Title: Who's The Mayor
Author: Megan Reilly
Rating: G
Summary: Stars Hollow needs a new mayor - who will it be? No spoilers
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls belongs to Amy Sherman Palladino, the WB, etc.

Luke double checked the "Closed" sign to make sure it was facing out, and then paced between the tables again. Through the window he could see people making their way to the town meeting. He was going to be late if he waited for Lorelai. But he couldn't not wait for her. He dug his fingers underneath the collar of the shirt he was wearing, hoping to make it looser. Unsuccessful, he'd just turned to go upstairs and change when the bell on the front door jingled softly.

"You look nice," Lorelai said.

"I was just going to go change," Luke told her, awkwardly gesturing toward the stairs.

"Don't," Lorelai suggested. He immediately dropped his hand from its struggle with the shirt collar. "Your tie's...here, let me." Lorelai moved in close, reaching out to straighten the fabric that hung like a crooked noose around his neck.

Luke shifted. "Hold still," Lorelai instructed. She ended up unknotting the tie completely and starting over on a straighter knot. Luke found himself holding his breath. She was standing so close to him.

"You nervous?" Lorelai let go of the tie, apparently satisfied, but she didn't move away.

"What gave it away?" Luke inquired, and his voice came out unsteady.

"You're shaking." Lorelai put her hand against his arm. He could feel the coolness of her skin through the thin dress shirt he was wearing.

"Is it too late to back out?" He laughed roughly, and it didn't hide the fact that he was perfectly serious.

"Do you really want to?" Lorelai looked up at him.

Decision time. "No," Luke said.

"Then let's do this," Lorelai declared. She looped her arm through his.

"Where's Rory?" The absence of Lorelai's daughter occurred to Luke for the first time.

"I put her on guard duty. Just in case my mother was serious. And since I've never known my mother not to be serious..." Lorelai trailed off, because there was Emily, right on cue. She broke away from Luke. "Hi, Mom."

"Where's the diner man?" Emily inquired, glancing at the streams of people passing them on the way to the meeting.

"He has a name, Ma. Luke. He's right here."

Luke found himself pinned under Emily's direct gaze and suddenly understood the true meaning of the phrase 'deer caught in headlights.' The older woman scrutinized him for several seconds. "Your tie is wrinkled," she said finally.

"It took a couple of tries to get it right." Luke raised a hand to smooth it down.

"I thought as much," said Emily.

"It's not like Dad can tie a tie," Lorelai muttered.

"That's why he's got me to help him," Emily said. "Anyway, we're not talking about your father, Lorelai, we're talking about..."

"Luke," Lorelai supplied, knowing her mother's inability to remember his name was just another way to snub him.

"Is Grandpa still in Istanbul?" Rory inquired, hoping to change the subject.

"No, it's Constantinople now," Lorelai said, and they ignored her little joke.

"Well, come on, we've wasted enough time standing out here with the mosquitoes," Emily declared. "This ought to be rather interesting. Come on, Rory."

"Traitor," Lorelai hissed as Rory followed her grandmother into the building.

"Does it look that bad?" Luke was rubbing his tie again.

"It's fine. She just said that to throw you off," Lorelai said, feeling supremely irritated with Emily at that moment.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean anything by it," Luke offered.

"That's because you're nice, and you don't know my mother. Of course she meant something by it. Otherwise she wouldn't have said anything. It's classic Emily."

"She doesn't really seem that bad," Luke said.

"Compared to Satan," Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Luke pushed open the door. Inside, what seemed to be a mob scene instantly fell into silence. Every person in the room was looking at them. "I'll just sit over here," Luke mumbled, gesturing to one of the open seats in the back.

"Good. See you later," Lorelai said, also embarrassed by the extreme attention. She spotted her mother waving her arms from the front row, and started up the aisle.

"Where's your friend?" Emily asked.

"He, uh, sat in the back," Lorelai replied.

"I saved a seat for him up here," Emily said.

"It's fine," Lorelai said.

"It's not fine. He should sit up here with us." Emily got to her feet and turned around. "Yoo-hoo! Luke! Come and sit with us!"

Luke raised a hand as though to wave it off, trying to communicate 'that's okay; thanks but no thanks' without standing up and bellowing.

"I've never seen Luke turn that color before," Rory whispered to Lorelai.

"Luke, I saved you a seat up here in the front," Emily bellowed.

Luke seemed to realize the torment would end only when Emily got what she wanted. He got to his feet and started slowly up to the front. He sank heavily into the folding chair Emily had saved for him, right next to where she was sitting. "Isn't this much better?" she inquired with a big smile on her face. "Now you can see everything that's going on."

"It's great," Luke said, grinding his teeth together in a poor imitation of a smile. "Thanks."

"See, Lorelai, some people know how to show their appreciation," Emily said. Lorelai was sure her mother would have said more, but Mayor Porter appeared at the podium directly in front of them and began shushing the room.

"How're you doing?" Lorelai whispered to Luke.

"I feel like I did when I first opened the diner."

"Like you're going to throw up, hit your head and pass out?"

"Maybe not in that order," Luke hissed back.

"Lorelai, give the speaker your respect," Emily whispered.

"I have served the town of Stars Hollow for 33 long, wonderful years," said the Mayor. "During that time, I've witnessed many exciting new happenings here in our town. It is with some sadness, but absolutely no regret, that I will be turning in resignation as your mayor. Effective immediately."

Mayor Porter's words sent a rustle of surprise through the citizens gathered in the small meeting room. Luke turned to Lorelai, his eyes bulging with surprise. "You didn't say it would be immediately."

"I didn't know!" Lorelai replied.

Rory offered her grandmother some of the popcorn she'd brought with her, and Emily acted as though she'd never had popcorn before in her life. "This is fantastic!" she cried.

The Mayor raised his hands to request silence. "I know, I could continue to serve until November, when my term is officially up, but we don't stand on ceremony here in Stars Hollow."

"Actually, we do," Kirk pointed out.

"Thank you, young man, but not this time, we don't. My wife says I need to spend my days out playing golf and bridge, and my doctor agrees. So I'm going to. It's been great, kids, but I've got to be on my way. So I'm gonna hand this thing -" he waved the gavel over the podium - "over to Taylor and he can continue the meeting."

"Not so fast, Taylor," Luke said before the gavel could change hands.

"I'm out of here!" The mayor shoved the implement at Taylor and dashed for the door.

"What is it now, Luke?" Taylor demanded, annoyed, from behind the podium.

Luke folded his arms with emphasis. "I demand to be officially recognized by the City Council."

"The City Council recognizes Luke Danes," Taylor said, then added, rolling his eyes, "just barely."

"Don't mind him, sugar, you look good enough to eat," Babette said from the third row.

"I agree," said Miss Patty, from her traditional seat near the podium. "Taylor, let the man have his say."

"I already said the Council recognizes him, what else do you want?" Taylor demanded.

"Do I have the floor?" Luke asked.

"It's yours," Miss Patty said.

"Good." Luke turned and for the first time seemed to realize that he had a large, rather attentive audience. He jerked back slightly as though they'd snuck up on him. "It looks like it was a done deal just now with Mayor Porter handing things over to Taylor, but the Mayor's still an elected job in this city."

"It says in the official statutes of Stars Hollow that if any candidate is unopposed, that candidate may --" Taylor began.

"But you're not unopposed, Taylor," Luke said.

"I suppose you want to be mayor of Stars Hollow?" Taylor asked.

"Maybe I do," Luke replied.

"So you can turn suck away all our town spirit and end up just like you, snarling at festivals and refusing to participate in civic pride?" Taylor pushed.

Rory turned to Lorelai. "He's going to lose it," she said.

"Yes, Lorelai, do something," Emily prodded.

But before Lorelai could think of words to say on Luke's behalf, something amazing happened. Luke took a deep breath and the redness began to recede from his face. "No," he said, and now he wasn't talking to Taylor. He was talking to the people of Stars Hollow, who were listening. "So I can see that some things get done around here. Like that bridge, outside of town that's been falling down for years. If a couple of guys had just gone out there and fixed it when things started to get bad, it would still be standing today. But no, we had to raise
funds and go through planning and meet with architects first, and meanwhile, the whole thing just fell into the water."

"We were following the proper procedures, Luke." Taylor's voice was sharp. "I know you young hooligans think you can run amuck and do whatever you want, but there are laws, people, for a reason."

"Taylor, knock it off," Luke said, turning to face the other man. "Your 'young hooligan' speech might have worked for a while, but look around. A lot of us might have grown up here, but that's what we did. We grew up. Things have changed, Taylor. If you want to cling to your traditions, I've got no problem with that. You might have noticed I'm not a huge fan of changing things, myself." Luke pulled at his tie, taking it off. He followed by unbuttoning the first buttons of the shirt he was wearing. "I put on this stupid outfit because I was going to come in here and give you some cheesy speech about how you should all vote for me because I'll be some kind of great mayor for Stars Hollow and come in and change things. But that's stupid. I don't care who's the next mayor of Stars Hollow. Just don't hand it all over to Taylor because he tells you that's what you should do. Keep in mind those guys who Taylor was no doubt just about to remind you of, who stood out in the snow in the middle of November waiting for a bunch of redcoats who never showed up, and what they were really fighting for. They weren't looking for recognition or free hot chocolate or any of those things. They wanted their freedom."

Luke threw his tie on the floor and stomped out of the hall.

There was silence for several seconds, during which Lorelai was aware of Emily staring at her. "What?" she whispered.

"Aren't you going to go after him?"

Lorelai shook her head, glancing at Rory to see what her daughter thought of all this. "Maybe you should go make sure he's okay," Rory agreed. Lorelai got up from her seat.

"After that outburst, let's get back to the matter at hand," Taylor suggested.

Lorelai didn't make it to the door. "That outburst was the matter at hand," she stopped to say.

"Oh, don't you start. We all know the two of you are in this together," Taylor snapped.

"Right. Don't listen to me. I'll just take his side," Lorelai remarked.

"You haven't been officially recognized," Taylor pointed out. "You don't have the floor."

"It doesn't matter that maybe Luke's opinion was valid. And that mine might be just as valid. No, I'm just riffraff, right, Taylor? I wasn't born in Stars Hollow, that makes me some kind of outsider, even though I've lived here for sixteen years and raised my kid here and somewhere, in this giant fuzzy pink purse of mine, I do have a Stars Hollow voter registration card, for all the good it'll do me." Lorelai dug through until she found the small piece of cardboard and held it up as proof. "And you won't care that I cried the day I signed the papers to buy my house here, because I finally felt, after the longest time, that I was a part of something. That I finally had some kind of a home. Because all you care about, Taylor, is whether people mow their lawn to exactly one quarter of an inch."

"I do those things because I care about this town," Taylor said coldly.

"No, Taylor, I think you only care about this town being what you want it to be," Lorelai said with a defeated sort of sigh. It was so silent as she walked out that the sound of her steps on the floor seemed to echo.

She found Luke standing outside, on the green, quarter-inch long grass, looking up at the sky. "I made an ass out of myself in there," he said, not shifting his gaze to look at her.

"You weren't alone on that one, buddy," Lorelai said. "Taylor's probably organizing a posse right now to run us both out of town."

"Why? What'd you do?" Luke asked.

"I defended you."

"You didn't have to do that," Luke told her.

"Yeah, I did," Lorelai said. "I was the one who put you up to it in the first place. You never would have thought about any of this if it wasn't for me. It was only fair." She sighed. "Plus, my mother was there. I'll never, ever manage to be demure and dignified when she's around to be a witness. Even if I plan to, things just never turn out that way."

"Your mother's an outspoken lady. She might surprise you," Luke suggested.

"Your dad would have been proud of that speech," Lorelai replied.

"My dad would have called me a flaming jackass," Luke said.

Lorelai couldn't stifle the laugh that bubbled up inside her.

"The really crazy thing is...I think I actually wanted to be mayor," Luke admitted.

"You would have been an amazing mayor," Lorelai told him.

"Nah, Taylor and the City Council would have blocked me at every turn," Luke said, and Lorelai had to admit he was probably right. "Oh well, it was a good idea at the time. Let's go get some coffee."

"Now you've said the magic words, mister!" Lorelai said. He took his eyes off the stars overhead and looked at her, and she smiled back at him as they started across the town square to the diner.

She sat at the counter and Luke sat next to her. It always felt strange when Luke came around to the customer side of things. Strange, but nice. Between the two of them, they'd almost finished off the pot of coffee, and still there was no movement in the darkness outside the diner's windows. "They've been in there a long time," Lorelai remarked.

"No longer than usual," Luke replied, glancing at his watch. "It's not even ten."

"Getting late," Lorelai observed.

"Go home if you want. I'll keep an eye out, make sure Rory gets home okay."

"It's not Rory I'm worried about," Lorelai said.

"You don't have to keep me company," Luke told her.

"I thought you were keeping me company," she said, smiling.

"Doesn't matter now," Luke said, his eyes focused on the window. "Here they come."

Lorelai turned and looked and saw her mother striding toward the diner. "Please tell me you locked the door." Her words were rendered ineffective in the next moment as the door flew open and Emily stepped inside.

"That was quite a show you put on, Lorelai," Emily said. Then she frowned. "Are you drinking coffee?"

"Grab a cup, we'll pour you some," Lorelai offered.

"It's ten o'clock at night, who on earth drinks coffee at ten o'clock at night?" Emily said.

Lorelai gave her the look that said, 'me, obviously.' "Where's Rory?"

"Her young man walked her home."

"And you allowed that?" Lorelai was surprised.

"It seemed harmless," Emily said.

"Wow, I completely missed the moment when we entered an alternate dimension," Lorelai said. "Did you -" she turned to ask Luke, but he'd disappeared from the stool at the counter where he'd been sitting. "I swear he was just here."

"He went in the back," Emily said, her eyes flicking to indicate a dark, hulking figure visible in the kitchen area on the other side of the counter. "Maybe I should let you two have your privacy."

"We don't need privacy, Mom. Besides, half the town is going to be walking past those windows. They can see right in," Lorelai said. Then she realized it sounded as though maybe she and Luke did have something to hide, which they didn't. So she added, "If we needed privacy. Which we don't. Why are you here, again?"

"I just wanted to say goodnight," Emily said.

"Goodnight, Mom," Lorelai replied.

"And I wanted to say that you made a good show of yourself in there tonight," Emily continued. "It wasn't the most eloquent thing I've ever heard in my life, but I'm glad I raised a daughter who has the confidence and the ability to speak her mind."

"Funny, it's not a trait you've ever appreciated before," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai," Emily cautioned.

"Thank you, Mom," Lorelai backtracked. "It was really great of you to come tonight. I'm just sorry things didn't turn out better, that's all."

"You might just be surprised at how things turned out," Emily said with a mysterious smile as she slipped out through the front door, leaving the bell to echo behind her.

"What?" Lorelai said. She went to the door. "Wait, what?" Lorelai called after Emily, who only raised a hand to wave as she walked to her car. Lorelai watched her mother pull away, and then stepped back into the diner, mystified. "Luke, you don't have to hide in the back, she's gone," Lorelai called to him. There was no response. He hadn't turned off the coffeepot, so she went behind the counter and poured herself a takeout cup, snapping the lid on. "I'm turning the coffee off --" She turned and jumped, startled to find herself face to face with Luke, who'd silently returned to the front of the diner. "I'm turning the coffee off. It's time I headed home. I'm really sorry...about tonight...about everything."

"Don't be," Luke said. He was looking directly into her eyes and it unnerved Lorelai a little, the two of them standing in the darkened diner alone. He just looked so intense. She didn't think he'd ever looked at her that way before. She wasn't sure anyone had.

She sucked in a breath instinctively as Luke started to move toward her. But the moment was shattered as the front door opened and the lights blazed on overhead, activated by the first in a stream of townspeople entering the diner.

"What the hell is this?" Luke demanded, but Lorelai only had to take one look at them to know what it was.

"Congratulations, Mayor," Miss Patty said in her loud voice, and gave Luke a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then she turned to Lorelai.

"Oh, no," Lorelai said.

"You're the vice-mayor, honey! Aren't you proud?" Miss Patty said, and gave Lorelai a big hug, too.

Lorelai spotted Rory lurking toward the back of the crowd, with a grin on her face. "You're going to have to tell me how exactly this happened," Lorelai said.

"Don't look at me," Rory told her. "You made it happen."

And as usual, Rory was right.