A/N: Most of the rest of this story will be warm, fuzzy Christmas fluff, with a bit of heavy breathing mixed in.

I know the Dean scene in this chapter is a bit out of place, it's there in case I ever want to do yet another sequel to this. Basically I think Dean needs to get a life so that he won't be just The Guy Who Wants Rory, so that's where I'm going with him here.

Disclaimer: If I owned them I certainly wouldn't be working at this stupid job.


Shutting up now. On to the story, let's see, where were we? Oh yeah, Lorelai and Luke were driving home in silence...

Lorelai pulled the Jeep up outside the diner and turned to look at Luke. "You still coming to Babette's tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure," Luke replied.

"Are we OK?"

"Mm-hm," Luke said. He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips, then got out of the car and went into the diner.

Lorelai stared quizzically after him. She sighed, started the car and drove home.

SATURDAY, 8PM

Lorelai walked up the path to Babette's house, which was all decked out in Christmas lights, made even more lovely by the snow that had fallen earlier that day. She rang the bell and was greeted by Miss Patty, who opened the door eagerly.

"Merry Christmas! Come in!" she said jovially. Her face fell when she saw Lorelai. "Oh sweetie, how nice to see you," she said cordially.

"Well I know I'm not George Bailey but at least I brought wine," Lorelai said.

"Yes dear, but you're no fun under the mistletoe," Patty said, indicating the sprig of mistletoe hanging over the door. "When is that tasty man of yours showing up?"

"He should be here any minute," Lorelai said, looking around. "Where's Babette?"

"I think she's in the kitchen," Patty replied as Sookie and Jackson walked in the door. "Jackson!" she called, rushing over to him with her arms outstretched.

Lorelai made her way through the living room, which was jam-packed full of people. Maury sat at the piano playing Christmas carols while several guests sang along. Lorelai went into the kitchen where Babette was preparing a tray of food.

"Hey Babette," she said.

"Lorelai, honey, so good to see you," Babette said as she kissed Lorelai hello. "Where's your other half?"

"Here, I brought you guys some wine," Lorelai said as she handed it over. "I think Luke should be here soon. But I really haven't talked to him today."

"Everything OK with you lovebirds? How was the big Friday night dinner?"

"Very Silence of the Lambs," Lorelai replied.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry," Babette said. "But Luke's a tough nut to crack. An acquired taste, you know? Give it some time, your parents will learn to love him."

"Oh that wasn't even the problem. We had this awful fight on the way there and I still have no idea if we're done with it."

"Oh sugar, that man adores you, there's no way he can stay mad at you for long," Babette said as she picked up the tray and headed into the living room.

Lorelai followed her in, just as the doorbell rang. Patty swung the door open, her arms outstretched wide, as Luke walked in. "Luke! Come here, dear, you're under the mistletoe!"

Luke skillfully ducked from Patty's embrace and made his way over to Lorelai, where he leaned over to kiss her hello. "Hey," he said.

"Nice maneuver," said Lorelai, indicating his near-miss under the mistletoe with Patty.

"Purely self defense," he said, kissing her again. "I didn't see you at the diner today."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me after last night."

"I told you we were OK. You missed seeing me tell Taylor that I'm raising his rent."

"Ah, had a good day, then?"

"Been looking forward to it all week," Luke replied.

Just then Kirk strode into the room, fully decked out in an elf costume, shouting in an angry voice, "You are so wrong, you can't even begin to comprehend how wrong you are!"

A boy of about 9 years followed after him, arguing with him, "Spiderman could whip Batman's ass any day!"

"Spiderman, ha! Batman is a real hero, he's a regular guy who chose to stick his neck out for the little people, not some schmo who accidentally got bit by a mutant spider."

"Spiderman rules!" retorted the boy.

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not, and I'm gonna tell Santa, and make sure he knows that Spiderman is a TOTAL LOSER!"

The boy looked stricken and ran off.

"Tormenting children again, Kirk?" Luke asked.

"He was asking for it," replied Kirk.

"Love the outfit, Kirk," Lorelai told him. "But don't you have to get back to the workshop? I've heard those elves can get pretty mean."

"Oh, Lulu wanted to see me in my outfit," Kirk explained. "I've been working at the Santa booth in the town square."

"Clearly the children are enthralled by your portrayal of Santa's helper," Luke said sarcastically.

"Hey, the kid was asking for it. You should've seen the list of stuff he was demanding. This younger generation has no understanding of the spirit of giving."

"So naturally you felt the need to denigrate his choice of hero?" Lorelai asked. Just then her pager went off. She opened it and read the message. "Shoot, that's Michel at the Inn, I need to find a phone." She went into the kitchen, picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Michel, what's up? No, relax, we'll have enough, the linen delivery is coming Wednesday instead of Thursday. Holiday schedule" Luke entered the kitchen and Lorelai motioned to him to wait a moment. He strode over to her. "Wait, hang on, no, tell the Andrews' that the tree trimming will be on Friday." Lorelai was leaning her shoulder against the wall as she spoke on the phone. Luke reached around her and placed his hands on either side of her against the wall, effectively pinning her in. Lorelai squirmed as she spoke on the phone.

"You're out of ice? How could you run out of ice? I swear Sookie keeps enough ice in that freezer to form her own glacier. OK, send Amy into town to get some. Who the hell needs ice in December anyway?" Luke was nuzzling her hair, gently kissing her neck and breathing into her ear.

"No, Michel, you may not tell Mr. Ross that his wife needs a new hairdo," Lorelai said. She caught her breath as Luke ran his hand softly across her chin, down her neck and down between her breasts as he continued nuzzling her hair. "Michel, I need to go, if you have any more problems, call Sookie." Lorelai hung up the phone and turned to Luke. "You are evil. You're like the eye of Sauron," she said. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, just as Babette entered the kitchen. They heard her and jumped apart.

"Oh don't mind me, I just came to get some forks, I'll be out of here in a minute," said Babette.

Luke backed away from Lorelai and caught his breath. "Uh, I'm going to get a drink. You need anything?" he asked Lorelai.

"No thanks," Lorelai said as he headed out the door.

Babette poked Lorelai with her elbow. "Looks like that argument is settled after all," she said, winking at Lorelai. They walked back into the living room, where Rory had just come in.

"Hey babe," said Lorelai.

"Why is Kirk dressed like that?" Rory said, watching him. "And why is that little boy running away from him?"

"Oh, you know Kirk, spreading Christmas cheer to all the good little boys and girls. He's using the Mommie Dearest guide to figuring out who's naughty and who's nice," Lorelai replied.

"I'm gonna go get some food," Rory said as she turned and headed for the table. Lorelai crossed the room to find Luke, who was sitting on the couch talking with Patty, Sookie, and Jackson. She sat down next to him, put her arm around him and began running her fingers through his hair.

Sookie was in the middle of a story. "So Davey had left his Pooh bear right there, and Jackson didn't see it, and the next thing we knew, the tree was on the floor, the tree stand totally spilled all over the place, and Jackson was lying on top of the whole mess.

Jackson held up his hand, which was bandaged. "Darn protruding branches."

Lorelai pointed to the gash still on Luke's forehead. "It seems that Christmas tree-related injuries are on the rise this year."

"Next year you and Rory are on your own," Luke grumbled.

"Leaving it to the professionals, eh?" Lorelai replied. She finished caressing his head and moved down to his arm.

Babette came over carrying a tray. "Everyone, you have to taste this eggnog. It's a family recipe from Maury's mom, it's to die for," she said as she passed out the cups.

Patty took a sip. "Oh my God, this is fabulous. It reminds me of my grandmother's recipe." She sighed wistfully. "My grandmother was one of a kind. Christmas was always special to her."

"Tell us about her, Patty," Sookie said.

"Ooh! Ooh! Tell us a story!" Lorelai said excitedly.

Normally Luke would have rolled his eyes at Lorelai's overly enthusiastic display, but at this moment he had other things on his mind, namely the feel of her hand softly caressing his arm, the feel of her hair softly brushing against his shoulder, and the feel of her body sitting next to him, pressed in as close as possible.

"Well," Patty began, "My grandmother's name was Elsa. She came from a working-class family, they had a family tailoring business, and they were hired to work on the clothing for a wedding for a very rich and powerful family. It was a very exclusive affair. Anyway it seems that one of the tuxedoes that Elsa was working on was for a particular usher named Robert. Robert was immediately taken with Elsa and he asked her out. The two began seeing each other regularly. However unbeknownst to Elsa, it was all under wraps in Robert's family, since she was not only poor but Catholic as well."

"This better not have a sad ending," Lorelai said.

"Well Elsa showed up for the wedding and let the cat out of the bag to Robert's family. She liked to say she did it on purpose but my aunt always said that she didn't know any better. Anyway Robert's family gave him an ultimatum: he could either break off all contact with Elsa or he'd be disinherited."

"Rich people," Jackson sneered.

"So Robert broke it off with Elsa," Patty continued. "Or so they thought. That was the week before Christmas. But that Christmas Eve, Elsa had just gone to bed when she heard a knock at her window. It was Robert. He had realized that he couldn't live without her. He'd given up his entire inheritance for her. He came to her with nothing but the clothes on his back, and a diamond ring that he'd stolen from his mother's jewelry box. He asked her to marry him right then and there, on Christmas Eve."

"Aww, I just love romantic stories. What a happy ending," Sookie sighed.

"So Robert was your grandfather?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh no, dear. They didn't get married, Elsa refused him," Patty said.

"She refused him?" Jackson asked incredulously. "After he gave up his whole inheritance for her?"

"Oh yes. Turns out she was only interested in his money," Patty said as she stood up. "Excuse me, I just have to try some more of that chocolate mousse."

Rory was helping herself to some food when she turned around and saw a familiar face coming towards her.

"Dean, hi," she said.

"Hey," he said. They both looked at each other uncomfortably. "I didn't know you'd be here, I thought you were at school," Dean said.

"I've got a ton of work to do, but I couldn't miss Babette's party," she informed him.

"Uh, how's Yale?"

"Oh, they pump information into my head, I try to regurgitate it, pretty much the same," she replied. "Anything new with you?"

"Well I'm still living with my parents, the divorce should be final in a few weeks," he informed her.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, I'll be fine. So will Lindsey. We were too young. I guess you knew that all along." Dean shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Oh, and I decided not to go back to Connecticut State."

"Dean," Rory began.

"Before you jump on me, I've decided I'm want to study to be an electrician. I want to start my own business. Tom says he's going to help me out and once I'm certified he'll be able to send business my way," Dean informed her.

"Oh. Well – then that's great," Rory said.

"Thanks," he replied.

"Uh, I should go, I think my mom was looking for me," Rory lied. "But it's great to see you."

"You too," he replied.

Lorelai walked out of the bathroom and came face-to-face with Luke in the hallway. She smiled and sauntered up to him. Luke took both of her hands in his, lifted them up, his fingers laced between hers, and pulled her towards him into a kiss.

"Hi," she whispered into his ear.

"Hi," he replied as he guided her over to the wall, leaned her against it and pressed himself up against her. Their lips met for a gentle kiss that quickly became more heated. Lorelai pulled him in closer and parted his lips with her tongue. Their breathing quickened, their tongues danced, and they were so engrossed in each other that they did not even notice the approaching footsteps in the hallway.

"Would you two just get a room?" Rory said nonchalantly as she passed them and went into the bathroom.

Luke broke the kiss and began nuzzling her hair and kissing her neck.

"Good idea," Lorelai whispered into his ear.

"What?" asked Luke.

"What Rory said," said Lorelai. "She's a smart kid."

"She's a genius," agreed Luke.

Lorelai took him by the hand and led him, practically running, back out into the living room and over to the door, where she opened the closet and began hurriedly searching for their coats. "Damn, damn, goddamn it," she murmured in frustration, having searched for a full 10 seconds.

"I'm not really that cold," Luke said softly.

Lorelai closed the closet door. "Gotta go, Babette, thanks for everything, I'll talk to you tomorrow!" she shouted as they rushed out the door, into the 20-degree cold with no coats on.