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Bright and early the next morning, Lorelai stretched awake. For a quick irrational moment she panicked that last night was just a very realistic dream since Luke's side of the bed was empty. But the evidence of his clothes strewn across the room and her nakedness under the covers made her realize that last night wasn't a dream and it did indeed happen. Luke was actually at the house for once, they had spent an amazing night together, and today they would be off on their trip to elope and just get away.

Lorelai climbed out of bed, grabbed Luke's discarded flannel from the floor, and slipped it on her body. She began to button her shirt as she made her way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She was just finishing buttoning the last button when she walked into the kitchen and found Luke sitting at the kitchen table with the phone pressed up against his ear. Lorelai poured herself a cup of coffee as Luke wrapped up his phone call.

"Alright, thank you," Luke said into the phone before he clicked it off and set it down on the table next to a pad of paper and a pen.

"Who was that on the phone?" Lorelai asked, she leaned back against the counter and sipped at her coffee.

Luke stood up from the table and walked over to Lorelai. He rested his hands on her hips as he spoke. "Last night I know you said we could go to Maryland to elope and I'm not sure if you really meant Maryland or not but I called around to a few places this morning and I made us reservations at an Inn in Martha's Vineyard. You were right last night, I said it would be fine at Martha's Vineyard so I just figured we would go back there for this. But if you do want to go and see Maryland then I can call around to some other places."

"Wow," Lorelai sighed. "I think that's the most I heard you say at one time, besides when you rant." Before he could say anything else, she smiled as she said, "But Martha's Vineyard sounds great."

"Good, good," Luke smiled. "I also reserved Rory a room at the Inn but I wasn't sure how long she was going to stay there or if she would need to get back to whatever she needs to do."

"I'll talk to her."

Lorelai sat her coffee cup down on the counter then draped her arms around Luke's shoulders as his hand moved from her hips and his arms encircled her waist. She stood smiling up at him, happier in this moment than she felt in the past few months. She wanted to marry Luke and Luke wanted to marry her, it seemed that everything was falling into place. This should clear up any of the issues regarding her to get to know April and then things would be on their way to happily ever after. At least that is what she hoped would happen. But today she was just going to focus on the here and now and nothing after.

"We should probably leave soon or at least sometime this morning so we'll make it there in time," Luke suggested. "Which means you need to go pack and call Rory."

"Hm packing," Lorelai groaned. "Maybe if someone hadn't distracted me last night I could have packed."

"Me distracting you?" Luke asked, one eyebrow raised. "I believe it was the other way around. You were the one wearing that very sexy outfit when I came over last night."

"Like that, did you?" Lorelai questioned, when Luke nodded she continued on. "Well I have plenty more where that came from so my packing may just be very light for this trip."

Luke smirked. "I don't have a problem with that."

Lorelai laughed, "I suppose you wouldn't." She stretched up on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Can you make some breakfast while I pack?"

Luke nodded. "I have to run to the store to get a few things then clear things up with Cesar about the next few days since I won't be there, but I can make you some breakfast once that's done."

"Hmm I knew there was a reason that I loved you," Lorelai smiled. She pulled him closer to her as she gave him another kiss.

A few kisses later, Luke was out the door and headed to both the store and the diner while Lorelai headed upstairs to pack. Her suitcase lay open on her bed next to the box that held her wedding dress. She grabbed her cellphone from the nightstand and quickly dialed Rory's number. She lifted the phone to her ear as she continued to move around the room trying to find things to pack.

"Good morning sweets," Lorelai greeted happily when Rory answered the phone.

"You sound very happy," Rory duly noted.

Lorelai grinned. "Indeed I am but before I tell you what I called you for, how are you? I mean has Logan already left? Are you okay?"

"He left before I got up," Rory replied. "It's going to be an adjustment with him there and me here but at least we had that party last night. I'll be fine."

"Good, good."

"So now are you going to tell me what you called me for? Or do I have to guess because I've barely had any coffee so now is not the time for guessing."

"Luke and I are eloping today," Lorelai blurted out.

"What?" Rory asked. "You're eloping? Today? When did this happen?"

"Well something happened last night and well that's another story for another time. But bottom line, Luke and I decided to elope. We were going to do it last night but I want you there so we decided that we were going to do it today," Lorelai replied. "So we're heading to Martha's Vineyard today to elope."

"Wow..so um...when do you leave? What do I need to do?" Rory asked still trying to process everything the information.

"We're leaving as soon as I get packed. Luke's already packed so I just have to finish packing," Lorelai replied as she shoved some clothes into her suitcase. She quickly grabbed shoes to match and stuffed those in her suitcase. "And all you have to do is be there for me. And you know pack a cute dress for the ceremony."

"I can do that," Rory promised, she already knew which dress she was going to pack. "So do I need to come to the house and follow you guys or just meet you somewhere or what?"

"Hmm well I haven't really thought about that," Lorelai said, she sat down on her bed. "I mean I guess you could just meet up at the ferry. Luke reserved you a room at the Inn we're staying at as well. But he wasn't sure how long you were going to stay."

"Okay, sounds good." Rory replied. "I'll probably just stay overnight because I have things I need to do here before the summer officially starts. Plus you two being newlyweds, you'll need time together without your daughter hanging around."

Lorelai giggled. "Yes, alone time for newlyweds is essential."

Rory finally asked the question that first popped in her head since her mother announced they were eloping. "So you're really happy about this? It's not too soon? I just thought you would want an actual wedding."

Lorelai sighed. "I don't really want to get into that right now. But Luke and I are sure about this and it's anything but too soon. We've postponed the wedding and it seemed like it wasn't going to happen so we're eloping. We're both happy about this and I want you to be happy about this too."

"I am happy for you mom, I'm happy for you both," Rory replied. "I know it's not too soon, not really. Does anyone else know about this?"

"Nope," Lorelai answered. She got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to pack some beauty essentials. "Just you. We'll tell everyone else later. But for now, only you, Luke, and I know."

"You do realize that the town is going to be mad that you two eloped right?" Rory asked.

"Well maybe once everything is settled, we'll throw a party or something to celebrate," Lorelai replied. "Right now, I'm settled on eloping today."

"They are still going to be mad," Rory said knowingly. "But I should really start packing, so I'll see you later then?"

"See you at the ferry babe," Lorelai said before clicking off the phone and setting it down on the bathroom counter.

After Lorelai hung up the phone with Rory, she continued moving around the room and finished her packing. To her surprise, she actually finished packing earlier than she usually did. She wasn't sure how long they were staying, they hadn't agreed on a number of days but she knew that she couldn't spend too long away from the Inn at the moment. So she packed enough for at least five days.

After packing, Lorelai called the Inn and informed Michel that she was taking a few days off. When asked why she needed the days off, she just said that she had personal business to take care off. She knew once Sookie heard she was gone that she would ask what the personal business was. So instead of keeping this just between her, Rory, and Luke, Lorelai made a call to Sookie and swore her to secrecy over the elopement. Sookie was excited over the news and agreed to keep the secret from everyone.

By the time Lorelai's suitcase looked like it was about to burst open and she was dressed and ready for the day, Luke was back and had breakfast prepared for Lorelai. She joined him downstairs where they shared a few relaxing moments together before they began a mad dash around the house trying to pack all of their things into Luke's truck so they could leave. Lorelai informed him of where they were meeting Rory and of her plans for how long she was going to stay in the Vineyard with them.

On the drive to the ferry, Luke and Lorelai passed the time by talking. They talked of a few things that they should get done before they would elope. Luke wanted to get Lorelai a wedding band to match her engagement ring, and of course Lorelai wanted to get Luke a wedding ring. Luke informed Lorelai that when he reserved a room at the Inn and asked about eloping, the man on the phone informed them that they could elope right there at the Inn. Since the Inn was ocean-side, they could even elope right on the beach. He also informed Lorelai that he had reserved a time that night for their elopement, which would give them just enough time to get the rings and anything else they might need for the small, intimate ceremony.

"Hey there Mr. and Mrs. Danes," Rory greeted once she found her mother and Luke on the ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard. They had met once before getting on the ferry but were separated in order to actually get on the ferry but Rory quickly found them after a phone call with her mother.

"Hey sweets," Lorelai smiled. She hugged her to daughter to her as she stood beside her. After hugging Rory, she looked up at Luke. "Wait, we didn't discuss that, am I taking your name or not?"

Luke sighed. "I would love for you to have my name, it's traditional but I want you to do whatever you want to do. You don't have to take my name."

"I would like too but I'm also a Gilmore, it's part of my identity. It's Rory's name too," Lorelai said, she looked over at her daughter. She looked back at Luke. "But if we have kids, they will be Danes and I want to be a part of that."

"What if you were to hyphenate your name?" Rory suggested. "Just do it like Gilmore-Danes. That way you have the Gilmore but you also have the Danes."

"That's a good idea," Lorelai beamed. "Lorelai Gilmore-Danes. I love the sound of that."

Luke wrapped an arm around Lorelai's waist and pulled her close to him, "I love it too."

The couple shared a quick kiss, keeping it short and sweet since Rory was present. On the ride over to the Vineyard, the couple and Rory made plans detailing exactly what they were going to do once they arrived in the Vineyard. The plans included stopping by the Inn first and checking into their respective rooms before heading out to jewelry stories in order to get wedding bands. Their plans also included the three of them all going out to dinner after the elopement ceremony so they could celebrate the newly found marriage.

Rory smiled watching her mother and Luke talk about other plans for the few days that they were going to spend in Martha's Vineyard after they eloped. Of course Rory already decided that she would leave sometime tomorrow to leave the happy couple to their honeymoon plans. This was the happiest that she had seen her mother in the past few months and she was glad to see her that way. After everything that went on with her mother and Luke the past few months, she was happy to see her mother with a genuine smile on her face. She still hadn't asked about April and if April knew of the news but she still wasn't sure how to approach the topic of April, especially around her mother. She knew that everything wasn't settled about April because there's no way that everything could be settled just overnight but she hoped that the elopement would being them close together and then any problems Anna might have concerning April and Lorelai, they could handle together.

Next chapter will be the ceremony.

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