A/N- Ummmmm........I'm sorry? Please don't pelt the unupdater with
produce.....unless it's pomegranate....Those things are good. Then feel free
to. I'll try to be better. I've already started the next chapter, I
promise.
******************************************
Luke ran his fingers through his hair, as he steered slowly down the dark dirt road that led up to the cabin. He frowned. Maybe this wasn't one of his best ideas. He probably should have told someone where he was going, and when he was going to be back. Not that he actually knew, but probably could have guessed at least....that would have been the responsible thing to do. But he had just needed to get away. Just get some time to think. Or maybe not think. He had always found that the cabin was a good place not to think.
He pulled up in front of the cabin and climbed out of the truck, dragging his bag and the portable fluorescent camping lamp he had brought with him inside. It was a pretty small cabin. Just two rooms, the main room with the woodstove and couch and a couple tables, and the bedroom. He and Liz always used to fight over the old pull-out couch when they came up here as kids. The place smelled musty, so he opened both the doors to let it air out and grabbed sheets to set up the bed.
"Just spend a couple days, clear your head, figure out what you're going to do.....This won't be that hard......" Luke told himself, opening up his duffle bag. He pulled out a couple of shirts and tossed them at the chair in the corner of the bedroom. One fell to the floor and he sighed in frustration and went over to pick it up. He took a look at it and shook his head. " That's a good one.. Real funny." Luke grumbled, picking up the plaid sleeved baseball shirt. He must have accidentally grabbed it while he was packing. He had come all the way out here just not think about her, or Nicole, or anything else, but some how, he had a feeling that nothing was going to let him have his peace. He shook his head and tossed it into the back of the open closet and out of his sight."I swear if stupid things like this keep showing up, I'm going nuts." Luke murmured then looked up at the mirror and laughed at himself pityingly. "Says the man who's already talking to himself."
*********************
Luke woke up the next day and rubbed his eyes, lying back in his bed. It was still dark out. Mind you it tended to be like that at 5:30 in the morning in late November. It was freaking freezing outside the blankets. And he didn't have to worry about the diner. Well, worry, yes, but he didn't actually have to get up for it for the first Saturday in a long time. Maybe just a few more hours for once would be nice. Just until eight. Or maybe nine. Luke rolled over a little bit to look at the old fashioned wind-up alarm clock that his dad had bought from some antique store in the middle of nowhere. That would give him exactly...Okay...the clock was staring back at him. And had a tail. Luke blinked quickly to clear the blurry images from in front of him, trying to make out solid edges. "HOLY CRAP!" Luke scrambled backwards along the mattress, tumbling out of the other side of the bed and falling onto the ground. He pulled a sheet off from around him and looked back up over the edge of the bed. The squirrel was staring back at him from the bed side table. Or maybe he'd get up now.
********************
Lorelai walked back to the house, frowning. She opened the front door and slammed it loudly behind her. Rory's head appeared from her doorway, looking concerned.
"That did not sound like a good omen...."
"Ha!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Are you okay?" Rory tried, following her out into the living room while folding up a shirt.
"Ha!"Lorelai exclaimed again.
"Is Luke okay?" Rory attempted.
"HA!!" Lorelai laughed sarcastically.
"Okay.....did you meet a clown on the way home?" Rory looked at her, confused.
"No, but I did hear something funny!"
"Well what do you know!" Rory exclaimed fakely, sitting down on the arm of the couch.
"Get this one. Lane-"Lorelai began.
"Yeah..."
"Tells me-"She continued slowly.
"Yeah..." Rory prompted impatiently.
"That Luke-"
"Okaaay."
"Is gone." Lorelai finished. Rory looked at her in confusion.
"What?"
"YEAH. That's what I said. Apparently he packed up some stuff, asked Lane to cover for the week and just took off!" Lorelai exclaimed, flopping down next to Rory.
"That's not funny." Rory frowned.
"Yes." Lorelai admitted, narrowing her eyes. "You're right. It's not funny. It's ironic! Irony. And irony is funny."
"How is this ironic....or funny." Rory frowned in confusion.
"See, now, I've thought about it..." Lorelai started to explain carefully. "And it's like when you see something, like in Shakespeare and the person gets their comeuppance. He freaked out and ran away. After all those times that I was the one to turn tail and hike it out of something, Luke was the one who up and left and I'm still right here! Ironic......Very ironic." Lorelai nodded her head. "This....is my comeuppance. I'm being punished for running out on people. Fate is a tricky foe my friend." Rory rolled her eyes at Lorelai.
"You are not being comeupped."
"Oh, this is most definitely a comeuppification." Lorelai insisted.
"So when's he coming back?" Rory tried.
"Nobody knows."
"Mysterious." Rory raised her eyebrow.
"Not helping."
"Sorry."
"Lane just said that he was supposed to call eventually." Lorelai said dejectedly.
"This definitely puts a damper on your plans."
"I need to talk to him." Lorelai frowned and glanced over at the portable phone that was lying on the coffee table amid a pile of old magazines and a bag of crunchy Cheetos.
"Can't you get a phone number? You could ask Lane?"
"Phone number to where? He's basically disappeared! He pulled an Amazing Lukini And I want to talk to Luke, not phone talk to Luke." Lorelai pouted.
"Buck up sailor. He'll probably be back tomorrow." Rory tried.
"He better hope he is." Lorelai crossed her arms grumpily and grabbed the bag of Cheetos.
"I have to go finish packing." Rory said reluctantly.
"Sure you don't want to stay another week and help me from going neurotic?"
"Staying with you for eighteen years didn't stop you, so I don't see why I should try again now." Rory smiled.
"Fine. Abandon me Yaley."
"Don't call me Yaley." She protested.
"Okay.....Yaley." Lorelai grinned a little.
"Going back to my room now."
"I'm changing it into a sewing room when you're gone!" Lorelai called after her.
"You already have a sewing room." Rory called back.
"Fine....I'll set up a shrine to my shoe collection."
"Fine by me."
"Rory?" Lorelai asked almost hesitantly after a moment.
"Yeah?" Rory answered quietly.
"What if he went to Nicole?"
"He didn't go to Nicole." It was silent for a minute and Rory said it again, even more firmly. "He did not go to Nicole."
"Okay.... .......I just.....I want to talk to Luke. I haven't not been able to talk to him since the whole summer long thing. And we aren't even in a fight." Lorelai bit her lip and sat quietly, studying her thumb for a moment.
"Maybe that's where he is?" Rory suddenly suggested.
"In a fight?" Lorelai looked at her, not following.
"No, the cabin. Where he went with...after..."
"Oh. Right. I guess that's possible...." Lorelai said thoughtfully, starting to relax. The cabin. That made sense. Kind of....At least it was a possibility.
"Is there one other thing that could be made possible?" Rory called out from the door frame of her room.
"What?"
"Is it possible for you to return that blue sweater?"
"No." Lorelai shook her head surely.
"Can you try?"
"I'll give it an honest effort honey, but it's not looking good." Lorelai smiled. Rory rolled her eyes.
"I want Luke back soon." She complained teasingly.
"Me too." Lorelai agreed.
****************************
Later that day Rory left for Yale and Lorelai decided to just stay at home. She ordered pizza and watched a cheesy cable movie before pulling on her pyjamas and crawling into bed. Staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep, she tried to get her mind to slow down, or at least focus on one thing. She could focus on.....But then again, maybe it would be better to think about something else for a while. The inn. Lots of work needed to be done, but they were hopefully going to be opening in about ten weeks. Ten weeks wasn't that long. Not for this. Not for her dream. Luke would probably be back in three or four days....why did that period of time seem to stretch on forever. Ugh. Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut tightly and pulled the pillow around her head, covering her ears. Just focus on the inn.
***************************
After his unexpected wake up call on Saturday morning, Luke had spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday and Monday cleaning up the cabin and the area around it, refilling the wood box in side and re-stocking the pile outside, fixing windows and doors, just general maintainance stuff. The squirrel was now inhabiting the crawlspace under bedroom where they used to keep canned food.
***************************
On Tuesday, Lorelai arrived at the Dragonfly to find Sookie half sunk into the kitchen floor. The plumber had taken out some of the floorboards and she had dropped her self down into the hole created in the floor so that when Lorelai walked in, Sookie was merely a torso. Lorelai listened to her explaining pipe connections under the sink while Michel complained about his head cold and the colour of the veneer on the reception desk.....
***************************
By Thursday Lorelai was starting to get angry. Luke still wasn't back. Sure, Lane had told her at breakfast that he had her called the diner early that morning, saying he was up at his cabin and would be back soon. Why couldn't he have told her that?
***************************
When he woke up on Friday, Luke realized something....There was nothing left to do. Nothing. Nothing to keep his mind occupied. Everything had been fixed and replaced and renewed to the greatest possible extent. He had even built a whole new wood box. And even though it was freezing with the cold snap that week, the lake was still wide open, so no ice fishing. Meanwhile, the squirrel had migrated to the rafters and seemed to have made its purpose in life to run around as loudly as possible when Luke tried to sleep. He rolled over in the bed, which squeaked loudly, and reached around for his hat, which was helpful, as he hadn't washed his hair in the last few days. He threw his feet over the edge of the bed and grumbled as they touched the floorboards, which was wonderfully frosty.
"Time to go home."
***************************
He packed up the duffel back and threw it into the back of the truck before climbing in the driver's seat and heading back. It had been a productive week at least...lots of things done that needed to get done....Man, it had been a long week. She was going to be mad when he came back, but, hey, she couldn't always have exactly what she wanted. This had been something he had wanted, so he did it. He knew he should have called before yesterday, but..... To be honest he just didn't want to. Calling broke the clearness in his head. Calling made him worry about things. Whether she was going to change her mind. Maybe go back with that Jason guy. Maybe just decide it was all a mistake. Maybe decide it was just still wasn't the right time. Maybe....But the maybes had all gone away pretty fast after he finally did call. He didn't really dwell on things that often. Okay, well, maybe a lot of people would say that that was an oxymoron in this case. But he had never really dwelt on her either. He had just wanted a chance. It wasn't that difficult an idea. Something just happened a while ago. He woke up one day, rolled over in bed and realized that his heart had fallen for her a while ago and just forgot to fully inform his head during it's descent. He had been assured of the fact that his heart had actually fallen for her, and that he was now fully aware, because he felt it beating somewhere in his feet when he saw her that day. But he realized that day and ever since that it didn't seem all that important to do much about it. It was there. There was nothing much he could do about it. He just tried to go with what felt normal, what felt right. He had wussed out a few times when he had thought that maybe she had been trying to ask him something, or tell him something. But if it was going to happen, it was going to happen. The only thing that really made this time different is that he had a choice to make and there was no Lane to ask for a cell phone, or glue to dry on a shoe. So.....
***************************
Lorelai slumped up onto the stool infront of the counter and Lane slid her a cup of coffee.
"Thanks." She frowned and took a sip. She was not going to be childish about this. She was a grown up. She had a daughter in college. She was starting her own business. Her lip was beginning to pout. So much for maturity. Fine. If he was going to go up and be Luke, Wild Man of the Woods, she could be as childish and sulky as she wanted to.
"Lane? I want a piece of cake. A reaaaalllyy big piece of cake. And don't try and tell me there's no cake. There's always cake on Fridays."
"Um, okay. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No. Unless you know where Luke keeps the sprinkles."
"Cake and sprinkles it is." Lorelai took another sip of the coffee. It was okay. But it wasn't that same. She made a face and pushed it away reluctantly. Honestly, who did this. Who said everything they had, well, hadn't said, and didn't say anything and just left for a week. Who did Luke think he was? Lorelai exhaled through her teeth and stabbed at the piece of cake Lane had put in front of her. Stupid Luke. What was she supposed to do now? Who knew how long he'd stay holed up in his stupid log shack. What was she supposed to do without him?.....What was....... Lorelai pushed her cake to the side and folded her arms on the counter. What was she supposed to do without him? Lorelai started to think about her life in the past few years, and tried to think of any major decisions Luke hadn't been a factor in......okaaaay....0-14. But that could just be because he was a friend. The score was probably the same, if not more so for Sookie. But Luke wasn't Sookie. Lorelai snorted at the vision of Sookie in plaid and stubble dancing around in her head. Okay, not focusing. She took a deep breath and dropped her head down onto them, groaning. Kay Lorelai...let's play a game....finish this sentence. Luke is......Okay. Luke is...Luke. Luke was Luke....That was what it was. Chris had been the first, the father of her kid, the addiction. Max had been The Great Guy. Smart and funny and good looking and all wrong. Alex.... Had been the one who seemed right. But Luke was just Luke. No titles, not required attached descriptions. And maybe that's all she wanted. Maybe what she wanted....was Luke. He wasn't the one she went out on dates with. He was the one who was always there for all the things she pictured doing with that guy who was there forever. Dance marathons, family crises, basket auctions, birthdays, Saturdays, everydays. Maybe he was the one who was supposed to be at them with her... all of them. Lorelai grinned stupidly and laughed at herself cynically. Great. Just great. Realize how important Luke is and he's off playing Dances With Wolves with a family of chipmunks. Spectacular timing. This one rates right up there with discovering she wasn't in love the week before her marriage and having sex ed in gym class the week after she found out she was pregnant. Lane passed by and refilled her cup, but Lorelai didn't look up.
"Oh, hey." Lane remarked. "Luke must be back." Lorelai raised her head up and saw a truck stop at the light before turning the corner and disappearing. She suddenly narrowed her eyes and slid deliberately off her stool, striding to the door. She walked quickly along the sidewalk and saw Luke's truck pull to a halt across from the diner.
"Hi there stranger." Lorelai called out, her voice obviously laced with a little bit of anger and annoyance. Luke snapped the door open quickly and climbed out to see her. Well, he hadn't expected to have to face her so soon. And he certainly wasn't ready. Well, here came a first. He took a page out of Jess's book. Just play it cool for now. Lorelai walked up deliberately and stood obstinately infront of the back wheel, crossing her arms.
"So. Where WERE you?" Lorelai said pointedly.
"I went to my cabin." Luke shrugged indifferently, and a little defensively, looking at her like there wasn't anything about this to get worked up about. This was not exactly how he wanted to talk to her.
"And you thought that it would be a good idea not to tell me-uh, anyone." Lorelai shook her head and hoped Luke wouldn't notice.
"I told Lane." Luke excused himself and grabbed his duffel bag out of the back of his truck. Maybe if he just ignored this fun situation he had created it would just go away. But it probably wouldn't. This wasn't just like a squirrel in your cabin. He couldn't just try to pretend it wasn't there until it disappeared, or started hibernating or something.
"Yesterday!" Lorelai shot back.
"What?" Luke looked over his shoulder as Lorelai trailed him into the diner. He continued to the back, slipping behind the curtain that hid the stair to the apartment and dropping his duffel bag.. Lorelai followed him quickly.
"Yesterday! You told Lane you were at your cabin yesterday!" Lorelai emphasized.
"And?"
"You were gone for five days before that! And you didn't tell...anyone." Lorelai stumbled.
"So?" Luke replied, knowing it hadn't been the greatest idea, but feeling a little defensive. Lorelai opened her eyes wide and stared at him for a minute. She closed her eyes, moved her head from one side to the other, trying to collect her thoughts.
"OH......my go- I'm going to go......just......I have to go now." She turned around, looking overloaded, and pushed the curtain aside, starting towards the door. Luke sighed, rubbing the inside corner of his eye. Play it cool had officially backfired. He called out across the diner at her.
"Lorelai!"
"I'll see you later." Lorelai called back, reaching for the door handle. Luke tried again, exasperated and a little confused.
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know. But maybe I'll tell Sookie right before I get back." Lorelai retorted pointedly.
"Lorelai." Luke said again.
"I have to get to the inn." She walked out the door and down the street.
****************************
He would have gone after her, but he couldn't just leave. Or maybe he wouldn't. Or didn't want to. She was just SO.....Infuriating. They had said that they needed a little time to think, to figure things out. So he had taken some time. He had done what they were supposed to being doing. He went to the cabin, it was a place to do what he wanted to, and he didn't have to worry about the diner, or Nicole, or anything. He just thought about..... things, for a little while. Okay, six days, but there was a lot to think about, or avoid thinking about. And he had thought he'd figured it out, albeit on the ride back. And then she comes in here and gets angry at him for doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Luke poured a cup of coffee for someone at the counter, watching Lorelai climb into her car and drive off towards the Dragonfly.
******************************************
Luke ran his fingers through his hair, as he steered slowly down the dark dirt road that led up to the cabin. He frowned. Maybe this wasn't one of his best ideas. He probably should have told someone where he was going, and when he was going to be back. Not that he actually knew, but probably could have guessed at least....that would have been the responsible thing to do. But he had just needed to get away. Just get some time to think. Or maybe not think. He had always found that the cabin was a good place not to think.
He pulled up in front of the cabin and climbed out of the truck, dragging his bag and the portable fluorescent camping lamp he had brought with him inside. It was a pretty small cabin. Just two rooms, the main room with the woodstove and couch and a couple tables, and the bedroom. He and Liz always used to fight over the old pull-out couch when they came up here as kids. The place smelled musty, so he opened both the doors to let it air out and grabbed sheets to set up the bed.
"Just spend a couple days, clear your head, figure out what you're going to do.....This won't be that hard......" Luke told himself, opening up his duffle bag. He pulled out a couple of shirts and tossed them at the chair in the corner of the bedroom. One fell to the floor and he sighed in frustration and went over to pick it up. He took a look at it and shook his head. " That's a good one.. Real funny." Luke grumbled, picking up the plaid sleeved baseball shirt. He must have accidentally grabbed it while he was packing. He had come all the way out here just not think about her, or Nicole, or anything else, but some how, he had a feeling that nothing was going to let him have his peace. He shook his head and tossed it into the back of the open closet and out of his sight."I swear if stupid things like this keep showing up, I'm going nuts." Luke murmured then looked up at the mirror and laughed at himself pityingly. "Says the man who's already talking to himself."
*********************
Luke woke up the next day and rubbed his eyes, lying back in his bed. It was still dark out. Mind you it tended to be like that at 5:30 in the morning in late November. It was freaking freezing outside the blankets. And he didn't have to worry about the diner. Well, worry, yes, but he didn't actually have to get up for it for the first Saturday in a long time. Maybe just a few more hours for once would be nice. Just until eight. Or maybe nine. Luke rolled over a little bit to look at the old fashioned wind-up alarm clock that his dad had bought from some antique store in the middle of nowhere. That would give him exactly...Okay...the clock was staring back at him. And had a tail. Luke blinked quickly to clear the blurry images from in front of him, trying to make out solid edges. "HOLY CRAP!" Luke scrambled backwards along the mattress, tumbling out of the other side of the bed and falling onto the ground. He pulled a sheet off from around him and looked back up over the edge of the bed. The squirrel was staring back at him from the bed side table. Or maybe he'd get up now.
********************
Lorelai walked back to the house, frowning. She opened the front door and slammed it loudly behind her. Rory's head appeared from her doorway, looking concerned.
"That did not sound like a good omen...."
"Ha!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Are you okay?" Rory tried, following her out into the living room while folding up a shirt.
"Ha!"Lorelai exclaimed again.
"Is Luke okay?" Rory attempted.
"HA!!" Lorelai laughed sarcastically.
"Okay.....did you meet a clown on the way home?" Rory looked at her, confused.
"No, but I did hear something funny!"
"Well what do you know!" Rory exclaimed fakely, sitting down on the arm of the couch.
"Get this one. Lane-"Lorelai began.
"Yeah..."
"Tells me-"She continued slowly.
"Yeah..." Rory prompted impatiently.
"That Luke-"
"Okaaay."
"Is gone." Lorelai finished. Rory looked at her in confusion.
"What?"
"YEAH. That's what I said. Apparently he packed up some stuff, asked Lane to cover for the week and just took off!" Lorelai exclaimed, flopping down next to Rory.
"That's not funny." Rory frowned.
"Yes." Lorelai admitted, narrowing her eyes. "You're right. It's not funny. It's ironic! Irony. And irony is funny."
"How is this ironic....or funny." Rory frowned in confusion.
"See, now, I've thought about it..." Lorelai started to explain carefully. "And it's like when you see something, like in Shakespeare and the person gets their comeuppance. He freaked out and ran away. After all those times that I was the one to turn tail and hike it out of something, Luke was the one who up and left and I'm still right here! Ironic......Very ironic." Lorelai nodded her head. "This....is my comeuppance. I'm being punished for running out on people. Fate is a tricky foe my friend." Rory rolled her eyes at Lorelai.
"You are not being comeupped."
"Oh, this is most definitely a comeuppification." Lorelai insisted.
"So when's he coming back?" Rory tried.
"Nobody knows."
"Mysterious." Rory raised her eyebrow.
"Not helping."
"Sorry."
"Lane just said that he was supposed to call eventually." Lorelai said dejectedly.
"This definitely puts a damper on your plans."
"I need to talk to him." Lorelai frowned and glanced over at the portable phone that was lying on the coffee table amid a pile of old magazines and a bag of crunchy Cheetos.
"Can't you get a phone number? You could ask Lane?"
"Phone number to where? He's basically disappeared! He pulled an Amazing Lukini And I want to talk to Luke, not phone talk to Luke." Lorelai pouted.
"Buck up sailor. He'll probably be back tomorrow." Rory tried.
"He better hope he is." Lorelai crossed her arms grumpily and grabbed the bag of Cheetos.
"I have to go finish packing." Rory said reluctantly.
"Sure you don't want to stay another week and help me from going neurotic?"
"Staying with you for eighteen years didn't stop you, so I don't see why I should try again now." Rory smiled.
"Fine. Abandon me Yaley."
"Don't call me Yaley." She protested.
"Okay.....Yaley." Lorelai grinned a little.
"Going back to my room now."
"I'm changing it into a sewing room when you're gone!" Lorelai called after her.
"You already have a sewing room." Rory called back.
"Fine....I'll set up a shrine to my shoe collection."
"Fine by me."
"Rory?" Lorelai asked almost hesitantly after a moment.
"Yeah?" Rory answered quietly.
"What if he went to Nicole?"
"He didn't go to Nicole." It was silent for a minute and Rory said it again, even more firmly. "He did not go to Nicole."
"Okay.... .......I just.....I want to talk to Luke. I haven't not been able to talk to him since the whole summer long thing. And we aren't even in a fight." Lorelai bit her lip and sat quietly, studying her thumb for a moment.
"Maybe that's where he is?" Rory suddenly suggested.
"In a fight?" Lorelai looked at her, not following.
"No, the cabin. Where he went with...after..."
"Oh. Right. I guess that's possible...." Lorelai said thoughtfully, starting to relax. The cabin. That made sense. Kind of....At least it was a possibility.
"Is there one other thing that could be made possible?" Rory called out from the door frame of her room.
"What?"
"Is it possible for you to return that blue sweater?"
"No." Lorelai shook her head surely.
"Can you try?"
"I'll give it an honest effort honey, but it's not looking good." Lorelai smiled. Rory rolled her eyes.
"I want Luke back soon." She complained teasingly.
"Me too." Lorelai agreed.
****************************
Later that day Rory left for Yale and Lorelai decided to just stay at home. She ordered pizza and watched a cheesy cable movie before pulling on her pyjamas and crawling into bed. Staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep, she tried to get her mind to slow down, or at least focus on one thing. She could focus on.....But then again, maybe it would be better to think about something else for a while. The inn. Lots of work needed to be done, but they were hopefully going to be opening in about ten weeks. Ten weeks wasn't that long. Not for this. Not for her dream. Luke would probably be back in three or four days....why did that period of time seem to stretch on forever. Ugh. Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut tightly and pulled the pillow around her head, covering her ears. Just focus on the inn.
***************************
After his unexpected wake up call on Saturday morning, Luke had spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday and Monday cleaning up the cabin and the area around it, refilling the wood box in side and re-stocking the pile outside, fixing windows and doors, just general maintainance stuff. The squirrel was now inhabiting the crawlspace under bedroom where they used to keep canned food.
***************************
On Tuesday, Lorelai arrived at the Dragonfly to find Sookie half sunk into the kitchen floor. The plumber had taken out some of the floorboards and she had dropped her self down into the hole created in the floor so that when Lorelai walked in, Sookie was merely a torso. Lorelai listened to her explaining pipe connections under the sink while Michel complained about his head cold and the colour of the veneer on the reception desk.....
***************************
By Thursday Lorelai was starting to get angry. Luke still wasn't back. Sure, Lane had told her at breakfast that he had her called the diner early that morning, saying he was up at his cabin and would be back soon. Why couldn't he have told her that?
***************************
When he woke up on Friday, Luke realized something....There was nothing left to do. Nothing. Nothing to keep his mind occupied. Everything had been fixed and replaced and renewed to the greatest possible extent. He had even built a whole new wood box. And even though it was freezing with the cold snap that week, the lake was still wide open, so no ice fishing. Meanwhile, the squirrel had migrated to the rafters and seemed to have made its purpose in life to run around as loudly as possible when Luke tried to sleep. He rolled over in the bed, which squeaked loudly, and reached around for his hat, which was helpful, as he hadn't washed his hair in the last few days. He threw his feet over the edge of the bed and grumbled as they touched the floorboards, which was wonderfully frosty.
"Time to go home."
***************************
He packed up the duffel back and threw it into the back of the truck before climbing in the driver's seat and heading back. It had been a productive week at least...lots of things done that needed to get done....Man, it had been a long week. She was going to be mad when he came back, but, hey, she couldn't always have exactly what she wanted. This had been something he had wanted, so he did it. He knew he should have called before yesterday, but..... To be honest he just didn't want to. Calling broke the clearness in his head. Calling made him worry about things. Whether she was going to change her mind. Maybe go back with that Jason guy. Maybe just decide it was all a mistake. Maybe decide it was just still wasn't the right time. Maybe....But the maybes had all gone away pretty fast after he finally did call. He didn't really dwell on things that often. Okay, well, maybe a lot of people would say that that was an oxymoron in this case. But he had never really dwelt on her either. He had just wanted a chance. It wasn't that difficult an idea. Something just happened a while ago. He woke up one day, rolled over in bed and realized that his heart had fallen for her a while ago and just forgot to fully inform his head during it's descent. He had been assured of the fact that his heart had actually fallen for her, and that he was now fully aware, because he felt it beating somewhere in his feet when he saw her that day. But he realized that day and ever since that it didn't seem all that important to do much about it. It was there. There was nothing much he could do about it. He just tried to go with what felt normal, what felt right. He had wussed out a few times when he had thought that maybe she had been trying to ask him something, or tell him something. But if it was going to happen, it was going to happen. The only thing that really made this time different is that he had a choice to make and there was no Lane to ask for a cell phone, or glue to dry on a shoe. So.....
***************************
Lorelai slumped up onto the stool infront of the counter and Lane slid her a cup of coffee.
"Thanks." She frowned and took a sip. She was not going to be childish about this. She was a grown up. She had a daughter in college. She was starting her own business. Her lip was beginning to pout. So much for maturity. Fine. If he was going to go up and be Luke, Wild Man of the Woods, she could be as childish and sulky as she wanted to.
"Lane? I want a piece of cake. A reaaaalllyy big piece of cake. And don't try and tell me there's no cake. There's always cake on Fridays."
"Um, okay. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No. Unless you know where Luke keeps the sprinkles."
"Cake and sprinkles it is." Lorelai took another sip of the coffee. It was okay. But it wasn't that same. She made a face and pushed it away reluctantly. Honestly, who did this. Who said everything they had, well, hadn't said, and didn't say anything and just left for a week. Who did Luke think he was? Lorelai exhaled through her teeth and stabbed at the piece of cake Lane had put in front of her. Stupid Luke. What was she supposed to do now? Who knew how long he'd stay holed up in his stupid log shack. What was she supposed to do without him?.....What was....... Lorelai pushed her cake to the side and folded her arms on the counter. What was she supposed to do without him? Lorelai started to think about her life in the past few years, and tried to think of any major decisions Luke hadn't been a factor in......okaaaay....0-14. But that could just be because he was a friend. The score was probably the same, if not more so for Sookie. But Luke wasn't Sookie. Lorelai snorted at the vision of Sookie in plaid and stubble dancing around in her head. Okay, not focusing. She took a deep breath and dropped her head down onto them, groaning. Kay Lorelai...let's play a game....finish this sentence. Luke is......Okay. Luke is...Luke. Luke was Luke....That was what it was. Chris had been the first, the father of her kid, the addiction. Max had been The Great Guy. Smart and funny and good looking and all wrong. Alex.... Had been the one who seemed right. But Luke was just Luke. No titles, not required attached descriptions. And maybe that's all she wanted. Maybe what she wanted....was Luke. He wasn't the one she went out on dates with. He was the one who was always there for all the things she pictured doing with that guy who was there forever. Dance marathons, family crises, basket auctions, birthdays, Saturdays, everydays. Maybe he was the one who was supposed to be at them with her... all of them. Lorelai grinned stupidly and laughed at herself cynically. Great. Just great. Realize how important Luke is and he's off playing Dances With Wolves with a family of chipmunks. Spectacular timing. This one rates right up there with discovering she wasn't in love the week before her marriage and having sex ed in gym class the week after she found out she was pregnant. Lane passed by and refilled her cup, but Lorelai didn't look up.
"Oh, hey." Lane remarked. "Luke must be back." Lorelai raised her head up and saw a truck stop at the light before turning the corner and disappearing. She suddenly narrowed her eyes and slid deliberately off her stool, striding to the door. She walked quickly along the sidewalk and saw Luke's truck pull to a halt across from the diner.
"Hi there stranger." Lorelai called out, her voice obviously laced with a little bit of anger and annoyance. Luke snapped the door open quickly and climbed out to see her. Well, he hadn't expected to have to face her so soon. And he certainly wasn't ready. Well, here came a first. He took a page out of Jess's book. Just play it cool for now. Lorelai walked up deliberately and stood obstinately infront of the back wheel, crossing her arms.
"So. Where WERE you?" Lorelai said pointedly.
"I went to my cabin." Luke shrugged indifferently, and a little defensively, looking at her like there wasn't anything about this to get worked up about. This was not exactly how he wanted to talk to her.
"And you thought that it would be a good idea not to tell me-uh, anyone." Lorelai shook her head and hoped Luke wouldn't notice.
"I told Lane." Luke excused himself and grabbed his duffel bag out of the back of his truck. Maybe if he just ignored this fun situation he had created it would just go away. But it probably wouldn't. This wasn't just like a squirrel in your cabin. He couldn't just try to pretend it wasn't there until it disappeared, or started hibernating or something.
"Yesterday!" Lorelai shot back.
"What?" Luke looked over his shoulder as Lorelai trailed him into the diner. He continued to the back, slipping behind the curtain that hid the stair to the apartment and dropping his duffel bag.. Lorelai followed him quickly.
"Yesterday! You told Lane you were at your cabin yesterday!" Lorelai emphasized.
"And?"
"You were gone for five days before that! And you didn't tell...anyone." Lorelai stumbled.
"So?" Luke replied, knowing it hadn't been the greatest idea, but feeling a little defensive. Lorelai opened her eyes wide and stared at him for a minute. She closed her eyes, moved her head from one side to the other, trying to collect her thoughts.
"OH......my go- I'm going to go......just......I have to go now." She turned around, looking overloaded, and pushed the curtain aside, starting towards the door. Luke sighed, rubbing the inside corner of his eye. Play it cool had officially backfired. He called out across the diner at her.
"Lorelai!"
"I'll see you later." Lorelai called back, reaching for the door handle. Luke tried again, exasperated and a little confused.
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know. But maybe I'll tell Sookie right before I get back." Lorelai retorted pointedly.
"Lorelai." Luke said again.
"I have to get to the inn." She walked out the door and down the street.
****************************
He would have gone after her, but he couldn't just leave. Or maybe he wouldn't. Or didn't want to. She was just SO.....Infuriating. They had said that they needed a little time to think, to figure things out. So he had taken some time. He had done what they were supposed to being doing. He went to the cabin, it was a place to do what he wanted to, and he didn't have to worry about the diner, or Nicole, or anything. He just thought about..... things, for a little while. Okay, six days, but there was a lot to think about, or avoid thinking about. And he had thought he'd figured it out, albeit on the ride back. And then she comes in here and gets angry at him for doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Luke poured a cup of coffee for someone at the counter, watching Lorelai climb into her car and drive off towards the Dragonfly.