Author's Note: Luke's point of view.

"It was my first look.
That's when I swallowed the hook.
On my first look,
Around.

Amor a primeira vista.
Voce nao, quer que o insista.
Amor a primeira vista,
Reacao quimica."

'First Look,' Jimmy Buffett

2. Luke

When Luke first met Rory, he knew he could never date Lorelai Gilmore. The little girl smiled and looked at him with hopeful, anxious eyes and then reached out to shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Luke."

Luke took her tiny hand in his and gently squeezed it. "Nice to meet you," He tried to smile, but he was out of practice. "And please, just call me Luke."

Rory's smile grew. "Okay. Luke." She let go of his hand. "Where can we sit?"

"Anywhere, I'll be right with you." Luke turned around to check on other customers.

"Thanks, Duke." He heard Lorelai call, but he ignored her.

He came by after a minute and pulled his order pad out. "What can I get you?" He asked in a monotone voice.

The girls stopped their conversation and Lorelai pretended to think. "Hmmm, I need a cheeseburger, and some fries, and some coffee."

Luke looked up from her ticket. "It's after seven. You don't need coffee."

"But Duke!" Lorelai pleaded.

"You're already wired. If you get anymore caffeine in your system your heart will explode."

"Please! I need my coffee, Duke." Lorelai pouted a little.

"Yeah, please Duke." Rory jumped in with a smile and started laughing.

"It's Luke!" He growled, and it came out much harsher than he intended. Rory's brow wrinkled up and he saw her lip tremble.

"Hey, don't yell at my kid!" Lorelai was suddenly angry.

"Don't teach her to tease people." Luke snapped at Lorelai. Now he felt terrible. He looked at the little girl and found a softer voice. "I'm sorry Rory. I didn't mean to yell." But she didn't say anything. "Can you forgive me?"

"Maybe," She pouted.

God, she's as dramatic as her mother. He sighed, "What would you like to drink?" He asked gently.

"Do you have chocolate milk?" Rory asked.

"Absolutely," Luke answered.

"Okay, I'd like chocolate milk and a cheeseburger."

"Coming right up," Luke left for the kitchen.

When he came back with their orders they were talking low. Rory looked up as he set their plates down. "I'm sorry for calling you 'Duke.'" She said with wide eyes.

"That's okay," Luke said. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"That's okay," Rory smiled a little. "Can we be friends now? I won't call you 'Duke' anymore." She asked.

"Of course we can." Luke tried to smile, and this time it came out right.

Rory immediately brightened up and took a bite of her burger. "This is so good. Thanks Luke."

"You're welcome," Luke replied. As he walked away he could hear the two restart their conversation, but they were laughing this time.

When the girls were almost finished with dinner Luke came by with the coffee pot and a piece of cherry pie. He refilled Lorelai's mug and set the pie in front of Rory.

"I get pie?" She was surprised.

"Why does she get pie?" Lorelai demanded.

"'Cause we're friends, and she promised to use my actual name." Luke said.

"But Du—Luke! I won't call you that name anymore."

"Doesn't work like that." Luke said. "You can't just say that because you want free pie. You're lucky I'm even giving you coffee this late."

"It's free?" Rory perked up.

"First slice is free." Luke told her.

"Thanks!" Rory grinned.

"That's not fair Duke!" Lorelai pouted.

"I thought you weren't going to call me that anymore?" Luke asked.

"I thought I was going to get free pie." Lorelai retorted.

"If I remember right, your first two slices were free, as was your first cup of coffee." Luke reminded her.

"But I want pie tonight."

"A buck a slice. What flavor?" Luke asked.

"Boysenberry," Lorelai sighed.

"Be right back." Luke went to the counter.

Later that night, as Luke was mopping the floor, he went over what Lorelai had said to him as she paid for the meal. "I'm sorry for the little fight at the beginning." She had said quietly. "But thanks for cheering her up with the pie. I think she really likes you." Then she smiled. And he said that was good, that he liked them both and looked forward to seeing them again. Lorelai had just smiled back and told him that eventually he'd get sick of them, but he didn't think that was true.

Still, he felt…depressed. Lorelai had a kid. Luke knew that just because she had a kid didn't mean she didn't date, but when Rory had looked up at him as she shook his hand and then smiled when he brought pie, he knew that if he dated Lorelai Gilmore it would make things weird for all three of them. Especially since Rory had asked to be friends. And they didn't have a man in their lives. Someone who could get the lid off the pickle jar or fix things around their house. Granted, he could tell there wasn't much they needed a man around for, but he wanted to be there if they needed him. Just my luck. I finally meet a girl I love and I can't do anything about it. The thought slipped its way into his conscience so casually that for a moment he was dumbstruck when he realized its significance. Love? Hell, I'm surprised I can remember the word, let alone what it means. How can I possibly be in love? But deep in his heart, he couldn't deny it. He knew it was stupid and hopelessly romantic, but he believed in love at first sight. Luke Danes would never tell anyone, but the first time he had met Rachel he knew he loved her. It went without saying that love had to grow over time, but the spark had to be there to begin with. Which made it that much harder for him when she left the last time. His love for her had grown over years. She was there for him when his dad died. Then she told him she wanted more, so he took the chance and started a relationship. But Rachel was restless. The first time she left she was gone for a few months before he eventually followed her, but he didn't feel comfortable anywhere except Stars Hollow. The cities were too materialistic, too cold and businesslike. So he went home and she reappeared after having a change of heart. She moved in with him, and seemed happy, but one morning he woke up without her and Miss Patty told him that she had seen Rachel at the bus stop the night before. So that day he made a tremendous effort and put away what was left of his feelings, determined not to care that much again. But the day that Lorelai had whirled into the diner for the first time, he took one look and knew that he was in trouble. He knew as soon as he looked into her eyes that he had been caught in her terminal web. Over the next few weeks he found out how right he was. She was effortlessly beautiful, funny, and had a killer smile. And those eyes…he learned quickly never to look directly into them for long if he wanted to be able to do more than mumble incoherently. It was like looking into the damn sun, and he had always believed people meant that as a figure of speech until he met her. He didn't know much about mythology, but he was sure there had to be some connection between those expressive blue eyes and his inability to refuse anything to her. Her eating habits, on the other hand, could use a little work. But that didn't really matter in the big picture.

Now…now he didn't know what to do. Rory did matter in the big picture. Lorelai had given mixed signals since the day he met her. She would flirt, but it wouldn't go any farther. So he had played along, figuring that was just her personality. But now it made sense, she didn't want to upset her daughter with the possibility of a relationship. Why that was he couldn't comprehend, and didn't think he ever would. But he did know that meant he would have to settle for just seeing her in the diner or fixing things around the inn. So that's what he did. He settled.

He had offered to help out at the inn because he was tired of her complaining to him about all the things she had to fix, and because he was pretty sure that the talk was just her way of asking if he could help without actually saying the words. But he didn't mind, not really. He had always been good with the little fix-its, his dad had taught him when he was younger. Plus, it was a change of pace; something that he could do away from the diner, away from the memories of Rachel. He could never admit to anyone, but Rachel's abuse of his heart had nearly put him down for the count. At the inn, he could fix things, find a logical explanation to why something didn't work and then go about correcting the problem. With Rachel, there was no logic.

Then one day Lorelai came in at lunch chattering away about closing costs and being in escrow. When he asked what was going on, she proudly told him that she had bought a house, and she and Rory would finally be able to move out of the old tool shed and live like human beings. So he gave her a piece of pie on the house and told her congratulations. A few weeks later Miss Patty came in, going on about how much stuff she had to move and if she only had a strong, handsome young man then the whole process would go much smoother. But she was very cryptic about what needed to move and where it was going. Finally, out of sheer frustration, he promised to help if she would just tell him what was going on and stop making such a big fuss. And when Miss Patty told him to meet her at Lorelai's new house, right next door to Babette, he was left wondering how the hell he had been talked into helping.

When Luke showed up at Lorelai's new house, he was met by Babette and Miss Patty. Apparently Lorelai had more stuff than she thought and was having trouble getting the bigger objects across town. So Luke ended up making several runs with his truck to get tables and beds from the inn to her house. He pretended not to notice the winks and comments from Patty and Babette, and ended up doing most of the work. At the end of the day she took him aside for a moment and thanked him for all the help, and he felt a little uncomfortable without anyone else around, so to cover his nervousness he told her to let him know if she found anything around the house that needed repair.

"Why don't you just give me your number so I can call you?" She smiled.

"What?" Luke actually heard the voice of The Robot in his head. Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

"Your phone number," Lorelai said in a slightly patronizing voice. "That way I can call you if I need something." You can't be that clueless.

"Just come by the diner." He told her. In high school he would've offered his number to her; just in case she needed help, of course. Before he became seriously involved with Rachel he would've have agreed to her request without a second thought.

"What if it's late at night?" She asked.

"Fine," He sighed and decided to meet her halfway. "You got a piece of paper?"

She pulled out her cell phone and opened the address book. "Go." She said.

"The diner is 490-1523."

"Got it," She said. "Now what's your home phone?"

"What?" Luke asked.

"I know you don't have one line for both the diner and your hermit hole upstairs." She was smiling again and had fixed her eyes on his. "What if my air conditioner quits this summer? I don't want Rory and I to bake because you were on the phone with your meat guy and I couldn't get through to you."

Unable to look away, he decided it would be easier not to argue and gave her the number to his apartment. "Great." She said after she plugged the number in. "Let me get a piece of paper and I'll give you mine."

"Just give it to me tomorrow." Luke said, half-hoping she would forget. He knew he had no reason to ever call her.

But she came in the next morning and gave him her number as she was paying for breakfast. He didn't know what to do with it, so he stuck the note in his pocket until there was a lull and then put it in the drawer of the little table his phone was on. He didn't even look at the digits.

She, on the other hand, ended up calling him fairly regularly. Loose windows and rickety door knobs kept popping up at her new house, and the inn needed some sprucing up for the summer tourist season that was just around the corner. He must have done a hundred odd jobs during lulls or after closing the diner for the night. A week before Rory got out of school for the summer, she asked him to come over and take a look at the water heater since it was making strange noises. Cesar was closing that night, but the diner was busy and he couldn't get away until after eight.

When she opened the door her eyes were red and she had obviously been crying. "Jesus, what's the matter!" He dropped his tool box and took her hands.

She started laughing. "I'm sorry, nothing's wrong." She sniffled a little.

"You're crying—what happened?" Luke asked gently.

"I'm fine, really." She smiled and wiped her eyes. "I was channel-surfing and 'Love Story' was on." She waved her hand. "It's a great movie, but it always makes me cry."

"You're serious?" Luke still didn't believe her.

"Yes, I'm serious." She looked up at him. "But thanks for the concern."

"Okay," he studied her for a moment before he picked his tool box up and she led him past a studying Rory to the water heater in a little closet by the downstairs bathroom. She pulled up a chair and sat down as he began inspecting the pipes and connections.

"So, have you ever seen it?" She asked.

"Seen what?" Luke glanced at her and then pulled a small flashlight out of his toolbox.

"'Love Story,'" She clarified.

"No," Luke answered, concentrating hard.

"It's a really good movie." She said.

"I'll take your word for it." Luke was now on his back, trying to get at a tangle of hoses deep in the corner.

"Don't you want to see it?" Lorelai asked.

"Is it a chick-flick?"

"No!" Lorelai quickly answered. "Well...kinda." She admitted.

"I don't like chick-flicks. Can't stand weepy movies," Luke answered distractedly.

"Oh, come on. Everyone should see that movie once." Lorelai said.

Luke stopped what he was doing and pushed himself out of the corner so that he could look at her. "Are you going to sit here and talk to me until I finish?"

"Of course," She smiled innocently.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Here, hold the flashlight. If you're going to talk then you may as well help."

Lorelai leaned as far into the tiny space as she could and tried not to shine the light in Luke's eyes. "So, what was with the big brother act when you came to the door tonight?"

"I don't know." Luke reached for another screwdriver. "The only time I've seen a girl cry is when something was wrong. The last time I saw my sister was when her boyfriend cleaned out her bank account and left town."

"I'm sorry." Lorelai said quietly.

"It's fine, now—she's doing better. I just hope I'm ready the next time it happens." Luke grunted as he tightened a set of screws.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because it will," Luke stopped and looked up at her through the tangle. "She's a smart girl, but she makes bad personal decisions and she won't change. Believe me—I've tried to reason with her." Luke grabbed a wrench and went back to work.

"Luke, I'm sor—"

"Don't worry about it." He cut her off. "Can you hand me the pliers?"

When he was finished, he shook the hoses and then tapped the water heater with his foot. "That should work—I think things just needed to be tightened up." He packed up his tools and headed for the door.

"Hey, Luke," Rory called from over her book in the living room, as if she just realized he was in the house.

"Hi," Luke smiled

He reached the door and turned to say a quick goodbye to Lorelai, but she spoke first. "Thanks for coming over tonight."

"You're welcome," Luke replied.

"Hey, what are you doing this Friday?" She asked.

"Why?"

"Oh, Rory's going to have her friend over for a little end-of-school bash and it would be nice to have some adult company to help me get through the night." She smiled.

"I don't know…" Luke thought aloud.

"Come on, we can watch 'Love Story.' You spend too much time in that diner anyways. You need to socialize, have a little fun. And nothing's more fun than a Gilmore movie night extravaganza."

"Let me think about it. Fridays are usually kind of busy at the diner." Luke said.

"That's fine—the party won't get started until after eight." She walked out the door with him. "Let me know tomorrow morning." She paused and looked him in the eye. "Thanks for all your help Luke."

"Your welcome, I'll see you tomorrow." He got in his truck and drove home.