Week 6: In the Deep End – Part 2

Lorelai awoke on Saturday morning to the sound of sizzling and the unmistakable aroma of bacon wafting in from the kitchen. She smiled and stretched her arms and legs, luxuriating in the high thread count of the designer sheets against her bare skin. Aside from the unintentional cold water she'd thrown on their evening with her questioning, she was still feeling good about their weekend away. Friday had been a beautiful day and she and Luke enjoyed each other immensely, but Saturday was circled in red on her mental calendar. She was ready to get to it. She climbed out of bed and pulled on a terrycloth robe, heading out to see what Luke was cooking up in the kitchen.

"Morning," Luke greeted as she padded out of the bedroom. He poured her coffee and set it at the table for her, along with a hefty serving of bacon and pancakes.

"Thanks, doll." She took the cup to her nose and inhaled deeply, immediately feeling invigorated by the scent. She took a look at Luke and found him in a t-shirt and cargo shorts, backward baseball cap firmly in place. "You're all dressed."

"I got up early. Decided to do some fishing while you slept," he informed her.

"Oh, did you catch anything?"

"Nope, the fish weren't biting," Luke said, sitting down at the table with his orange juice and breakfast.

"I'm putting that in my report: 'uncooperative fish'," Lorelai said while stabbing a hunk of pancake with her fork.

"I don't think you can put that in your report."

"Well, I need to include something constructive, or else I'm useless to them."

"If you want to be constructive, tell them that the front door has been defiled and they'll have to get a new one," Luke jokingly suggested. Lorelai grinned.

"Not to mention the lake."

"Oh, the lake is a complete write off."

"Man, this place is falling apart!"

"I'll say," Luke agreed with mock sincerity, before pivoting the conversation. "So, day two. Any plans?"

"Well, it's Saturday," Lorelai said plainly.

"I'm aware."

"So we have to do the thing."

"The thing?"

"You know, the thing. The thing we came here to do," Lorelai continued.

"Lorelai, if you can't even say what the thing is, are you sure you really want to do it?"

"I can say it," she said, defensively. "I'm just choosing not to."

"Why?"

"Because I'm eating breakfast," she picked up a piece of bacon and brought to her mouth. "And you don't talk about butt stuff during breakfast."

Luke chuckled at her excuse, but wasn't prepared to let her off the hook that easily.

"You know we don't have to do it, if you don't want to. It's not like there's some kind of mandate here."

"I want to," she insisted. He eyed her skeptically. "I do! I've been prepping and everything."

"Prepping?"

"Yes!"

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Just… you know," she attempted.

"No, I don't know, that's why I asked."

She heaved a heavy, put upon sigh. "I've been getting myself ready. For the past month or so, since we agreed on the list, I've been… you know. With toys and stuff."

Understanding dawned on Luke's featured, followed by poorly disguised disappointment. "Oh."

"What?"

"Nothing," he insisted. She locked her gaze on him until he willfully continued. "I just… I could have helped if I knew you were doing that. That's all."

She smiled. "You wanted to help?"

"Well, yeah," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's all part of it. We could have been working it in more."

"Well, we did a little," she reminded him, referencing their romp in her office. "Besides, I've just been kind of getting used to it, easing my way up to larger toys. Nothing we would have been using during sex, at least not yet."

"How did it feel?" He tried to keep his tone casual, though the question of whether she liked it was still very much hanging over him. Not only did he not want to hurt her, he wanted her to enjoy herself.

"It's okay. Different," she said. "I mean, I haven't really tried to get anywhere with it, so the jury's out on whether it'll be something I want to do again, but I have a feeling I'll like it, you know, with you."

"I don't want you to be uncomfortable," he told her. "If it doesn't feel good, you have to tell me. I'll stop. We can do something else," he urged.

"I know, babe. I'm not worried about you pushing me too far," she reassured him. He seemed to relax a little. "Why is it that you seem more nervous about this than I am? It's not your butt," she teased. Luke rolled his eyes.

"I just don't want to hurt you." Lorelai smiled.

"You would never hurt me, Luke. I'm not worried about that at all, and neither should you be."

Luke released a breath, attempting to de-stress a little. He met Lorelai's encouraging smile with a small one of his own.

"Okay, so other than that, what else did you want to do today? It's supposed to be a nice one."

"Let's just play it by ear. It's a relaxing weekend getaway. Let's relax."

"I don't know how to do that," Luke said with hint of a grin. Lorelai chuckled.

"I know, but let's give it the old college try, okay? I want you to go home tomorrow feeling like you've actually had a break."

"Lorelai, we had sex three times yesterday. I'm gonna go home broken," he pointed out. Lorelai smiled at the reminder of their first day at the cottage.

"That's a sacrifice worth making, don't you think?" Luke donned a lascivious grin and eyed her up and down in her robe, which revealed a scandalous amount of cleavage.

"I think I can take one for the team."

XXXX

Luke rowed them out into the lake while Lorelai settled into the bow of the small boat, resting against a mountain of cushions that she had pilfered from the outdoor sofa set. Luke had watched her, shaking his head as she made a little bed in the boat, knowing that meant he'd be doing all the work. Not that that came as a surprise to him in the least.

It was around 11am. The morning chill was quickly burning off and the sun was shining brightly overhead. The cove in which the cottage was situated offered a great deal of privacy, so even though they were nearing the middle of the lake, there wasn't another house or boat to be seen.

"This is perfect," Lorelai sighed, sinking a little deeper into her makeshift bed. Luke smiled down at her, enjoying the view as she was dressed in a bikini, sunhat, flip flops, and nothing else. If there was one thing he could say for his girlfriend, it's that 42 looked way too good on her.

"Can't argue with that," Luke agreed. She caught him checking her out and grinned.

"Like what you see?"

"I have no complaints," he assured her. She stretched her leg out and ran her foot up and down his calf, exposed by his cargo shorts. He set the oars in their locks as they bobbed up and down with the gentle waves.

"You ready for more?" Lorelai asked, pulling out her notebook.

"Hit me."

"A or B?"

"Uh, B, for now," he suggested. She flipped to the second page and down to the next question on the list.

"Oh, I like this one. Other than spending time with yours truly, what activity makes you feel the most joyful when you're doing it? And no, you can not say 'sex'," she asked.

"Huh," Luke said, taking a second to think about his answer. "I know this is weird and you're going to think I'm nuts, but the process of opening the diner in the morning," he told her.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he insisted. "It's my time, before anyone gets there. It's quiet, it's my place, I know what needs to be done. It's almost meditative, if that makes sense."

Lorelai smiled. "I never knew that about you."

Luke shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, most joyful is maybe a little too strong for it, but it's something I really enjoy doing. That's why I open six days a week. I'd rather get in early and leave after dinner than have to stay and close. Besides, Caesar likes to sleep in."

"Getting to work for 7am is hardly sleeping in," Lorelai teased.

"What about you? What makes you most joyful?" he asked.

"I do get an inordinate amount of joy from wearing inappropriate novelty t-shirts to dinner with my parents," she posed. Luke chuckled and shook his head.

"Try again."

"I don't know! I get a lot of joy from my work and the town. Obviously, seeing Rory out there being her amazing self is a big joy for me. It's hard to narrow it down. I think when it comes down to it, the thing that makes me most joyful is just having a happy life. I know that's a total cop out. Sorry, I just can't think of any one thing."

"I'll give you that. My life brings me a lot of joy. Especially lately," he told her with a soft smile. She felt a small flutter in her stomach at the unspoken association to her and the path they had embarked upon together as they sought to reinvigorate their relationship.

She returned her attention to the list and cleared her throat, trying to refocus.

"What do you think is your best quality?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, geez," Luke said. "I don't know. I guess… I try to be helpful, when I can. I don't always like it, but I try. Does that count?"

"That definitely counts," she assured him. "I think my best quality is that I'm optimistic. I try to see the good in things."

"That's a good one," he encouraged her.

"What do you think is my best quality?" she asked the next question on the list.

"Your best quality?" He thought a moment. "You just give so much of yourself to everyone around you," he told her. "Whether it's your friends, Rory, April, me… even your parents and the town. You're part of things and you give your time and energy so freely. Just watching you makes me tired, sometimes, but it's something I've always found special about you."

"You're a sap today," Lorelai said, shrugging off the tingle his words stirred in her.

He shrugged. "You caught me on a good day. Ask me what your worst quality is and I'll show you a diagram of what all that coffee is doing to your central nervous system."

"Okay, Dr. Danes, I'll get right on that. For the record, I think your best quality is the way you show your love for people. You're a man of action, and although I occasionally like to hear the words, you make it so easy for me to see that you love me. Ever since we got back together, I haven't had a second of doubt."

"Now who's being a sap," he hit back, though he didn't shield the smile on his face.

"You started it."

"Alright, alright. Enough mushy stuff," he decided. "Give me something else."

Lorelai scanned the list and came up with the next question. "Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?"

"No," Luke answered quickly. She quirked a brow.

"No?"

"No way. There's too much crap in the world for everything to happen for a reason."

"I don't know about that. I think everything does happen for a reason," Lorelai countered. "I think about all of the things I've gone through – having a baby at sixteen, leaving my whole life behind… those things led to a wonderful life for me, with so much opportunity, but they shouldn't have. I shouldn't have met Mia and started working at the Independence Inn. She shouldn't have given me free room and board. She shouldn't have paid me an advance so I could get Rory into daycare. She shouldn't have promoted me at 18 to head of housekeeping, and then at 21 to the front desk, you know? There were so many good things in my life and I know they didn't all happen because I deserved them. But I'd like to think that I've made something good out of them, that Rory's life is better because of them. So I think things do happen for a reason. They have to."

Luke listened intently as she explained, turning his answer over in his head.

"You know, it's easy to say that I ended up here because of everything that happened before us, and between us," he pondered aloud. "But when it comes down to it, I have a hell of a hard time figuring out why my parents had to die, why Liz had to leave, why Jess had to grow up without his dad. To this day, I don't really know why Anna didn't trust me enough to tell me about April and let me help raise her. I don't know why I let becoming a father screw up our relationship when it could have made it that much stronger.

"I get why you think things happen for a reason, and I'm not looking to change your mind. I just look at my life and I can't see any good reason for those things. I just don't believe it."

Lorelai frowned, but understood. For all of the struggles she'd been through, many of them were self-inflicted. She knew that there was a lot of tragedy in Luke's life and she couldn't reason her way through why it had to happen to him, what purpose it served beyond hurting him.

"Next question?" she suggested, hoping to move them along. Luke nodded. She read the next one and smiled. "When did you first want to kiss me?"

Luke chuckled. "Aren't we still on the non-sexual stuff?"

"This is from list B, I swear!" she exclaimed. "It's not like I asked when you wanted to screw my brains out."

"The answer is probably the same," Luke joked. She smiled.

"Here, I'll go first," she offered. "I first wanted to kiss you the night I gave you your blue cap," she said, nodding to the old hat that still adorned his head.

He smiled. "That long ago, huh?"

"You were so good to me when my dad was in the hospital. And I called you cute and you teased me for it," she reminded him. He laughed lightly at that. "So yeah, after all that, we were standing in the diner with the lights off, and all I could think of was knocking the cap right back off your head and kissing you for all you were worth."

"Well, I've got you beat," he told her.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup. I first wanted to kiss you about a month after I met you for the first time."

"What?"

"You came into the diner. You called me 'Duke' even though you new I hated it," he said, pointedly, making her laugh. "But that night, I don't know if you were going on a date or something, but you were all dressed up. It was the first time I had seen you like that. I mean, you were always beautiful, but this was something else." Lorelai smiled as he told the story. "You sat at the counter, which you never did back then, and pulled out your lip gloss. I watched you put it on, and ended up spilling coffee all over the counter. You made some joke about it, and I tried to laugh it off, but all I could think of was your lips. I was totally distracted by them. I'm surprised you didn't catch me staring."

"I wish I remembered that."

"Eh, I'm sure there were plenty of other times. I wasn't great at hiding it."

"You'd be surprised," she told him. "I had no idea you were into me until years later."

"I don't know how that's possible, but I guess I'll take it as a good thing."

"What would you have done if I had shown interest earlier on?" she asked.

"Um, thrown a party?" he suggested. They both laughed at that. "Seriously, Lorelai, I don't know. Sometimes I wish we had gotten together sooner. I certainly could have done without seeing you with other guys. But at the same time, I'm okay with the way we got together. It felt like the right time."

"I agree with that," she said. "Besides, Rory told me I couldn't date you back when she was in high school, so I don't know if it would have worked out."

Luke's jaw dropped. "She did?"

"Oh yeah," Lorelai explained. "She was convinced I was going to screw it up and we'd never be able to eat at Luke's again."

"Well, that's just self preservation. My diner is the only place the girl got a decent meal," he reasoned. Lorelai shrugged one shoulder unconcernedly.

"She's still kickin'. Clearly I did something right." Luke rolled his eyes good-naturedly and reached for the oars.

"You ready to head back in?"

"Sure. And on the way back I can ask you sexy questions, so by the time we get there you'll be ready to ravish me." Luke gave her a quick once over in her little red bikini and met her gaze.

"I really don't think you need the help."

XXXX

Lorelai and Luke took the day at a slow pace. Perhaps it was the knowledge of what they were planning to do, the desire to build anticipation, or just nerves, but they seemed in no rush to get to the main event.

When they returned from their boat trip, Luke made lunch and they sat out on the Adirondack chairs munching on sandwiches and talking about nothing in particular. A warm breeze swept through, keeping them comfortable and content as they looked over the scenic landscape and thought about what to do with another afternoon spent in paradise.

"Can I ask you a question?" Lorelai asked, breaking a companionable silence that had fallen into.

"You've doing nothing but ask questions since we left," he pointed out. She smiled.

"I know, but not one of those questions."

"Shoot."

"Do you think we'll keep doing this after we finish our eight weeks?"

"You mean keep trying new things?" he sought clarification. She nodded. "I think so. I hope so."

"Me too," she agreed. "I just don't want to fall back into a rut. These last six weeks have been so much fun, and I feel like I've gotten to know you better, which is amazing after, what, almost fifteen years?"

"Just about," he confirmed.

"Fifteen years and I'm still learning things about you."

Luke smiled. "It's been a good couple of weeks," he affirmed. He looked back out over the lake and thought about what had led them to this point. The 'rut' Lorelai thought they had fallen into.

When she first suggested going on this wild ride together, he didn't agree they had a problem. He was pretty content with their sex life, and thought she was as well. It almost offended him to learn that she wasn't as happy as he was. He took it personally that she wasn't satisfied.

Since embarking on this journey, Luke realized there was no cause for offense. As much fun as they were having with the items on their list, they were having an even better time re-embracing their regular sex life during the week. Their peaks came faster and harder. They worshipped each other's bodies and became more vocal about what they wanted, what felt good, what would make the good times even better.

He had to admit, the rut was real. The routine wasn't bad, but it was a bit boring. Luke just thought that's the way it was so many years into a relationship. These weekends had woken him up to the truth that, with effort, their relationship could be as fresh and exciting as it was when they were newly together, exploring each other's bodies for the first time.

He looked over at Lorelai and could see that she was similarly lost in thought.

"Hey," he captured her attention. "You ready?"

She smiled. "Give me a few minutes?" Luke nodded, and she got up from her chair and headed inside to prepare herself.

XXXX

Luke set himself up in the bedroom as Lorelai went to the bathroom to get ready. He pulled out Lorelai's bag and selected a lubricant to get them started, intending to work up to the main event to make sure she was perfectly comfortable at every step along the way.

He pulled down the sheets and laid out a towel, then stripped in anticipation of her arrival. It was a few minutes later when Lorelai returned to the room, dressed nothing but a bathrobe. Luke met her on her side of the bed and wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her in for a kiss.

"You good?" he asked. She nodded, smiling. Luke could see the tiniest hint of anxiety behind her eyes, but chose to continue on, trusting her to let him know if she wanted to stop.

Lorelai let him push the robe off her shoulders before he took her down to the bed. The settled on their sides and continued to kiss gently. Luke caressed her warm skin with his fingertips, featherlight touches leaving goosebumps in their wake.

Lorelai cupped the back of Luke's head and held him to her as they kissed. She relaxed into it and allowed him to take the lead, bringing them both to a place of calm, unhurried arousal. They kissed for a long time as their hands casually groped and caressed each other, legs overlapping as they sought to get closer.

This was the easy part, Luke decided. This was familiar and fun. He could kiss and touch Lorelai all day long, but eventually he would have to move them onto the next thing if they stood a chance at making it happen. He was procrastinating, putting it off for fear that she wouldn't be able to enjoy herself, and wanting more than anything to make this a positive experience for her.

When it was time to take the next step, Luke eased back and disengaged their bodies. At this point, he was painfully erect and seeking some kind of friction, and he could tell from Lorelai's expression that she was too.

He kissed her again and then resituated them so she was on her hands and knees, and he was on his knees behind her. Without preamble, he entered her slick core in a way he had done hundreds of times before, allowing her natural juices to be enough for them as they enjoyed this familiar dance. He kissed the middle of her back as he made love to her, living for the push and pull and her sounds that told him she was feeling every bit as good as he was.

Luke continued to slowly pump into her as he picked up the bottle of lubricant and squeezed a generous dollop between her parted cheeks. He started with his thumb, slipping it in easily, finding her warm and welcoming, but not objectionably tight. Lorelai moaned at the combination of his hard cock filling her and his thumb making its presence known, a reminder of their first time trying this at the Dragonfly.

Content that Lorelai was comfortable, Luke removed his thumb and went in with his middle finger. Lorelai moaned encouragingly, and he allowed his index to follow. It was a tighter fit with both, and he opted to work her for a while this way, slowly fucking her while easing her into the next phase, one finger after another.

"Oh, Luke," she said in a breath. She felt incredibly full with him using both of her holes, verging on too full.

"Is this okay?" he asked. She nodded and eased down onto her forearms, resting her face against the sheets and giving him a little more room to work with.

Luke continued to move slowly, alternating strokes with his fingers and his cock, allowing her to get comfortable before moving onto the next. From the tightness inside of her, he knew she wasn't ready for a third finger as long as he continued to fuck her, so with a hefty dose of willpower, he finally slid out, eliciting a groan from Lorelai that could have been relief or dismay, possibly equal parts both.

Without his alternative penetration, Luke was easily able to slide a third finger inside. He bent over her body, resting his weight on his outstretched hand and brought his lips to her back as he slowly penetrated her with his hand. Small grunts left her as he filled and released her, making his cock twitch and beg for involvement, but he wouldn't let it happen until he was sure she was ready for him.

"Talk to me," he whispered, seeking affirmation that what he was doing was bringing her pleasure.

"Ung, Luke. So good," she whispered. Her voice was almost inaudible, which was unusual for her.

"You sure?" She nodded against the blankets.

"Don't stop," she begged. He dropped a kiss on her shoulder blade.

"I won't stop unless you ask me to," he assured her.

He pushed in a little harder with his fingers, sped up in pace just a bit, aiming to see what she could take, only to be met with a gasp followed immediately by a moan.

"Oh yes," she whispered. "Harder, please."

More comfortable, Luke lifted himself back up to his knees and focused on slowly increasing the intensity with his fingers. Lorelai's hips began to move back in time with his forward thrusts, meeting him and taking the pressure ever higher. He could see perspiration beginning to bead on her back and wondered if it was from pleasure or discomfort, but the sounds she was making suggested the former.

"Still okay?" he questioned. Lorelai nodded and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, laboriously. She looked over her shoulder, catching Luke's eye.

"I want to try now," she said. She spared a look at his cock, which was fully erect and significantly larger than the three fingers he'd been using to pleasure her.

"You sure?"

"God, yes," she said with an intensity that Luke couldn't help but chuckle at. He slid his fingers easily out of her, causing her to groan with frustration, and moved forward to kiss her lips before putting himself in position behind her.

Luke grabbed the lube again and squeezed more directly onto Lorelai, and another dollop in his hand to rub onto his shaft. With his thumb, he spread some around her opening and pushed it inward to make sure she was as slick and ready as possible, following up by putting the tip of his cock against the impossibly tight hole.

Luke sensed Lorelai tense up as he put himself in place, and reached out with a palm flat against her back, rubbing back and forth.

"Try to relax," he instructed. He rubbed her until she inhaled and released a long breath, then lowered back down onto her forearms. Content that she was as comfortable as she was going to be, he took his cock in his hand and eased the just tip inside, stopping almost immediately at her gasp, giving her time to get used to the sensation before he moved on.

"Does it hurt?"

"No. I'm okay. Keep going."

Luke eased in a little further. The tightness was almost overwhelming when combined with the incredible slickness from the lube. He had to fight not to move too quickly, because all his body wanted at this moment was to drive into her warmth and live there.

He keyed into her breathing, using it as a guide as he pushed in a little further, and then retreated. Again, and retreated. His pace was slow and shallow, and he was careful not to push her beyond her point of comfort until he was given the go-ahead.

Lorelai relaxed into the feeling of Luke inside of her. Even though he wasn't deep, she still felt so incredibly full. It was an experience unlike anything else.

Coming to be comfortable with his size, Lorelai began to push back, taking Luke a little deeper, and a little deeper. Luke decided he was happier with this new approach, and forced his hips to remain still as Lorelai began slowly fucking herself on his shaft. He was about halfway in when she decided she was ready for even more.

"Oh, Luke," she moaned. "Go deeper. Go all the way."

"You sure?" he asked once again, trying desperately not to overwhelm her.

"Yes, please," she said in a moan.

Luke placed his hands on her hips and began to ease himself in. Every fraction of an inch felt incredible, and it was an exercise in restraint not to plunge into her depths and get lost in there. Lorelai's breathing remained steady as he finally filled her completely, his hips coming flush against the cheeks of her ass, his cock disappearing entirely within her.

Lorelai moaned and pushed herself back up onto her hands and looked over her shoulder, finding Luke looking back at her. "God, Luke. Fuck me. Please," she begged, making eye contact as she did so, showing him without any shadow of a doubt that she meant it.

Luke swallowed hard and slowly pulled back out about halfway before sliding back in. His strokes became a little longer each time, until he was retreating almost to the tip and then filling her to the hilt. He maintained a slow, measured pace, not wanting to cause any pain.

But Lorelai was feeling anything but pain as Luke took her so gently, but so fully each time. She couldn't remember anything feeling quite like this. She felt consumed by him, like he was filling every part of her. The knowledge that he was doing something with her that she'd never done with anyone else made her already soaked core seep with need and her clit tingle with desire.

She began to push back to meet each of Luke's long strokes, and with her movement, their pace sped up. It was a mutual decision, unspoken, to go faster. It certainly wasn't how Luke would take her normally, but it felt equally as incredible in this new way.

"Oh, Luke," Lorelai exclaimed. "You feel so good. So, so good." Her words came out in a string, barely enunciated, but packing the intended punch. Luke couldn't believe how incredible she felt, squeezing him in a way that he could only have dreamed of. He was getting close, and he wanted to get her there before he tapped out.

"Come here," Luke said. He put his hands on her shoulders and helped her up onto her knees, pulling her back against his chest with his cock still buried deep inside. He wrapped an arm around her chest, palming a supple breast and teasing her nipple, while his other hand coursed down her body and between her legs to pleasure her aching clit.

Lorelai dropped her head back onto Luke's shoulder, her arm coming around his neck for purchase as she arched her body for him, living for the fullness of his cock inside of her, combined with the pleasure he gave with his hands. She gasped and pushed back, meeting his moderate strokes and making him hit harder as his fingers worked her clit diligently, creating an unmistakable pool of moisture in her core that threatened to spill over.

Luke brought her to completion this way, both on their knees with him touching her in every possible way. Lorelai cried out as she began to lose control. She didn't know what she was going to be in for as Luke took her to the finish, but she experienced a powerful orgasm that made her squeeze Luke hard as he finally found his release inside of her. He pumped with as much restraint as he could muster until he couldn't handle her tightness any longer and had to pull out.

Lorelai gasped at the feeling of being exited. It was almost as intense as the feeling of him entering her for the first time. She let out a long, low moan as she dropped back down to the bed and fell to her side, curling her body inward as Luke looked down at her from his knees, which were weak from his own release.

He saw her shiver as her body reacted to sensations it had never experienced before, and while he was moderately concerned, the look on her face was none other than pure satisfaction. It was a face he knew well.

He took a steadying breath, waiting for her to open her eyes and look at him, to say something, anything, to reassure him. It took a few moments, but Lorelai did eventually crack her eyes open and look up at him. She almost laughed when she saw his look for concern, but tamped it down, appreciating that he cared enough to worry about her wellbeing after such a powerful experience for them both.

Lorelai reached up with her hand and groped for his, which he gave up willingly. She smiled back at him, a slow, satisfied grin that he recognized. He felt his whole body relax, knowing without a doubt that she was okay.

"That was…" she started and then stopped. He quirked a small grin, waiting for her to continue, only to realize she had nothing else to say.

Luke moved onto his hands and knees and crawled over to lay in front of her. She stretched her limbs out to accommodate him and allowed herself to be pulled into his arms.

"Yeah," Luke agreed, once he was comfortably in place. He kissed her lips gently. "That was."

XXXX

Like all good things, Luke and Lorelai's weekend getaway eventually did have to come to an end. After experiencing their first foray into anal sex, the pair enjoyed the rest of their Saturday, asking more questions and learning new things about each other, content to be together and feeling closer than ever before. They both felt, though neither verbalized it, that they had engaged in an exercise in trust, and came out of it feeling safer with each other.

Lorelai felt silly, applying so much meaning to something often seen as taboo, but there was something so incredibly intimate about doing it with Luke. She couldn't see it as anything other than something special they now shared; something they would gladly share again as they moved forward in their relationship, completing their eight weeks and continuing to focus on their sexuality well beyond that mandate.

On Sunday morning, Luke and Lorelai made love one more time on waking, putting the final capper on a perfect weekend before packing up their belongings and setting course for home. Neither was in a particular rush to get back to real life, but they felt the things they learned about each other during their trip would carry through once they returned to their normal lives.

It was late Sunday afternoon when the pair found themselves back in familiar territory as they sat at the kitchen table and regarded their to-do list once again. Lorelai smiled as she took the red pen to a few more items.

"We did good this weekend!" she exclaimed as she diligently marked off Skinny Dipping, 69ing and Anal Sex, and added a second cross through Unusual Location to denote their experience in the lake.

"Not too shabby. If we're not careful, we're gonna burn through all of these before the eight weeks are up," Luke said, jokingly.

But, he wasn't far off. As they reconsidered the items on the list, there were only two weeks left, and two items left to hit. Both were intense for different reasons, and had been purposely left to the end when they were more prepared to deal with them.

"So what's next?" Lorelai said, tapping her pen between the remaining items.

"I have a preference, if you don't," Luke said.

"I'm hooked!" Lorelai said, perking up. "You gonna let me in on it, or is it another secret?"

"No secret," Luke said. He gestured for her to give him the pen, and pulled the list in front of him. Decisively, he drew a red circle around an item. He dropped the pen with finality, stood up from the table, and bent down to kiss the top of her head. "I'm gonna take a shower."

Lorelai watched him walk away, finding herself amused, and more than a little curious. Returning to the list, she pulled the paper back over to see what he had done.

Marked with a heavy hand to ensure zero confusion, the red circle encapsulated three simple words: "Domination and Submission".

A/N – Okay, so I'm nervous about this. There is not a lot of anal sex in this fandom, and I just don't know how you guys will like it. I actually wrote and deleted an anal scene for Don't Say Dirty because I was a wuss and afraid to put it out there, lol. I hope you liked it. Let me know!