*Author's note*- Thank you guys for all of your reviews. One thing I want to address, when I had Luke say "Jeez, Lorelai, you're right", it was supposed to be self depreciating. In other words, he was beating himself up for being a self centered jerk. Which we all know he's not, but he might think that of himself. Thanks for all of the constructive criticism. This is my first fic, so be kind.

Lorelai had given him a hug, she had whispered in his ear. He had hugged her back, and then, before his common sense could take over, he had given her a light, chaste kiss on the lips. They stayed in that position until the phone rang again. This time it wasn't the police. Far from it, Nicole was on the other end of that phone call. Suddenly a moment that had been so right became oh-so-bad. Luke knew what he was doing was wrong. Albeit his shotgun wedding was barely that, but he was still married, even if it was to a woman he barely knew, and barely wanted to know. Lorelai knew who was on the phone the instant he picked it up and winced at the sound of Nicole's voice. She turned away, drawing her robe closer around herself.

"Yes Nicole, I will see you then. Of course I remembered your office party. No, I understand how important it is to you. I told you I would… well if that's how you feel! No, I'm not mad. I've had a stressful night. Yes. No. I know. Have a good day. You too. Good bye." From the one side of the conversation she heard, Lorelai could tell that the newlyweds were not on the greatest terms. Silently, she cheered.

"First fight?" she asked, nonchalantly.

"Far from it." Luke replied, chuckling sardonically. "It seems like that's all we ever do anymore, fight. Whole lotta freakin fun. I just love the married life. Can't wait until I get to try it again." Oops. Didn't mean to say that.

"Wow Luke." Lorelai's eyebrows rose in shock at his last statement. "So it's really over?"

"Yeah, well we couldn't get around our differences. I think the only thing we have in common anymore is that we aren't in love anymore, if we can say we ever where."

"Luke, I'm sorry. I know how you feel."

"Well, yeah" he let out a short, sharp laugh "Too bad I don't. Listen, Lorelai, I don't want you going back home by yourself until I can get the locks on the doors and windows secure. Only thing is, I can't get around to that for a couple of days. I'm swamped." He looked at her apologetically.

"Oh Luke, you don't have to do that." he put up a hand to stop her from continuing.

"Yes I do. I won't be able to sleep at night unless I know for sure that you're safe." Lorelai looked at Luke fighting the tears that sprang to her eyes. "Now I'm going to take you over there to get clothes before I open the diner."

"You don't know how much this means to me."
Oh yes I do. Thought Luke, but he just held the door open for her.

***

They were inside Lorelai's house. She pointed to the couch, "I was sleeping there, and he just walked in! I don't understand how I didn't wake up, I don't understand how someone could do this!! Is he someone I know? Can he come back? Prison doesn't hold these guys forever, and God knows if he'll want to come after me when he's out on bail or good behavior. For all I know, it's the new guy who's been delivering my pizza for the past couple of weeks. I knew I should have given him a bigger tip that night when it was freezing rain, but all I had were twenties!" Tears were forming in Lorelai's eyes again.

"Don't worry, Lorelai. You're safe now, and I won't let anything happen to you." Luke took her into his arms, and just held her as sobs racked her body as she relived the panic of only a few hours before.

She looked into his eyes. "I know." They went upstairs together and Lorelai started as she walked into her room.

"It's a wreck" said Luke, in shock. Lorelai just started to laugh. "What?"

"Actually, this is cleaner than I left it. This might be the first burglary where the bad guy actually cleaned the room up instead of ransacking it." Luke just looked at her and shook his head. He would never understand the nuances of this one. But God, was she beautiful.

Lorelai started to go through her dresser. She pulled out a pair of faded jeans and a blue and white t-shirt that said Angel on it. "If you insist on staying in here to protect me, you better turn around" she said to Luke, who was just standing there, on the verge of gawking. He turned around, but it did little good for his stamina when he realized that the mirror on Lorelai's door hid nothing. Even though he instantly clamped his eyes shut when he realized this, he had gotten a little peek of a black lace bra and panties set that Lorelai was planning on wearing. Holding his breath he said to himself Oh My God, I'm going to be in the same room as a naked Lorelai. Quickly he tried to banish that thought, as well as several others that had popped into his head by focusing on an image of his Grandmother Berta. It was working, and before he knew it, Lorelai was tapping on his chest.

"Luke… Luke? Are you alright?" She had a mischievous grin, and he knew that she suspected what she did for him.

"Lets go already. Pack up some extra clothes and whatever you need. You can stay with me for a while." After saying that, Luke knew instantly that he would regret that statement.

"Ooh, we get to play house? Sounds like fun."

He groaned and rolled his eyes. The things we do for love.

***

"Hey Luke"

"What?"
"I was reading the menu."

"Mmhmm"

"The new, plastic covered menu."
"Mmhmm"

"And trying to get my pen to work on it."

"hmm"

"So I could draw an anatomically accurate picture of Pamela Anderson on it"

"That's nice."

"When I noticed something."

"Yeah?"

"You misspelled the word 'sandwich'"

"What?!"

"Yup. On every last one. S-A-N-D-W-I-T-C-H." Lorelai giggled. "I thought you just had these made up."
"I did. Damn printers. What kind of idiot misspells sandwich?"
"Apparently the same idiot who misspells "Luke". Hey, I didn't know you could spell "Luke" with a 'C'. Interesting." Suddenly, Luke snatched the menu out of her hand.

"Come on, Lorelai, eat something. You can't live off of coffee."

"You can when it's a double-shot triple espresso."
"I am not getting an espresso machine. You already get wired enough on the regular stuff."

"You watch out young man. Pretty soon, the quaint little town of Stars Hollow will be overrun by Starbucks."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah right."

"You doubt me know, but little towns like these are just where the marketing giants are aiming." Lorelai made the boy scout pledge sign. "I kid you not."

"Are you going to order or what?"

"I can't." She looked at him innocently. "I need a menu."

"For God's sake, Lorelai. If you don't know what I have by now, then…" Luke looked like he was beginning to get really frustrated.

"Okay, okay." Lorelai held out her hands in an 'I surrender' position. "Bacon. With a side of pancakes. And pie."
"C'mon Lorelai. Pie? You've got to be kidding me."
"Hey, if you don't got the goods, I can always go somewhere else."
"Who the hell would give you pie at 7:30 on a Saturday morning?"

"I know. Only my best friend in the whole wide world." He had to give in.

"Fine. Pie. I hope you enjoy." Luke walked off after giving Lorelai a piece of blueberry pie.

"Hey!! I need a fork over here!"

**twenty minutes later**

"How could you give me pie? This early on a Saturday? Oh God, my stomach."
"No. You cannot possibly blame me for this. You can't blame me for your insane eating habits. Normal people would not beg for pie on a Saturday morning. This is not my fault. Not at all."

"Dodging responsibility. Typical."
"You don't want to start with me."

"Say it!"

"What?"

"Oh come on. You know that you wanted to say 'girlfriend' at the end of that sentence."

"No I really didn't"

"Yes you did. Come on, say it."
"No."

"Spoilsport."
"I'm just gonna take that as a compliment and walk away." It was then that Luke noticed several people were watching them. "What?!"

"Hey Luke?" Tom cautiously approached him. "Some of us have been sitting here for half an hour. Can we get some service? Please?"

Luke looked at Lorelai and back at Tom. "Yeah. What do you want?"

"Can I have some of that pie?"
"No."
"Um, okay." was Tom's meek reply, as Lorelai lifted up the glass top to the pie plate and helped herself to another piece with her fingers.

Five minutes later, Luke came back over to Lorelai, to refill her coffee. "I thought you were sick of pie?"

"Me? Sick of pie?? Never in a million years!"

"Yeah, yeah."