A/U... I am in no way affiliated with Gilmore Girls.
Lorelai was heading to the airport. Her daughter, Rory, was coming home after three years of studying in London. She had just graduated from one of the most prestigious Girls' academies in the world, AND she graduated Valedictorian. Every college that she had applied to, Rory had been accepted to—including Ivy League colleges and Oxford University. Rory was coming home, and going to Yale.
"We're here ma'am." a stuffy voice said over the intercom and into the back of her limo. Lorelai got out and walked out onto the private airstrip in Hartford where her daughter's private Boeing Business jet would be landing in a few minutes. The BBJ had been a combined birthday present from both sets of her grandparents—the Gilmores and Haydens—to entice her to return home more often. Rory had quite often come home for the holidays—everyone said that she had a funny accent.
There was a large buzzing noise coming from above in the sky. The small plane was landing. After it had landed, the gangway door opened, and Rory came running off of the plane and into her mother's arms. "Mummy, I promise that I am never leaving the state for school—ever again!"
"That's perfectly fine with me, Ror." replied Lorelai with her daughter still in her arms. They were crying and jumping up and down. "Come on, your Grandmother's waiting for you back at the Hayden compound. They're gonna throw you a party with all of their friends."
"Wait." Rory paused.
"What?"
"Where's Luke? I thought that he'd be here."
"He'll meet us at the party."
"Ok." Together, they stumbled back into the limo hugging each other and talking about everything that they couldn't for months.
About an hour of talking, giggling, and drinking (Lorelai—vodka martinis, heavy on the vodka, and Rory—soda water) later, the long black limo pulled up to the Haydens' house. Rory had seen the monumentous palaces in London, and the Haydens' house served as some serious competition to them. Their house was HUGE! It was larger than she remembered it. Wow… thought Rory. "You'll get over it," said Lorelai, knowing what she was thinking. Lorelai led Rory to the door while looking for Luke's dark green old trunk, hoping that he'd be here, but there was no sight of it. Where the hell are you, Luke? Lorelai thought and walked into the lavish mansion with her daughter. "Sumthin wrong, Mummy?"
"Nothin', babe."
"Ok." Rory and Lorelai removed their coats.
The party was grand. The Haydens had made sure that Rory's favorite music was playing, and that Rory's favorite flowers—sunflowers—were everywhere with Lorelai's favorite flowers—yellow daisies—in flower arrangements. They had even made sure that Rory's favorite dinner was being prepared for her homecoming—pot roast—with pie and chocolate pudding for dessert. Rory and Lorelai couldn't believe their eyes.
"Rory!" yelled Francine Hayden from across the crowed room.
"Gran!" yelled Rory in reply, giving her grandmother a big hug.
"Come with me." said Gran, and Rory nodded. Lorelai slipped out of the foyer and into an empty room. Rory continued to be shuffled around between the Haydens' friends. "Rory, let me introduce you to some nice people…"
"Where's Granddad, Grandma and Grandpa?" asked Rory.
"Oh, they're around here somewhere. Ah… Here's some nice people." Gran led her granddaughter up to a couple sipping champagne and conversing between themselves. "Rory, this is Donald Walton, head of the Wall Street Journa. And this is his wife, Muffie Walton. Muffie will be hosting the bi-annual Children's Hospital Ball this year."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." smiled Rory, shaking each of their hands politely. She conversed with them for a few moments until Gran directed her towards another couple. Rory's dad, Chris came and found her. "Getting passed around like a note in high school?"
"Dad!" Rory yelled as she ran up and hugged her dad.
"Aah, Christopher. It's nice to see you. Straighten your tie. Rory has a few more people to meet."
"Aah. Well, I'll see you later then." Chris took a martini off of one of the passing waiters' trays and walked off. Francine lead Rory to another couple, and another couple, and another. This lasted for about fifteen minutes until Strobe Hayden, Rory's Granddad, found them. "There you are. I've been looking for you. I've found you somebody nice to sit with for dinner. I'll introduce you to them. Follow me." She followed her granddad.
"Granddad?"
"Yes, my girl?"
"Who is this mystery person?"
"You'll see, my girl, you'll see."
Lorelai found an empty room down the hall from the Grand Foyer. She took out her little pink cell phone and dialed her fiance's cell phone number. Luke pick up! Oh Luke… Pick up, thought Lorelai, PICK UP! PICK UP! PICK—
"Hello?" the voice on the phone said.
"Luke, where the hell are you?"
"Lorelai? Is that you?"
"No shit Sherlock. Who else would it be?"
No reply.
"Do you know what you missed and are missing?"
No reply.
"Rory! You're missing Rory!"
"What?"
"You missed her landing… And now you're missing her party. You should be here."
"Lor, I'm kind of busy right now."
The hell you are.
"What could be more important than Rory? I thought that you cared about her!"
"Do we really have to go into this?"
"We do. But not right now. What is going on?"
"Something came up at the diner. I completely forgot about Rory's homecoming."
"Fine. Whatever Luke. Be here when you can."
"I'll be there in a bit."
"Don't expect us to welcome you with open arms."
"Lorelai, one last thing. Where exactly are you?"
"At Chris' parents' house: The Haydens."
"I'll be there in a bit."
"Sure you will, Luke."
"Have I ever let you down Lorelai?"
Yes. "Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and went back to the party.
Strobe lead Rory over to a man and his son, "Mitchum, this is my daughter, Rory."
"It's a pleasure, Rory." politely said Mitchm, shaking Rory's hand. Rory nodded in reply.
"Rory, this is my son, Logan." said Mitchum. Logan walked out from behind his father. Rory was surprised about how good looking he was.
"This is her?" asked Logan.
"Yes, Logan. This is my granddaughter, Rory. You two will be sitting together at dinner." replied Rory's Granddad.
"Oh Goodie." said Logan, rolling his eyes.
"Perfect." sarcastically said Rory, forcing a smile.
After her Granddad, Mitchum, and Logan walked off, Rory saw Lorelai walk back into the foyer. "Mom, what's going on? Where's Luke? Isn't he here yet?"
"Ror, I don't know. I guess that Luke does what he wants to do." He also forgot about you, "he might be here." A butler came out and announced dinner. "What'd you say if we went to dinner?"
"I'd say, 'What took you so long?'" Lorelai and Rory walked into the dining hall, arm.
There must have been twenty to thirty chairs at the mahogany table. On top of the long ivory table runner that ran down the length of the table, was the most delectable dishes that Rory had seen since the holidays. "Sure beats the hell out of school food." Rory said under her breath to her mother as they sat down. "Rory! Come, come child. You have a special spot." Francine pulled out a chair for her. "Do I have to?"
"Why of course, dear." replied her grandmother. Rory flashed Lorelai a helpless glance and walked to the specified chair. Sitting down, she smoothed out her cornflower blue dress. Rory was sitting next to Gran, at the head of the table, and next to her "date". The crisply uniformed waiters came and presented each dinner guest with a set of dinner china and a vast array of silverware. "Did you get stuck here too?" said the boy next to her.
"This is my party…supposedly." she replied at a whisper.
"You're the reason why I'm here…"
"Excuse me?" Rory asked, her voice at an audible level. The waiters came around once more and filled everyone's glasses with ice water. "Rory, is there a problem?" asked Francine.
"No, there isn't." she replied, passing her gold-rimmed plate to her grandfather to be served. For the first time that night, Rory looked around the table. There were many people who she had been introduced to, but whose faces had not stuck, but also her mother sitting isolated between an empty chare and a chatting businessmen, her father, nodding at some mind-numbingly boring conversation, and her Gilmore grandparents, quietly conversing among themselves. "So… we might as well politely talk to each other." said Rory turning to the person next to her.
"How about we start with names?" he replied.
"Fine. I'm Rory."
"Logan." Logan replied.
"What college are you planning to attend?"
"I'm attending Yale."
"Me too… or I will be. I really want to go into journalism."
"Then you should talk to my father."
"I know! His career is amazing."
"You seem to like him."
"He's one of my idols, he's so amazing." Rory stated. All of a sudden Luke walked into the dining room gruffly. Everything in the room froze. Lorelai stood up and one word came out of her lips, "Luke." She dropped her napkin, walked over to Luke, and pulled him into the foyer by his lumberjack shirt, leaving the room full of party guests behind.
"Luke! Where the hell have you been?" she asked firmly, her voice resonating through the large room.
"Busy. I've been busy." he replied. His hat was askew, and his hair was ruffled, and his clothes were wrinkled and/or buttoned wrong.
"Busy doing what, exactly? Getting frisked by a bear? Being wrestled by Kirk? Tell me. I'm interested in knowing what exactly you are doing."
"Work ran late at the diner."
"Work… uh huh. The diner's closed by the time I called! Now, what's really going on? And you never have your cap on wrong. Going for the P. Diddy look?"
"Not funny. I was just busy." Now Luke was yelling. People were starting to walk out of the dining room to watch the fight.
"It's been nothing but secrets these past couple of months. I've been patient… Flexible even. April… the wedding being postponed over and over again… and now you not showing up to Rory's homecoming… and this! I just don't think that I can take it any more. I'm giving up and giving in… throwing in the towel… giving the heave hoe. Tell me the truth if you value our relationship at all. Now… Now or never." Lorelai said, putting to all of her emotion into her words.
"Do you really want the truth?"
"No, I want a lie… YES! I want the truth! What else would I want!"
"Ana came over."
"I'm listening."
"And… we started to talk about April over a drink… then one drink became two and three… and the topic of April became the topic of the past… And well… things got a little out of hand," Luke tried explaining like what happened was an everyday thing, "and she kissed me."
"You kissed her!" Lorelai put her hands on her hips and gave Luke a look which made him squirm.
"No. She kissed me…"
"Is that much better?" More people assembled with the crowd.
"Well no… and then three drinks became four drinks… then five… then… um… six."
"That would explain the beer cologne."
"And after that kiss… and the past… I kissed her back… and things got carried away."
"How much away? I really need to know, Luke."
"As far as you can go."
"You slept with her!" Lorelai yelled with tears starting to run down her face, not caring who heard.
"Yes?"
"How could you Luke? I mean, really, how could you? I love you. Or I did—" she continued.
"I do Lorelai. I really do." He tried reaching out to comfort her. She pushed him away, "No. No more. I don't think that I can take it. I don't think that I can take you right now. I need to get away. You need to get away…" Lorelai said trying to hold back tears.; Lorelai's parents now joined the crowd, and looked on concerned as they could be, "You just need to go… If you had loved me, then you wouldn't have done that. I can't look at you. I can't look at me! How foolish I was to think that this all was going to happen!"
"Lorelai…"
"Just go Luke… Go. Just Go." Luke stormed towards the door.
"Fine! I will!" Luke yelled at the top of his lungs, standing in front of Lorelai. His hand started to flinch. Tears started to noticeably fall down Lorelai's face. "Don't cry!" he yelled, expelling the smell of beer. "Don't cry! Don't!" Lorelai couldn't help the small amount of tears running out of her eyes. In a quick gesture, his hand met harshly with Lorelai's face. "That'll knock some sense into you." Luke said. Hearing the strike, Logan and Rory, carrying her Shirley Temple, came out to see what was happening. Chris, fearing that something went wrong, quickly excused himself, and went to see what was going on.
Richard Gilmore couldn't take it any longer. His daughter did not deserve this. He stepped out of the crowd, and walked up to Luke. He stood in front of Luke, and pointed his finger at Luke, "How dare you! How dare you strike a lady, and my daughter to be exact. No matter what she did or has done in the past, she doesn't deserve this treatment. Get out of here. Get out—before I get physical." Chris walked over to Lorelai to see if she was alright. Luke walked heavily to the door and slammed it after he left.
"She shouldn't have cried." Logan muttered. Rory heard him, looked at her drink, and threw it onto his white tuxedo shirt.
"Serves you right." Rory said. She walked back into the dining room and grabbed her and her mother's bags and coats. "Thanks Gran and Grandma. I'll see you later. Good night." She pushed her way through the people, and walked to her mother and father. "Let's just go. I don't want to be here anymore." Rory told Lorelai.
"Yeah…" her mother said in reply.
"Hey Rory, Lor, let me drive you home. You're not in any shape to drive home, either of you." They both nodded. Christopher told his parents goodbye, grabbed his car keys, and led Rory and Lorelai out to his car. Everyone piled in, and they were on their way towards Stars Hollow. Chris turned to back to Rory for a brief moment, and said, "Welcome back, kiddo."
The next day…
(Rory perspective)
Rory woke up with a pounding headache sprawled out on the floor at her house, still in the dress from her party. The TV still flickering from the movies, tubs of Ben & Jerry's melted into puddles, and the smell of left over food hit her nose full blast. The events of last night hit her like a ton of bricks: her mother, Luke, her father, her throwing that drink onto that jerk Logan, and the party wasn't that great either. She immediately perked up, looking around the room for any sights of her mom or her dad. Seeing no sign of her parents, she skidded down the hall, racing to get up the stairs to see if her mom was in her room.
She slowly pushed open the door as to not wake anyone in the room. Christopher was asleep in the chair right next to Lorelai's bed, holding her hand gently. It was bittersweet to Rory. She knew that her mom was hurting, but it helped that her dad was there.
Quickly, Rory showered and threw on a pair of jeans and a blouse. She tiptoed quietly to the door, and put on her boots and walked out; making sure that she did not wake her parents. She hastily walked down to Luke's Diner.
"Good morning, Rory, sweetie." Miss Patty was saying as Rory passed. Rory stopped and walked back to talk to her. "I'm on a mission to Luke's."
"Coffee?"
"That too." Rory preceded to tell Miss Patty of the events of her welcome home party at the Haydens. "Oh my God!" she said, running off to spread the news throughout Stars Hollow. Rory continued on her way.
The door to the diner chimed. " 'Morning Ror." She stopped in the middle of the diner, "How could you, Luke? I mean, really, how could you!"
"How could I?" He stopped and put his hands on the counter, giving it a quick wipe, "do you want coffee?"
"That's not the only thing I want. I want an apology… For everything. An apology to me and especially my mom."
"I thought that she'd be here with you."
"Well… she's not. She wouldn't. I don't think that she could look at you, and it's taking a lot of nerve for me to." She walked up to the counter and looked him in the eyes. "You hurt me… not to mention my mom literally."
"Rory, calm down. Everything got out of hand last night."
"Out of hand! Just out of hand! I'd say that that was the understatement of the year. It looked like a nuclear explosion went off in your face." More people started filing into the diner. Luke and Rory didn't notice.
"Just sit down. We can talk about this calmly." A woman in one of Luke's flannel shirts came down from the stairs, buttoning it as she went, to see what all the ruckus was, "Luke, sweetie, what's all the racket? And where's something to eat? I'm starved."
Luke rubbed his hand down his face in exasperation. This was the worst possible time for Ana to walk down the stairs.
"I see that you were busy this morning." Rory said. Behind her, the whole town had managed to crowd into the diner.
"Rory, it's complicated. Just take a seat, and we can talk about this calmly and rationally."
"No! We can't! This is not a calm and rational situation that we have on our hands here! You cheated on Mom! You slapped her when she started to cry! AT my welcome back party which you were late to! You're just lucky that my grandparents aren't suing your ass… both sets! You forget who I'm related to!" Whispers broke out around the diner.
"Now Rory, just calm down."
"I'm calm… One coffee to go please." Rory said, stifling her anger. Luke quickly got her her drink. He handed the hot drink with shaking hands. Rory took off the lid, took and took a sip. "We ok now?" asked Luke.
"Not quite…" she threw the remnants of her scalding hot coffee onto Luke, slammed the cup down on the counter, and walked out of the diner, angrier than she had been when she went in. Now it was the town's turn.