Lorelai lay in her bed, biting her lip nervously as she thought about what had happened just minutes before. The scene played through her mind over and over. The tone of Christopher’s voice, the anger on his face, the embarrassment she felt as he stood there yelling at her in the middle of the diner. It was all so vivid in her mind and made her wince every time she thought about it.

After the scene had taken place, she couldn’t stay there any longer. As soon as Rory had come back into the diner, Lorelai had made an excuse to get out of there, pretending she wasn’t feeling well and explaining that she had to go home to lie down. Rory offered to go with her but Lorelai insisted that she stay and eat, handing her some money and leaving the diner in a rush.

And that’s where she was now, staring at the ceiling feeling confused and upset. She realized that it was partially her fault, that maybe telling Christopher how she was feeling wasn’t the brightest idea, especially since he had been the one waiting for her all of those years. But still, his overreaction made Lorelai so mad – and the fact that he had gotten so angry made her wonder what exactly was going on in his mind.

However, Lorelai had to admit that what she had said to him was true. She was ready to let go of that picture of them together, ready to realize that she would now be able to love someone else like she had loved Christopher, ready to move on.

When Rory arrived home, she found her mom upstairs on her bed with her hands across her face. “Mom? How are you? Are you okay?” she asked, obviously concerned.

Lorelai removed her hands and opened her eyes, forcing a smile. “Yeah, hon, I’m feeling better already. Just needed to lie down, that’s all.”

“Oh, good. Can I get you anything?” Rory asked, sitting down next to her on the bed.

Lorelai shook her head. “No, thanks.” She placed her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. Rory leaned back against the pillow and did the same thing.

“Mom?”

“Hmm?”

“What did you mean when you said, should it have been me?” Rory asked quietly.

Lorelai didn’t answer her right away. She opened her eyes and saw Rory staring at her. Lorelai sighed and said, “I don’t know. It’s . . . it’s nothing, really. Just something that your grandma said last night.”

“She said that it should’ve been you?” Rory asked, narrowing her eyes. “It should have been you doing what?”

Lorelai sighed. “Doing nothing. It’s no big deal. Forget it.”

“Well, you wanted to know my opinion half an hour ago, why don’t you want to know it now?” Rory asked.

Lorelai let out a deep sigh. “Trust me, a lot can change in thirty minutes, especially with my big mouth.”

“With your big . . .” Rory paused for a moment.

“Rory, forget it, it’s nothing,” Lorelai insisted.

“Did something happen with Dad?” Rory asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. “Rory, please, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“But something happened with Dad, didn’t it?” Rory persisted.

Lorelai sat up with an exasperated sigh. “Yes, something happened with Dad. We had an argument and I do not want to talk about it right now, Rory. Please drop it?” she begged.

Rory nodded quickly. “Okay, sorry.” She leaned over and hugged Lorelai, then stood up. “I’m gonna go work on some homework.”

“Thank you.” Lorelai fell back against her pillows with a sigh as Rory walked out of the room.

* * *

Two days later, on Monday morning, Lorelai walked into the Independence Inn, her high heels clicking rhythmically as she walked towards the kitchen. She pushed open the door and immediately headed for the coffee maker. "Morning Sookie," she said, not even looking around. She poured herself a cup of coffee and brought it to her nose, inhaling the aroma deeply before taking a sip.

Hearing nothing in return, she finally glanced up and looked for Sookie. She scanned the kitchen, seeing a number of other chefs mustering around, but narrowed her eyes at Sookie's absence. She walked towards the door to the dining room and pushed it open. She stuck her head out and glanced around. "Hmm," she said, not seeing Sookie there either. She walked back across the kitchen, shrugging to herself as she started to head back into the lobby.

Suddenly the back door flew open and Sookie hurried in carrying a crate. She placed it on the counter next to two others as Jackson walked through the door carrying two more. "Sookie, you really didn't have to help, I could've made another trip to get it."

"Yes, I know," Sookie replied. "But the sooner we get them in, the sooner I can start." She walked to the sink and washed her hands, then walked back to the crate and pulled out several containers of strawberries.

Lorelai walked towards them. "Hey. Whatcha got there?" She leaned against the counter and sipped her coffee.

Sookie looked at her and smiled. "Oh, morning honey," Sookie said. She pulled out a stack of large bowls and lined them up in front of her.

"Sookie wants to make a bunch of fruit topped pancakes for the breakfast buffet today," Jackson said with a sigh.

Lorelai nodded. "Ah, and she decided this when?"

Jackson checked his watch. "Thirty minutes ago."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Of course. That's my maestro."

Jackson sighed. "Okay, I think you have everything you need Sookie. Now can I go back to my scheduled deliveries?"

Sookie smiled at him. "Yes, goodbye," she replied. "Thank you."

Lorelai gave Jackson a wave as he headed out the back door. She watched as Sookie took out a container of blueberries and dumped them into one of the bowls. “So what’s up with you, honey? Anything new?”

Lorelai sighed.

Sookie winced. “Yikes, that wasn’t a good sigh. What happened?”

Lorelai clenched her eyes shut tight. “Oh God, Sookie. Me and Christopher had sort of a blow up in the diner on Saturday.”

Sookie gasped. “A blow up? What happened?”

With a deep breath, Lorelai started to explain the details of what she had said to Christopher and how he had angrily stormed off. They spent a few minutes analyzing how he had reacted, and finally Lorelai headed back to the front desk, still confused about the situation but feeling better that she had talked to someone about it.

* * *

That night, Lorelai arrived home slightly before five, surprised to find that Rory wasn’t home yet. She changed out of her work outfit and waited on the couch for her, flipping loosely through Entertainment Weekly.

Rory finally walked in fifteen minutes later, her arms loaded down with a stack of folders. She dropped her bag on the floor and sighed loudly as she walked towards the couch and collapsed on it next to Lorelai.

“Rough day?” Lorelai asked. Rory nodded. She took the stack of folders from Rory and put them on the coffee table. “Franklin stuff?”

Rory nodded and leaned her head back against the couch. “Ugh, I’m so tired.”

Lorelai frowned and patted Rory’s arm. “Aw, my baby is stressed. So am I. Go get changed and we’ll go to Luke’s.”

Rory said, “Okay, in a minute.” She closed her eyes and relaxed for a moment before she finally stood up, gathered her things and dragged herself towards her room.

* * *

They entered Luke’s and found an empty table as Rory concluded the story of her tiring day, ending it with a sigh. “So, that was it. How was your day?”

Lorelai shrugged. “Well, it didn’t involved Paris chasing me through the hallway so I guess it wasn’t as crazy as yours.” She paused as Luke set down two cups of coffee in front of them.

“Here you go,” he said.

“Thanks Luke,” Lorelai said.

“What can I get you?” he said, poised to write on his pad.

“I’ll have chicken fingers and extra fries,” Rory said.

“Cheeseburger, please. Thanks,” Lorelai said. Luke nodded as he scribbled it on his pad and walked away. Lorelai continued, “So, this one guest comes to the front desk complaining that his towels were not folded properly, and that he prefers them to be in perfect squares, right?”

“Right, go on,” Rory said.

“Right, so he’s arguing with Michel for a few minutes until I finally step in and say that the maid will bring him some new towels, all perfectly folded in squares, and leave them by the sink.”

“Good plan,” Rory interjected.

Lorelai nodded. “Right, good plan? No,” Lorelai shook her head. “The guy doesn’t believe us that there will be towels in his room when he gets back - so he insists on having them in his room before he leaves for the day. So Michel had to go find a maid and get her to perfectly fold the towels and place them in the bathroom while the guy stood at the front desk waiting for confirmation from Michel that said towels were in place, after which he went upstairs to check on them.” She shook her head and said, “Ugh. He was very odd.”

Rory laughed. “Aw, he just loves towels. You know how some people are about linens.”

Lorelai rolled her eyes. “I need this day to end soon.” She folded her arms on the table and rested her head down.

Rory patted Lorelai’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s almost over. Now get your hair off the table, that’s gross.”

Lorelai lifted up her head and sighed. “You and your sanitary ways of living.” She placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her palms, staring straight ahead.

A few minutes later, Luke placed their meals in front of them. “Sheesh, you look like you’ve been up for two days straight,” Luke commented as he tore off the check and put it on the table.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. “Thanks, you can never hear that enough.” She picked up the check and handed it back to him. “I’m getting pie, add it on.”

Luke put it on the table. “Looks like you had a bad day, pie’s on the house.” He started to walk away.

“Hey, I’m planning on having a bad year, so get baking!” Lorelai called after him.

Both of them starving, they ate their meals quickly. As promised, Luke brought Lorelai her free pie for dessert, while Rory passed in order to go get started her homework. As Lorelai sat by herself at the table, picking at her pie slowly, a voice asked, “What’s the matter? Don’t like it?”

Surprised, she looked up and found Luke standing over her. “No, it’s great,” she said, smiling. “I’m just thinking about some things.”

He sat down at the table across from her. “Oh yeah, what things?”

She put down her fork and examined her nails. “Well, I just took off my lovely shade of red nail polish a few days ago and am now considering either a light blue or a pale pink. I'm not sure which one yet."

Luke raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Interesting. Well, I personally prefer pale pink for my fingernails but light blue looks great on my toes."

Lorelai laughed. "Thanks for the tip." She took a sip of coffee. "So, what’s new with you?"

Luke shrugged. "Nothing. Um, actually, I kind of. . . I kind of wanted to make sure you were okay."

Lorelai looked at him curiously. "Make sure I'm okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"I mean, the other day. . .the guy. . .here at the diner. . ." Luke looked down, suddenly fascinated with the ketchup bottle.

Lorelai suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment as she sunk back in her chair. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. That was. . .uh, he was just. . . we had a little disagreement."

Luke looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I noticed. Um, do you wanna talk about it?" He paused and quickly added, "I mean, I know you have Rory and Sookie and other people to talk about things like this with, but I mean, you know, I'm a good listener."

Lorelai smiled. "Wow, you're being abnormally sensitive."

Luke smirked. "Hey, I can be sensitive. Just don't ask me to cry."

Lorelai smiled. "I won't." She took a deep breath and said, "I don't know. I just. . .well, basically I told him that I was over him and was ready to move on. And I thought that since he obviously had already moved on, he would think it was good. But it just came out all wrong and he . . .he wasn't exactly as receptive of the information as I thought he would be." Lorelai picked up her fork and stabbed her pie.

Luke nodded. "Oh. Well, uh. . .it's none of my business, but anyone who would react like that is . . .well, I just think that no matter what the circumstances are, that's not how you should be treated. You deserve better than that." He looked down at the table uncomfortably.

Lorelai glanced at him and smiled. "Thank you."

Luke looked up and gave her a nod. Suddenly, their gazes were locked, their eyes staring directly into each other for one brief moment – a moment that Lorelai could’ve sworn lasted for an hour. She quickly looked down at her pie as Luke said, "Uh, well, I should get back to work." He stood up and pushed in his chair.

Lorelai nodded. “Right. Thanks for listening, Luke,” she smiled up at him gratefully. Luke nodded and walked towards the kitchen.

When he was out of sight, Lorelai quickly took out some money and left it on the table, then grabbed her coat and ran out the door. She walked quickly to Sookie’s house, a feeling of confusion running through her. She pounded loudly on the door until Sookie finally opened it, greeting her with, “What in the – ” She saw that it was Lorelai and said, “Honey, what’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost. Come inside.” Sookie stepped back, pulling the door open all the way.

Lorelai walked into the house. “I saw it, Sookie!” she exclaimed.

A scared look appeared on Sookie’s face. “A ghost? You saw a real ghost?” She pushed the front door closed and locked it, then took several steps away from the door.

Lorelai shook her head. “No, not a ghost! I - .” She cut herself off and paused. “Hon, locking the door wouldn’t keep a ghost out. You know that, right?”

Sookie shrugged. “You never know. So wait, what did you see?”

Lorelai placed her hands on Sookie’s shoulders. “It. I saw it. You told me it was right there and I didn’t believe you. Luke - I saw it in his eyes, I saw the way he looked at me, there was something there.”

Sookie gasped. “Oh my God! I told you so! What are you gonna do about it?”

Lorelai shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I only saw it like 3 minutes ago, it’s still settling in. I mean, it’s Luke,” Lorelai said pointedly.

“Yes, it is,” Sookie agreed. “It’s definitely Luke.”

She stared into space as she said, “And his eyes were so. . . they were like, talking to me or something. I don’t know how I feel about this.” Lorelai spoke very quickly, “I mean, I don’t even know if I feel the same way. I’m still getting used to the ‘him liking me’ part, I don’t know if I’m ready to take the next step and even think about the fact that I might, possibly, somewhere inside of me - like him too. And why, all of a sudden, do I finally see it? After all these months of people telling me it’s there and me not seeing, suddenly one day, I finally see it! What’s up with that?”

Sookie held up her hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!” She led Lorelai to the couch and they both sat down. “Okay, listen, what did you tell Christopher? That you’re ready to move on, that you’re ready to enter into a real relationship. You finally admitted it and allowed yourself to see that something’s there with Luke. It’s all psychological, Lorelai. But you don’t have to rush into anything. Luke’s not going anywhere, trust me. Just go home, think about everything, sort out all of your feelings, and decide what you want to do. You have to make this decision by yourself, hon.”

Lorelai nodded. “I know, right, I just have to really focus on my feelings.”

Sookie nodded. “And you’re not exactly good at doing that, honey, so take your time. You’re always too busy worrying about Rory and everyone else – now you need to think about your own feelings.”

Lorelai nodded. “Thanks Sookie.” She leaned forward and hugged her, and they both stood up and walked towards the door.

“So, you know, take your time with this, okay?” Sookie said.

Lorelai stepped out onto the porch and smiled. “I will. See you tomorrow.” She turned and walked down the front steps.

“Bye.” Sookie stood in the doorway smiling after her, glad that Lorelai was finally able to see what everyone else could see.

* * *

The next day, Lorelai arrived home from work earlier than usual, and she immediately sprawled out on the comfortable couch and stared up at the ceiling. Her head was aching. Throughout the day, she would picture Luke’s eyes staring into hers as if they were looking deep inside of her. They were so warm, so full of life; she’d never noticed that about him before. And then she would start thinking about the prospect of them being together and she would get scared and quickly try to think of anything else. She lay there only a few more minutes before the front door opened.

"Mom?" Rory called.

"Couch," Lorelai said.

Rory stopped at the entryway to the living room, her overstuffed backpack on her back and a book clutched against her chest. "Hey."

Lorelai lifted her head up off the arm of the couch to look at her. "Hey hon. Good day?"

"Yup." Rory walked down the hallway into her room and shut the door, leaving Lorelai sitting on the couch with a bewildered expression.

"Uh, okay, tell me about it later then," Lorelai said to herself.

A few minutes later Rory walked out, having changed out of her uniform. She gave Lorelai a kiss on the cheek before she sat in the armchair. "So yeah, today was much better than yesterday, and I don’t even have that much homework.”

Lorelai smiled. “That’s great, hon.” She suddenly sat up. “Oh my God, I had the best idea today!"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Oh geez, what do you want to invent now?"

Lorelai frowned. "Nothing. It's not an invention, it's a collaboration."

Rory narrowed her eyes. "Collaboration?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Okay, here it is. You know the bottled water Aquafina?"

Rory nodded.

Lorelai continued, "Okay, good. And you know the bottled water Dasani?"

Rory nodded.

"Okay, well my idea is to make a new bottled water, but call it. . ." Lorelai paused dramatically. ". . . AquaSani." She smiled and sat back against the couch, proud of herself.

Rory stared at her momentarily before she said, "AquaSani?"

"Yeah!" Lorelai replied excitedly. "Say it over and over. AquaSani! AquaSani! Who wouldn't buy a drink called AquaSani? It's the coolest name in the world! We'll make a fortune!"

"It's a great name Mom, but we don't own a water spring." Rory picked up a magazine off the coffee table and leafed through it.

Lorelai held up her pointer finger and wagged it towards Rory. "That's the beauty of it, my dear. We’ll buy some empty bottles, fill it with good old tap water, paste an AquaSani label on it -- that you make on the computer -- then we’ll sell them to Taylor to sell at the market. Pure genius."

Rory closed the magazine and stared at her mom. "You have obviously put a lot of thought into this."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yes I have."

"Why?" Rory asked her.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows and folded her arms across her chest. "Why? What do you mean, why?"

Rory shrugged. "You only think up random things like this when you're trying to avoid thinking about other things. So, what's up?"

Lorelai sunk back down against the couch. She glanced down at her fingernails and started examining them. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rory smirked. "Ah, I hit the nail right on the head. What is it?"

Lorelai sighed and brought her gaze back up to meet Rory's. "Nothing, I don't wanna talk about it yet, okay?"

“Ah, so there is something. Is it about Dad?” Rory asked.

Lorelai sighed. “Rory, what part of ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ did you not hear?”

“So it is about Dad,” Rory said knowingly.

Lorelai shrugged. “Oh, obviously the word ‘don’t’.”

“Sorry,” Rory said. “I just like to know what’s going on with you. So, you know, if you do want to talk, I’m always here.”

Lorelai smiled. “I know, I appreciate that. And when I’m ready to talk about it, I’ll come seek you out.”

Rory stood up. “Okay. Well, I’ll be in my room.”

“Mmkay,” Lorelai said. As Rory walked out of the room, Lorelai lay back against the couch and closed her eyes.

* * *

As Lorelai slowly opened her eyes an hour later, with a blanket now covering her, she realized that even a nap couldn't make the confusion disappear from her mind. As soon as she woke up, the thoughts came rolling back through her head. Her conversations with Luke and Sookie played over and over in her head, and yet she still couldn’t bring herself to actually think about her own feelings. The one question that she had to answer - but couldn’t - kept plaguing her.

"Do I want it to happen?" Lorelai asked aloud. She stared up at the ceiling as if it would give her a response. When it didn't answer her back, she sighed loudly. "You're no help at all," Lorelai said, shooting it a dirty look. She sat up on the couch. "Rory!" she called. "Are you here?"

A few seconds later, Rory walked out of her bedroom and into the living room. "Yeah. You feeling okay?" Rory asked, a concerned look on her face.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired, I guess."

Rory nodded. "Okay. Uh, you hungry? You wanna go to Luke's?"

A paleness washed over Lorelai's face at the sound of his name. She suddenly felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She couldn't be around him right now, not until she knew what she wanted. "Uh, well, you know, uh," she stammered. "Why don't you order pizza instead?" Lorelai forced a smile and nodded towards the kitchen.

Rory narrowed her eyes at Lorelai's obvious discomfort but said nothing about it. She nodded and walked into the kitchen to make the call. Lorelai stayed on the couch, pulling the blanket tightly around her as she tried to clear her mind of everything. “Okay, let’s concentrate on this,” she mumbled aloud. “Just think – do you want something to happen with Luke?”