A/N: I'm back in the Netherlands and my jetlag is gone! New York and Canada where both great. Had a really good time here, but it's nice to be back home, even though it's only 4 weeks until I will be going to Norway, or not even 4 weeks anymore.
From your reviews I understand you don't want me to end the story. I don't know how much I have left to write, but if you come up with some good suggestions than maybe I can find the right words and ideas to continue this a little while longer, if not I'll end it like planned and start writing a new story (this is not the end yet, in my opinion there are 2 chapters left not including this one) Then, thanks to all of you who read and reviewed the last chapter and of course thanks to LorelaiAkaCoffeeAddict for proofreading. I know you're busy and find it amazing you always find some time to proofread for me as well. I said it once, and I will say it again, you're awesome!
Chapter 40 Sightseeing, shopping and meeting Warren
That afternoon Lorelai woke up not feeling much better and after calling Rory who felt about the same, they decided it was better to postpone dinner until the next night, when they might actually like the taste of the food and they would be able to keep it in.
They stayed in the hotel room all day. Lorelai was asleep most of the time and Luke took care of her and Lucan. At the times they were asleep he read a little or watched tv. He ordered room service around seven for himself and tried to convince Lorelai into eating something, but she refused, afraid of throwing up again.
The next morning Lorelai woke up around six. After being asleep most of the time the previous day, she was completely awake. She looked next to her and saw Luke staring at her. "Hey."
"Hey." He gave her a smile. "Feeling better?"
"Definitely. We can do all sorts of fun things today. You have to see the town. Tower Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Westminster Abbey and of course the Big Ben."
"How about getting some more sleep first? It's only six o'clock."
"So? I've been asleep for an entire day, almost. I don't want to stay in bed any longer. We can go downstairs have some real English breakfast and go walking down the Themes. It will be romantic."
"You think your stomach can take that?"
"Walking? No problem."
"No, I mean food."
"You're talking about my stomach here hon. Isn't it a stupid question?"
"After yesterday?"
"I feel a lot better. No more nausea, I feel like I could eat a horse."
"But maybe you should start with something light to see how your stomach reacts, like oatmeal?"
"You just want to get me sick again, don't you?"
He smiled. "Okay, that's enough proof, you're totally fine."
"Told you so." She stepped out of the bed and started jumping up and down.
"Yep." Luke smiled. "Completely back to normal."
An hour later they were both showered and ready to leave. "We should be back here by one, that's the time Lucan will wake up so we can give him a bath and feed him."
"Sounds good. So down for breakfast first?" She looked at him, her eyes shining.
"Yeah, walk." He gave her a push towards the door and followed her with a sleeping Lucan in his stroller.
"Hey, was that necessary?"
"It wasn't. Sorry, now will you walk already?"
"Yeah yeah." Mocking she walked towards the elevator, a smiling, stroller pushing Luke not far behind her.
When they reached the restaurant, Lorelai suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"That guy from the other day…"
"Don't worry, you know what the waiter said, plus Lucan's asleep now." He looked at her and asked himself why she was still worried about that guy. The only person she really tried to avoid in her life was her mother, and not even anymore lately.
"I know that. I just don't want him to ruin today, or even a few more seconds of this vacation."
"I wouldn't let him."
"I know you wouldn't." She gave him a small kiss on his lips, which he surprisingly returned.
A waiter approached and led them towards a table not far from the guy and his wife. Lorelai saw him staring at them but wisely kept her mouth shut. Luke noticed it as well and took her hand in his.
"Can I get you something to drink?" The waiter handed them the menus.
"Coffee for me and I assume he wants tea." Luke nodded in response.
"Of course." The waiter walked away.
Luke stared at Lorelai in silence for a few minutes. He saw her staring at the guy occasionally and then turned her attention back to the menu, but he could tell she wasn't reading. "Lorelai, what's wrong?"
She looked up surprised. "What? Nothing."
"Don't say that. I know there is. You never avoid anyone in your life, besides maybe your mother. What's with this guy?" He kept his voice low so she was the only one that could hear him."
She shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't like him."
"Like so many people, but that doesn't stop you from talking to them or making fun of them."
"I know. I just really don't like this guy."
"But why?"
"Because Luke. Isn't it obvious? I don't understand why you like this guy all the sudden, as if you want to be friends or something."
"That's not true. I don't like him at all. When I saw him so close to you, yelling at you, the first thing I wanted to do was drag him away from you and punch him in the face."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I didn't want to get myself in trouble. Especially not with you and the baby so close. I want Lucan to learn that violence is not the solution to your problems. That's what my dad taught me and he was right. I know Lucan is to young to remember or even to realize what's going on, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't start right now."
"You're really serious about this parenting thing aren't you?"
He suddenly felt uncomfortable and looked away.
"That's not the way I meant it to come out Luke. I know how worried you were about being a father but so far you're doing an amazing job. There's no guy who would've done what you did. Thinking about it twice because his kid was there. You never think about yourself first, but always about him, and Rory for that matter."
"Isn't that how it's supposed to be?"
"Yes, but that's not how it usually goes."
They had to pause their conversation because the waiter came to bring their drinks and to take their orders.
When he was gone Luke asked: "I just… will it always stay this way? You saw what happened when we were busy. I know we talked about having another child but do you think I can be the same father for him or her as I am to Lucan? Plus, how will it be when they, and I, get older? Like when they are Jess' age. You know how I screwed up there."
"Luke, no! You can't seriously be saying that. We've talked about this when I was pregnant with Lucan. You know how Jess was when he came to you and you know how he is now. How many times do I have to tell you what an amazing job you did with him? I have to admit I never liked him and especially not for Rory, but what you did for him, that was really special Luke. Nobody else would have taken so much time or put so much effort into this."
"He's family."
"Exactly. And that means everything to you. Lucan will never be the way Jess was when he's 16 or 17 years old because he has people raising him. I like Liz, don't get me wrong, but she was no good mother for him. He didn't turned out completely messed up and lost for no reason Luke. And he got everything together because you gave him what he's been missing for all those years."
"You think?"
"I know. And I know there's a reason why Rory loves you so much and likes to think of you as her father. You where there for her Luke and you will be there for Lucan no matter how many kids we'll have and how old you are. Age doesn't matter. I used to think it did, but now we have Lucan I realized that it doesn't really, except that I know more now. I know that there's a difference between raising Rory and raising Lucan during these first few months but in the end I know that I keep in the good things and learn from the mistakes I made. And we will make more mistakes but it's the good things we will remember in the end."
"I like the sound of that." He squeezed her hand and looked next to him where the guy stood up and walked into their direction.
Lorelai felt her body tense up. She had no idea why the guy came, but she had a feeling it was nothing good.
"Hello." The guy started. Lorelai looked up, but said nothing. The guy didn't look at her, but turned his attention to Luke. "I want to offer you an apology."
"You're supposed to tell her that, not me."
He still refused to look at Lorelai. "I'm very sorry for the way I acted the other day. I know that I shouldn't have yelled at your wife like I did." He was talking as if Lorelai wasn't even there.
Lorelai felt herself getting angrier every second. She looked at Luke and knew he was feeling the same way. She looked inside the stroller next to her and saw her son sleeping peacefully. She thought of the words Luke used earlier and decided that she was better than the guy. "We're not accepting your apology. You're talking to my husband as if I'm not even here. You yelled at me because my son was crying, something I couldn't control at the moment because he was hungry. Maybe I would have accepted your apology if it was sincere, but it's not. So I prefer if you leave us alone now." She kept her voice calm.
The man looked at Lorelai with big eyes. Then he turned his attention back to Luke in the hope he would say something about his wife's behavior, but he didn't. Instead he said. "Didn't you hear what she said?"
"Excuse me? You're behavior is very inappropriate. You're very discourteous."
"Discourteous?" Lorelai became angry now. "You better just leave before I say something I will regret later."
The guy turned around and walked away, looking even angrier than the other day. When Luke and Lorelai watched him walk away, they both had to laugh. "Can you believe that?" Lorelai asked.
"He's absolutely crazy. Now I know why you wanted to avoid him." He had to laugh harder.
"So that discussion is over from now on?"
"Absolutely." They saw how the guy took his wife by the arm and pulled her out of the dining room. "Something tells me he won't be any trouble anymore." They watched how the guy walked towards the waiter and started yelling. They couldn't hear what he was saying, although they had a pretty good feeling. They saw how the waiter tried to calm him down but failed. In the end his wife pulled him away from the waiter as he looked about to punch him.
"I can't believe that guy has a kid." Luke said.
"Having a kid doesn't make you a father. Making a kid isn't hard, we both know that, but raising them, that's what makes you a parent. And something tells me he and his son don't have a good relationship, if they have any contact at all."
"I agree with that. And can you believe that someone can actually be worse than Taylor?"
"Figure that." Lorelai smiled at the thought of that. "I can see the two of them together, being each others best friend."
"We would move immediately."
"Glad we agree." She smiled and leaned over the table to kiss him. When they pulled apart the waiter was walking into their reaction, bringing their breakfast.
After they finished breakfast they went into town. It was almost 8 o clock so they had 5 hours until they had to be back in the hotel to feed Lucan. They bought one-day subway tickets so they could get through town easily.
First they went to the Big Ben and walked to Westminster Abbey from there. Then they went to the Tower Bridge and took a long walk down the Themes. After they were tired of walking they went to Piccadilly Circus to enjoy the artists and have an early lunch. They arrived back at the hotel just a few minutes before Lucan woke up. While Lorelai gave him a bath in the bathroom sink, Luke took care of the bottle.
After Lucan was back asleep in his stroller, Lorelai could convince Luke into going shopping. But not before calling Rory to see if she wanted to come with them. Rory picked up her phone after three rings. "Hello."
"Hey it's me."
"Hey mom."
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better. No more nausea, no more throwing up. I slept almost the entire day yesterday."
"Me too. How far are you with your paper?"
"I worked on it yesterday evening when I started to feel better. I went to the library this morning to print it and turned it in after that."
"So you're all free now?"
"Yep. So are we going out for dinner tonight? I asked Warren and he's very enthusiastic about the idea. He's was really disappointed that we had to cancel yesterday."
"We're looking forward to meet him too, so we're definitely going out tonight. But that's not why I was calling. I convinced Luke to go shopping and I wondered if you felt like coming?"
"That would be great. It's been forever since we went shopping. I think the last time we went shopping was for your wedding dress, and that's half a year ago."
"I know!"
"It will be so much fun. There are some great stores here, you're totally going to love it."
"That's what I thought and told Luke. He refused first but he can't deny me anything."
"Dirty."
Lorelai smiled. She missed her daughter a lot and was looking forward to finally go shopping with her again. "So, how fast can you be here?"
"15 minutes?"
"Sounds perfect. See you then."
The girls had a perfect time shopping. They bought a lot of clothes for themselves, some for Luke and some for Lucan although they didn't really like the baby fashion in England. Luke enjoyed watching the girls having fun but worried how they would take all the stuff home with them. Lorelai already over-packed her suitcase coming here and now they had even more stuff to bring back. He hoped he didn't have to empty his wallet, paying for the extra weight on the flight home. Watching Lorelai and Rory spending the afternoon shopping made him realize what she'd been missing the past year and he was glad the year was over and they would soon go home, together.
Rory left them at the hotel around five and promised to be back with Warren at seven so they could go out for dinner.
Lorelai stood in front of the mirror looking at the sixth outfit she tried on since she had come out of the shower. "How do I look?"
"Beautiful." Luke didn't even look up from the soccer game he was watching.
"Luke, you're not even looking at me. This is important."
He looked up for two seconds and said. "You look beautiful."
"Ugh." Lorelai took the clothes of and started digging through the pile of clothes that was laying on the floor now.
Luke looked up again, amused. "What was wrong with the other six outfits?"
"Like you would understand that." She sounded irritated.
"Why are you so nervous?"
"Why aren't you? All you've been doing is sitting there on that bed watching some weird ball game."
"It's soccer."
"I don't care what it's called, why don't you help me?"
"How do you normally pick an outfit?"
"I call Rory, but I can't do that now because then she'll know that I'm nervous."
"It's no shame to be. But here, let me help you." He stood up from the bed and walked towards the clothes. He took out a little over knee length light blue dress and a matching vest she bought earlier today, together with matching shoes.
"Wow, you're good." Lorelai smiled and leaned in to kiss him. When she started separating his lips with her tongue, he pulled away.
"You have to get ready, otherwise Rory will be here and you're still in the bathroom putting on make-up and doing your hair."
"You're no fun." She pouted.
A little before seven they were all ready. Luke was wearing a suit with a dark blue shirt, Lorelai the outfit Luke picked out for her earlier, her hair loose and curly, and she changed Lucan into dark blue jeans and a red long sleeved shirt. Lorelai was even more nervous now than before. She knew Warren meant a lot to Rory and they were pretty serious since he decided to come to America with her for a year, and the main reason was probably not to study at Yale.
She remembered how it went when she first met Dean. She tried hard to make a good first impression and to make Rory happy although it turned out to be the opposite. This was the boy her daughter had been dating for months and she never saw him. And now it finally happened and she wanted to make a good first impression.
Lorelai paced the room nervously and when there finally was a knock on the door she felt her heart beating in her throat. Luke walked towards her, placed a kiss on her lips and whispered "You're going to do just fine. Relax. It's going to be perfect." Then he walked away to open the door.
On the other side of the door Rory was standing next to a tall, dark-haired boy, with clear blue eyes. He had a big smile on his face as he stepped forward to shake Luke's hand. "You must be Luke. I'm Warren. Rory told me a lot about you."
"Nice meeting you Warren." Luke stepped aside to let the couple in.
Lorelai was still standing in the same place as she watched Warren and Rory walk in. She looked at him thinking he looked different than she expected, but he seemed a great match for Rory. She saw the big smile on her daughter's face and knew exactly what she was feeling at the moment. She took a step forward and shook Warren's hand. "Hi, I'm Lorelai."
"I'm Warren, but I assume you already knew that."
"Rory told me a lot about you. It's like I already know you, although you're a lot taller than you looked in the pictures."
"Well you look exactly the way Rory described you. You must be very proud to have a daughter like her."
"I definitely am."
Then Warren took a few steps towards the stroller and looked inside. "I just had to meet Rory's little brother. It's all she could talk about the last few weeks. That little fellow made some impression."
Both Luke and Lorelai smiled, happy to hear that.
"He really looks like you sir. It must be special to have a daughter that looks just like her mother and a son who looks just like his father. Like a perfect family."
Lorelai's smile went even bigger, the events of the previous day completely forgotten now. "It definitely is, thank you."
Warren nodded. "Shall we go? I know Rory must be very hungry right now, and from what I've heard about you I know there will be not much difference."
Now it was Luke's turn to give Warren a big smile. "You've got them both figured out already."
Lorelai put her jacket on, ignoring Luke's comment and covered Lucan with a blanket. Then she put one arm around her daughter and walked away pushing the stroller forward, not waiting for Luke or Warren.
"He's quite a charmer, isn't he?" Lorelai whispered.
"That's one of the things that's great about him. He remembers all the details you tell him. He never overdoes his comments and knows to say the perfect things. He always listens to you and never comes with unasked advice. He's serious about everything he does, he's funny, he loves reading…"
"Talking about me?" Warren and Luke caught up with the women.
"Honestly, yes. You're fun to talk about." Rory turned around and gave him a kiss.
"Well thank you." He smiled. "I assume we're taking the lift?"
"Not easy to walk the stairs when you have a stroller with you."
"Of course, stupid question. I'm not used to be around little kids. I only have big brothers, but they're not close to getting kids. All in college and have not much eye for anything serious."
"So you're different from your brothers?"
"My mother always says I'm the hope of the family."
Lorelai smiled. "If Lucan is only half as serious about school as Rory is, we have nothing to be worried about."
"How about yourself. Did you or Luke attend college?"
"Luke never did. I started community college when Rory was twelve, thirteen years old."
They stepped in the elevator and pressed the button to the first floor.
"Rory told me you own an Inn back where you live. It must be great to run a business of your own."
"It was my dream for a long time and when the time was right, me and my friend Sookie bought the place and opened the Inn. Before that I was the manager of another Inn. The Inn had to close after a fire and when the property we had in mind got suddenly available because the owner passed away, we took our change. It's hard work, but definitely a dream come true."
"And you own a diner?" He looked at Luke.
"I've had it for a very long time. My father used to own the place. It was a hardware store at the time. When he passed away he turned the place over to me. I had nothing with the hardware business so I turned it into a diner, because I knew how to cook."
"Luke serves the best coffee and burgers in the world. I can't wait to be back home so I can taste it again."
"I definitely have to try. Rory's been talking about your food from the first moment I met her." He put an arm around Rory and pulled her close.
When the elevator stopped at the first floor they all stepped out. They were laughing and talking. They asked the receptionist to call a cab to take them to town so they could have dinner.
That night Luke and Lorelai arrived back at the hotel late. They decided to stay up until Lucan woke up, knowing that wouldn't take too long. They changed into their night clothes and sat on the bed together.
"So, what do you think?" Luke was very curious to hear Lorelai's thoughts about Warren.
"It went really well didn't it? Much better than I expected."
Luke smiled. "I t…"
"Don't say I told you so." She tickled him.
"Hey stop." He tried to push her away. After a minute or so he managed to roll on top of her and held her hands above her head. "So, now what did you want?"
"Okay, okay say it."
"I told you so." He smirked.
"You're so proud now aren't you. You wanna hear it? You were right Luke. It was great. Warren is a great guy, he really cares about Rory and it's obvious she cares about him as well. I'm glad he's coming to America because otherwise she might have staid here."
He let go of her hands immediately and rolled to his side, looking in her eyes. "You know that's not true. She's really happy about coming home. The past year has been great for her, but it was very hard for her, as well. She missed you just as much as you missed her and she really wants to come home."
"I really want her to come home."
"I know you do."
"What will happen after next year Luke? He's going to be in America for a year only, but what will happen after that? Will he stay, will she leave again?"
"Don't think about it. All that matters is that we're all going home, together. At this moment it doesn't matter what will happen afterwards, plus it's something that only time will tell. We don't even know if they will still be together after a year, but that doesn't matter right now, so promise me not to think about it."
"But…"
"Promise me Lorelai."
She looked in his eyes and saw faith. "I promise."
"Good." He leaned in to kiss her. Just as the kiss grew more passionate Lucan started crying.
"I guess that has to wait a little while long."
Luke smiled as he stood up to get Lucan and the bottle which they already put in the bottle heater when they got home. He stepped back into bed with Lorelai and put him in his arm and put his other arm around Lorelai who leaned her head against her shoulder.
"I had a really great day Luke."
"Me too. London is a big city."
"You like it?"
"For a few days, yes. But I could never live in a city. Stars Hallow might be annoying sometimes with all those noisy people and Taylor, but I don't know if I could ever live somewhere else. I grew up there and everything that means something to me is there as well."
"I'm glad you say that, because I wouldn't live anywhere else as well. I know I was 16 when I started living there, but I think it's safe to say that I grew up there as well. Rory grew up there and I want Lucan to grow up there also, and all our other children when the time comes. The diner's there, the Inn's there. We met there, we got married there. There are just too many memories. I could never leave it. I know that sometimes you have to move on. Like when Sookie and I bought the Dragonfly and left the Independence Inn. I know that if we want more kids we might have to move, unless we add to the house but there are just some things I never want to move on from, you know."
"I do. And I'm glad we're on the same page here. And as for the house, we'll talk about it. We can see if there are any places available that we both like and if not, we'll just add on to the house."
"Let's discuss that when we get home, when everything is back to normal. We have to ask Rory how she feels about it because it's her house as well. I know that she won't be living there much longer, but it will always be her house so she has a say in it, doesn't she?"
"She has."
"Good."
"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?"
"Some more sightseeing? There are some things left I definitely want to show you. We can ask Warren and Rory to come but they might want to hang out with their friends because she's almost going home."
"We'll call her tomorrow and ask. Let's get some sleep first, when this little guy is done drinking."
"Yeah. Sounds like a good plan."