Chapter 14: Watch Your Step

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

GLAD HAND: Oh, come on, it'll be fun to dance together.
CROWD: No, No way, Never, Dance with them?
GLAD HAND: Well...it won't hurt you to try.
A-RAB: (feigning death) Oh, it hurts! It hurts!
--"West Side Story"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*Jess*

"Mom, Kirk called again about the flowers!" Rory yells, running past me again.

"Tell him to shut up and deliver them already!" Lorelai screams from upstairs.

"He says they're frozen!" Rory runs past me again, this time in the opposite direction. Lorelai lets out an extremely loud frustrated groan, and flies down the stairs. Rory passes her quickly and throws her the phone. Lorelai catches it.

"Kirk! Dammit! What'd I tell you about those flowers?" She runs back upstairs, presumably to finish dressing.

Rory runs past once again, this time addressing me. "Hey, Jess, you should go help Luke with the girls."

"Yep." I nod and get off the couch. Rory runs past me again; I catch her quickly and kiss her forehead. "Bye."

"Bye!" She waves her maid of honor headdress at me. I smile, nod, and leave.

The second I'm out of the house I lean against the wall and breathe deeply. Weddings. I shudder. Frantic women, extremely young flower girls, and a forecast for snow. Anyone can tell this is a recipe for disaster.

~*~

*Luke*

"Susanna, sweetie, leave the pillow alone." I tug the silk pillow from my toddler's fingers and lay it on the floor beside me. I turn my attention back to tying her shoe as Brett walks up from behind me and twirls around in her underwear.

"I'm a pwetty pwincess! La, lalalala!" Brett continues twirling.

"Brett, try to put your dress on."

"It's too hahd." Brett practically ignores me and resumes her twirling. I grab her as she twirls past me and try to wrestle her into the impractical outfit Lorelai picked out in a particularly bad bout of pregnant-bad-taste. As I'm doing this, Susanna picks up the silk pillow again and starts waving it around. The rings. The rings are gonna fall out.

I disregard Brett and fly across the room to Susanna, just in time to save the two wedding rings from flying across the room. I take the pillow from her and slip them back into their little pocket, and then triple-tie them onto the pillow. Susanna promptly drops onto the floor and begins to wail; Brett pulls her skirt down and comes dangerously close to ripping the delicate lace.

"Whoa, Uncle Luke, you need some help?" Jess asks, entering the office.

"God, yes!"

Jess nods, picks up Brett and her various accoutrements, and walks over to the desk. I give my attention back to Susanna, and she's finished and the most beautiful two-year-old ever in less than two minutes. Jess has finished dressing up Brett in that same amount of time, and we glance at each other.

"How was Ceasar doing when you went through the diner?"

Jess shrugs. "There weren't many people in there. I think they're all getting dressed for the wedding they've been waiting for for years."

"Shut up," I say roughly.

Jess grins, but stays quiet. After a minute, I ask softly, "How'd she look?"

"Good. She looked good. She really loves you, you know."

"I know."

Jess grins at my embarrassment. "We should get going."

"Okay." I lift Susanna and Jess lifts Brett and we make our way to the diner.

"Ceasar, you can leave now," I call. He nods, and disappears. The diner is empty of customers. I glance around once, smile, and follow Jess out to the car.

~*~

*Lorelai*

Rory sticks the last pin in my hair, settling my tiara in the crown of my head. She fluffs my hair around it, and then picks up a can of hairspray.

"Protect the eyes," she commands. I duck my head into my hands, and she sprays a large cloud around my hair. After a second, she stops, sets the can down, and double checks my entire outfit.

"Perfect," she announces quietly. I grin and wrap her in my arms.

"Are you really okay with this?"

"Mom," she laughs. "At this point is there any denying that I'm thrilled with this?" She pulls back slightly and wipes a tear away. "It's so romantic."

"I know." We squeal, and jump up and down quickly. There's a knock on the door, and my dad pushes his head in.

"Lorelai, are you ready?"

"Sure," I laugh, wiping my own tear away. Rory squeezes my gloved hand, picks up her bouquet, and leaves the room. Distantly, I can hear the string quartet my mother hired begin the march.

"I can't believe it's happening already," I say softly, laying my hand on Dad's.

"I'm glad you're happy."

I glance up and smile at Dad. We walk to the edge of the make-shift aisle set up in the middle of the Dragonfly Inn's large conference room.

"I'm so proud of you, Lorelai."

I glance up at Dad once again, slightly shocked. This time, I notice a tear in the corner of his eye. He glances at me, and smiles. I somehow manage to smile back, and the string quartet leads us down the aisle.

Luke looks so wonderful in his tux...I can't believe it's happening now. It seems so soon and so, so, late.

Luke, with his eyes all full of love, takes my hand from Dad's, and I love the romantic-ness of this moment too much to recognize the outdated anti-feminism. Luke grins at me, I grin back, and we face the minister.

~*~

*Jess*

Rory's eyes started twinkling the second she and Lorelai arrived at the Dragonfly. She carried Lorelai's tiara all around the Inn practically, before stopping in the room Luke and I were shoved in. She'd stolen me from my uncle and the girls and taken me around the corner, where she giggled and kissed me and giggled again, all the while with twinkling eyes.

The ceremony didn't slow her down, either; the twinkly eyes just became twinkly with happy tears, the entire walk up the aisle and the long ceremony. She's still twinkly eyed half an hour after the ceremony, all through the messy cake-eating that causes Luke to flinch a tad...secretly, though, I know he loves it.

Lorelai disappears quickly to wash her hands; Luke follows her with his own twinkle in his eye, and I dismiss all thoughts of them from my mind immediately.

Rory turns to me and grins.

"It was a nice ceremony, wasn't it?"

"Very nice," I nod.

Rory leans into me, lacing our fingers together. "It's been a long time coming."

"God, it really has." I laugh.

Some Ella Fitzgerald song starts playing, and Brett and Susie are suddenly on the dance floor, holding hands and twirling.

"The girls are good friends."

"Very." I move around a little, causing Rory to sink deeper into my arms. "This is nice," I say after a minute.

"Very," Rory says through a smile. We sit back and watch the dancers.

~*~

*Lorelai*

"And now, the bride and groom will share their first dance."

The band launches into the first strains of "Isn't It A Pity?", the song Rory picked out for us, and Luke takes my hand and leads me onto the floor.

Why did I wander
Here and there and yonder
Wasting precious time
For no reason or rhyme

Isn't it a pity?
Isn't it a crime?

My journey's ended
Everything is splendid
Meeting you today
Has given me a
Wonderful idea


Here

I

Stay...

"SHE'S WHAT?" my mother's voice screams from a corner of the room. Luke and I stop dancing and I look over. Miss Patty has Emily cornered...the crappy thing is, Patty overheard a conversation a few days ago, and now she knows I'm pregnant.

And now, apparently, so does Mom.

She stalks over to me quickly. The band, by now, has ceased playing, everyone staring at the confrontation in the middle of the dance floor.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, you are once again pregnant? Out of wedlock again?"

"Not anymore, Mom, I'm married. See the ring?" I hold my hand out to her. She knocks it out of her face.

"You've been married for less than an hour! God, Lorelai, I can't believe you've done this for a third time! Actually, I suppose I can. After all--"

Luke steps in front of me, seething. "Get out," he says quietly, pointing to the door.

"And you, young man. I can't believe you!"

"Emily, get out of here, right now. Leave my wife alone."

Mom glares. Luke continues pointing. I glance around the room and spot Rory. She nods, and simultaneously we run from the room.

~*~

*Jess*

I've never seen such a quick way to end a wedding.

Lorelai and Rory disappeared; Richard took Emily outside; I took the girls back to Luke and Lorelai's house; and Luke started clearing the wedding guests out of the Inn.

What a day.

~*~

*Luke*

What a day.

I make it home four hours before we're supposed to head off to the airport, yet two hours after the abrupt end of the reception.

Rory and Jess are sprawled on the bed in Rory's room, Susanna and Brett with them, watching a movie. After a thorough search of the house, I glance into the front yard. I spot a bundle of white on the dark porch.

"Lorelai."

I grab coats for the both of us and walk outside. I settle on the step next to my wife and throw wrap the coat around her with one arm, then leave my arm around her shoulder. She leans into my body.

"That was horrible."

"I know," I say soothingly, rubbing her arm.

"So bad." She buries her head in my shirt. "I can't believe that's what my wedding memory will be of. My mother, screaming her head off in the middle of the First Dance."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

I stay silent, and we just sit there for a minute.

"We're married," she says softly.

"I know," I grin.

"Wow," she grins back. "That's cool."

"Very cool."

Suddenly she stands and walks over to the chuppah I made for her wedding to Max years ago, that's become a permanent fixture in the yard. I stand and follow her.

"We should have gotten married under this," she says, rubbing her hand over the goat.

"It's too cold."

"We could have brought it inside. God, I can't believe I didn't think about it!"

"It was for you and Max."

"No, it was never for Max and me. It was from you to me. It was always for the two of us."

I smile and pull her toward me. We stand there, wrapped in each other's arms, for just a second before "Isn't It A Pity?" starts playing.

Why did I wander
Here and there and yonder
Wasting precious time
For no reason or rhyme

Isn't it a pity?
Isn't it a crime?

My journey's ended
Everything is splendid
Meeting you today
Has given me a
Wonderful idea


Here

I

Stay...

"Babette's watching," Lorelai says.

"I know," I say, starting to sway to Ella's voice.

"I like Babette." She grins, and we make slow, swaying circles under the chuppah.

It's a funny thing
I look at you
I get a thrill
I never knew

Isn't it a pity
we never met before?

Here we are at last
It's like a dream
The two of us
A perfect team

Isn't it a pity
We never met before?

"Rory was right...this is our song," Lorelai says.

"Kind of," I agree.

She hits me. "Whaddya mean, 'kind of'? This is our song!"

"Okay," I say, pulling her closer. She snuggles in, and drops it.

Imagine all the lonely years you wasted
Fishing for salmon,
Losing at backgammon
What joys untasted
My nights were sour
Spent with Schopenhaur

Let's forget the past
Let's both agree
That I'm for you
And you're for me
And it's such a pity we never never met before

"Is that snow?" Lorelai asks during the musical interlude, glancing at the white powder falling outside the chuppah.

"I think so," I grin.

"It's snow! I love snow!" Lorelai jumps once.

"I know."

"This makes the night so much better." She sighs and leans into my chest, and we continue swaying.

"I'm glad."

It's an awful pity we never never met before.