Accidents and I Love Yous
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own the Gilmore Girls, or any of the characters, or any of the brilliant plot ideas. Please don't sue me. I don't have any money to speak of, so it would be disappointing.
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Here's chapter six! Let me know what you think!!
Chapter 6: Finally
Lorelai navigated her way silently through the dark family room to where Luke lay, still fast asleep on the couch. She kneeled down beside him, watching him as he slept—his chest rising and falling rhythmically, his face illuminated in the moonlight.
How could she have gone so long without realizing she loved him? The thought amazed her.
Silently, she reached up, placing a hand gently on Luke's forehead, testing the temperature of his skin, and taking advantage of the opportunity to touch him. His forehead was warm, and she could feel the warmth slowly moving up her fingertips to encompass her.
How had they gotten to this point? They had wasted so much time—so many years—with people who weren't right for them. Lorelai with—well, more guys than she cared to admit.
And Luke with Rachel and Nicole.
Nicole—
Lorelai jerked her hand away from Luke's forehead. Nicole. How could she have forgotten about Nicole?
Luke was still married.
The thought made Lorelai sick. She was furious at herself for not thinking of it before. For not remembering. For getting her hopes up about a relationship with Luke.
Sure, she could go ahead and say what she was feeling—leave the final decision up to Luke. But she couldn't expect him to drop everything—to end his marriage—because she had finally realized she loved him. Luke wasn't the kind of guy who would do that.
And it wasn't exactly her style to make a play for a married man.
Lorelai rose slowly, moving to a chair across the room. She sat down dejectedly, resisting the urge to cry or to run upstairs and call Rory again. With a soft moan, she leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and tried to think of anything other than Luke Danes and his wife. His relationship with Nicole had always bothered Lorelai, though she hadn't known why at the time. But now… now that she knew she was in love with him…she didn't know if she'd be able to handle it.
"Lorelai?"
Lorelai's head snapped up at the sound of Luke's voice. She was surprised that he was awake, but when she looked over at him, she smiled despite herself. His hair was sticking out in odd directions, and his eyes were only halfway open, squinting against the moonlight coming in through the windows.
"Hey," Lorelai said, holding back a laugh, and at the same time pushing back a turmoil of emotions. "Looking good," she said, gesturing to his hair.
Luke grunted. "Yeah. I bet." He moved to sit up, groaning at the pain the movement caused.
"You okay?" Lorelai asked, concerned.
He nodded. "Every muscle in my body hurts." Luke smiled wryly. "It's almost like I ran my truck into a tree or something."
Lorelai laughed. "Imagine that!" She watched him in silence as he gingerly adjusted his position on the couch. "How's the head?"
"Amazingly, it's the only part of my body that doesn't hurt right now." Luke paused. "So what are you doing up?" He asked.
"Checking up on you, as promised," Lorelai replied. "And I'm happy to see that you didn't die in your sleep."
"So am I," Luke said. He looked at her skeptically. "That's the only reason you're awake?"
Lorelai rolled her eyes at him, not sure whether she should be annoyed or touched at how well he could read her. "I guess I couldn't sleep."
"Bad day?" He asked.
"Not quite as bad as yours, but definitely a close second." Lorelai hesitated, thinking about the real reason she had come down to see him tonight. She frowned.
"Wanna talk about it?" Luke asked, sensing that she was upset about something.
"Wow," Lorelai said, avoiding his question. "You want to discuss my problems? Voluntarily? You're a lot nicer in the middle of the night…"
"No… I'm being nice because this doesn't involve a problem with coffee, or with what happened on the latest episode of Alias."
Lorelai scoffed. "Those are important problems too, you know."
"Whatever you say," Luke said. "Seriously, though. I'm all ears." Luke's eyes met hers. "Did something bad happen at your parents' tonight?"
Lorelai looked back for several seconds, realizing that he had remembered her comments from earlier that night—about her parents, and about Jason.
"When hasn't something bad happened at my parents' house?" Lorelai finally responded, smiling slightly. "It was the normal excitement. My parents weren't talking to each other, so I talked to myself for an hour. Jason showed up, and we all began a riveting conversation about the stock market. And then I broke up with him. You know. The usual. Just a normal Friday night in the life of the Gilmores."
Luke studied her as she spoke. Something was bothering her. Something deeper than a night with her parents or a breakup with some guy. But he could tell that she wasn't going to bring it up.
Luke sighed. "So why'd you break up?" He asked, more curious than he cared to admit.
Lorelai shook her head. "Because it was always work with Jason. Weeknights. Weekends. Movies. Dinner. There was always an important meeting, or a phone call, or a contract that needed to be signed." Lorelai sighed. "He was a great guy. But it just wasn't there."
"It?" Luke asked, confused.
"It. The spark. Like you and—" Lorelai caught herself, just moments before adding an 'I' to her statement. She looked away, flustered. "Like you and Nicole," she finished lamely.
Luke looked at her strangely, and then shook his head. "Yeah. Me and Nicole. There was a match made in heaven."
Lorelai frowned, surprised at the unhappiness in his voice.
"What do you mean?" She asked, her voice coming out more quietly than she had expected.
"Our divorce was finalized today." Luke said flatly.
Lorelai's mouth fell open in shock. And, despite her best efforts, she couldn't quite hide her relief.
He wasn't married.
But then she saw the sadness in Luke's eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she said, her voice soft as she moved to sit beside him on the couch. She paused, confused. "Wait. I thought you went to Hartford to get your truck fixed…"
"I did. I mean… I did that, in addition to a few other things. Like getting a divorce."
"Ooh. Sneaky…" Lorelai said.
Luke rolled his eyes at her. "It just wasn't something I wanted to broadcast to the entire town," Luke said.
Lorelai nodded. "But you could have told me."
He laughed. "What, so you could tell Sookie, who'd let it slip to Babette, who would tell everyone else in town? I don't think so."
Lorelai frowned. "I wouldn't do that. Not with this."
Luke looked over at her, and saw the sincerity in her eyes. He nodded.
"Are you okay with it? The divorce?" Lorelai asked.
Luke sighed. "Yeah. It wasn't working. Like you said about Jason. It just wasn't there to begin with."
Lorelai nodded sympathetically. "So…not the best day."
Luke chuckled. "Yeah. Not really."
They sat in silence for several minutes, Luke with his head resting on the back of the couch, and Lorelai with her eyes focused on an invisible point on the floor.
She knew what she wanted to say.
But she didn't know if she could.
She found herself thinking back to her conversation with Rory earlier that night—to the question that Rory had asked her.
What did she really want?
And her answer was still the same.
Luke.
She wanted Luke.
And she knew that her decision was already made. Hesitantly, Lorelai turned on the couch to face Luke, whose eyes had closed again as he absently massaged his temple. She could tell he was still exhausted.
"Luke?" She asked, hoping that he couldn't hear the fear in her voice.
"Yeah," he replied, not moving from his position.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Mmhmm…" he said.
"I mean," Lorelai continued. "It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Well—since today, anyways. After your accident. And I talked to Rory, and she said to tell you, and I thought, 'now's as good a time as any'…" Lorelai trailed off, watching Luke for a reaction.
"Sure," he said, his eyes still closed.
Lorelai took a deep breath, realizing that, once she said it, there was no going back. And for a moment, she was overcome by fear. After all, she was putting her feelings out there, with no way for Luke to misunderstand what she was saying. And with no way to take it back.
But she had to do it.
And she did.
"I love you." She said, her voice wavering, the fear lessening even as the words left her mouth.
Luke's hand froze on his temple. He paused, not quite sure that he had heard her right. Had she just said she loved him?
He had been hoping to hear those words for so long. He had played out so many scenarios like this in his mind. So many, in fact, that he wasn't quite sure if he was dreaming.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, raising his head to look at her.
And she was real. Sitting there looking at him, her eyes wide, raw with fear. And hope. And, yes—he saw it there as his eyes met hers—love.
He was speechless. He sat there, staring at her, his own eyes wide, his lips parted slightly in shock.
He knew he should say something—knew that he had far surpassed the acceptable time period for a response to such a statement.
But he literally could not speak. He couldn't quite allow himself believe that this was happening.
Luke's silence was less than reassuring. Lorelai looked away, her hand moving to the hem of her shirt, picking at the fabric.
"Right. Just forget I said anything…" she said softly, knowing in her heart that something like this was impossible to forget. Impossible to ignore. "It's okay if you don't feel the same way," she said, sniffing back tears as she stood up.
Shaking himself out of the daze that he had been in, Luke reached out and grabbed her arm. "Lorelai," he said, his own voice soft. "Wait a second." Luke took a deep breath, pulling her down next to him. The whole situation still seemed so surreal. But he wasn't going to let the chance pass him by again.
"I do," he said, realizing even as he said it how stupid it sounded. He had never been great with words, especially where emotion was involved, but he continued, knowing that if he said the wrong thing, he could lose her forever. "I do feel the same way." Luke reached up running a hand along the soft skin of her cheek.
"You do?" Lorelai asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Of course I do. For a long time, actually. Since I met you."
"Really?" Lorelai asked, shocked by the revelation. "That long?"
Luke nodded.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
He sighed. "Because I didn't know you then. And once I did, I didn't want to screw up our friendship."
"But you're screwing it up now?" Lorelai asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. I am." Slowly, Luke traced the line of her jaw, studying her eyes. He loved her eyes.
"So, you…" Lorelai began, her voice trailing off.
"I love you." Luke smiled. "God… how could I not?"
He looked at her for several long seconds, not even annoyed with himself at the goofy grin that he knew was plastered on his face. And without a word, he leaned towards her, pulling her face to his.
His lips met hers, and everything in his world changed. Kissing her was everything he had imagined. And more. He could feel the tears on her cheeks, the softness of her lips, the whisper of her breath against his skin. And it was amazing. There was no other word to describe it. Amazing.
Lorelai moaned softly, moving closer to him on the couch. She just couldn't shake the realization that she was kissing Luke Danes.
And he was gentle.
Loving.
Perfect.
And it was Luke, she thought again, which made it about twenty times better.
His name kept repeating in her mind, as she felt his hand slowly trailing along her arm to her shoulder, where his fingers tangled in her hair.
Luke. Luke. Luke.
She couldn't believe that she had wasted so much time. That she had hidden her feelings from him, and from herself, for so long. That they had both been missing out on so much happiness.
Reluctantly, Lorelai pulled away, breathless, and met Luke's eyes again.
"Wow." Luke said, his fingers still idly running through the ends of her hair.
"My thoughts exactly," Lorelai agreed, reaching down to grab his hand. Luke glanced down at their joined hands and smiled. "Is this weird?" Lorelai asked, squeezing his hand in hers.
"Not so much," Luke said, smiling.
"I'm glad. I always thought it would be but…" She giggled. "I can't believe you love me. Luke Danes loves me." She paused. "And I love Luke Danes."
Luke smiled, loving the sound of those words coming from her mouth.
"Hi," Lorelai continued, more to herself than to Luke. "Meet my boyfriend, Luke. Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai Danes…"
Luke chuckled, interrupting her. "And you already have us married." She smiled innocently. "Lorelai," Luke continued. "We've never even been out on a date."
Lorelai frowned, realizing that he was right.
Luke took this as his cue, leaning down to kiss away her pout. "So…" he said. "Wanna go out sometime?"
And Lorelai smiled.
TBC…?
A/N: So, did you like it? I hope so. Let me know if you think I should continue, or if it's best to leave the story here. I could go either way… As always, reviews are appreciated!!
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own the Gilmore Girls, or any of the characters, or any of the brilliant plot ideas. Please don't sue me. I don't have any money to speak of, so it would be disappointing.
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Here's chapter six! Let me know what you think!!
Chapter 6: Finally
Lorelai navigated her way silently through the dark family room to where Luke lay, still fast asleep on the couch. She kneeled down beside him, watching him as he slept—his chest rising and falling rhythmically, his face illuminated in the moonlight.
How could she have gone so long without realizing she loved him? The thought amazed her.
Silently, she reached up, placing a hand gently on Luke's forehead, testing the temperature of his skin, and taking advantage of the opportunity to touch him. His forehead was warm, and she could feel the warmth slowly moving up her fingertips to encompass her.
How had they gotten to this point? They had wasted so much time—so many years—with people who weren't right for them. Lorelai with—well, more guys than she cared to admit.
And Luke with Rachel and Nicole.
Nicole—
Lorelai jerked her hand away from Luke's forehead. Nicole. How could she have forgotten about Nicole?
Luke was still married.
The thought made Lorelai sick. She was furious at herself for not thinking of it before. For not remembering. For getting her hopes up about a relationship with Luke.
Sure, she could go ahead and say what she was feeling—leave the final decision up to Luke. But she couldn't expect him to drop everything—to end his marriage—because she had finally realized she loved him. Luke wasn't the kind of guy who would do that.
And it wasn't exactly her style to make a play for a married man.
Lorelai rose slowly, moving to a chair across the room. She sat down dejectedly, resisting the urge to cry or to run upstairs and call Rory again. With a soft moan, she leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and tried to think of anything other than Luke Danes and his wife. His relationship with Nicole had always bothered Lorelai, though she hadn't known why at the time. But now… now that she knew she was in love with him…she didn't know if she'd be able to handle it.
"Lorelai?"
Lorelai's head snapped up at the sound of Luke's voice. She was surprised that he was awake, but when she looked over at him, she smiled despite herself. His hair was sticking out in odd directions, and his eyes were only halfway open, squinting against the moonlight coming in through the windows.
"Hey," Lorelai said, holding back a laugh, and at the same time pushing back a turmoil of emotions. "Looking good," she said, gesturing to his hair.
Luke grunted. "Yeah. I bet." He moved to sit up, groaning at the pain the movement caused.
"You okay?" Lorelai asked, concerned.
He nodded. "Every muscle in my body hurts." Luke smiled wryly. "It's almost like I ran my truck into a tree or something."
Lorelai laughed. "Imagine that!" She watched him in silence as he gingerly adjusted his position on the couch. "How's the head?"
"Amazingly, it's the only part of my body that doesn't hurt right now." Luke paused. "So what are you doing up?" He asked.
"Checking up on you, as promised," Lorelai replied. "And I'm happy to see that you didn't die in your sleep."
"So am I," Luke said. He looked at her skeptically. "That's the only reason you're awake?"
Lorelai rolled her eyes at him, not sure whether she should be annoyed or touched at how well he could read her. "I guess I couldn't sleep."
"Bad day?" He asked.
"Not quite as bad as yours, but definitely a close second." Lorelai hesitated, thinking about the real reason she had come down to see him tonight. She frowned.
"Wanna talk about it?" Luke asked, sensing that she was upset about something.
"Wow," Lorelai said, avoiding his question. "You want to discuss my problems? Voluntarily? You're a lot nicer in the middle of the night…"
"No… I'm being nice because this doesn't involve a problem with coffee, or with what happened on the latest episode of Alias."
Lorelai scoffed. "Those are important problems too, you know."
"Whatever you say," Luke said. "Seriously, though. I'm all ears." Luke's eyes met hers. "Did something bad happen at your parents' tonight?"
Lorelai looked back for several seconds, realizing that he had remembered her comments from earlier that night—about her parents, and about Jason.
"When hasn't something bad happened at my parents' house?" Lorelai finally responded, smiling slightly. "It was the normal excitement. My parents weren't talking to each other, so I talked to myself for an hour. Jason showed up, and we all began a riveting conversation about the stock market. And then I broke up with him. You know. The usual. Just a normal Friday night in the life of the Gilmores."
Luke studied her as she spoke. Something was bothering her. Something deeper than a night with her parents or a breakup with some guy. But he could tell that she wasn't going to bring it up.
Luke sighed. "So why'd you break up?" He asked, more curious than he cared to admit.
Lorelai shook her head. "Because it was always work with Jason. Weeknights. Weekends. Movies. Dinner. There was always an important meeting, or a phone call, or a contract that needed to be signed." Lorelai sighed. "He was a great guy. But it just wasn't there."
"It?" Luke asked, confused.
"It. The spark. Like you and—" Lorelai caught herself, just moments before adding an 'I' to her statement. She looked away, flustered. "Like you and Nicole," she finished lamely.
Luke looked at her strangely, and then shook his head. "Yeah. Me and Nicole. There was a match made in heaven."
Lorelai frowned, surprised at the unhappiness in his voice.
"What do you mean?" She asked, her voice coming out more quietly than she had expected.
"Our divorce was finalized today." Luke said flatly.
Lorelai's mouth fell open in shock. And, despite her best efforts, she couldn't quite hide her relief.
He wasn't married.
But then she saw the sadness in Luke's eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she said, her voice soft as she moved to sit beside him on the couch. She paused, confused. "Wait. I thought you went to Hartford to get your truck fixed…"
"I did. I mean… I did that, in addition to a few other things. Like getting a divorce."
"Ooh. Sneaky…" Lorelai said.
Luke rolled his eyes at her. "It just wasn't something I wanted to broadcast to the entire town," Luke said.
Lorelai nodded. "But you could have told me."
He laughed. "What, so you could tell Sookie, who'd let it slip to Babette, who would tell everyone else in town? I don't think so."
Lorelai frowned. "I wouldn't do that. Not with this."
Luke looked over at her, and saw the sincerity in her eyes. He nodded.
"Are you okay with it? The divorce?" Lorelai asked.
Luke sighed. "Yeah. It wasn't working. Like you said about Jason. It just wasn't there to begin with."
Lorelai nodded sympathetically. "So…not the best day."
Luke chuckled. "Yeah. Not really."
They sat in silence for several minutes, Luke with his head resting on the back of the couch, and Lorelai with her eyes focused on an invisible point on the floor.
She knew what she wanted to say.
But she didn't know if she could.
She found herself thinking back to her conversation with Rory earlier that night—to the question that Rory had asked her.
What did she really want?
And her answer was still the same.
Luke.
She wanted Luke.
And she knew that her decision was already made. Hesitantly, Lorelai turned on the couch to face Luke, whose eyes had closed again as he absently massaged his temple. She could tell he was still exhausted.
"Luke?" She asked, hoping that he couldn't hear the fear in her voice.
"Yeah," he replied, not moving from his position.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Mmhmm…" he said.
"I mean," Lorelai continued. "It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Well—since today, anyways. After your accident. And I talked to Rory, and she said to tell you, and I thought, 'now's as good a time as any'…" Lorelai trailed off, watching Luke for a reaction.
"Sure," he said, his eyes still closed.
Lorelai took a deep breath, realizing that, once she said it, there was no going back. And for a moment, she was overcome by fear. After all, she was putting her feelings out there, with no way for Luke to misunderstand what she was saying. And with no way to take it back.
But she had to do it.
And she did.
"I love you." She said, her voice wavering, the fear lessening even as the words left her mouth.
Luke's hand froze on his temple. He paused, not quite sure that he had heard her right. Had she just said she loved him?
He had been hoping to hear those words for so long. He had played out so many scenarios like this in his mind. So many, in fact, that he wasn't quite sure if he was dreaming.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, raising his head to look at her.
And she was real. Sitting there looking at him, her eyes wide, raw with fear. And hope. And, yes—he saw it there as his eyes met hers—love.
He was speechless. He sat there, staring at her, his own eyes wide, his lips parted slightly in shock.
He knew he should say something—knew that he had far surpassed the acceptable time period for a response to such a statement.
But he literally could not speak. He couldn't quite allow himself believe that this was happening.
Luke's silence was less than reassuring. Lorelai looked away, her hand moving to the hem of her shirt, picking at the fabric.
"Right. Just forget I said anything…" she said softly, knowing in her heart that something like this was impossible to forget. Impossible to ignore. "It's okay if you don't feel the same way," she said, sniffing back tears as she stood up.
Shaking himself out of the daze that he had been in, Luke reached out and grabbed her arm. "Lorelai," he said, his own voice soft. "Wait a second." Luke took a deep breath, pulling her down next to him. The whole situation still seemed so surreal. But he wasn't going to let the chance pass him by again.
"I do," he said, realizing even as he said it how stupid it sounded. He had never been great with words, especially where emotion was involved, but he continued, knowing that if he said the wrong thing, he could lose her forever. "I do feel the same way." Luke reached up running a hand along the soft skin of her cheek.
"You do?" Lorelai asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Of course I do. For a long time, actually. Since I met you."
"Really?" Lorelai asked, shocked by the revelation. "That long?"
Luke nodded.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
He sighed. "Because I didn't know you then. And once I did, I didn't want to screw up our friendship."
"But you're screwing it up now?" Lorelai asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. I am." Slowly, Luke traced the line of her jaw, studying her eyes. He loved her eyes.
"So, you…" Lorelai began, her voice trailing off.
"I love you." Luke smiled. "God… how could I not?"
He looked at her for several long seconds, not even annoyed with himself at the goofy grin that he knew was plastered on his face. And without a word, he leaned towards her, pulling her face to his.
His lips met hers, and everything in his world changed. Kissing her was everything he had imagined. And more. He could feel the tears on her cheeks, the softness of her lips, the whisper of her breath against his skin. And it was amazing. There was no other word to describe it. Amazing.
Lorelai moaned softly, moving closer to him on the couch. She just couldn't shake the realization that she was kissing Luke Danes.
And he was gentle.
Loving.
Perfect.
And it was Luke, she thought again, which made it about twenty times better.
His name kept repeating in her mind, as she felt his hand slowly trailing along her arm to her shoulder, where his fingers tangled in her hair.
Luke. Luke. Luke.
She couldn't believe that she had wasted so much time. That she had hidden her feelings from him, and from herself, for so long. That they had both been missing out on so much happiness.
Reluctantly, Lorelai pulled away, breathless, and met Luke's eyes again.
"Wow." Luke said, his fingers still idly running through the ends of her hair.
"My thoughts exactly," Lorelai agreed, reaching down to grab his hand. Luke glanced down at their joined hands and smiled. "Is this weird?" Lorelai asked, squeezing his hand in hers.
"Not so much," Luke said, smiling.
"I'm glad. I always thought it would be but…" She giggled. "I can't believe you love me. Luke Danes loves me." She paused. "And I love Luke Danes."
Luke smiled, loving the sound of those words coming from her mouth.
"Hi," Lorelai continued, more to herself than to Luke. "Meet my boyfriend, Luke. Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai Danes…"
Luke chuckled, interrupting her. "And you already have us married." She smiled innocently. "Lorelai," Luke continued. "We've never even been out on a date."
Lorelai frowned, realizing that he was right.
Luke took this as his cue, leaning down to kiss away her pout. "So…" he said. "Wanna go out sometime?"
And Lorelai smiled.
TBC…?
A/N: So, did you like it? I hope so. Let me know if you think I should continue, or if it's best to leave the story here. I could go either way… As always, reviews are appreciated!!