Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I still don't own Gilmore Girls.

Taylor's POV


Luke and I never got along. In his youth he was disrespectful and his insubordination continued to grow as he became an adult. He never wanted to take part in town events. He refused to put up fliers for town events unless it was Lorelai who suckered him into it. He's always been a non-conformist of the worst kind. Most of all, he's always had this uncontrollable urge to spite me. Though there was one time in particular that he put aside his childish derision and actually made himself useful.

It was about 4 a.m. in the middle of February. Stars Hollow had been hit by a horrible blizzard and I went to the market to make sure everything was in order. I got there and I noticed that the weight of the snow had caused part of the roof to cave in. Well I was beside myself. I was struggling to find something to catch the water as it melted when I heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I shouted.

"Taylor?" Luke called back. I heard the door swing closed behind him.

"Luke?" I said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come by and see if everything was okay with the roof," he said his voice moving closer to the back of the store. "I remembered you said that it needed to be repaired but you were too cheap to have Tom fix it."

"I beg your pardon Luke, but I was not too cheap," I grumbled. "He was price gouging."

At that moment Luke turned the corner and saw me standing there in three inches of water, trying, in vain, to correct the problem.

"Aw geez Taylor," Luke said when he saw me. "Here," he said grabbing the bucket off the shelf and placing it under the leak.

"Why are you here Luke?" I asked angrily.

"I'm helping you out," he told me matter-of-factly. "Do you have a hose around here?"

"Aisle 9," I replied indignantly.

"Thanks," Luke rolled his eyes at me as he walked to get a hose. "I have some plywood over at the diner. I think I could probably rig it to hold until we can get Tom over here to look at this."

"We can get Tom over here?" I said. The nerve of him. I knew he just stopped by to gloat. He probably saw the leak and couldn't pass up an opportunity to goad me about it.

"You then," he said walking back and unraveling the hose. "Look Taylor I was picking up my bread delivery and I saw you dragging the WetVac in here from your car. I figured you might want a hand. If you don't then I'll leave," he said placing the hose back on the shelf.

"No," I said stopping him before he could leave. "I guess I could use a hand," I finally replied grudgingly.

"Fine," Luke said picking up the hose again.

"Lorelai sure has had an effect on you," I commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luke asked. He seemed offended.

"I just mean that before you were with Lorelai you would have never offered to help me," I explained. "We've never gotten along and now all of a sudden you're helping me? Lorelai has changed you into a newer, kinder Luke."

"Think what you want Taylor. I'm still the same Luke," he grumbled.

"Well, that's debatable," I replied.

"And I'm sure you'll debate it. You'd debate the sky being blue if you thought someone would listen to you," Luke said. He wasn't angry he was simply making a point. I have to admit that a small part of me thought he might be slightly correct. He shot the comment at me, but he continued to work on cleaning the flood.

"I think you're gonna have to toss the bottom shelves of these four aisles," he said. "Standing water within a foot of perishables is a violation of Code 4, Section 1," Luke said with a gleam in his eye.

I was flabbergasted. He seemed to be teasing me and yet he was absolutely right.

"How do you know that?" I said astounded.

"Taylor, how many years have you been coming to the diner and harassing me about town laws, ordinances and codes? "he asked.

"But you never listen to me," I replied.

"I always listen to you. Why do you think I kick you out all the time? Caesar, the Banyan boys, Kirk, all of them I can tune out, but for some reason your voice cannot be ignored. I try to ignore you, but it's fate's sick joke to make me retain the useless information you spout."

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

"Please say nothing," Luke replied put upon. "Just let it go."

After an hour we had managed to make the inside of the market presentable and Luke was on the roof reinforcing the hole until Tom could get over to fix it. Luke finally came from the roof and handed me the extra nails.

"I think it'll hold, but you'd better get Tom here as soon as possible," he said.

"I'll call him as soon as it's light out," I replied.

Luke started to walk toward the door. "Luke," I said stopping him. "Thank you for your help today."

"Forget it," Luke replied.

"Well I really think I owe you something in return for—"he cut me off with the wave of his hand.

"Taylor, can we just forget this ever happened. You'll come into the diner and yak my ear off and I'll kick you out and things can be normal."

"Fine," I relented. "But I know the real you now Luke. You'll act mad and kick me out, but I know secretly, deep down you appreciate my vigor."

"Taylor," Luke said walking out. "Don't make me regret this."

"Fine," I replied cheerily. "But it's clear that you have the will to help people in the community and that means something Luke..."

I was just starting to get into my inspiration speech when I heard the door to the market slam. Luke had wandered off into the early morning. He'd done his good deed for the month and went off to start his day. Maybe he wasn't always as disrespectful and insubordinate as I thought.

TBC