Lorelai and Rory visited every day. And it was always the same pattern.

From Monday to Friday, Rory was there first. Always to different times. Luke suspected that she walked here right after school. And only a few minutes after that, Lorelai arrived. She stayed for a maximum of twenty-five minutes, then she left again.

And on Saturday and Sunday Lorelai came alone, sat down at the bar and had a coffee while reading. It was always a different book. She and Rory seemed to read a lot and Luke enjoyed watching her.

He restrained himself from starting a small talk, since there was always someone who loved to spread rumours (like Patty LaCosta and Babette Dell) somewhere close to him. If Luke now showed interest in a married woman - perish the thought!

But one day during the week Lorelai came in the morning already.

At six she walked, no, almost fell inside the diner, followed by Kirk Gleason, who was usually his first customer.

"Hi, Kirk, good morning, Lorelai," Luke greeted them both.

Kirk sat down on his usual table and Luke brought him his usual breakfast, before he leant down on the counter, looking right into Lorelai's tired, blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

Lorelai shook her head. "I barely slept. I need a jumbo cup of coffee, please, and maybe a funnel."

"You'll get the biggest cup I have but you won't get a funnel," Luke replied gently and while the coffee was running down into the mug, he turned back to her. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Different stuff keeping me awake," Lorelai mumbled. "It's not important, you don't need to listen to my whining."

"I want to, though," Luke said and took a donut. "Eat. And then talk."

"Luke, no -"

"Lorelai," he said slowly, enjoying the way her name felt on his tongue. "Your husband ain't here. Eat. You won't gain ten pounds all of a sudden."

Lorelai's eyes went wide. "How - did Rory-?"

"I'm not dumb." Luke's heart was stinging. For real? He didn't let her eat sweets so she wouldn't gain weight? "Though ... Rory seems a little nervous when talking of her father. Be honest ... is he hurting you?"

Lorelai smiled lightly. "No, Luke. It's not that."

"What is it? Does he hurt Rory?"

"He would never! He loves Rory more than anything and he's a good dad to her."

"What is it then? You seem so sad all the time."

"It's ... a long and complicated story, Luke. But it's nothing about Chris being violent or anything else, I swear."

Chris.

Now Luke knew his name and even though Lorelai had told him he wasn't violent, there was nothing she could say to make him hate Chris less.

"But he makes you lose sleep. He makes you tired and sad. Right?"

Lorelai hesitated but then she nodded. "Not exactly like you said it. It's not him that makes me sad ..." She shrugged. "But all in all, yes. You could say so."

"Okay. That's already enough to tell that you're in a toxic marriage."

Now Lorelai smiled. "It goes far back, Luke. I married my best friend. Everything's much more complicated than it seems."

"Okay," Luke repeated quietly, looking a Kirk, who was busy with his newspapers. "Lorelai, you can tell me anything. I know we've only been talking for two weeks or something, if even, but you can trust me."

"I do trust you," Lorelai said without hesitation.

"Why, you barely know me," Luke said, fascinated by how fast she had answered.

"I know people, Luke. I work with people. I can sense if they're trustworthy or not."

"So you'd recognise a serial killer by talking to him?" Luke asked and Lorelai put her hand on her chest.

"Oh my - are you -?"

Luke shrugged. "Can't you tell?"

Lorelai laughed out loudly. "You aren't. I think you're ... you're the quiet guy. People think you're shy but you aren't, you just appreciate the silence and calmness. Also you're a passionate lover and you mourn after the woman who left you to travel the world ... let's say a year ago?"

"Damn," Luke breathed. "That was on point. How do you -" His face froze. "Who told you? I'll kill him."

"Don't kill her. Mia told me."

"Mia - Mia Bass? From the Independence Inn?"

"Yup." Lorelai nipped on her coffee calmly.

"How do you know Mia?"

Lorelai sighed. "Don't tell anyone. I applied there. As a manager. Mia wants to move and it looks good for me."

"You want to manage the Independence? Wow. So you can be closer to Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah, because it's my dream town," Lorelai replied dryly. "I want to spend more time with my daughter. And the Independence Inn would be perfect for me. My parents would kill me, but I don't care. I've worked for the Candlewood long enough and I need a change."

"I feel you," Luke answered. "So you applied there, went there for a job interview ... and talked about me?"

Lorelai laughed again. "Don't be flattered. Mia just asked if I knew anyone from here already and I said I only know you. Then she spent about five minutes swooning over you, she seems to have a thing for you. The rest of the forty minutes I spent with her were about me."

"Forty minutes? Wow. It looks good for you indeed, Mia must have liked you."

"It was weird," Lorelai said quietly. "I told her everything. More than I've told you so far. I just ... trusted her somehow."

"Your instinct's right, then," Luke said gently. "Mia is trustworthy indeed."

"Yeah. I could feel that."

Lorelai's blue, gentle eyes rested on Luke, who almost went crazy due to the eye contact. Even though she had barely slept she still looked gorgeous.

"So - why couldn't you sleep?" he asked again and Lorelai tore her eyes away from him.

"I don't know ..."

"I'm trustworthy, remember?"

"You are." Lorelai sighed. "Okay. I had a huge fight with my parents."

"Why?"

"They want to see us every Friday for a family dinner. I told them no way, see, I have shifts to work and sometimes they fall on a Friday night. It's a hotel, for God's sake, not a store with humane opening times. Mom doesn't care, she was all like you're the manager, Lorelai, can't you shift your shift to another shift? Don't laugh, it ain't funny."

"Not laughing," Luke promised.

"Anyway, she wants that only to see her granddaughter and son-in-law, I am quite annoying in her eyes. So I suggested that Chris and Rory could visit her without me if I'm busy, and then she told me what a bad mother I was to let my daughter down for a Friday night dinner, blah blah blah. Nothing I do is right, Luke. She hates me and my dad hates me, too." Her head dropped down on the counter.

"How could they hate you?" Luke asked softly, fighting the urge to pat her head. If Kirk only wasn't there ...

"Well, do you think they are happy when I got pregnant at the age of fucking fifteen?" Lorelai spoke into her arm, but Luke could hear that she sounded dry.

"No but ... don't they love Rory?"

Now Lorelai lifted her head, smiling gently. "They do. Everyone loves Rory. She's a sweetheart and a better daughter than I have ever been. But - They don't love me, you see? They always wanted me to be like Rory. But I wasn't."

"But you're still their daughter."

"Sure." Lorelai shrugged. "So how did your parents react when your sister told them she was pregnant?"

"Uhm -" Luke leaned back, crossing his arms and avoiding Lorelai's eyes. "My mother didn't react, she was already dead when it happened."

"Oh." Luke could hear the surprise in Lorelai's voice. "Damn. I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"If course you didn't, don't be. I figured that Mia had told you."

"No, not at all."

"Okay. Well then, my mom was dead already and my dad threw a fit. He raged so hard, I thought he'd hurt Liz. But he calmed down as soon as Liz started crying and he took her in his arms and told her everything would be fine. He supported her until the end."

"Until the end?" Lorelai asked and Luke winced.

"Until he ... died."

"Oh."

This time he looked up at her, catching her pitiful face.

"I am so -"

"It's okay."

"No! I'm so dumb, Luke. I just keep ranting about my parents while yours ... I'm sorry. Super, super sorry."

"Lorelai, really. It's okay. I'm over it. It's been years."

"How many?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"Hm... my mom died when I was fourteen and my dad died when I was twenty-six."

"And now you are?" Lorelai's voice was quiet.

"Thirty-one."

"That's five years. That's not an eternity."

"Lorelai, I'm okay. Really. Let's talk about you again, okay? So your parents threw a fit, too?"

"They didn't. They don't throw fits. They ... uhm ... were pretty calm. Shocked, yes, angry and disappointed, but they immediately came up with a plan. Together with Christopher's parents, of course."

"They didn't ... want you to have an abortion, right?"

Lorelai's face darkened. "Chris' parents did. They're even worse than mine, never thought that was possible. But no, my dad came up with the idea that Chris and I should marry and Chris should start working for his company. It happened a little different, though, first I had Rory, then I finished High School, then Chris moved in with us and started working for dad. When Rory was two, Chris and I got married and we three moved into an apartment. I started studying but dropped out after about a year. Then I started working in a small hotel outside of Hartford, until I came upon the Candlewood. I started as a maid but I refreshed my studies with an evening class and worked hard so I became the manager, then we moved into a house once I made more money, Rory started school and Chris got promoted ... and I think that's it. Now we're here."

"Wow," Luke made. "So Chris and you got married only because of Rory, I guess?"

Lorelai sighed. "Yes."

"Not because of love? Sorry if it's too personal."

"No, it's okay. Well, at first we thought it was for the best. We did love each other after all. But after a few years we realise we didn't do it anymore."

"So why don't you get a divorce?" Luke asked carefully.

"Rory," Lorelai responded immediately.

"Right, you said so already."

"Yeah. Plus, my parents would kill me. And where would I go? Who would keep Rory? Chris wouldn't let me take her, he loves her too much and so do I."

"You could share custody," Luke suggested and Lorelai shrugged.

"I don't know, Luke. It's fine at the moment."

"It's not. You're unhappy."

"It'll pass," Lorelai decided and got up. "I have to go now. Thanks again for listening ... I am so sorry for sharing my eternal problems with you."

"It's my pleasure to listen and help," Luke said gently and Lorelai shot a smile at him, so breathtaking that Luke's heart skipped a beat.

"You're a good friend. We are friends, aren't we?"

"We are," Luke said promptly and Lorelai flashed another smile at him.

"See you soon, okay?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"I'll be here, just drop by," Luke said and waved at her awkwardly, as she left the diner.

He looked after her, his head spinning.

He was asking himself if he could somehow bring her to leave her husband.

Not because he wanted her to be with him (or maybe he did, he had no idea), but because she was definitely unhappy and in a toxic marriage. She couldn't sleep anymore, she had said.

She was sad, she was unhappy. And Luke knew he was the one to save her.

But how?

He could try to win her heart ... if that worked. She was way out of his league. He was not even worth her smile, let alone more.

The image of him and Lorelai kissing popped up in front of his inner eye and he almlst got a heart attack.

Wow.

He gasped.

"Luke? Are you okay?"

Luke shook himself and eyed Kirk, who was now standing in front of him.

"What?"

"I asked you something."

"What did you ask, Kirk?"

"Who that lady from before was. You seem to know her. I heard Lorelai, but who is she exactly?"

"Lorelai Hayden, a new inhabitant of Stars Hollow," Luke answered. "Why?"

"Because she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," Kirk said dreamily and Luke nodded shortly.

"Don't waste your breath, Kirk, she's married."

"Oh," Kirk made and his face mirrored Luke's feelings when he thought about the fact that Lorelai Hayden was married to Christopher Hayden:

Disappointed and crestfallen.