Author's Note: Thanks for all the kind reviews. I still don't own Gilmore Girls or this song...

The One by Elton John...

In the instant that you love someone

In the second that the hammer hits

Reality runs up your spine

And the pieces finally fit

And all I ever needed was the one

Like freedom fields where wild horses run

When stars collide like you and I

No shadows block the sun

You're all I've ever needed

Baby you're the one

Lorelai was doing a final walk through of the rooms at the inn when she was interrupted by a timid knock at the door. She turned and her smile quickly faded when she saw Dean standing in the doorway. "Lorelai?" he asked hesitantly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lorelai sighed. She knew that running into Dean in a small town like Stars Hollow was inevitable, but she was really hoping she might put if off for another 10 to 12 years.

"Fine," Lorelai said curtly gesturing for him to enter the room. She walked over to the door and closed it so no one would hear the conversation that would follow.

"I'm really sorry about last week," Dean started.

"Yeah, well I don't think you're as sorry about it as I am," she responded shortly.

"Lorelai I love Rory. I never wanted to hurt her," he responded feebly leaning on the bed.

"Well you have a funny way of showing it Dean. You're married and you slept with her. Then you told your wife that you loved her ensuring that Rory would be the talk of Stars Hollow," Lorelai retorted.

"Yeah, well I thought she loved me okay?" Dean said standing up agitated. "She made me think that she wanted to be with me too."

"I'm not saying Rory isn't partly to blame Dean, but you're the married man. You both acted rashly and you both should have known better. But what exactly did you think would happen after all this?"

"I thought I'd leave Lindsey and be with Rory!" Dean exclaimed.

"Honestly? You thought that you'd ditch your wife and just be with Rory? I know you're young Dean, but have you ever heard the word rebound? Rory broke up with you and you married Lindsey. You slept with Rory and broke up with Lindsey to be with her. Are you detecting a pattern? Have you been reading the Jennifer Lopez Guide to Relationships? Rebound relationships don't work," Lorelai stated.

"Really?" he half-asked, half-stated. "Because it seems to be working out so well for you and Luke," Dean spat.

Lorelai was shocked by his audacity and tone. "Excuse me?" she said crossing her arms around her chest.

"You heard me. You and Luke are the talk of the town today. Didn't he just get divorced like a week ago? Does this make you Jennifer Lopez or Marc Anthony?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about Dean," Lorelai muttered. "First of all, Luke and I have nothing; I repeat nothing, to do with you and your marriage. Second, my personal life is none of your business. And finally, if you want to screw up your life go ahead, but stay the hell away from Rory. I know she told you she wasn't in love with you so just stay away. Work things out with Lindsey or don't, I don't care, but you will not bring Rory and her future down with you," Lorelai replied trying to maintain her composure. She suddenly felt like she had channeled Emily. The thought scared her, but she didn't care at the moment.

Dean saw the fire in Lorelai's eyes and he knew better than to push her any further. He thought it may have been a mistake to bring up Luke, but he felt justified. She was judging him why shouldn't he judge her?

"Fine," Dean sighed. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened."

"Well you did," Lorelai said briskly. "I think you should go," she said opening the door as an indication that he should as soon as humanly possible.

Dean ran his fingers through his hair and walked out leaving Lorelai to stand there and contemplate their discussion. 'What do Luke and I have to do with any of this?' she thought. Sure, his divorce was only finalized a few weeks ago, but Nicole cheated on him. She wasn't the other woman. And maybe they had said 'I love you' too soon, but it definitely wasn't planned, it just was. She sighed and picked up her pen and Post It notes and continued what she was doing, trying hard to forget about Dean and his impromptu apology.

Luke had decided to venture down to the diner about an hour after Lorelai left. He hoped that the crowd had thinned out and those that were there weren't going to be interested in giving him the third degree about his relationship with Lorelai. As he walked down the stairs he shook his head. He couldn't believe his impulsive actions earlier. He had wanted to save Lorelai from the vultures gathering around her. He wanted to save Rory from the pain and embarrassment of her affair being made public. He hadn't counted on his protective side to coming back and bite him in the ass.

He entered the diner and noticed, much to his disappointment, that Patty was still in the diner. Of all the people in town he knew Patty would be one of the worst. 'Might as well get this over with,' he thought.

"Hi Patty, what can I get you?" Luke asked walking to her table.

"Luke, so nice to see you," Patty placated him with a huge grin. "When was the last time I saw you?" she pretended to think. "I thought I saw you this morning, but I believe Lorelai Gilmore's face was obstructing my view. It might have been because you seemed to be attached at the lips."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it Patty. You know Lorelai and I are dating so can we drop it?" Luke asked, his eyes pleading with Patty to let it go.

"Of course I understand," Patty nodded. "Discretion is the better part of valor."

Luke let out a relieved sighed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

"But," Patty interrupted his hopeful thought. "If that's true then why would you kiss Lorelai in front of everyone? When did you become such a showman Luke?"

"Aw hell Patty I don't know," Luke said pulling out his pad and pencil. "Will you just order please?"

"I'll order if you tell me why you kissed Lorelai like that?" Patty tried to deal.

"Who are you Monty Hall?" Luke asked. When it didn't appear that Patty was going to give an inch Luke replied, "I don't know. You were all gathered around and I felt bad for her. I wanted you to leave her and Rory alone so I kissed her okay?" Luke let out exasperated. "Order."

"Ham and cheese on rye and side of curly fries," she complied.

"Thank you," Luke replied rushing behind the counter.

"You know you're very good at PR Luke. You should think about it if you ever close the diner," Patty said absently.

"Yeah I'm a regular P.T. Barnum," Luke muttered and put in Patty's order.

Luke sighed as he thought about Lorelai. He knew he had effectively forfeited their privacy, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He had dated Rachel in front of the town and Nicole. Hell he was married to Nicole and they didn't give him too much trouble. He hoped that his relationship with Lorelai would be no different.

Lorelai entered the diner later than usual. In fact most of the crowd had gone home for the evening. She walked over the counter, threw her purse down and lowered her head onto the counter. Luke came out from the kitchen and noticed a large smattering of brown hair on the counter, which he recognized immediately as Lorelai.

"Your day was that good huh?" he leaned in and asked.

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "You know that feeling when you hit your funny bone really hard? You're not expecting it and the pain just shoots up your arm and you get that uncomfortable tingling sensation for a while?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded.

"Well imagine a woodpecker hitting that spot on your arm over and over all day. In a nutshell that was my day," she sighed sitting up straight.

"So, can coffee remedy this problem?" Luke asked grabbing the coffeepot.

"No," she replied seriously. "But it's as good a start as any," she smiled.

"Good," he grinned back.

"So how was your day? Did the hounds chase you down?" she asked sipping her coffee.

"It was interesting," Luke said. "I kept getting a lot of looks from the men town. I felt like the captain of the football team or something. Apparently dating you has really helped me gain in popularity," he told her.

"Really? Well I'm flattered," Lorelai smiled.

"Oh, no I don't think it has anything to do with you being attractive. I think all the men were just excited there was one more lunatic out of the Stars Hollow dating pool," he said seriously.

"Ha. Ha," Lorelai replied not smiling. "I had an awful day and this is how you cheer me up?"

"I gave you coffee. Willingly. Without a fight," Luke replied emphatically.

"I guess you did," Lorelai grudging replied.

"So is the inn all set for tomorrow?" he asked automatically cutting her a piece of pie and placing it in front of her.

"Yeah," she replied. "I did the final room run through today, I gave the staff a pep talk, I stopped Sookie from accidentally cutting off her hand and I stopped Michel from purposely trying to make a waiter cry. All in all it was an eventful day," she sighed contentedly.

"It sounds like it," Luke concurred. "I'm glad you came by though," he added quietly.

"Well I'm glad you're glad I came by," she grinned back. Suddenly she became very self-conscious about her mirth. She thought back to what Dean had said. How she was somehow Luke's rebound relationship. Very quickly her grin dissolved and she stared intently at her coffee.

"Everything okay?" Luke asked refilling a salt shaker.

"Yeah, everything's fine," she said absently.

"You sure?" he asked gazing at her. She had gotten very quiet very quickly, never a good sign with Lorelai. She looked like she was contemplating something. He wondered if it was Rory or her parents. 'It could just be the stress of the inn opening tomorrow,' he told himself.

"Yeah," she replied unconvincingly.

"Okay," he said with a raised eyebrow as he went back to his salt shakers.

"No," Lorelai said.

"No what?" Luke asked quizzically.

"No, everything isn't fine," she replied. "Can we talk for minute, seriously?"

"Okay," Luke replied hesitantly. He was suddenly very nervous. Lorelai looked concerned. Over the last week Luke lived with this fear hanging over his head. It was a fear that Lorelai was going to eventually come to her senses. She'd recover from her brief period of amnesia and realize she didn't love him. That it had all been a lie. That she was confused.

"Can we talk upstairs?" she asked standing up.

Luke put down the salt and wiped his hands on his jeans. "Yeah," he said. "Go on up and I'll ask Caesar to watch the diner for a bit."

He watched Lorelai go upstairs before he told Caesar to watch the diner. Luke didn't want to go upstairs. He didn't want to face the possibility of Lorelai realizing she didn't love him. She had acted happy he kissed her in public, but maybe she thought more about it and changed her mind. Why did he think she'd want someone like him anyway? All these thoughts were racing through Luke's mind as he entered his apartment.

Lorelai was sitting at Luke's kitchen table with her fingers slowly massaging her temples. She had a rough day, but seeing Luke brought back everything Dean said earlier in the day. Lorelai knew she had to talk to Luke. She didn't even know where to begin when he entered the apartment.

"Hey," Luke said tentatively as he walked over to the table and took a seat across from Lorelai.

"Hey," she said looking up. "I'm sorry to pull you away from the diner I just really needed to ask you something," she said.

"No, I will not sleep with Patty so she doesn't get jealous about us," Luke joked trying to lighten the mood.

"Good to know, but not the question I was looking for an answer for," she said smiling feebly.

"Okay, what's your question," Luke asked shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Am I the rebound girl?" she asked straight out.

"The rebound girl?" Luke asked. He was extremely relieved that this was the question on her mind. "You mean am I dating you to get over Nicole?"

Lorelai nodded.

"No way," he firmly replied. He reached across the table and picked up Lorelai's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Lorelai I love you and you are in no way some unimportant relationship to get over Nicole. I'm over Nicole, period."

"Was I the other woman?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"Were you the other woman? What are talking about?" Luke asked. Luke was suddenly very conscious of his conversation with Dean in the middle of street. Dean accused Luke of being just as guilty of cheating on Nicole emotionally as he had been of cheating on Lindsey physically. Luke didn't like to dwell on that conversation so he had put it out of his mind. But Lorelai's line of questioning had suddenly made him aware of the conversation once again.

"I mean," Lorelai started. "Ah, this is embarrassing," she said looking down and their hands. Their hands were locked together and looked so comfortable and so right together. "I mean when you were with Nicole were you really with her or were you thinking about someone else?"

"Someone else meaning you?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Lorelai said still looking down. Her cheeks felt hot. She was embarrassed. She felt funny asking Luke these questions, but after her conversation with Dean she had to know.

"No," Luke replied unconvincing. "I mean I don't think so," he amended his response. "What's going on Lorelai?"

Lorelai lifted her head and looked up at him. Luke, sitting across from her clad in his usual flannel and backwards baseball cap, didn't look any different than usual and yet he looked like a completely different person from the man who used to serve her coffee. She was looking at him with an entirely different pair of eyes and she liked what she saw. She was confused and stressed and maybe this was the worst time to approach this conversation, but she knew she had to do it.

"I saw Dean today," she said simply. "He came to apologize about what happened with Rory and he said something."

Luke's face and shoulders tightened. He had a feeling Dean had said something to Lorelai that probably resembled what he told him days ago and he wasn't happy about it.

"What did he say?" Luke asked trying to remain calm and keep his composure.

"I said something about how rebound relationships don't work and he said something about us being a rebound relationship," Lorelai said. "I know he's just a screwed up kid but something about how he said it stung. It was like he knew things. He was so confident."

Luke dropped Lorelai's hand and stood up. "I hate that kid," Luke told her matter-of-factly. "I swear Lorelai I used to feel bad for him because he was mixed up, but lately he just thinks he's the damn Dali Llama spouting off his observations!" Luke exploded.

Lorelai stood and put a hand on Luke's shoulder to calm him down. "Whoa, I wasn't expecting a rant," she told him. "What observations are you talking about anyway? When have you talked to Dean?"

Luke seemed to calm down a little and he took a deep breath. "I saw him the morning after the test run. I stopped him on the street," Luke admitted sheepishly.

"Luke you didn't," Lorelai replied.

"Oh I did and I asked him what the hell he was thinking. He didn't have a good answer, but then he goes off about how I'm no better than he is because I didn't cheat on Nicole physically but emotionally. I mean how messed up is that?" Luke sighed.

Lorelai got quiet and released her hand from Luke's shoulder. "Why would he say that?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Luke replied exasperated. "But he says that to me and now he's telling you that you're the rebound girl. What is wrong with him?"

"I don't know. He's young and upset," Lorelai tried to reason. They were quiet for a moment and then Lorelai finally got up the nerve to ask, "So he thought you were cheating on Nicole emotionally?"

"Yeah," Luke snorted.

"Was he right?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," Luke answered honestly. He walked away from Lorelai and sat on the couch. She stood stunned for a moment and then she sat next to him on the couch.

"You don't know if you loved your wife?" she asked gently.

"No," he started. "I know I didn't love her. Not the way a guy is supposed to be in love with his wife. I married Nicole on a cruise. I was high on ocean air and way too many tequila shooters. It's not an excuse, but I know I wasn't in it for love."

"Why didn't you just get divorced then?" Lorelai continued to question him.

"It's nice to have someone," he finally responded. "I liked Nicole. I had a pretty good time with her. Had stronger heads prevailed I never would have married her, but that didn't happen."

"Why didn't you love Nicole?" Lorelai finally had the courage to ask.

"Lorelai," Luke started to protest. "Do we have to do this? I already feel awful about my failure of a marriage. Do we really need to play Dr. Phil and find out why?"

"No, we don't have to, but I think it might help us in the long run if we talk about this," she said. Seeing that Luke wasn't all that open to talking about this she tried to convince him by adding, "Luke I love you. I am in love with you and nothing you tell me right now is going to change that."

"Nicole was great, but she wasn't for me. She didn't light up a room. When I was moody she didn't try to make me smile. She just wasn't The One. I tried to convince myself she was, but she wasn't," he sighed.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

"What are you James Lipton or something?" he asked getting irritated.

"I'm sorry, I just want to know," she said gently.

To Lorelai's surprise Luke didn't get angry. Instead he answered her question with more honesty than she thought he would.

"I know it's stupid, but I felt like I was measuring Nicole up to you. You weren't my girlfriend, but in a way you were the closest thing I had to a girlfriend since Rachel," he admitted sheepishly.

"Luke," Lorelai said touched. "So I'm not the reason you're divorced?"

"What? No, of course not. Nicole and I are the reason I'm divorced. She wanted different things. Guys who wore socks with a gold stripe to start," he added jovially, but with a straight face. "I wanted to stay in Stars Hollow, she didn't. I didn't want to change, she wanted me to change. It wasn't working and it didn't have anything to do with you."

"You're sure?" she asked.

"Honestly, somewhere in the back of my head did I think maybe someday you and me might be together? Yes. But in reality I didn't think that would ever happen so I moved on and it didn't work out. You are not the rebound girl. You did not break up my marriage and Dean can go to hell. I love you," he added softly.

Lorelai curled up next to Luke and laid her head on his shoulder. "I love you too," she said.

Luke pulled Lorelai closer to him by placing his arm around her shoulder. She turned toward him and pressed her lips to his. Slowly she positioned her body to face him and the kiss deepened. Luke brushed his hand down her shoulder and gently grazed her stomach through her shirt. The sensation sent a shiver down Lorelai's spine and she softly moaned as he pulled her onto his lap and moved his mouth over her neck.

TBC