She Always Takes Me Back

Chapter 14: A Shot in the Shoppe

Although their back-together date started a little rocky, it improved once Luke and Lorelai got into his truck. Once they got their banter on track, they quickly fell into their old rhythm. Marino's, one of those kitschy Italian restaurants with red décor and Chianti bottle candleholders on the table, had excellent food. It also proved to be just romantic enough to keep Lorelai's comments to a minimum.

They held hands, which was something they didn't always do, and kept their conversation light. Lorelai thought it was nice to just be together again. Luke told diner tales while Lorelai spun inn tales. Neither brought up Christopher or Emily or any of their previous problems. They just talked and ate and laughed.

As the night came to a close and Lorelai finished her coffee and dessert, she couldn't wait to get back home to start the best part of their date.

Babette was still worried. It had been about 48 hours since she had killed Christopher, who then vanished. She had checked every room in her house about five times, afraid Zombie Christopher was going to pop out at any moment to feast on her brains.

"Babe, you're acting crazy," Morey said from his piano as she went from room to room. "He's not here, and he obviously wasn't dead."

"I just want to make sure. I'm not going to be able to sleep again if I think he's in the house. I could have sworn I heard him last night trying to get in the window."

"Why don't you just call Lorelai and see if she's heard from him?"

"She's out with Luke tonight, and I'm pretty sure she's not going to want to talk to me or anybody else. I hope she keeps the windows closed tonight."

"Well, how about Rory?"

"What am I supposed to say? 'Hey, Rory! How ya doin', sugar? Have you heard from your dad because I killed him a couple of nights back, and the body is now missing. Sorry. Oh yeah, I hid your dad's body instead of calling an ambulance or trying to save him. You didn't want to bury him anywhere special, right? If he had stayed put, he would have always been close by.' Yeah, I'm sure that would have gone well."

"I see your point. I guess you're going to have to wait and see if and when he shows up," he said, walking over to her and rubbing her back. "Let's go to bed. We can look for him in the morning."

"Let me just check the house one more time," she said, heading back into the kitchen.

Morey sighed and sat back down at the piano. It was going to be a long night.

"Daddy, you have to go and watch," Gigi said to Christopher, who was trying to play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. "It's the only way."

"Honey, I don't know what you're talking about half the time, but I'm tired of spying on Lorelai. Can't it wait until the pawn shop calls back?"

"No. If you are going to stop the Man with the Spatula, you have to watch him so you will be ready. He must be watched."

"I just want to finish this level," he said, but Gigi walked to the television and turned it off. "Dammit, Gigi."

"Now, Daddy. Leave now, but there are two full moons tonight. Beware the second one."

Christopher sighed and got off the couch. Gigi had only been with him for two days, but she was bringing him down. He didn't understand her or what she was going on about. For some reason, however, he did everything she asked. He figured that he was just overcompensating since Sherry had left, but even he had to admit that murder was going a little over the top.

"Honey, don't you need a babysitter?"

"I'll be fine, Daddy. I'll watch TV."

As Christopher left, Gigi sat on the couch and turned the television on. The Omen was playing. Gigi smiled.

When Christopher got to Lorelai's house, Luke's green truck was in the driveway, and the lights were downstairs. A quick trip around the house found Luke and Lorelai sitting at the kitchen table, eating ice cream and talking. He was afraid to get much closer, fearing he would not survive another confrontation with either Luke or Lorelai.

After a few minutes of watching them talk, he was growing rapidly bored and just wanted to go home and play some games. He loved Lorelai with all his heart, but he was starting to lose faith. He had been physically brutalized several times in the name of love, and his ego had taken a bruising by watching Lorelai and Luke have sex.

Now, Gigi was telling him to kill and making no sense. Christopher thought he needed to take control of his life again. He was going to call the pawn shop and cancel the gun. Then, he was going to get his daughter, head back to Boston and sweet talk his boss into giving him his job back.

Just as Christopher started to walk away from Lorelai's, the front door opened and the guy that had made that movie that time came running out the house naked. He was yelling something in a foreign language. Christopher hid behind Luke's truck, as Luke followed the naked guy out a few seconds later yelling, "Come back here, Kirk."

As Kirk ran bare-assed down the street, Luke went to his truck and got inside. Christopher hit the dirt to avoid detection. Luke gunned his truck and took off down the driveway. Before Christopher could get completely out of the way and his left hand was run over.

Christopher tried to conceal his cries of pain as he rolled into the bushes, hitting Lorelai's lawn altar, which stabbed him in the back. He sat in the bushes and cried for a few minutes until the pain began to subside. His knuckles were bloody, but he didn't think anything was broken. Lorelai's dirt driveway had spared his hand.

A few minutes later, the green truck returned, and Luke got out. Kirk The Naked Guy was tied up with bungee cords in the truck bed. He ushered Kirk back into the house and saw the light come on and go off quickly in Rory's room. The pain had subsided enough in his hand for Christopher to get out of the bushes.

He started to head back to his apartment, but curiosity got the best of him. He had to know what was going on inside the house. He went to the back kitchen door. Lorelai was placing a kitchen chair under the door knob to Rory's room. Christopher thought Lorelai looked gorgeous in the shiny pink dress. Only a few women could pull that look off, and Lorelai was one of them. Luke was sitting at the kitchen table laughing about something.

He gave her a head nod, and Lorelai walked over to him in a slow saunter. She put out her hands to Luke, who took them. She pulled him up and wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned down to kiss her.

Christopher looked away.

She broke the kiss and whispered something in his ear. Luke's eyes glazed over in lust and his hands grabbed her ass, pulling her closer. Lorelai practically ran out of the kitchen with Luke close on her heels. Christopher could hear clomping up the stairs and a door slam shut. He didn't want to imagine the rest.

Christopher walked home in an even deeper depression. It was impossible. She really loved that idiot, he thought, but he didn't deserve her. He finally understood what Gigi had been saying.

He had to get rid of Luke, and she had given him the tools to do it. First thing in the morning, he would go to the pawn shop and pick up his new gun.

Lorelai could barely catch her breath. Her entire body was humming with satisfaction after her latest round of lovemaking with Luke.

"Well, that was a perfect cap to our back-together date, I must say," she said between breaths. "If I don't get some sleep soon, though, I'm going to be absolutely no use tomorrow."

Luke rolled over to give Lorelai more room, spooning behind her.

"Okay, I get the message," he said, as he put an arm around her to pull her closer. "Good night."

Lorelai sighed in contentment. She thought if she was a cat, she'd be purring right now.

"Feel free to wake me up before you leave, if you know what I mean."

"Jeez. 'Night."

"'Night, hon."

Christopher and Gigi were able to pick up his newly purchased gun as soon as Mr. Donnelly's store opened. Carl gave him directions to a shooting range in Woodbridge since Christopher had no idea how to load or shoot a gun.

Gigi enjoyed the shooting range, and even shot the gun a few times with assistance from Christopher. The gun range owner had never seen such a cute little girl with such a big gun. At least her father was smart enough to teach her gun safety, he thought.

After lunch in Woodbridge, Gigi began to pick at Christopher's quickly crumbling resolve.

"Tonight, Daddy, wait outside the diner. When it is empty, all you have to do is shoot him through the window."

"I don't think I can do it," he said.

"Daddy, I hear Grandmother Hayden call you weak, she said, putting her cold hand into his. Her voice went cold. "Show me you are strong, Daddy. Help me. When he is dead, the last protection of Stars Hollow ends, and the fissure will open."

"What?"

"Uh, nothing,Daddy. I meant when he is gone, Lorelai will need you. She'll need someone to comfort her. She'll never suspect you, Daddy."

He could feel the final piece of his soul fall under her spell as he said, "Yes, Dear. I'll do it for you and for Lorelai."

"Good, Daddy. Now take me home. You have a long night ahead of you."

It had been a long night at the diner, and Taylor was not helping matters any. He was having some stupid special at the soda shoppe and was blaring music. It had to be the most annoying music in the world, he thought. There were no words, but blaring orchestrations of once popular songs that he didn't know the names to.

It was giving him a killer headache. Although he was about a million times happier than he had been a few days earlier, he was in no mood to deal with Taylor and his stupid muzak.

"Taylor, I'm telling you for the last time," he yelled through the window. "Turn down that music, or I'll turn it down for you."

"Now, Lucas," Taylor yelled back. "My muzak isn't that loud. I have not even reached the red line yet."

That's it, thought Luke. He went back into the kitchen to find something to make his point clear. You don't mess with Luke Danes.

Christopher, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and all black, stepped into the soda shoppe. He didn't recognize any of the patrons, and Taylor wasn't paying attention to him. After standing outside for an hour, he couldn't find a good shot. All the waiting was making him cold, so he went into the shoppe for some hot chocolate. The music inside was deafening and in incredibly bad taste.

The big window gave Christopher a perfect view into the diner and a perfect view of Luke. As the last customer left the diner, Luke began to yell at Taylor through the glass window.

This is my chance, Christopher thought. The music is so loud they won't hear the shot. I can get him and get out before anyone knows what happened.

Luke headed to the kitchen and Christopher, now the only remaining customer in the establishment, pulled out his gun and put it beside his leg. When Luke reentered from the back, he was carrying a frying pan.

"You better duck, Taylor, because I'm going to throw this frying pan at your head," Luke said, raising the pan over his head.

Taylor ducked, but didn't see the man standing behind a barrel of wax lips.

As Luke threw the pan through the glass, Christopher aimed and fired.