Author's Note: Sorry about the delay in writing this. Between writers' block, illness and a sister visit it's been tough to get this one written
A very special thanks to the amazing, the incredible, the indescribable, juggling, Jewels12; Super beta extraordinaire
Speculations
The next day, the town was buzzing about the events of the town meeting. By breakfast the next day, anyone who hadn't heard about Gypsy's challenge had been informed via 'Hello Magazine'.
The once boring and mundane election was suddenly the hot topic of conversation for everyone in town as people speculated the outcome.
Despite the buzz, Gypsy managed to remain oblivious. There had been an accident early that morning on the highway to Hartford and she was swamped with repairs from the resulting fender benders.
She stared at the lime green VW Beetle in front of her and frowned as she assessed the damage. She was so focused on her task that she failed to notice Kirk and Andrew standing across the street staring at her as they argued over who was most likely to win.
"I think she's gonna win!" Andrew stated proudly.
"I don't know," Kirk hedged, "Taylor is a very knowledgeable and highly respected member of Stars Hollow. He knows everything about this place"
"Yeah, but he's also a grumpy old coot who tries to twist everything to his own advantage." Andrew grumbled. "Everyone hates Taylor."
"That's true." Kirk nodded, then frowned. "But if I don't vote for Taylor he might hurt me."
Andrew rolled his eyes. "He's not going to know if you voted for him Kirk. You're a grown man, you can make your own decisions."
"You're right Andrew!" Kirk beamed, "I decide who to vote for… I just have to check with Mother first." With that, he rushed off toward the Gleason house as Andrew shook his head in amusement.
Andrew let himself take one last glance at Gypsy before turning and walking toward the bookstore.
*****
"Hey Gypsy. How goes the campaigning?" Lorelai inquired that evening, when she stopped by the shop to pick up her Jeep.
"Huh?" Gypsy looked up from the greasy bolt she was cleaning, "I haven't started yet, I've been busy here today."
"You should start, everyone's talking about it today. They all want to see you beat the pants of Taylor." Lorelai scrunched up her face as she unconsciously pictured a pant-less Taylor, "Ewww... but not literally, cause that would be gross."
Gypsy blinked, unable to follow Lorelai's rapid train of thought. She decided to ignore the comment and instead said, "I'm not sure how to start. Should I have a slogan or something?"
"You'll need balloons and buttons and stuff. A slogan would be good too!" Lorelai thought for a moment before exclaiming "How about - 'Taylor sucks like a tick'?"
Gypsy stared at her incredulously, "You can't be serious!?!"
Lorelai laughed, "That was rather gross, sorry, first blurt. We'll work it out."
"We?" Gypsy raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Sure, I thought maybe I could help you out. Be your campaign manager or something."
"Wow, you must really hate Taylor."
"Doesn't everyone? He's been especially awful lately. Besides, if Taylor is ousted it would make Luke happy, and if Luke's happy, he'll make me happy; If you get my drift..." Lorelai trailed off as she started to think of the myriad of wonderful ways in which Luke could make her happy.
"Hey, whatever floats your boat... as long as I don't have to be on it. Anyway, I'd be happy to have the help." Gypsy said genuinely before changing gears, "Now about this jeep -- I hope you brought your chequebook, and lots and lots of cheques!"
*****
The next morning, Lorelai and Gypsy set up shop at Luke's Diner. Lorelai had pushed two tables together and covered them with a red tablecloth. She'd then decorated the table with blue and white ribbons and bows.
Sookie was helping out by circulating through the diner, handing out balloons. She stopped at a table with two small children and handed each child a balloon as she enthusiastically made small talk. "Hey, aren't you two handy with a knife and fork?" The parents and children looked up at her, bemused and a little scared. Sookie smiled obliviously and wove her way over to the next table. "Vote for Gypsy, she puts the "G" in … um… gas!" she exclaimed loudly, shoving the balloon into Bootsie's hand as he bit his lip to try and prevent himself from laughing.
Lorelai quickly go up from the main table and came over to intervene. "Um, Sookie, slow down a bit. You're scaring people." She said gently as she took Sookie's arm and led her back toward Gypsy.
"Am I?" Sookie looked around the diner as she sat down, for the first time, noticing the weary and wideeyed looks of the customers. "Oh, I am. Sorry. It's just so exciting, I mean the idea of no Taylor running the show, it just makes me, and Gypsy's so, and Taylor's so and … eeee.. you know?" Sookie made a wild gesture with her hands as she squealed and Gypsy had to duck to avoid elbow to eye contact.
Gypsy eyed Sookie wearily, "Is she on something? Her eyes look funny."
Lorelai chuckled. "You know Sookie, high on life." She paused and then raised her right eyebrow at Sookie as she teased, "She puts the 'G' in gas?"
"Did I say that?" Sookie's eyes widened, "Oh god, I did say it, didn't I?"
Gypsy shrugged, "I thought it was good. I still need a good campaign slogan. This could be the one." Lorelai and Sookie stared at her incredulously for a moment before Gypsy's face broke into a huge grin. "It's a joke. You know, ha – ha?" The three women stared at each other for a moment before breaking into a round of hysterical giggles, earning them a hardened glare from Luke who was pouring coffee for customers at the counter.
They continued to giggle uncontrollably for several seconds before being brought back to reality by a man standing abnormally close to them.
Lorelai jumped and sobered immediately. "Geeze Kirk, make a noise or something."
"What's with the suit?" Gypsy inquired, gesturing to the maroon coloured suit that Kirk was wearing. The suit was too small for him, the sleeves of his jacket ending well above his wrist, and the pants barely covered his knees. It looked as though he'd borrowed the suit from a poor unsuspecting ten-year old.
Kirk cleared his throat and said in a professional voice, "Ladies, I offer myself up to you."
Gypsy and Sookie exchanged a half-amused and half-disgusted look as Lorelai choked on her coffee and fought hard to prevent herself from spewing it all over Kirk. Kirk stood in front of them obliviously, waiting for a reply. She finally managed to swallow her coffee without choking. She took a deep breath, partly to prevent herself from giving in to the urge to say 'dirty', before saying, "Explain yourself Kirk."
"I took it upon myself to poll the town, and I think you're gonna be pretty happy with the results." Kirk beamed proudly.
"We are?" Sookie inquired.
Kirk nodded. "Gypsy is solidly in the lead."
"Already?" Gypsy was incredulous.
"But we just started bugging people." Lorelai mused.
"Well, I modeled my poll after the Gallup poll. The Gallup poll uses a sample of 1,005 voters to represent the 280 million people of the United States. Using that logic, the correct sampling size of the town of Stars Hollow would be 0.002. Rounding that up means one person needs to be polled, so I picked mother."
Lorelai stifled a snort, "You polled your mother?"
Kirk shrugged and said confidently, "She was right there. I trust her opinion. Seemed like a perfect opportunity."
"You mean, you wanted to know her opinion before you made up your own." Sookie accused.
"Okay." Lorelai intervened before Kirk could respond, "Well, first of all, thank you for dressing up to talk to your Mother. And secondly, I think you're going to need to poll more people to get a better sense of where we really are."
"Oh, okay. Excuse me for a moment." Kirk walked over to an empty table on the other side of the diner. The three women watched in fascination as Kirk stared at the chair and said something. Then he sat in the chair, and looked up at where he had been standing and said something else. Then he stood up again and repeated the process.
"What the heck is he doing?" Gypsy asked.
"Looks like he's having a conversation with himself." Lorelai observed.
"Oh! Maybe he's in a play and he's practicing!" Sookie burst out, enthusiastically.
Lorelai giggled as she saw Luke approach Kirk angrily. "What the hell are you doing? This is a diner not a floorshow. Either sit down and order or get out."
Kirk looked at Luke and said, "My business here is done anyway. Thank you for your time." He directed the last to the empty chair, and rushed back over to the campaign table before Luke could hurt him.
"Okay, well I just polled myself. It was quite the debate. I can be quite mean to myself you see. It almost got ugly when Gypsy and Taylor were neck in neck for a moment there, but in the end the results were unanimous. Gypsy is definitely in the lead." Kirk held his head high as he grinned at them expectantly.
"What? Are you expecting a medal or something?" Gypsy scoffed.
"Kirk and I are beyond accolades." Kirk said smugly.
"Huh? What's with the first person?" Sookie frowned, "When did you become two people?"
At the same time, Gypsy said, "You have a multiple personality disorder or something?"
Lorelai sighed. "Kirk, the point is, that in order for your poll to be useful, we need a variety of opinions. Preferably not all from members of the same family."
Kirk nodded, "Oh okay, I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks Kirk." Lorelai called after him as he walked out of the diner. "You did notice the huge hole in the back of his pants?"
"How does that happen?" Sookie giggled.
"That's Kirk." Lorelai exclaimed.
"It certainly is." Sookie shook her head, giggling as she watched Kirk trip over a dog leash on his way across the town square.
"Creepy little man if you ask me." Gypsy put in, shaking her head.
"Hey, excuse me," Luke wandered up to the table and glared down at Lorelai, "but my customers aren't getting in the way or your thing here, are they?"
Lorelai considered for a moment, glancing around the diner, "Uh, no, they're fine."
"Good. 'Cause I can kick them out or close down for you, if you like."
Lorelai picked up on his cold and sarcastic tone but deliberately chose to ignore it as she smiled up at him and said brightly, "That's sweet, but we're good."
"So you'll tell me if my business is in your way?" he spat out, trying not to loose his temper.
"You'll be the first to know." Lorelai's cell phone rang at that moment and she quickly answered it, avoiding eye contact with Luke as he gestured vehemently toward the no cell phone's sign. Gypsy and Sookie, sensing that Luke was about to blow, quickly busied themselves looking through the call lists.
Lorelai hung up. "Mrs Cassini was a tough sell but she says we've got her vote!" she exclaimed excitedly. She looked up and jumped when she saw that Luke was still standing at the table, glowering down at her. "Oh, you're still here!" She exclaimed. "Can't resist my long flowing tresses?" she flirted, trying to ease the tension she could sense emanating from Luke.
"Okay," he growled, "Maybe you were missing my subtle sarcasm there when I mentioned my customers being in your way?"
Lorelai grinned, "Oh, no. I didn't miss it at all."
"Get your war room out of here!"
"Hey, this is for a good cause. Taylor bugs you, too." She pointed to the window between the diner and the Soda Shoppe.
Luke turned and glared at Taylor who was proudly handing out buttons and free ice cream to his customers. "Yes, he bugs me."
"Okay, then. We're trying to get rid of your little annoyance."
"By becoming my new little annoyance?" Luke started to storm away, when the door to the diner opened and Taylor entered jovially.
"Good morning Luke, Ladies!" he said cheerfully as he marched past Gypsy's table.
He walked over to the side closest to the Soda Shoppe and contemplated the tables in the area. He rubbed his hand on his chin and nodded murmuring "Yes, I think this will do nicely."
Luke's eyes narrowed suspiciously and he unconsciously moved closer to Lorelai. "What the hell is he doing?" he whispered.
She shrugged, "Beats me. Who knows what goes on in that mans head." She suddenly noticed how close Luke was standing and she grinned up at him whispering, "Hi" in a somewhat husky voice.
Luke tore his eyes away from Taylor for a moment and smiled down at Lorelai. After checking to make sure that Sookie and Gypsy were occupied with their call lists, he leaned in closer and said, "Hey, have I told you how beautiful you look today?"
Lorelai's blue eyes lit up, "No!" she grinned. "Are you flirting with me?"
"That's the word on the street." Luke leaned in closer, gravitating towards her soft lips.
Lorelai's breath quickened as she felt his cool breath against her skin, her eyes were fixated on his lips as they moved towards hers. As their lips touched, she marveled at the electricity that coursed through her veins, starting at he lips and flowing outward to every part of her body. She could still barely believe that she was allowed to kiss him. It still seemed like a dream to her that she could finally be intimate with the man she'd unconsciously held in her heart for so many years. She moaned softly and opened her mouth for him as her arms reached behind his neck to hold him close. Just as Luke's tongue found hers and they began to engage in an elaborate dance they were torn out of their fog of passion and back to reality by a loud scraping sound as Taylor dragged a table across the diner floor.
Luke blinked for a second, stunned at their sudden uncharacteristic public display of affection. He forced himself to tear his eyes away from Lorelai and turn his attention to Taylor, but kept his hand on her back because he felt the need to keep some level of physical contact with her.
His blood began to boil as he saw that Taylor had pulled two of his best tables together and set them up underneath the Soda Shoppe window. He had procured a box of buttons from somewhere and was spreading them out on the table as he hummed to himself.
Luke reluctantly pulled away from Lorelai and stormed over to Taylor, his rage intensified by his sexual frustration. "Taylor. What do you think you're doing?"
Taylor sat down and looked up at Luke demurely. "Why Lucas, I'm just exacting my rights of equality and freedom of speech."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Luke glowered.
"It means he's an attention hog and he's trying to hone in on our campaign." Gypsy rose and joined Luke in glaring at Taylor.
Taylor began to look uncomfortable as Gypsy and Luke continued to glower at him. "I'm merely engaging in friendly political competition. Call it a non-verbal debate if you will."
"I'd rather not." Luke said stoically.
Taylor ignored the comment and stood up and began to circulate through the diner, forcing buttons into people's hands.
"Stop that!" Luke commanded. "These are my customers for crying out loud. Does nobody get that?" Taylor ignored him and kept moving.
"That's it!" Gypsy exclaimed, she traced Taylor's steps and grabbed the buttons back from the startled customers. Then she marched over to Taylor and grabbed the button that was in his hand. "This is my territory Taylor. Back off!"
"Well actually, Luke's is a public establishment and –"
"You heard the lady Taylor, back off!" Luke shouted vehemently before Taylor could finish his thought. Gypsy gaped at him, shocked at his unexpected support.
"But you're letting her campaign here." Taylor protested pointing at Gypsy.
"That's because I actually like Gypsy! She can stay, you need to leave." Luke gestured to the door.
"Yes!" Lorelai pumped her hand in the air, but quickly lowered it when Luke shot her an unamused look.
"But Lucas – "
"Out Taylor. Take your tacky buttons and get out of my diner." Luke opened the door.
Taylor sighed heavily, grabbed his button box and stormed out the door, when he was on the bottom step he turned and looked back at Luke, "This isn't over Lucas."
Luke slammed the door in his face and turned away. "That was fun!" he grinned at Lorelai briefly, then turned his attention to Gypsy, "You win this thing, you hear? I want you to whip Taylor's butt so badly that he can't sit down comfortably for a year. Use my diner, bug my customers, break the rules, do what you have to do, just win. Taylor's reign of terror ends today!"
With that, he stormed off to the kitchen leaving the three women to stare after him stunned.
xxxxx
Later that day Gypsy, Lorelai, Sookie and Rory were gathered around the table in the diner, brainstorming possible campaign slogans.
"Taylor had a bunch of them on those stupid buttons. Maybe we can steal one of those." Gypsy suggested.
"Worth a try," Sookie shrugged and picked one up off the table. "'A vote for me is a vote for inertia.'" She read. "Say what? I don't get it, do you get it?" she looked at Lorelai who shrugged.
Gypsy reached for the next button and read, "'Taylor Doose: An Honest Man!' Pft. Honest my ass." She wrinkled her nose in disgust as Luke walked past and scoffed.
"Okay, that's out!" Lorelai picked up the next button and read, 'Taylor Doose, a name you can trust.' Bo-ring! Man these are worse than 'Taylor sucks like a tick!' At least that one was kind of funny." She turned to Rory, "Got anything oh brilliant , future journalist daughter of mine?"
"Ummm… 'Don't be ditzy, vote for Gypsy'?" she suggested lamely.
"This is impossible!" Lorelai groaned, she stood up, and walked to the counter, "Luke, I need more coffee!"
He poured her a fresh mug and set it in front of her. Then he reached across the counter and squeezed her hand gently in encouragement, and didn't let go. "Hey are you busy tonight?" he asked softly, hoping to distract her for a minute.
She smiled, just as he'd hoped she would, "I don't know, what do you have in mind?"
"You, me, dinner, upstairs, alone…" He trailed off and let himself get lost in her eyes fofra moment before whispering, "We can finish what we started earlier."
He saw the heat blazing in her eyes as she brightened. "You're on!"
He squeezed her hand again "I can't wait.
Lorelai leaned across the counter and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, she was afraid that if she lingered, she wouldn't be able to stop. "Thanks babe. I'll see you later."
"You bet! Hey listen, you'll think of something." He nodded towards the table where Gypsy and Sookie were still brainstorming, "I trust in you."
"Thanks Luke, that means a lot." She couldn't help but smile as she as she grabbed her mug and headed back to the girls.
TBC