POKING NORMALCY IN THE BACKSIDE

By Oregano

                Luke Danes groaned in his bed.  This was stupid.  It had been a long time since he had gotten a good night’s sleep.  He knew the cause of his recent insomnia; Lorelai and that damned accident.  He knew she was sorry.  He should have pardoned her long before.  “Pardon”?  Where the hell did “pardon” come from?  Lorelai wasn’t on death row… 

                The right word was “forgive.”  He knew that, too.  Luke knew that he had forgiven Lorelai already.  He just couldn’t bring himself to act the same anymore.  It was too damn weird.   It wasn’t fair to Jess, either.

                It wasn’t the kid’s fault.  Lorelai just refused to see that.

                Luke got out of bed, as it was useless to be in it in the first place.  He walked out of his “room” (He didn’t know what else to call a division of the apartment that had no door.) to make something to drink.

                Crap.  They were all out of stuff to drink.  He owned a freaking diner, yet his apartment had nothing to drink. 

                His eyes darted to Jess’ bed.  It was empty.  Again.  He rolled his eyes and opened the door to the stairs that led to the diner. 

                On his way down, Luke heard voices.  They sounded oddly familiar.  Were those… Jess and Lorelai?  Talking?  Jess and Lorelai?  Jess.  And Lorelai.  Talking.

                Great.  He must finally be asleep because this had to be a dream.  He rounded the small corner, and to his collapsing lung and palpitating heart, saw Jess and Lorelai talking by the counter.  She held a mug of coffee in her hands, and Jess had a glass of hot water in his. 

                “Ha, wha—ma…”

                They both immediately stopped conversing and faced Luke.

                Jess furrowed his eyebrows and spoke, “Luke, are you alright?”  He watched his uncle stumble towards a seat and sit down beside Lorelai.

                “Jess and I signed a treaty tonight, if that’s what you’re all blubbery about.”  Lorelai said tersely.  She shifted her stool a bit to gain more space in between them.  She was still obviously stung by what had happened and what he had said this morning in the diner.

                “Jess, can you get me a mug of hot water and some honey, please?”

                “Honey water?  How flowery of you.”

                “Lorelai…”

                “Alright, alright, I’ll shut up.”

                Jess went about his business as he prepared Luke’s drink.  Luke put his head in his hands and sighed.  He waited until Jess went into the kitchen to get the honey.  Without lifting his head, he addressed her, “Thank you for making peace with Jess.”

                He didn’t see Lorelai smile at him. 

                “You’re welcome, HoneyBoy.”

                Good Lord.

                “So what demon possessed you to go out at two in the morning?”

                Jess appeared and set Luke’s mug down in front of him.

                “Christopher.  And you.”

                “What did that puss do to you now?”

                Luke’s hands were clenched hard enough to break the mug he was holding as Lorelai sadly relayed the details of her experience with Christopher.

                What a butthead.

                “That guy’s a dick,” Jess declared.

                “Is there some sort of Anti-Chris Support Group I don’t know about?”

                Luke’s lip twitched as he said, “Yeah, we hold meetings every Wednesday with free cookies and coffee.” 

                The abnormal night soon ended, and the moon gave way for the dawn to arrive.  Luke grunted as he saw Jess asleep on a chair with his feet propped up against a table.  Then he smiled a little bit when he realized that he and Lorelai were still side by side at the counter.  Her head rested against her arms, squishing her face as she slept.  His laughing gaze then followed Lorelai’s outstretched hand, which lazily clasped his.

                This had been one bizarre night.