Title:
This Feeling That Remains.
Summary: In
the aftermath of the car accident, the Gilmore Girls try to pick up the pieces
and move on.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the
characters of Gilmore Girls. This
story idea is my own, although it does contain some scenes from the actual show
in places. (mainly at the beginning)
Authors Note: This fic starts during the episode Teach Me Tonight, right after Lorelai leaves Rory at the hospital to go and find Jess. It's a Java/Lit fic.
Thanks to the Crazy Hacker who went to the trouble of signing into Tye's account and reviewing my fic. And to everyone else who's been reviewing this fic, I love that you guys are sticking with me.
*~*~*~*
"It's me! I'm here, your world is now complete!"
Lorelai smiled widely as she stepped into the diner.
"Praise Jesus, the center of my universe has once again returned." Luke
deadpanned.
"I want coffee. I want coffee in a big huge cup. A cup so big it may as well
have nipples on it."
"Excuse me?" Luke frowned at her.
"Never mind." She smiled and waved the subject away with her hand.
"I take from your almost indecipherable rambling about cups with nipples that
you want a large coffee?"
"It's so nice to have someone in your life who knows you so well." She
sighed wistfully.
"It must be scary to be the person who knows you so well." He replied,
unable to stop a small smile appearing on his face.
"I love how you and I are just so… connected."
"We are, huh?" Luke asked skeptically.
"Yeah, you know, like the way we finish each others sentences?"
"We…"
"Don't!" Lorelai grinned excitedly. "See! I knew you were gonna say
that."
Luke rolled his eyes, smiled a little and walked away to serve someone else.
"Hey, you know what I'm thinking right now?"
"Probably how much you love coffee."
"No, actually. But close." She smiled and got off of her stool, following
Luke around the Diner as he worked.
"Then I give up, because I thought that was all you ever thought about."
"I was thinking that it'd be so cool to have someone at my graduation who I
could depend on to look totally bored and not at all proud."
"Yeah? Good luck getting Michel to agree to go." Luke smirked.
"See, I'd ask Michel, but I thought I'd have a better chance of getting
you to say yes instead."
"What?"
"Come to my graduation? Pretty please?"
"You want me to come to your graduation?" He frowned.
"Pretty, pretty please with sprinkles and a cherry on top?" She persisted.
"I dunno… when is it?"
"Thursday at 7pm in Hartford." She smiled.
"That's Caesars night off." He sighed.
"Well… can't you ask him to switch nights or something?" She pouted a
little.
"I'm sorry, I… it's not like you'll miss me."
"Ok." Lorelai sighed, obviously disappointed. "At least I asked."
"Yeah. I appreciate the invite."
"Ok. Well, I should get home, Rory will be back from Chilton soon."
"See ya'." Luke nodded as she headed for the door.
He paused for a minute, wondering why he'd said no before checking to see if
Caesar would mind working that night. He watched Lorelai cross the street and
head home and he felt bad. Her graduation was a big deal and he'd dismissed it
like it was some stupid town festival.
But every time something like this had come up in the past and he'd agreed to
it, it had brought them closer. And every time they'd gotten closer something
had come between them. Max, Chris, Rachel… Max. Again.
He wasn't sure he wanted to find out who might come between them this time.
* * * * *
Sookie frowned as she listened to Lorelai recounting how she'd invited Luke to
her graduation, only to be rebuffed.
"So he didn't even say he'd try and be there?"
"No." Lorelai sighed, sipping her coffee.
"That's so weird. Luke adores you…" Sookie noted Lorelai's expression.
"And Rory." She added quickly. "You're like family to him."
"I just wanted everyone I cared about to be there."
"Well Jackson and I will definitely be there."
"I know, I'm so glad." Lorelai smiled softly.
"Do you wanna go out to eat afterwards? Or I could make us all a big
Graduation Dinner!"
"That sounds great… are you sure it's not too much trouble?"
"Not at all. I love making a fuss over things like this. It's what I live
for." Sookie gushed, as she tasted some of the sauce she was making.
"That, and Pie."
"And Pie!" Sookie chuckled, waving a spoon in the air.
Lorelai groaned and looked back down at a thick book she was reading.
"I hate business." She grunted.
"Look on the bright side, it's your final final this afternoon."
"It is." Lorelai said, a grin spreading across her face. "By tonight
I'll be a free woman!"
"And you'll be more than qualified to start a business. Namely, an Inn!"
Sookie added.
They both looked over as Jackson appeared, carrying a large box of oranges.
"Oh, good!" She beamed, wiping her hands on her apron and hurrying over to
inspect her delivery.
"Hello Jackson." Jackson said dryly. "Hello Sookie, how's work been
today? Wonderful honey, but I missed you. Really, because I missed you too."
"I missed you Jackson." Lorelai said lightly, smiling as Sookie sniffed and
squeezed a few of the oranges.
"They're too bitter." She sighed.
"How do you know, you haven't tasted them!" Jackson cried out defensively.
"I can smell it."
"Yeah, well the look-out on Titanic said he could smell ice, and look how that
turned out." He mocked.
"Don't take it personally, sweetie." Sookie said gently, rubbing his arm.
"How can I not. I've been singing show tunes to this batch for a week now.
They should be at their best."
"They are. They're at their bitter best." Sookie assured him. "I just
can't use them."
"I can. I've been looking for something to throw at Michel." Lorelai
mused, picking up one of the oranges, throwing it up in the air and catching it
again.
"Lorelai, this graduation thing, is it formal?" Jackson inquired.
"Uh yeah, but not top hat formal."
"You can wear your suit you got for the rehearsal dinner." Sookie
interjected.
"But what if I get it dirty?" Jackson frowned.
"We'll get it dry cleaned."
"What if I spill something on it that won't come out?"
"Like what?"
"Acid."
Sookie and Lorelai exchanged smiles and tried to take him seriously.
"Well, in the event that you somehow spill acid on your suit at some point
during the graduation ceremony, we'll get you a new one."
"But it was on sale. It won't be on sale now, we can't afford it."
"We'll manage, Jackson." Sookie chuckled.
"You can borrow my little black dress if you want." Lorelai offered.
"Always classic, never out of style."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Jackson replied.
* * * * *
Luke sat on the couch and listened to the phone ringing for a while. He was about to give up and try again later when he got an answer.
"Yeah?"
"I see your phone manner is no different from your regular attitude." Luke sighed.
"I pride myself on being direct. I'm working my way up to telemarketer."
"Good for you, I'm sure you'll achieve it."
"I sure hope so, it is my only goal in life."
There was a pause in the 'conversation'. Luke looked around his apartment and drummed his fingers on the couch.
"So…. how are you?"
"Good. Back to my old drug dealing, sex crazed, drunken ways. Taylor would be proud."
"You sure don't waste any time." Luke rolled his eyes. "I was hoping you'd have forgotten how to do all of the above."
"It's like riding a bicycle."
"Only illegal."
"I got over that minor qualm years ago."
"Seriously though, how's it going?" Luke sighed.
"Fine."
"How's your mom?"
"Fine."
"You wanna' know how I am?"
"Sure thing, uncle Luke! How's that empty little life of yours?"
"Good, thanks for asking. I think that now you're out of my hair it may start to grow back." He said with a small smile.
"Don't count on it."
"Do you wanna know how Rory's doing?" He offered.
"Ok."
"She's doing ok."
"Ok."
"She has to wear a cast, but only for another week or so."
"Huh."
"I think she was disappointed that you left."
"Huh."
"You seem to have limited your vocabulary to 'huh', 'ok' and 'fine'."
"You can't go wrong with that combination."
"Sure." Luke sighed and looked at his watch.
"Anything else you feel a pressing need to inform me about?"
"Uh…not really."
"Lorelai calm down yet?"
"Yeah." Luke nodded to himself. "She's graduating from community college soon." He added and then wondered why.
"Huh."
"She invited me to go."
"Lucky you. I'm quite possibly too jealous to talk to you right now."
"Don't be, I said no."
"Of course you did."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
"Jess."
"Nothing."
"You think I should go?"
"I think you're an idiot."
"For saying no?"
"Sure… among other things."
"I don't have to take this from you."
"You asked."
"I regret doing so." Luke rolled his eyes. "I gotta get back to work. I guess I'll talk to you later."
"Whatever."
"Bye."
Luke waited for Jess to respond, but after a faint grunt of acknowledgment that the conversation was over, Jess hung up.
* * * * *
"Hey now, if that's Mick Jagger, hang up and blow that whistle I gave you." Lorelai said, taking Rory's seat on the couch while Rory answered the phone.
"Hello?" Rory said casually into the phone.
"Hi."
At the sound of his voice Rory's heart seemed to stop. She froze, wondering if it really was him or if she was imagining it. Wondering what he was calling for. Wondering what she should say to him.
"Hello?" He asked when she didn't respond.
"Hi."
"Is this a bad time?"
"Um, no. Just, hold on a sec?" She said uncertainly, pulling the phone away from her ear. "Um… the music… uh, I'll be right back." She said meekly to Lorelai.
Lorelai nodded, too drunk and engrossed in her 'Life Plan' booklet to really notice.
Rory walked into her room and shut the door, her heart pounding twice as fast as usual, where before it had almost failed her. She brought the phone back up to her ear.
"Hi."
"You said that already." He noted.
"I did. You're right. Sorry." She blushed a little.
"So, what's up?" He asked lightly, wanting to hear her talk more.
"Nothing. What about you?"
"Same."
"So, what have you been doing?" She asked curiously.
"Nothin' much. Just hanging out… in the park, mostly."
"Central Park?"
"Washington Square Park." He nodded.
"Oh."
"It's cooler."
"Yes."
"It's where David Lee Roth got busted."
"Right, right. I hope he's got it together now." She sighed, berating herself for not thinking of anything better to say.
"Sounds like you got a party going on there." He frowned, wondering what she was doing. Wondering if she was alone or if Dean was there.
"No, it's just me and my mom."
"Right." He smiled a little.
Rory and Lorelai were possibly the only people he knew capable of throwing a party for just themselves and making it seem like something ten times bigger.
"Okay, well, I'm gonna go. This is long distance." He said, disappointed that he had to say goodbye.
"Yeah, it is long distance." Rory sighed, the reality that he wasn't calling from Luke's hitting her again.
"So, see ya."
"Yeah… see ya." She replied quietly as the excitement of his call started to fade away.
She switched the phone off and lay back on her bed. She didn't understand what she was feeling. It was a mix of excitement, disappointment, happiness, sadness, longing and most of all uncertainty.
The call had lasted for only one minute. They hadn't talked about anything important. He hadn't asked her any questions she couldn't answer. And yet she felt like she was desperately searching for a response. Like he was still on the phone and waiting for her to reply.
Most of all, she realized that he was in another city. In another state. Long distance. And she was feeling everything she'd felt when she'd first found out about his departure.
