Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, I lay no claim to their perfection.
A/N: I don't know if anyone is still in love with Luke and Lorelai, but I definitely am. This is set during 2x11 "Secrets and Loans" when Lorelai's house is threatened by termites and no one will give her a loan. The first bit of dialogue is directly from the show.
"Well, how's it look?"
"It's dark. Hand me the flashlight." Luke muttered from under Lorelai's porch, only his bottom half sticking out. She reached down and handed it to him from her perch atop Bert, Luke's trusty toolbox.
"Why don't you have one of those hats with the lights on 'em?"
"I flip burgers for a living." He responded dryly.
"Right! Right!" she recalled.
"Okay," he groaned emerging from underneath the porch and sitting up, "I think I've seen enough."
"Well, how was it? Was there like a termite housing development under there? Golf courses and condos, with rec rooms?" she rambled.
Luke sighed, "It's actually not too bad." and began to put his tools away.
"Well what do you know? You flip burgers for a living." Lorelai prodded.
Luke clarified, "I mean, there's definitely a little damage."
"Yeah but – but Kirk says that the joists were totally gone." She protested.
"Yeah, they are." He acknowledged.
"And the foundation had lost all its structural integrity." She continued.
"That's true too."
"Okay, great! So I'm still screwed!"
"Not necessarily." Luke said, still collecting the last of his tools.
"Luke, I need fifteen thousand dollars which I can't find, don't have and if I don't find, the house is going to fall down!" she ranted.
"I can help you with that."
"You can?" Surprise and confusion brought her brows together.
"Yeah," he explained, "I can get a couple guys, we can get in there and do the work."
"You can fix this?" she questioned, a strong hint of disbelief lining her voice.
"Well, I can help. I know a good contractor. He did some work on the diner."
"What about the money?"
"Oh, you won't have to deal with that right away." he reassured her.
"I won't?" she exclaimed.
"No, you can pay it out in installments if you want. Monthly, bimonthly, whatever. Whatever you're comfortable with."
"Sooo, let me get this straight," she began, "uh, you and some guys who actually know what they're doing are gonna come over and fix my house and I can pay them back whenever I want?"
"That's right."
"Because I'm Tony Soprano?"
"Only scarier," he teased as she plunked herself down on the steps to the porch.
"Ha. Now, Luke, when I finally do make out this installment check, who should I make it out to?" She demanded.
"Well, uh, you can make it out to me… if you like." He offered, setting his toolbox down beside his feet.
"Ohhhh, so basically you would be fronting me the money." she broke the transaction down to the bare bones.
"Well, yeah" he stuttered, "but it's no big deal."
"Luke," She smiled, standing up, "that's a loan!"
"No, it's just a temporary exchange of money for services that… will be paid back, when you finally have the - It's a loan." He admitted.
"Man, you suck as a liar." She teased, still grinning, causing him to smirk, "Thank you." She stepped up to hug him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He hesitantly laid his arms across her upper back. He wasn't much of a hugger. He let go, but she still held tight, so he put his arms back around her, catching how nice she smelled. Finally she released her grip on his middle and leaned up to give him a quick peck on the cheek just as he turned his head down to look at her. Her lips landed on the corner of his mouth and she pulled back and laughed apologetically.
"Oh wow, uh, sorry! I was just… I was going to…" she stuttered.
He stared down at her, his eyes searching hers. With his right arm still around her he pulled her close and cradled her face with his left hand, bringing his face down to her level and pressing his lips to hers for a kiss – a real kiss this time. He could tell he had caught her by surprise, but it wasn't long before she relaxed into the kiss and into his arms.
After her initial shock and hesitation, she began to kiss him back. She decided that she liked kissing Luke. His strong arms were wrapped around her, his lips were soft but assertive, and his tongue… She pulled back, her head swimming with thoughts that had only just caught up with her.
"Wait, Luke, wait, what is this? What are we doing?" she asked breathlessly, looking up into his eyes. His heart was pounding, she could feel it and she knew hers probably matched the tempo.
Staring down into her bright blue eyes and hearing her sweet voice question him, he felt like an idiot. He shook his head, mumbled a quick "sorry," and headed across the yard to his truck, taking large strides.
"Luke! Wait! Come back!" she chased him across the yard but by the time she reached his truck he was pulling away, leaving her standing confused and alone in the dusty driveway.
A/N: I'm writing this because I'm rewatching the Gilmore Girls series and I wish that Luke and Lorelai had gotten together sooner than the season four finale. There will be at least a second chapter so they can figure this out but beyond that I don't know. Leave a review and let me know what you think.
~ E
