Again, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and everyone who's sent me emails. This particular chapter can be dedicated to Kate F. because her email convinced me to put up the next part. (Actually it was more like 'reminded' me because I'd forgotten that I'd finished it.)

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Chapter 12

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There was chirping, loud, horrible, obnoxious chirping. And a light, a bright, brain piercing light. These two elements were what woke Lorelai up from her dream. As she became more conscious, she identified the chirping as birds and the light as the morning sun, streaming through the living room window because she hadn't drawn the curtains.

There was something hard underneath her. Had she fallen asleep on the floor? She supposed the best way to find out would be to open her eyes.

Her eyes answered her question with a resounding no when they ascertained she'd fallen asleep not on the floor, but on a man. A man named Luke. Whose waist she had her good arm wrapped around, and whose chest her cast arm was currently resting on. She moved her legs slightly, since all she could see was his torso without sitting up. Just as she'd thought; her legs were twined with his.

Something was tickling the back of her thigh, right below her butt. If it was a rat or mouse or insect of some kind, she was going to freak out; except it felt more like a hand, now that she took the time to analyze it. Luke's hand. On her butt. Well, almost on her butt.

She knew she should get up, and hopefully without waking him. Go upstairs and pretend like he'd fallen asleep on the couch all by himself. But that would mean leaving, and he smelled so good; too good to have just worked all day in a diner. He must have showered before he came over; suddenly her clothing and hair dilemma from last night didn't seem so silly.

Five more seconds, she told herself, then she'd get up. She had to leave; Luke would be far more embarrassed by this than she would

As she slowly started to disentangle herself, Luke made a noise, a sleepy, deep-chested rumble. His hand tightened on her leg. Okay, so he likes me here, she thought. Maybe she should stay.

No, her brain informed her. Lousy brain. She tried to sit up again, and heard him mumble, "Stay." The hand on her leg moved up to the curve of her hip, drawing little circular patterns against the bare skin exposed there. For the first time she noticed his other hand was in her hair.

She almost listened to him, but she had no idea what time it was, and he had to open the diner. She had to wake him up.

"Luke," she said, forcefully but not loudly.

He grunted.

"Get up. You fell asleep."

"What?" Good, he was using words now. She propped herself up as best she could with her cast arm. Unfortunately, her good arm was still trapped under him.

"Wake up." She tapped his leg with her foot. "You have to work."

Ah, work, the magic word. With his eyes still closed and his mind still not fully awake, he tried to sit up. He frowned; it felt like a big, heavy cat was sitting on him. Rachel once had a cat, and he would wake up with the damn thing sitting on his chest, looking at him. He opened his eyes, and saw that it wasn't a cat looking at him; it was Lorelai.

"Uh," he said. Had they slept the whole night this way?

"Hi," she said, not quite sure what to say.

"Hi," he said back. Seemed like a safe word.

"I think we fell asleep," she explained.

Luke realized she was sprawled on his chest and his hands were holding her to him. "Sorry," he apologized, his face turning red and his hands flying off her as if she had burned him.

"Although, we could have been kidnapped and drugged by aliens, and then they left us like this. Maybe we should call Mulder and Scully."

"What time is it?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. I would have gotten up, but my arm is trapped."

"Sorry," he apologized again, and quickly sat up, freeing her arm. Except now she was just sitting on his lap.

Get up, her brain yelled at her. She managed to follow its order, and scooted off him and onto the couch cushion. She looked at the clock, and winced when she saw how early it was. "Ugh. Six thirty-eight," she informed him. The diner was supposed to have opened thirty-eight minutes ago. "I think that clock is five minutes fast," she reassured him, quite lamely.

"Caesar's opening since he's got tomorrow off." He looked around and found his keys on the table by the door. "So, uh, thanks for the video. And the movie."

She nodded. "You're welcome. Thanks for the danish."

"There're more at the diner." He fidgeted with his cap. "You coming in later?"

Lorelai decided the best way to dispel awkwardness was to settle back into routine. "Sure."

"Good." He stepped out the door. "Bye," he said, and closed it behind him.

Lorelai stretched out on the couch. The stairs were just too much work for this time of day. She tried to go back to sleep, but without Luke's body warmth she was cold. She reached for the blanket before remembering it wasn't there, since she'd washed it yesterday and it was on the line drying. The flannel Luke had taken off was only a few feet away. She reached over and put it on, the hem falling to her knees. It would definitely do.

She lay back down and closed her eyes, and slept for another two hours, until a knock at the door woke her. She groggily made her way there, cursing when she stubbed her toe against the floorboard. Babette was standing on the porch when she opened the door.

"Morey was on the porch listening to the birds sing, like he enjoys doing sometimes, and he said Luke's truck was parked outside, and he saw Luke leave a little before seven," Babette said.

"Some people prefer the phrase 'hi' as a greeting. It's much shorter," Lorelai responded.

"Oh, hi, doll. So when I wake up, he tells me this, and I think, two days in a row? This can't be coincidence. So I come over here to ask you and you open the door wearing nothing but Luke's shirt!"

"What?" Lorelai looked down. It did look like she had nothing on under it. "No, Babette, I have clothes on under here, see?" She opened the shirt and showed Babette her shorts and t-shirt. Then she narrowed her eyes. "You didn't call Patty, did you?"

Babette raised her hands. "What was I supposed to do, keep it to myself? I was practically bursting. I mean, we've all been waiting so long…"

"So long for nothing to happen?" she supplied.

"Oh, come on, you can't expect me to believe that two nights in a row! You're both young, healthy kids who've got the hots for each other."

"Babette, go home and call Patty and tell her nothing happened."

"Oh, I can't, she's already out of her house."

"Spreading the 'news,' no doubt."

Babette gave her a quick hug. "I'm so happy for you, sugar!" she exclaimed, before heading back to her house. Lorelai stood there in the open doorway, slightly stunned. Her stomach rumbled, bringing her out of her trance. It was definitely time for some coffee.

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Luke looked at the door like he always did when someone walked through. This time the little nugget of hope that always accompanied the gesture was rewarded.

Don't act weird, he told himself as she walked in. "Let me guess. Eggs, sunny side up, and make sure I let them cook in the bacon grease, two pieces of bacon, two pieces of sausage- the link kind not the patty kind- and a blueberry muffin?"

Lorelai grinned and slid into a counter seat, relieved that he seemed to be acting normal. "Delicious, but wrong."

"You're kidding."

"I just stopped in to get some coffee before busting Lane out of Kim's Antiques and Jail. I already ate at home, believe it or not."

"I'd have to go with not."

"Part of my 'eating healthy' phase. Even though I still think you made that note up. I had cereal, all full of wholesome grainy goodness."

"Still going with not."

"Fine, it had wholesome marshmallow goodness."

"Irish leprechaun, or chocolate-loving count on the box?"

"Count. And what other kind of leprechaun would there be? Have you ever heard of a Chinese leprechaun? A Nairobian leprechaun?"

"If you're trying to distract me from the fact that you ate little bits of chocolate puffs with marshmallows for breakfast and are trying to pass it off as healthy, it's not working."

Lorelai pouted. "Can't blame a girl for trying."

Luke sighed. "You want those eggs?" He knew her too well.

"What happened to the bacon and sausage?"

"They heard stories from their friend, Mr. Hamburger, and ran for their lives." She glared at him. "You can't have both. Pick one."

"Gimme my sausage!"

"Oh, I'll give you your sausage. I'll give it to you good." There was an awkward pause as Luke realized that his words had a totally different meaning than he intended.  "I'll just go get the, um…from the kitchen. So you can…yeah." Luke high-tailed it back to the kitchen, his cheeks burning.

Lorelai also blushed. Their sexual Freudian slips were only getting more frequent.

In the kitchen, Luke pulled a box out of the fridge, and Caesar raised an eyebrow. "It won't work."

"Just cook them in the sausage and bacon grease and she'll never know." Luke handed him a couple of 'meatless breakfast links.'

Caesar still looked skeptical, but threw the veggie sausages onto the grill anyhow. Luke ran some plates to other customers before walking back over to Lorelai.

"People are going to be jealous of all this attention I receive."

"Let 'em."

Seeing how everyone else seemed to already have plans for dinner on Friday, Lorelai grit her teeth and started what she'd come to do. "So, how guilty are you feeling?"

Luke saw through her small talk. "What do you need?"

"My mother doesn't want me to drive to dinner alone on Friday…"

"Smart lady."

"I'll pretend you never said that. So she told me to invite you. Then she threatened to drive down to Stars Hollow and have dinner here if I didn't deliver you as promised."

"Scary."

"Yeah. I watched The Shining and discovered it was a comedy after that little ultimatum."

"She asked for me specifically?"

"Yes, she even said, 'Luke the Diner Man' just in case I confused one Luke with another and brought her Luke Skywalker."

Luke shrugged. "I'll go."

"What? God must have smote Stars Hollow with the same gobbledy-gook affliction he put on the Babylonians when they built that tower thingy, because I know I didn't hear you right."

Luke repeated, more slowly, "I'll go."

"Yep. God's angry hand has been here. I'm still not hearing right, it's all babbling to me. That in fact, is where the word babbling came from, the Babylonians." She wagged a finger. "I told Taylor that steeple was too high."

"Now I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sorry. Biblical references never seem to work. Rory had this book one time, on interesting stories behind word origins," she caught the look on Luke's face, "and I'm guessing this story is not as interesting as the book." Luke nodded. Lorelai got serious. "Luke, think about this. Think about what you're putting yourself through. This is my mother. This is my mother. Satan looks like a fun golf partner next to her."

"I know. I've met her. And I still say I'll go; Jess and Caesar can handle it for a few hours."

"Oh no, no, no, this is all wrong. You're supposed to say, 'Are you nuts, lady? I can't leave the diner on a Friday night.'"

"But then your mother will come here."

"No, she won't, because if you said no I had a back-up plan."

"Giving a bum ten bucks and a change of clothes to go with you?"

"Yes." Lorelai crossed her arms. "Are my plans that unoriginal?"

"No, they're great. Totally Disney material."

"You hate Disney."

"Exactly. So don't get me started."

"But you started."

"Coffee?" Luke asked, because he knew it would end the thread.

"So you really can leave this place on Friday night? Won't it be bad for business? I know Jess is smart, but he's not John Q. Loves-the-Public."

Luke shrugged. "It's only a few hours. It's not like they're here to see me anyhow. Not anymore."

"They?"

"The high school girls who outnumber the other customers two to one on Friday nights."

Lorelai pouted. "Aww, did Jess usurp your position as Town Hottie?"

Luke looked slightly uncomfortable. "I wouldn't say 'usurp.' More like, inherited by default."

Lorelai nodded. "Someone got old."

"Hey, I didn't get old. They just got young."

"Well I for one am glad I don't have to call you Humbert."

"So when's Rory coming back?" Luke asked with a malicious smile.

"Don't even joke like that, Humbert, or Humbert Jr. will be the next special. I'll even change the board, put in a little drawing…"

Luke interrupted her. "Little?"

Lorelai gave him an apologetic smile. "Artist's interpretation."

Luke decided to switch the subject . "Do I have to brush up on the Romanovs, or just Russian history in general?"

"Huh?"

"Last time I saw her, your mother asked me what I thought of the Romanovs."

Lorelai flushed when she remembered why her mother asked him that. "No, that was just her being weird and thinking she was omnipotent. You will have to lose the flannel, though. And the hat."

"I'll just pretend like I'm going to the bank for a meeting."

"Yeah, sounds like oodles of fun, doesn't it?"

Luke refilled her coffee. "Town Hottie, huh?"

-end ch. 12-

He's still Town Hottie in my book. And Morningstar Farm's Veggie Sausages rock my world.