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"Home sweet home," Lorelai mumbled to herself as she walked through the front door of the Crap Shack with her bags in hand.
After spending the past few days taking a break from her regular life by taking a spontaneous road trip to New York City with her daughter, Lorelai decided that it was finally time to head back to Stars Hollow. She needed to get back to her life; the Inn, Paul Anka, and most importantly of all, Luke. She spent the past few days trying to keep her mind focused on anything else but her relationship problems with Luke but now reality had to be faced. For her, to face reality meant to talk with Luke, to talk through their problems, and hopefully work through their problems and get to a point where their relationship was no longer teetering on the edge of trouble.
They had barely came to a stop in the yard before Rory was out of the car and telling her mother that she needed to head back to New Haven for a few different reasons. Lorelai didn't bother to make her daughter list any of the reasons because she knew as true as some of them may have been that Rory really just wanted to give her alone time so she could talk with Luke. That particular topic about when she would talk to Luke and what she should say to him did monopolize most of their conversation on their drive back from New York. So it wasn't a surprise that Lorelai headed back to New Haven so fast.
Lorelai dropped all of her bags in the entryway and promised herself that she would put them away later; though she knew that later could very well mean a few days from now. Still the bags would be moved at one time or another. She had a few other things to worry about at the moment besides a few bags cluttering up her house. Those worries came in the form of the Inn, Paul Anka, and most importantly Luke.
Luke.
She knew that she should let him know that she was back before he heard it from another source. A.K.A. her nosy yet caring, gnome-loving neighbor Babette. She and Luke had only talked twice more since their first phone call where she told him that she was on a trip as well as laid out how she felt now and for the past few months. Once she called just because she felt the need to hear his voice before she went to sleep. And then they talked again when Luke called to inform her that through Taylor's insistence on a red-light camera and Kirk's willingness to go along with whatever Taylor wanted him to, that a car crashed through a wall in his diner. He wanted her to hear it from him that he was fine and nothing but the diner wall was damaged in the crash.
Since she was curious about how damaged the diner was and since she needed to stop by the Inn as well as pick up Paul Anka from Sookie's, Lorelai headed back out the front door and made a bee-line for her jeep. She avoided a conversation with Babette by insisting that she was 'busy, busy, busy,' and really couldn't stop to chat. It took no time at all for Babette to turn around and practically run back to her house where Lorelai was sure she was already on the phone to inform of the gossip that she was back in town.
Lorelai parked her jeep down the road from the diner and intended to head straight there to see Luke. However a curious sight that was set up across the street from Luke's drew her attention. Apparently there was a new diner on the block that went by the name of Kirk's. It may have been an outdoor eating establishment but it did have Kirk in a flannel shirt and a backwards baseball cap, which Lorelai deemed as ridiculous on Kirk. It was only a look certain people could pull off.
"Lorelai," Kirk greeted as she came closer to his own little diner. "Good to see you."
Lorelai looked around at the certain townies that seemed to take to this idea of a diner. She turned her attention back to Kirk, "What is all of this?"
"I saw a need and I filled it," Kirk replied. "I know you've been out of town but I assume you know about what happened to Luke's yesterday. Well the neighborhood needed a place to gather so..." he made a wide, sweeping gesture with his arms. "I opened Kirk's."
"Naming a diner after yourself? I've heard that somewhere before," Lorelai quipped. She quickly glanced back at the diner where she saw Luke's truck parked but saw no signs of the man himself. "Has Luke seen this yet?"
Kirk nodded. "Oh yeah, I even offered him a job here since his diner closed down. He was totally disrespectful and threw the application on the floor of my diner."
"Gee I wonder why," Lorelai said, her voice full of sarcasm.
Kirk being Kirk did not pick up on the sarcasm. "I have no idea. He should know how to treat one's establishment. He used to have a diner of his own."
"Right..."
Kirk picked up the coffee carafe and held it out towards Lorelai, "May I offer you a cup of coffee?"
"You know I probably shouldn't," Lorelai answered. "I'm on my way somewhere so I should probably," she made a few vague gestures that suggested she needed to leave.
"Nonsense," Kirk piped up. He reached behind him and grabbed a paper coffee cup. He quickly filled it to the brim with coffee and snapped on a lid before he held it out to Lorelai. "I've heard about you and Luke, so first cup is on the house."
Lorelai didn't even want to know what Kirk could have possibly heard about her and Luke. Gossip always had a way of getting twisted around in Stars Hollow. She accepted the cup of coffee and walked away towards Luke's before Kirk could try to engage her in another conversation. She had to admit that the coffee wasn't that bad, it wasn't the best cup she ever had but it certainly wasn't the worst.
Lorelai took a deep breath and slowly let it out when her feet hit the sidewalk beside the diner. For some reason she couldn't quite place, she felt the nerves set in as she turned the corner to head into the diner. She stopped in her tracks when she saw just how much Kirk crashing a car into the diner had caused, the entire wall was gone. She noticed the back of Luke's truck was full of materials to fix the diner but she still didn't see any signs of Luke. She took another deep breath and slowly let it out before she marched over to the door of the diner and entered.
Wherever Luke was at the moment, he must have heard the bells because the very next thing Lorelai heard was, "I swear T.J. if you're going to continue to talk about Liz in that way..." but that sentence never rounded out because Luke then entered the diner from the back. He stopped when he spotted Lorelai. "Lorelai, hey," he said, stunned. "You're back."
"I'm back," Lorelai confirmed with a nod of her head. "So what was T.J. saying about Liz?"
"Just some stuff that a brother really doesn't need to know about his sister. Stuff I don't want to hear," Luke replied. "It all had to do with her pregnancy hormones or something."
"Liz is pregnant?" Lorelai asked.
"Oh yeah, she is," Luke answered. "I found out the other day. I just haven't really had a chance to tell you between everything that has went on."
"Right, right. Well that's great," Lorelai said. She tried to ignore the signal that went off in the back of her head at the mention of Liz being pregnant. Between that and Rory's comment the other day, something was switched on in her head that that was almost impossible to ignore. She deflected those thoughts and just commented on the lack of the wall in the diner.
"It's a lot of damage," Luke replied. "It's going to take a while to fix. T.J. is trying to help."
Lorelai couldn't help but chuckle at the expression on Luke's face at the mention of T.J. helping him. She felt Luke's eyes stare her down as she took a sip of her coffee. "I tried to say no to Kirk but he basically shoved it in my face and then told me it was on the house."
Luke dismissed the idea that he should be mad that Lorelai supported Kirk's diner with a wave of his hand. "Forget it. His business ventures never last long. He'll get tired of playing diner soon," he commented. He sighed heavily. "So you're back."
"We've established that."
"I know. I meant...," Luke said only to be interrupted by Lorelai.
"I know Luke, I know what you meant." She glanced outside to make sure that no one was trying to listen in on their conversation. Even though she couldn't see anyone, she still took a step closer to Luke and lowered her voice. It was all fun and games to jump around to different subjects but she needed to approach the reason she was here. "So we should probably talk like we said we were going to do on the phone."
"Yeah, yeah, talking would be good," Luke replied. He gave a subtle nod of his head back towards the staircase. "Do you want to go upstairs and talk? I would be happy to send T.J. home right now whenever he gets back from wherever he's at if you wanted to talk now. I can work on this later."
"Um...you know I was actually going to check in at the Inn and then pick up Paul Anka's from Sookie's. I just wanted to come by and see you and tell you that I'm back," Lorelai responded. "But I was thinking that you could come over tonight and we could talk."
"Whenever you want me to, I will be there," Luke replied.
"Good. So tonight?"
"Tonight," Luke confirmed. "Any particular time?"
Lorelai thought for a moment then shook her head. "No set time, just whenever you want to come by. Just come over and we'll talk."
"Sounds good to me," Luke replied. He was a bit thrown by the awkward tension in the room but he knew it was the amount of everything that happened over the past few months and their impending conversation that weighted the tension. He reached out with his right hand and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Lorelai, I want you to know that I realize now that I screwed up. I love you and we are going to fix this. All of this."
The softness of his voice and the gentle yet subtle touch had a reassuring effect on her. It effectively squashed those unrelenting nerves that were there just moments ago. She was still amazed at just how much Luke could affect her with a simple touch. No one else ever made her feel the way that Luke did.
Lorelai nodded slowly. "Okay." She hadn't intended for her voice to come out that soft. "So, you, me, tonight at the house, and we'll talk."
"I'll be there."
"Great." Lorelai managed a small smile. "I should probably head to the Inn, make sure the power I gave Michel while I was away hasn't went to his head yet. You know, make sure he hasn't tried to fire anyone or offer services that we do not offer."
"I understand," Luke replied. "I'll see you tonight."
"See you tonight," Lorelai confirmed.
Luke watched as Lorelai turned around and headed out the diner door. The reassurance that she was back in town and that their plans tonight to talk could be the starting point for them getting their relationship back on track, actually made him think that he could now work with T.J. for the rest of the day without wanting to completely tear the man's head off.
As if on cue, the man in question suddenly appeared in the empty space where the diner wall used to be. "Hey Luke," T.J. called out while he held up a bag of food. "I was thinking, we haven't had a lunch break yet so I brought ya something from Kirk's. He has pretty good food."
Luke groaned. No, they hadn't yet had a lunch break because they hadn't even started on the work they were supposed to do today. Maybe not wanting to tear his brother-in-law's head off wouldn't come as easy as he thought it would. His patience would be tested today.
"Here you go boy," Lorelai said as she sat down a bowl of dog food in front of Paul Anka.
Lorelai quickly took refuge in the living room since Paul Anka did not like people to watch him eat. Her first stop after leaving Luke's was the Inn where she assured a few staff members that they were not fired since Michel did not wield that kind of power. From there she went and picked up Paul Anka from Sookie's. She planned for it to just be a quick drop-in where she gathered Paul Anka and his things but Sookie made her stay for coffee and cookies. Of course the coffee and cookies were only a ruse so Sookie could find out if anything had changed for Luke and Lorelai since she last spoke to Lorelai. After updating her best friend as best as she could, she was finally allowed to leave the house with her dog.
Lorelai picked up the remote and turned on the TV in an attempt to get her mind off the place it kept drifting back to ever since she spoke with Luke. While she flipped through the many channels, she tried to convince herself that she was only focused on Liz's pregnancy because Rory just happened to ask her if she was pregnant a few nights ago. That was it. There was nothing more to it than that. She was only focused on it because Liz was Luke's sister and it was somewhat exciting for someone close to her to be pregnant.
At least that's what she tried to tell herself. Truth was though, she was a few days late. She vehemently denied the idea of her being pregnant when Rory brought it up a few nights ago but the thought of her actually being pregnant remained in the back of her mind for the rest of their trip. Of course she didn't tell Rory that. Then today when Luke mentioned that Liz was pregnant it was as if a little signal went off in her brain to tell her that she was indeed a few days late. Almost a week late.
Being late didn't automatically mean a pregnancy though. She knew stress could easily be a factor in why she was late and she was definitely stressed lately. Beyond stressed would be a good way to describe her mental state as of late. Besides it's not like she had any other symptoms of pregnancy. No cravings. No morning sickness. Nothing besides being late. Though she wasn't sure if any other symptoms would show up this early.
She and Luke always made sure to be careful though. Getting pregnant at a young age had instilled in her to always be extra careful when it came to birth control. Into her adult life, she always made sure to be careful, as careful as she could be. Lorelai tried to think back to if there was a time recently when she and Luke may have accidentally slipped up but nothing came to mind. Hopefully this was just a scare like last time she was in this position. Although at that point she wasn't technically even late, she was just paranoid because she craved an apple.
Whoever came up with the term pregnancy scare knew exactly what they were doing because this was definitely a scare. A pregnancy was definitely not needed at this point in her life. She and Luke already had so much else to work through that a pregnancy would complicate things even further. Besides a pregnancy would probably be something else that Luke couldn't deal with.
Lorelai groaned and buried her face into a pillow when she couldn't find something adequate enough on TV to get her mind off the topic of pregnancy. Just because two people happened to mention something along the lines of pregnancy within the past couple of days, it didn't have to mean anything. In fact it could mean nothing. Nothing at all. She was just being paranoid.
Paranoid. Not pregnant.
Just paranoid.
If only it was that easy to convince herself.
Note: I have it planned out for her to be pregnant as well as for her not to be pregnant, it could go either way at this point. I know it's probably not a good idea to still be wavering on an issue like this but my storyline constantly changes in my head. I always start out with a plan but when I actually start writing plans just get changed around.
Also I know this chapter is shorter than past chapters but I felt adding in the Luke/Lorelai talk would just be a lot for one chapter. That comes next chapter though.
As always, reviews are appreciated.
