disclaimer: If I'd owned them, it would've been sooooooo different. So no.
HIYAAAA! Wow, two updates in one night - you gotta love me :) Anyway I don't have work for the next two days so there'll probably be more frequent updates. I remember the good old days where I'd update everyday, but no... I don't anymore and I'm sorry!! Add this to the list of non-updating excuses: Complete and utter friendship breakdown!!
CHECK OUT MY NEW ONE-SHOT: A warm night in the snow.
Here are your replies my friends;
Sarah Blesdoe: Heyooo. I updated semi-soon just for you. Lol. Sorry, alot of crap happening in my life, some not so good. Hope you enjoy.
Cywen69: Good old Kirkaroo aye? I reckon they should've just let Kirk and Lorelai go out, so we could've seen the extreme hilarity that would've gone on there, lol. Enjoy this chapter :)
Jeremy Shane: Thanks for reviewing man.
Pjt-gg: Thanks for the compliments :):)
Gilmoregirls3916: Luke's got email YEWWW! thanks for reviewing mate.
Gilmoreintraining: Complimentary way - yes. I was kinds fueled by the episode I'd watched that day where Lorelai went out with that really young guy from her enlgish class.
StarsHollow-er: Doctors soon. I'll let you know :) don't freak out, it could be nothing. Thanks for reviewing :)
The big one.
"You okay boss?" Caesar asked, waving one of Luke's menus in his bosses face before retreating back into the kitchen after getting no answer from Luke.
Luke was leaning over the counter of the diner. It had been a whole day since he'd seen Lorelai. Their hectic and busy schedules had prevented them from being in the same place at the same time in over twenty four hours. She'd gone to the diner twice the day before, the first time he was at Doose's picking up an order he reluctantly made to Taylor. The second time he was helping Mrs. Flannigan pick her son's bike up off of the road after someone had ran over it and she'd come flying into the diner to ask him to help.
So, they were left with a five minute late night phone call where Lorelai was too tired to talk about anything more than her day before she was ready to fall asleep. Luke let her go, just happy to hear her voice for the day before he crawled into bed, feeling suddenly empty that she wasn't there with him.
So he was sitting there, watching the door, waiting for the bells to ring. They always rang differently when it was Lorelai entering. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew when it was Lorelai, and so far this morning – no Lorelai, and that bummed him out pretty bad.
At that moment, Caesar came out of the kitchen again. There were piles of orders stacked up on the silver bench top.
"Boss?" Caesar asked, growing more and more impatient. Finally, after a shove on the shoulder and a few more whines, Luke became aware of Caesar and grew annoyed instantaneously.
"What Caesar?" Luke asked sharply.
Caesar gestured over to the pass. "I know you're probably busy, but you and I are the only one's that are in today, and if I'm in there cooking, and you're out here staring into space – who's taking the orders to the people?" Caesar asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, Yeah, alright Caesar, keep your pants on," Luke snarked before rushing over to the pass, quickly clearing the orders and bringing back dirty dishes on the way back.
When Luke had gotten all the meals out for the mean time, he went back to his day dreaming. Suddenly, the bells above the door jingled the way he had wanted them to all morning, and the woman he'd loved for years now appeared before him, babbling on about coffee and how she'd split a hole in two sets of pantihose that morning.
And suddenly… he felt okay.
xxx
Lorelai laid awake in Luke's bed one night, listening to the soft snores coming from the bed next to her. It was one of those nights that Luke had to be at the apartment because of crazy early deliveries in the mornings, but also one of the nights where Lorelai really didn't want to be alone. So, she decided that she would stay at Luke's house for the night. Once she'd exhausted all the TV shows that were her Wednesday night regulars, she'd turned to the nightstands wide range of magazines that Luke so thoughtfully bought for her. But when she'd gotten annoyed with reading the same stories over and over again, just in different magazines, she'd given up hope of falling asleep. She rolled over to Luke who was facing her and softly kissed him on the lips.
The small action elicited a tiny groan from her boyfriend, so she continued until he began to stir. Opening one eye slowly, they became face to face, Lorelai's grin going from ear to ear. She pursed her lips and kissed him again.
"Lorelai," Luke managed to get out slowly and sleepily once she'd broken the kiss.
"Yeah?" she asked innocently before planting another soft kiss on his lips.
"What time is it?" he asked.
Lorelai rolled over him and pulled his alarm clock towards her. She put it back and rolled back into her previous position. She put an arm around his middle and snuggled closer to him.
"It's twelve thirty one," she whispered.
"Why are you kissing me at twelve thirty one when I have to get up at four fourty five?" he asked, rolling onto his back and stretching out his arms.
"I'm bored, I can't sleep," Lorelai said, rolling onto her own back and folding her arms across her chest.
"I'm sorry," Luke said sincerely, grabbing her right arm and pulling it to their sides, entwining his fingers with hers before closing his eyes.
"For what?" Lorelai asked.
"Making you go to bed early, when I make you go to bed early you get restless and can't sleep." He stated sleepily.
"Meh, what can you do?" Lorelai said with a shrug.
"I'm just sorry," he whispered.
"It's okay," Lorelai said softly, reassuring him by squeezing his hand. "As long as I'm with you, I don't care,"
xxx
The next day Luke was graced with a whole five minutes of his girlfriend, and that wasn't enough. They'd spent the last three days longing for visits from each other, but the excuse was that either one was busy or the other was busy, and that's all it was. Luke was getting fed up with not seeing enough of her. He was sick of not being able to say he missed her every second because he was only her boyfriend. He was sick of not feeling as though they were in a committed relationship.
With all the love he felt for Lorelai, Luke was certain that they we re ready to take the next step in their relationship. What he wasn't quite sure was if Lorelai was ready, or if she would freak out. As he thought about it more and more, he didn't really feel like 'Lorelai, will you marry me?' or 'Lorelai, will you be my wife?' was good enough. If he was going to do this, he had to do it right, and he had to do it soon.
Luke called someone in to cover for him, so that he could go upstairs during the lunch rush and get started on the plans. He walked into his apartment and went straight to the computer. He logged into msn out of natural habit now, and then pulled up a webpage as he started to look for rings.
After half an hour of searching jewellery stores for rings, he finally had an idea of what he was looking for. He continued to look for extra research but was startled when Lorelai signed into msn.
Luke silently willed that she wouldn't talk to him, so that he could get going on the calls and things he had to make – to Rory, to Sookie. Unlucky for Luke, but also lucky for Luke, she sure enough started talking to him.
Lorelai: Hey babe, whatcha doin'?
Luke sighed but began to type. He could never not want to talk to this amazing, beautiful woman that he had no idea how he got. She was his everything, and that was all he'd ever need in this world.
Luke: Hi there.
Lorelai: Why are you on here during the middle of the day?
Luke: Bank stuff. Might not be here until five tonight – gotta drive out to Hartford, I'll be there for a while.
Lorelai: I'm almost finished for the day, pretty slow here, maybe I'll come?
Luke didn't want to say no, but she couldn't come with him when he was ring shopping. He had to make an excuse, fast.
Luke: No, no, I don't want to subject you to that. I'll just see you when I get home?
Lorelai: Well, you could drop me off at one of the malls – I've got a couple of credit cards burning a hole in my wallet.
Luke: I'm leaving in two minutes.
Luke was desperate, as much as he missed her and as much as he'd love to spend the afternoon with her, this was going to have to wait. He needed her to not come, he needed to do this.
Lorelai: Oh okay, well I wouldn't make it there in two minutes. So I'll see you tonight?
Luke: Yeah, come to the diner at seven, I'll take you out.
Suddenly Luke was telling himself that he was going to do it tonight. Oddly enough, he was fine with it. The idea of this commitment wasn't freaking him out. He loved her, she loved him, and if she said yes, they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, and he was happier than anyone had ever been.
Lorelai: Out? Where?
Luke: Surprise.
Lorelai: Please, please, please tell me!!
Luke: Nope.
Lorelai: You know how much I hate this! You're trying to torment me.
Luke: Yep.
Lorelai: Can you only type one letter sentences now?
Luke: No. I love you, see you tonight.
Lorelai: Seeya tonight babe.
And with those parting words, Luke was off. He immediately signed off of msn and walked over to the bed. Grabbing the phone off of the hook and the address book Lorelai kept in the drawer of her dresser, he dialled Sookie's number. Suddenly, he started getting nervous.
"Hello?" Sookie said chipperly into the phone.
"Sookie, hi… it's Luke," Luke said quickly.
"Well hi Luke, Whatsup?" she asked while she tried to get one of the kitchen crew to stir the meringue in gently.
"I was just wondering…" Luke trailed off lamely.
"Yes, wondering what?" Sookie asked, confused.
"Well, don't say anything to Lorelai but – I'm thinking about proposing," he said quickly, and if it were anyone else but Sookie, they wouldn't have heard him.
All Luke could hear was squeals and laughter and happiness on the other end of the phone. It all abruptly stopped and he heard what sounded like Lorelai's voice on the other end.
Don't tell her, don't tell her, don't tell her. Luke thought to himself.
On the other end he could hear muffled tones and what sounded like Sookie telling Lorelai that it was Jackson on the other end, and lying that she was squealing because he'd told her he'd made a killer batch of tomatoes for her meatball sauce, just in time for the dinner for tonight.
Apparently, Lorelai took the information as true, because Sookie got back on the phone instantly once Lorelai's voice had disappeared.
"Proposing?" Sookie said excitedly.
"Yeah, but I needed to ask you something," Luke said, dropping his head and running his fingers over his brow.
"Yeah?" Sookie said quietly.
"Do you think she'll say yes?" he asked.
"Do I think Lorelai will say yes to you proposing?" Sookie asked, repeating it to him, trying to understand it.
"Yeah," Luke said bluntly.
"I do, I really do," Sookie confessed, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Thankyou Sookie," Luke started, "Thankyou so much,"
"And Luke?" Sookie asked.
"Yeah?" Luke replied almost instantly.
"This is so good, this is great, this is fantastic," Sookie said excitedly.
"I know," Luke said with a smile.
Sookie and Luke hung up quickly and Luke went through the book again. He got to the R's and found Rory's name on there with love hearts and flowers scribbled around it and little thought bubbles coming from the name with funny things written in them in Lorelai's handwriting.
Luke dialled the number quickly and waited for the ringing. It rang about seven times before she answered.
"Hello?" came the sweet and innocent voice that he loved so much.
"Rory," Luke said gruffly.
"Luke?" Rory asked openly, confused.
"Yeah, it's Luke," he said.
"Luke… is Mom okay?" she asked out of the blue.
"Yeah, yeah, your Mom's fine. I'm just calling to sort've… ask… you… something," he said slowly.
"Ah… okay, well then – shoot," Rory said with a shrug.
"Okay, so you know me and your Mom haven't really been together for very long…" Luke trailed off.
"Yeah… so?" Rory asked, completely bewildered and confused at the nature of the call.
"Well… we've known each other for years and we're really close, and lately I've been thinking about well… you know… proposing?" he asked with a scared looking on his face.
"Proposing?" Rory repeated, excited.
"Yeah, proposing," Luke said quickly. "But I'm not sure your Mom is ready, and I don't want to ask her if she's not ready, 'cause I know that'll be bad and I don't want to pressure her into anything that she's not ready for… that would be bad, and I wanted to call and ask you opinion – well… your permission really… but… well… what do you think?" he said before gasping for air.
Rory silently giggled to herself on the other end. She was touched that Luke had thought to call her and ask her for permission.
"I think it's a great idea," Rory said sincerely.
"You do?" Luke asked, smiling to himself.
"Yeah, I really do," Rory said softly.
"Thanks Rory,"
"You're welcome Luke,"
Luke and Rory spent the next half an hour talking about what Luke had planned already, when he was going to do it and the kind of ring he had in mind. The whole way through Rory was feeling happy that Luke had felt inclined to call and ask for her permission. She was touched and she knew that he'd be the best Dad she could've ever hoped for.
xxx
"Catalano's Italian," came the voice of a young man through the phone as Luke went to make a reservation for dinner with Lorelai.
"Yeah hi, I was just wondering if there was any chance of getting a table for seven o'clock tonight?" he asked, hoping to god there was.
"How many people?" the young boy asked.
"Two," Luke replied gruffly.
"You're in luck, we have one table available, what was the reservation under?"
"Danes," Luke said, trying quickly to get off the phone.
"Danes for seven all booked, thankyou,"
"Thanks."
xxx
Luke wandered through six different jewellery stores, begging for each one to contain the right ring he was looking for. He'd come across beautiful rings, but each one didn't have the it factor that he was looking for – something that was so completely Lorelai, that anyone that saw it would just think 'wow'.
He was just about to give up when he came across the most astonishing ring he'd seen yet. The one that he knew would melt Lorelai's heart. It had one large diamond, and two smaller but still sizeable ones on either side of the larger one and were embedded in a solid silver band. He bought it straight away.
As he walked through the shopping malls, looking like someone completely out of place, he decided that what would make the ring even more special was if he got it engraved. So, he headed off to the small engraving kiosk and asked them to engrave 'Luke loves Lorelai' on the on side of the inside of the band and 'Forever' on the other side. Once he had it all finished, he headed back to the diner.
xxx
Lorelai walked down the stairs when he heard a loud bang on the door. He had closed the diner early tonight, much to many of the towns peoples dismay, but he needed his place to be free for tonight, the most important night of his life so far. He walked into the diner wearing a white dress shirt, a black jacket and black pants, and to top it off was wearing polished black shoes.
"Woah, woah!" Lorelai said, putting a hand up in front of her. "Going to the prom?" she asked. "'Cause if you're going, I aint… I've seen Prom Night and I'm telling you, it aint pretty," she joked with a smile.
"Come on," Luke said, shaking his head and grabbing her hand.
Luke climbed into the drivers side of the truck and Lorelai sidled into the passenger's seat. She looked over at Luke and studied him curiously. She shook her head when he made no expression and smiled.
"Seriously, I am not going out dressed like this when you're dressed like that!" she said pointedly, gesturing to her jeans and casual pink top.
"I know, that's why we're stopping at your place, you're getting changed into that fancy little black dress of yours, topping it off with some sexy black heels and coming out to dinner with me," he said as he drove through the town.
"Is this some fancy pants way of getting me into bed Mr. Danes?" Lorelai joked.
They pulled into Lorelai's driveway and Luke smirked. "Get out, I'll wait here, don't be long, leave the hair and makeup, they look good already,"
Lorelai laughed but got out of the car. She turned around in shock when Luke leant over and gave her bum a play smack before she ran up to the front door of her house. Lorelai ran up the stairs and pulled out the dress. She immediately stripped off and pulled the dress on. She chose her black strappy stiletto's and walked carefully back down the stairs. Swapping all of her things out of one bag to a more sexy one, she jumped when she heard Rory coming out of her room.
"Oh my god! Don't ever do that to Mommy ever again," Lorelai said, catching her breath and leaning on Rory's shoulder.
"Where're you goin'?" Rory asked, knowing that if she didn't ask, Lorelai would become suspicious.
"Date with Luke," Lorelai said excitedly.
"Why are you rushing?" Rory asked.
"'Cause Luke's outside and he didn't tell me this date was a fancy pants one so I dressed in casual clothes and he's given me a time limit and I don't want him to leave or something, you know, go on the date without me," she joked.
"I doubt he'd ever do that, he'd wait a million years for you Mom," Rory said sweetly.
"I know kid, I'm so lucky," Lorelai said with a genuine smile before kissing Rory's cheek quickly and running out the door. She got to the truck, turned around and waved at Rory who was watching from the door.
Rory waved back and gave a knowing wave to Luke who simply nodded. Rory smiled to herself and shut the door, leaning up against it and squealing to herself.
xxx
"Danes," Luke said to the waiter when they arrived at the restaurant.
"Right this way," the waiter replied, outstretching a hand and offering them to follow him.
Lorelai clutched onto Luke's hand and bit the inside of her cheek nervously. When they got to their table the young waiter pulled Lorelai's chair out for her. Lorelai took her seat and smiled when Luke joined her. She pulled open the menu immediately, eliciting a chuckle from Luke.
"Mmm, everything reads so good," Lorelai said sweetly.
"I think I'm gonna go with the Spaghetti Bolognese," Luke said, putting his menu down and smiling at her.
"Really?" Lorelai asked, finding the steak and reading it. "Sounds yum, you'll have to give me a taste,"
"As if, get your own," Luke joked.
Lorelai's foot rested gently on Luke's ankle, occasionally moving up and down, keeping them both comfortable and happy to know that one another was there with them. Luke smiled at her as she chose what she wanted.
"Chicken Parmigana," Lorelai said, with a fake Italian accent.
"Alrighty," Luke said chipperly, relaying their orders to the waiter as he came over.
Luke stretched an arm over the table and took Lorelai's hand in his. She smiled at him and looked around her at the atmosphere that she loved so much. "This is great," she said with a huge smile.
"I'm glad you like it," Luke said sweetly.
"I do," Lorelai said.
"Lorelai, I kind of lied before, I do have a reason for bringing you here," Luke said, slightly uneasily.
"What?" Lorelai asked, her eyes widening and a sudden look of fear overtaking her face.
"No, no, it's nothing bad – at least, I hope it's nothing bad," Luke said nervously. "I just want you to know…" he trailed off, concerning Lorelai.
"Yeah?" Lorelai asked, raising her eyebrows and looking straight at him.
"I mean, you know that you're my life right?" when Lorelai nodded he continued. "There is nothing in this world that I love more than I love you. For years I've waited for myself to come up with the courage I need to ask you out, and then all this just sort've happened." he explained.
He could see that Lorelai was starting to get anxious, tears welling up in her eyes.
"We've been through so much in our short relationship, but I think that's the main thing that's helped us get to the point we're at right now. And if you're ready, I think I'm ready to take the next step in this relationship," he said cautiously.
Lorelai's free hand came up to wrap around her mouth, muting her small whimpers as Luke's words tugged on her heart strings with every syllable.
"Are you proposing?" Lorelai asked on the verge of tears.
Luke got out of his seat and down on one knee next to Lorelai's chair. He grabbed the ring box out of his coat pocket and opened it right in front of her. Lorelai gasped at it's beauty and looked back at Luke.
"I know I don't say it enough, and I know you know it, but I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, will you marry me? I've asked Rory, she's okay with it, she's so excited, so all that's left is for you to decide whether or not you could put up with me in your life for the next fifty or sixty years," he asked, waiting for the response.
Lorelai's hands covered her mouth as a few tears strayed from her eyes. Her head instantly nodded as she managed to get the words out.
"Of course, nothing would ever make me more happy," she said sweetly. "I could put up with you in my life for five hundred years, I love you," she said quickly before leaning down, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him gently.
A swoon of 'Aww's' came from the crowd who had witnessed the whole scene, like something out of a movie. Luke took the ring out and showed it to Lorelai, who's tears fell when she read what Luke had had engraved on the ring. He slid it onto her ring finger, stood up and kissed her deeply.
xxx
The next night Lorelai was laying on her bed, absentmindedly scribbling on the pad of paper in front of her. She was no longer interested in figuring out the way the inn's paperwork calculates, she was no longer interested in the way Sookie's accidents and wastefulness in the kitchen effects their budget and profit, all she could think about was Luke. All she could think about was the way he held her the night before and the way he'd told her he loved her so much, and that he'd love her until the end of time. Soon, the scribbles that she was so blankly drawing, turned into meaningful words.
In seven different spots on the page and in seven different styles of handwriting, read the three words; Lorelai Victoria Danes. She'd gone back to being the schoolgirl with the almost-stalker material spread out all over her books.
She'd come home the night earlier and told Rory about the engagement. Naturally, Rory told Lorelai how she'd already known and Lorelai commended her on her secret-keeping abilities. Ever since then, she'd been staring at her ring. She couldn't love it anymore. It was hurting her eyes to look at it she'd been looking at it so long.
She was happier than she'd been in a long long time.
xxx
Pretty cheesy, but I can't see Luke's proposal being anything else.
:)