A Time for Reminiscing
Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.
Spoilers: Season Five (makes mention of In the Clamor, In the Clanger and That Damn Donna Reed)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, Amy Sherman-Palladino, WB and co do.
Author's Notes: This was written in a very short time back in December 2004. I wanted to write something with a Christmas Theme. It's unedited/unbetaed and pretty much not the best thing I've ever written.
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Lorelai grabbed another blanket and placed it on top of the one which was already wrapped around her shoulders. She had been staring out the window for the past hour hoping the power would come back on soon. It was Christmas Eve and Stars Hollow without power made it look and feel colder and bleaker than ever before.
Rory had been due back in Stars Hollow that morning after spending a few days away with Christopher but due to the blizzard, she decided to stop over in Hartford instead. Lorelai sighed and muttered to herself, "I bet there would be power in Hartford. They never black out there."
Christmas Eve and she was alone again. Well technically not alone. Unlike previous years, this was the first year where she was actually in a dedicated relationship. Luke. This time last year they were breaking bells together and she almost spilt her feelings for him in a church of all places. Who knows if she would have actually gone through with it if Reverend Skinner hadn't interrupted them. In the end it didn't matter because a few months later, they finally made progression in their relationship.
Right now though, Lorelai was all alone and subsequently snowed in at her house. Luke on the other hand, was stuck at the diner working the Christmas Eve rush. Lorelai leaned off the sofa and grabbed her cell phone. She dialled Luke's cell. She needed to hear his voice, something to help get her out of this lonely rut she was feeling on the night before Christmas. Unfortunately for her, she would have to wait a bit longer, as a message echoed through the phone, "the number you have called is either switched off or out of service, please try again later."
"Great". She turned her phone off. All the lines were down. All communication lost to the outside world. Well in terms of electronic communication that is.
"There is no way I am spending Christmas Eve by myself in this house." She had made her final decision.
She got up and immediately lost the layers of blankets which had been keeping her warm for the last few hours before making her way up the stairs to change. Winter strength clothing would be needed to survive her journey into town. Before leaving she quickly grabbed all the other weather appropriate essentials: a torch, gloves, hat, scarf, ultra-warm coat and handbag, which included her cell phone just in case a miracle occurred and power was restored tonight.
She had been walking for only a minute, when she realised that this might not have been the smartest move in the world. It seemed the blizzard was still a blizzard and that the snow and wind had actually picked up in strength. She pointed the torch ahead, to make sure she could see where she was going and noticed trees were down; snow was up to the porches of some of the houses while the town just seemed very eerie without its lights on.
"Must not stop. Must keep walking," she kept reminding herself. Rubbing her hands together and pushing her hat down to cover her ears which any minute now were going to be frost-bitten.
Her pace picked up slightly, only slightly, due to her walking against the wind. Lorelai finally arrived in the centre of the town; she could barely make out the Christmas decorations which were currently decorating the town square.
She aimed her torch towards the diner. As expected all the lights were off and it looked empty. She started to run; her final destination was now less than 100 yards away
As she climbed the steps of the diner, she flashed her torch through the glass door to see if she could see Luke, but there was no sign of life in there. She knocked on the door softly at first, but after a few seconds it turned into impatient banging. "Luke, are you there?"
She continued to bang when she saw a head pop up from behind the counter. "Who's there?"
"What do you mean who's there? Who else would be banging on your door in the middle of a blizzard?" She kept on banging on the door. "Let me in."
"Lorelai, stop banging, you'll wake up the town." Luke stated as he made his way to the door to let her in.
"Thanks. It's so depressing out there." Lorelai explained as she began to shed her extra layers of clothing onto the floor. "How come it's warmer in here than it is at my place?"
Luke pointed her in the direction of the kitchen. "I've got a little emergency generator. Not enough to run the diner at full capacity, but enough to keep me warm."
"Ohhh, I need to get one of those." Lorelai hinted.
"Don't worry I'll make one for you."
They stood in the middle of the diner. Luke looked intensely at Lorelai; she looked tired and distracted. He touched her shoulder gently, "Hey, why did you come?"
His touch broke her focus into space. "What?"
"Why did you come?" He repeated.
Lorelai rubbed her forehead. "Oh right. I was sitting at home alone. Rory's at my parents' house in Hartford because she didn't want to risk driving in the blizzard, she's one smart kid you know, I should have listened to her advice instead of walking here. And I was sitting at home alone, no power, freezing cold, just thinking about the previous years I've spent in the house at this time of the year. But the one moment I couldn't get out of my head, had nothing to do with the house, it was to do with the bells."
"What bells?" Luke frowned.
"You know those stupid Church bells that drive the town crazy every year. And all I could think about was the discussion we had when we broke the bells last year. That's when it hit me, for the first time, I was alone on Christmas Eve."
Luke noticed the tears starting to form in her eyes. He pulled her towards him and tried to settle her before it would result into a major tissue situation. He kissed the top of her head and softly rubbed her back. "Shh, it's okay. You're not alone."
Lorelai pulled back. "I know. You see that's why I had to see you. I couldn't get that breaking of the bells moment out of my head. I thought there was no way I'm spending Christmas Eve by myself, when this is the first year I'm actually in a relationship with someone at Christmas time. So I came to see you."
Luke looked outside at the worsening weather conditions. "I can't believe you walked through a blizzard to come here."
"Yeah well, I've been called crazy many a time in my life. This isn't an exception."
"You are crazy, but I know exactly how you feel." He smiled. "I had contemplated to go over to your house, but I was going to wait and surprise you tomorrow morning."
"As usual, Miss Impatient couldn't wait until tomorrow. So I came instead."
"That you did."
He lifted her up slightly as his lips captured hers. He moved his hands across her face to brush her hair away. Lorelai shivered at his touch. "You've got cold hands."
"Sorry." he grumbled as he tried to warm them.
"Don't worry about it. I like it."
Luke brought them back to her face as he again seized her lips. They broke apart a minute or two later.
"Thank you for coming."
"You're welcome. You're just lucky I remembered to put my contacts in before I left, or else there would be a major SOS call going on right now." Lorelai chuckled.
Luke kissed her forehead and each of her eyes. "Then I thank you for putting your contacts in."
He let go of her briefly as he went to gather up her surplus clothing she had discarded earlier.
"Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"What were you doing before when I knocked on the door?" Lorelai questioned him. "I saw you pop your head up from behind the counter."
"Oh that. I'll show you." He put her excess clothes on the nearest table as he grabbed her hand and walked around the counter.
Behind the counter were a little heater and a lamp that were running off the emergency generator; while scattered on the floor were items which would usually be associated with wrapping Christmas presents.
Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Luke Danes, wrapping a present! I am in shock. No wonder why there's a blizzard outside."
Luke laughed. "Well it doesn't happen often. But yes, from time to time, I do actually give presents to people. Before you even ask, your present isn't here. It's upstairs. And no, you're not getting it tonight; you'll have to wait till tomorrow."
She pouted. "Damn you, Sherlock. And here I thought I could get it early. But why didn't you just do the wrapping upstairs, why here?"
He sat down where he had been earlier in the night except this time he pulled Lorelai down with him. "Remember that time about 5 years ago when we picking out colours to paint this place?"
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, shared some colour tips drank a beer, and then Taylor and Co. interrupted us…"
Luke interrupted her as he wrapped his arms around her. "Exactly they interrupted us. Well like you reminiscing about breaking the bells, I thought if Taylor hadn't interrupted us back then, what would have happened. Since you love Christmas and all other festive activities, I thought if I can't wrap presents upstairs then I might as well be at the spot that is imprinted in my memory forever."
Lorelai smiled and leaned into Luke more. "How about we make a new memory that you can imprint in your mind forever? One which has a happier ending."
"What do you suggest?" He teased.
"This." Lorelai turned her head and kissed him tenderly.
Unlike last time where Taylor interrupted them, this time it was the return of the electricity.
"Whoa lights." Lorelai broke the kiss as her eyes tried to refocus to the new brightness.
Luke laughed and continued to hold her against him. "It's not that bad."
"Regardless of the interruption, how was that new memory?" Lorelai quizzed him.
Luke's face broke out in a huge grin. "Much, much better. What do you say I put the 'closed' sign on the door and we make our way up to my apartment?"
"I'd say that sounds like a very good idea. I'll see you up there" She pulled herself up via the counter and started to head up to his apartment.
Luke gazed on after her as she went out of his view. He got himself up, turned off the generated appliances and locked the door. He flipped the sign to Close, his eyes focused on the town square, which was covered in a thick layer of snow. The town's Christmas lights were back on while the town square's Christmas tree could now be seen shining brightly through the still falling snow.
As he turned towards the curtain that Lorelai had passed through only a minute earlier, he reflected to himself. "This time of year, isn't that bad after all."