Lorelai woke up to the sound of the door slamming followed by some muffled curse words. As soon as she realized why he was up so early on his day off, she felt compelled to get up. It was Luke's dark day, and she was going to try to make the day a little less difficult for him. She rolled out of bed and walked downstairs, opening only one eye. "Luke?" she croaked. "It's four thirty, come back to bed."

"I… didn't mean to uh, wake you," Luke said softly. "I just went…"

She shook her head. "No need to explain. Come back to bed."

"I'll be up in a second," he said, clearing his throat.

Lorelai nodded, walking back up the stairs. She pulled the sheets back and crawled under the covers, closing her eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. She had started to doze off again when she felt Luke's arm wrapped around her waist. She turned over. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'm okay," he said. "I stopped by the diner to make sure Caesar opened… I'm not going to work today."

"No one expected you to," Lorelai replied. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere, but if you want me to…"

"No, uh, here's fine," Luke insisted. "It might be nice to have someone to talk to."

She smiled, leaning over for a kiss. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try," Luke agreed.

Lorelai turned over and closed her eyes. She hated when Luke's dark day came around. It was hard for her, because she couldn't do anything to help him. Jokes certainly weren't appropriate at the time, and she couldn't bring his dad back, so she felt helpless too.

She fell asleep and woke up several hours later to the sunshine pouring into the window. Her first instinct was to roll over and see if Luke was still there, but the sound of the shower water draining indicated otherwise. Stretching and letting out a yawn, she scratched her head and took a look at the clock. It was only nine in the morning, and Luke still had a long day ahead of him.

Resisting the urge to crawl back under the covers and drift off to sleep again, she reached under the bed, pulling out a plastic tote box full of supplies she had collected for the day. Lorelai placed them on the bed, fumbled around for her slippers, and trudged downstairs to start the coffeepot. She was planning on keeping Luke barricaded in the room all day, unless he didn't want to be stuck with her.

The only thing she felt like she could do was be there for Luke if he wanted to talk. The baseball movies she had collected would only encompass part of their day, and she was fairly certain that she could try to convince him to eat the meat lover's pizza she had planned on ordering later, but the most important part of her mission was to ensure Luke's peace of mind.

Walking upstairs with the coffee, she thought about what she would do if Luke wasn't thrilled with her idea of the relaxing day she had hoped for. There was always the inn, but her mind would be on Luke the whole time. She sighed, hoping he would allow her to be there for him the only way she knew how.

Lorelai placed the coffee mug on the night table, waiting for Luke to emerge from the bathroom. She took a sip and opened the box, shuddering at the sight of "Field of Dreams". She had been forced to watch the movie once before and the ending would probably not be the best idea for Luke on this particular day. Shoving the DVD under the bed, praying that Luke wouldn't find it, she sifted through the rest of the box. "The Natural" seemed like an appropriate choice. The junk food that surrounded it was mainly for her, but she hoped the Nutri-Grain bars underneath would be an acceptable substitute for Luke.

When Luke emerged from the bathroom with only a towel draped over his bare shoulder and a pair of blue jeans, Lorelai resisted the urge to tackle him. She instead smiled and cleared her throat. "Hi there," she said, breaking the silence.

Luke jumped, startled at the sound of Lorelai's voice. "Jesus, Lorelai, you scared the hell out of me."

She cringed. "Sorry, hon. I didn't mean to scare you. Are you doing okay?"

"Okay, ground rule for today? Don't ask me if I'm okay again. I may be in a funk, but I'm not broken," Luke replied.

"Got it. Come sit. I have a plan for today if you choose to be a part of it," she insisted.

Luke walked over to the bed, sitting next to Lorelai, who produced the box and the contents of it.

"I figured that we can watch a couple of movies today, of your choosing. We don't even have to go downstairs if we can help it. Just sit here and enjoy each other. If you feel up to talking, if you need to talk, if you need to do whatever, your plans are priority. So basically, it's up to you. We can just sit here and have some mind numbing entertainment for the day if that's what you're okay with."

"That's… nice of you," he said, hesitating slightly.

She gave him a soft smile. "I mean, if you want to wallow all day, that's fine too, everyone has their thing, but I just wanted to see if I could try to help. I hate feeling helpless and I'm sure you feel the helpless feeling about a thousand times worse than I do. So, your call."

"Thank you," Luke said, leaning in for a kiss. He pulled back and motioned toward the box. "What's in there?"

"Oh, you know, Robert Redford gets shot by a psychopath, still goes on to play baseball as a really old rookie?"

Luke looked at Lorelai. "You got 'The Natural'?" he confirmed.

"You know your stuff," she said, crawling across the bed and placing the DVD into the player. She fell back onto the pillows. "You sure you're up for this?"

"This is something my dad would have wanted," Luke said, wrapping his arm around Lorelai. She grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume, trying to follow the plot with the baseball jargon. Before long, she spotted Luke staring at her through her peripheral vision. She turned and laughed. "Do I have something on my face?"

He shook his head. "No, sorry, I uh, got… distracted."

"Okay, horsey, blinders. Or should I start calling you 'Wonderboy' now because of the bat?"

"Shut up and watch the movie," Luke insisted.

She settled back onto the pillows and started to get back into the movie. She tried to keep from laughing when she noticed Luke staring at her again. "What is it, Wonderboy?"

"Marry me," Luke whispered.

Lorelai paused the movie, turning to face Luke. "What? Luke…"

"Oh, jeez," Luke hissed.

"Did you just…"

"Apparently. I didn't intend to… you know, just… come out with it like that, but I… I should get down on one knee and ask that again, that wasn't right. I didn't want to just blurt it out like a madman who has no control over his sappy side," he ranted.

Lorelai could only smile, listening to him rant.

"I wanted to take you somewhere really nice, you know, to do it right. And here I am, being a stupid idiot, just coming out with it like that. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Luke," Lorelai interrupted. "Yes."

"How could you say 'yes' to such a pathetic proposal. I did that because… that…"

She leaned in and kissed him. He pulled back and cleared his throat.

"Did I just… ruin that moment?"

Lorelai laughed. "Almost. Just ask me again."

"Lorelai, will you marry me?" Luke repeated.

She nodded. "Yes."

"I have the ring, I should have gotten it before I did it the second time," Luke grumbled, sliding off the bed and heading downstairs before Lorelai grabbed his arm.

"Hey, not so fast, Wonderboy," she said, pulling him back toward the bed. "So not important."

"It's not?"

She shook her head. "Later."

"Well, I…"

"Shut up already, won't you? I'm trying to make you feel loved today, okay? Come here," she said, her voice lowered to a whisper.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Making sure you know you're loved," she said, tugging at the waist of his jeans.