Title: And Hearth

Rating: PG

Genre: LLR

Spoilers: A House Is Not A Home (season 5 finale)

Summary: following the events in Home…

Disclaimer: Like all of the other characters I write about, these are not mine, nor were they ever. I make no profits, other than the rewards of imagination stretched.

Chapter Two

And Hearth

By xenoprobe

There was a loud thud somewhere in the room and Luke stirred from a solid, dreamless sleep.

"Lorelai?" He rolled over to find himself alone in the bed as he stretched an arm out into the hollow space where Lorelai had been sleeping. Begrudgingly, he lifted his head, "Lorelai?" he repeated, a little louder this time.

"Shh… go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you." She was standing at the kitchen counter, cast in a low yellow light from the open fridge. Luke rolled over again and checked the clock.

"It's 4:30 in the morning…" The statement came out more squeaky than he'd intended. Luke cleared his throat.

"Oh Hun, I'm sorry. You've got at least another hour before you have to get up… try and go back to sleep." Her lover grabbed a pillow and hugged it over his head. "Good boy," she whispered and went back to the fridge for the carton of milk. She poured it over her bowl of cereal and sat down at the table, tucking her feet under herself to avoid the cold floor. She shivered audibly.

"Come back to bed." Luke's voice was muffled by the pillow and he sounded more like the Peanuts Gang teacher. He flipped the pillow off and repeated, "Come back to bed."

"Can't babe. Just go back to sleep… I'll lie down with you again when I'm finished my granola."

Luke sat up and searched out her shadowed form in the night light. "Granola?"

"You didn't have Froot Loops, so yeah, granola."

"It's 4:30 in the morning!"

"And I was hungry. Seriously Luke, I'm almost done…"

"You shouldn't be having milk in the middle of the night like that. It'll upset your stomach."

"I'm finally eating your bird food and now you wanna tell me there are off limits hours?" she chided.

"Lorelai…" he softened his voice.

"And you've gotta realize by now that if coffee at 11 at night doesn't upset my tummy, or my sleeping for that matter, I should have no trouble digesting a bowl of cereal early in the morning."

Luke flopped back into the sheets and tried to close his eyes again. He sighed; there would be no more sleep for him.

When Lorelai came back to bed, his eyes were closed and she assumed he was back in the land of dreams. His thinning hair was a crazy mess against the sheets with wisps that clung to his stubble at the jaw line. His stubble was dark and masked his face in shadow in the low, muted light. But Lorelai could read the lines in his face, the creases at his eyes, the laugh lines and the furrow of his brow from frowning. She reached out and traced her fingers, gently, over his cheek.

"What are you doing?" He whispered, startling her.

"Jeez, you scared me!" Lorelai retracted her hand and burrowed deeper under the covers. "I thought you were asleep."

"Does that mean when I really am asleep, you spend your time tickling my face?" His eyes remained closed but he was smiling.

"No," she offered with a pout, "I just like looking at you is all." Under the covers, Luke pulled Lorelai closer to him until they were practically nose to nose. He opened his eyes and met her gaze.

"Hi." He whispered as he pressed his lips loosely to hers.

"Hi" she offered in return before sinking into a languid kiss.

"You taste like granola." She could feel the tug of a smirk on his lips and let out a little laugh into his mouth. He kissed her again, slow, sloppy and luxurious. When he pulled away Lorelai cuddled up to him tightly. "You should try to get some more sleep."

"Mhmngh" came the muffled response and she buried herself in the crook of his neck.

"Amazing…" He wrapped his arm around her protectively and held her close. "Goodnight - again" and he kissed the top of her head before closing his eyes to savour her warmth and her love.

(Sookie and Jackson's House)

"So am I the only one that thought Jimmy Pop was hot in his squirrel outfit?" Lorelai waltzed through the door to her best friend's house and flopped unceremoniously on the couch.

"You're here!" Sookie was busy whisking something in a large bowl. "I didn't think you were coming by until later. I thought you had a meeting at the Inn, that guy from the Durham group?" She went back to whisking and smiled at her friend.

"Nah … I didn't really want to go home so I came here from Luke's." Sookie could see that something was amiss by the cautious expression on Lorelai's face. "And I called Mike and declined the offer. I don't want to sell the Inn, I love the Inn."

"Phew… I didn't really want to say anything, 'cause, you know, I want you to be happy, but I am so relieved to hear you say that!" Sookie sat down with her bowl and whisk and studied her friend. "Something wrong sweetie?"

"Lemme put it this way Sookie, somethings are very, very wrong and other things are oh so right."

"Splainy?"

Lorelai stood and paced for a moment, weighing which news to share first. "I'll start with the bad." She paused for effect, "Rory quit Yale."

"What !" Sookie tossed her utensil to the floor, sending a cascade of crepe batter over her shoulder.

"Yup. But wait it gets better…" Lorelai flashed her best fake smile. "I was informed of her quitting after I picked her up at the Bridgeport Police station the other day."

"Police? Oh God, what happened? Is she alright? Are you alright?" Sookie stood, sat down then stood again.

"No one's hurt Sook. But nothing is alright about stealing a yacht."

"A yacht? Who stole a yacht?"

"Logan and Rory." Lorelai sat back down and urged her friend to do the same. The women sat facing each other in the morning sunshine. "Rory says it was her doing but I doubt it would have ever occurred to her without that boy's influence. Man I hate the privileged!" Lorelai rubbed her hands over her face and felt the subtle coolness of the ring on her finger. "Rory was upset, majorly upset after Logan's father,"

"The publishing dude?"

"Yeah, turns out he told Rory she wasn't cut out for journalism, which pretty much turned her world on its ass and led to her stealing a yacht with her boyfriend."

"Bastard!"

"I know! And the thing is, I thought Rory would see that too. I expected her to see that she is amazing and has worked so hard, all her life, to get to a place like Yale. She was going to go to college and be great at whatever she wanted, even if she didn't become the next Christiane Amanpour. But she didn't see it Sook. She's hurting and she's confused and her stupid boyfriend and his stupid father are being all 'there, there' about it while I'm losing my daughter!" Lorelai hadn't realized just how much she needed to vent this frustration until the moment was upon her. Sookie rose from her chair and sat down on the couch beside her best friend.

"You're not losing your daughter Lorelai. It's Rory, you'll never lose Rory."

"Ah, but Sookie, you haven't heard the best part…"

"Stealing a boat isn't it?" Sookie exhaled heavily as Lorelai took her hand and squeezed.

"She's moved into my parents' pool house."

"Who has?"

"Rory."

"Rory? Rory…" Sookie was aghast. "Rory- our Rory moved in with your parents?"

"Yup. And that's not even the best part." Sookie braced for impact. "I went to them. I went to my parents and asked them, practically begged them to help me make Rory see that quitting Yale is not the answer in all of this."

"That must have been really hard."

"It was, but, you know, it felt like the only thing I could do. I sat there at their stupid breakfast table and asked for help in backing me up and they agreed. They agreed with everything I said. So I went there early yesterday, to strategize a bit, only to find out that they'd already pulled the rug out from under me and I didn't even feel it when I hit the proverbial floor." Sookie gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "They stabbed me in the back. I really never even expected it. I expect that my mother will fire a maid on a near daily basis. I expect that my father will read the paper during other people's conversation. I expect that Emily and Richard will never, ever understand me, but I never expected that they'd do something so devastating to their granddaughter's future."

"Holy crap. That's awful. Hunny, I'm so sorry." Sookie reached around her friend and hugged her tightly. When she pulled back, she took Lorelai's hands in hers. "I don't know how, but this will work out. I promise. You did such a great job raising that girl and I just know it will all be ok."

"I want to believe that Sookie. Luke said the same thing last night."

Just as Lorelai mentioned his name, Sookie felt something cool and small in her clutch. She let go of Lorelai's hands and felt around for the object. Without glancing down, she sought out the ring on Lorelai's wedding finger.

"Wha- wha…"

"Words Sookie, I need full words babe."

"What the heck is this?" She held Lorelai's hand up as if it was a surprise to them both.

"That, Sookie, is my good news." Sookie beamed as tears came to her eyes.

"He proposed? When? Oh my God, he proposed!" She leapt to her feet and shouted it to the heavens, "Luke proposed!"

"Sookie, Sookie, slow down…" Just as Lorelai got a hold on her friend, pulling her back to the couch, the babies began to cry in another room. The baby monitor lit up like a Christmas tree. "Don't you wanna check on them?"

"Are you bonkers? Jackson's in with Davy, he can check on the baby. Spill it sister- how'd he do it? Was it romantic? I bet it was romantic, all rose petals and soft light and- oh- did he slip the ring in your champagne? I love it when they do that in the movies…"

"I did it." Sookie looked at her, confused. "I proposed Sookie."

"Wow," it came out almost a whisper.

"So, I went to Luke after the whole Friday night dinner debacle and told him about Rory and Yale and my parents and he started ranting about how to fix things. He was all 'we'll tell Yale that Rory had a chemical imbalance and was medically out of her mind… but she's ok now' blah, blah and I was sitting there, watching him pace and ring his hands and tell me how I can convince anyone of anything and how he wouldn't let Rory's dreams slip away and suddenly I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"It. That thing. I could see his love, like it was there in the room with us, like a thing all on its own."

"Spooky."

"Normally I'd agree. But Sookie, he loves me and God help him, I love him too and that thing, that would normally have me running for the hills in a puff of smoke, it wasn't there. I felt quiet and peaceful and before I knew it, I was asking him to marry me."

Sookie clasped her hands over her heart as the tears dripped from her cheeks. "That's beautiful."

"You shoulda seen the look on his face. He was all 'what?' and I had to repeat myself before he even understood what was happening."

"But he said yes?"

"He said yes." Lorelai couldn't resist the smile the threatened to consume the moment.

"So if you asked him, and he said yes, where did the ring come from?"

"That just might be the best part…"

…to be continued.

Notes: I wanted to take a wee moment to thank everyone for the great response to 'Home.' I wrote it as a stand-alone piece but received so many requests to continue, I was inspired! I have now launched myself into, what might become, a full blown story of the 'might be's' of the summer hiatus. If any of you are at all like me, it is simply too much to ask us to wait until the season 6 premiere… Stay tuned.