AN: A big thank-you to everyone who is still reading, and a double thank-you to everyone who left reviews. I can really feel the Chris-hatred boiling over and know that I am with you in spirit, if not always in writing. And while I think that you guys might like the direction of this chapter, keep in mind that this is still only the second "episode" of my season 7, and getting rid of a parasite like Christopher Hayden takes a little bit of time. (Much like getting over the flu or laringitis.)
Fridaynightdinner: What is "ff" and how did you hear about my little story? (I'm new to the whole realm of fanfiction...)
Read, review and enjoy the extra long chapter to make up for the short one from last time.
The sun is still shining in Stars Hollow as Lorelai slowly makes her way to her front door. She is dragging the decked out red wagon that Babette and Morey use to 'walk' their Apricot around town. The weight of dozens of heavy books is causing the wagon wheels to sink into the lawn, making the ride extremely bumpy. Each jostle causes the precariously packed collection of books to shift and wobble. Every time the wagon stops, Lorelai has to stop and pull the wagon free of the dirt before it will start to move again. After one particularly vigorous tug, two books slip off the top of the pile and land on the lawn. Sighing, Lorelai stoops to pick up the books and then, holding the books with one hand, continues to drag the heavy wagon across her lawn with the other hand. She is steps from her porch and the end of her trek when her cell phone starts to ring.
With an enormous tug, she gets the wagon moving again and covers the remaining distance to the front porch without losing any more books. Dropping the wagon handle as she gains the porch, she reaches into her purse. As she fishes around for the noisy phone she grumbles in a fakely sweet, high-pitched voice, "Why, yes mother. You were right. I should have put in a path up to the front door. I am lazy and inconsiderate and yet again it has come back to bite me in the – aha!!"
As she pulls the still-ringing phone out of her purse she plops down on the stairs, the loaded wagon forgotten near her feet. Flipping open the phone she says, "Hello?"
"Hey, Lor." Christopher's voice can be heard.
"Hey," she sighs heavily at the sound of his voice.
"Hey?" he mocks her tone. "What's wrong? You sound exhausted…"
"And relieved, too," she adds on.
"Relieved?"
"Very relieved," she confirms.
"Ok, why are you exhausted?"
"Because I just dragged 40 books across my front yard in a wagon."
Not expecting that answer, Christopher manages to only miss a single beat as he nods once and continues, "I didn't know you had a wagon."
"I don't."
"Then how -?"
"Babette has a wagon."
"You stole Babette's wagon?"
"No!" Lorelai quickly responds. "I borrowed it."
"Much more civilized," Chris nods approvingly. "Why are you relieved?"
"Because you are not my mother."
"I should have known that was the reason."
"Yes, you should have," Lorelai agrees good-naturedly.
"Well, I'll tell you something," Chris says in a conspiratory whisper.
"What's that?" Lorelai sounds intrigued.
"I am also relieved that I'm not your mother. It makes me smile a little bit every day, in fact." Lorelai giggles a little bit at the response. "It'd make that whole Rory situation really hard to explain."
Squinting her eyes, Lorelai says, "Really bad visual. New subject."
"Ummm…." Chris doesn't have one.
"Well, what'd you call for?" Lorelai asks, trying to help him out.
"What do you mean?" Chris asks. "I call you every night."
"Exactly, you call me every night." She emphasizes the last word. "This is day. You never call me during the day."
"What? Is your daytime boyfriend going to get jealous that I'm moving in on his time?" Chris asks facetiously.
"I don't have a boyfriend," Lorelai answers simply and quietly.
Chris doesn't respond, noting the omitted words that might have confirmed their relationship status. He looks genuinely sad, but not surprised.
To end the slightly awkward silence, Lorelai prods Chris with, "So…?"
Giving himself a mental shake, Chris restarts the conversation. "So…right. I talked to Rory last night. Briefly."
"I've heard. How briefly?" she tries to sound nonchalant.
"Very briefly. She sounded tired, and, uh, angry." Christopher stuttered out the truth.
"Angry?"
"Yeah. Wring my neck, kick me in the teeth, Sienna Miller meets the nanny kind of angry." When Lorelai doesn't respond, Christopher continues. "She was angry that I was calling. Angry, like, uh, she doesn't know what's going on." Christopher finished lamely.
"Nothing's going on." Lorelai answers calmly.
"Nothing, huh?" Christopher reacts with some vehemence and the quickly reverts to his pleasant tone. "I know that nothing has happened yet, but we've been-"
"Nothing is going on that she needs to know about. Who I talk to on the phone should not concern her." Lorelai tries to explain without offending Christopher.
"That's who I am? Someone you talk to on the phone?" Christopher spits out.
"No," Lorelai tries to be cute to save the conversation. "You're Christopher."
"You tell Rory everything," Chris responds, ignoring her attempt.
"There's nothing to tell. I haven't seen you in three months. What? You want me to give her a daily log of my phone calls?" Lorelai sounds irritated now, too.
Christopher ignores the question and poses one of his own, "Why doesn't she know, Lorelai?"
"Because I haven't told her, Christopher," She copies his lecturing tone of voice.
"Because you're ashamed. You don't want to tell her. And I can't understand why you wouldn't want to tell your kid that you're dating her father! It would make most kids happy."
"Rory's not most kids. You're not most fathers."
"You can't still be mad about that-"
"I could if I wanted to!" Lorelai all but screams at him. "You'd have earned it. But that's not really the point!" Lorelai waits for a response, but Chris stays sullen and silent. When he doesn't answer, Lorelai says in a calmer voice, "Iit's not exactly life-altering news, Chris. 'Rory, I talk to your father on the phone sometimes!' How will that little bit of knowledge change her life?"
"Every night, Lorelai."
"Fine! We talk on the phone every night about nothing-"
"For hours…" Chris interjects.
"We ramble together. That's not exactly dating, is it?"
"No, I suppose it's not. You won't come up to Boston, and I'm not allowed to come down to Star's Hollow. You won't tell Rory, you get shifty and distant every time I bring up the vague possibility of the two of us every being more to each other than phone buddies. Hell, you probably spend your days with Rory discussing what circle of hell I'm mostly likely to end up in!"
"We don't talk about you, Chris!"
"No, you don't. But I'm not a 1-900 number just waiting around to talk to you, ya know! Here for your comfort when you're lonely or you miss him!"
Lorelai looks genuinely surprised at the near-mention of Luke and the acid in Christopher's voice when he said it. "I never said you were…"
"I'm not just a random guy, I'm Rory's father-"
"Don't drag Rory into this. She has nothing to do with this!"
"Exactly, she's only involved in the important relationships in your life. And this obviously isn't one of them. I'll tell you what. I'll stop pestering you with my annoying, rambling phone calls. You can have I nice quiet night…hell, you can have a nice quiet life, for all I care."
With the last, bitterly violent word the line went dead and Lorelai stared at the phone in disbelief. She jumps when it starts to ring again and opens it quickly to say, "Hello?"
She closes her eyes and exhales a long breath while the other end speaks. "Hi, Mom. Yeah, Rory's still a little jet lagged but she got home fine," she answers in an exhausted voice.
She leans back against the stairs as the conversation continues and tries to prop her feet up on the wagon. As soon as her foot hits the topmost book, the wagon gives a terrifying shudder and collapses completely, leaving Lorelai without a footrest and an unbelieving look on her face.
The sun is setting as evening falls over Star's Hollow like a soft, cuddly blanket. As Lane and Rory walk down the street, the streetlights begin to twinkle as the town descends into twilight. The girls are in the middle of a conversation and Rory is busy explaining the scene with her mother from earlier that day. "And she just kept asking what was wrong, like she automatically assumed that he was doing something wrong just because he's Logan. And then I blurted out that thing about Dad and stormed off." Lane gives her best friend a sympathetic glance. "And I just left her standing there with all those books," Rory finishes softly.
"Well, if you trust him, she has to trust him, right? So, do you trust him?" Lane asks.
"Absolutely not," Rory answers without hesitation. Lane looks utterly shocked and confused and Rory tries to explain her reasoning. "That man has proven repeatedly that he is unable to let her be happy. He insists on butting in when he isn't needed or wanted and he has no scruples when it comes to dealing with her."
With a small smile Lane shakes her head and explains, "Not your Dad, Rory. I was talking about Logan. Remember him?"
Rory looks a little sheepish as she says, "Oh, right. Well, I…" She struggles to pull her thoughts back onto the appropriate course. "Of course I trust Logan. I absolutely trust Logan."
Lane nods her approval. "Then there shouldn't be a problem..."
"I just really don't trust Emma," Rory tacks on, putting as much derision into the name as she can muster.
"I can understand that," Lane answers with a little laugh. "Those British fllozies are always trying to steal our American men." The girls have reached the town square by this time and are standing idly (or loitering shiftily, Taylor would say) behind the gazebo. "But he loves you Rory, and a couple of 'pints at the pub'," Lane's English accent on the last four words is truly awful, "Isn't going to change that."
"I know, I know. It's just so hard sometimes and I wish…" Rory trails off as her eyes are drawn to the other side of the Square. Lorelai is making her way – haltingly – towards the diner. Every few steps forwards results in a long pause while Lorelai tries to mentally - and physically - prod herself forward without drawing attention to herself. She is so engrossed in her internal struggle that she doesn't see either Rory or Lane as she walks forward a few steps at a time.
"You wish that what?" Lane asks, confused, not having seen Lorelai.
When Rory whips her head back around, she is wearing a look that clearly indicates that she didn't hear or understand Lane's question. Not bothering to answer, she gives her friend a large hug and says happily, "I've gotta run. We're returning to normalcy tonight!"
Rory releases Lane and takes off at full speed to the other side of the Square where Lorelai has frozen in front of the diner, with a determined and somewhat dejected look on her face. Rory runs up from behind and slips her arm through her mother's. "Three, two, one…action." Rory says quietly.
"I don't see his truck," Lorelai says sadly, taking her daughter's sudden appearance in stride without so much as a glance, although her face does brighten slightly.
"I'm sure it's parked out back."
"Do you think he's there this time?"
"There's only one way to find out," Rory's voice is encouraging and supportive.
"But I…"
"I know. But our coffee is in there." Lorelai shoots her daughter a quick look. "But you have to go inside to get it," Rory finishes.
"Well, why didn't you say so?" Lorelai starts to walk forward. Arm in arm, the Gilmore girls enter the diner.
jingle jingle
The door greets them as they walk into the diner which is fairl busy at the end of the evening rush. Customers are eating, talking and drinking happily but neither Luke nor Desar are visible. The girls walk towards an empty table by the door. Lorelai moves to sit down in the closest chair which faces the window, then changes her mind and sits in the chair directly facing the counter. Shaking her head after a second, she gets up, walks in a complete circle around the table then with a slight cry of frustration sits stiffly with her back facing the counter, staring directly out the window. Rory follows the whole performance with a smile in her eyes and waits a second to make sure that her mother has made her final selection before sitting in the seat directly opposite her. Rory has a good view of the counter, but does her best not to stare as she searches for a sign of Luke. They sit quietly for half a moment, Lorelai seems to be barely breathing and Rory looks concerned for her mother's wellbeing.
With a sharp intake of breath Lorelai shakes her head slightly and moves as if to stand again. At the sound of a deep voice booming from behind the storeroom curtain, she immediately sits back down and tries to look as if she had never thought of leaving. "All right, I found one more jar of low-fat mayo, Kirk, but if I ever catch you trying to sneak back there again I'll snap your neck like the twig that it is." Luke slams the Costco-size jar of mayonnaise on the counter in front of Kirk and then disappears into the kitchen.
The Gilmores sit quietly for another quick moment as Lorelai starts to breathe again. "This feels staged," Rory whispers to her mother as they both stare at each other nervously. "It must look staged."
"It is staged," Lorelai whispers back.
"All of the whispering probably isn't helping," Rory responds with a smirk.
"Then act normal," Lorelai orders in a hiss.
Rory raises her eyebrows as she sees Luke emerge from the kitchen and hand Kirk a very small knife. "Well," she starts, "I'm sorry about leaving you alone with all those books and a broken shopping bag this afternoon."
This comment seems to ground Lorelai a little bit and she starts speaking as the panic-stricken look leaves her face. "And which do you feel worse about deserting, your mother or the books?" Lorelai asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
At the counter, Kirk is struggling with the lid to the mayonnaise jar and he making the most horrific set of noises as he wrestles with it. Frustrated and angry, Luke takes the jar and pops the top off easily before handing it back to Kirk and continuing to refill glasses at the counter.
"That's not fair!" Rory whines. "There were some really interesting books in there that you never would have let me get if we weren't forced into it by Andrew."
"Yeah, you manage to swing that every year on snow cone day. If I didn't know you better…" Lorelai's voice is suspicious and teasing.
"Why mother, I'm insulted! A lady never purposefully drips her snow cone on the Short Stories of Mark Twain."
"This lady could certainly never be accused of that. You on the other hand, might not be a lady." Lorelai says accusingly.
"I'm a lady! I can swoon," Rory replies animatedly.
"Swoon?" Lorelai laughs at the funny-sounding word.
"Swoon," Rory says as she demonstrates by draping her arm dramatically over her face.
At this point, Luke notices Rory at the table, and immediately his face breaks into a smile. A few seconds later, he realizes that Lorelai is in the seat across from her and just as suddenly he is wearing a very serious face that is dangerously close to a scowl. He stares at the table for a minute, oblivious to the customer to his left talking to him. Rory sees him staring and tries to smile at him slightly. He shakes his head as if to clear it.
"Excuse me, sir. When do you think I'll be able to get some wheat toast?" The unknown customer asks impatiently.
"Three months," Luke whispers. "Forever. Same thing, I guess."
"That's a long time for toast," the customer responds, surprised.
Looking at him, Luke turns around to the toaster, and places a plate in front of the man saying, "Nah, it's really not that long at all."
Seeing Luke actually move towards his order pad and begin to make his way across the restaurant, Rory tries to continue the flow of their "un-staged" conversation. "So how did you get them all home?" she asks.
"Apricot's wagon." Lorelai states and Rory nods in response. "Actually, we owe Babette and Morey a wagon."
"What happened to the wagon?" Rory asks.
"Remember the shopping bag?" Lorelai asks. "And all the books?"
"Right," Rory nods. "Does it have to have the little house on it? That might be harder to find."
"I guess it should. But I don't really know how to build a house for a cat."
"You don't really know how to build anything," Rory responds.
"Neither do you!" Loreali answers defensively.
"I helped build a house once!"
"Helped," Lorelai points out. "Do you think that you remember enough to..."
"No way," Rory doesn't even let her mother finish the thought. "I don't know how to build anything."
"How about a tent? Could we buy a very small tent and hot glue it to the wagon?"
"Do they sell very small tents?" Rory asks.
"Ohh! And we could make it pretty!" Lorelai exclaims, but all further conversation is interrupted as a flannel arm reaches between them and places two large coffee cups on the table in front of them. They look up, but Luke doesn't look at them, as he is focusing on the coffee that he's already pouring. His face looks somehow wrong, as if he's forcing himself not to show any expression at all. Even for the monotone Luke, it doesn't seem to fit his face.
"Hey Luke," the Gilmores say in unison. Lorelai's voice is quiet and apprehensive while Rory sounds genuinely glad to see Luke.
Luke seems to only hear the latter. "Hey Rory," He also sounds genuinely glad to see her. "How are you? Lane said you were in England last week or something…?"
"Yeah, Logan is in London this year, so I went for a visit before I have to go back to school."
"So school hasn't started back up yet?"
"Nope, classes start on Monday, but I'll be heading back to New Haven tomorrow."
"And I'll be all alone again," Lorelai adds in, trying to sound cool about it, and not wanting to be left entirely out of the conversation.
"You haven't gotten used to it yet?" Rory asks.
"No, and I never will!" Lorelai insists.
"Well, once Rory's all done I guess you'll have to get used to it. Any idea what you'll be doing after graduation?" Luke is determinedly looking only at Rory.
"Oh, I'm trying not to think about graduation. Yale is my safe place - my blanky - and I don't want to think about having to leave and go out into the big, cold world," Rory laments.
"Oh, it's not so bad, hon," Lorelai soothes.
"Easy for you to say, you had me with you the whole time." Rory teases.
"Right, I forgot! Getting pregnant at 16 was the easy way out! That must explain why my parents were always so disappointed in me."
"Well, now that we've figured that out, I guess you can stop going to therapy," Rory smiles.
"No, no, you should probably still keep going," Luke interjects in a deadpan. Lorelai looks up at him confused; she can't tell whether or not he was joking. Luke shifts his feet uncomfortably and then raises his pencil and asks, "You know what you want?"
Rory recovers first. "Cheeseburgers and fries, please."
"Ooohh…and a donut with sprinkles." Lorelai adds and Rory nods in agreement, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"What?" Luke asks.
"Donut. Frosted. With sprinkles." Lorelai makes ridiculous hand gestures to describe each element of the requested treat.
Luke rolls his eyes slightly and then starts to turn away. He stops himself and turns back to the table, asking, "Do you each want one of these horribly over-sugared, breakfast pastries at 7:30 in the evening, or will one be enough?"
Lorelai looks at Rory and Rory looks back, uncertainty written on both their faces. Then suddenly Rory hits on the solution, "Bring one as an appetizer and one as dessert."
"Ooohh, a symmetrical meal. I love it!" Lorelai bounces a little in her chair.
Staring at the two of them, Luke says sadly, "I have no words."
"So long as you have donuts," Lorelai quipped back happily, "then we're good."
In the diner Rory and Lorelai are talking contendly over the remnants of their meal. Two destroyed cheeseburger plates (with only the lettuce and a few straggling fries remaining) have been pushed to the side and two small pieces of a very pink donut are left on a small plate between them. The diner is almost empty, just the Gilmores and another couple eating quietly in the far corner. Luke is nowhere to be seen.
Lorelai grabs one of the bits and eats it. Then she points at the last remaining bite and says in her best mother voice, "Rory, you've got to finish your donut."
"No I don't." Rory answers an offended Lorelai. "Besides, This one's yours. My donut was the appetizer."
"How can you tell?"
"This one was pink," Rory states simply.
Lorelai shrugs and can't come up with a viable argument. She grabs the last bite of donut and pops it in her mouth quite happily. "Done!" She looks around the diner quickly, and then asks in a whisper, "Where's Luke?"
"I dunno," Rory says, also looking around. "I haven't seen him since he brought your donut."
"Well how are we supposed to pay? Or maybe we're not supposed to pay?" Lorelai obviously likes the idea of the second possibility.
"Then why did he leave us this?" Rory asks, picking up a check from the table.
"So that we knew the value of what we were getting," Lorelai answered sagely.
"Mom…" Rory warned.
"Money, I got it. Don't worry." She pulled cash out of her purse and left it on the table as the girls started to get up and gather their things. "That was almost normal," she said surveying the almost empty diner with satisfaction.
"Almost," Rory agrees.
"Not quite," Lorelai is more talking to herself than anyone else. "The conversation was a little off, and there was an awkward silence or two…"
"But the burgers were right on target," Rory adds in.
"And a good burger can make up for a lot," Lorelai agrees.
"And the coffee… I wouldn't worry," Rory says quietly. "It just needs some time."
"Exactly. It wasn't completely awful…could've been a lot worse." Lorelai grabs one last French fry from their table and drops it in her mouth before turning towards the door and saying with a smile, "Still beats Friday night dinner with the Gilmores."
Rory shakes her head as she opens the diner door.
As the jingle of the door announces their departure, the camera does not follow them, but instead pans across the diner. We see dirty tables piled with dishes, the mostly empty coffee pot behind the counter and there, sitting on the floor behind the counter is Luke. His back is leaning against the counter and his mangled baseball cap is balled up in his fists. He's staring blankly, barely blinking, at the spot on the wall in front of him, where he can just make out an order for three hammers, a phillips-head screwdriver and three boxes of nails in assorted sizes written in his father's hurried scrawl. Even the door shutting doesn't cause him to look away from that spot and he sits, staring, unaware, not even noticing the motion of his own hands.
(commercial break)
So, whatcha think? Realistic? I promise a quick update (that you will all hate) by next week to end episode 2 so that we can move on to the next set of events.