Rory opened the door to the house, and walked into the kitchen without closing it. She was worried about her mother; she had called in such a panic, and normally Rory would have thought it was her mother being her usual dramatic self, but it had sounded like she was or had been crying.

She walked in to find Lorelai slumped over on the table, one hand on her forehead, and other holding a large mug of steaming coffee. Her eyes were red, which was a clear indication of previous tears; her mouth was set in a saddened, but determined expression as she stabbed at a large bowl of ice cream that sat in front of her with a spoon. Lorelai's hair was thrown up in a messy pony tail and she was already in her pajamas.

Rory drew her eyebrows together in confusion, and took a seat opposite her mother, moving the ice cream aside. "Mom?" she asked gently, breaking her out of her daze. "Are you alright? You had me pretty worried when you called earlier; it was really hard to understand what you were saying. What happened?"

Lorelai sighed. "I thought you were the queen of advice. Well, some advice." Lorelai rolled her eyes dramatically. "You now have to resign from your position of queen of advice. If I can't be the queen of Canada, you can't be the queen of advice."

"Okay, what?"

"I went to Luke's this afternoon. You'd been pestering me all weekend, asking me why I didn't tell Luke my feelings, and you knew it was because I was too scared, and that I was afraid to ruin our friendship. But finally, I figured 'Why not? I'm young and incredibly sexy, and Luke would be crazy not to go for me.' Well. . . it didn't go exactly as I had planned."

Rory sighed, letting out a groan. "Oh no. . . I'm so sorry, Mom. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later; right now all I want to do is eat lots of candy and watch really cheesy movies so that we can make fun of them and do what we do best."

"Be unapologetic mockers?"

"Exactly," Lorelai said, a small smile forming on her tired face. "Come on babe, let's go."

A half an hour later, the coffee table was loaded with bowls of skittles, M&M's and two large bowls of popcorn, along with the girls feet, which were propped up beside the food. They were each wrapped up in large blankets, their eyes intently watching the screen where "Titanic" was playing.

"I'll never let go, Jack," Lorelai mocked, reaching her hand out towards Rory.

Rory giggled. "You're going to die, old in your bed, not here, not like this," Rory continued as she brushed away a fake tear.

Lorelai smirked. "Gag me."

Rory nodded in agreement, and reached for the remote, switching the television off. "So. . . ready to talk?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Lorelai responded with a sigh. "Okay, so it all started when I walked into Luke's this morning, and that stupid bell jangled over my head. Usually I don't mind the bell, it dings and makes people happy because the bell is very high pitched and high pitched sounds tend to make people happy."

"Right, high pitched noises, go on."

"So anyway, today the bell annoyed me. I remember thinking to myself that I wanted to physically rip the bell off the door and step on it until it could no longer make the happy high pitched noise. So after I had forgotten about the stupid bell, I look across the diner, and there's Luke in his flannel shirt and his backwards baseball hat, and he just looked so good Rory. . ."

* * * * *

"Hey," Luke greeted as Lorelai walked closer to him, taking a seat at the counter. "I haven't seen you since the other night. Everything okay?"

Lorelai swallowed hard and wiped her palms on her jeans; her tight jeans that she had worn especially for this occasion. If she was going to tell Luke how she felt, she had to make sure he knew what he was being offered. "Uh, is everything okay? Um, yeah everything is fine. I've just been, you know, busy with the Inn and Rory and. . . the Inn."

Luke narrowed his eyes, but nodded, accepting her answer. "Well good. I was getting a little worried about you. I usually see you everyday about six times for your coffee fixes; it was just strange not having you around." He shrugged. "Well, you know what I mean."

"Right." Lorelai took in a deep breath. 'It's now or never. Just ease your way onto the subject of him and Nicole.' "So, Luke, popped the big question yet?" 'Stupid, stupid Lorelai. Way to ease into the topic.' She thought, mentally beating herself up inside.

He gave her a strange look as he filled up her mug of coffee. Setting the pot down on the counter, he smirked. "No, not yet."

Lorelai felt a small smile tugging at her lips. 'Good, you're not too late.'

"Why?" Luke looked up as the bell jangled over the door, and watched a family sat down at a table in the corner of the Diner. "I'll be right back," Luke said, grabbing some menus and bringing them over to the table. He offered them some coffee, and took their order. Lorelai watched as he walked into the kitchen, handing the order to Caesar. She found herself wondering what he looked like under all that flannel. 'I bet he has great muscles.'

Her eyes wandered up to his face, and she took in his handsome features; the small amount of stubble that always lightly colored the lower part of his face; his blue eyes that always seemed so full of emotion, whether it be anger, pride, adoration, or humor . . . his eyes were so expressive. Her eyes roamed up to his lips; his perfectly shaped, slightly colored lips that slanted upwards in a small smirk as he talked to Caesar. Lorelai subconsciously licked her lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss them. She bet he would be gentle under that rough exterior.

Lorelai shook her head when she noticed Luke casting a confused look in her direction. 'No, Lorelai, do not get all hot and bothered in the middle of Luke's diner; bad Lorelai, he probably thinks you are a huge psycho.'

He walked back to his stance behind the counter, facing Lorelai. "You look like you have a million things on your mind," Luke commented.

"A million and one," Lorelai corrected, motioning for a refill on her coffee. Luke complied, filling her mug.

"Anything you want to talk about? I'm a good listener."

'I bet that's not all you're good at.' Lorelai hesitated as she fought a mental battle with herself. "What is it Lorelai? Just spit it out."

"Luke, I don't want you to get engaged," she finally blurted out; her eyes widened. As soon as the words were uttered, she regretted them. Lorelai slowly brought her hand up to her mouth, covering it with her palm as though that would erase what she had just spoken.

Luke's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Lorelai, what are you talking about?"

Lorelai slowly let out the breath of air she had been holding in. She hoped that if she just sat there, not speaking, he would forget about it and move on. No such luck. "Why don't you want me to get engaged?"

Lorelai gestured wildly about herself, no words forming at her lips. This was one of the only times in her life she had ever been at a loss for words. "I just. . . . I want. . . ."

"You want. . . .," Luke prompted, leaning his arms on the counter so he was at eye level with her. His intense eyes bore deep into hers.

"I don't want this to change," she said, motioning towards the two of them. "This, us, I love how we are together. I love our relationship filled with sarcasm and witty comments."

She smiled slightly as she thought back on the years she had spent bantering with him. "Once you get engaged, we won't have this anymore because you'll be spending all your time with Nicole, planning the wedding! And then you'll be married and you'll have the little flannel Luke babies that I'm supposed to have with you." Lorelai felt her face getting hot at the comment she had just made, but she couldn't stop now. "Luke, I think that I have feelings for you, and not just feelings of friendship. I think I'm falling for you, and I don't want you to get engaged because I don't want to think that I'm missing out on a great thing. What if you're it?" Lorelai softly placed her hand on top of his.

Luke clutched the counter, his knuckles turning white. His head was spinning with the information she had just fed to him. He had waited so long to hear those words come off of her lips. However, his anger surpassed his surprise and amazement, and he snatched his hand away. Did she just expect him to break things off with Nicole because she was ready for a relationship with him? Did she expect him to throw his arms around her and kiss her senseless? As much as he wanted to do that, he couldn't. He couldn't betray Nicole because she was too good a person for that. Lorelai couldn't just walk all over his heart like she had in the years before; whether she meant to or not, she had.

Lorelai watched all the emotions that were displayed on Luke's face; first surprise, then what seemed to be happiness, then love, and then anger. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear his response to what she had just said.

"Lorelai, you have the worst timing. I am not just going to dump Nicole because you think you're ready for a relationship with me. What makes you think I even want to be with you? I have Nicole; you know that, and you know I am happy with her. So happy in fact, that I was thinking of proposing. You also knew this information, but yet you still felt you had to interfere by telling me you have feelings for me. Well, you can't always get what you want, Lorelai."

Luke couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. He didn't mean anything he was saying; he wanted to hold her; he wanted to kiss her; to love her; to just be with her. It was all so complicated, and the only thing he could think of to do to push aside the confusion was to be angry.

Lorelai swallowed frantically at the lump that had risen up in her throat, tears stinging the back of her eyes, trying to will herself not to cry. A single tear slid down her cheek as she grabbed her purse and jacket. "I'm sorry, Luke," she mumbled as she quickly stumbled towards the door, the bell jangling over her head as she pulled it closed.

'Tell her to come back. Tell her you want to be with her.' Luke's thoughts raced through his head, but he couldn't bring himself to say them. He ran his hand through his hair and leaned his full weight on the counter. He had just let his best friend and the possible love of his life walk out of his diner, and didn't do anything to stop her.

* * * * *

". . . . And that's what happened." Lorelai finished, her hand swiping at her face as a fresh set of tears fell.

Rory leaned over, hugging her mom and consoling her. "I'm so sorry mom. That is the worst possible scenario I ever thought would happen. Maybe he's just confused; I know he has feelings for you, I see it every time he looks at you. You just need to talk to him. . ."

"No, Rory," Lorelai cut her off. "We've talked, it's done, and it's over. Leave it."

"But -"

"Rory," she warned. "Leave it."