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And away we go...

Kirk had regained consciousness. He parked himself in the chair nearest the door, Lulu by his side. Luke and Lorelai were sitting, fully clothed atop the mussed bed. Everyone else fought for a space along the wall. It felt like ages since someone last spoke.

Leave it to Emily to fix that. "Who on earth are all these people? Do you know these people, Lorelai?"

"Yes, mom. They're friends and neighbors. They came here today to help me get the Inn ready for business. It was a lovely gesture," she smiled warmly at the worker-beavers.

Emily scoffed, "These invalids couldn't help you change a light bulb,"

"Hey! Mother says I'm not supposed to touch electrical devices," Kirk retorted.

"Relax yourself, Kirk. We don't need another episode," Gypsy warned.

Emily interrupted sternly, "I want to talk to my daughter…in private!" She was getting a headache from exposure to the unsophisticated simpletons.

It was best not to toy with Emily Gilmore. Immediately a kafuffle of nervous townsfolk fought their way through the door. Three of them got stuck in the process. It was a slapstick comedy in the making. The others quickly pulled their trapped figures to freedom. Soon the stairs thudded with heavy feet.

Luke was the only non-Gilmore that remained. Oh, and Kirk.

Emily glowered at the frail man.

"What? I…I'm weak. My blood pressure is low." Well, Kirk had just passed out. It was only fair to allow him sufficient recovery time.

"Kirk," Lorelai implored.

He was defiant to the end. "I wont go. You can't make me."

"Kirk, if you're not out of here in two seconds, your blood pressure will be the least of your troubles," Luke threatened.

That was the ticket. "I'm gone." Kirk scuttled out of the room. No signs of trauma were evident. Once again, Lulu had left him to fend for himself. They would need to have a talk about that later.

Emily returned her attention to her daughter and her companion. "I don't suppose it's any use asking you to leave?" she questioned Luke.

"I'm not going anywhere unless Lorelai wants me to." He was a good man.

Lorelai smiled, squeezing Luke's hand in appreciation. "Whatever you have to say to me, mom, you can say to Luke also. We're together now." It thrilled her to say it.

"Oh, I see," Emily said. "And here I was under the impression that this was just another one of your meaningless sex-romps." She was indeed impenitent.

Lorelai rolled her eyes exasperatedly, "Is there a purpose to your being here, besides the insults?"

"You think I'm insulting you, Lorelai? How do you think I felt, having been stood up, yet again by my unsympathetic daughter?"

"Stood up?"

"Yes. Stood up," she emphasized. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Having sex is much more important than keeping an appointment with your mother," she replied sardonically.

Lorelai's eyes widened, "Oh. Oh god, mom. I'm so sorry. I forgot all about our meeting today."

Emily continued, "And being your mother, I was of course concerned. I thought perhaps you might have run into some sort of problem. Instead I find out that you were having an adulterated sex party.

"Mom, please. Stop saying sex. It's very unnerving," Lorelai pleaded. Luke felt like a fly on the wall.

"Well, what would you have me say, Lorelai? Intercourse? Fornication? Public defilement? Carpet-banging?"

Lorelai nearly choked, "What? What? Did you just say carpet-banging?"

Emily nodded, "I'm an educated woman."

"You're a frightening woman." Luke had to agree with that.

"The least you could do is apologize, Lorelai," Emily justified.

Lorelai sighed, defeated, "All right. Since you obviously missed my earlier apology, deliberately I'm sure," she added under her breath. "Here goes…I'm very sorry, mom. I truly am. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"That's good of you to say," Emily smiled a fraction. "You can start by finding me the quickest exit out of this place."

"Done. Anything else?" Lorelai offered.

"You might want to fix this door. Especially if you expect to continue these sexual escapades of yours." Emily's dirty mouth could rival Miss Patty's.

Lorelai stood up and grabbed her mother by the arm, without missing a beat. "Follow me," She swiftly guided her out of the room and down the staircase, past the perplexed townsfolk and outside within seconds. "How was that for quick?"

Emily fought to catch her breath, "For god sakes, I didn't ask you to set a world record." Nothing was ever good enough.

Lorelai pushed Emily towards her car. "Well, thanks for coming, mom. Hope you had a good time. Give my best to dad." She opened the driver's door.

Emily huffed, "Your father will have a coronary when I tell him about this burlesque house of yours." She slid into the vehicle.

Lorelai forced a smiled, "Good-bye, mom." She closed the door before Emily could get a word in edgewise.

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Luke sat alone, waiting for Lorelai's return. He slowly began to unwind in the peaceful silence that had become room seven.

Unfortunately, Kirk's annoying figure appeared in the doorway, blasting away any hope of relaxation. He had a crazed and determined look on his face. "I need the key. Just give me the key!" he cried indignantly.

"What key?" Luke asked, curious.

"For room two. Taylor's counting on me. You gotta let me have it!"

"Kirk, I don't have any keys," Luke assured.

Lorelai returned upstairs. She quickened her pace upon hearing Kirk's voice.

"What's going on?" she asked Kirk as she entered the room.

"Where are the keys?" he screeched.

"The keys?" Lorelai wondered. "Um, they're downstairs in the foyer. Why do you ask?"

Kirk was beside himself, "What! Have they been there the whole time?"

"The whole time," she nodded.

"Oh my god! That's horrible. That's horrible!" He bolted out of the room, a look of pure terror on his face.

"What was that all about?" Lorelai asked.

"I guess Taylor's still locked up. And Kirk's taking it pretty hard," Luke shrugged off laughter.

She grinned, "There's something weird going on there, if you ask me."

Luke nodded.

Lorelai sighed, "Luke, I want to apologize to you on behalf of my mother. I'm so sorry. And I don't blame you one bit if you want to put a stop to this whole thing right now."

Luke looked deep into her eyes, "I love you, Lorelai. That's something that can't be stopped."

He walked closer to her and hugged her with all his strength. They stood like that for several minutes.

A voice from below shook them. "I'll have your heads for this! Your heads!" shouted Taylor. He was free. Party's over, folks.

TBC…