Chapter Thirty

Once Jess finished relaying his story to his father and Sasha he was met with silence. He'd expected anger, upset, questions, but not this heavy silence. Finally Sasha broke the ice.

"But you're okay now, right?" she asked.

"I've got a long way to go, but I'm on a solid road to recovery," Jess replied.

"Complete recovery?" Jimmy asked.

"That's still up in the air. They say that stairs will always be a challenge, but as long as I can get around without a wheelchair all the time, I'll be happy," Jess sighed.

"But what I don't understand is why…why didn't you…?" Jimmy started.

"Why? At the beginning things were touch and go and then well, the longer we waited, the longer I waited, the harder it got until…Well, here we are."

That was all the explanation it took and soon the foursome were joined by Luke and Lorelai and conversation turned from the darker subjects of the past to those of the more promising future.

Before anyone realized it was Christmas Eve and there was only one week left to the wedding with no word from Liz and TJ.

Christmas Eve was spent quietly and intimately at home, watching holiday movies, eating a ham dinner prepared by the men of the residence, Luke, Jess, and Jimmy, and the exchanging of presents between couples. The rest of the presents would be held until morning.

It was before dawn on Christmas morning when Lorelai awoke next to Luke in the bed they shared. She was nervous about giving him his second Christmas gift, not sure how he'd like it. Also, she was fretting over the Gilmore-Danes-Mariano family Christmas that was coming up in eight short hours.

Lorelai studied Luke as he slept next to her, and thought how lucky they were. They were both healthy now, both in love, and their "children" were happy. Life was good.

Luke woke up under Lorelai's delicate scrutiny and offered her a groggy smile. "Merry Christmas, Beautiful."

"Merry Christmas," Lorelai replied.

"You okay? It's really early," Luke said looking at the clock.

"I know. I'm just thinking about how lucky we are, how much we have to celebrate this year. Our wedding, Rory and Jess' wedding, your recovery, Jess' recovery," Lorelai listed. "Now all we have to do is make it through Christmas dinner with my parents and Christopher."

Luke reached up and caressed her arm gently, "We'll do all right. It's only for a short while and then we can go back to our one little world."

Lorelai leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Luke's lips. This was the moment she'd been waiting for, a quiet, mundane yet romantic moment to tell him the most important news she'd had in her life to date, well, besides Rory of course. Lorelai reached over and took Luke's hand in both of hers. "You remember last night I told you that I had another present for you incase you didn't like the ID bracelet?" she inquired.

"Lorelai, I loved that," he sighed. "I told you three times."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I don't want to give you your other gift too," Lorelai smiled.

"Okay, but you still have a bit of a wait until the rest of the house wakes up," Luke reminded her. "Why don't you settle down and get some more sleep."

"Luke, I want to give you this gift, but until the wedding is over I don't want to tell anyone else. Not even Rory and Jess, you have to promise me," Lorelai said seriously.

"Lorelai…I'm…"Luke began, but stopped when Lorelai took the hand she held and pressed it to her stomach. She didn't need to say anything to him, that gesture was enough.

"You're…we're...Lorelai, are you trying to tell me you're pregnant?" Luke asked, not sure how to react to her answer.

She smiled, tears coming to her eyes and nodded her head, "es. I'm going to have your baby. In July, by my estimation."

Luke thought about that for a minute then, "How long have you known?"

"Since about a week ago. I confirmed it at the doctor's on Friday. That's why I didn't have twelve cups of coffee last night," she confessed. "Not because I wanted to humor you."

"Lorelai, I don't know what to say," Luke said. "I'm speechless."

"Are you happy? I know we never really talked about family, but…"

That was all she got to say before Luke was pulling her down on top of him kissing her passionately. "I love you, Lorelai Gilmore. This is the best Christmas present you could ever give me."

"So you're happy?" she asked to confirm.

"I'm…I don't understand why you want to keep it a secret," he said.

"Because I want the wedding to be what it is and the baby announcement to be something on its own. I don't want to over shadow one event with the other," Lorelai explained. "But in case I start having morning sickness or get all hormonal, I want you to understand what's going on so you don't worry."

"I'll always worry," Luke countered.

"Well, then, so you don't worry too much," she sighed and leaned her head against his naked chest closing her eyes and going back to sleep.

"Lorelai, I'm awake now. How about an early breakfast?" Luke asked and was met with silence. "Lorelai?"

He looked down and saw she was sleeping soundly against his chest. "Great," he thought. "Great."

Luke and Lorelai were the first ones downstairs that morning, even with Lorelai's brief nap. They were joined by Jimmy and Sasha shortly after and finally Rory and Jess. They exchanged the rest of the presents that had been bought and prepared themselves for the arrival of Christopher and Sherry, as well as Emily and Richard.

By three pm on Christmas day the party was in full swing and so far no one had argued, griped or thrown a punch. Lorelai saw Jess at the eggnog bowl and came up next to him, "So far so good. No one has been laid out, cursed out, or pissed off," she said to him. "How are you doing?"

"Not bad," he answered. "I don't like that Rory keeps sneezing. I hope she's not going to get sick before the wedding."

"So do I," Lorelai sighed. "Well we'll have to make sure she drinks plenty of orange juice and rests this next week."

"Lorelai," Emily called. "This ham is amazing. Did Sookie do it?"

"No, Mom," Lorelai replied. "Luke, Jess and Jess' Dad did."

"It is wonderful. Luke, you really should think about expanding the diner," Richard said to him. "I'll back you. You can become a chain. A place like that Denny's only with better food and more class."

"I'll think about it, Richard," Luke replied, making sure that nothing upset Lorelai. He didn't want the day ruined. "Maybe I'll expand the Stars Hollow diner first."

That answer seemed to satisfy Richard and the conversations split off again. There was little family unity, but no family friction. That was all they could hope for with this crew.

Thankfully, though, by a Christmas miracle they got through the mixer unscathed and now the two engaged couples could focus on the most important day of their lives, which was just around the corner.

A/N: I apologize for the wait and the short length of this chapter. But never fear, the wedding his here. I will update sooner than I did this time, I promise. Next chapter we'll see the pre-wedding activity. Chapter 32 will contain the ceremony, and Chapter 33 will be the reception. Thanks for reading.