DISCLAIMER: A big disclaimer this time; Marc Cherry (and his self-titled Marc Cherry Productions), along with ABC Studios own Desperate Housewives, while of course the usual gang of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Hofflund-Polone, and Warner Bros. Television have control of Gilmore Girls. The recipe described below is completely made up and only used for plot device purposes. Mainly since I cannot bake to save my life. Like Lorelai. Viking is a trademark of Viking Range Corporation. All other trademarks and services are the property of their respective owners.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I have a confession to make upfront. I was supposed to do two things with this fic; have it betaed for posting on Christmas Day and have it totally be a fun PWP. I fulfilled neither of those goals. I am posting this with mere minutes to go on Christmas Day within my time zone unbetaed, and I also could not write PWP with these women. When you get an almost RPS couple like Lauren Graham and Marcia Cross in your head and imagine writing this story day and night, you don't want to make it a bad sex story, and you want to put heart into it. So what was a one-chapter 'Bree+Lorelai=KABOOM!!' fic turned into what will be a three-chapter love story revolving around a 24-hour period of time in...employee sexual relations? I guess that's how you can describe it :). Anyway... This story is meant to be a complete surprise and Christmas gift to my dear Danielle, who has done so much for me as my personal beta and McShorty, and probably kept me sane through the whole Callica fiasco. She also introduced me to Meryl Streep and her obsession with it, and I love her so for doing it. It's something that's so fulfilling and I really enjoy being introduced to much more wonderful actresses by her alone and for being such a great friend to me. I can't even look at Megan Fox now and think of her as attractive, for D has given me more insight to pursue crushes on true actresses and opened my eyes to so much beyond that. This story is for you, hon, and I hope that you really enjoy it. You know you can't forget about your classic crushes, right ;)? I also thank The Raven for her offer to beta this, which I was unable to afford her due to the time crunch. I recommend reading her fic Bodyguard, which is really passionate and wonderful stuff to read between Miranda and Andy. Of course, the Devil Wears Prada Secret Santa stories were also released within the last few days. Too much stuff to make a clear recommendation, so...read it all! It's all good :-D! On with this story, and remember, this is unbetaed, so all mistakes and screw-ups are mine, and apologies in advance...
SPOILERS: Up to season five of Gilmore Girls a few months after the opening of the Dragonfly Inn. In this world, Rory never slept with Dean and Luke and Lorelai never kissed during the test run. Meanwhile the DH timeline is completely unspoiled; this is more of an AU with that show because of the ten-year spread in time with that show as of the end of 2008, and it could take place almost anytime as long as it ends up in December 2005. However, Bree has divorced Rex and Orson and moved on with her life elsewhere as described below.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.

Better Than Ice Cream
By Nate

Chapter One
Batter-y Torture

The kitchen of the Dragonfly Inn was oddly quiet for a day a few days before the holidays. Usually the room would be a morass of activity with Sookie 'commanding the troops' as the other workers trilingually worked in English, Spanish, and French to pull of the hotel's most elaborate meals and courses with pots and plates clanging as food was made and plated, while everyone crossed their fingers that no waiter would re-enter the room with a wrong order. The holidays were usually the busiest, even six days before Christmas Day.

But in the mid-afternoon, everyone in the kitchen was either at lunch or planning for the dinner hour, leaving the room empty beyond some of the staff for the inn portion of the building slipping in and out to grab their lunches from the common fridge.

However, this was the time of day the Inn's director of entertainment loved the most, since it allowed her totally privacy to hone her epicurean creations without the longtime best friend of her boss criticizing her that her desserts were incompatible with her award winning menu. The two women were always in conflict with each other, but not so much that they hated each other; they were both just competitive. Long ago they had come to a détente with kitchen time, and Sookie had allowed the woman the non-productive 2pm-4pm hours to do what she did best.

Thus had been the life of Bree van de Kamp for the last nine months, since she left Fairview to escape the pressure of living on a cul-de-sac which seemed to invite trouble with each new day. Without anything keeping her in that town now that her children were all grown, and her and her husband becoming distant in the interim, she had decided the best thing to do for her own sanity was to leave and discover herself in a new and fresh setting. Although she missed her best friend Lynette terribly, the other woman had supported her need to break free and become more than a housewife, and they continued to talk via the phone and webcam as much as they could.

She hadn't considered moving to the small Connecticut hamlet at first, wanting to hone her skills as an expert in entertaining more in a setting such as the Hamptons or the wealthy suburbs of San Diego. However when she talked to the owner of the Dragonfly over the phone, she found the woman to be someone who was after only the happiness of her guests rather than just appealing to the needs of receiving a Five Diamond or Michelin Star. She would not have considered Stars Hollow had it not been for the warm nature of Lorelai Gilmore convincing her that she wanted to give Bree much more autonomy to test her ideas of entertaining than she could in a more corporate or family setting. That the woman was a first generation owner made it much easier to accept the position, as there would be only two people she would have to present her ideas to, and not have to argue every time she wanted to change napkin suppliers, for instance.

When she actually came to Connecticut and met Lorelai, she was even more impressed as she talked to the woman over a three day period, touring the inn and the small town. She found her not only incredibly warm, but also inspiring. She had sworn not to make friends with her at all, but as the hiring interview went further she was shocked to hear that Lorelai was only in her mid-30s and had a child who was a valedictorian and attending Yale. Even if Lorelai was her junior and might have differences when it came to some matters, Bree was impressed by how much Lorelai understood that family was important, more than her job. That impression of Lorelai led Bree to the easy conclusion that Stars Hollow was the perfect place to set down her new stakes, and she accepted the position by hugging her new employer with a smile and a promise that her inn would be seen in many 'Best of New England' lists within the next five years. "I will personally be disappointed if I don't see our name in a national magazine or the weekend travel sections of the national papers by the end of my contract," she declared, and Lorelai was pleased to not only find an employee to take some of the stress from her and let her focus more on the hotel aspect of her venture, but in Bree, a wonderful new friend.

She put all of her passion into her new job, doing all she could to mix her expertise in putting on well-heralded events with that of Sookie's acclaimed food. Before the presentation had been only acceptable, but with Bree dictating the layouts of tables and hiring the artists to perform during Inn events, she put all of her energy into making sure that the Inn was the place to be. She would spend nights looking over the needs of clients and measure them carefully with the menus created by Sookie in order to create perfect events. She would keep Lorelai at the inn into the late hours, and although the brunette sometimes was exasperated that Bree put so much work into an event that it would make a White House state dinner pale in comparison, she also understood she hired a perfectionist. "You're the Paris Gellar of entertaining," she commented once during a 1am meeting about an affair involving a Bridgeport service society. Having heard the stories from Lorelai about her daughter's intense best friend, Bree pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Lorelai, I hate to say it, but I make Paris look like a slacker." And indeed she did, as after one dinner Paris was invited to, the blonde complimented Bree on her hospitality, but also told Lorelai that even she could never stand to be that intense about her work. "Even I need to breathe," she said, and although Lorelai tried to assure Paris that the redhead did take timeout for herself, it was more often for only one day out of the seven in a week. And even then, she was in the pew at 8:30am sharp Sunday morning at Mass to hear Rev. Nichols revive her religious zeal anew. Bree had always lived on regimen, and it was no different in Stars Hollow.

However as she brought together her ingredients for her newest culinary creation, Bree admitted to herself even with her work, she was more relaxed than she ever was on Wisteria Lane. She lived on the same street as Lorelai two blocks down and enjoyed that her neighbors were kind just because they wanted to be, and not because they had some hidden reason to get ahead. Though she was annoyed by Taylor being extremely pro-commerce even by her own standards, having him as the only annoyance in her current life compared to Susan's constant misadventures was downright relaxing. She even was a regular at Luke's for morning coffee, although the man, as usual would not take her criticisms about how he did business or the process by which he made or served his food. It was quiet living in her nice little two-bedroom home, being able to come home at night, kick off her shoes and live as perfectly as she liked.

Still, she felt an unnatural pull that was opening up within her that had long been pushed to the back of her mind, or was just coming out period. Being the conservative woman that she was Bree was always the type to think that woman could only be friends, nothing more. A loyal attendee of church with a deep reverence to God, she never questioned those thoughts that it was wrong to feel an attraction to anyone but a male. It never entered her mind since she had only dated or been married since her teenage years.

But as she mixed her ingredients, Bree kept going back to her dreams as of late. I don't know why she's such...she's such...guh. This should be so simple. I am employed by her. Nothing more than that, and It should not be more.

The thought was about Lorelai and how over the last couple months, she had found her new solitary existence changed by the brunette woman she could have never pictured as a boss sight unseen. She took a deep breath, remembering that her impression of an inn owner was always to be strict and cool, only opening up to someone when the economy was in a recession and the next words out of their mouth were to be for her to take a pay cut or that her services were no longer required.

Lorelai was not the average boss, though. She was casual and kind, taking all of Bree's suggestions seriously and working with her if something didn't work out well. When one group had criticized the band she had hired for their event and the meal planning, before Bree expected it Lorelai defended her employee and suggested that if they wanted boring and staid, other venues might be more appropriate for them. She had been surprised to find such a great friend in her boss, and couldn't understand how the woman could keep putting up with her through her fits for perfection.

To a point though, Bree didn't understand some things about Lorelai. Like how she couldn't cook. When she was invited over for dinner to the Gilmore house, the first time she was appalled to learn was that dinner for Lorelai consisted of choosing a pizza of her own from Joe's. This would be followed by a half-hour lecture by the homemaker that she was surprised Lorelai could not cook anything that didn't come from a microwave or a box. When Lorelai opened the oven to reveal her storage space for shoes, Bree had to excuse herself to the bathroom to have a little chat with God about how Rory managed to live with a mother who fed her massive amounts of preservatives. She was glad to learn later that Lorelai did prepare salads for herself and that most of her nutritional needs came from Sookie, but it still wasn't enough for Bree. She begun to make it her own personal goal to teach her boss how to prepare fresh foods for herself and learn to enjoy them.

She also wished Lorelai would show less disdain for her mother, Emily. She understood the need for her to run away when she was younger after having Rory, but she sympathized for Emily, finding her to be a nice lady and someone she could get along with. Bree couldn't understand how Lorelai could show some disrespect for the woman who borne her, and talked to her about it at times. It was a matter they would have to agree to disagree with, and while Lorelai understood Bree didn't mind Emily, she knew she didn't have to like that opinion.

But it was the thoughts in her mind that were getting to her lately. Being alone in bed, her mind would wander towards the innkeeper and how she enjoyed having Lorelai in her life. This was even though sometimes Lorelai would call her by a nickname she gave her based on her extreme hyperfocus towards her work, "Bullseye Bree." There was also a form of the nickname that was exchanged out of her earshot in which she heard the woman prefix "No" to a term describing cow droppings. She would never admit it to anyone, but when she first heard the name...she smiled and almost stumbled over her heels, feeling so flattered by her boss's description of her.

Her beautiful and beguiling boss, currently plaguing her mind and making her wake up in a cold sweat a few mornings in the last few weeks.

She stirred the concoction within the large mixing bowl, trying to understand why she was suddenly beginning to think of her employer in such interesting ways. The pale housewife tried to bring the images out of her mind, trying to think of the setup for the next Bracebridge Dinner in the next few days and how she could find a cheap, yet durable version of the shirts the servers wear that would not stick out like a sore thumb to Paris. She had to have it perfect. But she also had to have it under budget...

Instead, there she was at the kitchen table at the Gilmore home, playing poker with Lorelai and a couple of other people which were fog figures. And there was the innkeeper in a form-fitting sweater which displayed her cleavage in a prominent 'v'. She was making a quip about some television show, but Bree was paying no attention to what she was saying. Only what she was doing.

What Lorelai was doing was sliding her bare foot against Bree's creamy thigh...

"No!" She closed her eyes and shuddered, trying to throw the image away. "I am a serious woman. I can't think that way!" Her breath had quickened at the image of Lorelai's flirtatious smile directed her way, one that in the past was directed towards Luke, but as of late had been thrown in her direction. Before Thanksgiving the women were deadly serious about work, but with the many events leading to Christmas and Hanukah, Bree and Lorelai saw each other every day. Even on their days off, one of them would drop by their houses and they would talk for at least an hour. Bree didn't understand why her feelings for her boss were growing so much, or why she felt so comfortable doing even simple things like Tupperwareing entire weeks of meals to put in Lorelai's refrigerator just so the woman had a somewhat home-cooked meal to come home to.

Especially beguiling was that on the surface, she thought Lorelai was a bit flighty and silly, always fast to make a joke. She had gotten used to all of Lorelai's highly dirty quips about President Bush and that she would never turn the brunette towards the Grand Old Party. That Lorelai was a Democrat alone should have been a friendship breaker, but they never really talked politics. There was no need, since Lorelai understood why Bree was the way she was, while Bree could concede that the hotelier's views were hardly hostile at all.

Still, Bree was finding herself attracted to Lorelai. She knew she shouldn't, and that of course the Bible found it wrong, allegedly. But even she knew that the good book didn't have to be taken word for word, and that whole 'lay with another man' thing was a bit vague. After all, in her opinion, everyone back then was more concerned with keeping a steady population than the full intricacies of romance. We have more than enough people now, she thought to herself, I think it might be time to think about the fact that a man does not always need a woman. Nor does a woman need a man, period, end of discussion. Seriously, is it that wrong to bring religious canon forward to reform within our lives as they are today? The whole 'uncloven hooves' problem was fixed by artificial refrigeration, for instance. I think we need to move a bit forward.

With that thought, she got back to the matter of making a special dessert she was sure the guests were going to enjoy. She wanted to test out her new recipe for a few months, but until that point it didn't seem to be the right time. With the holidays, nobody cared about low-fat. They wanted decadence, something that tasted heavenly and divine, or was a unique challenge to come up with. She had tinkered with the recipe and flavor combinations for a few months, even to the point of using different brands of each ingredient. A few nights before she came up with the perfect combination, and was ready to test it out on her hopefully willing public. With everything perfectly blended, she prepared to pour the mixture into a funnel so she could put the perfect amount into each cup...

At least she was prepared to before she heard the squeak of the kitchen door. Bree dreaded that it was Sookie ready to tell her that her dessert was incompatible with tomorrow's lunch menu and girded herself for the complaints.

She breathed easier when it was just Lorelai walking in, exasperated from the busy day she was having at the front desk. With Michel taking a few days off, she was checking guests in, and was glad that Gayle, the second shift desk clerk was clocked in so she could take a break before heading home to rest for a night before the big holiday rush started. Taking in the brunette who was taller than her by only a mere inch, the domestic goddess smiled at her boss.

"Lorelai." She was glad to see her. "Busy day?"

"You could say that," Lorelai responded, letting a breath draw out slowly. "I knew there was a reason I wanted my own inn, and that was because I didn't want to be stuck on desk duty for the rest of my life."

"I told you, you should have suggested Michel take those days earlier in the season," Bree chastised. "Besides, aren't you happier when he's gone?" She couldn't understand why Lorelai kept the Frenchman if she didn't like him too much.

"But he does a good job. He's a little brusque, but he does a good job. He's like a pro at this, while I'm busy being Ms. Owner and making sure that we're running well." She raised her arms up. "I get there and everyone and their mother wants to check in. Really, Bree, you have the relaxing gig."

"You really think that? Tell me you don't remember the Daughters of Bridgeport and how hard they were to please. I swear, I couldn't keep them satisfied at all." Shaking her head, Bree listened to her best friend in the Hollow go on about some of the guests she checked in, including a guest who actually hit on her at the desk.

"He says I have the universal key, so surely I'd check in on him later. Damn men have no idea that I'm not into really doing my guests. For one thing, it's kind of tacky."

"Tacky? I'd think the police would think you're running a prostitute operation if you provided...service with a smile, shall we say."

"Oh, dear God!" Lorelai shuddered. "Bree, you did not just suggest what I think you did!"

"What, you make the dirty quips all the time. I figure I'm due." The redhead laughed softly. "Besides, with guys like that you just let them dream what they might have done."

"So basically...definitely change the sheets in that room in the morning?"

"Probably the mattress too."

"Thanks for the advice." Lorelai smiled, sitting on the edge of the counter next to Bree, taking in the perfectionist's process. "So, what'cha making there?" She directed herself to look at the contents of the bowl Bree was stirring, along with the spread out ingredients and pans on the surface of the prep table. "Looks kind of impressive."

"I would think so, you know I've been tinkering with a good recipe for the last few weeks." She looked at Lorelai, trying to keep herself from bringing up the impure thoughts she had of how her employer looked. "I kept thinking about it, and I figured tomorrow's full house is as good as any to try this out on."

"So what is it? Some kind of chocolaty muffin? You have plenty off muffin pans out."

"Close; actually I'm doing cupcakes."

"Cupcakes, eh?" Lorelai let her lips form into a devilish grin. "Something basic."

"Do you consider chocolate/vanilla/cherry basic?" Bree wondered, her voice light. "I'm trying to make the vanilla a more dominant flavoring than the chocolate, with cherry right in the middle; to give the taste buds a good experience." She pointed farther down the table. "Oh, and mint icing."

Lorelai was happily in shock at the audacious direction of Bree's holiday baking. "Really? Choconillacherry cupcakes. Sounds delicious."

"I need a better name than that, Lorelai. It's not a breakfast cereal and it needs a classier name than that." She sighed, wondering how the innkeeper still was in love with pop culture from so long ago. "This is going to be the recipe that I hope will make Sookie realize I'm going to stick around. She always seems to want to compete rather than compliment." Her voice went down a bit, and Lorelai noticed the small hint of hurt within the dusky tone of her entertainment director's voice.

"I know she still thinks you're new. I'm trying to talk to her about it and I know you're trying to hold back that you want her to cooperate more. I know it's hard because you're competitive by heart, and you don't want to say anything to hurt the business."

"I just figure if I stay out of the way, we can't fight," Bree admitted. "She's been your friend for so long and I don't want her to be jealous."

Lorelai shook her head, trying to make her new friend see that she wasn't mad at her. "Look, I know that you treasure your time here without the staff, and you're especially glad today that you have an extra hour. I know how you enjoy your quiet time in here, where you can work without help, just like you love it." She pushed away from the counter, and moved to behind Bree, setting her hand on the woman's delicate right wrist. "God, I remember how she didn't even want to hire a director. She said we were fine, just the two of us. But I couldn't devote 100% to this, and I refuse to accept that we can get by on just the food. We need a good placesetting and presentation, and I'm glad that you found your way to me, Bree."

"I just feel guilty--"

"Don't. Sookie can get over herself, but I need her to support you. I know she makes the claim that this is her kitchen, but you work here too. You work hard, hon, and you've done more than I ever imagined making us look good. I mean, you direct, you can whip up an awesome event in hours, you know this floor better than the damned builder ever could have when he built this inn. Without you here we'd have so many dinners in the boring rectangle table format, but you've made me learn to love roundtables, banquets, supper club seating. You were born for this job, and I would have regretted it if I didn't hire you." She was emotional, but after so many conversations where Sookie complained about how Bree was such a perfectionist, she was tired of the petty conflict the woman had with Bree. She could no longer think of herself without Bree on her payroll, and that opinion had moved on to her entire life within the last couple months.

"I'm...I just know though, that we have problems. That she'd rather be here now and that we'd hire a dessert chef and I'd stick to laying out and hiring performers."

"Bree...I have no complaints about you at all. Not one." She moved her hand to rest upon the angular fingers of the slim woman. "You came from a not-so-happy place and your life, it hasn't been good before you came here. I mean, you had enough going on to fill a soap opera."

"Daytime, or primetime?" Bree joked.

"Better be in primetime." Lorelai felt protective. "When you came to apply, you were a bit withdrawn and distant from me. I'm a newcomer to your life, and I know it takes so long to build a trust. But I hope that I've done that. You're like I am, missing your kids, trying to find purpose. I understand that, and that's why I hired you, because I saw that you have all these smarts from being a housewife for so long that definitely work in this field. That's something you can't learn in one of those TV schools."

"Lorelai...you don't mean that." The redhead was startled, always thinking that despite her extreme drive, she could always use some pointers. "I'm just lucky I did so many events for my husbands over the years. Otherwise I'm not better than--"

Lorelai had never seen Bree be so open with her feelings. Usually it took brute force and absinthe to even get her to open up a small inch about anything in her life. Today though, she was open, and the brunette thought she knew why.

"Hey, what are you doing for Christmas?"

"I was planning on working. New Year's Eve isn't too far away," Bree responded.

"Not going back to Fairview?"

"Maybe next year. For now, I have to get used to this town. And maybe try to avoid the carolers."

"You mean Kirk?"

"I mean Kirk." Bree smiled, rolling her eyes at the memory of the town 'jester' waking her up at 1am a few nights ago to a horrid version of Feliz Navidad. "How do you tolerate him again?"

"I don't remember. I think it involves an immunity idol in front of my house and a voodoo doll."

"I wish it involved a pin...down there. He has a crush on me!" Bree cringed as she recalled the oddball man propositioning her so formally. "I was a married woman once, and I do not intend to be married to yet another eccentric man." Scoffing, she pursed her lips together, repeating the conclusion she had come to often since her move. "I just want someone to love me who doesn't have odd tics, and one of those specifications does not involve a man who names his feral cat after himself."

Blushing, Lorelai took in Bree's eloquent rant. Staring at the woman next to her, she still found it amazing that she hired such a driven and determined woman to run her events, and that she always did a job beyond her wildest expectations. Smirking, she laughed, enjoying how she felt about Kirk.

"You should tell him that." Bree gave her a glare that would freeze someone a mile out.

"I refuse to say anything to him. If I'm cool, eventually he will see that I have no interest in him courting me. I've learned that over the years and it has broken down anyone from seducing me while I was married."

"Thankfully I've never had that problem," Lorelai responded. "Not that marriage is bad. Um, it isn't." Why am I getting flustered? Lorelai couldn't understand how she was thinking so oddly around her employee so suddenly. "I mean I almost got married once, but it didn't work out, and it probably wouldn't have, but hey, it didn't hurt to try a relationship. Even if it was awkward, to someone grading my daughter's schoolwork..."

Lorelai continued to chatter on about how she could use sex to get an A from Max while Bree just listened to the purring of her voice, not paying particular attention to anything but how she talked, and the fact that her boss was within her intimate circle. Usually, the woman was cold and would have already pushed Lorelai away with a polite reminder.

Instead, she took in Lorelai's fragrance and wondered how such a woman could be so frenzied and have a rat-a-tat sense of humor and speech, but at the same time, be so sensual. Wait, what? She closed and opened her eyes, a cold chill running through her. She couldn't understand her attraction, the way she felt around the woman. That in the last few weeks, her mind was no longer dead focused on her work, but the woman who gave her the opportunity.

"Bree, you OK?" Lorelai's voice became louder in her mind, and suddenly she was darted back into reality with a touch of the woman's cold hand against her wrist.

Startled, she whimpered softly, scared by the sudden touch. Lorelai backed away immediately, apologetic.

"Shoot, I'm...I'm sorry. I know you hate it when people get too close to you." The brunette knew the entertainment chief was always uncomfortable about being touched without previous prodding. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Bree brushed it off, knowing that in any other circumstance, she would not have minded. She turned to face her boss, her eyes downcast and her face flushed from the fact she wasn't reacting to the touch with her usual disgust, but in another way altogether. "It's alright, Lorelai. I just am trying to focus on this, and I did not mean to zone out." She cursed herself for falling off task. "I would hope that you know this isn't a reflection on how I feel about your love life."

"What do you mean?" Lorelai was confused. "I left it at the sex joke and moved on. You didn't hear me ask that question?"

"What question?"

Lorelai noted the look in Bree's eyes, as if she felt like she was wrong for forgetting her for a moment. "Well, I asked you how many cupcakes you were preparing for tomorrow."

"Oh. Ohhhh." For a moment, Bree thought she was asking something else altogether. "Five baker's dozen, coming to 65 in total. I'm taking advantage of the extra time to do more than usual."

"You must really feel confident about these cupcakes."

"I do; if everyone wants these, I'm going to push Sookie to let me have the kitchen on the 23rd to prepare a gross."

"Truly, you are insane, Mrs. Van de Kamp. I would roll over at two dozen." She smirked at the woman, who herself was giving Lorelai a once-over, feeling emboldened and her usual self-censor malfunctioning from how flustered she was.

Without thinking, she opened up the door, and had no regrets. Twirlng around, the conservative woman let herself become bold.

"That's Ms. Van de Kamp to you, Lorelai." She turned back around, not seeing the shock registering on the other woman's face as she explained the intricacies of honorifics. "I am no longer with a husband, thus it is appropriate not to use the Mrs. honorific."

"OK, Miss Manners." Smirking, Lorelai decided that the mixing bowl batter was too enticing, and she wanted a taste of Bree's newest treat as soon as possible. Reaching over across Bree's arm, she let two of her fingers on her right hand dip into the bowl when Bree paused her stirring and let a dollop of cupcake batter coat her fingertips.

Where moments before the other woman was joking, Lorelai had broken the most important commandment of her entertainment director.

"Lorelai!!" The redhead darted her attention right towards Lorelai, innocently drawing the batter towards her mouth. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I want to try this," Lorelai responded. "Come on, it's gotta be delicious. You might as well let me have a taste before it goes in the oven."

"Well it can't now." Bree let her heel hit the floor a bit hard. "You know how I am about my food. I can't have you acting like you do around Sookie, just dipping in, being  a taste tester at all. Not at this stage at least."

"Bree. It's cake batter. I know it has raw eggs in it, but one lick isn't going to hurt." Rolling her eyes and laughing, she was shocked that Bree was throwing a fit.

"One lick? Which is 1/4 of a cup that will only make 59 cupcakes now, unless you want to tell some pour soul why they're only getting 3/4 of a cupcake."

"But this...wouldn't it only make 24?"

"That is not the point!" Bree raised her hands, trying to ignore the fact her eyes were wandering to Lorelai beginning to place the fingers in her mouth. "You know how I am, and yet you go ahead and contaminate my dessert with your...your germs?"

"Hey, chill." Lorelai was the only one who could use that term casually with Bree without getting her ass kicked. "I washed before I came in here. I know how you are."

"It doesn't matter. This batch is ruined because..." She paused to regain her bearings. "Because..." She was intending to give Lorelai her time-honored food safety lecture.

Instead, her mind blanked as swirled red, yellow and black cake batter found itself licked off by her new best friend's incredibly talented tongue. She brought it out just a sliver to lick around each of the fingers to let her taste buds bask and wander each of the three flavors within the mix. Her nails were painted in an alternating Christmas pattern of red and green, a choice Bree would have found hideous and a groundable offense had Danielle attempted to wear it in public, or even in the house.

If Bree would ground Lorelai though, it was because one of her late night dreams which ended with her in a cold sweat was appearing right in front of her. Sucking the tip of her finger, she inhaled the remainder of the batter, taking in the texture and consistency of all the flavorings, closing her eyes in an attempt to heighten her taste sense more than usual.

The look on Lorelai's face startled the traditional woman across from her. Brushing a few strands of hair across her ear, Bree felt an involuntary reaction speeding through her. She knew that guys loved the image of a woman taking something into their mouth. Of course, she found it abhorrent, but also unbelievable. It's just suction, she thought. A human action, nothing more.

Then Lorelai forced a deep moan from her throat. One that Bree's husbands had never aroused from her in any way. This was an alien sound to the homemaker, one she never thought she could arouse from her or somebody else.

The brunette swirled the mixture around her mouth, every bud getting the full sensation of the taste. Letting the mixture slide down her throat until all that remained was the aftertaste, Lorelai took in a deep breath, and then kept her mouth closed a little longer to let the batter linger as long as possible before she opened her eyes again. Bree was prepared to yell at her more.

That is, if her inner vixen hadn't jumped up front from the backseat and taken the wheel of her mind.

"Oh my God, Bree," she intoned. "You're sure that supposed to be in a cupcake?" With her voice deep and throaty, Lorelai reacted to an inn taste test in a way like she never had before. "That...that...oh, damn."

"Lorelai?" Bree was concerned; not that Lorelai swore in front of her, which was highly discouraged by her, but instead, that she was seeing the woman in a new light.

"I think I have an awesome name for these, but it would probably get my establishment permit revoked by Taylor if I dared printed it on anything." She moved towards the other woman, glad for the fact she could handle 4" heels, while Bree made do in 3-inchers, putting the two women eye to eye. "That is going to be the best cupcake I'm ever going to eat."

Still, Bree was a bit perturbed at Lorelai for her encroachment. "You're not having any. You have contaminated this bowl and ruined my count, thus I'm going to have to start all over again." Her voice, which would usually have been firm and cool instead had a lilt to it that was surprising to the other woman.

"Really?" Oh no, here comes that...that smile of hers. "You're going to have to make more than sixty of these, hon. 600, you might have something there. It's not even frosted and I'm afraid that's going to be...well, it is the icing on the cake."

"Lorelai?" Stop, Bree. Stop looking at her blouse. You are a mature woman. A pillar of the community. And right now, you are mentally sexually harassing her. She's not hearing about it, but she does not need the 'I want to have sex with her' eyes at this moment. Not at all.

And that's when Bree found herself confronting the fact that she was even thinking of sex and Lorelai in the same few words. She averted herself, trying to bring the bowl closer to her.

She was unsuccessful as Lorelai took the opportunity of distraction to grab the egg beater out of the bowl.

"So what else are you topping it with?" Lorelai asked, impervious to the death glare directed her way. "We have that shipment of pitless Door County cherries coming in; I'm sure if you asked nicely, Sookie would let you have them."

"Stop it," Bree said. "You are interrupting my workflow." She seethed, trying to bring herself back into the control she held on to tightly. Rubbing her thumbs in her palms, she attempted to calm herself from Lorelai. Over the months she had become so used to the woman's sense of humor and peculiarities, and could easily deal with them calmly.

Right now though, watching Lorelai wield the beater, she knew where it was headed. And despite all of her best efforts and prayers to stop what she felt, her body was hot, and the proximity of Lorelai was turning her on.

"Bree, Bree, Bree," Lorelai smiled at her, her finger gliding on one of the tines of the whisk. "I don't think Channel 30's Dirty Dining crew is here to bust us, nor is the health department. My dipping one finger in will not cause a salmonella outbreak. So relax, and enjoy the fact that these cupcakes are the best damn thing you've ever made."

"Ever?" She scoffed. "Obviously you haven't ever seen one of my Thanksgiving layouts."

"I have seen. There's a difference." She licked the batter from her fingertip again, enjoying the taste of the raw batter. "I'm serious...you should swirl this into ice cream and sell it to Ben and Jerry. You'd be a millionaire."

"I highly doubt that your opinion matters more than that of James Beard."

"Jimmie B. doesn't like sinful desserts; he's way too biased." She licked her other finger, enjoying each new taste of her stolen batter.

"Excuse me, did you just reduce our nation's foremost gastronome to that of a...a commoner?" Shaking her head, Bree was unbelieving. "From New Jersey? Did you know he passed away twenty years ago?"

Lorelai enjoyed seeing her obsessive worker all riled up, noting the way her forehead wrinkled and the defensive posture she took while her mind wandered to enjoy how Bree looked in a basic grey pencil skirt and those classic, yet sexy heels. I know she's a beautiful woman, she thought to herself. Wow, I can see why my dreams have been hitting me with a 2x4 lately, because, damn. She wished she could whistle at the way the lime-colored cardigan sweater Bree wore flattered her figure perfectly.

The women continued to debate the ramifications of Lorelai eating batter from the bowl, Bree staying stubborn and wanting to remake a new batch, while Lorelai argued that Sookie tried her own food all the time, that it wasn't uncommon for chefs to taste their own work. Bree responded that if food was great, it was up to the customer, not the chef to declare it so. Her obstinacy continued while she failed to stop Lorelai from dipping the whisk in the third time for yet another indulgence. The auburn beauty would have easily overpowered someone else like Gaby by that point to stop dipping in.

Not that Gaby would have ever tried it, of course. An ounce of batter to her was an automatic five pounds on her butt.

But Lorelai's metabolism brushed off all of her indulgences as if they never happened. She kept trying to sway Bree that she was making excellent cupcakes, and the two women went back and forth trying to argue food safety versus deliciousness, within a vicious circle. Lorelai behaved as if she was a pesky sixth grader while Bree tried to push her away half-heartedly, worn down slowly from her friend and inn owner trying to let her know she was sorry, but Bree knew that she was drawn to food like a magnet.

By this point in the past Bree would have long raised her voice firmly and asked who she was arguing with to leave, even over bowl licking.

But she was thinking much differently in this situation. Thinking about the last couple months, how she had pushed all the feelings that she had for Lorelai under the cover of it being sinful and wrong. She was so embarrassed by one torrid dream where she woke up with a damp spot beneath her that she threw out her bedclothes and chastised herself for having the impure thoughts.

Lately, her idle moments had her questioning her long held mores. About how women were meant to be distant friends, never becoming as close as blood brothers. Of how despite her long held belief that the woman's place was in the home, she was making a decent salary from being independent and now being free from the day-to-day care of her children as they grew up. How she never lived for herself, but for others, including overextending herself on all cylinders to satisfy those requirements.

Looking at Lorelai, her boss, smiling at her with that seductive look in her eyes, her heart quickened and with each rat-a-tat of the argument back towards her, Bree's lungs seemed to float within her body. She felt ready to say something, at least bring up the topic for them to deliberate and open up the discussion, or if it came to an extreme, agree that she was probably just seeing things and they would remain friends...

"Lorelai, I want to stop--"

She was intending to cut off the 36 year-old woman's speed rant about how she enjoyed fresh desserts much more than the processed mound of preservatives Hostess loved to call a Twinkie, when she set her hand down to lean on the butcher block that made up the counter Bree was preparing the food on.

Usually, Bree would be meticulous about making the workspace hers. But in a corner of the table she thought she would use, some of the foodservice workers had prepared fresh Italian bread earlier in the day. They forgot to clean up the flour afterwards, and the forgetfulness Bree had, being distracted by a thought about how her friend must be a sadist for wearing four-inch heels every single day to work, would be a critical error.

Lorelai placed her hand on the floured surface, expecting her fingers to have a good enough grip so she could lean on it. Instead her palm slipped down on the surface and she lost her balance in the previously mentioned high heels. She quickly tried to get a grip on some surface on the table and nearby, but struggled to grasp her fingers around anything. With Bree just beyond arm's length the redhead immediately made an attempt to save her friend from falling, but her hand couldn't grasp Lorelai quick enough.

Finally, Lorelai was able to grasp onto something on the butcher's block, while continuing to make sounds that she was falling.

Unfortunately, that object happened to be a certain non-anchored mixing bowl, and she tumbled quickly to the ground taking the porcelain bowl with her.

Additionally, most of the cupcake mixture didn't come with her either, as the angle at which she grasped the bowl was at the inward side.

Alas, Bree didn't consider making cupcakes worth wearing an apron to protect her lime cashmere sweater, since...she was making cupcakes. There was no way to avoid the inevitable as the thick brown and beige batter splattered upon her as Lorelai's ass thumped onto the ground and she groaned in pain tightly. Bree attempted to divert away, but she took most of the brunt of the mixture, while some ended up on Lorelai. About the only thing Bree was successful at stopping was from catching the bowl at the edge of the table to prevent an average everyday spill from turning into a situation where a tourniquet and EMS would have to be involved.

Lorelai lay on the ground, struggling to get up as numbness coursed through her back.

"Owww..." She had never felt so mortified in quite a while. Here I'm having a nice conversation with Bree and now I'm in biiiig trouble, she thought, trying to focus her vision upwards, thankful she didn't also get a concussion. Looking up, she expected to see Bree in full bitter anger, the way she had when a wedding event using outside caterers had been horribly botched by them, forcing her to do more legwork than necessary to keep the event from turning into a disaster. She remembered the bile Bree dealt out to the catering company's main coordinator and how she hoped that the newly married couple's experience would be enough to put them out of business.

She couldn't breathe. Lorelai expected Bree to find her annoying for ruining her prep work...

Oh shit. With her vision back, she could see that Bree was not pleased at all. Batter dripped down her chest as she grumbled and set the bowl back on the counter. Preparing to be yelled at within an inch of her life, she finally took in a deep breath as Bree wetted her lips and opened her mouth to speak.

"Darn it!" She threw the whisk carelessly into the bowl. "Great, this is just wonderful." She looked down at herself and her ruined clothes. "What am I going to do?"

"Bree, I'm so sorry--"

The redhead cut her boss off, trying to calm herself from saying something she might regret. "Please, don't say a word. Just don't say anything." Lorelai struggled to get up. "I'm going to have to pull an all-nighter now. I hope I can remember the order I put in the ingredients."

"You didn't write them down?" Lorelai asked, surprised.

"I didn't see the need; I kept the recipe my head all day. But now, I forgot it a little bit. And I'm going to have to cut what I want to make to 36 because my home oven doesn't have as much room for baking as I have here."

Lorelai felt ready to leave, like she was to blame for everything. No matter that there were so many distractions within that kitchen beyond her eating batter, but in her eyes, that was all she thought mattered to Bree. She felt depressed, like all of the progress they had made in their friendship the last few weeks had just been wasted. After ruining what she thought would have been the perfect cupcakes, the young mother knew for sure that she was seeing the side of Bree that everyone else in her former hometown saw everyday. The perfectionist conservative who had an extreme drive, not the friendly woman she had hired all those months ago to launch her successful inn.

She was looking away from Bree, afraid to lay her eyes on her. Knowing she would be angry. She had ruined her entertainment director's attempt to put a little bit of happiness in the lives of her guests, all because she felt so strongly for the woman. Not in a way she ever had for any of her girl friends, either back in the 80's or with Sookie. After so many years having Rory around, Lorelai felt lonely, and Bree had filled that yearning she had for a confidant who was there for her because she was a friend, not just because she needed something.

"I...I'm going to leave," Lorelai said, guiltily. "I'm so sorry for ruining your recipe, and if you want me to leave you alone from now on--" She got on heels and prepared to leave the room, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

The pale woman took deep and calming breaths, keeping her emotions even-tempered. Stars Hollow was like therapy to her; everyone was nice and she always had Lorelai to talk to when she felt that depressing temptation to swipe a bottle of wine from the cellar to take home with her. Her heart went into her work, rather than the darkness she felt on Wisteria Lane all the time and all those who treated her as if she was not to be loved.

"Don't leave," she strangled out, tightly. Her voice was soft, and the need within it made Lorelai stop in her tracks. "Don't...this is not your fault."

"It is. Bree, I..." She turned around to come face to face with her friend, and saw the sadness in the woman's kind green eyes. She didn't notice at all that Bree was unbuttoning the cardigan down right away, slowly and carefully, hopeful that a soak with Woolite would save the treasured article of clothing. The firm woman shirked it off, setting it to the side and shaking her head, letting a sad smile slide along her lips.

"I should have just let you have it without protest. I...I'm still learning here, Lorelai. I've been here for awhile and I'm trying to find my place, and I have to be more welcoming, more open. I'm no longer someone who can hide anything behind the illusion of a picket fence and a casserole. I'm living on my own, my children seem to not need me anymore, and I...I finally feel like I'm blossoming here." She approached Lorelai, feeling the pull growing towards her. Internally she felt protective of the woman for saving her from having to stay in Fairview. Her hands shook as she felt a need to hug the woman, to remind Lorelai that she wasn't angry with her. "I'm such a perfectionist. You're...let's just be blunt, a bit sloppy. Your home isn't like mine, it's old and random. But I love visiting it. Because you're...you're you, Lor. You don't need to bury yourself in an obsession, like I do. You just live. That's all, and I always feel like..." She stepped towards Lorelai and opened up her arms. "Like you're there for me, all the time." She tried her best not to cry, remembering how in the first early months, she could count on Lorelai being her friend.

"I am," the brunette soothed, seeing the tall woman shiver in front of her and having that warming reflect to welcome the given hug. "Bree, I'm here for you, hon. All the time. Even so late at night when you have one of those nightmares about your past." She hated seeing her friend in any kind of pain. "I have to be there for you. You're my best employee, and you're certainly a friend I've always wanted. You're not a yes woman. You see things differently, and I love hearing your perspective."

Bree wasn't ready to release, and although she shed no tears, just the sense of Lorelai that close to her, flush to her body, it was all that was needed to calm her nerves. In the moment after she rescued the bowl, her mind jarred her with a call to the bottle and that all of her work was ruined. Just seeing Lorelai in front of her, she knew that she could not relapse. She could not fall prey to her former coping mechanisms, nor could she ever want the kind innkeeper to have to deal with any of her demons from the past.

She took a deep breath, and felt her body relax, Lorelai's hug sending warmth through her, and the circling of the other's woman's hands against her back, now exposed because of the loss of the sweater and Bree wearing a light blue bra and camisole that she would also have to shed soon because of the batter which splattered into the other two top layers. But it was forgotten for that moment. Lorelai was hugging her, and Bree felt a swirl within her gut of how close her hand was to Lorelai's waist.

She had to pull away. The want for her friend was building up anew. Her body was molding against the brunette, the hug deepening a little. She was blushing, knowing that her body, months away from her last sexual contact, was beginning to react to the woman whom she had begun to consider, but not want, as her lust object.

Bree gasped as she pulled away, hiding it behind a clearing of her throat. She felt unsettled about what she considered Lorelai as exactly, but thankful she was there to calm her down. Lorelai released slowly until she could only feel the other woman's slender fingers upon hers. They stared at each other, both of them knowing there was a different kind of tension hanging above them.

Lorelai knew she felt something for Bree, but couldn't act on it. Her body was reacting from the touch of the other woman, and she felt like she would stumble in her heels all over again. She felt shy and attempted to get back into the mode of being an innkeeper commanding her underling in Bree to do what she wanted at her whim.

She wanted to head to her office, to deal with the stress of having such a beautiful woman so out of reach from her. Lorelai never really broached the question with herself about her sexuality before, figuring that she was straight as an arrow after 20 years with nothing but men in her life.

Now, she didn't know. Her and Luke were likely never to happen due to their many missed opportunities, while she kept brushing off the advances of Digger Stiles, who had never visited Stars Hollow again after a certain woman in front of her had kindly reminded him that his advances were unwelcome, that she did happen to have a legally registered handgun and could aim and shoot right on target from 300 feet away. "I'd leave her alone if I were you, Digger," she told him, and since then the former pain of Lorelai's life had not darkened her doorstep.

That Bree knew her guns too...well it certainly had come in handy in certain dreams when she thought her friend as going all Jodie Foster in Panic Room when terrorists took the Inn in that dream.

But she had to end things with Bree on a good note. She had to leave the kitchen hopeful there would be no awkwardness. Looking down towards Bree's undershirt, Lorelai cleared her throat, noticing something.

"Umm...do you have a change of clothes?" she asked. Bree looked down, noting that the batter was still all over. She had been so distracted that she didn't notice her hug with Lorelai resulted in the other woman also receiving some batter on her own shirt.

"Do you?" Bree responded, looking away. "I don't think I do."

"I think its turn back the clock day, and this time it was to 1972 for me. When I got into too much ice cream," Lorelai joked. "Oh, boy. I got you all messy."

"Don't worry about it; Sookie's been worse," Bree reminded her. "I...um, I guess I'll have to wear a chef's jacket until I can get home. That's all I can think of." She looked towards the coat hooks on the other side of the room, and felt embarrassed. "Of course, I don't want to head out. You know how they are, right?"

"Who?"

"Sookie and Michel." Bree rolled her eyes. "They see I don't do something perfectly and I'll never hear the end of it."

"You want me to lock the kitchen so you can change?" Lorelai headed towards the swinging door, already knowing the answer, confirmed with a simple nod. "If you want, you can put that on and head home for your break, no penalty."

"I would appreciate that," Bree said, looking for a jacket which would fit her perfectly, along with a towel as she saw Lorelai grab the mop and bucket to clean up the mess on the floor from the spilled batter. She wasn't surprised, and enjoyed that Lorelai's humble work ethic had never stopped even with the purchase of her own establishment. The batter was a thankfully quick job as most of it had gotten on Bree in the first place, and Lorelai finished the job within a quick few seconds. She pushed the mop bucket on wheels back towards the corner, and tossed a towel in Bree's direction to help her clean up the batter which had ended up down her bra. She giggled a little that she had started such a clumsy accident, and earned a glare from the other woman.

"You better keep this secret, Lor," Bree threatened, although with a smile. "I'm sure a certain diner owner would hate to know you use me to go over your daily coffee and Danish rations."

"What? Me, telling you to get me things I shouldn't eat?" She placed her hand on her heart. "I am shocked that you would agree to such a thing, Brianna."

"You told me I could have $400 more in my budget. I'm not turning it down, no matter how much I disagree with your caffeine addition."

"That's love of caffeine to you, missy!" She smirked, enjoying the fact that she was bantering anew. "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger, y'know?"

"Please, Gilmore. You couldn't even lift that mattress in 304 when the kids screwed up that room last week. Stronger my rear end!"

"Ha! God, is it wrong that I find your hate of profanity so cute?" She stood in place, trying to keep her mind averted from the fact Bree was stripping off her camisole. "Because it is."

"Whatever, sailor girl. If I were your mother, I'd wash your mouth out with soap."

"Please, I'm not that bad. No one has a potty mouth like Michel does. I never knew he called me so many mean words."

"That's why you must take French, my friend." She stood in front of Lorelai and paused to straighten her bra, hopeful she could still wear it and towel off her breasts as much as she could. She grabbed the towel from the hook...

And then she stopped. Lorelai was approaching her for some reason, taking her in, almost half-naked, and staring at the middle of her chest. The brunette stared at her for a moment, trying to stop herself from regarding her feelings for the fiery redhead.

But something still got to her. She tried to stop herself from resisting, but she was beginning to realize she was in big trouble now. She regarded Bree carefully, hopeful that she was open to doing what she wanted.

"There's something bothering me, here. Stay still for a moment." She approached the other woman, who didn't react oddly. Bree figured that her hair was messed up a little or that she had some smudged blush. She thought nothing of it at all for a moment, since Lorelai always did things for her at work like do her hair back up.

She was surprised however, as Lorelai didn't lift her hand much at all. Only as the employer entered her intimate circle did the homemaker realize that there was some unfinished business between them, along with new obstacles preventing any member of the Inn's staff from walking in on them.

She isn't...what is she going to do here? Bree paused, trying to remember that she was not the type to do anything wild. She was never meant to be wild, and be molded by everyone she knew. She might project herself as an independent woman, but she knew she was old-line through and through.

But Lorelai spoke, her voice deeper than usual as she let her vixen take over all thought control, despite her conscience begging her not to do anything rash or daring.

Lorelai knew though, she got off on pushing the boundaries. In every relationship she ever had, she was willing to try (almost) anything once. Even if only once.

She didn't know if once was enough when it came to chocolate-cherry-vanilla cupcakes that had never been prepared because of her own horrid attempt at pushing her new friend's buttons in the way she loved. She felt adventurous and daring as just the presence of her once again a foot in front of Bree brought down that woman's defenses anew. She stopped in front of her, taking in the delectable sight of the woman in the lacy light blue bra.

Then, taking her index finger, she stretched it out, and admitted what she wanted to do.

"I can't let this go to waste," she husked, as she brushed the fingertip within the chasm between Bree's breast which was currently blemished by alluringly delicious and sweet batter. Her eyes noticed how flush Bree was in embarrassment, knowing just her eyes upon her was enough to drive those impure thoughts streaming down the lady's brain stem and towards the parts that reacted to any sexual interest. The generous dollop of batter rolled upon Lorelai's finger, and for once, Bree Van de Kamp's alarm that she was having a woman touch her in a non-friendly way was malfunctioning.

She was speechless as Lorelai, instead of just taking the batter, let that one finger brush along the side of her right breast. Bree...come on here. Respond, say something. Yell at her. She is in your space and she's not supposed to do this to you! You are a woman. She is a woman. This is wrong!

Her long cooled inner vixen, refreshed, gave a dissenting opinion to her. If it's so wrong, why is she doing more to you than your exes could have ever done? You want this; this is not something you're being forced to do. She is regarding you as sexual, and beautiful. Why stop her? Why not finally admit to yourself what you've been thinking the last two months? Why...why...

Her id continued the argument, but her eyes were only upon Lorelai as she dared to move her hand back in to taste, but not before letting her pinkie somehow drag against Bree's erect nipple, visible through the bra. It was meant to be seen as accidental and if Bree reacted wrong, could easily be brushed off as so.

The gasp and straining sound forced from Bree's throat suggested otherwise. Finally, Lorelai released her touch and brought the cupcake batter to her tongue, stretching it out a little bit to take it in. She rolled it against her finger to coat the incredibly gifted muscle with the batter, which had an extra slight hint of a the salty tang of Bree's soft flesh, and the remainders of gingerbread and peppermint treats prepared before Bree went to work early in the morning. Lorelai basked in the taste, letting it settle on her tongue at first before she began to swirl the liquid around her mouth. Bree could only look on as her friend's eyes had that heated look to them, her blue pupils almost iridescent.

I just let her touch me. Right there. She was speechless, and couldn't say anything, as her mind went into a state on non-function from the very small touch. Looking at Lorelai blankly, she knew she had to say something. But her mouth was like dust as she tried to react. All that she could do was stammer and stare as she focused on her friend's plump lips, a sheen of gloss drawing her eye towards them. Her world seemed to pause as she tried to get her conscience back on track to remind her that Lorelai was totally off limits, much less any other human with that certain XY chromosome.

Lorelai stared at her, trying to figure her next move. The attraction to Bree was there, but there was a big bold double yellow line in front of it that could never be passed, period. It was a fact, indivisible. Swallowing the batter, she reacted again to the delicious concoction of Bree's with a deep moan of appreciation, and yet another compliment, colored with a blush across her cheeks.

"I'm really serious about this, Vandy," she said brightly, dropping the disdained nickname the other woman always loathed. "There is no way you offer this just to some random December 20th lunch crowd. This is way too good for them. We get the frosting and cherries on top of this and you'll be starting the first Dragonfly holiday tradition. These are great!"

"That, is batter," Bree reminded Lorelai.

"That is currently an immaterial fact. Once you get these all done, you'll be having a line for them longer than a Krispy Kreme opening. And take it from someone who waited six hours when that one in Hartford opened; it will be well worth the wait." Bree dropped her shirt onto a hook and shrugged non-chalanty, thinking her cupcakes were far from the level of a Bananas Foster, much less a Bananas Unpeeled.

"Again, Lorelai. They are cupcakes. It isn't as if I'm doing anyone's wedding." She grabbed  the jacket and put it on, not buttoning it immediately because she was distracted by the conversation. "I don't understand this obsession over a simple dessert."

"Because, it's completely decedent," Lorelai proclaimed. "Right now everybody is eating way too many sweets and not giving a damn that in January they're going to regret eating so much. Right now they just want something delicious. Trust me, these are going to be awesome." She smirked shyly. "That is, if you ever get to make them again." Her blue eyes still had a shade of guilt within them. "Did I mention I was sorry yet?"

"Many times before. You're forgiven." Smiling, she was ready to get back on task, having all that lingering sexual stress out of her system from getting it out. Grabbing the ends of the jacket to button it up, her eyes moved up once she found where to button without keeping her attention on the task. She was confident that she could look at her boss now with her hormones calmed down.

That thought disappeared within 2.45 seconds as Bree's fiery green eyes came upon the cursed cupcake mix again.

This time, in a corner of Lorelai's mouth, where some stray batter remained from the earlier licking from her fingers. Just a small amount but still enough of a distraction despite the slightly older woman's extreme hyperfocus. She shuddered staring at the small spot within the smile line. She tried to distract herself by remembering the details of the recipe, including the measurements.

Add 1 cup of Lorelai and you have the woman of your...oh, God! What are you doing? You're not supposed to tell me she's attractive, but keep me morally right! She failed miserably, and her stare was hardly noticed by the other woman, who was going on to details about the Bracebridge Dinner. Bree's heart hammered hard within her chest, with time seeming to come to a halt for her while she tried to overpower her inner vixen's opinion about the batter on the lip. She had the words on the tip of her tongue that Lorelai should use a napkin to wipe it off.

But they weren't coming. She said nothing, completely silent as her dormant sexual mind was determined to bring out the seductive side of her which was hidden by multiple layers. She had to keep them up, and keep herself on the straight and narrow, literally speaking.

Her eyes kept looking at different things, a new facet opening her to the possibilities with each new stare. She was caught on the way Lorelai tucked stray hair behind her ear, smoothly and without any kind of ceremony, while she found herself continuing to look at the freckling on Lorelai's chest. She wondered how the woman stayed so beautiful doing so much, along with how her relationships with everybody she knew outside of Emily were always without conflict. More deep breaths, more attempts to distract herself. She found herself drawn magnetically closer with each new thought, her imagination not having this kind of adult workout since thoughts at fifteen about how a teen idol was beautiful and she fingered herself to them, only to be caught by her mother and outright warned that unless she was married and thinking about her husband, her clit was completely off-limits.

For the first time in an eternity, Bree wanted to get off. Her legs were heated and she was getting wet at the thought of doing something sexual with her boss. Her moral center was stunted, allowing the hot thoughts about her and Lorelai together run through her internal thoughts without a filter. She kept staring, watching Lorelai talk, not bothered by the batter.

Don't...don't... She was down to single words stopping her. The chef's jacket was only buttoned up one place and now neglected. She could smell her scent on her own person, and she slumped down a little more than usual, unable to meet the even gaze of her friend. They were completely even within their shoes, but Bree felt like the short girl crushing on the tall quarterback...

Or in this case, basketball center. She moved closer, not on her own volition. Her heart sped up further, and she smelled Lorelai, a light spray of lavender drawing her closer. She kept looking at the batter, hopeful it wouldn't get licked off. By that point, Bree was ignoring all of her morals. She was beginning to see Lorelai for more than who she was, but as the only woman besides Lynette who could ever arouse even the smallest of crushes in her.

But there was one object keeping her from ever thinking of her fellow Wisterian as more. As she was married, Lynette could never possibly be Bree's lover in any way. She would not be a homewrecker, no matter how much her heart cried for her that she wanted Lynette, her wedding band was that iron fence keeping Bree from thinking of her as more.

There were no barriers with Lorelai. A child in college, never a walk down the aisle, looking for the positives in everything. For Bree, Lorelai was 'reset' for her. There were no barriers to jump over or stop her from at least testing her sexuality. A fresh town, new people, the lack of anything stopping her.

Bree was physically in her forties, but in that moment, she was fifteen and wanting to be illicit. To rebel against her life as it was up to then, and to stop putting others first. She was putting herself first by taking paid work in the Hollow. But that was employment.

In her life, she wanted more. She wasn't content any longer with 'acceptable' or romance which wasn't without passion. Her brain fought her to back away, but her heart...

"Bree, why are you staring at me--"

Her heart took in Lorelai's words of distraction. The other woman was puzzled by the deep soulful gaze directed her way. She was stunned at Bree unbuttoning the jacket and suddenly shrugging it off. She was also noticing Bree's deepening blush, and that she herself was comparing their everyday conversations in the last few months to foreplay. She wasn't about to do anything about her feelings, thinking that "GOP" stood for "Gay? Oh, Please!" and that there was no way No Bullshit Bree would indulge in her fantasy of having red hair mashed in her hands as the other woman went down on her.

She spoke, slowly, green eyes on blue.

"You are beautiful, Lorelai." She admitted. "Too beautiful."

"Thank you?" Lorelai didn't know how to react.

She would have known had Bree not set her hands on her waist.

"You have a little something on your mouth." Usually matter of fact, the redhead intoned the warning with a hard tone of voice that seemed to tease rather than command. Lorelai shuddered. "It's also bothering me, Lor."

"On my mouth." She stretched her tongue out to get to it. "I didn't feel it--"

"I think you misunderstood me." She made it clearer. "There is something on your mouth. I want to get it off." Her flirting voice sounded extremely odd, and Lorelai didn't understand what was going on. Bree moved closer to her, those green eyes looking into Lorelai's, her body reacting in a way she never thought before.

This is bizarre, Bree thought to herself. She thought that by now she'd feel that pull of backing away. But instead the other woman's body heat and scent were luring her in. Her eyelashes fluttered, her confidence building. Lorelai tried to understand the gears whirring in the mind of her employee.

"Well...hand me...a napkin." The innkeeper's senses were overwhelmed. She was barely trying to stop Bree, and pulling her closer at that. The pale woman drew to her like a moth to a flame, and Lorelai couldn't stop it. "There is..."

"I know, there's a whole pile on the table." That luscious deep tone was lowering to a whisper. "I...I don't care though." They were inches apart, with Lorelai trying to hide that she felt something for Bree, but unsuccessfully doing so.

"You don't care about cleanliness? That's a first for you." She smiled, the wall between them dropping further. Her hands settled on her employee's waist, being careful not to arouse any fears. "I can...I can get it myself, y'know."

"You can, yes." Fuck, her voice is going to kill me. "But you're not actually looking at it, Lorelai. You'll miss it completely."

"I won't." Lorelai's fingernails perched within the waistband of her skirt, barely scraping her skin. "I'm not a child."

"Certainly not. You're smart, driven, and so beautiful. Too beautiful, right?"

Lorelai nodded, knowing Bree had an eye towards the locked kitchen door. She knew what was coming, the inevitable. "Driven is putting it lightly for you, Vandy." She smiled. "You have passion."

"Anything in particular?"

"Well, your work is a deep passion." Mere centimeters separated them. "Watching you coordinate everything is like foreplay. When you're working, nobody can touch you. You're distant, focused, stuck on only one task, and when it's all done, you can finally relax." She paused, regarding the way Bree's hair seemed to shine within the light of the room. "I watch you when you're finish. You sit in your office and go over everything, the comment cards and receipts, you check to see the servers get everything out in speedy manner, and you just look...I don't know. You in your work, it makes you feel fulfilled and...content." She listened to her breathing, hearing it shallow with each new kind word. The older woman was clearly blushing, surprised by her boss's candor at her work ethic.

"I am," Bree confessed. "But I can't relax until we both go over it and--"

"I give a performance review." Lorelai always hated the end of events, when she had to tell Bree what she did wrong. "Thankfully I never have to tell you that you're a horrible worker. Your passion is enough to solidify you as staying here for years and years."

"How many years?"

Lorelai said her piece. "Many years to come. When we're both dealing with crow's feet and varicose veins, you'll still be here for me, God willing."

"If it's God's will he better keep those maladies distant." She smirked. "I will be here for you, buying cosmetics from Filene's to keep us both pretty."

"So, no plastic surgery?" Bree shook her head.

"Not after being around Edie and Gabby for all this time. Besides, beauty is vain."

"But it helps."

"I have to agree," Bree said, enjoying the banter. "So...I guess I just confessed that I plan to stay in Stars Hollow. Wackiness and all."

"At least you know now to stay away from the punch." She giggled at Bree cringed at the memory of her unintended initiation into the tradition that was any punch Miss Patty ever brought to an event.

"Do not remind me! What was in that stuff, Halcion?"

"It would be if it was legal." The fact that Bree was topless seemed to be lost on Lorelai, and the two were incredibly comfortable with each other. "I...I always thought you'd go back. I don't know why."

"I can't now," Bree admitted truthfully. "I have too much here. Great work, nice friends..." she stopped for a moment and gave Lorelai a teeth-baring smile. "A wonderful boss."

"Are you just buttering me up to get a raise?" Lorelai joked. "Because you would so get it right now."

"Would I, now?" Her slender fingers curled along the other woman's wrist. "But that's not what I want. I'm not in it for the money. What I do want to know is, do you think I'm daring?" She left the question a bit open, and Lorelai thought for a few moments before answering.

"You take more risks with design and atmosphere than Sookie ever could with her cooking," the brunette declared.

"And you say this within her kitchen?" Her other hand held to her heart, she reeled back in fake surprise. "I can't imagine."

"Well, you're daring. And..." she whispered, "you're incredible, Vandy."

"So I'm daring, am I?" She began to slide her other hand onto Lorelai's wrist. "Again, the batter is bothering me."

"What does the batter have to--" Lorelai still wondered about the obsession about cupcake batter before she learned how daring that short conversation within the kitchen would end up being.

Bree's internal monologue had enough. Tired of waiting, of continuing a dying conversation to delay the inevitable, it laid down a silent ultimatum that would have had Wisteria Lane talking for weeks.

Fuck, just kiss her already! See how it feels and if you feel the hellfire lick at your ass. C'mon, you've wanted her for weeks, even months. Are you going to stop yourself just because you're afraid to love again? You left to get away from pressure like this. Relax, let it go.

Her moral center warned her of the consequences ahead; firing, sexual harassment lawsuits, possible name calling.

Really, Bree was sick of it. Of putting others before herself. Living a life she had to hide from everyone besides Lorelai. She was especially tired of not expressing beautiful emotions within her love of her passions.

She was especially ready to make dreams a reality.

So without a ceremony or buildup, or any further words, Bree decided to go for it. Her fourth and inches play. She couldn't be stopped by anyone, and if Lorelai did, she was spinning explanations in her mind of her reasonings for her sudden change of behavior.

"Lorelai?" Bree spoke up kindly.

"Mm-hmm?"

"I want to lick the batter off." There, you said it. Now you can watch her walk away and file that sexual harassment lawsuit--

"Huh?" She guided Lorelai into her arms, keeping her eyes on her face. She wasn't wrinkling her nose so that was a good sign to her.

"I said..." Bree's voice was at a husky whisper. "I want to lick that batter off." She pursed her lips into a smile. "Then, I want to kiss you." Now I've been incredibly bold. This better pay off, even if it results in her teasing me because I have a crush on her.

The other woman's blue eyes brightened as the words hit her. She had never thought in any way that Bree had a smidgen of attraction to her. I think that she's mistaken, she thought, her conscience trying to make excuses for her that she was being teased. She even had a nagging thought that this was one of the mind games she like to play with her old neighbors that Bree told her all about.

She wanted to back away, yet there was something keeping her from saying anything.

That same something made her lean in and nod in assent silently, without a word. Bree's intense gaze weighed upon her, disallowing any opportunity for her to refuse the welcome advance of a woman she had been curious about since the moment they met.

She shuddered as indeed, Bree did violate every food safety law she had upheld since she first received her Easy Bake Oven a generation ago. Closing her eyes to let the taste overwhelm her, she licked the two inch streak of batter from the corner of Lorelai's mouth, the sweet taste of the combined concoction told her that Lorelai's reaction was indeed appropriate. She let her taste buds take it all in, along with the tang of the innkeeper's skin as the delicate tip of her tongue took in every bit of the batter until it was all within her own mouth. She broke apart only a few centimeters and forced a moan of protest from her employer as she pulled away.

Oh, God. For Lorelai, this was unlike any other situation where she shared a first kiss. All of them had either been sweet or romantic, or in the heat of the moment. This was different, more slow and organic. Like it came naturally. She watched as Bree swallowed the small streak after savoring it, sighing contently, although ever the perfectionist, she still had a self-critical opinion of her own baking.

"That was wonderful," she said, her words barely echoing in the large room. "Do you think I should add cinnamon, though?" She opened her eyes to Lorelai, her mouth open in shock. "I think it could use--"

"Brianna?" Lorelai used her full name again to get her attention.

"Yes, Lorelai?" She blushed.

Lorelai giggled at her friend being ever the perfectionist. "That's overkill. Even for me."

"I suppose you're right." She settled her hands into the waist of Lorelai's skirt. "I just overthink--"

"Bree?"

"Yes?"

"Kiss me before you decide to tinker with your recipe any further."

"Oh." She shook her head, smiling again shyly. "Right." She pushed Lorelai close to her, and without all the pesky details about both their pasts and outside lives within their close circle, they both threw caution to the wind as Bree let her lips touch to Lorelai's for the first time. She had been nervous about doing right, along with worries that it wouldn't be the same without that usual male musk drawing her in.

She had no need to worry at all as her friend welcomed the kiss softly while she enjoyed the feel of Bree's soft skin within her palms. They started slowly, being tentative and careful, Lorelai more so as she was afraid of snapping the other woman out of some lovestruck funk she thought she was in.

Lorelai knew that was a wrong hypothesis when Bree pushed aside some of the material of the satin blouse Lorelai wore beneath her jacket to touch her in some way. She felt the warmth move through her body, the scent of Lorelai overwhelming all of her senses. She swallowed, kissing the woman, not strongly, but sensually. It had been so long since she kissed someone else, but this was a whole new feeling to her.

It was new and exciting. A different kind of forbidden fruit always discouraged by everyone that she knew.

It was different for Lorelai. She had never been attracted to another woman, ever. Not one, ever. There was just no need, and after her friends had dumped her all those years ago the moment she said the words 'I'm pregnant', she never trusted anyone else beyond Mia or Sookie to be so close to her.

Bree captivated her. Amazed her. The woman should have been incredibly distant and cold, and really, she was to many people because that was her lot. She had to be that way. But with her, it was never that way. It couldn't be.

The kiss was soft and welcoming. It drew Lorelai in, how Bree's lips felt on hers, how they seemed strong against her mouth. The pale smoothness of the other woman's skin, the flushness of her body against hers, how she was relaxing the uptight lady with just a little bit of silliness involving cupcakes that weren't even made.

"Oh, God." She moaned into Bree's mouth, immediately knowing she wasn't supposed to take the Lord's name in vain but not able to help the reaction. "Bree..."

On the other side, Bree felt her resistance melting. She felt Lorelai wanting to instigate the kiss, and heard her.

"God..." She also said the name. Then she teased the woman by nipping her lips with her teeth, testing out reaction. The brunette groaned within her grasp, shaking as she felt pleasure overwhelm her. Lorelai clutched Bree tightly and pulling her closer and the auburn-tressed homemaker felt the cue to further the kiss. She felt suction against her own lips as Lorelai brought herself further into the kiss, moving her hands up Bree's waist and letting them dare to move towards that forbidden line further north.

It was worth it to see Bree wriggle in her arms, to see her relax into her grasp, close her eyes and brush the tip of her nose against hers. Her kiss made Max in comparison seem like a beginner.

Christopher? He was always in kissing kindergarten. Bree was driving her up a wall, and they hadn't even gone deeply yet.

Bree knew she wanted more. She craved so much more than to just kiss Lorelai. But she was still all in all, a proper woman. As Lorelai dared to slide her tongue out slightly from her teeth and brush the tip against her lower lip, she put pressure upon Lorelai's wrist and began to pull away, even though her vixen was telling her that the butcher block would be the perfect place to make love to the younger woman. She blushed furiously at the thought of her friend, the innkeeper, nude on top of the working surface, but even with all the alluring images her mind kept pushing against her, she had to get some space.

The kiss was amazing. Her seduction had worked.

But...

"We...we...have to stop. For now." Winded, she broke away, then remembering that the chef's jacket she intended to put on was on the floor. "I'm...I'm..."

Lorelai, abrupt and dizzy, tried to state her feelings clearly. "Bree, I'm sorry, I--"

"No you're not, Lor." Bree was matter of fact. "I know...damn it. I'm going to have to clock out." She bent down to grab the jacket, feeling Lorelai's eyes upon her immediately fall upon her chest, alluring within the bra. "And you still have two hours of work to go, so behave!" She got the jacket and slid it on quickly, relishing the attention the brunette was giving to her.

"So...if I were to say that you kiss marvelously, you will not be offended?" Lorelai questioned with a smile. "Because I swear if there's love potion in those cupcakes..."

"I do not think the FDA has classified Red Dye #6 as an aphrodisiac. Chocolate is unofficially so, but that did not influence my choice to kiss you on my own free will." She continued to talk as she buttoned the coat in a rush to block Lorelai from further viewing of her goods. "You are a great kisser, Lorelai. Um...actually, better than my dreams. I'm still trying to return my breathing to normal levels."

"So you dreamed about me?" Lorelai was very interested in that information. "How was I?"

"I...I cannot share that information in a work environment." She finished buttoning, and blushed. Her mind was spinning with how she could get more. At least in a setting where OSHA involvement wasn't needed. "Suffice to say that, um, I consider you in my dreams more than my boss...um, boss."

"O-kay." She was nervous in front of Bree, trying not to seem too eager about wanting more kissing and more with her. "I guess...I guess you can't make the cupcakes then if you have to go home early. I mean, a cold shower takes a while, right?" She laughed as the redhead burned a death glare towards her.

"A cold shower is unhealthy for your body." Then she found the light bulb light above her head. So she really wants those cupcakes, eh? She knew exactly how to combine her newfound pleasure with her usual acumen for business. "But since you seem so eager for me to bake up these 'orgasmic' cupcakes, I will stop by your home at 8 o'clock tonight. Have your kitchen ready for me, Lorelai."

"Of course, Bree." She didn't know what she was agreeing to until she saw Bree's face light up with that 'gotcha' look. "Wait...kitchen?"

"Yes. I need somewhere to cook tonight."

"But what about your oven? You have a freakin' Viking range that costs the gross national product of Papua New Guinea!"

Bree just smiled, and shrugged. "Well, you should have thought of that before you tasted my batter and got me full of it, Ms. Gilmore." Taking her dirty sweater into her hands, she tipped her head towards the work area. "You owe me use of your kitchen. Who knows? If you're well behaved with me tonight..."

With a Pinteresque pause, she then shocked the unflappable Lorelai "Dirty!" Gilmore to her very core with a deep, husky whisper full of all the desire she held for the woman. "You might get to lick more than the batter."

Lorelai's jaw dropped, and she couldn't say one word. Bree Van de Kamp had completely owned her at her own game. As she unlocked the kitchen door, she left Lorelai with one last task.

"Clean up after me, please, dear?" With one last look at Lorelai where she took in the brunette and let herself bask in the fact that her first kiss with her was incredibly interesting, she left the room with the door swinging behind her, while Lorelai stayed stunned in place. All she could hear after that in the hallway was Bree's silence as Michel tried unsuccessfully to get in a dig at her while she left the Inn.

It took her three minutes to recover, and two more to gather the bearings to find a washcloth and wipe off Bree's workspace and put things away. Her body was incredibly tight as those last words echoed in an infinite loop.

Suddenly that whole dream with Bree as a personal Venus in the shell didn't seem like a fantasy. She cursed to herself, wondering how the woman had such a magnetic power with her. She felt incredibly turned on, and was so thankful that she no longer had a relationship-stopping daughter regularly stopping her from pursuing anything she wanted.

"Bree, oh my God." She murmured the beautiful name to herself, and then shook her head with a slight smile. "You are June Cleaver and Julie Cooper in one body. I don't know how you got me snared into a date..."

A pause. She put her hand to her mouth.

"A date. Oh, shit." Lorelai could hide it behind 'making cupcakes', but she knew Bree's tone of voice betrayed the fact behind it.

The cupcakes were now only a means to an end. Or in this case, for her to grab her boss's rear end.

"I am going to have a date with an obsessive compulsive gun nut homemaker Republican who might be a lesbian." She let the absurdness of her new situation wash over her. It became even more so when she uttered her next words.

"I might even make love to that woman." She flushed red at the very thought. And she knew one thing now.

"Holy crap. Holy crap, holy crap...I need to get ready! I can't just make cupcakes looking like this!" She put dirty dishes in the sink, scrambling. "I have to look all relaxed and cool, and sort of come and get it, but not so come and get it I seem slutty. Because Bree doesn't do slutty--Dirty! And I have to behave myself. No wandering hands. I want her, and this has to go perfect." She set the whisk and mixing bowl into the sink, and after a hand wash, left the kitchen, hoping that the 'cupcake date' later in the night would turn out to be perfect, and further confirmation of what she had thought of the last few months.

Lorelai could not live without Bree. Bree could not live without Lorelai. I hope that's truer at the end of the night, she thought to herself as she fled the kitchen, hoping to dodge Sookie while blasting words towards Michel that he was in charge.

Now she could only hope she didn't pull a Lorelai and screw things up. She would be happy even with a 'we tried and it didn't work out, so let's stay friends' result. But she was striving for a 'Good morning, Bree, you look sexy next to me in my bed' ending. Anything between those two, that was what she wanted.

She would never forgive herself if she made Bree fall back into her Ice Queen mode. She loved Bree. She wouldn't confess it, but she did, more than even Christopher, because she made Lorelai be better than anything. Bree was now her drive since Rory was at Yale now.

Her drive couldn't be lost. She couldn't lose No Bullshit Bree. And with one last thought before starting the Wrangler's ignition, she smirked to herself.

Oh, I love your batter, Vandy. But I think I'd love to lick you up and down more. Slowly, of course.

Bree was planning for an interesting night, but Lorelai was going to match wits with her and hopefully they would both push things further than they ever imagined...

Seductive, Sweet, Savory, and Sexy

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