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: Surprise! Woohoo, for restlessness. Here's Chapter 10. Now for the O.G.'s Chapter 11 should be up soon. I'll be going over it this week. Enjoy!
Vital Company
Chapter 10: Sinking Battleships
Lorelai stood rooted, clearly stunned at seeing Billy, there, at her covert sanctuary for the week.
'How?' was the main and biggest question that flooded her mind. How in the world was he there? How the hell did he always somehow pop-up wherever she was? How was it possible that he had discovered the exact clandestine spot that she was at, when no one else knew where she was at, except for her parents?
He couldn't possibly be in cahoots with them, could he?
No! No way. That would be ridiculous, especially since Billy was more down to earth and – with no offense to her parents – he didn't resemble her parents in any way.
He was just this peculiar mystical being that Lorelai could not figure out for the life of her. Although she joked about him being 'Houdini', she was now actually beginning to believe just that, because he was blowing her mind with his unexplainable, impulsive appearances.
Paul Anka continued to softly tug her forward in the direction of the recognizable scent he had picked up. Lorelai was in such a mixed state, that she unconsciously dropped the leash, allowing Paul Anka to prance off ahead in a graceful trot.
He let out a soft bark as he neared Billy, allowing his company to be recognized. Billy looked up at the sudden new sound added to the peaceful flow of the creek's water, just as Paul Anka hurried down the dock and hopped up on his hind legs to rest his front paws on Billy's chest.
"Whoa!" Billy let out a staggered yelp as he steadied himself and attempted to take in where Paul Anka had come from.
He casually permitted his eyes to roam over his surroundings, triggering his convivial green gaze to finally land upon Lorelai, just across the way.
The small, but distinctly recognizable crescent shaped indentions appeared instantly on the sides of his mouth, causing the now recurring pang of familiarity to strike deep within Lorelai's gut once more. He waved his greeting and began making his way off the dock towards her with Paul Anka following close behind.
After a moment of taking in the fact that she was most definitely seeing Billy – in all his mysterious and magical glory – she shook her head in disbelief as she waited for him to approach.
"Oh my God!" She exhaled in a pleasant daze as her face broke out with a huge grin.
"Lorelai!" Billy chuckled, "What are the odds?" He greeted warmly as he at last came to stand in front of her.
Lorelai's face contorted into mock apprehension as she asked, "Are my eyes deceiving me? Did the council send you and the crew in the Enterprise at warp speed to get here?"
"What?" He asked, slightly worried that she had maybe completely lost her marbles in the short time that he hadn't seen her.
Lorelai's expression twisted with feigned seriousness, "Stand firm, Captain!" She commanded as she held up a hand – palm facing towards him, causing Billy to raise his brows in confusion.
He lifted a hand to wave off her retort; "There she goes again with the names." He mumbled to no one in particular as he shook his head.
"Shhh!" She shushed him as she looked up to the sky, which was swiftly turning gray and filling with thick clouds, before she looked back at him bringing her right hand up – causing her wrist to be directly in front of her mouth – as she pretended to speak into an imaginary gadget, "Beam me up, Scotty!"
Billy looked around for any other life forms, but came up short, "Uh, Lorelai?" He began cautiously as he narrowed his eyes at her odd behavior, truly at a lost to what she was doing.
Lorelai looked back at Billy, "It's not working, Captain. What should we do?" She asked Billy in simulated panic, terribly attempting to bite back her smile.
Billy's mouth hung slightly agape, "Are you on some kind of medication that I don't know about?" He asked, still perplexed by her actions.
Lorelai couldn't hold it in anymore at the sight of Billy's dumfounded expression and rumbled uncontrollably as she let the dam break. She dropped her hands to her knees as she bent over in a fit of laughter, unable to hold back her mirth, which only caused Billy to look at her like she was even more out of her mind.
Lorelai swiftly tried to pull herself together and raised back upright to look at Billy. Her eyes held her obvious amusement as she managed to slowly settle down.
"I'm sorry," She apologized lightly, "but seriously, did you teleport here?" She asked, lifting her brows humorously.
Billy's brows rose with curiosity, "I beg your pardon?" He asked with a smirk as he tilted his head to her question.
"Do you have some kind of teleporting or multiplying super power, Loki?" She rephrased her tease as she silently thanked her childhood crush of the cartoon superhero character Bruce Banner, who had at one point or another faced the challenge of his alliance – Thor's brother – Loki for her to know that witty reference.
Now that she was older, she realized that Bruce Banner had resembled Luke, in almost every way. They were both sexy as hell, smart, kind, helpful to the ones they loved and cared about, were deep down hopeless romantics when it came to the woman they loved deeply and most of all, they had a bit of a temper that could get a bit out of control at times.
Granted Bruce Banner had himself turning into an uncontrollable, huge green monster that caused destruction, while Luke's rage would consist of a very entertaining rant or some growling and stomping, but still, it was a bit shocking when she had compared the two and connected their similarities soon after they had finally gotten together.
She secretly congratulated herself for having impeccable taste for love after all.
Billy's expression immediately softened as he chuckled softly, "No." He answered easily – for once, understanding the meaning behind one of her off the wall names she spouted out, thanks to his children being enraptured by DC and Marvel's super heroes for a period of time in their youth.
Lorelai narrowed her eyes playfully once more as she continued, "I'm not experiencing some kind of Lifetime movie then, am I? Where you butter me up and get me to trust you, thinking that you're a genuine guy and then 'bam'," She snapped her fingers," I find out you're some kind of axe murderer that preys on sad woman that cry and complain about their other half and their withering relationship."
Billy pressed his lips together as if contemplating that thought. He looked Lorelai up and down as his face held no emotion. He shook his head slightly and said, "I wouldn't use an axe if I were a murderer."
Lorelai's smile instantly dropped as her brows lifted in surprise. Now it was her turn to show trepidation as she asked, "What?"
Billy shrugged calmly and replied, "Axes aren't a good murder weapon, especially if you're in a hurry. You'd have to lug it around and it'd take most of your energy just to haul it, not to mention to actually swing it when you," He chopped the air, "you know. If anything, my weapon of choice would be a Bowie knife. About seven, maybe nine inches long. Light, quick and quiet." He slashed his hands out in front of him as he made a shick sound effect as if slicing a throat.
Lorelai's eyes widened as her mouth dropped further, "What?!"
Billy let out a low roar of laughter, "What? You can dish it out, but you can't handle it when someone else hits you back with it?"
Lorelai let out a small laugh, "It's not that. I just didn't know whether to laugh or start running while screaming my head off." She joked, as she relaxed her spine, which had unconsciously stiffened at hearing Billy's words.
Billy chuckled, "You don't have anything to worry about, Ms. Gilmore. You're safe with me." He replied as he held his now notorious smirk.
"Good. I hope so," She smiled, "but seriously, are you stalking me?"
He barked out another laugh, "I was gonna ask you the same thing." He replied as he mirrored her narrowed eyes with spilling humor.
Lorelai let out a small laugh, "No," She shook her head, "but if you don't have any super powers, you're not a mass murderer and you're not stalking me," She teased, "then that must mean you're my guardian angel." She joked, gaining a slow smirk from Billy, before she offered, "Or my fairy God-Father." with a mischievous grin.
Billy's smirk fell as he pointed a finger at her and replied, "Watch it, Gilmore." He scolded lightheartedly, before lifting his chin slightly, allowing his smirk to re-etch itself back onto his lips, neither confirming nor denying her allegation.
Lorelai tilted her head slightly, her mind actually processing that exact thought. As if sensing what Lorelai's thoughts were leading to, Billy cleared his throat.
"So, what are you doing out here?" He asked her, changing the subject, "I can't imagine you having to always come out to the border of Stars Hollow just to walk your dog." He said, while glancing over at Paul Anka who sat next to his right foot.
Lorelai's brows raised at the topic transition, "Oh, uh, no." She stammered a bit, "No, um–" She turned slightly to hook her thumb back at the house, "That's my new home for a while." She flashed a small smile, "Who knows maybe longer, but I finally talked with Luke and – although it was tough – I got him to agree to give us a week apart." She told him with a shrug.
Billy tilted his head, "You did?" He asked a bit surprised.
Lorelai nodded, "Yeah." She acknowledged, but her brows pinched together at catching Billy's slight amazement, "Why do you seem so shocked? You thought I wouldn't have it in me?" She questioned him with slight offense.
Billy's eyes went wide, but he quickly shook his head to dismiss her train of thought, "Oh, no! I knew you could do it. I just didn't think your guy would like it and allow you to leave." He explained, "I don't know, I just assumed he would've fought tooth and nail for you not to, you know?" He shrugged, "Because if I was in that situation, I know I would – for my girl." He offered.
Lorelai's brows lifted in agreement, "Oh trust me. He did." She proclaimed slowly, sure to enunciate each word.
Billy chuckled softly, "Yeah?" He asked, causing Lorelai to nod silently, "Well, that's a good thing, right?"
Lorelai sighed heavily as she contemplated her answer.
It was a good thing – it was a very good thing – that Luke had wanted to fight for her, but she couldn't block out that tiny, but deafening part of her that felt like Luke had only put up that fight out of obligation to give her a show.
She knew that that was a horrible thing to think and she knew he loved her and his fight for her was genuine, but no matter how much times she tried to flush away that ridiculous thought, it would only creep it's way right back into her mind.
Lorelai just wished he hadn't completely shut her out; maybe that crude thought wouldn't have been planted there in the first place, but it had and she felt helpless when it came to her fiancée. She couldn't decipher what was going on with him. She felt as if she shouldn't even offer him her help anymore, because she knew he would only reject it.
She knew she came from a family of the high-class society and they held wealth. She knew she had a magnificent and successful Inn. She knew she had a house and a car. She also knew that she had a daughter who was incredibly smart, and was part her and part a man who was not Luke.
She knew she had quite a few things on paper to offer, but that wasn't Lorelai. She wasn't about offering things that didn't mean anything to her - not including Rory, of course.
She and her daughter came as a packaged deal and the only thing she could and wanted to offer – to the right man – was her heart.
Not much men could handle the thought of a packaged deal so early on and not much men wanted to commit so quick, which was fine with Lorelai, because she wasn't asking for a proposal, but merely acceptance and love in return.
No one had been able to live up to her small yet unchangeable standards… until Luke came along.
Luke was the one and only man who had hammered down her walls and successfully kept them down, but he was now also the reason she had been in the process of rebuilding that same wall he had demolished.
She berated herself because she should've seen this coming. She witnessed all the signs from Luke that she had - numerous amounts of times - displayed in the past when she went distant from a significant other. But Lorelai tried to ignore it, because for the life of her, she didn't want to believe that Luke was doing the same thing to her.
She knew karma could be feisty, and she couldn't help but think that this was its way of getting back at her for all the past relationships she had screwed up. Payback was a bitch as it had hit her head on for all the hearts she had unintentionally broken in her past.
She loved Luke, with all of her heart and more, but it still didn't seem to be enough for him to fully let her in. She didn't know what else to do and for once she was glad she listened to her own gut when it had told her to take some time away for herself, because Lord knows she needed it.
Suddenly, Lorelai felt a heavy drop of water land on top of her shoulder and knew it wouldn't be long before it would begin to pour. She had sensed that indescribable, well-defined scent that always came before the rain would actually make its appearance.
She truly believed it was connected with the exact same thing she had with never being able to describe the smell of snow – which she was never wrong about. It made sense too because rain was just the liquefied version of the frozen stuff she loved so much. She didn't know how to explain the reasoning behind it, but she just knew.
Lorelai gave Billy an apologetic smile for her long silence. She exhaled loudly, before she asked, "How much time you got today, Doc?"
Billy flashed her that slapping proverbial smirk again, "Plenty." He answered.
Lorelai nodded and glanced to Paul Anka who was resting with his head on his paws, before looking back to Billy, "It's gonna rain and he's over the walk. You wanna head inside – wait it out and grab something to eat, while I chew your ear off?"
Billy glanced up towards the quickly darkening sky, before he allowed his emerald eyes to fall back to Lorelai and nodded, "Sure, after you." He said as he gestured for her to lead the way.
Of course. Of course, this would happen. Of course, the weather would unexpectedly decide to mirror Luke's bleak and depressing mood, only causing his behavior and appearance to darken even further.
In addition to the clouds that rolled in, the deep bellowing of thunder came along with it as it sounded its warning for what was to come. Stars Hollow's weather had quickly took a turn for the worst.
It began to drizzle when Luke had finally returned to the Diner from his walk. The place was packed with people – it seemed as if it was littered with everyone in town. When he entered and the bell jingled above him, the Diner instantly fell over in a hush.
If Luke hadn't been so preoccupied with his thoughts of Lorelai, he would've actually noticed all the eyes that were glued to him, but since his mind was still in a daze, he ambled through the diner, pass the curtain and up the stairs in pursuit to get to his apartment unaffected.
Ceasar and Lane shared worried looks between each other as they witnessed their boss breeze by without a word as if he was in some sort of untouchable trance. They both knew bits and pieces about the situation between their boss and his fiancée, but they knew better than to get involved in his personal business.
"Aw the poor doll." Rasped Babette, once Luke was out of earshot, "Watching him like that just breaks my poor little heart." She held a hand over her chest as if it truly ached.
"Well, not to rub salt on an open wound, honey, but I think he deserved most of this." Miss Patty replied.
Babette gasped, "Patty!" as she gave her a shocked look.
Gypsy sat at the table next to them and inputted, "Pink power, baby!" as she thrust a fist in the air.
"Gypsy!" Babette turned to gasp at the woman, who in return just shrugged.
"What?" Patty asked as if she said nothing wrong, "Honey, aren't you forgetting how he treated Lorelai for the past few months? The poor girl, I've never seen her look so sad before." She shook her head remorsefully, "She did everything to show Luke that she supported him even though he kept secrets from her, and he just kept brushing her off. Lorelai was slowly falling apart and Luke didn't do anything to help. We all saw it."
"Yeah, especially at your wedding!" Gypsy retorted as she pointed to Lane.
"I guess you got a point there, sugah… it's just, those two have waited so long to be together, and when they finally did it, it seemed like every worse possible obstacle keeps getting thrown their way to tear them apart."
"Mother always tells me that sometimes obstacles aren't presented to us to break us, but to merely test our strength – also to see just how much we'll fight to overcome said obstacle." Supplied Kirk, who sat at the table in front of the woman.
The whole Diner once again fell into silence as everyone looked over at Kirk as if he had just figured out the answer to time travel. Kirk nodded his head in satisfaction and gave a small smile, before he turned back to his plate of chicken tenders and star sliced fruit.
Gypsy was the first to speak as she waved her hands in Kirk's general direction as she said, "How the hell can Kirk say something so damn smart and yet he can't remember to zip up his fly every time he comes out of the bathroom?"
Miss Patty shook her head, "I don't know, honey, but let's hope for the sake of those two, Kirk's mother is right." Patty sighed heavily, "I have never seen two people who are more right for each other than them. They both deserve to be happy, these obstacles are tough ones."
"Yeah, but they love each other too much to give up. No matter what's thrown at them, they'll make it. I know it. My nails are the opposite of Pinocchio's nose – they stop growing as fast when I tell a lie and I've been saying those two belong together for years and my nails keep growing like California grass." Babette screeched in her hoarse voice as she flashed her hands for evidence, "It's Luke and Lorelai for God's sake!"
Reverend Skinner sat in the corner with the town's Rabbi and loudly cleared his throat.
"Oops! Sorry, Reverend." Babette apologized.
Reverend Skinner shook his head easily, "Oh no, I was just going to add to your statement. I was going to say that; God always has a plan. Although, we may not always agree or understand it while we're going through it, but it's always for the best in the end." He chimed.
"Yeah, well let's pray for Luke and Lorelai's sake that God's plan speeds up a bit, so they can just be happy already." Patty replied sadly, while everyone nodded in agreement.
Luke had made it up to his apartment and had splashed some water on his face before he restlessly paced up and down his small kitchen, completely oblivious to the chatter about him and Lorelai downstairs.
There was now an unforeseeable storm approaching the town, that wasn't in the projected forecast that morning. Stupid, Lance Cranston. Stupid, Kimmie Liston. And stupid, stupid, Jimmy Mountain in that stupid helicopter.
Why on earth were these people paid to provide the forecast, when their calculations they blabbed out were never right? They were idiots. All of them and their previous probable desire to become meteorologists.
The fluke change in the weather, along with the absence of Stars Hollow's biggest ray of sunshine, didn't go unnoticed by Luke. In fact, he knew it was exactly because of her lack of presence in town that there was no sign of sunlight anywhere.
Wherever Lorelai was, the sun had gone along with her too, which he didn't blame because he would be right there beside her if he had been allowed to tag along, but he wasn't – hence his desolate mood.
Luke imagined that she had magical weather controlling powers, just like one of the cartoon superheroes that he and Liz would watch on weekend mornings, when they were younger.
He envisioned that Lorelai was the magnificent and breathtaking distant relative to Ororo Munroe – or better known as Storm from Marvel's X-Men.
Luke just wished at a time like this, he possessed the vast clairvoyant powers of Professor Charles Xavier, so he could read and communicate with Lorelai through their minds to find out where she was, so he could be with her as soon as possible.
Seeing how he didn't possess any super powers of any kind, and he had absolutely no clue to where Lorelai currently was, he languidly made his way over to his bed and plopped down heavily onto it, in a somewhat delirious state. He had gone over thirty hours without any sleep and although his mind was running as if hopped up on sugar, his body was shutting down with rapid speed.
He truly felt empty – completely hopeless. Luke was always Mr. Fix-It, especially when it came to Lorelai. He was her guy for everything, and yet now he didn't have the slightest idea on what his future held for him – for them… and to say that he wasn't scared, would be the biggest understatement of his life.
He clumsily toed his boots off before swinging his legs up onto the bed as he eased himself to lie down, while countless amount of memories flooded his mind of when he and Lorelai had went through their first break up. The images and words came at him so fast that he had no way of breaking them apart. One would end, only for another to begin.
Luke stared unblinkingly at the faded light brown ceiling, desperately trying to puzzle out each vision that came forth.
… "I just need some time." He said to her as she looked at him with pain-filled eyes.
"Time…" She softly repeated, her voice full of defeat.
"A little time – to think." He explained shortly, not even bothering to shoot her a sympathy glance, "I need to clear my head." He added, finally shooting her a warning glare, which caused those usually shining orbs of hers to take on a darker shade of blue…
… "I need more time! I told you that." He dismissed.
She shook her head, "I'm afraid of this 'more time' stuff. I'm afraid it'll take forty years and that's not good."
"Lorelai–"
"We'll miss our middle. I want a middle. And the town is dividing us up. I need that to stop."
"Don't." He warned.
"Luke. I'm all in. I am all in. Please, trust me. Let me show you what a great girlfriend I can be. But I can't wait. We can't wait. I need to know what you're thinking right now." She confessed, her hopes soaring, waiting to be caught.
"Fine! You want to know what I'm thinking right now? That I can't be in this relationship, it's too much." He spat out just before he turned to leave her looking as if her heart had been ripped out. Her blue eyes growing a darker shade of blue, yet again…
… She sighed, completely embarrassed by her actions, "I'm so sorry, Luke. I will never do this to you ever again. I am absolutely humiliated. I just want you to know that I heard you when you said that you're out. I did. I'm going to respect that from now on." Blue. Dark, deep, endless pools of blue…
Lorelai's usually bright sky blue eyes had turned to a dark and dimmed down sapphire. And the only common denominator in every equation for the cause was Luke. The thought of those sad infinite midnight blue eyes swallowed him into their depths as his eyelids gave in to the clutches of slumber.
The waves thrashed against him as he struggled to stay afloat, "Help?!" He yelled out into the never-ending sea of blue, but winced immediately after doing so as the dryness burned his throat, "Help!" He tried again, this time swallowing a gulp of salty seawater.
Luke continued to tread as he fought to keep his head above water. He heard a gurgle and faint sound that almost resembled a voice next to him, but when he looked over, there was no one there. He desperately tried to assimilate his surroundings as he slowly spun himself in a small circle.
All he could see was dark blue; dark blue to his left, dark blue to his right, dark blue everywhere. The only thing he put together was that he was somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
His body was quickly growing weak from apparently fighting the tide and trying to stay above water. He felt himself gradually sinking. He inadvertently gulped down more and more of the sea with every passing second.
He instantly thought to lose some of the unwanted burden of mass that he carried, so he hastily shed his flannel, kicked off his boots and pulled off his socks underwater. When he resurfaced, he heard that same gurgling sound again and a soft strained voice that he couldn't make out, but when he spun to locate where the noise came from, he was once again met with nothing.
Luke still seemed to struggle, so he pulled his belt free and chucked off his jeans in addition. He felt himself float a bit more, his tired muscles thanking himself for dropping more unnecessary weight. But the waves still crashed into him and his body had already depleted most of its energy.
Luke began to give up hope and was near throwing in the towel, until he heard her.
"Luke?" Her voice was soft and rasped and it sounded as if someone was strangling her, but it was her voice without a doubt.
Luke mustered up every last ounce of strength he had left as he desperately spun around trying to search for her, "Lorelai?!" He called out, ignoring the pain in his dry throat, "Lorelai?!" He called again just as a wave tumbled into him.
He coughed and swallowed more water as he continued to frantically search for her. He knew he heard her. It was her voice. He knew it was her voice. He could tell her voice from anywhere. Where was she?
"Luke?" Her soft strained voice sounded again, "Help!" She gurgled.
Luke began to panic, "Lorelai?!" He called out once more, "Lorelai, where are you?" He was quickly losing his strength and he couldn't seem to find her, "Please, Lorelai, answer me." He begged desperately.
His vision had long blurred and his throat still burned from the sea. He swiftly felt himself losing the battle to his aching muscles as he persistently quested for Lorelai.
"Luke–" He heard her again, but this time it was even softer and water-filled.
She was drowning. He needed to help her. He needed to get to her. He needed to save her, but where the hell was she?
"Lorelai?" He yelled, "Lorelai!" His terrified voice rang out only to be met with no reply.
His biggest fear of losing Lorelai for good was currently playing out. And without notice, another huge wave came hurdling down into him, causing him to be ingested by the sea.
"Lorelai!" Luke panted in pure panic as he shot straight up in bed, frantically gasping for air.
Luke's shirt was drenched in sweat and his breathing was erratic as he tried to blink back his dream. Lorelai. She was there, in his dream, but where? She sounded like she was drowning, but he couldn't find her. He couldn't help her… He didn't save her.
Luke blinked hard, willing the warm saltiness to retreat from his eyes. The loneliness was making him restless and without Lorelai by his side, he felt empty. For so long his whole world was Lorelai, and now that he was experiencing life without her at all, he was miserable and incomplete. The dream only put his nerves more on edge as well as made him want Lorelai back immediately.
As Luke tried to compose himself, he realized it was now the end of the day. The only noise that sounded, was the rain that clattered loudly against the asphalt throughout the town. The sky was pitch black, with no stars in sight. The streetlights gave off a soft orange-ish glow outside.
Luke's nap had taken up more time than he had intended it to. He presumed he would feel rested and be a little more focused, but his body somehow still felt exhausted. In some off way, his muscles felt as if they took his dream literally as it ached and weighted him to his bed like an over weighted anchor.
Luke struggled, but got up and headed for the bathroom. He gradually shed his clothes and hopped in the shower, hoping to wash away the memories of his horrible nightmare and praying that he could get some rest, so his body could recuperate and he could clear his hazed state to focus on fixing his current situation he was in. He needed Lorelai home, and he needed her home fast.
After having loaded sandwiches and chips for lunch, Lorelai had updated Billy on everything that happened between herself and Luke since the last time she had seen him in the streets of town. Billy had congratulated her and said he thought that from the way she spoke of Luke's reaction that the plan was working and she would see that everything would pan out soon.
Lorelai had taken up a depressed expression and had grown quiet once again.
Billy had noticed that it was nearing dinner, so in attempts to break her out of her sad state, he asked, "What's on the menu for dinner?"
Lorelai cracked a smile as she grimaced a bit, "Help yourself to anything in there." She said, pointing towards the fridge, "I can't cook, unless it's pop tarts, tater tots or hot pockets, but you're more than welcome to have at it."
"What?" Billy asked, clearly thinking it was one of her crazy jokes again.
"Yeah, Luke usually feeds me and keeps me caffeinated. I'm no June Clever." She shrugged.
Billy looked at Lorelai in disbelief, "Not even eggs?" He questioned, still having trouble wrapping his head around what she had said.
Lorelai laughed as she shook her head, "Not unless you count, black crispy ones."
Billy whistled in amazement, "Wow…" He tilted his head as he got an idea, "You know what, I told you I'm on my little fishing vacation for the week and you're here for the week, what if we make a deal?" He offered, lifting his brows encouragingly.
"Curiosity killed the cat…" Lorelai replied before she added, "Meow?"
Billy chuckled as he shook his head, "I'll teach you how to cook one dish," He held up one finger for emphasis gaining a scrunched up face from Lorelai, "and in return – before I head back to town – I'll take you to the carnival out by the border towards Manhattan." He lifted his chin in question as he stuck his hand out for her to shake, "Deal?"
Lorelai stared at his offered hand, before she winced, "Can't you just take me to the carnival and save us all from crappy tasting, burnt food, and smoke filled lungs?"
"Nope." Billy smirked as he shook his head, his hand staying put between them, "Final and only offer."
Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut as she slowly lifted her hand to accept his deal, "Deal." She answered reluctantly as she shook his hand.
Her eyes shot up to his at the initial contact of their hands. His skin was oddly frosty, in spite of the thermostat being locked at a cool 73 degrees.
Billy's smirk grew into a full smile as he retracted his hand, "Tonight's dinner is a freebie, but pay attention, you could pick up a thing or two."
Lorelai shook her head, ridding her previous thoughts, as her grin remained steady on her lips, "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. I think it's because I'm so dehydrated, and what type of person would I be if I didn't take care of my body?" She joked as she opened the fridge to retrieve two cold beers.
Billy chuckled, "Mmmhm." He mumbled as he gratefully accepted one of the beers she handed to him, before he began preparing their last meal of the day, with Lorelai easily chattering away.
Author's Note: Hope you guys are enjoying and sticking with me through this long awaited fic. I'm just so bummed that there are hardly any LL fics out there. It's all Rory ones... *blech* lol. Thanks again and hope to be back asap. Ya'll ROCK!-KISF
