Notes:

bluedaisy05 Yes, scissors are exactly what we need! ;)

Hey all, check out my newest oneshot (I know two in one week!) Lorelai On My Mind. I think it's the best oneshot I've written.

And as always, keep reviewing:)

Luke's Diner

Lorelai is sitting alone at the table by the window staring out. She's nursing a coffee. Luke is working behind the counter handing out orders and taking orders, but every once in awhile he glances with one eye over at Lorelai. Finally he grabs the coffee pot and walks over to her. "Refill?" he asks. This seems to startle Lorelai and she glances up at him.

"Uh, yeah, sure," she answers. Luke is about to pour when he realizes that her coffee cup is still full. Luke sighs, setting the pot down on the table.

"Lorelai…"

"What?" Lorelai asks, thoroughly distracted.

"Your cup is still full," Luke responds, motioning. Lorelai glances down. She looks up at him and smiles.

"My cup runneth over," she responds. Luke rolls his eyes. He pulls up the chair next to her and sits down. "So, how's April? And Anna?" Luke looks at her like she's crazy. "What?"

"Rory running late?"

"No… why do you ask?"

"You never want to know about April and Anna," Luke reminds her.

"That's not true. Your daughter is adorable. I love hanging out with her!"

"That's because you act like you're the same age as her most of the time." Lorelai scoffs.

"I am not Sarah Elizabeth McCaffrey!" Lorelai exclaims. "And why wouldn't I want to know about Anna, she's an important person in your life. Isn't she?" Lorelai probes. Luke gives her a look, telling her to lay off.

"So what are you waiting for?" Luke asks.

"Me?" Luke motions out the window. She looks away, not wanting to tell him. Luke teaches out and touches her hand lightly with the tips of his fingers, just letting her know she can tell him anything. "I'm meeting Chris."

"What!" Luke yells, jumping out of his seat.

"Luke!" Lorelai exclaims. She grabs his arms and pulls him back into his seat, glancing around to see if anyone's staring.

"Lorelai, you cannot go meet that man. You remember what he did to you?" Luke asks in a loud whisper. Lorelai looks at him sadly through misty eyes, pressing her lips together.

"Yes, Luke, I remember," she replies hoarsely. "We're not – he's not – he just said he had a box of my stuff to give me. We need to settle a few things." Luke shakes his head, not liking what he's hearing.

"It was just 4 weeks ago that he…" Luke pauses shaking his head menacingly. Lorelai reaches out and touches his arm.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you, Luke." Luke rubs his mouth, mulling this over at her. He shoots a glance at her, looking into her pleading eyes, and nods. "So…" She clears her throat, signalling for a change in subject. "How's Anna?" Luke cracks a smile.

"She's fine," he says and chuckles.

"And you two are…?" Luke gives her a look, but knows he has to reveal more this time.

"We're… I don't really know. We've gone out a few times but I don't know what to make of it. Last time, we broke up really well, so it feels odd to date again. I don't want it to be just because of April and I don't want April thinking it's more than it is." Luke sighs. "It's complicated."

"I'll say," Lorelai comments. "It's hard when the kids get involved." She gives him a pointed look. He nods, understanding. Lorelai glances out the window and notices Christopher's car pull up. She swallows, preparing herself.

"Christopher's?" Luke asks. Lorelai nods. "Listen, do you want me to go with you?" Lorelai shakes her head.

"No," she says, standing. "No, I'll be fine." She fixes her coat and runs a hand through her hair. Glancing at Luke, she can see the concern on his face. "Don't worry." Lorelai gives him a small smile as she walks out to meet Chris.

Chris is standing in the center of the gazebo, just waiting for her. When he sees her walking over, he almost waves but just smiles instead. Lorelai keeps her poker face on as she walks up the steps of the gazebo to stand in front of him. "Hey," he says. They kind of mess around with a greeting, Lorelai going for a shake of hands and Chris going for a cheek kiss. "Oh, sorry." Chris shakes his head as Lorelai steps back away from him.

"No, I – it's okay," Lorelai stammers, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "So…"

"So… I brought that box for you," Chris says, he motions to the box at his feet. Lorelai nods.

"You came all the way to Stars Hallow just to bring me that?" Lorelai asks. Chris smiles.

"No, I came to – I just wanted to apologize again."

"You have Chris, you've apologized like 18 times a day for the past 4 weeks and for the past 4 weeks I've been telling you it's okay." Chris nods. She sighs. "You know a lot happened, it wasn't just the one night. I shouldn't have lied. I shouldn't have cheated on you. And you shouldn't have… well, you know."

"Yeah… it just kills me that I hurt you. You know I would never do that intentionally, you're the greatest, Lor. I just – I don't exactly know what happened."

"You got drunk. Really drunk. Beyond belief drunk. Run down the street naked drunk. It happens," Lorelai tells him. She shrugs. "Chris, it's called forgive and forget. I'm moving on. Are you?" Chris watches her for a moment and then nods.

"Yeah, I'm moving on. But what about Rory?"

"I promised. She doesn't know a thing and she doesn't need to. She's your daughter, Christopher, and she always will be." Chris nods, shoving his hands in his pockets. He glances up past Lorelai at the diner.

"And are you moving on with him?" Chris asks. He motions with his chin over at the diner where Luke stands in the window trying to not be obvious as he watches them. Lorelai looks over and smiles softly, appreciating how much Luke cares. Luke realizes they're staring at him and walks away, still shooting glances out the window as he works. Lorelai chuckles to herself.

"No, Chris. I have a lot going on. The inn. Rory. My parents. Just a lot of stuff. So, no," she explains, but not really.

"Well he's just a very protective friend then," Chris comments. Lorelai blushes, looking down to hide it, but Chris knows her too well. "Okay, well I should be going." He takes his keys out.

"Wait, Chris?" Chris pauses and turns back to her. "Can I ask you one thing?"

"Shoot."

"How did you find out? About," she motions to the diner. "Who told you?" Chris sighs.

"A little bird?" Chris tries. Lorelai shakes her head to tell him that's not going to do it. "Rory's boyfriend."

"Jess?" Chris nods. Lorelai's face goes white, as she realizes the truth. She shoves her hands in her back pockets looking back over at the diner.

"Does that mean Rory knows?" Chris asks. Lorelai barely shrugs, she's struggling with the fact that Jess didn't hold true to their deal. Chris watches Lorelai and sees that she's going to deal with this news her own way. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news." Lorelai looks up at him and nods. "See ya around?" Chris holds out his hand, which Lorelai grasps lightly. She gives him a half-smile.

"Yeah, see you around Chris." Chris winks at her and walks away. Lorelai begins to pace the gazebo, thinking. Finally she grabs the box and heads towards the diner, a determined look on her face.

When the bells ring as she walks in the door, Luke looks up. Seeing the expression on Lorelai's face, he knows something's wrong. "What happened? What did he do?" Luke asks, walking quickly over to her. She shakes her head, not really looking at Luke.

"He – uh – he didn't do anything. Is Jess upstairs?" Lorelai walks past Luke setting the box down on the counter.

"Wait," he says. He rubs his head. "Yeah, he's upstairs, he's waiting for Rory, I think." Lorelai begins to head toward the curtain but Luke grabs her arm. "Wait what happened? Why are you so upset?"

"Nothing, I'm not upset," Lorelai insists throwing off his grasp. However, her face is molded into one of anger. Luke can see she's lying, but isn't sure what to do. "Do me a favor, when Rory gets in here, don't let her upstairs." With that, Lorelai walks though the curtain. Luke stands there in shock, not really understanding what just happened.

"Jeez," Luke mumbles. He turns around and sees Rory walk in and he knows he's going to try his best.

Lorelai runs up the back stairs in less than a second. She throws open the door to the apartment, startling Jess who is sitting on the couch reading. "Are you kidding me with this?" Lorelai shouts.

"Excuse me?"

"Your little act, your little game. Let's make a deal. And I said, okay Monty, let's make a deal. What a fool was I to believe you! To think that you were actually the person Rory promised you were!" Jess puts down his book, but doesn't stand up.

"I don't know what on earth you're talking about."

"You don't know? You don't have the teeniest, tiniest, clue?" Jess shrugs. "Then you're stupider than I thought." Jess scoffs, standing up.

"I didn't do anything to Rory!" he maintains.

"No, nothing to Rory…" Lorelai shakes her head in disbelief. "Except that you ruined any chance she had of being a part of a nuclear family. You know, Mom, Dad, kid, three dogs and a hamster. You destroyed that." Jess looks at Lorelai like she's crazy.

"I didn't do that, you did, when you slept with Luke. It was your own fault, so stop trying to blame everyone else!" Jess responds. Lorelai glares at him.

"Wow, now you're singing a different tune," Lorelai spits back.

"I try not to sing, actually. Only for my own entertainment. But don't worry I'm a great entertainer."

"Yeah well Bob Hope, your entertainment isn't needed here." Lorelai shakes her head, readying herself to finish the fight. "You told me that you weren't going to tell anyone." Neither notices Rory standing in the doorway, Luke stands right behind her.

"Correction, I told you I wouldn't tell Rory and I didn't. I didn't think she needed to know that her mother cheated on her father with my uncle. But I thought your fiancé deserved to know the truth about his fiancé that he thought was Mother Teresa."

"Well thank you, but this wasn't your situation to get involved Edith Gault, stay out of my business!" Lorelai yells. She sighs shaking her head. Her voice gets calm and cold again. "I listened to you Jess. I let him go. I stepped back and let him be with Anna because that was the deal. But I shouldn't have because you had already broken the deal. You're the reason that Chris found out, that he got drunk that night and hit me, that Rory's unhappy and Luke's unhappy. You destroyed everything!" They hear a gasp from behind and Lorelai flips around to see Luke and Rory with tears running down her cheeks.

"You…" Rory chokes out glancing behind her at Luke and then over at Lorelai. "You slept together?" Lorelai and Luke share a glance. Rory looks over at Jess. "And you knew?" she barely gets out. "And told Dad?" She looks back at Lorelai. "And…" Rory chokes down another sob. "Dad… hit you?" She lets out a sob, closing her eyes. She swallows, looking back at Lorelai with tears in her eyes. Rory opens her mouth to say something else but can't get the words out and lets out a choking sob. She turns and runs out past Luke.

Lorelai stares at Rory's retreating form, frozen for a moment, before slowly raising her eyes to Luke's. She glances back at Jess, no longer in anger but sadness. "Excuse me," she whispers before walking out. Luke doesn't watch her go, but glares at Jess, who looks back obstinately.

"Pack. Pack now. You have 20 minutes and then you're getting on that bus and going back to Liz's and you're not coming back this time," Luke says evenly. He walks out.

Jess sighs, shaking his head. He walks over and pulls a suitcase out of the closet. He picks up the book off the couch and throws it in the suitcase sighing again.