The Gilmore-Grey Union

Book III: The Dinner

By Michael Weyer

I am SO sorry for the very long delay between chapters. Got tied up in my BTVS/Star Wars crossover (cheap plug). So trying to get back with it a bit more, hope you're all still around.

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POV: Lorelai

There's a dead silence once the wine hits Mom's face. It appears that the final straw, she has been dealt.

Now I'm not sure what to feel at this moment. On the one hand, I agree Mom may have had it coming as she was pushing way too hard on a woman who obviously was already on edge.

But, odd as it seems, I'm hit by an urge to defend my mother from someone attacking her like this. If nothing else, it's downright rude and doesn't really bode well for the in-laws.

Mom is just frozen, staring out in shock with wine dipping down her face. Maxine appears a bit flustered, as if just realizing what she's done. I glance around and everyone else is pretty thrown. For what may be the first time ever, Luke and Chris seem right on the same page, which is getting the hell out of here.

Mom grabs a napkin to rub her face, sputtering with rage like Dick Cheny's outboard motor. "H..h…How dare you!"

"How dare you?" Maxine fires back. "How dare you run down my family and myself from your lofty spot on high!"

Dad throws down his own napkin as he leans in. "Maxine, I can understand how upset you are but this isn't the right way to show it."

"Maybe not but your wife seems to have made it the only way!" Maxine snaps. "She is placing all the blame for this right on my son as if Rory was just an innocent bystander."

"She was!"

I actually let out a scoff. "Mom, come on. I love her dearly but innocent waved bye-bye to my baby a while ago."

Maxine turns to glare at me. "Does sarcasm just second nature to you?"

"No. It's first nature to me."

Mom has wiped off her face and is pointing out of the room. "Out. All of you out this instant!"

"Mom…"

"This is not about you, Lorelai," she snaps. "I have been attempting to be a good hostess and------"

"Oh, yeah," Luke interjects. "Inviting the Father of the Year," he motions to Chris. "Was a real warm move!"

Chris glares at him. "You know, I'm really getting sick of you running me down."

"Good, keep going and it'll be a full-fledged flu," Luke says. "Then we won't have you hanging around anymore."

Chris leans forward, aiming a knife at Luke. "You own a diner. You flip patties and hash, what right do you have to be with Lorelai?"

Oh, no, he did not.

Luke leans in, pointing his own fork at Chris. "How about the right that I've actually been around to help out her and Rory while you were knocking up some other woman, marrying her, having her cheat on you and divorcing her and then coming back expecting Lor to fall back into your arms?"

"I had-----"

"To grow up?" Luke snorts. "Yeah, good luck. From what I can tell, you're just as irresponsible as when you got Lorelai pregnant."

Chris throws down his napkin. "That's it! You want to take this outside?"

Luke throws his napkin down and stands up. "Gladly!"

"Luke!" I yell, grabbing at his arm.

"Dad, don't you dare!" Rory calls out.

They both start circling around the table, moving to each other, both angry. "Christopher, don't stoop to his level!" Mom calls out. Wow, peace-making and still snobbish. Only Emily Gilmore.

Peter is standing up, his arms outstretched. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. I can tell you guys have some sort of beef but isn't this just------"

"Sit down, rocker-boy!" Luke yells. "I've been wanting to punch this bastard's lights out for years now!"

Okay, half of me is freaked at how angry Luke is. The other half is freaked at how incredibly turned on that makes me. Brr.

Dad is up on his feet and moving in to Christopher. "Christopher, stop this at once! We are here to help Rory, not to get bogged down in idiotic fights like this."

"He's right," Peter says. "Now just because this guy," he motions at Luke. "Is going down to his basic instincts to duke it out like some hick-----"

"Hey!" I yell as I get to my feet. "Where do you get off calling my boyfriend a hick? At least he works for a living."

"Peter works!" Gillian says as she also gets to her feet and gets right in my face. Wow, she actually seems pretty intense up close. "He provides for our family wonderfully! And without having to work in some diner!"

"When he's not touring with Dave Matthews?" I fire back.

Donna takes a long sip of her wine and looks around. "Ah, is it almost desert? I could use some desert. Who wants desert?"

We all ignore her as we yell at each other. Donna is yelling about Peter and I'm firing back about Luke who's ready to go Rocky and Apollo with Christopher. I see Dad trying to hold Mom back while she and Maxine fire some words across the table and boy howdy is it odd to see Mom losing it like this in public.

So the inevitable finally occurs when Christopher lunges at Luke, shoving Peter aside to throw a punch. Unfortunately, it's at just that point that Vincent stands up to try and help so Christopher ends up laying out his own son-in-law.

Rory's loud yell pretty much signifies the end of the most uncomfortable dinner in Gilmore family history. And there's still desert to come.