[karana]

Vielen Dank für die reviews, ich hab sie an Laura weitergeleitet. Da ich der andere Schreiberling bin, brauchte ich sie an mich ja nicht weiterleiten.

Wir freuen uns immer wenn wir hier reviews bekommen, also danke an euch zwei!:herz:

Chapter 5 : Stay for a while


The whole ride towards Hartford was tense. Lorelai refused to speak with Christopher after last night’s fight and stared out of the window, lost in her thoughts. She wondered what was so important, that she had to come to dinner at her parent’s on a Wednesday evening. It was probably something stupid. Maybe her mother had some kind of dinner party and wanted them as table fillers. Or she wanted to talk about the ridiculous idea of having a wedding party again, where they should exchange vows a second time. At the moment she wished she hadn’t take them the first time. They were fighting all the time and she was tired of it. How could she go through vows a second time?

“Lor?” Chris shook her out of her thoughts.

“What?” She shot him an angry look, not at all in the mood to talk to him.

“Come on, talk to me,” Chris nearly begged.

“What do you want me to say?” she asked him aggressively.

“I just… I don’t wanna fight with you. I hate fighting with you,” he said.

“Well, maybe then you shouldn’t accuse me of cheating, look through my purse and read my letters,” she said, still looking out of the window.

“I told you already that I am sorry. I didn’t mean to read it… I just… snapped I guess. I read his name on the envelope and I had to read it. I mean what would you do if you would find a letter I wrote to Sherry?” he asked.

“I would ask you what’s in the letter, although I probably wouldn’t even find it cause I don’t search your stuff.”

“I didn’t search your stuff!”

“Did you open my purse?” she asked.

“Yes, but…”

“Did you take out the letter and read it?”

“Yes, but I already…”

“See, so you searched through my stuff and read a personal letter. What’s next? You hack my email account and read my emails? Or you order one of these spy software things for my cell so you can see on the screen where I am?” she wasn’t willing to let it go that easy this time. He had gone too far, way too far.

“Lore stop that! I know I screwed up, but I want us to get passed this. I want you to forgive me,” he begged and pulled the car up in the driveway of the Gilmore residence.

“The only thing I want right now is to get out of this freakin’ car so I don’t have to be near you anymore,” she hissed, opened the door, got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her.

“Lore, this is not fair. I don’t hold a grudge against you because you went to the diner guy and…” he said while he followed her to the front-door. Lorelai whirled around, looking even more pissed now.

“Just shut the hell up Christopher!” she said and raised her voice. Before he could say another thing she rang the door-bell.

-xxxxxx-
“Mom?” Lorelai was surprised when her mother opened the door herself.

“Hello Lorelai, Christopher,” Emily greeted the politely and stepped aside.

Lorelai stepped inside, took off her coat and handed it to her mother. Then she walked off towards the living room without waiting for Chris. She sat down on the couch and looked around surprised to find the living room completely empty. It obviously wasn’t a dinner party, unless they were invited before all the other guests.

“What was that?” Chris hissed, when he sat down next to Lorelai a minute later.

She shot him an angry look that told him to shut up, but didn’t say a word. She knew she couldn’t keep from yelling at him once she was forced to talk to him.

Chris was about to continue the talk when Emily entered the living room.

“What can I offer you to drink?” she asked the two, her usual polite smile missing.

“The usual for me mom,” Lorelai replied shortly.

“Okay, Christopher?” Emily ignored the tone of her daughter.

“I’d like a bourbon please,” he gave Emily a small smile

“A martini and a bourbon coming up.” Emily walked to the drinking chart and started filling the glasses.

“So mom, where’s dad?” Lorelai asked only to avoid that Christopher would say something again.

“He’s in his office. He’ll be right there,” Emily replied.

“Okay. Ready to tell me why we’re here yet?” Lorelai brought on the next question. The sooner she had the answers, the sooner she could get out of there and the sooner she could get away from Christopher.

Emily shook her head. “You’ll have to wait a little longer. Your father and I want to tell you together,” Emily said and her voice wavered a little.

Lorelai studied her mother, and suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong. The look on her mother’s face wasn’t the usual one when she had news. She didn’t seem as cheery as usual. She shook off the feeling and focussed on the drink her mother handed her. Maybe this constant fighting with Christopher got to her more than she wanted to admit.

“Is Rory coming too?” She asked and took a gulp of her drink.

“No, it’s just the four of us tonight,” Emily replied and sat down on the opposite sofa.

Lorelai nodded. “Okay,” which was followed by an uncomfortable silence.

“So tell me, how are the two of you doing?” Emily broke the silence.

“Good, we’re, uhm, great actually,” Christopher said with a smile and took Lorelai’s hand in his. But not for long, because Lorelai pulled her hand away as quickly as she could and prayed that her mother wouldn’t notice.

“Yeah, lot’s of work at the inn,” she said through gritted teeth and had to push the urge to yell at Christopher once again.

“That’s good. A wedding?” Emily asked politely, but somehow distracted and glanced towards Richard’s study, which was not lost on Lorelai.

“Nah, actually we have the international cooperation of Easter bunnies at the Inn. They have a conference and will leave on Monday” Lorelai explained.

“How nice,” Emily said and Lorelai knew that she hadn’t really listened to what she had told her. She took a deep breath and wanted to try again to get to know what was up, but just then her father entered the room.

“Hello Lorelai, Christopher. I’m glad you could join us for dinner tonight,” Richard said politely, but not as cheerful as he had done during the last time.

“Sure dad.” She watched how he made himself a drink and couldn’t help but feel that nagging feeling in her chest again. She knew it. Something was up. She watched how he sat down next to her mother.

“So, are you ready to tell us what’s going on yet?” she tried it again, because by now she was really scared what could be wrong that her parents were behaving so obviously normal, but not normal at the same time.

Emily shook her head. “Not yet. We want to have dinner first.”

Lorelai sighed. She wanted to protest but for once didn’t, knowing that this wasn’t the right evening to start a fight. So she just went along with her parent’s small talk and waited until dinner was over and her parents brought up the subject.

-xxxxxx-
“Let’s go to the living room so that we can talk.” Emily proposed after dinner was over.

Lorelai willingly followed her mother in the living room and sat down at her usual spot on the couch. Christopher sat down next to her and her parents sat down on the other couch across from them. Lorelai saw how Emily took Richard’s hand in hers and squeezed it. She saw the questioned look her mother directed to her father, as if she was asking who’d be the one to tell them. She waited patiently for her parents to speak, even though inside she felt everything but patient.

Finally Richard was the one to speak. “The past few weeks I haven’t been feeling well. Your mother has been pushing me to see a doctor, but I’ve been putting it off. Eventually I felt as if I couldn’t wait any this Monday I went to the hospital for a physical and they found something wrong with my prostate.” Lorelai felt her chest tighten again. So she had been right, something was wrong.

“Dad?” It was the only word Lorelai could get out.

“It’s cancer. I have prostate cancer,” Richard said and looked at the hand in his lap, which was joined with Emily’s. Then he brought his gaze back up slowly and saw how the blank look on his daughter’s face changed to one of shock and fear.

Lorelai gasped. “Oh dad….” She felt how beside her Christopher grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She wanted to shake him off, but liked that she had something else to focus on, so she let it go. “How bad is it?” she asked.

Richard shook his head. “I’m not sure yet. I went to the hospital for tests this morning, and I have some more tests tomorrow. I won’t hear anything until next week,” Richard explained and wished badly for something to calm his daughter and his wife with. But he couldn’t think of anything.

Lorelai nodded as she took in what her father was telling her. “So it could be bad?” she asked quietly and bit her lip and looked down. She looked at her parents joined hands, then at hers and Christopher’s. Then she pulled her hand away.

“Lorelai you shouldn’t think that way,” Emily said with a force that surprised Lorelai.

Startled by the sudden determination in her mother’s voice, Lorelai looked up.

“Your father is going to be fine. You hear me?” Emily said and sounded like she had when Richard had been in the hospital the last time. She was aggressive somehow, but at the same time seconds away from an emotional breakdown.

“Yes.” Lorelai replied with a small voice, more for her mother’s sake than anything else.

“Good. Now, I know that you want Rory to know this, but your father and I have talked about it and we want to wait until we know more before we tell her, okay?” Emily had herself under control again and the business like tone was back.

“Okay,” Lorelai only nodded and felt incredibly alone all of a sudden. Her own words from years ago came to her mind. Sometimes I wish I was married. Now she was married and she wished she wasn’t, because it didn’t change a thing. She was alone in all of this. Christopher was not the one who would saved the sink from getting sent back to Canada.

“Good. Then I think your father and I are going to bed now. It’s been a long day. I don’t want to send you away but….” Emily started and suddenly her mother seemed very old.

“It’s okay. I understand.” Lorelai stood up and the others followed her example. They walked towards the hallway where Emily handed them their coats.

“We’ll see you for Friday night dinner.” Richard said, strangely enough the calmest in the room, beside Christopher, who seemed bothered somehow, but not shocked.

“Okay.” Lorelai turned to her father and hugged him. She looked up in his eyes and he smiled at her.

“I’m going to be fine Lorelai. Your mother is right,” he tried to reassure her and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“I hope so dad. I really hope so,” she whispered and left the house

-xxxxxx-
On the ride home Lorelai was caught up in her own thoughts, this time about her father and had forgotten about Christopher completely. So when he called her name, she looked at him.

“Yeah?” she asked confused, because she now remembered his presence.

“What was that?” he asked upset.

“What was that?” She was confused when she heard his tone of voice.

“The crap you were pulling at your parents….”

“God Chris, what are you talking about?” she interrupted him.

“You told me to shut up, didn’t speak a single word to me and then you pulled your hand away!” he yelled.

“You are such an ass, I can’t even find words for it. Have you heard what my parents told us?” she yelled back, tears of anger shooting into her eyes.

“My father has cancer and you are yammering because I pulled my hand away? How ignorant can you be?” she asked loudly.

“I was trying to help. I was trying to be there for you, but you shut me out and pulled your hand away. Do you have any idea how much that hurts me?” he asked in a whining tone.

“That hurt you? Honestly I don’t give a damn at the moment what might hurt you or not. My father is sick” she screamed at him.

“So what? It’s not like you care about your parents,” Chris shot back and Lorelai felt the strong urge to hit him, very hard. She was killing him inside, but she couldn’t do anything. So she chose to ignore him once again.

-xxxxxx-
Lorelai jumped out of the car the minute Chris parked it in their drive way. Instead of walking towards the house, she walked in the opposite direction.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going for a walk. Don’t you dare following me!” she yelled and walked away without looking back. She couldn’t deal with Chris any longer at the moment. She needed some time for herself so she could think about what happened. She made sure her body language showed Chris really not to follow her, and she was relieved when he understood the message.

She walked around for a while, and subconsciously ended up at the diner. The sign was flipped to close, but she still tried the door. It was locked, so she tapped the window. When Luke didn’t show she reached above the door and let herself in.
When she locked the door behind her, she heard his voice.

“Lorelai?” he asked surprised and worried at the same time. If she broke into the diner something must be wrong.

She looked around and saw the concerned look on his face. Before she could help it, her eyes filled with tears.

“Come on. Let’s go upstairs.” He put a hand on the small of her back and directed her towards his apartment. Her skin tingled where he touched her and she leaned into his hand a bit, without even realizing it.

She sat down at the table, while he started filling the coffee maker. She wiped away her tears when he sat down next to her a while later. “Sorry that I show up this way. I know how much you hate crying women,” she sniffed.

“It’s okay. I’m always here for you, you know that. What happened? Did you and Chris have another fight?”

She nodded and then shook her head. “Yeah, but this isn’t about that. We just came back from dinner with my parents.”

“On a Wednesday?” he asked and knew something must be wrong.

“Yeah. My mother called yesterday that there was something they had to tell us and that it could not wait.”

“I figure that it wasn’t good news?”

She shook her head as her eyes filled with tears again. “My father has cancer.” She let out a sob and the next thing she knew she was in Luke’s comforting arms. She cried and he just held her, whispering words of comfort in her ear.

It took her a few minutes to calm down. She pulled back a little embarrassed. She wiped away her tears and gave him a small smile. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing okay? Why don’t you tell me some more. How bad is it?” he asked and was honestly interested.

“He has prostate cancer. They don’t know how bad it is yet. They’re still running tests,” his question helped her composing herself.

“When’s going to hear something?” Luke asked and sat down on another chair.

“Sometime next week,” she replied and took a shaky breath.

Luke nodded. “I know how hard it is, but until you know more you have to stay positive,” he advices her.

“I’m not sure if I can,” she said honestly and her lip started to quiver again.

“You have to. He needs you to be strong. I know he does,” he said like he really knew for sure.

“How?” she asked with a small voice.

“Because my father needed me to be strong for him, after he was first diagnosed,” he said and looked down at the floor in front of him.

She looked up at him. “Oh Luke,” she whispered.

“I know that it didn’t really help my father that we stayed positive in the beginning, but…” he motioned with his hands and she knew what he meant. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it, longing for some contact with him.

“It might not be the same for your father you know,” he said and gave her hands a squeeze.

“I hope so,” she whispered.

“My father’s cancer was really aggressive. But I heard once that 1 on every 10 men gets prostate cancer. And I can be wrong, but I think the five years survival rate is 99%.”

“I hope that you’re right Luke. I hope that you’re right,” she said and started to sniff again.

He pulled her in another hug and tried to ignore the familiar feeling of having her in his arms. They were friends now. And at this moment his friend needed him more than she ever did. And he was going to be there for her.
He felt how she snuggled into his arms in desperate need for some comfort and that’s what he was going to give her. He wasn’t even asking himself where Christopher was or if it was his place to comfort her, he just did it.

“You want some coffee?” he asked her after a while of holding her.
“You really need to ask?!” she said and gave him a small smile. Luke returned it and stood up. He poured her a cup of coffee and handed her the cup.

“Hey would you mind if I stay a while? Just until I calmed down a bit?” she asked him then. She really wanted to stay and bath in the comforting feeling his presence gave her.

“Sure, stay as long as you want” he smiled and sat down beside her.

T.B.C.