A/N: This chapter should be considered R-rated. All other chapters remain PG-13. My apologies for getting the warning up late. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::

They stared a long stare at each other after that.

"Luke,--"

"Lorelai,--"

They said at once and then laughed a little nervously.

Luke threw the covers of his bed back and swung his feet down onto the floor just as Lorelai hurried over to him. She stopped between his knees and placed her hands on his shoulders. He lifted his head to look at her then.

"Should we talk about this first?" he asked.

Her breathing was a little unsteady, "Um, how about the quick formalities?" she asked, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Okay," came his ragged answer.

"I am on the pill," she assured him.

He nodded. "Do you want me to use...? I mean, I have... in the bathroom..."

"I know," smiled Lorelai, "and, no, I don't think so..."

He nodded again and swallowed, looking at her still, his face furrowed in longing concentration, "Lorelai, I love you... I mean, you know that? Right? This is it for me..." and he buried his face in the cushion of her belly, his arms hugging her close, and let his breath escape.

Lorelai closed her eyes at the warmth of his cheek against her, and began stroking his back as she stood above him, and realized she wasn't afraid of her feelings for this man any more.

"For me too, Luke..." she sighed.

"You didn't need to apologize to me that way," she felt his lips vibrate on her stomach.

"I wanted too," she said softly.

He nodded then and let one of his hands trail down from her buttock to the back of her thigh. He grazed the tips of his fingers up and down the tender flesh there and felt his heart swell when she moaned her response. He gently lifted her leg up over his thigh then and placed her foot on the bed next to him, and then continued to lightly stroke the back of her thigh. Lorelai gripped his shoulders as he began kissing her stomach. She pressed herself into his lips and held her breath and bit her own lip too as his kisses began to move lower, until he was gently licking and nibbling her bare inner thigh. Never once did he stop stroking the back of her leg. Lorelai felt her nipples pucker under the black lace and lifted the hand Luke still had on her hip up to cup her breast. She caught her breath then at his moan.

And when he moved his kissing of her thigh in deeper, she clutched her hands in his hair and breathed out, "Oh God, Luke..."

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She could not. She could not be wanting him again. This was crazy. She giggled out loud at the thought.

"Hey," she heard him say. She opened her eyes to look up at him. He stood before her in nothing but the sun's glow which played over his broad, fair chest.

"I didn't realize you were awake," he smiled at her.

"I don't know how I possibly could be after last night," she smiled back.

He climbed up from the foot of the narrow bed where he'd been standing and lay gently on top of her, scooping his arms underneath and around her.

"Good morning," he told her.

"Good morning," she responded.

And then they kissed and began again, slowly and in the light, their eyes open. And when Luke had collapsed into the crook of her neck after arcing above her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him more tightly yet, unwilling to even let him withdraw from her warmth.

"Don't.." she whispered, "not yet..." and closed her eyes and felt every part of him against and within her.

"I won't.." he assured her as he breathed in her smell.

And finally when regular breathing became necessary again, he rolled off her and lay on his side next to her. He propped his head on his hand and looked down at her then and allowed himself to stroke the white ribbon of skin between her breasts.

He smiled, "Your skin is so soft." She smiled back, "I love you," she said in the bright light of the morning, making it real again.

"I love you, too," he said easily.

"You know," she told him, as he continued to stroke her skin, "It felt sort of corny when I first said that to you. I mean I meant it..."

He nodded and grinned a little.

"But after last night... I mean, we've said it so many times now..."

"Too many to count," he added, as he traced her collar bone with his index finger.

"There were many things too numerous to count last night," she laughed.

"Really?" he smirked.

"Oh, I think you were aware," she told him knowingly.

He smiled, "Well, the feelings were... mutual."

"Yes, they were," she agreed, "Multiply Mutual. But of all the times we've declared our love for each other in the past twenty hours or so..."

"Yes?"

"I'd have to say that a certain rhythmic interpretation of yours during the course of the evening was my favorite."

"Ha."

"Oh yes, actions do speak louder than words, my friend, it's true. But action and words together?! We're talking stratospheric impact."

"Well, good," he laughed. "And I have to say that ten years of Lorelai fantasies..."

"Ten years of Lorelai fantasies?!" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," he said looking at her, "ten years."

"Oh my God," Lorelai covered her face with her hands.

"I have to say," he continued, "That the reality is much better."

She peeked out from her hands, "Really?" "Yep." They paused a moment, looking at one another.

"So... did any of these fantasies take place while you were in the shower?" she leered at him.

"Jeez, Lorelai," Luke reddened.

"They did! You thought about me in the shower!" she said gleefully.

"Lorelai..."

"That's all right," she cuddled up close to him, "I fantasized about you too."

"You did?!"

"Yep," she nodded and thought for a moment, "Oh my God, Luke! What time is it?" she said and sat up quickly.

He looked up at her placidly from the pillow, "Eight thirty," he told her matter-of-factly.

"What?!" cried Lorelai, "Luke, the diner? Who opened the diner?"

"No one," he told her, "the diner is closed."

"What? Luke, it's Saturday." she told him in disbelief.

"Yep," he said and put his arms up under his head.

"But... but, it's Saturday..." she said weakly.

"I know, Lorelai, and I don't care. For the first time in my life I have the most selfishly important reason I can think of to stay in bed. So I am."

Lorelai could only stare at that, "Who are you? And what have you done with Luke?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm right here, Lorelai. What's the point in having your own business, if you can't close it up when the most important thing in your life is sitting right in front of you?"

"Luke..." said Lorelai softly.

He grabbed her hand and toyed with her fingers, "I put a note up that I'm closed until four today, Lorelai, simple as that. I want to be with you. I called Ceasar and Lane, and gave them the morning off. The funeral's at two and then we'll open up for the wake afterwards—meatloaf for seventy-five, remember?" She nodded.

He sat up in alarm then, "Jeez, Lorelai, don't cry..."

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Lorelai sat at the table and rubbed her damp hair with a towel.

"Luke, you might as well have opened the diner. Look at all the food you made," she laughed as she looked down at his table which was covered in stacks of pancakes, plates of eggs, platters of sausage and bacon, and bowls of fruit.

Luke looked down and tugged his ear, "Yeah, I guess I did get a little carried away."

"Well," said Lorelai as she scooted closer to the table and reached for a plate, "We burned a lot of calories with that athletic shower we took."

He smiled and sat down next to her, "Yes, we did," he leaned in to pop a strawberry in her mouth, "it was much better than the fantasy," he smirked.

She gobbled up the berry merrily, "It's a good thing I'm tall or that particular fantasy might never have been realized.

They ate happily for awhile.

"So," she finally asked over the rim of her coffee mug, "I've told you which was my favorite declaration you made last night. Which of mine was yours?"

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "It was more the way I got to see your face when you said it."

"Oh? Do tell," Lorelai was intrigued.

"More like the angle at which I saw your face," he mused, "There was looking down at you when you said it..." he began.

She nodded.

"And there was looking up at you when you said it..." he reflected. "That was nice."

"Ooo, Luke likes a little domination, good to know," she noted.

"And then, lest we forget there was the time you said it when I couldn't see your face at all," he said slyly.

"You heard that?" she asked with laugh, "Huh. I would have thought the pillow would have muffled the words."

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"I don't want to go to the damn funeral," groused Lorelai as she pulled on her stockings.

"Me either," agreed Luke as he pulled on his dress shirt.

"How will we keep from smiling?" giggled Lorelai as she turned for Luke to zip up the back of her skirt.

"Hell, if I know. This may be harder than the wedding. Do you want the little hook at the top done up too?" he asked.

"Yes, and 'Dirty'," she laughed as she turned back to him and started buttoning his shirt. She leaned in to smell his neck then, "Oh God, why did you have to put on that cologne?"

He smiled at her, "For the same reason you put on red lipstick," he told her.

"Right," she nodded as she handed him his dark tie and picked up her blouse. "I guess it wouldn't look right if the will executor and wake host didn't show up."

"No, it wouldn't," he agreed.

"Or if his face and collar were covered in red lipstick when he did," Lorelai stepped closer to him menacingly.

"Don't you dare," he warned her, as he zipped his pants and hooked his belt.

"Party pooper," she pouted. She looked around at the room then as she slipped into her heels, "We did a good job. It doesn't look at all like a night and half a day of incredible passion were held right here in this room," she complimented their clean-up job.

"Yeah, well they'll be a lot of people later... someone might get up here..."

"Hey, is this the book?" asked Lorelai as she noticed the volume, a stack of tapes and a boom box on a side table.

Luke shoved his hands in his pockets, flushed and looked down, "Yeah..."

"Luke," she told him, "look at me." He looked up at her then. "If this got you to me, there is no way in hell I'm going to mock it."

He looked relieved at that, "I just... I don't know what I was thinking. I needed to do something."

She nodded and walked over to tie his tie for him.

"I'm glad you told me about it, though," she added as she finished up.

He slipped his shoes on and grabbed his jacket, as she picked up her purse.

"Me too." he held her eyes a moment. "I love you."

"I love you too," she answered back just as seriously. "We better go though."

He sighed and nodded then and opened the door for her.

"Do you have everything ready for afterwards?" she asked as they descended the stairs.

"Everything I'm doing. Sookie's going to bring some salads. Taylor's gonna bring God-knows-what, probably whatever didn't sell at the store this week and is about to spoil. So we should be set."

"What about flowers?" asked Lorelai as they walked through the diner to the front door.

"Ah Jeez, we don't need flowers too?" he whined.

"Luke, I'll stop at the florist on the way back and get something..." she told him.

"Lorelai..." he began as he unlocked and opened the diner door for her.

"Luke..." she began back at him as she stepped through the open door and into the bright sunshine. She stopped suddenly short though, Luke bumping right into her as he closed the door behind them.

"Are you all right...-?" he began, then stopped and followed her frozen line of vision.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" he heard her squeak to an equally surprised Richard Gilmore standing before her.

"Lorelai, this is nice," said Richard absently, "I was starting to think I wouldn't find you."

"Dad, is something wrong?" Lorelai asked, trying not to panic.

"No, no, nothing wrong," he said, "Luke, isn't it?" he said looking over Lorelai's shoulder.

"Hello, Richard," said Luke shaking Richard's out-stretched hand.

"Nice to see you," Richard went on pleasantly, "I don't believe we've seen you since Rory's graduation."

"That seems right," agreed Luke, looking over at Lorelai.

"Dad, what's going on?" asked Lorelai, trying to re-direct the focus.

"Well, it was such a beautiful day so I thought I'd drive out to see my daughter," he told her heartily.

"Well... Wow, Dad, that's... just... completely unexpected of you."

"Yes," went on Richard as he looked about the town square, "I stopped by your house---no one there, and you weren't at the Inn... And then I remembered how much you love coming to Luke's diner here... and well, here I am." He smiled.

"Okay," said Lorelai, leaning in subtly to check his breath (it was clean), "that still doesn't explain why, Dad."

"Just a whim, Lorelai. Thought I'd take my daughter to lunch or dinner or something... seeing as we're both alone and ...." he looked over at Luke then, "But, perhaps it was a bad idea after all. I'll just head home... It was good seeing you, Luke."

"No, Dad, wait," said Lorelai grabbing his arm. "That was really nice, Dad. I'm glad you came."

"Yes, well..." Richard looked uncomfortably at his feet.

"It's just that we are on our way to a funeral now."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Richard. "And here I gave the cook the day off. Well, Luke, I see you are closed. Perhaps you could suggest some place local where I could get something to eat?" Richard said tiredly.

Lorelai looked over at Luke, "Look, Dad, why don't you stay?"

"Really?" Richard's tone turned hopeful.

"Well, sure, you could come to the funeral with us, or ... or wait here at Luke's and then we could have dinner after..." Lorelai tried.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be an imposition..."

"You wouldn't be at all, Richard," Luke assured him. "Though I suggest waiting over going to the funeral. It's going to be a little... non- traditional."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Dad, it's fine," Lorelai assured him.

"Tell you what, Richard, you go on into the diner. My place is at the head of the stairs. It's... you know, small.. But you're welcome to wait there. Watch the television, or whatever. There's even food in the refrigerator." Luke told him.

"Well, maybe I will," decided Richard.

"Sure Dad, you go ahead. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Luke unlocked and opened the door for Richard.

"Well, thank you both for taking me in," he waved as he disappeared within the diner.

When Luke turned back to Lorelai she was holding her face in distress.

"Oh Luke, what is going on?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he shook his head, "he does seem weird."

"Oh Luke, weird does not begin to describe it... You don't know my father. This is like an Anne Heche trip for him. Do you think I should go up there and be with him?"

"Well, he's your father, but my suggestion is to wait until he says something to you."

Lorelai nodded. "Oh man, this cannot be good. What is going on with him? Do you think he's finally lost it? Do you think he has an alternate alien personality?"

Luke put an arm around her shoulder, "Come on, the sooner we go, the sooner we'll be back for you to find out."

Lorelai nodded morosely as they crossed the square to the church.

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Later as they sat quietly listening as the service ended, Lorelai leaned over to whisper to Luke, "Wow, she was quite the Renaissance Woman, wasn't she?"

"Even I didn't know that she could play five different brass instruments," Luke whispered back.

They were scooting out of the pew now and moving slowly down the aisle to the Gleason family at the church entrance.

"Okay," she whispered again, "Are the boys standing in line in order of birth?" she asked him.

He sighed, "Yep."

"Which would also be alphabetical, right?" she whispered again.

"Yep. And you probably shouldn't be grinning at their mother's funeral like that."

"You're right." she ducked her head contritely. "I now see why Bill prefers to go by Leslie, though." she noted.

"Yep." said Luke as they inched forward with the crowd.

"Man, he is one beautiful lady," said Lorelai with awe. 'I wonder where he got that dress?"

"He does a variety act in Brooklyn," commented Luke.

"No way!" gasped Lorelai.

"Lorelai," hushed Luke as heads turned to look at her.

"Sorry!" she smiled nervously.

"Will you take me?" she whispered again.

"To what?"

"Well, duh, Leslie's show, of course."

"Is nothing sacred to you? And, no."

"Luke, Lorelai, thank you for coming," Kirk stepped over to them. "It's good to have your dearest friends around you in times like these."

Lorelai felt instantly bad over her Leslie delight, "Oh Kirk," she said sympathetically, "How are you holding up?" she asked him.

"Well, it's not easy," he told them. "But mother wanted all we boys to be strong in the face of adversity."

"Well, that's admirable," Lorelai told him.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Kirk," said Luke extending his hand. Kirk shook it sadly. "We'll see you all at the diner at four, right?"

"Yes, Luke, thank you. It would have meant a lot to Mother, to know that the town was enjoying your meatloaf on her behalf."

"Well, good." said Luke.

"You'll both come to the cemetery, won't you?"

"Oh, I don't know..." said Luke.

"Oh Luke, you must. I don't think I could go through this without your being there," implored Kirk.

"We'll be there, Kirk," Lorelai assured him.

Luke sighed his resignation.