[karana]

Chapter 2: Cheer for me

It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and it was quiet in the diner. Besides Luke and two tourists at the corner table by the window the place was completely abandoned. Luke had sent Caesar and Lane home for a break until dinner rush. He had no problem handling the place on his own.
When the bell above the door suddenly rang, he looked up. He expected it to be April, and was surprised when it was her mother instead.
“Anna,” he said surprised
“Hello Luke,” she greeted him.
“I didn’t know you were coming home.”
She walked towards the counter and sat down on one of the stools.
“Coffee?” She nodded.
“Yes please.”
He turned around and filled a cup with coffee placing it in front of Anna.
“April’s not here yet. I’m sure she’ll be here anytime now,” he tried to start a conversation.
“That’s okay. I wanted to talk to you anyway,” she clarified, took another sip of coffee and placed the cup back on the counter.
“Everything went fine,” he said, somehow having the urge to defend himself. There was something in her tone he didn’t like. He started telling about all the time he and April spend together. A little uncomfortable he even told her about April having her first period.
“So she locked herself up in the bathroom?” Anna sounded surprised, but he could also see something like regret in her eyes.
“Yeah. I didn’t know what to do so I called Lorelai,” he admitted a bit sheepishly.
“You what?” she shot him an angry look.
“I didn’t know what to do. You were halfway across the country. Lane wasn’t there, Liz was already asleep. Lorelai was the only person who could help. She talked to April and gave her that stuff… you know.” He gestured with his hands, to make it clear what he meant and Anna had to smile about that.
“So how is she?” she wanted to know, the smile still present on her face.
“After that incident she was fine. Maybe a little more cranky then normal, but hey, that’s normal right?” he searched for reassurance from her, that April’s crankiness hadn’t been his fault.
“Yeah,” She agreed and then went silent and thought for a moment.
“Luke, listen, I need to tell you something.” She said in a serious tone.
“What?” He noticed the change in her tone and already knew he wouldn’t like what was coming next.
“I’ve thought about this for a long time, and I don’t really know how to tell you this so I’m just going to drop it upon you. April and I are moving to New Mexico.” Luke stared at her for some seconds
“What?” he exclaimed he voice louder than intended.
“My mother isn’t doing so well. She can’t live on her own any longer and I don’t want to put her in a retirement home. So April and I are going to move there so she can stay with us,” Anna explained.
“How about she moves over here?” he tried to reason with her.
“Oh no, I can’t do that. She’s been living there for half her life. I can’t take her out of that house Luke. You have to understand,” she said and the whole thing sounded lame to him.
He sighed. Not really knowing what to say. He thought about a proper response, about a way to prevent this from happening when April entered the diner.
“Mom!” She dropped her backpack next to the door and ran into her mother’s arms. “I didn’t know you were coming home.”
“I wanted to surprise you honey.” Over April’s shoulder Anna gave Luke a pointed look that told him that the conversation was over and he wasn’t really keen on discussing this with April present anyway.


Lorelai and Chris were sitting on her couch, watching a movie. Gigi was asleep in Rory’s room, what nowadays was more her room. Lorelai let it happen and didn’t tell Chris how she felt about Gigi moving into Rory’s room. Plus, it was the only room in the house Gigi could sleep in anyway. They couldn’t let her sleep on the couch and still watch TV after Gigi went to sleep, and she definitely didn’t want the girl in her bed at night.
“Hey Lore?” Chris asked and interrupted the silence.
“Yeah?” she asked, still watching the movie and not in the mood for anything besides that.
“I think we should go to that festival,” he demanded.
“What festival?” she asked still distracted by the TV.
“This knit-a-thon, there a big banner in the middle of the town,” he clarified.
“Ah, that. I’m participating,” she answered still not looking at him.
“Good. I have no idea what happens there, but I’m curious to find out. When are we leaving?” he asked.
“You wanna come?” she asked and faced him for the first time.
“Sure, it’ll be fun,” he shrugged.
“Ah, Chris, I’m sure you’ll be bored. Why don’t you stay here? Or do something with Gigi? Go to the playground? The weather is good. It’s cold, but it’s not raining,” she smiled.
“Why should I be bored? I talked to my mother this morning and she’ll watch Gigi this evening. We could spend some time together at the festival, just as. And I could meet your friends and neighbors,” he tried to convince her.
“Chris, honey, really. I’ll go to the festival alone and you’ll spend some time with your mother and your daughter, okay?” she smiled and kissed him.
“Lore, what is this? Why don’t you want me to come with you? I’m your husband. We’ve been married for three weeks now and I haven’t met anyone from this town yet. Are you ashamed of me?” he asked her upset.
“I know that we’re married. God, you don’t need to remind me every damn day!” she yelled and sprang off the couch.
“Obviously I need to, because you act like we are just casually dating. You can’t keep me out of your life, that’s not how a marriage works,” he yelled back.
“I am not keeping you out of my life! You moved in here, remember? With Gigi and all of your stuff, so don’t tell me I am keeping you out of my life,” she tried to defend herself.
“Yeah, I moved in here, but I never got to meet your neighbors. You keep me away from the inhabitants of this town on purpose. Why don’t you want me to meet them? As your husband and a new member of this town I have a right to meet them!” he was still yelling.
“I am not keeping you from the neighbors! I think you are paranoid”
“Of course you are. We go to the cinema in Hartford…”
“Because they have newer films”
“We go shopping in the mall down in Hartford”
“Because they have a bigger selection”
“We go to restaurants in Litchfield and Woodbridge”
“Because they have the better food” she argued.
“That’s bull, Lore and you know it. Sookie is one of the best chefs in the area, she could have made us something. But no, you don’t want me in the Inn, you don’t want me at the supermarket or the restaurants around here.”
“That is not true,” she said and even to her it sounded lame.
“Do the townspeople hate me that much that you don’t want to be seen with me?” he asked more quietly now, but still upset.
“Oh hon’, they don’t hate you. They don’t know you. I just don’t want you to get scared away by the crazy people around here” she searched for an explanation for her behavior.
“That could never happen. I love you, Lore. And if they really scare me, then we just have to move” he smiled sweetly and hugged her.
“Move, yeah, right. Really easy,” she said in a strangled tone and hugged him back, so he couldn’t see her face. “You really wanna come with me? Although it will be crazy and boring and loud and everybody will be drunk?” she asked him when she pulled back from the hug.
“I really wanna come with you Lore. And come on, it will be fun. You, and me lot’s of crazy people to mock and booze. It’ll be great,” he said encouragingly and kissed her.
“You’re right,” she said, unconvinced, but kissed him back.


Gigi was spending the night Francine’s so Lorelai and Chris had the evening all to themselves and as promised Lorelai took him to the knit-a-thon festival. The whole town was decorated with wool. Everywhere you looked, you saw wool, of creatures made out of wool. Every tree in the town center was packed in wool blankets, and even the gazebo was decorated in many different colors.
“Is this what town festivals are always like?” Chris looked around in amazement.
“Oh yeah, although this is definitely not close to the largest festival ever given,” he shook his head in disbelieve.
“I wonder why you like it so much,” he said with raised eyebrows while he looked around and took the whole scene in, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What’s not to like? And I warned you, by the way, so I don’t wanna hear any complains,” she scolded playfully, gave him a peck and tugged on his hand.
“Come on, I want to participate in the knitting contest,” Lorelai told him then.
“The what?” He looked next to him but Lorelai was already gone.
She was standing in front of one of the stands and he had no choice but to follow her. He looked around and recognized a few people. Lorelai’s friend and co-worker Sookie and who he assumed was her husband were selling spaghetti. And there was this guy who always acted crazy selling knitting needles. And in the middle of the square was a small pet zoo. He wondered if he could put Lorelai’s crazy dog in there at the end of the evening and have him taken away. The animal was driving him crazy.
“Chris,” Lorelai was yelling his name from the stand so he had no choice but to follow her.
“Hey,” he said when he had reached her.
“What were you doing?” she wanted to know.
“Looking around,” he shrugged.
“But you have to cheer for me!” she pouted and he slung his arms around her waist. Then he shook his head, bout how bad he had it and smiled.
“Sure,” he said and kissed her.
“Hey Lorelai, who’s your friend?” Miss Patty was standing behind the stand.
“Oh, you remember Rory’s father right?”
“Oh, how could I forget such a handsome young man?” she smiled seductively.
“I’m sorry Miss Patty? Was it?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes, handsome. I am honored that you remember my name”
“My pleasure, but I have to disappoint you, I’m taken,” he said and showed her his wedding ring.
“Aw, that’s a shame. Where’s that wife of yours?” Miss Patty asked suspiciously. This couldn’t be true.
“Standing right next to me” Chris smiled proudly, placed a kiss on Lorelai’s cheek and missed the look of shock crossing her face when he told Miss Patty that they were married.
“Oh.. uhm.. how nice,” Miss Patty said and gave them a fake smile.
“Uhm, would you two excuse me? I have to go and find Babette,” she excused herself then and hurried off.
“You didn’t tell them we’re married?” Chris turned to Lorelai, after they were alone again.
“Never had the opportunity to,” Lorelai shrugged it off and then kissed him to distract him.
“I am going up there now, otherwise the contest will start without me,” she said then and left him standing alone.
While Lorelai was on the stage and started in the fast-knit-a-thon, Chris was down in the crowd cheering for her. While he was cheering he missed the looks the townspeople gave him at first and then muted his cheers a bit, because he became scared by the hostile stares they gave him. He had no idea how to act around them and how to get on the good side with them, so he decided to just ignore them at one point. Lorelai had asked him to cheer for her so that’s what he did.
Halfway through the competition Lorelai looked up, when she heard that it had gotten more silent somehow and she found Chris standing alone in front of the stage watching her and the others, while the rest of the townspeople had moved about ten meters to the back, and were completely silent, except for hushed whispers and very telling stares in Chris’ and her direction.
“Thank you very much Patty,” Lorelai muttered angrily, but kept knitting.
The moment the competition was over the townspeople started to pack their things, cleaned up and tore down their booths and took their punch and marched off to Luke’s, giving Lorelai and Chris a last angry look.
“I thought there would be more?” Chris asked confused when he saw them packing their things.
“Well, you must have misunderstood,” Lorelai smiled at him and then showed him the waffle stand Kirk had still open.


Luke was sitting in his apartment and tried to ignore everything that was going on outside. He was sitting in his leather chair with a bottle of beer in his hands, forgetting about what Anna told him earlier. There was no way he could allow her to take away his daughter. He just had no idea how to stop her….
Luke was suddenly disturbed from his thoughts when the phone rang. He stood up and answered.
“Hello?”
“Luke?” Luke flinched when he heard TJ’s unmistaken voice at the other side of the line.
“What is it TJ?”
“Liz had the baby,” TJ informed him and it wasn’t clear if he sounded more excited or freaked out.
“She what? What hospital are you at?” Luke asked, springing up and grabbed his keys. The phone still at his ear.
“We never made it to the hospital. Liz decided yesterday that she wanted to have the baby here, so we called the midwife when the contractions started and there ya go” TJ enlightened him.
“Have you lost your minds? Do you know what could have happened to her? That is dangerous and unsanitary!” Luke lectured TJ.
“Don’t I know about the last part. The whole bedroom is a mess. Everywhere is something bloody or gooey, it’s yucky,” TJ complained.
“I never heard a grown man use the word “Yucky”,” Luke muttered.
“But ya know, Liz is happy and little Donatus is happy, so I’m happy,” TJ went on.
“Donatus? You named my nephew Donatus?” Luke asked and had to sit down again.
“No, but it’s kind of a cool nickname, don’t ya think?” TJ asked.
“You know what? I’m coming over, this talk is getting me nowhere. And I wanna see with my own two eyes that Liz and the baby are okay” Luke told his brother-in-law.
“Okay, but prepare yourself for the most huzzah-baby you’ve ever seen!” TJ said proudly.
“Huzzah-baby? I’m ending this call now TJ. See ya!” Luke shook his head and hung up.


Luke walked through the town square towards Liz’ and TJ’s house. He still couldn’t believe that she had had the baby at home, with a midwife. That was so irresponsible. What if something had gone wrong? But he realized that nothing went wrong, and that the baby was born healthy. He couldn’t wait to see his new nephew.
“Hey,” he looked up when he heard someone talk to him. He was staring directly into Lorelai’s eyes.
“Hey” he greeted back, his throat suddenly dry.
“Where are you up to? This doesn’t seem like a place you want to hang out tonight,” Lorelai tried to joke.
“No it isn’t. I wasn’t…. I’m on my way to Liz’s. She just had her baby,” he informed her and sounded proud.
“Liz had a baby? You never told me she was pregnant,” Lorelai was stunned.
He gave her an apologetic look. “Well, she was… pregnant, I mean. And she just had a baby. A boy,” he smiled proudly.
“Congratulations Uncle Luke,” she smiled at him.
“Thanks,” he smiled back slightly.
“What’s up? You don’t seem happy? Aren’t you happy about the baby?”
“I am. It’s just….”
“What? Is something wrong with April?”
“No, she’s fine. It’s just, Anna wants to move April to New Mexico.”
“What? Why?”
“Because her mother lives there and she’s not doing so well. And she doesn’t want to put her mother in a retirement home so now she wants to move there to take care of her mother.”
“Can she do that?”
Luke raised his shoulders. “I guess.”
“Luke, no.” She shook her head. “You’re April’s father. You have rights. You shouldn’t allow Anna to move April across the country. She can’t do that without your permission.”
“You think?”
“Absolutely. I know! You have to step up Luke. It’s about time you step up against that woman. She’s just doing whatever she wants and doesn’t consider you at all.”
“I don’t know. That’s a bit radical.”
“No it’s not and you know it. You have to step up Luke. You shouldn’t allow her to walk all over you the way she’s doing. You’re April’s father.” She put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Just make sure Anna knows that.”
He smiled and nodded. But his smile faded when he saw how Christ walked up to them. Lorelai quickly removed her hand. The moment was over.
“Hey, what are you two talking about?” Chris put his arm protectively around Lorelai’s shoulder and gave Luke a hostile glance, which clearly said ‘Back off!’.
“Nothing. Where did you go?” She looked up at Chris.
“I was talking to this guy at the waffle stand. He refused to sell me a waffle, I wonder why” He shot Luke another angry look.
“Hey Lorelai. I better go see Liz now. Bye”
“Bye Luke” She nodded and gave Luke an apologetic look. She watched until Luke was out of their hearing range until she turned to Chris.
“What the hell was that?”
“What was what?” he played dumb and Lorelai shook his arm off her shoulder.
“This ‘she’s mine’ attitude you just showed here” she told him.
“Well, sorry, that I don’t feel that good when I see you all cozy with your ex-boyfriend. I should be the one asking what that was!” he yelled back.
“That is none of your business. I brought you to this festival like you wanted, I presented you to the town and you told them that we are married. But I tell you something: I can talk to whoever I want.”
“One thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other. You owe me an explanation about this thing with the diner-guy!”
“I owe you nothing and his name is Luke!” she yelled at him and then marched off, left him standing in the middle of the town, while the townies watched him from the inside of the diner, waiting for Kirk, who was already making his way to the diner, knowing he heard everything.


Luke entered his apartment, happy after holding his nephew for the first time. It was hard to believe that TJ was the father of that innocent little boy. When he looked up at Luke with his big blue eyes and made a fist around Luke’s index finger he seemed so smart. He couldn’t help but smile when he thought back to that moment. Then his thoughts went back a little farther. ‘You’re April’s father. You have rights. You shouldn’t allow Anna to move April across the country. She can’t do that without your permission’ he heard Lorelai’s voice in his head.
Maybe Lorelai is right. She has kept April from him for twelve years. He will not allow her to take her away for the next twelve.
Suddenly determined he picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number.
“Anna Nardini,” he heard a familiar voice.
“Listen. April is my daughter as well, and I will not allow you to take her away from me. You’ve kept her from me for too long already, and you have no right to take her away from me again. Not now we’ve finally found each other. We’re doing great together. I love her and I don’t want to pry, but I think she loves me too….,” he started without waiting.
“Luke...” Anna tried to interrupt him.
“No, I’m the one talking now. For the past year I’ve done everything you told me. By doing that I ruined the most important relationship I’ve ever had. That happened and I can’t take that back now, but I will not let you ruin my relationship with April. If I were you I would reconsider moving to New Mexico and bringing your mother to you, because trust me when I tell you that it’s not going to happen. You are not taking April away from me. I am her father and I have rights too. I’d take you to court if I have to.” And with that, he hung up, without waiting for a reply.

T.B.C.