Chapter 10
"Moving In, Moving On"

"Hey," Lorelai said with a mischievous smile on her face. Luke had just returned from work and she was more than a little excited to see him. She had been working out the details of moving in together and she was anxious to show him how simple her plan would be.

"Hi," he said, happy to see her, but his voice had a hint of trepidation. He wasn't sure if he should tell her about Rory's visit right away. Ultimately he decided to keep mum until he could gauge her mood.

"Come," she said walking over to him and taking him by the hand. Lorelai led Luke into the living room where he noticed an easel with a board covered by a sheet. "Sit," Lorelai commanded pointing to the couch.

"What's this?" he asked pointing to the covered easel.

"You'll see," Lorelai grinned again. It was obvious that she was excited about her little presentation so Luke obeyed her command and sat on the couch facing her. He saw a familiar gleam in her eye and he knew that she was completely happy in that moment. Her boundless energy seemed to radiate and made him feel a certain amount of excitement. Luke wasn't a father and hadn't been around many children, but he was certain that Lorelai had all the mirth of a five-year-old.

"Okay," Luke said. "I'm here, I'm sitting, what are you waiting to show me?" He tried to keep his usual gruff tone, but her smile wouldn't allow it.

"Okay," she said taking her place next to the covered easel. "I'm sure you remember our little chat this morning."

"About Q-tips?" Luke teased her.

"No," she said holding in her exasperation.

"Connie Chung's face?" Luke tried again knowing full well he was baiting her.

"You're not funny," she replied warningly.

"Oh, are you talking about moving in together?"

"Of course I am!" she said excitedly. "Now, I was thinking about this for most of the day and when I came home I whipped up this little chart to show you how easy it would be for you to move in here."

Lorelai quickly pulled the sheet off of the easel and Luke finally got an eyeful of her surprise. It was a large poster board complete with photos and diagrams of Luke's apartment and Lorelai's house. She had cut out a picture of his face and drew him a stick figure body. Lorelai herself was also represented in the same manner on the poster board except her body was pink and Luke's was blue.

"You have way too much free time," Luke said as he stood up and walked over to the poster board. "What's this?" he asked looking at an assortment of stickers that appeared to be moving items labeled 'Luke's hats', 'flannel shirts', 'kitchen supplies' and more.

"Oh," Lorelai said leaning on his shoulder to peer at what he was pointing at. "Those stickers represent our moving crew."

"A crown, a piano, a cat, a ballet shoe, the French flag, an apple, a chef hat and a question mark?" Luke asked puzzled.

"Well I didn't have time to cut out everyone's heads so I had to improvise. Those stickers represent people who would help us move," Lorelai explained.

"Okay, the chef hat has to be Sookie," Luke reasoned. "The apple is Jackson? The French flag is Michel, but after that, I'm out."

"The ballet shoe is Miss Patty," Lorelai explained happily. "The piano and cat are Morey and Babette. The apple is Jackson and the crown is Taylor because he likes to think he lords over us all."

She smiled smugly at Luke and he grinned back briefly. She really did amuse herself sometimes.

"So the question mark must be Kirk," Luke guessed correctly.

"Who else?" Lorelai smiled.

"And all these people are carrying my stuff because?"

"Because it will be easier to move with everyone helping us," Lorelai said.

"I don't think so," Luke replied. "I don't want Taylor touching my stuff and Kirk will not be allowed within 100 feet of my underwear drawer."

Lorelai patted Luke's back gently. "Don't worry sweetie," she said. "No one touches your underwear except me." She gave him a pointed grin and Luke calmed a bit. "See," she said pointing to the map she had drawn, "with their help I can't imagine it would take more than a day to move your stuff here."

"What's this?" Luke said looking at a fluffy piece of fabric that was attached to something that almost concealed another photo of his face and Lorelai's.

"That's our new comforter," Lorelai stated as if it were obvious. "I figured we'll be saving money on a mortgage so we can buy a new one. We're all snuggly in it, see?"

"I see that," Luke chuckled as he looked over the board one more time. He suddenly noticed that Lorelai had a few items in the room off the kitchen. It contained a bed pushed into the corner, a sewing machine and a dress mannequin. "Isn't this Rory's room?" Luke asked.

Lorelai stopped leaning on his shoulder and turned away. "Yeah," she said suddenly not at all joyful.

"Your sewing stuff is in there," Luke observed. "Isn't she going to need room to sleep?"

"There's a bed in there," Lorelai defended herself. "Besides, she's probably not ever coming back anyway."

Luke turned in shock at her words. Lorelai was a fighter. She didn't give up on anything, even a lost cause. He tried to look her in the eye but she was suddenly very busy fluffing the couch cushions. "So what do you think of the plan?" she said trying to brighten. "Do you think it's doable?"

"Yeah I do," Luke said gently. "I think we need to talk about Rory's room though."

"Hmm," Lorelai said as if she were thinking it over. "I don't."

"I do," Luke insisted.

"I don't," Lorelai replied more forcefully. "She's over it Luke. She isn't talking anymore and neither am I."

"She doesn't want this," Luke said.

"How would you know?" she asked rather haughtily.

"She came to see me today," Luke replied simply.

"What?" Lorelai said shocked. "She was in town? She came to see you?"

"Yes," Luke said.

"And you're just getting around to telling me this now?" Lorelai said suddenly angry.

"Yes."

"What did she want?"

"She wanted to know some things about us."

"About us?" Lorelai said puzzled. "What about us?"

"She wanted to know how serious things were between us," Luke said. He suddenly realized that he didn't want to reveal how Rory knew things had gotten more serious so he decided to continue by saying, "She noticed that we seemed different at dinner last night."

"And she came to you instead of me to find out what was going on," Lorelai said irritated.

"She thought we might be engaged," Luke continued.

"And again I say, she came to you instead of me to find out what was going on? What did you tell her?"

"I told her that we weren't engaged, but that the subject had come up," Luke replied honestly. "I told her that I thought we were headed in that direction."

"Unbelievable," Lorelai muttered. "What did she say?"

"She wondered why you hadn't told her as much," Luke said.

"Gee let me think," Lorelai said sarcastically as she threw down a pillow and folded her arms across her chest. "Maybe it's because she's gotten into a habit of leaving me out of the loop lately."

"Lorelai," Luke said more sternly than he'd intended. "I think," he measured his words carefully; "I think that she misses you and she was hurt when she thought you were making a decision like marriage without her."

"Well thank you for that analysis Dr. Phil," Lorelai said in full sarcasm mode. "And what else did you say to her?"

"I told her that you only wanted what was best for her," Luke replied.

"Well how about if you let me speak for myself next time?" Lorelai said turning her anger on him.

"What was I supposed to do, refuse to speak to her? She came to me. I owed her an answer," Luke said.

"Do you have to keep rubbing it in that she went to you?" Lorelai turned away from him and tried to mask the hurt she felt. First Rory ran to her parents and now she was running to Luke. Lorelai wondered how long it would be before she turned Sookie or anyone besides her.

Luke sighed and sensed the gravity of the situation. "I'm sorry that she came to me instead of you," Luke said making his way over to her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "But, don't you think it's a positive sign that she came to one of us? She obviously doesn't want to shut you out of her life. She had to have known I'd tell you."

Lorelai shrugged off Luke's hands and turned to face him. "I don't know," she said. "The only thing I do know is that my daughter has shut me completely out of her life. She turned to my parents, she turned to you, she's probably talked to half of Hartford about all this and she refuses to talk to me."

"I know you're upset," Luke started to say.

"Please," Lorelai sighed and put up her hand to stop him. "Don't. I don't want to hear how she'll come around and I don't want to hear how it'll work out because from where I'm standing it won't."

"If you just give Rory a chance to calm down and think things through," Luke tried again.

"Since you have nothing to do with this would you please stop telling me how to raise my kid?" Lorelai snapped at him. Lorelai regretted the words the moment the left her lips. She was angry at Rory and the situation and she was taking it out on Luke.

"I have nothing to do with this?" Luke snapped back. "So the fact that you want to get married and move in together means nothing to you. I'm just a warm body that cooks you breakfast and fixes your sink, except now you'll have the bonus of me living here?"

"That's not how I meant it," Lorelai struggled to find the words to tell him that he did mean something to her. At that moment he meant everything to her, but she couldn't articulate it. She paused for a moment and Luke sighed.

"That's it," he said. "I'm outta here."

"Luke, wait," Lorelai said as she followed him into the kitchen. "I didn't mean that."

"Then what did you mean?" Luke asked her seriously as he turned quickly to face her, one hand on the door.

"I mean that Rory is my daughter," Lorelai struggled.

"Thank you for pointing that out," Luke shot.

"I mean she's not your responsibility. She's mine and it hurts that she feels comfortable coming to you and not me," Lorelai said.

"Aside from picking up Q-tips and dividing up the laundry and cooking, what does marriage mean to you?" he asked seriously.

Lorelai was taken aback by his question and she shook her head slightly as if to question why he wanted to know.

"Well I'll tell you what it means to me," he said before Lorelai responded. "It means sharing the really great times and the really crappy ones. It means spending your life with the one person who irritates you to the point of insanity, yet you love them anyway. And it means not compartmentalizing your life anymore. You can't have a compartment for work and home and family because it all melts together and we have to share the burden. I don't think you're ready for that. Yes, Rory is your daughter, but I don't think of it that way. If she needs my help or advice I'm going to give it to her. Because I'm with you, she becomes my responsibility."

Lorelai looked at him for a moment and while she was touched by his mini-rant she felt her eyes narrow. "I appreciate that," Lorelai said. "But I'm not compartmentalizing anything. Rory is my daughter and I'll deal with it in my own way."

"Even if you're making a mistake?" Luke asked.

"Who are you to tell me it's a mistake?" she asked getting upset again.

"Someone who cares about you," Luke said. "You're starting to shut her out. That isn't like you. And why are you really mad at me? Are you made because Rory came to talk to me over you, or are you made because Rory broke out of the drawer you put her in?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lorelai said aghast.

"It means that you mentally divide your entire life. You have a Rory drawer and a Luke drawer, a Stars Hollow drawer and a Hartford drawer. You separate everything and when things don't stay isolated you get upset. Are you mad at me because Rory came to see me or are you mad because the Luke drawer and Rory drawer collided?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Lorelai scoffed.

"Maybe not, but it's something we both need to think about," Luke said.

Luke turned and walked toward the door while Lorelai stood and tried to decipher what he'd just said. She didn't place her life in drawers. She could roll with the punches as well as anyone. She walked over to the door, which Luke had left slightly ajar and slammed it shut. Luke was wrong. Lorelai wasn't jealous that Rory went to see him, she was just angry. She wanted to put Rory in her room until she behaved like the wonderful child she knew so well. But Lorelai knew Rory wasn't going to her room. She wasn't five anymore. She was an adult and she was making adult decision. That, above all else, was what scared Lorelai the most. Her level-headed, rational daughter had suddenly become a whimsical, emotional woman. She had finally become Lorelai.

TBC