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Ch. 13: Hot Firemen and Their Long Hoses

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Luke wiped the counter for the fiftieth time in the same spot, his eyes never looking down at the actual task he was performing.

"So, what are we staring at now?"

"I'm not staring." To prove his point, Luke turned his gaze from the window and down to the counter.

Jess snorted. "Looks to me like you were staring at Lorelai."

"I was not," Luke denied. His gaze flickered back up from the counter, looking out the window again, where Lorelai was outside having a conversation with a man Luke didn't know.

"So you were staring at the hunky piece of manhood she's talking to instead? Never really figured you to swing that way, but wonders never cease."

"No!" Luke tossed the rag under the counter. "I wasn't staring at the guy."

"So you were staring at Lorelai."

"I wasn't staring at anyone!" Luke nearly yelled. He crossed his arms, and in a more placid voice added, "and you were the one who called him hunky."

"Can't one man openly comment on another man's looks without being labeled?" Jess mocked.

"Who are we labeling?" Jay asked, returning from the restroom and only catching the last snippet of Jess's sentence.

Luke rolled his eyes. "No one."

"Except the guy talking with Lorelai outside," Jess informed her.

"Look at him," Luke couldn't help but insult the guy. "With his stupid Brad Pitt hair, and why the hell does he keep smiling?"

"Someone's jealous," Jess muttered under his breath.

If Jay heard him, she didn't let on about it. When she looked out the window, a smile crept over her face. She turned back to Luke. "You think his hair's stupid?"

Luke shrugged. He cast another glance out the window. Now Lorelai was laughing; she even touched the guy on his arm. Luke frowned. Lorelai looked like she was now squeezing the guy's bicep. Luke frowned even harder.

Jay stood up.

"Where're you going?" Luke asked. She had a smirk on her face, which generally indicated she was up to something.

Jay flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder. "Oh, I was just going outside to tell my brother you think his hair is stupid."

Luke was speechless. Jess snickered, then after a withering look from Luke, headed off to do a half-assed job of serving.

"Your brother?" Luke finally managed.

She nodded. "One of them."

"Which?" Luke asked. She had four, or something, if he remembered correctly. Two were married.

"Larry, the firefighter," she elaborated. "He said he might get New Year's off to visit, since he was on duty during Christmas."

"Oh." Luke knew he was one of the unmarried ones. He frowned again.

"I think someone is jealous," Jay teased over her shoulder as she walked out of the diner. Luke watched from inside as she hugged her brother, then smiled at Lorelai.

The three of them stood and talked for a while, and Luke forced himself not to look outside anymore. He did glance up when he brought food to a window table, however. He saw Lorelai leave and head for the diner; he had a cup of coffee ready before she even sat down.

"New friend?" he asked.

Lorelai smirked. "I guess you could call him that; we had sex in the alley just now."

"Liar." Still, he had to resist the urge to go out and punch the guy.

Lorelai sipped the coffee. "You know me too well."

Luke nodded. "I do. So, what do you want?"

Lorelai put down her coffee and raised her eyebrows. "Man, that is just freaky. How did you know I wanted something?"

"You have that look on your face."

"What look?" She asked with false innocence.

He pointed to her face. "That one. So spill."

Lorelai dropped the innocent act. "My porch swing broke."

"So all those brownies are catching up to you."

Lorelai gasped. "Are you saying I'm fat?" She twisted around in the chair and tried to see her butt.

"I didn't say that." He couldn't help smirking, though.

She pouted. "Now I don't want you to fix my swing."

"I'm sure Kirk would be happy to do it," Luke offered.

A horrified look crossed her face. "Pleeeaaase fix my swing."

Luke didn't answer right away. Lorelai pouted even harder. He gave in. "After the lunch rush."

"Yay!" She picked her coffee up and impulsively kissed him on the cheek. Luke watched her go, his cheek tingling.

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Lorelai watched as Luke balanced on a ladder, using power tools she couldn't identify to reattach the swing to the roof of the porch.

"Done yet?" She didn't know how long she could stare at his butt before her common sense took a vacation and she would reach out and grab it. Funny how she'd never really checked out Luke's butt before, but now that it was at her eye level she couldn't help herself.

"For the twentieth time, no. I'll tell you when I'm done."

Lorelai sighed quite audibly. "Bob Villa would have fixed it by now." At least Bob Villa's butt didn't tempt her.

"Bob Villa isn't here."

"How sad. I was totally getting into 'This Old House.'"

"You were not."

"I learned how to retile a bathroom. I was thinking of putting that knowledge to use."

Luke shook his head and screwed in the final bolt. "That could be an amusing event." He climbed down the ladder and put the drill away. "Done."

"Finally!" Damn. Now that his butt was no longer at eye level, his chest was. Naughty Luke thoughts seemed to be taking over her mind lately.

"Yes, it must have been hard to wait for twenty-five minutes."

"If I was a butterfly that would be almost a year of my butterfly life."

Luke ignored her curious knowledge about the lifespan of a butterfly. "Do you want to test it out?"

Lorelai eyed him suspiciously. "Do I?"

"I didn't rig it to break or anything."

She didn't lose an ounce of suspicion. "Didn't you?"

Luke sighed. "Look, I'll sit on it with you."

"Deal."

They both sat down on the swing. Lorelai looked up nervously at the roof where the chain was bolted.

"See?" Luke said. "Nothing to worry about."

That's what he thought. Luke was unaware that he was in very serious danger of having his bones jumped. Of course, she didn't tell him that. Instead, she made the swing her number one priority. "It does seem fixed."

"It is fixed."

"Only one way to know for sure," Lorelai said, and put her foot on the ground, then pushed hard. The swing rocked wildly back and forth. Luke clutched the arm rest.

"Now I know how it broke."

"Oh, no. It broke when Aerosmith's tour bus stopped outside the house asking for directions, but somehow it ended up turning into a major party. It was so cool."

"And the swing broke because you and Steven Tyler were getting friendly on it," Luke humored her.

"Of course!"

"Do you sell tickets to the fantasy world you live in?"

"Nah, it might put Disney out of business."

"I fail to see the problem."

They sat quietly, the swing slowing to a gentle rock. Questions formed in Lorelai's mind but never quite made it to her tongue. But without speaking, she was going back to those Naughty Luke thoughts. His body was so close to hers, the swing being just big enough for two, the sides of his thighs occasionally brushing hers, their shoulders touching, his warmth so inviting in the deep winter chill.

She had to say something or else she'd end up putting her lips to a much different use.

"So….new year coming up." Oh, very clever. She was world renowned for her ability to talk and this was the best she could come up with.

"Yeah. They always start out so slow, but before you know it, you're at another stupid party and it's another year already."

"I guess that whole thing about time flying is irrefutable. I mean, look at Rory. It feels like yesterday I was thinking 'hey! Why bother to put diapers on her if she just gets them dirty every two hours!' and now she's sending out college applications."

Luke's eyebrows drew together. "You didn't put diapers on her?"

"Of course I did, I couldn't have her going all over the inn. Though it would have been much easier if she could. But hey, time to change the subject."

"Gladly."

Lorelai gave the swing a much gentler push this time, making it rock slightly back and forth. Unfortunately- or fortunately- the motion pushed her closer to Luke. Oh, she could have pulled away but then he might think she was uncomfortable being that close to him. See, there were all these intricacies when it came to close physical proximity to a guy who wasn't your boyfriend but damn, you wished that he was. Maybe she could write a book on it.

Definitely time to change the subject. "Going to any parties?"

Luke shrugged. "I try to make a quick appearance and then get the hell out of there at the town gathering, but Jay likes them, so I might end up staying till midnight. You going?"

Lorelai tried not to cringe at the mention of Jay. "Rory and I never miss it. And Babette's planning a bitching after-party."

Luke frowned. "One party isn't enough for you, is it?" he teased.

Lorelai grinned. "I'm a wild woman. See aforementioned Aerosmith party reference."

"So, you and Jay's brother seemed to hit it off," Luke casually began, and Lorelai got a hopeful feeling. Was Luke jealous?

"Well, we had a nice little introduction, but it wasn't anything big. He stopped me and said good morning, and I thought, 'hey who is this cute guy that I've never seen around before' and then he asked me if I knew where Luke's diner was, and I said 'boy golly do I ever!'"

Luke cut her off. "'Boy golly'?"

"You gonna let me tell the story or not? So like I was saying, I said 'Boy golly do I ever!' and I pointed across the street and he said, 'I thought that was William's Hardware,' so see, Taylor was right, your sign does confuse the tourists."

"Only the stupid ones."

"He may be stupid but he sure is pretty. I've always wanted my very own Ty from Trading Spaces doll, and this one's life sized!"

"I wasn't aware you liked that whole Abercrombie look."

"Ooh, sarcasm. The first stage of jealousy," Lorelai teased.

Luke shook his head. "Yeah, I'm so jealous of a guy who can't even figure out where the diner is when Stars Hollow is the size of a postage stamp."

"Sarcasm again!" She poked his thigh with her finger for emphasis.

Luke snatched her finger and gave it a squeeze. "I'm not letting go until you take that back."

"Take what back?" she innocently asked, blinking up at him.

"Your insane jealousy theory." He gave her finger an even tighter squeeze.

"So now you're insanely jealous?" She teased. He squeezed her finger harder in response. "Please, Luke, I popped Rory out and no pain you inflict upon me can be greater than the pain she inflicted."

Luke dropped her finger. "You're right."

"Oh, that sounded so good. Say it again."

"You're right. I can't hurt you." He gave her a wicked smile, one he rarely used because it meant he was in a playful mood, and Luke wasn't the kind of guy who was often in a playful mood. "But I can do this."

With that said, his hand shot out and his fingers dug lightly into her ribs. Lorelai squealed and tried to get away. His other arm held her down while he continued to tickle her, and she vainly struggled to squirm away from him.

"Stop!" she managed to beg between laughs. He didn't listen to her, and instead tickled her harder. She screamed, squirmed, and managed to squirm her way right off the swing and fell onto the porch.

She looked up at him from the floor. "See what you did," she light-heartedly scolded. "Bad Luke!"

"You'll recover," he dismissed. He poked her with the toe of his shoe. "Get up."

"I can't. I've been seriously injured," she lied.

Luke stood up, and made his way to the door of the house. "I'm gonna go inside and make some coffee. I hope the door doesn't accidentally lock behind me."

Lorelai jumped up from the floor. "Ooh! Coffee!"

Luke held the door open and she went back inside. "Those injuries sure seemed to heal fast," he dryly commented.

Lorelai winked at him. "I've been telling you that coffee fixes everything for years now. Jeesh, don't you ever listen?"

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Lorelai had a disease. A black, disgusting, gnawing at her own insides disease. One that festered inside her, getting bigger with every day.

"Oh, honey, you do not look good."

"Thanks, Sookie."

"I haven't seen you this pouty since Mystery Science Theater aired their final episode."

"Why her?" Lorelai blurted.

"Why her what?"

Lorelai gulped down the rest of her champagne. "Why'd he kiss her?"

"Still obsessing over Luke?" Sookie followed Lorelai's line of sight until she spotted Luke talking with Jay and her brother. It confirmed her question.

Lorelai made a large gesture with her arm; she wasn't as drunk as the girls in that Sorority show on MTV, but she was a little toasted. She'd be ringing in the New Year with a nice little buzz. "I'm not obsessing, I'm just concentrating on it a lot. There's a difference."

"And that would be?"

Lorelai ignored that. "I mean, he knew her for what, like two months before he kissed her. He's known me for years."

"But you've never let him know that you wanted anything more from him. How's he supposed to know you want him to kiss you when you didn't even know you wanted him to kiss you? Did that make any sense?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Don't ask me, I've had too many of these." She wiggled the empty champagne glass before setting it down on a nearby table. "But everyone says it was so obvious. Why couldn't he see it?"

"Because he's terrified. You're like, his best friend, and he could lose you. Luke's not a risk taker."

"But I flirted!"

"You always flirt. He doesn't know it's special; you flirt with the teenage guys who work at the ice cream store so they'll give you bigger scoops. You even went on a few dates since He Who Shall Remain Nameless bailed, and Luke was probably thinking, 'See, she's never gonna see me that way.' And then along comes a nice, attractive girl who likes him, and he likes her, and he thinks, 'Maybe I should stop waiting for Lorelai, because I've already waited for years and at this rate, there'll be a colony on Mars before she goes out with me.'"

"A colony on Mars?"

Sookie rolled her eyes. "2001: A Space Odyssey was on last night."

Lorelai sighed, and wished the stupid New Year would come already, and they could do the stupid countdown, and then she could go to Babette's party and not have to see Luke and Jay together. Her bitter mood suddenly surprised her. There was a party, and plenty of champagne and snacks, but she was miserable. She really was in a bad place. "Maybe I should tell him then. How I feel, or how I think I feel."

Sookie shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave."

"Why not?"

"Because he's got a girlfriend now. That would be so unfair to him, and to Jay. You'd be like the Grinch. If y'know, the Grinch dated. Which I don't think he did. Bad example. So forget about the Grinch, and just focus on the fact that you can't do that, not if you really consider yourself to be his friend."

Lorelai nodded. "You're right."

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Sookie was so wrong, Lorelai thought as she furiously wrote on her Garfield stationary. This letter was even longer than her apology one, and that one had taken her hours to write. She flipped the page and was writing on the very last piece of paper. Maybe it would be good to stop now. With a final thought, she decided on a good closing and folded the sheets of paper up, stuffing them into an envelope. It barely closed.

When she got up from the desk she looked at the clock; it was 4:13 a.m. She'd left Babette's party early, staying only about an hour. Had she really been writing the whole time? Suddenly, she was tired, but she had to deliver it, while she still had the courage. Running down the stairs, she pulled her warmest coat on over her pajamas and slipped on the first pair of shoes she could find. The drive to the diner was short, and she kept thinking over and over how she was doing the right thing. The only thing. Just admit her feelings once and for all.

She left the Jeep running in the street, and hopped out. With a few quick steps, she was at the door. Now or never, she thought.

Now. Definitely now. She pushed the envelope under the door, and drove home.

-end ch 13-

Thanks to Rebe for pointing out serious points that needed fixed, and Saffron for knowing that it was "Steven" and not "Stephen" Tyler, as I was having a total brain spaz.

Sorry it's been so long since I updated- I was on a roll for the first 12 chapters but then my roll turned into a stale piece of toast. Plus, I had a lot of real-life stuff to get taken care of, and a lot of FUN stuff to do too…among the FUN stuff was…

Meeting Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy from Mystery Science Theater!!!

Hehe. It was like a dream come true. Plus, they were super nice and very smart, unlike many other entertainment industry people I've come in contact with (cough, James Marsters, cough G)

So yeah- that's why I threw in that MST reference earlier. As an homage. Hope you guys aren't disappointed by the chapter since I made you wait so long for it- but not to fret, b/c it's only getting better from here. The next chapter's almost done, and Luke and Lorelai are quite excited about the circumstances…

Stay tuned. :)