Rated R for a couple of words. So children, beware.

Writing on the Wall

What do I do when I want to
Be as close as I can get to you

Sam Phillips, "What Do I Do"

As they part slightly, Lorelai smiles as she hears Judy Garland still singing in the other room.

"What are you watching?" Luke chuckles, a smirk playing across his face as he lets his arms fall, looping around her waist.

"Spinster movies," Lorelai replies with a small smile. Luke looks lost. "It's not important." She waves, tugging on his jacket so he would lean in and kiss her again.

"I'm an idiot," Luke sighs, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"Mmm, talk later." She breathes as Luke kisses slowly down her neck. His hand finds the small of her back, his fingers slipping under her shirt, rubbing circles with his thumbs as he unzips her jacket, getting tangled with Lorelai as she peels off each arm of his coat as her lips meet his again. She loves that coat. She had missed seeing it hanging up in her foyer.

Lorelai sucks in her breath as Luke reaches for the button on her jeans. She secretly loves how needy he is, it reassures her that things would be okay. It was all a misunderstanding and they will have to talk later. But she doesn't mind, she's ready.

She hurriedly unbuttons Luke's flannel and pulls his t-shirt from the waistband of his jeans. She doesn't know why but with Luke's eyes trained on her as she lifts the gray shirt over his head, a lump forms in her throat. She throws the shirt on the floor and hugs Luke tightly. He's there; he's really there, solid and smelling like soap and stale coffee and Luke. "Hey, what's all this?" He soothes as she sniffles into his shoulder.

"I just…I missed you. A lot." Lorelai wipes at her eyes. "And I didn't know if that feeling would ever go away."

"I missed you too," he strokes her hair and pulls her against his chest, her fingers dancing over his smooth skin, her palm presses down, feeling his heartbeat. "God, Lorelai," he breathes.

"We're so stupid," she says, hushed, as she lets him lead her upstairs.

"What color are we going to paint the garage?" Luke asks as Lorelai stirs beside him, squinting at the sunlight streaming through the windows.

She laughs, kissing his chest. "How long have you been up?"

"Not too long. I just—the blue and pink didn't work for me."

Lorelai curls against him. "What do blue and pink make?"

"Purple?" Luke guesses.

"Ooh, lavender. We'll paint it lavender." Luke nods, rubbing her shoulder. "So what you made you change your mind?" Lorelai whispers a minute later, her leg hooked over his as she cradles against his chest. She knows it's a loaded question, but she figures he'll play it off, like he usually does.

Instead, Luke sighs. He knows what she'll think if he tells her the truth.

"Luke?" Lorelai presses after a minute. He sits up, pulling the covers around his waist.

"Luke?" She almost laughs, surprised by his behavior. "Just tell me. Did my mother call you up and command you come back to me?" Lorelai stiffens as he gives her a look. "What?" She gasps, sitting up. Her eyes fly across the room, searching for her clothes.

"Lorelai, let me explain." Luke moves to stop her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She wrestles with the sheets, pulling them off Luke and around her as she moves off the bed to get dressed. "What did she say, Luke? That she would give you half of Hartford if you came back and kept me occupied so I wouldn't make her life miserable, so she could have her precious Friday night dinners back? What did she promise you?" Luke doesn't want this, he doesn't want their reunion to be about her mother, but Lorelai just stares at him like he's just made a deal with the devil. To her, he has.

Luke pulls on his boxers and catches her halfway across the room. "Hey, cut it out," he clamps his hands over her wrists, holding her in place. Her chin trembles and she sinks onto the trunk at the end of the bed.

"I will not cut it out," she spits out angrily between shaky sobs. "I thought you….came back….because….missed me."

"Damn it, listen to me. Of course I came back because I missed you." And suddenly everything that he's been holding back for weeks came out. "I missed you last week at the damn play, I missed you before that, I wanted to talk, I wanted to explain what I meant in Doose's because I knew you had taken it the wrong way, but then I came here and you shut me out or I came here and we ended up fighting in your garage or I worked in the diner and you didn't come in."

Lorelai reels back at this. "So it's my fault?"

"No," Luke brushes back the hair falling in her face. "It's no one's fault. And I will never, ever do anything your mother says. You should know that."

That elicits a small smile from Lorelai. "Okay."

"She said she wouldn't interfere again." Luke braces himself for the biting return this time.

"So once she gave you the free and clear sign, you felt it was okay to proceed? You don't know her like I do, Luke." Lorelai scoffs.

"I was wrong, Lorelai." Luke speaks slowly, deliberately and it makes Lorelai look up, curious.

As far as she knows, Luke's never been wrong. Stubborn, but not wrong. "About what?"

"I thought what you told me in Doose's, about your parents, about Chris, it was just—you wanted—you said it to get me to stay."

"Luke, no," she whispers.

"Let me finish. She said you wouldn't talk to her and so that made me think maybe…I wasn't just the 'for now' guy." Lorelai feels that familiar ache in her chest, not the ache she's felt the past couple weeks, but the one she feels when she knows Rory or Luke or anyone she cares about is hurting.

She presses her hand into his. "You're the forever guy, Luke. I mean, if you want to be." She smiles slightly.

He dips his chin and leans in to kiss her. "Okay. I can handle that."

"Long term Luke," she giggles.

"I didn't come back just because" Lorelai puts a hand over his mouth and nods.

"I know." She cups his chin in her hand, forcing him to look at her. "I'm sorry though, I should have told you. I should have talked to you. You're my best friend, I should be able to talk to my best friend. But I" She bites her lip and shakes her head.

"You were scared?" She shouldn't be surprised that he can read her so well, but she finds it hard to breathe and just nods, wrapping her arms around his neck. They both stay there at the foot of Lorelai's bed, the sheet tangled around them. "We're okay?" Luke finally asks, his voice low in Lorelai's ear.

"We are."

"How about breakfast?" Lorelai nods and Luke gets up, squeezing her knee.

As Lorelai steps in the shower, she lets the steam and the hot water pulsing on her back beat away the stress of the last 12 hours. She loves that Luke is back in her house, back in her life, back in her bed—dirty! she thinks—but she realizes there's something she forgot to bring up earlier. Everything had gotten pushed aside because of her stupid mother, but she shakes that thought from her head and quickly rinses the soap out of her hair. She's halfway across the room before the shower is completely off, pulling on her robe.

"Hey, that was fast, I'm not quite" Luke glances up from the stove, spatula in hand.

"I love you," she blurts out and Luke's spatula clatters to the floor.

"Lorelai, I" He swallows and starts over. "I love you too."

"Good. I just—I meant to tell you that before," she replies sheepishly. He pulls her towards him by the belt on her robe and kisses her, running his hand through her wet hair.

"Mmm," she wrinkles her nose. "Something's burning." Luke turns off the eye and moves the pan on the back burner, stepping back into her. She laughs against his mouth and he grins, slipping a hand inside the folds of her robe. Her hand rests on his ass, which is still clad in just his boxer shorts.

"We can go back to bed," he tells her, kissing her neck, tasting the water droplets from her hair. "I called the diner and told Caesar to open up today."

She beams at him, standing on her tiptoes. "Smart man."