Merry Christmas everyone! Hope y'all had a good day, I sure did...I ate so much though but it was soooo good so I don't care. Anyway hope Santa was good to everyone ;)
Thanks so much for all the reviews so far, it's really good to read people's reactions to the fic, especially the start as it's difficult to know whether to continue! So cheers everyone, you're all legends.
Tom: Thanks for the long review, it is good to have your feedback. I thought the return of Rachel would be interesting, I liked her on the show so I don't want to write her as the bad guy...or girl as the case is. Thanks for the suggestions, I've definitley taken them into account when writing this!
LorLukealways: I just wonder what Lorelai's reaction would be if she realised that she wasn't the only one who could move on. Maybe she needs a kick in the pants!
softballgurl09: I agree, it's time Lorelai felt how Luke did when he found out she was married...could be interesting.
pishymeow: Cliffhanger Queen...nice title, I shall try my hardest to live up to it!
2 - Who's Killing Who?
"Well I saw her through my shop window working with Luke in the diner so I think so" Taylor replied, oblivious to how his words had caused Lorelai's chest to constrict sharply causing a pain that for months she had been successful in suppressing.
That night Luke and Rachel talked for hours about what they'd been up to. Rachel had almost choked on her tea when she found out Luke had eloped on a cruise ship with a lawyer…she couldn't even imagine it. For a man that was habitual in nature he'd been through a lot in five years, married, divorced, engaged and was a father to a thirteen year old girl. It was obvious to Rachel how much April meant to him the way he spoke about her, proud as any father could be. Although it wasn't hard to see how hurt he was from his and Lorelai's break-up…it seemed the only thing that had kept him going was his daughter.
Luke felt like a small weight had been lifted from him that evening as he spoke to Rachel. For months he had kept to himself with the only person he spoke to being a thirteen year old girl, it was good having an adult to talk to again. Rachel had been in a serious relationship for three years but apparently had just gone through a particularly nasty break-up. He'd told her she could stay as long as she wanted, it was good to have her around again and she had already twisted his arm into letting her work at the diner to thank him for letting her stay. However Luke knew even if he had said no he would still find her down behind the counter conversing with customers and serving food so it wasn't really a choice. It was good timing though because he didn't like asking Lane to work these days due to the pregnancy.
It wasn't until the early hours that they had finally decided to get some sleep and it was then that familiarity was lost. Rachel changed into pyjamas and got into the spare bed while Luke got into his…last time she had been there they had both slept in a single bed together.
At Lorelai's house...
Lorelai lay awake for hours that night, her mind reeling by the information that Rachel was back. Why is she here? How long will she stay this time? Are her and Luke back together? She thought, telling herself that she just didn't want Luke to get hurt again. Christopher was working late again which was good, she felt like whenever he was around she just wanted space. Was it natural this soon into marriage that needed space? Christopher stumbled in the door at that moment and she quickly closed her eyes so he would think she was asleep, not curious to know where he'd been. Last time she checked his work didn't involve beer and smoke yet that was exactly what he smelt like.
"Lor" he mumbled as he undressed and climbed into bed. Lorelai pretended to snore, determined not to let him know she was awake as it would result in him wanting to have sex and when she didn't want to it would lead to yet another argument. It seemed the safest thing these days was just to stay out of each other's way. 'Is this what married life should be like?' she wondered. Unintentionally she started to imagine how it would have been like to be married to Luke but she quickly stopped herself. 'What the hell are you doing?' she scolded herself, deciding not to open that can of worms. Over the past few months she hadn't allowed herself to think about Luke, everything that did and didn't happen...what she had done in the end. Whenever she even began to process it she had to stop herself; it hurt too much, maybe she was avoiding the issue but she didn't care, whatever helped her stay numb to it all.
The next morning Luke slept in a little due to the late night the evening before but when he woke he found Rachel down in the diner with the morning crowd, wooing them all with tales of Africa and her many other worldly adventures. Half the places he had never even heard of never mind knew where each of them where. That was how it always was though, she was a free spirit and a long time ago he'd grown tired of trying to change that.
"Hey Luke remember the time we went scuba diving off the coast of Costa Rica?" Rachel interrupted his thoughts.
"Yeah and I got stung by a jellyfish and was ordered to stay in bed for twenty-four hours" Luke recalled but grinned a little when he remembered his attempt to show that he could be adventurous too. It was about fifteen years previously when they were going through a rough phase of Rachel wanting more than Stars Hollow...that trip had been his attempt to show her he could leave the small town without self-destructing.
"I don't recall you complaining too much" Rachel chuckled and Luke gave a stern look before he went back into the kitchen. It was an hour or so later during the usual mid-morning lull that Luke told Rachel to take a few hours off to explore; he could tell she was dying to. Each time she returned to the small town it was always fun for her to see if anything in Stars Hollow ever really changed.
The first place on Rachel's agenda was the old Dragonfly Inn which she had heard had been restored, by Lorelai which made her even more excited to see it. When she walked up the driveway she was scanning the area in amazement, the place was completely restored, the stables were up and running from the animal noises she could hear as she walked past them. It was no longer the broken-down place she remembered through her photographs. The entry way was very inviting, it had fairy lights hung up around the porch which she could imagine looked beautiful at night time. There was a cold bite in the air that day and it seemed when she walked through the doorway of the country Inn the warmth enveloped her, both literally and metaphorically. As she scanned the traditional interior with the antique furniture and library of books she was interrupted by a foreign man who seemed bothered by her presence."Can I help you Miss?"
"Oh hey how's it going?" she greeted with a friendly smile.
"Fine. Now what do you need? an impatient Michel asked, clearly unimpressed by Rachel's decorum.
"Is Lorelai here?" Rachel asked just as Lorelai walked around the corner with a clipboard, pointing things out things as she walked with a handyman following behind her.
"Unfortunately...Lorelai you have company"
"Rachel...hi" Lorelai said in surprise. 'Did Luke send her here?' she thought but immediately shoved it aside as quickly as it had come into mind.
"Hey Lorelai, long time no see. I just dropped by to see the Inn."
"I didn't know you were back" Lorelai said plastering a fake smile on her face as she lied.
"I got in yesterday. This place looks great, wow who would have thought just five years ago this place was in pieces"
"I know, a lot has changed in five years" Lorelai replied, something in her tone of voice which she herself didn't recognise but she put on a friendly face to cover up whatever hostility toward Rachel that may have come across in her voice.
"So I hear" Rachel replied, not wanting to go into any details of the past five years.
"How long are you here for?"
"Not sure really; I'm enjoying being back so for a while I guess" Rachel shrugged casually, avoiding the subject of Luke as she assumed it was as touchy a subject with her as it was with Luke. Rachel caught Lorelai fiddling with the wedding ring on her finger and quickly looked away, not wanting to discuss the topic of her newlywed status. The previous night Luke had told her about it, well only the single fact that Lorelai was now married and that was enough information for her.
"Cool" 'Nice aversion to the 'L' subject'
"Would it be okay if I took a few pictures of the place, you know I have the 'before' pictures so it would be nice to have a couple of after one's too?"
"Sure knock yourself out" 'Literally...kidding, of course I'm kidding. How does she make it so difficult to hate her?'
"Thanks" Rachel smiled and Lorelai turned her attention back to the handyman who was still waiting for the list of everything that needed done around the place. It wasn't like how it was before when Luke was around, he would know what needed fixed before she even realised it was broken...it was different, now she had to make an appointment with Pete whenever she needed even a leaky tap tightened. It seemed everything was different these days...
A few minutes later Chris appeared at the door, they'd agreed to have lunch and she was glad to have a distraction at that moment to take her mind off Rachel's return. Greeting him with a smile and a kiss she brought him into the dining room where Sookie had already got lunch prepared.
Rachel returned to the diner a few hours later, not mentioning to Luke where she had spent the afternoon because she didn't want to see that look in his eyes...she knew that look by heart, she'd even caused it a few times in the distant past; each time she told him she was leaving. Although now it seemed that the look echoed much more, the hurt ran much deeper this time; like a big part of him was broken inside.
The night before as well as discussing his nasty break-up they'd discussed hers and it seemed to help to talk about it, especially to someone she'd been so close to in the past.
"So when am I going to meet this daughter of yours?" Rachel asked as they sat in the almost empty diner that evening.
"Well Anna and I are having some issues right now but she's agreed to let April come to the annual Christmas festival the town has so you can meet her then"
"Since when does Luke Danes do town events?" Rachel queried.
"April likes them" he shrugged. 'Before that Lorelai used to make me go'
"I can't wait to meet her. So she's a smart one then?"
"Yeah, I don't really know where she gets it but she's a big reader. Maths and science she loves most so I try and read some of her books whenever she stays so I don't feel stupid" Luke casually replied but had a small smile on his face when he thought about her, his bright spot in all the darkness from the past few months.
"That's great, I used to love maths but I didn't like the sciences much"
"Well that's more than me."
"You want to go see a movie tonight?" Rachel asked a few minutes later when the last customers left; remembering that she'd seen a sign outside the bookshop for a movie that night.
"Nah" he waved it off.
"C'mon it'll be fun. This place is empty anyway"
"I don't like movies"
"You need to spend sometime outside this diner it'll do you good"
"I'm fine" he assured her.
"Please Luke, it's as much for me as for you. I just want to escape reality for ninety minutes or so without thinking about Keith" Rachel admitted, finding it hard to say his name even. They'd been engaged also, he was a photographer too which seemed perfect for her...turned out it wasn't so perfect.
"Okay fine" he gave in, doubting he would be able to escape his life by watching a movie but anything that would even slightly distract him seemed like a good idea. The two of them closed up the diner and headed over the bookstore where Kirk was standing outside trying to round in the customers. They were showing 'Miracle on 34th street' that night; Luke had never heard of it. The last time he'd been in the place was with Lorelai, it was when Rory was gone and it was his feeble attempt to cheer her up...it had worked for a while. Driving those thoughts out of his mind as he followed Rachel to their seats.
Christopher and Lorelai walked through the town after being at Sookie's for dinner; the place was pretty quiet except for the sound of Kirk's voice echoing throughout the town square about BWR night.
"Oooh can we go? I love that movie!" Lorelai grinned excitedly and pulled on Chris's sleeve.
"Sure, we were going to have a movie night anyway" he grinned, happy to do whatever as long it didn't involve arguing. They made a stop at Doose's for supplies for Lorelai who apparently needed red vines and marshmallows in order to really enjoy the festive flick. 'Vines are red, Marshmallows are white which are Santa colours...obviously a clear cut sign' she argued. As they walked past the diner she glanced over and saw that it was closed which she thought was strange as it was quite early. When Chris noticed her looking at the diner with that somewhat distant look he put an arm around her shoulder possessively and directed her towards the bookstore.
There were about eight people already in but Lorelai didn't investigate who was there and just walked straight to her favorite big red couch, nicknamed 'Big red' and Chris followed.
It was Rachel who spotted Lorelai first but Luke turned around a second later to see what she was looking at; his chest tightened when he saw her and him hand-in-hand.
"Hey" Rachel said uneasily to Lorelai when she was spotted, Luke's body tensed beside her.
"Hi" Lorelai replied and Chris looked between the women curiously, wondering who the woman with Luke was. Whenever Lorelai made no effort to introduce him he decided to do it himself.
"Hi, I'm Christopher, Lorelai's husband" Chris delighted himself in saying, shooting a taunting glance at Luke as he shook Rachel's hand.
"Rachel" was all she replied hastily, already disliking the guy for the pleasure he was taking in Luke's pain.
"Do you want to go?" Rachel whispered in Luke's ear but he shook his head stubbornly, determined not to let Chris get the better of him. In return he felt Rachel's hand rub the top of his, not in a romantic sense but just her way of showing that she was there if he needed her. He gave hers a small squeeze to show that he appreciated it.
Lorelai stood idly by as she watched the awkward interaction; fuming with Chris for his dig at Luke. 'How damn childish and immature can he be?' she screamed inside but wasn't about to make a scene in the bookstore...it would be brought up later. When Chris attempted to help her off with her coat he was greeted with a icy cold glare. As she went to sit down she spotted Luke squeezing or holding Rachel's hand, she wasn't sure which but either way it caused a relapse in the painful feeling in her chest from the night before.
I'm think I'll update before New Years but if for some reason I don't I hope everyone has a fun night and I'll see ya next year!
You know you want to...I thought so yeah - leave a review !