Stars Hollow did not get new residents often—Luke Danes should know, as he'd lived there his whole life. Sometimes people moved away, but they usually came back. Tourists came, but they left once they got their fill of small town life. But new residents? That was almost unheard of.

"Look, there she is!" Miss Patty said just as Luke was setting her platter of pancakes in front of her. She almost knocked into Luke while elbowing Babette.

"Oh, what a doll!" Babette gushed while Luke re-filled her coffee cup. The whole town was buzzing about the new girl in town—and she was a girl, newly eighteen and with a baby in tow.

Luke knew plenty about the girl from talk around town: Mia had given her a maid job at the Independence Inn, where the girl and her baby also lived. From Mia, she already had a reputation as a hard worker. From Sookie, she had a reputation as vivacious and funny. She'd only been in town for about a week. No one knew where she'd come from.

Her name was Lorelai Gilmore. Her daughter's name was Rory. There was no father to speak of.

"Luke, honey, look up for once. It won't kill you to take a look at a pretty girl once in a while," Miss Patty chided him.

Since it was Stars Hollow, the whole town knew that Rachel, Luke's long-time girlfriend, had recently skipped town. Rachel left because Luke wouldn't. He wanted his diner, she wanted adventure.

Luke rolled his eyes and looked up to appease the older women. He knew very well the trouble he could get into by not appeasing Miss Patty and Babette.

Strolling around town with Sookie, her baby on her hip, was the infamous Lorelai Gilmore.

Luke knew a lot about Lorelai Gilmore, but here are some things he didn't know until he saw her: that she had wild dark curls, that her eyes were strikingly blue, that she had a presence about her that was strong and unapologetic.

The rest of Stars Hollow fell away. Luke only saw Lorelai as she passed by the diner.

"Oh, goodness, we can't be caught staring! We'll scare the poor girl! Look down, look down!" Babette exclaimed. The rest of the diner followed her suit, but not Luke. His eyes were stuck on her.

Rory, the baby, had her hand in her mom's hair, playing with a curl. Lorelai didn't move her hand away, allowing the baby to twist the strand around her tiny fingers. Just as she and Sookie passed the diner, Lorelai looked in Luke's direction.

She made eye contact with Luke, and he felt a jolt he hadn't felt before. Not with Rachel, nor Anna before her. Certainly not Crazy Carrie, who he did make out with under the bleachers in high school, even if he emphatically denies it presently.

No, this was like an electric bolt to his heart, making it double and triple its pace as Lorelai's blue eyes gave him a once over. It was quick, just a second, but Lorelai must have decided she liked what she saw.

When her eyes met Luke's again, she gave him a big, bright smile. Luke felt like he was on autopilot as his own mouth stretched into a smile and he raised his hand in a small wave.

During this exchange, Babette and Miss Patty's attention shifted from the new girl to the good old boy.

"She is gonna do great things to this town," Miss Patty said with a smirk, giving Babette a smirk.

"What are you two on about?" Luke mumbled at them, taking a rag from his pocket and wiping down a table no one had even sat at that morning. He felt like he needed to give his hands, which were shaking ever so slightly, something to do.

Lorelai Gilmore, new girl in town. For the first time, Luke was glad that Stars Hollow was as small as it was—it meant there would almost definitely be more Lorelai Gilmore in his future.