For the moment this is a one-shot because I honestly don't know how the next scene would play out... perhaps it is better to leave it to the imagination. ;)
Copyright: The show owns the characters, not me.
It had been a bad day for Luke.
It had in fact be a series of very bad days for Luke. He woke in the morning, came down stairs for the breakfast group. No Lorelai. There had been no Lorelai for breakfast since that horrible night at Gilmore wedding. Invariably though having to serve an endless stream of customers that were not Lorelai just served to blacken his mood.
Then no Lorelai with the lunch rush.
No Lorelai coming for a horribly unhealthy dinner.
No Lorelai running in at random times over the course of the day to beg for coffee.
By the time he closed up the diner in the evenings, it was all Luke could do but trudge up the stairs and collapse numbly into bed to await another Lorelai-less day.
As miserably as he was though, Luke kept telling himself he had done the right thing. He had cut himself out of the whole tangled Lorelai-Christopher-Gilmore family nightmare. If he had stayed he would've only been dragged in deeper and had his heart raked over the coals later.
He had done the right thing.
He had done the smart thing.
He had.
And this is what he repeated to himself as he stacked cans, dried coffee mugs and missed Lorelai like someone had cut a hole the size of a bowling ball in the center of his chest.
He heard the chimes on the diner's front door and could not bring himself to look up, to face another customer. "I'm about to close up," Luke called, his back resolutely turned.
"Hello Luke."
Luke turned. He was vaguely surprised he couldn't even muster the energy to be shocked or horrified. If a fiery chasm had opened in the floor and hell had spat out his worst nightmare, he probably wouldn't have been shocked. Although, all thing considered, maybe it had.
"Emily," he acknowledged.
"I was wondering if we could talk," Emily said, perhaps a little too brightly as she sat down at the counter.
"I don't talk, I just serve the coffee," Luke replied blandly. "It is something I'm known for."
"It won't take long," she said, slipping off her coat and making herself comfortable.
Luke sighed, leaning heavily on the counter. "It's late, Emily. I have worked all day in my quaint little diner and now I am very tired. I don't know what is going on with you and Lorelai right now, but I have nothing to do with it. I am gone from Lorelai's life."
Emily fidgeted for a moment, staring at her hands. Luke was struck momentarily by how much it reminded him of Lorelai when she was working herself up to say something she really didn't want to say.
"It went all wrong," Emily said finally.
Luke snorted, the hurt inside him bubbling up before he could stop it. "What Lorelai and Christopher didn't fall into each other's arms after I left that night? Don't worry, just give them time."
Emily shook her head, "No, I don't think it'll ever happen now."
Luke said nothing, so Emily looked him plainly in the eye. "I never understood it. Lorelai wouldn't marry Christopher at sixteen, even when she was pregnant. He wasn't a good father to Rory, but he was her father and Lorelai... all those years that she pushed him away, I always knew Lorelai did love him. I always thought eventually, given enough time, she'd work that out and they'd be the family that they always should have been. It wouldn't have made up for everything that had been lost, but maybe..."
The gaping bowling ball size emptyness in Luke's chest was expanding exponentially now, threatening to create a black hole that would leave him as only a hollow shell. His stubborn pride was the only thing preventing his knees from giving out underneath him. Luke swallowed thickly, "Emily, for the love of God, will you please just go."
"I made a mistake, Luke," Emily said. "I thought I was fixing things so that they would end up perfect, just as I always wanted for her. I thought I knew what my daughter looked like when she was in love. But if she ever loved Christopher, it is nothing compared to what she feels for you."
Luke felt hope begin to swell up in him, but he stamped it down firmly. Instead he forced himself to meet Emily's eye. "Why are you telling me this?"
Emily's eyes narrowed and she seemed to regain some of her usual regal air. "Because I'm not sure you deserve her."
"Well you've made that plainly obvious."
"Oh please, I'm not talking about your place of employment or your questionable shaving technique," Emily said. "Lorelai loves you and you clearly love her. I thought it was foolish enough when you two made eyes at each other for years and did nothing. But maybe that's all you ever wanted."
"What!"
"Just a bit of harmless flirtation," Emily went on mercilessly, "Better that Lorelai knows that now before things get serious and she winds up getting really hurt."
"Now just-..! You were the one who-..!" Luke found he'd lost the ability to form sentences. What was it with the Gilmore mind! Luke stared at this woman who moments ago looked like she might be on the verge of an apology and who now looked perversely victorious.
"Because if you loved her," Emily said finally, "half as much as she appears to love you, you wouldn't let Christopher-or even me-stand in your way, now would you?"
Luke blinked, even his inarticulate sputtering had gone quiet.
Emily's smug smile only broadened. "Now, if I could just get one coffee, I'll be on my way. I believe you said you were about to close up."