A/N: Thank you to the readers who let me know about the problem with the posting of this chapter.
It was a Thursday evening in early fall when Lorelai walked through the front door after a double shift and headed for her bedroom without stopping to greet Luke and William, who were watching television in the living room. She was exhausted and all she wanted was to hug her daughter before collapsing on her bed to sleep for as long as Rory would allow.
Lorelai had worked seven double shifts in the last two weeks and hadn't had a day off in nearly three weeks. She knew she should be grateful for all of the weddings and business conventions that had kept the Independence Inn full of guests, allowing her to pick up more shifts than usual and earn some much needed extra money, but at this point she was too exhausted to be grateful. Fortunately, the last of the guests from this week's business convention had checked out that morning and there wasn't a wedding scheduled for the coming weekend, so she didn't have to work for the next four days.
Those four days would be spent with Rory, who Lorelai was missing desperately. Usually Rory went to the inn with Lorelai. They would move from room to room with Rory playing quietly while Lorelai worked. However, during the weeks that Lorelai had been working overtime, Luke had started picking Rory up from the inn each afternoon. Lorelai knew it was a good thing that Rory hadn't been stuck at the inn constantly for the last three weeks, but she missed her baby.
When Lorelai walked into her bedroom, she immediately went over to Rory's crib and leaned over the side. In the faint light coming from the hall, Lorelai was able to see Rory sucking her thumb as she slept. Lorelai watched her daughter sleep for a few moments before gently picking her up. She carried the sleeping child over to the bed and laid down with Rory on her chest.
As she shifted into a more comfortable position, she heard the crinkling of paper. She sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. On the bed lay an envelope. Lorelai carefully laid Rory down in the middle of the bed and surrounded her with pillows before picking up the envelope. After opening the envelope and skimming the letter, Lorelai rushed out of the room.
"Luke! Luke!" she began calling as she ran down the stairs with the letter still clutched in her hand.
Luke and William immediately responded to Lorelai's calls by rushing out of the living room. They met Lorelai just outside the living room. She was still calling Luke's name as she crashed into him.
Luke put his hands on Lorelai's waist and gently pushed her away. "What's wrong? What happened?" he asked as he searched her for some sign of injury.
"Nothing's wrong," she told him as she threw herself at him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I passed. I passed the GED exam!"
Luke wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and lifted her off the floor, spinning her around. "I knew you would." He set her back down and kissed her.
From behind Luke, William cleared his throat loudly causing the couple to break apart. "Congratulations, Lorelai."
"Thank you, William."
"Is that the letter with your score?" Luke asked, having finally noticed the paper in Lorelai's hand.
"It is." She handed him the letter.
He read it quickly then looked at her with a wide smile. "You did more than pass. This score is amazing." He passed the letter to his dad.
"Wow, Lorelai," William said after seeing her score. "Good job."
Lorelai blushed. "Thanks."
"We'll have to celebrate," Luke announced. "How about dinner on Saturday?"
"I'd like that."
"Dad, would you mind watching Jess and Rory on Saturday evening?"
"No, but we have to have a family dinner tomorrow. I want to celebrate too."
Lorelai laughed and hugged William. "Of course. I couldn't have done it without you." She moved back to Luke's side and kissed his cheek. "Either of you."
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On Friday afternoon, Lorelai was home alone with Rory and Jess while Luke and William were at work. After Rory and Jess woke up from their naps, Lorelai decided to share a bowl of ice-cream with them. All three sat on the kitchen floor and Lorelai spooned a bite of ice-cream into Rory's open mouth. As Rory ate her ice-cream, Lorelai said, "Mama, say mama, Rory." Lorelai had been trying to get Rory to say mama for weeks and she was determined that today would be the day.
"Mmmm aaaaah," Rory attempted to repeat.
"La La!" Jess demanded.
Lorelai giggled and gave Jess a bite of ice-cream before taking a bite herself. She gave Rory another bite. "Say mama, Rory. Mama. Mama," Lorelai requested in a playful voice, enunciating each syllable.
"Mmmmmuuuuh."
"La La! Me!" Jess demanded again, reaching for the spoon in Lorelai's hand.
"Okay, sweet boy. Wait your turn." Lorelai gave him a spoonful of ice-cream. She continued to alternate spoonfuls of ice-cream between Rory, Jess, and herself. Every time she gave Rory a bite of ice-cream, she attempted to get her to say mama. The attempts were unsuccessful until Lorelai gave Rory the last bite of ice-cream in the bowl. "Come on, Rory. You can do it. Say mama."
"Muh," Rory said, trying to copy her mother.
"Mama."
"Muh muh."
"Mama. Mama."
"Ma."
"Mama."
"Mama."
"That's it! Good job, Rory! Say it again. Say mama."
"Mama. Mama. Mama," Rory repeated happily, encouraged by Lorelai's obvious enthusiasm.
Lorelai set the empty bowl on the floor next to her and scooped Rory into her lap. "You did it, sweet girl. Yay!" She pressed kisses all over Rory's face.
Jess didn't like being left out and tried to force his way into Lorelai's lap. "La La, me. Me, La La," he whined pitifully.
Lorelai shifted Rory to make room for Jess and helped him crawl into her lap. "Yes, sweet boy, you too." She kissed his cheek and then began tickling both babies.
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"We're home and we brought pizza," Luke announced loudly as he and William entered the house and headed for the kitchen.
"Guess what! Guess what!" Lorelai called, rushing to meet them. Rory and Jess toddled after her, until they realized they couldn't walk fast enough to keep up and sank to the floor to crawl instead. Lorelai slid to a stop next to the kitchen counter where Luke was opening pizza boxes. She smiled up at him. "Guess what!"
Luke turned to face her. "What?"
"Rory said mama today," Lorelai told him, bouncing up and down in excitement.
"She did?" Jess and Rory had begun to pull on Luke's pant legs, so he bent down to pick them up. He kissed Jess' cheek before turning his attention to Rory. "Did you say mama?" he asked in the sweet voice he reserved just for the babies. Rory giggled.
Lorelai took a step closer to Luke and the babies. She rested her hand on Rory's back. "Come on, Rory, say mama. Show Luke what a smart girl you are. Say mama."
Rory looked at her mother and then up at Luke. "Say mama, Rory," Luke prodded gently.
"Mama!"
"That's our girl!" William cheered from where he was setting the table.
"Mama, mama, mama, mama," Rory began saying repeatedly.
Lorelai took Rory from Luke. "That's right, sweet girl. I'm your mama."
Luke smiled as he watched his excited girlfriend praise her daughter. "It looks like we get to celebrate both of my girls tonight."
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Later that night, long after William and the babies were asleep, Luke and Lorelai were still awake. Luke was laying on the couch with Lorelai laying next to him, her head on his chest. He had one arm folded under his head and the other wrapped around Lorelai. There was a news broadcast on the television, but neither of them was really watching it. Occasionally, Luke would run his fingers through Lorelai's hair.
Eventually, Lorelai stopped pretending to watch the television and began stroking Luke's cheek. When she failed to get the response she wanted from Luke, she propped herself up on one elbow so that she was looking down at him. She moved her fingers from his cheek into his hair and leaned down to kiss him.
Luke cupped the back of Lorelai's head, his fingers tangling in her thick curls, and deepened the kiss. Lorelai moaned into his mouth and threw one leg over his hips, straddling him. Luke moved his hand from behind his head to Lorelai's hip. His thumb landed on bare skin where Lorelai's shirt had become twisted. He rubbed her hip with his thumb for a few moments, before sliding his hand up her side to her breast. Another moan escaped Lorelai's mouth when Luke gently squeezed her breast and stroked her nipple with his thumb.
Suddenly, Luke's hands were on Lorelai's hips, pushing her off of him. He stood up and took several steps away from the couch before turning to look at her. "I'm sorry. I can't do this." He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but decided against it and left the room.
Confused, Lorelai spent several minutes kneeling on the couch, chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. Finally, she pulled herself together and went to bed, still confused by Luke's abrupt departure.
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Lorelai spent most of Saturday wondering if Luke still wanted to go out to celebrate her GED exam results after he left her alone on the couch on Friday night. It seemed Luke did not have the same doubts because he came home from work acting as if nothing had happened.
They went to dinner at Sniffy's Tavern and afterwards parked by Larson's Dock. It had become their habit to walk along the lake shore after dinner on the rare night they were able to go out alone. However, the cooler fall weather meant that they were sitting in Luke's truck instead.
After parking the truck, Luke slid across the bench seat and draped his arm around Lorelai's shoulders. She settled against his side and rested her hand on his knee. They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, watching a pair of swans glide across the water.
Lorelai began slowly trailing her fingers up and down Luke's inner thigh. She pressed a line of kisses up his neck and across his jaw. Luke turned his head and captured her lips with his. Lorelai lifted herself up and straddled Luke's lap, being careful not to break the kiss. Luke gripped her hips, his knuckles turning white as he struggled against the urge to explore her body.
Sensing his struggle, Lorelai attempted to reassure him. "It's okay," she murmured against his lips as she threaded her fingers through his hair.
"No," Luke stated definitively, shifting her off of his lap and onto the seat beside him.
"No?"
Luke squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"What do you mean 'no,' Luke?" Luke didn't respond. "Luke? Lucas?" Luke didn't show any sign of having heard her. "Luke, are you just not attracted to me?"
Luke's eyes snapped open. "What?" he exclaimed, turning to look at her. "Why would you even think something like that?"
"Seriously, Luke? We've been dating for five months and we've never…" She let her sentence trail off. "I mean, come on, Luke, last night was the first time you touched me anywhere other than my waist and you freaked out and pushed me away. You just freaked out again," Lorelai knew she was rambling, but she couldn't stop herself. "The only explanation I can think of is that you're not attracted to me. Is it because I'm a mom? I know I lost all the pregnancy weight, but there are still stretchmarks and because I'm breastfeeding Rory my breasts are…" She stopped rambling to search for her next word. "Weird," she continued with a shrug. "Or is the fact that I'm a mom enough to turn you off no matter how I look?"
"Lorelai, stop. You're beautiful. Of course, I'm attracted to you."
"Then why do you keep freaking out every time you touch me?"
"Because I love you."
"What? That doesn't make any sense."
Luke took a deep breath before beginning his explain. "I love you. When we have sex, it won't be on my dad's couch or the front seat of my truck. It won't be because we think it's expected. I don't want you to feel like you have to have sex with me just because we've been dating for a certain amount of time. I've been pushing you away because touching you is too tempting."
"Oh. That's actually kind of sweet."
"I just want it to be right," he told her, placing his hand on her knee and squeezing it gently.
She took his hand in both of hers and kissed his cheek. "I love you."
Luke kissed her forehead. "I love you too."