Title: Where the heart is, Chapter 7
Author: Gluglug
Spoiler Warning/Timing: Fourth Season (Ep 4.11 In the Clamor and the Clangor)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all characters are property of The Dubba Dubba Dubba WB, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Amy Sherman- Palladino. They don't belong to me, just borrowing.
A couple of hours later, Lorelai drove through the center of town and parked her jeep in front of the diner. She looked around for Luke's truck, which was usually parked next to the diner, but the space was empty. Damn, she thought, he's probably with Nicole at his soon to be new home.
Lane, who was taking an order near the window, saw Lorelai and waved. She smiled and waved back to her daughter's best friend and decided to come in for a cup of coffee anyway.
The diner only had a few customers, which was fortunate for Lane since she had only been working at Luke's for a few weeks. Although she was inherently gifted at taking orders and carrying plates, she didn't feel confident when the boss wasn't there.
Lorelai entered the diner, came up to the counter and Lane poured her a cup of coffee.
"Ah, such great service. Does Luke know that you take orders telepathically?"
Lane laughed. "I don't think so, he hasn't been around lately which really sucks because I still have all of these questions about food preparation. At least Caesar is here to cook, otherwise I'd give the whole town a botulism scare."
"Well as long as you stick to taking orders and pouring coffee, I think you'll be fine." Lorelai sipped her cup of steaming java. "So where is the big boss man anyway?"
"Where do you think he is? He's with the witch in Lifefield." Lane said.
"Don't you mean the wife in Litchfield?" Lorelai smirked.
"No." Lane smirked back. "Nicole seems nice but there's something about her I just can't stand. She's kind of condescending to me, like I'm Luke's little diner slave or something. And I'm just really sad that Luke's moving. He insists that things aren't gonna change, that he'll still be here all the time but I get the sense that once he moves, we'll see less and less of him. As much as I like working here, I don't want this to be Lane's diner."
Lorelai nodded. "I'm sure your mom would be thrilled. Are you still grounded?"
"Yeah, although the band has a gig next weekend in New York, I don't know how I'm going to escape. Imagine, our little band, playing at CBGB's - that's where Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones got their start!"
"Lane, that's great news! Don't worry you'll figure something out, sweetie." Lorelai finished her cup of coffee. "I should get going, do you have any idea when Luke will be back?"
"Um, I think he said he'd be back by the dinner rush."
"Can you give him a message for me?"
"Sure."
"Just tell him that I need to speak with him soon and have him call me when he gets back? Don't forget."
Lane nodded and scribbled on her order pad. "Don't worry Lorelai, I'm writing it down and everything."
Lorelai left the diner and drove home. She still couldn't believe that Jason had put their relationship on hold just because of this whole Luke thing. But then she tried to put herself in his shoes and thought how she'd react if he started ranting about some woman and behaved like she had. He did have a point, she needed to resolve this, she just wasn't sure how.
Later that evening Lorelai put on her coat and walked to Luke's. He hadn't called her but she didn't care, she needed to talk to him and get it out of her system, like Jason demanded. Her plan was to apologize first and if he accepted, she would try to convince him not to move to with the witch to Lifefield.
The snow that had fallen a week ago had mostly melted - it seemed like a lifetime ago when the entire town looked like a winter wonderland. She approached the diner with trepidation but once she saw Luke in his usual spot doing his closing ritual she felt comforted. It was something she had seen him do countless times and had taken it for granted. Now she was unsure how many more nights she'd witness it.
Luke had left the door unlocked though the sign had been switched to "Closed." He looked up when he saw Lorelai enter. He wasn't too surprised to see her, since he had gotten the message from Lane. She looked smaller to him somehow, and she wasn't her usual bubbly self.
"Hi." She said shyly. "Did Lane give you my message?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I've been really busy, I got back late from Nicole's and the dinner rush was busier than usual for a Sunday." He paused, not sure what say next so he relied on something familiar.
"Coffee?"
"Um, no thanks." Lorelai was nervous and she thought caffeine would only make her more jittery.
"Can I get a glass of water instead?" Her throat was suddenly parched.
Luke retrieved a glass of water and put it on the counter. She sipped it gratefully.
"Thanks."
There was an awkward silence.
Luke cleared his throat. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"
Lorelai dove right in. "Um, well I wanted to apologize for the whole snow shovel incident last weekend. I shouldn't have called you up at that ungodly hour and demand that you shovel my walk. I also shouldn't have gotten so mad at you for not telling me about the Litchfield thing. I'm sure you were planning to tell me in your own time and the grapevine just got the news before you'd had a chance, right?"
"Um, actually no."
"What do you mean? Where you not gonna tell me?" Lorelai sounded hurt and defeated.
"I don't know. I was kind of scared to tell you, actually." Luke admitted.
"Why? Am I that scary?" She asked.
"That's a loaded question." He said dryly. "No, but I knew that you would try to talk me out it or tell me I was making a mistake. I remember how you reacted when I told you about marrying Nicole and you looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't want you to look at me like that again."
"Luke, marrying Nicole on that cruise was crazy, then the whole divorce, then not divorce thing. But I don't necessarily think that moving in with her is crazy, too, not if you really want it. I just don't understand why you have to go to all the way to Litchfield. Why doesn't Nicole just move in with you here?"
"I asked her already and she said she couldn't. Nicole is used to luxury buildings with elevators and doormen and nice fixtures, not my dinky apartment."
"But your place isn't dinky, Luke. It's twice the size it used to be and it really isn't so bad. The night I slept over I really thought it was comfortable. Plus, you have like a one-minute commute to work, you can't beat that."
"True." He nodded.
"I just think that if Nicole really loves you, it shouldn't matter where you live. Home is where the heart is, right? If her heart is with you..."
"Then she'd move in with me here."
"Exactly." Lorelai confirmed.
There was another moment of silence and Luke came around from around the counter and sat on the stool next to Lorelai. She had already apologized and now was her chance to tell him what she really wanted to say. She took a deep breath and let it out.
"Luke, you can't leave Stars Hollow."
"Why not?" He wanted to see where she was taking this.
"Because you can't, you grew up here, this diner is your life, and there are people in this town who would really miss you if you left."
"What people?" Luke echoed Nicole's words from last night.
"Um, well, Kirk for one. You helped him out with Lulu and now he finally has a girlfriend."
"Yeah, and he won't let anyone forget it, either."
"And Miss Patty, Babette, Sookie, Jackson, baby Davy, Taylor.."
"Taylor? You've got to be kidding, he can't wait for me to move. If I'm no longer a Stars Hollow resident, then I won't be allowed at town meetings anymore. He can now turn this place into Taylorville where everyone wears cardigans and has the same grass height."
"Okay, so maybe not Taylor. But Lane would miss you - she told me today, and Rory, even if she's at Yale now. You're kind of like a dad..or at least a cranky uncle to her."
"Well, I'd miss her, too. Rory is very special." Luke smiled at the notion of being Rory's surrogate father.
"And then there's someone else I almost forgot. Someone who loves to drive you crazy, eats too much junk food and consumes more coffee than all of your other customers combined. I think she'd miss you most of all."
"Gee, she kind of sounds familiar." Luke smirked at her. "Why would she miss me so much?"
"Well besides the coffee, of course - you put up with her crap, you're always there when she really needs you and frankly, her life would suck without you in it."
Luke reached over and covered her hands with his. Lorelai looked up at him and their eyes met.
"And my life would suck without you in it, Lorelai." His heart swelled a little as he watched her slowly smile back at him. He took a deep breath, let go of her hands and got off his stool.
"I've decided not to move to Litchfield." He announced.
"What? Just now?" She asked, trying to contain her relief.
"Actually, no. I decided earlier today that I wasn't going to go through with it."
"So you made me go through all of that even though you had made up your mind?" Lorelai was confused and a little annoyed.
"Well, I wanted to hear what you had to say." Luke replied.
"You just wanted to watch me grovel." Lorelai mused. "And have you shared this news with Nicole?"
"Yeah, I told her earlier today. She's not very happy with me right now. In fact, she's decided that we should take a break and figure out where this is going or...not going."
"You're kidding, a break. I don't believe this!" Lorelai exclaimed standing up.
"What do you mean?"
"Jason and I are taking a break, too."
"What a coincidence. I thought things were going great with him."
"So did I, we just have some things to work out."
"Well, I hope it works out, whatever it is."
"Thanks." Lorelai paused and had an idea. "Hey Luke, what are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Um, nothing, why?"
"Let's have another movie night! You had fun the last time, right?"
"Um, I wouldn't exactly call abiding by all your arbitrary house rules fun, especially when you proceeded to break all of them."
"Oh, come on Luke. I promise you there will be no rules - you can even pick out the movies!"
"With you having veto power over every one, I suppose."
"Well, someone has to be in charge of quality control."
"Okay, I guess it might not be a bad way to pass the time."
"Great! Let's say tomorrow at 8? And we'll go over the movie choices tomorrow at breakfast."
"Can't wait." Luke tried to sound exasperated but he was really looking forward to another movie night at Lorelai's. In truth, he really didn't care what they watched as long as he could spend some time with her.
"Well, I guess I should get going, you must be tired." She noticed that the circles under his eyes looked more pronounced than usual.
"Yeah, it's been a long day."
"'Night, Luke, see you tomorrow."
And with that she was gone. Luke was relieved that things seemed back to normal between them. And not only that, they had temporary reprieves from their relationships. Luke wondered just why Lorelai and Jason were taking a break. He hoped that he might find out the reason soon, perhaps during their movie night?
TBC
Author: Gluglug
Spoiler Warning/Timing: Fourth Season (Ep 4.11 In the Clamor and the Clangor)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all characters are property of The Dubba Dubba Dubba WB, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Amy Sherman- Palladino. They don't belong to me, just borrowing.
A couple of hours later, Lorelai drove through the center of town and parked her jeep in front of the diner. She looked around for Luke's truck, which was usually parked next to the diner, but the space was empty. Damn, she thought, he's probably with Nicole at his soon to be new home.
Lane, who was taking an order near the window, saw Lorelai and waved. She smiled and waved back to her daughter's best friend and decided to come in for a cup of coffee anyway.
The diner only had a few customers, which was fortunate for Lane since she had only been working at Luke's for a few weeks. Although she was inherently gifted at taking orders and carrying plates, she didn't feel confident when the boss wasn't there.
Lorelai entered the diner, came up to the counter and Lane poured her a cup of coffee.
"Ah, such great service. Does Luke know that you take orders telepathically?"
Lane laughed. "I don't think so, he hasn't been around lately which really sucks because I still have all of these questions about food preparation. At least Caesar is here to cook, otherwise I'd give the whole town a botulism scare."
"Well as long as you stick to taking orders and pouring coffee, I think you'll be fine." Lorelai sipped her cup of steaming java. "So where is the big boss man anyway?"
"Where do you think he is? He's with the witch in Lifefield." Lane said.
"Don't you mean the wife in Litchfield?" Lorelai smirked.
"No." Lane smirked back. "Nicole seems nice but there's something about her I just can't stand. She's kind of condescending to me, like I'm Luke's little diner slave or something. And I'm just really sad that Luke's moving. He insists that things aren't gonna change, that he'll still be here all the time but I get the sense that once he moves, we'll see less and less of him. As much as I like working here, I don't want this to be Lane's diner."
Lorelai nodded. "I'm sure your mom would be thrilled. Are you still grounded?"
"Yeah, although the band has a gig next weekend in New York, I don't know how I'm going to escape. Imagine, our little band, playing at CBGB's - that's where Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones got their start!"
"Lane, that's great news! Don't worry you'll figure something out, sweetie." Lorelai finished her cup of coffee. "I should get going, do you have any idea when Luke will be back?"
"Um, I think he said he'd be back by the dinner rush."
"Can you give him a message for me?"
"Sure."
"Just tell him that I need to speak with him soon and have him call me when he gets back? Don't forget."
Lane nodded and scribbled on her order pad. "Don't worry Lorelai, I'm writing it down and everything."
Lorelai left the diner and drove home. She still couldn't believe that Jason had put their relationship on hold just because of this whole Luke thing. But then she tried to put herself in his shoes and thought how she'd react if he started ranting about some woman and behaved like she had. He did have a point, she needed to resolve this, she just wasn't sure how.
Later that evening Lorelai put on her coat and walked to Luke's. He hadn't called her but she didn't care, she needed to talk to him and get it out of her system, like Jason demanded. Her plan was to apologize first and if he accepted, she would try to convince him not to move to with the witch to Lifefield.
The snow that had fallen a week ago had mostly melted - it seemed like a lifetime ago when the entire town looked like a winter wonderland. She approached the diner with trepidation but once she saw Luke in his usual spot doing his closing ritual she felt comforted. It was something she had seen him do countless times and had taken it for granted. Now she was unsure how many more nights she'd witness it.
Luke had left the door unlocked though the sign had been switched to "Closed." He looked up when he saw Lorelai enter. He wasn't too surprised to see her, since he had gotten the message from Lane. She looked smaller to him somehow, and she wasn't her usual bubbly self.
"Hi." She said shyly. "Did Lane give you my message?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I've been really busy, I got back late from Nicole's and the dinner rush was busier than usual for a Sunday." He paused, not sure what say next so he relied on something familiar.
"Coffee?"
"Um, no thanks." Lorelai was nervous and she thought caffeine would only make her more jittery.
"Can I get a glass of water instead?" Her throat was suddenly parched.
Luke retrieved a glass of water and put it on the counter. She sipped it gratefully.
"Thanks."
There was an awkward silence.
Luke cleared his throat. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"
Lorelai dove right in. "Um, well I wanted to apologize for the whole snow shovel incident last weekend. I shouldn't have called you up at that ungodly hour and demand that you shovel my walk. I also shouldn't have gotten so mad at you for not telling me about the Litchfield thing. I'm sure you were planning to tell me in your own time and the grapevine just got the news before you'd had a chance, right?"
"Um, actually no."
"What do you mean? Where you not gonna tell me?" Lorelai sounded hurt and defeated.
"I don't know. I was kind of scared to tell you, actually." Luke admitted.
"Why? Am I that scary?" She asked.
"That's a loaded question." He said dryly. "No, but I knew that you would try to talk me out it or tell me I was making a mistake. I remember how you reacted when I told you about marrying Nicole and you looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't want you to look at me like that again."
"Luke, marrying Nicole on that cruise was crazy, then the whole divorce, then not divorce thing. But I don't necessarily think that moving in with her is crazy, too, not if you really want it. I just don't understand why you have to go to all the way to Litchfield. Why doesn't Nicole just move in with you here?"
"I asked her already and she said she couldn't. Nicole is used to luxury buildings with elevators and doormen and nice fixtures, not my dinky apartment."
"But your place isn't dinky, Luke. It's twice the size it used to be and it really isn't so bad. The night I slept over I really thought it was comfortable. Plus, you have like a one-minute commute to work, you can't beat that."
"True." He nodded.
"I just think that if Nicole really loves you, it shouldn't matter where you live. Home is where the heart is, right? If her heart is with you..."
"Then she'd move in with me here."
"Exactly." Lorelai confirmed.
There was another moment of silence and Luke came around from around the counter and sat on the stool next to Lorelai. She had already apologized and now was her chance to tell him what she really wanted to say. She took a deep breath and let it out.
"Luke, you can't leave Stars Hollow."
"Why not?" He wanted to see where she was taking this.
"Because you can't, you grew up here, this diner is your life, and there are people in this town who would really miss you if you left."
"What people?" Luke echoed Nicole's words from last night.
"Um, well, Kirk for one. You helped him out with Lulu and now he finally has a girlfriend."
"Yeah, and he won't let anyone forget it, either."
"And Miss Patty, Babette, Sookie, Jackson, baby Davy, Taylor.."
"Taylor? You've got to be kidding, he can't wait for me to move. If I'm no longer a Stars Hollow resident, then I won't be allowed at town meetings anymore. He can now turn this place into Taylorville where everyone wears cardigans and has the same grass height."
"Okay, so maybe not Taylor. But Lane would miss you - she told me today, and Rory, even if she's at Yale now. You're kind of like a dad..or at least a cranky uncle to her."
"Well, I'd miss her, too. Rory is very special." Luke smiled at the notion of being Rory's surrogate father.
"And then there's someone else I almost forgot. Someone who loves to drive you crazy, eats too much junk food and consumes more coffee than all of your other customers combined. I think she'd miss you most of all."
"Gee, she kind of sounds familiar." Luke smirked at her. "Why would she miss me so much?"
"Well besides the coffee, of course - you put up with her crap, you're always there when she really needs you and frankly, her life would suck without you in it."
Luke reached over and covered her hands with his. Lorelai looked up at him and their eyes met.
"And my life would suck without you in it, Lorelai." His heart swelled a little as he watched her slowly smile back at him. He took a deep breath, let go of her hands and got off his stool.
"I've decided not to move to Litchfield." He announced.
"What? Just now?" She asked, trying to contain her relief.
"Actually, no. I decided earlier today that I wasn't going to go through with it."
"So you made me go through all of that even though you had made up your mind?" Lorelai was confused and a little annoyed.
"Well, I wanted to hear what you had to say." Luke replied.
"You just wanted to watch me grovel." Lorelai mused. "And have you shared this news with Nicole?"
"Yeah, I told her earlier today. She's not very happy with me right now. In fact, she's decided that we should take a break and figure out where this is going or...not going."
"You're kidding, a break. I don't believe this!" Lorelai exclaimed standing up.
"What do you mean?"
"Jason and I are taking a break, too."
"What a coincidence. I thought things were going great with him."
"So did I, we just have some things to work out."
"Well, I hope it works out, whatever it is."
"Thanks." Lorelai paused and had an idea. "Hey Luke, what are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Um, nothing, why?"
"Let's have another movie night! You had fun the last time, right?"
"Um, I wouldn't exactly call abiding by all your arbitrary house rules fun, especially when you proceeded to break all of them."
"Oh, come on Luke. I promise you there will be no rules - you can even pick out the movies!"
"With you having veto power over every one, I suppose."
"Well, someone has to be in charge of quality control."
"Okay, I guess it might not be a bad way to pass the time."
"Great! Let's say tomorrow at 8? And we'll go over the movie choices tomorrow at breakfast."
"Can't wait." Luke tried to sound exasperated but he was really looking forward to another movie night at Lorelai's. In truth, he really didn't care what they watched as long as he could spend some time with her.
"Well, I guess I should get going, you must be tired." She noticed that the circles under his eyes looked more pronounced than usual.
"Yeah, it's been a long day."
"'Night, Luke, see you tomorrow."
And with that she was gone. Luke was relieved that things seemed back to normal between them. And not only that, they had temporary reprieves from their relationships. Luke wondered just why Lorelai and Jason were taking a break. He hoped that he might find out the reason soon, perhaps during their movie night?
TBC