("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
                     `6_ 6  )   `-.  (     ).`-.__.`)
                     (_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'
                    _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,'
                   ((('   (((-(((''  ((((
                 K R I S T E N' S    C O L L E C T I O N
		_________________________________________
		                WARNING!
		This text file contains sexually explicit
		material. If you do not wish to read this
		type of literature, or you are under age,
		PLEASE DELETE THIS FILE NOW!!!!
		_________________________________________




			Scroll down to view text













Archive name: chris.txt (MF, rom)
Authors name: DadStock (dadstock@aol.com)
Story title : Gilmore Girls: Elusive Soulmate 

--------------------------------------------------------
This work is copyrighted to the author © 2003.  Please
don't remove the author information or make any changes
to this story.  All rights reserved. Thank you for your 
consideration.
--------------------------------------------------------

Gilmore Girls: Elusive Soulmate (MF, rom)
by DadStock (dadstock@aol.com)

* * *

After "The Bracebridge Dinner" - When Christopher visits 
again, Lorelai has to deal with some lingering feelings 
for him.

I own nothing; all characters belong to Amy Sherman-
Palladino and the WB.


* * * CHAPTER 1 * * *

Rory and Lorelai sat on their living room couch deeply 
entranced in "The Goonies," which they'd seen 100 times 
before and were reciting all the lines along with the 
characters. Just as poor Chunk found himself locked in 
with the dead body, the phone rang. Lorelai and Rory 
glanced at each other quickly. 

"Not it!" Lorelai yelled.

"Not... damn," Rory yelled, seconds too late. "Ha!" 
Lorelai laughed. "You lose. Get it kid." She brought her 
gaze back to the movie as Rory stuck her tongue out at 
her and walked over to the phone. 

"Hello?" Rory answered. "Dad! Hey."

Lorelai's ears perked up. She narrowed her eyes and 
stopped the video to listen to Rory's conversation.

Rory leaned against the hallway wall as she spoke. "Yeah, 
it was fun.... He's fine... Yup, we started a few days 
ago... Uh huh.... Yeah, I know... Okay, hold on." Rory 
cupped her hand over the mouthpiece as she walked towards 
Lorelai. "Dad wants to talk to you." Rory handed her the 
phone, then sat down on the couch next to Lorelai.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows slightly, and quickly said 
into the phone, "Chris? Hey."

"Lor, hi. Uh, how's everything going?" Christopher asked. 
"Eh, it's going okay," Lorelai replied. "I've recently 
taken up stripping as a pastime and yesterday I 
accidentally ripped my favorite G-string, so I'm a little 
upset about that." Christopher laughed on the other side 
of the phone. Rory, however, rolled her eyes and said, 
"Ugh, Mom." She stood up and walked into her bedroom. 

"Wow. Well, I'm sorry to hear about that, but I do thank 
you for the graphic image of you stripping," Christopher 
said. Lorelai smiled as she pictured the amused look on 
Chris' face. She said, "You're welcome. But you shouldn't 
be thinking about images like that unless they're about -
- uh, what's her name? Sheryl? Shirley?" 

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Lorelai 
narrowed her eyes in confusion as she asked, 
"Christopher, you there?" Finally Christopher said, "Uh, 
that's why I called." He sighed into the phone. "Um, 
Sherry -- her name is Sherry, by the way -- we kind of 
broke up."

Lorelai gasped, shocked at the news. "Oh no, Chris, I'm 
so sorry. But you guys were so... what happened?"

Christopher sighed. "It's a long story. A really long 
story. The thing is, though, that I was wondering if I 
might be able to stay with you guys for a few days. I 
just... I really need to get out of Boston for a little 
while. I mean, I don't know if you guys have plans or..."

"No, Chris, it's fine," Lorelai interrupted. "You're 
welcome to stay here. Rory'll love having you around." 
Lorelai bit her lip, not mentioning the fact that she'd 
love having him around just as much as Rory. 

Christopher breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Lor. I 
really appreciate it."

"No trouble at all," Lorelai said. "Uh, you still have 
the Volvo?" 

Christopher laughed. "Yeah, still got it. And my Volvo 
and I will be there tomorrow night, like 5-ish. That 
okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Lorelai replied. "You'll be just in 
time for dinner at my parents." She smiled as she waited 
for his reaction. Christopher laughed. "Yeah, well let's 
not invite my parents this time. I'm fresh out of Tequila 
and I've misplaced my shotgun." Lorelai laughed. "Deal. 
So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes you will. Thanks a lot, Lor," Christopher said. 
"Bye." "Bye." Lorelai said. She turned off the phone and 
tossed it on the couch. "Hmm." 

Lorelai sat and stared at the fireplace, thinking about 
what it would be like having Christopher there. She 
always felt so safe when she was with him, so casual and 
comfortable when he was around. Of course, part of her 
felt bad for him that he and Sherry had broken up. 

What made her feel even worse was the fact that she was 
also relieved about it. She scolded herself for feeling 
that way, and tried to forget the feelings of jealousy 
she'd felt towards Sherry, towards that woman she'd never 
even met. She also tried not to think about the 
underlying reasons of her jealousy. 

She didn't want to admit the fact that something was 
still there -- some feelings for Christopher would 
*always* still be there. She stared into space for a few 
minutes, then walked into Rory's room to tell her the 
news. 

* * * 

At 4 p.m. the next day, Lorelai walked into the kitchen 
and started making a pot of coffee. As it was brewing, 
she picked up the phone off the kitchen table and dialed 
a number. "Hello?" Emily answered.

"Mom, hi," Lorelai said. "Uh, I just wanted to let you 
know that we're going to be three for dinner tonight, if 
that's okay." "Three?" Emily said, followed by a haughty 
sigh. "Well, you haven't given me much notice. Who may I 
ask are you bringing? That Dean boy again?"

"Oh no, we've got a foreign exchange student here from 
Jamaica, and he said if you're really nice to him, he'd 
do your hair in dreadlocks." Lorelai smiled to herself as 
she pictured the image. "Lorelai," Emily said in an 
annoyed voice. "I'm in no mood for your jokes."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Christopher's visiting, Mom, 
okay? It's just Christopher." 

"Oh, that'll be lovely," Emily said, sounding happier. 
"We haven't seen him since the ball."

"Yup, he should be here soon Mom. We'll see ya tonight," 
Lorelai said. 

"Yes, see you tonight. Goodbye," Emily said. "Bye 
Mother." Lorelai hung up the phone. She sat down at the 
table and started flipping through Glamour. 

A few minutes later, Rory walked in the back door. "Hey." 
She walked over to Lorelai and gave her a kiss on the 
cheek, then put her book bag on the chair. She smiled. 
"Is he here yet? I didn't see his car outside." She 
pulled off her jacket and scarf. 

Lorelai smiled at how excited she seemed. "Nope, not yet. 
Soon." She stood up and walked over to the coffeepot. 
"You want some coffee?" 

"Yes please. I'm gonna change for dinner." She took her 
book bag into her room and set it on her desk chair. She 
pulled a dress out of her closet and lay it on her bed, 
then walked back into the kitchen. "Actually, I'll just 
stay in this until we're ready to go." 

Lorelai smirked as she brought their coffee to the table. 
"You just want to show off to your dad how smart you look 
in your uniform." 

Rory smiled shyly. "I do not. I just don't want to dirty 
any more clothes." She took a sip of coffee and smiled 
down at the table. 

Lorelai smiled. "Mm hmm. How was school?" 

Rory shrugged. "Same old stuff. Lots of homework to do 
this weekend, which sucks since I wanted to spend time 
with Dad." 

"Aw, yeah, that does stink," Lorelai said 
sympathetically. "Well, he'll be here for a few days so 
hopefully you won't be working the entire time."

Rory nodded. "Hopefully." She paused and took another sip 
of coffee. "So Dad didn't say what happened with Sherry?" 
Lorelai shook her head. "He just said that it's a long 
story. I thought things were going good with them, 
though. I mean, you don't do a picture Christmas card 
with just anyone." Rory pouted her lips. "Poor Dad. He 
didn't sound overly upset when I talked to him. How was 
he with you?"

Lorelai replied, "Well, it's hard to say because I'm so 
naturally charming that people are always happy around 
me." Rory rolled her eyes. "Right, you're just a ball of 
fun all the time," she said sarcastically.

Lorelai laughed. "I know. But he seemed like his regular 
old self." She shrugged. "Look, if he brings it up, then 
okay, but let's not go meddling."

Rory gave Lorelai a pointed look and laughed. "You won't 
even last an hour before you go prying into it."

Lorelai scoffed. "Excuse me, I think I know when to pry 
and when not to pry."

Rory, with a small smile on her lips, mockingly said, 
"Yes, Mom, you never ever say anything without putting 
deep thought into it." Lorelai pouted. "Shush, you, I'm 
busy reading." She went back to her magazine, flipping 
through the remaining pages slowly. 

Rory finished her coffee and walked into the living room, 
flipping on the TV. As Lorelai finished the magazine, she 
wandered in and sat down next to Rory on the couch, 
absently staring towards the TV but not really paying 
attention to it. It wasn't long before they heard a car 
horn out front. Both girls popped up off the couch and 
walked out the front door. 

Lorelai smiled as Christopher stepped out of the Volvo, 
and a mixture of feelings ran through her body. Seeing 
him made her feel a sense of comfort and happiness that 
she felt with no one else. She couldn't ignore the fact 
that she was thrilled to see him. Lorelai waited on the 
porch as Rory ran down to the car and gave him a huge 
hug. They finally broke apart and walked to the porch, 
and Lorelai greeted Christopher with a hug and a quick 
kiss on the cheek. "Hey you. You get good mileage?"

Christopher smiled. "Almost 30 per gallon on the 
highway." Lorelai raised her eyebrows and nodded 
impressively. "Wow, that's good." She paused. "Isn't it?" 

Christopher laughed and said, "Yeah, it's pretty good."

"Uh, well congratulations then," Lorelai said. She stared 
at Christopher for a moment before she casually glanced 
towards the car. Thoughts started running through her 
head as she started to feel those feelings again; the 
ones that had been stored deep inside of her since she 
was a teenager and came back out whenever she saw him. 
Only this time they seemed to be stronger than ever. Her 
thoughts were interrupted when Rory asked Christopher, 
"Where's your stuff? Can I help you with it?"

Christopher gestured towards the car. "Ah, in the trunk. 
I'll get it later. I just needed to get out and stretch 
for a bit first." He leaned forward a little, stretching 
out his back. "You wanna go get some coffee?" Lorelai 
asked. "We can walk to Luke's before we leave for dinner, 
you can stretch your legs a little." 

"Yeah, that'd be good," Christopher said. "Uh, but first, 
nature calls." 

He walked past them and into the house, leaving the front 
door open. "Very nice," Lorelai said. She and Rory 
followed him into the house and grabbed their coats. They 
stepped back outside and waited on the front porch. 

"This is gonna be so great having him around," Rory 
whispered.

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yeah. But why are you 
whispering?" Lorelai whispered back. 

Rory smiled and shrugged, then leaned against the porch 
railing. Lorelai could see in her face how excited she 
was to have her dad around, and it made Lorelai twice as 
happy than she already was. Seconds later, Christopher 
walked out the front door, pulling it closed behind him. 

"Ready?" Lorelai asked, zippering up her coat. "Yup, 
let's go," he said, rubbing his palms together. "Wow, 
it's cold out here. Let's walk fast."

They walked down the porch steps and headed for Luke's. 
Rory talked about school, Lorelai and Christopher talked 
about work, they talked about the town. No one brought up 
Sherry or referred to her or the break up at all. As they 
walked into Luke's, Christopher laughed and said, "No 
chai latte this time." 

Lorelai laughed. "I'll never forget the look on Luke's 
face when you asked him for that."

As they reached the counter, Luke looked up from his pad 
and smiled at Lorelai and Rory, but his face seemed to 
tighten as he saw Christopher standing behind them. "Hey. 
What can I get you?" "Uh, Luke, you remember Christopher 
right? Rory's Dad?" Lorelai said. 

"Yeah. How's it going?" Luke said, nodding towards him. 
"It's going okay, thanks," Christopher said. "Uh, we'll 
have three coffees please."

Luke nodded and turned around to fill their order. A 
minute later, he placed the mugs in front of them. 
Christopher paid for them and they walked to a table and 
sat down. As they watched bundled up townspeople walking 
by the window, they sipped their hot coffees and talked. 
Several refills later, they finally stood up and headed 
back to the house. They grabbed Christopher's baggage 
from the car and carried it inside. 

* * * 

At slightly before 7 p.m., they pulled up to Richard and 
Emily's house in the Volvo Sedan. They walked up to the 
front door and rang the bell, and a moment later Emily 
answered. She smiled upon seeing Christopher and invited 
them inside. Rory and Lorelai removed their coats and 
hung them up as Emily fawned over Christopher.

"Christopher, how are you?" Emily asked as she gave him a 
hug. 

"I'm good Emily, how are you? Looking lovely as ever. You 
just get more beautiful every time I see you," 
Christopher said, tilting his head and flashing that 
bright smile of his. He started removing his coat.

Emily smiled an embarrassed smile. "Aw, Christopher, 
stop! Come in, come in." She headed for the living room 
and Rory followed her. Lorelai hung back as Chris hung up 
his coat.

"Suck up," Lorelai whispered.

He laughed. "I know, I'm quite the charmer. You can't get 
through life with just good looks, you know."

They walked into the living room and found Rory already 
holding a soda, sitting on the couch with Emily. Richard 
was standing near the bar. 

"Hey Dad," Lorelai said. She sat down on the empty couch 
as Christopher walked over to Richard and shook his hand. 
"Richard, good to see you. How's retirement going?" 
Christopher asked. "Oh, it's going fine," Richard 
replied. "Just fine. If I knew it would be this good, I 
would've done it years ago."

"Ah, you give me something to look forward to then," 
Christopher said.

Richard handed him two glasses of wine and Christopher 
brought them to the couch. He handed one to Lorelai 
before sitting down next to her. Richard handed Emily a 
glass, then took his seat in the armchair. 

They started talking about school, work, and fund-
raisers, and soon the maid entered the room to announce 
dinner. They brought their drinks to the table. Emily and 
Richard sat at either end, and Lorelai sat across from 
Rory and Christopher. They continued their conversation 
throughout the meal and into dessert, during which 
Lorelai kept subtly glancing at Christopher. 

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he ate 
his dinner, watched him interact with Rory and her 
parents, watched him flash that smile that made her melt. 
Her feelings for him seemed to be intensifying, but she 
wasn't sure if that was good or bad. As she stared down 
at the tiramisu on her plate, questions were running 
rampant through her mind: Did she just feel this way 
because he was here now, and would the feelings go away 
if he left? Did she feel this way because Sherry was gone 
and he was available again? Or was it possible that she 
actually felt this way because she really wanted to give 
it another chance with him?

She brought her eyes up from her plate and glanced at 
Christopher, and caught him staring back at her. Their 
eyes met and they smiled at each other. They both glanced 
away and continued eating. After dessert, everyone 
returned to the living room for more drinks and 
conversation. 

Finally, Lorelai stood up and said, "We should really get 
going. 

Thanks for dinner." 

Christopher followed suit by standing up and saying, 
"Yes, thank you. 

It was great." 

Emily, Richard and Rory stood up also, and they all 
walked to the front hallway to say goodbye. 

The three guests walked out to the car but didn't get in 
right away. 

Rory said, "Well, that went considerably better than last 
time." Lorelai laughed. "Uh, starting a small fire in the 
middle of the living room would've been better than last 
time." Christopher smiled. "No, starting a small fire in 
Emily's hair would've been better than last time."

Rory laughed. "Dad!" She walked to the back door and 
pulled it open. 

Lorelai smacked Christopher on the arm. "Stop giving Rory 
ideas on how to attack her grandmother."

Christopher laughed. "Sorry, sorry. Rory, never light 
your Grandma on fire, okay?"

Rory smiled and playfully saluted him. "Yes sir." She 
climbed into the back seat of the car. 

Lorelai and Christopher stood in front of the car for a 
few seconds smiling before Lorelai finally turned and 
walked to the passenger door. Christopher walked to his 
own door and they both climbed in. They rode home, all of 
them tired, particularly Christopher who'd spent much of 
the day driving. However, despite his constant yawning 
and Lorelai's offer to drive, he still insisted that he 
drive home.

They pulled up to Lorelai's house almost 45 minutes 
later. They slowly climbed out of the car and dragged 
themselves into the house. Rory immediately said 
goodnight and went into her room, shutting the door 
behind her. Lorelai and Christopher took off their coats 
and lingered in the hallway for a minute. 

Finally Lorelai said, "Well, uh, it was a fun night, but 
I'm beat. I'll see you tomorrow." She leaned up to give 
him a kiss on the cheek. "Night."

"Goodnight Lor," Christopher said. "And thanks again for 
letting me stay here. I really appreciate it." 
Christopher leaned forward and wrapped his arms around 
her. She leaned against him and felt herself relaxing 
into his arms, that feeling of comfort filling her body. 
She finally pulled back from the warmth of his embrace 
and smiled at him. "You're welcome." 

She walked to the staircase and went up to her room, 
locking herself inside and collapsing on the bed. She lay 
there staring at the ceiling, wondering what to do about 
the feelings she felt. She didn't know whether she should 
make them known or not, considering the fact she didn't 
even know if he still had feelings for her anymore.

She didn't want to ruin the closeness that they had, 
didn't want to make things weird between them. The one 
thing she did know was that her feelings for Christopher 
were getting stronger. Lying on the bed, she finally 
admitted to herself that she really was ready to give it 
another chance with him. She just had to hope that he 
would feel the same way.


* * * CHAPTER 2 * * *


Lorelai walked downstairs the next morning slightly 
before 9 a.m., still in her pajamas. She stopped on the 
staircase and smiled upon seeing Christopher still asleep 
on the couch. She tiptoed down past him and into the 
kitchen, where she started making coffee. As she was 
halfway finished her first cup, Rory walked out of her 
bedroom already dressed. "Morning," Rory said.

"Morning hon," Lorelai said. "You been up for a while?" 
she asked, glancing at her clothes.

"Mm hmm," Rory said. "I've been trying to get some 
homework done." She walked to the coffeepot and poured 
herself a cup, then sat down across from Lorelai. 

"So, how's it going?" Lorelai asked. "You make a dent in 
it at all?"

Rory nodded. "Slightly. I need to go to the library later 
though." 

She glanced into the living room and smiled. "Dad's up." 
Lorelai stood up and walked into the living room. 
Christopher was sitting up on the couch rubbing his eyes, 
and Lorelai sat down next to him. "Morning." 

Christopher smiled. "Morning. Nice pajamas."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks. Nice hair."

Christopher brought his hand up to his head and tried to 
smooth down his hair. When it wouldn't stay down, he 
said, "I'm going for the Chia-Pet look anyway."

Lorelai laughed. "Well, then, good going. You want 
something for breakfast? We have Pop-Tarts or... uh, 
cookies." Christopher laughed. "Maybe we can go out and 
get something." Lorelai smiled. "That's good too." 
Lorelai called into the kitchen, "Rory, come in here a 
sec!" 

Rory walked into the living room carrying her coffee. 
"Yeah? 

Morning Dad."

"Morning kid," Christopher said, as he let out a yawn. 
"Rory," Lorelai said. "Your father doesn't think cookies 
are a good breakfast so he wants to go out to eat. You 
wanna go to Luke's with us?"

"Nah, you guys go," Rory said. "I'm trying to get as much 
homework done as I can so we can do something fun later." 
"Okay. We'll bring you back something," Lorelai said. 
Rory smiled. "Thanks." She walked towards the kitchen and 
disappeared into her bedroom.

Lorelai looked at Christopher and tapped him on the knee. 
"Get dressed. Be ready in 5 minutes." She stood up and 
walked to the staircase.

"You're gonna be ready in five minutes?" Christopher 
asked with a laugh. 

Lorelai turned around and stopped at the bottom of the 
stairs. "No, I was just telling you to be ready in five 
minutes. I'll be ready in thirty." She flashed him a grin 
before turning and running up the steps. 

* * * 

Lorelai and Christopher walked into Luke's and grabbed 
the first empty table they saw. They hung their jackets 
on their chairs, and a few minutes later, Luke walked 
over to them with two cups of coffee. "Hey," he nodded at 
them as he placed the mugs down. He took out his pad and 
said, "We have French toast with bacon this morning."

"I'll take it," Lorelai said, as she took a sip of 
coffee.

"Me too," Christopher said. "Oh, and another order to go 
for Rory." Luke jotted it down on his pad and walked 
away. Christopher turned to Lorelai and said, "So, you 
still eat bacon even though you're a stripper? How do you 
stay in shape?"

Lorelai smiled. "Bulimia."

Christopher laughed. "Oh, that's attractive. Now I've got 
the image of you in a thong, puking. Nice. Thank you for 
that." 

"You're welcome," Lorelai said, smiling. She was silent 
for a moment. "Uh, Chris, do you wanna talk about what 
happened?" 

Christopher looked down at his mug. "About what 
happened?"

"Yeah, I mean, with Sherry," Lorelai said. Then she 
quickly added, "I mean, you don't have to, but if you 
want to... then, I'm here." 

Christopher looked up at her. "Thanks. Uh, I'll let you 
know when I need a good listener."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay."

"Yeah, then maybe you can tell me where to find one," 
Christopher said with a smirk.

Lorelai frowned at him and hit him on the arm. "Hey you, 
I'm a great listener." 

He laughed. "I know, I know. I was kidding. Seriously, 
thank you." She smiled. "You're welcome." They stared at 
each other for a few seconds before Luke, setting their 
plates in front of them, interrupted their silence.

Lorelai looked up at Luke and smiled. "Thanks Luke." 

Luke gave her a small smile as he placed the receipt on 
the table. Lorelai saw him give a quick glance at 
Christopher before walking away. They ate their French 
toast, spending most of the time talking about Rory. 

They finished the meal, and as Christopher was pulling 
out his wallet, Lorelai said, "No, I got it." She grabbed 
the check and walked up to Luke at the counter. She 
pulled some money out of her pocket and handed it to him. 
"Hey," she said. "How's it going?"

He smiled as he put the money in the register. "Good, 
it's going good. How's it going with you?" he asked as he 
handed her the change. "It's going pretty good. 
Christopher's staying with us for a few days," Lorelai 
said, gesturing towards him. "Yeah, I noticed," Luke 
said, glancing past her to look at Christopher. "Rory 
must be loving that."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, she is. She's thrilled." Luke 
smiled. "That's good. Speaking of which, hold on." He 
walked into the kitchen and returned a moment later with 
a take-out container. "Here you go," he said, handing it 
to her. "Thanks. Here." Lorelai handed him a tip and 
smiled at him. "Bye Luke."

Luke smiled. "Thanks. Bye." 

Lorelai walked back to the table, grabbed her coat, and 
walked out the door with Christopher.

* * * 

Lorelai and Christopher walked into Lorelai's house. As 
Christopher went to sit down on the couch, Lorelai 
brought the container into the kitchen. Rory was sitting 
at the table with several school books spread open in 
front of her. 

"Hey there," Lorelai said. "French toast and bacon." She 
set the container in front of her.

"Mmm, thanks," Rory said. She put her pen down and opened 
the container, taking out a piece of bacon. She took a 
bite and asked, "What do you guys wanna do today?" 
Lorelai shrugged. "Whatever you want. How's all this 
going?" she asked, gesturing to the books.

Rory nodded. "It's coming along pretty good."

"Good. Well, think about what you want to do and let us 
know." Lorelai smiled. She stole a piece of bacon from 
Rory's container and walked towards the living room. 

She paused in the hallway and stared in at Christopher, 
who was on the couch flipping through the TV channels. 
There were a lot of things running through her mind. She 
still wasn't sure what to do about the feelings she felt. 
She wasn't sure if he felt even remotely the same way. 
She wasn't sure how long he was going to stay with them. 
But the one thing she was sure about was that she loved 
being around him, and she smiled to herself as she walked 
into the living room. 

Christopher looked up at her and said, "There's nothing 
on except cartoons, which normally wouldn't be bad if 
they were the good old classics like Scooby Doo or the 
Flintstones, but they're not. It's all stupid stuff."

Lorelai sat down next to him, grabbed the remote, and 
turned the TV off. "Yes, I know. That's why we don't 
watch TV on Saturday mornings."

Christopher smiled. "Oh no? So what do you do?" "We 
meditate," Lorelai said. "And when we're done with that, 
we stare at each other to see who blinks first. And when 
we're done with that, we have thumb wars."

Christopher laughed. "Wow, I've left my daughter in good 
hands."

Lorelai smiled. "Yup."

They sat there talking for a few more minutes before Rory 
walked in and announced, "Okay, I know what I want to do 
today." "Oh, please tell us, daughter," Lorelai said, 
turning around to face her.

"How about we go to the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of 
Art?" Rory said, looking at them hopefully.

Lorelai's mouth dropped open. "The who and the what?" she 
asked. Christopher laughed and said, "It's that big 
museum in Hartford. I'm sure you've been there before, 
Lor. I think it's a great idea. We should go."

Rory smiled. "Cool, thanks Dad. I'll go get ready." She 
turned and walked quickly to her bedroom.

Lorelai turned to Christopher and made a face. "Ugh, a 
museum? Where does she get her love of the arts? 
Certainly not from me." He smiled. "No, she just got her 
coffee addiction and her incredible beauty from you." 

Lorelai laughed and glanced down at her hands. In a 
normal situation, she would've made a witty remark to a 
statement like that. But now with her feelings for 
Christopher strengthening, a statement like that affected 
her differently than it used to. She felt her face 
getting unusually red as she pretended to examine her 
nails. 

Christopher smiled and said, "Whoa, hold the presses. Did 
I just embarrass Lorelai Gilmore?" He put his hand on her 
chin and tilted her head up. "Are you blushing?" He let 
out a small laugh. "You're blushing!"

Lorelai smiled and pushed his hand away. "No I'm not! 
It's warm in here." She quickly stood up and said, "I'm 
gonna go get ready." Christopher watched her with a 
curious smirk as she ran upstairs. 

* * * 

Several hours later, they returned home from the museum. 
The three of them sat around the living room for a while 
talking before Rory finally stood up and said, "I have to 
get to the library before it closes."

Lorelai frowned. "Aww. Well, we'll go out to dinner when 
you get back."

Rory nodded. "Okay." She walked into her room. Lorelai 
and Christopher both sat on the couch in silence until 
she walked out several minutes later with her book bag. 
"Bye," Rory said as she walked to the front door.

"Bye hon," Lorelai said.

"See you later," Christopher said. 

As the front door slammed shut, Lorelai turned to 
Christopher and said, "Okay, we need to talk about 
something." Shifting in his seat to face her, he replied, 
"I know we do." Ready to finally tell him how she'd been 
feeling, Lorelai took a deep breath. As she opened her 
mouth to speak, Christopher said, "Wait, let me go first. 
Please?" 

Lorelai closed her mouth and narrowed her eyebrows, 
staring at him curiously. "Fine, go ahead," she said.

Christopher smiled. "Thank you. Uh, so I kinda wanted to 
talk about what happened. I mean, with Sherry."

"Oh," Lorelai said, sounding surprised. "Okay, sure. I'm 
here to listen."

"Okay," Christopher said. "Well, we officially broke up 
about a week ago, but things were kinda starting to break 
apart before that. I mean, she's really great and 
everything, but I was starting to realize that she really 
wasn't the one I wanted to be with. She was just the one 
I was... settling for."

Lorelai was surprised. She swallowed hard before she 
said, "Wow. So you ... you had someone else in mind?" she 
asked nonchalantly, as she felt jealousy starting to 
rumble through her.

Christopher nodded. "Yeah, I did. And, I don't know, I 
just didn't want to pretend that I wanted to spend the 
rest of my life with Sherry when in actuality I was 
always thinking about this other woman. It wasn't fair to 
Sherry. And it wasn't what I wanted. So I broke up with 
her." He turned and stared at the fireplace. "And that's 
what happened." 

Lorelai was quiet for a moment, trying not to show the 
crushing disappointment she was now feeling, trying to 
hide the fact that she felt somewhat heartbroken. She 
finally asked softly, "So who's the mystery woman? Linda 
in Marketing?"

Christopher turned his head and stared into her eyes. 
"No. Lorelai in Stars Hollow."

Lorelai's heart skipped a beat and her mouth dropped 
open. "What?" He slid closer to her and clasped his hands 
around one of hers. "Listen to me Lor. I know you've said 
you don't think we can be a family. But -- and maybe I 
was getting the wrong impression -- but the last time I 
was here you were kinda showing some interest. I mean, I 
definitely noticed something there and I wasn't sure 
about it at first, but then it made me realize that... 
maybe we can be a family. Maybe this will work." He 
paused. "Now, I know that I just broke up with someone 
and you just got... un-engaged and everything, but I 
think..."

Lorelai cut him off by putting a finger on his lips. 
"Shh." She leaned forward and softly pressed her lips 
against his. Christopher, who at first was surprised by 
her move, brought his hands to her face and kissed her 
back gently. 

When Lorelai pulled away, a smile was resting on her 
lips. Christopher stared at her for a moment. Finally he 
asked, "Okay, so what was that? Was that a `let's be a 
family' kiss, or a `nice offer, but no thanks' kiss?"

Lorelai smiled. "It was a `I'm extremely thrilled because 
I've been feeling the same way, so let's give it a shot 
and start off slow by dating again' kiss."

"Ah, that was my next guess," Christopher said with a 
laugh. 

Lorelai sighed and smiled, "Chris, I just... it's just 
been so weird. I mean, since the last time you were here, 
I've had these feelings like running through my body and 
I just couldn't do anything about them because you seemed 
so happy with Sherry. And the way you dismissed my not-
so-subtle offer to stay last time... it made me think 
that maybe you'd given up on the idea of us." 

Christopher shook his head. "No. Remember, I'm the one 
who always wanted the idea of us. I'd never give up on 
it." 

Lorelai smiled, "Good. So we're gonna try this out."

"Yes we are," Christopher said.

Lorelai nodded. Then she shrugged and said, "And I mean, 
if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. At 
least we tried, right?"

Christopher nodded his head in agreement. "We're both 
confronting the feelings for each other that we tried to 
suppress. That's a big step, and we'll see where it takes 
us."

Lorelai smiled. She stared down at her hands for a 
moment. Then she looked up with a concerned look. "What 
about Rory?" "What about her?" Christopher asked.

Lorelai stood up and started pacing back and forth, her 
words coming out quickly. "I mean, should we tell her? I 
don't want to lie to her, but I don't think we should 
tell her. I mean, if it starts going good and it looks 
like it's gonna work out, then we should tell her. But I 
don't want to tell her now and then have her get her 
hopes up about having her parents together again and then 
have her be crushed if it doesn't work out. That would 
be..." 

"Whoa!" Christopher interrupted. "Lor, take a breath." He 
stood up and walked over to her, pulling her into an 
embrace. She wrapped her arms up around his waist and 
rested her head against his chest. "Okay, listen," 
Christopher said. "We won't tell her just yet. We'll just 
tell her that I'm staying here with you guys a little 
longer than expected."

"Because?" Lorelai prompted.

"Well, because of what I was planning on doing anyway," 
he said. 

After a short pause, he said, "I'm moving back to 
Connecticut." Lorelai pulled away and stared up at him. 
"What?" she asked, a smile lingering on her lips.

Christopher smiled. "That's right. There's no reason for 
me to stay in Boston anymore, so I figured, why not just 
come back here?" Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "But what 
about work?" She suddenly got a nervous feeling that with 
Sherry gone, he'd go back to the old irresponsible 
Christopher.

Christopher smiled. "Already found a job in Hartford."

Lorelai's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah. See, this guy at work knew someone at a company in 
Hartford and put in a good word for me," Christopher 
said. "I interviewed with him yesterday before I came 
here and got the job on the spot. I start next week."

Lorelai smiled. "Wow. Well, congratulations. Why didn't 
you tell me?"

He shrugged. "I just did. And I mean, I have to save up a 
little before I can get an apartment, so I was gonna stay 
here for a few days and then check into a hotel or 
something. But maybe I can just stay here a bit longer."

Lorelai smiled. "Sure. I mean, as long as everything's 
working out all right, then sure."

He smiled. "Good." He pulled her closer and kissed her, 
running his hands through her hair. Their lips parted, 
allowing their tongues to meet and swirl over each other 
softly inside their mouths. Christopher's hands started 
roaming Lorelai's body and soon she felt one slip under 
her shirt. His warm hand gliding back and forth over her 
stomach made a surge of arousal shoot through her entire 
body. Lorelai pulled back and, through her heavy 
breathing, said, "I'm getting flashbacks to my parents' 
balcony." 

Christopher smiled. "Me too. Let's reenact that night."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "You wanna drive to Hartford 
right now? I really think it might be easier to do it 
here." She gave a sly smile. 

Christopher smiled. "Your annoying sarcasm right now? 
It's rather sexy."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh yeah? Thanks." She pressed her lips 
against his, pulling him with her as she walked backwards 
towards the staircase. They paused at the bottom step, 
kissing deeply. Their heavy breathing, and a slight moan 
from Lorelai's throat, were the only sounds in the room. 

Lorelai suddenly pulled away from him and turned to look 
out the window. 

"What's wrong?" Christopher asked.

"Wait, shh!" Lorelai said. She pushed Christopher gently 
towards the couch and said, "Hold on, I think someone's 
here." As she walked to the front door, she heard 
footsteps on the porch. Sure enough, through the 
windowpane she could see Rory walking towards the front 
door. Lorelai pulled open the door, startling Rory. 
"Whoa. What's wrong?" Rory asked. 

"Oh hey," Lorelai said. "Nothing, I just heard something 
out here. 

Uh, what. . what are you doing home already?" Rory 
stepped into the house. "It was unusually crowded for a 
Saturday so I decided to just check out the books I 
needed and do my work here."

Lorelai forced a smile, "Oh, okay." 

As Rory walked past her and towards the kitchen, Lorelai 
looked up at the ceiling and made a face, exhaling loudly 
with disappointment. Lorelai walked into the living room, 
where Christopher was waiting on the couch. She gave a 
small pout. 

Christopher stood up and said, "I heard. Guess we'll have 
to finish some other time."

"Guess so," Lorelai said with a sigh. "I'm sorry." He 
laughed. "It's not your fault. Uh, you wanna go tell her 
that I'm gonna be staying for awhile?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, let's do that." They walked to 
Rory's bedroom and knocked on the door. 

"Come in," Rory called.

Lorelai pushed open the door and said, "Hey. Got a 
minute?" Rory, who was sitting at her desk, turned around 
and said, "Yeah, what's up?"

Lorelai and Christopher walked into her bedroom. Lorelai 
sat down on the edge of the bed as Christopher said, 
"Well, I wanted to tell you that I talked it over with 
your mom, and she's agreed to let me stay a little longer 
than I thought."

Rory smiled. "Really? How long?"

"A few weeks," Christopher said.

Rory gasped. "A few weeks?! Are you serious?" she asked 
excitedly. Christopher nodded. "I'll be staying here with 
you guys... until I buy my own place here."

Rory jumped up out of her chair. "You're moving to 
Connecticut?!"

Christopher smiled and nodded. "Yup, already got a job in 
Hartford." "Oh my God!" Rory screamed. She ran to 
Christopher and hugged him tightly. "Dad, that's so 
great!"

Lorelai sat on the bed watching them with a smile on her 
face. She couldn't help thinking about how if Rory was 
this excited about him moving here, she'd be ecstatic if 
she found out that they were gonna try to get together 
again. 

As Rory finally broke away from Christopher, she was 
smiling brightly. "Oh my God. I can't believe this." She 
walked over to Lorelai on the bed and hugged her. "Mom, 
isn't this awesome?" "Yes it is," Lorelai replied with a 
smile. "Very cool." Rory pulled away, the huge smile 
still on her face. "Wow. This is so ... wow!"

Lorelai laughed and stood up. "Okay, well, try to finish 
your homework before the intense smiling kills you, okay 
hon?" Lorelai gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Tell us when 
you're ready for dinner." 

"Okay," Rory said. She slowly sat back down at the 
computer, still smiling towards Christopher. Lorelai 
walked past him and out the door. Christopher followed 
her, pulling the door shut behind them. They walked into 
the living room and sat down on the couch.

"That was great. I've never seen her so happy," Lorelai 
said, smiling. "I know," Christopher said. He lowered his 
voice. "And if me moving to the same state makes her that 
happy, then imagine when she finds out about... you 
know." He gestured to the two of them. 

Lorelai nodded and smiled. "I know. I was thinking the 
same thing." They stared at each other for a moment, and 
they started to lean towards each other to kiss. Lorelai 
suddenly pulled back and held up a hand. "No, we can't," 
Lorelai said quietly. "Not when she's around, we can't."

Christopher pulled back. "Right, okay. Got it. Uh, let's 
watch TV." He grabbed the remote off the coffee table. 
"Tell me when," he said as he started flipping through 
the channels. 

"Ooh, go back! Goodfellas!" Lorelai said excitedly. 

"Oh cool," Christopher said. He went back a few channels 
to the movie and placed the remote back on the table. 
They both leaned back against the couch to watch the 
movie. 

A few minutes later, Christopher reached down and put his 
hand on top of Lorelai's hand. She turned her head to 
look at him, and he smiled at her. She smiled back and 
turned her head towards the TV as she laced her fingers 
through his, and a peaceful feeling of comfort ran 
through her body. 


* * * CHAPTER 3 * * *


Despite the presence of Christopher, the following day at 
the Gilmore household was just like any typical Sunday. 
They spent most of the day at home except for a trip to 
Luke's for lunch, after which Rory headed over to Lane's 
to do homework, and Christopher and Lorelai went to 
Doose's Market to pick up some groceries. As they were 
unloading the groceries back at home, Christopher said, 
"So tomorrow I'm gonna drive back to Boston and pick up 
my stuff." 

"Is it all gonna fit in your car?" Lorelai asked as she 
put away a carton of ice cream. 

"No, I need to rent a truck. I've got some furniture I 
need to bring down," Christopher said. "I'll just put it 
in a storage locker or something."

"Aren't those expensive? You can store your stuff here," 
Lorelai said. "No, it's okay," Christopher said. "I don't 
want to clutter up the whole house. I know a place in 
Hartford, the price is pretty reasonable." 

He slid two boxes of Pop-Tarts into the cabinet, then 
leaned against the counter with his arms folded across 
his chest. Lorelai shrugged. "Okay." She finished 
unloading the bag she was working on, then crumbled the 
bag and threw it in the trash. She stood by the sink for 
a moment, staring at Christopher. He unfolded his arms 
and held them open, and Lorelai walked into them. He 
wrapped them tightly around her, rubbing her back with 
his hands. 

As the closeness of their bodies made a shiver of 
excitement run through her body, she rested her head 
against his chest and closed her eyes. "Hmm, I could do 
this all day," she said. 

"Well, I can think of something else I'd like to do all 
day, but it doesn't involve standing," Christopher said. 
Lorelai lifted her head up to look at Christopher, 
kissing him softly on the lips. 

She pulled back and teased, "You mean play checkers?" 

Christopher smiled and shook his head. 

Lorelai pretended to be confused, putting a hand on 
forehead to think about it. Then she slowly smiled and 
nodded. "Oh, I get it now." Christopher laughed. "You 
catch on quick." 

They kissed again. "Yes I do. But don't you want to wine 
and dine me first?" Lorelai asked in between kisses. They 
started moving towards the hallway, trying not to break 
the contact of their lips. "Do you want to be wined and 
dined first?" Christopher asked as they neared the 
staircase. 

Lorelai planted one last passionate kiss on his lips, 
then pulled back and said, "Uh, we'll skip that part just 
this once." She turned and ran up the steps and 
Christopher followed her, taking the steps two at a time. 

They walked into Lorelai's bedroom, shutting and locking 
the door. 

They smiled at each other before they resumed their 
kissing. Christopher brought his hands to the bottom of 
Lorelai's shirt and started to pull it up. Lorelai raised 
her arms in the air allowing him to easily slide it over 
her head. He tossed it to the floor as he leaned forward 
and kissed her neck, then started sucking on it gently. 

He evoked a soft moan from her throat as he placed a line 
of kisses down her neck to her shoulder and downward to 
her chest. As he lifted his head and pressed his lips 
against hers, he brought his hands up and placed them 
over the soft fabric of her bra, causing a sensation of 
arousal to shoot through her body. The stimulation of her 
sensitive nipples forced a slow moan to flow out of her 
lips. He moved his fingers to her back and unclasped her 
bra, pulled it off of her and dropped it on the floor.

He guided her to the bed, where she lay down on her back. 
He removed his shirt, then climbed on top of her. He 
brought his hands to her breasts, squeezing them gently 
and caressing them with his fingertips. He lowered his 
face to her chest, enveloping one of her breasts in his 
mouth and sucking on it hungrily. 

Lorelai's breathing was loud and heavy, her heart was 
racing, her entire body was pulsing with excitement. She 
placed her hands on the back of Christopher's head and 
grasped his hair tightly between her fingers. She moaned 
loudly with pleasure as he moved back and forth between 
her breasts, stimulating her body like it hadn't been in 
a long time.

He kissed a line down to her stomach, stopping at the 
waistline of her jeans. He unbuttoned them quickly, and 
she arched her lower back off the bed to help him as he 
pulled them down her legs. He smiled at her as he leaned 
back over her between her legs, and the feeling of his 
body against the thin silk barrier of her panties made 
her numb with stimulation. 

He pressed his mouth tightly against hers and they 
actively explored each other's mouths with their tongues. 
She ran her fingers over his back as they kissed, pulling 
him closer to her body. Her hands roamed their way from 
his back to the front of his jeans, where she unbuttoned 
the top button and pulled down the zipper. He pulled back 
from her and got off the bed, quickly removing his jeans 
and boxers. 

She lay on the bed staring at his body, panting heavy in 
anticipation. He slowly climbed back on the bed, kneeling 
between her legs. He hooked a finger on either side of 
her waistband and slowly rolled her panties down her 
legs, removing them and tossing them on the floor. 
Christopher remained kneeling as he stared at her, his 
eyes devouring her beautiful body that was still as 
perfect as he had remembered it. 

He started to lean forward, then he stopped and asked, 
"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't you want to play checkers? Let's 
do that instead." Lorelai let out a small laugh. 
"Christopher!" she urged. 

He smiled. "Okay, sorry."

He leaned forward over her body, supporting himself on 
his arms and positioning himself at her opening. She 
groaned softly at the initial contact of his hardness 
against her sex, and let out a louder groan as she felt 
him start to enter her. "Oh my God," she muttered 
breathlessly. He pushed himself into her slowly, drawing 
a long moan from her lips as he filled her. Her chest was 
heaving up and down as Christopher began thrusting in and 
out of her. She grabbed his neck and pulled him tightly 
against her body, pressing her lips against his. 

Their bodies rocked together rhythmically as she pushed 
her pelvis against him to meet his thrusts, letting out a 
loud groan with each movement. Lorelai's hands clutched 
onto Christopher's shoulders, her nails digging into him 
as he increased his motions and pushed himself deep into 
her wetness at a much quicker pace. Lorelai's body was 
thriving with unbelievable sensations of pleasure and she 
felt her orgasm rapidly approaching. 

They stared into each other's eyes as they continued, 
smiling at each other through their deep breathing and 
the rocking motions of their naked bodies. Their loud 
grunts of satisfaction were echoing through the room, and 
soon Lorelai recognized the glint in Christopher's eye - 
the one that told her he was close to reaching his brink. 

She thrust her pelvis even harder against him, their 
bodies moving so rapidly against each other that she felt 
like she would collapse at any moment. Several seconds 
later, with one final deep thrust, he released himself 
inside of her and her inner muscles clamped tightly 
around him. She screamed loudly with her orgasm, 
completely drowning out the low groans that accompanied 
Christopher's climax. 

As her moaning subsided, Christopher rested himself atop 
her body for a moment, relaxing and catching his breath. 
He kissed her, then rolled off of her and lay next to her 
on the bed. Both of their chests heaving to catch their 
breaths, they lay there in silence for a minute. 

Finally Lorelai let out a "Wow." She turned to 
Christopher and smiled. "You know, you're really good at 
that. If you had gone to Princeton, you totally could've 
majored in sex." 

He smiled. "I can't take all the credit - it's only that 
good with you. It's like Oreos and milk. One's not as 
good without the other." 

She smiled and kissed him. "Now you're making me hungry." 

He let out a small laugh. "No, I didn't make you hungry. 
You always get hungry after sex, so whether I mentioned 
cookies or not, you still would be hungry."

Lorelai narrowed her eyebrows. "Excuse me, who just gave 
me sex? You. So essentially it was you who made me 
hungry. Either way you look at it, it's your fault and 
thus, you should make me something to eat while I go take 
a shower." She smiled and got up off the bed. Christopher 
propped himself on his elbow and eyed her up and down. 

He smiled and said, "You're incredibly gorgeous, you know 
that?" She smiled and nodded. "Yes, I know. But you still 
have to make me some food." She grabbed her robe and put 
it on, then unlocked the door and walked to the bathroom. 
As she was about to shut the door, she heard, "Mom! You 
upstairs?"

Lorelai ran back to the bedroom. "Oh my God! Rory's home. 
Get dressed, don't make any noise," Lorelai whispered 
frantically. She walked back into the hallway and walked 
down the steps. "Yeah, I'm up here," she called. "When 
did you get home?" 

Rory was at the bottom of the steps, still wearing her 
coat. She narrowed her eyes at seeing Lorelai in her 
robe. "Just now. What are you doing?"

"Oh, I was about to take a shower. How'd the homework 
go?" Lorelai asked, trying to change the subject.

"Good," Rory said. She glanced around the living room and 
said, "Where's Dad?"

Lorelai stammered, "Oh, uh, I'm not... I don't... oh, I 
think he went for a walk."

Rory looked at her curiously. "It's like 20 degrees 
outside."

Lorelai shrugged. "Some people walk when it's cold out." 
Rory bit her lip for a second, then asked, "Did something 
happen? Did you guys fight or something?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "No! He was just bored, I 
guess. You know how Sundays are around here. We should 
buy some board games or something." She forced a laugh. 

Rory nodded, but still had a concerned look on her face. 
"Uh, okay. Um, I just stopped home to drop my stuff off. 
I called Dean when I was at Lane's house, and he and I 
are gonna hang out for a while. I'll probably be home for 
dinner."

"Okay, good," Lorelai said quickly. "See you later." She 
smiled. Rory narrowed her eyes at her mom as she said, 
"Bye." She turned and walked towards the front door. 

Lorelai waited until she heard the door close, then she 
ran upstairs. Christopher was sitting on the bed fully 
dressed, looking concerned. He stood up when he saw 
Lorelai. "What happened?" he whispered. 

"She's gone, she went out with Dean somewhere. I told her 
you went for a walk," Lorelai said. 

"It's like 20 degrees outside," Christopher pointed out 
with a laugh. "Agh! That's where she gets that from! 
People do walk in cold weather, you know," Lorelai said 
with an exasperated sigh. "Would it have been better if I 
said, "Oh, he's upstairs in my bedroom getting dressed?" 

He held up his hands innocently and smiled. "No, you're 
right. Sorry. Good job with the walk story." He leaned 
forward and kissed her. 

"Thank you," Lorelai said. "And now I'm going to take my 
shower." She started walking towards the bathroom.

Christopher followed close behind her. "And now I'm going 
to help you take your shower."

She looked over her shoulder and raised one of her 
eyebrows at him. He gave her a pout and she let out a 
small laugh. He followed her into the bathroom, shutting 
the door behind him. 

* * * 

The next morning, Christopher took Rory to school since 
he was going to Hartford anyway to rent a moving truck. 
Lorelai left for work at the same time as they left the 
house, and was extremely surprised to see Christopher 
walk into the inn almost 2 hours later. He walked over to 
her at the front desk. "Hey."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked. "I thought 
you were going right to Boston. Come here." She gestured 
for him to follow her into her office. She shut the door 
and she perched herself against her desk. 

Christopher sighed. "Yeah, well, apparently you have to 
rent the truck a few days in advance." He shrugged. "I 
didn't think that January was a big moving season, but I 
guess I was wrong. Now I'm going on Wednesday."

"Oh, well you didn't really have any plans so it works 
out," Lorelai said. 

"Yeah, it's no big deal. And then I stopped at the 
storage locker place and rented one, so that's all taken 
care of," Christopher said. He looked around and said, 
"Nice office. It's very professional looking. You know, 
for a stripper."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Wow, I used that 
stripper line one time and now it's forever going to 
haunt me. I think someone's got a little stripper fantasy 
they need fulfilled, hmm?" She looked at him accusingly.

He smiled and shrugged. "I don't know. It's one of those 
images you can't get out of your head. Like when they 
show you a damaged lung in health class, or like when you 
see a dead animal on the road. It sticks with you."

"Why, thank you for the lovely comparisons," Lorelai said 
sarcastically.

He laughed. "I'm just saying that it's nice to picture it 
in my mind." 

She shrugged. "Whatever. It doesn't really make sense 
though. You've already seen me naked. Me stripping 
wouldn't leave much to the imagination since you've 
already seen the final package." 

He smirked and shook his head. "Oh trust me, having seen 
the final package or not, it's quite an image." He paused 
for a moment and stared into space. Suddenly he blinked 
and said, "Okay, new subject please or else I'm gonna 
need to take a cold shower soon." 

Lorelai laughed. "So what are you gonna do this week? 
Just hang out?" 

As Christopher started to answer, there was a knock at 
the door and it was quickly pushed open. Sookie stuck her 
head in. "Lorelai, do you - oh, I'm sorry," she said upon 
seeing Christopher. 

"Ah, I'm so sorry! I'm leaving now." She shut the door. 
"Hold on," Lorelai said to Chris. She walked to the door 
and went into the lobby. Sookie was already halfway to 
the kitchen. "What do you need Sookie?" Lorelai called, 
walking towards her. 

Sookie turned around. "Oh, I was just..." She glanced 
towards Lorelai's office and smiled. "What's Christopher 
doing here? I thought he was only staying a few days."

"Oh," Lorelai said. "There was a change of plans. He's 
staying a few weeks."

Sookie gasped. "A few weeks? At your house?" Lorelai 
nodded. "He's moving back to Connecticut. He already has 
a job in Hartford."

Sookie smacked Lorelai on the shoulder. "Get out! You're 
kidding! Oh my God, is Rory thrilled?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Extremely. But yeah, he's 
staying with us until he can afford an apartment."

Sookie smiled slyly. "Oh wow. So, you'll be having a 
live-in man in your house. Interesting."

"It is, isn't it?" Lorelai said. She paused and put her 
hands on her hips. "Just say it Sookie. I know you want 
to say it." 

"Say what?" Sookie asked innocently. Lorelai raised an 
eyebrow at her, and Sookie giggled. "Okay, you think you 
guys might...?"

Lorelai leaned forward and whispered, "We already have."

Sookie gasped. "You already have?" she said loudly.

"Shhh!" Lorelai shushed her, glancing around the lobby. 
"Shh, Sookie. I'll tell you about it later, but don't 
mention it to anyone, okay?"

Sookie was smiling excitedly. "Okay, okay. Ah, I can't 
believe it!"

"Did you want something?" Lorelai asked, gesturing for 
her to move the conversation along. 

Sookie narrowed her eyebrows, thinking. Then she said, 
"Oh yeah. Do you want me to make two kinds of soup for 
the banquet next week, or just do a choice of soup or 
salad?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Whatever you want Sookie, it's up to 
you. Totally your call."

Sookie smiled. "Okay. See you later. Come see me as soon 
as you guys are finished ... doing whatever you were 
doing." Sookie giggled as she walked away.

Lorelai gasped and a small smile formed on her lips. 
"Sookie! We were just talking. Tsk, I can't believe you. 
Goodbye." Lorelai walked back to her office and found 
Christopher sitting at her desk. She closed the door and 
asked, "Comfy?"

"Very," he replied, smiling. "Thanks for asking." He 
stood up and walked over to her, giving her a kiss. 
"Okay, I'm gonna head back to the house."

"Okay," Lorelai said, walking him to the door and pulling 
it open. "Wait, do you have a key?"

"Yeah, Rory gave me hers to use until we make a spare," 
Christopher said, pulling it from his pocket and holding 
it up. "Oh good. Rory should be home a little after 3, 
I'll be home between 4 and 5," Lorelai said. 

Christopher nodded, then stared at her for a second with 
a glazed look in his eyes. 

Lorelai laughed. "Are you picturing me stripping again?" 
He smiled and winked at her. "Bye." He turned and walked 
into the lobby.

"Bye." Lorelai smiled to herself as she watched 
Christopher walk through the lobby and out the front 
door. When he was gone, she headed to the kitchen to tell 
Sookie about everything that had been going on at home. 


* * * CHAPTER 4 * * *


That evening, Lorelai walked into her house slightly 
before five and was met with an unusual aroma. As she 
took off her jacket, she sniffed the air a few times, 
then followed the smell toward the kitchen. "What is that 
I smell?" she called out. As she reached the entryway to 
the kitchen, she stopped as she saw Christopher at the 
stove stirring something in a huge pot. 

He glanced at her and said, "Hey. You're home." 

She narrowed her eyes, "What are you doing?" 

Christopher laughed and said, "Cooking dinner. You've 
seen it done before, haven't you?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yes, once or twice." She walked over to 
the pot and looked into it. She gasped and said, "Chili! 
You made homemade chili! Your specialty!"

He smiled. "Yup. I know you love it."

"Wow, you're such a good houseguest," Lorelai said, an 
excited smile on her face. "Is Rory home?"

Christopher shook his head. "She was here but she ran to 
the store to get something for school," he replied.

"Ah, so we're all alone," Lorelai said with a smile. She 
wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. 
Christopher, still holding the ladle in his hand and 
trying not to drip anything on Lorelai's back, returned 
the kiss. 

As they broke apart, he smiled and said, "Wow, that's 
just for cooking some chili? What if I make a complete 
Turkey dinner - what'll that get me?"

"Hmm, try it and find out," Lorelai flirted. She gave him 
another kiss and said, "I'm gonna go change." 

Lorelai went up to her room and changed out of her work 
outfit into jeans and a sweater. She walked back 
downstairs just as Rory walked through the front door 
carrying a bag from the market. "Hey kid," Lorelai said, 
giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How was your day?"

"Good," Rory replied. "Hold this please." She handed 
Lorelai the bag as she removed her coat and hung it up.

"What'd you buy?" Lorelai asked as she peeked inside. 
"Ah, folders and pens. You went wild in the store, huh?" 
Rory nodded. "Yup. I was gonna buy some white out too but 
I didn't want to seem too crazy to the other shoppers." 
She took the bag back and headed into the kitchen with 
Lorelai right behind her. Christopher gave the chili a 
final stir, turned off the burner and said, "Okay guys, 
dinner's ready. Grab a bowl." "Yum! It smells great," 
Lorelai said, walking to the counter.

"Yeah Dad, it really does," Rory said, inhaling the aroma 
deeply. "Thanks," Christopher said. "There's bread too." 
He gestured to a basket of bread next to the chili and 
started ladling the chili into bowls. 

As Rory went to put the shopping bag in her bedroom, 
Lorelai glanced from the bread to Christopher and gave a 
nod of approval. "Wow, I'm impressed. This is quite the 
well-balanced meal you have here. Uh, if beans and meat 
and bread is well balanced. I'm not really sure how they 
balance those things. Some sort of special scale, I 
guess." She shrugged. 

Christopher laughed. "I don't know either," he said. 
"I'll look into that for you." As Rory walked back into 
the kitchen, Christopher handed her a bowl of chili.

"Thanks." Rory grabbed a piece of bread from the basket 
and a soda from the fridge, then walked into the living 
room. Lorelai and Christopher did the same. They slipped 
Jaws into the VCR and watched while they ate dinner.

* * *

The next morning at the inn, Lorelai went into her office 
to use the phone. She called her house, and after several 
rings Christopher finally answered. "Hello?"

"Hey. What are you doing?" Lorelai asked.

"Hey. Uh, cleaning actually," he replied.

"Cleaning?" Lorelai asked, surprised.

"Yup," Christopher said. "Vacuuming, dusting, laundry." 
"Oh, wow. Uh, thanks," Lorelai said. "Well, I was 
thinking I'd come home for lunch today and we could eat 
together." "Sounds good to me," Christopher said. "You 
want me to make something?"

Lorelai smiled at how sweet and maid-like he was being. 
"Nah, we can order in. I'll be there around 12."

"Can't wait," Christopher said. "Bye." 

"Bye." 

* * *

A few hours later, Lorelai walked into the house and 
found Christopher reading a magazine on the couch. He 
immediately got up and greeted her with a kiss. "Hey," he 
said. "Hi," Lorelai said, smiling. She glanced around the 
room, which was noticeably cleaner than from when she had 
left that morning. "Wow, you cleaned the whole house?"

He smiled and shrugged. "I had some free time during my 
busy morning of sitting." 

She tilted her head and smiled at him. "Christopher 
Hayden, I can't believe how much you've changed." She 
leaned in and kissed him, then pulled back and thought 
for a moment. A smile formed on her lips. "Okay, now let 
me do something for you." He smiled and shook his head. 
"You letting me stay here is already enough, Lor." He 
paused and said, "But, you know, if you were going to do 
something for me, what did you have in mind?" Lorelai 
smiled and said, "Well, hmm. Who in this room has a 
stripper fantasy?" 

Christopher's mouth dropped open slightly, then a smile 
slowly formed on his lips. He let out a small laugh. "Are 
you serious?" She smiled. "Let's go upstairs." She 
grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs and into her 
room, closing the door behind them.

* * * 

Almost an hour later, Lorelai turned to Christopher, who 
was lying next to her on the bed. "So, is your fantasy 
fulfilled now?" "I would definitely have to say yes to 
that," Christopher said, sliding over closer to her. 
"You're sure you've never done that professionally 
before?"

Lorelai smiled and shook her head. 

Christopher smiled. "Well, I'm telling you if you ever 
lose your day job, you've got a definite backup plan."

Lorelai laughed. "Good to know. Thank you." She glanced 
at the clock. "Ugh, I have to get back to work soon. We 
never did get around to eating lunch together. Sorry." 

Christopher leaned over and kissed her. "Trust me, I 
completely forgive you for interrupting our planned lunch 
to show me your lap dancing skills. And I also forgive 
you for being one of those low-class strippers who sleeps 
with the customers." 

Lorelai laughed. "Thanks for saying low-class stripper 
instead of prostitute." She kissed him. "And I do thank 
you for all the dollar bills. I'm keeping `em." 

Christopher laughed. "Okay, now you're getting a little 
too close to being a prostitute, but that's okay." He 
stroked her face with his fingertips. "Hey." 

"Hmm?" Lorelai said.

He rested his hand softly on the side of her face as he 
leaned down and kissed her deeply. He pulled back and 
said, "I love you." She smiled. "I love you too." Lorelai 
felt a chill run through her body as the words came out 
of her mouth. That was the first time in a very long time 
that she'd said that to someone and meant it with all of 
her heart. They kissed again as Christopher wrapped his 
arms around her, pulling her closely against his body in 
a warm embrace. 

* * *

That Friday night, Christopher joined Lorelai and Rory at 
dinner once again. Emily opened the door, and she raised 
her eyebrows in surprise at seeing Christopher. 
"Christopher!" Emily said with a smile. "I didn't know 
you were still in town." She stepped back so that they 
could come inside. 

"Uh, yeah Mom," Lorelai said. "Sorry I forgot to tell you 
he'd be joining us again." They walked inside and took 
off their coats. "Oh that's fine. You go make yourselves 
comfortable in the living room. I'll have the maid set 
another place setting." Emily walked away. They hung up 
their coats, then walked to the living room. They poured 
themselves some drinks and sat down. Soon Emily and 
Richard joined them. Richard greeted the guests and 
walked over to get himself a drink. 

They sat down and Richard asked, "So Christopher, we 
didn't know you'd be here. How long are you planning to 
stick around?" Christopher, Lorelai, and Rory all glanced 
quickly at each other and smiled. 

Emily noticed and said, "What's going on?" "Oh, well, the 
thing is, I'm staying with these lovely ladies until I 
find my own place," Christopher said. "I'm moving back to 
Connecticut."

Emily gasped. "Oh, that's wonderful!"

"Well, I say that's great news," Richard said.

"Oh, I bet you're thrilled about this, aren't you?" Emily 
asked Rory.

Rory smiled. "Definitely. I still can't believe it." "So 
what are your work plans?" Richard asked. "I trust that 
you obviously won't be commuting to Boston."

"Uh, that's right," Christopher said. "I'll be working at 
the Crawford and Finch Accounting Firm in Hartford." "Ah, 
we know Fred Crawford very well. He's a good friend of 
ours," Emily said. 

"Oh, small world," Christopher said. 

"Sure is," Lorelai said, taking a sip of wine. 

"Hmm. You'll be doing accounting?" Richard asked. "Uh, 
no," Christopher said. "I'll be handling all of their 
technology stuff. You know, setting up their computer 
accounts and handling any technical problems that may 
arise."

Richard nodded and seemed impressed as he said, "Well, 
that sounds very interesting."

Lorelai laughed "Hah! I just fell asleep listening to him 
explain it."

Christopher laughed. "Thanks for the support." The maid 
walked in to announce dinner. Emily, Richard and Rory 
walked into the dining room, followed by Christopher and 
Lorelai. Emily and Richard took their normal spots at 
either end of the table, and Lorelai and Rory sat across 
from Christopher. 

Throughout the meal, Christopher and Richard talked about 
the stock market, Rory talked about school, Lorelai 
talked about work. Emily and Richard discussed their 
possible future travel plans. During the lulls in 
conversation, Lorelai and Christopher kept glancing at 
each other and smiling. It was as if they were teenagers; 
they'd give each other a shy, flirty smile and then 
quickly glance away. 

After the meal, Richard invited Christopher into the 
study to talk more in depth about his new job 
responsibilities. Before they retreated, however, Richard 
showed Rory a new book he'd found, and she promptly went 
into the living room and started reading it. Lorelai and 
Emily sat at the dining room table with coffee. "So 
Lorelai, how do you feel about Christopher coming back?" 
Emily asked.

Lorelai took a sip of coffee. "I think it's great Mom. 
I've never seen Rory so happy."

Emily nodded. "Mm hmm. I noticed you seem pretty happy 
about it too." Lorelai shrugged. "I'm happy about it, 
sure. It'll be great for Rory to have him so close."

Emily shook her head slightly. "I'm talking about you 
Lorelai, not Rory."

"What about me, Mom?" Lorelai asked, taking a sip of 
coffee. Emily shrugged. "Well, just with Christopher 
around now, it would be nice if you two were to get back 
together again. It's not too late to -."

"Whoa," Lorelai interrupted as she held up her hand. 
"Stop Mom. Don't get into this."

Emily sighed. "I just think that it would be nice for 
Rory if you..."

"Mom, stop, please," Lorelai said. "I know you're still 
bitter about that fact that me and Chris never got 
married but I really, really don't need any advice on 
this right now. I can take care of things myself." 
Lorelai exhaled loudly and stirred her coffee. 

Emily stared at Lorelai for a moment curiously. "Lorelai, 
if I didn't know better, I'd say that you agree with me." 

Lorelai looked at her and scoffed. "What are you talking 
about?"

"Well, you're calm. You're not shocked like you normally 
get when I suggest things," Emily said. "And judging by 
the looks you and Christopher were sharing tonight, I'd 
say that maybe the idea of you two getting back together 
isn't as farfetched as you want me to believe that it 
is." She smirked at Lorelai. 

Lorelai's mouth dropped open slightly as she stared at 
Emily. She bit her lip for a second. "I... uh, that's 
not... you know, uh, we should go. Thanks for dinner." 
Lorelai stood up and walked out of the dining room. She 
passed the living room and said, "Come on Rory, time to 
go." She walked to Richard's study and stuck her head 
through the doorway. "You ready to go?"

Christopher and Richard both looked at her in the 
doorway. "Oh, uh, yeah," Christopher said. He turned to 
Richard and shook his hand. "Nice chatting with you 
Richard. I'll probably see you next week."

"Yes, next week," Richard said. "Goodbye. Bye Lorelai."

"Bye Dad."

Christopher walked over to Lorelai and they walked down 
the hallway. "Everything okay?" Christopher said quietly. 
"Yup, I'm just ready to go," Lorelai said, walking 
quickly towards the front door.

Emily and Rory were standing by the front door. Lorelai 
and Chris grabbed their coats and said goodbye, Rory 
called goodbye to Richard who was standing near the end 
of the hallway, and the three guests walked out to the 
car.

As they pulled into Lorelai's driveway, Christopher 
turned off the car and started to get out. Lorelai put 
her hand on his arm and said, "Wait a minute." She turned 
around and pulled her keys from her pocket. She handed 
them to Rory. "Rory, go inside. We'll be in, in a minute. 
I have to talk to your dad about something." Rory glanced 
back and forth between them. "Is everything okay?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yes, it's fine. We'll be right in." Rory 
gave her a doubtful look, but slowly got out of the car 
and walked inside. Christopher stared at Lorelai, waiting 
for her to say something. Finally he said, "Lorelai, 
what's wrong?" Lorelai sighed and turned her body to face 
him. "I couldn't lie to her."

Christopher narrowed his eyes. "What? Who?" he asked. 
"Rory?" 

Lorelai shook her head. "No, Emily. She was telling me 
that since you'd be around more, that we should try to 
get together again," Lorelai said. "And I didn't want to 
tell her that we were already doing that, so I was gonna 
just tell her that was a crazy idea. But I... I... I 
couldn't do it. I couldn't get myself to say that, I 
couldn't think of a witty remark to change the subject, I 
couldn't tell her `No Mom, that's a bad idea.' My mind 
went blank, it went numb. And it was because of you. It 
was because of us." 

Christopher stared at her for a moment before he said, 
"So you're saying that your mom said she wants us to get 
together again, and you didn't know how to respond to 
that because you didn't want to tell her about us, but 
you also didn't want to lie about us?" 

Lorelai nodded. "Exactly! I didn't want to lie about us 
because... it's just something that's so important to me. 
Just bringing up the subject made me get this tingly 
feeling inside like... I don't know. I mean, I've never 
felt so strongly about something or been so happy with 
someone or been so in love before. It's just, this is the 
best thing that's happened to me in a long... time." Her 
voice trailed off and then she sighed. "Okay, that sounds 
cheesy, I know. Forget it." She looked down at her hands. 

Christopher smiled and tilted her head back up. "Hey, I 
feel the same way."

Lorelai smiled. "You do?"

"Absolutely, Lor. When I went to Boston the other day, I 
thought about you the entire time. On the 2-hour drive 
there and the 2-hour drive back here, all I thought about 
was how when I got here, I'd get to see you. I'd get to 
see your smile, I'd get to hear your laugh, I'd get to 
run my fingers through your hair and tell you how 
beautiful you are." Lorelai smiled shyly. 

Christopher continued, "And I don't like hiding it either 
because I'm so in love with you and it's like trying to 
hide a piece of... me, of who I am." Christopher laughed. 

"Now, *that* was cheesy." Lorelai laughed. "Hon, that was 
beyond cheesy. That was a cheese pizza with extra cheese 
and a side of cheesy bread." She paused and added, "But I 
loved it." 

Christopher clasped his hands around one of hers and 
stroked it with his thumb. "So what do we do now?"

Lorelai thought for a moment. Then she said, "Okay, we'll 
tell Rory on... Wednesday that we're back together." 

"Okay," Christopher nodded. 

"Why Wednesday?" Lorelai shrugged. "It was the first day 
that popped into my mind so it must be God given sign."

"Oh, must be," Christopher said, smiling. "Okay, we 
should go inside."

"Yeah." She glanced towards the house and scanned all the 
windows to make sure Rory wasn't watching. "Coast is 
clear." She leaned forward and kissed him. "Let's go."

They got out of the car and went inside. Rory was sitting 
at the kitchen table reading. She looked up when she 
heard the front door close, and as they walked into the 
kitchen she asked, "Everything's okay, right?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yes, everything's perfect. I 
promise." "Yup, perfect," Christopher said. "Except for 
the fact that today's society contains way too many boy 
bands and female pop singers." "Ah, I'll see what I can 
do about that Dad," Rory said. She smiled at him before 
she went back to her reading. Christopher walked into the 
living room with Lorelai following close behind him.

* * *

On Monday night, Rory hung up the phone after talking to 
Dean and walked into the living room. Lorelai and 
Christopher were both reading on the couch. Rory sat down 
in the chair across from them and said, "Tomorrow Dean 
has a big test in math." "Oh yeah?" Lorelai said, looking 
up from her book. Rory nodded. "Yeah. He's been studying 
really hard the last few days. That's why we haven't been 
able to go out much. But to celebrate it being over, 
we're gonna go out tomorrow night." "Sounds good," 
Christopher said. 

"Yeah, so I just wanted to let you know that I won't be 
home for dinner," Rory said. "And we'll probably go to a 
movie after, so I probably won't be home until nine-ish."

"Okay, but this time watch the movie please," Lorelai 
said, rolling her eyes. "You know, every time you guys 
kiss in public I have like 30 townspeople coming up to 
tell me." 

Rory rolled her eyes. "Tsk. Exaggerate much?" She stood 
up and walked back into her bedroom. 

Lorelai glanced towards Rory's bedroom until she heard 
the door close, then leaned over to Christopher and 
whispered, "Hey, we should go on a date tomorrow too. I 
mean, it'll be the first time we'll be going out without 
Rory."

Christopher smiled. "Sure. But not around here. I mean, 
she'll see us," he said quietly.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, we'll go into Hartford. I'll make 
reservations somewhere tomorrow."

"Have a place in mind?" Christopher asked. Lorelai smiled 
and nodded. "I know somewhere that you'll love. Well, I 
love it, I don't know if you'll love it." Christopher 
smiled at her suspiciously. "Where, Lorelai?" Lorelai 
shrugged and went back to reading. Christopher grabbed 
her book and put it behind his back. She laughed and 
said, "Come on!"

"Since you're not telling me, there must be something 
wrong with this place. So tell me what's wrong with this 
place so I can plan my excuse for not being able to go," 
he said. She smiled. "There's nothing wrong with it. 
There are nice round tables."

"Lorelai," Christopher prompted.

"And really great food."

"Lorelai."

"Ooh, and a nice selection of wine."

Christopher sighed. "Lorelai."

"And maybe... a dance floor." She tilted her head back 
against the couch and bit her lip, smiling up at him. 
Christopher let out a small laugh. "Dancing, huh?" 
Lorelai nodded. "Please?" She clasped her hands together 
and pouted at him. "Pretty please?"

He smiled. "Ooh, you know I love seeing you beg." He 
sighed. "Dancing it is, then."

Lorelai gasped. She smiled and sat up quickly. "Aw, 
really?"

He smiled at her excitement. "Yes, I will take you 
dancing." "Ah, I love you!" she said quietly. She quickly 
turned around to make sure Rory wasn't nearby, then she 
hugged him and gave him a kiss. He pulled slightly back, 
their lips lingering only centimeters apart. "I love you 
too," he said. Lorelai smiled and leaned in for another 
kiss. A few seconds later they broke apart and went back 
to reading on the couch. 


* * * CHAPTER 5 * * *


On Tuesday night at Lorelai's house, the doorbell rang at 
slightly past 5:30 p.m. "I got it!" Rory called from her 
bedroom. Lorelai and Christopher sat on the couch 
watching TV as Rory rushed out of her room to answer the 
door. Lorelai heard Dean and Rory talking briefly in the 
hallway before Rory called, "Bye, we're leaving." "Bye, 
have fun!" Lorelai called.

"Bye guys!" Christopher said.

Lorelai and Christopher stared at each other until they 
heard the front door slam. They immediately jumped up off 
the couch. Lorelai ran up to her room to get dressed and 
Christopher pulled a suit out of the front hall closet, 
which was where his clothes were being stored.

Twenty minutes later Christopher was waiting on the sofa 
ready to go as Lorelai made her way down the stairs. His 
eyes widened as she came into view, and he stood up and 
walked towards her. As she stepped off the bottom step, 
he eyed her up and down, starting with her soft curls 
that were neatly pulled out of her face with two 
barrettes. He brought his gaze down, trying to sneak a 
peak down the teasing v-neck of her black dress that fell 
just above the knees. He drank in her long legs, then 
slowly brought his gaze back up to meet hers.

He exhaled loudly. "Wow. You look perfect. Gorgeous. 
Amazing." His eyes continued to roam up and down her 
body. Lorelai glanced down at her dress and smiled. 
"Thank you. You look pretty great yourself," she said, 
gesturing to his perfectly fitted suit.

"Thanks," he replied. He held out a hand to her and said, 
"Ready?" She nodded and took his hand, and Lorelai 
grabbed her purse and jacket as they walked out to the 
car.

* * * 

They pulled up the restaurant, the dashboard clock 
reading 6:35. "Wow," Lorelai said. "You made good time. 
We still have ten minutes."

A smile slowly formed on Christopher's lips. "Hmm. Ten 
minutes, huh? What should we do for 10 minutes?" He 
raised his eyebrows and stared at her with a sly grin on 
his face. Lorelai shrugged. "Good question. Maybe we 
should talk about the problems with the environment," she 
said, smirking. "Yeah, that's a possibility," Christopher 
said, nodding. "Or we could make out."

"Or we could make out," Lorelai said, nodding in 
agreement. She smiled as they leaned towards each other 
and kissed, a kiss so long and deep it had them gasping 
for air when they finally broke apart. After catching 
their breaths, they leaned forward and kissed again, 
their tongues playfully wrestling each other. Christopher 
placed his hand on Lorelai's knee and started sliding it 
up her thigh. He slowly brought it under the hem of her 
dress and down between her legs. 

Lorelai moaned loudly through their kiss as Christopher's 
hand grazed her panties and a shot of arousal surged 
through her body. He gently ran a finger up and down the 
soft fabric, tracing the outline of her slit and evoking 
small whimpers from her throat. His finger ran up and 
down teasing her as it circled around her opening. 
Lorelai's thighs started to quiver from the stimulation 
and she broke away from their kiss. 

"Oh my God," she moaned. She leaned her head back and 
closed her eyes as he pushed his finger harder against 
her. He continued stroking her sensitive lips through her 
panties, making her legs weak with pleasure. As her 
breathing started to get heavy, Christopher suddenly 
pulled his hand back. 

Lorelai opened her eyes and stared at him with a pleading 
look. "What's wrong?" she asked, panting to catch her 
breath. He smiled and shrugged. "Nothing. Ready to go 
in?" Lorelai gasped. "I can't believe you did that!" she 
exclaimed with a laugh of surprise. "You go and get me 
all hot and bothered and then... ugh! You're such a 
tease!" She playfully slapped him on the arm.

Christopher leaned in close to her. "Gives you something 
to look forward to later though, doesn't it?" He smiled 
and kissed her. "Mmm," Lorelai said, smiling through the 
kiss. They pulled away from each other and Lorelai pulled 
her sun visor down and checked her makeup. She wiped the 
smeared lipstick off of Christopher's lips, and they 
headed inside.

The dim lighting and soft music that greeted them as they 
walked inside made them smile at each other. As they were 
seated at a table, Lorelai gestured to the dance floor, 
which several couples were taking advantage of. "See, 
they're dancing. Lots of people like dancing," she 
informed him.

"Yeah, I bet every one of those guys out there had to be 
begged," Christopher said.

Lorelai shrugged. "Whatever works." 

They perused their menus. Several minutes later, they had 
ordered their meals and were starting on their salads. 
"So how was your second day?" Lorelai asked. "Great. It 
was great. Everyone seems cool there," Christopher said. 
"And I haven't screwed up yet."

Lorelai laughed. "Well, that's good then. So do you work 
by yourself or directly with other people?"

"Well, sometimes with other people," Christopher said. 
"But mostly they just give me this data sheet with a 
customer's information on it, and I'll set up their 
account in the computer. Then if anyone has trouble with 
any of the accounts, or if they need stuff changed in the 
way the account was set up, they come tell me." Lorelai 
nodded. "Wow, so you're pretty important there."

Christopher smiled. "Yup. I'm pretty much running the 
whole place. 

Without me, the company would probably die out." Lorelai 
laughed. "Nice and humble, as always," she said, rolling 
her eyes. 

He smiled. "Yup. How was your day?" Christopher asked. 
"Oh, it was great," Lorelai said. "Michel was being 
completely neurotic about someone eating his Lean Cuisine 
meal, so that was fun." Christopher laughed. "Sounds it."

"And Sookie was -." Lorelai paused and smiled. "And 
Sookie was being so cute. Well, she knows about us, 
remember?" "Right," Christopher nodded.

"Yeah, so I told her we were going out dancing tonight 
and that we were gonna tell Rory about us tomorrow, and 
she was just so excited for us. She was all giddy about 
how happy Rory would be when she found out and 
everything. It was very cute." Lorelai smiled thinking 
about it. 

"Aw, that's sweet," Christopher said. "You have great 
friends, Lor." Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yeah. And 
things are going really good with her and Jackson too, so 
it's great that both of us are in strong relationships 
right now."

Christopher nodded. "We should all go out together 
sometime."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Good idea." She paused and 
then laughed.

Christopher smiled. "What?"

"I was just thinking about the first double date I went 
on with Sookie and Jackson." Lorelai told Christopher 
about her date from hell with Rune.

Christopher laughed. "Oh wow, I can't imagine anyone not 
being thrilled to be on a date with you. I mean, how 
could he not see how gorgeous you are?"

Lorelai shrugged. "He was obviously blinded by my 
beauty." Christopher smiled. "Guess so." He glanced 
around the restaurant, his eyes stopping at the dance 
floor. He turned back to Lorelai and smiled. "May I have 
this dance?"

Lorelai smiled. "Aw, look at you being Mr. Romance." 

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

Lorelai nodded. Christopher stood up and helped her out 
of her chair, then led her by the hand to the dance 
floor. They stared at each other as they danced, 
completely oblivious to anyone else in the room. 
Occasionally they would kiss softly as they swayed back 
and forth, and soon one dance turned into two and two 
turned into three as they got lost in their own little 
world. 

After the third song finished, Christopher pointed to 
their table where the waiters had just arrived with their 
meals. They walked back to the table and sat down, 
conversing while they ate dinner. When they were 
finished, they ordered coffee and dessert, and several 
minutes later, Lorelai's chocolate cheesecake and 
Christopher's banana crŠme brulee came. 

Their mouths watered as they each eyed the other's plate 
and they ended up sharing their desserts. When they had 
finished eating, they sat sipping their coffees slowly, 
talking and joking with each other. Finally Christopher 
leaned forward and said, "Okay, I'll give you one more 
dance before we leave."

Lorelai smiled excitedly. "Thank you! What do you say we 
do some breakdancing, huh?"

Christopher laughed and leaned back in his chair. "Okay, 
forget it."

Lorelai smiled. "No, no, I'm kidding. Come on." They 
walked down to the dance floor as an instrumental version 
of "Wonderful Tonight" started flowing through the room. 
Lorelai wrapped her arms around Christopher's waist and 
rested her head against his chest as they danced. 
Christopher kissed the top of Lorelai's head and inhaled 
the sweet scent of her hair. As the song ended, Lorelai 
lifted her head up and they kissed gently before walking 
back to the table to pay the check.

* * * 

They walked out to the parking lot hand in hand, gazing 
at the clear sky above them. They stopped at the back of 
the car and kissed. Lorelai smiled through the kiss and 
said, "You know what?"

"You secretly had a crush on the "Time to make the 
donuts" guy?" 

Christopher asked.

Lorelai let out a small gasp. "What? No." She paused and 
smiled. "Well, kinda. I mean, he was in charge of all the 
donuts! You know how much I love donuts!"

Christopher laughed. "I know, I know. So what were you 
gonna say?" Lorelai smiled. "This date was perfect," she 
said. "This whole night was perfect. In fact, the 
perfection level of this night is so incredibly high that 
if we were to get struck by lightning right now, even 
though this perfect night would drop a little in perfect-
ness, it would still be in the perfect range. That's how 
perfectly high on the perfection scale it is." She nodded 
enthusiastically. 

Christopher's eyes widened as he let out a small laugh. 
"Wow, I've never heard someone say perfect thirty times 
in one rant. But I'm glad to hear it. I had a great time 
too. And you know, the dancing wasn't so bad. It was 
actually pretty nice," he admitted. 

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "See? We should do it every 
week."

Christopher tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at her. 
Lorelai smiled. "Or not. Not's good." They kissed, then 
got into the car and drove back to Stars Hollow.

* * *

As they pulled up to Lorelai's house, the first thing 
they noticed was that Rory's bedroom light was on. "She's 
home already," Lorelai said.

"Well, we're running late. It's like 9:30," Christopher 
pointed out. 

"Yeah, but you know she's gonna ask where we went," 
Lorelai said, a worried tone in her voice.

Christopher shrugged. "So, we'll tell her we went out for 
dinner. Lorelai, we're telling her about us tomorrow, it 
doesn't really matter if she's suspicious for the next 18 
hours, does it?" Lorelai sighed. "I guess not. You're 
right." They got out of the car and walked to the house. 
"Rory!" Lorelai called. "We're home." 

They hung up their jackets, and hearing nothing from 
Rory, Lorelai called, "Yoo hoo, Rory!" Christopher waited 
in the hallway as Lorelai walked to Rory's bedroom and 
looked inside, with no luck. She walked back and knocked 
on the bathroom door, but was greeted with silence.

"Hmm," Lorelai said, narrowing her eyes. "Maybe she's 
upstairs." Christopher waited at the bottom of the steps 
while Lorelai walked upstairs. When she reached the top 
step, Lorelai heard running water in her bathroom. She 
turned around and quickly walked down a few steps. She 
whispered to Christopher, "I think she's taking a shower. 
Gives us time to change." 

Christopher and Lorelai changed out of their evening 
clothes and into more casual ones, then started watching 
television. A little while later, Rory walked downstairs 
in her robe. "Hey, where were you guys?" Rory asked, 
using a towel to dry her hair.

 "Oh, we grabbed a late dinner," Lorelai said casually. 
"How was your night?" 

"Oh, great. It was really nice. And Dean thinks he did 
well on his test," Rory said.

"That's great," Lorelai said, smiling. 

"Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go finish my homework," Rory said. 
She walked to her bedroom and shut the door. Lorelai and 
Christopher looked at each other and smiled. 

"See, no suspicion," Christopher said.

Lorelai nodded. "I know, I worry too much." Christopher 
leaned towards her and said quietly, "So you know what I 
was thinking?"

"That you can't believe it's not butter?" Lorelai 
suggested. Christopher laughed. "No. Uh, I was thinking 
that later tonight... you know, if you're up for it... I 
might just drop by and finish what I started in the car."

Lorelai smiled. "Hmm. A very intriguing offer."

"Yes it is. You taking it?" Christopher asked.

"Of course I'm taking it," Lorelai said, smiling.

Christopher smiled. "Good."

"And on that note, I'm gonna go make some coffee. We'll 
need energy," Lorelai said.

"I'll help," Christopher said. He turned off the TV and 
followed Lorelai into the kitchen.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai sat at her vanity in her pink 
satin camisole and matching panties, waiting impatiently 
for Christopher to come upstairs. Getting antsy, she 
stood up and started pacing around the bedroom, 
constantly glancing at the clock. Finally she heard 
footsteps on the stairs and ran to the door. She waited 
for a knock, then pulled the door open. 

Christopher stood there in a T-shirt and boxer shorts, 
and Lorelai quickly pulled him into the room and locked 
the door. She pinned him against the door and kissed him 
hungrily, not hiding the fact that she'd been waiting for 
him all night.

As they broke apart, Christopher let out a laugh. "Man, 
you're like a cat in heat. Calm down."

Lorelai smiled and shrugged. "Can I help it if you make 
me incredibly aroused?" she asked. She took a few steps 
back and said, "But fine, if you want me to play hard to 
get, I can do that too. How's this?" She crossed her arms 
over her chest and pouted. Christopher laughed. "Very 
good. But you don't have to play hard to get." He took a 
step towards her. "But I do like the idea of roleplay."

Lorelai smiled and clasped her hands together. "Ooh, we 
haven't done that in a long time!"

Christopher narrowed his eyes. "We haven't done that 
ever, actually." Lorelai raised an eyebrow and put a hand 
on her hip. "Huh. Are you sure?"

Christopher nodded. 

Lorelai thought for a moment, a look of concentration on 
her face. 

She snapped her fingers and said, "Oh, sorry. That was 
with Max."

Christopher stepped back and leaned against the door. 
"Right, Max. 

Uh, so what kind of role playing did you and Max do?" 
Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know, just some random stuff. 
You know, he's a teacher, so sometimes... " She gestured 
for Christopher to finish the sentence.

Christopher smiled. "Ah, so you would play the student 
who really wants a good grade." 

Lorelai smiled and nodded. She licked her lips and said 
in her best sexy teenager voice, "Oh please change my 
grade, sir. I'll do anything for an A, anything you 
want." She tilted her head and gave a pout.

"Wow," Christopher said, smiling. "You're good at that. 
I'd change your grade."

Lorelai smiled and walked over to him. She wrapped her 
arms around his neck and kissed him. She pulled back and 
said, "So what kind of roleplay do you want?"

Christopher draped his arms around her shoulder and ran 
his fingers through her hair as he thought about it. 
Finally he said, "Okay, you're the evil waitress who 
refuses to serve anyone coffee because she wants it all 
for herself."

Lorelai laughed. "I can do that. So what are you?" 
Christopher smiled. "I'm the customer who must prove he's 
worthy of tasting your coffee."

Lorelai smiled. "Ahh, nice." She stifled a yawn, then 
glanced at the clock. "It's almost midnight."

Christopher looked at the clock. "Yeah. So you wanna 
forget the role playing and just have sex?"

"Yeah, that'd be good," Lorelai said, nodding. She 
laughed and said, "We're so romantic."

"Yes, we are," he agreed, leaning in to kiss her. He 
brought his hand up under her camisole, and the feel of 
his hand against her breasts made a jolt of arousal shoot 
through Lorelai's body. She leaned her head back and 
moaned towards the ceiling as Christopher's fingers 
gently pulled at her nipples. He lowered his mouth to her 
neck, kissing up and down it gently.

Christopher slowly turned their bodies so that Lorelai's 
back was against the door. He continued caressing her 
breasts as they kissed deeply, and the stimulation was 
causing Lorelai's upper body to quiver with pleasure. 
Christopher removed his warm hand from her breasts, 
making Lorelai release a whimper as her body yearned for 
more contact. 

Christopher's hand traveled down her flat stomach and ran 
itself along the outside of her panties. "Mmmmm," Lorelai 
moaned softly at the sensation. Her breathing increased 
as Christopher cupped his hand over her sex and rubbed it 
gently.

He brought his hand up to the waistband of her panties 
and slowly slipped it inside. Lorelai groaned loudly at 
the direct contact of his hand against her swollen lips. 
He brushed against them lightly, running his fingertips 
over them, teasing her, making her body overflow with 
desire. 

Lorelai pressed her head against the door and stared up 
at the ceiling panting heavy. "Oh my God... please," she 
muttered. "Chris, please... "

Christopher succumbed to her pleas by slipping a finger 
inside her wetness and she let out a long moan of 
satisfaction. Christopher inserted another finger and 
pushed them deep inside of her, slowly circling them in 
her juices. He kept his eyes on her face at all times, 
watching her facial expressions as she became more and 
more stimulated. He brought his fingers up to her clit 
and Lorelai's body jerked at the touch. She groaned 
loudly as he started rubbing it gently with his 
fingertips. He moved very deliberately, building her up 
slowly, not wanting her to climax just yet. 

As her panting started to increase, he slowly withdrew 
his hand from her panties and she groaned disappointedly. 
He smiled and leaned in to kiss her. She smiled through 
the kiss as they rearranged their bodies, and now 
Christopher was leaning against the door. Lorelai reached 
for the bottom of his T-shirt and brought it up over his 
head. She dropped it to the floor and started kissing 
him, moving her mouth down his neck and chest to his 
stomach while her hands roamed his body. 

She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows flirtingly before 
she gave his boxer shorts a tug and pulled them down. She 
pressed her lips against his as she slowly ran her hand 
down his body to his hardness, dragging her fingernails 
over it gently before wrapping her hand around it. 

Christopher groaned through the kiss as her soft hand 
slid up and down his shaft. Lorelai leaned closely 
against him, listening to his grunting. He rested one 
hand on the doorknob and slipped his other hand into the 
back of Lorelai's panties, slowly running his fingers 
over the curves of her soft bottom. As her hand continued 
stimulating Christopher, she felt an overwhelming desire 
between her legs begging to be fulfilled.

She smiled as she pulled away from him and said, "Enough 
foreplay." She quickly led him to the bed and gestured 
for him to lie down, and he did so while she removed her 
clothes. Seconds later she was climbing onto the bed, 
straddling him and lowering herself onto his hardness. 
She moaned loudly as it disappeared inside of her and 
both of their mouths dropped open as she started grinding 
her pelvis against his. 

Chris jerked his hips up at her, pushing into her fast 
and hard, making her body bounce wildly. She leaned 
forward and pressed her palms against his chest for 
balance as she rocked her hips rhythmically, an 
unbelievable sensation overcoming her body. 

Suddenly Christopher pulled her close to his chest and 
rolled their bodies over so that she was lying on her 
back. He didn't miss a beat as he started to thrust into 
her, quickly settling into a rhythm. She stretched out 
her hands on either side of her and clutched the sheets 
tightly, her mouth widening with every powerful thrust. 
Her entire body was starting to feel weak as the intense 
gratification overwhelmed her. 

Christopher's constant grunting was low and subtle, but 
Lorelai's moaning kept increasing in volume. Remembering 
that it was after midnight and Rory was just below them, 
she gritted her teeth and tried to muffle the sounds.

Christopher seemed to get a sudden surge of energy as he 
started pushing into Lorelai at a much faster pace, one 
that surprised even her. She gave up trying to meet his 
quick thrusts and instead concentrated on the intense 
pleasure they brought as she felt herself reaching her 
peak. 

With one final thrust and a loud groan, Christopher 
buried his hardness deep inside of her and Lorelai felt 
his warm juices filling her. She clenched her eyes shut 
tight as her entire body writhed on the bed in pleasure. 
She tried to keep her climactic moans as repressed as 
possible, but they were too strong to be silenced 
entirely. 

Christopher collapsed on top of her as her body relaxed, 
and they smiled at each other as they panted to catch 
their breaths. Christopher kissed her passionately before 
he rolled off of her onto the bed. He lay on his back and 
Lorelai moved closer to lean against him, resting her 
head against his chest and pulling the covers over them. 
Christopher wrapped an arm around her and ran his fingers 
up and down her arm, stroking it softly as they lay in 
silence. Lorelai rested her eyes shut as the soothing 
motion of his fingers relaxed her, and soon she was 
drifting off to sleep. 

* * * 

As her alarm beeped the next morning, Lorelai groggily 
fumbled to hit the off button without even opening her 
eyes. She groaned, wishing she didn't have to go to work. 
Suddenly her eyes opened and she sat up quickly, 
remembering her night with Christopher - remembering that 
she fell asleep while he was still in her room. 

She glanced around, not seeing a sign of him or his 
clothes. She quickly got up, pulled her robe on, and ran 
downstairs. Not seeing him in the living room, she walked 
into the kitchen. Rory sat at the table drinking coffee 
and eating a Pop Tart. "Morning Mom," Rory said in 
between bites. 

Lorelai smiled. "Morning hon," she said. "Uh, have you 
seen your dad?" Rory nodded and swallowed her food before 
she said, "Yeah, he left a few minutes ago. Said he had 
to get to work early so he couldn't take me to school 
today."

"Oh," Lorelai said, biting her lip uncomfortably, 
wondering when he had left her bedroom. "Was he already 
up when you woke up?" Rory nodded. "Yeah, he'd already 
made the coffee," she said, gesturing to the pot.

"Oh, that was nice." Lorelai smiled. She was glad that 
Rory hadn't discovered that he'd slept in her room, 
because despite the fact that Rory would find out about 
them later that day, Lorelai wanted them to be the ones 
to tell her. Lorelai turned around and walked back 
upstairs, disappointed that she didn't get to see 
Christopher before he had left. 

She went into her room and walked over to her closet to 
look for something to wear. She passed her bureau and a 
piece of paper caught her eye. She picked it up and, 
recognizing Christopher's handwriting, she read it aloud. 
"Didn't want to wake you, you're adorable when you sleep. 
Thanks for a great night. Love you. Chris." Lorelai 
smiled to herself and tucked the note into the pocket of 
her robe, then walked into the bathroom to take a shower.


* * * CHAPTER 6 * * *


Lorelai went to work that day in a daze - that daze you 
fell into when you were in love and things in your life 
seemed to be going so perfectly. As she lightheartedly 
bickered with Michel, talked in the kitchen with Sookie, 
and ate lunch at Luke's, she had a constant smile on her 
face. As she was walking back to the inn after lunch, her 
cell phone rang. "Hello?" she answered. "Hey there," 
Christopher replied.

Lorelai smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hey, what's 
up?" She sat down on a nearby bench. 

"Nothing much. How's your day so far?"

"Pretty good," Lorelai said. "I missed seeing you this 
morning."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. I did kiss you goodbye 
though."

Lorelai smiled. "Aw, you did? Thank you." 

"You're welcome."

"So how's your day going?"

"Ah, can't complain," he replied. "Oh, actually, I was 
thinking earlier about how my desk is pretty plain. I 
think I need a picture of you and Rory to put on it, you 
know, to look at when I'm bored." Lorelai let out a small 
laugh. "I so can't picture you as one of those guys who 
displays family pictures on his desk." Christopher 
lowered his voice. "Well, a lot of guys here do it, and 
between you and me, our family is much better looking 
than all of theirs."

Lorelai laughed. "Aw, that's so mean! But it does feel 
good to know I'll be the prettiest one at the company 
Christmas party." "Yes, you will," he agreed with a 
laugh. There was a brief silence before he said, "Um, so 
you wanted to tell Rory today right?" "Yeah," Lorelai 
said. She paused and narrowed her eyes. "Why? Don't you?"

"Oh, no I do. I definitely do," he replied quickly.

"But?" Lorelai prompted.

Christopher sighed. "But I just think it'd be good for us 
to talk about some things before we tell her, that's 
all." A look of panic in her eyes, Lorelai asked, "Are 
you having second thoughts?" Her heart started pounding.

Christopher laughed. "No Lor, not at all, I promise. I 
just think we should talk about what we're going to tell 
her first." Lorelai breathed a small sigh of relief. "Oh, 
okay. Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Listen," Christopher said. "I have to go now, but I'll 
see you later tonight and we'll talk."

"Yes, we'll talk," Lorelai repeated. "Love you."

"Yeah, I love you too. Bye." 

* * * 

When Lorelai got home from work that night, she was glad 
to see Christopher's Volvo already in the driveway. She 
walked inside and found him and Rory on the couch 
watching TV. "Hey guys," Lorelai called from the hallway.

They both turned to look at her. "Hey Mom," Rory said.

"Hey Lor," Christopher said. "Good day?"

"Yup, pretty good. I'm starved. You guys have thoughts 
about dinner?"

Christopher and Rory looked at each other and shrugged. 
"Pizza?" 

Rory suggested.

"Sounds good. Pizza?" Christopher asked Lorelai. "I'll 
call it in," Lorelai said, walking to the kitchen. She 
ordered the pizza, then walked back into the living room. 
"Hey hon, would you mind picking up the pizza? They said 
deliveries are running slow tonight."

"Sure, I'll go get it. How long?" Rory asked. "Fifteen 
minutes," Lorelai replied. She walked upstairs to change 
out of her work clothes, and walked down a few minutes 
later. She wandered into the kitchen and put on some 
coffee, staring at the pot until Rory walked in a few 
minutes later. "I'm leaving now," Rory said. 

Lorelai looked up at her and smiled. "Okay, there's money 
in my purse."

"No, it's okay, Dad gave me some," Rory said. "I'll be 
back." She walked out of the kitchen, and seconds later 
Lorelai heard the front door open and shut.

As she was pouring herself a cup of coffee, Christopher 
walked into the kitchen. "So, delivery troubles huh?" 
Lorelai smiled. "It's just a little white lie. It worked, 
didn't it?" He smiled. "Yes it did." He poured himself a 
cup of coffee and they sat down at the table across from 
each other. "Okay, Lor... " Chris started. He paused and 
took a deep breath. "I just wanted to kinda figure out 
what we're gonna tell her." Lorelai nodded. "Okay, got 
it."

Christopher took a sip of coffee, then said, "So, we're 
gonna tell her that... what, that we've been dating?" 
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, that we've been dating and that 
things are going really well and that you're gonna stay 
here... " Lorelai paused. "With us," she finished with a 
smile.

Christopher smiled. "Yeah, see, that's what I wanted to 
talk to you about too. I'll just live here permanently, 
right? I mean, I won't have to look for a place to live 
anymore, and we can get some of my stuff out of storage, 
maybe some bureaus or something, right?" 

"Definitely," Lorelai said. "We'll make room." She closed 
her eyes, thinking something over. Finally, she opened 
them and said, "Marriage."

Christopher's eyebrows shot straight up. "What?" he 
asked, surprised. 

Lorelai smiled. "We should get married. Well, we should 
get engaged. I mean, we just decided that you'll be 
living here permanently, it seems like the next step 
would be to get married, right? Well, technically, 
marriage should come before the shacking up part, but 
we'll forget about that old rule." She leaned forward and 
looked at Christopher, waiting for him to answer.

Christopher stared at her, biting his lip nervously. 
"Lor, I don't know. I mean, it's only been two weeks. 
Maybe we should see how the real living together goes. I 
mean, with you and me actually a real couple, not hiding 
anything from anyone." 

Lorelai's mouth dropped open, as that was the last thing 
she expected him to say. After all, he had been the one 
who was so intent on marriage all of their lives and here 
he was, telling her they should wait. She leaned back 
against the chair, confused. 

Christopher noticed the look of disappointment on her 
face and said, "Lor, I just think we should wait a little 
while longer before we do something as serious as that. 
We need to think about this first."

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Chris, I *have* thought 
about it, and this is the only time that I've ever been 
able to realistically think about marriage and not be 
scared out of my mind. I mean, when I think about you and 
me getting married, when I picture it my mind, it makes 
me smile, it makes me so indescribably happy. It doesn't 
make me want to jump off a bridge. That means something." 
She slapped her hand on the table as if solidifying her 
point. 

"Yes, it does mean something," Christopher agreed. "But, 
I mean, we can't tell Rory that we're engaged and then 
have something happen that breaks us up. It'll break her 
heart. We shouldn't rush it, it's only been a few weeks."

Lorelai reached over and grabbed his hand. She took a 
deep breath, stared into his eyes and said softly, "Yes, 
but I've loved you my entire life. I'm ready for this."

"Me too, Lor, but..." Christopher started. 

"Stop," Lorelai cut him off, holding up her hands. 
"Forget it." She pushed her chair back from the table. 
She walked quickly out of the kitchen and ran up the 
stairs to her room. As Christopher heard the door slam, 
he sighed to himself.

A few minutes later, he knocked on her door. "Lorelai?" 
There was no answer, so he slowly pushed the door open. 
Lorelai lay on the bed, facing away from him. He lay down 
next to her, draping an arm over her and kissing her 
shoulder. "Lor, please talk to me." She didn't reply. 

Christopher sighed. "Lor, I'm not saying let's hold off 
on marriage because we're not ready. I think we are. I 
know we are. But I just - ." He stopped talking as 
Lorelai rolled over to face him. The first thing he saw 
was the tears in her eyes. 

"But you don't want to marry me. I get it," Lorelai said, 
sniffling. "Oh my God," Christopher said, his heart 
sinking. He wiped her tears and stood up. "Okay, it's not 
supposed to be like this. Sit up, please. Forget 
everything I've said and sit up please." Lorelai looked 
at him curiously and slowly sat up. Christopher stood 
alongside the bed and smiled at her. "Lorelai, I didn't 
say any of those things because I don't want to marry 
you. In fact, it's the exact opposite."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Christopher sighed. "Lor, I ordered a ring for you. I was 
gonna surprise you and propose. You know, actually do it 
right this time. But it won't be in for another week and 
I just really didn't think that you'd get this upset 
about everything, so I was trying to put it off." 

Lorelai's mouth dropped open, and her lips slowly formed 
into a smile. "Are you serious? You're not just saying 
this to make me feel better, and then tomorrow you'll go 
out and really order a ring?" He laughed. "No, I have the 
receipt in the car if you need proof." Lorelai smiled. 
"Oh my God!" She climbed off the bed and hugged him. "So 
you do wanna marry me!"

He laughed. "Of course I wanna marry you. I've always 
wanted to marry you."

She hugged him tighter. "God, I was so scared."

He smiled. "Lorelai Gilmore doesn't get scared." She 
pulled back. "She does when she thinks someone she loves 
won't be with her anymore." She kissed him. 

As they pulled apart, he said, "I'm so sorry that I 
scared you like that. Really, I didn't mean to. Trust me, 
I'm not going anywhere." She nodded. "Good." She kissed 
him again and said, "So, what do we tell Rory?"

He shrugged. "Whatever you want."

She smiled. "Let's go wait for her."

* * * 

Rory walked into the house and found her parents sitting 
at the kitchen table, staring at her as she walked into 
the room. She put the pizza on the table and removed her 
coat and gloves while they continued to stare at her. 
Finally she said, "What?" Lorelai smiled. "Sit down." She 
gestured to the chair between her and Christopher. 

Rory glanced from Lorelai to Christopher curiously. She 
sat down and said, "What's wrong?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Nothing is wrong. Absolutely 
nothing." She glanced at Christopher and smiled.

Christopher cleared his throat. "Uh, Rory, your mom and I 
wanted to tell you that since I've been in town, she and 
I have been dating." Rory's eyes widened and her mouth 
dropped slightly open. "What?" She looked at Lorelai.

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "It's true, babe. We've been 
dating and it's been going really well, and your dad's 
gonna live here - permanently." She glanced at 
Christopher and bit her lip through her smile. "And, 
we're engaged."

Rory's eyes and mouth opened as wide as they could go and 
she clamped a hand over mouth. "Oh my God!" she mumbled 
into her hand. She pulled it away and said, "Are you 
serious?" She glanced back and forth between them, and 
they both nodded. A smile quickly formed on Rory's lips. 
"My mom and dad are getting married?" She paused, 
listening to the words in her mind. She repeated, "My mom 
and dad are getting married. My mom and dad are getting 
married." Lorelai laughed. "Yes, your mom and dad are 
getting married."

"How do you feel about that?" Christopher asked. Rory 
gasped. "I feel... incredible. Overjoyed. Indescribably 
thrilled. I mean, I've always thought about that... you 
know, in the back of my mind, I've wondered what it would 
be like." Rory shook her head in disbelief. "This is 
so... oh my God. I can't believe this."

Lorelai tilted her head and smiled. She leaned over and 
hugged Rory tightly. Lorelai pulled back, and Rory turned 
to hug Christopher. "Oh my God," Rory said. "This is 
like, the last thing I was ever expecting you to say in 
the history of the world." Lorelai laughed. "Really? But 
haven't you noticed how well we've been getting along?"

Rory shrugged. "Sure, but you guys are always like that 
around me." "True," Lorelai nodded. "So, uh, there'll be 
some changes around here. I mean, your dad's gonna bring 
his stuff here from storage, so we're gonna have to 
rearrange some things. And he won't be sleeping on the 
couch anymore."

"Finally," Christopher added. 

Lorelai smiled. "Don't get your hopes up. You're sleeping 
on the floor."

He smiled. "Fine by me."

Rory, smiling excitedly but still in disbelief, stood up. 
"I'm gonna call Lane before we eat." She walked into the 
living room, leaving Lorelai and Chris at the table. They 
stood up and walked towards each other and hugged. 

Chris kissed the top of her head. "Happy?"

Lorelai looked at up at him and smiled. "Very. You?"

"Yup." He smiled and kissed her softly. "You wanna see 
the receipt?" She laughed. "No, that's okay." She paused. 
"Do you think we should wait for the ring before we tell 
my parents?" Christopher shook his head. "Nope, the 
sooner we tell people the better. I don't want to have to 
hide anything anymore." Lorelai smiled. "Me either. We'll 
tell them on Friday." She leaned towards him and kissed 
him softly. 

* * * 

That Friday night, Lorelai, Christopher and Rory stood in 
front of Emily and Richard's front door. Lorelai and 
Chris glanced at each other. 

"Are you ready?" Lorelai asked him.

Christopher nodded. "Yup. You?"

She smiled. "Absolutely."

"And so am I," Rory added. "So let's go inside please. 
It's like 30 degrees out here."

"Hey," Lorelai said, "you're not the one with the life 
changing news to share. Be patient."

Rory rolled her eyes and rang the doorbell. Seconds 
later, Emily pulled open the door and greeted them. 
Moments later they were all sitting in the living room 
with Richard for pre-dinner drinks. "So Christopher, 
how's that new job of yours?" Richard asked.

"It's great, really great," Christopher said. 

"Fred Crawford's not working you too hard, is he?" Emily 
asked.

"No, not yet," Christopher said. "But let's not jinx it." 
They sat for a moment drinking silently until Rory nudged 
Lorelai's elbow and gestured for her to say something. 
Lorelai cleared her throat. "Uh, Mom, Dad, we want to 
tell you something." She and Christopher smiled at each 
other as Richard and Emily focused their attention on 
her. 

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Um, now, if this was bad 
news, then I'd try to think of a way to break it to you 
really slowly. But since it's great news, I'll just come 
out and say it. Chris and I are back together again, and 
not only is he already living with us permanently, but 
we're getting married." She leaned back to gauge their 
reactions. 

Richard and Emily both sat still and silent for a moment, 
their mouths gaping open in surprise. They glanced at 
each other as if making sure they heard right. Emily 
finally asked, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Lorelai smiled. "We're getting married." She reached down 
and linked her fingers through Christopher's.

Emily pointed at the both of them. "You two? You and 
Christopher?"

Lorelai nodded. "That's right."

Emily placed a hand on her cheek, her eyes widening. 
Richard stared across the room at them, his eyes just as 
wide. Neither of them said anything, though their huge 
smiles indicated that they were thrilled. Lorelai finally 
said, "Well, say something!" Emily stood up and clasped 
her hands together. "Oh my God, this is absolutely 
wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Richard, get some champagne." 

"Certainly. This is fabulous news," he replied, standing 
up. 

Emily walked over to Lorelai excitedly. "Well, let me see 
the ring!" 

"Oh, actually Emily, it'll be in next week," Christopher 
said. "Yeah, things kinda went out of order, Mom," 
Lorelai said. "Chris ordered it and was gonna surprise 
me, but I sort of ruined the surprise by suggesting we 
get married, and... it's a long story. But don't worry, 
you'll be the first to see it," Lorelai said. Emily 
smiled, and in a move unfamiliar to Lorelai, held open 
her arms. Lorelai, taken aback, stood up and hugged Emily 
uncomfortably. 

Lorelai suddenly felt a closeness to her mother that 
she'd never felt before and for the first time that she 
could remember, her mother was actually happy for her. As 
they pulled apart, Christopher stood up and hugged Emily, 
and Rory did the same. 

Emily rushed over to help Richard with the champagne 
while saying, "This is incredible. I've always known that 
you two would be together someday. This is always how it 
should've been, Rory and both of her parents together as 
a real family." They handed out the glasses and Richard 
toasted, "To Lorelai and Christopher and Rory, may their 
life together be long, healthy and happy."

As they took sips from their champagne, Emily checked her 
watch. "Well, I think dinner's about ready. Let's discuss 
this more at the table!" she said excitedly. She walked 
quickly towards the dining room. 

Richard stopped in front of Christopher and shook his 
hand. "Congratulations Christopher. You know, I knew 
you'd get her to cave to your charms eventually," he 
said, winking. Christopher laughed. "Thank you, Richard," 
he said. Richard smiled at Lorelai. "Congratulations 
Lorelai, your mother and I are quite happy for you."

"Thanks Dad," Lorelai said, smiling.

Richard put an arm around Rory and walked with her into 
the dining room, leaving Christopher and Lorelai alone in 
the living room. They put their drinks down and turned to 
each other, and Christopher took her hands into his. He 
brought them up to his lips and kissed both of them 
before letting go, and she placed them on his shoulders. 

"So..." Lorelai said, gesturing her head towards where 
Emily and Richard were sitting. "That was interesting."

"I think that they're possibly more excited than we are," 
he said, smiling. 

Lorelai shook her head. "Not possible." She leaned in and 
kissed him deeply. She pulled back and smiled up at him. 
"Let's go eat with your future in-laws." She took 
Christopher's hand and led him towards the dining room.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai and Christopher lay in bed, 
Christopher's arm wrapped around her as she rested her 
head against Christopher's chest. Lorelai clasped her 
hands around Christopher's hand. "This is nice, just 
being together," she said. 

"Yeah it is," he agreed, kissing her head. They were 
silent for a while as Lorelai stroked Christopher's hand 
with her fingers. Finally he asked, "What are you 
thinking about?"

"Well," Lorelai said, "do you ever think about our 
future? Like, in a few years from now?"

"Sure I do," he said.

"Yeah? What do you see?" she asked.

"Hmm. Well, I see Rory off at Harvard while we're here, 
married, hanging out with Sookie and Jackson, who are 
also married, and we're doing married-people things."

Lorelai laughed. "Aw, that's so cute."

"What do you see?" he asked.

She lifted up her head and smiled. "I see Rory at 
Harvard, and me and you sitting here all alone bored, 
drinking beers and playing Scrabble."

Christopher laughed. "Sounds great."

"Yeah, it does, but I was thinking that maybe with the 
house so empty, we might want to... " Lorelai bit her lip 
and stared at him.

"Yes?" Christopher prompted. "I'm not a mind reader." 
Lorelai smiled. "I don't know. I was thinking, in a few 
years, maybe we could... have another baby?"

Christopher raised his eyebrows. "Another kid? Are you 
sure?"

"Yeah," Lorelai said. "Don't you want more kids?" "Yeah, 
I'd love to have more, but we never really talked about 
it so I wasn't sure if you did."

Lorelai smiled. "I do." 

"Wow, another kid," he said, smiling up at the ceiling. 
"One that I'll be around to help raise."

"Sounds fun, huh?" Lorelai asked excitedly.

"Yes it does," he agreed, kissing her softly. She rested 
her head back against his chest, a smile resting on her 
lips, a feeling of love and warmth surrounding her. She 
closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep knowing that 
tomorrow morning, and every morning after, she'd wake up 
next to Christopher - her elusive soulmate. 

The End

Feedback: dadstock@aol.com

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Please keep this story, and all erotic stories out of
the hands of children. They should be outside playing
in the sunshine, not thinking about adult situations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kristen's collection - TV, Sitcom & Movie Archive