A/N: Filo has been scanning the BWR challenges again, and came up with this one issued by Phishes. She handed it off to me, and I ran with it. Here's a chapter that basically completes the challenge, but I believe I will go on. What do you think? I will post the challenge at the bottom of the page.

Scorpio

"Hey," Lorelai said wonderingly as she spotted Luke stepping out of Le Chat Club.

"Oh, hey," he answered self consciously.

Lorelai quirked an eyebrow at the small shopping bag clutched in his hand and asked, "Doing a little shopping?"

Luke shrugged and shifted uncomfortably as he said, "Yeah, I just had a couple things to pick up."

Lorelai snorted and asked, "At the cat club?"

"Yeah," he answered defensively.

Lorelai fixed him with a pointed stare and asked again, "You had a couple things to pick up at the cat club?"

"Yeah I did, okay?" he answered gruffly

Lorelai nodded slowly and said, "Okay, I just never took you for a cat lover, a 97 year old woman, or…" she trailed off, her curiosity getting the better of her ability to quip. "Hey what'd you buy?" she asked.

"Nothing," said quickly, trying to hide the bag from her prying eyes.

"You've got a little bag there," she pointed out helpfully.

"I know that," he snapped.

Lorelai grinned and said leadingly, "It's got a cat paw stamped on it and a little cat nip bow." Luke sighed and handed over the bag reluctantly. "Wise man," she said with a smirk. Lorelai pulled a cat shaped pot holder out of the bag and said, "Wow, pot holders."

"Yes," Luke hissed, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him.

Lorelai snickered and said, "Little kitty pot holders," as she pushed the button that made one meow. She looked up at him with a startled expression and said, "They meow."

"It's a present," Luke explained impatiently.

Lorelai lifted an eyebrow and asked, "For someone you hate?"

Luke sighed and said, "It's Rachel's birthday, okay? And don't say anything, she doesn't want anybody to know. She hates birthdays," he insisted.

Lorelai giggled and said, "Not as much as she's gonna hate these pot holders."

Luke rolled his eyes in exasperation and said, "I don't know how to buy gifts, okay, I don't like to buy gifts. I don't like getting gifts. I mean, this whole gift giving and getting process is completely insane," he said as he gestured wildly.

Lorelai grinned and stood back a little as she said, "The rant begins!"

Luke pressed his fingers to his chest and said, "I mean suddenly, on a certain date, the level of my affection for a person isn't measured by the way that I treat them or what we share."

Lorelai shook her head and gasped, "No!"

Luke shook his head as he flung an arm out and ranted, "I mean just because I didn't buy her furry slippers or a giant shoe tree, all of a sudden, I suck."

Feeling a little sorry for him, Lorelai jumped in and said, "Luke, stop. You know you cannot give her these pot holders."

Luke sighed heavily and hung his head as he said, "Yeah I know."

"Why don't you go to the mall and walk around a little?" she suggested.

Luke shook his head violently and said, "No. No malls."

"Luke," she tried to interject, sensing another rant coming on.

"I hate malls," he snarled.

Lorelai could not suppress her smile as she said, "Ladies and gentlemen, rant number two."

Luke started to list reasons off on his fingers. "They underpay employees and overprice merchandise, they contribute to urban sprawl, they encourage materialism, and the parking's a horror. You drive in, you pay a buck, and even if you're only there for five…" he stopped suddenly as Lorelai held her palm up to his face.

"Okay, Emma Goldman, I'll tell you what. I'll go for you," she offered.

Luke eyed her suspiciously as he asked, "You're gonna shop for me?"

Lorelai shrugged and said, "I've got the day off tomorrow. I was gonna go anyway."

"You're serious?" he asked cautiously.

Lorelai nodded and said, "I'll go get a bunch of stuff, all returnable. I'll bring it to you. You can pick what you want and the rest I'll return. I'll do all the work; all you'll have to do is point," she said magnanimously.

"Point," Luke repeated in an awed tone.

Lorelai smirked and said, "One finger, preferably your index."

Luke chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought it through and then said, "I don't know."

Lorelai softened her tone as she said, "Luke, this is the first special occasion you and Rachel have shared since she's been back. Don't you want to give her something nice?"

Mildly insulted by her lack of faith in him, Luke said, "Well I am taking her out to dinner."

"Luke," she cajoled gently.

Luke rubbed the back of his neck tiredly as he said in a defeated tone, "Yeah, I gotta get her something nice."

Lorelai nodded her agreement as she said, "So then, let me help."

Luke smiled with relief and said, "All right, thank you."

Lorelai eyed the pot holders disdainfully as she said, "Oh, you're welcome."

Luke started to dig his wallet out of his back pocket as he said, "Nothing too out there, okay? She's not into all that trendy stuff. She likes simple, clean nature, okay. Elephants, candles, okay. Oh hey, if you can find a candle shaped like an elephant, that would…" he trailed off as he tried to free his credit card from the wallet's hidey hole with two fingers and ended up scattering various business cards and such on the ground.

"You know, Luke, that's what all of those handy slots are for just inside of the wallet," Lorelai told him as she pointed to the open billfold in his hand.

"If someone pickpockets you, they usually take the cash and toss the wallet into a trash can. This way, they don't see the credit cards," he grumbled as he bent over to try to retrieve what had been spilled.

"Have you been pickpocketed often?" she asked as she stepped on a Doose's Market discount card to stop it from blowing away. "Do you get fondled so often that you don't notice another person fumbling around in your back pocket?" she asked with a laugh as she bent over to help him. When Luke grunted in response, Lorelai gathered another few cards and said, "Okay, you know what, I've got the shopping thing under control, so you can tuck that bad boy back in its safe house."

"Okay, thanks," Luke mumbled as he picked up his seldom used Stars Hollow Video card.

Lorelai squared the little cards that she held in her palm as she said, "Okay, you'll have to get rid of these," as she waved the bag holding the pot holders at him. When he took the bag from her hand, she reached for his credit card but Luke pulled it away from her as he nodded to the cards in her hand. Lorelai glanced down to see what she was holding and laughed as she said, "How old is this discount card?"

Luke grinned and said, "Taylor printed them up a couple of years ago and forgot to put an expiration date on them. I'm lulling him into a false sense of security."

She flipped to the next card and saw a well worn laminated gym membership. "Wow, Gold's Gym. Are you a muscle man, Luke?" she asked as she turned the ancient card over to look at the back. She noticed a slightly yellowed piece of newsprint that was stuck to the plastic on the back and pried it up gently with her fingernail.

She looked up in time to see, Luke's jaw drop slightly and then he cleared his throat and said, "Just give them back."

Lorelai's eyebrows shot up as she saw the panicked expression on his face and she danced away from him a few steps as she held the folded paper out of his reach. "Why so embarrassed? Is it a personal ad, Luke?" she asked with a grin. She shook her head mockingly as she unfolded it and asked, "Are you a SMW seeking a SWF for fun, shared experiences and possibly more?" she teased as she dropped her eyes to the scrap in her hand.

She scanned the newsprint and read:

Scorpio (October 22 – November 21)Patience is not your biggest virtue, Scorpio, but hang on just a little longer. Will you open the door when opportunity knocks? Your heart's desire may be standing right in front of you. Keep your eyes open. Today may be the day.

Lorelai blinked in surprise when she saw her own haphazard printing just beneath the horoscope. She peered at it closely and read aloud, "You will meet an annoying woman today. Give her coffee and she will go away." Lorelai looked up at him blankly and said, "I wrote this."

"Yes," Luke answered with a slight nod.

Her brow creased in confusion as she stared at the slip between her fingers asked, "When did I write this?"

"The first time you ever came into the diner," Luke said softly.

Lorelai cocked her head as she looked up at him and asked, "The first time?" When Luke nodded, she asked, "Why did you keep it?"

Luke shrugged slightly and said, "You told me to. You said to put it in my wallet, and that one day it would bring me luck."

"I did?" she asked slowly. As the memory of that day came trickling back to her she smiled softly and said, "I did."

"Yep," Luke said as he reached out and gently took the horoscope and the rest of the forgotten cards from her fingers.

"You kept this," she said as she nodded to it. "You kept this in your wallet?" she asked as she watched him fold it carefully and put everything back into the hidden slot. "That was a long time ago," she said with a frown.

"About four years," Luke answered gruffly. He slipped the credit card into one of the empty slots just inside of his wallet and said, "You know, I can take care of the thing."

"The thing?" Lorelai asked with a confused shake of her head.

"The shopping thing," Luke answered.

"Oh," Lorelai said quickly as she snapped back to reality. Lorelai watched as he shoved his wallet back into the back pocket of his jeans and said, "Has it?"

"Has what what?" Luke asked.

"Has it brought you luck?" Lorelai asked him curiously. When she finally looked up at him, she laughed nervously and said, "Of course it has. Rachel's back. You're happy."

"Well," Luke equivocated as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I mean, that's good, right?" Lorelai asked with a quick bob of her head. "That's what you wanted. See? Good luck," she asserted, ignoring the twinge she felt in the pit of her stomach.

Luke stared at her for a moment and then said, "I never said that was what I wanted. You said that."

Lorelai shook her head vehemently and said, "I did not."

Luke started to get agitated as he said, "Yes, you did. And Patty did, and Taylor and Babette, and the whole damn town. Rachel told me what I wanted to hear, and I did the same thing I always do, I let it happen," he said loudly.

"Why are you getting mad at me?" Lorelai asked in a bewildered tone.

"I'm not," he shouted.

Lorelai stepped back and held up her hand as she said, "I'd say that you are."

"I'm mad at me," he said as he squeezed his eyes shut. He shook his head to clear it and held up the shopping bag as he said, "She likes cats. She'll like the pot holders," as he spun on his heel and began to stalk toward the diner.

"Wait," Lorelai said as she jogged after him, knowing that something was happening that she couldn't let go. She snagged his arm in her hand and spun him around to face her again. When he looked at her worried face, his shoulders slumped and he stopped dead in his tracks. He took a deep breath, tipped his head back and stared up at the sky, praying for divine intervention. "If you're not happy, then don't do it. Don't be with her," Lorelai said earnestly.

Luke slowly lowered his head to look at her and said, "Opportunity knocked, I didn't answer. It's my own fault."

"Luke, it's a stupid horoscope. I thought that you believed that people make their own luck," she told him.

Luke tilted his head to the side and stared at her for a moment before he spoke. "And if I told you that I've been waiting four years for this good luck," he started to say in a hoarse voice. Luke cleared his throat and turned to look her square in the eye as he said, "What if it was standing right in front of me?" He glanced down at the hand that grasped his arm tightly. "If I said that, would it bring good luck, or bad luck?"

Lorelai's eyes searched his face, her heart hammering in her chest as she slowly said, "It could be good." She bit her lip and then asked, "Is that what you're saying? I mean, are you saying what I think you're saying?" she amended quickly.

Luke looked at her steadily and said, "Patience is not my biggest virtue. I need you to tell me right now. Should I open that door?" he asked cautiously. When she stared at him in wonder, he said, "My eyes are wide open, Lorelai. Is today the day?" he asked, his heart in his throat.

"Yes," she whispered before her brain was fully engaged. "I mean," she stammered as she shook her head hard to clear it. She looked up at him worriedly and said, "There are, um, complications. Uh, other people."

Luke nodded and said, "Yes, there are."

"Me?" she asked softly, still unsure.

"You," he answered in a firm tone.

"What about, um, what do we do about the, uh, complications?" she asked.

"We'd have to deal with them," Luke answered carefully.

Lorelai blinked rapidly as she glanced down at the small shopping bag clutched in his hand. She nodded to it and said, "Well, that should do it for you." She looked up at him and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Luke answered simply.

Lorelai nodded and said, "Okay then. Okay." She smiled at him quizzically and asked, "Really?"

"Really," Luke said with a smile of his own twitching his lips.

Lorelai gasped and pressed her fingers to her lips as she said, "But, it's her birthday."

"Yeah, tomorrow," Luke said in a voice tinged with regret.

"Not today or tomorrow," she told him gently. "But soon," she added.

Luke nodded and said, "Soon."

"Like the day after her birthday, or at midnight tomorrow night," Lorelai suggested as she took her hand from his arm.

"Midnight?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

"Technically not her birthday," Lorelai pointed out.

Luke winced and said, "I think the day after would be better."

Lorelai nodded and said, "Okay. Well, I guess I need to go buy some pot holders for someone. I hope that you didn't get the last set," she said as she glanced nervously back at Le Chat Club.

"Lorelai," Luke said in a worried tone. When she looked back at him, he said, "Think it over, okay? I mean, seriously." He smiled wanly and said, "I can be patient a little while longer."

Lorelai nodded and said, "Okay."

"We'll talk later?" he said cautiously.

"Later," she answered automatically. She watched as he turned to head toward the diner and called, "Luke?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

Lorelai held out her hand and said, "Give me the credit card and the pot holders. You can't give her those. It's too cruel."

Luke smiled as he pulled his wallet out again and slid the card from the slot that he had shoved it into earlier. He handed it over along with the bag and said gruffly, "Thanks."

Lorelai nodded and said, "Hang onto that horoscope. We may need it."

"Planned on it," he answered with smile.

It had been an uncomfortable night. Luke worked late in the diner, making every minor repair to every appliance that he could get his hands on. Guilt and excitement roiled in his gut, mixing with fear and relief and concocting a potent cocktail of dread and anticipation. When he could no longer manufacture another excuse not to go upstairs, Luke faked a cold so that Rachel wouldn't find the fact that he wanted to sleep on the couch too suspicious.

Lorelai blinked unseeingly at the bedroom ceiling that night, playing and replaying their conversation over and over again in her head, trying to be sure that she hadn't misunderstood what had been said. She had let the machine pick up when Max called, unable to speak to him until she had spoken to Luke again, and was absolutely positive that they had agreed to what she thought they had agreed to. She turned over, covering her head with the spare pillow and trying to ignore the nagging guilt that echoed in the dark recesses of her mind.

Lorelai breezed into the diner the following day with handfuls of brown shopping bags. Luke watched in stunned silence as she unloaded them onto the counter, and immediately started filling him in on her shopping expedition. She presented him with a copy of Out of Africa and a beautifully crafted leather camera bag as gifts for him to give to Rachel. As the girl he wanted stood in front of him holding the satchel she had purchased for the girl who stood in the way, Luke's thoughts were a jumble. He looked up to see Lorelai looking at him with an expectant smile. Finally, he stammered, "She's got a camera bag."

"It's nylon," Lorelai said dismissively.

"So?" Luke asked.

Lorelai ran her hand over the bag and said, "This one's leather. Beautiful leather. Feel it, smell it."

"I'm not gonna smell that bag," Luke scoffed, trying to drag his eyes away from the hand that caressed the buttery soft leather.

Lorelai rolled her eyes as she set the bag on the counter and said, "Fine, don't smell it, but trust me, she's gonna love it. Her old bag is falling apart so she was gonna get a new one eventually and now you will have beaten her to it."

Luke reached out and ran the strap of the camera bag trough his fingers as he murmured, "So it's practical."

Lorelai nodded and added, "And pretty," with an encouraging smile.

Luke nodded slowly and said, "Well, that seems right."

"You like?" she asked hopefully.

Luke smiled and said, "Yeah thanks."

"Good," she answered, returning his smile as their eyes locked.

Luke blushed slightly as she held his gaze for a moment too long. He cleared his throat and gestured to the other bags as he asked, "What's all this?"

Lorelai grinned smugly as she laced her fingers together and said, "Well Luke, timing is a beautiful thing."

"It is?" he asked warily.

"It is," she asserted. "So I'm at the mall, and I've already found Rachel's gifts, and I've had two sugar cinnamon pretzels and I'm buzzed on the sugar and jazzed about the purchases and I decide to take a victory lap through Bloomingdale's, and it just so happens that there was an amazing sale in the men's department," she said excitedly.

Luke sat mesmerized for a moment, watching her eyes dance as she babbled about her pretzels. Absently, he lifted the strap of the camera case and held it to his nose, taking an appreciative sniff of the fine leather as he heard Lorelai rambling vaguely about the men's department at Bloomingdale's.

"I mean gorgeous stuff. Look at this," she insisted as she pulled a sweater from a bag. "Forty percent off! I got three different colors!" she crowed triumphantly.

Luke snapped to attention and asked, "For who?"

"For you," she said offhandedly as she began to search through bags.

"For me?" Luke asked incredulously.

Lorelai pulled a pair of pants from another bag and said, "Yeah. And then of course, beautiful pants. So soft, I don't know what this fabric is but I think I wanna have its baby," she said as she held them up for his inspection. "You're gonna look great in these pants," she said excitedly as she began digging again.

Luke hopped up from the stool and said, "Okay, hold on a minute here."

Lorelai continued to pull various items from the seemingly bottomless bags, as Luke watched, protesting vehemently with new addition. Lorelai turned to him with a brilliant smile and said, "You have to try something on right now. How about this sweater?" she asked as she held it out to him.

"No!" he said with an adamant shake of his head.

Lorelai shrugged him off and said, "Okay, how about the pants? Pretty pants!" she said enticingly as she held them up next to her.

Luke shook his head stubbornly and said, "I'm not trying anything on."

Lorelai stopped and stared at him pointedly as she said, "Hey, it's not like the lumberjack look will ever go out; it won't. But just once wouldn't it be nice not to be dressed like an extra from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?"

"Take it back," Luke insisted.

Lorelai took a step toward him a she picked up the suit bag. "Come on, just the jacket." When she saw him hesitate, she moved in for the kill. "Just once, be too sexy for your shirt and do a little dance on the catwalk. Just for me," she added in a whisper.

"Lorelai," he protested weakly. "I'm working."

"There's hardly anyone in here. Please, Luke?" she asked, adding a little flutter of her eyelashes for good measure.

Five minutes later, Lorelai sat at the counter sipping a cup of coffee as she stared at the curtain that separated the stairs to Luke's apartment from the diner. "Come on!" she whined impatiently.

"I hate you. Very much," Luke called back from the storeroom.

Lorelai lifted her coffee mug to her lips as she called back to him, "I have seen documentation that proves otherwise."

"Hey," Luke said in a chastising tone as he stepped out into the dining room with a scowl. "That cannot be used against me," he muttered.

"Oh my God, Luke, is that you?" Lorelai gasped as she pressed a dramatic hand to her heart, and felt it speed up in a very real way.

Luke stood in the doorway wearing the new pants and one of the sweaters she had chosen for him and grumbled, "I feel ridiculous."

"That's because you don't have the belt on," she answered as she plucked it from a small bag and sauntered over to him. "Here," she said as she reached out to put the belt on him.

Luke stepped back quickly and hissed, "What are you doing?"

"It's called accessorizing," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Luke stared at her for a moment and then said, "I can put a belt on by myself, thank you," as he took it from her hand.

"Okay, sorry. Just trying to help," she said with wide eyed innocence.

"Don't flirt with me now," Luke warned in a low voice.

Lorelai's smile bloomed as she stood back to give him an appreciative once over as he threaded the belt through the loops. "Hmm," she hummed throatily.

"What?" Luke asked as his head jerked up to look at her.

Lorelai shook her head slowly as she pressed her fingers to her chest and said, "I just have exceptional taste is all. Turn around," she ordered.

Luke blinked in surprise and asked, "What?"

"I just wanna make sure it all fits," she told him. "Turn around," she said as she made a circling motion with her finger. Luke turned in a slow circle while Lorelai watched with a sly smile and murmured, "Uh huh, uh huh."

Luke sighed and said, "Stop. I'm taking them back."

Lorelai shook her head, ready to dig her heels in as she said, "You are not returning these clothes." She reached for the jacket and said, "Here, try on the suit again."

"I already tried it on twice," Luke protested.

Lorelai gave him a flirty smile as she said, "I know, but I want to see it with the black shirt."

"I'm not wearing a black suit with a black shirt," Luke grumbled as he let her slide the suit jacket over his arms.

Lorelai leaned close to his ear and asked, "Where did you sleep last night?"

"Huh?' Luke said, turning his head to see her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that," she said quickly as she stepped back, dropping her gaze to his white athletic socks.

Luke turned to face her and said, "I slept on the couch."

"And she, uh, I mean, what did you say?" she asked.

Luke glanced back nervously at the nearly empty diner and said in a low voice, "That I thought I was getting a cold."

"I feel so bad," Lorelai whispered.

Luke looked around again and said, "We can't talk about this here. Just let me get through today, okay? Please?"

"Okay," she murmured.

Luke sighed and said, "I know. I feel bad too, but I can't, I mean," he trailed off as he ran his hand through his hair nervously.

"I know. I know," she assured him.

"I haven't changed my mind," he said gruffly.

Lorelai lifted her eyes to meet his and asked, "You haven't?"

Luke shook his head and said, "You're the only one who can make me change my mind about this."

Lorelai shook her head and said, "I'm sorry. I just was thinking about, well, you know," she said lamely.

"Lorelai," Luke said cajolingly.

"No. I know. I know better than that," she assured him.

"Okay," Luke said with a nod. He looked down at the tag on the jacket and tried to capture it in his hand as he asked, "This is how you like your guys, all GQ'ed up, huh?"

Lorelai shook her head and said, "It's not GQ'ed up, it's just a little less casual."

"And you don't like casual," Luke muttered, his eyes widening when he read the price on the tag.

Lorelai batted his hand away and straightened the seams over his shoulders as she said, "I like casual fine."

"Just not on me," Luke grumbled.

Lorelai smoothed the lapels with her hands and said, "No, it just adds variety. Its not lets make a new Luke, its lets see another side of the old one." She smiled up at him and said, "Who bought you that fabulous blue cap?"

"Uh huh," Luke grunted as he looked down at her hands on his chest.

Lorelai could feel the heat of his gaze and the slight increase in his breathing. Remembering where they were, she cleared her throat and dropped her hands as she stepped back to inspect him. Avoiding his eyes, Lorelai focused on the clothes instead. "You missed a loop," she pointed out. "Come here," she said as she reached for his belt and began to unbuckle it. "What did you do?" she asked softly.

"Lorelai," Luke whispered in a raw voice.

"I'm just fixing your belt," she said innocently.

"Uh huh," he grunted as he stood passively, watching her pull his belt from the belt loops, and fighting to keep his body from reacting to her proximity. "Tomorrow," he promised softly.

"Tomorrow," she echoed, keeping her eyes on the task at hand.

She distantly heard the bells above the door chime and jumped a little as Luke said, "Oh, hi."

Lorelai looked up, Luke's belt still in her hand as she saw Rachel standing just inside the door staring at them incredulously. "Oh, hi." She released the belt and waved her hand toward Luke as she said, "Uh, this is not what it looks like."

"It looks like you're dressing him," Rachel said slowly.

Lorelai chuckled nervously and said, "Then this is exactly what it looks like."

"There was a sale at Bloomingdale's and she…" Luke started to say.

"Six trillion percent off," Lorelai interjected.

"How can you walk away from that, huh?" Luke asked with a nervous snicker. He paused as he looked from one woman to the other and then said, "I'm gonna change now."

Lorelai nodded quickly and said, "Good, uh, I'm gonna get Rory and just enjoy the clothes," she called to him as she quickly grabbed her purse and started for the door.

"I will," Luke answered as he tried not to watch her go, looking instead at Rachel.

"Okay good. See you later Rachel," Lorelai said as she slipped past Rachel and opened the door.

"Bye," Rachel called without taking her eyes off of Luke.

"Bye," Lorelai mumbled as she stepped out and pulled the door closed behind her. She paused on the steps, watching through the window as Luke jerked a thumb toward the back room, and Rachel nodded. She saw him turn on his heel and hurry back to the store room as Rachel turned to look at the pile of clothing heaped on one of the tables. Lorelai hurried down the street, her heart pounding and her cheeks burning.

When she reached the sanctuary of her front porch, Lorelai stopped, drawing in a few deep breaths as she squeezed her eyes closed and whispered, "Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?" She walked over to the sofa that graced the porch and sat down slowly, her hands clasped between her knees. She stared down at her shoes as she tried to calm herself, but was jolted from her thoughts when she heard the phone ringing inside the house. She started to dig for her keys and then smirked when she remembered that the door wasn't locked.

By the time she stepped into the living room, the machine had kicked on, and she heard Max say, "Lorelai, it's me. Listen, I think I messed up. I didn't realize that you still hadn't told Rory that you and I were seeing each other again, and I think she might be a little upset. Call me when you get a chance, okay?" he said before hanging up.

Lorelai sank into the chair and pressed the heel of her hand to her head as she groaned, "Oh no." When the phone began to ring a moment later, Lorelai glared at it, but made no move to answer. When the machine beeped, she heard Luke say, "Lorelai, I'm sorry. I mean, I'm sorry if you're embarrassed. I just. I don't know what to do," he said with a sigh. "Well, that's not true, I know what I need to do, but it's just. It's just so complicated," he told her machine. "I know what I want though, which is half the battle, right?" he asked with a rueful laugh as Lorelai found herself reaching for the portable phone and holding it in her hand as she listened to him. "Can you, would you call me here at the diner? Please?" he asked quietly.

Lorelai hit the 'on' button and said, "I'm here."

"Hey," he said quickly.

"Hi," she answered.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked.

"It's my fault. I let this happen, and I got everything up," he told her.

"Are you changing your mind?" she asked with a frown.

"No, no," he said quickly. "You know, no matter what happens, I know it's not right with Rachel. I think she might know that too," he added. "I don't want you feeling bad, or guilty or embarrassed," he said firmly. "This is on me. I have to deal with this, just like you have to decide on your own if you're gonna give that guy those pot holders," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Maybe we should take a little break from each other for a couple of days, straighten things out," Lorelai said cautiously.

Luke nodded slowly and said, "Uh, sure, yeah, if that's what you want."

"I think that would be best," Lorelai said softly. "And maybe, when one of us gets whatever straightened out, we could just let the other know, you know?" she asked.

Luke nodded as he pressed his lips together. "Yeah, sure, okay," he said gruffly.

"I'll let you know," she promised.

Luke said, "Okay. Me too. Uh, thanks," he said as he hung up quickly. He glared at the diner phone and muttered, "Damn it. God damn it," he said through clenched teeth as he turned and sought refuge in his kitchen.

Lorelai placed the phone gently back on the cradle and pressed her fingertips to her eyebrows, pressing gently as she smoothed them. She glanced at the clock and realized that Rory's bus would be arriving soon. She grabbed her keys and headed for the door, hoping to find a little solace and distraction in the form of her best friend and daughter.

Tbc

Here is the challenge set forth by Phishes:

Set in the episode where Lorelai goes shopping for Luke's present for Rachel. Luke pulls out his wallet to give her his credit card, and the horoscope falls out. Lorelai's sees it, and asks why he still has it- Luke responds, well, truthfully.