Hey!
It's update time!
I just want to say thanks to my perfect betas:
MrsDionysiusOGall and OzDust!
They need to know they're appreciated! So give them a hand!
And the wonderful reviews too! I loved them all! It's nice to know your opinions!
Disclaimer: not mine, and even if I said it was, which I didn´t... how would the law find me! Nobody knows where I live... So yep, it´s all mine! MUAHH- MUAHHHHH!
-This story takes place in 2004/ 05-can´t quite decide...
-Luke and Lore are still oblivious to the most obvious fact since epi 1, that they belong together (in case u didn´t figure the "most obvious fact"...)
-Rory´s at Yale, she never quit... and she only appears when strictly necessary... I´m not a big Rory fan... For me it all ended when she decided to become stupid... after sex w/ Dean... really she´s the only one that can have dropped her I.Q. cuz of sex... (oh and for you that actually like her, I don´t keep criticizing her in the story, just in here... I just use the good ol´ reliable Rory for the story...)
-There was never a Sherry or Gigi, Lorelai was just smart enough to let Chris go away, far-far away!
-I guess that´s it!
Any doubts don't be shy and plz ask away!
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Chappie 3- Jelly legs are no good.
1 WEEK AND ½ LATER--AT THE DINER
"I'm ugly!" Lorelai banged her head against the counter. "I'm stupid!" Bang! "I'm unattractive!" Bang! "I'm pathetic!" Bang! "I'm disgusting!" Bang! "I'm all of the above plus all other horrible characteristics in the world!" she screamed before a final dramatic bang, and then laid her head quietly on the counter.
"Stop that, you know you're not one of those things," Sookie said, putting a friendly hand on Lorelai's shoulder.
"Yes, I am!" came Lorelai's muffled answer; her head still lying on the counter.
"Luke!" Sookie yelled and wave her hands to make Luke stop staring at Lorelai and look at her.
"Yeah?" He finally looked at Sookie, but was still wondering what the hell was wrong with Lorelai this time.
"Can you get Lorelai some coffee? I think she really needs it…" Sookie said in an almost whisper, while she gently tapped Lorelai on the shoulder to calm her down.
"Oh yeah…Right away…" He quickly turned around and went to work. Sookie laughed a little at how fast and enthusiastic (for Luke's standards, of course…) Luke seemed to do anything for Lorelai. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the mug making contact with the acrylic counter.
That same familiar sound seemed to make Lorelai come out of her depressed thoughts for a second; she looked up to see Luke staring at her. He pushed the mug in her direction.
"Thanks." A weak smiled played on her face; her forehead red from the previous counter banging (DIRTY!) Luke nodded and went to attend to his other patrons.
Lorelai grabbed the mug firmly, and took a big relieving gulp of Luke's perfect coffee.
"Better now?" Sookie knew what she was doing when she had dragged her friend for a cheering-up Luke's coffee session; it always worked.
"Yeah, thanks Sook…" Lorelai smiled at her best friend. "But although I think of coffee as a sign that there's really a God, and that drinking it is at the same level of spirituality as meditation…that still leaves me with the same problems I had when I came in…" She turned serious again. "I still have absolutely no date for my reunion and I just now found out how truly incapable I am of finding a date …" She took another big gulp from the huge mug in front of her.
"You know that's not true…"
Lorelai's head jolted up at that.
"You say that like I haven't looked for a guy, but…I'm picky and it's short notice…plus the good-looking guys, the ones I try to impress, they never look my way…"
"Maybe you just looked in the wrong places…"
"I looked everywhere…and Stars Hollow is not a big town, I sure haven't missed anywhere…I just…really don't wanna go alone…"
"I can lend Jackson to you, and there's always Kirk, everybody knows he has a crush on you!"
"I'm sorry, are you trying to make me feel better?"
"Sorry…" Sookie meant it as a serious suggestion, although it sounded more like a joke.
Lorelai smiled at Sookie; she knew she was trying to help, but…Kirk? She wasn't that desperate! Besides, she was not the stalker-creepy-guy type; she preferred to go as a single-pathetic-reunion organizer…
When she moved her hands to hold the mug again, she noticed its unfamiliar lack of weight…It was empty! Outrageous!
"Luke!" Lorelai yelled at the top of her lungs, making poor Sook jump on her stool. She looked around the diner and spotted Luke on the other side, apparently taking the order of a family of six…huh--she sighed--that would take a while. "Oh Luuuuuuuuke!" she couldn't wait, there was NO time to wait; she still had to go date-hunting later…
"Just wait Lorelai! I'll get to you, when I get to you! And, yes, that means after them!" He pointed at the family.
She pouted a little but turned around on her stool, facing the coffeemaker. "So close but yet sooooo far!"
"Lor, I think I just thought of a solution to your prob…" Sookie said next to Lorelai.
"As long as it doesn't involve Kirk, clowns and Mickey Rourke. I'm totally open to suggestions…Those things freak me out…"
"Well, it might sound crazy to you, but it just occurred to me…really…Have you ever considered asking Luke to go with you?" Sookie looked hopefully at her friend; she was pretty proud of her solution. She knew for sure that it was better than the last one.
"Luke?" Lorelai questioned back; she obviously hadn't thought about her diner friend.
"I'm coming Lorelai, geez…can't you wait?" Luke said, still at the family's table; he thought Lorelai was still attempting to call him, to give her poison fix.
Sookie laughed at Luke's reaction; good thing he didn't know what they were talking about…
"Luke, Lucas, Lukey, diner boy from Luke's, Luke?" Lorelai asked Sookie, still pretty surprised by her friend's suggestion; meanwhile, Luke was entering the kitchen.
"Do you know that the world doesn't revolve around you?" Luke stepped back from the kitchen, grabbed the coffeepot and refilled Lorelai's mug.
"Just what I need it, thanks Lukey…" Lorelai smiled sweetly at him, totally unaware of the whole dialogue she had just had with Luke, without even realizing.
"Don't thank me; this will probably be the cause of your first heart attack!" He returned to his previous task of going into the kitchen to talk to Caesar.
"Yes, THAT Luke!" Sookie said, pointing to the now closed kitchen door.
"I hadn't thought about it…" Lorelai was honest; she had never thought of Luke that way. He was her friend/Mr. Fix-It/psychiatrist/owner of the best coffee/entertainer…but never a DATE…it sounded weird…"It's weird…"
"C'mon, I've been observing you two over the years, you have great interaction…there's something there…" At that, Sookie received a "you're lying" glare from Lorelai. "And you can invite him as your friend…"
"At least it's an option, still better than none…" Lorelai shrugged.
"I'm sorry to break this to you, Hon; but at this point I feel that Luke is your ONLY option!" God, what more did Lorelai want? She would never find somebody better than Luke in so few days…
"No need to be so dramatic, Sook." She was starting to feel hungry…maybe looking for a date on her lunch break wasn't the best idea, now she felt…empty…gah! She couldn't focus on her hunger. Sook had just made her really nervous. "I still have time!" Now she wasn't even being optimistic anymore; it was just a plain old lie.
"Sure, you have…" Sookie counted the days using her fingers, math made her head hurt, "…Five days! Yep, that's plenty of time!" Sookie said sarcastically, trying to confront Lorelai, so she could see that Luke was her only and best option. Luke was nice and good-looking, nothing wrong there…
Lorelai felt a jolt of panic: that was right…she only had five DAYS! Wow, Sook was right, there's no way she could still meet someone worth bringing to this thing…Lorelai looked down at her shoes; she felt embarrassed by her stupid situation…
Seeming to realize that Lorelai was not going to answer, Sookie decided she should convince her about Luke coming…She should press harder…She was even beginning to feel excited for her pal; they would make such a cute couple! So, she decided that since Lorelai had realized she was in a critical situation, she should take advantage of it…and maybe, just maybe…play the little matchmaker. And if it worked…Lorelai would end up being grateful, right? And if it didn't work and Luke and Lorelai ended up realizing that they hate each other…then…Well that would never happen!
"Besides…" Sookie's voice brought Lorelai back to harsh reality. "Even if you do meet someone in the next five days, do you think they'll agree to spend an entire weekend at your reunion? That's the type of thing you try to run from…" Sook tried to look serious, and she was actually convincing. "And let's say this…dude agrees…How do you know he won't be a psycho? Will you be safe?" Sookie was really into her speech; in fact she was on her feet and yelling at the top of her lungs.
"Sook." Lorelai gently pushed Sookie back down on her stool. "Maybe you should ratchet it down a notch, okay?" Why worry about a psycho date, when you have a psycho best friend?
"I mean I don't wanna find out that you have been murdered by a Manson-wannabe…You can't leave Rory without a mommy!" Sookie was getting over-excited again…
"It won't happen…" Lorelai looked Sookie in the eye just to reassure her. "I promise."
"Did she have some of your coffee?" Luke interrupted their intense talk; they broke eye contact and stared at him questioningly. "It's just that she's behaving a lot like you," he explained.
"Hey! I don't usually act like that!" Lorelai yelled while frantically moving her hands.
"Yeah, I can see that…" He grinned at her, what a piece of work!
Sookie laughed at their banter; she would never say it out loud, but she kind of agreed with Luke, Lore was a bit cuckoo!
"And you!" Lorelai nudged a laughing Sookie. "You're not supposed to agree with him!" she pouted, pretending to take offense.
"So what was up with you two putting up on a circus before?" Luke said while wiping the counter.
The girls exchanged nervous looks. Luke would never imagine what they had been discussing and how much it affected him. But that didn't mean that Luke hadn't caught their exchange of nervous looks.
"Well…It's nothing really…" He stopped wiping, looked up at Lorelai, clearly not buying it. He had known her long enough to know when she was lying. "Just some Inn issues…"
Luke could tell she was still not telling the truth, but he wasn't going to press her to answer him; maybe it was just none of his business. Just because they were friends, it didn't mean she had to share her entire life with him; it wasn't like he was an open book either. So who was he to judge, right? But he had to admit that this not-telling made him very curious…
"Okay…" he decided to answer; he also decided to stop wiping the same spot on the counter; so he threw the rag over his shoulder.
Lorelai could see that Luke hadn't believed anything she had said; she had learned to read him over the years and he had been really clear, at least to her. All his regular "I don't believe a word you just said" symptoms were there:
He paused, then started to wipe the same spot over and over; he had on that pondering face and then quickly and almost unnoticeably flinched, as he had just realized he had been lied to…And then in a classic conclusion, he stopped the wiping all together…And that was never a good thing…
Lorelai's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a quick yet effective nudge in the ribs.
"Ouch!" She rubbed her sore rib and looked at her aggressor, Sookie.
Sookie was trying to quietly and discreetly tell Lorelai something…She kept mouthing the words: "A-S-KH-I-M!"
At that, Lorelai's eyes grew wide; she looked frightened. So Sookie re-nudged her now sore rib. "C'mon!" she moved her lips very slowly.
Luke had figured that Lorelai wasn't going to tell him anything, in fact, she didn't seem to even be talking; that worried him a little, and only increased his curiosity. He decided to check on the other customers and turned around to leave.
"Wait! Luke…" Lorelai touched his arm to stop him: it worked. "I wanna ask you something…" She smiled sweetly at him; o-oh she was up to something…He noticed that a huge smile appeared on Sook's face…now he was sure she was up to something…
"Ask away…" He tried to act nonchalant, 'act grumpy, act grumpy' had just become his mantra.
"I was thinking…" She took a deep breath: here goes nothing… "Can you make me some eggs? Or an omelet? I suddenly have this craving for eggs, and although I know…you don't serve them at this time of day, I was hoping you would make an exception. See, I didn't have breakfast today nor lunch, so I thought I should start my next meal with the first one I missed, to keep the equilibrium, ya know?" She knew she was ranting, Luke knew she was ranting, Sook knew she was ranting, even the old greasy guy at the end of the counter knew she was ranting; but the question was: Why was she ranting? Why hadn't she asked for what she wanted?
"Of course, I guess…" Luke had totally given up trying to understand Lorelai's freak-outs. Besides, he couldn't keep up, she had so many. "You want something too Sook?" He looked at the previously grinning, chubby cook who had suddenly become so serious; maybe he just didn't understand women, period.
"Yes, can you bring me some onion rings?" And as suddenly as Sookie had become serious, she undid it, because now she was smiling at him.
"Sure…" He really had to get away from these crazy two for a while, so he left for the kitchen.
"Lorelai!" Sook said, disappointed. She lightly slapped Lorelai's arm. "Why didn't you ask him?" She turned on her stool.
"I dunno…" Lorelai also turned to face Sookie. "What if he misinterprets my invitation?" she said in a slightly lower voice. "I don't want things to change between us cuz he thinks I have a crush on him and asked him out on a date!" she added, now in a whispering voice.
"If you explain the whole reunion epic to him, I'm sure he'll understand…" Sookie answered in an also whispering tone. "Besides, he'll want to help you, he's your friend." Sookie felt somewhat guilty to be cheering for Luke to misinterpret the invitation…
"I know, I know…I just…it's not the right place or the right time to do this…" she said, sitting up straight again. "I still have to get used to the idea. We've never spent so much time together; it IS a whole weekend…"
"You gotta get used to it pretty fast there lady!" Sookie was using a normal tone of voice again; she also had regained her previous sitting position.
"Why are you saying that?"
"He'll need to get used to it too, ya know."
"Oh my god, you're right, what if he doesn't? What if he won't even come with me? I'm so stupid…I just assumed he would have no problem coming…" Lorelai felt suddenly a bit nervous; the thought of Luke saying "no" hadn't even crossed her mind until now.
"Don't worry, he will agree, he can't deny you anything!" Sookie laughed at Lorelai's sudden nervousness.
"I'm not worried." She acted nonchalant.
"Of course not!" Sook laughed some more.
Luke entered the diner in time to see and hear Sookie laughing hysterically at an angry-looking Lorelai (the joke had obviously been on her.) He was carrying their orders and placed them in front of the duo, promptly refilling their drinks.
After Sookie calmed down, both started their dinners. They ate quickly since Lorelai was in no mood to continue their previous conversation.
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2 DAYS LATER
"Hi, this is the very lonely mother who has been abandoned by her heartless daughter. I'm probably occupied suffering from this great loss, so leave me a message after the beeeeep…"
Lorelai heard the answering machine pick up, while lying on the couch staring at the stains on the ceiling.
"Hey mom…This is your apparently heartless daughter; I'm calling to remind you that today is the day you have to ask Luke out! I know you're home, probably staring at the marks on the ceiling…"
Wow, how did she know?
"Oh, can you see the bunny-shaped one? I swear I saw it last time…So you gotta get yo ass outta da couch and leave! You know Luke can't say no to you! Besides you don't wanna be like Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino in that movie…now do ya?" Lorelai got up from the couch; she certainly didn't want to be like them. "So if you don't wanna be pathetic, you gotta go there and use your persuasive skills! You should be off the couch by now…"
How DID she know?
"I'll call in ten minutes to check…But I hope that for your own good, you'll be out of the house, do you hear me young lady?"
Yep, she'd heard all right…
"So outta there! Now just one more thing…" Lorelai stopped midway out the door. "You gotta change the message on our answering machine, what will people think 'bout me? Bye…"
"Bye…" Lorelai answered back before leaving the house.
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A FEW MINUTES LATER, SOMEWHERE IN STARS HOLLOW
Lorelai knew she couldn't slow down her pace; she knew that if she did, she would lose her nerve. She couldn't understand why she was feeling nervous…It was just one simple question: Luke would you go to my reunion with me? See, it was simple, she had asked for harder things in life, like when she begged Luke for the money for the Inn…Maybe the part that was making her nervous wasn't the actual asking Luke to do something for her; she had no problem with that. Maybe she was just a little frightened by what his answer would be. For all she knew, he could say "no", and she hadn't even considered the possibility of him seeing anyone at the moment. Not that she wanted to see Luke; it's just that if she were Luke's girlfriend, she wouldn't have liked him to escort a gorgeous female friend to a whole weekend of festivities. But just how could she know those things? Luke was not an open book…
Soon and without realizing it, Lorelai was standing in front of Luke's. She could see him through the window, wiping the counter, for a change…the man sure liked his routines…
She figured she had to be subtle about her request; you know, not letting him see that it was a big thing…She didn't want him to feel pressured to say "yes", even though she couldn't deny that there was, in fact, a lot of pressure.
Lorelai managed to bring herself together; maybe pretending to not be nervous was the key to not being nervous. That's what she would keep telling herself. She pushed the door open a little too forcefully, so the doorbell made twice the noise; every single soul in the diner (Luke included) turned to her, obviously frightened by the loud noise. After the crowd realized that the noise wasn't caused by a sudden hurricane, and that it was, in fact, just Lorelai Gilmore, they all turned back to their previous activities. All except Luke, who kept staring at her...wearing a not so attractive mocking grin.
Apparently, her being-subtle-plan had already failed; now she only had to keep herself together and…Lorelai bumped into the pointy corner of a table.
"Ouch!" She rubbed her new wound; she had once again managed to capture everybody's attention. If she hadn't already failed at being subtle, she would have done so now…She noticed that Luke had a discrete smile on his face; he was probably laughing at her inside his mind. She moved to an empty stool; there was not one free table…maybe she had picked the wrong time to come to the diner. It was so busy, Luke might not even pay attention to her…
Luke had been busy running around the diner, but even on his busiest days, he couldn't help but notice when Lorelai was around: there was something about her that changed the ambiance. He could instantly tell if she was in a place. He had finally been able to slow down a little; it was probably time for his break anyway…
"Luke!" she yelled.
"Jeez Lorelai, you don't have to yell. I'm right in front of you." OK, maybe his break could wait a bit. "Ready to order?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, coffee right away!" She looked longingly at the coffee pot.
He grabbed a humongous blue mug filled to the very brim and handed it to her.
She first did her "Luke's coffee ritual": smelling, inhaling, staring then drinking.
"Anything else I can get you? A tumor, a heart attack, cancer?" he asked in a serious tone.
She seemed to ponder a little.
"…not really…I'm not hungry yet…" Although that was not true; of course, she was hungry, she was always hungry; but she had come to the diner with a specific purpose: to ask Luke to come with her to the reunion. Now, after she was done with that, she would take care of her starvation.
Luke was about to leave; Lorelai had been doing some serious staring at the wall. He knew she was lost in her thoughts.
"But…"
He turned to look into her expectant blue eyes.
"I would like to have a little word with you…" There, no ordering crazy omelets this time. "…in private…" She whispered the last part. "If you don't mind, of course!" she laughed nervously.
"Sure…I'm taking my break now…" he said, looking at his watch, and then repeated it to Caesar in the kitchen.
"Oh…ok…now is fine." She quickly finished her coffee and followed him behind the curtain and up to his apartment.
They went quietly upstairs; Luke opened the door and showed her in.
She felt like a stupid nervous teenager all over again, and although she hadn't truly lived this part of her life, she was pretty sure that's exactly how teen girls felt. She looked around Luke's tiny apartment, looking for a proper/safe place to sit (she couldn't give herself any opportunities to trip in her nervousness.) And also for any vestiges of a girlfriend (portrait, lingerie, flowers…) whatever could indicate anything serious going on in that department…good thing she didn't find any of that, because that wouldn't have made her question easer to ask…
She decided to sit at the kitchen table; it had less barriers in its way, so a higher chance of succeeding with the not tripping thing; and she could still try to get some coffee afterwards.
After some uncharacteristic silence, she focused on moving to the kitchen, while trying to control her nerves (that were currently freaking out with the possibility of a negative answer from Luke.) She sat in the nearest chair and looked at him.
"Soooo…" Unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to continue her question; her mind went blank; what was she doing here again?
"You wanted to tell me something?" He could tell she was nervous; this question was probably something important to her, wanting to talk to him in private and all… He hadn't even admitted it to himself, but that made a little spark of hope grow in his heart, a little maybe form in his head… and then he quickly moved back to denial.
"Yeah, you better sit down…" She wanted him to sit, not because he couldn't take her question, but more because she wanted to look him in the eyes when he answered; maybe putting on a little pressure could, after all, be helpful.
"Mmmmokay…" Now she had officially made him nervous as well, but he sat down anyway…
"Okay…" She put both hands on top of the table and looked him deeply in the eyes; she was done with circling around the subject. "I wanna ask you to escort me to my high school reunion weekend, this weekend actually…" She let out a nervous laugh.
Luke was happy that she had asked him to sit, because right now, his knees felt like jelly and there's no standing when your base structure is like that. He was feeling…surprised! He didn't know if he liked it or not…he was actually feeling kind of numb…he was absolutely and without a doubt surprised, and he knew his face was showing it just by looking at Lorelai's own features.
The only thing Luke didn't know was that Lorelai had misinterpreted his reaction; she thought he looked scared and doubtful, maybe he would say no after all…
"As friends," she added as an afterthought. Luke seemed to 'awaken' after that, his gaze refocusing on her. "I don't think I made it very clear, I didn't mean to scare you or anything…I'm inviting you as a friend…" She smiled to reassure him; it wasn't like she was lying or something…But she had just found out that both Sook and Rory had been wrong about Luke having a thing for her, because there was no way he would have reacted like that…
"Of course, as friends…" He seemed to linger over the last word, even stuttering a bit; he almost sounded disappointed.
Was Luke disappointed that she had asked him out as a friend? He almost looked like it… Nope, she was just tripping, right?
"I was just surprised." It was his time to smile (more like a little twist at the corner of his mouth) to reassure her. "I was expecting you to ask me to fix something…" He gave a warm chuckle.
"Like I would do such thing!" she mocked in disbelief. "So, what's your answer?" She turned serious again.
"Well…it's not really my thing, but…"
She interrupted him. "But you're gonna say yes?" She looked at him with her best puppy-dog eyes.
"I dunno…" he said unsurely.
"Say yes, say yes, say yes!" The hell with no pressure! "I'll pay you back! I could work for you at the diner, or I could lend you a room at the Inn, or I could clean this place up, or paint it! I'm really good at that!" She looked directly into his eyes; she saw how he had stiffened and sat up straight in his chair.
"You will pay me back?" he asked, not believing her promises.
She just nodded, still with those begging blue eyes.
"I think I'll hold onto that then…" he smiled at her.
"Is that a yes?" she asked, bending her head slightly to the side.
"Yes." He tried not to sound excited; he couldn't let it show, the glint of hope was back, in full-on mode now…
"Really?" Lorelai felt incredibly happy to finally have a date, plus she knew she would have fun with Luke, they always had. She got up from her chair, went around the table and hugged her friend. "Thanks Luke! You don't know what it means to me…"
"Sure." He hugged her back, but made it quick. "But I'm gonna need a written document on how you'll pay me back with labor!" he joked.
"Dirty!" she started giggling.
"Take your mind out of the gutter…" he said in an 'oh, jeez!' tone that only worsened Lorelai's giggling fit.
After recovering, she spoke again.
"I'm glad you said yes," she truthfully said, which increased Luke's happiness. "See, Sook told me I should ask you, she told me I would have fun if I brought a friend instead of a date I barely knew."
Although he could see she had been speaking the truth and was really trying to be honest with him, she didn't know that she was actually changing Luke's state of mind from happy to…well he didn't know yet. So it hadn't even been her idea to invite him? He felt sad; he probably hadn't been her first choice either. But then he remembered something…
"Did you just say this thing is the entire weekend?"
"Yeah, it starts on Labor day…"
He flinched at her answer: he didn't know if he could handle a whole weekend of Lorelai.
"It's gonna be held at the Dragonfly and I'm the planner!" she said excitedly. "The women who hired me are true bitches, but I do love planning these things, so I'm having fun anyway!"
Luke was amazed by her enthusiasm as she spoke and sat next to him.
"But you can come back home if you don't wanna stay at the Inn…" She seemed to finally understand his previous statement; maybe he didn't feel comfortable spending this much time with her.
"Of course I'll stay at your Inn."
She loved how he said it was her Inn.
"I'll keep my part of the deal, if you'll keep yours…" He smiled at her.
"I got it, you're not letting me out of my promise…Now you can stop with the subtle hints, 'k?" She playfully winked at him.
"Good thing you know I won't forget about it…" He tried not to smile again, but failed miserably.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever…" she said, followed by a loud noise from her stomach, suddenly reminding her of her hunger. And Luke was reminded that his break was long over, so he stood up.
"C'mon, let's go back downstairs and I'll get you something to eat."
"And drink!" she reminded him.
"Of course." He wouldn't have expected any other answer from her… He left his apartment, closely followed by Lorelai, both happy about the weekend to come.
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If you read it all:
THANK YOU!
So what did you think? Have any ideas? Comments? Observations? Complains?