Tears In Heaven

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"Mom?" Rory half-laughed as her mother touched her shoulder gently. "Are you okay?" She looked up at Luke. "Is she okay?"

Luke, not helping, was staring at Rory with the same shocked expression on his face.

Lorelai, now convinced that this was truly her daughter, just somehow twelve years later, grabbed Rory in a hug and practically strangled her. "Hi," she murmured after a second.

"Hi," Rory answered, hugging her mother back. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Yes," Lorelai laughed, and then she let go, holding Rory at arm's length. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"Um, I'm fine." Rory looked at Luke again, hoping he was back to normal, but he was still staring shocked. "What's going on with you two?"

"I'm dreaming," Lorelai beamed at Rory, "and my baby girl is back."

"Okay, see, I don't understand this. Because I just went to sleep"—Rory checked the clock on the microwave—"about two hours ago, and when I went to sleep, you were watching that Quantum Leap marathon, and it was those three episodes that always confuse me, and you told me to go ahead and go to bed, you'd try and figure them out, and then you'd tell me about them later." Rory paused for a breath, and watched as Lorelai excitedly elbowed Luke in the stomach, looking quickly up at his face to see if he registered this. They'd been watching a Quantum Leap marathon earlier, and right after the trilogy episodes, she'd tried to figure them out, before giving up and going to bed.

"And you," Rory continued warily, talking to Luke, "were last seen at the diner, and most certainly not…here…um, after hours." She finished in a blush, ducking her gaze to the floor. Luke was dressed only in boxer shorts, and her mother hardly had anything more on, clothed only in a flimsy pink nightgown that ended way above her knees.

"What are you talking about?" Lorelai asked, almost exasperated. "We've been dating for years." She looked back up at Luke. "Why doesn't anyone ever believe that?" she asked, and it was clear that she asked that a lot by Luke's expression. Rory rushed to rectify the situation.

"No, it's not that I don't believe it, it's just…when I went to bed, you guys were just…friends?"

"Okay, this is really starting to get confusing." Lorelai half-laughed, putting her hands to her temples. "Why don't we go into the living room. All sit down." She half-laughed again, already moving her arm behind her to slide down Luke's, until her hand was nestled in his. Rory watched, and noticed just how comfortable the two of them were with each other—even more so than…well, Luke and Lorelai. Rory shook her head—she was confusing herself—and followed the two adults to the living room.

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Finally, screwing up her face and mustering her courage, Lorelai ducked into Williams Hardware, after spending twenty minutes pacing up and down the streets in front of the big picture windows. The bells above the door jingled, and Luke glanced up from where he was re-stocking the nails to smile shyly at the newest customer. Lorelai performed her patented duck and cover, smiling widely and ducking her head before heading down another aisle. She felt the now-familiar flurry of excitement in her stomach when she realized he was setting down his nails and asking his dad for a break, about to head over to her.

Since their first meeting—when Lorelai had rubbed snot all over his dad's shirt a month ago—she'd ducked into Williams Hardware a total of ten times. All ten times Luke had set down what he was doing, asked for a break, and walked outside with her. Three times they'd gone to Weston's Bakery, twice to the restaurant at the Independence, one very disastrous time to the newly opened Al's Pancake House, and the other four times they'd just walked around, laughing and getting to know each other.

For instance, Lorelai now knew that Luke had a younger sister—Liz—who had done some unspeakable thing at the age of 19 and run away, and Luke hadn't seen her since, but he missed her sometimes, and wished she'd call.

Luke now knew that Lorelai had moved to Stars Hollow when she was 17, because she'd finally gotten tired of living with her parents. So one day, she packed up all of her clothes and albums and all of Rory's baby stuff, called a cab, and stopped at the Independence Inn, because she'd seen an ad for it the week before, and it had the word independence in the title.

"Hey," Luke greeted Lorelai, smiling. He nodded at the wood putty in her hand. "Fixin' some holes?"

She grinned, and blushed, feeling all of twelve years old, embarassed and extremely giddy, just because a boy she liked was talking to her. She shook her head and handed the wood putty to Luke, because he got mad when she just threw stuff on the shelves. He resettled the putty on the shelf, and then nodded toward the door, his now-free hand somehow coming closely to her back, to push her along. She thrilled at the near-contact, and contemplated standing her ground, just to have him actually touch the small of her back. She dismissed the thought, though, and Luke led her out the door, where they made their way to the gazebo and sat and just talked for over half an hour.

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Luke sat on the couch first, nearest the arm, and Lorelai sat meshed up against him, their bodies practically clicking into place. Then Lorelai watched as this other girl, this Rory, flopped onto the other side of the couch like she did it every day. She glanced around at the room, which was decorated a little differently than it usually was, in the not-just-a-dream reality of every day life. For instance, her baby pictures were still scattered here and there, and the picture of Lorelai outside the grandparents' house was still there, but all the pictures of Rory past the age of four were missing.

Rory finished looking around the room and settled her gaze on her mother and Luke, who were looking expectantly back at her.

"Um…hi?" she asked, feeling extremely uncomfortable. It seemed like everything was different, and she'd just woken up to go to the bathroom! Oh, why the hell had Luke been standing in her kitchen at three in the morning? And why did he and Lorelai look so different? Lorelai's hair was short and layered, sticking out at odd angles, and it was a lighter color, an almost honey brown. Luke was clean-shaven, his hair was shorter…and his boxers had small guitars on them. Not that Rory had ever thought about his boxers, but she certainly had never expected those. If anything, she figured they might be plaid. Flannel. Like his clothes.

"So…what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked cheerfully, that perma-grin still etched on her face, as it had been since Rory had correctly answered the middle name question.

"I live here." Rory stumbled over her words, suddenly feeling her exhaustion. She'd been up for almost three days, sprawled on the couch with her mother, watching the July 4th 3-day-weekend special Quantum Leap marathon on the Sci Fi channel. They'd refused to move from the couch except for commercials, choosing instead to order in from Luke's, Al's, and Joe's pizza place. Lorelai, though she'd originally be working one of the busiest weekends of the year, had called in sick—"just this once"—so they could have their weekend. When Rory had gone to sleep two hours before, the living room had been strewn with debris—their weekend was almost over—and Lorelai had been half-on, half-off the couch, laughing at the tiniest little thing from sheer exhaustion.

"Um, listen, I…hate to be rude, but can I go to bed? I've been up for three days."

"Oh! Of course!" Lorelai jumped up from the couch and waited for Rory to pass her. When she did, Lorelai followed, wondering where she put her daughter in this nice big house. When Rory stopped outside the sewing room, Lorelai was a little surprised. She thought for sure that her own daughter would at least be upstairs with her.

Rory opened her door and glanced around the room. Thankfully, it was the same. She smiled at her mother. "Talk to you tomorrow?"

Lorelai nodded, throwing her arms around Rory again. "Yeah." After she let go of her, she said quietly, "I love you. You know that, right?"

Rory inwardly let out a sigh. Now this really seemed like her mother. "Yeah." She smiled, genuinely, for the first time since she'd re-awoken not feeling uncomfortable or freaked. "I love you too."

Lorelai took a step forward and planted a quick kiss on Rory's cheek. "Sleep well."

"You, too." Rory smiled again, and then turned into her room.

Lorelai watched as the door was gently shut in her face, changing the unfamiliar teenage Rory's room back into the familiar sewing room door. Luke wandered up and slid his arms around Lorelai's waist.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," she agreed, leaning her head to rest on his arm, settling her hands over his. "This is all just…wow," she summed up.

"I whole-heartedly agree," he said, resting his chin on the top of her head, "but I think what we all need right now is sleep."

"No," Lorelai shook her head, "I don't want to sleep. I'm afraid she'll be gone when I wake up."

"Come on," Luke took his arms away from her waist, leaving one hand holding on to hers. "Let's go to bed. She'll still be here when we wake up."

It was then Lorelai turned to look up at him, pleading in her eyes. "Promise?" she asked in a small voice.

Luke smiled. "I promise." He tugged gently on her hand, and she finally allowed him to lead her away, up the stairs, and back to bed.

Even as they lay curled into each other, post-coital, she kept her eyes open, keeping sleep at bay, so that her wonderful dream would never end.