NOTE: I really wish these Gilmore Girls people belong to me but, sadly, they don't. I will have the power one day, though.
A/N: Well, here it is. The sequel to Play Ball. Some of you might not know of that story so you'll just have to go read it and enjoy. Now on with this oh, so lovely sequel.
CHAPTER 9
Rory entered the Dragon Fly, Lorelai and Sookie's inn, that following day. After waving a quick hello to Michel, who was at the front desk, Rory made her way to the kitchen, immediately seeing that a minor crisis was going on.
"You can fix it, right?" Sookie asked, hovering over the plumber who was under the sink. She turned to Lorelai. "He can fix it, right?"
"He can fix it, Sookie," Lorelai recited for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Hey," Rory greeted. "What's going on?"
"The sink broke down," Lorelai replied.
"Again?" Rory said, stretching the word.
"Again," Lorelai sighed, her arms folded. "Maybe we should just sell it. We can buy a new sink. A sparkly, magical one."
"With automatic ice machine," Sookie added enthusiastically.
Lorelai nodded with a light smile.
"Won't get much for this cheap thing," the plumber uttered from belong the sink.
Lorelai sighed again and knelt down to the sink. "Well, can you fix it?"
"Sorry, lady." The plumber slid out from under the sink as he said, "It's dead."
"Oh, it can't be dead," Rory said mournfully.
"We nicknamed him Eddie," Sookie said, equally mournful.
"Little Eddie," Lorelai continued the story of the sink's nickname. "He always supplied us with crisp, clean water and shiny, happy dishes."
The plumber stared at the three of them for a brief moment before repeating, "It's dead."
Over at the diner, which wasn't as crowded as the previous day, Luke poured Kirk a mug of coffee before giving him his order. Kirk peeked under the bread of his sandwich suspiciously, as if he were looking for something.
"What're you doing, Kirk?" Luke asked him.
"Just checking that you used a swig of mustard, light Mayo, and heavy shredded lettuce." Kirk glanced up into Luke's eyes. "After that incident at breakfast I doubt I can trust you."
"Are you still on this strawberry jelly thing?" Luke sighed exasperated.
"I wanted grape jelly, Luke," Kirk whined, banging his palm on the counter. "I think the trust between us is gone."
Luke glared at him, ready to make an annoyed comment. The phone rang, though, taking away his chance. Luke took hold of the receiver and rested the phone between his shoulder and his ear.
"Luke's diner."
"Luke, hi. It's me," Lorelai's voice came from the other end.
"Hey."
"Hey. Listen, I sort of need a favor."
Jess came down the stairs a couple minutes later as Luke hung up the phone. Jess went around to the front of the counter, taking Kirk's now empty seat.
"I'm not serving you," Luke told his nephew bluntly.
"How will I ever recover?" Jess wondered dryly.
"Look, I'm doing something for Lorelai tonight. Which means, you and mini you, can cook for yourselves," Luke informed him, as he had taken the personal duty of seeing to it that Rosa ate more than just candy like every other kid in Stars Hollow.
"Fine," Jess shrugged. "I'll just give her some pixie sticks or somethin'."
Luke gave him a look before saying, "Maybe I will cook dinner."
Later, that evening, Lorelai marched down the stairs of her house for the tenth time that hour. She leaned over the banister, calling out to Rory.
"They're not anywhere in my room!"
"Where did you have them last?" Rory asked.
"Why do people always ask that?" Lorelai wondered, putting one hand on her hip and leaning the other against the banister. "I mean, if people could remember the last place that they left their keys then they wouldn't have to go looking for the aforementioned keys. The whole, "Where did you leave them last?" thing is a pretty pathetic question, which should be completely wiped out from all human forms of communication and—"
"Found them," Rory quick announced, stopping her mother's speech. She held up Lorelai's silver, dangling keys, hanging from a hello kitty key chain.
"Yes," Lorelai smiled, coming down the stairs and grabbing the keys. "You are my favorite daughter."
"There are more?"
"Yes. I raise them on Farms in Antarctica."
"There are farms in Antarctica?" Rory questioned.
"Oh, of course. Didn't you know?" Lorelai asked with mock shock. "What exactly do they teach you in those Ivy League schools?"
"So far I've picked up on how to dress myself," Rory replied, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.
"That's my girl," Lorelai said, forming a large, cheesy smile. She glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh, I have to meet Luke at the Dragon Fly." She grabbed her jacket before turning back and asking, "Where did you find my keys, anyway?"
"In that jacket you're holding," Rory replied with a slight smirk.
"And here we are at the origin of the "Where did you leave them last?" thing-y."
Lorelai entered the kitchen at her inn to see Luke was already there. He seemed to be having an argument with the plumber Lorelai and Sookie had hired earlier.
"I'm telling you this thing is dead," the plumber said.
"Could I just take a look at it?" Luke attempted to reason.
"Look, buddy, I have been working with plumbing since I was twelve. I think I know what I'm doing."
"What's going on here?" Lorelai asked, approaching them.
"Well, apparently, while the rest of us wore riding bikes when we were twelve, your guy here was fixing toilets," Luke said, turning to Lorelai.
"Who is this guy?" the plumber asked, pointing at Luke.
"He's Luke," Lorelai explained. "He's here to help."
"Lady, I have been working on this sink all day," the plumber reminded her.
"Yes, I know," Lorelai said, giving him a smile. "It's just that now I want Luke to work on it."
"You people annoy me," the plumber stated before walking off.
Lorelai gave Luke a huge grin. "You came." Luke picked up his toolbox. "And you brought Bert! Oh, hi, Bert. How's life?"
"Are you ever gonna stop calling my toolbox Bert?" Luke asked.
"Possibly not."
"Yeah, I guessed that." Luke knelt down and looked under the sink on his back. "Oh, this guy did this all wrong."
"So it's not dead?" Lorelai asked with hope.
"Not dead," Luke replied.
"Oh, yes!" the woman cheered. "Eddie lives."
Luke poked his head out, giving her a bewildered look.
The bell above the diner's door went off as Rory entered. She saw only a couple of customers, who were just sitting around and drinking coffee, as closing time was nearby.
Jess, who was behind the counter, glanced up at her. "We don't want any. Go away," he said, trying to make some sort of dry humor.
"You're cute when you make with the funny," Rory told him. "So no Luke tonight?"
"Nope. Promised Uncle Smile-y I'd watch the place for him."
"So you and Rosa aren't doing anything tonight?"
"Sitting side by side and reading. Don't you just love our warm, family moments?"
"Oh," Rory said, deep in thought. "Well, I was just thinking that if you guys are alone tonight and I'm alone tonight then maybe we could sort of merge and not be so... alone."
"You want us to come over?"
"Yeah. I mean, it could be fun. We could rent videos, eat, have fun. You know?"
"When do we bring in the camera?"
Rory smiled lightly at him. "Come on, Jess. It'll be fun and you know it. Besides, I really want to get to know Rosa."
"Fine," Jess shrugged. "We can do it."
"Great. So I'll rent a couple of kid related movies and order a pizza. You guys can come around seven."
"OK."
"OK." Rory smiled again and left the diner.
A/N: I'm still taking suggestions, even if I do have this planned out. Please review!