Summary: What if, when Rory came home in Love and War and Snow, the boy Lorelai had in the house was Luke? How would she react to that one? Very brief one shot, but give it a read, if you don't mind :-)
Disclaimer: Characters, settings, not mine. Neither is the majority of the porch conversation.
Lorelai stirred gently at a soft rumbling noise coming from what seemed to be very far away. Daylight tickled her closed eyelids, and it had a strange quality, a light quality. The quality of snow. Her mind smiled gently.
Snow …
Luke.
Car.
Rory.
She sprang out of bed, her eyes only opening as her feet hit the floor, and almost collided with the window. There was Rory climbing out of a car, its door being held open by a chauffeur. Cursing in her head, she glanced over and saw confirmation of all she remembered: Luke's body lying unmoving beneath the covers of her bed. She grabbed the dressing gown that was hanging from her cupboard door, stuffed her feet into the nearest pair of shoes, and sprinted down the stairs while tying her dressing gown closed over her still naked body. Her momentum made the door burst open, and she half tripped onto the porch in front of a startled Rory.
"Hi!" she exclaimed, as cheerily as possible.
"Hi," said Rory, with a surprised half smile on her face. "What's up?"
"Nothin', what's up with you?" came the out-of-breath, cheery reply.
"You have something to tell me," concluded Rory.
"Boy, you're so smart," said Lorelai, the words tumbling out in a nervous hurry. "Right, okay, here we go. I've got a boy in the house."
"You what?" said Rory, her facial expression not quite catching up with her surprise over this unexpected announcement.
"Um, it was totally unplanned, but he's here in the house, and you know him," Lorelai said, in a hopeful voice.
"I do?"
"And you like him," Lorelai continued, more pleadingly this time. "I don't know if that's relevant, I just thought that I would throw that in there."
Rory shoved her way passed Lorelai, and strode into the living room. She stopped in front of the couch, where a very familiar flannel lay strewn across the pillows.
Lorelai, walked nervously into Rory's view, and gave a sheepish smile.
Rory continued to stare at the couch, before looking accusingly up at Lorelai.
"Luke."
Lorelai nodded.
"Yeah," she whispered.
"You slept with Luke."
"Um, yeah?"
"Luke?" Rory exclaimed, a little bit louder.
"Rory, listen-" Lorelai began, but Rory stormed away into the kitchen.
"Rory?" Lorelai called, following her.
"I thought you were gonna date Mr Medina!" Rory snapped, whipping around and glaring at her mother.
Lorelai felt her heart go cold. Did Rory … could it be that she didn't approve of Luke?
"Um … I was, yeah …" she replied uncertainly.
"But instead you slept with Luke?" demanded Rory furiously.
"I – I didn't plan on it," Lorelai tried to say, but Rory interrupted her.
"Two nights ago, you were sitting on the couch, replaying Mr Medina's message over and over, at all hours of the night, calling him sexy in front of me, and now you're sleeping with Luke? In our house? Who else are you planning on sleeping with? Morey? Kirk? Shall I call Dean over here, just to make me the most uncomfortable I could possibly be?"
Lorelai looked upset, and tried to speak, but was interrupted again by Rory's furious rant.
"Why even stop with guys, huh? Maybe you could go for Lane, or Miss Patty! Why not just pull out my address book, and sleep with every single person I know, just to play it safe!"
"Rory, wait-" said Lorelai, suddenly beginning to understand.
"And what now? You've been obsessing about Mr Medina, and you say you didn't even plan this with Luke! Were you drunk? Or do you honestly not care about anyone's feelings? So, what, you're just gonna toss aside our family's Luke, so that you can sleep with my teacher? What's wrong with you? Are you trying to make every aspect of my life as difficult as possible?"
"No, I'm not, you don't understand," said Lorelai pleadingly.
"You just had to alienate him," Rory said, tears now coming into her eyes. "You can't just have a meaningless night with him, Mom. You're going to hurt him, and everything will be ruined. I don't care if you screw up things with my teacher. I can get over that. But with Luke? Why Luke, Mom?"
"Rory, I love him!" Lorelai called out fiercely.
There was a stunned silence, as both Rory and Lorelai started at this proclamation.
"You … what?"
Lorelai gaped at her daughter for a moment, and then mumbled, "I didn't see that coming either."
They stared at each other.
"You love Luke?" asked Rory, with quiet disbelief.
"A-apparently," murmured Lorelai. Then she sighed, and looked imploringly at her daughter. "I know this all seems so wishy-washy, and without any direction to you, and I get it. I get it, because this was all as much a surprise to me as it was to you. But I would never just have a meaningless fling with Luke. I mean, whatever romantic feelings I have for him, he's always been an important friend to me, and I'd never screw that up unless I knew it was worth the risk."
"But … what about Mr Medina?" asked Rory, looking worried and confused.
Lorelali bit her lip, before trying to explain. "I liked him, a lot. I really did. And I would have dated him. It's just … it's different with Luke. More real, I guess. And I didn't realise he was an option before. I didn't know he saw me that way, you see. But when he told me, I just … it wasn't really a question. It's almost like I was just waiting for him to say something … subconsciously. I hadn't thought about it before. And then I didn't need to."
Rory was frowning now, as though trying to figure out Lorelai's point.
"So, um, so you're with Luke now?" she asked. "This isn't just a quick thing? And you're not gonna date Mr Medina?"
"Correct, to all of the above." There was an uncertain pause, and then she added, "If Luke still feels that way today, that is. We didn't talk about much."
"You didn't?"
"It … was sort of more implied. We didn't say anything official, but we implied something official."
Rory frowned, and then asked mockingly, "So it was unofficially official?"
Lorelai finally allowed a small smile, as she sensed the ice beginning to thaw.
"Something like that."
"That's insane," grunted Rory, walking around Lorelai, and pouring herself some coffee.
Lorelai watched her uncertainly, and then asked, "Are you still mad?"
Rory sipped her coffee thoughtfully, and then replied slowly, "I don't think so."
"Really?" asked Lorelai, a beaming smile of relief breaking out over her face.
"You really love him?" asked Rory.
Lorelai's smile faded slightly as she stared at Rory, while weighing up how to answer this one.
Eventually, choosing her words carefully, so as to keep them completely honest to both herself and to Rory, she said, "I suppose I do, but I'm not sure if I meant in this way. Well, I guess I did, but it's so early, I don't know what I feel yet … I guess I love him as my close friend, and I'm much closer to being in love with him than with anyone else … especially after so short a time … He's important though. I'm not sure what it is I feel, but he's important."
"I guess that's good," murmured Rory.
"You do? Do you even know what I mean, because I'm not sure I do …"
And Rory laughed, and said, "I never know what you mean, and this one was particularly complex, but I got the gist of it. He's important to you, but I won't start picking out your wedding cake just yet."
Lorelai considered this, and then laughed. "Well put." She stared lovingly at her daughter. "So we're good now?"
"Yeah, we're good."
"And you're fine about me being with Luke? You approve?"
Rory gave her mother an odd look, before saying gently, "I'd be hard pressed to come up with someone I'd approve of more … I like Luke."
And Lorelai practically glowed. Finally, she said softly, "Well, I'd better go and wake him up … before he comes down here in all his buff glory."
"Ew, Mom!" exclaimed Rory, pulling a face, and shutting her eyes.
"And I'm sure his reaction would be far more mortified," grinned Lorelai, "Which, I'll admit, makes things a little tempting …"
"And I'm going into my room now," said Rory at once. "Knock when you're both up, fully clothed, and breakfast is on the table." And with that, she swept into her room, and firmly shut the door.
"Can he be naked while he's cooking breakfast?" Lorelai called through the door. "'Cause that I'd like to see!"