While I'm in New York I will definitely not update. Maybe I will when I'm with my relatives in Canada but it's not a promise. I will definitely take a pen and paper so I can write whenever I feel like it. Thanks to those of you for reading and reviewing the last chapter and thanks to LorelaiAkaCoffeeAddict for proofreading, changing my weird phasing and making suggestions. I said it before and I say it again, you rock!
Chapter 38 (Strange) talks
Lorelai woke up when she heard her son cry. She opened her eyes and looked around, trying to make out where she was. She looked around but couldn't make out anything. She wasn't at home. She blinked a few more times trying to wake herself up completely. She looked next to her and saw Luke deep asleep. Since Lucan was crying and Luke was still asleep she hurried to get the baby.
She stepped out of the bed and suddenly remembered where she was. In a hotel room in London, to pick up Rory. A big smiled appeared on her face while she walked towards the crib to pick up the baby. "Hey Lucan." She cheered while she picked up the little boy. "You have to be a little more quiet otherwise you're going to wake up you're daddy and you don't want that now do you?"
Lucan kept crying and Lorelai wondered what time it was. She looked at her watch and saw it was 4 o clock. "You must be hungry." She looked around the room and wondered how she could heat up a bottle. They brought a bottle heater but the power in England was different than in America so it didn't worked here. 'Think Lorelai, think.' It was four o' clock in the afternoon, Rory would be here in three hours for dinner. She looked at herself in the big mirror that was standing on top of the desk on the left side of the room and noticed, that her clothes were messed up from sleeping in them. "Hon, we can go downstairs and ask the people in the restaurant to heat up your bottle but I have to change first okay?"
Lorelai put one of her fingers in the baby's mouth in the hope he would stop crying for a little while. She looked through the room in search of her suitcase. She found it and kneeled down in front of it, opening it. She took out a pair of jeans and a clean shirt. She knew she had to lay the baby down otherwise she couldn't change. Carefully she laid him on the bed next to Luke and gave him his pacifier. It seemed to work so she changed quickly. By the time she was done Lucan had dropped the pacifier and started crying again. Lorelai picked up the baby and picked a bottle from the diaper back. She left the room turning around once more to see Luke still asleep. She smiled when she opened the door, stepped out and carefully closed the door behind her.
Lorelai walked into the dining room downstairs with a still crying Lucan in her arms. An elder couple gave her a disapproving look. Even though Lorelai saw this, she decided to ignore it.
"How may I help you?" A waiter approached her.
"I was wondering if you could heat up a bottle for my son."
"Of course." The man took the bottle from Lorelai. He looked around and saw a few people sitting in the area, all looking at Lorelai. "I can have it delivered to your room so you do not have to wait in here."
"That's okay, I can wait."
"It's no problem, really."
"I'll wait at the bar. Please, just heat up the bottle because my son here is hungry."
The man nodded and walked away. Lorelai followed him with her eyes and shook her head. The tone of his voice implied that she wasn't welcome here with Lucan. She would never approve this kind of behavior in her Inn, not even from Michel. She sat down on one of the stools and lifted the baby to her chest. "Please calm down a little, honey, the people don't like you crying and all." She tried to put the pacifier in his mouth again but he wouldn't take it this time. It only upset him more. She glanced at the older couple and saw the woman holding the man's hand as if she was trying to stop him from standing up. She shook her head in disbelieve.
She and Luke had discussed which hotel to take after he had told her that he had bought the plane tickets. They've been searching on the internet an entire evening and came to this one because it was close to the university, the price was reasonable and they had baby cribs. They expected it to be a hotel were people came with their children, but when they checked in they already realized that even though they offered cribs, they weren't too thrilled to have children in the hotel. At first she thought the concierge was just like Michel but now she started to believe everyone in this hotel was like him.
She kept staring at the people and saw how the man pulled his hand away from his wife's and stood up. She saw him coming towards her and instinctively pulled the baby even closer to her chest.
"Ma'am it's highly inappropriate to take a crying baby into a restaurant." Even though the look on the man's face was very angry, his voice was calm and stern.
"I'm sorry that my son is hungry and that he cries because of that. But he's only a baby so I can't tell him to stop crying. Plus, there is no bottle heaters in the room so I had to come here to ask if they could heat up his bottle."
"It's normal to take something like that with you when you go to a hotel."
"I did, but since the power voltage here is different than it is in America it won't work here."
"Then there's always the so called room service."
"I know that, but my husband is sleeping upstairs and I didn't want to disturb him."
"So you'd rather disturb every single guest in this hotel?" The man raised his voice now. "You should know that's highly inappropriate."
"I'm sorry sir but from the way I see it, you're disturbing the guests more with your screaming than my son here does. And if you don't want to be disturbed by kids, you might want to stay in your room. I'm sure the so called room service will serve you there without any kids disturbing you."
The man became even angrier. His face turned deep read and Lorelai couldn't help but think that it wouldn't take long before steam would be fuming with anger. "You….."
"Sir, if you just calm down. The bottle will be ready in a few minutes and my son will calm down as soon as I give it to him."
"Do not tell me what to do." He was standing right in front her now, screaming in her face. Lorelai started to feel scared and Lucan started crying harder and harder.
At this point a big hand pulled the man away from Lorelai. She was relieved to see it was Luke. "You okay?"
She nodded.
The man started screaming at Luke now. "Don't touch me."
"You better stay away from my wife or I'll do it again." He threatened and his voice showed the man that he was angry.
The man's wife started to walk to the small group now too and asked "What's going on?"
"These… these people.." The man stammered angrily.
Luke walked around the man and stood next to Lorelai now. "Your husband is screaming at my wife. I wonder why." He looked at Lorelai.
"Because Lucan's crying." Her voice was shivering even though she tried to hide it.
"What?" Luke's voice was soft as he looked Lorelai in the eyes.
"I came here because Lucan's hungry and we can't heat up a bottle for him upstairs. The second I walked in here with Lucan who was crying, they started giving me disapproving looks. I decided to ignore it and gave the bottle to the waiter who tried to push me out of the room but I didn't let him. So I sit down here and this man walks towards me and starts telling me how inappropriate it is to take a crying baby in a restaurant."
Luke shook his head. "Don't you have children?" He turned towards the woman.
"We have a 30 year old boy."
"And when he was little, he never cried when you took him somewhere or pulled a fight because he didn't want to do something you wanted him to do?"
"I…. We…."
"I thought so."
"I'm very sorry for my husbands reaction I…."
"You should be. From now on no matter how hard the baby is crying you make sure your husband leaves him and my wife alone. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Good." He crossed his arms and waited for the people to walk away.
While Luke did that the waiter came back with Lucan's bottle. He looked at the people giving each other angry stares and the upset baby in Lorelai's arms. "Here you go ma'am."
Luke took the bottle from his hands instead. "Thank you."
"Is something wrong sir?"
"Let's see. My wife looks upset, my son is upset and only because you can't do your job right."
"Excuse me sir?"
"First you tell my wife to wait somewhere else for the bottle so the people in this restaurant wouldn't be bothered by his crying."
"I did not say such a thing sir."
"Maybe not in those words, but I'm sure that's what you implied. Second, you don't pay any attention to what's happening in this restaurant. There was quite a scene here but it looks like you didn't even notice."
The waiter looked around and saw everybody starting at the people in front of him. "I'm sorry sir. I was preoccupied in the kitchen but I promise you it will not happen again. You, your wife and your baby are welcome to stay in this restaurant any time you want and I'm sorry if anything made you think otherwise."
Luke nodded. "Thank you." Then he put a hand on Lorelai's back and whispered. "Come on, let's feed the baby upstairs."
She stood up silently still holding the baby tight to her chest and they walked away without saying another word.
While they were standing in the elevator Lorelai finally let out a deep sigh and loosened the grip on the baby. "Wow."
"Yeah, you can say that again. What a complete jerk. How dare he talk to you like that. I woke up in our room and notice you and Lucan gone so I change my clothes, walk downstairs and see him standing right in front of you and hear him screaming at you. I was so mad. How dare he do that?" Luke's voice was raising.
"Honey calm down. It's okay now. We're going upstairs to our room and we will feed Lucan. We're going to take a shower and stay in our room until Rory comes to get us. We don't have to spend to much time downstairs with those people and I think you made it pretty clear to the guy to leave me and Lucan alone from now on."
"But…."
"It's okay. If you're going to be all upset now all you'll do is upset Lucan and I think he had enough downstairs. I want to enjoy the rest of this vacation and I don't want a jerk like that guy downstairs ruin it for us. This is our time with our family and he can't do anything to ruin it. Understand?"
Luke nodded. "You're right."
She gave him a smile and leaned in to kiss him. When the elevator stopped on their floor they pulled apart. She took his hand in hers and together they walked towards their room.
A little after seven there was a knock on the door. Luke stood up from the bed and turned off the TV. Then he opened the door. "Hey Rory."
"Hey Luke. How are you."
"Great, you?"
"Same."
"Come in, you're mom is still in the bathroom getting ready."
"I should have know. I tried to be late but I was really excited about seeing you and Lucan again so I had to leave."
"No problem. I'm sure she's ready soon." And a little louder he called. "Lorelai, hurry up. Rory's here."
"Coming soon." they heard her yell back.
Luke smiled. "So, how's that paper coming?"
"Pretty good. It's almost done. There's a small part left I have to write and have to read it over to see if there are any mistakes but then I can print it and turn it in. Should be done by tomorrow."
"That's great. You know how proud I am of you right?"
"I do, and thanks."
"You're welcome."
"How long has my mom been in the bathroom?"
"Almost an hour."
"You mind if I go check on her?"
"No, not at all. I didn't want to do it myself, 'cause then she'd think I'm rushing her. I think it's different when you do it."
"Good. I'll be right back."
"Take your time." Luke knew Rory wanted some time alone with her mother.
Rory stood up and knocked the bathroom door.
"I already said I'm almost ready."
"I know. Can I come in?"
"Rory, yeah sure, the door is unlocked."
Rory pushed the door open and stepped in. She saw her mother sitting on the toilet seat. She was wearing clothes but she had her hair in a towel and hadn't put any makeup on.
"Mom, what's going on?"
"Nothing. I'm almost ready, really."
"I can see that. You've picked out clothes so that's something but you're far from ready mom. What's going on?"
"Nothing, really. I swear."
"Okay, I know we haven't seen each other much lately, but I still know you and I know something's up. Talk to me." Rory sat down on the rim of the bathtub.
"I don't know really. It's just… I've been feeling kind of weird lately. I'm overreacting all the time, I'm emotional."
"How?"
"Like this afternoon. Lucan woke up and Luke was asleep on the bed so I took Lucan downstairs to the restaurant so they could heat up a bottle for him and this couple gives us a disapproving look because he's crying and while I wait for the waiter to bring me the bottle the old guy walks towards me and starts yelling at me how inappropriate it is for me to take a crying baby in a restaurant. First he's calm but when I defend Lucan he gets more mad and starts yelling and he walks closer and at some point I actually got scared."
"Seems logical. You were holding a baby and the guy was yelling at you and coming closer so you think he can actually hurt you or the baby. Everybody would have been scared. But what happened next?"
"Luke walked in and pulled the guy away from me and defended me. My voice was shivering while I explained to him what happened and after that I couldn't talk anymore until we were in the elevator." Lorelai hated to admit this.
"Like I said, that's totally logical. Don't worry about it mom."
"But I had to walk away. I got me and Lucan in a situation where we could actually get hurt. Who knows what would have happened if Luke hadn't come?"
"Do you think they guy would have hurt you for real?"
"I don't know, I don't think so but I got scared and that's wrong. I always thought I never get scared of anything, but I did. It's not me Rory, it's not."
"What happened, happened, mom. Don't worry about it too much. Let's get your hair done and put on some makeup so we can go out to eat? I'm sure you're hungry?"
"I am. It's just…."
"It's okay. I love you mom. You are the best mom anyone could wish for. And you will be just as great to Lucan as you were to me. I know that." Rory realized where her mother's fears and insecurities came from.
"How?"
"When I was little it was just you to raise me and you did great. I know you think you couldn't give me anything you wanted but you did. You gave me love, you gave me a home and you gave me anything I ever wanted. You made sure I got into Chilton so I could go to Harvard. And when I got into Harvard, Yale and Princeton you helped me choose what was best for me and supported my decision, even though it wasn't your first choice.
You sacrificed a lot of things for me just so you could give me anything you wanted me to have and I know you're insecure now just because you don't have to do it alone anymore. You think you rely on Luke too much and that you need him to protect you all the time but that's not true mom. You're equal and you don't need him, but that doesn't mean it's not great to have someone you can depend on. But there's nothing new there mom. You already did that before you married him, before you started dating. He was around all the time and partially helped raising me. He fixed stuff around our house and he was the one that fed us most of the time. He was the one you went to when you had a problem or needed someone to talk to. Even though you weren't with him, he was with us. And you know that."
"I do but…"
"No listen."
"No Rory wait. I know what you're saying and that's all true, but I realized a few months ago that Luke and I are equal and we're in this together. And I love not having to do everything by myself and I know that sometimes it's hard but I'm working on it and we're getting there. Together."
"Then what is it mom?"
"I just don't feel like myself lately. Like yesterday in the airplane Luke went to change Lucan's diaper and he was gone for a while so I got up to look for him to see if everything was okay. When he came out of the lavatory this woman starts asking about our daughter. You. And she asked us why we left you alone so Luke replied that you could stay by yourself for a while so she asked how old you are. At that point Luke looked at me, his eyes begging me to answer. So I answer and I'm mad at him instantly. I kept asking him why he's ashamed of me. I totally overreacted and after 15 minutes or so he told me why he acted like that and it turned out to be really sweet."
"I can understand how it looked mom. Don't worry so much."
"It's just hard."
"Tell me why you're upset now. Why you're not fully dressed while you keep saying that you're almost ready?"
"I don't know. I was in the shower and my mind started to drift off and before I knew it I was sitting here, feeling like I should cry or something."
"Maybe it's just the jetlag that makes you feel this way."
"I'm not so sure about that."
"But you're tired mom. Sometimes when you're tired you overreact or you react differently than you normally would. But that's okay. Because we love you. And you shouldn't worry about anything of that. You're going to be fine."
"How can you be so sure about that?"
"Because I know you mom. I've known you for all my live and I know you exactly. I know how you feel, I know what you think. I know you're a terrible liar. I know you're really bad at keeping secrets so I wonder how you could not tell me that you were coming here."
Lorelai smiled at that. "I know."
"See, that's the mom I know. I love it when you smile and when you're happy. I know that even though you want to appear strong on the outside, you're very insecure on the inside. But that's not necessary mom. You don't have to doubt yourself so much. You're an amazing woman and we love you for who you are. Good things and bad. We both know how much Luke loves you. You know how much I love you and Lucan loves you too mom. You know that. And like I said, he's very lucky to have you as his mother."
"He's lucky to have you as his sister too."
"Thanks. I really missed you mom."
"I missed you too babe."
"You should get your hair done and put some makeup on. Luke's waiting and I'm sure that by now he fell asleep."
"Oh! If he did we'll let him sleep and go out ourselves!"
"We can not do that mom."
"Why not? It will be easy. Sneak out and leave the baby with him. Then he can deal with the stupid people when Lucan cries because he's hungry and they…"
"Mom, shut up."
"Hey, you can't say that to your mother."
"Well you heard me. Shut up."
They both smiled and Lorelai pulled Rory close into a hug. "I'm glad you're finally coming home. I know you're really going to miss this place but like I said earlier, you might come back here again. Hopefully just not for a year."
"Never. I loved the past year but it was hard to be here all by myself. I'm pretty sure we're going to be apart more, especially once I'm a journalist and they send me somewhere to cover a story, but I'm not going away for a year anymore. It's just too hard. I miss you to much and I feel like I'm missing everything. Think about Lucan. If grandma hadn't gotten into that accident this would have been the first time I saw him. Can you believe that?"
"It's weird isn't it? Did he grow a lot since you saw him last?"
"Do you have to ask? He's so much bigger and heavier. He looks even more like Luke than he already did when I first saw him."
"I guess you don't really see it when you're around him every day."
"Guess not. It's weird isn't it?"
"Yeah it is. You know it feels like you grew too since I saw you last."
"What? I stopped growing when I was 16 or so."
"That's not what I meant. You're growing up. You're becoming a real adult now. You're not my little girl anymore."
"I will always be your little girl, mom. In your eyes I'll always be."
"That's a good thing right?"
"I don't know. Maybe…. yeah I guess it is."
Lorelai pulled Rory toward her for another hug when there was a knock on the door. "Everything okay in there?"
"We're fine thanks. You can come in if you want."
Luke opened the door and smiled when he saw his two girls together. Both of them had tears in their eyes.
"You sure you okay?"
Lorelai wiped the tears from her eyes and used her thumb to wiped Rory's tears away too. "We're more then fine."
"Good. I wanted to let you know the food's here."
"What?"
"I ordered room service. Burgers, fries, lot's of other junk food. I thought we could stay here and watch a movie or something. I had a feeling you weren't going to be ready anytime soon and I know how tired I am so you must be equally tired and I thought that you would enjoy a nice night on the bed, watching a movie, since we don't have a couch."
Lorelai stood up and walked towards Luke, putting both her arms around his waist. "You're amazing you know that. That's exactly what I wanted for tonight."
He kissed her. "I also asked a bellboy if he could go to the store and buy us a bottle heater so we don't have to go downstairs every time with a crying baby, waiting for them to heat up a bottle, especially since that cute boy of ours will wake up in the middle of the night, hungry. I'm pretty sure the restaurant is closed by then."
"Thanks. That's perfect."
There was a knock on the door "Room service"
"I'll better get that. You coming?"
"Yeah, we're coming."
Lorelai watched how Luke walked away and then turned around to face Rory. "Do you mind if we stay here, eat junk food and watch a movie?"
"Not at all. It's perfect. Just like the old days right?"
"Except now Luke's here."
"Not that old. Last summer before I left we had enough movie nights with Luke included."
"Yeah you're right. I missed that. It's fun to watch a movie with Luke, but not as much fun as watching one with you. But you can't tell him that."
"I heard you." Luke yelled from the living room.
"Great." Lorelai whispered. "Come on." She took Rory's hand in hers and pulled her up from the bathtub. She used her other hand to remove the towel from her head. "No use to that one anymore. My hair will be a mess if I don't do anything with it now but I'll see to that in the morning. Probably have to wash it again so I'm able to do anything with it, but if we don't go now Luke will be mad."
"What time is it anyway?"
Lorelai checked her watch. "Almost 8."
"We've been in here pretty long."
"Yeah we were. But I missed our alone time. I can tell Luke stuff but it's different to tell you ya know?"
"I know. It's same with Warren."
"Speaking of which, when do I finally get to meet him?"
"We can go out tomorrow night if you want? I know a few good places to eat around here and I'm sure Warren would love to meet you too."
"Sounds perfect, hon."
They walked towards the main room where Luke had spread out all the food on the bed. They sat down on the bed together, Luke on the left, Lorelai in the middle and Rory on the right. "You did perfect, ordering all this food."
"They asked how much people there were in this room when I ordered."
"That's the same question you asked when Rory and I came to eat at the diner the first time, remember?"
"You remember that? Back then you didn't even remembered my name."
"Did too. Just didn't felt like calling you by your real name, that's all."
"For two years?"
Lorelai just smiled as she picked up a burger and let herself fall back into the pillows while Luke used the remote to start the movie. "Which movie is this?" She had her mouth half full while she asked.
"Just watch and see."
"Oh my God." Rory exclaimed as soon as the movie started. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"What, not good?" Luke looked at the girls, his eyes questioning.
"Know what you get yourself into hon, this movie is totally mockable."
About 15 minutes into the movie Luke started to heat up a bottle for Lucan and by the time it was warm enough the baby woke up. He sat down on the bed again and enjoyed how Lorelai and Rory were commenting every single event in the movie. He had missed that the past year. He knew they would react to the movie like this. When Lucan finished his bottle he kept holding him. He held him up a little so he could watch Lorelai and Rory. The little boy responded by laughing when he saw his mother and big sisters behavior. Luke smiled at this. This is what he knew Lorelai had wanted all year and what he had wanted all year. A perfect family, all together.
A/N: That's it for now. Like I said I don't know when the next chapter will be up but the story not over yet. I'm getting close but there are at least 2 more chapters I want to write and you never know if something else comes to mind. I will be home by August first so except an update from me the weekend after that date latest! And last, don't forget to let me know what you think of this chapter!