Author's Note: This chapter is set two days after the events of the last chapter. I own nothing.
Christopher stood with his back against the building on the corner across the street from the place he was mentally preparing himself to enter.
This was not going to be easy. Or pleasant. Or even safe.
But he was determined. He was going to go in, be polite and amenable, get what he wanted and then leave as soon as possible. It was only a first step but would likely be the hardest one and he figured that the faster it was over the better. Paul Anka, sitting on the side walk looking up at Christopher, seemed blissfully unaware of the anxiety Christopher was feeling.
Christopher really didn't want to go in there, but he was doing this for Lorelai. This was important to her and she had been having a hard time lately, with the stress of Richard's second heart attack. Of course, everything with Richard was ok now. He was going to be just fine. But the effects of stress remain and he was sure this was going to help with that. She was a Gilmore girl, after all. For a Gilmore girl, coffee has magical soul-healing properties. And he had heard that this was the best coffee in town. So he was going to get his Gilmore girl a cup of her favourite coffee, damn his own insecurities.
And if it built the first inch of a metaphorical reconciliation bridge between him and the man in charge of the coffee, for Lorelai's sake, all the better.
He took one last deep breath, straightened his coat, and turned to cross the street, calling Paul Anka and walking towards Luke's diner. At the front of the diner he told the dog to sit and wait.
The bell above the door jingled as he entered and a loud voice called from somewhere inside the kitchen. "I'll be right with you!"
The diner wasn't full. It was well past the breakfast rush so most costumers had already come and gone. Christopher had chosen the time carefully. Nevertheless, a few stragglers remained, generally unaware of him, focusing on their own affairs. One such straggler, however, was known for her sharp eyes and ears and close monitoring of other people's lives. Babette saw Christopher enter and knew straight away what this meant, and that the atmosphere in the diner was about to become very tense indeed. She let out a surprised and hoarse "Oh, oh." Christopher turned a friendly smile towards her and greeted her.
"Hi Babette." Christopher said as he walked to the counter. He was actually somewhat glad that there would be witnesses of this encounter, but he would have preferred with the witness wasn't one of the two biggest town gossips. This story was likely to be all around town before he even left the diner. Well, nothing to be done about it now.
"Hi Christopher, sugar." Babette replied, her face looking more like a deer caught in headlights than a friendly neighbour greeting another. Her high and hoarse voice, however, must have carried across the diner, because a loud crashing sound came from within the kitchen, as if someone had suddenly dropped a metal tray in surprise.
Sure enough, Luke Danes came out of the kitchen then, back and shoulders tense, a deep scowl on his face. He stood behind the counter, directly facing Christopher, but didn't say anything.
Here we go.
"Hi Luke" Christopher said, with a clear voice and tiny smile, wanting to be friendly but not wanting to seem like he was playing dumb, or pretending that everything was ok between them.
Luke said nothing in return and continued to scowl at Christopher, his breathing deepening. Christopher thought that if Luke had been a cartoon, fumes would have been billowing out of his ears. "Come on, Chris" He thought to himself. "Get it done and get out, asap."
"I'd like two coffees to go, please, black" Luke's frown seemed only to deepen, and he made no move towards filling the coffee order. Instead, he looked incredulously at Christopher, crossing his arms across his chest and planting his feet.
Oh, boy.
Time to appeal to a shared interest: Lorelai.
"Richard had a heart attack" He said simply. The reaction in Luke's features was instantaneous. His frown lightened and his shoulders dropped a little. How mouth seemed to ask "what", but no sound came out. He was shocked.
"He's fine!" Christopher added straight away. "He's going to be fine." This statement seemed to have a positive effect in reducing Luke's blood pressure as the shocked look left his face and was not immediately replaced with the rage that had been displayed there previously. Christopher saw this as his opportunity to continue. "But it's been a couple of tough days for Lorelai and Rory, and I thought some coffee would cheer them up." In reality, the two coffees were for him and Lorelai, not Rory, but Christopher thought that dropping Rory's name in the story might endear Luke to the cause, as well as not bring so much focus to Lorelai, the source of their feud. "They really like your coffee." He finished with another small smile, and put his hands on the counter in a subconscious way of showing he was "unarmed".
Luke dropped his arms from across his chest and took a deep breath. He dropped Christopher's gaze and turned to the coffee machine, filling two to-go cups with coffee. He placed them in a travel tray and rested them on the counter, next to the cash register. He then pulled out a pair of metal tongs, got two pastries from under a glass cloche and put them inside of a paper bag. Christopher was slightly confused at that. He had hardly hoped to get out of the diner with the two coffees, let alone two pieces of pastry that he didn't even ask for.
Luke noticed the confusion but only said "It's Danish Day" obviously not whiling to explain any further than that. Christopher was definitely not going to question it.
"That's great. Thank you." Christopher said gently and reached for his wallet. He had come to the diner with exact change for the two coffees, hoping to shave off as much time from the interaction as possible. The Danishes, however, ruined that plan so he was going to have to give some more money. Fortunately, he had a couple of small bills that would suit fine. He certainly didn't want to use a large bill. Firstly, because it would require waiting to get change and, secondly, because he didn't want to seem like the rich Hartford brat that paid for coffee with 100-dollar bills.
Who knew something as simple as buying coffee could be such an obstacle course of social interaction? Christopher dropped the bills on the counter, put his wallet in his back pocket and collected the coffee tray and paper bag.
"Bye." He said and turned to the door, nodding goodbye to Babette, who was still watching him intently. He wasn't too happy with turning his back on Luke, but he thought the whole thing had gone really well considering and just wanted to get out of the dinner before something happened to screw it all up. Babette gave him a wide crooked smile and two thumbs up as he opened the diner door and walked out.
He quickly told Paul Anka to follow him, walked across the street and out of sight of the diner before releasing a sigh and letting a smile open across his face. He had done it. He had gone in, said as little as possible and gotten the coffee!
"We did it, Paul Anka! We did it!" He cheered happily to the dog, who responded to Chris' good spirits with excited tail-wagging and a bark. Christopher was so happy about the success of his mission that he was willing to consider the whole Danish thing as a sign of Luke mellowing out a bit. A tiny miniscule bit, but a bit nonetheless.
Just before getting a call from Rory alerting them that Richard had collapsed during a lecture and was being taken to the hospital, Christopher and Lorelai had had an intense conversation about their relationship. They addressed a number of issues, including Lorelai's previous relationship with Luke and Christopher's insecurity concerning Luke's part in Lorelai's and Rory's lives. The conversation, while emotional and difficult, had been very positive and Christopher felt much more secure in Lorelai, and she in him. They had agreed to trust in each other and in them as a couple, to communicate about their worries and to make more efforts in merging their lives together. They also agreed to stay in Stars Hollow and start trying for a new baby. Thankfully, they had had time to start the whole trying process, twice, before the call about Richard had come through. Since then they had been focused on Richard and Emily and hadn't really talked about their conversation again, but Christopher still felt great about it and was glad that he and Lorelai were at a good place in their relationship to deal with the heart attack stress. Lorelai was, of course, very concerned for her father, more than she wanted to let on, and was leaning on Christopher, both physically and emotionally a lot. It pleased him to feel that she was glad to have him there and that he was a source of emotional support. They had come back from the hospital late last night, in desperate need of a full night's sleep in an actual bed as opposed to waiting room chairs. He knew that Lorelai would want to go back to the hospital as soon as she woke up, so he had snuck out of bed, taken Paul Anka, and gone off on his near suicide mission to get coffee from Luke's.
He hoped that the gesture would cheer her up and show that he was working on his insecurities towards Luke. He had said that he understood that Lorelai and Luke were friends and would inevitably see each other quite regularly in the small town. But he also wanted to help settle the tense atmosphere between all three of them. He didn't want Lorelai to lose her friend, and he definitely didn't want to have to avoid Luke for the rest of his life. Considering that his last fight with Lorelai had started because of an interaction between Lorelai and Luke, he knew that Lorelai was not going to reach out to Luke anytime soon, afraid of starting another fight with Christopher. So, he decided to go get some coffee from Luke's to show to Lorelai that he was ok with her and Luke being friends and to kind of extend an olive branch to the diner owner.
He was now approaching the house and Paul Anka rushed ahead of him to the door, eager to get inside. Christopher hoped that Lorelai was still in bed and that he could surprise her with coffee and Danishes there. He made a quick stop in the kitchen to feed Paul Anka before making his way upstairs to the master bedroom. Lorelai was still asleep, buried under the large fluffy duvet and a mountain of pillows. She had a slight frown in her sleep, signs of the hospital stress still with her. He sat next to her, on his side of the bed and placed the food on the bedside table. Then he started to gently stroke her back, calling her name softly. Part of him wanted to let her sleep more, but she had insisted on waking up early to go back to the hospital and he didn't want the coffee to get cold. She started to wake, blinking against the sun and stretching a bit.
"Good morning, Lor." He smiled at her.
"Good morning." She replied, her voice still heavy with sleep. "What time is it?" She asked and made to turn to look at the clock behind her on her own bedside table.
"It's almost 8am."
"8am?" She groaned, but kept her eyes closed. "You let me sleep in too long."
"Let you?" He laughed. "I tried to wake you but you kicked me in the groin."
"I did not!"
"Yes, you did. I'm just grateful that you keep your toe nails trimmed." He continued to chuckle at her, softly squeezing her hip.
She grumbled something under her breath about him being a pain in her ass and snuggled deeper into her pillow, making him laugh at her again. "Have you been awake for long?" She asked.
"No, not long. About an hour. I fed Paul Anka and took him on his walk. And I brought you something."
"Oh?" The prospect of a gift made her open one eye and watch him, but she stayed lying down. Christopher reached for the coffee and brought it into her field of vision. When she saw the cup, and the very familiar logo printed on it, her head snapped up and her mouth fell open. "Is that…?"
"Coffee from Luke's, yes." He smiled widely. "And a Danish as well." He added showing the paper bag.
Lorelai sat up in bed, completely gobsmacked by the revelation. "You went to Luke's? I mean, you went inside Luke's?"
"Yes."
"Inside?"
"That's where they keep the coffee, so yes."
"And you ordered coffee?
"Yes."
"And you were given coffee?"
"And Danishes."
"And you payed for them?"
"You obviously have a firm grasp on how a coffee transaction works" he joked.
"Was Luke there?"
"He was."
"And he saw you?"
"I was wearing my invisibility cloak, so he might have missed me."
"Chris!"
"Yes, he saw me." Christopher laughed at Lorelai.
"And you asked for coffee and he gave you coffee?"
"Don't forget the Danishes."
"Just like that?"
"Well, no." Christopher sighed honestly. "He didn't look happy to see me there. I told him that Richard was in the hospital and that I wanted to get you coffee to cheer you up. Well, I said I wanted coffee for you and Rory, so he'd give me two cups."
"And what did he say?"
"It's Danish Day."
"It's Danish Day." Lorelai repeated.
"It's Danish Day/"
"He said "it's Danish Day?"
"Yes. And then he gave me Danishes."
"Then what happened?"
"I said thank you, payed and left."
"That's it?"
"That's it." He smiled again, handing her the coffee so her could get a Danish out of the paper bag.
"Wow" she said under her breath, grasping her cup in both hands, enjoying the warmth and the scent coming out of it. "So it was ok?"
"Yeah, it was." He handed her a Danish. "I mean, it was tense, but in the end it was ok. A good first step."
"First step?"
"Well, yes. I was thinking of slowly working my way up to actually sitting on a table and ordering food. Maybe even eating it there."
"Bold."
"Yeah, you know me. I like to live on the edge like that." He joked taking a bite of his Danish. "Wow, this is a really good Danish." Lorelai put her own Danish down on her lap and touched Christopher on the knee with her free hand.
"Thank you, Chris." She said seriously, really appreciating the effort and the gesture.
"You're welcome." He replied with an easy smile and leaned in for a quick kiss. "Now eat up before the coffee gets cold. If we leave soon we can be back at the hospital by the time the visiting hours start."
"Ok, but what about GG? Don't we have to go get her back from your mother's?"
"I was thinking of seeing how it goes at the hospital today. If things are more settled and calm, I can go get her. Otherwise, I will ask if my mom can keep GG for a couple more days."
"Are you sure? We don't have to do that."
"Yes, I'm sure. If you're going to be in the hospital a lot, I want to be there for you."
Lorelai slid closer to Christopher and wrapped her arms around him, careful not to spill any of her coffee on him. "Thank you, honey."
"You're welcome." He smiled and hugged her back for several moments, enjoying the peaceful feeling of having her in his arms. "How are you feeling?" He asked softly after a while.
"Better." She replied, still leaning against him, now taking another sip of her coffee. "The sleep helped a lot and this breakfast in bed is perfect." She planted a kiss on his cheek and added, "You're perfect."
Pirates on Skates
Later that day, Lorelai and Rory were accompanying Richard on a lap around the Cardiac Care wing, cheering him on but also letting him know that Mrs. Guilhermo was slow-walking a faster mile than him. Of course, no amount of him telling them that Mrs. Guilhermo had had her bypass surgery a whole two days before Richard was enough to make them stop jokingly shaming him about it. Christopher has stayed with them for a little while, but after seeing how much better Richard was clearly doing and feeling, Lorelai convinced him that he should go back to work, having had missed already two full days at the office. Soon Emily joined them on the lap, having just arrived from the Gilmore residence with new bouquets they had received from various friends wishing Richard health. Unsurprisingly, she could find something to rant about.
"Some people are just so insensitive. Whoever heard to sending a bouquet of white roses as good wishes for someone recuperating at the hospital? He's not dead. White flowers are for funerals. Everybody knows that."
"Maybe not everybody knows that, Mom. Maybe they just like white flowers."
"Rory, if there's one thing you learn from me let it be that white flowers are for funerals and funerals only."
"Yes, Grandma."
"And if there's only one thing you learn from me, let it be how to give yourself a full makeover with only lip balm and a crayon." Lorelai joked
"Yes, mom."
"It really isn't hard to grasp." Emily continued, knowing not to engage Lorelai when she was being impossible. "It's common sense, surely? The bouquet that Christopher sent, for example, was absolutely beautiful. So colourful, so cheerful. That man has great taste in flowers, I'll tell you."
"Chris sent a bouquet?" Lorelai asked surprised.
"Yes. Didn't you know?"
"No. He didn't mention it."
"That's sweet of him" Rory said bumping her shoulder against her mothers and smiling at her.
"Yes. You'll give him our thank you, won't you?" Emily added.
"Yes, of course." Lorelai smiled, already itching to call text Christopher and tease him about his superb taste in flowers.
Pirates on Skates
After eating lunch at the hospital, Lorelai said her goodbyes and returned to Stars Hollow. She hadn't been to the Dragonfly in a few days and she had a lot of work waiting for her on her desk. Rory also took her leave and returned to Yale, with explicit instructions from Richard to send him a full report on the T.A. that was substituting him in his Microeconomics lectures. As soon as she arrived at the Dragonfly, Lorelai bee-lined to the kitchen.
"Hey! Welcome back! How is Richard?" Sookie greeted her cheerfully.
"Hi Sookie." Lorelai gave a bi smiled and started to pour herself a cup of coffee. "He's doing really well. Walking a few laps of the CICU a day and this morning he even asked the nurse to bring him a copy of the Financial Times."
"Oh! That's good! That's a good sign!"
"Yes. He's going to be fine. I think they'll keep him for another night and then send him home. Emily has a small army of nurses ready to take over at the house, anyway." She finished and took a long sip of coffee, giving Sookie the opportunity to move on to another subject.
"So, I heard some gossip." Sookie said hesitantly.
"Oh?"
"Word is that Christopher ordered coffee from Luke's this morning. From Luke himself, actually."
"Oh yes, I know. I was just as surprised as you. He told me it went ok, for the most part. What did you hear?"
"Apparently Babette was there and saw the whole thing. She said Christopher was polite and friendly. Luke barely said two words to him, but served him so I guess it was fine. So, Christopher and Luke? What is going on there? Last I heard they weren't even looking at each other."
"Well, Chris and I had a big fight a few days ago about Luke –." She started to reply but Sookie interrupted.
"Oh no. Another fight?"
"Yes, but no. I mean, yes, we had a fight, but it was good. We talked a lot of things out. We really sat down and tackled a lot of issues that had hovering over us. By the end of the conversation, we felt so much better about everything. About us, the marriage, our future together."
"Wow. Sounds really mature."
"Well, it wasn't without its dirty jokes about eye patches inserted here and there."
"Of course not."
"And we also talked about Luke. We really talked about it. I told him about our relationship, why it ended, how I felt about it. He talked about feeling insecure and disappointed in himself for not being a bigger part of mine and Rory's lives when she was growing up. How Luke being there reminds him that he hadn't been there and how that makes him feel like a crappy dad."
"Well…" Sookie shrugged a shoulder.
"Sookie, no. He's not a crappy dad."
"Maybe not anymore, but he definitely wasn't around as much as he should have been."
"That's true, but we were sixteen years old. It was crappy situation for everyone. I certainly wasn't an award-winning mom either."
"You were there."
"Sookie." Lorelai took a deep breath and gripped her best friend's arm. "I know you are Team Luke, and I understand it, but I need your support here. I'm really happy with Chris. He has been a constant presence in my heart, one way or another, since I was like 10 years old. And we are working really hard on this marriage. I want it to work more than I have ever wanted a relationship to work before."
"Oh, honey, I know that. I didn't mean to make it seem like I disagree with your choices or don't support you. I'm sorry. I just saw how close you and Luke were, how happy you were with him."
"Yes, but you also saw how miserable I was for the last several months, right?"
"Yes, I did. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm over Luke, I promise."
"So, can you be on Team Christopher now?" Lorelai asked with a smile.
"I'm on Team Lorelai, 300%!" Sookie replied giving Lorelai a big hug. Then, Sookie turned back to the vegetables she had been chopping and said "Now, explain to me what is dirty about eye patches."
"Uhm, hello? Johnny Depp."
"Of course."
Pirates on Skates
Later that day, after work, Lorelai came home and saw Christopher's car in the drive. Walking in the door she called "Hello!" and instantly heard the light and fast footsteps of GG running to greet her.
"Lorelai! Lorelai!"
"GG!" She replied with equal enthusiasm, crouching down in the entrance hall and giving GG a big hug. "Oh, I've missed you!"
"I missed you too! You and Paul Anka and Daddy."
"In that order, right?" GG just laughed at Lorelai, knowing to expect antics from her. "Look! I made Grandpa Richard a card to make him feel better."
Lorelai let herself get dragged by the hand to the kitchen, where GG had set up a card making station, complete with construction paper, stickers, crayons, finger paint and glitter. By the stove stood Christopher, working away on preparing dinner. He smiled at Lorelai and leaned slightly towards her, indicating that he wanted a kiss.
"Hi, hon." Lorelai said into the kiss, but was immediately tugged by the hand to focus her attention back on GG.
"Lorelai, look!"
"GG, don't rush her. She just got home. Let her at least say hello first."
"You can kiss later. I want to show her my card." They laughed at her.
"Yeah, Chris." Lorelai agreed. "I can kiss you later. Glitter waits for no man!" She winked at him, turning to look at GG's work. "Wow! That looks so cool, Geege!"
"I made Grandpa Richard blond because Daddy told me he was blond before he got old."
"He'll love it! He's going to go home from the hospital tomorrow. Do you want to drive there after school and give it to him?"
"Yes!"
"Fantastic. And make sure to put a lot, I mean a lot, of glitter! Grandma Emily loves to have glitter all over the house."
"I will!" GG got the card back from Lorelai and went back to her crafting station to finish the card.
Lorelai turned back to Christopher, hugging him from behind as he stirred the dinner.
"Your mother will hate all the glitter." He said, smiling at her over his shoulder.
"My father wasn't blond."
"Your point?"
"That we both told little white lies to make the kid happy."
"And annoying Emily?"
"Makes me happy."
"Of course." He laughed.
"Speaking of Emily, she asked me to pass on her appreciation for the bouquet you sent. Apparently, it was the only one she approved of. All the others were white and, therefore, completely inappropriate."
"Well, sure. White flowers are for funerals."
"Emily Post would be so proud of you." She snorted.
"I need to talk to you about something. Can we do it now or do you want to have a shower first or something like that?" He said, turning the fire on the stove down to the minimum heat, leting the food cook slowly.
"We can do it now." He led her out of the kitchen to the living room, dropping a quick kiss on top of GG's head and reminding her to ask for help if she wanted to use the scissors.
"It's actually something that happened that I want to tell you." He started, hesitating. He sat down on the couch, motioning for her to sit next to him. He took a deep breath and plunged. "I had a fist fight with Luke."
"What?!" Lorelai was shocked. She shifted slightly away from Christopher on the couch, to be able to see him better, take him all in. Her eyes scanned his face looking for signs of the flight, a black eye, split lip or something like that.
"It wasn't today. It was a month ago, around Christmas."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. I was walking on the square, saw him, he saw me, we walked towards each other and just started laying it on each other."
"But why? What did he say or was it something you said?"
"We didn't say anything to each other. At all. Within seconds we were rolling over the Christmas tree."
"I think I remember this. Taylor was complaining about hooligans flattening the head of baby Jesus." Lorelai said softly, almost to herself.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was just so embarrassed. This isn't me. I'm not a violent guy. I'm not aggressive. I was always picked last for dodgeball for a reason! I don't go around punching people. You know that." He continued when Lorelai wouldn't look at him. "Please say something."
"I don't know what to say."
"Come on, I'm sure you can think of something." He tried to lighten the mood.
"I'm sorry that I didn't notice you had this much of a problem with Luke. I mean, I knew it was going to be awkward, but I didn't think it would drive you to blows."
No, Lor. It's not your fault. At all." He held her hand tightly. "It's my fault. I wasn't dealing with how much everything was bothering me. And then when we had that talk a few days ago I started feeling better about everything. And then, this morning at Luke's, getting the coffee went better than I had expected and that made me feel even more embarrassed about the fight I knew I had to tell you. It was so stupid, I know. I'm sorry.
"It's ok… I mean, it's not ok, but I guess I understand."
"It's not going to happen again, I promise."
"Well, It better not. No amount of man-dates with Jackson will get the town to like you if you keep trashing the nativity scene." She joked half-heartedly.
"Are we ok? You're not mad?"
"No, I'm not mad. I'm more disappointed, I guess."
"Understandable. I'm sorry."
"You didn't hurt each other, right?" She looked him over again, almost expecting to see some lingering signs from the fight that she hadn't noticed in over a month.
"No, no. We got tired before either one could do any real damage. Well, aside from baby Jesus, obviously. My ego took the biggest hit, I swear." He assured her, hanging his head a little, knowing that she wasn't very happy with him at the moment but also knowing that telling her was the right thing to do.
They stayed in silence for a moment, before Christopher couldn't take it anymore. "Are you hungry? Dinner will be ready by now." He said lamely.
"Yeah, let's go eat." Lorelai said distractedly. He gave her a defeated smiled and got up, heading towards the kitchen. Lorelai stood and grabbed his hand, stopping him.
"Hey, Chris, wait." She made him turn and look at her. "We're ok, I promise."
"Yeah?"
"Yes." She framed his face in her hands and kissed him gently. "I'm glad you told me."
He nodded and kissed her again. "Come, let's get back in there before our dinner ends up covered in glitter." He gestured towards the kitchen, this time giving a genuine smile.