A/N: Okay guys. So I know every chapter I thoroughly apologize for taking so long to update, and once again, I'm sorry. Well I got the complete series of Gilmore girls for Christmas… and I'm very very ecstatic about it! I'm so addicted. Well here's the chapter now. Not much to say today.

Chapter Six

Two days had past since Lorelai had had her encounter with Rachel in the diner along with Luke, and let's just say, she had been visiting Fran at Weston's bakery much more frequently than she was used to lately. In fact, after the two days she had started going there, she already had a usual. Sure, the coffee wasn't as great, and neither was the company, but it was sufficient for now. However, it was a small town, and she hadn't been able to avoid Luke completely like she had wished. She ran into him once in Doose's, twice walking down the street, however she had strategically switched to the other side each time before he had the chance to notice her, and they had shared a glance at a town meeting.

Besides that, Lorelai was a total Jack Frost when it came to Luke, nipping at the nose and all. Obviously this didn't go unnoticed by the town, or Luke. Sookie had taken an undeniable interest in the affair and everytime Lorelai walked into the kitchen, Sookie would pry for information, but Lorelai would subtly change the subject she knew Sookie would rather talk about, like the plumpness of that month's strawberries, and Sookie would completely forget about Luke and Lorelai which greatly please Lorelai. Finally Sookie caught on however and it no longer worked for Lorelai to do this.

"Lorelai. What's wrong?" Sookie asked, deeply concerned, setting her hand on Lorelai's coffee mug to stop her from using it as an excuse not to answer.

Lorelai set her coffee mug completely down on the counter and braced her arms on the counter as she stared down into her coffee mug, giving the air a much more serious tone that before. "Well… Sookie…"

"Yeah?" Sookie added, encouraging her to go on.

"My…" Lorelai looked at Sookie for support, and Sookie nodded in sympathy, telling her to continue, "my toaster is broken and so I've been eating cold poptarts for the past week."

Right after the word toaster Sookie threw her hands in the air in defeat and shook her head back and forth. She couldn't believe she had actually fallen for Lorelai's little trick. "Lorelai, really! I can tell something is bothering you! You haven't been to Luke's in days and you never skip Luke's! Just tell me what's wrong honey!" Sookie said, finally fed up with all of Lorelai's beating around the bush and keeping to herself. Sookie was tired of being polite about it, it was time for Lorelai to get over it and open up.

Lorelai let out a deep sigh, and gave Sookie a serious look, different from the one before. Sookie could tell because her eyes got a darker shade of blue than usual. "Sookie… I kissed Luke. Well, he kissed me, but I kissed him back." Lorelai said quietly, but quickly hushed Sookie's inevitable cheers as she continued, "But…"

"But?" Sookie asked, as her eyes widened and her bottom lip pouted out, now having a vague idea about what was going on.

"He doesn't want me Sookie. He wants her. He wants Rachel." Lorelai said standing back up straight, and messing with her fingernails with new interest.

"What? That's crazy!" Sookie said comfortingly, "Why would he want Rachel when he's been waiting four years to be with you!? He wouldn't give it all up just because of her!" Sookie placed her hand on Lorelai's arm in a comforting gesture.

Lorelai gave a half-smile, "She was wearing his flannel Sookie." Lorelai said this like it held all the meaning in the world, and tears brimmed the lids of her eyes. She widened them to stop the tears from falling but a couple escaped despite her efforts.

"Oh honey…come here." Sookie said, rounding the kitchen island between them to give Lorelai a comforting hug. Lorelai patted at her eyes with a Kleenex she had in her pocket, but now that those couple had fell she couldn't stop the water works and was now full on sobbing into Sookie's hair. As Sookie shooed the kitchen workers out of the kitchen so they wouldn't see Lorelai like this, Lorelai continued to rant.

"I mean, it's not like if she wouldn't have come back, he'd still want me! What was I thinking? What was he thinking by kissing me? I mean, I go home, I call him, in need of help to find Rory's baby chick, and I call him. I call him, and ask him to come over, and what does he do? He blows me off! So instead, I call Max, stupid, I know. I figured that out after he kept kissing me and the only person's lips I could feel on mine, were Luke's! It's not fair you know! He just came totally out of nowhere, leaving me completely defenseless! Ugh. Look at me. This is pathetic." Lorelai said, leaving the hug, and walking towards the other end of the kitchen island trying to gather herself together again.

"Lorelai…it's going to be okay." Sookie said, patting Lorelai's shoulder.

"Yeah…I just wish that were easier to believe this time around." Lorelai said as tears continued to fall but she didn't wipe them, it felt good to just let them fall. She needed to let them fall, and leave their sticky, salty tear trails. Because this was the last time she would cry over him, she was going to make sure every tear that was devoted to him got shed now and not later.

XoXoXoX

2 hours later, Sookie was cooking in the kitchen, as usual, and going about her daily business. Right now, her and her kitchen staff were working on the lunch dish and Sookie was yelling orders, and sometimes receiving them back. The phone rang at a very inconvenient time, as she was balancing a battered chicken breast on her arm along with stirring a peach sauce, so she called for Jugo to answer the phone for her.

However, Jugo brought the phone directly to her, and what she was guessing was Spanish, told her that it was for her. She shoved the chicken breast at him telling him to put it somewhere while she talked on the phone for a moment.

"Hello?" Sookie asked into the phone.

"Hello, Sookie? This is Emily Gilmore." Emily Gilmore said, in her proper tone.

"Hi Mrs. Gilmore. How are you?" Sookie asked, as she tried her hardest to go about her kitchen duties while talking on the phone at the same time.

"I'm well, and you?"

"Pretty good…" Sookie said, reaching for the nutmeg across the counter, almost knocking over 2 other dishes in the process.

"Good, well the reason I am calling is about Lorelai." Emily said, cutting right to the chase.

"Oh, what about her?" Sookie asked, suddenly stopping what she was doing, seeing as that if she didn't focus completely on what she was saying she might accidentally drop a ling that would make Lorelai angry at her forever and ever.

"Well, you know the man who brought ice to Rory's birthday party? The man with the diner? Duke, or Leonard, or something or other?" Emily inquired.

"Yes, you mean Luke?" Sookie added, seeing that this conversation was going down a different path than she had thought.

"Yes, Luke, I was wondering if you could just tell me, if he and my daughter are seeing each other." Sookie started to speak, but Emily stopped her, "I know you think I'm prying, but I'm not. I would've called Rory but I know that Lorelai and Rory's bond is inbreakable and that if Lorelai didn't want me to know, Rory wouldn't tell me. And since I have given up all hope of my daughter ever having open communication with me, I am forced to have this conversation with one of her friends."

Sookie paused for a moment as she considered all that Mrs. Gilmore had said. "But why? I mean why do you want to know?"

"Well besides the fact that, it would just be nice to know if my daughter is in a relationship or not, I won two plane tickets to France and I know that Rory can't go, because the tickets are for April, right before midterms, and I and Mr. Gilmore will also not be able to attend, so I was going to surprise Lorelai and, possibly, her "special friend" even though I think that the rustic look he is going for is a bit tacky, I want to make my daughter happy." Emily explained sincerely. This made a very mischievous idea arise in Sookie's head…

"Oh, I see. Well in that case, yes. Lorelai and Luke are seeing each other and I think that is a wonderful idea! But they having been seeing each other long, so she really just might've not had the chance to tell you yet. I mean, I just found out!" Sookie lied, but it was for a good casue! She told herself.

"Ah, I see. Well then, I'll continue to make the reservations." Emily said, her spirit being a bit uplifted that Lorelai had also just now told Sookie.

"Good." Sookie said, quite satisfied with herself.

"Oh, and Sookie?" Emily asked before she said her salutations.

"Yes, Mrs. Gilmore?"

"Don't tell Lorelai, I would just love for this to be a surprise." Emily explained.

"Of course Emily. I wouldn't dream of it." Sookie said, "Goodbye Mrs. Gilmore."

"Goodbye." Emily said as she hung up the phone, content with the thing that she was able to do for Lorelai. Maybe now Lorelai would see that she actually did care about her life, and really did just want for her to be happy in the long run. And if this was the man that Lorelai chose to be happy with, well, then so be it. She consoled herself.

Sookie couldn't believe what she had just done, Lorelai would kill her once she found out, but maybe she wouldn't have to know it was she who was behind this…Lorelai would never reject the trip…would she? She had to think this through and make it fool-proof so that there was no way that either Luke or Lorelai could back out.

So, how'd you like it? Let me know. I promise, the chapters will start getting a lot better beyond this point because we finally hit a point that I can build off of! Woo! Well, leave me reviews and tell me what you thought. Thanks!

Kati