Notes:
Robinpoppins - That's what I like to hear/read. I like to keep things fresh and interesting, otherwise I'd even get bored writing it.
javajunkie101 - Well then your friends are my kind of people. Need I say again my dislike for Anna?
lukedanesloverr - You know, an iced hazelnut coffee and blueberry muffin are always the perfect reading snack. Tasty. But you're right, I feel I wrote the characters better and better from chapter to chapter. Luke was hard to write at first, but I think I've worked out my problems with that. Let me say this about Chris, I liked Chris, I liked him for a long time, up until that last scene in Partings I liked Chris. But the thing is, that this was not out of Chris's character, being drunk and not really knowing what he's doing and just furious that Lorelai, his goddess, had fallen and cheated on him. I think I've tried to make Chris human, mistakes and all, and when you make really bad mistakes, you end up having to crawl out of a hole for a long time. And to me, Lorelai is what comes first in Rory's life, to find out that Chris did that would make Rory want to hate him. I know that Chris is Rory's father and she'll be dealing with that too, the whole Luke/Chris thing, but Rory has her reasons right now for preferring Luke. I love the Thanksgiving chapter too. If I haven't said it already, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I will always put my all into those chapters. The LCL conflict will come back and will be around, yes it got pushed aside but not forever. No review could ever be too long. I loved your review and yes I loved comparing Lorelai and Rory to Goldie and Kate.
smileyGGfan - Welcome back. That was probably the longest run on sentence ever.
And a giant huge big THANK YOU to lukelover87 who submitted my 1000th review! You are the best! I thank you all who have reviewed throughout as well. Know that I appreciate each and every review. Gold stars are on the house today.
Luke and Lorelai's House
Luke is upstairs in the nursery playing with the twins. Olivia is in the Little Einstein chair and Liam is lying in the portable bassinet, playing with a stuffed truck. Luke hears some noise outside and walks to the window, from where he sees Lorelai's jeep pull up.
Lorelai turns off the jeep and grins, a delighted look on her face, as she's happy to be home. She gets out of the jeep and reaches back in to grab her bag and her purse, setting one on each shoulder. Lorelai doesn't hear Luke open the front door. He steps onto the porch, watching her. As Lorelai turns around, she finally notices Luke and the smile spreads across her face. Luke walks down the steps as Lorelai picks the bags off of her shoulders, throwing them on the ground as she runs to Luke. He catches her under her shoulders, pulling her to him, as she places a hand on either side of his face, pressing her lips to his passionately. Lorelai's hands move to the back of his head, pressing his mouth to hers harder. She parts her lips slightly, opening her mouth to him, his tongue gently massaging hers as his hands move to her lower back, pressing her hips against him, holding her as close as he can get her, neither wanting to let go.
Finally Lorelai pulls back, each flushed and gasping for breath. She kisses him again, sweetly this time, and lays her head on his shoulder, one of her hands playing with the curls on the back of his neck and other laid across the back of his shoulders. Luke kisses Lorelai's cheek, nestling his head in her hair, breathing in her sweet scent. One of hands is still pressing into her lower back while the other rests across the back of her shoulders. "I missed you," he whispers.
"Ditto," Lorelai whispers back, holding him tightly to her. "I'm so sorry." Luke suddenly lets go of her, grasping her face in his hands.
"You have nothing to be sorry about," Luke declares. Lorelai smiles softly, moving her hands to his shoulders.
"When I said I would never leave you…"
"And you never will," Luke answers quickly. Lorelai grins.
"Are we going to continue quoting Casablanca?" Lorelai teases. Luke chuckles. "But seriously, I promise you this time, this is it, I'm here."
"And I'll always be here," Luke promises. He pulls her face to his and kisses her again. "Now let's get to those bags." Lorelai nods. They walk over and Luke picks up the big bag and Lorelai grabs her purse. She reaches for his hand and he takes hers, interlacing their fingers. They walk up the stairs of the porch. Just before Lorelai opens the door, Luke pulls on her hand, turning her to face him. Placing a hand on her cheek, he tucks some of her hair behind her ear. As he runs his fingers over her cheek, Lorelai stares up at him, pressing her lips together. She reaches up and grabs the collar of his shirt, bringing his lips to hers again. When Lorelai slowly releases her hold on him, Luke nods.
"We'd better go inside before we give Babette a real show," Lorelai says. Luke nods. Lorelai turns and opens the door, pulling Luke behind her. Luke goes to take the bag upstairs. "Wait, first…" Lorelai motions for her to follow him. They put the bags by the stairs. Lorelai takes Luke's hands in hers, walking backwards to the couch, where they sit down facing each other.
"Are you okay?" Luke asks with concern. Lorelai grits her teeth and shrugs.
"Some days are better than others. But I've been taking the medication and it's helping. I just... I gotta take it one day at a time," Lorelai tells him.
"Well I'll be behind you every step of the way," Luke replies.
"I know. You're Huggies." Lorelai moves to tuck one leg under her. "I need to tell you something."
"Why am I suddenly nervous?" Lorelai smiles.
"No, it's just something you should know."
"Okay…" Luke gives her a curious look.
"This is not the first time that this has happened," Lorelai says. Luke raises an eyebrow. "The – post partum depression." Lorelai presses her lips together, having finally said the words for the first time. "When I had Rory, I went through the same thing."
"You were depressed?" Lorelai nods. "What made you go back that time?"
"I never left," Lorelai responds. "It was the same disease, but not the same reasons behind it."
"And you never told anyone?" Lorelai shrugs.
"At the time, I thought they would take Rory away from me if I admitted it. After that, I thought Rory would hate me if she knew. And then, after awhile, there wasn't any reason to."
"Until the twins were born," Luke reminds her.
"Right, but since I had been denying it so long, I didn't stop to consider it might happen again," Lorelai explains.
"I see."
"I just thought you should know. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't Liam or Olivia's fault. It's just something I have to deal with and stop denying. And now I can start to recover." Luke nods. Lorelai smiles softly, squeezing his hands. "And we can go on." Luke nods. Lorelai waits for a response from Luke. "You still want to marry me, don't you?" A small smile plays on Luke's lips.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Good." Lorelai leans and kisses him quickly on the mouth. Then she climbs off the couch. "Come on, I want to see the kids." She pulls him by the hands, forcing him back onto his feet. Lorelai pulls Luke behind her as they walk up the stairs, Luke wraps their hands around her waist. "Hey, it's hard to walk with you doing that."
"Hey, it's hard to keep my hands off of you with your butt in my face like that," Luke responds. Lorelai glances at him over her shoulder and shakes her head with a smirk. Instead she moves his hands off of her waist, still holding onto his hands as she drops hers behind her.
Lorelai pauses in the doorway of the nursery. With a gasp, she stares at her children. Luke wraps an arm around her waist, looking over her shoulder, completely unable to keep his hands off of her. "They've grown. They're so big," Lorelai breathes. Luke looks at Lorelai. He kisses her cheek.
"Go hold them, they've missed you," Luke whispers in her ear. Lorelai nods, walking out of his grip and over to Olivia. She sits down on the floor between her two children and lifts Olivia out of the chair. Olivia looks up at Lorelai and gurgles as a smile spreads across Lorelai's face.
"Hi Sweetie, it's Mommy, you remember me?" Lorelai coos. Luke walks over and sits down next to Lorelai, picking up Liam into his arms. Lorelai leans over and kisses Liam's forehead. "Hello, my sweet boy." Olivia grabs onto Lorelai's hair as she leans over to Liam. "Hey there pumpkin, Mommy's going to need that." Lorelai slowly takes her hair out of Olivia's grasp as the girl grabs onto Lorelai's finger instead.
"She just wants to hold onto you," Luke says.
"Baby beluga," Lorelai sings, rocking Olivia in her arms. "Baby Beluga." Olivia gurgles. She glances up at Luke and winks.
"I hope you didn't get her singing voice," Luke says to Liam.
"Yes because baseball players don't sing," Lorelai teases. Luke points over to the dresser where a miniature Red Sox cap lays. "But what if he's a Yankees fan?" Luke eyes go wide.
"That would be treasonous," Luke declares.
"Olivia says Go Yankees," Lorelai coos, gently pumping Olivia's arm in the air. "Go Yankees, Daddy, go Yankees," Lorelai cheers in a baby voice. Luke shakes his head.
"That's it, you're not allowed to talk sports with our kids." Lorelai laughs. Liam yawns quietly.
"Aw…" Lorelai says. "Is it time for their nap already?" Luke shrugs.
"I hadn't really gotten them into a regular routine, you know, with everything going on, but they should be tired." Lorelai nods.
"What do you usually do before bedtime? Do you read to them? That's what I did with Rory," Lorelai says.
"And probably why she lived in the library." Lorelai giggles.
"But would that be a bad thing? We don't want to raise a bunch of dummies. Do we? Do we baby?" Lorelai coos back down at Olivia. Luke shakes his head. He reaches next to him, grabbing the closest book and hands it to Lorelai.
"You read," Luke tells her. Lorelai takes the book, looking a little unsure for a moment. "They want to hear your voice." Lorelai nods, opening the book. She smiles down, remembering reading the book to Rory as a baby.
"In the great green room there was a telephone, and a red balloon..." Lorelai begins.