Title: A Wedding Story, Chapter 10 – The Rehearsal Dinner
Author: Gluglug
Spoiler Warning/Timing: Late Fourth Season
Rating: PG-13
Summary: His sister's impending wedding leads Luke to make some decisions about his own life. SPOILER WARNING
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all characters are property of The Dubba Dubba Dubba WB, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Amy Sherman- Palladino. They don't belong to me, just borrowing
=============
The next two weeks flew by and before he knew it, April 30th arrived. Luke hadn't seen his wife since the morning Liz finally met her at the diner. The few days in Chicago turned into two weeks because Nicole's firm decided to acquire the small law practice and she stayed to oversee the transaction. Nicole called Luke almost every night to give him updates and last night she told him that she had important news she wanted to share with him when she got home.
Without Nicole there, Luke tried to think about his life and what he wanted. It was weird, when Nicole was there, he felt crowded but when she was gone for more than a few days, he missed her. Or maybe he just missed the companionship and the sex, he wasn't sure.
He hadn't seen much of Lorelai either, she was incredibly busy at the Inn and came into the diner only a handful of times, usually just to get some coffee to go. She had mentioned to him that she and Sookie were catering Liz's rehearsal dinner and they wound up making a wager about Jess.
Luke was sure that Jess would come to the dinner and Lorelai bet he would bail. At stake was coffee, of course. If Lorelai won, Luke would give her as much free coffee as she wanted. If Luke won, Lorelai would have to drink decaf instead.
Late that afternoon, Lorelai stopped by the diner to grab some coffee before she and Sookie prepared to bring the food over to Carrie's house.
"So, any sign of your prodigal nephew?" Lorelai asked.
"Not yet. But Liz, TJ and his family arrived earlier today, they dropped their stuff at a motel but I think Liz is staying at Carrie's tonight."
"Well, it is bad luck for the bride to see the groom before the wedding.... and I still say that Jess is a no show. Be prepared to stock up on your best Colombian beans, my friend, because I'm gonna be in coffee heaven next week."
"Or decaf hell, Jess still has a couple of hours, you know."
"You're pretty confident, aren't ya?" Lorelai teased.
Luke grinned. "Yes, I am."
Just then the bell jingled and Nicole came into the diner. Figures that the first thing she saw was Lorelai laughing with her husband over some private joke. She hated that – she wondered what she had missed in the two weeks she was gone. Not that he would cheat on her, but she was pretty sure that he thought about it.
Luke looked up and felt like he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar. "Nicole, you're back."
"Yes, Luke, I'm back! Hello, Lorelai."
She walked up to the counter and gave Luke a nice big kiss, right in front of her. Lorelai tried to ignore them and sipped her coffee.
"Did you miss me?" She asked sweetly. "I came straight from the airport, I was hoping I could shower and change upstairs for Liz's dinner party."
"Sure, Nicole, that'll be fine."
"Great, I'm going to head upstairs and I'm hoping you'll be up soon, there's something I need to discuss with you."
"I'll be up at six."
Nicole took her luggage and disappeared behind the curtain and Luke turned to Lorelai. He could've sworn he saw her rolling her eyes.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing." Lorelai shrugged. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Should be an interesting evening."
"Yeah, interesting. See you at the dinner, Lorelai."
=====================
At six, Luke went upstairs to change for Liz's rehearsal dinner. Nicole had already changed into a little black dress with matching heels and a pearl necklace.
She was looking at herself in Luke's closet mirror when he came in. "How do I look?"
"You look really nice, Nicole."
Luke headed into the bathroom to take a shower. He wondered what they had to discuss, it could be any number of things. Luke wondered if she had reconsidered the divorce. Maybe she had come to her senses while she was in Chicago?
When Luke came out of the bathroom, Nicole had already laid his clothing out on the bed for him.
"Luke, I think you should wear this suit tonight. You look really handsome in it."
"But Nicole, I'm wearing that to the wedding tomorrow." He went to the closet and reached for what Lorelai called his 'Nicole outfit.'
"Luke, look in your closet. I bought you a brand new suit to wear to the wedding while I was in Chicago. I went to a clothier and gave them your measurements and they made you a custom made suit. I can't wait to see you in it!"
Luke was flattered but a little uncomfortable. Why were the women in his life always trying to dress him up?
"Nicole, that suit must've been very expensive. You didn't have to do that."
Nicole came over to Luke and put her arms around him. She liked him in suits but he did look pretty irresistible wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. "You're worth it, Luke. I missed you so much these past two weeks. I just wanted to get you something as special as you are."
She kissed him and grabbed the towel, intent on removing it.
Luke pulled away, embarrassed. "Nicole, we don't have time for that, I don't want to be late for Liz's dinner. I'll wear the suit you laid out for me, okay?"
Nicole watched him dress. Too bad Luke didn't wear suits more often. He filled them out well with his broad shoulders and chest, and his narrow hips and butt looked great in a pair of tailored pants. He could've been a model, she thought.
Once he was dressed, she came to the mirror again and put her arms around his waist. "We certainly look like a handsome couple, don't we?"
Luke nodded and she took his hand and led him to the couch. "We have some time until we have to leave so I want to discuss something with you."
"Sure, Nicole, what is it?" Luke asked nervously.
"Luke, you remember a couple of weeks ago how I told you that the senior partners were hinting that they had big things for me?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah, you thought they were going to make you partner. Wait, did that happen?"
Nicole shook her head. "Not exactly. You know that law firm that we acquired? Well, Mr. Stein has asked me to help run it. He wants me to be the head counsel of the Chicago office!"
"For how long?"
"What do mean how long? For as long as I want to work there!"
"Does that mean that you'll have to move to Chicago?" Luke asked.
"Yes, if I accept I'll be moving to Chicago....and I want you to come with me."
Luke got up from the couch. "Move to Chicago? I don't know about this, Nicole."
"That's okay Luke, I know it's a bit of a shock. Mr. Stein has given me a few days to think about it. I told him that I'd have to discuss it with my husband first."
"So we're discussing it." Luke said. "Nicole, if you turn them down, will you still have your job here?"
"Yeah, but I don't want to turn it down. Luke, I went to law school in Chicago, I love that city and I've always wanted to live there. And this is a huge opportunity for me. If I stay here, I'll still be handling rinky dink clients like Taylor Doose. In Chicago, I can go after the corporate clients I want and bring the firm new business. That's really what I want to do!"
"Geez, Nicole, I don't know. What would I do in Chicago?"
"Plenty of things – you could open a restaurant or get a job managing one. I've got plenty of contacts in Chicago from my law school days, I'm sure we could find you a job. Luke, just think about it, okay. I don't need an answer right now."
Luke certainly didn't have an answer, well one that Nicole would like. He looked at his watch.
"Well, we'd better get going to the rehearsal dinner."
=================================
An hour later, the dinner seemed to be going well. It turned out that Jess hadn't shown up after all. Apparently, he called Liz and said he couldn't come to the wedding because Jimmy's girlfriend Sasha was in the hospital giving birth and he had stay behind to look after her kids. Liz joked how Jess was going to have yet another sibling to look after and announced her pregnancy to everyone in the room who didn't already know.
Lorelai and Sookie served as wait staff during the dinner and Lorelai kept shooting Luke victorious looks now that she had won the bet. But she noticed that Luke looked very distracted during dinner and stopped gloating. She wondered what was up. Soon she would get her answer.
During dinner, TJ took it upon himself to get to know Nicole better since they were both outsiders to the Danes family. He took this opportunity to try to bond.
"So, Nicole, you're a lawyer?" TJ asked.
"Yes, property law mostly. But I may be getting out of it soon." She said.
"Really? Are you changing careers? Liz and I have changed careers many times. But now we're both real successful. I work in construction and Liz sells her jewelry at renaissance fairs. But I also travel with her and I built her a great booth. We have the most traffic of any of the vendors."
Nicole was not exactly the renaissance fair type and tried to be polite. "Sounds nice, TJ. But I'm not changing careers. Since everyone seems to be sharing good news tonight I guess I'll join in, too."
Liz's jaw dropped. "Nicole, you're not pregnant too, are you?"
Lorelai nearly dropped a dessert dish in TJs father's lap.
Nicole shook her head. "Oh, no! My law firm is opening a Chicago office and they've asked me to run it."
The table congratulated Nicole on her success but Liz shot Luke a relieved but concerned look.
"So, does that mean that you and Luke are moving to Chicago? It's a great city." TJ said.
"Too bad, Luke. I'll miss you." Carrie said flirtatiously while her husband looked on helplessly.
"We haven't decided anything yet." Luke said firmly, clearly wanting to drop the subject.
Meanwhile, Lorelai was relieved that Nicole wasn't pregnant. But this wasn't much better - Litchfield was bad enough but now she wanted to take Luke to Chicago?
Lorelai returned to the kitchen and told Sookie the news.
"He'll never go. No way." Sookie said. "Luke will never leave Stars Hollow, he couldn't even move to Litchfield, right?"
"I guess you're right." Lorelai tried to relax but inside her stomach was in knots. What if he decided to move to Chicago? She thought she knew him but sometimes you could never really tell with Luke. She knew that she needed to talk to him, though.
A half hour later, many of the guests had already excused themselves and left. TJ and his family headed to the motel for some rest. Nicole had decided to go her place in Litchfield so she could drop off her luggage and give Luke some time to think. Carrie's husband went to meet some of his friends for a needed drink while Liz and Carrie went off to have some girl talk.
Sookie and Lorelai were in the kitchen, washing some dishes when Luke walked in. "Do you need any help?" he asked.
Lorelai and Sookie eyed each other.
"Sure, Luke – why don't you bring that box of clean dishes to Lorelai's jeep?" Sookie said. "And Lorelai, why don't you help, him? I'm just about done in here."
Lorelai followed Luke outside, uncharacteristically quiet.
"Come on, you're dying to say something." Luke prodded.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai said innocently.
"Chicago." Luke said.
"You mean the Oscar-winning movie starring the overrated Mrs. Michael Douglas?"
"Lorelai."
"What do you want me to say, Luke? Are you going?" Lorelai asked, as she set the box into the back of her jeep.
Look shook his head. "I don't know."
"Are you considering it?" Lorelai wondered aloud, her heart sinking.
"I don't know. I'm not sure what to think about it. What do you think about this?" Luke asked.
"Luke, I can't tell you what to do."
"I'm not asking you what to do, I just want your opinion."
"My honest opinion?" Lorelai sighed. "I know that I don't want you to move to Chicago, Luke."
She paused, trying not to think about want SHE wanted and tried to be the supportive friend.
"And you hate big cities, and you'd have to sell the diner and leave Stars Hollow, a place you've lived your entire life. But on the other hand, if you love Nicole and want to give up your life here for her, then do it. But only if you think it's worth it."
Luke smiled cryptically at Lorelai. "Thanks."
"Did you I help you at all with your decision?" Lorelai inquired.
"Yes, I think you did."
"What is it?" Lorelai wondered aloud, her heart racing.
"I'll let you know after I'm sure and tell Nicole." He paused. "Hey, do you and Sookie need more help?"
"Uh, no I think we can take it from here, Luke, thanks."
"I'll see you tomorrow at the wedding, Lorelai."
"Not if I see you first, Luke."
TBC
Author: Gluglug
Spoiler Warning/Timing: Late Fourth Season
Rating: PG-13
Summary: His sister's impending wedding leads Luke to make some decisions about his own life. SPOILER WARNING
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all characters are property of The Dubba Dubba Dubba WB, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Amy Sherman- Palladino. They don't belong to me, just borrowing
=============
The next two weeks flew by and before he knew it, April 30th arrived. Luke hadn't seen his wife since the morning Liz finally met her at the diner. The few days in Chicago turned into two weeks because Nicole's firm decided to acquire the small law practice and she stayed to oversee the transaction. Nicole called Luke almost every night to give him updates and last night she told him that she had important news she wanted to share with him when she got home.
Without Nicole there, Luke tried to think about his life and what he wanted. It was weird, when Nicole was there, he felt crowded but when she was gone for more than a few days, he missed her. Or maybe he just missed the companionship and the sex, he wasn't sure.
He hadn't seen much of Lorelai either, she was incredibly busy at the Inn and came into the diner only a handful of times, usually just to get some coffee to go. She had mentioned to him that she and Sookie were catering Liz's rehearsal dinner and they wound up making a wager about Jess.
Luke was sure that Jess would come to the dinner and Lorelai bet he would bail. At stake was coffee, of course. If Lorelai won, Luke would give her as much free coffee as she wanted. If Luke won, Lorelai would have to drink decaf instead.
Late that afternoon, Lorelai stopped by the diner to grab some coffee before she and Sookie prepared to bring the food over to Carrie's house.
"So, any sign of your prodigal nephew?" Lorelai asked.
"Not yet. But Liz, TJ and his family arrived earlier today, they dropped their stuff at a motel but I think Liz is staying at Carrie's tonight."
"Well, it is bad luck for the bride to see the groom before the wedding.... and I still say that Jess is a no show. Be prepared to stock up on your best Colombian beans, my friend, because I'm gonna be in coffee heaven next week."
"Or decaf hell, Jess still has a couple of hours, you know."
"You're pretty confident, aren't ya?" Lorelai teased.
Luke grinned. "Yes, I am."
Just then the bell jingled and Nicole came into the diner. Figures that the first thing she saw was Lorelai laughing with her husband over some private joke. She hated that – she wondered what she had missed in the two weeks she was gone. Not that he would cheat on her, but she was pretty sure that he thought about it.
Luke looked up and felt like he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar. "Nicole, you're back."
"Yes, Luke, I'm back! Hello, Lorelai."
She walked up to the counter and gave Luke a nice big kiss, right in front of her. Lorelai tried to ignore them and sipped her coffee.
"Did you miss me?" She asked sweetly. "I came straight from the airport, I was hoping I could shower and change upstairs for Liz's dinner party."
"Sure, Nicole, that'll be fine."
"Great, I'm going to head upstairs and I'm hoping you'll be up soon, there's something I need to discuss with you."
"I'll be up at six."
Nicole took her luggage and disappeared behind the curtain and Luke turned to Lorelai. He could've sworn he saw her rolling her eyes.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing." Lorelai shrugged. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Should be an interesting evening."
"Yeah, interesting. See you at the dinner, Lorelai."
=====================
At six, Luke went upstairs to change for Liz's rehearsal dinner. Nicole had already changed into a little black dress with matching heels and a pearl necklace.
She was looking at herself in Luke's closet mirror when he came in. "How do I look?"
"You look really nice, Nicole."
Luke headed into the bathroom to take a shower. He wondered what they had to discuss, it could be any number of things. Luke wondered if she had reconsidered the divorce. Maybe she had come to her senses while she was in Chicago?
When Luke came out of the bathroom, Nicole had already laid his clothing out on the bed for him.
"Luke, I think you should wear this suit tonight. You look really handsome in it."
"But Nicole, I'm wearing that to the wedding tomorrow." He went to the closet and reached for what Lorelai called his 'Nicole outfit.'
"Luke, look in your closet. I bought you a brand new suit to wear to the wedding while I was in Chicago. I went to a clothier and gave them your measurements and they made you a custom made suit. I can't wait to see you in it!"
Luke was flattered but a little uncomfortable. Why were the women in his life always trying to dress him up?
"Nicole, that suit must've been very expensive. You didn't have to do that."
Nicole came over to Luke and put her arms around him. She liked him in suits but he did look pretty irresistible wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. "You're worth it, Luke. I missed you so much these past two weeks. I just wanted to get you something as special as you are."
She kissed him and grabbed the towel, intent on removing it.
Luke pulled away, embarrassed. "Nicole, we don't have time for that, I don't want to be late for Liz's dinner. I'll wear the suit you laid out for me, okay?"
Nicole watched him dress. Too bad Luke didn't wear suits more often. He filled them out well with his broad shoulders and chest, and his narrow hips and butt looked great in a pair of tailored pants. He could've been a model, she thought.
Once he was dressed, she came to the mirror again and put her arms around his waist. "We certainly look like a handsome couple, don't we?"
Luke nodded and she took his hand and led him to the couch. "We have some time until we have to leave so I want to discuss something with you."
"Sure, Nicole, what is it?" Luke asked nervously.
"Luke, you remember a couple of weeks ago how I told you that the senior partners were hinting that they had big things for me?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah, you thought they were going to make you partner. Wait, did that happen?"
Nicole shook her head. "Not exactly. You know that law firm that we acquired? Well, Mr. Stein has asked me to help run it. He wants me to be the head counsel of the Chicago office!"
"For how long?"
"What do mean how long? For as long as I want to work there!"
"Does that mean that you'll have to move to Chicago?" Luke asked.
"Yes, if I accept I'll be moving to Chicago....and I want you to come with me."
Luke got up from the couch. "Move to Chicago? I don't know about this, Nicole."
"That's okay Luke, I know it's a bit of a shock. Mr. Stein has given me a few days to think about it. I told him that I'd have to discuss it with my husband first."
"So we're discussing it." Luke said. "Nicole, if you turn them down, will you still have your job here?"
"Yeah, but I don't want to turn it down. Luke, I went to law school in Chicago, I love that city and I've always wanted to live there. And this is a huge opportunity for me. If I stay here, I'll still be handling rinky dink clients like Taylor Doose. In Chicago, I can go after the corporate clients I want and bring the firm new business. That's really what I want to do!"
"Geez, Nicole, I don't know. What would I do in Chicago?"
"Plenty of things – you could open a restaurant or get a job managing one. I've got plenty of contacts in Chicago from my law school days, I'm sure we could find you a job. Luke, just think about it, okay. I don't need an answer right now."
Luke certainly didn't have an answer, well one that Nicole would like. He looked at his watch.
"Well, we'd better get going to the rehearsal dinner."
=================================
An hour later, the dinner seemed to be going well. It turned out that Jess hadn't shown up after all. Apparently, he called Liz and said he couldn't come to the wedding because Jimmy's girlfriend Sasha was in the hospital giving birth and he had stay behind to look after her kids. Liz joked how Jess was going to have yet another sibling to look after and announced her pregnancy to everyone in the room who didn't already know.
Lorelai and Sookie served as wait staff during the dinner and Lorelai kept shooting Luke victorious looks now that she had won the bet. But she noticed that Luke looked very distracted during dinner and stopped gloating. She wondered what was up. Soon she would get her answer.
During dinner, TJ took it upon himself to get to know Nicole better since they were both outsiders to the Danes family. He took this opportunity to try to bond.
"So, Nicole, you're a lawyer?" TJ asked.
"Yes, property law mostly. But I may be getting out of it soon." She said.
"Really? Are you changing careers? Liz and I have changed careers many times. But now we're both real successful. I work in construction and Liz sells her jewelry at renaissance fairs. But I also travel with her and I built her a great booth. We have the most traffic of any of the vendors."
Nicole was not exactly the renaissance fair type and tried to be polite. "Sounds nice, TJ. But I'm not changing careers. Since everyone seems to be sharing good news tonight I guess I'll join in, too."
Liz's jaw dropped. "Nicole, you're not pregnant too, are you?"
Lorelai nearly dropped a dessert dish in TJs father's lap.
Nicole shook her head. "Oh, no! My law firm is opening a Chicago office and they've asked me to run it."
The table congratulated Nicole on her success but Liz shot Luke a relieved but concerned look.
"So, does that mean that you and Luke are moving to Chicago? It's a great city." TJ said.
"Too bad, Luke. I'll miss you." Carrie said flirtatiously while her husband looked on helplessly.
"We haven't decided anything yet." Luke said firmly, clearly wanting to drop the subject.
Meanwhile, Lorelai was relieved that Nicole wasn't pregnant. But this wasn't much better - Litchfield was bad enough but now she wanted to take Luke to Chicago?
Lorelai returned to the kitchen and told Sookie the news.
"He'll never go. No way." Sookie said. "Luke will never leave Stars Hollow, he couldn't even move to Litchfield, right?"
"I guess you're right." Lorelai tried to relax but inside her stomach was in knots. What if he decided to move to Chicago? She thought she knew him but sometimes you could never really tell with Luke. She knew that she needed to talk to him, though.
A half hour later, many of the guests had already excused themselves and left. TJ and his family headed to the motel for some rest. Nicole had decided to go her place in Litchfield so she could drop off her luggage and give Luke some time to think. Carrie's husband went to meet some of his friends for a needed drink while Liz and Carrie went off to have some girl talk.
Sookie and Lorelai were in the kitchen, washing some dishes when Luke walked in. "Do you need any help?" he asked.
Lorelai and Sookie eyed each other.
"Sure, Luke – why don't you bring that box of clean dishes to Lorelai's jeep?" Sookie said. "And Lorelai, why don't you help, him? I'm just about done in here."
Lorelai followed Luke outside, uncharacteristically quiet.
"Come on, you're dying to say something." Luke prodded.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai said innocently.
"Chicago." Luke said.
"You mean the Oscar-winning movie starring the overrated Mrs. Michael Douglas?"
"Lorelai."
"What do you want me to say, Luke? Are you going?" Lorelai asked, as she set the box into the back of her jeep.
Look shook his head. "I don't know."
"Are you considering it?" Lorelai wondered aloud, her heart sinking.
"I don't know. I'm not sure what to think about it. What do you think about this?" Luke asked.
"Luke, I can't tell you what to do."
"I'm not asking you what to do, I just want your opinion."
"My honest opinion?" Lorelai sighed. "I know that I don't want you to move to Chicago, Luke."
She paused, trying not to think about want SHE wanted and tried to be the supportive friend.
"And you hate big cities, and you'd have to sell the diner and leave Stars Hollow, a place you've lived your entire life. But on the other hand, if you love Nicole and want to give up your life here for her, then do it. But only if you think it's worth it."
Luke smiled cryptically at Lorelai. "Thanks."
"Did you I help you at all with your decision?" Lorelai inquired.
"Yes, I think you did."
"What is it?" Lorelai wondered aloud, her heart racing.
"I'll let you know after I'm sure and tell Nicole." He paused. "Hey, do you and Sookie need more help?"
"Uh, no I think we can take it from here, Luke, thanks."
"I'll see you tomorrow at the wedding, Lorelai."
"Not if I see you first, Luke."
TBC
