Her heart was beating as never before and she had no idea what it meant. Only minutes ago she had sought out for him, wanting to apologise about making fun of Jess' book, thinking she'd have to talk for half an hour to make him forget about the stupid things she had said.

But he had been calm already and instead of telling her how rude she had been, he had asked her to dance.

Luke Danes had asked her to dance!

He was dancing indeed and hell, he could. Hadn't he told Carrie he'd never dance? Lorelai had assumed that he couldn't.

But then he just ... could.

And, just as if that wasn't enough already, he was looking at her so differently than usual. His smile was gentle and for the first time in his presence, Lorelai was actually nervous.

His face was so close ...

They had done this a few times already. She knew they had flirted, hugged. She had been very close to tell him what she thought about his marriage with Nicole several times. That night they had destroyed the church's bells ... what would have happened if the Reverend hadn't interrupted them?

Sometimes she still thought of this night, asking herself what she would have said to him if they hadn't been interrupted.

"Don't move in with her because she's not the one for you"?

In Lorelai's mind it sounded very weak.

But all of that didn't matter anymore, because they were divorced now. And Lorelai was with Luke. Dancing.

Waltzing.

She smiled up at him and her heart jumped at his look. It was so soft. So gentle and calm, she really didn't remember if she had ever seen him looking at someone like this.

Her lips parted slightly and a quiet gasp escaped them as she realised what this was all about.

Sookie had told her several times. Miss Patty had told her, Rory had made hints and even Emily had dropped a dry comment about Luke's feelings for her.

What if they had been right?

"What?" Luke asked, his voice so gentle it didn't fit with his grumpy facade anymore.

"I just - I -," Lorelai stuttered and moved her eyes away from his. This was too intimate. "I like dancing with you."

"I'm glad," Luke replied and pulled her even closer. "I do, too. You know I usually despise it but with you it's ... nice." Their chests were touching now and Lorelai let out another breath.

"Seriously, you know how to impress a woman. Making her dependent from you through coffee, then telling her she's beautiful and dancing with her to a romantic song ... one might think that's your ploy," she mocked quietly.

"I don't really have a ploy, you know," Luke mumbled and then he grinned. "So you're dependent from me?"

"I am!" Lorelai assured. "You make the greatest coffee - gosh, I would like some of it now."

"You're unbelievable, thinking of coffee right now," Luke said and laughed quietly. "But ... that's what I like about you. You're very volatile. Some may not enjoy this but I do. It makes you ... you."

Lorelai looked up at her friend again, who suddenly noticed a sparkle in her beautiful blue eyes.

"I can be even more volatile, if you want to," she whispered, sounding very sensual all of a sudden.

"Oh?" Luke mumbled and moved his face closer to hers, as for some reason he thought that he knew what she meant.

But Lorelai leant back. "Oh," she laughed. "Not here, Luke. Let me kidnap you, will you?"

Luke's mouth went dry and he nodded, incapable of saying something. What on earth was she up to?

They said their goodbyes to Liz and T.J. - who were too drunk to even care about anything - and headed towards the diner.

"So ... what are you up to?" Luke asked as they reached the door.

"If I tell you now, you won't follow me," Lorelai said with a small pout and Luke had to laugh.

She was too cute.

"I'll follow, don't be scared," he said and took her hand. "Where do you want to go?"

"To the lake," Lorelai said.

"Now? Why?" Luke furrowed his brows at her. "Do you want to go fishing?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise, Luke," she said. "But if you really want to, I can tell you. I would like to go to the lake with that little fishing boat and have a small midnight snack in romantic lantern light. Are you in?"

Luke swallowed. Alone with Lorelai. On a boat in the middle of the lake? "Hell, yes," he exhaled, not able to hide his excitement. Lorelai grinned.

And then he unlocked the diner to gather food and a lantern.

•••

The drive to the lake was astoundingly quiet. Luke had to sort out his thoughts, not sure if this little trip counted as a date already. And if he should kiss her. Or go a step further even and tell her what he felt for her.

At the same time Lorelai couldn't help but think of her past relationships. A big mistake with all of them had been that she had rushed them - no matter if it had been Max, Jason or even Chris. They had met, set up a date and not soon after that they had been together. She had never had the time to get to know any of them.

But with Luke it was different.

She knew him very well already. Not all of him but enough. She knew him on his good days and on his bad days. She knew him as a cranky man, a sweet man, a nice man, a grumpy man, an angry man and now even as a romantic man.

If he was a passionate man too? Lorelai longed to find out.

She peeked over to him and caught him looking at her with a smile.

"What?" Lorelai laughed and Luke quickly looked back to the street.

"Nothing. I just ... I like your flower crown."

"Wanna try it on?" Lorelai suggested.

"Uhh, maybe later."

Lorelai giggled.

"I'm sure you'd look gorgeous."

Luke rolled his eyes.

Minutes later they came to stand next to the lake and Luke got out of his jacket. "Forgot to change. In case I get wet," he muttered and Lorelai shrugged.

"So did I."

"You ain't wearing a suit, though," Luke noticed and looked at Lorelai, who was holding the picnic basket. "That dress is beautiful, by the way ..."

"You already said I looked beautiful today, come up with something original already," Lorelai mocked and Luke grinned at her.

"You look very sexy."

"Oh, hell," Lorelai sighed, not able to hide her blushing face. Instead she looked away, towards the fishing boat. "Shall we?"

"You really wanna go out now? What if it gets cold?"

"It's a very warm night, Luke."

"You're right. So what if someone falls into the lake?"

"Can't you swim?"

"Sure but -" Luke shrugged. "Okay, then."

"We're gonna make the best of it, believe me. Even if someone falls into the lake," Lorelai said with a light smile and Luke had the feeling that she had planned something else.

He helped Lorelai climb into the boat, then gave her the lantern and the basket and pushed the boat further into the water before getting into it and starting the motor. "I hope you don't get sea sick easily," he joked and steered the boat to the middle of the lake.

"If I do, I got a basket to throw up in," Lorelai commented. "So let me get out the food first." She unpacked the cake slices and took a bite. "Mhh ... I forget about how tasty your food is every time I walk out of your diner, Luke. That's nice, so I can fall in love over and over again."

"You ... do?" Luke had to swallow. "Forget about my food, I mean. Not fall in love."

"Nah, I'm kidding. How could I forget about this heavenly apple strudel ..."

Luke laughed about Lorelai's face. She was eyeing the cake as if it was the best lover she had ever had.

"Oh, thee heavenly edible beauty made by Luke ..."

"Stop that, Lorelai," Luke laughed.

"I'm sorry. Forgot you hate talking renaissance."

"You are really good at it," Luke said.

"Especially because I know that you hate it. I attended a course to make it perfect, you know. Only to annoy you." Lorelai winked at him and Luke laughed again.

"You do for sure." Then he leaned in. "Can I take a bite?"

"You? Eating sweet things? I am shocked."

"There are apples inside," Luke defended himself before taking a bite from the strudel. While chewing, he looked up at the woman opposite of him. The moonlight was shining on her hair and the lantern was lighting up her face.

She smiled at him and he could not believe how beautiful she was.

"I really enjoyed dancing with you," she suddenly told him. "You're really good at it. Did you have lessons?"

"Nope. I'm a natural," Luke replied.

Lorelai gasped. "You can cook, you can dance - What else didn't I know about you?"

Suddenly he seemed nervous. "Well I ... I ..."

"Shh, don't answer that," Lorelai said and put a finger on his mouth. "I want to find out myself. But let me guess - you secretly enjoy listening to Madonna."

"What the - I don't!" Luke said loudly.

"Sure, sure. You love romantic comedies and you cry at the end of Titanic."

"I've never seen it."

"M-hm, sure. You enjoy taking skinny dips, you are the perfect lover and you like it fast and rough. Oh and ... youre a top."

"That's ... That's very private, Lorelai." Luke sunk his face down to hide his embarrassment.

But Lorelai surprised him again.

"Then it'll make you happy that I wasn't talking about you."

Slowly he lifted up his head again and looked at the woman, who was biting her lower lip in expectancy.

"Lorelai - were you talking about yourself?"

"Hmm ... maybe I was. Who knows?"

"You are a mysterious woman."

For a while they looked at each other. And suddenly Lorelai moved, putting the last bite of the strudel back into the basket.

"I'd very much like to go into the water now."

Luke's mouth went dry, realising that they hadn't brought bathing clothes. "Uhm ... no one's stopping you, you crazy woman."

Lorelai nodded and reached behind herself to open the neckholder behind her hair.

"Lorelai -," Luke started but shut up quickly as he locked eyes with the woman opposite.

He knew that what would come now was everything he had always wanted. But wasn't it too soon? Too easy?
Well, he reminded himself, it most definitely hadn't been easy. All the heartaches, heartbreaks and self loathe, the secret admiring and the shyness of asking her out.

It had been anything but easy.

His eyes were following her moves, as she let the dress fall down and slipped out of it. He looked at her feet, he didn't dare to lift up his eyes.

"You are allowed to look," she told him and Luke slowly let his eyes wander upwards, along her legs and hips and underpants - and then, without another warning, she jumped into the lake.

"Lorelai!" Luke called after her and looked down at the moving water.

Lorelai didn't appear again.

He waited until the water got calm, then he became worried.

"Oh no," he mumbled and started unbuttoning his shirt, intending to jump after her. "No, no, no, don't do this to me, you crazy -"

"Do what to you?"

Luke turned around and caught a smiling Lorelai on the other side of the boat. She was still inside the water, beaming up at him. "Did you think I drowned?"

"I - Did you dive below the boat?"

"Well, yes." Lorelai grinned at his half opened shirt. "And you finally decided to join me?"

"I - no. I would have, if you wouldn't have appeared anymore."

"Aww, you wanted to save me," Lorelai gushed. "The water is quite cold, by the way. You ain't missing anything."

"Then come up here again. I'll give you my shirt to dry and then we should head home."

Lorelai wiggled her eyebrows at Luke's suggestion. "Or," she started, "you could join me here and swim with me a bit."

"I'm not really a fan of swimming," Luke mumbled and watched the dark haired woman swim closer.

"Me neither," she said and placed her hands on the edge of the boat. "Okay, help me up."

Luke sighed and finally got out of his shirt fully. She needed it to dry, after all.
He bent down and ignored that she was naked, tried focussing on her cold arms around his body.

She was cold, not hot, cold, cold. Why was she grinning?

He knew why, as within a millisecond he was pulled off the boat and into the water.

"Lorelai!" he shouted angrily as he came to the surface again.

Lorelai was laughing loudly. "You should see your face right now, Mister. Oh gosh, I've wanted to do this for a lifetime. Why didn't you get out of your pants?"

"Why should I have? I didn't intend to go skinny dipping."

"Why weren't you? Anything can happen when you're with me." Another spark went through Lorelai's eyes and she swam closer to him.

"Anything?" Luke asked and put his hands on her hips. He wanted to hold her back but he couldn't. He had to pull her closer to him.

"U-huh," she mumbled. Her face was only inches away from his now. "Anything."