Written in the Stars
By Gilmoregirl1979 (the reigning Quote Queen)
Rating: PG-13
Hi this is your friendly disclaimer: I REJECT ASP's REALITY AND SUBSTITUE MY OWN! Once again, I don't own (DAMN IT! DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!), No Harm No Sue.
R/R: yes please I love reviews; I wanna marry them (as previously stated, I have strange passions.)
Summary/ The Q: AW If you DON'T KNOW BY NOW! HURUMPH!
LUVZ: I miss you!
FEATURED BETA: Localizy, WONDER TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE
A/N: for my little Crack WHORES who are WIGGING because LL are fighting in these chapters…one word of comfort
TRUST
you may not be able to Trust SHE WHO WILL NOT BE NAMED! HOWEVER, you can still trust me, I will never go to the DARK SIDE (my refs are a little SW heavy, Localizy and I have been watching them the originals the last few weeks in avoidance of GG reruns and I gotta tell ya, IZY LOVES HAN SOLO!) You know me, you know I wish I was Lorelai
thank you to my minions and crack whores who want me to write for the show… any one want to help a sister out make that a reality? Okay step: win big on deal or no deal, step two, buy the rights of the show an characters from WB… step 3….DO OVER…
Or something like that…
A/N: I have to say it now... I... Am...So ... DAMN... PROUD OF THIS CHAPTER
worth the wait? for QUALITY FAN FICTION? you tell me... R/R
ENJOY!
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Chapter 37:
BLACK FRIDAY
Lorelai quietly crept out of the bedroom before the sun came up, without making a sound as Luke had wished. She knew he was still sleeping soundly from his snoring, and went down to wake Rory who would be reluctant and whining, but would be malleable and let her mother take her where she would for their little shopping tradition.
On the drive to the mall in Hartford they chatted even though Rory had kept her eyes closed, "Mom, are we looking for anything special?"
"Well, we'll have to get your grandparents something for Christmas, and the less I spend on them the better. There's Sookie, and Lane, and …"
"What about Luke? What are you getting him?" Rory asked, her eyes still firmly closed.
Honestly, Lorelai hardly knew what to get him and given his attitude last night she didn't think shopping for him at this time would yield a present that wouldn't do justice to either of them as recipient and gift giver, or better yet, to their relationship. "I think I'm gonna wait on Luke…I just barely got ideas for his birthday…he is… sort of a mystery to me still," thinking again of his mood swings the last few days.
"Did something happen?" Rory hinted, eyes finally opening slightly. She had become better at spotting the tension between her favorite couple and was concerned the holiday apart made them fight.
"No, honey. Why would you say that?"
"Well, he seemed sad about Thanksgiving."
"Well, he wants to spend as much time with us as he can…I guess, I hurt him by not including him… to come along to the family dinner." That must have been it, Luke was feeling purposely excluded from their holiday.
"I'm sorry I told on you to Grandma about Luke."
"Well, it had to come out sooner or later, so in a way I should thank you…you took care of it for me," Lorelai was trying to put a positive spin on the hurtful words from Emily. Lorelai took the off the highway to the mall, "I don't know, maybe I should have just brought him along, you know, 'Hey Mom this is Luke, Accept him'."
Rory giggled, "Yeah, because that would have gone over so much better." Rory started to look for parking spaces in the lot as her mother's extra pair of eyes. "Maybe we should go to the diner for dinner tonight."
"I think that is an excellent idea," Lorelai warmly agreed wanting to make new holiday plans with her male roommate and boyfriend.
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After their day of Black Friday shopping they kept with their early morning plan to go to Luke's for dinner, but didn't find the proprietor in the best of spirits.
"So how was it?" he said dully.
"I saved a bazillion percent off, and now have 85 percent of our Christmas shopping done!" Lorelai exclaimed over their triumphant outing. Mother and daughter sat at the counter, both wanting to spend the most time with Luke they could after their long day apart.
"You know, Thomas Jefferson said don't buy something just because it's cheap," Luke scolded, knowing that their shopping habit is why he hardly had room at Lorelai's place for his stuff despite her assurances that there was plenty of room before he moved in.
"Well Thomas Jefferson never saw a Kate Spade Purse for 75 percent off."
When Luke brought their dinners, he exclaimed, "Jeez!" after seeing their jeep parked out front, packed to the hilt, "Did you leave anything at the mall?" he snapped.
Lorelai grinned, "Well, there was a lovely green cocktail dress, but I didn't know your size." Rory snickered at the absurdity of Luke in a dress, to which Luke merely grumbled something under his breath as he went to bus a few tables.
Rory leaned over to her mother, "Mom, is he okay?"
"I don't know… he seems awfully, well, moody lately."
Rory sat and thought about what she could do to help cheer Luke up. Coming up with an idea, she turned around on her seat, dropped off her stool, and went to the table Luke was at, "Luke, can I help you bus the tables?"
Luke sent a gentle glare toward her, "No thank you, I got it," he said evenly.
"I bet if I help it will go twice as fast," Rory tried to sing song to make him smile.
"Rory, I've got it," he repeated, as he took the bin of dishes back into the kitchen.
Rory bit her lip, as her mother did, and followed him to the kitchen door. "Well, what about the grill? Can I help you clean the grill? I've never cleaned the grill before. I know! I can do some of the dishes. I can load the dishwasher… Sookie taught me her loading system…it supposed to be space efficient and help bre…"
It was then Luke just snapped, "Rory! I've got it!" He then pointed to the other side of the counter with his thumb, "Will you sit down, be quiet, and stop following me around! It's annoying!"
It wasn't what he said, it was how he said it and to whom he said it. Both Lorelai and Rory were aghast and unmoving, Luke had never snapped at sweet Rory before. Rory's doe like eyes were doleful and saddened as she went back to her seat next to her mother and looked down at her plate, keeping quiet, as Luke had requested.
"Luke!" Lorelai reproached in disbelief reaching for her daughter's hand.
Luke looked just as stunned and obviously regretted saying it and apologized to Rory immediately, begging that she'd understand he had a long day and he didn't mean it. Rory merely nodded in understanding, but her mouth twisted on her face, keeping her hurt inside, and she didn't laugh again at any of her mother's jokes or say another word the rest of her meal.
Luke ducked into the kitchen for a few minutes to escape Lorelai's gaped mouth and her astonished glare, but he could feel the daggers coming out of her eyes as her gaze followed him around the diner when he was gathering up the condiments from the tables, constantly trained on his back.
The rest of their meal Lorelai spoke little to Luke, focusing on squeezing Rory's hand and trying to perk up her daughter; Luke seemed to keep busy in the kitchen or storage room, no doubt to avoid putting his foot in his mouth again.
When they were ready to go home, Rory braved Luke's temper again by once again breaking the long established rule of going behind the counter. Lorelai watched closely as Luke seemed terrified that he would hurt Rory again as she approached him.
Rory took a deep breath and said, "I've had… bad days too," and she hugged him around his waist, as if to say she wasn't bothered by his snapping at her and that he was already forgiven. Luke knelt down to return the hug around her small frame and whispered another apology to her shoulder, his head hung in shame. Lorelai saw some sort of struggle on Luke's face and knew he was punishing himself for barking like that at Rory.
That having been settled to Rory's satisfaction, she gave him another small smile and she went to wait in the Jeep for her mother, keeping their purchases company.
As the bells above the diner door faded into silence again, Luke commended, "You've got …an amazing kid there," still not able to meet Lorelai's eyes, as he wiped down the counter.
Lorelai said with civility, "Yes, she is." She tried to guess at what caused his sudden moods, Taylor was always a possible culprit, but nonetheless she took the opportunity to approached Luke about their December plans, bad mood or not. If Luke wanted to be included and truly be a part of the family, so be it, all the rights, privileges, and annoyances therein of being Gilmored would be his. Maybe talking about their holiday plans would cheer up Luke's bad day. "Luke, I want to talk to you about Christmas."
"Yeah, what about it?" he gently sighed, not in the mood for holiday cheer that was still four weeks away, still angry at himself that he had lashed out at Rory.
"Well, last night at dinner… well, you were sort of, you know, mentioned…"
"Mentioned?" Luke repeated raising his head for the first time in 10 minutes.
"Well, Rory brought up a Luke anecdote… well, about your birthday gift to her…and well, as a result…I told my parents about us … and well they may invite you to come… to their Christmas party… to meet you…" It wasn't so much a lie, as it was a polite glossing over what Emily had really said, but Lorelai hoped she lent it an air of truth, to lift his mood, since he wanted to be included so badly before.
"May invite?" Luke questioned coolly.
"Well, I haven't gotten the date and time yet…I mean their party is usually like… two weeks before Christmas, but now that my mother knows about us… I wanted to prepare you…"
"Well, what if I don't feel like going?" Luke snapped, knowing that he had made his own decisions since he could crawl. Knowing the description Lorelai and Mia had given of the Elder Gilmores; that they were snobs, judgmental, and would have nothing to say to Luke but insult his blue collar up bringing.
"Well, I never feel like going and I have to go… come on… it would be just for a few hours… and we'll get that awkward first meeting out of the way…maybe we can sneak away and make out in my old room? Or in the basement… or something, although it would be like making out in a museum…" Lorelai mused as an aside. "…but it would give me some happy memories of the place."
"I don't want to go," Luke said flatly.
Lorelai almost snapped at him about how desperately he wanted to spend Thanksgiving with them and now he was trying to cut out of Christmas, it didn't make sense to her. "Luke, I'm just trying to keep the peace…and Emily will be satisfied at meeting you and won't bother us again until Easter…"
"Satisfied?" Luke deadpanned slowly, his expressionless face fixed on Lorelai, knowing he wouldn't even come close on the Gilmore Standards Stick from what he heard the last few months.
Seeing Luke wasn't about to budge this time, she smiled warmly to work her magic, "Come on… you won't find your Christmas spirit by then?" with faith that her world famous persistence would pay off yet again by flirting.
Luke's belligerence had returned, "What? I'm so supposed to spread good will toward man, dress up in a stupid red suit and hand out presents just because the greeting card companies have commercialized every month of the year?" Luke ranted on, "Forcing us to buy things we don't need and have festivals about nonsense… Every one's supposed to go on a date on February 14th? Everyone has to get drunk on St. Patrick's Day, even if you aren't Irish? Hey, it's the spring solstice; let's give our kids complexes about sex and fertility by feeding them chocolate eggs and bunnies, thank you, Pagans! Hey, join the fun and plant a tree on Arbor Day! Hey Luke, why aren't you dressed up like a Power Ranger, its Halloween after all? It's stupid and ridiculous and I'm not going to a stupid Christmas Party that's two weeks early, when I haven't even been invited or wanted for that matter. I'm not going and that's final!"
Lorelai barely maintained her composure, seeing this was going to be harder than she expected, "Listen, Scrooge… this wasn't my idea… Rory accidentally mentioned you and…"
"Oh, now she accidentally mentioned me," Luke said slowly, "So you were caught by Emily Gilmore is that it? Because I'm some big dark secret to keep away from your parents!"
"Luke, it's not that… it's just they … well they may not…accept you… at first," she desperate to salvage her nice spin on the situation, but broke down and decided to be honest, "They will judge you, belittle you, and make you …uncomfortable… I'm their daughter and they do that to me. Imagine what they do when they meet strangers…"
"Well, maybe you should invite Christopher…I bet they are mad in love with him, he's who you are supposed to be with any way… your parents will treat him like a king!"
Where the hell did that come from? "Luke, do you know how absurd that sounds… I'm only trying to protect you…"
"By pushing me away," Luke raised his voice again.
Lorelai was matching his yell, "Oh right, that's why I asked you to move in with me, because I want such distance between us!"
"Well, you've made it perfectly clear that I don't have a future with you or Rory…"
Not this again! Lorelai internally scoffed.
"…It's the same old no boys allowed exclusive club between the two of you," he finished.
Umm right because I'm the one cooking with her every night, "Right now, Luke you are the one that's pushing…" and in a huff Lorelai grabbed her purse and left Luke alone in the diner, slamming the glass door punctuated with the hard jingle of the bells. With the sound of the bells ringing in his ears, Luke knew he really stepped into it this time.
Disbelief that what just occurred had been real washed over Luke; what did he say, what had he done? He couldn't believe the things he that flew out of his mouth, how angry he got, the absurd conjectures he made, but he couldn't' stop himself. Luke slid to the ground behind the counter, across from the spot Lorelai made him save when they repainted the diner, where his dad's handwriting remained as a memorial to the man Luke missed so much, the man whose advice he could use right now… and Luke wished he could take everything he had said that evening back.
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Lorelai was lying awake, alone in their bed, nervously twirling her hair, replaying the scene from the diner over and over in her mind. She hoped rather than believed that Luke would come home to spend the night; this was where he lived now after all, despite the words said in the diner, it wasn't so wholly unexpected for Luke to crawl in to bed with her, and apologize for being a complete ass. She had only figured out that Luke wasn't coming over that night around 11:30, when she finished getting ready for bed, the fresh sent of raspberries on her again, and Luke still hadn't showed his face. Lorelai couldn't help but wait up for him, she wanted to talk to him and resolve everything, she knew she couldn't sleep with the things left hanging the way they were, you shouldn't let the sun go down on your anger Marmee says.
Lorelai looked to her right, at what had become Luke's side of the bed realizing this was their first night apart since moving in together just under a month ago. She just didn't understand, why would he push away everyone that he says means everything to him…Why?
Lorelai couldn't explain what had happened Luke was so combative, so rude, and so spiteful. It was more hostile than his usual rants, which were merely entertaining. I was trying to make our Christmas plans, trying to include him, for coffee's sake, trying to introduce him to my parents. If they could get through that one three-hour dinner, they would be free of the elder Gilmore's till next year and the Stars Hollow clan could celebrate Christmas anyway they wanted.
If anything, she thought Luke would have been proud or honored by this step forward, a sign of growing up, a sign of maturity; Lorelai was making a serious commitment to him, willing to go through the whole "meeting the parents" ordeal all for him. She was growing and hoped to find some steady footing with her parents by being honest with the elder Gilmores for once, maybe work toward having a real relationship with them. Maybe by being honest with her folks for a change, they would respect her… Yeah right, and Luke drinks coffee!
Lorelai had told her mother about Luke and Emily didn't need red-hot pokers to pry it out of her; that my friend is progress! Lorelai found mirthless irony that she had gone through all he trouble of telling her mother about Luke practically straight out and by morning there may not be a relationship for her parents to be upset about. No, no, no we are not breaking up! Lorelai told herself firmly, not after everything we've been through together.
Lorelai didn't have a chance to really tell get into detail with Emily about Luke or his diner, the wonderful relationship Luke had with Rory and their cooking lessons, the handy work he did around the house, how he was there to help with the chicken pox, or all the things he had done since entering their lives. Deeds that may win his case in the Gilmore court, looking back on it now, Lorelai just sort of dropped the bomb and ran.
…Because Rory loves him… and I love him, too. Lorelai scoffed again, she couldn't believe she said it to her mother's face. Okay, so what if Emily knew of Luke. Lorelai knew that had to happen since Luke's birthday and now it was out there for her parents to debate; that a man named Luke was dating Lorelai, their one and only daughter, but that was still progress.
Granted there was still a lot Lorelai probably wouldn't be able to tell her parents, like how she and Luke had slept together on their second date; then they took to abstaining for about 2 months for Rory. How once Rory was comfortable with Luke sleeping over, he slept over every night for the better part of 4 months. She certainly could not tell them that Luke and Lorelai were now living together, the happy unwed couple with Rory in tow. She definitely was not able to tell her mother that over their months together those nights together had been increasingly filled with amazing sex; Emily doesn't need to know all that.
Even so, all that progress with her mother had been foiled by Luke's bad mood; apparently he was losing his mind, the man could only handle living with us for three weeks and we pushed him over the edge? Even if he is upset about something that is no reason to take it out on me…or RORY! We didn't do anything wrong. If I wanted a tempestuous relationship, I'd date my mother! Ewwww, now I need a new brain!
She looked over at his side again still wishing, willing him to appear next to her so they could work everything out. For a second night in a row, she fell into a restless, lonely sleep, hoping that things would be better tomorrow; after all it would be another day. Lorelai turned her back to his side of the bed, Frankly Scarlet, right now, I don't give a damn.
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A/N: OH MY GOD! It soooooooooooooo killed me to have to write Luke yelling at Rory…
Localizy's thoughts on the subject: I hate shopping on Black Friday, I don't blame Luke at all for his materialism issues.
A/N: Purple Ribbon! I'm starting this up again, so I don't blow my pretty little brains out.
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"That was all God given talent..." why thank you NON POD Luke!
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R/R: PLEASE, I like to better myself. To quote The Princess Bride,
"...Remember this is for posterity, ... so be honest."
Please be specific with R/R; name one (or as many as you can think of or want to mention..…) At least one specific thing you liked
Please! It makes me feel good...inside (Dirty!)
Hence the Rant option below.
Insert Rant here V
A/N: if not completely satisfied with this chapter, please return unused portion for a full refund...