AN: Thanks for the reviews, you all rock!

Lorelai took one last look around the room. Then, lifting her bag, walked to the door, locking it behind her before walking down the stairs to the first floor and depositing her key in the super's mail slot.

Super sleaze. Lorelai thought. In the three years that she and Rory had been living in that apartment, he'd never once come up to actually fix anything she told him was broken; the thermostat didn't work properly, two of the burners on the stove, were, apparently, just for show, and she'd had to personally fix the showerhead on more than one occasion. He did however, make social calls, believing he was desirable to all women, the man had convinced himself, that Lorelai's plea's for help were her way of conveying affection. Which was precisely the reason had stopped asking for help over a year ago.

No more, she mused, walking out into the sunshine, over to a U-Haul parked across the street. The new land lord actually cares for his tenants and addresses their needs. She reminded herself, climbing behind the wheel.

Her plan had only been mentioned to Sookie, in passing, but she was confident it was a good idea. At least it would be. Eventually.

She was moving to Stars Hollow, into one of the many buildings that Taylor Doose owned so she could be closer to Rory. Sookie hadn't said much when the plan had come up, but Lorelai had a pretty good idea what everyone would think. People seemed to be under the impression that their opinions on the subject were all very highly valued and many had commented on how well Rory was doing.

Without her mother's influence.

But Lorelai knew better than to listen to them.

When she'd been pregnant with Rory, and in the early years of her daughter's life, she had fantasized about the close bond they would share as they grew older. But while that hadn't worked out, she knew that they were now headed down the right path to being friends at least. And if they could live closer to one another then hopefully their bond would deepen and things would improve even more so.

As she drove out of the city, Lorelai continued to think these thoughts, hoping that by the time she arrived at her new home, she would have fully convinced herself.

It was strange to be doing this, she knew. New York was practically all she'd ever known. Well, no, that wasn't true. Of course she grew up in Hartford and spent a lot of time in Stars Hollow with her friends, but for half of her life, she'd been moving from one run-down apartment to another around New York City, with an increasingly difficult and angry child in tow. Glancing around at the road, she noticed she had been driving pretty fast, because already she was on a major highway, headed out of the state.

And it was then that she really stated to panic.

"What the hell am I doing?" she asked, the fuzzy dice, hanging from the rearview mirror. Those shouldn't be there, she thought. "What the hell do you think you can achieve with this?"

That had (pretty much) been what Kate wanted to know, when Lorelai went to her, and informed her, that she would have to resign. But even now, she wasn't entirely sure how to answer. She knew that she wanted a relationship with her daughter, and she wanted to reconnect with her friends, but beyond that, she had nothing. And she didn't even really know how best to achieve what she did know she wanted either.

"Just get there. Talk to her, and work it out from there," she instructed herself, and turning up the radio, loud enough to (hopefully) drown out her thoughts, Lorelai continued to drive.

Rory glanced up as a U-Haul drove by for the third time. "Ok, this is getting creepy." She announced to the entire room. A few customers looked up at her comment, but most returned to their food.

"What's that, Sugah?" Babette asked, putting her fork down.

"Well, either the newest town resident is lost – but really who can blame them, with the half streets and all the crazy turns in this place? – or someone is just posing as a new-comer in order to case the entire town, rob everyone blind, and stash everything in the U-Haul that is in all likelihood, completely empty at the moment." She explained, finishing wiping the table she'd been working on when her attention was diverted.

"Oh, yeah, I saw that thing go by a little while ago. What's up with that? Hey, Morey, what do you thinks going on with that truck?"

"Don't know, babe."

"No, me either. It's very weird though. I'd make sure you lock the door tonight, honey." Babette added for Rory's benefit. "Luke! Make sure you lock the doors tonight! Look! There it goes again!" she cried out as the same vehicle drove up in front of the diner again, before finally coming to a stop.

"What?" Luke asked, poking his head out of the kitchen. "What are you yelling about, Babette?"

"Lock the door! Lock the door!" she yelled, bouncing in her seat.

"Why would I lock the door at eight-thirty?" the proprietor of the diner asked, coming over to where she was jiggling. "What's going on?"

All eyes were on the small moving truck in the street, as, finally the door opened and a foot popped out, followed by a second, a pair of legs and finally a body, topped with a head they all recognized.

"Lorelai. Rory, did you know your mom was coming?" Luke asked, turning back to the girl, who had abandoned wiping down tables, and now just stood, holding a dish rag. "What's she doing with that truck?"

Rory couldn't answer, because all she was thinking was that her mom was now absolutely ignoring everything she wanted and forcing her not to move back to New York, but somewhere completely different.

"Hey everybody, what's going on?" Lorelai asked, bursting through the door and trying to affect some false cheeriness. If she could pull it off, then they wouldn't all be aware of how terrified she was to have done this.

"What are you doing here Mom?" Rory finally managed, while all the customers now sat, totally focused on them.

"Well, I… actually, would it be alright if we did this somewhere a little more private? Luke, would you mind if..?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Go on up, I'll try and… get these guys to focus on their food again. Shouldn't be all that hard, right?" Lorelai nodded, gratefully and waited for Rory to move towards the steps first.

"So," Rory turned as soon as Lorelai had shut the apartment door. "I'll ask again, not that it isn't nice to see you and all, but what the hell are you doing here, with a moving van? Did you forget to tell me something?"

"Forget…"

"Fail to remember, disregard, overlook." Rory rattled off a few synonyms, angrily. "Did you just decide, without consulting me, again, to move me somewhere new? Again. Where are we headed this time? Will it still be in the states, or do I need to learn a new language?"

"I didn't forget so much as… I hadn't worked up the courage to talk to you yet. But you don't have to move anywhere, not unless you want to. I heard you when you told me you didn't want things to change, I promise. But I sort of thought that maybe, if I lived a little closer to you then we could work on us more. And maybe one day you wouldn't hate the idea of living with me again."

"Lived closer?" Rory asked, dropping onto the couch and pushing her hair out of her eyes. Gotta get it cut again, she thought. By a professional this time. "Where, exactly, is closer?"

"Peach Street?"

"You're moving here? To Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah. I know that we probably should have talked about that before I actually went and quit my job and gave up the apartment, but… I just, I guess I was hoping you wouldn't be too upset about it."

"Well, what are you going to do? For money, I mean. Rent, food? If you quit your job, what are you going to do?"

"Find another one, more local. Jitters was great, but the commute would have been a bitch. I'll find something, in Hartford or Woodberry, don't worry about that."

"Ok… so you're staying?"

"Only if you're ok with it. I know, it's a lot to take in at the moment, and if you want, I can find somewhere else in one of the neighboring towns, so that we can see each other more, but so you won't have to think that every time you walk outside I'll be there."

"I don't think you'll be out there every time I walk outside. I know that you'll be in here, or, more accurately, in there." Rory replied, pointing to the floor.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai asked confused.

"Come on Mom. Downstairs, diner. Coffee flowing all day long, you'll never leave, except, hopefully to go to work so you can actually afford Taylor's over-inflated rent."

"How do you know I have to pay rent to Taylor? And what do you mean, over-inflated?"

"Jess told me once that for the last few years Taylor has been systematically buying up the town, in his own little game of monopoly. He owns all the residential buildings on Peach and a bunch of other of the fruit streets, he's now moving over to Plum to acquire those."

"And what about the over-inflation?" she asked, grimacing at the idea of a giant Taylor, standing over the town, laughing manically at all the tiny people below him as he lifted the roofs off of houses and placed the people inside.

"That's a Luke thing. He thinks that Taylor charges too much for everything, including all of the stock in the market. That's why, even though he hates going into Hartford, he shops at one of the big chain supermarkets, because their prices are fairer."

"Well, missy, you certainly know a lot about the goings-on in this town, don't you?"

"I have eyes and ears in many circles," Rory explained, grinning proudly.

"I like that you like it here." Lorelai added after a moment. "I won't ruin it for you, I swear."

"Thanks, Mom. Um, I should probably do some study though, actually."

"Study?"

"For school."

"Oh, right. Of course, I'm sorry, I'll go and… I'll let you get on with that."

"Thanks. I'll see you in the tomorrow though, ok? And you can show me your fabulous new apartment. I'll even help you unpack some boxes."

"Sounds great. Alright well, learn good and I'll see you tomorrow." Rory smiled and nodded as her mother left the room.

Lorelai stopped at the bottom of the stairs and pushed a piece of hair out of her face before moving through the curtain. Luke was the only person left in the diner aside from… Kirk. Oh my God, I can't believe Kirk is still here, and he's still following Luke around like a little puppy. She smiled at the memory of Kirk, as a teenager, completely idolizing everything that Luke ever did.

"How 'bout you get those cookies to go, hey Kirk?"

"But I haven't paid for them yet. Or my milk."

"That's ok Kirk, they're on the house tonight. And you should probably get going before your Mom starts to wonder where you are."

"That's true. She does worry if I'm out late at night. Alright, well, I'll be by sometime tomorrow, good night Luke, Lorelai." He nodded to them each in turn before walking to the door, clutching two choc-chip cookies.

"You need to be informed that he'll be back?" Lorelai asked, moving further into the room, standing by the counter.

"No. I know his schedule by heart. He still seems to think that he possesses an air of mystery. I just don't have the heart to break it to him."

"Well, it's very sweet of you to keep up pretences."

"I know he'd appreciate it if he were aware." Luke nodded and Lorelai smiled. "So what's the-"

"You got rid of-" they both spoke at the same time and then stopped. "You, you go first," Lorelai suggested, nervously shifting a piece of hair again.

"I was just wondering… how your talk with Rory went? And what the story is behind the moving van."

"Oh, well, um, not too bad. And I'm moving here." Lorelai replied simply.

"Really?" he looked surprised, a little. But not like it was a bad surprise, which Lorelai suspected was the only thing that was stopping her from running outside and driving back to New York at breakneck speed.

"Yeah. I decided that I want to be in my kid's life, so… moving seemed to make sense. Even though, I realize that you both probably should have had the chance to weigh in on the subject, but I was just sort of hoping we could make the best of a bad situation."

"No, that's good. I think it would definitely be good. For you and Rory."

"Thanks, that's what I'm hoping for."

"Well… so you talked, and she's alright with it?"

"Yeah, seems to be. For the moment anyway."

"I'm glad."

"Yes, because otherwise, you'd be the one who had to deal with the morose teenager. Sorry about that."

"But I don't?" Luke checked.

"No. That's right; she's in a relatively good mood, so you don't."

"Good."

"Good," he nodded and Lorelai found herself tugging on the same strand of hair she had already replaced behind her ear multiple times since arriving in the diner. "You managed to get rid of everyone?"

"Yeah, they all wanted to stick around, see what would happen after you went upstairs, but I called Sookie and she got Jackson to announce an emergency town meeting, so everyone rushed over to Patty's like the dutiful little freaks they are."

"Jackson can call town meetings?"

"No, he pretended to be Taylor."

"Ahh. But you couldn't manage to convince Kirk to go."

"Well, he's Kirk. While he is a freak, and usually pretty compliant to Taylor's demands, he's a special kind of freak, and for some reason has decided to worship the ground I walk on. At least this week,"

"It's not like it's the first time that's happened though," Lorelai pointed out, and, remembering, Luke shook his head.

"That's true." He replied and they were both silent a moment, as they thought back on the old days.

"Ok, well, I'll be off then." Lorelai announced, "I still have to unpack a couple of things and I have to start on the job hunt tomorrow, so I'll see you…"

"In the morning? For coffee."

"That's right, you do make pretty good coffee here, I've heard."

"I hear that too."

"So, you're really set on that? Never gonna drink the stuff, ever?"

"I did drink it remember? And I hated it, very much."

"That's right, you did, you took one tiny sip because your girlfriend begged you, and how could you possibly deny her on her birthday?" Lorelai asked, laughing at the memory. But then she stopped, as discomfort settled over the room once more. "I'm going to go now. Good night," she finally said, recovering, slightly.

"Night."

"..hiding out from an old boyfriend," she heard one of the women whisper.

"I heard it was debt collectors; she can't afford to pay back money she owes, so she decided to wait 'em out here."

"No, no. I bet you, it's all part of some elaborate plan to get Luke back." A third woman announced. "They used to date, you know."

"Duh, Tilly." Babette whacked the woman on the arm. "Everyone remembers that."

Lorelai ducked her head and sped up a little so she could pass the three gossiping woman by the news stand. She had known that her presence in town would peak a few people's interest, but this was just ridiculous.

Couldn't anyone understand that she wanted to be with her kid? Or, even that she'd just felt like a change of scenery? It was doing Rory a world of good, so why couldn't she have the same chance?

But then, she remembered that since she'd only just arrived in town the night before, and hadn't spoken to any of the townspeople directly, they would have no reason not to think up these stories. She hadn't explained anything yet, so why shouldn't they speculate?

Because it's rude! She decided, making an abrupt turn and arriving on Sookie's street, instead of continuing on her way to the diner. At Sookie's there would only be two people to judge her, whereas Luke's would be chockfull of a jury of people who had no interest in listening to her side of things.

"Hello?" she called out, climbing the porch steps and opening the screen door. "Sookie? Are you here?"

"Kitchen!" The woman called out and Lorelai smiled.

"I don't know why I even bothered to ask," she commented, coming through the house and reaching Sookie's kitchen.

"Hi honey, what are you doing here?" Sookie asked brightly, moving across the room to place a plate piled high with food in front of Jackson.

"Well, I was headed to the diner for breakfast-"

"Really?"

"Yeah, coz I spoke to Luke last night, after Rory, and he said that I should come by. At least, I think he was saying he wouldn't throw me out, or ignore me, if I did. I don't know."

"I don't think I've ever seen Luke throw a person out of the diner. And he could too, he's pretty strong." Sookie commented, and Jackson, with a mouthful of food, nodded.

"Anyway, I was on my way there, and I was walking passed Hello! magazine. The town gossips are already hypothesizing on what it is exactly that I'm here for. I only heard it from one of them, but I'm thinking that the most popular theory will be that I've decided I want Luke back and I won't let anything get in my way."

"You do? Oh, because I just think that would be so-"

"No, Sookie. That's one of their theories. I never said that."

"Well, I'm just saying, if you do decide that's what you want, I know I'm sort of supposed to be his best friend, but I was yours first, and if you needed, I would help you to achieve that, because, also as his best friend, it would be nice for me to do something like that for him."

"I'm not going to ask you to do that." Lorelai told her. "It's crazy."

"Well, just keep it in mind…"

"Was there something that you needed, Lorelai?" Jackson asked, hoping to help divert his wife's attention. Lorelai smiled at him appreciatively, and Sookie began moving to fill another plate.

"Well, yeah, I was hoping for a cup of coffee, actually." She replied, as Sookie pulled out a chair for her.

"Of course sweetie, sit, sit. Have something to eat too. We can't have you hungry in your job interviews, can we? How would it look if your stomach just started growling right in the middle of an important moment?"

"Thanks Sook," Lorelai chewed on her eggs for a moment. "This is really good!" she exclaimed.

"Thank you."

"Alright, well, I should get going, it was nice to see you again, Lorelai. And thanks for breakfast Honey." Jackson said as he stood up and moved towards the door.

"Yeah, you too Jackson,"

"Have a good day sweetie," Sookie gave him a quick kiss before he walked out the door and then she moved to sit at the table with Lorelai. "So, now that it's just us girls, tell me honestly; did you come back for-"

"No! I already told you this. And I already told you that I already told you this. I came here for Rory. That's it, although, like I told you last time, if we could be friends again, like before, I wouldn't say no to that. But I most definitely did not just decide to move to Stars Hollow to be with Luke again."

"Ok, ok. If you say so. But if that changes..?"

"Not that it will, but sure. If that changes, you'll be the first to know." Lorelai replied patiently. She loved this woman, and the town, she just had to remember that these people had a very strong sense of loyalty towards Luke and in that regard, would want to protect him from the evil woman who broke his heart all those years ago. "I should probably go too, actually." She added a moment later, before draining her coffee. "Lots of people to see, jobs to beg for, you know."

"Well, stop by the inn, ok? We might have something for you."

"Um, ok, I'll see how I go. Thanks again, for breakfast."

"Good luck!" Sookie called out as Lorelai smiled and headed back outside onto the street. As she began walking into the centre of town once more she noticed two women who were walking in the opposite direction, staring at her.

"Um, hi… Have we met?" she asked, hesitantly as they drew nearer.

"A long time ago," one of them replied, looking at her coldly.

"I can't believe you would dare show your face in this town again, after what you did to that sweet, sweet man."

"Ok, listen… Carrie, right? That's your name? You're Liz's friend, Crazy Carrie?"

"Excuse me?"

"What happened between Luke and I in the past is none of your business, or, for that matter, anyone else's. But, let's just say, for conversations sake, that it is. I have apologized to him, and I know what you're going to say next!" she added, raising her voice in order to be heard over Carrie's objection. "A few meaningless words can't erase the pain that I caused, and I have no right to think that they do. Well, you're right, ok? I bet you're happy to hear that. But still, it's between us. And if Luke feels that my apology was sufficient, then, fine. If not, I'll offer another, and another until he is satisfied that I truly am sorry. But my point is here, that you have no right to come up to me on the street and tell me what an awful person I am for something I did almost fifteen years ago, alright? We've all moved on, so I suggest you do the same!" with that, Lorelai stormed off down the sidewalk, headed for the business section of town. But she didn't get far before she heard Carrie's final comment.

"Well, this place is really going to pot, if they'll let just anyone in,"

AN: Ok, so, a very large lack of Lit in that one. Sorry. But, I'm sure, now that Rory has to deal with her mother living in town, and Jess is dealing with his mother getting married, they will need to talk. And between the talks, there will surely be some… Ok. Anyway, I apologize, but I promise that it will be back. I hope you enjoyed, please reward my desire to torture Luke and Lorelai with awkwardness with a review. Pretty please?