Luke and Lorelai's House
Lorelai walks into the house, throwing her purse on the couch. Hearing her walk in, Luke walks out of the kitchen with Liam in his arms. Lorelai looks defeated as she stares at him, her hands going to her hips. Luke gives her a concerned look. "Rory's gone," Lorelai says. Luke furrows his eyebrows confused.
"Gone?" he asks.
"She went to Europe with my mother," Lorelai informs him with an odd little smirk on her face.
"Europe with Emily?" Luke repeats with a disgusted look on his face. "Wow." He raises his eyebrows. "How did that happen?" Lorelai thinks about that for a moment and then realizes.
"I think I had something to do with it." Luke looks confused. He sighs, setting Liam down in the playpen with Olivia. He walks over and takes Lorelai's hand, leading her to the couch where they sit facing each other.
"Explain this to me," Luke requests.
"Well, my mother showed up for lunch today, even though I told her that she could only have lunch with me and Rory if she stayed last night. But in the end, I gave in because I really didn't feel up to fighting with her today." Lorelai shrugs.
"Understandable."
"Yeah, so during lunch Evil Knievel jumped right past asking me and invited Rory to go to Europe with her. You see, she wants to get away from my dad and who would be better to accompany her on her escape than her granddaughter? That way she can take Rory away from her overbearing mother so that she can make her into the newest member of the DAR," Lorelai rants, her hands moving wildly.
"And Rory just said yes?" Luke asks, a little surprised. Lorelai shakes her head.
"No, I told her to go," Lorelai states. Luke looks at her like she's crazy.
"You. You told her to go. I'm sorry, I think I missed the part when you lost your mind." Lorelai snorts.
"For a moment it seemed like a good idea. Get her away from here."
"Get her away from Dean." Lorelai stares at him a moment and shrugs.
"Yeah." Luke nods.
"Okay. I get that," Luke figures. "So you knew that she wouldn't say no?" Lorelai nods.
"She's Ado Annie. She hasn't changed. She thinks she grew up overnight, that she matured just by making the decision to sleep with Dean on her own, but we both know that's not true. She'll never grow up until she can learn to make decisions on her own and not have people push her into things."
"You think Dean pushed her into it?" Luke asks, concerned. Lorelai shakes her head.
"No. But she didn't think things through. Remember this is the girl who made lists and lists before she chose her college. An important decision, yes, but this was important too and she just went into it without thinking."
"Sometimes love'll do that to you," Luke comments. Lorelai raises an eyebrow. Luke grins. He leans over to her, cupping her cheek with his hand and kisses her intensely. Then pulls back. "Your head clear?" Lorelai shakes her head, her eyes still closed as the fog in her head dissipates.
"So you're okay with it? This whole Rory sleeping with Dean thing, you're fine with it?" Lorelai asks.
"Hell no I'm not fine with it!" Luke exclaims. Lorelai grins.
"Ah that's the Luke I know and love." Luke sighs.
"So how long is she going to be gone?" Luke asks.
"Eight weeks, the whole summer. I just dropped them off at the airport."
"Your mother couldn't just have one of her drivers do it?" Lorelai laughs.
"My mother doesn't have a driver, it's the one task she does on her own. Amazing, but true," Lorelai says. She looks away. "And now she's gone, the whole summer." Lorelai looks back at Luke, gently playing with his fingers. "We had it all planned out, the whole summer. We were going to try to get Pete to put chocolate sauce on our pizza. We were going to invent a word and try to get it put in the dictionary. We were going to have a Hepburn marathon."
"Katherine or Audrey?" Luke interrupts to ask.
"Both, actually. Audrey first, then Katherine. Gotta save the best for last, we're much more Katherine fans." Luke nods. "And we were going to take the twins up to the playground at the elementary school and introduce them to the slide." Luke glances over at the twins in the playpen.
"I think they would have liked that," Luke says. Lorelai smiles softly.
"Yeah… I remember Rory's first slide. It was the same one. I had moved to town the week before and I decided to walk around, check out the town, pushing Rory's stroller with me the whole way. And I ran into Patty, who told me about the playground. I can still hear her laughter as I held her in my arms and slid down the slide. Her sweet giggle. You know, the first time, she held onto me so tight, like I was her protector. I was supposed to keep her safe." Luke squeezes Lorelai's hand as she closes her eyes, picturing that day. She slowly opens her eyes, pressing her lips together.
"She'll come around Lorelai," Luke tells her. He reaches out and tips her chin up so she'll look at him.
"I know," she whispers, looking back at Luke. "You have no idea how much I wanted to just give in. But I had to stand my ground, I have to be the mother. Sometimes mother knows best." Luke nods.
"She knows. She'll come around," Luke repeats. Lorelai sighs, glancing over at the twins.
"Let's talk about something else. Something happier. What's going on with you?" Luke chuckles, and then sobers.
"Here's some interesting news, Liz and TJ bought a place in Stars Hallow." Lorelai raises her eyebrows in surprise.
"Really?" She watches Luke's annoyed expression. "Luke, you should be happy about this, your sister's moving back to town."
"Oh yeah, can't you tell, I'm like Charlie finding that stupid gold ticket," Luke responds sarcastically. Lorelai grins.
"Luke, I think Liz is great. And I think it's sweet that she wants to live closer to you."
"Have you ever had a sister?" Luke asks.
"Well, no, of course not. I think when I was little, I asked for a sibling for Christmas," Lorelai recalls. She chuckles. "Can you imagine that?"
"You mean another you? I don't think that would be such a bad thing," Luke considers. Lorelai shakes her head.
"No, not another me. Rory's accomplished that. I mean my parents, having a kid. I mean another one. Sometimes I wonder why they procreated at all."
"You know they love you." Lorelai shrugs. "Well I do. And I'm glad they procreated, otherwise I'd have no you." Lorelai smiles softly.
"Well I, for one, am happy that Liz is moving to Stars Hallow. You know, when I was drunk on the floor of the bathroom at the bar…"
"Wait, what?" Luke interrupts. Lorelai giggles, waving it off with a hand.
"It was while we were broken up, you see what you make me do?" Lorelai winks as Luke looks horrified. "Anyways, Liz was there for me. Sookie too. They reminded me that you loved me. They got me through it. They reminded me that you asked me to marry you." Lorelai smiles at the memory, or least, what she can remember of it. She glances down at the ring on her finger.
"I did ask you to marry me. And I notice you never took off the ring," Luke notes, taking her hand in his, playing with the ring on her finger.
"I couldn't." She shrugs.
"Well then that's something we can do this summer. Something to take your mind off of whatever. We need to get planning for this wedding or we won't be getting married until the twins are able to walk down the aisle."
"Ah, don't say that! They're going to be cute and little forever!" Lorelai cries. Luke squeezes her hand. "Well, I'm home, you need to go close the diner?" Luke nods, standing.
"Yeah, I have get back. You'll be okay?" Lorelai nods, crossing her legs. "Okay." Luke leans down and kisses her. "I'll try to be back not so late." He kisses her again and leaves. Lorelai looks over at the twins and smiles to herself.