Life Changing Events
Lorelai walked out of her parent's house and slammed the door. Suddenly everything was quiet but her mind was racing. She stood perfectly still in the entryway to her parents home and tried to form coherent thoughts in her head. What had her Dad said, that Rory was going to live with them, in the pool house of all places. And that he would get her a job, a job. She didn't want Rory to have a job.
She, herself, had had a job for most of her life, it was just now that she and Sookie had bought the Dragonfly, that she felt like she had more than a job, she had her own business. She was a success now, but look how long it had taken her and look at what she had missed. She sighed deeply. She didn't want Rory to have a job, Rory was supposed to have a career. Rory was supposed to set the world on fire. She was supposed to have everything, everything, every opportunity that she herself had not had. Rory was supposed to have more.
She started to walk to her car, trying to think of a plan. What could she do, how could she convince Rory to go back to school, any school, it didn't have to be Yale, but as long as she was going to school, she still had a chance, a chance for more, a chance for everything.
Suddenly she stopped and looked around. That was Rory's car. She was here. She must be in the pool house. Lorelai turned and headed around the back of the house. Maybe if she could just talk to her one more time, she could convince her that what that asshole, Mitchum Huntzburger, had told her was wrong. Her body went rigid and a sound escaped her mouth that anyone within hearing distance would have described as a growl. Just thinking about him made her skin crawl. She shook her head in an effort to erase him from her mind. Fuming about what he had done to her daughter would do her no good right now. She needed to concentrate on Rory and getting her back to school.
She walked around the pool and saw Rory through the window. She was unpacking her belongings, making this place her own. Lorelai stopped and watched for a minute, wondering what she could say to her to make her change her mind, but she couldn't think of anything. All she could think of, as she watched her putting her books in the bookshelf, was how much she loved her, and how much she wanted for her, and how they had worked together for so long to achieve their goal. When had all that stopped? When had they stopped working together? Why was Rory so willing to believe that she couldn't do it?
She thought back to Rory's childhood. Was there something that she could have done differently? Something she should have taught Rory? Probably, but she didn't know what it was now. Rory was always so smart. Things came easy to her. School was easy, until she went to Chilton that is and she was behind. Headmaster Charleston had told her she might fail, but she wouldn't accept that. She worked hard and she was class valedictorian at her graduation, for God's sake. How does a Class Valedictorian just give up after one negative review?
Just then Rory turned and looked outside, and just for a minute they stared into each others eyes, and then Rory turned away and continued unpacking. Lorelai stood still for another minute, wondering what she had just seen in her daughter's eyes. She had seen love briefly but then it had changed to something else. What was it? Slowly Lorelai tore her eyes away from her daughter and turned to leave. Whatever it was that she had seen in Rory's eyes, there was something forbidding in it. Something that told her she was not welcome.
As she drove back to Stars Hollow, tears ran steadily down her face and every once in a while she reached up and wiped them away as if in an act of defiance. She was tired and she couldn't think. She would think tomorrow. Tonight, she would just go home and sleep.
That was her plan for now, not much of a plan she admitted to herself, but she had no ideas. She would come up with an idea tomorrow. Now she would just go home and sleep. When she found herself pulling up in front of Luke's diner, a questionable look appeared on her face. She hadn't meant to come here, or had she. She looked inside and saw Luke cleaning off a table and she shut off the engine of the jeep and went inside.
"Rory dropped out of Yale."
"What?"
"She dropped out of Yale and she moved in with my parents, who I went to for help and they stabbed me in the back. Everything we've worked for, all these years, her whole future." Lorelai shook her head. She was still having a hard time believing that any of this was really happening, but it felt good to tell Luke. To share it with him somehow lightened her burden. "She was supposed to have more than me, she was supposed to have everything. That was the plan, we had a plan."
Luke was staring at Lorelai. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. All her life Rory had wanted to go to Harvard, well now Yale, but it was the same thing. She had worked so hard. He had watched her and admired her and cheered for her. He had seen her blossom from an adorable young girl to a beautiful full-grown woman. He loved her as if she was his own child.
This could not happen. He would not allow it. He would not stand by and let her ruin her life. "Okay, I'm sorry. I have to jump in here. Uh, I know you think you have this thing handled, but I can help." Luke began to pace the floor as his mind worked desperately to find a way to prevent Rory from ruining her life. "First off, we call Yale and we tell them something like, uh, Rory had a chemical imbalance and she was mentally out of her mind when she told them she was dropping out. And then we get her out of your parent's house whatever way we can. We lock her up in her room with you, because you can talk anybody into anything."
Lorelai smiled at Luke's description of her abilities. He was always with her. Whatever her problems were he was always there for her and he listened and understood and tried to help in whatever way he could.
She thought back to the time that Rory had run away to her parents house when she was so upset about breaking up with Dean and how she had come into Luke's diner and told him about Rory and he almost had a heart attack until he found out she was okay and then how he had run down Dean with her and made her feel better and had reassured her that Rory would be home soon. She thought about how she had come to him when she was overwhelmed and running out of money to build the Dragonfly and he had held her while she cried and then he gave her the money she needed to finish the construction. She could think of a hundred examples of how he had helped her and shown her that he loved her.
He was an amazing man and she suddenly realized how much she loved him. Oh she knew that she loved him, she had known that since they had broken up and got back together after her parents wedding vow renewal, but what she hadn't realized was how long she had loved him. Up until now she thought it was her feelings for Christopher that had intruded on her love life and had sabotaged her previous relationships but it wasn't Christopher at all, it was Luke. She had loved him for a long time and she knew that she would not be able to live without him.
She sat back in her chair a little bit and a stunned look appeared on her face at the reality of this revelation. She smiled inwardly and a peace came over her. This was it, this was what she had been looking for and the funny thing was, it had been right in front of her all this time. She watched as Luke continued to plan to get Rory back in school and she knew that he loved Rory almost as much as she did. In a lot of ways he had been more of a father to her than Christopher had ever been. The love came into her eyes and as she continued to listen to him she knew what she wanted to do.
"And if worse comes to worst, we will drive her to school every day and we will follow her to class and camp out there to make sure she goes. I'll take morning classes, you take afternoon classes, or the other way around, if it works out better for your schedule. And I know there's a few kinks to work out, the kidnapping thing might be a little problematic but either way, she is not quitting school. This was her dream. I am not going to let this happen."
Luke stopped and took a deep breath. Lorelai had been quiet for a while and he was worried about her. He looked into her eyes, and he was surprised. He didn't see all the sadness that he had expected. Oh, the sadness was there but it seemed to be buried by something else at the minute. What was he seeing in her eyes? He couldn't quite put his finger on it. "What?"
Lorelai took a deep breath and marveled at what she was about to do. She was nervous, not because she was unsure of herself, she knew that this was what she wanted, but because she didn't know how Luke would react. "Luke, will you marry me?" Her voice wavered a little bit but she let out her breath and watched Luke carefully.
Luke's jaw dropped and he stopped in his tracks. His mind was playing tricks on him. She didn't just ask him to marry her. "What?"
Lorelai sat up straighter in her chair. The walls that she had built around herself were falling down and she knew that he could destroy her with one word but she also knew that she could destroy herself if she didn't take this chance. "I love you Luke Danes and I want to marry you."
Luke crossed the diner in one stride and pulled Lorelai out of her chair and into his arms. She looked into his eyes and the love that she saw was total and complete. His voice was a whisper in her ear. "I will marry you Lorelai Gilmore." His mouth was on hers before he finished his sentence and his tongue was at her lips and his whole body enveloped hers. She lost herself in him and he in turn lost himself in her. Their kiss lasted several minutes and a bomb could have gone off around them and neither of them would have noticed but suddenly he pulled back from her and disengaged himself.
"Wait here." He said and he turned and walked out of the diner.
Lorelai stood still, completely stunned for a minute and then she sat down heavily on her chair as if her legs wouldn't hold her anymore. He had said yes. She couldn't believe it. She was going to marry Luke. She had to tell Rory. Rory would be so happy. Rory. Lorelai put her head in her hands and cried.
A few minutes later Luke reentered the diner and ran to Lorelai when he saw her crying. He knelt down beside her and put his arms around her. "What is it? What's wrong?" He asked desperately but Lorelai just shook her head and burrowed deeper into his shoulder. He held her for a few minutes in silence but his imagination was getting the better of him. He thought she changed her mind, that she had come to her senses. After all why would a beautiful, wonderful, fantastic woman like Lorelai want him? He pulled away and looked into her eyes. "Lorelai please."
Lorelai hugged him tightly again. "Rory, I can't tell Rory." She said into his jacket and he wrapped her up in his arms.
"You can tell Rory." He said with a new determination. "You just have to be a little patient. Everything is going to be alright." He pulled back and looked into her eyes again. "You have to believe that. You and I will fix it. Together we will get through to her. We will get through to her because we won't give up until we do. I promise you it will be alright." And with that he pulled her close again and this time she was the one who started the kiss and eventually they turned out the lights and walked upstairs to bed.
