Disclaimer: Nothing is legally mine. Sucks, doesn't it?

A/N: It took me a LONG time to update, so sorry about that! Hope it was worth the wait. This chapter was originally joined with chapter 4, but I thought I'd split 'em up. Seemed to, just, flow better. So now you get TWO new chapters! (That one will be up by tomorrow, promise!) Be happy.

Thanks to Ali for her amazing guidance. And of course to all my fellow JJ's, especially at the LL love thread on for their undying devotion and constant inspiration.

Ch. 3: Sunny Morning (in the Middle of May)

The apartment was sunny. Yes, Luke's apartment was sunny. Not only was it due to the sun shining brightly outside on the beautiful day in the middle of May… but in bed were two reformed individuals: completely tangled, arms and limbs and hearts, together.

Luke, the grumpy man that he is, had let his guard down, finally—he had finally allowed someone to see him at his most vulnerable, finally expressed everything he'd ever wanted but didn't have, finally told a certain brunette that he was in love with her, finally lived the dream he had dreamed nearly every night for the past nine years—and that made him damn happy. He didn't care if it all still scared the crap out of him, but the difference was that now the fear thrilled him, too. The thrill had convinced him that he wasn't about to let the fear suppress him from the truth again. She was in, he was in… they were in together forever. So we're rhyming now, are we, Danes… the things this woman does to you… oh, whatever. That's all that mattered.

Lorelai, the bubbly woman that she is, had let her guard down too, finally—she had finally let someone be a real father to her Rory, finally decided what she truly wanted and went for it, she finally told a man she was madly in love with him, she was finally staying right where she was and not run—and that gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. She didn't give a damn that she wasn't proposed to in the way she had always dreamed about as a little girl; she didn't give a damn that she never got to experience that "single, adult womanhood" she was going on about to Rory. She almost didn't completely care that she couldn't share her news right away with Rory. She had finally gotten her middle started, and nothing else mattered… except for the Rory issue, but Luke and I'll fix that… just like he said, she'll come around.

It was just past ten o'clock in the morning. The last time Luke had slept past ten, past eight even, he had been sick with the flu last year. Lorelai, though, who had always been the one to take advantage of a no alarm clock morning, had been up for the past hour and a half or so.

At first she had thought that it was just the sun that had awoken her. But as soon as she opened her eyes, she had remembered everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. As soon as she saw Luke's nose and lips, only centimeters away from her eyes... as soon as she had registered the stubble, by far her favorite feature on his face, (Well, it's tied with his lips and eyes, and nose, oh and the tiny, tiny freckles he has on the tip of his nose… she could never decide which feature was in fact her favorite), the memories began to fly back: the entire reason why she'd visited him so late at the diner, his crazy plan to kidnap Rory, the twenty seconds it took her to realize she wanted to marry the man, share a life with him, have kids with him… which lead to her impromptu proposal, his would be proposal speech, the ring… the three hours of naked time in bed… and falling asleep around three in the morning thinking finally.

And now here she was, an hour and forty-three minutes later at 10:13 AM, and Lorelai was getting impatient. She wanted Mr. I-Always-Get-Up-At-Five-A-M to get the hell up already! But she just couldn't bring herself to wake him as she studied his face. She played with the curls of hair on the back of his neck, simultaneously running her fingers across the stubble on his cheeks, chin, and neck. She brushed her palm over his chest, being tickled ever so slightly by his "little man fuzzies" that she loved so much. She smiled as she heard him berating her inside her head for calling his chest hair "little man fuzzies". He hated when she said that. But she knew he secretly loved it.

All of a sudden, Lorelai felt the hand that had rested on her hip for the past hour or so slide to the small of her back, slowly glide over her butt, and grasp the back of her upper thigh… pulling her hips into the owner of the hand's abs. She giggled at this as Luke smiled sheepishly, his eyes still closed.

He growled softly, "You could have woken me up you know… I wouldn't have cared."

"Yeah, well, you're just so pretty that I didn't want to disturb you," she grinned back, knowing how he got when she called him pretty.

Luke's eyes shot open, and he growled at her some more; this time in a less come and get it mode and a more stop it now mode, "Lorelai, I am not… pretty."

"Oh come on hun, just admit it…" she said, encouraging him with one of her smiles. But Luke only continued to half-glare at her (after all, he couldn't fully glare in the aftermath of their engagement—which he knew she would milk for months and months to come…).

To Luke's surprise, thought, she surrendered, "Fine, fine… I still think you're pretty…"

Lorelai's voice grew deeper as she moved closer to him, "but if you really want me to, I'll substitute the p-word for handsome," she kissed him once, slowly on his jaw line, "beautiful," she kissed his cheek, just as slowly as before, then tilted her head up to his ear and whispered deeply, "or incredibly sexy," before taking his earlobe between her lips, running her tongue over it and nipping occasionally with her teeth… Luke merely swallowed and grabbed the back of her thigh tighter, much to Lorelai's delight.

"Yeah, um," he stumbled with his words, his eyes closing as Lorelai rolled his ear between her tongue and upper front teeth, "What—whatever you want," and he swallowed once more when she released his ear before kissing the spot she had just held captive tenderly.

When he slowly opened his eyes fully, she caught his gaze, a dreamy smile forming on his lips.

"Thought you'd see it my way," she said with a smirk, and then kissed him squarely on the lips. "Morning!"

"Morning, love," Luke said softly, not even thinking twice about the very uncharacteristic greeting he had just given her. Just because I haven't said it before doesn't mean it's not in my character… Maybe it's just a new characteristic she brings out in me… he defended, waiting for her to point out his discrepancy.

Lorelai's eyes widened with delight and she placed her left hand flat on Luke's chest incredulously, "What on earth inspired you to call me love?"

Luke's eyes left hers and fixated on a spot over her shoulder. He shrugged and said, "Just felt like it." It was all very nonchalant, but slowly a smile spread on his lips, "I guess it's a good day."

Luke then nodded in the direction he was looking, suggesting that Lorelai glance over. He spoke softly, "see that?" He placed his hand on her wrist to hold her in place.

Lorelai looked over her shoulder, and saw the sparkle that caught his eye. The way her hand was placed, her left hand on his chest, caught the sun perfectly; it caused the light to reflect off the diamond and onto the surfaces behind her.

"Ahh, yes," Lorelai said knowingly, turning back to face him, "It is a good day."

"Mm hmm," Luke mumbled in agreement. He squeezed her into him as tightly as possible, as Lorelai wrapped her arms securely around his back.

They remained silent while they held on for dear life—or what seemed like it by the way those two were holding on to each other. But after the moment of their relishing in silence, Lorelai broke the quiet (as she usually did), squeezing him one last time and asked, "Heyyy, Luke?"

Luke released her slightly so he could look her in the eyes, "Yup?"

"Don't you have to go down to the diner?"

"What? Are you trying to get rid of me?" he said, laughing slightly in disbelief. He was almost always the one who had to push her to go to work. Even if it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"No…" Lorelai said innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Caesar's got it this morning," Lorelai nodded in agreement before Luke added, "I'm glad I asked him yesterday."

She smiled in approval, "You're always so prepared."

Luke sighed and spoke in a deliberate tone, "Well… I've learned that it's always best to be prepared when Lorelai Gilmore's around."

"A regular boy scout, then?" she said cocking an eyebrow at him, daring him to continue.

So he did, "And you know… now, because of this thing," he said with a smirk, holding up her left hand, nodding at her ring finger, "I'm gonna need to be on my toes for a long time." He mocked annoyance, meaning it genuinely though; She's the only woman that could ever get me to stay on my toes, for the rest of my life… oh and she knows that, too, he thought happily in his head, not minding it in the slightest.

But when he saw Lorelai's continued glare, he knew he'd better add that out loud just to appease her, "You know I mean that in the forever sense, long time meaning forever. 'Cause this is a forever thing. So since you'll be around, and I'll be around, and we'll be around together forever… then the Boy Scout uh—preparedness will be a forever thing, too."

Luke watched her for a moment, then added, "Total dejá vu, huh?" referring to her sputtering monologue the night before to make up for a little slip of her own.

After another long moment, (for Luke anyways) Lorelai's face finally relaxed into a lazy grin, clearly satisfied with breaking him.

She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, good save Mr. Boy Scout," she said, patting his chest reassuringly.

Lorelai pushed off him slightly to roll out of bed. Actually, it was more of a trip than a roll. She steadied herself and gave him a smirk, before she sauntered across the room to the coffee table in front of the couch. She bent over at the waist as she searched in her pink calfskin Mark Jacobs purse for her pink rhinestone cell phone. She does like her pink, and her rhinestones… Luke commented inwardly as he watched her intently.

His eyes never left her as she moved around, shaking his head absentmindedly as he tried once more to fully grasp the idea that he was going to spend the rest of his life with the most amazing woman he had ever known.

It seemed crazy.

He had dreamed it a thousand times before they had even gotten together... way, way long ago.

At the time he liked his little growing infatuation of the woman he hardly knew. But that was long before things changed.

He can't remember exactly when it was (years ago, he knew that much); maybe after they had developed a friendship; when she had become a fixture in his life; possibly the day he realized his growing jealousy of every man Lorelai ever mentioned, even if it was just Kirk. But whatever the exact point, maybe there was no exact point, the change was when he stopped entertaining the possibility shown in the dreams, when he refused to admit it was more than a little infatuation, when he refused to allow any hope to fill his mind (to spare his dignity, of course).

Now, with proper experience and knowledge on this woman's heart, he was pretty damn sure that the slight change was the point when he had fallen in love with her.

Subconsciously, of course. And he kicked himself at that, still wishing he wasn't so damn stubborn.

And even as he heard her swear under her breath when she knocked over the tall glass that she had placed next to her purse the night before, (which luckily held only a few remaining drops of water) he couldn't believe what an amazing woman she had become. He was so incredibly proud of her and everything she had achieved on her own. He couldn't believe that she had raised such a beautiful and intelligent daughter, still with flaws, but perfect nonetheless. Well, of course he could believe it—she was Lorelai, after all, capable of anything.

And her clumsiness just added to the brilliance of it all.

Still, he couldn't believe how damn lucky he was that she had chosen him.

"Crap!" she said harshly, definitely not under her breath this time, shaking Luke from his thoughts. She now stood upright, her hand resting on her hip and a fat pout residing on her face as she stared at her open cell phone.

Luke propped himself on his elbows. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing," she said shaking her head. She spoke again, this time in rant mode, as she scrolled through the missed calls list, pressing the buttons a little too forcefully, "Its just—I have about 50 missed calls from the inn. Damn Michel! I told him I'd be in at 10:30 today and he's been calling me since 7:00, probably just trying to make sure I'd get up and get in on time…

"You know, I'm really reconsidering using Rory's idea of just firing him for like, a day, just to prove his own theory that being listed under the 'unemployed' category on Match dot com does get you less comments on your… um profile." Lorelai stumbled with her words when she saw the number that she had just scrolled across.

Oh yeah, like I'm really gonna call her back. Backstabbing WASP of a woman… she thought bitterly as she skipped over the three other calls from "Vicious Trollop Cell". She better have not left me a message. I should probably change that name, too. She definitely deserves a to be called something much, much worse than "trollop" right now.

But her bitterness, though, was quickly forgotten when she realized who's name she had said mentioned before Trollop's cell had popped up.

Lorelai had thought about Rory several times in the past two hours that she'd been up, and she was able to say her name last night when talking to Luke. But she hadn't mentioned her name in such a light-hearted manner, yet. She hadn't said her name as if nothing was wrong, as if things were, dare she think, normal with the girl. Lorelai certainly hadn't really thought of a Rory anecdote from happier times either. And now the pang she was feeling definitely hurt.

As much as Lorelai tried to hide it though, Luke sure noticed. Of course Luke noticed, she thought. He waited for her to look up at him, to catch his gaze, hoping it would reassure her. When she did, he asked softly, "Did she call you?"

"Oh… no, she didn't. It's not like I expected her to though," she said, shrugging it off as she closed her phone.

It wasn't just Rory that was causing the major pang she was feeling; it was Emily, too. But Lorelai didn't feel like being Debbie Downer by bringing up that Gilmore then. Especially since she was naked.

She walked towards Luke, smiling weakly in the process, and kneeled on the edge with one knee.

"Lorelai…" he said softly. Luke placed a hand on her hip and gently applied pressure, urging her to come closer to him.

"I'm fine, really," she said placing her other knee on the bed, and sitting on her heels next to him.

But Luke cocked an eyebrow at her. "I swear," Lorelai said defensively, holding out her pinking to him. He took it with his own pinky as if it was the most natural thing, and she shook it firmly.

"Mhmm," he murmured with a smirk, still not believing her. His tone turned soft once more when he tried to assure her, "you know she'll come around, Lorelai…"

Her sadness faded, thought slightly forced away for Luke's sake, and she smiled, almost confidently at him, "Yeah, I know. You're always right when it comes to these things."

"This is true," he said, slipping his hand into hers again.

Lorelai played with his fingers for a moment, God I love his hands… she thought as she examined them.

"So, about this whole work thing," she said glancing up to look at him, "Are you finally going to ditch with me?" Her smile was full of mischievousness.

Luke nodded, "Well we deserve it… I told you I would eventually, didn't I?"

"Yessss…" she squeezed his hand at this and then paused before continuing, "but you also said that very same thing every time I suggested we take the day off—"

Luke sighed. "Well maybe if you hadn't suggested that we ditch work every other day…" he said matter-of-factly.

She let out a shocked laugh. "Oh yeah, sure! Way to over exaggerate there, buddy!"

"I'm not. Already this week you've asked me twice. And it's Saturday! So basically—yes that is every other day," Luke said pointedly.

Lorelai couldn't argue with the facts, so she did what she always did when she was in this same situation… or when she was trying to convince him of something, or when she was trying to end a rant that had been going on for five minutes… basically Lorelai used any excuse to kiss Luke.

So she did, pushing him flat on his back as she leaned into him. She rolled off her heels and balanced herself on her knees, planting each hand next to his shoulders.

Luke let his arms hang loosely from her hips before he slowly moved them to cup her butt. When Lorelai felt this she smiled into the kiss, generously working his bottom lip in return. And just as Luke started to kiss her harder, the slip second before he was going to flip her over so he could get in control, Lorelai pulled back quickly and sat back on her heels again. She watched him with a sly grin, clearly amused.

"So then no work until later?" she asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, no work…" Luke said distractedly as his mind and hands focused solely on pulling her back to him.

But as soon as she had his word, she reached for her cell phone that sat half way off the bed. However, miscalculating the distance, she managed to grab the phone but fell off the bed and rolled sideways onto the floor.

"Argg, crap… ow, oh—I'm good!" she said as she held down the number two button, repositioning herself so her back was leaning against the bed. She grabbed for her favorite blue flannel of his, now dubbed her flannel, which was conveniently placed on the floor next to her.

Lorelai held the phone between her shoulder and ear as she buttoned up her shirt, waiting for someone to pick up. Luke swung his legs over the side of the bed that Lorelai had her back against and tugged playfully on one of her fuzzy ringlets, chuckling softly as he stood up.

But before he took a step further he saw out of the corner of his eye that Lorelai was holding up a pair of his boxers straight above her head for him to put on.

"Thanks," he said grabbing them. He slipped into them on as he walked the short distance to the kitchen. As comfortable as Lorelai was in front of him with the nakedness, Luke still blushed when he was completely exposed to her… especially when he was the only one fully naked.

Still waiting for anyone to answer, she told him, "I still don't see why you're so embarrassed. Honestly those arms and that ass could take on Brad Pitt's…"

Luke groaned at this, while Lorelai let out a laugh as she pictured the image in her mind, "Wow that would be a funny contest, you and Brad. A little gay but… you'd win hands down, mister. You've got flawless shape, the perfect tan color, which by the way I've been meaning to ask you about… Your ass is the perfection of—oh um, yes Michel, hi yes," Lorelai cleared her throat, "Hello," And he picks up right when I'm getting to the good part… Lorelai thought, but laughed anyways, it is a little funny…

Although it was muffled, Lorelai clearly heard her favorite "Ah… geez," come from inside the open refrigerator. She couldn't help but smile as she made up some ridiculous excuse for why she wouldn't be in until later that afternoon, much to Michel's protest. But when his accent got too thick for her understanding from his debilitating whining, Lorelai muttered a quick, "Mhm, okay, buh-bye," and swiftly flipped the phone shut.

She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, smirking as she glanced over at Luke who was still bent at the waist shuffling things around in the refrigerator, clad only in plaid boxers. She pushed herself off the ground, a cheeky grin appearing on her face, and made her way over to the bathroom. Before she walked in though, Lorelai paused in the doorframe and spun around on her heel to watch him.

Luke surprisingly had flour and eggs already beaten in a large bowl and was currently in the middle of cutting strawberries. Lorelai laughed quietly and leaned her head and shoulder against the doorframe when she saw one of her favorite things in the world: Luke's cooking face was on. One of her all time favorite looks. Luke's concentration of not slicing off a finger lead him to alternatively bite his lower lip and tongue the inside of his cheek. And Lorelai loved it.

"Hey hun? I'm gonna take a bath," she called out to him, leaning extremely seductively against the doorframe.

But Luke's concentration did not falter and he swiftly chopped up each strawberry into little thin slices. "Mhhm," he grunted in concurrence.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at his slight misunderstanding, but she still marveled at his concentration. She spoke loudly and more slowly, "Luke... I said I was going to take a bath."

"Yeah, sure go ahead," he said, stopping the knife in mid chop as he looked up.

She stared bewitchingly at him, with a gaze that could make any man weak at the knees. "Bath, me, now," she said slowly, dragging each word out, before she moved into the bathroom and leaned against the open door... still staring.

Luke swallowed and rolled his eyes at his own stupidity.

"Uh oh right, I'm coming," he stuttered helplessly as he placed the knife down and whipped his hands on a towel that sat next to the chopping board. He marched across the apartment determinedly, and straight into the bathroom. Lorelai stood where she was and held the door open for him. As he brushed past her she swatted his butt playfully.

"Oh yes, you will come," she said deeply, suppressing a laugh.

"Ah geez…"

Like I said, TBC.

And as always, the little reminders I get in my mailbox every single time one of you beautiful people decides to leave me a review (any kind of review!) just makes me write that much faster.