Yes, it's an illusion, this is not real, you're dreaming…. Nah I did update
Things will get interesting, but I have SOOOOO many scenarios running in my head I don't know which to pick… HELP voice your opinion.
K… weee) C&S (got it?)
sorry for mistakes, i updated asap w/o checking it
.o0 Next Morning, The Kitchen 0o.
"So, will you? please?" Rory begged Lorelai the next morning while she was feeding Will.
"I already told you I won't, if Mrs. Kim said Lane can't go, then I can't change that"
"But…"
"Rory, we've been over this; she's her Mom and whatever she says goes, I'm sorry"
"But these are the Bangles…"
"I swear that if you don't drop this I wont let you go either" Lorelai threatened, thoroughly annoyed with Rory now since she had been going around the same thing ever since Lane called to tell her her Mom had said she couldn't go to the concert.
"Fine" Rory mumbled and went back to the living room to keep helping with the rummage thing.
"Your sister is driving me crazy" Lorelai told Will and he just dropped his head to the side and smile up at her.
"Damn it, Jess! I said not that one!" Luke yelled.
"You never told me which one!" Jess yelled back.
"Yes I did!"
"No, you said 'that' and then pointed to this one!"
"No I didn't!"
"Yes you did!" Lorelai couldn't help but laugh, they hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and all they were doing now was snap at each other, but the whole living room was mostly organized; except for a few stray items.
"Boys, don't make me go over there" Lorelai teased and kept feeding Will.
"No need to because I'm not helping anymore!" Jess said annoyed as he breezed by the kitchen and over to her room.
"Don't you dare slam that door" Lorelai warned just before Jess let go of his door, he closed it calmly but then seconds later his stereo started blaring. "Much better" she mumbled rolling her eyes.
.o0 The Inn 0o.
"Hi Sookie" Rory said walking into the Inn's kitchen.
"Hey, kitten, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?" she was about to start panicking.
"Yeah, everything's alright, I just wanted to run something by you?"
"Sure, run" Sookie stopped tossing whatever she was tossing and gave Rory all her attention.
"See, Mrs. Kim said that Lane couldn't go to the concert"
"Oh, so you guys told her the truth?"
"Lane did, she said it seemed like the best way to go; I think she figured Mrs. Kim would focus on the honesty part and ignore the rock concert part"
"Backfired?" Sookie asked wincing.
"Big time" Rory nodded dully. "So…"
"So?"
"So I was thinking I could give my ticket to Jackson and Luke could take Lane's and you guys could go on a double date"
"But you love the Bangles"
"My Mom loves the Bangles, I just like them; plus I think it'd be nice"
"I don't know"
"Double dating over at the big apple at one hell of a concert sounds good to me" Rory was selling it.
"What about you, sweetie?"
"I'll live, plus I have to study for that debate that I'm pretty sure I'll loose to Jess and with it forty bucks"
"I thought Luke banned gambling"
"Oh he did…" Rory nodded. "… we're just ignoring him" she added with a smile.
"Atta girl" Sookie also smiled. "Are you sure about the whole concert thing?"
"Positive"
"Ok then" Sookie smiled more.
"Great! I'll tell my Mom and Luke, you tell Jackson"
"Ok… here" she handed Rory a cookie.
"Thank you"
"No, thank you" Sookie winked at her.
"Bye Sookie"
.o0 Crap Shack's Living Room 0o.
"Uh… no" Luke stated, putting the finishing touches to the rummage crap; mostly labeling what everything was to make the sale go easier, and incase something else was dropped by before the sale.
"Please, it'll be fun" Rory said following him around the living room.
"No it won't"
"Yes it will: you, Mom…"
"Sookie and Jackson?"
"Yeah, two grownup couples out in the city…"
"Listening to the Bangles?"
"Yeah!"
"I hate the Bangles"
"You what?!" Rory's eyes popped out, Will turned to look at them for a brief second before returning his attention to the TV screen where cartoons were playing.
"I survived through them once; I don't want to do that again, even if it's just for a few hours"
"I can't go with them now" Rory whined.
"And why not?"
"Because I already told Sookie you guys would double…"
"Rory" Luke groaned.
"… So now I can't go as my Mom's date because that'd be embarrassing…" he groaned again "… for me, and my Mom, and Sookie, and Jackson"
"But I hate the Bangles" he practically whined.
"Please" and the pout made its appearance.
"Geez…"
"Pretty please?" and now the puppy eyes.
"Fine" Luke said after a long sigh. "But you have to baby-sit Will, and finish all this" he added fast while motioning around the living room.
"No problem" she smiled.
"Then… yeah, I'll go to the concert" Luke mumbled, Rory shrieked and jumped him. "But, I can't go if I die of suffocation"
"Sorry" she let go of him. "I'll go tell my Mom I'm not going"
"You hadn't told her yet?!"
"Of course not, I wanted to make sure you agreed before I told her anything" Rory told him as if it was the most obvious thing.
"You'll pay for that" Luke told her with narrowed eyes.
"No I won't" she said with a big smile and skipped out of the living room and over to Lorelai's room where she was already putting the finishing touches for that afternoon.
"Hey, kid…" he addressed Will. "… do you want to go as your Mom's date tonight?" Will just pointed to the screen. "I hear ya" Luke agreed.
.o0 Later that Day 0o,
Luke and Lorelai were upstairs getting ready to go, Rory and Lane were downstairs going through some CDs, Mrs. Kim had agreed to Lane going to Rory's house after knowing that the concert thing was off, Jess had Will and he was going to 'teach' him something.
"Ok kid, here's the first lesson:…" they were walking out of Jess' room towards the living room. "…a prank takes planning, it doesn't happened in the heat of the moment… well, sometimes it does but most of the time it doesn't" they made a turn towards the front door, Jess opened and closed it giving the girls the illusion that they had gone outside "Now, with that said, a while back I bought a rubber rat…" he kneeled down and so did Will, and together then crawled over to the back of the couch, going unnoticed by the girls. "…and earlier I attached a fishing string to it and hid the thing between a couple of rummage bags…" he picked up the other end of the string that was hidden under the couch. "And now, we enjoy the prank" he yanked at the string lightly so the rat would 'walked' out from the pile of bags and towards the coffee table; both girls shrieked.
"Oh my God!" Lane jumped up on the table.
"Luke!" Rory shrieked following Lane up on the table. "Ah! Luke help!" the rat kept moving until; it disappeared under the couch.
"And you gotta know that two pranks are better than one" Jess told Will over the girls shrieks; he picked up a different string and pulled, making another rat appear out from under some other bags.
"LUKE!"
"What, what's wrong, what?" Luke rushed downstairs in his socks, slacks, and white undershirt.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Lorelai asked, closely behind Luke.
"Rats!" both girls shrieked.
"What! Where?!" Lorelai rushed over to the couch and jumped onto it.
"Mommy!" Will said happily once he saw her.
"Crap" Jess mumbled.
"Will, come here before… Jess?" Lorelai had leaned over the back of the couch to pick Will up and saw Jess hiding.
"Jess!" Luke called angrily; Jess just closed his eyes and flinched. "What the hell is this?" Luke lifted the rubber rat in the air, string dangling from it.
"It looks like a rat with a string hanging from it to me"
"Funny" Luke deadpanned. "Get your butt in your room" he then added with a fake sugary tone of voice. Jess groaned and went to his room.
"I'm gonna kill that boy" Rory said through gritted teeth.
"No honey, you're young, you have your whole life ahead of you… I'll kill him for you" Lorelai said and got of the couch making her way to Jess' room.
"But Mom" Rory whined and dropped back onto the couch.
"You girls ok?" Luke asked and both girls nodded. "Good cause I have to go stop your Mom from killing your cousin" it slipped, the word just slipped from his mouth, it went unnoticed by him but not by Rory or Lane who shared a shocked expression.
"Ok, so, I guess what you said in your interview won't be too shocking after all" Lane said after the shock had past.
"I guess" Rory mumbled.
The couples left over an hour after they had originally planned they would, the whole Jess thing making it harder to re-convince Luke to go, but after much arguing and a lot of threats, they were off to enjoy the night. At first Lorelai had planned on swaying Luke into staying the night in a hotel and getting reacquainted with each other after the week they'd had; but after the whole rat thing, she was positive that Luke wouldn't even want to go for drinks after the show.
"Oh Jesse" Rory called to the kitchen from the living room.
"You're pushing it" he called back, they were supposed to be good around each other, and Jess was to help the girls out with the sale stuff and with Will, otherwise Lane would inform Luke of all that she thought they did wrong.
"Could you make us some sandwiches?"
"No" he stated.
"What? Luke said…" Rory started.
"Don't you mean Dad?" he asked leaning on the doorway of the kitchen.
"What?" Rory's teasing face fell, and the shocked one was back on. "How did you…?"
"Paris" Jess said simply.
"How did she…? How did she…? How…?" her speech still not back yet and Lane couldn't help but laugh, she was finding all of this very amusing; first Rory had the upper hand over Jess and just like that he had switched tables on her.
"She's 'editor in training' or something like that, she gets to read all the articles and whatnots and your story is a pretty big one so…"
"She shouldn't have told you that" she mumbled expressionlessly.
"Why? Because otherwise nobody would ever find out?" he asked with an amused smirk making his way over to the couch.
"Well, no, but…"
"They're gonna find out sooner or later, me knowing now changes nothing"
"But maybe…" Rory still hoped.
"The article comes out Monday, they'll know then, unless it slips from me before then" he smirked. "You know what might make it not slip?" he asked but wasn't expecting an answer. "If I was eating a sandwich, because my mouth would be full and all of that"
"Sneaky" Lane told him.
"I know" Jess said back, smirk still there.
"You're the master" she added.
"Thanks…" he looked at Lane a few seconds longer before turning to Rory. "So… sandwich?"
"You wouldn't tell them, because for one, they're not here, and the other, umm… they're not very thrilled with you right now so…"
"Grasping for straws?" Jess teased.
"What type of sandwich?" Rory asked after a long sigh and jess just smirked.
.o0 X-Terra, Road to New York 0o.
"Geez, were you ever planning on telling me your engine light was on?" He hadn't seen the little light until they were well on the road.
"Why are you so crabby?" Lorelai whisper-asked, while Sookie and Jackson talked in the backseat.
"Because I'm being dragged to a concert I don't wanna go to in a car that's not working properly"
"Nobody's dragging you"
"Tsk"
"Luke…"
"What?"
"Relax…please?" he sighed. "We have a night off from the kids, were going to a concert, and the car is going to be fine; now, enjoy yourself tonight… for me?" she pouted and Luke stayed quiet for a little bit.
"I'll try, but that car is still going to bug me, and I'm still gonna worry about the kids"
"You wouldn't be you otherwise" she mumbled rolling her eyes. "But seriously, the kids and the car will be fine; Jess is stupid but he wouldn't do anything bad"
.o0 The Crap Shack 0o.
"So why are you being so annoying lately?" Lane asked Jess while Rory was still in the kitchen making breakfast.
"What do you mean 'lately'? I'm always annoying" he smirked.
"You know what I meant"
"I like bugging, what can I say, it's in my nature" he shrugged.
"Yes, but more lately"
"I just think Luke deserves better" Jess admitted quietly so Rory wouldn't hear him.
"Better than having Rory call him Dad?" Lane asked skeptically.
"No, I just think that he should hear it straight from Rory and not read it off an interview along with all of Hartford" he clarified.
"You have a point there"
"Here…" Rory shoved a plate with a sandwich towards Jess. "…enjoy" she dropped between them on the couch.
"What? No chips? Where's my drink?" Jess asked with an appalled tone of voice.
"Umm… she has that 'I'm going to kill you' look on her face" Lane told Jess.
"I should go eat this in my room huh?" he asked and Rory nodded, her expression not changing. "Bye" he shot up from the couch and went to his room, sandwich in hand.
"It's fun to see him squirm" Lane commented.
"Oh yeah" Rory nodded vigorously with a big smile. "Movie?"
"Horror please" Lane smiled and got more comfortable.
.o0 New York 0o.
"Wow, these are awesome seats!" Lorelai was all giddy and Sookie was right there with her, both of them almost jumping up and down once they noticed how close they were to the stage; both men just rolled their eyes and gave the girls a push so the would keep walking to their seats.
"I can't believe these seats!" Sookie kept looking all around them once they were seated; again the men rolled their eyes and just sat there quietly.
Luke was sitting to the far right, with Lorelai to his left; Sookie was next to her and Jackson next to Sookie. Sookie and Jackson were doing the whole obnoxious new couple thing, where all they did was being lovey-dovey; Lorelai was just sitting there looking forwards waiting for the band to come out, she knew Luke was not going to be like Jackson, he never was not even when they were starting their relationship or when she was pregnant. Well, he did act like that, but only if they were alone and at their home; never in public so there was no point in hoping. Plus, she was happy that Sookie finally had someone, she deserved it.
"Hey" Luke brought her back; Lorelai turned to look at him. He smirked a little, took her hand, and gave her a quick kiss. "You're about the see The Bangles, live" he whispered making her smile, her eyes still closed. "Please ignore me and enjoy the show" she just leaned forwards and kissed him.
"I'll enjoy the show" she promised and at that moment the lights dimmed and the band started making Lorelai and Sookie shoot up from their seats. The guys had no other choice but to stand up since everybody in front of them had done so thoroughly blocking their view; plus they just knew the girls would eventually pull them up anyways.
A few songs later, Eternal Flame started playing, and Sookie and Jackson started dancing. Luke noticed how Lorelai didn't even try to get him to dance, instead she just focused her attention to the band before them, while hugging herself and gently swaying to the sides. Without giving it a second thought, Luke stepped behind Lorelai and placed his arms over her own; so he was hugging her too, and they both swayed. Lorelai just smiled and eased back into his embrace; after all they were in another city where nobody knew them except the couple next to them, who were currently too busy with each other to notice anyone else. The song ended but Luke stayed put, the only thing he did was briefly tighten his hold on her to let her now he was not going anywhere; for now.
.o0 The Crap Shack 0o.
"Jess has a point" Lane blurted out halfway through the movie.
"What?"
"He thinks you should tell Luke before he reads the interview"
"Why?"
"He deserves to know before the rest of Hartford does" Lane told her and Rory deflated because she knew they were right, she'd known for a while now but still she couldn't find the time to tell him.
"I know, but it's weird… 'hey Luke, I called you Dad in my interview and all of Hartford will know, ok, goodnight' It's not something you say everyday"
"Not like that you don't" Lane giggled. "Just talk to him tonight, because I'm pretty sure Jess will tell him tomorrow if you don't"
"He wouldn't" Rory waved it off but Lane gave her a look. "Ok, he would, but I still don't want to" she pouted.
.o0 The Concert 0o.
"Are you sure you have enough shirts there?" Luke asked teasingly, he had mellowed out a lot ever since Eternal Flame played.
"Mine, yours that I'll wear, Rory's, Jess's that I'll wear, Will's…" Lorelai started counting.
"You got one for Will?"
"Of course! They have this cute toddle selection; I got him a couple designs"
"A couple?" Luke asked incredulously.
"Well yeah, that boy is crazy for the Bangles"
"No he's not; his Mother's the crazy one"
"You forgot to say 'for the Bangles' Hon"
"No I didn't: you are crazy" Luke said with a smirk, Lorelai's jaw dropped.
"Hey, that's mean" she pouted. "Just for that you don't get your Bangle-icious shirt"
"So I get a prize for being mean? I like this system" he teased more.
"What has gotten into you?" Lorelai asked giggling.
"You were right, this is nice" he said quietly.
"Lorelai! Look what I bought for Will!" Sookie came running up to them holding another toddler-Bangle-t-shirt.
"Never mind" he mumbled while Lorelai and Sookie marbled over the T-shirts.
.o0 Later at the Crap Shack 0o.
Who would have thought Luke would want to stop at a restaurant; making him go without eating dinner was a good idea after all. Their dinner stop made them get home way past the time Luke had given Rory and Jess.
Lane had gone home right after the horror movie had ended, Jess never came out of his room, Will didn't wake up at all; so basically it had been a really good night, except for the interview hanging over Rory's head.
"Damn it, what did that boy do?" Lorelai grumbled when she walked into her room only to find Rory curled up asleep on their bed.
"The boys are asleep and Rory's not in her room" Luke said walking into the room; he had gone to check the damage in the house after they had been gone for so long.
"I know I found her" she pointed to their bed.
"What did Jess do now?" he groaned.
"I dono" Lorelai sighed and walked over to Rory. "Honey, Rory, honey wake up" she nudged her.
"Mmm?"
"Honey, you're in our bed"
"Wha..?"
"Wake up, you need to go to your own room and sleep in your own bed like a big girl" Lorelai teased now that Rory was a bit more awake.
"My what? But… I'm already a big girl. Wait, what?" Lorelai couldn't help but laugh.
"What did Jess do?" Luke asked.
"Nothing, why?" Rory frowned.
"Because you fell asleep on our bed"
"Again, what did Jess do?"
"Nothing, I was waiting for Luke but I fell asleep. What time is it? Wow, why are you so late?"
"You were waiting for me?" Luke frowned. "Ok, really, what did Jess do?"
"Nothing, really" Luke gave Rory a skeptical look. "I swear. I just wanted to… tell you something" she added more quietly.
"What's wrong?"
"Umm, can we talk… alone?" she asked shyly, Lorelai shot Luke a look before walking out of their room and closing the door behind her
"Start talking" Luke crossed his arms over his chest, still thinking Jess had done something.
"I said something I probably shouldn't…" Rory started.
"What are you talking about?"
"On my interview"
"The one you did for Chilton? What did you say?"
"Umm… they wanted to know for how long I had been playing, and I told them that I started the weekend before the tryouts"
"That's not bad, that's the truth"
"I know, but then they asked me if I had a personal trainer or something like that, and I told them… umm…"
"Rory?"
"I told them, no, that my Dad was training me" she said very quietly
"Oh"
"And I might have said that word a few more times after that, and at least one more time right next to your name"
"Well…"
"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking at the time, and then it was too late, I couldn't just go back and say 'you know what never mind that, my trainer is my Moms boyfriend' you know?"
"Rory…"
"I was thinking about a retraction, but that's a little ridiculous if you think about it; writing a retraction to an interview…'"
"Rory…"
"But I can still give it a try, there's nothing bad about it; I could just…"
"Rory!" she jumped a little.
"Geez"
"Could you stop rambling for a second? I swear you are worse than Lorelai sometimes"
"Hey" Rory faked being appalled and Luke snorted. "So… how mad are you?"
"Mad? Why would I be mad?"
"I-I don't know. Are you?"
"No, I'm not mad" Luke shook his head.
"Really?" she pouted.
"Really"
"So… if you're not mad about the interview, then…" he gave her a look. "… could I, would you mind if…?"
"I wouldn't mind, but you might want to run it past your Mom" she smiled.
"I will" Rory smiled more before going over to hug him. "Thanks"
"So… Jess?"
"He spent the whole night in his room"
"Good" Luke smiled. "Now be a big girl and go to your own room" he teased. "And careful when you open the door, I don't want Lorelai to topple over"
"Hey!" Lorelai complained from the other side of the door making Rory giggle.
"Night guys" Rory said before leaving them alone.
"So… how much did you hear?" Luke asked after Lorelai had closed the door behind Rory.
"Oh, not much" Lorelai dismissed with a weird expression on her face; Luke narrowed his eyes.
"You heard everything, huh?"
"Yes… and I think it's very sweet" she cooed.
"Stop it"
"Are you blushing?"
"No" Luke scoffed while grabbing his pj's.
"You are! That's just too cute!"
"Leave me alone"
"Aw, wittle wukey poo is bwushing" she followed him all the way to the bathroom until he slammed the door shut.
.o0 Next Day 0o.
"I already told you you're not buying anything" Luke reminded her as they walked towards the rummage sale.
"But…"
"No, we already had all this crap at the house for too long, we don't need it back there"
"But…"
"And no, there's no 'hidden treasure' because we've seen every single thing that's for sale"
"Luke" Lorelai groaned and pouted.
"No" he held his ground even though Lorelai started whimpering.
"Mean" she mumbled and turned her face away from him.
"Pout all you want, I'm not caving" Luke said with a smirk and Lorelai just 'humphed' "Do you really think the silent treatment scares me?" he laughed a little. "I'll be at the diner, and if you buy anything I swear I'll throw it out" she didn't respond so Luke just walked towards the diner.
.o0 Minutes Later, at the Diner 0o.
"Hi, Luke!" Lorelai bounced in.
"What did you buy?" Luke asked groaning.
"Nothing"
"Right"
"Really, I didn't buy anything" he just gave her a pointed look. "I looked around and everything there seemed so… used"
"That's because it is" Luke told her using the voice he uses with Will.
"Stuff it" she told him fast, not loosing a beat. "While I was there looking, I remembered some business that needs tending to"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I had forgotten all about 'the box'" she used a mysterious voice but Luke was still not catching on. "The box filled with Rachel's crap"
"You're still on that?" he groaned.
"Yes I am, but don't worry, after today I'll let it go… unless I bring it up in a fight" she added with a smirk. "Now, on to funner things"
"That's not a word"
"It is if you use it often enough" she argued in a 'ha' tone of voice before going to the curtain. "And to make it even more funner, I'll throw everything individually" Luke rolled his eyes.
"You're deranged"
"And you love me, so what does that say about you" she stuck her tongue at him before dashing upstairs.
"Insane, it makes me insane" he mumbled.
"You're not insane, Luke, I also talk to myself, all the time" Kirk told him.
"Great"
Lorelai took to much pleasure in throwing out Rachel's stuff; not only did she throw everything individually like she had told Luke, but she also criticize everything she touched.
"Are you happy now? Can we put this behind us?" Luke asked, still annoyed, when Lorelai bounced down to the diner.
"I'm thrilled, and like I said earlier; I will only bring this up in a fight"
"Looking forward to it" he grumbled.
"Mommy!" Will called from his high chair.
"Hi, honey, are your cheerios yummy? Can I have some since your daddy hasn't fed me yet"
"A-ha" Will nodded and showed her an 'O', Lorelai opened her mouth and Will tossed it in.
"Mmm delicious!" Lorelai exaggerated making Will laugh. "Can I have more?" he showed her another 'O' "Thank you baby"
"Do you want big girl food, or are you happy eating cereal for lunch?" Luke asked amused.
"Mean, and I can't I have to go check on something at the Inn"
"You have to eat"
"Sookie will feed me" she waved it off. "Do you want to come with Mommy…?" Lorelai asked in a happy voice. "… or do you want to stay here with Daddy?" he voice was less happy when she said Daddy; Will just threw his arms at Lorelai.
"I was making his lunch"
"Sookie will feed him too" Lorelai waved it off. "She loves cooking for us" she smiled as she took Will out of his high chair. "Bye, Hon" she gave him a kiss. "See you later, love ya" and with that she left the diner.
.o0 Monday afternoon, The Diner 0o.
"I'll count to ten, and if you're not in there talking to Luke by the time I'm done, I'm going in there and showing Luke the interview" Jess threatened.
"But…" Rory started.
"He already knows what's in it, what's the big deal now?" he asked annoyed; he was hungry and Rory instead they should wait a little more before going into the diner. After Rory didn't answer Jess made a move to open the door.
"No, wait" but it was too late.
"Here you go Uncle Luke…" Jess tossed the article on the counter. "Can I get a cheeseburger with tots instead of fries, thank you"
"Ah… ok" Luke picked up the article from the counter. "Hey Rory, what can I get you?"
"Coffee"
"Just coffee…" Luke was about to start a rant but Jess stopped him.
"If you get started on my food I will scowl at her for you, I'm really hungry today; growing boy and all that"
"Shut up Jess, and I'm making you a burger too" with that Luke went to the kitchen, taking the article with him.
"Ow, what the hell?" Jess said rubbing the back of his head.
"That's for being mean" Rory told him.
Minutes later, Luke was still in the kitchen; usually he'd just start the burgers and then leave only to come back minutes later, but it was apparent that he was reading Rory's interview. Rory was getting more and more nervous as the minutes ticked by, it would've been way easier if she could've seen Luke's reaction as he read, but he had so cleverly gone to the kitchen for some privacy.
"Rory, can you come here please?" Luke's voice came from the kitchen, no emotion to it.
"Good luck, I'll miss you" Jess said dramatically with a smirk. Rory just shot him a glare. "Sorry"
Rory walked tentatively around the counter and into the kitchen; she wanted to see Luke before he could see her, and that way gauge his reaction. But he was facing the grill and she couldn't see his face.
"Yes?"
"Hey…" he turned around. "I read your interview…" he started with a straight voice. "It was amazing" he smirked.
"Really?" she perked up.
"Of course" she shrieked and went over to hug him. "Watch the grill" he muttered but Rory wasn't listening. "You took that like a pro, though I'm a little surprised about what you said in the end" she pulled back.
"I know I should've told you sooner, but I didn't know how"
"It's ok, it's your decision; it would've been good to know before hand though"
"The only reason I was in the team was for school credit, I already got the credit I don't need to be in the team anymore" she shrugged.
"That's one way of looking at it"
"What's the other one?" she frowned.
"It's something you like to do…" he shrugged. "… and it gives you extra points for school, and its fun, and it comes easily to you"
"That's a lot of 'and's"
"But you get what I mean right? Just because its not a requirement anymore doesn't mean you have to drop it; especially because you're really good at it" he smiled.
"I'll think about it" she smiled too. "Oh, but the article"
"I heard somewhere that you can write retractions on this stuff"
"Yeah, I heard that too"
"Help me with these plates?" he pointed to hers and Jess' food.
"Sure"
.o0 That Night, The Crap Shack 0o.
"Fabulous" Lorelai said.
"Stop it" Rory blushed.
"Fantaulous"
"Mom"
"You're a very interesting kid"
"I'm going to bed now" she got up from the couch.
"Hey kid"
"Yeah?"
"The interview was great"
"Are we done with the mushy stuff yet?"
"Go to bed"
"Night Mom"
"Good night Hon" with that Rory went to her room leaving Lorelai sitting on the couch re-reading the interview.
"How many times are you going to read that?" Luke asked amused walking down the stairs; he had been putting Will down for bed.
"Stop teasing" she blushed putting it aside. "We have one amazing kid, you know"
"Yeah, I did, actually" he nodded and took a seat next to her; Lorelai scooted closer so Luke would drape his arm around her, which he did.
"Aw, you're being mushy and cocky at the same time how cute"
"Shut up" he blushed a little.
"And you have that face"
"What face?"
"The same face you've for the past two days" he gave her a look to explain further. "Every time Rory calls you 'Dad' you have that face" Luke blushed again. "You do that too and it's very cute"
"Ok, I can take one 'cute' but not 'two'" he scoffed and Lorelai just giggled.
"Come on Scrooge, lets go to bed" she patted his knee.
"Not now, I have a headache" Luke said with a serious voice but then broke out in a grin.
"What's gotten into you lately?" Lorelai couldn't help but laugh, Luke just shrugged; lately he was just more relaxed than usual.
"I took a sip of your coffee the other day"
"G'night babe" Lorelai kissed him and went to bed still giggling.
.o0 Next Morning 0o.
Will woke up early, again, and went over to Luke and Lorelai's room. He'd started to turn on the TV without help, something Lorelai had so proudly taught him. Luke woke up to a bunch of flashing lights and saw Will sitting by his and Lorelai's feet watching TV; he groaned, the boy had gotten to waking up before he did and that was getting annoying.
"Daddy hi!" Will waved.
"Shh, we don't want to wake up Mommy, now do we?" Luke asked half asleep and Will shook his head. "Why are you here?" Will tapped his mouth. "Aw yes, your mothers appetite" Luke muttered. "I have to shower and then wake up your Mom before breakfast"
"Mommy! Mommy!" Will started calling out after he heard 'wake up your Mom'.
"Shh, Will, no"
"Will? What's wrong?" Lorelai woke up.
"Crap. Sorry, Hon, go back to bed, it's still early" Luke sooth.
"What happened?"
"Mommy hungy"
"What time is it?"
"Too early, go back to bed"
"Will woke up before you did, again?"
"Yeah"
"Tonight he's staying up and extra hour" Lorelai resolved.
"Hungy!" Lorelai groaned.
"Go back to sleep, I'll take care of this"
"Nah, I got it" she sat up. "Hey, Munchkin, come here"
"Mommy" he squealed and crawled up the bed towards Lorelai.
"Give the Mommy a kiss" she pointed to her cheek. "Good Morning" and with that their morning was off to an extra early start, again.
.o0 The Same Afternoon, Crap Shack 0o.
"So what time is Dean supposed to get here?" Lorelai asked Rory while she got everything ready. They were having a TV marathon and Rory had invited Dean over to watch, Lorelai wasn't too thrilled with the idea of Dean being there on a school night, interrupting her time with Rory, but then Rory said he was bringing food; and suddenly Lorelai was ok with him being there.
"I don't know, I told him to be here five minutes ago"
"I'm not patient person, kid"
"I know"
"You don't have to wait for Dean; start watching if you want"
"Oh, I know, I was just asking because I'm hungry"
"Nice" Rory deadpanned.
Ten minutes later Lorelai and Rory were sitting on the couch watching The Donna Reed Show; deciding not to wait for Dean. They were in the middle of a very amusing dialogue when the front door opened.
"I know I'm late, I'm sorry" Dean let himself in knowing there was no chance either girl would get up to answer the door if he knocked. "On the bright side, I didn't forget the food"
"All is forgiven… as long as you brought hot wings with that pizza" Lorelai told him.
"Yep, and a salad… just in case you wanted to try it… it's for me" he explained after the looks he was getting from Rory and Lorelai. "Ok then, what are we watching?"
"The Donna Reed Show" Rory told him, afraid of what 'creative' answer Lorelai would tell him.
"Isn't that a really old show?"
"It's a classic" Lorelai mumbled with a mouthful of pizza.
"Isn't it supposed to be dull and boring though?" silence.
"Take that back" Lorelai warned him.
"Oh no" Rory mumbled.
"I'm just saying, it's repetitive and slow going" Dean defended.
"Of course it is, and that's why we make up our own dialogue" Lorelai said with a grin.
"That was mean" Rory said but was giggling too.
"But very entertaining" Lorelai smiled.
.o0 A Little Later That Night 0o
"Hey guys, how was work?" Lorelai greeted when Luke and Will walked into the kitchen; she was giving Rory and Dean a few moments by themselves at the living room. "Did you have fun with your Daddy today?" she asked a sleepy faced Will.
"People are pigs" Luke deadpanned. "What's he still doing here?" he nodded to the living room.
"He came to our TV night, Rory invited him"
"It's a school night"
"Luke, relax, they've hardly seen each other all week because of school, one school-night date won't harm anyone"
"Mommy?" Will asked rubbing the sleepiness out of his right eye.
"Oh no, you are stay an extra hour up buddy; no more early mornings for you" Lorelai told him.
"Just let him go to sleep, it'll give us a free moment" Luke said walking around the kitchen making himself a cup of tea.
"No way, he can stay up an extra hour; I'm tired of waking up early everyday"
"You hardly ever wake up early, he always ends up waking me up and I keep him from doing the same to you"
"Aw, thank you, but still"
"We'll end up regretting this" he mumbled.
"Mommy" Will fussed while pulling at his ear; something he did when he was really sleepy.
"Very soon" Luke added.
"Ignore it…" Lorelai waved it off. "… now, tell me about your day" Luke gave her a look at the 'ignore it' comment but decided to let it pass this time.
"Why did you give a copy of Rory's interview to Miss Patty?" he asked with a growl.
"Oopsie. Wait, how did you know it was me?"
"Miss Patty told me"
"Traitor"
"She kept bugging me about it all day, not only that but now all of Stars Hollow has a copy and they all know" he groaned.
"They were bound to find out sooner or later, Hon. At least this way they have the whole story and they can't make anything up" he still just glared at her. "How bad was it?" she flinched.
"Bad, every time they saw me they'd coo; it's very annoying"
"I'm sorry, I just figured that if they heard Rory calling you Dad that they would start making stories up; this way they know how it happened and they wont be surprised once they hear Rory"
"No, they'll just keep cooing"
"Mommy!" Will said and slapped her thigh to get her attention.
"Will, no hitting, you know that" she reprimanded him; he started fussing like if he was going to cry, he was way past rubbing his eyes or pulling at his ear. "Come on, you want to help Mommy pick out a swimming suit?"
"I thought you wanted him to stay awake?" he teased.
"Mean. Baby have you said 'hi' to your sister yet?"
"Daddy" Will was trying a different approach.
"Go say 'hi' to Rory, honey, Dean's there too" Lorelai tried again.
"No! Mommy!" he was a few seconds away from crying. "Daddy?" he turned to look at both his parents, and when he noticed he wasn't getting anywhere he dropped, butt-first, to the floor and cried.
"Great" Luke groaned and got up to go get Will.
"Let him be, it's all for a greater good"
"So we can sleep in later? That's not a good reason to make Will cry" he picked to boy up and held him close against his chest; Will kept crying and hugged Luke tightly with his head on Luke's shoulder.
"He needs to set a schedule, preferably one that works with ours"
"He's not even two, he doesn't need a schedule to indulge your laziness" Will kept crying over them.
"Hey! Watch it" Luke just shot her a look; one that said he had a point and he wasn't sorry he stated it. "Since when is waking up at six considered being lazy? Not everybody enjoys waking up at a quarter to five! Actually nobody does" their yelling made Will cry harder.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Dean asked Rory when he heard yelling and crying.
"They're arguing, I think it's better if you go" she said with an apologetic shrug.
"Are you sure?" he had never witnessed Luke and Lorelai argue/yell for real; yeah he'd seen spats but that was different.
"Yeah, it's better to shield as much people as we can; this can get ugly, it will get uglier before it gets better"
"That doesn't sound good"
"Oh, it's ok, it only last for a day or two at tops" she assured.
"Umm… ok" he slowly stood up from the couch. "I guess I'll see you later, call if you need anything" and with that he left; at the same time Jess walked in.
"Geez" was all he said when he heard the yelling and crying; Rory stopped him from going into the kitchen.
"I don't sit on my butt for over three hours watching a few guys with sticks hitting balls!"
"No, you just sit there watching some stupid guy in a funny hat sing about chocolate!"
"What's the fight about?" Jess asked Rory and she shrugged. They could only hear a few words because Will's cries filtered their conversation.
"I only do that at nights! And it's not always Willy Wonka!"
"Yeah, well I only watch games when you let the TV free for more than two seconds!"
"This is ridiculous" Jess mumbled, freed himself from Rory's grip and went to get Will. "If you two want to argue, don't do it in front of Will!" he snapped at them while taking Will from Luke. "He will remember" with that he left the kitchen and took Will upstairs.
"What are you even arguing about?" Rory asked, she had followed Jess into the kitchen. "You two hardly ever have time to do anything as it is so what's the point?" and she too went to Will's room. Luke and Lorelai stood in the kitchen with shocked faces did that just happen.
.o0 Upstairs, Will's Room 0o.
"Hey Buddy, I bet your head is hurting from all that crying; what do you say we keep the lights off and only use your nightlight?" Jess walked over to turn on the nightlight before gently placing Will on his bed. "How about some mellow tunes?" he turned Will's little player on and put in a Mozart CD, a gift from Rory because it helped develop his mind. Will sat there quietly just looking at Jess walk around, finally he just laid back, big tears still streaming down his cheeks but he was no longer crying.
"Sss?" Will asked quietly.
"Just fall asleep, kid, I'm just going to take this icky shirt off and wait for Rory to do the rest, because like I said before: I don't do diapers" he smirked and noticed Will's lids getting heavier.
"Oh so I get the diaper" Rory teased walking into Will's room.
"Owy?"
"Ok then, bye" and with that Jess left Will's room.
.o0 Downstairs 0o.
"We can't keep doing this" Luke muttered.
"I already said we can flip a coin but you don't like that idea" she teased trying to lighten the mood.
"Lorelai…"
They had been through this before, but every time they'd talk and reach a conclusion and things would be fine for a little bit until it came back up again. The problem? Will. When Rory was little and an issue came up Luke had to step back because he was just the friend, he wasn't the real Dad so anything Lorelai said had to go. When Jess came to visit and an issue came up with him, it was Luke's choice how to handle it because he was the blood relative. But now, with Will, they were both equality concerned, and it affected them the same. So how do two stubborn people find a common ground in raising a child? They fight. That's the only solution they had come up with so far. Anytime something concerning Will came up, and they couldn't pick a common choice, they would just argue until one of them finally gave up.
"Do you have a better idea? Oh, I know, we can try rock, paper, scissors"
"I'm glad you find this amusing" with that he left to go get Will ready for bed; Rory and Jess shouldn't have to do that.
"Luke…" she sighed, waited a few seconds to collect herself before following Luke.
.o0 Upstairs 0o.
"What are you doing?" Luke asked halfway up the stairs; Jess was sitting on the top step.
"I'm waiting for Rory"
"Why?"
"Self preservation" he shrugged. "I figured you guys were still mad and I didn't want to go down there by myself after what I did"
"About that" Luke started and took a couple more steps up before sitting down too.
"Look, I'm sorry, I…"
"Jess, shut up for a sec? Although you did butt in where you shouldn't have, I'm glad you're looking out for Will like that"
"I don't want him to have the same memories I have"
"Thanks" Luke mumbled. "Go do your homework"
"Sure" Jess smirked, got up, and went down to his room; passing Lorelai on the way.
"Pro Con?" Lorelai said walking up the stairs.
"What?" Luke was still sitting down.
"Whenever we can't pick we each state our pros and cons, and then we'll go with the most reasonable option"
"That's not going to work"
"Maybe it will, who knows, we should make a list about that too" she teased.
"We're not going to stop in the middle of an argument, look for supplies, and then sit down and write out a pro-con list"
"Ok then, you come up with a better idea, or any idea for that matter, and let me know" she got defensive and went all the way upstairs and to Will's room.
"Lorelai…" he sighed, got up, and went to their room.
.o0 Will's Room 0o.
"I'll take over" Lorelai said walking into Will's room.
"He's already asleep" Rory told her; and he was, he was asleep and in his pj's.
"Oh, ok"
"Mom, what was that all about?"
"That was stupid" Lorelai waved it off. "Don't worry about that"
"Mom…?"
"Oh no, Dean was here"
"He went home"
"Oh Hon, I'm sorry, we just took off, I didn't even notice the starting flag"
"It's ok…" Rory waved it off. "… are you guys ok?"
"We're fine" Lorelai smiled but Rory didn't buy it. "Really"
"Is it because of the article? It is huh? I'm sorry"
"No Hon, it's not about the article, this was stupid and pointless. Your article was amazing and we're so proud of you; even though Luke is not thrilled about you leaving the team"
"I know, he's told me" Rory seemed to get lost in thought.
"Rory, that decision is yours. Don't get back on the team just because you think that'll make Luke happy; you know he's behind you no matter what you do"
"I know but…"
"No buts, you'll have enough on your plate next semester, and if you think getting off the team will ease your load then do it"
"Fine, I'll stop thinking about what everybody else wants"
"Good"
"Now, tell me what the fight was about"
"I already told you it's not important. Now, thanks for your help but I can take it from here"
"But"
"Thanks for understanding, good night" she gently pushed her towards the door.
"Fine, I'll drop it"
"Thank you"
"G'night Mom"
"Night Hon"
"Say 'good night' to Luke too… unless he's on the couch and I can tell him myself" she added with caution trying to see if Lorelai would let some information slip out.
"Good night Rory" Lorelai repeated. "Nice try" she added once Rory was out the room.
"Thanks" and with that Rory went downstairs.
.o0 Luke and Lorelai's Room 0o.
Luke was standing by the dresser dropping off all the stuff he had in the pockets of his jeans. He was moving slowly, thinking about how easily everything had gotten out of control so fast.
"Hey, are you still mad?" Lorelai asked walking into the room. Sometimes she had them memory of a goldfish, she would forget everything within minutes; but then there were the times when she had the memory of an elephant and she wouldn't forget, ever.
"I wasn't mad, just frustrated" he said in an even voice.
"And right now?" she walked up to him.
"Slightly less frustrated"
"Just slightly?" she pouted. "Can I change that to 'cero frustration'?" she hugged him from behind.
"Lorelai…"
"Relax Hon" she pulled back to rub his shoulders. "Let's live in the now, and deal with this when it comes up again"
"This happened now, so let's deal with it now"
"Luke…" she sighed. "Ok then" she pulled back. "How about we let him stay up later, but if he's really tired we can put him to bed. How's that?"
"That doesn't fix our current problem; it just leaves us back in square one"
"Ok then" she sighed. "We can have activities for him so he gets more tired and sleeps more, is that better?" he smirked. "I'll take that as a yes, now; can we live in the moment?"
"I'm sorry for calling you lazy" Luke mumbled.
"It's ok, I'll get even" she ginned.
"Wha…?"
"Tonight…" she walked closer again. "… I will be so lazy…" she draped her arms around his neck. "… you'll have to do all the work" she smiled more.
"I think that's a good punishment" Luke's arms wrapped around her waist.
"So we agree?" he nodded and leaned down to kiss her.
The next morning Will was too tired from crying the nigh before that he didn't wake up until Lorelai went to get him ready to take to the Inn with her.
During the week they tried to get Will as tired as they could, without getting themselves tired in the process. Lorelai would play music for him and encourage him to dance, Luke would teach him to catch or more specifically he would throw the ball and Will would run over and get it; Lorelai would tell him he was playing catch with his kid and there he sat saying he didn't like the neediness of puppies. So far it had worked; they hadn't been woken up by Will in a couple of days.
.o0 Friday Morning 0o.
Luke had taken Will with him that morning, Lorelai was fighting against a button on Rory's school sweater while Rory studied and tried to hold still for Lorelai to finish with the button.
"Seriously, kid, this would be way easier if I was doing it on Will; stay still" Lorelai stressed for like the fifth time.
"I'll get it" Rory said when someone knocked on the kitchen's door.
"You're two" she mumbled. "Hey Babbette, coffee?" she needed some of she was going to finish Rory's button on time.
"No thanks, Suga, I just needed to ask for a favor"
"Ask away" Lorelai walked around the kitchen getting Babbette's coffee mug ready for her; even though she said no.
"Morey has a gig in the city tonight"
"Awesome, Hartford?" Lorelai smiled handing the mug to Babbette who didn't seem to notice.
"No, New York" she corrected.
"Wow, go Morey"
"I know, right, anyways a few days back we finally got a new baby"
"Aw a kitten" Rory cooed.
"But it's still too little to be a groupie and we don't want to leave it all alone…"
"I'll catsit" Rory offered right away.
"Really? Thank you! The fridge is fully stock, and you have the house to yourself, we'll be back on Saturday afternoon, have fun, and oh! We have Cox! We have Cox!"
"I'll probably just do my homework, Babbette, but thanks anyways" Rory smiled politely.
"Ok so, thanks for the coffee; Rory you're an angel, thanks a lot. Bye girls!" and with that Babbette left, coffee mug in hand.
"Wow" Lorelai said.
"I know"
"Jump at the chance to leave the house why don't you?"
"What?"
"You didn't even let her finish asking, you just jumped at the idea of being away from here"
"Mom, it's not like that, she needed help so I helped her. You know you're supposed to help your neighbor"
"Yes, when your neighbor asks for it, you're not supposed to jump the gun kid"
"Mom, come on"
"I know we bug you but…"
"Dramatic much? I'm right next door"
"But all by yourself, won't you be sad?"
"I wont be alone, the cat's there" she teased.
"And Dean"
"Dean?"
"Yeah, oh come on, don't tell me you're not going to invite your boyfriend over when you have a whole house to yourself. And Cox, you can't forget the Cox" Lorelai teased.
"Cox or not, I hadn't planned on having Dean over, I was just going to do homework"
"You were going? Or you're going?"
"Wouldn't you like to know" Rory teased.
"Yes I would like to know, and I bet your Dad would love to know too"
"That's the first time you said Dad" Rory told her with a weird smile.
"Don't change the subject" Lorelai warned but she was also smiling.
"Oh look at that, I'm gonna be late"
"There will be no 'late' in this house, you hear me" Lorelai stressed.
"If that's your way of telling me not to have sex, don't worry I don't plan to have sex anytime soon"
"You never plan those things, Hon"
"Maybe you don't, but I do; I plan everything remember, pro-con" Rory reminded her.
"That's right… I got the good kid" she smiled and hugged Rory.
"If I were you I'd worry about Jess, not me"
"Wait what?"
"Bye Mom"
"Rory…!"
.o0 Chilton 0o.
Jess grabbed his cell phone to check his voice mail; his cell had been vibrating all through his first class.
Hey Jessie, it's your auntie Lorelai. Hi, how are you doing? How's school? Learning anything new? Probably not, you are so smart… anyways… I just wanted to call and tell you… YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE SEX! Ok, have a good day at school and keep it in your pants. Ok bye.
"What the hell?" he frowned and closed his cell phone.
.o0 The Diner 0o.
"Where's my precious, innocent, baby boy?" Lorelai burst into the diner.
"Innocent?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "Have you met your 'baby boy'?"
"If you knew how my morning went you'd understand"
"Mommy!"
"Baby!" she yelled the same as Will.
"Mommy!"
"Willy!" he giggled like crazy.
"Stop, please"
"Grump" Lorelai mumbled before going over to take Will out of the high chair.
"Mommy!" Will played again.
"Will" Luke used his stern voice, meaning 'the funs over, kid'.
"No" with that Will hugged Lorelai's neck tighter.
"You tell him, baby" Lorelai giggled.
"Mommy!"
"Will, I mean it"
"Honey, your Daddy said no yelling"
"Where did that come from?" Luke frowned.
"His yelling is starting to give me a headache"
"Right. So, what happened this morning that made Will seem so innocent"
"Trust me, you don't want to know"
"Was it life threatening?"
"No"
"Serious?"
"Maybe"
"Does it involve Rory or Jess?"
"Yes" Lorelai giggled.
"Just tell me"
"You really want to know?"
"Yes"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes" Luke said annoyed.
"Here in the diner?"
"Lorelai…"
"Fine, I was talking about sex with Rory and…"
"Geez!"
"… she said that she and Dean…"
"Oh God"
"… haven't done anything…"
"Thank God"
"… and that she's not planning to, but that we should worry about Jess not her"
"Aw crap"
"I asked you if you wanted to know" Lorelai reminded him.
"Has Jess…?"
"I don't know and frankly I don't want to"
"Hand me the innocent one" Luke gestured to Will, Lorelai laugh and passed the boy over.
"Will, hug your Dad" Luke told him seriously and Will attacked his neck. "Thanks"
.o0 Chilton 0o.
"Your Mom is a nut case" Jess said walking up to Rory.
"Why? What did she do now?" he just called his voice mail and held his phone towards her; minutes later Rory burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, I never though she'd do that"
"Do what? What did you tell her?"
"It was stupid, she though Dean and I were…" she gestured wildly with her hand like Luke does. "… and I told her 'no' and that she didn't have to worry about us but that you were a different story"
"Damn it, Rory"
"Sorry" she said laughing.
"Like I believe that, I'll get even" he promised before he walked away.
"No you won't" she said loudly enough for him to hear even though he was walking away.
.o0 The Crap Shack 0o.
Later that day Jess drove them home in Luke's new truck.
"Don't forget your thing" he called over his shoulder and walked up to the house.
"Stop it"
Inside Lorelai and Will were on the floor making a puzzle.
"Why your Dad insists on buying you toys with sports in them is beyond me" Lorelai groveled while picking up a puzzle piece with a football on it. The door opened, but didn't close, and Jess walked in.
"Don't leave messages like that on my phone" he said before walking to his room. Will raised his eyebrows at Lorelai.
"You're too young to know" after that she heard the front door close. "Hi Hon how was… aww, what's that!?" she pointed to the cage in Rory's hand. "Look Will, a baby chick, go say 'hi'" they both stood up from the floor, Will ran towards Rory and gently placed a finger on the cage.
"It's a project for school, so I would appreciate it if you guys don't kill it"
"Mean" was all Lorelai said. "Will did you see the chick, she's so cute huh?" he nodded. "Can you say 'tweet' 'tweet'?" he only tapped the cage a little.
"Like I said 'don't kill it'"
"You're grouchy" Lorelai pointed out.
"I'm just annoyed that I have to take care of this thing" she pointed to the cage before making her way towards the kitchen, both Will and Lorelai following her.
"Thing? Honey, it's a chick, a pet, it needs a name"
"No it doesn't" Rory placed the cage down on the table.
"Yes it does. Will, what do you think? Should we name it?"
"Ookie!"
"No, honey, we're not naming it ookie" he pouted.
"Actually, we're not naming it anything" Rory repeated. "It's a project, a grade, I don't need to bond with it"
"But Rory…"
"Nope" and with that she went to her room. Lorelai thought about it for two seconds.
"Is it a chick or a chico?" she called to Rory who only laughed.
"A chick"
"Ok…" Lorelai nodded and considered it. "I got it!" Will turned to look at her. "Rory, I found a name for her"
"I don't want to know"
"But"
"Nope"
"Stella" Lorelai called.
"What?" Rory frowned and poked her head out of her room.
"That's her name, Stella" Lorelai said proudly.
"Mom…" Rory groaned and went back to her room.
"Crabby" she told Will and he nodded. "What do you think? Do you like the name?" he only shrugged, Jess walked out of his room. "Do you think 'Stella' is a good name for Rory's chick?" she asked him and Jess only shrugged. "Men" Lorelai mumbled. "Come on kid, we have a puzzle to finish" she Will up in the air before hugging him close and he giggled.
Later that night, about ten minute after Jess had left for the diner, Luke walked in to an annoying sound and to Will's cries.
"What the hell?" Luke groaned and went in search of his son, one noise at the time, he found him in Lorelai's arms; both pacing Will's room, the door closed.
"Close that" Lorelai hissed.
"What's up with him?" Luke asked gently closing the door behind him.
"Stella"
"Umm, what?"
"Well Rory can't take her to Babbette's to baby-sit apricot because she might eat her…" Luke was beyond confused now. "… so she let her here, Stella not apricot, and everything was fine until she started chirping and that was entertaining Will at first but then during naptime she wouldn't stop so he got grouchy and started poking it and Stella got back by biting him, which made Will cry and ever since then he doesn't like her and she's been chirping. So now Will is nap less and I'm sure his head hurts from lack of sleep and from all the crying, plus the stupid chirping doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon" with that she took a deep breath.
"Who the hell is Stella, and what's that noise?"
"I just told you" she groaned, she too had a short fuse now, after dealing with the chirping and crying.
"Daddy!" Will pulled away from Lorelai and extended his arms at Luke.
"Your turn" she passed Will over. "Good luck" she crossed her arms and looked at the closed door. "I swear to God if she doesn't stop…" and with that there was no more chirping. "Awesome! I have powers"
"Oh yeah, then stop this one" Luke grumbled, Will kept crying, his voice soar now.
"Tss my powers aren't that strong yet" Luke rolled his eyes.
"Dim the lights" he nodded towards the switch right behind her. "Now…" he was talking softer. "… who's Stella?" he turned on Will's little stereo, it softly played classical music.
"Rory's school project" she was also talking softly, Luke gave her a weird look. "It's a baby chick she has to monitor for like a week and record everything, she's not happy about it specially since Jess is not on that class and he didn't get one which he's been bugging her about. Well, said chick has been bugging us, not shutting up and biting Will" Luke nodded, Wills cries started to quiet down. "And now I have a headache, I don't know how we'll survive this"
"Why don't you go relax a little, I have this covered" he motioned to Will who had started to nod off.
"Oh my God, I love you; thanks so much Hon" she kissed him and left the room to go downstairs to get a pill for the marching band in her head.
"Alright, buddy, it's nice and quiet now, lets catch some Z's" Luke said soothingly rubbing Wills back. Not two minutes later, right when Will was staring to fall asleep, they heard…
"Stella!" with all of Lorelai's might. Needless to say Will woke up with a start and was crying within two seconds.
"Damn it" Luke grumbled.
"Luke, she's gone!" Lorelai busted through Will's door.
"He was already asleep" Luke hissed at her.
"Stella's gone, Rory's gonna kill me!"
"Lower your voice" he hissed again.
"But…" he shot her a look. "Fine" she mumbled. Luke turned back to Will.
About twenty minutes later, when Will was finally asleep, Luke and Lorelai were searching the house for the baby chick.
"Any mess you make, you're cleaning it" Luke warned her since she insisted on flipping everything over her shoulder in her search.
"Luke, you can't look for something without making a mess in the process, that's how it works"
"Whatever, but I'm not cleaning anything up"
"Kill joy" he turned to respond but Lorelai ran for the kitchen "There she goes!" she ran for the chick but Stella did a sharp turn and ran back to the living room and over to the main door, Luke dived and caught her just in time for Jess to open the door.
"Hi, uncle Luke, are you playing doormat?"
"It's been a long night, don't mess with me" Luke warned while getting up, Stella safely tucked in his hands.
"Oh, in that case you wouldn't want to know that I just saw Dean walking out of Babbette's house" Jess said casually while going to his room. "Man, this place's a mess, do I even want to know what you guys were doing, especially with the chick"
"Ew, Jess!" Lorelai scowled but laughed a little too.
"Wait, backup a sec, did you say that Dean was leaving Babbette's?" Luke asked, Stella still in his hands chirping away.
"Yup, what's for dinner?"
"Rory's at Babbette's" Luke stated.
"Luke…?" Lorelai started knowing where this was getting at.
"She's alone"
"She wasn't alone-alone, she had Dean there to keep her company" Jess teased, he knew Rory would never do anything but it was fun messing with Luke's mind.
"Jess, go to your room" Lorelai told him knowing he was doing this on purpose.
"But…"
"Now"
"I'm gonna kill him!" Luke marched towards the front door.
"Luke, the chick" he handed the chick to Lorelai. "You're not going anywhere" he stopped and turned to look at her. "Rory knows what she's doing, and she'd never do something she didn't want"
"But…"
"She told me she's not planning on…"
"You don't plan these things Lorelai, especially when you suddenly get a whole house to yourself!"
"Don't you trust your daughter?" she asked placing Stella back in her cage. Luke was taken aback by the whole 'daughter' thing but still answered.
"Of course I do! But I don't trust him"
"Of course you don't, I don't either, but I know Rory wont do anything and I know if something had happened she'd be coming through that door any second now to let us now; and if that happens feel free to stalk and kill Dean"
"Mom!" Rory rushed through the front door and towards Lorelai. "Dad! You have to help me"
"I'm on it" Luke said and started for the door. "That boy is dead" he added.
"What?" Rory frowned. "Apricot, I can't find her!"
"Huh" Luke stopped is that some type of slang I don't get?
"What do you mean you can't find her?" Lorelai asked a little frantic, she knew how much this cat meant to her neighbor and she didn't want anything happening to her, especially after what had happened to cinnamon no so long ago.
"She was there one moment and gone the next!"
"Who?" Luke asked lost.
"Apricot, the cat I'm sitting for"
"A cat? But what about Dean?" he frowned.
"He's not lost, he's home" Rory looked at Luke confused.
"But he was with you earlier"
"Yes, I made him dinner but then he left after taking the trash out and now I can't find Apricot"
"You cooked dinner?" Lorelai asked her a little surprised.
"When you said 'he left after taking out the trash', you meant?" Luke probed a little more.
"I meant, he took out the trash" Rory repeated slowly.
"Come on Hon…." Lorelai grabbed Luke's sleeve, pinching him in the process. "… we have a cat we need to find"
"Ow, ok" Luke followed, Rory dashed for the house a few steps ahead of them. "You're hurting me"
"I know"
"Stop it" he yanked his arm out of her grasp.
"Stop asking obvious questions, we trust her and her judgment and if she said nothing happened then nothing did, ok?"
"But…"
"And no killing of the boyfriend"
"But…"
"Now, come on, we have a cat that needs finding"
"But…" Lorelai gave him a stern look. "Fine, consider it dropped"
"Good"
The next morning they were all grouchy. Nobody had a good nights sleep because of the damn animals, and the fact that they had jobs to get to early in the morning. Babette came home and was thrilled to see her baby safe and sound, Rory never mentioned her little Houdini act; no need to worry her. Lorelai had an early meeting at the Inn and then the whole day off, which she hated because it made her wake up early for no reason. Will was at Luke's, sleeping in his playpen, and when Lorelai was done with her meeting she was going to pick him up and just hang at the house; hopefully she'd get some sleep at some point.
"Hey Luke…?" Kirk asked bringing Luke out of his counter scrubbing daze. "What's the tailbone connected to?"
"My foot if you don't stop asking me stupid questions" yeah, Luke was grouchy too.
"No, that's not how the song goes" Kirk said shaking his head after having quietly sung the entire song in his head.
"Get out"
"Why?" Kirk pouted a little.
"Because I'm not in the mood right now"
"What's wrong? You and Lorelai had a fight? Because if you did you can tell me, I'm your man"
"Get out, Kirk"
"You don't have to be shy around me, I won't judge"
"Kirk…"
"And I won't think anything of Lorelai"
"Out!" Luke finally lost it. Lorelai had just been walking in.
"Aw man, did the miss the good part?" he teased and moved to the side so Kirk could run out the door; Luke shot her a glare but before he could say anything Will started crying, Luke had woken him up with his little outburst.
"Just perfect" he mumbled.
"Don't worry babe, I got him" Lorelai waved Luke off and went to get Will. "Hey kid, I would've though you'd be used to your Daddy's outbursts by now" Luke rolled his eyes and turned around to get Lorelai's coffee, he was mid pour when the diner door opened.
"I'll be right there" Luke called over his shoulder.
"You've got some nerve!" a voice yelled, Luke stopped pouring and turned around. "What the hell is this?" Rory's article was tossed in the air and landed on the countertop, sliding a little before coming to a stop right in front of Luke who stood his ground and crossed his arms.
You've been LoVeLuKe-ized
Weird ending, I know. One guess as to who it is…
Let me know what you thought, and I really am trying to write faster I just can't, on the bright side my chapters are long-ish.