Authors Note - Okay, I realize that this story has not been updated in a very long while, and some might say it has been left far past the time when adding another chapter is really appropriate, but all of a sudden I remembered that I used to write fanfiction [yeah I know and I got the urge to finish a story. To be bluntly obvious here, I stopped watching GG during the late sixth, early seventh season, because there seemed not to be much hope left for the JavaJunkie [if that is what this pairing is still called relationship.So if Luke and Lorelai seem a bit off in this chapter, that is my only excuse. Now, I do know that most of the people who have read this story before might not dabble in the fanfic anymore, and if they do they have probably forgotten this story, which I agree is easy to do. 11-3-06 was the last update on this fic, and it does seem to be a rather long time to go without updating, its like what, eight months? Long time. Perhaps my writing has changed since then, I do hope it has, or maybe regarding my fic writing ability it has gotten worse, I cannot be the judge of that.
penguinopus – Thanks for your review, and I do agree, what I did see of season six I would have not been at all surprised if Luke were to receive a slap or two. And while Christopher can be charming on his own, I feel as if he needs to be slapped anytime he goes near Lorelai. Hopefully you stumble upon this story again and like where it has gone [in one chapter.
coffeebean2007 – I'm glad you liked it! Sorry I did not update soon, but maybe you'll find this chapter satisfactory? Or not.
sarahb2007 – Apparently this is ASAP, I do apologize for the long wait. Glad you liked. :
ProFfeSseR - Glad you liked the fist fight and maybe-sorta kiss. Romance and violence go nicely together, no:P
Xliteratiwhorex – Is it? I'm glad you like the concept and the story, thanks for the review!
Katiegg108 – Thanks. Sorry I haven't updated.
Disclaimer - I do not, never have, and never will own Gilmore Girls or any characters associated, except Jack and such, but who wants him?
Silence was not something Lorelai Gilmore had ever tolerated well, but the way it hung in the air between them, filled with more words then she could ever say, she hesitated to shatter it for fear that she might break something between them. She followed at Luke's work boot clad feet as he moved through the foyer and toward the living room, and she could not help but notice that he moved as if he lived here, as if he were as familiar with her house as he was with his own apartment, and she didn't know what to make of it. Her grip was tight upon the handles of the few bags she had carried in with her, because she desperately wanted to distract herself from the fact that she swore she could still feel Luke's breath upon her lips. So engrossed in her thoughts and trying to distract herself from them, she did not notice Luke had stopped and consequently rammed right into his flannel covered back and managed to surprise her muffled expression of surprise and cover it up with a well placed apology, but a hidden blush crept up her neck all the same.
Lorelai watched as he set the bags down upon the living room floor, turned toward her and looked at her for the first time since they had gotten out of the truck. His navy eyes held a feeling that she could not quite place, but she gathered from the determined look upon his face that they were about to have some sort of discussion, and it was going to happen whether she wanted it to or not. Her lips parted and she started to say something but exhaled instead, the words torn from her mind as Luke took a hesitant step closer toward her.
"Listen," he started, his voice the usual gruff tone, but Lorelai could hear the firmness in the words, and she knew he actually wanted her to listen. "I don't know what is going on with you and Jack, but I do know that I did not handle that situation as well as I could have" he said. "It's just, what he said – it wasn't fair, and I got carried away, I never meant to throw that punch but it just," he paused, his brow furrowed as he tried to pick his way carefully, "happened," he finished, letting the word fall from his lips like it was the last thing he would ever say.
Lorelai had stayed silent as he spoke, half because she knew he would not appreciate it if, especially now, she were to interrupt him, and also because she was trying to figure out what that was in his voice, of course she knew Luke cared about her, just as he cared about Rory, and she knew he felt protective of them both, but this was different, it was almost intimate in the way he spoke his words with so much fervor, as if he wanted to say so much more.
"Look," she answered, her tone blunt but reserved, "Luke, I agree that making a scene was not the best thing to do," she said, but hurried on when she saw the slightly embarrassed look upon his face, "and I do prefer to fight my own battles, but I appreciate the gesture, it meant a lot to me." She exhaled lightly as she finished, although she was fully aware that she had skirted completely around the issue of what had happened between them, and she had a feeling that was what Luke really wanted to speak about. Or maybe she was wrong, and it was the last thing he wanted to think about or maybe he hadn't even noticed anything. The last notion was one that she was torn on, while she wanted nothing to complicate things, more so than they already were of course, the thought that he had felt nothing between them was disconcerting to say the least.
Luke seemed to struggle for a response to her, and fiddled idly by adjusting the position of his familiar baseball cap atop his head, and shifted his indigo gaze all around the room, landed upon every single solitary thing she owned except Lorelai herself. Lorelai stood, her limbs restless as she shifted her weight impatiently, all the excess energy, which she usually let out in a stream of haphazard words and phrases, unable to leave in that form at the present moment.
As awkward silences went, this one happened to be one of the worst, the time when each breath that was drawn in added to the stillness of the air around them, and every rustle from the shopping bags that Lorelai still clutched absentmindedly in her hands made it painfully obvious that neither of them could think of anything to add to this conversation. Without realizing it, Lorelai had begun to stare at Luke, her bright sapphire eyes fixed upon him with a concentration that she seldom showed, even when caught up in one of her anti-Emily Gilmore rants. For some reason, the way she had always seen him started to shift, ever so slightly, it was like that one short moment at the mall when she thought she saw something different, but this time the feeling was stronger, and she could not tear her gaze away.
Perhaps this could be considered one of those clichéd moments where two people's eyes meet, and everything that defined their relationship before hand is now almost completely irrelevant in the light of these new facts. All she knew was that at one point in her unchecked staring demonstration, Luke had met her gaze and it seemed that he was finding it just as difficult to tear his gaze away. She could feel her heart start to speed up, and for the first time in a while her stomach tingled with butterflies for a reason other than morning sickness. Her eyes narrowed, and each breath she took was obvious, the tension in the room had given way to something purely beautiful, in a way she nor he could describe accurately in words, much less figure out how to react to it.
In the silence, words passed between them, words that had no physical meaning but apparently meant the world to both of them; even if they themselves were unaware anything was actually going on. Time had stopped in the Gilmore's living room, and Lorelai could feel herself loosing that confusion that had come over her quite suddenly, and her mind began to clearly piece together what it was that had changed between them. She saw him in a different light, the way he was always there for her, monosyllabic and gruff, but there when she needed him all the same, even the gesture of wearing the hat she bought him for Christmas one year now meant much more to her than it ever had before.
"What is this?" she whispered, as if she could not bear to think of ruining the mood. The question was one that even Lorelai herself was unaware what exactly she meant, but she hoped that maybe Luke would be able to find a meaning in it. The inquiry seemed to catch him off guard, and he stood for a few moments, lips parted but no sound came forth from them.
Without realizing it, Luke had stepped closer, the sound of his boots moving across the carpet had been completely lost upon the two as they stood, drinking in the silence; but Lorelai suddenly became aware of it, he was so close and yet so far away, she could see the detail of his stubble upon his unshaven jaw, the stubble she had always secretly loved, but it seemed as if he were standing behind a glass door, for her to see but not touch. She inhaled deeply and could smell the scent of the soap he used, something sharp, Irish she would suppose if she were any sort of expert at all on soap scents, and the ever present aroma of cooked french fries and diner related odors, something that never failed to comfort her, whether it was the establishment herself or the smell embedded upon flannel.
"I don't know," could have been the answer Luke whispered to her, but Lorelai was too caught up in staring at his eyes, then at his lips, to fully comprehend anything he might have said. She chewed on her lip softly, and noticed that his navy eyes left hers, as if drawn by the movement, and she stopped, uncertain.
There were boundaries, many she had set up as generic rules for any man in her life, platonic or romantic alike, but there were also lines that she had drawn around herself as soon as she had met Luke, not because he was threatening, he was quite the opposite to be truthful, even when he tried to act otherwise, but because she could see herself falling for a man like him, and when she had met him her life had been too unstable to allow anyone in; but now those lines and restrictions seemed utterly ridiculous and she could not recall why she had ever done anything so foolish.
Without her consent, her hand reached up to trace his jaw line, the stubble a faint tickle beneath her fingertips, and she swallowed when she felt him lean into her touch, although it seemed as if he too had let his body take over for his mind. She could forget all this mess for one moment, with the feel of being so close to a man that for a long time had appeared untouchable to her, one that she felt closer to than most other people barring her daughter, and yet there had always been something unseen between them that prevented her from really seeing who Luke Danes actually was and how much he really meant to her.
They leaned, both as one, simultaneously toward the center, the middle where they were both destined to meet, and in one moment, everything ceased to exist as two lips met in a kiss that was both passionate and delicate, as if they were afraid to break each other; and her hand moved from his cheek to the back of his neck, her fingers played absently with the curl on the nape of his neck, her focus primarily upon the fire that spread through her lips at his touch, the stubble now upon her skin.
His arms left his sides and enveloped her in a loving embrace, his fingers trailed across the surface of her stomach where he knew vaguely, in his stupor, that another life was just beneath his fingertips. And even the chiming of a clock that seemed to echo from everywhere, could not break through this moment.
A/N - Comment if you so desire.