On the first day of August, long after the sun had set, Luke finally locked up the hardware store. He climbed into the driver's seat of his truck and rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes, willing himself to stay awake long enough to make the short drive home. He just wanted to crawl into bed next to Lorelai and sleep for as long as Jess and Rory would allow. Then, when he woke up, he wanted to spend the day with his family.

He missed his family. All week he'd been going to work early and staying until long after dark in an effort to complete the inventory his dad wanted finished. He had barely seen Lorelai and their kids. Now that the inventory was finally done, Luke was looking forward to spending some much needed quality time with his family.

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Driving up to the house, Luke realized the living room light was on. He found it difficult to believe that anybody could still be awake, so he figured his dad or Lorelai had forgotten to turn off the light before going to bed.

As he walked into the house, he kicked his shoes off by the door and headed to the living room to turn off the light. When he reached the living room, he realized that Lorelai was still awake. She was curled up in the corner of the couch, reading a book. Without saying a word, Luke crossed the living room and laid down on the couch with his head in her lap. He slid one arm around her back and draped the other over her legs.

"Long day?" Lorelai asked, putting down her book.

"Long week."

"It's over now," she assured him, combing her fingers through his hair.

"I missed you and the kids," Luke mumbled against her leg.

"We missed you too," she replied. Then, noticing that his eyes had drifted shut, she said, "Let's go to bed."

"Too tired."

"You'll be more comfortable in bed. Come on, let's go."

"Mmmkay," he agreed, sleepily stumbling to his feet and allowing her to lead him upstairs.

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"Dada, Dada, Dada!" Jess and Rory shouted in unison, bursting into their parents' bedroom. They began pulling on the blankets as they struggled to climb onto the bed.

Luke rolled over and threw his arm over Lorelai. "What is happening?" he muttered, burying his face in the pillow.

Lorelai giggled and kissed the top of his head while rubbing his bicep comfortingly. "Our sweet little babies have turned into evil little monkeys."

"What?"

"Jess and Rory have learned how to climb out of their cribs and how to climb into our bed. The tiny terrors have also decided they like to rise before the sun." Lorelai's explanation was punctuated by Jess and Rory finally making it onto the bed and flopping onto Luke's back with shrieks of happiness.

Luke let out a discontented groan. "Why?"

"Don't ask me, Mr. Early Riser. I don't understand how anybody can like mornings."

Rory showed her unhappiness at being ignored by pounding on Luke's back. "Dada! Dada!" she demanded.

"Yes, Dada does like mornings," Lorelai told her daughter. "This must be all his fault."

"Hey! Don't blame me. I didn't teach them how to climb out of their cribs." He shifted onto his back, pulling Jess and Rory onto his chest. "Did I?" he asked, tickling the toddlers until they laughed uncontrollably.

Lorelai moved to lay on her side. She rested her head on one hand and looked down at Luke. "It's your fault they like mornings, which is what motivated them to learn how to climb out of their cribs. Now, they expect me to like mornings and I blame you." She followed her last statement with a hard jab to his shoulder.

"Ouch." Luke scowled at Lorelai and stopped tickling Jess and Rory. "You might like mornings more if you went to bed earlier," he told Lorelai as he cuddled Jess and Rory against his chest.

"I'd go to bed earlier, if you came home earlier."

"So, the fact that you stayed up too late last night is also my fault?"

"Definitely," she answered with a laugh.

Luke shook his head in disbelief and chuckled. After a moment, he grew serious and asked, "Why were you waiting up for me last night?"

Lorelai laid her head on Luke's shoulder and ran her fingers through Rory's hair. "I wanted to talk to you."

"And then I fell asleep before you had a chance to say anything. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You were exhausted."

"Yeah, but I knew there had to be a reason you were still awake and I should've asked."

"Let it go, Luke. It's not a big deal."

Luke grunted.

"I know that grunt. Let it go."

"Fine," he relented with a heavy sigh. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I finally called my dad to let him know about our engagement."

"Did you have to talk to your mom?"

"No, I called him at work."

"Oh. What did he say?"

"He told me best wishes and said he'd tell my mom."

"That's good. Right?"

"It's great. I'm really hoping he'll agree to walk me down the aisle."

"I'm sure he will. You just need to let him know that's what you want."

"I know, but I'm waiting until we pick a date."

"Okay, so, we'll pick a date today."

"It's not that easy. We have to find a place. Our wedding date will be determined by what dates our venue is available."

"It's Stars Hollow, Lorelai. There's always a place available."

"Still, we need to find the place. Our place."

"Okay, we'll find our place. What about the inn? I'm sure Mia would love it if we got married there. Or we could get married in the center of town. At the gazebo. I know Miss Patty could arrange it. Then, if the weather is bad, we could move everything into the dance studio."

Lorelai looked up at him in awe. "You've really thought about this."

"Of course. It's our wedding. I just need to know when you want to get married."

"As soon as possible."

"Really?"

"Really. I don't want to wait."

Luke grinned. "Let's talk to Mia and Miss Patty today. We can find out what dates they have available."

"I can't believe we might have a wedding date by the end of the day." Lorelai squealed in delight, rousing Jess and Rory from where they were resting on Luke's chest.

Luke laughed at Lorelai's enthusiasm. He gathered Jess and Rory in his arms and got out of bed. "Let's get started."

"Food first," Lorelai declared as she climbed out of bed and headed for the bedroom door.

"Obviously. I wouldn't want you to make a phone call on an empty stomach."

"Good. That means you know me well."

"Ah geez."

"Besides, it's too early to start calling people anyway."

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Lorelai was enjoying a rare weekday home alone with Jess and Rory. When the phone started to ring in the middle of the afternoon, she quickly finished changing Rory's diaper and helped her to her feet. "Come on, sweet girl, let's go answer the phone." She led Rory into the living room where Jess was watching Sesame Street and turned off the television. After settling Jess and Rory on the floor with a pile of books, Lorelai grabbed the phone and plopped down on the couch. "Hello. Danes residence."

"Hello, Lorelai. This is your mother."

Lorelai stiffened. "Hi, Mom."

"Your father tells me you're engaged."

"That's right."

"To that man you brought with you to Thanksgiving dinner?"

"Yes, Mom, Luke is my fiancé. Who else would I be engaged to?"

"I thought you might have come to your senses and agreed to marry Christopher. After all, he is your daughter's father."

"No, he's not. He terminated his rights. He's nothing to her. Or to me."

"A girl needs her father, Lorelai. You shouldn't have cut Christopher out of his daughter's life. Then, maybe, he wouldn't have thought he had to terminate his rights."

"Rory has a father," Lorelai insisted. "A damn good one."

"Who?" Emily scoffed. "Luke?" she asked, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Don't say it like that," Lorelai protested. "Luke's an amazing father. To both of our kids."

"My God, Lorelai, please tell me you are not pretending to be that boy's mother."

"His name is Jess and I'm not pretending to be his mother. I am his mother."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious. Now, either you can continue to insult my family and I can hang up the phone or you can tell me why you called."

"I called to discuss your engagement."

"I'm marrying Luke. You don't approve. End of discussion."

Emily groaned. "Fine. Since I can see you're determined to make yet another big mistake, I suppose we should start planning this disaster. Have you chosen a date?"

"October 13th."

"Good. That gives us a little more than a year to plan."

"Actually, it's exactly two months."

"You're not getting married this year," Emily argued. "I can't possibly be expected to plan a wedding in two months."

"We are getting married this year and I don't expect you to plan the wedding at all. Luke and I have it under control."

"I doubt it. There's no way you can even find a venue in two months."

"We already have. We're getting married in the gazebo in the center of town."

"Really, Lorelai, I meant an appropriate venue. You can't have our friends and your father's business associates sitting outside, especially in the middle of October."

"They won't be. It's going to be a small wedding. Only family and a few of our friends."

"That's simply not possible, Lorelai. You have to have a wedding befitting someone of our social standing. You can't embarrass your father again."

"It's not your wedding, Mom. It's my wedding and it's Luke's wedding. We'll plan it our way. The only choice you have is whether or not you show up. I really hope you will choose to come."

"I'm your mother, Lorelai. It's my right to help plan your wedding."

"No, it's not," Lorelai declared softly.

"Why must you make everything so difficult? I'm only trying to help you."

Frustrated, upset, and realizing she'd had enough of her mother, Lorelai chose to end the conversation. "I have to go now. I'll make sure you get an invitation soon." She hung up the phone and took a deep, calming breath.

When she had calmed down, Lorelai glanced over at Jess and Rory and saw they were still absorbed in their books. She watched them for a moment, then decided they all needed to get out of the house. "Jess, Rory," she called for their attention. "Who wants to go see Dada?"

Jess and Rory dropped their books on the floor and raced toward the front door, shouting, "Me! Me! Me!"

Lorelai laughed. "Wait for me! You can't leave without Mama."

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As soon as Lorelai opened the door to William's Hardware, Rory took off running. "Dada! Dada! Dada!" she cried, tearing through the store.

Luke stepped out from behind the counter to sweep Rory off her feet and into his arms. "Hi, Rory. Where's Mama and Jess?"

Rory pointed in the general direction of the door. At the same time, Lorelai walked around a display of hand tools with Jess on her hip. "We're here," she announced, stepping close to Luke and leaning in for a quick kiss.

"What are you guys doing here?" Luke asked, ushering his family behind the counter.

"I had to get out of the house after talking to my mother," Lorelai told him while pulling out the stash of coloring books and crayons that William kept on hand for Jess and Rory.

Luke led the excited toddlers to an out of the way corner. "I guess she knows that we're engaged?"

"Yeah, she knows." Lorelai waited until Jess and Rory were sitting down to hand them the coloring books and crayons.

"She's not thrilled?"

"Definitely not. She said it's a big mistake and a disaster. When I didn't agree, she tried to take over the planning. She wanted to invite her friends and my dad's business associates. I told her that we wanted a smaller wedding with our family and our friends, which upset her. She said the type of wedding we were planning wasn't befitting of someone of my social standing and that I was going to embarrass them again. Oh, and she said that I shouldn't be pretending to be Jess' mom. The whole conversation made be so upset," Lorelai explained, seething.

Luke wrapped his arms around Lorelai and held her tightly. He stroked her back softly, waiting for her to calm down. When she was calmer, he pulled back slightly, so he could look her in the eye. "It's not a mistake or a disaster. It's our wedding. We'll plan it our way and your mom can get on board or get out of the way." Lorelai chuckled half-heartedly. "And you are not pretending to be Jess' mom. You are his mom." He kissed her forehead and pulled her back against his chest.

Lorelai returned the embrace. "Thanks."

"We could make it official. If you want."

"I already said yes. Hence the wedding."

"Ha ha," he responded dryly. "I meant the kids. You could adopt Jess. I could adopt Rory."

Shocked, Lorelai took a step back. "What?"

"It was just a thought," he hurried to assure her.

She heard the nerves in his voice and grabbed his face, pulling him into a hard, passionate kiss. A wide smile spread across Lorelai's face when she released him, but quickly turned into a frown when she realized he was distracted by something behind her.

Looking over Lorelai's shoulder, Luke was stunned to see the woman who had just walked into his father's store. "Rachel."

"Rachel? Your Rachel?" Lorelai turned around and instantly recognized the woman near the door as Luke's ex-girlfriend. Despite having seen only one picture of Rachel nearly two years earlier, Lorelai was certain this was the same woman. "You're Rachel?"

"Yep. I'm Rachel."

Lorelai looked at Luke, hoping he could explain Rachel's sudden appearance, but all he could do was stare at Rachel, dumbfounded.

"Hello, Rachel," William greeted from the doorway of the storeroom, making his presence known for the first time. When everybody turned to look at him, he saw Luke's surprise, Lorelai's uncertainty, and Rachel's discomfort. "Luke, you and Rachel can talk in my office," William suggested, taking control of the situation.

"Yeah, um, okay." Luke took Rachel's bag and led her upstairs.

William turned to Lorelai. "It'll be okay."

"I know," she agreed weakly.

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Nearly an hour after Luke and Rachel went upstairs, Rachel came downstairs alone. She waved at William and Lorelai, then walked out the door without saying a word. After Rachel left, Lorelai began watching the stairs, waiting for Luke to appear.

William watched Lorelai watch the stairs for several minutes before sighing heavily in exasperation. "Lorelai, go upstairs."

"Are you sure? Maybe I should wait for him to come down."

"I'm sure." He took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her in the direction of the stairs. "Go."

"Okay, okay. I'm going. Keep an eye on Jess and Rory."

William waved her away. "They're fine."

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At the top of the stairs, Lorelai knocked on the door to William's office. When there was no response, she opened the door and went inside, determined to talk to Luke. She found him sitting at his father's desk with his head in his hands. "Luke, are you okay?" she asked. Luke didn't acknowledge her, so she crossed the room and gently pulled him away from the desk.

Luke groaned when Lorelai pulled him off the desk and tugged her into his lap, burying his face in her hair. "I love you."

"I love you too. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Leaning back in the chair, so he could look at her, Luke gasped, "Nothing happened!"

Knowing Luke had misunderstood her question and been hurt by the misunderstanding, Lorelai rested her hand against his cheek in an effort to reassure him. "I was asking what she wanted. What did she say? Why is she even here? I thought she was busy traveling the world."

"She was. She's in town to help her parents move."

"Oh."

"I knew they were moving, but I didn't know she was coming to help."

"So, she's visiting her parents and, what, just stopped by to say hi?"

"Not exactly. She came to ask if I was ready to travel the world with her."

"Wow."

"Yeah. I didn't think I would ever see her again and then, suddenly, she's here, asking me to run away with her. It's like she thought I would just drop everything for her. Like I don't have a family and responsibilities."

"Do you want to go?"

"Of course not. I didn't want to go the first time she asked either. Now, I have you and Jess and Rory. What more could I want?"

"I just don't want you to have any regrets."

"I will never regret not going with Rachel, then or now."

"Okay. Good."

"I hope you never doubt that, Lorelai. I thought I loved her, but I know I love you and the family we're creating."

"I love you too." Lorelai brushed her lips against Luke's. "Speaking of our family, were you serious about adopting Rory and letting me adopt Jess?"

"I was. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea. I want you to by Rory's dad and I want to be Jess' mom. Legally, I mean."

"We're really going to do this?"

"We really are." She threw her arms around his neck in excitement. "Let's go see our kids and tell your dad the good news."