Lorelai stood at the front desk still thinking about Rachel, incredibly confused over the emotions she was now feeling, not knowing what to do about them. She suddenly had this strange attraction to another woman, which she obviously attributed to her dream; in the dream, Rachel had made her feel safe, warm, and beautiful. Their shared moments were passionate and sensual, something that Lorelai didn't always experience when she was with a man.

Lorelai wasn't sure how long these feelings would last; were they just residual effects from her dream that would slowly disappear over time? And even if they didn't go away, what was she supposed to do about them? It's not like she would try to steal Rachel from Luke. Lorelai laughed at the thought, then shook her head. 'This is crazy,' she thought. 'No, just forget about everything. The feelings will go away, just forget it.' Lorelai sighed as she headed for the kitchen to get some coffee.

That night, Lorelai and Rory attended a memorable dinner at her parents' house that included her getting yelled at by Emily about incidences occurring 16 years ago. Needless to say, as Lorelai and Rory walked into Luke's later that night, Lorelai had a lot of things on her mind. But as she walked into the diner and saw Rachel, instantly all of those other thoughts went away, and the only thing she could concentrate on was the feelings that flooded her body as she saw her. It was as if they were the only two people in the room.

'Something's not right here,' Lorelai thought to herself. 'The feelings are not going away. They're actually... getting more intense.' As Rory walked to the counter, Lorelai sat down and stared discreetly at Rachel as she cleaned up the tables. Rory brought over some coffee, and as they both remarked that it tasted different than usual, Lorelai stole a glance towards the counter. She saw Luke and Rachel smiling at each other intently, with a great sense of happiness surrounding them. Lorelai felt a strong twinge of jealousy. She quickly looked away and tried to focus her attention on Rory.

The next day, Lorelai woke up feeling antsy and confused. All she could think about was Rachel, partly because she'd had another dream about her. This time, however, it wasn't sexual; in this dream they were simply talking, and Lorelai remembered feeling so comfortable and connected with Rachel. Lorelai sat up in her bed and thought to herself. 'This is like that phase you go through in high school where you have a crush on someone and all you can think about is them and what they're doing or what they're thinking, or...' Lorelai interrupted her current stream of thoughts with another thought. "I have a crush on Rachel," Lorelai said aloud, the words sounding almost foreign to her. She couldn't believe it, even though she knew in her heart that it was true. She had a crush on another woman.

Lorelai leaned back against her pillow and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She was confused and angry with herself for not being able to understand her feelings. Her own words echoed in her ears, words that she had said to Rory before: 'You can't always control who you're attracted to.' Lorelai covered her face with her hands as she felt tears running down. She longed to be able to control her feelings, to make them go away, to go back to the life she had just a few days before when she wasn't overwrought with emotions. Lorelai reluctantly showered and dressed, then went downstairs. Rory was at the kitchen table doing homework. "Hey," Lorelai greeted her, walking towards the coffeepot.

Rory smiled at her mom. "Morning. What's up today?"

As Lorelai poured herself some coffee, she replied, "Ah, I don't know. I have to go to the inn for awhile, but then I'm free. You wanna do something?"

"Yeah. Well, if I get my homework done. I have a lot." Rory sighed.

Lorelai sat at the table across from Rory. "As usual," she said. "You'd think that since each teacher assigns like thirty things to do every night, eventually they'd run out of assignments. But no, they always have more."

Rory nodded. "I know. I don't get it either. Lane's gonna come over in a bit and we're gonna do our homework together."

"Ooh, sounds like a blast," Lorelai laughed.

"Oh definitely," Rory agreed. "The neighbors may be forced to call the police to quiet us down."

Lorelai smiled. "Well good. It's nice to see your wild side come out once in awhile."

Rory smiled, then returned to her homework. Lorelai watched her while she finished her coffee, thinking about how lucky she was to have Rory. She wished that she could talk to her about these feelings she'd been having, but she didn't want Rory to know about them. She didn't want anyone to know about them. A few minutes later, she stood up and sighed. "Okay, I'm off to the inn. Have fun today. Call me if you need me." Lorelai gave Rory a kiss on the cheek.

Rory smiled. "Bye Mom."

As Lorelai drove to the inn, she got the urge to do something, even though she knew she shouldn't. She stopped at Luke's, not with the intention of buying coffee, but of simply seeing Rachel. She HAD to see her. She walked inside and glanced around the diner. She saw Luke behind the counter, but didn't see Rachel. She quickly walked over to Luke. "Hey Luke."

Luke, who had been filling the coffeepot, turned around and smiled. "Hey. Coffee?"

"Oh, no thanks. Um, is Rachel around?" Lorelai asked.

Luke titled his head to the side and gave her a confused look. "Yeah, she's upstairs. Why?"

Lorelai smiled. "Can I go up and see her?"

Luke stared at her questioningly. "Sure, but what's this about?"

Lorelai started walking towards the steps. "Nothing about you, I promise." She walked up the stairs to Luke's apartment. She stood outside the door for a moment, took a deep breath, and knocked.

"Who is it?" Rachel's voice called.

Lorelai smiled to herself at the sound of Rachel's voice. "It's Lorelai," she called.

"Oh, hey. Hang on." Rachel called. A few seconds later, Rachel pulled open the door and greeted Lorelai with a smile. "Hey. Come on in."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks," she said, walking inside.

Rachel closed the door behind her. "What's up?"

"Well, I'm on my way to the inn but I wanted to see if you wanted to maybe... do something later, like hang out or something? Maybe get some lunch?"

Rachel gave a quick look of surprise, then immediately smiled and said, "Sure, I would love to."

Lorelai smiled. "Great. Um, why don't you meet me at the inn, say around two?"

"Sounds good," Rachel agreed.

"Great," Lorelai said. "I guess I'll see you then." She started walking towards the door.

Rachel walked with her and pulled the door open. "Great. Bye."

"Bye," Lorelai replied as she walked out. She gave a small wave before turning and walking down the corridor. As she heard the door shut a few seconds later, she smiled to herself as a feeling of excitement came over her. She sort of felt like a teenager again as her mind reverted back to the days of high school crushes, where all you wanted to do was spend time with that one person; no matter what you were doing, you just wanted to be near them.

She walked down into the diner, said a quick goodbye to Luke who returned the goodbye with a questioning look, then drove to the inn. She did her work as usual, checking her watch constantly as she waited to see Rachel again. She gave up trying to ignore her feelings – she finally accepted the fact that she couldn't help them, and she couldn't make them go away. It was as if she was now a completely different person from last week, one whose only interest in life was to see Rachel as much as possible. Even though she knew nothing would happen between them, she just wanted to be around her.

As two o'clock rolled around, she kept one eye on the door at all times, feeling slightly disappointed every time it opened and it wasn't Rachel. Finally, though, Rachel did walk through the door, and Lorelai's eyes lit up when she saw her. Rachel spotted Lorelai and waved as she walked towards her at the front desk. "Hey," Lorelai called.

"Hi," Rachel replied. "Sorry I'm a little late. I needed to shower to get that diner smell off me."

Lorelai smiled and wrinkled her nose. "Ah, you were waitressing today?"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, but it's actually not so bad. I mean, at least I get to be around Luke while I'm doing it." Rachel smiled.

Lorelai smiled, although her heart felt heavy to hear Rachel say that. "That's nice. Um, so… are you hungry? What do you feel like?"

Rachel laughed. "Well, I'm actually having a weird craving for Teriyaki Joe's. You up for it?"

"Always." Lorelai said. "Let's go." Lorelai grabbed her purse from under the front desk, and they walked to the front door.

As they walked to Teriyaki Joe's, they talked about casual stuff – the weather, work, town gossip – for a few minutes before Rachel said, "You know, I really appreciate you doing this."

Lorelai looked at her confused. "Doing what?"

"This." Rachel said. "You know, hanging out with me, talking with me, being my friend. It's tough when you don't have anyone to talk to." Rachel sighed.

"Aww. Yeah, I know the feeling," Lorelai said. "But really, you are such a great person. I love spending time with you."

Rachel looked at her and smiled. "Thank you so much. Same here."

Lorelai felt a happy feeling of acceptance, and even a glint of hope, to hear that Rachel liked spending time with her. "So, uh, is there something you need to talk to someone about? I'm a great listener."

Rachel stopped walking and paused a few seconds before she sighed. "Wel... yeah. I mean... " Rachel sat down on a bench, and Lorelai sat next to her. Rachel stared straight ahead.

Lorelai could tell that obviously something was wrong, and that Rachel wanted to say something but wasn't sure how. "Rachel, what's wrong? You can talk to me about anything."

Rachel exhaled loudly. "I just... I don't know. I told you how Luke's believing me now when I tell him that I'm not going to leave."

"Right... But?" Lorelai said, encouraging her to continue.

"Well, it just seems like... " She paused a moment. "Lately, I just... there are certain moments when I think he may be cheating on me." Rachel's eyes welded up with tears as she said the words.

Lorelai's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "What? Oh Rachel, he is not. First off, he never goes anywhere where he COULD cheat on you. And secondly, he would never do that to you."

"But... " Rachel started.

Lorelai interrupted her. "Listen, unfortunately, Luke knows firsthand how painful a broken heart is, and the last thing he would do is put that pain on someone else."

Rachel wiped her eyes. "But what if he's doing it to get back at me? I mean, I'm the one who did it to him."

"Tsk, revenge?" Lorelai said. "He's not like that. That's something a child would do, not Luke. Listen, what makes you say that about him anyway? Why do you think there's someone else?"

Rachel looked down at her hands. "He just seems so uninterested in me sometimes. This even goes back to before he started, you know, accepting the fact that I wouldn't leave again. I just think that deep down he may like someone else. There are just times when he's always so grumpy around me, and it's just... ." Rachel sighed.

Lorelai felt so bad seeing Rachel upset. "Rachel, I hate to break it to you, but Luke is a normally grumpy person, not just around you. That's just... him, his attitude, his demeanor, that's who he is. Trust me, Luke really likes you. Why would he finally show signs of believing you if he wanted to be with someone else?"

Rachel didn't say anything. She shrugged.

"Huh?" Lorelai said. "See?"

Rachel smiled slightly. "I don't know. I guess you're right."

"Just give it some time," Lorelai said. "You guys are still adjusting to each other, living together, being around each other so much, it takes time to get used to that."

Rachel nodded. "I know. You're right." She looked up at Lorelai and smiled. "Thank you." She leaned over and hugged her.

Lorelai felt a tingle run through her body as it pressed against Rachel's. "You're welcome." They hugged a few more seconds before standing up and continuing to Teriyaki Joe's.

Lorelai felt proud of herself. She could've used this opportunity to break up Luke and Rachel. She was actually ashamed to admit that the thought had initially crossed her mind. But that wasn't Lorelai – she couldn't do something so mean spirited. Not only would it have hurt Luke, but it would've made Rachel incredibly upset, and she didn't want that, especially if it might result in her leaving Stars Hollow. Plus, Luke and Rachel really did seem right together. Why break up such a good thing, even if it did conflict with her own feelings? Lorelai glanced over at Rachel, who's eyes were still red from crying, but who now had a small smile of contentment on her face. Lorelai smiled. 'Yeah,' Lorelai thought, 'I did the right thing.'

After lunch at Teriyaki Joe's, Lorelai and Rachel walked back to the diner. They stopped outside the door and Rachel turned to Lorelai. "You coming in?"

Lorelai shook her head. "I need to get back to the inn."

"Okay." Rachel leaned forward and hugged her. "Thanks for... you know, everything. It was great spending time with you."

"Yeah, same here," Lorelai said. "Uh, maybe we could do it again sometime."

"Definitely." Rachel smiled. "I'll see you later." She turned to walk inside.

"Bye," Lorelai said. Lorelai started to walk away, but then turned around to watch Rachel through the diner's window. Lorelai watched as Rachel walked up to Luke behind the counter and kissed him. Jealousy swept over her and she quickly turned her head away and walked towards the inn. She then scolded herself. 'You've got to stop thinking like this. Rachel is not yours. She's with Luke, she's happy, you're just friends. Nothing more.' Lorelai knew that this was how it would always be, but she still felt sad. She had to accept the fact that her crush on Rachel could never develop into anything more, despite the enormity of her feelings inside. She sighed as she slowly walked back to the inn.

* * * * *

On Sunday morning, Lorelai wandered into the kitchen slightly after 10 am and poured herself some coffee. She sat down at the table and slowly sipped it. Lorelai stared at Rory's bedroom door and called, "Rory! Are you up yet?"

A few seconds later, the door opened and Rory came out fully dressed. "Uh, yeah, Mom. It's after 10. I've been up for like two hours." She sat across from Lorelai at the table. "What's up?"

Lorelai smiled. "Nothing much. Feels like a lazy day."

Rory nodded. "Ah, well, Sunday IS the day of rest."

Lorelai smiled. "That it is. What are you doing today?"

"Hmm, well tonight Lane and I are going to a movie and then we'll probably get some dinner after. I don't know how late I'll be."

"Cool. That sounds fun. You definitely deserve a night out after all the homework you've had lately."

Rory nodded. "I know. I've got more to do today too."

Lorelai shook her head slightly. "Geez, those teachers... " She sipped her coffee.

Rory leaned back on her chair. "Mom?"

"Hmm?"

Rory looked concerned. "You seem kind of weird lately. Uh, is everything okay? Have you talked to Max yet?"

Surprised by the question, Lorelai swallowed hard. 'Oh my God, I forgot about Max.' Lorelai took a sip of her coffee before she answered. "Yeah, I'm fine. And yes, actually, I have talked to Max."

Rory showed a look of surprise. "You have? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, Rory, I meant to, I really did. It's just been so crazy lately."

"Oh, that's okay. "Rory said. "Well, what happened? Did he finally call? Or did you finally call him?"

Lorelai sighed. "Neither, actually." Lorelai began the story, explaining what happened the night she went to Max's house – leaving out the gory details--and explained how she and Max had been talking on the phone every few days.

"Wow," Rory said. "So, are you getting back together?"

"Well... " Lorelai started. "I don't think so. It looked like we were, but now I'm not sure that's what I want."

"Aww, Mom, I'm sorry." Rory said sympathetically.

Lorelai shook her head. "Oh, no, don't be. It's good that I realized what I want now before we got too serious again."

"True," Rory agreed. She paused for a moment. "Okay. Well, I'm gonna go work on my homework." She stood up and went into her room. Lorelai glanced at the phone and sighed. She downed the last of her coffee and reluctantly went to call Max.

* * * * *

Lorelai hung up the phone, tossed it on the couch next to her, and stared ahead at the wall. 'Did I really just break it off with Max because of Rachel? Is that why my feelings for Max suddenly disappeared?' Lorelai thought for a few seconds. 'No. I probably would've broken it off eventually. The Rachel feelings just helped me realize that it wouldn't have worked out with Max.' Lorelai sat on the couch confused. She glanced at the phone, and reached over and picked it up. She dialed Luke's.

"Luke's, " Luke answered.

"Hey Luke."

"Lorelai, hi. What's up?"

"Uh, nothing much. Is, uh, Rachel there?"

Luke paused. "Uh, yeah. You... wanna talk to her?"

"Yes please."

"Um... hold on a sec."

A few seconds later, Lorelai smiled as she heard Rachel's voice. "Lorelai? Hey."

"Hey Rachel. Um, I was wondering what you were doing tonight for dinner."

"Oh, I don't know. Luke's not working at the diner tonight, so we were gonna go out somewhere, I think."

"Oh," Lorelai said, trying not to sound disappointed. She thought for a second. "Well, you guys wanna come over here? We can get pizza, maybe Sookie and Jackson can come too. It'll be fun."

"Oh, that does sound fun. Lemme check with Luke to make sure he didn't have any other plans in mind. Hold on."

"Okay." Lorelai waited anxiously, hoping that she'd say yes. A few seconds later, she heard Rachel's voice. "Lorelai?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll be there."

Lorelai smiled and felt a wave of excitement come over her. "Great. Say around 6?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

"Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone feeling almost giddy. Rachel had never been to her house before. Inside, a part of her was pretending that tonight would be like a secret date between her and Rachel. Albeit, one that Rachel didn't know about, but she still felt excited about it. She picked up the phone once more to call Sookie.

* * * * *

That evening, Lorelai said goodbye to Rory as she headed to meet Lane. As Lorelai shut the front door, she checked her watch. 5:40. She decided to order the pizza. After she hung up the phone she walked into the kitchen, and she started to get out some glasses and plates. A few seconds later, she heard the doorbell ring. She yelled, "Come in!" She heard the door open and shut, and a few seconds later saw Luke walk into the kitchen carrying a brown bag. "Hey," he said.

Lorelai smiled. "Hey Luke." She looked past him for Rachel, but didn't see her. She tried not to seem too eager when she asked, "Is Rachel here?"

"Oh, she's not here yet?" Luke asked. "I had to run some errands first so she was gonna meet me here. I told her how to get here."

Lorelai felt relieved inside as she smiled. "Oh, she's not here yet." Lorelai pointed to the brown bag. "What's that?"

Luke held it up. "Oh, I brought some beer. You know, what's pizza without beer?"

Lorelai laughed. "Thanks. That's great. Here." She took the bag and put it into the fridge. "So I'm glad you could make it tonight. You sure you didn't have other plans?"

"Nope, we were just gonna hang out. Thanks for inviting us though. Uh, can I help with something?"

"Oh yeah, can you get the ice bucket down?" Lorelai pointed up to a cabinet.

Luke retrieved the bucket while Lorelai took out three ice trays from the freezer and set them on the table. Luke took the lid off the bucket and rinsed it under the sink, then placed it on the table. They each took an ice tray and started popping the ice out and dumping it into the bucket. "So..." Lorelai started, "How's everything going?"

"Good, everything's going good." Luke replied. "How's it going with you?"

Lorelai smiled. "Good." They continued popping out the ice cubes. Lorelai glanced at her watch, 5:50.

"Um, you've... " Luke started. "You've been talking to Rachel a lot lately."

"Yeah, I guess." Lorelai felt uncomfortable but tried to hide it. She forced a smile. "You hate it, don't you?" She finished the ice and sat down at the table. Luke picked up the third tray and popped them out.

Luke shook his head. "No, not at all. I think it's nice that you two are. . you know, becoming friendly and stuff." He paused. "Um, has she said anything about... us, at all?"

Surprised at Luke's questions, Lorelai's eyes widened. "No, not really. She, uh, mentioned that things were going good." Lorelai knew she couldn't tell Luke what Rachel had told her. She couldn't break Rachel's trust.

Luke looked relieved. "Really? She said that?"

Lorelai nodded. "Why? You didn't think things were going good?"

Luke shrugged. He finished the tray and sat across from Lorelai. "She just... well, I thought that maybe she had... met someone else. She's seemed so distant lately. Which is why I was having trouble believing her in the first place about not leaving. I thought she maybe liked someone else." Luke looked embarrassed to be sharing this information. "But then you convinced me to jump in, so I did."

Lorelai sat there shocked at what Luke had just said. Put that together with what Rachel told her yesterday, they each thought that the other one liked someone else. Something's wrong here, Lorelai thought, but she smiled at Luke. "Oh Luke, she didn't mention another person to me, but from talking to her, I'm pretty sure that you're the only one for her."

Luke smiled and gave her a thankful look. But as soon as she had said the words aloud, Lorelai's heart hurt as she realized how close to home it hit. Then crazy thoughts started going through her head. 'What if Rachel is cheating on Luke?' The thought made Lorelai more jealous than she already was. At least if Rachel was with Luke -- someone Lorelai knows -- then she could stay close to the relationship. But if Rachel was with someone else... it would be a hell of a lot harder for her to stay friends with Rachel. 'But wait, Rachel was pretty upset when she thought Luke was cheating. I don't think she'd be that upset if she were cheating too.' Still, Lorelai started worrying about the possibility of another guy as she heard the doorbell ring.

Lorelai stood up to answer the door, with Luke following her. She pulled it open and found Sookie and Jackson carrying a container of desserts. Lorelai smiled. "Hey guys, come on in."

"Hey Lorelai. Hey Luke," Sookie said. Jackson nodded hello as he followed Sookie into the house. Sookie took the container into the kitchen and Lorelai followed her. Luke and Jackson walked into the living room and sat on the couch and started talking.

In the kitchen, Sookie started telling Lorelai about the catastrophes that arose while she was making apple turnovers this morning, but Lorelai wasn't really paying attention. She kept thinking about Rachel, wondering when she would get there, trying not to think about this possible other guy. After several minutes, Lorelai heard a knock and practically ran to the door. She pulled it open and her eyes lit up as she saw Rachel standing there. "Hey! You found it okay?"

Rachel smiled as she walked in. "Yup, sorry I'm late. Is Luke here already?"

Lorelai nodded as she led Rachel to the living room. She gestured at Luke on the couch, who was still talking to Jackson. They didn't even notice the ladies standing there. Lorelai cleared her throat loudly. Jackson and Luke stopped talking and looked up. Luke smiled as he stood up. "Oh, hey." He walked to Rachel and gave her a kiss. "You found it okay, right?"

Rachel nodded. "Yup, your directions were perfect." She walked over and sat down in an armchair as Luke sat back down on the couch.

"So, does anyone want a drink?" Lorelai asked. The doorbell rang. "Ah, hold that thought." She walked to the front door and pulled it open, and the aroma of hot pizza hit her as Joe held out two boxes towards her. She paid for them and brought them into the kitchen. She put the boxes on the counter and called everyone into the kitchen. Lorelai brought out some sodas, the beers, and the pitcher of Sangria she had made earlier. She placed them on the counter and told everyone to help themselves.

After dinner, Sookie and Jackson carried the dessert plates into the living room and put them on the coffee table. Luke and Rachel followed, each holding a beer, as Lorelai slowly poured herself a third glass of Sangria. She started to head into the living room herself when she saw Rachel walking back towards her. She smiled. "Need another one?" Lorelai asked, pointing to the beer.

She held it up. "No, not yet. Just wanted to see if you needed any help cleaning up in here."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, I'm just gonna leave it for now, but thanks. So uh, how's everything with you?"

Rachel walked over and leaned against the counter. "Oh, good. I took some pictures today near the lake. You know, of some of those gardens surrounding it."

Lorelai nodded. "That sounds nice. Did you develop them yet?"

"No, not yet. I didn't have time. I had some errands to run." Rachel took a sip of her beer.

"Right." Lorelai said, nodding. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to know what was going on. Lorelai glanced into the living room and saw the three of them engrossed in conversation. She walked over to Rachel and lowered her voice. "Um, Luke said something to me today that I... um, well, I just thought you should know."

Rachel looked concerned. "What is it?"

Lorelai whispered, "He thinks you like someone else."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Are you serious? That's funny, since I was thinking the same thing about him. Did he say who?"

"No. He just said you've been acting weird lately." Lorelai hoped Rachel's reaction would indicate whether it was true or not.

Rachel laughed quietly. "Tsk, well that's crazy. God knows he's the only guy for me."

Lorelai nodded. She felt happy that there wasn't anyone else, but inside her heart sank at Rachel's last phrase. She took a sip of her drink and said, "Right. I just thought you should know."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks for telling me. You're a great friend."

Lorelai looked up and smiled. As Rachel brought the beer to her lips and tilted her head back, Lorelai noticed a red speck on her cheek. "Oh, you've got some sauce right there. Here, let me get it." Lorelai brought her hand up to Rachel's face and gently wiped her thumb near Rachel's lip. "There. It's gone."

"Thanks." Rachel smiled. Lorelai stared into Rachel's eyes. Her strong feelings of desire overwhelmed her and she suddenly leaned forward and pressed her lips against Rachel's. She quickly pulled away and clasped her hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

Rachel had an extreme look of surprise on her face. She put a hand on the side of her face and stared at Lorelai. "Um, wow. That was... uh, I guess we've both had a little too much to drink, huh?"

Lorelai nodded. "Rachel, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I... "

"No, it's okay. I understand, things happen. Let's forget about it." Rachel smiled. "Really, it's okay." She walked past Lorelai and headed into the living room. Lorelai stood in the kitchen feeling more embarrassed than she ever had in her entire life. She closed her eyes and hit herself on the head. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did you do that?' She downed the rest of her drink, grabbed the pitcher, and headed into the living room for the rest of what she knew would be an uncomfortable evening.

To Be Continued...