"Luke?" she says entering the house after talking to the police, and seeing Jason be hauled off in handcuffs.

She spots him as she gets further into the house, sitting up on the couch, with his head back and his eyes closed. He was obviously exhausted from the activities this morning, so she sits carefully beside him, laying her hand on his thigh.

"Luke?" she whispers.

"huh? yeah?" he says coming out of it, and letting her face come into focus. "What happened, are they taking him in?"

"Yeah, I pressed charges for him coming here and basically trying to break in and also talked to them about what happened last night, which solidly put him in the big house at least until his father can come up with bail."

"That's good…are you okay?"

"Yes, and Luke, thank you for coming so quickly… I was so scared that he was going to try something else, and I didn't know what I could do, so I called you."

"Just as I told you to Lorelai, so don't worry about it."

They sit there for a while close on the couch, her hand still on his thigh from waking him. They were comfortable in their silence, but both appeared to be deep in thought.

"You would fight for me?"

"What, who? Jason? Yeah, I probably would have if the opportunity came up, but I thought that him in jail would be better than me in jail, so I backed down on that thought."

"No, that's not what I meant Luke…you said that if you had been Max, you would have fought for me?"

"Well, yeah, I would"

"Why?"

As she turns up to meet his glance, all color seems to drain out of his face, not in a way suggesting that he was sick, but telling her that he didn't exactly know how to get the next words out of his mouth.

Should we be having this conversation? I don't think that I can talk to her about stuff like this…I was supposed to instigate this, and it was supposed to be romantic, and we were supposed to have had a date before we got into the serious talks. There was never the time though, between Nicole and Jason, and that Alex guy… shoot, you could probably go all the way back to that idiot Max guy with this too. And now she's looking at me, and sitting there as beautiful as she can be, and some guy has hurt her again, and she wonders why I would fight for her?

"Lorelai, why not?"

"No, seriously Luke, why, there has to be a reason for you to say that…hell, for you to say all those-"

"Yes, there's a reason!" he says starting to raise his voice. "Lorelai, I have watched guy after guy, no offense… hurt you. I couldn't take it, and I stood idly by, letting you tell me story after story about how these people broke your heart, and how you wanted the whole package. Each time, I thought to myself that I could have done better for you than this parade of idiots…Rory is a great kid, and I can't stand that she didn't have her father around, and if she was my kid, you couldn't have kept me away if you tried. I understand that you ran from Max, but if he loved you enough, he would have come after you, and if he knew you enough, he would have realized that you were just scared and running out of reflex, like you always do.."

"Luke…"

"No, let me finish. This Jason guy too, when I think about what could have happened here, and what he could have done, it scares the crap out of me, because the thought of losing you scares the crap out of me. I know that we aren't the closest two people in the world, but I consider you to be one of my closest friends in this stupid town or anywhere for that matter, and I'm sick of you not getting what you deserve, which is someone who knows you, loves you for who you are, listens to your rants, lends you a shoulder when you need it, helps you raise your daughter, doesn't leave you-"

"You."

"Supports everything that you do, accepts…what did you say?"

"It's you…all these years everyone has said that you had a thing for me, and I brushed it off. They all thought the world was going to end because I had to tell you that I was marrying Max, and they all used me to get to you for anything. I started thinking in the back of my head it was true that you had a thing for me all these years, and Luke, is it true?"

"No…I haven't had a thing for you all these years…"

"oh" she says, blushing and looking everywhere but his face…embarrassed at her insinuation.

"Lorelai? " he questions, grabbing her chin so he can see her face. "I haven't had a things for you all these years, no, but I can say that…" he blows air out of his mouth, and takes a deep breath, "that I've loved you all of these years"

She smiles, and leans forward so their lips meet.

Oh, he's good. Declaration of love and then a great kiss, what more can a girl ask for? Oh my God, this is great…it's like we've done this for years. He's perfect, and this is big, and this is going to be a good thing.

If someone had given me a guarantee that when I told Lorelai Gilmore that I loved her, that she would kiss me like this, I would have done it years ago. She's perfect, and this is going to be a great thing, I think this could be a forever thing, but I'll keep that to myself.

The newfound couple is completely unaware of their surroundings, focusing on each other, and exploring this new side of their relationship. Sitting side by side on the couch has turned into his body pressing hers into the cushions below as they continue to relish in each other's kisses.

"Mom!" Rory screams as she runs through the open door into the house, "Where are-" she stops, as she sees Luke frantically scrambling off of her mother.

Luke's face becomes instantly crimson as he turns away from Rory, and Lorelai quickly sits up to face her daughter.

"Umm…hi…let's go chat" she says, getting off the couch and dragging Rory into the kitchen.

"How long has this been going on!" Rory says with an excited voice.

"How long have we been horizontal on the couch, or how long for the whole me and Luke thing?"

"The not Dirty one…"

"Well then, about two seconds before the dirty."

"What happened?"

"Well, Jason came by this morning, and I woke up because I heard a car door, and I went to the window to check, because I thought it was you, but it wasn't you, and it was Jason's car, so I called Luke, and he came over and he called the cops, and now Jason is in jail, and wait…why are you here?" she says, suddenly realizing that it is the middle of the week and her daughter is away from school.

"Lane called me and said that Luke screamed at her to have the cops come over here and went running out of the diner, so I panicked and came as fast as I could."

"Oh hon, you didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did!" she says.

Luke walks into the kitchen a few seconds later, scratching his head, and still refusing to look Rory in the eye. "uh… I think I'm gonna head out. I left Lane at the diner by herself, and she's probably freaking out, so I'll uh.. talk to you later." he says, and then turns to walk out of the kitchen.

"Luke?" Lorelai says, getting up and walking him to the door.

"What is it?"

She leans in and gives him another quick kiss.

"We're going to try this, okay?"

"We are?"

"Yeah, and you know why?"

"No, why?"

"Because all those years, I really did want to believe them" she says with a giggle, and pulls him into an embrace.

Rory watches her mother and Luke from the hall, peeking around the corner. I knew it was going to happen eventually. He really is perfect for her, and he is always the one who has been there for us the most. She hears another giggle, and watches as he pulls her in for another kiss. And she's happy, so I'm good.

Again... how should this go people? Please R&R... I've been loving all the feedback... sorry it took so long for the update too... I've been moving back home!