She opens her eyes to a darkened room. Well, that doesn't make any sense, she thought. She turns over to check what time it is… rats! It's 3am! The man beside her stirs slightly, then he turns over, flinging his arm over her abdomen as if to say "I will always protect you; you are mine." The woman gazes at him lovingly for a few moments, smiles, and snuggles closer, wrapping his arm around her body. The man instinctively tightens his grasp on her and buries his face in her long brown hair as a faint smile graces his usually stoic lips- still dead to the world.

What did I ever do to deserve this, she asked herself. I thought I had a wicked childhood and been an awful youth, but I guess somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. As they say… nothing comes from nothing. She again smiles to herself… Geez, Lorelei, you've gotta stop watchin' The Sound of Music before bedtime! Quick! Think of something else before you start singing the whole score…. Oops, too late! She softly hums to herself, "How do you solve a problem like Maria…" Crud, now she's gonna have that earworm stuck in her head for God knows how long! Ah well, at least she can relate.

Carefully, so as not to disturb the sleeping form of her fiancée, she sneaks another peek at the red LED numbers next to her head… 3:10am was the glaringly bright reply. Great, and only a few more hours before Luke needs to get up to open the diner. That diner has been the site of so many wonderful moments in her life with Rory and the new life she was building with Luke- a lifetime of coffee, laughter, pancakes, coffee, backwards baseball caps, tears, coffee, fights, make-ups, sweet kisses over the counter, coffee, fights over coffee, and coffee to make up for the fight over coffee.

As she lay there, safely wrapped in the arms of the man she loved- had loved for years, she thought, How lucky am I that Luke loves me the way he does. He's always been there- just waiting for me to see him. Thank God I saw it before it was too late! I really do love him. With that, she tucks her head under his chin, her back pressed against his chest, and drifted off to sleep.

She awakes a few hours later to the smell of hot coffee, laced with a hint of nutmeg, and mingled with the cinnamon-vanilla aroma of… something you eat with gallons of maple syrup, wafting up the stairs. Mmmmmmm, she thought, Nothing like being engaged to a real live diner man who knows how to cook… ooooh Dirty! Well… hmmm… ya know, he is really good with his hands… Oh yeah, he is good with those hands….. mmmmm speaking of….. With that Lorelai gets up to go give her love a proper good morning.

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In the kitchen, Luke is flipping French toast and singing to himself… "How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down…" Hmmm, I wonder where that song came from?… He hears the familiar footsteps of his bride-to-be and looks up at Lorelei's laughing face as she glides towards him from the living-room.

"Hey," Lorelai says to him, eyes dancing with mischief. "Don't stop on my account!"

Luke just grins, a sight that only seems to happen when Lorelai is involved. "Good Morning to you, too," as he pours her a cup of coffee, hands it to her, and leans in to kiss her tenderly. "So, how are you this morning, sleep well?"

Lorelai looks at him, eyebrows raised "Yeah, it was pretty good until I woke up at three and had trouble falling back to sleep… until I began counting my blessings, that is. You know, what's weird is that, for some reason, I couldn't get the Sound of Music out of my head."

"Oh?" Luke asked, his eyebrows rising incredulously.

Hmmmmm, thought Lorelai as she takes a sip of her coffee, I wonder why he's got that look on his face? Not a bad look for him, though. Actually, he is pretty darn cute when he thinks I'm crazy or I've confused him or gone off on one of my rants. And I could just stare at those clear blue eyes for the rest of my life…..

"Lorelai? You there? Lorelai? Earth to Lorelai?..."

"Huh, w-w-what?" She puts her mug down on the table with a satisfying thud.

"You were in the middle of telling me something about the Sound of Music?"

"Oh yeah… that…" She looks at him once more, steals a kiss, and goes back to telling her story. "Well, I woke up with your arms around me, by the way a VERY pleasurable way to wake up," and she winks at him. Luke, of course, blushes and goes back to flipping French toast for a few moments.

"Anyway," Lorelai continues, "I woke up in the middle of the night with your arms around me and I had a hard time getting back to sleep. So I started thinking about how lucky I am to have you in my life and how much you mean to me and how could anyone love me, considering all the things I've done in my past, let alone how you could love me and how we had just watched the Sound of Music and then the song that Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer sing together when the find that they have fallen in love with each other popped into my head, you know- the one about 'somewhere in my youth or childhood' which really fit, you know? And then I thought that if I kept thinking about the Sound of Music, I was gonna get a bad case of earworms and then that 'How do you solve a problem' song started playing and you know the only way to get rid of something like that is to sing or play it out loud and so I started humming it. And then I started thinkin' about you and the diner and how important that it has been in our friendship and relationshhh….mmmmmmm"

Suddenly, Luke's arms are wrapped around her tightly as his lips press to hers, cutting off the tsunami of words flooding out of his beautiful fiancée's mouth. Once the initial shock of Luke's tried and true method for ending a "Gilmore Girl" babble wears off, Lorelai gives herself over to the passionate, quiet man in the faded blue ball cap.

After a few moments, they pull away, breathless and glassy-eyed. "WOW," exclaimed Lorelai, "That is one hell-uv-a way of cutting off a Gilmore rant, mister," and she resumes her morning ritual of coffee drinking.

Again, Luke flashes her that special grin that he reserves just for her. "Well, that explains it," he retorts with a smirk.

"Explains what?" Lorelai asks him as Luke returns to the task of making breakfast. Luke doesn't respond right away, choosing instead to fiddle with the coffee maker and cracking an egg into the frying pan. "I'll ask again, explains what, Mr. Danes… or should I say… Duke?"

At that comment, Luke whips around to face her, brandishing a spatula and a mock scowl furrowing his brow. "First of all, I wouldn't suggest you calling me Duke unless you ever want coffee from me again. Second of all, your rant explains why I woke up with The Sound of Music in my head this morning."

At that, Lorelai let out a giggle. God, he is cute when he's angry…even if it's pretend anger, Lorelai thought.

Luke shoots her another dirty look, and then gives her a grin, his eyes sparkling. "Ok, ok… well, I'd best get to work. See you later?"

"Sure thing, babe! You know I can't make it through the day without at least 5 cups of your amazing coffee- or this kisses that go with them, "Lorelai replies with a suggestive smirk.

Embarrassed, Luke adjusts his ball cap before leaning over to give her a quick peck. "You know, that stuff is gonna kill you, right?"

"So I've been told... Hey, speaking of the diner, wasn't it your turn to open this morning?"

"Nope. Cesar and I switched because he's got a family thing this evening so he needed the early morning shift. However, I do need to go in a few minutes… the breakfast rush will be starting soon. See you later?"

Lorelai wraps her arms around his waist and kisses him. "You bet, Mr.! Wild mice couldn't keep me away from my sexy diner man… or at least his coffee," she replied with a wink.

"Aw Geez, Lorelai!" Luke grimaced; turning about three shades of red, and quickly adjusts his ball cap- again. "Just don't go saying that in public, k?"

"Ok, Lukey" she answers cheekily. "Whatever you say…stud," and she sticks her tongue out at him.

Luke rolls his eyes. "Lorelai," he groaned, inwardly gloating that this beautiful, eccentric woman was his and loved him enough to banter with him. He flips the last slice of French toast onto a platter in the center of the kitchen table, turns off the stove, tosses the pan into the sink, and takes his seat. Lorelai has already begun slathering a pile of French toast with butter and syrup when Luke starts to speak.

"Ok, so I was thinkin' the other day about our upcoming wedding and I was thinkin'" He looks over at Lorelai "… it would be nice if we wrote our own vows. Ummmm… What do you think?"

Wow, Lorelai thought, our own vows… hmmmm, well, that wouldn't be so bad, now would it. I mean I've loved Luke for so long and we have such a unique relationship, I don't think the regular "cookie-cutter" vows would really put into words the way I feel for Luke and how special he is…

"Lorelai? What do you think, Lorelai?" Luke nudges her, bringing her out of her reverie.

"Oh, um… You know what, I think that's a great idea!" she exclaims as a look of relief washes over Luke's face. Just wait, Mr….

Good, I'm glad she went for it, Luke thought, those "cookie-cutter" vows wouldn't even come close to expressing to Lorelai the love and commitment I feel for her. Now for the last topic…

"Great! Ummmm, Lorelai? Just one more question for ya… something for you to think about..." Luke paused for a second, looking for the right words so as not to sound too 'cute' as she would put it. "ummm… well.. What do you think our first song should be? I mean, what song should we dance to at our reception first? I mean, I know these are such little details and I can understand if you think they are too small to care about right now but what do you expect from a man who dreams about buying a sedan and who needs to dance anyway, dancing is for guys who…mmmmmm"

Luke's arms wrap around Lorelai as she silences his rant with a kiss. She makes a move to pull away, but Luke just tightens his hold on her and deepens the kiss, lightly nipping the inside of her cheek. Immediately, her hands snake up his sides and around the back of his neck, softly playing with his hair. Luke responds by letting his hands wander her back and sides, first sliding to her waist, then to her back again, then one hand traveled up her sides to cup her breast as the other snaked under her pajama top to caress her stomach.

"Mmmmmmm, Luke," Lorelai murmured against his lips. "And what time do you have to be at work?"

"10:30…mmmmm" came the reply as she began to explore his back and chest with her hands.

"And what time is it now?" Oh wow, but what he/she does to me!

Luke glanced at the clock on the wall, trying to regain a modicum of control, "ummmm… rats, it's 10:15." Lorelai squinted at him, her eyes even deeper blue than normal. God, but I could drown in her eyes, thought Luke disjointedly. "And that is definitely not enough time to finish this… at least not to either of ours satisfaction." And with that, he gave Lorelai a kiss on the forehead and reluctantly released her.

"This isn't over, Mr.," Lorelai says with a pout. Oh my I love it when she pouts like that after we've been kissing… her lips are all red and… Get it together, Danes!

Luke leans in once more, looking deep into Lorelai's eyes. "I'd be disappointed if it was," and kisses her once more to prove his point. This kiss is short and sweet, but filled with the promise of more to come. Dirty!

"Ok, I guess I'd better get going. Have a good day at the Inn and I will see you later. Oh, and don't forget about what we talked about… the vows and the song, ok?"

"Ok, Luke. Whatever you say."

Luke's eyebrows waggle suggestively at that line "Well then, in that case…. "he pauses and waggles his eyebrows again, " no more coffee for the rest of the day!"

She gives him a look, smacks him on the arm and shouts "Yeah, Right! I can't go without coffee! That's like asking a fish to go without water, you know fish breathe water, it's how they live. Well, coffee to me is like water to a fish, I need it to process and to live..,"

Luke throws his hands in the air in mock surrender as he crosses to the opposite side of the room from her, "Ok, ok, I get it. You're a fish, you need coffee." He lowers his hands and looks back at a glaring Lorelai trying desperately not to laugh at his antics. "Ok… hmmm, well, that explains the other thing…" Luke says with a smirk.

"I'm glad you see my reasoning… wait, what 'Other thing' and what does that have to do with me being a coffee fish?"

"Why your body is covered in scales… at first I thought it was because you've been single for so long but now, it all makes sense…" Luke says, his eyes glinting mischievously and a slight smile curling the corner of his mouth. Lorelai could see he was enjoying his stab at a joke.

"My body's covered in scales? That's it, Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap, no more Bridget Jones Diary for you!" Lorelai admonishes sarcastically, her hand on her hip and her finger waving in the air at him. "And you're more likely to have scales than me; anyway… you dated even less than I did!"

"Besides," she says as she seductively strolls over to where he's standing, "I'd rather my body be covered with yours than with scales any day." She turns on her heel, preparing to walk away, when she feels Luke grab her from behind, pulling her against him and kissing her neck as he growls in her ear "just wait until I get home tonight… we'll see who has the scales."

"Ohhh, I'm looking forward to it"

"Good. Ok. See you later," and with a final peck, he was gone.

Lorelai plunks down at the table and picks up her coffee cup, staring off into space and idly playing with the handle until she sits up, ramrod straight… "I've got to come up with my own vows!"

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