So, this is the last chapter. And last story. I feel so sad, but so preoccupied with my own family issues. I would like to say that I am thankful for all of my reviewers who make my story magical to me somehow. Don't ask, it's me, that's all you need to know. So this is the last time I will get to dedicate a chapter. This one will be dedicated to three different "people".
First: Robin. Now that is not her name. Her real name is Lynn, but she's still Robin (hood or batman's sidekick; you choose) to me. She has been the one person that I have trusted to keep the fate of my stories secret. She is a wonderful friend, and we should all give her a round of applause.
Second: Lolabelle26. It's your birthday today, and I promised to post this on your birthday. So here's your present.
Third: Sammy, my laptop. Dude, you've been there for me, even when the power went out, you still kept going!
So there you go. And the full story is dedicated to the tote bags of the world.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. My grandmother had to pay for my school clothes.
Chapter 17: Where Do You Go With Your Broken Heart in Tow?
"We're closing." Luke said. He turned around.
"Luke, don't wait." Jess told him sadly.
"What?"
"Don't wait to tell her. Don't wait for her to move on and move away and smash your one last chance. Take your chance now." jess quietly.
"Jess, go away." Luke said angrily.
"Luke, don't wait! Don't let your chance pass by! Stop waiting to be miserable to realize your mistake! It's not too late!" jess tried to stress to his uncle.
"Jess--"
"Don't wait!" jess pleaded.
"Just go! Get out of here! I don't want to here this crap!" Luke said.
"Obviously, but it doesn't make it any less right. Your chance hasn't gone by Luke, mine has, but yours hasn't."
"Yes it has! I apologize I pleaded, she said no! So just go away! It's over for me! Just get the hell out of here."
"Luke--"
No! You don't know Lorelai! Once she's made up her mind, she's made up her mind. You don't understand the situation! You think I'm the one acting like a child! But I'm not! I'm not the one stomping all over someone's heart! I care! I love her! I take it seriously! I never believed in fate until her! But now I know it was just all a lie! She never loved me! She never wanted me! She just used me!"
"For what?" jess asked.
"I don't know! Who the hell cares!" he yelled.
"Luke, she's pregnant."
"She's what?"
"Pregnant."
"But how?"
"Luke, do I need to explain sex to you?"
"But she said she wasn't. She said that there was no possible way." Luke said to himself.
"Look, I have to go. You work this out by yourself. Bye." Jess said and then left to go to the inn.
"She's pregnant?" Luke asked himself.
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"Hello?" Lorelai answered the phone.
"Hey mom."
"Hey hon. What's up?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to check on you. So who was that you were with at the diner?"
"Brian Johnson. He has an eleven year old son Zachary. But it didn't work out. I don't want to make him the rebound guy. It is kind of cruel, so don't worry, mommy's still single." Lorelai said.
"Oh. Sorry." Rory said. "He seemed like a nice guy from what I heard of your conversation." Rory said.
"You were listening to us?"
"Just a little."
"Liar."
"Ok, a lot. But it was for your own good."
"My own good?" Lorelai asked.
"Yes, I had to make sure it wasn't your hormones talking for you." Rory said.
"Yeah, you're one to talk."
"Hey! No I'm not!"
"Dean. You slept with him while he was married. Once in our house, and then, as you told me last year, at Miss Patty's. If that isn't hormones, I don't know what is." Lorelai said.
"Fine, but I learned from my mistakes." Rory said.
"Of course you did…for now." Lorelai said.
"Hey!" Rory said. Just then Lorelai heard a knock at the door.
"I've gotta go babe."
"Kay mom. Bye."
"Bye."
Lorelai went up to door and opened it. There stood Luke.
"Wha?" she asked but was interrupted by his lips. She pushed him away. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked.
"What do you think?" he said taking a step towards her, but she took a step back. "Lorelai, I don't want my chance to pass on by." he confessed.
"Well that's your problem, not mine." she said as she retreated into the kitchen.
"Lorelai, I know about the baby." he said.
"Wha…you want to know what, I don't care how you know. And I don't care that you know. Just go." she said.
"Lorelai, I came here of my own free will, after hearing everything you said and thinking about everything I said and--" he started.
"And you thought you'd come here, be the hero of the story and come save me because it's the right thing to do? Just go." she said as she turned away from him.
"no." he said as he stroked her arm. "I didn't come here to be the hero." he said. She pulled out of his grasp. "I didn't come here because it was the right thing to do. I came here because it was the thing I wanted to do the most. I came here because I love you. I came here because I couldn't stand to hear that man ask for the phone number of the woman who, a month ago, had been my fiancée and the one person on earth I would give it all for. I came here because I couldn't stand to see you talk to another man like that. I came here because I couldn't stand to think of you in some other man's arms." he said.
"So you came to protect what was yours? Maybe tie me up and stash me in your appartment?" she asked.
"No, I came here because I love you. I do everything because I love you." he said.
"Oh, so you kept April from me because you loved me?" she asked.
"Yes, because I didn't want to break your heart." he said.
"So you refused to respect my space because you loved me? Luke, think like a reasonable person. I know I shouldn't be the one talking here, but here it is: Love is not want it's all about. There's trust and respect and honesty. None of which you seem to have." she shot back.
"You're right. In the past month or two, I've proven to have none of those, but does that mean that you don't love me? You don't respect my need for space sometimes. You weren't honest about Christopher. You didn't trust me to repair my mistakes on my own." he said.
"You're wrong, I did trust you to do that, you just didn't do it. And I have my reasons for what I did." she defended.
"And I have mine. What makes you different from me? How are your excuses better than mine? Why am I the one chasing after you all the time? Why can't you try sometimes? It's not because you don't want to, that I know." he said. She was silent, and still wouldn't turn around to face him. "Lorelai,"
"What?" she said as she started to cry.
"What are you afraid of?" he asked her.
What am I afraid of? I'm afraid you'll leave me again. I'm afraid you'll hate me. I'm afraid I won't be good enough. I'm afraid that I'll leave you. I'm afraid you'll screw it up and not fix it. I'm afraid that I won't be able to fix it. I'm afraid of what I don't know. I'm afraid of how things will work out. I'm afraid of how life will be from now on. I'm afraid of my parents. I'm afraid of Rory. I'm afraid of my past. I'm afraid of the demons I hide behind my shield. I'm afraid of failing. I'm afraid of you failing. I'm afraid of us failing. I'm afraid of you falling and not being able to get up. I'm afraid of not being able to help you up. I'm afraid of you not wanting help up. I'm afraid of falling down with you, and you not wanting to help me up. I'm afraid of the world. I'm afraid of my wedding dress. I'm afraid of April. I'm afraid of Anna. I'm afraid of the end.
"I'm afraid of snow." she said.
"What?" Luke asked, caught of guard.
"I'm…afraid of snow."
"Why?" he asked softly.
"Because I can't control it, and it's no longer good or bad, and I can't depend on it. I can't shut snow out of my life because it has always been there and has always been the one thing that kept me going during the winters alone. It was the only thing that I could depend on, and I can't anymore. I can't hold onto the hope that it will snow. I can't wear that dress because the snow came down the day I got it. I can't do that because you lied to me then. The snow was perfect. The dress was perfect. It was all planned out. It was all perfect and ready. It was all there; but you weren't. The snow betrayed me and was the reason I couldn't handle it. So my only friend, who had never lied, had stabbed me in the back and covered up the wound so I wouldn't notice if for months, but now I see it. I see that life is falling apart and I don't want it to. If I let life go on, then it'll keep falling apart, and I can't. I can't do it. I'm afraid of the snow coming in a few months, and it hurting me again. Luke, I'm afraid to let the world continue spinning because then that means life will go on, and the snow will eventually fall." she confessed while letting the tears spill over.
Luke looked at her with a smile. "Well then I guess we have to move to California." he said. Lorelai turned around and looked at him.
"Or get me a new friend." she said.
"I heard the rain is a bit lonely." Luke joked.
"Maybe, but that's a bit depressing." she answered.
"Well I also saw my name in the column of lonely people in search of a friend." Luke said.
"I like that better." she said with a smile.
"Lorelai?"
"Yeah?"
"You can't just give up on the snow. It's always been there for you. Maybe it was just having a bad year? What if this year will be better for the…snow." he said.
"Are you trying to be symbolic?" Lorelai asked.
"Well I did pass high school English." he answered.
"Luke?"
"Hmm?"
"Will you promise me one thing?" she asked.
"What?"
"That you will truly never ever ever ever ever go anywhere again." she asked.
"ok, then I promise that, on Jess' soon to be grave, that I will never ever ever ever ever go anywhere again." he said with smile.
"Are you really going to kill him?" Lorelai said.
"Maybe. Maybe not." he said. "Why?"
"Just wondering." she said.
"ok." he said. "So can I kiss you know?" he asked.
"Of course. Go for it." she said.
Luke leaned in and kissed him but then pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "So I've been told that it's customary for a man that loves a woman to propose to her." he said.
"Well only if she loves him." Lorelai said.
"And?"
"Hey, did I ever tell you I love you?" Lorelai said with a smile on her face.
"Did I ever tell you I want to marry you?"
"I think you have before." she giggled.
"Well will you still marry me?" he asked.
"Of course. You are the man I love after all." Lorelai said. All of a sudden she heard a ringing.
"What is that?" Luke asked.
"Oh, my timer. I figured out how long it takes for the coffee pot to make a full pot of coffee and it's done." she said as she turned off the timer.
"And that means…?" Luke asked.
"That's it's time to show Casanova some love." she grinned.
"See, that's still not helping. You can't name the coffee pot after me because it gets confusing." Luke said.
"So how do you know I was talking about you?" Lorelai said.
"That funny little grin you have on your face. It tells me that coffee is not going to cut it." Luke said with a smile.
"Wow, you're good. So can you tell me exactly what I want?" Lorelai asked.
Luke whispered something in her ear and she smiled.
"Who needs the power of reading minds when we have you?" Lorelai asked.
"Everyone but you." Luke said.
"Shut up and show me what I want." she said. Luke kissed her deeply as she allowed him to drag her up the stairs and to the bedroom.
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So, What do you think?
This is the last story and chapter, so I would appreciate it if you reviewed. Oh, and tell me where the chapter title came from. Thanks to all of my beautiful wonderful fantabulous (Luke-n-LorelaiLuva6292, I saw that, hehe) reviewers and friends and hair ties and music buddies. Thanks, I owe it all to you guys!
Don't be shy to just PM and chat about random stuff! I love Random! Random's my middle name! I worship Random. I eat Random for breakfast. Toodles!