Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffhanger. I noticed you don't really enjoy them! I was tapped out and figured it would be best to give you something than nothing. So thanks for the reviews. Hopefully the wait wasn't too long. I tried to update yesterday to no avail so thanks for being patient! I still don't own Gilmore Girls...

"Remember when I told you I was a compulsive liar?" Luke asked settling into his chair next to Lorelai. "Apparently there was more truth to that than I realized."

Lorelai flipped open the folder and gazed at the paper staring back at her. "I don't understand," she said confused.

"I'm not married to Nicole. That's the official divorce decree," he told her.

"I can't believe this," Lorelai said stunned. "Why would you tell me you were still married?"

Lorelai pushed her chair back from the table and stood. Luke stood up and tried to approach her, but she inched farther away.

"How could you be so unbelievably cruel? At first I thought it was all a lie, but Lane and Babette and Patty and everyone said you were gone on a retreat with Nicole!" she shouted angrily.

"I know," Luke said sheepishly. "Don't think I don't feel bad about what I said. Why do you think I'm telling you now?"

"You have no idea what I've been through," Lorelai continued to rage at him. "I really thought you had gone back to Nicole. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"

"Do you have any idea how much it killed me to see you kissing Christopher?" Luke shot back at her. "You were hurt by the thought of Nicole, try being hurt by the reality."

Lorelai didn't know what to say. She knew he had a point. He had to endure the horror of watching her kiss Christopher. Lorelai knew she couldn't handle the thought of Luke and Nicole being together, let alone actually witnessing a moment as intimate as a kiss. She struggled to figure out what had gone so horribly wrong between them.

"I don't know what to say," Lorelai simply replied.

"I don't either," Luke sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I had to tell you the truth. So now you know," he said picking up the paper and tossing it back into the folder. "That's really all I had to tell you. I won't hold it against you if you think I'm an ass, but, oh hell, you already think I am," he finished trying to make light of situation.

Luke picked up the folder and walked over to the file cabinet. His back was turned toward Lorelai and she just stood there contemplating her next move. A large part of her wanted to run. She couldn't believe Luke could do something so cruel and unusual. But part of her understood what he'd done. After all, Luke saw Lorelai kissing Christopher and although she said it meant nothing she also told Luke that she could never love him. He acted in anger and so did she.

"Christopher said I'm stubborn," Lorelai said.

Luke stood mute as he filed the folder.

"He told me I was stubborn and I shouldn't let that ruin things between us," Lorelai continued.

"So now Christopher is my biggest fan?" Luke asked surprised.

"No," Lorelai replied. "But he saw what was between us and he knows me so he was trying to be helpful."

A look of disgust, or was it hurt, passed over Luke's face. The look was not lost on Lorelai.

"What?" she asked testily.

"Nothing," Luke replied. "It just comes back to him all the time. I thought we really had something, but inevitably it always comes back to Christopher and how he knows you. How's he's worthy of you, but I'm not. He'll always have a piece of you that I can't touch."

"You're right, he will," Lorelai spat.

"Great, just what I wanted to hear," Luke grumbled. "Well don't let someone as unworthy as me keep you. I'm sure you have places to be."

"That's not what I meant," Lorelai said. "Yes, Christopher will always have a special place in my heart, but I'm not interested in getting back together with him," she said calming down. "Look, I'm trying to tell you that I don't want whatever this is to end because we're both too stubborn to do anything about it."

Luke studied her face and found that she was being truly sincere. "I don't want things to end this way either," Luke said walking back to the kitchen table and taking a seat. They were both speaking calmly and rationally. This was the moment that would make or break their relationship.

"But you can't deny that we've got some serious issues," Luke said.

"I know," Lorelai replied. "I'm sorry that you don't feel you can't trust me."

"That isn't true," Luke said. "I do trust you. I admit that seeing with you with Christopher tested that theory, but I trust you. The problem is that you don't trust me."

"What you mean?" Lorelai asked surprised.

"I mean you don't trust me enough to help you with your problems. I thought couples were supposed to talk about things. You obviously had this huge problem and you called Christopher. You said you liked spending time with me, but at the end of the day you'd go home to him. Do you have any idea how hard that was for me? Especially when I saw the way he'd look at you," Luke explained.

"Luke," Lorelai sighed. She walked over to the table and sat across from him. She picked up his hands and held them in her own. "Please, please understand that this wasn't about you. It wasn't about me feeling comfortable telling Christopher things and not you. Something happened with Rory and for a variety of reasons I felt I could tell Christopher what happened. He needed to know because I needed his help."

"I could've helped you," Luke said quietly.

"I don't doubt that," Lorelai replied.

"Then why didn't you ask me?" he asked her point blank.

"I couldn't," Lorelai admitted not looking him in the eyes. "We had just kissed and things were new and different and I didn't want to dump all this on you. I also didn't want to betray Rory. It was her issue and I didn't want you to think any less of her."

"I could never think any less of Rory," Luke protested.

"Luke you have no idea," Lorelai said stopping his protest. "I thought less of her and I'm her mother."

Luke just looked up and gave her a puzzled look. Lorelai swallowed hard. She needed to make him understand and there was only one way to accomplish this task.

"She slept with Dean the night of the test run," Lorelai said softly not looking at him.

"What?" Luke said alarmed dropping Lorelai's hands.

"I came home after Kirk's reenactment of Run Lola Run and I found them together," Lorelai said. "I got into fight with Rory and she told me she hated me for ruining things for her. I got her calmed down and into bed and I was so confused and let down that I wasn't thinking clearly. I picked up the phone and I called Christopher. He came over and you know the rest," Lorelai explained.

Luke stood up and paced a few steps while he ran his hands over his face. "Okay, first thing's first. Why is Dean still breathing? He's married. I mean, he is still married right? I know I'm not in on the Stars Hollow Gossip Tree, but I'm pretty sure he's still married."

"He is," Lorelai said. "He was married when it happened and he's married now. He's still alive because Rory is just as much to blame as he is. It's like she wasn't thinking. She was going on about how he was her Dean and how he's so good and nice and I felt so ill just looking at her."

"I should've seen this coming," Luke said softly. "I'm such an idiot."

"What? Why? Luke there was no way you could've known this would happen," Lorelai replied sitting up straighter in her chair.

"I knew he still loved her," Luke said. "Remember when I told you not to go to Dean's wedding? Well, when I told Rory not to go?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded vaguely recalling Rory's cryptic message that Luke had said to stay away from the wedding.

"The night before Dean's wedding he came into the diner with some of his buddies. They had a little too much to drink and Dean ended up staying at my place to sleep it off. He was pretty drunk and he made a few comments about Rory."

"He did?" Lorelai asked shocked.

"Yeah, but I figured he was drunk so it wasn't a big deal," Luke continued. "But I ran into him again a while later. We were talking about Lindsey and suddenly he lost his train of thought. He was completely gone and I followed his eyes. He was watching Rory. You'd just come back from somewhere and you were going into the diner. He looked at her like he was still in love her."

"Wow," Lorelai breathed.

"Yeah, wow," Luke replied. "This is all my fault. I should have said something."

"Luke," Lorelai said standing. "You couldn't have stopped this from happening. Rory and Dean are both old enough to know better."

"I don't understand why you couldn't tell me this weeks ago," Luke said.

"I just couldn't," Lorelai said. "After everything that happened with Nicole I figured you wouldn't understand. You've never done anything so reckless and stupid. I knew Christopher would understand because we both made horrible mistakes when we were younger."

"First of all my marriage to Nicole has nothing to do with you and Rory," Luke began. "I'm not gonna pretend that cheating isn't a big deal because it hurts people, but it's not something I can't understand. And second, I've made plenty of mistakes in my life. I would have understood."

"What a pair we make," Lorelai chuckled ironically. "I think you're perfect and you think you're unworthy."

Luke walked back to the table and sat down facing Lorelai. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Lorelai," he said in all seriousness. "I'm not perfect. I'm far from it. My actions last week should prove that. And as far as me being unworthy, it's not that far from the truth. You're this funny, beautiful, energetic wonder and I'm the grumpy loner who runs the diner. I've spent the last few weeks wondering what you could possibly see in me."

Lorelai leaned in and sat mirroring Luke, her elbows resting on her knees. "You," she said placing her hands on his knees, "are not unworthy. If anything I'm the one who isn't worthy to be with you. How many times have I hurt you? I was too dense to see what was in front of me. And then I had you and I was practically playing house with Christopher. I had no idea how that must have hurt you."

Luke leaned closer and placed his hands over hers. He leaned his forehead against Lorelai's and looked down. "I'm so sorry for what I did," he said. "You had so much going on and I was being selfish and thinking of myself."

"Luke," Lorelai said taking his chin in her hand. "You are one of the most unselfish people I've ever met. You made a mistake, so did I."

"What mistake did you make?" he asked.

"Telling you I could never love you," Lorelai said. "You never would have played the Nicole card if I hadn't hurt you by saying what I said. And believe me I was being spiteful because I knew it would hurt you if I said it. And I didn't mean it because the truth is that I do love you."

Luke looked deep into her eyes and he knew that meant it this time. He knew there was no doubt in her mind and before she had a chance to take it back again he swiftly leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. He took her face in his hands and pulled her closer to him.

Lorelai leaned in and came up off her chair collapsing into Luke. Their hands a frenzy of touching and electricity. It was there that Lorelai felt it, the thing that was missing from her kiss with Christopher. In fact thinking about it now she concluded that whatever this new feeling was she had never felt it with Christopher or anyone else. It was like coming home to a house of love and comfort, safety.

Luke was the first one to pull back, but as he did he looked deeply into Lorelai's piercing blue eyes and said, "I love you Lorelai. I don't know how I got so lucky but I love you."

Lorelai propped herself arm on Luke's chest and looked at him. "Please don't think that you don't deserve this Luke. If anything I'm the one who doesn't deserve you. And don't try to compare yourself to Christopher because you don't have to. You're all I want and you are all I need," she said forcefully.

"And you're all I need," Luke replied leaning in to kiss her again.

"Good," Lorelai said. "So then there's only one more thing we need to discuss."

"How we're gonna kill Dean?" Luke ventured.

"No," Lorelai smirked. "Although I appreciate the thought."

"So what do we need to discuss?" he asked giving her a little squeeze.

"Remember how I had that whole idea of putting us on hold?" she said crinkling her nose.

"I vaguely recall," Luke replied.

"I can't do it anymore," she said playfully.

"Aside from the I love you, that's the best thing I've heard come out of your mouth," Luke smiled and he leaned in and kissed her hungrily.

TBC