AN: Ok, so not a whole lot of difference from my last attempt at this chapter, but there you go.

"What have you been doing with yourselves this week?" Emily asked her daughter and granddaughter at dinner on Friday.

"Oh, well, actually Mom, it's funny you should ask that." Lorelai replied, glancing at Rory. "We have some news we thought we'd share with you."

"Yes?"

"Rory's moving in with me." She added, excitedly. Emily's smile faltered for a moment before she nodded.

"That's very nice to hear. When did you come to that decision?"

"Ahh, a couple of days ago, right?"

"Yeah." Rory agreed. "I just decided that it made more sense to live with Mom, so we talked about it and I'm moving my stuff over there tomorrow."

"Well that sounds lovely."

"We thought you'd be pleased." Lorelai replied, grinning.

"So, where did you say Grandpa was this week?" Rory asked after a moment.

"Tulsa."

"Tulsa. Ok, will he be there long?"

"A few more days. As far as I know he'll be here for dinner next week."

"That's good." Rory nodded and picked at her salad.

"When will you be using your room?" Emily asked, after a few moments of silence.

"What?"

"Your room, upstairs. When do you think you'll be using it? I didn't have it decorated for you just so it could sit there idle."

"Oh, well, I don't know."

"You could come over sometime next week. Wednesday! Your grandfather will be coming home early from work because he has a doctor's appointment, just a check up of course, nothing to worry about, and then he'll be working from home the rest of the day. You could come after school and catch up with him."

"I guess, if I ask Luke tomorrow about getting the afternoon off..."

"Good, it's settled then. I'm sure you'll enjoy spending time in there, it's so lovely."

"Yeah, me too." Rory agreed. Lorelai gave her a helpless look and Rory shrugged her shoulders. This was inevitable; she'd known the day would come sooner or later.

"I think that's the last of it," Rory announced, putting down a box and stepping back to survey her room. In the months since arriving in Stars Hollow, she had accumulated quite a bit of stuff. The two bags she'd brought with her and the couple of others that had arrived afterwards had doubled while she'd been at Luke's and her Mom's Jeep had been completely filled earlier that morning.

"Nah, I think there was another bag in the front," Luke informed her from the doorway.

"Really?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe not, you've got a lot of stuff, it's kind of hard to keep track."

"I'm a girl, I think it's required. I'll go check." Rory left the room as Lorelai straightened a picture frame on the wall and Luke hovered on the threshold.

"I'm pretty sure you're allowed to come in," Lorelai told him, "even if you're not carrying anything. She hasn't declared this a No Adult Zone yet."

"Oh well, I guess I should make the most of this opportunity then." Luke replied, stepping inside.

"You should." Lorelai laughed and looked around. "My God, her books have multiplied about five times I think." She commented, unpacking a box.

"There does seem to be a lot more there."

"Are you ok, Luke? You look a little... weird."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking, you know."

"About how you're going to celebrate having your bachelor pad return to it's legendary status?"

"Something like that."

"Ok, come on." She put away one last book and turned, taking hold of his arm and leading the way out of the room. "I'll get you something to drink and then you can explain to me what's really going on."

"Nothing's going on." Luke argued, sitting down.

"Of course not, that's why you're acting all squirrely."

"Squirrely?"

"Yes, squirrely." Lorelai replied, getting a glass out of the cupboard and pouring Luke some juice before getting herself a coffee. "Now tell me," she instructed, joining him at the table. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking about how things are gonna be different now,"

"Nothings going to be different," Lorelai objected. "Yeah, Rory's living here now, but we all talked about this and it's not necessarily going to be twenty/four seven kind of deal."

"No, I know that. You're right I guess I've just gotten used to her being around."

"She'll still be around, she's still your employee, your nephew's girlfriend, and she isn't going anywhere. And neither am I if it's ok with you."

"That's definitely more than ok with me. That's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Aha! I knew there was something. Ok, let me guess, you wanna give me a job, working the grill so I'm around even more than I already am?"

"As much fun as that sounds, I was really just wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight," Luke explained.

"Aren't we already having dinner? Your place at eight, right?"

"Well, yeah, that was the plan, but I was thinking we could go out. To a restaurant,"

"Like a date?" Lorelai asked, putting her cup down and fixing Luke with a serious look, all traces of joking gone.

"Well, I don't... I mean, yeah. I guess it would be a date." Luke replied, trying to work out if her reaction was a bad one or just due to the unexpectedness of his announcement.

"Should we be going on a date?"

"Can you think of a reason that we shouldn't?"

"Ah, no, I really can't,"

"So?"

"Yes, yeah, that sounds great." Lorelai nodded, her smile brightening. "Should be a lot better than the last time we did that, right?"

"Should be," Luke agreed.

"Luke, I think you're hallucinating things," Rory told him as she re-entered the apartment. "I searched the whole car and I don't have any more bags in there."

"Well how was I supposed to know? There was a lot there earlier, it's hard to keep track." He told her, pushing his chair back.

"I did actually find one tiny thing, stuck underneath the front seat. I've been looking for this CD for about three weeks, Mom, any idea how it got there?" she asked holding up a Pixies album.

"No, I've never seen that before in my life." Lorelai replied, avoiding her daughter's gaze.

"If you say so,"

"I should be going, I think," Luke decided.

"Do you want me to come?" Rory checked.

"Nah, that's alright. You stay here, get settled in."

"Ok, well, thanks for your help with this stuff."

"No problem. I'll see you both later."

"Bye!" Lorelai called out. Rory turned back to look at her mother as the door closed.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"No, no, of course not. So we've got all your stuff here, now, right?" Lorelai asked, collecting the cups and taking them over to the sink.

"Mostly, I left a couple things at Luke's for emergencies. You know, in case I spill something or I'm just too tired to drag myself all the way here after I finish being his slave all day and decide to crash there."

"Right, that's good. Makes sense,"

"Are you sure I didn't come in at a bad time? Luke ran out of here pretty fast."

"No! Definitely not, Luke just had to get back to work is all."

"If you're sure that's all it was."

"I'm sure." Lorelai nodded. "Now, I should probably be going too, I told Michel I'd be in about two hours ago, so if I leave now I should get there about five minutes before he decides to call and yell at me."

"In that case don't let me keep you. I'm just going to start unpacking some stuff and then I'm meeting Jess for lunch."

"Ok, well, I'll see you later on then." Lorelai smiled at her as she grabbed her purse. "It's really great to have you here, kid."

"Wait a few days before you commit to that idea," Rory warned her before walking into her room.

"Hey, remember how you said you didn't ever want to go back to my grandparent's house?" Rory asked Jess as she joined him and Lane at a table on her break later that day. "Or, at least, not for a really, really long time,"

"I remember,"

"Well, I was thinking about how you said something else, that sort of overrules anything you've said in the past or may say in the future," she continued.

"What did I say?" he asked, looking slightly confused.

"That you love me."

"Oh right, I said that too, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did."

"Ok, so I love you, so what?"

"Well, my grandmother was asking last night when exactly I plan to come over and make use of that fabulous bedroom she made up for me. And she sort of decided, before I could really say too much to put her off that apparently Wednesday would be perfect, because Grandpa wasn't there last night, but he'll be home that afternoon."

"I'm failing to see what this has to do with me or my feelings for you, which, by the way are changing right now as we speak." Jess joked.

"Please come with me!" Rory begged. "Please, please, please! I don't wanna go alone."

"But they're your grandparents and it's your room." Jess reminded her.

"So what? We could ask Tristan to come too if you want. That ought to distract them from you if they really love him as much as he claims they do."

"You ask him and then we'll see."

"But he was your friend first." Lane pointed out and Rory nodded in agreement.

"But it's Rory's favour." He replied. "So she has to ask."

"That's fair, I suppose."

"That's not helpful." Rory told her. "Fine I'll ask him."

"Sounds good,"

"You suck!"

"Yeah, well..."

"Oh, Lane, do you want to come?" Rory asked hopefully.

"Ahh, no. Thanks, but I'm sure my mother will have plans for me on Tuesday."

"Great, so you'll be free Wednesday, when we're actually going."

"Did I say Tuesday? I meant Wednesday."

"She's scared of the Gilmores." Jess replied, smirking at his friend before she kicked him under the table. "Ow!"

"You weren't supposed to tell her that."

"Well you are. And I'm not discouraging that, but you haven't even spent any time with them. Unless you count standing on the opposite side of the room from them at a party for five minutes, which I don't,"

"Ok, fine, its fine, you don't have to come Lane, but Jess, please, if you could talk to Tristan, that'd be great. I've gotta get back to work, I love you, bye!" she called out as she jumped out of her seat and raced into the kitchen.

"I think she may have gotten you there," Lane told him, returning his earlier smirk as he just glared.

"Stop- would you stop-- pushing! Michel please stop pushing me!" Lorelai yelled as she was shoved through the doorway into the kitchen by a very irritated French man. "Stop it! You got me through the door, are you happy now?"

"No! I will not be happy until you stop acting this way. Have your girl talk time with Sookie, get some sort of brain bleach, I do not care! Just stop it!"

"What's going on with you two?" Sookie asked, looking up at them as she arranged salad on a plate.

"Ask Mr. Cranky Pants over there," Lorelai replied, walking over and pouring a cup of coffee for herself. "I have no idea."

"She is driving me insane!" Michel yelled, glaring.

"What did she do to drive you so insane, Mr. Cranky Pants?" Sookie enquired, chuckling to herself before Michel turned his angry eyes on her. "Ooh, wow. I won't make that mistake again for a while,"

"I find her to be acting very strangely and annoying. I cannot deal with her."

"So, basically, she's a living, breathing human being?" Sookie asked.

"I do not want to see her out at the front desk until whatever it is that's making her act so oddly is out of her system!" Michel added before walking out of the room. Lorelai just stood sipping her coffee as Sookie nodded at a member of her staff to take the plates she'd been prepping.

"Ok, so what did you really do? Tell him Destiny's Child was breaking up?"

"I would never do such a thing." Lorelai told her friend in mock horror.

"Well?"

"Oh, I don't know, I guess he just doesn't like it when I'm in a good mood. Not that that's very fair, it's not like I would deny him a happy moment or anything."

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Sookie asked as she moved to and from the fridge, collecting a few ingredients.

"Well, Rory moved her stuff in today, so-"

"Oh that's right! I'm so happy for you two! That's great. We're still on for dinner tomorrow, aren't we?"

"Yeah, it is and we are. But Luke and I were talking and I wasn't going to mention this to you, but I've started now and maybe if I say it, I'll start acting more like a person Michel can stand to be around, so, what the hell, right? We're having dinner tonight."

"Oh, ok. That's nice. Did you want me to make something to take over for Rory or will she be there too?"

"No, I- Sookie, I mean that we're... You know what, it's not important. Um, I think Rory's probably going to be with Jess so, that's ok. Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem sweetie." Sookie smiled at Lorelai who stood for a moment, contemplating whether or not to continue the conversation.

"I guess I'll see if I'm allowed to get back to work," she said before finishing her coffee and leaving the room.

Returning to the reservation desk and noticing that Michel had disappeared, Lorelai quickly answered the ringing phone and took care of the woman on the other end, before turning to the wall to check that the keys were all on the correct hooks.

"You're having dinner with Luke!" Sookie practically yelled and Lorelai dropped the key she was moving.

"God! You scared me!" she told her friend, straightening up and turning around.

"You're having dinner with Luke!" Sookie repeated just as loudly.

"I'm aware of that," Lorelai replied. "I told you this, remember?"

"But I wasn't paying attention then and I only just realised what you were saying. You're having dinner with Luke!" she said again and Lorelai grinned.

"Yeah, I am."

"So this is it now, right? You're going on a date and everything's good? You'll both stop pretending there's nothing there?"

"I don't... I mean, we'll have to see how this goes ok? I don't want you exploding in excitement over just another dinner. That would be very bad, because then I wouldn't have someone to tell in the event that something actually does happen."

"Cause something's going to happen." Sookie nodded knowingly.

"Sookie..."

"But he asked you out!" she replied, exasperated.

"Alright, it's time for you to go back into the kitchen now."

"Do I have to?"

"I really think you do, yeah."

"Fine!" Sookie huffed, turned to head back to kitchen, but started to smile again before she'd gotten too far. Lorelai watched her walk away before picking up the phone and calling Rory.

"I don't think I've ever been this happy and excited about something to do with my mother," Rory mused as she flipped looked through some of Jess' CD's that night. "I mean, really, right now, as we speak they are on a real life official actually-calling-it-a-date-date!"

"I know that, I was with you when she called." Jess reminded her.

"Yes, but still, I had to say it because it just needs to be said every now and then, I think."

"So every fifteen minutes until you go home?" Jess checked.

"Sounds good to me,"

"Ok, now I know how I often I need to tune you out. Let me just set an alarm here, and we'll be all good."

"Mean!" Rory turned around and picked up a pillow, hitting Jess over the head with it.

"Hey! That's not very nice."

"Yeah, well, neither is you being so dismissive of the major event taking place right now."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. This is good I like it, you're like a kid waiting up for Santa on Christmas Eve."

"Yes, well you should enjoy my happiness, because when I'm happy, you get to be happy. But when I'm angry..."

"Everyone lives in terror. I know, I know. Grin away."

"Not that I need your permission, but thank you, I will." Rory replied, her grin growing bigger as she came over and flopped on the bed beside Jess.