Genius. The idea seemed so simple, so pure. There must be something wrong with it. No. It really was genius.
She walked to the living room, where April was engrossed, watching a DVD. Her eye wandered to the shelf where they kept their collection.
"The Godfather."
Inspiration.
I'll make her an offer that she can't refuse.
-----
Lorelai was watching TV when the call came. Unaware of what was coming, and thinking it could only be Luke or Rory or her Mom, she answered.
"Hello?"
"Lorelai Gilmore?" a vaguely familiar woman's voice inquired.
"Yes. And you are?"
Lorelai was stunned as she listened to the caller just continue without identifying herself.
"If you don't want Luke to lose access to his daughter, you will listen very carefully to what I have to say."
"Who is this?" Lorelai demanded.
"You have one week to end your relationship with Luke Danes. Each day after that, that you refuse to comply with this demand, Luke will lose another visit with his daughter. Little April, she really loves him now, you know?"
"Who is this?" Lorelai reiterated, trembling.
"And he loves her. Very much. I hear they had a wonderful time in Philadelphia."
"Is this…is this Anna?" Lorelai asked.
The woman continued without answering. "After two weeks, Luke will lose all access to April and will be served with a restraining order."
"What?" Lorelai was stunned.
"Do you understand?" the woman asked for confirmation.
"Who is this?"
"Furthermore, if you try to contact Luke after you end your relationship, I will make sure that he is accused of something…unthinkable. It would be a shame to have a sex offender living in Stars Hollow, don't you think?"
Lorelai just stood frozen as she tried to absorb the words.
"It would be a shame to have a sex offender living in Stars Hollow, don't you think?" the woman on the other end of the phone repeated, much more slowly and emphatically this time. "Especially one who preys on little girls…"
Lorelai collapsed to the floor. "Yes," her voice shakily responded as her hand barely held up the phone.
"One week."
Click.
And the dial tone sounded in her ear. The phone fell to the ground from Lorelai's hand.
Some time later, Lorelai managed to pick herself up off the floor. 'What to do,' she thought. Surely, Anna couldn't get away with this…
And then she thought of Luke. He'd never upset April by putting her through a legal battle.
That night, Lorelai cried herself to sleep.
-----
The next morning, Lorelai could not bring herself to go to the diner. It would be too painful to see Luke.
But Luke loved her, and missed her, and so Lorelai had no choice but to pick up the phone when it inevitably rang.
"Yes?"
"Lorelai! Hey, just checking on you. I was getting worried…"
"I'm OK, just…umm...running late…" she reassured Luke.
"Good. Because today's already been weird," Luke explained.
"Oh yeah? How? Lorelai mindlessly asked.
Luke continued. "You know how I had plans to take April to the library this afternoon?"
Lorelai's heart sank as she realized what was coming next.
Luke chuckled. "She really enjoyed our trip to Philly, and Jess's store. That's why I don't get it."
"Get what?" Lorelai blandly expressed.
"She said something came up and she had to cancel. Said she hoped to see me tomorrow…but that she wasn't sure when she'd see me next…"
Lorelai could not hold her tears back any longer. Sliding down to the floor, she silently cried.
"Lorelai? Lorelai? You there?"
"Sorry, Luke. I'm sure it will…all work out."
After Luke hung up, Lorelai let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding. She knew what had to be done.
-----
Late that afternoon, Lorelai walked into the diner to find that Luke was busy in the storeroom. Caesar let him know that his fiancée was there, but Lorelai chose to go straight into the storeroom.
"Hey," Luke said, leaning down for a kiss which she could barely muster the strength for.
'I love him. I love him,' she thought, giving herself courage. 'I have to do this. I must do this.'
"Luke, I need to talk with you about something."
Luke looked at her with a concerned expression and responded with, "What's up?"
Unable to sleep most of the night, Lorelai had visualized this scene all night long, and then all day, unable to concentrate on anything else. She'd mulled over how to best break up with Luke. She thought she'd had the perfect idea. However, now that she was faced with actually doing it, all her planning and careful rehearsal forsook her.
Silently, she stood there, while Luke tenderly looked at her with concern.
"What is it? Are you OK? Is something wrong? It's not Rory, is it?" Luke was obviously worried.
Lorelai took a deep breath. "This," she heard herself say, as her hand involuntarily motioned between the two of them, "isn't going to work out."
Luke's jaw dropped, and his hand swept up to his brow, inadvertently knocking off his baseball cap.
"Christopher…" she whispered.
Luke sagged against the wall. This was it, his worst nightmare come to life. He had always known that it would come to this some day.
"What?"
"I'm leaving you," Lorelai tried to keep her tone even, matter-of-fact, non-nonsense.
"What?" Luke could only whisper.
Lorelai began twisting the ring off her finger.
"Christopher," she began again.
"Christopher," Luke added, then "why?"
Why? There it was, the inevitable question that Lorelai had known and feared would come. What could she tell him that he would believe?
She couldn't tell him the truth: it would tear him apart to have to choose between April and her. The truth? It would take April away from him in so many different ways.
A lie? That was something she might be able to pull off. She'd done it once or twice before, but never had the stakes been so high.
Luke, still leaning against the wall, watched in morbid fascination as she continued to twist the ring. He hoped against hope that this was not what it seemed.
"Lorelai, I--"
He swallowed deeply.
"Is it because of April…?"
"No," Lorelai replied, perhaps a little too quickly and a little too harshly.
She winced as she saw the pain that immediately crossed Luke's beloved face. No matter how much he had compartmentalized over the past months, she knew, she just knew that they could get through this. The look on his face, the pain in his eyes, the tremor and shock in his voice told her though, that the longer she stayed, the more hurt she would cause him.
"I just…Christopher."
The ring finally twisted off her finger. She handed it to him, but he withdrew his hand, and it fell to the floor.
With the metallic sound of the ring bouncing on the floor in her ears, Lorelai turned to leave.
Luke, though, wasn't about to let her go, and held onto her shoulder with his right hand. With the other, he grabbed her around the waist, and twisted her around, violently, until she was facing him.
"Christopher." His voice was bitter. "Does he love you like this?"
And he pulled her towards him and kissed her with every emotion he had ever felt for her. It was longing, it was violent, it was good-bye.
For one second, Lorelai melted and began to respond to him, but then the voice on the phone reminded her…'Each day after that, that you refuse to comply…' That gave Lorelai the resolve to push him away.
Subconsciously, she ran her tongue over her lower lip. God, she could taste him there. "Just…please, Luke." With that, she turned away once more.
"Fine. Go to him. I was right all along, wasn't I?"
She walked out of the storeroom, and into the diner. How could everything seem so normal, she thought. She took an envelope out of her purse and placed it next to the cash register. Then, she took one look around before walking out of the diner, head bowed, and shoulders slumped.
-----
A half-hour later, Luke slammed the apartment door shut as his shaking hands held the envelope that someone thought Lorelai had left. He blanched when he saw the County Courthouse return address in the top left corner.
He tore it open and pulled out a set of what appeared to be legal documents. It was all there, in the first paragraph:
"Forthwith, Lucas William Danes is ordered to not contact or attempt to contact Lorelai Victoria Gilmore by letter, telephone, electronic mail or any other form of written or spoken communication, including but not limited to communications via Internet. Lucas William Danes is further ordered not to solicit any third party to communicate with Lorelai Victoria Gilmore by letter, telephone, electronic mail or any other form of written or spoken communication, including but not limited to communications via Internet, on his behalf. Furthermore, Lucas William Danes is ordered to remain at a distance of no less than 500 yards of Lorelai Victoria Gilmore at all times."
There was more, but Luke didn't bother to read it. The legal papers fell to the floor, at the foot of the bed where they'd first made love.
She was gone. To Christopher. And had hit him with a restraining order.
He should have known.
TBC...maybe...