A/N Thank you for all who have reviewed and read the story. To let you know, there are characters who will appear that will cause trouble, just not in the way they did in the show.
Again, I own nothing,
Ch7 Sports
The next week went by quickly, Luke and Lorelai went shopping Monday afternoon at Macy's men's department store to pick up a new suit and overcoat for the Friday night dinner.
"Luke get out here!" Lorelai was looking forward to seeing Luke in a suit, he filled out his jeans so well.
"Lorelai, tell me again why I am spending over five hundred dollars on a suit that I could get for two?"
"Luke, if you walk into my mother's house for the first time wearing a two hundred dollar suit she will never let it go. She still talks about the time I wore the same dress to her house on two different occasions even though they were six months apart."
"Well, if that is true then I would need to get at least three suits so she wouldn't comment on how often I wore the same one." Luke said sarcastically, then he saw Lorelai's smile. "No! No! No! One five hundred dollar suit is it today! Hell, the overcoat is another two. You are asking me to spend two thousand dollars to impress your mother?"
"Luke, I'm not asking you to spend anything. 'We're in a relationship and it's natural for me to meet the parents' sound familiar? You offered bucko, I didn't ask you to do anything. Remember? I'm just telling you what will happen, the decision is all yours. We could have gone to New York City to a designer house and gotten you half a suit for the two grand." Lorelai smiled sweetly.
"Besides, you can wear one of them when we go out Saturday. Where is it you're taking me again?"
"Don't try to get it out of me, it's a surprise. But yes," Luke sighed, "it would be good to have a nice suit to wear there. I suppose I just gave you an excuse to go shopping for a new dress now, eh?"
"When did I need an excuse? But I will buy a new dress specifically with you in mind, maybe a nice halter?" Lorelai said suggestively.
Lorelai squealed as Luke pulled her tight against him and leered back at her, "As long as it's easy to remove." Giving her a small peck he went back into the dressing room, turning to admonish her, "Don't follow me, I'll be right out."
Lorelai gave him a pout and sat in one of the chairs. The talk on Saturday seemed to have really helped Luke deal with the relationship they were in. He had reclaimed the flirty banter that had marked their friendship for so many years. Lorelai knew how many times she'd been frightened by the feelings she had for Luke so she could imagine how it must have wigged Luke as well.
In the end they got Luke the three suits, to be picked up on Thursday, four shirts, "I don't do pink!," six ties, a camel overcoat and a new pair of shoes. "If my credit card was charcoal we would have a huge barbeque right now." Luke complained.
"Suck it up burger boy, wear the charcoal gray with the yellow tie on Friday and save the navy with the red tie for me on Saturday." Lorelai said as he dropped her off at the Inn.
"Do you want to come over on Wednesday night for movie night? Rory has Fall Break from Chilton so we are staying up half the night watching movies. We might even let you pick one."
"I can come over for a short time, I told Caesar that I'd open on Thursday so he will take close Friday and the weekend. Are these movies going to be more chick flicks or something I might enjoy?"
"We're doing a thirties movie night, The Public Enemy, Key Largo and The Maltese Falcon. A bit of Cagney and a lot of Bogart, you'll love them."
"OK, I assume eating is involved in this night, burgers and fries?"
"Chili fries and pie, oh, I rhymed! We usually start around eight. See you in the morning for coffee." Lorelai said as she kissed him and went towards the Inn.
Wednesday night Lorelai teased Luke about the dress she'd bought. It was going to be perfect. She had found a nice fitted black halter dress in cashmere that left nothing to the imagination and the only problem was no matter what she tried with it, she still had VPL therefore there would be only one choice, no panty line to be visible. So at the appropriate point in the evening on Saturday she would share that little bit of info with Luke and let Mother Nature indeed take her course.
"Do I want to know why you are smiling like that?" Luke asked her.
"Luke, take it from me, you really don't!" Rory interjected.
Lorelai looked like the cat that ate the canary and just smile sweetly.
Friday night came all too swiftly and Lorelai was having major fits over what to wear. Even Rory wasn't able to pick the right outfit. "Mom. I've gone through each and every one of your outfits and you've said no to each one. Unless you can produce something out of thin air you will have to choose one of them. Grandma won't like you to showing up naked." At this point the doorbell rang and Rory went downstairs to answer it.
As she was leaving the room Lorelai slammed her door and said, "I'm not going and nothing you say is going to change my mind!"
Rory was shaking her head as she answered the door, "Hey Luke, mom is having fits about what to wear. She swears she doesn't have anything but I have showed her all sorts of outfits and she just doesn't want to pick one."
Luke said, "Rory, I'm not going to be late for my first Friday dinner with your grandmother! We have exactly thirty minutes to get there and if we hit traffic we're screwed. I'm going to go up and try and hurry her along."
Rory watched Luke go up to her mom's door and knock gently, "Go away! I told you I'm not going," came the voice from inside.
Luke gently eased open the door and that was the last Rory saw of them for ten minutes. Then her mom's door opened again. She walked down the stairs fully clothed and smiling.
Luke followed and Rory stopped him at the bottom of the stairs. "Uh, Luke? You might want to take a sec and fix your hair and you have a lipstick smudge right below your ear."
Luke turned ten shades of red and Lorelai picked up her coat as she walked out the door looking quite satisfied.
Twenty minutes later they stood outside the front door of the mansion and Lorelai and Rory argued over who was going to ring the bell. Luke looked at each of them with an annoyed look and reached over to ring it.
A maid answered and Lorelai said, "Torture party of three." The maid looked at her and she said, "Granddaughter, daughter and boyfriend for dinner." The maid let them in and took their coats.
Emily came in and greeted them, "Hello Lorelai, Rory nice that you were able to make it almost on time. We are having drinks in the living room."
"As opposed to the other rooms we usually have drinks in? Hello, mother may I introduce you to my boyfriend Luke?"
Luke started to say something but Emily dismissed him saying, "When we reach the living room Lorelai you know it is rude to receive guests in the foyer. Then you make one introduction to your father and me. You know this, we raised you properly."
Luke put his hand on Lorelai's arm before she could make her comment he knew was on the tip of her tongue. As they walked in to the living room he took her hand in his and intertwined their fingers.
"Richard the girls are her with Lorelai's little boyfriend," Emily started right off. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lorelai you said he wasn't a boy, he's a man. So why don't you introduce your man friend to your father and me?"
Richard was perplexed at this introduction since he had not heard the first interchange with Lorelai and her mother, but he waited for the proper introduction.
Lorelai was fuming and Luke could see what Emily was doing. It wasn't anything he was surprised about. Lorelai however couldn't let things go, "Mother, Luke is here because you wanted to meet my boyfriend. Dad, Mom, this is Luke Danes, my boyfriend. He is very important in both my life and Rory's. We have been friends for many years and now we are in a relationship." She said through gritted teeth.
Richard finally held out his hand to Luke and said, "It's nice to meet you Luke. Can I get you something to drink? You're not a martini man are you?"
"No, sir scotch and water would do tonight, but my preference is a beer, not martini." Luke shook his hand firmly and accepted his drink, "Thank you Mr. Gilmore, it is nice to meet Lorelai's parents. Thank you for inviting me to dinner with the family."
Richard continued, "I don't believe that we have met any of Lorelai's other boyfriends except Christopher of course. Knew him since they were five and in school together, Lorelai a martini and Rory soda?"
Lorelai stared at her father and just nodded at how rude he could be and apparently not know it.
Luke ignored the Christopher comment since he knew Lorelai's whole situation. Richard didn't seem vindictive, just clueless, Emily on the other hand…
"Yes, Luke, Lorelai hasn't brought anyone to dinner since Christopher. Lorelai, where is Christopher now? Still running his own company in California?" Emily said this with such politeness making it seem that she was just inquiring instead of making a point of ignoring Luke and his diner.
"Actually mother, I don't know where Christopher is, the last known address was left without a forwarding one and his phone is disconnected with no other number given. So if he is in California or Timbuktu I wouldn't nor would his daughter know. However, I have been in the same place for almost fifteen years, I wouldn't think it would be difficult for Christopher to keep up with Rory, but it seems to be beyond his capabilities."
"Well, Lorelai, if you would have given him some encouragement.."
"Mother! In case you have forgotten your guest, you invited MY BOYFRIEND Luke here."
"Yes, Emily, I think I should like to get to know Luke a bit better since he is in both of their lives. So Luke, Lorelai said you have a diner?" Richard asked.
"Yes, sir, it was my father's hardware store but I converted it into a diner after his death about eleven years ago."
"You did clean it out before you made it into a diner didn't you?" Emily's voice was dripping with sugar. "Teeny Halpern told me of this rustic diner over in Litchfield that the board of health had to close because they never cleaned anything."
Lorelai was about to go for her mother's throat when Luke squeezed her hand. "Yes, Mrs. Gilmore, I imagine many places are not as clean as they would seem if you look below the surface. I make sure to follow all health codes and then I go beyond that by doing much of the clean-up myself."
"Well isn't that quaint, I imagine it is difficult to get competent help these days. Pity that you have to do all that manual labor yourself, or are you unable to pay someone to do it? I can't imagine that a diner in a small town would bring in too much money. Do you have to put in long hours to the detriment of your family?"
"The diner makes a nice wage for me as Stars Hollow is a festival town. Each month there is something going on that brings in the tourists and then of course there is always Kim's Antiques. I choose to do much of the work because I enjoy the sense of satisfaction I get from being my own boss. Since I am I would be able to adjust my hours to spend optimal time with any family I would have."
Lorelai is barely able to contain herself during this interchange and Rory and Richard are mesmerized as though watching a tennis match. Luke returning each serve Emily gets over the net.
During dinner she never lets up and Luke appears calm and collected as he answers each question, he doesn't appear flustered in the least. When the maid fails to bring out the dessert Emily stands to go get it, Luke stands as well as says, "Mrs. Gilmore, let me help you."
"Now Luke, that would be like a busman's holiday for you wouldn't it?" Emily's voice uses that saccharine tone again, and then she looks him in the eye and for a second
Lorelai sees her composure falter. She quickly looks at Luke and he has a cold look in his eyes as he is smiling. She has never seen that look before and it startles her.
"I insist Mrs. Gilmore," Luke says and begins to head for the kitchen stopping long enough to allow Emily to lead the way.
They go into the kitchen and Emily starts right in, "I'm not a stupid woman Luke, I know you have something to say that you do not want Lorelai to hear, do you already have a wife? Do you want us to pay you off to leave her alone? My husband is quite wealthy and would make it worth your while."
Luke takes a moment to gather his thoughts after this frontal attack, "No, Mrs. Gilmore, I'm just wanting to give you a bit of friendly advice. I think that you can see that your daughter wants me in her life and I think that frightens you. Because it frightens you there is a real possibility that you will do something in the near future that will cause your daughter to run away again."
"You do not have to like me, you do not have to like what I do. But your daughter does have very deep feelings for me and I would hate to see her cut you out of her life because you make her choose. I'm more than willing to be cordial and play nice whenever we come in contact, but there are two things I'll not tolerate, one is that you make your daughter feel like a failure and two that you rip her down emotionally."
Emily started to say something but Luke held up his hand. "If either of these things happen during a dinner or family gathering I'll remove Lorelai and Rory as fast as possible. While I'll encourage her to return the next week, I want you to realize that she is her own woman and I am confident that for her, there is one non-negotiable and that is our relationship. If you continue to pick away at me and my business Lorelai will eventually be unable to bring me with her to these dinners. That will cause a rift between you that I can't heal."
"I can be your ally or your enemy, it is up to you."
Emily looked at Luke with her trump card and said, "Lorelai knows that if she stops coming to dinner Rory cannot continue at Chilton."
Luke smiled slowly, he had been waiting for this, "Mrs. Gilmore, I doubt that Mr. Gilmore would agree with you, but if that is true, I would loan Lorelai the money for Rory with the same terms you've given her. And I wouldn't hesitate a second."
Emily is looking at Luke as one views a wild animal, "You don't know how expensive Chilton is."
"Ten thousand a year." Luke responds without missing a beat.
"And you think you could pay this?"
"Yep."
"Well I doubt that Lorelai would allow you to do this." Emily is now running flat out scared.
"Like I said, I wouldn't offer it unless you make it impossible for her to do anything else. I just wanted you to know what the playing field is so you don't find yourself out of the game. Lorelai and I are strong, I will do anything to keep her happy including coming to family gatherings. The ball is in your court, play it or not, you now know the cost of losing."
Luke waits for Emily to digest this, "I think we'd better get back out there. Are we to an understanding Mrs. Gilmore?"
"You might as well start calling my Emily." Was as much of an answer Luke got, but he smiled as they carried out the dessert.
Lorelai was on pins and needles waiting for them to return. She whispered to Rory, "What is going on in there and why don't I hear screaming?"
"I don't know mom, did Luke say he was going to talk to grandma?"
"No! He didn't tell me anything, he just kept holding on to my hand all night, more to keep me from killing her, than saving him."
Just then the kitchen door opens up and Luke and Emily came out carrying the dessert.
"I guess I have to call the employment agency tomorrow to replace whatever this last maid's name was. Imagine having to get your own dessert. Thank you Luke for helping me carry it out."
"Not a problem Emily, I was happy to help out."
Luke sits down next to Lorelai and winks at her.
"What were you talking about in there?" she hissed at him.
"Sports."
"Did you just call her Emily?"