Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.
A/N: I'm writing another fic while doing this one (it's not GG), so my time is now split between those and school starting and such. Updates will be as frequent as possible.
I appreciate the reviews.
XXX
The man standing beside him gave him an apologetic look, as he was in the same situation.
Luke was waiting outside a dressing room of a maternity store where Lorelai had dragged him to. These days, he didn't bother to make up excuses for why he "couldn't" go. He never won, anyway.
Lorelai let out a frustrated noise on the other side of the door.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked, trying his best to not sound "unsympathetic" and "bored", as he'd gotten quite a few lectures recently on that from his wife.
She opened the door, and Luke tried to cover his laugh upon seeing her in a frilly, light-pink dress. "It's...uh..." he said in between 'coughs'.
"It's ugly, that's what it is. And stop trying to hide it, I know you're just hysterical." Lorelai glanced at herself in the mirror as Luke stepped into the dressing room. She put a hand on her growing stomach. "This sucks. I mean, Rory's graduation is in a week and I want to look really good, but this whole being pregnant thing has totally made it harder, not that I regret anything."
Luke stood behind her, also looking into the mirror at the two of them. "Well, you are seven months along. What did you expect?"
"I dunno," she sighed as she began going through the other outfits she had picked out. "I thought maybe I'd be one of those people who didn't get really big during their pregnancy. Like that Spice Girl."
"But shouldn't you have seen this coming? You've been pregnant before."
Lorelai shot him a glare, and Luke immediately shut up.
"This is such an important event," she said as she held up a light-blue dress to herself. "How many more graduations is Rory going to have?"
"As long as you're there, she's going to be happy," Luke replied honestly.
"She wouldn't appreciate it if I was naked, right? 'Cause that's what it's coming down to. God, why are maternity clothes so..." She searched for the right word. "Bright?"
Luke had been wondering the same thing, but decided not to venture onto that subject. He checked his watch. Lorelai looked at him.
"What time do you have to be back at the diner?"
"I've got John covering for awhile. But he said he had a big project..."
"Alright, well, I'll try on one more and then we can go," Lorelai nodded. "How about this?" She held up the light-blue one she had been looking at before.
"Great, try it on."
So he once again planted himself outside the dressing room, and two minutes later he heard a triumphant noise. He entered again, and grinned when he saw how pretty the dress was on Lorelai, though she had always looked great in anything, no matter what. She looked at him for his approval.
"It's nice," he commented sincerely.
"Ah, that coming from Luke Danes, fashion expert extraordinaire, must mean it's going to be the hottest new thing for summer." Lorelai looked at herself in the mirror once again, turning in different angles to get the full effect. "I think this is the one."
Glad to know he would be out of there soon, Luke breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good, let's pay."
XXX
The last thing Luke expected to find when he entered his diner the next afternoon was Emily Gilmore. But there his mother-in-law sat, sipping an iced tea and watching the town of Stars Hollow out the window.
"Hey, Emily," he said, keeping the surprise out of his voice. He noticed she had a small box with her.
She smiled at him. "Oh, Luke, there you are. All the other times I've visited you're usually here."
"Yeah, I was just moving some stuff around the baby's room," he said as he put his apron on.
"Wonderful." She lowered her voice. "Between you and me, that boy you hired doesn't look trustworthy. The way his hair is spiked...and his t-shirt suggests violence." Her eyebrows rose.
"Thanks for warning me." Luke glanced at John, who was refilling Kirk and Lulu's soda's. Though he was wearing a shirt that had some sort of scene from one of those gory video games on it, and his hair was sticking up at different angles on his head, Luke knew the kid couldn't hurt a fly.
Feeling as though he had to, Luke tried to find something for conversation. "So, uh, how've you been? I haven't seen you since you got back from your trip."
"I've been fine," she said, a bit quietly. "All those meetings and functions to attend to."
Luke nodded along. "Does, uh, Lorelai know you're in town?"
Emily shook her head. "No, I thought I'd drop by after this and surprise her." She lifted the box. "I actually came to give you this." Taking a closer look, Luke realized there were baby things inside.
"They're Lorelai's," Emily continued, lifting a small stuffed bear and then placing it back. "I would've given them to her, but I wasn't sure if she'd appreciate them or not, seeing as though she's spent much of her life trying to erase her past." Luke could hear a hint of bitterness in her voice, but ignored it as she pressed on. "I thought it'd be better to give to you, so you could go through it with her, instead of just letting her throw them away."
"I don't think she would've thrown this stuff away," Luke said honestly.
"Yes, well, she may be making an effort to get along with me now, but you never know with her. Just...promise me you'll take the time to sort through these things."
Luke lifted the box to place behind the counter for the time being. "I promise."
Emily smiled slightly and stood. "Thank you. They really are nice toys and such, though she probably won't remember many of them. Richard and I had never gotten the chance to give them to Rory when she was a baby."
"You don't have to do that," Luke said as Emily began placing a few bills on the table. "Family deserves some free stuff every once and awhile."
Nodding a bit, Emily shot Luke another grateful grin, and turned to leave. "Thank you, Luke. I'll see you at Rory's graduation."
"Yeah, see you then."
After she had left, Luke couldn't help but take a quick peek into the box that held some of his wife's history.
XXX
"What's this?"
Lorelai had just entered the house that evening, and stumbled upon her baby box. Luke had placed it in a spot where it wouldn't be ignored.
"What's what?" He tried to play innocent, entering the entryway as Lorelai gave him an odd look. "Oh, the box? Yeah, your mom stopped by at the diner to give them to us."
"She stopped by the diner? She didn't mention that," Lorelai said suspiciously.
The two stood for a moment, both looking at the box. Lorelai finally glanced at Luke. "Yeah, seven months pregnant, can't really bend over and lift that," she said.
"Oh! Right, sorry," Luke muttered as he picked up the box and carried it into the living room, where he sat it down on the coffee table while he and Lorelai placed themselves on the couch in front of it.
"So..." Luke said slowly. "Your mom said this was your stuff from when you were a baby."
Lorelai was flipping through a little book that had barnyard animals that made a noise when you pressed them. "Yup."
He didn't really know what to say, so instead chose the teddy bear from the box and looked it over. "Cute bear."
She glanced at him. "Yeah. His name is Bob Bear. I loved him till I was like, five. Then one of the maids freaked me out by saying it'd come alive at night."
"Oh."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes while Lorelai went through her past, until she suddenly reached over and half-hugged Luke. He wasn't expecting this.
"What's this for?"
"Just for being you."
"So are we gonna keep the stuff?"
"Might as well. Except...this one we won't give to the baby," Lorelai said carefully as she lifted the teddy bear and grinned at it.
XXX
"Her name is coming up! See? Look!" Lorelai said excitedly, and a bit loudly, as they waited for Rory's name to be called . Luke nodded and shushed her quietly.
He could hardly believe they were here, at his step-daughter's graduation, though he'd been calling her his 'daughter' since he and Lorelai had gotten married. Wasn't she just leaving Chilton? he thought longingly.
Christopher had made it to this graduation, but hadn't been able to get seats for Sherry and Gigi, so he was flying solo that evening. Emily was sitting in between her daughter and Chris, Luke was sitting beside Lorelai, and Greg was situated beside Luke. He couldn't help but grin when he heard Paris's name.
"Paris Eustace Gellar..." the announcer droned, saying her major and minor. Luke found him to be boring.
Beginning to get antsy, he glanced at the program again that he was holding, which listed all the graduates in alphabetical order. There were three people left...
"...Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, Major in Journalism, Minor in Political Science..."
And with those words, Rory walked over to the podium, accepted her diploma, waved to her family, and joined the others who had entered the real world. Emily was snapping pictures as fast as she could, and Greg was clapping with a proud grin.
Lorelai had a big smile across her face, tearing up at the sight of her daughter. "Ah, screw blaming hormones. This is the best thing ever," she whispered to her husband.
Luke had to agree as he subtly brushed away the moisture forming in his eyes. His little girl was really grown up now. He noticed that Christopher was also welling up a bit, but trying to hide it. Luke knew that the man was angry at himself for missing so much with Rory, and yet, Luke felt a small part of him be glad he wasn't around, since it gave him a chance to really watch that beautiful girl become this beautiful woman.
"Congratulations, class of '07!" the announcer yelled as the ceremony ended.
XXX
"I'm so proud of you, baby," Christopher said as he held on to his grown daughter tightly, who had just come to greet them after the ceremony. Luke stood with Lorelai a few feet away.
"Thanks, dad," Rory said, sounding slightly embarrassed.
Chris pulled back. "I'm so sorry, but I gotta get going. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Alright," she nodded, as her father said goodbye to the rest of the group. Luke nodded to him.
"You didn't trip!" Greg shouted as he lifted his girlfriend in the air and kissed her quickly. "I told you you'd be fine."
"Yes, it's wonderful, Rory. You're grandfather would be so proud to see you graduating from Yale." Emily became a bit choked up at mentioning her late husband, but hugged Rory with a large smile.
"Thank you, Grandma."
Luke approached with Lorelai after Rory and Emily had let go of each other. His step-daughter grinned shyly as Luke opened his arms for her. She embraced him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for everything, Luke." He knew she meant everything in the past twelve-plus years he had known and cared for her.
"Anything for you, Rory," Luke replied.
He stepped back quickly to avoid being knocked over by Lorelai and her large stomach as she rushed over to grab Rory, seeming to never want to let go. "I know you've heard this a billion times today, but I'm so proud of you," she whispered.
"I love you, mom."
"I love you too, babe."
The two stayed like that for a few more moments, while Luke stood beside Greg and Emily chatted with a parent she knew.
Once they let go, Luke shrugged and said, "So, back to the house?"
"Sure," Rory agreed. "Who's going to be there?"
"Are you kidding?" Lorelai began, wrapping an arm around Rory's shoulder as Luke wrapped an arm around Lorelai's waist. Greg took his place beside Rory and took her hand, and Emily followed the four. "Hello, you just graduated from college. Who isn't going to be there? Hell, I think we've even got Elvis to do a little duet with Judy Garland. It'll be a sight to see, I tell ya."
Luke shook his head but kept walking with them. He noticed Emily was lagging behind, and slowed down so he was in step with her now. "Are you uh, coming to the house?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Emily shrugged.
"I think Rory would really like it if you went," he said, knowing the young woman really would.
"Well, alright."
And off they went in three separate cars, to be reunited for Rory's graduation bash at the Gilmore-Danes home.
XXX
