A/N: Thanks for all the spankingly marvellousreviews guys!
Now, we all know it is not often that I promote other stories (unless of course it's my own shameless self-promotion) but today I would like to make a little mention of a fan fic I have just came across. I HIGHELY advise that you all check out Natalia DeLuca's fan fic 'My Little Girl', a fantastic insight into Emily and Lorelai's relationship. I was completely awestruck by it and now have no choice but to tell everyone else about it! Go read and review it – and say torzibom sent you. You won't regret it!
ProFfeSseR: lol that's only because I'm watching like 2 or 3 episodes a night at the moment! Just going through all my old tapes and checking it out... omg I KNOW! Kirk would NEVER have been able to see them! It aggravates me!
ocdwithlhg: thanks for the review! Just wanted to ask, as I do quite a few of my reviewers, where your pen name comes from? I always like to know a little bit about my reviewers, makes it more fun that way! :p
Cordy18: well, why wouldn't a sheep in their right mind be wearing a t-shirt (or in lorelai's mind for that matter... lol!)
Ruli: plenty more where that came from!
Chelsea: I know, don't you love him?! Everytime he comes on screen I have this urge to just grab him and kiss him... or for Lorelai to grab him and kiss him... lol!
screaming truth: thanks again for the review!
Julian's Angel: well... you gotta have the cuteness factor, ey?!
Franala: oh! Are you reading my mind?! This is scary... we must be kindred spirits... lol!
Kimmers: oh I know! What's with all the animosity? (SORRY... had to use that word – B&B just has some classic vocab) Why did Lorelai have to find out like that? I mean, it's not exactly pleasant... for anyone involved. I'm quite saddened by the whole situation, because I cannot look at post-season 4 finale Rory the way I used to! It's so sad!
I apologise in advance for the extreme use of dialogue and stuff from the actual episode... I just figured that some things would stay exactly the same, so I may as well leave them exactly the same! You'll notice the changes though, I assure you.
And now I apologise for the extremely large author's note. Enjoy, and keep those reviews coming!
Rory awoke the following morning with a headache. She groaned to herself and rolled over to find her mother's bed empty. She looked at the clock; 8:42am. Well that was understandable – Lorelai had to be up before all the guests. Rory got up and got dressed and headed down to the dining room for breakfast, past Michel and Taylor arguing about something. Babette noticed her as she walked towards their table.
"Rory, we were wondering what happened to you," she said with a smile as Rory sat down.
"Yeah, I had decided to have a good sleep in," Rory replied, smiling as she noticed Davey. "Hey Davey, come for breakfast?"
"Yes he did. Didn't you Davey?" Patty said hugging the baby tighter.
"Yeah he did. Oops he's got that look on his face... you might want to give him back to me," Jackson said, reaching out for Patty to hand him Davey.
"Oh please," Patty replied, "if I went running everytime some guy tried to crap all over me I never would have gotten married."
Sookie came out of the kitchen and walked over to Rory. "Hey sweetie," she said with a smile, "have you seen your mom around?"
"Um... no, I thought she was already up. Why, haven't you seen her?" Rory asked, a little confused as to where her mother could be.
"No I haven't, I'll just have to go ask Michel," she said before walking off in the direction of the entrance. There she found Taylor and Michel squabbling.
"I specifically read that you have a complementary shoe shine service! Now one of my shoes has been mauled and the other has gone missing, I expect compensation!" Taylor said, thrusting a shoe out in Michel's face.
"Mr Doose," Michel replied in his thick French accent, "you have been rambling on for almost two minutes straight I suggest you take a breath."
"Don't you talk down to me Michel, you know what, I am going to go and find wherever I read that you have shoe shine service and then you can take that look off your face!" Taylor spouted back before heading up the stairs.
"That man is why mail order brides were invented," Michel mumbled to himself, taking a sip of his coffee. Sookie rushed over to him.
"Michel, have you seen Lorelai? It's past 9am and I haven't seen her anywhere yet. Neither has Rory."
"I suppose she still has her lazy rear end in bed," Michel said thickly.
"No, Rory said she wasn't there when she got up," speaking more to herself than Michel.
"Well when you find her, kill her for me won't you," Michel scowled before walking over to the desk. Suddenly it clicked in Sookie's mind. Luke! Lorelai would more than likely be with Luke! Sookie rushed up the stairs to Luke's room and knocked loudly on the door.
Luke woke with a start to a loud knock on the door. His sudden jolt woke up Lorelai who was still lying asleep in his arms. She rolled over and looked at him with a smile. Luke looked over her shoulder and noticed the time.
"Geez! It's after 9am!" he said. Lorelai's face immediately dropped.
"What?!" she replied.
"It's after 9am! We better get up!" he said, scrambling out of bed. Then he stopped. "Wait. Didn't someone just knock on the door?"
"I believe someone did," Lorelai relpied. Luke headed over to the door and opened it, to a stressed looking Sookie on the other side.
"Luke, Luke, is Lorelai here?" Sookie asked, panicked and pushing into the room. Luke didn't even have a chance to answer before she saw Lorelai – still in her pyjamas.
"Lorelai! It's past 9am! Where were you?!" Sookie asked, rushing over to her.
"Umm... I was in here... sorry Sookie! I'm so sorry! We fell asleep watching TV last night, and we must have overslept! I'm sorry!" she replied.
"Well you better hurry up and get dressed, I think Rory's a little worried about where you were and Taylor for some reason thinks we have a complementary shoe shine service!" Sookie said in a fuzz.
"What? We don't have a shoe shine service," Lorelai replied, her face twisted in confusion.
"I know, just, get dressed and head on down as soon as you can, okay?" Sookie said. Lorelai nodded. Sookie snuck a look over at Luke who then quickly pretended not to listen.
"I want all the details," Sookie whispered to Lorelai before scurrying out of the room and shutting the door behind her.
"I'm so sorry about this Lorelai," Luke said, walking over to her.
"No, don't worry about it," she replied, "I'm an idiot for falling asleep." They were quiet for a moment, just looking at each other.
"Umm... yeah I better get going before Sookie comes back with a big shiny knife and chops my head off," Lorelai said, stepping towards Luke and kissing him on the cheek. He took her face in his hands and brought her lips to his instead of his cheek and kissed her softly. They pulled apart, both with giddy smiles on their faces.
"I'll talk to you later," he said, as she headed towards the door.
"Bye."
Lorelai walked over to the front desk and noticed Rory there.
"Hey," Lorelai said, approaching her with a smile.
"Hey where have you been? I was just about to leave you a note," Rory said.
"Umm... well, it's a long story I'll tell you later," Lorelai said, "you feeling okay? You seemed a little bit... I dunno, distant last night."
"Yeah, I'm fine, totally fine," Rory replied, "I was just about to head off though, I need to talk to Lane."
"Oh," Lorelai said, slightly disappointed, "well, if you want to talk to me about anything, you know where to find me, okay?"
"Yep. Bye mom," Rory said, giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek.
"Bye sweetie," Lorelai said pouting slightly as her daughter walked out of the door. Something was wrong with Rory, and she was going to find out what it was if it was the last thing she did.
"Aha! Lorelai, I need to talk to you immediately!" Taylor said, after coming down the stairs and spotting Lorelai behind the desk. "I have spoken to Michel but he refuses to compensate me for my shoes!"
"Um, excuse me, what?" Lorelai asked.
"I left my shoes out in the hallway last night for your complementary shoe shine service -"
"Our what?"
"Your complementary shoe service, and one of my shoes was mauled and the other one went completely missing! See, its written down right here. Complementary shoe shine service," Taylor said, showing Lorelai a piece of paper and pointing to it.
"Uh, Michel," Lorelai said looking over to Michel, "hi, could you come over here for a minute?" Michel walked over to Lorelai and Taylor.
"Very sorry about this Taylor," Lorelai commented.
"Yes?" Michel enquired his hand in his pocket.
"Hey. Here I have a list of services, all printed up nice and neat, including seaweed wraps, facial peels, watsu massage, and complimentary shoeshines, all of which we do not offer," Lorelai said, showing Michel the list.
"Well we should," he replied matter-of-factly.
"Michel..."
"I mentioned them several times before, but you don't listen to me. Sookie wants to make each guest a meringue hat, and you say, "Oh, Sookie, what a brilliant idea." But I want to pamper our guests with services that we don't have, and you tell me to answer the phone," Michel said pointedly.
"I'm very sorry about this Taylor, we will replace your shoes, I promise you," Lorelai said, turning to Taylor.
"Fine. I'm a 6 ½ narrow," Taylor said, handing the shoe to Lorelai and walking off.
"I can't believe you did this!" Lorelai said to Michel, as he walked behind the desk nonchalantly.
"Oh, you can too," he replied.
"Get on the phone and find me shoes and have them here by tonight. And get your dogs off the premises immediately."
Michel's mouth dropped open in response. "My dogs aren't -"
"It's been a rough weekend. Don't screw with me," Lorelai said bitterly, pointing the mauled shoe in Michel's face.
"If Kirk can sleep inside, why can't my chows?" Michel said through gritted teeth.
"Get them and take them home."
"Okay, okay," Michel replied, holding his hand up defensively. "I just have to locate Pau-Pau."
"What?"
"He went out for a walk. He's around, he was just testing his boundaries," Michel replied.
"Apparently so are you," Lorelai said, getting irritated.
"I'm going," Michel said teasingly as Lorelai held up the shoe and he took it from her hand, heading out into the main foyer and whistling, "Pau-Pau."
Lorelai pulled out her cell phone and dialled a number.
"Luke's," came the reply.
"It's me."
"Hello?" Luke said loudly, trying to hear the person on the other end over the racket of the diner.
"It's me!"
"Oh, hi," Luke replied, tucking the phone under his ear and wiping down the counter.
"Can we talk?" Lorelai asked, walking away from the desk.
"Well, we're kind of busy," Luke said, taking two plates from Ceaser and placing them on the counter.
"I just wanted to talk," Lorelai replied.
"Talk about what?"
"What?"
"Talk about what?" Luke asked, raising his voice so that she could hear him.
"Could you find a quieter place?"
"Like where?"
"Just go outside."
"Phone doesn't reach outside."
"Use your cell phone," Lorelai replied.
"Uh, I don't have a cell phone."
"What happened to the phone Nicole gave you?"
"She got it back in the divorce. Actually, I threw it in the lake after the divorce," Luke replied, moving towards the store room and trying to get the phone cord around people. Meanwhile in the Inn Lorelai could hear Davey crying.
"Geez, what the hell is going on over there?" Luke asked, hearing the crying through the phone.
"What's going on over there?" Lorelai replied.
"Hold on!"
"You hold on too," Lorelai said, finding the coat closet and going inside. Luke went into the storage room.
"I'm good," Lorelai said, leaning against the door.
"I'm good too," Luke replied, sitting down on a chair.
"Good."
"So... you wanted to talk."
"Yeah, look, I'm sorry about last night and this morning," Lorelai said, sitting down on the ground leaning against the door and slipping her shoes off, "if I hadn't of come into your room we wouldn't have slept so late and you wouldn't be late to open the diner -" Lorelai noticed Pau-Pau next to her chewing on Taylor's missing shoe.
"Hey, no big deal," Luke replied.
"Oh, yeah, I didn't see you this morning... you know, except for the whole getting up late thing."
"Yeah, I couldn't find you before I had to slip out," Luke replied.
"No, that's okay," Lorelai said. They were quiet for a minute.
"So..." Lorelai prompted.
"So..."
"What are we going to tell everyone?" Lorelai asked.
"I don't know... do we have to tell them right now? I mean with Babette and Patty, they're such gossips -"
"They may already know," Lorelai said, cringing slightly.
"What?"
"They saw me come out of your room last night and... well, I think they were a little suspicious."
"Oh well. Well, I suppose people will find out when they find out. I mean, we won't try to hide it or anything... right?"
"I like the whole not hiding thing," Lorelai replied with a smile.
"So... I guess I'll talk to you later. Tonight?"
"Tonight," Lorelai smiled.
"Thanks for the call," Luke said, a satisfied smile on his face.
"Well, my pleasure," Lorelai replied hanging up the phone. She sat there with a contented smile on her face for a while, before looking down at Michel's dog, still happily eating Taylor's shoe.
"You better finish that whole thing, Pau-Pau."
A/N: Well! That was a long one! I promise the next one will have a lot more 'me' in it, and not so much stuff out of the show! Please review, review, REVIEW coz then the next part will come faster! :)
Tori
The keeper of:
Luke's Barbie Band-Aid, Emily's Pearls, and Lorelai's love for Luke
