Chapter Twelve – Doyle and Paris' Wedding Day
A/N: First of all, I'm very sorry that this took so long. I did write this one a while ago but I wasn't happy with it so I erased it. Ever since, I've had a bit of Writer's Block. I decided to watch "I Can't Get Started" with Sookie's wedding for ideas and that helped. This was also the first time that I noticed the 'Sookie and Jackson pillows'. Second of all, thank you for your reviews and suggestions as well as adding this to your Alerts (for those of you who did). Third of all, as the title suggests, this is Paris and Doyle's wedding. Fourth of all, I have written the final chapter for this story and there is really only one thing to figure out. I can't decide whether Luke and Lorelai should have a boy or girl. Please review with your suggestion. I don't think I'm spoiling a secret because if you've read this far then you should know that Lorelai is pregnant. So, boy or girl? Fifth, I'm sorry for writing such a long note.
Rory Gilmore swung open the front door of her old house, calling out her mother's name. Rory entered the lounge room to find Jess Mariano and April Nardini sitting on the couch. They both turned towards Rory with surprised expressions.
"Hi Rory." April finally said and stood up to hug her new step-sister. Rory quickly hugged her back before turning to face Jess, who simply nodded at her.
"Have either of you seen my mom? I need to talk to her." Rory asked and April told her that Lorelai was at the Inn and Rory quickly started to leave after thanking her. As soon as Rory got to the front door, she felt someone pull her back. Rory turned to see Jess facing her and stopping her from leaving.
"Hi Rory. I'm sorry about that. What's going on?" Jess enquired.
"I went out with that Cooper guy and the date was horrible and he was worse than I thought he would be. It was so boring." Rory complained and noticed that Jess started to smile a small smile. Rory playfully hit him. "Please don't stop yourself laughing at me on my account." Jess started to grin at her and Rory, frustrated, turned and left the house to go to the Dragonfly Inn.
Lorelai handed a key to a pair of Doyle's relatives once they had arrived at the Dragonfly Inn. As soon as she saw her daughter arrive, Lorelai left her post to greet Rory in a gripping hug.
"Hi Mom," Rory squeaked out to the best of her ability although she had trouble breathing.
"Oh Rory dear, I'm so glad that you're here. It's absolute chaos." Lorelai finally let her go and continued her tale. "Paris and Doyle haven't seen each other in a week and Paris and her mother continue to argue about whether her wedding should be Jewish or traditionally Christian. Apparently the bride and groom don't see each other for the week before the wedding to build up the excitement and anticipation for the big day." Lorelai told her and sighed in relief.
"So, where is everyone now?" Rory enquired and Lorelai showed her where everyone was setting up for the Jewish wedding. The Chuppah from Lorelai's house was set up and the Rabbi was awaiting to start the ceremony. Several of Paris' and Doyle's relatives were standing around, also waiting. Rory could easily pick out Doyle's relatives and realised that Paris had been right when she told her that Doyle was the tallest of them all. "So what's the verdict on the type of wedding?" Rory asked and her mother simply shrugged at her. It was only then that she realised that she should've helped more with planning this wedding. Lorelai went back to the front desk while Rory went in search of Paris Gellar's mother.
Rory eventually found her instructing workers to rearrange the chairs for the wedding. This made Rory reminisce about her grandmother instructing similar tasks to her multitude of servers.
"Excuse me, Mrs Gellar, may I speak with you for a moment." Rory requested.
"No, that's fine! Just forget it." Mrs Gellar sighed in irritation and finally turned towards Rory, "yes, hello, how may I help you?"
"Well, I'm Rory Gilmore and I was actually planning this wedding and I see that you have changed everything. The only thing I see the same is the same caterer and flowers. What happened?" Rory demanded to know.
"I'm sorry and I know that I should've clarified this with you months ago. However, I thought you were planning a Jewish wedding and Paris told me only a couple of weeks that you were actually planning a Christian wedding instead. I can't believe you would be so insensitive as to completely ignore your best friend's ethnic background as a Jew." Mrs Gellar told her, quite frankly. Rory's mouth dropped in shock at this accusation knowing that Paris' parents hadn't been a part of her life for a long time. "I'm sorry but I had to change it to a Jewish wedding. It was lucky that your mother had a Chuppah in her yard. I can reimburse you for your financial losses for my last-minute cancellations." Mrs Gellar turned back to her servers and Rory walked away shocked and angry.
Paris Gellar stood in front of the full-length mirror in her wedding dress and looked at herself as she turned around. She hadn't had a chance to tell Rory that the wedding had completely changed and her mother made sure that she wasn't able to leave the room. At that, Rory finally entered the room.
"Hey there. Wow, Paris, you look beautiful." Rory gushed and Paris turned towards her best friend.
"Thank you. Look, I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to call you for a while. My Mom suddenly came back and insisted that I have a Jewish wedding, assuming you were planning one. I would've told you earlier but I haven't really had any contact with the outside world for a while." Paris rambled and Rory assured her that it was all fine. Paris picked up a program for Rory and explained all the different parts of a Jewish wedding. Mrs Gellar entered the room and told her that it was time to receive their guests. Paris quickly smiled at Rory before she followed her mother out and sat on a chair. Doyle was seated elsewhere and had his relatives sitting and toasting him. Rory glanced down and saw that this was the Kabbalat Panim when the bride and groom greeted their guests separately. Rory saw Lorelai and quickly signalled for her to come over. Lorelai looked over at the program of the wedding that Rory was holding.
"So the groom is the 'Chatan' and the bride is the 'Kallah.'" Lorelai read out loud. At that, Mrs Gellar and Mrs MacMaster broke a plate together. Doyle placed a veil to disguise Paris and each were led to the Chuppah by their parents for the wedding ceremony.
"Jess, where are we going?" April complained as she had let Jess drag her all over Stars Hollow that day. Jess hadn't given her any hints and finally led her to his spot on the bridge.
"Alright, we're here. You can stop complaining now." Jess announced as he sat down. April looked around her, feeling confused.
"Why are we here?" April asked as she sat down. Jess pointed to a spot, further down the bridge and told her about when Luke pushed him in the lake. April laughed at this.
"It's got some good memories here and I like it. It's quiet and it's away from all the craziness of Stars Hollow. So, what are you doing with your life?" Jess enquired.
"I'm studying a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering." April announced excitedly until she noticed Jess giving her an oh-my-god type of look. "What?" April questioned forcefully and Jess finally felt embarrassed.
"Nothing. Do you enjoy it there?" Jess asked and April nodded. "Well, that's the most important part." April took this as an invitation to talk about Biological Engineering.
"It involves a lot of genetics, organic chemistry, computer science and programming. Well, what do you do? Are you still at that publishing house where we met?" April enquired and Jess nodded. "So did you study English at university or something?" At this, Jess started to shift in his seat.
"I didn't go to university. I didn't even finish high school but I've turned out just fine. I never thought that I would find my place in the world in Philadelphia. Some things take a while to sink in." Jess explained and April seemed to understand straight away.
"So, what about Rory? Did you date her?" April asked.
"Um, in High School and then I sort of took off." Jess explained.
"Didn't you find it weird to date your step-cousin-to-be?"
"Lorelai and Luke weren't dating at the time so it was great. It's a little weird now."
"Do you still like her now?" April continued to interrogate Jess, who still felt uncomfortable thinking back to his 'James Dean Teenage Years.'
"It doesn't matter. We're step-cousins and it would be weird."
"Do you think it's weird? Do both of you think that or just one of you and the other is just using the same word to make it more comfortable to talk about?" Jess sighed and thought about what to tell her. She certainly was smart and Jess knew that it was Rory who thought it was all too weird. He didn't mind so long as he didn't overthink it.
"She does." Jess finally admitted. April's face suddenly lit up as she thought of an idea.
"You know what you should do? You should totally go to her friend's wedding reception this evening!" April announced excitedly and Jess shook his head.
"I've crashed enough weddings for Rory. It's probably better to break the habit." Jess admitted and April shook her head in disbelief at this.
"How many weddings have you crashed for Rory?" April enquired and Jess told her what had happened long ago at Sookie and Jackson's wedding.
The wedding finally ended and Lorelai was relieved that it was over. Neither Rory nor Lorelai knew how many small ceremonies that were involved in Jewish weddings.
"Wow, there was the rings and the marriage certificate and the blessings. At least it's time for dancing and food." Lorelai told her daughter as the servers cleared everything away and cleaned dishes. Lorelai went into the kitchen to check on the food for the Festive Meal. Sookie assured her that everything was fine and so Lorelai left to place names on tables using the seating chart. Rory headed over to congratulate Paris and Doyle, feeling a little amazed that they had stayed together for so long.
"I'm sorry again that you went to all that effort to plan a wedding and it was all changed without telling you. Blame my mother." Paris apologised again but Rory assured her that she should relax and it was all over. Lorelai opened the double doors that revealed the dining room for the reception. Rory sat on a chair near Lorelai, feeling exhausted.
"Hey, Mom?" Rory caught her mother's attention.
"Yeah?" She asked as she gestured people to their tables.
"Please make sure that I never plan any more weddings ever again. I don't know how you do it. It's exhausting!" Rory exclaimed and Lorelai giggled at this.
"It's not so bad." Lorelai assured her and they went to their tables.
A couple of hours later.
Lorelai Gilmore took to the microphone to announce the commencement of dancing.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, will you please invite Paris and Doyle MacMaster to the dance floor?" The sound of applause filled the room as Doyle led Paris to the dance floor. A slower song began to play as they started to slowly dance. Lorelai then invited others to join in the dancing. Several couples around the room stood and went to the dance floor and started to dance. Rory, feeling a little sad, went outside in search of fresh air. The music still echoed outside but was softer. Rory spotted a figure further ahead, hiding in the dark. Rory approached slowly, unsure of who she would find. At that, Rory felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to find Lorelai standing before her.
"Hey, are you okay?" Lorelai asked in a concerned manner.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just came out for some fresh air." Rory assured her and Lorelai nodded.
"Okay, I'll leave you two out here." Lorelai turned and started to head back inside.
"Two?" Rory asked out loud. She heard someone echo her and turned to see Jess coming towards her. "Jess? What are you doing here?" Rory asked.
"Hello to you too. I've come to see you." Jess smirked and Rory smiled back. "Why? Are you getting sick of me?"
"Actually, yes." Rory joked and quickly glanced back at Lorelai, who had paused at the front door. Lorelai tried to veil her worried expression with a small smile and headed back to the party.
"Nice music." Jess commented as he and Rory stood, facing each other, awkwardly. "So, I know that this is lame, but…" Jess started to say but Rory understood as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Jess took her waist and the held hands. One step back. One step forward. Rory smiled as they started to dance. "This is something that I don't want you to get used to." Rory dropped Jess' hand and moved it to join her other arm around his neck. Jess held Rory more closely as they continued to dance.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed Chapter Twelve and don't forget to opt for a boy or girl for Luke and Lorelai; otherwise I will have to flip a coin!
Bibliography for Jewish Wedding info is on my profile (I've been at school too long! Haha.) as well as more information about Biological Engineering at MIT.