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Love.
Loooooove.
Lorelai Gilmore had fallen in love. In love with Luke Danes no less. The grumpy, backwards baseball cap and flannel wearing hermit of a diner owner had told her that he loved her. Except with her he wasn't always the grumpy, backwards baseball cap and flannel wearing hermit she thought she was. Sure he still wore the flannel with the exception of their dates but she learned that underneath that gruff exterior he put on for everyone else was the real Luke Danes. The one that loved her. And the one that she loved.
Standing at the front desk of the Inn, Lorelai replayed the moment over and over again in her head. The way he looked at her, the way he spoke so softly then so confident, the way her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest, and then the smile that light up his face when she repeated the words back to him. That amazing smile that confirmed the fact that she was in love with him.
"What's with you?" Michel asked in his snide tone breaking her from her trance, "You're unusually perky this morning."
Lorelai just smiled at Michel, "Oh nothing, just happy. There's no law saying that I can't be happy. So I'm just happy. Happy." And in love, she added in her head.
Michel watched her curiously then went back to the work he was busy with on the computer. He shook his head, "Something is going on with the two of you. I don't like it when you exclude me."
"Two of you? Me and Luke? Luke and I? When have I really ever included you when it comes to Luke?" Lorelai asked tilting her head to the side in confusion. "We're not interested in a ménage à trois if that's what you're getting at."
Michel huffed in disgust, "Not you and that flannel man. You and Sookie. Both of you are disgustingly happy and neither of you will tell me why. You're excluding me again."
Lorelai tried not to smile at the small pout that Michel was trying desperately to hide. She knew that whenever something happened with her and Sookie, Michel had to be informed of it. He was their third musketeer. Together they could be three amigos. The lettuce on their BLT sandwich of friendship. Or if she wanted to get into more Michel-specific territory, together as three they could be Destiny's Child.
"And now you're not even listening to me!" Michel complained as Lorelai was just lost in her thoughts comparing her, Michel, and Sookie to all things that come in threes she could think of. Michel huffed once again before marching away from the front desk.
"Wait, no Michel come back," Lorelai called after him stifling the giggles that threatened to escape. The giggles won and laughter rang out in her voice, "No really Michel come back, I'll listen."
It was no use, Michel just marched off despite Lorelai's cries to come back and work at the front desk. This was just another one of his hissy fits that he liked to throw. He would be over it soon and back working at the front desk with the memory of this conversation forgotten or just stored for later use in how Lorelai never listens to him. Once she composed herself and swiped away the few tears that escaped along with her giggles, Lorelai made her way to the kitchen to see just what had Sookie all excited.
"So Michel thinks we're excluding him from something," Lorelai said in way of greeting as she pushed open the door to the kitchen and made her way inside. She stopped by the counter and picked through a bowl of berries that was perched on the counter. She selected a blueberry from the bowl and popped it in her mouth.
"What are we excluding Michel from?" Sookie asked turning away from the stove and wiping her hands on a dish towel. Then she began to rant nervously, "Are we excluding me as well? Because I'm a little confused here. But I mean if we're excluding him then we can't necessary exclude me because we means us and that's two, so what exactly are you talking about? Why is Michel excluded?"
"Sookie, Sookie calm down," Lorelai urged her. "No one is excluding anyone from anything. I don't even know really what Michel is talking about. I was zoned out for part of the conversation. He got mad and walked off."
"Okay…" Sookie replied trying to follow the conversation, "So we're not excluding him?"
"Not that I know of," Lorelai answered.
"Why does he think we are?" Sookie questioned.
"Because as he said we're both disgustingly happy," Lorelai replied trying to mimic Michel's accent making Sookie laugh, "Which is why I'm here, what's going on with you? Why are you so disgustingly happy that you're making Michel mad? Is it something to do with Jackson?" she asked smiling.
Sookie nodded eagerly as a wide smile spread across her face, "I'm engaged!" she squealed startling some of the kitchen staff. She threw the dish towel in her hands up behind her. Both women failed to notice the towel landing on the stove and catching on fire. One of the members of the kitchen staff put out the small fire with the ease of having done this same thing a few times before.
"You're engaged?" Lorelai asked with a smile on her face that rivaled Sookie's. She wrapped her best friend in a tight embrace which Sookie returned.
"And we're moving in together!" Sookie added as an afterthought stepping away from the hug.
Lorelai laughed heartily, "Well that kind of comes with the territory of getting engaged. Let me see the ring!"
Sookie held out her left hand towards Lorelai. Lorelai snatched Sookie's hand closer to her. The smile she had faded away when she noticed there was no ring on Sookie's finger. She cleared her throat and looked up at Sookie.
"Um Sookie?"
"Yeah?" Sookie asked totally oblivious.
"I've been engaged once before and I'm not saying that I'm an expert or anything but I know that there was a ring involved. The ring came a little while later but there was a ring yet I'm looking at a ring-less finger here," Lorelai replied as she held up Sookie's hand.
"Oh! Right," Sookie said suddenly. She pulled her hand away from Lorelai and walked over to the small area of the kitchen where she kept a few personal belongings, "I take it off in the kitchen so it won't get ruined or fall off into any of the food."
"That would be some surprise for an unsuspecting couple," Lorelai threw in.
Sookie slipped the ring onto her finger and walked back to Lorelai now holding out her ring-clad hand, "Isn't it beautiful?"
Lorelai gasped softly, "Sookie it's gorgeous. Jackson has an eye for jewelry."
"It was his grandmother's."
Lorelai smiled in response, "That's nice. So how did this all happen? How did he ask you? When did he ask you? I want all the details."
Lorelai settled down onto the stool beside the counter as Sookie launched into the details of Jackson's proposal. She mentioned everything from Jackson wanting to just move in at first and her not getting the hints at all at first to her asking Jackson if he happened to be pregnant after his impromptu proposal. Lorelai laughed and smiled all throughout Sookie's explanation which involved hand gestures as well as her voice going up a few octaves as she rambled on with excitement.
"I'm so happy for you two," Lorelai said as Sookie finished her explanation of the proposal. She hugged Sookie once again.
"Thank you," Sookie replied, "I should thank you. You really did help out with me and Jackson at the very beginning. You went a date with Rune just so we could double date."
Lorelai shook her head, "Ugh let's not mention Rune anytime soon. I would be happy with no mentions of Rune from here on out."
Sookie nodded, "Got it, no Rune talk."
"That's the best way to live no Rune talk."
"I was going to tell you Saturday right after it happened but I looked around and there were no signs of you and Luke anywhere," Sookie replied.
Lorelai smirked, "Yeah, we were busy."
Sookie giggled, "Thanking him for buying your basket?"
Lorelai laughed, "Hmm something like that," she paused for just a moment, "Actually Luke did tell me something important at the picnic, something special."
"Oh my god, you're engaged too?" Sookie asked trying to reach out for Lorelai's left hand, "We could have our wedding together!"
"What? Whoa, whoa, whoa, Sookie slow down. No, I'm not engaged, that's far off. Luke and I have only been dating for a little while now," Lorelai replied, a blush began to spread across her cheeks, "He did say that he loved me."
"Awww," Sookie gushed. "And you said it back right?"
Lorelai smiled brightly, "Yes I said it back." She glanced down at the ground before looking back up at Sookie, "You know it's different this time. I mean Max told me he loved me and you know it was nice and then Christopher has said it more than a few times and it was nice too but then with Luke it was completely different. I don't know how to describe it was just different. Like I knew he meant it and I wasn't afraid of that."
"Awww," Sookie gushed once again, "I think he has loved you for years. He's always looked at you in that way."
Lorelai sighed dreamily, "I finally noticed the look everyone was talking about. I'm a fool for not noticing it earlier."
"Yeah you are. You finally opened your eyes," Sookie agreed. She squealed again, "I'm just so happy for you. You're not going to die alone. I mean, somebody will be there. Somebody will know. Somebody will find the body and call the police and…"
Lorelai interrupted, "Yes, that's a relief. Well if that's the case then you're not going to die alone either."
"We both have someone to find our bodies," Sookie said excitedly, "We're not going to die alone."
Lorelai and Sookie were both laughing as Michel walked into the kitchen. He was still in a mood thinking that they were excluding him from something personal. He was going to turn around and leave until Lorelai called him back.
"Michel, we have news," Lorelai called. She smiled at Sookie, "Our Sookie here is getting married."
"And Lorelai is in love," Sookie chimed in.
"Great," Michel replied, "Is this wedding going to take up all your work time leaving me to do all of my work and your work as usual?"
"You can be a part of the wedding planning as well," Sookie offered.
"I'll think about it," Michel said before turning and walking out of the kitchen.
Lorelai rolled her eyes, "He gets mad when he thinks we're excluding him but then when we try to include him he acts like he doesn't want it. Why do I keep him around?"
"Because we would both miss him too much if he was gone," Sookie answered.
Lorelai nodded, "True. I should get to work," she said standing up and walking towards the door. Before she walked out of the kitchen she turned around to face Sookie, "Talk to you later future Mrs. Belleville."
Later that day, Lorelai headed home from the Inn. According to the plans they made this morning when she stopped by the diner, Luke was going to be at her house when she arrived home since tonight he was cooking dinner for her and Rory. Jess was joining them as well tonight. Lorelai knew that with her dating Luke, she was going to have to get along with Jess. She had to get to know him.
Lorelai arrived at home and smiled at the sight of Luke's truck. She parked next to him and made her way inside. Once inside she took her coat off and placed it on the coat rack. She dropped her keys and purse onto the small table and started walking towards the kitchen.
"Something smells great in here."
"Almost finished here," Luke replied.
Lorelai peeked in Rory's room and saw no signs of her daughter. She walked over to Luke and leaned back against the counter. "So you just come on in and make yourself at home, don't you?" she teased with a mischievous glint in her eye.
It was her idea to have him over tonight. He was the one that insisted on cooking. She was fine with ordering pizza.
"Actually Rory let me in," Luke replied.
"Ahh so using my daughter to sneak into my house, I see how it is," Lorelai teased.
"You act like this is the first time you came home to me being at your house."
Lorelai smiled, "But this is the first time I came home to find you cooking at my house since we started dating. I must say I like coming home to find my man cooking in the kitchen."
Luke gave her the small hint of a smile. He leaned in closer, "I'll leave the dishes for you to do."
Lorelai laughed and playfully swatted at his chest. Her arms circled around his neck as she pulled herself closer against him. She pressed her lips to his in a searing kiss that she had been saving since this morning. His arms circled around her waist as the kiss deepened. Breathless she pulled away and smiled.
"Hey."
Luke grinned, "Hey."
Lorelai used her thumb to wipe away the small traces of her lip-gloss from his lips. "So I thought Rory and Jess were joining us for dinner tonight yet I see no Rory or Jess around here."
Luke turned away from Lorelai and opened the stove checking on the roast, "They went to the store," he replied. "Rory wanted to get some ice cream."
"I've taught her well," Lorelai replied. "Besides we are totally out of ice cream. We finished it all last night watching movies." She leaned up and kissed him again, "I'm going to go change, be right back."
By the time Lorelai came back downstairs, Rory and Jess were back with the ice cream. She had changed into a pair of jeans and blue t-shirt with a dog on the front. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail as she re-entered the kitchen.
"Hey babe, how was school?" Lorelai asked leaning back against the counter and glancing over at Rory.
"It was good, Paris was Paris. We have a debate at school on Friday," Rory replied, "Paris is making sure we know every possible detail there is to know on our topic."
"What's the topic?" Lorelai asked.
"Doctor assisted suicide," Rory replied.
Lorelai snorted giving a half-laugh, "Cheery topic."
"Very Paris," Rory added in.
Lorelai nodded and turned to look at Jess, "Jess, how was school?"
"Good," Jess answered.
"And how are you?" Lorelai asked.
"Good," Jess replied.
"Okay," Lorelai said knowing that this conversation was going nowhere fast. Jess rarely said more than one or two words to her. She cast a glance over at Luke, "Dinner almost ready?"
"All finished," Luke replied, "I prepared most of it at the diner earlier today and just brought it over here to warm everything back up."
"Well it really does smell great. I wasn't really aware that you could cook more than diner food," Lorelai said as she began taking plates out of the cabinet. She stacked them on the counter next to the stove.
"I am a man of many talents," Luke replied.
Lorelai smirked, "I'll say."
Rory cleared her throat, "Hello, we're still in the room," she said gesturing between herself and Jess. "We don't need to hear any dirty talk."
"I'm with her," Jess added in.
"And he speaks more than one word answers," Lorelai joked, "You know you could really battle Luke in the whole monosyllabic thing he has going."
"Well it's hard to get many words in with you always talking," Luke said.
Lorelai bumped her hip into his, "Oh hush. You love it."
Luke smiled, "Yeah I do."
Rory smiled at her mother and Luke. For once, she knew her mother was truly happy in the relationship she was in. But even the cuteness of their relationship was not going to get in the way of her eating. She cleared her throat again.
"Okay if you two lovebirds are finished with the lovey-dovey, googly eyes for now, can we eat? I'm starved."
Luke blushed and Lorelai laughed, "Okay if I ever had any doubts about it they are all out the window now. You are definitely my daughter."
Luke fixed the plates while Lorelai fixed everyone's drinks. She grabbed two sodas from the fridge for Rory and Jess and two beers from the fridge for herself and Luke. Lorelai, Rory, and Jess all settled around the table as Luke passed around the plates. Once everyone had a plate, Luke sat down at the table next to Lorelai.
A little while into their meal Lorelai spoke up since it seemed like no one else was going to, "Ooh I just remembered. I have some gossip."
"More gossip?" Luke asked, "That's all I hear all day at the diner. I know more about people than I want too."
Lorelai sighed, "But see this is good gossip and this gossip came straight from my best friend."
"What is it?" Rory asked.
"Sookie and Jackson are engaged. She's getting married," Lorelai answered, "And since she is getting married, she has labeled me as BFOTB."
"BFOTB?" Rory questioned arching an eyebrow.
"What the hell is that?" Luke replied.
"BFOTB," Lorelai said trying to pronounce it as a word instead of spelling it out, "stands for Best Friend of the Bride. Being a BFOTB means that I'm automatically a part of the wedding party and as daughter of the BFOTB you are too," she said glancing over at Rory.
Rory nodded, "I accept the title as daughter of the BFOTB." Jess smirked.
Dinner went on with everyone talking about their day. Of course, Jess and Luke didn't say too much since Lorelai and Rory dominated the conversation as always. Lorelai tried to incorporate Jess more into the conversation since she would try for Luke's sake to get along with Jess. Luke insisted he wasn't a bad kid just a little misunderstood. At some point during the dinner, Rory and Jess talked amongst themselves while Luke and Lorelai talked.
After dinner, Luke helped Lorelai clear the table putting all the dishes into the sink. Rory fixed herself a bowl of ice-cream and headed into the living room with Jess to watch TV. After ending her phone call with Sookie who was eager to start planning her wedding, Lorelai walked back into the kitchen where Luke was at the sink beginning to wash dishes.
"I thought you were going to leave the dishes for me to do," Lorelai said walking up and standing next to Luke.
Luke shrugged his shoulders, "I made the mess, I cooked dinner I can clean it up too."
"Nonsense," Lorelai said bumping him out of the way. She handed him a dish towel, "I wash and you can cry. Besides I like washing dishes."
Luke shook his head, "Crazy lady."
Lorelai slid off her rings and set them on the side of the sink before plunging her hands into the soapy water, "This is the only kind of cleaning I actually like, everything else forget about it," she said pulling her hand from the water and waving it causing soap bubbles to fly from her hand and onto Luke, "Rory and I have contests to see who actually has to do the cleaning."
Lorelai laughed seeing the bubbles land on Luke, "Oh sorry hun," she said using her hand to try and wipe the bubbles away only causing more bubbles to cover his face.
Luke grabbed her wrist pulling her hand away from his face before he was entirely covered in bubbles. He used the towel in his hands to wipe away the bubbles, "You are something else."
Lorelai just laughed and gave him a dazzling smile as she continued to wash dishes, "I know. But you're the one that wants to put up with it all."
So just as a small note, I mentioned the debate that Rory has in this chapter. If you remember from the show, the debate is the reason Christopher makes his reappearance. As I said in a previous chapter, I don't want Christopher to ruin things between L/L but he will be in the next chapter but there should not be too much worrying about Christopher.
Review are appreciated.