* * *

Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"With your big . . ." Rory paused for a moment.

"Rory, forget it, it’s nothing," Lorelai insisted.

"Did something happen with Dad?" Rory asked.

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jackson checked his watch. "Thirty minutes ago."

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

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

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

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

Lorelai sighed.

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

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

Sookie gasped. "A blow up? What happened?"

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

* * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

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

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

"Here you go," he said.

"Thanks Luke," Lorelai said.

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

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

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

"Right, go on," Rory said.

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

"Good plan," Rory interjected.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

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

"Mom?" Rory called.

"Couch," Lorelai said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rory narrowed her eyes. "Collaboration?"

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

Rory nodded.

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

Rory nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yes I have."

"Why?" Rory asked her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So it is about Dad," Rory said knowingly.

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

End Part 1

* * *

Part 2

The next morning, Lorelai and Rory sat at the breakfast table with coffee and Pop Tarts while they read the newspaper. Lorelai casually glanced over her paper at the clock. "Ooh, honey, you better get going," she said.

Rory nodded and stood up, taking a final sip of her coffee before she said, "Bye Mom." She picked up her bookbag and walked down the hall.

"Bye hon," Lorelai said. "Have a good day."

"You too," she called from the front hallway. Lorelai heard the front door slam, and she waited a moment to make sure Rory was gone. She gathered up the sections of newspaper and placed them on a chair, then pushed everything else to the other side of the table.

She grabbed a pen and notepad from the counter, then tore off two sheets of paper and placed them in front of her on the table. She sat down and wrote PROS on one paper and CONS on the other.

Lorelai sighed. "Okay, let’s start with the cons." She bit down on the back of the pen cap and thought for a moment, then started to write. "A, he’s very monosyllabic. B, if we break up, no more Luke’s Diner. C, he’s . . . he’s. . . " Lorelai stared at the paper for a few minutes before she gave up and pushed it away.

She pulled the other paper toward her and started writing quickly as she listed her reasons aloud. "Okay, the pros. A, he likes me. B, he looks out for Rory. C, he makes the best coffee. D, he’s cute. E, he’s sweet. F, he’s very handy. G, he makes me laugh. H, he made me a chuppa. . ." Even though the list already told her what she should do, she continued on.

Lorelai finally stopped when she reached Z, even though she could have easily kept going all day. She put the pen down and looked back and forth between the two lists. She picked up the con list, crumpled it into a ball and dropped it on the table.

She picked up the pro list and smiled as she read through it. She sighed and said, "You’re so stupid Lorelai. It’s all right here staring you in the face." She glanced at the clock and realizing she was already late for work, hurried toward the inn.

* * *

Carrying her pro list, Lorelai walked into the inn and went directly to the kitchen. She pushed open the door and called out, "Sookie!"

Sookie, who had just started to pour sugar into a mixing bowl, was startled and dropped the bag into the bowl. "Agh! Shoot!" Sookie exclaimed. As she took the bag out and placed it on the counter, Lorelai ran over to her.

"Oops, sorry about that," Lorelai said, smiling.

Sookie looked at her and giggled. "Yeah, you look sorry. What’s that smile for?"

"I figured it out. Look!" Lorelai handed her the pro sheet.

Sookie read through it. "Pros. He likes me, he looks out for Rory, he makes the best coffee. . ." Sookie laughed. "Honey, what is this?"

Lorelai took the paper back and smiled. "I made a pro/con list about Luke to sort out all my feelings and stuff, and the pro list totally kicked the con sheet’s butt."

Sookie gasped and grabbed the paper back. "Oh my God, this is so long. You really put a lot of thought into this."

Lorelai nodded. "I thought about it all night, and then this morning I listed them all out. Oh, and last night during my "sorting out my feelings" session, I figured something very important out. Look at J," she said, pointing to the list.

Sookie scanned the list. "Ah, here we go. J, I don’t want to hide my feelings anymore." Sookie looked up at Lorelai. "What does that mean?"

Lorelai smiled and took the paper back. "It means that. . . all this time that people have been pointing out that Luke likes me, I’ve realized that I’ve liked him too. And I just kept pushing those feelings away because I didn’t want to deal with them, but now I’m at a point where I *want* to deal with them. I want to see where this can go."

Sookie’s eyes widened as she smiled. "Aww! So you’re gonna go for it?"

Lorelai nodded excitedly. "Yeah, I think I’m gonna go for it."

Sookie clasped her hands together. "Oh my God, oh my God, this is so exciting! I’m so excited! Aren’t you so excited?" Sookie giggled and hugged Lorelai.

Lorelai laughed. "Yes I am. And a little nervous too. I mean, it’s Luke. Sookie, it’s Luuuuke," Lorelai said seriously, her eyes widening.

"I know, I know!" Sookie laughed. "So, you’re gonna ask him out?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I haven’t figured that out yet. Maybe I’ll casually hint around that I’d like to do something and see if he picks it up."

Sookie smiled. "God, this is so great."

Lorelai smiled and nodded "I know. Okay, I gotta get out to the desk. I’ll be back later, we can gush some more over this." Lorelai waved the pro list towards Sookie excitedly and walked towards the lobby.

* * *

Later that evening, Lorelai called out, "Rory, I’m home!" as she walked through the front door. "Rory?" Lorelai walked into the kitchen and found a note on the table. She read it and smiled to herself. "Hm, so you went to Luke’s, did ya? Sounds good to me." Lorelai walked back out of the house and headed towards the diner.

A few minutes later, Lorelai walked into Luke’s and glanced around for Rory, not seeing her in the crowded diner. She spotted Luke behind the counter and smiled to herself, thinking she might as well try and get some flirting in. She suddenly felt a wave of nervousness but she pushed it aside as she made and held eye contact with Luke while walking toward him. "Hey Luke," she said, leaning on the counter.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Um, how’s everything going?" Lorelai asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Pretty good. You looking for Rory?" he asked as he wiped the counter.

"Yeah, have you see her?" Lorelai asked. "She said she was coming here."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, she was here, but then she and Jess went somewhere."

Lorelai winced. "Oh."

Luke frowned. "What was that?"

Lorelai shrugged. "What was what?"

"What was that look?" Luke asked, narrowing his eyes. "You don’t like Jess?"

Lorelai gasped. "I did not say that."

Luke shook his head. "You don’t have to say it, I saw the look."

Lorelai sighed and shifted her feet. "Luke, I’m sorry, I know he’s family and all but. . ."

"But you think he’s trouble," Luke finished for her.

Lorelai didn’t respond. She looked uncomfortably down at the counter.

Luke sighed. "You do – you think he’s trouble just like everyone else in this town," Luke said angrily as he threw down his rag. "I get enough of this crap from Taylor, I don’t need it from you too." Luke turned around and started walking away.

Lorelai gasped. "Luke, wait! I didn’t. . ." her voice trailed off as she watched him disappear into the kitchen. She let out a deep sigh and shook her head disappointingly. "That was so not how that was supposed to turn out," she said quietly. She slowly walked towards the door and headed home.

* * *

Lorelai arrived home in a funk, thinking that maybe the fact that she’d had a fight with Luke on the same day she’d decided to ask him out was some sort of sign. She sulked her way into the house, calling out "Rory!" She assumed that the silence she was greeted with meant that Rory wasn’t home yet and she walked upstairs.

She took a long hot bath and slipped into her robe, then wandered downstairs with the intention of raiding the kitchen for anything that could be called a meal. As she reached the bottom of the steps, however, she was beyond surprised to see Luke sitting on her couch.

"Luke!" she exclaimed. Her heart started racing as she pulled the belt on her robe tighter. "What. . . uh, how did you . . .?" she gestured towards him.

He stood up and pointed towards the kitchen. "Uh, Rory let me in."

Lorelai took a few steps towards the hall and glanced towards the kitchen. Rory sat at the table reading. "Hey," Lorelai called. "When did you get home?"

Rory looked up from her book. "Oh, like 15 minutes ago," she said, returning to her book.

Lorelai glanced back at Luke. "And you’ve been here for?"

Luke shrugged. "Just a few minutes." He looked down at the floor uncomfortably. "Uh, listen, I wanted to apologize. . . ya know, for how I acted earlier."

Lorelai waved him off. "You don’t have to, it was my fault."

Luke shook his head and held up his hands. "No, you have a right to your opinion. All you did was make a face and I went berserk on you. I’m sorry."

Lorelai sighed. "I’m sorry too. You know, for making the face to begin with." Lorelai walked toward the armchair near the fireplace. She sat down, and in a quiet voice, she said, "Luke, it’s just that Jess reminds me of Christopher at that age. And Rory is so naïve, and I don’t want her to . . ." She paused and stared down at the floor. "I don’t want Rory to turn out like me. I want her to graduate high school and go to Harvard and do everything she wants to do. I don’t want her to screw up like I did. And when I see something happening that may get in the way of her goals, I kinda get defensive. I just. . .I don’t want her to be like me. I want her to be successful."

Luke walked towards her and sat on the coffee table in front of her. Speaking softly, he said, "Lorelai, trust me, Jess isn’t as bad as you think he is. I mean, I’ll admit he has some problems but he’s smart underneath that. And Rory’s smart, and – "

"Luke," Lorelai interrupted. "Chris and I were smart too. Smart people do have sex, you know."

Luke raised his eyebrows and let out a laugh. "So, what, you think Jess and Rory are gonna . . . oh, come on!" Luke rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that’ll happen here. Rory’s had her heart set on Harvard for years, she won’t do anything to mess that up. Plus, you’re forgetting the obvious – she has a boyfriend. So, if you’re worrying about her screwing up because of Jess, then you shouldn’t. Trust her."

Lorelai sighed. "I just don’t want her to get into trouble."

"And you think Jess will get her in trouble," Luke said, rolling his eyes.

"No, I just. . . I don’t know. I do trust her," she said.

"But you don’t trust Jess," he finished. "Listen, if you trust Rory, then everything will be fine. I trust Rory too - which is why I know she won’t do anything stupid."

Lorelai sighed. "I know, I’m paranoid."

Luke nodded. "Yes, you are." He stood up and started to walk away, but he suddenly stopped and turned back. "And hey?"

Lorelai looked up at him. "Yeah?"

He stared into her eyes. "Look around at that inn that you run, look around at this house, look around at this life you’ve built for yourself and Rory. If you don’t think that you’re successful, then you’re crazy."

Lorelai didn’t answer him. A slow smile appeared on her lips and she looked sheepishly down at the floor.

"See you later," Luke said. He walked out of the living room and out the front door. Lorelai brought her head up and stared into space, smiling. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and if she hadn’t been wearing her robe, she would’ve ran down the street and asked Luke out right then and there.

* * *

The next evening, Lorelai and Rory stood outside the entrance to Emily and Richard’s house. They glanced at each other before Lorelai reluctantly rang the bell.

Emily pulled the door open and, seeing that Rory was with Lorelai this time, smiled. "Ah, yes, both my girls this time. Come in."

"Hey Grandma, sorry I couldn’t make it last week," Rory said as she removed her coat and hung it up.

"Yes, well, I’m happy to see you’re back this week," Emily said. "Now, come, tell me all about that woman." She led Rory to the living room.

Lorelai rolled her eyes as she hung up her coat and followed them. "Mom, Rory only spends one evening a week with you, I’m sure she doesn’t want to spend it talking about Sherry. Right, hon?"

Rory shrugged, not knowing what to say. Lorelai and Rory sat next to each other on the couch as Emily sat across from them. "Yes, well, I was just curious as to what kind of person she is. Is she nice?" Emily pursed her lips.

Rory nodded. "Yes, very nice." She glanced at Lorelai uncomfortably.

Emily nodded. "Mm hmm. Well, is she responsible? She wasn’t drinking while she was with you, was she?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Mom, I only let Rory go out with drunks on Saturdays, you know that. New topic, please."

Emily shrugged. "Fine. Lorelai, how’s everything at the inn?"

Lorelai nodded. "Fine, fine. Oh, did we tell you, Sookie’s engaged."

Emily smiled. "Oh, that’s wonderful! She’s very talented. What does her fiancé do?"

"Oh, he’s the produce guy," Lorelai said. She suddenly tapped Rory on the shoulder and raised one eyebrow. She whispered, "Ooh, listen for a rant."

Emily didn’t disappoint them. She made a face. "A produce guy? That’s his official job title, the produce guy? What kind of career is that? That’s the kind of job you get in high school. He’s the guy who sprays the fruit at a supermarket?" She shook her head disappointingly.

Lorelai looked at Rory and smiled. "Did I call it or did I call it?"

Rory smiled. "Yes, you called it." She turned to Emily. "Jackson grows his own fruit, Grandma, and then he sells it. And he’s really sweet and they’re really happy together."

Lorelai smiled. "Yes, they are."

Richard suddenly walked down the steps into the living room. "Well, it’s all set up, Emily," he announced.

Emily stood up. "You’re kidding! Oh, I can’t wait!" she exclaimed.

"What? What’s going on? Hey Grandpa," Rory added.

"Hello Rory, Lorelai," Richard said as he walked towards Emily. They sat down on the couch. "Well, looks like dinner will be off for a few weeks. We’re off on a little trip," he said proudly.

Lorelai’s ears perked up. "Dinner, off?" she asked excitedly.

Rory smacked her arm. "Uh, where are you guys going?"

Emily smiled. "Well, we’re going to be visiting some friends. First, North Carolina for a few days, then down to Florida."

"Wow!" Rory said. "That should be fun."

Emily smiled and nodded. "Now we know you have school, but this summer we’ll go back down there and you girls can come with us."

Rory smiled. "That would be great, thank you!" She looked at Lorelai. "That’ll be fun, right Mom?"

Lorelai forced a smile. "Loads. When are you guys leaving?"

"Oh, next Thursday, and we’ll return the following Saturday," Richard said as he stood up. "Well, what do you say we move into the dining room?"

"Yes, let’s," Emily said. "Dinner smells ready."

Emily and Richard walked into the dining room talking about their trip. Lorelai and Rory hung back in the living room for a moment. "Ah, can you believe this? We’re out of two Friday night dinners!" Lorelai said quietly.

Rory laughed. "Yeah, way to hide your excitement about it."

Lorelai shrugged. "Hey, we’ll finally be able to have fun on a Friday. We need to think of something wild and crazy to do."

Rory nodded. "I’ll put my thinking cap on."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "Hon, your thinking cap has been permanently bonded to your scalp since you were born."

Rory smiled. "Yeah, well there’s another one that I put on top of it when the need calls for it."

Lorelai nodded knowingly. "Ah, got it. Let’s go eat," she said, grabbing Rory’s hand and dragging her to the dining room.

* * *

Lorelai awoke the next morning with a smile on her face. Not because she was a morning person, but because of the dream she’d had about Luke. She’d dreamt that she had casually walked up to him in the diner and asked him out and he had accepted – it was all so simple. She had felt so calm and confident in her dream, she wasn’t nervous or uncomfortable. If only it was that easy in real life.

Lorelai sighed up at the ceiling. "Okay, deep breath. Today’s the day. You’ll just go up to him and casually ask him out, and if he says yes, great, if he says no. . ." Lorelai suddenly sat up straight. "Oh my God, what if he says no?"

Lorelai jumped off the bed, picked up the phone off her bureau, and quickly dialed Sookie’s number.

When someone picked up she shouted, "What if he says no?" Lorelai grimaced and paused. "Oh, hi Jackson. Sorry. Is Sookie there?"

A moment later, Sookie’s voice greeted her. "Honey, what’s wrong?"

"Sookie, what if I ask Luke out and he says no?" Lorelai asked worriedly.

Sookie giggled and said, "Aw, you’re so nervous. That’s so cute!"

Lorelai scoffed. "No, it’s not cute. It’s scary. What if he says no? I’ll be so embarrassed! I’ll never be able to go into the diner again!"

Sookie laughed. "Honey, I promise you one hundred percent that he will not say no. He won’t. I know he won’t."

"Okay, so you’re Miss Cleo now," Lorelai said sarcastically.

Sookie sighed. "Honey, do you want me to pass him a note after gym? I can do that if you want."

"What are you saying?" Lorelai asked.

"I’m saying that you’re acting like a child. You’re a grown-up, you need to take risks, you need to act for yourself on what you think is right. If you want to go out with him, just ask him," Sookie said sternly. "Ask him."

Lorelai sighed. "How come you’re always right, Sookie?"

"I’m very wise," she replied. "Good luck."

"Luck? Oh God, you think I need luck?" Lorelai asked frantically.

"Bye honey," Sookie said.

"Bye." Lorelai hung up and sighed loudly. She stared at her closet with her hands on her waist. "You need a killer outfit, something that he won’t be able to say no to. Now, it can’t be too dressy because then you’ll look stupid. But it can’t be too casual because then you’ll look . . .uh, too casual. Hm, what’s another word for too casual?" she asked herself. After a moment of thinking, she shrugged.

She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on a pair of blue jeans draped across a chair. "Hmm, that pair’s really tight. That’ll work." She walked over and picked it up, then brought it back to the closet with her to find a shirt. After holding up several of them in front of the mirror, she finally decided on a form-fitting light blue sweater with a deep v-neck. She lay out the outfit on the bed, then went to take a shower.

As she walked downstairs forty-five minutes later, dressed and ready to make her move, she found Rory sitting on the couch reading. "Hey, what’s up?" she asked.

Rory shrugged. "Not much. Reading for school."

"Cool," Lorelai said. "So I guess you have a lot of homework, huh?"

Rory looked up at her. "No, not too much, actually."

"Oh, cool," Lorelai replied. Rory went back to her book as Lorelai stood on the steps staring at her. She knew if she told Rory she was going to Luke’s that Rory would want to go with her. Lorelai, however, didn’t really want Rory to be there – just because she may feel a little weird about it. "Well, uh, I’m gonna run to the, uh, inn to check on something, and I’ll be back in a little bit."

"Okay," Rory said, not looking up from her reading.

Lorelai grabbed her coat and walked toward the door. She walked to the diner quickly, not giving herself any time to stop and think about what she was about to do. She walked into the diner and took a seat at the counter, scanning the room for Luke. She ordered coffee from Caesar, casually asking, "Caesar, have you seen Luke?"

"Said he had to run some errands," he said, setting her coffee in front of her.

"Hmm," Lorelai said with a small pout. She contemplated going home but instead decided to wait a bit, thinking she might not get up the courage to get this far again. Lorelai sat at the counter for almost thirty minutes nursing three different cups of coffee. She looked excitedly at the door every time she heard it open expecting Luke to walk through, her heart falling every time it wasn’t him. She finally gave up – she paid for her coffee and with a disappointed sigh, left the diner.

She walked outside just as Luke pulled up in his truck, and a relieved smile fell upon her lips. She walked over to the truck and asked, "Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for like four hours."

He laughed. "I’ve only been gone for like forty-five minutes."

"Yeah, well, it seemed like four hours," she said, taking a step back.

He stepped out of the truck and slammed the door. "So why were you waiting for me?" He started walking towards the diner, thinking she’d follow him. When she didn’t, he turned around and walked back over to her. "Something wrong?"

Lorelai, feeling a pit in her stomach, swallowed hard. She cleared her throat and said, "Well, uh, Luke. . . see, I was kinda thinking about how, you know, you’re single and I’m single, and so that means that we’re both single." She paused and stared at Luke’s confused face. She continued, "And so I was thinking that it might be kinda cool or something if one day we sort of got together and maybe hung out or something. Together." She quickly added, "You know, a casual hanging out kinda thing, with you and me." She stepped back and raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to respond.

Luke’s eyes slowly widened as he processed Lorelai’s words. He swallowed a few times before he said, "Wait. . . . did you. . . did you just ask me out?"

Lorelai scoffed. "No!" She paused and looked down at the sidewalk, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Well, kinda, yeah." She brought her eyes up slowly to meet Luke’s. "So, what do you say? You wanna hang out or something?"

Luke slowly smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, if you want to, then yeah, that’d be good."

Lorelai smiled. "Good. Uh, what do you say, my place, tonight, like six-ish? Or is that too soon?"

Luke shook his head. "No, it’s definitely not too soon."

Lorelai smiled. "Good. Uh, I’ll see you later then."

Luke smiled and nodded goodbye to her as she walked past him towards her house.

* * *

Lorelai rushed inside calling out, "Rory, Rory, are you home?!" Lorelai took off her coat and dropped it on the floor. "Rory!"

Rory ran out of her bedroom toward the front door. "Mom, what’s wrong?" she asked, concerned.

Lorelai placed her hands on Rory’s shoulders. "Honey, I hate to ask you this, but I kinda need you to not be here tonight. Can you make plans to be out? I’m so sorry, but – "

"Yeah, sure, how come?" Rory interrupted.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Um, I invited Luke to come over."

Rory narrowed her eyes and shrugged. "So, it’s just Lu -." Rory cut herself off and her eyes widened. "Wait, you mean, like a date? You invited Luke over for a date?!" Rory gasped. "Oh my God!"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, it’s not a date! It’s a pre-dating casual hanging out session – you know, like the one you and Dean had when we watched Willy Wonka."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well maybe I should invite Grandma over so you know how it feels to have your mother there."

Lorelai gasped. "Hey, I’ve apologized for that like a hundred times."

Rory smiled. "I know, I forgive you." She paused for a moment. "So, when did this happen? You and Luke?"

Lorelai shrugged. "What do you think? Crazy idea?"

Rory shrugged. "Well, he’s liked you for a really long time. And not just a regular like, but I mean a ‘head-over-heels, madly-in-love-with-you’ kinda like," she said with a laugh. "So it’s really a question of whether you like him."

"Of course I like him," Lorelai said, suddenly feeling a large knot forming in her stomach.

Rory smiled. "So then hopefully it’ll all work out."

"Yeah, hopefully," she said, forcing a smile. As Rory headed back into her bedroom, Lorelai walked into the living room and sat on the couch.

"Oh God, what am I getting myself into?" she asked aloud. Thoughts ran through her head, wondering if she was ready for this – wondering if she would be able to live up to the image that Luke had of her. She suddenly jumped up and walked to phone. She dialed Sookie’s number and groaned when she got her machine. Remembering that Sookie was at the inn, she yelled, "Rory, I’m running an errand!"

"Okay," Rory called back.

Lorelai grabbed her coat and car keys, but instead of going to the inn, drove to the diner and walked inside quickly. She didn’t see Luke so she walked up to Jess at the counter and said, "Jess, do you know where Luke is?" Jess pointed towards the kitchen.

"Thanks," Lorelai muttered as she walked past the counter and through the doorway into the kitchen. She glanced around, finally spotting Luke at the grill with Caesar. "Luke!" she called.

Surprised, Luke turned around to see who had called him, immediately smiling when he saw Lorelai. He gave his spatula to Caesar and walked towards her. "Hey," he said, wiping his hands on a towel.

Lorelai said quickly, "Hi. Luke, um, I can’t. . . we can’t hang out tonight. Uh, I forgot me and Rory had plans." She gave him an apologetic look.

Luke’s face seemed to stiffen up and he swallowed hard. "Oh." He glanced around uncomfortably. "Okay, well, no big deal. Some other time."

Lorelai nodded. "I have to go." She turned around and walked out quickly, unaware of the look of disappointment that had suddenly washed over Luke’s face.

End Part 2

* * *

Part 3

Sookie was rolling out some pastry dough in the kitchen of the inn and was more than surprised when Lorelai, minutes after canceling her date with Luke, frantically ran through the back door.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Sookie asked. "You look horrible!"

Lorelai sighed. "Thanks." She propped herself on the counter near Sookie and covered her face with her hands. "I'm so screwed up right now, please help me," she mumbled.

"Hold on a sec," Sookie said. She put her rolling pin down and washed her hands, then stood in front of Lorelai. "Okay, go."

Lorelai looked up and took a deep breath. "Okay, I made a date with Luke for tonight. Just a casual hanging out thing at my house."

Sookie gasped. "You did?" She giggled. "Oh my God, this is so exciting! Oh, I always - "

"But then I broke the date, Sookie," Lorelai interrupted.

Sookie's mouth dropped open. "What? Why?"

Lorelai shook her head. "I just didn't want to go through with it."

"You didn't want to?" Sookie asked, confused. "But you had that whole list and -" She paused and stared at Lorelai for a moment. "You're scared, Lorelai," she said.

Lorelai turned her head and said, "No, I'm not."

Sookie snickered. "Fine, you're not. So what is it then?"

Lorelai brought her gaze back to Sookie and sighed. "Fine, I'm scared. I'm scared, Sookie."

"Scared of what, honey?" Sookie asked softly.

Lorelai bit her lip nervously. "Of everything. Of it not working out, of ruining our friendship, of completely shattering his expectation that I'm this great catch. Rory said he's madly in love with me. But why, Sookie? Why? I'm not the fabulous perfect woman that he thinks I am. I don't want him to be disappointed." She looked down at her shoes. "I've hurt a lot of guys, Sookie. I don't want to add Luke to the list."

Sookie frowned. "Aww, honey, don't do this to yourself. Listen, Luke has known you for a really long time - long enough to realize that you're not perfect. He wouldn't be carrying this torch for you if he thought you would disappoint him. He still likes you despite all of your faults."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm feeling so much better already, Sookie."

Sookie grimaced. "Sorry, I'm not getting this out clearly. Let me try again." She paused a moment. "Okay, we already know that he likes you and you like him, right?"

"Right," Lorelai nodded.

"Okay, so that's the basis you start with, you guys like each other. So, if you honestly feel in your heart that there's no chance it'll work out with him, then don't do it. Just forget about everything. But if there's even a little glint of hope that this could be something special, then you need to go for it." Sookie smiled. "Just go out with him once, just do that whole casual hanging out thing. If you don't feel anything, then it ends there and things won't be too weird, I promise. But you never know until you try. And I think you owe it to yourself to try."

Lorelai stared at her, nodding along as she digested her words.

"Can I say one more thing?" Sookie asked. "He's probably just as freaked as you are."

Lorelai stared down at the floor silently for almost a minute before she finally let out a long sigh. She got down off the counter and hugged Sookie tightly. "Thank you Sookie."

"You're welcome," Sookie said. "You know what you're gonna do yet?"

Lorelai nodded and smiled. "I have to go back to the diner," she said, walking towards the door.

A smile slowly appeared on Sookie's face. "Aw, good luck honey."

"Thanks," Lorelai called from the doorway.

* * *

Lorelai walked into the diner for the third time that day, glancing around for Luke. She saw him standing at the counter with his back to her. She walked up to him, reached across the counter and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey."

He turned around. "Oh, hey. Back again?"

"Yup." She sat down on a stool and leaned on the counter. "Luke, are you still free tonight?"

He looked at her curiously. "Yeah, why?"

"Okay, listen and don't hate me," Lorelai said. She took a deep breath. "I lied before. Me and Rory don't have anything to do tonight."

Luke gave her a confused look. "What?"

She nodded. "Luke, I just got scared of. . .everything. I just had this feeling that if we went out, it would lead to all chaos and inevitably end up with me having to take Rory and move to Nova Scotia."

Luke let out a small laugh. "Why would that happen?"

She shrugged. "Are you asking me to interpret the thoughts floating around my crazy head?"

He smiled. "My mistake." He adjusted his cap and asked, "So, what exactly are you saying?"

She sat up straight and said quietly, "I'm saying that I've thought about it, and I think that there's definitely some sort of little spark here that could . . . potentially develop into fire, but if we don't take that first step we'll never know. I think we should take that first step." She paused and added, "I mean, if you still want to." She looked at him hopefully.

Luke nodded. "I do. So, tonight then?"

Lorelai nodded. "Totally casual, you, me, hanging out, pizza, movie, no strings. And we'll just see where it goes from there."

Luke smiled. "Sounds good. So, uh, six-ish?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Six-ish. I'll see you later, Luke." She hopped off the stool and walked towards the door. Luke smiled to himself as he watched her walk away, nodding approvingly of Lorelai's choice to wear the tight jeans.

* * *

That night as Lorelai sat on the couch ordering the pizza, she saw Rory in the hallway putting on her coat. She hung up and walked to the front door, handing her some money. "Okay, so ten o'clock."

"Ten o'clock, got it," Rory said. She gave Lorelai a hug. "Have fun, Mom."

"Thanks," Lorelai said. "And sorry for kicking you out, kid."

"That's okay," Rory smiled and pulled the door open. "It's going on the list."

Lorelai smiled. She watched Rory walk down the front steps, then shut the door and checked her watch. Almost six. She wandered around the house making sure it looked presentable. It wasn't long before the pizza arrived, and a few minutes later, the phone rang. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hey," Luke said.

"Luke, hey," Lorelai said. She swallowed hard and immediately thought that he was calling to cancel. "Uh, what's up?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you were still okay with everything. You know, with us hanging out. Haven't changed your mind?"

Lorelai smiled into the phone. "Nope, come on over. Rory went out and pizza just got here, and if you don't arrive soon I'll probably eat it all myself."

Luke laughed. "Okay, I'll be right over."

"Okay," Lorelai said. She hung up the phone and smiled to herself. She brought some plates and napkins from the kitchen out to the coffee table, setting them next to the pizza. She sat on the couch and waited for what was only a few minutes, but felt like hours.

When the doorbell finally rang, she walked slowly to the door, checking her hair as she walked past the mirror. Her hand on the doorknob, she took a deep breath before she pulled it open.

Luke stood on the porch with his hands shoved into his jeans pockets. "Hey," he said, giving her a nervous smile.

Lorelai smiled and stepped back from the door. "Hi, come on in."

"Thanks." Luke walked inside and shut the door behind him. "It's getting cold out there."

"Oh yeah, the weather's been so wacky lately. Cold, hot, cold, hot - it's like, make up your mind Al Roker," Lorelai said.

Luke smiled. "You know, Al doesn't really control the weather."

Lorelai pretended to be shocked. "He doesn't?" She smiled and asked, "Uh, can I take your coat?" Luke slipped it off and she hung it up. He followed her as she walked into the living room. "Okay, I rented Jurassic Park 3, and I didn't want you to be totally lost, so just in case you haven't seen them, I also got one and two." She picked up the DVDs and fanned them out like a deck of cards. "Pick a movie, any movie."

He pointed to the middle one. "Let's go with number two. I've only seen the first one."

She put the others down and said, "Okay, number two it is." She walked over to the television and put the movie on. She walked back to him and gestured to the pizza. "Okay, help yourself. Oh, can I get you a drink? Water, beer, sour milk?"

He smiled. "Beer's fine. I'll get it, you want one too?" he asked, walking toward the kitchen.

"Yes, please," she said. She sat down on the couch and took out a slice of pizza. Luke returned with two beers and set them on the table. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said. He sat down on the cushion next to her and looked at the pizza. He smiled. "You got half with vegetables."

She smiled. "And low fat cheese," she added, taking a bite of her slice.

"I'm impressed. Thanks." He smiled and took a slice as the movie started.

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later, as Luke saw no immediate end to Lorelai's random movie commentary, he finally smiled at her and said, "Are you gonna do that the entire time?"

Lorelai, who was in the midst of a comment, immediately closed her mouth. She shook her head. "Um, no."

"Is this one of those annoying quirks that people have to learn to live with?" Luke asked.

She smiled and nodded. "I'll be good, I promise." She pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key.

"Got any more annoying quirks I should know about?" he asked her.

She smiled and shrugged. "Just one or two. . . hundred. But they're all cute annoying quirks."

He smiled and nodded. "I'm sure they are," he said, turning his head back to the movie.

They watched it for almost thirty more minutes before Lorelai randomly picked up the remote and stopped the movie. Luke looked at her questioningly.

She turned her body so she was facing him, tucked her feet underneath her legs, and rested her elbows on her knees. "Let's talk," she said.

He brought one of his legs up under him and turned his body to face her. "About what?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know, anything." She paused and they stared at each other for a moment before she said, "Is this weird?"

Luke let out the breath he'd been holding. "Yeah, a little."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, I mean, first dates are usually the 'get to know each other' date, but we already know each other."

"Yeah, but we don't know everything. There's plenty that we don't know," Luke pointed out.

"Okay, let's learn more then. Ask me something," Lorelai said.

Luke shrugged. "Um, what's your favorite color?"

"It's gotta be blue," she replied, gesturing to her sweater. "Lots of blue-loving going on here."

"Me too, mostly navy blue," he said. "Okay, favorite - "

"Hey, my turn," she interrupted him. "Favorite movie?"

"Godfather," he replied quickly.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Godfather, really? Hmm."

Luke narrowed his eyes. "What?"

She shrugged. "Nothing. I just never took you for a Godfather kind of guy."

"What kind of guy did you take me for?" he asked curiously.

Lorelai smirked. "I don't know, Sleepless in Seattle?"

Luke laughed. "Oh, come on. You're kidding, right?"

Lorelai laughed. "Yes, I'm kidding. Godfather's good, I love Godfather. Your turn."

"Okay." He thought for a moment. "Favorite thing to do to relax?"

"Hmm, bubble bath. Favorite holiday?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Whichever one has the least amount of decorations."

Lorelai laughed. "Hm, I think that would be Arbor Day."

"Arbor Day it is, then," Luke said.

They continued on for a few more minutes, sticking with tame subjects such as music and food, until a more interesting question popped into Luke's head on one of his turns. He paused briefly and took a sip of his beer, contemplating whether or not to say it. Finally, a smile slowly formed on his lips. "Favorite piece of lingerie?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Ah, getting more personal now, are we?" She felt a chill run through her body as she stared at the slight smirk on his face.

Luke shrugged. "You don't have to answer it if -."

"No no, I'll answer it," Lorelai cut him off. She leaned forward slightly and said, "Light pink satin teddy. Boxers or briefs?"

Luke smiled. "Boxers."

"I knew it!" Lorelai said, pointing at him.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her and smiled. "Oh, so you've been thinking about my boxers?"

Lorelai felt her face get flushed and she stammered, "No, um, I just - no. No."

Luke smiled. "Ah, Lorelai Gilmore is embarrassed."

She laughed. "I am not," she said, playfully hitting him on the chest. Luke caught her elbow and impulsively pulled her body against his. He fell back against the arm of the couch and she lay on top of him, their lips hovering just inches apart. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

"Is this weird?" Lorelai whispered, her heart racing excitedly.

A surge ran through Luke's body as he felt her warm breath against his lips. "Mm hmm," he replied, pressing his lips against hers. Lorelai kissed him back softly. They pulled apart and Lorelai pushed herself off of Luke so that he could sit up. They stared at each other for a moment, each waiting for the other to speak first.

Finally, Luke said, "That was. . ."

"Nice," Lorelai finished. "That was nice."

Luke nodded. He gently placed a hand on either side of her face, leading her lips towards his once again. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back. A few seconds into the kiss, Lorelai gently used her tongue to separate Luke's lips. He opened his mouth wide, and a shiver ran through Lorelai's body as their tongues met for the first time. A soft moan escaped Lorelai's throat as they continued kissing, their tongues smoothly gliding over each other in a sensual rhythm.

They finally broke apart, and as they both panted to catch their breaths, they smiled shyly at each other. Luke leaned back against the couch and cleared his throat. "Wow, uh. . . maybe we should finish that movie now, what do you think?"

Lorelai nodded quickly. "Absolutely, let's finish it." She pushed play on the remote and leaned back against the couch. She didn't watch the movie, however, as she was too busy thinking about the sensation that had shot through her body while they kissed, and the exciting chill she was still feeling just thinking about it.

* * *

As the movie ended, Lorelai turned to Luke, "So, what'd you think?"

"Pretty good, not as good as the first one though," Luke said.

"Oh, no contest, the first one rocked." She glanced at the clock. "Aw, we don't have time to watch the third one. Rory'll be home soon."

Luke shrugged. "Next time."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Next time." She stood up and stretched out her legs before she picked up their beer bottles and started walking toward the kitchen.

"Oh, let me help you," Luke said, following her with the almost-empty pizza box.

They placed everything on the counter, and Luke glanced around and said, "So, I guess I should get going."

Lorelai smiled. "I had a good time."

"Me too," he replied. They walked to the front door, and she watched as he pulled his coat on and took out his car keys. "So. . ." he said.

"So. . ." she repeated, shifting her feet.

They stared at each other for a second before they leaned towards each other uncomfortably. Lorelai suddenly let out a small laugh and Luke pulled back. "What?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, it's just . . .we're about to kiss goodnight. Me and you," Lorelai said.

Luke smiled. "I know. Weird, huh?"

Lorelai nodded. "But nice." She took a step towards him and kissed him deeply, pressing him against the front door while a mutual feeling of electricity pulsed through their bodies.

They broke apart and Lorelai stepped back so that he could open the door. He stepped out onto the porch and turned around. "Night," he said, smiling.

"Bye Luke," she said, giving him a little wave. She watched him walk down the front steps and get into his truck before she finally shut the door. She wandered over to the couch smiling, a mixed feeling of excitement and relief filling her. She picked up a magazine and leafed through it aimlessly, too busy thinking about the events of the night to concentrate on reading anything.

As she sat there thinking, the phone rang. She walked over to it and answered, "Hello?"

"Mom?" Rory said.

"Honey, hi, something wrong?"

"Nope, just wanted to make sure I could come home. I mean, I know we said ten, but I wanted to be sure before I just showed up."

"Yup, he left. Come on home."

"Okay." Rory paused. "How was it?"

"Great," Lorelai said. "Now hurry home so I can tell you about it."

"I'm there. Bye," Rory said. Lorelai smiled as she hung up the phone and sat back down on the couch to wait for Rory.

* * *

The next afternoon, Lorelai wandered into the kitchen where Rory sat at the table doing homework. Lorelai sat across from her. She rested her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands and stared at Rory.

Rory glanced up and narrowed her eyes at Lorelai. "Something wrong?" Rory asked. Lorelai sighed dramatically. Rory nodded, "I'll take that as a yes. What is it?"

Lorelai bit her bottom lip for a moment before she spoke. "I have a dilemma and I need you to de-dilemmatize it.

"Is that a word?" Rory asked.

"It is now," Lorelai said, sitting up straight. "Listen, okay, here's the problem. I want to go to Luke's."

Rory nodded slowly. "Okay." She turned to a blank page in her notebook. "I'll write out step by step instructions for you, Mom." She read aloud as she wrote, "Step one, put on coat."

Lorelai grabbed her pen. "No, come on, this is serious. I want to go to Luke's but I feel too weird about it."

"Why?" Rory asked. "You said you had a great time. What's the problem?"

Lorelai sighed. "The problem is that me and Luke had a date last night, and now when I go in there it won't be me ordering coffee from my old pal Luke, it'll be me ordering coffee from Luke, the guy I kissed last night."

"But -" Rory started.

"With tongue," Lorelai added.

"Oh, gross, Mom!" Rory exclaimed, making a face. "Blech."

"Sorry," Lorelai said. "But I don't know what to say or how to act now. I mean, normally after a date you talk on the phone or something before you see the guy again and it makes it less uncomfortable for when you see each other face to face. But if I just walk into the diner today, it'll be a, 'whoa, we just had a date last night, do I mention it or what' kind of a quandary."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Mom, you just said what you have to do. Call him first before you go."

Lorelai stared up at the ceiling. "Call him," she said. "Hm. Call him. . .call him?"

"Yeah, just call him," Rory said. "You know, on the phone." She pointed towards the hallway table where the phone was.

Lorelai stood up. "Okay, I'll go call him. Thank you."

Rory shrugged. "That's why I'm here, to de-dilemmatize."

Lorelai smiled and walked towards the living room, picking up the phone and bringing it to the couch. She dialed Luke's apartment first, then realizing he would be at work, she hung up and dialed the diner. "Luke's," Luke answered in his normal overworked tone.

"Luke, hey," Lorelai said.

Luke's voice softened. "Lorelai, hi. Uh, how's everything?"

Lorelai suddenly wasn't sure what to say. She stammered, "Good. Uh, I just. . .uh, I just wanted to make sure that . . .um, that the diner was open today." She made a face and slapped herself on the forehead.

Luke paused. "Uh, yeah, it's open." He let out a small laugh. "Is that why you really called?"

"No," she admitted. She reached up and twirled a strand of hair around her finger nervously.

"Didn't think so. So what's up?" Luke asked.

Lorelai paused. "Um, I just wanted to, ya know, tell you that I had a good time last night."

"Oh, uh, me too," Luke replied. "Um, I was actually going to call you, but then I figured you'd just come in, so. . ."

"Oh, yeah, I'll probably be in later," she said.

"Good," Luke said. "Good."

Lorelai bit her lip. "Okay, so I. . .guess I'll see you later then."

"Yup, see you later," he said.

"Bye Luke," she said. Lorelai hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen. "Okay, called him," she announced.

"Dilemma gone?" Rory asked.

"Dilemma's gone," Lorelai confirmed.

Rory smiled. "Good."

Lorelai nodded. "So, I'm gonna head to the diner in a little while if you wanna come."

Rory nodded. "Okay."

* * *

When Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner later that afternoon, Lorelai's eyes immediately searched out Luke and found him behind the counter. She locked eyes with him and smiled as Rory led her to a table. Luke brought over two cups of coffee. "Hey," he said, placing them on the table.

"Hey," Lorelai said.

"Hey Luke," Rory said. "Heard you survived movie night with Mom."

Luke smiled. "Yeah, it was tough but I got through it."

Rory nodded. "Congratulations. Not everyone makes it out alive."

Lorelai scoffed. "I hope the two of you are not insinuating that I'm annoying."

Luke smirked. "No, not at all. What can I get you?"

"Burger," Rory said.

"The same," Lorelai said. "With fries. Don't you want fries?"

"With fries, please," Rory said.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You want a side of lard with that too?"

"Hey, if you got it, throw it on top of the fries," Lorelai said. Luke smiled and walked away. Lorelai turned to Rory. "Hey, that wasn't weird for you, was it?"

Rory shook her head. "No, you?"

Lorelai smiled. "Nope."

Rory smiled. "Good."

Lorelai thought for a moment and stared at Luke behind the counter. She turned to Rory and said, "Hey, listen, we have two Fridays off, right? So what about this Friday we do something together, just you and me, and then the following Friday we. . . go our own separate ways. You know, you can hang out with Dean or Lane or whatever and I can. . . " Her voice trailed off as her eyes floated to Luke at the counter.

Rory gasped. "You're ditching me for a date with Luke? Oh my God."

Lorelai's eyes widened. "No! I just thought that -"

Rory laughed. "I'm kidding, Mom. That sounds good."

Lorelai smacked her shoulder. "Ah, you're such an evil child. Don't tease."

Rory smiled. "Sorry."

When their meals came, Lorelai ate hers unusually slowly, as if trying to prolong her visit to the diner. Rory finished her entire meal before Lorelai was halfway done.

Rory sighed loudly. "Mom, are you gonna finish that?"

"Mm hmm," she said, taking a bite of her burger and chewing it slowly.

Rory checked her watch. "Well, I'm gonna go. I've got some homework to finish up and I don't really feel like sitting here all day while you take one bite every ten minutes." She rolled her eyes and stood up. "See you at home," she said, grabbing one of Lorelai's fries and heading out the door.

"Bye hon," Lorelai called. She continued to eat slowly, glancing at Luke as he went from table to table.

As he walked past her table, he stopped and asked, "Everything okay? Where's Rory?"

"Oh, she finished before me so she went home to do homework," Lorelai said. She pointed to Rory's chair. "Got a sec to sit down?"

Luke glanced around the diner. "Uh, yeah, sure." He sat down next to Lorelai. They stared at each other casually before he cleared his throat and said, "So, uh, last night was great."

Lorelai nodded quickly in agreement. "Yeah, it was."

Luke swallowed hard and said, "So, did you. . . maybe, want to do it again?" He glanced at her nervously.

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah." She paused and narrowed her eyes at him. "You do too, right?"

Luke laughed. "Yeah, I do too."

Lorelai smiled. "Okay, good. Uh, sometime this week?"

Luke nodded. "Sure. Uh, what about. . .Wednesday night?"

Lorelai thought for a moment. "Yeah, that's fine. Any ideas on what we should do?"

Luke shrugged. "We'll think of something before then."

"Yeah, we got time," Lorelai said. She wiped her lips on her napkin and dropped it on her plate. "Finished," she announced.

"Here, I'll take it." Luke stacked it on top of Rory's plate and stood up. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Lorelai nodded. "Probably."

"Okay, tomorrow then," Luke said, smiling. He picked up the dishes and walked away.

"Luke, wait," she called. "The check."

Luke kept walking. "Forget it."

Lorelai rolled her eyes and followed him to the counter. "No Luke, no, no, no." She took out some money and held it out. "Free pie occasionally is one thing, no free meals. Take it."

Luke stared at it and folded his arms across his chest.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "You think you're more stubborn than me? I can stand here all day holding this out." She waved the bills towards him.

"Oh yeah?" he asked.

She nodded. "But I have a life, so I won't." She dropped the money on the counter and smiled at him. "Bye." She turned around and walked away.

End Part 3

* * *

Part 4

The next morning, Lorelai walked into the Independence Inn and placed her purse under the front desk. "Morning Michel," she said.

Michel handed her a slip of paper. "Sookie asked me to give this to you the minute you got here."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "And you're actually doing it? Wow."

"She told me if I didn't then she would never make my low-fat whole wheat cranberry muffins again." Michel scowled.

Lorelai gave him a sympathetic look. "Aw, poor Michel, being threatened. Well, I'll be sure to tell her you delivered it in a promptly manner."

"You better. She's an evil, evil woman," Michel muttered as he walked away.

Lorelai opened up the piece of paper and read it. She smiled to herself and walked into the kitchen.

"Okay, Sookie, my butt is now in the kitchen, just like the note says," Lorelai announced, holding it up.

"Ah, you're here!" Sookie exclaimed. She dropped the wooden spoon she was holding onto the counter and rushed over to her. She put her hands on Lorelai's shoulders and led to her to a stool. Sookie sat down next to her and said eagerly, "What happened with Luke? Tell me everything."

Lorelai laughed. "Tell you everything? What's everything?"

"Everything that's happened that has anything to do with you and Luke since Saturday. You ran out of here and were headed towards the diner. Continue." She stared at Lorelai with wide eyes.

Lorelai took a deep breath and smiled. "Okay, so I went to the diner and explained to him that I had been nervous and stuff about the date so I backed out, but that I had thought about it and I still thought we should hang out if he wanted to."

"Ooh, I bet he wanted to," Sookie said excitedly.

"Hey," Lorelai interrupted, narrowing her eyes. "This is my story here."

Sookie frowned. "Sorry. Go on."

Lorelai smiled. "Okay. So he said okay, and he came over that night and we watched a movie and ate pizza."

"Luke ate pizza?" Sookie asked, surprised.

"Low-fat cheese with vegetables," Lorelai explained.

Sookie nodded. "Ah. Go on."

"Okay, so we watched the movie and like halfway through the movie I turned it off and said that we should talk about something - because on first dates, people usually talk, you know?"

Sookie nodded. "Right, they talk. So you talked?"

Lorelai nodded. "We started asking each other questions like what's our favorite movie and stuff, to get to know more about each other. And it was his turn to ask me a question and he gets this little smirk on his face and asks me what my favorite piece of lingerie is."

Sookie gasped. "He didn't!"

"He did!" Lorelai laughed. "I was so surprised. I mean, it's Luke. I associate Luke with words like sports or tools or coffee, not the word lingerie."

Sookie giggled. "No, not at all. So did you answer him?"

"Yup," Lorelai nodded. "And then I asked him if he wore boxers or briefs." She smirked and raised her eyebrows.

Sookie laughed. "Whoa, way to get right to the point. Wait, let me guess - boxers?"

Lorelai nodded and paused as a slow smile appeared on her lips. "And then he kissed me."

Sookie clasped a hand over her mouth and squealed. "Oh my God, this is so exciting! How was it?"

Lorelai smiled as she said, "Pretty great. The first one was good. . .but it definitely had a touch of weirdness in it, you know?"

"Yeah, I can imagine." Sookie nodded. "It was - wait, the first one? How many were there? Details!" she begged.

"Three, there were three," Lorelai replied. "Two on the couch and then one by the door. The first one was a soft and gentle kinda thing, the second one was way more heated, and then the third was kind of a mixture of the two. They were all great." Lorelai stared into space with a smile as she thought about them.

Sookie smiled. "Aww, honey, you look happy. I told you it wouldn't be too weird."

Lorelai smiled. "Well, I mean, it didn't even feel like a date, really. It was more like hanging out with a friend. . .until we got to the kissing part. That was definitely a little weird. Nice and great, I'll admit, but still weird."

Sookie nodded. "Yeah, but you'll get used to it. I mean, if you go out with him again." She looked at Lorelai expectantly.

Lorelai smiled. "We made another date for Wednesday."

Sookie gasped. "Ah, you guys. . .I knew it. I just knew it."

Lorelai smiled and stood up. "Okay, so that's all the details, Sook." She started walking towards the door, then suddenly stopped and turned around. "Oh yeah, Michel gave me the note right away so you don't have to withhold the muffins."

"Aw, but the scared look on his face was so funny." Sookie giggled.

Lorelai smiled. "Bye Sookie," she called as she walked out of the kitchen.

* * *

On Wednesday night, Lorelai walked into the diner just before seven to meet Luke. She saw him talking to Caesar by the counter, and she waited by the door for him. A few seconds later he walked over to her. "Hey," he said. "You ready?"

She nodded. "Yup, but the question is, are you ready?" She playfully poked him in the chest.

He smirked. "Yes, I'm ready. You know, this is not my first time at a movie theater. I have been there before."

Lorelai smiled. "I know, but it's such a rare occasion that I'm actually kind of excited for you."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

As they walked to the bookstore, Lorelai saw Miss Patty up ahead of them. "Ooh, Patty's going to the movie too. You know what that means."

"Oh great, so the whole town will know everything we do in there before the night is over," Luke said with a sigh.

Lorelai glanced at him and smiled. "Everything we do in there? You planning on putting the moves on me?"

Luke's eyes widened. "No, I didn't. . .that's not. . .no, I was just. . ."

"Maybe pull that thing with the fake yawn so you can put your arm around me?" Lorelai teased. She laughed and patted his shoulder. "Luke, I'm kidding, chill out." Lorelai stopped at the sidewalk in front of the bookstore and turned to him. "You know, we don't have to go in if you don't want to."

Luke shook his head. "No, I want to." He paused before he asked, "Don't you want to?"

"Yeah, I want to," Lorelai nodded.

"Okay, so we both want to, so let's go," Luke said, walking up the front steps. Lorelai followed him and they walked into the bookstore.

* * *

Two hours later, they walked back out and rushed down the steps toward the diner. "Hurry, Luke," Lorelai urged. "She's coming!"

Miss Patty trailed after them, calling, "Lorelai, just one more question, dear!"

Lorelai and Luke broke into a jog as they neared the diner. They walked inside and Luke locked the door and put the Closed sign in the window as several customers inside stared at him oddly.

He announced, "You guys can take your time, we're just not letting anyone else in." He walked over to the counter as Lorelai stared out the window at Miss Patty. She gave a playful wave to her and walked over to Luke. She sat on a stool as he poured her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she said, taking a sip. "You know, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be."

"What, Patty's interrogation?" Luke asked. "Or the date?"

Lorelai smiled. "The interrogation, silly. The date was great. You can never go wrong when watching The Birds."

"Well, yeah, because it's such a romantic movie," Luke said knowingly.

Lorelai laughed. "Yes, it is. The perfect way to a woman's heart is through man-eating birds."

Luke smiled. "Good to know." He gestured toward the window. "So, you think Patty will. . ."

"Oh yeah," Lorelai nodded. "The whole town will know within the hour that not only were we on a date, but that you put your hand on my knee."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I believe the correct phrase you're looking for is that *you* put my hand on your own knee just to give Patty something to talk about."

Lorelai giggled. "Yeah, well, she needs gossip to put on her website." She narrowed her eyes at him. "What, are you telling me you didn't enjoy it?" Luke smiled at her slyly. Lorelai pointed at him accusingly. "Aha! I knew it."

He laughed and walked over to the front window. "Uh, I think she's gone if you want me to walk you home." He unlocked the door and walked back to the counter.

"Hmm, can I have pie first?" Lorelai asked.

Luke sighed. "That is so unhealthy."

"Luke, come on, the popcorn and Red Vines and Gummy Bears didn't fill me up. Please?" She leaned forward and pouted.

"Fine," he gave in. "A small piece." He turned around to get her a slice. As he placed it in front of her, he casually said, "So, uh, you said the date was great."

Lorelai nodded. "Yes, I did say that."

Luke picked up a dish towel and wiped the counter. He looked down as he said, "So, does that mean you want to . . . you know. . . possibly. . ."

Lorelai smiled at his shyness and said, "Yeah, that'd be good."

He looked up at her. "Yeah?"

Lorelai nodded and took a bite of pie. "Mm hmm," she mumbled with her mouth full. She finished chewing and said, "Oh, hey, how about next Friday? My parents are going out of town tomorrow and there's no weekly dinner for two weeks."

Luke smiled and said, "You must be thrilled."

She nodded. "Totally. And me and Rory are celebrating tomorrow night by getting random piercings. She's going for the nose, I'm going for the tongue."

Luke laughed. "Oh yeah?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yup. Uh, but next week I'm free. How 'bout it?"

Luke nodded. "Sounds good."

"Good." She took a sip of coffee. "Any ideas on what you wanna do?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. Dinner. . .bowling?"

Lorelai smiled. "Bowling?"

Luke smiled. "Yeah. Do you know how to bowl?"

Lorelai scoffed. "Yes, I know how to bowl. I must warn you that I suck at it so I'll probably be losing the whole time which will bring out my competitiveness and then the night will probably end with me throwing a screaming fit in the center of the lane and result in us getting thrown out of the bowling alley." She smiled.

He let out a small laugh. "Sounds highly entertaining." He walked around the counter and sat on the stool next to her. They talked as she continued on her pie and coffee. A small amount of begging encouraged Luke to give her another small piece, and by the time she had finished, all of the other customers had left and Luke had sent Caesar home.

He locked up the diner and they started walking to her house. After a few seconds, Luke glanced down at their hands hanging side by side. He brought his gaze up to her face as he slowly clasped his hand around hers and waited for her reaction. She looked at him and smiled shyly, and softly gripped his hand back. He looked forward and let out a small sigh of relief that he mistakenly thought Lorelai couldn't hear. She turned her head away from him and smiled to herself.

They walked up the front porch and Lorelai pushed open the door, then turned around and smiled. "So. . .uh, I'll probably be at the diner tomorrow for coffee or something."

Luke nodded. "I'll be there."

After a brief pause of uncertainty on how to end the night, he took a step forward and kissed her, and was relieved when she returned it. He pulled back with a smile. "You know, I have a feeling that you're subconsciously trying to pass your coffee addiction to me," he said, tasting it on his lips.

She smiled. "Yeah, I typically walk around at night and kiss everyone in the hopes that the entire town will become addicted like me."

"You know, doing that essentially means that there'll be less coffee for you," he pointed out. "I'd rethink the plan."

"Hmm, good point," she said, raising her eyebrows. She smiled. "Night Luke."

"Night," he replied. He watched her as she stepped into the house and shut the door, then turned around and headed home.

* * *

The next afternoon, Sookie walked into the lobby and found Lorelai at the front desk sorting the mail. Sookie leaned against the desk and sighed.

"What's wrong honey?" Lorelai asked. "I got here like an hour ago and walked into the kitchen to get coffee and you didn't even see me. You were running around all crazy like you were in some sort of Iron Chef cook-off."

Sookie nodded. "Well, there was a little mix-up with the lunch specials. The waiters got tomorrow's specials mixed up with today's specials and people were ordering all these different things and - " She sighed. "I'm beat."

"Aww," Lorelai said. "Honey, you wanna go for a walk or something? Get some fresh air?"

Sookie nodded. "Yeah, let me just tell them I'll be back in a bit." Sookie walked into the kitchen and returned a few seconds later with her jacket. They walked out of the inn towards the center of town.

"So?" Sookie said.

"So what?" Lorelai asked.

"So, I haven't talked to you all morning! How was movie last night?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai smiled. "Good, it was good."

Sookie nudged her playfully and smiled. "Patty said Luke put his hand on your knee."

Lorelai laughed. "Man, she's good."

Sookie giggled. "Yeah, I think the whole town knows."

Lorelai smiled and shook her head slightly. "Oh boy, I bet Luke just loves that, everybody talking about us. You know how he likes to keep to himself."

"Mm hmm," Sookie said. They walked along a little before she said, "So, you guys haven't. . . you know. . .yet?"

"Nope," Lorelai said quickly.

"Well, do you want to?" Sookie said, smiling.

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, part of me wants to, but the other part is just like kinda - I don't know. It's Luke, he's my friend, Sookie. Just, can you imagine how weird that would be? It was weird when we kissed, I can't imagine how weird it would be to -" Her voice trailed off.

"Have you guys talked about it?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai laughed. "Sookie, we're not teenagers. Adults don't usually sit down and say, 'Okay, this is a big decision, do you think we should sleep together?' It just happens in the moment. I don't even know if he's thought about it."

Sookie laughed. "Are you kidding? He's probably thought about it for the past five years, Lorelai."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Thanks for adding absolutely no pressure at all."

Sookie grimaced. "Sorry. But if you think about it, he's probably scared. I mean, he's liked you for so long. He's probably really nervous."

"Yeah, he was nervous when he tried to hold my hand last night, like he thought I would say no or something. And then he was nervous with kissing me goodnight too," Lorelai said with a smile. She paused and sighed. "I don't know. Why are we even talking about this now anyway? I mean, we've only had two dates. Two," she repeated.

"Right, you don't have to rush anything. And the fact that you want to must mean that things are going well, right?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded and smiled. "Yeah, things are going well. And I definitely wanna do it." She paused. "But then again, I wanted to do it with Max after the first date and look how that turned out." She laughed. "So maybe it's better that we're waiting."

"Waiting never hurt anybody," Sookie agreed.

Lorelai smiled. "No, it didn't. I guess we'll just deal with that situation when it rises."

Sookie smiled and raised her eyebrow.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and laughed. "Okay, bad choice of words."

* * *

On Saturday afternoon, Lorelai and Rory sat on the couch watching television. Lorelai reached casually into the bag of Cheetos on her lap but her hand was met with the bottom of the empty bag. She looked inside and gasped. She pouted towards Rory. "Rory, they're gone, all gone. I'm heartbroken. This bag was such a good bag. It opened up so easily without tearing, it never talked back or tried to run away or anything." She sighed. "It's like losing a close personal friend, someone you thought would be around forever."

Rory nodded and passed her the bag of Fritos. "Here."

"Ooh, Fritos!" Lorelai exclaimed excitedly, dropping the empty Cheetos bag on the floor. She immediately pulled out a handful of Fritos and ate some.

"Over your mourning period already?" Rory asked.

"Mmm," Lorelai nodded with her mouthful.

They sat there a few more minutes when the doorbell rang. Lorelai pointed at Rory. "Your turn."

"How do you figure?" Rory asked, narrowing her eyes.

Lorelai scoffed. "I got the mail today."

"Tsk," Rory said, shaking her head. "That doesn't count because the doorbell didn't actually ring."

Lorelai sighed. "Maybe they'll go away. Shh!"

The doorbell rang again and they glanced at each other.

"Rory, please. I'm. . .uh. . " Lorelai picked up the empty Cheetos bag and hugged it tightly against her chest. "I'm still mourning the loss of my friend." She pouted.

Rory rolled her eyes. "You know, considering the facts that you eat junk all day and are too lazy to walk ten feet to answer the door, I don't know how you maintain your girlish figure." She stood up with a sigh.

"It's good genes," Lorelai said. "Don't worry, you got 'em too."

As Lorelai reached into the Fritos bag again, Rory walked to the door and pulled it open. "Dad!" Rory exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Lorelai quickly whipped her head around and looked at the front door where Christopher and Rory were hugging. "Uh, just stopping by on my way to Stamford."

Lorelai turned off the TV and stood up as Rory asked, "Oh, is Sherry here too?"

"No, actually, she's on a business trip up north," he said. He looked into the living room and saw Lorelai walking towards him. "Hi."

Lorelai pursed her lips. "Hey." She looked down at the floor.

"Uh, Rory, could you leave your Mom and I alone?" Christopher asked.

Rory glanced back and forth between Lorelai and Christopher. "Oh, uh, sure. Yeah, I was gonna go to the bookstore anyway. Let me just grab my wallet." She walked to her bedroom.

Lorelai walked into the living room and Christopher followed her. They stared at each other uncomfortably until Rory came out of her bedroom and, after a quick goodbye, walked out the front door.

Lorelai folded her arms across her chest. "What are you doing here?"

Christopher sighed. "Lor, I just. . . I wanted to say I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did in the diner. That was . . . a little much."

Lorelai swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, just a tad dramatic."

"Yeah, I know," he nodded.

"You know, Chris, I wasn't blaming you for anything," Lorelai said with a sigh. "I'm sorry if it came out like that, but that wasn't why I said all of that stupid stuff to you."

He shrugged. "I. . .that's how I interpreted it, I'm sorry." He sat down on the couch and started wringing his hands uncomfortably. He stared up at her. "I just. . .I've been thinking about it all week and. . .I mean, Lorelai, why didn't you ever tell me that you were waiting for me? When I came to Stars Hollow last year, why didn't you even mention it? I would've gotten my life together a lot sooner if I knew that's what you wanted."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, that's something that you had to do for yourself. You had to want to do it or else you wouldn't have been happy."

"I did it for Sherry and I'm happy," Christopher pointed out.

"Oh, are you?" Lorelai asked, folding her arms across her chest. "Are you happy?"

Christopher looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I. . ."

"Because if someone made me change my life around, I don't know if I'd be too happy about that. That's something I'd have to do myself for me, not for anyone else. For me," she repeated loudly, patting herself on her chest.

Christopher didn't say anything. Lorelai sat next to him on the couch. She softened her voice. "Chris, I want you to be happy, I really do. But you need to take a step back from the situation and make sure that you actually are happy with what's going on in your life, and not just pretending to be."

Christopher was silent for a moment. He finally nodded and said, "I'm about ninety percent happy."

Lorelai nodded. "Ninety percent, huh? That's pretty good. Now just think about what can make it a hundred percent and then do whatever you can to make it happen." Lorelai patted him on the knee.

Christopher nodded as he stared straight ahead for a moment. He slowly turned his head to look at her. His eyes stared into hers and he leaned forward to kiss her. Lorelai quickly jumped off the couch before his lips reached hers. "Whoa - what are you doing?" she asked, taking a few steps backwards.

He stood up and shrugged. "What? You said to do what I needed to do to be happy. Well, being with you would make me happy."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, Chris, I meant with Sherry. Do what you have to do to be one hundred percent happy with Sherry. You know, talk to her or something. Chris, you're good with her."

He walked towards her. "But I could be better with you," he insisted.

Lorelai took several steps back and shook her head. "Chris, I already told you - "

"Yes, I know," he interrupted. "I know you said that you can move on now, but you can't honestly tell me that you brushed away all of your feelings just like that. A lifetime of feelings doesn't just go away. There has to be something still there."

"Chris, I -," Lorelai started.

He stepped up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you telling me that there's not one part of you that wants us to be a real family - you, me, Rory, all together? You're telling me that if I was standing here right now and telling you that I loved you and wanted to marry you, you wouldn't even consider it?"

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Is that what you're doing?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe I am - what would you say?" he asked.

"I would say that. . ." Lorelai shifted her feet uncomfortably as her eyes glanced around the room for several seconds, trying to avoid looking at him. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed softly. She finally brought her gaze back to meet his and smiled.

A small smile formed on his lips. "See?" he asked.

Lorelai shrugged and said, "No."

Christopher's smile faded and he narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, but I would say no. You know, a few months ago I would've loved for me and you and Rory to be a real family, but I told you that I was ready to move on, and I've moved on."

Christopher exhaled loudly and stared at her. After a pause, he said, "You're serious?"

"Yup," she said. She shoved her hands in her jeans pockets.

Christopher stared at her with a bewildered expression. "Okay, I guess a lifetime of feelings can just go away. Huh. Learn something new everyday." He sat on the couch.

She sat next to him. "Chris, they didn't just go away. I just. . . I think maybe we just weren't meant to be with each other as adults, you know? I mean, listen, I think you just need to talk things over with Sherry. Things are good with you guys, and I'm sure you can figure out a way to get that extra ten percent, huh?"

Christopher nodded. "I know, you're right." He smiled. "As always."

She smiled. "Of course." She paused and glanced at the clock. "Uh, you wanna stay for dinner or something? We can stop and get Rory at the bookstore and then go somewhere."

Christopher nodded. "Yeah, sure. I actually don't have to be in Stamford until Monday anyway." He stood up and walked towards the front hallway. Lorelai followed him, grabbed her coat and purse, and they walked out the door.

End Part 4

* * *

Part 5

Lorelai and Christopher walked to the bookstore. She pulled open the door and they walked over to the counter. "Hey Andrew, is Rory here?" Lorelai asked.

"Yup, right over there," he said, pointing toward the back. Lorelai turned around and followed the direction of his finger, and her eyes landed on Rory in the back of the store reading a book.

Christopher waited up front as Lorelai walked to the back. She tapped Rory on the shoulder. "Hey."

Rory was slightly startled and she turned around. "Hey. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yup, your dad’s gonna stay for dinner before he leaves." She gestured to Christopher standing by the door. "You ready to eat?"

"Oh, cool. Yeah, let’s go." Rory put the book back on the shelf and started walking toward the door.

"Aren’t you gonna buy that?" Lorelai asked, following her.

"Nah, I have it at home," Rory said. "I just noticed it while I was browsing and had the sudden urge to read it again."

Lorelai laughed. "You know, other kids get sudden urges to steal or start fires, but you get them to read. How'd I get so lucky?"

Rory smiled and shrugged just as she reached Christopher. "Dad, what do you feel like eating?"

He shrugged. "I’m up for anything."

Lorelai smiled. "Ah, I got it. Teriyaki Joe’s?"

"Ooh!" Rory said. "Definitely." Rory pushed open the door and walked out onto the sidewalk, with Lorelai and Christopher following her to the restaurant.

Christopher raised an eyebrow curiously. "Sounds spicy."

Lorelai shook her head. "Nah. See, the key is to suck on a bunch of ice cubes before you eat to numb your taste buds, and that way the food that would normally be super hot and spicy is only a little hot and spicy."

Christopher nodded and smiled. "Very ingenious."

Lorelai smiled. "I know, right? I have all these great tips for people. I’m currently writing a book called, ‘Important Random Stuff That You Need To Know But No One Tells You.’ Keep your eye on the New York Times’ Best Sellers List."

He laughed and nodded. "I will. Good luck with that."

* * *

An hour later, they walked out of the restaurant and towards their house. As they walked past the Black and White and Read bookstore, they saw a sign that said "Cool Hand Luke, Tonight, 7:30."

Lorelai gasped. "Cool Hand Luke! Oh my God! What time is it?"

Christopher checked his watch. "7:15."

"Ooh, we didn’t miss it!" Rory said excitedly.

"Let’s go in!" Lorelai said.

"Uh, you guys go ahead, I should probably get back on the road," Christopher said.

"What? Aww. No, come on Chris," Lorelai said, pouting. "You said you didn’t have to be there until Monday."

"Yeah, I know, but – ," Chris started.

"Why the heck were you going so early anyway?" Lorelai interrupted.

Christopher shrugged. "I don’t know. Sherry was out of town, there wasn’t anything for me to do at home."

"Well, there won’t be anything for you to do by yourself down there in a hotel either," Lorelai pointed out. "Stay and watch the movie with us. Then you can sleep at our house tonight and leave tomorrow." She smiled. "It’ll be fun, I promise."

"Yeah, come on Dad, please?" Rory asked.

Christopher looked back and forth between them. He sighed. "Okay, fine. Let’s go in," he said, gesturing toward the front door.

Lorelai smiled. "Yay, okay, let’s go." She ran up the steps, and Rory and Christopher followed her into the movie.

* * *

Lorelai woke up later the next morning and wandered downstairs in the sweatpants and tank top she had slept in. Christopher sat on the couch with Rory watching TV. "Morning," Lorelai said, stifling a yawn.

"Morning Mom," Rory said.

"Hey Lor," Christopher said. "Interesting ensemble. A tank top in winter?"

She nodded. "Yeah, last night was one of those nights where I just wanted to bury myself under like a hundred blankets because it’s so cozy, but then it gets a little warm and I start sweating to death, so I have to balance it out by wearing a tank top. You know how it goes."

Christopher nodded. "Sure, totally understand," he said, giving a curious sideways glance to Rory. "How do you live with her?" he asked quietly

Rory smiled. "Uh, Dad went out this morning and bought us stuff for breakfast."

"Wow, really?" Lorelai said, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh, yeah. Since you only had whipped cream and pickles, I thought I’d run out and get some stuff," Christopher said.

Lorelai laughed. "Hey, whipped cream and pickles, that’s a well balanced meal right there." She started walking to the kitchen. "Did you go to the market and buy stuff to cook?"

Christopher followed her. "Nah, just got some stuff from the diner."

Lorelai stopped abruptly as she saw the familiar looking takeout containers on the table. She turned around and looked at Christopher. "What diner?"

Christopher laughed. "What do you mean, what diner? The diner you practically live at."

Lorelai put a hand on her forehead. "Luke’s? You went to Luke’s this morning? By yourself?"

Christopher smiled. "Yup. Surprised?"

"Was he there? Did you see Luke?" she asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Yeah, he was there," Christopher said. "He knew who I was." He narrowed his eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"He knew who you were?" Lorelai’s eyes widened. "What did he say?"

"Wait, what’s wrong?" he asked.

"Christopher, what did he say?" Lorelai repeated quickly.

Christopher narrowed his eyes at her. "He asked if I was Rory’s dad and I said yes. What’s wrong?"

"What else? Did you say anything else?" Lorelai asked. "Anything at all?"

Christopher shrugged and said, "Uh, he asked how long I’d been in town, and I told him I just dropped by yesterday and ended up unexpectedly sleeping at your house."

"Oh my God!" Lorelai clasped a hand over her mouth and smacked Christopher on the shoulder. "No, no, no!"

"Hey!" he exclaimed, stepping back from her. "What the heck is wrong? I brought you breakfast!"

"Yes, I appreciate that, thank you, but I have to go," she said. Lorelai walked past Christopher and ran upstairs to her room. She quickly put on a pair of sneakers and ran back down. Christopher stood at the bottom of the steps looking confused.

"I’ll be right back," Lorelai said. She walked into the front entryway and pulled on her coat.

"Mom, what’s wrong?" Rory said, standing up and walking over to her.

"Yeah, Lor, what’s going on?" Christopher asked, joining them near the door.

She zipped up her coat. "I have to go to Luke’s. Rory, while I’m gone, you explain to your dad why it’s not good news that Luke found out on his own that Dad slept over last night."

Rory’s eyes widened. "Uh oh. Good luck."

Christopher sighed. "All right, when did this family because so confusing?"

"Bye," Lorelai said, rushing out the door. She walked quickly towards the diner, worried about what was going through Luke’s mind. She kept repeating over and over, "You’ll just explain everything, he’ll understand."

She walked into the diner and scanned the breakfast crowd for Luke, with no luck. She walked up to Caesar at the cash register. "Caesar, have you seen Luke?"

"Yeah, he’s upstairs," he replied, gesturing towards the stairway.

Lorelai quickly walked behind the counter and rushed upstairs to Luke’s apartment. She took a deep breath before she knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, Luke pulled it open, an obvious look of discontent on his face. "Hey," he muttered. He left the door open and walked back inside.

Lorelai stepped inside. "Luke, it’s not what you think."

He turned around and shrugged. "Hey, do whatever you want, it doesn’t matter to me."

"Luke, listen to me, nothing happened," Lorelai insisted.

"Hey, we only went out twice," Luke pointed out.

"I know, but –," Lorelai started.

He cut her off. "I mean, it’s not like we were exclusive or anything."

Lorelai sighed. "I really don’t – "

He interrupted, "You can do whatever you want, it doesn’t –"

"Luke, listen to me!" Lorelai said loudly.

Luke’s eyes widened with surprise and he stared at her silently.

"Luke, Christopher stopped by yesterday to apologize for what happened in the diner a few weeks ago. Then he and Rory and I went to dinner and a movie, and then he spent the night on the couch," Lorelai said. "That’s it. Nothing happened. We’re not back together."

He shrugged. "You know, it’s really not my business what you do anyway, so. . ." Luke said, folding his arms across his chest. "Do whatever you want."

Lorelai threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Agh, stop saying that! You’re not even listening to me! Fine, you caught me, Luke. I give up. He didn’t sleep on the couch, he slept in my bed. He was planning on sleeping on the couch but he was too tired after we had sex to make it down the steps." She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

Luke swallowed hard and stared at her as the tension in the room thickened.

She continued, "Is that what you think happened? Is that what you wanted to hear? I can tell you what you want to hear but it doesn’t make it true," Lorelai said loudly. "Would you like to hear what really happened? He asked me if I had really moved on from him. And thinking of you at the time and how fun our dates I’d been, I told him yes, that I’d really moved on and didn’t want to be with him. Oh, and he also tried to kiss me but I moved out of the way before he could - once again, because I was thinking of you. My mistake, though, because I didn’t realize at the time that our dates meant nothing to you and that you’d act like such a jerk about all this!" Lorelai turned around and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

A few minutes later, Lorelai walked into her house, her emotions still raging inside of her. She saw Chris on the couch on his cell phone, and by the soft tone of his voice, she assumed he was talking to Sherry. She walked into the kitchen and sat at the table, crossing her arms in front of her and resting her head on them. She sighed loudly.

Rory walked out of her bedroom. "Mom?" She walked over and sat next to her. "How’d it go?"

Lorelai lifted up her head. "Well, let’s just say that it won’t make my list of the top three thousand favorite moments of my life." She sighed.

"Aww, what happened?" Rory asked, giving her mom a sympathetic look.

"Ugh, I just got so mad," Lorelai said, squeezing her fists tightly. "I explained to him that your dad slept on the couch and nothing even remotely non-platonic happened, but he just kept saying ‘do whatever you want’ like he wasn’t even listening to anything I said!"

Lorelai and Rory both looked up as Christopher walked into the room. He held out his hands innocently in front of him. "Lor, I’m so sorry about all of this," he said sincerely.

Lorelai waved him off. "It’s not your fault. You didn’t know that the simple act of buying breakfast would ultimately have life changing consequences."

"No, I didn’t," he agreed. "But I feel terrible. Um. . .do you want me to go talk to him?"

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "Um, no. Thank you for the offer, but no. That’ll just make it worse."

"I’m sure you were both just mad in the moment and said things you didn’t mean to say. You guys can probably work this out later after everything’s calmed down," Rory said, giving an optimistic smile.

Lorelai nodded and swallowed hard. "Probably." She sighed. "Hopefully."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Lorelai and Rory stood on the front porch watching Christopher’s Volvo pull out of the driveway. As it disappeared out of view, they walked back inside the house. Lorelai wandered over to the couch and collapsed on it with a sigh, burying her face in the pillow.

Rory stood over her, uncertain of what to say. She stared at her for a few minutes before she said, "Mom?"

"Hmm?" Lorelai mumbled.

"I think I’m gonna go to Lane’s for a while. She’s not grounded anymore. Um, can I get you anything before I leave?"

Lorelai picked her head up. "No thanks. Have fun," she said before replacing her head back on the pillow.

"Okay, call me if you need something," Rory said.

Lorelai heard Rory’s footsteps walk away, and a few seconds later she heard the front door open and shut. Lorelai lay on the couch while a mixture of emotions ran through her. She clenched her eyes shut and forced herself to go to sleep, hoping a nap would make the problems go away.

Almost twenty-five minutes later, she heard a banging noise. She ignored it, thinking it was just in her head. When she heard it again, she groggily lifted her head up and looked around, trying to determine where it was coming from. Hearing it a third time, she narrowed the location to the side door and she turned her head around to look.

She saw Luke on the porch staring at her through the door window. She slowly stood up and walked over to the door. She unlocked it and walked back to the couch without opening it.

Luke hesitantly pushed it open and stuck his head through the door. "Can I come in?" he asked.

Lorelai deepened her voice and, mocking his statement from earlier, said, "Do whatever you want." She looked at him pointedly, then she folded her arms across her chest and sat on the couch.

Luke sighed as he walked in. He sat next to her and they both stared straight ahead at the fireplace. After several seconds of silence, he quietly said, "Uh, I’m sorry."

She nodded. "Mmhmm. For what?"

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What do you mean, for what?"

Lorelai turned to look at him. "Well, are you sorry for not listening to me. . . for not believing me. . . for casually tossing aside our dates like they meant absolutely nothing to you. . .for acting like a jerk? You know, there’s a multitude of things that you could be apologizing for right now and I just wanna make sure that I know which one you’re here for." She turned her head away indignantly and pursed her lips.

Luke nodded and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Uh, I guess you could just roll them altogether and say that I’m sorry for everything."

She turned her head to look at him, raising her eyebrows as she waited for him to say more.

He sighed and looked down at his hands uncomfortably. "I just. . . when that guy said that he had slept here. . .I just assumed that you guys had made up and. . . you know." He paused a moment. "It wasn’t jealousy that got to me. I mean, it probably was a little bit but it was more like . . .well, I was just a little. . .upset, I guess, because I just figured that our dates didn’t really mean much to you and so I kinda got into this defensive mode right away. I guess I was trying to kid myself into believing that they didn’t mean much to me either so I wouldn’t be the one getting hurt again. And I guess I wasn’t really listening to what you were saying because I was upset and mad and. . . ." He turned his head to look at her. She stared back at him. He finally sighed and said, "I’m not really good at this kind of thing. Say something."

"That’s probably the most I’ve ever heard you say at one time that wasn’t some sort of angry rant," she said.

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know."

She looked at the fireplace and smiled to herself. "There’s the master of brevity that I’m used to," she said. She sighed. "I’m sorry for yelling and everything, but I was. . .I was just so mad that you were just ignoring me completely. It was just. . .frustrating."

He took a deep breath and said, "I’m sorry. Like I said, I was just in a defensive mode. But I was listening to you, I believe you that nothing happened. And I didn’t mean to. . .toss off our dates. They did mean something to me. I just acted like that because I was stupid and. . . thought that you tossed them off and went back to that guy, and I sorta figured I should just try to convince myself to. . . get over you as fast as possible." He looked down at the floor.

"And are you over me?" she asked quietly.

He brought his gaze up to meet hers and stared into her eyes. "What do you think?"

She smiled and leaned in to kiss him. As he pulled back, Luke said softly, "Do you remember when you asked me awhile ago if I had a guilty pleasure?"

"Yeah." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Uh oh, have you suddenly gone into this ‘sharing your feelings’ mode and now you’re gonna admit that you run an underground drug ring or illegal adult video store or something?"

He laughed. "No, I gave those up weeks ago."

She smiled. "Okay, good. Go on."

He looked at her nervously for a moment before he spoke. "Uh, well, you. . ." He paused and swallowed hard. "You’re . . . my guilty pleasure. Thinking about you, hearing your laugh in my head, picturing your smile. . . that’s my guilty pleasure. You’re what makes me happy."

Lorelai closed her eyes for a moment. She opened them up and said, "You did not just say that."

Luke let out a small laugh of surprise. "What?"

Lorelai smiled and kissed him. She pulled back and said, "That was the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Or heard anyone say to me." She shook her head lightly toward the ground. "I. . .uh. . .God, I don’t have any idea how to respond to something like that."

She locked eyes with him, then brought her hands up behind his neck and pulled his lips to hers. She gave him several quick kisses before their lips simultaneously parted, leading to a kiss that was overwhelming with passion. As their tongues glided over each other softly, Luke brought his hands to her hips and she ran her fingers through the soft hair that stuck out under the back of his cap. As their lips reluctantly pulled away from each other to allow oxygen in, Luke pulled her closer in a warm embrace.

Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, you know. . . that was a good response."

She laughed and pulled back. "Glad you liked it."

He smiled. "Um, not to ruin this moment or anything but I’m not really good at this ‘sharing your feelings’ stuff, and since that’s probably the most romantic thing I’ll ever say, you really shouldn’t get used to hearing me talk like that."

She laughed. "I won’t."

"Okay, good." He stood up. "Um, I have to get back to the diner. We’re good now, right?"

She stood up and nodded. "We’re good."

"Still on for Friday?"

"Yup," she nodded. "Dinner, bowling, me being a sore loser."

"Sounds good," he smiled. She walked with him to the side door. He placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her.

She smiled through the kiss. "You know, you look so macho but you kiss so gently."

"Yeah, well, that’s our secret," he said. "Bye." Lorelai smiled to herself as she watched him walk down the porch and across the yard.

Lorelai walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. She walked back to the living room and sat down on the couch. She sat staring at the fireplace, thinking. She smiled to herself as Luke’s voice ran through her mind, repeating ‘You’re my guilty pleasure. You’re what makes me happy.’ A part of her couldn’t help feeling slightly happy about the morning’s events, since it forced him to express feelings that he probably would’ve been too nervous to share otherwise.

She picked up Cosmo and started flipping through it. Almost twenty minutes later, Rory walked through the front door and Lorelai turned to look at her. "Hey hon," Lorelai said, smiling.

"Hey." Rory smiled and walked over to sit next to her. "Whoa, when I left you were suffocating yourself on the couch, and now - you’re happy."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, well, Luke came over and we talked, and things are good now."

"Oh, that’s great, that was good that he came over," Rory said, picking lint off of her shirt nonchalantly.

Lorelai stared at her for a moment. "Rory?"

Rory looked up. "Yeah?"

Lorelai narrowed her eyes, staring at Rory’s expression. Suddenly she sighed and said, "Okay, what did you do?"

She looked at her questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

Lorelai tilted her head. "Rory," she said sternly. "Spill it."

Rory sighed. "I stopped in the diner and Luke was there looking all sad, and I told him that Dad had left and you were here alone if he wanted to talk to you. And at first he was nervous because he thought you were really mad, but I told him that you were just upset and that the sooner you talked it out, the better." She paused and bit her lip. "Are you mad?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Well, I can’t be because it worked out, but next time let me handle it, okay? I just don’t want you to get caught in the middle of something."

Rory nodded. "Okay." Rory stood up and started walking toward the kitchen.

"Hey," Lorelai said.

Rory turned around. "What?"

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks."

Rory smiled. "You’re welcome."

* * *

That evening, Lorelai and Rory walked to the video store. As they passed the dance studio, Miss Patty walked out smoking a cigarette. "Lorelai, dear?" she called.

Lorelai and Rory stopped walking and turned around. "Hi Patty," Lorelai said.

Patty walked down the steps. "Dear, what’s this I hear - Rory’s adorable father spent the night at your house last night?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Lorelai sighed. "On the couch, Patty."

Patty’s eyes widened. "You can both fit on the couch?" She gazed up at the sky. "My, my, to be young again."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "He slept on the couch, Patty. I slept upstairs. Nothing happened."

"Mmhmm," Patty said. "Well, I think you better explain that to Luke, honey. Oh boy, this morning when Rory’s father came in, you could just see Luke’s face getting all – "

Lorelai held up her hand. "Uh, it’s taken care of. Thanks for your concern." Lorelai grabbed Rory’s arm and dragged her away, calling out, "Bye Patty."

They walked quickly to the video store as Lorelai said, "You know, we should really consider wearing signs that say, you know, ‘never talk to us unless it’s an extreme emergency’ or something."

Rory nodded. "It would make life so much easier."

They walked into the video store and started looking around. A few minutes later, Luke walked out from behind the Rory Curtain holding a video. Lorelai gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth as an embarrassed look washed over his face.

"Luke, Luke, Luke," she said, shaking her head. "What could you possibly want in there?"

He held the movie behind his back. "Nothing. I’ll see you tomorrow." He tried to walk past her, but Lorelai grabbed his arm.

"Come on Luke, we won’t tell anyone," Rory said, smiling.

Luke sighed and, knowing that they would never give up, reluctantly held it out to them.

Lorelai grabbed it and read the cover. She held it up to Rory. "Dog Day Afternoon." She paused. "Why were you embarrassed to be renting this? That’s a great movie."

He shrugged. "You can find something to mock about everything, so I just figured it was safer to avoid you two altogether."

She smiled and handed it back to him. "No mocking this time. Carry on."

"Thank you." He walked up to the register. As Rory wandered back to the aisles to look around, Lorelai stood there watching Luke at the counter. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned around and rolled his eyes. "Oh great, did you think of something to mock?"

She laughed. "No, no. . . I just. . ." She noticed Kirk staring at them, so she pulled Luke over a few feet. "I just wanted to . . . you know, tell you that I was thinking about what you said earlier and it was. . . well, you. . " She shoved her hands into her pockets and glanced down at the floor uncomfortably. "You know, I didn’t actually come out and say that you make me happy too." She brought her eyes back up to meet his. "But you do."

He smiled. "Good."

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye Luke." She smiled to herself as she walked back over to Rory.

* * *

* * *
Part 6

Two days later, on Tuesday night, Lorelai arrived home from work just as the phone was ringing. She heard Rory answer it in the living room. "Hello? . . . Grandma, hey! How’s your trip?"

Lorelai walked into the living room and sat next to Rory on the couch.

"Good. . . Yeah, school’s fine," Rory said into the phone. "Uh huh. Yeah, she just walked in. Hold on."

Rory held out the phone toward Lorelai, who made a face as she took it and spoke into it. "Hi Mom, how’s your trip?"

"Oh, it’s wonderful. The weather is absolutely beautiful," Emily replied.

"Good, that’s good," Lorelai said.

"Listen Lorelai, the reason I’m calling is because Martin and Gloria – they’re our friends in North Carolina whose place we’re staying at here in Florida – they’ve decided to come down to Florida too, but they can’t make it until next week. And since we were hoping to spend some more time with them, we’re going to be staying another week."

Lorelai’s eyes widened. "Wow, another week? Is that in the budget, Mom?"

"Oh, yes," Emily replied. "Since we’re staying at Martin and Gloria’s place, it won’t cost us that much extra."

"Oh, good deal," Lorelai said, trying to hide her excitement about another weekly dinner being canceled.

"Yes, so we’ll be back next Sunday," Emily said. She paused a moment. "Oh, Lorelai, I have to go. Your father wants to go back down to the hot tub."

Lorelai laughed. "Have fun, Mom. Say hi to Dad for us."

"Bye Lorelai," Emily said.

"Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone.

Rory, who’d been listening to the conversation, asked, "What’s this about another week?"

Lorelai smiled. "They’re staying in Florida another whole week, so we get next Friday night off too."

"Wow," Rory said, her eyes widening. "Sounds like they’re having a good time."

Lorelai nodded. "Yup. They get another week of fun, and we get another week off - we should totally celebrate tonight."

"By doing what?" Rory asked.

"Hmm, by going to Luke’s for dinner?" Lorelai asked with a hint of enthusiasm.

Rory smiled. "You just wanna see your boyfriend," she teased.

Lorelai scoffed. "He is not my boyfriend." She paused and grabbed Rory’s arm. "You think he’s my boyfriend?"

Rory laughed. "Yeah, I think so, Mom."

She pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "Doesn’t that sound a little weird though? I mean, say it - Luke’s your boyfriend."

"Luke’s your boyfriend," Rory repeated.

Lorelai made a face. "It sounds weird."

Rory smiled. "Mom, it sounds fine. And it’s true, so get used to it."

"Huh." Lorelai stared at the fireplace. "Luke’s my boyfriend. . .Luke’s my boyfriend. . . Hello Luke, you’re my boyfriend." She turned to Rory. "Nope, it’s still weird."

Rory sighed. "What’s weird – the actual phrase or the idea that he’s your boyfriend?"

"Both," Lorelai said. "I mean, we haven’t been together that long yet."

Rory pointed at her. "Aha! But the very fact that you just said ‘we haven’t been together that long yet’ kinda indicates that if you’re not on a boyfriend and girlfriend level right now, you will be very soon."

Lorelai nodded and thought for a moment. "Hmm. So you’re saying that just because I unconsciously said the word ‘yet’, it means that this relationship is moving forward and ultimately he will be my boyfriend and so I should just start calling him that now?"

"Uh huh. Now let’s go see your boyfriend," Rory said, standing up and walking toward the door.

Lorelai followed her. "Okay, let’s go see my. . .boyfriend." She smiled. "Huh, it’s getting less weird already."

* * *

Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner and sat at an empty table. Lorelai stared down at the table tapping her fingernails, then suddenly looked up and said, "You know the scene in Teen Wolf when Michael J. Fox is surfing on top of the van?"

"No, you’re not doing it," Rory said pointedly.

Lorelai scoffed. "Why not?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Mom, we’ve had this conversation several times before and I told you when you become a werewolf, then you can do it. Until then, no."

Lorelai frowned. "I thought you might’ve changed your mind." She looked up toward the counter and saw Luke talking to a customer. She stared at him.

Rory followed her gaze and smiled. "He looks happy."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, he does."

"So do you," Rory added.

Lorelai smiled, still staring at Luke at the counter. A few seconds later, he caught her gaze and smiled. He held up a tea bag and raised his eyebrows. Lorelai shook her head. He shrugged, put the tea bag down, and held up the coffeepot. Lorelai nodded excitedly, and he smiled and rolled his eyes at her.

A few seconds later, he brought two mugs of coffee over and set them on the table. "Hey."

"Hey Luke," Rory said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Hey," Lorelai said. "Trying to convert me to tea?"

"You know, one day I will and you’ll look back and say, ‘Man, Luke was right, tea is so much better’," Luke said. Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. He shrugged. "Okay, probably not."

She smiled. "Burgers and fries please."

"As usual," he said, scribbling it on his pad.

"Ooh, wait, make it curly fries," Rory said.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Ooh, yeah!"

"I’m all out," Luke said. "Only got regular fries."

Lorelai gasped. She folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You know, you’re not gonna make it through life by pouting all the time."

She shrugged. "It’s gotten me this far. And you know, this is a dining establishment, Luke, and everyone knows that according to the standards of the Lorelai Handbook, all dining establishments should offer at least two kinds of fries," she said.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Not that I care about complying with the Lorelai Handbook, but we do offer at least two kinds of fries – just not today because we’re out of one of them."

"Hm. Well, I think that you should – ," Lorelai started.

Rory clasped her hand over Lorelai’s mouth. "Regular fries are fine Luke. Now hurry and make a run for it before she bites me."

Luke nodded appreciatively and walked toward the counter.

Rory removed her hand and said quietly, "You know, if you’re that annoying on dates then maybe this won’t be heading toward a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. You’re gonna end up all alone because you’ll have annoyed him to death."

Lorelai gasped. "Excuse me, I am very enjoyable on dates, thank you." Rory gave her a doubtful look. "Trust me," Lorelai said, raising her eyebrows.

* * *

On Friday night, Lorelai and Luke walked out of Al’s Pancake World where, despite Luke’s protests, Lorelai’s sudden craving for Chinese food had led them for dinner.

As they stepped out onto the sidewalk, Lorelai grabbed Luke’s arm. "Come on Luke," she urged. "It won’t take long."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Is this really necessary? You’ll probably never wear them again."

Lorelai sighed. "Luke, I need to buy my own bowling shoes. I can’t wear the ones they have there."

"You had all week to buy them," Luke pointed out. "Why’d you wait until tonight?"

Lorelai scoffed. "Luke, I was busy. You know how women are – between the television watching and the feeling sick from the massive consumption of junk food and the hair washing, I just didn’t have any time left."

"Ah yes, now I know why I’m glad to be a man," Luke said. He took her hand and entwined his fingers through hers. "We don’t have to go bowling if you don’t want to, you know. We can find something else to do that doesn’t involve purchasing new footwear."

"No, I want to go bowling, I do," she insisted. "We’ll just stop really quick at the shoe store first. It won’t take more than 15 minutes, I promise." She gave him a smile and raised her eyebrows. "Huh?"

Luke sighed. "Fine. Let’s go."

Lorelai kissed him and smiled. "Thank you."

A few minutes later, they walked into the shoe store. Lorelai went to the back of the store to try on shoes while Luke sat near the door, checking his watch every few seconds. After a few minutes Lorelai walked up to him and asked, "Luke, what do you think of these?"

He looked down at the leather boots on her feet, then slowly brought his eyes back up to hers. "What are you doing? Those are not bowling shoes."

She smiled. "I know, but I saw them and just had to try them on. They look good, huh?"

Luke rolled his eyes and pointed toward the back of the store. "Bowling shoes, now, go. He’s waiting." He waved a finger towards Kirk, who was waiting impatiently for Lorelai with his hands on his hips.

She frowned. "Ah, you’re no fun," she said, walking back to Kirk.

A few minutes later she walked back over with a box. "Okay cranky, I got ‘em, I just have to pay for ‘em."

Luke sighed. "Finally." He checked his watch. "Twenty-five minutes," he said in an annoyed tone.

She shrugged and smirked at him before she walked over to the cash register, and Luke couldn’t help smile to himself. He would’ve sat in that store all day if she wanted him to - and she knew it. He stood up and walked over to the cash register. "I’ll buy them," he said, pulling out his wallet.

Lorelai gently pushed his hand away. "No Luke, I got it. But thanks." Lorelai paid for them and Luke carried the bag for her as they walked out of the store toward the bowling alley.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were siting at their lane in the noisy bowling alley, had picked out their bowling balls and were ready to start. "Okay, you go first so I can try to remember how to do this," Lorelai said, pushing him forward.

Luke picked up his ball and bowled it expertly down the center of the lane, leaving only two pins standing. He walked back towards Lorelai and she gave him an impressive nod. "Wow," she said.

He nodded, then picked up his ball and tossed it down the lane again, knocking down the other pins. He walked back to Lorelai smiling.

Lorelai laughed. "Look at you being Mr. Showoff."

"Your turn." He pointed towards the pins. "Throw the ball that way."

"Very funny," she said. She smacked him playfully on the shoulder as she picked up her ball. She swung her arm back and tossed it, and it rolled slowly down the lane, eventually falling into the gutter just a few feet short of the pins. She turned around and made a face, "I was so close!"

Luke smiled and nodded. "Yeah, good try. You just need to warm up a little."

Lorelai grabbed her ball as it came back out the shoot and she tossed it down the lane, this time knocking down four pins. She clapped her hands, "Woo!" she shouted. She jogged over to Luke and tapped him on the shoulder. "Did you see that?"

Luke laughed. "Yes, I did. Very nice."

Lorelai sat down and watched as Luke picked up his ball, walked up to the line, and tossed it down the lane, bowling a perfect strike.

Lorelai gasped and stood up. Luke walked back with a proud smile on his face that made Lorelai laugh. "Wow, way to make me feel like a total loser."

Luke laughed. "Nah, come on, I’ll help you." He picked up her ball and led her up to the line. "Here, take this." Luke handed her the ball and stood behind her. He reached his arms around her waist to help her line the ball up at eye level. "Okay, first you bring the ball up to your eyes and line it up with the pins."

"Okay, got it," Lorelai said, concentrating more on the feeling of Luke’s arms around her than she was on the bowling instructions. With his body pressed tightly against hers, suddenly the temperature in the room felt like it was a hundred degrees.

"Okay, now you bring it back like this," he said. Luke placed a hand on her elbow to guide her arm. "You want to extend your arm all the way back like this," he said. Lorelai barely heard him. She closed her eyes as his fingertips ran gently down her arm and sent a shiver of excitement through her body.

"Mm hmm," she said, swallowing hard. She opened her eyes, almost forgetting that she was in a bowling alley as her single concentration was on the feeling of Luke’s body pressed tightly against hers. She started to breathe deeper as a familiar feeling of arousal started to course through her body. She suddenly turned her head around and smiled. "Okay, I think I got it, Luke. Let’s see how it works out."

"Okay." He took several steps back and folded his arms across his chest.

She suddenly missed the close contact of his body, and she took a few deep breaths to cool herself down before she tossed the ball down the lane. As it knocked down seven pins, she gasped and excitedly turned and walked back toward Luke. "Man, you rock as a bowling instructor," she said as she hugged him.

He smiled and hugged her back. "I know." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and let go of her. With hints of arousal still rolling through her, she pulled him back to her and kissed him with such intensity that he was actually taken aback. She smiled through the kiss and pulled away from him, leaving him panting to catch his breath.

Luke raised his eyebrows at her as she walked over to get her ball, and watched her with a smile as she tossed it down the lane.

* * *

At almost eleven o’clock that night, Lorelai and Luke walked up her front steps. "Wait here," she said. She walked quietly over to Rory’s bedroom window and peeked inside, then walked back to Luke, "I’m pretty sure she’s asleep. You wanna come in for a little while? I know it’s late though, so if you don’t want - "

"Yes," Luke interrupted, smiling. "I wanna come in."

Lorelai smiled. "Okay."

They walked inside and took off their coats, and Lorelai put her bowling shoes in the closet. She gestured to the living room and said quietly, "Sit down. I’ll get us some drinks."

Luke nodded and walked over to the couch. Lorelai walked into the kitchen and, noticing that Rory’s door was open, pulled it shut so they wouldn’t wake her. She grabbed two bottled waters from the fridge and brought them to the living room. She handed one to Luke and sat next to him on the couch.

"Thanks," he said. He opened the bottle and took a sip, then replaced the cap and set it on the coffee table. "So, the bowling was fun."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, it was. Next time maybe we can keep score."

"Yeah, and I’ll bowl with my eyes closed to make it fair."

Lorelai laughed. "Hey you, I got a strike, remember?"

Luke smiled and nodded. "Yes, you did. That was very impressive. And you also got some new shoes out of the night, so it was doubly successful."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh yeah, they’ll go great with that new leather miniskirt I just bought."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Leather miniskirt?"

Lorelai took a sip of water and nodded. "Mm hmm. Why?" Luke shrugged. She smiled and said knowingly, "Oh, Luke’s got a thing for leather."

He smiled shyly. "Do not."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh no? So if I went upstairs and put it on right now, it wouldn’t affect you in the least?"

He smiled but didn’t say anything. She put her water down and jumped up off the couch. "Let’s try it out," she said, walking toward the staircase.

"No, you don’t have – " Luke started to say, but she was already halfway up the stairs.

A few minutes later she walked down wearing the leather miniskirt in place of the black pants she had been wearing. She stepped off the bottom step and spun around. "Like it?"

Luke nodded and stammered, "Yeah, it’s uh. . it looks. . .you uh. . "

Lorelai laughed. "Luke, why is your face all red?" she teased, folding her arms across her chest.

He pulled at his collar. "It’s just getting a little warm in here." He pulled off his flannel shirt and draped it over the arm of the couch. "Much better, I’m fine now." Lorelai’s eyes immediately were drawn to his chest and arm muscles that were accentuated perfectly by his black T-shirt.

She smiled as she walked over and sat down next to him. She wagged her finger at him and said, "Admit it, leather totally turns you on."

Luke took a sip of water before he answered. He leaned towards her and said, "A little secret – it’s not the leather part that does it, it’s the legs. That skirt could be made of paper towels and you’d get the same reaction."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Oh, so you’re a leg man, are ya?"

"You could definitely say that," he said, glancing not-so-subtly down at her legs.

Lorelai lifted his chin up so that his eyes locked with hers. "Hey, didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s rude to look at a woman’s legs when she’s about to kiss you?"

Luke smiled. "Sorry."

"That’s okay," she said. She leaned in to kiss him, their soft lips locking together almost magnetically. Lorelai ran her hands over his chest and pulled back. "I’m a muscle-lover myself."

She ran her fingers along the edge of his sleeve, rolling it up to see his bicep. She gasped loudly and said, "Oh my God!" She quickly covered her mouth as she realized how loud she was, hoping she didn’t wake Rory. "Luke!" she whispered incredulously. "You have a tattoo!"

Luke glanced down at his arm and gasped. "I do? Oh my God!"

She laughed at his sarcasm. "But when did you get a tattoo?" she asked.

"When I was a teenager," he said. "My dad had the exact same one."

Lorelai tilted her head to the side. "Aww, that’s so sweet." She stared closely at the circle of small arrows and other random shapes. "What is it?"

Luke let out a small laugh. "You know, I’m not really sure."

Lorelai laughed. "What? You don’t know?"

Luke shook his head. "Nope. It’s just a design - it doesn’t really mean anything."

Lorelai nodded. "Hmm. Well, whatever it is, it’s sexy," she said, outlining the circle with her fingertip.

"Oh yeah?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

She nodded. "Mm hmm." She placed her hands on his cheeks and guided his lips toward hers. What started off as short, quick kisses soon developed in intensity as both of their mouths opened and connected passionately. Lorelai wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him tightly against her.

When they finally broke apart, they were both panting to catch their breaths. Luke lowered his mouth to her neck, kissing and sucking on her soft skin. Lorelai’s hands roamed his body, gliding over the curves of his back. As Luke brought his lips back up to her mouth, Lorelai felt his fingers at the bottom of her shirt trying to sneak their way underneath, and soon she felt them directly on her skin.

Luke pulled back from the kiss. He stared at her as his hand glided over the softness of her stomach and moved upwards. She leaned her head back against the couch as his hand grazed over her bra. Lorelai let out a soft moan as he cupped his hand over one of her breasts and squeezed it gently.

"Oh God, Luke," she whispered toward the ceiling as a surge of arousal shot through her body. Her heavy breathing increased as Luke stroked her breast softly through the thin fabric of her bra. Her eyes clenched shut as she became more stimulated, and her soft moans increased as Luke moved on to her other breast.

She opened her eyes and pulled him by his neck to her lips, kissing him hungrily. Luke placed his other hand on her knee. He slid it slowly down her leg to her ankle and then back up again, caressing her delicate skin. Her heart started racing as he slowly slid it up past her knee and up under the hem of her skirt. As she felt it inching up her thigh, the anticipation of it going any further made her legs quiver with excitement.

She waited anxiously for him to continue, and she stared directly into his eyes, silently giving him permission to move it upward. She saw his eyes look briefly toward the kitchen and she was surprised when he suddenly removed both of his hands from her body.

"What’s wrong?" she asked, breathing heavy from her arousal.

Luke sighed and slid back on the couch. "I just . . .we shouldn’t do this. Not like this."

Lorelai swallowed hard. "Oh, right, okay," she said, sitting up straight.

Luke quickly added, "I mean, not that I don’t want to, but I just think - right here, like this, with Rory here. . .it’d be a little. . ." He raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

Lorelai nodded as she realized that he was right, though part of her was disappointed that her arousal would go unfulfilled. "No, you’re right, you’re absolutely right." She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Don’t get used to me saying that though."

Luke smiled. "I won’t. I’m quite aware of your incessant need to always be correct."

Lorelai reached for her bottled water and took a long sip. She replaced it on the table and said, "Do you wanna watch TV or something?"

Luke glanced at his watch. "I should probably get going. It’s pretty late."

"Oh, okay." Lorelai nodded. He grabbed his flannel shirt from the edge of the couch and pulled it on. She stood up and smoothed out her skirt, then grabbed Luke’s hand and led him to the front door. As he pulled on his coat, he asked, "So, um, I’ll see you tomorrow?"

Lorelai nodded. "Probably."

He leaned in and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against him. "You know, that doesn’t feel weird anymore. I think that’s a good sign."

She smiled. "Yeah, and it didn’t even take long for it to not feel weird. I mean, tonight’s only our third date." She paused. "Wow, tonight’s only our third date," she repeated.

"Yes, it is," Luke said.

She shook her head in disbelief. "But. . . I don’t know, doesn’t it seem like we’ve been out more than that?"

Luke nodded. "Well, yeah. I mean, but that’s just because we’ve known each other for so long and see each other every single day."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah. I don’t know, it just seems weird."

Luke laughed. "Okay, we started this conversation with me saying that things aren’t weird anymore, and you finish it by saying things are still weird. Nice going."

Lorelai smiled. "No, I don’t mean weird weird, I just mean. . . you know - forget it, it’s late. I don’t really make sense when it’s late."

"You don’t really make sense when it’s early either," he said with a smile.

"Hey, that’s not –," she started to protest, but he quickly pressed his lips against hers. She pulled back and smiled as she said, "You know, just because it’s not weird anymore doesn’t mean you can do it to shut me up."

"It works, though," he said. "Night." He pulled open the door and stepped out onto the porch.

She leaned against the doorframe. "Bye," she said. She smiled as she watched him walk across the yard and disappear into the night before she slowly shut the front door.

End Part 6

* * *

Part 7

The next morning, in the inn’s kitchen, Sookie was sitting at the counter writing out a menu as Lorelai walked through the door. "Hey Sookie," she said.

Sookie looked up, surprised. "Hey Sweetie. I didn’t know you were coming in today."

Lorelai walked over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup. "Yeah, well, Rory kicked me out of the house. She’s working on a paper and she told me I was annoying her." She scoffed. "Me - annoying? Huh. So I decided to come into work." She sat down next to Sookie and sighed.

Sookie narrowed her eyes. "Something wrong, honey?"

Lorelai sighed again. "Just your average case of sexual frustration."

Sookie frowned sympathetically. "Aw, nothing yet, huh?"

She shook her head disappointingly. "We were close though. Last night, we were hanging out, just starting to get heated. . .but then he stopped."

"He stopped?" Sookie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"He stopped," Lorelai confirmed. "He was nervous about doing it with Rory right there."

Sookie’s eyes widened. "What? Rory was right there? In the same room?"

"No!" Lorelai gasped. "She was asleep in her room and we were on the couch. Talking. Then flirting. And then making out. And then stopping the making out." She sighed.

"Honey, I kinda understand his reasoning though," Sookie said. "I mean, you used to not even wanna do it in the house at all, even when Rory wasn’t home," she pointed out.

"I know," Lorelai said. "So why last night did I wanna do it with her twenty feet away?" she asked herself aloud. She thought for a moment and said, "I guess because I just really wanted it to happen." She took a sip of coffee. "But it didn’t."

"Because he stopped," Sookie said knowingly. "Why didn’t you guys just go upstairs?"

"I don’t know," Lorelai said with a shrug. "But I kinda got the impression that he didn’t want to do it at all with Rory in the house, not just because she was so close. And if that’s true, I mean – where the heck are we gonna do it? His apartment only has that one main room – so unless we lock Jess in the bathroom, it’s not gonna happen there. We’ll have to be one of those couples who does it in like public bathrooms or cars or motels." She sighed.

Sookie giggled. "You could probably get a room here at the inn for really cheap."

Lorelai smacked her lightly on the shoulder. "No, thank you. I don’t want to do it here, Sookie," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, just a thought, sorry," Sookie said. She put her hand on her chin and thought. "Hmm. Well, just invite him over when you know Rory’s gonna be out of the house for a long time." She gasped and widened her eyes. "I got it! When she’s at school!"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Hmm, good thought. Although I doubt he would leave the diner in the middle of the day." She took a sip of coffee.

Sookie smirked. "Lorelai, he’s closed down the entire diner for you before, I don’t think he’d say no if you asked him to leave for a little while. . .especially if you tell him why."

Lorelai smiled. "Hmm, good point. I’ll keep that in mind. Although I should probably wait to see if it happens naturally before I go setting up sex dates." She laughed and said, "Boy, that sounds so romantic. But, hey, if it doesn’t happen soon and I get to the point where I’m about to explode from the built up sexual tension, that may be my only choice." She walked over to the coffee maker and refilled her cup before she walked toward the door to the lobby. "Okay, I’ll be at the front desk. Thanks Sookie."

"Bye honey," Sookie said, watching her walk through the door.

* * *

Two days later, on Monday night, Lorelai walked through the front door and called out, "I’m home!" She put her purse down and hung up her coat. She walked into the kitchen as Rory came out of her bedroom sucking on a lollipop.

"Hey Mom," Rory said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Hey," Lorelai said. She pointed to the lollipop. "Is that all we have for dinner?"

Rory shrugged. "Pretty much."

Lorelai walked over to the fridge and pulled it open, grimacing when she saw how empty it was. "Man, we really need to go to the market." She shut the door, then sat down at the table and flipped through the pile of mail.

Rory sat down next to her. "So listen, today I was thinking - "

Lorelai looked up and interrupted, "Oh, wait, were you thinking about that guy who accidentally got his wrong leg amputated when he went into surgery? Because I was thinking about that earlier, and if you were thinking about that too then that would mean we had some pretty cool psychic vibes going on. Is that what you were thinking?" Lorelai asked excitedly.

Rory stared at her. "Uh, no."

Lorelai frowned. "Oh. Go on then."

"Thank you. So, um, what did you wanna do this Friday? I mean, since we have off from dinner - did you want to do something with just us, or go our own separate ways again?" Rory asked, biting down on her lollipop.

Lorelai thought for a moment. "Hmm. Good question. What do you think?"

Rory shrugged. "It doesn’t matter to me. If you wanna do something with Luke then I’ll just find something else to do."

"You sure?" Lorelai asked, narrowing her eyes.

Rory nodded. "Yup."

"Okay, separate ways it is, then." Lorelai smiled and thought for a moment. "Ooh, maybe I’ll get Luke to take me someplace nice, like a fancy restaurant or something."

Rory smiled. "Good luck with that." She stood up and walked into her bedroom.

* * *

That night, Lorelai was in her room getting ready for bed when the phone rang. She answered it after the first ring. "Hello?"

"Hey," Luke said.

Lorelai smiled. "Hey. I’d just about given up on you."

"I said I’d call you right back. I’m a man of my word," he said.

She looked at the clock and laughed. "Yeah, ‘right back’ was like 2 hours ago."

"Yeah, sorry. There was some sort of concert or something at the high school and we got really busy. Kids in stupid band costumes came in, ordered a ton of food, didn’t eat it, then left a dime for a tip," he said in an annoyed tone.

"Aw. Well, I’ll be sure to give you an extra big tip next time to make you feel better," Lorelai said. "So are you still at the diner or upstairs?"

"The diner. I just closed it up and now I’m sitting at the counter staring out the window at two teenagers making out on a park bench." He scoffed. "Can you believe that? Where are these kids’ parents, and do they not have any curfew imposed at all?" he said loudly. He paused. "Oh wait, it’s Rory and Dean."

Lorelai laughed. "Liar! Rory’s downstairs in bed."

He let out a small laugh. "Oh, sorry, my mistake. I swear it looks just like her."

"Uh huh." Lorelai smiled. "Okay, listen, I wanna ask you something about Friday night - are you free?"

"Hm, not yet, but I can arrange to be," Luke replied.

"Good. I was thinking that we could go somewhere nice. You know, like, we could get all dressed up and go somewhere really romantic. There’s this really nice Italian restaurant in Hartford and I can - ."

"Wait," Luke interrupted. "You mean, like one of those places with barely any lighting so you can’t tell that every entrée on the menu costs fifty dollars until after you’ve already eaten and gotten the check? One of those places that has those stupid people sitting in the bathroom handing out towels that you have to smile at awkwardly as you wash your hands? One of those places with those snooty maitre d’s that I’d have to tip just so we can get a table?"

Lorelai paused. "Well, uh, you don’t have to tip them. We can sit on the floor."

Luke let out a small laugh. "Wow. If you’re willing to sit on the floor, then you must really wanna go."

"Well, we don’t have to," Lorelai said. "Judging by your little rant there, I’d say you’re not a big fan of those kinds of places, so let’s just forget it. We can just do something else."

Luke paused and took a deep breath. "Okay, let’s go."

Lorelai smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, really." He sighed. "And I’ll even wear a suit."

"Aw, thank you," Lorelai said excitedly.

"You’re welcome."

She paused a moment. "Luke?"

"What?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You own a suit?"

He laughed. "Yes, believe it or not, I do. Two actually. And they’re pretty nice, I might add."

She smiled. "Well, I can’t wait to see it then." She stifled a yawn. "Okay, I’m officially going to bed now. Night Luke."

"Night."

* * *

On Friday night, Lorelai stood in front of the mirror checking herself over. She ran a brush through her perfectly straightened hair, adjusted the waist of her skirt, and smoothed out her black satin shirt. She checked her makeup, and after touching up her lipstick, she walked down the steps.

Rory stood in front of the hall mirror putting a clip in her hair. She turned around when she heard her mom walking down the stairs. She smiled and nodded approvingly. "Nice outfit."

"Thanks," Lorelai said, looking down at it. "I narrowed it down to either this or that new dress with the sorta strappy thing going on in the back, and you know, I suddenly decided that I wasn’t in a strappy thing sorta mood." She shrugged.

Rory nodded. "It’s understandable." She walked to the front door and grabbed her coat. "Okay, I’m leaving."

Lorelai walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Have fun. See you later."

"Bye." Rory walked out the front door as Lorelai walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a paper cup and filled it with some water from the water cooler, then sat at the table and sipped it slowly while she waited for Luke. When the doorbell did finally ring, she walked quickly to the front door and pulled it open.

She gasped. "Oh my God," Lorelai said, her mouth dropping open. She blinked her eyes a few times. "Luke, is that you?"

He smiled and turned around slowly. "You like?"

Lorelai’s eyes started at the top with his hair, which was neatly combed but looked naked without his cap. Her gaze ran down past his cleanly shaven face to the blazer of his fitted black suit, then down to his creased pants and black shoes.

"Luke. . .oh my God," she said, her eyes widening. "You look so . . . hot," she said with a laugh. Her eyes continued to roam his outfit in disbelief. "Wow."

He laughed. "Uh, thanks, I guess." He looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on her legs just a moment longer than he had intended them to. He brought his eyes up to meet hers and smiled. "You look. . .uh, hot, yourself."

She smiled and stepped onto the porch to kiss him. "Thanks. Hold on one sec." She stepped back into the house, pulled on her jacket and grabbed her purse, then walked back out. She pulled the door shut behind her, giving the knob a turn to make sure it was locked. "Okay, let’s go be fancy."

* * *

They pulled up to the restaurant forty-five minutes later, arriving slightly before their 7 p.m. reservation time. They walked inside the dim restaurant and were seated immediately. Twenty minutes later, their meals had been ordered and they were starting on their salads.

In between bites, Lorelai leaned forward and said, "Hey, you don’t hate this, do you?"

He finished chewing before he answered. "No, it’s nice," he said, looking around. "I’m having a good time."

"Are you sure?" Lorelai asked, tilting her head to the side. "I know you don’t really go for this whole dressing-up, fancy evening stuff, so I’ll feel really bad if you end up having a terrible night and hating me because I forced you to take me here."

"You didn’t force me," he said, shaking his head. "I’m here because I want to be here." He paused, then added, "With you."

Lorelai smiled. "Okay, good." She went back to eating her salad.

End Part 7

* * *

Part 8

Almost two hours later, they walked out of the restaurant holding hands and walked slowly to his truck. As they approached it, Lorelai asked, "You ever think about getting a new truck?" They stopped near the passenger door, and she eyed the many scratches and dents on the side.

He shrugged. "Sometimes."

"What’s stopping you?" she asked.

"I don’t know. I’ve had this one forever. It’s been good to me," he said, tapping on the hood.

"Aw, you’re sentimentally attached. How cute!" she said, smiling.

He rolled his eyes and opened the door. "Just get in."

She frowned and folded her arms across her chest. "Hey, tonight is a romantic date. Romantic, Luke. And saying ‘just get in’ is not being romantic. It is bordering dangerously close to rude."

He took a deep breath and pursed his lips. "Please, let me help you get in the truck." He forced a smile and held out his hand.

She smiled. "There you go, much better." She took his hand and climbed into the truck. He shut the door, then walked around to the driver’s side, climbed in and started the engine. Lorelai put her hand on his arm. "Hey?"

He turned to look at her. "What?"

"Thanks for dinner." She leaned forward and kissed him softly, running her fingers over the unusual smoothness of his face.

He smiled as she pulled back. "You’re welcome." He backed out of the parking spot and drove through the lot.

As he was about to pull out onto the street, Lorelai said, "Hey, you wanna see my parents’ house?"

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, is it around here?"

"Yup, just a few blocks." Lorelai directed him through the dimly lit Hartford streets, and minutes later he pulled into the driveway of the large mansion and put the truck in park.

Luke let out a low whistle as he stared up at it through the window. "Wow. That’s. . .wow. You grew up here?"

"Uh huh," Lorelai nodded.

"Was it like one of those houses where you weren’t allowed to touch anything?" he asked.

"Yeah, it’s got all kinds of – ," She paused and glanced at the house, then turned back to him. "You wanna see inside? Nobody’s home."

Luke shrugged uncomfortably. "Uh, I don’t know. We probably shouldn’t."

Lorelai pulled her keys out of her purse. "Come on, I’ll give you a really quick tour. They’ll never even know we were here." She got out of the truck.

Luke turned off the engine and followed her to the front porch. He looked around nervously at the neighbors’ houses. "Are you sure we should be doing this? Isn’t this breaking and entering or something?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Luke, I have key. It’s not illegal."

She unlocked the door and they walked into the house. The hall light was on, but the surrounding rooms were all darkened. She walked to the living room and turned on the light. Luke followed her, glancing around at the expensive looking furnishings.

"Okay, this is the lovely living room where we gather for pre-dinner drinks," Lorelai said, gesturing to the bar.

He nodded. "Nice. I guess the drinks are necessary before dinner so that you can make it through the whole night, huh?"

"God, yes," Lorelai said with a laugh. "I’m usually in here downing the alcohol before Rory’s even out of the car."

Luke smiled and followed her into the dining room as she continued the tour. "And this is the lovely table where many a wonderful memory has taken place. You know, screaming, bickering, fighting, yelling, tension – all that fun family stuff."

Luke laughed. "Sounds great. Do you have any happy memories of this place at all?"

Lorelai shrugged. "A couple." She pointed to a doorway. "And through there is the kitchen." She glanced around. "Hmm. What else? Ooh, let’s go to my dad’s study." She started walking down the hall.

"What’s in there?" Luke asked, following her.

"You’ll see," she said. She walked into the study and switched on the light. "Look at that." She gestured to Rory’s portrait behind the desk.

Luke let out a small laugh. "Who is that?"

Lorelai smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "It’s Rory."

Luke stared up at it. "Are you sure?"

She scoffed. "Yes, I’m sure. Try squinting."

Luke squinted and turned his head to the side. "Oh, now I can sort of see it. It’s nice," he said. He glanced around the study. "Wow, a lot of books in here. Does Rory get her love of reading from your dad?"

"Well, I’d say indirectly, yeah," she said. "I love reading too, so I guess I got it from him and Rory got it from me."

"Oh yeah?" Luke asked. "You’re a big reader?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I’m not as into all the classics and stuff as Rory is, but I enjoy curling up with a good novel."

"Yeah, me too," Luke said, glancing at the bookshelves.

Lorelai walked out of the study. Luke followed her, shutting off the light and pulling the door closed behind him. Lorelai started walking toward the staircase. "You have to see Rory’s bedroom."

"Rory’s bedroom?" Luke asked, surprised. "She has her own room here?"

"Yup, my mom decorated it for her," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes. "You know, just in case she can one day convince Rory to leave the awfulness that is me in order to lead a more proper life here in Hartford." They climbed the stairs to the second floor and Lorelai led him to the bedroom at the end of the hall. She pushed open the door and turned the light on, then gestured for Luke to go in.

He stepped into the room and let out a laugh. "Oh my God."

Lorelai laughed. "I know, right? Can you even picture Rory in here?"

Luke looked around. "It’s very . . .pink," he said.

Lorelai smiled and pointed to the wall over the bed. "Yeah, and check out the posters."

Luke looked up and laughed. "Wow. Nice boy bands."

"Yup." She grabbed his hand and turned out the light. "Okay, let’s go." She pulled him into the hallway and they walked toward the stairway.

Luke glanced at all the doors along the hallway. "There are a lot of rooms up here. Are they all bedrooms?"

"Some of them are, but not all of them." Lorelai stopped and paused. "You wanna see my old room? It’s still the same as when I was sixteen."

Luke smiled. "Yeah, let’s see what a sixteen year old Lorelai was like."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever Emily Gilmore wanted me to be like."

She led him down the hall to her old bedroom, and walked in and turned on the light. Luke walked to the center of the room and looked around. "Wow, very. . . clean." He walked over to the large dollhouse and looked into it. "Huh. Did you ever play with this?"

"Uh, a few times," Lorelai said as she sat on the edge of the bed. "My mom would sit on the chair and watch me as I played with it. It was odd because she would never actually play with me, she just sat and watched me play with it." She shrugged.

"Weird," Luke said. He walked over and sat next to her on the bed.

"Yeah," Lorelai said. "I think it kind of held back my imagination, you know? I couldn’t really play with the dolls how I wanted to play with them. I’d always kind of restrict myself to the stuff I thought my mom would approve of, like having little tea parties and stuff, so it wasn’t exactly fun."

Luke nodded. "I know what you mean." He stared at the dollhouse for a moment, then turned to her and smiled. "Play with it now."

She raised her eyebrows. "The dollhouse?"

He nodded. "Sure. Your mom’s not here, you can do whatever you want with it."

She thought for a moment, then smiled. "Will you play with me?"

He made a face. "You want me to play dolls?" he asked dryly.

She nodded excitedly. "Come on Luke, it’ll be fun." She stood up and took off her coat, dropping it on the bed next to her purse. She walked over to the doll house and stared back at him expectantly.

He sighed loudly. "Fine. I will . . . play dolls," he said, rolling his eyes. He took off his suit jacket, then unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. He walked over to her. "I hope you realize that if you tell anyone about this, I’m cutting off the coffee supply permanently."

Lorelai gasped. "You know, serious threats like that can really ruin the relationship between a customer and her coffee boy."

"Coffee boy?" he said with a laugh. "I’m your coffee boy?"

She kissed him and smiled. "Yes, you’re my coffee boy. Got a problem with that?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Can you at least make it coffee man?" he asked.

She sighed. "Fine, coffee man." She reached into one of the rooms of the dollhouse and pulled out two small dolls. She held up the girl and said, "I’ll be . . . hmm. . . I’ll be Lola." She handed him the other one and said, "You’re the boy. Give him a name."

Luke shook his head. "I don’t do names."

"Luke, come on, you’re no fun," she pouted.

He sighed and thought for a moment. "Bob."

She laughed. "Very original. Okay, Bob," she said in a deep mocking tone. She placed the girl doll into the miniature bedroom. "Bob, come into my room."

Luke reluctantly placed his figure down and said, "Okay. . .uh, Lola." He laughed. "Oh God, you really better keep this a secret."

She smiled and looked down at the dolls. "Bob, how’re you doing?"

"Wait, who is Bob exactly? Lola’s brother?" Luke asked.

"No, it’s her boyfriend," Lorelai explained. "Now come on, get in character," she said, pointing to his doll.

Luke sighed. "Uh, I’m fine Lola, how are you?" he said unenthusiastically.

"I’m good," Lorelai said. "Uh, you know Bob, we’ve been dating for a few weeks now."

"Yes we have," Luke agreed.

"And it’s been really great," Lorelai said, still looking at the dolls.

"Yes it has," Luke agreed again.

"And so I think that maybe it’s time we . . . got a little more personal." Lorelai brought her gaze up from the dolls to Luke.

Luke swallowed hard and stared at Lorelai as he said, "Uh, yeah, Lola, I think so too."

A chill ran through Lorelai’s body and her heart started racing. She turned to face him directly, then brought the doll up and held it in front of her. "Uh, Bob. . .do you think we should get more personal right now?"

Luke held his doll up in front of him and said, "Yeah. . .Lola, I think so."

Lorelai and Luke stared at each other for a moment. They dropped their dolls at the same time and stepped toward each other, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss that sent electric chills through both of their bodies. Their built-up sexual tension seemed to all come flowing out as their kiss deepened. Lorelai wrapped her arms around Luke’s neck as they walked together toward the bed, not breaking the connection of their lips.

When they finally did break apart, Lorelai’s fingers started slowly unbuttoning his shirt. As she did so, she leaned in to kiss him again, but Luke surprised her by pulling his head away. "Wait, Lorelai, wait," he said, taking a step back. "Um, I don’t have a . . . uh, are you on some sort of . . .you know?" He looked at her hopefully.

Lorelai smiled. "Pill? It’s not a bad word, Luke. And yes."

Luke let out a small sigh of relief as he stepped back toward her, and she resumed unbuttoning his shirt. She slid it off of him, revealing a white T- shirt that Lorelai slowly pulled up over his head and tossed on the floor. She ran her hands over his chest and arms as their mouths met again in a hungry kiss. Lorelai’s mouth moved slowly from his lips down to his neck and chest as she kissed him over his upper body.

Luke placed a hand on her chin and pulled her head up to his. He cupped his hands around the back of her neck and kissed her deeply, and they finally separated when the lack of oxygen became unbearable. As the sounds of their heavy breathing echoed throughout the room, Luke’s hands found their way to the bottom of Lorelai’s satin shirt. His strong fingers clutched the soft fabric in his hands and slowly brought it up over her head.

He tossed it on the bed, then brushed aside her hair and lowered his mouth to her neck. He sucked on it lightly as her hands roamed his body, running over his shoulders and back. He slid her bra strap down and kissed from her neck to her shoulder, then moved to the other shoulder and did the same. His fingers reached behind her back and fumbled with her bra clasp before he finally released it and stepped back. She slid the bra off and dropped it to the floor. A surge of excitement jolted through her body and a smile slowly appeared on his face as she revealed herself to him.

Lorelai reached down and unbuckled his belt and slowly pulled it through the loops. As she dropped it on the floor, she took a step back and sat on the bed. She kicked off her heels and slid herself back to rest her head on the pillows. She lay on her back, her chest rising noticeably faster than usual with her heavy breathing, and she gestured with her finger for him to join her.

He slipped out of his shoes before he climbed on the bed. He lay on top of her, and her hands immediately pulled his face to hers. As he broke away from her soft lips, he kissed down her neck to her chest. He brought his hands up to her breasts and ran his fingers over them gently, and Lorelai moaned softly as his fingertips grazed her sensitive nipples. He lowered his mouth to her breast and sucked on it, swirling his tongue around the hardened center as Lorelai’s fingers ran through his hair. "Luke. . . oh God, Luke," she murmured breathlessly. He moved his mouth from breast to breast, her moans of approval increasing with every passing second.

As he removed his mouth from her chest, she let out a small whimper of disappointment. He smiled and said, "Don’t worry, it’s not over yet." She smiled up at him, her eyes staring into his as he leaned down to kiss her.

He slid his lips down her body, circling his tongue around her navel and kissing the delicate skin of her stomach while his hands found their way back to her breasts and squeezed them gently. Lorelai let out a loud moan toward the ceiling as she placed her hands on the back of Luke’s head, clutching his hair between her fists.

A few seconds later, Luke suddenly pushed himself off of her so that he was kneeling between her legs. As she stared up at him, her entire body shivered with excitement as the stimulation and anticipation were becoming overwhelming.

His hands went to her waist, where he pulled the side zipper of her skirt down, then slowly slid it down her legs and pulled it off. He put his hands on her thighs and slowly ran them down her legs to her ankles. As he ran them back up to the top, Lorelai’s legs quivered when they reached her inner thighs, coming excitingly close to touching her where she was waiting impatiently to be touched.

An excited chill ran through her body as his fingers moved up to the waistband of her panties. Her breathing increased even more and her body trembled as he slowly rolled them all the way down her legs, and she was suddenly completely exposed to him.

He dropped the panties on the floor and leaned back to admire her body, his chest heaving as he tried to control his arousal. Lorelai watched his eyes roam around. They were glowing with excitement as they devoured the image in front of him – the image he had pictured in his head so many times before and was now finally able to see firsthand. He started to say something, but stammered, "Uh. . . you. . .um." He swallowed hard and continued to stare at her.

She let out a small laugh. "I see that my beauty has rendered you speechless. Don’t feel bad, I have that effect on everyone."

He leaned over her body to kiss her, and she let out a soft groan of pleasure as his body pressed tightly against hers. He pulled his lips back, his face lingering just centimeters from hers. "You say that jokingly." He craned his neck to look down at her body again, then brought his eyes back up to hers. He pushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes and said seriously, "But you have no idea how gorgeous you are. You’re just. . . .incredible."

As a slightly embarrassed smile appeared on her lips, he kissed her again, his tongue gliding over hers aggressively. As they kissed, her hands moved to his waistband and unzipped his pants. She slid a hand inside and dragged her fingertips over his thigh through his boxers. His heavy breathing increased as she alternately ran her fingers gently along each of his inner thighs, but stayed away from direct contact with anything else.

She removed her hand from his pants and started to push them down over his waist. He quickly climbed off the bed and removed his pants and socks. Lorelai propped herself up on her elbows and watched him intently as he walked to the foot of the bed in just his boxers. He stood there staring at her for a moment before he brought his hands to the waistband.

Lorelai tried to be discreet as he removed his boxers, she tried not to stare; but her eyes were immediately drawn to one thing. She said nothing, but the look in her eyes and the sly smile on her lips told Luke that she was impressed.

She swallowed hard, trying to calm herself down as her body throbbed with arousal that she could not control. As Luke started to climb on the bed, the throbbing increased until she was almost numb with stimulation. He crawled up over her body and kissed her. She could feel him between her legs; she felt his hardness against her thigh, and she silently begged for him to satisfy her.

He pulled his lips apart from hers and stared into her eyes. He positioned himself over her, supporting himself on his arms and lining up his body so that his hardness was poised at her opening. The feeling of his tip against her sex made her groan loudly. He suddenly entered her in one quick motion, and her mouth dropped open as the intense pleasure rushed through her body.

"Ugghhhhhh," Lorelai moaned loudly as she took him in completely, her mouth hanging wide open as his hardness filled her. Luke was still for a moment, trying to make that initial moment of pleasure last forever, letting both of them to get used to the feeling of her warmth surrounding his hardness.

Luke began slowly thrusting himself into her, her extreme wetness allowing him to slide in and out with ease. He had a look of concentration in his eyes and his mouth hung half open, releasing a pleasurable grunt with every thrust. Their bodies rocked back and forth on the bed as he rhythmically plunged himself deep inside of her. Their bodies were already covered with perspiration, their mouths dry from their groaning.

Her eyes clenched tight, Lorelai’s facial expressions conveyed the extreme pleasure that was surging through her body. "Oh my God . . . oh my God . . . oh my God," she muttered softly in between her heavy panting. She opened her eyes and stared up at Luke. She watched his body move quickly against hers, watched his facial expressions, listened to his groans. She reached up and pulled his lips to hers, kissing him aggressively, each of them moaning through it as Luke’s powerful thrusts continued. He pulled away from her mouth and brought his lips to her chest, running his tongue over her breasts.

He increased his motions, pushing into her harder and faster. Lorelai reached out and gripped the sheets around her, squeezing them tightly in her hands as she felt her orgasm approaching quickly. She pushed her body towards his to meet his rhythmic thrusts, the impact of their pelvises creating a crash of indescribable pleasure.

Lorelai could tell by his facial expressions and groans that he was close to reaching his peak. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, pulling him harder against her body. His final thrusts were his most powerful ones, ones that made her scream out considerably louder than before. She heard him groan loudly and then felt him explode inside of her, releasing his warm fluids into her as her internal muscles tightened around him.

Her orgasm forced a piercing scream out of her lips, which soon dissolved into a loud moan that continued for several seconds. Her body writhed on the bed, quivering intensely as the intense pleasure rushed through her. As it finally subsided, she muttered "Oh my God, Luke" several times as Luke collapsed on top of her, resting his head in the center of her chest. Their chests heaved up and down as they tried to catch their breaths. They both closed their eyes as their heavy breathing filled the room.

When Lorelai finally opened her eyes, she brought her arms up around Luke and stroked his back. He lifted his head to look at her, his hair tasseled, his face covered with sweat. He kissed her passionately before he lifted himself off of her and rolled over to lie next to her on the bed. They both stared up at the ceiling, and Luke reached down and clasped his hand around hers. After several moments of silence, Luke said, "Wow," his eyes widening as he turned to look at her.

She turned to him and nodded quickly. "I’ll second that. Wow."

"That was just. . . wow," he said, shaking his head slightly.

"Incredible," she said, smiling. "Oh my God."

They kissed, and she leaned her head against his chest and snuggled closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her as she reached down and pulled the bottom of the comforter over them. His fingertips ran softly up and down her arm as her hand ran over his chest and stomach.

"You know, that wasn’t how I imagined it would be," Luke said quietly.

Lorelai froze, as suddenly those insecure thoughts of trying to live up to his expectations of her came rushing back. She felt a knot in her stomach. She swallowed hard and said, "No?"

"Nope," he said. After a brief pause, he added, "It was a million times better."

Lorelai let out the breath she didn’t even know she was holding. She smiled and turned her head to look up at him. He was staring down at her with a sly smile on his face, and she leaned up and kissed him. She pulled back and sighed. "I don’t want to leave." She paused. "Hey, is Caesar at the diner?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"He’s gonna close up, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" he repeated.

She smiled. "Let’s stay the night."

He raised his eyebrows. "Stay the night? You wanna sleep here?"

She ran her fingers over his chest and raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Who said anything about sleeping?" She kissed him.

Luke smiled through the kiss. "Ah, now I fully support the ‘staying the night’ idea."

She smiled. "Good. Let me just call Rory." She crawled to the foot of the bed and leaned over to grab her purse from the floor. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her house.

After several rings, Rory answered. "Hello?"

"Hey hon," Lorelai said. "Did I wake you?"

"Nope. What’s up? Is something wrong?" Rory asked with a concerned tone.

"No, everything’s fine. Um, I just wanted to tell you not to wait up. I won’t be home until really late."

"How late?" Rory asked.

"Um, like. . . tomorrow morning," Lorelai said, running her hand down Luke’s leg.

Rory gasped. "Mom! Where are you? At Luke’s?"

"Uh no. . .we’re at your grandparents," she said.

"Grandma and Grandpa’s?" Rory asked, surprised. "What the heck are you doing there?"

"Uh. . . " Lorelai started.

"Oh my God, stupid question, don’t answer," Rory said quickly. "Does Grandma know you’re there?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "No, and she never will, understand?"

"Got it," Rory said. "Um, see you tomorrow then."

"Okay. Call the cell if you need me."

"Okay. Night Mom."

"Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone. She crawled back over to Luke and held out the phone. "You should call Jess."

Luke stared at it and raised his eyebrows. "You want me to use a cell phone? Even though lab experiments have shown that human blood cells exposed to cell phone radiation suffered genetic damage, you still want me to use this cell phone?" He looked at her in disbelief.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Luke, I highly doubt that those studies apply to people who only use a cell phone once in their life." She dialed his apartment. She brought it to her ear and listened. "Okay, it’s ringing, here." She held it out to him.

He hesitated a moment before he reluctantly took it with a sigh. Lorelai leaned her head against Luke’s chest as she listened to his side of the conversation. "Jess, yeah, it’s me. Listen, I won’t be home tonight. . . Bye."

Lorelai sat up and laughed. "Did you rush that conversation to avoid the dangers of cell phones or is that how you guys talk to each other?"

He handed the phone back to her. "Well, we’re not exactly the two most talkative people in the world," Luke said.

"I’ve noticed." She put the cell phone on the nightstand and crawled on top of him, straddling his stomach. She raised her eyebrows. "You ready for more fun?" He smiled and nodded. She shook her head lightly. "I don’t know, Luke. I’m pretty wired right now. You think you can handle me?"

Luke put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her down to his lips, kissing her deeply. He pulled back and said, "Give me all you got."

Lorelai smiled and shrugged. "Okay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you."
* * *

* * *

Part 9

A few hours later, as Luke and Lorelai climbed through the bedroom window back into the room, Luke said, "I cannot believe you just made me do that."

Lorelai giggled as she shut the window. "Luke, everyone should do it on a balcony at least once in their life, and now you can say that you have."

"Yeah, well, it’s the middle of the night in the middle of winter. We could’ve came back in the summer and done it then. It would’ve been more comfortable," he said, rubbing his arms for warmth.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You’re such a baby. We were only out there for a few minutes." She looked around the room. "Hmm, I think we’ve done it at least once in every section of the room," she said, nodding impressively. "We’re good."

Luke walked over to the bed and collapsed onto it. "Mmhmm." He closed his eyes and pulled the comforter over himself.

"Okay, I guess that means you’re done for the night," Lorelai said with a laugh. "I’ll be right back then." Lorelai walked down the hallway to the bathroom, then returned a few minutes later. She walked over to the bed and climbed in next to Luke, who seemed to already be half-asleep.

As she started to pull the comforter up over her, she gasped. She tapped Luke repeatedly on the shoulder. "Luke, wake up."

Luke rolled over and grumbled, "What’s wrong?"

"We need to wash the sheets," Lorelai said, holding the comforter up. "Look at this - it’s all wrinkly. If there are any signs that we’ve been here while she’s not home, my mom will throw the biggest conniption fit in the world, I’m not kidding."

Luke groaned. "Lorelai, she probably doesn’t even come in here."

"Come on, get up," she urged, tapping him again.

Luke sighed loudly. "You spend hours and hours wearing me out and now instead of letting me sleep, you want me to do laundry?"

"Yes," she replied.

He rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not."

She frowned. "Come on Luke. I just gave you the best four hours of your life, so you forfeit all complaining rights."

Luke sat up and scoffed. "The best four hours of my life?"

"Are you seriously telling me it wasn't?" she asked with a smirk.

He shrugged. "Well, you know, Rachel was pretty limber."

Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God!" She smacked Luke playfully on his shoulder and shook her head. "Forget it, we are now in an abstinent relationship."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Luke said with a laugh. He leaned over and kissed her. "Yes, that was the best four hours of my life." He kissed her again, then leaned back against the pillow. "Except when you bit me," he muttered, rubbing the side of his neck.

Lorelai laughed. "I apologized for that like a million times. And it was your own fault anyway."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "How so? Your teeth sank into my neck – how could that possibly be my fault? It’s all you."

"Actually, it was in the throws of passion, Luke, so it’s not anyone’s fault," she explained with an exasperated sigh. "Now stop wasting time, we have to wash these sheets." She climbed off the bed and started pulling the comforter off, trying to slide it out from underneath him. "Come on, Luke."

Luke reluctantly climbed off the bed. Lorelai gathered the comforter into her arms and started walking toward the door with it.

"Aren't you gonna put on some clothes?" Luke asked with a laugh.

She turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Why? Don't like the view?"

Luke raised his hands innocently in front of his chest. "Hey, I'm not complaining."

She smiled. "Grab those other sheets and follow me." She walked through the door into the hallway.

Luke pulled on his boxers and his T-shirt, then grabbed the sheets and walked out of the room. Lorelai, who was waiting by the staircase, smiled as she saw his clothes. "Not a big fan of walking around other people’s houses in the nude?"

"I guess I’m a little more reserved than you are," he said.

She smiled and led him down the stairs to the laundry room. She stuffed the comforter and sheets into the machine. "There’s too much stuff in there," Luke observed, folding his arms across his chest. "You should do two loads."

"We don’t have time for two loads, Luke. This’ll have to do." She poured in some detergent and turned the machine on. She waited for a moment to make sure it started, then turned around and faced Luke.

Luke held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her toward him into an embrace. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. The warmth of his body against hers made a calming feeling run through Lorelai’s body. He kissed the top of her head before he closed his eyes and rested his cheek against it.

They were silent for almost a minute before Lorelai said, "Luke?"

His eyes still closed, he replied, "What?"

"Why do you like me?" she asked quietly.

He opened his eyes and let out a small laugh. "What?"

She lifted her head up and looked at him. "I mean, what is it about me that’s made you like me for so long?"

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean, like you for so long?"

"I mean, you’ve liked me for a really long time," Lorelai said with a shrug. She paused and quickly added, "Haven’t you? I mean, ‘cause that’s what people were saying to me. They were like, ‘he has a thing for you’, and I was like, ‘no, he doesn’t,’ but I mean, you’re the only one who really knows how long you’ve been into this whole Niles/Daphne routine. Those other people could’ve just been seeing things or. . ." She abruptly closed her mouth when she saw Luke staring at her with a confused look. "I’ll stop talking now."

Luke looked down uncomfortably. "Other people have said that I’ve liked you for a long time?"

"Uh, sort of," Lorelai said hesitantly, suddenly feeling stupid for starting the conversation. "But let’s just forget it, it doesn’t matter. Um, the hugging – let’s go back to the quiet hugging." She leaned her head back against his chest. She brought her arms up under his shirt and ran her hands up and down his back.

Luke didn’t say anything for a minute. With her ear against his chest, Lorelai closed her eyes and concentrated on the rhythm of his breathing. Finally, he said quietly, "They’re right – it’s been a long time."

Lorelai opened her eyes. She picked her head up and looked at him. "Yeah?"

He swallowed hard and nodded.

She brought her hand up and twirled a finger through the bottom of his hair. "But why?"

"Why. . . have I liked you for a long time?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah," she said, shrugging. "Why me? I mean, there are millions of girls out there – why’d you wait for me?"

He stared at her for a second before he let out a sigh. "Because. . . I don’t know. . . because you’re perfect."

A panicked look appeared on Lorelai’s face and she took a step back from him. "Don’t say that," she said quickly.

"What - what’s wrong?" Luke asked, a look of surprise on his face.

She shook her head. "Just don’t say that. Don’t think that about me, Luke," Lorelai said. She turned her back to him and took a few steps forward.

Luke stood there for a moment looking at her with confusion. He took a step toward her and put a hand on her shoulder, then turned her body around to face him. She stood with her hands folded across her chest, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"What’s wrong?" Luke asked, reaching out and rubbing her arm. Feeling how cold it was, he said, "You’re freezing." He took off his T-shirt and held it out to her.

"Thanks," she said, taking it and pulling it over her head.

"So, what is it?" he asked softly.

"So. . .it’s nothing." She leaned against the dryer and sighed.

"That sigh means it’s something, so what is it?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed that she wouldn’t talk about it.

She stared at him for a minute, then she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she said, "Luke, I’m not perfect. . . and I don’t want you to think I am because you’re just. . .you’re gonna be in for a rude awakening." She stared down at the floor. "The last thing I want to do is disappoint you."

He walked over and stood directly in front of her, putting a hand on either of her shoulders. "Where the heck is this sudden lack of self-esteem coming from? You’re not like that."

She nodded. "Oh, yes I am, Luke. I try to hide it, but it’s always there. After years of having my parents doubt my ability to do anything, it’s made me realize how many faults I really do have, how many ways I’ll disappoint people." She started wringing her hands uncomfortably. "That’s why I don’t get it – why would you wait so long for me? If you’ve waited this long just because you think I’m perfect, then. . .you’re wrong."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" he asked loudly. Lorelai looked up in surprise as Luke shook his head and said, "Don’t act stupid, Lorelai."

She scoffed. "You’re calling me stupid?" she asked, getting defensive.

"No, I’m not calling you stupid, I’m telling you not to act stupid. There’s a difference. And you thinking that you’re a disappointment to anyone, especially to me, is crazy," he said matter-of-factly, his face getting red. "Why would you ever – "

She held up a hand to stop him. "Okay, hold on - why are you getting angry at me here?"

He exhaled loudly. "Because if someone else was standing here talking about you like that, I’d get mad at them just the same."

"Oh, so you’re defending me from myself?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "Makes perfect sense."

He sighed and pursed his lips, and Lorelai could tell he was thinking. He suddenly slipped his hands under her arms and picked her up, and sat her on top of the dryer. He stood directly in front of her, rested his hands on her thighs and stared into her eyes. "All right, I didn’t wanna do this, but I’m switching into sensitive mode. Don’t get used to it."

A small smile fell on her lips as she stared at him.

"Just listen to me – I know you have faults. You’re annoying during movies, you eat an indescribable amount of junk food, you have the disgusting taste of coffee on your lips all the time," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry about that," Lorelai muttered.

He took her hands into his and continued, "But you’re also smart and funny and strong-willed and an incredible mom and you’ll do anything for your friends and. . .and you look really good in tight jeans," he added with a smile.

She looked down at her hands as she smiled shyly.

He tilted her chin back up and kissed her. He stared at her for a second before he said, "I know you have faults, but. . .I still think you’re perfect. So don’t worry about disappointing me - it’s not gonna happen. I’m the one who should worry about disappointing you."

Lorelai shook her head. "That’s not gonna happen either."

Luke smiled. "Good. Now I’m officially exiting out of sensitive mode."

She smiled as she put her hands on his cheeks and led his lips to hers. She kissed him deeply, softly exploring his mouth with her tongue as she invited his to do the same in hers.

As she pulled back, she said, "You know, if I would’ve known that you could be this sweet, I probably would’ve fallen for you years ago."

"Yeah, well, don’t get used to it," he said, rolling his eyes. "And don’t expect it to come out when we’re around other people - can’t let my macho image be shattered."

Lorelai smiled. "Don’t worry – if people find out that you’re abnormally sensitive, I’ll just tell them how good in bed you are to even things out."

He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Good plan." He stifled a yawn and glanced at the washing machine. "So are we gonna stay in the laundry room all night waiting for this stupid thing to be finished?"

She glanced at the dials. "Well, there’s only like twenty minutes left. Let’s wait for it to finish, then we can throw the stuff in the dryer and go to sleep."

Luke nodded. He turned around and leaned against the dryer directly in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back.

* * *

The next morning, as Lorelai slowly opened her eyes, it took her a moment to remember where she was. She glanced around the room and a smile appeared on her lips as she recalled the happenings of the night before.

She glanced at Luke lying next to her on his back, still asleep. She turned onto her side and rested her head on her elbow. She smiled to herself as she watched him sleep - staring at his chest rising softly, listening to the quiet sound of his breathing.

After a few minutes, she leaned over him and kissed him to wake him up. Surprised, Luke unconsciously kissed her back before he even opened his eyes. When he did, he smiled through the kiss. "Morning," he said as his eyes adjusted to the light of the room.

"Morning," Lorelai said. She crawled up on top of him, pressing her lips against his again. He brought his arms up around her, sliding his hands up under his T-shirt that she’d slept in like a nightgown. He ran his hands over the smooth skin of her back as they kissed.

As Lorelai pulled back, she glided her hands over his chest and said, "I had fun last night."

He ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it behind her ears. "Me too." He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and his eyes widened. "Oh God, I have to get to the diner."

Lorelai glanced at the clock and rolled off of him. "It’s only eight."

"Yeah, but the diner opens at six - which you would know if you didn’t sleep until ten on the weekends," Luke said as he got up off the bed. "Hurry up and get dressed. People are probably standing in line waiting for me to open." He gathered up his clothes and started getting dressed.

Lorelai sighed and climbed off the bed. Realizing they hadn’t slept on any regular linens, she said, "Shoot – we still have to make the bed." She grabbed the quilt they’d slept with and folded it up, then stuck it back in the closet where they’d found it the night before. "I’ll be right back." She ran down to the laundry room, grabbed the sheets and comforter from the dryer, then ran back upstairs.

Luke, who was already dressed, walked towards her with his arms out. "Here, give ‘em to me. I’ll start putting them on while you get dressed."

She handed him the sheets. "Thanks." She gathered up her clothes and dressed quickly, then helped him finish the bed. "Ah, it’s sorta wrinkly. We shouldn’t have let it sit in the dryer all night."

Luke rolled his eyes. "It looks fine. She’s not gonna walk over to the bed and stare at it looking for imperfections."

"You don’t know my mother very well, do you?" Lorelai said with a laugh. "My mom will notice one little thing out of place and then she’ll get all suspicious and hire a private detective to figure out what happened."

Luke straightened out the comforter. "Nice of you to tell me this now. I swear, if you get me arrested then I’ll. . ," his voice trailed off.

She smirked. "Then you’ll what?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

He looked up at her. "Then I’ll be expecting a lot of conjugal visits from you."

She let out a small laugh. "It’s a deal." She smoothed out the comforter and arranged the pillows, then glanced around the room making sure everything looked the same as when they’d arrived. "Okay, looks presentable. Ready to go?"

"Yup," he said. He picked up her coat and purse off the floor and handed them to her, then grabbed her hand and led her out the door.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, they pulled up to Lorelai’s house. Lorelai pushed open the door as she said, "I’ll probably be in the diner later." She leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"You may be the only customer," Luke said as he glanced at the clock. "Everyone else will probably be boycotting me for opening so late - with Taylor leading the angry mob yelling about how opening late is a bad reflection on the town."

Lorelai brought her lips close to his and said softly, "Well, just explain to Taylor that your girlfriend kept you up all night, and that you were too physically exhausted to get up on time. He’ll completely understand." She leaned in and kissed him.

Luke smiled through the kiss. "Yeah, I’m sure he’ll love that. Then he’ll probably go into some crazy list of reasons why premarital sex is a bad reflection on the town or something."

"Well, it technically wasn’t in this town, so it should all work out," Lorelai said. She stepped out of the truck and smiled. "Bye." She slammed the door and watched him pull away before she walked up to the porch.

She pushed the door open and walked inside, and heard voices in the kitchen. "Rory?" Lorelai called. "I’m home." Lorelai took off her coat and walked toward the kitchen. "Hey, who else is – " She stopped as she saw Rory talking to Jess near the back door.

"Hey Mom," Rory said.

"Hey hon," Lorelai said, folding her arms across her chest. She pursed her lips and nodded, "Jess."

Jess nodded toward her uncomfortably, then turned to Rory. "I better go."

Rory glanced quickly from Lorelai to Jess before she said, "Okay."

"And thanks for. . ." Jess held up the book he was holding. He nodded to her before he slipped out the backdoor.

Rory turned to Lorelai and gestured to the coffeepot. "I just made coffee. You look like you need some." She sat down at the table, where her own cup of coffee was sitting next to a bowl of cereal.

Lorelai walked nonchalantly over to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup, then sat down and stared at Rory questioningly.

Rory ate a spoonful of cereal before she raised her eyebrows and said, "What?"

"Oh, I don’t know," Lorelai said, shrugging. "A mother comes home at nine in the morning and finds her teenage daughter, who had the whole house to herself for the entire night, talking to a guy in the kitchen. A little background information might be necessary to make that an acceptable scenario. Fill it in please."

"Mom, nothing happened," Rory said with a small laugh.

Lorelai raised her hands innocently. "I didn’t say that it did. I just need you to fill in the blanks."

Rory took a sip of coffee. "He called me this morning and asked if I had Nine Stories, and I said yes."

"Nine stories?" Lorelai asked suspiciously. "He only left with one book."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Nine Stories is the name of the book, Mom. It’s a collection of short stories."

"Oh," Lorelai said, taking a sip of coffee. "Go on."

"He asked if he could borrow it and I said yes," Rory continued. "Then he came over and picked it up. He was only here for like three minutes before you got here. That’s it."

"He had the sudden urge to read first thing in the morning?" Lorelai asked.

"Urges to read strike people at the oddest of times," Rory said knowingly.

Lorelai nodded and sipped her coffee. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Rory eat her cereal. After a few minutes, Lorelai asked, "Rory, do wanna go out with Jess?"

Rory almost choked on her cereal. She coughed a few times and exclaimed, "What?!"

Lorelai put her hand on Rory’s arm. "Don’t get mad. I am not asking this to invade your privacy or anything, I promise you. And I’m not gonna judge you or comment or say anything about it. I just really need to know."

The seriousness in Lorelai’s voice encouraged Rory to answer the question instead of brushing it off as nosiness. "No, I don’t want to go out with Jess, we’re just friends," Rory insisted.

"You’re sure?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, I’m sure," Rory said. "I mean, things with Dean haven’t exactly been great lately, but it’s not because I want to go out with Jess."

Lorelai nodded. "Do you think Jess wants to go out with you?"

Rory let out an exasperated sigh. "I don’t know, Mom. What’s this about?"

Lorelai paused a moment. "Rory, Luke and I are going out."

"You’re kidding," Rory said, rolling her eyes.

"Rory, listen to me," Lorelai said sternly. "Luke and I are going out - that means that you and Jess can’t. . . . understand?"

Rory narrowed her eyes. "Why does it mean – ," She paused for a moment. "Oh, I get it."

"Yeah, see the problem there?" Lorelai asked, raising her eyebrows. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So I’m asking you if you wanna go out with Jess because. . . even though I don’t want you to go out with him, if you. . .well, your happiness means more to me than mine, and I just. . .if you think that’s something you want, then I’ll have to. . ." Lorelai shrugged uncomfortably.

Rory looked down at her cereal and said quietly, "You would stop going out with Luke so I could go out with Jess?" She brought her gaze up to meet her mom’s.

Lorelai swallowed hard. "Um, if that’s what would make you happy. . .then yes." Lorelai bit her bottom lip uncomfortably as a sudden feeling of heartache washed over her.

Rory stared at her mom for a minute. She suddenly stood up and walked over to Lorelai and hugged her. "I love you."

Lorelai stood up and hugged her back. "Uh, I love you too." She paused and asked, "Um. . .does that mean that you. . ." her voice trailed off. Lorelai suddenly felt sick as she realized that her relationship with Luke might soon be over.

Rory pulled back from the hug and shook her head. "No, it doesn’t mean anything. It means that. . .I love you. It means that, I know how happy you are with Luke – and you were gonna give that up so I could be with Jess even though you don’t like him. I just. . .I don’t even know what to say to that." She hugged Lorelai again.

Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief and felt the knot in her stomach disappear as she hugged Rory.

Rory pulled away and there was an appreciative smile on her face. "Thank you."

Lorelai shrugged. "That’s what moms do."

"No, there are a lot of moms who wouldn’t even consider doing that," Rory said. She walked back over to her chair and sat down.

"Okay, that’s what moms who care about their children’s happiness more than anything in the world do," Lorelai corrected herself. She sat back down and leaned toward Rory. "So you’re one hundred percent sure about all this?"

Rory nodded. "Yes, I’m sure. I don’t see Jess like that – he’s just a friend. I was actually thinking that he and Paris might get along well."

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "Paris? Uh, Paris from school, Paris?"

"Yeah," Rory said. "You don’t think so?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don’t know. I guess they both like to read – that’s a starting point." She took a sip of coffee. "But remember what happened last time you played matchmaker?"

Rory grimaced. "Oh yeah. I guess I’ll put that plan on the back burner so I can develop those skills," Rory said. She paused a moment and gave her mom a sly smile. "So, uh, how was your date?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "It was . . .pretty incredible. He wore a suit."

Rory gasped. "No way!"

Lorelai laughed. "Yes! And he shaved."

"Wow," Rory said. "I hope you took pictures of that."

Lorelai smiled. "I’ll remember to next time. And we went to this really nice fancy restaurant, then afterwards, I gave him a tour of your grandparents’ house, and we went upstairs and - "

Rory held up her hand. "Stop there."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Stopping immediately."

"Thank you," Rory said gratefully.

* * *

That night, Rory and Lorelai walked into Luke’s slightly after seven. As Rory sat down at a table, Lorelai walked up to Luke at the counter. "Hey," Lorelai said, placing her hand on his arm.

Luke looked up from his order pad and smiled. "Hey."

Lorelai glanced around at the other customers. "So I see they haven’t boycotted you."

Luke sighed. "No, but Taylor and a group of his followers were waiting impatiently for me to open up while complaining about how late I was. I then explained to them that as the owner of said diner, I reserve the right to open whenever I want and if they don’t like it, they could go to Teriyaki Joe’s for breakfast," Luke said pointedly.

Lorelai laughed. "Nice. And what did Taylor say?"

Luke shrugged. "I don’t know, he was yammering about something but I tuned him out."

"Yeah, I think that’s what everyone does," Lorelai said. She glanced over at Rory, then turned to Luke and said, "Oh, we’ll have burgers and fries. With coffee."

He rolled his eyes and started to say something, but Lorelai quickly leaned across the counter and kissed him. She pulled back with a smile. "Don’t complain about the burgers and I’ll do that again before I leave," she said, raising her eyebrows flirtingly.

He scribbled on his pad. "Two burgers coming up."

She smiled. "Thank you." She turned around and walked over to sit with Rory.

"Nice public display of affection," Rory commented.

"Hey, it was either that or he was gonna start complaining about the burgers," Lorelai explained. She hung up her purse and jacket on the back of her chair.

"Ah, nice one," Rory said. She glanced around the diner as she tapped her fingers casually on the table. She turned back to Lorelai. "Oh hey, can I use your cell phone?"

"Not in here," Luke said sternly as he arrived at the table with their coffee. He pointed to the sign. "It’s up there in plain English, and for people who can’t read, there’s even a picture, so I don’t –"

Lorelai stood up quickly and pressed her lips against his. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, preventing him from pulling back to finish his rant. He brought his hands up to her waist as he kissed her back.

Lorelai finally broke away from him. She ran her fingers over the collar of his T-shirt and said quietly, "Do you think it’s okay if Rory uses my cell phone in here?"

Still catching his breath, he stammered, "Yeah. . .you know, uh, just this once would probably be okay." He paused. "Are you gonna do that every time you want your way?"

She smiled and shrugged. "If I have to."

"Just checking," he said. He turned around and walked back to the counter.

Rory sat at the table with her mouth hanging open. "Mom, I could’ve went outside and used the phone. You didn’t have to eat his face just for me."

Lorelai scoffed. "Hey, it wasn’t just for you. Urges to kiss people come at the strangest times, just like urges to read." She opened up her purse and reached in to pull out her cell phone. When she couldn’t feel it, she peaked inside. "Huh."

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"It’s not in here," Lorelai said. She reached behind her and patted the pockets of her jacket. "Huh. That’s funny. I don’t think I’ve used it since – " She stopped talking and her eyes widened. She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh no, I didn’t," she mumbled.

"What’s wrong? When did you last use it?" Rory asked.

Lorelai grimaced. "At your Grandma’s house last night."

End Part 9

* * *

Part 10

Rory gasped. "You left it at Grandma’s house? Are you sure?"

Lorelai slowly nodded.

Rory took a deep breath. "Okay, well, let’s think for a minute. Are they home yet?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don’t know." She put her hand on her forehead. "Oh God, when did she say she was coming back? Did she say Saturday or Sunday?"

Rory shrugged. "I don’t know, you never told me what she said. Mom, you have to get it back before they find it."

"I know, I know." Lorelai exhaled loudly. "Okay, we have to go there and get it. I’ll call and see if they’re home, and if they are, then we have a forty-five minute car ride to think up a really good cover story and devise a plan to get it back." Lorelai stood up and walked over to the counter. "Luke!" she called loudly. "Luke!"

Luke walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates. "Calm down, your food’s right here," he grumbled.

"Luke, I left my cell phone on the nightstand!" Lorelai said frantically.

"What? What are you talking about?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"The nightstand!" Lorelai repeated. "After you called Jess, I put my phone on the nightstand!"

Luke’s eyes widened. "At your parents’ house? It’s still there?"

Lorelai nodded quickly. "Yes! It’s still there!"

Luke sighed loudly and put the plates down. "Dammit! See, this is why cell phones should be permanently banned from society. They cause nothing but trouble!" he said angrily, slapping his hand on the counter.

Lorelai frowned. "Hey, don’t blame the poor cell phone. It’s my fault, not his." She rushed behind the counter. "I need to go get it, but I have to call and see if my parents are home." She picked up the phone off the wall and started dialing. "Can I use this phone?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, go right ahead." He leaned against the counter and watched her.

She smiled and brushed her fingertips against his cheek. "Thanks." She brought the phone to her ear and twirled her fingers around the phone cord as she listened nervously to the ringing on the other end. When she got the answering machine, she hung it up and said, "They’re not home. I’m gonna go get it."

"Do you want me to drive you?" Luke offered.

Lorelai shook her head. "Nah, I’ll just take Rory." She walked over to the table and said, "Okay, they’re not home."

"So we’re gonna go get it?" Rory asked.

"Yup, right now," Lorelai said.

Rory stood up and put on her coat. Lorelai took a sip of her coffee, then pulled on her own coat as Luke walked over with two take-out cups. "Here," Luke said, handing them to Rory.

"Thanks Luke," Rory said, taking a sip from one.

Lorelai smiled as she zipped up her coat. "You take such good care of us."

He shrugged. "Someone’s got to."

She kissed him on the cheek. Her eyes glanced past him toward the counter and her gaze landed on the two burgers. She frowned. "Ah, sorry about the burgers. Don’t let them go to waste. Just wrap ‘em up, we’ll pick them up on the way home."

He waved her off. "It’s fine, I’ll just make new ones when you get back."

She smiled. "Okay. I’ll call you on the way home so you know if the mission was successful."

Luke nodded. "Okay, good."

Lorelai leaned in to kiss him. With one hand clutching her purse, she put her other hand on the back of his neck and squeezed it gently as they kissed. As their lips pulled apart, their faces stayed close together, their noses slightly touching as they smiled at each other. A few seconds later, Lorelai pressed her lips back against his.

Rory rolled her eyes. Her hands full from holding the coffee cups, she kicked Lorelai’s shoe. "Mom, come on. We have to go," Rory urged. Lorelai ignored her. Rory sighed as she balanced one of the cups in the crook of her arm. With her free hand, she grabbed Lorelai’s arm and pulled her towards the door. "Bye Luke," Rory called.

Lorelai smiled and gave Luke a small wave as she walked out the door.

* * *

Lorelai and Rory had to first walk to their house to pick up the Jeep, then Lorelai drove them quickly to Hartford. As they sped down the highway, Rory said, "Mom, slow down. It’ll take us even longer to get there if we get pulled over for speeding."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, have you seen me flirt? I’m the master."

"Yeah, well, what if it’s a woman cop?" Rory asked.

Lorelai laughed. "Well, uh, there’s still a fifty-fifty chance that flirting would work."

"Yes, but there’s also only a fifty-fifty chance that it would work with the guy too," Rory pointed out.

"True," Lorelai agreed. "But besides, it’s common knowledge that you’re technically allowed to go like five miles over the speed limit anyway, and I’m only going five miles over that, so I’m pretty sure that it’s not really speeding."

Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever you say."

A short while later, Lorelai turned down the street of her parents’ house and approached the mansion slowly. As they inched closer to the house, Lorelai mumbled, "Please don’t be home, please don’t be home." As they pulled up to the gate opening, both of them leaned their heads forward against the windshield to peek at the u-shaped driveway.

When they saw that it was empty, Lorelai pulled into the driveway. The house was darkened except for the light on the porch and a dim light shining from inside the front hallway. Lorelai parked the car right next to the door. "Okay, you stay here, I’ll be five seconds."

"Okay, hurry up," Rory said.

Lorelai ran to the front door and unlocked it. She ran up the steps and rushed down the hallway to her old bedroom. She pushed open the door, flipped the light on, and her eyes went directly to the nightstand. There it was, her cell phone, lying there innocently. She ran over and grabbed it and shoved it into her jacket pocket. She walked over to the door and gave a final glance around the room before she turned the light out. She pulled the door shut behind her and ran down the hallway, down the steps, and out the front door.

Lorelai walked quickly to the car and got in. "Got it," she said. She started the car and pulled away before she could even put her seat belt on, wanting to get away from the area as quickly as possible. She drove down the street and turned the corner, then pulled over and put the car in park. She put her seat belt on, then downed the rest of her coffee, trying to salvage every drop. She tossed it in the back seat and looked at Rory’s cup. "Do you have any left?" she asked hopefully.

Rory handed the cup to her. "A little."

"Thank you," Lorelai said gratefully. She finished Rory’s coffee and threw the cup behind her, then leaned back against the seat and exhaled loudly.

Rory looked at her strangely. "You okay? Everything’s fine – you got the phone without anyone noticing it."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I know. I was just really worried that they’d be home or something would go wrong or I’d run upstairs and they’d be standing there by the bed waiting with guns or something."

Rory rolled her eyes. "You watch way too much TV." She patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, let’s go to Luke’s."

Lorelai nodded and started to pull away, then stopped. "Ooh, I have to call him." She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the diner.

"Luke’s," Luke answered.

"Hey, it’s me," Lorelai said.

"Hey. You get it all right?" Luke asked, sounding worried.

"Yup, we got it," Lorelai said. "Nobody was home. We’re on our way home now, and barring any severe accidents or traffic jams, we should be there in like forty minutes."

"Okay," he said.

"Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and laughed. "I really gotta get him a dictionary or something."

Rory smiled. "Not much of a talker on the phone?"

"Ah, it fluctuates. Sometimes if he’s in a ranting mood, he can ramble on and on, but usually I’m forced to whip out my psychic powers to decipher what he’s thinking. I think I’m getting him to open up though," she said with a smile. She handed the cell phone to Rory. "Here."

"What do want me to do with this?" Rory asked, holding it up.

Lorelai pulled back onto the road. "Didn’t you have to call someone?"

"Oh yeah." Rory thought for a moment, then let out a small laugh. "But now I don’t remember who it was."

Lorelai nodded. "Huh. Well, I’ll drop you off at your AA meeting on the way home."

Rory narrowed her eyes at her. "What?"

Lorelai shook a finger at her. "Yup, memory loss is a possible indication of alcoholism, and I think that you should get help as soon as possible."

Rory shook her head. "Nope, I’m pretty sure that this amnesiac-y incident was caused by the overdose of barbiturates from this afternoon."

Lorelai gasped and exclaimed, "Rory! Holding out on me? I told you to tell me the next time you got a hold of the good stuff." She shook her head disappointingly.

"Sorry Mom, there was only enough for me," Rory said, frowning apologetically. "Next time I’ll get more." She turned on the radio as Lorelai continued driving back to Stars Hollow.

* * *

Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner a few minutes before nine. Sookie and Jackson sat at the counter talking to Luke, and there were two other customers sitting at a table.

"Hey guys," Lorelai said as she and Rory walked up to the counter.

Luke nodded toward her as Sookie and Jackson turned around. "Hey honey," Sookie said.

As Rory sat down next to Jackson, Lorelai leaned over the counter and pecked Luke on the cheek. "Hey."

"Hey. I’ll make your burgers," Luke said. He turned and walked into the kitchen.

When he was out of site, Sookie giggled and smacked Lorelai playfully on the arm. "Look at you being all lovey-dovey with the diner man."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Stop it."

"Oh God, I needed the jaws of life to pry them apart earlier," Rory said.

Lorelai scoffed. "You did not!" She looked down at the counter.

"Aww, you’re blushing." Sookie smiled. "So where were you guys? I called you a little awhile ago, you weren’t home."

Lorelai looked up and exhaled loudly. "Oh God, we had to run to my parents’ house because last night me and - ," She paused and glanced at Jackson, realizing that Luke probably didn’t want everybody to know what happened. She cleared her throat and said, "Uh, because I left something there. Um, excuse us." Lorelai grabbed Sookie’s arm and pulled her over to the farthest table.

Sookie raised her eyebrows as she sat down. "What’s up, honey?"

Lorelai leaned forward and whispered, "Last night. . .we finally. . ." she let her voice trail off, figuring that Sookie would understand what she meant.

Sookie stared at her with a questioning look. "You finally. . ."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Me and Luke, Sookie. Think – me and Luke."

Sookie sat back in her chair and thought for a moment. She suddenly gasped. "No you didn’t!" she yelled.

Lorelai smacked her on the arm. "Shh!" She glanced at the other customers, including Jackson and Rory, who were all staring at them. "We’re fine, turn around," Lorelai told them. She leaned back toward Sookie and said quietly, "Yes, we did."

Sookie giggled excitedly. "So, how was it? Wait, where was it?"

Lorelai’s eyes kept glancing at the other people in the room, hoping no one could hear. "It was at my parents’ house."

Sookie’s eyes widened. "Your parents’ house? They’re home from vacation?" She gasped and made a face. "They were in the house?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, they’re not back from Florida yet. I have a key."

Sookie let out a small laugh. "So you broke into your parents house to have sex?"

Lorelai scoffed. "No! I didn’t break in, I had a key." Lorelai paused. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed. "And it wasn’t just sex, Sookie. Well, not the first few times, at least. We took it slow and it was romantic and sensual and he was so gentle. . ." Lorelai smiled and stared into space as she thought about it. "It was incredible, Sookie."

Sookie smiled. "Sounds like it was worth the wait." She suddenly got a confused look in her eye. She leaned forward and whispered, "Wait - did you say ‘the first few times’?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Mmhmm. We stayed the night at the house."

Sookie’s jaw dropped open. "The entire night? But when are your parents coming home?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don’t know, but the thing - ." She stopped talking as she saw Luke walk out of the kitchen with her food. He gestured the plate towards her. "Wait a sec," Lorelai told Sookie.

Lorelai walked up to the counter. "Thanks Luke. I gotta talk to Sookie for a few more minutes." She picked up her plate and walked back to the table. As she sat down, she picked up a French fry and took a bite. She continued, "But the thing is that last night, I left my cell phone in the bedroom, and I didn’t realize it until a few hours ago, so I had to drive back there and get it before they came home."

Sookie’s eyes widened. "Ooh. But they weren’t home yet?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, thank God." She picked up her burger and took a bite.

Sookie nodded. "Good, good." She glanced over at the counter at Luke talking to Jackson and Rory. She looked back to Lorelai and smirked. "Cap on?"

Lorelai finished chewing and narrowed her eyes. "What?"

She leaned closer and said quietly, "Did he leave his baseball cap on?"

Lorelai laughed. "Sookie!"

Sookie smiled. "What? I’ve just always wondered." She took a couple of fries from Lorelai’s plate.

Lorelai smiled and shook her head slightly. "No, he didn’t even wear it. We had a fancy date – no plaid, no jeans, no hat, no scruffy beard."

"Wow," Sookie said. "He cleans up nice?"

"Very nice," Lorelai said with a smile. "We went to dinner in Hartford and we were near my parents’ house, so I asked him if he wanted to see it and then I gave him a tour and. . .you know the rest."

Sookie smiled and nodded. "Sounds great." She squeezed Lorelai’s arm. "I’m happy for you, honey."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks."

Sookie glanced over at the counter. "I better go. Jackson looks tired."

Lorelai nodded. "Don’t tell Jackson anything, okay? I highly doubt that Luke wants the story of our sex life to be passed around the town."

Sookie stood up and nodded. "Got it. My lips are sealed."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks." Lorelai picked up her plate and stood up, and she and Sookie walked back to the counter. Lorelai sat down on a stool and continued eating.

"You ready?" Sookie asked, rubbing Jackson’s back.

"Yup, all set," he said. "Bye guys." He stood up and clasped Sookie’s hand as they walked toward the door.

"Night," Sookie said.

"Bye," Rory said.

"Bye," Luke said.

"Bye," Lorelai said.

Rory and Lorelai looked at each other and winced. "Did we just. . .?" Lorelai asked.

Rory nodded, then shook her head disappointingly toward the counter. "Yup, now we gotta burn ‘em."

"Yup, soon as we get home," Lorelai added sadly. "It’s a shame."

Luke sighed and shrugged. "Okay, I know I’m gonna slap myself later for asking, but what are you talking about?"

Lorelai gasped. "Luke, we just subconsciously uttered three consecutive byes in a row!"

Luke looked at her strangely. "So?"

Lorelai scoffed and gestured to her outfit. "So now we have to burn these clothes because they will forever be associated with N’Sync," Lorelai explained with an exasperated sigh.

Luke rolled his eyes and exhaled loudly. He walked away mumbling, "Yup, knew I shouldn’t have asked."

* * *

Early the next afternoon, Lorelai was sprawled on the couch watching television when the phone rang. She picked up the remote and muted the TV, then reached for the cordless phone. "Hello?"

"Lorelai? It’s your mother."

Lorelai quickly sat up on the couch. "Mom, hi. Uh, are you home?"

"Yes, we got in early this morning," Emily replied.

"Good, good," Lorelai replied. "Uh, so, how was your trip?"

"It was lovely. Though the last few days we got a lot of rain, so we didn’t get to go out and do much."

"Oh, sorry to hear," Lorelai said.

"It’s fine, we had plenty of time in the beginning of the week to be outside," Emily said. "Listen, I was wondering if you and Rory would like to come over for an early dinner. We haven’t seen you girls in so long."

"Oh, today?" Lorelai asked, surprised. "I’m not really. . .I think we have to. . ." She glanced around the room looking for an excuse, but couldn’t think of one. She sighed quietly. "Yes, that’d be nice."

"Lovely, see you around five," Emily said. "Goodbye."

"Bye Mom." Lorelai hung up the phone and growled into the air. She slapped her forehead. "Have a list of excuses ready next time," she muttered. She stood up and wandered to Rory’s bedroom. She knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rory called from inside.

Lorelai pushed open the door and walked inside. Rory lay on her bed reading, and sat up as Lorelai entered. "What’s up?"

Lorelai shoved her hands into her jeans’ pockets. "Uh, Grandma invited us over for an early dinner."

"They’re home? When did they come home?" Rory asked.

"Uh, this morning," Lorelai replied, rocking on her heels. "So, we’re gonna leave here around 4:15."

"Okay," Rory said, going back to her book.

* * *

A few hours later, Lorelai and Rory stood in front of Emily and Richard’s house. "Now remember, don’t –," Lorelai started.

Rory held up her hand. "Mom, you told me a hundred times on the way here. I won’t mention you or Luke or this house or the cell phone or anything."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, thank you." She rang the doorbell.

Emily pulled the door open and grinned. "There’re my girls."

"Hi Mom," Lorelai said.

"Hey Grandma," Rory said, stepping inside. Rory gave Emily a hug, then both girls hung up their coats.

Emily led them to the dining room, where Richard was already seated at the table. He stood up and smiled as they entered the room. "Hello girls. Sit, sit," he said, gesturing to the chairs.

"Hey Grandpa," Rory said, giving him a quick hug.

"How’s it going, Dad?" Lorelai asked as she sat down. "Heard you had a nice trip."

"Yes, it was quite enjoyable," Richard said, sitting back down.

As Rory sat down across from Lorelai, Emily excused herself, and returned a moment later with two gift boxes. "We picked up some things on our trip that we thought you girls would enjoy," Emily said. She handed the smaller box to Lorelai and placed the larger one next to Rory. Emily took her seat and said, "Go on, open them."

"Grandma, Grandpa, you didn’t have to do this," Rory said.

"Shush you," Lorelai said, opening her box. She reached inside and pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. She unwrapped it to find a small glass swan. She eyed it curiously. "Huh."

"You know, that is a handcrafted piece. Only fifty of those particular swans were made. We found it in a lovely antique store in North Carolina," Emily said.

Lorelai nodded. "Huh."

"Just something to put on a shelf or your mantle. You know, you need more decorative items in that living room of yours," Emily said knowingly.

Lorelai turned the figurine around in her hand. "Wow. This is. . . great. This is great. Thank you." She forced a smile, then brought her gaze to Rory, who was staring at her with an amused look. Lorelai narrowed her eyes as she nodded toward her. "Go on, open yours."

Rory smiled to herself as she opened up her box. She reached inside and pulled out a set of rectangular crystal bookends. "Wow, these are heavy," Rory commented.

"Your grandfather tells me you’ve got quite the book collection, but that it needs a bit of tidying up," Emily said.

"Yes, it could definitely use some structure," Richard added.

"Yeah, it’s kinda cluttered," Rory said, smiling. "These are great, thank you."

"Yeah, good gifts, thanks," Lorelai added, eyeing her swan skeptically.

"You really didn’t have to," Rory said as she placed her gift back in the box.

"Nonsense," Emily replied with a smile. "We love picking out presents for our girls, don’t we Richard?"

Richard smiled and nodded as the maid brought out their plates.

* * *

They finished up their dinner and had walked into the living room when Emily said, "Richard, didn’t you want to show Rory some of the books you picked up in Florida?"

"Oh, yes, I did," Richard said. He turned to Rory. "We found this bookstore that had been built in 1933 by the owner’s great-great-grandfather. Came across some wonderful finds. Care to take a look?"

"Absolutely," Rory said. She followed him out of the room and down the hall to the study.

Emily turned to Lorelai and gestured for her to sit down. Lorelai sat down and crossed her legs, and started tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair.

Emily sat down on the sofa across from her. "So, you know our neighbor Jacob Kilner? The lawyer?" Emily asked.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I’ve known him since I was little. Barbara, too."

"Yes, Jacob and Barbara have been friends of our family for almost thirty-five years." She pursed her lips for a moment. "You see, Barbara was collecting our mail for us while we were away, and this afternoon she brought it over. She and I had tea on the back patio, and she brought me up to date on all the recent goings-on."

"Sounds good, Mom," Lorelai said, nodding along.

"Yes, it was lovely," Emily repeated. "Until she brought up a very interesting conversation topic."

"And what was that, Mom?" Lorelai asked, examining her nails.

"Well, she said that as she and Jacob went out for their daily walk early yesterday morning, they noticed a strange truck parked in front of our house."

Lorelai froze. As she slowly brought her gaze up to meet Emily’s, she swallowed hard. "Oh yeah?"

"Mmhmm," Emily said. "And it was covered in frost, as if it’d been there all night long. And they thought it was pretty strange, seeing as how we called them last week and told them that no one would be here until Sunday."

"Yeah, that is strange," Lorelai agreed quickly, glancing at the floor nervously.

"Yes, it is. And so they kept an eye on the house that morning, you know, just to make sure everything was okay." She paused. "And, you know, they’re both positive that they saw you and a man came out an hour later and get into that truck," Emily said. She pressed her lips together tightly and her face started to redden. "But you probably don’t know anything about that, do you, Lorelai?"

Lorelai gasped. "What? No!" She shook her head and stammered, "That’s not. . .oh. . they. . .uh, they were probably just seeing things. You know, they’re pretty old, Mom."

Emily stood up. "Don’t lie to me, Lorelai! They know what you look like. They wouldn’t just make up something like that. Now what were you doing here?"

Lorelai stood up. "Mom, it’s no big deal, calm down."

"I will not calm down until you explain why you were in my house when we were not home!" Emily said angrily. "That key is for emergencies only!"

Lorelai sat back down and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head and sighing loudly.

"Well, explain yourself, Lorelai," Emily said, folding her arms across her chest.

Lorelai lifted her head up and sighed deeply. "Mom, I’m sorry. It was just . . . we were in town . . . and it was late, and you know how some people get when it’s late at night – they get pretty tired, and so we needed to sleep somewhere nearby because that’s what people do when they’re. . . tired. You know, so they don’t cause accidents on the road. It was all a matter of public safety."

Emily shook her head in disbelief. "I don’t believe you. This is what you do when your parents go away – you break into their house and parade men over like it’s some sort of brothel?" she asked loudly.

Lorelai stood back up. "No, I do not parade men over, it was just one man!"

"That doesn’t make it any less wrong, Lorelai!" Emily said, rolling her eyes.

"I know, but – ," Lorelai started.

"This house is not a Motel 6!" Emily yelled, interrupting her.

"I know that!" Lorelai yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration. "I know I had no right to be here. I’m sorry, okay? I apologized! What else do you want me to do?"

"I want you to realize that what you did is wrong and that you’re setting a bad example for Rory!" Emily replied sternly.

Lorelai scoffed loudly. "How do you figure that?"

Emily let out a small laugh. "Honestly, Lorelai – you think that Rory doesn’t know what’s going on when you don’t come home at night? Do you think that she figures you’re at church playing bingo instead of out gallivanting around with men all night?"

"You have no idea what you’re talking about!" Lorelai yelled.

"And you have no right to use my house to entertain men!" Emily retorted.

"I know, Mother!" Lorelai said loudly. She collapsed into her chair and muttered, "God, I heard you. It won’t happen again."

"That’s right, it won’t happen again. Give me back the key," Emily said.

Lorelai looked up at her. "You want it back?"

"Yes, you can’t be trusted with it," Emily said.

Lorelai huffed. "Fine." She walked over to the door and pulled her keys out of her coat pocket. She slipped her parents’ house key off the ring and walked back to the living room. Lorelai placed the key on the coffee table. "There."

Emily picked it up and examined it closely.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Yes Mother, it’s yours. But it doesn’t matter because I already passed out copies to all of my clientele."

Emily glared at her. "I’m glad you think this is so funny, Lorelai."

"I don’t think this is funny, Mom!" Lorelai shot back as she stood up. "It’s not funny – it’s embarrassing! And right now I wish I could get into a Delorean with Christopher Lloyd and go back in time so that I can remember to hide the truck under some branches and check for neighbors before I walk out of the house in the morning, but I can’t! So instead, I’m trying to suck it up and deal with it as best I can!" Lorelai’s rant left her out of breath and her face was red with both anger and embarrassment.

Emily stared at her and shook her head. "I can’t believe you, Lorelai. So you’re saying that if you were given the chance to do this all over again, you would still do it?"

"Yes, I probably would!" Lorelai yelled.

Emily shook her head. "Unbelievable. That’s disgraceful, Lorelai," Emily said. "You desperately need to rethink your priorities."

Lorelai took a few deep breaths and sat back down. She looked up at Emily and said, "Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?"

Emily raised her eyebrows. "Oh, you think I’m overreacting? So tell me - how would you react if someday Rory did something like this?"

Lorelai didn’t say anything. She glanced down at the floor and sighed.

"See?" Emily said haughtily. "You’re more like me than you think, Lorelai."

Lorelai heard Emily’s heels walking out of the room. When the sound disappeared completely, she glanced around the living room and exhaled loudly.

* * *

A few minutes later, Lorelai and Rory climbed into the jeep. Rory immediately said, "What happened? I heard yelling."

Lorelai’s eyes widened. "You did? Did my dad hear?"

Rory shrugged. "I don’t know. I heard shouting, but I couldn’t hear what you were saying."

Lorelai shook her head. "Ugh, I’m so stupid."

"No, you’re not. What happened with Grandma?" Rory asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "One of the stupid neighbors told her that she saw me and Luke leaving the house yesterday morning, and then she yelled at me and took the key back, and long story short, I’m a terrible daughter."

"Aw, Mom, I’m sorry," Rory said sympathetically. "When she didn’t mention anything through dinner, I figured you were home free."

"Yeah, me too," Lorelai said with a sigh. "But it’s just like my mother to trick you into thinking one thing and then surprise you at the end by launching into the real plan. Ugh, that’s that little conniving streak in her where she tries to catch people off guard and then try to make them feel like crap when they’re totally unprepared for battle." With a deep sigh, Lorelai pulled out of the driveway and headed back to Stars Hollow.

* * *

Lorelai dropped Rory off at home, then walked to the diner. She pushed open the door and walked inside, and Luke looked at her from the counter. Noticing the dejected look on her face, he immediately said, "What’s wrong?"

Lorelai walked toward him slowly as Luke walked out from behind the counter. He kissed her cheek and repeated, "What’s wrong?"

Lorelai sighed. "Hold me." She leaned her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. She nuzzled her nose against his neck, inhaling the scent of his cologne as his hands ran up and down her back. A feeling of calm came over her as she closed her eyes and pressed her body tightly against his.

After a minute of standing there silently, Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, how long do you want me to do this?" he asked quietly, glancing around at the customers.

"Mmm, forever," she said softly. She kissed his neck and sighed. "Just hold me forever, Luke."

End Part 10

* * *

Part 11

Luke kissed her gently on her forehead and rested his cheek against her head. As they stood embracing in the center of the diner, Kirk walked up to them holding out his mug. "Luke, I’ve been waiting for you to –"

"Get the hell away from me, Kirk," Luke hissed through clenched teeth. "Can’t you see I’m busy right now?" Kirk gave an annoyed sigh and walked back to his table. After another minute of silence, Luke said, "Lorelai?"

"Hmm?" she replied, her head still resting against his chest.

"Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or should I just guess?" Luke asked.

With a sigh, Lorelai finally pulled away and looked up at him. Luke suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Her eyes were despondent and sad, not full of life and energy like they usually were. Her lip quivered as she said, "I just don’t know why I let her words affect me so much." As a single tear ran down her cheek, she quickly sniffled and brushed it away.

Luke put his hands on her shoulders. "Who?"

"My mother," Lorelai replied, rolling her eyes. She clenched her fists. "Ugh! God, she just gets me so frustrated sometimes!"

"Calm down," Luke said. He led her to the counter and sat her on a stool. He sat next to her and took her hands into his. "Just tell me what happened."

Lorelai sighed. "My mom found out that we were at her house."

Luke’s eyes widened. "What? How?"

"One of the neighbors saw us and told her," she said, making a face. "Can you believe that? Like I’m sixteen years old sneaking out of the house or something."

Luke’s jaw dropped open. "Wait - saw us when?" He closed his eyes briefly. "Not when we. . .oh God, please tell me it wasn’t when we are on the balcony."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, when we walked out in the morning." She paused as a hint of a smile appeared on her lips. "Oh man, my mom would’ve had a heart attack if one of the neighbors came up to her and said, ‘Oh, by the way, your daughter was doing it on your balcony last night.’ I would’ve killed to see the look on her face."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Lorelai, back to the point. Was she really mad?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah. She took my key away and she pretty much has zero respect for me because she thinks I’m some kind of prostitute." She shook her head towards the ground. "Ugh, I hate it when she gets to me, Luke. I hate it more than anything."

Luke ran his hands up and down her arms. "Don’t worry about it. You’ve fought like this before, haven’t you?"

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "Are you kidding? Just about every week."

Luke shrugged. "Well, see? And you’ve made up before, so you’ll make up this time too," he said. "Trust me. It’ll be fine."

She nodded. "I know, I know."

Luke paused for a moment before he asked, "Does she know it was me?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, I don’t think I mentioned your name."

Luke breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Okay, good."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, so you’re glad that I’m the one taking all the blame for this?"

Luke’s eyes widened. "No, that’s not it," he said quickly. "I just don’t want her to think that I’m. . . that we. . .that it was . . ." He sighed. "I don’t know."

"You don’t want her to think that it was your idea?" Lorelai suggested.

"No, I just don’t want her to be mad at me before she even meets me," Luke said. "I mean, meets me as your..." He glanced down uncomfortably. "Boyfriend-type-person."

Lorelai scoffed. "Okay, so not only are you glad that I’m the only one she’s blaming, you can’t even say that you’re my boyfriend to my face." Lorelai shook her head and shrugged. "What, you’re suddenly embarrassed to be my boyfriend?"

"Lorelai," Luke said with a sigh.

"No, I get it. You like me enough to sleep with me, but not enough to call yourself my boyfriend," Lorelai said. "Fine, Luke. That’s just fine. I need to get outta here." She stood up and started walking toward the door.

Luke reached out and caught her arm and pulled her gently back toward him. "Lorelai, you know I didn’t mean anything by it."

She sighed. "I’m going home, Luke." She turned around and walked out the door.

Luke followed her outside. "Don’t be like this, Lorelai," he said. "You’re upset at your mom and you’re taking it out on me for no reason."

She turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Am I? Thank you, Luke. Don’t know what I’d do without a man analyzing my thoughts and actions," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, so, what - you’re telling me you actually are mad at me?" Luke said, putting his hands on his chest.

"Maybe I am!" she retorted.

"For what?" he asked loudly. "Because I want your mom to like me? Don’t you think that the fact that I want her to like me means something?"

"If it means something, then why did you look away when you said the word boyfriend!" Lorelai yelled.

"Maybe because I’m still getting used to the fact that after years of watching you and wishing that I was your boyfriend, I finally am!" Luke yelled back. "And maybe because I’m so happy about it that the only thing in this entire world that scares me is the idea that I might lose you!" Realizing what he’d said, and how loudly he’d said it, his eyes widened with slight embarrassment. He took a step back and looked at the ground.

Lorelai blinked a few times and shook her head lightly. "What?"

Luke shook his head. "Nothing," he said quickly.

Lorelai groaned. "Ugh, why do you do that all the time?"

Luke rolled his eyes and shrugged. "What the heck did I do now?"

Lorelai sighed. "You always go and say something sweet when I’m totally unprepared for it! I hate that!" she said loudly.

"I’m sorry! I’ll warn you next time!" Luke yelled back. His face softened as he took a few deep breaths and walked toward her.

They stared at each other for a moment before Lorelai smiled and shook her head slightly toward the ground. Luke wrapped his arms around her waist. She brought her own arms up around his neck and pressed her lips against his. Their mouths opened and their tongues met, swirling over each other gently.

As their lips broke apart, they pressed their foreheads together and smiled. "Now, are you okay?" Luke asked. "I mean, with this whole fighting with your mom thing?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, it’ll be okay," she said with a sigh.

"What exactly did she say?" Luke asked.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "I don’t know, a lot of stuff. Something about me being disgraceful and gallivanting around with men all night and being a bad mother."

Luke’s mouth dropped open. "What?" he said angrily. "She really said that to you?"

Lorelai nodded.

Luke scoffed loudly. "What kind of woman talks to her own daughter like that? What gives her the right to say any of that to you? Doesn’t she know you’re thirty three years old and you can run your own life and make your own damn decisions?" Luke’s face was red with anger.

Lorelai reached out and grabbed his hand. "Luke, calm down, it’s fine."

Luke shook his head in disbelief. "No, it’s not fine, Lorelai," he said. "You shouldn’t let her treat you like that."

Lorelai looked down at the sidewalk. "Yeah, well, I don’t have much choice. She’s paying for Rory’s school."

"That still doesn’t give her the right to talk down to you," Luke said.

Lorelai sighed. "Luke, let’s just forget it, okay? Please?" She kissed him on the cheek and repeated, "Please?"

Luke took a deep breath. "I don’t like seeing you upset."

Lorelai nodded. "I know, but get used to it because it happens a lot."

Luke shook his head down at the ground. "It’s just. . ." he sighed. "Never mind, dropping it now."

"Thank you," she said.

Luke checked his watch. "It’s only 7:15. How about I get Caesar to cover the diner and we’ll go do something?"

She shrugged and shoved her hands into her pockets. "I don’t really feel like going out."

"Then we’ll rent a movie and stay in," Luke suggested.

"I don’t know," Lorelai said with a shrug.

Luke ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it out of her face. "Come on, I’ll even buy you junk food."

A small smile formed on her lips. "Lots of junk food?"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want."

She leaned her face close to his and lightly brushed her lips against his. She pulled back and smiled, then did it again, giggling softly as she teased him. He groaned with annoyance and pressed his lips tightly against hers, kissing her deeply.

She pulled back and smiled. "I was getting there, Speedy."

"Yeah, well, you take too long," he replied. "Let me go tell Caesar I’m leaving. I should probably let Jess know too."

She nodded. Luke walked into the diner as Lorelai waited outside. She glanced around, and her eyes landed on Miss Patty staring at her from the entryway of her dance studio. When Lorelai looked her way, Patty immediately rushed inside. Lorelai rolled her eyes and smiled to herself. Moments later, Luke walked out of the diner. He took her hand and entwined his fingers through hers as he led her to the video store.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Luke and Lorelai walked into her house carrying bags from the video store and the market. They hung up their coats and walked into the living room, where Rory sat on the couch reading. "Hey hon," Lorelai said.

"Hey Mom. Hey Luke," Rory said, glancing at the bag he was holding. "Whatcha got there?"

Luke handed her the bag from the video store as Lorelai started spreading the junk food on the coffee table.

Rory pulled out the movies. "Superman. Superman 2. Didn’t want to complete the marathon and get the other two?"

Luke rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch. "She wanted to get them all and watch all eight hours of them tonight, but I politely encouraged her to put the other ones back."

"Politely encouraged?" Lorelai scoffed, then she frowned. "He threatened me."

"Oh yeah? With what?" Rory asked.

Luke smiled. "I told her I would officially cancel all future Danish Days."

Rory gasped and shook her head. "You should not even joke about that Luke. You might give her a stroke."

"That’s what I told him, but he just doesn’t care," Lorelai said, shaking her head sadly. "You gonna watch with us?"

Rory glanced at the clock. "Hmm, maybe for a little while." She put her book down on the coffee table and grabbed a handful of Gummy Bears.

"Mmkay. I’m gonna go change first," Lorelai said. She walked upstairs and changed from the dressy outfit she’d worn to dinner into a T-shirt and light gray sweatpants.

A few minutes later, Lorelai walked downstairs and put the first video on. She sat down on the floor in front of Luke’s legs. Through much of the movie, Luke stroked her hair, running his fingers through her soft curls so gently that it sent a calming sensation through Lorelai’s entire body.

* * *

As the first video came to an end, so did Rory’s viewing time. She stood up as the credits came on and said, "All right, I’m gonna go read a little before bed."

She leaned down and kissed Lorelai on the cheek. "Night Mom. Night Luke."

"Night hon," Lorelai said.

"Night," Luke said. As Rory walked out of the living room, Lorelai stood up and walked over to the VCR. She stopped the movie and rewound it.

Luke stood up and stretched out his legs. "You want a drink?"

"Yeah, thanks. Water’s fine," Lorelai said. Luke left the room, leaving Lorelai standing impatiently by the VCR gesturing for it to hurry up. "Come on, come on, I don’t have all night. You know, more people would ‘Be Kind and Rewind’ if you didn’t take so long to get the job done, ya know? Geez. That’s probably one of the reasons why everyone’s switching to DVDs." She heard the tape stop. "Aha! It’s about time, thank you." She took the first tape out and put in the second.

Luke had returned with their waters and was watching her from near the couch. "You know, it can’t hear you," he pointed out.

Surprised that he was in the room, Lorelai turned around and smiled. "Sure it can, Luke. It can hear me - and only me. I’ve got supernatural powers that allow me to communicate with inanimate devices. You know, sort of like Dr. Dolittle with the animals."

"Oh really?" Luke nodded, pretending to be impressed. "What else can you talk to?"

Lorelai walked over to him. "Well, you know, televisions, coffee makers, clocks, hair dryers, any of your basic appliances, really."

Luke nodded and handed her a bottle of water. "What about toasters? If you’re in the living room and you smell that your toast is burning in the kitchen, can you yell to it to pop up so the burning stops?"

Lorelai thought for a moment and tapped his shoulder with her water bottle. "You know, I can’t really say for sure because that scenario has never come up, but I’m gonna assume yes."

"Huh," Luke said as he sat down on the couch. "That’s a good power to have."

Lorelai nodded and took a sip of her water, then put it on the coffee table. She sat down on the couch, placed one of the throw pillows on Luke’s lap, then rested her head on it.

"Comfy?" he asked with a laugh.

"Yes, thanks," she replied, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Shh, it’s starting."

Halfway through the movie, Luke moved his hand from Lorelai’s head, where it had been stroking her hair again, to her back. He ran his fingers up and down her spine. Lorelai closed her eyes to concentrate on the gentle motions that were sending chills through her body. Soon, Luke’s hand was no longer on the outside of her shirt, but was directly against her back.

His warm hand glided over her smooth skin, massaging it gently. Her entire body seemed to relax at his touch, which was much more gentle than his strong hands looked like they could be. His fingers pulled the bottom of her shirt up so that her back was exposed to the cool air in the room, and Lorelai shivered. He started massaging her back with both hands. Seconds later, his fingers moved to the clasp of her bra. He undid it and pushed the two sides of the bra out of the way, enabling him to massage her whole back without interference. As his hands moved around in gentle circular motions, Lorelai let out soft moans of approval.

After a few minutes, Luke said quietly, "Lorelai?"

Her eyes still closed, she muttered, "Yeah?"

"Are you watching the movie?" he asked.

She opened her eyes. "Nope. Are you?"

"No," he replied. "I’m watching you."

Lorelai smiled to herself. "Am I really that entertaining?"

"You’re definitely not bad for the eyes," he said.

Lorelai reached to the coffee table and fumbled for the remote. She turned the television off, then adjusted herself on his lap so that she was on her back staring up at him. He lifted up her shirt slightly and put his hands on her stomach, gliding them over her soft skin. She smiled and said, "Man, you always need to be touching something, don’t you?"

He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "What - you want me to stop touching you?"

She shook her head. "If I wanted you to stop touching me I would’ve slapped your hands away hours ago."

"Okay, then stop complaining," he said, continuing to run his hands over her body.

Lorelai shrugged casually. "I’m not complaining." She closed her eyes and relaxed her body. "Mmm, how come you’re so gentle?"

Luke laughed. "What?"

She opened her eyes and smiled. "You know, you’re so gruff on the outside, but you’re sweet and gentle on the inside. You know, like a. . .Tootsie Roll pop or something."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Please don’t compare me to junk food."

She smiled. "Fine, you’re like a. . . celery stick with low-fat peanut butter inside."

"That’s better," he said.

"So, why aren’t you just sweet all the time?" Lorelai asked. "Why do you have this Jekyll and Hyde thing going on?"

Luke shrugged. "That’s how guys are."

Lorelai shook her head. "Not all guys. Chris and Max weren’t like that," she said. Realizing what she said, she grimaced. She bit her lip nervously, hoping Luke wouldn’t feel uncomfortable with the mention of their names.

Luke swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Yeah, well, I’m sitting here with you and they’re not, so what does that say?"

A small smile fell on Lorelai’s lips. "It says that the Jekyll/Hyde thing is obviously working."

Luke nodded. "There you go."

Lorelai leaned up to kiss him, then rested her head back down on the pillow. She stared up at him while thoughts started running through her mind. Thoughts about her past relationships, thoughts about Chris and Max, thoughts about Luke, thoughts about what her mother had said, thoughts about how she was feeling inside.

As she lay there thinking and staring up at Luke, she finally realized why this relationship was so different from all her others. The one thing that was missing from every other one was finally present in this one. Upon realizing what it was, Lorelai felt a knot in her stomach. She stared up at him and swallowed hard. Her breathing increased as she suddenly felt terrified of what she was about to do – but she knew she had to do it. She was afraid of the consequences, but she knew if she didn’t do it right now, she might never get the courage to do it again.

Lorelai suddenly sat up. Luke removed his hands from her body and watched her as she removed the pillow from his lap and tossed it on the floor. She crawled onto his lap, facing him as she straddled his legs by placing a knee on either side of them. She kissed him passionately for several seconds before she slowly pulled her lips away from his. She whispered, "Luke?"

He looked at her curiously. "What?"

Lorelai took a deep breath to help calm her nerves. She leaned forward so that their faces were just inches apart. With her eyes staring directly into his, she whispered, "I’m in love with you."

As the words came out of her mouth, goosebumps immediately covered Lorelai’s body. She had finally said it, the words that she had wanted to say to someone for so long but had never had the actual feelings to accompany them – until now.

Luke’s eyes widened with surprise and a smile quickly appeared on his lips. "Me too," he said softly. "I’m in love with you, too."

As Lorelai let out a short sigh of relief, Luke put his hands on her face and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him back eagerly as she felt tears forming in her eyes. As both the kiss and the emotions inside of her intensified, she started sobbing and had to break away from him.

She laughed through her tears and used her sleeve to wipe them away. She shook her head slightly. "God, I never imagined that those words could be so powerful." She sniffled a few times and smiled at him, her bottom lip quivering as more tears fell.

He pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulder. "I’m scared, Luke," Lorelai said softly, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

"Don’t be," Luke said, rubbing her back.

She pulled back from him. "I don’t know how to be in love," she said, looking away from him. She covered her face with her hands, suddenly becoming embarrassed that she couldn’t get her tears to stop falling.

He pulled her hands away from her face and turned her head back towards him. "Yes, you do," Luke said. "Everyone knows how, it just takes getting used to."

She swallowed hard and nodded. "Are you used to it?"

Luke shrugged. "I’m used to loving you, and that’s the most important part."

Lorelai let out a small laugh mixed with a groan. "There you go again, using the sweet talk while I’m bawling like a baby."

He smiled. "Sorry." He watched her as she wiped her tears and took several deep breaths. A few seconds later, he asked, "You okay?"

She nodded and smiled. She slid off of his lap and onto the cushion next to him. He turned his body so that he was leaning against the arm of the couch and brought his legs up to stretch out in front of him. She lay the same way next to him, resting her head against his chest as his arms surrounded her. As he ran his hands up and down her arm, her hand glided over his chest and stomach. He kissed her head, deeply inhaling the scent of her shampoo before pulling back and smiling to himself.

They lay that way for several minutes before Lorelai said, "Luke?"

"Hmm?"

She turned her head to look up at him. "Do you wanna. . . go upstairs?"

A look of uncertainty washed over Luke’s face as he glanced back toward Rory’s bedroom. "I don’t know if we – "

"She’s asleep, Luke," Lorelai assured him.

He sighed softly and paused a moment, staring down at her. "Are you sure?"

She smiled and nodded. She stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him up off the couch. She led him up to her bedroom and locked the door. She gestured around, "This is my room."

"Huh," he said, looking around. "It’s almost as cluttered as my entire apartment."

She laughed. "Hey, I don’t have time to clean, I’m a busy woman."

Luke smiled and nodded. He stepped toward her and kissed her as she pushed his flannel shirt down over his shoulders. She pulled it off and dropped it on the floor. He lifted her shirt up over her head and tossed it aside as she slid off her bra, which was still unclasped from earlier.

She knocked his cap to the ground and pulled his T-shirt up over his head, immediately running her hands over his chest and shoulders. They kissed again, and the feeling of his chest against her breasts sent a surge of arousal through her body. She pulled back and Luke lowered his mouth to her neck, kissing up and down it gently. She reached down and fumbled for his belt buckle. He reached down to help her, sliding it through the loops and dropping it on the accumulating pile of clothes.

His mouth moved downward, kissing a trail down her chest and stopping at her breasts. As he took one of her breasts into his mouth, his hand lightly squeezed the other. She tilted her head up toward the ceiling and let out a soft moan. "Oh God, Luke," she muttered breathlessly. She brought her hands to the back of his head and squeezed his hair tightly as he moved back and forth between her breasts.

As he brought his mouth up to meet hers, his hands went to the waistband of her sweatpants. He slid them down over her hips, pulling her panties down with them. She kicked both of them away and unzipped his jeans, slowly pulling them down along with his boxers. They smiled at each other and kissed passionately, their mutual arousal throbbing through them fiercely.

They broke apart, both panting to catch their breaths. Lorelai moved the covers on the bed to the side and climbed in, and was joined a second later by Luke. She pulled the covers over them as their mouths crashed together, their tongues aggressively dueling with each other as their hands explored each other’s bodies.

Several minutes later, Luke positioned himself over her body, his hardness poised to enter her opening. They both groaned with pleasure at the initial contact. He leaned down and kissed her, then stared into her eyes as he said, "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied with a smile. In one swift motion, he was inside of her and she let out a cry of pleasure.

* * *

The covers pulled up to their chests, which were moving up and down quickly as they tried to catch their breaths, they lay staring up at the ceiling. Luke’s arm was draped over her shoulder as Lorelai’s head rested against his chest. They lay there for a few minutes in silence before Lorelai said quietly, "Luke?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about?" she asked

He kissed her head softly before he whispered, "About how much I love you."