Title: Is Where the Heart Is
Rating: A for mild adult situation
Genre: LLR
Spoilers: A House Is Not A Home (season 5 finale)
Summary: following the events in Home…
Disclaimer: Like all of the other characters I write about, these are not mine, nor were they ever. I make no profits, other than the rewards of imagination stretched.
Chapter Eleven
Is Where the Heart Is
by xenoprobe
"…but sweetie, don't you want a bachelorette party?" Miss Patty cooed. She sat at the diner table with Rory and Lorelai. "I thought you'd want some sort of last hurrah." The woman grinned.
"Aw Miss Patty, you're just looking for any excuse to call in the strippers!" Lorelai chided.
"Well… there's always room for the boys." Patty winked at Rory and stood up to leave. "Lorelai dear, if you reconsider, just let Babette know, we're always ready."
"Thanks Patty, I'll let you know. But I seriously doubt it… Lately a big night for me is staying up past nine. These babies suck up so much energy!" Lorelai smoothed both hands over her tummy and smiled.
Behind the counter, Luke looked on, admiring the sparkling beauty of his bride-to-be. Lorelai was dressed in a frilly blue tank top that clung to her pregnant belly and he could hardly get any work done with the distraction of her splendor.
On her way out the door, Miss Patty stopped and turned to the diner owner. "You really should let this girl out for some fun tonight Luke." She shot him her best stern look.
"S'not up to me Patty… Talk to the boss." He indicated to Lorelai with his chin.
"Alright, well, I'll leave it alone then. You kids be good." She exited with a toothy grin and nearly walked straight into Mrs. Cassini. "Those lovebirds…" she shook her head and headed back towards her studio.
Mrs. Cassini peered through the window of Luke's Diner and observed the proprietor pouring a glass of milk for a pregnant Lorelai. Rory looked on laughing, they were obviously engaged in pleasing conversation but the sight of such joy made the older woman sigh. Things were right as rain in Star's Hollow.
(Lorelai's House)
"Rory?" Lorelai bellowed. "Roreeee?"
Her daughter came running from the kitchen. "What? Jeez, you bellow like a banshee!"
Lorelai stood in front of her mirror, her wedding dress draped over her body, unzipped. "It doesn't fit!" Her eyes were wild with disappointment. "I can't believe it. It happened, again!" She tugged the dress back over her belly and tried the zipper again. "First with the 'coming out' dress and now this!" She let her shoulders slump forward. "And I just had this on the other day! I swear, these two are gonna turn me into a house overnight!"
"Mom, stop." Rory grabbed her mother's hands and stilled them from nearly ripping the seam. She spun Lorelai around, forcing her to listen, "Mom, listen to me. Everything will be fine, perfect even. Trust me."
Lorelai sighed heavily and conceded, "You're right, you're right… I know you're right." The words sped out of her mouth.
"Now, think back. We had this dress made with extra fabric to let out if need be." Rory and Lorelai nodded in unison, one following the other's lead. "So all we need to do is let the seam out along the sides and your dress will be back to its perfect self."
"Ella."
"Ella?" Rory looked thoroughly confused, "the dress? You named the dress?"
Lorelai nodded her response.
"You've really lost it this time." Rory laughed.
"I can't help it! I've got all these baby names floating around, most of which I'd never name a child of mine, but they all need good homes, so the dress is Ella."
"And?"
"And Luke's new wrench is Bob." She laughed heartily. "And the dolly for the boxes is Dolly."
"Obviously."
"That's what I said! Luke thinks I've gone totally sideways!"
"Well, he's not wrong." Rory paused then helped her mom out of the dress. "So, you ok to do the alteration yourself or do you want me to get someone else to do it?"
"Don't be silly sweets, I'll have it fixed in a jiff," she offered with renewed zeal. Lorelai sat down at her dresser and started ripping the seams of her wedding gown and Rory returned to the kitchen, her coffee was already cold.
Lorelai worked quickly and confidently and in less than an hour she stood, in her fitted dress, in front of her mirror again. She admired it lovingly; the simple elegance of the long lines that criss-crossed over her chest and let out into an empire waist, the soft buttery quality of the ivory colour, the way it made her look even more pregnant than any of her other clothing. She may have been vocal about her size of late, but secretly, in whispers she only shared with Luke, Lorelai admitted just how much she loved being pregnant and getting fat.
This was the dress. The dress. The one Lorelai had tried on in the privacy of her room, nearly twenty times in the last weeks. She was never more ready for this and she wiped an errant tear from her cheek.
Outside her window, the sun was setting and Lorelai wistfully allowed herself the joy of admiring it. After all, there would be precious few more sunsets at the Gilmore house. Soon, she would be in a new house, with a new husband (and old love) with new babies. It was all happening so fast but for Lorelai, it couldn't arrive fast enough. She felt as if she'd been waiting her whole life for this and, after all, Luke was her lobster- her partner for life.
(Luke's Diner)
Luke saw Lorelai approaching from the street and he tossed his cloth to go open the door for her. Wordlessly, their lips met and they greeted each other with kisses and caresses.
It was crazy really. They weren't kids anymore, they weren't even young anymore, but they could scarcely keep their hands of one another. More and more, they were desperate for touch and communicated this with quick glances and silent pleas until a time when they could express themselves intimately.
This was no exception.
They had not planned on breathless passion at the diner's door. But with the blinds drawn and the 'closed' sign facing the street, Luke pressed Lorelai against the window pane and kissed his way from her clavicle to the crest of her head.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders, urging him on. He lifted her off the ground with an appreciative grunt and carried her off to the stairs. Still without speaking a word, they made their way through the nearly empty apartment until they met the bed. Lorelai sat and Luke knelt in front of her.
He eased her out of her clothes and reverently kissed her calves, her knees, her thighs and her belly, resting there for a moment before continuing his path back to her lips. As they lay back against cool sheets in the sticky summer heat, Lorelai looked into her lover's eyes. They were practically black with unspoken emotion, imploring her to love him freely, openly, they way he truly loved her. She responded in kind, reflecting the same passion in her smiling eyes.
His kiss was expert and her nails bit into his scalp as he pulled her bottom lip between his gentle teeth, growling with the need to consummate this love; over and over and forever.
Lorelai eased him back, helping him from his layers of flannel, cotton and denim until they were pressed, skin to delicious skin, in a twist of love-making that threatened to burst into literal flames.
With one hand on the perfect swell of her belly and the other tangled in her beautiful dark hair, Luke let out his last puff of air and collapsed at her side, dizzy with desire.
"Now that was one heck of a 'hello!'" Lorelai burst into giggles that sounded like music to her lover. He nodded his head in the crook of her neck, still panting out the exertions of their coupling.
"Yah" was all he could muster with limited breath.
She loved that sound, his mono-syllabic 'yah'. The one little word that she'd admired for so long, the patented Luke Danes response to so many things. Of course there were other words that made her heart sing at the sound; Jeez, Unbelievable and his gruff-voiced curse, Oh Hell. These were all little gifts he wasn't even aware of and Lorelai took a moment to place an appreciative kiss on his sweaty brow.
"So we did this all wrong." Lorelai began.
"Wha?" Luke lifted his heavy head.
"We're not supposed to see each other the night before the wedding. It's some stupid rule…"
"Well, we never got very far following rules did we?" He offered, kissing her freckled shoulder. "In fact I'd say we're better off breaking as many as we can."
"Here-here, I'll drink to that." Lorelai held up an imaginary cup to christen the moment.
The couple kissed again, nearly giving in to more fever but forcibly pulled away.
"We should get dressed."
"Ya-huh. Dressed. I can do that." Lorelai sat up and got herself redressed before Luke had even stirred from the sheets. "Hey- not fair. This was your plan. Get up!" She leaned over him, tickling his sides to no avail. He rolled over; pretending to be sound asleep, but he couldn't keep the grin from emerging. "Get up-get up! C'Mon loverboy…" she tugged at his arm.
"Ok, ok… I'm up." He sprung from the bed with a quick kiss to Lorelai's' cheek. He dressed in a rush, not bothering with any flannel; it was far too hot for it outside the air-conditioning of the diner. "Your place?"
"Yup." She agreed.
(Star's Hollow)
In the town's square, evidence of the wedding was all around. The trees were already decorated and folded chairs and tables rested against the side of the gazebo. At the foot of its steps stood the Huppa and Luke motioned for them to take a closer look.
"Aw… Gilbert looks happy," she remarked. Lorelai ran her fingers over the carefully carved wood. "Did you ever think we'd be here Luke?" she asked seriously. "When you made this for me, what did you think about?"
Luke took a seat on a step and she sat down beside him. He turned away from her for a moment, looking around the park at all the trimmings for their celebration.
"I was thinking; You stupid ass. Making her this Huppa and she's marrying someone else." He smiled sideways at her. "And I thought; she deserves to be happy and I want her to be happy even if it's not me who gets to love her and hold her and make her feel like she owns the world."
Lorelai hooked her fingers with his and leaned against him in the evening breeze. "As for wondering if we'd ever get here," he indicated the park before them with a nod of his head, "I think I knew it could happen, as soon as I sorted out how to let you know how I felt."
"I have a confession to make." She abruptly declared. Luke turned to her, taking her other hand in his. "When you brought me this," she looked up at the Huppa, "and we had that talk about love and marriage and evolving together with the right person… I wasn't thinking about Max. I was thinking about you." She paused to look him in the eye. "When you left that day, I packed up for the road trip with Rory."
Luke could not hide his sentimental happiness and he cupped her face for a delicate kiss.
"We're fools you know." He wasn't joking. "There I was, making you a wedding Huppa for you and another guy, wanting you, dreaming of you and all we had to do was admit it to one another." He kissed her again.
"Well, we finally sorted it all out. And here we are. We're getting married tomorrow, under our Huppa." She stood and pulled him up with her.
Standing under his hand-carved offering of devotion, Luke held his Lorelai tightly, kissing her hair, over and over until he had to seek out the soft comfort of her mouth.
At the moment their lips met, Lorelai jumped and let out a small gasp. Startled, Luke pulled back.
"What's the matter?" He looked genuinely concerned.
Lorelai grabbed his hand and placed it firmly on her tummy. She smiled up at him, tears in her eyes. Then he felt it. A kick. Tears came to his eyes too and they waited, silent, for another little flutter of movement from inside. They were rewarded a second and third time, finally collapsing with laughter.
Luke bent down on one knee, showering her belly with kisses, a little offering of reward for the first of many firsts to come. He hugged her close around her waist and she ran her fingers through his hair, her eyes as sparkly bright as any star in the sky.
(Miss Patty's Studio)
From the steps of the dance studio, Reverend Skinner observed the couple from afar. He might have been the one to administer the services tomorrow, but he silently acknowledged that these two, the Inn Keeper and the Diner Owner, were already married in spirit and soul. It was a heavenly sight. Still, he looked forward to the formality of the ceremony and the celebration that would follow and returned to the piano in Miss Patty's hall.
The pair pounded out a rendering of 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love Baby' and laughed as the night extended out and beyond them, across Star's Hollow and into the cosmos.
To be continued…
Notes: Nearly there folks… I am starting a new job tomorrow and won't be updating as quickly. I promise, however, to attend to this story as swiftly as possible and get to the grand finale. Thanks again for the feedback- it helps, mondo-hugely!