Chapter 3
"Knights and White Tablecloths"

Author's Note: Sorry this update took a little longer than usual. Hopefully it is worth the wait. Please read and review.

Lorelai sighed and waited a moment before she glanced at her chirping phone. Two missed calls from her mother and two voicemails awaited her. She wasn't in the mood to discuss much of anything with Emily and she dismissed her mother's insistent messages. She wandered into the kitchen wishing that Sookie was at work, but then she remembered that it would months before Sookie would be back. She walked over to the coffee pot and noted its lack of warm, black liquid. She sighed again and walked back to the desk where she found Michel.

"Michel," she said. "I've got to run an errand. I'll be back in a little while."

"Of course," Michel smiled a little too sweetly. "We're booked to capacity after that magazine article, we're down a head chef and you have errands to run. Not to mention I have been fielding calls all morning from Mike Armstrong and I've had to make up excuse after excuse for your unavailability."

"Well now you don't have to make up an excuse because I really won't be here," Lorelai replied.

"Lorelai are you selling the Dragonfly or not?" Michel asked a bit more irritated than usual. "I can't live with this stress."

"Michel," Lorelai said. "I can't really focus on this right now okay? I've got a lot of other things to deal with."

Lorelai grabbed her purse from underneath the counter and slung it under her arm as she left the Dragonfly more agitated than she was before she decided she needed a break. She tried to clear her head as she made her way to the Jeep parked out back. She tossed her purse on the passenger's seat and pulled her cell phone out of her purse again. She checked, in vain, to see if Rory had called and left her a message. She was disappointed to find that her call log was blank, save Emily's prior calls.

Lorelai shifted gears and made the drive she had come to know so well. She rounded the corner and parked in front of Luke's. She made her way into the diner and scanned the room for him. She saw Lane delivering meals and Caesar busy behind the counter. Her shoulders slumped when she saw that Luke wasn't readily available. She wondered if he'd made a run to Doose's and she'd just missed him. She was about to turn and head back to the inn when Luke emerged from the kitchen. He was carrying a handful of plates and he quickly delivered them. He was busy and he hadn't actually noticed Lorelai in the diner yet.

Lorelai observed him as he worked. He came off as the gruff, anti-social diner owner, but she saw the true Luke Danes. She saw the man who carefully garnished plates with an orange wedge and tried to make a senior citizen smile by being more polite than usual. Luke turned and saw Lorelai standing in the doorway of the diner and his face quickly changed from relaxed to concerned. He made his way over to her when he saw the look in her eyes. Her eyes told the world that she was in control, but Luke knew the look too well. He could see that her eyes were hiding the truth and the truth was that she was about to fall apart.

Luke finally made his way to her and she wordlessly grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. She said nothing as Luke immediately pulled her toward the stairs. They walked up the steps in silence until they reached the door to Luke's apartment. He pushed open the door and she closed it quietly behind them. As soon as the door latched she threw her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder. He held her close and waited for her to speak. He knew her well enough to know that she would tell him what was wrong in her own time.

"I needed to see you," she said simply.

"You can see me anytime you need," he replied rubbing her back lightly as he continued to hold her.

"I'm sorry about last night," she said. "I was so confused and I laid a lot on you. You probably weren't expecting any of it. I just feel like I've been playing Mariah Carey's part in Glitter for the last week, without the horrible songs and bad acting, but with the same horrific plot that makes you think, 'huh, why am I subjecting myself to this kind of torture?'"

Luke looked at her for a moment and although he could usually follow Lorelai's drawn out analogies on pop culture, this one threw him a bit. Instead of responding he just rubbed her back gently.

"You've had a lot to deal with," Luke replied. He felt compelled to clarify his feeling on the matter and he added, "I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate the thought you had last night. I just think that now probably isn't the best time to talk about it."

"You're right," Lorelai nodded. She walked around the kitchen table and paced back and forth a little. "Luke, I have no idea what to do next. Rory has shut me out. She's living with the enemy. My parents are completely on her side in all this now. She's got that face you know? She looks at you with those baby blues and you can't help but say yes to anything she says."

"She's not the only one. I'm familiar with the power of the baby blues myself," Luke said with a small grin. "What can I do to help? Have you called Yale?"

"I don't think I have any say at Yale," Lorelai explained. "My parents are paying for it and Rory's the actual student. That pretty much takes me out of the equation."

"Okay, how about if you talk to Rory about this," Luke suggested. "You haven't spoken since she decided to drop out right? What if you called her and asked her to talk this through with you. She obviously had to have a convincing argument to get past Emily and Richard."

"I doubt it," Lorelai scoffed. "My parents deny her nothing. Not to mention I don't think she's too willing to talk to me. I saw her last night unpacking in the pool house. She looked right at me and went right back to what she was doing."

"That doesn't sound like Rory," Luke said surprised.

"No kidding," Lorelai said. "If we lived closer to Area 51 I'd automatically assume that it wasn't Rory. I'd think it was Pod Rory sent from some planet far away, but let me tell you I don't have that kind of luck lately."

"Okay, so what are you thinking," Luke asked as he tried to gather his thoughts.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I have absolutely no clue what to do next."

Luke looked at Lorelai and saw how much pain she was in. Rory was her best friend, the person she always thought she could count on and now she was gone. He didn't know what to do to make it better. All he knew was that he wanted to take the pain away and it didn't matter what he had to do.

"I think we should go to dinner," he said finally.

"What? It's 11 a.m.," Lorelai said.

Luke shook his head and pulled out a chair at the kitchen table. "No, I mean I think you and I should go to Friday night dinner at your parents. They're still having Friday night dinner right?"

"Okay first I had Pod Rory to deal with, now, apparently, I have Pod Luke," Lorelai said taking a seat across from him.

"I know it's crazy idea coming from me," he said. "It's not the best idea I've ever had, but obviously you need to talk to Rory, face to face. I can go to dinner with you and then it's three on two. I like those odds a lot better than three on one."

"You forgetting one key fact Luke," Lorelai said. "I have no intention of seeing my parents again. I know I've said it before, but this is the last straw. They're taking my daughter away from me. I knew one day it would come. I knew asking for money for Chilton and getting wrapped up in their lives would only hurt me, but it wasn't so bad, not for a while anyway. But this, on top of what my mother tried to do to us…I can't go back there," she explained.

"I know you're mad and you have every right to be," he said. "But don't they always tell you to keep your enemies closer? If we show up then at least you can talk to Rory. Maybe you can make her see what she's missing by being away from Stars Hollow."

"You are a devious man Luke Danes," Lorelai said reaching out and taking his hand across the table. "And I gotta tell ya I love it. Of course this entire plan hinges on me being able to pretend that I don't despise my parents and that Rory will talk to me."

"I think Rory will definitely talk to you," Luke replied giving her hand a squeeze. "As for your parents, we can suffer through it together."

Lorelai looked at Luke and realized how serious he was about this. She thought for a moment about her proposal the previous evening and she smiled. She wasn't wrong about her feelings. She loved Luke and he was one person, even above Rory at this point, that she could count on for anything. She wondered why it took her so long to see it.

"Okay, deal," she said. "But the minute Boris and Natasha start in on you, we're out of there."

"Only if you've talked to Rory first," Luke insisted. "I can hold my own now that I know what I'm in for. Although this time, any help you'd like to give me will be much appreciated."

"I love you for doing for this," she said looking deeply into his eyes.

"You're welcome," she grinned sheepishly. He had told Lorelai he loved her and he meant it, but talking about emotions still made him a little uncomfortable.

"I guess that means I should call my mother to tell her to bust out the white tablecloths," Lorelai sighed.

"I guess so," Luke affirmed.

"Okay," she said pulling her cell phone out of her purse. "Here goes nothing."

Lorelai hesitated as she dialed her mother's number. She felt that in some way calling her was admitting defeat. It was like saying that she was wrong and her parents were right. She heard the phone ring several times before her mother picked up the phone.

"Hello," Emily said.

"Hi, Mom," Lorelai wavered.

"Lorelai," Emily said surprised. "Hello."

"Hi," Lorelai repeated unsure of how to approach the subject of dinner.

"I wasn't sure you'd call me back," Emily admitted.

"Well I always could surprise you mom," Lorelai said forcing a chuckle.

"I suppose you're right about that," Emily replied. "Lorelai, I know you're upset with us right now, but I think—"

"I know Mom," Lorelai interrupted her. "I heard both of your messages. I know you and Dad think this is the best thing for everyone and being Rory's mother I know I have no say in the matter," she said a little too sarcastically. "I'm calling about Friday night dinner."

"Dinner?" Emily said shocked again.

"Yes," Lorelai sighed as she worked up her courage. "I assume I'm still expected for Friday night dinner?"

"You know you're always welcome Lorelai," Emily said.

"Good, because I'm coming," Lorelai said. "I wanted to tell you to set an extra place because I'm bringing Luke."

Luke watched Lorelai's face as she spoke to her mother. He knew that this phone call was killing her, but he was still proud of her.

"Luke is coming?" Emily asked skeptically.

"Yes," Lorelai said simply.

"May I ask why," Emily responded.

"I thought it would be nice to have the whole family together and Luke hasn't seen Rory in a while," Lorelai said. "Since she's shacking up at your place and I can't bring Rory to Stars Hollow I figured I'd bring a piece of Stars Hollow to Rory."

"Well what an interesting idea," Emily said unenthusiastically.

"I thought so too," Lorelai said quickly recognizing that Emily was trying to formulate en excuse for why Luke shouldn't attend dinner. "Well I have to get back to work Mom. Luke and I will see you at seven on Friday. Bye."

"Lorelai," Emily started to say, but her feeble response was met with silence as Lorelai clicked her phone shut.

"She's thrilled that we're coming," Lorelai told Luke.

"Why do I feel like that's not entirely true," Luke said.

"Because it's not, but she knows you're coming and she didn't fight me on it," Lorelai offered.

"Only because you hung up before she could come up with something," Luke replied suddenly wary of what he had gotten himself in to.

"It'll be fine," Lorelai tried to reassure him as well as herself at the same time. "We'll get a chance to talk to Rory and hopefully talk some sense into her." Lorelai could tell that Luke was nervous about the dinner and that made her even more grateful for his offer to go with her. In so many ways Luke was like her knight in shining armor. Going to Friday night dinner with her was like throwing himself on the sword for her. "I also promise to make this up to."

"You don't have to make this up to me," Luke said.

"Really? Because I have this Swedish milkmaid's costume at home that's a tad too small that might make Friday night more worth your while." She grinned at him devilishly.

"Well if it would make you feel about all this then who am I to argue?" Luke grinned.

Lorelai got up from the table and walked over to where Luke was sitting. She leaned down and gave him a hug from behind pressing her cheek to his. "In case I haven't told you," she said softly. "You're the most amazing boyfriend in the world."

"It's not hard when you're my girlfriend," he replied.

"It's the baby blues sweetie," she said as she looked at him and batted her eyelashes.

Luke just smiled at her for a moment. It was obvious she was leaving and he stood up to walk downstairs with her.

"So, let me just get this straight," Lorelai said as they walked. "So far the weapons I have in my arsenal include the black dress and the baby blues," she said.

"Don't forget the French maid's uniform," he teased her.

"Ah so you did enjoy that," Lorelai said. "Okay, French maid's costume, black dress and baby blue eyes—check."

They made their ways down the stairs into the diner. "You know I've just realized you're absolutely powerless against me. I have an assortment of weapons to help me and what do you have?"

"Besides my charm and swarthy good looks?" he replied taking his position behind the counter as Lorelai leaned on the other side.

"Swarthy?" she replied and cocked one eyebrow. "I suppose swarthy could apply. Go on."

"Well aside from that," he continued. "I have the coffee and the burgers and the fries and the pie and doughnuts."

"You do have a point," she said. "Speaking of coffee, that's actually why I came."

"To go?" Luke asked grabbing a cup.

"Please," she said.

He filled up the cup and handed it to her. She sipped the coffee and smiled. "That's the good stuff," she said. "Okay, I have to get back to the inn."

"I'll see you later?" he said.

"I'd say that's a definite possibility," she said. "I'll call you when I get home later."

"Okay," he said. Luke leaned in before she walked away from the counter and added, "Everything is going to work out."

"I hope so," she replied. She took another sip of coffee and walked out of the diner. Luke watched her go and he worried. He'd never seen Lorelai look do defeated. Granted, her mood had improved from the time she came to the diner than from when she left. He got back to whipping the counter and hoped that going to dinner on Friday would be enough to help Lorelai and Rory put this mess behind them.

TBC