Chapter 98
May 10th, 2017
"This is the last of it," Luke exhaled as he carried the final box of books in and put them down on top of the dining room table.
It was move-in day. A pleasantly warm spring day. Though in theory the moving had lasted already for about a week, even despite the place still smelling a little of fresh paint and sawdust. It had taken Luke and Jess, and some contractors for specialist tasks, three weeks of intense physical labor to get the place to the condition it was in now. And the transformation from a shabby, water-damaged and worn out house, into something that was similar to her mother's home in its present state, had truly been miraculous.
"I don't know how to thank you, I feel like such a burden," Rory sighed, pushing herself up from the couch, to where she'd laid down after unpacking her clothes into her closet some minutes ago. It seemed every little physical thing she tried to do these days ended up hurting her back. So she tried to do as much as she felt up to and alternated with laying down - still it made her feel like she was just lazy while the others did all the work.
Rory wasn't even that far long - just 23 weeks - but already she was feeling the need for the semester to be over. She had the will but lacked the physical endurance for keeping up with a bunch of 20-somethings at this point.
"Rory, you know you don't have to thank me. I'm happy to do it," Luke replied, still walking around as if not knowing what to do with his hands, needing to keep fixing things.
Jess had gone to pick up their new mattress half-an-hour ago and Lorelai had just gone to get them some Chinese.
"Still… I've never had to ask you to do anything for me and yet you always somehow seem to know just what I, we, need," Rory commented, looking down at her belly which was presently getting a few decent kicks. She couldn't have said that for Christopher, who had also always helped. But Christopher still didn't know her like Luke did, he didn't notice her needing things, even if he always helped when she asked for it. Luke was attentive like that, and love spoke stronger than money.
"Ah..," Luke brushed it off, not being one to really take a compliment well. "I'm just glad that you're happy, that Jess is finally happy… that you two found each other now not in ten years. That you didn't waste time like me and your mom," Luke explained.
Rory would've like to argue that surely all these years hadn't been wasted. But she knew what he meant. They had missed that window to have a baby together for one.
"Maybe if we had gotten our acts together a little sooner…," Luke began, being surprisingly open about it, but never really finished his thought.
"I know…," Rory sighed, stroking her bump.
"You know, I always felt like you were the one that gave Jess that necessary push that needed to get his act together. I know the road was bumpy, he made plenty of mistakes… but your influence went way beyond your relationship," Luke explained, as he sank down onto a chair.
"He got his own act together," Rory chimed in, not wanting to take the credit.
Luke shrugged, not wanting to argue, and they could already see through the window Jess pulling up with the mattress, which alerted Luke to go help him carry it.
December 30th, 2021
"Hey, we're here," Lorelai walked through the front door of Rory's house, Luke in toe, carrying two bags of Luke's takeaway. Since Friday night was the 31st and Rory already had plans with her friends, they'd rescheduled their Friday night dinner on that Thursday instead.
Lorelai insisted on getting Luke and Rory together to apologize, and there weren't too many opportunities for this without Em being present. Logan was planning on joining them later, having just a couple of hours ago gotten the call that he'd be getting his puppy on Sunday, so he'd gone shopping, realizing he wouldn't have a lot of chances to handle those things during the weekend with his friends visiting. Rory didn't mind, actually believing that maybe she needed to talk things out with Luke first by herself. Besides - things between her and Logan were a little cooler right now than she would've liked, the realization that perhaps she wasn't offering Logan everything that he needed, still lingering in her brain. She wanted to be able to be more for him, she just didn't know how. But Logan had assured her that this little glitch would not damage them, having kept up a steady flow of communication since last night which already had been contrary to what she'd feared.
"Hey," Luke added.
"Hey," Rory reflected, feeling like the house was so empty without Em's excited squeals at the arrival of guests.
The two hung up their winter coats, and Lorelai began to unpack their food, while quite deliberately nodding at the two to go talk this thing out. It felt almost like a kindergarten teacher telling two kids to go make up. But this was Lorelai, alright, but there was no point fighting in, and as the two complied, Lorelai couldn't help but to smile at the success of her conflict resolution skills.
As she'd returned from Nantucket, she'd found a regretful Luke, having spent a day alone in his forest cabin, not doing much, and explaining how he couldn't really explain his reaction and assuring that all he wanted was everyone involved to be happy. He'd listened to Lorelai's speech on how she saw things - including how attentive Logan had been in Nantucket towards all of them and how she trusted her daughter.
"Rory, listen…," Luke began with a deep sigh, uncomfortably tucking his hands under his armpits like he often did, and then untucking them, unsure what to do with them. "I know I said some hurtful things, I don't know why I did that. I guess it just kept seeing the parallels, it made me reflect back to how angry I felt at Anna with the whole custody thing… and I just… I don't know… Jess is like a son to me and I just hate to see him hurt. I'd hate to see him...I don't know... I hate seeing you cast him out just like that… but I know… it's between the two of you and I have no business objecting or telling you otherwise," Luke explained, several of his thoughts being left incomplete.
"You still think I'm making a mistake?" Rory replied.
"That's how I saw it at the time. But your mom has tried to explain some things to me… also about the history the two of you have and how it goes beyond Jess… and I guess it's a bit like me and Christopher thing too," Luke admitted. He was never the best at explaining his feelings.
"Oh come on, they're nothing alike," Rory didn't believe that comparison for a second.
"I don't really know the guy, especially not these days - I'll admit it," Luke shrugged. "And I am sorry for what I said. I promise to keep my opinions to myself from now on," he added.
"You tried to talk Jess into fighting me over custody, you tried to convince him to take my kid from me!" Rory continued. That fact still hurt the most. She wasn't sure of the details, but the fact that Luke had even for a second believed she'd keep Em from Jess, felt utterly hurtful.
"I told him to stand up for his rights, not to let some….," Luke began, but corrected his stance in time. "Again, I'm sorry," Luke sighed, running his palm over his face, struggling. "I just want everyone to be happy and nobody, including Em, to get hurt," he added, almost as if fluctuating between different emotions.
"Okay…I accept your apology, but I am serious, there's a very fine line here. You've been very important to me all these years - but the minute Em hears anything negative from you about Logan, or something equivalent… that's it," Rory lectured, meaning it. She wasn't sure how that would actually work, but she'd needed to say how serious she was about this. Luke could have his opinion, naturally, but she wouldn't have him talking openly about it.
"Food's ready," Lorelai called, having set out the takeaway on the dining room table.
They were about half-way through the food when Logan let himself in, and greeted everyone, staying a little hesitant towards Luke, naturally. He'd wanted to talk to the man himself, but he wasn't sure if that day he'd get the actual chance to do it. He wasn't even sure what he'd say - it wasn't too common that he'd actually try to make up with people that didn't like him. Usually those people were the ones sitting on the other side of a conference room table along with their lawyers. It was not something he missed.
"So, getting excited yet?" Lorelai inquired from Logan, after he'd taken a couple of bites, quietly, while the others talked about their New Year's Eve plans, which in Lorelai's and Luke's case was sitting at home with Lorelai's newly famous Tiramisu White Russians.
"About what?" Logan asked, having lingered in his own thoughts while the others had talked.
Rory had noticed that and it really had made her more worried. Though the fact that Logan was getting the dog gave her some hope. While researching Lisa Irving on the internet hadn't been a particularly sane thing to do, it had left her listening to a few of Lisa's lectures that were up online. Dogs, apparently, really did help people with depression and many other issues too. She hoped that this dog would indeed help Logan, provide him with that other type of company, especially until they still lived separately most of the time. She didn't mind that it was going to be his dog, and her's and Em's only as second and third. There was going to be a lot of training involved and Logan was determined to do it, while she wouldn't have been so sure of her schedule to take on something that huge. Logan deserved to have a dog with the childhood he'd lacked.
"Woof," Lorelai made a playful barking sound, answering his question, being not used to seeing Logan as thoughtful before. "Loki, or what was his name again?" she added.
"Right, yeah. I am excited. Just a little tired tonight," he added, not even having to lie. He hadn't slept that well last night, actually had a nightmare or two about being back at HPG, and his recent shopping spree hadn't exactly helped.
"What breed was it, again?" Lorelai continued, carrying the conversation while Luke said very little.
"Shiba Inu," Rory replied. "It kind of looks like a mix of a fox and a dog, or…wolf," she added, and took another bite of her salt and pepper dipped fry.
"So, what is it that you've been working on these days? Lorelai told me you've started a company of some sort?" Luke suddenly asked, clearly directing the question at Logan. One thing Luke did respect was the ability to build a working business from the ground up, and he'd actually been very surprised to hear that Logan wasn't simply laying back on his father's money while he had the chance.
Logan's explanation - something about servers, databases and news filtering - left most of the listeners only vaguely more informed than they'd been before, Logan's tech ability being also somewhat of a surprise to Luke. Rory had seen this before, but even she didn't know how much of it he actually got. Here and now Logan was no longer the businessman buying up other people's ideas, but generating his own.
While the evening remained a little awkward, Luke clearly trying too hard, and Logan being quieter than usual, they all left on good terms, giving Rory some hope that perhaps Luke was indeed coming around to the idea, and had simply had a bad reaction due to his own insecurities or past experiences. He even apologized to Logan before leaving, though with less detail, generally apologizing for being not as welcoming as he should've been.
"You okay?" Rory asked, as she closed the door behind her mom and Luke, wondering what was going on in his mind.
"Just tired," Logan sighed, and sat down on the couch, but didn't escape into his own thoughts. He didn't want to go back to his lonesome apartment either. There were other thoughts but he hardly could tell where one ended and the other ended. He was just having a low period in his recovery. Those happened, and that was okay.
"It's going to be okay," Rory assured, joined him on the couch and brushed her fingers through the side of his hair. It was what he'd needed to hear, and it was effortless how their bodies just shifted in a way that left Logan's head resting on her lap, some random TV show keeping them company. Logan could feel her fingers caressing his scalp, enjoying each sensation on his otherwise troubled mind. It was simple, yet comforting. And while Rory didn't quite know how to help him in everything he was going through, what she could do was be there for him.
AN: I am not 100% happy with this chapter, but I think it got us further at least a step. This storyline with Luke is not finished... But at least we can see that he's trying a little.
I've been incredibly distracted with everything to do with this war... god, I just want this nonsense of playing with peoples lives to stop. It's feels like a fight between all the good of humanity and pure evil.
And on top of that I've had my own, minor in comparison, work-related word-fight with someone who doesn't respect what I'm doing, someone who is using bullying tactics and demagogy - it almost sounds similar... So needless to say that I'm stressed out.
But if my stats are correct, I know my stress is nothing compared to those closer to the conflict, the few readers I have from Ukraine - I hope that you're safe, know that your neighbouring countries stand with you and support you. My thoughts are with you!
