A/N: Hey everybody. I know you all hate me by now. I'm horrible at updating lately. I've just been pretty busy which is a lame excuse. I know!! Plus, this chapter was pretty hard to write and I didn't really know how I wanted to have it until this week. So now it's finished and as the title says it it's about Rory's graduation. I hope you'll all like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Chapter 28 – Rory's graduation
"BEEP BEEP BEEP" Lorelai slams the top of the alarm to silence it and turns around in bed. Then suddenly several other alarms go off, all at the same time. 'TUUT TUUT TUUT' She sits up in bed and looks around, seeing something that wasn't there when she went to bed last night. "Luke" She gritted under her teeth and got out of bed, the alarms already driving her crazy. After normally shutting off one more, she just broke the others, no longer finding the patience to silence them the normal way.
She slipped in her robe and found her way downstairs. "Luke."
"Yeah?" He looked up when he heard his wife yelling.
"You're hilarious!" She stopped next to him. "Okay, see, last night, when I said to you, 'Tomorrow, no matter what, make sure I get up at seven,' what I actually meant was, 'Tomorrow, no matter what, make sure I have the option of getting up at seven in case when seven comes, I actually wanna get up,' which, as it happened, I didn't. Therefore, you're currently responsible for the great alarm clock slaughter of 2007"
"No survivors?"
"Only…." She stopped.
"What is it?"
"Do you have a feeling of deja-vu?"
He looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you talking about?"
"This, you me, the alarm clock slaughter? Have we not been here before?"
"No." He shook his head. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just, I have the feeling I've been here before. Think Luke, think."
He thought deeply but nothing came to mind. "So, according to you, what happens next?"
"I go looking for coffee, which you've been hiding for me, but of course I find it…."
"You didn't drink any coffee for 7 months."
"I know…. It's not exactly the same, but still, it feels as if some of it is."
"Maybe you dreamed about it."
She looked up. "That's it! I did dream about it and I even told you about it. Don't you remember?"
"Told me about it when?"
"A couple of years ago when the Independence Inn burned down and I slept at your place because there were people staying at my place and I had no place else to go. You were dating Nicole at the time."
"Can we please not talk about her."
"Sorry." She smiled. "I dreamed about us when I didn't even think about dating you. I dreamed that I was pregnant with twins and you kissed me goodbye because you were going to the diner and doing grocery shopping for us. And I wanted to name our babies really weird things. I don't remember what it was, but it was weird. Definitely something you wouldn't agree on."
He smiled slightly. "I do remember you telling me about a dream. But I don't remember anything about a kiss."
"Well, there was a kiss." She smiled at the memory and then walked towards him and kissed his lips. "Just like this."
After she pulled back he looked her directly into the eyes. "I'm glad your dream became true."
"Me too. Although I could have done without all the alarm clocks."
"It was just a joke. You made me promise that I'd wake you up at 7 today. You said you need a lot of time to get ready."
"Remind me again why I had to be up at 7? The ceremony won't start until four."
"That's what I've been telling you for four days now. But you won't listen to me."
"Oh…. Well, in my dream you gave me breakfast. I could sure use that right now."
He handed her a plate with pancakes and eggs and bacon on the side. "Something like this?"
"Smells perfect. And exactly as in my dream." She sat down at the kitchen table. "Is Lucan still asleep?"
"Yeah. I haven't heard him yet. I'll check up on him if you want."
"No that's okay. He'll let us know when he's awake. It's a miracle he's still asleep after all those alarm clocks going off, but anyway. Why won't you sit down next to me?"
"You know I have to leave soon. I already had Caesar opening the diner and Lane and Jake will close, but I do have to be there until lunch rush. After that I will come home, change and we'll still have over an hour left to get to New Haven in time."
"Ok." She spoke with her mouth half full.
He shook his head. "Don't do that. You set a bad example for our kids."
"Sowie" She just placed another bite in her mouth and smiled at him.
"You're disgusting."
"Thanks." Her mouth was finally empty. "Kiss?"
He leaned in to kiss her. "Take it easy. You have more than enough time to get ready okay?"
She nodded. "I know."
"Bye."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
She smiled as she watched him walk away, rethinking her dream once again. Things did turn out to be different. Definitely not what she expected five years ago when she was fighting with Luke the whole summer and after breaking up with Chris because he got Sherry pregnant…. She recalled how Rory was in Washington and analyzed her dream. 'Your dream was telling you that you're secretly in love with Luke and you wanna marry him and have his twins.' Back then she asked for a second analyzes but rethinking it, maybe Rory was right the first time. Only, she didn't know it yet. Hence the secretly.
-xxxxxx-
Lorelai looked at herself in the mirror. Her very pregnant belly pointing forward in her dress. She turned to one side and looked how her reflection changed in the mirror. She didn't notice how Luke was standing in the doorway watching her until she heard his voice.
"You look beautiful."
She looked up at him. "Thanks." Then she looked back in the mirror and turned to the other side.
"Lorelai, you look fine."
She shook her head. "What do you think people will say?"
He entered the bedroom and sat down on the bed. "Say about what?"
"Me."
"What should they say about you?"
"Well you know, we're going to my daughter's college graduation and just look at me."
He looked at her and raised his shoulders. "What am I supposed to see?"
She pointed at her stomach. "This?"
He shook his head and smiled while standing up. He walked up behind her and placed both his hands on her stomach. Then he turned them 90 degrees so they were looking directly into the mirror. "They will see a very proud mother of two, soon four children."
"But don't you think they think that's weird?"
"You've never worried about that before. Why now?"
"Because it's Rory's college graduation and I will show up with a one year old and looking very pregnant. Won't they think it's weird that I'm Rory's mother?"
"Haven't people always thought it is weird? So what that you were 16 when you had her? She turned out great. She's graduating at an ivy league college. If people should think anything, it's that you're amazing. Amazing because a lot of 16 year old mother mess up, can't raise their child. And you raised yours to be an amazing, beautiful, smart and independent young woman. And they should think that Lucan and those two in there are very lucky because you're their mother as well. And over 20 years from now we'll meet them again. When Lucan or the twins are graduating college and they are their because of the graduation of their grandchildren."
She smiled and turned her head towards him, placing a kiss on his mouth. "You always know what to say to make me feel better."
"I'm just telling you the truth." He kissed her again. "Why don't you finish getting ready? We don't want to be late. Because that would make a bad impression."
She smiled. "I'll be downstairs in five minutes. Why don't you go and make sure Lucan didn't spilled anything over his clothes."
He nodded and walked away, stopping in the door opening. He turned around and looked at her. "You really do look beautiful."
She blushed at tone of his voice and for once, didn't know what to say. She just smiled and said "go check up on Lucan."
He nodded and walked downstairs. Lucan was sitting in the playpen playing with his stuffed bear.
"Buh."
"Yeah, that's your bear." He extended his arms towards Lucan, who pulled himself up, dropping the bear.
"Dada."
"Come here buddy, let me take a look at you." He hold Lucan in front of him and checked his clothes. There was a huge stain in front of his shirt so he climbed the stairs towards Lucan's bedroom. "Lorelai?"
"Yeah?"
"He has this huge stain in his shirt. What do you want him to wear now?"
"Brown pants with the light blue shirt and brown shoes. It's laying on top of his dresser."
He shook his head. "You knew Lucan needed clean clothes didn't you?"
"He always manages to get dirty somehow, so yeah. That's why I didn't put on his good clothes this morning."
"And you asked me to check why?"
"Because it's more fun this way." She was standing in the door opening with a huge smile on her face. "Plus, now I'm ready before you guys are."
"I was ready an hour ago. You could have told me to change Lucan earlier."
"Of course not. He would have managed to get dirty before we'd leave and you'd had to change him all over again. Trust me."
He sighed, knowing she was probably right. "So how are we going to prevent him from getting dirty on the way over?"
"By not giving him anything to eat or drink until we're there. He'll be sitting in his car seat, most likely will fall asleep and still look perfect when we arrive."
"I'm glad we don't have to go to these big events more often. It's too much work."
"Tell me about it. But we won't have to go to this sort of event for another twenty years anyway. And then we won't have anymore toddlers running around, unless they're our grandchildren."
He looked up, a shocked look on her face. "Within twenty years? I certainly hope not."
"They can always be Rory's, although I think hers will be much older by then. And I also hope that neither Lucan or the twins have any kids running around twenty years from now. But then again my parents probably thought the same thing when I was Lucan's age. Rory was already six when I was her age and I didn't graduated college until I was 33. And even then it was only community college."
"But you turned out okay, and so did Rory."
"I know. I just meant that you never know how things go in live. And maybe that's a good thing."
He nodded as he tied Lucan's last lace. Then he lifted up the boy. "All done. Let's go."
"Let's do."
-xxxxxx-
Emily and Richard were already waiting together with Rory and Warren. "Lorelai. You're finally here."
"Sorry. We had to change Lucan last minute otherwise he would have gotten himself dirty and we'd had to do it all over again and we would have been even later."
"And that makes sense how?"
"Just be me and it makes perfect sense." She then turned to face her daughter. "How's my college graduate doing?"
"Just fine. I think grandma is the only one nervous here."
Lorelai smiled. "She's been waiting for this moment for 40 years. Give her a break."
Rory raised her eyebrows. "Huh?"
"Don't listen to her Rory." Luke gave his stepdaughter a hug. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you." She took Lucan out of Luke's hands. "Hey buddy. How about I give you a tour around campus?"
"It will take a few years before he will even go to preschool, let alone college."
"So, you can never start too early. I've been thinking about college ever since I started preschool and I want to give him a head start."
"Go ahead."
"Come on." Rory pulled at Warren's hand and with that the three of them walked away.
"We should go and find a place to sit."
"I hope there's still a seat with a decent view."
"You could have gone to find us a seat and just saved us a few mom."
"That's what I proposed, but Rory insisted on waiting for you and Luke."
"Well, we're here so let's go."
The found seats in the 5th row. The truth was that they weren't late at all. There was an hour left before the ceremony would start but Emily had insisted on them coming early. When they were finally seated, Emily looked at her daughter. "Lorelai, may I have a word with you?"
"Uhm… sure."
Emily stood up and indicated for Lorelai to follow her.
"Mom, we just sat down! Couldn't you have told me you wanted to talk to me before this?" She struggled to get through the narrow aisle. "It's not as if this is easy for me."
"Oh Lorelai, stop complaining."
Lorelai turned around to look at her father, who just raised his shoulders. When they finally found a quiet place Lorelai asked. "Mom, what is it?"
"I know that there was a time when I wanted all of this for you. And I know that dream was over when I found out you were pregnant with Rory. And I know that community college is not what I wanted for you, but still I was proud at you when you graduated."
"Oh mom, I know that. I was just joking. I didn't mean anything. And I'm sorry if what I said hurt your feelings."
Emily looked at her daughter. "I am proud at you Lorelai. You know that right?"
"I do mom. I absolutely do."
-xxxxxx-
"Good evening everybody. Welcome at the graduation of the class of 2007. There is a large group of young men and young woman who will receive their college diploma today. They have all worked very hard towards this moment and are happy that they can share it with you……………
………Then now it's time to give everybody their diploma's. We start with Dasi Sohpia Abbot….
…… Lorelai Leigh Gilmore.
Lorelai smiled when her daughter entered the stage. She took the diploma from the dean and lifted it in the air. Lorelai raised her thumb and Rory did the same.
"Owy!" Lucan pointed at his sister. "Owy." Everybody heard him, including Rory so she waved at her little brother with a huge smile on her face. Then she left the stage because the dean already called the next student on stage.
-xxxxxx-
After the ceremony they were standing together with a drink in their hands to celebrate. "I can't believe my little girl graduated college."
Rory blushed and Warren squeezed her hand.
"But seriously. This day has been long coming, whether I wanted it or not. Rory was 4 years old when I picked her up from school and she told me 'I'm going to Harvard.' I looked at her and asked her what she said. 'I'm going to Harvard.' I looked down at my little girl and asked her why. 'Because that's the best school in the country of course.' I shook my head and together we walked home.
When the time came and Rory applied to colleges she was lucky enough to have a choice. Harvard, Princeton and Yale. Yale did best in the whole pro-con thing and not only because Yale was closest to Stars Hallow so that's where she went. I remember the day I dropped Rory off at Yale for the first time as the day of yesterday. I remember driving home and it felt so empty. Lucky for me Rory felt lonely as well and asked me to come over. We spend the first night at her dorm together. I can't believe that 4 years have past already. Look at her now. She's this beautiful smart woman, ready to start her first job as a college graduate, engaged to get married. Sometimes I can't believe that you are my daughter but than I think back to the day you came into my life. The way I first looked into your eyes. I knew you were a smart girl, and you've never proven me wrong. What I really wanted to say was, I'm so proud of you Rory."
Rory hugged her mother as best as she could. "Thanks mom. I love you."
"I love you too kid."
Luke who was holding Lucan looked at Emily if he could speak. She nodded briefly. "When Rory was still in high school she would come into my diner with this huge yellow backpack that was way too heavy for a young girl. I couldn't believe how many books they would let her bring to school. I was thinking about talking to the principal until Lorelai told me that half her backpack was filled with books that Rory didn't really need. That she just brought for fun."
They all smiled, knowing how true this was.
"She doesn't walks around with those huge backpack anymore, but not much has changed. You should see the amount of stuff she brought when she came home for a weekend. He looked directly at Rory. Anyway, I think I'm really going to miss those books now that you're done with school. But there are so many new challenges waiting for you and I just wanted to say how proud I am to have you in my life."
"I'm glad to be in your life too Luke." She hugged him and they all smiled when Lucan put his arms around Rory's neck. He liked all the hugging and wanted to be a part of it. Rory took him in her arms and turned to her grandparents, knowing they'd be next.
"I'm so happy you got into Chilton. Because that's the moment I started seeing you on a weekly basis. For a moment I was afraid that would stop when you got into Yale, but you still came to visit every Friday night, except from the year you went to London of course. I'm so happy that Richard and I became a part of your life, and I hope that won't change now you graduated and will become a working woman."
"It won't grandma. I promise you it won't." She hugged her grandmother and once again Lucan joined this game. But when Emily tried to take him, he refused, holding on to Rory tight. He probably realized that she was getting all the attention and wanted to be a part of it as well.
"The day you told me you were going to Yale was the proudest day in my life." Richard started. "Until this day. The day you graduated from Yale. I'm very proud of you Rory."
Rory hugged her grandfather. "Thanks grandpa."
Everybody looked at Warren now. He was the only one who hadn't said anything yet.
"Uhm… I didn't prepare a speech." He pretended to be nervous but than smiled. "Rory, there are a thousand things I can say, but they will all lead to the same thing. I am so proud at you. I'm proud of who you are and what you already did in your life and I'm so happy that you'll become my wife." He smiled broadly and took her in his arms, Lucan in between. Then he kissed her. When they pulled apart he smiled even wider. "That should tell you how I feel. Much easier than words."
They all laughed.
"Rory, I have something for you." Richard handed her an envelope.
"Oh, grandpa, you didn't…"
He put a finger on her lips to silence her. "Just open it. It's from your grandmother and me." He took Lucan out of Rory's hands who started protesting immediately.
"No." He tried to move out of his grandfathers arms.
Luke walked towards them and took Lucan in his arm. Lucan was still protesting but Luke's grip was firm. "Calm down buddy. Let's see what grandma and grandpa got Rory okay?"
Rory opened the envelope and to her surprise there was another envelope inside. An envelope from a travel agency. "What is this?"
"Open it." Emily smiled.
"Okay…" Rory opened the envelope and took out two plane tickets and a letter. She started with reading the letter and her eyes went big. "Oh my God. Seriously?"
She looked at her grandparents who were nodding proudly. "It's what you always wanted right?" Emily had to check.
"Yeah. I can't believe you remembered. I was sixteen when I was talking about Fez. Thank you soo much!!" She hugged both her grandparents. "This is a really great gift. I can't tell you how happy I am."
Emily smiled. "The look on your face right now says enough."
Rory smiled. "That's good." Then she handed the tickets to her mother. "Look mom, see what grandma and grandpa gave me."
Lorelai took the tickets out of Rory's hands and smiled. "That's great Rory."
Rory didn't see how behind her Emily mouthed a thank you to Lorelai who simply nodded.
-xxxxxxx-
Luke and Lorelai were lying in bed that night. They were lying on their sides, facing each other.
"It was a good day, wasn't it?"
"Besides from the way you woke me up. Yeah it was." She smiled.
"What do you mean, the way I woke you up?"
She hit his shoulder. "My baby girl graduated college."
"She's not a baby anymore."
"I know. But sometimes I just like to believe that she still needs me as when she was a baby. But she's an independent college graduate now who's getting married in a few months."
He just smiled and rubbed her arm, not really knowing what to say.
"But it's good right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. This is what the two of you have been working for all those months. And now she has new things to work for."
"That's how it's supposed to go right? You try to live up your dreams even when they change a little in the process and once you've reached your goals, you have new goals."
"Yeah."
She smiled. "I really am proud. I really can't believe that this day has come. And that it went how it went. She really loved the trip to Fez right?"
"She did. Your mother was really happy you helped them with the gift."
She nodded. "And she liked our gift too right?"
"Of course she did. She loved it and you know it."
"I do." She smiled and yawned.
He leaned towards her and kissed her. "Time to go to sleep. It was a long day."
"And whose fault was that?" She smiled as she turned on her other side.
He snuggled close to her and kissed her on top of her head, wisely keeping his mouth shut.
T.B.C.