Walking Away

Chapter 3: The Search

"Lorelai, are you okay? Did something happen to Rory?"

"No, Rory's fine. She's in London. It's Paul Anka. He's gone."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What happened? Did he get hit by a car?"

"What? He's not dead, Luke. He ran away. I need you to help me find him."

"You left me standing in the middle of the street. I haven't spoken to you in six months and you want me to drop everything to look for your dog?"

"Luke, you know how important Paul Anka is to me, and you found him the only other time he ran off. Please, I need your help. I'm sorry to call you like this, especially after the way we left things, but I'm desperate and there is no one else who can help me."

"All right, I'll help. Where are you?"

"I'm at my house."

"I'll be there in a minute," he said, hanging up the phone.

"How do I get myself into these situations," Luke said as he turned off the oven, hoping his pie would be all right while he was gone.

The other time Paul Anka ran away, Luke had found him in the Dragonfly's stables, cuddled up with the horses. He thought about going their first to see if Paul Anka was there, so he could avoid what he knew was going to be a messy encounter.

He was sure two things would happen once he and Lorelai got into a room together. First, he would not be able to stop himself from asking what happened, then they would go after each other like two starving dogs fighting over a bone. He would berate her for running away and she would berate him for shutting her out of his life, but her leaving had been like a wound festering in his psyche. He still didn't understand why she had left. Why couldn't she wait? It only took a few more weeks before he and April were at "that place." What had she been doing since that May night? Come hell or high water, he was going to find out tonight.


She answered the door on the second knock, and she was almost exactly as he remembered her. Her hair was a little shorter, and she was wearing a green shirt and jacket he had never seen before, but he knew those jeans since he had taken them off her about 50 times.

"Hi, has he come back yet?" he said as he entered her foyer.

"No," she said, trying not to stare at how good he looked.

He was wearing his army jacket and a plaid shirt she didn't recognize. His hat, however, was not his usual blue one. The one she had given him. It was a Red Sox cap. She wanted to make a comment, but she knew if she did, they would never look for Paul Anka because they would start arguing.

"Well, I figured, I'll take the town square while you search around the Dragonfly," he said. "That way, we stand a better chance of finding him quicker."

"No," she said. "We have to search together. I don't have a flashlight and I'll kill myself searching in the dark. We have to stay together."

Luke sighed. He should have seen it coming.

"Then could take all night. All right, let's start at the Dragonfly since that's where he was last time. You want to take the truck?"

"Yeah. I'm too nervous to drive," she said heading out the house to the door.

Luke followed, wishing he had his keys to her house so he could lock the front door. They drove in silence to the Dragonfly, each thinking the exact thing, but afraid to say it. Their search of the Dragonfly's grounds were fruitless, so they headed into town.

After an examination of the main streets, they headed to the town square. Luke immediately headed to the gazebo and sat down. He was ready, and it couldn't wait a minute more.

"Four weeks," he said as he put his head in his hands.

"What do you mean, 'four weeks'?" she said standing at the edge of the gazebo, afraid to go up the stairs.

"It took four weeks for me and April to get there, to be a father and daughter. Four more weeks, Lorelai was all I needed, but you threw everything we had away and I still don't know why. I didn't even know there was a problem"

"How could you not know there was a problem. Couldn't you tell I was unhappy, Luke? Are you that dense?"

"Why would I know something was wrong? I asked you a hundred times if you were all right. I told you everything that was going on with April, and what did you do? You told everybody in town we weren't getting married, but you couldn't tell me?"

"You know about that?"

"Of course, I know about that! How long do you think Kirk would hold out telling me that after you vanished? You hid from me for three days! You ran off after saying 'marry me right now or it's over?' Lorelai, if I had made that crazy ultimatum, you would have said no, too. You weren't in your right mind, and if we had gone off and eloped, you would have regretted it. You know you would have, and so would I."

"You know, Luke, you want to put all this on me, fine, but it wasn't all me. All you had to do was include me in your life. I felt so alone while you struggled with April, and I could have made it so much easier for you."

"I didn't want it to be easy. I had to do it on mine own. She's the only child I have, and I had to do it on my terms. You more than anyone should have realized that. You said I had to figure out how April was going to fit in our lives, not the other way around. What if I had said that to you about Rory?"

"Rory's different."

"No, she's not. She's your daughter, and when you wanted to put off our wedding, I didn't think twice about it. If you didn't want to put off our wedding for my daughter, then you shouldn't have offered."

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd accept. I thought you were so in love with me, that you'd want to get married so we could work on it together."

"You had to figure out your problems with Rory on your own, and I had to do the same thing with April. So what did you do, Lorelai? When you ran out of Stars Hollow? Where did you go?"

"You know where I went."

"No, I don't. I've heard rumors, but I want to hear you say it."

"I went to Christopher's. I've been living in Hartford with Christopher."

"So, are you married?"

"What?"

"Well, you left me because you wanted to get married, I just figured."

"Fuck you, Luke. I don't want to marry Chris. I wanted to marry you."

"Well, I wanted that too," he said almost shouting.

At that, both stopped talking, realizing the stupidity of their actions on both parts. Lorelai finally walked up the stairs to the gazebo and sat down next to Luke. She took his hand in hers.

"It would have been nice, too," she said in almost a whisper. "Chris is leaving me because he knows I don't love him. It's weird that it took me 22 years to realize I was right all along about him and me."

"So, what happens now?" Luke said standing up and walking toward the gazebo's rail, his back to Lorelai. "Are we strangers? Are we friends again?"

"I don't know. Why don't we take it one day at a time? I'm moving back to my house full-time. Will it be all right if I come back to the diner?"

"Yeah, I guess. April's there a lot, though. We've worked out a pretty good routine. Can you handle seeing her?"

"Sure. I know where we stand now, so I don't think it will be a problem."

"Good, then you're welcome anytime."

"What about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's Thanksgiving."

"I know that, Goody Danes, but I don't have anywhere to go since Sookie, Jackson and the kids went to visit his family and I don't really desire tofurkey. I still have to go to my parent's house in the evening, but I don't have a Thanksgiving dinner for lunch."

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Luke said, turning back around. "Listen, Lorelai, there's something you need to know before you…."

"Oh my God, Paul Anka," she said, jumping off the bench and out of the gazebo.

Paul Anka came bouncing out of Miss Patty's studio followed by Miss Patty.

"Hello, Darling," Miss Patty said. "I found your lovely dog becoming quite friendly with one of my bean bag chairs. I was just about to bring him to you."

"Thank you, Miss Patty. I was worried to death about him. Paul Anka, you know better than to run off. Next time, I'm not looking for you."

"Anytime, dear. I'll see you later. I have a hot date, tonight."

"Well, don't devour him whole."

"I make no promises. Good night."

Miss Patty made a special not of Luke's presence in the gazebo and wondered if Babette was still awake. The first meeting of Luke and Lorelai would be known to the town before dawn.

As Lorelai put the leash on Paul Anka, she was scared to go back over to Luke for fear he would rescind the invitation. Instead she yelled across the square.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Luke."

"Wait, there's something you have to…"

It was too late, and Lorelai was already around the corner, walking in almost a sprint. He knew tomorrow would be a very memorable Thanksgiving.