Sorry for the slight delay! Things have been a bit crazy on my end but I'm back now so here's the next chapter. Thanks for your continued support! :)
Chapter 13
Luke woke up the next morning and glanced across at Lorelai who was admiring her ring. "Do you like it?" He asked.
Lorelai glanced at him. "Of course!" She said.
"I wasn't sure whether to get a new one..." He admitted. "But I remembered how much you loved this one..."
"I did love it." She smiled. "I do love it. It's perfect." She said softly.
"Good." Luke smiled softly. He glanced at her for a moment. "Can I ask you something?" He said.
"Of course." Lorelai said.
"I know you and Sookie will have your own thing but I was wondering whether maybe I could help with the plans this time." He said.
"I'd love you to be involved." She said. She sighed. "I'm sorry if you felt excluded last time."
"I didn't. I just...well, maybe I did a bit. But I know it all happened so quickly last time and everything just fell into place. I know that." Luke said. "It would just be nice to have some input this time."
"Of course." Lorelai smiled softly. "I'd like that."
"Ok good." Luke said. "Also..."
Lorelai laughed. "You are in the talking mood today..." She joked.
He smirked. "Sorry..."
"What's up?" She asked.
"Well..uh..actually, it doesn't matter." He said. "I should get ready to open up."
"Luke..."
He sighed. "Well, I've been thinking..."
"About what?"
"About kids..."
"Kids?" She said confused.
Luke sighed. "You said yesterday that your mother wanted to move closer to be near any future grandchildren..."
"Yeah but I told her we hadn't actually spoken about that yet, that we'd only just gotten back together..." Lorelai said.
"Well...why don't we talk about it?" He said hesitantly.
"You want to talk about it?" Lorelai said cautiously.
"Well, do you?" Luke said.
Lorelai glanced over at him. "I didn't want to pressure you or anything. I know we haven't really spoken about it before even when we were together before." She said. "I mean we had that one tiny conversation but that was it..."
"Yeah...maybe we should have spoken it a bit more..." He said.
"Maybe we should have." Lorelai said with a small smile. "You know...I thought I was pregnant at one point..." She admitted.
"What?" He said shocked.
"I mean, it turned out to be a false alarm..." She said quickly. "But for a minute, I thought I might be."
"Oh..." Luke said quietly.
Lorelai glanced at him. "If I thought there was any truth in it, I would have told you." She said. "But it all happened so quickly and then it became so obvious that I wasn't pregnant. There was nothing to tell." She said.
Luke nodded. "Ok."
She sighed. "Do you remember when you went to New York with me? And that limo drive back and then that night..."
He smiled slightly. "I remember."
"It was after that. I was at the hospital with Sookie and suddenly I started eating an apple..."
"And you thought that was weird." Luke said understanding.
"Yeah." She said. "But then mother nature took its course so I knew it was a false alarm."
Luke nodded. He glanced at her. "Would you like more kids?" He asked.
Lorelai glanced at him and then smiled slightly. "I think I've always wanted kids with you, Luke." She admitted.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She smiled softly. "What about you?"
"I think...I think I would like kids with you as well." He admitted.
"So we're in agreement then?" Lorelai said cautiously.
"Looks like it." Luke nodded.
"We want kids?" She said suddenly smiling.
Luke smiled. "We want kids."
Lorelai smiled and leant over to kiss him. "I love you."
"Back at you." He smiled. he then started getting up. "Ok I really need to get going now." He said.
"Same." She sighed. "See you at lunch?"
"You better."
"Lorelai!" Emily said surprised as she opened her front door to see her daughter stood there.
"Hi mom." Lorelai smiled nervously.
"Is everything ok?"
"Can I not just come and see you without an ulterior motive?" She said. She laughed when she saw her mother raise her eyebrows. "Ok fine, I do have an ulterior motive but it's a good one, I promise. It's to do with the wedding."
Emily looked at her for a moment before she smiled slightly. "You better come in then."
Lorelai followed her into the living room and sat down. She looked around at the empty house. "You're nearly ready then..." She said.
Emily nodded. "There's been a lot to pack up but yes, it's nearly done." She said. "Would you like a drink?"
"No I'm ok."
"Ok. Well what did you want to ask me?" She said.
"Well, there's two things really. I was talking to Luke about the wedding this morning and he wants to be involved in the planning this time round. I get that because we kind of excluded him last time. I didn't realise it at the time but Sookie and I planned it all ourselves. So...I want him to be involved this time..."
"Ok...What's that got to do with me?" Emily said.
"Well...there's two things that the bride's parents are kind of involved in..."
Emily sighed. "I will pay for your wedding, Lorelai. That was never a question."
"No! It wasn't that! Luke and I are happy to pay. But...there was something I'd like you to pay for?" Lorelai said hesitantly.
"What?"
"My wedding dress..."
"Your wedding dress?" She said surprised.
"Yeah, well Luke saw me in my last one and it wasn't exactly lucky so I was wondering if, when you have time, you'd like to go wedding dress shopping with me..." Lorelai said nervously.
"Lorelai..." Emily said softly.
"I know last time it was screwed up and we weren't even talking really when I was planning the wedding but I want you involved, mom. If you'd like to be?" She said.
Emily smiled tremulously. "I'd love to be."
"Ok good." Lorelai said. "There's one more thing..."
"Yes?"
"Well...normally it's tradition for the bride's father to walk her down the aisle and well...we both know dad can't do that now..." Lorelai said quietly. She glanced up at her. "So...I was wondering whether you'd like to do it..."
"Walk you down the aisle?" Emily said stunned.
"I mean you don't have to!" Lorelai said quickly. "I can walk down by myself but I..."
"Lorelai, I would be honoured..." She said tremulously.
"Really?" Lorelai said.
"Really." Emily smiled softly. "Thank you...for including me."
Lorelai nodded. "Well...I better be going but...I'll be in touch?" She said getting up.
"I look forward to it." Emily said.
Lorelai smiled at her. "Bye mom." She said softly.
"Bye Lorelai."
"Will you get back with your old girlfriend more regularly please?"
Jess looked up from his desk at Truncheon and saw Matt and Chris smirking at him. "What?"
"Ever since you've been back, you've had that giddy smile on your face. I mean, your mom rang this morning and you actually laughed as you talked to her." Matt said.
"Shut up." Jess rolled his eyes.
"So when are we going to meet Rory?" Chris grinned.
"You've met her." He said.
"I mean officially." Chris said.
"Never." Jess said smirking slightly. "I don't want you two scaring her off."
"Ouch!" Matt laughed.
"Come on, Jess! We won't embarrass you! We just want to meet the girl who's got you all giddy." Chris smirked.
Suddenly, Jess' cell rang. "Saved by the bell." He smirked.
"This isn't over!" Matt called.
"Look at that giddy smile. Let's guess who's on the other end of that phone!" Chris smirked.
"Get back to work." Jess rolled his eyes but smirked. He then headed upstairs and answered the phone. "Hey." He said.
"Hi!" Rory smiled.
"What's up?"
"Just checking in. I'm on my lunch so thought I'd give you a call. Is it a bad time?"
"Nope, it's fine. Actually you did me a favour." Jess chuckled.
"Good! So I spoke to mom and she asked me to be her maid of honour." Rory grinned.
"That's great!" Jess said. "Luke..uh..Luke asked me to be his best man." He admitted.
"Aw really? That' so sweet!" Rory enthused.
"Yeah..." Jess said, ducking his head slightly. "I don't know why he chose me but..yeah..."
"Because he wouldn't want Kirk!" She teased.
"Yeah that's probably it." He chuckled.
"No, really. It's because you're family. You've been like a son to him. I'm not surprised at all that he asked you." She smiled.
"So any news on the date yet?" He asked.
"Not yet."
"Guess it's early days yet." Jess said.
"Yeah. Although I can't see them wanting to leave it too late. I reckon they will just want to do it." Rory said.
"Makes sense."
"Anyway, I better go. But speak later?" Rory smiled.
"You can count on it." Jess smiled. "Bye Rory."
"Bye Dodger." She grinned before hanging up.
"Hi love!" Lorelai smiled as Luke arrived back that evening.
"Hi." He smiled.
"I cooked for you!" She grinned.
"You cooked?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Well...Sookie cooked at the inn but same thing." She shrugged.
Luke smirked. "Sounds more like it." He chuckled.
"How was your day?"
"Good. Although the gossip brigade was going strong today." He said.
"Wouldn't leave you alone huh?" Lorelai laughed.
"Nope." He said gruffly. "Only time I had to myself was when I rang Jess."
"Oh yeah! What did he say?" She asked.
"He said he'd do it." Luke smiled slightly.
"That's great!" Lorelai smiled.
"Rory said yes I'm guessing?"
"Of course!" She grinned.
"Sookie doesn't mind being a bridesmaid instead of your maid of honour?"
"She understands." Lorelai smiled.
"Good."
"Anyway, I was thinking..."
"Never a good start..." Luke teased.
"Shut up!" She said playfully. "Anyway, I was thinking...maybe we could have the wedding in the summer."
"As in two months away?" Luke said surprised.
"Well...yeah..." Lorelai said. "I mean, it's perfect really. Rory and Jess will probably be able to get away from work for a bit and well...April will be here. And we can't have our wedding without my second bridesmaid..."
Luke glanced at her. "You want April to be your bridesmaid?" He said touched.
"Well...yeah. She's your daughter, Luke. I want her to be involved." She smiled.
Luke went over and kissed her. "I love you." He said softly.
"I love you too." She smiled. "So...you think she'd want to?"
"I think she will be thrilled." Luke smiled.
"Great." Lorelai grinned.
"So two months huh?"
"Two months..."
"August 5th..." Luke said softly.
"August 5th." Lorelai smiled softly.
So I hope you liked it! Please keep the reviews coming, I really do love reading them all and I really appreciate them! :) Thanks again for all the support. :)