Author's Note: This story began over two months ago as a challenge from iheartbridges, and though I was initially skeptical, the idea took hold of me in a big way. I can't thank my amazing betas, JeSouhaite and CineFille, enough for their encouragement and for pushing me to make this story more than it was.
Lorelai's chin rested heavily on her hand and she bit her lip nervously while staring out the window of the plane. She tried to ignore the bustle of passengers boarding and carry-ons being stowed, and to distract herself from the hint of nausea building in her stomach. That she recognized the uneasiness as fear, she hated to admit, even to herself. She really hadn't done much traveling, except for the occasional extravagant trip with her parents as a child and the backpacking trip around Europe with Rory, so traveling alone like this was completely uncharted territory.
But even though it was terrifying, it was also exciting. Really it was. She couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit another country, all-expenses paid. All she had to do was share her ideas about running an inn. Simple enough, right?
To Lorelai's surprise, Luke had encouraged her with a sincere tone that simultaneously confused and heartened her. "You ought to at least try it. You don't want to regret passing up the opportunity."
So she'd called Mike Armstrong and agreed to the trial consulting job. Minutes after getting the call about the specifics of her assignment, she burst into the diner.
Luke looked up as the bell rang above the door, "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"Well, it's nice to see you too." Lorelai said, feigning a pout.
In response, he raised his eyebrows and tipped his head to the side, "You're just not usually here, now. What's up?
"He called."
"Who called?"
"Mike Armstrong. He called to tell me where they want to send me." She started pacing, her words flowing in an unstoppable stream. "And see, they told me they wanted to send me to Europe and I was thinking France, Spain, maybe Italy. That's Europe. That's what I expected. This, this-"
"Lorelai, stop," Luke stilled her motion with a touch to her shoulder. "Where are you going?"
"Scotland. Can you imagine? Scotland. What the hell is that? He said Europe."
"Uh," Luke hesitated, "Scotland is in Europe."
"I know. I just…" Lorelai threw her hands up, "I figured they'd send me someplace I'd actually been. I don't know anything about Scotland."
"I've heard it's really pretty," Luke added helpfully. "And they speak English, by the way."
Lorelai caught his eyes with an annoyed look.
His expression softened and he took her hands, holding her fingers lightly, "You're still going to go, though, right?"
"Yeah, I'm going," she sighed, before lifting her head to meet his eyes. "As long as you come visit me. You said you'd come, right? There's no way I'm going through another Luke-less summer."
Lorelai looked down from the window to her lap where she absently twisted the ring on her left hand, the sharp edges of the setting like an anchor to the familiar. So much had happened in the last several weeks that she had trouble processing it all. Her recent memories had a fuzzy quality, as if her brain couldn't quite make sense of Luke's acceptance of her out-of-the-blue proposal and Rory's criminal record. Lorelai shook the latter thought out of her head and instead remembered the wide-eyed disbelief on Luke's face and the soft surprise in his voice when she had interrupted his Rory rant with her question. After she'd convinced him of her sincerity, he confessed that he'd had similar thoughts and sheepishly told her about the Twickham house. His shy smile drooped into a sad frown when he admitted giving up the house after hearing about the Durham Groups' offer to buy the inn. Lorelai urged his eyes back to hers with a brush of her fingers across his cheek and explained that she couldn't imagine leaving her house anyway, especially the way things stood with Rory. Slipping her hands down to grasp his, she told him that she had no intention of selling the inn or leaving Stars Hollow to take a consulting job. At the mention of the consulting job a flash of doubt crossed Luke's face, but was so fleeting she almost forgot it.
As her insides roiled with a mixture of relief and jittery excitement, Luke led her upstairs to his apartment, where he presented her with the engagement ring he'd planned to give her when he showed her the deed to the Twickham house. With a slight tremble in his hands, he slid it onto her finger and said softly, "In case it wasn't clear downstairs, I definitely want to marry you." Lorelai let herself shed a few tears of happiness and even Luke looked a little misty-eyed. It was almost enough to push the worries about Rory from Lorelai's mind.
The reality of the situation settled more solidly on her shoulders the next morning as Luke and Lorelai discussed the best way to share their news with Rory. Though they agreed that Rory should be the first to know, Lorelai had never felt more distant from her daughter and was at a loss as to the best way to approach her. Finally, she called Rory and asked if they could meet, either in Hartford or Stars Hollow, reluctantly agreeing that there would be no discussion of Yale, the boat, or the poolhouse.
A very stilted dinner at Luke's followed. Mother and daughter limited their conversation to news from the inn and Stars Hollow, and the pauses between topics stretched uncomfortably long. Finally, Lorelai twisted her ring around on her finger, exposing the concealed diamond, and shared the news about the engagement. She spoke cautiously, unsure of Rory's reaction. After an initial look of shock, Rory gave the first genuine smile of the evening before hugging her mom and seeking out Luke to congratulate him. Lorelai deftly avoided giving the play by play of the proposal so as to avoid discussing the conversation that had led to it. It was enough to see Rory accepting the situation. Before Rory left to head back to Hartford, they agreed to have dinner twice a week at Luke's with the unspoken understanding that the same rules would apply to future dinners.
A few days later, Lorelai bounced into the diner eagerly looking for Luke. She had just gotten off the phone with Mike Armstrong and couldn't wait to tell Luke about turning down the offer to buy the inn and take the consulting job. Though she'd initially been flattered and curious about consulting for the Durham Group, the discussion the night of the proposal made it clear why Luke had been so upset about her 'mulling,' and she wanted to reassure him, to let him know that she had no intention of leaving him or Stars Hollow. Expecting the typical understated smiles that Luke occasionally allowed, she was surprised by the furrow in his brow and the rather grim, if brief, look on his face. He told her that he didn't want her missing out on opportunities, that if she was at all interested in consulting, she should at least give it a trial run. Lorelai was so baffled by his suggestion that she had trouble coming up with counter-arguments and, after a few minutes of discussion, found herself agreeing that the possibility of travel did sound intriguing.
The remaining few weeks before her trip passed in a blur of activity. Michel would act as the Executive Manager of the inn while she was gone, but she'd had to hire and train a temporary person to take his position.
Rory's scheduled trial never happened. Lorelai relented and let her parents and the Huntzbergers hire a lawyer who managed to get the District Attorney to reduce the charges from a felony to a misdemeanor in exchange for a significant amount of community service. Though still furious with her parents and more upset with Rory than she wanted to admit, Lorelai was glad to have Rory's legal troubles settled before leaving the country. The uneasy truce between mother and daughter continued, as did the regular dinners at Luke's.
Lorelai even gave in to Rory's request and visited her parents once, to tell them that she was engaged and about her plans for the summer. They reacted to the engagement with indifference, though her father seemed impressed by the consulting trial run. It was little more than she'd expected and if nothing else she felt relieved to have told them.
Only an hour had passed since she'd said goodbye to Luke and already she missed him. Lorelai knew that his encouragement to try consulting was his way of making sure that she had looked into all of her options, but she couldn't help feeling that it was a way to put off plans for the wedding as well. Every time she had mentioned their upcoming wedding, Luke had brushed it off, saying that they could discuss it when she returned. His stoicism, though typically Luke, unsettled her, made her wonder why he was so willing to send her away for two months. Part of her wished that when it had come time to say goodbye, she had just taken his hand, turned around and driven them both home.
She put on a brave face, but Luke saw through her cheerfulness, tipping her chin up with his fingers so that she would meet his eyes, "Hey, what's going on?"
Her shoulders slumped and she looked away for a moment before lifting her eyes to his again. "Nothing. I just…Luke, what the hell am I doing? I don't know anything about consulting."
"You're going to help people run an inn - something you do very well, by the way."
She had to smile at his unfailing encouragement, but then said sadly, "I'm going to miss you so much. Three and a half weeks, right? You promise you'll come?"
Luke's gaze softened, and the corners of his mouth curved up into a small smile. "I told you I'd come. You made my plane reservation. I found my passport. I'll be there." He brushed his thumb across her cheek, as if to reinforce his words. "Don't fall for any burly Scottish guys before I get there."
She knew that he was trying to lighten the moment, and any other time she could have brushed it off, but hearing him now stung. "Luke, I'm going to marry you. There isn't anyone else for me." The hurt in her voice was clear.
"I'm sorry, I was just..."
"I know. I'm sorry too. I'm a little…" She took a breath and gave a small wave, brushing the thought away. "I'm almost to the security gate, I guess we should say goodbye," her voice shook a bit as she stepped toward Luke for a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning into his body. "I love you," she murmured against his lips.
Luke pulled back to look her in the eye. "I love you, too. I'll see you soon. Have a great flight." He gave her one last kiss before lowering his hands to give hers a squeeze.
"I'll miss you."
"Me too."
"And just so you know - when I get back, we're going into full-out planning mode. You're not getting out of that, buddy."
"I'll have a calendar and the bridal magazines ready," he teased.
As the plane pulled away from the gate, Lorelai pulled out her Lonely Planet guide, and thumbed through it absently. She'd been serious when she said she knew nothing about Scotland. The movie Braveheart, and that was about it – and she was pretty sure that by now even the Scots had say, electricity and running water.
All she knew about her assignment was that she would be working in the town of Stirling at an inn that was a short walk from Stirling Castle, apparently a big tourist draw. The Durham Group had acquired the inn a few years earlier, and one of Lorelai's major tasks would be to make long-term recommendations about how to improve the inn's mediocre occupancy rate. She still couldn't believe that a huge corporation trusted her judgment enough to send her across an ocean to a little tourist town in Scotland. Terrifying? Yes. But it was worth a shot.
To be continued