A/N Ok I'm warning you now this is an extremely long chpter, I'm talking 25
pages on Microsoft word so you're going need some time to read it. this
chapter, well the start of it anyway is taking place immediately after Lane
and Dave left The Kim House.
*Kim Living Room
Rory reluctantly exits the kitchen and approaches Jess who is awkwardly standing next to Henry.
Jess looks over his shoulder as Rory rests her arm on Jess' shoulder.
"Hey." He says quietly.
"Hi." She replies. "Hi, Henry."
"Rory! Hey, wow you look great." Henry replies kissing Rory on the cheek.
"Thank you, so do you." Rory replies with a smile. "So you're a doctor now?"
"Podiatrist, but it's a living."
Rory nods uncomfortably, suddenly reminded that she and Henry were never friends.
An awkward silence ensues.
Jess' eyes wander across the room as the front door opens and Lorelai and Luke enter.
Jess taps Rory's arm and points to the door.
Rory nods.
"So you're married now?" Henry asks, trying to make conversation.
"Huh, oh yeah almost 3 years now."
"You got married before you finished school?"
"Yeah, you know we just couldn't wait any longer." Rory smiles up at Jess.
"Interesting, where'd you two meet at school?"
Rory laughs a little, "No we actually met when were 16...we'd been dating since we were a 17."
"That's nice." Henry nods happily.
"Yeah." Jess replies.
"Henry!"
"Oh if you'll excuse me." Henry says politely before heading towards the small group of church members congregated in the dining room.
"Wow, that was weird." Rory says.
"Yeah....Lane went out with that guy? He seems so....."
"Not Lane." Rory replies flatly.
"Yeah."
"That was the first time we've discussed how we met." Rory states.
"It was." Jess nods.
"Maybe its just me.....you know and all the baby stuff going on, messing with my head...but its making me all nostalgic."
Jess smiles at Rory, putting an arm around her waist, "No, I know what you mean."
The two grow silent.
"We were 16 when we met and about a year later, almost to the day, we started going out." Jess says, looking down at his wife.
"And then we almost broke up that first year...after you got a black eye and wouldn't tell me why....."
"Which I had a very legitimate reason for doing..."
"Uh huh."
"But I eventually told you....and then you gave one of the most incredible summers of my life." Jess grins at Rory, tightening his grasp on her.
Rory stumbles back towards the wall giggling slightly, "I still can't believe my mom let me go to myrtle beach with you for an entire two weeks..."
"Eh, I think she figured we were going to have the summer together and then once you went off to school, that'd be the end of "Rory and Jess." Jess says mockingly.
Rory smirks, "Little did she know I'd talk you into attending college and moving closer to Yale."
"Do you remember that restaurant the one on the beach...."
"That over looked the water." Rory finishes, kissing Jess hand.
"Yeah....that was a great place...we walked on the beach for hours after dinner....and then it got late and they turned off all the lamps on the shore...."
"It was pitch black and we couldn't find our way back..."
"So we had to stay where we were until the sun came up."
"Mmm." Rory sighs happily remembering the events of nearly 8 years ago.
"That was a great night......"
"Marked a first for me...." Rory trails off going pink.
Jess laughs at Rory's bashfulness. "I don't think you ever told me that." Jess says seriously.
Rory swats Jess, "Shut up, you know I did...you just like hearing it over and over."
Jess smirks, "I don't know about that, I think you should remind me." Jess raises an amused eyebrow at Rory.
"Rory takes Jess' face in her hands pulling him closer to her, "Jess, you were my first, you'll be my last." She says mechanically.
Jess breaks into a wide grin.
"I hate you." Rory replies letting go of Jess.
"I hate him too." The sound of Lorelai's voice causes Jess to turn around.
"Oh. Hey." He says dully.
"Hey yourself." Luke says gruffly.
Rory moves away from the wall, her cheeks flustered.
Lorelai gives her a knowing glance, "We just came over to warn you...Mrs. Kim is making her rounds...she catches you like that....she'll make you pay for the wallpaper."
"Thanks mom."
"So where's Lane, I thought she was showing off the boyfriend tonight?" Lorelai asks.
"They went out to get more ice."
"Oh I see....and what about the doctor?"
"He's around...that's kind of why Lane and Dave left.....turns out the doctor is Henry...this guy Lane dated a few times."
"Henry....Henry, oh! Secret boyfriend first love Henry!"
"Uh huh!"
"oo that's juicy!"
"I know.it was a whole big thing, Jess got involved Lane ended up taking Dave out..it was a scandal."
"Why do I always miss the good stuff?" Lorelai exclaims stomping her foot.
"Well maybe if you came on time, you wouldn't miss anything." Jess speaks up.
"I thought we already established that we hated you and you should shut up." Lorelai barks back.
Jess lifts his hands up in a motion of surrender.
"Speaking of which why do we hate him today?"
"Oh, um....just because." Rory replies nervously trying to conceal her smile.
Jess turns away, stifling his laughter.
"mm..I'm thirsty!" Rory announces turning in the direction of the kitchen."
"I'll come with." Jess says taking Rory's hand with a grin.
Luke and Lorelai watch them leave, "They were talking about it again."
"How could you tell?" Lorelai asks sarcastically.
"I still can't believe you let them go off alone for two weeks.."
"That was 7 years ago...besides it was a ploy I thought we'd be rid of him by mid-October....."
"Sure." Luke says warmly, wrapping his arms around Lorelai.
Lorelai looks down at Luke's, large muscular arms and smiles, "But you know those were two of the best weeks of my life."
Luke smirks, "Yeah...sneaking around has its advantages."
"Sneaking around had nothing to do with it......the whole point of sending them away was so we wouldn't have to sneak around anymore....i was getting tired of hiding in your closet.."
"Yeah, but we still snuck around for another year after that"
"Would have been two if Rory hadn't come home from school a day early that December.....I'll never forget the look on her face when you walked out of the kitchen in your underwear." Lorelai says laughing out loud.
Luke goes pink for a second before gaining composure and pinching Lorelai's side.
"Ow!" she exclaims pulling out of his grasp.
Luke smiles at her as Rory and Jess rejoin them.
"We interrupting?" Jess smirks.
"Shut up." Luke grumbles.
The front door swings open.
Lane enters, a determined look on her face; Dave stands behind her, a single hand around her waist.
Everyone turns to face them including Mrs. Kim.
She glares murderously at Dave. Dave, for once remains unaffected.
Lane avoids her mother's eyes, her intent to reach Rory.
Lane approaches her, a smile breaking onto her face as she and Rory lock eyes.
"What's going on?" Jess whispers to Rory.
"I'm not sure..." Rory says warily.
Lane walks past them, grabbing onto Rory's arm, "I need to talk to you."
"Ok.."
"Come on in the kitchen.....no one goes in there...the fumes from the food make everyone dizzy."
Jess lets go of Rory.
"Come on Jess, you have to come to."
"I do?"
"Just come on already, before she explodes." Dave says with a grin.
Rory and Jess follow them into the kitchen, Jes closes the door after them.
"Ok, we give up what's going on?"
"We're getting married!" Lane screams quietly.
"What?!" jess and Rory say simultaneously..
"We're getting married..Dave's going to move into my apartment and we're going do it."
"Wow, you guys are serious this time." Rory marvels.
"Yeah, we are." Lane says happily.
"I'm so happy for you." Rory says, tears streaming down her face as she hugs her friend.
Jess pats Dave on the back. Dave nods happily.
"So you'll come to the wedding?" Lane asks.
"Of course, why wouldn't we?"
"You may be the only people there." Dave confides. "Well, besides my parents."
"Oh...."
"And you're going to be my maid of honor."
"Yay!" Rory replies clapping her hands.
"So keep the 16th open."
"16th of what?"
"January."
"Whoa, wait why the rush...."
"You're not, um...." Jess says looking down at the floor.
"Oh God, no, definitely not."
"Oh good."
"I'm just so tired, of all this....we want to get it over with, once we're married we won't have to worry about any of this stuff anymore."
"What about your mom?" Rory asks.
Lane grows quiet.
"We're going to tell her together." Dave replies.
"Look, I've spent my whole life living by her rules.....I can't go on like that anymore, I haven't lived for myself and I need to." Lane replies.
"Well you know we're here for you, for both of you." Jess interjects.
Dave nods.
"Thanks, Jess." Lane says giving him a hug.
"Ok," Lane says pulling out of the hug, "I'm ready, let's go tell everyone." Lane says turning to Dave.
"Bye Guys." Dave says waving to Jess and Rory.
"Good luck." Rory says as the retreat to the living room.
Jess turns to Rory, "So Lane's getting married."
"Yeah....it's weird how we all have stuff going on."
"Yep, we're all grown up."
"I'll say.....You and Lane are even on a hugging basis, I didn't even think she'd come to our wedding when we got married."
"Come no now, we've worked out our differences..way before we got married."
"I know, I just keeping thinking about all the fights you two used to have."
"Yeah......I kind of miss those." Jess smirks.
*The living room.
Lane approaches Henry who standing off to the corner by himself; Dave stays behind.
"Hi." She says.
He smiles, "Hey."
"I'm sorry about before, running off."
"It's ok, Lane."
"No, you know I shouldn't have agreed to meet my mom's "new friends" it always ends badly.....and if I had know you were "the doctor" I would have squashed this whole meet and greet before it happened."
"Lane it's ok, we're both in the same position."
"We are?"
"You love your mother and want to make her happy, I want to do the same for my parents....I mean they're not as strict as your mom, but I know it'd make them happy if I settled down with a "nice Korean girl"" Henry says with a laugh.
Lane nods.
Henry looks over at Dave, "So you moved on?"
"Long time ago."
Henry nods, "Good, I'm glad you're finally doing what you want to do."
"Thanks." Lane replies, looking over at Dave, who eyes are fixated on her.
"Hey Henry,"
"Yeah?"
"Come here." Lane says pulling Henry towards Dave
"Hey." Dave says with a smile.
Henry nods in acknowledgement.
Henry Cho, I'd like you to me Dave Rygawlski, my fiancée."
Dave beams down at Lane.
"Wow congratulations." Henry smiles faintly.
"You're what?!" Mrs. Kim's harsh voice cuts the air like a knife.
Lane's eyes get wide, Dave moves closer to Lane, taking her hand in his.
Mrs. Kim is bearing down on Lane, causing her to pull back.
Dave squeezes her hand reassuringly, giving her the courage to stand up straight.
" Dave and I are getting married, Mama."
"No you're not." Her mother replies sternly.
"Y-yes we are, I love Dave and he loves me.....we're getting married."
"He can not support you, he will not take care of you."
"That's not true." Dave says with emphasis.
Mrs. Kim turns her attention to Dave, "Get out of my house, you're no good for my daughter."
"Yes he is Mama, he's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"He is nothing, he will only use you."
Dave lets go of Lane's hand, " You don't even know me." He sneers.
"Dave..." Lane breathes, grabbing his arm.
"Dave looks down at Lane and then back up at her mother, "I've tried everything to get you to like me, I've attended church services sung hymns I've even eaten your cooking on numerous occasions.....I've made an effort to get to know you and follow your rules as closely and honestly as I could, but it's obviously not enough for you. I'm sorry that you have a problem with me marrying your daughter, but it's not your decision to make.....you can't just pick some one for your daughter to love. That's not how it works. I honestly have no idea why Lane loves me, it's a mystery to me, but she does and I love her and together we have a chance at a great life, maybe not a prosperous one, but I know we'll be damn happy because we have love and as stupid or unrealistic as it may sound, we can build on that."
Mrs. Kim takes a step back, not taking her eyes off of Dave, "Get out of my house."
"Fine." Dave says meeting her stern gaze. Dave looks down at Lane, leans in and kisses her gently before turning on his heels towards the door.
Lane looks from Dave to her mother and then follows Dave to the door.
"Lane! Don't walk out of this house!"
Lane turns to look at her mother, she shakes her head, "I love him, Mama. If you can't see Dave for the man he is, the man who's helped me keep my sanity these last 7 years; then you, you have no regard for your own daughter and as far as I'm concerned as long as Dave is not welcome here neither am I because Dave is a part of me, a part that I'm not letting go of...ever. Good bye, mom." Lane says dignifiedly.
Dave smiles at Lane, tears in his eyes.
Lane grabs hold of Dave's arm and hurry's out the door.
*Outside:
"You stood up for me." Dave says with amazement.
"Well, I couldn't let her say all those things about you...they weren't true, you're the stable one in this relationship." Lane grins at him.
"I'm sorry it had to happen like that."
"I'm not." Lane says honestly.
Dave leans in and kisses her passionately.
"What now?" Lane asks.
"I could call my parents, we could spend Christmas with them....or we could go home early, you know if being here's going to upset you."
"No, let's stay, it's tradition every year I go over Rory's after lunch and we listen to all her new cds and watch Christmas specials."
"Ok, I'll call my mom."
*After Lane and Dave's exit, the party at the Kim's thinned out very quickly.
*Gilmore House:
"Yes! Finally I was there for the good stuff."
"Somehow I feel its wrong to gloat about that." Jess says flatly.
"Hm....I guess you're right, do you think Lane's ok."
"She's fine." Luke says entering the house with two bags of groceries.
"How do you know?"
"I saw her and Dave cozying up on their way towards peach drive."
"Haha Luke said cozying." Lorelai grins.
"Ok, no cake for you." Luke says waving one of the grocery bags at her.
"Mean!" Lorelai says following Luke into the kitchen.
"They're probably on their way to Dave's parents, they live 3 blocks down form peach."
"Want to call her?" Jess asks.
"No.....I'm sure we'll hear from her tomorrow."
"Ok."
"You know that party wasn't all bad." Rory grins.
"Were we at the same party?" Jess raises an eyebrow at her.
"Well reminiscing was fun...." Rory trails off.
Jess grins, "Uh huh."
"Yeah....and I don't it made me kind of wish we were back in Maryland again."
"Did it?"
"Uh huh." Rory smiles meekly.
"Come on." Jess says taking Rory's hand.
"What?"
"Let's go for a walk...."
"Where?"
"The diner."
"Why?"
"Come on Ror, we have to be fair...they left last time....its our turn."
"Oh!" Rory says with a giggle.
"Here." Jess says handing Rory her coat.
*2 minutes later: The front door slams closed.
Lorelai enters the empty living room, "Hmmm..." She approaches the window, looking out she sees Jess and Rory walking hand and hand towards the diner.
Luke, enters the living room, his baseball cap is mia, his hair is disheveled, obviously marked from Lorelai's fingers.
Quietly, he wraps himself around Lorelai. Lorelai turns to look at him,
"The kids left?"
"Imagine that." Lorelai grins.
"About time." Luke replies, kissing Lorelai's neck.
"Think they remembered to take the key?"
"Doubt it."
"Too bad..." Lorelai replies locking the door
Luke grins, leading Lorelai towards the stairs.
A/n Ok R&R, I need some ideas and feed back.
*Kim Living Room
Rory reluctantly exits the kitchen and approaches Jess who is awkwardly standing next to Henry.
Jess looks over his shoulder as Rory rests her arm on Jess' shoulder.
"Hey." He says quietly.
"Hi." She replies. "Hi, Henry."
"Rory! Hey, wow you look great." Henry replies kissing Rory on the cheek.
"Thank you, so do you." Rory replies with a smile. "So you're a doctor now?"
"Podiatrist, but it's a living."
Rory nods uncomfortably, suddenly reminded that she and Henry were never friends.
An awkward silence ensues.
Jess' eyes wander across the room as the front door opens and Lorelai and Luke enter.
Jess taps Rory's arm and points to the door.
Rory nods.
"So you're married now?" Henry asks, trying to make conversation.
"Huh, oh yeah almost 3 years now."
"You got married before you finished school?"
"Yeah, you know we just couldn't wait any longer." Rory smiles up at Jess.
"Interesting, where'd you two meet at school?"
Rory laughs a little, "No we actually met when were 16...we'd been dating since we were a 17."
"That's nice." Henry nods happily.
"Yeah." Jess replies.
"Henry!"
"Oh if you'll excuse me." Henry says politely before heading towards the small group of church members congregated in the dining room.
"Wow, that was weird." Rory says.
"Yeah....Lane went out with that guy? He seems so....."
"Not Lane." Rory replies flatly.
"Yeah."
"That was the first time we've discussed how we met." Rory states.
"It was." Jess nods.
"Maybe its just me.....you know and all the baby stuff going on, messing with my head...but its making me all nostalgic."
Jess smiles at Rory, putting an arm around her waist, "No, I know what you mean."
The two grow silent.
"We were 16 when we met and about a year later, almost to the day, we started going out." Jess says, looking down at his wife.
"And then we almost broke up that first year...after you got a black eye and wouldn't tell me why....."
"Which I had a very legitimate reason for doing..."
"Uh huh."
"But I eventually told you....and then you gave one of the most incredible summers of my life." Jess grins at Rory, tightening his grasp on her.
Rory stumbles back towards the wall giggling slightly, "I still can't believe my mom let me go to myrtle beach with you for an entire two weeks..."
"Eh, I think she figured we were going to have the summer together and then once you went off to school, that'd be the end of "Rory and Jess." Jess says mockingly.
Rory smirks, "Little did she know I'd talk you into attending college and moving closer to Yale."
"Do you remember that restaurant the one on the beach...."
"That over looked the water." Rory finishes, kissing Jess hand.
"Yeah....that was a great place...we walked on the beach for hours after dinner....and then it got late and they turned off all the lamps on the shore...."
"It was pitch black and we couldn't find our way back..."
"So we had to stay where we were until the sun came up."
"Mmm." Rory sighs happily remembering the events of nearly 8 years ago.
"That was a great night......"
"Marked a first for me...." Rory trails off going pink.
Jess laughs at Rory's bashfulness. "I don't think you ever told me that." Jess says seriously.
Rory swats Jess, "Shut up, you know I did...you just like hearing it over and over."
Jess smirks, "I don't know about that, I think you should remind me." Jess raises an amused eyebrow at Rory.
"Rory takes Jess' face in her hands pulling him closer to her, "Jess, you were my first, you'll be my last." She says mechanically.
Jess breaks into a wide grin.
"I hate you." Rory replies letting go of Jess.
"I hate him too." The sound of Lorelai's voice causes Jess to turn around.
"Oh. Hey." He says dully.
"Hey yourself." Luke says gruffly.
Rory moves away from the wall, her cheeks flustered.
Lorelai gives her a knowing glance, "We just came over to warn you...Mrs. Kim is making her rounds...she catches you like that....she'll make you pay for the wallpaper."
"Thanks mom."
"So where's Lane, I thought she was showing off the boyfriend tonight?" Lorelai asks.
"They went out to get more ice."
"Oh I see....and what about the doctor?"
"He's around...that's kind of why Lane and Dave left.....turns out the doctor is Henry...this guy Lane dated a few times."
"Henry....Henry, oh! Secret boyfriend first love Henry!"
"Uh huh!"
"oo that's juicy!"
"I know.it was a whole big thing, Jess got involved Lane ended up taking Dave out..it was a scandal."
"Why do I always miss the good stuff?" Lorelai exclaims stomping her foot.
"Well maybe if you came on time, you wouldn't miss anything." Jess speaks up.
"I thought we already established that we hated you and you should shut up." Lorelai barks back.
Jess lifts his hands up in a motion of surrender.
"Speaking of which why do we hate him today?"
"Oh, um....just because." Rory replies nervously trying to conceal her smile.
Jess turns away, stifling his laughter.
"mm..I'm thirsty!" Rory announces turning in the direction of the kitchen."
"I'll come with." Jess says taking Rory's hand with a grin.
Luke and Lorelai watch them leave, "They were talking about it again."
"How could you tell?" Lorelai asks sarcastically.
"I still can't believe you let them go off alone for two weeks.."
"That was 7 years ago...besides it was a ploy I thought we'd be rid of him by mid-October....."
"Sure." Luke says warmly, wrapping his arms around Lorelai.
Lorelai looks down at Luke's, large muscular arms and smiles, "But you know those were two of the best weeks of my life."
Luke smirks, "Yeah...sneaking around has its advantages."
"Sneaking around had nothing to do with it......the whole point of sending them away was so we wouldn't have to sneak around anymore....i was getting tired of hiding in your closet.."
"Yeah, but we still snuck around for another year after that"
"Would have been two if Rory hadn't come home from school a day early that December.....I'll never forget the look on her face when you walked out of the kitchen in your underwear." Lorelai says laughing out loud.
Luke goes pink for a second before gaining composure and pinching Lorelai's side.
"Ow!" she exclaims pulling out of his grasp.
Luke smiles at her as Rory and Jess rejoin them.
"We interrupting?" Jess smirks.
"Shut up." Luke grumbles.
The front door swings open.
Lane enters, a determined look on her face; Dave stands behind her, a single hand around her waist.
Everyone turns to face them including Mrs. Kim.
She glares murderously at Dave. Dave, for once remains unaffected.
Lane avoids her mother's eyes, her intent to reach Rory.
Lane approaches her, a smile breaking onto her face as she and Rory lock eyes.
"What's going on?" Jess whispers to Rory.
"I'm not sure..." Rory says warily.
Lane walks past them, grabbing onto Rory's arm, "I need to talk to you."
"Ok.."
"Come on in the kitchen.....no one goes in there...the fumes from the food make everyone dizzy."
Jess lets go of Rory.
"Come on Jess, you have to come to."
"I do?"
"Just come on already, before she explodes." Dave says with a grin.
Rory and Jess follow them into the kitchen, Jes closes the door after them.
"Ok, we give up what's going on?"
"We're getting married!" Lane screams quietly.
"What?!" jess and Rory say simultaneously..
"We're getting married..Dave's going to move into my apartment and we're going do it."
"Wow, you guys are serious this time." Rory marvels.
"Yeah, we are." Lane says happily.
"I'm so happy for you." Rory says, tears streaming down her face as she hugs her friend.
Jess pats Dave on the back. Dave nods happily.
"So you'll come to the wedding?" Lane asks.
"Of course, why wouldn't we?"
"You may be the only people there." Dave confides. "Well, besides my parents."
"Oh...."
"And you're going to be my maid of honor."
"Yay!" Rory replies clapping her hands.
"So keep the 16th open."
"16th of what?"
"January."
"Whoa, wait why the rush...."
"You're not, um...." Jess says looking down at the floor.
"Oh God, no, definitely not."
"Oh good."
"I'm just so tired, of all this....we want to get it over with, once we're married we won't have to worry about any of this stuff anymore."
"What about your mom?" Rory asks.
Lane grows quiet.
"We're going to tell her together." Dave replies.
"Look, I've spent my whole life living by her rules.....I can't go on like that anymore, I haven't lived for myself and I need to." Lane replies.
"Well you know we're here for you, for both of you." Jess interjects.
Dave nods.
"Thanks, Jess." Lane says giving him a hug.
"Ok," Lane says pulling out of the hug, "I'm ready, let's go tell everyone." Lane says turning to Dave.
"Bye Guys." Dave says waving to Jess and Rory.
"Good luck." Rory says as the retreat to the living room.
Jess turns to Rory, "So Lane's getting married."
"Yeah....it's weird how we all have stuff going on."
"Yep, we're all grown up."
"I'll say.....You and Lane are even on a hugging basis, I didn't even think she'd come to our wedding when we got married."
"Come no now, we've worked out our differences..way before we got married."
"I know, I just keeping thinking about all the fights you two used to have."
"Yeah......I kind of miss those." Jess smirks.
*The living room.
Lane approaches Henry who standing off to the corner by himself; Dave stays behind.
"Hi." She says.
He smiles, "Hey."
"I'm sorry about before, running off."
"It's ok, Lane."
"No, you know I shouldn't have agreed to meet my mom's "new friends" it always ends badly.....and if I had know you were "the doctor" I would have squashed this whole meet and greet before it happened."
"Lane it's ok, we're both in the same position."
"We are?"
"You love your mother and want to make her happy, I want to do the same for my parents....I mean they're not as strict as your mom, but I know it'd make them happy if I settled down with a "nice Korean girl"" Henry says with a laugh.
Lane nods.
Henry looks over at Dave, "So you moved on?"
"Long time ago."
Henry nods, "Good, I'm glad you're finally doing what you want to do."
"Thanks." Lane replies, looking over at Dave, who eyes are fixated on her.
"Hey Henry,"
"Yeah?"
"Come here." Lane says pulling Henry towards Dave
"Hey." Dave says with a smile.
Henry nods in acknowledgement.
Henry Cho, I'd like you to me Dave Rygawlski, my fiancée."
Dave beams down at Lane.
"Wow congratulations." Henry smiles faintly.
"You're what?!" Mrs. Kim's harsh voice cuts the air like a knife.
Lane's eyes get wide, Dave moves closer to Lane, taking her hand in his.
Mrs. Kim is bearing down on Lane, causing her to pull back.
Dave squeezes her hand reassuringly, giving her the courage to stand up straight.
" Dave and I are getting married, Mama."
"No you're not." Her mother replies sternly.
"Y-yes we are, I love Dave and he loves me.....we're getting married."
"He can not support you, he will not take care of you."
"That's not true." Dave says with emphasis.
Mrs. Kim turns her attention to Dave, "Get out of my house, you're no good for my daughter."
"Yes he is Mama, he's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"He is nothing, he will only use you."
Dave lets go of Lane's hand, " You don't even know me." He sneers.
"Dave..." Lane breathes, grabbing his arm.
"Dave looks down at Lane and then back up at her mother, "I've tried everything to get you to like me, I've attended church services sung hymns I've even eaten your cooking on numerous occasions.....I've made an effort to get to know you and follow your rules as closely and honestly as I could, but it's obviously not enough for you. I'm sorry that you have a problem with me marrying your daughter, but it's not your decision to make.....you can't just pick some one for your daughter to love. That's not how it works. I honestly have no idea why Lane loves me, it's a mystery to me, but she does and I love her and together we have a chance at a great life, maybe not a prosperous one, but I know we'll be damn happy because we have love and as stupid or unrealistic as it may sound, we can build on that."
Mrs. Kim takes a step back, not taking her eyes off of Dave, "Get out of my house."
"Fine." Dave says meeting her stern gaze. Dave looks down at Lane, leans in and kisses her gently before turning on his heels towards the door.
Lane looks from Dave to her mother and then follows Dave to the door.
"Lane! Don't walk out of this house!"
Lane turns to look at her mother, she shakes her head, "I love him, Mama. If you can't see Dave for the man he is, the man who's helped me keep my sanity these last 7 years; then you, you have no regard for your own daughter and as far as I'm concerned as long as Dave is not welcome here neither am I because Dave is a part of me, a part that I'm not letting go of...ever. Good bye, mom." Lane says dignifiedly.
Dave smiles at Lane, tears in his eyes.
Lane grabs hold of Dave's arm and hurry's out the door.
*Outside:
"You stood up for me." Dave says with amazement.
"Well, I couldn't let her say all those things about you...they weren't true, you're the stable one in this relationship." Lane grins at him.
"I'm sorry it had to happen like that."
"I'm not." Lane says honestly.
Dave leans in and kisses her passionately.
"What now?" Lane asks.
"I could call my parents, we could spend Christmas with them....or we could go home early, you know if being here's going to upset you."
"No, let's stay, it's tradition every year I go over Rory's after lunch and we listen to all her new cds and watch Christmas specials."
"Ok, I'll call my mom."
*After Lane and Dave's exit, the party at the Kim's thinned out very quickly.
*Gilmore House:
"Yes! Finally I was there for the good stuff."
"Somehow I feel its wrong to gloat about that." Jess says flatly.
"Hm....I guess you're right, do you think Lane's ok."
"She's fine." Luke says entering the house with two bags of groceries.
"How do you know?"
"I saw her and Dave cozying up on their way towards peach drive."
"Haha Luke said cozying." Lorelai grins.
"Ok, no cake for you." Luke says waving one of the grocery bags at her.
"Mean!" Lorelai says following Luke into the kitchen.
"They're probably on their way to Dave's parents, they live 3 blocks down form peach."
"Want to call her?" Jess asks.
"No.....I'm sure we'll hear from her tomorrow."
"Ok."
"You know that party wasn't all bad." Rory grins.
"Were we at the same party?" Jess raises an eyebrow at her.
"Well reminiscing was fun...." Rory trails off.
Jess grins, "Uh huh."
"Yeah....and I don't it made me kind of wish we were back in Maryland again."
"Did it?"
"Uh huh." Rory smiles meekly.
"Come on." Jess says taking Rory's hand.
"What?"
"Let's go for a walk...."
"Where?"
"The diner."
"Why?"
"Come on Ror, we have to be fair...they left last time....its our turn."
"Oh!" Rory says with a giggle.
"Here." Jess says handing Rory her coat.
*2 minutes later: The front door slams closed.
Lorelai enters the empty living room, "Hmmm..." She approaches the window, looking out she sees Jess and Rory walking hand and hand towards the diner.
Luke, enters the living room, his baseball cap is mia, his hair is disheveled, obviously marked from Lorelai's fingers.
Quietly, he wraps himself around Lorelai. Lorelai turns to look at him,
"The kids left?"
"Imagine that." Lorelai grins.
"About time." Luke replies, kissing Lorelai's neck.
"Think they remembered to take the key?"
"Doubt it."
"Too bad..." Lorelai replies locking the door
Luke grins, leading Lorelai towards the stairs.
A/n Ok R&R, I need some ideas and feed back.