The next day the kids are all at school (its the middle of the school year) and Colin is at Sookie's house. Luke is at the hospital to bring Lorelai home.
Lorelai smiles when she sees Luke come through the door. Lorelai slowly swings her legs, which are still all cut up, around the edge of the bed.
"Hey, thanks again for doing this."
"It's okay really." He says and helps her up.
She helps her into the wheelchair, which is hospital policy whenever you leave. Once they are to the car, Luke helps her into the front seat and they begin the long ride home.
"So...this is akward."
"I asked Allie to marry me." He blurts out.
Lorelai feels like she was just punched in the gut."What?"
"Last night..I..I asked her."
"Oh...okay." She says and looks away from him and out the window. SHe had thought that yesterday they were making some progress, but now that he asked Allie to marry him, she guesses she was wrong.
"Well...thats ..uh...great...congratulations."
"Thanks." He says and looks at her seeing the hurt in her eyes.
"I can pick up the kids today for you." He says.
"No, thats okay. I can do it. You should spend time with your new fiance." She says sharply.
"Oh...well okay." Is all he says.
"Yeah." That is the last thing she says for the rest of the ride. As soon as they get to Lorelai's house, she gets out of the car and winces, still being very sore. She slowly limps, hunched over, towards the front door. Praying that Luke wouldn't be following her. As she reaches the front steps, the trips and falls, her hands catch her body.
"Ow." She says and just sits there for a minute, starting to cry again.
He gets out and comes over to her. "Let me help you." He says picking her up.
"Fine." She mumbles and allows him to help her into the house.
He gets her in and sits her on the couch and sits with her. "You okay?"
"I guess."
He nods. "Let me make you lunch and then I will go get the kids, so you can relax a bit."
"I don't need to relax, Michael is alone at the Inn, I should just go there." She says and tries to stand up.
"Lorelai, please relax. I know you are in pain and hurting. Please have a seat."
"Fine." She mumbles and sits back on the couch."So...you two set a date?" She yells to him since he's all the way in the kitchen. If she doesn't want to be with him, the least she can do is be happy for him, even after the way he hurt her.
He comes back in after putting food on the stove "Not yet." He says. "It all just happened."
Lorelai makes room for Luke to sit with her on the couch. "I bet you must be pretty excited. How excited was Allie?" She asks curiously.
"She was through the roof. She cried of course and then called her mother." Luke says.
"Aw, thats sweet. Congratulations."
He only nods. "Can we actually talk as friends?" He asks.
She hesitates at first and then nods. "Um..." She gives him a smile. "Sure, what do you want to talk about?"
"I think I made a mistake asking Allie to marry me."
Lorelai's eyes widen in shock. "What? Luke, that is so not like you. How could you propose to her if you weren't sure?"
"I don't know. I really don't know Lorelai. Yesterday was perfect, everything was going fine between you and me and I don't know, I guess I thought it was too good to be true that we were getting along and I jumped and proposed to her. I am in no way blaming you though. It's all me."
"Can I give you a little advice?" He nods. "When you go home later, think really hard about what you want, then do whatever it takes to make it happen. Whether its traveling half way around the world, or marrying Allie or.....something else. Think about whatever would make you the happiest and go for it."
"Okay" He nods I will, I'll do that". He smiles.
She smiles. "So...good talk?"
"Yes. It was. Thank you. For being there."
"No problem, I'm here anytime you want to talk."
He nods. He then goes and gets her her lunch and then she falls asleep afterwards. He covers her up and then 2 hours later picks the kids up for school.
That night Luke went home and thought about what Lorelai had said. After thinking hard for a good three hours he had decided what made him the happiest. He knew what he had to do, so he went over to Allie's and they had a long talk, which finally led to Luke breaking the engagement. Allie was upset, but understood and wished Luke luck with the rest of his life.
The next day after around lunch time, Luke went over to Lorelai's and knocked on the door, she answered and asked him in. He came in and they both stood by the door for a bit.
"I thought about what you said." Luke says to her.
"Okay, and what did you decide?" She asks curiously.
He steps closer to her and pulls her in tightly, kissing her. He then pulls away and looks her straight in the eyes "You. You are what makes me the happiest. My decision is to go after you."
She pulls away after a minute, in complete shock. She slowly backs away from him and moves into the house, with no expression on her face and closes the door in his face. Then she doesn't move, still in shock and not knowing how to respond.
Luke just sort of stands there a bit confused after she doesn't open the door for a couple of minutes, he puts his head down and starts to walk off the porch. It took all he had inside to go to her house and say and do what he had done.
A minute later Lorelai swings open the door and sees Luke halfway down the driveway.
"Hey Luke!" She calls him and he turns around. She smiles at him. "Meet me at the gazebo at 10 tonight. We can talk."
He smiles back and nods at her "I'll be there." He yells back at her.
"See ya." She calls back and then walks inside with a big smile on her face.
Luke was walking away and smiling ear to ear.
That night at 10, Luke was waiting at the gazebo for Lorelai.
Ten minutes after ten Lorelai shows up. She stands a good 5 feet away from him. "Hey, sorry I'm late."
"Oh thats no problem. Everything okay?" He asks.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a little bit better."
"Good, thats um good." He says kind of nervous. "Do you want to sit down?"
"Oh..um..sure." She says, also very nervous and sits on the opposite side of the bench that he is on.
"So. the kids are asleep?"
"Yup, Rory came by tonight for a sleepover, so she's with them at the house in case they wake up..what about Katrina? How's she doing over at your apartment?"
"She's doing well, she was just doing her homework and hour ago and then she went to sleep."
"Thats good." After that, an awkward silence falls between them.
"You look really pretty" He says randomly when she was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with her hair thrown in a ponytail.
She blushes. "Thanks." After a few more minutes of silence, its Lorelai's turn to break it. "Luke...you shouldn't have kissed me." She says in a quiet voice.
He just looks at her. "Well, I'm sorry then." He says not sure what to say.
"I don't know...I don't mean it was a bad kiss. I just, I think its going to take more than just a kiss to let you back in my life fully. If you really want me back, you're going to have to prove it to me."
"I know that. I am trying."
"I just didn't want you to think that just by kissing me...it would make it easier. Because it doesn't, it makes it harder. I'm not going to lie anymore...I've really missed you and I hate that I let my ex boyfriend hurt me like this and that I didn't tell you about it...I hate that you proposed to Allie....I just...hate it all and I want to start over." She admits to him and stops him before he interupts her. "But in order to do that, I have to trust you again."
"Thats a really good plan. I just want to add that I hated being away from you and I really wish you would have told me about Steve. When you do gain my trust back I want to just start slow, you know as if we were dating, if thats what you want?"
"Yeah...that sounds good." She pulls her jacket tightly around herself, beginning to get a little cold. "So, is there anything else we should talk about?"
"I'm not sure." He says and takes off his coat and drapes it around her shoulders.
She thinks of something after a few minutes of thinking. "What about Allie?"
"What about Allie?" He asks.
"You asked her to marry you."
"I already told you, I broke up with her last night. Don't worry I went to her house today and settled it face to face."
"You never told me you broke up with her. All you did was come to my house and kiss me...I'm sorry I broke up your engagement."
"Its not your fault at all. Do not blame yourself."
"Maybe if I had done something differently....maybe if I came to the diner more...maybe if I talked to you more...maybe then you wouldn't have slept with Rachel." She says sadly, suddenly blaming herself for what happens, only because she wants to make sense of it all.
"No, It's not your fault. I thought I was losing you and It was dumb of me to think that. We both we so busy and I don't even know why, but I did sleep with Rachel and I am a jerk and maybe I don't deserve you ever again." He says and gets up, starting to walk down the gazebo stairs.
Lorelai stands up, confused at what is possibly going on inside Luke's head. "But you promised you wouldn't leave. You just sat here and told me you wanted to gain my trust back. Now your walking away? I should have known it was all a lie." She says, upset and walks quickly past him.
"I do want to try!" He yells and she turns around "But if you keep rubbing it in my face what I did to you, I am going to feel the way I do. I know I cheated on you, I know what I did hurt you and if I woudnt have cheated you would have never met Steve and he would have never raped you and abused you, thats my fault too. I'm living with all this on me Lorelai, can you cut me some slack at least?"
"I'm trying really hard to cut you some slack Luke! I agreed to work on our relationship! To tell you the truth, you hurt me more than Steve ever did!" She yells back at him, and furiously wipes tears from her eyes.
He just looks at her, he felt like she had literally drove a stake into him. "I'm sorry you feel that way." He says and walks away.
"See, walking away again! Just because we are fighting! How are we supposed to work on our relationship if you walk away every time we get mad at each other!" She screams at him.
"You know why?" He says turning around "Because the way you just compared me to Steve proves that you are never going to put the past behind us. You are always going to make me the bad guy. Steve hurt you way more then I ever would. That guy wanted you dead! He tried to kill you and take you away from you children, Dammit Lorelai, he raped you for goodness sake and landed you in the hospital. That is something i would never do to you ever! I may have broke your heart, but in the end when you are hurt by another guy I am here once again to mend together the broken pieces and all you repay me with is yelling and throwing our past in my face! So thats why I'm walking away again."
"Go to hell!" She screams at him and turns the other way, running down the street. She makes it 50 feet when she bumps into someone.
"Sorr-" She looks up and realizes its Steve.
"Steve, I promise not to tell what happened, could you please just leave me alone." She tries to walk away but he grabs her arm and pulls her into the dark alley.
"Its not that simple."
"Steve, stop, that hurts."
"Haven't you learned that I don't care that it hurts. Now you know what I want. Do it." He says.
She starts to cry as he does what he asks her to do. Then he hits her hard enough so that she passes out, she puts an old box over her and walks away, hoping that no one will find her in time.
A few minutes later Lorelai woke up, but was unable to move. She felt so weak.
"What happened?" She asks herself, then looks around and realizes that Steve had just left her to die. "Help!" She tries to shout the best she can.
Luke was sitting on the porch when he heard a scream. He then heard it again "Help!" He then recognized the voice and knew it was lorelai. He began to call out her name "Lorelai?"
"Luke!? Help me, please...I know I said some pretty terrible things to you, but please, help me!" She shouts back to him.
He finally finds her under the box. "What happened? Where are you clothes? You are soaked!" Luke says noticing she was sitting in a puddle of water.
She doesn't care anymore, she flings herself at Luke and wraps her arms tightly around his neck.
"Steve...he came back. It was so scary Luke..please, don't leave me out here alone." She starts to cry and clings to him.
"He came back and did what exactly?" He asks draping his shirt around her because he didn't see her clothes and he carries her back to his apartment.
She sniffles and still holds onto him as he sits with her on his couch. "He....I don't know....I can't remember. He knocked me out."
"Oh my gosh." Luke says and strokes her hair as Lorelai still clings to him. He just hold her tight.
"Will you let me report him to the police, please?"
"They won't be able to find him."
"They will too if you give me his phone number, address, car he drives, and anything else you may know about him."
"I can't remember right now..please...don't call the police." She starts to cry again and clings tighter to him.
"I won't, but I may go after him myself." He says as he holds her.
"No! Don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere." He whispers and just holds her. They stay 'cuddled' together for a good hour when Luke finally says..
"I think you should grab a shower. I'll give you a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to wear."
"I'm not going anywhere right now." She whispers softly.
"You have no clothes on." He reminds her.
"I have this jacket..I can't move Luke..don't make me move yet..please." She begs him.
"I won't. I promise." He smiles.
She let's out a deep sigh in relief. "Thank you."
After just a few minutes, Lorelai falls into a deep sleep in Luke's arms. Katrina walks out of her small side room in the apartment after hearing all the noise and sees her mom and dad on the couch.
"Dad? What's going on?" She asks curiously.
"Nothing sweetheart, go back to bed and I promise to explain in the morning."
"Kay." She says and goes back to bed.
Luke grabs the blanket next to Lorelai and covers the both of them, he readjusts his arms around her and falls asleep.
The next morning Lorelai wakes up and sees that Luke is still asleep. She grabs a blanket, wraps it around her body and walks out of the apartment.
An hour later Luke wakes up and notices Lorelai is not there. He goes to look in the bathroom, but she wasn't there. He check Katrina's room, wasn't there. He then realized she had left.
Lorelai got home and since it was still pretty early in the morning, the kids were all still asleep. Lorelai went into her room, got a change of clothes then went in the bathroom to take a shower and clean herself up.
As Lorelai was in the shower, Colin comes in
"Mommy?"
"What's wrong baby?" She asks through the shower curtain.
"Where did you go last night?" He asks.
"I went out for a walk, then I got back really late. Go watch T.V, I'll be out in a little bit."
"I had a bad dream last night and I coudn't find you." He says and goes out of the bathroom.
Lorelai quickly finishes her shower, throws on her sweats and a big shirt, then goes after her son.
"Aw, honey, I'm sorry. What was your dream about?"
Colin smiles. "A big scary monster! With teeth like this." He makes a weird looking face.
Lorelai pretends to be very surprised. "Wow, teeth like that huh? That does sound scary."
"And he had green scales! He tried to eat me." He says.
"Wow! That is super scary, you know what makes those dreams go away?"
"What? What?"
"Watching funny cartoons in the morning."
"Will you watch them with me?" He asks.
"Sure I will, just let me brush my hair and finish cleaning up, then I'll come down."
He cheers. "Yay!"
Colin runs out of the room and downstairs. Lorelai finishes cleaning up and walks downstairs. When she doesn't see Colin she calls for him.
"Colin? Where did you go?"
As she walks towards the front door she sees Luke holding Colin.
"Luke...hey."
"Hi, I don't mean to just barge in like this, but the door was unlocked and I just wanted to come over and make sure you are alright, and.." She cuts him off.
"Yeah I'm okay. Sorry that I kind of up and left this morning, I just didn't want to disturb you and wanted to come here and clean up before the kids wake up." She explains.
"Oh its okay. Its no problem."
She smiles, thankful that he isn't mad. "Hey um...if your not busy, Colin and I were just about to watch some cartoons. If you want, you're more than welcome to stay." She invites him nervously.
"Sure, that would be nice." He says and smiles at her.
"Really?" She asks, shocked that he is making time to stay.
"Sure. Why not?"He asks. He was really trying to get on her good side.
"No reason, come on in." She smiles back and Colin walks over to the couch with them, with a big grin on his face.
"Daddy, you can sit here, I'm gonna sit over here." Colin moves so that Luke is forced to sit right next to Lorelai.
"Its okay, have a seat." Lorelai tells him, seeing him hesitate.
Luke sits down and then Lorelai. He could tell she was nervous and he was too.
Colin smiles as he turns on the TV.
"So Col, what cartoon are we watching this morning?"
"Dora!" He cheers.
Luke rolls his eyes and they watch.
"Daddy aren't you going to hold mommas hand?" Colin asks.
Lorelai gets really nervous. "Baby, daddy doesn't need to hold my hand."
"You didn't ask him if he wanted to." Colin says.
"I don't need to ask him Colin."
"Fine." He said and crosses his arm, not looking at either one of them. He didnt look for a good twenty minutes.
Luke slowly interlocks his fingers with Lorelai.
Lorelai tenses up a little, but allows Luke to keep his hand there.
When he feels her tense up, he takes his hand away and sighs, thinking he is always going to be compared to Steve now.
"Why'd you pull your hand away?" She asks curiously but quietly.
"You clearly didn't want it there. You flinched as if I was going to hurt you."
"I was just nervous....you know what, forget it. I don't want to hold your hand anyway."
"You didn't want to to begin with." He says quietly.
"How do you know what I want?"
"Maybe I dont know what you want anymore, but I do know I would never ever hurt you the way Steve did and if you think I hurt you more than he did, Im sorry you feel that way." He says getting up.
"I said I was sorry."
He looks at her and grabs her hand, pulling her into the kitchen, so their young son couldn't hear.
"Are you going to compare me to him all the time?"
She crosses her arms and defends herself. "I'm not comparing you to him."
He only nods, not wanting to fight with her.
"You don't have anything to say?"
"No, I don't." He says.
"You always have something to say."
"What am I to say? I feel like you are comparing me to him. I never would compare you to Allie or any other woman."
"Just forget it Luke! I thought maybe you were coming over hear to make sure I was okay, but I guess not! You just came over to yell at me!" As Lorelai continues yelling, Luke notices a small trail of blood running down her leg. Which Lorelai doesn't notice.
She continues to yell as he keeps looking at her leg and then finally says something. "Your leg is bleeding."
"What? Thats impossible, I just took a shower and cleaned myself up." She looks down and sees that it is true and starts freaking out.
Luke gets a rag, putting it on her leg.
"I'll be fine Luke, its probably just a little cut that I missed." She tries to shrug it off, but Luke notices that the color in her face has changed a little bit.
"Are you sure you are okay?" He asks
"Yeah, Yeah. Don't worry about me, you can finish watching cartoons with Colin, I'll just finish cleaning this up."
"I do worry about you though."
"Really...Luke, I'll be...be...fine." He face looks a lot paler now and she sits down on the kitchen chair. "I don't feel so good."
"Your face looks really pale." He says and gets the the
thermometer.
She ends up not having a fever but starts having headaches. "Luke, I really don't feel well."
"Do you want to go lay down or go to the hospital?"
"I think I'll be okay." Suddenly her eyes start rolling around. "That hospital isn't sounding too bad right now." She says and passes out. Luke catches her as she falls out of the chair.
Luke picks her up and carries her, grabbing Colin and getting in the car. They drive to the hospital, where they take Lorelai immediately.
"Daddy, is mommy going to be okay?" Colin asks while he's sitting next to Luke in the waiting room.
"She is going to be fine kiddo, don't you worry."
"Who's going to take care of us if she isn't?"
"I would, why?"
"You can't...you going to go away wif Allie."
"No I'm not kiddo, I'm going to be right here with you."
"But I heard mommy saying that you were going to go far far away and forget all about her and how she would never have a chance." Colin explains to Luke, of something he had heard his mom crying to herself recently.
"Well she doesn't have to worry, because I am not going anywhere buddy. You hear me?"
He nods and salutes him. Then smiles. "Yes sir."
"You don't have to call me that."
"Its only a joke daddy."
Luke laughs and then the doctor comes out and Luke stands up
"What's up doc?"
"Well here is the thing she is internally blooding because of being raped so many times, but we were able to control it. There is no sign of her being pregnant and she is going to have to take it easy a bit. she is going to be weak. She got pretty banged up more than you probably know. " The doctor says.
Luke nods "Thank you very much. Can we see her?"
"Sure, but only for a little bit. She'll need her rest." The doctor smiles and leads Luke and Colin to Lorelai's room.
Luke walks in and Colin runs ahead. "Mommy!" he screams and luke just smiles.
"Shhh, Colin no screaming." Lorelai tells him as he climbs in the hospital bed with her. "Were you being good for daddy?"
"Yes I was and guess what? " He says and leans in to her to whisper.
"He says he is not going anywhere. Remember when you said you didn't have a chance? I think you do."
"When did you hear me say that?"
"When you were crying the other day."
Lorelai looks at Luke, very embarrassed.
He just smiles at her. "It's okay." He nods.
"Colin, get down and have daddy bring you to the daycare center." COlin says okay and Luke takes him down to the bottom floor. After dropping him off, Luke walks back upstairs to Lorelai's room.
"Thanks for watching him Luke....I'm just...really tired and didn't want to deal with a hyper 3 year old."
"It's okay, How do you feel?"
"I feel fine. Really, don't even worry. You could even go back to your house now if you want...I know you hate me right now, so I wouldn't blame you if you leave."
"I don't h..h..hate you, but if its what you want." He says starting to leave.
Lorelai doesn't make a sound as small tear drops start to fall out of her eyes.
"I'll see you later." He says and turns around and sees her crying
"What's wrong?"
"I lied Luke. I'm not fine...I'm tired and hurt...and I just don't want you to leave. I'm sorry I was so nasty to you and I'm sorry if you don't want to talk to me anymore because of the way I acted...but..but I..I just don't want to be alone right now...ple..please...don't leave." She begs him.
He nods and pulls a chair up to her bed, taking her hand and kissing it.
She wipes her eyes. "Thank you...so Luke, did you talk to the doctor? Am I okay?"
"Your going to be fine. You were internally bleeding where I think you know where at because of what Steve did and there is no sign of you being pregnant and just that you will be weak for a few days." He says rubbing his thumb over her hand soothingly.
She let's out a deep breath in relief. "Good, I'm glad I'm going to be okay...what he did...I was so scared."
"I bet you were scared. You have no idea how bad I want to kill him. Permission to hit him if I see him on the street?"
"Permission not granted, I don't want you to get hurt, but I appreciate you wanting to help me."
"He won't hurt me, I'll break his neck." He says.
She chuckles. "Then you'll go to jail."
"It will be worth it." He says and Lorelai laughs
Then it becomes quiet
"So i have something to ask you." He says and she nods
"When you get better can I take you on a date?"
"A date?" She asks and he nods. "I don't know Luke." She notices his face fall.
"No, no. Don't take it like that, I just mean I don't think I'll be up for it anytime soon. I don't want you to have to sit around waiting for me to be ready."
"No no its okay. " He says disappointed. "I j...j..just thought it would be nice."
"I agree...it would be nice. I am just trying to say that I'm not sure when I'll be feeling up to it, literally. I'm sore and tired. I don't think I'll be able to get out and move around so quickly after I get out of here."
"Well I did say when you felt better."
"Then I guess...a date..wouldn't be soo bad." She let's out slowly and gives him a smile. "But you still aren't completely off the hook. You show me I can't trust you, only once, and its over."
"So what does this mean? Are you my girlfriend? That sounds weird."
She laughs a little and gives him a confused look."Luke...we just recently became friends again. Why are you in such a rush?"
"I'm not rushing."
"Then don't ask me a question that I can't answer right now."
"I'm sorry." He says feeling bad.
"Its okay...I just..can't think about any of that right now. I'm really tired." She apologizes.
"Its okay. You need anything?"
"Could you maybe find the nurse and ask for another pillow, my neck is hurting me."
"No problem." He says and goes and gets her a pillow, he brings it back, putting it behind her head. He goes to bring his arm out, but she grabs on to it
He smiles. "You okay?"
She smiles back. "I just...wanted to say thank you."
"You don't have to thank me. It was nothing, really."
"Luke, I told you to go to hell. Even after that you saved my life. You deserve a thank you."
"Yeah you were pretty mean, but you can be just as sweet when you want to too." He says and smiles. "So your welcome."
She smiles and waits for an apology back, when she doesn't get one she turns on her side to get more comfortable and stares him down. "Don't you have something to say to me too?"
"What do you mean?" He asks confused.
"I mean, don't you have anything you'd like to say to me. You yelled at me too you know."
"I didn't yell at you that badly, but I'm sorry." He says
"You're kidding me right?"
"What did I say to you?"
"You yelled at me."
"When?"
"I can't believe you don't remember yelling at me!" She says as loud as she can, then turns over so that she doesn't have to look at him.
"I don't know when I yelled at you thats why. I'm confused. Why cant you just tell me?"
"Because you should know."
"Well I didn't come here to argue to begin with. I came to be with you and to make sure you are okay, but apparently thats not good enough. I'm going out in the waiting room." He says and leaves.
Lorelai, being as stubborn as she is, and Luke, being as stubborn as he is, both do that try to get the other one to talk. This time Luke really does go into the waiting room and lorelai falls asleep after beginning to fell light headed.
A half hour later Luke had gone to get something from the cafeteria and on his way back he passes Lorelai's room. He looks through the small window and sees her, sound asleep, dried tear marks on her cheeks, hooked up to machines and wires coming out everywhere.
He sighs and decided to go in. He sits in the chair next to her bed and just watched her sleep.
About 2 hours later she slowly beings to wake up. She blinks a few times and sees Luke sitting in front of her, holding her hand.
"I thought you said you were leaving?" She asks in a quiet voice.
"I just couldn't bring myself to leave you."
"I'm sorry I was so mean to you."
He nods. "Its okay."
"No, its not okay.I'm just scared of getting hurt again. I didn't mean to yell at you so much."
"I'm not going to hurt you again, I promise you that. I just wish you'd let me back in your life."
"I want to be able to, I really do, I just think its going to take some time."
He nods sadly, missing her.
"I'm glad you are here with me right now though."
"Me too." He says squeezing her hand.