Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Not Lorelai. Not Rory. Not Luke (wipes away a tear). Nothing.

Chapter 4- It's not what it looks like

Emma practiced piano in the livingroom like she did everyday after coming home from school or helping her Mom or Dad. She and her brother, unlike Rory, inherited some sort of musical talent- probably from Luke. Since they were young, they had been playing the instrument of their choice. Will decided on taking after Luke and played the guitar. Emma took up piano. They practiced everyday and played with each other once and a while.

Emma was in the middle of "Only Hope" when she heard the doorbell ring. She hated being interrupted. It broke her concentration. She knew she would have to be the one to answer the door. Will and Luke weren't home and her mom was busy with the laundry. She went to answer the door. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Tyler standing on the other side with two grocery bags in his arms.

"Hey," she managed to get out.

"Hi," he greeted in return.

"What are you doing here?"

"You forgot these at the store this afternoon. I came by earlier, but no one was home."

"I help my mom at the inn after school."

"I figured it was something like that. If you show me where the kitchen is, I can bring these in for you."

"Oh, you don't have to…"

"Oh, hello," Lorelai greeted as she came downstairs and saw Tyler at the door. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No, ma'am. I was just dropping off these groceries your daughter accidentally left behind at Doose's this morning," Tyler replied.

"And you are…"

"The new bag boy."

"Oh," Lorelai said with a smile. Emma had told her about the new Doose's bag boy, but left out the fact he was a Doose. Lorelai knew her daughter had a crush on him even if she didn't admit it. "It's very sweet of you to bring those over. Thank you very much young man."

"You're welcome ma'am."

"Would you like to stay for some iced tea? It's the least I can do for returning our groceries."

"Mom, he probably has to get back to work," Emma remarked.

"Actually, I just got off. I'd love some iced tea. Thank you."

"Good. I'll just take those to the kitchen." Lorelai took the bags from Tyler.

"Here Mom, I'll help you with those," Emma offered, afraid to be left alone with Tyler.

"That's ok. I got it. You just stay with our guest and keep him company." Lorelai smiled and winked at her when Tyler wasn't looking before heading off to the kitchen.

"Do you wanna sit down?"

"Sure," Tyler replied.

Emma stepped out onto the porch and they took the two chairs in the corner of the porch. "So…how was Maine?" she asked, not sure what else to say.

"It was cool. Nothing like Stars Hollow, but I liked it."

"That's good. Hey, didn't you used to wear glasses?"

"I used to, but I don't need them anymore. Kinda grew outta them."

"That's weird how you grow out of glasses. My dad had to get reading glasses a few years ago because his eye sight's kinda going bad."

"It happens. There's no shame in wearing glasses."

"Yeah. You look so different then the last time I saw you."

"That a good thing?"

"I guess you can say that. What happened?"

"Puberty."

"Ah, I see," Emma laughed.

"You look kinda different too. You look like your mom."

"That a good thing?"

"Definitely. But both your parents are good looking so there wasn't any doubt you'd look anything less than perfect." Emma looked down as she began to blush. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"It's ok. You know, Mr. Doose usually sends Martha to drop off our groceries. I was kinda surprised to see you at my door."

"Actually, I asked Uncle Travis if I could do it."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I wanted to see you again."

"You did? Why?"

Before Tyler could answer, Will came walking up the pathway and up the porch steps. He stopped halfway up when he looked up and saw Tyler.

"Oh, hey Will," Tyler greeted.

"Who the hell are you?" Will asked, looking at the boy suspiciously.

"Will, he's Tyler Doose," Emma said.

Will laughed to himself as he made his way onto the porch and headed for the door. He patted Emma on the shoulder as he passed. "Good luck with that one." He paused and laughed again as he looked toward Tyler. "Tyler Doose." He couldn't wait to see his dad's face when he found this out.

The next day…

Luke walked into the house with Bert in his hand. As always, Lorelai called in the middle of the day- on her day off- telling him it was urgent he come home right that very second. In other words, she had broken something and needed him to fix it. He would have thought since she and Rachel were going to go shopping, she wouldn't break something. But he wasn't that naïve.

"What'd you break?" he asked as he walked into the house.

"I'm fine honey. How are you?" Lorelai joked.

"What'd you break?"

"Why do you automatically assume I broke something?"

"What'd you break?"

"The garbage disposal is making a weird sound again. And for the record, I didn't break it."

"Uh huh."

"Hi Luke," Rachel greeted from the couch.

"Hey. How'd she break the garbage disposal?"

"I didn't break it!" Lorelai yelled in her defense. "Come on Rachel. We don't need to listen to his accusations."

"Ok. See you later Luke," Rachel said.

Luke mumbled a goodbye as he headed for the kitchen. Lorelai caught up with him and gave him a kiss goodbye. The two women were almost at the car when Rachel realized she forgot her purse.

"Damn it, I forgot my purse inside," Rachel sighed. "I'll meet you at the car. I'm just gonna run inside and get it."

"Ok. Kick Luke for me if you get the chance," Lorelai joked.

Rachel went back into the house and grabbed her purse off the couch. She was about to leave when she heard a crashing sound come from the kitchen followed by a thud. She ran to the kitchen to make sure Luke was ok. She found him lying on the ground, clutching his left shoulder.

"Oh my God, Luke are you ok?" she asked as she rushed over to help him.

"I'm fine," he groaned. She tried to help him up, but he waved her off.

"Here, let me help you up."

"No. I can do it myself. I'm fine." Luke slowly pulled himself to a sitting position.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I just…slipped." He used the edge of the counter to pull himself to his feet. One hand remained on the counter and the other was on his knee as he regained composure. He wasn't ready to stand straight just yet.

"On what? The floor's dry."

"I said I slipped ok?" It came out harsher than he expected. "I'm sorry. I just got a little dizzy and I slipped. I'm ok. Really."

"Are you sure that's it?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna go then."

"Ok." Rachel turned to leave. "Rachel?"

She stooped and faced Luke again. "Yeah?"

"Don't tell Lorelai about this."

"What?"

"I don't want her to worry over nothing."

"If it's nothing, she won't worry." She turned to leave."

"Please?" His voice almost sounded desperate.

She sighed. "I won't tell her."

"Thank you."

With that, Rachel left. It wasn't until she had gotten into the car that she realized Luke wasn't clutching his shoulder. He was clutching his chest.

"I don't know what to do anymore," Rory sighed.

"Have you talked to your parents about this?" Colin asked. She had asked him to meet her at Weston's to talk. She chose Weston's over the diner because she didn't want Luke to wonder what was going on.

"God no! They don't even know I'm still on leave."

"What do they think you've been doing for the past month?"

"I don't know. But they can't find out I'm planning on doing this."

"They're gonna find out no matter what. Logan's going to tell them."

"God Colin, why did things have to get so complicated?"

"Rory, I wanna help you. I really do, but you need to tell me everything if I'm gonna help you. Let's start with why you want to stop working." Rory was silent for a while. She put her hand over her face and began to cry. Colin scooted his chair closer to her and put his arm around her. "It's gonna be ok. I'm gonna help you guys through this. I promise."

As Colin comforted his best friend's wife, he and Rory were unaware that Logan had taken an early lunch break to surprise Rory. He pulled up to the flower shop across the street when he saw a betraying sight. His best friend, the man he thought of as a brother, was holding his wife as she cried. Jealousy and rage overcame his sensibility. He dropped the flowers in his hand and angrily made his way across the street.

Colin looked up and saw a very angry Logan. "Ah shit," Colin said. He let go of Rory and stood. "Logan, this isn't what it looks like."

Without a word, Logan punched Colin, sending him to the ground.

"Logan!" Rory yelled as she went to see if Colin was ok. "What's the matter with you?"

"How could you?" Logan asked angrily. "How could you do this to me Colin? You're like a brother to me!"

"You don't understand," Colin groaned as Rory helped him to a sitting position. "It's not what you think."

"Oh, that's original! And you! Damn it Rory, he's my best friend!"

"Logan…" Rory started.

"No! I don't want to hear any of your excuses. I hoe you're happy." With that, Logan walked away from the scene, got in his car, and drove off. Rory chased after her husband. She needed to straighten all this out before it got even more out of hand.

Next time on "Breakaway": Luke and Lorelai bring Richie to a hearing specialist where an option arises. Logan drowns his sorrows on a boys' night out with Jess and Dean. A group of guys from Chilton come to the diner to torment Will. Luke lashesout at Will when somethinghappens to Richie.

A/N: Now I've probably got you wondering what the heck is wrong with Luke in this fic. Does what happened to him in this chapter have anything to do with the introduction of the story? Is it just another ploy to get you confused? Is Luke wearing boxers, briefs, boxer briefs, or is he just going commando? Don't you love the suspense? What are you doing this those pitch forks? Ok. Let's not get too overwhelmed. There's no need. Come on.We can settle this like rational adults. Ok, maybe we can't.Let's all take a deep breath and...ow! Who poked me?