Disclaimer: all characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, et al.

In The Daylight

Luke thought about bringing Lorelai back to bed with him; of wrapping his arms around her and letting her tuck herself into him, allowing him to be strong for her for once. He wanted to stroke her back and run his fingers through her hair, lulling her into sleep and comfort.

But despite the fact that her breakdown and sleepless night was more about her daughter than her dog, he knew she wanted to stay here and keep an eye on Paul Anka. And so he sat with her, his arm still around her shoulders, his thumb stroking the back of her neck at her hairline as she drifted off to sleep. He only left her side for a moment, after he was sure she was sleeping, in order to get a chair for himself from the kitchen to remedy the pain in his knees that resulted from kneeling on the floor for so long.

While he was up, he quickly called Sookie and told her not to expect Lorelai until noon. Luke only released the minimum information to a concerned Sookie, just letting her know that Lorelai hadn't slept well the night before, and needed a few more hours to rest. Sookie told him to have Lorelai take the whole day off if she needed it.

Returning to Lorelai's side, Luke watched her for a moment from the chair next to her. Her face was still tense, indicating just how upset she was; being unable to even relax in her sleep. In response, he reached out and tentatively touched her face, not wanting to wake her, but wanting desperately to soothe her. At his gentle touch, she sighed but didn't wake. Luke continued lightly tracing the contours of her face in a rhythmic motion; her brow, her cheekbones, her chin, the corners of her mouth, watching her features relax in stages.

…………………

Lorelai awoke a while later. Paul Anka was still sleeping in the same position, and she could hear his squeaky, doggy snores.

The clock on the bedside table read 8:04, but because Lorelai usually avoided Rory's room, the clock had never been turned back an hour for the end of Daylight Savings Time. So she knew that she had been sleeping for about 45 minutes.

She felt better. Better than she had before Luke had come in and found her curled up in a chair, head resting on a tiny pillow, face contorted with the emotions she refused to let out. No tears, she had told herself.

That didn't last very long.

The tears did come, and she felt better now since she was able to open up to Luke like she had. She knew she had been cryptic about the whole thing, masking it as concern for Paul Anka (who she really was concerned for, don't get her wrong). But she'd never been so open to Luke in the broad daylight about her pain. Usually, when she opened up to him like that, it was in the dark, in their bed, where even though she knew he could hear the pain in her voice and feel the dampness of her tears against his neck as he held her, he couldn't see it on her face. She felt less vulnerable without him being able to see her pain.

She looked over at Luke then, and smiled. He was slumped over in one of her kitchen chairs next to her, and had fallen asleep; his cheek was pressed against her upper arm, his mouth had fallen open, and a soft, tiny snore escaped his mouth every few seconds. She ran her free hand through his hair.

No response.

She ran the back of her fingers down his cheek.

Still nothing.

She finally nudged him with her other arm and saw his eyes flutter open.

"Hey," she said with a smile. "You fell asleep on me."

…………………

The next thing Luke knew, he was awakened by a soft nudge in his chest and her quiet voice saying something that didn't register in his sleepy brain yet.

"You fell asleep on me," she said with a slight smile as he lifted his head from her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess I did," he said, smoothing a hand over her hair.

Lorelai held his gaze for a long moment then. "Thank you," she said softly, sincerely.

"For falling asleep on you?" he asked, brushing the stray hairs off her neck and smiling at her playfully.

The sparkle returned to her eyes and voice for just a second. "No. Well, yes, that too, but not just that. Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," he said, looking into her eyes as his fingers continued stroking her neck.

She sighed and then shifted in her chair. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I think Paul Anka is getting tired of me staring at him. You want to move this whole thing on over to our bed?"

"Best idea I've heard all day," he said, standing up and helping her up with him.

Lorelai wrapped an arm around one of Luke's as they headed out of the room, pausing for a moment to pat Paul Anka on the head. "Bark if you need me."

End.