It's the sun creeping through the window that wakes Lorelai the next morning. Her head is a little groggy from the restless sleep. Her eyes travel around the room that belongs to her daughter. They linger on the chair in the corner. Something about it reminds her of Luke. Had he sat there yesterday? Or was that just her sleepy mind grasping at a memory from her dream? She wasn't sure.

Lorelai sits up in bed, shaking the thought of Luke out of her mind. Her hand goes to her right leg and she starts gently caressing the bruise on it. It doesn't hurt as much as it did last night but it's uncomfortable. Lorelai reaches over, grabbing her phone from the bedside table. She sighs. No missed calls from Rory, just as it was all through the night. Lorelai's got her eyes on the screen, fingers are picking at the plastic case on her phone, all the while wishing she knew what was going on and how she could really help Rory.

I'm not going to call her. I'm not going to call her. Yet her finger is hovering over the call button.

'Right now she just needs some time to think.' Luke's advice from last night rings in her mind. She locks her phone and places it back on the table with an unhappy pout. Luke's gonna pay for that later.

Lorelai gets up from the bed and quickly makes it. She runs her fingers through her hair, glancing at her phone and then looking around the room. It does feel oddly empty without her daughter in it. A drop of dread sinks into her heart at the thought of this being a common sight once Rory's at Harvard in a few years. She shakes her head. There's still time to think about that.

She leaves the bedroom and heads for the kitchen. Her usual routine kicks in: grab the empty coffee jug, fill it with water, pour water into the machine, add coffee grounds, put the machine on, go upstairs and shower, change into clothes, fix hair, go back down and drink coffee.

An eerie silence surrounds the house as Lorelai sits at the kitchen table, sipping on her coffee. She stays there for a little longer before the silence becomes unbearable. She gets up and starts looking for her car keys. Lorelai checks the coffee table in the living room, the sofa, and the kitchen. Nothing to be found other than a couple of loose change. She picks up the house phone.

'Luke's,' the diner owner answers.

'Where did you hide them?' Lorelai asks him.

'Who's this?'

'It's Lorelai. What, have you been hiding other people's keys too? Luke! That's rude. I thought we had something special going on.'

There's a little pause where all Lorelai can hear is the rustle of the busy diner which makes her assume Luke is rolling his eyes or doing something like that.

'What do you need the keys for?' he asks.

'Hm, I don't know Luke, maybe to drive my car?'

'To get Rory?'

'Not yet, no. So don't worry about that. I've got the inn to get to.'

'Right. The rabbi is keeping your keys safe.'

Lorelai chuckles. 'Did you team up with everyone in the town to hide them from me?' she asks as she heads over to the little table where the dancing rabbi sits. She picks up the car keys that are hidden behind him, making the rabbi dance.

'Oh so you found it,' Luke happily ignores her question, having heard the music.

'Yep. Thanks, Luke.'

Lorelai is about to say goodbye when she hears Luke say, 'Hey.'

'Yeah?' she questions.

'Are you alright?'

'Other than feeling dumb for spending so much time like a headless chicken, going around and around and—'

'Lorelai,' he interrupts.

'Yeah, Luke, I'm okay. Thank you.'

'Okay. I'll see you later?'

'You've got the coffee.'

'That I do.'

The call ends and she's left with the thought of Luke: that subtle smile on his face, the phone still in his hand. Something about it leaves a smile on her face too, not an uncommon sight when she's just spoken to the diner man.

The streets of Stars Hollow have begun to settle for the evening. Through the calm town comes the rumble of Lorelai's Jeep. She isn't alone as Rory sits by her side. The talk they had back at the Gilmore house helped clear the air and Lorelai feels better now knowing things are going to be okay with Rory, and most importantly between the two of them.

'Hey, let me off here,' Rory says as they drive by Kim's antiques.

'Okay,' Lorelai replies as she stops the car.

'I'll meet you back at the house.' Rory unbuckles her seat belt.

'Excuse me?' Lorelai gives her a questioning look.

'I'll show up this time.'

'I'm holding you to that. I'll have the pizza waiting.'

Rory nods and then smiles at her mother before slipping out of the car. She walks over to the front door, knocks and waits until her best friend comes out to greet her.

Lorelai watches the two girls embrace. It's nice to see her daughter back on good terms with Lane. As the girls head inside Lorelai starts to drive off in the direction of home, that is until she passes by Luke's and gets a better idea.

When the bell above the door rings Lorelai expects Luke to come out of the kitchen or magically appear like he usually does, but there is no sign of him. The diner is fairly empty with only a couple in the far corner and Kirk sitting on one of the counter stools.

'Hey Kirk, where's the big boss?' she asks before sitting down a seat away from him.

'Oh, hi Lorelai. Luke? Um…he was here a second ago but then disappeared through there.' He points to the blue curtain that hides the stairs to Luke's place.

'Okay, thanks Kirk.' Lorelai waits for Luke to appear for a few seconds before sighing, getting up and going behind the counter. She grabs a mug from underneath and picks up the coffee jug.

'Do you know if this is fresh?' she asks Kirk, gesturing to the jug.

He shrugs. 'It was there when I arrived.'

'Oh wells,' she says and pours the coffee into her mug. She returns the jug back to its spot and then sits down. Lorelai takes a big sip, her eyes are fixed on the curtain. She doesn't want it to but her mind wonders what's so important that it has Luke leaving the diner pretty much unattended.

That's when the curtain is pulled and a well-dressed Luke slips from behind it. Lorelai almost spits out her coffee when she sees him, not because he doesn't look good but the complete opposite. He's jaw-dropping. Luke's wearing the clothes Lorelai had brought him yesterday and for someone who doesn't like to be GQ'd up, it sure as hell suits him.

'Lorelai?' He hadn't expected her to be here right now but he can't say that he's disappointed. He couldn't be, especially with the expression on her face right now.

'Luke…hey…um…' She has so many thoughts rushing through her mind, the first of which is a wolf whistle but thankfully even in her dazed state she knows that's probably not the best way to start things.

'You been here long?' Luke asks as he goes behind the counter to fill her cup. He stops when he notices that her mug already has coffee in it. 'You went behind my counter?'

'You were taking so long, and I was desperate for some coffee. Can't blame a girl, can you?'

'Maybe not a girl but you, yeah, I can blame you,' he says but the smile he's sporting shows he's not annoyed one bit. Maybe if it had been Kirk.

'Oh hey, how's Rory?' he asks, worry sinking into his once happy features at the thought of the girl and all that's been happening with her recently.

Lorelai smiles because of course he would remember to ask. He cares about her daughter. He's one of the few male figures in her life that really does.

'She's better Luke, thanks and so are we. I went to Hartford to pick her up from my parent's house after school. We sat. We talked. It helped.'

'I'm glad to hear it. So, you're okay?

'Yeah, but in an urgent need of comfort food and nothing screams comfort food more than Luke's,' she says not even caring that she had minutes before told Rory pizza was their chosen dinner for tonight. It's not like Rory will mind, the girl loves Luke's as much as her mother does.

'I'll get Caesar to make you whatever you guys want.'

'Oh right, no flannel means no cooking Luke.' She points to his outfit.

'Yep, no flannel. You want burgers?'

'Nah, that's okay. I promised Rory I would have pizza waiting for her anyway,' she says, trying to hide her disappointment.

He nods, although the confusion on his features is noticeable. 'At least take a doughnut or two.'

'Add two coffees to go and you've got a deal.' She smiles and watches him grab her little order. 'Thanks, Luke,' she says as he places her things on the counter beside her. 'So, what's with the nice digs? I didn't think you liked getting all suited up.'

Luke leans on the counter behind him, his eyes on her. 'Didn't say I didn't like it, just that you preferred it on me.'

'You do look good but I can't say I'm not a fan of the flannel either.'

Luke smirks and leans forward now, getting closer to Lorelai. 'How good?' The way he says it, soft and low with a hint of flirtation, sends a shiver through her.

Lorelai leans forward, matching his movements with a slight eagerness that she probably shouldn't have, but it's not something that can currently be helped. How could it when she can smell his aftershave and the open shirt has her hooked? Hooked on the idea of sliding her hand under his shirt through that gap. Feeling his warm skin and knowing exactly how his body might react under her touch.

Before anything could happen, if it was even going to happen, Luke steps away. Right then Rachel slips out from behind the curtain that Luke not long ago had come from too. She's wearing an elegant dress that complements her figure extremely well and has Lorelai suddenly very jealous. She's holding her jacket in one hand, the other holding her purse. 'Um, Luke, you ready?' Rachel asks.

He nods, 'Yep, I'm ready. He rubs his hands as he gets out from behind the counter and stands next to the beautiful photographer.

'Hey Lorelai, how's Rory?' Rachel asks, her hand reaching out to touch Lorelai's for a brief moment.

'Oh, she's okay. You know we set out the search party, put up some lost posters, and then I got a call from my Mum up in Hartford, which was worse than her ending up anywhere else, but all is good now. She's hopefully back home and on that note, I should be going.'

'That's great. I'm glad things are good.' Rachel smiles softly at her.

Lorelai wishes she could hate her because then maybe it would make the jealousy that she so dislikes more justified. She slides off the chair, coffees and the bag of doughnuts in hand. 'I hope you both have a nice night.'

'Thank you. You too,' Rachel replies.

Luke puts his hand up to say bye to her but Lorelai's heading to the door with a deep determination that he's unsure if she even noticed.

She leaves and the cold afternoon air helps refresh her. She goes into the Jeep, not focusing on the way Luke has his hand on Rachel's back as they walk out of the diner. Lorelai shakes her head. She's just jealous of the couple life they have, clearly she's missing that kind of thing.

'I should call Max. Yeah, that will solve this feeling.' Even as she says it, she knows it wouldn't do anything but distract her and yet a distraction sounded good right now. But before any of that, it was time to go back to her daughter and have a lovely night with her.

Two pizza slices sit cold on the open pizza box that's stacked on the coffee table. Beside it are the empty Luke's diner coffee cups, and the bag that has only a few sprinkles left from the doughnuts they ate. The glow from the TV is the only light illuminating the girls on the sofa. Rory is laying down across it, her head on Lorelai's lap who is sitting on the sofa in a similar way that Luke was last night.

Rory's eyes are closed, and from her soft and steady breathing, Lorelai suspects she's fallen asleep. Her slightly rose-coloured cheeks and the way her features are completely at rest makes Lorelai smile. She gently runs her finger on the little scar on the left side of Rory's face, the one she got years ago from chickenpox. She's grown so much since then, but she'll always be Lorelai's little girl. Lorelai brushes her fingers through Rory's thin hair.

One night away from her and she can't help but feel like part of her has finally returned. As she glances down, the many memories of having Rory in her arms as a baby, even a child, goes through Lorelai's mind. How time has flown by. Her baby. Her whole world.

The house phone rings.

'Damn,' she mumbles while she tries reaching for the phone that's on the table quick enough for it not to wake Rory. It wasn't successful as the moment she says 'Hello' she sees Rory opening her eyes, confused.

'Lorelai,' Max's voice spills out of the phone.

'Max, hi.'

Rory's eyes widen slightly at the realisation of who's on the other line. She starts moving away from her mother's lap but Lorelai shakes her head, stopping Rory's movements.

'Is this a bad time?' He asks.

'Um…I'm a little bit busy.'

Rory looks at Lorela slightly confused as to why her mother said that. 'Talk to him, I'll be in my room,' she whispers and this time actually gets up. She heads for her bedroom, leaving her mother with a pout on her face, and the space to finally talk to her boyfriend.

'I'm sorry, I've been calling and I hadn't heard back from you. I was concerned.'

'No Max, I'm sorry. I should have called back. It's just that Rory did a disappearing act yesterday and it's been a hectic time.'

'Disappearing act? Is she okay?'

Lorelai smiles softly at his questions. 'Yeah, she's okay. The breakup hit her harder than expected. We had a fight and it led to her running away to my parent's house of all places.'

'That wasn't too bad. At least she was with your parents.'

'You don't know Emily Gilmore. It not being "too bad" is an understatement. But, things are better now.'

'I'm glad. What did you two fight about?'

'Oh, um…you.' Lorelai grabs one of the pillows and hugs it to her as she leans back on the sofa.

'Me?'

'Yeah, it started with you and the fact that I hadn't told her about us talking again. It was only part of it. The Dean thing has been a lot, but I think we've gone past the hard part now.' Lorelai glances over in the direction of Rory's room and smiles at the thought.

'Can I ask you a question?'

'Go ahead.'

'Why didn't you tell Rory about us?'

Lorelai bites on her lower lip for a second before answering. 'She was just so upset, you know, about Dean and I didn't think it was the best time to be giving her my happy, happy news.'

'Okay, I get that. But, you've told other people, right?'

'Other people? What, other people?'

'I don't know. Your friends. Sookie?'

She shakes her head even though he can't see. 'Um...no, I haven't.'

'Why not?' His voice sounds a little confused and maybe there's a hint of hurt, although Lorelai is trying not to dwell on that fact. It's not like she meant to not tell anyone.

'I don't know, it just hasn't come up.'

'It hasn't? You aren't avoiding talking about us to other people, are you?'

'Max. No.'

'We've been talking for at least two weeks now. I just thought that at some point that would have come up for you.'

'Yeah, but you don't just go up to people and say out of the blue "Hey, Max and I are talking again." It needs to come up naturally.'

'Well...yes.., but for me, it managed to come up naturally within two days at two different times.'

She picks at the corner of the pillow she has on her lap. 'Clearly, you're a better people person than I am.'

Max sighs and then says, 'I just want to know if there's a reason you don't want people to know so that we can talk about it.'

'Max. There's no reason.'

'You sure?'

'I'm sure.'

'Okay.'

Lorelai glances down at the pillow and says, 'Okay.'

There's a silence between them that just makes being on the phone slightly awkward.

'Lorelai?'

'Max.'

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—'

'I know. Don't worry.'

'Are we still on for Saturday night?' he asks.

'Yes, we're still on.' Part of her wants to say no but she has no good reason to decline. This is what she wants. That's why she was so jealous of Luke and Rachel, she wants someone to date and here's Max. Perfect person, right?

His voice pierces through her thoughts when he says, 'Okay, I'll leave you then.'

'Night,' she says into the phone before turning it off. Lorelai looks down at the pillow on her lap before pushing it to her face with a deep sigh. Things are weird. She feels weird. Her mind and heart are two muddled organs, making her completely confused.

She likes Max. She enjoys his company and is more than glad they're back to talking to each other after the breakup. Their talks have been nice and something she looks forward to each week, and yet she didn't tell anyone about it. Lorelai can justify not telling Rory, but Max was right in questioning everyone else, especially Sookie. It would have been the first thing they talked about when she walked into the inn's kitchen to get her morning coffee.

Lorelai closes her eyes and lays down on the sofa, head back into the pillows behind her. She sighs again and this time she notices something. It's a smell: coffee, mixed with baked foods, and something else that instantly screams Luke to her. The moment she realises her shoulders lose the tense feeling it had ever since Max called. She's relaxed as her mind starts drifting to the thought of Luke, of how he came rushing to help her right away when she called him. Even when it was an important night for him. He spent the whole evening trying to keep her sane and comforting her. Her knight in plaid. She smiles at this. Not many people would do what Luke has done for her and she knows this.

'Mum?'

'Huh?' Lorelai lifts her head up and glances over at Rory, who's leaning on the archway entrance to the kitchen.

'You okay? Are things with you and Max…, are they okay?'

Lorelai sits up, pulling at her pyjama top to straighten it out. 'Yeah, we're okay. It's just…' She shrugs, not even sure what she wants to say or what feels odd.

Rory comes over to the sofa. 'Do you want to try to figure it out?'

Lorelai smiles at her daughter but shakes her head. 'That's sweet of you babe, but I'm okay.' She reaches out and takes Rory's hand, giving it a little squeeze.

'Okay, but if you need me.'

'I know.' Lorelai stands up and kisses Rory's cheek. 'Goodnight, babe.'

'Night, Mum.' Rory heads back to her room.

Once Rory's door closes Lorelai goes upstairs to get into bed.

Lorelai is sitting at her dressing table working on her makeup for her date night. The music from Rory's room can be heard up here and it's a nice atmosphere for her to get ready in. She loves that the girls are taking turns to pick music and as she applies her mascara she's guessing if this is Lane's choice or Rory's. She's not even sure what artist it is as the music is muffled and the beat is all she can really make out, but she's going to guess Lane.

She looks at her reflection, smiling at the work she's done. Nothing too crazy, just a little eye shadow and a lovely dark red lipstick that goes well with her top. He'll love the effort. He always seems to. She glances over at the clock on her bedside table. He'll be here soon.

She gets up, rubbing her hands on her skirt to straighten it out. Lorelai crouches down to pluck her boots from her wardrobe. She slides one foot into the boot, quickly doing the same with the other.

'Okay, okay, what's next?' she asks herself as she looks around the room. She knows she's missing something but she isn't sure what. She sighs and rushes out of the room, going downstairs.

'Rory!' she calls out as she knocks on her daughter's door.

It swings open a minute after and the girl in question pops out of her room. 'Yes?' she asks, looking at her mother with a questioning look.

'I'm missing something?'

Rory twirls her index finger in the air and Lorelai does a 360 turn. Her daughter inspects her and then grins. 'You look beautiful. He's gonna be stunned.'

Lorelai smiles and tucks her hair behind her ear. 'I hope so.'

'Oh, I know what you're missing,' Rory says and points.

Lorelai puts her hand over her ear. 'Earrings! Of course.' She leans over and kisses Rory's cheek. 'Thank you, babe.' She starts rushing back up to her room, taking the stairs two steps at a time.

She gets into her room and searches for her hoop earrings. On her table behind a book Rory has given her that she has yet to read, is where she finds her earrings. Lorelai puts them on and double-checks her figure in the mirror.

'Perfect.'

The sound of the door makes Lorelai's heart beat a little faster. She shouldn't be feeling so eager, or nervous. It's not like this is their first date. That happened already and god was it magical.

Another knock on the door that gets lost between the sound of a new song being played on Rory's stereo. Lorelai grabs her purse and heads down.

She takes her jacket from the cupboard in the foyer and then opens the door.

'Hey,' he says when the door opens and he gets to see the beautiful woman he's taking out on another date. 'You ready?'

She grins and nods before saying, 'So ready.' Lorelai grabs her keys from the little table by the door and then steps out of the house. She's in front of him now. The smell of his cologne mingles with her perfume as she pulls him in for a kiss.

They move apart and she smiles at Luke, completely lost in his gentle blue eyes.

Wait. Luke? No, that doesn't make sense. Max. It should be Max. Right?

'Lorelai?' Luke asks concern overtaking his face as he reaches to touch her arm in comfort.

She shakes her head and mumbles, 'It shouldn't be you.'

He gives her arm a soft squeeze with that strong, worked-on hand of his, telling her to glance up at him, and she does. He's looking at her with all this soul, with his features soft and his eyes calling to her, wanting Lorelai to really see the love that's laced between the hues of blue.

'No, Lorelai. It should.'