/b I do not own the characters or any previous plots from which this story may stem. I do, however, own the head from which this story was created and reserve all rights to it.

"Mom?" Rory asked after Lorelai told her everything that had happened that night.

"Yes, Rory?"

"You really love Luke?"

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah, I think I do." She smiled at her own admission.

Rory nodded and looked at the ground in the immediate space in front of them as they walked. Her mother was in love with Luke who they had known for years and years. And all she had done was kissed him innocently twice. She winced at the thought of the accusations she had made of her mother earlier in the evening. What she had said had, for the most part, been the truth. But it was the truth that she had known would hurt the most for Lorelai. And now when her mother was actually in love she had to do things that would ruin her mother's happiness.

Lorelai and Rory walked up the stairs of the inn together in silence. Rory opened the door and they prepared themselves to go to sleep without talking to one another. There were two twin beds and they each got in their own. Lorelai turned off the lamp on the bedside table.

"Goodnight, Rory."

"Goodnight, Mom."

Rory began to silently cry again. She couldn't remember things being so bad. So many mistakes had been made that night starting with letting Dean into the house and ending with not being happy for her mother's newfound love for Luke. Rory's tears acted as a lullaby and she was soon fast asleep.

In the bed next to hers, however, Lorelai laid wide awake conscious of every movement and every sound made in the world around her. So much had happened so quickly and she didn't know what to make of it. She listened to Rory's deep breathing and knew that her daughter was in dream world, far away from the cruel harsh reality of the world she lived in.

Lorelai peeled the blankets off of her and sat up on the edge of her bed. She silently walked across the room and opened the door. She looked over her shoulder to see Rory sleeping, smiled sadly, and then closed the door noiselessly behind her. Her bare feet felt cold against the hard wood floor as she crossed the hall and stood in front of door seven. She took a deep breath to pace herself and then knocked on the door quietly as to not wake up all of the townspeople. She heard the lamp being turned on inside the room followed by footsteps that neared the door. Luke opened the door and looked surprised to see Lorelai.

"Hey, I had given up on you."

"Not permanently, I hope."

He smiled. "No, I would never do that." He yawned. He looked at her sleepily. She was wearing her pajamas and her hair was even curlier than he remembered it being before. She looked upset to him and just hoped that whatever had happened didn't have to do with him.

Lorelai crossed her arms and pursed her lips. She really needed to talk to him. She needed to talk to anybody who would listen, really, as long as it wasn't Rory but she knew where to find Luke. Lorelai looked at him. He was in his boxers and an oversized t-shirt and his hair was messy. He had obviously just gone to bed. She felt slightly guilty for waking him but knew that he wouldn't mind.

"Will you come in?" he asked her. She nodded and walked in. He shut the door behind her. He grunted to himself. "Do you want some coffee?" He motioned towards the coffee maker in the room and she saw the he had already prepared some.

"You have some already made? I thought you hated coffee."

"I was waiting for you so..."

"So you made me coffee?"

"Yeah. It's a nervous tick I guess." He ran his hand through his hair

She smiled. "Coffee would be wonderful, Luke." He poured her a cup and handed it to her. She inhaled the steam and the aroma filled her lungs. She sipped it happily and a wide smile spread across her face. "Luke, you brought your own coffee!"

"Yeah, well, I figured you wouldn't be putting pre-packaged Luke Danes coffee in every room."

"Mmm... no, but if that were an offer I definitely would. It would be good for business. I'd be the inn with the world's best coffee." She smiled tentatively then sighed.

"Lorelai, what's wrong?"

"Everything."

"Uh oh..."

She glanced up at him and looked him in the eyes. She shook her head. "No, not everything, Luke. Just everything that's not in this room."

He smiled and understood that there was nothing wrong between the two of them at least. He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. After a few seconds Lorelai walked over and sat down very close next to him. His arm was lying between them and was the only barrier between their physical contact. She looked down at it and gently picked it up lacing her fingers through his. She looked him in the eye.

"You're the only thing that makes even the slightest bit of sense to me, and even this confuses me like hell," Lorelai said without blinking.

"Then let me clear things up for you." Luke leaned in and kissed her. He pulled back.

She smiled. "I wish all confusion were this good." She leaned over and kissed him. She pulled away briefly enough to look into his eyes and have the world turn into a haze. They both moved in this time, their lips crashing against one another and neither one knew how it could feel so right to be doing this when they had only just started seeing each other in a new light. They slowly pulled apart and Lorelai leaned her forehead against Luke's. "All that and no Kirk screaming and running around completely naked..."

He laughed a little then smiled. "You taste like coffee."

She finished drinking her coffee and set the mug on the floor. "You know, funny thing about that." Luke leaned in and kissed her again. She smiled against his lips and opened her mouth. He seized the moment to explore her mouth. She untangled her hand from his and brought it up around the back of his head and pulled him closer. She played with his hair a bit as she caressed his tongue with her own. With kisses like these she could forget all the world's problems. But when she pulled away, she remembered them again. "And you said you didn't like coffee, Mr. Danes."

"It gets better every time I try it. An early death must be an acquired taste."

She smiled at him and she sighed. "Luke..."

"What's wrong, Lorelai?"

She furrowed her brow. "Everything."

"We've already been down that road, Lorelai."

She nodded and sighed. "It's Rory."

Luke sat up straight and looked serious. "What happened to her?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Nothing. Well, actually, everything happened to her." She closed her eyes and tried her hardest not to cry. "When I got home I found Rory and..." she looked up at the ceiling and shook her head, visualizing everything that had happened. "She and Dean came out of her room together. I asked her what he was doing there and she said he was just there to borrow something but I knew she was lying to me. Her hair was all messed up and she was frantic and breathless." Lorelai started fidgeting with her hands and she started to cry. "God, Luke... she had sex with him."

"She did what?!" he yelled.

"Shh... don't wake everybody up. Especially with Kirk next door we don't want him to go berserk again..." She down at her hands and shook her head. "Luke, I just don't understand. She's a smart kid and she goes to Yale. And he's married..." Lorelai wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Luke, she's only 19, she's not supposed to do this yet."

"Lorelai, as much as I'm on your side on this one I'm going to have to ask you, how old were you?"

"Sixteen..." she reluctantly replied.

"Right, so you can't tell me she's too young."

"But she is too young. She's Rory. She's my baby. Any age is too young for Rory." She bit her bottom lip and blinked a few times. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

Luke rubbed Lorelai's back and tried to think of what he could do. He wanted to pummel Dean but knew that it was a two way street; Rory was as much to blame as Dean was. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of this."

Lorelai grunted. She didn't know what to do with that comment. "I just keep thinking maybe if I hadn't gone home, if I didn't need my camera and some band-aids, if I didn't go home looking for her... it would've happened but I wouldn't have to know about it. Or at least not yet. And I wouldn't have had to catch her doing it and lying to me like she's Winona Rider. Instead I could've been here with you and oblivious the entire notion that my daughter was doing something entirely grown up that I never wanted to imagine her doing. Innocence is bliss..." She cried some more.

Luke took his hand and placed it under her chin. "Lorelai, everything will be alright. You've gotta learn to let go." She nodded. "You need your sleep. You're never going to live through the test weekend if you cry to me all night." He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. She felt so protected in the sanctuary of his arms.

"How did I get so lucky to have you for a friend?" she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Just a friend?" he asked nervously.

"Luke, we could never be just friends very well. You know that a hell of a lot better than I do. But Luke, I don't deserve this."

"Lorelai, you deserve more than this."

She sighed. He began to let go of her. "No, Luke. Don't let go. Not yet." He held on to her tight again. She closed her eyes and yawned. "I love you, Luke." It was the most natural thing in the world to be saying that to him.

"I love you, too." He smiled at the thought.

Lorelai picked her head up off his shoulder and looked at him. "What time do you wake up?"

"Why?"

"Will you wake me up when you get up?"

"Why?"

"I need to be up early to make sure nothing goes wrong here at the inn and I don't want to be mean and wake Rory up that early in the morning, too, with an alarm clock. She should be able to sleep in at least so I was hoping you could wake me up..."

"Five thirty."

"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me."

"When you open a diner at six, you've got to get up before six." Lorelai scrunched up her nose. "You still want me to wake you up?" She nodded. "Okay. I'll wake you up a little after five thirty."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

"No, thank you for everything. Not just waking me up. For calming me down about Rory. For not going too far off the deep end about Jason showing up unannounced. For this..." she leaned in to kiss him and he reciprocated the action. It was by far the gentlest kiss they had shared so far. It moved slowly but extremely sensually. The movement of their tongues created a slow pulse that drove through both of them and their mouths had a rhythm of its own. As Lorelai pulled away she was on the brink of tears again, but this time from sheer ecstasy. "...especially for that." She looked deep into his eyes. She had never known Luke like this, but it felt like she had only ever known him in this way. "I love you, Luke."

"You already said that."

"It doesn't make it any less true."

"I love you, too, Lorelai."

Lorelai kissed him again. "I'd better be going."

Luke nodded. They kissed one more time before letting go from their warm embrace. "Goodnight, Lorelai."

"Goodnight."

She backed out of the room soundlessly and closed the door behind her. She crept across the hall and back into her room. The light from the hallway bathed Rory's sleeping face and Lorelai smiled at the sight of her baby girl. She closed the door and walked over to Rory's bed. "I love you, Rory," she whispered. She bent down and kissed her daughter on the cheek then crawled into the bed next to her. She fell fast asleep almost instantly.

TBC