Thank you so much for your support so far! Here's the next chapter and then I might take a break for a day or two after my full on couple of days of writing! :P
Chapter 52
Lorelai was walking through the courtyard at Yale and then entered the building where her daughters were living and she went and knocked on a door.
"Come in." A voice she didn't recognise said.
She frowned and went inside and saw Doyle on the couch. "Oh hello. I'm sorry, do I have the wrong room?" She said.
"I wouldn't know." He said.
"How delightful to have all of my towels used and then deposited in my hamper with my dry clothes to create a pungent musty combo. Hey, Lorelai." Paris said coming out of her room.
"Paris, good, I have the right room." Lorelai said.
"This is Rory and Charlotte's mother." Paris told Doyle.
"Nice to meet you." Doyle said. "I'm Rory's editor.
"And my lover." Paris said.
"Ok, well, super." Lorelai forced a smile on her face.
"I don't think lover is exactly the correct term, Paris." Doyle said.
"Really? What is the correct term, Doyle?" Paris said.
"At a later time, Paris." Doyle said embarrassed.
"Doyle and I haven't defined the social aspects of our relationship yet." Paris told Lorelai.
"Ah." Lorelai said starting to feel uncomfortable.
"Although we're having sex three or four times a week so apparently the sexual aspects of our relationship are crystal freaking clear." Paris said.
"Paris, I beg you." Doyle said.
"Are Rory and Charlotte here? Because I could wait outside or..." Lorelai said.
"I'm making you uncomfortable." Paris said.
"Yes." Doyle said.
"Her. Not you." Paris said.
"No, I'm fine. You two should be alone." Lorelai said.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't be talking about love, or sex, especially since you..."
"Since I...?"
"Don't have any." Paris said hesitantly.
"Ooook! Hey mom, why don't you come into my room while we're waiting for Rory?" Charlotte said coming out of her room.
"Yes please!" Lorelai said quickly following Charlotte into her room.
"Sorry, I thought Paris and Doyle were indisposed." Charlotte said.
"No, no, plenty of disposal going on. So I notice you and Rory told Paris about me and Luke..."
"I'm sorry, we didn't tell her on purpose. It's very difficult to keep anything from Paris. It's very close proximity and I swear she has a dog's ears." Charlotte said guiltily.
"That's fine." Lorelai said.
"We didn't mean to blab."
"I know. But, hey, don't worry about me." She said.
"So you and Luke still haven't talked?" Charlotte asked cautiously.
"No." She sighed. "He came back from the camping trip a week ago and I've still not heard anything."
"You could go and see him..." Charlotte said cautiously.
"I don't want to push him." Lorelai said quietly.
"Or you're just scared to hear what he might say..." She said quietly.
Lorelai sighed. "Yeah maybe." She admitted.
"Mom, you need to talk to him. Make the first move. You're going to go crazy wondering otherwise." Charlotte said softly. "Mom, Luke isn't going to not want to get married. He's waited forever for you. He's not just going to throw that away."
"Maybe..." Lorelai said quietly.
"Ok changing the subject now." Charlotte said.
"Thank you." She smiled gratefully.
"This was a good idea, having dinner."
"Yeah it was." Lorelai smiled.
"Well, it is Friday night." Charlotte said.
"Yeah, but Friday night dinner without Ava and Adolf. Lovely." She said.
"It's really not fair calling Grandpa Adolf!" Charlotte said indignantly.
"No, no, that was Grandma."
"Oh."
"Hey, you ready?" Rory asked coming in.
"Ready!" Charlotte smiled as they followed Rory back into the living room.
"We're going." Rory told Paris and Doyle.
Doyle was standing near the fridge eating out of a giant bag of chips. "Rory, are these your chips?" He asked.
"No they're mine." Charlotte said.
"Oh, can I have some?" He asked already crunching on some.
"Knock yourself out, Doyle." Charlotte smirked as they headed towards the door.
"Listen, Lorelai? If you decide that your break up is something that you want to talk about, please let me know." Paris said.
"Ok, Paris." Lorelai forced a smile on his face.
"And let me know before Tuesday, because I'm doing a paper for my Emotional Mental Health class about how women of a certain age cope with loneliness, and I think you'd be a great lead-off antidote." Paris said.
Lorelai glanced at Rory and Charlotte meaningfully.
"You can't take her. She's trained in Krav Maga." Rory told her.
"Damn it." Lorelai said and they left the dorm.
They headed to the canteen and got some food before sitting down at a free table.
"Here's to our very own special Friday night dinner." Charlotte smiled raising her glass.
"Hear, hear." Lorelai said as they clinked glasses. "This stuff looks pretty good."
"It is. So what's going on at home?" Rory said.
"Big grapefruit shortage." Lorelai gasped dramatically. "The hurricanes wiped them out and Taylor is completely freaking out."
"I'm sure." Rory smirked.
"And Patty and Babette are organising Stars Hollow's first botox party." Lorelai said.
"Are you invited?" Charlotte smirked.
"Are you insinuating I should be?"
"So the Hollow's low on grapefruits..." Rory said.
"Yep! And I'm doing costumes for the Stars Hollow Elementary School production of Fiddler on the Roof." Lorelai smiled.
"So, how are you doing?" Rory asked.
"I'm doing fine. How about you?" She said changing the subject.
"I'm doing better." Rory said.
"No more run ins with Logan?" Lorelai asked cautiously.
"Luckily no." Rory said.
"Good."
"And how about you?" Lorelai asked Charlotte.
"Good." Charlotte nodded.
"Come on, something must have happened around here. Give me something." Lorelai joked. She saw them exchanging a glance. "What? What is it?"
Rory sighed. "We got an email for dad." She admitted.
"Oh, you did? Huh. When?" Lorelai asked.
"Monday." Rory said.
"Wow, only a week after the fact. Very speedy." She said sarcastically.
"I'm sure he was just nervous." Rory said quietly.
Charlotte snorted. "Not likely."
"Charlotte..." Rory said.
"What? It was just the same old excuse." Charlotte said. "I deleted it." She told her mom.
"He said it was all a misunderstanding." Rory said.
"What?" Lorelai said surprised.
"He said the only reason he came was to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's vow renewal." Rory told her.
"And because Adolf told him to." Lorelai said.
"He came to break mom and Luke up." Charlotte said. "How are you even defending him? You heard what he said to Luke!" She said to Rory.
"I'm not defending him. I'm just saying what he said in his email."
"Ok, let's not argue. Let's change the subject." Lorelai sighed.
"Do you think Grandpa knew about it?" Rory asked quietly.
"About Christopher coming?" Lorelai said.
"Do you think he planned it with Grandma?" Rory asked.
"Look how panicked you are. No, honey, honestly, the whole thing reeks of Emily." Lorelai assured her. "I mean, not that I think he would have discouraged i, but I'm pretty sure she's the one who poisoned the apple and gave it to Dopey to bring to the party. He probably didn't even know Chris was coming."
"Yeah." Rory said feeling a bit better.
Later that evening, the three of them were walking through the courtyard eating ice cream.
"You are so not starving here at Yale." Lorelai said.
"My lips are frozen." Rory said.
"Look, while it might seem a little eccentric to eat ice cream in forty degree weather..." Lorelai said.
"You'd think!" Rory said.
"There are several advantages to the concept. For example, since it's cold out, the ice cream won't melt therefore it'll last longer." She said.
"Good logic." Charlotte nodded.
"So then my lips will stay frozen for double the amount of time." Rory said.
"Ok fine, I've lost the feeling in my tongue!" Lorelai relented.
"I'm throwing the ice cream out now." Rory smirked.
"Oh hey look, it's Tristan!" Lorelai said gesturing over to the coffee cart. "Tristan, hey!" She smiled.
"Oh. Hey." Tristan smiled at them. "Rory.." He nodded.
"Hi." She smiled quietly at him.
"Any of you want some coffee?" He offered.
"Yes please!" Charlotte grinned.
"I never say no to coffee!" Lorelai joked.
"Ok two coffees. Rory?" He asked.
"Oh..uh..yeah thanks." She said. "I can pay..." She said getting her purse out.
"Don't be silly. It's on me." He smiled giving the man the order and paying for them. "Here." He smiled as he then handed them their coffees.
"Thanks!" Charlotte grinned happily sipping the hot drink.
"Alright, girls. Thank you for dinner." Lorelai smiled.
"You're leaving?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, I should get back." Lorelai nodded.
"Ok. You can come in and watch T.V. for a while if you want. Jess is coming to meet Charlotte so I've got no one to keep me company as Paris is going to Doyle's." Rory said.
"Jess is coming?" Lorelai asked Charlotte.
"Yeah apparently he wants to talk to me about something." She shrugged.
"Oh ok." Lorelai said.
"You sure you don't want to stay?" Rory asked. "We could watch a film or something."
"Sorry hon, I really should get back." She said. "Hey why don't you ask Tristan?" She suddenly said.
"What?" Rory said.
"Are you doing anything tonight?" Lorelai asked Tristan.
"Oh..uh..no..." Tristan said surprised.
"There you go then." Lorelai smiled.
"Mom..." Rory said feeling awkward.
"It's ok, don't worry." Tristan assured her.
"Hey it was you who said you wanted company." Lorelai shrugged.
Rory glanced at Tristan. "I was just going to watch a film. You're..uh..you're welcome to join me if you like."
"And Jess and I will probably join after a while so it won't be too awkward." Charlotte teased.
Tristan chuckled. "Sure, why not then." He smiled.
"Great! Well thanks again for dinner. See you girls soon." Lorelai smiled giving them both hugs.
"Bye mom!" Charlotte smiled.
"Bye." Rory smiled.
"Right let's go then!" Charlotte smiled at Rory and Tristan, walking off towards their dorm.
Rory glanced at Tristan. "You don't have to come. I'm sorry my mom sort of pushed you into it." She said awkwardly.
"It's fine. It'll be fun." Tristan smiled. "Unless you'd rather I didn't come..."
"Oh no...I didn't mean that..." Rory said.
"Ok then." Tristan smirked.
"Ok." Rory said smirking slightly.
Charlotte was sat in her room with Jess. "So this job...it would mean you having to move to Philadelphia?" She said quietly.
"Yeah." Jess said glancing at her, trying to gauge her reaction.
"Do you want to go?" Charlotte asked quietly.
"I..uh..I...yeah, it would be a really good opportunity." Jess admitted. "It's what I've always wanted to do."
Charlotte smiled softly. "Then you should go for it."
"Really?" He asked looking up at her.
"I want you to be happy and if this is going to make you happy, then I want you to take it." She smiled softly.
"That's what Lane said." Jess admitted. "I'm sorry I told her before you but I needed to tell her because of the band because if it was going to be a problem, I wasn't going to go and there would be no need for me to tell you about it anyway because I wouldn't be going." He rambled.
Charlotte smirked slightly. "It's ok. I understand." She assured him.
"Yeah? Ok. Good." Jess said relieved.
"So Lane told you to go for it as well?" Charlotte asked.
"Yeah. She said it was too good to turn it down and she said I could always rejoin the band whenever I was back." He smiled.
"Well that's good then." She smiled.
"Yeah." Jess said quietly. He glanced up at her. "I'm going to miss you though."
Charlotte sighed. "I'm going to miss you too." She said softly. "But we'll be fine. You can still come and visit and I could even visit you. We will still see each other." She smiled.
He smiled. "Yeah, we will. I'll make sure we do."
"Well then that's decided then. You're going." She said.
"I guess so." He said. "So we should probably go back out there..."
"Or we could just stay in here and leave them to it." Charlotte smirked.
"Why do I have a feeling you're plotting something?" Jess smirked.
"Well it won't do them any harm to spend some time together." Charlotte grinned.
"I knew it." Jess chuckled.
"Anyway, I only have a small amount of time left with my boyfriend before he goes away for this amazing job. I want to make the most of it." She smirked.
"Oh yeah?" He smirked.
"Yeah." Charlotte grinned and she leaned over and kissed him.
"Ok I agree. Leave them to it." Jess smirked as he lay back on the bed and pulled Charlotte down on top of her causing her to laugh.
Meanwhile, Rory and Tristan were sat on the couch watching a movie. Rory glanced over at her sister's door and then at Tristan who was eating some of the snacks she'd put out for them. "Who bets they're going to leave us out here alone just to wind us up?" She said.
Tristan chuckled. "I wouldn't put it past them." He said.
"Like this isn't awkward enough." Rory laughed nervously.
Tristan smirked. "Well I'm happy fun." He shrugged. "Beats a night in studying."
"You? Studying?" Rory said smirking slightly.
"Hey I study!" He said indignantly.
"Really?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Ok well I study for ten minutes and then play video games!" Tristan smirked.
Rory laughed. "I knew it."
"Well this is still more fun." He smiled, glancing over at her.
Rory glanced over at him and felt a blush on her cheeks. "Yeah. It is." She said quietly, giving him a small smile.
The following evening, Lorelai was fixing a costume backstage at the Stars Hollow Elementary School's production of Fiddler on the Roof. "Hold still, hold still." She said. "Looks good. There you go. Now, no more bottle butting till the show's over." She joked.
Meanwhile, Luke brought out a chair and gave it to a child. "Here you go, Paulie. Sneak that out there when they start dancing." He said. He groaned when he saw Carrie approaching him. She stood next to him and pinched hit butt. "I've got a hammer." He threatened.
"Oh, I know you do." Carrie flirted before walking away.
Luke shook his head and turned to watch the production for a bit. He slowly glanced over at Lorelai who was doing the same. He urges himself to say something but then Lulu came rushing up to them.
"I need that schwanza." She said urgently.
"Oh, I've got it. I've got it." Lorelai said.
"Sarah! Where did Sarah go?" Lulu panicked.
"Relax, we'll find her." Lorelai said glancing at Luke before rushing off with Lulu.
Later on, the play was still going on. Kirk was onstage with his "wife" and they were doing the final song.
Do you love me?
Do I what?
Do you love me?
Do I love you? With our daughters getting married, and the trouble in the town, you're upset, you're worn out, go inside, go lie down! Maybe it's indigestion.
Golde, I'm asking you a question.
Backstage, Luke was putting the finishing touches on a cart and Lorelai had just finished repairing a costume.
"Ok, go." Luke told the kid.
They both then took a moment to watch the duet.
Do you love me?
I'm your wife!
I know! But do you love me?
Do I love him? For twenty-five years I've lived with him, fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five years my bed is his. If that's not love, what is?
Backstage, Lorelai could feel the tears in her eyes as she watched the duet. She glanced over at Luke who glanced over at her at the same time, causing both of them to look away again quickly.
Then you love me?
I suppose I do.
And I suppose I love you too.
It doesn't change a thing, but even so, after twenty-five years, it's nice to know.
The song ended and everyone in the audience applauded. Lorelai joined in with the applause. She glanced over at Luke and he did the same. They slowly turned towards each other. This time, Lorelai found herself about to say something but then the children rushed through, right between Luke and Lorelai, and the moment is ruined. Lorelai watched sadly as Luke walked off slowly. She sighed, blinking back some tears but then she remembered what Charlotte had said to her and she suddenly found herself rushing after Luke in the direction he had gone. She saw him walking down the corridor towards the exit.
"Luke!" She called.
Luke stopped and turned round to see Lorelai rushing down after him. "Hey." He said gruffly.
"Hey." Lorelai said quietly. She felt tears in her eyes. "Can we talk?" She asked nervously. "Please?"
Luke looked at her for a moment before rubbing his hand through his hair and nodding. "Coffee?" He said.
Lorelai let out a breath and gave him a small smile. "Coffee would be good." She said softly.
He nodded, giving her a small smile and then they left together, heading towards the diner.
I have to leave it so you're wanting a bit more, sorry guys! :P Please keep reviewing as I love reading your comments and they really do motivate me to keep going so thank you! :)
