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, 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!)
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Chapter 24:
Fasten Your Seatbelts, It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night!
Monday evening was New Years Eve and time for the dreaded party at the Gilmores. Luke, uncomfortable in his suit, walked down the streets of Stars Hollow to meet Lorelai and Rory at their house to go to Hartford. Luke knew he could walk down the street, confident that no one would see him in his suit, since all attention and festivities were directed to the square and Miss Patty's dance studio. Luke arrived at the Crap Shack on time, that is on time by the rest of the world's standards; in Gilmore land, the girls were still accessorizing and setting things like hair or something.
Luke just sat in the easy chair at the base of the stairs, waiting for them to be done with their girly primping. He chuckled slightly because it reminded him of the awkward morning of the ball, Lorelai running about in her robe, both obviously uncomfortable with that situation. He smiled as he thought of how things changed not only the last few months, but from that morning of the ball to this very evening.
Luke felt weird that he was going to be seeing Lorelai's childhood home for the first time. He had heard so many stories of the place and its residents that he felt like he could picture it perfectly in his head to the last detail. He felt strange that he may see pictures of Lorelai as a girl, since he had only ever known her as the independent woman she was now. He wondered if there would be pictures of Chris there too and if her parents would rub the good old days in Luke's face, how he couldn't possibly measure up to Rory's real father or family. He was a lone hermit with hardly any family or connections, running diner in a small town, who was going to be compared to the only son of The Hayden Family, a son who had yet to build anything on his own, for himself or anyone to be proud of. Luke hoped they would be too busy with all their guests to torture him too much.
Luke forgot his meeting the parents nerves as he looked up to see Lorelai coming down the staircase. She looked beautiful. It was just like when he saw her descend those same stairs for the ball; his breath had left him, he felt punched in the gut that in recent months he was allowed to sleep beside such a beautiful, wonderful woman. She was wearing a royal blue satiny dress that left little to the imagination, and Luke wished that they could send Rory to the party on her own. Luke noticed with a grin that she wore her new snowflake pendant he had given her for Christmas around her neck.
"Hey," Lorelai smiled. "Don't you clean up nice," she said as she was attaching her second earring walking down the last few stairs. It didn't help things when Lorelai turned around to sit in Luke's lap to give him a kiss in greeting. Luke couldn't help but squeeze her closer as they kissed, his left hand stroking up and down her thigh. He only removed his right hand from caressing Lorelai's rump when he heard Rory approach in her heels, sliding the hand to a safe position up Lorelai's back.
Rory caught the tail end of the affectionate display with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, see, this is not fair… you get to bring your boyfriend, and I don't get to bring mine," she said as she put her hands on her hips.
Lorelai stood up from Luke's lap to gently plea her case to her daughter, "This isn't about having someone to kiss at midnight, okay. First off, your fella is off in Chicago visiting his grandparents since you were supposed to be out of town until next year. Besides your grandparents have already met Dean and you saw what happened there…now…unfortunately," Lorelai sighed, "it's my turn. At least they won't try to double-team us on both our beaus. Tonight, is all about Luke…" she turned back to her poor, doomed boyfriend as if he was going into battle, "And I promise you, I will protect you as best as I can."
Upon arriving, the sheer size of the house had been intimidating enough and Luke made a note to himself not to insult or rant over the grandiose frivolous décor of the exterior or interior. Luke was still taking in the house, almost expecting gargoyles adorned along the roof to attack him for not being worthy, when Lorelai had surprised him from behind and linked her arm with his. "Okay, first rule, don't let your guard down for a second, keep your answers short and sweet and as polite as possible, and praise something as soon as we walk in."
Luke turned to Rory for some sane reassurance, "Please, just be your self." Rory smiled and linked her arm with his free right one, since he was going to escort her in too.
Luke already found being him-self a difficult task given the suit he had to wear. However, with a lady on each arm, both willing to protect him from whatever evil may befall him inside, he reminded himself again this wasn't a big deal. Lorelai and him were both adults and they didn't need her parent's permission to do what they've been doing for months now. Lorelai rang the doorbell and sighed, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"
Luke didn't know why he was surprised when the door opened and that there was a maid who answered. Of course there's a maid, he grumbled to himself.
"And now we get to smile and nod to people I don't recognize or care to know," Lorelai whispered through the teeth of her fake smile. "We should say hello to my mother first and foremost, then get a drink."
They found Emily socializing with biddies from the DAR; Lorelai couldn't remember their names but was certain for Luke's benefit, Emily, ever the hostess, would introduce everyone.
"Ah, Lorelai, you made it," Emily said stiffly upon seeing Luke with her, "and Rory, I thought you were still in Boston this week!" Emily enthusiastically greeted her granddaughter.
"Well, I cut my trip short, homesickness you could say." Rory gave her grandmother a shy smile, and squeezed Luke's arm, hoping maybe the motion would let Emily see that she had yet to greet Luke, which Rory thought was incredibly rude.
Lorelai had to jump in to, "Yeah, mom, we thought we'd surprise you, all three of us."
"Well, I must say I am floored." Emily still ignored Luke and turned to her friend, no doubt to not so much as acknowledge Luke, but also it segued into continuing to converse with her friend. "Colleen, this is my granddaughter, Rory. She plans to go to Harvard and apparently she's fresh back from her trip to Boston to look at the campus," which seemed to be a plausible excuse to visit Boston at this time of year. Emily was careful not to mention any unpleasantness with Christopher and that woman he was living with, "Tell me Rory was it everything you hoped?"
Rory felt like she was in a bizarre game. She and Lorelai were trying to get Emily to at least say hello to Luke and Emily was perfectly content to let her manner's slip in regard to the man she felt was unworthy to date her daughter. "Well, grandma, I had seen the campus before, so I spent most of my time… sight seeing and shopping, thankfully I had Luke here to carry all my purchases home from the train station," Rory smiled again.
"Yes, well Luke, I'm sure the girls… appreciated your help." Emily finally forced a smile in his direction, "Nice to see you again."
"Pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Gilmore," Luke said politely.
Colleen had to interject, "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name," taking in the sight of the tall, handsome Luke.
Lorelai took over the introductions, "Well, this is Luke Danes, my boyfriend."
Rory added, "But she was kind enough to share him," patting the linked arm of her borrowed escort.
Colleen smiled, "Well Luke, I hope you realize how lucky you are to have two such lovely creatures on your arm."
"Thank you, m'am, I think I do," and Luke smiled at Rory for wanting him to be put at ease.
Colleen leaned over to Lorelai and said "And vice versa, I imagine," with a wink, before walking away.
Luke missed the comment, but Emily's eyes narrowed at having heard it, as Lorelai raised an eyebrow and proudly smirked at her mother as if to say "HA!"
At this point, Richard came over to greet the girls; he was all new years cheer, since that the champagne had been pouring for awhile, and Emily just stood and scowled at his ease and friendliness. Richard noticed Luke immediately, after all his girls were hanging on the arm of some strange man, a man who looked oddly familiar. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" he said bluntly to Luke.
"Um, Yes, sir. Luke Danes, we met at the Bracebridge Dinner in Stars Hollow."
Richard remembered him fondly. "Oh yes, we had that delightful conversation about commercialism in America before dinner, as I recall. Good to see you again," and Richard warmly offered Luke his hand.
Luke chuckled as they shook hands, not being used to the businessmen's etiquette, but was set as ease by the warm greeting.
Richard wanted to understand the situation clearly, "So I gather you are an escort and not a party crasher?" noting the linked arms with Richard's own favorite female Stars Hollow residents.
"He's here with Lorelai," Emily said primly, "as her date," as if the "d" word would get a rise out of Richard.
Which Richard was pleased to hear since they were at a party and he had taken a shine to Luke at the Stars Hollow dinner. "Well, excellent, I've heard many stories about you Luke, usually with you as the hero? I believe there was an incident last year regarding someone's baby chick?" and Rory blushed, "Now, if I may borrow my granddaughter, I'd like to show her off." Richard took Rory from Luke's arm leaving Luke and Lorelai to find the bar and Emily to attend to her other guests trying not to huff.
Dinner was a buffet of extravagant food which Luke was certain would be too heavy for his liking. Lorelai warned him about the more novel delicacies, which she knew Luke would find disgusting if he knew what they really were. After a half an hour of respectful mingling, Rory seemed happy to be introduced all around by her proud grandfather, showing her off like a prized jewel to some of his friends and associates. Lorelai was pleased herself that every woman in the room seemed to notice her beautiful snowflake necklace. She was all too pleased to relay how Luke had given it to her for Christmas and had it custom made, which elicited "oo"s and "ah"s, and jealous glances toward her beau. When they finished their first round about the room, Lorelai took the opportunity to take Luke's hand and steal him away upstairs to show him her old room for a private moment together.
"Well, this is it," she said as they entered the room at the end of the hall and presented her past to him.
Luke took in the frilly and fancy décor, "I cannot picture you growing up here," he said flatly.
"Neither could I, so that's the real reason I ran away, the curtains," Lorelai joked. "I went to school one day and when I came back, this is what it looked like. My mother didn't even ask me first." Lorelai tried to explain, "I was about 13 when my mother just up and decided on her own that she wanted my room to look more like a teenager's room, so she redecorated with ivory and lace. So naturally, in retaliation I put up all my posters and albums about and shot back, 'I thought you wanted my room to look like a teenagers' room; that excuse also got me out of hanging up my clothes too, so I kept the maids busy."
Luke liked how Lorelai seemed to not wander too far away from his side all night, with their constantly linked hands. She was looking deeply into his eyes and he looked away unsure if he would be able to control himself in her parents house, with her so close to him, looking at him that way, wearing that incredible dress, with a bed five feet away. "Umm, nice doll house."
"They gave it to me with the glass on it," she said with a sardonic smile.
Luke chuckled at that, and again loved the way she seemed to sparkle when she laughed, or it could have been the glitter make up she was wearing to piss Emily off. Luke looked down to the precious necklace around her neck and fingered the snowflake pendant. He could tell Lorelai loved him touching her skin. Luke couldn't help himself and took her in his arms and kissed her. His hands grazing her sides and hips, her hands were playing with his hair, and he felt her pull him as she stepped backward toward the bed, clearly out of habit.
Then, Luke pulled away, his face suddenly serious, which stopped all progress of their private moment.
"Luke?" Lorelai was curious to the reason for the halt in affection.
"Is this… umm," he seemed very uncomfortable all of a sudden and cleared his throat. "This isn't…where Rory happened, is it?"
A wave of heat overtook Lorelai's face; she blushed "Um, no, it isn't."
"Umm, good… I mean, I... just…"
"I know, Luke… its sort of a…weird position to be in…I mean this family situation…as a whole," thinking of how it was never this complicated in the movies. Boy meets girl with kid, boy is friends with girl with kid, boy falls in love with girl with kid, boy has sex with girl with kid, and father of kid comes back and catches girl with kid in bed with boy in love with girl with kid….
"Yeah… well, I just…I don't like him…""Naturally, he's seen me naked…" Lorelai tried to joke, but hitting one of the reasons for his discomfort smack on the head and she tried to save "A long, long time ago…way long time ago…many moons…" Last spring …aw jeez
"Can we talk about something else?"
"Sure…I think I have a subject in mind," she pulled him close again to remind him that she was his, all his now with deep kisses. Her thumbs grazed his smooth cheek since, at Emily's request, he had shaved and Lorelai found she missed his stubble.
Their tongues tangled, Lorelai was cooing her approval, and fortunately, Luke kept his hands at the small of Lorelai's back, so when they heard Emily clear her throat, they could simply freeze as they were, with a minimum of embarrassment. "Don't move," Lorelai whispered against his mouth, as if Emily was some sort of lioness ready to pounce on the Discovery Channel. Lorelai, her arms still wrapped around Luke, turned only her head and smiled brightly at her mother, "Hi, Mom."
Emily's mouth was puckered up tight with disapproval. "Lorelai," she said evenly, with a hand still on the door knob. Emily was obviously uncomfortable catching them so entangled, still it could have been much worse had she waited about five or ten minutes. Emily stated, "It's rude to hide out from the other guests."
"Well, they're your guests, not mine…"
"Lorelai," Emily seemed to be fuming over their bodies pressed so indecently together. "I would appreciate it if you would return to the party."
"We will mom… I just wanted to show Luke my old room…" and when Emily made no move to leave, Lorelai assured again, "We'll be right down, Mom. Directly, I promise."
Emily left them alone again, also leaving the door open, and without missing a beat, Lorelai turned her face to Luke again and said, "She's waiting for us at the top of the stairs." She sighed, "We should have gone out on the balcony, it would have bought us more time." Lorelai then had flashes again, of what happened last spring on that same balcony with Chris, When I stood Luke up for painting the diner. She felt guilty again and marveled at how things had changed in a year. Then she recalled his earlier question and what happened 18 years ago with Chris on that balcony, Technically… that is where Rory happened Aw Jeez, I'm horrible!
"She really doesn't like me," Luke joked, but he noticed the comment fell on deaf ears.
Lorelai was uncomfortable again, being in Luke's arms while thinking of Chris and the house that held so many memories for that dead relationship; thinking of the mistake last spring, and of her absurd jealousy over Sherry. Why should she care, she had Luke. Luke was wonderful, Luke was great; we are all rooting for Luke… why should she care who Chris decided to end up with after all this time.
"You okay?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, I just…I," she looked into Luke's eyes and she felt self-conscious that her past with Chris may still have been on Luke's mind as well as hers. She wanted to assure Luke that he had nothing to fear, she wanted to say those three words that would make all the difference in that moment… I love you "I… I could really… use a drink," she smiled lamely freezing up again, "This house it messes with your head. I just want tonight to be over."
"Well, let's welcome in the New Year." Luke escorted her out of the room from her past and sure enough, Emily was paused at the top of the banister, waiting for them to come out.
777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Rory met her mother at the base of the stairs to show off all the business cards she had been given. They were like a deck of playing cards and she was ready to do a magic trick. "These people are crazy, they keep giving me business cards because they think I'm older and am looking for a job. Grandpa seems happy though. Apparently, I am impressing everyone with me smarts." Luke laughed, not at all surprised, and excused himself to get Lorelai her drink.
"How long till midnight?" Lorelai asked anxiously since she never wore a watch.
"You have to be kidding me? You're done already?"
"Well, some of us have work in the morning…"
"It's New Years Day? Everything is closed."
Lorelai confessed, "Emily just walked in on a moment between me and Luke…"
"Mom! This is your parent's house!"
Suddenly realizing the obvious dirty, Lorelai clarified, "No, no nothing like that…" that I will admit to.
"Was he going to say it?" Rory hoped.
"What?"
"You know… it!" Rory stressed.
"Aw, no I don't know."
"Were you …going to say it?"
"I don't know." I almost did, but she dismissed the chance and didn't even acknowledge the desire to her daughter. "And is that really the memory I want of that moment, he told me at a New Year's party at my mother's house… in my old room? After my mother walked in on the two of us making out," Lorelai said it to make her self feel better about the missed opportunity.
"Mom!" Rory had to laugh that despite the discomfort of the elder Gilmore house, Lorelai and Luke still couldn't keep their hands off each other for more that a few hours.
"Sorry, it's just he looks so handsome in that damn suit and I wore this dress for a reason! And it wasn't for comfort," Lorelai strained to suck in a desperate life's breath.
"Okay, please stop before you scar me for life. Oh, I found out some gossip from Grandpa that proves you were right."
"What? Tom Cruise should stop while he's ahead?" Magnolia and Vanilla Sky sucking the life out of her unfortunately burned on her brain.
"Well, yes that," Rory admitted, "and the fact Grandma just threw this party together in a matter of days."
"Yeah, Grandpa said, one minute they had plans to go to England to visit Gran for the New Year, and then suddenly plans were postponed, tickets were rescheduled, and this party consumed Grandma's every waking moment."
Lorelai scoffed, "What would Miss Manners say about the short notice to her beloved mother in law and guests? How inconsiderate is that… I'm surprised we have so many people here."
"Apparently if Emily Gilmore is giving a party, people come running. She has a reputation."
Suddenly the woman with the reputation walked back up to her daughter and granddaughter. Nothing was said between the there women for a while. Rory really didn't want to get into what happened in Boston with her Grandmother, Lorelai didn't want to have to start defending Luke in front of all these people. Emily didn't know if she would be able to control her volume in front of all her guests if she attempted to scold her daughter for her and her boyfriend's behavior.
All Emily could say was, "That's a lovely necklace."
"Thank you," Lorelai said politely, fingering the pendant as Luke had minutes before. "Luke gave it to me."
"So I heard," Emily said evenly, the story of the pendent had spread around the room in no time. "Pity it doesn't really match your dress," Emily criticized the light blue ribbon against the royal blue dress.
"I don't care," Lorelai said firmly.
Rory couldn't help but pick up the heavy subtext in all the polite speak. Luke was the pendant that didn't match with Lorelai. There was a long uncomfortable gaze between Lorelai and Emily, until Emily finally broke the contact to see to her other guests.
Lorelai sighed, as if that staring contest had drained her of her super powers, "God! Where has Luke gotten to with that martini? Russia?"
Rory scanned the room for him to help her mother reclaim her date.
Lorelai gasped, "Oh No! What if Emily jumped him and dragged him out?"
"Mom," Rory's tone conveying how unlikely a possibility that was, "She was just here."
"You're right, Emily would never soil her hands with the dirty work herself, she was misdirection and the signal for the men with tire irons to beat him out the door."
"I think people would notice men with tire irons beating someone in the middle of the room."
"Aw, you'd be surprised at what the rich can ignore."
Rory nudged Lorelai, "Mom, he's over there with Grandpa."
"What?" that sounded even more unlikely to Lorelai then Emily being able to take down Luke on her own.
"At the bar, he looks quite…popular," Rory found that to be a funny sight, Luke pleasantly conversing with her Grandpa and some of his haughty friends.
Lorelai went over to the group surrounding her father and boyfriend, presumably to rescue Luke, but when she got there, she found Luke seemed to be an honorary member of the club.
"Hey, there you are?" Lorelai smiled, taking Luke's arm, laughing because all the other gentlemen were laughing at whatever Luke had just said.
"Aw, hey," Luke smiling back at Lorelai.
"Hey, sorry boys, but do you think I could have my date back?"
"Yeah, he'll just keep making us look bad anyway," one of the gentlemen said in jest. Lorelai was surprised by the words, but the tone told her Luke was being teased, in that way that men do.
"Aw of course," Richard apologized, "We didn't mean to keep you, Luke."
"Aw, not a problem, Sir. It was nice talking with you …um folks," Luke shook Richard's hand and nodded to the other men.
There was a murmur back from the group; a consensus of the positive impression Luke made and Luke even shook a few more hands before departing with Lorelai and their drinks.
Luke turned to his date and asked, "Hey, Lorelai?"
"Yeah?"
"What's the DAR?"
Lorelai's brow furrowed, "Its the Daughter's of the American Revolution, why?"
"Huh? Why does that sound so familiar?" Luke said perplexed.
"Because they were the ones who threw Rory's coming out ball?" she said simply.
That's when the light bulb went on for Luke. "Right, right, I knew it sounded familiar, but every time I asked some one what it was I just got a roar of laughter and compliments on my wit," he said dryly.
"People thought you were just being funny?" Lorelai couldn't believe their luck.
"Yeah, I've been killing with that one all night."
Apparently, the story of the necklace also made an impression on the men of the party as well. Luke had been telling them about his sister's jewelry making and also of the painstaking detail he and his friend John went through for the companion snow globe. The men seemed to marvel at how Luke could be such a romantic, how he could think of such things while he had a "restaurant" to run. Luke only smiled and told the group it was easy to think of such things when a woman like Lorelai was in your life. Richard seemed to appreciate that comment the most.
7777777777777777777777777777777777777777
As they counted down 2001 and were ready to welcome 2002, Richard claimed Emily and Rory as his girls of the New Year. As the party guests counted down Emily noticed how Lorelai pulled Luke away from the other guests into the dining room, so when 2002 arrived, Emily could only watch the couple as they embraced and kissed in the other room. Emily was so bothered by that sight that she barely felt her husband's kiss on her cheek.
It was then Emily saw how much Lorelai loved this Luke person. Emily began to wonder if there was anything at all she could do about it.
The guests began to depart about a half hour after midnight, the Stars Hollow trio said goodbye to their gracious hosts, and Richard waved from the front door. He leaned over to Emily as he waved to the girls and Luke and said to his wife, "I like him."
Then he turned full on to Emily, "Did you know he had that necklace made for Lorelai? Extraordinary man." Emily could only turn to scowl at her husband for being absolutely no help in their desperate situation.
7777777777777777777777777777777
It was late enough that no one in Stars Hollow was up, so the trio tried to be as quiet as possible while making their return in the town limits. Lorelai let Rory out of the jeep at the house and Luke was content to walk back to the diner, but Lorelai returned to the passenger seat and put her hand on his leg to keep him from exiting the jeep.
"Lorelai?"
"Let's go some where…I want to welcome 2002 properly," she smiled shyly. Now that they were back in the real world, away from her past and memories, Lorelai only wanted to focus on their future and devote this New Year solely to Luke. No botched wedding plans, no past loves; only her and Luke for the whole of 2002.
Luke closed the jeep's door as a sign he was willing for whatever Lorelai had planned, though a little confused of how to implement it. "Well, where? Rory's here, Jess is at the diner…"
"Well, there's always… the inn?" a small smile playing on Lorelai's lips.
"Lorelai… that first time was an emergency…"
"And at the Bracebridge Dinner it was totally planned," Lorelai took his hand. "This is a special occasion, an emergency. Please…why else do you think I wore this dress if I didn't want you to remove it?"
Luke played with her fingers a little bit, considering his options, "The town may find out."
"So, who cares! We did the tough part, we made it through my parents, so I don't care who knows it now. I just want to be with you…."
Luke met her intense gaze, "Let's go."
7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
A/N: HEY Han Solo just saw Season 6 and he went BLIND from the experience; here are his thoughts:
Han Solo: Chewie! I can't see, pal. What's going on? Luke? Luke's crazy! Can't he take care of himself, much less rescue anybody (OR MARRY ANYBODY!) A Jedi Knight? (A FATHER to April? Who the Hell is APRIL?) I'm out of it for a little while, and everyone gets delusions of grandeur!
77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
"That was all God given talent..." why thank you, NON POD Luke!
7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
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...