TITLE: "Mystery Woman"

SPOILER: Takes place a few weeks after "One Has Class and the Other One Dyes."

DISTRIBUTION: Please ask permission first.

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB.

* * *

It was slightly after six o'clock on Friday night, and Luke was in his apartment getting dressed for his date. He was nervous; he'd almost called her and canceled three different times, but each time had talked himself out of it.

He was still shocked that he'd done it. It'd been so long since he'd asked anyone out on a date, but he was surprised at how easily it all came back to him.

It had happened so fast. It started on Monday afternoon, during one of those quiet lulls. There was only one other customer in the diner, and Luke was bored. He had been hanging out at the counter going through some old receipts when she walked in and sat at the counter.

She ordered coffee and a muffin, and while she was eating, she tried to strike up a conversation with him. At first he was just being polite, making idle chitchat with her, but after a few minutes, they started conversing casually. He'd never seen her in the diner before, but there was just something about her that appealed to him immediately.

Ever since Jess had indirectly accused him of waiting around for Lorelai, he'd been thinking that maybe it was time for him to finally move on, to stop waiting for her to notice him. He'd thought about approaching her, about finally asking Lorelai out - but something stopped him. A little voice inside his head told him to give it up - that if nothing had happened between them this far, nothing probably would.

So he needed to get on with his life. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't want to be alone forever. He wanted to find someone. . . and to do that, he needed to start dating again.

And then this woman came into the diner. And he talked with her, and he liked her, and when she left that day, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He scolded himself for not asking her out at the time.

But then, two days later, someone decided to give him a second chance, and she came back into the diner. They talked for a little while. . .he even whipped out a little flirting. . .and eventually, worked up the nerve to ask her out.

And here he was, on Friday night, getting ready for his date with her.

Downstairs, Lorelai walked into Luke's for coffee before heading to Hartford for Friday night dinner. She walked quickly up to the counter and waved a few dollars toward Caesar standing at the cash register. "Two coffees to go, please," Lorelai said.

"Coming right up," he replied. As he walked over to the coffee maker, Lorelai tapped her fingernails impatiently on the counter and glanced around at the other customers. She stared at a woman eating French fries with a fork, and while contemplating whether or not she should go inform her that they're finger foods, Caesar returned with her coffee. "Here you go."

Lorelai turned around. "Oh, good, thanks." She handed him the money. "Here, keep the. . ." Lorelai's voice trailed off as Luke walked out from the back, looking down as he fastened his watch. Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God!"

Luke, dressed in a button-down shirt and black pants, looked up and grimaced when he saw her. Knowing he was in for some mocking, he sighed loudly. "Oh, geez."

Lorelai's eyes widened as she took in his outfit. "Whoa, cap-less, flannel- less, jeans-less. . .it's like Bizarro World Luke. What, are you giving another speech at the school or something? They liked you so much they decided to make it a weekly gig?"

"No," he replied with a sigh. "I'm just. . .I have . . ." He stared at her for a moment, contemplating whether or not to tell her where he was going. Deciding it would probably lead to more questions he didn't want to answer, he changed the subject. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be in Hartford right now?"

Lorelai glanced down at her watch. "Pretty soon, yeah, but I've got a few minutes to tease you before I have to leave."

Luke rolled his eyes and walked past her. "Goodbye."

Lorelai frowned. "Wait, where are you going?" She grabbed the two coffee cups from the counter and followed him.

"Out." Luke walked to the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Lorelai slipped out the door before it closed on her, and she followed him toward his truck. "Yes, see, that's what I find morbidly fascinating, because not only do you rarely ever go out, but you never, ever dress like this. So, as you can see, given the fact that you're doing two rare things on the same night, my imagination is running rampant with possible excuses as to what's going on here."

Luke pulled open the door to his truck, then turned to look at her. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, the first is that you're a diner owner by day, accountant by night, and that right now you're off to audit someone," Lorelai said. "Is that it?"

"No."

"Okay, the second is that you're an ex-con and you have a meeting with your parole officer," Lorelai said. "Is that it?"

"Nope."

Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "Damn, I thought for sure it was one of those." She thought for a moment, then said, "One more guess?"

Luke folded his arms across his chest. "Fine, one more."

"Are all of your jeans and flannel shirts at the dry cleaners and this was the last outfit you had to wear, and so you're wearing it out of desperation and not because you actually want to wear it?" Lorelai asked.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Good guess, but no." He climbed into his truck and closed the door.

Lorelai stepped up to the half-opened window. "Aha, so you're wearing it voluntarily, now I know for sure that something's up. Come on, Luke, where are you going all dolled up?"

Luke ignored her and started the engine, then glanced across the street and saw Rory inside of Lorelai's Jeep. He gestured toward it and said, "Look, Rory's waiting for you, you'd better get going."

Lorelai frowned. "Why won't you tell me?"

Luke turned to her and sighed. "Because there's no rule that says I have to tell you everything."

"Uh huh," Lorelai said, nodding fervently. "It's rule number seven in the agreement you entered into when we became friends - thou shall not go out dressed up without first telling the other person."

"You know, funny thing - I don't recall reading or signing anything," Luke told her.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Duh, it's a mental agreement, Luke, because if they made friend-contracts that needed to be read and signed, it would unfairly eliminate illiterate people from entering into them."

Luke took a deep breath, then pursed his lips and stared straight ahead. "Look, I'm gonna be late."

Lorelai stepped back from the truck and pouted. "Okay, fine, don't tell me."

"Good idea," Luke said. He pulled away, leaving a disappointed Lorelai standing on the sidewalk.

Lorelai slowly crossed the street to the Jeep, and handed Rory the coffee cups through the open window. "What was the all about?" Rory asked.

Lorelai opened the driver's door and climbed in. "Oh, I was trying to find out where Luke was going but he wouldn't tell me."

Rory took a sip of her coffee, then asked, "Why do you care where he's going?"

Lorelai started the engine and pulled away from the curb. "Because. . . didn't you see the way he was dressed?"

"No, how was he dressed?"

"Like he was going to church or something," Lorelai said. "So I asked him why he was all dressed up, but he wouldn't tell me."

"Maybe he has a meeting at the bank," Rory suggested.

Lorelai shrugged. "Maybe. But why wouldn't he tell me if it was that?"

"Hm, good point," Rory replied. "Maybe business hasn't been too good lately and he has a second job somewhere and he was too embarrassed to tell you."

Lorelai frowned. "Aw, I hope not. I'd feel bad thinking of him working hard on his feet all day, and then having to work more at night."

"Well, we don't know if that's it or not," Rory pointed out.

"Well, just in case, we should help him out by paying on a regular basis instead of just occasionally," Lorelai said.

"Good idea," Rory agreed. "Let's do that."

As they drove through Stars Hollow and headed toward the highway, Rory suddenly said, "Huh."

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"You said that Luke was all dressed up, right?"

"Well, not all dressed up like he was in a tux, ready to attend some charity benefit for underprivileged monkeys, but dressed up more so than his usual plaid shirt and jeans," Lorelai clarified.

Rory let out a laugh. "A charity benefit for underprivileged monkeys?"

"Uh, yeah," Lorelai scoffed. "In the jungle, some primate families are more distinguished than other primate families, and so the impoverished primate families need rich people to donate money so that their monkey children can afford the same kinds of bananas that other monkey children have."

Rory stared at her with wide eyes. "What the heck are you talking about?

Lorelai shook her head. "I have absolutely no idea. Go on."

"Okay, well, maybe he wasn't dressed up enough to go to a benefit for monkeys. . .but was he dressed up enough for . . .a date?" Rory asked.

Lorelai's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "You think Luke went out on a date?" A small smile appeared on her lips as she pondered the possibility. "Oh my God, I didn't even think about that. Maybe Luke Danes went out on a date."

"Wow, it's weird hearing those words in the same sentence," Rory said. "'Luke' and 'date'. He never goes out anywhere. At least, not that we know of."

"Ooh, I bet it was a date, and he didn't wanna talk about it because he was nervous," Lorelai said. "Aw, that's so cute."

"You don't know that," Rory said, rolling her eyes. "Maybe he didn't wanna talk about it because he likes his private things to stay private, and he knew that if he told you, it'd be all over town by morning."

Lorelai scoffed. "I believe you're confusing me with Miss Patty, which I should take some amount of offense to."

"No, I gave you more leeway than Miss Patty," Rory said. "'Cause if she found out about it, the whole town would know within the hour."

"True." As she continued driving, Lorelai tried to picture what Luke would be like on a date. She imagined him sitting in a restaurant eating fruit salad and ranting about Taylor's latest scheme to better the town. She smiled to herself, then glanced over at Rory. "Hey, if he is on a date, what do you think the girl's like?"

Rory narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you think she's like him. . . a quiet, flannel-wearing, sports- loving, healthy-eating type of chic?" Lorelai asked.

"You really think he'd date an exact replica of himself?" Rory asked.

"Well, an exact replica with bigger boobs," Lorelai replied.

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. We'll have to wait and see what she's like. . . if there even is a she. Maybe he did just have a meeting at the bank."

Lorelai nodded wistfully. "Yeah, maybe."

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai and Rory went to Luke's for breakfast. They sat down at an empty table, and a few minutes later, Luke walked over with two cups of coffee. "Hey." He set the cups on the table.

"Hey," Lorelai said.

"Thanks Luke," Rory said, picking up her coffee cup. She blew on it lightly, then took a sip.

Luke pulled his order pad out of his jeans. "What can I get you?"

"You can get me. . .a detailed summary of where you went last night," Lorelai said, smiling up at him.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Forget it. What can I get you to eat?"

Lorelai frowned. "You still won't tell me? Why won't you tell me?"

Luke sighed and gave her an annoyed look. "Because it doesn't matter where I went. Now, what do you guys want?"

"Pancakes," Rory ordered.

"Me too," Lorelai said. Luke nodded and jotted it down on his pad. As he started to walk away, Lorelai reached out and grabbed his shirt. "Wait, Luke, just a sec."

He turned around and folded his arms across his chest. "What now?"

"Did where you went involve a charity benefit for underprivileged monkeys?" Lorelai asked.

Luke narrowed his eyes with confusion. "What?"

Rory waved him off. "Never mind, Luke. Ignore her."

"Gladly," he replied, giving Lorelai a bewildered look.

As he started to walk away, Lorelai said, "Okay, what about this - it was a date, wasn't it?"

Luke froze with his back to them, and he glanced around nervously to see if anyone else had heard. He turned around and glared momentarily at Lorelai before continuing his walk to the kitchen.

Lorelai slapped her palm on the table and smiled at Rory. "Aha, did you see that? We totally figured him out."

"Looks that way," Rory agreed. "Though he didn't seem too happy about it."

"Well, not everyone is as impressed with our deductive skills as we want them to be," Lorelai said. "People don't like to be accused of things even when they're really doing them."

"Just like you don't like to be accused of being too nosy even when you really are?" Rory suggested.

"Exactly." Lorelai took a sip of her coffee, then said, "Well, this is good, because ever since we discovered that it was Bootsy who was taking the Al's Pancake World coupons out of all the Stars Hollow Gazettes, we've needed a new mystery to solve. . . and now we have one."

"And what exactly is our new mystery, Sherlock?" Rory asked.

Lorelai scoffed. "Are you not paying attention? Luke went on a date - this is groundbreaking news! We need to do private research and find out who it was."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know, that's why," Lorelai said. "I am a wealth of information about town goings-on, and I like to know about everything that is. . .ya know, going on."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever, I'll play along."

"Good, thank you."

* * *

A few nights later, Lorelai and Rory were walking toward the video store. As they passed by the diner, Lorelai glanced through the window, and she saw Luke talking to a woman at the counter. Lorelai stopped walking and grabbed Rory's sleeve. "Hey, wait." Rory saw Lorelai staring through the window, and she followed her gaze to Luke at the counter.

Lorelai turned to Rory. "You think that's her?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. It could very well be the mystery woman that we've been unable to find out anything about."

"It's possible."

"Or it could be some random customer," Rory said.

"Also possible," Lorelai agreed. "How do we find out?"

"Well, we could stand at the window all night and watch them to see if anything suspicious happens," Rory suggested with obvious sarcasm.

"Good idea," Lorelai said, ignoring the sarcasm. "Go get us a couple of chairs, will ya?"

Rory grabbed Lorelai's arm. "Come on, let's go." Lorelai frowned as Rory dragged her toward the video store.

Fifteen minutes later, they walked out of the store and headed toward home, passing by the diner again. Lorelai glanced in the window, and gasped when she saw the woman still at the counter. "Oh my God, she's still there! And he's still standing there talking to her!"

"So what?" Rory asked. "It's his job to be friendly to the customers."

"No, I don't think that this is just some customer, I think that's her." Lorelai put a hand on her stomach. "I have this feeling in my gut that says that this is Luke's new lady friend."

"I think that's just menstrual cramps," Rory told her. "I have 'em, too."

Lorelai grabbed Rory's arm and pulled her toward the door. "Come on, I suddenly have an immediate need for coffee."

"Oh boy," Rory muttered. She wriggled out of Lorelai's grasp and said, "I'll wait out here, thank you."

Lorelai frowned at her. "Fine, I'll do my own investigating."

"Good luck with that," Rory said.

Lorelai walked into the diner and Luke looked up from his conversation. His eyes widened when he saw her, and an uncomfortable feeling came over him. Lorelai walked up to the counter, and soon he excused himself from the woman and walked over to Lorelai.

While Lorelai ordered a coffee to go, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the woman stand up and drop some money on the counter. As she walked past the two of them, she smiled and said, "See ya, Luke."

Luke glanced at Lorelai and swallowed hard, then nodded toward the woman. "Yeah, see ya." He walked over to the coffee maker as Lorelai watched the woman walk out of the diner. Out the window she saw Rory look after the woman curiously as she walked down the sidewalk.

Lorelai turned back toward the counter and watched Luke, his back to her, pour her coffee into a to-go cup. She hesitated a moment, then asked nonchalantly, "So. . .Luke. . .who was that woman?"

"Just a customer," Luke replied with a shrug.

"A customer who knows you by name?" Lorelai pressed.

Luke walked over with the coffee. "Everyone knows me by name," he said. "It's on the front of the building and all the menus."

Lorelai nodded. "Right, right." She handed him some money, then lingered at the counter for a moment. "So. . .I don't think I've seen her in here before."

Luke stuck the money in the cash register. "So what?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Oh, nothing . . .I was just making an observation." She tapped her fingernails on the counter. "So that was just a regular customer. . .no one special. . .no one you happened to hang out with on Friday night?"

Luke smirked as he picked up a rag and began wiping down the counter.

Lorelai smiled and narrowed her eyes at him. "What's that smile for?"

Luke shrugged. "It's just interesting that you're still dwelling on me going out on Friday."

"Because you're my friend and I like to know what's up with you, that's all," Lorelai said with a shrug.

"Uh huh."

"Come on, just tell me, as your friend, was she part of the mystery 'Friday night dressing up and going out' thing?" Lorelai asked. "Then I promise no more questions about it."

Luke stared at her for a few seconds, contemplating whether to answer her. He knew she'd just keep bugging him about it until he gave in. . .and even he knew that he'd eventually give in to her. He always did.

He resumed wiping the counter as he muttered a sheepish, "Yes."

Lorelai's eyes widened. "She was? You guys went out on a date? Where'd you go? What's her name?"

"You said no more questions," Luke reminded her. He pointed toward the door. "Goodbye."

Lorelai frowned. "Aw, please, just tell me her name, and I promise I'll leave without asking any other questions about it. . . and if I do, you can refuse to serve me coffee for the rest of the month and I won't complain."

"That's highly doubtful."

Lorelai pouted her lips and pressed her palms together as she begged, "Please, just a name?"

Luke sighed. "Leslie, okay? Her name is Leslie."

Lorelai smiled. "Aw, is she - " She suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from asking any questions. She removed her hand and smiled at him. "No more questions, right. Bye Luke."

"Bye." Luke watched her as she picked up her coffee cup and walked toward the door.

As she stepped onto the sidewalk, Lorelai found Rory waiting impatiently by the streetlight. "Ooh, I have gossip!" Lorelai said excitedly. "Okay, yes, that was the woman he went out with on Friday, and her name is Leslie. Ah, I can't believe I got him to give me information!"

Rory had a small smile on her face, and she put her hands on Lorelai's shoulders. "Mom, did you look at that woman?"

"Uh, yeah. That's the whole reason I went in there in the first place," Lorelai reminded her. They both started walking down the sidewalk toward their house.

"And you didn't notice anything familiar about her?" Rory asked.

"Not really," Lorelai said with a shrug. "Why, did you?"

Rory let out a laugh. "Mom, she looked exactly like you!"

Lorelai turned to her and scoffed loudly. "What? You're crazy. She looked nothing like me."

Rory stopped walking and grabbed Lorelai's arm. "Mom, I've been looking at you for eighteen years, I know what you look like - and that woman looks just like you - same hair, same blue eyes, she's even the same height as you."

"Rory, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail," Lorelai pointed out. "Mine's not."

"Yeah, not now, but when it is in a ponytail, it looks just like it did on that woman," Rory replied.

"Leslie," Lorelai reminded her.

"Leslie." Rory shook her head in disbelief and let out a laugh. "Oh my God, I can't believe you didn't notice it. And I wonder why we've never seen her before. . . you'd think we'd know by now if you had a twin walking around Stars Hollow."

"I still think you're crazy," Lorelai said. "So she's a tall brunette . . . there are a lot of us in the world."

"Yeah, well, I swear, if my vision was just a tad blurry, I probably would've accidentally called her Mom," Rory said.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You're completely insane. Let's go home." Lorelai started walking down the sidewalk, and Rory followed behind her.

"Next time you see her, you take a good look at her," Rory said. "I bet you'll see it."





To be continued. . .