Disclaimer: the characters are not mine.

Spoilers: season 5 up to episode 5.03

A/N: This is my first fanfic. I never planned on writing one, but with all the speculation about how Luke and Lorelai ended up in bed together, I just got the inspiration to write how I think it happened.

R&R, please!

And thanks so much for the reviews, everyone! In response to netherfield, about showing a more vulnerable Lorelai in this piece... yeah, I noticed that in that episode (5.03), we see a bit of a different side of her. I noticed a bit of vulnerability, when she was with Luke, that we haven't seen from her very often. So I tried to include that in this fic. I hope I did her justice.

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The Words Will Come In Time

"...are you... scared?" he had asked.

Lorelai's head was spinning. Luke had just laid it all out there. Eight years. He had harbored feelings for her for eight years... and if that wasn't enough, he let her know that he was serious about them. About us, she thought to herself.

Am I scared? Of course I am! The default Lorelai Answer, when it came to relationships. She never wanted to admit it, but it was true. She was afraid of serious relationships, for whatever reasons. Sookie had always seen it, and apparently, Luke knew it too.

She really thought about her current feelings then- about what Luke just said- she paused for a moment, looking down at nothing in particular; just thinking. She sorted through all of the feelings that she was experiencing at the moment, and realized that there was no fear. She felt absolutely no fear about he fact that Luke had just laid out all of his feelings, and let her know that he was serious about this. He was in it for good. A smile played at her lips at this realization and she looked up to meet his hopeful, yet worried gaze.

"No." she said, simply and confidently. As soon as Luke had seen the confidence on her face when her eyes met back up with his, he knew what her answer was before she even said it. And at the sound of her voice confidently speaking the word that he so much wanted to hear, Lorelai saw his eyes sparkle.

She fully welcomed the butterflies in her stomach as he laced his fingers through hers. They gazed at each other in silence until the moment was shattered by the waiter delivering their food.

"Boy, you guys are like Speedy Gonzalez at this place, aren't ya?" Lorelai quipped at the waiter, sighing, and glancing at Luke quickly before picking up her fork.

They ate dinner mostly in silence. Not an uncomfortable silence. At least it wasn't uncomfortable for Lorelai. However, it was more and more uncomfortable for Luke. He didn't understand why Lorelai was so quiet. Normally, she wouldn't shut up- a trait of hers that he actually enjoyed even though he made believe that she was annoying the hell out of him when she was talking incessantly.

In actuality, it made him laugh inside at the way she could ramble on and on about anything. So now, tonight, suddenly, she was silent, and that worried him. He worried that he had shown too much of himself by sharing that horoscope with her, and that maybe she was really scared about their relationship.

To make it worse, not only was she silent, but she was also barely eating anything. This worried him the most. After serving her food every day for the past eight years, he knew how much this woman could eat. He once heard Lorelai and Rory call themselves World Championship Eaters, and he was sure that if there was such a trophy, Lorelai and Rory would win it.

"How's your food?" he asked, breaking the silence.

Lorelai was startled out of her deep thoughts to look at him, "Huh? Oh, the food's great! I really like this place, Luke." She smiled at him sweetly, then went back to her thoughts, oblivious to the look of concern written all over Luke's face.

Little did Luke know, but Lorelai was actually jumping up and down inside with joy Thoughts were reeling in her head. She didn't notice her own silence. She didn't notice that she had barely eaten anything. All she could think about was the fact that she wasn't afraid to commit to this relationship. She wasn't afraid that Luke- reliable Luke- sweet Luke- one of the best friends she's ever had- had just freely shown his feelings for her. He took a risk, and let her know that all of these years, he had been... in... love? with her... Luke loved her, and that thrilled her. It didn't scare her, or freak her out, or make her feel awkward. It felt right.

And she was sure that she loved him too. At her realization of this, she looked at him and saw that he had been looking at her too. So she smiled as the butterflies took flight in her stomach again. But her stomach dropped, as did her smile, as she saw the look on his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, softly, looking him in the eyes, and placing her hand on his arm.

He looked away. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Lorelai's forehead crinkled with worry as she squeezed his arm lightly. "Hey. That is not a 'nothing' look. That is a 'something' look, and I want to know what that something is!" She said softly, but urgently. Now she was scared.- Had Luke changed his mind? She tried to read his eyes, but they reflected too many emotions.

Luke silently paid the check, and the two of them left. The ride back was silent and uncomfortable. With Luke thinking that Lorelai was afraid of a serious relationship with him, and Lorelai really confused and having no idea what caused his sudden mood change. Lorelai figured that after this disaster that their first date turned out to be, that Luke would just drive her home.

As they turned the corner at the diner, Luke slowed down. "Coffee?", he asked.

Lorelai was confused, but never turned down a coffee offer. "Of course! Did you even have to ask?" She said brightly, trying to lighten the mood.

Luke parked the truck and they entered the empty diner, the only lights coming from the street outside. Lorelai sat at the counter, and watched Luke as he silently made the coffee.

"Luke?", she began quietly.

"Yeah." He said, without looking at her.

"What's up with the silent treatment all of a sudden? Our date was going great, we shared that moment, or at least I know I felt something special there, and then all of a sudden, it turned into 'Mime Time'!"

"Mime Time?"

"Yeah, you know, 'Animaniacs'."

"Okay...." Luke had no idea what she was talking about, but he was used to that.

"Luke, all I'm saying is that you got silent, and I had to start guessing at what you were thinking, because you weren't saying anyth-"

"I should be asking you the same thing!" he cut her off.

Lorelai was startled at what she heard in his voice. "W-W-What do you mean?" she said quickly.

"I mean you lied to me, Lorelai. I asked you if you were afraid, and you said no! But clearly, that wasn't true because you pulled away from me, and didn't say another word from the time we got our food, until we left the place!"

Lorelai got up from the stool, and started walking around to the other side of the counter towards him.

Luke continued, "You can be honest with me, Lorelai. If you're afraid of this, we can work through it. We can take it slower. Whatever you need to be comfortable with... us."

She was right in front of him now as he kept on talking. "We can't start off this relationship, Lorelai, with you not being honest with-"

Lorelai raised her hand to his mouth, and he finally paused his rant. "Jeez, would you shut up for a second?" she said gently, half-smiling.

Luke sighed and looked into her eyes as she removed her hand from in front of his mouth, and placed it on his arm.

"Luke, I wasn't lying to you. I'd never lie to you; I hope you know that... I just- it's just that- everything you said tonight really hit me.' I mean, a man who keeps a piece of paper in his wallet for eight years has to really care for the person who gave it to him. ...Either that, or he's a stalker." She smiled, and so did he.

She continued, "That, coupled with the "I'm all in." thing just got to me. Not in a bad way- at all." She paused for a moment. "This is just- it's good- you and me." She said with a smile.

Luke was touched, and he placed a hand on her waist and began stroking it softly with his thumb, not even realizing that he was doing it. The butterflies took flight in Lorelai's stomach again at that, but she continued. "I just needed some time to process it all, and let it all sink in. That's all."

"You weren't eating either, you know." Luke said, quietly.

"What?"

"You barely touched your food."

"Really? Wow, I really have it bad, if I didn't eat anything." She giggled, and smiled at him.

Luke slid his arm around her, carefully pulling her closer to him, resting his hand on the small of her back- silent confirmation that things were okay between them again.

"Promise me that next time, instead of the silent treatment, you'll talk to me about it first?" she asked.

Luke rubbed her back soothingly. "Promise."

They stayed like that for a few minutes- silent, Luke holding Lorelai close to him, rubbing her back gently, and Lorelai resting her cheek on his shoulder, her arms around him, clutching onto his shirt, both listening to each other breathe.

"Hey." Lorelai broke the silence. She stepped back from him a little and played with one of the buttons on his shirt.

"What?" he asked softly, looking down at her.

"You know what we haven't done since that night at the inn?" She looked up at him, her sparkling blue eyes dancing with anticipation.

Luke got caught up in her eyes for a moment before sliding his arm around her to hold her tightly to him. Her hands slid up his arms to his shoulders, as he dipped his head down and covered her lips with his. She breathed in sharply at the soft contact of his lips, and ran her fingers through his hair.

Luke brought his other hand up to her face as he slowly, softly kissed her lips over and over. Lorelai marveled at the gentle intensity of his kiss. He kissed her with so much passion, yet with so much care and love at the same time that she thought she would crumble right there. She thought her knees would give out on the spot. If he hadn't been holding her so tightly, she probably would have sunk to the floor.

Soon, the whole world spiraled away, and they knew nothing but each other. The kiss started to heat up, and they started to move towards the stairs together, their lips never breaking contact with each other's.

As they reached the bottom step, Luke broke away, and leaned his forehead against hers to catch his breath.

Just as Lorelai tried to make contact with his lips again, he pulled away slightly and started talking. He knew where this was headed, and he wanted to make sure that they were both on the same page.

"Lorelai, we don't have to go up there." He said, still out of breath.

"What, are we gonna do it right here in the middle of the diner?" she asked, "Ooh!! On that table?!" she pointed, as she gave him that energetic, mischievous smile that always made his insides flutter.

He laughed at that. "No, what I mean is, we don't have to take that step now, so soon. We can wait until we're both sure that we're ready for it." He looked at her seriously.

Lorelai smiled. "Hm." She played with the button on his shirt again for a moment before looking back up at him. "I'm ready. Are you ready?"

Luke was ready. He was definitely sure of that. "Oh, I'm ready; I just want to make sure we take this at a pace that is good for both of us. So if you're not ready yet-"

"Luke. I'm ready." She looked deeply into his eyes.

Luke smiled, took her hand, and wordlessly led her upstairs to his apartment. And it happened. Luke and Lorelai made love. It was tender. And it was "love-making" in the true sense of the word. They both knew that there was much more at work there than just sexual desire. There was that incredible connection of two people that loved each other.

They hadn't told each other yet, but each knew that they loved the other, and that the other loved them. The words would come in time.

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The End