Welcome to my Christmas One-Shot. All you need to know for this is that it happens sometime in Season Four and there is no Nicole or Jason in my imagination for this story. May not be completely in character but I'm envisioning a few changes for Season Four. Still I hope you enjoy!
Also I'm working on getting my latest update for 'Presenting Luke' out soon but it may not get posted until after the holidays. This is just such a busy time of the year and recently I've spent a lot of my writing time on this story.
Read on!
Lorelai signed her name in a loopy script to the bottom of the page and folded the letter neatly into thirds. The cream colored stationery was not her usual choice for penning a letter, she usually opted for the Garfield or Hello Kitty stationery she had stocked away, but for this occasion cartoon characters wouldn't pass the test. A letter that came from the heart needed appropriate stationery. She figured at some parts that the letter read more like a love letter but it is exactly what she wanted to say though it took forever to get the words just right.
Lorelai picked up the envelope she had doodled Luke's name on the front of and quickly filled it with the letter. The envelope was then sandwiched between the back pages of the photo-album in front of her. She picked up the Santa-themed gift bag that sat at her feet and slipped the photo-album down inside. Tissue paper was thrown into the bag and several minutes passed of her arguing with the tissue paper claiming it to be just unreasonable. Once the present was deemed presentable, tissue paper and all, Lorelai realized that she was fashionably late for the party. She began a mad dash through the house desperately trying to find her jacket and scarf.
Not long after her mad dash, she was out the door and headed towards Miss Patty's. This year, deciding that the Stars Hollow residents needed yet another town event in December, Taylor decided to start up a Secret Santa game for the adults in Stars Hollow. He hoped this year would be a rousing success and the tradition would carry on for years to come. Names were selected during an emergency town meeting on a Monday with the rules being discussed shortly after. The reveal of the Secret Santas would be on the following Saturday where they would also partake in a party in true Stars Hollow fashion.
By some stroke of luck, Lorelai ended up selecting Luke to play Secret Santa to. When the bowl with everyone's name was passed in her direction she silently hoped that she wouldn't draw Kirk's name or Taylor's name. Although it would have been fun to torture Taylor with a gift, drawing Luke's name seemed like fate. After all she was the one to finally break him down and convince him to participate in it saying that the worst thing that could happen would be that he would receive a present from someone anonymous.
Selecting Luke as the recipient to her Secret Santa did seem like fate since lately she began to notice that their friendship was starting to change. After their first movie night together and Luke talked about his gut feeling, she couldn't help but notice how comfortable she always felt around Luke. For a moment she thought that was her gut telling her that Luke was right in front of her this entire time yet she never really noticed him. Throughout the past few months, they began to have more movie nights. It was her way to unwind after spending hours working on bringing her and Sookie's dream of owning their own inn to life. Plus she had the fringe benefit of watching Luke experience all the great classics he had never seen. Neither one of them were dating anyone at the moment and it seemed that Rory was always busy at Yale so having Luke come over and partake in movie night seemed like a natural shift in the order of things. She was happy to share the tradition with someone else.
Even though she liked the fact that she was able to play Secret Santa to Luke, she soon began to panic over what exactly she would gift him. They talked pretty much on a daily basis but sometimes she felt like she really didn't know Luke. A phone call placed to Rory helped her to come up with a few ideas. But those were mainly jokey type things and while she loved to mock him endlessly, she also thought he needed something more meaningful. Needing something more meaningful and yet not knowing exactly what could be meaningful led her to casually slipping into his apartment one day while he was out of the diner. She would have called it breaking and entering but Cesar did let her know where the extra key was only after reassuring him that Luke wouldn't fire him for giving her that kind of information. Several minutes of rifling through Luke's things gave her an idea of something she could make for Luke. That afternoon she left his apartment with a perfect idea forming in her mind and small box tucked under her arm.
Arriving at the party, Lorelai deposited her coat on the coat rack beside the entrance then scanned the party crowd. No signs of Luke yet. He had to show up, he had to tell someone in this room that he was their Secret Santa. If she didn't catch him, she knew she could always find him at the diner.
"Lorelai!"
Lorelai turned as she heard her name. Walking towards her was Sookie and not far behind her trailed Jackson. She smiled and met them halfway.
"Hey guys," Lorelai greeted. "Have I missed anything too exciting?"
Sookie looked up at her husband with an amused look on her face. "Well not too long after we walked in, Miss Patty tried to corner Jackson underneath the mistletoe."
"She had a sprig of mistletoe on a stick so I couldn't escape," Jackson interjected.
"Well Jackson 'tis the season for mistletoe," Lorelai replied. "Did she manage to plant one on ya?"
"Only on the cheek," Jackson answered. "She got distracted by Andrew walking in so I managed to escape before she tried to kiss me again."
"Well it seems that everything is right on track for any town event Taylor tries to throw. Have you received your last present from your Secret Santa yet?" Lorelai asked the couple.
Sookie shook her head. "Not yet but we really just got here a few minutes before you did. Davey was upset about being left with the babysitter."
"Poor baby." Lorelai sympathized. She eyed the punch-bowl in the corner. "I'll leave you two for your Secret Santas to come and find you. I'm going to go get some punch and see if I run into my Secret Santa," she said before taking off in direction of the punch bowl.
After downing a cup of Miss Patty's Founder Day punch, that despite it's name found it's way to almost every event that the town held, and the unveiling of her own Secret Santa, Lorelai noticed Luke standing in the back of the dance studio with his back leaned against the wall. With her very last present for him in hand and the present she was just given be her Secret Santa in hand, Lorelai put on a smile and strode over to Luke.
"Hey," Lorelai greeted, "You made it."
"You're the one that roped me into this thing. I wasn't even going to do the Secret Santa thing but between you and Taylor, I didn't even have a choice," Luke replied, knowing that it was mainly Lorelai who influenced his decision.
"Have you revealed yourself to anyone yet?" Lorelai asked. She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth. "Don't say it," she urged, her hand covering her face, the shame coloring her a shade of red that even Crayola didn't have a name for.
Luke leaned forward, an almost wicked smirk on his face. "Dirty," he whispered in a low register. He could admit that he was happy to have the tables turn, to see her squirm uncomfortably after making an unintentionally dirty comment. She was usually the one throwing out the 'dirty' after some comment he made but now the roles were reversed leaving her to be the one embarrassed.
Quickly recovering from her embarrassment, Lorelai removed her hand from her face. "Frankly I'm a little disappointed in you, that was too easy," she pretended to scold Luke, not completely liking that he put one over on her. She crossed her arms, tucking the presents under her arm. "I was trying to ask have you told your person that you are their Secret Santa yet?"
"I'm surprised she hasn't told you yet," Luke replied causing Lorelai to tilt her head to the side in confusion. He nodded towards the center of the room where Sookie stood with Jackson. "I was Sookie's Secret Santa."
Lorelai glanced over her shoulder at Sookie. When Sookie noticed both Luke and Lorelai she began jumping up and down waving the brand new top-of-the-line set of knives that Luke bought her around. Sure they were not within the monetary limit that Taylor set but Sookie, despite her tendencies to criticize his food and constantly try to change his menu, was one of the people in town that he liked and it was the one thing he knew she would love. Much to Lorelai's horror, one of the knives in the set was out as Sookie was waving it around nearly slicing Jackson across his face.
"You gave her knives?" Lorelai screeched, turning back towards Luke. "In a public place? With lots of people around that she can potentially injure? You do realize who you were giving gifts too right?"
"Look," Luke said using his hand to gesture over towards Sookie, "Jackson took the knives away from her."
Lorelai looked over where Sookie and Jackson were still standing. Jackson, who now looked very relieved that his wife was no longer waving knives around, placed the set of knives back in the gift basket and held it out of Sookie's reach. Sookie pouted but quickly waved to Luke and mouthed a quick 'thank you,' to him.
Lorelai smiled at her friend's excitement over the gift, "As frightening as it may be that she was just waving knives around, it seems like you gave the perfect gift," she complimented Luke. "You make a great Secret Santa." She feigned a pout. "Now I wish I had you as my Secret Santa."
"You didn't have such a great Secret Santa?" Luke guessed.
Lorelai sighed and held up the small book Miss Patty had given her. "Apparently since Miss Patty hasn't heard that there is a man in my life, she has given me what she is calling 'Lorelai's Little Black Book,' which is full of random guys she met photos, numbers, and a small description about them so I can see if they are worthy of dating."
Luke chuckled. "I do not want to know how she got those numbers."
"Amen," Lorelai agreed. "It's not the first time she's done something like this, so I'm not completely surprised. She's probably still carrying around that picture of me in her wallet so she can show it to any potential single men that she runs into. That's what she did for the Bid-A-Basket Festival."
"She carries a picture of you around in her wallet?" Luke asked.
"She thinks it's her mission in life to find me a man," Lorelai replied. "Hey," she chided when she noticed Luke smiling. "Don't make fun because it may be that one of these days she starts carrying a picture of you in her wallet to set you up with a lady friend."
"Jeez," Luke groaned.
Lorelai smiled at his slight discomfort over the fact that Miss Patty very well one day might just start carrying a picture of him around with her. She cleared her throat. "Anyways, nothing from your Secret Santa yet?"
Luke shook his head, "Nah. Not that it matters too much, I just came to give Sookie her gift. I might head back to the diner in a little while."
Lorelai smirked as she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Miss Patty was walking in her and Luke's direction. "Although I would normally would try and make you stay at a town event, you may want to head back to the diner now."
"Why?" Luke asked.
"Here comes Miss Patty with her mistletoe on a stick," Lorelai replied. "She already got Jackson and I'm guessing you're next on her list."
"I think it's my time to go," Luke said.
"I'll go with you," Lorelai replied.
Luke turned to face Lorelai as she followed him through the crowd of people in the dance studio. "Don't you have to tell someone that you're their Secret Santa?"
"I'll tell them soon enough," Lorelai replied. "Besides right now I could use some coffee." She thanked Luke as he took the presents from her and helped her slip into her coat. She took the presents back and waited until he put his jacket on before they walked out into the cool, crisp night air.
Walking into the diner, Lorelai plopped down on a stool at the counter while Luke walked behind the counter and began preparing a pot of coffee. Lorelai sat her present for Luke down on the counter in front of her. A few minutes later when he slid her a cup of coffee, she slid him the gift bag.
"Ho ho ho," Lorelai said cheerfully. When she noticed the confusion on his face, she added on, "I'm your Secret Santa."
Luke eyed the bag skeptically.
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Oh come on it's not going to bite. I happen to think that I make a pretty great Secret Santa."
When he hesitated slightly, Lorelai pushed the bag and closer to him and gestured for him to open the bag. He pushed the tissue paper out of the way and pulled out a leather-bound photo-album with the word family inscribed across the front. "What's this?" he asked looking down at Lorelai.
"There's something I need to explain about the present. I was happy that I drew your name but then I realized that I couldn't think of anything to get you. Rory and I brainstormed over the phone and all we came with was a new hat or a flannel shirt. You're not the easiest person to shop for, especially since I realized I don't know a whole lot about you," Lorelai explained. "And although I think it was a great idea, you might be a little mad over what I did."
"And why would I be mad?" Luke asked. "What did you do?"
"Well the other day you were out of the diner so I asked Cesar for the key to your apartment and I kind of broke in if you want to call it that. I had the best intentions in mind though. It was a total invasion of privacy," Lorelai admitted. "While I was in your apartment, I went through your things. Please don't say anything," she urged when she noticed Luke trying to interrupt her. "Just hear me out. I found all these pictures of you and your family, and I know that you don't open up about them at all while I'm an open book most of the time, and they were just lying there in a box."
Lorelai paused just long enough to take a breath.
"I know how important family is to you. I mean you barely changed the diner from a hardware store, you kept your father's handwritten list behind the counter, you took Jess in when your sister asked, and you would do anything for you sister. I know that much. I thought that these pictures deserved something more then just being stuck in a box," Lorelai admitted. "You always do things for me and I wanted to do something for you."
Lorelai hung her head when she noticed Luke holding onto the photo-album tighter. She knew that look, she had seen it plenty of times before. He was angry just as she suspected he would be. "So I stole your pictures. Not all of them but a lot of them. I've spent hours all week putting this together for you. I thought it would be a great memorial to your family. You can hate me if you want to for invading your privacy and sticking my nose where it didn't belong but please just take a look at the photo-album."
"You stole my pictures?" Luke asked angrily, his eyes narrowed.
Lorelai looked back up at Luke, her heart sank when she noticed his angry look seemed to multiply ten-fold from just a few minutes ago. "Technically I didn't steal them, I just borrowed them. I'm giving them back now."
"You still went through my things," Luke argued. "You had no right to do that."
"I know and I'm sorry. You're a private person, I had no right to do that but I just thought it would be nice gesture." Lorelai stood up from her stool and gathered her things. "Just take a look at the photo-album. You can stay mad at me if you want too but I think once you look through it then you will really like it. And if not then this will just be one of our things that we eventually put behind us."
"Merry Christmas Luke," Lorelai said with a melancholy smile before she made her way out of the diner.
Luke watched her leave, still clutching the photo album in his hands. Still angry over the fact that she snuck into his apartment and invaded his privacy, he stormed up to his apartment. Inside his apartment, the photo-album was dropped down onto the coffee table while he headed into the kitchen. He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and he decided to relax in his recliner.
He stared at the photo-album on the table as he relaxed back in his recliner. He wanted to stay angry at her for invading his privacy when she had no right to but the thought of her spending hours putting something this meaningful together for him was beginning to extinguish the anger he originally felt. Like she said earlier he always did things for her. He never minded doing any of those things, he was happy to help out in any way she could. To him it never mattered that she didn't do much for him, although there was the time she did paint the diner for him and took over the diner when his Uncle Louie passed away, he just liked being there for her and Rory. He never expected anything in return.
Luke sighed heavily as he finally picked up the photo-album. He ran his fingers over the word 'family' engraved on the front before he opened up to the first page. On the first page were a few pictures of him and Liz, he recognized the pictures as the day that his sister was brought home from the hospital. He was just a little kid himself, just a few years older than her, but in the pictures he was sitting on the couch holding Liz in his arms. His mother was sitting beside him helping him to hold the small baby.
He remembered not being very fond of Liz at the beginning but as told by both his mother and father it was his duty as her big brother to always watch out for her. A lesson he always remembered and carried well on into adulthood.
The next two pages of pictures were filled with pictures of him in his little league uniform. In some he was standing alongside his father out in front of the hardware store and in the others he was posed on the baseball field as he played a game. He took to baseball right away, spending hours playing with his father in the backyard and brushing on the necessary skills it took to play baseball.
The next few pages were plenty of photos of the entire family, he knew they were taken not long before his mother passed away. It was one of their family vacations that they took every summer out to their cabin, the same cabin he had taken his fishing trips to over the years. Thinking back on it now, he hadn't went to the cabin in a while. He made a mental note to get out there soon, once most of the frost from the winter passed. He loved that cabin and the many summers spent there.
After reminiscing over the fond summer memories, he turned to the next page which held just pictures of him and his mother. In these pictures he and his mother were standing at the kitchen counter while she was teaching him how to bake pies. He had a look of intense concentration on his face while his mother just watched on proudly in one photo and smiled at the camera in the other. He remembered that day vividly and still used those exact recipes for the pies he baked in the diner.
It was not too long after that day that his mother passed away, evident in the photos that now only featured himself, his father, and Liz. Lorelai seemed to put the pictures in the best chronological order that she could and he had to admit that she did a pretty fantastic job as he watched both himself and Liz grow up before the lens of the camera.
Luke stopped on a certain page every now and then reminiscing over the memories shown in the photos. Some taken at town festivals that his father never really had an affinity for but since it was something they always did with this mother, his father carried the tradition on. He became lost in the childhood photos, ones that he hadn't seen in a long time. The pictures stayed hidden in the back of his closet in a small box.
Before he knew it, he arrived at pictures of him and Liz as teenagers. There were fewer pictures of those years since his father's health began declining and there weren't many memories he wanted to capture on film. Although there were a few of him in his baseball uniform as he played for the Stars Hollow High Minutemen along with a few pictures of him in his track uniform that he remembered Lorelai mocking him for when she spotted them at the high school one day. He could hear her voice in his head throwing out all kinds of mocking comments as she assembled the photo-album.
There were pictures of a teenaged Liz in the hospital cradling a baby Jess. Beside that was a picture of Luke holding baby Jess as well. A Jess that knew nothing of sarcastic comments or trouble-making. There were very few pictures of Liz and Jess in the album at this point seeing as it wasn't long after his birth that Liz took off with Jess in tow. The family pictures were now coming to an end but there were still a few pages that he was curious to see exactly which pictures she placed there.
Much to his surprise instead of seeing more family pictures, he came across pictures of Rory. There was a yellow sticky note on the page that informed him although Rory wasn't technically family, she felt that just a few pictures of Rory should be added from her own collection since she knew just how much he cared for the girl.
He recognized one of the pictures as the day he attended the funeral of a caterpillar that Rory was sure she killed. Lorelai had insisted on getting a picture of the two of them. There were a few other pictures he didn't immediately recognize at first but judging by the background on the photos they were taken at town festivals. Some were candid shots while others were posed. A lot of them were from around the same time since for just a little while he remembered Lorelai being obsessed with taking pictures.
One of his favorites that he hadn't remembered existed until this moment was one of him, Rory, and Lorelai all posed and smiling for the camera at Rory's graduation from Chilton. He felt so proud of Rory at that moment and was glad that he now had a picture to commemorate the event.
As he got to the last page of the album, he picked up the envelope and sat it aside before taking notice of the very last picture in the album. It was a candid shot of him and Lorelai taken a few years ago at the Firelight Festival. The photographer behind the picture being Rachel. He smiled as he stared at the picture, he was never a picture guy but had to admit it was a great picture of the both of them.
Luke closed the album and set it down on the table. Curiosity getting the better of him, he immediately grabbed the envelope imprinted with his name, opened it, and took the letter out. He took a deep breath before beginning to read the letter.
Dear Luke,
When I roped you into this thing, I was hoping that I would draw you to play Secret Santa too. Well you or Sookie, even if you don't seem like the easiest person to buy for. Besides I did drag you into this thing, it was the least I could do is draw your name and not leave you with someone like Kirk, that would be unfortunate. In addition to the photo-album which I'm sure you might get mad about since I stole your family pictures but we'll make up because we always do, I wanted to write you a letter. This time of year is a time for reflection and putting your family pictures in this scrapbook helped with my reflection on you. Sometimes I feel like you don't know just how much you mean to me. You are one of the most kind and caring persons I have ever met.Are you blushing or rolling your eyes yet and trying to pretend that the mushiness isn't getting to that softie heart we all know is covered by your grumpy facade? If not, just wait there's more. Once we became friends, I never really felt alone. You were always there for Rory and me. Even if I didn't ask for the help, you were always there. I could never put exactly into words how grateful I am for you being there. I swear sometimes I don't know what I would do without you. Honestly Luke. I'm using this photo-album and letter as an ill-fated attempt to show you just how grateful I am to have you in my life. I know how much family means to you and these memories deserve more than just a dust-covered box in the back of your closet. Now at least some of your family pictures will be preserve in an album like they so rightfully deserve. Like you so rightfully deserve. You always been on my side and I want you to know that I'm on your side too.
With Love,
Lorelai.
Guilt washed over him as he re-read the letter. He now felt terrible for lashing out at her like he did earlier tonight when she gave him the present. She was trying to do something nice for him spending hours of her own free time going through his memories and constructing something to preserve those memories. He still didn't care for the fact that she snooped through his apartment, she probably now had even more things to mock him about, but seeing just how much she cared for him through the gesture of a photo-album.
He glanced on the clock that hung on the wall only to realize that hours had passed since he first sat down to look at the photo-album. He was lost in the pictures and memories, he didn't realize how late it had gotten. By now he knew Lorelai was fast asleep and that it could be dangerous to wake her up, she valued her sleep. Still he wanted to apologize for the way he acted about the photo-album. After flipping through the album and reading her letter, there was no way he could stay mad at her. In all honesty, what she did was very nice and it was one of the rare times that someone did something for him to show him how much they cared instead of the other way around. He wasn't so sure why she was so adamant about how he always did things for her but she never returned the favor because she did, she helped him out from time to time. Apologizing would have to wait until the morning when he could show up at her house with coffee as an incentive to his apology. With Lorelai, you could never go wrong with coffee.
The next morning, Luke walked up the front porch steps of the Crap Shack with coffee and a take-out bag from his diner in hand. It was well past nine so he figured it was a good time to pay a visit to Lorelai. However his good intentions were proved wrong when, after knocking on the door for several minutes, he heard grumbling about how early it was before the door swung open to reveal Lorelai still clad in her snowflake pajamas with a grumpy look plastered on her face.
"Do you know how early it is?" Lorelai grumbled.
"It's past nine," Luke replied.
Lorelai leaned on the door, her eyes still half-closed and sleepy. "Yeah but it's past nine on a Sunday which is the day of rest. You have interrupted my resting."
Luke held up the cup of coffee. "I brought coffee."
"You better have," Lorelai muttered before walking away leaving the door standing wide open.
Luke walked in after her and shut the front door. He headed towards the kitchen where he heard her moving around. By the time he got to the kitchen, Lorelai was already sitting at the table resting her head in her hands.
Lorelai gratefully accepted the coffee and took a long sip of it before speaking to Luke. "Do you have something else for me?" she asked eyeing the bag in his hand.
"Yeah," Luke said placing the bag down on the table. "Just some donuts, they go good with the coffee."
Lorelai motioned for Luke to sit down at the table with her, which he did. She broke one of the doughnuts into pieces and nibbled on it. "I'm guessing if you're here bringing me coffee and donuts that you can't be too mad at me."
"I was mad last night," Luke admitted. "I mean you took my pictures without even asking me."
"Well that would have ruined the surprise," Lorelai replied. "I just thought it would be something nice for you, I didn't have a whole lot in mind about what to buy you."
"And it was really nice," Luke added. "I loved it. I forgot about some of those pictures. It was nice to have them all put together in an album instead of just in a box."
Lorelai smiled triumphantly. "I told you that you would like it if you were to look at it. I figured you were going to be upset so I prepared myself for that. We would eventually talk again if you were really mad, we always do. You know why that is don't you?"
"Why what is?" Luke asked.
"The reason you can't stay mad at me for too long," Lorelai answered.
Luke chuckled. "And why would that be?"
"Because I'm adorable," Lorelai replied as if it was the easiest answer in the world. "I win eventually win you over by being adorable or something would happen and you would be there for me again, our fight forgotten at some point."
"Yeah," Luke agreed. "That is how things always work out."
A companionable silence fell over the kitchen as Lorelai polished off her donut and drained the cup of coffee that Luke brought over. "So you enjoyed the photo-album?" she asked. "I was a good Secret Santa even if it involved a little stealing to give the gift?"
"You were a good Secret Santa," Luke confirmed which earned him a smile from Lorelai. "And the photo-album was great, it was nice to look through all those pictures again. I really appreciate it," he said sincerely.
"And the added surprise of the pictures of Rory?" Lorelai asked.
Luke smiled. "I do appreciate that you added those in. I didn't realize that you had that many pictures of me and Rory."
"It wasn't my initial plan to add them in but going through your pictures and seeing all the pictures of your family made me want to go through my pictures. That's when I realized I had a lot a pictures of you and Rory throughout the years. I know she's not technically your family but the way you care for her, I thought those pictures should be in there," Lorelai said.
"I'm glad that you added them in," Luke replied. "Those pictures and that picture of us were a nice touch."
"Well it is a very nice picture of us," Lorelai added.
"Yeah it is. I liked your letter too," Luke replied. He reached across the table and placed his hand over hers on the table. "It's one of the most thoughtful things someone has done for me, thank you."
Lorelai smiled at the feel of Luke's hand covering hers. "You're welcome Luke."
Luke sighed heavily and pulled his hand away from Lorelai's. "I should probably get back to the diner now. I told Cesar I wouldn't be gone that long."
"Right," Lorelai said standing up from the table the same time Luke did. She continued to talk as she followed him back to the front door. "I can get back to my day of rest with maybe a stop by the diner later for lunch."
"I'll have the coffee," Luke replied. He opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch then turned around to face Lorelai. "I just wanted to stop by and make sure that we were okay, tell you that I wasn't mad and thank you for the gift."
"We're okay," Lorelai assured him. She shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "It's fine, really. I understand. You had me at coffee."
Luke chuckled, "Good. So I'll see you later?"
Lorelai nodded assuring him that she would come by the diner later today. "Do you see what I see?" she asked, her eyes flickered up towards the mistletoe that hung above them before she locked gazes with Luke again. She had forgotten it was there earlier. It was bought more as a joke seeing that her love life was currently in a rut. It did however make for interesting conversation whenever she had a pizza delivered to her house. She considered taking it down but never cared enough to bother taking it down.
"If you're going to start singing that damn Christmas carol, I can just leave now," Luke replied. "I don't think I need to hear that."
Lorelai gasped, pretending to be offended. "Who says my singing voice is terrible? I happen to think I have a decent voice. I can belt out a song when the moment is right."
A soft smile crossed his face. "I'm sure you can."
"I wasn't even referring to that song," Lorelai replied. She placed her hand under his chin and titled his head up towards the mistletoe. "That's what I was talking about."
"Oh," Luke said.
"Jeez, way to make a girl feel appreciated," Lorelai replied with a roll of her eyes. "Standing with a girl underneath the mistletoe and your response is Oh? No wonder you have a way with the ladies Luke."
"It's just," Luke sighed heavily. It's not that he hadn't imagined kissing her before because he had imagined it more than a few times but that didn't mean he wanted their first kiss to happen because of some crazy holiday tradition. "We don't have too," he added reluctantly.
"Oh Luke," Lorelai chuckled with a playful roll of her eyes. "I know that. If it was absolutely required than I wouldn't have to tip the pizza guy. Note: putting mistletoe above the door when I order pizza at least once a week is not the best idea."
"And you never thought to take it down?" Luke asked.
"I did but then I had the pizza in my hands and all thought of that went out the window," Lorelai replied as she took a step closer to Luke, never once breaking eye contact with him. She blushed under the intense stare coming from Luke.
They had almost crossed this boundary several times before. The one that would cross the line into more than just friends. There was the moment she could have sworn that he was going to kiss her when they were knelt down behind the counter in the diner discussing how they were going to paint the diner. Then there was the time where she thought he was so close to asking her out on a date but never did. The moment always slipped away from them. There was always some kind of interruption. Things would soon turn back to normal, both seemingly forgetting that they almost kissed or asked the other one out on a date. She pushed it to the back of her mind, they were friends and she didn't want to ruin that. Out of sake for her daughter who once told her she couldn't date Luke and then out of the fear that she would screw it up in her own way. Relationships were never her forte. But at this moment, under the mistletoe, she was damned if she was going to let another moment slip away. If these past few months meant anything, it was that maybe, just maybe, jumping in headfirst and dating Luke was what was supposed to happen all along.
Lorelai found that the look that Luke was currently giving her was the one that Sookie had tried to describe many times to her but she always played off saying that Luke didn't feel that way about her. But now she saw it and wondered how it managed to escape her for years.
Lorelai reached up and cupped the side of his face, her thumb the stubble along his jawline. "What if I said I wanted too and it has nothing to do with the mistletoe?" she asked. Before Luke had a chance to answer, her hand moved to the back of his neck and she pulled him down to her and covered his lips with her own.
Her plan was to keep the kiss quick, unsure of how far she should push her boundaries with Luke but when she went to pull back, he became an active participant in the kiss. He moved his lips softly against hers at first then teasingly as he snaked an arm around her waist to pull her closer.
Reluctant but both needing to fulfill that pesky need for oxygen, they broke the kiss. She smiled still feeling the spark from the kiss flowing through her body and loving the warmth that Luke provided against the cold winter air. Looking into Luke's eyes now it was obvious he felt the sparks as well.
"I'm no expert but I don't think that was all the mistletoe," Lorelai said.
Wordlessly, Luke took a step back and pulled Lorelai along with him so they were both no longer under the mistletoe. For the second time that morning, their lips melded together as both parties fully delighted in the sparks they were both feeling. Both were lost in their own little world with each other forgetting they were standing on her front porch as snow began falling behind them.
"Definitely not just the mistletoe," Luke confirmed pulling back from the kiss.
Lorelai flashed a dazzling smile, "Definitely not just the mistletoe," she repeated.
Just as they were about to embrace for a third time, Lorelai noticed the white specks that were twirling to the ground from the sky. Her smile grew even brighter as the snow swirled to the ground. She grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him towards the railing on the porch to watch the snowfall. Leaning against his side, she tilted her head back to look at him.
"See I told you magical things happen when it snows," Lorelai said.
Luke's arm wound around her waist as he pulled her tighter against his side, he knew it wasn't really the snow and that this had been a long time coming for them but he was happy to indulge her beliefs. "I'm beginning to agree with you here on the snow."
Lorelai leaned her head on his shoulder. "Still have to get back to the diner right away?"
"I think Cesar can handle the diner on his own for a little while longer, I pay him enough," Luke replied.
Lorelai smiled, "Good. I would just love to stay out here and watch the snowfall but I think the mistletoe needs to see a little more kissing," she said intertwining her fingers with Luke's and pulling him back towards the front door.
Luke allowed himself to be drug towards the front door. They paused for just a second as Lorelai reached up and snatched the mistletoe down from above the door before disappearing into the house, the door slamming shut behind them.
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