A/N : I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...a million times I'm sorry.
First I was on a costume crew, then I stage managed another show, and finals happened, and the adjustment back to being home, and all that bullshit...and yeah no excuse. I'm sorry this took so long. I had a major block for a while and I had to just kind of muscle through it so I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. It's filler before I get to the big plot line of the story. But I had to have it in here to buy me more time (as far as time in the story goes)
I leave for a camp on Tuesday and dont' come back until August 2 except for random days every now and then for my day off. So I don't know when the next time I'll be updating is, maybe I'll power through another chapter this weekend, who knows.
But please, review and be honest! Some stuff might be a little out of character, and others a little OCD, but pardon all that. That was me powering through my block to make some progress on the story. Anyway, enjoy!
Good Morning Star Shine
Luke woke up early the next Saturday, not early by his standards but certainly early enough not to roll over and find her side of the bed completely empty. He sat up, completely confused and sleep clogged. He shook his head and groped around in the semi dark room just double checking that she hadn't wound up at the end of the bed under the covers or in some other strange position that would keep him from feeling her next to him. He cursed the heavy curtains she had on her windows that kept the majority of the light from outside just there, outside. He pulled the covers off his legs and stumbled towards the light switch which, due to the blown bulb in the lamp, would allow the only light in the room to turn on.
After successfully slamming his knee into the post at the end of the bed and tripping over a robe, and then a pair of shoes, and then another robe, he finally flipped the switch and light flooded the room. He squinted and shielded his eyes as he surveyed the room. No Lorelai on the floor, she'd wound up on the floor one time during a particularly bad nightmare so he hadn't been so sure this wasn't a repeat occurrence.
He pulled open the door and checked the bathroom to make sure that she wasn't already completing her morning regimen of puking, brushing her teeth, puking again, showering, and puking two more times. It was too early for her to be puking already, but you could never be too sure with all of that…at least that's what he assumed.
He went about his business of brushing his teeth and peeing before he went downstairs and was shocked to find Lorelai sitting at the kitchen table, completely dressed, and working over some papers.
She had been up for hours. Something was keeping her from sleeping and she couldn't pin point it so at 5:43 on a Saturday morning she'd snuck out of bed, taken a shower, and gotten dressed quietly before doing her hair and makeup in the bathroom and then going downstairs to work on some Inn paperwork she'd been meaning to do. The paper work had only kept her busy for two hours, and even those two hours had been pushing it. She'd taken extra time to print extra legibly and double checked all of the facts and figures three and four times before filling it all in. Everything she'd been working on was still spread in front of her in piles of varying heights and manila folders emblazoned with stickers on the tabs saying "Dragonfly-Inventory" and "Dragonfly-Order Sheets" were strewn across the table as well as hand written notes from Sookie and Michel along with invoices from Tom and Jackson.
Her head was pounding from caffeine withdrawl and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Where was this bitterness coming from? She was far from bitter about the fact that she couldn't have any caffeine because she couldn't have it because of the baby, and she was absolutely not bitter about the baby.
She rested her head on her hands and stared at the table for a few minutes before looking back up and staring out the window in the back door.
This isn't me. I'm not the one that gets up at the ass crack of dawn to worry. This is Luke. Hell this isn't even Luke, and it's not Rory either. What have I turned in to?
She looked back down at the table and pulled a legal pad towards her and started making a list of everything they had to do before the baby came. It ranged from picking a name and buying diapers to choosing the godparents to where they were going to put the baby. They didn't have room for a nursery and she didn't want to mess with Rory's room.
She looked up at the clock and saw it was 9:02. She'd been up for almost 4 hours when normally she'd just now be getting up to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet and then go back to sleep for two hours considering it was Saturday. She sighed and put her head down on her hands on the table and closed her eyes to try to ease her headache. She felt strong hands descend on her shoulders and start to massage them. She sighed appreciatively and raised up a little to give him better access to her shoulders. He dipped down and kissed her neck and ear and then she turned around to face him.
I love it when he first gets up and his hair is all fluffy and bed-head-like. He looks like a teenager again.
She's up, dressed, and has been working for what looks like a while and it's only 9:03 on a Saturday morning. Something's wrong.
She stood up and he took her all in. She was wearing her comfy jeans and a stretchy black long sleeved t-shirt. Her hair was curly, the way he loved it, and wild around her shoulders and she was wearing her glasses. Something she hardly ever did but was something else that he absolutely loved.
He took her hand and noticed that when she didn't squeeze his hand back that something was definitely wrong. He pulled her to him and slid his arms around her waist and held her tight. Her arms fit around him perfectly just like they always did, and he felt her shaking.
"Baby, what's wrong?" He asked, running one hand up and down her back. She spoke into his shoulder and it came out muffled. He continued to rub her back and finally she pulled back and looked up at him, her blue eyes clouded with worry and brimming with tears.
"I don't know." She said, the tears now leaving their captive pools and flowing freely down her cheeks.
"Something has to be wrong. This isn't you." Luke said, his hands on her hips and ducking down to look her in the eye. "You can tell me anything."
She nodded. She knew she could tell him anything.
"We don't have anywhere to put it." She said, sniffling and tears still running freely down her cheeks.
"Anywhere to put what?" he asked, confused and looking back and forth between her and the table.
"The baby." She said, launching into a wail and collapsing back into his shoulder. He just stood there holding her dumbfounded.
To be honest, he hadn't thought about it really until that moment. That didn't make him a bad father did it? Shit. He still had the deeds to the Twickham house, and the family he'd rented it to were moving out in two weeks, which made it almost seem like perfect timing but he knew that she very well wouldn't move out of this house when it held so many memories in it.
"Baby, go back to sleep. We can worry about this all later. I know very well you didn't get any sleep last night, so let's go back upstairs and go back to sleep. I promise we can talk about it when we wake up." He said, he didn't want to breech the subject at all, but the time her nap took would give him time how to bring up the Twickham house.
She leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her tighter.
"Can you walk upstairs?" he asked, and he felt her nod against him. He reached down and took her hand and lead her out of the kitchen, turning off the light in the process, and up the stairs to the bedroom. She slipped out of her jeans and into PJ pants and socks and slid under the covers. Luke turned off the light and pulled the drapes back closed before slipping under the covers himself. He wasn't exactly tired but he could sleep some more. He noticed she was about a foot away from him, and reached out and put his arm around her waist, inviting her to move in closer. He felt her hesitate.
That's new.
She knew she needed to sleep, and when he offered to go back to sleep with her it calmed her down a little bit. She had slipped under the covers and felt her eyelids get heavy. That was all she could feel. She felt like a big void of emotion, nothing was going on inside her. She just felt blank. She felt his arm around her waist after he got into bed next to her and hesitated to scoot closer.
That was new.
Why did she hesitate?
Why did I just hesitate?
She blinked a couple times and then scooted closer to him. She felt him tense up a little and then reach around her again and pull her closer. She rested her head against his shoulder and put one hand on his chest. He kissed her forehead and ran the hand that was around her waist up and down her back.
She didn't know when she fell asleep, but when she woke up later Luke was still beside her, holding on around her and she smiled and snuggled into him and kissed his cheek softly.
"Morning star shine." She whispered in his ear.
"Morning again. What time is it?" He asked, glancing over at the clock. He did a double take. It was now 2 in the afternoon. They'd slept for 5 more hours. He'd never slept this late in her life. He supposed it was a good thing that Caesar was taking care of the diner this weekend in "self punishment" for taking two weekends in a row off. She smiled at him.
"Feeling better?" He asked. She nodded and snuggled in closer. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not right now. Later." She said yawning and throwing one leg haphazardly across his. His hands found their way to her back again and he ran them up and down it gently.
"You always do that." She said, smiling up at him.
"I can stop." He said, pulling his hands away from her back. She pouted and shook her head. She tilted her head up and kissed him softly.
"I'm sorry." She said, their noses resting together.
"For what?" He asked, cupping one of her cheeks with his hand.
"Being so…everywhere." She said softly.
"Comes with the territory, believe me I'm used to it." He said, kissing her softly on the nose before catching her lips with his and they sat there tenderly kissing for a few minutes before breaking apart and smiling.
That was one of the things about their relationship that marveled everyone, including themselves. The way they could be completely hot and heavy and all over each other and then turn around be completely soft and sensual about everything. Both sides of their relationship showed through in everything they did and just the briefest touch of their hands together would send a bolt of electricity between the two of them and spread into the room.
"Now I don't know about you, but I need to take another shower and wash the morning off of me." She said, running her hand over his chest.
"You go first. I'll go make some…uh…lunch?" He said consulting the clock. She nodded in agreement and extracted herself from the now twisted sheets and went and took a shower.
Luke went downstairs clad in a t-shirt and a pair of boxers and went about the lunch making process. He made a BLT for Lorelai along with tater-tots and he made a pitcher of sweet tea before fixing himself a salad. He was just putting the plates on the table when she came downstairs and stood in the doorway and smiled.
She felt a lot better after her shower, it was one of those rare mornings where she didn't get nauseated, but she knew that would come back and bite her in the ass later. She slid back into the clothes she'd been wearing that morning and redid her hair and makeup. She took a deep breath and headed downstairs to possibly breech the "no room" issue with Luke.
"Look at you being all Mr. Mom" she said from the doorway. He rolled his eyes and sat down in his chair.
"Mmmm BLT, yummy." She said, digging into her food. Luke picked up his fork and slowly ate his salad. Even an attempt at eating at the same speed she did would undoubtedly cause him bodily harm.
"I'm gonna stop in at the inn for a little while, check in on everything, do you wanna go get dinner somewhere tonight?" She asked, with a mouthful of tater tots, and shoving her glasses up her nose with the back of her hand.
"That's fine, I've got some stuff to check on today anyway. I'll come pick you up at the Inn at like 7?" He replied. She nodded and finished off the last of her lemonade and stood up. She walked around the table and bent down and planted a big sloppy kiss on his cheek and a peck on his lips before grabbing her folders and heading for the door.
"If you'll wait two seconds I'll walk out with you." Luke said, putting the dishes in the sink and grabbing his hat and keys and following her.
She slipped her hand in his and they walked over to the Jeep together and he leaned against the door while she fished out her keys.
I can feel him staring at me. Why is he staring at me? I wish he'd stop staring at me. I like it when he stares at me, most of the time. But right now he just needs to cut it out.
"Hey, Luke…take a picture it'll last longer" she said, after finally unlocking the jeep and opened the door.
"Sorry. You're beautiful." He said, leaning in and kissed her on the forehead.
"To quote Vivien, you're forgiven." She said smiling up at him. She stood up on her tip toes, only a little cause she was in her 3 inch Jimmy Choo boots, and trapped his lips with hers. She smiled through the kiss as they melted together, much like they always did. She couldn't remember a single kiss where they hadn't just melded into one person in the process. His hands rested on her hips and rubbed lazy circles on her hip bones as her fingers twirled through the hair that poked out of the back of his baseball cap. Her hands tightened around his neck as she massaged the back of his neck as she simultaneously ran her tongue along his bottom lip. He readily opened his mouth and she ran her tongue over his slowly before they settled into a rhythm, their tongues slowly dancing together as they stood there, all but groping by her car. She broke the kiss reluctantly after a few minutes and rested her forehead against his.
"I have to go to work." She said, a hint of disappointment flickering in her voice.
"But not all day, I'll see you at 7." He said, sliding his hands down her arms and taking her hands.
"Okay." She said reaching back up and pecking him on the lips before squeezing his hands and getting in her car.
He watched her drive away and as she was out of sight of the house he turned and went inside, smiling as he went.
"You've got good reason to smile, sugar. That was one hell of a kiss goodbye." He heard Babette call from her porch. He turned and waved at her, sitting on her front porch with curlers, coffee, a bathrobe and her phone next to her. She'd probably been giving Patty a play by play the whole time. He groaned and went inside.
He took a shower, letting the almost searing hot water pound away at his shoulders in a futile attempt to ease some of the tension that had built up that morning from Lorelai's early morning break down.
He got dressed and called the Lawrence's and asked if it was okay if he came by the house today under pretense of a walk through that he was advised to do through the lawyer that had been handling all the leasing agreements. They quickly agreed and he said he'd be there in about a half hour, which gave him time to collect himself and find the digital camera Lorelai had somewhere in her house.
He found the camera, tucked into a drawer under the phone in the hutch, along with a fistful of pictures from when Rory was little. He grabbed the phone and his keys and drove over to the house, bracing himself for what he might find inside. The Lawrence's had twin two year old boys and a four year old little girl, who had undoubtedly trashed the place.
He was right. Completely right.
Angela Lawrence opened the door looking frazzled, but smiling at the same time.
"Hey Luke, come on in." She said pulling the door open wider. The house was mostly packed up and empty save for a few pieces of furniture and some toys in the living room.
"We're pretty much out, the movers come tomorrow to pick up the rest of the furniture and the couple of boxes upstairs; so we should be completely out of your hair by tomorrow." She said smiling and pushing her red hair out of her face. It was obvious she was frazzled and exhausted.
"Okay that's great. No rush though, if you need until the end of the week please take it." He said
"I think we'll be fine getting out of here tomorrow. I'm going to go back out in the backyard to make sure the kids aren't killing each other. Yell if you need anything!" Angela called, walking back through the kitchen and out the back door.
Luke looked around, the house wasn't completely and totally trashed but it was going to need a lot of work before he and Lorelai could move into it. The fact that the Lawrence's were going to be out early was a major plus. He figured that if he got some help it would only take about two weeks, maybe three to get the house ready to show Lorelai.
He started his walk through in the kitchen, some of the boards were nicked and gouged out (a result of dropped plates and toys no doubt) and the backsplash was covered in a strange looking film. There was play-doh smashed into the island and in between the floorboards, the fridge was spotted with various food stuffs and he didn't even bother checking inside. He snapped a couple of pictures and then moved onto the next room.
The dining room was right off of the kitchen, and from the looks of it the Lawrence's hadn't really used it. The walls had a few spots where a kid or two had attacked them with a crayon or marker, but other than that the room was in good shape. He took a picture of the windows in the room so they could figure out window dressings for them and then moved on.
The living room was one of the biggest disaster areas. The room was back through the kitchen and through an archway. The carpet was completely ruined. On first glance you'd say it was brown, but Luke knew from way back that it was actually a lighter tan color, almost white. He grimaced and made a mental note. The fireplace looked like it hadn't been cleaned since Old Man Twickham had died, it was completely black and ash was everywhere, even spilling out of the hearth and onto the carpet. The walls were spotted with attempts to remove crayon and muddy hand prints. He snapped a few pictures, begrudgingly and then walked through the rest of the downstairs. The den was much like the dining room, pretty much decent except for a couple spots on the wall and one particularly deep gouge in the floor.
The master bedroom was just as bad off as the living room. It was situated off of the living room, and was a huge room. He'd always loved that room, even when Twickham had had it in a disgusting green color. It had been repainted egg shell like the rest of the house, and the Lawrence's hadn't changed that. There was a second fireplace on the far wall, which was in no better shape than the one in the living room. The entire far wall was covered in windows, letting a ton of light spill into the room on sunny days. The carpet in the room, as well as the walls, was in as much disarray as the living room. It looked like the kids lived in the room instead of the parents. He was afraid to go into the bathroom but braved it anyway.
He should have been scared.
He wasn't sure if the bathroom had been cleaned since he had cleaned it after they'd moved the museum out. The grout in the floor was completely black, and the tiles now had a muted tan film all over them, all would need to be replaced and re-grouted. The caulking on the huge garden tub would have to be redone and the shower would need to be replaced. The bay window behind the tub was cracked, and dirty like everything else.
He left the bathroom and bedroom in a hurry and went through the study off the living room and the den before taking a big breath and starting upstairs.
Two hours later he was done with the walk through and disgusted beyond belief at what the Lawrence's had done to the place. The backyard and much of the front was going to have to be re-landscaped and sections of the fence would have to be replaced thanks to their dogs.
He got back in his truck and drove by the diner to check the rush before going home to pick up the papers he had on the house, as far as dimensions and such, and drop off the camera and change before going to Hartford to stop at Lowes to start buying the things that he'd need to start fixing the house up.
Lorelai was up to her ass in work at the Inn. They'd overbooked themselves by 8 rooms for the weekend so she was trying to arrange alternate places for people to stay, and changing reservations back and forth between dates. The phone, when she wasn't on it, didn't stop ringing the whole day. She watched the clock, waiting in anticipation for 7:00 to roll around so Luke would come and get her and they could go out and talk.
Sookie hadn't helped Lorelai's mood at all. She'd gushed to her about the nursery they'd just finished for the baby, and about all things baby like. Lorelai wanted to gush back so much, but she couldn't. They'd still only told Rory about the baby and she didn't want to say anything to Sookie before she okayed it with Luke.
She caught herself daydreaming more than once about making the nursery for their baby, and what colors it would be done in and what kind of furniture they'd buy for it.
We have to find somewhere to put it first.
She hadn't thought of any alternatives to offer to Luke so far, or hell, a plan to have alternatives to for that matter. The only thing she'd even entertained for a split second was converting Rory's room, and she was far from okay with that. Maybe Luke would have some brilliant idea about what to do, he was smart like that so maybe he would.
I can only hope.
Luke got back from Hartford at 10 til 7, having called Lorelai on the way and told her that it would be more like 7:30 when he picked her up. He stopped by the diner to take all the supplies that he'd bought upstairs. The house had been a wreck but other than fixing the hardwood floors and laying the carpet in the rooms that needed it, he was confident he could do it himself. He'd gone ahead and bought replacement tile for the bathroom and kitchen, paint for the master bedroom and living room, ordered a new shower for the bathroom, a new window for the bathroom, and caulk to fix the tub in the bathroom and some plumbing supplies incase any of the sinks needed it, and he was sure they did. Angela had called him while he was in Lowes and told him the movers would be in and out by 10:30 the next morning, which gave him most of the day to work on the house if he wanted to. He hated leaving the diner in everyone else's hands so often, but that's what he'd hired extra help for so he shouldn't feel bad about it but he did a little.
He had decided he'd start work on the bathroom and master bedroom the next day. He'd also rented a carpet cleaner that was taking up residence in the back of his truck and he was going to attempt to just clean the carpet in the house before paying to replace it all. He was already going to have to replace a lot of the hardwood in the kitchen and dining room so he'd rather not buy new carpet unless he had to. He'd start retiling the bathroom floor and work his way up. The shower was going to be there around 3, and the Lowes sales associate assured him that the people delivering it knew how to install it properly, so he wasn't worried about that. He'd gotten more egg shell paint to do the two rooms over again, but he knew Lorelai would want to paint it a different color later, and he'd "help" her paint it when the time came around.
The more that he thought about working on the house the more excited he got about all of it. He only hoped Lorelai would go for it all. He deposited everything but the carpet cleaner up in his apartment and drove towards the Inn to get Lorelai.
"What's with the carpet cleaner?" Lorelai asked when she met him on the front porch.
"Well hello to you too." He said, crossing his arms and leaning against the railing.
"Sorry." She said, sidling up next to him and kissing him softly. "Hi."
They smiled at each other and she broke the silence by asking, again, "What's with the carpet cleaner?"
"The Lawrence's are moving out of the Twickham house, and I needed one to get the carpets in better shape before the new tenants moved in."
Okay, not a complete lie.
"Oh, okay. I bet with their hellions they trashed the place." She said, linking her arm through his and walking towards the truck.
"You have no idea." He opened the door of the truck for her and she jumped in and fastened her seatbelt. He climbed in the other side and they were off to Hartford for dinner.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked a few minutes into the ride, noticing he looked like he was concentrating on something else in addition to the road.
"Just about what you said this morning." He said softly.
"Oh." She said, turning her gaze out the window. "I thought about it today, and as much as I don't want to, we can convert Rory's room. I'm sure that Rory would understand." She said softly, surprising herself. She'd entertained the thought but hadn't known she'd be able to voice it without getting upset.
"Lorelai, we don't have to. We'll figure something else out." He said, reaching over and squeezing her knee.
"Luke, be realistic. No we won't. There's not enough room in my house to do anything, and we sure as hell wont fit in your apartment, and after the Inn and all the other baby expenses we can't afford to add onto the house. It's the only option." She said, getting slightly frustrated with him.
He was quiet.
Shit. She thought.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I'm just frustrated." She said.
"I know." He replied, moving his hand off the seat where he'd put it in her rant and put it back on the steering wheel.
The rest of the ride to the restaurant was silent. Lorelai felt awful.
I didn't mean to snap at him. God, I just wish I could snap my fingers and the house be bigger, or make myself okay with changing Rory's room. I mean she's grown up and won't be living at the house anymore, so what should it matter if her room is there or not? But what about when she comes to visit? I hadn't thought about that. I just want to make it through dinner without killing each other, or anyone else. I really don't want to yell about this in front of people at the restaurant. Maybe going out to talk wasn't such a good idea.
Do I tell her about the house tonight? Or just wait it out. God, why does everything have to be so damn hard? I really want to surprise her with it…maybe I could hint at it? We'll see if it comes up in conversation.
The hostess sat them quickly thanks to a reservation and their less than competent waiter took their drink orders, water for both, Lorelai's with lemon.
"This is going to be fun. I don't think he could spell his own name without looking at his name tag. And "Atom"…what kind of a name is that?" Luke asked, smiling. Lorelai finally looked up from her hands, which she'd been staring at since they got out of the car and smiled at him.
Maybe this isn't going to be so painful after all.
They sipped their waters and took in the restaurant for a few minutes before they both tried to speak at once.
"Luke, I"
"Lorelai, I"
"You first."
"No, you."
"I'm sorry about the car. I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I promise. I'm just so all over the place, hormones and what not, and I don't feel very good, not that either of those are a good excuse but…" she said, her eyes welling up a little.
"Oh baby I know." He said reaching across and squeezing one of her hands.
"I just, I really don't want to mess with Rory's room you know? It's like…if her room is still the way it is then it's like I've still got her around all the time, you know? God, how many times can I say "you know" in a sentence? Maybe I'm being selfish and playing favorites against a kid that isn't even born yet, I just don't want to hurt Rory by taking her room away. But if there's no other option, I guess that's what we'll have to do." She said, sighing loudly.
Luke stared down at his plate of steak that Atom had just brought, he didn't quite know how to breech the subject.
Take a page out of her book for once and just be blunt about it man.
"I have another plan." He said softly and looking up at her. She stared back at him.
"What?" she asked, trying to suppress her excitement over not having to mess with Rory's room.
"We move." He said simply. He watched her face crumble.
Maybe that wasn't the best way to do it. God, you're a fucking idiot Lucas Danes.
"No." she said simply.
"Lorelai, listen to me…" he started.
"No." she said forcefully.
He dropped the conversation. The rest of the dinner was in silence, and so was the ride home. He'd tried to start the conversation up again several times, and failed miserably. She opened the door to the house and walked in and upstairs without saying a word. He followed her upstairs and went into the bathroom to change while she changed in the bathroom. He came out and found her cradling the digital camera in her hands.
"Why did you take so many pictures?" she asked, flipping through the pictures slowly.
Luke froze, he didn't quite know what to say. She'd been so forceful about not wanting to move that he was scared to bring it up again.
"Well, um, there's a lot of work to be done before the new tenants move in." he said sitting down next to her.
"Oh, I see. Who's moving in?" she asked.
Aha! A way to slip it in.
"A guy and his girlfriend in their 30s." he said nonchalantly.
"Oh. Anyone I know?" she asked, still not catching on.
"I think you've met them a few times."
"Kirk and Lulu?" she asked. He'd forgotten about them.
"No." he replied.
"Oh, then who?" she asked again.
"She's from a Hartford family, but has lived here for a while. He's lived here his whole life." He hinted again, she was slowly starting to catch on. "She's beautiful, dark hair, blue eyes, has a kid with another guy, kid goes to Yale…He owns a local establishment."
She crumbled in front of him again, the digital camera tumbling from her hands and safely onto a pile of clothes under her feet.
Shit. Now what did I do?
She turned to face him and buried her face in his pajama shirt, her hot tears making wet spots.
"Hey, hey don't cry."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry."
"I didn't know. I thought you had leased it out to someone else. I didn't know you wanted us to move in there." She said hiccupping softly as she cried.
"How could you? I didn't even think of it until this morning when I found you downstairs and you told me what was wrong. It's a great solution to the problem though. There's plenty of room for us, the baby, Rory, and anyone else that happens to come along in the future. There's a lot of work to be done but I think I can get it done in less than a month if I get some help." He said, rubbing her back.
"But what about this house?" she asked.
"What about it? We don't have to do anything with it. I own the Twickham house and the mortgage on it isn't atrocious, and you own this house free and clear. It can stay here and stay empty if you want and be used for storage for us or we can sell it if you want. It's all up to you. Everything is up to you." He said, still rubbing lazy circles on her back.
She was quiet for a long time, he'd almost thought she'd fallen asleep until she pulled back from his arms and looked at him.
"I'm in. Let's make it the Gilmore-Danes house." She said softly. "I love you." She added as an after thought.
"I love you too."
"Can I go see it tomorrow? I haven't been in it since the museum closed."
"Sure. I have a lot of work to do, I'm gonna start some of it tomorrow, so brace yourself. It's rough, but you can come and we can start deciding on what to do as far as paint and stuff in some of the rooms if you want." He said.
"Okay." She said.
"But right now you need sleep. Do you still feel sick?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm just achy. It's probably because I didn't get much sleep. I'll feel better tomorrow." She assured him. She kissed him one more time and they slid under the covers, his arm protectively going around her as they drifted off.
Things were going to be okay after all.