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Lorelai stumbled into her bathroom. She turned the water on, waiting for it to warm up as she shed her pajamas. She couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower in her house. Figuring the water would be warm enough, she jumped right in. As soon as the freezing cold water hit her skin, she let out a scream and exited the shower as quickly as she had entered. She wrapped her bathrobe around her. "Crap. So much for a hot shower."

It only took Rory a few seconds to make it up the stairs. "Mom! Are you okay?" she asked, sounding very worried.

"I'm fine," Lorelai assured her daughter. "Either this shower doesn't work, or we have no hot water."

"Let me check," Rory said as she ran back down the stairs. "No hot water here either," she called a minute later.

Frustrated, Lorelai pulled at her hair. She could already hear her mother's voice telling her "I told you so". What was she going to do? She couldn't really afford a plumber at the moment. She took a look at herself in the mirror. She looked horrible. Her hair looked like something had died in it. She took a deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun. She needed coffee.

"Rory!" she called as she bounded down the stairs. "Can you put on some coffee?"

"I could if I knew where the coffeemaker was. Or if we had any coffee," came her daughter's response.

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "No coffee? How can we have no coffee?"

"We never went to the store yesterday," Rory pointed out.

She whimpered. "Luke's?"

"Need you even ask?"

After changing quickly, the girls were at Luke's Diner in a matter of minutes.

She didn't see Luke anywhere. "I need coffee!" Lorelai whined as she took a seat at the counter. She let her head drop, hitting it against the cool hard surface of the counter. "Ouch."

"You did that to yourself," Rory scolded.

"What's her problem?" Luke inquired when he came out from behind the curtain.

"She needs coffee."

Lorelai lifted her head and nodded in agreement.

Luke grabbed two clean cups and poured them each a cup. "You look terrible," he noted.

"Don't you know how to win over a lady."

"I just mean that you look like you've had a rough night."

She took a sip of her coffee. "Mmm..." She shook her head. "I'm fine. Just needed some caffeine."

"Maybe you should lay off this stuff a bit. It's going to kill you one day."

"I'll keep that in mind. Right now, coffee is my lifeline."

"Junkie." He smirked at her before walking away to serve other customers.

Rory finished up her cup. "Do you want me to go get us some groceries? You know, just the basics that we need to survive."

"Sounds good." She handed her daughter one of the few bills she had left in her wallet. "If you're short on cash, remember, coffee is much more nutritious than milk. Use your discretion." She gave Rory a quick kiss. "Bye, hon."

Once Rory left, Lorelai watched Luke as he moved around his diner. There was a rhythm to his movements. He could easily juggle two hot plates and the coffeepot at one time. He was taking an order when he looked up and caught her staring at him. Lorelai quickly looked away in embarrassment, intently studying her mug. She hadn't meant to stare. Moments later, she saw the coffeepot out of the corner of her eye. She looked up to see Luke standing behind the counter right in front of her.

"More?" he questioned, holding out the pot of dark liquid.

She nodded. "You're going to have to learn that you never have to ask me if I want more. The answer is always going to be yes," Lorelai informed him.

"Got it," he replied.

She nursed her cup of coffee for awhile, having an internal debate with herself. Finally, figuring she had nothing to lose, she spoke up. "Hey, Luke?" she said to get his attention as he walked by her.

He turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"Umm... not that I expect you to know anyone. And I hate to even bring this up. It's just that well... Do you umm... It's not even really my place to ask this but... Do you happen to know... Well, the thing is..."

"Is there a question anywhere in there, Lorelai?" he asked, beginning to get annoyed.

"Nevermind, it's my problem. Not yours." She hopped off her stool. "I gotta get going." She placed a few dollars on the counter for the coffee.

He reached out and placed his hand over hers, causing her to look back up at him. "What is it?" his tone much kinder and full of concern.

She sighed. "Do you know a plumber who can work for cheap?"

"It depends. What do you need done?"

"I have no hot water," Lorelai told him. "My excursion into the shower this morning almost ended with me getting hypothermia."

"It's an older house. It's probably something with the water heater," he explained. "It should be easy to fix." She gave him a doubtful look. "I'm not a plumber, but I can come over and take a look at it."

Her expression brightened. "You think you can fix it?"

"I can try. I'll come over in a little bit."

"Thank you! Thank you, Luke! I really mean it!" she gushed.

Lorelai was in the midst of unpacking one of her many boxes when she heard a knock at her door. She practically tripped over another box as she ran to the door. She flung it open, almost startling Luke. "Hi, Luke! Come in."

He followed her through the entryway and held up his toolbox. "Just show me the way." He noticed the room full of boxes. "And the safest path," he added. "You do know that you're supposed to unpack the boxes and then get rid of them, right? You're not actually supposed to keep them around."

"This way," she said leading him to the water heater, ignoring his last comment. "Can you fix it?"

"I haven't even looked at it yet."

"Can you fix it?" she asked again.

"Are you going to accept any answer other than yes?"

"Nope."

"I can fix it," he announced. He leaned over to try to get a look behind the heater. Lorelai hovered close behind him. "I'm going to need a little space here."

She backed off. "Fine. I'll go unpack some more," she groaned.

A few minutes later, she heard Luke in the kitchen running the faucet. She joined him. "Is the water getting hot?"

He turned to face her. "It's working fine now," he informed her.

She threw her arms around him. "You're the best!"

He shrugged. "Don't get too excited. Something was just a little loose. No big deal."

"Maybe not to you, but you got to shower this morning. I'm all gross." She pretended to sniff her arm and made a face. "And smelly."

He chuckled. "Enjoy your shower. Err... well, you know, you... I better get back to the diner," he finished.

It took all she had not to burst out laughing from the ten shades of red Luke was turning. "Thanks again, Luke."

He nodded, thankful she kept whatever remarks that were on her mind to herself. He paused before leaving her house. "I'll see you later?"

"You can count on it."

To be continued. Please review.