Title: Care

Rating: G

Summary: Following the events in Home

Disclaimer: is this really necessary? I mean, If these characters were mine, I'd be rolling in dough and wearing the funky hats!

Chapter Thirteen

Care

By xenoprobe

The sun had set completely and the party was in full swing. All around the town's square, people laughed and danced; children ran about chasing each other. Sookie's catering was unparalleled and Lorelai was feeling stuffed to the gills as she sat back and surveyed the scene.

Without even casting a glance, she slid her hand out to take Luke's and smiled watching Babette as she took another cup-full of Miss Patty's famous killer punch. Luke brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed her fingertips one by one, drawing her attention back to him.

"Hey you." She sighed.

"How you feelin'?" Luke tried on his best concerned Diner-man face then cracked an immediate smile.

"Hot, hot, hot…" She chided in a sing song voice. His look of confusion made her reconsider her Buster Poindexter reference and she nodded. "I'm fine, great even… you?"

"Never better."

"You know, I believe you." Lorelai eased back into her chair as Luke pulled his closer so that they sat face to face. He leaned in and touched his lips to hers oh-so lightly. "Hey you…" she repeated in this more intimate exchange.

"Lorelai…" he pressed her name to her mouth. "love you." Before she could respond he deepened the kiss, clutching her beautiful face in his palms. "So much," he whispered in her ear as his arms reached around her to pull her close.

Across the lawn, Rory stood shoulder to shoulder with Logan, watching Luke shower her mother with love. She'd never seen him so demonstrative and it made her grin like a fool to witness it.

"I always knew you had it in you..." She whispered in Luke's direction, startling Logan from watching Kirk chase a balloon for a crying child.

"What's that?" He turned his attention to Rory.

"S'Nothing… I was just watching them." She indicated her mom and Luke with her chin (a move she'd subconsciously picked up from her now step-father).

"They're happy." Logan smiled at the simple statement and laced his fingers with his girlfriend's.

"Do you think we'll ever be that happy?" Rory faced him but averted her eyes to the ground.

"Who says we're not that happy right now?" Logan tugged her into his arms. Rory rested her head on his shoulder and again looked out at Lorelai and Luke.

"I don't think that anyone is… those two had nine years of flirting and unspoken stuff between them. Makes this all the sweeter."

"Well, we could break up and I could pine for you for years to come. You could wistfully recall the blonde boy you once adored and then orchestrate our reunion in ten years… see if that works?"

"Adore?" Rory chuckled and pulled back to look Logan in the eye.

"C'mon Ace, you know you do." He leaned in and kissed the laughter on her lips. "I'm going to get another cup of that punch, you want?" Rory's smile died at the thought of the 'Founder's Day' punch incident; she shook her head vehemently. "Ok, well, I'll meet you over by the piano then?"

"I'll be over in a bit… I think I'm gonna go change my shoes, my feet are killing me." She kissed him quickly and turned towards the new house.

Behind her, in the distance, Luke stood up and stretched, smiling down at his new bride. With a nod of his head, he told Lorelai he'd be back in a few, after he walked out his tired muscles.

(Twickham now Gilmore-Danes House)

Luke opened the door to his new home and felt instantly relaxed despite his suit. He leaned against the door for a moment and took in the low light of the space that he and Lorelai would fill with love and laughter and children and he sighed a deep and satisfying sigh. Then he heard a small noise somewhere in the kitchen.

As he rounded the corner, he soon realized the sound was actually coming from the room off the kitchen, the cornflower room. Rory's room. A warm yellow light emanated there and Luke paused at the threshold at the sight of Rory crying on her bed. A flash of thoughts crossed his mind. Was she not happy about the marriage, did she hate her room, the new house, did that blond kid break her heart like he secretly feared he would?

"Rory?" His voice cracked a little and he cleared his throat. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I'm ok, I'm ok," she offered hurriedly, wiping fat tears from her reddened cheeks. Luke grabbed the chair from her desk and sat down facing her on the bed. "I'm just a sap is all."

Luke grinned and leaned in closer and whispered, "Hey- you wanna know something?" Rory nodded. "I'm a sap too." It was a simple offering but it made them both laugh and the tension was dispelled in one small exchange. "Don't tell your mother," he winked. With that he reached out and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Is there something I can do?"

"It's nothing really." She straightened up, glad for his reassuring hand. "I was just thinking that's all." Luke sat back, ready for her to share. "I was thinking about how happy you and mom are and that you both deserve it so much. And then the thought occurred to me that maybe that's why I'm not as happy… I don't deserve it."

Luke's brow furrowed and he shook his head 'no'.

"Seriously Luke… You donate your time and food to soup kitchens, you take in stray nephews against all other judgment," she looked him in the eye, "and you waited like a saint for my mom."

"Rory…" he started, "I donate my time and food because my mother did it and I thought it was a good thing to continue. I took in Jess because he's family and it was the only thing to do and waiting for your mom… some would argue that 'fool' might be the more appropriate word." He watched her smile and felt warmed. "Listen… you have plenty of time ahead of you. Happiness will come and so will other disappointments and bad calls; but don't ever think that you don't deserve to be happy Rory. You're a good kid, always have been."

"Thanks Luke. I just… I get tripped up sometimes, you know? I look back on this summer and leaving Yale and I think 'who is this person?' I haven felt like Rory Gilmore, daughter of Lorelai Gilmore in a long, long time."

"Maybe you don't feel like it because you're growing up, becoming your own person and breaking away from your mother."

"Yeah, but I feel like an imposter. Like I'm pretending to be able to make these big decisions and choices for my future, when all I really wanna do is lie in this bed and talk to mom until we pass out."

"The twenties suck Rory. There's no way around it." He laughed a little. "And that imposter feeling… I still have it. Every time I sign for a bread order, like when I signed the wedding certificate today… Like I'm playing grown-up, like I'm a kid sometimes. I've come to think of it as a good thing though. By the time my dad was my age, he was all business. He had no kid left in him."

"So you're saying that the kid thing keeps us fresh?"

"Look at your mother… I don't see her getting old and dull any time soon, if ever!" They both laughed at this. The mental image of an aged Lorelai, yammering on about coffee sprung to mind. "And besides, you know you can always come here and talk to your mom whenever you need it."

"I guess so." She smirked then reconsidered. "It's just all so overwhelming."

"Welcome to the Show. The big league can suck, no matter how much you thought you wanted it." Luke resisted the urge to ruffle the hair on her head and grinned instead.

After a long but pleasant pause, Rory rose and pulled something out of her bedside table.

"Luke?"

"Yah" he offered with a jolt.

"Can I show you something?" She turned the overhead light on.

"Sure. What is it?" Rory handed him a dog-eared photograph, obviously well-loved. "What is this?" he asked again, gingerly taking the picture between careful fingers.

"When I was a kid, I used to dream about a family. You know, with a dad and everything. And my dad was never around when I was little and lately, well you know all about that…" she trailed off, thinking back to her childhood with Lorelai in the potting shed at the old Independence Inn. Happy times they were, but they were the 'make your own happiness' variety, tempered by lack of money and splintered support. Rory glanced at Luke's open face and was drawn back into the moment. "That picture was taken when I was fourteen. It was my first day of high school and mom and I were with you at the diner and you made me special pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate chips and mom was trying to steal them off my plate. You sat with us and held mom's arms behind her back while I ate the whole thing myself. It was actually Kirk who took the photo, for some project of his; he gave it to me."

Luke sat, thinking back on the day. He remembered it clearly, although had no recollection of a picture being taken. The image was of him with his arms around Lorelai, pinning her hands behind her, Lorelai laughing with her head tipped towards him and he with his head thrown forward, smiling openly. Rory, looking so young and fresh-faced, was opposite them with a huge mouthful of pancake, whipped cream on her chin.

"I didn't know there was a picture of this." He said quietly.

"It's my favourite picture- ever. It just says it all you know?"

Luke had to agree, it captured all the love and friendship and loyalty they had all shared over the years.

"This," she took the picture from him and stared, "this is my family."

Luke stood and looked down at this beautiful Gilmore girl and was struck by her insight. "No one has ever been more right. About anything." And with that he circled her in a huge hug- the hug he'd always wanted to give her; at her graduation, when she was sick, just this summer when he'd gone to see her in Hartford. Gone was any discomfort or stiffness and they stood like father and daughter, until Luke broke away with a kiss to the crown of her head.

"I think I might have this framed." She offered, slipping the photo back in her drawer.

"I think that would be a great idea." He jerked his head toward the door, "wanna get back to it all?"

"Sure. Sorry to be a downer on your wedding day." She shrugged her shoulders and bit her lip.

"You're not a downer." And he smiled, slid his arm across her shoulders and guided her out of the room, flipping off the light as they went.

Wordlessly, they walked back to the reception in the square, content and with a renewed anticipation of whatever life might toss their way. Lorelai was standing, holding Katy in her arms as she rocked back and forth, watching Sookie and Jackson dance.

"Where'd you get to? I thought you were taking a walk, not going for a beer run to Canada." Luke kissed her hello and admired her ease with the baby.

"We were just looking around the house is all." Rory looked up at him, placed her hands on his shoulder and rose in tiptoe to kiss his cheek. He winked at her as she stepped away, to join Logan by Babette and Miss Patty.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothin'." He offered with a casual shrug.

"Seriously Luke, are we gonna be on Springer in 6 months when I'm fat and you run off with my daughter?" Lorelai laughed.

"Let's just call it some father/daughter business."

Luke stepped up behind Lorelai and wrapped her in his arms; rocking the baby together. Lorelai thought she could literally feel her heart swell. Sookie looked up from Jackson's shoulder, just in time to see Luke place a delicate kiss on his bride's cheek and she smiled at her friends' great fortune.

What a wonderful world this can be…

…Stayed tuned…

Author's Notes: Hard to write and book corporate travel in tandem but here it is none-the-less… Chapter 13 and the stoooorey continues. Hope it is still pleasing to the reader; feedback is not only welcome but part of what keeps me alive these Lazy Hazy Crazy days of summer…