Chapter 7 Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Around 5:00 Sookie and Jackson stopped by to drop off Davey. They told Lorelai that they would try to be back by 11:00. They gave her the number where they could be reached, a diaper bag, and a list of emergency contact numbers in case anything happened. After spending about twenty minutes saying good-bye to Davey in baby talk, they left.
Lorelai picked up Davey. He was wide-awake and smiling. "Well aren't you adorable. How would you like to come with your auntie Lorelai into the kitchen and make some coffee?" As they head into the kitchen Lorelai hears Rory come in.
"Mom, I'm home." Rory hollers.
"We're in the kitchen."
Rory sets down her overnight bag and heads into the kitchen. She sees her mom holding Davey in one hand and making coffee with the other. Lorelai looks up "Hey Babe. How was Lane's?"
"It was fine. We finished setting up her room then went out and bought a bunch of stuff like plates, cutlery, shower curtain, and so on. Then we went back to make dinner and realized we had forgot to buy pots and pans so we just ate beefaroni cold from the can." Rory walks over to the fridge and opens it.
"What is all this stuff? And where are the leftovers?" Rory sounds stunned.
Lorelai finishes with the coffee and sits down with Davey at the table. "Luke is staying here for a bit while Liz and TJ get settled in his place, and he decided to clean the fridge."
"Luke's staying here? Well that would explain the shoveled walk." Rory says grabbing some strawberries out of the fridge and sitting back down at the table. "I saw him today at the diner and he didn't mention anything. Oh, but I am supposed to tell you that he found the lumber for the inn and he'll talk to you about it later." Rory pops a strawberry into her mouth.
"Oh, that's great! I didn't tell you about my crappy morning yet did I?" Lorelai told Rory about the lumber at the inn, about having to wake up at 6:00 to feed the horses, and about breaking up with Jason.
"You broke up with Jason? What happened?" asked Rory, "You guys seemed good. I thought you were planning on going together to that thing on Wednesday?"
"Well he kept breaking our dates to do business stuff instead. Even on our dates he would spend most of the time on the phone." Lorelai sighs, "You know me, I could only take that for so long."
"I am surprised you lasted this long. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted though, right?" Rory said.
"Yeah babe, it was."
There was a knock on the door and Lorelai looks at Rory, "You get the door, it's probably Luke, I've got to change Davey's diaper. He smells." Then to Davey, "You smell." She says in a baby voice. Then headed into Rory's room with the diaper bag.
Rory runs over and opens the door. "Hey Luke!"
"Hey Rory. You guys didn't eat yet did you, because I brought some burgers."
"No not yet. We've just been talking about Mom's horrible day. I told her about the lumber thing and she said 'great'. Oh and nice work in the fridge." Rory says holding up a half eaten strawberry. "Keep it up though, and mom will never let you leave." With that Rory heads back to the kitchen. Luke takes off his coat and boots and follows her.
"Hey Luke." Lorelai calls him from Rory's room.
Luke peeks his head in and sees her changing the baby's diaper. "Aw geez, I have to sleep in here tonight." He says when the smell hits him. "That kid sure packs a punch doesn't he?" he says walking closer. He had never really spent a lot of time around babies and was strangely curious about the little guy. He looks over Lorelai's shoulder. Davey sees him and a big grin flashes over his face and he starts to kick.
"I think he likes you." Says Lorelai. Luke blushes and stands up straight. "I brought burgers, I'll go dish them up." He walks back to the kitchen. Lorelai finishes up with Davey and brings him out and places him in his rocking seat.
After supper Lorelai and Rory grab a coffee and return to the table. Luke clears the table and puts the dishes in the sink. "I'll wash them tonight. You'll be busy enough with him." He says gesturing to the sleeping baby.
"No really Luke, I'll do it. You've done enough around here already." She says getting up.
"I'm used to working all day, plus it'll give me something to do until Sports Center starts." He says glancing at the clock. "And Rory's here, you guys can visit for a bit before she has to leave."
Lorelai returns to the table, "Well thanks Luke, I'm gonna owe you so big." She smiles at Luke and he smiles back before turning around and running the water in the sink.
Rory looks at her mom, "Oh, you guys are like an old married couple. Fighting over who gets to do the dishes." She notices her mom blush a little, and hears Luke drop a plate into the sink. She smiles, but quickly changes the subject before making them too uncomfortable. "So now who are you gonna take to grandma's party on Wednesday? I would go with you but I've got to do a review for the paper that night."
"I hadn't even thought about that. Maybe I'll just skip it. It's not like I'm donating anything to the monkey motel, I mean zoo." Lorelai looks into her coffe cup waiting for Rory's reply.
"You know that grandma will hold that over your head every week until you die if you don't go." Rory liked the way her mother and grandmother had been getting along lately and didn't want this to set them back again. "Well what about that Clayton Reid guy grandma was talking about on Friday? She said he's young, single, rich, and is in town for a couple weeks visiting his sister. He looked pretty good in his picture in the Forbes magazine."
Lorelai paused for a minute, "I met him once, just before we moved here. He was going to be at my coming out party and wanted to give me his phone number in advance. Mind you, he didn't know I was pregnant. I don't know, he seemed like a nice guy then, but that was almost twenty years ago."
Luke hated this conversation! And he hated Clayton Reid! She couldn't seriously be considering taking some rich ass-clown that she met twenty years ago to this party. He would probably spend the whole night talking about himself and all his money!
Lorelai continued, "Now he'd probably spend the whole night talking about himself."
Luke smiled, there you go.
Rory looks at her mom, "Well, it's an option. You're gonna have to take someone." Both girls take a quiet sip from their coffees. Luke drops a spoon into the sink and breaks the silence. Rory looks over at him, "Hey Luke, why don't you go with mom! There's no dancing, no schmoosing, all you have to do is wear a suit and fill the seat beside her."
Luke turns around, "I hate suits."
Rory turns back to Lorelai, "Well I tried. Anyway call me later if you figure something out." She gets up and kisses her mom on the cheek. "I gotta get heading back. I've got an early class tomorrow." She picks up her coffee mug and takes it over to Luke, "Take care of my mom for me." Then she leans up and kises Luke on the cheek as well. Lorelai smiles as Luke blushes and says good-bye to Rory.
Lorelai sits quietly at the table and finishes drinking her coffee. She looks down at the sleeping baby and says to Luke, "I going to have a bath while the baby is sleeping. Do you mind? I'll only be like fifteen minutes." Luke drains the water from the sink and flips the towel over his shoulder. He turns around and nervously looks at the baby. "What if he wakes up?"
Lorelai sees how scared he looks and giggles, "He won't bite you Luke. If he wakes up just pick him up and call me, I'll come right down." Luke still looks a little unsure about it but nods anyway. "Fifteen minutes?"
Lorelai heads out of the kitchen, she looks back before climbing the stairs and sees Luke standing there staring at the baby like it was going to explode or something. "Hey, Sports Center is on. Don't wory, you'll be fine." Luke nods then heads into the living room and turns on the TV. It comes on a little loud and he instantly looks into the kitchen to see if it woke the baby. It didn't but he decides to turn it down anyway. He can hear Lorelai running the water upstairs. He reasuures himself, only fifteen minutes then leans back to watch TV.
TBC