A/N: Alright, this chapter is where I start to make Lorelai and Luke slightly more important characters. It's kind of an odd chapter, but it'll make more sense in chapter 12. Thanks for the reviews!

Luke turned the doorknob to the right. It had always gone to the left before, but now it had suddenly changed. As her made the mental note the buy a new doorknob that twists to the left, he kicked the door the rest of the way open because of the pile of groceries he was holding.

"Jess! I brought back some stuff!" he called through the apartment. "Do you like oatmeal? I don't remember!"

Silence.

"Jess?"

He knew Jess was here. It was 35 degrees outside and his jacket was thrown carelessly on the couch as usual.

"Jess, answer me! You're scaring me, here!"

Luke stopped short when he walked past the bathroom.

A noise crept out of the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. Someone was in there, a stranger. It couldn't have been Jess. The sound coming from inside was sniffles and every few seconds a tiny moan or scream. Jess didn't cry. He didn't scream or moan or sniffle.

"Lorelai?" It was his only guess. "That you?"

The sniffles stopped. Suddenly there was a loud bang.

Luke twisted the doorknob to the left, but this one, too, was broken. Before he could turn It to the right, the person inside locked it.

"Hey!" Luke yelled. "No one locks me out of my own bathroom!"

The voice from inside yelled back, "A sentence I never thought I'd hear you utter."

"Jess?"

Footsteps…and then a clicking sound. The door suddenly flung itself open.

"Jess what's going on?"

"Nothing." He pushed passed Luke and walked straight towards the door.

"But wait!"

"I'm leaving."

"Hey, do you like oatmeal?"

Hours later, Lorelai and Rory were feeling famished. Naturally, the only thing they could think to do was go to Luke's, since they'd been eating poptarts, popcorn, and mallomars for the past two days.

Luke was hard at work going from table to table when they walked in. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Lorelai and Rory took a seat at the Mafia table, where they had the best chance of being served before closing; the place was packed!

"What do you want?" Luke asked when he finally came to their table.

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", Lorelai responded.

"I don't have time for this."

"I'll have a burger and fries", Rory chimed in.

"Making it easy." He glanced at Lorelai. "That won't last long."

"I'll have the same as her with a salad on the side," Lorelai said.

"Whoa." Rory's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You just asked for a salad."

"So?"

"French or Ranch?" Luke asked.

"Russian, please."

When Luke left, Rory leaned in closer to Lorelai, so Luke wouldn't hear her whispering.

"What was that about?"

"The salad? Are you kidding me? I can't eat healthy?"

"You can, you just don't!"

"Can we drop this?"

"Dropping it."

"Luke arrived back at the table with two coffee cups."

"You didn't order coffee, so I just assumed-"

"You know us too well", Lorelai said as she pointed inside of the cup Luke had set down in front of her.

As he poured, Lorelai spoke softly. "How's life going, Luke?"

"Good."

"Any complaints?"

"Should I narrow my list down to the top 150 or do you want everything?"

"So you're good?"

"I'm good."

"You seem a little distracted", Rory said.

"Nope, it's just…"

"What?"

"Life."

"You said life was good", Lorelai pressured.

"It is!"

"Then why so grumpy?"

"Work. There's so much to do."

"Well, where's Lane?"

"She took the day off to go look at cars."

"Okay…and where's Caesar?"

"Oh, I fired Caesar."

"WHAT?" Lorelai shrieked.

"Geez, you made me spill!"

"Why would you fire Caesar?" Rory asked.

"He was eating out of the pie plate!"

"So? He always eats out of the pie plate."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh…I mean, I always eat out of your pie plate, not Caesar!"

"You do?"

"No!"

"I'm going to get your burgers." He paused…"And your salad."

Lorelai winked an awkward wink and Luke winked back.

Rory watched this, curious at what was going on that she didn't know about. She didn't have much time to think about it, though, because the door opened suddenly and Jess walked in…more like ran in, when he saw Rory.

"Luke! I'm going upstairs."

"Whoa! Did you know he was staying in Stars Hollow?" Lorelai asked seconds later.

"Oh, um, no."

"Oh my God! This is big! I can't believe Luke didn't tell us!"

"I'll meet you at home."

"Rory?"

"See you in a few minutes?"

"Oh right. Okay, see you in a few minutes."

Rory, almost knocking over the table, left on her way home.

Lorelai stared at Luke, who was trying to fix the toaster (again) behind the counter. He noticed her staring and winked again, smiling. She could only stare back sadly.

A/N: Please review!

Next up: Lorelai and Rory talk and secrets as well as true feelings are revealed.