Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.
A/N: Guess who's back? Back again?...Alright, that's enough Eminem from me for a lifetime.
Thanks for the reviews.
XXX
He traced circles on her bare shoulder while she slept. This was one of Luke's favorite times; when Lorelai was sleeping and he could just watch her. He wondered if she knew how beautiful she was. It wasn't just outer beauty, though. Her personality was part of what made her so attractive; it reflected off everything she did and said.
The couple had gotten back to their normal routines (as normal as they could manage, considering) fairly fast. Though Lorelai had mood swings and complained about 'growing fat' all the time, Luke didn't care. He loved this, and as each passing day went by, he was becoming more and more excited at the prospect of being a father. It was something he'd always dreamed of, though he'd never told anyone that.
Morning sunlight was glaring into the bedroom through their opened window, and Luke looked at the clock beside him. The alarm would be going off in two minutes, letting him know that it was time to start the day. To save Lorelai the trouble of waking up and then falling back asleep, he turned it off and stood, stretching and yawning. He grabbed a t-shirt and headed downstairs to get the paper.
After completing his morning ritual (get the paper, skim the front page, eat something healthy and substantial, shower, change into flannel), Luke left to open the diner. He'd had Cesar, Lane, or his new hire, John, a Stars Hollow High student, open at six every day this past week so he could sleep in a bit and go in at eight. It was a beautiful morning, so he walked, a slight spring in his step.
The spring disappeared, however, when he reached the end of the street that met with the center of town. Luke almost didn't believe his eyes as he spotted the familiar woman sitting in a broken-down car. As he approached and saw her face, it couldn't be denied who she was. He didn't want to be rude, but really didn't want to talk to her. Yet, she was parked with a dead car right across from the diner. Being who he was, he couldn't just walk past her.
Nervousness bubbled up inside him. "Uh, hey, what's the problem?" he asked casually, not wanting to draw much attention.
She looked at him with slight shock and panic. "Luke?"
"Yeah. How've you been, Nicole?"
Luke wondered when life was going to stop surprising him like this. He hadn't spoken to his ex-wife (if you could even call her that) since right before he had signed the divorce papers and sent them in. She had shown up in the diner after closing.
'Luke?' Nicole called as the bell jingled when she opened the door.
He was standing behind the counter, and when he heard her voice, he looked up. 'Hey, Nicole.' He said it slowly and quietly.
She took notice of his mood instantly. 'You, uh, haven't been home, or called, or even answered my calls, the last few days.'
'Well, I didn't want to bother you or anything. I know you're a busy person.' Luke kept wiping the same spot on the counter with a wet rag.
Nicole hadn't moved from her spot in front of the door. 'Listen, uh, maybe we should talk.'
'Talk?' he asked sharply. He didn't care that he'd sounded more rough than intended. 'Yeah, let's talk. How's that boyfriend of yours?'
She didn't seem to be expecting this. 'Luke,' she pleaded. 'Just listen, please.'
'Fine,' he said, setting the rag down and looking at her. 'Explain it to me.'
'You and I...we haven't been doing well. You know that, I know that. We both have known for awhile that it hasn't been right.' She took one step closer, then stopped. 'The thing with Drue just...happened,' she finished lamely.
'So the Sock Man finally has a name,' Luke mumbled.
Nicole sighed. 'I just...never got a chance to talk to you before it...happened. You had said you were going to stay here that night. And then it...happened, but we were fighting too much and I just couldn't get it out.' She paused. 'How did you find out?'
'I wasn't wearing my own socks, for starters,' Luke said, annoyed even at the memory. 'And I watched you two go into the house. And then I got arrested, and embarrassed the hell out of myself by being put in jail, then had to call Lorelai to bail me out.' Nicole seemed to twitch at the mention of Lorelai. He let out a breath. 'I think we should get the divorce.'
'I agree,' she said softly. 'Luke...' he looked up. 'I'm so sorry.'
'Me too.'
'But maybe this way is better. We can both pursue other...things.' He knew she meant people.
'It's hard to forgive you, Nicole.'
'I know. And you never have to. I'm just...regretting a lot of actions.'
Luke started scrubbing with the rag again. 'I'll sign and send the papers tomorrow.'
'Alright.'
She stood there, but Luke couldn't reach her eyes anymore. Finally, though, he looked past her to the door. 'Goodbye, Nicole.'
'Bye.' She turned and opened the door halfway, then turned back. 'I really am sorry. Maybe if it had been different, and there hadn't been...things in the way.' He knew she meant Lorelai. 'I can't apologize enough.'
'I'll get over it,' Luke said, knowing he was being kinder than most would be in his situation.
'Goodbye, Luke.' And then Nicole was gone.
Luke felt angry and depressed, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling of relief and hope that settled in his stomach after her departure. They only grew when he signed the divorce papers with Kirk as notary and Lorelai by his side at Mailboxes, Etc. the next day.
"I've been good," Nicole said timidly.
"Something wrong with your car?" He was doing his best to be polite.
She looked into the hood of the car, which was propped open. "Yeah, uh, it broke down. Someone's coming to tow it."
Luke nodded, and also glanced into the car's hood, resting both hands on either side of it.
"Oh, you're uh, married?" Nicole was looking at his left hand, where his wedding band glinted in the spring sunlight.
He stood upright again and unconsciously spun the ring around his finger with his other hand. "Uh, yeah." He hoped she wouldn't ask to who.
But she did. "Is it..."
She didn't need to finish. "Yeah."
Luke saw Miss Patty watching them from the doorway of her studio. She seemed to be trying to place who Nicole was.
"That's...good. I always thought there was something between you two. You always clicked." She tried to sound breezy, but Luke could detect an almost jealous tone in her voice.
It looked like Patty figured out who the mystery women was. She began whispering with Babette, who had been walking past the dance studio.
He didn't know how to respond, so Luke just shrugged slightly and nodded. "What brings you to Stars Hollow?" Neutral topic, good, he thought.
"Oh, Taylor called my firm looking for a lawyer for something small. They sent me, since I had the most experience."
"Yeah, that's, uh, nice."
"Yup." She rocked on her heels, then sighed. "This is weird."
"Little bit," Luke agreed.
"You were probably going to the diner..."
"Oh, yeah, I had someone else open, 'cause...okay, well, I gotta go." He didn't feel like telling her he was not only married, but also having a baby with the woman she had always felt jealous and nervous around.
"Alright. Good to see you, Luke."
"You-"
"Luke!" He turned when he heard someone yell his name. Damnit, always bad timing.
Lorelai was strolling down the street, and waved to her husband. Nicole began getting antsy. Luke wanted to hide.
"Hey, Lorelai." He called back, and saw Miss Patty and Babette nudging each other and watching the scene. He could almost hear the gossip spreading.
His wife stopped short when she realized who he was standing with, but recovered and kept walking towards them. She nodded to the other woman. "Nicole," she said, surprised.
"Lorelai," Nicole countered, obviously noticing the bump protruding under Lorelai's shirt. "Are you two, uh, expecting?"
Oh boy. "Yeah, due at the end of July."
"Well, great, congratulations."
Luke wanted to get out of this awkward situation as quickly as possible. "Okay, I really gotta get to work, uh, so, good seeing you, Nicole."
"Yeah, you too."
"Bye," Lorelai added as she began leaving with Luke. Once they were inside the relatively busy diner, she slammed her purse down on the counter, eyes wide. "What the hell was that about? Why is she here?"
"She's doing some lawyer thing for Taylor," Luke shrugged as he put his apron on.
"Huh, did they ever think that she wasn't the best choice to send to Stars Hollow? I mean, God, she's you're ex-wife! And you two didn't exactly end things on good terms. Do you think she's still with that...guy? But did you notice? She's not married. No ring. Did she know we were married? She might've thought that we were only having a baby together or something. Because I swear, if she's come back just so-"
"Lorelai?"
"What?"
"Take a deep breath."
She did so. Luke shook his head and began pouring coffee to those who needed refills. "It doesn't matter anyways," he said as he returned to the counter. "I'm happily tied down to someone else."
Lorelai smiled. "Aw, that's sweet." She took a sip of her tea and cringed slightly. "So her car is broken down?"
"Yup."
"Is it...weird, for you? To see her?"
Luke thought about it. "I guess. I haven't talked to her since before we got the divorce, but things didn't end badly between us. That whole ordeal actually helped me."
"With what?" Lorelai asked, curious.
"Just...things. Setting things in motion."
And he left it at that, bringing breakfast to the ones who ordered it.
XXX
"Everything looks good," Dr. Grace said as she flipped through papers on her clipboard. "Now, I'm not sure if you want to know, but we can tell you the sex of the baby if you'd like." The doctor smiled at them. "I'll give you two a minute to decide," she said as she left.
Luke considered for a moment. If they found out, buying clothes and toys and accessories for the baby would be easier. But he still wanted that hint of surprise, being an old-fashioned type of guy.
He glanced at Lorelai, who was lying in a funny position, her legs in the stirrups. He'd made fun of her once for it, but hadn't after that time, finding it not worth the reprimand he received, which included something along the lines of, 'I want to see you lying there with someone's hand up your vagina'. She looked at him.
"If you want to," Luke said, shrugging.
"What do you want? Because I don't wanna know unless we both agree to it."
"Like I said, it's up to you."
Lorelai thought about it. "How 'bout we wait until it's born. That way it can be a surprise. Oh! We can start a pool, you know, like they do for famous people when they're pregnant, and we can bet on the date and time and weight and gender, and then whoever wins gets to...well, we'll figure out what the winner gets later."
Luke had tuned her out for the most part of that. "Alright. Whatever it is, I'm gonna be happy."
So they informed the doctor that they didn't want to know, and then left. Lorelai was still thinking up things the winner got.
"Maybe we can say they'll be the godparent."
"I thought we already decided on godparents."
"Well, yeah, Sookie and Jackson, but we can just tell the winner they're the baby's godparent, when really they aren't."
"Why don't we just give them some candy or something?"
Lorelai gasped. "Did you just say that you'd give someone candy? Have I affected you that much?"
"It isn't affected so much as-"
He was cut off by Lorelai's cell phone ringing. Luke almost wanted to say 'outside' out of force of habit, then realized they were in the car, and not at the diner.
She picked it up. "Hello?...Hey, mom...Yeah, we just came from the doctor's...No...Uh huh..."
Luke listened to her respond to things Emily was saying. Lorelai had become even more patient with her mother after Richard's death, since now, she realized, the elder woman was alone, with only she and Rory for immediate family.
"Oh, okay...We will, of course...For how long?...Well, Rory's graduation is in three weeks...I know you wouldn't miss it, I'm just telling you...Alright...Have fun, mom...Call us while you're there or something, so we don't think you've given up on life here in America...I know that was stupid, the pregnancy has thrown off my sense of humor...Yup, bye." Lorelai hung up and put the phone back in her purse.
Luke kept his eyes on the road. "What's up?"
"My mother is going to visit her sister in Europe, you know, the one she and Rory saw when they went to Europe a few years ago. She sounded better than she has since dad died."
"Well, good. It's probably hard to be alone."
"Especially in that humongous house." They sat in silence. "What if she meets someone new? Oh my God, I may end up with a step-father," Lorelai said faintly.
"Hey, I'm a step-father," Luke pointed out.
She nodded. "But that's different. The whole situation is different."
And surprisingly, Luke understood what she meant.
XXX
