Disclaimer: Totally don't own these characters, or this world. I just like to be a part of it. I give all credit to the writers of this fantastic show for the dialogue I've borrowed.
Author's Notes: Thank you all so much for the reviews already! And a special thank you to PurryCat for pointing out I confused Hartford and Harvard. They're just too similar in my head. ;)
So, the trip planned is supposed to be to Harvard. Which, makes sense with canon in the show, but I wanted to confirm that for you all. I did go ahead and edited the first chapter to reflect that, but major apologies for that screw up. That's what happens when I'm beta-less.
Anyways, on with the show!
Two and Three
She always prided herself as one of those "go with the flow" type people, and as such, could roll with any topic brought up at pretty much any given time. However, when Rory announced she was going to build a house the following day, she was thrown. This was so unlike her daughter that she couldn't even think of what to properly say about it, other than the required mocking, but that was quickly put to rest by Rory, and their arrival at Friday night dinner.
The evening then continued its theme of unusual, when Emily welcomed them with a quick hello and a request they eat quickly. However, when her father came down, he pulled Rory off to the side, and Lorelai found herself stuck with her mother, and an awkward silence. She poked around at her salad, trying to think of anything to say, because clearly Emily was upset about something, but nothing came to mind. She kept glancing in the direction where her father and Rory had gone, but they seemed to have no intention of coming back any time soon.
When she heard the backdoor open, a flood of relief washed over her that finally she would have her human buffer of Rory back in the room, but the relief was short lived as Rory and Richard breezed by in the direction of his study. Thankfully, it seemed as though they had made up after last week's dinner, but unfortunately, that left her in the room with her mother, who was definitely stewing about something. As Lorelai went through her mental catalogue of things that had recently changed in her life which could possibly upset her mother, the main thing that came to mind was her new relationship with Luke. Had Rory slipped and said something? Had she? There was always the possibility of using a plural pronoun instead of a singular one, but even that, the plural could have included Rory. Maybe it was Rory's party? Lord knows Rory's 16th birthday party had created some bad blood. Or maybe it was a combination of the two?
She sighed. Her mother always had a sixth sense about these things, so the current attitude more than likely had something to do with Luke and/or the party, and the sooner she came clean about it, the better. At very least, it was something to break the silence with. "Mom?"
"Hmm?"
"I have something to tell you."
"Yes?"
"Well, it's like this. Um…could you put down your fork for a second?" She watched as her mother deliberately put down her fork, and forced eye contact. "Thank you. Ok, um, you know Luke?"
"The diner man, yes."
"Uh, yeah. Ok, um, the…so, Luke and I have been spending more time together lately, uh…seeing each other, actually…and because of that, we've planned this party together for Rory to celebrate her getting in the top 3% of her class, and I was wondering if you'd like to come." When she finished her stumbling statement, she had to think back to what she said to make sure it even made sense.
"Well, I think that's very nice. I certainly hope we'll be in town for it, but if not, I promise we'll give something to Rory the next time we see her. Now excuse me, I'm going to check on the roast."
She watched as Emily got up and moved into the kitchen, and hung her head in defeat. Why had she even said anything? Clearly, the topic of the party had been the correct one which was bothering Emily, but now that it was out in the open, Lorelai just felt even worse about things, especially since her mother had seemingly completely ignored the mention of Luke's involvement in everything. Finally, Rory and Richard returned, and both seemed to be in better moods, but she didn't have the energy or desire to effectively add to any conversation the rest of the evening.
Mercifully, Emily kept to her "eat quickly" request, and they were able to leave the house of horrors much earlier than usual, but even the car ride home did nothing to lighten the dark mood she was in. She had no interest in talking, and thankfully Rory seemed to pick up on that, only asking briefly what happened, and was accepting of a short explanation. Rory didn't even make a comment when Lorelai turned in the direction of the diner rather than the house once they made it into town.
Parking seemed to be at a premium for once, and they had to park further from the diner than she would have liked, but the fresh air was welcomed in her lungs.
"Are you ok?"
Rory finally braved the silence with the simple question, but Lorelai wanted nothing of it. Her singular drive at the moment was the welcoming embrace of the diner, and the warm refuge of her favorite beverage served, hopefully, by her favorite man. "I'm perfect."
"Really?"
"I have hit a level of perfection that has rarely been seen outside the Victoria's Secret catalog."
"I'm really sorry."
Rory's apology had her softening a little bit. It wasn't Rory's fault at all, but the kid was always trying to make those around her feel better. "Aww, do not be sorry. What happened tonight was inevitable."
"Mom."
"I should've known not to tell my mother."
"You were trying to be nice."
"Telling her I was seeing a wonderful guy who actually seems to understand me and wants to make me happy to the point of helping to plan a party for you. That, and giving her my address when I finally moved out. Two worst moves I've ever made."
"Maybe she'll think about it and call you and say she's sorry."
"Mom, I'm seeing someone for a while and we're planning a party together. I'm an idiot. And you know, as my mouth was opening, my mind was screaming, 'Don't do it, I mean it, you'll regret it!' But did my mouth listen?"
"No."
"No! And it opened and the words came out, and Emily was Emily, and my mouth was stunned. And my mind said 'I told you so' and then my mouth got mad because no mouth likes to have its nose rubbed in it. And now my mind and my mouth aren't talking, and it'll be weeks before we can get the boys together again."
"Your mouth has a nose?"
At Rory's question of the one detail she seemed to have grasped onto from Lorelai's mini rant, they finally made it to the diner and walked in. The atmosphere of the place wormed its way into Lorelai's head, and as always, softened her. However, today, it didn't make her feel that much better – it just made her realize her true emotions. "God, I'm crabby."
"You're hungry."
She collapsed into one of the chairs at a table and huffed out a breath. "No, I'm not."
"Well, you didn't eat any of your dinner."
"Yeah, well, by the time I could get my jaw off the ground, Speed Racer had taken my plate." As she finished talking, she could feel a familiar presence enter her near vicinity, but she was too set in her crabbiness to really enjoy it.
"Luke will cheer you up, won't you Luke?"
"Oh sure, I'm great at spreading the joy. What'll you have?"
"We'll have two coffees and a rant meal, please. Extra cheese."
She shook her head at Rory's order. "No."
"Why?"
"I'm through ranting. The rant is over." She looked up at her man with resolve in her eyes. "I'll have an acceptance meal and a side of fries."
"Please, you have not accepted this."
She looked back at her daughter as she felt her frustration levels beginning to rise once again. "I am a grown woman. I do not need my mother's permission or blessing to be happy."
"Must've been a good Oprah today."
She shook her head at Luke. "Just a little family drama. No biggie."
"It's a little biggie."
She could feel Luke's attitude shift from pretending to be his usual grumpy self for the sake of the other diners in the place, to actual concern about her, and her assumption was correct when he joined in on Rory's concern.
"Yeah? What's going on?"
This was the last conversation she wanted to be having right now, especially in the public area of the diner, but it seemed to be unavoidable, so she looked up at him. "I kind of told my mother about you and I, and the party we're planning for Rory, and it was slightly ugly." She watched as his eyes momentarily showed a sliver of fear before hardening as he looked down at his notepad.
"Yup."
Really? That's all he had to say? There had to be more, right? "Yup, what?"
"Well, there's nothing like a new relationship to screw up a family."
She quirked an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Actually, in my case, there's nothing like a family to screw up a family."
"Something that's supposed to start nice, two people meeting and actually wanting to spend time together. I like you, you like me, I can't imagine how I slept before without you by my side. And then it starts."
"Well, that's not exactly…"
"When are you two going to get married? When are you going to have kids?"
She could sense Luke was working his way up to a full rant, and she just didn't have the energy for it tonight, so she tried to interrupt him by saying his name, but he continued as if she hadn't even spoken.
"Are you sure you really want to send Junie and Momo to that school?"
However, as much as she didn't want to encourage the continuation of the rant, Luke's choice of names begged for an explanation, and she couldn't help herself from questioning them. "Junie and Momo?"
"Just an example."
"Of circus kids?"
"And then after all that work to get them to grow up, retirement will be a disaster because no matter what you do or how carefully you plan, one of the kids will end up meeting some punk, and decide to move back home, and suddenly you're supporting their deadbeat significant other who likes videogames more than a real job."
She sighed. "You know, the Gettysburg Address was only one page long, and that was about a war."
"I just call them like I see them."
Normally Luke's rants sped up her heart rate, and had desire rocketing through her body, but this rant was just leaving her even more frustrated than usual. Since their relationship was so new, there was the possibility he was unconsciously voicing his fears of a serious relationship, but she had a hunch he was just ranting about why he had avoided them for so long. Clearly, this was going to need to be a discussion between the two of them at another time, but for now, she just wanted to eat. "I have officially changed my order. I'll have the 'Luke's giving Lorelai a Migraine' meal."
Luke looked down to his notepad, and wrote down the order. "Bleu cheese or ranch?"
"Both."
He nodded. "Coming right up," and turned and walked to the kitchen to put in the order.
Once her meal arrived and she had some real food in her body, she felt herself finally returning to normal, and wanted to relax and enjoy her coffee. So when Rory said she was just going to walk home so she could get to bed for her early start, she waved her away, and settled in for a while longer.
"How's the head?"
Luke's voice broke through her thoughts and she looked up into those clear blue eyes of his. "Hmm?"
He gestured towards her head as he spoke. "The migraine."
She smiled. "Ah. The magic elixir combination of bleu cheese and ranch has cured it."
"You realize that's disgusting, right?"
"But, effective." She put down her mug, and reached up to take his hand, tugging on it to get him to sit down next to her. "Hey, sorry about earlier."
"No problem. Sorry about my rant."
"You weren't talking about us, right?"
He shook his head. "No. I mean, I do hate how once people get in a relationship, suddenly everyone has an opinion on how that relationship should function, but no, I wasn't talking about us."
She nodded. "Good." They gazed into each other's eyes for a few moments before she spoke again. "Hey, do you have a spare hammer I could have?"
The unexpectedness of the question threw him a little, and he narrowed his eyes. "Do I want to know why?"
"Rory is doing some charity project tomorrow where she's helping to build a house. I wanted to send her along with something to remind her of me while she works."
"And you think a hammer is going to remind her of you? Why, because of your hard head?"
"No. Because I'm going to make it pretty."
"I should expect to never get this hammer back, right?"
"Not unless you want a fabulously accessorized hammer. Actually, Bert might really enjoy it. Give him a little something to look at."
Luke rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'll be right back."
She grinned and went back to sipping her coffee. Yup, she was definitely feeling better.
...
After sending Rory off to be a good citizen, she hurried upstairs to get ready for work. She had stayed up way too late accessorizing the hammer, but she felt good about it, and it made her happy to see it look so pretty. It was also nice to know that Rory had a little piece of not only her, but Luke, to help her out with her day.
The day flew by, but only because it was abnormally busy. It was one of those days where problems seemed to come out of nowhere, and as soon as one problem was fixed, another one would sprout from somewhere else. As such, she was late leaving, and had to rush home to get ready for her date with Luke that night. After finding a hammer for her, she helped him to close the diner, and he offered to take her to a nice restaurant to make up for the awful Friday night dinner. But as she zipped herself into the dress she knew he loved, she glanced quickly at the clock and realized he would be at the front door before she knew it. While she moved around the room getting ready, she could feel exhaustion seeping from her bones, and she knew without a doubt that if she had plans with anyone other than Luke that evening, she would have called to cancel, and climbed instead into her pajamas and warm bed.
At least Rory was home, as she had heard her daughter's yell a few minutes earlier, so she was looking forward to hearing about the house building day, but another glance at the clock told her the conversation was going to have to wait until later that evening, or the next day unless Rory could give the Cliff Notes version. Grabbing a purse and some shoes, she ran down the stairs, and moved towards the kitchen, talking as she walked. "Ok, I'm officially way too tired to go out tonight, so I'm not trusting my accessorizing instincts. Tell me what you think."
"I have no wilderness skills."
If her daughter had picked up nothing else from her, at least she had picked up her ability to flawlessly change a conversation to something she wanted to talk about. "So, you hate the purse?"
"How am I supposed to get into Harvard if I have no wilderness skills?"
Sighing as she realized she would have to actually pause on her rush to get ready and help her kid, she looked to Rory. "I don't know, honey. Maybe you'll have to give up your dream of majoring in logging."
"I called the Fireflies. Do they need troop leaders? Yes. Good, I'll be a troop leader. Great. The only catch is, it's summer. Camping season. I need wilderness skills. Why did you never take me camping?"
"Camping? Are you kidding? I couldn't get you to step on wet grass until you were three."
"If you had taken me camping, I'd have wilderness skills."
"Well, I'll tell you what. I'll take you upstairs. I'll throw you out the window. If you manage to grab that tree, I'll be your witness."
As Rory babbled about the numerous places she had been turned down at for volunteering, and then explained about her fight with Dean, Lorelai could only sigh. Rory was freaking out, and definitely needed some company, so Lorelai knew she needed to rewire her brain from being excited about going out on a date with Luke, to focusing on spending time with her kid. "Ugh. Well, listen, why don't I cancel on Luke tonight, and I'll hang out here with you. We can make popcorn and reminisce about how I never forced you to become a missionary."
"No, go, I'm fine." Rory waved off her mother, and looked down once again at her list of possible places to volunteer. "I just need to focus on this."
"Well, I can help."
"No, I need to do this alone."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
She felt guilty about the wave of relief that coursed through her at Rory's words, but couldn't help the excitement of knowing her date with Luke was saved for the evening. "Ok, well, I'm not gonna be home late. And I'll ask Luke if maybe he can take you out camping. He's got wilderness skills that I'm sure he can pass on to you. And listen, I would reconsider calling Dean. It's not his fault that you're so fabulous he can't think about anything else."
Rory rolled her eyes. "Bye Mom."
"I mean, he just sits in his room, eating Fruit Loops out of the box, saying your name over and over and over."
"Luke is going to be here any minute."
"Rory, I love you Rory. Rory, I will not be ignored Rory…"
A soft knocking at the door interrupted her bit, and Rory started shooing her towards the front entryway. "There, Luke is here. Leave."
"Ok, I'll be home early." She stood up and leaned down to place a kiss on her daughter's head, hoping Rory would take her advice and call Dean. With a final wave, she moved quickly to the front door, and when she opened it to find Luke looking more handsome than usual, she felt all of her earlier weariness drift away. "Hi there." The soft grin he gave her had her spirits lifting.
"You ready?"
"Mmmhmm."
He gestured with his head towards the truck, "let's go," and rested a hand on the small of her back as he guided her across the yard.
During the drive to the restaurant, she knew she was being abnormally quiet, but her mind was solidly on Rory and her freak out. It was so unlike Rory to be so thrown by something, and it was really bothering her. And of course, thinking about Rory made her mind drift to the party that was being planned, which then of course led to how Emily had reacted the night before. As such, once they arrived at the restaurant, even though she had known it was going to be a relatively fancy place, she was kind of thrown by just how fancy it was. The longer she was with Luke, the more she learned about him, but never would she have assumed he would go to a place like this. For some reason, she always pictured him at quaint, family-owned restaurants, which exuded comfort.
"The food is good here."
It was as if he was reading her thoughts, and she looked up at him from her wine glass. "Hmmm?"
"You're probably wondering how the hell I even know about a place like this. I wanted to take you some place nice, and came here once. The food was really good."
She smiled at his thoughtfulness, but even when the food arrived, she found herself only picking at it as her mind was now solidly stewing about her mother.
"You hate it."
His words had guilt slicing through her, and she looked up at him to shake her head. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel as though she hated anything he did for her. "No I don't."
"Lorelai, I've known you long enough to know that if the plate isn't already clean, you don't like it."
"It's not that."
"What's wrong?"
She shook her head not wanting to drag Luke into this situation. Not tonight. Not while they were out on a fancy date. "It's fine."
Luke reached across the table and took her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You can tell me. That's what I'm here for."
She snorted. "I thought it was just for eye candy."
"That too."
She sighed. He knew her too well for her to brush off the situation. "It's just stuff, ya know. Rory's freaking out about not having enough extracurricular things to impress Harvard with. Apparently she needs wilderness skills for that required logging class they have all journalists take."
Luke frowned at her comment. He didn't know a lot about required courses, but he was fairly certain that logging was not one of them - especially for journalism - which meant Lorelai was exaggerating as usual. "I can help her wilderness skills. We could go camping one weekend." At Lorelai's look, he continued. "Or, a day."
"I'm sure she would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Luke."
"Is that all that's wrong?"
"Well, there's also the added topic of my mother, but that's kind of standard."
Luke nodded. "Hey. We ok?"
He knew her way too well. She nodded her assent. They were fine, but for whatever reason, her mother's response to her the night before was really bothering her, so of course, she needed to talk about it. "It's just…I can't get that one moment out of my mind. 'That's nice. I hope we're in town.' Who, who, who reacts like that? I mean, what sort of mind forms that reaction to 'Hey mom, my new boyfriend who makes me extremely happy and I are throwing a party for your favorite granddaughter.'"
"Well, I have met your parents, so, that's not too surprising…"
She continued as if he hadn't said anything, regardless of how correct this statement was. "You figure out a different way. You tap into compassion or family obligation or something. You don't react like that."
"Lorelai, you know who they are, and you know it kills you every time you think you can change them."
She waved a hand in the air, indicating she was done with the topic. "Ok, you know what? I don't want to talk about my parents anymore. I don't want to speculate about them, I don't want to analyze them, I don't want to think about them anymore. We should go."
"Come on, it's still early. Let's go get you some coffee."
"Yes. Absolutely. Sounds good."
However, for one of the few times in her life, coffee was the furthest thing from her mind. Instead, she directed Luke in the direction of her parents' house, because all she wanted at that moment was to give her mother a piece of her mind. As they drove up, and parked in front of the door, Luke leaned across the seat and gripped her hand.
"Lorelai, what exactly are you trying to accomplish here?"
She looked up into his eyes, and could see his concern for her, and in that moment, she knew she needed to confront her mother. Luke and Rory were too important to be brushed off by anyone, even Emily Gilmore. However, there was no way she was going to allow Luke to witness whatever went down, so she squeezed his hand. "This'll just take a second. You know me, Luke. I can't let things fester like this. I need to understand why she was so indifferent to Rory's party. If it was my party, I could understand, but for Rory, it just doesn't make sense, and it's bothering me. I need to know."
His tongue darted out to moisten his dry lips, and he squeezed her hand back. "I'll be here."
She smiled her gratitude before climbing out of the truck and slamming the door behind her. When she reached the front door, she rang the doorbell several times, and kept ringing until she could hear footsteps on the other side. The door opened to Emily, and Lorelai swept past her into the foyer, talking as she moved. "Hi Mom, do you have a sec to chat? Super." Normally, she always had the right words for a situation. The proper anecdote or reference was always at the tip of her tongue, but tonight her emotions were getting the better of her, and she found herself questioning her mother why maids never lasted longer than a week in the house. But when her mother turned to walk away from her, her words finally returned, and she finally was able to ask the question that had been demanding an answer for the past day. "And why is it that when I told you Luke and I are planning a party for Rory, you can't muster up even a little enthusiasm? Even a little fake enthusiasm? You dismissed it like I said, 'Hey, I'm thinking of getting a Honda, what do you think?'"
"You're obviously hysterical."
"Why don't you care? I thought you cared about Rory, Mom!"
"I'm not discussing this with you."
"Do you know how it felt for me to hear that you would brush off Rory just like you brush off me? Do you know?" Her words finally seemed to have struck a chord, and she stepped back slightly when her mother reared around to face her, anger written all over her face.
"No, I don't. I don't know! Possibly very similar to finding out from a complete stranger that my only daughter had a boyfriend who obviously meant so much to her that he was the one she turned to to plan something for my only granddaughter. And that apparently every other person in the world knew about this relationship of my daughter's before she bothered to tell her own mother. Possibly it felt something like that. Now, if you'll excuse me, it is late, and I'm going to bed."
When her mother opened the door, she pushed through it immediately, her emotions clouding the enormity of what had just happened. But as she took a moment on the front stoop, with her head in her hands, she thought over the argument. While she had been singularly focused on the fact that her mother was seemingly dismissive of Rory's party, Emily was in fact more upset about the fact that she knew nothing about the importance of Luke in Lorelai's life. And when Lorelai felt Luke's strong arms surround her, drawing her in so she could rest her head on his chest and softly cry, she had to admit her mother was right. Luke was more important than any other man in her life, which was why she allowed him to be involved with Rory. But his presence meant her parents were starting to shut out Rory like they had done to her for so many years, and she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with that.
...
The next day, she was exhausted. After their date, Luke had come home with her, and while she worked on last minute preparations for the party, he started prepping a few things for Rory's dinner. As such, they got to bed way too late, and when his alarm went off only a few short hours later so he could get back to the diner to open, it woke her up, and she laid awake thinking about the conversation with her mother until her alarm went off. When she finally climbed out of bed, her exhaustion meant it took her longer than usual to get ready, so she didn't have time to stop at the diner for coffee, causing her instead to go searching for it in the kitchen of the Inn.
She felt her frustrations begin to boil over when Sookie said there wasn't any coffee, especially when her friend tried to stop her from entering the kitchen to make her own. But when she walked in and saw hundreds of tiny pastries, she put her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Oh my god. What is this?"
"Uh, the dinner special?"
"The dinner special is pastries with pictures of Rory on them?"
"I couldn't find any good salmon."
"Sookie, you weren't supposed to go this big. It was just supposed to be some light appetizers for people to eat while they were dancing."
"I know! But I just got so excited about the whole thing, and I know you and Luke have a special family dinner planned beforehand, but I know the town likes to come out and support you and Rory, so I wanted to make sure there was enough food."
She walked through the kitchen looking at all of the pastries and the printed pictures adorning some of them. Most were of only Rory, but a few included her, and when she saw one with her parents, her heart stopped for a second as she thought back to the words her mother had thrown at her the night before. "Hey, you didn't by any chance talk to my parents about this, did you?"
"Actually, I did."
"Oh."
"And at first, I was really torn because I know you have issues with them, but I really wanted to see if they had any more photos I could use, and I told them everything you and Luke were doing to plan this, and I assumed you had told them about it too. Oh no, had you not told them?"
"Not really."
"Aw, sweetie, I'm so sorry. Are they coming tonight?"
"Uh, yeah, no, um, they already had plans."
"Oh, too bad. Hey, we can save them a piece of cake."
"That would be nice."
Thankfully, as usual, the town really came together to help with the event, and by the time she got home, there were already tables, chairs, and a DJ stand scattered through her yard, Babette's yard, and down the driveway that various townsfolk had told her she could borrow for the party. And as she walked in the front door, the delicious smell of food wafting through the air had her forgetting all the drama with her parents. Today was Rory's day, and Luke was making them a special dinner.
As the three of them sat around her kitchen table, eating and enjoying each other's company, she couldn't help but think about how wonderful this moment was. And as members of the town started showing up, and the house started filling with people, she knew that all was ok in her world. Her mother always had a way of pushing her buttons, but all she needed to cure the hurt brought on by her mother, was this town and the people in it.
Later that evening, she sat on the stairs of her porch, occasionally looking up to greet various friends as they walked by. Her attention however, was focused on watching Rory, and she couldn't help but smile as she saw Dean walk up and the two of them chat. Rory seemed to have gotten over her Harvard concerns – with special thanks to Luke who promised to teach her some wilderness skills – and all seemed to be right with the world once again. In fact, the only annoyance seemed to come from one special town member, and she sighed as she pushed herself up and off the stairs, heading in the direction of the overflowing food tables. When she reached her destination, she held out her hand. "Hey Kirk. Can I see that for a sec?"
"Oh, sure."
"Thanks." When her hands clasped around the bullhorn Kirk had been shouting into for the past half hour, she smiled at him and walked away, back towards the house. Once inside, she went straight for the kitchen, seeking out the one person she wanted to see at the moment. Sure enough, she found him there, hiding from the party. "Hey."
He looked up from various appetizers he was moving from various plates to fill up a full plate. "Hey. Why aren't you outside?"
She shrugged, and moved towards him, placing her hands on the appetizers so he would stop what he was doing, and tugged his hand to one of the kitchen chairs. When he sat, she settled herself sideways on his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. "I came looking for you. Just wanted to say thank you again. For everything. Rory's having a really great time." When she felt him tighten his grasp on her waist, and press a kiss to her hair, she felt herself relaxing even more.
"You're welcome."
...
"How did I get rooked into this?"
She grasped Luke's hand as they walked across the town square, heading towards Miss Patty's. "Uh, I'm irresistible?" She didn't even have to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes at her.
"Yeah. Well, have I mentioned I hate town meetings?"
"No. I thought you said you hate clown bleedings, which, I totally agree with." As they neared the dance studio, a stray thought crossed her mind wondering why there were so many people milling around. Usually there was a good turnout for meetings, but there seemed to be more people than usual. And, as usual, Luke seemed to be having similar thoughts to her.
"Oh, no. Is tonight raffle night? I can't deal with raffle night."
She shook her head. She didn't think it was, but even if she was wrong, she'd never admit that to Luke now. "No, it's not raffle night. Look, I promise we won't stay for the whole thing. It'll be like a stop by. We'll just run in and get the highlights, and then we're off to the movie."
"Do not get used to me going to these town things. Just because you like them does not mean that I will ever like them or tolerate them or go to them."
"Hmm. Other than tonight?"
"Yes. Other than tonight."
"And next Thursday."
"I did not say I would go next Thursday." Luke paused as if to think about the current conversation before continuing. "What the hell is next Thursday?"
She couldn't help but grin at him as she made it to the steps of the building, and looked down at him. His face was mirroring hers, and when he tugged lightly on her jacket, pulling her closer to him, his warm breath cascaded over her ear as he leaned close.
"Don't even think you're getting away with something you're not."
She pulled back and bit her bottom lip, a small giggle escaping her lips before she scrambled up the steps and in the door, with Luke following close behind. The meeting was already in progress, so she wordlessly pulled Luke to a couple of empty chairs near the back of the room, and settled in to hear Gypsy and Andrew arguing about a recent fender bender. Giddy about the instant entertainment, she leaned close to Luke, and whispered in his ear, "do we have timing, or what?" With rapt attention, she listened to the back and forth of the argument, while reaching into her purse to pull out a licorice, and making sure to offer one to Luke, who predictably waved her off.
The entertainment factor was high in the meeting, and when she reached for another snack, she felt Luke lean into her.
"We're going to dinner after the movie."
"I know." With the argument winding down, and only a vote required for who was at fault, she felt her attention waning, and looked down into her purse to see what other snacks she had brought. However, as Taylor introduced the next topic of discussion, she began to tune back in, and felt her blood run cold when she heard the words 'inn manager and diner owner dating.' She gasped and turned to Luke. "That's us."
"They're talking about us."
It was if she was in a dream, and she couldn't process her emotions as Taylor continued speaking.
"Now, as you all know, the relationship we have feared for some time has emerged, and we need to carefully consider whether or not we can support this."
She heard herself mutter an 'oh my god' but wasn't sure if anyone else heard it. Maybe she hadn't even said it out loud, but before she could turn to Luke to express her shock, he was yelling at Taylor.
"We're sitting right here!"
"Yes, we see you, Luke, and, as a member of the town, you are welcome to voice your opinion."
"Voice my…"
The bang of the gavel cut off Luke's words and had her jumping, and she couldn't tear her eyes off the front of the room as Taylor opened the floor for discussion, and people around her all threw their hands up in the air with something to say.
"Alright. I'll start. Luke's Diner is a staple in this town. Most of us eat there on a regular basis. The Independence Inn is also very important in our community. The co-mingling of owner and manager of these two establishments can only set the stage for disaster."
When she glanced briefly at Luke, she could see her disbelief mirrored in his eyes, and she tried to find words to say, but nothing came to her. And for once, he had something to say before she did.
"What the hell is he talking about?"
All she could do to answer was parrot what Taylor had said. "Well, he's not happy with our co-mingling." Taylor's voice brought her attention back to the front of the room.
"Think of the consequences. What will happen when the relationship goes sour, as, let's face it, most of Lorelai's relationships do?"
Sometimes, living in a small town was not all it was cracked up to be, and this was one of those moments. Nowhere else would the entire town know about her dismal dating history. And, as true as it might have been, it was still insulting. "Hey!"
However, again, Taylor continued as if neither she nor Luke had said anything. "We'll have to choose. Suddenly you'll either be a 'Luke' or a 'Lorelai,' or, if you're Kirk and you can't make a decision to save your life, you'll be neither."
"He's probably right."
"That's bad for the economy, bad for the town. I vote against this."
She turned to Luke with concern floating in her eyes. "Are they gonna make us break up?"
"I think you're overreacting, Taylor."
Relief flooded through her as Babette spoke up, but when the crowd started discussing Fay Wellington and Art Brush, and how badly their relationship turned out, she couldn't help but agree with the concerns floating through the room. The breakup sounded bad, and was nothing she wanted to be a part of, so she turned to Luke. "God, this sounds terrible. Maybe they have a point."
Luke looked at her like she was crazy. "No, they don't have a point."
"Well, what if something happens?"
"This is crazy." He turned away from her and back towards Taylor. "I don't believe that the breakup of Fay Wellington and Art Brush affected the economy of this town one bit."
"Well, lucky for you, I brought charts."
"You have charts concerning the romance of two people who used to live here 10 years ago?"
As Taylor brought out various charts, she was incredulous as to what was going on. Her mind was buzzing with what ifs and possible scenarios, and as map after map of color groupings was presented, she could feel her anxiety levels rising, and was about to turn to Luke to ask if he had a paper bag when he stood up suddenly, knocking his chair back several inches. "Ok, that's it. I've heard enough." Furious, he stormed up to the stage, and yanked the charts off the easels before turning to the crowd.
"This is my relationship." He pointed towards himself for emphasis. "Mine. Not yours, not yours, not yours…" He pointed towards Lorelai. "Yours."
She nodded emphatically when he pointed towards her, and looked around the room smiling at her fellow town members as Luke continued.
"But not yours. Mine and hers, but not," Luke looked directly at Taylor and narrowed his eyes, "yours!" He turned back to the room and continued on his rant. "There's not gonna be any more debating about whether or not it's a good idea if we're in a relationship, 'cause we're in a relationship."
"But in the event of a breakup…"
Luke looked back at Taylor with fury in his eyes. "There's not going to be a breakup."
"Well, isn't he the optimistic fellow?"
At Gypsy's words, Luke looked at her before once again sweeping his eyes over the room. "Fine. In case of a breakup, I'll move. I'll close up Luke's Diner, I'll go far, far away, and that way you won't have to choose, ok? Every section in town can be pink."
"Can we have your word on that?"
"You can have my word and a couple of middle fingers on that, Taylor."
Taylor turned towards the note taker of the meeting and mumbled something before turning back to the crowd. "All right people, it seems that the issue of Gilmore and Danes versus Stars Hollow has been resolved."
Taylor kept talking, but she didn't hear a word he said. Instead, she was beaming, and she looked around proudly to the people in the room. Since she and Luke had been dating, they had kept mostly private, but of course word of their relationship had spread around town. Even still, they hadn't really done anything too public together until the night before, with planning Rory's party, which seemed to be the catalyst for this impromptu town meeting topic. However, her very private, very monosyllabic boyfriend had not only announced to the whole town they were definitely in a relationship, but had told them that the relationship was solid, and would never be broken. Never in her life had she felt such strong feelings for one individual, and as she wormed her way through the crowd to get to her man, she couldn't wipe the grin off her face to save her life. Once again, Luke had managed to impress the hell out of her. "Wow!"
Luke looked down sheepishly at his shoes. "Yeah. Too much?"
She shook her head and then tilted it up so her lips could meet his. "Never. It was just the right amount."
...
"Why won't you let me help?"
Luke slid a sideways glance to Lorelai as she sat at the kitchen table before continuing to slice the vegetables he was going to be using for their dinner that night. "Because I don't trust you with a knife."
He had a point. At no time, did she ever assume to ever have any cooking skills whatsoever, so while she may have wanted to help him, it probably was safer for everyone involved if she stayed far, far away from anything that required more effort than opening a bag and tossing the contents on a cookie sheet. "Well, I do like watching you cook." In fact, she loved watching him cook. Over the summer, he had spent more and more evenings cooking in her kitchen, and as she watched him doing so, she always had a warm feeling in her stomach that put her at ease.
"Mmmm, what's that amazing smell?"
She looked over as Rory walked into the kitchen and straight over to the stove, where she stuck her head over the food cooking, and inhaled deeply.
"It's food!" When both Rory and Luke shot her an exasperated look, she looked down and pretended to study her nails. After a few moments, she looked back up, happy to see they were both engrossed in the food. "I'm going to go get us set up in the living room."
"I'll get a tape."
When Rory scampered back into the living room, Lorelai stood up and moved behind Luke, dropping her chin on his shoulder, content to just watch what he was working on for a while. When she felt his head tilt towards hers, she breathed out a happy sigh.
"Billy Jack!"
At Rory's shout, she lifted her chin off Luke's shoulder and pressed a kiss to his cheek before quickly gathering the stuff they would need to eat in the living room before running to meet her daughter. "Oo! Good choice!"
Once they had stuffed themselves on Luke's amazing food, she found herself sitting on the floor, resting her head on the couch, with Rory beside her, and Luke lying on the couch behind her. The three of them watched all of Billy Jack, and as the credits began to roll, she already started thinking about the next movie to put in. However, a glance down at her glass showed her it was empty, and she knew she needed another one in order to get through any more movie screenings. As she stood up, she looked down at Rory. "You want a refill?"
Rory nodded and handed over her glass. "Sure. Same thing."
"Luke?" She looked down at Luke on the couch and noticed he was sound asleep. As she thought back over the past hour, she realized he had stopped running his fingers through her hair at some point, and that must have been when they lost him.
"Uh oh."
She glanced at Rory. "We wore him out."
"We tend to do that."
"Well, we are ElectraWoman and DynaGirl."
"I think it's time to turn in."
"Yeah."
At her words, Luke seemed to stir, and sleepily opened his eyes. "I'm awake."
"You don't look it. Mom, you should get him to bed."
"Yeah, ok." She leaned down to grab Luke's hand, and pulled him into a sitting position, before pulling him up off the couch. "Come on, hon." As she pushed Luke up the stairs, she looked back down to Rory and gave her a little wave goodnight. However, as she was getting ready for bed, a feeling of worry began to gnaw at her. While Luke had stayed over several times already, it had never been so blatant that he was staying over. In the past, Rory had come home late and hadn't been witness to Luke heading to bed, or she was already in bed by the time Luke and Lorelai had called it a night. This was the first time they all went together, and she couldn't decide if the situation was ok or not. It was Luke, so it should be, but it wasn't a topic she had brought up specifically with Rory, and while she assumed Rory was ok with everything, suddenly she had to know for sure.
So after making sure Luke was asleep, she crept downstairs and into Rory's room, ignoring the fact that her daughter was already asleep, and reached over to wake her. "Hey." She was answered with Rory's thick with sleep voice.
"What? What is it?"
"Oh, nothing. Whatcha doing?"
"Taking back Poland."
"Oh, good luck with that."
Sensing her mother wasn't going away, Rory rolled over to look at her. "Mom."
"Luke is staying over."
"Really? I had no idea."
"Is it weird for you? We've never had a man in the house like this up there."
"Uh, Mom, in case you didn't realize, Luke stays over all the time."
"No! You're kidding."
Rory rolled her eyes before pulling her covers to her chin and rolling over. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep now."
"No, wake up, wake up. We've not properly talked about this."
Rory sighed, and looked back at her mother. "About what?"
"About having Luke in the house. About the effect on you. Don't cover up anything. Let's get it all out in the open."
"I don't have anything to cover up. I like Luke."
"I know you do, and that's good. But you know, he could end up being here more than he is now."
Rory nodded. "I know."
"It won't just be the 'me and you secret special clubhouse no boys allowed' thing anymore."
"It will be different."
"You know, you can't walk around in the buff anymore."
At her mother's comment, Rory rolled her eyes. "I don't remember ever walking around in the buff."
"I know one time you did."
"Was I three?"
"Somewhere around there."
"Mom."
She sighed. "You're really ok with this?"
"Yes. I'm really ok with this."
"Ok, good. Goodnight, kid."
"Goodnight weirdo."
As she closed Rory's door carefully behind her, Lorelai felt like she had cleared another hurdle in her relationship with Luke. Sure, she and Luke had their disagreements here and there, but for the most part, they seemed to be settling in just fine to a real, lasting relationship. Hell, he had gone to bat for the relationship in front of the whole town. They were falling into such a great routine, she was already thinking about how much she was going to miss him the following week when she and Rory would be in Boston for their tour of Harvard. However, he was here now, and as she snuggled into his warm embrace, she couldn't help but think how much she liked having him in her bed.
...
The morning light slowly pulled her from sleep, and as she lay in the peaceful morning air, she thought back to the night before, and remembered falling asleep in Luke's arms. Smiling at the memory, she turned to hug him, but was met with cold sheets. She frowned until she looked at the clock and realized it was already well into the breakfast hour, and he had obviously snuck out to open the diner. With the rumble of her stomach, she jumped up and out of bed to get ready, yelling down the stairs to make sure Rory was up as well.
Half an hour later, they were walking in the door of the diner, the bustle of the early morning crowd an assault on her under-caffeinated senses. However, one of the first people who entered her vision was the one person she wanted to see most, and she smiled.
"Over there."
Luke's abruptness caught her off guard, and she leaned back a bit. "Good morning and hello to you too."
He sighed and leaned towards her, pressing a quick kiss to her lips, but careful to not drop the loaded plates he was carrying. "Sorry, good morning. Now, over there." He walked away to deliver the plates, and moved on to the table of people who were ready to order.
She narrowed her eyes at his retreating form, and sat down, flipping over the coffee mug that was sitting on the table as one of the part-time waiters came by to fill it up.
"Mom! It's blueberry pancake day!"
Rory's exclamation made her jump, and she twisted in her chair to look at the chalkboard over the kitchen door which always displayed the special of the day.
"Why didn't you get up earlier? Luke might be all out!"
"Um, hi, you could have gotten up without me, you know."
"Flag him down! Use your special powers with him. There are people who got here before us, and could get the last orders."
Feeding off of Rory's apprehension, Lorelai twisted in her seat to look for Luke. When she finally saw him across the diner, she lifted up her napkin and waved it in the air to get his attention. "Luke! We want the blueberry pancakes!"
Looking up from the couple who were currently in the process of ordering, Luke yelled back. "Pipe down. It's first come, first serve."
"Ah!" She couldn't believe it. It wasn't unusual for Luke to admonish her requests in the diner – she was known to expect snappier service than the less-than-regulars – but today was a matter of blueberry pancakes. She turned back to Rory with wide eyes and since her daughter was bouncing in her seat like a five year old, she once again turned around to get Luke's attention, only to end up looking right at his note pad. "Ah! Blueberry pancakes!"
"Did we make it?!"
Luke rolled his eyes at the girls, and shoved his pencil behind his ear. "I already set 'em aside." He turned to walk away, coffee pot in hand to give refills to a table near the middle of the diner.
"Love ya!" When the words left her mouth, it was like everyone in the diner had chosen that exact moment to take a pause in their conversations, leaving the diner quiet, and causing her words to ring out loudly. Luke looked at her like he had stopped breathing, and it seemed as though every eye in the building was darting between her and Luke to see what would happen next. Realizing what she said, she licked her lips and tried to swallow to moisten her suddenly very dry mouth. "Uh…I mean…I love those pancakes!"
Slowly, the patrons returned their attentions back to their meals, but she knew at least some of their hushed conversations were definitely now focused on her and Luke. Wanting to crawl into a hole, she turned back towards the table, and lowered her head into her hands, feeling her face flame with embarrassment. Up until this moment, neither she nor Luke had ever mentioned the L word to each other. Sure, the feeling definitely seemed to be there, and for her, it had been bubbling up closer to the surface each day. Still, she hadn't said anything, because it had just never seemed to be the right moment. And now, when she finally said it, it definitely wasn't the right moment.
"Mom?"
Not even wanting to lift her head, she just answered into her hands. "We'll talk later, kid." But, knowing she had to face the music sooner or later, she lifted her head and forced a smile on her face. "Hey, so, blueberry pancakes!"
...
Later that evening, she stood in front of the door of the diner for a few moments before hesitantly opening it and pushing through, ignoring the closed sign. All day she had gone over the scene from earlier when a simple phrase of affection she had said to people for years suddenly took on a whole new meaning because of who she said it to. Did she love Luke? Absolutely. She wouldn't have spent so much time with him over the years if she didn't. But, was she in love with Luke? That question was a little trickier to answer. The feelings she had for him were different than any feelings she'd had for anyone else, but she still wasn't positive what those feelings exactly were. They had only been officially dating for a few months now, so was it possible to already be in love? She honestly wasn't sure, but regardless, she knew she needed to talk to him about what happened.
As she moved through the empty diner to the counter, she noticed the coffee pot was still about half full. Luke was obviously expecting her to show up at some point this evening, which would also explain the unlocked front door, but expectantly, she heard his voice ring out from the kitchen.
"We're closed!"
She smiled as she sat laid her purse down on the counter, and sat down. "It's just me."
Luke's head popped around the corner of the door to the kitchen, and a small smile was on his face. "Hey." He took a quick look around the diner, and satisfied it was empty, he moved from the kitchen across the diner and flipped the lock on the door, effectively preventing anyone else from stumbling in. With the task complete, he returned to the counter, and moved behind it, fluidly pulling a coffee mug out, filling it, and placing it in front of Lorelai.
With her favorite drink in front of her, and Luke staring at her expectantly, she felt her mouth go dry, and her heart speed up. She needed to say something, but as she licked her lips, she couldn't think of what exactly to say. To buy a few more moments, she wrapped her hands around the mug, letting the warmth seep through her skin. But as she was gathering the nerve to look up at Luke, his warm hand covered hers, making her eyes sweep up at him.
"Love ya too." He winked at her as he squeezed her hand, and then moved away, back into the kitchen to finish his cleanup for the day.
With his words, she suddenly felt better about everything. He made the whole situation so casual, but it could still be as deep as they wanted to make it. For now however, the deep understanding of friends was there, and she looked down into her coffee as she smiled. Leave it to Luke to know exactly what to say.
When he came out of the kitchen and nodded towards the curtain leading to his apartment, she wordlessly jumped off the stool, leaving her still full coffee mug, to follow him. As they climbed the stairs, she finally found some words to say. "I'm really going to miss you when I'm gone next week."
Luke paused on the stairs and turned to look down to her. "How about you show me how much you'll miss me."
His words instantly sent desire racing through her and she tossed him a saucy grin. "Yes sir."
They continued up the stairs and that night, she proceeded to show him exactly how much she would miss him, and how exactly she felt about him.
