Liz's Wedding

Luke is in his apartment getting ready. He glances back and forth between two ties. Finally, he puts the blue one on and then rips it off putting on the black one. "You should wear the red one," Luke hears from behind him. He glances over and sees Jess standing there, his hands shoved in his pockets. Luke gives him a hard look. "Ma said I could find you here." Luke doesn't respond. Jess shrugs. "I – I just wanted to – I don't know – apologize – or something."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Luke states. Jess presses his lips together, nodding.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna – uh – apologize to her – to Lorelai – later," Jess stammers. Luke watches him for a moment. "I didn't mean to – I wasn't thinking. I just, I thought he should know." Jess scoffs. "I guess I didn't realize he was cracked."

"He's not crazy, Jess," Luke responds. Jess raises an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? The worms already came?" The corners of Luke's mouth turn up slightly as he does his best not to smile. Jess smirks and then sobers. "But really. I know I'm not Lorelai's biggest fan, but she didn't deserve that. No one deserves that. No guy should touch a woman like that." Luke nods.

"You're right about that one," Luke agrees. Jess nods.

"Anyways, I just figured. I thought I'd tell ya that. You know, as long as I'm here," Jess says, shrugging. Luke puts the ties down, picking up the red one. Then he looks back at Jess.

"You know, your mom thinks that you're gonna be all right," Luke tells him. Jess raises an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? And what do you think?" Jess asks. Luke puts the tie on, considering his words.

"I think only you know the answer to that," Luke responds.

"Well, that's fair."

"But Lorelai says you don't have to forget to forgive. So I may not ever forget what you did, but I can forgive you and move on," Luke says. He takes a deep breath. "Lorelai says you have to be able to move on," he remembers. "So I forgive you Jess. It's in the past. And I want you to know that. And I want you to know that I'm still your uncle, you know, if you ever need anybody, even if it's just a guy to talk to or a bed to sleep on. I'm always here." Jess nods. He walks over to Luke and they share a manly hug.

"Thanks," Jess says, almost gratefully. Luke nods. "Ma also said to tell you that she invited Lorelai. She says to tell you that you need this." Luke rubs his mouth. Jess stares at him. "You threw me out for her." Jess chuckles. "Twice, if I remember correctly." Luke nods. "Okay, so I'll…" Jess points his thumb at the door.

"I'll see ya out there," Luke responds. Jess nods. He walks out. Luke watches him leave, twisting his lips around. Then he turns back to the mirror looking at the red tie and adjusting it again. He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

As he walks through the diner, Luke calls to Caesar to watch over the place for him while he's gone. Luke steps out the door, looking complete disgusted with the renaissance themed scene in front of him. "Jeez," he grumbles, scratching his head. Glancing down the street towards Ms. Patty's, he sees Lorelai walking towards him in her pink, flowery dress, looking absolutely incredible as usual. Lorelai stops in front of him.

"Hi," she says softly. Luke nods. She glances over at the town center. "Quite a scene."

"Yeah, you could say that," Luke grunts. Lorelai peeks a look over at him as he's staring out and then looks away just as he glances at her. Lorelai looks back at him, catching his eyes this time. She presses her lips together, looking almost timid.

"Liz invited me," Lorelai tells him. She shrugs. "She really wanted me to come. So… I came." Luke nods.

"It's good. It's good you came," Luke responds.

"Good." Lorelai looks away, twisting her hands together nervously.

"Where are the kids?" Luke asks. Lorelai looks back up at him.

"Oh, uh, they're with… uh… Clara, Dean's sister. She's watching them," Lorelai remembers. "I told her it would only be a few hours, Clara's still too young to watch them for a long time. But she brought a friend with her, so there's two of them, should be easy."

"Oh yeah, Liam and Olivia are pretty easy kids when you've got two people taking care of them," Luke agrees and then looks away, realizing what he may have inferred. Lorelai looks away too, frustrated with the tension that remains between the two of them.

"Lorelai!" Patty calls, walking over to them. "Hey Lorelai, Liz is having some trouble, I think she ripped her dress. Do you think you can help?" Lorelai smiles.

"Only if you've got a needle and thread," Lorelai responds. Patty breathes a sigh of relief.

"You truly are a savior, come on," Patty says, motioning for Lorelai to follow her. Lorelai glances back at Luke.

"I'll, uh, catch you later," Lorelai manages. Luke nods shortly. Lorelai walks away from him, letting out the deep breath she'd been holding. Luke watches her walk away, sighing.

Lorelai fixes the wedding dress and then wedding goes on as planned. Only Lorelai sits next to Patty at the wedding and Luke sits next to April, with Anna on her other side. They steal glances at each other the entire time during the ceremony, always glancing away quickly to make sure they don't get caught. But Liz and TJ are wed and happy.

After the wedding, they all attend the reception. Lorelai is at the buffet getting food when Jess walks up to her. She glances over at him, her mouth parting slightly, as her eyes narrow slightly, almost like she's considering how to respond. Then she goes back to scooping out redskin potatoes onto her plate. "Lorelai," Jess says. She glances back at him, setting down the serving spoon, waiting for him to continue. "Can I, uh, talk to you?" he asks, motioning with his head for them to step away from the crowd. Lorelai slowly draws in a breath, straightening herself up and nods.

"All right," she responds, motioning for him to lead. They walk a little ways away towards the sidewalk. Luke, who is the middle of a conversation with Liz, glances over and sees them. He nods to himself and then goes back to talking. Jess stops and turns around, shoving his hands once again in his pockets.

"I just wanted to…" Jess sighs. "I wanted to apologize, for, you know, telling Rory's dad." Lorelai raises an eyebrow in surprise. "It wasn't my place to… I shouldn't have butted in. I made a promise to you that I wouldn't tell anyone and I should have kept that." Lorelai studies him, not quite believing what she's hearing.

"Yes, you should have," Lorelai responds. She glances over at Luke and then back and Jess. "But I want you to know, I don't hold you responsible for what happened." Jess nods.

"Yeah… thanks." There's a moment of uncomfortable silence. "You know, you didn't deserve that. No matter what you and Luke did. You didn't deserve that." Lorelai's expression softens as she considers his words. "So don't… don't blame yourself either." Lorelai looks conflicted, running her tongue between her lips. Jess shrugs.

"Yeah…" Lorelai considers.

"And I didn't mean to hurt Rory either. I would never have hurt Rory," Jess states. Lorelai looks up, almost surprised to hear him mention Rory.

"I know that," she replies. Jess smiles slightly and nods. "You know, Liz thinks you're going to turn out all right." Jess raises an eyebrow.

"And what do you think?" Jess asks. Lorelai glances over at Luke, a soft smile on her face.

"If you're anything like your uncle, you'll be fine. But only you can determine that," she answers. Jess chuckles.

"You know, I think he thinks that you don't consider me turning out to be like him a good thing," Jess tells her. Lorelai glances back at Luke one more time. "I think he thinks you can do better than him." Lorelai looks saddened at this idea. She looks back at Jess.

"Well that is entirely untrue," Lorelai states. Jess shrugs.

"I just call it like I see it." Lorelai nods. "Anyways, those turkey legs are really calling my name, so I'm gonna go get me one of them."

"Okay," Lorelai responds. She smiles slightly. "See you around Jess."

"See ya around," Jess agrees, before walking away. Lorelai stares at the diner, pondering her next move.

"Hey Lorelai, come sit with me before Mom and I have to leave," April requests coming over to her. Lorelai smiles brightly.

"Okay, sounds good to me," Lorelai agrees. She takes April's hand as April leads her over to the table where Anna sits waiting for them. Luke, who has now stopped talking to Liz, watches Lorelai, April and Anna for a moment. Just seeing how the three women in his life interact and pleased at how well Lorelai gets along with April. He takes a deep breath and walks over to TJ and Liz's table and sits down to finish eating.

Awhile later, April and Anna have said their goodbyes to Lorelai, Liz and Luke and left. The dancing has begun and Kirk announces that it is time for Liz and TJ's first dance. TJ leads Liz out onto the dance floor as Lorelai nervously walks up to stand next to Luke.

Now that I've worn out, I've worn out the world
I'm on my knees in fascination
Looking through the night
And the moon's never seen me before
But I'm reflecting light

"She looks so happy," Lorelai says softly. Luke smiles, nodding.

"Yeah she does. Possibly happier than with any of her 18 million other husbands," Luke agrees. Lorelai laughs. He glances over at her. "Did you like the turkey legs?" Lorelai raises an eyebrow, surprised at his ease of conversation.

"Yes, actually, they were amazing," she responds.

"They should be, I made them," Luke says proudly.

"Well then my compliments to the chef." Luke nods.

I wrote the pain down
Got off and looked up
Looked into your eyes
The lost open windows
All around
My dark heart lit up the skies

Kirk announces that the happy couple invites others to join in on the dance. Lorelai glances at Luke, wanting to ask, but afraid at his answer. "Well I should, I haven't had any dessert…" she says lamely, pointing with her thumb back at her table. Luke raises an eyebrow.

"Well if you don't mind putting that off for a moment…" Luke trails off. Lorelai looks up at him, waiting for him to finish. Luke shrugs. "We could dance." Lorelai smiles softly.

"Still taking lessons from Tony?" Lorelai teases. Luke grins.

"I taught Tony everything he knows," Luke boasts. Lorelai chuckles. Luke offers Lorelai his hand and she pauses, staring at it a moment, before hesitantly placing her hand in his. Lightly holding onto Lorelai's hand, Luke leads her out onto the dance floor.

And now that I've worn, I've worn out the world
I'm on my knees in fascination
Looking through the night
And the moon's never seen me before
But I'm reflecting light

Keeping a distance between them, Lorelai places her hand on Luke's shoulders and he puts his on her waist, clasping their hands as they begin to waltz. "I forgot how good you were at this," Lorelai says to him. Luke cocks his head.

"Well it does take practice to make it perfect," Luke tells her. Lorelai raises an eyebrow.

"And who have you been practicing with Luke Danes?" Lorelai teases. Luke grins.

"A little girl named Olivia," Luke replies. Lorelai lets in a small breath as she's reminded what a great father Luke is. "Sometimes when Olivia has trouble falling asleep, I hold her in my arms and I put on that song we danced to, you remember it?"

"I remember it," Lorelai answers quickly. Luke nods.

"When Hearts Collide," he recalls. "I put it on and I hold her in my arms and we dance."

"You should have told me," Lorelai says. Luke furrows his eyebrows.

"Why?" he asks.

"Because, then I would have practiced with Liam," she responds with a wink. "You want your son to know how to dance too, don't you?"

Give up the ground
Under your feet
Hold on to nothing for good
Turn and run at the mean times
Chasing you
Stand alone and misunderstood

Luke and Lorelai adjust their dance position. Lorelai sliding her arm around his neck. Luke lets his hand travel to Lorelai's lower back, pulling her a little closer. Both of them remembering how wonderful it feels to be in the other's arms. "That was a beautiful song," Lorelai says.

"Yeah…" Luke responds. "Yeah. It was."

"It's about what happens when two people find each other and the struggles they go through to be together because they know they belong together," Lorelai says. Luke stares at her. She smiles nervously. "At least, that's what I think."

"That's what I think too," Luke agrees. "It's what happens what two people fall in love and their hearts become one heart." Lorelai stares at him, letting his words in. She runs her tongue between her lips. And Luke waits, but Lorelai says nothing in response.

And now that I've worn, I've worn out the world
I'm on my knees in fascination
Looking through the night
And the moon's never seen me before
But I'm reflecting light

Dancing close together, barely an inch between them, Lorelai's chin almost rests on Luke's shoulder. His breath against her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Feeling her cheek against his, Luke's pulse beats faster. And slowly they both turn to look at each other. Their eyes locking as her clear blue matches his deep blue. Tilting her head slightly, Lorelai slowly moves her head towards his, lightly touching his lips with hers as the song ends.

But in the silence, Luke suddenly goes cold, dropping his hands and stepping back away from Lorelai. She stares at him in surprise with pain resonating from her eyes. "What? What did I do?" she gasps. Luke runs a hand through his hair.

"You didn't – you didn't do anything," he mumbles, realizing that this is exactly the problem. Lorelai's eyes fill with tears as she wonders if he'll ever want to be with her again.

"But Luke, I…" Lorelai swallows hard. "Don't you remember the last time we danced? You told me you knew me. Did you forget that?" Luke clears his throat.

"No," he responds, with a shake of his head. "No, I didn't forget."

"But it's not true, you don't know me."

"I do Lorelai. I know you. But I can't take the chance, I can't let my heart… I can't…" He flings his hands out, not looking at her. Lorelai's chin trembles as she tries to remain strong, trying to keep him from seeing how much he's hurting her. "I've been hurt too many times by you," Luke says coldly and walks away.

"Luke," Lorelai gasps, pressing her lips together, her chin trembling as a tear trails down her cheek. "I didn't get to say…" she says to the wind. "I didn't get to tell you I love you. That you're all I want." She closes her eyes, trying to gather herself together. Taking a deep breath, Lorelai slowly turns to walk home, back to her house to be with Liam and Olivia.