From his spot behind the counter, Luke saw Lorelai enter the diner. As usual, he watched her in stealth mode, which meant he was aware of every move she made while pretending he wasn't watching her at all. To his credit, he did realize how ridiculous that was. They'd been together for nearly a year. Why in the world was he still acting like she meant nothing to him?

She had some extra swing in her step on this morning. Her smile radiated pure joy as she hopped up onto a stool.

Once she was settled he leaned across the counter and brushed his lips against hers, the only nod to their relationship he was willing to grant in public.

The glow of her smile increased. "Man, it's a beautiful day out there today!"

"Is it?" He inclined his head, to see past her out into the street. "I haven't been out yet."

"Absolutely gorgeous!" She put her hand over his, where it rested on the counter. "Made me wonder if there's ever been such a perfect morning in May!"

He shrugged. "It's May. It's spring. Unless it's raining, they're all nice. That's what spring is."

"Still…it's so perfect. I wonder if – say a year ago today – this particular day was so nice." She tilted her head, an impish smile on her face, begging him to interact with her.

But he couldn't do it. He kept his face impassive. "Probably was. Again, that's May in a nutshell." He pulled out the order pad. "You know what you want?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess." Her mood dimmed slightly. "I think I'll just have some coffee and a chocolate doughnut. I wouldn't be surprised if Sookie has some special treats out for us today." She almost winked, trying so hard to clue him in.

"OK, let me grab the coffee." He nodded towards the pastry display. "Knock yourself out, get your own doughnut if you want. Just remember to use the tongs."

Her cheerfulness went down another few notches. "Oh, OK. Thanks."

He poured her coffee and went to check on his other customers, feeling like a heel. Even though he tried to stay away from her as much as possible, her coffee mug was never in danger of running empty.

When she was ready to leave, she tried one more time. "Don't know if I mentioned it or not, but we're having a tree planted in front of the Dragonfly today. We thought it'd be a nice thing to do something permanent like that every year." The hope in her eyes was diminishing fast.

"Don't you already have enough trees around the place?" he asked, being deliberately obtuse, and then watched her wilt.

"No, we don't," she replied with a firmness that showed at least some of her spunk remained. "See you later, I guess." She walked towards the door, this time with nothing extra in her steps for his benefit.

Suddenly he was so disgusted with himself he couldn't stand it. He threw the money she'd handed him on the counter and sprinted after her. "Lorelai, wait! Wait!"

She turned at the door, surprised to see him at her heels.

He pulled her to the side, away from the exit, and didn't let go. He tugged her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. Briefly, he put his forehead against hers. "I'm the guy who kept the horoscope from the first day I met you in his wallet forever. You think I don't know what happened a year ago today?" He kissed her, and not the limited touch she was accustomed to. He kissed her long enough that the heat began to build. "A year ago was the first time I got to do that," he whispered gravely into her ear.

She giggled, her joy back in full force, and gave him a quick kiss in return. "It's been a great year!" she observed.

"Mostly," he said, and then wanted to kick himself for trying to bring her down again. "Listen, do I get to take you out tonight to celebrate? Let me make it up to you for being a grouch this morning."

"That sounds wonderful!" She swiftly kissed him again. "I'll tell you all about the tree planting!"

"OK, call me later so we can decide the details."

This time he openly watched her from the window. She saw him as she started to get in the Jeep. Grinning widely, she blew him kisses. He pretended to catch one and put it in his pocket. She doubled over in laughter.

It took so little, really, to make her happy. He didn't know why he was so miserly when it came to doing those small, silly things she loved, why he couldn't bring himself to tag along in her cheerful vision of life. Sure, he was a natural-born grouch, but Lorelai was supposedly the one person in the world he wanted to make happy. He loved her more than anything. Why couldn't he give her what she wanted from him? And – his biggest fear – if he couldn't unbend a bit and share in her world of happiness, how long would she stick with him before giving up and walking away?

He didn't know what the answer was, but maybe today was a good day to figure it out.


That night, Luke ended up taking her to Sniffy's. An easy decision, really. He knew they'd be treated like royalty, the food would be excellent, and Lorelai would be thrilled by the reminder of their first date. Plus Maisie and Buddy would be glad to see them. A win for everyone.

As an added bonus, he barely needed to talk at all. Lorelai, Maisie, and their regular waitress had so much to say that he was only required to nod periodically. But at the end of the meal, while Lorelai was in the kitchen saying goodbye to Buddy, Maisie blocked his path.

"What's stuck in your craw?" she wanted to know.

"I have no idea what that means," he bluffed.

She glanced over at Lorelai, currently standing in the kitchen doorway, having an animated conversation with Buddy. "Lorelai seems happy."

"Lorelai's always happy," he stated, not wanting to say anything more. But then he noticed the genuine concern on Maisie's face. "Look, she told you, Rory broke it off with the Yale boyfriend. Lorelai's not one to tell Rory what to do when it comes to her love life, but she's relieved that Rory figured it out on her own."

"The newspaper kid, right? His family sounded like bad news." She grinned at her pun.

"Yeah, they were a questionable influence on Rory. Lorelai's relieved that Rory stepped away before it got worse."

"So why aren't you happier?"

"I'm plenty happy," he protested.

"Right. Happily dancing your way to gallows." She glared at him, shaking her head. "I just hope you realize how good you've got it."

He was ready to roll his eyes in response, but then he remembered his afternoon of reflection and decided to do the honest thing. "I do," he assured her. "I really do." He then surprised her with a hug. "I'll call you in a day or two, all right?"

"You'll call me?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. I'll call you."

She thought that over until a sudden smile brightened her face. "Well, how about that. Maybe you do know after all." She gave him a motherly squeeze.


They left Sniffy's and drove back towards Stars Hollow. Lorelai chattered the entire trip, until she noticed where they were.

"Hey, wait – aren't we going home?"

Luke turned the truck into the Dragonfly's drive. "I figured we needed to revisit the scene of the crime."

"The scene of the crime, huh? That's what we're calling it now?"

"OK, I guess there wasn't an actual crime, although I did want to kill Kirk."

"At that moment, I was also in favor of homicide." She grinned at him. "Might have even helped you."

"Nothing better than partners in crime." He parked the truck and they walked across the gravel to the steps leading to the inn's porch.

Luke paused in front of the big front door. "Do we have to stand in the exact spot? Or can I convince you that it's better over in the shadows?"

"Shadows, please." No guests were around, but she tugged him over to the porch's edge anyway, where they were less likely to be discovered.

They embraced with no hesitation. Immediately Luke felt the magic flare up between them, the same yearning that had manifested a year ago on that night when he'd first kissed her. Besides the dizziness of desire, he also recalled the satisfaction. He'd been right. He'd always known it was her. He always knew that if she'd just give him a chance, they'd be amazing together. He'd never forget the complete joy that washed through him when he felt it confirmed.

Unusually, it was Lorelai who pulled away first. "I love you," she whispered, another anomaly. Those words weren't often voiced, although he had no doubt she felt that way.

"I love you too," he confirmed. He hugged her to him. "That was a lot better without the Kirk part."

She laughed. "A lot better."

"Better without the ex-boyfriend showing up, too," he mumbled, remembering what had happened earlier on that night.

"Much better," she agreed, although he noticed she cringed at the mention of Jason.

He sighed at his thoughtlessness, then pointed out into the yard. "OK if we go sit on the swing?"

"Yeah, absolutely." She led the way to the two-seater swing positioned under what was one day going to be a vine-covered archway. For now it was just the swing, some mulch, two trellises and a few brave wisteria plantings struggling to take root and grow.

Luke sat down in one corner and held out his arm, helping her to get settled in beside him. She cuddled against him, momentarily burying her face against his chest. He gently rocked the swing, enjoying their moment of togetherness.

Soon, however, Lorelai pulled away and sat upright. She clasped her hands together in her lap and stared down at them. "So…what's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I can feel the tension in you. The stress. Something's been off all night." She squeezed her hands together and shot him a quick look of worry. "You might as well tell me."

He almost chuckled at that. "Geez, you're as bad as Maisie."

"Maisie?"

"Yeah, she thought something was wrong, too."

She bit her lips and nodded. "Is there?"

He sat up too, getting prepared. "Yeah," he conceded, not looking at her.

"Ohhhh…kay." She took a deep breath. "Let's hear it."

It was tough, admitting it. "I don't like the way I treat you sometimes."

She looked perplexed. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this morning when I knew damn well what you were doing. I knew what today marked and how much you wanted me to acknowledge it. But for some reason I couldn't do it. I held back. So many times, I hold back with you, and I don't know why. There's this hesitation on my part, and I hate it. I don't know why I just can't be fully there with you."

Lorelai scooted a few inches farther away from him and wrapped her arms around herself. "Listen, if this is another one of those 'I can't be in this relationship' talks, will you just say it? Just get it over with."

"What? No, no, of course not!" He reached for her but she refused to be soothed by his touch. "Lorelai, just listen to me for a few minutes, please? This isn't about you at all. This is me, trying to figure out why I'm doing something hurtful to you. I hate it and I want to stop doing it. I just need you to hear me out."

"It's Chris, isn't it? This is still about my – my utter stupidity with Chris," she said with a catch in her voice.

"No. Sweetheart, it's not. This is about something that happens inside me. I don't want to be this way. In fact, I spent a lot of today trying to be all introspective and self-aware, and you know how much I hate wasting time on crap like that." He smiled the best he could, trying to get her to see this wasn't going to a bad place. "So if I can do the Dr. Phil routine, you can at least listen, can't you?"

She closed her eyes. "You're not breaking up with me?"

"No! I'm not –!" He forced himself to take a breath. "The last thing I want to do is break up with you. I love you."

"You promise?"

"100% promise."

She nodded, but there was nothing but misgiving on her face.

He nodded too, ready to explain it to her…and then discovered how hard it was to make that leap. "So, I know I said I was all in when it came to you and me."

"Yeah," she said, very quietly.

"And I was. I am. And I guess I always thought I could show that with extra cheese on the burgers and two dressings with your salads, double the powdered sugar on your French toast. Doing the repairs on your house. Checking the tire pressure on the Jeep. Like I thought if I did those things I wouldn't ever have to say actual words about my feelings or doubts or anything else that seriously needed discussing between us."

"Doubts?" she repeated, sounding fearful.

"Not doubts about you. About me. About how I almost obstinately keep myself out of sync with you. About how I just don't trust happiness."

"Wait. You don't trust…happiness?"

"No. I don't. Because if you decide not to let happiness in, then you don't have to worry about it leaving some day." He pulled in a deep breath. "When I was thinking about it today, I realized that you and I both had our families and our homes disintegrate, but we reacted in totally opposite ways. You decided to make happiness for yourself. You created the happiest life you could for you and Rory, while I went the other direction and just banned it altogether. To me, that seemed safer, I guess."

"But we were in completely different situations, Luke. It was my decision to leave my home and my family, and once I did that, I was happier. It was easy for me to be happy once I was on my own." She put a sympathetic hand on his knee. "But you…you lost people."

"I did. And that's definitely colored my world. Because I learned that people say they love you but still leave you. And other people say they love you but then find someone else. And then, people do love you, but…they die anyway."

Lorelai gave up on keeping her distance and threw her arms around him. "Babe, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I know." He ran his hand over her back, grateful to touch her. "But I think that's why I have such a hard time believing in happiness. I think that's why I don't give in to it, because somewhere along the line I decided that if I hold back a little, then maybe it won't hurt as much when it disappears. If I don't react to every crazy thing you do, then maybe my heart doesn't break as much when you leave me."

Lorelai pulled back to give him an exasperated look. "Luke, I'm not leaving you!"

"That's something you can't say for sure, Lorelai."

"Leaving of my own freewill? Yes, I can," she stated firmly. "You're not the only one who's all in here."

He kept her nestled safely in his arms. "But you see where I'm coming from, don't you? Why I can't just jump when you want me to? Why I hide behind being a grouch sometimes?"

Again, she pulled away to look at him. "I love all of you, even the grouch part." A grin flicked across her face. "Maybe especially the grouch part. I love seeing if I can defeat him."

"And there's your damned optimism coming out again," he pretended to grump. "You see what I'm up against?"

She pressed herself closer to him. "Mmm, I can feel what I'm up against."

He chuckled. "Stop it. I'm trying to apologize here."

"For what?"

"For…torturing you, basically. For refusing to do the little things that would mean the world to you."

"Oh! That does sound bad." She pondered for a few seconds. "So what are we going to do about it?"

"Well, now that I'm more aware of it, I'm going to try and stop it. And I guess when I fall back into bad habits and you see me acting that way, you could point it out to me. Remind me that you make me happy."

Again, she thought for a few moments. "How about this? If your curmudgeonly ways genuinely distress me, I'll say something. Otherwise, I'll just embrace the grouch that I love." She illustrated her point with a warm hug and even warmer kiss.

"I want you to be happy, Lorelai."

"I am happy, Luke. I'm happy with you. And I'm happy that you want me to be happy. You're a good guy with a big heart and I promise to take good care of it." She placed her hand on his chest. "I'm not going to let it break. Promise." She settled against him again, looking up at the sky. "I get what you're saying about being cautious with happiness, though. That's why I'm so guarded when I'm with my mom. Look what happened the last time she knew I was happy."

"Why, what happened?"

She snorted. "The vow renewal happened."

He was still confused. "Because you were happy, your parents had the ceremony?"

"No! Because I was a stupid idiot and allowed Mom to see that I was happy, she went running to Christopher!" She took a cleansing breath. "Didn't I ever tell you about it?"

"I don't think so. We've never talked much about what happened at all."

"That does sound like us," Lorelai acknowledged.

"Go on. You were happy and your mom…"

She sighed. "They made Rory and I come over, to pick out outfits for the ceremony. Mom had a couple of dozen wedding gowns spread all over her room, so that she could try them on and make a decision. I was supposed to be 'helping' her decide." Lorelai scoffed. "As if my mother would ever base a decision on anything I said."

"You might be surprised."

"Emily Gilmore? Eh, no." Lorelai shook her head decisively. "But anyway, while she was busy trying things on, I picked up a couple of the gowns and held them up against me, you know, checking in the mirror to see how they looked." She shrugged her shoulders. "So it was all my fault," she summed up ominously.

"What was your fault?"

She turned to look at him. "That I…" She faded off. Even in the dark, he could see her face go pale. "Ohhhh, crap." She turned away, hunched over, and covered her face with her hands. "God, I truly am an idiot. I just realized why I've never told you this story."

"Why?"

"Because…" She took a deep breath. "Because you never, ever, ever let the guy in your life know that you're thinking about trying on wedding gowns."

"You were thinking about trying on wedding gowns?" he repeated stupidly, trying to keep up. His brain scrambled as he tried to recalibrate what he thought he knew about the timeline of their relationship.

She glanced at him, her face full of guilt and embarrassment. "We were getting along so well right then. It was all so good, you know? We were so good. And I was beginning to think – beginning to hope – that maybe this wasn't just a temporary thing. That what was going on between us was here to stay." She sighed brokenly. "And then…it all blew up."

"Because your mom saw you with the wedding gowns."

"Yeah, and since she's female, she knew what that meant, especially considering I didn't act like that even back when I had a gown in my own closet for an upcoming wedding."

Luke was beginning to see the path. "So once she saw what you were thinking, she went to Christopher to warn him to make his move."

"Yeah," Lorelai said miserably.

"Because I am so unsuitable."

"Oh, babe." She reached for one of his hands, brought it to her lips, and kissed it. "It doesn't have anything to do with you really. It's just that my parents are so limited. I used to think that Mom didn't want me to be happy, but it's not that. She just can't imagine anyone being happy in a different way than she is. She can't fathom that I'm happy in my life here, in Stars Hollow, with you. That's just completely beyond her. She was taught that you do things a certain way to get ahead. So when she saw me all dreamy-eyed, she felt duty-bound to meddle, and almost ruined my life. With an unfortunate assist from me."

Luke put his arm around Lorelai and pulled her closer. "Thanks for telling me. It finally makes some sense."

She groaned. "Right. Except now I feel like we're back in high school, and we bumped together in the hall between classes, my books went flying, and of course, since you're such a gentleman, you helped to pick them up, and when you handed them back to me you saw that I'd written Mrs. Lucas Danes on the back of my notebook about a thousand times."

"Really? You'd take your husband's name?"

If possible, Lorelai looked even more flustered. "I don't – I don't know. Maybe. I mean, probably not at work, but privately? Or some people hyphenate…" She took a deep breath. "Can we just talk about something else?"

"Sure." He pushed the swing again as they sat in silence for a minute. "What do you think about marrying me now?"

The swing stopped abruptly as Lorelai dragged her heels. She turned to stare at him, her breath caught in her throat.

"That's not an actual proposal," he said lightly. He grinned at her and shrugged. "I'm just curious. Do you still think about us getting married someday?"

She searched his face and seemed to relax. "Well, yeah. I still wonder, sometimes."

"What do you wonder about? Do you just think about the wedding dress or plan out the ceremony or something like that? I mean, you plan weddings all the time, so it'd be like an occupational hazard, wouldn't it?"

She chuckled, more at ease. "Well, there's some of that, I guess, but mostly I think about the big stuff, about where we'd live, for one thing."

"We wouldn't live at your house?"

"I didn't think you liked my house."

"What? Why would you think that?"

She paused, as if considering her words. "Well, Luke…we've been a couple now for quite a while. Splitting where we stay. And yeah, you'll sleep at my house, but…You've never once mentioned moving in."

Dumbfounded again. "You want me to move in?"

"Well, yeah. I'd love that. But I understand if you don't want to. After all, you've done nothing but fix everything that's wrong with my crappy place a thousand times, so it's no wonder that it's not your dream home. And I get how you feel about your place. It's got all the memories of your dad, plus it's convenient for you. Makes it so easy on your early delivery mornings."

"You think I don't want to live with you?"

"No? I mean, it hasn't seemed like it's a priority to you."

"Lorelai, I haven't brought it up because it's not just your house!"

"It's not my house?"

"It's Rory's, too!"

"Hmm, I'm pretty sure her name isn't on the mortgage."

"You know damn well what I mean!"

"Yeah, I do. I think so, anyway." She studied him. "You haven't said anything about moving in together because of Rory?"

"Right, because I don't want her to feel uncomfortable in her own house. I don't want her to think I'm pushing her out, or anything like that. I don't want her to have to change the way she lives because of me."

Lorelai looked at him seriously for a few moments. "Come here," she finally said, opening her arms. When he leaned her way she hugged him tightly and then kissed him. "That's for being the most amazing guy I've ever met."

"Rory's the first priority," he mumbled.

"Rory's got one foot out the door." Lorelai leaned back to see him. "Look, I don't like the idea of her not being around, but that's reality. I want her to still think of Stars Hollow as home, and of course I want there to always be a place here for her, but Luke…she's going to graduate and she's going to go off on her own and have amazing adventures. She's not going to begrudge that her mom has a new roommate." She put one of her hands up against his face. "A hot, sexy new roommate."

He rolled his eyes. "You really think she'd be all right with it?"

"Yeah, I do. There'd be an adjustment period, probably some classic sit-com embarrassing moments, but nothing we couldn't handle."

He let that sink in for a bit. "Tell you what, why don't you talk to her about it? And I mean a real talk, Lorelai, not just a bunch of innuendos and stuff. Talk to her seriously about it, and if she's OK – I mean, really OK, not just saying what she thinks you want her to say – then, if you really want me to – I'll move in."

"You will?"

"In a heartbeat."

Lorelai squealed and threw her arms around him again. "You're sure you don't hate the house?"

"Why should I hate the house? I already know everything about it. Saves me from having to learn home repairs someplace else."

"Well, it's not very big," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "Look where I've been living. I don't need much room."

"Yes, but…"

"But what?"

"What if…other people…come to live with us?"

"Other people? Other than Rory? Who else do you think is moving in? Kirk?"

"No…" He kept staring at her until she finally, reluctantly, added some more words. "You know. Small people. Little people."

"Small people? Like Babette?"

"No!" She looked impatient now. "Small people…like kids. If we want kids, then maybe my house isn't the solution. If we do. I mean, I don't know. Maybe you don't –"

"Yes," he said emphatically, cutting her off.

She looked skeptical. "Yes, you want kids?"

"Yes. With you? Yes, I want kids." He pulled in a big breath of air.

"Are you sure? Because you look a little shell-shocked."

"I didn't know I did until I said it just then. But yes, I'm sure. Yes," he said again, liking the way the word sounded and felt.

"All right. So we'll get you moved in, and then I guess we'll go on from there?"

"If Rory is OK with it."

"I'm sure she will be, but yeah, I'll talk to her about it. Without all of the funny stuff." She leaned against him, quiet for a moment as she gazed up at the sky. "Wow, tonight's been pretty eye-opening, huh? Who knew talking could be so productive?"

"Yeah, amazing what you can learn without all the quips flying around."

She turned and poked a finger in his chest. "Or you know – if someone actually forms sentences instead of relying on manly grunting."

"OK, I'll own that." He put his arm around her and glanced over at the building. "Do you think there's any chance we could stay the night?"

"Here?"

"Yeah. I just…well, it might be nice, you know? To make up for what didn't happen a year ago."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You thought we'd tumble into bed together after just one kiss?"

"It was an amazing kiss," he reminded her.

"It was," she concurred, laughing. "But I was kind of busy."

"Yeah, I know. There was the Kirk thing, and the Rory and Dean thing – which I didn't even know you were dealing with until much later – plus the fact that you were the boss and had to stay on duty." He pulled her a little closer and bent his head to hers. "But that didn't stop me from listening for a knock at my newly-installed door all night."

"You were hoping for some personal turn-down service?" she asked coyly.

"Fantasizing, more like. At least hoping for another amazing kiss."

She put a finger next to his mouth and stared at his lips. "If Rory and Dean hadn't derailed every thought in my brain, it might have been a possibility. And after you disappeared into the wilds of Maine for seven weeks, I really wished I would have staked my claim more decisively that night."

"So what do you say?" He nodded towards the inn. "Wanna get a room?"

"Luke…" She sighed. "You know our normal occupancy rate, especially at this time of year. As far as I know, we're all booked up tonight."

"Maybe there's been a cancellation. Doesn't hurt to ask, does it?"

She looked curiously at him, then at the inn, then back to him. "You really want to do this?"

"I really want to do this. And if not…" He shrugged. "We'll just go back to your place."

"Well, OK then." She stood up and reached for his hand, pulling him up. "Let's go see a man about a room." She chuckled as they headed towards the porch again. "I just don't know when Spontaneity became your middle name."

Tobin looked surprised and a bit wary as they approached the counter. "Lorelai! Didn't expect to see the boss tonight!"

"Well, that's the thing about being the boss, gotta keep everybody on their toes." She rested her hands on the counter. "What's the status tonight? Are we full-up?"

Tobin gave Luke a hard look before he turned his attention back to Lorelai. "The rooms are all reserved, so yes – I guess that's the same as being fully booked."

Lorelai looked amused. "That's a weird way to put it. Are all the rooms occupied or not?"

"All of the rooms are booked. But one room…isn't occupied."

She frowned. "It's this late and someone hasn't shown up? Did they request a late-arrival?"

"They've shown up. They just haven't…officially checked in yet."

"Tobin, that makes no sense!"

Tobin was known as a genial and welcoming staff member, but the look he gave Luke was neither genial nor welcoming. "Are you telling her or am I?"

Luke nodded towards Lorelai, giving him permission.

"What?" Lorelai said sharply.

"The room in question is reserved for Mr. Luke Danes."

Lorelai stared at Tobin for a beat before she turned to Luke, mystified. "You reserved a room?"

"I did," he confirmed.

Tobin pushed the guest register his way. "Are you ready to check in now?"

"Sure," Luke said, taking the pen. An impulse flashed through his brain. Something incredibly embarrassing, but also something that Lorelai would love. He took a fortifying breath and did it. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas Danes, he wrote.

Immediately, Lorelai burst into delighted laughter.

Tobin, of course, could see what he'd written, too. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?" he asked sardonically of his boss.

"No, it's just a joke from earlier." Lorelai hugged Luke's arm, grinning madly.

Tobin reached for the lone key hanging behind the desk. "Do you want me to see you up, or –"

"Thanks, but I think I can find the way!" Lorelai snatched the key from his hand.

"Thank God," he muttered. "Enjoy your stay."

"We will, although I may need more comment cards if things don't meet with my approval." She grabbed Luke's hand and hurried him away from the counter. "I can't believe you!" she babbled, as they rushed up the stairs. "You reserved a room? I guess those fantasies never went away, huh?"

"Something like that," Luke mumbled, as his nerves began to kick in.

She unlocked the door, swung it open, and flicked on the light. "Welcome to our own private edition of fantasy island," she teased, indicating for him to step inside.

"After you," he insisted.

She smiled, stepped through the threshold, and went stock-still. "Ohhh…Luke!" She rushed over to a vase of flowers standing on the sideboard. She buried her nose in them, then turned his way, nearly overcome. "You even remembered the flowers from last year?"

He closed the door and then joined her in front of the bouquet. "To be honest, I couldn't really remember what they looked like, exactly. But the ladies at the flower shop were pretty sure these were close."

"Trust me, these are a perfect match!" She smelled them again, then smiled emotionally at him. "There might be pictures to confirm it. There might even be a couple of posies pressed into a book somewhere in my house."

"I'm glad you liked them."

"I loved them! I love these too!" She gave him a one-armed hug, still overcome with the magic of the flowers. She carefully touched a few petals before her attention was drawn to something else. "Champagne! You ordered champagne? You hate champagne!"

"Maybe I don't hate it as much as I thought I did. And I guess I finally realized that Maisie was right, there are certain events that call for champagne."

She chuckled and began to turn towards him, but he put his hands on her shoulders, urging her to stay in place. "There are some things I need to say to you, and I think they'd be a lot easier to say if you're not looking at me right now."

"You are certainly Mr. Talkative tonight," she said, sounding more nervous than quippy.

Also anxious, he squeezed her shoulders. "I…I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too."

"And…I told you earlier, I'm going to do better with communicating stuff to you. I don't want you to have to guess what I'm thinking. And most of all, I want to make you happy to be with me."

"You do. We are. Uh…I – I am," she said faintly. He could feel the tension in her, he could hear her breathing speed up.

"And today, when I was thinking about everything, it occurred to me that if I'm that scared about losing you, if I don't want you to just walk away someday, then I should probably do something to show you how much I want you to stay."

He slid his hands down her arms and gave her hand a tug, letting her know it was OK for her to turn around now. By the time she did, he'd dropped down to one knee.

Her mouth flew open and her blue eyes went wider than he'd ever seen.

"Lorelai, will you marry me?"

There was a lengthy pause. The only sound was her choppy breathing.

"This is the actual proposal," he felt it necessary to point out.

Still, she didn't speak. It seemed as though she couldn't speak. Or didn't want to. Her hands clamped over her mouth, while her eyes still looked at him wildly.

"Hey, it's OK." He scrambled back up to his feet. "You don't have to say anything now. If you want time to think, or to talk to Rory first –"

"Yes," she croaked out, breathlessly.

"Yes, you want to talk to Rory first? Because, sure –"

"No!" she interrupted.

"No…you don't want to get married?"

"No! I –" She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to take a breath. "No, I don't need to talk to Rory or take time to think about it. Yes, I will marry you, Luke."

He searched her face. "You're sure?"

"I am so sure." She stepped up to him and put her arms around his neck. "I want that more than anything. For all you know, I might already have a wedding gown on layaway."

He put his arms around her waist. "Hey now, those are the sort of things we're supposed to be honest with each other about."

"OK, so no gown on layaway." She hugged him. "But I might have a couple of ideas about the gown I want."

"I'm OK with that." He moved in closer. "I think maybe it's time for some of those amazing kisses now."

"Oh, I so agree," she murmured, bringing her mouth to his.

The kisses were nice, but they weren't at the magic heat level. They were both still a little bit too nervous and keyed up to relax into them.

"So…" Luke pulled a container out of his suit pocket.

Lorelai squealed. "You've got a ring?" She hopped about excitedly.

"How many sappy romance movies have you made me watch? Of course I've got a ring. If I've learned one thing, it's that nobody's happy if there's not a ring at the end."

"Wait a minute." She stopped jumping about and eyed him and the box in his hand suspiciously. "Is that…from a bubblegum machine?"

"It certainly is." He held it out for her to see.

"Luke!" she complained.

"Look, Lorelai, I know you, OK? And I know that even if I somehow managed to find the exact, perfect ring for you, even if I stumbled upon the one ring that you'd choose for yourself, that in the back of your mind there would always be a little bit of disappointment because you didn't get to go ring shopping. So this is just a place-holder until we can go out and find the ring that you're going to be happy to wear for the rest of your life."

Her eyes went big again and she took a step backwards.

"Does that…scare you? The rest of your life thing?" he asked bravely.

She just looked at him for a moment, thinking. "No," she said, coming close to him again. "It makes me feel…cozy. Comfortable and…content. And happy." She kissed him. "How about you? The rest of your life thing is OK with you?"

"Very, very OK." The next kiss was much more satisfying, so much so that it took the sharp plastic edge of the bubblegum container cutting into his palm to remind him of what else was going on. Reluctantly he broke away. "Ready to see the prize?" He held it up in her line of vision.

"You're my prize!" she giggled. "But sure, let's see what treasure awaits!"

Luke remembered the trick to opening bubblegum containers, getting his finger under the edge of the lid to pop it off. He shook the ring out onto his palm, and then they both stared at it.

"That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen," he muttered.

"Hey, don't talk about my engagement ring like that!" she warned him.

The large "jewel" in the center was a hunk of florescent pink plastic. Four "diamonds" accented the gaudiness, while a swirl of "pearls" encircled the whole design.

"We are hitting the jeweler's as soon as possible," he promised.

"I don't know, you might have to pry it off me. It's actually pretty much my style." Lorelai grinned and put her left hand out to him, waggling her fingers.

He caught her hand and held it. "Lorelai, will you marry me?" he asked again, smiling gently at her.

"It would be my pleasure, Mr. Lucas Danes."

He slid the ring of junk plastic onto her finger, and she reacted as if it was the Hope Diamond. "It's so pretty!" she proclaimed, fluttering her hand in front of them.

"It's hideous," Luke muttered, not really expecting to change her mind. "Ready for some champagne?"

"Yes!" She was still dancing around the room, admiring her ring, so he went over to pick up the bottle out of the ice bucket.

"Oh, here, let me do that," she offered. "I'm something of an expert when it comes to getting corks to pop off."

He handed the bottle over to her with a grin and a shake of his head. "How is it you can make absolutely anything sound dirty?"

"Eh, it's a gift." She looked over at him. "You're not complaining about that, are you?"

"Nope."

"Good, because it comes automatically with the Lorelai package deal." She competently wrestled the cork out of the bottle and poured some into two glasses. She handed one to Luke and clinked her flute against his. "Here's to the rest of our lives."

"Here's to the love of mine."

"Aww, Luke!" She stretched up to kiss up.

They sat down together on a small couch positioned at the end of the bed. Lorelai leaned against him. "Oh my God, what a day this has been. I didn't realize how tired I am. And also thirsty, apparently." She gestured at her glass of champagne, already half gone.

"Yeah, this isn't as bad as I remembered." Luke looked at his glass and took another sip. "Want some more?"

"Yes, please."

He was able to scooch to the edge of the couch and reach over far enough to snag the bottle from the sideboard. He topped off each of their glasses, then put the bottle on the floor beside his feet. He took another drink, the alcohol helping to soothe his nerves that had been continuously frayed throughout the day. "So do you have the wedding planned out yet?"

She scoffed. "Well, believe it or not, since I've only been engaged for…oh, maybe seventeen seconds, no, I don't."

"You'll want to get married here at the Dragonfly, won't you?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure."

"Really?" Luke was surprised.

"I think it would be hard to separate my role as boss from being the bride and just enjoying the day. It might be nice to get married someplace where the headaches all belong to someone else and I just have to show up."

"I never thought about that."

"Yeah, well…" She took another mouthful of champagne. "My mother once told me I'd get married in the diner, with a ketchup bottle as my bouquet."

His eyebrows went up. "That sounds oddly specific."

"Yeah. It was a long time ago – back when your uncle died, and I was helping out at the diner."

Something popped into his memory. "The Romanovs."

Lorelai nodded. "That was the day."

"Why would your mom say that way back then?"

"Because from the moment she saw me hug you at Rory's sixteenth birthday party for bringing the ice, she accused me of having a thing for you."

He grinned. "And did you?"

She scoffed again and pointed at the ring. "Obviously."

He smiled, feeling pretty good.

"How about you? Any wedding plans you want included?"

"Other than I'd like Liz there, I guess. And Jess."

"And T.J.," Lorelai prompted.

"Maybe we'll have to limit how many guests we have?" Luke suggested hopefully.

"And T.J.," Lorelai said firmly.

"Eloping is sounding good."

"No. I think we deserve a real wedding." She looked down at the bubbles still breaking the surface in her glass. "You know, I do have a chuppah just standing there in my yard. The sweetest guy I know made it for me once."

"When you were going to marry another guy," Luke groused.

"I think you always knew that wasn't really going to happen."

Luke barked out a laugh. "I wish I'd known that. I wouldn't have stewed over it all summer if I'd known."

"Sounds like somebody else had a thing way back then too."

"Obviously," Luke agreed, and leaned over to kiss her.

When they drew about, Lorelai looked pensive. "Luke, this is right, isn't it?"

"Which part?"

"All of it. You and me, and this –" she pointed at the ring, then at the room in general. "All of it, everything. This is right, isn't it?"

The nerves jumped again. "You have doubts?"

"No, I don't. But I have this habit of trying to force things to fit my narrative. Like what I did with Max. Like how I've tried over and over to make Christopher and I into the real deal. It didn't feel right, but it should have been right, so I kept telling myself it was. But this time…it is right. Right?"

"OK, cutting off the champagne for you." He reached to take her glass.

"I'm not joking. For once I'm not joking. I – I love you so much, Luke. It does sort of…scare me, it's so much. It feels completely different from anything else I've ever experienced. And I guess I just want to make sure that it's not just me. I mean, you – you've been married before."

Luke snorted.

"But you have! Something made you marry her. And I guess…I guess I just need to hear that the way I'm feeling is what you feel too. That I'm not your Max or Christopher, and that we're only here because you've convinced yourself that I'm what you want."

He put down his glass too, and then put his hands on each side of her face, holding her eyes with his. "No," he said emphatically. "Lorelai, you have to know that I've been crazy about you since the day we met. Why else would I have put that horoscope in my wallet? Have you ever asked yourself that?"

"Then why did it take us all of these years?"

"Because you had a little girl and a demanding job and…" His words faded away as he shook his head. "And for a long time we just never seemed to be ready for something more at the same time. And I admit it, I lost hope many times, thought that it was never going to happen for us, and during one of those times, I did what you did. I convinced myself that I felt more for Nicole than what I really did. You were just smarter, or at least braver than I was. You walked away from Max because you knew it wasn't right."

Lorelai kept staring at him, but finally she took a breath. "Kinda hard to walk away on a boat, I guess."

He smiled at her, relieved to hear some humor again. "Well, a cruise ship with multiple decks, but yeah, there's only so far you can run."

She nodded, still not seeming completely like herself. "I don't want to put words in your mouth, Luke, but the way you feel about me…?"

He took her in his arms. "On a whole different level from anyone else I've ever been with."

"Rachel?" She tried to say her name in an off-hand manner, but he could tell it mattered.

"If I'd never met you, then I could maybe see me circling back to Rachel. But I did meet you, and when Rachel came back…there was the truth of it. She could feel it too, even though I did my best to hide it from her. She knew how I felt about you."

"She did?"

"She left, Lorelai."

"Because of me?"

"Because of how I felt about you."

"And the way you feel about me is…?"

"You're the only person I'd ever put twenty quarters in a bubblegum machine for."

She burst out laughing and threw her arms around his neck. "OK, I'll accept that." She kissed him, then went back to hugging him tightly. "And you know what? When I do buy my wedding dress, I'm going to try it on every single night."

"Is that a thing?" Luke wondered. "Like a wedding custom or something?"

"In my family, yes it is."

"Try it on three times a day if it makes you happy."

"I think once is probably enough." She sighed and cuddled against him.

After a few serene moments, Luke cleared his throat. "You know, instead of talking about trying on more clothes, how about if we take some clothes off?" He plucked at the sleeve of her blouse.

She sat up and looked at him sternly. "The truth comes out. You only asked me to marry you to get me into bed."

"Yes, that's it exactly." Luke nodded, all seriousness. "I thought, if I can just get her to agree to marry me, she'll sleep with me every night."

"What a diabolical plan," Lorelai said. Her voice turned sultry. "I love it." She reached for the knot on his necktie. "Ready for some very personal turndown service?"


Luke shifted in bed, luxuriating in the warmth and comfort of being with Lorelai. One moment he was contented beyond belief, but the next he felt a stabbing pain in his side.

"Ow!" he complained, putting his hand over the hurt.

"What's wrong?"

He glanced down and soon deduced the source of his injury. "It's this stupid ring!" he announced, grabbing her hand.

"It's not a stupid ring," she argued. "It's a beautiful symbol of our love."

"It's deadly," Luke countered.

"Don't be such a baby." Lorelai turned towards him and pulled aside the sheet. "Oh god – Luke, you really are bleeding. Don't move – I'll be right back!" She jumped out of bed and hurried towards the bathroom.

Luke might have been in pain, but he was cognizant enough to rise up on his elbows to watch the show as Lorelai scampered off.

She returned with the small emergency first aid kit stashed in the bathroom. "Here, roll over a little." She opened an antiseptic wipe and cleaned off the scratch, then put a small bandage over it. "There, good as new." She added a kiss to his skin for good measure. "I'm so sorry, babe."

"When we go to bed, that thing has to come off," Luke warned her.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Lorelai said sadly, gazing down at her ring.

"You find out the first day Rory is available to go shopping, and we're off to a jewelry store."

Her head shot up to stare at him. "You want Rory to come with us?"

Luke shrugged. "Well, you'd have more fun if she was there, wouldn't you? And besides, I figure you'd want her approval before you'd settle on something for good."

"You really don't mind if she comes along?"

"Lorelai, that was probably the first thing that I learned about you, that you and Rory were a package deal. Of course I don't mind that she comes along. She's always welcome."

Lorelai arched an eyebrow. "Anytime? Should I ask her to tag along on our honeymoon?"

"Maybe not then," he agreed. "But any other time is fine."

"You love her, don't you?" Lorelai's eyes looked a little misty. "You love her like a dad."

"No, no, I wouldn't say that," he immediately disputed, worried that would be stepping over a line. "She was such an amazing kid. I knew it from the moment I met her. So smart, you know? So polite, so nice. I always wanted to protect her. Make sure she was safe. And if there's anything I can do to make sure she's happy, and safe, and protected – Well, I'd do it, because she's one in a million."

"Spoken like a real dad," Lorelai pointed out.

"Well, I…" Luke took a minute to sort through his feelings. "I guess…there have been times when I sort of wished I was her dad." He shook his head as something jogged his memory. "Which is probably why I got into that fight with Christopher about who'd done more for her."

Lorelai patted his shoulder. "You totally won, by the way."

"Maybe I won that fight, but I lost big in other ways." He couldn't meet her eyes. "There's that great picture of us, dancing that night, and l can barely stand to look at it because it brings back such bad memories."

"Yeah, I'm the same way. Maybe we can hash out all the other things that happened that night the next time you're feeling introspective."

"It's a date," he said, giving her a small smile. "But you should know, when it comes to Rory, I'm all in, too. If she needs me for anything, I'm there for her. I hope she knows that."

Lorelai scoffed slightly. "I'd say she already relies on your influence during a crisis."

"What do you mean?"

"The thing with Logan."

"What thing with Logan?"

"The night they broke up. She didn't tell you?"

"You told me most of it, about Logan's jerk of a dad, and her being at his sister's shindig, and the brilliant idea to go steal a yacht." He shook his head in disgust at the whole Huntzberger family.

"Right, but she didn't tell you how the actual break-up went down?"

"I guess not? Why, what happened?"

Lorelai grinned and settled back on her pillow, ready to tell the story. "They were running down the pier together and Rory's shoe got stuck, so she had to stop. And while she was forced to pause, she thought about home. About Stars Hollow. About her dear mama. About you."

"Me?"

"Oh yes. About you. About what you would think if you could have seen her right then, ready to commit a felony. She literally thought, 'What would Luke do?'"

"You're scaring me here," he said, taking in the mischievous look on her face.

She chuckled. "So she thought about you, and by the time Logan came back to her side, she knew what to do to get herself out of the whole situation." She paused, relishing the telling of it. "She then stood up and pushed him off the pier, down into the cold water below."

"Oh…my…God!" He collapsed down on his pillow, horrified, and unnerved by Lorelai's laughter. "You think it's funny? Why aren't you furious with me?"

"Why would I be furious? I'm glad she had your influence to fall back on."

"That's not the kind of influence I want to have on her!"

"Babe, think about it." Lorelai pushed up on one elbow to be able to look down at his face. "Who else was she going to emulate? Me?" She scoffed again. "After all the times she watched me talk myself into relationships that weren't right, like with Max and Jason? After watching me give her dad try after try, because maybe this time it'd finally work out? Or would you want her to follow Christopher's lead? Sure, go along with anyone's idea, because that's the easiest thing to do and hey – maybe it'll be fun! Or how about her grandparents, who will do anything to win, to be on top – and then brag about how they humiliated a rival? No." She shook her head fiercely. "You were the best choice she had."

"And I still say I don't want her to look at me and think pushing someone in the water is the best solution!"

"Hey, it was effective, wasn't it? She didn't steal a boat, and she dumped her boyfriend at the same time! Win-win!"

"Ah, hell." Luke put his arm over his eyes, still appalled by what he'd heard. But then, as he laid there, he discovered that he could almost visualize the whole scene. A smile tugged at his lips.

Lorelai immediately pounced on the smile. "Ah-ha! See! It is funny! You were her guardian angel that night!"

"Poor kid, if I'm her guardian angel."

"Lucky kid, to be loved by Luke Danes."

He pulled Lorelai down beside him. "All right, I admit it. I do love her. I love her because she's part of you, but I love her because she's Rory, too."

"And that's one of the sweetest things you've ever said." She kissed him solemnly.

They cuddled together for a while until Luke worried they were ready to fall asleep. "Hey," he said, gently rousing Lorelai. "Do you want anything before we turn off the lights? Do you want more champagne?"

"What I'd really like is to call Rory. I know this is our night, but I'm dying to tell her we're getting married." Her face lit up. "We're getting married!" she crowed.

"Sure, call her." Luke grinned as he rubbed her arm. "I'm surprised you've waited this long."

"But is it too late?" Lorelai worried her lips together. "And she's busy. She's still got a paper to finish up and turn in on Monday. And then finals."

"Call her," Luke urged again. "She'll never forgive you if you keep it from her any longer. And you won't sleep until you tell her." He got out of bed and found her purse, which he brought over to her. "Call her."

He located his t-shirt and underwear and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. While in there, he could hear Lorelai's squeals and excited chatter. It was obvious that Rory hadn't minded the late phone call at all.

"Here he is," Lorelai said, when he emerged. She waved the phone at him. "Rory wants to talk to you."

He handed his dress shirt to Lorelai to put on, to keep her shoulders warm while she was sitting up in bed. Then, with a little bit of trepidation, he took the phone. "Hi, Rory."

"Luke!" She sounded happy, he thought. "I can't believe this is happening!"

"I guess I should have talked to you first. I should have asked your permission to marry your mom."

"Oh, Luke, don't you know? I would have said yes to that from the time I was twelve years old."

He sputtered out a laugh. "What? Why twelve?"

"Because that's when you overheard Mom telling Babette that something was wrong with our furnace, and when we were ready to leave the diner, you told Mom you'd come over to look at it that night. Well, you showed up just like you said you would, and you knew what was wrong, and you said you'd get the part and replace it. You saw me doing homework, and asked me what I was working on, and then wanted to know who my teacher was, and when I said Mr. Baxter, you asked if I'd already had to memorize the Gettysburg address. I said yes, and you told me, in that wonderfully sarcastic way of yours, that that skill would really come in handy for me someday in the real world."

Luke chuckled, vaguely remembering that first trip to their house.

"And then the next night, you did come back over and fix our furnace. Again, just like you said you would. You and Mom argued for a bit before you finally agreed she could pay for the part, but you weren't taking any money for the repair. You waved at me and left, without flirting with Mom or asking her out, or anything. I thought you were the nicest man I'd ever met, and Mom said she was going to have to stop calling you Duke. I decided right then and there that if you ever did ask Mom out, or to marry you or anything, I was totally in favor of it."

"I have a feeling you might have embellished that a bit."

"Nope! Maybe I shifted a couple of details to make it a better story, but I know exactly how I felt about you that night." She paused, and her next words came out in her usual sweet and shy manner. "Even now, that's still the way I feel about you."

He had to clear his throat. "Thanks, Rory. That, uh…Hearing you say that means a lot to me." He glanced over at an openly eavesdropping Lorelai, who was beaming at him. "Here's your mom back. I'll see you in a couple of days when we come to move you home."

"Can't wait! You're in charge of Mom until then."

He laughed. "Glad to do my part." He returned the phone to Lorelai, who immediately jumped back into conversation with Rory as if there hadn't been a pause.

Not quite knowing what to do next, he wandered over to the couch and saw the bottle of champagne still sitting on the floor. He filled up each of their glasses with what was now champagne without the bubbles. He gave Lorelai hers, then sipped at his as he walked around the room.

Champagne really wasn't so bad, he decided. Maybe he wasn't as wedded to old habits as he thought he was. Maybe change was possible in a whole variety of ways.

His wife-to-be laughed. From over the phone, he could hear his step-daughter-to-be laughing as well.

He smiled and took another sip of champagne.

Maybe he could trust happiness after all.


Author's Chat: Yay! I did get this posted before Christmas! No matter what holiday you celebrate, I hope this fluffy story felt like a gift. I do appreciate all of you who have stuck around in this corner of fanfic world and are still willing to read my imaginings about Luke and Lorelai. Here's to a happy 2023 and many more fictional adventures to share.

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