Title: Say Something
Category: Gilmore Girls – LLR with dual POVs.
Rating: G
Summary: What is said when love is all that’s left to offer.

Disclaimer: Like all of the other characters I write about, these are not mine, nor were they ever. I make no profits, other than the rewards of imagination stretched.

Note: the following lyrics are Iron and Wine’s “Such Great Heights”… it’s on the Garden State soundtrack – go listen, I promise you’ll love it like I do :)

*~*~*~*~*

I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and
When we kiss they're perfectly aligned

And I have to speculate
That God himself did make us into
Corresponding shapes like puzzles pieces
From the clay

True, it may seem like a stretch
But it's thoughts like this
That catch my troubled head
When you're away, when I am missing you to death

When you were out there on the road
For several weeks of shows
And when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now," they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now," but we'll stay

I've tried my best to leave
This all on your machine
But the persistent beat
Sounded thin upon listening

That frankly will not fly
You will hear the shrillest highs
And lowest lows with the windows down
When this is guiding you home

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now," they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now," but we'll say...

Such Great Heights
By Iron and Wine

*~*~*~*~*
Say Something
by xenoprobe

“I love you.”

He was serious of course. Leave it Luke Danes to be serious at precisely the moment that she wanted, no, needed him not to be.

He took a step closer, looking at her with careful curiosity behind an otherwise stoic expression. Maybe she hadn’t heard him. Maybe she didn’t think he was serious, I mean, how many times had he joked, chided, played with her. Still, never with her emotions, at least not intentionally. Maybe she didn’t feel the same way- but he thought she did, felt it even. He knew her smile when she greeted him each morning, sometimes at the diner, other, more delicious times in the comfort of a shared bed. He knew the crook of her back and just the right way to tickle her to evoke that laugh, that Lorelai Gilmore laugh. Oh God, maybe he’d been wrong- she was just happy, content, not in love- not really love… That theory was a flattening impact on his heart. Not love, not like him.

He resolved to try again, just in case.

“I love you Lorelai.” He took another step closer and reached out for her and she stiffened in fear. Why, why now? They were back on track. They were having so much fun and why was now the right time for ‘I love yous’ and serious stuff that scared the living crap out of her. Of course she loved him – couldn’t he tell? Couldn’t he see it on her, all over her? She thought her actions had been enough to convey it; it was the romantic way after all right? But what if they hadn’t and he was standing here, declaring love and she was just stupefied and still and too emotionally stunted to reciprocate.

He took a step back and suddenly the minute shift in the air caused her to startle out of her reverie.

“Luke I…” She looked at her feet for a moment.

“You don’t. Do you? You don’t love me- I mean, sure you like me, the coffee’s always great and the occasional sleep over isn’t all that bad but love? Right, I was just too dumb to see it until now.” He was more hurt than angry and even felt the threat of tears behind his eyes.

“You’re mad.”

“I’m not mad.”

“Luke… I never said I don’t love you. I never said that- you did!” She stepped forward this time, and this time he stepped back. “We gonna dance like this all night?” She let a little laughter out, trying to diffuse the moment. It backfired.

“I’m standing here Lorelai, bearing my soul to you and you’re making jokes about dancing, which is a subject I thought we’d already covered way back at the start of all this. Obviously not though. So let’s talk about it then. Dancing. You like it, I like it – at least with you I like it – and we could dance more often if you didn’t clam up every time I try to tell you how I’m really feeling!”

“Luke…” The laughter was gone from her eyes and the slightest frown tugged at her lips. “You know me. You should know just how scary it is- all of this. I’ve said I love you before you know. I’ve said I love you to Christopher, to Max- heck, I think I even said it to Jason. Of course there was Billy and”

“Billy?”

“Idol- and even Elvis”

“Presley?”

“Costello- but those were unrequited and a lot easier to say out loud, ‘cause, you know, they weren’t actually present.” She took in a big breath and held it for a second, lifting her head back up to meet his stare. She could see the start of a smile in his eyes, one he’d deny and throw away to make his resolve stronger if need be. “But Luke, I don’t wanna say I love you ever again without really meaning it once and for all.” He tossed the smile.

“Right. You don’t want to waste any more ‘I love yous’ on the wrong person. I get it.” He turned away from her, his hand on the knob, opening her front door to soft night air. How long could this go on?

“Obviously you don’t get it,” she blurted. He turned around. “Luke… I have loved this many people in my life…” she held up her left hand with three fingers up. “Sookie” one finger went down, “Rory, of course- first and foremost - and” another finger down, leaving her index finger extended, “and you.” She stepped up to him, placing her palms to his chest. His head dropped and he exhaled heavily. The figurative breath that they’d both been holding in for so many years was expelled into the air around them; into the low, pinkish light from her living room, dissipating around them. “I’ve never loved anyone more than this Luke and it scares me. I mean this could really hurt me- hurt us both- has, even. I just got scared but I need you to know that I love you more than I have words for.” She trembled for a split second then broke into happy tears.

“Well- that is a lot!” He pulled her into his arms, one hand cradling her head to his heart “More than you have words for? I didn’t think that was possible, you of all people…” They laughed together for a moment before he pulled back a bit, taking her face in his hands. “I love you Lorelai Gilmore. I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone else.”

His smile was their undoing. He guided her lips to his for the softest of kisses. She tasted of salty tears and coffee from the diner and he was hit for a second time in one night by the weight of this love. His kiss went from gentle to insistent in that moment and Lorelai reciprocated with the same ferocity.

This was love. They were all the way in. This was it.

Anyone passing by outside might have seen a couple, kissing like teenagers, not wanting a date to end, making out by the front door.

But up close, between whispers, laughter and sweet, hungry kisses there was no other explanation. It was love.

FIN

*~*~*~*~*

Author’s Notes: This is my first attempt at a re-entry into the world of fanfic after the end of the X-Files and Buffy. It has been a long dry spell but the combo of the above song and an uninterrupted stint at the PC produced this little ‘I love you’ story for Luke and Lorelai. I need feedback more than oxygen at this point, so please, please, please tell me what works/doesn’t and send all comments to maloax@yahoo.com. (*big sigh* wow… that felt good!)