Title: A Wedding Story, Chapter 13 – The Waiting

Author: Gluglug

Spoiler Warning/Timing: Late Fourth Season

Rating: PG-13

Summary: His sister's impending wedding leads Luke to make some decisions about his own life. SPOILER WARNING

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.

===========

After rereading the note several times, Lorelai pick up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered the phone.

"Jackson? I'm sorry to wake you, is Sookie there?"

"Yeah, she's just waking up. We were up all night with Davey's teething."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. You guys should really try tea tree oil – I used it when Rory was teething. It helps numb the pain."

"Thanks, we'll try it. Here's Sookie."

"Hey, Lorelai. What's going on?" Sookie said groggily.

"Luke's gone." Lorelai said.

"What do you mean gone, he didn't go to Chicago, did he?" Sookie was immediately awake.

"No, not Chicago, at least I don't think so. He left a box of coffee beans on my doorstep and a note saying he needed to go clear his head. Here, I'll read it to you."

Lorelai read her the note. "So what do you think? I've been trying to parse it for subtext but I'm not getting very far."

"Well, it definitely sounds like he's gone somewhere alone. It sounds like he's split with Nicole and needed to get away from the prying eyes of the town for a few days."

"You really think it's splitsville with Nicole?" Lorelai asked skeptically.

"Well, I went to Carrie's last night hoping to say goodbye to Liz before she went on her honeymoon but she and TJ had already left. I'm not sure if she's the most reliable source but Carrie mentioned that she saw Nicole leaving Luke's after the reception and she looked pretty upset."

"Oh I don't know, Sookie, maybe they just had another fight." Lorelai paused. "Ooh, I hate this - why is Luke so damn secretive? Now I have to wait until he returns to find out the whole story."

"I guess you'll have to wait. But don't worry, I have a feeling that when Luke gets back, things are going to be much better. Just wait and see."

"Yeah, like I have a choice?" Lorelai sighed. "Well, I'll let you and Jackson go. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

"And hopefully Davey will sleep through the night so I can be awake this week. I better go get that tea tree oil that you keep bugging me about."

===============

Later that week somewhere in upstate New York, Luke sat in a boat in a lake by his cabin retreat with a fishing pole in his hands. There wasn't a soul around except for the sound of wild bird mating calls. It was a beautiful spring day and Luke took a deep breath and tried to relax. There were no townies to annoy him, no burgers to flip and no sister around to nag him about his love life.

He hadn't gone on a solitary fishing trip since his big fight with Lorelai two years ago. He was sure when he came up here that time (after putting Jess on a bus back to his mom) that his friendship with Lorelai was history. He remembered almost hating her for the way she blamed him for Rory's car accident when he was only trying to do the best for his family.

How times change, he thought. Their friendship now seemed to be stronger than ever. He was pretty sure that she loved him, at least as a friend, even though she had never told him as much. But did she really want more than that? Maybe what Liz said was true, that she really did love him. He remembered their argument in the church the night they broke the bells.

He had asked her why she didn't want him to move but she never got the chance to respond. The night of the rehearsal dinner, she told him again that she didn't want him to move, this time to Chicago. That's what did it for him, he was going to stay because Lorelai wanted him to.

He thought back to Nicole's words of the day they split up. That she wished that they were like TJ and Liz, because TJ would follow her anywhere. The old cliché was true – home is where the heart is. If Lorelai asked him to move with her somewhere, he would probably do it.

Luke continued to reflect on their relationship as he wiled away the hours in the row boat. He had only managed to catch a fish or two in the hours he was out here, but he really wasn't concentrating on fishing – he just sat there with his pole and if he felt something tugging at it then he would try to reel it in.

He chuckled, remembering the winter day last year when he tried to teach Lorelai how to fish in a pool in her front yard. She named all of the fish and made cooing sounds at them. He was amazed at how silly and child-like she could be.

He remembered feeling like a fool, standing there teaching her how to fish for her date with...what was his name? He thought she was never going to see him in a different light and began to give up. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Nicole walked into the diner and into his life.

He had initially asked her out almost on a dare. Jess had been goading him about his monkish lifestyle and he was tired of waiting for Lorelai. Nicole was a challenge – an elegant lawyer with refined tastes and not exactly his type. But he was attracted to her and she seemed like a nice woman. But most of all, he liked that she mentioned her father the first time he met her. If she was close to her father, they already had something in common.

On the surface, they had nothing in common but they were both hard working, valued their families and shared a quiet, dry sense of humor. As they spent more time together, Luke realized that he could do this. He could have a nice, pleasant adult relationship with this woman. She made him feel less lonely. And he kind of liked having a woman in his life to gauge Lorelai's reaction. He found himself looking for some kind of sign whenever he mentioned her. But early on in the relationship, he couldn't tell if her teasing was jealousy or just Lorelai being Lorelai.

Before he knew it he was taking Nicole away on an Alaskan cruise. He thought he saw a real green-eyed flash when Lorelai warned him. A cruise was serious, a commitment, she said. But Lorelai seemed oblivious to the fact that he was still waiting for her. So he went away with Nicole and somehow found himself married.

Luke reflected that they got it right the first time when they agreed to divorce. He should've turned her down that night she came into the diner asking him to reconsider. But he was lonely again and missed her companionship. He didn't realize he was walking into a trap.

Maybe it wasn't intentional on Nicole's part, but the rules had changed. They had no outward trappings of marriage such as joint tax returns or rings, but slowly she was trying to build a life with him – first with the townhouse in Litchfield and then the job offer in Chicago.

Luke tried to play along but every day felt more conflicted. Meanwhile his friendship with Lorelai got stronger. They broke into the church to break the bells. Then she nursed his drunk induced cut after Jess had layed into him, yet again and he gave her Liz's earrings as a thank you. It seemed to culminate in the event Lorelai had jokingly christened "The Meltdown in the Park."

After confessing the need for a partner in her life, she broke down in his arms, feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of the inn. She felt like a failure and he wanted nothing more than to comfort and reassure that she was anything but. And in the following days, he wrote her the check which she gratefully accepted. Then she called him her knight in shining armor and gave him a rose.

She had given him flowers before, a lone daisy from her engagement drama or her annual Thanksgiving bouquet. But the rose was special – a red rose symbolized romantic love. He put it in a glass of water until the petals fell off. He swore the next time he saw her he would be the one to bring roses. Luke sighed and realized how much he missed her. His Lorelai. He wondered if she missed him, too.

He looked at his watch and realized that the time hadn't changed since the last time he checked it. Damn, figures his watch battery would die when he was out in the middle of nowhere. It was the only link Luke had to the modern world besides a solar operated radio he kept in the cabin. Luke was beginning to forget what day of the week it was. His watch said Thursday and he was pretty sure it was Friday, or was it Saturday?

If it was Saturday, it was the day of Lorelai's opening party (and Nicole's birthday). He absently wondered if she ever made it to that spa. He wanted to make it back to Stars Hollow for the party and surprise her but now he wondered if he was missing it. Luke picked up the oars and rowed back to the shore of the lake.

He ran into the cabin and turned on the radio, frantically looking for a news station. He finally found a faint one coming from New York City, 1010 WINS. He impatiently listened to the news stories until the announcer finally gave the date and time. It was two-thirty on Saturday, May 8th.

TBC