A/N: Extra fic alert! Okay, so, I recently rewatched this episode and I've been meaning to rewrite it for soooo long, I figured the time had come. It is just a 3-part story and I am determined about that. I'm rewriting this episode and that is it, no more, no less. In the future, I may expand upon it in a seperate story that covers more of Season 1 or whatever, but for now, it's not happening - I just don't have the time or inclination! :P However, I hope this will turn out to be something that you reader peops enjoy anyway. It's a rare trip for me into the L/L only world, but sometimes, I just have to :)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and others folk who aren't me. Recognisable dialogue taken directly from the episode 'Love & War & Snow', as written by Joan Binder Weiss, et al. does not belong to me either.

Part 1 of 3

There were times when Lorelai was talking, Luke would admit, he kind of zoned out. When it was unimportant stuff, like shoes sales or something that had Michel in a mood, he didn't feel too bad about not catching every single word. Then there were times like this, when she was waxing lyrical about her life, her hopes, her dreams, that sparkle in her beautiful blue eyes and a smile playing at her lips. If he didn't quite get every word then, it wasn't because he was deliberately not listening, it was just that he was captivated by her as a whole package, he got lost in just how deeply he felt for her.

"So, I wished really hard that something wonderful would happen to me, and I woke up the next morning and it had snowed, and I was sure that some fairy godmother had done it just for me. It was my little present."

"Your parents never explained the concept of weather to you?" he asked, smart-mouthed and snarky because if he let himself be as soft as she made him feel sometimes, he really was going to look like a fool.

"I am making a point, Mouthy McGee," she told him, rolling her eyes. "Of course, many years later, I realised that, logically, the snow was not there for me personally, but still, when it snows, something inside me says, 'Hey, that's your present.' I don't think it'll ever change."

Her eyes drifted heavenward and the flakes fell lightly on her face. It would be tough to say which were more hypnotising, the snow or her smile.

Unfortunately, Luke was soon distracted by the reenactors making a big deal of setting themselves up over by the gazebo. He heaved a sigh.

"My father used to be one of those guys. He even had his own musket."

"Really?" Lorelai checked, turning to look in the same direction. "Where is the musket now?"

"He was buried with it."

"Wow."

"Yup. He loved that musket."

"That's nice." Lorelai smiled, though the expression soon shifted. "You know, in a disturbing sort of way."

Luke smiled back at her, not only because she was absolutely right, but also because she was her. Honestly, in the half-light, with the snowflakes swirling around her shoulders and a pure happiness in her face, she was nothing short of angelic. Of course, now that he really looked, he noticed she was also shivering with cold.

"Come on in," he urged her, tilting his head towards the diner. "I'll get you some coffee."

Her smile grew wider. "Well, you know I'm never going to say no to that."

Leading her inside, Luke went straight behind the counter and started making coffee. It was only when the cold draft from the door persisted, that he turned around to check Lorelai was actually in the building. She was, technically, but her head was still out the door.

"Are you seriously that obsessed with snow?"

"Come on, Luke. How can you not love it?" she asked, turning around to grin at him. "It's just... it's so special, so beautiful. It's like a little miracle all its own."

"If you say so," he told her, rolling his eyes. "Now, close the door, Crazy Lady, before you make it colder in here than it is out there."

She complied, eventually, not before she had taken another overly deep breath of freezing cold air. Luke heard the door clang as he turned back to attend to the coffee machine and put on the tea kettle to make a drink for himself too. He heard the scrape of the stool on the tile as Lorelai sat down and then she sighed.

"You know this is the first Friday night in a while when I haven't had to go to my parents' house for dinner?" she said, sounding thoughtful. "I almost miss them."

Luke turned around in time to see her actively shudder at the thought, while she pulled off her hat and scarf and unbuttoned her coat a little.

"I mean, as scary a thought as it is to actually want to be at my parents' house, I guess it's not so weird, right? No matter what Emily and Richard do, they're still my mom and dad, and it's true what they say, you do only get one of each."

"That is the traditional way." Luke nodded.

When he looked at Lorelai then he found her staring at him a little too intently.

"What about yours?" she asked curiously.

"My what?" he checked, shaking his head.

"Parents. Come on, Luke, I don't believe you just appeared on the earth one day, complete with stubble and the backwards hat," she said, rolling her eyes. "You had parents, one of each, all traditional and normal, right? I heard the male one had a musket."

It was a topic they never really discussed before, Luke realised. Strange since they had known each other quite a while now, more than five years, in fact, and talked every day, give or take. He had met her parents but she probably didn't even know the names of his own mom and dad.

"You've seen the sign outside, right?" he asked her.

"The one that says Luke's Diner?" Lorelai checked, shaking her head.

"The other one." Luke rolled his eyes. "William's Hardware."

"Sure, sure. I figured he was the guy who had the place before you."

"He was," Luke confirmed, nodding his head. "He was also my dad."

A light seemed to dawn in Lorelai's mind and then she grinned. "Yes, I knew that!" she said, snapping her fingers. "Somewhere in the back of my brain, that information did exist, I know it did. Maybe you told me, or maybe somebody mentioned something at a town meeting?"

"Could be the town meeting thing." Luke shrugged, turning away to pour her coffee and make his own tea now everything was ready. "Anyway, when dad passed, he left the store to me. I wasn't so sure I wanted to be in hardware for the rest of my life, so I turned it into a diner," he explained, placing Lorelai's coffee in front of her at last.

"And I say amen to that decision, my friend," she told him, clinking her coffee cup against his mug with a grin. "I mean, if this place still sold hammers and nails, where would I get my caffeine fix? I really don't think a can of shellac would offer quite the same pick-me-up."

"Probably not." Luke smirked, taking a sip of his tea. "Come here a sec, I wanna show you something," he said then, unsure why he was doing it but going with the instinct anyway.

Lorelai looked intrigued as she bounced down from her stool and rounded the counter. At least, she would have if he didn't step into her path.

"No," he said firmly. "I stand on this side of the counter, you sit on that side. Those are the rules, remember?"

"Relax, Diner Man!" she urged him, rolling her eyes. "I'm not trying to take over your empire, but you used the phrase 'come here', so here I came," she told him.

"I didn't mean here as in behind the counter," he clarified, pointing downward. "Right there," he directed instead.

Lorelai made a face, like maybe she thought he was playing a trick on her. She ought to have known better. If either one of them was going to mess with the other, it was usually her driving him nuts. Luke wasn't much for practical jokes and this particular moment was really not supposed to be funny.

Tucking her hair behind her ears with both hands, Lorelai ducked down to better see the writing Luke knew she would discover when she took a closer look at the back of the counter. Right there in the corner was a note in his own father's hand.

"Three hammers, Phillips-head screwdrivers..." Lorelai read aloud.

"And three boxes of nails in assorted sizes," Luke finished for her, unable to keep from smiling as she looked up at him, all expectant of an explanation. "My dad was taking an order one day, couldn't find any paper, so..." he trailed off, crouching down to join Lorelai there on the floor. "It's dumb, I could've just painted over it by now, but sometimes, I don't know, seeing it there... it's not a bad thing."

Lorelai smiled widely, settling herself down more comfortably on the ground with her legs folded lotus style beneath her.

"That is very cool," she said, staring at the order still. "It's like a little piece of your dad living on in this place. Sure, you changed it from a hardware store to a diner, and I'm sure wherever he is now, he's watching over you no matter what. Still, it has to be nice, having this here," she said, fingers almost touching the words pencilled onto the wood, but not quite.

"You know me, not exactly the sentimental type." Luke sighed. "But yeah, I guess it is nice. Must mean something to me or, like I said, I would've painted over it by now."

He found himself staring at those words too, missing the part where Lorelai had switched focus and was watching him instead.

To her, Luke Danes was so much more than just the local diner owner. He was actually the strangest enigma. Certainly, like no other guy she ever knew her whole life.

Lorelai's friends had always been girls. Sookie was pretty much her best friend, aside from Rory, obviously. Then there was Luke, and honestly, Lorelai couldn't put him any lower down the pecking order than the women in her life that she loved so much.

He meant a lot to her, and it was clear as day that he cared about both her and Rory, the way he always took care of things for them. Fixing things up at the house, making sure they were well-fed each day at the diner. He said he wasn't sentimental, acted like he didn't care about anything or anyone, but it wasn't true. It couldn't be.

"What?" he asked, catching her staring then.

Lorelai shook her head and echoed the question back. "What?"

"Oh, no. You're doing that stupid thing with your eyes."

"I do a thing with my eyes?" she checked, honestly not understanding what he was talking about. "Is it a bad thing? Am I developing a squint? Oh, God!" she said, deliberately overdramatic, as she covered her face with both hands.

"You do not have a squint, and you know exactly what I'm talking about," he told her firmly, glaring at her when she peeked out from between her fingers. "You were looking at me the way you look at puppies and babies and other cutesy stuff. I'm not a puppy - don't do it," he said crossly, scrambling to his feet.

"Hey, I never called you a puppy," Lorelai protested, getting up too and dusting off the seat of her pants as she did so. "I didn't even know I was looking at you like that, but if I was, then that is not my fault. You were being a little sappy, my friend."

"Yeah, well, I'm done now," he grumbled, returning to his tea and taking a long drink.

Lorelai sighed. She really hadn't meant to make him mad. She honestly hadn't known she was looking at him in any particular way and she absolutely wasn't meaning to insult him when she said he was being sappy.

"Hey," she said, her hand on his arm getting his attention back in a second. "Luke, I think it's really great that you have this little piece of your father left behind," she said seriously, tilting her head towards the writing on the back of the counter. "I was not making fun of you, and I do not think you're any less manly than you were ten minutes ago, I promise."

She smiled when she said it, though she hoped he didn't think she was joking. Sometimes, Lorelai had a horrible feeling that Luke knew her a little too well. Other times, she wondered if he really knew her at all. It was a weird kind of conundrum that existed between them. The more than casual friends but never as much as something else thing. Sometimes, when she thought about it too much, when Luke stared at her like he was staring at her right now...

"Did you miss the part about not being on this side of the counter?" he checked, smirking slightly as he looked down at her feet and how they were very much planted on the wrong side.

"Butt being returned to my seat," she said dutifully, turning to take herself back the way she came. "Happy now?" she asked as she sat down and looked across at him.

"Ecstatic," Luke deadpanned, the way Luke so often did, refilling her coffee cup without even asking. "You want food?"

"Um, I could eat," she said, barely needing to consider, not least because it was Luke offering her the chance for a free dinner. "Anything you have on offer is going to be so much better than what I could've got at my parents' house anyway."

"Seriously?" Luke checked. "You'd rather eat burgers and leftover pie than... I don't know, foie gras and suckling pig, or whatever rich people eat."

"Only the finest caviar and Kobe beef with white truffles, darling," she said, all very over-the-top Audrey Hepburn with her voice. "Nah, Mom's cooks always come up with the goods. It's not bad, it's just a little too froofy sometimes. I mean, Sookie is the greatest chef you'll ever meet, no question, but she's fancy food too. You make the real good stuff, my friend," she said, tapping her finger on the counter. "Why do you think we come here to eat so much?"

Luke opened his mouth as if he was going to answer the question then seemed to change his mind. He muttered something about putting the grill back on and then he was gone. It took Lorelai a minute to realise what she might have implied, like the only reason to come to the diner was for the food. It was a really good reason to go to an eatery, of course, but she and Rory came by for Luke too. Lorelai loved his company, his supposed lack of a sense of humour, just everything about the whole banter thing they had going on.

"Burgers will be a few minutes," he said as he returned from the back. "I'm guessing you want everything on yours?"

"And then some," Lorelai agreed with a smile. "Luke?"

She got his attention easily but then wondered what to do with it once she had it.

"You know what I said about the snow being a present for me?"

"I do remember the theory, and how crazy it made you sound, yes," he agreed, nodding his head.

"Well, I still believe that," she confirmed. "I mean, it got me out of going to my parents' house tonight and it's given me a chance to spend some extra time with you. Now, that sounds like a gift to me," she said, smiling across at him.

There was a horrible moment when he didn't look quite as happy as she hoped he might, then at last, he smiled back at her.

"Like I said, crazy," he told her, rolling his eyes and heading back to the grill.

"Maybe," Lorelai said to herself, cradling her coffee in both hands and savouring her next sip, as she watched the snow fall past the diner window, "but I still think it's true."

To Be Continued...