Okay, I know that it has been an extremely long wait, and I would just like to thank everyone that's hung on this far. I think that writing this story really tested my abilities, if you know what I mean, and helped me to become a better writer. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. And once again, thank you so so much for all of the great feedback!
Two weeks later
Luke can't help but smile as he opens the diner early Tuesday morning. Things are good. Well, not exactly good, but a lot better than they were, he reflects. He, Rory, and Lorelai's parents remained the only souls who knew of her secret. Well, and Christopher of course. But Luke did his very best to forget about that weasel's existence. Lorelai had been back at work for a few weeks now, Rory started Yale again yesterday, and they had even attended Friday night dinner last week. So far, so good.
He actually whistles as he gives Kirk his breakfast of smiley-face pancakes and scrambled eggs. It throws Kirk a little off guard, which is, well, understandable.
"What, Kirk?" Luke asks in reference to the look on Kirk's face. He does his best to sound irritated, but really he is slightly amused.
"What?" Kirk feigns confusion.
"You know what. What's with the look?" The question Luke really should be asking is What's with the smiley-faced pancakes?, but because he's in a good mood, he's going to let that one slide.
"What look?" Now Kirk acts offended.
"The look you just- you know what, forget it," Luke throws his hands up in the air. It's hard to take someone seriously when they are eating faces for breakfast.
"Uh, boss?" Ceasar enters the kitchen, looking guilty.
"Yeah, Ceasar?" Luke answers, still shaking his head at Kirk's antics.
"We're out of maple syrup,"
"What? How can we be out of maple syrup? We buy cases of that stuff!" Ceasar looks especially guilty when Luke points this out. "Don't we buy cases of maple syrup, Ceasar?"
"Uh, well, you see…," Ceasar begins hesitantly. Luke knows he probably shouldn't have made Ceasar in charge of the ordering this month. Geez. He was just trying to give the guy a break.
Luke cuts him off. "It's 6:30 in the morning! Where the heck am I supposed to find maple syrup? Doose's isn't open for another hour and a half!"
"You know what boss, don't even worry about it. I'll take care of it," Ceasar is already taking off his apron. "I'll go find some right away,"
Right at that moment, however, a mob of people walk into the diner. Luke sighs. There's no way he can manage without Ceasar. Lane's shift doesn't start until 7:00, and he's alone if he sends Ceasar on a maple syrup quest.
"No, wait, hang on a sec," he says, causing Ceasar, already half-way out the door, to look severely disappointed.
"Come on," he whines.
Luke takes him by the shoulder and turns him around. "Go help those people," he said. "I'll be right back,"
He vaguely hears Ceasar grumble something under his breath as he makes his way over to the other side of the diner. Luke goes back to the storage room. When he gets there, he looks around and puts his hands on his hips. So. Making Ceasar in charge of unpacking wasn't such a great idea either.
It takes Luke a few minutes, but after tripping over at least three boxes, he finds it: one last bottle of maple syrup. In between the ketchup and the pickles. Okay. So Ceasar's not the most organized person in the world. But he knew that when he hired him. Luke takes the bottle back out to the diner and Ceasar looks at him as if they've just won a gold medal in the Olympics. What Ceasar doesn't know is that he is fired from pretty much everything but cooking, ordering and serving.
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When 8:00 am rolls around, Luke takes it upon himself to get them some more syrup. Ceasar has been hiding in the kitchen ever since Lane arrived; he's mad at Luke because he took away his ordering and unpacking privileges. Luke shakes his head and smiles. It had been quite a morning.
He leaves Doose's after being terribly overpriced by Taylor (and in no way being able to talk him down) with a grocery sack full of maple syrup bottles. Luke had made a phone call to his supplier, and they too, were dangerously low on maple syrup. So he figured he had better stock up.
He is walking back to the diner when he sees someone out of the corner of his eye.
Luke takes a step back and shakes his head. He must be seeing things. For a minute there, he almost thought he saw…
Wait. Why is Lorelai walking out of Weston's with…no, it can't be. He wouldn't dare.
But it is. Luke sets the grocery bag down on a nearby bench and walks after them. He follows them to Lorelai's house. Wait a minute…he thinks. Is he in some sort of alternative universe? Did the past few weeks not happen? But the real question he wants to ask is: Why is Lorelai hiding this from me?
He lets them go in the house and sits on the front stoop, a dazed expression on his face. What's going on here? He had thought that in the last few weeks he and Lorelai had gotten closer, not further apart. Why would she not bother to tell him that she had invited him over like this?
Unless she didn't invite him over. What if he had just showed up, out of the blue? He had probably cornered Lorelai at home or the Dragonfly when he knew she would be alone. That would be just like him. Luke should just go in and show that guy who's boss. He had absolutely no right to be here.
Luke gets up and walks right in the door. And there they are, sitting on the couch, the very same couch that he and Lorelai had sat on the night before when they were watching television. For some reason, Luke is especially angry when he thinks about this.
Lorelai sees Luke before Christopher does, and immediately jumps up from where she was sitting. "Luke-," she begins, but Christopher cuts her off, standing up as well.
"I thought you said he wasn't going to be here!" he exclaims, looking a little distressed as his gaze travels from her to Luke, and then back to her again.
"I will kill you, do you hear me?" Luke is now so angry that he can't see straight, can't see the pleading look on Lorelai's face. "I will kill you if you hurt her!"
"Will you now?" Christopher taunts him.
"Chris, stop it!" Lorelai exclaims before turning back to Luke. "This isn't what you think-," she says desperately.
"And what do I think this is?" Luke asks, angry that she thinks she knows him so well. But in reality, she does. He feels himself to be at a serious disadvantage because she couldn't bring herself to tell him something as important as this.
She doesn't answer. "Lorelai, what the hell is going on?" He yells, and immediately regrets it when he sees tears forming in her eyes. His voice is considerably gentler when he asks, "Did you invite him here?"
Her voice shakes as she wraps her arms around her chest, trying to make herself as small as possible while both men stare at her. "I-I just…,"
The room is silent as she looks for the right words. Luke asks her, very softly, one more time. "Did you?"
Lorelai is looking at a picture on the wall rather than either of them when she whispers, "Yes."
Luke grabs her arm and says "Okay, we need a minute here", even though he thinks Christopher doesn't deserve to know where they are going. He leads her into the kitchen and sits her down in a chair, and then leans against the countertop, arms crossed. "Talk," he says.
Lorelai takes a deep breath and wipes her eyes before beginning. "All right, you have every excuse to be angry, because this looks really bad, I know, but please just hear me out-"
Luke finds himself pacing around the kitchen without knowing how or when he began. "What are you doing, inviting him here? It's like-it's like the last two weeks didn't even happen-!"
She's extremely quiet as she looks him in the eye and says, "No, it's not."
"I mean, really, Lorelai! Don't you know what he did?" Luke throws his arms up in frustration.
"Yes, Luke. I was there, remember?" She's still sitting at the table, now staring at her hands, trying not to cry.
He blinks, coming back to himself. "I'm sorry," he says, not just for that outburst but for all of them.
"It's okay," she says, still refusing to look him in the eye. He sits down next to her and takes her hands in his.
"So, tell me," he says gently.
"Okay, well, I invited him here so we could talk about Rory,"
Luke of course, immediately thinks the worst. "What? I thought Rory was-,"
"She's fine Luke, she's still at Yale, still moved out of my parents' house…it's just that she's still refusing to talk to Chris." She gives Luke a meaningful look. "And, by the looks of it, you're still refusing to see why that's a problem."
"I just think that he-," Luke begins.
"I know. I know what you're going to say, and I agree with you, for the most part." She gives him a small smile. "But think of this from Rory's point of view. She's young, she doesn't totally understand the circumstances surrounding the…event, and, well, I don't want her to be like me, cutting off her parents before she really gets a chance to hate them!"
Luke still disagrees. "It's not the same thing."
"It is the same thing. She's too young to be cutting people out of her life, Luke."
"But she still has you, and you're a better parent than he'll ever be,"
She smiles ruefully. "I can't disagree with you there,"
"No," Luke shakes his head vehemently. "I don't care. He doesn't deserve to be in your life."
"In her life, Luke. I myself am having a hard time just being in the same room as him for enough time to even have this conversation."
Luke is a little confused. "But I thought you said…,"
"I know," Lorelai says, thinking to their conversation of a few days ago, where she had assured Luke that she was getting over the incident, and that it was just hard after having it suddenly thrown in her face again, after so much time. She had said that she was going to do her best to try and forgive Christopher (to forgive him again, Luke had interjected), because, no matter what, he was still Rory's father and it was going to be unavoidable that she would see him, whether it be at Rory's college graduation, wedding, or whatever other event would come up.
Luke had accepted this at the time, but didn't know that the inevitable meeting with Christopher would be taking place so soon.
"Rory's life is your life," Luke pointed out. "You said it yourself; you can't just avoid him forever. It's both of you or neither of you."
Tears fill Lorelai's eyes again. "Don't say it like that."
Luke stands up and starts pacing once more, not wanting her to start crying again. "I don't understand why you can't just walk away from him. It's not for Rory, you know it's not. He's never been there for her and he doesn't deserve to be now."
"I don't know why, either," Lorelai whispers, her head now in her hands.
Luke pulls her up to him and hugs her tightly. "It's okay," he soothes.
"It's not okay, Luke, look at me!" She pulls away from him slightly, forcing him to contemplate her face. "I'm a mess, I'm pathetic…,"
"No you're not-," Luke begins, but it's a feeble attempt and she quickly cuts him off.
"I hate him, I want him gone! I can admit it to you!" He feels her trying to get out of his embrace, but realizing this just makes him hold her tighter.
"Lorelai, it's okay!"
"It's not!" She exclaims, almost violently trying to get away from him now. "I'm not me anymore, Luke! This…thing comes out into the open after almost 20 years and suddenly I'm this weak, crying, falling apart-,"
"Stop it," Luke interjects.
"I'm not the same person that you fell in love with," Lorelai whispers. "And you know it."
Luke takes her face in his hands and looks her in the eye. "Lorelai, when bad things happen, people change. They become stronger. They have to."
She shakes her head, avoiding his eyes again. "But I'm not-,"
"But you will be," He assures her.
"You think so?" She asks doubtfully.
He kisses her forehead. "Of course I do."
Lorelai lets him hold her for a moment, regains her composure, and then smiles at him. "Okay then, let's go," she says, taking his hand, leading him back to the living room, where she is going to tell Christopher off once and for all.
THE END
