"Lorelai?"
"I'm in the living room, Luke."
He walks into the living room sporting a paper bag from the dinner and sits down next to her on the couch, looking around for Richard's presence.
"Did your dad leave?"
"Yeah, he did" she says smiling.
"Are you guys okay? What happened?"
"We just talked… like we REALLY talked. I think that was the first time that I was having a conversation with my father where my smile was genuine and not forced."
"Well, I guess that's a good thing then…see a good thing came out of this whole situation."
"Well, now I wouldn't say that…" she pauses, looking at him setting out their food for the evening.
"Then what would you say?"
"I would say that two good things came out of this… situation."
He looks up at her and a blush creeps up his face. It's then that he chooses to wrap his arms around her for the second time that night. "I would have to agree with you on that one…definitely."
She pulls back from the embrace, looking up at him smiling.
"So, my dad said that he is going to take care of everything, and hopefully I won't have to make an appearance."
"That's good, I'm glad that he could help you out." he says, breaking out of his dreamy state, and back into the real world.
A few minutes later, their food finished, the two sit side by side on the couch, enjoying a comfortable silence in each other's company.
"Luke…"
"Yeah?"
"What are we doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean this…" she attempts to gesture in her tired state. "What do we want from this?"
"Do you really want an answer from me, or is your inner monologue making another appearance?"
"I don't know, I think that I do."
"I want everything…"
"Oh." she says, shocked, but still at ease by his admission.
"yeah, well, I've had the time to think"
"Man, all those years, wasted."
"I agree."
"Luke?"
"What?"
"I want to take this slow…okay…make it different…"
"That's fine by me."
"Okay…" she says, her eyelids fading by the minute. "Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Sleep?"
"Uh huh"
And with that, she curls up against him, as they fall into a comfortable slumber.
THE NEXT MORNING
Sookie shut the door to the minivan and started to make her way up the porch in the mid-morning sun. Man, do I suck as a best friend. She was going through all of this stuff, and I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. I know that she said that she was okay, but come on… she can't be that okay. That guy was such a jerk. I hope that she's okay. She's probably still sleeping. As she got to the front door, she took out the extra key that Lorelai had given her for emergencies and used it to let herself inside. Her arms were loaded down with bags to aid her in making a feel better breakfast for her friend. She slowly made her way through the living room and into the kitchen, oblivious to the world as she put her bags down on the table. I should probably go upstairs and see if she's still sleeping. I'm sure she is though, cause these past few days sure have been eventful. She makes her way up to Lorelai's empty bedroom, and furrows her brow, with a questioning look around the room. Well where is she? Ah, Rory's room! She always crawls in with her when she's upset.
As she makes her way down the stairs, she jumps at the sight in front of her. A very comfortable Luke Danes has his arms around a very content-looking Lorelai Gilmore. Oh my God. Oh my God. OH man. Oh man. OH. Wow. Oh! Oh man! That's Luke. That's Lorelai. That's Luke and Lorelai, and their sleeping…together…in each other's arms. She steps down from the stairs and makes her way closer to the sleeping pair. Look at them…perfect. What the hell took them so long?
Shaking her head and silently clapping her hands together, in true Sookie fashion, she goes back into the kitchen, retrieves her bags and heads back outside to her van.
Hearing the car start outside, a sleepy Lorelai opens her eyes to the bright morning sun shining into her living room. Feeling the heavy weight of a very masculine arm around her waist, she smiles, scooting even closer into his embrace.
"You're awake?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that I'm awake… conscious yes, but awake might be a stretch."
He leans his head down to kiss the hair at the top of her head, squeezing her closer in the process.
"This is nice…"
"Yeah, it really is."
"We should get up you know."
"Yeah, I know. People to see, things to do, planets to save… it's a normal day."
He chuckles at that, "Man, I don't know how I'm going to be able to deal with you on a daily basis."
"Luke, you already do deal with me on a daily basis."
"huh, I guess you're right…"
"Only this time, while you're dealing with my incessant need for coffee and my weird menu doodling habits, you're also dealing with the hour and a half to get ready for a date and hogging the covers."
"Well I hope I get some fun out of this relationship too."
"Dirty!"
"What! Oh, yeah, I guess that deserved a dirty…"
"Come on, let's go get some breakfast."
"At the diner?"
"Where else?"
"I don't know…I don't think that I'm ready to face the prying eyes of Stars Hallow yet."
"Oh…well, then I guess that I'll have to bring Luke's to you then." He says, sitting up and clapping hi hands together.
"No, Luke, you don't have to. I think I'll just call Sookie, and see if she'll come over. I think that she and I are in need of a regroup after the events of the past few days. Knowing Babette, the whole town knows the story, and Sookie is probably freaking out that she hasn't been here for me or something like that."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Maybe I'll come by later tonight though, or I'll call you and you can come hang out here?"
"That sounds good." He says, leaning down to kiss her on the couch. Putting his shoes on, he gives her another kiss good bye and is off to the diner for a long days work.
"Hey doll!" Babette yells from her porch on the other side of the yard.
"Oh, uh hey Babette!"
"Didn't see or hear your truck leave last night Luke, you stay the night?"
"Well, uh…" he says, getting thirteen different shades of red while trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't be construed as dirty. "Lorelai's still a bit spooked about staying in the house by herself, so I slept on the couch just to make her feel better." See, I don't even have to lie about it. I did sleep on the couch. The added bonus of doing so meant that I had a gorgeous woman curled up with me on said couch. He smiles at the thought.
Babette's face fell, not satisfied with the could-be gossip. "Oh, well, you're a good man for doing it Luke."
"Thanks Babette, I'll see ya later."
With that said, he gets in his truck and heads off to the diner with a smile on his face after misdirecting Babette and having a peaceful night's sleep with the woman he adores.
INSIDE THE HOUSE
Lorelai searches for the phone, and finding it, plops back down on the couch, still warm from their sleeping forms. She dials Sookie's number quickly, and waits for the pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sookie, it's me."
"Oh hey Lorelai! How are… things?"
"Well, you know… hey listen, I was wondering if you wanted to come over and we could make breakfast… well you could make breakfast and I could be your sideline cheerleader. I wanted to recap you on the whole Jason thing so you know what happened and not the soap opera version that I'm sure is going around right now."
"Sure, I've already got the stuff ready. I'll be there in a few minutes?"
"Uh, yeah, sure…"
She lays back down on the couch, relishing in its warmth and the scent that is distinctly his that still floats through the surrounding air. Slowly, she lets her eyes drift closed, and falls back asleep.
"Lorelai?"
A confused Lorelai wakes up from her fifteen-minute nap, and slowly sits up.
"Sookie, I thought that it would take you longer than that."
"I had everything ready from this morning…so I just had to get Davey cleaned up and off to Jackson, and then I headed over here."
"What do you mean from this morning?"
"Yeah… you were a bit distracted to notice me… well not so much distracted, but asleep…"
"Oh, how long were you outside before you figured out that I was asleep?"
Pulling out her key, Sookie flashes it in front of Lorelai. "Remember this?"
"No."
"Well, it's the key that you gave me to the front door. I wasn't outside for very long at all…In fact, since I thought that you were already sleeping, I figured that I would wake you up with breakfast…"
As Sookie continues her recap of this morning, Lorelai feels her face becoming slightly paler than usual, not knowing how to react to what Sookie saw. Well, she didn't really see anything, but I'm pretty sure that our secret is out now.
"and then… I remembered that when you're scared, you like to bunk with Rory, so I made my way downstairs, and low and behold, on the couch is none other than you and Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap looking mighty comfy!"
"Sookie…"
"When were you going to tell me?" Sookie says, jumping up and down with excitement as her voice rose in pitch to a near squeal.
"It just happened… we were going to wait for a bit to bring it out in the open."
"So a few weeks then?"
"Umm… no… not a few weeks."
Starting to get a hurt look on her face, Sookie asks, "You've been seeing him longer than a few weeks and you didn't tell me about it?"
"What! Sookie, no… we only started… this… whatever the hell this is, yesterday!"
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I'm serious. When all that crap with Jason happened, Luke was there for me, and he said all of these wonderful things, and we were kind of forced into some realizations, but I can assure you that this is new."
"Wow…" she says, smiling a smile that says that she knows something that Lorelai doesn't.
"What?…"
"Nothing…"
"No, Sookie, say what's on your mind."
"It might be nothing, but when I came down those stairs, it sure looked like you guys had been together for a lot longer that a day."
"What do you mean?"
"Lorelai, how long have I known you?"
"I don't know, after I got past all the fingers and all the toes, I stopped counting."
"Yeah, a long time, right?" she says, nodding to Lorelai. "I have seen you with a few different characters in our time together, right?"
"Yes…Sookie, point?"
"This is it."
"What do you mean it… OH… like it it? Sookie, do you mean it it?" she says, almost becoming panicked. Sookie just stands in front of her best friend and nods. "Not yet, I'm not ready to think that yet."
"Okay, I just… Lorelai, you were so happy laying there with him, and you looked so perfect."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah."
Seeing that Lorelai was still in a bit of a freak out mode, Sookie started to cook, getting things out of the bags and pulling out pots and pans for the breakfast she had planned. A dumfounded Lorelai sat in the kitchen, half-listening as Sookie rambled off about the latest Davey milestones, and the hysterical tales of Jackson in the role of daddy. Luke is it? Wow, I don't think that I thought of that before. No, I know I haven't thought of that before. I'm not ready to go there. I mean, yeah, we're "seeing each other" now, but it's still Luke. Diner Luke. Luke that yells at me for my unhealthy habits. Luke that rolls his eyes when I rant. Luke who comes running over when I scream into the phone. Luke who doesn't hesitate to sign a check over to me for $30,000. Luke who has just been Luke. Woah. That was big.
So, I have no idea where I want this to go guys! I do totally want to say thank you sooooo much for all of the kind things that you've had to say. This is by far the coolest ever to have so many neat people reading! This is my first Gilmore Girls fic (I've written a few X-files ones), but seriously, all of the stuff you've had to say has been great! Let me know if you have any ideas as to where this can go… original stuff is oh so much fun! Anyways… thanks so much, and keep reading!