"It's Still There – part 13"

. . . . .

It took Luke and Rory about fifteen minutes to pick out a Christmas tree that they were sure would meet Lorelai's approval. After it was paid for and loaded into the bed of the truck, they headed home.

At the house, they set the tree up in the living room near the front window, then stepped back to admire it.

"Looks good," Rory commented.

Luke nodded in agreement. "Yup."

"She's gonna love this tree, it's perfect." Rory glanced at the clock. "And we finished with twenty minutes to spare."

He gestured toward the steps. "What do you say we get the Christmas stuff down from the attic? She's been asking me about that stuff, too."

"Okay."

They walked upstairs and Luke pulled the attic ladder down from the hallway ceiling. He climbed up into the attic and searched it for a few minutes before he finally found a collection of boxes filled with holiday decorations and lights. He handed them down to Rory, then climbed out of the attic and put the ladder back up. They brought the boxes downstairs and stacked them near the tree, then sat down on the couch and watched TV while they waited for Lorelai.

When they heard her pull up at a few minutes past eight, they turned and stared at the front entryway, waiting for her to walk in. When the door opened, Lorelai immediately called, "I'm home!"

"We're right in here, Mom," Rory replied.

Lorelai dropped her things by the door. "Man, it's freezing out there." She hung up her jacket, then walked into the living room. "Is Jess here? His truck's. . ." Her eyes widened when she saw the tree, and she let out a surprised gasp. "Oh my God! What is that?"

Luke stood up and walked to the other side of the couch. "It's a Christmas tree."

"But where did it come from?"

"Luke and I just got it tonight," Rory said. "You kept asking him about it, so he wanted to surprise you."

Lorelai cocked her head to the side and smiled at him. "Aw, you're so sweet." She walked over and kissed him, then wrinkled her nose. "And now I feel really bad for whining about it earlier."

Luke shrugged it off. "You weren't whining."

Lorelai walked over and inhaled the scent of the tree. "Mm, that's one of the best smells of Christmas."

Rory stood up and walked over to it. "It's a good tree, too, huh? Nice full branches, perfect height."

Lorelai nodded and stepped back to view it. "Yeah, it's great. It definitely gets the Lorelai seal of approval."

"Good." Rory gestured to the boxes. "We also got the Christmas decorations down from the attic."

Lorelai rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Ooh, good. Now I don't have to wait for the weekend to start decorating like I thought I would. Let's do it tomorrow. We'll get pizza for dinner, put on some Christmas music, do the tree, decorate the house, make a night out of it. Who's in?"

Rory raised her hands in the air. "Me, me, me!" They both looked at Luke. "Luke?"

"You don't have to work late, right?" Lorelai asked.

"Nope."

"Good. Then I declare tomorrow to be 'Decorate the House' night."

"Okay, good." Rory started walking toward her bedroom. "I'll be in my room."

Lorelai walked over to Luke, who wrapped his arms around her waist. She stroked the stubble on his cheeks and kissed him. "I love my tree, it's perfect. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He glanced at it. "I haven't had a Christmas tree in a long time."

Lorelai turned to look at it. "Aw, really?"

"Well, not one like this." He gestured at its height. "Rachel and I got one of those little trees one year."

"The kind that holds like 5 ornaments?"

"Yup. We put it on the coffee table. It was the only indication of Christmas in the whole apartment."

"Sounds pathetic."

"It was."

Lorelai smiled and patted him on the chest. "Well, this year you'll get to experience Christmas the Gilmore way, and I have a very good feeling that you're gonna like it."

"Good. But I draw the line at singing Christmas carols."

Lorelai frowned. "Not even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?"

"Nope."

"Silent Night?"

"No."

"All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "No, but if you stop right now, maybe I'll hum along to Jingle Bells."

Lorelai smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Deal."

. . . . .

The next night, Luke arrived home with a pizza and brought it into the kitchen. He walked to the doorway of Rory's bedroom and saw Rory inside looking through a stack of CDs. "Hey."

Rory glanced up. "Hey." She inhaled deeply and smiled. "Yum, I smell pizza."

"It's on the table." Luke shoved his hands into his pockets. "What are you doing?"

"We can't find our Partridge Family Christmas album, so Mom's making me check through my CD's for it even though I'm sure I don't have it."

"Oh. Where is she?"

"Upstairs changing out of her work clothes."

Luke nodded a thank you and headed toward the living room. He stopped near the staircase and eyed the fireplace for a moment, then spent a few minutes lighting a fire before he walked upstairs.

The bedroom door was half closed, and as he pushed it open, he announced, "Pizza's here. And I just lit a – " His voice trailed off when he saw Lorelai, clad in a navy blue bikini, pulling her hair into a ponytail in front of the mirror.

Lorelai heard him enter and turned around, smiling. "Hey." She walked over and kissed him. "How was your day?"

Luke stepped back and narrowed his eyes at her outfit. "What is that?"

Lorelai glanced down at it with a casual shrug. "A bikini."

"It's the middle of December."

"I know, but the other day when I was going through my drawers, I found this stuffed in the back, and I realized that I didn't wear it at all this past summer," Lorelai explained. "And I won't be able to fit into it this summer, and I didn't want it to have to wait until the summer of 2004 to be worn because it might get all depressed and think I don't love it. So I decided to wear it tonight because making it a part of something as important as 'decorate the house' night will definitely let it know that I appreciate it."

Luke shook his head slightly, then rolled his eyes. "Geez." He ran his hands down her arms and rested them on her waist. "Okay, I'm gonna ignore the fact that you're wearing it for an insane reason because no man should complain when his wife wants to walk around the house like this."

Lorelai smiled. "Just sit back and enjoy the view, my friend." She gently pressed her lips against his. As he deepened the kiss, he ran his hands up and down the sides of her midsection, then gripped her ribcage and pulled her closer. When she felt his thumbs graze the sides of her bikini top, Lorelai quickly pulled back from the kiss and pushed him away. "Luke, do not touch them," she warned him. "I will rip your fingers off one by one, I'm serious."

Luke held up his hands innocently. "I'm not touching 'em. I know they're off limits for the time being."

"Then why were you starting to make a move?"

"It was an involuntary thing. Once the fingers get that close, they get a mind of their own." He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

"Mmhmm," she muttered through the kiss. She ran her hands up over his back and through his hair, knocking his cap to the floor. They made their way over to the bed and slowly lowered themselves onto it, not breaking the connection of their lips.

They finally broke apart, both panting softly to catch their breaths, and they lay on their sides staring at each other. As he gently stroked her thigh with his fingertips, Lorelai watched his eyes glaze over the curves of her body. After they had lingered on her chest for a few seconds, she smiled and lifted his chin until he met her gaze. "I'm up here."

Luke smirked. "Sorry, still getting used to 'em."

"The book didn't lie when it said they'd get noticeably bigger." Lorelai rolled onto her back and put her arms behind her head. "And they're supposed to get even bigger in the third trimester."

Luke propped himself up on his elbow and ran his hand over her stomach. "You know, men get a raw deal in this situation."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, they get bigger, but we can't touch 'em. What kind of sick conspiracy is that?"

Lorelai let out a laugh, then smiled at him amusedly. "You know, it's so cute how underneath all your sweetness and sensitivity and maturity, you still think like a guy."

"I'm just saying."

"Well, it sucks for us, too. You think we like having one of our major erogenous zones off limits?"

Luke shrugged. "Didn't really think about that."

Lorelai wagged her finger at him. "'Cause you only think of how it affects you, Mr. Self-Involved."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, and you're the president of the Putting Yourself Before Others Club? Please."

"Hey, be nice." She nudged him with her elbow. "And anyway, you'll be able to touch 'em eventually. They won't be sore forever, thank God."

"Good to hear." Luke kissed her, then climbed off the bed. "Let's go downstairs. Pizza's getting cold."

Lorelai raised her arms in the air. "Help."

Luke pulled her up off the bed and the two of them walked downstairs. Rory had brought the pizza box to the coffee table and was already eating a slice. Christmas music poured out of the stereo speakers.

"This isn't The Partridge Family," Lorelai complained as she sat down next to Rory.

"I couldn't find it," Rory replied. "Why the heck are you wearing a bikini?"

"So it wouldn't feel bad," Lorelai replied. "I hadn't worn it in awhile."

"Oh, got it." Rory nodded understandably as if that explanation made perfect sense.

They ate dinner, then cleared off the coffee table and lined the boxes of Christmas decorations on it. Lorelai opened the first one and pulled out several tangled strands of lights. "These go on the porch rail," she declared, handing them to Luke. "You can be in charge of that."

"Of course I get the job that requires standing out in 20-degree weather," Luke muttered.

"And I suppose that instead you want your pregnant wife out there in the cold?" Lorelai challenged him. "Or maybe Rory should do it since she has that really protective half-ounce of body fat to keep her warm. Or no, maybe she and I should – "

"Okay, okay," he interrupted. "Forget it, I'll take care of it." He sat down in the armchair to start untangling the lights.

Lorelai smiled. "Thank you." She pulled out another set of lights and handed them to Rory. "Here, let's start untangling these to put on the tree."

. . . . .

An hour later, Lorelai was lying on the couch when Luke walked in through the side door. "Okay, lights are done out there. Man, is it cold out." He walked over to the fireplace to warm up, and glanced at her over his shoulder. "You feel okay?"

"Yeah." Lorelai gestured toward the kitchen. "Paris called and needed Rory's help with something, so we're taking a little break from decorating."

"Oh." Luke glanced at the tree, which was still bare except for the lights. "Where's all the other stuff?"

"We didn't wanna put any ornaments on until you could do it with us," Lorelai explained. "So we worked on the room while we were waiting for you to finish up outside."

Luke glanced around the room. There was garland on the banister, a stuffed Santa Claus on the mantle, some figurines shaped like reindeer and snowmen on the end tables, holiday stickers on the windows, and a giant plastic Santa Claus head hanging on the back of the side door.

Luke nodded approvingly. "I was expecting it to look much worse, but this isn't too bad."

"We're only halfway done," she informed him.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Knew it was too good to be true."

Rory walked into the room and hung up the cordless phone. "Sorry, no more interruptions."

"Good." Lorelai stood up and clapped her hands excitedly. "Let's get started on the tree."

. . . . .

Over a week later, on the Saturday before Christmas, Lorelai was watching Sookie bake cookies for the procession after-party the next night. Lorelai walked over and peered into Sookie's fridge. "I'm craving something but I don't know what it is."

"Okay, isn't a craving when you see or think of a food and then you want it really badly?" Sookie asked. "So how can you be craving something without knowing what it is?"

Lorelai shrugged and shut the fridge. "It's just like when you know in the back of your mind that there's something you forgot to do but you can't remember what." She sat down at the table and clutched her stomach. "I'm getting this feeling that there's something out there I really wanna eat, but I don't know what it is. I hope I figure it out soon, though, because I hate the feeling of not knowing."

"Ooh, I hate that feeling, too," Sookie sympathized. "Like yesterday I went out to buy stuff for the cookies, and I'm standing at the checkout counter and I know there's something I forgot to pick up, but I can't figure out what it is. There's just this feeling I have. So I'm running over all the recipes in my head, trying to make sure I have everything so that I don't have to make another trip, and for the life of me, I could not think of what was missing."

"Did you ever figure it out?" Lorelai asked.

"Yup. The minute I walked through the door, I remembered what I needed to buy."

"What was it?"

"Deodorant."

Lorelai smiled amusedly. "Invented a new cookie that makes you smell good?"

Sookie giggled. "That'd be something, huh? There are already tons of foods that make you smell bad, there should be more that make you smell good."

"Yes, there should be," Lorelai agreed. "So, did you go back and get some deodorant?"

"I sent Jackson to get it," Sookie replied. "I didn't feel like going back out."

"Well, that's what husbands are for," Lorelai said. "Speaking of which, Luke finally got his truck back."

"Oh, yeah, I meant to ask you that. I saw it in front of the diner this morning. It's all better now?"

"Yup. Took awhile, but it's finally back to normal. Luke's so excited to have it back. You know how much he loves that thing."

Sookie rolled her eyes. "Men and their trucks. They form some kind of special bond with those things." She slid two pans of cookies into the oven, then sat down across from Lorelai. "Okay, that was the last batch. After they're done baking, you wanna come shopping with me? I have a few more presents to get."

"You're not done yet? Christmas is in four days."

"Hi, last year you dragged me out shopping on Christmas Eve," Sookie reminded her.

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, but that's normal for me. You're usually done ahead of time."

"I know, but I got started late this year, so I still have a few more things I wanna get for Jackson. Wanna come help me pick out some manly gifts?"

"Surely. I wanna look around for a couple more things, too." Lorelai was quiet for a moment, then gasped. "It's cheesecake!"

Sookie stared at her, confused. "What's cheesecake?"

"It's what I'm craving, cheesecake! Do you have any?"

Sookie frowned. "No, I don't think so. Ooh, I have Swiss cheese, though. It doesn't taste like cheesecake, but it's still good. And it has holes in it. Foods with holes are always fun to eat because you can swing it around on your finger first, really work up an appetite, or you could - "

"Uh, no thanks, Sookie," Lorelai interrupted.

"Sorry. I wish I could satisfy your craving."

"That's okay. Maybe we can stop at Weston's when we go out," Lorelai suggested. "Do you mind?"

"Nope, that sounds good. I could go for some cheesecake myself."

"Okay." Lorelai stared down at the table for a few seconds, tapping her fingers aimlessly, then brought her gaze up to Sookie. "Hm."

"What?"

"Now I'm kinda craving Swiss cheese."

Sookie smiled and retrieved the cheese from the fridge. "Here."

"Thanks."

. . . . .

The next night, Lorelai and Rory were sitting on the bench in the gazebo waiting for the procession to start. Lorelai glanced toward the market and saw Taylor out front talking to his lawyer.

"Geez, that woman has the strangest hours," Lorelai commented.

"Who?" Rory followed her gaze. "Oh. What's her name?"

"Nicole, I think. Do lawyers usually work on Sunday nights?"

"Maybe she's not working," Rory suggested. "Maybe it's just a casual visit. Maybe she came to see the procession."

"I don't like her. And I keep seeing her everywhere I go."

"You've only seen her twice," Rory pointed out.

Lorelai shook her head. "Nuh uh, this is the third time. The first time was in the diner, and the second time was when I passed her a few days ago on the sidewalk. She gave me one of those quick, fake 'I don't like you but I'm smiling like I do' smiles, and then she glanced down at the ground really fast like she couldn't bear to look at me." Lorelai scoffed. "Can you believe that?"

"Maybe she was in a hurry," Rory suggested.

"Or maybe she's just a snob who hates me for no reason whatsoever."

"You mean like the way that you seem to hate her for no reason whatsoever?"

Lorelai ignored her. "Or maybe she's mad at me because I'm with Luke and I get to have his baby, not her."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that she's thought of having Luke's baby."

Lorelai scoffed. "Are you saying my husband is not desired by other women? Because I'll have you know, he's a damn good catch."

"I'm sure he is, but I'm just saying, she knows he's married and everything, so she's probably not, uh, desiring him. She looks capable of finding her own single man."

"Yeah, well, she better do something with that hair first," Lorelai muttered. "No man's gonna wanna be seen with that."

"Stop, her hair's fine."

"Come on, whose side are you on?"

"The bitter, emotionally-unstable pregnant woman's side, but I'm trying to be positive so that she magically transforms into a non-bitter, sane pregnant woman."

"Well, I appreciate your efforts even if they're not amounting to much."

"Good."

A few minutes later, the procession was about to start, and they stood up for a better view. "God, that's so beautiful," Lorelai said, staring up at the brightly-lit tree next to the gazebo.

"Yeah, nothing compares to the town at Christmas time. The decorations, the lights, the people. It's so. . .Norman Rockwell."

"Yes, it is." Lorelai paused a moment. "We have this same conversation every year, don't we?"

"Yes, we do."

"Does that make us boring, that we reuse conversations annually?"

"No, it's like a little tradition."

"And who are we to stop tradition?"

"Exactly."

Lorelai saw people starting to walk out of the dance studio. "Oh, here they come."

The procession winded slowly through the town square and ended with a holiday sing-along in front of the church. After a while, Lorelai and Rory decided to go get some refreshments at the after-procession holiday party.

On the way to the dance studio, Lorelai glanced at the diner. "Luke said he'd try to come by the party if the diner wasn't busy."

"Which it probably won't be since everyone'll be eating the free food at the party," Rory pointed out.

"I think I'm gonna stop in and see if he'll come out for a little bit. Come with me." Lorelai linked her arm through Rory's and they walked toward the diner.

Up ahead, they saw Nicole walking in the same direction. "Looks like your friend's heading there, too," Rory commented.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Great. Geez, does she have to go everywhere I go? I think she's stalking me."

"Uh, she's ahead of us, Mom. So it's more like we're stalking her."

"Maybe she's one of those psychic stalkers and she knew I was heading to the diner."

"Maybe."

They reached the diner a few seconds after Nicole had gone inside, and Lorelai said, "Let's wait for her to come out."

"Why?"

"Because if I run into her out here on the sidewalk, it'll just be a fake smile and nod greeting. But in a setting like the diner, she's more apt to try to engage me in stupid small talk that I don't wanna be engaged in."

"I thought you said that she doesn't like you, so why would she want to make small talk with you?"

"That's the point. Not only would it be stupid small talk, it would be the fake kind of stupid small talk that she feels she has to make so that it doesn't look like she doesn't like me. And that's the worst kind of small talk there is."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever you say. We'll wait out here in the freezing cold just so you can avoid small talk." She sighed and zipped up her coat all the way.

They lingered out on the sidewalk, watching Nicole through the window. She was the only customer inside. She had walked up to Luke at the counter and the two of them were talking. After a minute, Nicole reached into her purse, pulled out a white envelope, and handed it to Luke.

"What's that?" Rory asked.

Lorelai's eyes narrowed with confusion. "I don't know."

They watched Luke look in the envelope, then smile and say something to Nicole. He stuck the envelope under the counter, then pulled out his wallet and handed her some money, which she slipped into her purse.

"Uh, why did he just give her money?" Rory asked.

"Hon, if I knew the answer to that, my jaw wouldn't have just dropped to the sidewalk."

Nicole sat down at the counter, and as Luke turned to get her a cup of coffee, they continued to talk. Lorelai stared at them for a moment, then grabbed Rory's arm and pulled her over to the side of the building so they couldn't be seen.

Lorelai put her hands on Rory's shoulders. "Okay, what the heck was that?"

"I don't know."

"Did we just witness a drug deal? Is my husband buying drugs from the mousy, bad-haired lawyer lady?"

Rory shrugged doubtfully. "Do drugs usually come in envelopes like that?"

"How should I know?" Lorelai bit nervously on her thumbnail.

"Well, maybe it was something about the soda shop," Rory suggested. "Taylor probably made a list of how business neighbors should treat each other or something, and then had his lawyer deliver it to Luke."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "First off, Luke wouldn't have given her money for it, and second, if that was it, he would've tore it up right away."

"True." Rory thought for a moment, then gasped. "Oh, I know! Maybe Luke was buying information. I mean, she's a lawyer, right? So maybe he needed some kind of research done and she did it for him, and he paid her for it."

"What kind of information would Luke need?"

"I don't know." Rory shrugged. "Maybe he needed her to get him the health inspection report for Al's Pancake World so that Luke could examine it for errors and use it to shut Al down, thus eliminating some of his major competition."

Lorelai shook her head. "I highly doubt it. " She sighed and stared down at the ground.

After a few moments, Rory glanced toward the dance studio. "You wanna just go to the party?"

"No, I wanna go in there." Lorelai started walking toward the diner entrance, and Rory followed her.

As they entered, the jingle of the bell on the door made Luke and Nicole both look up from their conversation. Upon seeing Lorelai, Luke swallowed hard and took a quick step back from the counter, as if trying to distance himself from Nicole. "Lorelai. . .Rory."

"You remembered our names, we're touched." Lorelai walked to the counter while Rory waited near the door. Lorelai glanced at Nicole, who was suddenly fascinated with her cup of coffee, staring at it like it was about to perform a trick. Lorelai brought her gaze back to Luke. "What's up?"

Luke shoved his hands nervously in his pockets. "Oh, nothing. Just. . .you know. . .working." He nodded toward Nicole. "Uh, you remember Taylor's lawyer Nicole, right?"

Lorelai pursed her lips and gave Nicole a sideways glance. "Yeah, vaguely. Hi."

"Hello." Nicole smiled politely, then glanced back down at the cup.

"So, are you coming out to the party?" Lorelai asked Luke. "We're heading over there now."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'll meet you there in a little while," Luke said. "I have a couple things to do around here first."

Lorelai glanced warily between Luke and Nicole, then slowly nodded. "Okay. I'll see you over there."

Luke nodded. "Okay." He shifted his feet uncomfortably and took another step back.

Lorelai hesitated a moment, wanting to say more, then decided against it and walked away from the counter. Rory followed her out the door, and they started walking toward the dance studio.

"Mom, I'm sure it's nothing," Rory said.

"I can't wait to have some of Sookie's cookies," Lorelai muttered.

"He'll probably tell you about it later."

"She made this one batch that's dipped in chocolate and then covered with sprinkles," Lorelai continued. "It looked really good."

"I mean, you didn't even ask him about the exchange we saw, so it's not like he's lying about it or something. If you had asked him about it and he had denied it, then you'd have something to be mad about."

"How can you go wrong with sprinkles, right?"

"I mean, he'll probably – "

"Rory, stop." Lorelai sighed and stopped walking. "I don't wanna talk about it now, okay? Did you not get the picture when I ignored you the first three times?"

"I just don't want you to get all upset about something that might be nothing."

"I'm not upset. Do I look upset?"

Rory stared at her for a moment. "Kind of."

"Well, the glare of the twinkle lights must be affecting your vision because I'm not upset. Now can we please just go have fun at the party?"

Rory nodded, and they resumed walking to the dance studio. They went inside and made their way through the crowd over to the refreshment table. They piled up their plates full of cookies, then walked over to the corner of the room to eat.

After a few minutes of them eating in silence, Lane walked over. "Hey guys."

Rory smiled. "Hey."

"Hi," Lorelai mumbled through her mouthful of food.

Lane stole a cookie from Rory's plate and took a bite. "How's it going? You guys all set for Christmas?"

Rory nodded. "Pretty much. And we're excited because we heard it's supposed to snow on Christmas Eve and all day Wednesday."

"Oh, neat. Gotta love a white Christmas, huh?"

Lorelai nodded, chain-eating cookies like there was no tomorrow.

Lane eyed her for a second, then asked Rory, "Is she okay?"

Lorelai quickly chewed the food in her mouth, then declared, "Oh, yeah, I'm absolutely perfect. Oh, wait, there's a possibility that my husband is using drugs, but other than that, yeah, everything's great." She shoved another cookie into her mouth.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Geez, he's not using drugs." She took Lorelai's plate of cookies and handed it to Lane. "Hold these, please."

"Hey, I'm not done!" Lorelai whined.

Rory walked Lorelai to the door and pointed toward the diner. "Go talk to Luke, get this all cleared up."

Lorelai folded her arms across her chest. "I don't wanna talk to him. Did you see how uncomfortable he looked when we were in there? He wouldn't have looked that way if he wasn't guilty of something."

"Mom, you can speculate all you want, but it won't help anything until you talk to him about it. Just go ask him what's going on."

"But – "

"Go!" Rory gave her a small push out the door.

Lorelai gasped. "Hasn't your mother ever told you not to push a woman in heels? You might scuff them up."

Rory waved her off and went back into the dance studio. Lorelai sighed and started walking toward the diner.

. . . . .

To be continued. . .

Thanks so much to everyone for all the nice feedback. You guys are so sweet, and all of your kind words of support are very much appreciated. :)