10 – All I want for Christmas…
"Excuse me… sorry… sorry… could you let me through… sorry..." Rory was having trouble maneuvering herself, a large sports bag, a backpack, two large paper bags and a box the size of Ohio through the hallway at Yale. The fact that there were people running in every direction didn't exactly help her case.
Suddenly, she hit a stop. Knowing the corridors in her dorm like the back of her hand, Rory was positive that there was no wall or door in front of her. Which meant that someone, proably a lost freshman or something equally annoying when you're running late, was blocking her way.
"Excuse me, could you possibly move a little to let me through?" She asked through the wall of cardboard in her arms.
"Let me think about that for a moment... no, sorry, I think that will be impossible."
At the sound of the familiar voice, Rory dropped everything she was carrying on the floor.
"Logan!" She threw herself into his arms, which resulted in the two of them in a heap on the floor due to her heavy backpack.
"Nice to see you too, Ace!" He laughed, giving her a kiss that seemed to last forever.
When they finally pulled apart, Rory realized that they were in fact on the floor in her dorm corridor, and started to get up.
"What's your hurry?" Logan asked, grabbing her arm to keep her from moving. "I like it here."
"People are starting to stare." She mumbled, starting to turn slightly red.
"Let them look." He replied, giving her another kiss. "Aren't you happy to see me?"
"Of course I am, I would just prefer to be seeing you in an upright position." Rory told him.
"Let's see if we can't arrange that, then." Logan got up and held out a helping hand to Rory. "M'lady."
"Kind sir." Rory accepted, and stood up.
"Now can we say hello?" Logan asked.
"I thought we already did." Rory replied.
"I've been gone six months, that wasn't even close to hello." Logan complained, pulling Rory closer by the waist. She willingly obliged.
"Hi." She offered him a smile.
"Hi." He once again closed the distance between them and kissed her. "Now, that's more like it."
"How about we do the rest of our 'hellos' later." Rory suggested.
"I like the sound of that." Logan agreed, picking up the box from the floor before grabbing his own bag. "What is all this stuff?"
"Christmas presents." Rory replied, arranging the rest of her things in her arms and leading the way down the hallway.
"That's a lot of presents." Logan noticed.
"I like Christmas." Rory replied, opening the door and walking towards the parking lot.
"I think you've missed the whole point with Christmas, it's about getting presents, not giving." Logan joked.
"Ha ha." Rory mock laughed. "What are you doing here anyway, I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow?"
"And again I ask, aren't you happy to see me?" Logan put on a hurt face.
"I am, I just thought you would be busy with your family today." Rory put the paper bags down on the trunk of her car so they wouldn't get wet from the snow and got the keys to her car fromher pocket.
"Turns out they had this boring lunch with equally boring business associates of my dad's today, so I was excused." Logan explained, opening the trunk to deposit the bags and box.
"Well, remind me to send him a thank you card." Rory said, smiling.
"I know, a whole day extra, whatever will we do with ourselves?" Logan showed exactly what he had in mind by trapping Rory between himself and the car, his mouth finding the minimal amount of skin that was actually exposed to the cold beneath her ear.
"As much as I'd love to, and I really, really would..." Rory said, pulling away. "I promised my mom I'd be home today, she needs help with setting up for the party."
"But the party is a week away." Logan intervened.
"Six days, actually, and you know how mom can get." Rory replied. "I was going to call you so you could go straight to Stars Hollow tomorrow instead of picking me up here."
"OK, so I'll go with you." Logan concluded.
"You don't have to." Rory told him. "We'll probably be planning the party all day, maybe squeeze in a few peaks at the nursery and baby stuff. Why don't you go meet up with Finn and the others, have some guy time?"
"I don't want to meet up with the guys, I want to be with my girlfriend." Logan objected. "I'll help with the party plans, I'm great at putting together mixed CDs. And the baby stuff I can handle." He took her hand in his and interlaced their fingers. "Or are you trying to get rid of me?"
"I'm not trying to get rid of you, I just thought that you'd be bored." Rory explained. "But if you really want to, you can come."
"How very gracious of you." Logan acknowledged.
"I am nothing if not gracious." Rory replied, taking a few steps towards the drivers side of the car, but she slipped on the icy ground and Logan had to catch her to keep her from falling.
"And graceful, too." He chuckled, helping her to regain her balance.
"Shush, you." Rory slapped Logan on the arm. "So, are you going to follow me?"
"Honor actually drove me here, so I thought I could catch a ride with you." Logan said, rounding the car.
"OK, but I get to pick the music." Rory hurried to lay down the rules.
"It's only a fourty minute drive, Ace." Logan reminded her.
"I know, but I still get to pick." Rory insisted.
"Fine." Logan surrendered, getting in the car. Rory followed his example and then turned the car on. "But I veto anything with dead, German chicks."
"That was one time, one time!"
"My ears will never be the same." Logan shook his head as Rory searched her CD case for the appropriate road music.
"Ah, perfect." She announced a moment later, popping X & Y in the CD-player.
"Now this I can handle." Logan said when Square one started playing.
"I knew you'd like Coldplay." Rory backed out of the parking spot and drove towards the highway.
"So, all well in the Gilmore world?" Logan asked a few minutes later.
"Finals are over, so I'm all good." Rory replied. "Luke's back, so that situation is under control. If they could only see what's right in front of them, everything would be even better."
"What do you mean?" Logan wondered.
"Mom says that they're going to be friends, that that's what they both want, to stay friends for the baby's sake." Rory explained. "But I know that she's still in love with him, and from what April has told me, he still loves her too. It's just a matter of making them both realise that."
"They'll get there, if they're supposed to." Logan said realistically.
"Of course they're supposed to." Rory replied. "Then there's Emily."
"She's not happy Luke's back?"
"That's the understatement of the year." Rory laughed sarcastically. "She knows that she can't tell mom how she really feels, because she wouldn't want Grandma around the baby if she kept bad mouthing his or her dad, so she's taken to complaining to me instead."
"That sounds like fun." Logan noted.
"Big fun." Rory agreed sarcastically. "She's called me every day since mom told her Luke was back, sometimes twice a day. After a while, I just started putting the phone down on the bed while she babbled on about 'Luke this' and 'Luke that'. What, she doesn't think I'll tell mom what she's been saying?"
"But you won't, will you?" Logan stated. "Because you don't want your mom and Emily fighting right now."
"I know." Rory admitted. "I just wish that she would let it go already."
"Emily can hold a grudge with the best of them." Logan noted.
"But that's just it, she's not even the one who's supposed to be holding a grudge!" Rory exclaimed. "If anyone should be mad, it's mom."
"Emily is just... Emily." Logan said. "She'll get over this when she realises that there's nothing she can do about the situation."
"There is nothing she can do."
"Then let her see that for herself." Logan suggested. "The party might be a great opportunity."
"I guess." Rory sighed.
"So, what else is going on?"
xxxxx
"She should have been here by now." Lorelai looked out the window for the fifteenth time in the past ten minutes.
"Maybe traffic was bad?" Sookie suggested, looking up from the piece of paper in front of her.
"Maybe." Lorelai dropped the curtain and sat back down on the couch.
"What do you think about duck for the main course?" Sookie asked, chewing on the pen she was holding.
"Duck?" Lorelai frowned. "Sookie, hon, it's Christmas. Christmas means turkey."
"I thought we could try something a little different." Sookie replied.
"What about 'let's have a traditional Christmas dinner'?"
"Traditional's boring." Sookie complained. "I'm already cooking the traditional dinner at the inn, I thought I'd try something a little different here."
"Sookie, my parents are coming to this party." Lorelai said. "Now, I'm already not their favorite daughter of the moment, let's try and give them as little ammo as possible, OK?"
"Fine, turkey it is." Sookie surrendered, writing it down on her menu. "But I can still make the strawberry and kiwi ice cream for desert, right?"
"You can make whatever you want fordessert, as long as it tastes good." Lorelai replied.
"Great." Sookie wrote the dessert down too, but stopped half way. "Or maybe... no, wait, how about..."
"Sookie, what do you say you think about the desert til Friday, OK?" Lorelai suggested. "You don't have to plan it that far in advance anyway."
"That sounds good, I've got, like, a hundred different ideas."
"I know, honey, I know." Lorelai patted her best friend on the knee. "Just don't wait til the last minute, or it'll end up like that time... is that a car?" She got up from the couch and made her way to the window. "It is!"
"Rory's home, Rory's home!" Sookie sing-songed, going to open the door. "You're home!" She called through the doorway.
"Sookie!" Rory abandoned the bags for the moment, running to the porch and hugging her friend. "It's Christmas!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Christmas is still a couple of days away." Lorelai said, coming out onto the porch.
"Mom!" Rory let go of Sookie and walked into her mother's waiting arms. "It's so good to be home, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."
"It's only been two weeks." Lorelai objected. "But I know what you mean!"
"So, finals are over?" Sookie asked, breaking the hug.
"Yup, all done." Rory replied. "Now I just have to worry about the results over the holidays. The American school is a wonderful establishment, isn't it? First they stress the students for weeks and weeks before Christmas, and then we have to wonder how we did the entire break."
"It's horrible, let's write to the president about it!" Lorelai suggested, looping her arm in Rory's and starting to guide her inside.
"I come bearing gifts!" Logan's voice came from behind the trio.
"Logan, I didn't think you'd be here today." Lorelai said, letting go of her daughter to greet him.
"I managed to get away a little earlier." Logan replied, shaking Lorelai's hand. "You look lovely as always."
"Did you tell him to say that?" Lorelai asked, turning to face Rory. "You told him to say that, didn't you?"
"I didn't, I swear." Rory said, holding up her hands in defeat.
"She didn't, I promise." Logan cut in.
"OK, I guess." Lorelai nodded. "But I don't believe you meant it for one second."
xxxxx
"Your slave is here!" Luke called into the house when he closed the door behind him. It had been a couple of days since the trip to the hospital, so Lorelai didn't technically have to rest as much any longer, and she had gone back to the inn the day before, but Luke had somehow been roped into keeping the dinner deliveries up. Not that he minded, it gave him the opportunity to see her every day.
"Living room!" She now called back, and he started making his way towards her.
"Now, there's lettuce and tomatoes on the burger, and you will not pick it off unless you want me to force feed it to you later." He said as he entered the living room. When he looked up, he froze. "Rory, hey..." Desperately, he raked his mind to remember if Lorelai had told him that Rory would be home that day. Nope. She had conveniently left out that detail. Seeing Rory had, after seeing Lorelai of course, been the thing Luke had feared the most in returning to Stars Hollow. They hadn't really had a chance to talk at the hospital, and he had no idea where he stood with the young woman who he had, for so long, considered the closest thing to a child he would get. Now, there she was, frowning at him from the couch.
"What's wrong?" She asked, shooting a questioning look at her mother.
"Yeah, what's wrong, Luke?" Lorelai repeated.
"Nothing, I just, I didn't know you'd be home, or I would have brought more food..." Luke tried to shrug off, but Lorelai had caught on to the actual reason.
"Oh, I get it." She said, nodding understandingly.
"Get what?" Rory asked, looking puzzled. "Because I sure don't."
"He thinks you're mad at him." Lorelai stage whispered.
"Lorelai, I didn't..." Luke started, but the women on the couch were now ignoring him.
"Of course, that makes sense." Rory nodded.
"I'm not..."
"He should realise that I can't stay mad at him by now." Rory reasoned, as if Luke had not just spoken. "I mean, how long have we known each other, ten, eleven years?"
"Exactly." Lorelai agreed. "He's just insecure, you know he cares about you, babe."
"Can I get a word in too?" Luke raised his voice a little, finally getting the attention of the two women.
"Sorry, you were saying?" Lorelai asked. "And there's no point in denying it, either."
"Fine, I was a little worried that Rory might not be as understanding about the situation." Luke admitted. "I know how much you care about your mother and that you've probably been worried these past fewmonths, and it would be easy to blame everything on me."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I do blame you." Rory replied.
"If you just let me explain..."
"Partially." Rory cut him off. "I mean, for the breakup and everything. But I know it was mom's fault, too. As for the leaving, no, you shouldn't have, but I get why. And you had no way of knowing what was going on back here."
"Thanks." Luke let out a breath of relief.
"No problem." Rory stood up. "Now, can we say hello properly? We didn't really have the time in the hospital the other day."
"Sure." Luke opened his arms for her, and she walked into his embrace.
"I've missed you." She mumbled, hugging him hard. "And not just the coffee, either."
"I've missed you too." Luke replied, feeling a few tears rise in his eyes, but he was able to keep them at bay. "I shouldn't have stayed away so long."
"No, you shouldn't have, but thats's all forgiven." Rory agreed, letting go of him and sitting back down on the couch next to her mother. "Now, the food issue on the other hand..."
"I can go back to the diner and get more." Luke immediately offered.
"Nah, that's OK, Logan went to get Chinese food anyway." Lorelai waved off. "I kinda forgot about the dinner arrangement in all the excitement of Rory coming home."
"Don't I feel the love." Luke said dryly, and Lorelai gave him an apologetic smile.
"Sorry."
"I'll just put your food in the fridge, you can have it tomorrow, and then I'll leave you guys alone."
"No, stay!" Rory said quickly.
"Yeah, stay." Lorelai too insisted. "He should be back any minute, eat with us."
"OK, let me just put this away." Luke went into the kitchen and put Lorelai's food in the fridge before getting a glass of water to go with is salad. When he returned to the living room, he gave Lorelai a stern look. "And you will not eat the burger cold again, I'm not sure it's healthy."
"But it tasted fine, and the microwave was sooo far away." Lorelai complained.
"Just humor me." Luke sat down in an armchair and took a fork full of his salad.
"Fine, Mr. Food Police." Lorelai agreed. "I will heat the burger."
"Thank you."
Rory watched as her mom and Luke bantered, thinking of how much it reminded her of old times, as cliché as it may sound. She swore to herself, that if it was the last thing she did, she would get them back together.
xxxxx
"Your mom is quite the handful right now, isn't she?" Logan said later that night when he and Rory were alone in her room.
"I'm sorry, you got a full dose of her today, didn't you?" Rory realised.
"Nah, I enjoy being interrogated." Logan joked.
"She just wants to make sure that you're good enough for me." Rory explain.
"I can tell her right now that I'm not." Logan replied. "I don't know how I got this lucky."
"You sweet talker. You're just trying to get me in bed."
"You're already in bed."
"Well, you know what I mean." Rory playfully slapped him on the arm.
"Is it working?"
"You tell me."
xxxxx
"Why did I decide to have a party here, remind me please?" Lorelai rubbed her back as she paused for a moment. The kitchen was filled with pots and pans of something that smelled wonderful. There was a large Christmas tree in the living room, and the entire house was filled with decorations.
"You wanted a chance to gather family and friends." Sookie willingly offered from the stove.
"And I couldn't have done that at the inn, where there are people to help withthe clean up process?" Lorelai complained, sitting down on the only empty chair in the kitchen.
"We'll help you clean up, you don't have to do it by yourself." Sookie assured her, propping a wooden spoon under her nose. "Taste this." Lorelai obliged.
"This tastes great, Sook." Came her verdict.
"Really? Cause I thought there was something missing." She tasted the gravy herself, frowning. "I got it, more butter!" She returned to the stove as the front door opened and closed.
"Anybody here!" They heard Luke call.
"Kitchen!" Lorelai called back, pushing herself off the chair to greet him. "Hey." She said as he entered the kitchen.
"Hey yourself." He held up several bags. "Where do I put these?"
"Presents?" Luke nodded. "Under the tree." Lorelai told him, and Luke disappeared into the living room.
"How are things with you two?" Sookie asked quietly when he had left the kitchen.
"They're fine, why?" Lorelai replied, getting a pack of paper plates from a cabinet. She had refused to use real plates, knowing the clean up would take twice as long.
"I was just wondering, you know." Sookie shrugged. "I mean, you're not used to having him around all the time like this."
"Sookie, it's a good thing that Luke's back, remember?"
"I know, I know, and I think it's great, but... you two have a lot of stuff to work through, and it seems like you haven't really started to deal with that." Sookie explained, avoiding Lorelai's eyes by stirring the gravy.
"There is no stuff to work through, Sookie, we have worked out everything that we can right now, and the rest we'll just deal with when it comes around." Lorelai said.
"I wasn't just talking about the baby stuff." Sookie intervened.
"Well, there is nothing else to deal with, OK?" Lorelai suddenly sounded annoyed.
"Lorelai..."
"No, Sookie, please." Lorelai shook her head.
"Fine." Sookie surrendered. "But you'll have to deal with it eventually." She added under her breath, but Lorelai had already left the kitchen.
xxxxx
"That's quite a lot of presents you've got there." Lorelai noted as she entered the living room where Luke was putting gifts under the tree. "Have I been a good girl this year?"
"They're not all for you." Luke replied dryly. "And I got Anna and April's presents too, so they wouldn't have to bring them over later."
"Oh, OK. They'll be here at three?"
"They'll be here at three." Luke confirmed.
"Are you going back to the diner?" Lorelai asked. "It's only twelve thirty."
"Nah, I told Ceasar that I wouldn't be in more today, he'll close up in a couple of hours, go home for the holidays." Luke replied. "I thought I'd hang around, help you guys get everything ready."
"Bless you, I don't know what I've gotten myself into." Lorelai said, slumping down on the couch.
"What's the problem?" Luke asked, placing the last few presents under the tree.
"Everything's just a little overwhelming." Lorelai explained. "There are still a lot to do before everyone gets here, and then there's cleaning up after. I get tired just thinking about it."
"Well, I brought the table and chairs over." Luke said. Lorelai had had to borrow a larger table and a couple of chairs from Sookie's house because there would be fourteen adults and three children for the dinner, and Luke had offered his truck for transportation. "How about I get everything set up down here, and then I'll help Sookie with the food, and you go upstairs and rest."
"But I have things to do, I have to vacuum the living room, and make the punch, and set the table, and..."
"And I will take care of that." Luke cut her off. "Where are Rory and Logan?"
"They went for a walk around town, Rory wanted to show Logan the amazing Stars Hollow in the winter." Lorelai said. "But I can't rest now, I have to..."
"No, you don't." Luke interrupted again. "You are too stressed, and you need to rest. Got it? Rory and Logan can help out when they get back."
"Fine." Lorelai surrendered, getting up from the couch. "But call me if you need me for anything." She added as she allowed Luke to lead her towards the stairs.
"We won't." He replied.
"OK, but if you do." She said, walking up a few stairs. "And tell Sookie she has to use the largest of the pots for the jams, or there won't be enough, and tell her..."
"Upstairs. Now!"
"OK, OK, I'm going."
xxxxx
"Hi, guys, thanks for coming." Lorelai greeted Liz, T.J. and Amanda a couple of hours later. "Hi, sweetie, aren't you just the cutest thing, yes you are."
"Would you like to hold her?" Liz asked, offering her daughter to Lorelai.
"Well, hello, doll face." Lorelai cooed, taking the baby from Liz. "I haven't seen you in days, no I haven't."
"What is it with women and babies?" Luke asked no one in particular as he passed them on his way from the kitchen to the living room, where he was in the middle of setting the table.
"You just wait." T.J. told him. "When that's your own kid, you'll be talking baby talk too."
"I'll try to supress the urge." Luke replied dryly.
"Don't listen to him, he's just a mean old man. Yes he is." Lorelai was still using her baby voice.
"Jeez!" Luke rolled his eyes before continuing into the living room with the paper plates he was carrying.
"Are they freaking you out too?" Logan asked, grimacing at the women in the foyer.
"What is it with women?" Luke repeated his earlier question. "Why can't they just talk like normal people around kids, it's not like it'll help their vocabulary."
"I think it's a genetic thing." Logan concluded.
"That sounds about right." Luke agreed. "Seems to affect T.J. too."
"Well, noboby has accused him of being very masculine, have they?"
Luke chuckled a little at that. When Lorelai had first told him that Rory and Logan were still together, Luke hadn't liked it. He hadn't liked it at all. But as he had spent some time with Logan, both alone and with Rory, he had come to realise that the young man was madly in love with Lorelai's daughter. And he had accepted that. He still hadn't admitted it to himself, let alone anyone else, but he was starting to like Logan.
"They sure haven't." Luke now agreed, placing the plates on the large table.
"You want some help with that?" Logan asked and Luke nodded.
"Sure, there are paper cups and some other stuff left in the kitchen." Luke led the way through the hallway and Logan followed. Just as they were safely in the kitchen, a voice cut through the baby talk in the foyer.
"You really shouldn't leave the front door open, this place is like an igloo."
"Emily." Luke sighed. The person he was least looking forward to meeting.
"I take it she's not your favorite person?" Logan noted.
"It's more the other way around, I'm not her favorite person." Luke corrected.
"She won't do anything, don't worry." Logan assured him. "Rory told me how she's arfaid of Lorelai cutting her out of the baby's life if she lets on how she really feels about the situation, so I'm sure she'll keep it cool."
"Doesn't change the fact that she'll never accept me." Luke shook his head. "I'm not good enough, because I'm not from a rich family. I'm just a diner owner with no future."
"She'll come around." Logan told him. "It just takes Emily a while to adjust to people."
"She loved you from the beginning." Luke argued.
"She doesn't know me. She knows my parents, my last name." Logan said.
"Well, that's good enough in her book."
"Look, she's smart enough to know that she can't do anything about the situation. She can't change the fact that you are the father of her grandchild, not even Emily Gilmore can change the laws of nature. And as for you and Lorelai, you're not together, so there's nothing to break up. Right?"
"Right..." Luke agreed, hesitating a little. "I gotta get the table ready, Her Highness will be expecting dinner at four sharp." He returned to the living room, but Logan lingered a little in the kitchen. Watching the older man leave the room, he chuckled a little. It was so obvious. Rory had been right, at least about Luke. He was still so in love with Lorelai that he could hardly see straight.
xxxxx
"Everybody, dinner's ready!" Sookie announced a little over an hour later. "Let's eat!"
The people, who had been standing around the living room in small groups, immediately sat down at the table.
"It looks wonderful, Sookie." Emily praised as Jackson brought the turkey in from the kitchen.
"Thank you, Mrs. Gilmore." Sookie said, blushing a little.
"Oh, none of that now, it's Emily." Emily chided her.
"Thank you, Emily." Sookie corrected, getting a look from Lorelai. "What?"
"You're fraternizing with the enemy." Lorelai whispered.
"She's not the enemy, I thought things were going good?"
"They were, until Luke came back." Lorelai explained.
"She seems fine with it." Sookie frowned, watching as Emily made small talk with Luke across the table.
"To the untrained eye, maybe, but I grew up with her." Lorelai argued. "I can smell a condescending Emily from a mile away."
"Well, talk to her about it." Sookie suggested.
"I guess I'll have to." Lorelai sighed. "Not looking forward to it, though."
"It'll be fine." Sookie assured her.
"Not so sure about that."
"OK, who wants me to cut the turkey?" Jackson asked, getting a round of 'yes' from the hungry guests. "OK, plates this way."
When everyone had food in front of them, Jackson finally sat down.
"OK, everybody, dig in!" Lorelai exclaimed, causing Emily to roll her eyes.
"Actually, before we eat, I would like to say something." Logan announced, standing up and pushing his chair back.
"This isn't Thanksgiving, Logan, it's OK to eat without saying grace." Lorelai joked.
"I know." Logan nodded. "Still, I would like to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your holiday. You have given me a different view on what family is really about. Growing up, I usually spent the holidays with my sister and an army of maids and nannies, so it's nice to see that there are people who are more focused on family and friends ratherthan on careers and social status still out there."
"Amen to that." Lorelai agreed.
"With that said..." Logan turned to Rory, taking her hand before he went down on one knee.
"What are you doing?" Rory whispered.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" He whispered back.
"You can't..."
"Rory." He cut her off. "Spending these past six months without you, have made me realise that I hate being apart from you. Knowing that I have to return to England in a couple of days hasn't made it any easier. I know that we're still young, and I know that you still have school, and we can wait, as long as you want, but I still wanted to do this now." Taking a small, velvet box from his pocket, he opened it to reveal a beautiful, golden engagement band with a heart shaped diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds. "Will you marry me?"