Chapter 29: Reunions and Rehearsals

Rory flopped onto her bed with a happy sigh and stretched out, snuggling her face into her pillow. She frowned when she heard a laugh from the doorway.

"Should I leave you alone?"

"Don't judge me. You don't know what it's like never knowing how horrible your next bed is going to be," Rory rolled over onto her back and glared at her mother.

"True. I beg your pardon," Lorelai smirked, leaning into the doorframe.

Rory smiled up at her and patted the spot next to her on the bed. Lorelai plopped down and Rory grabbed her mother's left hand, finally able to get a good view of Lorelai's engagement ring in person.

"Nice, huh?"

"Really nice. So what's on the agenda, oh Bride-to-be?"

"Well, it's just you and me for a few hours. Groom-to-be is with Jess getting their final fittings done at the tux shop. I figured we could talk a bit, get your dress finished up, and take it easy. Things get crazy tomorrow, so might also be a good idea to uh, y'know, break the ice with Jess… we're meeting them for dinner tonight," Lorelai eyed Rory knowingly.

It was one of the biggest worries Luke had expressed over the last few days. Lorelai had merely hinted at potential awkwardness between the two, and Luke had immediately leapt into overprotective mode, asking what Jess had done to make it weird. She'd had to explain Jess was, in fact, not to blame, and if he wanted further details, he'd have to ask Jess or Rory, himself. Luke opted to remain ignorant, and suggested Lorelai might try to encourage Rory to do whatever needed to be done to smooth things over before the wedding.

"We've emailed a few times. I knew there were plans for tonight. Don't worry," Rory patted her mother's hand, "Jess and I are cool. The question is, how are you and Jess?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him yet," Lorelai wrinkled her nose, "Not that he'd be able to, but you don't think he wants to try to talk Luke out of it, do you?"

"Please, if he felt that way, you know he wouldn't have said yes to being the best man," Rory sat up. "Actually, I have it on good authority that he told Luke in no uncertain terms not to screw it up this time. That's the PG version, anyway. It was more strongly worded to Luke."

"Really," Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Never thought Jess would be Team Lorelai."

"He's not. Jess is strictly Team 'Oh My God Would Those Two Get The Show On The Road Already'."

"Ah. Well. Team Lorelai also happens to be on that team, so I guess we should be okay."

Rory grinned wryly, "Yeah, well, expect that you might hear some kind of lecture or something from him tomorrow, but it comes from a good place. I think I'm supposed to give Luke a similar speech."

"About?"

"You know, the typical warning. The 'hurt my respective subject of this partnership that badly again and I'll send assassins your way' speech."

"Ah," Lorelai grimaced. If such a speech was necessary at this point, she and Luke had no business getting married. "You're not really going to-"

"Just one final one, we've had similar talks already," Rory patted her mother's leg, "But I wouldn't be surprised if Jess doesn't go easy on you. I think Luke's the only adult he ever had any ounce of respect for."

"Well, that's not hard to guess at." Lorelai looked worriedly at her daughter, "You honestly don't think we'd screw this up again, do you?"

"Nah," Rory squeezed Lorelai's hand, "You've done enough of that."

"Don't I know it. So. My kid's been on the road, and the last big talk we had, she told me she was... what word was it you used?"

"Sullen. But if we're going to get into this, I need coffee first."

Properly situated in the living room with coffee, Lorelai watched as Rory took a slow sip from her mug, and a long, deep breath.

Rory knew the conversation was coming, and while it would be a relief to finally talk to someone about Arizona and Brett, it was also unnerving.

"Okay," Rory readied herself to finally talk about the event she'd been carrying around for far too long. "I, um, hooked up with someone. Not someone on the press corps, not someone even remotely connected to the campaign."

Lorelai bit her lip and took a deep breath of her own, "Okay. And it was..."

"Um. It was. What... it was. I guess. It didn't have the intended result, I should say."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Rory, you're going to have to give me more than this if you want to talk about it. If it's too-"

"No, it's not. I've just been holding onto this for almost a month and it's the first time I've talked about it, and it's... heavy." Rory closed her eyes and thought back to that night in September, letting herself revisit all the thoughts and emotions she'd shoved to the back of her mind.

As Brett's eyes blinked open and met hers, and he recalled the previous night, a slight, nervous smile had formed on his face. Rory could immediately tell that he, too, was unaccustomed to waking up with someone he'd only just met. They'd shared more than just sex and a bed. There had been a connection there. And if Rory had been in any other place in her life, she would have smiled back, and started discussing what might lie in store for them.

Instead, unsure how to handle the tumultuous feelings inside her, and the unguarded expression on Brett's face, she'd given him an awkward look and quickly leapt out of bed, muttering something about not wanting to be late for the bus and him having class to get to. She heard him call her name as she shut the door to the bathroom, but ignored it. She knew full well he was aware she'd heard him before the door clicked shut, but she didn't let herself think about it.

Rory had taken her time in the bathroom. After a lengthy inspection of her pores, her teeth, and taking one of the longest showers she'd ever taken in her life, she found the resolve to open the door separating her from her one night stand.

She thought she'd be relieved when she found the room empty, but a small part of her felt sad and disappointed, feelings she quickly scolded herself for having. She noticed a note on several sheets of hotel stationary sitting on the desk, but ignored it as she began to pack. Once she was finished, far earlier than necessary, she dragged her luggage over to the desk and reached out to open the folded papers.

She knew she couldn't read it. If she read it, she'd feel more than she already did for the gentle, caring boy she'd poured her heart out to the previous night. And if she cared more for him than she already did, she wouldn't be able to accomplish her next task. And so, Rory skimmed through the words Brett had written, not allowing herself to register them as anything other than a jumble of random letters, and shut her eyes as she saw an address, email address, and two phone numbers at the bottom of the letter.

Her breath unsteady, Rory crumpled the papers in her hand and tossed them into the wastebasket near the desk as she walked out of the room. She didn't need to read the letter to know what was in it. Knowing she could have written it, herself, she understood how Brett felt writing it, and how awful he'd feel as he waited for some form of contact from her that would never come.

She pushed against the pain in her chest, reminding herself she'd only known Brett for a few hours, and that he'd get over it. Having April as a distraction a few days later had been her first step out of the dense fog of guilt that had been eating at her.

As Rory recounted the night and morning, she was relieved at the lack of judgement in her mother's face. Her expression was sympathetic, and after Rory finished unloading, she nearly cried with relief when she found herself pulled tightly into her mother's arms.

"I'm being such a child about this," Rory mumbled into Lorelai's neck.

"No, honey, you're human. And you're just not the one night stand kinda girl, I don't think."

"Yeah, I think I've realized that," Rory breathed as she sat back. "I feel so bad, though. Did I do the wrong thing? I didn't even take a long enough look at the letter to even try to commit any of it to memory."

"That's not for me to judge," Lorelai reached out and tugged a strand of Rory's hair. "Was what I did to Max years ago the wrong thing?"

"It wasn't... nice... but in the long run... I don't know. I guess, like you said, it's not really for me to judge," Rory smiled a little, "I will say that I'm glad you figured out you loved the idea of Max more than the man himself before you did marry him."

"Yeah. I wish I'd made myself stop and think a little before I did that with your dad."

"Hey, this is my afternoon of regrets. You're absolved. You're getting married in two days. I just need to find myself a Luke, I guess."

Lorelai rolled her eyes and shook her head, "No, because you'd need to be me, and I don't want you to go through the hell I went through to get here. Be Rory and find yourself a... whatever it is a Rory is supposed to have."

"I don't know what a Rory's supposed to have," Rory looked down sadly. "In every relationship I've had, I thought that was it, that it was me and Dean, or me and Jess. And with those two, I know that was because I was young. But then, with Logan, I really thought... I mean, I know that weekend at the Vineyard last February was awful for you, but for me, until Mitchum showed up, I really felt like it was the first of many of those types of weekends with the four of us. In the long run, it turned out that Logan and I really wanted different things in life, and that factored into what we wanted in our relationship, too. I can't imagine having to constantly go through that. I just want to... to know."

"I desperately wish it were that simple, I really do. For both our sakes."

"Luke knew," Rory looked back up. "Luke and his horoscope."

"Ah, I'm not sure that counts as knowing, especially considering all he knew of me the day I gave it to him was that I was a stubborn coffee addict to an extreme degree." Lorelai glanced down at her ring for a moment, speaking her thoughts, "You know, I don't think Luke even truly knew we were going to work out until we got back together this time. We were both so worried about ruining it, or it falling apart... we never had the assurance we have now. Having to sort through everything that went wrong, the communication issues, the insecurities, the fears, the distrust..."

"But you did work through it."

"And it wasn't easy. That first night we finally talked after you left, and several other times after that? Having to dig through a lot of what we did wrong the first two times sucked," Lorelai reached out and tipped Rory's chin up rubbing her thumb across her daughter's cheek. "We just got extremely lucky that we did have this chance, and that all the things we did wrong before helped us figure out what to do right this time. I hope you never have to go through that."

Rory nodded, "Does he still have the horoscope, after everything that happened?"

Lorelai bit her lip as tears pricked her eyes, causing her to blink rapidly, "It's a good metaphor for our hearts, I guess. He still has it. It's got a nice tear down the middle, but it's taped back together." As Rory regarded her sadly, Lorelai smiled a little, "It's one of many things we get to carry around as reminders of what we did to each other."

"Damn," Rory whispered.

They jumped as the front door shut loudly in the quietness of the room, and Lorelai smiled gratefully as Luke walked in, his presence giving them a much needed break from the heavy conversation.

"Hey," Luke frowned as he noticed the expression on Lorelai's face. "Uh, are you two... should I...?"

Lorelai held her hand out over the back of the couch, and tugged the front of his shirt as he approached. She pulled him down and pressed her lips to his softly, holding him there a little longer than she normally would've with Rory sitting across from her. Luke pulled back slowly, still a little confused about what he'd just walked into.

"You two okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lorelai smiled reassuringly. "How's the tuxes... and Jess?"

Luke lifted the garment bag slung over his shoulder, "Tuxes are good to go. Jess looked better than me in his, though."

"Well, that I doubt," Lorelai winked, then glanced at the door as she heard a knock, "Uh, did Jess follow you over?"

"No, he said he was gonna bum around the town for awhile. Not sure who that is," Luke turned back to the entryway and opened the door.

"Is she here?" Lane asked excitedly, "Am I interrupting anything? I just-"

"Come on in," Luke chuckled, moving out of the way as Lane and Rory ran toward each other. He glanced over at Lorelai and raised the garment bag one last time, "I'm gonna run this upstairs so it's ready to go on Saturday."

"I still haven't gotten Rory upstairs to finish her dress," Lorelai cringed slightly.

"Plenty of time, not much left to do today, just make sure it's ready before tomorrow." Luke glanced over his shoulder as Rory and Lane walked into Rory's room, "Is everything really okay with you two?"

"Yeah, we're good. I'll tell you more later. You heading back to the diner?"

"Just until Aimee gets in. There anything left you need me to do?"

Lorelai ran through the to-do list in her head. It was surprisingly short for a wedding that was planned in a month and was a mere two days away. "Oddly enough, there's barely enough left for me to do. We're mostly at the hurry up and wait stage, here."

Luke nodded as he carried the garment bag up the stairs. Lorelai stood and walked over to Rory's room, laughing as Rory handed Lane two baby-sized Obama campaign t-shirts.

"Zack's going to flip over these!" Lane cackled.

"So's your mom, in a completely different direction," Rory grinned.

"Oh, we keep the Mrs. Kim outfits separate from the normal clothes now. Zack brought home a ton of baby and kid sized vintage band t-shirts he collected while on tour, it's great, but my mom would freak."

"Speaking of clothing, I need to work on Rory's dress. Lane, you can come up and join us unless you need to get home to the boys," Lorelai offered.

"Please, Zack owes me and he knows it. Besides, they've got their whole male bonding thing going on right now," Lane stood and she and Rory followed Lorelai out of the room. "I can't wait to see the dresses."

As Luke walked toward the front door, Lorelai grabbed his wrist to stop him and nodded to the girls, "Head on up, Rory get changed and into the dress, it's the one with the big 'Rory' tag on the hanger draped over the chair in my room. I'll be there in a minute."

Luke cocked his head as Lorelai waited for her bedroom door to close behind Rory.

"Hey, so Rory assures me there's no bad blood between her and Jess," Lorelai said quietly. "They've emailed a few times, so dinner tonight shouldn't be as awkward as we were expecting."

"Jess said the same," Luke nodded. "And he promised he's not still pining for her. He's seeing someone back home."

"Good. Then we'll meet you at the diner around six?"

"Perfect," he gave her a quick kiss and left.


As Lorelai sat behind her sewing machine, she half-listened to the conversation between Rory and Lane coming from the bedroom. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend they were kids again. Before boys and babies and tour buses. Lorelai sat back to check her work on Rory's dress, and tuned back into the girls' chatter.

"It's just good Zack didn't pick up another tour. Aside from the fact that the boys are growing like weeds, there's no way I'd want to deal with this move on my own. Especially since my mother would be way too over-involved."

"She probably will be anyway," Rory warned.

"Yeah, but it'd be worse without Zack around."

"You're moving?" Lorelai frowned as she walked into the room, ready to work on the hand-stitched parts of Rory's dress.

"Yeah. Our landlord wants us out by the end of the year. In a way, it was kind of the final push we needed. We've more than outgrown that apartment, and the boys should have their own room."

Lorelai sat on the bed and nodded, "Have you started looking yet?"

"Brian gave us a few locations to check out next week. We have a tight budget, though. Zack wants to start putting away money to buy a place, so we don't want too much going toward rent. And did you know Kirk owns an apartment building?"

"He what?!" Rory laughed, "Did Kirk finally move out of his mom's house?"

"No!" Lorelai dropped her work onto her lap and laughed, "Why doesn't he rent one of his apartments to himself, then?"

"No clue!" Lane replied, "They're nice, too. They're in our price range, but we're not really sure how we feel about having Kirk as a landlord. I'm sure he does all his own repairs, and I know for a fact he sucks as a repairman. Luke overheard Brian, Zack and I talking about a leaky pipe under the sink last year and ended up fixing the shoddy work Kirk had been paid to do. And of course you can't pay Luke for stuff like that, he just gets mad when you offer."

Lorelai smiled at that, unable to count how many leaky pipes Luke had fixed for free over the years. She glanced over at Rory who returned a knowing grin.

After another hour of talking and sewing, Lorelai glanced at the time and cringed, "Sorry to break it up, but we've got dinner plans with Luke and Jess at the diner."

"And I've got dinner plans with my mother. I can't believe it's already six. If I don't catch you two tomorrow, I'll see you on Saturday at the wedding," Lane stood and gave Lorelai a tight hug, "One that I'm so, so glad you were wrong about at my wedding."

Lorelai grimaced at the memory as the three of them walked downstairs, "Only partly wrong. Different wedding. And remind Zack, you two are welcome to join us for dinner tomorrow night. He doesn't have to shove off after the rehearsal."

"Aw, I appreciate it, but we're actually having a little band reunion at Gil's once Zack's done. Bye, ladies!" Lane waved as she left the house.

"You want to change? Freshen up a little?" Lorelai asked as Rory grabbed her purse from her room.

"Nah, I'm too starved to be vain," Rory replied, hurrying out the front door. Halfway to Luke's, Rory stopped and tugged on her mother's elbow.

"What?"

"Are you and Luke selling the house?" Rory asked curiously.

"Uh, we're not talking about anything related to the house until after the wedding," Lorelai answered, "Kinda got my hands full the next few days, the last thing-"

"You should keep it."

Lorelai blinked at Rory's declaration. It was out of the blue and Rory had clearly decided not to adhere to the "not till after the wedding" rule.

"Okay," Lorelai began slowly, wondering where this might be coming from as she spoke. "I will certainly take that into account. It's not like I wasn't having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of selling. Wait. You want us to rent it to Lane, don't you."

Rory shrugged a little self-consciously, "Well, it would be someone you knew. And they'd be there long-term. I know it's between you and Luke in the end, but-"

"No, it's a joint decision among you, Luke, and I. I've told you before, he understands it was our place first, Rory. In the same way you understand this involves him as well." Lorelai bit her lip in thought and she tugged on Rory's arm, continuing their walk. "Let me think about it a little more. It makes really good sense to sell the place-"

"I know. But if you're having a hard time just thinking of selling it... "

"Yeah," Lorelai took a deep breath, "Would they even want to rent it, though?"

"Rent a house she practically grew up in, that was her biggest refuge from the craziness of the Kim household, with a detached garage they can hold band practices in again? Mom, come on."

"True. I'll think about it and talk to Luke, see what he thinks. Of all the possible options, this, I assume, is the one you'd be most okay with? Because it would probably mean moving before Christmas or spending Christmas among a bunch of packed boxes… I'm not sure which is more depressing."

"Or you can look at it as spending Christmas in the new house, which means buying and making more Christmas decorations," Rory wagged her eyebrows.

Lorelai laughed, "Okay, stop trying to sell me on it. We're not even supposed to be talking about houses until Sunday at the earliest," she stopped Rory before opening the door to Luke's, "So ix-nay on the ouse-hay alk-tay for now, mmkay?"

Rory nodded, following her mother into Luke's. She smiled fondly as she noticed Jess, immediately glad she'd reached out to him via email. She apologized in a lengthy message for trying to use him to get back at Logan. He'd replied, in a tone she could hear so clearly in her head, "don't worry about it, cuz. see you at the wedding." They'd exchanged a few more emails and texts after that, mostly discussing her mother and his uncle, and that had been it.

"Hey, Dodger," Rory smirked as she walked toward the table he sat at. Jess sat the book he was reading behind him on one of Luke's shelves and gave her one of his typical half-smiles. Gone was the black leather jacket and "too cool to care" overgrown hair. In place was a groomed business owner, wearing a navy sweater and a nice pair of jeans. "Glad the face hasn't changed much, I wouldn't have recognized you otherwise."

"Luke already beat you to the mocking," Jess rolled his eyes, and looked past her at Lorelai. Things had always been a little tense between the two of them. It had taken them both awhile to understand they had one very important thing in common: an overprotective streak a mile long when it came to Rory and Luke. He nodded at his uncle's soon to be wife, "Always running into you at weddings, it seems."

"Your uncle keeps dragging me to 'em, what can I do?" Lorelai shrugged with a grin, and walked to the counter to give Rory and Jess a chance to talk without an audience.

Rory sat down across from her ex-boyfriend, "So, I didn't see Taylor on the way over here, did you give him a heart attack?"

"I tried. He just glared at me and stared until I finished walking past Doose's. I thought he mostly worked next door these days, I was hoping to barter. A scoundrel-free weekend in exchange for free ice cream."

"Free ice cream? From Taylor? You've been gone too long."

"Not my fault, I was supposed to be here last year for this thing. Didn't expect my uncle would go blind, and your mom would go mute."

"I hear that," Rory chuckled, nodding in agreement.

Jess watched Luke and Lorelai talking quietly behind the counter and shook his head with a wry grin, "You weren't kidding, they do ooze all over each other."

"You realize it just gets worse from here on out. Tomorrow at the rehearsal, Saturday at the wedding, next year at baby's first Christmas," Rory laughed at the shocked look on Jess's face. "In the plans, not currently… in existence."

"Geez, don't do that to me. I'm still adjusting to Doula," Jess covered his heart with his hand, "Well, if the ooze ever dries up, and they act stupid again, call me in for reinforcements. It sucked having to hear about everything after the fact."

"I will. I think we're good though," Rory smiled and turned around to look behind her. She caught sight of flirting in the form of a mock argument between the soon to be wedded couple and held up a fork, "Hey, can we get some service over here?"

Luke rolled his eyes and refilled Lorelai's mug, then filled two mugs for Jess and Rory and walked with Lorelai to the table. Two hours later, the four were still sitting in the same places. The energy had started off slightly awkward, as they acclimated themselves to the unfamiliar grouping. As the night moved forward, so did their comfort levels among each other, and it wasn't long before each began recounting memories from the past. Stories that were far from funny at the time, were retold in a new light, giving even Luke several loud, hearty laughs.

Lorelai tapped her hand where it had been resting on Luke's leg, "We should probably get going. I need to finish up Rory's dress and I want to relax a little before things start to get crazy tomorrow."

Luke nodded in agreement, and after a few brief goodbyes and reminders about the next day's schedule, he and Lorelai walked to the truck. As Lorelai settled in next to him, he glanced over and watched her take a shaky breath.

"Getting nervous?"

"I just want it to be perfect," she glanced back at the diner as he started the truck, "At least that's a load off our shoulders."

"Yeah. And I'm glad Rory looks better than she did earlier. What happened this afternoon?"

"Rory broke a boy's heart somewhere out west, and left a piece of her own with him, I think."

"Ouch. She okay?"

"Yeah. Just needed to talk it out. She'll be all right," Lorelai glanced at Kim's Antiques as they drove past it and bit her lip, "Did you know Lane and Zack have to move by the end of the year?"

"I didn't. Though that explains why he was asking about the apartment above the diner when he stopped in for lunch with the twins earlier."

"What'd you tell him?" Lorelai asked curiously.

"Nothing. They need a bigger place than that anyway, with actual bedrooms and stuff. It was getting weird enough sharing it with April this spring."

"I bet. Um," she took a deep breath, "What would you think about renting out the house to them instead of selling it?"

"Huh," Luke thought about it. If there was any one person both he and Lorelai wouldn't mind living there, it would be Lane. "Did she ask you about it?"

"No, it was Rory's idea, oddly enough. Even though it would probably mean starting to move right after we get back from Hawaii. They have to be out by the end of the year, and unless we want to spend Christmas surrounded by chaos and boxes, we'd probably want to get it done pretty quickly."

Luke scratched his chin, "That's not a big deal as long as you really stay on task."

"Hey, I've purged a lot over the last few years," Lorelai pouted. "It's just something to think about anyway. I know you don't want us stressing over it, but it came up, and I think its a viable option."

"I agree," Luke pulled up the driveway to the house and turned off the car. Despite agreements to avoid housing talk until after the wedding, he and Lorelai quickly found themselves huddled behind her computer comparing mortgage payments to current rental costs in the area, guessing at what might be within Zack and Lane's budget.

Back at the diner, Rory was rubbing her face as her cheeks were pained from laughing at Jess's retelling of the time the swan attacked him, finally having an explanation for the awful dinner they'd attempted with her grandmother.

"That swan is still there, so I'd avoid the lake until after the wedding unless you want my mom covering you with makeup for the photos."

"Good advice," Jess raised his water glass to her and took a sip. "So, forgive me for saying it, but I'm glad you turned down that snotty rich kid you were stuck on for so long."

"Jess," Rory frowned. "I know it sounds like I'm making excuses for him, but you really never got to see a good side of him. The one time you met him, he was going through a lot."

"If he was such a good guy, you wouldn't have been trying to cheat on him with me."

"You can't blame Logan for that, you have to put that on me."

Jess rolled his eyes, "Whatever, it's in the past. What finally broke you two up?"

Rory couldn't stop herself from smiling, "Well... he proposed."

"What a jerk," Jess teased.

"Well, it was selfish. It wasn't like I've ever been quiet about what I wanted. I couldn't exactly settle down in California while trying to plan a career that involved a bunch of travel. He didn't want a long distance relationship, but he knew even if I took a local job somewhere for a year or so, my end goal wouldn't be to stay there," Rory traced a random pattern on the top of the table in front of her. "In the end, his mom was right. I don't belong in that family. I want a career, and I think Logan wanted someone who would just follow his career around. That's not me."

After a few quiet moments, Jess spoke, "I'm sorry. That was a long relationship."

"Yeah. And I don't regret it. I grew from it, and it ended at the right time. And I wouldn't have wanted him to keep hoping I'd end up changing my mind," Rory finally smiled, "I'm good. It sucked at first, but you know, hearts heal, we move on..." She pointed her finger at him, "So, you mentioned someone earlier, but you didn't elaborate. Tell me about your girlfriend."

"She runs an organic-"

"Excuse me?" Rory laughed.

"Stop laughing!" Jess couldn't help himself and laughed along with her for a moment before continuing, "She has a small organic farm she runs with a few friends. It sounds insane, I know. They have a fruit and vegetable stand not far from Truncheon and we got to know each other last year when she saw me rereading The Aleph and started arguing with me about Borges."

"Always the rough starts with you," Rory shook her head. "And literary arguments from the get-go. Sounds like it might be serious." She gasped at his expression, "And he's blushing! It is serious!"

"Shut up," Jess huffed as he stood and added a little extra cash to the substantial tip Luke had already left. "I like her."

"Well, duh," Rory smiled, and followed him out the door.

"Want me to drop you off at your mom's, uh, your mom and Luke's?"

"Nah, I can walk. You're cutting it pretty close to TJ's curfew, wouldn't want you to get locked out."

"I still can't believe he wouldn't give me a key. I'm giving Liz tonight, and then I'm taking Luke up on his offer of his shitty excuse for an air mattress and camping upstairs," Jess said as he walked to a black sedan. It wasn't anything new or flashy, but it was still an improvement from the ancient car he was still driving the last time she saw him.

"You upgraded!"

"The ol' piece of junk up and died on me in the middle of a road trip. It was time to move on. This one's not much, but it moves forward more than it shakes, which is a pretty impressive difference."

Rory nodded and gave him a thumbs up, "I think you and I were actually born when this car was made. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late to the rehearsal."

"If I am, I'll still get there before you and your mother," Jess smirked as he entered his car.


"Holy shit," Jess muttered as he stood with his arms crossed in the library of the Dragonfly.

"What, Thing One and Thing Two?" Lorelai asked as she walked past, gesturing to April and Rory as they filled in the stories that brief text messages had only touched on.

"Yeah. That worked out for you pretty well, I guess. No weird stepsister vibes there."

Lorelai stood next to Jess and watched the two girls for a moment before replying, "I didn't figure there would be. I didn't realize they'd connect as much as they have, but I knew they'd get along well enough the more I heard about her early on."

Jess saw a slight flash of pain in Lorelai's face at the memory of her and April's first encounter and subsequent lack of interaction. "If I was here, I would've held him to the fire," he said quietly. "If anyone would have told me what was going on... he was an idiot."

"We both were."

"Oh, I know. Rory's dad? I think hooking up with Taylor would've bothered Luke less."

Lorelai couldn't help but laugh, "You're probably right. But... don't ever say 'hooking up' and 'Taylor' in the same sentence again, especially when it involves me." Jess smirked and she could guess at his next sentence, so she continued, "Jess, this wedding wouldn't be happening if I wasn't absolutely certain I'd never hurt Luke so badly again. Or if I believed for a second he'd do the same to me. I hope you know that."

He nodded, "Yeah. We talked a lot while we were waiting for April's flight to get in. When did he start talking so much?"

"Wasn't me," Lorelai gestured to April, "Blame Thing Two over there. He'd changed a lot by the time we got back together. We both did, I guess."

"Huh," Jess nodded, smirking a little as he caught his uncle's warning glare from across the room.

"Okay!" Gabby announced from the doorway of the dining room. "Can I get all the members of the Danes wedding party out here? Your carts are here ready to take you out for the rehearsal!"


"Where'd you get this?" Rory gestured to the small bouquet of flowers Lorelai held as the carts drove them back to the inn after a brief and easy rehearsal ceremony.

"Luke, this morning," Lorelai smiled. "Since we didn't want a wedding shower, I didn't have the standard bouquet of bows to rehearse with."

"That's sweet," Rory tugged at a small piece of paper tied to one of the flowers with Luke's writing on it. "Second time, Love L," she read aloud. "What does that mean?"

"Second time in his life he's ever brought someone flowers."

"Didn't he bring you flowers the day the inn opened?"

"He did," Lorelai nodded, fingering a bright orange marigold.

"Wow, sappy," Rory shook her head with a slight grin.

"Talkin' about me?" Luke whispered into Lorelai's ear from behind her.

"She said you're sappy," Lorelai leaned her head against his. "I guess that's a shocking fact the day before your wedding."

"I'll try to tone it down."

"Don't you dare."

Luke smiled and kissed her cheek before sitting back. He looked over at Jess's raised eyebrow and glared.

As the small group of friends and family began to walk into the inn, Luke and Lorelai rushed over to grab Zack before he could walk to his car.

"Everything cool?" Zack asked suspiciously, looking at Lorelai's hand on his elbow.

"Very cool," Lorelai replied. "The coolest. I heard you and Lane were looking for a new place."

"Yeah, landlord's gonna renovate the place and sell it. It's too small for us now anyway, Steve and Kwan have kinda outgrown the living room. Nothing's caught our eye yet, but we're still looking. You hear of something we should check out?"

Luke pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Zack, "New rental property that just opened up last night."

"They're a little picky about tenants, but I think Lane might be able to find her way into their good graces," Lorelai added.

"Yeah, she's good at-" Zack's eyes widened as he looked over what seemed to be a printed rental listing. "Lorelai, are you serious? Luke? What is this?"

"We weren't sure what we were going to do with it," Lorelai glanced down at the paper she, Rory, and Luke had put together the previous night and printed out. "I don't want just anyone living there, and it breaks my heart to think of selling it to some stranger. Lane mentioned the move yesterday, and Rory, Luke, and I talked last night. Don't feel obligated, talk it over with Lane, but think about it, okay?"

Zack nodded, stunned to silence. "Yeah, uh, we'll... uh... tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow and, we'll, uh, talk about this... Me and Lane. Tonight. About the house."

Lorelai nodded and chuckled as Zack turned to walk to his car in a daze, nearly dropping his guitar at one point as he continued staring at the paper.

Luke rubbed Lorelai's back as they walked back toward the inn. They paused just outside the entrance for a moment, watching through the window as Jess, April, and Rory entered a lively discussion over some unknown subject.

"I like that," Luke rested his hand on Lorelai's shoulder, "This. I like all of this."

Lorelai rested her hand on his. "Me too. This is how it should be. Everyone together, no separated families and worlds."

"Yep," Luke sighed contentedly and dragged his hand across her clavicle as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. He wrapped his other arm around her waist.

Lorelai leaned heavily back against Luke, and they both laughed as Rory cupped her hands over April's ears and glared at Jess. She let her gaze wander around the room, watching the various interactions, and caught her mother's reproachful eye as she did so. "We should probably get in there," she sighed.

"I'm hungry, anyway. Let's get this show on the road."


Later that night, Luke and Lorelai crawled into bed, happy and relaxed, feeling fully prepared for the following day.

After Lorelai leaned down to kiss Luke goodnight once more, she smiled at his sleepy face, running her hand across the stubble he intended to shave off in the morning despite her objections.

"Glad we didn't end up eloping last year?" she asked.

Luke frowned and opened his eyes. "Last chance to compare then and now. After the wedding tomorrow, we don't get to dwell on what-ifs or what-might-have-beens anymore. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Then to answer your question, yes. But, I will never forget that I should have stopped you, held onto you, and had all the conversations we waited over a year to have," he said, then thought for a moment, "But eloping would've been a mistake. After all this planning, and seeing everyone even just at the rehearsal, I think this is important. Having everyone here to be a part of it. You miss June third?"

"This is better than June third could have ever been," she smiled, her eyes filled with emotion.

He returned her smile and pulled her down for a final kiss goodnight before she curled up on his chest, falling asleep for the last time as Lorelai Gilmore, fiancée of Luke Danes.


Author's Notes: I wasn't planning on this, but it's been a very dark day here in the US; I've spent so much of today heartbroken and outraged. I will be editing and posting the next two chapters by tonight. I need to completely disconnect from reality for a bit, and I doubt I'm the only one. So if we're gonna hide in a fictional world, it might as well be Stars Hollow where two beloved characters are celebrating love.

Thanks for reading and dropping feedback in all its forms (here and across social media). 3