Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters
Lorelai comes down the stairs in her jogging pants and T-shirt, drying her hair. She can hear Luke talking to someone.
"Now that's what we call a cheap shot." The statement is followed by a gurgling noise. " There are also hip-checks, and cross checks. I'll explain those to you later." More gurgling.
Lorelai looks down and sees that Davey is sitting on his knee. Luke holds the baby steady against his stomach with one hand and holds a beer in his other. Both of them are staring at the TV. Luke looks up when he notices Lorelai. "I thought you said fifteen minutes." He looks at his watch. "That was more like an hour."
She continues down the stairs. "You could have called me. Anyway you look like you're doing fine." She smiles and sits down beside them on the couch. "I didn't even hear him cry."
Luke completely focused on the TV replies, "Well he didn't cry. I just noticed he was awake and I felt rude for leaving him in the kitchen, so I went and picked him up." He turns his head towards Lorelai. "He is the lightest thing. I thought I was gonna crush him."
"Well good thing you didn't. I don't think Sookie would appreciate it." She leans over and plays with the baby's hand while saying in baby talk, "Mommy wouldn't like that would she, no, she wouldn't. Are you hungry, huh." She asks the baby as he tries to pull her finger into his mouth. She looks at Luke who is staring at her.
"You smell good." He says.
"Uh. Thanks." She giggles nervously, "New shampoo." He keeps staring at her. Lorelai gets little butterflies in her stomach and gets up. "I'm gonna heat up a bottle for him." Luke looks back at the TV, and says "Yeah, that's a good idea." Lorelai gets up and goes to the kitchen.
Luke leans down and whispers to Davey, "Why did you let me say that out loud? Now she thinks I'm weird." Davey just gurgles and kicks his feet. Luke smiles as Davey tries to laugh, making these weird high-pitched sounds. Babies are kind of cool he decides, as long as they're clean and happy. Just as the thought comes out of his head, Davey starts to fuss. Luke bounces his knee a little, but that doesn't work, so he picks him up and places him against his shoulder, patting his back lightly. "Uh, Lorelai?" he calls into the kitchen.
The microwave beeps and Lorelai comes in carrying a baby bottle. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She says in a sing-song voice. "Do you want to feed him?" she asks Luke.
"Uh. I'll let you take this one." He says. Lorelai leans over him to pick up the baby. Her face is only inches from Luke's and she gives him a little look before moving back to her spot on the couch. Luke watches as she cradles the baby in her arms and talks to him as she gives him the bottle. Davey excitedly starts sucking on the bottle. Luke looks at Lorelai, "He eats like you." Lorelai smiles. Luke goes back to watching TV.
Davey polishes off his bottle and Lorelai flips him over her shoulder to burp him. Luke's show ended and he starts flipping through the channels. "Ooh. Go back one!" Lorelai hits him on the arm. "Trading Spaces is on!" Luke flips back the channel.
"What's this?" he asks.
"Well two neighbors switch houses for a couple days and they're given a thousand dollars to fix up one room in each others' house." Lorelai explains. "It's addicting once you've watched it a couple times."
The phone rings. Lorelai hands the baby back to Luke, "Just keep patting his back until he burps." Lorelai jumps up to get the phone.
"Hello."
"Lorelai it's your mother."
She rolls her eyes, "Hi Mom. What's up?"
"I just got off the phone with Jason, he says he can't make it on Wednesday. Please tell me you found a date of your own."
"Not yet mom, but I'm still looking." She looks over at Luke. The baby is fussing a little and Luke moves him so that he is sitting sideways on his knee, facing Lorelai, then continues to pat his back, never taking his eyes off the TV.
Emily continues, "Can't Rory at least come with you?"
"No mom she's got school stuff."
"Well don't worry about it. I'll ask Clayton Reid if he'll go with you."
"Clayton Reid." Lorelai says, she knew his name was going to pop up. She looks up and notices Luke is looking at her. Then the baby starts to fuss, and Luke pulls off his hat and gives it to him to play with.
"You know him Lorelai. We were talking about him on Friday."
Lorelai leans against the wall, she's enjoying watching Luke. He looks like a natural with Davey. "Yeah, mom I know who you're talking about. He asked me out once before Rory was born." The baby drops the hat and starts to fuss again. Luke picks up the hat and puts backwards on Davey's head, then pulls his truck keys out of his pocket and gives them him.
"Well good, he's still single you know? I'm having coffee with his mother tomorrow afternoon, after the D.A.R. meeting, I could give her your number to pass on?" Emily suggests.
Lorelai goes into the kitchen and pulls her digital camera out of one of the drawers. She zooms in on Luke and Davey. "Can I get back to you tomorrow? I'm watching Sookie's baby right now and I think I hear him crying." She lies. Flash! Luke looks up at her like she's nuts, she smiles back at him. Just then Davey spits up all over Luke's keys and down the side of his leg. "Oh Luke!" she says pointing at Davey, totally forgetting her mother is still on the other end.
"Luke?" Emily sounds confused.
Lorelai cringes, "What did you say mom?"
"Why did you say 'Oh Luke'? Is he there?" Lorelai watches Luke wipe up the spit with the baby blanket, and seeing that he has it under control, she heads into the kitchen.
"Yes mom, he's helping me look after the baby. That's all."
"Are you two seeing each other? Please tell me the truth Lorelai."
"Maawwm! We're just friends."
"Uh-huh. Put him on the phone." Emily demands.
"What?" Lorelai is confused.
"I said put him on the phone Lorelai."
"Actually he's kind of busy right now, burping the baby. Could I get him to call you back?" Luke looks at Lorelai with a quizzical look. Lorelai gives him a confused shrug.
"Now Lorelai!" Emily shouts.
"Calm down mom, here." She puts her hand over the phone and points it at Luke. "She wants to talk to you?!"
"Me? Why?" Luke asks standing up and trading the baby for the phone. Lorelai shrugs as she puts Davey over her shoulder.
Luke clears his throat. "Hello Mrs. Gilmore." Lorelai stands there bouncing the baby and trying to hear the conversation. But she can only hear Luke's side of it:
"Yes, I am….no, I was here already…I'm just staying for a couple days while my sister and her boyfriend are in my apartment…No! No! I'm sleeping in Rory's old room…I swear…yes?…Wednesday night?… Uh…I don't think I can…but…I hate suits…I really don't think…uh huh…
Lorelai listens intently trying to grasp the conversation but having no luck. Luke keeps looking at her with a panicked expression, but she doesn't know what to do. She starts mouthing the words 'hang up'. Luke nods at her and keeps talking to Emily.
"…Well Mrs. Gilmore I really appreciate you asking me but…who?…Clayton?…Fortune 500?.." Luke scowls a little and looks at the floor.
"…No, I didn't know that…only two hours…Well I'd have to find someone to watch the diner…by tomorrow night?…I'll see what I can do…"
He reaches over and takes his hat off the baby and places it back on his own head. Lorelai is lost. What is her mother saying?
"…I can't promise you right now…ok…tomorrow then…Did you want to speak to your daughter again?"
Lorelai shakes her head dramatically.
"…Oh actually she must have gone upstairs with Davey…uh, that's the baby's name…oh, he's really cute…yeah, he's starting to laugh now…"
Lorelai looks at Luke like he's crazy, and again mouths 'hang up'.
"…I better let you go, Lorelai's calling me…you too…good-bye." And he hangs up the phone.
Lorelai stares at him with her mouth open. "What the hell was that?"
Luke walks over and puts the cordless back on the stand and heads into the kitchen. "I think I'm going to the Zoo thing with you on Wednesday." He says opening the oven and taking out the kettle. "I don't know what happened, it's all a little blurry." He fills up the kettle and puts it on the stove.
"Oh, I'm sorry Luke. I'll call her back and tell her you're busy or something." She says walking back to the phone.
"Lorelai, I told her I'd call her back tomorrow. So just leave it for now." He looks at Davey who is hanging over Lorelai's shoulder. "The kid passed out. I'll put him down if you want?"
Lorelai gently passes him to Luke, who then slowly puts him in his rocking seat and covers him with a blanket. He gets up and goes back to the stove where the kettle has now boiled. "Tea?"
Lorelai goes back to the living room and sits down on the couch, "Sure why not."
Luke brings in two cups of tea, sets one in front of Lorelai then walks around and sits on the other end of the couch. They drink their tea and continue watching Trading Spaces. Every once in a while Luke would say, "I could build that." Or "They should have used…" Lorelai was dozing off by the end of the show. She looked to see how Luke was doing, but he was passed out. His one arm was holding up his head and his other one was thrown over the back of the couch. Lorelai glanced at the clock 10:02. It was still almost an hour before Sookie would be there. She grabbed the remote and started flipping the channels hoping to find something that would keep her awake until then. She stopped on Celebrity Pets; the show always made her giggle. Luke stirred, Lorelai looked at him. He looked uncomfortable so she scooched over to wake him up. She patted him on the chest, "Luke, go to bed."
With his eyes still closed he said, "One more minute." Then pulled her back against his side so that her head rested on his shoulder. Then he dropped his arm around her shoulders, and rested his head against hers. "You smell good." He said before completely falling asleep again. Lorelai froze. She should get up. But he was so warm and she was so tired. Five minutes, then she would get up. Commercials came on the TV and she told herself, 'I'll just close my eyes during the commercial then I'll be fine.' She was asleep within a minute.
!Ding, Dong!
Luke opens his eyes. !Ding!Dong! He looks down and sees Lorelai curled up against his side. He smiles. He gently shakes her, "Lorelai, doorbell."
Lorelai looks up at him all sleepy. "You get it." She wraps her arms around his waist and snuggles into his chest. !Ding!Dong! This time Lorelai realizes where she is and sits back. "Oh I'm sorry, I must have passed out."
Luke gets up, "Yeah, me too." He runs over to the door and opens it. "Sorry guys." He says to Sookie and Jackson, "We both fell asleep on the couch." Lorelai gets up and stands beside him. She invites in Sookie and Jackson. While the guys are discussing the sites of Litchfield, Sookie and Lorelai go in to the kitchen to pack up Davey's things.
Sookie is speaking very casual, "So how was Davey?"
"Oh, no trouble at all." Lorelai replies, "How was the wine festival?"
"Great. So why are you two sleeping together on your couch?" Sookie asks now grinning ear to ear.
"SHHHH!" Lorelai says looking into the living room. "We weren't sleeping together. We just happened to fall asleep at the same time on the same piece of furniture, that's all."
"Are you guys on a date or something?" Sookie asks whispering.
"No, Luke is just staying here for bit until he can get his apartment sorted out."
"Ok. Sure. I hope he never sorts it out." With that she picks up the baby seat and the diaper bag and calls Jackson to leave.
As she's walking out the door she calls back over her shoulder, "I'm gonna call you tomorrow, Lorelai. Bye Luke. Thank-you." Jackson says good-bye as well and they leave.
Luke closes the door, then turns around and looks at Lorelai. She can tell she's being watched. She looks up and stares at him for a moment before saying, "Thanks for the help tonight, I really appreciated it." Luke nods and steps closer to her. Lorelai suddenly feels very nervous and tucks her hair behind her one ear. Luke reaches out and tucks some hair behind her other ear. He runs his knuckle down her cheek.
In his one ear he can hear 'Do it! Kiss her!" and in his other ear he can hear, 'What are you doing! Run!'
His heart is pounding so hard in his chest that he is sure that she can hear it.
But Lorelai can't hear anything over her own heartbeat. Oh god! What is he doing?! He just looked at my lips. He's gonna kiss me! Luke is going to kiss me!
Lorelai looks at Luke's lips. That does it for Luke. He leans in and places a feather light kiss on Lorelai's lips. He backs off for a second and realizes that she is breathing just as hard as he is. Then he kisses her again, this time a little longer. Little fireworks go off in his head when Lorelai starts to kiss him back. Luke puts his hands on either side of her face and deepens the kiss. Lorelai grasps the front of his shirt and joins him. Luke hears himself let out a little moan and reluctantly ends the kiss. He rests his forehead against hers for a moment still cupping her face. Once his breathing is under control he leans back and kisses her on the forehead.
Luke watches as Lorelai slowly lifts her eyes up to meet his. He puts his hands in his pockets and sighs, "You better go to bed. We have to be up early again tomorrow."
Lorelai feels lost and confused. "…Luke…?" She can't seem to find the words. Luke walks her to the bottom of the stairs. "Good-night Lorelai." He places another small kiss on her forehead and heads off towards Rory's room. Half way there he looks back and sees Lorelai beginning to slowly climb the stairs.
"Lorelai?" he calls out.
She stops and looks at him, "Uh..Yeah Luke?"
"I'm not sorry." He says.
She smiles back at him, "Neither am I Luke."
Luke smiles, nods and then says, "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Replies Lorelai.
They go to their separate rooms and try to sleep.