"Hi Luke." Rory looked sullenly up at the surly diner owner as she sat at the counter. "Two coffee's to go," she added reluctantly.
"Oh that's just crazy," he muttered, staring out the window. He watched as Lorelai made her third circle around the block outside the diner. Rory had joined her for the first two. "Here." He handed Rory the coffees he had prepared five minutes before she had even walked in. "And go give her this." Rory looked oddly at the screwdriver. "Just give it to her."
"No message?"
"No, let it drive her crazy until she comes in and asks me."
Rory grinned. "Since when have you figured my mom out?" Luke shrugged. "You do know, you better have a meaning for it when she comes in or she'll kill you. And please, god, tell me it's not that you want to start screw" Luke turned red and interrupted her
"Out. Now. Man, you better get your butt out to college before she rubs off on you completely."
"Bet you wish she'd rub off' on"
"Now Gilmore," he pointed to the door, and Rory left, chuckling.
"Did he kick you out? I am going to go kick his ass..." Lorelai looked ready for a fight. "What is that?" She pointed to the screwdriver.
"It's a present to you, from Luke. And I already asked, it doesn't mean he wants to screw around." Lorelai gave her daughter a horrified look.
"Well what does it mean then?" Lorelai glanced back into the diner where Luke was doing his best to ignore her.
"Mom, there's Lane and Dave I'm going to get going, O.K.? "
"Fine kid, leave me with the mystery. Hey, you'll be back later tonight though, right? We're going to spend some quality time together?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it, especially since you invited Grandma. It should be fun, as long as you two don't fight"
"We've been doing really well, Rory, that's why I invited her. Go, have fun. I'll probably be going over Inn stuff with Sookie and Annie today anyway." Lorelai returned her attention to the screwdriver, debating whether or not to go in. Her curiosity won out, and she skulked into the diner.
"So what's this mean?" she asked shortly.
"Oh, and good morning to you too, sunshine."
"Don't be all nice to me. We're fighting." She crossed her arms across her chest.
"No we're not."
"Um, I think I know when I'm fighting with someone." She was getting irritated.
"Well, I'm not fighting with you, so we're not fighting."
"That's not the way it works," she wagged the screwdriver at him as he took away her to-go cup and threw it away. "Hey!"
Luke reached for a mug and poured her a fresh cup. She eyed it suspiciously.
"We're not fighting, because I don't want to fight with you." He paused. "I'm sorry," he said finally. Lorelai was caught off guard.
"Well, you should be."
"I am."
"Because, I wasn't doing anything wrong."
"I know."
"Yeah. Good." She turned the screwdriver over in her hands. "So what's this mean?"
"I figured, if you were up to it, we'd go over to Annie's today and put her stuff together for her. I called her this morning and she said ten would be fine. I've got Caesar to cover the shift- I might duck out for an hour around noon, but I'll be back."
"Goodie. A project. I've been so bored lately," Lorelai sipped her coffee happily. This morning was turning out much better than she had expected.
"She hasn't bought any paint, so she said you could stop by and get some ideas for colors earlier if you want."
"I love to paint," she danced happily on her stool.
"I know." Lorelai finished her coffee and hopped off the stool. "Not so many cans of paint this time, O.K.? It's just a little room." Luke watched her dance out of the diner, the proverbial weight lifted from his shoulders.
*****
"Annie?"
"In here Lorelai," Annie called from up the stairs. Lorelai bounded up, heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
"Good morning!" Annie smiled as she sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by piles of baby stuff. "I forgot how fun this stuff was. I bought it almost four months ago, and it's been in boxes since."
"So, what are we looking at here?" Lorelai sat down in front of her and grabbed a box.
"Well, let's start with these," Annie reached into the pocket of her maternity overalls and pulled out three little figurines. "At risk of being too Genevieve, here is my inspiration for the room,'" She handed the figurines to Lorelai.
"When I was a freshman in college, Jake was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He used to send me little stuff every once in a while. These are netsuke, Japanese figurines." Lorelai closely examined the small animals.
"The first one that looks like a little dragon thingy is a Kirin. Here, Jake wrote what they stand for," she produced an old letter from the same pocket and read. "'The emblem of kindness and virtue, the kirin is a vegetarian and is so gentle a creature that it won't even walk on grass lest it crush the living beings that take shelter there.' Isn't that nice? In college I decided to be a vegetarian for that year. Blech, I don't recommend it. The tiger one, that's for luck, courage and strength, all of which I'll need for this baby, and the last one there- I had a thing for collecting frogs- that one's a toad but close enough that one is for luck and persistence."
"Wow, you kept these for a long time."
"I know. They're my favorite ones- I have a whole collection of them somewhere in these boxes that I'd like to display in here. So yeah, all this stuff has a Japanese theme, and the colors are red and black and cream, which are supposed to be good, stimulating colors for the baby. Oh, and look at what I ordered-" she tried to reached for a large picture frame and tried to rock herself closer to it, until Lorelai finally reached over and picked it up for her. "That's "Emily" in Japanese. I had it framed a while ago."
"Emily?"
"Emily, Emma it's what I'm naming the baby." Lorelai nodded. "It after Jake's mother," she added quietly.
Lorelai was dying to ask her a million questions- things like, how did you even meet Jake and what's he like? It was killing her to let the story come out in pieces like this, but sense told her not to pry just yet, anyway.
"So, what can I color match for the walls?" Lorelai stood up and helped hoist Annie to her feet.
"Thanks, I thought I was going to get stuck. You can take one of these, and this" Annie collected a pillow and another piece of artwork and sent Lorelai off with a pretty good idea of what to get.
*****
"Ready Mr. Fix-it?" Lorelai popped her head into the diner and looked around.
"Yeah, one second," Luke finished ringing up a customer, stepped around the counter and grabbed his toolbox.
"Bert! Oh Bert, how I've missed you!" Lorelai fawned over the toolbox.
"Yeah, I'm sure he missed you too," Luke grouched. It was hot out, and suddenly painting didn't seem like the best idea in the world.
"No you don't, do not be a grouch!" Lorelai wagged her finger at him as they walked down the street to Annie's. "This is going to be fun!" She jumped and twirled around, midair, and practically landed on him.
"Yeah, O.K., I get it" he helped steady her. She changed, he noticed, into grubbier clothes for painting- ripped jean shorts and the patented Lorelai tight t-shirt. This one was pink and read: "Hail to the Princess."
"Come on, slowpoke!" she bounded up the front walk to Annie's. He was about to come back with some smart remark about him being the one carrying everything, but she was already too far ahead. "Hurry up!" Well, at least she was holding the door open for him. Small miracles.
"Annie?" Lorelai called into the house.
"What if she's sleeping loudmouth?"
"She's expecting us," Lorelai reasoned. She was about to scream again when Annie poked her head over the upstairs railing.
"Come on up!" Luke and Lorelai trudged up the stairs and into the baby's room. It was still in a disarray, albeit a slightly more organized disarray. Annie looked at them guiltily.
"I tried to clean up as best I could, but I got tired again. At least I'm not so nauseous anymore, thank God," she smiled, and looked more refreshed than she had the previous day.
"You're nauseous Annie? How often?" Annie looked at her questioningly. "It just seems odd, this far along, to be sick and everything" Lorelai trailed off, trying not to alarm Annie, who looked uncomfortable at the question. "Have you talked to your doctor?"
"I put a call in," Annie blatantly lied, and felt terrible for it. She tried to change the subject as best as she could. "So where should we get started?"
"Well, you should go downstairs, watch television, read a contract or whatever you think is fun or relaxing. Luke and I will take care of stuff," Annie started to protest, and Lorelai hushed her. "You can't lift, you can't bend down, and you cannot be around when we start painting- the fumes are totally dangerous. So you'll have to make your best attempt at being a lazy butt and leave this to us. When it comes to the details, we'll come down and ask you. I promise, this room will be perfect." Luke watched silently as Lorelai fussed over Annie, helping her down the stairs.
"Well, I could get a jump start on some of the Dragonfly stuff" Annie was saying as they left.
Luke walked into the baby room and looked around. Linens and stuffed animals were strewn about the room in different boxes; the box of parts for the crib leaned against a corner, and the other furniture had been left, probably by the movers, practically in the middle of the room. In a month, there'll be a baby in here, fussing and smiling and making a mess in this place. The drift of his thoughts caught him by surprise, as much so now as it had when he asked Nicole about kids. Nicole. She hadn't called, and he hadn't expected her to, or wanted her to, for that matter. The mess of it was still fresh in his mind, and he was keeping it to himself for a while. The last thing he needed was Lorelai cooing all over him, telling him how sorry she was, how he'll find somebody someday, like she had when Rachel left.
"Earth to flannel man," the echo of her voice as she spoke into her cupped hands startled Luke from his thoughts.
"I'm just trying to figure out where to begin " he lied.
"At the beginning, of course. I think the best thing we can do is clear the place and get the paint on the walls. Then maybe get the furniture together and keep going from there" Lorelai took charge, and as usual, Luke relinquished the reins to her.
*****
"My arm is going to fall off," Lorelai said for what had to be the millionth time. Luke sighed, put his paintbrush down and walked over to the other side of the room, where Lorelai had been painting the trim.
"Stand up," he said authoritatively. She looked up at him from the floor, her eyes wide and expressive, as always. She smiled and he forgot what he was doing there right. Focus. She reached out her arm and he pulled her to her feet.
"What?" He didn't say a word, but took the paintbrush out of her hand a put it back in the pan, hanging onto her hand in the process. Lorelai stood, puzzled, as he proceeded to lift her arm slowly, until it was directly above her head. She found herself holding her breath, the sound of the Beetle's "Help" coming from the radio the only interruption in the stillness. Still holding her hand, he walked around her, staring intently at her shoulder. He led her arm out to the side, and she could feel the tickle of his breath on the back of her neck as her stood behind her. She started to turn her head to look at him.
"Don't move," he warned, and she snapped her head forward, utterly confused. Her arm extended, Luke shook it, then let it drop to her side. "I think you'll live," he whispered into her ear. She turned and smacked him.
"Jerk," she laughed, pushing him again.
"Hey, you're the one who was worried about permanent damage ow!" He grabbed her by the arms as she tried to smack him again, her momentum causing her to land squarely in his chest.
"Smart ass," she smiled, breathless at her assault.
"Whatever you say, Princess," he let her go and pushed her back towards her paintbrush, smacking her in the ass in the process. She feigned an aversion to his actions.
"Are you getting fresh with me young man?" She chided him, still glowing from being called a princess.
"Paint, Princess, paint-" he shook his brush at her and pointed to the wall. He tried to ignore the rush of giddiness that enveloped his mind, or the way it felt to be close to her. This is the next best thing,
*****
"It's official. I'm dying of starvation," Lorelai laid on the drop cloth, staring up at the ceiling, her arm draped over her head dramatically. Her declaration didn't even garner a response from Luke. She peeked out from under her arm. "What, no test to see if I'll live?"
"Nope."
"Hmmph. I see how much you care."
"Lorelai Gilmore, it is a medical certainty that you will not die of starvation for the next six weeks at least. I know how you eat, I feed you every day. I'm not concerned." He stepped back, examining his work. He and Lorelai had been painting for the last three hours, and they were just about finished- touch ups aside, and it looked pretty good. He joined Lorelai on the floor and laid back, his head next to hers.
"We did a pretty good job quickly enough," he seemed pleased.
"Has it earned us a food break?" Lorelai pleaded.
"We had sandwiches an hour ago," he teased. She reached over and pinched his arm. "Hey!" Luke rubbed him arm.
"That's how my poor empty tummy feels." Luke grunted. Lorelai tilted her head to look at him; his eyes were closed, he looked relaxed. "Tired?"
"A little. It's hot up here." Lorelai nodded and leaned her head so it rested close enough to his that they were touching. She closed her eyes too.
"We should take a nap," Lorelai yawned.
"I thought you were hungry?
"Now I'm tired."
"Well, we can't laze around her all day," he turned his head towards hers, and she thought she felt the trace of his lips on her forehead before he sat up. The notion brought her back to awareness quicker than a cold splash of water. Before she could even think, he was up and on his feet. "Come on, let's eat again," he sighed, smiling. "Then we can get to getting the rest of this stuff together."
She followed him down the stairs, staring at his back, trying to chase the thoughts running through her head. "Annie?" He called softly down the stairs.
"Hey guys. I was going to come up and see you," Annie waddled into the foyer. "Come on, I made chicken salad." Luke took the rest of the stairs two at a time and walked past Annie to the kitchen. Lorelai took more time. "Lorelai? Are you O.K.?" Annie asked, concerned.
"Yeah, must be the paint fumes," she joked halfheartedly. Just stop thinking, stop imagining things girl. The paint IS getting to your head.
"Took you long enough," Luke teased as she walked into the kitchen. He handed her a full plate of food.
"Always serving me," Lorelai quipped.
"You are the Princess," he said for the third time that day. Lorelai looked at him, the question on your face. "It's on your shirt, Lorelai," Luke pointed to her chest. She blushed, embarrassed that she had thought it was anything more.
"Of course. Good to see you pay attention," she muttered, sitting down. Gather yourself. She looked up at him with a dazzling smile to cover her tracks.
"So you're in a good mood Annie. What's up?" She changed the focus of attention to her friend.
"I got my letter," Annie smiled. "It's about a week late, which made me edgy. But he's fine, I guess. He can be vague about the details."
Lorelai put her fork down and stared at Annie. "O.K. It's killing me. I have to know the story."
"It's a long story," Annie sighed.
"I gathered. But I'm dying to know if you're willing to share," she added. Luke looked expectantly at Annie as well. He had been just as curious as Lorelai, and though the crazy Gilmore's imaginary stories about Annie and Jake had entertained him for most of the morning, he was curious about the truth.
"Yeah, I guess I am. I haven't talked about it much," she paused. "Well, not with anybody really. My dad didn't really ask the details or anything. I told Travis a little butif you're sure it won't bore you," Annie looked at Luke and Lorelai, who seemed interested. Sighing, she sat down with some effort, and started to tell them about her marine.
*****
FYI: the next chapter will be the summary of Annie's relationship with Jake- not a lot of Gilmore Girl action, but it's kind of necessary. I hope you guys enjoy Annie enough to get through it. J
Also, I found a great website about Netsuke, and practically quoted them, so here's the reference:
