Written in the Stars
By Gilmoregirl1979 (the reigning Quote Queen)

Rating: PG-13

Hi this is your friendly disclaimer: I REJECT ASP's REALITY AND SUBSTITUE MY OWN! Once again, I don't own (DAMN IT! DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!), No Harm No Sue. (JUST GIVE ME A JOB and we will call it even!)

R/R: yes please I love reviews; I wanna marry them (as previously stated, I have strange passions.)

Summary/ The Q: What if LL hooked up when they first met? What if things had moved … a touch more quickly…?

LUVZ: I miss you!

FEATURED BETA: localizy, thank you for putting up with my compulsive persnickety changes…

Localizy, What Can I Say…

No seriously go read localizy's fic what can I say…. read this first… then go to her's!

A/N: I hope this was worth the wait!

A/N: confession: I've had this chapter written for a while… like way back when I started this thing in AUGUST! I KNOW but I needed a good lead in…

777777777777777777777

Chapter 31:
All Lit Up In Love

Chris was already pissed. He had gotten lost on the way to Stars Hollow, stupid backwardly charming town Lorelai loves so much. From his bike, the highway smelled like road kill and manure, no doubt from the farm country he had to drive through to get to the secluded small town.

Chris pulled into town with his motorcycle, and got some disapproving glances of his own from the natives. He parked his bike near the grocery store, and asked the man with the most disapproving look of distain for directions, "Excuse me; I'm looking for Luke's Diner?"

The bearded man puffed himself up, to no doubt show his superiority, and sneeringly informed, "Across the square," in a snide whine.

Sure enough, Chris saw a window that bluntly said "Food" in large yellow letters painted on glass and a sign reading "William's Hardware." Just to piss off the cardigan wearing grump, Chris left his bike in front of the grocery store, and ignored the cardigan wearing man's pleas to move the offensive vehicle as Chris walked across the square.

It was a very clean town; no litter, not a dog off a leash, and Chris could see clear through the windows of the diner/hardware store. He saw Lorelai and who he assumed was Luke putting tarps over tables.

Rory was perched on a stool organizing the brushes and paint trays on the tarp-covered counter. Has she really grown that much? Chris couldn't believe how big she was.

Chris just watched as Lorelai put the closed sign in the window, and propped the door open for ventilation. She looks good too… in her shorts. He took a seat on a bench to watch the show.

He watched as Rory held her nose and helped Luke stir the paint; and Chris had to smile at the adorable wince Rory made over the foul smelling paint when she needed both her hands to help Luke pour the paint from the cans into the roller trays, and had to neglect covering her nose. He watched as Lorelai explained to both Luke and Rory how to roll the paint onto the brush correctly, and proper roller technique for the walls.

777777777777777777

Lorelai was demonstrating the proper "W" technique to distribute the paint evenly on the walls to Luke and Rory.

"How do you know how to do this?" Luke asked the Renaissance woman he was dating.

"A few years ago Mia redecorated all the rooms of the Inn. I insisted on helping out," she smiled proudly.

"… Because you love painting," Luke finished.

"Exactly" she beamed at him for knowing her so well now, "Rory, Honey, do you want to do the trim?"

"I want to roll with Luke…"

"Well, rock and roll, baby," handing her daughter the roller brush. Lorelai smiled as she watched Luke do the upper half of the diner with the extended roller and Rory next to him doing the lower half.

Lorelai looked at the clock Luke had set up on the counter, "When is Lane getting here?"

"She's coming after her music lesson." Everyone knew that joining the school band was one of the few Mrs. Kim approved out of school activities for Lane and that she jumped at any chance to be near music.

"Boy, that Mrs. Kim keeps a tight schedule," and Lorelai started stirring the trim color.

"How did you get her mom to let her help?" Luke asked Rory.

"Well, we convinced her that helping you paint was a Christian act of charity."

Turning to his girlfriend, "You hear that? I'm a charity case."

Lorelai came up beside him, "Well, you're just lucky that these two dazzling girls came into your life."

Luke, looked over his shoulder at the smug grin on Lorelai's face, and agreed, most sincerely, "You bet."

For that Lorelai had to kiss him.

7777777777777777777777

"Aren't they just adorable?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Chris had been so focused on his girls in the man's diner, he didn't even notice the … shall we say, voluptuous woman who came up beside him. How could he not have?

"That merry little trio in there, they are sort of our in town fairy tale," she smiled sweetly toward the diner.

"Really?" considering his girls with the other man, "Is it a good story?"

"Oh yes." Miss Patty sat next to the "handsome stranger" on the park bench and the handsome stranger was surprised the bench didn't buckle underneath them. Miss Patty was always willing to use her stage history and dramatic flare to enhance her story telling. "You see, Lorelai, that tall young lady, comes from a wealthy family in Hartford. Well, in her teens she was a little rambunctious and, shall we say, had an indiscretion with her high school boyfriend. Well, that little one is her daughter … the result of that indiscretion… if you will. They have been living here since Lorelai ran away, at the age of 16, from her controlling parents to raise Rory on her own," her voice conveying the moxy and spirit Lorelai had.

"What about the father?" Chris couldn't help but wonder how he was to be portrayed in this little fairy tale or why he wasn't part of the magic that was displayed before him.

In a very disapproving tone, the woman stiffened up, "Well, he left the state shortly after Rory was born…"

Chris could tell by her tone if he revealed who he really was to this gossip he might not be getting such warm treatment.

"…And good riddance I say, and after all Luke is such a kind, sweet man, and he really loves them both so very much… we all know that."

"What's his story?" needing the background on the man who was so involved with his daughter and ex-girlfriend.

All too happy to keep the story going so she could charm this younger man, the rotund woman continued, "Oh well, he's been in Stars Hollow all his life, but he kinda kept to himself. Honestly, I think Lorelai has been really good for him. She gets him involved in town activities, and he doesn't really have any family."

"Oh?"

"His mother died when he was very young, his sister skipped town after her high school graduation; despite the fact that their father was sick. He had a girlfriend for a while mind you, but she was in and out of town all the time, I don't think he ever really knew where he stood with her. When William finally did … pass," Miss Patty said kindly, "Luke was all alone. That is when he really withdrew from the town, became more of a skeptic… well a bit of a grump, really."

"William, like the sign?" pointing to the William's Hardware sign.

"Yes, and Taylor's been after him for years to take it down, claiming it's too confusing for tourists. But people see the 'good food' painted on the windows, and seem to make the connection just fine."

Chris returned his attention to the painting trio in the diner as she continued.

"Honestly, I've known Lorelai and Rory since they came here. I haven't seen her as happy as she is when she's with Luke… and as for Rory, well we don't want to jinx it, but it would be good for her to have such a steady, reliable role model like Luke… should Lorelai and Luke… you know… make things more permanent."

Chris hadn't thought of marriage since Lorelai turned him down, and was now beginning to wonder if Lorelai had. Chris wondered if Fate knew there was a Luke in Lorelai's future and that was the reason she had to say "No" in '84. Chris watched as a young Asian girl went in to the diner to join the painting project. Lorelai and Luke let the girls start on the trim while they got some fresh air just out side, still able to keep an eye on the girls through the large windows. Apparently Luke was perfectly comfortable with public displays of affection, because he took Lorelai in his arms, and they were not doubt joking and talking in their tight embrace, occasionally peaking in the diner on the girls.

It pained Chris to see them together, to see how Lorelai was all lit up in love with another man; that he couldn't be the one to turn on that light that beamed out of her. He wondered how this would change their family dynamic, such as it was. Could he call, visit? Would he have to make small talk with Luke if things became permanent, as the large woman suggested?

Rory poked her head out of the diner, and Chris could hear her clear across the street, "Mom!"

"Yeah?" Lorelai had to pull away from Luke for the moment.

"We need you! Both of you!"

Lorelai smiled and took Luke's hand and turned back toward the door, and they went inside together to see what the girls needed.

"So what's your story, sweetheart?" the large woman cooed.

Put off by this ginormous woman hitting on him he simply stated, "Just passing through".

Chris gathered up his helmet from the bench and headed back to his bike.

Truth was he didn't know exactly what it was he was feeling. He couldn't really be jealous; Lorelai and he hadn't been anything to each other really for the better part of ten years. They were friends, they were connected by Rory forever, but did Chris really have a right to be jealous? Did he really have a claim on Lorelai and Rory that no other man could be involved in their lives…ever?

Chris didn't know what to expect when he decided to come to town. It's not like he was hoping that just by seeing him, the girls would want no one else in their lives. He just needed… he didn't know what.

7777777777777777777

"What is it?" Rory asked, with her head filled with curiosity over the strange graffiti.

Luke had to smile, "My dad wrote that, when this was his hardware store, one day he ran out of paper… so he wrote the order here…"

Rory read it out loud "Three hammers, Phillips-head screwdrivers and three boxes of nails in assorted sizes."

"I've seen it from time to time…" Luke's mind was wandering back to the past.

Lorelai saw the far away look in his eyes, as he was no doubt flooded with memories of his father, "Hey girls… how about we don't spruce this particular spot, I mean I think our attention is best served elsewhere."

"Yeah," Rory and Lane agreed. Rory knew her mom was avoiding sprucing this spot for Luke's sake, to save the memory of his father. Rory briefly wondered what her father was doing at that moment in California, when he would call her again, if she had upset him with the news of Lorelai's relationship. She didn't mean to hurt his feelings, she was just being honest.

Rory and Lane went back to the large rollers and Rory saw Luke and Lorelai duck in to the kitchen for a moment alone. Luke kissed Lorelai as a thank you, and held her for a little bit, before rejoining the painting crew in the diner.

Soon Birthdays and Holidays would be involved, and Rory smiled at the couple, knowing just how much in love they were, and that nothing would break them up. They were too much in love.

777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
"That was all God given talent..." why thank you Luke!
7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
R/R: PLEASE, I like to better myself. To quote The Princess Bride,
"...Remember this is for posterity, ... so be honest."
Please be specific with R/R; name one (or as many as you can think of or want to mention..…) At least one specific thing you liked

Please! It makes me feel good...inside (Dirty!)

Hence the Rant option below.

Insert Rant here V
A/N: if not completely satisfied with this chapter, please return unused portion for a full refund...