Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The next morning Lorelai fought wakefulness. She was having the most wonderful dream. Luke was with her in her bed and all he was wearing was a pair of boxer shorts. And he was kissing her neck and brushing his knuckles against the bare skin of her stomach. She made a strangled sort of noise at the back of throat and his mouth moved lower. She sighed and moaned a little.

Then her eyes flew open and she sat straight up in bed. "Oh my God!" Panting, she checked to make sure she was alone in bed and that she was fully clothed. "It was a dream. It was just a dream."

As she settled and noticed the sunlight streaming in through the windows she also noticed that she was completely turned on. "No. This isn't happening. Rory's gone and I'm a little emotional. A little lonely. What I am NOT, though, is hot for Luke. That is not the case." Lorelai threw back the covers, walked to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. "Not the case," she repeated for good measure.

She leaned her hands on the sink and stared hard at her reflection. "Is it?" Yes, it had been a while since she'd had…relations...with a man. But Luke was her buddy. Her pal. Her friend. Was he good looking? Yes. Did that mean she wanted to jump him? "Yes," she said aloud. "No! I mean no!"

Whirling around, Lorelai turned the shower on. Leaving her pajamas in a heap on the floor, she stepped under the hot spray and let the water beat against her forehead for a few minutes. The water felt good and she began to breath normally.

After washing her hair twice and fighting the urge to use the shower gel inappropriately, Lorelai turned the water off and got out. She dried herself, walked into her room and opened the closet. "What to wear? Got no plans for today, so let's go with casual." She pulled on jeans and a stretchy long-sleeved cotton top and out of the corner of her eye saw that the bed-making fairy had not yet put in an appearance.

The messy bed made her think of her dream. The dream made her think of Luke. Luke made her think of the missed opportunity with the shower gel. "No!" she said again. "No shower gel and NO Luke."

Lorelai walked downstairs and into the kitchen. The coffee fairy had also decided to be a no-show. "Stupid coffee maker." She glared at the empty Mr. Coffee. "Stupid addictions."

Lorelai walked to Luke's and sat at the counter.

"Morning. What can I get you?" He acted as if nothing had happened in her dream that morning.

"Coffee, please," she said, "with a side of blueberry pancakes." She couldn't look him in the eye.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a bran muffin with some herbal tea?"

Her head snapped up, but all she could say was, "No thanks."

Luke cocked his head at her and asked, "What's with you today?"

"With me? Nothing's with me." She was so going to hell.

"I was expecting something stronger than 'no thanks'. You feeling okay?"

"Other than my desperate need for caffeine, I'm fine." Lorelai watched as he poured her a cup of coffee and when he'd slid the mug toward her, she wrapped her fingers around the base to get at the heat. With her other hand she took the handle and lifted it to her mouth.

"Ahhh," she said, "it's like a sweet nectar from the gods."

He rolled his eyes and commented, "I thought chocolate was the sweet nectar from the gods."

"Can't they both be?"

He shrugged, "Whatever you say." He left to go put in her order.

Lorelai guzzled her coffee. Luke brought her pancakes out a few minutes later and she ate, trying desperately to not give off slutty dream vibes. He didn't seem to notice her, though. The diner wasn't packed, but it was fairly busy. After he dropped her food off, he was occupied.

After paying the bill, she left and walked home. Needing to stay busy, Lorelai threw herself into the plans for the Dragonfly. She made calls, scheduled appointments, talked to Sookie and ordered supplies.

The next few days were more of the same. She avoided the diner because she felt as if the dream was trailing her and her face was a dead giveaway. Instead, she ordered a lot of pizza and made her own coffee.

On Thursday evening, Lorelai had just arrived back from renting a couple of movies when the doorbell rang. She had been about to order pizza, but she put the phone down and opened the door with a puzzled expression on her face

Luke stood before her and he wasn't alone. "Hey, remember me?"

"Hmm, you look familiar, but I can't quite place you. What's your name again?"

His look told her to stop. "I've got the cat," he said nodding to the carrying cage in his right hand.

Lorelai hesitated. "Right. The cat. Listen, I'm not too sure about this."

"Oh, come on, you can't back out. What am I going to do with her? I can't take her home and I don't want to leave her on the street."

"I know, but…." Lorelai couldn't think of a way to end the sentence.

"But?"

"I…."

"You...what? Lorelai, you said you'd help me out."

She let out her breath. "I know. I'm sorry, come in."

She stepped out of the way and Luke entered with the cage.

"She's been fixed and her front claws are gone so you don't need to worry about your furniture. All you have to do is feed her once in the morning and once at night and make sure she's got clean litter every few days."

"ALL I have to do? That's ALL? If Rory were that much work, she wouldn't have made it to grade school." Lorelai stared at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

Luke looked at her. They were both thinking about Rory's first day of Kindergarten, but neither wanted to mention it. "Look, it's just temporary," he sighed. "I need to find someone who can take her in permanently and then you're off the hook."

"What about Nicole?"

He looked away. "It didn't work out with Nicole."

"How come?"

Luke put the carrier down and opened the door. The cat slowly came out but hovered near his boots. "It just didn't, that's all," he said softly. "It wasn't meant to be."

Lorelai nodded. "Have you named her yet?"

"No, I thought you'd like to do the honors."

She nodded again. Luke stood and said, "I've got food, litter, a box and some toys in the truck. I'll be right back." Lorelai stroked the cat as Luke left the house. She noticed the difference in her fur immediately. She was soft and purring. "What should we call you, huh? Hello Kitty? Miss Kitty? Those aren't very original. How about we name you after someone cool. Axel? Ozzy?" Lorelai heard the door of Luke's truck slam. "Maybe we should name you after Luke since he rescued you. Lucia? Lucy? I know: Lulu. What do you think? Lulu?" The cat squinted its eyes at her and purred louder. "Okay, it's settle then. Lulu Gilmore Danes." Lulu butted her little head against Lorelai's leg and she smiled. Gilmore Danes. Had a nice ring to it. Stop! She screamed silently.

Luke came back in with the supplies. "Luke, this is very unfair. You let me pick the name and now I don't want to let her go."

"Yeah, I'm an evil genius," he deadpanned. "Think of name yet?"

"Yup. Lulu, after you."

He made a face. "Oh, come on. Pick something else."

"Nope, if you want me to keep her the name stays."

"Fine. Lulu." Lorelai played with Lulu as Luke set up the litter box and food and water bowls in the kitchen.

"Who's at the diner?"

"Caesar's covering tonight, why?"

"No reason. I rented a couple of movies. Do you want to stay and keep us company?" Lorelai mentally kicked herself. There was a reason she'd been avoiding him. What was she doing asking him to stay?

Luke paused. "I haven't seen much of you lately. Are you sure you're not too busy?"

"I'm sure. Preparations for the Dragonfly's grand opening have been going really well. We should be able to open in time for Thanksgiving."

"Good, that'll be really nice."

"Yeah." This was awkward.

"Are you hungry?" Lorelai asked. "Because I was going to order a pizza."

"Sure, I could eat. Just get half plain for me, okay?"

"Not a problem." Lorelai found the phone and ordered the pie.

Why was this uncomfortable? She'd had the dream almost a week ago and had not had another one like it since. She should have forgotten it by now.

They sat on the couch and waited for the pizza. Lulu explored the living room, hiding behind pillows and pouncing on dust bunnies.

Say something, she thought to herself. Anything. "So, Caesar's covering tonight?"

Luke looked at her as if she had a second head. "Yeah."

"That's cool, 'cause, you know, you can't work all the time, right?"

"Right. Lorelai?" He was still staring at her and she really wished he'd stop. She felt naked when he looked at her like that. Like he could see her insides.

"Yeah?"

"What is with you?"

"Nothing is with me," she said defensively. "What's with you?"

"I'm fine," he said, lifting his hands.  "You're the one who's acting funny."

Lorelai gaped at him and lied, "No, I'm not."  She got up and walked into the kitchen leaving him on the couch. "Do you want a beer?"

"Sure."

She walked back out with two beers and handed him one. "Seriously, Lorelai, you haven't been yourself lately. Is it because of Rory? Do you miss her? Because, you know, I'm always here to talk to if you need to."

Lorelai let out her breath and said, "I know. It's not Rory. I mean, I do miss her, but that's not it." She sat next to him on the couch.

"Well, then what?" he pressed, seeming genuinely concerned.

Before she could answer, the doorbell rang. "Pizza!" she yelped nervously and jumped up to get it.

She came back and set the box on the coffee table. "I'll get plates and napkins!" she said without meeting his eyes before bustling out of the room again.  After making a racket in the kitchen, she returned swiftly and set two plates out and put a stack of paper napkins on the table.

"Looks good, huh?" Lorelai said as she knelt on the floor near the coffee table and opened the box. "You wanted plain, right?" She pulled a piece of plain cheese from the pie and set it on a plate before handing it to him along with a napkin. Then, she took a piece from the other side – pepperoni and sausage – and set it on the other plate. "Yum, I'm starved."

She took a huge bite and immediately scalded the inside of her mouth. Wincing in pain she swallowed as quickly as she could and then took a few swigs from her beer.

Throughout all of this Luke stared at her. Lulu came over to inspect the pizza, but turned her nose up at it.

"Lorelai," he began.

She didn't answer, just took another drink.

"Are you going to tell me what bothering you?"

She looked at him then. How would he react? She thought back to the night they'd slept on her couch together. She'd asked him about them as a couple and he'd said that it would be "nice."

Nice. What did "nice" mean?

"What does nice mean?" Lorelai asked, looking at him intently.

"What?"  He looked stumped.

"'Nice,'" she repeated. "What does 'nice' mean?"

"It usually means good. Doesn't it?"

"Usually, yes. Nice means good. Not great or fantastic or sublime, but just good," she ranted.

Luke put his plate on the coffee table and said, "You're gonna have to fill me in because I think we're fighting about something but I'm not sure what."

Lorelai shook her head. She knew she was being ridiculous.

"We're not fighting," she admitted with a slow sigh.  She put her plate down next to his, sat down next to him on the couch, folded her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. "I've been acting weird because lately…lately I…." How to finish the sentence?

Lorelai sucked in a lungful of air and let it out in a woosh along with a mumbled, "Lately I've been having feelings for you."