Author's Note: Thanks for all the wonderful feedback! I'd love it if you continue to leave reviews.

Previously in "A New Beginning": Luke took Lorelai out for her birthday. Rory later announced that Chris is engaged.

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Lorelai had a difficult time sleeping that night after learning about Christopher's engagement to Sherry. She felt a knot growing in her stomach, and it was getting tighter and tighter, ready to squeeze her in half. She tossed and turned all night, unable to get her mind to quit going a mile a minute. Every time she closed her eyes, she pictured Chris and Sherry smiling at her in all their wedding glory.

She didn't understand what was wrong. She was completely over Chris. Hell, she was over him before the papers were signed making it official to be over him. She just couldn't put her finger on what was bothering her.

Finally, she saw the first rays of the morning light peeking through her bedroom window. Grateful that the night was over, Lorelai dragged her exhausted body out of bed to ready herself for the day. She would throw herself into her work, and that would take her mind off of things. There was a big wedding in a week at the Independence Inn, so she had a lot of last minute plans to get in order.

It wasn't until that evening when she entered Luke's that she finally felt the weight of the day's exhaustion pushing down on her shoulders. Lorelai felt like hell, and she probably looked like it as well. She slowly made her way over to the counter and took a seat on one of the stools. "Coffee?" she requested.

"You look like hell," Luke observed as he poured her a cup of the dark liquid. "Long day?"

She took the mug from him and took a sip. "The longest," she stated. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Why not?" When she just let out a sigh instead of answering, he continued, "What's wrong, Lorelai?" he asked, concern evident in his voice. "What happened?"

"It's stupid," she said after a moment.

"As much as I never thought I'd be saying this to you, it's not stupid," he assured her, placing his hand over hers.

"Oh, it's pretty stupid. I don't even know why it's bugging me so much."

"Just tell me," he urged.

"After you left last night, Rory told me that... well, you'll be happy to know she wasn't upset at you," she said.

"I know. She apologized this morning when she and Lane came in for breakfast," he informed her.

"She did?"

"Yeah," he responded. "Lorelai?" he inquired, steering her back to the original subject.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Rory's father is getting remarried," she said quickly. "That's why she was so upset. That's why I'm... I'm however the hell this is."

He came around the counter and took a seat next to her. "And this upsets you?" he asked slowly.

"No. Yes. I don't know. It makes no sense, Luke. I don't want to be with him. I don't. I don't understand..."

"Maybe you're so upset because Rory was so upset by the news," he offered.

"Maybe," she agreed. Lorelai felt Luke give her knee a gentle squeeze before he got up to return to work. "Or maybe I made him cheat," she said quietly before she even had a chance to think about the words that had suddenly sprung into her mind and out of her mouth. Where had they come from?

Luke froze. What had she just said? "You what?"

"I made him cheat," she repeated more loudly this time, not able to look at Luke.

He quickly returned to her side. "No. No, you didn't. He made that decision on his own. You did not make him cheat. Don't ever say that."

Lorelai looked up to see tension written in every line of Luke's face and his posture. His hands were clinched into fists at his side. Lorelai suspected that if she could see inside his head, she would find visions of Luke punching Christopher floating around in there.

"It had to be something that I did!" she exclaimed, fighting back tears. "He's marrying her for God's sake! He cheated on me with her, and now he's marrying her. She has to have something that I don't," Lorelai declared, letting her tears flow freely down her cheeks. "Why wasn't I enough?" she added softly.

Luke unclenched his fists then, and came to sit beside her again. He gently wiped away her tears. "No, Lorelai. This isn't you. I could kill him for making you feel so insecure. Any man would be lucky to have a woman like you. He's an idiot for giving you up, but he didn't deserve you."

"He didn't give me up. I gave him up."

Luke nodded. "There you go. You deserve someone who is there for you no matter what. Someone who brings out the best in you. Not someone who makes you doubt yourself."

'I deserve someone like you,' she almost found herself saying. Instead she gave him a small smile and said, "You always do that."

"Do what?"

"You always know how to make me feel better."

He softly ran his hand up her arm before letting it rest on her shoulder. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I don't like seeing you sad," he told her simply before giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and standing to return to work.

"Thanks, Luke."

"Hey. Why don't you go upstairs and grab a couple of beers out of the fridge? I'll close up down here, and then I'll be up to join you," he proposed.

"Will you bring up some pie?" She hadn't eaten all day, and her stomach was beginning to protest.

Sensing this, Luke suggested, "How about I make you a burger and bring up some of those brownies that I accidentally put too much chocolate in?"

This suggestion earned Luke one of Lorelai's huge grins, and he couldn't help but think it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"There's no such thing as too much chocolate!" she exclaimed, making her way towards the stairs. "Don't take too long," she insisted.

"Says the woman who took an hour last week to decide if she wanted chocolate or vanilla ice cream."

"I told you it would have been easier to just let me have both," she quipped before disappearing behind the curtain.

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The next day, Luke looked up from sorting his receipts to see Rory entering the diner. He wasn't too surprised to see her, but she rarely came into the diner alone. Usually, she had her mother or Lane with her. She came straight up to the counter. "Coffee and Danish to-go?" he inquired, already pouring a cup and placing a pastry in a bag. That was her usual order if she came in alone.

She shook her head. "I just wanted to talk to you for a minute," she told him.

He put the coffee and bag down on the counter. "Okay."

"I just wanted to thank you," she began.

"Thank me?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Mom seemed a bit upset yesterday, you know, with my dad's engagement and all. When she came home last night, she was laughing and joking around. She was back to being her happy self," she told Luke. "I know she was here. I know she was with you. She always comes here when she's upset about something that she's uncomfortable talking to me about. And I'm glad. I'm glad she has you," Rory finished.

Luke had stood there, listening to her silently. "I umm... I care about her," he admitted. "A lot."

"I know. You kept your promise to me. You haven't hurt her," Rory added.

"I never want to hurt her," Luke assured Rory.

"Will you make me another promise?"

"Anything," he agreed. He had long ago discovered that the protectiveness he felt towards Lorelai also extended to her daughter.

"Good," Rory nodded. "Mom's not ready yet, but when she is ready, promise me you'll be ready too."

Luke gave her a confused look. "Ready for what?"

Rory just gave him a smile, grabbed the coffee and the bag with the Danish from the counter, and turned to leave. "Bye, Luke."

"Rory?" Luke tried again, but she walked out the diner door. Did she mean what he thought she meant?

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"Hey, kiddo," Lorelai greeted her daughter as she entered the kitchen. "Where were you?" Rory held up her coffee and Danish from Luke's. "And you didn't get your beautiful mother something?"

"Sorry," Rory apologized. "You can have the rest of the Danish if you want."

"And the coffee?" Lorelai asked eagerly.

"Is mine." Rory pointed to the mug in front of her mother. "You already have some."

"But it's not Luke's coffee," whined Lorelai.

"Tough."

Lorelai took a sip of her coffee and frowned. It was definitely not as good as Luke's. "So have you talked to your father?"

"Yes. I asked him why he didn't tell me."

"What'd he say?" Lorelai questioned, taking a bite of Rory's Danish.

"He apologized profusely, and he said that he didn't know how to tell me," Rory told her mother.

"See? I knew that was the reason," Lorelai pointed out. "He didn't do it to hurt you."

"I guess," she paused for a moment before adding, "He wants me to get to know Sherry."

Lorelai tried not to sound bothered by the subject as she asked, "Do you want to get to know her?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. She's going to be around, so I probably should. I just... I mean... she was-"

"Wasn't the only reason," Lorelai reminded her daughter, though it was very difficult for her to remain levelheaded. Sherry was the cause of so many of Lorelai's insecurities.

"Right." Rory shrugged again, suspecting that Lorelai was playing it cooler than she actually felt. "We'll see." She got up and gave her mother a quick kiss. "I have to get ready for school."

"Yeah, we'll see," Lorelai repeated quietly.

To be continued. Please review. I'm thinking you're all going to like the next few chapters. At least I hope…

La prochaine fois: Luke and Lorelai have big plans for a summer weekend.