Disclaimer- Nope, it's still not mine…
Lorelai had made stopped into the hardware store almost regularly whenever she went to the doctor's. She hadn't gone the week before, but decided to make an appearance now. The bell on the door jingled. Luke didn't even bother to look up from the inventory notebook he was writing in, since he already knew it was her. She waved and smiled to Mr. Danes and then walked over to the counter. She slapped down a big manila envelope, causing Luke to look up. She pulled out a translucent sheet of plastic-y paper. It had lots of dark spots, but it made an almost-clear, yet quite fuzzy image.
"Check this out," She smiled, biting her lip.
She held the sheet up to the window so the light showed the image clearer. They stared at it in amazement for a few minutes.
"Woah…so that thing is in there?" Luke asked in wonder, pointing to her stomach.
"Why yes Luke, that thing is in there. Would you like me to refresh your memory of where babies come from?" She mocked, using a voice as though she was talking to a little kid.
Luke rolled his eyes as Lorelai lowered it back down to the counter.
"So, you say that Chris is there for you, but how come he doesn't ever come to your doctor's appointments?" Luke asked, interested.
"Well, he doesn't have to. We're not really going out anymore, and he has other things to do. I'm fine with going alone. Just knowing that I have his support is good enough for me," She explained.
She checked the clock, realizing that this particular appointment had gone on longer than usual.
"Gotta get home," Lorelai reasoned, sliding the envelope into her bag.
"Bye," Luke replied.
"Bye," She waved to both Luke and his dad, and left.
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The Next Day-
Lorelai got in the car and went to school, now just feeling downright awkward in her school uniform. Small, rolled plaid skirts did not agree with pregnancy. This was probably going to be one of her last weeks at school. Rumors were flying, and even though she was completely unfazed, her mother didn't enjoy it and school was getting to be quite a pain. Either the people were extremely bitchy, or they treated her like a baby, always asking if she was okay and wanting to do whatever they could to make her "as comfortable as possible." She scoffed to herself. She thought that having people catering to her every whim would be fun, but she found that every day she was yearning more and more to be treated normally. That's why she liked going to the hardware store. She could talk normally. They only talked about the baby when she brought it up.
She walked toward Christopher slowly.
"Hey Chris," She greeted, smiling weakly.
"Hey. How is she?" He asked, gesturing to her stomach.
"She's great…Look, I think we should talk," She began.
"It is the baby? If something's up I should know," Chris said, panicked.
"No, no, I just told you, she's FINE," She replied. "I just think maybe we should give up this whole couple thing. I mean, before you found out I was pregnant, we were pretty much almost over anyway. You'll still obviously be a part of her life, but we just won't be…romantically involved."
"You sure about this?" He asked.
She nodded.
"Alright, I can't say I completely disagree," Chris replied.
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Luke sat on the bench at his track meet, waiting for his turn to run. They called him up to the starting line. He did some calf stretches and lunges while he waited. This was one of the last track meets, since it had become unbelievably cold out. The shotgun popped and he ran. He was the first one to break through the finish line. There was a flash coming from the general area where a newspaper reporter was standing. In the stands, he saw Liz, her friend Kim, and Carrie cheering loudly. Carrie was jumping up and down holding a heavily-glittered poster reading "Go BUTCH Danes!". It was a wonder how she didn't fall down hopping around in those heels.
Luke got some water, slipped on his sweatpants and sweatshirt, and got on the bus to go back to the school parking lot. His dad was waiting there for him and Liz, and he picked them up and drove them home. They both ate dinner, took showers, and went to bed.
The next morning, Luke grabbed the paper, reading through some interesting stores and then flipping to the sports section. He skimmed through the professional sports and then his eyes stopped on a picture.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" He asked to no one in particular, and added a few more expletives in there.
It was a picture of him, crashing through the finish line at the track meet last night. He went to school.
After a ho-hum day of school involving many people congratulating him, he went home. He was eager to see Lorelai, after having to deal with all the annoying kids at his school. Not that she wasn't annoying… she was, just a different kind of annoying, an endearing kind.
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Lorelai was sitting in the lobby of the doctor's office after her check-up, waiting for the receptionist to call her up to the desk to schedule her next appointment. The only thing around to read was either Women's Day, Fit Pregnancy, or a local Stars Hollow newspaper. She wasn't really a 'Women's Day' kinda gal, and if she really wanted to know about pregnancy she could just look down at her stomach that had now obscured her view of her shoes, so she chose the paper. She wasn't really the newspaper type either. No, much more into the National Enquirer, but she found this town interesting.
She flipped through. Stories about some random round guy named Taylor Doose and his proposition of a 'Stars Hollow Shrub Festival', some girl around her age named Sookie winning the local pie-baking contest, making her the youngest winner in Stars Hollow history, and some kind of annual parade coming up. Then she passed over the sports section. She was flipping quickly, hoping that this paper had one of those witty Family Circus comics…but no Cathy, Cathy was annoying. All it was was griping about being a woman and being fat & how times were changing (AN- my thoughts exactly…it's the same thing I think about 'The View'…I can't stand 'Cathy' or 'The View'). But as she was flipping through, something in the sports section caught her eye. A picture. She tried to stifle her laughter and stuffed the page in her bag as the woman at the front desk called her up.
Lorelai walked into the hardware store.
"Hey," Luke greeted, his back turned as he was sorting some stuff into a box.
"Hey…do you need any help?" Lorelai asked.
"Nahh," He replied.
"What? I'm not allowed to touch the nuts and bolts?" She asked innocently, pretending to sound hurt.
"No, you're not. This is my job, you're not allowed to touch my nuts and bolts," He answered grumpily, not even hearing the words coming out of his mouth.
"Dirty!" She squealed. "You totally backed into that one!"
"You set me up!" He objected, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"I couldn't help it," She laughed.
"Well very funny," He said sarcastically.
She leaned both forearms on the counter. She whipped the paper out of her bag.
"So, since when are you the big track star, mister? Can I have your autograph?" She asked, slapping the page down.
"Geez, you've seen it too?" He asked, reddening.
"Yup, and I must say, the short-shorts are a nice touch," She replied, laughing.
"Put that away," He demanded gruffly.
"Nah, I don't think so…" She giggled, holding it up in the air away from him.
"Don't make me come on that side of the counter," He threatened playfully.
"What if I do?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Well, I don't think we want to get to that step," He crossed his arms.
"You have no idea what you'll do, do you?" She asked, cracking a smile.
"None whatsoever," He answered bluntly, putting his arms down at his sides, smiling a bit.
Author's Note- Wasn't that just a cute chapter? Well, if you thought so, why don't you say so? That little review button is right down there, just waiting to be clicked. And if you didn't think it was that cute, just review anyway. I usually don't agree with peer pressure, but do it! Do it! (of course you don't have to if you really don't want to, I won't be mad or anything, promise). And by the way, if you're totally lost about what that "fuzzy image" was, it was her sonogram. More later!