Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.
Chapter Twenty Three
Rory rolled over as the sun hit her eyes. Evil Sun! Rory thought to herself. "Great now I sound like Finn!" Rory said to herself. She climbed out of bed and decided to get dressed and head to Luke's. She knew her mom probably hadn't had anything form Luke's in a while since Sookie was probably still boycotting Luke's in some form of solidarity. She walked out the front door and was almost out of the yard when she was stopped by Babette.
"Rory honey. How's your mom holding up? It's so sad those two kids breaking up like that. I really thought they were so much in love."
"She's ok Babette. And you're right it is sad. I miss Luke, but really Babette they both are still in love. Everything will work out. I'm sure of it."
"That's it sugar. You just got to keep thinking positively. Where you headed off to so early?"
"Actually to Luke's. I thought I'd get mom some takeout before I leave for Yale."
"Speaking of Yale, is there any chance we'll get to meet that fellow that loaned you the limo the last time you were here?" Babette asked nosily
"Soon, Babette. He might be coming home with me next weekend."
"So you two are dating then sugar?"
"No we're just really good friends. Honestly."
"Uh huh, I bet he's gorgeous. You have excellent taste in men Rory."
"So Ms. Patty tells me. Well it was nice talking to you Babette, but I want to get back before Mom wakes up and since I plan on ordering a massive amount of food I should probably get going."
"Of course sugar. I'll see you later." Babette said
"Of course. Tell Morey I said hello."
"Oh I will. I will."
Rory walked out of the yard praying she didn't run into Patty on the way to the diner too. She walked into Luke's ten minutes later and went straight up to the counter. "Rory. Hi." Luke said uncertainly
"Hey Luke." Rory said in a chipper voice. "Now I know this is going to sound insane but can I have one of everything on the menu that me and mom eat?"
"Are you stocking Lorelai's fridge with my food?" Luke asked
"Well, yeah. So I guess what I really need is enough food to feed my mother until I can get back here in the middle of the week. And I know that you and Mom are still fighting and everything but there really is no reason to deprive her of food and coffee now is there? I mean we wouldn't want her to starve…" Rory rambled off
"Rory. Rory. It's ok. I'll go put the order in ok. But it's going to take a while."
"Ok, I'm going to go to the bookstore. I'll be back in about thirty forty minutes, is that enough time?"
"Yeah that's fine."
"Thank you Luke."
Rory spent about forty five minutes in the bookstore. She made polite conversation with Andrew and then left, surprisingly without buying a single book. She reentered Luke's and headed to the counter. She was almost there when she was stopped by Kirk. "Hello Rory."
"Hello Kirk." Rory said looking at him strangely
Kirk gestured to Lulu. "You remember Lulu, my girlfriend."
"Oh course Kirk, Hi Lulu." Rory said still eyeing Kirk strangely
"I just wanted to see how Lorelai was doing."
"She's fine Kirk."
"Great, so I was wondering, whenever she needs something fixed around the house she normally goes to Luke right?"
"Yes…" Rory said hesitantly unsure where this was going
"Well since Luke and Lorelai aren't together anymore because she screwed up with Luke and lied to him about your dad," he said pointing at the blue ribbon pinned to his shirt causing Rory to roll her eyes, "I was thinking that I should offer my services. Do you think she would hire me? And how much do you think she would charge?"
Rory looked at Kirk and said, "Oh course Kirk. I think that should be your sales pitch. You can go up to my mom and look her dead in the eye and say 'Hey Lorelai, I heard that you screwed up your relationship with Luke', then you can point at one of those awful ribbons that make my mom wanna throw something and then add, 'So can I be your new handyman!' Somehow Kirk I doubt Lorelai will take you up on that, but I think you should try anyway. Give my mom a punching bag for a little while." Then Rory yelled out "LUKE!"
"Yeah." Luke called from the back
"Is my food ready?"
"Just one second Ror."
"Good!"
Luke walked out and saw Kirk standing next to Rory and rolled his eyes. The scowl on his face got bigger the second he noticed the obnoxious blue ribbon and the angry look on Rory's face. "Get the hell out of my diner Kirk." He yelled
"What, Why?" Kirk said
"NOW!" Luke bellowed
Kirk and Lulu ran out of the diner. The second they were both safe on the other side of the door Lulu looked at Kirk. "I told you that it wasn't a good idea."
xxx
Lorelai awoke to the smell of coffee. Suddenly she remembered that Rory was there and jumped out of bed. She threw on some clothes and ran downstairs to find Rory staring at the coffee pot. "Daughter of mine! What are you doing?"
"Making coffee." Rory said her eyes never moving from the coffee pot in front of her.
"Luke's coffee?"
"How can you tell?"
"Smells better than regular coffee, plus my coffee pot starting rejecting anything that wasn't Luke's magic coffee." Lorelai said as if it was common knowledge
Rory just nodded and poured her and her mom each a cup of coffee. Lorelai drank it down and walked over to the fridge. She threw it open to see what she had to eat and noticed that the entire refrigerator was full of food. "Rory you filled my fridge!" Lorelai asked in disbelief. "There was barely anything in here this morning and now its full with takeout boxes."
"Well I couldn't very well let you starve since I have to go back to Yale in like fifteen minutes. Look through them. I'll be back on Wednesday. You can let me know what you want for the rest of the week and I'll get it. I'll also be back this weekend."
"With Logan?" Lorelai asked
"Maybe maybe not. After the fight with Robert he may decide I'm not worth it."
"He started the fight Ror. I guarantee he thinks you're worth it or he wouldn't have wanted to bash Robert's face in when he started talking about the date or the kiss." Lorelai said soothingly and then turned back to the fridge. "Wait are all these from Luke's?"
"He didn't want you to starve either. I gotta go. I love you mom. I'll be back in a few days." Rory said walking towards the front door
"OK Hun, thanks a lot for the food. I'm just not ready to go in there yet."
"It's ok. I understand and so does Luke. I don't think he's ready to see you again yet either." Rory said opening the front door. Standing outside the door was Luke. "Then again he might be. Call me later." Rory said. She turned around, kissed her mom, and waved bye to Luke. She took on last look back at her mom and Luke who still hadn't moved from the spot on the porch and smiled. Then got in her car and drove back to Yale.
xxx
Luke stood there looking at Lorelai who seemed shell shocked. Lorelai in fact hadn't blinked since she saw Luke on her porch, for fear that he would not be there when she opened her eyes. Five minutes passed before Luke finally said anything. "Lore."
Lorelai struggled to find her voice. It was there she knew it was but she couldn't force it to come out. Luke looked at her and watched as she opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. Then opened it and closed it. "Are you ok Lore?"
Finally Lorelai's voice resurfaced. "What are you doing here?"
Luke looked at the ground. "I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"Rory came into the diner yesterday and she talked to me. She said that she missed me and we had this heart to heart conversation in which she told me to talk to you."
"So that's why you're here? Because Rory told you to talk to me?" Lorelai asked
"No, I'm here because I miss you and I wanted to talk to you. I love you Lorelai. I let a lot of things get in the way of how I feel about you. I let Christopher and Emily come between us. And I'm sorry. I thought I was stronger than that but when it really came down to it, I believed them. Not when they said you were still in love with Christopher but when they said I wasn't good enough for you."
"Why would you believe them Luke?"
"Cause that's always been one of my fears. I'm so insecure when it comes to you. It took me years to gather up the nerve to tell you how I felt. I watched you date guy and guy and I never thought I compared to them. I mean you were engaged to a successful teacher and then you were with that Jason guy that worked with your father. I'm nothing like that Lorelai."
"And that's why I love you Luke." Lorelai said without thinking
"You said you love me." Luke said with disbelief
"Well I do, and you said you love me." Lorelai said
"I do. I have always loved you. Ever since the minute I laid eyes on you."
Lorelai and Luke just stood there for a long second and then Luke swept her up in his arms and kissed her.
xxx
Rory walked in the door and saw Doyle and Paris screaming at each other.
"I'm just saying that I'm tired of being referred to as Paris!" Paris screamed
"Well how would you like me to refer to you then. I know I'll just say hey everyone this is Bob! Your name is Paris! Why can't I call you by your name." Doyle yelled back unsure of what was really wrong here.
"I don't know Doyle you could just say Hi this is my GIRLFRIEND Paris!"
Rory looked at Doyle who looked really shell shocked. She decided that he looked too scared to continue having this conversation, so she cleared her throat loudly. "I'm going to go." Doyle said before running out the door
Paris looked angry. "Is everything ok?" Rory asked carefully
Paris sighed, "Yeah, it's fine. Doyle just wont call me his girlfriend. We've been sleeping together for the last five months and he still wont call me his girlfriend."
"I'm sorry Paris." Rory said genuinely
"Robert called for you twice today."
"He did?" Rory asked surprised
"Yeah. Why do you look so surprised?"
"Well you see, when I went out with Robert the other night Logan found out. I thought he was really ok with that but then Robert and Logan got into this big fight earning them both a bunch of bruised faces and split lips."
"Wow. He was really jealous wasn't he?" Paris asked
"I don't know. Maybe. I'm going to go call Robert back. I'll see you later." Rory said
"Oh, ok."
"Paris."
"Yeah?"
"Talk to Doyle. Tell him what's really bothering you. Maybe he'll understand and start calling you his girlfriend."
"You think?"
"You won't know until you try." Rory said shutting her door behind her.
xxx
Robert answered his phone on the second ring. "This is Robert."
"Hey Robert it's Rory."
Robert smiled in spite of the pain it was causing. "Hey Rory. How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm great. So I was thinking…"
"What were you thinking?"
"That we should go to lunch."
Rory would have said no. In fact until she found out about the fight she had intended to say no, if he had asked her out again. But now, she felt guilty. He had been in a fight because of her. So she swallowed the word no down and said "I'd love to."
Robert beamed. "Great I'll be there to get you in an hour."
"I'll see you then." Rory said hanging up.
xxx
Rory had just finished getting ready when Robert showed up. She opened the door for him and sucked in a breath when she saw his face. He had a bunch of bruises on his face and his lip was swollen and split. "I am so sorry." She said reaching out and touching his face slightly
He winced but smiled none the less. "It's ok. It wasn't your fault it was mine own stupid fault. I shouldn't have opened my mouth about the kiss."
Rory just nodded. They walked out the door and headed in the direction of his car. "Where are we going?" Rory asked
"I thought we'd just go to the pub. Is that ok?" Robert asked
"Yeah it's fine."
They drove the short distance to the pub and went in. They sat down and Rory put her cell phone on the table. When Robert eyed her curiously she said, "I know it's rude and I'm sorry but I am waiting on a very important phone call from my mother and whenever I leave it in my purse lately I miss calls, and I can not miss this call. I really hope its ok."
"It's fine." He reassured her. They got their menus and ordered. About thirty minutes into the meal Rory stood up to go to the bathroom. The second she left the table Robert noticed Colin over by the bar with Stephanie. He was about to wave them over when he heard Rory's phone ring. He looked to see if she was anywhere near thinking that maybe it was the call she was waiting for. When he didn't see her he picked up the phone and checked the caller id. It read Logan. Robert snickered and then toyed with the idea of just letting it ring. But then he smiled and a sharp pain went through his face from where Logan had punched him and he answered the phone. "Hey Logan." Robert said, not noticing Colin's head snap up.
"Ok, I could have swore I called Ace." Logan said trying not to show his anger
"You did. She's in the bathroom. We're at lunch. She mentioned that she was expecting an important phone call but she never said who it was supposed to be from. And if it was supposed to be you I didn't want her to miss it." Robert lied
Logan was so angry he just hung up. He couldn't believe that Rory was out with Robert again.
Robert smiled feeling happy that he had accomplished his goal of pissing Logan off and making him jealous. He sat Rory's phone down where it was and smiled as Rory came back out. Rory sat back down and began to eat her food. She was enjoying herself when Colin came up to the table. "Hey Rory."
"Hey Colin. What are you doing here?"
"Actually I need to see Robert for a second."
"I'm on a date." Robert said passively
"It's just for a second and it's really important. You don't mind do you Rory?"
"No not at all."
"Great." Colin said grabbing Robert by the arm and dragging him out of the pub.
xxx
"You are so jealous."
"Shut up Finn. I am not jealous." Logan said with anger flooding his voice
Finn smiled. "The bruises on your face beg to differ mate."
"Finn."
"Do something about it mate. Steal the bird back from Robert. She'd rather be with you anyway and you know it. Robert is about as dull as a mop."
"Finn."
"At least admit that you're jealous Logan. It's the first step to recovery."
Finn had expected Logan to ask what he was supposed to be recovering from when Logan's cell came flying past his head and smashed into the wall. "Back off Finn." Logan said before he walked out of the room.
xxx
"What in the hell do you think you are doing?" Colin yelled loudly at Robert
"Well I was having lunch with my Rory, my date."
"Why did you answer that phone? I heard your conversation with Logan, Robert. And I heard Rory tell you she was waiting on a phone call from her mom not Logan. So why would you answer that phone?"
"Look, I like Rory. Logan likes Rory. Only I'll get off my high horse and act like I like her. Logan won't do it. If he isn't going to act on his impulse to be with her I will."
xxx
Rory's cell rang again and she answered it. "Hey mom!" Rory said excitedly, "How'd it go?"
Lorelai paused for a long second before she said, "We're back together!"
Rory smiled widely, "That's fantastic Mom! I'm so happy for you."
"I owe it all to you kiddo."
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know what you said to Luke yesterday but it stuck with him and it is what ultimately caused him to really think about getting back together with me. I love you so much right now Ror."
"You didn't love me so much this morning when I was stocking your house with Luke's food and Luke's coffee?"
"Well of course I did my little offspring, but now I love you more!"
"Oh ok, so why aren't you with Luke now?"
"Lunch rush, Caesar is off today he had to get back."
"Oh." Rory said to Lorelai. The waitress came to the table and asked if she would like anything else. "No I'm fine thanks though." Rory told the waitress
"Where are you?" Lorelai asked
"Well…"
"Tell Mommy where you are sweets."
"I'm having lunch with a friend."
"Paris?"
"Well I'm on a date."
"Logan?"
"No."
"Sweetie don't tell Mommy you are with Robert."
"OK, I won't tell you."
Lorelai sighed. "Rory why?"
"Honestly I felt guilty. He had his face mangled because he kissed me."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"Oh ok sweets but I think that was a bad idea. He might think you like him now or something."
"I'll handle it Mom."
"Ok fine. I'll let you get back to lunch."
"Thanks I love you."
"I love you too."
"Bye."
"Oh, Ror!"
"Yeah?"
"Don't come home Wednesday. Luke gets off early that day." Lorelai said suggestively
"Eww… mom!" Rory said hanging up
xxx
"Just back off of Rory Robert."
"Why should I?"
"Well, how about because she's in love with Huntzberger."
"You don't know that."
"Have you ever seen the way she looks at him?"
"No."
"Well then look the next time we're all together. She loves him."
"And…"
"And he loves her."
xxx
"Hey this is Rory, I'm not in the dorm room at the moment. If you need me try the cell otherwise leave me a message and I'll get back to you." BEEP
"Hey Rory its Logan. Look I know we had a date tonight, but I'm going to have to cancel. Something came up. I'll call you later. Bye Ace."
AN: Here's my long awaited Chapter Twenty Three… read and review…