By the time Lorelai got up and dressed she was late for work. She forewent her morning coffee at Luke's and went straight to the diner where she was almost disappointed to find everything running smoothly. She stood behind the reception desk rifling through post, annoying Michel as she stepped in in nearly every task he was trying to complete. She brushed her hands away, yelled some vaguely caustic remarks at her and physically turned her away from the desk. When the breakfast rush was over and Sookie had time before she needed to start lunch preparation she came out looking for her, grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the back porch where she had two coffees and a small plate of pastries set up for them. She sat Lorelai down and took a seat herself then grabbed her coffee, held it between both hands up to her lips and smiled.

"What?" Lorelai asked as she held her own drink and sipped it.

"Tell me everything about last night." She demanded as she bit into her éclair and sipped her coffee.

Lorelai laughed, picked up her own coffee as a distraction as she thought of how much to share with her friend. "He really enjoyed the dinner, I think he was pretty impressed."

"No!" Sookie exclaimed. "Go back to the start. What happened when he arrived? Set the scene Lorelai!"

"Okay, well for once I was actually ready when my date arrived, I mean I was fully dressed."

"I bet that didn't last long!" Sookie snickered and cast a sideways glance at Lorelai.

Lorelai chose to ignore that comment and continued with her story. "He gave me flowers," she began but stopped talking and looked over at Sookie when she squealed in delight. "Then he came into the kitchen and nearly died of shock when he saw I was cooking."

"Was the food good?"

"Oh it was really good Sookie!" she chuckled at Sookie's interest in the food. "We ate dinner and he loved the dessert too."

"And then the make out session started…" Sookie prompted with a nudge and a wink.

"He told me he loved me." Lorelai blurted the words out. She didn't mean to. She meant to keep that part of the evening to herself until she was finished examining it in her own mind, but her traitorous thoughts had other ideas.

"What?!" Sookie dropped her coffee onto the table to give Lorelai her full attention.

Now that she had started, she couldn't stop. "We were standing in my room. He was hugging me and he just said it, just like that."

"Oh my god! What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything, I was kind of shocked!"

"So what happened?"

"Nothing…he kissed me, we went to sleep. That was it."

"How do you feel?" Sookie asked tentatively. "Do you love him?"

"We've only been out on a few dates…"

"You've known him forever."

"I know. It's Luke!"

"So how do you feel?"

"Scared."

"Oh honey," Sookie rubbed her friends arm. "This is different. This isn't a guy you just met, this isn't someone you can't trust. If you were honest with yourself you would admit you've had feelings for him for a long time."

"Sookie-"

"I know you Lorelai. I know you tend to back away at this stage of the relationship, you didn't expect to get to this stage with Luke so quickly but of course you did, you guys have been dating for years, you just didn't know it."

"What?"

"Please!" Sookie waved her hand dismissively at Lorelai's bewilderment. "The flirting, the banter, the bickering, hell you guys were practically in a sexless relationship."

"No We-"

"So I'm not surprised that once you started sleeping together it escalated so quickly." Sookie sipped her coffee.

"So what do I do?"

"Be honest with him sweetie." Sookie squeezed her arm. "Be honest with yourself and don't be so scared."

"But Rory-"

"Rory is seventeen. She is old enough now to handle the fact that her mother is dating…is in love with a man who is not her father." Lorelai looked down at her feet and let Sookie's words sink in. "So…how do you feel?" She looked up at Sookie's question and couldn't help the smile that crept over her face. "Oh my god!" Sookie exclaimed and clapped her hands at the transparent realisation of love on Lorelai's face. "Go! Go now and tell him!"

"No Sookie it's the middle of the day-"

"Go. Now!" She pushed her friend off the end of the bench and shooed her off the porch towards her car. After only a moment's hesitation Lorelai headed to the diner.

Luke stood behind his counter rubbing the dull laminate surface needlessly with a damp rag. Another morning fruitlessly watching the door for her entrance. He had to stop doing that he muttered to himself. The breakfast rush had felt particularly busy which he welcomed but now the midmorning lull was setting in and he found himself watching the door, listening for the phone, looking up and down the street.

But he couldn't help it when his self-doubt started to settle in. He dragged the memory out of the recess of his mind where he was storing it for later digestion. He noted the shocked look on her face, the wide eyes, slack jaw but that hadn't mattered to him then. All that mattered was that he had said the words. Words that had been on the tip of his tongue since he watched her watching that movie in the park, eating red vines, laughing at a movie he couldn't even hear.

He didn't regret saying the words, he didn't want to push her for an answer or to reciprocate his emotions but he felt bad for putting her on the spot so suddenly. He knew he was the reason she hadn't slept and felt so distant the next morning even though she lay next to him on that porch swing, hugging him close, he felt a chasm of emotion between them.

He closed his eyes and shook his head to dispel the memories and tried to focus on his work. He grabbed his order book and flicked through it to see what he needed to get delivered. He looked up to the ceiling in an effort to remember how many jars of pickles he had without having to walk into the store room when he saw her walking across the square towards the diner. He blinked rapidly a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining her, it wouldn't be the first time. But when she stood at the curb, awaiting a break in traffic to cross and waved at him, he knew she was really there. And she was smiling. His heart seemed to stop in his chest for a second and brushed down the front of his shirt, hitched up his jeans and took a few deep breaths.

She hurried across the road and was about to walk into the diner when she stalled and looked down the street. He tried to see what she was looking at but couldn't make it out. He saw her roll her eyes and step back off the steps into his diner then turn towards Doosie's and waved. Luke started to walk towards the door but saw Taylor hurrying over and drag her away. He sighed and walked back to the counter.

"Lorelai come into the market, I have someone I want you to meet."

"Taylor, can't this wait?" She gestured over her shoulder to Luke's. "I'm kind of in the middle of something here…"

"Your coffee addiction can wait, this has to do with festival business."

"Doesn't it always?" She let herself be dragged over to the market and turned her head in time to see Luke walking away from the diner door, his head low.

Taylor was talking about the festival nonstop as they went into the market. With a hand on her elbow he guided her into the back office and opened the door to push her in.

"Oh, thanks Taylor, I wasn't sure I'd make it into this room at that velocity without your help!" she said as she stumbled in and he closed the door behind him.

"This is Charlie Winchester."

"Charlie?" Lorelai twirled around to see Charlie standing against the back wall looking at plans that were pinned on a corkboard.

"He is an architect with a firm in Boston."

"What are you doing here?" she asked and she crossed the room to look at the plans he had been studying. "Hey, this is the inn…"

"Hi Lorelai," He said with a smile as they shook hands.

"Taylor? What's goin on?"

"This morning I found out that Woodbury council had hired Mr Winchester to design and build a temporary outdoor theatre for the movie festival."

"Oh?" Lorelai looked back to Charlie who was smiling with his hands in his pockets.

"My company do various community projects in Boston. When we work on a building in any particular area we like to reach out to the surrounding communities and offer pro bono work."

"Get them onside before you erect monstrosities around them?"

"Something like that." He chuckled. "It's good to see you."

"You too."

"You two know each other?" Taylor said as he waved a finger between both of them.

"Not really," Lorelai said with an embarrassed wave. "He is a friend of Luke's and we met about a week ago was it?" she said to Charlie who nodded in agreement.

"Oh well that will make things much better. So seeing as we have taken over the festival, Mr Winchester here has kindly agreed to transfer his services and hep up out."

"It's nothing really." He pointed at the plans. "The structures have already been designed, they will slot into most any location, and it will take about two days to construct with minimal obstruction to the running of your business."

"That's good to hear."

"The cost will be covered by McGillan and we'd like to use local labour and materials."

"Wow, you really have this schtick down pat."

"It works," he stage whispered at her.

"So you are ok with his Lorelai?"

"Yeah," she glanced at Taylor but looked back at Charlie with a smile. "Looks like it's all in very capable hands."

"Okay then, I'll contact the local contractor." Charlie fished a piece of torn paper out of his pocket. "Tom Monaghan?"

"That'll be him, now sit down and let's talk time line?" Taylor sat into his desk and shuffled some papers around, pulled out a calendar and grabbed his pen.

"Well you don't need me for this," she said with a shrug. "I'll just get going."

"And I have to…" Charlie looked around as if searching for an excuse, then settled on "…get back to the city."

"Oh, ok," Taylor stood and walked them through the store, all the while confirming start dates and phone numbers. He waved them off at the door before returning to the sanctuary of his office.

"Wow, I thought I was going to be in there all day!" Charlie said and he grabbed her arm as they walked down the street.

"How long were you in there?"

"2 hours."

"Oh my god." They both laughed

"He was asking me about intricate details on the design, each strut, beam, and fixing."

"He is very detail orientated."

"Well it's over now. Festival starts on the 16th?" Lorelai nodded. "We'll begin construction on the 13th. Do you need me to go over the plans with you?"

Luke was back behind the counter, idly drying mugs when he watched Lorelai and Charlie walking down the street. He had his hand on her arm and was talking animatedly, and both of them were laughing. Luke put the cup he was drying down, laid both of his hands flat on the counter and watched them with interest. They walked to the door of the diner, each of them chatting and laughing then she rested a hand on his arm and leaned in to say something to him with a smile.

A crooked smile. A flirty smile? Luke felt his blood starting to simmer.

"Are you going in?" Charlie asked and he put a hand on the door and started to open it.

Lorelai flashed back to her reason for coming here in the first place. No way would she be able to talk to Luke now, not with Charlie here. But when she looked past Charlie and spotted Luke watching, with interest, from behind the counter she knew she couldn't turn about and leave. "Yeah, just for a coffee."

Charlie opened the door fully and let her enter first then followed her up to the counter where they both took a seat on the high stools.

"Charlie, what brings you into town?" Luke asked pointedly and he stuck his hand across the counter to be shake.

"The first soon to be annual Stars Hollow Movie Festival."

"Oh?" Luke glanced at Lorelai who was looking at her hands intertwined on the counter.

"Long story mate. Any chance of rustling up some coffee?"

"Sure thing." He turned and grabbed a pot, then put two mugs in front of them and poured it out.

"Oh, perfect." He took a long sip and sighed as he swallowed. "You still make the best coffee, right Lorelai?"

"Yeah, right." She glanced up at Luke but he was watching her with a curious frown. "Actually can I get this to go? I need to get back to the inn."

Luke poured her coffee in a to-go cup and secured a lid on it. She took it with a distracted smile and left.

Before the door had even closed Charlie slapped his friends arm.

"I thought you said you were going to step up there?" he threw his thumb over his shoulder in the direction Lorelai had practically ran.

"I did." Luke could still see her walking across the square in a strange half run half walk motion.

"Oh…oh I'm sorry." Charlie said and his sipped his coffee again before asking "It um, it didn't work out?"

"It did. Or at least…I thought it did, I think it did." Then with a sigh he shook his head and said more firmly, "It did."

"Good. Ok then." Charlie sipped his coffee and looked down, unsure what to say next.

But it was Luke who filled the suddenly heavy silence. "I heard you called and asked her out the other day."

"You heard about that?" Charlie snickered and looked up at him over the rim of his cup. "I was just making sure you were holding up your end of the bargain."

"You could have called me."

"Yeah but then if you told me you had chickened out, then I would have had to call her to ask her out. This way I only had to make one phone call."

"Efficient."

"Yeah. So, tell me about it, what happened?"

"Nothing, we went for a picnic, and to watch a movie."

"Sounds romantic."

"Shut up," Luke flicked his rag at his friend and smiled. "It was. It was great."

"Listen I actually stopped in town to talk to you, not Taylor, or Lorelai," he added with a smirk. "I have tickets to the Yankee game."

"Yankee Sox?" Luke looked up excitedly.

"Yeah week on Wednesday. Box seats."

"Wow, count me in."

"I'll be in Boston but flying into New York on Tuesday night. Come to my hotel before the game."

"Yeah great, sounds good."

"Alright, I'm staying at the congress plaza on wall street. Talk to you before that, but right now I'm going to jump ship before Taylor comes in. Thanks for the coffee mate." Charlie waved and walked out. Luke let his eyes fall over the square as if he would still see her standing there, waiting for him. But he couldn't see her so he turned back to focus on his empty diner and figure out what stock he really needed to order.

Lorelai didn't have time to climb out of her jeep before Sookie came bounding out of the inn and raced over to her and embraced her in a tight hug.

"How did it go?"

"It didn't."

"What? What happened?"

"I was on my way into the diner and I was accosted by Taylor. Then I met Charlie again-"

"Charlie from the bad date last week?"

"It wasn't a bad date. It just wasn't-"

"The right date."

"Something like that." Lorelai started to walk back towards the inn. "Then we both went into the diner but I couldn't talk to Luke then."

"Oh honey," Sookie rubbed her friends arm.

"It just wasn't the right time."

"It's always the right time."

"No Sookie-"

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore." Lorelai spun at the tone of Sookie's voice as she spouted her full name. "You think it was easy for Luke to tell you he loved you? You think it was easy for him to say it and get no reply?"

"I…" Lorelai avoided her friend's eyes.

"You are lucky I have a baked Alaska in the oven young lady to I would march you right over there this minute and force you to declare your love for that man!"

"Sookie!"

Sookie held a hand up to Lorelai and turned on her heel and marched back into the inn. Lorelai watched her in shock but in seconds realised she was right. She had chickened out. She had taken the easy way out rather than talk to Luke properly. With slumped shoulders she went back into the inn and got to work.

At closing time Luke flipped the sign on the door but left it unlocked as a last vestige of hope that she might appear. He cleaned up the last of the dishes, flipped the chairs onto the tables and swept up, all the while hoping she would arrive. But she didn't. He mopped, rewiped the counters, started prep for the morning and fixed all the blinds. Then finally gave up. He locked the door and went up to his apartment.

With his appetite gone he opened the fridge and pulled out a beer then flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV.

Lorelai was lying on the couch with a magazine she wasn't reading in her hands when Rory came in.

"I'm home!" she called out as she dropped her bags and hurried over to her mother.

"How was it honey?" they broke their hug and Lorelai shuffled up on the couch to make room for Rory.

"Oh the debate was amazing!" Rory spoke animatedly and Lorelai tried to reciprocate the excitement but she should have known her daughter would pick up on her hesitance. "What's goin on?"

"Nothing."

"Mom…tell me." She looked around the room and spotted the empty pizza box the open bottle of wine and the lack of movie playing on the TV.

"Okay, full dish or half portion?"

"Full, spill everything."

Rory settled onto the couch and faced her mother with a cushion on her lap as Lorelai broke down the PG rated version of the date she had with Luke the night before. She gasped at the thought of her mother cooking, laughed at Luke's reaction, knowing she would have reacted the same then when her mother sat up and covered her own face with her hands she waited with bated breath for her to continue.

"He told me he loved me!"

"Ohhhh goody!" Rory clapped her hands excitedly and cheered but when she saw the look on her mother's face she stilled on the couch. "Not goody?"

"No it is goody but…"

"What but? What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Oh no…"

"I froze." She covered her face with her hands.

"Do you…do you love him?"

Lorelai spread her fingers and looked at her daughter. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Think?"

"I'm just…"

"At that point in a relationship when you want to back away before getting too attached."

"What do you know about that?" she said as she slapped Rory's thigh.

"I know that every time you go out with a guy and it gets to this stage, usually about 3 or 4 months in, you start to back away and detach yourself. You start to find things wrong with them that you can handle and you blow it up to ridiculous proportions."

"I do not."

"Keith and the peanuts?"

"Who eats peanuts like that?"

"Robert and the sneakers?"

"Seriously…who wears the same sneakers every single damn day?"

"Kevin and the car?"

"Okay, okay I get the point."

"So the question is, do you want to tell Luke you love him, or do you want to get annoyed at his flannel or that hat?"

"Mad at that flannel? Are you insane?!" she fake swooned back on the couch as she fanned herself. "I love his shirts. They are so soft, and warm."

"Go tell him, Mom. Go tell him now."

Luke rolled over in bed and made sure his alarm was set for the right time. He punched the pillow behind his head and tried to get comfortable. His sheet was scratchy, his pillow was lumpy, his mattress felt too hard, and there was a draught coming in from somewhere. When he heard tapping on his window he tried to ignore it but when he heard it again, and then again for a third time he got up to see what was making that noise. He walked over to the window and pushed it open, expecting a bird to fly away but instead he was greeted by Lorelai standing on a ladder, a wide excited smile on her face.

"Lorelai, what the hell?"

"I love you!" she blurted out.

"What? Lorelai why are you standing on a ladder? What's goin on?"

"The diner was locked."

"Yeah, its ten thirty."

"Yeah so the diner was locked, and I couldn't find an open window, you must have fixed that one in the store room, but then when I was round the back I found this ladder and then I thought I'd wake you this way."

"You could have called-"

"No!" She yelled out a bit louder than she had intended. "No I didn't want to talk to you on the phone, I wanted to come over. I wanted to see your face." She held out her hand for him to help her in through the large window and with only a slight stumble she found herself standing in his living room area, all of a sudden feeling shy. There was something strange about standing here with all her clothes on while he wore only a pair of red and blue checkered boxers.

"So…" he said, their hands still holding lightly. "What was it you said?"

"I love you Luke." She stepped closer to him wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled his head lower. His hands rested on her hips, his fingers gripped her tighter as if he was afraid she would disappear in the fog of a dream. "I don't know why I didn't just say it last night, I should have, I've felt like this for a while, I've been in love with you for a long time."

"You have?" He muttered, his fingers pulling her a little closer, their hips touching, legs entwined.

"Yeah I really have. I was just afraid to admit it."

"Why?"

"Because I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot…"

"Shut up Danes and kiss me."

"Yes ma'am." He closed the short distance between their lips and kissed her tenderly. One of his hands snaked up her back, the other moved lower to cup her ass and soon he had her panting and wanton in his arms.

"Wait, stop…" she moved her hands from his back to his chest and pushed him back but his arms outstretched for her, willing her to come back to him. "I have to go."

"What? No!" he snatched her back to him gruffly and kissed her neck. "Stay…" he murmured, letting his tongue appear to lick that spot just behind her ear lobe.

"I can't, Rory is home I have to get back." She pushed him away with great effort and backed towards the window she came in then looked out at the ladder.

"You can't climb in my window and get me all rustled like this then leave." He stepped towards her but she held him at arm's length, not trusting herself to let him get any closer.

"I have to, I just wanted to come over and talk to you…tell you…"

"Tell me?"

She turned and looked at him then smiled and reached out to pull him closer. "Tell you I love you." He brushed her arm aside and pulled her against him again.

"I'll never get tired of hearing that," he muttered against her neck.

"Stop," she said half-heartedly and giggled. "Get your filthy paws off me you damn dirty ape…" she peeled his hands off her and pushed him back then turned and climbed halfway out the window again.

"Lorelai, what are you doing, get down from there."

"I have to go, I told you."

"Fine, but you can leave through the door."

"But the ladder is already here," she pointed at the ladder on the street below. "If I go out the door, I'll have to come round to collect the ladder then bring it round to the back, where as if I just-"

"Okay, okay, I bow to your logic. Just be careful." He helped her out of the window and onto the ladder. But before she climbed down she leaned onto the window frame and smiled.

"C'mere," she beckoned with him with one finger until he was close enough, then she rested her hand on his bare chest and kissed him. "I love you, Luke…" she muttered against his lips and kissed him again.

"I love you, Lorelai."

Lorelai came bounding back into the house and slammed the door behind her. Rory sat up on the couch and turned around to see her mother all but skipping across the room then flopped herself on the chair and smiled at her.

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked as she tossed a pillow at her.

"I live here…"

"Weren't you just at Luke's?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't you go there to declare your love?"

"Yeah." She said it with a wistful air this time.

"Then what the hell are you doing back here?"

"What?" Lorelai sat up with a frown.

"I thought you'd be staying there."

Lorelai pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "Well that's a bit of news you could have told me before I left!"

"Mom!" Rory threw another cushion at her mother who laughed and ducked.

"Oh honey, I wanted to come back and talk to you," she said as she got up from the chair and slid onto the couch beside Rory to pull her into a hug. "I want you to tell me all about your trip."

A/N: I'm just gonna go ahead and post another chapter straight away. Because why not right?