The Middle

Chapter One: Fight Face

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the show or anything like that. That, all belongs to the wonderful creators of Gilmore Girls.

Summary: She didn't want just an ending with him, she wanted a middle too. This what you would call the beginning of their middle…

A/N: This is a story of what I think happens after the screen fades to black each week. There should be a chapter for each episode this season.

I have always hated fighting with Rory. Before, when we fought it would be over which take out we would get that night or who got to pick the movie we'd watch. It would last 10 minutes and then we'd make type of compromise. Every once in awhile we'd get angry at each other and not talk for a few hours or maybe even a day, but things would always work out.

Tis time it all seemed so much more complicated. It's going to take a lot more than giving her $10 to spend at the book store to fix all of this, I know that. I just didn't think it was going to be like this. Seeing her was so weird. She didn't seem like the Rory I raised. She wasn't the Rory I have known for almost 21 years. She wasn't the Rory that used to cry when she stepped on an ant or make me look in her closet for monsters each night. She was doing community service. She was picking up trash on the highway. She was doing community service along with people who have piercings in places I don't want to imagine, weed in their back pocket, and people who know where all of the security cameras are in the mall. Rory has never been like any of those people. But, suddenly she seems to becoming more and more like them. She's changing. She's different.

I saw her there, cleaning up trash on the side of the road. Suddenly, I found myself pulling over and getting out of the car. Then I talked to her and she acted so cold. She acted like we were enemies, like we were in high school and I had just put her underwear on the flag pole for everyone to see. The way she congratulated me, hurt me more than anything. I know she was only angry because I didn't tell her about it. I know I should have. She was the one person I wanted to know before anyone. I just didn't know if I was supposed to or if I should or if she'd even listen to me when I tried to tell her. I wanted to tell her more than anyone.

When I thought I was getting married to Max, we jumped around my parent's house. We giggled, smiled, and laughed with each other. She was so excited. She was so happy for me.

Now, I know that I'm getting married to Luke and she acts like she's angry about it. It wasn't supposed to be like that. I was supposed to tell her and she was going to be so happy. She was going to hug me and we'd jump around in circles for hours. I'd show her my ring and she'd tell me how beautiful it is. We'd sit down and she would let me tell her all the details a million times before she got sick of hearing about it. I'd ask her to be my maid of honor and she'd say yes. We would be so excited. She was going to be excited.

It wasn't supposed to be a secret. She wasn't supposed to find out from just Luke, a week after it happened. She was supposed to find out from both of us, seconds after it happened. We weren't supposed to talk about it on the side of the highway while she's picking up trash. She wasn't supposed to yell at me. I wasn't supposed to yell back.

A week ago, if somebody had asked me to imagine telling Rory that Luke and I were engaged, it definitely would have gone differently. But things were changing, everything was changing…

It always scares me a little when one second I'm driving down the high way and then I suddenly realize that I'm right around the corner from my house. I wonder how I got here, when I was paying so little attention. I wonder if I would have noticed a man crossing the street or a little girl on a bicycle.

I parked the car in my driveway and got out. I walked towards the house, glancing at the chuppah for a few seconds. Luke had made it when I was going to marry Max, then I called off the wedding and we didn't use it. It hadn't been a marriage chuppah since then, it had just been a chuppah that Luke made me. Soon we would be getting married under it and it'd be the marriage chuppah, again. But, this time we'd use it.

I walked up to the house and opened the door. I smiled when I walked inside, the whole house smelled delicious. Luke was cooking dinner for us. I couldn't remember the last time I had walked into my house and smelled a home cooked meal. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten a home cooked meal in this house, unless you'd count the Poptarts I had for breakfast. I dropped my purse and went into the kitchen.

"Hey." I told him, leaning towards him for a quick kiss.

"Hey." He said. "I'm making spaghetti." He told me.

"Mmm…" I told him and started grabbing plates to put on the table. I couldn't remember the last time I used these plates. Most take-out didn't need plates and if it did, I'd always use plastic. But, everything was changing, right? I'd probably be using these plates a lot more often, I might even end up eating a vegetable. I mean if Rory, who was a straight A student and validictorian of Chilton, can go steal a Yacht, go to jail and drop of of Yale, then who says I won't start eating vegetables.

"So, we can probably start construction really soon." Luke told me. "It should take a few weeks, we're just making the bedroom bigger. Maybe we can paint a little bit, too. You probably haven't painted in awhile." Luke was telling me.

"You hate painting." I informed him.

"Painting with you last time wasn't so bad." He smiled at me. Yes, last time. When I made him paint the diner.

"I'll have to start working on my painting songs." I said.

"Oh, boy." He said while rolling his eyes.

"I saw Rory." I blurted out. I don't know why I did it, especially right now. It just came out.

He turned to look at me, still stirring the sauce. "Yeah?" He asked.

I nodded. "I was driving and there she was, on the side of the road, picking up trash. She was picking up trash, with a bunch of criminals. They were all wearing matching clothing. I mean, Luke, there she was picking up trash next to guys with nose rings and full body tattoos." I told him.

"I know," he told me. I knew he understood how much this bothered me. He understands how wrong this is, how much this isn't Rory. He knows that she doesn't do things like this, that she's not being herself. He can see how much she's changing. He seems to be the only one who can see that.

"And, so I pulled over." I told him.

I guess, he knew by the face I was making, that it didn't go very well.

"She just started talking to me in this way- It was so cold and she had this 'I hate you Mom' tone in her voice."

"She doesn't hate you." He told me in this confident way that almost made me believe him.

"She started yelling at me and saying how much I hurt her by not telling her about the engagement. But doesn't she get that it hurt me to not tell her?" I explained to him. I'm not really sure why I picked this particular moment to become all emotional and spill my heart out. Something about Luke just made me want to tell him everything. Maybe it's because he would always listen.

"I wanted to tell her more than anything. I wanted her to be the first to know. I wanted to jump around with her and tell her every single detail." It really hit me right then. She doesn't know any details. She knows absolutely nothing. She doesn't know that I asked him first and then he surprised me with another proposal. She doesn't know Luke is moving in. She doesn't know that we're making the bedroom bigger. She doesn't know I got a dog. She doesn't know anything anymore.

I guess I was making a funny face or something because he came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I relaxed in his arms and let a few tears run down my face before I spoke again.

"I just wanted her to be happy for us." I told him, pulling away from him and drying off my face with my sleeve.

"She is happy for us." He said in that o-so-confident voice of his.

"But, I just wanted us to all be happy together." I told him again. I wanted her to come back home. I wanted her to go back to Yale. I wanted her to go back to the old Rory. I wanted her to be herself again. "This isn't how I wanted it to be…" I told him. Then I saw the face he was making and realized he was probably thinking I was having second thoughts or something. "I wanted her to know, first…I wanted to jump around and celebrate. I didn't want to go stop on the side of the road and have her yell at me." I explained to him, hoping he'd realize that it wasn't about him. He was the only good thing in my life, right now. I just wished he'd know that.

"We're going to fix this, OK? Don't worry." He told me in that voice, again. I wanted to believe him so badly. He looked so sure about everything. I wish I was that sure.

"Hey?" He said when I started to turn around.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"I'm sorry I told her." He said to me. I suddenly felt so guilty and I'm not even sure why. Maybe I just felt bad that he was apologizing for something he shouldn't be. It wasn't his fault, he did the right thing. If he hadn't told her then, who knows when she would have found out? I probably wouldn't have told her for awhile and then it would have ended up being a pretty bad situation. I just didn't know how to tell her this. She was mad at me, and I guess I was afraid she wouldn't be happy about it or she'd just blow me off. It probably wouldn't have been as bad as this, though. I screwed it all up. She came into the diner for a reason, right? Maybe she was coming to try and work things out, maybe she wanted to talk. Then she finds out I didn't tell her about something as important as this and she hates me again. I screwed up. But, if Luke hadn't told her, it probably would have been so much worse.

If Luke hadn't told her, she might not have found out for another few months. He did the right thing. Why was he apologizing?

I suddenly realized that I hadn't said anything in a while and he was still staring at me with that worried look on his face.

"Don't be sorry." I told him.

"Lorelai-" He began.

"Luke, I'm sorry I didn't tell her. I'm sorry you're in the middle of all of this. You did the right thing, you did what I should have done last week." I tried to tell him.

"We'll fix this." He told me again.

I nodded and tried to smile a little bit for him. He pushed my hair behind my ears and smiled at me. He kissed me on the forehead and then looked down at me, as if he was asking if I'd be OK. I smiled a little bit and he smiled back then turned back to stir his sauce.

I opened the silverware drawer and got two forks and two knives. Boy, how things were changing.

We'll there is chapter 2 for ya.

I loved the beginning of this episode. When Sookie and Lorelai were looking at the Twickham house and she kept asking her if this thing was for real and if she'd run away like last time. And Lorelai told her to look in her eyes because that would show her that this time was different and she was here to stay. Then Sookie was like "pretty eyes." and Lorelai's like "I'm taken." Yeah, I loved that part. And of course when Lorelai showed Luke, Paul Anka and when he was standing on the house. Anyways,

Please review! And Happy Halloween!

Thanks!