I'd Rather Be In Love
By Kelly Brown
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A/N: This is an old fic I wrote in 2002…it's 2009 now, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
Important information
-Takes place two weeks after "Dead Uncles and Vegetables".
-"Back In The Saddle Again" never happened.
Disclaimer - WB owns Gilmore Girls and Michelle Branch owns "I'd Rather Be In Love". Sadly, I own nothing. :(
Pairing - Luke/Lorelai and some Rory and Lorelai friendship.
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I'd Rather Be In Love
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*When there's you I feel whole*
*And there's no greater feeling in the world*
*But, without you I'm alone*
*And I'd rather be in love*
*With you*
It was 7:00AM on a typical Tuesday morning while Lorelai and Rory were strolling along the streets of their town, heading for Luke's Diner for some breakfast. Rory carried her oversized bookbag and donned her Chilton uniform while Lorelai wore one of her silk shirts with the frills on the collar and had on a black skirt. They were chatting normally until they were almost to Doose's Market.
"Hey, I wanna stop at the market first and pick up some new pencils." Rory told her mom while digging her hands into her pockets, searching for money.
Lorelai groaned. "You do not need more pencils."
"I'm completely out."
"You, Rory Gilmore, the ultimate rat-pack collector of all writing utensils, could never need more pencils."
"Well, I do now."
"I don't think it's humanly possible for you to need more pencils."
"I repeat, I do now." Rory said again, while stopping at a bench to search her bookbag for cash.
"How? We bought like a gazillion before school started. That was only like- "
"Eight months ago. I need more."
They walked up to the front door of Doose's only to see darkness inside and that the sign read "closed".
"It's closed." Rory stated sadly, wanting her pencils.
"I see. Well, it looks like you'll just have to use the other nine-thousand that are still underneath your bed."
"Nope, I used them last month."
"The five-hundred in the everything drawer?"
"Used them."
"The three-hundred on your desk?"
"Gone." Rory slumped onto a bench, looking depressed.
Lorelai grinned. "Bookbag?"
"Are you done?"
"I know, the closet!" Lorelai shouted.
"Still used." Rory sighed. "I need pancakes." She looked at her mom sadly.
"Are you entering Lack of Pencil depression?"
"Oh, Lord."
"Because, if you are, we could get you help, the Inn's been doing really well lately, I have the money."
Rory got up and turned her head towards Lorelai. "You're officially scaring me."
Lorelai smiled and the two of them continued to Luke's. When they reached the door, they saw that his sign also read "closed".
Rory groaned loudly. "What is this, a conspiracy? Luke is always opened on Tuesday morning."
"Well, not today."
Rory glared at her mother. "What are you saying? That I have to go to school with no breakfast and no pencils?"
Lorelai nodded, smiling wryly.
"Ugh, this day is gonna suck. Bad." Rory moaned.
"You're giving off a lot of negative vibes this morning." Lorelai said with mocking disapprovment.
After Rory got on the bus for Chilton, Lorelai turned her head to face Luke's and pouted to herself. She sauntered up to the door and banged on it especially loud, sending hard beats of noise through the diner. Luke never came down so she finally decided to give up but, when she began to walk away, she noticed Luke's truck, sitting on the street curb. He must've been home. Awful thoughts raced through Lorelai's mind. What if he was dead? Or, fell down, collapsed, or had a heart attack? Coffee and pancakes forgotten, she ran to the back of the diner, where the steps leading up to his apartment ran to his door like a fire escape. She raced up the stairs and continued to bang relentlessly on the door. When nobody came, again, she attempted to peer through one of the curtains in a nearby window. She caught a quick glimpse of a flannel-wearing figure pass by and instantly knew that it must've been Luke. She sighed with relief as she saw the doorknob slowly turn. When the door creaked open sluggishly, it revealed Luke, his eyes swollen from crying and his cheeks burnt red from tears. The two people stood silently in the doorway for a few moments, just staring into each others eyes, until Lorelai finally reached out her arms and gestured for him to hug her. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and gently rubbed his back. When he finally pulled back, away from her, fresh tears poured from his eyes. He sniffled in and cleared his throat before stepping aside, allowing Lorelai to enter the apartment. After she walked in, she turned back around and saw Luke sitting at his small kitchen table, burying his face in his hands. She cautiously approached him and sat down beside him, resting her hand on his shoulder, stroking the soft material of his shirt.
She nervously cleared her throat. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked soothingly in a gentle voice. "What happened?"
Luke sniffled again before lifting his red face up from his cold hands. "It's my sister." He told her quietly, new tears forming behind his eyes.
"What happened?" Lorelai quietly urged to continue.
Luke sighed shakily. "She's in a coma."
Lorelai's eyes widened and watched as new tears fell from Luke's eyes.
"I didn't know she was sick." She stammered.
Luke's sad features turned red and angry and his voice was pained. "She wasn't sick. Some drunk putz hit her and smashed her car into a telephone pole. Her head hit the pole and knocked her out completely."
Lorelai's face grew sad. "Oh, wow. Luke, I don't know what to say except that I'm just....just so, so sorry." Her voice cracked.
They sat there for quite a while, smiling weakly at each other on occasion. When Luke got up to make her some coffee she, instead, brought him over to the bed, so he could lay down. He leaned back onto the soft pillows while Lorelai sat down by his feet, gently massaging his knee to try and calm him down a bit.
She bit down on her lip and spoke softly. "I'm guessing the other guy didn't get hurt at all, huh?"
Luke shook his head while more tears seeped out from underneath his closed eyelids and slid down his sad face.
"I'm gonna go down to the hospital tomorrow." He exhaled a shaky, withheld breath.
She nodded. "With Jess?"
Luke's eyes shot open. "Jess! Oh my God, I never called the school!" He ran over to the phone. "I got the call about Liz right after he went to school. Oh man, what's that number?"
"Umm, I'm not sure, maybe you should just wait until he gets home." She suggested.
"Nah, I'll just call one of those information numbers and get it."
Lorelai smiled. "Okay. Um, should I leave?"
Luke clutched the phone in his hands. "Uh, I guess, unless you wanna be here when I tell Jess."
When she got up from the bed and went over to Luke, she gave him a quick hug and patted his back. "I'll see you later. Get some rest and call me if you need anything. I mean anything, okay?" She pointed a finger at him.
Luke nodded and smiled gratefully but, after she was almost to the door, he spoke again. "She'll be okay, right?"
Lorelai turned around and grinned reassuringly. "She'll be fine, Luke."
He nodded nervously and watched her walk out the door, closing it behind her.
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"Wow, how did Luke take it?" Rory asked her mom while walking into the living room.
"Pretty hard, but I think he'll be okay. He just needs some time alone."
"Is she in real bed shape?" Rory sat down on the couch next to Lorelai, eating chips.
"I don't know, Luke's going to visit her tomorrow and I guess he'll find out what's going on then." Lorelai sighed. "This conversation is depressing me, I suggest a topic change."
"Or a movie." Rory got up to go fetch one.
"Oooh, now you're talking." She grabbed the box of Mallomars and shoved three into her mouth at once. "Mmmmm." She mumbled through cookies.
Rory walked back over, laughing. "Tell me why you don't you weigh three- hundred pounds."
"I know, it baffles me too." She smiled. "Oh, by the way, I'm off work tomorrow."
"Wow, why?"
"Because a bunch of those hotel inspector dudes are coming to check the place out and I'm under strict orders not to be there."
Rory laughed. "Great."
Half-way through the movie, Rory looked over at her mom, who was obviously in deep concentration on something other then the movie.
Rory waved a hand in front of her face. "Mom? Mom, snap out of it."
This startled Lorelai. "Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"What do mean? Nothing's wrong." She lied.
"Mom, we're half-way through "Fast and the Furious" and you haven't even complained once about my choice of movie or mentioned how hot Vin Diesel looks in that spandex uniform, so what's going on?"
"It's just." Lorelai sighed and her tone softened. "It's just that I've never seen him cry before."
"Vin Diesel? Why would he cry? If I had that body, I sure wouldn't be crying."
Lorelai giggled a little. "Silly, I'm talking about Luke. I mean, he's always given me the impression that he hates his sister, with a passion."
"Oh c-mon, Mom."
"What?"
Rory sighed. "You know he gives the impression that he hates everyone, but you know he doesn't. He cares more about her then you think."
"Huh. How do you figure?" She flicked off the movie and turned her attention to Rory.
"Well, he took in his troubled teen nephew without even thinking twice about it. And plus, I know that he'd be really upset if she wasn't there anymore."
"She's not dead."
"I know but comas are really bad. If she doesn't wake up, she'll probably die." Rory's expression saddened. "Poor Jess."
"Poor Jess? Poor Luke."
"Mom!" Rory shouted.
"What?" She asked innocently.
"You don't think Jess would be upset if his mom died? How could you even say that?" Rory looked shocked.
Lorelai sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry. But I'm sure she'll be fine, don't worry about it."
Rory nodded. "I hope so. I mean, his uncle just died, losing his sister within the same month? That'd be awful." She took a long sip of soda. "I hope Jess is okay, I mean, if you were ever in the hospital in a coma I would just freak out."
Lorelai looked over at Rory warmly. "Yeah?"
Rory nodded and snuggled up against her mom's shoulder, where they both fell asleep.
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Early the next day, Lorelai was woken up by a loud banging at her door. She groggily lifted her body up from the warm mattress and looked over at the time. It was 7:30AM.
Lorelai scoffed. "Lord, who the Hell would be knocking on my door at six o'clock in the morning?"
She trudged down the steps, the banging on the door getting louder and louder.
"Ugh, I'm coming, jeez, don't get your panties in a knot."
She flung the door open and saw Luke standing there, looking angry as Hell.
He didn't give her a chance to say anything, and just walked inside.
"Luke-"
"He's not coming." Luke said flatly while walking swiftly to the other side of the kitchen and then back over again.
"What?" Lorelai asked, puzzled.
"Jess, he's not coming to the hospital."
Lorelai's surprised face turned sad. "Why not?"
"I don't know, he's just not coming." Luke sighed and plopped down on a chair. "This is bad."
She came over and sat down, also. "Maybe he's scared."
Luke gave her a confused look. "Scared? Why would he be scared?"
"Well, I know I was terrified to go see my dad in the hospital. Remember? I kept making up all those lame excuses about needing to find coffee." She smiled at him cheerfully. "He'll go when he's ready."
"I thought you didn't like Jess, now your defending him?" Luke asked.
"Not defending him, it's just the truth. I'm sure he'll visit her when he's good and ready to."
Luke leaned over and hugged her nervously. He pulled her body closer to his so they were pressed up against each other.
He pulled back and smiled. "Thanks."
"Your welcome."
He turned to leave when she stopped him. "Hey, where do you think you're goin'?"
"Um, to the hospital, you know that."
"No, I mean, where do you think your going, your not driving."
He took a step towards her. "Uh, I'm not?"
"No, silly, I am." She got up and grabbed her keys off of the counter.
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that. I'm fine."
"You did it for me, remember?" She reminded him.
Luke smiled and sighed. "Yes, I remember."
Lorelai nodded. "Well, I know I was scared to go, and I know you will be too. This way, I'll be there to make you go in, just like you did for me." She smiled and took his hand, leading him out the door to her Jeep.
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*In Chapter 2 - A story from his sister makes Luke realize that he should tell Lorelai how he feels, because he knows he'll regret later on in life it if he doesn't. Jess unexpectedly shows up at the hospital and him and his mother smooth things over. Review if you want! :)