A/N: Thank you for the continued support and feedback. Enjoy.

She Always Takes Me Back

Chapter 8: Emily says "What the…?"

It wasn't very often Emily Gilmore would admit she was wrong, but she knew she was mistaken in regards to Lorelai. Not about everything, of course. But she had been wrong about her daughter's feelings for Luke Danes.

She knew Lorelai had developed intense feelings for the man, but she did not expect Lorelai's reaction to her plan. Of course, she didn't expect Christopher to expose her machinations either. She thought Christopher would make a scene, Luke and Lorelai would fight with their tempers getting the best of them, and they would breakup. And, after a decent amount of time, Lorelai would find a nice respectable man that could come to the club and DAR fundraisers.

Instead, her daughter had said they were finished.

During her trip with Richard, she had been sending Lorelai and Rory postcards to keep the lines of communication open. If they shut her out, Emily didn't know what she'd do. She couldn't bear to lose her daughter again.

She realized how bad her plan had turned out when she returned to Hartford. Lorelai was so angry, she hung up on Emily three times. This was bad. Things were all right if Lorelai was yelling at you. There were problems when she stopped. Then, to make things worse, Rory was also angry. Fortunately, Rory had to keep coming back for Friday Night Dinner. Lorelai was a greater challenge.

The last time this happened, she lost her daughter for 15 years. Emily would not let that happen again. Lorelai, however, was being stubborn. That meant Emily was going to have to do what she did best. She would have to meddle.

After taking his painkillers, Christopher felt pretty good. So good, he went back to Lorelai's house where Rory and Lorelai were still up watching movies and talking. Watching them, he realized all he had missed. He could have been there. So what if Lorelai hadn't wanted to get married. That didn't mean he had to abandon them.

He could have moved to Stars Hollow when Lorelai did, and provided financial support for his daughter. She wouldn't have been raised in a shed, but in a real home. He could have witnessed the major events in her life. Lorelai wouldn't have indebted herself to her parents for Rory to go to Chilton. He was sure his parents would have come around about Rory if he had been a bigger presence in his life.

If he had been around, he and Lorelai would have worked out their differences years earlier, and they could have married. A year later, they would have welcomed a son, followed by another daughter. After he had become a business success, they would have moved to Hartford or Manhattan and lived a perfect life.

Instead, he was freezing his ass off outside Lorelai's house. He crossed the lawn to look into the window, but kicked over a gnome while passing through Babette's yard. The arm, which held a pipe, broke off.

"Shit," he said, picking up the gnome. "That crazy broad is going to notice that."

He placed the gnome back down, and moved closer to the house. Inside, Lorelai was sitting on the couch, her feet propped up the coffee table. Rory had her head in Lorelai's lap. They were laughing about something, and Lorelai was stroking her hair.

They looked so symbiotic, and he couldn't imagine anything splitting them up. A phone rang from inside the house, and Christopher ducked.

"It's mine," Rory said from inside the house. He heard some noises before another "Hello" from Rory, then a door shut.

He looked in again, and saw Lorelai sitting alone on the couch. She just looked sad. He decided to send her some flowers the next day to cheer her up.

Christopher headed to the next window when he heard a door next door open.

"All right you son of a bitch, I know you're out here," Babette yelled. "I saw you from the window."

Christopher ran off the porch and looked for a place to hide when he felt something hard hit the back of his head. The force knocked him off his feet, and he fell on his face. He felt a trickle of blood run from his nose as he got up as fast as he could and hobbled into the darkness.

Babette had fallen asleep when she heard something break outside. He's back, she thought. That rat bastard who thinks he can break into my house is about to get a world of payback.

She looked out the window and saw a man holding Pierpont. She put on her robe, and headed toward the front door, grabbing a sugar canister on her counter.

A man dressed in black was looking into Lorelai's window. So, he was after Lorelai's house.

"All right you son of a bitch," she yelled. "I saw you from the window."

The man, who was limping, jumped off the porch, but Babette threw the canister at the retreating figure, and pegged him in the head.

"Gotcha," she said, as the man fell to the ground. She headed toward him, but he picked himself up and ran off into the woods.

Babette walked to Lorelai's door, and noticed the gnome, her beloved Pierpont. His arm was broken off. That bastard broke her gnome. She picked him and his broken arm up as Lorelai, followed by Rory, ran out of their house.

"Babette, is everything okay," Lorelai said, crossing her porch to meet the heavily breathing Babette.

"Oh, Doll, there was a man outside your house. I hit him with that canister and chased him off. We have to call the police."

"Oh, gosh," Rory said, pulling out her phone. "Should I call Coop?"

"No, wait," said Lorelai. "What did he look like?"

"I couldn't tell it was so dark, and he was wearing black. But he did have a limp."

"Was it his right foot or his left foot," asked Lorelai.

"His right. Why?"

"You don't have to call the cops," Lorelai said. "I know who it is."

"Who?" asked Rory and Babette simultaneously.

"Christopher. I'm gonna kill him."

"Why would Dad be looking in the windows?"

"Because he is the biggest ass in three counties, and must have read his copy of i Stalkers for Dummies /i since the last time I saw him. I'll take care of him, Babette."

"Okay, Shug, but if he shows up again, I'll use force if necessary."

"Just try not to kill him, Babette. Rory has been already damaged enough by her crazy parents."

"No promises, but I'll try my best."

Babette picked up her canister with her free hand, and went back inside. In the morning, she'd get Morey or Luke to fix Pierpont. He had always liked her gnomes.

When the phone rang at 7:45, Emily was happy. It was Rory, and she had obviously come to her senses and was going to apologize for her awful behavior the previous evening.

"Hello," Emily said in what she thought was her most understanding tone.

"Grandmother, I just wanted you to know what you have done to Mom."

"Rory, I haven't done anything to your mother. I haven't even talked to her since we returned."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Dad has moved to Stars Hollow. He won't leave Mom alone and was outside our house last night watching us."

"That's ridiculous, Rory. Christopher wouldn't do something like that."

"Well, he's here, and last night, Babette hit him upside the head with a jar after he was peeping in our windows. If you had left Mom and Luke alone, this wouldn't be happening. I have to go. Goodbye."

Emily was shocked. Had Christopher lost his mind? Moved to Stars Hollow? Stalking? She picked up the phone to call Francine.

Christopher's head felt like it had doubled in size. There was a large egg swelling on the back of it where he had been pelting in the head with something large. His nose was bruised from where he landed on it. At least it looked good with his swollen lip.

In all his life, he had never such bad luck. Previously, he had walked away from three car accidents, but that luck had all but evaporated in Stars Hollow. He guessed he wasn't made for small town life.

He got out the peroxide to apply to the cut on the back of his head when he heard a knocking at his door.

"All right, I'm coming," he said as he headed to the door. "Keep your --"

"Hello, Christopher, may I come in," said Emily Gilmore as she walked into his tiny apartment not waiting for the invitation.

Kirk was torn. While Luke was getting grumpier and grumpier by the minute, his food was getting better and better. Right and left, people were fleeing the diner. Some left by choice out of anger or disgust. Others received what was now called the "Luke Danes Special," which included a customer saying almost anything and Luke showing them the door.

With the people fleeing the diner, Kirk was finally able to spend some quality time with Luke, even if he did risk serious injury with the wrong word. So far today, he had a BLT with no bacon but some weird mystery meat, fries that were burned on the outside and frozen on the inside, flat soda, and brownies that were baked with salt instead of sugar.

"Hey, Luke," he said.

"What, Kirk?"

"Can I have a cheeseburger?"

"You'll get whatever I make, Kirk."

"That sounds good , too."

The diner's phone rang, and Luke answered, his voice barely containing his misplaced anger.

"Luke's."

Kirk watched as Luke tried to say something, but couldn't break in the conversation.

"All right, fine, Babette. Just bring the damn gnome over, and I'll fix it."

He hung up the phone so hard it bounced off the cradle. Kirk thought he had broken it, but Luke picked up the receiver, checked for a dial tone, and hung it up properly.

"Hey, Lane, I'm going upstairs for a while to look for some glue for Babette. You got this?"

"Yeah, Luke, take your time," Lane said from the back.

Luke walked loudly up the stairs, and there were visible sighs of relief from the remaining six customers. Five minutes later, Babette walked in looking for Luke. She took a seat to wait for him to return, too afraid to venture up the stairs that only Lorelai, and sometimes Kirk, took.

"I didn't think you could find a place worse than your last residence, Christopher, and you look absolutely terrible," Emily said with disdain, as she looked around his apartment.

"I'm sorry that my appearance and my residence are so unappealing to you."

"It's downright disgusting. So, Christopher, what are you doing here?"

"I'm just taking a break."

"It looks like this break is about to kill you, judging from your appearance."

"I just had a small accident."

"A small accident outside my daughter's house?"

"That's crazy. I just fell down outside."

"You fell down? And gave yourself a limp, a fat lip, and that problem with your face?"

"I'm allergic to shellfish."

"I'm going to say this once, Christopher, stay away from my daughter or you'll have to answer to me."

Emily walked out of his apartment. She now needed to pay a visit to Luke Danes.

"Okay, Babette, I think I fixed it."

"You're an angel, Luke. I just love Pierpont to death. I can't believe that crazy ex of Lorelai's would do this."

"What crazy ex?"

"Oh, that's right. Rory's dad was hanging around outside her house last night, but I got him pretty good after he kicked Pierpont."

"Does Lorelai know?"

"Oh, she knows and wasn't too happy about it. Oh, I got to go. Morey's playing tonight in Woodbridge and I have to go wake him."

It's not my problem anymore, Luke thought. Lorelai can handle him. He couldn't get involved in her life anymore. He looked around his diner, and noticed only Kirk remained. He had ran off the entire town. If he didn't pull himself out of his funk, he'd lose his business. He turned and began working on the evening's receipts when the bell rang and the door opened.

"Hello, Luke," Emily Gilmore said.

It took Lorelai about 30 minutes to learn where Christopher was living. She had about an hour before Rory would be back from the bookstore and they could continue their time together. Right now, it was time to deal with Christopher.

She stopped at his apartment door, and waited. She was ready to face her past once and for all. There would be no more excuses. She would not take any more of his vague dreams. It all ended tonight, one way or another. She knocked on the door.