Gilmore Girls
"A Simple Wrong Turn, Part One : From Point A" by Laura (c) June, 2001 


"What the hell happened to you two?" Luke's brusque voice assaults Lorelai and Rory immediately, 
not giving the bell above the door a chance to finish ringing before commenting on their haggard 
appearance. Lorelai shoots him an obviously fake and sugar-coated smile, tilting her head to the side. 

"Why, good morning to you too, Luke. Isn't it lovely weather? Why yes, I thought so too. Oh, you'd like to 
give me and my darling offspring here some coffee? How nice of you to not deprive us of our early morning
 jolt on a day when we so badly need it." 

"You know, Lorelai, one thing that always comforts me is that one day, probably in the near future, when you 
become officially crazy and begin having real conversations with yourself, you'll be able to ward off the mental
institutions for a lot longer because everyone here in town will say you've always done it and it's hardly unusual," 
Luke replies with a faint smirk. Rory plops down at their usual table, clearly overtired. 

"Thank you for the observation. It was very astute. I don't, however, observe you making any efforts to supply 
me with a nice big mug, teeming to the brim with that delightful liquid source of caffeine." 

"What would you do if I told you I ran out of coffee?" 

"Luke, that's not a funny hypothetical situation. It's not even remotely pleasing, and I will not amuse you by 
pretending to entertain the thought for a second longer than I have to, since I know full well that you have coffee 
in stock and will always have coffee in stock as long as you want to live," Lorelai retorts, sitting down across from 
Rory, who is resting her forehead against the tabletop, her eyes closed. She lets out a small groan as Lorelai sets 
her heavy purse on the table, jogging her from her short rest. "Look! You're causing Rory pain. I know you love to 
torture me by witholding the magic brew, but you can not possibly wish poor Rory any misfortune." 

"Fine, then I'll get Rory a cup of coffee," Luke replies, swiping the coffee pot off of the counter behind him and 
grabbing two mugs. He circles the counter and stops at their table, quickly filling Rory's cup. Not really thinking, 
he ruffles her hair to wake her up and then taps the mug toward her. She looks up and smiles gratefully. 

"You messed her hair up. You're lucky you still have a hand," Lorelai teases and Luke just sets to pouring another 
cup of coffee. 

"No Mom, I believe that's what would happen if he touched your hair." 

"Oh, right. Sorry, forgot," She looks up at Luke with a smile, reaching for the coffee he has in his hand. 

"I didn't say this was for you," he shakes his head. Lorelai gives him a look of death and he reluctantly hands her 
the mug. She takes a long sip and then sighs happily. 

"The first cup of the day is always the best," she grins. 

"That's when you can actually feel the caffeine kick in," Rory agrees. "For the rest of the day, all coffee you drink 
is just a struggle to maintain the original buzz." 

"Thus making the original buzz the root of your evil and twisted addiction," Luke adds. He glances back toward
the counter and then back to Lorelai. He pauses, as if he's about to say something, then covers it with a cough. "So, 
what did you two do, stay up all night?" 

"Yes, we did. Got to watch old episodes of Law & Order on A&E three times. It's amazing how often they play that 
show," Rory informs him. "Also caught a classic episode of Magnum, P.I. And surprise, Tom Selleck caught the
 bad guys." 

"With the help of Higgins and those...other two guys. The one with the van and the helicopter and that other...
not-quite-so-smart guy? The one who you just know secretly envies Magnum for all the chicks he gets?" 

"Ah, yes, that one. But I find Higgins far more interesting because I've always theorized that he was a repressed 
homosexual with a secret burning passion for Magnum," Rory laughs. 

"I don't know...he just might have been the stereotypical uptight Englishman with biting sarcasm and no sense 
of fun." 

"You two truly scare me. I'm not kidding." Luke states, no humor evident in his voice. Lorelai just swats him on 
the arm playfully. She pauses for a moment and then bounces in her seat, her face lighting up. 

"You know what else we saw? About twenty thousand Miss Cleo commercials. Do you know that she successfully 
predicted that Theresa, a secretary in Brooklyn, had a boyfriend who was cheating on her with *his* secretary?" 
Lorelai hits the table with her fist. "*What* are the odds?" 

"I had to physically stop her from calling. Literally had to hold her down on the couch and kick the phone away 
from her grasp." 

"It's amazing." Luke states, looking between the two of them. 

"What is, Miss Cleo's tarot card reading abilities? I thought so too," Lorelai replies. 

"No, it's amazing that one minute ago you both were ready to fall asleep on the floor and now you can't stop 
talking for one second." 

"Behold the power of coffee. All bow down to Juan Valdez," Lorelai says as she holds up her cup of coffee and 
bends her head in reverence. Rory giggles and Luke just shakes his head in dismay, walking away. Lorelai grins 
and leans toward her daughter conspiratorially. "You know what I think?" 

"Barbara Streisand is really a drag queen named Robert Fitzgerald Garnerwinkle from Nebraska and has been
hiding it all of these years from the public?" Rory suggests. 

"Well, yes, I do think that, but you know what else I think?" Rory looks at her mother expectantly. "I think...that in 
celebration of our recent luck in the area of love and romance, we should take the day off and go shopping. Maybe 
buy you a new and fabulous outfit to cause a jaw-dropping reaction from a certain floppy-haired boy this evening 
when he assuredly comes-a-calling?" 

"You can really take off of work today?" 

"Can I? I don't care. You think I want to listen to Michel drone on and on about the incredibly large amount of 
daises still present in the lobby?" "Good point," Rory replies, then grins mischeviously at Lorelai. "And while 
we're at the mall, I think we should also choose a new outfit for *you* to wear when you see Max and say yes." 

"I didn't say I was going to say yes," Lorelai blushes. Just then more coffee suddenly comes pouring into her 
cup and she looks up, startled. 

"Say yes to what?" Luke asks, knowing his worst fears are about to be confirmed. Lorelai and Rory exchange 
awkward looks and Lorelai fumbles for words. Rory sees her mother's befuddlement and steps in. 

"Mom was asked to be charge of a committee for next year's junior prom at Chilton." 

"Oh really." Luke looks surprised and relieved, while Lorelai looks relieved and guilty. "Lorelai Gilmore is 
becoming involved in Chilton Academy functions, eh? I thought you didn't want to get back into that stuff." 

"Well, I figure the only way Rory's gonna have any fun there is if I make sure they don't stick them all in some 
stuffy ballroom in some huge mansion of a wealthy parent whose kids she hates, you know? And while I don't 
think they're going to go for Chuck E. Cheese's, I figure I might as well take a shot," Lorelai laughs nervously and 
shrugs. Luke nods and moves on to another table. Rory leans closer over the table. 

"Why didn't you want to tell him?" Rory whispers. "He's going to have to know eventually." 

"I know that," Lorelai says quickly, defensively. "I just...it didn't seem like the right time. I haven't even really made 
up my mind yet. I don't see the point of broadcasting it until I've actually said yes. Besides, I think you and I still 
have to talk about it some more and what it all means before I go making any major life decisions." Lorelai opens 
up her purse and starts fishing through it, eventually pulling out her cell phone. "I'm going to duck outside and 
call the inn and let them know I'm not coming in. Be right back." She exits the diner and Luke comes back over to 
the table. 

"Where's she off to?" 

"Making a call. She's ditching work today and taking me out shopping." 

"Ah, yes, I forgot. Your mother is due for her monthly crazy shopping day at the mall." 

"Hey, at least last time you benefitted from it." 

"You say benefitted, I say victimized." 

"To-mate-oes, Ta-mot-oes." 

A look passes over Luke's face and he snaps his fingers. 

"Do you think you could return something for me when you go today?" Rory looks at him quizzically, not 
knowing what Luke could possibly be speaking of and why he's asking her instead of her mother. 

"Sure. What is it?" 

"Thanks. It's nothing...just something I bought and didn't need. Let me just run upstairs and grab it." Luke sets 
down his pot of coffee on the table and hurries through the door behind the counter and goes upstairs to his 
apartment. Lorelai comes back in as he passes by her, flipping her phone shut. She looks at him, then turns to 
Rory with questions in her eyes. 

"That's all set. Where is Luke running off to? Have I finally managed to scare him off with my mere presence?" 
She sits back down and then sees the coffee pot. "At least he was nice enough to leave me a parting gift." Lorelai 
strokes the coffee pot as if petting a dog. Rory stops her mother's hand from moving and gently lifts it away. 

"Stop, now you're even scaring me." 

"I should write horror movies, I think. My scare quotient has gone up so much in the past few weeks that I 
seriously think I'm ready to make a full-fledged living out of it." Luke returns as Lorelai is about to refill her coffee
 and he takes the pot from her grasp. Before Lorelai can protest, he hands a leather camera bag to Rory along 
with a reciept and his credit card. 

"Thanks, Rory. Just have them refund it straight to my card." 

"No problem," Rory replies. Luke goes back to the front counter, leaving Lorelai staring at the bag. 

"Luke!" She grabs the bag from Rory and chases after him. "Luke, this is Rachel's bag." 

"It was Rachel's bag," Luke replies, and from the look on his face he obviously doesn't want to get into it with her. 
Lorelai doesn't oblige. 

"It's not anymore? It disowned her? What'd she do to piss it off?" Lorelai teases. "Why isn't it with Rachel? I
 thought you gave it to her for her birthday." 

"I did." 

"So why is bag here, Rachel gone?" 

"Rachel leave. No want to keep gift. Leave here. Luke no want. Luke return bag to store." Luke retorts, mocking 
Lorelai's last choice of words. Lorelai glares at him. "Look, when she left, she left it behind with a note saying that 
she didn't want to keep it, okay? And I particularly have no use for it, I don't see the point of having it laying 
around." 

"Why, because it reminds you of her?" Lorelai inquires, her voice growing gentle. 

"No, it just reminds me of why she left and that's not really something I want to think about right now." 

"She left because you bought her a camera bag for her birthday?" Lorelai jokes. "I thought it was a nice gift. I 
mean, I picked it out!" Luke frowns, thinking how Lorelai had hit the nail right on the head and yet was completely 
unaware that she'd stated the truth. Rachel had left because Lorelai picked out that bag. She'd left because Lorelai
had been the one to convince Luke to wear something not plaid, after all the years Rachel had bugged him to dress 
up. She'd left because Luke spent every moment with Lorelai Gilmore and when she walked into a room, she knew 
he saw no one else but her. Lorelai stares at Luke, wondering why he's not saying anything. "You never did tell me 
the whole story, you know. About why she left." 

"That's because it's a long story and it's a personal one, meaning it's none of your business," Luke crosses his 
arms and looks away. Lorelai circles the counter and hands Luke the bag. 

"I think you should come with us today." 

"What?" 

"To the mall. I think you should come with us and return this bag yourself." 

"Lorelai, no. I told you, I hate malls." 

"Well, this is one time I think you should suck it up and just deal with consumer culture at its worst for one 
day. I think you need to return this bag yourself." 

"Why?" 

"Because you need some closure," Lorelai says simply. "Rachel walking out that door, yet again, with little 
explanation has left you searching for answers. Her leaving was her ending. You need to end things on your 
own terms." 

"And giving the bag back to some goofy looking teenage kid who couldn't add without his cash register is 
going to give me that ending? Lorelai, you're crazy." 

"The fact that I'm insane has already been put on the record. Doesn't change a thing," Lorelai takes his hands 
in hers and starts pulling him toward the door. Rory stands up, raising her eyebrows at Lorelai. "We're abducting 
Luke and taking him shopping. " 

"Excellent! New clothes and the opportunity to torture Luke! It's a 2 for 1 bargain." 

Lorelai flips the sign on the door from open to closed. 

"As soon as everyone here finishes their breakfasts, you're locking that door and you're taking the day off." 

"No, I'm not." 

"Yes, you are." 

"No, I'm not." 

"*Yes*, you are." 

"Do I have to call a time out and make you both go stand in the corner?" Rory interrupts. 

"Come on, Luke. While you're there you can buy *me* a birthday present." 

"I'm not buying you *anything*. And your birthday isn't for two months!" Luke exclaims. 

"It'll save you a trip to the mall at a later date. You'll be that early bird that catches that really great worm." 
Lorelai tugs on Luke's arm and looks at him pleadingly. "Come on, Luke. If you won't do this for yourself, do
 it for me?" Luke wavers slightly, and Lorelai knows she's making headway. "It'd make both myself and Rory 
incredibly happy." 

"We'd be bouncing off the walls with joy," Rory chimes in. 

"You would not," Luke snorts. 

"Yes, we would. Look, a little preview." Lorelai starts bouncing in place and Rory follows her lead. "Now what 
could be better than that?" 

"A swift kick in the head," Luke mutters. 

"That can be arranged," Lorelai warns. "Just come along, Luke. If you don't, I'm going to call my mother and sic
her on you. You can't possibly fathom that woman's rage." 

"Why would she care if I went shopping?" 

"I don't know, but if I'm sure I could convince her of something. She's easily tricked. I mean, hey, she thought I was
a good kid for the first 15 years of my life!" 

"Lorelai-" 

"Luke..." Both Rory and Lorelai stare at him unwaveringly until he begins fidgeting nervously. 

"Okay fine, I'll go. But only if you promise I'll never have to set foot in the mall again after this day." 

"We promise." Rory replies, and Lorelai giggles and claps her hands together happily. 

"All right! We'll wait here until the diner's cleared out and then we'll hit the road." 

"You guys can go home and come back in like half an hour, there's no need to stay." 

"What? And give you a chance to escape? No can do, but nice try. We'll just sit here and have another cup 
of coffee! We'll need all that extra energy for our long glorious stay at that monument to capitalism, materialism 
and greed that we love so much." 

"I hate you," Luke mutters, stalking back to start cleaning up dishes that people had left on the counter. "See
 if you get any more coffee here after this." 

"Empty threat," Lorelai jokingly reassures Rory, who pretends to breathe a huge sigh of relief. 

*******

Lorelai glances at Luke as she fishes through a clearance rack of dresses, wondering how one man can look 
so forlorn all the time. 

"What do you think of this?" She holds up a rather skimpy red dress. "You think it's too Julia 
Roberts-as-a-hooker-in Pretty Woman-ish?" 

"I don't think it looks like you, if that's what you mean," Luke replies, sticking his hands in his pockets as if to
show he's not even going to bother to look at any clothes. 

"Oh, you thought I was talking about this for me? Silly, I meant it for you! It'd really compliment the five o'clock 
shadow you have quite nicely." Lorelai laughs and holds it up to Luke, who pushes it away, unamused. Lorelai 
rolls her eyes at him and puts the dress back. "Luke, you are simply no fun." 

"I'm at a *mall*, Lorelai. What did you possibly expect?" He says as she brushes past him, seeing something
that catches her eye on a shelf in the men's section across the aisle. 

"Oo, Luke. This is a fabulous sweater. And it's on sale." She unfolds a men's dark blue ribbed sweater with a 
knowing smile, her mind already made up that Luke will be buying it. Luke sees the look in her eye and shakes 
his head no immediately. 

"No. I've already had my quotient of new clothes this year." 

"Luke-" 

"I kept the clothes you bought for me last time, shouldn't your evil appetite for annoying me be satiated?" 

"Didn't World War II teach you nothing, Luke? Appeasement only encourages an evil person to keep going.
If they keep getting what you want, why stop?" 

"Then why should I give in to you now? Why would I continue letting you have your way?" Luke asks, smirking 
as Lorelai fumbles for a reason. 

"Because! Because if you don't, you'll make me mad. You make me mad, and you're never going to hear the end 
of it. Wouldn't you rather just try the sweater on now and get it over with instead of having me rag on you about 
it for the next million years?" She shoves the sweater at him and he shoves it back at her. "Luke, come on. It's the 
prettiest shade of blue. Have you ever seen a prettier blue?" 

"And that's what I want, to look pretty," Luke replies sarcastically. 

"It's not like it's not practical. It's warm, so you can wear it practically nine months of the year here, and it doubles 
as both a nice dress-up sweater and a casual 'hey look, I can wear this around the diner with a pair of faded jeans' 
sweater," Lorelai tells him holding the sweater up and almost dancing it around as she speaks. Seeing her 
reasoning has had no effect on him, she switches to pleading. "Please Luke, just try it on and if you don't like it I 
promise I'll put it back without a word." 

"Without a single word?" 

"Yes." 

"I don't believe you." 

"Nor should you, because you know as well as I do that that promise was bull," Lorelai giggles and hands him the
sweater again. "Just get in there and try it on." She nudges him back toward the dressing rooms and he glares at 
her. 

"Why are you so set on this?" He almost hits the door frame as Lorelai pulls him into the men's dressing rooms. 

"Because you look really good in blue," Lorelai remarks and before Luke can reply, she opens a dressing room door 
and pushes him inside. "I'm gonna try on that hooker dress." She goes and takes the dress back off the rack and heads 
into the women's dressing rooms. 

*******

"Hey, you done in there yet? I wanna see." Lorelai's voice comes through the dressing room door. She bends down to 
check which shoes the man inside the room is wearing, just to make sure it's still Luke inside. 

"How the hell did you change so quickly?" Luke asks. 

"I didn't get changed back out of the dress. You gotta see this thing before I get back into my normal boring clothes. 
What's taking you so *long*?" 

"I'm debating whether or not it's worth it to buy this damn thing just to shut you up. I'm weighing my options." 

"Do you like it? Can I see?" 

"No." 

"Luke, I'm standing here in a dress that could easily be mistaken for lingerie if the situation was right. I left my 
clothes unguarded in my dressing room for any random kleptomaniac to steal in order to come look at you in
your sweater, so you better let me see how it looks and let me force my opinion on you." She taps on the door, 
then tries to push on it. "Are you telling me that you don't want to see *me* in this ridiculous dress? I figured 
that would be incentive enough." She doesn't know how to interpret the silence that follows. 

Inside the dressing room, Luke fidgets, tugging on the hem of the blue sweater as he imagines what Lorelai 
does in fact look like in that red dress. Luke intentionally pushes those thoughts away, not wanting to give in. 
He stares at his reflection in the mirror; he doesn't even feel like himself, without his comfortable plaid shirt and 
baseball cap, which are now sitting on the floor. It isn't that he doesn't like the sweater, it's just... Luke pulls the 
sweater off over his head, annoyed. He's about to reach down for his t-shirt and plaid shirt when the door 
swings open. Lorelai almost falls in, her credit card in hand. 

"Lorelai!" Luke exclaims. Lorelai smiles triumphantly. 

"I knew that talent would come in handy someday," She says, her smile faltering just a little as her eyes sweep
over Luke's bare chest. She quickly recovers, trying to ignore the sensation that had run up her spine at the sight 
of him. "Where's the sweater?" 

"I was just...getting changed. I don't think I'm going to buy it," Luke stammers as heat rushes through his body. 
Lorelai looked positively gorgeous in that silly red thing. 

Lorelai steps all the way into the dressing room and picks the sweater up off of the bench. The door falls halfway
shut behind her, not clicking all the way closed. 

"Can you just put it back on for one second?" Lorelai asks. Luke is so off-balance and affected by Lorelai's 
closeness to him that he pulls the sweater back over his head without a fight. Lorelai steps back to appraise him, 
nodding happily. "It really looks great, Luke. It fits you perfectly." 

Luke smooths the sweater over his chest and looks at his reflection critically. 

"It just doesn't feel right." 

"Hey, you want something that doesn't feel right, just imagine how I feel in this dress," Lorelai replies, gesturing 
to her own attire. She feels more at ease now, that intense moment over and the awkwardness dissipating rapidly. 

"It looks really nice, actually," Luke compliments her. "Though definitely not something you could wear to a 
Friday night dinner with your parents." 

"Maybe I could wear it! My mother's face would be priceless. I think she'd especially love the slit that's practically 
all the way up to my hip." Lorelai shows Luke the extensive amount of leg the dress reveals. Luke's eyes linger on 
her long legs a second longer than they should have and he flushes, immediately looking away as if caught doing 
something criminal. The awkwardness is back. "Hey, well...I'm going to go get back into my oh-so-comfy clothes 
now. I'll meet you back here in a few minutes." Lorelai opens up the door, just as another person starts to push it 
open. She jumps back, startled. The person on the other side is even more so. 

"Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. I didn't think anyone was in here, the door was- Lorelai?" Max Medina stops short, 
looking at his girlfriend, surprised. "What are you doing here?" 

"Uh, just trying stuff on!" 

"In the men's room? Is there something you've forgotten to tell me?" Max teases, then looks past her and sees 
Luke standing there. The smile immediately falls from his face. 

"Hi," Luke mumbles, and Lorelai glances back at him. 

"Don't even think what you're thinking, Max." 

"Why not? You're in the men's dressing room. With Luke. And you're wearing...red lingerie." 

"Oh, this?" Lorelai laughs. "This is just...I was trying it on. It's actually a dress." Max's expression just darkens. 
"I wasn't changing in here! No. See, I was over in the women's, but then Luke was trying on this sweater and I 
wanted to see it so I came over here, but he wouldn't let me see it so I picked the lock on his door and came in 
here. I was just bugging him, it had nothing to do with anything else. I swear." 

"Yeah. She was just being obnoxious," Luke mutters, his voice riddled with hurt at Lorelai's adamant denial of 
anything romantic happening between them. He pushes Lorelai slowly all the way out of his dressing room. "I have 
to get changed." He shuts the door and locks it. Lorelai looks at Max and tries to smile. 

"So, what are you doing here?" She asks. 

"Shopping," Max replies, flatly. He pulls Lorelai slightly away from the door and hangs the shirt he was going to 
try on onto the re-shops rack. "I thought you said nothing was going on between you two." 

"Max! Nothing is! We're just friends. I was forcing him into buying a sweater. That's all," Lorelai states, her voice 
strong. "You can believe me or not, but that's the plain and simple truth." 

"You were forcing him to buy a sweater." 

"Yes. Because if I didn't he'd live and die in plaid. Eventually I think his whole body would turn plaid and he'd be the 
first plaid man. His skin would be made of flannel and denim. It wouldn't be pretty. And being his friend, I had to do 
something to stop it. I couldn't just stand by and watch a perfectly good man succumb to Al Borland Syndrome!" 

Max stares at Lorelai for a moment, then starts laughing. It's obvious he's trying not to, but he can't stop himself. 
Lorelai walks out of the dressing room. 

"Besides, Max, if there was something going on between Luke and I, which there's not, do you really think I
would say yes?" Max immediately stops laughing. 

"But you didn't say yes yet." 

"Well, then let's remedy that. Yes." 

"Yes?" 

"Yes," Lorelai repeats. Max throws his arms around her and twirls her around, almost knocking over a nearby 
mannequin. They kiss sweetly, but Max stops it after a very short time and pulls away. 

"You want to know what I was shopping for today?" Max inquires, pulling a small velvet box out of his pocket. 
Lorelai gasps. 

"Max, you didn't." 

"I figured it wouldn't exactly be romantic if you said yes and I didn't even have a ring for you. I guess I'm lucky 
that I went to the jewelery store before I came to here or else I would've had nothing to give you!" Max opens 
the box and displays the ring for Lorelai to see. Lorelai reaches her hand out, her fingers gently running over
the delicate diamond and gold band. 

"Max, you didn't have to do this. You didn't have to buy me a ring." Max looks at her and she laughs. "Okay, 
so maybe I would've been upset if you hadn't but let me be the too modest and too honored girl here, all right? 
I only get to do this whole accepting thing once. Hopefully." 

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Max replies, taking the ring from its box and slipping it gently onto her 
finger. 

"Thank you, Max Medina, I love it," Lorelai says sweetly, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. As 
she pulls away, she catches sight of Luke standing just outside the men's dressing rooms, looking as if he'd been 
hit by a truck. He'd heard the entire exchange between Lorelai and Max and the expression of hurt on his face was 
something Lorelai immediately knows she will never be able to erase from her memory. Max feels Lorelai's body 
stiffen in his embrace as Luke turns and walks away. 

"What's wrong?" 

"What? Oh, nothing. Can you just...can you excuse me for one second? There's something I have to go fix." 
Seeing Max's questioning gaze, she continues to ramble as she heads in the direction Luke went. 

"What?" 

"It's kind of like...like a radiator or something. You leave it broken for too long and you know, it'll just explode 
and you'll have to buy a whole new one, whereas if you'd just fixed the old one in the first place you could've 
been saved the trouble. So, I'll be right back." Max just stares at Lorelai as she runs away from him, not sure 
what the hell had just happened. 

*******

"Luke! Luke! Wait!" Lorelai spots him heading toward the front of the store and chases after him, her heart 
pounding wildly in her chest. "Luke!" 

"Mom?" Rory drops the clothes she's looking at in the juniors section as her mom runs by. Confused, she 
joins her mother in her race to stop Luke, though not knowing what she's doing. "Mom, what's going on?" 

"Got to stop Luke!" Lorelai cries out breathlessly. "Luke!" He's already out of the store and Lorelai doesn't 
even think twice about going right after him. The security alarm goes off as she passes through the doorway. 
"I'll be right back, I'm not shoplifting!" She calls to no one in particular as she bolts, not caring that she's still 
wearing the red dress. "Luke Marshall Danes, stop right there!" Lorelai almost shrieks as she finally catches 
up to Luke, grabbing his arm and forcing him to stop. 

"Marshall?" Rory comes to a stop next to her mother. 

"My middle name isn't Marshall," Luke states, annoyed. 

"What's wrong with Marshall? It's a perfectly wonderful middle name. If I had a middle name, I'd like it to be 
Marshall." 

"You do have a middle name." 

"But if I was a guy," Lorelai counters her daughter and Luke starts walking away again. "Luke, wait a second. 
About what you heard, between Max and I..." 

"You and him are getting married. Congratulations. It's not like you're the first couple to ever do so. Is this what 
you and Rory were talking about this morning? When you told me it was about the prom committee?" 

"I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I didn't even know if I was going to say yes to him this morning, I 
didn't even know five minutes ago. I was going to tell you about it as soon as I made a decision. The timing 
just didn't seem right this morning." 

"You said yes? When?" Rory is clearly more confused than ever. 

"We ran into Mac or Max or whatever his name is when your mother was attempting to force me to wear a 
stupid sweater. How they went from him looking at me accusingly for being alone with his girlfriend to marriage 
is beyond me but I'm sure your mother has a wonderful explanation. As for me, I think I've had enough shopping 
for one day. I did what I came here to do so I think I'm just going to catch the bus home." 

"Luke, don't go." 

"Lorelai, don't. I'll just...I'll see you later." 

"You said yes? I thought you said you wanted to talk about it some more?" Rory asks. 

"I did, I did. But all of a sudden the word yes just came out. I don't even know where it came from. I guess the 
magic yes fairy sprinkled me with some of her sparkling dust because I don't - okay, can I freak out about *that* 
later after I'm done here with the mess I've made with Luke?" 

"Sure can. Explanations and apologies are not something that should be dealt with in multi-tasking form," Rory 
replies. "I'll go explain to the mall security guard coming our way what this unique situation is and hopefully we 
won't be needing bail money this evening." 

"Best daughter ever!" Lorelai calls back and turns to go after Luke yet again, but it's too late. He's already long gone. 

*******

"You're really lucky that they believed your story," Max says, shaking his head and smiling in amusement as 
he, Lorelai and Rory leave the security office of the department store. Lorelai frowns, her escape from a 
shoplifting charge not really compensating for the distinct feeling of dread that is settling in her stomach. "Cause 
I sure as hell wasn't going to bail you out." 

"It stinks that you had to buy the dress, though," Rory says, linking her arm through her mother's. She knew 
Lorelai wasn't all right and what had happened with Luke was weighing very heavily upon her mind. "But at 
least it was a nice dress, and a cheap one. Imagine if you had been shopping in like the Liz Claiborne section 
or something when this all happened. You could've been out over a hundred bucks!" 

"Yeah, guess that's a good thing," Lorelai replies, sounding more annoyed and on edge than she meant. Rory 
doesn't let it bother her, she knew Lorelai wasn't angry at her. "Rory, could you do me a favor?" 

"Anything." Lorelai hands her daughter the keys to their jeep. "Could you go get the car and bring it to the 
main entrance for me? I have to talk to Max for a second." 

"Sure," Rory takes the keys and nods understandingly. "I'll meet you outside in a few minutes." Rory walks 
away, glancing back once at her mother and her teacher before picking up her pace. Lorelai turns to Max. 

"Before you go all ballistic on me for running after Luke while we were having such a very important moment, 
let me explain. I know you seem to think that there is something...*there* between Luke and I, but there's not, 
okay? Luke is just my friend. Probably my best friend, next to Sooki. And while that may make you uncomfortable 
or insecure, I'm not about to cut Luke out of my life or ruin my friendship with him in any way. He's really 
important to me and he's important to Rory as well. If you think there's some kind of tension or something when 
you're around, it's just because Luke is being protective of me and Rory. He's not one to like change and he 
doesn't want to see me get hurt. So as long as you don't do something like jilt me at the altar, I think we can avoid 
any problems between the two of you." Lorelai stops for a breath and then continues. "And I had to run after him 
right then because if I didn't, I would regret it. I should have been honest with him and told him about your 
proposal and I didn't want him to find out that way." 

"But Lorelai, I don't understand. If there's nothing more than friendship between you two, why would he be
upset?" 

"Because friends don't keep things like that from each other, you know? Getting married is a huge thing and as 
one of my best friends, he shouldn't have had to find out that way," Lorelai explains. "And before you ask me 
why I hadn't told him yet, which is a question I can feel coming, it's because I wanted to wait until I said yes. I 
wasn't planning on running into you today and I certainly wasn't planning on Luke overhearing so I guess I've 
made a mess of things. Just don't be mad at me about all of this because I can not take it. Not now." 

Max is quiet for a moment, then reaches out and takes Lorelai's hand in his. 

"So...if by chance I did stand you up at the altar...what would Luke do to me? Beat me up?" Max asks jokingly. 

"Oh, I'm sure he'd do worse. I mean, Dean and Rory were only dating and when he dumped her Luke banned 
him from the diner and almost beat the crap out of him. You might have to enter a witness protection program 
and be on the run for the rest of your life. Even then he might still manage to hunt you down and kick your 
ass," Lorelai smiles, relieved that Max isn't going to press the issue further. She was certain it was going to 
blow up into a huge fight, like the last time Luke had been brought up. 

"Oh, that's not good. I guess I better make sure to get to the church on time, then," Max says. 

"You better. Though I'm sure I'll be late." 

"Yeah, probably. You'll have to run down the aisle as you're putting on your veil." 

"My parents will be so amused." 

"Speaking of your parents..." Max starts, and Lorelai stops him by putting her hand over his mouth. 

"You're coming to Friday night dinner with us this week and we'll tell them together. Hopefully there won't 
be any kind of bloodshed." 

"So it's not gonna be pretty?" 

"Who knows with the Gilmores? Everything is a potential riot." She kisses Max lightly and smiles. "But I'm 
sure eventually they'll love you." 

"Hope so." 

"I'll call you tomorrow." 

"I'll call you tonight," Max replies. 

"Oh, one-up manship! I'll call you as soon as I get home." 

"Can't beat that. Talk to you soon. I love you. Tell Rory I said good-bye." 

"I will," Lorelai waves as she walks off, feeling a lot more assured than she felt only a few moments ago. She
 tries to clear her mind and set it on the task that lies ahead. First she'd have to smooth things over with Rory 
for the sudden change in game plan, and then Luke. That mission was daunting. "Let's just think about Rory 
for now." 

To Be Continued... 
		
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