Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls. And I borrowed my story title and chapter titles from a Keith Urban song.

Summary: 6.22, picks up after Luke and Lorelai's big fight. She walks away, but doesn't get too far.

A/N: Yes, another take on "Partings" but I swear, this one is different. Just give it a chance.

Chapter 1: But I Do Love You

"It's now or never!"

He stood, frozen in place, not blinking for a moment, as she waited for some kind of response. His silence spoke volumes, and as the tears fell from her eyes, she yanked the beautiful diamond from her left hand and stepped towards him.

"Here." She held the ring out to him, but he remained immobile. "I can't keep this anymore," she whispered. Reaching for his hand, she placed the ring on his palm and closed his fist around it, then turned and walked away.

The cool metal in his fist seemed to wake Luke from his stupor. He opened his hand, and was astonished to see the ring there. Looking up only to see her retreating figure, he felt as though his heart was going with her. As she continued walking, he desperately tried to sort out his thoughts. How had things spun out of control so quickly? Why was he holding her ring? Where was she going? His brain rushed to catch up with the conversation that had just taken place. She'd said so many things so fast; he was still trying to comprehend it all. But the one thing he knew, without thought or reason, was that he could not just let her walk away. Suddenly, his feet started moving, following her. His only thought now was that he couldn't let her leave, and he picked up his pace, so that he was running in her direction. He jumped a little at a feeling of what he thought was rain. No, it wasn't raining, he realized, he was crying.

"Lorelai!" He shouted as he neared her. "Wait, no! Stop!" She started walking faster, but he reached for her shoulder before she could get away. At his touch, she froze, and he immediately dropped his hand. "Lorelai. What the hell?" She was staring at the ground, with her back towards him, so he moved around to face her. "Lorelai," seeing that she was crying, his voice was soft and ridden with guilt and pain. "Let's just talk about this, please." His voice cracked on the last word, and with tears streaming down his own face, he lifted his hand, as if to touch her, but changed his mind, dropping it to his side.

"Luke, are you crying?" She asked, finally looking up only to be shocked to see his tears.

"Where are you going?" he questioned, wiping at his face but not meeting her gaze.

"I don't know that I've ever seen you cry—" she ignored his question, still astonished at his display of emotion.

"Yes, you have," he cut her off. "At Rory's graduation. And what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm just surprised—" but he didn't wait for her to finish her thought.

"You stand there, yelling at me, saying all this stuff, and then you just walk away because I can't jump fast enough?" The tears were still streaming down his face, but he didn't care. "I don't…I can't…I just…" he choked on his words. "I can't lose you." Their eyes finally met. "I won't lose you," he said. It came out as a command and a plea all at once. "Can we talk through this, please?" He was begging now, but it didn't matter to him. He knew that if she walked away now, that she wouldn't stop again, and he couldn't let that happen.

"God, Luke," she breathes. They're both still crying, not breaking eye contact. "Luke, I just stood there, pouring my heart out to you, and you said nothing. And now you want to talk?" Her voice was dripping with anguish and disbelief.

"Geez, I'm sorry, but I don't process as fast as you, and you know that! Everything you said, I was just trying to take it all in. I could hardly breathe, I couldn't move, until I felt…" he pauses and holds out the ring, "Suddenly your ring is in my hand and you're halfway down the street and I just…I couldn't let you just walk away. Please, don't go, don't." He stepped closer to her, and reached out, placing one hand on her shoulder, running the other through her hair, but still holding her eyes with his. "I love you…so much…please. Let's go home and talk."

"Luke." Her voice was almost a whisper, as she raised her hand to his face, using her thumbs to wipe away his tears. "I love you, you know that, but there's more to it than that."

"I know," was his simply reply, as he reached to wipe her tears as she was doing for him.

"Ok." Lorelai said. "Let's go home and talk." She stepped back and took his hand, and together they silently walked home.

To be continued…

A/N: I do realize that "emotional-Luke" is a bit out of character, but it's my story, and I wanted him to show some emotion damnit. A/N: I've already started on the next chapter, and it should be longer than this one. I already know exactly where I'm going with this story, but I'm not sure how many chapters it's going to take. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes…

Please review. This is only my second story, and I'd really like to know what you think of it. Is it good, bad, crappy? I just want to know.