Roller Coaster Down, Roller Coaster Up

"Hi doll!" called Babette as Lorelai escaped the diner and headed towards the Dragonfly. "So, I heard there was some dirty dancin' last night at the wedding in the square."

"Oh, you mean Crazy Carrie! Yes, she made quite a scene. Squooshing her boobs up to her neck, then dancing with anything that moved." Lorelai tried to deflect attention from her own part in the evening.

"Crazy Carrie? Uh-uh sugar, that's the way Crazy Carrie behaves whenever she goes out. Nuthin' new about that. No, I'm talking about you and Luke! It was stupendous, Patty said, really hot stuff. You two were glowing with the heat of a thousand suns! So how was it?" Babette asked.

"Um, how was what?" Lorelai asked. "The wedding? It was beautiful, Liz looked beautiful, TJ loves tights, a really perfect wedding."

"Nah, honey, I mean you and Luke! Patty said you two finally got together, and it's about time. He's been waiting so long for you to notice him. We are so glad you finally did," Babette bubbled over with happiness.

"We? Which 'we' do you mean?" Lorelai asked.

"There's me and Patty, of course, and Kirk, and all the girls in our knitting group as well as Patty's yoga class. Also Andrew, Gypsy, most of the reenactors, " Lorelai interrupted her.

"OK Babette, I get it. How long have you been spying, er watching us?" Lorelai inquired.

"Well, we first noticed when you went into the diner the first time. Patty and I were having lunch and you blew in like a hurricane, pretty much just like you do today. You made Luke really mad, he yelled at you! We'd never seen him so mad. But the funny thing was, when you left, Luke got really quiet. He just looked out the window and watched you walk away. We'd never seen anything like it with him. That was the day we started the pool."

"The pool?" asked Lorelai.

"Yeah, the pool. We were betting when you two would have your first date. Every month that went by, more people joined. We finally cut it off at 500 people."

"Five hundred people are betting when Luke and I would have a first date?" Lorelai was stunned.

"It's not 500 people any more. Some of them died, like Fran, a few moved away. Taylor wanted his money back, so we gave it to him. We were glad to be rid of him, because he kept trying to raise the odds and complained about everything!" Babette said. "I don't know what we'll do if no one got the right date. Maybe we'll donate the money to puppies or something. I can go get the papers and find out if you want, I think they're at Patty's. Or did we leave them with Gypsy? No, no it could be that Taylor has them now…"

"Uh, Babette, I really need to get going. The test run for the Dragonfly is next week and there's a lot to be done. You're still coming, right? I've got your room all lined up." Lorelai was desperate to escape.

"OK, doll, I gotta run. Patty's waiting in the diner, she's gonna fill me in on what happened this morning," said Babette.

Lorelai started to walk away, then turned and said, "Make sure you ask Patty about her and Jess. They were quite cozy, watching us this morning." She raised her voice, adding, "Or maybe they were in cahoots, like all the rest of you!"

Babette just waved goodbye and headed towards the diner. After two steps she stopped and added, "Lorelai, I love you like you were my own daughter, so I'll give you this advice – Luke loves you like I've never seen anyone love before. Don't take it for granted, and make sure he knows how you feel about him as soon as you can. It'll mean the world to him. And to us – Luke is special to Stars Hollow and we all love him so much. We don't want to see him hurt."

Lorelai continued walking, but under her breath she whispered, "Me neither."

After a moment, Lorelai got her cell phone out and made a call. "Hi, do you have a minute?"

Luke could still see her out the window, walking away. "Yeah, it's pretty quiet here. What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you knew how much I enjoyed breakfast this morning, and a- actually last night too. It was wonderful. I'm so glad you invited me."

"Yeah?" his voice softened. "I'm glad you came."

"We waited way too long for this, and part of it's my fault. I didn't listen when people told me about … even Rory knew about it, somehow it was just me who had no clue." Lorelai spoke with a touch of regret in her voice.

Luke turned to face the wall, so no customer could see his expression. "Maybe you just weren't ready. I know how that goes. I kept trying, but it seemed to go nowhere. We'd have a moment, then it was gone, almost as if it had never existed. It wasn't until I read that book that I knew I needed to do more."

"That book? You mean Jess' self-help book?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, it was mine before I gave it to Jess. There was some asinine stuff in there, but I think the results were OK." Luke swallowed hard.

Lorelai, who had all but stopped walking, turned and looked at the diner. "Luke," she said.

He turned to see if he could still see her, and was surprised to see her looking directly at him. His heart skipped a beat.

"Asinine or not, the results have been spectacular. The heat of a thousand suns, according to Patty. Say, did you know about the pool?" Lorelai asked.

"The pool? I dunno, oh, oh wait, do they still have that damn pool going? They should have given up on that ages ago. This whole damn place should be surrounded by a wall. A padded wall! It'll keep them from hurting themselves!"

"Oh, I don't know, it's kind of cute, don't you think?"

"No! It's not cute, crazy townspeople taking bets on other people's love lives," he ranted.

"It's Stars Hollow, It's part of who we are, we live here, see our families grow up here, we live, we die here. Crazy or not, it's where I want to be, right here, with you. I'm not so sure we'd be as happy if we didn't have the crazy around us, loving us, looking out for us."

She continued, "Luke I'd better go, the work is not getting any less. All those Chinese people. Call me later?"

"You bet," he answered.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully for Luke. It didn't take more than one warning look at Patty and Babette to make them retreat. Tom's work crew from the Dragonfly called in their lunch order, and he and Caesar began preparing it.

As he worked back in the kitchen, Luke noticed the leftover pineapple flowers. Not expecting Lorelai for lunch today, Luke decorated a few donuts with the flowers, impulsively wrote a short note and packed it all into a small to-go box with Lorelai's name on it. He added the box to the growing stack of food for Tom's crew.

Mike, a crew member of Tom's construction team, came to pick up the order. Luke was in the back, so Caesar handed over the food and Mike went on his way.

When Luke noticed that the order was gone, he asked Caesar, "Did Mike pick up the whole order? I wanted to tell him there was something extra there."

"Yeah, he did, Luke. I handed everything off to him and he signed for it, just like you said to do," replied Caesar.

"OK, great, thanks, Caesar," answered Luke, who continued with lunch service.

At the Dragonfly, Mike was practically attacked by the crew as they relieved him of the food. Randomly opening boxes and bags, they each grabbed their own food and left all the rest open on the table.

"Cool, Donuts!" called Joe, and the donuts quickly disappeared.

After pulverizing their food, they guys headed out for a smoke or a walk, while Mike was left to do cleanup. He quickly shoved the trash into the bag and followed the others outside.

Lorelai, back in the kitchen eating with Sookie, was starting to wonder when Luke would call. Michel interrupted her thoughts.

"When are we going to Office Depot?" he asked. "I need to get the reception desk set up and ready to go before next Saturday's test run. There are also some printouts to pick up with schedules and the like."

"Let's go later today," said Lorelai. "We need to make sure the reservation system is up and running, plus we haven't installed the financial software yet. Sookie, can you keep Tom in line while Michel and I hunker down in the office?"

"Sure, I've got some problems here with the equipment, just little stuff, but it needs to be up and working before we do any serious cooking. Can Tom's team fix that?" Sookie asked.

"Actually, no, his team is only supposed to work on the building structure and major systems like water and heating. The kitchen equipment and the office equipment are all up to us. Do we need to call the supplier and have someone come in?" Lorelai thought for a moment. "Do you think Luke could help you with the equipment? I can call him and see if he can come by after work."

"Luke can probably help, it's mostly loose hoses and a slow drain, stuff like that," Sookie replied, adding, "Sooo, Luke. You can 'call Luke,' can you?" Sookie's eyes sparkled with laughter.

"What? I call Luke all the time, you know that! He's very, uh, neighborly, always willing to lend a helping hand," Lorelai said. "He's helped me out several times this week already, just simple stuff."

"And? How was it? 'Helping you out?' Is that what they're calling it nowadays?" Sookie began wiggling her butt and dancing around a little. "How about if you help me out a little over here, Luke? Now over here, yes that's right! Yes! Yes!"

"Sookie!" Lorelai almost shouted, while Michel looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"We've had one date, count it. One. Eins. Uno. No more, no less. There is nothing to talk dirty about," she continued, back in control of herself.

"But there will be, won't there? You see him every day, you could waltz if you wanted to every day, right? A thousand suns, hot stuff!" she giggled again.

"Oy with the thousand suns again. You guys need to get some new metaphors. How does this stuff get around, anyway," complained Lorelai.

"You are now involved with the unshaven lumberjack man?" asked Michel. "What on earth are you thinking, attaching yourself to this flannelized hirsute lout?"

"I wasn't thinking, it just happened. After we slept with the zucchini, I ran into him and he invited me to his sister's wedding. It was funny, and beautiful, and we laughed, not at all like we talk every day. Then we danced," said Lorelai.

Sookie interrupted, "Was that the waltz? Did you really have a special moment? Patty said that the waltz was incredible." She started clapping her hands a little, excited to hear more.

Lorelai spoke softly. "We waltzed."

Michel leaned in a little closer to hear better, his eyes growing bigger.

"It was strange at first, because it was Luke, you know, our Luke, the town Luke. Who knew he could waltz? As we turned, I looked at him, and suddenly he wasn't our Luke anymore. He was Luke, my Luke, and I could hardly breathe." She drifted off to that moment again.

Michel and Sookie let out a deep sigh, which brought Lorelai back to her senses.

"Now I'm seeing Luke. Michel, you need to find a way to get along with him, because not only is he an investor in the inn, but he's also going to be around here a lot more often, capiche? Let's get that software set up, and afterwards we'll buy the office supplies. You can have some gel pens if you're good."

"You do not have to treat me like a child," drawled Michel as he stood up and followed Lorelai out of the room. "I am an excellent manager and I do my job professionally. Do you think they have metallic gel pens? I need silver and gold ones, mine have gone dry. Also neon Post-Its."

"Sookie, Michel and I are off to get the office supplies. Do you need anything? Also, I did call the diner. Luke wasn't there but I left a message asking him to come by after work," chattered Lorelai as she pulled on her jacket. She called back to Michel, "Hurry up, Michel! It's getting late! We have to stop by the printers as well."

"Nah, I'm good, hon, as long as you keep the usual pens and paper in the supply closet, like we did back at the Independence Inn," said Sookie. "I'll be going home soon, too, to feed the family and put Davey to bed. I'll come back when he's asleep to get some more work done here in the kitchen."

"Sure, yeah, um, do you know if Luke called back? He was supposed to call this afternoon, but he didn't," Lorelai said wistfully.

"Oh sweetie, are you lovesick already? It's only been a couple of days, Lorelai, give the poor guy a chance. It's Luke, you know, you don't have to worry about him," consoled Sookie.

"I'm not worried about him, per se, he's just always so reliable that I didn't expect him to not call."

"You already think Luke might be reconsidering your relationship? That you're just a one-night stand for him?" Sookie looked disapprovingly at Lorelai. "Now I know you're crazy. If he doesn't call you, call him and find out what's going on."

"I can't be checking on him every ten seconds. He's going to think I'm stalking him, that he's involved with a crazy person. And it wasn't a one-night stand." Lorelai heard footsteps in the hallway. "Michel! Come on! Honestly you are such a slow poke, I'm not gonna let you have those gel pens! And you'll have to settle for plain yellow Post-Its."

Lorelai turned and stormed out of the kitchen, running headlong into Luke, banging her thigh on Bert the toolbox. "Ow! That hurt!" she said, hopping about in pain.

Luke stood still, watching Lorelai dance in agony, saying, "Not a one-night stand, and yes you are crazy."

He reached out to see if she had actually injured herself badly, when Sookie attacked him from the side, hugging him and screaming, "Luke! I'm so happy for you both! All those years of coffee, and seeing each other every day, but never quite making the last connection. Now it's happened and you are together at last! This is so great!" Sookie hugged Luke as he rolled his eyes and shared a look of understanding with Lorelai.

"This town really needs to find a useful occupation. Has everybody been sitting around all the time just watching us?" asked Lorelai, as the pain in her leg subsided. "I still can't get over the pool."

"Oh! The pool! I have to call Tillie and see if I won," Sookie reminded herself.

"Sookie! I'm your best friend! How could you join the pool?" Lorelai was shocked. Luke put Bert down on the floor and bent over to look at Lorelai's injury, which didn't seem so bad after all.

"Well, honey, it was a lot of money, and it had gone on so long. When Taylor put the money in the bank, the interest compounded, and it was really hard to resist," Sookie explained, slightly embarrassed.

"If you win, you have to take us out to dinner with your winnings. It's only fair, after all, we're the reason for the whole game," Lorelai finished, putting her hand on Luke's shoulder as she lifted her leg for inspection.

"Lorelai," said Michel as he came through the door, "I thought we were going to buy the office supplies." He saw Luke standing next to Lorelai. "Oh hello, Luke."

"You'll live," said Luke, running his hand down her thigh a little before he stood up straight. "Now what do you need me to do?"

"Sookie has some things in the kitchen. Work that out with her, OK? Michel and I need to run before the printer closes." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, but moved away before he had a chance to respond. She and Michel hurried out of the room, Lorelai still limping a little.

"So much work," he muttered as he turned to Sookie, whose eyes danced with amusement.

After Sookie explained the problems, Luke began work. Shortly thereafter Tom came by to let Sookie know that the crew was finished for the day.

"Sookie, the only big thing outstanding are the doors, but they'll be here in a couple of days. Lorelai's been putting up Post-Its everywhere she wants to see something changed, but how's it going here in the kitchen?"

Tom looked over and saw Luke working underneath the sink.

"Hey Luke, whatcha doing there?" he asked.

"Nothing, just tightening up some joints." Luke pulled his head out from under the sink and sat up, placing his arms on his knees and looking at Tom.

"Sookie, if you got something wrong here, let me know and I'll fix it. No need to bring in amateurs," said Tom, with a raise of an eyebrow which revealed his subtle teasing.

"Well if professionals leave pipes this loose, then it's no wonder there are so many do-it-yourself books at the hardware store. The amateurs have to pick up the slack," retorted Luke with a smirk. He stood up. "Hey Tom, are these the original tiles?" he asked, pointing to the backsplash.

"It's not enough that you have to come in and mess with my work, but you're gonna kibitz as well?"

Luke put his open hands up in the air. "No, Tom, no kibitzing, I just wanted to say they looked great. Good job, man."

Tom growled, "Can't trust you as far as I can throw you. Stay away from my project, Luke."

"Sure, Tom, cleaning up this mess is way too big a job anyway. How'd you like that lunch today? Cooked by a professional, you know. Maybe I'll put something a little special in your lunch tomorrow, how does that sound?" Luke met Tom's teasing, blow for blow, while Sookie looked on mystified.

"Those fruity donuts with the flowers were tasty, the boys said," Tom replied, "But nothing was as good as the note you left in the box. We all enjoyed that. Took turns reading it out loud." Tom chuckled loud and headed for the door, adding "See you tomorrow. We'll have to work a little on Sunday, but not the whole day."

Sookie couldn't stifle her laughter as she watched Luke's face turn three shades of red. "Luke, take it easy, you know this town likes to tease," she said as she patted him on the shoulder. "So, what was in the note?"

"If you want one more thing in this kitchen fixed, you'll change the subject right now," he growled.

"OK, OK, I have to go home anyway. I'll be back after the babies are in bed," she said.

"Babies? When was there more than one?" Luke asked.

"You haven't seen Jackson at bedtime. Half an hour late and he throws a temper tantrum, that's why I'd better go now. See you in a couple of hours. Michel and Lorelai should be back in an hour or two. There's food and drink in the fridge if you're hungry."

Alone, Luke grabbed a bottle of water and sat down for a minute. Had it only been 24 hours since Liz' wedding? Wow, what a roller coaster.

After his break, Luke finished up the kitchen work and headed out into the inn proper. As he looked around, he noticed the Post-Its all over the place. Reading them, he started working on the things that he could, pulling down the note when he finished a task.

The stack of notes was getting rather thick when Luke heard voices downstairs. He recognized Michel's and Lorelai's voices, so he put down his tools and headed downstairs, carrying the stack of completed tasks.

The two were carrying large boxes of supplies, plus a milkshake apiece. They were nattering on about the various ice cream stores in Woodbridge, trying to choose the best one.

When she saw Luke, Lorelai stopped and said, "Hi," and placed her box on the reception desk outside the office. Michel carried his box into the office.

He replied, "Hey."

She smiled and added, "Glad you're still here. Did Sookie keep you busy?" She walked over to him and kissed him. He could taste the ice cream on her lips.

"Naw, her things were really easy. After I finished them, I went around and did a few more things." He stood up straighter and puffed out his chest as he handed her the stack of Post-Its.

"Faucet in Room 7, floorboard scuffed, molding coming loose,… and all these other things! You got so many things done. This is going to save us real money, thanks, Mr. Fixit," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I do have an investment to protect," he said, playing with her hair. "Anything else in the car from the office supply store?"

She nodded and they went out to the car. The Dragonfly was set a short distance away from Stars Hollow giving it the benefit of darker night skies and quieter necking opportunities.

After some time, the passionate necking was sated and they just stood together holding each other. Leaning against Luke's chest, Lorelai asked, "What did you put in the crew's lunch today? They ate like they always do, but then they got so rowdy that Tom had to yell at them to get back to work. They were laughing hard enough to bust a gut."

Luke appreciated the darkness because blushing only turns the cheeks red, they don't glow in the dark.

"Don't ever ask a group of men on a construction site what they're laughing about, that can only end in disaster, especially if it's a woman doing the asking." Luke made a mental note to avoid the construction crew for the next few days.

"God, are you two going at it again?" Sookie's voice surprised them, since they hadn't heard her car.

"Where did you come from?" asked Lorelai. "We didn't hear you at all."

"Jackson dropped me off not too far away, he wanted to check on the garden one more time before going to bed. Plus I wanted to sneak up on you two and catch you in flagrante delicious."

"Delicto, Sookie, and sorry to disappoint you, we aren't going to get caught doing anything embarrassing. This town has been giving us too much attention as it is," replied Lorelai. Luke stayed silent, his cheeks burning again.

"Let's get these last boxes inside. I'm hungry," he said, as nonchalantly as he could.

In the kitchen, Sookie looked at Luke suspiciously. "I think there was some flagrante going on out there, just look at Luke's face." Luke took the opportunity to put his head inside the refrigerator.

"No flagrante, Sookie. Let it go. What's for dinner? Michel's in the office, we should probably go get him," said Lorelai.

"I'll go," said Luke and dashed out the door, leaving Lorelai and Sookie staring at the door.

Once in the office, Luke sat down and asked Michel, "Hi Michel, how's it going? What's new with you?"

Michel looked up from the computer, narrowed his eyes suspiciously at this new, friendly Luke, and inquired, "What are you doing?"

"Doing? Nothing, just trying to get to know you better. I think we're going to see a bit more of each other, now that I'm an investor, and I want us to get along." Luke's voice was overly friendly.

"OK, good. I'm fine, thanks. Is Sookie fixing dinner?" Michel asked.

"Yes, it must be about ready, let's go eat." Luke answered.

"So Lorelai accepted, did she?" Michel asked, circling his prey. He stood up, casually adjusting the cuffs of his shirt, then his jacket, never once letting Luke out of his sight.

"Accepted what?" asked Luke, with a sinking feeling in his heart.

"Your invitation to dinner, Burger Boy. That was your note in the donut box, wasn't it?" Michel preened like a cat that had brought his mistress a dead mouse. "Come along, Burger Boy, let's eat."

Luke put head in his hands as Michel headed to the kitchen. Roller coaster down, roller coaster up, now a deep plunge into the circus that is Stars Hollow.

Lorelai entered the office, looking at Luke with his head in his hands. "You OK?" He nodded. "We OK?" He sighed, stood up and placed his arms on her shoulders.

"You remember Rory's 16th birthday, right? Do you remember what you said right before you invited me?" Luke asked.

What was it she'd said? Can't remember. Oh wait! She'd called him Burger Boy and told him to dance. Just as she was about to say that, she remembered his reply. "Will you marry me?" he'd said. Oh God, he's not that far along, is he? Or is he just trying to shut me up again?

"Lorelai? Are you still there?" Luke was starting to get concerned.

"Yes, yes, I'm with you. What was the question? Oh, I remember now, I said 'OK, Burger Boy, dance for me.'"

"Right, I kinda never forgot that moment. It was fun. Anyway, when I made you a little surprise this morning…"

Lorelai interrupted him. "You made a surprise for me? What is it?"

"I don't have it anymore. I put it in with the lunch order that Mike brought back to the Dragonfly. The box was labeled with your name and tied with a string. It should have been easy for them to give it to you, but apparently they didn't," Luke explained.

"Of course, as soon as lunch arrives, these guys become a pack of ravenous dogs. They grab everything edible in sight and inhale it. What did you send me?"

"Donuts, decorated with the rest of the pineapple flowers."

"Oh, how sweet! They must have been beautiful. Too bad the guys got to them first, they probably didn't even look at them, just saw donuts and ate." Lorelai gave Luke a big smile and caressed his jaw.

"They looked at them, all right, and they also saw the other thing I put in the box."

"What was it, brownies? I love your brownies."

"No, it was a note."

Lorelai gasped, realizing what Luke was saying. "A note? Tom's crew read your note to me?"

He nodded.

"What did the note say? Oh! It was from Burger Boy, wasn't it?" He nodded again.

"Luke! You've got to tell me what it said, so we can be prepared when the next Stars Hollow Gazette comes out. The townies are going to have a field day when they hear about this."

"It was a checklist."

"I'm hooked." Lorelai looked intently at Luke's face.

"It went like this:

Dancing? Check.

Donuts? Check.

Dinner? How about next Tuesday?

And I signed it…"

"Burger Boy," she said. He nodded, looking down at his shoes.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm dumb."

"No you're not. You're alliterative, sweet, romantic and funny. Definitely not dumb." She gave his shoulder a little shake.

Luke looked up at Lorelai and asked, "What did you mean when you said 'yes,' just now?"

"Yes to dinner next Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it," said Lorelai.

"Yeah? Me, too. You do see, though, that losing the note is the first sign that Date Number Two will be disappointing, right? I couldn't even give you a romantic invitation without embarrassing us."

"Actually, you're doing me a favor. Gilmore Girls can hardly get through a day without embarrassing themselves. It's sort of who we are, you know? I didn't have an embarrassing moment today yet, although the argument Michel and I had over Butter Rum ice cream came close. You've saved my day, made it just perfect."

They kissed until the door opened.

"My God, you two, you're just like rabbits. You've only been together a day. Give it a rest and come have some dinner," reprimanded Sookie. "You do realize that you never kissed until yesterday. I think you can get along without kissing for an hour or two."

"Nope," said Luke. "We've got a lot of kissing to catch up on."