A/N Thank you for your reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. The big difference in Rachel that I see is that she cares about Luke and expected that everything is the same, he'll take her back, then she finds he's engaged and she is working through this so she may not be as nice as she was in the show, but she really isn't mean. Thanks for your commitment to the story.Please continue to read and review.

I own nothing

Ch 28 Click

Lorelai and Rory dashed into the diner the next morning. Lorelai was dressed to the nines wearing her black stilettos and light blue suit with the micro-mini skirt that has the flippy hem. Neither noticed Rachel sitting in a corner table by herself taking pictures of the crowd. Lorelai sauntered up to the counter and hopped up on the stool. Luke came out of the kitchen, delivering plates to a table and when he turned around he saw Lorelai and stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at her, tipped his head to one side and stood with his hands on his hips. Lorelai was smiling wickedly at him, "Hey burger boy, how about a cup of coffee?"

Luke strides over to the counter and leans to whisper in her ear, "I'm not going to ask and I don't want to know."

Lorelai throws back her head and laughs, "Aw, come on babe, you know you want to ask, and you really want to know, it's going to bother you all day, isn't it?"

She leans in to whisper, "Tell you what, we go up to your office, you get your answer, if I am, you can serve me an extra large to go." Lorelai leers at Luke.

He whispers, "and if you're not?"

"You can just service me." She whispers back.

"Aw, jeeze!" Luke turns a deep red and grabs Lorelai's hand and drags her behind the curtain. Click.

Miss Patty and Babette are sitting near Rachel. "Well, how long do you think they're going to be today?" Miss Patty is whispering to Babette.

"With a man like that they could be gone most o' da mornin'." Babette offers, "'Course its gonna be what they's doin' that'll tell. 'Member when Lorelai got 'im all worked up and then took off? Luke was so mad that day," Babette was laughing, "Youse should a heard the night they had, 'course Rory was out a da house."

Rachel was very confused, she had never seen Luke lose control like they were saying and he almost dragged Lorelai through the curtain. How could he have changed in such a short amount of time?

Upstairs Luke was kissing Lorelai passionately slowly working his hands up her thighs. Lorelai was moaning into his mouth, "God Luke, you feel so good." She smiled as his hand got to her very society proper panties and he ground into her.

"So your completely covered up today, huh? Guess you think you get your coffee to go?" Luke looked at her suggestively.

"Yep, I actually have three meetings this morning, but if you happen around the inn this afternoon there's a seventy-five percent chance that these proper panties will have found their way into a paper bag I have for just this occasion."

"Lorelai, if I visit you this afternoon and find out that those proper panties haven't found their way into the bag before I get there, there's a hundred percent chance they'll be in the bag when I leave." Luke kissed her passionately.

"I'll be in my office after three today, just to let you know," Lorelai cooed.

"Well, I may be by to fix your porch."

"Dirty" she giggled and led him down the stairs.

Luke poured a to-go cup for Lorelai and put a couple of Danish in a bag to go. He kissed her and gave her the coffee and bag, "See ya later."

"Bye Hon, bye sweets."

Click. Rory looked at Luke who was smiling to himself, "She certainly won't let you live a boring life Luke."

He looked up a little startled and said, "No, Rory, it will never be boring. Hey, did Ray get your order?"

Rory laughed, "Luke you always take care of us, I hope mom doesn't only take from you"

"You know, I've never felt so cared for Rory, she makes me laugh and she keeps me out of my head, calls me on my crap. And I know she does it because she loves me, so yes, she takes very good care of me. I feel honored that I get to do a small bit for you both. How's about some pancakes?"

Rory smiled, "Sounds great."

Miss Patty and Babette had left and when Luke went in to make Rory her pancakes Rachel went over to sit at the counter, "So that's your mom huh? She seems to have won Luke over."

"Yeah, I guess. They're getting married this year so I guess she won him over."

"Do they always act like that? You know, like they're already newlyweds?"

"I guess, they've been best friends for about five years or so, and they've always flirted and argued until they went out a few months ago. Luke says mom keeps him in line, always keeps his life exciting."

Just then Luke brings out Rory's pancakes, "Rachel, I thought you'd left. Do you want something else?"

"Rachel?" Rory looked at her.

Rachel said, "Yeah, I'll have another tea. Hey, Luke, since Lorelai's cutting down on her coffee why'd you give her a large to go cup?"

"What'd you mean cutting down? Lorelai would have to be on her death bed before she'd voluntarily cut back on her coffee intake." Luke answered Rachel a bit curtly.

"Well, maybe I misunderstood. Why don't you make that tea to go?" Rachel stood up and took off.

Rory had stopped eating her pancakes and was looking down, Luke noticed and asked her, "What's wrong Rory?"

Rory whispered, "Mom didn't have any coffee this morning before we left, Luke. The only coffee she had was the to-go cup you gave her. And she took a pill that I hadn't seen before." She looked up at him with her eyes filled with tears, "Do you really think something is wrong with her?"

"Rory, if there was anything wrong with your mom she'd tell us, I'm sure it's nothing. Tell you what, I'm going over to the inn later today and I'll ask her about it. OK?"

"OK, Luke. You know one of the really nice things about you marrying mom is that I don't feel like I'm the only one watching out for her anymore."

"Rory, I know your mom would be upset if she thought you worried about her so much, why don't you let me do that now?" Luke leaned over and put his hand over Rory's and he was surprised to see a tear fall from her eye.

She whispered, "Thank you Luke, sometimes it's a bit overwhelming."

"I gotcha covered," Luke winked at her.

Around Noon Luke went to the inn carting a burger, fries and coffee for Lorelai, she sees him coming in the door and coos, "I thought we're meeting later, I've still got two society brides to meet before three today."

Luke kissed her cheek, "I just wanted to make sure my fiancée was properly fed, and it didn't sound like you would have time for lunch. Could we go someplace and talk?"

"Sure babe, let's go into the dinning room, there's an alcove we can use." Lorelai sees that Luke is concerned "Is everything all right?"

"I'm not sure, Rory is worried because she said you turned down coffee at the house this morning and then she remembered you were taking a pill. Are you OK Lorelai?" Luke took hold of her hand and Lorelai smiled at him.

"Oh, Luke, I'm fine, I just went to the doctor yesterday because I'm starting a new birth control pill and we talked about you and me getting married and wanting to start a family sometime soon. She said I should start cutting down on caffeine; no more than four cups a day for me, and add water to my diet. She also gave me some vitamins that contain folic acid that helps prevent birth defects. This way when we start to try for a baby we have a better shot. You know I'm twice as old now as when I conceived Rory and it may take up to a year for us to get a baby."

Luke was looking at her with such admiration, "Lorelai, you're voluntarily cutting down on your caffeine in order that we have a better shot at conceiving?"

"Yep."

"I love you so much, I know what a sacrifice that is for you and I'm so proud of you for sacrificing for our children." Luke took her hand and kissed her palm "You know Rory asked what you bring to my life and I don't think I could ever name all you do, but this is just one more. Thank you."

"Hey babe, it's OK, although you and I might want to talk about all the things that'll change when we start trying to get pregnant and then what'll happen when we do get pregnant. I've been on the pill for a few years because I get really bad cramps and they'll probably return until I conceive, then there're all the fun things like, morning sickness, weight gain, mood swings, cravings and of course the little fella doesn't come with a zipper, the way he or she goes in is the same way they come out. With me it's equal amounts of screaming." Lorelai looked at him wickedly.

"If anything goes wrong and I don't do everything I can to bring a healthy baby into our family, it'll be my fault. I know that this isn't going to be easy or fun all the time, but the outcome is really worth it, so while I appreciate that you're happy about me cutting back on coffee, it isn't really altruistic, I just want to avoid any guilt that'd occur if there's some difficulty with the baby."

Luke is starting to look a bit green around the gills. "Lorelai, I never thought about all the pain you'll have to go through for us to have a child. You don't have to do this, I can't ask you to do this. I don't want to see you go through all this."

"Luke, I want to, I can't think of anyone who I'd want to do this with except you. And when this short amount of time is finished we'll have a beautiful baby. I'm really looking forward to having a partner with me this time."

"Wasn't Christopher there for you before?"

Lorelai laughed, "Christopher was still going to parties while I was kept in the house like a leper. He didn't go to any of the doctor's appointments because they were during his crew training."

"He worked for McDonalds'?" Luke was confused.

Lorelai threw back her head and it took a good thirty seconds for her to stop laughing. "Good God no, although it probably would have done him more good, crew is the sport of rowing, very big in Ivy League colleges."

"So he missed his daughter's doctor's appointments because he wanted to row a boat around? Man what a putz." Luke was really trying to keep his anger in check, here was Lorelai going through all this alone. He held onto her hand tightly, "I can't help if this makes me love you more, OK?" Click.

"Not a problem babe, always glad to find more to be adored. Luke my Bridezillas will be here shortly. Are you going to be able to make our three o'clock appointment?" Lorelai grinned wickedly.

Luke sighed, "No, the store called and they're delivering all the furniture we bought on Saturday today, except the overstuffed chair because you special ordered it. The mattresses won't be at the house until Friday. Maybe we can all stay over for the weekend and Rory and you can set up your bedrooms?"

"Well, I'm happy the furniture is getting there before Jess is, I'll talk to Rory and see about setting up the house. However I was looking forward to our meeting Mr. Danes." Lorelai stood up and Luke took her in his arms.

"I'll just have to make it up to you tonight." He smiled and kissed her gently. Click.

Rachel didn't mean to stalk them, she was just having a tough time understanding how Luke had changed so much in just a few years. From what everyone was saying it'd really only been drastic in the last five months, maybe it was just temporary.

Rachel learned everything she needed to know through the lens of her camera. When her dad was cheating on her mom she first saw it in the holiday pictures she took, the way he didn't stand close to her, how he couldn't look at her in the candids. She knew the day the Senator took a bribe because he stopped looking into the faces of the voters. She really just wanted to see if this was just a passing fancy or if she really had lost Luke for good. She also wanted to know if Lorelai really loved Luke, or was settling. The pictures would tell her more than anyone could.

Over the next few days she didn't really follow them but Stars Hollow was such a small town that she happened to be where they were quite a few times. Finally on Friday she stopped into the diner at the afternoon lull, Luke was alone and Rachel sat at the counter.

"So, are you and Lorelai going to skip the festival tonight?" she knew how Luke hated those festivals.

"No, Rory is going out with her boyfriend and we're going to go after a prior commitment. Lorelai loves these things." Luke smiled to himself.

"I'm just surprised that's all, you always hated them. I guess some things do change, huh?" Rachel smiled at Luke.

He didn't return the smile when he said, "And some things never do Rachel." He went into the kitchen to start prepping for the dinner rush.

Rachel followed him into the kitchen, "Luke, I'm sorry you're still angry about what I did seven years ago. I only hope you're never put in a position where you really screw up and Lorelai has the power to forgive you. Because when you find out she can't it'll break your heart."

Luke has kept his back to her, "It isn't that I don't forgive you Rachel, I just couldn't trust you anymore and now I'm afraid of what you could do to my life today. I'm happy, really happy for the first time since I can remember and you are a threat to that happiness."

"Luke, I couldn't disrupt what's real, if there're problems on the horizon, I didn't put them there. I just want to make sure that you're really set. If you ever need me, I'm here."

"Like stone Rachel, I'm set like stone." He turns to face her, "I don't know why, but Lorelai loves me more than anyone else ever has. I trust her with everything I have, she loves this town, she loves the life we have together, she isn't looking to change me. Could you say the same Rachel?"

Rachel takes this in and turns to leave, "See you tonight Luke."

Luke and Lorelai are walking through the square on the way to the diner, they are still dressed for Friday night dinner and it'd been a pretty nasty one. Emily decided that it was a good idea to invite Christopher even though Rory wasn't there. Richard ended up not talking to her and no one except Emily was talking to Christopher.

Luke and Lorelai skipped the dessert so Lorelai was begging for pie, "Come on Luke, pie and coffee, please? I saved one cup of coffee just for after this night because I knew it wasn't going to be good without Rory. Please?"

Luke had his arm around Lorelai holding her close, "Lorelai, you know I'll never be able to deny you coffee again, at least until we are through with children, 'cause I know you're already limiting yourself. Let's go." Click. Lorelai began bouncing in front of him on her toes, like a little kid. Luke stopped and pulled her coat closer to ward off the chill. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and stood there drinking her in. He leaned in and kissed her, "I love you." Click. Then they went towards the diner.

Rachel saw Lorelai with this man in a very expensive overcoat, suit pants and expensive shoes. The way he walked and the way he carried himself, he looked like every business man she had ever seen in corporate America. He was holding her tightly as they walked across the square. Just before going to the main area he stopped as she turned towards him and he kissed her. 'So much for her undying love for Luke.' Rachel hurried back to her room at the inn to develop these pictures, the gall of that woman to parade this guy around the very town that Luke lived in. Well, she was going to show Luke a few pictures tomorrow and let him see how set in stone his little Lorelai was.