Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with Warner Brothers or Dorothy Parker Drank Here or anyone else attached in any way with Gilmore Girls.

Chapter 8 – Making the Pieces Fit

Luke was staring at Lorelai's closed front door in disbelief. "Did she just say what I think she said?" he asked himself. "Did Lorelai just tell me that she's pregnant? That we're going to have a baby?"

He had no idea what to do. He couldn't just leave. They needed to talk. But she had gone in to the house and just left him standing out here.

That probably meant that she wasn't ready to talk or did it? Maybe she was waiting for him to knock on the door or did she really did want him to go away?

"This is crazy!" he told himself, "She can't tell me that she's pregnant and then just walk away! We have to talk." Luke raised his hand to knock and then just stopped.

Something inside told him to wait, that he should be patient because there was something more complex going on here. Maybe she was testing him to see what he would do. Maybe she needed to know that he wouldn't ever leave her no matter what she did. Maybe he needed to show her that he understood even if she didn't.

He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to give her a great big hug and kiss and tell her he loved her. He wanted her to know that he was happy about the baby and he wanted to know how she felt about it. He wanted to make sure that she was healthy because honestly she did look kind of pale and tired. And he wanted to know when their baby was due to be born.

Most of all, he wanted know if Lorelai still wanted him.

All of a sudden he felt kind of funny, not ha-ha funny, sort of weird funny. He figured that he had better sit down. Moving to the top step of the porch, Luke dropped down and leaned against the railing. . He just closed his eyes and sat there thinking and waiting and hoping he was doing the right thing.

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Rory had heard her mother (she hoped) come in through the front door and head upstairs. That had startled her. She hadn't been aware that Lorelai had gone out.

She thought that Lorelai was tucked into bed sound asleep for the night until she heard the front door close. Lorelai had looked really exhausted when they were watching TV and when she went upstairs to go to bed Rory figured that she'd be out for the next 10 to 12 hours.

So why'd she go out and where did she go?

Rory headed upstairs and opened the doors to the bedroom as she called out, "Mom?"

The room was dark with only the light from the street to illuminate it. Lorelai was setting sideways on the love seat in a sort of lotus position, holding a pillow and just staring outside. "Hey babe" she responded in a distracted tone.

"Mom, did you just come in from outside? Because I heard the front door close and someone came upstairs. If it wasn't you, then Kirk might be prowling around our house naked again and I so don't want a repeat of that show!"

"I'm sorry, it was me. I went to see Luke." She replied absent-mindedly.

"Oh," Rory stated with a bit apprehension in her voice, "so how'd it go?"

Lorelai continued to stare out of the window as she replied, "It was good. We talked some and, I don't know, it was Luke. We both realize that we made mistakes and there are things we still need to talk about and work on but it was a good start. We'll see."

"So you still haven't told him about the baby?"

"Yes, I told him." Lorelai said calmly. She had begun rocking back and forth.

"Well, how'd he take it? Was he happy or shocked or what?"

"I don't know." Lorelai responded in mundane voice.

"What do you mean you don't know? You couldn't read his reaction or he had no reaction? What?"

"I don't know." Lorelai repeated in a robotic tone still rocking back and forth.

"That doesn't make any sense I mean he had to say or do something. Did he faint or run away or jump up and down or cry. Mom, give me something to work with here,"

With a voice that sounded almost lifeless, Lorelai replied, "I didn't stay to see it."

"Huh?"

"I told him that I was pregnant and then I left." Lorelai's voice was now sounding eerily monotone and surreal. The pace of her rocking had been accelerated...

"You ran away?"

Sounding a little less monotone but now with a tinge of irritation, Lorelai explained, "Not exactly, I just came in the house."

"What? Mom, why would you do that? You can't just tell him your pregnant and walk away. He probably wanted to talk to you. You two need to talk about the baby! "

"I know." Lorelai responded in a decidedly more agitated voice.

"Mom, just leaving him was mean. You can't do that."

"I know. I know!" Lorelai's voice was now burgeoning on hysterical as the rhythm of the rocking reached a near frenzy pace.

Rory knelt down in front of Lorelai and pleaded, "Mom calm down!" Rory grabbed her mother at the shoulders and forced her to stop rocking as she said, "Please tell me what's going on!"

With tears spilling down her checks, Lorelai mutter, "I don't know why I did that."

"Mom, you have to talk to Luke. He's probably wigging out in his apartment right now. It's not fair. Call him up and ask him to come over NOW!"

"I don't think I have to."

"What? Why?"

"Because I think he's still out on our front porch."

"What?"

"I told him I was pregnant, walked in the house, and shut the door. I didn't hear him leave. I came up here immediately to watch out of the window and I haven't seen him walking away. He might have left during the time that I walking from the front door to here but I don't think so. Of course he can walk really fast, so I might have missed him. He has a pretty long stride."

Rory looked at her mother sternly and said, "You go outside right now and talk with him." Then Rory grabbed Lorelai's bunny slippers and put them on her feet before she pulled her mother up.

Lorelai was passively resisting but Rory was determined. She pushed Lorelai out of the bedroom and down the hall to the top of steps. When Lorelai hesitated to start down the stairs, Rory gave her the patented Gilmore "Do as I say' look and Lorelai cautiously began to descend.

Lorelai resisted one more time right in front of the door, but Rory was standing in the archway still with the Gilmore look on her face and Lorelai relented. She reached out and released the deadbolt before she turned the knob and opened the door.

Luke had been sitting on the deck thinking since Lorelai had dropped the news of the pregnancy. At first her actions made absolutely no sense but then he began to really analyze the situation. Slowly he began to understand what may have motivated her behavior. At least he thought he understood. He wouldn't really know for sure until he had a chance to talk with Lorelai.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the release of the deadbolt. He rose and turned towards the door and watched as it opened. Lorelai reluctantly emerged onto the porch.

She stood meekly in front of the door, with her arms wrapped protectively around her, staring at those stupid bunny slippers on her feet. She didn't say a word.

Slowly Luke walked over until he stood immediately in front of her. He took his index finger and placed it under her chin and lifted her head up until her eyes looked directly into his.

Her lower lip began to tremble as more tears spilled out of her eyes. He pulled her in close to him and wrapped his arms protectively around her.

"It's okay. It's okay." He crooned to her softly.

"I'm so sorry." Lorelai mumbled into his shoulder.

"Shhh, I said that it's okay."

Luke could feel Lorelai trembling with emotion. He needed to get her inside and calmed down. He picked her up and carried her into the house. As he placed her on the sofa, he asked Rory to put the kettle on to boil some water for tea.

He sat next to Lorelai and wrapped his arm around her pulling her to his chest and cradling her head. Slowly, she seemed to relax. Rory was back from the kitchen and now was standing next to the stairs waiting.

Soon the tea kettle began to whistle. Luke looked at Rory and motioned for her to take care of Lorelai while he went into the kitchen to fix the tea.

Once in the kitchen, Luke made three cups of tea, adding milk and honey to one of the cups. Then he carried all three cups into the living room. He handed one cup to Rory, put one of the cups down on the table, and handed the third cup with the milk and honey to Lorelai while saying, "Drink this."

Lorelai obediently began sipping from her cup.

Rory pointedly yawned and then stated that she was going to head into her room. The sounds of Rory's stereo could be heard through her closed bedroom door after she entered. The music wasn't too loud, just loud enough to mask any outside sounds from entering her room.

Lorelai had been quietly sipping her tea when she suddenly said, "this tastes good, a little sweet but good.'

Luke quietly responded, "I put honey in your tea. Your blood sugar seemed to be a little low."

"Oh."

Lorelai's mind was racing. There were all of these incomplete ideas swirling around but she couldn't seem to grab a hold of any fully coherent thought. She needed to say something, but she didn't know what.

Suddenly she just blurted out, "I'm sorry that I was such a bitch to you."

"You weren't a bitch."

"I just walked away."

"Yes, you did."

With a bewildered look on her face, Lorelai confessed, "I don't have any idea why I did that. That was really mean of me to just blurt it out and then leave you hanging. That wasn't the way I planned to tell you."

"Oh?"

"No, I planned to tell you in the diner but things got all jumbled up in my head. And then you started talking and you were so nice and sweet and it just didn't seem like the right time."

"I don't know what happened to me. I mean one minute we're saying goodnight and everything is good and then all of a sudden this evil spirit overtakes me and I just blurt out I'm pregnant and leave you blindsided. It was cruel and mean of me. I just don't understand what made me do that."

Luke raised his eyebrows in an insightful manner and said "I think I may know what's going on."

Lorelai turned and looked at him inquiringly but said nothing.

Luke cleared his throat and began to fidget. "I think for a while but especially over this last month you have been stressed. I know I have. And I think maybe your emotions are, uh, kind of on edge. Combine that with raging pregnancy hormones and you have a kind of volatile mix."

Luke then turned and looked deeply into Lorelai's eyes, "Plus I think that you're still angry at me."

Lorelai's eyes widen in shock and she sat up straighter and stiffer.

"I think that maybe secretly you wanted me to feel a little like you felt when you found out about April. Just get a little taste of how it felt to be totally blindsided and then to be left alone to deal with it. After you found out about April we never really talked about how it affected you. We only talked or rather I only talked about what it meant to me. I wasn't thinking about how you felt."

Lorelai guiltily looked away as she realized that there was probably more than a half of grain of truth in what he said.

"Look Lorelai, you have to deal with these feelings, WE have deal with them. You need to accept them and ah, what's the term, validate them before you can get passed them. I get that. I want to help. And if you need to rant and rave and yell at me, then do it. I deserve it"

"You need to believe that I am not going anywhere. That there is nothing that you or anyone else can say or do that will make me leave you again. You need to trust that I am with you 100 percent."

Lorelai felt that she should say something or do something but nothing came to her mind. So she just sat there staring off into space.

Luke really wanted to talk more. He wanted to talk about the baby and talk about them. He wanted to start planning their future right now but Lorelai wasn't ready. He knew that she needed time. Time to process and time to trust.

He also knew that she needed to rest. Nothing was going to get accomplished until she was able to get some sleep.

"Lorelai, look we have a lot to talk about and figure out but now isn't the time to get into it. You need to rest, you and the baby."

Luke got up and pulled Lorelai to her feet. "So," he continued, "you and my kid are going to go to sleep but I expect to see you tomorrow for breakfast. We will talk more when you're ready."

Putting his arm around her, Luke led Lorelai to the foot of the stairs. He gently kissed her on the top of her head and said, "Sweet dreams." He then turned and started to leave.

Lorelai dragged him back, put her arms around his neck, and pulled him to her for a proper kiss. He complied by wrapping his arms around her before he placed his lips on hers.

Luke was cautious not to let this kiss become to intense. At this point, even her crazy bunny slippers were a turn on for him but he was determined that she was going to get some sleep.

As he began to pull back from the kiss, she whispered in his ear, "Please stay with me tonight."

Luke looked into her face and knew he couldn't refuse her. But, he was just staying with her to give her comfort nothing more. With his arm around her, he escorted her up the stairs.

Luke held her close as she cuddled next to him. This all felt so familiar yet oddly unfamiliar. They're together but not exactly.

She doesn't trust him and he knew it. Luke had betrayed her confidence. When they should have pulled together as a couple to deal with the appearance of April in his life, he had pulled away. Though he knew that he would never allow that to happen again, their relationship would never be right until she believed that.

He had to rebuild the trust between them if there were to be any hope for a future together. That meant he would have to be cautious of his actions and sensitive to her needs, especially now because of the baby.

Right now she was letting him partially in her life and he was grateful for that. If she needed him to hold and comfort her all night, then that's what he would do. No matter how many lustful primal urges he had to deny, he would just hold and comfort her.

Soon the rhythmic sound of her breathing told him that she had fallen asleep.

He was having a little more difficulty. It was just that she looked so damn sexy in her silly "Yummy Sushi" pajamas snuggling up to him with her hair sprayed across his chest. It had been just slightly over a month since they had been intimate and his body was currently in conflict with the decisions of his mind. It wasn't so easy to just fall asleep with the beautiful, sexy love of his life was using him as a pillow.

But he had eventually fallen to sleep. He knew this because sometime in the middle of the night Lorelai's cries and flaying arms had awoken him.

Lorelai appeared to be in the grip of some horrible night terror. She was thrashing around with her arms pushing and scratching at him as she cried for help.

Luke grabbed her and held her tightly as he attempted to restrain her panic while he spoke soothingly to her, "Lorelai, Lorelai it's okay. I'm here. Baby wake up."

Lorelai began to emerge from the dark realms of her dream to the sound of Luke's reassuring voice. Her body was still reverberating from her nightmare and it left her crying and shaking. Luke was kissing and caressing her body tenderly in an attempt to soothe away her fears.

Slowly the visions and fears from the nightmare began to fade and more pleasant feelings spread through her body. Luke's tender kisses and gentle touches were definitely pushing the dream from her mind.

Then as though there were some prearranged agreement, they both looked into each others eyes and their lips met. This kiss was sweet and tender. Luke was determined to be her comforter and nothing more but Lorelai had a different plan.

Lorelai opened her mouth just enough to allow her tongue to begin sensually teasing his lips. That was more than Luke could resist. He immediately released his tongue to probe deep into her mouth and suddenly their tongues were dueling passionately.

His hands slipped quickly under her top to roam freely over her bare flesh. Her hands were having trouble pushing up his tee shirt so that they could roam over his body. Frustrated, Lorelai pulled him up and tried to yank his shirt off of him. Luke relented and pulled it quickly over his head.

Lorelai began to trace designs (or possibly words) with her tongue across his chest. The sensations were driving him crazy.

His hands that had been roaming across her back now were playing with the buttons on her night shirt. He wanted to unbutton and remove her shirt but he was still hesitant. He didn't want to just have sex but he wanted to make love to her. The problem was that he still wasn't sure that she was really ready for that level of intimacy with him again.

Lorelai decided that he was just being to slow, so she took matters into her own hands and deftly pulled the shirt over her head, buttons and all.

That was it for Luke, all his resistance disintegrated. His mouth began to worship her body. First he focused on her neck and collarbone, slow working his way down her chest. Finally he lowered his mouth on her breasts to both tease and tantalized each individually. Lorelai moaned in pleasure as he sucked and caressed each nipple.

Soon they had stripped off all of their clothes and were taking time to sensually explore each others naked body. Luke took special care to caress Lorelai's mid-section with long slow kisses.

At one point she giggled slightly when she heard him whispered softly to her belly, "Hey baby, it's Daddy, you alright in there?"

Their love making wasn't rushed or hurried. They took time to pleasure each other. The time and effort that both had invested and enjoyed in foreplay had pushed each near the edge of climax.

The build up of sexual tension was at its height when he finally entered her. He started slow and deliberate but Lorelai was too wound up wait. Wrapping her legs high over his shouldersto encourage him to probe deeper she begged him to go fasters and harder.

Her wish was his command.

Soon the frenzied pace of their thrusts had reached a feverish pitch as did their need for even more contact. Their hands roamed freely over each other caressing and stimulation. Their mouths moved over ears, necks, and shoulders, licking and sucking until finally reconnecting their lips with deep and lustful kisses. Both of their minds were filled with the pleasure of tactile stimulation.

Luke sensed that she was nearing her peak. He moved his hand down between her legs to touch her sensually and help send her over the edge. Suddenly he felt her muscles contract as her back arched and a low guttural moan escaped from her throat.

With that he let loose his own release and felt himself falling into that world of ultimate sensual pleasure as he held tightly to Lorelai.

Their breathing had returned to a conventional rate and both hearts were back to a normal rhythm. Lorelai was cuddling under Luke's arm, quietly enjoying a feeling of true happiness. Luke, too, was feeling happy and relax, and very sleepy.

Just as he was about to drift off, Lorelai whispered, "Wow!"

Luke thoroughly agreed and responded, "Definitely wow!" He turned his head and kissed her head affectionately.

"You should patent that, mister. You discovered a sure fire way of chasing away those night demons."

Luke chuckled as he turned on his side and rested his head on his arm. He looked deeply into her eyes as he asked, "You want to talk about your nightmare?"

Lorelai sighed and said, "It was really nothing. All I remember is you were waiting for me someplace and I couldn't get there. All this stuff kept getting in my way. It was silly really. I don't know why it scared me so much. Sorry."

Whether she really didn't remember or just didn't want to tell him, he knew that there was more to the dream. But she had told him enough. "Stuff" had come between them and it was still keeping them apart. She was terrified that they would never be able to get pass all of that "stuff".

Luke was more determined than ever to get them past all of their stuff.

(Tbc)