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Chapter 13: Here's Hoping
It was a hot July day in Stars Hollow, it had been seven months since Lukes elaborate proposal in the square and it was still the talk of the town. Preparations were underway for the wedding that everyone had been waiting for, for almost ten years now, and the town was a buzz. Over the last seven months a lot had changed, but as always more stayed the same, as it seems to be in small towns. Luke had started spending more nights at Lorelais house and more of his things had wandered in to stay over that time. Little Ellie had learned to roll over, then sit up and now she was crawling all over the place, much to the delight and then chagrin of her mother. It was a never ending race to keep up with her and she seemed to take after her aunt Sookie in the accident department. At ten months she had taken four trips to the emergency room, and as much as Rory wanted to blame herself for not watching her daughter close enough, it seemed as if she was just accident prone.
When Ellie was about five months Rory got on full time at the paper and started to pick up more shifts at the diner and the Inn. They couldn't keep up the shuffle between family and friends so Sookie pulled some heart strings and got her sitter for Davey to agree to take in little Ellie as well. Rory hated that she was away from her daughter so much more, but she had to start thinking about making a life for them, she couldn't just depend on her mother and Luke forever, and with the wedding fast approaching Rory wanted to find them a place of their own, so Luke and Lorelai could have the time she felt the deserved to have together after the wedding, though she would never tell them that.
Other than that things had stayed very much the same since the night of the engagement. Marty came to town about once a week to see Rory and play with Ellie but, at her prompting their relationship remained a platonic one. Though there were times when he was pushing Ellie in the swing at the park or playing air plane with her, or even those times the two of them fell asleep while watching a movie that she thought it might one day go further, but it just wasn't the time for that.
It was a Saturday morning and Rory and Paris sat in the kitchen of the Gilmore house discussing Paris' relationship with Doyle, while Rory tried quite unsuccessfully to feed her daughter in her highchair Luke had made.
"He was supposed to be a fling Rory, a one, maybe two time thing,…" Paris ranted as Ellie spat out her strained carrots.
"Ellie please." Rory said frustrated.
"Yeah, kid, orange is not your color." Paris added making a face at Ellie, she giggled in delight.
"I am glad you think this is funny." Rory said wiping of her chin.
"He was supposed to be a fling,…so why isn't he…flung…" Paris continued.
"Have you tried?"
"Repeatedly."
"And…?"
"And he just won't leave, I think I got it threw to him, and then, he'll call or show up, or say something that is half way intelligent and there we are again."
"It sounds like you are in a relationship Paris. I don't see why that is a bad thing, Doyle is a decent guy."
"Decent yes, but…I am young, I should be exploring trying new things…" Paris said looking at Rory desperately.
"Please don't look at me like that when you say trying new things." Rory said.
"Please, like you are my type Gilmore." Paris said nonchalantly.
"Whoa, I totally caught the wrong part of that conversation." Lorelai said walking into the kitchen.
"Paris is freaking because she thought that she was having a fling, but he isn't flung yet." Rory said filling in her mother.
"How did that get to you not being her type…"Lorelai said still confused.
"He won't go away Lorelai…" Paris said turning her attention to Lorelai.
"Well hon, have you told him to?"
"Not in so many words but, he isn't right for me. He is stubborn and pigheaded and…"
"He sounds perfect for you." Lorelai said turning her attention to her granddaughter. "Rory I don't think she wants that…" Lorelai said getting a cookie out of the cabinet and offering it to Ellie who took it and started to eat it.
"Thanks a lot mom."
"She didn't want that…"
"Well she has to learn that she doesn't always get what she wants just because she wants it, and she also has to learn that she can't live on junk food alone."
"You have been spending way too much time with Luke, you grew up eating junk food and you turned out fine, a little high strung, but otherwise fine." Lorelai said picking Ellie up out of her chair and dancing with her.
"Hello, girl in crisis here!" Paris shouted impatiently.
"Rory why don't you hang with Paris for a while and I will take Ellie with me, I have a few errands to run in town so she can have a stroller ride." Lorelai said.
"Are you sure?" Rory asked. She was starting to feel guiltier about asking for help with her daughter, she thought that they would be more self sufficient by now and the fact that they weren't made Rory a little uneasy.
"No prob Bob." Lorelai said.
"You do realize that you don't have to watch all her videos with her." Rory said.
"We can fix it!" Lorelai mocked grabbing the stroller and diaper bag off the desk in the hall. "Say bye bye to mommy." Lorelai said waving her hand at Rory.
"Bye, bye hon, I will save you from your crazy grandma later." She said with a laugh.
Lorelai stopped on the front lawn to get Ellie situated in her stroller. Her cute brunette baby pig tales bounced with glee when Lorelai produced another cookie and gave it to her as they started off. Their first stop was Lukes, as for any day of errands the first detail was coffee and lots of it.
They strolled into the diner and sat down at the corner table which Luke had taken to keeping empty for the girls and himself, it was just a little way for him to say, hey look everyone, I have a family and they sit here. His eyes caught Lorelais and he happily jogged over to their table.
"Now, if I ever saw trouble, it would be you two." Luke said with a smile.
"Hey hon, coffee to go and could you top off her juice please." Lorelai said hanging him a power puff girls sippy cup.
"No problem." Luke said giving Lorelai a kiss and then leaning down and kissing Ellie on the forehead and walking back to get their drinks.
"There you are." A familiar voice came from behind Lorelai.
"Mom?" She said turning around to find her mother looking at her annoyed.
"Yes, that would be me."
"What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked.
"What day is it Lorelai?"
"Saturday."
"Yes, and what did we discuss just last night at dinner?"
"You coming to Stars Hollow and helping with the wedding stuff I am doing today." Lorelai said hitting herself on the head, Ellie mocked the action and giggled. "I am sorry mom, I forgot, I gave Rory a break this morning and took Ellie and I just wasn't thinking, I am sorry."
"No harm done, I found you, and how is Ellie today." Emily said greeting her great granddaughter.
"She is good." Lorelai said with a smile.
"She smells like cookies." Emily said.
"Well mom, she ate one not too long ago, so I think that would explain it." Lorelai said.
"But it's only 11:15 a.m. and she has already had cookies. You are going to make her a diabetic I swear."
Luke returned with the drinks in just enough time to save Lorelai from a long winded lecture about proper nutrition of toddlers.
"Hello Emily." He said with a smile.
"Luke, how are things?" Emily asked politely.
"They are good thank you. I should actually get back to them. See you later." He said kissing Lorelai and crouching to Ellie. "And you and me have a date with Bob tonight." He said with a smile and walked away.
"Who is Bob?" Emily asked.
"Bob the Builder, he is a cartoon that she is in love with, and I think that Luke likes him as much as she does, it must be the flannel thing." Lorelai said laughing to herself.
"I may never understand you."
"I am counting on it." Lorelai said with a grin.
"So what is on the list."
"Well, I need to drop by the florist and ok the final flower arrangements, then a stop by Sookies to make sure she got the note about needing another layer of cake because this thing keeps growing, then to the Inn to make sure that the chairs have arrived and the carpet, for the isle."
"That is some list."
"That isn't all, I have my last dress fitting at five, I need to take up the hem on Daveys tux pants, finish Ellies dress, take in Rorys dress, that girl dropped that baby weight too fast if you ask me."
"Wow, that is some list…"
"Still not done. I have to pick up Lukes ring and take it to the engravers, decide what I am having engraved, go to the court house, pick up the marriage license, track the tent order and make sure that they will be arriving on Friday, so that I can I have the guys set them up."
"Lorelai why isn't Luke helping you with some of this."
"He has his own list mom, and it is almost longer than mine." Lorelai said defensively.
"Okay, okay no need to get snippy, lets get a move on then." Emily said hurrying Lorelai on her way.
Meanwhile back at the Gilmore house….
"So what about you and Mr. Were Just Friends." Paris asked.
"We are just friends." Rory said defensively.
"How long are you going to keep up this act."
"There is no act Paris." Rory said folding one of Ellies jumpers and putting it in her drawer.
"He comes over what, two, three times a week? You let him watch your daughter for you…half of the stories I hear you tell when they aren't about your off spring are about him."
"Paris, we are just friends I wouldn't do that to Marty, I wouldn't take that kind of step with him." Rory said frustrated with her friend.
"Do what to him? Make him date the girl he has been pining for since the day she found him naked in the hallway? You're right, how dare you do that to him Gilmore." Paris said.
"You know what I mean, it isn't just me in the deal anymore."
"You said it yourself he is crazy about that drool factory you have."
"Sure, he does he comes over, he plays with her, loads her full of cookies and spins her around, he loves that stuff, I love that stuff, but then he goes and he isn't hear for the teeth coming in all night and the fevers, and the up all nights and the millions of diapers, the clothes that all smell of baby food, the stuff in his hair and the constant worry if you are doing this right."
"I think we got off of Marty there for a minute." Paris said sitting beside her friend.
"I didn't think it would be this hard Paris." Rory said putting her head in her hands. "I love Ellie, more than anything, but I never thought that it would be this hard. I thought that we would be out of here by now, we would be up on our own. It is so hard Paris and just when I think that we finally have it, something happens to make me think that there us no way. And I can't bring Marty into my world when I don't even know how to be in my world. I know I love her, but I don't know if I am giving her what she needs, I have never done anything that I couldn't be clearly graded on, you know,…no one is going to say, you are a good mom, here is an A."
"Rory…" Paris said looking her friend in the eye. "You are a good mom, you get an A."
Rory smiled.
"And you deserve to be happy and if he makes you happy, I think he knows that Ellie is not going anywhere."
"I know."
"So you had a kid…that doesn't mean that suddenly you can't have a social life. You are one hot momma, do something about it." Paris said.
Lorelai and Emily walked into the room.
"I swear Paris, you have to stop hitting on my daughter." Lorelai said walking in and handing Ellie to Rory.
"She stinks, she wants you." Lorelai said.
"You'll feed her cookies all day but the second that she has to be changed…" Rory started.
"I am the grandma, it is my prerogative."
"What are you doing back so soon anyway?" Rory said wiping her daughter's bottom.
"Ah…I forgot the list of possibilities to have engraved on Lukes ring." Lorelai said.
"I thought you decided on that already." Rory said.
"She has changed her mind six times just on the way over here." Emily said.
"Is I love you too expected?" Paris asked.
"That is what I said." Emily said.
"He knows that." Lorelai said.
"Well what happened to the 'you are the perfect man' thing?"
"Ehh, that hit the floor hours ago. I want something more…I don't know, this is a permanent thing you know."
"So we would hope." Emily said.
"What does dads ring say?"
"It has the date of our wedding inscribed."
"That's it?"
"That's it, what more do you want, a novel?" Emily said looking at her daughter.
This was going to be a long week, Lorelai thought to herself as the troupe exited the house, and the fur was sure too fly before all was said and done. She hadn't told Emily yet but Mai was going to be there helping out for most of the week as well, and Lorelai could only imagine the guilt trip that would begin after her mother found out.
…….
Across town on the top of a grassy hill, Luke stood in front of two markers. He held his hat in his hands as he bowed his head to talk.
"I know, I don't come here, as much as I should, but there is something that I wanted to tell you. I know you can hear me…" His voice shook a little as he wiped a tear away. "I am getting married in a week. To a wonderful woman, who I am very much in love with, and the funny thing is she loves me too. Look at you two, you had 22 years under your belt before mom past away, and dad you spent every day after that waiting to join her. I hope I can be that for Lorelai, I don't want to mess this up you know? I just…she is…I can't imagine waking up one day with out her there, and dad I don't know how you did it. She has a daughter…her name is Lorelai too, we call her Rory, she looks just like her mom, and she is so smart and she just…she has the world at her fingers you know…I have watched her grow up. She got into this fancy school and did really well, and even went to Yale. She has a daughter now, her name is Lorelai too, I know, they are a little crazy but I love them. We call her Ellie, she is just…she makes me really remember why my life was so great as a kid. She calls me papa, or I mean, I guess she would if she could talk. Rory calls me her papa, and that is even better. The thing is…I didn't just fall in love with Lorelai, I love them all, each one in a different way, and each one…shows me something that I didn't think I would see again…after you both were gone. I put so much energy into not caring anymore, and then, there they were…" Luke sniffed a little.
"I hope you can see them, and I hope you know that I still miss you, every day, but I smile now, for them. And, if I can be half the husband and father you were dad, I know I will do just fine. Man, I wish you were here, I wish you could meet her, you'd love her dad, she is a real looker as you would say. And mom, she is so good hearted, she treats me good, I promise. Anyway, I just wanted to…tell you…and let you know, I am doing great, and I may not come see you as much anymore, but I hope you understand…they need me. I still love you and I miss you every day…" Luke said letting the tears fall, it was then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to hope those things Lucas." A familiar voice said to him.
"What are you doing here?" He said turning and wiping his face.
"I was coming to tell them, what a wonderful woman you had found and how lucky she and Rory and Ellie are to have you." Mia said.
"I mean in Stars Hollow."
"I am here for the wedding silly, I am sure that you two need all the help you can get." Mia said with a smile.
"Lorelai will be so happy to see you."
"I hope you are as well."
"I am. I am." He said hugging her.
"Lucas, I want you to know, that I care for Lorelai and Rory as though they were my own flesh and blood, and to see her with you now, and getting married. It makes me so proud, of both of you. I know you will be everything they need, just as I know they are everything you need dear." Mia said so sure of her words that Luke couldn't doubt her. "They would be very proud of you dear, just as I am."
They stood there in silence for a moment and Mai squeezed his hand in reassurance.
"Should we go find our girls?" Mai said after a moment.
"They should be at the diner any time now for dinner." Luke said with a smile.
"Well what are we waiting for."
The two walked down the hill towards town, talking about the things that still needed to be done before the wedding. He could hardly believe that it was only seven days until he was going to be married to Lorelai on the grounds of the Inn under he chuppa he had built for her all those years ago, it had only taken nine years to get there, but he couldn't have imagined it any other way.