Author's Note: Many, many apologies for the long break in writing without warning. It wasn't planned, I just had such an outrageous amount of homework and extracurriculars to do (I think I may have gotten in over my head) that I had no time to write. Also, this chapter is about twice the length of my others because……IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER! SURPRISE! I know, it's kinda sudden, and I really was planning on more, but I squeezed it all into this because I don't think I'm going to have enough time to write multiple chapter stories this school year. Even though I just randomly decided to end it, though I don't think it sounds like it cuts off at the end- I hope you all agree with me.

Anyway, I'll take this last opportunity to thank all of my faithful reviewers- You all have no idea how grateful I am to all of you- even though I keep whining about wanting more reviews, I honestly never expected to get so many for my first fic. Thank you all so much, and I hope you all continue to read any stories I find time to write.

To all you non-reviewers- although I would still reeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaallllly appreciate it if you broke down and clicked that review button, I'm going to give you a break- since it's the last chapter, no pathetic begging on my part. YAY!

Disclaimer: Breaking News! Gilmore Girls- not mine!

Chapter 7

"DON'T WORRY, I'M COMING- DON'T START THE PROTESTING WITHOUT ME!" Lorelai was running down the street in the direction of Al's Pancake house, attempting to scarf down her pie while screaming at the group of people assembled. "I'M SORRY I'M LATE…I'LL PRACTICE YELLING STUFF NOW… NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER! WHERE'S THE BEEF?!?!?!" As it turned out, her worries about being late were unfounded- she arrived at the soon to be picket line to see a dozen or so townspeople crowded into a small group, urgently whispering to each other. Lorelai stopped about two feet away from the gathering, and seeing they had yet to notice her presence commented, "Jeez guys, don't be so excited to see me."

At the sound of her voice, every member of the huddle jumped at least a foot into the air. "Lorelai" Miss Patty gushed from the middle of the pack, "You're here! That's… fantastic!" She emerged from the mob and after a moment of silence she cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "We were just setting up before the bulk of the protesters arrived, isn't that right everyone?" The rest of the townspeople responded by making general noises of consent.

Lorelai looked around at the protest area, which so far consisted of exactly one erected folding table, and commented, "Well you're doing a great job."

The group quickly dispersed to their individual stations, and as Lorelai didn't have anyone to yell at yet, she went to help Sookie set up her food table. As she approached her best friend she motioned to the fellow protesters, many of whom were still staring at her, and asked, "What was slipped into their coffee this morning?"

Sookie averted her eyes away from Lorelai's uncomfortably, attempting to change the subject by discussing food arangements. "Do you think I should move the Pao de Queijo and the Acaraje away from each other? They're both Brazilian, so I'm not sure if I should keep them together or put them on different sides of the table to keep things varied."

"What do you know that I don't?" Lorelai asked her flustered friend, eyeing her suspiciously. "Was everybody talking about me? What were they saying?" Sookie stared at the sidewalk, determined to stay silent, when Lorelai said, "I swear Sookie, if you don't tell me what they're saying, I'm going to tell Jackson about the time you used his toothbrush to---"

"Okay fine, I'll tell you," Sookie broke, "but you can't let anyone know. Miss Patty made everyone swear on the eternal soul of Bob Marley that we wouldn't tell anyone. Ok, so here it goes." She paused while Lorelai looked at her expectantly. "Um…BabettecalledMissPattyandnoweveryoneknowsyouandLukeslepttogether," she said hastily.

Lorelai took a few seconds to comprehend what Sookie had spit out so quickly, and then her mouth unhinged and her eyes flew wide open in an expression of shock and horror. "WHAT?!?!" she screamed, and then quieted down when everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her. "Oh my God," she hissed, "Why would Miss Patty tell everyone that I slept with Luke? And how would Babette know that…oh, damn it- must have seen me coming from Luke's this morning and called Miss Patty and told her that… but, I mean, I did spend the night there but we---"

"HONK!!!!" Lorelai was interrupted by the arrival of Taylor, again on his scooter, to which he had added a rather loud and obnoxious horn. His Dosie's market uniform shirt also had a new addition- a shiny, gold star that looked suspiciously like a sheriff's badge from a child's Halloween costume. "Good morning ladies," he said in a brisk, businesslike fashion. "Come to observe the goings ons at the protest site- I volunteered my services as a town council representative to observe the protesting and make sure everything is in order," he said, gesturing to his star badge as if it were a tangible symbol of his importance. He scanned the area and said, "Hmph…not much has gotten underway yet I see."

"Er…I'm sure they were just waiting for you to arrive before making any big decisions Taylor," Lorelai said, attempting to put off the inevitable event that is the Taylor-rant. Her stalling tactics worked temporarily, because he turned to face her and nodded.

Taylor caught site of Sookie's food table, and commented, "I see you've been put in charge of the culinary aspect of the protest." Sookie nodded and he asked, "Do you have a cart-kiosk permit for that stand?"

"Eat Pao de Queijo Taylor," Lorelai said, stuffing a piece of Sookie's international cuisine in his mouth to silence him and spinning him around to face another group of people that he set off to harass.

Lorelai spent the next fifteen minutes of set-up time explaining the truth about what happened last night to Sookie, who, of course, responded by telling Lorelai that she never believed she would have slept with Luke on the first date anyway. "Actually, the only reason I was even in that group Miss Patty was talking to is because I wanted to defend your honor," she explained.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Sure Sookie," she said, and was then immediately distracted by the appearance of a large, shiny, black car.

"HE'S HERE!" Miss Patty screamed, "POSITIONS, EVERYONE!" She scrambled over to Lorelai and shoved a folding chair and megaphone at her. "Stand on the chair so everyone can see you," she commanded, "and when the new owner gets out of the car, start yelling into the microphone."

Taylor ambled up behind Lorelai as she was climbing up onto the chair and said, "Yes, and make sure to talk clearly- I can't wait to hear what biting slogan our town mistress of wit has dreamed up for the protest."

"Um…you wanted a witty slogan?" Lorelai asked worriedly, but anything else she had to say was drowned out by the boos of the crowd when the car door opened and a middle-aged business-y looking man stepped outside. Miss Patty jabbed her with her elbow, and she held the megaphone up to her mouth and shouted, "UM… WE WANT AL'S PANCAKES! GIVE US AL'S PANCAKES!"

Miss Patty and Taylor threw her questioning glances, which she responded to with a sheepish shrug. "Wow," Taylor sarcastically commented, "That just knocked the socks right off of him, now, didn't it?"

"Give her a break Taylor, she's just tired- had quite the time last night, didn't you dear?" Miss Patty asked, winking suggestively.

Lorelai groaned in exasperation. "Miss Patty, I know what you think happened with me and… well you know, but you've gotten just a little confused. Absolutely NOTHING along the lines that you're thinking happened," Lorelai explained, and then turned to the crowd and screamed into the megaphone, "DOWN WITH SKATE PARKS!"

"What are you two talking about?" Taylor asked, looking confused.

Miss Patty looked at Lorelai and said, "It's okay honey, you don't have to be embarrassed, we've all known it was coming for a while now." She turned to Taylor and stated, "I have information from a very reliable source that Miss Gilmore here spent a very… 'fun' night with a Mister Luke Dan---"

"Miss Patty! That is so far from true it's in the same realm as alien abductions and Elvis still being alive!" Lorelai yelled exasperatedly. She then turned to the megaphone and shouted, "WE WANT PANCAKES, NOT PUNKS!"

"Lorelai, don't be outrageous, you were seen coming out of his place early in the morning," Miss Patty stated slowly, as if talking to a small child. "What else would you have been doing at his house overnight?"

"And she's wearing the same clothes as yesterday." Lorelai, Miss Patty, and Taylor turned to see Kirk standing behind them, eating something that looked like squid from Sookie's table. "I remember seeing how you and Luke were nearly the only ones who attended my movie premiere." Recalling the disappointment of his big debut, Kirk grew slightly teary-eyed and dabbed at his eyes with the paper cup holding the squid-like food. "ARGH! PEPPER!" he screamed, rubbing his eye while running away, leaving the others to process this new piece of information.

Lorelai glanced after him uncomfortably, and said as calmly as possible, "Okay, it is true that I spent the night at Luke's, but it's only because I fell asleep at Kirk's movie. He couldn't wake me up and didn't want to carry me all the way back to my house, so he just took me over to his place. I just slept there- that's all."

Miss Patty looked at her skeptically. "I don't know, Lorelai, it seems like a kind of far-fetched story- I mean, what sane person would sleep in the same place as that hunky man-toy without just a little…fondling," she said, looking dreamily at Lorelai, who stared, slightly repulsed, back.

"And this whole movie deal," Taylor chimed in, "sounds quite a bit like a date. And thanks to the corruptible force watched by children all over the world known as television, we all know what happens afterwards."

"You guys!" Lorelai yelled, throwing her free hand into the air in exasperation, "I did not sleep with Luke!" She glared at them, and then in frustration shouted, "WE WANT AL'S PANCAKES!" at the form retreating into the building.

Miss Patty looked at her smugly and said, "Well I think that you did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"I DID NOT SLEEP WITH LUKE DANES!" Lorelai screamed, and all of the protesters went silent. She realized that she had accidentally shouted the last sentence into the megaphone, amplifying it for all to hear. "Shit," she cursed under her breath, and then heard a voice behind her.

"Uh…Lorelai?"

She turned around on her chair, and saw Luke standing about ten feet behind her, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. He looked around the crowd awkwardly, and then said, "I brought you a cup of coffee… you know, to make up for not giving you one yesterday…but maybe we should talk a little before I give it to you." Lorelai nodded meekly, and hopped off the chair, walking towards him. When she had reached him, Luke cleared his throat- all of the protesters had followed her, and were now listening intently to whatever he might say. "I kind of meant that I'd like to talk to her alone," Luke explained.

"Oh…right…yea…gotcha…" the crowd murmured, turning and walking back to their original positions.

Luke looked at Lorelai for a moment, and then said, "Er… lets walk." She nodded again and they set off down the street. "So… what was that all about?"

Lorelai looked down at the ground as she answered, "Babette saw me leaving your place this morning. She kind of assumed the worst, and then called Miss Patty, who told everyone that we… well, you heard."

"Yea, I did," Luke replied, "And I'm kind of assuming what I witnessed was your attempt to let them know they were wrong?"

"You could say that," Lorelai said.

Luke kicked at a rock lying on the sidewalk. "Well I'd say that they got the message."

They walked in silence for a few steps, until Lorelai asked, "Are you angry?"

"Not really," Luke said after a moment's hesitation, "It's just that this kind of makes it seem like you still don't really want to date me."

"That's so not true Luke and you know it!" Lorelai exclaimed. "I don't know why you insist upon thinking I don't really like you, because I do! I mean, I'm not ready to repeal my abstinence announcement yet, but I do want to date you. I never denied that in front of everyone at the protest." She stopped walking and looked him in the eyes. "We should really stop trying to hide this from people- I mean, that's kind of why we always end up arguing. Let's go back to the protest and just get this whole us thing out in the open."

"Sounds good to me," said Luke, and gently grabbed Lorelai's hand. They turned to walk back to Al's, but immediately saw they didn't need to, since all of the protesters were scattering- apparently the it was over.

Miss Patty was walking by, smiling at the sight of Lorelai and Luke holing hands. "What's going on?" Lorelai asked her.

"It's all over," said Miss Patty, a look of both relief and fear gracing her visage, "The skate park isn't going to be built."

"So we won?" squealed Lorelai excitedly.

"Not exactly," said Miss Patty. Seeing the couple's confusion, she elaborated. "Taylor went inside to talk to the new owner. He ended up buying it off of him." She looked slightly despaired, and began to walk towards her dance studio, saying, "So long you two- I think I need to lie down."

Lorelai looked up at Luke and said, "This is just another step closer to world domination. Taylor's going to rule everything and make us all wear pleated pants and ride motorized scooters. Save me."

Luke rolled his eyes, and pulled Lorelai close to kiss her forehead as he had done when she was asleep. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe- I'd never sell the diner, and I'm technically his landlord for that damn ice cream place. I'll keep dictator-Taylor in check."

"Oh Luke, you're so valiant and noble," Lorelai fake-swooned. She laughed and looked up into his eyes.

"My knight in plaid flannel."

Authors Note: Ouch. My head hurts. Much yelling in this scene- I hope you found it entertaining… Okay, I lied about the begging thing. One last time- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!