Chapter Text
May 29, 2007
Her life was pretty good.
Lorelai had to admit that she was content with how things were going on in her life.
It could've been better if Rory hadn't left, but still she was proud of daughter and content with her life.
It had been two weeks since the Bon Voyage party the town had thrown for Rory. Since Luke had thrown for her daughter. Since she and Luke got back together.
He kissed it better, literally, and finally her life was back on track.
The day Rory left was hard. But she couldn’t imagine how much harder would it be without Luke there to hold her. Her knight in shining flannel. Holding her when she needed, listening to her memories about Rory he already heard about or was in, making her coffee and burgers he knew would make her feel better.
And they talked.
Maybe they talked more in that two weeks than they had in their entire two years relationship. They both knew their relationship couldn’t survive unless they talked about their problems and they were sure of one thing: they wanted to hold on tightly to each other, to their relationship.
It had only been two weeks and Lorelai was already back to imagining what their wedding would be like. Not that she thought they would get married anytime soon. She knew that they had a long way to that. But a girl could dream. And she did. Often.
She walked into the diner. The bells jiggled as she watched Luke turn to look at her and admired how his eyes softened with the sight of her.
"Hey!" She said as she walked to the counter to lean on it and press a kiss to her boyfriend's lips in a way that made both of them feel like nothing has changed in that cursed one year.
Luke turned back to pour coffee to a cup for her as he asked. "You slept well after I left? No more nausea, right?" He asked with a touch of worry in his voice.
"I'm fine, Luke." Lorelai talked before taking a sip of the black liquid and moaning with delight. She raised her head to see his face clouded with even more worry. "Seriously," she said with an eye roll at his worry. "It's just a bit of nausea. I'm probably going to get cold or something. Now can I get pancakes with chocolate chips and more coffee?"
Luke didn’t seem to buy that but he didn’t press it further. He went back to kitchen as Ceasar kept taking orders from the other customers in diner.
It was when he brought the pancakes that his worry increased. The minute Lorelai took a bite of the pancake, the kind she adored, her face changed and she seemed to have a problem swallowing it.
"You are going to go to a doctor." Luke said with a voice that left no place to discussion.
"Luke-"
"Lorelai." He stared at her with a clarity and worry in his eyes. "You’re going to go, see a doctor. Today."
"Okay." She gave in as she got off of her stool to leave.
"Let me know when you find out what is it, okay? Even if it's just a cold." Luke reached out to grab her hand.
Lorelai gave him a small smile. "Okay, love you babe." She said before leaving.
Luke watched her leave the diner with a faint weight pressed against his heart. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong. Lorelai was not one to get sick all the time. All those years he knew her, he could only remember 2 or 3 times she had been sick. And her being so sick and feeling nauseous for two weeks since Rory had left was no good.
He was six when his mother died. But he remembered her laying on the bed for months before that. Feeling nauseous whenever she tried to stand up, not being able to keep food in her stomach, throwing up after every meal. He remembered cuddling up to his mother and thinking it would heal her because that was what his mother would do when he was sick.
Liz was younger than him. She wasn't even aware of what was going on. She was upset with their mother for leaving them slowly with each passing day. She didn’t want to talk to her or see her. Not knowing she was going to regret that for the rest of her life.
Luke, on the other hand, understood what was going on better than her but still had no idea of the severity of the situation. He could feel something was wrong. He would cuddle up to his mother all day and wouldn't leave with his own will until his mother would insist with a sweet, angelic tone. Until she died, leaving him in a dark and gloomy world.
He couldn’t stand the idea of the same thing happening to Lorelai. He couldn’t stand the idea of losing her.
They wasted so much time. He wasted so much time, not asking her out, watching her date bunch of losers. And then keeping secrets from her, shutting her out. Letting her leave after her ultimatom, not following her and trying to fix things.
They wasted so much time.
The sun was gone and the diner shimmered with the glow of the streetlights.
There were no more customers left and Luke was wiping down the counter as he waited for the bells to jiggle with Lorelai walking in. Or his cellphone to ring. As long as it was Lorelai.
He hadn’t heard from her since the call she made about going to the doctor’s office that afternoon. But that was hours ago and he was growing more worried with every second.
He tried her cell a few times but there was no answer.
He was not one of those people who would worry about every bad possibility. He would stay calm and wait. He was the sane one who kept his ground. Not the one who felt even more anxiety with every passing minute- like he was now.
When he finally heard the bells and the slow creak of the door opening slowly, he let out a breath of relief.
That relief did not last long.
The minute he saw her face, he knew something was absolutely wrong.
She wasn’t crying, but it was obvious she had been. Her eyes were red, and her eyelashes were stuck together because of the salty tears.
The door slammed loudly with a strong wind and Lorelai visibly shook with fear.
"Hey, what's going on?" He asked as he walked towards her with fear growing inside of him. He tried to grab her arms that were shaking violently but she jumped at the contact and took a step back. "Don’t," she said with tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She whispered as a sob left her throat. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around her stomach, holding herself. Her sobs turned into sharper, uncontrollable hiccups as she took another step back and her back hit the diner's door.
Luke stood there, watching her. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to pull her to him but she didn’t seem like she wanted him to touch her. Which hurted more than anything.
"Lorelai, tell me what's wrong. We can fix it. Whatever it is." He was ready to beg if that was what it took to ease her stress and make her trust him with whatever she was keeping to herself. "I'm sure Emily and Richard would find the best doctor, okay? They will find the doctors and you will get better in no time. I know this because you are the strongest person I know."
He tried to give her a confident smile as he took a step closer to her. "We will get through this. And then we will have our middle. Alright? Matching jogging suits? We already have the dog. It's all going to be okay. Just tell me what it is." He reached to grab her left hand. He took it with both of his hands and pulled it to himself to press a kiss on it.
"I'm sorry..." Lorelai repeated with a defeated voice. "I really am." She said it like she was trying to convince him. Her back straightened as she stared at her hand between his hands with hopeless eyes.
She didn’t take her eyes off of it as she finally whispered. "I'm pregnant."