Disclaimer in first chapter.

I fooled myself into believing that I would have this story wrapped up before Christmas. Oh well. We can still enjoy the Christmas spirit a little longer. Hope you enjoy!

"My girls! Come in, come in."

Lorelai grinned as Sookie greeted them cheerfully and ushered them out of the bitter cold and into the small and warm apartment. While Sookie helped Rory take off her coat and mittens, Lorelai placed their bags down beside the door and took off her own coat.

While Rory attempted to hang up her own coat on the coat rack, Lorelai turned to Sookie. "Thanks again for this."

"No problem," Sookie assured her. It was absolutely, positively, no problem. "You know that I love spending time with you two. It's a treat to have you over."

"Remember that when Rory is up at the crack of dawn and insists that you have to be up too," Lorelai attempted to whisper but failed. "She's an early bird."

"Early bird gets the worm!" Rory chimed in.

Lorelai gave her friend a look. "That's her thing now."

The look on Sookie's face faltered but she quickly covered it up with a smile. "It's just one night. And I have so many things planned and since she's out of school now, she has no bedtime. She has no bedtime, right?"

Lorelai nodded her head. "Correct. We'll let her stay up late tonight."

"Yay!" Sookie clapped her hands together then knelt down to Rory's level. "I thought tonight we could start by decorating some Christmas cookies, sound good to you, popcorn?"

"I love decorating cookies," Rory insisted. "We tried last year but Mom didn't know how to make cookies."

"Hey, don't sell me out, kid. At least we had frosting."

Rory giggled. "And that's the best part."

"Luckily, I do know how to make cookies," Sookie said. "And frosting."

"One of the many reasons we love you. Isn't that right, sweets?"

"Right! Can we decorate cookies now?"

Sookie laughed at the young girl's excitement. "Of course, we can pumpkin."

While Sookie led Rory through her apartment and to the kitchen, Lorelai grabbed the two overnight bags she had packed and carried them to the small living room. She deposited them by the sofa and kicked off her shoes. She curled her toes in the plush carpet and listened to the animated sounds from the kitchen as Sookie instructed Rory on exactly how to use the piping bags to decorate the cookies.

Earlier today, she and Rory got a rude wake-up call when they awoke to the freezing cold to discover that the heat had went out in their own little home. Mia had fixed up the potting shed to be a livable space for the two and over the past few years, she and Rory had made it a home. A home that now had no heat and until they could find someone to fix the problem, there was no way they could stay there. No number of blankets, coats, and borrowed space heaters did the trick to keep them warm.

Mia assured Lorelai that someone would be there tomorrow to fix the problem but that still left them homeless for the night. With the Inn booked up and with Mia's family in town for a couple of days for an early Christmas, Lorelai felt bad about asking her for even more help even though she was like a second mother to her. Then came Sookie to the rescue who suggested they stay over with her. She had a pull-out sofa, a pile of Christmas movies, and more importantly, she kept it toasty in her apartment.

Lorelai loved the idea because it gave them somewhere warm to stay for the night while easily breezing over worrying Rory any more than she was already worried. That girl had become more of a worry wart recently and Lorelai hoped that it was just a phase.

When she heard her daughter's voice calling out to her, saying that she needed to join them, Lorelai crossed the apartment and headed into the kitchen where Rory had already managed to to make a mess with the frosting.

"Look, I made a Christmas tree!" Rory declared proudly.

"It's beautiful, may have a culinary master on my hands," Lorelai bragged as she came up behind Rory and swiped her own cookie from the counter to decorate her own cookie.

Rory bit into her heavily decorated cookie. "It's yummy too!"

Sookie expertly decorated her own cookies. "I think she's eaten more than she's decorated with."

"She'll work herself into a sugar rush and crash later," Lorelai replied. It wouldn't be the first time. But it was the holidays and the unofficial time for sugar rushes and excitement.

While Sookie's decorating skills were precise and skilled and took more time that Lorelai thought necessary since it was just going to be eaten in a matter of minutes, her own decorating skills were similar to Rory's. Sloppily applied frosting and heavy on the sprinkles and small candies Sookie had brought out for the occasion.

It didn't take long for the decorated cookies to pile up and though Rory had already eaten one and an abundance of frosting for a little girl, she was starting to yawn. Lorelai suggested that it may be time to move to the movie part of the evening and Rory agreed as long as she could have a couple more cookies and maybe some hot chocolate. Sookie happily granted the girl's request as Lorelai moved behind them cleaning up the mess they made over the cookies despite Sookie telling her that she was a guest and didn't have to clean.

By the time Lorelai had the kitchen spotless, well as spotless as she could get it with all the tiny sprinkles littering the kitchen, Sookie and Rory had curled up on the sofa. She smiled at the sight of Rory leaning into Sookie as the animated movie played on TV. She noted, appropriately, that Rory had chosen to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and for a fleeting moment, the one they called Grinch stole into her mind. It was so fleeting that she didn't have time to register why he popped into her head and how he managed to pop into her head at random times over the past couple of days.

When Lorelai sat down on the worn sofa, Rory traded Sookie's shoulder for her mother's lap. Lorelai pulled a blanket over herself and her munchkin. Her hands ran through her daughter's hair and over her back as she coaxed the little girl to relax and enjoy the movie.

They were only halfway into their second movie of the night when Lorelai felt Rory's body sag against her and heard her daughter's breathing even out, indicating that she had fallen deep asleep. Though her leg was cramping, Lorelai didn't move as Rory slept against her until Sookie told Lorelai that she could lay Rory down on her bed until they could manage to fix up the pull-out sofa.

"Okay, but Rory and I aren't going to take over your bed," Lorelai said as she struggled to lift Rory up enough to carry her to the bedroom. "We're the guests, we'll take the sofa."

"Deal," Sookie agreed. "Now go lay that little one down and get back in here so we can talk."

Once Lorelai got Rory settled in Sookie's bed, she made her way back to the living room where Sookie was waiting for her holding two mugs and immediately offering one to her as she sat down. She peered into the mug before taking a little sip.

"Whoa."

Sookie giggled at the reaction. "I spiked the eggnog."

"I can tell," Lorelai replied as she once again curled up on the sofa and delighted in the spiked drink. "This is really good."

She smiled. "I thought you would enjoy it."

They settled into easy conversation, sipping on the spiked eggnog and exchanging stories that had yet to be exchanged. They hadn't had one of their secret meetings in the kitchen in over a week so there was plenty to talk about, mainly gossiping about some of the people they worked with and the numerous guests that stayed at the inn. Both were always entertaining topics. Eventually, the conversation drifted towards the townspeople and the goings-on that Lorelai usually knew nothing about since she and Rory mainly stayed around the inn.

"So," Lorelai began to probe when a natural lull fell in their conversation. "Do you know Luke?"

Sookie nodded her head. "Yeah, I know Luke. It's a small town."

"Right, so everyone knows everyone," Lorelai concluded.

"Why do you ask?"

She gave a shrug of her shoulders. "No real reason. Just wondering. I met him recently, just wondering what you knew about him."

"He owns the diner, he's a few years older than us, he's pretty much a hermit," Sookie listed off little facts. "Miss Patty and Babette drool over him in the diner almost every time they go in there. He's grumpy but not actually grumpy."

"Oh."

Lorelai wanted to delve further, learn a little more, but there wasn't a real way to do that without rousing suspicion. Lorelai had discreetly brought him up once before, letting Sookie know that he was the one that yelled at her and Rory that day but at the time she hadn't referred to him by name. Just that she had talked with him again.

"He's not terrible to look at."

Lorelai let the words fall from her mouth. Maybe it was the eggnog talking. She had already admitted to herself that she thought he was good-looking, definitely hot and she could see why Miss Patty and Babette found him attractive, but this was the first time telling anyone else.

"Not at all," Sookie agreed. "And I saw him at the lake one time, he definitely keeps a lot hidden underneath the flannel."

Lorelai couldn't help the blush on her cheeks at the mental image Sookie's words had conjured up. Sookie didn't miss it either. Lorelai could practically see the gears turning in Sookie's head as she connected the snippets of their conversation together. The leading questions and the blush that still tinged her cheeks that she was doing her best to will away before Sookie could say anything.

"You have a crush on him!" Sookie accused.

"No, I don't!" Lorelai argued. She gulped down the last of her eggnog as Sookie performed a song and dance from the comfort of the sofa all about how she had a crush. "Shhhh! Rory is asleep in the next room. And I never said I had a crush on him."

"Sorry," Sookie giggled. "You didn't have to say anything, it's all in the way you said it."

"I said it in no particular way. I just asked about him."

Sookie continued her own little song and dance but stayed quieter this time. "But it's in the way you said it, so, about Luke," she sung happily. "You want to know more about him because you have a crush!"

"I do not!"

"Okay," Sookie played along, "So why were you blushing when I mentioned what he hides underneath all that flannel?"

"You spiked the eggnog!"

"You only had one cup, the blush isn't from that."

Lorelai vehemently denied Sookie's claim. "I do not have a crush on him. Or anyone for that matter. He's just someone I met recently so naturally I wanted to know a little more about him. It's human nature."

Sookie's grin now rivaled that of the Cheshire Cat's. "You know what else is human nature?"

"Sookie!"

"I said nothing."

"It's what you implied."

"Like you implied that you have a crush."

Lorelai shook her head. "You're delusional. And I think you're the one that had too much eggnog."

"I'm fine," Sookie said happily. "And you have a crush."

Her arms were crossed over her chest when she stood in front of the sofa. "I'm ready to go to bed now."

"Maybe you should call Luke up."

Lorelai scrubbed her hands over her face. "Can you just help me make up the sofa for me and Rory? You said it pulls out, right?"

She cringed at the dirtiness of the line but somehow Sookie didn't pick up on it and dropped the whole Luke issue. Or so she thought. As they made up the pull-out sofa, Sookie brought up the crush topic once again, teasing Lorelai about Luke. This time, Lorelai didn't encourage her by denying the claims even though she was being out-right ridiculous. It would only serve to drag this out.

Sookie seemed to sense that maybe she had taken things a little too far and apologized to Lorelai when Lorelai stopped speaking to her and only focused on piling the blankets up on the bed. She still stood by her initial thoughts and that Lorelai was too blind to see right now. But she felt like she was right.

Later, after moving Rory from Sookie's bed to the pull-out sofa, and after Sookie had retreated to her own bedroom, Lorelai remained awake with Sookie's words echoing in her mind. Sookie was being ridiculous and taking things a step too far, jumping ahead of herself, which she had a tendency to do. The thought that she had a crush on him was just absurd.

Damn absurd.

She in no way had a crush on him.

The next morning, Sookie had the day off and offered to watch Rory for Lorelai while she headed into work. She was grateful for her friend's offer since she didn't like for Rory to be cooped up in the Inn with her all day while she worked. She knew Rory enjoyed the time because she could bounce between working on her reading or hanging around with Mia, but she also knew that both of those could grow a little stale after a few days.

However, before settling into work for the day, she had to head to their little potting shed of a home since she forgot to pack her work shoes. Color her surprised when she came to face-to-face with Luke as she tread over the snow-covered pathway leading to her home.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Obviously she had surprised him too because he asked the same question as his answer. "What are you doing here?"

"I asked you first."

He groaned. "Don't you find that act exhausting?"

She fought the smile that wanted to appear. Replaced it with a look of confusion. "What act?"

"It must take a lot to put up with you."

She breezed past him. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

He followed in her stride. It just happened that he needed to go her way. "It wasn't meant as one."

"Yes, but see," She briefly glanced at him over her shoulder as she walked. "It's all in the way you spin things. You say I'm a lot to put up with, I hear that I'm amazing and only a few can keep up."

"You're crazy too."

"Thank you."

When she came to a stop in front of the potting shed, so did he. She watched him cautiously and now noticed the faded toolbox in his gloved hand.

"You didn't track me down here to kill me, did you?"

"No," he answered. "That would take more planning."

"At least you have a plan," she retorted, still confused as to why he hadn't moved and why he looked like he was waiting expectantly. "Is there something you're looking for?"

He gestured with the hand that wasn't holding to the toolbox to the potting shed door. The door to her home. "I need to get in there. I'm waiting for you to move."

It became clear to her.

"Mia asked you to fix the heater in here."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I had to fix the heating unit a few years ago. Might be the same problem now."

"You probably need to go inside to fix the problem."

"Since the problem is on the inside then, yeah," Luke answered.

She hated that her breathing had turned shaky but she muttered out an 'okay' and reached for the keys in her pocket. On one hand she was happy that he was here to fix whatever was wrong but that meant he would know see where she lived. She wasn't ashamed of it. In fact, she was proud of herself and the home that she had made with Mia's help, but the thought of inviting him into where she and Rory lived, where everything personal in her life was stored, was a little unnerving.

She pushed the door open, her eyes immediately scanning for anything that she might now want him to see. Her hands scooped up a bra and pair of her panties just as he entered the small space. She shoved them into the pocket of her coat when he realized what was going on.

"I usually don't bring guys home this early on."

"You live here?" He questioned. "With your daughter?"

"Oh no, I live here and Rory lives outside. It's important for us to have our own space. She's independent."

"Huh."

"That was a joke," she clarified though she knew he didn't need it. "Mia lets us stay here. I'm sure you had to hear about it. When I moved in, there was a whole newspaper article about it. Talk about an invasion of privacy."

She was rambling. She was a great at rambling and babbling, she could go on and on. The babbling capabilities were infinite but, right now, the rambling and babbling wasn't totally in her control.

"I mean there was even a tiny blurry picture posted in the next paper that looked like it could be me and Rory or the Loch Ness Monster. Mia tried to shield me from it, insisting that this town was really nice, just a little overbearing at times. She's totally right though. I love it here."

"I don't read the newspaper much."

"They got a lot of facts wrong anyway."

Luke looked around the room. It was messy, lived in, he usually kept his place cleaner, but he had to admit it looked well taken care of.

"It shouldn't take me long to fix," Luke spoke up.

"Good, that's good," Lorelai replied.

"Should I go ahead or?" He gestured vaguely.

"Um, yeah, sure, go ahead," Lorelai insisted.

Her eyes darted around the room for her work shoes. She felt weird about leaving him in here when he now knew it was her home but she also felt weird about staying and watching him. The shoes were tucked under the right side of the bed which meant she had to sidestep by him to retrieve them. She only realized how close they now were when she stood back up and turned to face him. He was more than not terrible to look at. And they were standing so close.

Mia came in just a second later and she darted as far away from Luke as possible.

"Oh good Lorelai, you're here," Mia said gratefully. "I forgot I asked Luke to come by this early, I was just coming by to let him in."

"Got that handled," Lorelai said, coughing to cover the slight tremor that threatened her voice. "I was just about to head to the Inn."

"Go on ahead darling," Mia instructed. "Stacy called out sick today so I need you girls to work even harder than you already do."

"You can count on me."

"I know I can." Mia moved more into the room as Lorelai began to head out. "I'm going to stay behind with Luke. I need to talk to him about a few things."

Lorelai gave a quick nod of her head and headed out the door. She welcomed the cold, winter air on her skin. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind on why she felt overheated when her home felt like a tundra. There wasn't time for thoughts like that. And she would definitely not be sharing this with Sookie. She didn't need any more teasing.

This story will be wrapped up soon, it was only ever intended to be a few chapters.

As always, reviews are appreciated.