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Chapter 21: Sounds like a plan

The day had started crappy for Lorelai to begin with: Luke had already been in the diner when she had woken up, she was still not really reconciled with Rory, the pop-tarts box had been empty and her mother had called her before she had had her first cup of coffee.

Emily had invited Rory to the annual Christmas dinner and had uninvited Lorelai and Luke at the same time, telling Lorelai she did not wish to see either of them at her house this coming Friday. Lorelai couldn't think of another occasion when she had been allowed to skip this dinner, or any other for that matter. The Christmas dinner was the only one though which she actually liked and she had already told Luke about the fabulous apple-tarts they would have there, had described the consistence of the filling, the taste, had even dreamed about eating all tarts alone. Minutes after Emily had hung up Lorelai still sat with the phone in the hand on her couch and pouted. She was not only sad that she would miss the tarts, but also hurt that her mother had uninvited her, she was unwelcome in her own parent's house that far it had come. With a sigh she stood up and threw the phone on the couch. A look at the clock told her that she should have been at the Inn half an hour ago, but she decided to go to the diner first nonetheless to make her day at least a bit brighter by getting her first daily Luke fix.

"Hey", she greeted him tiredly when she walked in and then sat down on a stool at the counter.

"Hey back", he said and took one of the cups and filled it with coffee and then placed it in front of her on the counter. Surprised Lorelai looked up, looking at him with questioning eyes.

"You look like you need it", he shrugged and took a plate from Cesar and brought it to a table where Kirk sat. "So what's wrong?" he asked her when he came back.

"Nothing… everything… urgh…. I just wanna go back to bed"; she groaned and lay her head on the counter.

"This is unsanitary, get your face and hair off the counter", Luke said and wiped the spot when she sat back up.

"You suck", she told him unnerved and grabbed her purse.

"I never thought that that time of the month would have such an impact on you", he told her with a knowing smile, trying to get her back to their normal banter.

"You wouldn't even notice that it's that time of the month for me if it weren't for the fact that we still haven't had sex, which sucks as well, just like the rest of this day and everyone I had contact with today. Even my alarm clock seems to hate me today because it let me sleep in and my phone hates me also, because I received a call from my mother first thing this morning", she replied snippy and then marched to the door, taking the cup with her.

"That's not a take out cup!" Luke called after her.

"Then shoot me", she yelled back and slammed the door shut.

Friday evening Lorelai still wasn't in a better mood. That time of the month had passed now for her, but it didn't change her attitude towards Luke or Rory and was still sulky.

Luke was watching baseball on TV, while she sat beside him and flipped through her life-style magazines.

"Luke, why won't you convince her to go?" Rory asked while she wrapped the presents for her grand parents.

"Because I don't want to go and I have to work later, so I don't even have the time to go. And honestly I don't think your mother is in any shape to meet her mother. They would kill each other with those tarts", he said.

"Grandma wants you there. She may not know it right now, but she will when I show up alone. And I don't want to go there alone. And the apple tarts are really great. Mom loves the apple tarts and you will also. Please Luke come with me", Rory begged.

"You two better stop talking about me as if I wasn't here. We're not coming to this dinner", Lorelai interfered.

"So, you want to hold a grudge?" Rory asked.

"Yes, it burns more calories", Lorelai muttered.

"That's not true", Luke shook his head.

"Yes it is. How do you think my mother got those legs of hers? She's not exactly a Stairmaster gal", Lorelai told him.

"What's a Stairmaster?" Luke asked puzzled.

"A piece of fitness equipment where you have to climb a few stairs repeatedly", Rory enlightened him, while Lorelai just shook her head at his ignorance.

"Why would one need a piece of fitness equipment to climb stairs? That's stupid! There are stairs everywhere! Why can't those fitness lunatics climb those? Do the stairs need a special height for them or need to be made of a special material? Like some fancy plastic stairs with sparkling stars on them, which break when you step one too many times on them and then you break your ankle and scrape your skin, so you need stitches and a cast and can't walk any stairs for the weeks to come. That's contra-productive," Luke started to rant, but Rory interrupted him.

"Should I put your names on the presents?"

"Yes, sign it the inn keeper formally known as her daughter and her innocent son in law to be", Lorelai answered.

"You know what I think?" Rory asked them and came into the living room.

"What?" Lorelai said and Luke looked up from the TV.

"I think you're acting a little immature", Rory told them.

"I'm not acting", Lorelai said immediately.

"And I'm not immature", Luke said.

"Fine, I'm going", Rory gave up.

"Drive carefully and watch out for ice", Luke told her.

"Yeah, and bring me back one of those tarts!" Lorelai called after Rory, but the door had already closed.

"I think I'm gonna go as well", Luke said and got off the couch "I bet the diner will be crowded tonight because of the hockey game".

"Yeah, go and leave me as well", Lorelai muttered and aggressively flipped to the next page.

"Sourpuss", he grinned and kissed her cheek before he left the house as well.

"Hey", Lorelai said when she entered the diner for the second time that day. She felt bad because she had been in such a crappy mood since her mother had called her.

"Coffee?" he asked her and she nodded.

"I'm sorry"; she said and sat down on her stool at the counter.

"It's ok", he told her and gave her a small smile. "You want to eat something?" he asked her.

"Yeah", she nodded and smiled back.

""I'll get you a burger", Luke said and started to go into the kitchen, but she stopped him.

"Wait. Can I see a menu?", she asked him.

"Why do you need to see a menu?" he asked.

"I don't know, but I usually order the same thing, and tonight I'm in the mood for something a little different. Something festive"

"You know that I'll make you anything you want to eat anyhow, right?"

"I know", she sighed. "You're too good to me".

"Don't I know it", Luke smiled.

"I'll have a burger", Lorelai said finally. Luke only shook his head and went into the kitchen where he disappeared for the next fifteen minutes.

"Do you still have to slaughter the cow or why is this taking so long?" Lorelai yelled into the kitchen.

"Yes, I'm just washing the blood of my hands", Luke replied when he came out with her burger.

"Gross", she muttered, but then her eyes lit up when she saw what he had made her.

"What did you do?", she asked him and stared at her burger.

"You wanted something festive", he shrugged.

"You made me a Santa burger", she exclaimed nd pointed to the Santa face on the plate.

"It's not a big deal."

"He has a hat and everything."

"Yeah, I just cut a piece of wonder bread, you know, poured a little ketchup, piped on a little cream cheese.

"No one has ever made me something quite this disgusting before. I thank you", she smiled, leaned over the counter and gave him a soft kiss.

"You're welcome", he said and pecked her lips again, before he took the coffee pot to start his refill round when her cell phone rang and he pointed to the "no cell phone" sign with one hand.

"Luke", she whined, "I can't go outside, it's like the North Pole out there", she told him, but he shook his head.

"Outside", he said sternly.

"Honey, you don't want me to get sick again right? Because you know that means that you will have to cook for me and entertain me and nurse me back to health", she flirted and twirled a strand of her hair around her finger.

"And that would be different how from every other day?" he asked her with raised eyebrows when Taylor and a group of his choir came in.

"You don't have to watch me throwing up?" she grinned flirtatiously.

"True", he said and turned to Taylor who tried to bargain with him to get free hot chocolate for his choir and himself, but of course Luke refused.

"Oh my God!", Lorelai suddenly exclaimed after she had checked her voicemail.

"These are your neighbours Luke!", Taylor ignored her, still trying to get free drinks.

"Shut up Taylor", Luke told him and then turned to Lorelai. "What's going on?" he asked her.

"My father's in the hospital", she told him and looked completely shocked nd freaked out.

"What?"

"Yeah, he collapsed or something. I don't know. I need a cab. I need to call a cab. Where's the phone? I need - can anyone give me - I'm holding a phone", she rambled.

"Whoa, calm down", Luke said and lay his hands on her shoulders.

"No I can't calm down. I need a cab. What's the number? God, it's something-cabs, cabs-something-something, 1-800-cabs? Can somebody tell me the damn number of the cab guy?!" she yelled.

"You don't need a cab. I'm right here, I'll drive you to the hospital", he told her gently.

"But there's food and there's people and there's a burger with a face", she said and Luke pulled her to him and hugged her while he turned to the customers.

"Ok, everybody out! We're closed, let's go. Food's on me." He announced, then placed a kiss on Lorelai's hair and pulled away from her. "Put on your coat and get your stuff", he said and then turned to Taylor. "Taylor, have your hot chocolate then lock up", he said and led Lorelai through the curtain towards the backdoor.

"Luke, I'm …" she started and he could see the fear in her eyes.

"I know", he nodded and held her when she hugged him again, before the both got into the truck.

The first part of the drive past in complete silence. Lorelai gripped Luke's right hand tightly in her own while she was starring out the window into the darkness.

"I feel like this is one of those moments when I should be remembering all the great times I had with my dad, you know. The time he took me shopping for a Barbie or to the circus or fishing and my mind is a complete blank", she admitted quietly after a while.

"Well I'm sure it happened", Luke said and gave her hand a squeeze.

"No it didn't. We never did any of that. He went to work, he came home, he read the paper, he went to bed, I snuck out the window. Simple. He was a very by the numbers guy. I was never very good with numbers", she said sadly.

"I'm sure he loves you", he tried to reassure you.

"You know my dad is not a bad guy".

"I know", Luke nodded, because he liked Richard. He was always boring him with insurance issues and business talk during the Friday night dinners, but he was a good hearted man who cared a lot for his family and Luke approved of that. Luke hadn't had a family since his father had died and he liked the connection they had because they both loved Lorelai and Rory and cared for them.

"He lived his life the way he thought he was supposed to. He followed the rules taught to him by his non-fishing-non-Barbie-buying dad. He worked hard. He bought a nice house. He provided for my mom. All he asked in return was for his daughter to wear white dresses and go to cotillion and want the same life that he had. What a disappointment it must have been for him to get me", Lorelai went on.

"Nobody could ever see you as a disappointment, you are an amazing woman", Luke replied.

"You're only saying that because you love me", Lorelai dismissed it and then froze. They hadn't said it yet, those three words, but now she implied it and was afraid how Luke would react.

"You're right, I love you, but that doesn't change the fact that you're not a disappointment for your father", he said nonchalantly, like they had said it a thousand times already.

"I love you, too", she said and gave him a small smile, then brought their joined hands to her mouth and pressed her lips to the back of his hand. Luke smiled back and they shared a moment of understanding in this horrible situation.

"I bet you'd buy a Barbie for our daughter", she said then, not really caring what she was implying now.

"Yeah, well, I'd probably give her the cash to buy it herself and meet her by the baseball cards", Luke grinned.

"Hmm. You'll make a great dad", she said and nodded approvingly because of his answer.

"You make a great mom", he said and gave her hand another squeeze.

"Did we just have the talk I think we had?" she asked him.

"Yup, seems like it. Guess we're covering all the basics today", Luke chuckled.

"Maybe we should set a wedding date right now" she grinned.

"Let's wait at least until we know when your father will be released", Luke said and sped the car up, because he suddenly couldn't wait to get into the hospital only to get out of the hospital faster.

"Sounds like a plan", Lorelai agreed and turned back towards the window, but kept Luke's hand in hers and stroked aimlessly with her thumb over his skin.

TBC

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