Note: Sorry I didn't post anything for a LONG time, but I got stumped. I had planned this to be a 3 piece fic and couldn't figure out for the life of me how to reconcile Luke and Lorelai after how chapter two was left. So it is now a four chapter fic and the last and final installment after this chapter should appear shortly (so in less than a day). I promise.
"I can't move that thing in two days!" Lorelai whined to Sookie. The day had gone by in a whirlwind and Lorelai had spent most of it dreaming up ways she could remove the boat without putting her in an undesirable position. Magic and murder were already considered but put on the list under the heading of "If all else fails." Unfortunately she didn't have a Plan A to fail.
Sookie looked at her watch. "Lorelai, sweetie, I'd love to help you but it's almost five and Jackson and I have a doctor's appointment to make."
Lorelai sighed and tried smiling. "You should go."
"If there's anything I can do, let me know, alright?"
Lorelai gave her friend a hug and stood there, fully appreciating the offer. "I'll call if I need anything."
Sookie picked up her things and backed out of the door, waving a wish of luck to Lorelai.
It took no longer than thirty seconds for Lorelai to collect herself and go after Sookie left. With her pea coat on and her purse on her shoulder, she flipped open her cell phone and speed dialed the only rational person she knew to call: Rory.
Lorelai walked down the driveway of the inn with a brisk step as she listened to the line on the other end ring. On the fifth ring it was picked up.
"Hello?"
"Why hello, Miss Gilmore. This is Mitzi with the New York Times. How are you doing this evening?" Lorelai smiled through her façade.
"Hey Mom."
"Hey babe."
"What's up?" Lorelai could hear that Rory was in the middle of something, but unlike other times recently, Lorelai knew that she had her daughter's full attention.
"I need your help."
"With what?"
"Transforming Mommy into Linda Carter."
"Hmm... Unfortunately I haven't yet mastered the basics of plastic surgery and I think the waiting list for Extreme Makeover is just a little long for anything of any urgency."
Lorelai had missed having banter. Where had it gone?
"Mom?"
Lorelai snapped out of her trance. "I'm here."
"So, why the sudden need to don the red, white, and blue leotard?"
"I need to move Luke's boat." There was a pause on the other end. "Rory?"
"Why do you need to move it?"
"Because otherwise I'd be scared of Lovely Rita coming and knocking down my door telling me the specifics of the town regulations that it's currently violating."
"What?" Rory paused to think. "Wait a minute, who?"
"Lovely Rita."
"Since when do we have a meter maid?"
"That was exactly my question!"
"But anyway, why wouldn't she go bang on Luke's door and tell him all the town regulations?"
"Because she thinks that I own the boat."
"And why does she think this?"
"Because that's what I told her. I mean, technically it is mine. I bought it. But it is Luke's boat, I guess. Anyway, I paid the parking ticket for it and she told me it had to be off the street in two days." Lorelai sighed.
She was now walking through the middle of town towards Weston's. She needed coffee in order to think properly, she resolved. But although she was walking the familiar route through the square, she did not look up. She concentrated on the ground in front of her, making sure not to trip. It was difficult walking on grass in stilettos.
"Two days?" Rory more stated than asked. "That's not very long."
"That's what I said!" Lorelai wasn't really sure if she had actually said it, or just felt it, but it was good to have her intentions reiterated by someone else.
"Why'd you pay the fine?"
"What?"
"You didn't have to, you know. You could have just left it for Luke to deal with."
"It's not fair to him. Where's he going to put it?"
"Back in our garage."
Lorelai snorted. "If only."
"What?"
Lorelai didn't respond.
"Mom?"
"I miss him, Rory."
"I know you do. But it's more than that, isn't it?"
Again, Lorelai chose to remain silent.
"You love him, don't you?"
Lorelai sat down on a bench and leaned her head back to stare at the drifting clouds in the sky. Her eyes misted over and threatened tears, but none broke forth.
"Mom?"
"Yeah."
"You love him, don't you?" Rory posed again.
"Yeah," she finally admitted.
A minute passed, as had the majority of the clouds. The sky started turning radiant shades of violet and salmon, and Lorelai could only watch in wonder.
"Rory?" she finally beckoned.
"Yeah, Mom?"
"I'll do anything." She wanted him back more than anything. She wanted to be held in his arms again. To have him at her house again. To have the boat back in her garage again. To have him working on the boat again. To be "all in" again. And she was sure that she would have to be the one to get it there again.
"Anything, huh?" her daughter asked. She sounded more than willing to help Lorelai's desperate situation.
Lorelai picked up her head and stood up, walking the rest of the way to Weston's. "Anything," she affirmed, now excited with the sheer possibility of a quick and romantic reconciliation that would be initiated by her.
Lorelai could hear Rory musing over a solution on the other end as she entered Weston's and ordered a coffee to go. When she was handed her paper cup she paid and left, her phone still attached to her ear.
"Is there anything wrong with the Jeep? Can't you tow stuff on the back of it?"
"Nothing's wrong with the Jeep, but the problem remains that I don't know how to hook..." Lorelai stopped herself short when she looked up from the ground and saw beyond her Luke's Diner – without a boat on the street in front of it.
A pregnant pause.
"Mom?" she heard ring in her ear.
"Oh my god."
"Mom? What happened? Are you okay?"
"The boat."
"What about the boat?"
"It's not here."
"It's not there?"
"It's gone."
"What does that mean?" Rory asked.
Lorelai never heard the question. "It's gone," she repeated to herself.
Neither Gilmore girl spoke for a minute or two.
"Well," Rory eased in, "I guess that means I don't have to get you an invisible plane."
TBC
