Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 17
"Luke's Mission"

The Monday after Lorelai's strained meeting with Rory, Luke rang the doorbell and waited for the large cherry door to open. He took a deep breath and waited with a knot in the pit of his stomach. The door swung open and Luke was confronted with the one person he feared would answer.

"Luke," she said curtly as she tried to hide her surprise and obvious displeasure.

"Emily," he tried to reply brightly.

"What are you doing here?" she asked pointedly. "Is Lorelai okay?"

"Lorelai is fine," Luke said. "I was actually hoping I could talk to Rory."

"Rory?" Emily questioned.

"Yeah, I went around to the pool house and there was no answer," Luke informed her. "I was thinking she might be here."

"Why would you need to talk to Rory?" Emily asked, not letting go of the door.

"I wanted to talk to her about a few things," Luke said evasively. It was obvious to him that Emily was less than thrilled with his presence and he wasn't in the mood to get into a discussion with her about Rory or Lorelai. "Is she here?"

"No, she's not," Emily said curtly.

"Can you tell me where I might find her?" Luke asked.

"What could you possible need to see Rory about?" Emily asked. "Are you wondering if she'd mind you converting her room into a tool shed?"

"I see you heard that I'm moving in with Lorelai," Luke said calmly.

"Yes, Lorelai dropped that little bomb on Rory the last time she was here," Emily replied. "From what Rory has said it sounds like it wasn't a very positive meeting. It sounded like Lorelai made it clear that her life is with you and to hell with Rory."

"That's not true! Lorelai would never give up on Rory. She's her number one priority."

"Really? Then how come she proposed to you and she didn't even tell Rory about it? She asked you to move in and then informed her daughter about it. That sounds like an afterthought to me. I'm just glad you were thinking clearly when you told Lorelai you wouldn't marry her. I can only wish you had that same clarity when she asked you to move in."

"Unbelievable," Luke muttered. He took a breath and thought about his response before continuing, "Do you know Lorelai at all? If you did you would know that Rory is and always has been her number one priority. Rory living here and shutting Lorelai out of her life is killing her. She doesn't know what to do anymore and I can't help her. I need to talk to Rory. I want to let her know that Lorelai still loves her and would do anything for her no matter what has happened between them."

"You think you can fix this?" Emily scoffed. "You don't know either of them well enough to accomplish that."

"And you do?" Luke said stuffing his hands into his back pockets. "You've taken nothing but pleasure in this whole situation. Lorelai is miserable over Rory dropping out of Yale. She came to you and Richard for help and you lied to her face."

"I didn't lie," Emily interjected quickly. "That decision was out of my hands."

"Please," Luke dismissed her. "You're a very formidable woman Emily. I don't believe for one minute that you had no say over breaking your word to Lorelai and neither does she."

"I went to Lorelai and I told her I agreed with her. I told her she should be at that hearing and she didn't come. Once again Lorelai would like to believe that everything in her life is falling apart because of me, but that isn't the case. She's not always the victim as she'd have you believe Luke. I'd be careful of that before you marry her."

"You know what? I'm not going to have this conversation with you," Luke finally gave in. "I love Lorelai and right now she's in pain. I'm gonna do whatever I can to help her and that includes finding Rory. Are you going to tell me where she is or not?"

Emily thought for a moment. She saw Luke, flannel-clad in middle of June, standing on her doorstep defending her daughter and frustrated with the situation. In a way Luke reminded her very much of Richard. He was always fierce around the board room, but at home he was very quiet and unresponsive about family issues. That is, until his family was threatened in some way. Then Richard became a powerful force to reckon with. It appeared that Luke had that similar trait.

"Rory does community service at the Hartford Community Center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She's helping to clean Manning Park on Tuesday and Thursday," Emily said simply. She decided it was easier to answer his question than not, although she wasn't pleased about it.

"Thank you," Luke replied slightly shocked that she'd given up the information at all. "I'm sorry I got a little loud. This is just really important to Lorelai."

"You're not sorry," Emily said knowingly. "But it's good to know that Lorelai doesn't have to fight her battles all alone anymore. Goodbye Luke."

Emily quickly closed the door behind her and rolled her eyes. Part of her was disgusted by Luke's behavior. It was exactly what she expected of a man of his caliber. But, on the other hand, it did make Emily feel a little better knowing that, no matter what she thought of Luke, he would do just about anything for Lorelai, including standing up to Emily.

Luke saw the door shut quickly and he squinted slightly at Emily's comment. Was she paying him a compliment? He couldn't be sure and he didn't have the time to figure it out. He glanced at his watch and knew he had to be back to the diner by five to relieve Caesar. Luke hopped into his truck and set out to find the Hartford Community Center.

Rory entered the Hartford Community Center with some trepidation. This was her first foray into the world of community service and she was more nervous than she'd thought. She was never really good with kids, at least she didn't think so, and spending three hours a day with kids was slightly unnerving.

Rory found her supervisor and she was directed over to a table full of finger paint. She was never really very artistic, but she figured that helping a group of little kids paint on the paper and not the table couldn't be too difficult. She was also happy to hear that she'd be working with another volunteer. Being paired up with someone else made Rory feel slightly less apprehensive.

"Hi, I'm Rory," she said to the volunteer with his back facing her. "Katherine told me to give you some help with the finger painting."

"Rory?" the male voice said as he turned around.

"Marty?" Rory said excitedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I volunteer here a few days a week in the summer," Marty said. "I never expected to see you here."

"Yeah," Rory said sheepishly. She wasn't really looking forward to explaining her current community service situation so she tried to change the subject. "I didn't know you were a kid person."

"A kid person?" Marty replied. "Well, my nephew is four and my sister and brother-in-law have to send him here for a few hours after nursery school because they work. I usually volunteer a few days a week in the summer and I thought if I were here then maybe Bobby wouldn't feel so scared."

"That's really nice," Rory said.

"So what are you doing here? You don't have any around the world adventures planned this summer?"

"No, not this summer," Rory said. She suddenly realized how long it had been since she's actually talked to Marty. She hadn't seen him since the night he told her that he had feelings for her. That evening had ended awkwardly and Rory knew she hadn't really let him down gently. She had hoped they could still be friends, but she didn't know things would be weird between them.

"Well," Marty smiled. "I guess I should school you in the basics of finger painting. When the kids come in they usually go straight for the paints. Green seems to be one of the favorite colors, which is great, but there's some sort of dye in the green that doesn't readily wash out. Just try to make sure they get the paint on the paper and not the walls, or up their noses and you'll be fine."

"Sounds easy enough," Rory chuckled.

"Excuse me, Rory?" Katherine, the community center director, said.

"Yes," Rory replied.

"There's a man here to see you," she said. "The kids aren't quite off the buses yet so if you need to speak to him you have a few minutes."

"Oh, okay, thanks," Rory said. She had no idea who might be here to see her. Her Grandfather was in New York for a few days and she couldn't think of who else might know where she was at the moment. "I'll be quick I promise," Rory said as she walked over to the door.

Rory opened the door and saw Luke standing there waiting for her. "Hi Rory," he said. "I hope you don't mind that I tracked you down. I was just really hoping I could talk to her for minute."

"Sure," Rory said quietly. She was completely taken aback by Luke coming to see her.

"Your Mom told me about the talk you had on Friday," Luke began. "She's really upset about all this and she doesn't know what to do anymore."

"So she sent you to talk to me?" Rory asked suspiciously.

"No," Luke said quickly. "She doesn't even know I'm here. In fact I think we both know that your Mom would probably mad if she knew I was here talking to you about this."

"Probably," Rory agreed.

"Anyway, she told me that she let you know I was moving in and that you weren't too thrilled about it. I wanted to let you know that if it's a problem or if you think that me living with your Mom is going to cause problems between you two then I won't move in yet."

Rory was unsure of how to respond. She was initially caught off guard by Luke coming to see her, but now he was offering to put his life on hold to help her relationship with Lorelai. She didn't know what to say.

"Just say the word and I'll hold off on moving the rest of my stuff," Luke offered again.

"That's not what I want," Rory replied finally. "You make Mom happy. I guess I was just surprised when she told me. A decision like that is usually something she would talk to me about first."

Rory walked over to a bench a few feet away and took a seat. Luke wandered over next to her and sat down a few feet away.

"I know," Luke said. "Things have been happening kind of fast lately. I don't know if this makes a difference but your Mom is really upset about everything that's gone on between you. I think she'd give anything to make it better. She just doesn't know what to do anymore."

"She's not the only one," Rory said quietly.

"Rory," Luke said tentatively. "Is there anything I can do to help make things better with you two?"

"I don't think so," Rory replied honestly. "We can't even manage to stay in the same room together without fighting."

"Yeah, that's rough. I think your Mom's just at a loss right now. She thinks you're making a mistake by leaving school."

"She has to understand that I'm grown up," Rory said fiercely. "I can make decisions on my own."

"She knows that," Luke said trying to reassure her. "She's just having a hard time with it. I think she feels a little betrayed right now and that's making her defensive."

"Because I went to Grandma and Grandpa for help," Rory said knowingly.

"I think so," Luke agreed. They sat in silence for a moment and Luke stood suddenly. "Look I know you're here doing community service and I don't want to get in the way of that. I just came to tell you that if you have any problem with me moving in let me know. I don't want you to feel like you're unwelcome in your own house."

"Thanks Luke," Rory said looking up at him. "I appreciate it, but I'm fine with you moving in, really."

"Well if you change your mind--"

"I won't," Rory interrupted him. "I want you and Mom to be happy."

"If you ever want to come home you know the door is always open," Luke offered.

"Provided I'm an Ivy League student," Rory replied a little sullenly.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Luke said. "I hope to see you around Stars Hollow soon."

Rory just nodded and watched Luke walk down the hallway. She stood up and took a few strides behind him before calling, "Hey Luke."

"Yeah?" he said turning.

"How did you know I was here?" Rory wondered.

"I stopped by your Grandparent's house," Luke informed her. "Emily and I had a nice chat."

His tone dripped with sarcasm and Rory suppressed a grin. She couldn't believe he'd braved her Grandmother just to talk to her. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Lorelai.

"Judging by your tone I can tell it went well," Rory teased him.

"I wasn't prepared and I left my garlic and Holy Water in the car," Luke cracked wise.

"Hey Luke," Rory said.

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime," Luke said. "Stop by for a burger some time."

"Maybe I will," Rory said. She saw Luke disappear down the hall and thought that her mother was indeed lucky. Luke just wanted Lorelai to be happy and he knew that Rory was a big piece of her happiness. Rory wondered what it would take for her and her mother to reconcile. She watched as Luke walked out into the sunlight and she turned to go back to her community service. She hoped that she would find the answers she was looking for soon.

TBC