All the Citizens of Stars Hollow
Luke shut the photo album and put it on the coffee table. "And that's the end of the album. For real this time. That's my family, your family, our family."
Rory pouted. "It's so sad."
"Thank you for sharing that with us, Luke," Lorelai said, leaning in to give her husband a kiss.
Luke nodded. "You're welcome."
Lorelai put her feet up on the coffee table and sighed. "Ah, I love to do absolutely nothing. Rory, do nothing with us today! It's do nothing day!"
"She's been talking about 'do nothing' day for weeks now. Apparently we don't leave the house, we just sit around and enjoy each other's company," Luke explained.
Rory nodded. "I see. I'll do nothing with you for a little while, but then I have some business to take care of."
Lorelai pouted. "You can't do business on 'do nothing day'! That's like not eating turkey on Thanksgiving for anyone but the Kims, or not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day! It's just wrong!"
"Hey, some people don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and some people fake being Irish on Saint Patrick's Day. Believe me, you'll thank me for doing something on do-nothing day!" Rory said, winking at Luke as she got up from the couch.
Lorelai's jaw dropped and she sat up, her arms crossed. "Secrets, secrets, are no fun…"
Luke rolled his eyes. "Unless you are a part of one, we know, Lorelai, we've been through this about six times today."
Lorelai pouted. "But I just want to know what she's doing! Is it so hard to share a secret with the woman who gave you life? I think not. You know I'm kind of sad that the album's that… bare? We need to put more people in that album!"
"You want to watch a movie?" Luke asked, obviously trying to distract Lorelai from the 'secret' Rory was keeping, and from any thoughts of expanding the album at that very moment.
Lorelai smiled. "How's 'Casablanca' for you?" she asked, grinning. "If you're trying to distract me, you might as well distract me with a really fantastic movie."
Luke got up from the couch and walked over to the TV. He looked for the movie, put it in the DVD player, and Lorelai was hooked on the movie as if it were her first viewing. He watched Rory talk on her cell phone in the kitchen, and he knew what the 'secret' was, but he was instructed not to tell. And he knew Rory's wrath very well, and he was aware of the consequences of ruining the surprise.
He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. "Does anyone need anything? Or is everything all set?"
Rory smiled. "They'll be ready at five, just like I planned. No major injuries, no supply shortages, it's all good for now. Kirk broke his toe from someone putting the ladder on it, but he's a big baby anyway."
Luke nodded. "Okay, well, let me know if I need to go and straighten anyone out over there," he insisted. "Would you mind going to pick April up from the airport when her flight gets in today? I'm only asking because I know Lorelai would not only get mad, but she'd get suspicious if I left the house."
Rory nodded. "Of course I don't mind, Luke! I'm picking her up at three thirty, and then we're having a late lunch and heading over. You're definitely right, though, Mom would get really suspicious if April showed up at the house before the big extravaganza."
"She's already suspicious, you know your mother," Luke insisted.
"Mom? Suspicious? Not quite yet. She just thinks someone from work is calling me, or a guy is asking me out for about the hundredth time. She'll get suspicious if someone calls you on the home phone and asks you where the balloons are," Rory explained.
"Well, she found out about her Mother's Day present last year," Luke recalled.
Rory rolled her eyes. "That's because you should know by now that you tell Miss Patty and Babette nothing, unless you want it to be spread like a virus around town," she teased. "But don't worry, she has no clue. Trust me."
"If you say so, I trust you. You sure you didn't want to go into event management? PR?" Luke teased.
"I'm sure. I like this as a side job in case journalism goes belly up, which it isn't, it's simply changing from jounralism as we know it to a different form of the same thing. Tell that to all the DAR people you know, see what they say," Rory added.
Luke sighed. "If I knew where to go from there, I would. You've given me enough literary works to reference in conversation, so I think I'm okay for now."
Rory smiled. "Well, you could always do the 'start the conversation and run' thing," she suggested.
"I've tried that, but then they end up tracking me down to get my opinion on the subject," Luke replied.
Rory nodded. She leaned up against the counter, turning on her cell phone. She smiled at Luke. "Thanks for being such a good guy. Mom needs someone like you to keep her sane. Thanks for everything you've done for us."
Luke sighed. "You've thanked me a hundred million times for all of that. It's really no problem."
"As long as you know that we're grateful," Rory said. "I have six voicemails from a half an hour of having my phone off. Uh oh."
Luke rolled his eyes, and grabbed at his hat. "Ah, jeez, people are incompetent, apparently."
Rory put the phone to her ear and listened to the messages. "This one's from Kirk," she said.
Luke quickly glanced in the living room to make sure Lorelai wasn't listening. She was engrossed in the movie, so Luke looked back at Rory. "What did he want?"
"The first three messages were making sure that my phone was off, and that it was really me he was calling. The next three were really dumb questions that he had answered by people as he called. No big deal," Rory replied.
Luke nodded. "Good. If you want to head out and get April, I can convince your mother to do something on her do nothing day."
"Dirty?" Rory asked.
Luke rolled his eyes. "How about getting her to the party?"
Rory smiled. "That sounds like a good idea to me. Do you remember how to get text messages on your phone?"
Luke nodded. "April showed me last time she came up."
"Well, I'll send you a text message when I meet up with April, so you won't have to worry about us, okay?" Rory reasoned.
"See you in a little while," Luke said. He walked into the living room and sat next to Lorelai. She paused the movie and turned to Luke.
"Okay, so do nothing day has turned out to be awfully boring," Lorelai mused.
Luke kissed her. "I'm sorry. How about I take you out somewhere?"
Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Ooh! Where?" she asked, suddenly interested.
"Wow, that 'Do Nothing' day went right out the window," Luke teased. "Go get dressed."
"The only reason why I hate it when you do this is because I never know how dressy to get," Lorelai pouted.
"Casual, comfortable," Luke replied. "We're not going anywhere with candle lit dinner."
Lorelai grinned. "Good. I'll be back."
Luke sat back on the couch, picking up the album once again. He looked at the last few blank pages in it, knowing that they would soon be full. As he waited for what seemed like an eternity for Lorelai to come downstairs, he looked at the picture of Lorelai, Rory, and April on the stools at the diner. He made a mental note to frame the picture as Lorelai came back downstairs.
"And?" she asked, turning slowly for Luke to approve of her outfit choice.
"You look beautiful," he said.
Lorelai kissed him on the cheek. "You know how to win me over, that's for sure," she said. "Let's go."
As Luke turned to walk out the door, he realized where Lorelai was headed. Luke followed her and had to lead Lorelai away from the truck. "We're walking," he replied. "It's in town."
Lorelai nodded. "If we can walk really slowly, I'm all for it."
Luke and Lorelai walked for a little while, until they came across Miss Patty's. Lorelai looked at the locked door suspiciously. "Something's going on in there," she said, pointing to the studio. "She only locks the door when she's planning something. I'm going to find out what she's doing."
Luke didn't find it necessary to stop her. She'd fallen for Luke's plan, not Kirk's plan that was originally brought up as the solution to the dilemma of how to get Lorelai to her own surprise party, the perfect baby shower. She opened the door, and as everyone greeted her, she turned to face Luke.
He simply shrugged, motioning toward everyone who had shown up for the party. "I didn't do it, they did," he insisted. "They're your family, remember?"
Lorelai saw April first, gave her a hug, and moved on to the rest of the townspeople. April ran over to Luke, giving him a hug. "She's happy, huh? Who planned this out for her?"
Luke nodded. "She's really happy. And the entire town planned it, they just came to me with questions and logistics and stuff."
Lorelai found Luke and April chatting and she grabbed Luke's hand. "They may be my family, but you're the one that put all these people in the album," she insisted.
April looked interested. "Album?"
"I'll explain later," Luke said, following Lorelai where she wanted him to go.