Chapter 6 Shopping
Finally awake, Lorelai knotted her robe around her still-naked body and followed the cooking smells to the kitchen.
"Wow. You've been up for a while." Her table groaned under the food he'd cooked already.
He nodded, focusing on plating the last of the pancakes. "Went to Doose's, got some stuff. Taylor's an ass." The grocer hadn't passed up an opportunity to enlist Luke's help for the next festival, which of course had been rejected immediately, especially after Taylor's blue and pink ribbon fiasco.
"I know," she said, nibbling from one plate after another.
"Sookie was there, buying some weird baby stuff." He looked at Lorelai, who appeared unconcerned.
Luke continued. "She saw what I was buying and figured it out." He looked at Lorelai nervously. "She's got a squeal only dogs can hear," he said apologetically.
"Cool. I bet she told you to tell me that I could take the day off."
He nodded.
"And you?" she asked.
"Stopped by the diner and talked to Lane, who also gave me the day off. She looked relieved."
He pushed her gently down onto a chair and sat next to her. Lorelai dug hungrily into the best food she'd eaten in weeks. Luke peeled an orange as he sat next to her. She raised her eyebrows.
"Already ate," he said nonchalantly, tossing an orange peel easily into the oatmeal bowl near the sink.
His eyes crinkled happily as he opened his mouth and tasted the food she offered him. It still wasn't his favorite breakfast, but the intimacy of feeding and being fed was irresistible. He felt relieved that things were going back to normal.
"So I was thinking," he began as Lorelai took a first deep drink from her coffee mug. "Maybe we should drive to New Haven and um, let Rory know. Maybe thank her. Got some donuts and some brownies from the diner."
She looked unconcerned, sipped her coffee and continued eating.
"Don't you think she ought to know we're back together?"
"I'm pretty sure she already knows. If Lane didn't call her, then Sookie surely did."
"You guys have an amazing network."
"It's still a good idea to visit her. She doesn't know you're moving in. And I need some Rory hugs," she said. "Afterwards we can go shopping."
"Don't you think we should discuss the location?"
"Of what, the mall? It's in Woodbridge. Then maybe we'll hit a furniture store or two. We need to find some pieces that are ours, and not mine and Rory's or just Luke's."
Luke shook his head. "We have to decide on a place to live! I mean, there's always here, or the diner, but if we tried to move you into my apartment it would be even worse than when Jess lived there. You've got so much stuff that the ceiling over the diner would collapse and I'd be dependent on you to support me, but the Dragonfly hasn't made a profit yet, so we'd probably starve, so I was thinking that maybe we could look for a place together that would have lots of room like maybe a place where you could have a horse like you always wanted and a nice big library room for Rory. Or we could stay here, although it might be cramped when Rory moves back in after school."
"You've been running a marathon with those brain cells of yours, mister." She ran her hand over his comfortingly. "We've got time to make these decisions, Luke."
"Yeah, I know. I'm just taking this 'not waiting' thing seriously, and mornings are the times I get my thoughts organized and make plans."
"Plans are good. They're even better when we make them together."
"Point taken," he said. "How about we drive to Rory, say hi, then decide what to do later?"
"Now that's a plan that is simple enough for my first cup of coffee." She held her mug out for more. "I think horses and library rooms will come after about the fifth cup."
"OK, she wasn't at her dorm," commented Lorelai as they walked toward the center of campus. "Now we have to tour the various coffee carts and kiosks. If she's not still at one, she'll be coming from one."
They walked a bit farther, then stopped as they debated the next turn to take. Before Lorelai could choose, they were nearly bowled over by a backpack-laden Rory.
"I'm so glad you guys are back together!" she squealed. She wrapped one arm around each of them for a group hug, squeezing their waists enthusiastically.
Rory and Lorelai broke off to properly celebrate with the correct amount of bouncing, hugging and giggling. Luke stood awkwardly by, feeling uncomfortable and happy at the same time as he watched two parts of his heart shared their happiness.
"Hey Ace," came a relaxed greeting from Logan. He had been with Rory before she ran to her mother, dropping her extra study bag on the way. Picking up her bag, he turned to Finn and Stephanie, who had been with them, to fill them in briefly on the situation. After giving Rory time to greet her family, the students strolled over to join them.
Logan watched carefully as Luke's expression moved from politely uncaring to remembering who Logan was, ending at his memory of Logan and Rory in an anteroom at the vow renewal, half-dressed and intent on wearing even less. A chill passed through Logan, who covered it with an impish grin.
"Nice to see you again, sir," Logan said obsequiously.
His sucking up tone was not lost on Luke, who barely grunted a hello in return. He would never have been actually friendly to Logan, because, well, Logan was clearly not worthy of Rory, just as Jess and Dean had not been worthy. There was more to it, though. Luke was happy that he and Lorelai were back together, happy that they were making another regular excursion to visit Rory at school, just like any parent would. He was happy to see her happy that they were back together and happy to see that she was doing well. None of that happiness justified making the boyfriend happy, so Luke kept that to himself and shook Logan's hand while Lorelai watched him, grateful that this encounter hadn't involved Luke yelling at Logan.
Stephanie congratulated Luke with a beautiful smile and offered her best wishes to Lorelai, immediately launching into a discussion about her pink coat.
Luke eyed Finn's wild curls with suspicion; not bothering to give him an evil eye because he figured Rory only dated guys with better hair. That had at least been true in Stars Hollow, although a comparing glance at Logan's cropped curls had him doubting.
"Best wishes," said Finn to Luke, shaking his hand.
"Hey, that's meant for me, isn't it?" asked Lorelai, not skipping a beat as she showed the lining of her coat to Stephanie. "Best wishes to the woman, because she finally made her choice, and congratulations to the man for winning the blue ribbon."
"We do things upside-down in Australia, darling," joked Finn.
"Let's go to the Luke-approved cafe!" cried Rory, taking Logan's hand. She turned to Stephanie. "We get free cookies at Java Jerry's when Luke is with us, 'cause they know each other."
Stephanie and Finn begged off with the excuse that they were actually going to go to their comparative cinematography class today. The other four turned toward Jerry's.
Wrapping his arm around Lorelai's waist, Luke kissed her temple before quietly asking, "isn't that best wishes stuff for a wedding? Or a fake wedding, like your parents'?"
"I don't really know," she whispered. "That's Emily world stuff."
The elder couple settled into a bench seat while Rory and Logan fetched the beverages. Jerry stopped by long enough to greet Luke and exchange a few words about the food service industry.
Rory returned with a plate and a mouth full of cookies. Swallowing, she said, "Good thing you don't bake cookies, too, or I'd have a problem choosing between you and Jerry."
He laughed. "Pie and brownies are good enough for me."
"Coffee, coffee, tea, tea," listed Logan as he set the beverages on the table.
Lorelai wriggled in her seat, unable to contain herself any more. "How did you and Jess make that CD? Did you go to Philadelphia?"
"And what about the tape?" added Luke, still confused about their ability to publish multiple formats.
"Jess?" asked Logan as he stirred sugar and cream into Rory"s coffee. "Who's Jess?"
"Jess is Luke's nephew. Lane called him, and me, and we got together to make the recording," replied Rory, carefully choosing her words. No need to bring up old boyfriends. "It was pretty cool, he did it with me on the phone and he was at his computer."
"My baby recorded an audio book!" grinned Lorelai. "If the international correspondent thing falls through, you can always become the next Dr. Phil!"
She turned to Luke. "I wonder if we should make copies and put them up for sale at the diner. Or a copy in every room at the Dragonfly!"
"No!" insisted a worried Luke. "We swore never to discuss the tape or what they said! Can you imagine what would happen if Kirk or Miss Patty got a hold of this?"
"Oh, god, we'd have to move if Hello magazine knew about this." She pointed a finger at Rory and Logan. "You are sworn to secrecy. Promise you'll take this to your grave. Swear on a pound of Luke's coffee."
"Hey! What about Jess? He knows, too," cried Rory, crossing her arms and pouting.
Luke scoffed. "What? You think he's going to willingly come back to Stars Hollow and chat Taylor up?"
"So when's the wedding?" asked Logan innocently.
"Wedding? Who's talking about a wedding?" asked Lorelai nervously as she shifted in her seat, creating the tiniest of gaps between her and Luke. The gap didn't prevent her from feeling his body stiffen.
"We just got back together," she added, trying to sound casual. "It's not even been a day yet."
Luke sat silently as Lorelai filled the awkward space with words. Finally, when her Energizer battery had worn down, he commented, "We haven't decided anything yet, except we want to live together." He paused before adding, "That's one of the reasons we're here. Rory, are you OK with this idea?"
"Because if you're not, hon, we can figure something else out," blurted her mother. "Maybe Luke can be there except when you're there. Or I can live in the apartment, except that wouldn't work, because I have a lot more stuff than Jess did, and Jess' stuff almost suffocated Luke, so probably just my bras would give him a stroke, ..."
"Mom."
"... but we could stack his sports trophies on top of my movie collection. Then the Crap Shack would be like a girls only club, ..."
"Mom!" Rory's shout got Lorelai's attention.
She rolled her eyes. "You two should live together in the Crap Shack. You're going to get married soon anyway, right? You're not letting anyone else come between you? 'Cause I know that once grandma catches her breath she's going to think of something else, and we have to make sure that doesn't happen."
Rory turned to Luke and patted him on the hand. "Move in quickly. I'll help. You two are bad for Stars Hollow when you're apart."
He flipped his hand and took hers, giving it a squeeze. "Thanks, kid, I think we got it. Wouldn't want to bring down the economy of Stars Hollow."
He nudged Lorelai, who had covered her shell shock with a fake smile, and was looking at Logan with a combination of 'still not thrilled that you're my daughter's boyfriend' and 'Rory wants us to get married soon.'
"Plaid tablecloth!" blurted Lorelai. "We need to buy a plaid tablecloth, and flannel sheets, and manly stuff to decorate the Crap Shack."
"Manly stuff?" snorted Luke. "All my stuff is manly. No need for shopping."
"Oh please, those curtains of yours are too girly for me. Which reminds me we should spruce up the apartment, in case we decide to rent it out or something."
"We're not sprucing anything, except maybe planting a spruce in your front yard," said Luke determinedly. "Rory, we better go before the shopping list gets so long my head explodes."
Logan trotted off to the counter while Lorelai hugged her daughter again, looking into her eyes, asking, "You're really, really sure about this? We're going to let a boy into our Gilmore Girls world?"
Rory chuckled. "Mom, Luke's been an honorary Gilmore Girl for years. We're just making it official."
"There's another secret we're taking to our graves," decided Luke, who was rather moved that Rory thought so well of him. "I'll just go pay and say goodbye to Jerry." He passed Logan as he crossed the room.
"Just settled the bill," Logan said. "Everything's taken care of." He smiled winningly, confident that Luke would be pleased.
Luke was not pleased. "We invited you, I should pay. Well, actually, we invited Rory." He glared at Logan, who was not used to not being treated like a billionaire's son, before going to the counter and putting a generous tip in the jar as he said goodbye to Jerry.
The women led the way out of the coffee shop, walking arm in arm, followed by a stern Luke and subdued Logan.
As the two couples went their separate ways, Luke asked, "You still in on this living together thing? You got kinda quiet back there for a while. It scared me a little, like being in the eye of the hurricane."
"Hurricane Lorelai's been downgraded to a tropical storm," she consoled. "It's just a little weird to hear her say that she's expecting us to marry."
He stopped on the sidewalk next to the truck. "Lorelai, you were right."
She giggled. "There's a statement a girl can't hear too often."
"Hush, I'm trying to tell you something important. That day in Doose's, when you said you were in, you said you wanted our middle."
He shuffled his feet as he searched for the words. "I think we're in the middle of our middle right now. For me, it started with our first date. I guess, well, because we had such a good friendship for so long, that I think that was our beginning. We've been in our middle for a very long time, and I don't give a damn what rules anyone else has to define the middle."
"But the middle is pets, and jogging suits, and maybe kids and Crock Pots and salad spinners."
"That's someone else's definition of a middle. That's not good enough for Lorelai Gilmore. Lorelai Gilmore's middle is going to be insane and unpredictable and loud and funny all at the same time."
"That does sound more like us," she agreed. "But you like sane, and predictable, ok you can be loud and I've never found anyone as funny as you, but …"
"No, that's where you're wrong," he said.
"Uh-oh, losing some boyfriend points there buddy."
"I don't like sane and predictable. I like you." Luke rolled his eyes at himself. "OK, that didn't come out right. I love you and I like it when you storm into my life and you love me as only Lorelai Gilmore can love, and I love the crazy that comes with it. Every bit of it."
He took her hands in his, adding, "It may be that there are babies and pets, but our middle is going to have yellow boots and bagel hockey and hundreds of sparkly festival costumes and thousands of movies and I will love it all because it's Technicolor Lorelai Gilmore all the time, and we deserve nothing less."
"You know what we need to do now," Lorelai's voice was unusually weak, her energy invested in preventing tears from falling.
"Oh yeah," said Luke. "Shopping."
"You got it babe."
"Hey, it's really simple. Me, my flannels, my toolbox and my Billy Bass singing trout are all I need. Wherever they are, I'm at home."
Luke and Lorelai lifted the long box into the back of the truck, then turned around to pick up the individual packages of weights that went with the rack in the box. Lorelai hefted her box into the truck with a grin.
"Thanks for getting the pink weights in my size. I'm gonna get so strong!"
"I'll be happy if you use them a little," he said. "Maybe a little more than your last gym membership."
"It's going to be so easy, because we'll be doing it together. You have to agree that my idea to turn the apartment into a playroom was genius." She hopped up on the tailgate so she could put her face right in front of Luke's as he tied down the load.
"It's not a playroom. We're adults. We have a den, or an activity room, or an exercise room, but not a playroom." He grasped her at the waist and lifted her back to the ground, pulling her to him to receive another one of her kisses that made his knees rubbery.
He was happy again. His stupid actions that led to the breakup had been forgiven and Lorelai had gotten her sparkle back, laughing and joking and saying crazy things that ultimately turned out to be good ideas, like repurposing the apartment to a place for them to share.
"Once we're all buff and toned, I'm going to bring my sewing machine here all by myself and start working on the next dance costumes for Miss Patty's recital. It's just your kind of ballet - fir trees and mushrooms and woodland creatures."
"No kind of ballet is my kind of ballet," he muttered trying to keep a frown on his face, which was a losing battle given that Lorelai was giggling irrepressibly.
She pouted, pretending to be dismayed by his attitude. "But it's a Tribute to Euell Gibbons. He's your hero!"
"Euell Gibbons isn't my hero. Where did you get that idea?"
"Jess said so," she commented, nodding her head knowingly. "Many parts of the pine tree are edible," she quoted in a horrible imitation of Jess' voice.
The laughter rolling out of his gut surprised her, but she took advantage of the moment to place her hands on his chest and enjoy the rare vibrations.
"One of these days I'll convince you to go hiking and camping. You'll love how beautiful it is and how great it is to be out there. We'll feel like we're all alone in the world."
Lorelai reached up and scratched his stubble affectionately. "You bet, mountain man, but let's go hunt some sheets and towels first."
"Five sets of sheets is overkill," grumbled Luke. "One set in the laundry and one set on the bed. Don't need more than that."
"No, actually five is the perfect number. You love the plaid sheets and the fisherman pillows; I love the Betty Boop sheets, and the last three we compromised on for the sake of the relationship. No more discussing it. I see an ice cream shop. You need a sugar boost."
"I used to wonder why you don't weigh 500 pounds. Now I'm starting to wonder how long it will be before I weigh that much. I've never eaten so much junk food in my life," he said after they had polished off their treats.
"That's because you're deprived, my sweet. You ate that pistachio and mango cone twice as fast as I ate my teeny tiny three scoop waffle."
"It did taste good," agreed Luke amiably. "Now that you're all sugared up, can we go home?"
"Yes. I am so excited to think that tomorrow it will be official. Luke Danes' new address will be the Crap Shack. Wasn't it nice of Rory and Logan to insist that they came help with the move? That way I won't have to pretend to carry things. We can leave it all to you two big strong men. I knew there must be a good reason to string you along," Lorelai smirked.
"Hey, you know what? After tomorrow we'll be living together, roomies, a cohabiting couple. Life partners."
"Sounds good." Two syllables were all that came out of his mouth, but the feeling of happiness he had inside would have put a Tom Clancy unedited 'words-gone-wild' late career novel to shame. This was it. What he'd always wanted, a simple life with Lorelai, arguing over Betty Boop and Bullwinkle Moose sheets.
They continued walking across the parking lot, Luke feeling happy while Lorelai talked about something that he wasn't listening to because he was busy being happy and enjoying the sound of her voice.
Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his side. Lorelai's fingernails weren't long, but they were sturdy enough to poke him hard.
"Hey! What was that?"
"It's a disaster! And you weren't listening to me! We can't live together!"
"What? No! Why?"
"Because cohabitate is an 'ate' word! We don't do 'ate' words? Remember?"
"That's just stupid!" he groaned. At the same moment she responded with "uh, no, it's not," Luke's phone rang. He dropped the bags of sheets and towels, getting a sick feeling in his stomach as he heard the muffled crunch as the glass baubles Lorelai had fallen in love with smashed to bits.
"Sorry," he said as he put the phone to his ear.
"For what?" she demanded angrily. "For breaking my stuff or calling me stupid?"
"Jess?" He said into the phone, turning slightly away from Lorelai, which only made her angrier.
"You called her stupid?" asked Jess, who'd heard every word she'd said.
"No! I didn't call her stupid! I called cohabitate stupid!" One look at Lorelai told him that was not the right thing to say.
"Now you don't want to live together?" Her anger was quickly being replaced by shock and she took a step backward.
"What the fuck, Luke? Rory just called me. It hasn't been twenty-four hours and you've already screwed this up?"
"It's just a stupid word!" he complained. "I'm not going to screw this up."
"You already did!" cried Lorelai as she opened the door to the truck and climbed in.
"Shit, shit, shit," said Luke. "I gotta go. Did you have an emergency or something? Are you bleeding or being arrested?"
"No, man, I'm good. You better go fix your relationship," said Jess in a more caring tone than Luke had ever heard. "Again." The last comment being full-on Jess snark again.
Luke put the bags under the tarp in the back of the truck. Taking a deep breath, he opened the driver's side door and climbed into Antarctica.
"I'll go replace those glass things," he offered, speaking to Lorelai's back as she remained twisted to the side, looking out her window.
"Don't bother. Those were the last ones in that color."
He sighed. This was not going to be easy. "Lorelai. So much happened in the past three minutes I'm completely lost. Help me."
Silence.
"Please."
Silence. Luke wrapped his hands around the steering wheel.
"Ok, here's what I know. You said we can't cohabitate because of that whole 'ate' thing. I said that was stupid. Right?"
A soft "hmmph" and the slightest of nods was her answer.
"Lorelai, cut me some slack here. Please."
The Rory face was Luke's downfall, he thought. At least until he encountered 'hurt Lorelai' eyes.
She had pouted in the middle of their regular banter. She had been deeply sad coming into the diner after particularly bad arguments with her parents. This face was worse. Worse because he knew he'd caused it.
Shakily, she half-whispered her thoughts as she stared at the people walking by in the parking lot of the shopping center. "You said you were in but you weren't. You left." A breath and a half-sob made her next words even more painful. "Are you leaving now?"
Luke's jaw worked furiously as he saw his actions from her perspective.
"'Cause if you are," she continued, "I'd like to return the sheets now. I don't have much of a need for plaid flannel sheets in a single bed." Squeezing her eyes shut to give her strength, she added, "The fisherman pillows too; I don't think I could sleep under those all alone."
He slid across the bench seat of the truck, close to her but not touching.
"Lorelai," he said in a voice nearly as soft as hers, "I can't promise that we'll never fight, or I won't call something stupid, or I won't break your pretty things. But I can promise that I'll never give up when we hit hard times; that I'll keep showing up to try to fix things; that there is nowhere else in the world that I want to be than wherever you are."
She reached her left hand out to him and he pressed it between his own two hands. "Let's go home. I want to put the fisherman pillows on the bed."
Later, after the plaid sheets had been thoroughly tested and the fishermen Norman and Paul were introduced to Betty Boop, Lorelai came out of the bathroom, lifted the sheet and spooned herself into the sleepy Luke.
"Hey." He drew her even closer with his arm, which stayed firmly wrapped around her waist..
"Hey yourself," he said softly.
"We didn't deal with the 'ate' problem." Lorelai ran her fingers around Luke's wrist, still anxious about the topic.
Luke sighed. "We could completely forget about the whole 'ate' thing."
"We could call it living together and swear off the word cohabitate," suggested Lorelai.
Luke nodded, burying his face in her hair and closing his eyes. He twisted strands of her hair around his finger while he looked at her, cuddled with him, her eyes closed.
"Or, … we could eliminate the problem completely." He smiled. This felt right.
"What?" she asked. "Tear the cohabitate page out of the dictionary?"
He chuckled. "Too many dictionaries. Besides, Rory would never forgive us for defacing her precious books."
She nodded. "You're right We don't want to risk the wrath of Rory. She might sic Jess on us again."
"Or we could, …" Luke deliberately waited.
She turned in his arms to look at his face, wondering what was coming next.
His ripply lttle smile gave her a good feeling.
"You know, … get married."
"Huh."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Suddenly Luke wasn't so confident. All the questions about marriage today had led him to ask, but Lorelai's reaction concerned him.
"It means I'm trying to think of 'ate' words about marriage.'
"You're looking for a way out? You don't want to get married?" He propped himself up on his elbow. "I kinda thought you'd be telling me about your dream wedding."
"Huh."
"Seriously, Lorelai? What is it now?"
"Funny."
"Do you see me laughing?" he exclaimed, the stress beginning to get to him.
"You almost never laugh," she chided him. "It just occurred to me that I've dreamed about our middle a lot, but I never thought about the wedding."
He released a breath he didn't know he'd held. "So we could just do it?"
"Heehee. We did just do it. You're insatiable."
He banded his arm tightly around her as she continued to grin.
"When it comes to Lorelai Gilmore I am," he growled.
"Good answer." Another giggle. "OK."
"OK?"
"OK. We need Rory and Sookie, but let's do it."
"And Jess. Got to have both authors with us."
"And Jess," she agreed. "Rory and I need dresses."
"Obviously," he nodded. "Name the day. I'll be there."
And so it happened. After another extended period of squealing, bouncing and general merriment involving hugs and kisses for a rather embarrassed but happy Luke, the girls got down to the business of getting Lorelai hitched.
Sookie was kept in the dark until the very last minutes to prevent it leaking to Jackson, who somehow always managed to be on top of the Stars Hollow gossip, leading a group of manly men who called themselves the Stars Hollow Network, which did little more than exchange gossip and drink beer. Still Sookie managed to provide a beautiful cake for the event.
Luke nearly ruined the whole thing because he was smiling so much that Miss Patty and Babette became suspicious. Fortunately, Kirk saved him by conveniently sneaking Lulu's dog into the diner, whereupon it escaped, scaring two tourists and causing Luke to drop a plate. He took the opportunity to yell at Kirk and ban him from the diner for the rest of the week. He relented a few hours later in response to Kirk's sandwich board that he paraded in front of the diner, loudly announcing his personal apology to Luke.
Thus they married, with Sookie, Rory and Logan, and Jess with his girlfriend Stacy, who was welcomed by Lorelai and Luke, and described as a 'sweet little macaroon' by Sookie. A mini honeymoon was made possible by Lane and Caesar and Sookie covering for the couple over a long weekend, and they drove along the Connecticut shoreline from the chapel they'd found near New Haven to Stonington.
Lorelai had called in a favor from her Connecticut Inn Owners Association and scored a beautiful seaside room at the Inn at Stonington. She even cheerfully accompanied Luke on a hike through the Barn Island Wildlife Refuge and he treated her to shopping in Mystic.
A/N: This came after I saw the revival. I wanted to riff off the "I will never think about leaving" but keep it in character with Season 5.