Author's Note: See Title and Disclaimer in Chapter One. Hey Guys! I was going to make this chapter longer by putting this and the next chapter together, but I haven't posted in what feels like forever, so I was really proud of finally getting a chapter out. So I just ended where I planned originally. Sorry about that. But hey you've got a whole chapter to read, and I am going to try to have the next one up tomorrow night. Not much else to say, except that I'm extremely frustrated with the lack of new GG episodes. Darn that ASP and WB.

On with the Story . . .

Chapter 23: The Lap Dance Floor

Wednesday afternoon, Lorelai walked into the diner. It was fairly full, but Lorelai didn't care.

"Luke" she hollered, not seeing him. At a table next to her, a startled Kirk was mopping up the water down that had spilled down his shirt and glaring at Lorelai. She ignored him and hollered again.

Luke, in the storage room, was looking for ketchup. He knew Lorelai would be in for lunch, since she hadn't been in for breakfast. She would have a hamburger and fries and cover it in ketchup. When he heard her yell the first time, he stuck the bottle in his back pocket and pulled his flannel down over it. Lorelai was in the middle of shrieking his name a second time when he walked out.

"What do you want, Lorelai?" he asked gruffly.

"Guess what just happened?" she said brightly.

"What?" Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Guess." She commanded. "That's how the game works."

"I don't want to play any games. Just tell me" he said, exasperated.

"If you don't play, I will tell the whole diner . . . loudly . . . in my Louis Armstrong voice" she added when Luke looked bored. He glared for a moment, then looked around in thought.

"Um, You found out this season's color is pink and now you have to go shopping?" he guessed wildly. When Lorelai looked at him strangely, he added, "I watch TV."

"Well how very Queer Eye of you" she said, barely containing her laughter. "But no. What just happened is I went by the inn and . . . " She drummed her fingers on the counter. "They started working again!" she shouted throwing her arms in the air. Luke smiled genuinely.

"That's great."

"Yeah, you must be one hell of a talker," she said in awe. He shrugged his shoulders modestly. "They said I could pay them back whenever I'm able to. They wouldn't even let me set up a payment plan. They insisted, I take as much time as I needed" she squealed, clapping her hands together. Luke nodded his head, still smiling. It made his stomach flip-flop to see her so happy.

Luke looked away for a second and Lorelai startled him by leaning over the counter and slugging his arm, hard.

"Luke!" she cried. His eyes widened and he looked at her, confused. "You paid them," she whined. Luke looked down, guiltily. He knew he couldn't lie to her. She crossed her arms and tried to fix an icy glare on him. She only half-succeeded.

"You mad at me now?" he asked, trying to suppress a grin.

"No" she grumbled, dropping her arms in defeat. "But just for that, I get to set up a payment plan with you."

"No, Lorelai. I didn't want you to owe me. Tom was just going to give me the money as you paid him back." He shook his head furiously at her.

"Well too bad. Just for being so sneaky, you have to agree to it" she said triumphantly. He rolled his eyes, his signal that he was giving up the argument. Lorelai smiled, knowing she had won.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Nope, tea today" she answered. When his jaw dropped, she laughed. "Come on, Luke" she said.

"Right" he grumbled and handed her, her usual mug. She moaned while she took her first sip. He hated when she did that. It made him think of her moaning at other things. He grabbed the rag off his shoulder and began wiping down the counter. "So how is everything else?" he asked, trying to clear the images in his head. "How's the fundraiser coming?" Lorelai perked at this. He knew any reason to chatter made her happy.

"Well I finally got Taylor to agree to let us use the streets for parking" she said conspiratorially. Luke was surprised.

"How did you manage that, without giving up your first born?"

"He didn't want Rory" she said dismissively. "He just wanted a lap dance." Lorelai watched the look on Luke's face with amusement. She could tell that he didn't want to believe her, but that when it came to Lorelai, he could never be sure. When she felt he had suffered long enough, she reached into her purse and shoved a piece of paper at him.

"What's this?"

"He agreed to let us park if I let him pass those out to the guests" she said. Luke read the flier aloud.

"For your next soiree hire Taylor Doose: Adornment Conductor" Luke said uncertainly.

"He's helping put up decorations." Lorelai explained.

"Auto-choreographer" Luke continued.

"He tells the valets where to park the cars."

"Superintendent of Proscenium" Luke looked at her in disbelief.

"He gets to stand backstage and say 'go' to the performers."

"And Gala Ambassador."

"He's going to walk around and ask everyone how they're doing."

"Also, his assistant, Kirk Gleason: Illumination Manager" Luke finished.

"He gets to hold the spotlight." Lorelai said, laughing.

"You're going to let him pass these out?" Luke said incredulously. "Aren't these all society ladies?" Lorelai shrugged her shoulders.

"Either they'll think it's some quaint small-town thing, or they'll hate it, in which case Taylor will have to deal with my mother. Actually, I'm hoping it's the latter. I would love to see those two get into it." Lorelai grinned at the thought. Luke sighed at her usual glee in the torture of others.

"Sounds like you've got everything taken care of" he said suspiciously. He knew she wouldn't let him off that easily. He just wanted to know ahead of time what she was going to make him do. Her facial reaction told him immediately it was going to be something he wouldn't like.

"Well not everything" she said nonchalantly.

"Out with it" he commanded. Lorelai put on her innocent face, but Luke saw right through it. He looked at her sternly. Her face fell.

"Drats! Foiled again" she moaned, swinging her arm in defeat. He continued to stare her down and she finally relented. "Okay, I need you to build the dance floor."

"I can't build a dance floor!" he cried loudly.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked surprised.

"What makes you think I would even know where to begin?"

"You have tools" she said simply.

"It takes more than tools to build a dance floor" he said. Even though her naivete frustrated him, he still found it adorable.

"Like what?" she asked, still not understanding. "I'll get you wood and whatever else you need. Everything will be paid for." He could see he would never get through to her. He loved the way she was looking at him right now. It was as if she thought he could do anything, and couldn't understand why he wouldn't be able to. He couldn't bear to have her stop looking at him that way, at least when it came to this sort of thing. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll do my best" he mumbled. Lorelai beamed at him. He wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into, but he vowed to drive up to the home improvement store in Hartford, and not leave until he was a dance floor expert. Luke filled Lorelai's mug again and since she was already smiling brightly, she squealed. Luke frowned, disapprovingly, though inside he was grinning. "You going to eat?" he grumped at her.

"A burger with ketchup" she chirped. Luke turned around and Caesar handed him the burger he had started as soon as Lorelai had yelled. Luke set it in front of her smugly.

"What if today was the day, I decided a change was in order?" she asked challengingly.

"Well I didn't see pigs in the air, so I figured it was a safe bet." Luke answered. Lorelai frowned taking the top bun off of her burger.

"Where's the ketchup?"

"I'm out." Luke said nonchalantly.

"Liar" she said, squinting at him.

"Nope, we're really out" he said, shaking his head sympathetically. Lorelai stuck her bottom lip out, pouting. Luke shrugged his shoulders. She added puppy-dog eyes, and he shook his head. She started whimpering and whining like a dog. Luke reached in his back pocket and slammed the fresh bottle on the counter. "Here's your damn ketchup" he growled. She had won again.

"Ooh! Thank You!" she cooed and proceeded to cover her plate with red. Luke looked away in disgust and tried to change the subject.

"Lane has Friday night off" he declared.

"Yeah, Rory's coming to visit" Lorelai said, nodding. "She's on break from school and they are going to help set up for the fundraiser on Saturday." Luke bit his lip, trying to figure out how to lead the conversation where he wanted.

"That's good" he mumbled. "Except, that means the diner will be short one person." Lorelai looked up at him. "Fridays are always busy" he added quickly. Lorelai nodded and looked back down at her food. She munched on a fry for a few seconds before it dawned on her.

"I can help" she said a little louder than she meant to. Luke looked unsure. "One night, Luke! For old times sake?" She put her hands together, begging. Luke studied her for a minute, then nodded.

"All right" he agreed. Lorelai jumped up and did a little dance behind her stool. Luke grinned slyly, when she wasn't looking.