"That Elusive Soulmate - Part 2"
AUTHOR: Ann
EMAIL: DadStock@aol.com
SPOILER: Takes place after "The Bracebridge Dinner"
RATING: PG
PAIRING: Lorelai/Christopher
SUMMARY: When Christopher visits again, Lorelai has to deal with some lingering feelings for him.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; all characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. 

Part 2

* * *

Lorelai walked downstairs the next morning slightly before 9 a.m., still in her pajamas. She stopped on the staircase and smiled upon seeing Christopher still asleep on the couch. She tiptoed down past him and into the kitchen, where she started making coffee.

As she was halfway finished her first cup, Rory walked out of her bedroom already dressed. "Morning," Rory said.

"Morning hon," Lorelai said. "You been up for awhile?" she asked, glancing at her clothes.

"Mm hmm," Rory said. "I’ve been trying to get some homework done." She walked to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup, then sat down across from Lorelai.

"So, how’s it going?" Lorelai asked. "You make a dent in it at all?"

Rory nodded. "Slightly. I need to go to the library later though." She glanced into the living room and smiled. "Dad’s up."

Lorelai stood up and walked into the living room. Christopher was sitting up on the couch rubbing his eyes, and Lorelai sat down next to him. "Morning."

Christopher smiled. "Morning. Nice pajamas."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks. Nice hair."

Christopher brought his hand up to his head and tried to smooth down his hair. When it wouldn’t stay down, he said, "I’m going for the Chia-Pet look anyway."

Lorelai laughed. "Well, then, good going. You want something for breakfast? We have Pop-Tarts or . . . uh, cookies."

Christopher laughed. "Maybe we can go out and get something."

Lorelai smiled. "That’s good too." Lorelai called into the kitchen, "Rory, come in here a sec!"

Rory walked into the living room carrying her coffee. "Yeah? Morning Dad."

"Morning kid," Christopher said, as he let out a yawn.

"Rory," Lorelai said. "Your father doesn’t think cookies are a good breakfast so he wants to go out to eat. You wanna go to Luke’s with us?"

"Nah, you guys go," Rory said. "I’m trying to get as much homework done as I can so we can do something fun later."

"Okay. We’ll bring you back something," Lorelai said.

Rory smiled. "Thanks." She walked towards the kitchen and disappeared into her bedroom.

Lorelai looked at Christopher and tapped him on the knee. "Get dressed. Be ready in 5 minutes." She stood up and walked to the staircase.

"You’re gonna be ready in five minutes?" Christopher asked with a laugh.

Lorelai turned around and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "No, I was just telling you to be ready in five minutes. I’ll be ready in thirty." She flashed him a grin before turning and running up the steps.

* * *

Lorelai and Christopher walked into Luke’s and grabbed the first empty table they saw. They hung their jackets on their chairs, and a few minutes later, Luke walked over to them with two cups of coffee. "Hey," he nodded at them as he placed the mugs down. He took out his pad and said, "We have French toast with bacon this morning."

"I’ll take it," Lorelai said, as she took a sip of coffee.

"Me too," Christopher said. "Oh, and another order to go for Rory." Luke jotted it down on his pad and walked away. Christopher turned to Lorelai and said, "So, you still eat bacon even though you’re a stripper? How do you stay in shape?"

Lorelai smiled. "Bulimia."

Christopher laughed. "Oh, that’s attractive. Now I’ve got the image of you in a thong, puking. Nice. Thank you for that."

"You’re welcome," Lorelai said, smiling. She was silent for a moment. "Uh, Chris, do you wanna talk about what happened?"

Christopher looked down at his mug. "About what happened?"

"Yeah, I mean, with Sherry," Lorelai said. Then she quickly added, "I mean, you don’t have to, but if you want to. . . then, I’m here."

Christopher looked up at her. "Thanks. Uh, I’ll let you know when I need a good listener."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay."

"Yeah, then maybe you can tell me where to find one," Christopher said with a smirk.

Lorelai frowned at him and hit him on the arm. "Hey you, I’m a great listener."

He laughed. "I know, I know. I was kidding. Seriously, thank you."

She smiled. "You’re welcome." They stared at each other for a few seconds before Luke, setting their plates in front of them, interrupted their silence.

Lorelai looked up at Luke and smiled. "Thanks Luke."

Luke gave her a small smile as he placed the receipt on the table. Lorelai saw him give a quick glance at Christopher before walking away. They ate their French toast, spending most of the time talking about Rory. They finished the meal, and as Christopher was pulling out his wallet, Lorelai said, "No, I got it."

She grabbed the check and walked up to Luke at the counter. She pulled some money out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Hey," she said. "How’s it going?"

He smiled as he put the money in the register. "Good, it’s going good. How’s it going with you?" he asked as he handed her the change.

"It’s going pretty good. Christopher’s staying with us for a few days," Lorelai said, gesturing towards him.

"Yeah, I noticed," Luke said, glancing past her to look at Christopher. "Rory must be loving that."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, she is. She’s thrilled."

Luke smiled. "That’s good. Speaking of which, hold on." He walked into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a take-out container. "Here you go," he said, handing it to her.

"Thanks. Here." Lorelai handed him a tip and smiled at him. "Bye Luke."

Luke smiled. "Thanks. Bye."

Lorelai walked back to the table, grabbed her coat, and walked out the door with Christopher.

* * *

Lorelai and Christopher walked into Lorelai’s house. As Christopher went to sit down on the couch, Lorelai brought the container into the kitchen. Rory was sitting at the table with several school books spread open in front of her.

"Hey there," Lorelai said. "French toast and bacon." She set the container in front of her.

"Mmm, thanks," Rory said. She put her pen down and opened the container, taking out a piece of bacon. She took a bite and asked, "What do you guys wanna do today?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Whatever you want. How’s all this going?" she asked, gesturing to the books.

Rory nodded. "It’s coming along pretty good."

"Good. Well, think about what you want to do and let us know." Lorelai smiled. She stole a piece of bacon from Rory’s container and walked towards the living room.

She paused in the hallway and stared in at Christopher, who was on the couch flipping through the TV channels. There were a lot of things running through her mind. She still wasn’t sure what to do about the feelings she felt. She wasn’t sure if he felt even remotely the same way. She wasn’t sure how long he was going to stay with them. But the one thing she was sure about was that she loved being around him, and she smiled to herself as she walked into the living room.

Christopher looked up at her and said, "There’s nothing on except cartoons, which normally wouldn’t be bad if they were the good old classics like Scooby Doo or the Flintstones, but they’re not. It’s all stupid stuff."

Lorelai sat down next to him, grabbed the remote, and turned the TV off. "Yes, I know. That’s why we don’t watch TV on Saturday mornings."

Christopher smiled. "Oh no? So what do you do?"

"We meditate," Lorelai said. "And when we’re done with that, we stare at each other to see who blinks first. And when we’re done with that, we have thumb wars."

Christopher laughed. "Wow, I’ve left my daughter in good hands."

Lorelai smiled. "Yup."

They sat there talking for a few more minutes before Rory walked in and announced, "Okay, I know what I want to do today."

"Oh, please tell us, daughter," Lorelai said, turning around to face her.

"How about we go to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art?" Rory said, looking at them hopefully.

Lorelai’s mouth dropped open. "The who and the what?" she asked.

Christopher laughed and said, "It’s that big museum in Hartford. I’m sure you’ve been there before, Lor. I think it’s a great idea. We should go."

Rory smiled. "Cool, thanks Dad. I’ll go get ready." She turned and walked quickly to her bedroom.

Lorelai turned to Christopher and made a face. "Ugh, a museum? Where does she get her love of the arts? Certainly not from me."

He smiled. "No, she just got her coffee addiction and her incredible beauty from you."

Lorelai laughed and glanced down at her hands. In a normal situation, she would’ve made a witty remark to a statement like that. But now with her feelings for Christopher strengthening, a statement like that affected her differently than it used to. She felt her face getting unusually red as she pretended to examine her nails.

Christopher smiled and said, "Whoa, hold the presses. Did I just embarrass Lorelai Gilmore?" He put his hand on her chin and tilted her head up. "Are you blushing?" He let out a small laugh. "You’re blushing!"

Lorelai smiled and pushed his hand away. "No I’m not! It’s warm in here." She quickly stood up and said, "I’m gonna go get ready." Christopher watched her with a curious smirk as she ran upstairs.

* * *

Several hours later, they returned home from the museum. The three of them sat around the living room for awhile talking before Rory finally stood up and said, "I have to get to the library before it closes."

Lorelai frowned. "Aww. Well, we’ll go out to dinner when you get back."

Rory nodded. "Okay." She walked into her room. Lorelai and Christopher both sat on the couch in silence until she walked out several minutes later with her bookbag. "Bye," Rory said as she walked to the front door.

"Bye hon," Lorelai said.

"See you later," Christopher said.

As the front door slammed shut, Lorelai turned to Christopher and said, "Okay, we need to talk about something."

Shifting in his seat to face her, he replied, "I know we do."

Ready to finally tell him how she’d been feeling, Lorelai took a deep breath. As she opened her mouth to speak, Christopher said, "Wait, let me go first. Please?"

Lorelai closed her mouth and narrowed her eyebrows, staring at him curiously. "Fine, go ahead," she said.

Christopher smiled. "Thank you. Uh, so I kinda wanted to talk about what happened. I mean, with Sherry."

"Oh," Lorelai said, sounding surprised. "Okay, sure. I’m here to listen."
 

"Okay," Christopher said. "Well, we officially broke up about a week ago, but things were kinda starting to break apart before that. I mean, she’s really great and everything, but I was starting to realize that she really wasn’t the one I wanted to be with. She was just the one I was. . .settling for."

Lorelai was surprised. She swallowed hard before she said, "Wow. So you . . . you had someone else in mind?" she asked nonchalantly, as she felt jealousy starting to rumble through her.

Christopher nodded. "Yeah, I did. And, I don’t know, I just didn’t want to pretend that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Sherry when in actuality I was always thinking about this other woman. It wasn’t fair to Sherry. And it wasn’t what I wanted. So I broke up with her." He turned and stared at the fireplace. "And that’s what happened."

Lorelai was quiet for a moment, trying not to show the crushing disappointment she was now feeling, trying to hide the fact that she felt somewhat heartbroken. She finally asked softly, "So who’s the mystery woman? Linda in Marketing?"

Christopher turned his head and stared into her eyes. "No. Lorelai in Stars Hollow."

Lorelai’s heart skipped a beat and her mouth dropped open. "What?"

He slid closer to her and clasped his hands around one of hers. "Listen to me Lor. I know you’ve said you don’t think we can be a family. But -- and maybe I was getting the wrong impression -- but the last time I was here you were kinda showing some interest. I mean, I definitely noticed something there and I wasn’t sure about it at first, but then it made me realize that. . . maybe we can be a family. Maybe this will work." He paused. "Now, I know that I just broke up with someone and you just got. . . un-engaged and everything, but I think – "

Lorelai cut him off by putting a finger on his lips. "Shh." She leaned forward and softly pressed her lips against his. Christopher, who at first was surprised by her move, brought his hands to her face and kissed her back gently.

When Lorelai pulled away, a smile was resting on her lips. Christopher stared at her for a moment. Finally he asked, "Okay, so what was that? Was that a ‘let’s be a family’ kiss, or a ‘nice offer, but no thanks’ kiss?"

Lorelai smiled. "It was a ‘I’m extremely thrilled because I’ve been feeling the same way, so let’s give it a shot and start off slow by dating again’ kiss."

"Ah, that was my next guess," Christopher said with a laugh.

Lorelai sighed and smiled. "Chris, I just. . . it’s just been so weird. I mean, since the last time you were here, I’ve had these feelings like running through my body and I just couldn’t do anything about them because you seemed so happy with Sherry. And the way you dismissed my not-so-subtle offer to stay last time . . .it made me think that maybe you’d given up on the idea of us."

Christopher shook his head. "No. Remember, I’m the one who always wanted the idea of us. I’d never give up on it."

Lorelai smiled. "Good. So we’re gonna try this out."

"Yes we are," Christopher said.

Lorelai nodded. Then she shrugged and said, "And I mean, if it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out. At least we tried, right?"

Christopher nodded his head in agreement. "We’re both confronting the feelings for each other that we tried to suppress. That’s a big step, and we’ll see where it takes us."

Lorelai smiled. She stared down at her hands for a moment. Then she looked up with a concerned look. "What about Rory?"

"What about her?" Christopher asked.

Lorelai stood up and started pacing back and forth, her words coming out quickly. "I mean, should we tell her? I don’t want to lie to her, but I don’t think we should tell her. I mean, if it starts going good and it looks like it’s gonna work out, then we should tell her. But I don’t want to tell her now and then have her get her hopes up about having her parents together again and then have her be crushed if it doesn’t work out. That would be - "

"Whoa!" Christopher interrupted. "Lor, take a breath." He stood up and walked over to her, pulling her into an embrace. She wrapped her arms up around his waist and rested her head against his chest. "Okay, listen," Christopher said. "We won’t tell her just yet. We’ll just tell her that I’m staying here with you guys a little longer than expected."

"Because?" Lorelai prompted.

"Well, because of what I was planning on doing anyway," he said. After a short pause, he said, "I’m moving back to Connecticut."

Lorelai pulled away and stared up at him. "What?" she asked, a smile lingering on her lips.

Christopher smiled. "That’s right. There’s no reason for me to stay in Boston anymore, so I figured, why not just come back here?"

Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "But what about work?" She suddenly got a nervous feeling that with Sherry gone, he’d go back to the old irresponsible Christopher.

Christopher smiled. "Already found a job in Hartford."

Lorelai’s eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah. See, this guy at work knew someone at a company in Hartford and put in a good word for me," Christopher said. "I interviewed with him yesterday before I came here and got the job on the spot. I start next week."

Lorelai smiled. "Wow. Well, congratulations. Why didn’t you tell me?"

He shrugged. "I just did. And I mean, I have to save up a little before I can get an apartment, so I was gonna stay here for a few days and then check into a hotel or something. But maybe I can just stay here a bit longer."

Lorelai smiled. "Sure. I mean, as long as everything’s working out all right, then sure."

He smiled. "Good." He pulled her closer and kissed her, running his hands through her hair. Their lips parted, allowing their tongues to meet and swirl over each other softly inside their mouths. Christopher’s hands started roaming Lorelai’s body and soon she felt one slip under her shirt. His warm hand gliding back and forth over her stomach made a surge of arousal shoot through her entire body.

Lorelai pulled back and, through her heavy breathing, said, "I’m getting flashbacks to my parents’ balcony."

Christopher smiled. "Me too. Let’s reenact that night."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "You wanna drive to Hartford right now? I really think it might be easier to do it here." She gave a sly smile.

Christopher smiled. "Your annoying sarcasm right now? It’s rather sexy."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh yeah? Thanks." She pressed her lips against his, pulling him with her as she walked backwards towards the staircase. They paused at the bottom step, kissing deeply. Their heavy breathing, and a slight moan from Lorelai’s throat, were the only sounds in the room.

Lorelai suddenly pulled away from him and turned to look out the window.

"What’s wrong?" Christopher asked.

"Wait, shh!" Lorelai said. She pushed Christopher gently towards the couch and said, "Hold on, I think someone’s here."

As she walked to the front door, she heard footsteps on the porch. Sure enough, through the windowpane she could see Rory walking towards the front door. Lorelai pulled open the door, startling Rory. "Whoa. What’s wrong?" Rory asked.

"Oh hey," Lorelai said. "Nothing, I just heard something out here. Uh, what. . what are you doing home already?"

Rory stepped into the house. "It was unusually crowded for a Saturday so I decided to just check out the books I needed and do my work here."

Lorelai forced a smile, "Oh, okay."

As Rory walked past her and towards the kitchen, Lorelai looked up at the ceiling and made a face, exhaling loudly with disappointment. Lorelai walked into the living room, where Christopher was waiting on the couch. She gave a small pout.

Christopher stood up and said, "I heard. Guess we’ll have to finish some other time."

"Guess so," Lorelai said with a sigh. "I’m sorry."

He laughed. "It’s not your fault. Uh, you wanna go tell her that I’m gonna be staying for awhile?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, let’s do that." They walked to Rory’s bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rory called.

Lorelai pushed open the door and said, "Hey. Got a minute?"

Rory, who was sitting at her desk, turned around and said, "Yeah, what’s up?"

Lorelai and Christopher walked into her bedroom. Lorelai sat down on the edge of the bed as Christopher said, "Well, I wanted to tell you that I talked it over with your mom, and she’s agreed to let me stay a little longer than I thought."

Rory smiled. "Really? How long?"

"A few weeks," Christopher said.

Rory gasped. "A few weeks?! Are you serious?" she asked excitedly.

Christopher nodded. "I’ll be staying here with you guys. . .until I buy my own place here."

Rory jumped up out of her chair. "You’re moving to Connecticut?!"

Christopher smiled and nodded. "Yup, already got a job in Hartford."

"Oh my God!" Rory screamed. She ran to Christopher and hugged him tightly. "Dad, that’s so great!"

Lorelai sat on the bed watching them with a smile on her face. She couldn’t help thinking about how if Rory was this excited about him moving here, she’d be ecstatic if she found out that they were gonna try to get together again.

As Rory finally broke away from Christopher, she was smiling brightly. "Oh my God. I can’t believe this." She walked over to Lorelai on the bed and hugged her. "Mom, isn’t this awesome?"

"Yes it is," Lorelai replied with a smile. "Very cool."

Rory pulled away, the huge smile still on her face. "Wow. This is so . . .wow!"

Lorelai laughed and stood up. "Okay, well, try to finish your homework before the intense smiling kills you, okay hon?" Lorelai gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Tell us when you’re ready for dinner."

"Okay," Rory said. She slowly sat back down at the computer, still smiling towards Christopher. Lorelai walked past him and out the door. Christopher followed her, pulling the door shut behind them. They walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"That was great. I’ve never seen her so happy," Lorelai said, smiling.

"I know," Christopher said. He lowered his voice. "And if me moving to the same state makes her that happy, then imagine when she finds out about. . . you know." He gestured to the two of them.

Lorelai nodded and smiled. "I know. I was thinking the same thing."

They stared at each other for a moment, and they started to lean towards each other to kiss. Lorelai suddenly pulled back and held up a hand. "No, we can’t," Lorelai said quietly. "Not when she’s around, we can’t."

Christopher pulled back. "Right, okay. Got it. Uh, let’s watch TV." He grabbed the remote off the coffee table. "Tell me when," he said as he started flipping through the channels.

"Ooh, go back! Goodfellas!" Lorelai said excitedly.

"Oh cool," Christopher said. He went back a few channels to the movie and placed the remote back on the table. They both leaned back against the couch to watch the movie.

A few minutes later, Christopher reached down and put his hand on top of Lorelai’s hand. She turned her head to look at him, and he smiled at her. She smiled back and turned her head towards the TV as she laced her fingers through his, and a peaceful feeling of comfort ran through her body.

End part 2