Rory and Lorelai pretty much dined in silence since they sat at the counter and their conversation wasn't the one you have in front of Luke. Why couldn't her mother be in a relationship with Luke? That would have kept Dean's eyes in check. Maybe.

Rory was lying in bed rehashing what she saw back at the inn. Dean didn't look like her Dean from high school. He changed physically over the past school year, and though they had only started speaking again a few months ago, he seemed more mature, talking about current events, apprising Rory of the different history courses he was hoping to take next fall...but what WAS that look he had when mom was on the ladder? Too weird. Rory didn't want to date him again, so it wasn't jealousy, but the age difference was a little creepy. Wasn't it? It wasn't Anna Nicole and the octogenarian, but still, hot parent or not, she didn't relish the idea of her mom's lovers being Rory's age. Ick. Mom deserved someone great. Dean was great, and he cared about her mom, he could make her laugh, he was thoughtful, she's done worse. Enough. Sleepy time.

Dean sat in the front room watching some awful infomercial. He needed some of his roommate's powers to sleep. He'd been caught, not by Lorelai but by her daughter. This wasn't good. What if Rory said something? He knew how close they were and so of course Rory said something to her mother. He needed the money but he couldn't show his face there again.

Lorelai shuffled through a stack of bills on the kitchen table. This was it. She and Dean had to have a talk. Soon, like tomorrow. Where? The inn was out because of everyone who was there, no diner, her house? Even with Rory out, what if Babette saw him here without Rory? Dean's apartment? Who was his roommate again? Blech. Lorelai would rather go on extended holiday with her parents to Siberia than deal with Dean.

I'm not going anywhere. Well it's going to be a short chase then isn't it?

Dean skulked through the main entrance at the Dragonfly. He had planned to continue his work in the basement, but Lorelai blocked his path five steps in.

"Dean, hi. I think we need to talk, and this talk that we are going to have shouldn't take place here. Tom thinks we're leaving so you can load some antique something or other in my Jeep. I couldn't come up with a place that would be vacant right now other than my house, your apartment, or Miss Patty's, and well, please say something and choose a place, don't leave me hanging because I'm not Bryant, James or Jordan."

*Sigh* This wasn't what he wanted to do today. But Rory absolutely relayed what she saw and here they were.

"Okay, Lorelai. Let's meet at my apartment in 20 minutes. My roommate will be at work and Babette doesn't live anywhere near my apartment complex."

Lorelai couldn't help but smile at the shared understanding about her neighbor, Babette, who basically accosted him the first night he came to the crap shack, and who would somehow see them alone there and get the rumor mill churning.

"Twenty minutes. Sounds good. I'll be there."

Fortunately Dean's place was clean, he didn't have a lot of stuff and his roommate was military- trained organization personified. He changed out of his work clothes because they were dirty from the day before. Laundered white t shirt and bluejeans would do. Still a few minutes, before she arrived, back to this Jon Ronson book about shaming. Tips for navigating the ensuing dress down he was sure to receive. How fortuitous.

He stood at his apartment door after hitting the buzzer. He could hear her ascending the stairs. Here we go.

"Hi Lorelai."

"Hi Dean."

"Huh, nice place. Very efficient. Sparse, just like the militia guy's cabin…"

"Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thank you."

"So."

"So."

Dean motioned her to the couch while he sat in the armchair to her right.

"Dean, I am so glad that you got a job working on the inn. It's good money, you've done a great job, and it's great that part of your hard work, my friend, is part of my inn. Heh. Um. Just going to rip off the band-aid here, I have these, feelings for you, or some sort of reaction to you when we're in the same room. Maybe it's all the time we've spent together over the years, getting to know each others movie, book, music and most importantly food likes, talking as friends, you seeing me at some of my lowest points, watching you be so kind and gentlemanly with Rory, always quick with a smile or compliment; Dean, there aren't a lot of guys who act that way towards women, at least, not the men I usually meet. And right now, looking at you, I see this handsome man who makes me laugh and makes me feel comfortable, and I treasure our friendship and I don't want to feel like I'm walking on eggshells around you because you don't deserve it, and now you go."

She is beautiful, she is calling me handsome, and those electric blue eyes are imploring me to say something.

"Lorelai, you are an amazing person. You were one of my first Stars Hollow friends. Yeah you were Rory's mom, but as you said it was a different kind of house, and you were a different kind of mom. I could talk to you about anything and you had a reply, an opinion, because you are wickedly intelligent, and I guess you've figured out by now, I think you're really beautiful and I don't know what to do with that."

Great, I was prepared to be the 'adult' who could absorb a little embarrassment at finding this younger man attractive and telling him so so we could move on, and it's instead true that he is attracted to me, confused, not trying to deflect or dismiss the comments with a logical sentiment. Damn. Dean thinks I'm amazing. He thinks I'm beautiful. I feel like a popsicle melting on a sunshine lit picnic table. Need to leave before I melt completely.

"Dean, I've just broken up with Jason, and I think that for now, we should put a little more distance between us because I don't have the coolness of Demi, and I don't see how…"

"Lorelai, before you go further, I don't want distance from you. I'm not stupid. This situation is fraught with seemingly impossible hurdles. But I have to be honest here, you're all I think about, when I fall asleep, when I dream, when I'm at the inn and you are out running errands. And yeah, I find you to be the most attractive person I've ever seen, but I also know you, so this isn't just some Animal House or Van Wilder lust-a-thon that's going to go away when I meet, no, what I'm trying to say is it isn't merely physical attraction for me. Just, don't brush me off as some horny teenage cretin. I'll be twenty in August."

"You'll be leaving for college in August."

They were both quiet.

Lorelai was scared now, because the air had an inescapable sexual tension. This talk hadn't helped with anything except for making her supremely uncomfortable, and after what Dean just said, she knew she had fallen for him, despite her brain trying to tell her it was only a crush that would eventually vanish and that this was nothing to act upon. Rory. The town. Her parents. She had to leave immediately.

Dean could sense that Lorelai felt something real for him beyond friendship and he figured her silence meant that in her head she was plotting an escape. It would be easy to let her leave, but he knew that Sookie's "cha cha cha" accusation held weight. He was going to fight her flight. What did he have to lose? She was going to walk away from him, from their friendship because it was uncomfortable. He couldn't live with that.

"Dean, I have to get back to the inn…" Lorelai was rising to her feet when suddenly, Dean's fingers laced through her fingers, he pulled her to him, and he bent down, kissing her on the lips.