A/N: Thanks again for all of your reviews! I am still working on this story, but I am also writing smutty scenes based on Good at Dating called Good at Dirty! Definitely adult, so beware! I hope that you are enjoying this story. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. :)
Revelations, Regrets and Registries
Luke's pressed the doorbell as Lorelai made a careful study of her shoes. He squeezed the hand that he was holding, and when she glanced up at him he smiled and said, "Everything is going to be fine, trust me."
"I do," she whispered sullenly.
He looked at her and murmured, "Good," as Emily opened the door.
"Oh," she said surprised.
"Hello Emily," Luke said with a polite smile. "I'm sorry to just drop by like this, but we just came from Mrs. Gilmore's house, and we would like to talk to you and Richard, if he's available," he said calmly.
Emily glanced at Lorelai who clung to Luke's hand, seemingly mute and unwilling to meet her mother's eyes. "Of course," Emily murmured, swinging the door open wider. "Come in," she said in a subdued voice.
They stepped into the foyer. "May I take your coats," Emily asked. "It's Deirdre's day off," she explained. "Why she needs a day off when she has only been with us for four days is beyond me," she said derisively as she took their coats to the closet.
Luke turned to Lorelai and they shared a smile, knowing that poor Deirdre had earned this day off and probably wouldn't make it to another. Emily turned back to them and said, "Richard is in his study, Luke. If you will go knock on his door, I'll get us some coffee," she said as she turned toward the kitchen. She paused after a step, remembering something. "You don't drink coffee. I'll heat some water for tea, too," said as she hurried from the room.
Lorelai snorted and said, "Wow, she seems nervous. You would think that I was the one pulling the hatchet job in the ladies room!"
Luke leaned in and pecked her cheek. "She is nervous. She's scared, remember?" he asked softly. "Just try to play nice, okay?" he said with a stern look.
"I'll try," Lorelai promised. "But, you had better keep her in line, buddy," she said threateningly. "I'm not going to listen to that garbage again!"
"She'll behave," he assured her. "Aside from not wanting to make an ass of herself in front of me, she would never do that in front of your Dad. You're safe," he said as he went to knock on the door to Richard's study.
A moment after he knocked, he heard Richard say, "Yes, come in Emily," in an annoyed tone.
Luke poked his head in the door and saw the older man ensconced in his chair, a book in his lap, and his glasses perched on the end of his nose. Luke said, "Hi, sorry Richard, it's me."
"Luke!" Richard exclaimed happily. "Come in, come in," he beckoned.
"Actually Richard, Lorelai is here too. If you don't mind, we would like to speak to you and Emily for a few minutes," he said pleasantly.
"Of course," Richard said, inserting his bookmark and rising to put his cigar out. As he turned, he saw that Luke was wearing a suit. "That's right! You and Lorelai went to see Trix today!" he said.
"Yes, that's what we wanted to talk to you about," Luke answered.
The two men walked back into the living room just as Emily set the coffee tray on the table. Once everyone was served and settled in their chairs, Luke looked at Lorelai, who was holding her cup and saucer in a death grip, unwilling to look at her parents. He realized that he would have to do the talking, so he cleared his throat nervously and launched into a narrative of all that had transpired at Trix's house.
When he had finished, Emily was incensed. "She's trying to cut me out!" she said, jumping out of her chair angrily.
"Emily!" Richard shouted, appalled.
She whirled on him and said, "It's true! First she monopolizes all of your free time, now she wants to take Lorelai and Rory away from me!"
"Emily!" Richard shouted again, astounded by her accusations.
Emily stood still for a moment, blinking back tears. Finally she turned to look at her daughter. "Lorelai," she said, choking back the tears. "I am truly sorry for what I said to you the other night. I was wrong, I know that. I hope that you will forgive me," she said as she straightened her shoulders and left the room.
Richard, Luke and Lorelai sat in stunned silence for a moment. Luke caught Lorelai's eye and motioned for her to follow Emily. Reluctantly, she did so, leaving the men alone. Richard turned his gaze to Luke, a deep red flush creeping up his neck. "Luke, I must apologize for Emily…" he began, but Luke cut him off.
"I think she's right," Luke said, staring into his tea cup.
"She's…. What?" Richard asked, offended by Luke's statement.
"I think that Emily is right. I think that your mother is using this as an opportunity to undermine her," Luke said calmly.
"What do you mean?" Richard demanded.
Luke sighed and set his cup on the coffee table. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and wringing his hands. "Your mother obviously dislikes Emily," he said simply. "Surely, you've noticed," he said holding his hands open to Richard.
Richard sighed and said, "Yes," in a quiet voice.
"I don't want to interfere," Luke said sincerely, "but, I'm not sure that you are seeing everything that is going on here."
Richard guffawed and said, "Clearly!"
Luke went on to explain. "Emily came to Lorelai's house on Thursday to try to get it looking 'presentable' for your mother. I was there and we had an interesting talk," he said, in a troubled voice.
"Interesting how?" Richard asked curiously.
"Emily said that she was missing you," Luke said quietly.
"Missing me?" Richard asked mystified.
"Yes, she said that you have been traveling a lot lately, and when you are home, you've been giving your mother all of your attention," Luke explained patiently.
"She's my mother!" Richard said defensively.
Luke held up a hand to calm him saying, "I know, I know." Then he looked at Richard seriously and said, "But, Emily is your wife."
Richard sat back and sighed deeply. "I know," he whispered.
Luke stood up and began to pace the room. "I have to be honest with you Richard," he said nervously. When Richard looked up at him, he looked the older man directly in the eye and said, "I would never let anyone treat Lorelai the way that your mother treats Emily. Not you, not Emily, not anyone," he said forcefully.
This time, the blush did reach Richard's cheeks. He stared at his hands, ashamed. "Trix never wanted me to marry her," he said in a soft voice. "I'd hoped that in time, she would see how much I love Emily, how good she is for me," he said shaking his head sadly. "I told myself that she wasn't really attacking Emily, that she just has a sharp wit, and Emily was being thin skinned," he explained.
Luke snorted and said, "Emily?"
Richard chuckled and said, "When you are between a rock and a hard place, you tell yourself what you need to in order to get by." He thought for a moment and said, "When Trix was in London, it wasn't so bad. We only saw her once or twice a year." He shrugged and said, "I thought Emily could handle it."
"But now she's moved back here," Luke said sitting down on the sofa again.
"I'm going to have to do something," Richard mumbled to himself. Luke nodded and sat back in his chair while Richard thought it all out.
Lorelai walked into the kitchen, steeled for another attack. She was stunned to find Emily standing at the sink, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. "Mom?" she asked softly.
Emily stiffened and straightened her shoulders, but did not turn around. Lorelai placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and said, "Mom, its okay, everything will be okay."
"How?" Emily asked, the tears starting again. "How do you know?"
Lorelai laughed. "Because Luke said so," she said timidly, shrugging her shoulders.
Emily glanced over her shoulder. "So that's it? Luke said so, so that's how it's going to be?" she asked incredulously.
Lorelai offered her a half smile and said, "Well, I believe him."
Emily stared down at the sink again. After a moment she sighed and said, "I want to believe him."
"Oh, you should," Lorelai said letting a grin escape. "He's all powerful, you know," she joked.
Emily barked a laugh and said, "He'd have to be to straighten all this out."
"Mom?" Lorelai called softly. "Mom, look at me, please?" she asked. Emily inhaled deeply and turned to meet her daughter's bright blue eyes. Lorelai shrugged a little and said, "There's nothing to straighten out."
"What do you mean?" Emily demanded.
"Mom, the only thing that's going to change is how Rory's school is paid for. Nothing else is changing," she insisted, staring at her mother intensely.
"Nothing?" Emily asked hopefully.
Lorleai smiled and said, "Well, at least as far as Rory, Luke and I are concerned."
Emily nodded, pressing her lips together tightly. She looked down for a moment, gathered her courage and said, "So, you'll forgive me for what I said?"
"We already have," Lorelai said simply.
"We?" Emily asked.
"We," Lorelai confirmed. "Rory, Luke and I talked it all over, and we know that you were feeling, I don't know, pressured, I guess."
"You told Rory?" Emily said, panic rising in her voice.
"Mom, Rory and I talk about things," Lorelai explained patiently.
"I know," Emily said swallowing thickly. "Why can't we have what you and Rory have?" Emily asked quietly.
"Rory and I are different, Mom," Lorelai whispered.
Emily raised her head and said stubbornly, "We're mother and daughter, you're mother and daughter. It shouldn't be that different."
"It's completely different. It couldn't be more different," Lorelai said getting frustrated.
"But why?" Emily asked, confused.
Lorelai blew out a breath and said, "I grew up in a different environment."
Emily bristled and retorted, "You mean an oppressive environment."
"No, Mom, I mean a different environment," she said quickly. She thought for a moment and added, "I was so young when I had Rory."
"So because I waited until I was grown and married, I can't have a relationship with my daughter?" Emily asked snidely.
"No," Lorelai answered shortly.
"Well, then, why?" Emily demanded to know.
"Rory and I are best friends, Mom. We are best friends first and mother and daughter second, and you and I are mother and daughter always," she said with a gusty sigh.
"I wasn't taught to be best friends with my daughter," Emily said stiffly.
"I know," Lorelai answered.
"I was taught to be a role model for my daughter," Emily explained.
"I know that, too," Lorelai acknowledged.
"I did what I thought was right. I did what I thought I had to do to protect you, and because of this we have no relationship," Emily ranted.
"Oh, Mom, we have a relationship," Lorelai said softly.
Emily stopped and looked at Lorelai, her eyes filled with longing and pain. "We've been getting along so well lately," she whispered in a frightened tone.
"I know," Lorelai said, glancing down awkwardly.
"Have I ruined it?" Emily asked her daughter.
"No Mom," Lorelai said shaking her head. "We're fine," she assured her mother.
"You'll still come to dinner?" Emily asked plainly. "You'll still let us be," she paused to search for the word, "involved?" she asked finally.
"Yes," Lorelai answered with a nod. "Everything is going to be fine, you'll see."
Emily smirked and asked, "Because Luke said so?"
"I told you, he's that powerful," Lorelai said with a grin. She took Emily's arm to lead her back to the living room and whispered, "Besides, if I took Luke away from Dad now, he would probably cry like a baby."
"True," Emily agreed, rolling her eyes. Then she smiled at her daughter with something approximating warmth.
After Lorelai and Luke bade Richard and Emily good bye that afternoon, Richard turned to Emily and took her hands in his. "I'm sorry, Emmy," he whispered softly.
"Sorry?" she asked. "What in heavens name do you have to be sorry for?"
"I'm ashamed of myself," he admitted. "I've let Trix treat you badly for so many years," he said ruefully.
"Richard," she tried to butt in.
"No Emily," he said firmly. "No more," he promised, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
"Oh Richard," she sighed as he pulled her into his embrace.
"You're my girl, Emmy," he whispered into her hair. Emily's eyes darted around as she tried to figure out where this metamorphosis was stemming from. He pulled her tighter, his arms wrapping around her in a fierce embrace. Fierce, she thought to herself, I'll be damned. That Luke is all powerful!
Tuesday evening, Luke was dragging his feet while Lorelai tugged on his arm excitedly, pulling him across the parking lot. "Why are we doing this?" he asked for the millionth time.
"Presents, Luke," she said wiggling her jazz hands at him. "We're registering for our wedding presents, now come on," she said, pulling his arm with that superhuman strength that born shoppers seem to have.
"This is ridiculous," he groused as the doors to Bed, Bath and Beyond slid open before them.
"This is fun!" she countered enthusiastically as she pulled him to the registry counter. "Hi!" she greeted the woman at the desk. "We're Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes, we set up our registry online, and we want to use the little scanny thingy to pick stuff out," she explained.
The woman at the desk smiled and said, "Just one moment, I'll pull it up and get your gun set up."
"Online?" he asked. "We could have done this online?" he demanded.
"Well, yeah, but then you don't get to use the scanny thingy gun," she said as if it made all of the difference in the world.
"I need a gun," he grumbled. He looked around the big box store with distaste. "I hate these places," he said through gritted teeth.
"I know, hon, but this is the best place to get a whole variety of things for the house," she explained. She patted his arm distractedly, trying to figure out the best place to start in order to get him interested. Kitchenware, she thought decisively.
The woman behind the counter handed Lorelai the scanner and explained how to enter the information as Luke crossed his arms and pointedly ignored them. Lorelai took his arm and waved the gun in front of his face. "Look! A photon ray gun!" she said trying to cajole him into a little excitement.
"Why are we doing this anyway?" he asked, stopping to stare at her. "We don't need any of this stuff, you already have a house full of stuff!" he ranted.
As much as Lorelai loved Ranting Luke, she was beginning to lose patience with him. "Look," she said firmly. "People are going to get us wedding presents whether you like it or not! This way, we can pick out things that we actually want or need." She laughed harshly and said, "Trust me, we're going to get a lot of useless stuff anyway. Baccarat crystal glasses that we'll be afraid to unwrap, hideous but priceless vases, statues of Buddha with clocks in their stomachs." She glared at him and said, "We only have a month before we get married. This makes it easier for people to buy gifts that we will want and appreciate having, so suck it up, mister!"
Knowing he was beaten, Luke's scuffed his feet and asked, "Where do we start?"
Lorelai gave him her million dollar smile and asked, "You wanna use my photon ray gun?"
"Uh huh," he admitted. "And, it's a phaser," he corrected
"I figured you would," she said with a smirk. "A phaser it is," she said as she took his hand to lead him to the kitchenware department.
As they passed by displays of towels and sheet sets, Luke asked, "What about this stuff?"
"We'll get to it," she promised. "I thought we'd outfit your kitchen first."
"My kitchen?" he asked with a smirk.
"You're the only one who uses it," she said with a shrug. "I'd put the coffee maker in my bedroom if Rory would let me get away with it." She stopped as she approached the cookware and said, "Look Luke, pots and pans as far as the eyes can see," as she gestured grandly.
"Well, not quite that far," he said sardonically. "I could just order some new stuff from my restaurant supply guy," he mused.
"No! Then you would be paying for it," she explained. "Look around, surely something will catch your eye," she encouraged.
Thirty minutes later, she regretted her decision. In true 'Luke-but-don't-leap' fashion, he lifted every skillet and pan, testing its weight and balance, checking its construction, and reading all of the information on each box. Finally he narrowed it down to two different sets. He turned to her and asked "Non-stick or stainless?"
She laughed and said with an impish smile, "You're asking me? I'd pick the shiny one."
He shook his head, but pointed the gun at the stainless steel set anyway. Lorelai looked to see what came with the set he had chosen. "There are other pieces on the wall over there," she pointed.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, this only comes with these five pots and the lids," she explained. "They have others over there that you can pick out individually."
Luke walked over to the display and scanned another couple of others which would match the set. As they were walking over to the knife sets, Luke spied a wok on display. He pointed to it saying, "If I had that wok, I could make you Chinese. You know, stir fry and stuff."
Lorelai grabbed the gun and quickly scanned the bar code on the wok. She handed the gun back to Luke and clapped her hands excitedly. "Chinese food cooked in our very own kitchen! Wait 'till I tell Rory!"
Once Luke got into the swing of things, they quickly dispatched with the cookware, and tableware. Lorelai had to forcibly remove Luke from the kitchen gadget aisle after he cut a wide swath through it. As they walked back to the main aisle, Lorelai shook her head and said, "I can't believe you don't want to use my Charlie's Angels plates!"
"I just figured that it would be healthier for our marriage if you didn't tempt me with latent Farrah fantasies every day," he said with a smile.
"Oooh, Luke like Farrah!" Lorelai squealed.
He stopped and looked at her solemnly saying, "I'm a man."
"I noticed," she sassed him, tugging him toward the small appliances. She stopped dead in her tracks and gasped when she saw the biggest, shiniest coffee maker known to man. Leaving her behind with her own fantasies, Luke walked over to inspect it. After reading the information on the tag, he shook his head and pointed to the stainless steel Bunn on the next shelf. Lorelai pouted and said, "But it's not as pretty as this one," as she stroked her choice.
Luke smirked at her and said, "This one makes a full pot in less than three minutes."
"Zap it!" she cried, abandoning her selection.
A while later they wandered over to the bedding department. "What do we need here?" Luke asked.
"Sheets and stuff," she answered, rolling her eyes.
"We have all of that stuff," he said stubbornly.
"Luke! All of my stuff is all flowery and girly, and I know for a fact that you only have one set of sheets for your bed," she pointed out.
"Hey, are we using your bed or mine?" he asked.
Lorelai thought about it for a minute and answered, "I think yours. It's a queen, and mine's only a double," she reasoned.
Luke nodded and said, "We could put the double in Rory's room if you want."
"That would be cool," Lorelai agreed. "That way all of my cute girly sheets don't go the waste." She turned the corner and cried, "Quick, Mr. Spock, set phasers to stun!"
Luke stopped and asked, "Hey, who said you get to be Captain Kirk?"
"My mission, I planned it, I'm Captain Kirk," she explained. "Look!" she said pointing across the aisle. There, on the display bed, was a set of blue and white plaid flannel sheets in the exact pattern of the flannel shirt that Lorelai had claimed as her own.
Luke looked at the sheets and laughed, the sound sending waves of warmth coursing through Lorelai's body. She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, stroking the sheets suggestively. Luke walked over and said, "But how would I find you? You would be camouflaged," he said with a chuckle.
She wiggled her eyebrows at him and said, "You'd never know when I was going to pounce on you."
"I never know now," he shrugged. "This would only give you even more of an unfair advantage."
"Oh and you hate it when I take advantage of you?" she asked.
"It's torture," he said gruffly.
"I'm sorry," she said haughtily. "I'll try not to inflict any more injury on you," she said with mock anger.
He leered at her and said, "I can tough it out."
"No, you're right," she agreed easily. "I can understand why you wouldn't want to have to see me naked wrapped in plaid flannel," she said as she smiled and licked her lips teasingly. Lorelai was delighted when she saw his eyes darken a shade.
"Can we go home now?" he asked.
"Why," she asked innocently as she bent over the display to straighten an imaginary wrinkle in the sheets. "Aren't you having fun?" she asked.
"I can think of other things to do," he growled as he let his hand slide unobtrusively over her ass.
"But Luke," she said opening her eyes wide, "we need sheets. Oooh, look! Are those satin?" she asked.
Luke hurriedly scanned the flannels sheets, and walked determinedly to the satin ones. He pursed his lips as he searched the display, and scanned a set of midnight blue sheets.
"Are we going with some kind of blue theme?" she asked, trying to keep up with him.
"I like you in blue," he answered. He turned to look at her his eyes burning into hers as he said, "I think that I'll really like you naked on blue satin sheets." He pulled her behind the display and kissed her passionately, his hand sliding up to brush her breast.
She pulled back and smiled at him saying, "Is that a phaser in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"
"Can we go home now?" he asked again, pressing his arousal against her.
"Yeah," she said with a wave of her hand, "I can do this stuff online."
He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to the front of the store. He dropped the gun off at the counter, and told them they would finish the registry online rather than waiting for the print out. They rushed out to the truck, and Luke handed Lorelai into her seat before jogging around to the driver's side. Once he got in, he pulled her across the bench seat, and kissed her again, his hands as feverish as his lips.
Lorelai pulled away and looked at him in shock. "Shopping makes you randy!" she claimed.
"You make me hot," he countered as he started the truck.
"Wrap speed, Mr. Sulu," she commanded.
"Warp speed, captain," he confirmed as he put the truck in gear. "Hey, do you think that Victoria's Secret place has a registry thing?" he asked hopefully.