Number Three: Will Do Anything for You, Despite the Consequences

"This one sounds more like something Emily Gilmore looks for when searching for the perfect child." Lorelai quipped.

Rory rolled her eyes, "Way to be mature, Mom" she muttered sarcastically.

Lorelai raised her arms in front of her in self defense, "Hey! I'm just saying!"

"Anyway..." Rory tried to change the topic.

"Yes?" Lorelai questioned.

"Do you have a story that you would like to share?" Rory asked.

Lorelai snorted sarcastically, "No."

"I know that there are at least ten stories you could tell about this." Rory said accusingly.

"Well then," Lorelai began, "You obviously remember things about my life that I don't."

Rory sighed, "Fine. You can be stubborn if you want to, but it will only prolong this process. I'm not moving on to the next sign until you share two stories with me."

"Who died and made you Queen of the World?" Lorelai joked.

"I'm trying to help you out here." Rory said, "Maybe if you think of these memmories, it will help you with the character reference. Give you something to write about. I mean, you haven't actually had a real talk with Luke- or even seen him for longer than five minutes- in months. How are you supposed to write about someone that you haven't seen in forever? Telling me these stories will help you become inspired again."

"Fine" Lorelai huffed as she began to think of a story.

Lorelai had been getting ready to leave the diner when Luke stopped her.

"Wait a minute. Hold on."

"Why?" Lorelai asked curiously.

Luke glanced around covertly.

"You're making me nervous." Lorelai added.

"Just, uh... " Luke slided an envelope over to her, "here."

"What's this?" Lorelai asked curiously.

"It's what it is." Luke answered.

Lorelai held the envelope to her forehead "A monk, a trunk, and a skunk."

"What are you doing?" Luke asked in an exasperated tone.

"Carnak, although I don't have a punch line. Never stopped Johnny." Lorelai continued.

"Put that down." Luke commanded her, "Hide it."

"What is it?" Lorelai asked again.

"Open it later." Luke replied.

Lorelai opened the envelope and stared at it for a moment. Then she sighed and sat down. "A check to me for 30,000 dollars." she stated in shock.

"Shh!" Luke hushed her.

"Luke, this is the money I was gonna ask you for."

"And you did ask, and there it is."

Lorelai shook her head, "But I didn't. Not officially. I blubbered an amount to you, and we didn't get to talk about a repayment schedule..."

"It's okay." Luke insisted.

"...Or interest or collateral. I had charts and projections. I wanted to take you out to a nice dinner." Lorelai continued.

"So send me a Honeybaked Ham." Luke suggested sarcastically.

"But this is wrong. This is not how you do these things." Lorelai said.

"I don't know how to do these things." Luke said as he began to lose patience, "Will you just take the money?"

"I'm sorry, we at least have to go over the basics." Lorelai said as she pulled out a napkin and scribbled on it.

"I don't want to read that." Luke said in a monotone voice.

"Well, I'm not leaving until you read this napkin." Lorelai pushed the napkin over to Luke.

"Okay." Luke sighed. He read the napkin and began editing it, "Fine. Okay? That's okay. That's too much. That's sufficient." He passed the napkin back to Lorelai.

"Okay," Lorelai agreed, "but what about this?" She wrote something down and passed it back.

Luke looked at the napkin then back up at Lorelai, "Nicole?!"

"Hey! I thought we were writing and sliding!" Lorelai scolded him.

"What about Nicole?" Luke asked.

"I need to know her role." Lorelai stated.

"There is none." Luke responded.

"Luke," Lorelai began, "if it's joint money, then I should acknowledge that and thank her the next time I see her..."

"You're not gonna see her." Luke replied, "Now, can we stop talking about this whole thing?"

"Okay, but I insist on typing up something legal and binding for this loan." Lorelai said.

"Okay, okay. I really just don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Okay. We'll dot the Is and cross the Ts another day." Lorelai suggested.

"Yes, we'll cross and dot." Luke agreed.

"I just have to write down one more thing." Lorelai said

"What?" Luke asked impatiently, "What is so important now?" He read the napkin. "You're welcome." he sighed.

Lorelai gatherd up her belongings and left. Luke smiled down at the note.

"Wow" Rory said softly, "Thirty thousand dollars?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah" she confirmed sheepishly.

"You know Luke was always helping us out." Rory said, "He was pretty much my father figure while I was growing up."

"Hey, since you have so many stories about Luke, then why don't you share next." Lorelai suddenly suggested.

"I do have plenty." Rory agreed, "The mashed potatoes, the caterpiller funeral, the coffee cake, my graduation, the matress at Yale..." she listend.

"Ha!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Rory looked oddly at her, but said nothing.

"I have a story that beats yours!" Lorelai explained.

Rory grinned. Her mother was finally opening up and willingly participating.

Lorelai walked into the closed diner. She sat down and looked up at Luke. "Rory dropped out of Yale." she announced quietly

"What?" Luke asked in disbelief.

"She dropped out of Yale and she moved in with my parents, who I went to for help, and they stabbed me in the back. Everything we worked for. All these years. Her whole future. She was supposed to have more than me. She was supposed to have everything. That was the plan. We had a plan." Lorelai explained.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I have to jump in here." Luke insisted. "Uh, I know you think you have this thing handled, but I can help. First off, we call Yale and we tell them something like, uh, Rory had a chemical imbalance and she was mentally out of her mind when she told them she was dropping out. And then we get her out of your parents house whatever way we can. We lock her up in her room with you, because you can talk anybody into anything. And if worse comes to worst, we will drive her to school every day and we will follow her to class and camp out there to make sure she goes. I'll take morning classes, you take afternoon classes, or the other way around, if it works out better for your schedule. And I know there's a few kinks to work out, the kidnapping thing might be a little problematic but either way, she is not quitting school. This was her dream. I am not going to let this happen!" Luke rambled.

Lorelai looked up at him and smiled.

"Was that when you...?" Rory asked timidly.

Lorelai nodded silently.

"There are so many other stories we could tell where Luke did things for us and then claimed that it was no big deal." Rory noted, attempting to change the topic for her mother's sake.

"But we want to finish this thing before you graduate from Yale." Lorelai reminded her daughter.

"Luke's a good guy." Rory said softly.

"Yeah," Lorelai whispered, "Luke's a good guy." Rory saw a single tear make its way down Lorelai's cheek.