Disclaimer: Any thing "Gilmore Girls" is not mine. "Good Night, Gorilla" is a Peggy Rathmann book.

Part 4

Luke approached home. Two weeks before Christmas and it was bitter cold and drizzling, nothing very festive about that. The days were shorter and at six o'clock in the evening, night had already fallen. But the house, like the rest of the town, was completely dark due to some regional blackout that had begun less than an hour earlier.

Luke entered the house and froze, looking stunned. It was lit with dozens of candles of various shapes, colors, sizes and smells. There was a trail of candles leading up the wooden staircase.

"Lorelai!" he called upstairs.

"Up here."

Luke started climbing up the staircase, careful not to knock any candles over.

"Lock the door," he heard Lorelai say.

Luke walked down the stairs back to the front door and locked it.

Upstairs he found Lorelai in their bathroom, soaking in a steamy tub, more flickering candles all around. She turned to him. She was beautiful. Her face glowing in the soft warm candle light, her long curls pinned up on the crown of her head illuminated by the moon's bright beam that seeped through the new skylight they had installed directly above the bathtub.

"Hey you," Lorelai said in a soft mellow voice, smiling.

"Hey," Luke gave Lorelai a subtle nod.

"Didn't feel like a romantic candle lit dinner at the diner with Kirk and Taylor, huh?"

"Tempting, but I have Caesar for exactly those special occasions," he paused. "The whole town is practically pitch - black."

"I know, like witches' teeth or those blackouts during the London blitz," Lorelai sounded enthusiastic.

"This isn't Salem and I don't think we're actually going to get any bombs falling out of the sky, as disappointing as that may be to you."

"I can't believe you're still so naïve after 9/11," Lorelai shook her head.

"Lorelai, we're talking about Stars Hollow. Even the smartest of bombs, a Mensa member bomb, the Einstein of all bombs would get lost trying to find our little defunct town. Unless of course, it's programmed to identify intense fire and smoke, which will undoubtedly soon be the fate of this place, with all these candles all over. It looks like candles' doomsday," Luke said as he shed his brown leather jacket and headed out to their adjoined bedroom to change clothes.

"Isn't it great? Now I can buy lots more, after I finally used all those candles I couldn't resist buying at various annual fairs. Some Rory and I actually crafted in the nineties. Those smell a bit funny," Lorelai paused waiting for Luke to respond. He then walked back into the bathroom wearing only a white undershirt, blue boxers and white socks.

"I'll tell you what really smells funny," he suddenly seemed to be in a rant mood standing in front of Lorelai. "Of all the places in town you'd naturally think would need to be connected to that massive generator we all paid for with our ballooned taxes, vital establishments, the pharmacy, clinic, police station, even the vet's, the only place that had any lights was Doose's and those stupid reindeer he set up in the square! Taylor hooked up the generator to his stupid properties and playmates! I should kick those red lit up asses back to Santa in the north - pole. We should all do that, launch Taylor along to escort them."

"Where's your holiday spirit? Those reindeer are vital to generating the town's festive seasonal mood."

"Well, they're sucking up all the generator's vital power generating capabilities, instead of generating it to the most important, crucial, even life — saving elements, though somewhat less festive or joyous they may be. We should have an official town inquiry about this."

"Hey," Lorelai smiled at Luke speaking softly. "I have an inquiry… Will you come join me?"

Luke stood with his arms crossed on his chest, exhaled loudly and frowned at Lorelai as she continued talking slowly and warmly beckoning him with her fingers.

"Come on shower addict, when was the last time you took a bath? Probably, not since you were a baby. We haven't initiated this tub yet. Call it the unveiling of our moonlit tub. We can look up and see the cold rain and clouds and crispy bright light of the moon, but in here it's warm, and nice and perfect and clean and smells great and I'm in it…"

Luke easily gave in. That warm bath with Lorelai in it did look inviting, just the kind of warmth he needed after a crazy diner day. He undressed as Lorelai lovingly smiled, her smile expanding and shining wider as Luke discarded the last items off — his socks. Finally, he slipped naked into the bath, to sit facing Lorelai. He stretched his legs out on either side of her. He could feel her legs between his and he relaxed as the warm, bubbly water covered him.

Lorelai bent forward to kiss him. "Hi. Welcome to my territorial hot waters," she whispered as she caressed his shoulders and upper chest then leaned back to her end of the tub. They both sat opposite each other, calm, eyes closing for some seconds then opening to gaze at one another, then closing again in tranquility.

"I can't believe we can sit here in silence for minutes," Luke said in a low, drowsy voice after some time.

"You mean that I can be silent."

"We can be silent."

Lorelai smiled, her eyes closing a bit, looking as if she were squinting.

"What?" Luke rubbed his feet up Lorelai's sides under the water.

"Nothing"

"You just made a face. What?" Luke persisted, now massaging her feet which were strategically placed in between his legs.

"Nothing," Lorelai insisted.

"Lorelai, I know what…"

"It was a good face. You were talking about US, WE. You said We, and it sounded just so… nice," Lorelai had a coy grin, leaning towards Luke a bit. "I told you a bath was a good thing not an evil, dirty experience," She slid towards Luke, bending her legs on either side of him, took his face in both her palms and kissed him, small warm pecks at first that turned into a deep passionate kiss. Lorelai moved to her knees, leaning down on Luke. Bubbly waves hit the walls of the tub threatening to overflow, as they continued to eagerly explore each other with their cavernous mouths, curious tongues and probing hands. Luke, sitting up in the tub so as not to slip completely in, placed his hands on Lorelai's smooth buttocks as he pushed her closer, wanting her to continue weighing him down. He then moved Lorelai to sit on his thighs, spreading them open as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I can't believe we're going to have sex in a bubble bath," Lorelai mumbled with her lips still locked on Luke's as their desire and actions intensified accordingly.

After all internal and water waves had subsided, Lorelai remained on top of Luke resting her head on his chest directly under his chin. When they disengaged Lorelai turned over, leaning her back into Luke, who placed his cheek on her hair, deeply inhaling her familiar scent.

Lorelai looked up at the skylight, seeing the luminous moon and sparkling stars above, enjoying the feeling of Luke's hands resting underwater on her belly.

"Those stars are beautiful."

"Most of them are satellites. We should probably get blinds or something for that opening, if we're planning on similar activities here in the future," Luke responded.

Lorelai turned her head towards Luke. "So, they're going to be similar activities here in the future, huh? I told you baths were telescope - popping fun, and," she paused "a bit evil and dirty, I admit," Lorelai grinned then sighed. "I better get going. I need to go over to the Inn, make sure Michel hasn't used this opportunity of darkness to black out the entire guest list for the upcoming months."

"I'll come with you."

"No, stay, make good use of the bath, it's still so warm and smells of me, so you'll have something to remember me by, since sight is not the best sense to depend upon now in the dark."

"Exactly, the roads are all dark and slippery, and I'll be worried, so better to worry for you there. Besides you might need my handy skills."

"I definitely need those sexy handy skills."

"Jeez," Luke moved Lorelai and stood up in the tub helping her up as well. Then, Luke quickly turned the antique handheld showerhead on to rinse them off and Lorelai jumped in surprise.

"Hey, what are you doing? You're supposed to stay all sudsy, stud! Haven't you seen how those British rinse their dishes?" Lorelai tried to avoid the stream of water, bending over to turn the water off, but Luke just managed to finish rinsing her off, as well, paying no attention to her British nonsense.

Luke stepped out first, grabbed a large white towel and wrapped it round his waist. He then helped Lorelai out and into her powder blue terry robe. He hugged her, rubbing his hands all over her back to dry her and keep her from getting cold. Lorelai stood there against Luke rubbing her own hands together for warmth. Suddenly, a mischievous smile spread across her face and before Luke could protect himself she grabbed his towel and pulled it off. She knew it, she had felt it — he was aroused. Again. Luke stood there tall and proud not even trying to hide his exposed parts. Lorelai, without hesitation nor words, pushed Luke backwards out of the bathroom into their bedroom and onto their bed. She slipped off her robe, moaning with pleasure as Luke engulfed her with kisses, then turned her on her back and crawled on top of her.

Minutes later, they were spread out on their bed, Lorelai's head resting on Luke's chest as he caressed her hair with his left hand.

"Hey," Lorelai tapped her fingers on his broad chest, "you think we just made one of those blackout babies?"

"What?" Luke didn't understand.

"You know, every time there's a major blackout you always hear that nine months later the maternity wards are overflowing because all these couples had no power but sex power, and they made out like there was no tomorrow, putting the energizer bunny to shame. Honestly, that does kind of sum up what went on here with us. Here and there," Lorelai pointed to their bathroom.

Luke did not flinch. He kissed Lorelai's forehead and brow.

"Really? A blackout baby. Well, I hope not. I want to see you clearly when we make our kid. Besides, a baby can't come out right with all these scented candles around. I bet they messed up our chromosomes good."

Lorelai hit Luke's shoulder.

"Hey!"

"Well, don't talk like that," she pouted.

Suddenly all the lights came back on. They both squinted and let out a growl.

"You had every single light on?"

"So I could tell when the power was back on."

"Those satellites can tell the lights are back on, on Mars they can tell, in Athens they can now tell the lights are back on and our power bill will certainly show us it could tell that all the lights are back on!"

"Well, now you can see me with all the light there is, and mister, for your information, this is the lightest the subject of babies will ever get," Lorelai looked up at Luke.

Luke still had his arm under Lorelai. He hugged her close to him and kissed her deeply on the lips.

He smelled good, she thought, his stubble soft from the bath's humidity. He would probably shave before dinner, as he had started doing for some months now. She looked up into his beautiful eyes and smiled. They both knew what they wanted next in their lives and that was a good thing. Lorelai could hear Rory: "Mom, you seem happy." "I am, kiddo," she would answer.

****

"Hello?" Luke answered the phone that lay next to him on their kitchen table.

"Hello? Not the Gilmore — Danes residence?"

"Lorelai, where are you? I thought we were going out. I've been waiting for over half an hour, not that a record has been broken, but you should know that my cap is already off."

"Well, we wouldn't want to waste that gesture, so come on over to Sookie's."

"What are you doing there? Aren't you coming home," Luke sounded both annoyed and surprised. They were supposed to drive into Hartford that evening for dinner and some Christmas shopping, though he would've gladly left out the latter.

"Something came up. Jackson's father has to have emergency angioplasty tonight. Apparently, his surgeon is leaving tomorrow for a two — week Christmas skiing vacation in the French Alps. What a life, huh? I mean, there are so many skiing resorts here, why can't he go national, be patriotic, we need our doctors here."

"Lorelai."

"So, anyway, they're driving up to Boston. Sookie didn't want Jackson to drive on his own, she was afraid he'd fall asleep at the wheel and end up wrapped around a pole or at the bottom of the Potomac."

"Potomac? Isn't that in Virginia?"

"You know what I mean. So… they left the kids with me, brave, desperate parents that they are."

"You want me to come over?"

"Yes. Please bring us dinner."

"I don't think any food that isn't labeled Sookie - Made or Jackson - Preserved is permitted in that household. I'm sure Sookie left you food and precise instructions. I have no intention of getting into any trouble with her on account of some unfamiliar aroma she might detect upon her return."

"Well, you'll really be in trouble if her kids and their care taker are not fed, and are found feeble and emaciated, their fingers all bony and cheeks sunken in. So, I suggest you join us with some burgers. Better make it turkey burgers. Martha will not be having any and please make sure Davey's isn't rare or something… Davey honey, Davey, it's not Mommy, it's Luke. Say Hello to Luke. Say `Hi, Luke.` Luke, talk to him," Lorelai let Davey take the phone out of her hands and he put it upside down near his ear. She replaced the phone correctly on Davey's ear and urged him to go on talking to Luke.

Luke rolled his eyes in despair as he continuously called out Davey's name according to Lorelai's demand.

"Luke, you're still there?" Lorelai finally repossessed the phone.

"Yes, I'm still here."

"We're famished. I thought you'd left already."

"You told me to talk to Davey. I can't talk to him here and be there at the same time! With burgers! Who do you think I am? A Wendy's time traveler?" Luke sounded annoyed.

"Well, Davey's off the phone now, so see you soon," Lorelai set Luke free.

A few minutes later Luke's cell phone rang.

"Where are you, have you made the burgers yet?" Lorelai sounded upset.

"No, I'm just entering the diner. What's wrong?"

"Forget about the burgers, just come over."

A short time later Lorelai heard the knock on the door and she opened it with Martha straddled on her left hip. The minute she saw Luke, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him inside.

"Thank god you're here," she jumped on him, embracing him tightly.

"Lorelai, we're squishing the baby. What happened?" he sounded concerned.

"I don't know," Lorelai let go of Luke and walked towards the kitchen where Davey was sitting on the floor playing with some birthday candles and pot holders he found in one of the kitchen drawers.

Davey looked up at Luke. "Hi, Davey," Luke said in a child friendly intonation as he quickly added a smile and a wave so as not to scare him. Davey, who was a social, confident kid, always seemed to recognize and like Luke. He smiled and raised his left hand showing Luke the candles he was clutching. Luke continued to smile at Davey and patted him on the head as he moved past him further into the kitchen to stand by Lorelai who still seemed upset.

"I don't know. I don't know what he's supposed to have for dinner. I don't know what he wants. I don't have any clue what he likes. I don't know if he's supposed to be eating any kind of burger at all," Lorelai paced the kitchen with Martha still securely sitting on her left hip supported by her tiring left arm.

Luke grabbed Lorelai's right arm. "What's going on? You're freaking out."

"Okay, take a deep breath," Lorelai was talking to herself. "I can do this, I know what to do," she inhaled deeply and exhaled once. "Could you please make Davey some French toast?" she finally said, beginning to take some milk and eggs out of the fridge.

"For dinner?"

"Yes. Here," she handed him the milk then the eggs. "It has eggs and milk so that's good, right?"

"You know the recipe for French toast by heart?" Luke tried to lighten the mood.

Lorelai, ignoring Luke's remark, had bent down to Davey's level, balancing herself so as not to fall with Martha. "You like French toast, right? Luke is going to make us some French toast, yummy, yummy." Davey held out his hand showing Lorelai the banana she had given him earlier.

"You gave him a banana?" Luke sounded surprised.

"Why, what's wrong?" Lorelai panicked.

"Nothing. A banana's great. Tennis players eat bananas all the time. Lot's of iron. Very nutritional," Luke nodded in assurance.

"So he'll be a tennis player. Wear white or whatever color, eat bananas, have balls stuck down his pants and make lots of money. That's not bad."

"No, not bad," Luke had already started to prepare the meal, happy that Lorelai seemed to be getting back to her old familiar form.

Just ten minutes later they were all sitting round the dining table enjoying a meal together. Davey sat in his high chair between Luke and Lorelai, happily nibbling a piece of French toast that he was holding in his hand.

"What's Martha having?" Luke pointed to Martha who Lorelai was cradling against her left arm, feeding her a bottle.

"Milk."

"Oh," Luke shrugged and nodded. "So, you just give them milk?" he sounded like a curious student taking notes, absorbing vital information.

"Yeah, when it's mommy's milk."

Luke nodded then suddenly flared his nostrils making a kind of disgusted face as he realized what Lorelai had meant.

Lorelai grinned at Luke. "By the way, if by any chance you might need or have a sudden craving for some milk when we're still here, better stick to the carton."

Luke frowned at Lorelai, looking a bit alarmed.

An hour later, both kids were bathed and ready for bed. Luke dressed Davey in the pajamas that Lorelai had set out for them, while she put Martha to bed in her comfortable cot that was still in Sookie and Jackson's bedroom. Once Martha seemed to be falling asleep, Lorelai turned the baby monitor on and went downstairs where she started to clear and clean the mess from dinner.

A few minutes later, Luke came downstairs carrying Davey in his arms holding a book.

"Come on," he urged Lorelai nudging her towards the living room sofa, "we're going to read a bedtime story."

Lorelai flopped down on the sofa and opened her arms to accept a wonderfully sweet smelling, warm and cuddly Davey. She sat him down on her lap with his back leaning into her. Luke joined them sitting to Lorelai's right.

He showed Davey the book that Davey had chosen earlier in his room.

What transpired, next, left Lorelai mesmerized and moved in such a way that it spread a giddy grin on her face and set a feeling of pure warmth in her heart, as she just sat there next to Luke holding Davey.

"Hey, look at the cover, Davey. Who is that?" Luke emphasized each word, his face was coming alive.

"Gowiya, Gowiya key" Davey was starting to talk much more now, but he still couldn't pronounce all the sounds. He consistently substituted w for r and y for l, sometimes making his one or two word expressions quite unintelligible, especially when there was nothing tangible around to indicate what he was referring to. But Davey was now clearly responding to the book they were reading.

"Right, it's a gorilla, and it's holding a key. Look at the pink and orange key. Look at the gorilla. It's making a face, it's saying Shhhhhhh," Luke obviously understood Davey very well and he seemed to be animating the book for Davey, imitating the character on the cover.

"Let's do like the gorilla, shhhhhh," and Davey awkwardly put a finger to his lips and joined Luke.

Then Luke turned to Lorelai "Come on Lorelai, do like the gorilla, shhhhhh." Lorelai had no idea that Luke had a Mr. Rogers in him. She knew he communicated well with kids, despite his efforts to seem gruff, but this left her in total surprise and awe. Since Davey turned around to look at her, she had no choice but to participate as well. As they all made the silencing "sh" sound, Davey swung his head looking from Lorelai to Luke and back in fascination.

"Good Night, Gorilla," Luke read the title tracing it with his fingers, "By Peggy Rathmann. Peggy Rathmann wrote this book, Good night, Gorilla. See, look at the moon in the sky," Luke paused encouraging Davey to say something.

"Moon, yook it, moon. Night gowiya," Davey pushed back against Lorelai.

"Yes, look, it's the moon at night. Good night, gorilla. And who is this?" Luke opened his eyes wide in mock surprise to which Davey responded in laughter, and then turned around to Lorelai to check if she was laughing as well.

"Man, hat."

"Yes. It's the man from the zoo. It's the zoo keeper with a green hat," Davey reached over to place a hand on Luke's bare head and said "hat".

"Yes, my hat's at home," Luke smiled at Davey eyeing Lorelai. "I hope I'm not confusing the boy."

"Oh, he obviously still recognizes you, though I'm a bit stunned and not by the lack of your hat," Lorelai tapped the book to show Luke not to respond to her but rather to continue.

"So, the zookeeper with the green hat, look what he's holding."

"Yight. Zoo man yight."

"He's holding a flashlight and the gorilla is saying shhhhh. Let's open the book and see what happens."

Luke let Davey help him open the book's hard cover. Davey pointed at the pictures and looked up at Luke, wanting him to continue.

"Look, they're at the zoo. The zookeeper wants the gorilla to go to sleep. He says: `Good night, gorilla,` Luke traced the letters again.

Davey was staring at Luke, fascinated with him. Luke continued interacting with Davey, having him name all the words in the book that he could, as he himself put the story together, narrating it.

Since it was getting late and the story was really too long for a boy Davey's age, especially the way they were reading it, Luke shortened it accordingly. By the time they got to the armadillo, Davey, leaning comfortably on Lorelai, maintained a content yet somewhat dreamy look as he mainly focused on Luke's face, watching his mimicry and listening to his lively voice.

Lorelai smiled widely, looking down at Davey then up at Luke. She caught Luke's eye and he chuckled mid - sentence in response, laughing at the situation.

A minute later they noticed that Davey had fallen asleep on Lorelai's lap. Lorelai slowly and gently got up trying not to wake him and then took him up to his bed.

Luke was in the kitchen when Lorelai returned. "Wow, and you wash dishes, too. I should have married you ten years ago. I could've saved a fortune on hand lotion and disastrous dates," Lorelai hugged Luke from behind.

"You paid for your dates?"

"In blood, sweat and tears. How else do you think I got them to go out with this annoying, chatty demoiselle? Besides, it was during my feminist phase. All gone now," Lorelai let go of Luke and sat on a chair next to the kitchen table while he continued to wash the dishes.

"You know, it's a terrible crime."

"What?"

"That you're not a father already."

"Well, I'm glad I've waited."

"Because, that was some amazing bonding there. Super glue doesn't bond that easily. Government bonds don't do so well. I'm amazed. I'm truly impressed. I can't wait to see it again," Lorelai said with a loving expression and a soft voice, despite those initial flippant references.

"We're planning reruns throughout the week," Luke turned away from the sink, wiping his hands on a checkered kitchen towel. He leaned against the sink, facing Lorelai and folded his arms across his chest. "Seriously, he's a nice kid, Davey," Luke reluctantly admitted, "and that's what's really amazing here, both his parents being a bit whacky, you know."

"The very best kids come from whacky parents," Lorelai fluttered her eyelashes at Luke, got out of the chair and fitted herself into his arms. She had her hands resting on his shoulders as Luke tightly locked his arms around her waist.

"Just one little thing," Lorelai narrowed her eyes, her face barely an inch from Luke's, "the zookeeper's wife? We don't know that about her. So, perhaps next time you could just say `partner` or `significant other` or `cozy companion`."

"She looks like a wife to me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lorelai managed to exclaim in shock just before Luke shut her up by locking her lips with a passionate kiss that had more tenderness than force to it.