Luke, Will You Marry Me?

Chapter One

Momentarily Speechless

Lorelai sat silently as Luke ranted on and on about his plans to keep Rory from quitting Yale, but she barely heard him. Her mind was racing in a hundred different directions. But they all ended up in the same place:

'How could this have happened? How could Rory throw away all her dreams and her plans of a lifetime just because of what one stupid, arrogant jerk said to her? Why is this happening? What did I do wrong?'

". . . And if worse comes to worst, we will drive her to school every day and we will follow her to class and camp out there to make sure she goes."

Lorelai's attention went back to what Luke was saying. At first that sentence didn't make any sense, but her mind began to put together what he had said before and she realized he was more upset about it than she was.

As he finished his tirade, the realization came to her – this was the man she had waited her whole life for. He would always be there for her, and for Rory, no matter how bad or how crazy things got. She could always, ALWAYS count on him, and she would NOT lose him.

". . . she is not quitting school! This was her dream. I am not going to let this happen!"

Luke paused to take a breath, then saw that Lorelai had an odd look on her face; one he had never seen before.

"What?" he asked.

"Luke, will you marry me?"

Luke was stunned.

"What?"

"I said, will you marry me?"

Luke's jaw dropped.

'Did I hear her right? Did she just ask me to marry her? Is she serious? Why would she ask me that? I always thought I'd be the one to ask HER. Hell! Who cares? Of course I'll marry her!'

"I need to call Taylor."

Now it was Lorelai who was stunned.

"That's not exactly the response I expected. What, you have to get Taylor's permission?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You just said you have to call Taylor. What does he have to do with anything?"

"Well, you see, Taylor and I . . . ."

"Luke! I don't want to hear about Taylor Doose! Look, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. Just . . . just forget I said anything at all. I'm just upset about Rory. Never mind, just . . . never mind."

Lorelai stood up to leave.

"No! Wait! Where are you going? We have to make plans, we have things to discuss, we can't just leave it like this!"

"Like what? I ask you to marry me and you say you have to call Taylor?"

"But I told you that afterward."

"After what?"

"After I said yes."

"Luke, you never said yes. You never said anything! You just got all these weird looks on your face, then you said you had to call Taylor."

"No! I said yes!"

"No, you didn't. I can assure you that you didn't!"

"I swear I did. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Well, then I'm saying it now -- yes, I will marry you, Lorelai. Of course I will. Why do you think I . . . ?"

"You what?"

"Why I just bought the Twickham house? For us – for you and me, and Rory, and, you know, for the . . . ."

"Oh my God! So THAT'S what that was all about – the kids! And that's why you freaked when I told you about Mike Armstrong. Luke, I never had any intention on selling the inn! The Dragonfly is my home. Stars Hollow is my home. Rory is my home. YOU are my home!"

"Oh. Well, that's a relief, but I still need to call Taylor."

"What on earth for?"

"Well, when you were talking about all that traveling, I thought you would be leaving and if you weren't going to be here, I didn't want it. So I told him to forget about the house."

Lorelai put her arms around Luke's neck and kissed him.

"Luke, I love that you did that, buying the house, and I love that you wanted it for us. But did you ever think that I might not want to move? When I asked you to marry me, I just naturally thought we would live in my house."

"But -- you said it was a beautiful house."

"Yes, I did. And it is. But so is mine. And it's where Rory and I have lived and laughed and cried for the past ten years. We've got so many great memories there. I really wish you had discussed it with me first."

"But, I . . . I just thought . . . ."

"No, Luke, you didn't think, you assumed. You just assumed that I would marry you, and you assumed I would move out of my house, out of my and Rory's house, without a second thought."

"But it's a great house."

"I know that. But so is mine."

Luke sat down at the table and Lorelai sat down across from him. He wasn't sure what to say next.

"You asked me to marry you."

It was as if he finally realized what had happened.

"Yes, I did."

"And I said yes."

"Yes, you did."

"So -- we're really going to do this?"

"Unless one of us backs out."

"Okay . . . Okay, then."

They sat in silence for several minutes. Lorelai was waiting patiently, waiting for Luke to realize what this meant to him, to both of them.

Twice Luke opened his mouth to say something, then didn't.

"You want some coffee?" he finally got out.

"I would love some coffee. You wouldn't happen to have something to put in it, would you? Something strong?"

"I don't think so, but I can make strong, extra strong coffee."

"That would be fine."

But Luke still sat there.

"Luke? You know we're not getting married tomorrow, if that's what you're worried about. There are still a lot other things going on right now, things we need to take care of."

"Yeah, I know. I'm still trying to . . . so, we're getting married?"

"That's what we've been talking about. Even though things are crazy right now, you are the only sane thing in my life."

"I always thought I'd be the one to ask you, not . . . the other way around."

"Well, so did I, but sometimes things don't work out exactly like we think they will. Rory, as a case in point. But you know, you can still ask me. I can guarantee you that I'll say yes."

Luke almost did, but thought it would sound silly, right now. Instead he asked again, forgetting he already had, "You want some coffee?"

"I'll get it. You sit."

Lorelai went behind the counter and began brewing a pot of very strong coffee.

Luke walked to the counter and sat down on one of the stools.

"Donut?" Lorelai asked as she took the lid off to get one for herself.

"No thanks."

After she poured herself a cup of coffee, Lorelai went back around to sit next to Luke.

"Lorelai, does anyone else know about you and me, you know, about us getting married?"

"Not unless there are microphones hidden in here someplace."

"No, no microphones. You're sure you didn't say anything to anyone?"

"Luke, it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you. I came in here because you are the only one I have, the only person I knew I could count on. And up until five seconds before it happened, I didn't know I was going to ask you. It just . . . came out."

"Lorelai, I have to tell you, all of this – Rory, Yale, you, me, us getting married – it's kind of thrown me for a loop."

"You can always change you mind."

"No! There's no way I'm changing my mind. This is what I want, what I've wanted for I don't know how long. I just have to get used to the idea, that's all."

Lorelai finished the cup of coffee and poured herself a second.

"Are we going to tell anyone?" Luke asked.

"I suppose, eventually. You don't want anyone to know?"

"No, that's not it. I want everyone to know! But, what about Rory? When are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know. Right now we aren't speaking."

"Maybe if you told her it might help patch things up between you two."

"It certainly couldn't hurt, but right now, this thing with Yale is the big issue. That, and her going to my parents behind my back. I can't believe she DID that!"

Lorelai's voice was starting to crack. The anger, frustration, and pain she held inside was coming to the surface. Luke put one hand on her shoulder in support. Then in the next instant she was in his arms, her fingers digging into his back as she cried into his shoulder.

After several minutes Lorelai's sobbing slowly ended.

"You okay?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, still not trusting her voice.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"I had a donut, remember?"

"You mean the one with one bite taken out of it? When did you eat?"

"I don't remember, this morning sometime."

"You need something. What can I make for you?"

"I really don't want anything."

"Well, either you tell me what you want, or I'm going to fix you something healthy. One or the other, but you ARE going to eat something."

"Are you going to be this bossy after we're married?"

"Probably."

"You men are all alike. I guess I'll have the usual."

"Okay, cheeseburger and chili fries – you want cheese on those fries?"

"Sure, why not go all the way?"

Lorelai went behind the counter to pour another cup of coffee while Luke went into the kitchen.

Despite insisting she wasn't hungry it didn't take Lorelai ten minutes to polish off the meal. Afterward, Luke put a slice of strawberry pie in front of her.

"Ooh, pie! You are going to be a good husband, bossy or not."

Luke didn't answer, but just smiled.

They sat next to each other on the stools making small talk. Neither wanted to bring up the reason Lorelai came into the diner.

After a while, Luke could tell that the coffee wasn't doing its job.

"You look exhausted."

"I am." Lorelai answered. "I guess I should go home and go to bed."

"Don't do that. Stay here tonight. You're too tired to drive back, and I don't want you to be alone."

"You're right, I am. But you do realize all I want is about 36 hours of uninterrupted sleep."

"That's fine with me."

They got up from the stools, and then were each other's arms again.

They stood there a few seconds when the bell on the door of the diner rang twice as the door opened and closed.

"Lorelai!"

Both Luke and Lorelai were momentarily speechless.

Then Lorelai exclaimed, "Christopher!"

To Be Continued