Disclaimer: Alas, I own nothing. Not Lorelai. Not Rory. Not Luke (wipes away a tear). Nothing.

Chapter 14- Liar, Liar

Logan sighed as he leaned back in his desk chair. He rubbed his face, discovering the stubble growing on his chin. He didn't have much time to shave nowadays thanks to the long hours he would work. He always seemed to be on edge so Lori would do her best to avoid her father. Logan had noticed Lori shudder when he raised his voice once. His own daughter was terrrified of him. Then there was Rory and their constant fighting and her constant illness. In fact, now when he thought about it, she was getting sick a lot lately. Almost every morning for the past four…five days. What if there really was something wrong and she wasn't telling him? Before Logan's mind could ponder anything more, there was a knock at his office door.

"Hey, you busy?" Jass asked as he poked his head into the office.

"Huh? Oh, no. Come in," Logan replied.

Jess walked into the room and put a stack of papers on Logan's desk. "There ya go. I finished the article on the town's anniversary. Phil's covering the Stars Hollow High soccer game. And tomorrow I interview the town baseball team about the big game against Woodbridge in a few weeks." Jess realized Logan seemed to be distracted. "You ok?" he asked as he sat down.

"Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind right now. Rory's been sick lately and she won't let me take her to the doctor."

Jess felt a knot in his stomach. "Did she, uh, tell you why?"

Logan shook his head. "She said she's fine and that it's just the flu."

"Yeah. That's probably it."

"Actually, she's been sick a lot lately."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I assume all day, but I'm only there to witness it in the morning. Then I remembered the flu could be contagious and I don't want the kids getting sick, so I called their grandparents and starting tonight the kids are staying at Luke and Lorelai's until Rory feels better. So now I'm going to see my children a lot less than I used to. If that's even possible."

"Is that all that's bothering you?"

"I wish," Logan laughed.

"Ok, well, we've already broken unspoken rule about men not talking about their feelings with each other. Why stop now?"

Logan played with his wedding ring. "It's nothing really. Rory and I have been having some marital problems. You know how it goes."

"I can faintly remember."

Logan looked up to see the pained look on Jess's face. "Jess, I'm so sorry. I didn't…for a minute there, I forgot…"

"Do worry about it. Sometimes I forget she's gone too, but then I come home to an empty house and go to sleep and wake up alone and it's a cruel reminder that I'm a widower. That my wife was taken away from me."

"How do you do it man?"

"Do what?"

"This. Everything. You work full time and you're raising three boys on your own. I have Rory and I can barely do it."

"I have to do it. My boys need me to." "I haven't taken my wedding ring off since the day it was put on my finger. And yet, here you are, sitting right in front of me, playing with your wedding ring like you plan to take it off." Logan stopped touching the gold band on his finger. "You don't know how lucky you are to still have your wife. You're taking advantage of the fact that your wife is still here. If you keep it up, one day, she won't be. One day, you'll turn around, she'll be gone, and you'll be sorry."

"I hate school," Lori stated.

"No you don't," Lena said.

"Fine, I hate Chilton."

"Why?" Emma asked. "You're the one that all the guys are swooning over."

"Guys swoon you…now that Will's no where to be seen."

"And next week I go back to being the invisible girl."

"We can always run a teacher over with Will's car."

"We want him out of Chilton, not in jail."

"Fine. We'll do it your way."

"What about Tyler?" Lena piped in.

Lori and Emma stopped. "What about Tyler?" Emma asked.

"I thought he asked you out. And he always talks about you at school and I figured…"

"He talks about me at Stars Hollow High?"

"Yeah…but it's good. I mean, if it was bad, I'd kick his butt. Well, I'd tell him off because I can't kick his butt. But Holden Mariano would."

"Good ol' Holden. I always knew he'd come in handy for butt kicking situations," Emma laughed as she unlocked her front door.

They headed to the livingroom where they found Will reading a book on the couch. He looked up when he heard them enter the room. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked irritably.

"Gee Uncle Will, it's great to see you too. My day was fine, thanks for asking," Lori said sarcastically. Will continued to stare at her. "I'm done now."

"Lighten up Will," Emma said. "Mom said they can come over after school. Besides, Lori's staying with us for a few days."

"Far, far away from your bedroom," Lori added timidly.

"Why?" Will asked.

"Because you scare me?"

"Why are you staying here?"

"What a way to make a girl feel wanted." Will continued his glare. "Wow. Zero to two. Mom's sick and Dad's freaking out we might catch a cold so Hope, Nate, and I are staying here. Is that ok with you your highness? Sorry. Last one. I swear. Sarcasm is out the door."

"Come on Will. Lighten up," Emma said, playfully pushing her brother's arm.

"Leave me alone Emma," Will replied as he went back to his book.

"You need to get out and get laid." Will glanced over his book at Lena and grinned quickly, but stopped before Emma could see. He said nothing to his sister. "You know, you're being really rude. We have guests."

"I said leave me alone Emma."

"Can you at least say hi?"

"I said leave me alone God damn it!"

"What's your problem?"

Will slammed his book and stood up. "You need to stop pushing my buttons Emma."

"You need to get that stick out of your ass."

Will took a deep breath and let out a growl. "You're pushing it Emily. You're fucking pushing it!"

"You know, you've been a real ass lately."

"Do you know what it's like to be stuck in this fucking house all day? Do you know what it's like having Mom and Pops riding your ass all day about stupid shit? I'm going fucking crazy here!"

"Well don't take it out on me ass hole! I'm not the one that was stupid enough to get my ass kicked outta school!"

"I'm not the one stupid enough to get involved with a Doose!"

"He's better than those tramps you make out with behind the basketball courts at school."

Will tried to ignore the pained expression Lena had. "I'm not in the mood to get into this. I'm going to my room. And at least women are interested in me enough to make out with me!"

"Go to hell!"

"Right back at ya!" Will yelled over his shoulder as he headed up the stairs.

Emma loan out a scream when she heard Will slam his door. They had their fair share of sibling rivalry, but they never really got into it like this. Hitting nerves, pushing buttons- it wasn't the way they were. The three girls sat in the living room, each still a little edgy about the events that had happened. Emma was bothered by the fact she and her brother had gotten into a fight. Lena was bugged by the fact that Will had been exposed as a play boy. And Lori was still uncomfortable with being in the same room as Will and Lena at the same time.

Two hours later, Emma, Lori, and Lena were still in the living room watching TV. Emma was still a little angry at her brother for being such a jerk. The three girls turned when they heard someone walk into the room. It was Will. He was in slacks, a dress white shirt, a blazer, and was fixing his tie.

"Pops called," Will informed Emma. "He wants me to head to the diner and then we're going to Hartford for that meeting with the Stileses."

"Have fun," Emma said sarcastically.

"Look, Emma, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up at you the way I did. I'm just tired of being in this house all day and I snapped. So…I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to hate me. I'm just gonna go now." Will turned to leave.

"Will, wait," Emma sighed. He stopped and faced her. She got up and walked over to her brother and straightened out his tie. "I don't hate you. Frustrated at you, yes. But I can't hate you. You're my brother. I knew what would happen if I pushed and I still did. I swear Will, you couldn't dress yourself if your life depended on it. Look at this tie."

"I tried hanging myself but the knot wouldn't stay. I knew I shouldn't have quit the scouts. Ok. I gotta go. Ladies." With a nod of the head, he headed to the door.

"Will," Emma called. "So are we…"

Will put his hand up to silence his sister. "We're good," he interrupted. "Later little sis."

Lorelai drove around Hartford all morning and most of the afternoon looking for things for Luke's party. All the shops in town were surrounding Luke's and he'd get suspicious if she had seen her, so she had to shop for his party in Hartford. She didn't really mind because it meant she could have lunch with her father. She glanced in her rearview mirror. Richie sat silently in the middle section of their minivan in his car seat as he watched The Incredibles on the portable DVD player. The volume was nearly blaring so she figured Richie had turned the setting on his hearing aide to low again.

"Are you hungry baby?" Lorelai asked her son as she turned the volume down.

"McDonald's!" Richie yelled. Lorelai tapped on her ear, telling him to turn up his hearing aide.

McDonald's, Lorelai spat in her mind. That tasteless fast food joint had nothing on Luke's. going there was like having a food affair.

"We can't have McDonald's. Remember what happened last time we did?"

Luke always knew when they had fast food. He could smell it even if you Febreezed your car, left the windows open as you drove, and put up thirteen air fresheners in the car. The smell of "imitation meat and stale fries," as he put it, was very distinctive to a diner owner. "No real restaurant owner would ever serve crap like that to their customers," he'd then lecture. After the three hour lecture on the disgusting habits of the fast food places Lorelai adored, she gave up on McDonald's, Burger King, Jack in the Box, and those sorts of fast food places.

"We're going to have lunch with Grandpa," Lorelai told her son. Richie scrunched his nose. He knew "lunch with Grandpa" meant lunch at the club. "I know how you feel kiddo. Ok, we just need to pick up your medicine at the hospital and then we're off to the club."

"Daddy!" Richie yelled happily as Lorelai drove toward the front of the hospital.

"No sweetie. We're having lunch at the club, not the diner," Lorelai said.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Richie started to bounce in his seat as he pointed out his window.

"Daddy? What are you talking about? Richie, Daddy's..." Lorelai trailed off as she watched Luke walk out of the hospital. "Daddy?"

"Mommy, I wanna see Daddy!"

"Ok, sweetie, in a minute."

"What's Daddy doing here?"

"Good question. Let's go ask him." Lorelai pulled into the first parking spot she could find and took Richie out of his car seat. She held his hand as they headed toward Luke. "Hey."

Luke looked up and stopped in his tracks. "Lorelai," he said in surprise. Richie ran over to his father and jumped into his arms. "What…what are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Lorelai said. "We're picking up Richie's medicine. What's your story?"

"I, uh, need to pick something up." Great lie, he said sarcastically to himself mentally. She really doesn't suspect a thing! Idiot.

"At the hospital?"

"Oh. No. Um, I was in the neighborhood so I had lunch with Paris."

"You're terrified of Paris."

"I know, but she's Rory's friend and we're supposed to like Rory's friends."

"Uh huh. Try again."

"I really was having lunch with Paris. You can even ask her."

"You came all the way to Hartford to have lunch with our daughter's friend who terrifies you?"

Just tell her already! Luke took a deep breath. "No. That's not all."

"Luke, honey, is something wrong? You're really worrying me."

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words he had planned to come out weren't the ones he heard himself saying. "I paid for the operation."

"What?" Lorelai asked.

Tell her you idiot! Don't chicken out! "Richie's operation. I came to let the doctor know we were going to go through with it and I dropped off a check for a partial payment."

"Where did you get the money?"

"Max."

"Max? Max Medina? You asked our friend for money?"

"No! He offered it."

"So you just took it?"

"I told him I'd coach the Chilton baseball team." What the hell are you doing? Stop lying! You have a sickness! Lying is only going to make things worse! "He said he'd loan me the money if I coached the team."

"The Chilton team sucks. Will won't even play for their team."

"Exactly. I mean, since I started coaching the town's team five years ago, we've won the tri-county title every year. Max thought I could turn Chilton's team around."

"You should have just told me. I was worried about you."

"There's nothing to worry about honey. I was just dropping off the check. I'm fine." Liar! You're going to hell.

"Ok. Well, Richie and I are here to pick up his medicine and then we're gonna go to have lunch with Grandpa." Richie scrunched his nose and buried his face in Luke's shoulder. "Richard Charles Danes, you're not getting out of this. You're Mommy's buffer."

"Wonderful to know you're using our son to hide from your father."

"I'm a genius aren't I?"

"Sure. Let's call it that," Luke teased. He handed Richie to Lorelai.

"Hey, what's that?" Lorelai asked, noticing the brown bag in Luke's hand for the first time.

"This? Oh. It's…um…leftovers." And the lies don't stop. "Healthy stuff. You wouldn't like it. Uh, so I'll see you tonight for dinner at the Stiles's?"

"Urgh. Don't remind me. Bye babe." Lorelai gave Luke a quick kiss on the lips.

"Bye." Luke waved to his wife and son as they headed to the hospital entrance. He opened his brown bag and sighed at the numerous medicine bottles it contained. It was going to be harder to keep this from her now. He took out his phone and dialed a familiar number. "Max,I have to coach Chilton's baseball team. It's a long story."

Next time on "Breakaway": Sookie catches Luke taking his medicine. A young man in Stars Hollw begins to show his interest in Lori. Travis Doose begs Luke and Lorelai to help him with the new town event. Richard meets up with his new secretary at Emma and Lori's softball game.

A/N: I decided to go with Richard's story line, but you guys have to promise not to hate me. And as you can tell, Lori's "love interest" has been chosen. I'm sorry it took so long to update. Life is still hectic. But I'll be working on an update for The Broken Road so no pitchforks please. Alright everyone. From my family to yours, I wish you a happy and safe holiday, which ever you celebrate. Merry Chrismakkah! Lol.