Oh my god! Another chapter! How amazing am I! I can't even describe how surprised I am! I don't remember a time when I posted three chapters in three days! It just doesn't happen! So, I obviously have no interesting story to tell you. My day has been consumed by nonstop writing so I have done nothing but that. So, you are probably all like "oh my god! I love ducky!" because this chapter heals all of those fighting boo-boos. Hehe, that sounds funny. So say thank you to the pretty little rubber ducky that is me. On with the wonderful story!
Disclaimer: Let's see...nope, I still don't own anything.
A/N: Italics are flashbacks and thoughts.
Chapter 7: Cries of a Poor Little Muscular Girl
Luke and Rory had searched all over for the key but after 30 minutes of searching, they just gave up. He decided that it was just time to go up to bed. He said goodnight to Rory and then walked up the stairs. He could still hear crying from the room, but it didn't sound like a baby. He quietly made his way over to the door and peered through the two inch crack. He could see the outline of Lorelai lying on the bed, crying.
"hey." he whispered slipping into the room. She looked at him quickly and then her face turned away. What was wrong with her? Luke asked himself.
"Are you alright?" Luke asked quietly, aware of the fact that Jake was sleeping.
"Sure Luke! I am lying her crying just for fun! Don't worry about me!" she retorted. She quickly got up and tried to get past Luke who was still blocking the doorway.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently.
"You! You are wrong, Luke! You never pay attention to your son in the middle of the night! It is always me! I get up, put him to bed. Come back, lay down, 20 minutes later, Jake wakes up and you just brush off my need for sleep! I am just so…so sick of it!" she said sobbing even harder now, getting out her words out through the sniffles.
"What? I thought you were happy!" he whispered. He was astonished. She was always so happy! They had spent so much time together and she had always been happy! She had never shown any signs of her being depressed or unhappy! Where was this coming from?
"Wow! And I thought you would have learned by now what a good actor I am! Luke! I was happy! I was happy for about a week! And then life starts to shift back to normal, and you forget that you have a son! Yes Luke that is right! He is your son too! You need to take care of him too! You wonder why I am dead tired in the morning. It is because YOU won't help with Jake when he wakes up in the middle of the night!" she tried to make her yelling as quiet as possible, for fear that Jake would wake up again. "I need to have a partner in this Luke! Yes, I thought I could do it alone, but Jake is different than Rory was! Rory was always quiet! Rory was not hard to deal with, but Jake has shifted from that phase to the 'getting up every 2 hours phase'! I need some help in this Luke. I need you. I need to be able to say, 'gee, I haven't had any sleep in three days, can you please go put Jake back to sleep?' I need to be able to count on you Luke." she had made this speech in a soft whisper.
This had broken Luke's heart. He had caused this. He had done this. He had ignored the needs of both his son, and his…his Lorelai. He had not referred to her as his 'girlfriend' since he had come back and he didn't plan on it. She was much more than that. Rachel had been a girlfriend. Nicole had been a girlfriend--whether it was when they were married or not. Anna had been a girlfriend. Lorelai was worthy of a title with much more weight than 'girlfriend', but this wasn't the appropriate time for that.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know that this was hurting you so much." he responded in a caring tone. He reached out for her and she accepted. He took her into his embrace as she cried the rest of her tears into his shirt. "I'm sorry" he whispered again into her hair. He didn't know if she had heard that, but after that little break down, things had gotten better.
"Shit!" Luke said to himself. He had realized what was wrong when he had flashed back to that moment, the night before, and that morning. All three events added up to Lorelai feeling abandoned again.
"Caesar! I'll be back in an hour or two!" he yelled as he slammed his ordering pad onto the counter and rushed out the door. Everyone was stunned and wondering what had just happened.
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Lorelai looked quickly at the clock. 12:45. "high ho, high ho. It's back to work we go." she sang unenthusiastically to herself as she walked into her office to get started on some paper work. At around 5 of 1:00, she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." she said not lifting her eyes up from her work. "What do you need?" she asked not realizing who it was.
"To tell you I am sorry."
"Luke?" she asked looking up. He was standing there. It looked like he had just been running.
"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to blow you off last night! I didn't realize I was doing it until about 20 minutes ago. I am so sorry." he said trying to stress the fact that he was truly sorry.
"It's ok…you were busy. I was just really tired, and…it's ok Luke."
"You sure?"
"I am sure. Did you run all the way here from the diner?" she said finally questioning why he was out of breath.
"yeah." he answered. Lorelai smiled.
"Just to tell me you were sorry?" she asked, her face still remaining the smile it had just given way to a few seconds ago. Luke slowly nodded. "That's sweet, but you didn't have to. You could have waited until later tonight." she said. She didn't mean it though, and both Luke and she knew that. She was glad that Luke didn't wait. She was glad that he had decided to leave his probably full diner to come and tell her something as simple--but powerful--as an 'I'm sorry'.
"No I couldn't have." he said as he cupped her face in his hands. He leaned in and kissed her. She quickly returned the favor, and soon she had her back pressed against the wall with Luke kissing her furiously. Lorelai had her hands running through his hair, while Luke had one hand pressed against the wall next to Lorelai's head and the other one playing with the hem of her shirt. He slowly moved it up until Lorelai suddenly pulled the hand away and pulled away from her lips.
"Damn work" she whispered with a smile on her face. Luke understood. They were at the inn, with people 5 feet from the door, some probably listening. This would not be a good time for any dirty acts to take place. "sorry." she said quietly. She pecked him on the lips and then led him out into the kitchen.
"Hey Sookie! I am going to take the rest of the day off."
"ok." she said. She had Jake in her arms.
"Sookie, I think I need you to hand over my son before I leave though." Lorelai said.
"Oh, sure." she said laughing at her own stupidity. She handed the small baby over to his mother. It took him a few seconds to realize who was holding him now, but when he did, a smile immediately spread across his face. Luke's face was overcome by one of those cheesy smiles that you only see at the end of a really good romantic movie. Lorelai also had a smile firmly planted upon her face, but hers was a little less picture perfect.
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"Where are we going?" Rory asked as she and her mother walked town the street.
"Well, I thought we could hit some of the stores while I was here helping you pack up some of your things. Remember that little boutique we saw the last time I was here?" she said looking sideways at her daughter. She had a smile that even the Cheshire Cat would envy.
"Yeah, but what about money? I don't have any, I happen to know for a fact that you don't have any, so where is this money coming from?" Rory asked. She sure is full of a lot of questions today isn't she? Lorelai thought in her head. Her smile now turned into a huge grin. Did she know something that Rory didn't?
"Luke!" she said enthusiastically.
"Luke?" she questioned.
"Luke!" she repeated.
"What about Luke?" Rory asked, apparently still confused.
"I stole his credit card!" Lorelai said excitedly.
"Mom! I am appalled!" Rory responded with an astonished 'what-the-hell-were-you-thinking?' look on her face.
"Well it was there!"
"Where? When?"
"well I was looking for my keys last night, and I thought 'maybe they are in Luke's pants!' so I go, and look, and they are there of course, but along with that was his wallet, which houses this lovely piece of plastic that I hold in my hand as we speak!" she said holding up the credit card.
"You can't spend Luke's money!" she argued.
"Hey! I gave birth to his kid! The least he can do is unknowingly lend me a couple hundred!" she pointed out.
"You didn't even ask him!"
"What is this? Kindergarten? Of course I didn't ask him! He would have said 'No'!" she said.
"But you live with him! This will eventually come back and bite you in the ass!"
"Example?"
"Well…he might not have enough money to buy coffee because he spent it all trying to pay YOUR bill on HIS credit card!" she said triumphantly.
"Ah, no. we would sell Jake into slavery before life got THAT bad. We might even sell Luke, but don't worry. We might get letters every once in a while saying how he was raped, beaten by some guy named Joe, and then stuffed into a canvas bag which traveled by train all the way to England to dump him in the Thames."
"Wouldn't he not be able to send a letter because he would have drowned?"
"but see, a very poor little muscular girl will drag the bag onto the shore and save his life, all for the low, low price of 19.99." she finished.
"Oh, ok. I get the plan now." Rory said. Her mother was not to be argued with.
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"Luke!" Lorelai yelled as she walked into the diner carrying 5 bags with her. "Luke!" she yelled again. She had just gotten back from helping Rory pack and their little shopping spree, funded by the stolen credit card. She set the bags on the counter and peered into the kitchen. No Luke. She then walked over to the store room. No Luke. "Where is he?" she asked herself.
She then heard a cry from upstairs. "Of course." she said as she ran up the stairs to find Luke.
She reached the top of the stairs and opened the door to the apartment. "Luke?" she inquired into the room.
"Lorelai? What are you doing here? I thought you went out with Rory?" he asked as he appeared from the side of the room.
"I did! And I stopped by here to give you back this." she said holding out the credit card.
"What? Where did you get this?" he asked.
"I stole it! From your pants! But don't worry; the strong little poor girl in England will save you!"
"What?" he was now confused. Yet again.
"Nothing. So where is Jake?" she asked changing the subject.
"He is over here," he said gesturing towards the bed was. "And I have been trying to get him to go to bed, but it is just not working!" he said frustrated.
"Oh, hun. I am sorry I left you to fend for yourself against the big bad 7 month old baby of ours." she teased. He gave her a look. "What! You are the only one that can't get him to sleep! You are just cursed! Like in that pirate movie! Only you are a lot hotter. And that movie kind of sucked." she said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Luke inquired.
"Oh, the movie Pirates of the--never mind. So, you go downstairs, I will grab Jake and the bag, I will go home, and then I will proceed to get him to sleep. Sound fun?" she asked. To everyone else, Lorelai always had the answers.
"Sure." Luke said, giving Lorelai a peck on the lips. "Oh, I'm going to be home early tonight." he added. After that little flare up five days ago he had been trying to give Lorelai more time to live a life besides work and Jake.
"Time?" Lorelai asked. He had been so sweet over the past few days. He had allowed her this time to go spend with Rory, while he watched Jake, he had been coming home earlier in the evening, and he had continued cooking her dinner every night.
"Ah, about three. So, in a few hours." he answered.
"Ok. So I will meet you downstairs." she said kissing him quickly and then going over to the crib set up in the apartment to get Jake.
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Lorelai walked down into the diner carrying Jake in one arm, with the diaper bag slung over the other.
"Hey hun. I'm goin' get going. Kiss for the open road?" Lorelai said as she walked behind the counter. Luke smiled. He could never resist an invitation. He unhurriedly moved towards her and placed his hands on her hips. He slowly leaned in for a peck on the lips. He repeated this twice before pulling back.
"How about I walk home with you, and I can carry the bags?" he suggested gesturing to the 5 bags that still lay on the counter. Lorelai smiled at this. Sweeter everyday, she thought.
"Sure!" she replied moving from behind the counter so that Luke could get to the bags, and eventually followed her out the door.
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As they walked, Lorelai decided to add some verbal thoughts to end the silence.
"Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?" he asked turning to look at her.
"This is nice isn't it? I mean you and me, getting over the little thing last week? I mean, we are able to leap that hurdle in our relationship." she clarified.
"Yeah, this is nice." he responded to her first question. He had been thinking the same exact thing. This was the perfect relationship. He didn't understand why he had let it go over a year ago. Oh yeah, Christopher. It was not that he hadn't trusted Lorelai; it was just that he knew he was fighting a battle that he couldn't handle. Lorelai had been fighting all her life and had been used to it, but Luke had not been prepared to go up against Christopher AND Emily. And plus, he didn't trust Christopher. He was a sneaky manipulative bastard. Well, so was Emily, but she wasn't the one that could possibly take Lorelai away from him.
"Luke, we're here." Lorelai said drawing Luke out of his thoughts.
"Ok. I'm just…going to put these in our room." he said, his previous thoughts still running through his head.
"Sure. I will see you in a few hours babe." she said kissing him and then heading towards Rory's room and Luke headed towards the stairs.
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Ok, see how rewarding it is to review? I get my chapters up faster! So, please review. I don't want to have to attack you all with my angry mob or my penguins, but if I have to, I will. So review or they will come after you. Crackers are good. Just thought I would tell you. That and pop tarts. What kind of pop tarts do you guys like? So review please! The more reviews I get, the faster my chapters will be posted.
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AndI just did something interesting--I bit my lip. It really hurts. And now it's bleeding. well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I have a cold. I guess that's interesting. What do you think?
