Disclaimer: No, I do not own the Gilmore girls…yet!
Author's note: Hey, this is my first story EVER! Please don't be too hard on me… ;-)
So people, go grab some coffee and enjoy reading!
A bigger bang"Hey partner, look what I have here," Lorelai says as she enters the empty diner with a huge package under her arm.
"What's that?" Luke asks, rather sceptically, coming out of the kitchen with raised eyebrows.
"This, my dear, is our new super duper great sing star karaoke machine," Lorelai answers happily, bouncing onto a seat at the counter.
Luke rolls his eyes. "First, OUR? And second, Karaoke? Jeez, I thought you were going to buy furniture?"
But Lorelai doesn't listen. Instead she rips the package into pieces, handing Luke the instructions.
"Coffee Luke? Pretty please?" Lorelai asks, batting her eyelashes sweetly.
"Lorelai." He tries to sound mad but gives her a cup and fills it anyway.
"Alright, alright…I drove to the mall and I really, really wanted to look for furniture, but then at the entrance I heard that lovely voice singing The way we were …" Lorelai glances at Luke who looks kind of lost now.
"You know? That very sappy song by Barbara Streisand…"
Luke nods his head somewhat annoyed, folding his arms at his chest now.
"Well, and I thought 'Wow, this so reminds me of The Nanny….'"
Now he's even more confused.
"Luke, c'mon, Fran Fine? That woman with the incredibly awful voice…" Lorelai imitates her "Hi Mr Sheffield..." but Luke cuts her off.
"Lorelai, just come to the point where you explain to me why I was getting the stuff out of the house, because YOU got the idea that you needed a whole new living room set and instead you bought that…thing there," he points at the pink machine on the seat next to her, blinking in yellow and baby-blue.
Lorelai straightens a little, ready to defend herself when suddenly there are loud screams all over the streets in Stars Hollow. They look at each other briefly, both running to the door.
Of course Lorelai is relieved that the crazy town kind of rescued her because she really bought that karaoke thing just for…well, she doesn't even know what for. She simply is too tired for furniture shopping and so in love with that drag guy who sang The Way We Were just like Barbara.
Luke opens the door and that's when they see people running around, yelling and waving their arms in the air like crazy. It doesn't seem that anything dangerous or bad has happened though, it is just like people are totally mad about something. Miss Patty is walking towards Luke's Diner with a deep red face, cursing under her breath and Lorelai attempts to close the door again.
"No Lorelai darling, leave it, you must know what happened." Patty shouts,
Lorelai looks at Luke, shrugs and just asks "What's the matter, Miss Patty?"
Babette is running to catch up with Patty, of course wanting to spread the news, too.
When they are both directly in front of the diner they try to speak but Patty is too angry and Babette is too exhausted.
"Jeez, just tell us what happened already!" Luke rolls his eyes again.
Babette found her voice first " You wanna know what happened? Kirk happened!" she grits out and Lorelai can't help but wonder why they are so angry at him. It's Kirk, after all.
"What did he do to drive the whole town mad? Did he run around naked again? Or did he forget to deliver the mail? Or wait, he stole the town jewels…" Lorelai babbles. Patty and Babbette both hold Lorelai's gaze seriously.
"He wasn't at the diner for two days…" Luke states.
And now it is Patty's turn. "Exactly," she screams.
Lorelai grabs Luke's flannel, hiding behind his back.
Patty continues, "Nobody has seen Kirk or Lulu the last few days…"
Babette jumped in "…We were a little concerned but Morey and I decided that they spent time...since you two didn't want it….getting 'comfortable' in the Twickham house, you know what I mean…comfortable."
Luke grunts and Lorelai stifles a laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.
"But then I got this today." Miss Patty dramatically fetches an envelope out of her purse and hands it to Lorelai, who opens it eagerly. Even Luke is curious now.
When Lorelai sees the trashy card she says, "Oh my god. Is this what I think it is folks? How could they do that?"
Luke is really clueless. "How could they do what?"
She opens the card and holds it in front of Luke's face and what he sees there really shocks him.
"Aww, jeez..." he reads the card out loud. "Dear citizens of Stars Hollow, we just wanted to let you know that we got married today, here in Las Vegas. It was a beautiful ceremony (the reverend looked just like Elvis) and we also sent you the pictures."
Lorelai is laughing out loud, but Babette and Patty shoot her looks that could kill.
Meanwhile, Luke finds the pictures and shows Lorelai a photograph of Kirk and Lulu standing in front of the reverend and a photograph obviously taken after
the ceremony, of Kirk kissing Lulu. Luke lets it drop to the floor.
"Lulu and Kirk got married in Vegas. So what, people? They do crazy things all the time...why does the town go wild now?" Lorelai asks.
Babette and Patty look at each other shortly, hesitating with the answer and Lorelai immediately gets suspicious.
"Paaatty…Babeeette what's up?"
"Okay Lorelai, Luke…" Babette looks at them both and continues, "well, we were kind of looking forward to…" she looks at Patty, daring her to say something.
"Kids, we were looking forward to your wedding and now…"
Lorelai takes a deep breath, clutching Luke's hand.
"And now it seems weird that there is no wedding date or something. I mean we totally understand the thing with no wedding date until everything is okay with Rory but…"
"Jeeeeez," Luke mutters, feeling very uncomfortable.
Lorelai inhales. "Okay ladies, I get it, you were looking forward to our wedding and now Kirk married elsewhere, meaning no festivities, but believe me, there will be a wedding date soon, things will get better with Rory… and you have your party and whatever," Lorelai reassures them and they nod, seeming
relieved somehow.
Luke and Lorelai enter the still empty diner again and Luke starts ranting,
"This town is so damn crazy that I can't even put it into words any more. Lulu and Kirk got married in Vegas, which is really weird…"
Lorelai raises an eyebrow at that.
"What?"
"You think it's weird to marry in Vegas?"
"C'mon Lorelai, it's not very romantic and…" Lorelai is smiling now, which makes Luke flustered. He looks so shy when it comes to the topic of marriage that she walks over to him and kisses him briefly.
" I wouldn't want to marry in Vegas either." She whispers in his ear.
Luke grins at her and leans in for another kiss when Taylor storms in.
"Dear god…" Luke mutters, looking at the flyer in Taylor's hand, a picture of Lulu and Kirk and below, written in big letters: TRAITORS.
Lorelai starts to giggle. "I'm leaving. I have to be at the Inn…see you at eight?"
Luke just nods at her, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.
When she is outside, she looks through the window and laughs again about the craziness of this town that she loves so much and she smiles at Luke arguing heatedly with Taylor. 'How many times have I seen this picture?' she thinks. Luke and Taylor fighting? Far too often. She giggles again, then stops abruptly when Rory comes to her mind. She thinks about how often they made fun of Taylor questioning Luke about town activities in the past.
She remembers two day before, when she and Rory argued in the church at Jackson, Davey and Martha's baptism. How she wouldn't even stay after the baptism, immediately getting into her car and driving back to the back-stabbers in Hartford. An image comes to her mind, the pictures of Emily and Richard on Taylor's flyers, instead of Lulu and Kirk. She smiles again, deciding that she cannot change the past, but the future. She will talk to Rory soon. She will try.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At about six, Luke's phone rings. The diner is pretty crowded and he is slightly stressed. Since Lane's band came back from their tour they're always just waiting for free fries, Luke thinks. But the end of the day he'll spend with Lorelai, his fiancée, which he actually is more than looking forward to.
"Luke's Diner," he answers.
"Hey," a definitely feminine voice purrs into phone.
"Who's that?"
"Who's there?"
"Well, I asked first. I'm gonna hang up now," Luke says, exasperated.
"Oh, come on Luke, it's me." Lorelai is a little disappointed that Luke won't join her game.
"Me who?"
"Lorelai. Lorelai Gilmore? Ever heard my name? Now, this is really funny because here I am waiting for you in OUR home-to-be , with nothing but some sexy lingerie…." She giggles, imagining Luke with that reddish face he
certainly has right now.
"Lorelai. What's the matter? And why do you always have to switch your voice into some 'Hi-I'm-Trixi-with-no-last-name' voice?"
"We're engaged now, I guess we have to keep it new and exciting."
"Lorelai." Luke looks around the diner, somehow afraid that someone listens to their private conversation, but the only person at the counter is TJ, who kind of talks to his tomatoes because they don't fit on his fork.
"What? You don't want to keep it hot?"
Dear god. "Well, I just…." Luke begins to stammer.
"I'm just making fun of you, " Lorelai laughs.
"Geee, thanks," Luke grits out, clearly embarrassed. "What do you want, Lorelai?"
"You know, I'm not kidding about the 'I'm home waiting for you' thing and I thought…" she bites her lip, "you could close early? Or Cesar could handle it maybe…"
"You aren't able to use the sing star machine because the cables confuse you, right?"
"Yes, see, this is why I want to marry you."
Luke grins. "Glad to be of service."
"Dirty."
"Jeez. At the moment there are still people around, I'll be there in half an hour."
"But Luke?"
"Yah?"
"Bring some food, baby!" and with that she hangs up, leaving a grinning Luke behind the counter.
She can do that to him. Make him grin like an idiot. And he enjoys it, mostly, though he will never admit it to her. He loves that witty banter they always have, because before her…before Lorelai his life was a routine. Getting up for the diner, working, closing the diner. Sleeping, getting up again… But these days, Luke's routine flies out of the window, and he's glad.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lorelai sits on the couch, petting Paul Anka and watching Beethoven for it is a great movie for dogs with a dog as the star.
The Karaoke machine lies on the ground, cables everywhere. She really isn't into technique. But now there is a man in the house. She smiles, thinking about Luke always being here. Whenever she needs him, he comes to help.
'Only now I get to thank him more properly,' Lorelai grins to herself, then immediately chastises herself. Not in front of Paul Anka.
Rory always liked dogs, she wanted to have one so badly once when she was eight. Back then, it wouldn't have worked, with her being a maid. It was hard to handle things with Rory, either getting her to the Independence Inn after school or having Sookie look after her for a few hours… No matter what happens, at the moment everything reminds Lorelai of Rory. A thousand memories kick into her head whenever she's home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's when Luke enters the living room.
"Hey, what are you doing? I knocked, I called your name…." Luke starts but Lorelai gets up from the couch and kisses him slowly. It takes a moment, but Luke deepens the kiss, backing her up against the couch. Then Lorelai moves from his lips to his ear and…
"Damn," Luke mutters, the food falling onto the floor.
He gathers it up, giving her one last peck on the lips before putting the food on the table.
"Not in front of Paul Anka, anyway." Lorelai states and Luke rolls his eyes.
"So, I brought you some food that will certainly give you a heart attack some day…"
"I'm not in the mood for food," Lorelai says and Luke raises his eyebrows.
"Oh, I didn't mean that either…," Lorelai giggles. "but dirty thoughts, I like that, hold onto them for later…"
Luke looks at the floor, turning red for the second time the day.
"So what did you have in mind?" he questions, but Lorelai is already up, searching for her shoes.
"We could go for a walk with Paul Anka," she suggests and Luke turns to her, shocked, that she of all people would get an idea like that.
"Don't look at me suspiciously, I'm so into walking…can't even begin to describe how much I love it. Paul Anka, come here"
Luke shakes his head and gets Paul Anka leashed. She can always surprise him, but somehow he has a bad feeling about this. She acts strange lately and he assumes it is because of her fight with Rory. And, in addition to that, the whole town pressures her for a wedding date. For Luke, the date isn't important. She has made it clear that she wants to marry him. She asked after all.
"Luuuke…what's taking you so long! It's a great evening…still warm outside."
As soon as Luke comes down the stairs with Paul Anka, Lorelai links her arm with his and rests her head on his shoulder.
"This is so family-ish," Lorelai sighs and Luke kisses the top of her head.
"Yeah it is," he says simply . "But he's your dog. You've got to lead him," he grumpily adds.
"Okay. That's fair, I guess." They walk down the road in silence, both enjoying each other's presence.
When they reach the pond, Luke cannot hold it anymore.
"Is something wrong ?"
Lorelai looks him in the eyes, seeing the love and the worry reflected in them.
"Am I a bad mom?" she blurts out.
Luke is shocked. "Hell, Lorelai, where does this come from?"
"I just…I always…When we came here, we had nothing Luke. We were homeless, but I never wanted Rory to notice and of course we had Mia, who was such a great help, and we reached something…we got our own house. Can you imagine what it was like to sleep in our house for the first time?"
Lorelai paused, both smiling and crying at the memory.
"It was so…big, Luke." She lets out a bitter laugh. " But I never provided her with family. Of course, her grandparents were always there for her but she never had this father, mother, daughter thingy…" she trails off.
"Rory had a great childhood." Luke states and Lorelai looks at him again, staying silent.
"You are not just a mother. You are her friend. Rory became such an intelligent, beautiful, nice girl and it is because of you. And I don't know where these insecurities come from. You did a great job but at some point children grow up and they make their own mistakes, that have nothing to do with you anymore. But I know Rory will make the right decision. And then…we can still have that…thingy. Even though Rory is an adult now." Luke raises his voice with every word he speaks.
Lorelai can't help but wonder how she got so lucky. She has a man who doesn't just love her, but her daughter, too. Why should she waste the lovely evening? She forgot that this is why she wants to marry Luke. He loves her and even though he knows everything about her, he still loves her. And she doesn't have the feeling that she needs to change. And she wouldn't want to change Luke. So she changes the subject.
"Soo, Kirk and Lulu married in Vegas," she says.
Luke lets out the breath he was holding and half-smiles, getting that she wants to change the topic.
"Who would have guessed that they'd marry?"
"Who would have guessed that we'd marry?" Lorelai asks back.
Their eyes lock. Luke takes her hand and traces her palm with his finger, very slowly. Then he takes the other one and repeats the motion.
Kissing her lightly on her lips he answers quietly, "I would have."
He leans in for another kiss when suddenly Paul Anka starts to bark, pushing Lorelai around because she has the lead.
"Wow, what's up with you dog? You're jealous? I told you Luke, not in front of Paul Anka…"
"Shhhhh," Luke motions for Lorelai to be still, letting her hand go.
"Who is there?" he starts to walk towards a noise behind the bush.
"I swear to God who the hell is…," he looks behind the bush. "what are you doing here?"
To be continued