Luke heard the door to the diner open. "We're closed for the night," he said. Looking up from the table he was wiping, he saw Lorelai, curls framed by the light from streetlamps outside. She was wearing a blue dress, something more delicate than the suits she usually came flying in from work in, and she looked positively radiant.

Luke cleared his throat. "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Lorelai grinned at him. She sat down on a seat at the counter, placing her purse onto the chair next to her.

Luke picked up a mug that was beautiful and colorful, just like her, and sat it down in front of her. He poured coffee into it and watched as she lifted the mug to her perfect lips. "I don't know how you do it, but your coffee is really the best I've ever had," Lorelai sighed contently.

"Want to know the trick?" Luke asked. He leaned forward, an arm on the counter, and lowered his voice. "I put a little cinnamon in it."

Lorelai lowered the coffee mug, and Luke stared into her eyes. Being this close to Lorelai was intoxicating. He could hardly breathe. She looked beautiful and smelled like a garden and... God, she was so perfect. It was all he could do not to lean in and kiss her.

"Thanks for being so good to me, Luke," Lorelai said softly. "I know I've kind of been a pain since I've moved in…"

"Kind of?" Luke interrupted her.

Lorelai gave him a pointed look, then continued, "It's really good to know I have a friend there for me. You are my friend… right?"

Luke slowly walked around the counter, so he was standing right next to Lorelai. "I'm your friend. I'm right here, whenever you need me." Their eyes met, and something passed between the two of them. Lorelai reached up and placed her palm on his cheek. Her eyes glittered, and she sighed slightly, happily. Then she pulled his face down to hers. Her soft lips touched his. Luke closed his eyes and inhaled her sweet scent and lost himself. It was like he was drinking in everything wonderful in life, everything beautiful. Lorelai brought something good into his life; he couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew that somehow this felt right.

Lorelai slid off of the chair and stood before him. Luke buried his fingers in her curls and placed a hand on the small of her back, pulling her close. She wrapped her arms around him, and now she was pressing against him, whispering his name, asking him…

…Luke awoke with a jolt. Groaning, he rubbed his eyes. What the hell had just happened? Where had that dream come from?

Luke was pretty sure he knew what this meant. The loving way they'd looked at each other, the tender way they'd kissed… he had a hunch that these visions, along with the fact that he'd kept that stupid scrap of paper in his wallet for 2 weeks, indicated that he was falling for her. And though he'd never admit this to anyone, it scared the hell out of him. He'd felt this way about Rachel once, and look what had happened. Luke figured it was better to keep to himself than to let someone else into his life and run the risk that she would leave abruptly.

But after envisioning what that kiss could be like, Luke was finding it very difficult to turn his back on Lorelai completely. He was intrigued. Infatuated, even. There was really nothing left to do but accept it, right? The question was, now that he realized he had feelings for Lorelai, was he going to act on it? As wonderful as his dream had been, he seriously doubted that she was just going to waltz into the diner and kiss him. If anything was going to happen, it would have to be of his own accord.

Maybe he could ask her to dinner. That wasn't too terrifying. He'd asked women on dates a couple of times before and lived to tell about it. Surely he'd have ample opportunities: she came to the diner every damn day, after all, twice or even three times if she was really desperate for coffee.

Luke took a shower and then went to his closet. He threw on some jeans, reached for his favorite flannel shirt – then stopped. Should he wear something a little nicer, to catch her attention? He studied his more formal collared shirts, all two of them, then finally sighed in frustration. What was he, some kind of girl? Luke, disgusted with the fact that he'd actually spent two whole minutes trying to decide what to wear, grabbed a generic plaid shirt and buttoned it hastily.

He opened the diner and was just finishing up with the early morning rush when Lorelai and Rory entered, Rory stooped over from the weight of an overstuffed backpack, Lorelai wild-eyed, which Luke was beginning to recognize as a sign that she'd already had at least three cups of coffee at her house. "Luke, I need a massive cup of coffee," Lorelai begged.

Luke shook his head. "You've already had coffee. I can tell by the crazy look on your face."

"I know. But I want more," Lorelai answered eagerly.

"I'm not giving you more coffee."

"Please, Luke?" Lorelai shot him a powerful pout that sent his stomach into knots.

He managed to keep his resolve. "Coffee is bad for you. It rots your insides. You should have herbal tea, like me."

"Hm… what does herbal tea do, make you grumpy and pessimistic?"

"I'm not pessimistic, I just don't want your heart to stop working by the time you're thirty."

Lorelai pleaded, "I need the coffee, Luke. Michel has cousins coming in from France and staying at the Inn, and if I have to deal with an entire army of Michels all day I'm going to need more coffee than I've ever had just to keep from stabbing myself with a pen. Or stabbing one of them. I could start another revolution. Is that what you want?"

"I certainly don't want to be responsible for that," Luke finally caved, bringing two mugs to her table. For the next hour, he watched the two Gilmore Girls, knowing that the perfect opportunity had to arise. Not even Lorelai's sickening coffee addiction could keep him away, after the thought of her lips on his…

Luke shook his head. This was not the time to let his mind wander. He saw that Rory was headed for the bathroom, so he walked over to their table under the pretense of refilling their coffee.

When he arrived at the table, he remembered that he'd just been there. It was amazing what a small Lorelai Gilmore fantasy could do to his memory. "I was just gonna pour you some more coffee," he mumbled.

"Um… you just did like a minute ago." Lorelai held up the full mug. "But if you want to bring over another mug, I have no problem double-fisting. It will get the coffee in me faster!"

Luke briefly thought of reprimanding her, reminding her that she had a problem, but decided against it. He opened his mouth to speak, and nothing came out. Clearing his throat noisily, he began again. "I was wondering if, uh…"

Lorelai leaned forward, chin balanced on one hand, prepared to hear what he had to say.

"I just wondered… would you… do you…" Luke trailed off, wondering whether he could make it through. It wasn't that he was unable to ask out a woman, it was that Lorelai was so captivating that he found it difficult to remain focused on anything if he looked at her for too long.

"So, I guess I better head off to school," Rory's voice sounded. She slid into the chair across from her mother and grabbed for her backpack.

Lorelai checked her watch and added, "Yeah, I really have to get to work, or I'll have a lot of angry French people to deal with." She looked at Luke, a little more softly, and said, "We'll talk later?"

Luke nodded and watched as the two girls walked out the front door of the diner. Silently he cursed himself. Why did he pass up that opportunity? He'd floundered around until he ran out of time. Well, never again. Next time Lorelai came in, her was going to do it.

All day he worked up his courage in the hopes that Lorelai would appear. Dinner passed, however, without her presence. Finally, when he was wiping at table off at about sunset, he caught a glimpse of Rory walking down the street. Surely her mother was close behind.

Yes, there was Lorelai, linked arm-in-arm with… a man. Luke squinted to get a better view of this stranger. It wasn't anyone he'd ever seen in town before, he was sure of that.

He leaned towards a nearby table, where Miss Patty was sitting. "You know anything about this guy who's with Lorelai?" he asked, gesturing towards the window.

"I sure do, doll," Patty replied. She continued in hushed, reverent tones, "That's Christopher, Rory's Dad. The guy who Lorelai fell in love with in high school. He's in town, and the rumor is, he's going to try to win Lorelai back." She paused for a moment, drinking in the image of Chris. "I wouldn't blame her if she went for him. He sure is an attractive man."

Luke moved on, knowing he wouldn't get anything more from Patty now that she'd set her sights on a male. So Christopher was in town. He could feel a slight twinge in his heart. Just when he found someone he could see himself spending time with, she was about to be taken. Of course she would go to Christopher. Luke felt like nothing compared to the tall, good-looking, well-dressed man Lorelai was strolling down the street with. He hollered something to Caesar and then retreated to his apartment. He sunk down into a chair in front of the baseball game so he wouldn't have to think about the awful disappointment of losing Lorelai before he even had her.