So now that A Year in the Life is fully processed in my head, I'm able to write more frequently again. Thanks to all who are still reading!
"I love baseball," Lorelai declared a week later as she sat down beside Luke in a plastic stadium seat. "Hold this."
Luke rolled his eyes as he stared at the chili dog in her hand. "I'm not touching that crap."
"Luke! I can't eat my nachos and hold my chili dog at the same time," Lorelai rationalized.
With a begrudging sigh, Luke took the cardboard box and wrinkled his nose. "I thought you were giving yourself a one snack limit," he recalled.
"Too hard to choose," Lorelai said, wiping a spot of melted cheese off of her chin with the back of her hand.
"I've never wanted you more," Luke said sarcastically.
"You love me," Lorelai reminded him around a mouthful of nachos.
"Trying to remember why at the moment," Luke muttered as he reached for his beer.
Lorelai swallowed and batted her eyelashes at him. "Because I'm pretty and I make you laugh," she provided.
"Eh, there is that," Luke sighed. Nodding towards the field, he asked, "How are you enjoying the game?"
"Has it started?" Lorelai replied, not looking up from her nachos.
"It's the bottom of the fourth."
Lorelai gasped. "Dirty!"
"You promised you'd at least try to pay attention," Luke reminded her sternly.
Lorelai nodded as she set her empty nachos container on the ground. "Sorry," she said. She leaned forward and asked, "So that's the field?"
"Yes," Luke said, his voice amused. "The Navigators are at bat. They're the home team, which means they go second."
"Okay, so they just have to hit the balls and hope to score?" Lorelai asked. Her eyes lit up and she opened her mouth, but quickly clamped it shut, biting her lower lip as she stared at the field.
Aware of what was coming, Luke let out a sigh. "Go ahead."
"Dirty," Lorelai giggled.
Luke turned to her, unable to suppress the smile spread across his face. "I can't believe that still amuses you," he marveled.
"Doesn't take much," Lorelai shrugged as she reached for her chili dog. "So what position did you play?"
"Third base."
"Important job," Lorelai smirked. "Especially as the father of three girls."
Luke looked at her, irritated. "Can you think about anything else?" he asked.
"Sorry," she said around a mouthful of chili. "It's just because my husband is so hot."
"Then maybe you shouldn't annoy him to death."
Before Lorelai could respond, a voice called his name, and their heads both turned to see an older man approaching them. Luke's eyes brightened with recognition and he stood to shake the man's hand. "John, it's been awhile," he said.
"Too long," John agreed. "Buddy tells me you're married with kids."
"Uh, yeah, this is my wife, Lorelai," Luke said, turning to Lorelai. "This is John, he was a good friend of my dad's."
"Hi, I'm Lorelai," she said as she reached out to shake his hands.
John offered her a warm smile. "William always hoped Luke here would settle down, but I don't think he'd dreamed of her being as beautiful as you are."
Lorelai offered a dazzling smile. "Well, I like you," she declared.
"Are you still in New London?" Luke asked, trying to make conversation.
"Yeah, the seafood business is much more efficient on the coast," John confirmed. "Figured I'd take in a game and saw you across the stands. I had to say hi."
"I'm glad you did," Luke nodded.
"So do you have pictures?" John asked. "If your girls are as pretty as their mama, I'm sure you don't stand a chance."
"You are my favorite person ever," Lorelai announced as she watched Luke pull his wallet out of his pocket.
"It's a long story," he sighed. "This is our oldest, Rory. She works at Harvard. That's April, she's finishing her first year at Chilton. The newest addition is Victoria. She's five and a half months old."
John's eyes widened with recognition as he examined the small picture Luke held out to him. "Your mother would be honored," he said. "Your daughter looks exactly like she did."
Luke smiled as he took the picture back and slid it into his pocket. "She's got a lot of her own mother in her too," he said.
Lorelai offered Luke's arm a squeeze before she turned to John. "So you must have some stories about little boy Luke," she stated. "I'll buy you dinner if you give me all the details."
"Ignore her," Luke requested.
John shook his head as he looked at Luke. "I can hardly turn down an offer for dinner with a pretty lady," he said. Addressing Lorelai, he said, "I'd love to share some memories with you. Lucas here won the Stars Hollow sci-fi convention of '78."
"Thanks for that," Luke muttered as Lorelai's eyes lit up.
"Oh my god, that's the best thing I've ever heard," Lorelai declared. "What did this convention entail?"
"I did not win, there was no competition."
"Yes, but your costume was the most elaborate," John added.
"There were costumes involved?" Lorelai asked with glee. "Please tell me there is photographic proof of this event."
"I'll show you those when you show me your pictures from the baby of the year contest," Luke countered.
"Whatever, Captain Spock, at least I didn't have a choice in the matter," Lorelai pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "I have to tell Rory about this."
Luke shook his head as she slipped back to their seats. "Sorry," he said to John. "She's… unique."
"She's wonderful," John observed.
With a nod of his head, Luke rubbed his neck. "Yeah, she is," he said.
"Your parents would be proud," John said. "I knew them for a long time, and I saw your dad change after your mom died. He always wanted more time with her."
"We all did," Luke muttered. The original Victoria Danes would have made a fabulous grandmother to his children, and she'd have given Lorelai the maternal advice she'd lacked her entire life. "I'm sorry I fell out of touch. Things got crazy there for awhile."
John patted Luke's shoulder. "Buddy's kept me up to speed," he confirmed. "Diner's doing well?"
"Better than ever," Luke confirmed.
"Good," John said. "You've done well for yourself, Luke. I only wish your parents could have seen you now."
Luke nodded and placed his hands on his hips. "Thanks."
John patted his shoulder and pointed towards Lorelai. "I won't keep you from your wife," he said. "If I were you, I wouldn't let her out of my sight."
"It was good to see you," Luke said. "Come by the diner sometime if you're ever passing through Stars Hollow."
With a wink, John nodded. "That girl of yours did promise me dinner," he said. "I'll be in touch."
Luke nodded, then turned back to their seats where Lorelai was chatting away on her phone. He sat down next to her and patted her knee, then reached to pick up his beer from the cup holder.
"Okay, I'll talk to you when I get the details," Lorelai said before she snapped the phone closed and turned to Luke. "Aren't you just Mr. Popular running into the past down here in Norwich?"
Luke shrugged as he sipped his beer. "An old friend of my dad's," he said. "He moved down here not long after I renovated the diner. I lost touch not long after."
"He seemed nice," Lorelai offered, looking at Luke carefully.
He nodded, looking down at the baseball field. "He is," he said. "My dad would have wanted to stay in touch with him."
"It was probably pretty hard, being reminded of your parents," Lorelai speculated.
"Yeah, I wasn't exactly at my best back then," Luke admitted. "There, uh…there's actually another reason I didn't call or visit."
Lorelai's eyebrows raised in surprise. "What would that be?" she asked.
Luke took a long pull of his beer, then murmured, "He's Rachel's dad."
"What?" Lorelai asked, craning her neck in attempts to see John through a new perspective. "Rachel has a dad?"
"Everyone has a dad."
"So not what I meant," Lorelai said. "So way back in the day, when Rachel came back to Stars Hollow, she had a dad half an hour away? And she decided to squeeze into that pathetic twin bed with you?"
"You sound jealous."
"I'm not jealous, I'm the one you married."
Luke turned to her with raised eyebrows, then asked, "Oh, was that you?"
Lorelai reached out to smack his shoulder. "Not funny."
"Sorry, you're just so adorable when you're jealous."
Despite herself, Lorelai smiled. Sometimes she couldn't believe words like 'adorable' had become an everyday part of Luke's vocabulary. "So…he knew your parents?" she asked.
"Yeah," Luke shrugged, turning back to the game. "Rachel and I grew up together, you know that."
Lorelai nodded slowly. "Did they like her?" she asked.
"Sure," Luke shrugged.
Lorelai twisted her engagement ring around her finger and nodded slowly. "Did they want you to marry her?" she asked.
With a laugh, Luke shook his head. "We were kids," he said. "I honestly don't think it ever came up."
"You loved her," Lorelai countered.
"I did," Luke nodded. "She was my first girlfriend, but she was…is…a nomad. She didn't want the same things I did. My dad knew I loved her, but he also saw her leave. He knew it wasn't going to work."
"What about your mom?" Lorelai asked.
Luke tensed and inhaled deeply, leaning forward in his seat. "I was ten, Lorelai," he reminded her. "My mom never got the chance to see me date anyone."
Feeling like an idiot, Lorelai reached out to rub his shoulder. "Sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject. You'd think by now I'd have learned to have a filter for this kind of thing."
Luke turned his head to press a kiss to her knuckles, where her hand was resting on his shoulder. "You just be you," he requested softly.
Lorelai tugged him back to her, then ran her hand down his arm to hold his. "Explain it to me one more time," she requested. "I'll pay attention, I promise. And I'll even keep my dirty baseball jokes until we're alone."
He squeezed her hand and pointed to the field. "Okay, so that's the diamond…."
XXXXX
Hours later, Lorelai crept into her bedroom, using the moonlight streaming in from the window to make her way to the bathroom. Luke had gone to bed early, and Lorelai had stayed up watching movies with April. It had been nice to relive the tradition she'd created with Rory years ago. Although she had a strong bond with her stepdaughter, it wasn't often the two of them got an entire evening together. April would be spending most of the summer with Anna in New Mexico, and Lorelai was glad that they'd been able to spend an evening painting each other's toenails and eating candy.
"I'm awake." Luke's voice came from the bed, and a moment later his bedside light clicked on.
"Hey," Lorelai said quietly, pausing at the end of the bed. "Sorry, I was trying to be quiet."
"You were, I was just having trouble getting to sleep," Luke sighed as he pushed himself into a seated position.
Lorelai frowned as she sat down on the end of the bed and patted the covers where his foot rested. "Want me to sing you a lullaby?" she asked somberly.
Luke scoffed. "No."
"My, how things have changed," Lorelai sighed. "Once upon a time you couldn't take your eyes off of me when I sang to you."
"I only had limited access to you then," Luke informed her. "Had to look when I could."
Lorelai smiled, then crawled up to sit in the center of the bed, still facing up with a sympathetic gaze. "What's on your mind, sailor?" she asked.
He shrugged and tugged at a string in the blanket. "Just thinking."
"Based on the expression on your face, you're not thinking about how beautiful your wife is," Lorelai surmised.
Luke reached for her hand. "Thank you," he said. "For coming with me to the game today. I liked having you there."
"Even when I ducked behind you when the stray ball flew towards my head?" Lorelai asked.
He shook his head slightly. "Haven't laughed that hard in a long time," he said.
"I am good for some physical comedy once in awhile," Lorelai confirmed. "Seriously, Luke, something's bugging you. You barely said a word when we got home."
"Nothing new about that," Luke muttered. "Can't get a word in with the rest of you."
Not buying his grumpy act, Lorelai tilted her head to the side. "Luke."
He sighed and looked at the ceiling. "At the game, when you were asking about my parents," he said. "It just brought some stuff up."
"I'm sorry," Lorelai murmured. "I've never been known for my timing."
"It's not that," Luke said. "I just started thinking about how much I would have loved to have them still here."
Lorelai shifted and settled onto the bed beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I hate that you're sad," she whispered.
Luke wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm starting to forget her," he murmured into her hair.
"Who?" Lorelai asked.
Luke was silent for a moment before he admitted, "My mom. I hate it, but she's becoming less and less clear to me all the time."
Tears filled Lorelai's eyes and she snuggled closer. "Oh, Luke," she breathed. "What do you remember?"
"Bits and pieces," Luke murmured. "I was so young. How much do you remember before you were ten?"
Lorelai tightened her grip on his stomach. "Some things," she whispered. "It's hazy, though."
"I just wish she could have been there," Luke admitted. "For everything. To see my track meets, to give me advice about Rachel leaving, to meet you and Rory and April. God, she would have been so excited to have Victoria here."
"She's part of this, Luke," Lorelai reminded him. "I know it's not the same, but Victoria's linked to her."
"I failed her." Luke said it so quietly that Lorelai wasn't sure she heard him properly. After a moment, she pushed herself off of his shoulder and searched his expression. Fluent in reading what his eyes reflected, she saw nothing but regret and pain staring back at her.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"I failed her," Luke repeated, this time louder. "She raised me to know love and compassion. She wanted me to be happy and enjoy life. That's one of the things I do remember, and I failed her on every level."
"Stop," Lorelai commanded. "That's not true, not any of it."
He shook his head slightly and looked away from her. "It is," he said. "I don't even know what you're doing here. You deserve so much better."
"Stop!" Lorelai was close to shouting now. "Luke, don't say that! I love our life, I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"I should have stayed the guy who poured your coffee," he muttered. "You wouldn't be stuck here, you'd have been able to sell the Dragonfly and travel the world like you wanted to when you were younger. I hold you back."
Lorelai was silent, processing everything that he was saying with shock and hurt. "Do you really wish that?" she whispered. "That none of this had happened?"
"My dad shut down," Luke replied. "After my mom died, he shut down and my sister lost it. We all failed her. She would have wanted us to stick together, but we just all collapsed into ourselves. I became the grumpy diner owner and dragged you down with me. You'd be so much better without me."
Lorelai stared at him, trying to fight the tears that were threatening to fall, and after a moment she shook her head. "I can't do this," she announced before she pushed herself off of the bed and strode towards the door. She slammed it shut behind her and leaned against the wall in the hallway, gasping for air as she processed everything Luke had just said.
She wasn't sure what had overcome him since this afternoon. Gone was her affectionate husband who was able to make her laugh and feel special. In his place, was the shell of a man who'd once shut her out, who'd made her feel cheap and abandoned. This was the Luke who'd ignored her and pushed her away. She refused to become broken again, refused to spend hours upon lonely hours wondering what she'd done wrong.
A loud wail came from the nursery, and Lorelai quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeve, reminding herself that it wasn't just her and Luke anymore. She pushed herself off of the wall and stepped into Victoria's room, offering the baby as much of a smile as she could.
"Just making sure your lungs still work?" Lorelai asked as she leaned over the crib. "Come snuggle with Mommy."
She sat down in the rocking chair and sighed as Victoria pulled at her t-shirt. They'd introduced her to solid foods two weeks ago, and Lorelai had been trying to wean her to morning feedings. But Victoria was clearly wanting to nurse, and Lorelai's breasts were aching. She lifted her shirt and situated Victoria in her arms, sighing as she felt her daughter latch on and nurse eagerly.
"I thought you were weaning her."
Lorelai looked up to see Luke standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. She turned her attention back to Victoria and muttered, "What do you care?"
"Lorelai," he sighed, stepping closer. "You know I care."
"You just wish you didn't," she stated flatly, not meeting his gaze. "You want to be the guy who pours the coffee? Go ahead. The door's right there. I've done this alone before, I can do it again."
"I'm sorry."
"Not now."
"Lorelai, please."
"Not. Now." Lorelai's voice was soft, but it was filled with more anger than he'd ever heard from her, and he nodded as he looked down at Victoria.
"Fine."
"I'd like some privacy."
Luke's eyes widened. "What?"
"I'd like to feed my daughter in private."
"She's my daughter too."
"Luke. I can't even look at you right now. Please just give me a minute to finish feeding her."
Realizing exactly what a hole he'd dug himself into, Luke raised his hands in front of him in surrender. He turned towards the door and stepped through it, pulling it closed behind him. Alone with Victoria, Lorelai looked down at her daughter and promised, "I'm not running, I'm processing. I promise."
Her eyes landed on the picture of Luke as a little boy, dressed in his baseball uniform and flanked by his parents. She took a deep breath and traced a finger over Victoria's arm, willing herself to calm down and let Luke explain himself to her. His words had hurt her, but she had no idea what it felt like to lose a parent. She had to give him a chance to explain himself. They'd worked too hard for a few insensitive comments to destroy what they'd built. She'd let him explain himself and then explain to him why his words had been so painful for her to listen to.
Ten minutes later, Lorelai stepped out of the room and rolled her eyes when she saw Luke leaning against the wall across from her. "Is she okay?" he asked.
"She's fine, she was just hungry," Lorelai said, brushing past him and walking down the stairs. She could feel his presence behind her, but didn't acknowledge him as she walked into the kitchen and began to prepare coffee.
"I'm sorry," Luke said softly, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter and looked at her from the corner of his eye.
Lorelai didn't say anything as she poured the water into its compartment and flipped the machine on. "Did you mean it?" she whispered, not turning to look at him.
"Which part?" he asked.
"Any of it."
Luke swallowed hard and ran a hand over his face. "Some of it," he said.
With tear filled eyes, Lorelai met his gaze. "I thought you were happy," she whispered. "Am I that self absorbed that I can't even tell when my own husband is miserable?"
"I am happy," Luke insisted.
"But you don't think we should be here," Lorelai said. "You think that you should be at the diner and that I should have left Stars Hollow."
"I didn't mean it like that," Luke muttered.
"That's how it sounded."
"I just…I worry sometimes," Luke admitted quietly.
"About me?" Lorelai asked. "About us?"
"Yeah."
Lorelai stared down at the counter. "Did I do something?" she asked. "To make you think that I want something different? Because I don't, Luke. I want you, I want this life."
"You didn't do anything wrong," he promised. "You're amazing, Lorelai. You're beautiful and funny and successful. You can talk to anyone about anything and you deserve everything. I just don't know why you settled for me. If it weren't for me, you'd be out there in the world, just like Rory is. I love you, I love our life, but sometimes I think I should have been the better man, I should have let you go so you could have had more."
Lorelai backed away from him, shaking her head slightly. "I can't believe you're saying this," she whispered. "I…I don't think I can hear any more."
"Lorelai…"
"Stop!" she shouted, turning on her heel and striding towards the front door. "Don't say anything else, Luke, I can't hear anymore."
He followed her onto the front porch, but didn't say anything as he watched her lean against the railing. Her face shone with tears in the warm summer night, but he didn't move to comfort her. She needed a minute to regroup and he would respect that.
"Are you going to leave?" Lorelai whispered, her voice choking on the word.
"What?" Luke asked, his head snapping towards her. "No, of course not."
"Do you want me to leave?"
Her voice was timid and afraid, and he reached out to brush her hair over her shoulder. "No."
She turned to look at him, reading his expression in the darkness of the evening. "Then what do you want?" she asked. "All this talk about being a better man and stepping aside and dragging me down…what does it mean?"
"It means that I'm incredibly grateful that you're here, that we're sharing our lives together," Luke murmured. "It means that sometimes, I have old insecurities that pop up and ask me how I got so damn lucky that an incredible woman like you would choose me."
"I know what it's like to be without you, Luke," Lorelai whispered. "In more ways than one, and I never want to experience that again. Ever, in any form."
"Any form?" Luke asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I lost you a long time before that blow out fight," Lorelai whispered. "You were there, but you weren't yourself. We've talked about this, you know how horrible I felt leading up to that. I hated being apart from you that year, but having you be the shell of the man I loved was just as bad. I made the mistake of not saying anything then, but I'm not going to do that again. Right now, I'm not looking at my husband. I'm looking at the robot who replaced him and made me feel like an unwanted nuisance. Tell me how I can get my husband back, because I need him here."
Luke sighed when he saw her standing before him, determined and stubborn, but fear resting in her eyes. He held out his hand to her, but she crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly not breaking eye contact as she stood firmly in front of him.
"Let's go inside," Luke requested.
Without a word, Lorelai walked inside and through the hallway to the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee and then turned to Luke, who gestured to the couch. She sat down beside him, pulling her legs under her and taking a long sip of coffee. "Talk to me," she whispered. "Please, Luke. We had such a good time at the baseball game today. At least I thought we did."
"We did," Luke confirmed. "It was nice, to share that with you."
"I thought so too," Lorelai said, tilting her head to the side as she examined him. "So where did all these insecurities come from? This isn't you. Not anymore."
Luke swallowed hard and ran a hand over his face. "I guess it was you asking about my parents," he finally admitted. "It got me to thinking."
"I know you don't like to talk about them, I'm sorry I brought it up," Lorelai whispered. "But we've talked about them before, and it hasn't warranted this self deprecating behavior."
"You asked me if my parents liked Rachel," Luke murmured. "And it got me to thinking about how my mom never got to see me grow up. She missed everything, and I realized that all the things she taught me, all that she wanted for me, none of it happened."
"Like what?" Lorelai asked. "She didn't want you to have a fantastic business? Or a home or three kids who you love and support no matter what? Or a wife who loves you so much that she was willing to beg you to stay with her if that's what it took to keep you from leaving?"
"Leaving never crossed my mind," Luke said quickly. "I promise."
"But you think your mom wouldn't have wanted you to have this?" Lorelai asked. "What do you think you've done that's failed her?"
"I spent years alone, Lorelai," Luke said. "Years. Being the angry town grump, not acting on my feelings for you and yelling at anyone who walked through the door. I had a kid, and I wasn't around to help raise her. I finally got everything I wanted, and I pushed it all away. She'd have been so disappointed in me."
Lorelai shook her head. "I thought you'd forgiven yourself for that," she whispered. "I did."
"I just don't know how I was so dumb," Luke muttered. "There was one time, when I was a kid, I got a bad grade on a science test. I must have been really little, but I was afraid to tell her and my dad. My mom found the test in my backpack and I started apologizing, and she just told me that she didn't care about science grades. All she wanted was for me to be kind and happy, and then she'd have done her job as a mother."
"Speaking as a fellow mother, I can concur," Lorelai said. "She sounds pretty great, Luke. I'm sorry you didn't get more time with her."
"I want to show you something," Luke said, standing and reaching for her hand. Lorelai looked at him suspiciously, but then took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Luke dragged her towards the library and to the far corner of the room. Pointing to the floor, he said, "This was where I sat, during her funeral. Her favorite book was there, Jane Eyre, and I just sat here the entire time and stared at the book, thinking that she'd never pick up that book again. It's horrible, I know, but something snapped inside of me today. I just kept thinking about how upset she'd be with how much of my life I've wasted."
Lorelai stepped closer and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I can't imagine what that must have been like," she whispered.
"I don't want you to think I don't want to be here," Luke said. "I love our life, Lorelai, and I'm so glad that you didn't sell the Dragonfly. I'd still be so miserable if you'd left Stars Hollow. There would never have been anyone else."
"I know," Lorelai whispered. She gently turned him to the mantel, where a picture of Rory, April, and Victoria had been placed in the center. "Look at this, Luke. Look at our kids. Victoria and April wouldn't even exist without you, and Rory certainly wouldn't know how to ice skate or build a jewelry box or make a proper cup of coffee if it wasn't for you. Your mom would be so proud to see that. Maybe you took a little longer than you'd have liked, but there's no way your parents wouldn't be proud of who you are. I know you miss them, and I hate that I'll never be able to take that hurt away. It's okay to get sad sometimes, but please don't ever doubt us. I will never, ever regret being here with you."
He sighed as he sank onto the floor, leaning his back against the brick hearth in front of the fireplace. "Most of the time I don't think that," he said as she sat down beside her. "I don't know what came over me."
Lorelai stared down at her hands as she whispered, "It really hurt, hearing you say that," she admitted quietly. "Maybe you were caught up in the moment, and you say you didn't mean it, but the fact that you thought even for a second our lives would be better apart scares me. I don't ever want you to be just the guy who pours my coffee again. That's not enough. At least it's not for me."
"It's not for me either," Luke murmured. "I spent a lot of years being the man behind the counter and I don't want to go back to that."
"Then why would you say it?" Lorelai asked quietly.
"The pessimist in me coming out, I guess," Luke murmured. "I haven't thought about it in a long time. I know you're happy here and that you love me and Victoria and April. But sometimes…I don't know, it's still unbelievable to me that you'd settle for someone like me."
"Luke," Lorelai whispered, turning to him and kneeling beside him. She turned him to face her and rested her hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me. I didn't settle for you. I walked away from you and tried to move on, but I couldn't. Not because I felt obligated, not because you're the better man. I couldn't move on because I missed you. I didn't settle for someone like you. I chose you. I fought hard to be with you because of who you are. I get to see the real you. The kind, funny, generous man that your mom wanted you to become. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you let me see that side of you, that you changed everything in your life for me. I know that I'm self centered and joke around, but I do recognize how much you've changed and grown."
"I just have dark days, you know?"
"I know," Lorelai murmured. She ran her hands down his arms to reach for his hands, lacing his fingers through her own. "And that's okay. But please, just don't doubt our marriage. Don't doubt how much I want to be here or how much I love you. If you need time or space to miss your parents, I'll respect that. But I won't let you push me away again. We've come to far for that."
Luke sighed and met her gaze. "Deal," he said. "I'm really sorry."
She shook her head and reached a hand to stroke his cheek. "You can make it up to me by making breakfast in the morning."
With a small smile, Luke turned his head to press a kiss to her palm. "Done," he promised.
Lorelai stood and tugged on his hand, pulling him up with her. "You're not a failure, Luke," she promised. "We've all made mistakes, but you're the last person in the world who should feel that way. Your parents would be so happy that you have this life. You've provided me with the love I've always craved, the acceptance and unconditional affection that I never had from anyone but Rory. You've brought two amazing kids into this world and all but adopted another pretty great girl, in my unbiased opinion. And like it or not, you're loved by the whole town. You used to be cranky and put on an act, but you'd do anything for the people you love, and that's the kind of man your parents would have wanted you to become. I can attest to the fact that life without you is downright boring."
Luke inhaled deeply and reached down to brush her hair out of her eyes. "I love you," he said sincerely.
"I love you too." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, then pulled back slightly. "No more scary doubts?"
"Only thought that scares me at the moment is that our kid may have gotten your appetite," Luke teased.
She giggled. "As the provider of her food, I think that's a distinct possibility," she said.
Luke sighed dramatically. "I'm going to have to sell the boat just to keep you two fed," he grumbled.
"But we're so pretty," Lorelai chirped.
"That you are," Luke confirmed. He leaned down to kiss her deeply, then rested his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry for what I said."
"I know," she promised, wrapping her arms around his neck. She kissed him hungrily, smiling against his lips as he backed her against the desk. His lips trailed to her jaw, and she tilted her head to the side to give him better access. "Trying to seduce me in front of the books?"
He raised his head to look at her, his hands finding purchase on her hips. "That okay?" he asked.
Lorelai hopped onto the desk and pulled him close. "I won't tell if you won't," she stated.
With that, Luke cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. He poured himself into the kiss, forgetting his doubts and inhibitions as he allowed himself to get lost in the wonder that was Lorelai.
XXXXX
A week later, Luke swung around the counter in the diner and answered the ringing phone, tucking it under his ear with a hurried, "Luke's," as he began to change the coffee filter.
"What a welcome home," a familiar voice came over the line. "I assume my mother is there as well?"
"Rory?" Luke asked turning to the counter where Lorelai was devouring a burger. "Hey, we didn't think you'd be in yet."
"You thought wrong, Daddy Luke."
"Come on over, I'll cook you guys dinner," Luke said, and Lorelai waved her left hand in the air pointing at her engagement ring frantically. Rolling his eyes, he added, "If you don't have a ring yet, your mother probably won't let you inside though."
Rory giggled. "I'll be allowed to pass through the hallowed gates of Luke's diner," she confirmed. "We'll be there soon."
Luke hung up the phone and turned to Lorelai, placing his hands flat on the counter in front of him. "They're on their way over," he informed her.
"She better have her ring," Lorelai said. "Seriously, who proposes without a ring?"
Luke raised his eyebrows at her and nodded towards the table by the window. "I don't recall you having a ring," he stated.
"Uh huh, and how well did that turn out?" Lorelai asked.
"Pretty well," Luke said, turning to the stool beside here where Victoria was strapped into a portable high chair seat. "We got her out of it."
"No, we got her out of the marriage that resulted in you proposing with a pretty ring," Lorelai countered. "All we got out of my proposal was a renovated house and two broken hearts."
"Hey," Luke murmured, leaning his elbows on the counter so he was eye level with her. "Don't do that."
She shrugged as she popped her last fry into her mouth. "You're not the only one with demons that pop up sometimes," she reminded him.
Luke patted her hand before he turned to reach for the coffee pot. As he refilled her cup, he speculated, "We'll just have to keep fighting them back."
"Guess so," Lorelai said. "Do you have a spoon? Victoria threw another one on the floor."
Luke handed the spoon over, and Lorelai turned to their daughter. "Okay, baby girl, just try the squash. Daddy made it especially for you!"
As Luke watched Lorelai feed Victoria, April appeared beside him and informed him, "The napkin dispensers are all fully loaded."
"Dirty," Lorelai giggled, earning herself identical eye rolls from father and daughter. "Tough crowd," she muttered to Victoria.
"It loses its effect when you make the same joke over and over," April stated, and Luke looked down at her with a nod of agreement.
"It's good to have you back, kid," he stated.
"Good to be back," April said, reaching for a dish rag and beginning to wipe the counter down.
"Wow, this is weird," Lorelai said.
"What's weird?" Luke asked over his shoulder as he checked the coffee filter.
Lorelai watched with an amused smile as April moved methodically down the counter, just as Luke had done for years. "Must be in the DNA," she said. Turning to Victoria, she said, "Watch your big sister, that will be you some day."
"What the hell are you blabbering about?" Luke asked.
"April's you," Lorelai said, pointing to the other end of the counter where the teenager was flipping through an order pad.
"She is not."
"Uh, yes she is," Lorelai said. April continued to flip through the book with one hand while she tossed the towel over her shoulder with the other, and Lorelai turned to look at Luke with a triumphant smile. "See?"
Luke pointed towards the door. "Hey, look, it's Rory," he said, knowing the words would distract her.
Lorelai dropped Victoria's spoon on the tray and hurriedly unbuckled her from the chair. "Here, take her," she said, thrusting the baby across the counter into his arms. Luke quickly pulled Victoria into his arms, and watched as Lorelai bounded out of the diner. She hurried across the street and embraced Rory in the town square, the two women jumping excitedly together. Luke watched as Lorelai grabbed Rory's left hand, and the two continued to bounce excitedly. Ethan stood a few feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, and Luke felt a sense of understanding wash over him. He'd been in that position more times than he could count.
"I hope you're not tired," Luke muttered to his daughter as he settled her on his hip. "Your mother and sister will be yammering all evening long."
"How long are they staying?" April asked as she appeared beside him.
"A couple days," Luke replied. "I don't know if there's a solid plan."
"I wish we saw Rory more."
"Me too, kid," Luke sighed. Lorelai looped her arm through Rory's as the girls walked towards the diner. Ethan trailed behind them, and April smirked up at her father.
"You do realize that Rory's marrying a younger version of you?" she asked.
Luke shot her a look. "Did Lorelai tell you to say that?" he asked.
"No, I can draw conclusions on my own," April replied. "It will be nice to finally have a brother. I've always wanted one."
Rory broke apart from Lorelai and ran up the steps to the diner, pushing the door open before she hurried around the counter. "Hi, Luke!" she said, giving him an affectionate hug. "Hey, baby sister, remember me?"
Victoria smiled and kicked her legs wildly, causing Luke to smile. "I think that means yes," he said. "Take her."
"Hang on, let me say hi to April," Rory said, pushing past him to April. The two embraced for a moment, and then Rory beamed as April hunched over her left hand.
"Pretty girls, pretty rings, it's a match made in heaven," Lorelai's voice rang out, and Luke turned to see her claiming her seat at the counter.
"Hi, Luke," Ethan said with a nod as he sat down beside her.
"Ethan, good to see you," Luke said. He shifted Victoria into his left arm and then held his hand out for Ethan to shake.
"Okay, give me my sister," Rory said, pulling Victoria into her arms. The baby squealed as Rory hugged her tightly.
"How come she's allowed behind the counter?" Lorelai whined.
Luke sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I'm not having this argument with you again."
"But I'm the wife!"
"Doesn't make you a paid employee."
"Neither are they."
"Yeah, but I'm legally responsible for them, I can't sue myself if they get hurt."
Lorelai frowned. "You won't be alive to do that if anything happens to them because I'll already have killed you."
Luke sighed and cut a slice of pie. He dropped it unceremoniously in front of his wife and pointed to a table in the corner. "Take this and eat it over there," he said. Tapping Rory on the shoulder he said, "Go sit with your mom. I'll have your burgers out in a few minutes."
"Thanks, Daddy Luke," Rory said, bouncing Victoria on her hip as she walked around the counter towards Ethan. She rested her hand on his shoulder as she passed, and Luke tried to be subtle as he saw the light reflecting off of her left hand.
"You know you're not very discreet," April informed him.
Luke rolled his eyes and turned to the kitchen. "Just sit down," he ordered.
"Hey, Cool Hand, are you coming?" Lorelai called across the room.
"Tell her I'll be over in a minute," Luke said to April before he disappeared into the kitchen to cook Rory and Ethan their dinner.
Half an hour later, he was seated in the corner table beside Lorelai. Victoria was seated in his lap, happily chewing on the ear of a stuffed giraffe. April was scraping the last of her ketchup with a French fry, and Rory and Ethan were each digging into a slice of apple pie. As Lorelai sipped her coffee, she leaned into Luke and murmured, "Feels pretty good, to have them all here."
"Yeah, it does," Luke confirmed.
"Oh, my god, look at how perfect you look!"
Luke cringed as he heard Babette's raspy voice from behind him. With his back to the door, he hadn't noticed her enter.
"You dolls are just the most adorable family I've ever seen!" Babette cried. "Morey! Have you ever seen such a perfect family?" She didn't wait for a response as she turned to Ethan. "You must be the boyfriend, good to meet you. You take care of our girl here, because we've got a whole town who will destroy you if you don't."
"I've heard," Ethan said, an amused smile coming over his face.
"I've got to call Patty, she can't miss this," Babette said, reaching into her purse.
"Outside!" Luke barked, pointing towards the door.
Babette frowned as she held the phone up in the air. "Hasn't that rule been changed yet?" she asked.
"Never."
Looking past him to Lorelai, Babette said, "Doll, you promised you'd get him to allow cell phones in the diner by July."
"You what?" Luke asked, his voice rising as he turned to his wife.
"Oh, this should be good," Rory said, eagerly sipping at her coffee. "It's been too long since I've seen a good Luke rant."
"Ex nay on the ules-ray," Lorelai muttered to Babette.
"Oops, sorry, doll," Babette said as her eyes widened. "I'll just…go take this phone call outside."
"Lorelai." Luke's voice was full of warning as he looked at her sternly.
Lorelai tiled her head to the side as she looked at him. "Hi," she cooed.
"Explain."
"Explain what?"
"The cell phone thing."
"I think that makes it pretty clear." Lorelai pointed to the sign hung behind the counter. "If not, maybe you should take it down."
"I am not going to change that rule."
"Luke!"
"It's my diner, I can do whatever the hell I want," Luke continued, his face beginning to turn red.
"Oh, that's two shades of red," Rory commented.
"If I don't want people constantly chattering on those damn things, then that's what's going to happen," Luke continued.
"April, take your sister before your father needs to start gesticulating," Lorelai requested.
"And why do you care about changing the rules anyway, it's not like you ever listened!" Luke replied, his arms waving through the air. "You've got your own business, you can't tell people that I'm going to change how I run my business just because we're married."
"Uh huh, quick question," Lorelai piped up. "Why aren't we allowed to use our cell phones in the diner?"
"Because I said so."
"Uh huh, and yet I recall a time, many moons ago, when your wife was allowed to use her cell phone in the diner because she was a lawyer," Lorelai said. "Care to explain why the rules were different for Nicole?"
"I'll explain later," Rory muttered to Ethan, her eyes filled with glee as she watched Luke's face tighten with irritation.
"She was not my wife."
"Yes, she was."
"Not then."
"But she was eventually."
"Why are we arguing about this?"
"Because you let her use her cell phone, which means you should let everyone use their cell phone," Lorelai commented.
"That's not how it works."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not!"
"Oh, that makes eleven!" Rory announced.
"Come on, Luke, who does it hurt by having people occasionally make a tiny phone call in the diner?" Lorelai asked.
"It's rude," Luke replied. "Before you know it, people are in here talking on their phones when they're trying to order or setting up their computers and listening to music and all of a sudden it's a free for all."
"How about a trial run?" Lorelai suggested. "You take the cell phone sign down for one week and see if the world keeps spinning."
"No."
Lorelai offered him a bright smile as she twirled her fingers through the ends of her hair. "Luke…"
"Don't do it," he said, knowing exactly what her next move would be. "It's not going to work."
"Pay attention, this is an important skill," Rory nudged April.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Lorelai said as she stood, letting a curl fall before she twirled it around her finger again.
"Don't do the hair flip," Luke said, pointing an accusatory finger at her.
Lorelai smiled, took a step closer, and tossed her head back, flipping her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her wrist. "Please, Luke, just for a week?" she said, her voice soft and her mouth forming into a pout.
Luke let out a frustrated breath and crossed his arms over his chest. "One week," he grumbled, then turned on his heel and stomped into the kitchen.
Turning back to the table, Lorelai gave an exaggerated bow. "That, ladies and gentleman, is the power of the hair flip," she announced.
"Wow," April said, her eyes wide. "I never thought he'd give in on that one."
"That cell phone sign has been up since I was twelve," Rory replied. "I wonder if it's going to come down."
"Oh, it will come down," Lorelai said. "One time, I took it down and hid it in the storage room. Luke didn't talk to me for a week."
"Oh, that was the week that we had to go to Al's Pancake World for Mexican food," Rory recalled. "I couldn't eat nachos for a year after that."
"Clearly you've gotten over that," Ethan muttered.
Rory ignored him and leaned across the table to her mother. "What are the odds that he'll make us tater tots when we get home?" she asked.
"We'll tag team him," Lorelai stated. "You'll give him the Rory face, I'll flip my hair, and we'll make April stand next to us with Victoria for good measure. He might even do it without complaining."
Rory smiled as she sipped her coffee. "It's good to be home," she said.
XXXXX
"Hey, what are you doing?" Luke asked later that evening as he climbed the stairs to see Lorelai hovering outside of Victoria's room.
"Shh!" she hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him closer. "Rory's putting Victoria down."
"So?" Luke whispered. "She knows what she's doing, we've left her with Victoria before."
"Not that," Lorelai hissed. "Listen."
Luke leaned closer to the partially closed door, listening to Rory's soft voice filter into the hallway.
"…and the Dragonfly wouldn't even exist without our dad. He gave our mom the money she needed to make ends meet, and they weren't even dating at the time. So not only do you have them to thank for this house and all the stuff inside, but also for the fact that you'll be an inn kid. It's not a bad life, hanging out at the inn. Especially since Mom has a great collection of books there. You'll probably spend a lot of time at the diner too, which is just as good. I'm sure our dad will give you your own space to study when you're old enough. Somehow there was always an empty table waiting for me after school, no matter how busy the rush was."
Lorelai nudged Luke's arm with her elbow and offered him a warm smile before she turned her attention back to the room.
"You're a really lucky girl, Victoria," Rory was saying. "All three of us are, but you…you're the one who gets both of them, together, from the beginning. I wish I was here more to stay with you and watch you grow up, but I promise I'll be the best sister I can be from Boston. Plus, you're getting a brother now too, which I'd imagine is pretty exciting. Ethan and I will make sure that you'll come visit a lot. We can go to the Museum of Science and the Harvard bookstore, and have lots of fun, just the three of us. Maybe we'll never live together like most sisters, but I'll always be here for you. I'd give you some secrets about how to deal with our crazy parents, but I know they're standing outside the door listening right now, so we'll have to save that for another time."
With a guilty smile, Lorelai peered around the door to see Rory sitting in the rocking chair, Victoria almost asleep in her arms. "Sorry," Lorelai whispered as she tip toed into the room, Luke behind her.
"It's okay, you're not exactly stealthy," Rory replied.
"Do you want me to put her down?" Lorelai asked.
"No, I'll do it," Rory said. She stood and walked to the crib, resting Victoria on her stomach before she pulled her blanket over her. "Night, baby sister. We'll talk more tomorrow."
Lorelai smiled as she watched Rory lean over the railing to kiss Victoria's cheek. She leaned into Luke and felt his arm slip around her waist, his hand coming to rest on her hip. When Rory had pulled the railing of the crib up, the three of them walked quietly out of the room, Luke pulling the door closed behind them.
"You're a good sister, hon," Lorelai murmured. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Me too," Rory sighed. "I wish I was around more for her."
"You're around plenty," Luke said as they walked down the stairs. "She recognized you when you got to the diner."
"True," Rory conceded. As they walked into the kitchen, she smirked at Ethan's furrowed brow. "How's Scrabble going?"
April beamed proudly from her spot across the table from Ethan. "Tranquilize put me ahead by 40 points," she announced.
"Must be that Chilton education," Rory deduced. She sat down beside them and asked, "Can I join?"
"No," Ethan and April said together.
"Why not?"
"Because we're already halfway through a game," Ethan explained.
"So?" Rory asked. "I'm the reigning Scrabble champion in this house."
"Not for long," April said as she watched Ethan arrange his pieces on the holder.
"Excuse me, I held the championship title for many a year," Rory said. Lowering her voice, she added, "Not like I had much competition."
Lorelai gasped. "Hey, I'm the one who taught you how to play!" she defended.
"No, you're the one who handed me the bag of tiles and told me to make up my own words," Rory replied. "Mia's the one who taught me the real rules."
"Traitor," Lorelai muttered.
"Come on, let me play!" Rory said, tapping Ethan's arm. "I'll tell you what word you can make."
"I can do it."
"Please?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a grown man, I can make my own Scrabble words," Ethan huffed. "I did graduate from college."
"Yeah, Harvard," Rory rolled her eyes. "Yale won't let you graduate unless you're able to make Scrabble words worth at least fifty points."
"I'm trying to focus," Ethan reminded her.
Rory zipped her lips closed and folded her arms over her chest. Lorelai glanced at Luke out of the corner of her eye and notice him suppressing a smile of his own. He still refused to acknowledge it, but she knew that he could see the similarities between himself and their future son-in-law.
Stepping closer, Lorelai looped her arm through his and murmured, "Think we should tell them that you hold the record for dirty words Scrabble?"
Luke shook his head as he looked down at her. "Let's keep that to ourselves," he murmured.
"Fine, but I'm still impressed that you managed to win," Lorelai replied. "I am the queen of dirty jokes."
"Must have rubbed off on me," Luke said, then winced. "Dirty, I know, you don't have to say it."
"Ruin my fun," Lorelai sighed. Turning back to the table, she giggled at the scene before her.
"That's not a word!" April insisted.
"It is too, it's the plural of platypus," Ethan insisted.
"No, it's not, the plural of platypus is platypuses," April shot back.
"I think she's right," Rory said. "A lot of people think the plural is platypi, but according to its original Greek roots, the plural should be platypuses."
"Let's look it up," Ethan challenged, standing and striding towards the door.
"If we're right, will you let me play?" Rory asked, following him towards the library.
"No way!" April called as she ran after them. "You can't join in the middle of the game, it'll throw all the statistics off!"
Their voices grew muffled as they reached the library, and Luke tugged on Lorelai's arm to pull her closer. "At least they're arguing about intelligent things," he speculated.
"How we got such nerdy kids, I'll never understand," Lorelai sighed.
"Hopefully Victoria will take after her sisters," Luke stated.
"Well, she is pretty, so she can always get through life easily," Lorelai replied. "I'm kidding!" she added when Luke glared at her.
"I hope so."
"I am." She kissed him, then nodded to the Scrabble board. "What do you think they'd do if we rearranged the board so it was a bunch of made up words?"
"I don't think even the hair flip would get you out of that," Luke said.
"Duh, that only works on you," Lorelai said. "Come on, it'll be funny!"
Luke held his hands up in front of his chest. "No way, I'm not letting you pull me into this," he said. "I know our kids, they'd find some way to retaliate, and I don't want to be part of it."
"You're no fun," Lorelai sighed.
"So I've heard."
"I love having Rory home."
"Me too," Luke said, reaching out to twirl his fingers through her hair.
"Ethan's starting to get more comfortable with us."
"I'm glad."
Lorelai smiled up at him. "He's like the son you never had, huh?" she asked.
Luke shrugged. "Closest thing I've ever had," he said. "Besides Jess."
"He's good for Rory," Lorelai murmured. "They'll be happy."
"I hope so."
Ethan stormed into the kitchen then, followed closely by Rory and April. "You'd think a fancy school like Harvard would make sure their graduates knew how to make a word plural," Rory said, her eyes sparkling.
"Would you just sit down?" he asked, pointing to a chair beside him.
"No thank you, I've been proven right," Rory said. "That's all I needed from this interaction."
"Then stop talking and let me focus," Ethan said, reevaluating the tiles before him.
Rory turned to Luke and Lorelai with a bright smile. "I was right," she announced proudly.
Lorelai laughed. "Gilmores always are," she said. She wrapped her arm through Rory's and guided her to the living room. "Let's let the siblings bicker it out, come talk to us."
As Luke followed them out of the kitchen, he heard April state, "You do realize that the statistical probability of you breaking Rory's record is incredibly low."
In the living room, Rory was settled beside Lorelai on the couch, and Luke sat down in the armchair beside it. "It's good to have you both here, sweets," Lorelai murmured.
"I'm glad to be home," Rory said, twisting her engagement ring around her finger. "I wanted to thank both of you, for helping me through the little freak out I had after Ethan proposed. It meant a lot to me."
"We're your parents, Rory, it's what we do," Luke said softly.
Rory nodded slowly. "I know," she said. She glanced at Luke for a moment before she said, "I wanted to tell you both in person that I…had lunch with Dad last week."
Luke tensed and Lorelai sighed, glancing up at the ceiling for a moment. There was a moment of awkward silence before Rory continued.
"Please just hear me out. I know I said that I don't need him, and that I consider think of you as my dad, Luke. None of that changed. I told him all of that. I told him that I didn't expect anything from him, that I have two parents who are supportive and love me no matter what. I told him about my job at Harvard and that I was getting married. I just felt like he should know."
Her eyes were wide and apologetic, as if afraid of how they would react, and Lorelai offered Rory a slight smile. "Hon, we're not going to get mad," she said. "If you want to see him, that's your decision. You don't need our permission."
"I know, it just felt like you should know," Rory whispered. "He wasn't exactly receptive about the news."
"What did he say?" Lorelai asked.
Rory shrugged. "He said that he wanted to meet Ethan, that I should make sure I was ready," she said. "I told him that I can here to talk to you guys before I answered Ethan, and he got…I don't know, defensive, I guess."
"Defensive how?" Luke asked wearily.
"Nothing bad, he just wondered why I didn't come to him," Rory said. "But I was plenty prepared with answers for that question. He's never been reliable, and he only was there when we didn't need him. He asked about you."
"Of course he did," Lorelai muttered. "What did he ask?"
Rory shrugged. "He did the math, figured you'd given birth by now," she said. "He was asking about the baby and you and Luke. I didn't tell him anything."
"You can tell him whatever you want, Rory, it's not going to change our life," Lorelai said.
"I know, but it was just so frustrating," Rory said. "I'm his daughter, we were seeing each other for the first time in over a year, and I was giving him this huge, life changing news. He responds by asking about you. Not to sound selfish, but it shouldn't have been about you."
"You're right," Lorelai muttered. "It always should have been about you, Rory. For me, it was for a long time. I wish I could say the same about your dad."
"It just really made me think about how lucky we are to have you, Luke," Rory said quietly. "I mean, I showed up here unexpectedly, crying my eyes out, and you just let me cry. You handed Victoria to me and made me coffee and gave me advice without even thinking twice about it. You were the dad I needed in the moment."
"It wasn't a big deal," Luke said.
"Maybe not to you, but having that fatherly support is still pretty new to me," Rory said. "Thanks."
"You don't have to thank me," Luke replied. "I'm here, Rory, I'm always here."
"I know," Rory smiled slightly. She glanced at Lorelai and decided to lighten the mood a little. Clearing her throat, she asked, "Anyone have advice for how to tell Grandma and Grandpa about this at Friday Night Dinner tomorrow?"
Lorelai tapped her finger against her chin. "Oh, I've got plenty of experience with engagements," she said. "Let's see, back when you were just a bun in the oven, they forced Christopher to propose and I said no, so we can't use that experience. You could try the whole 'avoid telling them altogether' strategy like I did when we first got engaged, but you've got that pretty ring will give you away like mine did. Now, you could wait until after you're already married to tell them, but that didn't necessarily work too well for me either."
"How about you just tell them?" Luke suggested from the armchair, cutting off Lorelai's rant.
"That did seem to work pretty well, the last time I told them I was engaged," Lorelai nodded. "But they were also drinking nitwit juice, so that might have tipped the scales into our favor."
"We'll be there to help," Luke said.
Lorelai nodded. "Yes, and you can hold the pretty baby when you tell them," she said. "They're much less likely to get angry if she's around."
"I'm out of practice," Rory admitted. "I'll have to find some good topics of conversation to use as buffers."
"I hate to break it to you, babe, but if you tell your grandparents that you're going to marry a Harvard man, they may actually like me better than you," Lorelai said. "Although, it's also incredibly likely that it's my fault you're not marrying a Yale man, so we may be in for a recreation of the spaghetti night."
Rory winced, remembering the worst fight they'd ever had with the elder Gilmores. "Maybe I'll just take my ring off and not invite them to the wedding," she said.
"Good luck with that," Lorelai said. "I tried it that way too, but Emily Gilmore worked around that."
"When?" Luke asked with a frown.
Lorelai cleared her throat and glanced at Rory. "Max," she said. "I didn't exactly disclose my engagement to him right away."
"Or at all," Rory piped up. "Sookie told Grandma."
"Oh," Luke said, rubbing a hand over his neck. "Guess we'll have to deal with him again soon."
"Why?" Rory frowned.
"April's in Shakespeare this year," Lorelai said. "I told her that you probably still have all your notes, but she might not want to borrow them, considering you got a D."
Rory glared at her. "On one paper," she said.
"Well, you also hit a deer on your way to that test, so your notes are probably cursed."
"The deer hit me."
"Semantics," Lorelai waved a hand. Turning back to Luke, she said, "I will be a perfect lady and remove myself from the equation."
"How generous of you," Luke said sarcastically. "Can't wait to talk to that guy alone."
Lorelai shrugged. "I think we're past everything," she said. "If it's that big a deal, you could call Chilton. Max can't be the only Shakespeare teacher at that school, maybe you can transfer April to another teacher."
"We'll worry about it later," Luke said.
"Yes, let's focus on tomorrow," Rory requested. "Are they really going to be mad?"
Lorelai sighed. "I don't think so," she said. "They love you, Rory. We are talking about Richard and Emily, so there's not going to be a champagne toast right away, but I think they'll come around."
"Just don't let Ethan go golfing with your grandfather," Luke piped up.
"And if your grandmother calls Logan to invite him to dinner with you, I'll intervene," Lorelai promised.
Rory's eyes widened. "Do you think she'd do that?" she asked.
"I'd love to say no, but I really wouldn't put anything past her," Lorelai said sympathetically. "Luke and I managed to mess things up on our own, but before that, your grandmother was pretty instrumental in putting a couple cracks in our foundation."
"Right," Rory said, lowering her eyes to her lap. "God, I wish I didn't have to do this."
With a smile, Luke reached out to tap Rory's knee with his knuckles. "Take it from me, marrying a Gilmore is well worth putting up with the occasional Friday Night Dinner," he said.
"Yes, Luke just begs to go to dinner every week," Lorelai said. "He presses his shirt and pants every Thursday night because he simply cannot wait for dinner with Richard and Emily."
Rory giggled. "Wow, Daddy Luke, you've come a long way," she said.
"Do not encourage her," Luke warned Rory.
"Do you make flashcards with notes?" Rory asked. "Study up on the Times so you have something to talk about with Grandpa?"
"No, but he did subscribe to the DAR weekly newsletter," Lorelai quipped. "You'd be surprised with how well he can carry on a conversation about the likelihood that several members of Hartford society are related to Abraham Lincoln."
Luke rolled his eyes and stood. "I'm leaving now," he announced before he walked out the door.
"Going to iron your shirt?" Rory called after him.
"Make sure you get all the wrinkles out of your slacks!" Lorelai added before she turned to Rory with a giggle. "It's good to have you back."
"Always willing to tease Luke," Rory confirmed.
"Mantra of my life," Lorelai said. "Things will be okay, Rory. Your grandparents may throw a couple curveballs, but luckily I'm an expert at dealing with them."
Rory narrowed her eyes. "That sounded remarkably like a sports reference," she accused.
Lorelai sighed and wrapped her arm around Rory. "Well, without you here to protect me, Luke's got me going to baseball games and…" she paused for dramatic effect. "Watching them."
"What?" Rory gasped. "Mom, you've got to remain strong! Baseball games are solely for eating massive amounts of food and mocking people. Have I taught you nothing?"
"Guess I just needed the reminder," Lorelai shrugged. "It's been too long since you've come around, hon."
Rory sighed and rested her head against Lorelai's shoulder. "I know, I miss you every day," she said.
"Me too," Lorelai whispered.
"It's like nothing's changed," Rory said. "I mean, everything's changed, but in a good way. But I like that sometimes, it feels like it's still you and me against the world."
"Amen, sister," Lorelai said. "We'll always have each other's backs, no matter what."
"Us Lorelai Gilmores do share a unique and wonderful bond."
"Amen, sister," Lorelai repeated. They sat in silence for a moment before she asked, "How badly do you want to go find Luke and ask him why he's not ironing?"
"So badly!" Rory replied, jumping off the couch. "Let's go!"