A/N: Okay I rearranged some things and this is now going to be a Rory Lorelai fic… hope you all enjoy the new parts as much as the other one.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places or anything related to Gilmore girls sadly… and in this one I'm using several bits of actual dialogue from the Season 5 finale: A House is Not a Home

Your mother and I have been talking about your situation. We have discussed the matter thoroughly. And we have come to a decision I couldn't get it out of my head. Over and over again. It wouldn't go away. Rory will be taking some time off from Yale. Oh God. It hurt. She will be moving into the pool house here with us. We will find her some sort of suitable job, through one of our friends. And then, once a suitable time has passed, we will revisit the subject of her returning to school. Over and over again...never stopping, it wouldn't stop. But that wasn't the worst. She came to me Lorelai. She went to them...

I stood outside the pool house, in the shadows of the night, staring inside, in too much pain to do anything else. She went to them...

I heard someone walking from the house I think, halfway saw my mother in the pool house, and then maybe heard her going back. I just stood there... remembering, trying to figure out where I went wrong...

I pictured they day I gave birth to her…the note I had left my parents, the terror of having a baby alone, a terror so overwhelming and massive that it only smothered by the fear of having the baby with my parents there when they showed up as I was being pulled into delivery.

I thought about her first months in my parent's house, our flee to the Independence Inn, our little potting shed with the little curtain around the bathtub and the rose bud wallpaper. Rory's first step, her first word, her first straight A report card, the first time we walked into our house, all the laughs, and tears, and fights…it all showed up. Staring up at Chilton, both of us scared beyond words, climbing through trash filled allies after her break up with Dean, running through the town to tell her that Max proposed, devil-egging Jess' car, just sitting on the porch talking...

We had been through so much, were a team, always had been. Then how did we get here? My vision focused a bit and I saw Rory putting away books. I wanted to cry. Needed to cry. But... couldn't. I thought we had a plan…She was going to have it all. The Ivy League education, the impressive job, the perfect family. Everything I couldn't give her. She was going to have it…and now she's not and my parents, my last hope, the ones who should have supported me in this, the ones who wanted nothing more then to have a Gilmore who would actually make them proud, are just sitting by and letting this happen. Annoyance and anger started to swirl with the disappointment and sadness that had been in control. She went to them... I couldn't shut it out. Above all the memories and the pain there was that voice and the images that went with all the resentment. She went to them...

She turned to face me and for a brief period of time our eyes met… giving birth to a whole new set of emotions as I saw the seas stretch out between us. So what happens now? With a half hearted, defeated smile Rory returned to putting her books away, cutting off the eye contact and making an effort not to look at me. So this is it. This is how it's going to be. Not even able to look each other in the eyes let alone speak

I was suddenly thrown into an immense need to just run, be anywhere but there, stop dealing with things I didn't want to think about. And so, with one final gaze at Rory, I left. Just got in the Jeep and started driving.

I was back in that void, where I had gone after calling off the wedding to Max. I was almost there and yet nowhere near it, just driving through the streets, not thinking or caring, unable to be thinking or caring… just lost.

Yet somehow I ended up in the familiar glow of the diner as Luke was closing up. I opened the door and walked in, ringing the familiar bells above the door. Luke turned around at the sound, pausing his counter cleaning for a bit to glance up and then leaving it to finish later when he saw it was me.
"Rory dropped out of Yale." I said defeated, slinging my jacket over an empty chair and putting my purse on the table. "What?" He replied astonished. All I wanted at that moment was for him to walk over and put his arms around me, tell me it would go away, that I was just dreaming. " She dropped out of Yale and moved in with my parents, who I went to for help and they stabbed me in the back." I said sitting down as he walked over, listening. "Everything we worked for, all these years, her whole future…" My eyes teared up as the words tumbled out and the memories I thought I had left behind at the pool house returned once again as I continued trying to figured out what had happened. "She was supposed to have more then me. She was supposed to have everything,.. That was the plan. We had a plan." So where did it go wrong?

Somewhere in my little speech Luke had started staring at the ground, taking everything in, listening intently. Suddenly he looked up and clapped his hands together, taking me by surprise. "Okay, I'm sorry. I have to jump in here. I know think you have this thing handled but I can help." God no one can help I thought pessimistically as he began again. "First off, we call Yale and we tell them something like, uh, Rory had a chemical imbalance and she was mentally out of her mind when she told them she was dropping out. And then we get her out of your parents' house whatever way we can. We lock her up in her room with you, because you can talk anybody into anything."

I sat and listened to his crazy plan silently, pushing back Rory and my parents and all the trouble that went with them, suddenly unable to think of anyone but Luke. Wow he's amazing…I smiled to myself as I watched him pace, alive with emotion. He cares so much for me and Rory… more then anyone ever has before. I couldn't help at that moment thinking of the several guys who hadn't even given Rory a chance before they split. And Christopher. A class of his own, Mr.Unreliable, who broke all his promises and left a miserable daughter in his wake, popping into the picture every once in awhile, staying just long enough to raise hopes, and then crashing his only child down on the rocks when he left again. Just thinking about Chris annoyed me. And then there's Luke… who's always there, and always has been. Luke, who didn't even gawk when I brought Rory in for the first time, but fell in love with her. Luke, who was always a shoulder to cry on or a friend to laugh with…

"And if worse comes to worst, we will drive her to school every day and we will follow her to class and camp out there to make sure she goes." The realization hit suddenly without mercy as I heard him continue on about helping. He's the one. It scared me to admit that. Sure I had considered it, I had even said to Rory during the break up that he might have been the one, but to consider it and actually feel it are two different things.

I glanced up at him and made up my mind as he continued." I'll take morning classes, you take afternoon classes, or the other way around, if it works out better for your schedule." This is it. No turning back. This is right where I belong. "And I know there's a few kinks to work out, the kidnapping thing might be a little problematic but either way, she is not quitting school." I sat and smiled at him, the little bit of insecurity and fear melting away as I thought about what it would be like to be married to him… to Luke. "This was her dream. I am not going to let this happen." He stopped to catch his breath and caught my gaze as well. God I love him. "What?" He asked, perplexed. I took in a deep breath and then out it came. "Luke, Will you marry me?" I asked softly, staring up at him.