A/N: Back with more banter...

Disclaimer: This chapter includes a paraphrased line from Season 4 Episode 22, "Raincoats and Recipes"

TUESDAY NIGHT:

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hey Sally."

"Are we still on that?"

"I am."

"Not going to let me live it down, huh?"

"Well it was pretty funny," Luke said, then dropped the topic, "How was your day?"

"It was fine, hey, I'm sorry about yesterday…and Sunday." They'd played phone tag the last two days—annoyingly so. They'd managed to connect briefly on Monday, but Lorelai had only answered her phone to tell Luke that she couldn't talk. Their schedules just hadn't seemed to match up.

"Not your fault, just the way it goes sometimes."

"I guess so. How have you been?"

"Good, just busy. I spent all of Sunday taking Liz and TJ to their doctor's appointment."

"That took the whole day?"

"Most of it. Since the faire moved we're farther away from their doctor so it takes longer to get there. Then when we did get there we had to wait a while to be seen and then we had to travel all the way back."

"What did the doctor say, did you get any good news?"

"Yeah actually, Liz got her leg cast off."

"Oh wow!"

"Yeah, they've started her doing physical therapy now. Started today. She can't really walk much yet, but she's got crutches."

"She must be excited to be rid of the cast."

"She's been singing the Happy Days theme song on a loop."

"The whole song?"

"Just the annoying part. The truck ride back to the faire was like my own personal Small World ride."

Lorelai laughed, "So you slowly turned up the radio every minute or so to drown her out, right?"

"That would've been a good idea."

"What did you do then? Just seethe quietly until you dropped them off?"

"Pretty much. Well, that and tried to block them out—which was really hard once TJ joined in."

Lorelai laughed again. He painted an amusing picture. "So physical therapy is a good sign right?"

"Yes it is. Movement in the right direction. It's changed up the routine here, but I'll figure it out."

"What's changed?"

"Well the physical therapy appointments are every day. The doctor recommended a few clinics and thankfully there was one that's only about a half hour from the faire grounds."

"That's lucky."

"Yeah, and it's only Liz that's starting right now so I have to take her there, then come back to man the booth, then go pick her up after."

"That's a lot of back and forth."

"Yeah but if it'll help her recover faster then I'm all for it."

"So TJ's still in his leg cast?"

"Yeah they said he'll need to keep his on for a little longer. And they've both still got one arm in a cast."

"Right."

"I'm going to see if I can go in with Liz for a few minutes tomorrow to learn the exercises they're having her do. Then I can make sure she's doing them right when she's on her own."

"You're a good brother Luke."

"Yeah well…" he trailed off, "physical therapy isn't something you should half ass." He let out a breath. "So what do you have goin' on over there?"

"I am currently on the search for food. Heading into town now."

"You're not goin' to the diner?"

"Not tonight, I might see what part of the world Al's travelled to."

"Go to the diner, at least Caesar can make you something nutritious."

"I'm not really feeling anything you can describe as nutritious."

"Of course you're not," Luke rolled his eyes.

"Hey don't roll your eyes at me, sometimes a little non-nutrition is the way to go."

Luke didn't bother asking how she knew what his reaction would be. "Sometimes? Lorelai it's like pulling teeth trying to get you to put a tomato on your burger."

"I don't like the texture of tomatoes," she replied simply.

"The texture?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, what about lettuce?"

"It's rabbit food."

"You won't do pickles or onions—"

"And have onion breath all day? No thanks."

"You see my point?"

"Like you're wearing a foam finger," she confirmed, "But, I still stand by my decision not to put the entire produce section on my burger. It would just ruin all the meaty cheesy goodness."

"You're impossible."

"Yes and you're stubborn, that's kind of how this whole bantering thing works."

"I thought it worked because of your wit?"

"Oh that's much better, lets go with that." Lorelai smiled, knowing that Luke was rolling his eyes again. "So what are we looking at timeline wise?"

"For what?" He asked of her seemingly random question.

"Of getting you back. To the hollow."

"I think I should be home by the end of next week."

"As in this Friday?"

"As in the Friday after that."

Lorelai stopped walking, her spirit deflating as she let out a forlorn sigh. "That's two more weeks," she said quietly.

"It'll go by faster than you know," Luke responded in kind.

"Will it?"

"I don't know. That's what I keep telling myself. If I focus on the timeline of it then I know these last few weeks will feel like months."

"Yeah," Lorelai responded. He was right. "Can you imagine…originally you were only supposed to be gone a week."

"Oh believe me I know. This is not what I thought was going to happen when I was driving out here. I don't mind helping them out, not at all, but…God I really wish I were back home."

"I wish you were too."

"I'm missing so much. The Dragonfly, everything going on in town, everything with, with you." His mouth twisted in frustration. "We were just getting started."

"You're not missing anything. Stars Hollow will still be Stars Hollow when you get back. I'll still be here when you get back…"

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Ok." There was a pause in their conversation where Luke realized he might be coming off a little needy. But, that's how he felt. Getting home as soon as possible was always on his mind, because the idea that he might lose this chance with Lorelai was inconceivable to him. After feeling the way he'd felt about her for so long…it just couldn't happen. He needed to know that they were going to have their chance. He knew Lorelai was being honest, in saying she'd wait…but he also knew he wasn't going to fully believe it was all happening until he was back home, living his normal everyday life. "I guess I should let you go now. Go find something to eat."

"Sure, yeah. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, have a good night Lorelai."

"You too."

Lorelai hung up the phone and continued to walk into town, her body moving on autopilot. She passed by Weston's and the video store before looking up and seeing that she'd unconsciously stopped just across the street from the diner. It looked the same as it always had—with one obvious exclusion. Luke was a large part of the reason she liked going to the diner. Sure, the food was great, the coffee phenomenal, but without Luke there, she didn't really see much of a point going in. The place felt empty without him. And because of that, her desire to be there had severely diminished in the last month. Lately she'd been getting her meals to go and eating them at home or at work. It was easier that way. She missed him. Not even necessarily in this new capacity of a budding relationship—although she was eager for that to start properly—she just missed her friend. Being able to drop in on him in the middle of the day—under the guise of hunger—to try and coax a smile, or tease him into a rant…even just the knowledge that he nearby—it was a comfort she hadn't realized she relied on until it was gone. She really missed him. But she tried to make a point of not dwelling on it. That, in addition to the all the stuff with Rory would make her too unbearably sad. And she couldn't be sad right now. But just for a moment, standing on the sidewalk, looking at the almost-perfect diner, Lorelai let herself acknowledge just how much she missed him. It manifested into a dull pain in the pit of her stomach. She stood there for another moment, then, with one last glance at her favourite spot in town, she continued on her walk.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

Lorelai was sitting on the couch in her office. It had been a long day. After hanging up with Luke the night before she'd gone to Al's and picked up some Chinese food. The thought of going back to her empty, quiet house was entirely unappealing, so she took her dinner to the inn, knowing it would be a good distraction—there was always something to do there. In her post kung pao paperwork haze, she fell asleep at her desk. The next thing she remembered was Sookie nudging her awake. She'd come in early to put a few loaves of bread in the oven and saw Lorelai's office door open with the lights on. After sharing a laugh at the situation, Lorelai went home to shower and change. It was only then she noticed the Swingline imprint on her cheek. Make-up offered little coverage, and she ended up spending a few hours with it on her face. All things considered, not the worst situation she'd woken up in.

The rest of her day had been good. Busy, but good. Nothing of note had happened but she was taking that as a good sign that they were managing their new business well. Before she knew it, it was the end of the day and everyone was heading home. Of course, she and Sookie remained, both trying to get a head start on the next day. But soon Sookie was calling it quits too. Lorelai saw her out then snuck back into the kitchen to see what she could pilfer. She took a leftover pain au chocolat, then wandered back to her office to call Luke.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"How was your day?"

"Pretty good actually, just busy," Lorelai replied.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, as in, I had my morning coffee, and the next time I looked at a clock 5 hours had passed."

"Wow, that is busy. You didn't stop for lunch?"

"No, didn't even realize I'd missed it."

"You never miss lunch, must've been something important."

"Not really, I was just ping-ponging between different clients and staff today. It was good though. How was your day?"

"Also busy. I keep thinking it's going to be a slow day, I mean, it's a renaissance faire for Christ's sake, there can't be that many people interested in spending their time in a replication of an era where the height of entertainment was two guys on horseback hitting each other with sticks."

"Wow, starting off with a rant, I like it."

"Sorry."

"No, please, I'm enjoying it. Continue."

"Naw, I'm done. I'm just amazed at the amount of people that show up to this thing every day."

"Well there had to be some kind of foot traffic if there's an entire faire set up for this stuff, right? Supply and demand baby."

"Supply and demand?"

"Yeah, people demand to be handed turkey legs by other people dressed in tights and flower crowns on their way to see a re-enactment of a jousting tournament circa a thousand years ago, and the renaissance faire supplies it."

Luke rolled his eyes. "They don't demand it, they want it, for some insane reason."

"Want, demand, same difference. Everyone has demands Luke," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What do you demand then?"

His voice was throaty and Lorelai felt it all the way to her toes. She blushed as she kicked her heels off and got more comfortable in her office chair, hoping flirty Luke would stick around for a while. "Oh nothing much, I'm very low maintenance."

Luke's laugh was a heartfelt, quiet rumble that made Lorelai beam. "You know, those aren't the exact words I would use to describe you."

"No?"

"Mm mm."

"What words would you use then?"

"Crazy, for starters."

Lorelai rolled her eyes playfully. She'd been expecting that answer. "And besides the obvious?"

Luke thought for a few seconds then smiled. "You're an original."

"Original?"

"Yeah, you know, one of a kind. I don't know anyone like you."

"Uh have you met Rory? Brown hair, blue eyes, an eclectic taste in all things pop culture…we share a name…should I go on?"

"Yeah you and Rory generally like the same things and of course you share some traits, but," he paused, doing a quick analysis in his head, "all the things that make you, you?" he shrugged, spoke matter-of-factly, "No, I can't think of anyone that even comes close. You're a true original."

"Like the Mona Lisa," Lorelai quipped lamely without thinking. His words caught her off guard and she had no idea how to respond to them.

"Yeah, but the actual Mona Lisa, not one of those prints people try to pass off for the real thing."

Touched and slightly flustered, Lorelai wondered how their conversation about a bustling faire had turned into this. "Well, that might be one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me."

"It's the truth."

Another quiet beat. And because Lorelai still didn't know how to respond, she changed tacks. "Aren't you going to ask me to describe you?"

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Really?"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't."

"Well how very…Luke of you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you're not so good at taking compliments."

Luke laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, that's probably true. It's uncomfortable."

"It doesn't have to be."

"I know…but it still is."

"Right. Well," Lorelai dragged, returning them to their lighthearted back and forth, "if you ever need an ego boost, I've got a bank full of Luke-specific compliments locked and loaded just waiting to be unleashed."

Though it was said without seriousness, Luke knew what she was getting at and appreciated the sentiment—though he didn't want to linger on the topic. "Noted. So, what are you doin' tonight? Got a movie lined up?"

"Oh, no, not tonight. I'm still at work."

"Still?" Luke asked, glancing at his watch, "It's getting pretty late."

"No rest for the wicked."

"Can't whatever it is wait until tomorrow?"

"Probably…but it's not like I have anything better to do."

"Resting is important too, you know."

"I know, but, I have the time now so I might as well use it."

"Ok…" Luke acquiesced, realizing that no matter what he said, she wasn't going home until she was done with whatever she was working on. "Maybe tomorrow you can cut out a little early then."

"Yeah, maybe," Lorelai responded blandly, not even trying to sound like she was considering the option.

"Alright slacker, get back to work. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow. Goodnight Luke."

"Night Lorelai."

They hung up and Lorelai let out a deep sigh, looking around at her room for the night. She wasn't going home, there was nothing there for her except unavoidable thoughts and silence. Her office had proved comfortable enough the night before, and that was just her desk. If she managed to make it to the couch this time she was sure it would be more than fine. Just one more night, then she'd go home, she told herself as she got back to work.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON:

"Hello?"

"Hey, really quick, I just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to talk tonight."

"Oh, ok," Luke's brow furrowed, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, I just have to stay late to do inventory with Michel."

"Oh. Ok, thanks for telling me."

"Didn't want to leave you hanging."

"I appreciate it. So you don't have time to talk now?"

"I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"You said something about making it quick?"

"Oh. I just assumed you'd be busy."

"I can spare a few minutes."

"Alright," Lorelai smiled, "What's going on over there today?"

"Not much, Liz has decided to teach me the proper names of each gemstone. Apparently, it's crucial knowledge to have in the jewellery industry."

"It is. She's right."

"Don't side with her, I don't want to be learning the difference between sapphire and whatever the hell malachite is."

"But what are you going to do if a customer asks you about it?"

"What I've been doing, go get Liz."

"I'm sure she loves that," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"She hates it, that's why I'm getting gemstone lessons."

"Now there's a course I would love to take."

"I'm sure in your case it is very unnecessary."

"That's true, though I'd still take it. You have to imagine they give out free jewellery at the end."

"I don't think schools gives students anything for free."

"Well either way, it'd still be fun! So sapphire and malachite, what else have you learned?"

Luke heaved a heavy sigh, and spoke by rote, "Sapphires are blue, but so is lapis lazuli, and opal can be too. Tourmaline and pearl go well together and sunstones are a big seller so it's always good to have some on hand."

Lorelai smiled amusedly. "You must have been at the top of your class back in the day."

"Why are there so many names for one colour? There should just be one name and the name should be blue stone—"

"Inventive" she interjected sarcastically. Her eyebrows furrowed as she heard noise coming through the phone. Sounded like someone's voice.

"Blue stone, red stone, purple stone—"

"Luke?"

"At least there would be no confusion."

"Luke, what's that sound?"

"You can hear that? It's just TJ, it's not important."

"Sounds like it might be." He'd gotten louder in the last few seconds.

"It's nothing he just wants me to walk back over there so I can help him with something for 2 minutes and then spend the next 10 listening to him complain. He can wait."

"O-ok…"

"So inventory tonight? That sounds like loads of fun," he said sarcastically.

"Well it's gotta get done—are you sure you shouldn't go see what he wants?"

"Luuuuke."

"What TJ?" Luke barked back to him, frustrated that he hadn't stopped calling out.

"Jeeze who spit in your grog? Nevermind, I'll find a way to move these boxes myself. You just finish up your little phone call, don't worry about helpin' me," he said sarcastically.

Another big sigh. He just wanted to talk to Lorelai for a few minutes… "I gotta go."

"Yeah, go before he re-injures himself and you have to stay even longer."

"God, don't even joke about that."

"Sorry. Go, we'll talk tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow."

FRIDAY NIGHT:

Luke clapped Henry on the back, bidding him goodbye before starting back towards his tent. Fishing his phone out of his pocket he saw that he'd missed a call from Lorelai and hit redial immediately.

"Hey Luke."

"Hey, sorry I missed your call earlier, I didn't even hear it ring."

"That's ok, it was nothing important, just calling to see how your day went."

"It was good. Actually, you'd be proud of me."

"I would?"

"I went to the Friday night get-together."

"That's my social butterfly. Did you have fun?"

"Wasn't too bad. Had a few beers. Nice to just sit by the fire for a while."

"Sounds nice," Lorelai replied, "Meet any new ren-folk?"

"Yeah actually. And I'm up to date on all the faire gossip."

"Ooh, spill!"

"I met this girl, they call Ocarina Jane."

"Ocarina?"

"I don't know, she's got a root vegetable stand. Quite the character from what I've heard."

"Oh yeah?"

"Nice girl I thought—more of a farmer type you know, grows her own produce."

"Sure, probably easier to sell her own stuff."

"Exactly. But apparently that's not all she's growing. Henry says that she sells pot behind the brass rubbing booth."

"No way!" Lorelai chortled. "So the root vegetable stand is just a front for her pot business?"

"I guess."

"Wow, I did not see that coming."

"Me either."

"I bet that's the more successful business. There's no way she's making enough selling vegetables alone."

"Doesn't matter, it's shady."

"Who knew you would uncover the dark side of the renaissance faire tonight–who knew the faire even had a dark side?"

"I didn't know if I believed him, you know? Nothing about her screamed pot dealer. But then a little while later she came back over and tried to sell to me."

"You?" Lorelai scoffed, "She was certainly barking up the wrong tree."

"Exactly. She said she figured since I was Liz's brother I'd be cool about it, but in the end she just called me a square and moved on."

"Who is she, Uma Thurman? Who says square anymore? She might as well have called you a fuddy-duddy."

"I don't know, I was just happy she was leaving me alone."

"I bet. I'm hoping she was the weirdest part of your night," Lorelai said leadingly.

"She was, thankfully the rest of the night was uneventful. I met this guy Hay Bale Bill—"

"That his legal name? Lorelai quipped.

"Pretty sure it's just Bill, but he handles all the hay bales around the faire—"

"Hence the name."

"Yeah."

"Is that a big job, or…?" Lorelai trailed off.

"I'm not exactly sure where or how he gets the hay…but there's a lot of it around…so I guess it's a pretty big job," he shrugged.

"Hm," Lorelai hummed in acknowledgment. "Do you think he's got some kind of back-channel hay supplier?"

Luke chuckled. "I doubt it but, you never know, they're all a little nutty over here."

"I don't know, I don't think you can call them that anymore, you've been there for over a month, you're one of them now," she teased.

"I'm not one of them. I will never be one of them."

"Have they given you a nickname yet?"

"Why would they do that?"

"Seems to be the thing over there, Hay Bale Bill, the grog booth sisters…what do they call you, diner Luke? Actually that's not bad, maybe I'll start calling you—"

"Please don't," Luke cut her off before the idea really took shape, "And most of 'em call me Lucas."

Lorelai gasped, "How come they get to call you Lucas and I can't?"

"TJ said it sounds more era appropriate so that's how he introduced me to people. They don't know any better, you do."

"I've known you longer, I should have special privileges."

"You do have special privileges."

"Dirty."

Luke blushed. "Yes—"

Lorelai blushed too.

"—but that's not what I meant. Special privileges like…you're the only person I keep the diner open late for. Well, you and Rory, but she never comes in late unless you're with her."

Lorelai's blush deepened a shade. "So you do stay open late just for me…I always suspected but I didn't want to jinx it," then, more timidly, "Why do you?"

"Well you're busy," he explained matter-of-factly, "and you need to eat. If I didn't stay open you'd probably fill up on marshmallows or something."

Lorelai smiled. She knew that in Luke-speak that just meant he was taking care of her, making sure she was ok in his own way. "Well, I appreciate the late night eats, and the company. If you were home, tonight would've been a night I stopped by."

"Oh yeah? Something happen?"

"No not really…I had dinner with my dad tonight."

"Uh oh, didn't go so well?"

"No it was fine. It was just kind of sad, seeing him so down. He really misses my mom."

"I'm sure he's not used to her being out of the country and away from him for so long."

"Oh I don't think that's really—wait, did I not tell you what's going on with them?"

"Uh, no, I don't think you did." Now back at his tent, Luke lit his camp lantern and sat on his cot. Bathed in a dull yellow glow, he took his hat off and got comfortable for the rest of their call.

"Oh well, they're, separated," Lorelai said stiltedly.

"Separated?"

"Yup."

"As is the kind of separation that comes before a divorce?"

Lorelai paused, caught off guard hearing that word applied to her parents. "Uh, well…hopefully it doesn't come to that."

"Jeeze, I'm sorry," Luke said contritely, hating that he'd spoken so thoughtlessly, "I didn't mean to imply that they would be—"

"It's ok, I know you didn't mean anything by it."

"I didn't."

"It's just weird, you know?"

"I can imagine."

"They were going through some stuff, and I thought, oh they're just fighting, they'll get over it and go back to being Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee in no time," she paused, getting more thoughtful. "But it just got worse, and the next thing I knew my mom was staying at a hotel."

"A hotel?" Luke asked in surprise. The implications of staying at a hotel away from your spouse when you were both in the same city were never good.

"She was there alone, I'm sure of it. For one, she's not the cheating type, and even if she was, the potential damage it could do to her reputation alone would've stopped her."

"Well, that's good at least, right?"

"Yeah but…just knowing that she wasn't living at home anymore…threw me. My parents have always been such a team, you know? A package deal, a can't-have-one-without-the-other kind of a thing," Lorelai paused as she let out a breath. "And of course they didn't tell us—me and Rory. They just pretended that nothing unusual was going on. At first, I tried to give them their privacy…but it was just getting to be ridiculous. The sniping and arguing…the tension was palpable whenever they were in the same room together. So, I figured, something had to give."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I invited them to the test run. They couldn't say no because, hello, family obligation is the Gilmore way."

"Right."

"I put them in a room together and figured they'd have a chance to talk—maybe work things out, maybe not, but either way, they wouldn't be stuck in this weird state of living apart but coming back together once a week for a strained and contentious family dinner."

"Ok…"

"But of course it blew up in my face. They only lasted a few hours before my mom was demanding a separate room and my dad was accusing me of trying to kill them."

"And this all happened on the night of the test run?"

"Yeah. The test run alone would have been enough for one night, but then my ex-boyfriend showed up, my parents flipped out, we kissed and Rory and I had that fight."

Luke's eyebrows raised. Suddenly her distraction later that evening made a lot more sense. At the time he'd thought it was because of their moment on the porch, but turns out she'd had a lot of things on her mind. "Wow…that was some night you had."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lorelai said candidly. "I'm not sure what happened after my parents left the inn that night, but I assume something happened because the next day Rory and my mom were on a flight out of the country."

"And you don't think the space might be good for them?"

"I don't know, they're not big on talking about their feelings. When I talk to mom, she sounds like she's having the time of her life and tonight dad just looked…defeated. I spoke to him on the phone a few weeks ago and he seemed fine then, but I don't know…from what I can tell he's been burying himself in work and the club to avoid the whole my-mom-jetting-off-to-Europe thing."

"Well, I'm sure he appreciated your company tonight."

"I hope so."

"I don't know your parents all that well, but maybe this time apart will turn out to be a good thing. Might give them perspective or something."

"Yeah, maybe," Lorelai let out a breath and smiled tiredly, "So that was my night. Yours sounded more fun."

"I don't know about fun, more interesting maybe."

"Mm."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to give you your post Friday night dinner coffee, but, I'm glad we're still ending the night together."

"Yeah," Lorelai's mouth quirked into a smile, "I guess we kind of are. You in bed yet?"

"Not yet, still have to brush my teeth and get changed."

"Me too."

"Going now?"

"I guess I should. I have to be at the inn tomorrow."

"Ok, then, I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow. Goodnight Luke."

"'Night Lorelai."

SATURDAY AFTERNOON:

Lorelai popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth as she exited the bustling kitchen at the Dragonfly. Sookie had left an hour ago to take Davie to his pediatrician for a check-up. Lorelai had convinced her to take a well-deserved night off so she wouldn't be back until the following morning. All that to say, Sookie wasn't in the kitchen twenty minutes ago when Lorelai had been on the hunt for something sweet—so she'd had to go foraging herself. Finding nothing but seasoned meat and loaves of bread on the island, she went over to the fridge. She sifted through fruits, batters and various dairy products before huffing in frustration and deciding it needed to be organized. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she shouldn't be messing with the fridge, but, Sookie had her produce on the top shelf and the chocolate was hidden away in a drawer. It was just all wrong. Everyone knew chocolate was more important than any vegetable. She worked quickly to right that injustice, and was thankful the kitchen staff was too busy prepping for dinner to notice her stealthy maneuvers. When she was done, she grabbed a few pieces of chocolate from the top shelf and left the kitchen, satisfied with her rearranging.

It was the first good feeling she'd had all day. Her mother had called this morning, put Rory on the phone and Lorelai had promptly found out that she was still enemy number one. The whole interaction just left her feeling demoralized. Rory had never been this mad at her before, or maybe she had, but it never lasted this long. They argued, they fought, pouted for a day or two…then they talked it out and they made up. They were supposed to have made up by now. The problem was…Lorelai couldn't give in. As much as she hated fighting with Rory, she couldn't gloss over what had happened just to get back on proper speaking terms with her daughter—not because she was stubborn and digging her heels in, but because this was too big. This was a life lesson that Rory needed to learn from. She just wished she knew how long this freeze out was going to last.

Keeping busy was helping to distract her away from those thoughts, so in that spirit, she made a lap around the first floor of the inn, looking for any odd jobs that needed to be done. Her phone rang when she was straightening out the coffee table magazines in the front room.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you got a minute?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Big news over here at the faire—Annie and the fruit ice guy got engaged."

Lorelai gasped, her mood instantly lifted, "Grog booth Annie?"

"Yeah."

"No way! That's so great!"

Luke beamed at the excitement he could hear in her voice. He'd expected her to react that way but it still made him happy to hear it. Truthfully, he didn't really care about the news, but it was an excuse to call Lorelai...not that he needed one anymore, but still, it felt good to have someone to call. "I thought you'd want to know."

"You thought right Mister! So how did it happen? Did he present her with a ring around a turkey leg or something?" She asked facetiously.

"Actually, you're not too far off."

"Really?"

"He put the ring in a mug of grog."

"Oh, well…how disappointingly generic."

"Oh no there's more. He put the ring in a mug of grog, Annie slammed it back, a boombox appeared out of nowhere playing REO Speedwagon—the fruit ice guy started singing along, then the two guys who play the knights in the jousting tournament showed up on horseback carrying a banner that says "Will You Marry Me?"…and all of this is happened while Annie's choking on the ring."

"Oh my God," Lorelai sputtered in laughter, imagining the scene, "Is she ok?"

"She's fine, she caught her breath, yelled yes about 50 times, then the two of them started makin' out in front of everyone," Luke rolled his eyes.

"Now that's a story for the grandkids," Lorelai said, still laughing.

"Poor grandkids."

"What was the REO song?"

"Can't Fight This Feeling."

"Right, the obvious choice. God, that must've been quite the spectacle."

"Everyone was freaking out," he said, then lowered his voice, "You'd think he was Romeo, the way some of them are acting."

"Well, maybe it didn't go exactly as planned, but it was a big romantic gesture. Maybe it was like, the renaissance equivalent of Rocky asking Adrian what she was doing for the next 40 years."

"I guess it must've been. I don't know, to me it just looked chaotic. And cheesy," Luke rolled his eyes as two people he didn't know walked by deep in discussion about wedding details. "Jeeze, they're going to be talking about this all week, aren't they?"

"Probably. It's big news, two of their friends are getting hitched!"

"Liz cried."

"Did you?"

"Oh come on," Luke scoffed.

"It's a valid question. Weddings can make even the most Jean-Claude Van Damme type of man shed a tear."

"Yeah well this was just the engagement; I'm saving my tears for the real thing."

"Yeah, yeah," Lorelai intoned.

"Ok, I gotta go," Luke said, checking the time on his watch. "Gotta take Liz to physical therapy."

"Right. You'll tell me how it's going next time?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, thanks for the update."

"Of course," he smiled. They hung up, and with a resigned sigh, he set off to find his sister.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON:

"She's going every day."

"That's a lot of exercise. Are you sure that isn't too strenuous for her?"

"I don't know—just going with what the physical therapist said. They recommend continuing the session at home as well, so we're going through everything a second time when we get back to the inn."

"Every night?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, they're really focusing on getting better huh?"

"I don't think any of us wants to drag this out longer than necessary…well, maybe TJ does. He's enjoying the couch potato lifestyle a little too much if you ask me."

"He's milking it?"

"Whenever he can," Luke grumbled, then thought of something else to tell her. "I did solve a huge problem today though."

"Oh yeah?"

"We're running low on inventory, so I rigged this thing to help Liz make more jewellery one-handed."

"How are you managing to Bob the Builder it on a faire ground in Maine?"

"Just went to the store and bought some wire clothes hangers and bent them into shape. Nothing fancy, but it works."

"Sounds great," Lorelai said encouragingly.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it before."

"Yeah, how was she managing before this?"

"She had a lot of backstock so we were putting those out, but otherwise, I just did it for her."

Lorelai's eyes widened in amusement. "You made jewellery?"

"Not really. She just told me what to do and then I did it."

"Oh my God, you made jewellery!"

Luke said nothing. Because in reality, he had made jewellery. But what was he supposed to do? He was there to help, so he'd helped.

"Oh Luke, I never figured you for the type," Lorelai teased giddily.

"I'm not."

"When you get home we should have an arts and crafts day. We can make a guitar out of tissue boxes and rubber bands, or those paper doll chains, or ooh! We can make it a town event. Stars Hollow's Craft Lottery—

"Jeeze," Luke smiled reluctantly.

"—it'll be a contest and the winner will get a set of fancy paintbrushes or something—I haven't thought that far ahead yet—"

"Lorelai—"

"—but I'll bring it up at the next meeting."

"I'm hangin' up now."

"Oh no, don't go, you still have to tell what exactly it is that you made!"

"It's six o'clock, I have to get dinner for Liz and TJ and then get them back to the inn."

"Oh. You actually do have to go."

"I do."

"Ok," she said, deflated, "I guess I'll hear about you adventures in arts and crafts later?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have thought of at least 5 other insane festivals by then."

Lorelai smiled. "Bye Luke."

"Bye."