"Lorelai." Luke whispered in her ear. "Lorelai, wake up. I made you some soup."

Luke gently stroked her curly hair without thinking.

Why did I just do that? He thought. Wow. It's so soft. Stop it! You're doing it again! She's just your friend. Nothing more.

Lorelai felt a hand stroking her hair and the calling of her name. She began to stir.

Hmmmm... That feels good. Lorelai thought as the hand stroked her hair. Wait. Luke's here. Luke's storking my hair! I've never seen, or rather felt, this side of him before. Oh, my head! It hurts. Major headache.

Lorelai opened her eyes and looked at Luke. She saw a tray with soup, crackers, and what looked like a glass of ginger ale. She began to sit up, but her whole body ached.

Luke noticed she was having trouble sitting up.

"Hold on." he told her.

He grabbed the pillow on the opposite side of the couch and then helped lift her. He placed the pillow behind her back against the other pillow and propped her up.

"That better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

She was still very weak and could barely speak above a whisper.

"No problem. I made you some chicken noodle soup. I also brought some crackers and ginger ale to help ease your stomach." he sat the tray down in front of her and handed her a spoon. "And eat the carrots this time."

Normally she would have argued. She despised vegetables. But her head hurt to much and she was too tired to argue. She simply nodded her head and began to eat.

Her hand was shaky and it was hard to eat without spilling soup everywhere. She got fed up and put the spoon down. Instead she picked up some crackers and ate those. When she was done, she reached for the glass of ginger ale. She picked it up, but her shaking hands wouldn't allow her to hold it. She dropped the glass and the light, amber-like colored liquid spilt all over her.

"Ugh! I can't do anything!" she said, frustrated.

"Here." Luke said, handing her a rag. She tried to dry her self, but it was all over her.

"Would you like me to get you another set of pajamas?" he asked. She nodded.

"Where do you keep them?" he asked.

"In my bottom dresser drawer." she told him, her voice raspy. Her throat was burning.

Luke got up and headed upstairs. He walked over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. She had various assortments of pajamas. He grabbed the first pair he saw. They were blue Nick and Nora pj's with little snowmen with black top hats, pipes, and red scarves. He walked out of the room and back downstairs, pj's in hand.

"These ok?" he asked.

"Yeah. Those are actually my favorite Christmas pj's." she smiled.

He handed them to her and she got up, with difficulty. Her body was still shaking uncontrollably. She took one step and fell. Luke caught her just in time.

"Uh, I don't think your body wants you to walk just yet." he said, sitting her back on the couch.

She was angry that she couldn't do anything herself, but she liked having Luke help her. Constantly touching her.

No! Don't think like that! You do NOT have feelings for Luke. She yelled at herself mentally.

"Umm, I can just put them on here." she said blushing.

"Oh, ok. I'll just turn around." Luke did as he said. He was embarrassed, but he didn't know why. He wasn't the one changing in front of her.

Lorelai tried to pull her t-shirt off, put her hands were numb. She had absolutely no feeling in them what so ever. The last time she ever felt like this was when she was seven and had this exact same junk.

"Aghh! Damn flu!" she whisper-yelled.

"Are you ok?" Luke asked, still facing the opposite wall.

"No! My hands are completely numb, and I can't lift my shirt!" she felt a little embarrassed saying this. "I need to change! These pajamas are all sticky."

"Um, I could, uh, help you." Luke offered, now very embarrassed. "I won't look!" he assured her.

Woah! Did he just say what I think he said?

"Uh, ok. Yeah, sure. But, uh, Luke? In order for you to, um, help me, you'll, um, have to look." Lorelai could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

He's just my friend. Nothing more. So what if he see's me? It's not like I'll be completely naked or anything. Like I said, he's just my friend. It's not like I have feelings for him. Right? she thought inside her head.

"Well, I'll just uh, try not to." he siad uncomfortably.

That didn't sound too right. In the words of Lorelai: Dirty! he thought.

He turned around, not really knowing what to do next. He reached out and pulled her shirt up a little. He was extremely nervous.

Lorelai's heart was pounding inside her chest. Surely he could hear it. I bet all of Connecticut could hear it!

Luke pulled the shirt over her head and picked up the other top. He couldn't help but glance at her. She was wearing a black lace bra and her skin looked so smooth. She had a cute, little flat stomache. He wanted so desperately to touch her.

No you don't! Just a friend Luke! A friend who happens to be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. No! I mean yes. She's pretty. Gorgeous, actually, but still only a friend!

I can't believe this is happening. Never in a million years had I thought the day would come when Luke Danes would be undressing me. But it's nothing dirty. He's only helping. But I wish he weren't onky helping me. No! No, no, no,no, no! Stop it Lorelai!

This is awkward! they both thought. But inside, they were both deeply enjoying this.

Luke slipped her arms through the top. The softness of her skin and undressing/dressing her was pure ecstacy! He begun buttoning the top, accidentally brushing his hand over her stomach as he buttoned the last few buttons .

Lorelai felt his hand brush against her stomache and couldn't help her body from shuddering and breathing in sharply. The contact of his skin on her was exhilarating and intoxicating.

Luke felt her shudder and heard her sharp intake of breath. If only it were becuase she had feelings for him. If she'd had feelings for him, he'd love to know he could make her do that by just a simple, innocent touch. Who was he kidding. He had feelings for her. He had all along.

For eight years he'd loved her. He never thought she'd feel the same, so he would convince himself that what he felt was nothing. But he couldn't deny it anymore.

Once he was done with the top, he pulled at the leg of her bottoms. Once he had taken them off, he caught a glimps of her as he turned to get the other pair of bottoms. She was wearing black, lacy underwear, identical to her bra. Her legs were smooth and gorgeous. He begun to slip her snowman bottoms on.

Lorelai's stomache was full of butterflies. And she knew it wasn't because of a queasy stomache.

That has never happened! I've been touched by other guys before. Never once have I reacted like that. So why did I react liek that with Luke?

She knew exactly why. But she didn't want to acknowledge it, because then there was no denying it. It was killing every moment she had to keep it a secret. No one knew. Not even Rory.

But the feeling was arousing. No, stop thinking like that. It's wrong. But it's true. I can't deny this any longer. But I can't handle this. There's no way he feels-

"There you go." Luke said. Breaking her train of thoughts.

"Thanks." she whispered and turned her head.

"So, um, I had Rory buy you some Pepto Bismol. So, I'm going to go get that." Luke walked to the kitchen and grabbed a spoon and a the pink bottle. He walked back over to Lorelai and poured some into the spoon.

"Here." he said. She opened her mouth and he put the spoon in her mouth. She felt the nasty taste of the pink liquid ooze down her throat.

"Yuck! I hate that stuff!" she said, making a face.

Luke laughed.

Outside, night was falling fast. Lorelai looked out the window and saw that it was snowing. She smiled and then lay back down against the pillows and pulled the blankets over her.

"You don't have to stay Luke." she told him.

"Yes I do. You can't even walk. You can barely sit up. I've taken the whole week off, anyway. Ceaser and Lane can handle the Diner." he said. He was ready to put up a fight. He refused to leave her. She was really sick.

Lorelai smiled at him. She greatly appreciated this gesture.

"Ok. You can sleep in Rory's room if you want."

"No. It's ok. I can sleep in the recliner."

"Ok. There's some blankets in the closet."

Luke got up, went over to the closet, and pulled out some blankets. He made a comfortable little bed in the recliner and lay in it.

"Are you ok? Do you need me to get you anything?" he looked at her, clearly concerned. She was pale, and her voice was quiet and raspy when she talked.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Silence.

"Oh! Hold on. You have one more thing to take." Luke blurted, getting up and walking into the kitchen, and walking back into the living room with two pills and a glass of water in his hand.

"Noooo! Please, Luke! I don't want to take anymore medicine." she whined.

Luke looked at her seriously and asked "Lorelai, do want to stay sick forever?"

I hate being sick, but if it means getting all this attention from Luke and being able to see this sweeter, less grumpy side of him, then I want to be sick more often. He's never been so concerned about me before. I like this.

But instead of speaking her thoughts aloud, she simply said "No."

"Ok, then. Here you go."

She put one pill into her mouth and Luke pressed the glass of water to her lips and she drank. They repeated this once more and then Luke sat the glass down on the table, and lay back down in the recliner.

"Goodnight Luke." Lorelai whispered as she closed her eyes and drifted into her dreams.

Luke smiled at her.

"Goodnight Lorelai." he whispered back.

He wasn't tired. So instead of going to sleep, he watched Lorelai sleep for a while. He watched as her chest moved up and down to the rhythm of her breathing.

She looks so peaceful when she sleeps. God I love this woman! If only she felt the same way. She's smiling. I wonder what she's dreaming. Wish it were about me.

Luke laughed at that last thought. Little did he know, she was dreaming about him.