Okay two things I gotta let you know about this huge delay in posting. First this is the orphan chapter. It wasn't on the original outline for this story but after reading through the reviews, I decided I needed to change things around a bit. Add to the fact I was also horribly blocked as well.
Second, a great opportunity opened up for me so I moved. I'm a pack rat who turned into a purge queen. I am in the new place now and am in surge or purge mode. It either surges to the proper place or it gets purged (kicked) to the curb. I apologize for leaving you hanging but at least you had other great writers and for some a great new challenge to keep you going but from my pm's you guys actually missed me.
Sheesh I hope after the long break there is still interest in this story.
Disclaimer: As a nod to the hysterical FF discussion on TWoP, no magic markers or penguins were harmed in the writing of this chapter.
Intermission
As Lorelai made her way home, she again worked herself into a state of aggravation. She kept going over the fight with Luke in her mind and was disheartened about what it meant for their future.
Luke was angry and she was extremely irritated at him for not being more accepting of last night's pause in their nocturnal activities. Granted she could understand his point of view: the phone call had interrupted a near-perfect moment but given her current circumstances with both Rory and Sookie, she needed to be available to both of them. He just didn't seem to understand that. Lorelai realized they had been lucky that they hadn't had any disruptions on the previous nights. Only this one time. And it had burst the protective bubble they had been living in for the past month.
Lorelai mentally reviewed Luke's demeanor when he found out that Rory knew. He was upset. He was even more so when he thought Sookie might've known as well. If they had gone public, everyone would know but Luke was behaving like that would be the end of the world. He didn't seem to want anyone to know about them. While she wasn't about play town crier and crow about what was going on, she eventually wanted people to know that they were together. She wanted to be able to go out in public with him, hold hands, maybe even give him a playful peck on the lips in front of people. She wanted that comfort zone in a relationship with Luke. Luke apparently had other ideas.
Lorelai was pre-occupied as she let herself in the back door and navigated her way to the living room on autopilot. She absent-mindedly stabbed the flashing message button on her answering machine before she plopped down on the couch.
"Lorelai," Digger Stiles nasally voice whined out of the machine. "I've called and you haven't answered. A better, stronger, smarter man would have grown a pair and moved on by now but I think you underestimate my perseverance, although I have to admit even I'm nearing my own pathetic threshold. Call me. I'd still like to take you out to dinner." His voice droned on, "If I don't hear from you, I'll curl up in a ball in the corner, chanting your name then figure you have some mysterious medical condition that prevents you from dialing the phone and figure out another way to contact you. Call me."
The message barely registered with her. She was too absorbed in her thoughts about Luke. When the second message began playing though, she snapped to attention, coming to her feet, staring at the machine.
"Lorelai," Sookie began tentatively. "We got disconnected. You must be out since we talked on your cell. You seemed kind of distracted so I thought I would leave a message on your home phone." Her tone was questioning, uncertain, confused. "Uh, call me back if you want to talk more about the Dragonfly. Or about what is going on with you. Whatever it is I hope you will tell me. Bye."
Lorelai heaved a sigh. She knew she still couldn't tell Sookie about her and Luke but Sookie was already aware that something was going on and it was starting to affect their friendship. Given Luke's reaction this morning, she definitely could not tell her the truth but she hated to lie to her. She didn't know what she was going to say.
One thing she did know: she had to go see her. After their phone conversation last night, she couldn't just blow off one of her best friends. She had to tell her something.
Lorelai mechanically went upstairs and took a shower. Her mind swung back and forth from her argument with Luke to her upcoming visit to Sookie. As she got dressed she grappled with what she was going to say to both of them when she saw them again.
Once she finished getting ready she looked at the clock. She could go to Luke's first but she wasn't sure if they could keep up the subterfuge of a normal grumpy-diner-owner slash wacky-caffeine-deprived-customer. She took a deep breath and after considering, finally decided not to go to Luke's this morning. Almost immediately she reconsidered but then stuck with her original decision. She felt funny about not going to see him but she needed all the time she could get to figure out how to deal with their situation.
That left going to Sookie's. Even though it was early morning, it wasn't too early. She could go to Sookie's for coffee and they could talk. Hopefully she'd come up with something convincing.
Lorelai gave herself one final once-over and then was out the front door. Babette was in her yard, puttering around in her flower boxes.
"Lorelai, sugah, how's it goin' today?" she called. "You're out early."
"Everything's just fine, Babette," Lorelai called back to her. She bent her head and sped up so as not to get caught up in a long drawn out conversation. "You know how it's been. Dragonfly stuff."
"I can't wait to see the place," Babette called after Lorelai's rapidly retreating figure.
Lorelai kept up her fast pace and all too quickly she was in town and at Sookie's house. Lorelai hesitated before knocking on the door. After a moment, Sookie opened it and they stared at each other awkwardly.
"Hey," Lorelai said breaking the silence.
"Hey," Sookie replied uncertainly.
"Sorry about last night," she apologized sheepishly. "I didn't mean to hang up on you like that. I was in the middle of something and couldn't really focus on the Dragonfly."
Sookie nodded before standing back to invite Lorelai in. "That's okay. It was kind of late for me to be calling." She looked at Lorelai curiously. "What were you doing? You weren't at home. Were you on a date?"
Lorelai shifted uncomfortably as they stood there. "No, I wasn't on a date. It was just a little… side project, nothing important," she shrugged. "I'm really sorry, Sookie. Trust me, it was no big deal. I don't want to talk about it. Anyway," she visibly brightened, hoping she could get away with her flimsy excuse and deftly changed the subject, "I'm here now and ready to tackle all issues Dragonfly.
"Okay," Sookie agreed. She wanted to get to the bottom of Lorelai's sudden closed-off disposition but seeing that she was unwilling to talk about it, decided not to push her about last night's events. "I was just about to go with Davey. We both need to get out of the house." She paused. "Actually I was going to see if I could catch you at Luke's but you probably just left there." She looked a little crestfallen.
Lorelai swallowed nervously. "Actually I didn't make it there this morning," she admitted.
"We can go now! I would love to just sit there and catch up on all the town gossip."
Lorelai hesitated. After the way they parted this morning, she wasn't sure she was ready to see Luke. She was still mad and she was pretty sure he felt the same way. She also had no idea of what to say to him. Plus she wasn't sure if he might not be a trifle bit angry with Sookie. She hung back and watched Sookie put Davey in his stroller.
"Is everything alright?" Sookie asked timidly, finally noticing Lorelai's reluctance.
"Yes," she replied, "Everything's fine." Lorelai mentally shook herself. She knew it was inevitable that she would be seeing Luke; she hadn't expected to be seeing him so soon after she decided to stay away from him. They would both just have to suck it up and deal with it.
"Perfect!" Sookie clapped her hands. "Let's go!"
As they made the short trip to the diner, Sookie chattered on incessantly about everything from the building of the kitchen of the Dragonfly to Jackson's vegetable crop being grown specifically for their kitchen once the Inn was up and running to a plethora of Davey "firsts". Lorelai listened without comment.
Lorelai stopped when they reached the door. She could see Luke behind the counter, working over his receipts, frowning.
"Lorelai?" Sookie questioned.
"Sorry, let's go in," she said grabbing the front of the stroller to lift it up the step and opening the door.
Luke looked up as trio entered the diner. This was the first time she had come in with anyone else and he had to wonder just what she had told Sookie about last night's phone call. Their eyes met as Lorelai led Sookie to the nearest empty table and she shook her head slightly and offered him a wan smile.
Luke was torn: on the one hand he wanted to rush over to find out if they had discussed last night but on the other hand he wanted nothing to do with either of them. He was still that angry with Lorelai because of the way they parted and with Sookie for unknowingly causing their rift.
Sookie guided the stroller out of the way of traffic and sat down at one end of Lorelai's usual table. Lorelai let out a long breath before sitting down with her back towards the door. They both grabbed menus and began perusing them.
Luke came over with the coffee pot and a couple of cups. "Do you know what you want?" he asked gruffly.
Lorelai inwardly winced at Luke's tone. "Well, coffee is always a good start," she said without looking up at him.
"Hmm," Sookie scanned the menu, "maybe pancakes. Ohhhh! Or French Toast!"
"Give us a few minutes," Lorelai added, knowing Sookie would need more time. She braved a quick look up at him. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression. He flexed his jaw before heading back to the cash register to settle a bill.
"I can't decide," Sookie complained, leaning her elbows on the table. "Whoa," she drew back as it rocked slightly. "Luke should fix this."
Lorelai buried her face further into her menu as she felt her skin flushing unable to say a word, remembering the steamy encounter that accounted for the wonky table. Luke had been right. Every time she sat there, she'd remember them being together on this very table.
Luke rounded the counter to head to the tables and Lorelai. His eyes involuntarily admiring her hair as he stopped by a nearby table to drop off a check.
Sookie noticed Lorelai's unusually quiet demeanor.
"Are you sure everything is alright? You aren't still mad about last night? Sookie asked again.
"Sookie," Lorelai exclaimed, mildly exasperated. "I already told you I wasn't doing anything important last night. It was no big deal. Drop it." She buried her face further into her menu.
Somewhat cowed, Sookie too hid behind her menu.
Luke stopped short at hearing Lorelai's words, his gut tightening. No big deal? No big deal! Everything that had occurred between them, every night, every kiss, every time they had been together wasn't important to her. No big deal to her. Unfortunately it was a big deal to him.
Unnoticed by either of them, Luke abruptly turned on his heel and headed back into the kitchen. "Things are slowing up," he told Cesar. "I'm going to tackle straightening up the stockroom and putting the deliveries away. Everybody has been taken care of except for Lorelai and Sookie. Okay?"
"Sure thing boss," Cesar replied.
Luke walked the length of the counter, this time not sparing a glance at Lorelai's table. He had a lot to think about.
Cesar came out of the kitchen and approached Lorelai's table. "What'll you have?"
They both looked up from their menus. "Where's Luke?" Lorelai blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Since things have slowed down, he is off doing something else, so I'm running things," Cesar replied. "What'll you have?"
Lorelai barely heard Sookie tell Cesar what she wanted and didn't even know what she ordered, she just mumbled something. Where had Luke gone? She was hoping having him nearby might help them both calm down and resolve their fractious state of affairs but he bailed. Clearly he didn't want to be around her.
In the stockroom, Luke vigorously attacked the waiting delivery, ripping open boxes and putting the items on the shelves. His mind kept echoing Lorelai's comment about last night. "It's no big deal" resounded in his head as he worked.
He finished putting everything away. Not wanting to appear in the diner, knowing she would still be out there, he sat down on a crate and contemplated the past month, starting with the bet.
They had set up their ground rules he reminded himself. Thirty nights then they would walk away, no harm, no foul. They both agreed. He shook his head at his own folly for even thinking she might want more. She was sticking to the agreement. It was just sex to her, physical gratification, nothing more. Their thirty nights were almost up and right on schedule she was already planning her getaway. Hell, he thought, she must've already distanced herself if she was able to so casually focus on a phone call rather than him.
She was already gone he concluded, shaking his head. He realized he was worse off than he was before. He had hoped that after the thirty days she would still want to be with him or, if worse came to worse, he would've been able to purge her from his system and go on without the nagging regret of wondering what it would be like to be with her. Neither had happened. Yep, she was gone and he still wanted her, now even more so than ever.
But he had to consider what she wanted and it wasn't him. He had to accept that, come to terms with it. He'd have to find a way to quash his attraction to her. He would have to see himself as she did: diner owner, coffee provider, occasional handyman and sometimes friend. He would have to push this passionate month far back into the recesses of his brain, never again to see the light of day. For now their time together would be too achingly painful to dwell on but maybe someday, someday he would be able to look back fondly, savoring this month, remembering a time when everything was perfect.
Luke sat and stared unseeingly at the shelves, lost in thought.
Lorelai managed to get through everything she had planned to do for the day but she kept brooding on Luke's disappearance from the diner. She had hoped they could at least chat as long-time customer to diner owner or even friend to friend and at least try to get on a normal footing in the public aspect of their relationship but his absence precluded that. And it bothered her more than she was willing to admit to herself. She felt an uneasiness, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, but it was definitely wrong.
She peeked out the back door and carefully checked the neighborhood, as she had done every night for the past month, then noiselessly let herself out of the house, locked the door and left.
Silently she made her way to town, thankful that everyone seemed to have turned in early. She made it to the diner, let herself in the back door and quietly mounted the steps to Luke's apartment, mentally preparing herself. As she reached for the knob she had her first inkling of Luke's mood.
The door was locked.
She rapped on the glass. "Luke? Let me in," she called quietly.
There was a long pause before she heard him moving in the apartment. She moved back a step as the door opened. He stood there, ready for bed, a questioning look on his face. Clearly he was not expecting to see her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
Hello, thirty days?" Lorelai tried to make a joke to lighten the mood and cover the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "We aren't done yet."
"I told you this morning you didn't have to come here anymore," Luke said.
"And I told you I was seeing this through to the end," Lorelai shot back stepping forward, almost crowding Luke to the point where he had to move back from the door to allow her to come in. "We really should talk about last night and this morning," she continued, moving further into his apartment.
"Fine," Luke agreed, closing the door and walking away from her.
Lorelai moved to sit down on the couch and Luke took the nearby chair. They looked at each other for a moment.
"Talk," Luke said.
Monosyllabic Man strikes again, Lorelai thought. "Luke, I really shouldn't have taken that call from Sookie last night," she began. "I didn't think. I thought it might be Rory and she was worried that she couldn't get—"
Lorelai, its okay," Luke interjected tiredly, interrupting her apology. "Like I said before, we've had a good run. Sooner or later something was bound to happen and it did. We were pretty much done anyway." His gut tightened as he repeated her words from this morning. "It's no big deal."
Lorelai frowned at hearing Luke's words. She had said the exact thing to Sookie in the diner just that morning.
"Are you sure—" she began.
"Yes."
"But what about these last few nights?" Lorelai questioned.
Luke pulled himself together with a supreme effort. "You can stay if you want," he said reluctantly, not sure how he was going to ignore her if she was in bed beside him. "Or you can go home. If you stay though, it's probably better that we just sleep rather than…" he trailed off unable to finish the sentence.
Lorelai managed to successfully prevent her dismay from showing on her face. She felt her chest constrict painfully as the truth of his words sunk in. He didn't seem to want her anymore either. Vaguely she realized that he'd never ever even entertained the idea of them continuing on as a couple. Apparently he had no problem ending things now that the month was over. She was stunned that he sounded so casual, so matter-of-fact that they wouldn't be together anymore.
"If you want, I can sleep on the couch," Luke offered thinking that might be a better idea.
This made her feel even worse. Lorelai looked up and steadily held his gaze. "No, the terms were both of us in bed and that's how it should be." She swallowed painfully as she stood up. "I'll just get ready." She hurried into the bathroom before he could reply.
Once the door was firmly shut behind her, she covered her mouth with her hand and tightly squeezed her eyes shut, not allowing any tears to fall. She didn't want him to see that she had been crying over this. She only had herself to blame. She had told herself not to get too attached to him, not to lose her heart to him and then she went ahead and did it anyway.
She forced herself into action, preparing for bed. She didn't know how she was going to sleep next to him knowing they were through. Her eyes fell on his flannel shirt, the one she usually wore hanging on a hook next to her own pajamas. With a heavy heart she reached for his shirt and buried her face in the soft material. Even though she had been wearing it, it still faintly had his scent on it.
This will never do, she silently chided herself for mooning over a flannel shirt just because it was his. She deliberately hung it up and grabbed her pajamas and changed. As she went through her nightly rituals, she took stock of how much she had here on hand in his apartment. Fighting down the lump in her throat, she grabbed some of the lesser-used items. Since he was kicking her to the curb, she might as well start taking things back home so when the time came, she could make a quick getaway.
Luke was turning down the bed when she emerged from the bathroom, arms full of her clothes and toiletry items and watched her dump them on a chair. He looked at her, questioningly.
"Just collecting up some stuff to take home with me tomorrow," she said with a shrug. She noticed what he was doing. "Bed time?"
"Early deliveries," he replied shortly.
They both stood awkwardly staring at each other across the bed.
"Well," Lorelai began tentatively, "we should probably…." She gestured to the bed.
"Right," Luke snapped out of his immobilized state.
They both climbed into their respective sides of the bed and gingerly settled themselves, each making sure they didn't accidentally brush up against the other. An uncomfortable silence grew as they both lay on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.
"Uh, good night," Luke said lamely. He turned off the light and the room was plunged into darkness.
"Good night," Lorelai parroted.
It took Lorelai all of about ten seconds before she rolled on her side away from Luke, trying to blot out his presence. She felt the bed shift and knew he had done the same thing.
It was going to be a long night.
Lorelai's eyes snapped open suddenly, inexplicable wide awake. She wasn't sure what woke her up. As she tried to drift back into sleep, she became more aware of her surroundings. She was at Luke's in bed, warm and comfortable. When she snuggled her cheek into her pillow, she realized it wasn't her pillow at all. She raised her head and looked down, realizing she had her head on Luke's chest.
More details of their position instantly shifted into focus. When she had finally fallen asleep, they had been on opposite sides of the bed, as far away from each other as they could get. She actually was surprised she had slept at all. They were in the center now; Luke on his back and Lorelai curled up around him, head and upper body on his chest, her right leg bent and casually resting on his thighs.
Lorelai noted that even though Luke was deeply asleep, his left hand was lax but covering her own on his chest, his right, though pinned beneath her, was dangerously close to cupping her ass.
She actually considered settling back down on him and going to sleep but their conversation last night replayed itself in her brain. He wanted out, she reminded herself. If she got all clingy on him now, she might lose what little they would have left after this bet was over and she couldn't stand to lose him completely. She craned her neck to look at the clock, noting that she had about ten minutes before the alarm went off. She couldn't let him find her all over him like this.
Surreptitiously she eased her hand out of his grasp. Once free, she carefully lifted her leg off him then proceeded to cautiously lift herself to scoot away towards her side of the bed. His right hand twitched against her hip and she froze, listening to him sigh in his sleep. She waited a moment until she was sure he wasn't waking up then moved the rest of the way, once again presenting her back to him. She let out a sigh of relief, thankful she had spared herself any embarrassment. She curled up, wide awake, waiting for the alarm to go off.
ENT! ENT! ENT!
Eventually Luke stirred and smacked the snooze button on the clock, silencing the annoying sound. Groggily he rolled toward Lorelai, coming up against her back; his hand landed on his usual spot on her hip and rubbed it. "Lorelai," he said hoarsely still half-asleep.
His mind tilted to full awareness when he felt fabric instead of bare skin. Belatedly he remembered that they were literally only sleeping together and intimate gestures were probably not a good idea in this stage of the game. He abruptly removed his hand. Fortunately for him, her eyes were still closed.
"Wake up, Lorelai," he said, resisting his morning ritual of brushing her hair aside to kiss the nape of her neck.
"Okay," came the muffled reply.
Luke rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Lorelai flung back the covers and hurriedly dressed wanting nothing more to leave.
She was completely dressed and collecting her things when Luke emerged from the bathroom.
"I'll make your coffee," he said.
"No, don't bother," she responded quickly. "I don't have time for it today. I have an early meeting with Tom at the Dragonfly."
All he could do was nod in acknowledgment. There was another awkward pause.
"Well," she said pasting on an overly-bright smile. "If I don't see you later, I'll see you tonight."
"Okay," he nodded again and watched her walk out the door.
ENT! ENT! ENT!
Luke was jarred awake. He was about to shut off the alarm when he became aware he was holding a sleeping Lorelai in his arms. He reached out and shut off the offending device before draping his arm around her once again.
He distinctly remembered going to sleep on his side of the bed last night. After she had left yesterday morning, he had not seen her all day until she showed up again last night to sleep with him. Luckily she had come by late. Conversation between them had been painfully stilted and it was a relief that there was little more to do but for her to gather up more of her stuff and prepare for bed.
And they had gone to sleep on opposite sides of the bed.
That wasn't the case now. They were in the center of it facing each other, arms wrapped around each other. Lorelai finally stirred and opened her eyes.
She was dismayed to find herself clinging to Luke once again. "Uh, sorry," she offered uncomfortably.
Luke was slow to release her but the moment he did she scampered out of bed. Instead of heading to the bathroom, he went to the kitchen and made up a pot of coffee.
"You don't have to do that," she said when she noticed what he was doing. She was a little out of sorts. Usually Luke was in the bathroom when she dressed so she was self-consciously trying to dress herself without displaying too much skin.
"Lorelai, you can take the coffee with you if you can't stay," he told her. He watched her hurriedly finish dressing herself. "I assume you have more early meetings at the Dragonfly?"
"Yes," she said unconvincingly over her shoulder, finishing up the last of her blouse buttons.
He nodded, taking in her apparent lie in stride. Not seeing her all day yesterday and the way they had been when the alarm had gone off this morning was making him think.
Lorelai gathered up her things and headed into the kitchen just as Luke was pouring her coffee. He extended the cup to her and she put her things down on the table to take it but when she did, he didn't let it go. She looked a query at him.
"Makes it hard to drink if you're holding the cup," she pointed out.
He left go and she gratefully drank. She had missed his coffee yesterday. The hot liquid re-energized her.
"Lorelai," he began tentatively, "tonight is the last night of the bet and I was wondering…" Luke trailed off.
Lorelai was instantly focused on his words. "Wondering?" she prompted.
"Well," he mustered on, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming over earlier tonight. Early evening if you can make it. I thought I might make us some dinner."
"Dinner?" Lorelai repeated uncertainly. After the awkwardness of the past two days, he wanted her to sit and have dinner with him? Would she be able to handle that? She sipped her coffee while she tried to figure out what to do.
"Yeah, dinner," he repeated. "We made it through the entire month. A celebration is in order." She didn't seem all that interested in the idea. He shrugged, a little defeated by the certainty of her refusal. He hurried on, "Or not. I just thought it would be nice—"
"Dinner would be great," Lorelai said, surprising them both.
Luke smiled at her, a genuine smile tinged with relief. "Great. Around seven? I know I won't have to tell you to bring your appetite."
"Hmph," she snorted at his dig at how much she ate. "You better make something good," she warned him. "I have a feeling I'm gonna be very hungry." She nearly cringed as the word Dirty! screamed in her mind but Luke just grinned.
She finished off her coffee and handed him the empty cup her mood lightening up considerably by the sudden invitation. This had possibilities. "I do have to go," she pouted.
He could hear the regret in her voice. "I'll see you tonight then," he said.
"Tonight," she nodded. She grabbed her stuff from the table and headed out the door.
Luke followed her to the door and shut it behind her. He knew he had to get ready to start the day in the diner but he could help thinking about this morning from the moment they woke up until now. Even if they went back to being just friends after this, he still had one more night and he wasn't about to blow off his last chance to be with her. They still had one more night.
And he would see to it that it was a night she would never forget.
A/N: Again major apologies for the delay and yes I know there was no smut in this one. We're in the home stretch folks!