Sharing Houses and Gilbert

Five years is a long time. It's the time it takes from having a baby to getting it off to school. It's one more year than a presidential term in office. It's how long The Dick Van Dyke Show aired. It's also the name of a David Bowie song. But most importantly it is how long the chuppah had been sitting in Lorelai's yard. So when it all happened, it felt like losing a member of the family.

"What do you think?" Lorelai asked him earnestly.

"Yip," Luke answered her, squeezing her hand across the counter. "I'll start on it this weekend."

She looked at him suspiciously. "Really? Because last time, you said that you would, and it kinda never happened. You were sleeping there most nights, but the majority of your stuff staying here at the apartment. Your mail all came here. You had no fixed abode. You were like a nomad…. Hmmm…. Were you by any chance cast in the movie Nomad?"

"Lorelai, stop," Luke interrupted her. "This Saturday I am going to move all my stuff into your house. Change of address cards and everything."

She narrowed her eyes, and looked him up and down for a few seconds, before relaxing somewhat. "Okay," she conceded. "I believe you."

She reached into the display case for a donut, but he slapped her hand away. "Tongs," he told her, handing her the offending instrument. With mock severity, she selected a pink iced donut, using the tongs to place it carefully on a napkin.

"Of course you should believe me," Luke amended. "What did you think was going to happen? We'd get married, but I'd keep living here in the apartment by myself?"

She shrugged. "Pass. Next question."

"Okay. Is there really going to be enough room for all my stuff, or should I keep storing things I don't use often here?"

She considered this. "This is going to sound stupid."

He looked at her. "I'm sure it will, but go on."

"I don't want you to be able to come back here to… escape or whatever," she told him. "So, your office slash diner type stuff should stay upstairs, but I don't think you should have beds and other living-type things here."

"That makes sense. That brings me to my next question. What are we going to do about April?"

"Well… I had thought that we could turn the sewing room we added on last year into a bedroom for her. I can move my sewing machine and everything into Rory's room, cause she is going to be back at Yale in September anyway. We can have it decorated for her by the time she's here for the wedding." She paused, and a huge grin spread across her face. "I can go and get paint samples now!"

Luke rolled his eyes. "So this discussion is over then?"

She jumped up from her stool. "Yip. We'll talk later." She walked towards the door, but turned around as she reached for the handle. "You're sure that this is going to happen? Your credibility in this area isn't exactly stellar."

He sighed. "Yes. It is going to happen. Go look at paint samples."

She grinned widely, and flounced out of the diner.

Lorelai pulled out her phone as she drove home, and dialed number one in the speed-dial.

"Mom?" Rory answered.

"Hey, gorgeous. You at home?"

"Nope. I'm at Lane's. What's up?"

"Prepare yourself," Lorelai told her. "This Saturday, Luke is officially moving in with us. For real this time."

"Really? That's awesome."

"So, you need to help me choose how to decorate the sewing room for April," Lorelai demanded. "I've got some samples from the store for us to look at."

"Yes, ma'am," Rory giggled. "When you want to do it?"

"As soon as you get home. It's going to be really fun. We can sing the painting song, and everything."

Rory laughed. "Do you still remember how that went?"

Lorelai hesitated. "Vaguely." She pulled to a stop at the stop-light in the square, waiting for it to go green. "We can make up a new one, regardless." The light went green, and she pulled away from the intersection.

"Yeah that sounds good. Can we wear cover-alls, and throw paint at each other?" Rory asked.

"Naturally. What fun would it be otherwise? But choosing colors is our first order of business. It's going to be so much fun! It's actually happening!" Lorelai almost squealed into the phone.

"You sound happy, Mom," Rory told her.

"I am, sweetie. I really am." She smiled to herself as she pulled into her driveway. She looked down at the collection of paint samples she had accumulated, and grinned even more. That is until she felt a jolt.

"Oh my God!" she screamed into the phone.

"What happened?" Rory screamed back. "Mom?... Mom?" Lorelai wasn't answering, staring in shock at what she had done. Rory waved at Lane, and ran out the door towards their house.

Two minutes later, when Rory arrived home, she found Lorelai still sitting in the drivers seat, the engine idling, staring out the window. Rory gasped when she saw what had happened. Distracted by the paint samples, Lorelai had driven straight through the chuppah into the hedge. The remains of the chuppah lay in pieces around the Jeep and in the garden.

Rory opened the door, and turned off the vehicle. She guided Lorelai slowly out of the Jeep, and led her to the scene of the destruction.

"I destroyed it," Lorelai finally got out. "I'm Kevin McCloud."

Rory looked at her sideways, but shook her head, knowing it wasn't worth asking.

"Oh! Gilbert! No!" Lorelai cried. She knelt down on the ground, and cradled the decapitated goat to her chest. "I'm so sorry Gilbert."

Rory picked up another piece of carved wood and started to make a pile. Nothing seemed salvageable.

"Everything had been going so perfect," Lorelai wailed. "Luke's going to hate me now. He won't want to move in with me if I keep ruining everything he makes. I mean, I always thought that it would be fun to be in the Demolition Derby, I just didn't think that there would be such personal consequences."

"Mom," Rory consoled, rubbing her back soothingly, "Luke is not going to hate you. He loves you, and he will know that it was all just an accident. Of course you didn't mean to drive into it. He already knows that you're as accident-prone as Tim Taylor."

"But this symbolized so much in our relationship," she cried. "When I talked to Luke after he delivered the chuppah, that was when I realized that I couldn't marry Max. And it showed me how much Luke cares about me…." Lorelai sighed. "I just loved it so much – loved that he had spent so many hours making something for me."

Rory looked at her sympathetically, and the look on Lorelai's face explained everything. Yeah, she was worried that Luke would be upset about ruining the chuppah, but most importantly, she felt grief. Grief at what the chuppah represented, and the loss of something that was so special to her.

"Come on," Rory suggested. "Let's go inside. We'll clean it up later. Coffee?"

Loreali nodded slowly, and stood up. "Thanks kiddo. You just being here gets me down off the ledge."

Rory smiled at her. "Good. Because I really want to get to wear that bridesmaid dress."



The girls were sitting at the dining room table drinking coffee and browsing through the paint samples when they heard Luke's truck in the driveway. They glanced at each other worriedly, and Rory took it as her cue to make herself scarce. Lorelai sighed and walked out onto the porch. She saw Luke standing in the middle of the yard, staring at the remains of his work. He saw her emerge from the house, and walked over to her.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Uh, I was distracted, and drove into the garden," she admitted. "It was an accident. I know how upset you must be…" she trailed off, as tears filled her eyes.

Luke saw how upset she was. "It's okay. Don't worry. It was an accident." He swept her up into a strong hug, and wiped away her tears.

Lorelai peeked up at him. "You're not mad?" she asked in a small voice.

"No. Of course not," he laughed. "Why would you think that? Were you scared of me?"

She hesitated, but gave a small nod. "You spent so long working on it for me."

He held her at arms length and looked directly into her face. "For you and Max. I don't see it as belonging to me at all. Yeah I'm sad to see it go, but I'm not mad about it."

She nodded at him.

"So…" Luke continued. "How is the decorating committee going?"

"We're doing great, actually," she told him, as he led her inside, holding her hand firmly. "We have our applications for 'Design Star' ready to go. I think we're going to go with blue and green. I found some colors that just… look like April."

They reached the kitchen, and she pointed out her choices. Luke smiled and nodded at them. "Yeah, they do look like her."

He sat down, and pulled Lorelai into his lap. "Are you a bit better now?"

"Yeah." She reached to pick up something from the counter. It was Gilbert, with his head glued back onto his body. "I thought we'd keep this bit."

Luke smirked. "Good idea. He should get pride of place in the living room."

Rory emerged from her bedroom a few minutes later to find her mother sitting on Luke's lap still, their arms around each other. They were just sitting silently – something that rarely happened around here – but they looked so happy. She saw the wooden goat sitting on the table next to them, and smiled.