A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far! This chapter isn't as funny as I'd like it to be, but it's hard to have Luke & Lorelai wisecracking when they're mad at each other. I also spent quite some time wracking my brains to think of what on earth Luke and Richard would have to say to each other...until it dawned on me: nothing! They would have nothing to say to each other, and that's OK (from a literary perspective) so I decided to just play up that angle.
I had another idea for a fic last night, so I'm in a hurry to wrap this one up. I expect 1 or 2 more chapters after this one. Hope you enjoy!
Emily came to answer the door. "Hello Luke, it's nice to see you again, thank you for coming." She nodded towards Lorelai. "Hello, Lorelai."
"Hi Mom," she said as they entered and removed their coats. They proceeded on into the sitting room where Richard was sitting reading a newspaper.
"Rory called and said she's running a little late," Emily informed them.
"Damn, I should have thought of that!" Lorelai murmured to herself.
"I'm going to check on dinner," said Emily as she went into the kitchen.
Richard stood up and shook hands with Luke. "Good to see you, Luke," said Richard.
"Thanks for having me, Mr. Gilmore," said Luke as he sat down on the couch. Lorelai sat down next to him and tried to take his hand in hers, but Luke moved away.
"Call me Richard, please," said Richard. "Can I get you something to drink? Emily and I are doing Gin and Tonics this evening."
"That sounds fine," said Luke.
"Lorelai?"
"Good for me too, Dad."
As Richard got up to get the drinks, Lorelai poked Luke in the side and whispered to him, "Can you please at least try to act civil? These are my parents."
"I am acting civil," growled Luke, avoiding her gaze.
"Oh yeah, you're a regular Kofi Annan," whispered Lorelai as Richard came back with the drinks.
"So Luke, how's the diner business treating you?" asked Richard.
"Just fine," Luke replied.
Just then Emily returned. "Dinner should be ready shortly," she announced. "Luke, I hope you like Cornish hens."
"Never had one, actually," Luke admitted.
"Tastes like chicken," Lorelai interjected.
Emily brushed her aside. "You're in for a treat," said Emily. "Our cook makes a wonderful oyster dressing." Just then the doorbell rang. "That must be Rory," said Emily, heading to the door to greet her.
"So Lorelai, how's business at the Inn?" Richard asked.
"Well considering that we hosted a convention of animal-rights activists last week and Michel only annoyed two of them, and Sookie managed to come up with a vegetarian menu to feed them with a minimum of complaining, I'd say things are going well," Lorelai said nervously. "Though I still suspect that she slipped chicken broth into the pasta sauce."
Emly and Rory entered the room. "Hey, Luke," said Rory upon seeing him. "Welcome to Friday night dinners."
"Hey Rory," he replied. "How's things at Yale?"
"Insane," replied Rory, leaning in to hug Lorelai.
"Hey babe," said Lorelai, giving Rory a quick kiss hello.
Just then the maid entered the room. "Dinner is served," she announced. They all made their way into the dining room and sat down at the table as the maid brought the food out. Emily and Richard were seated at the ends as usual, Rory on one side, Luke and Lorelai next to each other on the other side.
"So Grandma, how are the Christmas preparations coming along?" Rory asked.
"Everything seems to be on schedule for the party next week. Oh Richard, that reminds me, the Corrigans' party is tomorrow evening."
Richard sighed. "Oh, not the Corrigans."
"What's wrong with the Corrigans?" Emily asked.
"David Corrigan is an insufferable bore; I mean, how can one person talk so much about shoes?" Richard said.
"He built a multi-million dollar business making those shoes," Emily objected.
"That doesn't mean everyone who comes to their house wants to learn every detail about platform soles. I work in insurance but I don't tell everyone how a deductible is calculated."
"The Corrigans? Any relation to Alicia Corrigan who I went to school with?" Lorelai asked.
"Yes, David and Tina are her parents," Emily replied.
Lorelai giggled. "Alicia used to play in the chess club, and she'd spend our entire English class re-enacting the previous day's game to me. Why do you think I got straight A's in English, Mom? Between chess reenactments and Beowulf, I'll take Beowulf any day."
"Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Richard said.
"Fine, we'll make a polite appearance and leave early," Emily conceded. Richard nodded his approval.
"Hey Rory," Lorelai said, "when are we doing our annual Christmas shopping spree?"
"Ugh, I'm totally buried with finals right now," Rory replied. "Besides, I thought you told me you're already done with your shopping."
"That is so not the point of the shopping spree," Lorelai replied. "I'd think you'd know this by now. The shopping spree is to buy all the things for ourselves that we know nobody else is going to buy us, and once we've spent all our remaining money, we collapse in the food court and heckle all the last-minute shoppers who are so easily identified because they look scared and they never know their way around the mall."
"Or maybe they just hate the mall," Luke interjected coldly.
"Well I've got a calc final on Tuesday but maybe I could swing a few hours in the evening," Rory said. "But I'll have to do some actual Christmas shopping."
Lorelai gasped playfully. "I'm sorry, hon, that's strictly against the rules."
"So Luke," Emily interjected, "Are you doing anything special for the holidays?"
"Yes, Luke, do tell," said Lorelai sarcastically. "Not like I'll find out any other way."
Luke glared at her for a moment before answering. "Oh, yeah, I'll be seeing my sister, that's about it right now."
"You just have one sister?" Emily inquired.
"Yeah, it's just Liz and me."
"Your parents?"
"My mom died when I was a kid. My dad died about 15 years ago," Luke replied.
"That must have been hard," said Emily. "Family is so important, especially around Christmas."
"Yes it is," Luke said, shooting another angry glance Lorelai's way.
"So have you always lived in Stars Hollow?" asked Emily politely, trying to get to know him.
"Yeah, born and bred," Luke replied. "I guess I never had much desire to go anywhere else."
"Except New York for Christmas," interjected Lorelai sarcastically.
"Is there a problem, Lorelai?" asked Emily.
"Not at all," she replied. "No problems here. I am totally problem-free. No worries."
"And Luke, you've never been married, is that correct?"
Luke shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well actually I was married once, briefly."
"Briefly?" Emily inquired.
"It didn't even last a year," Luke confessed.
At this, Richard took notice. "How can a marriage fall apart in less than a year?"
"Britney Spears was—"Rory interjected but Richard cut her off.
"How can you make a lifetime commitment to someone and then not be able to put up with them for even a year?" Richard challenged Luke.
"Well it was kind of a spur of the moment thing, we never should have done it in the first place," said Luke hesitantly.
"You made such a monumental decision on the spur of the moment?" demanded Richard.
"It was a mistake. I know better now," Luke said definitively, an annoyed tone creeping up in his voice.
"So Luke, how's Taylor doing with the town Christmas decorations?" asked Rory, trying to change the subject. She shot a quizzical look at Lorelai, who was watching the exchange with a small smile on her face. Rory kicked her under the table.
Luke shot an appreciative glance Rory's way. "Ridiculous lights in the square. It's like daytime when they're all turned on, and we'll all be seeing the electric bill in our taxes this year," Luke groused.
"Where on earth are those salads?" Emily said suddenly. "Excuse me, I'm going to see what could possibly be taking that girl so long," she said as she excused herself from the table and went into the kitchen.
Lorelai also got up from the table. "I need to go powder my...well you know," she said as she left the room, leaving Rory, Richard and Luke alone at the table.
"So Rory, how are those finals coming along?" asked Richard.
"Calculus is killing me. Other than that, I think I've got them aced," she replied, furtively looking out into the hallway. "Uh, could you excuse me for a second?" she said as she got up from the table and went the direction Lorelai had gone.
Now only Richard and Luke remained at the table.
"Was it something I said?" Luke said lightly as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Richard glanced around, looking for Emily. "I don't know what could be taking so long with those salads."
Luke looked at Richard and then down at his plate as they sat in silence, unable to make conversation.
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Rory almost bumped into Lorelai as she was exiting the bathroom. "Geez, gotta put a bell on you, babe," said Lorelai.
"What the hell is going on?" demanded Rory.
"Uh, I need some frame of reference here, hon. Phish are breaking up, they've cloned a cat, and the Democrats are trying to defeat Bush – again, I might add."
"You know what I'm talking about. Luke. What the hell is going on between you guys? You've been snipping at each other since I got here."
"We have not been snipping. I've been doing all the snipping. He's been glaring, I've been snipping."
"Grandma and Grandpa were totally grilling him and you just sat there. You actually looked like you were enjoying it," challenged Rory.
"Just thought it was time for someone else to take a turn for once," Lorelai defended herself.
"Mom, this is Luke. What's going on?"
"He's being a thoughtless, insensitive jackass, that's what's going on," Lorelai finally vented.
"I'm talking about Luke, Mom."
"So am I," replied Lorelai.
"Wow, I never thought I'd hear the words 'thoughtless' and 'Luke' in the same sentence," said Rory. "What happened?"
"He went and made plans for Christmas Eve without even asking me if I had anything planned and now we're not even going to be able to see each other."
Rory frowned. "That doesn't sound like Luke. He didn't even invite you?"
"Well he did, but I'm not going to leave you alone on Christmas Eve," Lorelai admitted.
"Forget about me. You're mad at him because he invited you to spend Christmas Eve with him?"
"No," said Lorelai defensively. "I'm mad because he should have asked me if I had anything planned first."
"Mom, he invited you to spend Christmas Eve with his family."
"Yeah, his family," repeated Lorelai haughtily. "Not exactly the Von Trapps, are they?"
"Oh and we are? You never mentioned you had any problems with Liz."
"I don't," replied Lorelai, giving Rory a knowing look. "Not with Liz."
"Oh," said Rory, finally understanding.
"Oh," echoed Lorelai.
"Mom, things are over with Jess. It's OK. I'm fine, I'm over it. Please don't let this come between you and Luke."
"But it's Christmas Eve. I'm not about to make you an orphan on Christmas Eve. It just seems so wrong, the idea of spending Christmas Eve with the guy who broke your heart."
Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, and you know, you're not the only person I know in the world. I could come spend the night here with Grandma and Grandpa."
"Definitely not going now," said Lorelai.
"Or with Lane or maybe I could have James over." Rory offered.
"Thanks hon. I'll work something out with Luke," Lorelai said as she hugged Rory.
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Lorelai and Rory returned to the table to find the salads set at each place and Richard, Emily and Luke waiting for them.
As Lorelai slid into her seat, she leaned over and whispered a "sorry" into Luke's ear. Luke looked at her, his face expressionless, and did not respond.
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Rory, Lorelai and Luke exited the house and headed to their cars.
"See you Tuesday," Lorelai said as she hugged Rory goodbye. Rory drove off in her car as Lorelai and Luke walked over to the Jeep and got in.
"So how long are you going to pull the Marcel Marceau routine on me?" asked Lorelai as she started the car and drove off.
"I am not pulling any routine," replied Luke.
"I said I was sorry."
"OK," said Luke coldly.
"God you are impossible to apologize to! I was wrong, OK? You invited me to spend time with your family and I jumped all over you. Though I still wish you had checked with me first."
"Gee, who could resist an apology like that?" said Luke sarcastically.
"You meant well, OK? I understand that. I was just...freaked out, I guess. I hadn't really thought about Christmas with you, I guess I was kind of expecting you to come over, and then you totally threw a monkey wrench into it all, and then you mentioned Jess, and seeing Jess on Christmas Eve was just too freaky to contemplate. I felt like I was betraying Rory." Lorelai trailed off.
Luke did not reply.
"I'm sorry," Lorelai said again, quietly.
"OK," he said in a distant voice.
They drove the rest of the way back in silence.
