Ugh.

Should have known I have the requirement to reference a variable not in the variable set.  So even if I put all the variables into a variable set the fact that the multi-row variable is a set of its own still won't work or can I reference a variable in one variable set to another variable set? 

For example, I have 2 variable sets on my catalog item. 1 variable set are all the questions to the user and the other variable set is the multi-row set. I'm going to guess this wouldn't work either? 

I'm also going to guess, because you haven't suggested it, is to pass the variable I need to the pop-up window that contains the multi-row variables?