Power Outage in Stars Hollow

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am not making money.

Author's Note: Has nothing to do with any of the other …in stars hollow stories. 'Cept that it's L/L.

~*~

"Come on Luke! One more, that's all I'm askin'!" she pouted.

"No! I'm cleaning and closing up!" Luke defended and retreated to the kitchen.

Lorelai followed him, "Please?" she begged.

"Out!" Luke demanded as he pointed to the door.

"Coffee?"

"Lorelai," Luke sighed tiredly, "I cleaned the pot out. You're just going to go home and drink more coffe. Why do you want me to make you a fresh pot when I'm about to close up?"

Lorelai frowned, "Because your coffee is better, it's special Luke coffee."

"You are so weird." Luke sighed.

"I know!" Lorelai smiled, No sooner than she had just finished her sentence, the power went out. Lorelai gasped, "Luke?"

"Hold on, let me go hit the fuse box." Luke said. Lorelai heard clicking but the power didn't come back on. "It's not the fuse box." Suddenly they heard a loud boom of thunder. Lorelai yelped.

"Luke?" Lorelai sniffed.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked worriedly.

"I'm, um. Luke, you promise not to laugh?" Lorelai asked seriously.

"Yeah I promise."

"I'm um, I'm scared of the dark." she sniffed again.

"Shit, you're not joking. Um, can you do me a favor and put your arms out in front of you?"

"Um, why?"

"So I can find you without touching anything I probably shouldn't."

Lorelai almost smiled, "oh."

Luke stumbled over a crate, and mumbled an expletive and worked his way across to Lorelai, he took her hand in his, "Uh, I need to go upstairs and find some candles. Are you going to come?"

"Yeah."

Luke gently massaged her hand in attempts to keep her calm as they walked up the stairs. "Alright, I've got them. Let's go back downstairs."

"Okay."

Luke handed her a candle and carefully led her back down the stairs into the diner and they sat at a table and Luke lit the candles. "Better?" Luke asked from across the table.

"Yeah," Lorelai nodded, "Much better." she smiled.

"Do you mind if I ask why you're scared of the dark?"

"Petrified to be alone in the dark. I've been scared since I was little and there was a burglar and the power went out and he stole some stuff and broke the TV. It sounds crazy now but it was really bad when I was five."

"It doesn't sound crazy. It makes a lot of sense, if anything bad happens when you're little and you don't get over it then it stays with you."

"Is that why you hate hospitals?"

Luke nodded, "My grandfather died in a hospital, I'll never forget the smell of a hospital, or the way he looked hooked up to all those tubes."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. So, uh, what do you think caused the power to go out?" Luke asked changing the subject.

"Lightning probably hit a pole or something."

"Usually the power comes right back on though."

"Yeah," Lorelai's mind was somewhere else *Luke, it's just Luke, no one else. Damn my mother. Sookie's crazy anyway. Why was he so nice about my crazy fear of the dark? Why do I the urge to run my foot up his leg in a very non-platonic kind of way? I don't like Luke, I don't want to marry Luke.* she tried to convince herself.

"Lor'?" Luke pulled her out of her thoughts, "What are you thinking about?"

"Huh? What makes you think I'm thinking?"

"Cuz you've got that far away 'there's something on my mind' look."

"Oh, just something my mother said. And that I need to call Rory."

"Um, okay. I suppose you've got your cell phone that will kill brain cells and give you cancer?"

"Yep." she smiled, glad that he didn't ask about what her mother said.

"So what did your mother say to put you so deep in thought?"

"Nothing. Nothing important. I'm just going to call Rory now." she answered quickly and pulled out her cell phone, "Hey Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Is the power out at home?"

"Yeah. My phone's working, obviously, because it's hooked directly into the jack, but the cordless isn't."

"You probably wouldn't have been able to find it anyway."

"So how are you doing in the dark?"

"I'm fine actually. I'm at Luke's and we've got candles."

"Ooh, with Luuuke." Rory teased giggling.

Lorelai sighed, "You know what, you, and Sookie, and my mother are all insane. You're making me go crazy!"

"Wait a minute, you're saying you like Luke?"

"Maybe." she squeaked.

"This is big!"

"So you're okay with it? It's not like weird crazy?"

"No mom, it's great!"

"You're sure?"

"Yes! Stop avoiding it, get off the phone and tell him!"

"Hey, I'm the mommy, I order you around. You can't tell me what to do." she said playfully.

"Go."

"Alright, fine. I love you, bye."

"Tell Luke that, minus the bye."

Lorelai sighed, "Bye."

"Bye mom. Love you too." Rory giggled and Lorelai put her phone away.

"What was that about?" Luke asked curiously.

"Nothing, just a mother/daughter thing."

"Okay." they sat in silence for a little while. *tell him, or not? I'm going to mess this up, and I'll never get good coffee. I won't see him. I can't tell him. I need to tell him.*

"Luke?"

"Yeah."

"I need your friendly diner man advice."

"Um, okay."

"Okay, say there's this person whom you've known forever and you realize that you love them, how do you tell him?"

*oh God, how do I answer this. I bet she still loves Chris.* Luke felt like his chest was going to implode, "Um, I guess you should call him and tell him."

Lorelai pondered the suggestion and decided it would not only work but would also make for a great story later, "Okay." she smiled nervously as she dialed Luke's number.

The phone rang on the other side of the diner. Luke looked at Lorelai curiously. She nodded and put her phone away. Luke was speechless, there were so many things going on in his head that he didn't know what to do. "Luke, say something." Lorelai pleaded.

Luke moved his chair closer to Lorelai and put his hand on her cheek and passionately kissed her. Lorelai put her hands in his hair, knocking off his hat and bringing them closer together. They pulled apart in need of air a few minutes later. Lorelai smiled, "Or do that."

"I love you." Luke said as he caught his breath.