People love weddings.
Lorelai knew this.
But they did it anyway. They eloped. Because this was just for them. For Lorelai and Luke. And she well knew how uncomfortable he would have been parading around at The Plaza in a tail coat. Which Emily surely would have insisted upon, and then cause misery over (one of the many things—the proverbial tip-of-the-iceberg of things) when Lorelai fought her on it. She shuddered just thinking about the enmity that would have arisen.
So not what she wanted her wedding to be about.
So, on a clear and bright winter day in January, they set off together. Through Lorelai's contacts with the State Inn Owner's Association, she had arranged for them to stay at a beautiful Queen Anne on the coast. It would be empty this time of year, and the manager could easily arrange a simple ceremony for them in their parlor overlooking the sea, complete with a bridal bouquet (she chose violets), a few photos to be taken after (discreet digital video as well for an additional fee), followed by a candlelight supper in their suite.
Perfect.
Right?
She had the cashmere suit. She had happy Luke next to her. She'd have a video of the event to toss at the wrathful Emily (Lorelai imagined this like throwing meat to a hungry tiger), before turning and fleeing. Fast.
Perfect.
Right?
She chewed her lip nervously and slyly stole a look at Luke in the driver's seat. He was smiling softly.
"You look like the cat who got all the cream," she quoted Lewis Carroll.
"That's how I feel," he returned amiably.
"What? No smart-ass come back?" she laughed.
"Nope."
"Whipped!" she called out gleefully.
"Ah, Geez," he reddened, "Very nice. And, I am not whipped."
"Ooo! Whipped cream! I'm hungry. Can we stop for lunch?"
"Not yet," said Luke and frowned as he glanced at his watch, "And your free associations scare me sometimes."
"Missing a meeting with your broker?" she asked curiously.
"Did the map say to get off on Lexington?" he asked.
"Yes."
"And then go east?"
"Yes. Oh man, you just passed a taco place. Turn around."
"No. I don't want to be late."
"Late for what? We've still got hours to check in," she frowned.
"I just don't want to get in too late, that's all."
"Luke, it's twelve thirty," said Lorelai, puzzled.
"Crap," he said and stepped on the accelerator more deeply.
Lorelai lifted her brows, "Luke, we're fine, really. Relax. Or are you about to break into 'Get me to the Church on Time'? Because I'd hate to ruin your big number."
Luke exited the highway then without responding.
"Luke, I'm no National Geographer but you just turned west."
"No, I didn't," he assured her.
"Yes, you did," she responded and peered more closely at her map. "You should have turned right at the light instead of left."
"Lorelai, I know what I'm doing."
"Well, clearly you don't. Or will we be in San Francisco before you admit it?"
"We're fine."
"We're not fine. We're going the wrong way, Mister Wrongway Rightaway"
"Who?"
"Seriously, Gilligan, we're supposed to head to the lagoon, which is easterly from here. That's the opposite direction we're going in, by the way."
Luke clenched his jaw and held fast.
"Luke!"
He sighed in relief then and pulled into a parking lot and stopped the jeep. Lorelai looked around.
"We're at a train station," she observed.
"Yes," he looked down at his hands. He was exhausted.. He didn't think this would be so hard.
"Are you hopping a train to escape?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."
"Luke, what—?" she turned her head away from him then... A tapping sound on her window....
"Rory!" she screamed.
"Geez, Lorelai! You scared the hell out of me! Do you think that just once....–?"
But Lorelai was no longer there to hear the rant's end. She was out of the car and smothering Rory to death.
"Mom... can't breath!" Rory choked with a laugh.
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They celebrated with tacos.
"Well, we needed a witness," Luke tossed off by way of explaining Rory, and without meeting her eyes, "It's the law."
Lorelai knew better.
And later, when then they stood in the parlor overlooking the sea and said the words of the simple civil ceremony as Rory stood by holding Lorelai's violets (she only had one single fleeting thought of 'Oh-my-God-this-is-for-the-rest-of-my-life!'), and heard Luke speak the words with a sureness that floored her, she recognized the moment for what it was: The beginning and the continuation of her life as it should be. All at once. And it felt good. And safe. And friendly-like. And just what it ought to be and... what she wanted.
And, of course, they'd had a bit of a flap the few minutes before hand (because we all know that life with Lorelai is like that.)
Where were her somethings?
Somethings?
Old, new, borrowed, blue... lucky sixpence in your shoe?
"You don't need any of that stuff," complained Luke, "The minister is downstairs, Lorelai, waiting," a slight crack in his voice on his last word, the compulsive re-tying of his tie and subsequent finger tugs at the collar were the only tells of his nervousness.
"Luke!" exclaimed Lorelai, shocked by this statement, "We don't want to have bad luck."
Which is when Rory stepped in to rescue them (God, she was a great kid, thought Luke thankfully), "Here, Mom," she expertly looped her lacy scarf around her mother's neck.
"Ooo... Perfect!"
"And, your eyes are blue," she went on reasonably.
"Right," Lorelai stared at her expectantly, waiting for more.
"And your suit is new," she added calmly.
"Check."
"No sixpence. But I have six pennies," she turned to open her wallet then and Luke watched in amazement as they stuffed them down inside the Choo boots.
"Feels weird," complained Lorelai.
Luke rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration.
"Hey, do you want luck or not? Suck it up, Gilmore," Rory told her.
"But what about the something old?"
"Can't help you there," shrugged Rory, "I'm out."
"Rory!"
"What? Do I look like the wedding fairy here?"
"Lorelai!" Luke finally snapped, "The minister isn't going to wait forever!"
"But now we'll only have four fifths of the luck," she said in dismay.
Luke sighed and looked at her, "Is it totally futile for me to explain to you just how crazy that is?"
"Yes."
He sighed again, walked over, put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye.
"Lorelai, we're going to be fine. Great even. This is it, and you look beautiful. And we love each other and want this, and Rory's here, and that's all we need."
She smiled up at him gratefully then, "Well, that and the extra sink in the bathroom... because putting that in has solved ever so many problems in the morning..."
"Lorelai," he interrupted, "Could we please get married now?"
She smiled again, "Okay."
"Good," his turn to smile.
"Is this a good time to re-open negotiations again on getting a coffee maker to put next to the bed at home?" she asked thoughtfully as they walked downstairs, his hand on the small of her back, Rory following.
"No."
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And later dressed for bed, after Rory had been returned to train station, they laughed and ate dinner in their suite, and even Luke had indulged in the wee little chocolate wedding cake provided by the Inn, they laughed at themselves and made fun of each other. At his tie (he never got it straight). The pennies in her boot. The fight over which direction to go...
And more tenderly: Her gratitude for his including Rory.
And later still, too much wine delightfully between them, when he came around the table to her chair and knelt before her to kiss warmly down her neck to her stomach and stroke his hands up her thighs and under the lace, so that he might smell and taste and feel her and slide within too, all at once... Well... She was lucky girl, she thought with a sigh as she looked down at him kneeling before her... and ran her fingers through his hair, then throw her head back suddenly... to catch her breath.... and moan...
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But, of course, it was all over too soon and wanting to stay, but having to leave, they quietly drove back to Stars' Hollow. Lorelai sleepily watching the sun catch and glint off of Luke's ring as he drove before drifting off.
"Crap! Crap! Crap!"
Lorelai opened her eyes and blinked, "What?" she asked groggily.
"I am going to fucking kill Taylor this time!"
"What?!" demanded Lorelai blearily.
"How they hell did they find out? Rory swore she wouldn't tell."
Lorelai rubbed her eyes and looked up at the diner as he parked.
"Holy Meringue, Batman!" she said with a laugh, "They've even got cupids!"
"I'm going to kill him," repeated Luke with a growl.
Lorelai put a restraining hand down on his forearm, "Oh honey, Taylor couldn't have done all that by himself," she told him.
"But he's the one I'm going to kill."
"No, you're not. You're going to walk in there and be nice to everyone. I don't need to be a prison widow while the ring is still warm on my finger. Besides, it's not every day you get married."
He glared at her.
"Oops! Not what I meant to say. Come on, Luke, be a nice guy. Let it slide for once. They're trying to be nice. They're happy for us."
He sighed and growled again.
Lorelai looked at the diner once again, "Man, they really did go nuts with those paper wedding bells, didn't they?"
So, they got out and went in and smiled and thanked their friends. And Lorelai clapped her hands and stared in wonder at the cake Sookie had made for them.
"I made you a cake too, Lorelai," said Kirk.
Lorelai gasped when she saw it.
"Kirk, how...–?"
"Well, I just ordered twelve dozen Krispy Kremes and stacked them in a big pyramid," he told her proudly, "It seemed to be the most you."
"Well, I don't know what to say. Thank you, Kirk," said Lorelai with a grin.
And as Luke watched Lorelai tearfully hug and repeatedly thank their friends, he announced breakfast on the house for all and got to work firing up the coffee maker. (And only grumped a few times when Lorelai insisted on helping; 'Adam and Eve on a raft and wreck 'em!'.)
And later as they stood back and watched Stars' Hollow eat heartily (The free breakfast word got around fast), Lorelai smiled up at Luke with shining eyes, "This, my friend, is the best wedding reception ever!"
"Lorelai, they're eating like pigs," he groused.
"Yeah, that's a universal thing, I think," she pondered. "Transcends all classes. Just wait until our next reception, you'll see," she added this last slyly.
He looked down at her, "Next one?"
Maybe not so slyly.
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" she asked sweetly.
"I don't want any news," he told her and walked to the storage room
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"The good news," she continued brightly after the well wishers had cleared off, and as if their conversation had not been interrupted at all, "is that, as a special wedding gift to us, Rory has taken it upon herself to make our happy annoucement to my parents. She dealt with the fall-out all by herself last night and then showed them the wedding video too. Isn't that sweet?"
"Uh hunh. Sweet," he said suspiciously, "And I so don't want to hear what you are going to say next," he said and grabbed his rag to start wiping down tables.
She picked up a bussing tray and started filling it with dishes.
"The bad news is that, um... Well, Rory had to buy Emily off with a reception."
"We just had a reception."
"Yes, and it was lovely. But in a couple of weeks, we'll have to go to Emily's too. Rory had to give her carte blanche. It was the only way."
"Carte blanche?" asked Luke, his wiping stilled, "What does that mean?"
Lorelai met his eyes, "You know, I think you would look so sexy in a tail coat."
Luke regarded her a moment, clenching and re-clenching his jaw quietly as he pondered this.
Lorelai watched this nervously. Did she just imagine cartoon-like steam coming from his ears?
Finally he spoke....
"A dark suit. That's it. That's as far as I'm going," he stated unequivocably.
"You, my friend, are a hero among men!" she smiled in relief, "And are gonna get so lucky tonight."
"Yeah, yeah, let's get this place cleaned up before the lunch rush starts."
"I'm talking very lucky here, my friend," she flirted, "I think I may owe you for the rest of our lives."
"Good to know some things never change," he muttered as he grabbed the broom.
"Oh, my God," Lorelai paused in her table clearing, "That's it."
"What's it?" asked Luke as he squatted down with the dustpan.
"My something old."
"What?"
"Us," she replied.
"We're not old," he told her as he swept up crumpled crepe paper.
"No, but our friendship is," she smiled and looked over at the cynical arch now on his brow, "Too hokey?" she asked with a laugh.
"I'm putting all the paper bells in Taylor's dumpster," he said by way of answer, and walked into the back. She listened to him go; "How many trees you think we're chopped down for this crap? I hope he shelled out big for them... himself... Love to see his face this evening when he finds them all in the trash..."
But Lorelai had seen his smile.
