"Mom! You have to get up already."
"Child of mine… why are you waking me up early on a Saturday!"
"Because you're getting married today!"
"See, this is why you should have talked me out of eloping with Luke during the week, because now that I know that he's legally mine, I have no desire to actually wake up this freaking early on a Saturday to make myself look presentable!" she says, with her face in the pillow.
"Well, isn't someone a crankerbutt this morning."
"Stupid Miss Patty, I blame this all on her."
"Why?"
"Because she's the one who said that Luke wasn't allowed to sleep here last night, and I've had him here with me for awhile now, and I like my human blanket, but he wasn't here last night, and I couldn't sleep…and…just go next door and tell Babette that Luke and I are already married."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because I said so."
"Ugh! Rory." She says, finally sitting up in bed, her hair flying everywhere, rubbing her eyes. "You are not the mom, you do not get to pull the because I said so card to get me out of bed!"
"It got you to sit up though, now didn't it?"
"Is there coffee downstairs, ready and waiting for me? Because if there isn't, I can guarantee you that when Luke and I have a kid, it will be an only child."
"Guess you'll just have to get up and see." Rory says in a sing-song voice, skipping out of the room.
"Oh my gosh, she did not get those annoyance genes from me." She mutters to herself, while scooting to the edge of the bed.
Hearing her mother's muttered comment, Rory peeks her head back around the corner. "Actually, this isn't genetic. Annoyance is a learned behavior that I could only get from an accurate model."
"Damn that Ivy League education!" she says, hitting the mattress on her way out of bed.
"Come on, you have to be excited cause you're getting married today!"
"Yeah yeah…I know… white dress…lots of people…Luke…honeymoon….ooh… I forgot about the honeymoon, I'm liking that idea."
"See, but the honeymoon only comes after the wedding though."
"Okay, I'm up, you see, I'm heading down the stairs in search of coffee."
As the morning comes to an end and the time is quickly approaching, the girls make their way to the Dragonfly to get ready.
After putting their bridesmaid dresses on, Sookie and Rory help Lorelai into her gown, pausing a moment afterward to stare at how beautiful she is.
Lorelai looks into the mirror in front of her, amazed that she has finally come to this day. Even though we're already there, I never thought that I would get this. I never even imagined that it was going to be with Luke.
"You know, I'm glad that Luke hasn't gotten to see me in this, and I am glad that we're still doing this today."
Sookie starts to tear up, wiping the tears away with a shaky hand.
"Sookie…"
"I know, but I'm just so glad that you finally got it." She says, allowing her breath to catch and her tears to continue.
Turning to Rory, Lorelai wears a confused expression on her face, "Did I imagine it, or did we not already have this conversation with her once before?"
"I'm sorry, it just seems more real now though, and I just…I'm so happy for you and Luke and just… everything."
"Sookie, you do remember that mom and Luke are already married."
"I know… I know…"
"Hon, it's like beating a dishrag…"
"Beating a dead horse…"
"Eeew! No! I changed it, because I didn't want to hurt Cletus and Desdemona's feelings. That's a horrible phrase."
"But beating a dishrag doesn't have the same effect."
"Yes it does, because nothing happens when you do either of them…"
"But mom, I—" Rory starts and is interrupted by a knocking at the door.
"Luke, if that's you, you know that you are not allowed to see me before the walk down the aisle my friend!" Lorelai screams toward the door.
"Lorelai, it's Maisy… can I have a word?" comes the familiar voice from the other side of the door.
Rory goes to the door, and taking Sookie with her, tells her mother that she'll be back in a bit, and she'll check to make sure everything is okay downstairs.
"Well, you certainly are a vision Lorelai!" Maisy says, approaching the younger woman for a hug.
"Thank you, Maisy. I'm glad that you and Buddy could make it."
"We wouldn't miss this for the world."
"You know, you and Buddy mean a lot to Luke, and by association me."
"Well, we've always seen him like a son, you know that."
She nods, finding herself shy in front of a woman who is the closest thing to an in-law that she'll ever have.
"Lorelai, I think that you know that Lucas asked us to be here as kind of 'stand-ins' for his parents, and I don't think that anything could have made me happier." She pauses for a moment as Lorelai's eyes finally look up to meet her. "If you're wondering, which I know is what is going through your head right now, they would have loved you. You remind me of his mother, so sweet and social, caring and bubbly. And his father would have appreciated your stubbornness and your confidence. I have no doubt in my mind that those two are staring down on this day with the happiest of looks on their faces."
The tears flow down Lorelai's cheeks as she takes in the words. She always wondered about Luke's parents and what they would have thought, but didn't let herself dwell on it. Imagine her surprise when she found the relief in knowing that they would have approved of her marrying their son.
"Now, before I go, I wanted to give you something. I know that it's not extravagant, but I have always thought it was beautiful." She says, holding out a bracelet to put on Lorelai's wrist. "I want you to wear this and keep it as your something old. It was his mother's, and she wore it to nearly every special occasion that I can remember, which means that it's right to be worn today."
"It's beautiful, and I do love it." She reaches out to hug Maisy again. "Thank you so much Maisy, you have no idea what this means to me."
"I think I might…now, I'm going to head downstairs and wait for the show to start. We love you Lorelai."
As she watches Maisy leave, she notices a familiar retreating form in the doorway trying to follow behind the one who just left.
"Mom!" she shouts after her.
"Lorelai…I… I didn't know if you wanted me here, but I –"
"I did."
"Oh. Well, I'm so glad that I came."
"I don't blame you mom, I'm done with that, and I'm sorry for the things that I said."
"I'm sorry too." She says, stepping towards her daughter. As she does, she picks up the arm with the bracelet on it. "This is a beautiful bracelet."
"It was Luke's mother's."
"I heard…who was it that just left?" she says with a genuine interest.
"That was Maisy. Her and her husband Buddy were friends with Luke's family for years. They're like second parents to Luke, so we're having them be his 'stand-ins' as he calls it."
"It was nice of her to come up here."
"It was…As funny as it is, I never really realized how much I wanted to know if Luke's parents would have approved of us until she told me that they would have loved me. I wish that I could have had that opportunity."
"Well, it might not be the same, but it seems like you'll get that chance with those two."
"Yer right." Lorelai says in a dreamy voice, clearly distracted by the image of herself in a wedding dress.
Emily watches her daughter taking in her appearance. She sees the dreamy look in her eyes, and notices the way her mouth turns upward slightly at the corners.
After a few moments of silence, she breaks it, "Are you nervous?"
"I know that I shouldn't be, but I am… it's weird….I mean, I already have him."
"Well, it wouldn't be a real wedding without the bride freaking out a little bit."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure it will all turn out well in the end."
"And after this, you can spend a bit getting relaxed, and then be able to start your life together…and it will be a beautiful life, Lorelai. You may not believe that I think so, but I know it will be beautiful."
"We're getting a new house built…Where the old Independence Inn is…Mia gave Luke and I the land for a wedding gift, and we're going to build a new place."
"Why move away?"
"We…wanted more room…" she says, dipping her chin to lose eye contact with her mother.
"So you…"
"No, not yet, but soon, hopefully. We want a family of our own, and surprisingly we both want it as soon as possible." As she looks up, the smile on her face and the love in her eyes is nearly blinding.
Emily gathers her up in an unexpected embrace, and then makes her way to the door. "Your father will be up in a minute. It's just a little bit until you have to get down there, okay."
"Thanks mom."
She stands in the doorway for a moment, contemplating her next move. Then, turning, she calls out to her daughter, "Lorelai?"
"Yes?"
"I do love you, I hope you know that."
"I do, and I always have."
With a small hint of a smile, Emily steps into the hallway, leaving Lorelai alone for a few minutes.
Rory comes up five minutes later to tell her that Richard was on his way up, and they are ready when she is downstairs.
"Thanks kid."
"Mom…this is good."
"I know it is." She says, excited to make it official for everyone to see, even if she knew already that it was.
As soon as Rory was out of the room, Richard was there in her place, knocking on the doorframe as he enters. "I've been told to come and get you."
"That's what a little bird told me too."
He puts his hand out for her to grab and in an child-like way, Lorelai allows their hands to swing as they walk the hallway. Before they get to the top of the stairs, Richard stops her, putting two hands on her shoulders to face her towards him. Without a word, he bends and places a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Thank you daddy."
"Thank you for letting me do my duty Lorelai."
Finally making it to their spots, standing at the entranceway, getting ready to step outside, Rory signals for the music to begin.
Martha and Davey are first, Davey awkwardly walking at a turtle's pace to make sure that the rings didn't fall off the pillow. Martha, new to the idea of walking, much less throwing flowers down an aisle, chose to take a seat in the middle of it and pour the petals over her head.
After her came Sookie, frantically wiping the tears from her cheeks, and finally Rory, who stopped to kiss Luke on the cheek before taking her place up front.
Then, as the guests, who were mainly composed of the entire population of Stars Hallow, rose, Lorelai made her way to the end of the aisle, at Richard's side. Marching down the center of all her friends, she couldn't take her eyes off Luke, who wasn't able to stop smiling, and after their hands were joined, and Richard took his seat, he leaned over to his bride, "You are the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen."
She smiles back at him, and the ceremony begins. As the words float through the air, you can hear the sniffs of the townsfolk, who feel they've waited an eternity for this to happen. Even Taylor let a few salty tears fall while Kirk sat next to him crying harder than Sookie. It was a good time, something to be remembered…
As they neared the end of the ceremony, and they were asked to sign he marriage certificate, Lorelai shared a look with Luke, asking silent permission to admit to everyone the truth. He nods, and takes her hand as they turn towards the crowd.
"Um…we can't do this without coming clean to all of you…" she pauses as she sees all the eyes of her friends go wide. "Luke and I aren't getting married today."
They start to go crazy, talking a mile a minute, screaming at each other that they couldn't understand.
"We aren't…" she pauses as she waits for the crowd to die down. "We aren't getting married today because we already got married."
You could hear a pin drop, and then Babette's hoarse voice breaks through the silence. "WHAT! When did you two get hitched and how did we not know about it!"
"Wednesday…we got married on Wednesday." Luke adds in.
"Wednesday! That was four days ago! How did we not notice this" Miss Patty pipes in, turning towards Babette at the end because of her disappointment in realizing that they were losing their touch.
"So you got married on the 23rd then."
"Uh, yeah, the 23rd, but what –"
"I Won!" Taylor screams, shooting up out of his seat.
"No you don't Taylor, I win, because the wedding was technically planned for today, and that's what counts." Gypsy says, clearly upset.
"That doesn't count cause they are already married, which means that the date they really got married was the 23rd, and I've had the 23rd marked for years in this pool! I win! So, pay up Gypsy!"
This causes a new predicament for the people of Stars Hallow, who had already given their money to Gypsy for winning the pool that started a few years ago for the date that Luke and Lorelai would get married. The noise is reaching comic proportions when a loud whistle is heard coming from the bride's side.
All attention is now focused on Emily Gilmore, who's prim and proper mouth just whistled to get the attention of the townspeople.
"Are you telling me that you people placed bets on the days that my daughter and her husband were going to marry?"
"Well, we knew it was going to happen eventually…I mean he's loved her for YEARS!" Babette says, knowing that she's the only one who has the voice to carry over the crowd.
"I don't know what to say to that…" she says, perplexed while sitting back down.
Finally, having the attention of everyone, Lorelai takes the opportunity to say a few things. "Now, aside from the fact that you all were placing bets on me and Luke getting married, the fact remains that I am the bride, so today's my day. And I say that getting married today or Wednesday, we are still due in for a kick ass party played out the Stars Hallow way, so let's get moving cause Sookie did the cooking, so it's bound to be good."
They file into the Inn as Luke and Lorelai stay back behind the crowd.
"Can you believe that they placed bets on us?"
"This town… yes."
"For years?"
"Apparently so."
"So, we really were a long time coming weren't we Mr. Danes."
"We sure were Mrs. Danes."
She smiles as he takes her arm and leads her to the steps to where they first kissed.
"Lorelai, promise me something?"
"Anything."
"Wear those rings and that bracelet for the rest of your life."
"You noticed?"
"I'm glad that Maisy gave it to you. Mom would have loved for you to have it."
"Really?"
"Yes. She would have worn it today or given it to you to wear today, because it was that special to her."
"Why?"
"Well, you have snow, I have the stars, and mom had this bracelet. Dad gave it to her on their wedding day, and she wanted to never take it off. Knowing that it was something that Dad spent a lot of money on, she decided that it would be for special occasions only."
"Parties and such?"
"Nope…life occasions really. The best things happened when she was wearing that bracelet. She was wearing it when she had me and Liz, when they closed on their first house together, for each of our birthdays, and I can't even remember what else."
As she looks down at the bracelet, marveling at the history of it, Luke traces his fingers across the chain. "I can't wait for you to wear it again."
"Well, if people are bettin' on us, I'm sure that we've got a pretty interesting, amazing life ahead of us. I'm nearly positive that I won't ever be able to take it off."
"I'm glad." He replies, and then takes in their surroundings, remembering the start of the best relationship of his life. "Lorelai?"
"What?"
"Stand still."
Awwww…. Freaking cute if I have to say! I hope that you like this chapter. I decided that the townsfolk should know about them getting married ahead of time, cause I don't want to see a mean Miss Patty. Anyways, Review if you'd like to, and I'll post as soon as I can!