It's hard to believe a year ago I started this little adventure as a one shot, that's right I never intended things to go this far… but I'm glad I did!
In honor of my 27th Birthday, We give you four chapters!
Written in the Stars
By Gilmoregirl1979 (the reigning Quote Queen)
Rating: PG-13
Hi this is your friendly disclaimer: I REJECT ASP's REALITY AND SUBSTITUE MY OWN! Once again, I don't own (DAMN IT! DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!), No Harm No Sue.
R/R: Yes, please I love reviews; I wanna marry them (as previously stated, I have strange passions.)
Summary/ The Q: AW If you DON'T KNOW BY NOW! HURUMPH!
LUVZ: I MISS YOU MOST OF ALL SCARECROW!
FEATURED BETA: Localizy, WONDER TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE
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CHAPTER 47:
At The Ole Ball Game
Luke, Lorelai, and Rory put the ugliness of the court hearing behind them and prepped for the visit with Liz and Jess in the city. They had told Liz and Jess of the engagement first and Jess seemed just as happy about the match as much as Rory.
"Are you excited about the game?" Luke asked Rory as they drove down the highway.
"Oh yeah and after the game yesterday, who knows what will happen today!
"There was a game yesterday?" Lorelai asked surprised.
"Yeah, they play in three game series," Rory nodded, "We won 8-2, we creamed the Yankees."
"That's what Rory and I were watching on TV," Luke told his fiancée.
"Oh, I just knew it wasn't a movie, so I was brainstorming with Sookie for ideas for the wedding."
"Anyway," Rory segued. "I'm still a little confused on the rules… I mean I get the objective of each team is to win by scoring more runs than their opponent, but I'm still confused with the fouls and strikes and stuff…"
"Well, ask all the questions you want," Luke assured Rory. "I can explain during the game and we can deal with your confusion as it comes."
"When do we eat?" Lorelai asked.
Luke sighed and rolled his eyes hoping his engagement would last the nine innings.
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Luke grumbled about the price of parking while his sister told him to relax, that they were paying for a secure state of mind as well as having their car in a safe, well lit parking lot.
When the game started, Luke was happy to answer Rory and Jess' questions about the game, since neither had been to a live sporting event before. Lorelai received a funny look from Luke when she commented on how silly it was for those players to get so much money to stand around and occasionally swing a bat, scratch themselves, and spit.
At the start of the eighth inning, the kids were cheering like mad, while Liz and Lorelai, bored with the game, caught each other up on what was new in their respective circles.
"So how's that adoption thing going?" Liz asked casually.
Lorelai winced and answered in a low voice, "Well, we haven't heard anything yet."
"Why are you whispering?" Liz asked.
"Well, I just want today to be a break from all that. After what happened with my parents, Luke is really on edge about the adoption going through…"
Lorelai peeked over to Luke who seemed happily distracted explaining the rules of the game to the kids.
"Personally, I don't think has anything to worry about… he's such a great guy…"
"Yeah, but we have yet to hear from…" Lorelai stopped talking to let out a shriek which was drowned out with the roar of the crowd. "What the hell?" cried Lorelai, with a suddenly wet shirt.
"MOM, MOM, the Red Sox just scored," Rory said happily then frowned when she saw the scowl on her mother's face.
Luke also became concerned when he noticed she was dripping, "Lorelai? What happened?"
Lorelai glared at the man she loved, she didn't say a word, but turned to the guy behind her and bitingly asked, "Did you just throw your beer on me?"
"Aw jeez, I'm sorry," the slightly tipsy Red Sox fan apologized, "but my boys are coming back… back from behind…" pointing to the playing field.
"We're here for the Sox too, if you don't mind it's her first game and you're gonna make it hard for me to ever bring her back again," Luke scowled with his hands on his hips.
Afraid of the menacing glare from Luke, the tipsy fan quickly reached for his wallet, "And umm jeez, here let me pay for a new shirt for your wife there… uhh cute kids by the way…"
Lorelai was so angry she couldn't even laugh that people thought they were married already, when they couldn't even settle on a wedding date yet.
Luke took the fifty bucks the guy offered and turned to Lorelai, "You sure you're alright?"
Lorelai merely huffed through gritted teeth, "I'm gonna go clean up and … well do some shopping…" taking the money out of Luke's hands, sending a final glare at the guy behind her.
A half hour later, the ninth inning was starting and Lorelai returned all smiles again, in a brand new Red Sox t-shirt she got from a souvenir stand.
"You sure you're all right?" Luke asked.
"Eh, retail therapy. Look I even got a shot glass and a ball cap for Rory," she said trying to be good humored.
"But before…with the beer…"
"Aw, beer is supposed to be good for your hair," she replied as she kissed Luke.
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On the car ride home from the ballgame, the Stars Hollow trio were still high from the Red Sox's win, 9-3, and attempted to use those endorphins for good as Lorelai held a calendar while Rory double-checked her notebook.
"Well, okay, I know the Inn is booked up through June, so, what about Fourth of July weekend?" Lorelai suggested. "We'd get free fireworks display, a theme… red white and blue for our wedding colors…and after last year it would be ironic." Lorelai said archly.
"Why would it be ironic?" Rory asked, not knowing about the pregnancy scare of last year.
"I don't want Taylor giving us a hard time stealing the carnival's thunder," Luke argued.
"Why would it be ironic?" Rory asked again.
Lorelai ignored the query from her daughter, "Well, where were we … August 2nd or 3rd?"
A red flag perked up in Rory's mind, checking her notebook, "Morey's got a gig in Maine, a reunion of some sort, so Babette and him wouldn't be able to make it."
"Okay? Well, how about the following weekend? The 9th or 10th?"
"Umm, Andrew is going on a cruise," Rory informed.
"Okay? What about the 16th and 17th?" Lorelai asked. "Oh, wait I have to run the Baxter Double wedding, never mind…"
"At this rate we'll have to wait till September!" Luke griped.
"Luke, you can't have a wedding without the bride."
"But picking our wedding date around everyone's vacations?" he grumbled.
"Everyone just wants to be there… I think it's sweet."
"This is not sweet, it's ridiculous, I thought Patty was kidding, but then she handed you that list. Why do we have to coordinate with everyone's schedules?"
"These are our friends, our neighbors; they just want to celebrate with us."
"Hey Mom?" Rory piped in from the back seat. "We do have a window between Gypsy's return from Milwaukee's Brewery tours and before Kirk's mom has oral surgery for her impacted wisdom teeth."
"For the love of…" Luke was attempting to focus his eyes on the road ahead, rather then roll them in anger.
"When sweets?" Lorelai encouraged.
Rory shrugged, "July 24th? But it's a Thursday."
"Aren't weddings, I don't know, usually on a Saturday or Sunday," Luke asked his fiancée.
"Dare to be different, honey," Lorelai smiled. "I don't want to have to wait till September. Do you?"
Luke had to smile at the excellent point, "July 24th sounds great," he said dryly. They now had a date and that decision gave the couple 8 weeks to plan and pull off their wedding.
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Back to his daily routine, Luke seemed to be on edge again. It could have been the Red Sox last loss at Yankee Stadium, unable to sweep their game series in New York, and in an attempt to draw him out of him mood, Lorelai teased, "What's wrong Luke? Girl trouble?"
Luke shot her a glare, "In a manner of speaking."
"What?" she said truly off guard.
"I just… I want it to be over…"
"What? The wedding?" She was suddenly afraid that he was sick of her and Sookie's giddiness running wild with symbolic music and romantic details like flowers, candles, train length, and finally picking the square as the location for the ceremony and reception, since the Inn was booked up.
"Well, yeah, that too, but more the adoption process. I mean we looked for Chris, hired a PI all the way in California only to have the trail turn up cold; no new number, no forwarding address. I had to provide bank statements and the accounting history to the diner to prove I could provide for both of you. We took all those pictures of the house and of us together and the Judge was just, 'Well we will take these materials under advisement'. Just leaving us hanging…dangling by a sheer thread of hope. Under advisement, almost if he says no I'll have to move out and your mother will get a restraining order on me. We are already living together, the wedding is next month, but everything is hanging on this one detail… this is torture! I just want to see those papers, signed, sealed, delivered."
"…I'm yours!" Lorelai cried to complete the verse of the song, however Luke didn't appreciate the humor at that moment in time.
"Until I see those papers, making it all official, I'm just gonna keep having this nervous stomach," Luke grimaced.
"Imagine how you will feel if we have our own kids."
"Please, don't tease me with that now, this is enough."
Lorelai felt bad for all he was putting himself throughunnecessarily. She had gotten the papers in the mail two days ago but she wanted to present them to him in a very special way.
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Sunday Luke came home from closing the diner, hoping to go to straight to bed. Luke called out, "I'm home." As he put his keys on the foyer table he saw his reflection in the mirror and knew he wasn't getting much rest. With the adoption looming overhead and wedding plans taking over the house, Luke was stressed. Not so much for the details of the wedding, he agreed long ago Lorelai could have whatever she wanted, as long as he didn't have to where a kilt or a feminine color with his tux he was fine, he just wanted Rory to be his daughter already; signed, sealed, delivered.
Luke came into the kitchen to see what God-awful thing the girls had ordered when he was startled by their exclamation of "Surprise!"
"What the?"
Rory took his hand and pulled him to sit down just so at the kitchen table, "Close your eyes."
"What?"
"Close them…" she insisted.
Luke always hated giving them complete control, but they seemed really happy and who was he to spoil their fun.
Once he complied, Rory instructed, "Hold out your hands"
Luke hoped to God this wasn't a practical joke where he'd get something slimy or revolting squirming in his hand. He felt papers shoved in his hands and he knew now what they were, he opened his eyes and read the adoption certificate before him.
"Happy Father's Day," Rory smiled shyly.
Luke tore his eyes from the paper, "What?"
"Today is Father's Day and now you are my father."
Luke looked at the papers again with a smile. It finally happened. Then, he noticed, "These are dated two weeks ago?" he looked at Lorelai for being so cruel.
"Now don't be upset…they just came on Wednesday, remember you were doing inventory…and I wanted it to be special, so I hid them to save for today… "
"We have it all lined up; dinner is already made and we got a bunch of movies to watch…Life with Father, Mr. Mom," Rory listed.
Lorelai informed him, "Ben is opening tomorrow so you don't have an excuse for going to bed early."
Luke looked at Rory, "Come here."
Rory smiled back, and threw her arms around Luke, "I love you."
"I love you too," and for the first time Luke felt he could breath easy. The state said that Rory was now his daughter, soon Lorelai would be his wife, and they would officially be a family.
"Come on…" Rory pulled him into the living room. "I want to watch a movie with my dear old dad."
The new family settled on the couch as Rory announced, "First up… Stalag 17!"
Lorelai groaned, but since it was a special occasion, she let it slide.
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Lorelai had sent her daughter on a wedding errand with Lane so Luke and her could have a moment alone to talk about grown up things. Lorelai had intended Rory's errand to serve that purpose, but Luke had been too quick for her and he was kissing her before the girls were off the porch steps. Being engaged was inducement enough to fool around as engaged couples do, as well as just being in the same room for that matter, however, with social workers and house studies behind them, it felt like they hadn't been together in weeks, and now Luke being the official father to her child made him even more irresistible.
With a house all to themselves, Luke and Lorelai fell on their bed. Although, now she had to try to stop what was almost set in motion. Lorelai couldn't even enjoy Luke's hand finding its way under her shirt and to her breast because she was thinking of ahead of when they would do this activity as a married couple. This made her think of the wedding and the errand, which made her think of a conversation she had put off having with Luke since she started reading all those bride magazines.
"Luke," Lorelai gasped. "Hmmm baby, I gotta talk to you," she sighed, as Luke was busy with her ear lobes and neck.
"Hmmm later," happy for a break from another conversation about color scheme and candles.
"Luke, now, please…"
Luke growled, but stopped and looked up at Lorelai who was perched on top of him, "Yes?"
"I need to talk to you about the wedding."
"Okay? I thought this was supposed to be a break from wedding talk?" and he reached for her again.
Lorelai shied away, "Please Luke."
"Okay? What?"
"Well, I've been reading all these magazines lately…"
"Yes, I know."
"And I've heard that some couples, you know, sort of… control themselves before the wedding."
"Okay?" Luke wasn't following.
"You know they abstain from certain enjoyable activities? Till they are officially married."
"Okay?"
"Well, I was wondering if we could do that?"
"What?"
"Not have sex till after the wedding?" Lorelai bit her lip.
"What?" Luke propped up on his elbows. "Lorelai you're telling me this now when you are straddled on top of me?"
"Hey, coming up here was your idea…"
Luke fell back on the pillow, "Because with the adoption and all of our wedding decisions we haven't gone out on a date since… I don't even remember when." Then he asked, "How long before the wedding?"
Lorelai winced again, "I was thinking… a month?"
"A month?" Luke repeated.
"Yes"
"Lorelai today is the June 24th…" Luke stated.
"Yes it is."
"Our wedding… is July 24th…"
"Yeah, see I'm a terrible procrastinator and I kind of put off having this conversation till the last minute, you know, with the wedding plans taking over…"
Luke sighed, "I don't think I'm going to be able to control myself for a month lying next to you."
"Well, see," Lorelai laughed lightly, and hesitated again. "That's the other part of the deal I was thinking about…"
"What?" Luke asked suspiciously.
"Well, I was thinking that you could stay at the diner?" she said brightly, the good old bachelor pad.
"What?"
"Well Liz and Jess don't need it so your old apartment is just sitting there…"
"You want me to move out?" he exclaimed. "Move out just to move back in again!"
"No, no, not move out just spend the nights at the diner… instead of here…to avoid temptation."
Luke lay back flat on the mattress. He couldn't believe what she was saying and all with her still straddled on top of his manhood. Luke lay beneath Lorelai, taking in deep breaths, shaking his head unable to believe his luck.
Lorelai explained, "I was reading about it in a magazine article and some couples say it makes the honeymoon better, you know, a month without each other, a chance to miss being together and appreciate each other, and we are heading into crunch time. I mean this place is going to turn into wedding central."
"It already is wedding central," Luke argued back.
"Yeah, well, it's only going to get worse. I haven't even been able to bring a dress home because you can't see it or its bad luck."
"That's a silly superstition," Luke argued.
"Please, with my family, I'm not taking any chances thank you. There is some wedding dress out there that will never fulfill its wedding day destiny because you wouldn't leave this house. This place is going to be taken over by Jordan almonds, flowers, and tulle so I'm trying to save you from being strangled by the tulle." Lorelai understood his reluctance to the conversation, especially since she was still on top of him. Lorelai decided to make it worth his while, when she leaned forward again, "You know Luke…we don't have to…decide this now…"
"The wedding's in a month, when are we going to decide it?"
"Well, we could…after?" she suggested.
"After?" he raised a brow.
"After," she nodded and kissed him.
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"Hey Lane, you want to see a movie?"
"I thought we had to get this stuff back to your mom?" Lane asked Rory, helping Rory with the bags.
"I think her and Luke need some alone time to talk, I'm getting better at sensing it now."
"So technically, Luke is your dad," Lane asked her friend, "is that …weird?"
"Actually," Rory shrugged, "it feels completely normal."
"Cool," Lane nodded, "Oooo, they are showing Spinal Tap at Black White and Red, let's see that."
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In the humid June afternoon, their bodies were sticking together from their activity. Lorelai was naked and panting beside her fiancé, and decided, she had changed her mind, "Luke?"
"Yeah?" he said in his own ragged breath.
"Remember what we were talking about before?"
"Yeah."
"I take it back, I take it all back. I can't be without you for a whole month," Lorelai began to nibble on his neck.
"Well, you make a compelling argument," Luke said sardonically, "but, Lorelai…I think we should do it…that is, not do it."
"What?" her head popped up from his shoulder.
"You talked me into it."
"How?" wondering how sleeping with him changed his mind.
"You are very persuasive?" Luke had to grin.
"Of all the times for you not to fight me on something."
"I think your right, a month is nothing, and I mean the last year was a little…fast, you know."
"Well, that's because Rory wasn't comfortable with us yet."
"Lorelai, its fine…let's control ourselves."
Lorelai sighed, somewhat disappointed, "You're right, I know you're right. It will be that much better when we are reunited as husband and wife," and a chill went up Lorelai's back.
"Husband and wife," Luke mused with a smile that matched Lorelai's.
"We have to shake on it and make it all official," Lorelai stressed, offering her fiancé her hand.
Luke rolled his eyes since they were already naked, but shook her hand it to seal the deal.
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"That was all God given talent..." why thank you NON POD Luke!
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R/R: PLEASE, I like to better myself. To quote The Princess Bride,
"...Remember this is for posterity, ... so be honest."
Please be specific with R/R; name one (or as many as you can think of or want to mention..…) At least one specific thing you liked
Please! It makes me feel good...inside (Dirty!)
Hence the Rant option below.
Insert Rant here V
A/N: if not completely satisfied with this chapter, please return unused portion for a full refund...