CHAPTER 20 –Laying low…

Disclaimer: See first chapter, sadly I still don't own anything.

AN: Hey everyone, sorry that I took so long to update. I had a massive writer's block the whole week. But now another chapter of my stories is done and I think I'm pretty happy about how it turned out- I hope you will be as well. Anyways, thanks so much for all your sweet reviews. That was actually the first time I got 10 reviews for one of my chapters proud and maybe even more of you are in the mood to review this chapter. Special thanks for leaving me a review for chapter 19 goes to:Baby Girl Geller-Green; Luke Nlorelaifan; Magical Princess; Courtney; llanoestacado; everwoodgirl04; Suz22; Kylie1403; Phoebe4u and last but not least ProFfeSseR (thanks for all your input).

Sooo… ENJOY and tell me what you think.

P.S: Why don't you guys tell me if you where right about the person in the lobby. It's always so much fun to leave the readers speculating about something. ;)

CHAPTER 20 – Laying low…

As soon as he saw Lorelai and Luke approaching him, he got up and stepped over to them.

"Lorelai."

They stopped in front of him "Dad," Lorelai said. "What do you want here?" Her voice sounded emotionless and cold. Luke was standing right next to her, with his arm protectively around her shoulders.

"Luke."

"Mr. Gilmore." Luke replied pulling Lorelai closer to him.

"What do you want here dad?" Lorelai said with a strong voice.

Richard faced his daughter after looking at the floor for a moment. "I came to talk to you, Lorelai."

"You had your chance to say something when I came to talk to you and mom, and you didn't it. I don't have anything else to say to you or mom. So if you'd excuse me please, I have to get back to work." She turned around without looking at her father and headed towards her office.

"Lorelai," Richard called after her and was about to follow her, but Luke stopped him.

"Don't you think you've done enough damage already?"

Richard shook his head. "That's why I came here, I wanted to apologize for what has happened." Richard sounded desperate, but Luke still didn't let him pass.

"Look, I don't know why you can't accept your daughter the way she is, and approve of what's she done in her life, all I know is that she was heartbroken and crying her eyes out when she came back from your place."

Richard's expression fell, when Luke told him about all this.

"I've never seen Lorelai like this. And if you really care about your daughter you'd better leave her alone for a while, let her calm down a little."

Richard took a step back. "You really care about my daughter, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. She's the most important person in my life."

Richard simply nodded, he didn't know what to say. "Maybe you are right, maybe I should give her some time."

"You should."

Richard turned around and started towards the front door of the Dragonfly Inn, he knew that there was nothing he could do at the moment. He truly regretted not having said anything when Lorelai came to talk to them. When he had reached the door he turned around and addressed Luke one more time. "Take good care of my daughter."

"I will. I always have." Luke replied and watched Richard leaving the Inn. He didn't know what to think of what had just happened in the lobby of the Dragonfly. Richard seemed like he actually regretted the events of the past weekend. Luke hoped that Richard would actually approach his daughter again, after giving her some time to digest their recent fight.

Luke walked back to Lorelai's office and went straight inside, not bothering to knock first. He saw her standing in front of the window, her back facing him, arms crossed over her chest. He closed the door and stepped behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Lorelai…"

Not turning around she said, "How dare he come here after what has happened last weekend? The whole time my mother stood there in the middle of the living room, saying all these horrible things to me, he just sat there. He just sat there and said nothing. Not one word. Not one freakin' word!"

"I know, honey, I know." He gently rubbed her shoulders and turned her around to face him. Tears were glistening in her eyes.

"Maybe he really did come to apologize."

"Oh, please! Are you on his side now or what?" she said stepping away from him."

"No, of course I'm not. I just hate to see you suffering like this. I know how hurt you are when you're fighting with your parents."

"Don't you understand?" she yelled at him. "This isn't like all the times before! I've never experienced something like this before with them. I never thought that my mother would be capable to say all these things to me. I probably should have known though, 'cause that's just the way Emily Gilmore is." Tears were streaming down her face now. "But after all, they are my parents and that's why it freakin' hurts so much! I hate them for making me feel like this. It hurts that they can't just love me the way I am. It just hurts!"

Luke stepped towards Lorelai, trying to pull her into his arms, but Lorelai stepped away from him.

"Hey, come here." He stepped towards her again. "Don't shut me out. I'm not the bad guy. I'm on your side, remember?"

Lorelai let out a muffled sob and stepped into his arms, making her calm down immediately.

"I know. I'm sorry, Luke." She told him with a tear strained voice. "Can we just go home? I just need to give Michel some papers and then we can go."

"Sure, I just need to get my stuff from the apartment for our trip, but I'll walk you home first."

Lorelai smiled at him, wiping the last of her tears off of her cheeks, and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Luke shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Sometimes you just need to get some of the anger out. As long as you feel a little better now."

"It helps, but I'm not sure if I'm feeling better. It just hurts, but I will feel better eventually."

"Yeah, you will. And remember that I'm always here for you, no matter what. You can always talk to me."

Lorelai smiled up at him, their arms still around each other, she stepped on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I know, I'm glad you're here."

"That goes for both sides." He told her and returned her gesture.

"Could you bring some dinner with you? We can watch a movie together and call it an early night. You know, so we can leave early tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds good," he said and helped her getting her stuff together.

They went into the lobby where Lorelai handed the paper stuff to Michel and gave him some last instructions. After that they walked off towards Lorelai's home.

Later that night…

Lorelai had just opened the door for Luke, when the phone rang.

"Uh, you put the food in the living room and I'll get the phone."

"Allright," Luke replied and walked into the living room, while Lorelai ran into the kitchen, hoping that that was the last place she remembered seeing the phone.

After a couple more rings she finally found the phone on the counter under a few newspapers, she had meant to throw out.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom! Couldn't find the phone again?" Rory said, amused at her mother's disorder.

"No, I knew where it was, it just took me a little while to get to it, that's all." She told her daughter, hoping she wouldn't notice her little white lie, which really wasn't one, because she had to open the door for Luke first, but of course Rory knew her mom too well.

"So what's up with you? Yale still standing?"

"Yep. It is. Actually I called to talk to you about Thanksgiving." Rory told her mom sounding a little unsure.

"Oh, ok. What about it?" Lorelai sensed the uncertainty in her daughter's voice, but was hoping that Rory hadn't decided on not coming to Maine. Lorelai walked into the living room and sat down next to Luke, who had spread out their food on the living room table.

"Well," Rory started, "I was wondering if the offer to join you in Maine is still up?"

"Of course it is, sweetie! We'd love to have you there!" Lorelai's mood brightened up immediately, knowing that she would be able to spend at least some of the Thanksgiving weekend with her daughter.

"So can I ask what's changed your mind?"

"I never said I wouldn't come, I just hadn't decided. And besides, I just want to be able to spend some time with you… and Luke over Thanksgiving. I kinda miss our little Thanksgiving traditions, you know?"

"Yeah, I miss that, too."

"Is it ok if I just drive up there like Friday morning?"

"Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I already emailed you the address, just in case."

"Really? Thanks. I haven't had time to my mails lately."

"Sure, babe. I can't wait to see you. You haven't been home for almost a month now." Lorelai leaned back on the couch and rested her back against Luke's chest, who put his arm around her waist in response.

"I know, mom. I'm really sorry about that. I just had so much to do for school and the paper. I've hardly had any time off the last couple of weeks."

"You don't have to apologize for that, hon. School work always comes first."

"I know, thanks mom. So… when are you guys driving up there?

"Tomorrow morning. We're just gonna have some dinner and watch a movie. I think we're gonna call it an early night, so we can leave early tomorrow morning."

"Like Luke-time early?"

"Yeah," Lorelai had to smile at her daughter's use of words, "around seven."

"I hope Luke knows to provide enough food and coffee."

"I told him he has to. Otherwise we will have to stop for coffee a lot, and I'm sure he wouldn't like that." Lorelai grinned at Luke who just rolled his eyes at her."

"Good. Well I let you get back to your dinner and I'll see you guys on Friday."

"Allright, babe. Take care, I love you."

"Love you, too. Say 'hi' to Luke for me."

"I will, bye hon."

"Bye, mom."

Both of them hung up their phones.

Lorelai turned towards Luke. "Guess what?" Lorelai said beaming.

"Is Rory coming?"

"Yeah, she is." Lorelai told him and hugged him happily. "At least we can keep up some of our Thanksgiving tradition."

"Which would be… ?"

"Having dinner with you, silly."

"Ahh." Luke said smiling at her happiness.

"And honestly, that's the best part of it anyway."

"Really?" Luke asked her a little surprised.

"Of course! We love your food and… we love you." She told him, her expression turning more serious. "Dinner with you has always been the highlight of our Thanksgiving."

"Wow, I didn't know that." Luke was amazed and over the moon happy that their favorite part of Thanksgiving was dinner with him.

"Well, now you know." She said and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"Yeah, now I know." He said smiling at her.

Lorelai got up from the couch and walked over to the dvds. "Which movie do you wanna watch?"

"I don't care."

Lorelai rolled her eyes at him. "Ok, how about 'When Harry met Sally'?"

Luke shrugged with his shoulders. "Yeah, ok."

Lorelai put the dvd in and joined him on the couch, digging in to her food.

Still chewing on her burger she turned towards Luke, "So are you sure we can't leave a tiny little bit later tomorrow morning?"

Luke had to repress a smile. "No, sorry. We're leaving at seven. Not a minute later."

"Please, preeettyyy please." She said giving him the puppy eyes.

"Nope, sorry."

Lorelai started to pout and Luke pulled her into his arms. "You can sleep in the car, you know? And I promised you to have coffee and food in the car for you. And you can always take a nap when we get there, so stop pouting already."

"Ok, ok. You promise to have lots and lots of coffee in the car?"

"I told you I would, don't worry." He told her and leaned down to kiss her. "So can we finish watching the movie now?" he asked her putting the trash into the paper back from the diner, that was sitting next to the couch.

"Yeah, sure." Luke leaned against the side of the couch and stretched his legs out so that Lorelai could lean against his chest. He pulled her closer to his body, as soon as she was settled against his body, and rested his hand on her belly. A gesture that had become part of their routine whenever they were settled on the couch together, enjoying each other's company.

A little further into the movie, Luke felt Lorelai's body relax in his arms and soon after her breath had accustomed to a steady rhythm. She had fallen asleep, while watching a movie with him. This had happened more and more over the last couple of weeks, maybe even months now. Ever since the Dragonfly Inn kept her busy for most of the time. Ever since she had come home or into the diner late into the evening, totally exhausted from work. It was time for her to get some time off in order to relax a little from the stress they had had in the first few months after the opening of the Dragonfly Inn. More than once, Luke had told her to slow down and take a day or even just a half day off, but she had always told him that she, as the manger and owner of the Inn, couldn't just take a day off, during such an important time. Luke knew that there was no point in arguing with her about that, but now he was glad that she was willing to take a couple of days off of work and just enjoy Thanksgiving with him and his family in Maine.

He reached for the remote and turned the TV off. Lorelai stirred slightly in his arms.

"Hey, come on let's go to bed," He softly whispered into her ear.

"Can't move. I'm soo tired."

"Come on." He sat up and tried to get her into a sitting position as well, but all she did was put her arms around his neck and settle back against his chest. Luke sighed and stood up, taking her into his arms in the process. Walking up the stairs he decided to come back down again in a few minutes to turn the lights off and lock the doors.

Upstairs in the bedroom, he gently put her down on the bed, untangling her arms from his neck. He placed soft kiss on her forehead and told her that he would be back in a few minutes and that she should use the bathroom first. Lorelai mumbled an 'mhmm' into the sheets but didn't make any moves to actually get up from the bed. Luke smiled at her walked back downstairs in order to clean up their trash from dinner. He checked the doors again and walked back upstairs, turning off the lights on his way.

Lorelai, in the meantime, had actually managed to drag herself into the bathroom and was now tugged in under the covers, wearing his blue flannel shirt, that she had claimed to be in her possessions from now on.

Luke smiled at her sleeping figure, and after getting ready for bed himself, he stripped down to his boxers and got into bed next to Lorelai, who immediately snuggled up to his body when he did so. Luke placed a soft kiss on her forehead and soon followed her into dreamland.

TBC…

AN2: Sorry if this chapter turned out a little more boring than the other ones. I promise that the next chapter, which will be the drive and the arrival in Maine and maybe some other things ;), will be more exciting again. Still, tell me what you think about this one. I always look forward to all your reviews.