Author's Note: Thanks for all the wonderful feedback! You are all awesome readers. So here, as promised, is the next part!
Previously in "A New Beginning": Emily invites herself and Richard over for dinner so Lorelai enlists Luke's help.
"Luke-y!" Lorelai greeted as she opened the door to Luke.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" he questioned, carefully trying to balance all the bags he was holding. "Can you give me a hand?"
She took one of the bags from his grasp. "I know that Rory and I eat a lot, but even this seems like too much food," she observed. "While Emily and Richard may seem like the generals of a small army, you will not actually be cooking for one."
Luke followed Lorelai into her kitchen. "You and Rory can eat enough food for a small army," he stated. "It's not all food. I brought some cooking utensils as well," he explained.
"I have cooking utensils," she claimed.
"Do you have a spatula?" Luke inquired.
"A what?" she asked. "Okay, you win. But I do have some pots and pans!" she defended. "You've seen them!"
"I know… except they're not normally used for musical instruments. My ears are still aching from that concert last week when you and Rory decided that you were going to tryout to be the next Beagles."
"Bangles," she corrected him. "And Rory and I have some God-given talent. Don't you ever forget that."
"Talent to make my ears bleed," he grumbled, but his eyes were smiling at her. Luke had never been so entertained before; Lorelai was constantly surprising him with the crazy ideas she came up with.
She watched as he began unpacking the contents of the bags he had brought. She hopped up on the kitchen counter. "What are you making?" she asked.
"Lamb-and-artichoke stew, penne with pesto and potatoes, roasted garlic with rosemary focaccia, tomatoes stuffed with breadcrumbs and goat cheese, and cheesecake for dessert," he told her. When he didn't hear her respond, he turned to face her. Her mouth was open, gaping at him. "What?"
She shook herself out of a daze. "That sounds amazing. When I asked if you could cook something fancy, I had no idea you could make something like that."
He shrugged. "It's nothing."
"No, Luke. It's not nothing. You're always so great to me... and Rory."
He gave her a smile, his cheeks reddening a bit. "You're my friend," he said simply after a moment.
Lorelai sat on the counter for a long time, watching Luke as he stood over her stove. Despite working at the diner, she had rarely had the chance to watch him cook. She noticed a certain confidence in his movements; they were smooth, sure, and perfect.
She was unaware that she had been swinging her legs and banging her heels against the cabinet while watching Luke until she felt his hands on her thighs. She abruptly stopped her legs and looked at him standing directly in front of her. "Sorry," she offered in an almost whisper, suddenly conscious of how close Luke was to her.
As if realizing this himself, Luke quickly removed his hands and took a step back. "Dinner's almost done."
"Right," Lorelai said, sliding off the counter. "I should probably go get ready."
He nodded. "What time is Rory coming home?"
"She should be home any minute. Paris probably wouldn't let her leave their study session until everything was perfect," Lorelai answered before heading up the stairs to change into something a little more 'Emily' appropriate.
Luke was putting the final products of his cooking on the table when he heard a knock at the front door. Walking out of the kitchen, he called up the stairs, "Lorelai, I think your parents are here."
"Crap!" he heard her yell. "I'm almost ready. Where's Rory?"
"I don't know," he answered. There was another, more impatient knock on the door. "Lorelai!" he called again. "Something tells me that your parents are not going to like waiting out on your front porch."
"Can you answer it?"
"I was supposed to be gone by the time they got here!"
"Pleaaaaaase, Luke?" she yelled down in the most convincing voice she could muster.
He sighed. "Fine."
"Thank you!" she hollered. "And I apologize in advance for anything they say to you."
Luke walked over to her front door and pulled it open to Lorelai's impeccably dressed parents. Her mother was impatiently tapping her foot in a pair of shoes that were no doubt more expensive than Luke's entire wardrobe.
"It's about time. You're supposed to answer on the first-" Emily started, but she stopped when she saw that Luke was the one standing in the doorway. "I cannot believe her! The nerve! Giving us the wrong address!"
"Mrs. Gilmore," Luke said, stopping Emily's rant. "You have the right address." He held the door open wide. "Please, come in." The two elder Gilmores followed Luke into the house to the living room. "Lorelai should be right down."
Emily looked at him pointedly. "Who are you? And what are you doing in my daughter's house?"
Luke shifted uncomfortably. "I... umm..."
Lorelai came bounding down the stairs. "Mom, Dad," she greeted.
"Hello, Lorelai" her father replied.
"Lorelai, who is this man?" her mother asked her, pointing at Luke.
"Nice to see you too," Lorelai answered. "Luke was just giving me a hand with dinner." She turned to face him. "Thanks, Luke. I can take it from here."
He looked relieved. "I should probably be getting back to the diner," he stated. "Dessert is in the fridge, along with some strawberries and whipped cream," he briefly told Lorelai before saying goodbye. "I'll see you later. It was nice meeting you," he directed at her parents before quickly heading towards the door.
"Hey Luke," they heard Rory say as Luke was opening the door. They heard his muffled greeting before the door shut behind him.
"Sorry, I'm late," Rory apologized, entering the living room. She gave each of her grandparents a quick hug. "Is dinner ready?"
"Yes, it is. Everything's ready in the kitchen," Lorelai said, leading them all into her tiny kitchen. "Please take a seat."
"This dinner smells delicious," Richard noted.
"Luke really outdid himself this time, Mom," Rory agreed with her grandfather.
"Lorelai, how do you know that unkempt man?" Emily inquired, not ready to let the subject drop.
"Luke, Mom. His name is Luke," Lorelai answered through clenched teeth, taking a bite of the delicious food Luke had prepared. "He's a friend."
"Sure, he's just a friend," her mother said in an accusing tone.
"Mom! He is!" Lorelai tried to assure her. "He was just helping me out. I didn't think you'd want takeout for dinner," she noted. "And it'd be none of your business if he was more than a friend," she muttered under her breath.
"Of course, it would be!" Emily exclaimed.
"Emily," Richard tried to reason.
"Richard! Don't say my name like I am two years old. I have a right to know what is going on in my daughter's life, especially if it will affect my granddaughter," Emily pointed out. "You are not to see that man, Lorelai."
"I'm not ten years old, Mom. You cannot tell me who I can and cannot date. You just got upset with Dad for speaking to you like a child, yet here you are trying to control my life," Lorelai declared.
"You should be with Christopher," Emily said matter-of-factly.
"No, I shouldn't."
"He's your husband, Lorelai."
"Not anymore."
"Because you didn't want to make it work."
"He cheated!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"You still could have tried. But no, you had to give up at the first sign of trouble. Didn't you?" Emily blamed her.
"It wasn't the first time! I was never happy with Chris!"
"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you were a family!" Emily shouted. "You broke up a family."
"I broke up a family!" Lorelai cried. "How can you even say that to me?"
"And now, you're tramping around with some lumberjack!" Emily accused.
"So basically, you're calling me a whore?" Lorelai questioned.
"Lorelai, don't use that kind of language with your mother," Richard warned.
"She's the one accusing me of 'tramping around'!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"What's that saying?" Emily asked. "If the shoe fits, wear it," she said sharply.
Lorelai slammed her fork down. "Fine. I'm going to go put on my tramp shoes right now. I guess that I need to make some money somehow, don't I?" She stood up from the table, shooting a remorseful look at her daughter. "Even though Luke isn't expecting me to work tonight, that's where I'll be." She gave Rory a quick kiss on the cheek. "Call me if you need anything."
"You work for him?" Emily questioned, saying the word 'him' like it was filth.
"Well, some whores do get paid for their services," Lorelai spat at her mother. "I'll see you later," she said to Rory before grabbing her apron and keys and heading out the door, not even acknowledging Emily on her way out.
"That was rude," Emily stated after hearing Lorelai slam the door behind her.
"Rude?" Rory asked in disbelief. "You just said some horrible things to Mom."
"Rory!" Emily exclaimed.
"I'm not defending the things she said to you either, but you could have been nicer. Mom has been working so hard to provide all of this for the two of us," Rory said, motioning to the house around them. "She works fulltime at the Independence Inn as their event coordinator, and she also works several days a week at Luke's Diner. It doesn't matter to her if she has no time for herself."
"She works at a diner?" Emily questioned, her voice full of disdain. "For that man."
"Luke's been really nice to us, Grandma, and you just treated him and Mom like they were dirt," Rory pointed out. "She wasn't lying to you. They are just friends."
"I'm sorry," Emily admitted softly to her granddaughter, her face falling slightly. "I'd understand if you'd like us to leave."
Richard moved to stand. "We should probably get going."
Rory took a deep breath and shook her head. "No. Stay and eat. Luke went to too much trouble to let all of this food go to waste."
Emily picked up her fork and finally tried a bite of Luke's cooking. "This is pretty good."
Rory nodded. "Luke's an amazing cook. He's never made anything like this for us before though." She took a bite. "Mmm..."
"So Luke's a good man?" Emily inquired.
"He is," Rory responded, holding up her fork with a piece of lamb on it. "And he keeps us fed."
"Yes, well. That certainly explains a lot," Emily said before rather heartily digging into Luke's food herself.
To be continued. Please review! I love feedback! Also? I think this might have been my favorite part to write so far. I hadn't intended to have such a huge fight when I first started writing it, but my thoughts kind of ran away from me. I really liked the result, and I hope that you did too.
La prochaine fois: Lorelai is upset over the dinner, and there's only one person who she'd turn to.