"Say goodbye to Lorelai Gilmore," Lorelai whispered to Luke as they snuggled on the back porch of the Dragonfly Inn after their wedding rehearsal. "Next time you see me, I'll be moments away from being Mrs. Lorelai Danes."
"Gilmore-Danes. You're hyphenating, aren't you?"
"I still haven't decided to be honest. I want to be Mrs. Danes, for sure, but all of my professional stuff, and stuff for the Dragonfly, is under Gilmore, so I'll probably use both names. Plus, I'm really proud of the Gilmore name. I know my relationship with my parents isn't the greatest, but it's a good name."
"You did a lot of really amazing things with the Gilmore name."
"Hardly."
"You ran an inn, you're about to open your own business, you raised a beautiful young woman, and you became completely independent at the age of sixteen. That's pretty impressive to me."
"Yes, well, you're required to be impressed by everything I do and my sheer existence."
"You make it pretty easy."
"Alright you lovebirds, wrap it up." Sookie said, stepping onto the porch. "I sent Rory home a while ago. Lorelai, I'm driving you home so I know you won't take off for the diner in the middle of the night."
"Sookie, I could just as easily walk to the diner. I walk to the diner most days." Lorelai pointed out. "Besides, I was the one who suggested this. It's tradition. The bride and the groom don't see each other before the wedding. We're probably cheating being together right now." Lorelai smiled, giving Luke a kiss before standing up. "I'm ready to go whenever you are, Sook."
"Hey, wait. I'm not done with her yet." Luke protested, reaching for Lorelai's hand, and Sookie smiled.
"Just send her out to the car. If she's not there in twenty I'm sending out a search party," Sookie teased before she gave them back the privacy of the porch.
"Not done with me yet?" Lorelai smirked, and Luke pulled her back into his lap.
"Nowhere near done, but I'll have to be quick." He smirked as he pressed his lips against hers fiercely: if this was his last chance to kiss Lorelai Gilmore, he was going to make the best of it.
"You still going to like kissing me when we're married?" Lorelai asked, a little breathless.
"I'm going to like it even more when we're married." he assured her before kissing her again. "Next time I kiss you you'll be my wife."
"Never really liked the word wife so much until I heard you say it." Lorelai mused.
"Can't wait to say it… my wife. It's a good phrase."
"One of my favorites, as it turns out."
"You should get going before I carry you back to the apartment myself."
"You're probably right."
"Don't know how I'm going to sleep without you next to me tonight."
"I'll miss you too, handsome boy." Lorelai said, placing her hand on the side of his face. He put his hand on top of hers and pulled it towards his lips so he could kiss her palm.
"I'll see you in… fourteen and a half hours." Lorelai said to him, checking her watch.
"Don't keep me waiting."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
She leaned forward to give him one more kiss before making a quick getaway to Sookie's car, not trusting herself to linger, knowing she'd find her way back to Luke and never make it home. She opened the car door and plopped into the passenger's seat.
"You know, Sook, you can go home to Jackson tonight. Just because I'm sleeping without Luke doesn't mean you should be away from your husband.
"I'm staying, at least for a few hours. We'll watch movies and eat junk food. It'll be our last hurrah."
"Isn't the bachelorette party supposed to be the last hurrah?"
"Yes, but you wimped out on that early." Sookie reminded her.
"I went to four bars, Sookie. Four. That was three more than I wanted to go to."
Sookie opened her mouth to respond but all that came out was a gasp. The car had taken a sharp turn to the left, and Sookie struggled to regain control. The car only stopped when the passenger side collided with a tree. The window shattered and the car finally settled to a stop, and both women took stock of the situation.
"Are you okay?" They asked each other at the same time.
"I'm okay." Sookie said. "Are you? Lorelai, you're bleeding."
Lorelai looked at her arm: Sookie was right, glass was embedded into her shoulder and her upper arm.
"I'm okay."
"Lorelai-"
"Sookie, I'm okay. We probably need to go to the hospital, but I'm okay. "
"Okay. Hospital. Let's go to the hospital."
"Sook, this car probably isn't safe to drive."
"Oh, you're right. I'll call Jackson."
"Rory. Rory's home alone. I should call Luke, I don't want her home alone when it's this late."
"Okay, I'm going to look at the car." Sookie said, stepping out from her side. Lorelai pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed the number for Luke's apartment.
"Hey. Miss me already?" He teased as he picked up the phone.
"Luke, don't freak out."
"Why? What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked, immediately freaking out.
"I'm fine. Okay? I'm fine. I'm fine. I want you to keep that in mind as I tell you the rest of what I'm going to tell you."
"Lorelai," Luke practically begged.
"Sookie and I got into a little accident. We are both fine. Did you hear that last part? I know your brain went into overdrive after the first part but the second is equally important."
"What happened? What's little? Where are you? I'm coming to get you."
"We spun out and hit a tree, and we're fine, Luke. We're both fine. There's some glass in my shoulder, so I'm just going to go to the hospital-"
"You're bleeding?"
"Luke, I'm fine." Lorelai said, beginning to feel like a broken record.
"Lorelai, are you bleeding?" Luke asked intensely.
"Yes." Lorelai answered, not wanting to lie even though she knew he was overreacting.
"Tell me where you are. I'm coming to get you and then we'll go to the hospital."
"Oh no, mister. It's 12:18 in the morning. It is officially our wedding day, and you aren't seeing me until I walk down that aisle."
"Lorelai, I quite frankly don't give a damn about tradition right now. You're my fiance and you're hurt and I'm taking you to the hospital myself to make sure you get there safe."
"Jackson is driving us to the hospital. I will call you when I get there and when I leave. Right now, I need you to go to the house and check on Rory. She's probably asleep by now but I don't want her in the house by herself."
"Lorelai-"
"Luke. Go check on our baby please. I love you, I am totally fine, I will call you when I'm leaving the hospital, but I absolutely will not see you until tomorrow afternoon when I'm walking down the aisle, okay?"
"You're a lot of work."
"Luke."
"You sure it's just your arm? You didn't hit your head? You're breathing okay? Your lung is still healing, and every time you get a concussion, the next one comes easier."
"Luke, I'm only going to say this one more time, so I really need you to hear it. I am fine. I'm fine. I'm going to go to the hospital, have the glass pulled out of me, they'll sew me back together and then tomorrow I'm going to marry you. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I love you, diner-man."
"I love you, crazy lady."
