Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I have any association with the Gilmore Girls or any of its characters. Dreaming about them is a totally different thing...

Chapter 13 (Luck 13 baby!) - Roses are red, pink, and white

Stupid town, Luke thought as he walked down the street with a delivery in hand. Everyone that passed him congratulated him on his twentieth anniversary. People he didn't like and/or didn't know were wishing him well. Luke became more aggravated with each congratulatory greeting. Why couldn't they mind their own damn business? Why did they have to make this such a big deal? Why couldn't they just leave them alone? Because it wouldn't be Stars Hollow if they did.

He was passing Patty's studio when he heard her begin her version of his first date with Lorelai. No matter how many times someone repeated this story, it never did it any justice. That night was magical. It was the night Luke realized he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Lorelai. He stood in front of the studio as he let the memories of that night flood his mind once again.


1984

Luke was never very good at dating. He lucked out with Rachel. She had asked him out. She made all the advances and basically told him what to do in the relationship. His overbearing sense of manly pride went and screwed that relationship up. When they broke up, he dated on instinct. He did what he thought he should have without second guessing his decisions. He figured that was why his "relationships" between Rachel and Nicole only lasted two, three dates tops. By the time he was with Nicole, he figured he knew a thing or two about dating and being in a relationship. Apparently, he didn't know enough because she cheated on him for his "lack of commitment." His inexperience and failed relationships kept him going back to Rachel, letting her back in his life even if for a short time. With Rachel, it was all about knowing what she was going to do next and though he hated to admit it, it was about the sex. But they were over for good this time. She had moved on and not it was his turn to do the same.

Luke stared at himself in the mirror. He couldn't believe he was looking at his own reflection. He had never wanted to look good for a date more than tonight. Usually he'd just put on a clean shirt and leave his baseball cap at home. He wouldn't even bother to shave. But tonight was different. Tonight his flannel and jeans remained hanging in his closet. He wore his nicest pair of black slacks and the new navy blue dress shirt he had bought. The fact that he went out and bought clothes was a wonder all on its own. His shaggy brown hair had been trimmed and his two day stubble was gone. It would be back in the morning, but tonight it needed to go. After taking a deep breath, he headed back to his room to grab his jacket before going downstairs.

Liz looked up when she heard her brother coming downstairs and whistled mockingly when she saw him. Luke looked up and shook his head as he put his jacket on. "Aren't we looking particularly nice tonight," Liz teased.

"I have a date. I'm supposed to look nice," Luke shot back.

"Usually you just put a clean shirt on. That looks new and it's not flannel."

"I want to look nice."

"For Lorelai."

"She is my date. You're reading too much into this Lizzy."

"Did you shine your shoes?"

Luke looked down at his shoes, then back at his sister. "I just want her to like me."

"And you think shining your shoes is going to make her fall madly in love with you?" Liz put Jess in his playpen and walked over to Luke, putting her hands on his shoulders. "She already likes you Luke. You don't have to get all dressed up."

"She likes me? Did she tell you that? Did she say…"

"She likes you. I mean, how could she not?"

"I want tonight to be special. I thought I should dress the part."

"She couldn't care less about what you're wearing. She likes you for who you are."

"Thanks. I better get going before she decides she doesn't want to go out with me." He went to the kitchen and when he returned he had a bouquet of roses. He paused to see Liz's reaction.

Liz just smiled and shook her head. "Have a good time big bro."

"I will. Don't stay up too late."

"In other words, don't wait up."

"Something like that. Night Lizzy." Luke turned around and came face to face with his father. William looked his son over and raised a brow. "I'm leaving now." Luke started toward the door.

"One last question before you leave," William said. Luke turned around. "In your 'nightmares,' did she 'scare' you?"

Luke couldn't help but smile. "Like hell."

William laughed as Liz looked between her father and brother like they were insane. "That's my boy. Don't get too 'scared' tonight and don't go chasing the boogy man."

"Not on a first date. Night Dad." When Luke opened the front door, he found Carrie on the doorstep and his smile faded. And I was feeling good about tonight, he mentally groaned.

"Aw Butch, those for me?" Carrie flirted.

"Liz, your friend's here!" Luke announced. He forced a quick smile before rushing past Carrie.

"Hey Carrie," Liz greeted as Carrie stepped into the house.

"Where's he headed looking so fine?" Carrie asked. William rolled his eyes as he sat on the couch and read his newspaper. This girl had to be crazy to think Luke remotely liked her.

"Oh, he has a date with Lorelai Gilmore."

"What!" Although the screech nearly deafened him, William enjoyed hearing Carrie's reaction to hearing about his son and Lorelai Gilmore. Lorelai was scoring major points with him tonight.


Luke nervously waited for Lorelai to open the door. He was so excited he rushed himself and ended up being five minutes early to pick her up. The door finally opened and Lorelai raised a brow when she saw Luke.

"Hi," he greeted nervously.

"Hey," Lorelai smiled with a hint of laughter in her voice. "I thought we said seven."

"Yeah. We…we did. I was just…I was ready, so I came and now I'm here. I'm sorry. Did you need more time? I can go back to my truck and…"

Lorelai put her hand on his arm, stopping his babbling. "I'm ready now."

"Ok. Let's go." He offered her his arm and she graciously took it. They started toward his truck. "You look very beautiful tonight."

Lorelai began to blush at his comment. It was a simple comment, but it made her feel all tingly when he said it. "Thank you. You look great. I've never seen you all dressed up before. That shirt looks great on you."

"I'm glad you think so." He let go of her arm when they arrived at his truck. He opened the door to grab the flowers and handed them to Lorelai. "These are, uh, for you."

"Aw Luke, they're beautiful. Thank you." She noticed there were only eleven in the bunch, but didn't say anything. Luke helped her into the car before getting in himself.

"The twelfth is waiting," he said as he drove. "The flowers. There's twelve."

"Ok," she laughed.

"I hope you have a vase for those."

A few minutes later, they arrived at a place called "Sniffy's Tavern." They were immediately seated at a table with a reserved sign and a single rose- like the ones Luke had given Lorelai earlier- on it. Luke picked up the rose and held it out to Lorelai.

"Here's your dozen," he grinned.

"Thank you," she smiled. She smelled the flower as Luke pulled a chair out for her. She waited for him to sit before continuing the conversation. "I've never seen this kind of rose before." The rose was three different colors. At the top it was a deep, crimson red. As it went down, the color turned to pink and finally ended in white at the bottom.

"It's called a fire and ice rose," Luke explained. He gently took the flower from Lorelai and pointed to it as he explained it to her. "Your typical rose is one of the three colors: red, pink, or white. When a guy gives you roses, it's kinda like a subliminal message. Each color stands for something. White means friendship because all relationships should begin in friendship. Pink is for when your friendship turns into more than 'just friends.' And finally, red represents love. This rose, being all three colors, is all three stages. From white to red, friendship to love."

"Are you trying to tell me something Luke Danes?"

"I'm telling you what the rose means. It has a different meaning for different people. Chances are what I think of it as isn't what you think of it as. When you look at it, it could mean exactly what I told you or you could just be looking at another pretty flower."

"Or it can be an elaborate plan to soften me up so you can get me into bed," she joked.

"Or to get you to like me."

"I don't need a flower to like me." Luke smiled. "So, what does it mean to you?"

"Like I said. It can mean anything. To me, it means something. I'm not gonna tell you what, but I will tell you the rose is telling you I'm in. I'm all in."

"All in what?"

"This." Luke gestured between them as he leaned forward. "You and me. Us. I'm not here to fool around- no pun intended. I'm serious about us and I'm all in."

"Well, in that case." Lorelai leaned forward so she was an inch from Luke's face. "I'm all in too. One question though."

"What's that?"

"You said the rose went from white to red meaning it started at the bottom up. Why not start from the top?"

"Because friendship can always turn into love, but love can't turn into friendship."


Present Day

Lorelai stared at the dying daisies sitting on the front desk. The started to wilt a week ago due to the lack of care. Michel was supposed to replace them, but Michel being Michel didn't. Lorelai looked across the desk where the beautiful fire and ice roses were placed. Unlike the daisies, Lorelai tended to the roses personally and almost religiously. They lived nearly three times longer than the other flowers. Only Luke brought her fire and ice roses. He would bring her the roses every two weeks. The roses on the desk were the last ones he had brought to her. They were almost six months old.

He gave them to her the day things escalated between them. The poor man didn't know what hit him. She didn't know why she kept them or why she took care of them so well. Maybe she kept them to remind her about their happier days, that they did have good times and memories once upon a time. Once upon a time, she laughed to herself. The appropriate start to a fairytale. She wasn't sure if this fairytale had a happy ending. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the words Luke had said about the roses on their first date out of her mind.

Friendship can always turn into love, but love can never turn into friendship.


1984

"Come on. Tell me," Lorelai begged as she tugged at Luke's sleeve. "Do you like music?"

"I don't know," Luke laughed. She was trying to beat something out of him that wasn't there. "Do you like music?"

"Oh my God. I love music! Mainly the stuff my mom hates."

"How sweet."

"But I love all kinda of music. Classical, jazz, rock and roll, ballads, blues…everything!"

Luke smiled. "My mom would have loved you."

"Come on. Just tell me. What are you into?"

"Uh, I like the old stuff like Frank Sinatra, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Jimmy Buffett…"

"Jimmy Buffett? You're a Buffett head!" Lorelai asked excitedly.

"Ok, you are way too excited to know." They got into the truck.

"Fine. If turned the radio on right now, what would we hear?"

"Probably jazz or country."

"Country? Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Charlie Daniels Band, John Denver country?"

"It's my dad's influence. He says it's everyday music for the everyday man."

"Are you two close?"

"We're not best friends, but we've got a good relationship."

"That's the kind of relationship I want with Rory. I don't want to be just her mom. I wanna be her best friend."

"You will be," Luke said as he started up the car.

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Do you want kids?" Lorelai asked as he began to drive.

"Uh, I've thought about it if that's what you're asking."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a 'It'll be a discussion'."

"Then lets discuss it."

Luke looked over at Lorelai. "You want to discuss having kids with me?"

"You said it'd be a discussion, but you didn't say with who."

"Ok, it's not that I totally hate kids, I just really hate jam hands. Even if there's no jam in the house, they have jam hands. Then they go around touching everything and it all gets sticky and jam handy."

"Jam handy?"

"Jam handy. I've got a four year old cousin and the kid's always sticky. I don't get it! It's like, 'Wash your damn kid!'." Luke glanced at Lorelai in the corner of his eye. She looked a little hurt. "But then again…even though I'm happy not having to be in charge of another person's bodily functions, I guess it'd be nice to have a kid. I don't know. To have someone look up to you and call you their hero. It'd be nice to know not all innocence has been lost."

Lorelai smiled. "Do you really want kids or are you just saying that because I have a kid?"

"I'm saying that because I like your kid."

"Thanks." She turned to look out her window. "Um, Luke? Where are we going?"


Next time on "The Broken Road": Luke and Lorelai continue to reminisce about their first date and how things used to be. Rory's on the phone with her guest and tells him she's worried about her parents' relationship.

A/N: I was born in mid-1986 so my music history is sorta shot right now. It's one in the morning and I'm not trying to double check if I'm right or wrong. I'm slowly feeding you tidbits on Luke and Lorelai's relationship in the present. What do we have so far? Luke's grumpier than usual and beats up his appliances, Lorelai's not at the diner as often and keeps six month old and dead flowers, they're edgy and hesitant around each other…I miss anything out? Oh yeah. An explanation! It's coming soon. You know what? Imma tell you right now! As long as I don't get distracted. Oh look, something shiney...