raise her feet from the floor.

"Y-yes, it was too quick though. I didn't see where it went. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, or make you spill your drink. Did you?"

"No, no. I managed to keep it in the glass," Emily's gaze lingered on Rory a moment longer, and then shifted back to Lorelai. "Will you please sit down?"

"Not if there's a mouse nesting ground under there."

"Lorelai!"

"Okay!" Lorelai crossed back to the sofa and sat herself on the farthest end, next to Emily with Rory just out of arms reach. "What do you want to talk to me about?" She regretted her question before it was all the way out of her mouth. Emily smiled and stood, leaving Lorelai irritated and confused about having to sit down for this.

"I didn't mean anything in particular. I just want to have a nice conversation with my daughter. Is that too much to ask? Am I a bad person for taking an interest in the life of the woman I suffered childbirth for?"

"Mom, please!" Lorelai yelped, as if reliving a bad memory, "No, you're not a bad person. But we can't sit through a civil conversation with each other, remember?"

"That is not true."

"There isn't one time, in the entire history of Friday Night Dinners, that we have had a conversation that ended on a good note. I think it's physically impossible for us."

"Like you're designed to be constantly bickering?" Rory chimed, feeling a bit forgotten. Lorelai nodded and motioned towards her daughter as if she had made some profound point.

"Oh, honestly. If you're going to have that attitude than forget I even asked. Did you ever think that our conversations have only been bad because you will them to be? Sometimes I think you don't even like me, your own mother."

"There's that Mom card again," Lorelai intoned under her breath. She sighed deeply and answered slowly. "Alright, I'm sorry. Let's just try again, for the heck of it. Maybe this time will be different. What do you want to talk about?"

"Good. Thank you," Emily looked thoughtful for a moment, pacing a small circle in front of the sofa. She stopped and said with a smile, "How are you?"

Rory and Lorelai shared a look of disbelief before Lorelai answered in an even tone, "We're fine, Mom. Nothing to report."

"Really? That's good to hear. Rory, how's school?"

"Yale is… good."

"Good."

"Yes, very good."

"We're all good, everything is good. That was a wonderful chat we had, there," Lorelai glanced at her watch. "It's seven-ten, Mom, when's dinner?"

"Dinner will be late tonight, Lorelai," Emily did not see the look of triumph that crossed her daughter's face. Rory, however, saw it and digested it. They really weren't going to be out of here for a long time. "So, you have nothing new to tell me?"

Lorelai sensed the change in her mother's tone and knew she was suddenly treading very thin ice. Emily wanted to hear something particular. And Lorelai knew what it was.

"Well, I'm seeing someone."

"Really? Oh, that's wonderful!" Her reaction was strong and utterly insincere. Emily was aware of how patronizing she sounded, and continued in the same voice, "Who is it? Anyone I know?"

"Well…" Lorelai hesitated, and looked at Rory for support. Rory shrugged and gave her a look that said 'tell her, what can happen?' "Yes, Mom. You know Luke. He runs the diner in our town, remember?"

"Ah, yes, the man that drove you to the hospital when you're father was ill."

"Right. You called him an idiot that day."

"Well, he's certainly come a long way from that," Lorelai looked bewildered. Emily pressed on before she could get a question in, "Well. That wasn't so hard, was it? I don't see what you find so difficult in telling me about your personal life. We're family, Lorelai. If you can tell Rory about something, you can tell me. I'm tired of learning about your relationships through the grapevine."

Lorelai struggled to retain her composure as a myriad of responses flooded into her mind. She sifted carefully through them, hoping to find the one least likely to offend.

"Mom, you know Rory and I have a… bond that goes beyond Mother and Daughter. We're best friends. And I didn't just sit her down one night and tell her I was dating Luke, I mean, it was pretty obvious to her considering she sees me with him everyday. And just what grapevine do you have that is connected in anyway to Luke? I thought he was beyond your radar."

"Is that why you're dating him, Lorelai? You picked him because you felt he was someone you could keep out of my sight?" Lorelai felt her face flush with anger, and was only kept in check by a small hand tenderly placed on her knee. She glanced at Rory, who looked concerned and ready to jump in to take some hits for the team.

"No, that's not it." Lorelai forced herself to say calmly, though she couldn't help but grit her teeth. "Luke is a wonderful man that I've had feelings for for a while now. The time was never right before. But now…"

"Oh, I see. It was convenient for both of you now. No weddings or anything like that in the way. I see."

"See, this is the reason we can never have a nice, normal conversation! You always take that tone."

Emily looked innocently confused, raising her hands defenselessly.

"What tone Lorelai? I'm not taking a tone."

"Yes, yes you are! You're talking to me like I'm still a child, like there's something fundamentally wrong with every decision I make and only you can see that. But you can't. You're not always right about everything, Mom. I'm with Luke because he cares about me, and I care about him. Yes, it's true that neither of us are currently engaged or seeing someone else, but generally that's considered normal in a relationship, unless I'm way behind on the times. I haven't dated steadily in a while, so I don't know. But what I do know is that when ever I mention my personal relationships to you they end up going south, and that's not something I want to deal with, not with Luke."

"What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me that I'm the reason you can't keep a man in your life? It's my fault you can't commit to anyone and you constantly run away from men who have given you their hearts? I suppose it's also my fault that you didn't marry Christopher when you were pregnant with Rory."

Rory stood and went to get herself a soda from the kitchen.

"No. I'm taking credit for all of my mistakes, Mom. But you're not helping in the confidence area, are you? Every word you say to me is negative, no matter what I do. You don't approve of Luke, do you? No, he doesn't come from the same world that you do but, when you look at it like a rational person you'll find that no one does anymore. He's not perfect for you, but he's perfect for me. I-"

"Oh, so now I'm passé and condescending? It makes you want to take me by the throat and shake me, doesn't it? I'm not daft, Lorelai. I know what you and Rory joke about behind my back. And you what? Don't start a thought a leave it open-ended. I wouldn't want you to waste any really good insults by not saying them. Come on, Lorelai, go ahead and say it. You what? Hate me?"

"No, Mom. I don't hate you," She stopped, as if trying to wrap her head around her conclusion and make sure it's true before she broadcasted it. "I love him."

A thick silence fell over the room. Rory reentered sipping at a soda and felt instantly smothered by the palpable tension that had built since she had exited. She looked at her grandmother, saw the look of hurt and surprise, then turned to her mother, who was pale and shivering slightly. No one seemed to know what to do next, and after three complete minutes of stunned muteness Rory moved to her mother and put her arms around her shoulders. Lorelai wrapped her own arms around Rory's waist and hugged her tightly. Rory pulled back, but did not let go.

"Mom, what happened? Are you and Grandma okay?"

"Yeah, Sweetie," Lorelai said, and colour rushed to her face at once as she spoke. A light flickered to life in her shocking blue eyes and the muscles of her cheeks pulled at the corners of her mouth. Rory blinked, feeling certain something terrible had happened and this reaction was uncalled for and out of place.

"Oh, yes," Came Emily's bitter response, a cutting jolt to the serenity that was now coming from Lorelai. "Everything's fine. I'm responsible for all of your mother's problems with her sex life and she's in love with the diner man." She flopped into an arm chair opposite the sofa and took a long swig from her drink. Rory gripped Lorelai's arms and stared straight into her mother's eyes, two identical shades of blue reflecting against each other. The sparkle in Lorelai's eyes illuminated Rory's.

"You love him? You said that? You love Luke!" Lorelai nodded wordlessly and Rory giggled. "Oh, Mom! I can't believe you're admitting it so soon! I knew it, too. I told you you loved him! This is a big step. A big step. The whole town is going to know! Are you ready for that!" Somehow, the roles of Mother and Daughter had been reversed. Lorelai smiled shyly, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"Yes. I… it was so easy. It just came out. It has to be true, right? I'm not just saying it to spite my mother…" Her voice drifted as they both realized they had forgotten Emily completely. The sudden rush of joy had erased all thoughts of the fight, despite how severe it had been. Rory looked down, her reflexive reaction to shame, and Lorelai turned to face her mother.

Sitting in her chair, sipping at her drink, Emily Gilmore suddenly looked very old. Her shoulders were hunched forward, her head bowed over the rim of the cup, which she held tightly in both hands. The wrinkles in her hands and shadowed face seemed somehow more pronounced now, and deep black bags circled the bottom of her blood red eyes. Wet streaks lined her cheeks, and she repeatedly sniffled in an effort to conceal her tears. Lorelai felt a sudden cold pain in her heart, and she moved away from Rory slowly, rounding the table to approach Emily.

"Mom…" She began, the apology already clear in her voice. Emily straightened and in a flash all signs of her weakness were gone. She turned her hard, angry eyes on Lorelai and seemed to forget the deep sadness that had racked her only moments before. Even her cheeks seemed dry now.

"No, Lorelai. Don't ever apologize for being honest," She said sternly.

"Mom, no. I didn't mean that you were to blame…"

"I know perfectly well what you meant. You have always felt like I was a burden on you. I know you have. I've tried to bring you back into this family, but you won't have it, will you? I'm a curse on your life. Some sort of plague."

"I'm sorry; I really didn't mean to get that angry… I was just talking. You know me, I'm all talk. I don't mean…"

"But you do." Emily stood and took Lorelai's glass from her, which surprised Lorelai. She had forgotten she had been holding a drink. Now she missed it sorely. "Well, I'm sure you two have better things to do on a Friday night than have dinner with an old woman. Anyway, I doubt Sophie will have dinner out here before nine."

"No, Grandma, we'll stay and eat dinner with you. Really, I have nothing better to do. You're on the top of my list." Rory offered, looking eager.

Emily smiled fondly.

"No need to be generous. I'll see you next week," She moved across the room and returned the glasses to the tray, then she clapped her hands and raised her voice. "Sophie, Lorelai and Rory are leaving now, can you see them out?"

"Mom." Lorelai's voice was steady and calm. She frowned seriously, "We can stay. We don't want to leave if you're angry with us."

"Now Lorelai, why would I be angry?"

Lorelai shuffled a sarcastic response to the back of her mind and opened her mouth to answer sincerely, but Sophie entered the room before she had a chance.
Sophie was an imposing woman. She stood as tall as Lorelai and three times as wide. Her arms were as thick as small tree trunks, mounted on finely sculpted shoulders and supported by muscularly carved legs. She was smiling sweetly, and still it was threatening. Rory felt her stomach flop and Lorelai was in disbelief.

"See you to the door?" Sophie asked in an undistinguishable accent. Lorelai shook her head slowly and pushed Rory towards the foyer.

"I think we got it, thanks," She said, looking over her shoulder once more to catch the slight amusement her mother was desperately fighting to keep off of her face. "Thanks for having us over, Mom… see you next week."

Rory reached the door first and stopped. Lorelai crashed past her to tear the door open and pull the girl outside. Sophie followed them to the door, her shadow erasing all the light in the house from the sidewalk. She waited until the two Gilmore's were in their Jeep before she retreated into the house and shut the door behind her.

Lorelai leaned back against the driver's seat, her hands resting lightly on the wheel. The engine was turning idly. Rory was staring for a long while before her mother finally noticed her.

"What?"

"Our coats are still in there."

"Honey, it's too late for those coats. Emily will have them burned and ritualistically disposed of before the night is over and if we try to go back in there Sophie will break us over her knee like planks of wood." Lorelai was joking and yet there was an edge of certainty to her words.

Rory nodded, buckling her seatbelt.

"You're right." She watched the majestic mansion shrink in the rearview mirror as Lorelai eased the car out of the driveway gates and onto the road. "We haven't eaten."

"We'll go to Luke's."

After a beat, Rory smiled and said "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."