So It Begins..

She never made many phone calls in a week unless they were to Rory. But this was Luke. And she hadn't felt this way about someone in a long time—not Jason, not Alex, maybe not even Max.

He started calling her in the mornings, like her own personal wake up call. She let him talk then, just listening to his voice as she stayed under the covers a few extra minutes.

If she had time, she'd find a quiet place (although she was starting to think there was no such thing at the Dragonfly) and call him back. Sometimes he would be busy and she could hear Liz or TJ in the background. She wondered if Luke had said anything to Liz. Then her mind wandered to Luke dressed in period costume.

The fourth night it hit her hard that Rory was gone for the summer, that their relationship had changed in an instant and Lorelai was afraid she wouldn't be able to get it back. Rory really was her, just three years behind. She called Luke then and he tried to comfort her, saying whatever had happened between she and Rory (because she didn't tell him the details, just that they had fought) would be resolved sooner than she thought.

"Just hang in there a few more days and I'll be back to distract you."

Lorelai laughed. "I'm holding you to that."

The day before Luke came home, Lorelai was having dinner with Sookie, Jackson and Davy. Her phone rang during dinner and she apologized to Sookie.

"Who is it? Rory?"

"No, probably Luke." Sookie giggled and bounced up and down.

"Hello?"

"Lorelai!" The voice was clearly female. "This is Liz!"

"Oh, hey! How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks. Luke was sweet to come help out."

"Yeah, he was."

"He tells me you two are together. That's great! I'm just sorry we had to drag him away from you for a week."

"Oh, that's okay. You needed him more than I did."

"Uh oh, here he is. He's not going to be too happy I called you--" Lorelai laughed as she heard a scuffle and Luke's voice yell, "Liz!"

"She's still alive, right?"

"Yeah, she's fine. She's vicious with that cast though. Sorry she called, she's such a sneak."

"It's okay. At least you have a sibling to fight with."

"Believe me, sometimes they're more trouble than they're worth." Lorelai heard Liz object in the background. "So what are you up to?"

"I'm over at Sookie's actually. I better get back."

"Alright. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

Lorelai beamed. "Good. And Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I haven't changed my mind."

His voice softened. "Good to hear."

It was well past three a.m. that morning when Lorelai was startled awake by a pounding downstairs.

"What the hell?" She mumbled as she pulled on her slippers and padded over to the window. Luke's truck was in the driveway. Lorelai did a little jump in the air and flew downstairs. "Hey," she smiled at him as he stood on her porch, hands in his pockets. "Come in. I bet you're exhausted."

"It was worth it." Luke stepped inside and before she'd wrapped her mind around the fact that Luke was here, his lips were on hers and Lorelai's mind went whirling in a different direction.

"Well good to know I wasn't exaggerating it in my head." She breathed as they broke apart. "I'm so glad you're back." She shifted awkwardly under his gaze.

His mouth twitched at the corners like it did when he was trying not to laugh. "I'm glad too."

"You want something to drink? Tea?"

"I don't want to keep you up." Lorelai hadn't even realized until just then that they were still about two feet apart from each other and Luke's hand was on her arm.

"Are you kidding? I want to hear all about Liz and TJ. And being a renaissancer? Renaissance person, I guess."

Luke chuckled. "The place where they had it was a lot nicer than I thought. The town was in between these ranges of mountains, we'll have to go there sometime."

Lorelai froze for a second. Who was this Luke and what had happened to the old one?

Then she realized she didn't even care. A lot of things had changed that night at the Dragonfly and this one, she hoped, was for the better.

"So how's the inn? Did the second round go well?"

Lorelai smiled, comprehending his look. "Oh, that's not until tomorrow. But I think it'll go smoothly."

"How about dinner afterwards? To celebrate?"

"Perfect. So did you have to wear a fruity outfit?"

"Lorelai!"

"You did! Ha, I knew it. Did Liz take pictures?" Luke laughed and shook his head.

fade out

fin