A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been reading! I really appreciate it. Thanks again to Filo for giving her grasshopper room to...uh, hop. And for beta-ing. Hee.

After that night, Lorelai was relieved that her friendship with Luke seemed to be restored. She woke up the next morning, finally able to take a direct route to Luke's diner instead of a roundabout trip somewhere else for coffee in the morning. As she walked out the door, she realized that she was going to Luke's. Going to Luke's meant bigger tables, less wait time to be served, and coffee that was worlds better than anything else in town. The conditions were perfect for getting some studying done.

She made her way to the diner, took a seat, and spread her books out on the table. Caesar took Lorelai's order as she got settled and organized her study materials. Glancing behind the counter, she saw Luke behind the cash register. He looked like he had been stuck there forever. Suddenly she regretted ordering the pancakes. She sighed, opening the book in front of her and picking up where she left off.

Soon, her studies were interrupted by the arrival of her food. "Are you going to move that book so I can serve your food?" Luke asked.

Lorelai looked up at Luke and gave him an apologetic smile, marking her page in the book and putting it aside. Her eyes followed the plate of pancakes from Luke's hand to the table and she fumbled for a fork without moving her eyes from the plate. "They are a thing of beauty," she said, finally grasping the fork. "And you added the syrup already." She glanced at him and batted her eyelashes. "I changed my mind. You might be the thing of beauty."

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Do you need anything else?"

She dug her fork into the stack of pancakes. "More hours in a day. Probably an advanced copy of every one of these finals. The answer key to the advanced copies. Oh, and a never ending supply of coffee."

"You have finals?"

"Nope, I just like cramming all this knowledge in my head for my Jeopardy audition. I've always wanted to write my name all pretty on the screen that sits in front of you. And it would be really, really cool to say I met Alex Trebek."

"So you have finals."

"They are going to be the death of me, Luke," Lorelai started, reaching into her purse. She pulled out three large stacks of index cards and placed them on top of each other. "That's only the beginning. I have six more like that at home."

"So the consumption of food that is pure crap won't kill you, but doing something beneficial like studying for your finals will?"

Lorelai grinned. "Wow, you are a fast learner. I have a gold star for you if you want it," she said, pulling out a sheet of stickers.

"I'll pass," he said, taking her empty coffee cup and walking behind the counter to fill it.

She continued to read through the material in front of her as Luke returned to the table. Moving the papers out of the way to make room for the coffee, Lorelai reached across her book to eat more of the pancakes.

"That system doesn't seem to be working for you," he muttered, placing the coffee mug in the newly created spot.

"You got any suggestions for me?" she snapped. Lorelai cringed when she heard the snippy tone she had just taken with Luke. "Sorry, I'm just really stressed out."

"My suggestion would be to close the books and eat, but that may be too obvious," he teased.

"I don't have time to shut the books. If I stop studying, all the information will evaporate. My finals are Friday. All I have is tonight and tomorrow to study. There's a bunch of meetings at the inn today, and a convention tomorrow. Therefore, the only time I have to study is times like, I don't know, right now. I have no time to do anything that isn't related to… oh God, what am I studying? I don't even know anymore!" Lorelai said overdramatically.

Luke grabbed one of Lorelai's notebooks and folded it so only one page was showing. He closed the book that was sitting in front of her and placed it at the other end of the table, making room for her plate. Placing the notebook to the left of the plate, and the coffee to the right, he took a step back, allowing the changes to sink in.

"That makes all kinds of sense, why didn't I think of that before?" she said, shaking her head and taking another bite of her pancake.

He shrugged. "Priorities."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Lorelai glanced over at Luke as he served the rest of the customers in the diner. She was glad that things were starting to fall into place again. She was concentrating better and their friendship seemed to be repaired for the most part. The white envelope sticking out of her purse caught her eye for a moment. The tickets to the graduation ceremony were right there. Maybe she could invite Luke.

She focused in on the book in front of her again. There was still time. When things were a little more normal she would ask. She finished her meal and gathered her study materials together before making her way to the counter to pay for her food. "So are you going to get that really gooey cheese in before the end of the week?"

"What gooey cheese?"

"You know what cheese I'm talking about. Did you order it this week?"

"I'm sure if you called my supplier and asked for the gooey cheese, he would be just as lost as I am."

Lorelai sighed. "Just answer my question."

"Maybe. Why?"

"I was wondering if I could come in for a pre-finals breakfast? Eggs with the gooey cheese? And maybe a lot of sausage and bacon?"

He nodded, handing Lorelai her change. "I'll be here."

She smiled. "Good. Well, I should get to the inn. See you later."

"See you later."

**

"Still studying like a good little girl?" Rory asked, dropping her backpack onto a chair in the kitchen and walking toward the refrigerator.

Lorelai nodded. "I think I have the first three stacks of flash cards down."

Rory grabbed a bottled water and took her backpack off the chair. "Dirty acronyms?"

"It's the only way I could remember all the definitions! Desperate times call for desperate measures." Lorelai protested.

"Well, you're remembering them, that's what matters."

"Ah, but remembering them for Friday is the true test," Lorelai insisted. She drew a pink highlighter line through a page in her notebook.

Rory motioned to an envelope on the table beside Lorelai. "Are those the tickets to the graduation ceremony?"

"They are. Apparently someone didn't read the directions on the sheet she filled out, though."

"What do you mean?"

"You can only get four tickets."

"Well I guess I have to return my 'scalping for dummies' book now," Rory teased. "I'm not sure Andrew will take it back without a receipt."

Lorelai shrugged. "Store credit isn't something Rory Gilmore turns down."

Rory sipped her water. "Oh, you're right! I can get the Anarchist's Cookbook with that money. Thanks, Mom. Always full of ideas!"

She turned the page in her book. "Anything to make my little anarchist happy."

"So I heard you and Luke are talking again."

Lorelai looked up at Rory. She put the cap on her highlighter and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Yeah. We ran into each other at Doose's the other day and then I stopped by the diner. We talked a little."

"So everything's back to normal?"

"For the most part," she replied. "It's getting there."

Rory smiled. "You know what might break the ice? Give him a ticket to graduation."

Lorelai picked up the envelope and looked at the tickets inside. She thought about asking Luke to the ceremony a few times that day. Each time she thought about it, she pushed the idea out of her head as quickly as it came up. By lunch, that became more difficult to do. Now it was nearly impossible to avoid thinking about asking him. "I'll think about it. You know, see how things go in the next few days."

"Don't forget to give those to Sookie and Jackson," Rory said, motioning to the tickets. "And that one's mine. You have one ticket. Use it wisely."

"You really need to get better at making your scary face," Lorelai teased, slipping the envelope back into her purse. "Right now it's just an annoyed face."

"You, missy, need to get back to studying," Rory insisted, tapping the book that sat in front of Lorelai.

Lorelai sighed. She knew she needed to get back to studying, but she was far from able to concentrate. Now the Luke at graduation issue was on her mind. She had successfully pushed any thought of the idea away before, but she couldn't shake it this time. Hoping that Rory would be able to successfully distract her from studying, Lorelai thought quickly. "I've studied all day today. I need a break. Sit down, tell me about your day. We'll eat lots of junk food and sit and talk about how wonderful your day was."

"My day wasn't that exciting. Paris nearly decapitated my history teacher with her wild gestures to get our attention during a meeting today, but that's about a three on the entertainment scale. And we also don't have any food."

"I'd say it was more like a three and a half," Lorelai replied, shutting the book. "Nearly decapitating people is still exciting."

Rory twisted the cap on her water bottle. "So, what did you want to do on your break? See a movie?"

"No, Kirk's working tonight. We can't try to stretch it into a double feature."

"Damn him and his rules," Rory said, slamming the water bottle on the table for added effect. "Paying for both movies, what a stupid concept."

"Exactly!"

"We could get food and watch movies here."

There had to be something going on. Lorelai needed to get out of the house and away from the books. It was Wednesday; her finals were Friday. It would be her last chance to enjoy herself before Friday night dinner was over. "Town meeting!"

"What about it?" Rory asked.

"There's a town meeting tonight. We should hit up the town meeting, and then go to Luke's! And then I'll come back home and you can help me study. You can't miss a town meeting for finals," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes at the mention of the word.

Rory nodded. "Well, I suppose that can be an approved study break outing. We should get there on time though, Taylor's going to have charts about pollen."

"Pollen?"

"It's allergy season. He'll probably rant a little about us not throwing tissues directly into the trash, therefore spreading the germs to the poor innocent person who has the assigned task of cleaning them up," Rory said.

Lorelai gasped. "How could I forget? It's the night of the proper demonstration of how to cough into your elbow! We're so there."

"Are you going to have enough time to study?"

"Of course," Lorelai said, grabbing her keys and her purse. "Grab the stash of gummy bears from underneath the couch, will you? Oh, and also the Doritos from the side table drawer?"

"Such clever hiding spots," Rory said, making her way into the living room to retrieve the snack foods for the meeting.

"Once you get those, we are out of here!" Lorelai declared, walking out the front door.

Rory and Lorelai arrived early to the town meeting. Lorelai looked around for two seats and found some empty chairs next to Luke. Gently tapping Rory on the shoulder and motioning for her to follow, she seated herself in the chair next to Luke and pulled open the package of gummy bears. Holding it in front of Luke as if to offer him one, she shook the bag and tilted it so he could select one if he so desired.

She looked up to see him make a disgusted face. "When you see Eskimos ice fishing in hell, I will have one of your stupid gummy worms."

"How dare you! They're gummy bears and they resent the name you just called them," Lorelai teased, dumping a few of the bears into her hand.

"Luke, did you see Kirk outside at all?" Rory asked, stifling a giggle.

Luke raised his eyebrows. "No. Do I want to know?"

"Who cares about him, I want to know," Lorelai insisted, leaning toward her daughter.

Rory shook her head. She dug into the Doritos and popped a few into her mouth. "I'm not telling," she said, her mouth full of chips.

Just as Lorelai opened her mouth to convince Rory to give her more information, Taylor approached the podium and slammed the gavel down, signaling the beginning of the meeting. "Attention, citizens, settle down, please."

"I see charts," Luke muttered. "Whenever there's charts that means it's gonna be a meeting that's about an hour too long."

"It's the annual allergy season meeting, Luke, you know you're excited," Lorelai teased, gently elbowing him in the ribs.

"Damn it! If I would have known that an hour ago—"

"You would still be here," Lorelai finished. "No one would come into the diner during the best meeting of the year."

"I would not still be here," Luke muttered.

Lorelai shivered at the iciness in Luke's tone. She leaned over to Rory and whispered, "Wow, I think Luke was the kid they picked to play Grumpy in the elementary school production of Snow White."

Taylor slammed the gavel on the podium once again, gaining the attention of the rest of the crowd. He straightened up, cleared his throat, and put the gavel down on the podium. "As many of you know, spring is here and so is allergy season."

The townspeople groaned as Lorelai and Rory high-fived each other. "Wow, tough crowd," Lorelai said, handing Rory a few gummy bears in exchange for some Doritos.

"Because many of us in this town are allergy sufferers, I took it upon myself to do a little research on pollen and other allergens that are abundant during this point in the year," Taylor declared. He walked over to the easels on the other side of the studio and removed their cloth covers.

"Here we go," Luke groaned, pressing down on the bill of his baseball cap.

"Here we go!" Lorelai echoed with much more enthusiasm as she grabbed a few more Doritos.

"There are two types of pollination. The first form of pollination occurs when the wind blows. Now, I know those of you who are sniffly this season would love to stop that from occurring, but unfortunately, I cannot. I can, however, control the second type of pollination. Kirk, would you demonstrate, please?"

Kirk entered Miss Patty's studio dressed like a bumble bee, repeatedly shouting the word 'buzz' as he ran toward the front of the building. Taylor stepped aside for Kirk to begin his demonstration of how pollen can be transferred via insects. Lorelai and Rory failed to hold back their laughter as Luke shook his head in disbelief.

"Unbelievable," Luke whispered angrily. "I could have stayed at the diner."

"They added even better visual aids!" Lorelai said, trying to catch her breath.

Rory nodded. "Oh my God, I hope someone is filming this!"

"The fact that you're amused by this is insane," Luke grumbled, crossing his arms.

Lorelai tried to regain her composure by taking several deep breaths. She leaned over to Luke, gently putting her hand on his knee. "Come on, Taylor and Kirk making idiots of themselves? How could you not enjoy something like this? I mean, everyone will clearly disagree with Taylor's plan to wipe out the bee population in Stars Hollow. Take it as a personal victory. Seriously, how often do you get to see Kirk in a bee costume running around Miss Patty's and buzzing?"

"They are making idiots of themselves," Luke agreed. "I just don't want to be here to witness their stupidity."

"Thank you, Kirk, for that very detailed demonstration. Now, I think we could all use a refresher about germs and spreading of germs this time of year."

Lorelai looked over at Luke, who was growing more and more frustrated. He fidgeted in his seat, trying not to say anything as Taylor demonstrated the proper way to dispose of a tissue. She giggled as he finally lost it and stood up from his chair.

"Taylor, we get this lecture every year. They teach us in preschool not to cough in other people's faces; can you just leave it alone and let us all go home?"

"Luke, you clearly don't understand the severity of the epidemic that could hit Stars Hollow if we're not careful!" Taylor warned.

"Allergy season is not an epidemic; it's a fact of life. Let the people who have allergies deal with it on their own, and if anyone sneezes in your face, then you can worry!"

"Don't even joke about something like that, Luke! It's simply impossible to know what an individual is infected with when they sneeze around you! You have to learn to protect yourself and others from any communicable diseases!"

Luke rolled his eyes. "How did we get from allergies to communicable disease?"

"I was curious, too, Taylor," Babette said.

"It's a little bit of a stretch, if you ask me," Miss Patty agreed.

Lorelai giggled as Taylor tried to warn everyone against the dangers of unknown diseases. She looked to Rory, who was completely hooked on the new developments. Her eyes were wide and she was unconsciously reaching for more Doritos as Taylor argued with the townspeople.

She glanced up to where Luke was standing. He was tall from that angle. Lorelai found her eyes traveling from his hat to his boots and back again, completely intrigued. It wasn't the first time she caught herself staring, but from her angle, it was almost like she noticed new features. She could notice a faint scar on his thumb as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Her eyes moved from his hands to his arms. The sleeves of his flannel were rolled to his elbows, exposing his arms. Lorelai quickly averted her eyes and tried to focus on the argument at hand. Stop staring at Luke, she told herself. Focus. Meeting. Bees. Kirk as a bee. Buzzing all around. Pollen. Springtime. Allergies. I wonder if Taylor has allergies. I wonder if Luke has allergies.

Her sudden fascination with Luke took over once again, and she found herself staring at his ass. She was at the perfect angle to do so. Tilting her head slightly to the side, she was startled out of her trance as he let out a frustrated grunt and seated himself once again.

She shook her head. Luke seemed to be distracting her a lot lately. She couldn't study until she fixed things with him, and now she couldn't concentrate on the best town meeting of the year because she was admiring his… what was she admiring? He was Luke.

The meeting ended and the crowd began to file out of Miss Patty's studio. "All right, you've had your fun for the night," Rory insisted, pulling Lorelai by the arm. "It's back to studying for you."

"I studied during the meeting!" Lorelai protested, trying to find an excuse to get to the diner.

"Yeah, you studied pollen and bees, which I'm sure are not subjects on your exams. Back to work, let's go."

Lorelai pouted, allowing Rory to lead her back to the Crap Shack. "I studied other things!" she insisted.

"Really? Like what?"

Lorelai hesitated. The scar. Wonder how he got that scar. I wonder what size boots he wears. Bees. Pollen. Kirk as a bee. Luke's ass. Kirk had a stinger for an ass. "Fine, you win."

They arrived home and Lorelai tried to get to work once again.

Fundamentals of Business. Trademarks, corporations, monopolies. Luke. Allergies. Does he have allergies? Have I ever seen Luke sick before? If I've never seen him sick before, he probably doesn't have allergies. Why am I thinking about Luke and allergies? Copyright law.

"Ugh, this is hopeless," Lorelai groaned, resting her chin in her hand and attempting to focus again.