Chapter 7

A half hour after the Great Gilmore fiasco, the girls walked into Luke's to finally eat some dinner. Izzy was half asleep already, so Lorelai sent Rory and Isabelle home with burgers and pie.

"So, I guess it didn't go too well," Luke said, as he set a cup of steaming coffee and a piece of cherry pie in front of Lorelai.

"Oh, no, it was just peachy," Lorelai said, sarcastically. She looked down at her coffee and then back up to Luke with a sad smile on her face. "It was pretty bad." She looked back down to the counter. "I don't know how I can go back there after tonight."

"Anything I can do to help?" Luke asked, sympathetically.

"Well," Lorelai said, "another piece of pie would be a nice start."

"Sure thing," he replied as he slid another plate full of pie towards her.

"Thanks," Lorelai said, distantly.

Lorelai ate her pie in silence while Luke went through his receipts for the day. When she was finished, she said, "Well, I guess I should go." She stood up and gathered her things together and walked towards the door when she felt Luke grab a hold of her elbow. She was shocked by the sparks it sent through her and she turned around quickly to see Luke only a few inches from her face.

After taking a ragged breath, Luke said, "I'll walk you home."

Lorelai stared up at him and said, "Okay," almost breathlessly before turning around and heading out the door.

The two of them walked in silence for about a minute, each noticing the tension between them. Everytime Lorelai would bump into Luke, she'd give him a shy smile, and vice versa. About halfway to her house, Luke asked, "So, what happened?"

"Well, World War Three had erupted in the Gilmore household," Lorelai said, nonchalantly.

"I see. I take it they weren't too thrilled about Izzy?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it was Izzy they weren't thrilled about. It was more the fact that I didn't tell them about Izzy. Let's just say my mother basically threw us out of her house."

Not knowing what to say, Luke just looked at her sympathetically as she looked down at the ground. Luke couldn't imagine why anybody would throw Lorelai out, let alone her daughters, regardless of the situation. From the one time he had met the Gilmore's though, he knew that they were exactly the type of people who would do that.

Luke and Lorelai reached her doorstep. Once on the porch, Lorelai stopped in front of the door and turned to Luke. "Thank you for this, Luke."

"Well, I didn't want you to have to walk alone in the dark, even in Stars Hollow."

"No, not just for that. I mean for comforting me. It really means a lot."

"Well, uh... you're welcome," Luke said, a little embarrassed.

Lorelai stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in the crook of his neck. Luke wrapped his arms around Lorelai as well, a bit awkwardly at first, but after a minute, they both relaxed into it. Lorelai reluctantly pulled her head up to look Luke in the eyes. Before either of them knew what was happening, they were both leaning in towards each other when the front door clicked open as Rory quietly said, "Mom? Is that you?"

Luke and Lorelai quickly jumped apart. Recovering quickly, Lorelai said , "No, I'm Mike Myers and I've come to kill you with my butcher knife."

Rory opened the door all the way and saw her mom and Luke. "Oh...hi Luke."

"Hi...umm...I think I'll be going. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Luke quickly walked down the steps and back towards the diner.

Lorelai watched him go and then looked at Rory and said, "We need some kind of signal."

Rory got a got a confused look on her face and after Lorelai gave her a look realized what she had interrupted.

After a discussion as to what dating Luke could mean, Lorelai and Rory finally made their ways to their beds for the night at 2 in the morning. About three hours later, while Lorelai was laying awake, Izzy woke up crying.

"What's wrong, babe?" Lorelai asked, quickly scooping Izzy up into her arms.

"I had a bad dream," Izzy said, through tears.

"What was it about?" Lorelai asked as she wiped the tears from her daughter's eyes.

"I was at my old house and I was looking around for Daddy but I couldn't find him."

"Aw, babe, it's okay now. I'm here."

"Where's Luke?" Isabelle asked after a few minutes.

"He's at his house, Iz. Why?"

"Because I wanna see him. I like him."

"Why do you like him so much?" Lorelai asked, a little amused that Isabelle would ask for Luke at 5 in the morning, which wasn't all that crazy since Luke was probably already up.

"Because he reminds me of my Daddy."

"Oh," Lorelai said in realization. "Why does he remind you of him? He doesn't look like him at all."

"I know. But Daddy always pretended to be mean to everyone but me and you and Rory because he loved us best. Luke does it too and he really loves you."

Lorelai sat and looked at her daughter in disbelief. She couldn't believe that her three year old daughter saw that Luke had feelings for her. She always thought Rory and the rest of the town were crazy, but if Izzy could see it too... maybe there was really something more.