Author's Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews! And to the person who said Lorelai is wittier in the show: I know. I'm trying to work on that as I go along, and I thank you for pointing that out to me. I'm not the wittiest person so as the chapters go on I hope to incorporate more into it. Also, I'm adding a bit of Rory stuff. But the ship will sink eventually. ;)

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. 'Nuff said.

She's Almost Perfect, but She's Not
Chapter 4- Ooh, Child, Things are Gonna Get Easier

"Explain it to me again! It's just so… romantic!"

It was the following afternoon, after the picking of the rings, and Lorelai stood in the kitchen for the Dragonfly watching her best friend wave her spoon in mid air, obviously ecstatic for her. Lorelai smiled and sighed, shaking her head.

"I've told you a million times, Sookie! It was like the early parts of Sweet Home Alabama! He took me to the mall, Sookie. The mall! Luke hates the mall! And he went there just for me! I could have had any ring in the store; he didn't put a price down. Oh my god! I have to tell -" She broke off suddenly, looking down at the ring resting on her finger.

Sookie glanced the woman, seeing her sad expression and knew immediately whom Lorelai was talking about.

"I've tried to be supportive over this whole Rory thing, sweetie but you're being pretty vague whenever Rory is brought up. Lorelai, what happened? I know she dropped out of Yale and moved in with your parents but it seems kind of… sudden." Sookie shrugged as Lorelai looked up at her.

"I don't know… ever since she got involved with Logan she's been different. She's not the strong, stable person she was before. Ever since she slept with Dean…" Lorelai sighed, shaking her head. "I can't talk about it. I'm sorry." Lorelai looked up into the eyes of the woman she loved most at the moment and saw understanding.

"Okay. Whenever you want to talk, I'm here." Sookie patted Lorelai's back and went back to work.

"I know, thanks. I'm going to head out for awhile. Can you make sure Michel doesn't burn the place down?"

"Sure!" Sookie said with a chuckle as Lorelai grabbed her purse and headed out the back door.

x-x-x

The bell jingled above the diner door as she entered. The lunch rush was just ending and she saw Luke in the corner collecting dirty plates off of the tables. Lorelai had been driving around for the past half-hour, trying to formulate a plan. Finally realizing she had nothing, she made her way to the only person who she could trust. She sniffed softly, alerting him to her presence.

"Hey! I was just going to call you. What's wrong? Lorelai?"

Luke noticed her gaze fall to the floor, and he saw as she tried to compose herself and not start crying in the middle of the diner.

"Lane! Cover the counter for me! Come on…" he whispered the last part and led her up the steps into the darkened apartment. "What happened?"

"Oh, Luke…" she whispered, burying herself into his arms. Now used to comforting her, his arms immediately wrapped around her figure and felt her shake slightly. "I don't know what to do. Our relationship is falling to pieces…"

"Ours? Lorelai, we're not falling to pieces, we're growing stronger. We talked about this last night. I was going to call you about -"

"Not us, Luke. I'm sorry. Rory and me; she hasn't called. She's always called!"

"Oh…" he said, realization dawning. "It's okay, Lorelai. She'll come around."

"That's not it! We're Darlene and Roseanne, teenage years! She wants this? She can have this! Maybe I should make it permanent." Lorelai sniffed, pulling away from Luke all of a sudden.

"Lorelai, you don't mean that. You'll get through this."

"I don't think I can go through this! Not again! What is it about summers with us? Last year was the Dean thing; this year's the Yale thing! Dammit!"

Luke looked at her and sighed, unsure of how to help her, except to sit there and listen to her rant.

"I need to pack her things," Lorelai said, suddenly. She looked up at Luke and nodded gently. "I need to pack her things and drop them off down there. This is what she wants, right? Well, good!"

"Lorelai…"

"No, Luke. Don't fight me on this, please?" Her voice wobbled as she pleaded with him, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, defeated. He couldn't fight her stubborn attitude. He had tried on too many occasions and lost.

"Support me with this. Help me. Just… be there for me?" She let him tug her closer, and he pulled her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm always there for you. I always have and I always will be."

"You're too far away from me…"

He pulled her closer asking, 'Is that better?'

"No, not like that. Luke, I- I want you to move in with me." She looked up at him, the thought coming out of nowhere, yet she knew she wanted it, she had wanted it for a very long time. What is it about Rory that makes me pop big questions? She thought

Luke stared at her, completely lost. They had agreed to take things slowly, to take things how they had taken them in the past, even though they're engaged now.

"I know we just got past the whole 'no kissing on the mouth' thing and got our relationship rolling and decided to take things slow but you have no clue how seeing you makes me feel. It feels like I can accomplish anything, and I want that in my life constantly. I want you in my life constantly." She pulled back a little from the embrace to look at him. "I love you and I want you're annoying alarm clock to wake me up at 5am every morning, I want to fall asleep close to you every night in the same place. We need to find a rhythm, and the only way to do that is to give it a try."

"Lorelai, what if we fail? What happens then? I know I agreed to a commitment when I said yes to you, but we were going to take things slow. Slow works for us. Slowly over eight years we got here and it's great."

"So you're never going to take a risk because you're afraid you'll fail? We won't fail, Luke! We're us! You have to take a leap of faith and trust what your heart is telling you."

Luke took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, rubbing his head with his free hand. There was some serious contemplation going on, Lorelai could tell.

"A week? Give it a week and we'll reevaluate. We'll go back to taking things very slowly if it doesn't work. I promise. Just, give it a chance, Luke. It could work, and then you'll be so glad I pushed this on you. In fact, I don't think I'll ever forgive you for not be happy I asked." She smiled at him, wiping the last remains of the tears away.

"A week. It doesn't work, I'm back here until the right time." He smiled back at her, and she leapt forward to kiss him, and landed right in front of him.

"We're like Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in the last two minutes of Pretty Woman," she grinned closing her mouth over his as her cell phone started to play the tune to 'Walk Like an Egyptian.' They both groaned, and she pouted apologetically at Luke and checked the ID.

"Uh… it's Rory."

"Well, get it!" Luke exclaimed, impatiently, startling her.

"Hello?" Lorelai asked, flipping the phone open.

"Oh, hey." She heard Rory's voice and it sounded startled as though she was expecting voice mail to pick up. "I just thought I should let you know that Logan proposed and I accepted."

Lorelai stood still, frozen to the spot, her mouth open in shock. She saw Luke coming closer and put a hand out and sat down on a chair.

"Okay, well, that's just… great. Real great, Rory." Her tone was bitter and full of sarcasm, something Luke picked up on all too easily.

"I should have known you wouldn't be happy for me. Why cant you just be happy? Grandma and Grandpa are beyond thrilled!"

"Why can't I be happy? Rory, those people can't stand you! They insulted you! I tried to comfort you but you ran to the people who supported them! I'm sorry if I can't be happy that my only daughter is running towards a problem, not away!"

"Fine. I should have known." Then the line went dead and Lorelai clicked her phone shut with a sigh.

"She's engaged, too. How ironic is that? It's like a freaking soap opera! I'm Susan and she's Emily." Lorelai ranted, referring to the soap opera, As the World Turns.

"Do you want me to help you pack her things or do you want to do it by yourself?" Luke asked, finally convinced she was doing the right thing.

"Will you help?" Lorelai asked, gratefully as she looked over to him. She saw him nod as she sunk into his arms again, listening to him tell her everything would work out.