Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; am merely borrowing them from Amy Sherman-Palladino. She'll get them back, albeit a little dented.
Thanks to LulaBo for being the Best. Beta. Ever.
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O' CANADA
"So," said Luke, looking down at Kirk exasperatingly. "That's a BLT, no bacon, no lettuce, and no tomato." He sighed. "You could've just told me you wanted a mayo sandwich."
"Yes, but see, a mayonnaise sandwich is not on the menu," explained Kirk. "And I didn't want to complicate things."
"Kirk, all you do is complicate things," responded Luke as he walked away. 8 o'clock on a Monday morning, and Luke already had a headache. Rubbing his temple with his fingers, he hoped that it would subside soon enough. Take two Tylenol? Or just get rid of Kirk? he bemused. The latter, definitely.
Just as he made it behind the counter, the door burst open and in rushed Lorelai, with Taylor hot on her heels. "For the love of all that is good and pure, give me coffee!" she shouted.
"Now, Lorelai," Taylor was saying. "I know the Dragonfly has been up and running for nearly two months now, and has been a complete success, but with my weekly visits to the inn, I've noticed that some of my comments from the test run have gone unnoticed."
"Hurry up, Luke!" she said impatiently, drumming her fingers on the counter, praying that Taylor would leave her alone.
"It's still brewing, Lorelai," he said with a grin, taking his sweet time with her order, reveling in the moment. "One second."
"With tourism up this summer, we need everything to be running 100 percent smoothly, to ensure that our guests will return next year."
"Don't worry, Taylor!" said Lorelai, mouthing "thank you" to Luke as he placed a mug of coffee in front of her. "Everything is covered, everything is fine. This summer will be a complete success, I guarantee."
"Excellent!" He turned to face Luke. "Now, Luke..."
"Ha ha! Your turn!" she sing-songed happily, but turned away at the murderous glare Luke gave her.
"I know that around the end of June and early July, you leave town for a few days," Taylor began. "But this year, I really need you to stay in Stars Hollow. I can't have you gallivanting around Lord-knows-where while our visitors are craving your hamburgers. I need you here to ensure that..."
"...everything is running 100 percent smoothly," he finished for him. "I get it Taylor."
"So, you'll stay?" asked Taylor hopefully.
"I don't have much of a choice, now do I?"
Both Taylor and Lorelai's mouths hung open. Was he really acquiescing without a fight? "That's wonderful!" exclaimed Taylor, surprised yet pleased. "I must go talk to Andrew and Al now. Goodbye." Taylor quickly rushed out the door before Luke could change his mind.
"That was odd," said Lorelai, looking at Luke strangely.
"Taylor's lunacy?" Luke asked. "That's normal."
"No: you actually listened to him," she said. "You didn't rant about how the place can run smoothly with Caesar and Lane. You didn't yell at him that he has no authority over your vacation time. And you didn't mock his toupee and cardigan! What's up with you?"
"Do you know what's odd?" said Luke, leaning on the counter. "You've been here for nearly five minutes and you've yet to kiss me good morning."
"Well, it's not my fault you couldn't spend the night," she said, lowering her voice and leaning in closer. "Then I could've kissed you good morning earlier." She grinned sexily at him.
"I'm a stupid man, what can I say?" said Luke. "Tonight, I swear."
"Good boy. You deserve a kiss." She pressed her lips against his, keeping it short and chaste. It was still early and there were children in the diner, so they kept it G-rated. The diner crowd ohh'ed and aww'ed at their public display of affection; they've been together for two months now, but the town was still giddy over their relationship.
Pulling away, they both blushed slightly. "That was a nice way to avoid my interrogation for a minute," Lorelai said after a short pause. "But, seriously: why the compliance? You're going to start listening to Taylor now? Because that's not the Luke I know."
"I don't know," Luke said, his embarrassment showing on his cheeks. "It's our first summer together. I would've liked to take you with me, but the Dragonfly is keeping you busy, so I'd much rather stay here with you."
"Luuuke!" squealed Lorelai, touched by his words. "That is so sweet!"
"Stop it!" hissed Luke nervously, darting his eyes across the diner, hoping no one had heard him.
"I'm sorry, but that is adorable," said Lorelai reassuringly, stroking his hand. "I feel special, you canceling your fishing trip on my account."
"Oh, it's not a fishing trip," said Luke.
"It's not?" asked Lorelai. "But you put up a 'Gone Fishin'' sign on your door every summer."
"It's a simple sign that begs for no explanation," explained Luke. "I can't exactly put up a sign that says 'Have Gone to Canada', now can I?"
"That's where you go?" asked Lorelai. She paused for a moment, lost in thought, and then spoke again, perplexed. "But...why?"
Luke sighed. "Well, my parents would take me and Liz up there every year for Canada Day. My mother was Canadian, so we'd head up to Toronto and watch the fireworks. It was a nice tradition, so I kept it going for myself."
"Whoa, rewind!" exclaimed Lorelai, thinking she had misheard him. "You're part-Canadian?!"
"Yeah, I guess I am."
Lorelai clapped her hands in glee. "That is so awesome! Say 'I'm about to go out, eh!'"
"I shouldn't have said anything..." said Luke, about ready to walk away.
Lorelai reached for his hand and pulled him back towards the counter. "No, no, no. I'm sorry, Luke; I didn't mean to tease you," she said sincerely. "I just think it's really cool, is all. My boyfriend is Canadian!" She giggled.
"Anyway, it's no big deal," said Luke nonchalantly, although Lorelai could hear the strain in his voice. "I'll just head up there next year."
A huge crowd suddenly entered the diner, and Lorelai let go of Luke's hand. "I'll let you get back to work," she said, getting off her stool. She kissed him goodbye. "I'll see you later?"
"Yeah. I'll be over around 9."
"Great!" said Lorelai and rushed out the door excitedly.
She had a plan.
---
On Thursday evening, Luke closed up the diner and headed over to Lorelai's place. It was late, but she had said that a surprise was waiting for him. He was tired as hell and had had a rough day, but was looking forward to seeing Lorelai. And her surprise better involve something dirty, he thought.
He made it to her house and rang the doorbell. No answer. After ringing nonstop for two minutes, Luke started to worry. Where was she? Luke stepped down off the porch and walked around towards the backyard, thinking he'd be able to enter via the backdoor.
As Luke entered the backyard, his eyes widened at what he saw: balloons and streamers in red and white adorned the backyard; a huge Canadian flag hung from the porch rail; a table full of food sat on the lawn. And in the middle of it all stood Lorelai, wearing a silly Moose-cap and a pink tank top that said, "Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go to Canada." She grinned from ear-to-ear at the sight of him. "Surprise!" she shouted.
"What on earth is this?" asked Luke incredulously, taking it all in. "Did you do this?"
"Indeed I did!" she said happily as she approached him. "Happy Canada Day!" She pulled a Moose-cap similar to hers from behind her and placed it backwards on Luke's head. "Does that look wrong!" she shuddered, and placed the cap on the other way.
"Because that would've looked silly?" asked Luke, pointing at the monstrosity on his head.
"Oh, quit being a spoilsport and check it out!" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the table of food. "I've got a whole array of Canadian food: here we have a bowl of ketchup-flavored chips. I hear Canadians love 'em! We've got pancakes with Canadian maple syrup. I've also got some slices of Canadian bacon. And here we have this thing called poutine; fries, cheese curds and gravy. It's so artery-clogging good, you should start serving it at the diner, I swear!"
Luke pointed at the nearby pot of coffee. "Coffee is Canadian?" he asked.
"Well, no," admitted Lorelai. "I wanted to get some coffee from a place called Tom Hutton's or something, but it would've been a long drive back from Canada, and by the time I would've made it back to Stars Hollow, the coffee would've been a) cold or b) gone, because, you know, I would've drunk it all. I hear it's that good, although nothing compared to yours, of course."
"Thanks," Luke chuckled. "And what's with the rest of the food?"
"Well, I couldn't think of any other Canadian foods, so I just got chicken and Chinese and stuff," said Lorelai, admitting defeat. "I'm sorry, I tried, I really did. I even tried to get a fireworks show going, but the look Taylor gave me when I told him that I wanted fireworks three days before the Fourth of July, consisting of only red and white, not blue, was just blasphemous in his mind, and..." Luke interrupted her by pressing his lips firmly against hers. It took Lorelai a while to react, protesting at first, but quickly settling into his arms, kissing him back with the same ardor. They did their best, considering their visors and antlers were making the task rather difficult.
"Stupid caps," Luke mumbled, taking his cap off, as well as Lorelai's, and throwing them onto the ground. They continued kissing.
As they finally pulled away, Lorelai smiled up at him. "What was that for?" she asked softly. "You're that big a fan of the ketchup-flavored chip?"
"Thank you," said Luke softly, pulling her close again for a hug. As he tightened his arms around her waist, he eyed the backyard again, overwhelmed by Lorelai's gesture. "You didn't have to do this, you know."
"I wanted to," she said simply, her lips pressed against his neck. "Since you couldn't head to Canada, I thought I'd bring Canada to Stars Hollow."
"Oh, this is way better than Toronto," said Luke, pulling back and looking into Lorelai's eyes.
"Really?"
"You have no idea," he said. They disentangled themselves from one another and looked at the spread before them. "You hungry?" he asked.
"Starving!" exclaimed Lorelai, grabbing a plate. "I've been eyeing that poutine all evening!"
"That stuff'll kill ya," said Luke, frowning at the large amount Lorelai was placing on her plate.
"Indulge, Luke!" said Lorelai, swatting him on the arm. "Be good, and you'll get your other surprise later."
"Really?" asked Luke, intrigued. "What does it entail?"
"Well," Lorelai breathed, her eyes sparkling. "I am wearing something red, white and lacy underneath, so you can pretty much guess what you're in for this evening."
"Mmm," Luke murmured approvingly, picking a fry off of her plate. "Happy Canada Day to me!"