When Rory walked into her apartment in New Haven, she was immediately accosted by Paris who'd been waiting anxiously for her to get back.
"Where've you been?" she asked impatiently and continued before giving her a chance to answer, "And why haven't you been answering your cell phone? I've been trying to call you non-stop since last night."
"Paris, you knew where I was. Lane's wedding was this weekend, so I went home to Stars Hollow. And the reason I haven't been answering my phone is because I turned it off halfway through the reception after my dad gave this horrible drunken speech. I knew as soon as he sobered up, he'd start calling me non-stop and I wasn't ready to deal with him. What's going on? I've never seen you this panicked."
"You might wanna sit down. It's bad."
"Paris, just tell me what's going on?"
"It's Logan. I know you two broke up, but I also know you're still carrying a torch for him, so I thought you'd want to know that that ne'er-do-well ex-boyfriend of your just landed himself in some really deep trouble, and that was literally. Colin called and said something about his chute not opening properly or him not getting his chute open in time. I don't know for sure. I wasn't paying that much attention when he mentioned Logan, but I thought I should tell you anyway. When he called last night they said he was being air-lifted to some hospital in New York, but I can't remember which one."
"It's fine, Paris. Thanks for telling me. I'll give Colin a call and find out what's going on," Rory said sounding a lot calmer than she felt. Sure she'd broken up with Logan because he'd hurt her, but she didn't wish anything like this to happen to him. She silently prayed that it wasn't as bad a Paris was making it sound as she picked up the phone.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Richard and Emily sat in their usual evening position after returning from Stars Hollow, each with a book in their hands and a cocktail beside them. Richard was engrossed in his reading while Emily couldn't seem to concentrate. She finally gave up the pretense of trying to read and slammed her book down on the coffee table, startling Richard out of his book.
"Emily, you almost gave me a heart attack!" her husband said.
"I'm sorry," she said getting out of her seat and walking to the bar to freshen her drink."I just can't stop thinking about dinner tonight." She took a sip of her drink, hoping it would calm her nerves.
"I thought things went rather well, myself. You didn't?"
"The dinner itself was wonderful and that chocolate pie Luke served for dessert was delightful, but I'm worried about him and Lorelai. He was so angry tonight. He was holding it in, but it was very obvious. And what right does that horrible man have to try to destroy their wedding plans just to try to get a reduction in his rent? This is the worst possible timing ever. With the two of them expecting twins, they're going to need more money, not less. And him forcing Luke to have a meeting with his trampy ex-wife! What if she tries to split them up like Christopher's done? The sheer nerve of that man!"
"Ok, Emily. Take a breath and calm down," he said as he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. "First of all, we've never met Nicole, so you don't know that she's trampy."
"Well, what else would you call a woman who cheats on her husband?"she said icily, looking up at him.
"I'm just saying that you don't know all of the circumstances surrounding their divorce."
"But I suppose you do."
"I know a few things. Luke shared some of it with me when we had our talk in Stars Hollow about his and Lorelai's future. Granted, he didn't share all of the details with me, but I know that Luke deeply regrets the fact that he's had one failed marriage already and that he's determined not to let that happen with Lorelai. The fact is, we sorely misjudged him when he and Lorelai first started dating. He's a good man with a good heart who fully intends to be there for Lorelai and his children."
"Speaking of which, you didn't seem at all surprised by the twin news tonight. Did you already know about it?"
"I did," he admitted.
Emily extricated herself from her husband's grasp looking at him in shock and said, "I don't believe this! Once again, something huge is going on in Lorelai's life and I'm the last one to know. I can't believe she told you before she told me and that you kept it from me!"
"She didn't tell me. I overheard them talking that night at dinner when I went to make peace with Luke after my inappropriate outburst at the dinner table. When I asked him about it, he confirmed it, but he asked me not to say anything because they hadn't told Rory and April yet. I'm sorry that I kept it from you, but I gave Luke my word!"
"That is unacceptable! I'm your wife! We're not supposed to have any secrets from each other! We're supposed to tell each other everything! I cannot believe that you kept a secret of this magnitude from me! "
"It wasn't my secret to tell! Believe me, Emily. I hate it that I knew before you, but I couldn't break my promise to Luke, not when everything is finally coming together for our family."
"I broke my promise to Lorelai when I told you that she was pregnant in the first place. I promised her I wouldn't say anything, but I told you anyway."
"And I told you that you shouldn't have, if you recall. You were dancing around the subject all night and I told you if it made you uncomfortable to break your promise to Lorelai that you needn't tell me and you did it anyway!"
"Because I couldn't keep something that important from you! I thought it was imperative that you know that you're going to be a grandfather again."
"I know that and I understand why you did it, but I need you to understand why I did what I did! In just a little over a month, Luke is going to be our son-in-law and I want him to know that I can respect his wishes when it comes to his family. I need for him to trust me! That's something you should learn to do with Lorelai."
"Can't you see that I'm trying? But I don't know how to be the kind of mother that she wants me to be! I wasn't taught to be friends with my daughter and share secrets with her! This is hard for me to deal with!"
"I can see that you're trying, Emily, and no one's asking you to suddenly have this best friend relationship with her, like what she has with Rory, but you need to start accepting her life for what it is, instead of being disappointed that it isn't what you expect it to be even if you don't agree with it."
"That's what Lorelai keeps telling me."
"Then maybe you should listen to her. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the news about the twins, but it really should have come from them, not me, and it's not like they purposely told me and not you. I only found out about it by accident." He reached out for her, hoping for forgiveness.
"I guess I overreacted," she said as she stepped into his embrace and rested her head against his chest. "I just can't stand the thought of Lorelai shutting me out of her life again, especially now that she's expecting. I want so much to be a real part of her life and to know our grandchildren from the start." She closed her eyes and let the tears she'd been holding back fall.
Richard lifted her head and looked into her eyes. "As long as you keep trying, you will be," he assured her as he wiped the tears from her face and kissed her gently.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lorelai and Sookie were chatting animatedly in the kitchen of the inn the next morning and Lorelai was relating all of the events of the previous day to her best friend, while Sookie was prepping chickens for the lunch menu.
"So how do you feel about Luke having this meeting with his first wife?" Sookie asked her. "That's gotta be a little weird for you."
"It is, but I think it's just as weird for him too. He doesn't really want to do it, but he doesn't' want us to have to make all new wedding plans either this close to our wedding day," Lorelai explained.
"I just can't believe stinky Taylor's holding your wedding plans for ransom. I mean, Taylor's done some pretty low things before, but this is the lowest of the low. I just wanna punch him for you!"
"Jackson rubbing off on you?" Lorelai teased, remembering vividly Jackson slugging Christopher two nights ago.
"Very funny," Sookie said, rolling her eyes at her sarcastic friend.
"You're not still mad at Jackson for the thing with Christopher, are you?"
"No, I never really was mad. I was just stunned. Jackson's not usually a violent person. We actually made up that same night. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was kinda hot that he was willing to defend our friends like that."
"Hot, huh?"
"Totally hot," Sookie said with a suggestive grin.
"So, you got a little something for yourself out of Christopher getting pummeled?"
"Twice," she said with a giggle.
"You little tramp," Lorelai said teasingly.
"Look who's talking. I heard about your little escapade with Luke on your lunch break yesterday and how he dragged you off to his den."
"It wasn't so little. In fact, nothing about Luke is little," she said with a wicked grin. "How'd you hear about that anyway?"
"Miss Patty. You know how things are around here. You can't keep anything a secret for long."
"Don't I know it," Lorelai said with a laugh. "Speaking of which, there's something I haven't told you yet and it's kinda big, so I want to tell you so we don't have another incident like before."
"I'm listening," Sookie said.
"Well, when Luke and I had our first doctor's appointment a few weeks ago, the doctor told us that we're having twins."
Sookie smiled and said,"Is that all? I've known about that almost as long as you have."
"What? How?"
"Lorelai, the whole town knows."
"Wait, how does the whole town know?"
"Dr. Gordon's nurse is Mrs. Cassini's niece. She told Mrs. Cassini, who told Babette, Then Babette told Miss Patty and Patty told Taylor and you know how those things go."
"So, why hasn't anyone said anything all this time?"
"Well, we all got the sense that you weren't telling people for a reason and that you'd announce it when you were ready. Is there a reason you weren't telling anyone?"
"We just wanted to tell the girls first, then after we did, Luke left for Philly and my mother still didn't know and I didn't think it would be right not to tell her before telling everyone in town. We just told her last night."
"How'd she take the news?"
"It's kinda hard to gauge. She seemed upset that we hadn't told her sooner, but she didn't really seem to have an opinion on the fact that I'm carrying two babies and not just one, At least not one that she's expressed yet. I suppose that I'll get her real opinion sooner or later."
"Yeah, your mother's not one to keep her opinion to herself for very long," Sookie and Emily had already had a couple of differences of opinion over the wedding plans, but Sookie had firmly held her ground and told Emily that everything she was doing was what Lorelai wanted. "So, back to the Nicole thing, are you gonna be there for the meeting?"
"I'll be there at the diner when it's going on, but not actually at the meeting. Luke asked me to be there in case things get out of hand."
"Is he planning on telling her about the two of you? I bet that would really piss her off, considering how jealous she was of you when they were together." Sookie smiled imagining the look on Nicole's face if she found out that the woman she'd been so jealous of was about to marry the man she'd thrown away.
"We discussed that last night and decided to wait and see what happens. Although, the way this town talks, she might know about everything from the moment she steps foot in Stars Hollow."
"True, but it would be so much better if it came from you, since she always hated you. Trampy, skinny, little bitch," Sookie said as she violently stabbed her knife into the chicken in front of her.
"Easy, there, Sook. I think that chicken's already dead." She reached for her friend's hand, knowing how she could get with knives when she was upset.
"Sorry, I'm just so mad about this whole Taylor blackmail thing. I mean, what is he thinking? He knows you and Luke are getting married and he's just trying to stir up trouble. God, I would love to be there for that meeting just to see Nicole's reaction when she finds out about the two of you. You have to swear to tell me everything, including how many shades of green she turns," Sookie said with a giggle.
"I'll give you a play by play as soon as it's over," Lorelai promised.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rory walked into down the hall of the hospital toward Logan's room and found Colin and Finn sitting outside it.
"How is he?" she asked them. "Is he okay?"
"Scuttlebutt is, he's not dead," Finn said nonchalantly.
"The man is indestructible," Colin added.
"Dives headfirst off the cliffs of Caldera, instantly spins out of control," Finn continued.
"Gets totally disoriented, barely gets his chute open."
"Bounces off every rock and crag in the park-"
"Yet still manages to stick the landing."
"We gave him a 9.7."
"Had to deduct three-tenths for all the screaming and bleeding."
"What about his family?" Rory asked getting impatient with them being so casual about their friend's accident. "Did you talk to them?"
"Honor is on her honeymoon in Mykonos trying to get a flight back, and Logan's mom checked herself into some sort of spa in Arizona the moment she heard," Colin answered.
"When the going gets tough, the tough get hot rock massages," Finn added sarcastically.
"What about Mitchum?" Rory asked.
"The Dark Lord? We left word but haven't heard anything back."
"But we've come up with a plan to get around the whole family-only-gets-information thing. We're adopting him," Collin added a little too cheerily for Rory's taste given the situation.
"What?" She was stunned that his supposed friends weren't more concerned about Logan's health.
"We're going to make a fine son," Finn joked.
"Of course, first we must be married," Colin said continuing the farce.
"Naturally, darling, I'm very old-fashioned."
"And even then, adopting as a gay couple is never easy."
"We just want to give love."
"Oh, Finn."
"Oh, Buttercup!" Colin answered as they joined hands dramatically.
Rory had had enough of their theatrics when for all they knew, Logan could be dying. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Your best friend is lying unconscious in a hospital, and you don't even care!"
"Rory," Finn said, not understanding what her problem was.
"Why the hell aren't you two lying unconscious in there, huh?"
"Come on," Colin said quietly.
"You don't care! Because if you did, you wouldn't be like this! You couldn't! You're supposed to have his back; you're supposed to watch out for each other on these stupid trips of yours! But no, everything's a big joke, everything's hilarious! You're useless! Just go home! Both of you go home! I can't stand to look at you!" She marched into the hospital room and was stunned to see Logan, bruised and unconscious. A doctor followed her in to check his vitals. "Hi," she said.
"Hello," the doctor replied.
"I'm Rory Gilmore, I'm his girlfriend….ex-girlfriend," she corrected.
"I'm Dr. Schultz."
"How is he? Is he going to be okay?"
"I'm sorry, but I really can't get into the specifics,"
"Well, he's out of the ICU, so that's good, right? They wouldn't have moved him up here unless he was recovering."
"Sorry, really," he said. He could tell that she was distraught which seemed strange for an ex-girlfriend, but he really couldn't divulge an information without the consent of the family.
"But he's had surgery, right? Does he need more surgery? Does he have broken bones? Because I can donate blood if you want!"
"Miss…" he began to try to calm her down, but she interrupted him.
"You really - you can't tell me anything about what he has or what you've done, or what's wrong? Anything?"
"I'm sorry. It's hospital policy. We're doing everything we can," he said quietly and left the room, leaving Rory staring helplessly at the mess that was her former lover.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nicole parked her car and walked hesitantly to Luke's what she'd find when she got there, especially after the way her ex-husband had hung up on her the day before when she'd mentioned Lorelai. It was clear that he was still insanely protective of her, like he'd been when they were together. She wasn't at all surprised when she walked into the diner to find Lorelai perched on her normal stool at the end of the counter. Luke, however was nowhere in sight. Just get it over with, she told herself as she walked toward her and tentatively said, "Hello, Lorelai,"
"Hi, Nicole," Lorelai replied coolly.
"Um…Is Luke around? I'm supposed to meet with him and Taylor today."
"Yeah, he's upstairs getting change from the safe for the cash register," Lorelai answered as she took a sip from her coffee cup, making a big production of showing off her engagement ring.
"Wow," Nicole said. "Nice ring. You're engaged?"
"Yeah," she said with a smile. "Getting married June 3rd"
"Congratulations," Nicole said awkwardly wondering if it was Luke she was engaged to, but not daring to ask. She knew Luke had been right yesterday. They were divorced now and it wasn't really her business.
"Thanks. Luke should be down in a minute," Lorelai said as she took a quick glance toward the curtain to make sure he wasn't there and slipped behind the counter, reaching for the regular coffee pot. She was stopped by a gruff voice.
"Lorelai!" Luke shouted. "Get the hell away from that coffee pot!"
"Come on, Luke," she pleaded. "Just one cup."
"No. Now give me that," he said firmly as he walked to her, setting the change bag on the back counter and wrenching the coffee pot from her grip. "Now, get your ass out from behind my counter!"
"Lu-uke," she whined.
"No," he said again as he turned her around, walked her around where Nicole was standing at the end of the counter and guided her back to her seat. "I've told you over and over again no coffee while you're pregnant. You can have decaf." He went back behind the counter and began to put the change he'd gathered into the cash drawer.
"You're mean," Lorelai pouted. "I don't think I can be friends with you anymore."
"I'll live," he said dryly.
"You're pregnant?" Nicole asked Lorelai.
"Yeah, with twins," she said with a smile. Luke continued to ignore his ex-wife's presence as he finished putting the change away and reached for the decaf pot behind him and refilled Lorelai's coffee cup. "Wow, look at your neck," she said indicating her handiwork from the night before. "Did you get in a fight with the toaster again?" she teased, making sure Nicole knew it was there.
"Very funny," he said as he pulled at the collar of his flannel trying to cover up the mark there as he returned the pot to its burner.
"Well, It looks like someone got lucky last night," Nicole said sardonically.
Luke turned to face Nicole for the first time. "Yeah, it's this nutty woman I live with. She heard I was going to be meeting with you today and decided she had to mark her territory." Lorelai giggled at this. "She's crazy jealous," he finished with a pointed look aimed at Lorelai who only smiled lightly.
"You're living with someone?" Nicole asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I am," he answered abruptly.
"Are you living with her the same way you lived with me, coming home only when it's convenient for you, or only when Lorelai here doesn't have some life or death crisis that she needs to be rescued from."
"No, I go home to her every night. It makes a big difference having a woman in my life who gives me more to come home to than screaming matches and false accusations." When Nicole simply stared in response he kept going, unable to resist rubbing her nose in the fact that he was happy with someone else. "That's another reason I wasn't getting your messages. I don't live upstairs anymore. It was high time I stopped living like a crazy hermit and settled down for good."
"Well, pardon me if I don't see that lasting very long. You never seemed to be good with the whole long-term commitment thing."
"Look, Nicole, Taylor's not here yet since you're a little early. Why don't you go sit down somewhere and I'll join you when he gets here."
"Fine," she said and sat at the empty table behind Lorelai with her back to the counter.
"You were a little hard on her, don't you think," Lorelai said quietly.
"Hey, this was your idea. I didn't want to do this in the first place. Besides, she started it."
"What are you, five?"
"Yeah, roll me out a kindergarten mat. I'm not in the mood to be mature about this whole thing when I'm being forced to give in to Taylor's blackmail," He grumbled as he picked up the coffee pot he'd taken from Lorelai and walked to the table Nicole had just seated herself at. "Coffee?"he asked indicating the empty cup on the table.
"Yeah, thanks," Nicole said. He filled her cup and started to walk away. "Luke, wait," she said.
He turned and said, "What?" He glared at her waiting for her response.
"It doesn't have to be like this, all awkward and uncomfortable. I got here early on purpose hoping that we could talk a little."
"What on earth would we have to talk about? We haven't so much as uttered two words to each other in two years."
"I don't know. I just thought maybe we'd catch up, you know. 'How you been, 'what's going on in your life' that kind of thing."
"Well, I'm not interested I catching up. In fact, I don't even want you here. I've moved on, Nicole and I know you have too. I've actually started to build a pretty good life here since you're been gone and the only reason I'm allowing this is because Taylor's giving me no choice."
"I'm not exactly being given a choice in the matter either. The partners at my law firm made it very clear to me that Taylor is one of their more important clients and whatever he wants he gets and he specifically requested me for this job."
"I'm aware of that. I'm also aware of why Taylor's doing this. He knows exactly how much my life has changed in the last two years and he knows that it's making my life difficult having you here."
"Look, you don't have to worry about me making your life difficult with this new relationship you're in. I'm happily married, contrary to your assumption yesterday on the phone that my new marriage was falling apart."
"I'm happy for you," he said in a sarcastic tone.
"That was heartfelt," Nicole countered just as sarcastically.
"What the hell do you want from me, Nicole? It's been two years and we didn't exactly part on the best of terms if you recall! Do you think I want to just sit down and reminisce and laugh about all the good times we used to have while we swap stories about our new lovers? Not gonna' happen."
"So, you're not even a little curious about what I've been doing?"
"Nope. I know that you married the guy you cheated on me with and that you're obviously still working for the same law firm. What else do I need to know?" He again turned back toward the counter, but Nicole's voice stopped him in his tracks.
"How about the fact that I've got a little girl now," she said. He turned back to her. Lorelai turned to look at her after hearing this too; praying that she wasn't going to find out that Luke had another child he'd never known about.
"A little girl?"He swallowed hard, trying to keep his cool as an icy wave of fear gripped him.
"Yeah," Nicole said with a smile.
"How old? I mean… She's not…uh… is she…" He couldn't form the words.
"Breathe, Luke. She's not yours. She'll be a year old at the end of this month and even if you add nine months, there's no way. It's been more than two years since you and I…" she trailed off unable to finish the sentence.
"I remember," he said breathing a sigh of relief. Lorelai did as well and turned back to her lunch.
"Do you honestly think that I wouldn't have told you something like that right away if that were the case?"
"I don't know. It's not like when our marriage ended we were able to just shake hands and say 'sorry, it didn't work out. Have a nice life"."He said.
"For what it's worth, Luke, I'm sorry. I never told you that at the time, but I really am sorry for the way things ended. You were right. We should have ended it after that nutty cruise and not put each other through all of that."
"You're not the only one to blame, Nicole," Luke said a little calmer. "I admit I was a rotten husband to you. I never fully committed to building a life with you; I guess it's understandable that you found someone else who would. It hurt at the time, but I get it now." He finally made it back to the counter and put the coffee pot away, then returned to the table and sat opposite his ex-wife. "We both made it through that and are happier now. I mean, at least you seem happy."
"I am," she said with a smile. "Scott makes me happy."
"So, that's the sock guy's name? I remembered reading it in the paper when I saw your wedding announcement, but I was kinda mad at the time, so it only half-registered."
"I get that. So, you…You're happy too?"
"Yeah," he said with a glance at Lorelai's back, "I am. I never thought I would be going home every night to the same place to have someone waiting for me, but it's nice and Lorelai, don't you even think about going behind that counter again!" he said as he noticed her creeping out of her seat.
"Luke, that is so not fair. I let you go anywhere you want at the inn."
"I'm an investor in the Dragonfly, plus I'm always fixing stuff up around the place for you. I don't see you doing that around here."
"Hey, I painted once."
"Five years ago,"
"And I helped you out around here after your uncle died," she reminded him.
"Four years ago," he said. "What have you done lately?"
"I helped you move your stuff out of the apartment."
"That was not for the diner. That was for personal reasons."
"But it should still count. It's part of the building."
"Hey, if I thought you'd actually listen to me and stay off the coffee, I wouldn't care about you being behind the counter."
"You're being a big Nazi about this whole coffee thing," she complained.
"If you weren't such a junkie, I wouldn't have to be," he countered.
"Well, I can see some things never change around here," Nicole said as she watched their banter.
"The verbal sparring matches have always been kind of our thing," Lorelai said. "Just for the record, Luke, I wasn't going for the coffee. I was going to the bathroom. The kids are making me have to pee more often," she explained as she headed off to the bathroom.
Nicole watched her go and looked back at Luke. "So, how does the woman you're living with feel about that?" she asked indicating Lorelai.
Luke hesitated, not sure he should tell Nicole that Lorelai was the woman he with. Before he could decide, they were joined by Taylor, his arms laden with paperwork."Good, you're both here," Taylor said as he slid into a seat between them and piled all of his papers on the table. "Let's get started."
"Yeah, let's get this freak show over with," Luke groused, still angry at Taylor for his extortion tactics. He looked at all the documents Taylor had compiled and said, "Taylor, what the hell is all this?"
"This is all the record of all of our past dealings regarding the building next door, including all of my rent receipts, proof positive that I've been a good tenant and always paid my rent on time."
"That's not in dispute, Taylor. I know you always pay your rent on time. If you didn't, I'd have booted your ass out a long time ago."
"Come now, Lucas, there's no need for that kind of language. This is just supposed to be a friendly little business meeting."
"Friendly?" Luke said in disbelief. "How can it be friendly when you resorted to blackmail to get me to agree to it?"
"Blackmail?"Nicole questioned.
"It's hardly blackmail, Luke. You want something from me, I want something from you. We're just negotiating so that we both get what we want," Taylor said as Lorelai returned from the bathroom. "Oh, hello, Lorelai," he said far too cheerily for Luke's taste.
"Hi, Taylor," Lorelai said resentfully as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at Taylor. She was none too pleased with the fact that Taylor was using her dream of a perfect wedding day with Luke as a bargaining chip.
"I didn't know Lorelai was here, Did you know Lorelai was here?" he asked Luke.
"Of course I knew she was here, Taylor," Luke replied angrily as he too crossed his arms in frustration.
"Will you be joining us for this meeting, Lorelai?"
"No," she answered sullenly. "Why would I be joining you? This is your deal. I'm just here for the food. Gotta keep the little ones fed," she said as she returned to her seat at the counter, turning her back on Taylor.
"I just thought since this affects you too, you might want to be involved."
"How would this affect Lorelai?" Nicole questioned Taylor.
"Because she's-"Luke cut him off before he could finish his thought.
"Look, Taylor," Luke said getting hostile."Can we just get this over with, so I can get back to running my business?"
Taylor looked from Lorelai to Luke to Nicole and it was clear to him that Nicole had no idea about the relationship between her ex and the woman sitting at the counter. "Fine," he said. "Now, as I said before, I've always been a good tenant…"
"Except for that time you punched a big hole in my wall to put in that stupid window without my permission! I should've sued you for that!"
Taylor went on, ignoring Luke's outburst, "…and as a good tenant I'm shocked by this sudden rent increase just because my lease is up."
"Taylor, you know damn well, that I didn't raise your rent just because your lease is up! I raised your rent because you raised my property taxes which made my insurance go up! My cost of maintaining the building has increased, therefore I had to increase your rent to compensate! It's just basic economics like they teach in ninth grade!"
"Luke has a point, Taylor. If it's costing him more for the upkeep on the building, he has every right to up the rent."
"I thought you were supposed to be my lawyer. Why are you taking his side?"
"I'm not, Taylor, but this is supposed to be a negotiation. Luke's not on trial for murder here. This is just a business deal. Surely some kind of compromise can be reached that you can both live with. Now, if what Luke says is true and his costs have increased by a significant amount, then we need to llok at the difference in cost and work from there."
"I would have no problem with the rent increase, if I thought that the tax increase was the only reason behind it," Taylor said with a smug look directed at Luke.
"What are you talking about, Taylor? Why the hell else would I be raising your rent?"
"Well, I know for a fact that you've got other expenses to worry about now," he gestured with his head toward Lorelai. "And I don't think it's fair that I'm being penalized because you're not responsible enough to take…certain precautions in your personal life."
Luke rose from his chair, towering menacingly over Taylor. "You're insane! I mean, if you think that that has anything to do with your rent increase, you're completely cracked!"
"I'm just saying that all this new responsibility you're taking on has got to be a little overwhelming for you, worrying about your financial situation, what with April and your…new obligations…"
"What the hell is he talking about?" Nicole asked. "What new obligations?" Lorelai slid from her stool to join her fiancée knowing that she may need to calm him down before things got too crazy.
"He's talking about Lorelai!" Luke shouted. "You wanna know what's been going on in my life, well, here it is! The twins Lorelai's carrying are mine!" He reached for Lorelai's left hand. "This diamond ring on her finger! I put it there! We're getting married in a little over a month! And, oh, yeah, I've got a thirteen year old daughter I never knew about until six months ago! That's why I freaked a little when you said you had a daughter too!" He turned back to Taylor, leaving Nicole looking floored, and said, "There, are you happy now? It's all out. That's what you really wanted, isn't it? To see me squirm knowing that I'm with Lorelai now and that Nicole didn't know about it! Now you can stop threatening to revoke the permits we need for our wedding!"
Lorelai gripped Luke's hand tightly. "Baby, calm down. It's ok. We'll get it worked out, she said soothingly. "Just sit back down and we'll all discuss this rationally. Like adults," she added with a pointed glance toward Taylor.
"I don't wanna calm down," Luke said hotly. "He did this on purpose just for the sheer entertainment value. He knows how much we want to get married in the town square and he knows this meeting would be awkward and stupid and how hard it was going to be for me to deal with this when you and I are trying to build a life together."
"I know, Hon," Lorelai said. "I know, but it's all out now. All we can do is move on and try to get this worked out."
"I guess you're right," he said reluctantly as he took his seat again, glaring at Taylor.
"Maybe it'd be better if I weren't here," she said with a glance at Nicole.
"No, Lorelai, You don't have to leave. Taylor's right. This affects you too."
"I was just here to try to keep you calm. You're a little calmer now, so my work is done. Besides, I should be getting back to the inn. You know how Sookie and Michel get. If I'm not there to act as a buffer, they might kill each other."
Luke laughed and said, "You're probably right there. I'll fill you in on the rest of the meeting when I get home tonight."
"I'll look forward to it," she said. She kissed him lightly while Nicole looked away and left the diner.
"So," Nicole said. "Let's get this new lease taken care of." She was a little thrown by the turn of events, but she couldn't say that she was really surprised that her ex-husband had finally made his move with Lorelai. The rest of the meeting went on without another outburst from any of them. Luke and Taylor managed to come to an agreement on the rent that was a little lower than Luke's original increase, but still enough to offset his increasing costs. After the paperwork was agreed upon and signed by both parties and Taylor had left to return to the market, Nicole gathered up her things and started to leave, but was stopped by Luke's voice.
"For what it's worth, Nicole, I'm sorry too," he said in reference to their failed marriage.
"Thanks," she said quietly, then asked. "You're happy with Lorelai?"
"I really am," he replied. "I never really saw myself as a family man. I remember when your parents were grilling me about the subject and it kinda freaked me out at the time, but with Lorelai, it feels right."
"I'm glad you're happy."
"I'm glad you're happy too," he said as she turned and left the diner.