Chapter 4 - The Second Date

Saturday was a beautiful day. Snow was falling and everything was blanketed in white. Lorelai loved the snow and she could hardly wait to see Luke later.

Luke was looking out the diner's window and thinking about his date with Lorelai. He'd wanted to have a moonlit picnic but the snow was making him rethink his plan. While wracking his brain for an alternative to the picnic, he had a brilliant idea. He picked up the phone and called Rory's cell phone. On the third ring Rory answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Rory. It's Luke. Could you come by the diner in a bit? I nee your help."

"OK. I'll be there soon."

"Oh and please don't tell your mom. It's a surprise."

"OK. Bye."

Two hours later Rory walks into the diner and asks Luke for coffee. Luke brings the coffee over and sits down with Rory to talk. After getting Rory's promise to keep this a secret, Luke explained his idea for his date with Lorelai. Rory loved his plan and readily agreed to help.

"Thanks a lot. Just make sure Lorelai doesn't suspect what we're up to."

"Gotcha. See ya tonight."

Luke told Cesar that he was taking the rest of the day off. He then left to get everything in place. He spent the next few hours arranging and rearranging his surprise for Lorelai. Finally he went home to get ready for his date. He had decided to wear the black slacks and sweater Lorelai had picked out for him ages ago.

In the meantime Lorelai was having a hard time deciding what to wear. Rory was trying to help her mom but Lorelai was resisting. "What did he mean by casual? How casual? What am I going to wear?" Lorelai whined.

Rory walked to her mom's closet and picked out an outfit that she was sure Luke would love. "Here Mom. Wear this." Rory was holding a pair of black slacks and a sapphire blue cashmere sweater.

"Oh Rory. This is perfect." Lorelai finally got dressed and waited anxiously for Luke to pick her up.

Luke arrive at seven on the nose. He knocked on the door and waited for Lorelai to answer. When the door opened, Luke was speechless. Lorelai looked great.

"Hi."

"Hi yourself. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Just let me get my coat."

Luke then led her out to his truck and helped her in. "Where are we going tonight?"

"It's another surprise. But trust me. You'll love it." For once Lorelai didn't complain. She trusted Luke completely.

They were both very quiet during the drive. Luke was getting nervous and Lorelai was curious about their destination. About ten minutes later Luke stopped the truck. Lorelai looked around confused. They had stopped in the middle of nowhere.

"Where are we? What's going on?" Luke just took her hand and said "Follow me." Lorelai followed Luke and when they came up to the lake Lorelai was speechless.

In front of Lorelai was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. There were candles all around a blanket that was set up beside the lake. On the blanket there was a heater, a bottle of champagne, champagne flutes and lots of food. With the snow falling and the lake frozen, everything looked beautiful. Lorelai was again speechless. This was becoming all too common when she went out with Luke.

She turned to Luke and said "Oh Luke. This is beautiful. How did you do all of this? Thank you."

Luke looked at Lorelai and said "Well you deserve this. I had a little help from Rory. After we left your house, she and Lane came out here and lit all the candles and the heater."

"Oh my goodness" breathed Lorelai.

Luke led Lorelai over to the blanket and they both sat down. Lorelai was very impressed by all the trouble Luke had gone to for this date. They talked about anything and everything as they ate the food Luke had prepared. He'd even brought Lorelai her coffee. After they'd finished eating, Luke suggested they take a walk around the lake. Lorelai didn't realize that Luke had one more surprise for her.

The couple had only taken a few steps when Lorelai saw a wrapped box sitting on the ground. When she looked at Luke for an explanation, he just shrugged and said "Open it." Lorelai quickly ripped the paper off the box and opened it. Inside were two pairs of ice skates. Luke looked at Lorelai and asked if she'd like to skate with hime.

"Of course I'd love to skate with you." Luke and Lorelai then went back to their blanket to put on their skates. They walked hand in hand to the lake.

Before they stepped out onto the frozen lake, Luke took Lorelai in his arms and kissed her. When they finally broke for air, Lorelai was standing on shaky legs. Lorelai then looked at Luke and said "Wow. Thank you. This was a wonderful surprise."

Luke just smiled and kissed Lorelai again. Finally they made it out onto the ice. They held hands as they skated round and round. When they were finally tired and cold from skating, they headed back to their nice warm blanket.

They sat in their cozy little world for quite a while longer. They talked, kissed and cuddled until they both realized it was past midnight. Reluctantly they cleaned up their picnic supplies and headed back to Luke's truck.

Luke drove slowly back to Lorelai's but the drive was still over way too soon. Luke parked the truck and helped Lorelai out. He then walked her to her front door. Lorelai unlocked the door and turned around to look at Luke. Luke closed the distance between himself and Lorelai and put his arms around her. He then leaned in and kissed her. They finally broke the kiss and just stared into each other's eyes. Finally Luke broke eye contact and said "Good night Lorelai. I had a great time."

"Tonight was wonderful Luke. Everything was perfect. Thank you. I'll see ya in the morning at the diner."

"OK. Good night." Luke leaned in for one more quick kiss then turned around and left.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing of GG. But if ASP wanted to lend me Luke for a day or a week I'd be happy to have him.

Author's Note: I have at least one more chapter I'm currently writing. I hope to have it up this weekend. My 14 month old is hampering my ability to write at the moment. I apologize for any errors. My husband is currently my beta and let's just say he shouldn't be since he can't spell (at least I can and I use spell check as well). He did point out that the heater on the blanket wouldn't really provide enough heat but I decided to leave it that way anyway so as not to hurt my story. And he's not a romantic at heart so he didn't see the romance in the whole thing anyway.