A/N I do not own the Stars Hollow universe, but if I did Luke and Lorelai would've gotten together sooner!

Chapter 2- Rory

Rory eyed her mother as she sat at the table, the mail spread out in front of her as they chatted about school starting. She knew she had to ask her mom about what happened at the bachelor party, but she also knew Lorelai well enough to know not to attack her head on in fear of spooking her mom. That was sure to start a fight. This definitely needed a cool approach, time to practice those investigative journalist skills.

"I got an interesting call today." She said mildly as she sat down across from Lorelai.

"Oh yeah, who?"

"Dad."

Her mom replied to this nonchalantly. Too nonchalantly in Rory's opinion. "Cool. How is he? I..I..I talked to him last night." She stumbled a little over the last bit, which did not escape Rory's attention.

"He mentioned that." You are so BUSTED Mom! Rory thought, but kept her voice calm.

Lorelai's voice was cool, and she didn't look her daughter in the eye. " Yeah, I was about to mention it myself."

"That's quite a coincidence." Rory could hear the judging tone in her own voice, but she didn't care. She needed to hear what could have possibly been going through her mom's crazy mind. Who calls their ex from their own bachelorette party?

"Yeah. Did I not mention it last night?" Still no eye contact.

"Huh, no, not to my knowledge." Rory stared at her mom.

"I could've sworn I did." Was she really going to commit to this cool nonchalant crap? Time to get more direct, Gilmore! Christiane Amanpour would know just what to say here!

Rory went in for the kill. "Why'd you call him?" she asked accusingly.

"Oh, just to check in." Her mom's tone was light. Too light, in Rory's opinion.

Rory continued her interrogation, not willing to let up on the details. "At your bachelorette party?"

"Seemed as good a time as any."

"To catch up on calls?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Seems like a weird time."

Lorelai's eyes narrowed. "Did he call just to fink on me?"

"No. He wanted to see what's up with you. He thought it was weird too."

"Heaven forbid I ever use the phone again." Her mom rolled her eyes dramatically. Rory could tell she was trying to turn the tables on her, but she persisted.

"Was it when you told us you were calling Max?" She asked pointedly, not willing to let her mom off the hook just yet.

"Somewhere around there."

Now Rory could tell her mom was lying. "Why would you tell us you were calling Max?"

Rory listened as her mother did the same thing she always did when she was caught in a lie, she babbled. "Honey, someday when you're a little older you will be introduced to something that is extremely seductive but fickle. A fair-weather friend who seems benign but packs a wallop like a donkey kick, and that is the Long Island iced tea. The Long Island iced tea makes you do things that you normally wouldn't do, like lifting your skirt in public or calling someone you normally wouldn't call at really weird times."

"I'm not looking forward to meeting the Long Island iced tea." Rory had to admit to herself, the mere thought of it sounded disgusting.

"I'd definitely walk the other way." Lorelai agreed sagely, nodding her head.

"You know, Dad wants you to be happy." Rory suggested cautiously, trying to get her mom back on her side.

"I know."

"And I really want you to be happy." Rory reiterated. She was beginning to think this line of questioning was going nowhere.

"I know, sweetie."

Rory eyed her mom and then asked tentatively, "You are happy about all this, aren't you?"

"Don't I seem happy?" Evasive maneuvers. Okay Mom, you win this round.

"I guess." Rory decided she was not going to get the answer she was looking for. it wasn't that she wanted to hear one thing or another, but it was so weird for her mom to act this way. They had always shared everything, and lately it seemed like there was this fake Lorelai in the house, acting like everything was perfect, but there was something not quite genuine about her demeanor. It worried Rory but she had run out of ideas.

"Okay then." Her mom's voice had the 'we're done here' tone that she rarely used on Rory, but she had heard her use it on tons of other people like employees or vendors at the inn.

"All right. I'll be in my room if you need me." Rory sighed and retreated to the sanctuary of her books. A few minutes later she heard the sound of a car outside. She was about to peek out the window but then she heard the muffled voice of Luke on the front porch talking to her mom. This was not unusual to Rory, Luke was at their house a lot. He had fixed just about everything in the Crap Shack, from the porch railing the the front steps, even the hot water heater. She turned back to her book for a few minutes, but eventually found she was too distracted by her mom's strange behavior in the past few weeks.

She decided maybe it was time for outside perspective, and Lane would be the perfect voice of reason, as she always was in all areas of Rory's life. She shoved her book into her bookbag, and headed for the front door. The house was quiet so she assumed her mom was upstairs and Luke had left. When she opened the door, her eyes grew wide at the sight in front of her. Her mom and Luke were standing, hand in hand, under what appeared to be an ornate wooden arch. Where the heck did that come from? Rory thought briefly. If any other human had walked onto this scene, they would have thought it was a couple rehearsing for their wedding, . But this is LUKE, Rory thought, why are they holding hands and WHY ARE THEY LOOKING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THAT?

Suddenly, Rory felt very uncomfortable, as though she had walked in on an extremely intimate moment between two people who were …. who were…. well she didn't know what they were to each other anymore but she knew she needed to get out of there before they saw her. She gently closed the front door and crept out through the kitchen, slipping through the back door as she made her escape to Kim's Antiques.

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After a few hours of hashing her drama out with Lane, and then a few more hours of rating and classifying all of Lanes new CD's, finally deciding that they were going to need more music storage than the floorboards would hold, Rory felt somewhat more at ease, although she still had some nagging doubts about her mom's motivation behind calling her dad the night before. She did feel a little bad about the third degree she had given Lorelai, so she decided to call her mom to test the waters before she headed home. She borrowed the Kim's phone and dialed the number of the Crap Shack. When the answering machine picked up, she sighed and placed the phone back in it's cradle. She wouldn't be at the inn, she was supposed to be off today, so she thought for a moment about where else she might have gone. She picked up the phone again and dialed the number of their home away from home.

"Luke's" she heard the familiar gruff voice answer.

"Hi Luke it's Rory. Is my mom there right now?"

"Oh, hey Rory, no I haven't seen her since... I mean, she's not here" Is it just me or does he sound a little off?

"Since... you were at our house earlier." She stated, not accusingly but letting him know she was on to him.

"Oh. Yeah. I was just dropping something off for Lorelai. I didn't know you were home." Clearly.

"It's ok- I was studying, I just heard your truck. Ok, well tell her I'm looking for her if you see her? She took off earlier, I thought for just a minute. But she's been gone for a while I was kinda worried."

"Got it, will do. Bye Rory."

Rory hung up the phone and thought again about her mom, and about her dad. There was no way she would've gone to see him, right? She knew Lorelai had a kind of reckless streak when it came to Christopher. In the past, she would not have found it that unusual if she did something crazy like go show up on an ex's door. But things were different now, right? Her mom was happy with Max.

And then there was this Luke thing. Is there a Luke thing? Her mom had hinted at the idea of dating Luke in the past, which Rory had quickly shut that prospect down. But now the idea made her think for few minutes. If Max weren't in the picture, how WOULD she feel about Mom and Luke together? Rory loved Luke, he was constant in her life, much more so than even her own dad. She contemplated this as she walked across the town square. She could hardly remember a time when Luke wasn't part of their lives. She had spent countless hours over the years with her books spread out over one of the tables in the diner. Luke was always there with a plate of fries or a slice of pie on the days she needed it most, even when she didn't have the money to pay for it. She smiled a little, remembering when she spent almost two weeks eating nothing but Luke's mashed potatoes when she was sick with the chicken pox. If she had to admit it, he had really been a father figure in her life.

Rory felt a twinge of guilt as she thought about this. She liked Max, she was looking forward to him being her stepdad, she would finally have someone to discuss literature with in Stars Hollow. He wasn't overly fatherly, but that was ok, she supposed. He was nice, and she could tell he really loved Lorelai. But her thoughts kept turning back to her favorite diner owner, food provider, and coffee purveyor. If she hadn't so vehemently against her mom dating Luke, would things be different now?

(What do you think of Luke?)

(What do you mean?)

(I mean…. do you think he's cute?)

(You cannot date Luke.)

(I said nothing about dating Luke)

( If you date him, you'll break up, and we'll never be able to eat here again. )

(Date Al from Pancake World, his food stinks!)

She shook her head slightly, dismissing the thought and turned her eyes across the square, unsure if she wanted to head home yet. She was beginning to feel unsettled again about the whole wedding/Max/Luke/Dad mess in her head., and she didn't like it. She needed a distraction. She remembered that this was the night that Andrew kept the bookstore open late, and she smiled, turning in the direction of Stars Hollow Books.

It was close to nine when Andrew finally kicked her out of the bookstore. Rory headed out into the town square again, clutching her new books to her chest, excited about having some quiet time to read them once the wedding craziness was over and her mom and Max were off on their honeymoon. As she skirted around the gazebo towards home, she noticed her mom's jeep parked on the square across from the diner. But, the diner appeared closed, the lights were out and the closed sign was displayed in the door.

Maybe she was at Doose's, this was the time of night when Red Vines and marshmallows were in order. She headed toward the door of the market just in time to see the lights switch off. Rory approached Taylor as he stepped outside to lock the door.

"Hey Taylor, have you seen my mom tonight?" She asked.

Taylor turned and raised his eyebrows. "Well hello there Rory, no, I have not seen her this evening, but when you do see her please remind her I need to talk to her about some remaining issues from that engagement party of hers. We have strict rules about functions in the town square young lady, and I'm afraid you mother's soiree violated several town ordinances. We simply cannot let our standards slip, even for a joyous occasion such as…"

"Okaaaaay Taylor. Thanks, I will definitely tell her and you have an awesome evening. Okay Bye!" Rory cut him off and dashed away from the market, not giving him a chance to add anything further. She briefly considered walking over to the diner and knocking on the door to see if Luke knew where her mom was, but Taylor was eyeing her from the steps of the market, so she hurried in the direction of home.

She paused in the front yard of the Crap Shack for a few minutes to examine the chuppah, not knowing exactly that it was a chuppah, but made a mental note to research wedding traditions and arches. She ran her hand thoughtfully over the hand carved birds and flowers, lingering for a moment on one of the decorative posts. Is this a goat? Why is there a hand carved goat on this thing? She pondered, and then made her way into the house.

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A while later, Rory was stretched out on her bed, absorbed in one of her new books. She only vaguely registered the sound of the front door and her mothers quick footsteps skipping towards her room. When the door to her room was flung open, Rory jumped, startled to see her mom's face, flushed with excitement. Lorelai rushed into the room in a frenzy and began grabbing clothes out of Rory's wardrobe.

"Pack!" Lorelai cried breathlessly as she emptied the contents of one of Rory's drawers onto the bed.

"What?" Rory sputtered, confused by Lorelai's manic movements. She had seen her mother get crazy like this a few times before, usually when her grandparents had done something particularly hurtful, or when her mother had done something slutty.

"Pack." Her mother repeated with more determination in her voice. Okaaaayyyy… this is maybe more than that.

"What's going on?" Rory questioned, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. She had to get her mom to slow down and stop moving, then she could get some answers.

"We are hitting the road." More clothes hit the bed.

"What?" Rory watched in disbelief.

"Pack everything. Traveling light is for girls." Lorelai was on a mission, moving frantically around the room.

"What's going on here? Why are we hitting the road?"

"We haven't taken a road trip in forever and the weather is perfect!" Lorelai said excitedly, her smile sparkling, but not quite enough to convince Rory, who knew her all too well.

"We can't take a road trip. You're getting married this weekend." Rory stated flatly.

"Do you have my blue swimsuit?" Lorelai ignored her questioning as she rifled through her belongings.

"What about Max?" Rory demanded, not giving up. What the heck? There are boxes of wedding favors in the living room and piles of cards and gifts….Rory shook her head and tried to remain calm as she wondered if her mom having a psychotic break.

"Sunscreen, we need sunscreen." Lorelai muttered as she ransacked the products on top of her daughter's dresser.

Rory raised her voice a little in an attempt to stop the frenzy that was her mother. "Mom, stop!"

"What?"

Rory though she saw the tiniest bit of panic cross her mother's face. Now I'm getting to it, she thought.

Rory figured she needed a more direct approach, she chose what to say next carefully, although she suspected she knew the answer to her next question already. "Are you and Max getting married?"

Lorelai stopped her manic movements and looked her in the eye. "No."

Oh God, this isn't happening, Rory thought."Why?"

Rory stared at her mother intently, watching as Lorelei's eyes filled with tears.

Her mom stared at her nervously and said in a small voice "Because…...I didn't want to try on my wedding dress every night."

Rory knew instantly then that her mother was coming undone. She wasn't sure why, but she knew with certainty this was a time to shore her up. There would be plenty of time to get to the bottom of all of this later. This is what we do, we shore each other up, she thought. Her mind flashed to when she had dissolved into sadness when she and Dean broke up, and all the other times her mom was the strong one when she was overwhelmed by life. My turn, time to move. Hit it Gilmore! she thought firmly.

Rory whirled around toward her wardrobe, pulling out her duffel bag and taking over the manic task of packing, in hopes of calming her mom, who looked more fragile than she had ever seen her.

"Where are we going?"

Lorelai smiled weakly and nodded, and the Gilmore girls sprung into action.

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A/N- Who else's perspective might we need to hear? Maybe it's time to visit the mind of the Burger Boy himself!

Stay tuned for Chapter 3- Luke

Again, I'd love feedback if you are so inclined! It's my first fic and I'm having a ton of fun writing it!