November 30th, 2004

Lorelai excused herself from Miss Patty's party and let Sookie know Luke was outside. She slipped on her couch and pulled the sliding door shut behind her.

"Hey," she half smiled.

Luke had slumped shoulders and spoke in an apologetic voice, "See there's a reason I stay away from people on this particular day. It's because I suck."

"Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. I should've listened to you. I should've stayed out of it. You were right. I didn't think. I mean I didn't think like you would think. I thought like I would think and my thinking is sometimes very, very wrong if you're not me. And occasionally if you are me –"
Luke kissed her, effectively interrupting her babbling.

When their lips parted he stayed close, "You keep thinking like you'd think."

"I can do that," she smirked. "Do you want to come in? You can get drunk just standing next to the punch bowl."

He shook his head, "No, I'm still kinda –"

"I get it," she nodded.

"I just didn't want us to –" he gestured between them.

"We're not."

"Yeah," he waved towards the studio, "You go and have a good time."

"See you tomorrow?" She asked hopefully.

He stepped closer, "Yeah, you'll see me tomorrow."

They kissed and Luke began to walk away while Lorelai watched.

Just as she was about to go back to the party she saw him turn around and smile at her. She made her way down the steps and he met her a few feet away from Miss Patty's.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lorelai asked softly and touched his arm. " I mean I know you're Luke so the answer to that question is generally 'No', but…."

"I don't want to be that way with you. I love you, I love us. And if we're going to go the distance we need to have good lines of communication. And I want to go the distance with you," Luke's voice was so genuine.

"Me too Hercules." Lorelai teased.

"Hu?"

"Never mind. Go on."

Luke's face washed over with pain, "Today is the anniversary of my Dad's death."

"Oh Babe," her voice filled with sorrow.

"Yeah, so I get a little extra miserable and mean on this day," he scoffed.

"Of course you do. It's a shitty day."

"Yeah"

Lorelai wanted to wrap her arms around him, but she held back. "What can I do? Do you want me to leave?"

He was quiet for a minute, she could almost see the wheels turning in his head on how to ask her for what he really wanted, "Well now that you know, maybe you can come up and …"

"Have a beer? Listen to stories about your Dad? I'd love to." She smiled at her own impatience at his slow way of talking.

"You're incredible." His smile finally reached his eyes.

"That's why you love me."

"That and so many other reasons," He put his hand at the small of her back and started walking towards the diner.

She grinned as he stopped to pour her a large cup of coffee, "You can tell me all of those other reasons tomorrow."

Luke followed Lorelai up to his apartment through the empty diner.

Once inside she took off her coat and made herself comfortable on the couch. He placed her cup on the coffee table and grabbed himself a beer. He threw his hat onto a chair and flopped down on the couch beside her. He rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes. Her body was facing him, one leg folded in front of her, without thinking she gently began to stroke his chest.

"I just want to thank you for telling me about today. No one seems to know why you have this Dark Day."

Luke exhaled, "I didn't think I was that mysterious. You would think someone would have figured it out by now."

"We don't have to talk, I can stay, I can go. It's up to you."

He put his hand on her knee and squeezed it, "So I call the shots tonight?" His head was still resting on the back of the couch with his eyes closed.

"One hundred percent! I'm here for you. Whatever you want." She smiled, still gently stroking his chest.

"Well then if it's up to me, get naked and make me forget what day it is."

Lorelai exhaled through her nose, "Really?"

"Not that I would ever say no to that, but I was kidding." He still hadn't moved except for his hand now gliding up and down her thigh.

"What do you normally do on your Dark Day?" She asked quietly.

"Leave town, go to a diner near his favourite campsite. Sometimes I fish, then I normally come home, get drunk, cry and look at pictures of my parents till I pass out."

"Where are the pictures?"

"You don't have to -"

"Luke, we're together. You're the one who said you were all in and I want you to know that I'm all in too. I want to know all the good and bad of your life. I want to see pictures of your parents."

Luke slowly got up and went to the bookshelf and grabbed a photo album. He tossed it on the couch beside Lorelai and went to get another beer.

"This one is still half full," Lorelai pointed at the bottle on the table.

He smirked, grabbed the bottle and gulped down its contents, "It was actually half empty."

She shook her head at him and rolled her eyes, "I'll make an optimist of you yet!"

"I bet I can turn you into a pessimist before that," he countered.

"We'll see, now tell me about these pictures." She cuddled close to him and opened the photo album.

They spent the next little while flipping through the pages, he would tell her who was in the photos and where they were. She fell more and more in love with him with every detail she learned. Seeing him smiling with his parents, being protective and playful with his little sister and to see how early in his life the baseball cap was his accessory of choice, it was all so amazing to see. As the night went on he convinced her to toast his family with his father's favourite scotch. She wasn't sure if it was the drink, the images of Luke happy with his family or the man beside her being so open and talkative, but Lorelai was warmed from the inside out.

Luke was drunk, Lorelai had never seen him like this. He was chatty and he kept in constant physical contact with her.

Luke liked having her with him on this "dark day". He actually felt better this year than any other year he could remember. Talking to someone he loved about his family and getting to laugh and cry a little with her instead of just being alone and angry was a nice change.

"Thanks for being with me tonight," he smiled at her.

"Thanks for letting me in," she smiled back.

He leaned in and began kissing her, sloppy kisses on her mouth, her cheek and then down her neck.

"I'm getting you drunk more often," Lorelai breathed as she turned towards him and bowed her body against his.

"I always want you," he said between kisses with a husky voice. "You don't have to get me drunk."

XoXoXoXoXo

Lorelai woke up feeling groggy and with a headache. She slowly opened her eyes and reached out to find herself alone in Luke's bed. She rolled onto her back, taking ownership of the bed and smiling.

The door opened and Luke came in with a tray, "Good Morning," he whispered, not sure if she was awake.

"You really are the perfect man," She sighed as she sat up.

"I will never get tired of seeing you naked in my bed,"

"Well when I look like one of the Golden Girls you may think differently."

"Not likely," he kissed her and placed the tray on her lap. "Blanche was pretty hot. So was Rose come to think of it."

The tray had aspirin, a small glass of water, a big cup of coffee, pancakes, bacon, sausages and a fruit cup.

Lorelai took the aspirin and water, handed Luke the fruit cup and began eating her pancakes. After a few bites she got serious and looked at him, noticing that he had been watching her the whole time.

"I really am sorry that I bought your Dad's boat. I just couldn't -"

Luke put down the fruit cup and kissed her sweetly, "Don't apologize. I would have regretted getting rid of the boat, it was the nicest thing anyone has done for me. I'm starting to think you really do care about me," he said in a teasing tone.

"Care about you?" She pretended to think about it. "Yeah, I guess. Considering that I'm madly in love with you I suppose there's some caring going on."

"Madly in love with me? You're just saying that because I brought you coffee in bed."

"Maybe," she smiled and took a gulp of the coffee.