"Oh…Mom…I…"

Lorelai nervously shifts in her seat, wrapping her arms more tightly around her body, and not wanting to meet her daughter's eyes. She shakes her head when Rory starts to speak.

"Rory, it's okay…it just wasn't meant to be I guess," she says, playing with the edge of the blanket that surrounds her.

"When did this happen?" Rory asks after a few minutes of silence.

"A few weeks ago…explains the funk, huh?" she says with a small quirk of her lips.

"When did you find out that…"

"A while ago. I was a little over two months pregnant when…this happened."

A look of shock and then hurt crosses Rory's face. Please don't let her be mad at me because of this. That is the last thing that I need is to be fighting with her.

"I wanted to wait to tell you until I told Luke, Rory, I wasn't trying to keep it from you. Trust me… I was absolutely ecstatic about this."

"Then why didn't you tell me after you told Luke?" she asks, still with a hurt look on her face.

Well, I never told Luke. Isn't that just great. I waited to tell my fiancé that I was pregnant, and then God decided to toy with me a little more than what he's given me in the past few months and takes that away too. Tears start to roll down her cheeks as she attempts to keep taking deep breaths to calm down.

"You didn't tell Luke?" she asks, after it finally dawns on her why her mother is so upset. "Mom, why? Luke would have been there. I would have been there. You didn't have to do this alone."

She puts a hand on her mother's shoulder, listening to her shaky reply.

"I couldn't tell him. He had just told me about April a few days ago, and things have been weird for us. Then we went on that stupid Valentine's trip and I was going to tell him the night we got back, but we slipped into the same rut that we were in. The rut that we are in. He didn't need any more on his plate, and I don't want to push him into anything. He's really str—"

"Stop!" Rory yells, finally getting fed up with her mother, "Why are you being like this? This isn't you mom, you are not like this. You're making excuses for him and you're making excuses for yourself. I'm not taking Luke's side, but have you told him at all how you feel about this whole situation? Not the baby obviously, but about April and postponing the wedding? Does he know what this is doing to you?"

Again, this curse of the great mother/daughter bond strikes again. I was hiding it all from everyone, but it was just a matter of time before Rory picked up on what I was thinking.

"I just can't talk to him about it."

"I don't understand this…you love Luke."

Tearing up again, all she can think of was the first time she let him into her no-boys-allowed club.

FLASHY

"Why don't you stay tonight? Rory isn't coming home this weekend, and I have tomorrow off, and I'm pretty sure that a certain diner owner in Star's Hallow has the night off to."

"What are we going to do with a whole Sunday alone together?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," she says with a slight quirk of her lips.

"Let me run back to my place and get a change of clothes for the morning and then I'll be back, how does that sound?"

She leans into him, reveling in his warmth, placing her arms around his waist and loving the comfort that she finds in this position. God, this man is amazing. I can't believe that we waited as long as we did to do…well…"us". Rory still laughs at the fact that she knew it all along. I know that she's never going to let me live it down.

"Sounds great to me," she whispers into his ear before giving him a quick kiss before their parting.

He leaves, getting into his truck to make the small trek back to his place before their night of fun. As soon as he is out of sight, Lorelai turns to go inside. Opening the door, she hangs her coat and proceeds into the living room to sit down until her handsome prince comes back. It is then that it hits her.

Holy shit! He's staying the night. He's staying the night in my house, and I was the one who instigated it. I can't do this now…this is too soon. This is…Luke. Her train of thought stops, quickly slowing down from panic mode. That's why it was so easy to ask him…because it's him. With all the crap that he has fixed in this house, it might as well be his. But it is still Rory's. What is she going to think about this? Should I ask her about this?

Picking her cell phone out of her purse, she hits number one on her speed dial and waits for the cheerful hello of her daughter.

"What's up?"

"Please tell me that you looked at the caller ID before you picked up the phone."

"Yes, I did, Emily Post. Now what's wrong? You sound weird."

"I want Luke to stay the night, and I wanted to make sure that this was okay with you."

"Like in our house stay the night? You do realize that I won't be home don't you?"

"Without giving you the gory details, that was why we chose to come back here, and then I asked him if he wanted to stay."

"Eww…that's not what I'm talking about. The first time we ever really had a man stay at our house, in your bed, was your fiancé. As I recall, you crawled into my bed because it freaked you out."

"I understand that, but I realized that this is Luke, and this is different. I'm not freaking out!" she wildly exclaims, getting more and more nervously excited with each word.

"Oh sure, you're not freaking out at all. If you're worried about what I think, don't, because like you said…it's Luke. Luke has always been like family to both of us, and I certainly don't mind him being there on a regular basis. You, however, need to make sure that you're okay with this development before he stays the night."

"You're really okay with this?"

"Yes…Now go, I'll talk to you in the morning."

"I love you sweets."

"You too."

As she shuts her phone she hears a knock at the door, presumably Luke, coming back.

Okay Gilmore, keep yourself together. It will be okay. Remember that it's Luke, and you like Luke, and you plan on being with Luke for a very long time, like forever. She falters in her steps towards the door. Did I just say forever? I think that I just said that I was going to be with Luke forever. Well, I didn't really say it, but I thought it…and oh boy, if a shrink was in my head he would think I had gone schizophrenic.

"Coming," I say, while reaching the foyer.

I open the door to an adorable Luke, and quickly usher him inside and then leave him to go into the kitchen. I can't look him in the eye. Why can't I look him in the eye? It isn't like we've never slept together before…we have…successfully…many times. I just have never successfully done anything like that in my house before.

As she is having a conversation in her head, she is frantically wiping down the kitchen counter, suddenly having an urge to be domestic. She jumps just a bit when Luke puts his arms around her from behind.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, why would you think something is wrong?" How does he always know what is going on in my head?

Turning her to face him, he looks directly into her eyes, "Lorelai."

He is going to think this is so stupid…"I've never done this before." she admits, shyly looking to the ground, examining the floor of her kitchen.

"You haven't done what before?"

"I've never had a guy actually stay here and I've never…well…done this here before," she says while gesturing between the two of them.

Understanding what she means, he stands up straight and backs away a bit, waiting for her to look up at him again. When she finally meets his eye, he sees the look of uncertainty cross her features.

"We don't have to do this here tonight…we can wait until you want to."

That's no the issue here, but I'm sure that he doesn't know why this is freaking me out. I don't want to wait, and that is why I'm freaking out. Yes, I'm freaking out… I will admit that to myself finally. I want him to stay. "Luke, I want to stay, but you have to understand how big this is, and what this means for me."

"Lorelai, if you aren't re-"

"No, I am. You don't get it." She takes a large breath, pushing herself away from the counter. As she starts to pace around the kitchen, gesticulating wildly, she explains herself, "I made these rules when Rory was little about who I would date and how I would date. Boys in the house was never allowed, especially at night to stay. I told myself and Rory, that I wasn't going to let a man stay unless it was because I loved him. Max stayed one night…" at this, she sees him shrink a little bit, "but I couldn't even sleep in my bed, and had to crawl in with Rory. I was never in love with him, and that's what the issue here is. If I let you stay here tonight, if you share a bed with me, then I have to admit it to you."

"You have to admit what to me?"

I can't do this! I have been with him for how long? This isn't long enough to be in love with him. This is ridiculous. I can't tell him this now. He needs to leave.

Busy pacing and thinking frantically, she didn't notice the realization hit him. She didn't notice his eyes begin to glint in a new way. She didn't even notice that he got up to stand next to her pacing trail.

She did however stop when he grabbed her hand and put a finger under her chin. "Lorelai, can I do something to make this easier for you?"

"I don't think you can Luke, I've never been able to pull this off,"

"I know what you are thinking right now, which I why I want to make this easier. Which is why I'm going to tell you right now that you are such an amazing person, and I am so unbelievably amazed that you and I are together. I'm also going to tell you that I love you, and don't think that I could see myself loving anyone else."

How the hell is that supposed to make this easier? Now I'm crying and I can barely speak without sounding like an idiot. Credit it to Luke to know exactly what I was afraid to say. Come on Gilmore suck it up.

Leaning in, closing the space between them, she kisses him softly and pulls back to look him in the eye. Smiling, she leans in again, close to his ear, and whispers, "I love you too, Luke. Thank you for saying it first."

He laughs and hugs her to him. "Did it make it easier?"

"No, I was still terrified, but it was the first time that someone said it to me and I actually wanted to say it back, so I figured that it was now or never."

END FLASHY

She smiles at the memory, remembering what it was like to finally tell him what she was feeling, finally being able to tell someone that she loves them. He always knows what's inside my head. Well… he knew. He always knew what I was feeling. He always knew if something was on my mind, and if something was bothering me.

As the thought process continues, the smile turns into a frown, and Rory becomes even more concerned.

"Mom?"

"What happened to us Rory?"

"What do you mean?"

"He used to know everything. He could read my thoughts. He always figured out what was wrong and broke his back trying to fix it. He loved me."

"Loves."

She scoffs, looking at Rory, "Fat chance. If Luke loves me then he would have realized two weeks ago that I didn't have the stomach flu, I was in the hospital losing his child…well… one of his children. If Luke loves me, then I wouldn't have had to go through all of this by myself. I wouldn't have to be questioning our entire relationship. I wouldn't be sitting here trying to figure out if I should give him the ring back or not."

Tears are streaming down her face, as Rory gathers her up, hugging her as close as possible.

Lost in her daughter's comforting embrace, she doesn't notice the object of her distress walking up to the house.

"Lorelai?"