Disclaimer: ASP's creation not mine. Don't own anything! If I did, I would want to own, Scott Patterson or Luke Danes. I'm totally fine with either! ;p Also, if I did own GG, there would be no such existence of the Nardini's, and LL would be happily married at the end of S6, while making Lorelai's dream in S3 become a reality in S7.
Author's Note: Wow! Pat on the back for me. Two updates in one week. The edits are getting easier, because I was actually paying more attention to grammatical details later on through the story. Pretty sure the next update will be next week, but maybe sooner, who knows lol. Enjoy!
Vital Company
Chapter 7: Cornering Confrontation
The bells jingled cheerfully as Lorelai made her way into the diner, causing her to roll her eyes and silently groan in opposite to its glee. The place was nearly empty, considering it was the lull before the dinner rush, but Lorelai couldn't help the unpleasant feeling that pulled relentlessly at the strings of her heart. The horrid feelings constrained her to the dreadful emotions that barreled erratically within her.
Her eyes anxiously scanned the diner for Luke as she also scoped the place out for the town's biggest gossipers – which to her relief were not present. Lorelai walked to the edge of the counter – opposite of the cash register – and slid onto the last stool with a heavy sigh. She rested her elbows on top of the counter's surface as she shaded her face with her hands and closed her eyes.
Her mind clouded with an infinite amount of different scenarios that could take place once she revealed the depth and explanation to Luke about what she meant by her earlier slip that day. Although she felt the cosmic amount of uneasiness that churned inside of her, she also felt the slightest sense of composure.
She deduced that that little tiny ray of hope existed only because of her unintentional run in with Billy. She didn't quite understand how someone she barely knew – someone she had only met a total of three times, had managed to inexplicably open a gate deep within her that she hadn't allowed access to anyone. Not her parents, not Sookie, not Mia, not even Rory, she didn't allow anyone fully in, except – Luke… and now Billy.
She couldn't stop the constant question of why? Her answers would boil down to Billy's generous ability to be there and ask or say the right things at the right times, just like Luke used to. He allowed her to talk when she wanted to and was ready, while he listened – actually listened. He would give her advice or say subtle sweet comments in a gruff way that made her smile and feel better.
Lorelai knew all these traits were qualities that Luke held, which is what she connected was the reason of why she was so drawn to Billy. He reminded her of Luke in so many ways, and yet she didn't want to jump his bones – even though she did deem him very attractive – her heart was for Luke and Luke only, no matter what he was doing to it.
She pegged Billy to be the male version of Mia. Mia being there like a mother – but not at all looking to replace the one she already had – she came aboard as a great friend who was solely there to help and make sure her well being was looked after, which was the exact feelings she picked up from Billy.
Billy was there in a fatherly manner, but not trying to replace the one she'd been given. She felt as if he truly cared for her, even if they had just met, he was very genuine and kind. He consoled her when he didn't even know who she was. He didn't once hit on her, and yet he said things that made her feel beautiful.
He made her feel good about herself again, inside and out. No one had the capability to do that to her, except Luke, but he had been making her feel the opposite as of lately, so she welcomed the compliments and warm sentiments with gratitude.
Lorelai's train of thought was swiftly cut off at the sound of shoes shuffling closer to her. She felt her breathing pick up as her heartbeat hammered in her throat, but she didn't lift her face from her hands. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and held her breath, waiting to hear Luke's voice.
"Hey Lorelai!" came the jovial voice of Ceasar, which made Lorelai exhale a sigh of relief as she lowered her hands to reveal just her eyes, "Coffee?" He asked, lifting the pot in his hand with a smile.
She nodded and allowed her hands to drop into her lap.
Lorelai welcomed the freshly made brew as Ceasar slid it over. She cradled the mug with both hands and lifted it to her lips as she closed her eyes and inhaled the warm essence. She took a gluttonous gulp of the liquid, allowing it to spread its warmth to her insides. She permitted her eyes to open slowly as she flashed Ceasar a small smile of appreciation.
"Hey!" came Luke's surprise greeting as he walked out of the kitchen and made his way towards her.
"Oh my God!" She gasped taken aback, causing some of her coffee to slosh over the edges of her mug as she fumbled with it at the sudden sound of his voice.
"Jeez, sorry." He mumbled his apology as he looked around for a damp cloth.
"No, it's okay." Lorelai shook her head as she retrieved a napkin from the nearby dispenser, "I wasn't paying attention."
Luke was about to reply as he continued to hunt for a cloth, but Ceasar spoke up, "I got it, boss." He reacted quickly as he whipped out his damp cloth from his apron and swiped the area in front of Lorelai.
Lorelai shot Ceasar an apologetic smile, "Thanks, Ceasar." She said softly.
"No problem, Lorelai." He replied as he threw the now dirty rag in the bin below the counter and turned back to Lorelai, "You want a new one?" He asked cheerily.
Lorelai's eyes glanced quickly to Luke and before she could answer, Luke interjected, "I got it."
Ceasar nodded, "Okay." He turned back to Lorelai again, "Good seeing you, Lorelai."
"It was nice seeing you too, Ceasar." She replied and flashed him another smile – one that hadn't reached her eyes.
"You know, I feel like I haven't really seen you all that much lately." He voiced as he tipped his head to the side in thought.
Luke reared his head back at hearing that comment and furrowed his brows, "What are you talking about? She's here almost everyday." He retorted.
Ceasar scrunched his face and shook his head slowly as he gave it more thought, "No. She hasn't really." He began, "Lorelai has rarely been in here, and when she is, it's not for very long."
Lorelai's eyes widened at Ceasar's proclaimed observation. She quickly dropped her gaze to her lap as she tried to avoid either man's eyes.
"What the hell are you talking about, Ceasar?" Luke asked, clearly growing agitated with their current conversation.
"I'm not trying to make you mad, Boss." Ceasar reasoned, "I'm just saying. Also, I noticed that we're fully stocked on coffee grounds in the back and have been for the past couple of months." He explained to Luke easily.
Luke threw a hand out to his side as he questioned, "So?"
"Well, when Lorelai is in here – how she normally is – we're either almost out or completely out by the end of each week."
Luke inhaled a breath through his nose as the muscles in his jaw jumped. His brows furrowed again as a thought came to him, "How the hell do you know about the quantity of the coffee? I make the coffee majority of the time and I make the orders." He exclaimed, pointing his finger at Ceasar with a smirk – thinking he had gotten him.
Ceasar shrugged and simply said, "I refill the coffee containers." He picked up the coffee pot and turned on his heels, "Have a good one, Lorelai. Hope to see you around soon." He called to her, gaining a nod and small smile from her as he scurried over to one of the loitering customers table.
Luke exhaled a defeated sigh through his nose as he pressed his lips into a thin line, the muscles in his jaw flexing as he clenched it tightly. He glanced over at Lorelai to see her looking down at her hands, which she couldn't quite keep still on top of the counter.
He reached a hand over and placed it on top of hers to still them. She flinched slightly, startled by the unexpected gesture, but raised her eyes to meet his as he flashed her a small hesitant smile, which she returned.
"You want something to eat?" He asked softly.
Lorelai shook her head, "No. I'm okay." She replied, then looked back to her hands, which were still covered by Luke's.
"You want more coffee?" He offered, hoping to break the awkwardness that kept building between them.
Lorelai lifted a hand and waved off the offer, "No, I'm good. Thanks."
He nodded, "Okay." He replaced the coffee pot onto the burner and returned in front of her. He cleared his throat, "I-um, I told Sookie that I would come over to your pla-"
Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, she told me." She replied, looking up at him as she quickly cut him off at hearing him begin to once again refer to their house as only hers, "I just thought it would be easier if I came here." She lied.
Luke pressed his lips into a thin line as he nodded, "Okay. You wanna go upstairs or go back to your-" He began to suggest, but was once again cut off by Lorelai.
Lorelai shook her head, "Upstairs is fine." She answered in a rush, making sure she didn't have to hear his lame lines again and assuring she followed through with her initial plan of actually talking to Luke. But most of all, it was because Billy's words played repeatedly in her mind, telling her to talk to Luke and take the break.
Luke nodded, "Okay." He agreed, but made no move.
Lorelai slid off of her stool, standing at the end of the counter. She looked towards Luke and noticed he was just standing there, looking at her, so she gave him a quizzical look and gestured to the curtain that led upstairs, "Lead the way." She urged.
Luke shook his head to clear the blur and quickly set in motion towards the curtain, "Right." He said as he held the curtain back for Lorelai to step through and continued to lead the way, bypassing his over stuffed green duffle bag that sat on the bottom step.
As they made their way upstairs, Luke opened the door to the apartment, allowing Lorelai to walk in ahead of him. She strolled over to the middle of the room, ignoring the new little touches he added to the apartment. She turned around to face Luke as she crossed her arms over her chest – subconsciously shielding her heart from the upcoming battle that was about to take place.
Luke closed the door and went to stand across from Lorelai, "You wanna sit on the couch or at the table?" He asked, a little wary as he took note of her demeanor.
"I'm okay." She replied shortly.
In her mind, the only way she could stand her ground was to actually be standing, and it allowed her to feel as if she were more powerful in the up right position.
Luke's brows raised in surprise, "Um- okay." He muttered as his nerves only rose with the silence. Luke continued to watch Lorelai as she took a few seconds to compose herself and situate her thoughts.
When she finally looked up and locked eyes with him, she slowly began to speak, "I-uh, I just wanted to say," She paused, trying to collect the right wording, "I-I wanted to apologize … about what happened earlier today."
Luke shook his head at her unnecessary apology, "No, Lorelai, there's no need for-"
Lorelai held up a hand to stop him, "Luke, even if I didn't deny the things I said earlier, saying them in the state I was in, just wasn't right."
Luke's brows creased in confusion, "What do you mean; the state you were in?"
Lorelai tried to ponder a reasonable explanation to how and why she was high earlier that day, without throwing Sookie and Jackson under the bus, "Well, long story short, I-um, was… high." She said the last word softly.
Luke's brows raised, "You were what?"
"I was-" She began to repeat.
"I heard what you said, I just-" He hesitated as he tried to gather his words, "Whe- Wha- How?" He asked as he placed his hands on his hips.
"It was all just an accident. I grabbed the wrong desserts by mistake and it turns out, they were loaded." She answered with a shrug, not wanting to go too much in depth at the risk of Luke getting upset with the culprits.
"I'm still having trouble piecing together the 'why?'" He said as he swiped a hand roughly over his face, "So, help me out here. I want the long story, and don't leave anything out."
Lorelai exhaled heavily as she knew this was going to take longer than she originally planned. She looked over to the couch and armchair, figuring it might be better to sit for this explanation. She pointed towards the couch, signaling they should sit and swiftly opted to take up the armchair, granting herself some space.
As Luke situated himself on the couch, he noticed Lorelai take a seat in the chair instead of next to him and he furrowed his brows as he looked up at her, his eyes filled with questions and hurt.
She tried to ignore the tug that his look caused to the strings of her heart as she continued on as if she hadn't seen it. Realizing that Lorelai wasn't going to move from her spot, Luke scooted up to the end of the couch, nearest to her.
"Lately, I've been exhausted, Luke." She began carefully, "I'm tired all the time and not really in the greatest of spirits."
She watched as Luke's face contorted from concerned to bemused to happy to angry, then finally settling on a mix of guilt and sympathy as she recounted the events that happened, from when she stepped foot into the kitchen of the Dragonfly, all the way until the moment she walked into the diner, almost a half an hour ago.
Luke stayed silent throughout the whole time as Lorelai retold him of what had happened. He couldn't help but chastise himself for not noticing some kind of sign that Lorelai was high earlier, since his sister had spent most of her years when they were kids in that state, as well as his parents, when they needed something stronger to relax them after chemo and the pain that the cancer had caused.
"But you're okay now though, right?" He asked tentatively.
Lorelai tipped her head to the side as she answered, "I'm not high anymore, if that's what you're asking."
Luke nodded, "Good. I'm-" He cleared his throat, "I'm sorry." His apology caused a little line to form between Lorelai's brows, "I should've known something was off. I mean you showed all the signs and I still didn't pick up on them." He said, causing Lorelai's heart to race, thinking he was finally able to see everything clearly.
"Liz was high for majority of our childhood."
Lorelai's heart dropped, her hopes of Luke's realization was lost. Click went the lock.
He continued, "She'd have glassy red eyes, she'd laugh or joke about everything, and she'd have a huge appetite, a loopy smile and her eyes looked as if she was trying to stay awake." Lorelai's brows creased further with his reasoning, "You had it all." He said, which caused her to inhale sharply, "Granted your appetite wasn't for food, but still, everything else was right there. I'm sorry I didn't notice. I would've made you take a nap right away."
Lorelai exhaled the breath she had been holding and closed her eyes briefly, mentally trying to wash away the possibility of the old Luke resurfacing. He was still Clueless McGee.
She opened her eyes and slowly shook her head, "First of all, I only smoked pot twice, and both times were before Rory was born. Second, I'm- I'm not sorry about anything, Luke." She warranted with a little agitation creeping into her voice.
"What?"
"That was the first time in a long time, that I've felt that relaxed, Luke. I mean it's not like I wanna get relaxed in that way again, because I don't. But the general idea of just being able to have a break and feel no pressure of anything, that's what I want." She explained evenly.
"Okay." Luke nodded slowly, "I'm sorry, I'm having trouble understanding what you're trying to say." He told her totally clueless to her message.
Lorelai inhaled a deep breath, knowing it was now or never, "I've-uh, I've been thinking about a lot of things lately. Things that I didn't want to be thinking about, but had no choice." She began.
"What things?" He asked curiously.
She sighed shakily, "What is this?" She asked as she gestured between the two of them, "You. Me." She shrugged helplessly, "What are we?"
Luke's face quickly changed into pure confusion at the sudden change in topic, "What?"
"What are we?" She repeated, lifting a hand upward in question as she kept her voice low, but clear.
Luke's brows creased in puzzlement, "I don't fully understand what you're asking me, Lorelai." He replied perplexed.
Lorelai exhaled an exasperated sigh, "What are we, Luke? What is this?" She continued, while gesturing once more between the two of them.
Luke shook his head and shrugged, "We're- we're engaged." He answered almost dumfounded, "We're- uh, each other's fiancée's." seeing that those answers hadn't satisfied her, he added, "We're s-soon to be married."
Lorelai scoffed softly, "Are we?" She asked skeptically.
"Yes, Lorelai-" He tried to reassure her, but she cut him off.
"Because from my viewpoint, it doesn't seem like it's gonna happen." She didn't yell, she knew she had to save her strength, so she made an effort to control herself.
He shook his head, "What, Lorelai, no." He tried to deny, "Of course we're getting married."
"I'm having a really difficult time believing that." She countered, her eyes not hiding the pain and disbelief she felt.
He scooted even closer to the edge of the couch as he reached for her hands in panic and held them in his, trying to get closer to her, "You will. We will." He gave her hands a gentle squeeze trying to emphasize his words, "We will get married, its just-" He began, but Lorelai cut him off.
"When?" She asked as she looked into his eyes and pushed past his words that were beginning to fall on deaf ears.
"Soon." He answered unconvincingly, "I- I told you that."
"Yeah." Lorelai exhaled a disappointed sigh and nodded, "Yeah, you have." She agreed softly, then pressed her lips together in thought. She pulled her hands free from his grasp, before she continued, "I think I've been patient, though, right?" She stated more than questioned, her voice beginning to break.
Luke looked like a lost puppy trying to find his way home, "Huh?"
"I've waited. I've stayed away. I've listened and stayed quiet. I've basically turned into the female version of Boo." The months of frustration beginning to flow out as she ranted.
Luke being Luke, looked befuddled at the reference, "Who?"
Lorelai didn't stop to answer him, "But no more. No more, because honestly? I'm tired, Luke... physically and emotionally tired." Her voice cracking slightly as she fought to keep her tears at bay, "Everyday for the past couple of months, I walk around town like I'm Igor or something, just skulking and bowing to your every command, but no more. No more."
"Lorelai, what are you talking about?"
"Luke, I.." She shook her head slowly, knowing that this is what needed to be done, so with a sigh she continued with little strength, "Luke.. I can't." She let out softly as she looked up with pain stricken watery eyes to meet his.
His brows still furrowed, he asked, "What do you mean; 'You can't'. You can't what?" The panic in his voice kept rising.
Mustering up every bit of nerve she replied a little firmer, "I can't do this to myself anymore, Luke." She said softly as she shook her head grudgingly and exhaled "I can't be in this knowing that I'm in it alone. I can't want this," She pointed between both of them, "by myself."
She kept her eyes locked on his face, which was filled with regret, his eyes pained and his mouth agape, desperately trying to find words to voice.
Lorelai didn't wait and continued, "I really did try, Luke. You have to know that I tried. But this isn't… this isn't how it's supposed to be. As of lately, I constantly feel miserable, just… so unhappy. I feel like I've become a totally different person." She unloaded her feelings, only pausing to take a breath.
"I've tried to respect you and give you your space, but it's to the point where I feel like we don't even know each other anymore. To the point where we're not each other's fiancée's or even each other's friends for that matter. It's more like… we're colleagues. It's as if being with me is work for you. And-"
"No! No, Lorelai, no!" Finally finding his voice, Luke jumped in, "I want to be with you. I want this. I want us." He pledged desperately, "I've just been so wrapped up with things and…" He exhaled through clenched teeth as he again tried to find the words to explain.
Lorelai swiped a stray tear from her cheek, "I know, Luke. I'm not blaming April." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before she looked back at him, "But I meant everything that I said. I can't be in a relationship with someone who's half in and half out." She held up a hand to stop Luke from trying to rebuttal, "You may have wanted this before everything happened, but you're not in this, Luke." She shook her head slowly as the tears began to fall freely, "At least not anymore."
Luke didn't even try to mask the tears that had quickly built in his eyes, "Lorelai" He breathed, "I do. I do want it all with you" He stammered, "I just- I just need time to-"
Lorelai held her hand up again to stop him, "I remember this tree." She started, "We've been here before and the results weren't good." She brushed another tear from her cheek, "You asked for time the first go round and I didn't give you any – strike one."
Luke reared back at her knowledge of sports reference, "You asked for time again and this time I gave it to you in fear that if I pushed too hard again, I'd lose you. I felt even more pathetic this time around though, because the more you pulled away, the tighter I tried to hold on – strike two." She croaked with a shrug, "That's why before we can get to strike three – God, I really don't wanna get to strike three – I've been thinking a lot about our situation and the only solution I keep coming back to, is for us to…" She locked her gaze on his before she whispered, "take a break."
"Take a break?" Luke blinked in surprise, "As in break up?" He questioned, the hurt clear in his voice.
"No." Lorelai shook her head, "Take a break as in – we take some time apart from each other, sort through our thoughts and get our priorities straight. Think about whether or not we still wanna be in this relationship – For you: If it's worth continuing, and for me: If I can keep being treated as an afterthought and made to feel unwanted by someone who means the world to me."
It was Luke's turn to shake his head, as he said, "No, Lorelai, no! You know I love you. I'm- I'm just so stretched thin and I can't multi-task that well, you know that too, but I love you, Lorelai, and I want to be with you. You have to know that." He pleaded, the desperation oozing thickly in his voice as he was witnessing his happiness being stripped from his grasp.
Lorelai took a tissue from the container on the end table and wiped away her tears, only for fresh ones to fall, "I know." She nodded, "I know that deep down you do love me, but you're an actions guy, Luke, and as of lately you've been showing me the opposite."
Luke swiftly moved to sit on the coffee table directly in front of her as he took her hands into his, "Don't do this, just… give me time and I'll figure out a way to fix this." He begged, his tears beginning to burn his eyes, "I'll fix it." He pleaded, "Let me fix it."
"I'm not really asking for this break, Luke. I'm telling you… because we need this. Both of us." She told him softly, her heart feeling as if it had dropped to her stomach at seeing Luke's pained expression, "I'm afraid if we don't take this break now, nothing will change, or worse, we'll get to strike three… and I really don't wanna get to strike three, Luke." She sniffled, "I lost you once – I don't really have you now, but I don't think I could handle losing you again, or anymore of this. It's just too much." She sniffled again, hoping he'd understand.
"Lorelai" He breathed helplessly, his eyes still filled with tears as he tried to hold them back from falling, but failed miserably as a rogue tear slipped down his cheek, "Please…"
"We have to do this, Luke." Lorelai couldn't stop the stream of tears that continued to cascade down her face, "I've tried everything and none of it worked. Things have only gotten worse, and you still won't let me in." She cried, "How can we be together when you have a whole other life, that I'm not allowed to be a part of?" She offered, "This time apart will hopefully set our priorities straight, allow the both of us to gage whether or not this relationship is still what we both want and whether or not both of us is willing to fight for it." She inhaled a shaky breath, trying to regain some composure, "I love you, Luke. I love you… so much, but my heart is in so many pieces that I don't know where to start when I try to piece it back together."
"Lorelai, please, let me-" He stumbled, "I want this. I want you – God, I want you – you're the only thing that I've ever wanted so badly, it's just now with April, I don't know what to do. I want to fix us, please, just give me time to fix it." He begged again, hoping she'd understand his complicated situation.
Lorelai pushed past his plea as she said, "I'm gonna go away for a week, maybe two-"
"Wait, no, what?" He flustered.
"For the first week, I wanna test out a theory that was suggested – it's no contact for minimum of at least a week," As she spoke, Luke vigorously shook his head in disagreement, "I want the both of us to get the full effect of not having the other in our life. What we would do, how we'd feel and what we wanna do about it after the time is up." She finished, trying to stay strong.
"No! Absolutely not." Luke swiped his cheek at the stray tears, "What does that even mean? Are we not engaged anymore? Are you free to date while we're apart? What if you change your mind and don't wanna get back together? No! No, no, no, no!" He ranted his fears to her.
"There will be no one else allowed into this. No dating, no seeing of anyone, nothing. That goes for both of us." She reassured him, "I mean unless you-"
"No." He said firmly.
His sureness made the corners of her mouth to turn up, happy that he still didn't want anyone else, "Okay."
"How long is this break thing gonna be?" He rasped, feeling helpless.
"I don't know." Lorelai shrugged, because in all honestly she wasn't exactly sure, "The initial no contact will be just a week, but the overall break?" She shrugged again and answered softly, "However long it takes to fix what's been broken… or until you want out-"
"I don't." He said with certainty, his eyes bore through hers firmly, "I won't"
Lorelai nodded, "Good." She flashed him a small sad smile and gave his hands a squeeze, before she slid them fully out of his grasp and stood up, causing him to follow.
"Wait, where will you be?" He asked in a rush.
"I have somewhere that I can go." She assured him.
"Where?" He pushed, needing to know.
Lorelai shook her head, "After the first week, I'll let you know. You can come out and meet me and we can talk. See what we've realized after the short time apart."
"What? No! Lorelai, I can't not know where you are for a whole week. I'll go crazy." He started heatedly.
Lorelai gave a small smile and shrugged, "Maybe that's a good thing." She tried to joke lightly.
Luke's eyes grew wide as his brows creased, "Lorelai." He growled.
"Luke, I'll be fine." Lorelai stopped him, "I promise. Someone will know where I'm at all times." She promised, "But until I give them the okay, my location stays private, but I can assure you, you'll be the first to know once I'm ready and decide to lift the privacy tag."
Luke growled with frustration, he didn't like this one bit, but knew that Lorelai wouldn't back down and she wouldn't lie to him about something like this. He sighed heavily, "I don't like this." He said gruffly as he pointed a finger towards the floor trying to emphasize his point.
"Me neither." She agreed, "But I need you to do this for me. For us. Please, Luke." She asked softly.
Luke clenched his teeth and inhaled a sharp breath as he closed his eyes, "Lorelai" He breathed softly, the regret and sadness seeping through his words.
Lorelai held his gaze and nodded in understanding. She licked her lips and softly bit her bottom lip, contemplating her next move. She closed her eyes and took a slight step forward as she tipped her face up to his, just as his eyes fell shut as well.
She allowed her lips to gently brush his with a soft kiss, but before she could pull back, Luke lightly cradled her face in his hands and captured her bottom lip between both of his as he suckled on it tenderly.
Lorelai let out a soft moan as she felt Luke permit his tongue to glide against her lip, right before he placed a final kiss to her lips. He trailed another kiss to each cheekbone – tasting the saltiness from her tears on his lips – then pressing a final kiss to her forehead, where he allowed his lips to linger for a long moment.
As he pulled back, both of their eyes slowly opened only to lock with each other's magnetizing blue eyes. Each pair of eyes holding an infinite amount of emotions as they silently willed the other to read their minds.
Lorelai was the first to break eye contact as she whispered, "I better get going." She looked over to his microwave clock to see it had been almost two hours since she had arrived, "It's getting late and you have to close up." She flashed him a small smile as she began walking towards the door, with Luke hot on her trail.
As Lorelai's hand made contact with the door, Luke whispered from behind her, "I don't want you to go." His voice still thick with anguish.
Lorelai sniffled and nodded, not turning around from her position, "I know."
"Stay." He begged as he reached a hand out to lightly place on her shoulder.
Lorelai sighed sadly as she turned her face slightly to look at his hand. She reached her free hand to touch his and gave it a gentle squeeze as she replied, "I wish it were that easy." She let go of his hand, allowing it to slide down her back as she opened the door and took a step out.
She paused again, turned her head to look at him and whispered, "Goodnight Luke."
Before she turned back around and closed the door behind her – not stopping her stride until she made it to her jeep – leaving Luke glued to the same position, as he stared at the spot Lorelai had just vacated.
Once Lorelai had safely made it to her car, she quickly started it up and headed home, hoping to God that this was the right thing to do and her plan would come out in both of their favor.
As she pulled up to her driveway, Lorelai parked her jeep in her usual parking spot under the tree and made her way into her house. She shed her coat and hung it in its rightful place, before she walked past the archway and dropped her keys to the desktop table. She saw the red flashing light coming from the phone and reached over to press the button on the machine to hear her messages.
"You have one new message – new message:" the robotic voice announced.
"Lorelai, it's your mother." Came the voice of Emily Gilmore, as Lorelai went to plop herself down on the couch, "I've just spoken to Lorene and the owners pushed for the repairs to be done as well as their departure to quicken. The house is ready when you are. I have the keys; so call me when you receive this message. I have an early brunch, with a few women from the DAR for an upcoming function we are preparing for, tomorrow at 10am. I'll talk to you soon, Lorelai." The machine clicked off indicating its end.
Lorelai leaned her head on the back of the couch, looking up at the ceiling as she blew out an exasperated sigh. She allowed one corner of her lips to rise upward in a smile as she whispered, "Perfect."
Author's Note: Thanks again. Stoked for the continuous love and support for this story of mine. I promised justice for our beloved LL and I'm working on it. Love you all! -KISF
