Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Gilmore Girls although I enjoy watching the show very much.

A little while later they were sitting at a small table at the back of the coffee bar. Luke wondered if it was always so busy. At least the noise level gave them a sense of privacy. Rory had some sort of fancy coffee concoction that cost him five bucks, and he had an herbal tea with a weird-sounding name.

"So, how'd you find this place?" He wondered aloud, trying to start up the conversation again.

"Oh, we Lorelai'd it last year." Rory responded, sipping her drink.

"Lorelai'd?" Luke chuckled.

"Oh yeah, remember when Mom came back last year after I moved in and she kept your truck for so long? Well, she threw this really cool wingding in our room and we tried out all the fast food joints and coffee houses close by and rated them according to service, quality, price, and cuteness factor of delivery boys." Rory explained as Luke laughed.

"Yeah, I can just see her," he smiled fondly.

Rory rolled her eyes, "You two are so together it's sickening," she complained. She turned her attention back to her drink and there was another lull in the conversation.

"I kind of envy you guys you know. Remember that bad date I had last year? The urine mint guy?"

Luke nodded with a grin.

"That was almost the highlight of my dating scene last year. I had no one. I was really lonely. Everyone knew how lonely I was. It was embarrassing. I just kept thinking of who was out there for me, you know? There must have been someone really awesome waiting around for someone just like me. Then I remembered Dean. He was always so nice to me, and so good, and he loved, I mean loves, me so much and no one else is there. I just wanted to feel special and important and loved. I don't even know if I meant for it to go this far. I just didn't think. I got caught up in the moment and then everything fell apart." Her voice tapered off to a whisper.

Luke looked at her with pity. "I guess I know how you feel. Maybe that's why I was with Nicole. I was lonely and she really liked me and we had fun together. I thought that would be enough, and it was for awhile. Then we went on that stupid cruise and the whole thing was shot to hell. I don't know why we went ahead with the marriage." He looked at her, "I guess I didn't think either. I got caught up in the moment and boy, did things go bad fast."

Rory looked up, "What went wrong? Do you mind me asking?" She saw his face and added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's not that," Luke assured her, "it's not you. It's sort of like I don't want to tell anyone really. I would just rather not think about it at all."

"That's OK, I understand," she said.

"No, I think I should tell you. Just bear with me here. Let me think for a sec." He paused.

"It's like this. Things didn't go well for us and we started to fight a lot. I didn't know why at the time. She didn't seem happy about anything, and here I was just being myself and I couldn't figure out what her problem was. Now I think I know. I didn't do enough. I sort of let her do all the work because she wanted the relationship more than I did. My heart wasn't really in it. I mean, I thought the relationship was OK and all, and she's really nice, but I don't think I really gave her anything of me to work with. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," Rory said, "but I'm kind of wondering where you're going with this. Are you trying to talk about Mom?"

"Uh, no, I don't know. I think that's a different issue." Luke almost visibly backed up in his train of thought.

"Sorry," Rory said, "go on."

"Well, things got particularly bad and I was getting some signs that things were really wrong, but I mainly tried to ignore them." He held his hand up to stop her from speaking, "Don't ask me why. I'm just that way. Hey, I'm trying to tell you something here!"

He drank some tea and thought a bit.

"One day I came back from her apartment and realized I wasn't wearing my socks," he stated.

"What? What do you mean? Were you wearing her socks?" She looked confused.

"No, I was wearing men's socks, but they weren't mine." He was starting to get déjà vu.

"Oh my God! Luke!" Rory looked horrified.

Luke didn't meet her eye. He stared into the teacup and wished again that he were at home. He did find some slight humour in the situation anyway – Rory was a lot quicker picking up on the importance of the socks than Lorelai had been. He was a bit relieved that he wouldn't have to explain anymore.

"That slut!" Rory said angrily. Then she slapped her hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. She sat for a heartbeat, then jumped up, grabbed her coat, and flew out the door. Luke wasn't far behind.

"Ohmidgod, ohmigod, ohmigod... What have I done," she cried as she blindly walked away from the diner.

"Rory..." Luke started, and then Rory burst into tears. He walked up and patted her awkwardly on the head. She crossed her arms tightly around her ribcage and sobbed.

"Don't cry," he said uncomfortably. He was starting to think that this had really backfired when she swiveled around and put her head on his shoulder and continued to cry. He just stood and patted her head. When she had stopped crying a bit he handed her a napkin from the coffee bar and she wiped her face. He had a feeling that his shirt had done most of the wiping.

"You must hate me," she said simply.

"No! God, no!" he shook her shoulder slightly, "Rory, I care about you more than, well, more than myself!"

She hiccupped a bit.

"That's why I over-reacted, that's why I said those things. I just didn't want you to go through the hurt and the pain that I did. You deserve better. Take it from me; it's not enough to be with someone who loves you. You need to love them."

"I want to love someone," she said sadly.

"I know, you will," he said positively.

"How do you know for sure?"

"I just know," he said.

"The same way you knew for my Mom?" She twinkled up at him.

He laughed, "Well, the deck was kind of stacked when I told your mom that. Hey, are you feeling better?"

"No." She sighed, "But, I will."

"OK, why don't I go back into the coffee shop and get a couple of those double espressos to go and you and Paris can get really hyper on the brownies and not get any sleep tonight?"

"You know, I think my mom is really having a bad influence on you. This encouragement of junk food consumption is really out of character!"

"Well, just this once it'll be our little secret," he quipped as he went back into the store.

He came out a few minutes later and handed her the cups. "Careful, they're hot."

"I gotcha," she replied.

"Well, I'm just parked over there, so, I'm going to get going."

"OK," she said, "and thanks Luke."

"Sure, no problem. Hey, we're good?" He looked at her closely.

"Yah, we're good." She smiled.

"OK, good." He paused. "We're not talking about this ever again, right?" He looked worried.

She laughed, "Ay, ay Captain. The secrets you impart will never pass these, my lips."

"Well, good," he said, relieved.

"Um, Luke, do you want me to not tell Mom that you came here?"

"Oh, well, it's up to you really. I know how you guys are and I wouldn't tell you to keep anything from her..." he tapered off. "She knows about the socks and the aftermath if that's what you mean, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Aftermath?!"

"Yes, well, look at the time," he started backing up, "I really have to get up early so I have to run, but it's been good having this chat and I hope to see you in the diner soon. Good luck at school and all..." He turned and started to walk faster.

Rory laughed, "Luke! You know I have to call mom now." She heard him mutter, "Oh crap!"

She continued to chuckle as he got in the truck. He gave her a little wave before pulling out of the parking lot. As she watched him drive off she realized that this was the first time in weeks that she had actually laughed out loud. She was still smiling as she turned to go back to the dorm where Paris would undoubtedly be upset about the long wait for her coffee. 'Maybe she'll be so hyped up on brownies I'll get off easy,' Rory hoped. And for the first time in weeks she thought things just might work out OK after all.

Thanks to all the reviewers. I'm glad you liked the first chapter. Hopefully this winds it up satisfactorily for you. I was trying to make some sense of the Rory/Dean craziness to comfort myself. BTW, I just saw a preview for next week and it looks really funny!