Title: Is Where You Hang your Hat
Rating: PG
Summary: Following the mother of all cliffhangers (and soon to be resolved!)
Disclaimer: lalala… not mine… lalala…
Chapter 15
Is Where You Hang Your Hat
"What!" Luke practically shrieked.
"What's wrong with Oliver?"
"What is wrong with Oliver…? Let's see… he'll get pounded on every time he shows up on the playground."
"We'll home school." Lorelai could scarcely contain her mischievous smirk. She straightened her spine when Luke glanced back at her as he paced the length of the counter of the diner. "Alright then… if not Oliver, how about Herman?"
"Herman?" Luke looked like he might pass out with exasperation. "Hmmmm… let's see" he spoke deliberately, "her-man, herrr-man…?"
"Like you're my man…"
"Lorelai," he warned. "I am not calling any son of mine Herman, or Oliver, or even Xander."
"You liked Xander at first."
"Yeah. Until you told me it was from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!"
"Well…" Her voice rose with the inflection. "It's a good name."
"And our kid will have to walk around with a pointy stick to kill off vampires on the way to the park."
"Okay… First off- Xander isn't a Slayer, he a friend of the Slayer and he's a comfortador."
"A what now?"
"A comfortador- as in: One who gives comfort. Secondly, no one is gonna even get the reference by the time our kid's in school." She threw up her hands for added emphasis. "Unless, of course, someone my age has a daughter and calls her Buffy. Oooh, or Anya… or Willow…" She lingered a little on the name Willow then shot Luke a look of genius idea. "I've got it!"
"No." He regarded her with the same gruff diner-man look she'd seen for years. It was familiar and oh-so amusing.
"You haven't even heard my suggestion!" She feigned hurt and batted her eyelashes.
"You're going to tell me that our babies, ours not just yours, should be called something ridiculous like Xander and Willow or Buffy or… what was the other one Ahn? He removed his ball cap and scratched his head.
"Anya." She over-enunciated.
"Whatever." He let out a long sigh. "I won't have it Lorelai. No Xander, no Anya."
"I wasn't gonna say that…" Luke stopped pacing for a moment to look into Lorelai's bright blue eyes. She reached out and took his hand in both of hers in an attempt to draw him in. His expression softened at the sight of her.
"What were you gonna say then?" He asked, his voice almost a whisper as he leaned in closer, almost kissing her lips.
"Spike and Dru."
"Ah Jeez!" He picked up the counter cloth and whipped it back down in one fell swoop. "Lorelai!"
She rocked back on the stool and cackled with laughter.
Luke rounded the counter and came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She leaned back into his embrace feeling slightly off balance with her huge pumpkin belly squeezed up against the Formica.
"You are the world's most aggravating and wonderful woman." He kissed the rim of her ear and she giggled.
"Why thank you." Lorelai awkwardly turned on her stool and faced her man. His hands traveled down to her tummy and he grinned. Just then the bell above the door jingled, announcing the arrival of customers.
"Aww… so sweet." Miss patty cooed.
"See Patty," Babette smacked her friend in the arm, "I told ya he was a big softie. You can tell- the way he looks at her when she doesn't think he's lookin'."
"Aw jeez." Luke rolled his eyes but caught a glimpse of Lorelai's genuine smile. Luke grabbed the note pad from the front of his pants and grabbed his pencil off the counter. "Ladies, what'll it be?"
"Coffee and a lemon cranberry muffin sweetheart." Miss Patty's voice was low and sultry.
"Just coffee for me babe." Babette swiped the hair from her eyes and grinned.
Luke rounded the corner and lifted the dome off the muffins.
"Hey, I've gotta get going." Lorelai waved as Luke readied the order for Star's Hollow's prolific dynamic duo.
"Ok. Right." He rushed to her side and helped her down from the stool. "You headed home?" he smoothed his hands down her arms and ducked down a bit to look into her eyes. "No deviations to Weston's or the market?"
"Why Luke, are you insinuating I'd get my fix from anyone but you?" She leaned forward and kissed his lips, softly and sweetly. He remained unmoved. "You know me too well. Alright. No deviations- I'll go straight home."
"That's my girl." He returned the tender kiss, inhaling sharply through his nose, secretly wishing Babette and Miss Patty weren't right there, cataloguing his every move.
"And I'll likely see you later when you get off for lunch, somewhere near the gazebo, 'cuz that's how long it'll take me to waddle back to the house." She grabbed her purse and made for the door.
"Dollface, how close are ya?" Babette shrugged.
"I'm in the middle of week 36. So not long to go now." Lorelai pulled her coat over her shoulders in anticipation of the Fall cold outside. "I'm sure you'll know when the time comes… something about the proximity of telephone lines I've heard." She winked at Miss Patty who feigned embarrassment. "Good morning ladies. And Luke, I'll see you later."
"I'll be home for lunch." He smiled and watched Lorelai negotiate her way down the step to the sidewalk then he disappeared into the kitchen for a moment.
"Those kids. I ain't never seen either of 'em so happy." Babette whispered.
"I can't wait to get my hands on those," Luke re-emerged in time to hear Miss Patty start that sentence and he looked at her dubiously, "babies" she finished.
"You talking about my kids Miss Patty?" He softened his regard.
"Just admitting that none of us can wait to meet these fabulous babies you've produced." Luke's instinct was to cringe but the thought of his much anticipated twins was too overwhelming and his huge grin betrayed him.
"I hear ya. Can't wait…"
(at Home)
"Lorelai?" Luke called into a seemingly empty house.
He rounded corners, peeked into the kitchen, glanced across the living room and took to the stairs two by two. In their bedroom, he found his beautiful wife asleep on top of the comforter with an afghan thrown over her. Luke let out a sigh and neared the side of the bed, taking a seat beside her slumbering form. He smoothed a hand over her tummy and regarded it there, how his rough fingers looked against the deep red of the yarn, how his tired hand looked smaller now since Lorelai's belly had grown so much. He leaned forward and kissed her stomach and whispered to the twins therein.
"You are gonna be so spoiled. I just know it; even if you get called something unfortunate like Xander or Anya, I already love you too much to care about names."
He placed another kiss there then straightened up. Still whispering, he turned his attention to Lorelai's soft, sleeping face.
"And you. Don't get me started." The tiny lines around her eyes were just visible in the dim light. She was more beautiful to him every day. She'd been so young when they'd first met, Rory was so small and the two of them had been so full of life that it made him feel old at first. Now, in the comfort of their shared bed, he shook his head in disbelief that life could have arrived at this very moment in time. He gently brushed a lock of curls from her cheek and let his finger trace the line of her jaw. "I love you Lorelai," he whispered, "you really have no idea how much."
Without stirring or opening her eyes, Lorelai spoke, "I really do." She squinted her eyes against the soft light and turned to face her lover. "I really do know because I feel the same way."
Luke scooted up the bed a little and bent down to meet her lips. His kissed her gently but with a ferocity that thoroughly betrayed any restraint he may have attempted to exercise. He place both hands to the pillow on either side of her face and leaned back a moment to look at her dark hair, cool against his hands. He went back to her lips and lingered there, kissing her deliberately and reverently.
"Wow." She whispered into his mouth.
"Wow." He replied, cupping her face with one hand.
They looked at each other for a long and silent moment before her gaze shifted a little.
"You hungry?" He smiled.
"Famished…"
Luke pulled Lorelai to a sitting position and propped two pillows behind her. Then, he pulled out a burger and fries from the bag beside him. She grinned around a bite then scowled.
"This is a veggie burger!" she spoke with her mouth full. Luke nodded and laughed. She chewed for a moment, then swallowed. "S'not half bad actually. Slather it in cheese and it's like a real burger."
"That's my girl." He said for the second time that day, then he rose, kissed her forehead and made to leave.
"Hey- where you going?" she extended her hand and he took it.
"Diner. Have to get back." He squeezed her fingers, "don't want to though." She smiled sympathetically.
"Before you go- I got you something."
"You did? What's that?"
"It's on the dresser… in a little box… but it's nothing fancy, just a necessity." Luke walked over to the highboy and opened the box, it was a pager. "That's your very own baby pager, in case I go into labour while you're at the diner or something." He fiddled for a moment then clipped it to his belt (the same belt she'd bought him all those years ago).
"Thanks hun." He rarely used terms of endearment, making it all the more special.
"I got one for Rory and one for Sookie too… just in case."
"Good idea." He again approached her and kissed her cheek. "Gotta go. You gonna be ok?"
"I've got Jane and the remote, I'm all set." With a wink, Luke left and Lorelai dove into her food; smoothing a hand over the kicking babies in her belly. "So you like the turkey burger… traitors."
Stay tuned…
Author's Notes: So it's been a while. I had written this chapter once already then my pc crapped out and wiped the slate. Bugger. So I was too mad to set out and attempt to re-write it as I had done. Meaning, I needed to leave a little time and space so I could write a fresh attempt (this one here). Of course, in the interim, my most cherished place on earth, New Orleans, was wiped out and my grief over that has left me a little humourless and very sore. Still, I am invested in this story and I hope this chapter is satisfying and that my mood is well disguised in the banter of this installment. Feedback is always needed…