Author's note: The attractions listed in this chapter are cobbled together based off current information available and doesn't necessarily reflect what they were like in the summer of 2003. Though writing Rory utilizing a paper map is officially weird now. Thank goodness for a smartphone and Google Maps. There's a small nod in here to lorelaidanesfan after a conversation we had about a missed opportunity in chapter 4.
Chapter 5: The Paragon of Animals
The next day passed in a whirl of activity, going to all the tourist destinations except the Eiffel Tower, which the girls wanted to save for sunset. They toured the Notre Dame, walked through the Louvre and passed beneath the Arc de Triomphe. They took so many pictures with the camera that they had to duck into a tourist ship and buy more memory cards for Luke's camera and film for the traditional one Lorelai had brought with her. They fretted over the security of the cards before buying a case for them that was guaranteed to protect them from the X-ray machine at the airport.
Whenever they could, Lorelai and Rory ducked into a kitschy shop, emerging with some item for a Stars Hollow resident or a postcard. It was Sookie's day on the postcard chain, so Lorelai scribbled off a message to her and Rory did one for Lane, who had the slot for the previous day.
"You should do one," Rory told Luke as Lorelai crammed as much writing onto her card as possible.
He shrugged. "I really don't have anyone to send a card to." He didn't exactly want to send a postcard out to Jimmy Mariano's place, and his closest friends consisted of the two girls standing with him and … that was about it.
"I bet Kirk would like a postcard," Lorelai said absently.
"He's up tomorrow," Rory pointed out.
"I mean from Luke."
"Aww," Rory gushed. "He would cherish it always."
Luke frowned. "I'm not writing to Kirk."
"You could send one to Taylor," Lorelai said, her voice full of laughter as he glared at her.
"Need I remind you that the rest of the world thinks I'm on a cruise ship in the middle of nowhere?"
"Oh come on, just one postcard," Rory pleaded and pulled a pretty one out of her stack that featured an antique carousel. "Look, this is one of the ones at the Musée des Arts Forains. There's 14 antique carousels there."
"Oh, I want to go ride a carousel," Lorelai said wistfully, looking over Rory's shoulder. "Let's go, Rory."
Rory pulled out the map and spread it out over the table, consulting the legend and triangulating their current position and the museum that held the wealth of carousels. She then consulted a pocket-sized timetable for the Paris Metro. "It looks like it's about 30 minutes on the subway. We'll be going past the Musée de la Magie though."
"It's OK, we can skip it," Luke said, but Rory leveled a glare at him.
"We are going because you have a say in this. Got it?"
"When did she become this forceful?" Luke whispered to Lorelai, who shrugged.
"I think it's dealing with Paris for the past three years," she whispered back.
"I can hear you two talking about me." Rory handed Luke the postcard. "Here, send this to someone. I don't want to see it lurking in your bag, mister. I know where you sleep."
Rory turned back to her map and Lorelai chuckled. "Don't look at me," she insisted at Luke's raised eyebrows, holding her hands up. "I'm neutral. Totally Switzerland, complete with the chocolate."
With a sigh, Luke flipped the postcard over. He'd cut off his own tongue before admitting he hadn't written a postcard before. He wondered where he had landed on the Gilmore postcard chain. He hadn't gotten any from them before he left. "Fine. Do you have a pen?"
Lorelai blinked. "How could you not have a pen?"
Luke rolled his eyes. "Despite what you think, diner owners do not wave a magic wand and make pens appear out of thin air."
"Here," Rory said kindly and nudged Lorelai, who stuck her tongue out at her.
There was only one other person Luke could think to write, and he rapped the pen against the table for a moment trying to think of something to say.
Hey, Liz -
So, I'm visiting Paris for a few days. Rory says this is one of 14 antique carousels that's in this museum area about 30 minutes from the Arc de Triomphe. I thought you might like it.
He was at a loss of what else to say. Liz didn't know much about Nicole and he hadn't told her about the cruise. There wasn't really anything else to say. He signed it and scribbled her last-known address on the card. Maybe it would actually get to her. He got a stamp from Rory and dropped it in the mailbox along with the cards for Sookie and Lane.
—-
The Musée de la Magie was in a tiny building with a red storefront that was wedged between a clothing store and an art shop. Steep stairs took them from street level down to the museum proper. Stone arches framed the magical artifacts on display, and they clustered together one they descended the stairs and paid the entrance fee.
"This is the cellar of the Marquis de Sade's house," Rory said reverently as her eyes adjusted to dim view. "Sadism comes from his name. He was really into combining philosophy with pornography. He was really explicit in his sexual fantasies."
"And you've read how much of it?" Luke asked warily.
"None actually. Really not my type of reading and the teachers at Chilton were uncomfortable teaching about him to begin with, and there's some pretty liberal teachers at that school. I just know of him because he was also well known in the French Revolution."
Thankfully, the magic museum had little to do with the preferred activities of the home's former owner. They marveled over one of the boxes where a magician claimed to be able to saw a woman in half, with Lorelai trying her very best to get a demonstration happening. The curator merely gave her a resigned sigh born of being asked the same question thousands of times before and issued her a curt denial in accented English.
Their ticket included an adjacent museum filled with antique wind-up toys, and this turned out to be more interesting than the magic museum — and at least three times more creepy.
"If I have nightmares," Lorelai hissed to Luke as mechanical monkeys whirled and clanked their cymbals before them, "I'm blaming you."
He nodded to the one on the left. "I think that one's Taylor."
"Are you saying Taylor's a mechanical monkey?"
"I'm just calling it like it is."
By the time they reached the Musée des Arts Forains, they discovered the one thing that had been left out of Rory's guidebook: that the museum was only open by appointment except at the very end of the year and during European Heritage Days. Lorelai and Rory plastered themselves against the gate, trying to see beyond to the promise land of carnival games and carousels that were locked away to them.
"Maybe we could claim to be part of that school group," Lorelai said, motioning to the students milling about inside.
"You're not a Japanese school girl," Luke told her.
"But I'd rock the outfit. I hated it, but I did look hot in a private school uniform." She waggled her eyebrows at him, which led to flushed cheeks and a "jeez" muttered under his breath as he tried his absolute best not to picture Lorelai in a high school uniform and utterly failing. He quickly scanned for a diversion before his thoughts could lead to absolute mortification.
They wandered into the nearby park, where vendors had wares set up on card tables ringing the outer perimeter. The girls' sadness over missing out on seeing the carousels was quickly supplanted by their love of shopping. Rory gravitated toward a table where an artist was selling graphic novels. Despite the language barrier, she admired the art and struck up a conversation with her halting high school French, bought a book, and exchanged email addresses while Lorelai added another scarf to her collection, this one for Miss Patty.
It took them an hour to get back to the Eiffel Tower. By the time they reached the top via the elevator — Lorelai and Rory refused to climb the stairs that would have gotten them there faster — the sun had long since set, and Paris spread before them in a magical tableau. They bent over the DSLR to get the best pictures of the view, tweaking settings to get it right after each test picture. After realizing they needed a tripod to get anything decent Luke wound up holding the camera steady on the railing while Rory took the shots. Then she grabbed Lorelai's camera and thrust it at him. "Get pictures of me and Mom, please!" Rory begged.
Luke took several shots of them trying, and failing, to look serious then one of them outright mugging for the camera. But his favorite actually wound up on the digital camera, which he switched to after Lorelai's camera had run out of film. It was a test shot as he tweaked the settings, and it had come out perfect. Lorelai had her arms around Rory, both of them beaming as they looked out over the Paris skyline.
Then Rory insisted Luke be in the pictures.
"Come on, you've got to be in one too," she declared and tapped a person nearby on the shoulder. It turned out to be a woman from Virginia, and Rory took a shot of her family before taking the camera from Luke and handing it over.
Luke hated being in photos and did everything he could to avoid them. It was why he actually liked taking pictures, though he didn't get a chance to do so that often. You were less likely to be in one if you were the one behind the camera. But Rory all but hauled him over to the railing and hissed "try to smile" in his ear, the same thing she had done weeks earlier when her graduation photos were taken and she insisted that he be in one. So he and Lorelai flanked Rory and he tried to relax enough to smile. He'd managed a passable photo at Rory's graduation, but he'd been so proud of her at the time and …
Was Lorelai's hand on his ass?
Luke gaped at Lorelai and she waggled her eyebrows at him, and that was the photo they got out. Rory was in the middle smiling with a carefree innocence while over her head, Lorelai was giving him a mischievous smile and he was giving her a look of wonder and …
"Wow, no wonder my mom said you look at me like a porterhouse steak," Lorelai murmured as she stared at the photo preview on the back of the camera then at Luke, who had quickly dashed over to one of the telescopes after the photo was taken.
"What was that, Mom?" Rory asked.
"Nothing."
Rory peeked over Lorelai's shoulder. "Can the two of you possibly take a photo without flirting with each other the entire time?"
"What? We never take photos together!"
"Clearly you haven't looked at my graduation photos," Rory muttered.
"What does that mean?"
Rory gave her mother a long-suffering sigh and patted her cheek. "Don't worry, Mommy will figure it out soon. Just don't expect me to give you the birds and the bees lecture, OK?"
"I think you're proof of me hearing that one before." Lorelai wrapped an arm around Rory, and her daughter leaned into her. Together, they studied the Parisian skyline. "I think I'm figuring it out," Lorelai murmured against Rory's hair.
"I think you've always known. That's why I didn't want you two to date before."
"What?" Lorelai pulled away to gape at Rory.
Rory sighed. "Mom, this is Luke. We see him every day. Well, now literally every hour for the next few days, but he's part of our lives. Everyone will know if you're together and if you break up."
"Rory."
"You can't just date him," Rory said heatedly. "If you two are together, then you're together. If it doesn't work out, it'll be really bad for the two of us and for him. That's why I didn't want you to date before. Mom, you don't have an excellent track record when it comes to dating. You date someone for a few months, then you break up. I just … I don't want that to happen with Luke. He's ours."
"Rory," Lorelai said quietly, "what happens between us happens between us."
"I know that. I get it now, after Dean and Jess." Rory gasped. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"You're not wrong," Lorelai cut in. "Yes, I dated, and yes I didn't stick with any of them very long. But kid, that's because you're part of the package. And there was quite a few guys who realized that having a kid as part of the package didn't mean you were just going to keep quiet in your room with your nose in a book."
Rory huffed a bit. "That's what I do most of the time anyhow."
"Don't ever think there's anything wrong with dating around. You have to try a bunch of different men before realizing who you want to be with all along." Lorelai drew in a shaky breath. "And there are times when a couple days before your wedding that you realize you didn't want to try on your wedding dress every night because you're not excited over the person you're about to marry. But maybe, just maybe if given the chance, you would be that excited with someone else."
Rory went still. "Mom," she said quietly, "why did you break up with Max?"
"Why do you think?"
Rory just smiled.
—
The thing about changing your travel plans on a whim was that suddenly you weren't prepared to handle unexpected down time. Not that Luke ever had that much down time to begin with. His work days ranged somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 16 hours depending on how much he needed to get done or simply there just wasn't anything else to do. His only major hobbies were woodworking and ensuring that the Gilmore house didn't fall to pieces. If there was any spare time beyond that, he either watched sports or poked through the bookcase of volumes that had belonged to his parents.
But here he was, sitting a bit awkwardly on the bottom bunk of a hostel bed and trying desperately to think of something to do instead of staring at the bunk above him and feeling like an idiot. The hostel's common room was filled with so many people that Luke wondered where they all slept, and mingling with that big of a crowd didn't appeal to him. A glance through his duffel bag revealed a two-week old issue of Sports Illustrated that he'd already read and was surprised it got into the bag to begin with.
Across from him, Rory sat cross-legged on the other bunk, sorting through items in her backpack. She had a book with her, he mused. She probably had 12 of them, and that was after Lorelai had talked her down. It wouldn't hurt to read. He hadn't done so in awhile. It was quiet, largely because Lorelai had ducked out to take a shower.
Luke opened his mouth to ask her for a book when Rory spoke up. "Do you read? Like read, read for fun? Jess reads all the time, but I've never seen you pick up a book." She flicked a curious look at him.
He wondered if it was a Gilmore trait to be able to read his mind. "I do run a diner that tends to consume most of my waking hours."
Rory grinned. "Touché. What about Jess' mom?"
"Liz? Nah, she's not a big reader. My mom though, she loved books."
Rory stopped rooting through her backpack, her attention fully focused on him. "Really?"
He smiled slightly. "Read to us all the time. Used to stash them everywhere. Even years after she died, we'd be moving furniture or getting something out of a cabinet and have a paperback fall out from where she stashed it. You should look in the glove box of the truck some time."
"One of her books is still in there?"
"Yeah. We got the truck not long before she died, and she stuck a copy of The Thorn Birds in the glove box. My dad never took it out. Neither did I."
Rory grinned. "Aw, being a softie runs in the family." She laughed as he muttered under his breath and his cheeks went flush. "So, do you want to read?"
"Actually, I was just thinking if you had a book I could borrow."
Rory gaped at him. "Really?"
He shrugged. "Didn't bring one myself. I wasn't prepared to have any sort of down time."
Rory nearly bounced in her seat, eyes bright. At that moment, she never looked more like her mother, and the energy was infectious. She grabbed a book with a large red train and a boy with round glasses on the cover. "Here. I just finished this. It's the first Harry Potter book."
He took the book from her. "Oh, that kid wizard."
"You've heard of him?"
He flipped the book over to the back to read the cover blurb. "Kirk decided he missed out on his letter to the magic school and came in the diner all dressed in robes and such. He tried to do some sort levitation spell and instead broke a coffee pot, two bowls, and dumped a plate of eggs down Taylor's shirt."
"Oh my god! How did I miss this?"
"It was last summer."
"Oh." Rory sighed a bit. "I guess I missed a lot then."
It wasn't just her trip to D.C she was referring to, and they both knew it. That summer had been the long stalemate between Luke and Lorelai, neither of them willing to budge in their anger and frustration in the aftermath of Jess and Rory's accident. It hadn't been helped by the return of Rory's father, which had ended badly. He knew that Lorelai had tried forging a new relationship with Christopher until it backfired spectacularly, and even considering the two of them together twisted his gut into a painful knot. At a loss, he wondered if he was being a fool even contemplating … no, Christopher was out of the picture, married to someone else and with a baby. He had to remember that. It wasn't like he had any right to object, especially during that summer.
"You should give it a try, regardless of Kirk," Rory was saying, and he forced his attention back to her. "This is actually the pure version, the one not changed to suit American tastes. If you're going to read Harry Potter, you should do it properly."
"All right. Thanks."
Rory handed him a bookmark to use. "I like the books a lot, but I also really like she was a single mom. Not anymore, she got married. But she was a single mom and wrote this book in cafes while trying to take care of her kid. She's really strong, you know? Reminds me of Mom."
Lorelai opened the door to the room, her hair hanging in long, damp hangs down her back and a towel slung around her neck. She was dressed in the same pajamas she'd worn the previous evening, which consisted of a black top and grey pants covered with stars. "Tag, you're it," she sang. "And better hurry. I saw that group from Germany getting back, and all the hot water will be gone if you're not quick."
Rory yelped and dove for her toiletry bag and pajamas.
Lorelai flopped down next to Luke on his bed, nudging him until he scooted over enough to give her adequate room. She grinned at the book she held. "Oh, you're officially a member of the family now. When Rory foists books off on you, you're in."
"Mom, he's always been a member of the family," Rory said, her head nearly swallowed by her backpack. "He was in when he came to the caterpillar funeral complete with coffin."
"Oh yeah, that little tiny matchbox." Lorelai elbowed his ribs. "You old softie."
"Geez," Luke murmured, not quite sure if he was mortified or pleased that both girls clung to that memory.
"Back in a bit!" Rory said opened the door. "Oh no, I see them heading toward the showers!" She bolted, the door slamming shut behind her.
Luke expected her to take Rory's place on the other bunk, but she didn't move. "So … how do you like being on bottom?" Lorelai asked.
He shrugged. "It's OK. How do you like being on top?"
Lorelai's laughter rang out and Luke nearly smacked his forehead with the book. "I walked into that dirty, didn't I?"
"With that setup, a blind man wouldn't be able to avoid it. And don't think I didn't notice you failing to key in on a couple of key dirties in the past day. I keep count." Lorelai smirked at him, then patted his arm with a happy sigh. "I always wanted bunk beds as a kid, but Mom didn't think they were dignified enough for a Gilmore. Did you have them?"
"Nah. It was just me and Liz, so we each had our own room."
They sat in a comfortable silence, and it marveled Luke that it was something they could do. The Lorelai that the world saw was in constant motion, always talking and doing something, filling the empty spaces of life with chatter, observations, and a relentless optimism that even boosted his spirits. It was unnerving and touching at the same time to realize that Lorelai allowed herself to shed that skin in his presence. Not touching, Luke changed his mind. Humbling.
Lorelai reached into her toiletry bag for a wide-toothed comb and began combing out her hair. "Are you doing OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Think the jet lag's finally gone."
"That's good," she replied, and he could see those questions still on the tip of her tongue.
"You know," Luke finally said, "you can ask me."
"Ask you what."
"The thing you've been wanting to ask me since last night."
"OK, fine. Just what is it with FBI warnings before movies anyhow?"
"Lorelai," Luke sighed.
She stopped combing her hair and stared at a fixed point somewhere near the ceiling. "Do you wish you were on that cruise?"
"No."
Lorelai swung her gaze to him, and she couldn't hide the surprise. "Yeah?"
He should be looking at her. He needed to be looking at her, to let her know every word he said was sincere. But it was easier to just stare at the floor and talk, especially since the hostel room wasn't exactly up to the task of nervous pacing. "It shouldn't have gotten as far as it did. You were right, you know. It was kind of like committing to her, saying that we were in it for the long haul. I know you suggested I give it a chance, and I decided it was just nerves and not to think so hard on it, but really my gut was telling me not to go. You've gotten that feeling before, right?"
"Yeah," Lorelai said in a way that made Luke want to pull her into his arms and hold her until she felt more secure in … well, everything. Instead, his grip tightened on the book he still held and he found himself talking more to Harry Potter than to her. "Some part of me knew if I went through with it, if we'd flown to Seattle and drove to Vancouver and got on that cruise ship that something would happen I couldn't walk away from. I think when it comes right down to it, Nicole isn't who I'd want to have that level of commitment with. I think she knew it too."
She didn't say anything for so long that he thought she'd stopped listening. "If I hadn't called, would you still have gone on the cruise?" she asked.
"No." And he knew at that moment it was true. That even before the phone call, when Nicole had disappeared into the bathroom, he knew his next step would be to tell her that he couldn't do it and to make his way back to Stars Hollow.
"Do you regret being here? With me and Rory?"
Now he was able to look at her, to see nerves, hope, and numerous other emotions in her eyes. He wondered what she could see in his. "No."
Her smile was tremulous and one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. "Good."
This was a moment, he realized as her gaze dropped to his lips and his heart started racing. They had let too many of these pass them by, but this was it. This had to be it, so why was he thinking so much? He leaned forward, discarding the book as he did so with every intention of showing her that he had no regrets, that this was exactly where he wanted to be. Her lips parted just barely, but it was enough, and he's so close to her and he's wanted her for so long …
The door burst open and Rory shot in dressed for bed, her hair wet. "Cold, cold, cold, cold!" she shrieked as they sprung apart. She dropped her laundry and toiletry bag, grabbed the thin duvet from her bunk and wrapped herself up in the best imitation of a mummy Luke had seen outside of Kirk's attempts at a Halloween costume three years earlier. "Of course the Germans beat me in there and I got that shower with the hideous drippy spray and the hot water gave out when there was shampoo in my hair, and someone kept farting so it stank, and I'm cold."
Lorelai quickly went into mom mode, teasing and comforting Rory at the same time while Luke fought to breathe normally and picked up the abandoned book, flipping to the first page. He gazed at the two girls over the top of the book, as they laughed and hugged each other, and knew that something had changed. Hopefully, it was a good change.