Disclaimer: I still don't own any of these characters

Lorelai is sitting at the kitchen table going over financials for the inn, when she hears a knock at the door. She gets up to answer it and stubs her toe on the end table. "Ow, ow, blasted nerve endings!" She hops the remainder of the way and opens the door, it's Luke.

Luke- "Sorry I'm late, I had to follow Liz and TJ to Hartford so they could drop off the truck and…Are you OK?

Lorelai- "Oh ya, just fighting with the furniture again. Nothing amputation can't fix." She says limping back towards the kitchen. Luke takes of his coat and boots and follows her.

Luke- "I forgot about the shovel. But I did bring food." He says holding up the brown bags.

Lorelai- "Why don't you go back and grab the shovel while I serve up the food?"

Luke- "Maybe tomorrow, I just took off my boots and I'm really hungry."

Lorelai- "See, vicious circle." Luke nods and starts pulling the burgers out of the bag. Lorelai grabs some plates out of the cupboard and brings them to the table. Luke grabs some glasses out of the cupboard and goes to the fridge.

Luke- "Do you want orange juice or water?"

Lorelai- "I'm having coffee, but word to the wise, have water because I don't ever remember buying orange juice."

Luke- "Who cleans out your fridge?" He asks looking at the shelves of old take out boxes.

Lorelai- "Well Rory used to bring it to my attention regularly, but now I just wait until the Center for Disease Control comes by. They do a real nice job." She replies refilling her coffee and sitting down.

Luke comes back to the table and sits down. Lorelai notices the papers she was working on and pushes them to the side for him. One of the papers grabs her attention and she puts on her glasses. She quietly reads it and then reaches for her notebook again.

Luke- "What are you working on there?"

Lorelai- "Oh, we finished the stable last week so the horses we bought will be arriving tomorrow…at 7:00am…on a Sunday! I am just double checking that everything is ready to go." She grabs her burger and takes a bite. "Wow this burger tastes even better than usual." She says with her mouth full.

Luke- "TJ made them. I guess he used to work in a restaurant a couple years ago." He says shrugging. "He's offered to work at the diner for free while their staying here as repayment for the apartment."

Lorelai- "Oh, well that's nice of him. Hey, maybe you will actually be able to take a vacation or something."

Luke- "I'm not very good at vacations, look what happened last time." He says biting into his turkey burger.

Lorelai- "Oh Luke, look on the bright side, what are the chances of you getting married and divorced on your next trip. Pretty slim I'd say." Luke just nods in response. Lorelai can tell he doesn't want to talk about it so she goes back to reading the paper in her hand. After a few seconds she exclaims, "Oh, no!"

Luke- "What?" he asks trying to see what she is reading.

Lorelai- "The guy we hired to look after the horses can't start until Friday! I totally forgot about that." She says putting down the paper. She thinks for a minute. "It's OK, I'll just have to do it until then. What's one more thing on my list."

Luke- "You're gonna look after the horses? Really, I think we can find someone more qualified…maybe Kirk!" he says laughing at her.

Lorelai- "I'll have you know that as a kid I used to spend a lot of my time in the Gilmore Stables. I had my own horse, Princess, and I would follow the stable guy around all the time and help him with the horses. It was better than being at home."

Luke puts down his burger and stares at her for a minute. Lorelai looks up and notices Luke staring at her, "What?!" she asks.

Luke- "I just can't picture that. Lorelai Gilmore, the lady who loses a caged bird, responsible for feeding and cleaning up after horses." Luke kind of chuckles, "You're gonna have to stop by that shovel store for sure now!" he finishes with a big smile.

Lorelai- "Keep it up big guy, I know you can get the next few days off, so you might be next on my recruiting list!"

Luke- "Well, I'll have you know that I also know a thing or two about horses. My dad and I used to have a couple and we would ride them up to our cabin every weekend to go fishing."

Lorelai- "So are you volunteering to help?" she asks batting her eyelashes. "Only until Friday." She clasps her hands together as if praying him to say yes.

Luke stares at her silent for a few minutes knowing he was going to give in before answering, "Ya, I guess I could. But I'm not doing it by myself." He quickly adds to the sentence, pointing his finger at her. Lorelai throws her hands in the air and replies, "Don't worry, I would never think of leaving you alone with Desdemona and Cletus."

Luke- "Who?"

Lorelai- "The horses, keep up man!"

They finish eating their burgers and Luke gets up to clear the plates.

Lorelai- "Just leave them in the sink. I'll wash them before I go to bed." She says as Luke starts to run the water.

Luke- "I can wash them, I don't mind."

Lorelai- "No, I like washing dishes. It gives me time to process all my thoughts before I go to bed."

Luke shrugs, "Whatever. Hey, do you mind if I turn on the TV for a bit? I just want to see the final scores in a couple of the hockey games."

Lorelai- "Hey make yourself at home, I still got a couple things to do here anyway." She says spreading out her papers again. Luke heads into the living room.

After an hour or so Luke gets up and heads back into the kitchen where Lorelai is still reading over a bunch of stuff.

Luke- "I'm gonna go to bed. You should too if we have to be at the inn by 7:00." Lorelai looks up at him. It hits him, Damn she looks good! She now has her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, a pencil tucked behind her ear and has her glasses sitting half way down her nose.

Lorelai- "Ya, soon, I just got a couple more things here, then I'll do the dishes and go to bed. See ya in the morning."

Luke- "I'll have coffee ready at 6:00." He says before he heads to Rory's old room. He hears her groan at the thought and closes the door. After changing into his pajamas he lays down in the bed. He can hear Lorelai talking to Rory on the phone and the sound of dishes being put away. He feels strangely at peace and falls asleep.