A Year and a Half Later

"Listen Lorelai," Luke said as he reached his arm across the table and stared into her eyes, "I know that we got off to a rocky start, but things have been going well for some time now. I don't understand why you won't set a date. Is it me? Is it something that I'm not doing right?"

"No, Luke," she said as she stood. "Trust me. I will know when the time is right. Just not yet, okay?" She turned and skipped merrily upstairs. "Now come on!" her muffled voice called. "You have to get ready! We're going to be late!"

"You know I hate going to town meetings!" he called back, his mock irritated voice just a little too strained to be genuine. He stared at his hands. Something was wrong. For the past six months he had been bringing up the subject of setting a date for the wedding that always seemed to be looming over their future. And for six months, she had been quickly changing the subject every time it was brought up. He had thought that waiting a year for her to recover would have been long enough. She seemed happy, so what was holding her back?

Fight for her if you have to. Rory's words all those months ago echoed menacingly through his head. How long should he wait until he pressed the issue? He felt as if he were constantly walking on the cracked ice of a frozen pond. How much serious talk could she take without breaking again?

Those first few months of her convalescence were the worst. Every time he had to leave to go somewhere, every time he spoke to April… she was so fragile. She always asked him to cuddle with her after he came home from the diner. Her voice was always light and cheerful, but she didn't fool him. How could anyone not notice the tremors that ran through her as he pressed her more tightly against him? Every time April came to visit, she would disappear to her bedroom for days, apparently too frightened by flashbacks to give the situation another chance. It hadn't been fair to him to make him choose, especially since he saw so little of April these days- New Mexico was so far away. It wasn't until he had taken April, Rory, and Lorelai out to Maine on the new boat that Lorelai allowed herself to connect with April. And so the situation was resolved without having any serious discussions about it. He had been avoiding serious discussions since that ultimatum in the street. But how much longer could he keep putting this particular situation aside?

He stood and went to the closet to grab his coat just as Lorelai was bounding back down the stairs.

"Got the snacks? Where are the snacks?" she asked. He held out his empty hands to her. "Luke! You know we can't go to the town meeting without snacks!" She hit him lightly on the arm. "Do you go to the movies without buying popcorn?"

"Actually yes, I do," he retorted.

She snorted and skipped to the kitchen, returning with bags of apple slices, grapes, carrot sticks, granola, and red vines.

Luke laughed. It wasn't really that funny though. All the little reminders of how he had irrevocably changed her very nature twisted the thorn in his gut a little deeper every time he saw them. Sure, she ate junk food sometimes- mostly when she was with Rory. And food always seemed to be a strange topic for them. Maybe it was his imagination. She had never completely gained all the weight back either. She wasn't underweight, but she looked more like a model- more out of his league- than ever. Of course she blew it off and used it as an excuse to buy an entirely new wardrobe. If only he had a way of determining if she was really happy or if her clothes shopping antics were her way of hiding something deeper. If he knew that she was truly happy, he could let this go. But the fact that she still refused to marry him after all these months had to mean that there was still something wrong.

They walked out the front door together. As he turned to put the key in the door, he felt her freeze next to him. She grabbed his arm fiercely and held on for dear life. His eyes made their way from her white knuckles up her arm and to her face. He couldn't understand why she looked so serene- the most peaceful expression was set over her features as she inhaled deeply.

"Lorelai?" he asked, a look of deep concern on his face. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"You said April was coming tomorrow night, right?"

This conversation had taken a very awkward turn. Lorelai hadn't had issues with April's visits for months now. "Yeah, that's right. We're supposed to pick her up from the airport at six."

"Perfect," she whispered so quietly that Luke could barely hear her. She looked up at him, and he was even more alarmed to see that her eyes were sparkling. "We can't go to the town meeting tonight," she said breathily.

"What?" He was truly troubled now. Had something in her snapped? Had she gone insane? "We're heading out the door right now, what do you mean we can't go to the town meeting?"

"Wait, no," she said, shaking her head. "Strike that. That's a bad idea. We should go to the town meeting."

"Lorelai, what's going on?" he began to ask, but she was already pulling him to Miss Patty's.

The entire meeting was the strangest hour that Luke had ever experienced. Lorelai had refused to explain to him her sudden shift in personality. She instead sat forward in her chair, her posture uncharacteristically straight, listening with rapt attention to every word that was being said while bouncing her legs impatiently.

Taylor had finally adjourned. Everyone was just beginning to stand when Lorelai jumped suddenly to her feet and bounced onto the stage.

"Actually, can you all sit down for just a moment longer?" she called over the crowd. "I have an announcement that I want to make."

As they sat, Luke noticed the skeptical looks on the faces of the townspeople and how they stared curiously at her. She was just beginning to take an interest in the town activities again, and they were all wary of doing anything to unsettle her. Luke hoped for Lorelai's sake that he was the only one that had noticed how carefully she was being treated.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my sweet and gentle townsfolk…Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Silence was the only answer she received. Luke could see why. The awkwardness had not yet settled. They weren't used to having the old Lorelai back. It seemed as if they thought she needed more time to recover emotionally before they could joke with her again. Fortunately, Lorelai's sunny disposition seemed not to be affected by her audience's hesitancy.

"Okay, well, apparently we left our senses of humor at home this evening. Well, I thought that you would all want to know that you're invited to the Dragonfly on Saturday- that's two days from now." She took a deep breath and grinned. "Because Luke and I are getting married at sunset in the back garden."

When the words finally settled coherently into Luke's brain, the walls began to spin, and he took a deep breath to steady himself.