Act Four/Closer

Rory pulled her keycard out of her pocket and approached her room. She was just about to open the door when she suddenly remembered the comments that Lane had made earlier that night. She was hesitant to go inside incase she was interrupting something between Lane and Dave. Slipping the keycard back into her pocket, she instead approached the room across the hall from her own - the room that the rest of the band were staying in.

She knocked on the door, hoping that even though it was past midnight, they'd still be up. The door opened to reveal Brian in his PJs. "Rory?" he asked and stepped aside to let her in.

"Hey," she didn't know exactly what to say. "Um. is Dave here?" She sniffled slightly and tried to keep her head down.

"Rory?" Dave walked over to them, also in his PJs, abandoning his place in front of the TV. "What's up? Why aren't you at your dad's?" She looked up slightly and he noticed her red cheeks and wet eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked as he grabbed her elbow gently, forcing her to look at him.

"I-" she stuttered, trying not to meet his eyes. "Lane said. and I wasn't sure if I could go back to my room."

"Are you okay?" he asked more forcefully when she skirted the question.

"No," she said quietly. Dave sighed and grabbed her hand gently, leading her into the hall.

"Do you have your key card?" he asked her and took it when she held it up to him. He opened her room door. "Lane?" he called out, and he hoped like he didn't look like he was trying to catch her changing or something.

"Dave?" Lane asked from where she watching TV on her bed. "What are - Rory?" she jumped up off of the bed and hurried over to her friend. "What happened?" she demanded once she got a look at Rory's face. Dave shrugged that he didn't know.

Rory sat down on her bed and stared off into space. "Will she be okay?" Dave whispered to Lane, glancing at Rory.

"I don't even know what's wrong," Lane sighed. "Go get some sleep, we'll see you tomorrow." Dave nodded and kissed her quickly.

"Good night Rory," he said as he left.

"Night Dave," Rory replied absentmindedly. Once Dave was gone, Lane sat beside Rory.

"Bad day?" she asked her.

Rory snickered sadly. "Yeah, bad day," she almost smiled at the understatement.

"Do you wanna."

"Tomorrow?" Rory practically pleaded. Lane nodded and Rory laid her head on her friends lap. Lane was surprised at Rory actually not wanting to talk. Rory began to cry softly and Lane stroked her hair away from her face soothingly. With her eyes closed, Rory didn't see the worried look on Lane's face.

* * *

Sunday morning came cheerfully in Stars Hollow, for everyone except Lorelai Gilmore. She was awoken by an early phone call from Christopher. "Hello?" she answered miserably when the phone rang at seven thirty.

"Lor?" she recognized Chris's voice instantly.

"Hi," she smiled even though he couldn't see her. From her cheerful greeting he guessed that she hadn't spoken to Rory since their fight. "I hope you have a really good reason for calling this early." She was only half serious.

"Yeah," he took a deep breath. "There's a problem.with me and Rory."

"What?" Lorelai cast all joking aside. "Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

"We had a fight," Chris said sadly. "A really bad one Lor. She stormed out of here last night about eleven thirty."

"Where did she go?" Lorelai panicked.

"She's safe," Chris assured her. "A guy named Dave phoned from the hotel. He said that he'd just brought her to her room and left her with Lane."

"Dave called? Good," Lorelai sighed in relief at hearing Rory was safe. "What did you fight about?"

"Everything!" Chris was audibly upset. "She hates me for sure."

"Don't be melodramatic," Lorelai snapped. "What did she say?"

"She told me that I was never around for her, that she was mad at me for not going to her graduation," Chris sighed.

"Well Chris." Lorelai began to tell him the honest truth.

"I know she was right about that Lor," he said. "But she also thinks that I never wanted her, and that I'm trying to replace you two with Sherri and Gigi."

"That's crazy," Lorelai hesitated. "Isn't it?"

"Of course it is!" he defended. "It's absolutely untrue."

"Okay," she tried to soothe him. "I'll talk to her when she gets home."

"Can you tell her." he sounded like he may cry. "Just tell her that I'm sorry and that I love her?"

"I will," she told him and they hung up. Lorelai sighed; she couldn't fall asleep now. She decided to get some breakfast and hopped into the shower. Lorelai dressed in her favorite jeans (they were tight enough to be sexy but broken in enough to be comfy) and a flirty tank top that read 'Mustang Sally'. She primped her hair and bounced out of the door to Luke's.

"Morning sugar!" Babette called to her from her porch.

"Good morning," Lorelai plastered on a smile and waved to her neighbor. Not wanting to see anybody else before she had her coffee, she hurried to the diner. Lorelai peeked through the window and was that there was only one table full this early. She went inside and Luke looked up from his paper.

Her heart fluttered quickly at the smile he gave her, the one he saved for her alone. "Hi," she greeted him, almost shyly, and sat on the stool directly in front of him.

"Hi," he returned. His eyes softened when he saw the worry on her face. "What's wrong?" he couldn't stop himself from asking and poured her a huge cup of coffee.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" she tried to sound playful but her eyes gave her away.

"Lorelai," he said seriously, urging her to drop the act.

She sighed and wrapped her hands around the large cup in front of her. "Chris phoned this morning," she told him. "Him and Rory had a huge fight."

"Is she okay?" Luke was immediately even more concerned.

"She stormed out after they fought," Lorelai hurried to continue when she saw the panicked look on his face. "Dave called Chris from the hotel just after and said she was safely back and with Lane."

"She left?" Luke asked with surprise. "That's not like her, she must have been really upset."

"She was," Lorelai agreed. "Chris said that she yelled at him for never being around for her, and for getting our hopes up so often."

Luke had a strange expression on his face, one that Lorelai couldn't read until he spoke. "Good for her," he finally said, to Lorelai's surprise.

"What?" she asked him.

"Nothing," he said dismissively and walked towards the back. "You want pancakes?"

"Yeah," she said. "But what did you say?"

"Never mind," he disappeared into the storeroom.

"I think we need to talk about this!" Lorelai cried as she followed him into the storeroom.

"There's nothing to talk about," he sighed and tried to grab a bag of chocolate chips off of the top shelve, but she grabbed his arm and turned him so he faced her.

"No Luke," she was annoyed at his not talking. "Obviously you have something to say, so out with it already!"

"Fine!" he replied loudly. "I said 'good for her'. I think it's great that she finally told him off for all of the pain he's put her through, both of you through."

"Luke," Lorelai said, her tone warning. "You don't know-"

"No! I DO know!" he cried. "I'm the one that has to comfort you when he leaves you high and dry each time. And I'm the one that has to see the look on Rory's face each time it happens! She comes in here upset and miserable each time because she's scared that if she goes home and you notice how bad she feels, you'll feel even worse. So yeah, I think it's good that she finally let him know and now he feels bad for a change!"

"You don't know Chris," Lorelai cried back. "You have no idea what he feels."

"When? When he leaves his family because he's scared or just too selfish to make the effort?" Luke couldn't believe that she was defending him. "If he felt half as much guilt as you seem to think he does than he wouldn't do this to you every time!"

"He's just never in the same place that we are-"

"Maybe not in the same place YOU are, okay that happens. But that shouldn't happen with Rory," he yelled and didn't understand why Lorelai didn't see it too. "She's his daughter, and he should love her and make time for her, no matter what. Just because he's not ready to be with you does not mean he should ever, ever neglect Rory."

"He had a relationship with Rory," Lorelai sighed, but Luke's words made a lot of sense to her.

"That's hardly a relationship," Luke rolled his eyes. "He calls her once a week, e-mails her every other week and sees her maybe three times a year. He didn't even show up to her graduation or her last birthday."

Lorelai looked like she might cry, and the thing was that she agreed with him. "Look," Luke's voice was softer now, and he put his hand on her shoulder as a peace offering. "Obviously this has been bothering Rory for a while now, and maybe now she and Chris can work some things out. This could be a good thing."

"How?" Lorelai asked but didn't really expect him to answer; Luke always did surprise her.

"Now he'll realize that things have to change, that she deserves better than a part time father," he told her softly. "You both do." Lorelai wiped her eyes quickly, head bent down, hoping he didn't notice. She wanted to hug him.

Lorelai figured that this must have been on his mind for some time now, and was touched that he thought about her and Rory's best welfare like that. She suddenly realized that Nicole's thoughts about Luke's feelings were probably right on. "Must've been hard to come out and say that," she said to him. "You know how defensive I get when someone bad mouths Chris and his fathering skills -no matter how true they may be." She laughed slightly. "So thank you for being honest with me."

Luke squeezed her shoulder briefly and then grabbed the chocolate chips. "Still want those pancakes?" he asked her, and she nodded vigorously. He turned to leave the storeroom.

"Luke!" she called out causing him to pause at the doorway and turn back to look at her in question. "Since we're being honest today."

"Yeah?"

"I talked to Nicole," Lorelai fidgeted. "The day she got back from your trip." Luke looked blankly at her but in his head he was beginning to panic.

"What's she say?" he asked.

"She.she told me about how you didn't want to commit to her," Lorelai said uncomfortably.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Did she tell you her opinion on why I didn't?" he asked with a tiny smirk, as if he found it humorous. Lorelai nodded that she did and Luke's smirk faded; he couldn't believe Nicole would actually tell Lorelai. "Did you believe her?" he asked, his voice betraying how nervous he was.

"Should I?" Lorelai was just as nervous. Luke sighed, unsure of how to answer.

"Do you WANT to believe her?" he asked hoping secretly that she would say yes; that just maybe she liked the idea of the two of them together.

"Maybe," she looked down at herself, embarrassed. "It's kind of a nice feeling, you wanting that with me and Rory. Lately things between us have been.well, different."

"A good different?" Luke worried.

"A great different," she blushed and smiled slightly. Luke looked unsure of what to say and Lorelai thought she saw him blush too. "So, I like the way things are."

"Different?" he supplied.

"Yeah," she smiled again. "But I can't really focus on that yet, not until things with Rory calm down first."

"Right," he sounded dejected.

"But, in a couple of weeks, when things have settled down." she trailed off. They were silent for a minute before Luke cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"So." he began, then seemed to change his train of thought. "Go sit, I'll bring you your pancakes when they're done."

Lorelai smiled a real smile at him as she walked back to the counter, not noticing the look on his face; excitement.

END

NEXT TIME ON GILMORE GIRLS:

"So you're going to play on my Dad's team?" Lorelai asks Luke.

"Do you even know how to play baseball?" Rory asks Lorelai.
"Luke's going to teach me," Lorelai tells her.

"So am I completely hopeless?" Lorelai asks Luke, swinging a baseball bat idly in her hand.
"Not completely," he tells her.

Lorelai leans in towards Luke, lips only inches away.