Better start with the disclaimer before I get into any trouble: Not mine and to be honest after season 6 and 7 I don't even want to own it and those who do should hide in a hole.
Thank you for your amazing reviews guys and for pointing out mistakes I made. Keep them coming.
Thanks to Vaso again for reading my stuff and for giving me ideas for future chapters and for kicking my butt.
A couple of hugs for Kasia – I just feel like it :P
And thanks to JJ4Ever for beta-ing this chapter.
Ok you waited long enough – go, go read !!
If you find mistakes, keep 'em.
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Chapter X
Ok, that was it, Rory thought when she left the house and closed the door with more force than she had intended. I hope my lovely father doesn't come home today. Gives her some time to think. She mumbled in her head on the way to her car. "At least I hope," Rory said out loud and sighed.
She was about to enter her car when her movements were interrupted by Babette, who came out of her house, yelling like a mad woman.
"Rory, sugar! Wait up!" Babette crossed the lawn grasping for air. "Hold up Rory! I'm not as quick as I used to be."
"Slow down Babette. I'm not leaving you in the dust," Rory chuckled. "Jeez Babette, breathe," she said after Babette arrived safely at her side. A few deep breaths and some failed attempts to speak on Babette's side later, Rory said: "Ok, one more, and then tell me what's up."
She straightened up and took one last deep breath and tried again: "Oh, I just wanted to tell you we're having a town meeting tonight 'cause of Luke and everything." She paused for a second and took another breath.
"What's up with our town hunk anyway? Do you know anything yet? No one knows what happened. Not even East Side Tilly and she gets most of the scoop lately. Let me tell ya. Not even Patty's phone picks up anything good lately. We definitely live on the wrong side of Stars Hollow," Babette babbled on.
"Maybe Morey and I should move after all – looking at how things are around here now," she mumbled more to herself and shot a wistful glance towards the Crap Shack which didn't go unnoticed by Rory.
Rory sighed and replied: "She'll come around Babette."
"What sugar?" Babette asked, coming out of her own thoughts. "Oh yeah. Hopefully," she mumbled. "So what about Luke?" Babette led back to the main subject.
"Well, I don't know how much Luke wants you all to know," Rory started nervously. She knew he hated to be in the center of attention and the latest news in Hello Magazine. "But I'm on my way to the hospital," Rory continued in a rush. "I spent the night at Lane's and we hashed out some plans. I want to discuss them with Luke and see what he thinks."
"That's a good idea sugar. So how bad is it? If you need to plan out something with Lane it can't be good, can it?" Babette asked impatiently.
Rory looked at her and heaved a sigh.
"He is not coming home soon Babette. He is fine so far but…" Rory got out before she got interrupted by Babette.
"So if he's fine, then why can't he come home soon?" she screeched.
"Well..." Rory took a deep breath before she went on, "He can't walk, Babette," She said in a low voice.
"He can't walk!" she shrieked. "That's terrible sugar," she said and grabbed Rory in a tight hug.
"How are you holding up honey?" She asked after a few seconds. "Oh my God! What about April? Does she know already? Is she coming?"
"Slow down Babette." Rory interrupted her. "Yes, April knows and I don't know if she is coming or not."
"Poor munchkin," Babette mumbled. "How is…" Babette trailed off and let her eyes travel towards the Crap Shack again.
"She is dealing with it the Lorelai way," Rory stated rather coolly and turned her eyes away from the house.
"Is he giving you guys a hard time?" Babette asked picking up on Rory's mood.
"Let's just say he is no great help." Rory stated. She didn't want to give Babette more to gossip than she already had and continued: "I'm sorry Babette, but I really have to go. I need to get to Luke."
"It's fine sugar." Babette answered understandingly. "Tell him we're thinking of him and not to worry. The town is going to handle things."
"Alright Babette," Rory said and hugged her goodbye. "Thank you, and I'll see you at the town meeting tonight."
The women separated and Babette was about to return to her house when Rory remembered to ask: "Eh, Babette? What about mom? She doesn't know about the town meeting."
Babette turned around and replied: "She ain't been coming to meetings anymore anyway," she shrugged sadly and continued her walk home.
Rory turned to the Crap Shack once more. She looked sadly at it, shook her head and groaned: "How did everything go so wrong?" Rory turned towards her car, got in and drove off to the hospital.
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Meanwhile in the Crap Shack, Lorelai had to sit down after everything Rory told her.
"How did everything go so wrong?" Lorelai sighed. So many thoughts were running around in her head, it felt like ants had invaded her brain. She rubbed her temples in order to calm down the throbbing in her head. After a few minutes Lorelai gave up.
"I can't sit here and let them eat up my brain," she cried out and stood up.
She went into the living room, got her purse and keys and was about to head out the front door when she spotted two figures standing on her lawn through the milky glass in the door.
Probably Rory talking to Babette. She thought and waited in the house. She observed how the two hugged and exchanged gestures. After some time the person Lorelai assumed to be Babette moved away and Lorelai thought it would be save to open the door a crack.
When she did she heard Babette's words: "She ain't been coming to meetings anymore anyway."
Lorelai winced after hearing the hurt and disappointment in Babette's voice. She quickly shut the door again and watched as Rory turned in what Lorelai could only imagine the direction of the house. She averted her eyes in shame since it felt to Lorelai as if Rory's eyes could see right through the door and at her.
A couple of minutes later she heard Rory's car starting and saw it driving out of the driveway through the glass. Lorelai sighed heavily and finally moved out of the house – inwardly praying she wouldn't run into Babette. She had to get out of the house, out of Stars Hollow and the only escape she saw was getting to the Dragonfly.
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When Rory reached the hospital she had calmed down a little but the minute she stepped foot out of the elevator and walked slowly towards Luke's room her heart started to beat rapidly again. When she reached his door she took a deep breath, knocked and entered carefully.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Rory excused herself when she saw that a nurse was with Luke. "I'll come back when you are finished," she continued and was about to shut the door when Luke called out for her.
"Rory, wait," he said. "It's ok. Nurse Greene is just bringing me what they call food here. You can come in."
"I told you, it was Carol," The nurse told Luke sternly and then turned towards Rory. "Is he rolling his eyes?" she asked bluntly.
Rory looked from the nurse to Luke, who indeed rolled his eyes, and back to the nurse again.
"It's one of his trademarks." Rory grinned at the nurse.
"Let me guess, his charming attitude as well?" The nurse teased further.
"Oh my God! Did you already unleash one of your rants?" Rory's jaw dropped as she looked back at Luke who only shrugged with his shoulders.
"He's a real charmer, that one," Carol said looking back at Luke and winked at him. He in return blushed a little and rolled his eyes again.
"I think we tortured him enough. Poor guy didn't even have breakfast yet." The nurse smiled knowing what is going to come.
"You call that breakfast?" Luke started.
"Oh, here comes a second one," Carol whispered to Rory and both women started to grin from ear to ear.
"The tea is cold." Luke continued gesturing toward the tea with his right hand. "There is sugar in it. Do you have any idea what sugar does to you?" He looked at Rory and Carol as if he expected an answer from them. "Killing vitamins! Destroying your teeth! Should I continue?" He asked them again.
He turned back to his tray of food. "Those eggs are half cooked and salty." He pointed a finger at the plate. "Salmonella. Water that is not going to leave my body! Two things I won't handle well since I'm stuck in this bed. Should I even mention there is not one fruit on here?" Luke stopped his rant and looked challengingly at the nurse.
Carol just smiled and turned towards Rory again. "Definitely a keeper." She smirked and left the room.
"Charming your way into her heart?" Rory turned teasingly back at Luke.
"I'm not charming anything or anyone," Luke grumped in return.
"That's more like it." Rory grinned and walked closer toward Luke's bed. "So how was your first night? Did you get any sleep?" She asked.
"Sure, with either a doctor or a nurse poking a head in here every five minutes," Luke grumbled.
Rory took the chair from the corner and moved it closer to Luke's bed so she could take a seat. She let her eyes travel over the room for a second before she turned her attention back at Luke.
"Em, Luke? Do you have a phone in here or can you get access to one?" Rory asked.
"Charming Nurse Carol is on it already but it's taking them forever. I must have lost my cell phone in the storeroom. I can't use it in here anyway. I need to call April. We were supposed to talk last night and she must be wondering what happened. It totally slipped my mind to ask you or Lorelai to call her for me with everything that happened yesterday." Luke rambled.
"Don't worry Luke." Rory interjected. "Zach found your phone and when I was at their place last night April called."
"She did?" Luke asked anxiously. "How was she? What did you tell her?"
"Calm down, Luke." Rory tried to sooth him. "I told her you had an accident and that you are in the hospital but that you were fine. That we would try to figure out a way how she can contact you."
"She must be worried." Luke said concerned. "Does she know about my legs?"
"Yes, I told her about that. She is worried but stayed as calm as possible. We need a way to contact her if the phone thing takes too long." Rory said thoughtfully.
"Well," Luke started attentively. "If it is alright with you, you can use my cell and give her the heads up since I can't call her."
"Of course, Luke." Rory said immediately and patted the back of his hand.
"Thanks" Luke sighed relieved and Rory gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before she pulled it back.
After a few minutes of silence Luke spoke up first.
"So what did you and Lane come up with last night?" he asked.
"Oh right. The diner." Rory dragged her mind back to the main problem. "Ok, first, we didn't get the chance to ask Caesar yet if he agrees with our plan."
"Oh, believe me, he will." Luke interrupted her. "Everything to get those stupid frozen bananas back," Luke grumbled from the bed and rolled his eyes. Rory only grinned at that and kept going.
"Ok. So let's just assume Caesar is up to it. That makes one full time worker for the diner. Zach will take over Lane's shifts and whenever else he is needed. That makes two. The band is not playing any gigs at the moment and Zach really digs working in the diner. He is very happy to work there more." Rory smiled reassuringly at Luke. "Lane is going to step in when they need her, too."
"No." Luke jumped in. "She is not working at the diner. It's too much for her. She has to stay off of her feet as much as possible. The guys have to handle it without her," he said sternly and gave Rory a look that didn't allow any objections.
"Ok, Lane stays out of the diner." Rory nodded. "I have a break coming up in two weeks. Just for a couple of days but I'm going to shimmy in as good as I can."
"Rory, you have Yale, homework, the newspaper, friends and Friday night dinner. You always need to study or write a paper," Luke pointed out.
"Luke," she interrupted his rant, "I can handle it. You are my friend, you need help and I'm going to help you. End of discussion," Rory said firmly and by the look in her eyes Luke could tell she meant business.
"Alright. Caesar knows the diner best and with Zach's help they should be able to handle it. Lane is good with the paperwork, money and what's in stock and what needs to be ordered. She only has to stick her nose in there once or twice a week to get a good look at the storeroom and grab the papers, or better yet Zach can take them home with him after work. It keeps her off her feet and she can still make some money. Those two will sure need it." Luke brainstormed.
"Brian also offered his help if the diner gets swamped." Rory put in.
"Ok, good. The staff situation is cared for." Luke said. All of a sudden his eyes went wide and he looked at Rory his expression turning hard all at once.
"What?" Rory asked bewildered and a bit scared.
"Under no circumstances is Kirk allowed behind the counter, in the kitchen or storeroom or up in my apartment." Luke said in a firm tone. "Do not let him work at my diner! Understood!"
Rory released the breath she was holding and giggled slightly.
"Yes, Luke. Understood. Kirk will be a customer and nothing more. I promise." Rory grinned at Luke. "I can pinky swear if you want." She chuckled and held out her right pinky to Luke who only rolled his eyes at her.
"We can keep the diner open and running," he continued.
"That's good right? We need the diner up and running. That's ok with you?" Rory said uncertain.
"Yes, that's all good by me. The hospital bill and rehab will eat enough out of my savings as it is but we still have the problem with my meat guy." Luke said. "He won't leave it if I don't sign the delivery papers myself."
"There has to be a way around that." Rory encouraged Luke to think of something. "Maybe if you'll write a note or something and explain the situation."
"No, it doesn't work. I tried it a couple of times with Caesar but he didn't budge, although thinking of it, Lorelai…" Luke stopped when the memory about that day came back to him.
It was during their first year together and Lorelai experienced Luke's mourning over the loss of his father and better known as his dark day for the first time. After a rough day and night Luke finally fell asleep just before the meat guy was supposed to show up. Lorelai didn't want to wake him up and somehow convinced the meat guy to leave the goods.
Lorelai padded silently back into the dark apartment. She stopped at the sink in the kitchen and filled a glass with water. She turned around and looked at Luke who lay in bed; sleeping peacefully now. It had been a rough day for him and a rough night for both. He didn't want her to stay at first but Lorelai saw right through his act and crawled in bed with him; holding him, soothing him and letting him tell her stories about his dad and his own fears of getting sick one day.
Lorelai sighed and moved over to the bed. She put the glass on the nightstand and crawled back in with Luke. He was lying on his back but the moment she slipped in on her side Luke sighed and rolled on his side and spooned behind her. He took her in his arms, drawing her closer to his body, nestling his face into her neck and breathing in her scent.
"Go back to sleep, babe," she whispered and put her hand over his; drawing little circles on the back in order to soothe him back to sleep.
"The meet guy should be here any minute," he replied softly and kissed her neck tenderly.
"All taken care of, honey," she sighed and strained her neck to give him better access. Luke's hand that had started to rub her stomach gently came to a halt and Luke shifted to get a better look at her face.
"He left the meat with you?" he asked incredulously.
Lorelai shifted onto her back and looked up at Luke, not getting why it was such a big deal.
"Well, he did put up a little fight at first, but in the end he couldn't resist the Lorelai charm," she said proudly and grinned up at Luke.
Luke looked down at her adoringly and wondered how he got so lucky to have her right here beside him and in his life.
"You are amazing," he whispered in awe and leaned in to kiss her tenderly on the lips. Lorelai lifted her hand and ran her fingers through his curls at the base of his neck; putting some pressure on the spot to signal Luke to deepen the kiss.
After a couple of minutes they separated; panting from the intensity. The moment however was broken when Luke erupted into laughter and buried his face into her neck.
"What's so funny?" Lorelai asked, confused, running her left hand up and down Luke's right bicep. He lifted his head again and smirked down at her.
"Poor guy probably didn't know what hit him," he chuckled.
"Play nice, now," Lorelai gaped at him and swatted his chest playfully. Luke caught her hand in his and kissed each finger softly, never letting his eyes drift from hers. He sucked her index finger into his mouth and watched her eyes cloud over.
"Oh, I'm going to play, all right," he said in a husky voice once he released her finger and rolled them so he was on top of her, pressing into her and showing her how much into the play he already was.
"Although what?" Rory asked, dragging Luke back into the present. It took him a second to recover from the vivid memory and he slightly blushed. He looked up at her after a few seconds and said:
"Well, your mom somehow got the meat guy to leave the stuff even though I wasn't around. I don't know how she did it, but you know your mother and her red meat addiction." Luke chuckled slightly.
"The poor guy probably didn't know what hit him," Rory laughed.
"Probably not," Luke agreed.
Both bathed a few more seconds in the old memory and Lorelai's persuasion tactics.
"Ok, the meat guy problem would be solved as well then." Rory stated.
"Whoa there. Wait Rory,." Luke interrupted. "What do you mean solved?"
"Well, since mom got him to leave the meat once before, she can do it again now," Rory argued.
"No, no, no, no, no Rory." Luke opposed, putting up his hands to emphasize his objection. "I don't want to drag her into this. There is already tension between you two because of my situation here and the way you two are around each other your father is surely involved there somehow as well."
"But Luke, we need the meat otherwise opening the diner is a waste of time," Rory tried to reason with him.
"Rory, no," Luke interjected again. "We need to find another solution. I don't want to cause any discomfort or stress. I really appreciate what you are already doing for me but one Gilmore girl jumping through hoops is really all I can ask for after everything," Luke finished in almost a whisper.
"Oh, stop that, Luke." Rory yelled out in frustration causing Luke to look at her with huge eyes. "You both were stupid and screwed it up, but that doesn't matter here one bit. What matters is you getting back on your feet and us to keep the diner up and running. You were best friends once, for heaven's sake, and what you need right now is your friends. Through how many hoops did you jump or did mom let you jump for us in the past? If mom can help us and if she is willing to, please let her, ok?" she finished with pleading eyes.
Luke sighed and nodded silently.
"Don't worry about us, Luke. Mom and I will figure it out. We went through tougher moments in the past and I learned one important lesson," Rory said.
"What's that?" Luke asked.
"Not to run and hide but to face the problem and deal with it, and I'm going to make sure mom will not run and hide this time. We both were too stubborn when I dropped out of Yale, and believe me, I'm not going to make the same mistake again, and I won't let mom do it either. I backed down when she started dating my father again since I thought she would come to her senses at one point, and look where that lead to."
"Rory," Luke tried to interject but Rory cut him off.
"No, Luke. It all happened too fast and for the wrong reasons. They are not good for each other and I can no longer close my eyes and shut my mouth about it! Mom needs a good reality check, and either she deals with it or she starts losing what once was important to her."
"What do you mean?" Luke wanted to know; looking puzzled.
"Is the town really that good at keeping it from you?" Rory asked in disbelieve. She looked at Luke and saw at his expression that he really didn't know what she was talking about.
"The welcome wagon?" Rory asked and only received a shrug from Luke.
"The knit-a-thon nightmare?" Rory questioned further but received the same result from Luke. Rory chuckled: "Man, I never thought Hello Magazine wouldn't bring the news into the diner. I thought they met there and exchanged their stories over coffee." Rory shook her head in disbelieve.
"They got pretty quiet around me." Luke said, thinking about it.
"Well, let's just say my father didn't leave a good impression behind and the town didn't really pull out the big welcome guns for them. From what I saw and heard the last couple of days the town is sad and disappointed in mom since she doesn't participate in anything anymore like she used to in the past and if she does she brings dad along who screws everything up," Rory informed Luke with a sigh and looked down at her shoes.
"It looks as if the damage is pretty big, and I haven't even talked to Sookie yet. If their friendship looks any similar to what I heard from the town or compare it with how mom and I are right now, I guess Sookie is not a happy camper right now either." Rory continued and looked back up at Luke.
"I'm sorry, Rory," Luke said softly.
"This is not your fault, Luke, and don't you dare blame yourself. They got themselves into that position, and if mom needs to lose a few things to realize what she is doing, so be it," Rory said angrily. "Once everything is alright in Whoville again, the town will come around and Sookie can't stay mad for long."
"And you?" Luke asked worried.
"Like I said, I'm not giving up on her," Rory said determined. After a few seconds of silence Rory took in a deep breath. She wanted to ask him if he would forgive her mother but didn't know if it was her place to ask, and honestly, she was also a bit afraid of Luke's answer.
"What about you?" The question just came out with the breath she was releasing and Rory looked rather shocked at Luke.
"I…" Luke was about to answer when the door to his room got pushed open and nurse Greene entered.
"Ah, a man of his words," Carol said and after seeing the questions on both Luke and Rory's face she enlightened them. "The breakfast," she said pointed towards Luke's tray. "You didn't even touch the bread," Carol finished and took the tray from Luke's nightstand.
"Well, if it hadn't been lying open somewhere for two days, it might have been edible," Luke replied snidely.
"Grump, grump, grump." Carol said on her way out the room. "I'll be back in a few and you better say goodbye to your visitor since I'm guessing you and her don't want to see what is up next," she said with a pointed look at Luke who knew immediately what she was talking about.
"I thought a male nurse was taking care of that," Luke asked worriedly and shot an embarrassed look at Rory.
"It's your lucky day. Brad caught the flu," Carol shouted over her back.
"So what? He is the only male nurse in the whole hospital?" Luke barked back, getting more agitated with the situation.
"No, but the only one who works in our ward, so suck it up and take it like a man," The nurse countered. "And if you are a good boy I'll even give you a nice sponge bath before you go to bed tonight," Carol chuckled when she saw the terror written all over Luke's face.
"Is he always this easy to get to?" Carol asked, turning towards Rory with a big grin on her face.
"Am I not punished enough with my situation already? Why do I have to get a nurse with an attitude like that?" Luke grumbled to himself.
"Believe me, after two weeks in here you are going to look forward to seeing me." Carol smiled at Luke.
"Or I'll be ready to commit a crime," He shot back. "Another loner who went crazy after people bugged him too much."
"Oh, he did have a reputation as the town loner." Rory shimmied in.
"See. Listen to her. She is a smart girl," Luke said proudly and pointed a finger at Rory. "Going to do big things in life one day," he nodded and Rory blushed slightly.
"But she said did have, so you are not anymore," Carol argued against Luke. "So put away your hard exterior. You have been exposed," she grinned.
"Ok," Rory interjected. "I think I need to get going since they need to take care of stuff and well, a town meeting is waiting for me back home." Rory stood up and grabbed her things. "Oh, by the way, what do you want me to tell the town? The whole story or just a rough overview of how things are and going to be over the next couple of months? Babette already told me they wanted to pitch in as good as they can."
Luke groaned loudly and rolled his eyes for it seemed like the hundredth time today.
"If Taylor tries to put up fliers and decorations while I'm gone, tell him I'll hunt him down no matter what. Keep him out of my diner. If they want to do me any good they should come in, eat and drink as they normally do. If I come back and find a second window or an archway between his stupid soda Shoppee and my diner I'm going to kill him." He looked pointedly at Rory. "You got that?"
"Yes, sir." Rory gave him a mock salute and shrugged into her coat. She came over to him and gave him a hug as well as his conditioned allowed her.
When she was about to pull back, Luke looked up at her with a serious look on his face and said, "About earlier..." He stopped and looked over Rory's shoulder to make sure Carol was out of earshot before he continued, "we'll figure it out," he whispered and gave her shoulder one last squeeze.
Rory smiled relieved about his answer and was glad he didn't give up on her mom as well. She bent down to hug him one more time and whispered back, "Thank you," before she pulled away and left the room in a hurry, swiping away a stray tear that made her way down her cheek.
Nurse Carol came back into the room after she saw Rory hurrying out of the door. Beside her was a male nurse rolling in a cart with supplies on it.
"Scared the poor little girl away for today?" she teased Luke, but after seeing the sad look on his face, she took her teasing down a notch.
"I was just kidding before, you know," she said calmly. "Brad's not the only one on the floor here." She pointed at the man in the room and introduced him: "That's Stan the Man." She giggled and made her way out of the room to leave the men alone.
Both men rolled their eyes at her antics and gave each other a knowing look. Luke was visibly relaxing more and more now that he knew a man would take care of certain businesses and not Nurse Carol.
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Tbc
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If life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt !