Will and Lauren snuck into Lorelai's and Luke's room early Saturday morning. They were eager to wake their mother up once again, like they always did. They always enjoyed it. Lauren reached up and twisted the doorknob slowly before they both ran into the room.
"Wake up, mommy!" they both shouted and ran over to the bed, only to find that their mother was not there.
"Where is she?" Will asked.
Lauren looked around and then saw that the bathroom light was on. Just then, Lorelai walked out of the bathroom in a towel.
"Oh my God!" Lorelai screamed, clutching her heart when she saw the twins standing in front of her. She hadn't seen them when she opened the door. "You guys scared me,"
"Why are you up, mommy?" Lauren asked.
"Mommy has to go to work early today, hun. You guys are going to hang out with daddy, remember?"
"Come with us, mommy. Pwease?" Will begged.
"I'm sorry, babe. I can't. We'll do something tomorrow, ok? Now, your mommy has to get ready. Breakfast will be ready soon, so why don't you guys go downstairs and watch cartoons until then," Lorelai told them, walking over to her closet and taking out the outfit she was going to wear today.
Will and Lauren both walked out of the room, downstairs and into the kitchen.
"Hey guys," Luke said. "I made some french toast. Are you hungry?"
"Why can't mommy pway with us today?" Lauren asked.
"Your mom has to work today, Lauren,"
"I don't want her to work," Will said.
"Guys, it's a very important day for your mom. She doesn't have much of a choice but to go. If she could stay home with us, she would. Come on, now. We'll have plenty of fun today and then later tonight, you guys can help me make dinner for her. Ok?"
The twins brightened up at that. They loved helping their dad cook. He didn't let them often, but every now and then he did. They didn't really do much but stir things. Usually he just had them do the desserts, like cookies.
"What are we going to make her?" Will asked.
"I don't know yet. We'll go shopping later and figure it out," Luke said, picking them up and setting them down in the chairs before placing their breakfast in front of them.
xox
An hour later, Lorelai came down the stairs and grabbed her purse and keys off of the coffee table. She walked over to the twins, who were on the floor playing Candy Land with Luke, and kissed them on the head.
"I'll see you guys later. Have fun with your dad," she told them.
"Bye mommy," they said at the same time.
Then, Lorelai walked over to Luke and kissed him goodbye.
"Call me if you need me, ok?"
"Your not going to eat breakfast?"
"I don't have time. I'm already running late,"
"You can't not eat, Lorelai,"
"I'll grab something at the Inn. I promise,"
"Alright. I'll see you later," he said, pecking her on the lips before she walked out of the door.
xox
Lorelai walked into the Inn, as soon as she did, Michel came up to her.
"We have an issue," he said in an annoyed French accent.
"What? I just stepped through the door. How can we already have and issue?" she asked. This was not the time to be handling issues. She hadn't even had coffee this morning.
"Sookie is having an issue with the menu,"
Sighing, Lorelai went into her office and set her things down and then made her way into the kitchen.
"Sookie, honey, what's wrong?" she asked when she saw a distraught Sookie.
"I completely forgot, Lorelai! The bride wanted crab cakes for the wedding and I completely forgot about it. I was too caught up in my own problems and now I've ruined a wedding!" she cried out.
"Sook, calm down," Lorelai said, rubbing her friends back and leading her to the chair and sitting her down. "What's going on with you? What problems?"
"It's... it's nothing. Don't worry about it," Sookie said, waving it off.
"Sweetie, come on. What's going on?"
"Jackson and I had a fight last night," Sookie said, sighing.
"What happened?"
"Well, Lacey's birthday is coming up, ya'know? And, well, Jackson wants to celebrate it with his family. I told him that you and I had already planned to have it here in town, but he isn't all for our idea. He wants us to fly to Virginia where his parents are and have it there. We did that last year, though. I want to plan her party this time. I love his family, but I don't have my real family around anymore. This town is the only family I've got. You're the only family I've got and this is where I want to have it,"
"Oh hun, don't worry. Jackson has always been a family man. You know that. I'm sure he'll let you plan the party," Lorelai said.
"I know, but he was so angry last night. He accused me of hating his family. He said I'm always trying to get out of family events. That's not true! We spent Christmas there, Davey's birthday, his parents anniversary,"
"Sookie, he just wants his kids to know their grandparents. He hates that you guys live so far from them. It was just a fight, things will look up,"
"I know they will, but I was so upset that I forgot about the crab cakes! I don't have time to prepare them for all the guest. The wedding is at two!"
"That's plenty of time to prepare them, Sookie. The reception isn't until three-thirty, anyways," Lorelai loved Sookie to death, but she could be a real drama queen at times.
"But, it's going to take forever to cook them and then it takes an hour to set up all the food and get it situated,"
"Ok, ok. Look, just do the best you can, ok? Make as many as you possibly can and if worse comes to worse, I'll just have my parents watch the kids and Luke can make some at the diner, alright?"
"Luke doesn't make them the way I do, though," she whined.
"I know, honey, but we're working on the clock here," Lorelai pointed out.
"Yeah, ok, it's fine. Thanks, Lorelai,"
"Anytime, Sook. Now, is there any coffee around?"
"Right over there. I just made a fresh pot before you came," Sookie said, pointing to the coffee pot on the counter.
"God bless you," Lorelai said, heading for the coffee pot and pouring some in a mug before taking a long sip. This was going to be a long day.
xox
"Daddy, can we go see mommy? I want to see mommy," Lauren asked. Luke was carrying her on his shoulders and holding Will's hand as they walked away from the baseball game.
"Lauren, I already told you, mommy has to work today," he told her.
Lauren had always been a daddy's girl, but Lauren's and Lorelai's relationship was somewhat similar to Lorelai's and Rory's. Lauren admired her mother and loved spending time with her. Will was close to his mother, as well, but spent more time with his dad seeing as he was a guy and liked to do guy things. Luke had been with the twins a lot the past few weeks because Lorelai had been preparing for the wedding the Inn was hosting. She went to work earlier and came home late. Most of her time, including the weekends, were spent at the Inn.
"I know, but I miss her. How come mommy's not around a lot?"
"Honey, she's just been busy with the wedding they're having today. Starting tomorrow, your mom won't be working as much and she'll spend lots of time with you guys,"
"I'm hungwy, daddy," Will said, looking up at his father.
"Why don't we go grab something to eat? What are you guys hungry for?"
"Pizza!" Will shouted.
"Oh, I want pizza, too," Lauren said, and then covered Luke's eyes with her hands.
"Lauren, don't do that. I can't see where I'm going,"
Lauren just laughed and kept her hands over Luke's eyes.
"Lauren, stop. I'm going to drop you,"
Lauren let go and then took Luke's hat off and put it on herself. Luke took her off his shoulders and grabbed her hand.
"Oh, daddy, look!" Lauren said, pointing to the center of town. "Puppies!"
"Can we get a dog, daddy?" Will asked.
"I think you better ask your mother about that,"
"Can we look? Pwease, daddy?" Lauren said, giving him the pout. Luke sighed. He hated that Lorelai taught her that.
"Alright, we can look, but let's go eat first,"
The three of them walked to the local pizza place and Luke orded for them. After they were done, Lauren and Will tugged Luke into the direction of the puppies.
"Slow down, guys. They aren't going anywhere,"
The twins let go of Luke's hands once they got closer and ran towards the caged dogs.
"Will! Lauren! Get back here," Luke shouted after them, making his way over to them.
"Daddy, look at this one," Lauren said, pointing to a golden retriever puppy.
"Can we get him, daddy?" Will asked.
"Actually, that's a her," an elderly lady said, standing behind them. "She was found not too far from here in an alley inside a box full of other puppies,"
"What's her name?" Lauren asked.
"Well, we haven't found a name for her, yet. We just found her two days ago. Are you three looking to adopt?"
"Oh, well, uh, not really," Luke said.
"Daddy, pwease? We'll be good, we pwomise," Will and Lauren begged.
Luke was having a hard time telling them no. He often had trouble turning the two of them down. He was a real softie when it came to his kids.
"You guys, we need to talk to mommy about this,"
"We can supwise her! We can buy a puppy and make her dinner," Will said.
Luke sighed. "Fine, we'll take her," he told the lady.
The lady smiled and had Luke fill out the adoption forms before putting a leash on the puppy and handing it to Luke.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the twins shouted and hugged Luke's legs.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go take the puppy home and then go buy some stuff for it, ok?" he said, taking their hands and walking down the street and to their house.
They got home and Luke asked Babette if she didn't mind dog sitting while they went out to the pet store. After that, Luke piled them into the car and headed to Hartford. He only hoped that Lorelai would be ok with this.
xox
Lorelai was currently outside making sure everything was being put where it was supposed to be. It was an hour before the wedding and she was starting to get really stressed. These people were paying good money for this and if something went wrong, they would for sure be on her case.
After a few more minutes of setting up and directing people to the right places, she went inside to check on Sookie.
"Sookie, how are you holding up?" she asked, walking into the kitchen and finding platters of crab cakes all over the place. "Whoa. You must have killed every crab on the east coast,"
"My last batch is almost done," Sookie said, happy but half way hyperventilating.
"Shall I get the paper bag?" Lorelai asked, noticing this oncoming hyperventilation.
"No, no. I'll be fine. As long as this last batch comes out perfect, we'll be fine,"
"Ok, well the staff should probably start setting up the tables and stuff. The wedding will be starting soon and the reception is right after,"
Sookie nodded and began ordering her staff outside to set up.
xox
An hour and a half later, Luke walked into the house followed by the kids and set the bags of puppy stuff down. He got everything he thought necessary. Food, food bowls, chew toys, a bed, a collar, and gates.
"Thanks Babette for watching her," Luke said.
"No problem, suga. She's such a sweet thing. Just call if you ever need anything. I know everything there is to know about pets," Babette said, standing up and heading out the door.
"Hannah!" Lauren and Will shouted, running over to the puppy and playing with her.
Luke, being Luke, was concerned at first. He made sure to watch them carefully, afraid the dog might bite one of them.
"Come on, guys. We need to go buy stuff for dinner tonight," Luke said.
"Can Hannah come with us?" Lauren asked.
"No, Laurie. Taylor will throw a fit if we take her inside,"
"But, you like making Taylor mad, daddy," Will told him.
"True, but I think it's best if we leave Hannah here. She'll be fine and we won't be long," Luke told them, setting the gates up in the kitchen and placing Hannah inside. He took the twins hands and walked to Doose's with them.
xox
Lorelai walked in at eight-thirty that night, exhausted. She set her purse and keys down on the coffee table and then walked into the kitchen, where a heavenly aroma was coming from.
"Mommy!" Lauren shouted when she saw Lorelai walk in and jumped out of her seat and over to Lorelai, hugging her legs tightly.
"Lauren, baby, look at you. You're all covered in flour," Lorelai said, smiling and wiping some flour off of Lauren's nose..
"We're making you dinner and dessert," Lauren said, flashing a big smile at her mother.
"Really now?" Lorelai said, picking up her daughter and looking at her two men who were currently working together on making what appeared to be lasanga. "What are we having?"
Will opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by barking coming from the living room.
"Was... was that barking?" Lorelai questioned.
"We got a puppy!" Will said.
"What?" Lorelai asked, setting Lauren down. Lauren took her hand and led her to the living room with Will.
The twins headed over to where Hannah was currently lying down in her bed.
"Aw, cute!" Lorelai said, bending down and petting the puppy. "Is it a girl or boy?"
"It's a girl. We named her Hannah," Will said.
"Hannah, that's a pretty name. You guys stay here, I'm going to go talk to your dad,"
She left the twins to play with Hannah and walked back into the kitchen.
"So, a puppy, huh? I thought we agreed no pets?" Lorelai asked, crossing her arms and pretending to be mad.
"I know, I know. We were walking through town and the pets were outside and the twins begged to go see them. Then they resorted to begging to buy the puppy and if you hadn't taught Lauren that pout of yours, we'd be pet free. They said they wanted to suprise you,"
"That pout is a really useful tool," Lorelai said, smiling at Luke.
Luke smiled back, relieved that she wasn't angry, and Lorelai walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss.
"I can't believe after all these years of begging you to let us get a dog, you finally gave in,"
"Yeah, well, it's hard to turn them down. Especially with that pout Lauren has mastered, thanks to you,"
"Hey, that pout really comes in handy, mister. So, what are we having for dinner?"
"Lasanga, salad, and cheery pie for dessert," Luke said.
"Mmm, sounds delicious," she said, wrapping her arms around him from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder.
"How was the wedding?" he asked.
"Very eventful,"
"What happened?"
"Well, to start off, Sookie got in a fight with Jackson and forgot to make the crab cakes the bride wanted for the reception. Then, the music the bride was supposed to walk down the aisle to wouldn't play for some reason. Michel made the ring bearer, who was only three, cry. The flower girl threw a fit and almost ripped her dress. The groom came in late with a hangover and the bride started crying. Ugh, it was all a mess,"
"Wow, that is a mess," he said, turning his head and looking at her. "You look exhausted,"
"I am. It's been a very long and tiring day. I think I'm going to go take a bubble bath,"
"Ok, dinner should be ready by the time you get out,"
Luke kissed her before she headed upstairs to start her bubble bath.
xox
After dinner, the Danes' family all went into the living room to watch movies. Lorelai said she was really tired and was going to go on up to bed. She walked upstairs and climbed under the covers and turned the tv on to Saturday Night Live. Her and Rory used to mock that show a lot when Rory was younger. She decided she'd watch that as she tried to fall asleep.
"Mommy?" a little voice near the door came.
Lorelai turned over and saw Lauren standing by the door and looking at her.
"What's up, babe?" she asked.
"Can I lay down with you?" Lauren asked.
Lorelai sensed something was up and motioned for Lauren to sit with her. Lauren ran to the bed, teddy bear in hand, and climbed under the covers with her mom.
"Everything ok?" Lorelai asked her, wrapping an arm around her.
Lauren nodded. "I miss you,"
"Why do you miss me, hun?" Lorelai asked, tucking a stray curl behind Lauren's ear.
"I don't see you no mores. You are always gone when I wake up and when I go to sleep, you aren't there,"
"I know mommy's been busy lately and hasn't been spending much time with you guys. I had lots of work to do, but things won't be like that anymore. I only had to work so much because of that wedding we were having, but it's over now and I'll be spending much more time with you, ok?"
Lauren nodded her head. "Are you going to be home to read me a bedtime story?"
"I'll even read you two bedtime stories. How does that sound?"
"I wuv you, mommy," Lauren said, smiling and hugging Lorelai.
"I love you, too, angel,"
"Can I watch tv with you?"
"Sure," Lorelai said and her and Lauren got comfortable under the covers.
xox
Luke had already put Will to bed and headed upstairs. When he opened the door, he found Lauren and Lorelai peacefully sleeping with Lauren curled up beside Lorelai. He walked over to the bed and gently picked Lauren up so as not to wake her. He carried her downstairs and placed her in bed before planting a kiss on her forehead.
Lauren opened her eyes slightly and mumbled, "Daddy?"
"Shh, go to sleep," he said, tucking her in and walking out of the bedroom, shutting the door halfway.
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A/N: I know it's been forever since I last updated. I'm sorry about that. I'm trying to update as much as possible. I wrote a long chap for you guys since it's been a while. Hope you like it!
