Champagne Problems | Gilmore Girls

Mothers and daughters

After a long sleepless night, Lorelai went to Luke's to just get some coffee to prepare to go see Rory and to face her mother.
"Geez, what happened to you?" Luke asked as soon as she walked in.
Lorelai shot him a dirty look. "And good morning to you too."
"Sorry, you just look bad," Luke told her with a shrug.
"Well, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Lorelai told him with a scowl. She didn't look that bad, did she?
"Why not?" Luke asked, pouring her a cup of coffee.
"Rory ran away," Lorelai admitted, hating the sound of it.
"What?!" Luke exclaimed frantically. "Where?! Did you..."
"She's fine," Lorelai told him, touched by the expression of concern. "She's at my mother's."
God, that sounded awful.
Luke let out a sigh of relief. "Ok, you really should throw that information in with the first part. Otherwise, you'll scare a person to death."
Lorelai shrugged. "Sorry." She let out a gusty sigh. "You know, I got in my car three times to go get her." She admitted. "I drove halfway there and then turned around."
"She'll cool off and come home," Luke assured her.
Lorelai managed a small smile. "I know." She did know. Rory loved her, they had a good relationship, and she was just hurting... But it was hard because Rory was her good one and she didn't usually do things like this. "It's just... Breaking up with Dean has been so hard on her."
"Yeah." Luke agreed.
"I just hate that she's going through this," Lorelai told him. "I mean, she's such an amazing kid. She's so nice to everyone, she cares about everyone."
It was true, Serena had an edge to her, and was a little more self-serving, but not Rory, never Rory.

"And she's walking around in this unbelievable pain and there's nothing I can do it," Lorelai said bitterly. "She won't talk to me. She won't talk to Serena. She won't even tell us what happened."

I'll tell you what happened." Luke said angrily. "That Dean kid is a jerk and he finally let her know it."
Lorelai wondered if he was right. Rory had been different ever since her break-up with Dean. "I wish I could pinch his head off." She muttered.
"I'll help." Luke volunteered.
Lorelai smiled, that was Luke, always so protective of Rory.
"I warned him." Lorelai continued her anger building. "I warned him when I first met him if he hurt her... Ah. Maybe I could key his car."
"Or better yet, you can key Taylor's car and tell him you saw Dean doing it." Luke volunteered.
Lorelai couldn't help but smile, that'd be evil indeed. "Yeah, that'd be good."
"You can key Taylor's cal, tell him Dean did it and also tell him that Dean littered and walks his dog without a leash." Luke continued.
"He'll run him out of town," Lorelai said with a laugh, feeling better.
"Good."
Lorelai glanced at her watch. "All right, I should go. Rory's had enough time to cool down and I've decided to go to my parents and talk to her."
"Good luck," Luke told her. "Coffee's on the house."
Lorelai smiled and stood up. "Thanks."
She exited Luke's and then walked over to the Market. She hesitated for a moment, before going in. She walked straight over to Dean and tapped him on the shoulder. "Got a minute?" She asked.
Dean looked away. "I'm, uh..."
"I just wanted to tell you that I think you're scum," Lorelai told him flatly. "Gee thanks," Dean muttered, still not looking at her.
"You are gonna be hard-pressed to find another girl as fantastic as Rory, you know that?" Lorelai demanded. "She is beautiful and she is smart and she did not deserve to be treated that way by you?"

"Treated in what way?" Dean asked, seeming genuinely confused.
"I thought you were a good guy." Lorelai continued, ignoring his interruptions. She'd waited months to get this all out and nothing was stopping her now. "I thought you were going to make her happy. I'm such an idiot that I actually thought you were a good pick. But I was wrong and I hate to be wrong."
"You know what, I am sick and tired of everyone blaming this thing on me!" Dean exclaimed angrily. "I mean, you and this whole stupid town are treating me like I'm a criminal when I didn't do anything wrong. I say 'I love you and she just sits there and I'm the jerk? I'm the bad guy?!"
Lorelai stared at him, unable to process what he was saying. "What?" She whispered.
Dean just threw his hands up in the air. "You know what? Fine, think what you want, I don't care. Just leave me alone."
After a moment, Lorelai did what he asked, still trying to process what he had told her. Had she really messed her daughter up so much that she had no idea how to deal with commitment? Because Lorelai was sure that Rory loved Dean, that was why Lorelai had been so angry, because she'd seen her daughter's heart gets broken. This revelation through all her beliefs up in the air and she had no idea how to react or how she could fix this for her daughter...