AN: I would like to apologize to all my readers. It appears I missed a chapter, posting chapter eleven as chapter ten. I have fixed this, so things should be a little more clear now! Sorry again!

12 – You don't know who Greta Garbo is?

The days passed, like they always do. Christmas was over, and Logan went back to England. New Years came and went, and then it was time for Rory to go back to Yale, leaving Lorelai alone in the house once more. Since her doctor had made her cut down on the hours at the inn, Lorelai spent way too much time in the house.

"I'm bored." She said to no one in particular on a grey morning at the end of January. It was Monday, and Rory had left for another week at school the previous night. Lorelai didn't remember ever having felt so lonely, not even when Rory went to college in the first place. Yes, she had Paul Anka to keep her company, but it wasn't the same as having another human being to talk to. Abandoning the bills she had been trying to focus on since she got home from the inn, she decided to go out. It was almost time for lunch anyway.

As she walked through Stars Hollow, Lorelai tried to ignore the little nagging voice inside her that kept telling her that she didn't miss having just anyone around to talk to, she missed someone. Funnily enough, that someone was pouring Kirk coffee when she opened the door to the diner.

He looked up and smiled when he saw her. At least she guessed it was because he saw her, she wasn't positive. During the time that Rory had been home, she had kept on insisting that Lorelai talk to Luke, find out where he stood. Lorelai had continued to refuse, afraid to lose him completely. But she had started looking for signs that Rory might be telling the truth, because, God knew, Lorelai wished that she was. But so far, nothing.

"Lunch?" He asked as she sat down at the counter.

"Please." She replied, wriggling out of her coat and putting it on the stool next to her.

"You look chipper today." He noted as he poured her a glass of apple juice.

"Just bored, and lonely." Lorelai replied. "Rory went back to school last night."

"I thought the semester started two weeks ago." Luke stated.

"She went back for the week." Lorelai explained. "It's funny how fast you get used to having someone to talk to that actually answers you."

"Paul Anka's not a good conversationalist?" Luke asked, setting a plate down in front of her.

"Ha ha." Lorelai sighed and picked at the food for a moment before freezing in her movement. "Are you trying to poison me?"

"It's just a salad." Luke pointed out.

"Just a salad? Just a salad, he says." Lorelai pushed the plate to the side.

"It was worth a try." Luke stated, taking the plate and giving it to another customer. He went into the kitchen and came back with a cheesburger instead. "Better?"

"Much, thank you." Lorelai took a bite of the burger.

"So, other than the fact that you have nobody to talk to, what's wrong?"

"There's nothing to do." Lorelai complained.

"Ever?" Luke retorted.

"I mean, I don't have anything to do." She continued. "Besides bills and other boring stuff."

"Is everything done in the nursery?" Luke asked.

"Everything except for the last painting." Lorelai said. "Which someone won't let me do."

"The paint fumes are..."

"Bad for the baby, I know, but I'm still bored." Lorelai finished the sentence.

"Read a book." Luke suggested.

"I've read all the books." Lorelai replied.

"In the world?" Lorelai gave Luke the evil eye.

"No, not in the world." She said.

"So, all the books in your house then?" Luke continued.

"Well, no, but Rory has like a million." Lorelai admitted. "I've read all the books I want to read, OK?"

"So watch a movie." Luke shrugged. "You love movies, there must be one you haven't seen or that you want to see again."

"But I want to do something." Lorelai said, stressing the do. "Not just sit around doing nothing, I can practiaclly feel myself getting fatter by the minute."

"You're not fat." Luke argued.

"I look like a house." Lorelai complained. "And it's all your fault!"

"My fault? I remember you having a small part in the process." Luke left Lorelai at the counter to refill some coffee cups.

"Well, yeah, but... can't I just blame you?" Lorelai sighed. "I'm sick of being pregnant."

"If it makes you feel better, you can blame me." Luke told her.

"Thank you, it does." Lorelai smiled. "Not that it helps with my current situation."

"It'll be over in a couple of weeks, just hang in there." Luke encouraged her.

"That's easy for you to say, you don't have to carry around this thing for nine months." Lorelai replied. "I swear, if there ever was a doubt that God was a man, the fact that women have to do the whole pregnancy/birth thing settles it."

"That's it, get your coat." Luke rounded the counter, getting his jacket from under it.

"What? Why?" Lorelai asked, getting down from the stool and putting her coat on.

"We are getting out of here." Luke told her. "Ceasar, I'm going out for a couple of hours, Lane will be in at two."

"No problem, boss." Ceasar called from the kitchen.

"Where are we going?" Lorelai asked, following Luke out into the streets and towards his truck.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked, opening the door for her and helping her into the car before he got into the drivers seat. "Mall, movie, key Taylor's car?"

"You would go with me to the mall?" Lorelai asked, incredulous.

"If it gets you out of the blues you've been in since Rory left, yes." Luke nodded. "I'll even let you drag me into every baby store you want."

"Thank you!" Lorelai reached over and gave him a hug.

"Just don't get used to it." He told her, starting the car.

"I won't." Lorelai promised. "We're going shopping!"

xxxxx

"Hello?" Lorelai answered the phone on the third ring, dropping her purse on the living room table.

"Where have you been? I've been calling you all day, and nothing!"

"Rory, hon, calm down." Lorelai went back into the foyer and closed the front door, which she had left open to get to the phone.

"I will not calm down! I was worried sick about you! You do not take off for the entire afternoon without telling anyone when you're eight months pregnant!" Rory chided.

"Why didn't you try my cell?" Lorelai asked, plopping down on the couch.

"I did, it went straight to voice mail." Rory replied dryly.

"What? But I have it right here." Lorelai rummaged around in her purse, finally finding the phone. "Aha! Oh, sorry, the battery was dead."

"The battery was dead? Mom, you can't let the battery die, you need your cell phone. What if you had gone into labor with nobody around and couldn't call me?" Rory was starting to calm down, but wasn't quite there yet.

"I wasn't alone, Luke was with me." Lorelai told her daughter.

"Oh, OK." Rory had finally stopped yelling. "Wait, why was he with you? Doesn't he have a diner to run?"

"I went there for lunch, and I was complaining about being bored, since I'm not allowed to work as much, and I think he got sick of me whining, so he took me to the mall."

"Luke took you to the mall?" Rory asked, sounding shocked. "Has he ever been to a mall before?"

"Not in the last decade, I'd say." Lorelai replied. "But we actually had fun."

"You mean you had fun."

"Well, yeah, but I don't think he was bored out of his mind or anything. We even went to the movies."

"Wow, Luke spending a day at the mall, who would've thought." Rory pondered.

"Not me, that's for sure." Lorelai agreed.

"You do know why he did it, right?" Rory asked.

"He just did it to be nice, Rory, don't read anything into it." Lorelai tried, but too late.

"Mom, would Luke do that for anybody else?" She insisted.

"Sure he would." Lorelai replied.

"Who?" Rory questioned.

"April."

"She's his daughter, that's different." Rory said. "When are you going to realise that he's still in love with you?"

"When he tells me that he is." Lorelai retorted.

"You mean like you've told him that you're still in love with him?" Rory stated.

"Look, Rory, I just can't." Lorelai mumbled. "I need him to make the first move, OK?"

"Because that worked so well last time." Rory said sarcastically.

"Look, Rory, just leave it, OK? If it's supposed to happen, it will." Lorelai concluded.

"You could help it along a little."

"I can't deal with this right now, OK?" Lorelai said. "We'll see after the baby gets here and things settle down a little, OK?"

"Fine." Rory surrendered. "But don't leave the house without checking that your cell is charged again, you hear me?"

"Yes mother."

"OK, I gotta go, I have a meeting at the paper." Rory said. "Call me tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, babe, bye." Lorelai hung up the phone, leaning back on the couch. She knew that Rory just meant well, but she just wasn't ready to deal with everything yet.

xxxxx

"Lorelai, if you're not out of here in five minutes, I am dragging your sorry butt to the car!" Sookie exclaimed as she came into the lobby of the Dragonfly. "I mean it!"

"It's not nice to drag a pregnant woman around." Lorelai replied, not looking up from the computer where she was putting in a reservation.

"The doctor said that you shouldn't work more than five hours a day, tops." Sookie said. "You've been here the whole day, Lorelai, that's not five hours."

"But I'm bored at home." Lorelai complained.

"What did you think, that you would work until five minutes before the kid pops out, and then hand it off to a baby sitter and go back to work?" Sookie asked.

"Well, no, but..."

"So go, shoo, out of here." Sookie grabbed Lorelai by the arm and started leading her towards the door.

"Hey, I know, let's have a girls night out!" Lorelai said, stopping just inside the door. "We can go see a movie, have dinner, spoil ourselves."

"I can't sweetie, the inn's swamped." Sookie replied. "And even if I could, I don't think the two of us should go off by ourselves."

"Why not?" Lorelai questioned.

"Well, I mean, you only have a couple of days left to go, and what if something happens, and you know how I react in a crisis, I'd probably pass out or something." Sookie reasoned.

"Oh, fine." Lorelai surrendered. "Will you at least come entertain me for a little while, watch a movie or something?"

"Aren't you and Luke having your dinner/movie thing tonight?" Sookie asked. Since Lorelai's little outburst in the diner a couple of weeks earlier, Luke had started coming over every night, resuming the dinner routine they had had before Christmas. The night usually contained a movie or two, also.

"He has to leave early, April has a thing at school." Lorelai explained.

"Aren't you going?" Sookie wondered.

"She couldn't get enought tickets this time." Lorelai replied.

"Oh. OK, I guess I could come over for a movie." Sookie agreed. "Eight sound good?"

"Sounds great." Lorelai nodded.

"Now will you go home? I don't want Luke down here yelling at me for letting you work all day."

"He doesn't have to know." Lorelai waved Sookie's worries off. "I'll leave in a minute, I just have to..."

"No, you don't!" Sookie opened the door. "Go!"

"Fine." Lorelai glared at her friend. "Aren't you bossy today."

"I think Davey's hit his defiant age." Sookie replied. "I've had to argue with him all week."

"Oh, that must be hard." Lorelai sympathized. "I'm keeping my finger's crossed that this one'll be as good as Rory, she never had one. Unless you count last year, when she stole a yacht and moved into my parents house, I guess."

"So, I'll see you in a couple of hours." Sookie said, following Lorelai out onto the porch.

"See you then."

xxxxx

"So, what's the movie of the night?" Luke asked as he followed Lorelai into the living room, a plate in his hand.

"Well, due to the lack of time, I didn't have a lot to choose from." Lorelai complained. "I had Ben Hur in mind, but it's like ten hours long."

"Get to the point." Luke said, sitting down on the couch.

"And the winner is, Anna Karenina." Lorelai announced, holding up the DVD.

"It looks old." Luke noted.

"It is, it's from the thirties or something." Lorelai looked at the cover. "Yup, 1935."

"What is it with you and old movies?" Luke asked.

"Well, we're working our way through the classics, this is a definite classic." Lorelai explained. "Plus, Greta Garbo."

"Who?"

"You don't know who Greta Garbo is?" Lorelai looked shocked.

"I don't watch a lot of movies." Luke shrugged.

"That's no excuse." Lorelai shook her head. "We have a lot of work still in front of us."

"Just start the movie already."

"You have to know who Greta Garbo is, she's like an icon." Lorelai continued as she pressed play. "That's like not knowing who Hemingway is."

"Hemingway who?" Lorelai just looked at him in shock. "I'm kidding, I know who Hemingway is."

"Oh, there she is." Lorelai said, looking at the TV. "See, that's Greta Garbo, she plays Anna Karenina. And that's Vronsky, they're in love."

"Will you be quiet?"

xxxxx

"Lorelai? I'm here." Sookie called into the house as she closed the door behind her.

"Thank God." Luke said as he came into the foyer. "An outsider."

"What's going on?" Sookie asked Lorelai, who followed Luke.

"Sookie, you know who Greta Garbo is, right?" Lorelai asked.

"Of course I do, she's famous." Sookie replied.

"Thank you." Lorelai looked triumphantly at Luke. "See, I told you."

"I didn't say nobody knew who she was, I just said that I don't." Luke retorted.

"How can you not know who Greta Garbo is?" Lorelai pressed on.

"So, what movie did you watch?" Sookie cut in, seeing Luke getting more and more annoyed.

"I wouldn't know, she kept blabbering the entire time." He complained.

"We watched Anna Karenina." Lorelai said.

"I love that movie." Sookie stated.

"I'm sure it's a great movie, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if you had kept quiet for five minutes." Luke said to Lorelai before turning to Sookie. "The entire movie she kept going on about how I could possibly not know who Greta Garbo is."

"I just thought it was strange." Lorelai defended herself.

"It is strange." Sookie agreed, causing Luke to sigh heavily.

"I have to go." He said, opening the front door. "Call me tomorrow when you've recovered from the temporary insanity."

Lorelai and Sookie started laughing as soon as the door had closed behind Luke.

"He was so... so... mad..." Sookie managed to get out between laughs.

"I know... he's so... easy..." Lorelai chuckled.

"OK, let's pull ourselves together." Sookie said a few minutes later.

"OK, yeah." Lorelai agreed, holding back another laugh.

"You really know how to push his buttons." Sookie noted.

"I know, at first I was just suprised that he didn't know who she was, but then it turned into a game, sort of." Lorelai said.

"The 'see how mad Luke can get without exploding' game?"

"He wasn't really that mad, was he?" Lorelai asked, suddenly a little worried. "I mean, he knew that I was just kidding?"

"I'm sure he did." Sookie assured her. "Anyway, he can't get mad at you."

"Oh, yes he can." Lorelai argued.

"You two never really fight." Sookie continued.

"Are we forgetting the incident with Jess and Rory's car, not to mention two break-ups?"

"But those were extreme circumstances, he doesn't get mad at you over small stuff like this." Sookie reasoned.

"I guess you're right." Lorelai agreed. "I had fun tonight, at least."

"You sure you're up for another movie?" Sookie asked. "You're not too tired?"

"Are you kidding? I'm completely exilerated." Lorelai replied.

"So, what movie are we watching?" Sookie asked, going into the living room.

"Well, I thought I'd let you pick." Lorelai told her. "We have a very wide selection this evening."

"Wow, I feel honored."

xxxxx

"Hey, am I late?" Luke slipped into a seat next to Anna in the auditorium.

"No, they're just about to start." Anna replied. "What kept you?"

"Got into an argument about Greta Garbo." Luke replied, causing Anna to look at him in surprise.

"An argument about Greta Garbo?" She asked.

"Long story." Luke said.

"Did Lorelai make you watch Ninotchka or something?" Anna wondered.

"Anna Karenina, actually." Luke corrected. "And you know who she is too?"

"Who? Garbo? Of course I do."

"Of course you do." Luke repeated sarcastically.

"What, you didn't?" Anna asked. Seeing Luke's face, she continued. "You really didn't."

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Actually, yes, considering the fact that she was one of the greatest actresses in the 1900's." Anna replied.

"Was? She's not even alive?" Anna shook her head. "I had an argument over a dead celebrity." Luke muttered.

"So, you've been spending a lot of time at Lorelai's house lately?" Anna changed the subject casually.

"Yeah, you know, she gets bored since Rory's at Yale and she's not supposed to work so much." Luke explained.

"Oh, OK." Anna shrugged.

"What do you mean, 'oh, OK'? You don't believe me?"

"I didn't say that." Anna defended herself.

"It sounded like it was implied." Luke noted.

"OK, maybe I didn't believe you." Anna replied. "All I'm saying is, would you be spending so much time there if you just wanted to be friends?"

"We're having a child together." Luke tried to shrug it off.

"We have a kid together, you don't spend every night with me." Anna retorted.

"That's different, April's... and you..."

"It's different because you're still in love with Lorelai." Anna cut him off. Luke looked at his hands for a moment before answering.

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does! Luke, have you talked to her?" Anna asked.

"No, I haven't and I'm not going to." Luke replied. "And you will not say a word, got it?"

"Fine, I won't." Anna raised her hands in defeat. "I just think that maybe you should talk to her, find out where she stands."

"I don't want to lose her completely." Luke mumbled.

"I don't think you would." Anna tried to reason.

"She said she wanted to be friends." Luke said.

"I know that's what she said, but is that what she really wants?"

"I can't risk it."