Presenting … Lucas Danes?
By GilmoreGirl1979 (the Reigning Quote Queen)
Provider of Quality FAN FICTION
Rating: let's say PG-13 with an ish?
R/R: yes please I love reviews, I wanna marry them (as previously stated, I have strange passions.)
Friendly disclaimer: I REJECT ASP's REALITY and SUBSTITUE MY OWN! NO HARM, NO SUE! Sneaky Luke and Sneaky Lorelai with creeping music by Sam Philips sold separately.
LUVZ: I miss you!
FEATURED BETA: Localizy, thank you for putting up with my compulsive persnickety changes… She's the DAVID BLAINE of BETAING…and she's all MINE… MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Localizy, What Can I Say…
No seriously go read localizy's fic what can I say…. read this first… then go to her's! (I'm cross promoting that way!)
Time for another wild and crazy pub!
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Chapter 23:
Feels Like Home
Luke woke up when he felt the returning weight of Lorelai on his chest. He knew it was Lorelai and not some weird dream because not only did they fall asleep on her couch, but he could tell by the enthused kisses she was planting on his mouth. "Hmm morning… or umm afternoon…" he corrected, as he kept up with the affection, sliding his hand down her thighs, debating if he should just take her pajama bottoms off.
"Hmmm Luke, I would love to continue this now, but I have to get going."
Then why did you start this on the couch? "What? Where? I thought we have the day off."
"Rory's back. I need to pick her up at the train station … you wanna come?"
How long have I been asleep? Luke sat up on the couch, "What? She's not coming back till the third."
"I know, but she just called from the train station. She said she'd give details in person… so come on… I know she'll be happy to see you too. It sounds like she missed us."
Obviously, Rory had all the details to make sense of this situation. "Alright… let's go."
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Twenty minutes later at the train station, there was another classic Gilmore public display of grace; Lorelai and Rory tumbling over as they hugged, while Luke admonished them for nearly killing themselves.
Lorelai made a few Sally Field Not Without My Daughter jokes as they were all heading back to the car, with Luke carrying the young Gilmore's bags and purchases.
"She what!" Lorelai exclaimed and stopped in her tracks.
Rory knew her mother would take it that way, "She sort of forbid me to call so I could focus on establishing our new friendship… or whatever it is…" Rory was still not used to the idea of having a possible stepmother yet.
"It's not a Vulcan Mind Meld! You don't need to concentrate on it!" Lorelai said loudly, causing Luke to roll his eyes, knowing that Lorelai's references were going to be Start Trek heavy for the next few months. "And if it's THAT hard to be friends with the woman…maybe we shouldn't force it! Oh, I wanna give that woman such a pinch!" A Vulcan Neck PINCH!
"I know, but she is nice. I mean she did get me a lot of gift cards, she did research making sure that all the stores had chains in Hartford, and, well, some more clothes, trying to bond with me over fashion, I guess. Then, well …"
"Well?" Lorelai paused before opening the trunk for Luke to put the bags in.
"Well, all Saturday it was just her and me… she basically kidnapped me to the mall, and we walked around there all day long… and she tried to buy me things…"
"I tell you, she was getting fresh; trying to buy the virtue of my honorable, principled little girl. Did she finally make a pass? Was that the final straw?"
"Well, it's just … I missed you…"
"You did?" Lorelai smiled.
"Yeah… it was weird not having you around and to not at least talk to you… it was horrible… I don't know how I'm going to go away to college. I'm such a momma's girl."
Lorelai hugged Rory for being a momma's girl, it being about the fifth hug since she got off the train.
When Lorelai pulled away Rory turned to Luke, "She made the most awful coffee!"
"I knew I was in there somewhere," Luke chuckled as Rory hugged him too.
On the car ride home, Rory delicately talked about Chris around Luke and Lorelai, knowing she should just be honest with them, but not wanting to make their romantic relationship uncomfortable with talk of the ex boyfriend and father of Lorelai's child. Rory told her stories from the back seat, "Well, it's like… he didn't even try to spend time with me… I mean the whole point of me going was to get our relationship back on track… not have her become my best friend."
"Aw, so it was a bit of a bust," Lorelai looked at her daughter in the rear view mirror.
"Well, I mean it was nice to see him, what I did of him and talk to him I guess, but… I wanted more… one on one time… so he could really get to know me again…" then Rory confessed, "He gave me the Offspring for Christmas."
Lorelai gasped "Not in my house!" as Luke tried to ask, "Who's offspring? What?" Luke was confused and slightly angry, thinking that Chris wanted Rory pregnant.
Rory assured, "Oh wait… I think I may have left those on the train…" she smiled.
"Good girl! Though I pity the fool who finds them…"
"Wait! Who's offspring? The dog's?" Luke asked again.
"Mom…"
"Yeah?"
Rory knew this would be a tricky subject around Luke and considering Lorelai's weird stepmother freak-out to the whole visit during the Bracebridge dinner, "Well, I don't know how much of this is just Sherry… but she said that she and dad were … pretty serious…"
"Well, duh, she's trying to assimilate his kid like the Borg! Why didn't she just put an earwig in your head?" Lorelai was still upset about Sherry forbidding Rory to call her own mother, so the comment didn't really sink in.
Luke, who decided he would never get an answer about who's offspring it was and that it had to be some stupid reference he wouldn't understand anyway, suddenly thought of something. "Hey, how did they react when you told them you wanted to come back home early?"
Rory's reply was to look out the window.
Lorelai stopped at the stoplight and looked back at her daughter, "Rory? You did tell them you were coming home right?" Then, Lorelai recalled the word "sneak" from their phone call earlier, "Rory!" Lorelai yelled as she scrambled to get her phone out of her purse before the light changed.
Rory stilled her mom's hands, "Mom, its fine. I left a note explaining I wanted to come home because I had a project with Paris."
"Rory, you lied to get out of the week."
"Well, I couldn't handle Sherry anymore. I mean, every where I turned there she was there, wanting to attend to my every need or check up on me, or hang out… it was creepy."
The light changed and Lorelai knew from the cars honking behind her, that she should obey the traffic laws and started driving again.
Rory continued as they made their way home, "I mean she knew all about my goal to go to Harvard and she asked me if I wanted to take the tour… you know, like the real tour and I told her I've already seen the campus with you. Then, she sort of flinched at the mere mention of you."
"Well, it's nice to induce fear I suppose."
"She dragged me and dad all around to these historical landmarks; around the Freedom Trail twice, looking for the Old North Church because we didn't find it the first time, Paul Revere's house, from which he departed for his legendary ride, historic swan boats, whale tours in winter. Taylor would be 13 shades of purple for all the history Boston has over Stars Hollow. We went to the pier and the aquarium, museums, and Fenway. Every time I wanted to take a picture, Sherry would make dad take the picture of her and me… or have a stranger take a 'family picture' of the three of us…"
Lorelai was sympathetic to her daughter's frustration with the new girlfriend, "Aw, hon."
"…And if I suggested something like… 'Hey, let's go see the bar from Cheers, do shopping on Newbury street, or let's find Madeline Kahn's house, I was immediately shot down. She didn't schedule time for those stops, because I didn't express an interest in them before my arrival…"
"Wow, she's really gotta let go…"
"Then she kidnapped me all day Saturday for shopping… it was like Joey and Janice's day of fun on Friends."
"Yikes," Lorelai winced.
Rory let out a final huff, "I mean, I went there to see my dad and she was hogging all my time or his time… it was frustrating… it was irritating…it… it wasn't how I thought it was going to be," Rory admitted quietly as she looked down at her purse.
Lorelai chanced a small smile in Luke's direction, as if to say, "I win".
When they got back to the house, Luke brought the bags inside and said he had to go check on the diner, but really it was to leave mother and daughter some alone time to talk more if Rory needed it. With the house to themselves, Rory told her mother what was really on her mind. "Mom, Sherry was… I mean… she's hinting at … marriage."
"My God, she just met you!" Lorelai teased, but she was relieved that Rory waited till Luke had gone to reveal that much information. Now that the news was out there, that weird possessive jealous feeling came up again, or was that her lunch, Lorelai couldn't tell.
"Mom… her and dad."
Lorelai knew what she meant from the start, and slowly said, "Well, that's good… right? I mean he found someone…he's living his life… right?"
"Some one to walk all over him…" Rory grumbled.
"What?"
"Well you have to admit that dad is a bit of a …well, push over…"
"Well, umm yeah…I guess," recalling how even as a teen Chris didn't have the strongest character. Their teenage antics were usually Lorelai's ideas. Likewise, when Lorelai became pregnant, Chris was so willing to follow Richard and Emily's plan for them; to get married and work at Richard's firm. When Lorelai refused the proposal, Chris was just as malleable to just let the wind take him where it would at Lorelai's slightest refusal, he knew she was smart and independent and would take care of everything back then. From Rory's description, even though Chris had an adult exterior, he still seemed like a lost teen wanting a strong woman to lead him around.
"Rory, we should be happy for him, he's taken care of and happy. So, it wasn't me that turned that light on and that's okay. I have Luke… and well, I'm… happy."
"Mom?" Rory recognized something was underneath her mom's expression, "Did something happen while I was gone?"
"Rory…"
"Oh God, you didn't have sex in every room of the house did you?"
"What? NO!" You came back too soon for that.
"Then what?" Rory wondered if all her marriage hinting during Luke's dark day finally sunk into Luke's brain.
"Rory," Lorelai took a deep breath, because when you have happy news, you want to share it with everyone or you'll bust, "Luke loves me…"
"Well, duh," Rory said dully.
"No, I mean it. He loves me; he actually said it, at the Bracebridge dinner thing…"
"He what?" Rory exclaimed with a smile.
"We were… you know spending the night together and well…anyway he thought I was sleeping… and he said it… he said that he loved me…like since the day we met…and all this romantic stuff that frankly I didn't think Luke had in him," that tingle in her heart swelled again at the memory.
"Wow, have you, you know… told him too?"
"Well no…" Lorelai said ashamed.
"MOM!" Rory scolded. "I hate to think I raised a mother who couldn't say I love you," Rory threw her mother's words from last year back at her.
"Rory…"
"After everything we've been through, how you two barely could keep your hands off each other getting ready for the ball, and what happened at the ball, you can't tell me that you don't love him too."
"It's not that I don't want to, it's just… I can't explain it…it's like I find a moment where I want to say it… I think it in my head… but then I just freeze up when I try to actually say it… I mean…I have the advantage… he loves me…I know that already… so why can't I just tell him…then lay claim to being the one who said it first."
Rory racked her brain over her mother's problem, "Well, maybe you're afraid…"
"Of what? There is nothing to fear, he's right there for the taking…"
"Well, grandma," Rory offered. "She may not take it so well."
"Aw… she knows already," Lorelai waved off.
"She what?"
"Well, she sort of… came over… to thank me for the portrait."
"See, I knew she would appreciate it!" Rory beamed.
"Yeah, well, her appreciation sort of found me and Luke here together."
"Not like," Rory winced. "…Not the way dad did?"
"NO! Thank God! She just well she came over as we were heading out to the ballet; you know with the Nutcracker tickets."
"You convinced Luke to go? See, he is a man in love."
Lorelai continued, "Well, Grandma came over to apparently go with me and Sookie to the ballet… as a thank you for the portrait, only to find that Luke was my date instead…and well, we had it out… in Gilmore fashion…and I sort of told her that Luke and I were…an US."
"Wow."
"Oh, then she invited Luke and me to her New Year's Eve party."
"What New Years Eve party?" Rory's brow furrowed, recalling that there never was such an event at her grandparents, even before the Friday night dinners.
"Apparently, the one she is having this year that she's never had before," Lorelai complained, "but if you come along it might be better."
"Of course, I'll come…"
"Just… don't wear anything you bought in Boston… Grandma might take offense."
"Got it!" Rory nodded as she continued to unpack.
Suddenly the phone rang, and Lorelai naturally picked it up incase it was Luke, "Hello?"
"Hey Lor, its Chris. Is Rory there?"
"Umm yes, yes she is…" Lorelai could hear how upset Chris was over the phone.
"Can I please speak to my daughter?"
"Umm, hang on," Lorelai put her hand over the mouthpiece and handed it to Rory. "It's your dad… Danger, danger Will Robinson," then, all Lorelai could do was watch Rory's end of the conversation.
Rory reluctantly took the phone, look a deep breath and tried to greet Chris brightly, "Hey, dad."
"Don't 'hey dad' me, young lady… you just left town? Went on a train…without a word…"
Young lady? "I left a note…"
"Well, we didn't find the note until after Sherry phoned the police…"
CRAP! "Oh, I'm sorry…"
"You better be sorry…"
"Dad," Rory decided to stick to the lines and lies from her note, "Paris called me…"
"All the way here in Boston? I thought you hated this girl."
"Well, she's very resourceful… and she is also a megalomaniac when it comes to the Franklin and she wants an early start on the New Year's edition of the Franklin."
"Rory, its Christmas break."
"Megalomaniac dad, she is already back to work so I have to be, too."
"Well, Sherry was worried sick. She was very upset when she went into your room and you pulled a Houdini…"
"Well, next time, just slap an ankle bracelet on me and you will be able to track my every move!" Rory snapped before she could stop herself.
"What?"
"Nothing," Rory said quickly
"No, there was something behind that. What?"
"Alright, alright," Rory confessed, "It was Sherry."
"Sherry?" Chris asked.
"I … I don't like her dad."
"You hardly know her," Chris defended his girlfriend.
"Exactly!" Rory exclaimed, "I hardly know her and she seems to know everything about me. She's forcing a friendship that I'm not ready for… and she was making me...uncomfortable…"
"How?"
"Dad, she wouldn't let me call mom…"
"She what?" Chris' brow furrowed.
Rory told her father, "She said that she didn't want me to call mom to distract me from building …whatever relationship I'm supposed to have with her! She was driving me nuts… forcing herself and your relationship on me in so short a time… she wasn't so much trying to get to know me as she wanted me to get to know her and it was annoying… I came all that way to see you… spend time with you, my father, to give you a chance to relate to me… and Sherry totally took over! She just sucked all the oxygen out of the room for you and me time…and you didn't even fight her on it… you just rolled over and said 'sure, spend the day together'…like you didn't care if you saw me at all…"
"Because I thought we'd have the rest of the week for 'us' time."
"Oh yeah? Was that in Sherry's schedule at all?"
Chris was quiet for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry… that you found Sherry… well, a little overbearing… she likes… order and schedules, and well that has been really good for me, and well, I hope you can get used to it. And I'm sorry that she didn't want you to talk to Lorelai… that was never run by me…"
"I figured," Rory said shyly.
"And I don't think that was cool for Sherry to put you in that position, I'm sorry for it and I will have a talk with her about that."
"Thank you."
"I know how close you and your mom are…" Chris said with a hint of jealousy over the mother-daughter relationship, "and I'm sorry we didn't get more…us time."
"Well, good," Rory was still being cautious waiting for the shoe to drop.
"Hey maybe if I can get some time off work we can have a day or a weekend that's just us… okay? You and me time only to pal around."
Rory couldn't help but fall for her father's charm, and surprised to hear herself say, "I'd like that."
"Okay, I'll go over my schedule and for now, we will leave Sherry out of it…deal?"
"Deal," Rory smiled for the first time regarding her dad in just over 8 months.
"Hey can I call you next week for a status report? You know school? The Franklin… your friends, your enemies, Paris."
"Umm sure… when?"
"Wednesdays? 7 pm?"
"Okay."
"Talk to you then," and Chris hung up.
"SO?" Lorelai was on pins and needles only having heard Rory's honest and spirited end of the conversation.
"He's gonna call me on Wednesdays…for updates you know how I'm doing …what I'm doing, you know just to talk."
"Aw, that's nice…" Lorelai forced a smile, "and the whole Sherry thing?"
"Well, he's gonna try to get some time off to see me… just us time."
"Aw, well good," Lorelai was still uncomfortable with someone else trying to influence her daughter, even if it was her own father. Lorelai didn't really know Chris anymore and if he still had the same stubborn, odd tastes to give his daughter Offspring as her Christmas presents, what other odd opinions was he going to try to force on the independent minded Rory Gilmore. "Hey, do you mind if Luke comes over? I mean we only have one more movie in our marathon."
"What marathon?"
"Oh…Star Trek?"
"What?" Rory smiled and wanted the details she had missed in her days away.
"Well, I told you, my gift totally sucked, I mean I used the chores list he does for my birthday as a gauge…but that's like between friends stuff… relationship gift giving is serious business. Remember that," thinking of Rory's relationship with Dean.
"Got it, so what did you do?" joining her mother on the bed of Rory's room.
"Well I went out early one morning and bought all the Star Trek movies as my make up gift."
"All of them?" Rory exclaimed.
"Well, okay, only the first seven…but basically that is all we did all weekend…"
"All you did?" Rory said truly not believing her mother would waste precious alone time with Luke over Star Trek movies.
"Well I said weekend… Saturday and Sunday are the weekend."
"And Thursday and Friday?" Rory challenged.
Lorelai blushed, "No comment."
"You did have sex in every room in the house…"
"No! We didn't," Lorelai said, slightly embarrassed
"But you wanted to," Rory teased, and Lorelai laughed at how well her daughter knew her. Then Rory's smiled faded as she realized, "Aw jeez, I totally ruined your plans with Luke… Aw mom, I'm so sorry. I mean here you had a week alone…and I just ruined it."
"Honey, your safety is more important than my sex life."
"Good to know," Rory said dryly. "Invite him over, please," Rory handed the phone back to her mother.
"Alight," Twist my arm, Lorelai dialed the now memorized numbers of Luke's diner.
"Luke's," his voice said gruffly over the phone.
"Hey baby, its Lorelai."
"Aw, hey, how's Rory settling in?"
Lorelai had to chuckle how he didn't even seem to react to the pet names anymore. "Fine, all unpacked, and well, I was hoping we could finish our last movie… if you want to come back over…"
"Aw, no, Lorelai," Luke dismissed, "Rory is back, you two should be alone."
Lorelai was willing to accept that, despite her disappointment, "Oh, well, okay some other night then," however Rory wasn't willing to accept it and took the phone back from her mother.
"Hey Luke, its Rory."
Luke was caught off guard since he was just talking to his girlfriend and suddenly was talking to the daughter, "Oh umm, hey Rory."
Rory wholeheartedly requested, "Please come over; and could you bring some coffee and doughnuts, it will really help my homesickness."
"Umm, sure, but really you should be with your mom now... you know to talk and stuff."
"All talked out, believe it or not," Rory joked, "and I will be with her… but I also want to be with you." It hit Rory that Luke was sort of the male equivalent to Sherry, except way more laid back and could make coffee. Even so, he was her mother's suitor, her mom's significant other, and Luke may very well be her future stepfather given how in love Lorelai and Luke seemed to be. Rory wondered why it was so easy for her to relate to Luke over Sherry. Rory figured it must only be because she was used to Luke. Rory had known him for years and years; he was one of her mom's best friends, now boyfriend. , "I missed you too, you know, your rants, your coffee, and your burgers… I wanna hang out with you, too. Please."
"Alright, alright I'm coming over…" Luke smiled at the teen's insistence and how much Rory was like her mother.
"Thank you, see you soon." Rory hung up the phone and handed it back to her mother who sat in awe, and Rory only said to the blank expression, "You're welcome. I guess I've inherited your persuasive powers."
"Watch out world," Lorelai smiled, knowing her daughter would be able to talk the world around her little finger, as long as she only used her newfound powers for good.
While Lorelai busied herself with snacks and sodas, anticipating Luke's arrival, Rory was in her room pondering her strange weekend some more. Rory was musing over all her friendships and relationships with the people in her humble town, at school, new and old; and how they had grown and changed over the years. Rory recalled being scared of Luke for the longest time when her mom first introduced them at the diner. Rory was always shy around new people, but Luke was so rough and barked at everyone, and was scary for an 11 year old to meet. Rory was usually surrounded by kind, funny girls before her first encounter with Luke; Sookie, Mia, her mom, Lane, Mrs. Kim, Miss Patty, Babette, so a young Rory wasn't accustomed to being around grown up men. Seeing her daughter unsettled by Luke's manner, Lorelai encouraged Rory to give Luke a chance that he wasn't that bad, and that once Rory tried his coffee, she would see it was worth the acquaintance.
All it took was time and now Rory loved Luke, as did Lorelai. For so long the entire town knew how Luke felt about Lorelai, it was written on his face when ever he saw her, whenever he poured her a cup of coffee, when ever he went to her house to fix something for free. Rory was genuinely happy when her mom first told her about the new redefined relationship between the coffee fiend and her enabler.
Rory considered, maybe all Rory and Sherry needed was some time to get used to each other, each side giving a little. For now, all Rory wanted to focus on was Luke, the man who had been her father for the ball when she really needed him, who knew her as she was, and didn't force his own favorite thing on her. Rory thought about her weekend with Chris, how being close to him sparked the drive to truly mend things again, but maybe it was because Sherry was there interfering constantly denying her objective, which made Rory want to defy Sherry and spend time with her dad all the more. Rory thought back to her and Luke's conversation about fathers, how Rory was so willing to give up on her dad at Luke's word; let Luke be the father she needed, with all the rights and privileges therein. He could be the one beating up her boyfriends, as Rory smiled at the memory of Luke last year during her and Dean's brief break up, Luke could be the one coming to the graduations, seeing her off to college, and maybe even walk her down the aisle one day.
Rory felt conflicted now; Luke vs. Chris, the man who's been there through it all vs. a mere DNA Donor. Luke was now so much apart of their family, their routine, Rory loved him for all he had done over the years and especially recently. Rory felt guilty, like she would betray one by showing any preference to the other, even though her and Chris were on the mend, Rory had a funny gut feeling that she would still prefer Luke to have all those honors and privileges of being a father to her since there was more attachment and history.
Luke came back to the Gilmore house, and he brought the promised caffeine and baked goods for mother and daughter to enjoy. The three of them watched Star Trek Generations together and since the Gilmore party was for the following evening, Luke agreed to watch When Harry Met Sally New Years Day with the girls.
Luke fell asleep on one side of the couch, but neither of the girls minded. Lorelai was leaning on him, content to be with him and held by him as she memorized lines and data from the movie for future jokes and puns. Rory thought they looked so cute on their side of the couch that she didn't say a word to disturb them.
"Mom, get him to bed."
"Dirty," Lorelai smiled, loving the idea of Luke staying over, in her bed once more.
Rory headed for her room, but stopped to watch the pair. She saw how Lorelai whispered sweetly to Luke, to wake him up, smiled at how Lorelai kissed him to entice him up off the couch, saw how sleepily Luke put his arm around Lorelai to walk up the stairs as a couple.
"Night hon."
"Night mom, night Luke."
"Night," Luke said sleepily, with a hand on the banister and an arm around Lorelai, as they disappeared up the staircase.
Rory pictured visiting home from college, with a married Luke and Lorelai and smiled at the pleasant thought, as she got ready for bed.
There's no place like home.
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A/N: HEY Guess what! Eddie and the Cruisers just saw all of Season 6. Eddie said it was the Season of Hell…. Right On, Eddie!
A/N: God Bless Madeline Kahn! APOX on ASP!
A/N:
gilmoregirl1979: maybe have Luke bring a welcome home batch of coffee
Localizy: and luke says he doesnt have to come because rory is back
Localizy: and rory can take the phone away and say
gilmoregirl1979: rory wants him too
Localizy: i wanna hang out with you too
gilmoregirl1979: get out of my head, I was gonna say that.
Localizy: bla bla
gilmoregirl1979: brillant
this has been another glimpse at how Localizy and I are two sisters from different mothers… now if only we had medallions that fit together… hmmmmm
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"That was all God given talent..." why thank you NON POD Luke!
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R/R: PLEASE, I like to better myself. To quote The Princess Bride,
"...Remember this is for posterity ... so be honest."
Please be specific with R/R; name one (or as many as you can think of or want to mention..…) At least one specific thing you liked
Please! It makes me feel good...inside (Dirty!)
Hence the Rant option below.
Insert Rant here V
A/N: if not completely satisfied with this chapter, please return unused portion for a full refund...