Author's Note: See title and disclaimer in Chapter 1. Sorry, this update took longer than expected. This chapter has been the hardest one to write yet. Granted, it's only the third one ever, but the first two came so easily. I watched "Run Away Little Boy" (The one with Romeo and Juliet) last night for inspiration but the end just depressed me. Lorelai and Luke are so cute! So I am dedicating this chapter to that. Also, Thank you so much for the reviews. You have no idea how great they are. They really keep me going. Keep them up. I am going to try really hard to have the next chapter up tomorrow night, but tomorrow is my birthday and the next chapter will be Luke's dinner with Nicole and I am having trouble with her, so it might take an extra day. Thanks for all the support.

On with the story....

Chapter 3: Little Girl

Luke walked slowly up the steps to Lorelai's porch. He hid the bag of food behind his back and knocked loudly in case she was still asleep. Star's Hollow was very quiet for a Sunday afternoon. So quiet, in fact, that Luke could actually hear Lorelai's stairs creak as she descended. The door swung open slowly and Lorelai looked at him bleary-eyed. She looked as if she had just woken up. She wore plain black pants and a tank top, which was different from every other time Luke had seen her in pajamas. The few times Luke had been over late fixing something or early and woken her up, she always worn pants with food or cartoons on them, or a sparkly shirt, or had words running across her butt. Today she looked adult. Which wasn't Lorelai. She looked tired.

"Were you still sleeping? It's one in the afternoon," he said sternly.

"I couldn't get to sleep last night." she said, shrugging her shoulders and looking down. Luke produced the bag of food from behind his back. Lorelai's face lit up a bit. She held the screen door open and he walked inside. "I thought I smelled coffee, but then I just thought I was still dreaming." she said sounding relieved. Luke cocked his head at her.

"What are you talking about? There's no coffee in here. There is only your chicken salad."

"Ha!" Lorelai exclaimed. "You had me going there until the chicken salad. Give me that, evil man." She snatched the bag away from him. She gave a small smile when she opened it and saw the burger and fries, and a relieved sigh when she spied the coffee. She sat down on the couch and began eating away. Luke just stood staring. As many times as he had seen it before, he still couldn't get over how she could eat like that. It amazed him. Lorelai noticed.

"Are you gonna sit down or do your legs not bend that way before closing time?"

"Closing time?" he asked.

"Closing time for the diner." She waited for a reaction. "You know, because you stand all day." Still nothing. "Shut up, it was funny." She grumbled. Luke rolled his eyes and sat down. Lorelai went back to eating. "So, to what do I owe the honor of the personal delivery of food I didn't order?" she asked between bites.

"Well... I mean after last night... I thought you wanted to..." Luke trailed off, not sure how to continue. Lorelai looked confused for a minute before she remembered asking for his help. Luke could practically see the light bulb go off in her head.

"Oh! We were gonna figure out what to do about my dad." she said.

"Yeah, you said today, and you weren't there for your usual noon breakfast, so I thought I would come to you." Luke finished quickly, as if he was trying to skip over the fact that he was being sweet. Lorelai didn't miss it, however.

"Luke! That is really nice. That means a lot to me." She smiled at him.

"Yeah." Luke said caught up in her smile. He smiled back. Here it is again he thought. Another one of those moments where they didn't say anything. Just smiled at each other and got caught up in the emotion of the moment. As usual it didn't last long. Lorelai finished her burger and smiled at him again. "So...." Luke prompted. Lorelai raised her eyebrows.

"So what? You said you were going to help. So help. Just don't break any lamps this time because I really like the one with the monkeys." Luke ignored her.

"Lorelai, you have to tell him." he said in a firm but soft voice.

"Why?"

"Lorelai" His voice got firmer.

"I know" she sighed. "But how? How do I tell my dad that someone pulled the wool over his eyes? He has never fallen for someone's scam. How can I tell him that the people he has worked with for years, first phased him out of his job, then worked to destroy his business, just when he was happy again?" She finished, her voice getting shaky.

Luke was surprised at the show of emotion for her father. He knew they loved each other, obviously. And he saw how upset she got when he had a heart attack, but he didn't think they were very close. He wasn't sure what the answer was, so he decided to focus on something more certain.

"Has his business actually been destroyed?" he asked.

"What?" Lorelai was confused again.

"Has his business been destroyed yet? I mean, has Jason ruined anything yet?"

"I don't know"

"You see him every week. Wouldn't he say something if business was going badly?" Luke asked. Lorelai thought for a moment.

"No, he probably wouldn't say anything, but he would be in a bad mood. And if he was in a bad mood my mother wouldn't not say anything. So I guess that means nothing has happened yet." Lorelai said, more than a little relieved.

"Well," Luke said, "It's a good thing that you can tell him before anything does happen."

"Yeah, I guess. But I still don't know how."

"There won't be a good way. You'll just have to say it." Luke said apologetically. Lorelai let out a large sigh.

"I feel like I am 14 years old again. He's going to be mad." Luke saw in her eyes, how much she really did care what her parents thought even though she buried it away.

"He won't be mad at you." Luke assured her. "Jason fooled you too. You're just as much a victim as Richard is. He'll see that."

"No, he won't." Lorelai said quietly.

"Why not?" It was Luke's turn to be confused.

"Well...." Lorelai hesitated. "I didn't tell them that he and I were seeing each other."

"Why not?" Lorelai hesitated again. Longer this time. Luke leaned forward, pressing her for an answer. Lorelai knew her excuses wouldn't work on Rory or Sookie. They might actually work on Luke, but for some reason she didn't want to lie to him.

"I just..." She took a breath. "I was afraid they would think I wasn't good enough for him." Tears formed in her eyes. To Luke, Lorelai looked like a little girl afraid of disappointing her parents, and it broke his heart.

"Why would you think that?" he asked, trying to remain calm.

"They always wanted me to be a part of that world and I just disappointed them. He, however, is very much a part of it." she said.

"You're part of every world." he said soothingly. His eyes widened when he realized how it sounded. "I mean, you have that natural ability to fit in everywhere." he added quickly.

"Lucas! That didn't quite make sense, but I do believe that was a compliment." she said with a grin forming on her face.

"You know I didn't mean it that way." he grumbled.

"You think the world of me" she said in an awed voice. Luke grunted in disgust. "I am the queen of every world, and my first decree is a lifetime of free coffee." she said in an official sounding voice. Luke rolled his eyes. She was enjoying this too much. He decided to get back to the topic on hand.

"I will give you free coffee for a WEEK, if you tell your father about Jason." he said. Lorelai's face fell. "You will feel better, I promise. I am sure Richard is a very reasonable man." he added.

"It's not him I'm worried about." Luke gave her a questioning look. "My mother will blow a gasket when she finds out. I didn't tell her about dating Jason, she wouldn't have approved if she had known and on top of that, she will somehow blame me for all of this." she said, pouting at the mere thought. Luke was starting to get impatient.

"So don't tell her."

"What?" Lorelai asked incredulously.

"Don't tell her. Talk to Richard when your mother isn't around. Tell him. I am sure he will understand. He has helped you with her in the past. He can just tell her that he overheard Jason. You don't even have to come up in the conversation. But the sooner you tell him, the sooner he can do something about it." Luke finished matter-of-factly. Lorelai stared at him as if he had just handed her a pot of gold. She jumped up off the couch.

"This could really work. He'll help, he knows her..." Lorelai began to pace the room as she mumbled to herself. All of a sudden, she realized Luke was still in the room. She walked over to where he was still sitting on the couch and bent down to hug him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered a "Thanks" in his ear. Luke wasn't used to so many hugs in such a short amount of time but he hugged her back nonetheless. As she went to let go, she lost her balance from bending over and fell onto Luke. As he moved to catch her they both fell sideways and landed on the couch. Lorelai lay on the couch with her legs over Luke's lap. Luke was bent over her, with his arms underneath her.

"Sorry" Lorelai said between giggles. Luke pulled his arms out from underneath her and sat up.

"Klutz" he said, rolling his eyes. Lorelai laughed again. She just lay there, smiling at him. Luke rolled his eyes again, but let a small grin creep through. The close contact and her pretty smile made him nervous.

"I better get back to the diner." he said looking out the window and standing up.

"Ok," she said, still smiling. "Thanks again for the help."

"No problem. See you later, Lorelai." he said opening the door.

"Bye Luke"

Luke walked out and shut the door behind him. He was glad she was feeling better, and even happier that he had contributed to that. He liked being able to help her. Until the end, that was. He hated when she was that close to him. Actually, not so much hated, as liked too much. Though he couldn't explain it, he could feel the life and emotion within her in the smallest touch. He had always thought that was strange. Even when she would merely touch his arm in the diner, it sent electric shocks through his skin. Forget hugs. That was like a sensory overload. He could feel all of her gratitude and adoration in that small act.

He had never felt that with Nicole. They had hugged and kissed many times, but not once had he known exactly how she was feeling because of it. He let out a sigh and sped up. The sooner he got to the diner, the sooner he could stop comparing Lorelai and Nicole.

Lorelai sighed as the door closed. Luke was so smart. How did he get that smart? She thought about how lucky she was to have him as a friend. Then she thought about how funny falling on him was. Luke hadn't seemed amused, but he did smile, so maybe it didn't bother him as much as he pretended it did. Luke was really strong. She was sure that even if the couch hadn't been there, he still wouldn't have let her hit the floor. She had never realized how strong he really was. She promised herself from now on she would invite him over anytime she had to move or lift anything remotely heavy. She smiled again at the memory of falling on him and went upstairs to shower.