I am bored what can I say.

Ah yeah, I know what I wanted to say! I wanted to reply to some of the (spare) reviews: People, what are you thinking? Of course Emily could never break them up! As you will see she is just coming over to wish them a good night, nothing more nothing less. I think when you look at the anvils it's obvious that that's what's going to happen in this chapter.

Lyrics by Juli

Chapter 26: Over

"Hey Emily", Luke greeted her, but she didn't reply, while looking at their joined hands.

"This has to end", she cut straight to the point.

"What?" Luke asked.

"If you're talking about late night visits, I agree", Lorelai told her, deciding that aggression was the best defence.

"This engagement", Emily clarified and pointed to Lorelai's ring.

"You want us to get married now? Ok, give us a second, I'll grab a dress, Luke will get his suit and we're off to Vegas", Lorelai shrugged unimpressed.

"You are not getting married! I want this thing over. Luke you will move out tonight", Emily told them.

"You're kidding me right? Are you drunk? Too many sleeping pills? Mom, this whole thing was your idea", Lorelai said and grasped Luke's hand tighter.

"I changed my mind. I don't want you two married or engaged. In fact I don't want you even near each other, otherwise we won't be paying for Chilton anymore", Emily made herself clear and both Luke and Lorelai stared at her, not believing what they were hearing.

"Ah I get it. Good joke, mom", Lorelai laughed while Luke was still too stunned to react.

"I am not joking, Lorelai. I am dead serious", Emily insisted.

"Wait, let me get this right: You told me that we have to get married immediately. In fact, if we wouldn't have asked to prolong the time we already would be married", Lorelai started.

"Oh thank god for that", Emily remarked.

"You forced Luke to move in here and now you're telling us, that all this doesn't count anymore, because you changed your mind?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes", Emily just nodded.

"You can't break us up anymore, mother. We're together now. In a non-forced way. We're happy, we're in love and there's no way we will ever break up again", Lorelai said louder.

"Lorelai, I am not here to discuss this. I am sorry that I got you into this situation to begin with, but my condition has changed. I see that you think you're in love with Luke, but I also believe that once he's gone, you'll see that the both of you were just putting too much imagination into this whole thing, because it's more romantic to be in love with your husband", Emily replied.

"Mom, we are NOT breaking up!" Lorelai yelled, wanting her mother to understand that.

"Luke has to move back into his apartment and you have to break up, otherwise we will stop paying for Chilton immediately", Emily said.

"Why? What have I done to you that you've decided to play such cruel games with me, mother? What have I done? What has Luke done? Why do you just have to ruin everything for me again? Tell me because I don't get why you hate me this much", Lorelai asked desperately when she understood that her mother wasn't joking.

"I do not hate you. I only want what's best for you and I thought Luke was what's best for you, but now the situation has changed and I had to see that I was wrong. I'm sorry"; Emily said and sounded honest with what she said.

"It's about the money", Luke said quietly. "It's about my grandparent's money, right? You only wanted me to marry Lorelai because you thought I had millions in my bank account", he concluded and gripped Lorelai's hand tighter. "It was never about my mother's letter", he added.

"I am honestly sorry that the dream your mother and I had can't come true, Lukas, but I have to think of my daughter and my granddaughter first. I will not jeopardize their happiness because of a foolish girls dream", she said. "I will make sure by tomorrow that everything is corrected again and I am sorry for the late night disturbance. Good night Lorelai, good night Lukas", she said then and got into her car and drove off, while Luke and Lorelai still stood shocked on the porch.

Luke was the first one to recover slightly and he pulled Lorelai against him, hugged her tightly and buried his face in her hair. "What should we do?"

"I will never break up with you. No way", Lorelai mumbled in to his chest.

"I don't think we have much of a choice", Luke said quietly and pressed a kiss in her hair. Lorelai pulled back from him suddenly. She was furious now; she wouldn't stand here and accept that her mother would break them up.

"No! No way I am letting you go! You will stay with me! You will live right here and we will get married. I don't give a damn what my mother has to say to that", she yelled at him and then stormed inside the house, passed Rory and Dean in the living room and ran up the stairs.

"Lorelai! Lorelai", Luke yelled and hurried after her.

"I'm sorry, Dean, but I guess something happened and my mom is so irrational when she's like that. I guess I should go and see what's wrong", Rory turned to her boyfriend when she heard the slamming doors upstairs.

"Hey, no, it's ok. Really", Dean said and gave her a soft kiss before he got up and left the house and Rory slowly made her way upstairs.

"She can't force us to do that, Luke, she just can't" Lorelai yelled.

"Lorelai we had this exact talk a while ago when she forced us to move in together and to get married. And even back then we agreed that she has the power to force us", Luke said. Lorelai was standing on one side of the bed, he on the other.

"So what? You want to just move out, forget about all the plans we made, forget about everything we shared and then go back to your former life without me?" she cried desperately.

"What choice do we have, Lorelai? Tell me a way to get out of this and I'll stay. I'll marry you right this second, but we don't have a choice. She played this cruel trick on us and now she's decided that she wants us separated", Luke told her.

"What? Luke.. no" Rory said when she entered the room, having heard their conversation, but the two adults ignored her. They were too caught up in their own turmoil to listen to her.

"Luke, you can't leave us", Lorelai said, her voice hoarse from the screaming.

"Lorelai, we can't jeopardize Rory's education", Luke said equally quiet.

"No, don't do this because of me! I don't need to go to Chilton! I can go back to Stars Hollow High", Rory said upset and grabbed Luke's arm, while the adults were staring at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation with their eyes.

"Rory, you love this school. You learn so much there and it's the first step to achieve your dream and go to Harvard. Your grandmother tries to do what she thinks is best for you and your mother, in her own weird way. I'm sure she never meant any harm, she thought I could support you and care for you. But now that she knows that the money is gone, she changed her mind. We're not getting married"; Luke told the teen with all the self-control he had. It killed him inside to defend Emily and try to find an explanation for her behaviour. Yet he knew that this was the right thing to do. It was his job to care for them as much as it was Emily's, because he loved them both with all his heart. He couldn't let it happen that Rory wouldn't get the education she deserved. He would always blame himself for being selfish, if he let it happen and made Rory go back to Stars Hollow High. And he also knew that Lorelai wouldn't be able to deal with it. She would blame herself, she would blame him and at some time she would start to hate both him and herself for letting it happen.

"I'm going back to my apartment now. I'll get my stuff while you're at work tomorrow", he said and left the room and the house without another glance back at Lorelai, he wouldn't be able to walk away then.

"No", Lorelai whispered and her eyes filled with tears. This just couldn't be true. A few minutes ago she'd been making out with Luke in the kitchen and now he was breaking up with her, because of her stupid mother? She pinched her thigh to make sure she wasn't caught in a nightmare. When Rory came and hugged her, crying as well, she knew that this was real. Luke was gone, her mother had won again.

"I'm sure he'll think about it again, mom. He's just shocked; he doesn't know what to do. I'll talk to him and I'll talk to grandma. I'll fix this, trust me. He'll be back and you'll get married", Rory sobbed, while she tried to soothe her mother. Lorelai remained silent. She wasn't able to fully understand what had happened. She wanted Luke, she wanted him to come back and fight for her, for them. Yet she knew that he wouldn't come back, not today and not tomorrow. Emily had won. Lorelai broke down crying angrily.

Lorelai didn't sleep that night. She tossed and turned, she cried, she refused to believe it. At five o' clock in the morning she had decided that she wouldn't let her mother take Luke away from her. She would talk to him again when they had both calmed down and rationally they would find a solution. They had always found solutions together and this wouldn't be an exception. And after that she would tell her parents to go to hell and leave her alone, she was done with them.

Finally around five she fell into a troubled sleep and awoke two hours later, but at least she had slept. She stared up at the ceiling, felt as empty as she ever had before.

Yet she was surer than ever that she would talk to Luke, to make him see that there was a solution. They just had to find it.

Luke hadn't slept that night either. He hadn't really understood yet that he had broken off the engagement to Lorelai. Every time he opened his eyes during the night he thought he would find Lorelai beside him, sleeping peacefully in their bed. He could see her hair fan out over the pillows, feel her hand on his chest and breathe tickle his cheek. He could hear her babbling and smell her hair. Yet when his eyes got used to the dark he saw that he was lying in the bed in his former apartment and Lorelai wasn't there. Their house was her house again, his old apartment his current apartment and their future together had vanished.

He stared up at the ceiling and heard the sounds from outside that had become unfamiliar during the last weeks.

Early in the morning he sat up in bed and just looked around. He saw her coffee cup on the counter, her shirt thrown over the armchair by the window. He knew her shampoo and toothpaste were still in the bathroom and a pair of fresh underwear could be found in his closet behind his old T-shirts.

This had been their little love-nest for more than one occasion and now he was back to living here. By the door the Christmas tree Lorelai had put up was sparkling and Luke buried his face in his hands he wouldn't allow himself to cry.

Lorelai and Rory weren't dead. They weren't gone forever and he would see them again. He would talk to them and laugh with them. He would still repair their stuff and he would be there for them no Emily Gilmore could stop him from doing that.

For the first time in a long time he wished his mother was still alive. He knew they had been best friends and he was sure his mother would have been able to change Emily's mind. Maybe he would have gotten to know Lorelai sooner. Liz wouldn't have lost the money and he and Lorelai would already be married, live in a nice house and wouldn't have a care in the world, other than what he should cook when their kids came home from school or where to go for the holidays.

She would have stopped Emily, he knew it. How could his mother have been friends with Emily? Had Emily changed so much?

He suddenly heard the door lock click and the door open and found Lorelai standing in the doorway, wearing an old pair of jeans and his shirt.

Without saying something she walked over to him, sat down in his lap and wrapped her arms around him.

"I couldn't sleep", she said buring her face in his neck and breathed him in.

"Me either", he sighed and pulled her closer. "What are you doing here?" he asked her then. "If your mother finds out you're here Rory can't go to Chilton anymore".

"I don't care about my mother. I just want you to come home", she replied.

"Lorelai, we can't do that", he said and pushed her slowly away from him. "You know that I love you and I hope you know how much I would love to go back home with you and continue the life we had for the past months, but I can't," he said.

"Rory says she doesn't want to go to Chilton anymore. She says she'd rather have you home than go to some fancy school", Lorelai replied.

"You might not see that now, but in a few years when Rory applies for College and she needs to get letters of recommendation from all the good universities, because she only went to Stars Hollow High, you will start to blame yourself and you will start to blame me for being so selfish and I couldn't stand that", he told her and looked into her eyes.

"Maybe we could meet here, have a clandestine affaire, which nobody knows about, not even my mother. I could come here late at night and leave in the wee hours of the morning?" Lorelai told him a random possibility that had come to mind the night before.

"That would never work. Somebody would see you. And we already tried to find out who is her spy, but we never found out. It's too risky", he said and shook his head.

"But Luke…we just can't break up", she said and sounded desperate.

"I thought about this as well last night and there's only one thing that makes sense", he told her.

"Elope?" she asked hopefully.

"No, we'll separate for as long as Rory goes to Chilton or we will find another way to get the money. As soon as she's out we'll get married", he said.

"That's in three years!" Lorelai cried out.

"I know. But hey, we waited this long to get together, what's another three years?" he tried to cheer her up, but wasn't convinced himself.

"Three years! That's forever Luke. I don't want to pine for you three more years. What's if you meet somebody else in the meantime? Or my mother comes up with more conditions and you have to sell the diner, move to Europe or shoot yourself?"

"I won't shoot myself, but I guess waiting is the only way there is", he said. Lorelai looked him in the eyes and recognized that determined look in his eyes. He wouldn't change his mind, she could see it.

She bit her lower lip when her eyes filled with tears and looked down so he wouldn't see it. He caught her chin with his hand though and made her look at him. "You better go home now", he said quietly and pressed his lips against her forehead. He knew if he really kissed her, he wouldn't be able to send her away. His lips lingered and a sob broke free from her. She nodded. Then got up and slowly left his apartment, went out the backdoor through which she had already come and still heard the sound of something crashing into the door upstairs.

In the blind fury which had overtaken him Luke had thrown the lamp on his nightstand into the door and the glass with "Office" had burst into little pieces.

Your skin gets cold
Your eyes get unseeing
Your breathing gets silent
Your head gets heavy
What broke you so?
What hurt you so?
What frazzled you and your life like this?
What broke you so?
What are my words for when you can't hear them?
What is my love for when you don't feel it?
Why can't we both face the truth?

Rory had heard the front door close a while ago and thought that Lorelai had brought Luke home. She was afraid to go upstairs and find them in a compromising situation, but when her mother wasn't back down by noon and she couldn't hear any sounds from upstairs she decided to go and check on them.

The door was closed and she slowly opened it, looked in with one eye, because she thought whatever they were doing in there wouldn't scar her for life then, but to her surprise her mother was alone. She lay on her side, rolled into a ball and she could see her shoulders shaking from sobs. She opened both eyes and then hurried inside.

"Mom, didn't you talk to him? I thought you went to Luke when you left so early this morning?" she asked and sat down on the bed.

"I did. He said we should wait for three years. He said he wouldn't risk anything, he doesn't want to risk your education. He said we would blame him a few years from now", Lorelai sobbed.

"But that's stupid", Rory said and placed a hand on her mother's shoulder.

"He's right. You should go to Chilton. But I should have seen this coming. I knew she was up to something and I knew she hated it when he said he didn't have money. I should have suspected something like this", Lorelai went on.

"Mom, none of this is your fault. The only one responsible for all this is grandma", Rory said.

"You know for the first time in my life I thought she might have done something for me. Once I understood that I loved him, I thought that this could be a great thing. Intentionally or unintentionally she brought us together and made us see what was right there. I thought about thanking her for that and then she goes and destroys it all, only because he doesn't have millions of dollars in his bank account", Lorelai cried. "She's his godmother and all she cares about is his bank account. She's not only ruining my life, but also the life of her best friend's son. How much lower can it get?" Lorelai was sniffing and hick-upping and sobbing.

"Oh mom", Rory said sympathetically, not sure what she could do. She was so sad herself, but even more angry, but she couldn't scream or cry now, because her mother needed her. "Mom. This isn't good. Come on. Try to sit up", she said and tried to pull her mother up, but it wasn't working.

"He said it was too risky to continue this in secret because we don't know who her spy is".

"We'll find him or her".

"He said we'll get married in three years. But what if he finds somebody else in the meantime? Someone without a crazy mother who is blackmailing them?" Lorelai cried.

"He waited forever for you. He's not just going to walk away", Rory tried to reassure her.

"It's over", Lorelai said with a finality in her voice that scared Rory.

"Mom, this isn't you. Lying in bed like this. You should be up", Rory said.

"He was the one", she sobbed.

"We'll find a solution. Shh. Try to sleep", Rory said and stroked over her mother's hair to soothe her. She had never seen her like this and it really scared her. Her mother was falling apart in front of her eyes and it was her grandmother's fault. In that second she didn't give a damn about her future. Her grandmother had to change her mind or she wouldn't go back to Chilton she decided. And knew at the same tome that her mother and Luke would never let that happen.

TBC

Please review! It's a huge motivation boost if you get reviews...