Presenting … Lucas Danes?
By GilmoreGirl1979 (the Reigning Quote Queen)
Provider of Quality FAN FICTION
R/R: yes please I love reviews, I wanna marry them (as previously stated, I have strange passions.)
friendly disclaimer: I REJECT ASP's/DR's REALITIES AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN! NO HARM NO SUE!
Dialogue borrowed from: 2.19 - Teach Me Tonight
written by Amy Sherman-Palladino
directed by Steven Robman
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CHAPTER 40
It Only Takes A Moment
This was the night. Luke was a combination of happy and sick. Richard had been a calming influence on Luke's nerves, encouraging for the past week, and even helped him arrange a magical evening for Lorelai based on their talk last Sunday. Luke had a great start, but Richard helped refine and polish the proposal plan. Jess did his best to stay out of the way while Luke got his head together, mentally preparing for night.
When Luke was ready to pick Lorelai up for their date, but he had to stop at the bank first. He needed cash for the evening of wining and dining Lorelai, but also he had to pick up something special from the safety deposit box.
"Afternoon Luke," said Sam, one of the Stars Hollow tellers.
"Hey Sam."
"You look sharp, another date with Lorelai?"
Luke had to laugh, he didn't even mention personal stuff like that to of all people his bank teller, but the gossips around town made sure everyone knew the latest scoop. "Um yeah, I need to make a withdrawal…" Luke filled out a slip for his cash and quietly brought up, "Hey uh, listen, I need to get into my father's old box."
"You know technically it's yours now…"
"Sam please, just take me in back."
"Sure Luke, I didn't mean anything by it," Sam quickly apologized.
Luke let the comment go. It was true. Everything that was his father's was now Luke's. Well almost. Luke sold his father's house soon after William's death, too many memories of a family Luke would never have again. He had gone a step beyond William from simply owning a store to buying an entire building, possibly having tenants paying him rent, for businesses or apartments, being an entrepreneur himself, and competition for Taylor. He still had his father's unfinished boat, which given Richard's keen interest in fishing, Luke had been recently considering finishing it. Maybe he could bond nephew over the project, a chance to take a break from the Gilmore girls and do something manly. Lots of changes were happening, thanks to one wonderful woman.
Make a change, Luke. Change is good, Luke. Look at how happy we are, Luke. Why aren't you open to a commitment Luke?
Once Sam left him alone with the box, Luke felt safe enough to open it, and pulled out the desired item. Tonight, Lorelai was going to have a magical evening and she would find out just how committed Luke was to her.
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Lorelai was grateful for another night out with her beau. Her busy schedule was suddenly lightening; they were down to the final decisions on Sookie's wedding, her finals were just around the corner and her business school chapter was coming to a close and summer was going to start to boot. Hmmm, Luke and me, skinny dipping at the lake…
Lorelai went to the door to greet her date. Luke's appearance at the door, the suit, the tie, had Lorelai wondering if she was missing some sort of important anniversary. "Wow, you look great."
"So do you, I mean, beautiful, you look beautiful."
Lorelai raised her eyebrow, "Oh, well I don't think I really match you, hang on I'll change."
"Lorelai, you look fine…"
She teased, "I thought you just said beautiful, so which is it." Then Lorelai noticed, "Are those flowers?"
Luke seemed embarrassed by the gesture, "Aw um yeah, I thought you'd like flowers, I never got you flowers before…"
Lorelai accepted the bouquet, knowing something had to be up. "Why are you wearing a tie?"
"Cause I wanted to…" hoping he wasn't giving too much away of his plans for the evening.
"You hate ties. You call them the noose of the business man," she said, wondering if this was more of her father's influence on him.
"No, I said they could use it as a noose when they eventually go crazy from working so hard and realizing they hadn't really produced anything while their jobs kept them away from their families…"
"I knew it was something like that. Come on, what's so special tonight? It's not my birthday, and we couldn't be celebrating my graduation early. Is it our anniversary and I forgot?" she asked, recalling how business school made her so absent-minded and Luke being so thoughtful over Valentine's Day.
Luke should have known that wearing a suit, bringing flowers, wanting to make tonight special and magical for her was going to tip her off and incite a bunch of questions. He couldn't say it was a surprise, because that would only inspire more questions.
"Put your flowers in water and you'll find out."
The mystery was driving Lorelai crazy. She went into the kitchen while Luke waited by the door. After putting the flowers in water on the table, Lorelai sneakily tipped toed over to Rory's door and got her daughter's attention. "Rory!" she whispered.
"What?"
"Shh, he brought me flowers."
"So?"
"Luke never buys flowers."
"Well, maybe he thinks you deserve flowers."
"But the other day it was brownies. I was fine with brownies. Why is he switching to flowers today?"
"Maybe he thinks you should eat more salads?"
"Rory!"
"Mom why don't you just ask him?"
"I did."
"And he said?"
"That he wanted to."
"Well, there you go, mystery solved."
"Rory? He's wearing a tie."
"Paranoid!" Rory declared. "Maybe he's taking you to a nice place. Mom, just have fun tonight, soon you are going to be hermit, studying girl and you won't be able to go out at all. It's your last night of freedom he wants to make it special."
"But flowers…" Lorelai insisted.
"Mom just go. Make a night of it. It will be weeks till we can celebrate again."
"Jeez, Lorelai how much water do those flowers need?" Luke came into the kitchen to find Lorelai at Rory's door conspiring, he was worried they were speculating about the flowers and had figured out his goal. He was half right. "Lorelai? You left the faucet running."
"I did? Oh I did? Um wow must be getting old, next thing you know I'll be putting my keys in the freezer," Lorelai shut off the water.
"As opposed to your socks in the oven?"
"Umm let me get my purse and we can go"
Luke and Rory smiled at each other. Luke felt like she was eyeing him, like she knew what Luke had in his pocket. "You look nice," Rory complimented.
"Uh, thank you," Luke shifted under the teen's gaze, hoping he didn't breakdown and confess his goal right there.
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Lorelai liked that they took his truck. Lorelai found it endearingly ironic arriving at the fancy restaurant all dressed up in Luke's old green truck. It was odd. Good, though. It suited them, somehow. Lorelai had never been to that restaurant before and found it strange Luke would pick a place with valet parking, though Luke parked the car himself since the valet didn't know how to drive a stick. When they entered, Lorelai saw that the place was really nice. It was no seedy bar but it was a far cry from the stuffy upscale restaurants her parents frequented. This suited them somehow. There was still a live band and a dance floor and Lorelai figured if it was her last night out for a while; she could definitely convince Luke for a few songs on the floor.
Luke held out her chair as she sat at the secluded table and the waiter greeted them.
"Good evening, my name is Paul. I will be your server this evening. While you peruse the menu may I get you something to drink?"
Luke politely asked, "Lorelai?"
"White wine, please."
"White wine for the lady and a beer for me."
Lorelai smiled, pleased that even though Luke was all dressed up he was still himself and not an android clone by ordering a beer.
Before she even had a chance to consider an appetizer, Paul cleared his throat with some bad news, "I would love to serve you that, unfortunately, I can't."
Lorelai laughed, "What? Are you underage? 'Cause we're going to be the ones who will be drinking it, you just have to bring it to the table."
"No, um it's just that there was slight oversight with our liquor delivery and all we have is non alcoholic beverages." Paul seemed to be exhausted from explaining the problem over and over to his various customers.
"You're kidding?" Lorelai scoffed.
"No m'am, unfortunately management didn't get the order in on time, so our order missed the weekend shipping deadline and we won't get our delivery till Monday. I can make any other number of drinks for you, basically virgin daiquiris or we have soda, water, juice…"
"Luke?" Lorelai didn't know what to do, Luke looked disappointed too.
"I run a restaurant; how do you not get your orders in on time? Don't restaurants make half their money at the bar? "
"I'm sorry sir; may I offer you dessert on the house?" Paul seemed to be afraid of Luke now, it was obvious this wasn't his first negative reaction.
With good reason, Luke barked, "How can I order dessert when I haven't even ordered dinner yet?"
Lorelai grabbed Luke's hand across the table, to keep him from punching the poor kid out, after all Paul was just the messenger. Lorelai laughed slightly at being offered juice, "I'll have a soda. Could you put it in a wine glass, at least I can pretend." Suddenly it seemed kind of fun, she could spend the whole night commenting on the vintage of the brand. "And he'll have a sparkling water… with the bubbles he'll never know it's not beer." Catching Luke's look she winked at him and told the waiter, "Maybe you should make that plain flat tap water for him."
"Thank you," Paul nodded to Lorelai, happy she could soothe her savage date.
Luke's nerves over his big moment made him overanalyze the problem. "This is unbelievable," Luke grumbled.
"Luke, calm down, okay. This is not a big deal. "
"I've hardly seen you lately. With Sookie's wedding, with school, your finals will be starting, and I just wanted to have one night about you and me. A real date, I wanted tonight to be perfect."
Lorelai soothed, "Luke, its fine."
"But you are stuck with a soda list instead of a wine list."
"We'll make do. You have to drive me home anyway, maybe its better this way. Don't let one little hiccup spoil our evening."
Luke looked at their clasped hands on the table. That was the story of their relationship; she shined with hope and optimism in any situation. Lorelai always gave him hope, something to look forward too. That was why he loved Lorelai.
"This way you can get me home safe," Lorelai enticed, "and we will be fully functional for…." She mischievously grinned when Paul returned with their virgin drinks.
"Have you made your decision on entrées?"
Luke felt a little better knowing that Lorelai wasn't upset about the lack of wine for her wining and dining. He let Lorelai order first, "Lorelai?"
She had been so thrown by the alcohol problem she hadn't even considered her choice for dinner; she decided to give Luke control of the evening again. "Uh Luke why don't you order, you know what I like. I'll just eat off your plate anyway."
Luke chuckled, "All right, how about Spinach and Ricotta-Stuffed Chicken Breasts."
"An excellent choice sir, but um that usually comes with Lemon White Wine Sauce and given our recent situation, we don't have the sauce because we don't have the wine to make…"
Luke sunk again, "Jeez, for the love of…"
Paul was quick not to upset Luke again, "Umm, I can still bring the chicken breasts and any sides you want, with the free dessert…"
"Quite a deal," Lorelai smiled. "Paul could you let us know when our dinner is ready," Lorelai asked, as she stood from the table still holding Luke's hand.
"Where are you going?" Luke said.
"We are going on the dance floor," she smiled at him, knowing just the way to cheer Luke up.
Luke reluctantly followed, although dancing was apart of the plan.
Lorelai led Luke all the way up to the bandleader; "A little Sinatra, if you please maestro?"
Luke had to grin, Lorelai was better at romancing than he was.
Even the bandleader had a sense of humor about the liquor situation.
I get no kick from champagne
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you
The whole point of this evening was about the answer to his question. Not if the restaurant served wine or not. A meteor could come through the roof, but as long as Luke got down on one knee, he hoped that the proposal would be the headline of the evening.
Luke took Lorelai in his arms and loved how she fit against him. Lorelai always brought out the best in him; convinced him to help at town events. She brought Luke out of his hermit shell and taught him how to laugh and have fun. Luke wanted this feeling, Lorelai in his arms, them together no matter, what for the rest of their lives.
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Rory felt better about seeing Luke and Lorelai head off for their upscale romantic evening. Rory didn't want Lorelai to worry about Christopher's feelings or rift between absent father and daughter, Lorelai only needed to keep her focus on Luke. However, in the back of Rory's mind she still worried about her father's wistful thinking about Lorelai on his last visit. Rory couldn't even speak to him now, whenever she thought about it she got angry. How selfish was Christopher anyway? He had Sherry, a life in Boston, but it seemed like he still wanted a claim on Lorelai. He couldn't have it both ways. Nobody could… she couldn't… Rory shook her head thinking about her own life, Dean…. It made her sick to her stomach all of a sudden to realize that maybe she was more like her father than she ever wanted to admit.
After all she had a great boyfriend, very attentive and malleable to her whims and wishes. Even so she found herself thinking about Jess, in a more then friendly way. Rory had a lot in common with Jess. They talked about books and music, they could talk for hours, with Dean there was always fun and good times, but there was usually compromise. I'll watch battle bots if you read Chekov. Although with Jess there was compromise too. Jess had shelved his bad boy attitude and behaved himself for his uncle. Jess gave Swan Song another try…
This was ridiculous. Rory was with Dean, Dean was her boyfriend, a wonderful boyfriend so why was she wondering what would happen if she was with Jess? Rory hated to think that she was like Christopher, wanting what he couldn't have, never satisfied with what was before him, and always trying something different, never settling. debating the whole nature versus nurture argument in her head suddenly, Rory pro conned the values Luke and Lorelai had taught her versus the fact that Christopher's reckless abandon genes were too strong to fight.
Rory couldn't be with Jess. Jess was Luke's nephew; if Luke and Lorelai ever got married one day, they would be cousins… The door bell rang which was strange since Rory hadn't ordered food. She feared, for a moment, that all her thinking about her dad had willed him to drive down from Boston to finally confront her, face to face.
Rory steeled herself for battle, but relaxed at the sight of the friendly face at the door. "Jess?"
"Hey."
"What are you doing here?" she laughed at how her mother's paranoia seemed to be rubbing off on her. Perhaps thinking about Jess while Dean was out of town had willed him to her door.
"Well, Luke had a big-to-do planned tonight for your mom and well, basically I'm exiled from the apartment for awhile."
Rory chuckled, "Too much information."
"Exactly, so he told me I could go out hang with friends… "
"And you thought of me?" Rory was touched, no flattered, no she couldn't be thinking that way she had a boyfriend.
Speaking of which, "So where's Dean tonight?" Jess asked.
"Why?"
"It's Saturday night and you're home."
"I go to a very competitive school, did you ever consider I have a lot of work to do for the end of the semester?"
"True," Jess nodded, "but then there is the fact that I haven't seen him around town lately."
"He's visiting his grandmother."
"Ah," jess nodded with interest, "Where?"
"Chicago. If you're done with twenty questions."
"I don't think I've reached twenty yet." Jess paused as Rory chucked. "I'm just prying into your personal life," Jess grinned. "Hey, is that your car?"
"Yeah, that's why it's in my drive way."
"Nice."
"Thanks, Dean built it for me."
"He what?"
"He built it; it was sort of a… three month anniversary gift," Rory admitted embarrassed, dismissing the stupid gift.
Jess didn't know how he could compete with a guy who put together a car for his high school girlfriend. "Can't wait to see how he pops the question," Jess winced. Sure he was talking about Dean, but he didn't know how much Rory knew about Luke and Lorelai's special evening."
"Okay, tell you what. Let's go get some ice cream."
"What?"
"We can test drive that baby and fill a sugar fix, what do you say?"
"Jess I have to study…"
"All work and no play…" Jess teased.
"Jess…"Rory was confused, was this supposed to be a test drive date while Dean was out of town? Was that considered cheating?
"Come on, I hate to see you go crazy with cabin fever, you'll end up in a corner reciting Othello to yourself."
Rory crossed her arms, "I'm studying history."
"okay, the Gettysburg address then,"
"My Chapter is about the 50 day war."
"Aw close enough; you can tell me all about it, sprinkles are on me."
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Luke and Lorelai were walking down the sidewalks of Stars Hollow, while Lorelai decided to sing, off key, to the deserted square.
"Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum…"
"Lorelai."
"You came along and everything started to hum…"
Luke chuckled again, "Lorelai."
"Still it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come…" Lorelai stood in Luke's path, "That band was so talented. He perfectly set our mood."
"Mood?"
"Yeah, maybe I should get their card or something. They would be great at wedding. Too bad Sookie's already decided in that area and I'm not going to stir the pot this close to the date."
Luke was concerned she was figuring it out, but she had merely been musing about networking for her business. Lorelai then just went back to singing with her arm linked with his as they walked toward the diner.
"The best is yet to come, and babe won't that be fine
You think you've seen the sun, but you ain't seen it shine…
…The best is yet to come, and won't that be fine
The best is yet to come, come the day that your mine."
Lorelai laughed at her own singing, she really was pretty bad, "Why are we going back to the diner? I just got a free dessert at the restaurant and now you are offering me coffee? Are you feeling alright?" Lorelai asked her date.
"Well, I saw how you were making eyes at the dessert guy. I just wanted to remind you of how good you have it with me." This was part of the plan to get her alone, back to the diner, where they had first met.
"Luke! I wasn't eyeing the dessert guy I was eyeing the huge cart of desserts he was pushing around. It's not my fault that the chocolate-raspberry cake was at the same eye level as his butt."
"Okay, see I didn't even pick that up…"
"Oh you didn't?" Lorelai winced. "Look on the bright side you're damn lucky to have this magnificent woman in your life, you do know that, don't you?"
"You bet," Luke said heartfelt, thinking of the ring in his pocket. Find your moment, don't rush, he reminded himself.
"…and I am going home with you, and your butt is way better than his, trust me." Lorelai saw the diner down the street, "Why is the diner so dark? Forget to pay the power bill on that new building of yours?" she nudged her date.
"No, the diner is closed."
"Really? Why?"
Luke shrugged, "I figured my loyal staff deserved a night off."
"That's how they stay loyal," Lorelai observed and then she noticed the light of Luke's apartment seemed to be out. "Where's Jess?"
"Oh, um out with friends?"
"Luke, are you trying to seduce me?" she demurely asked, wondering if Luke has something dirty in mind for going to the diner.
"Maybe, is it working?" he asked as he got his keys out of his pocket to open the door.
"Maybe," she returned. Luke held the door open for her and she put her purse on the counter and took a seat. Luke smiled behind her; she didn't realize it, but Lorelai had sat down in the last seat by the stairs that led to his apartment, right in front of the coffee machines. The same spot she took when she first time she came into his diner the day they met and she changed Luke's life forever.
Luke went behind the counter and started brewing a fresh pot just for Lorelai.
"Luke, sit next to me."
Luke rounded the counter, and sat on a stool beside her while they waited for the coffee to brew.
"Thank you for such a lovely evening. I really like romantic Luke."
"You're welcome."
Lorelai held his hand, "I'm sorry I've been so busy lately."
"It's okay; you've got a lot to do."
"Yeah, and it will calm down soon enough and then we can be together all the time; A nice romantic summer."
Luke smiled at the thought, together all the time, as husband and wife.
Lorelai couldn't stop fidgeting. She felt really special the entire evening. She liked that Luke was making an effort at romance, treating her like the queen she knew she was. It was so quiet, dark and dim in the diner. "How long till the coffee's ready?"
"Another couple of minutes," Luke shrugged.
"Oh, in that case," Lorelai stood up and leaned against Luke and his seat. She slowly slid her arms around his neck to kiss him. Luke's hands naturally went around to the small of her back to keep her close. One kiss had become indistinguishable from then next and both were becoming warm all over. "Luke … any chance of getting you to…skinny dip with me this summer?"
This was getting way off track. Luke had things he wanted to say, starting off by reminding Lorelai how they had met, the symbolism of why he planned such a special evening and brought her to the diner for the big finale. Luke didn't want to lose his focus and consequently lose his moment. "Lorelai, maybe we should slow down…"
"Hmm, bit late for that."
"Lorelai you're coffee will be ready." Luke had planned on putting the ring on Lorelai's coffee saucer and sliding it over with her fresh cup, then again nothing this evening had gone according to plan. He almost expected Jess to come striding into the diner, absent mindedly ruining everything.
"Hmm, I don't want coffee, I want you." Lorelai knew she should have said those three little words, but she was still scared. She knew that showing Luke how she felt about him would do more than saying three little words. Lorelai looked into Luke's eyes, "We're all alone."
"Lorelai…we're in the diner, Miss Patty could see us."
"Then we better give her a good show."
"Lorelai…" if he didn't give her the ring soon he knew it was just going to burn a hole in his pocket and set the diner on fire.
"Alright, well if Jess is out…" Lorelai gave Luke that sultry smile, pulling on his tie to lead him toward the stairs. "Maybe we should take this upstairs?" her lips were on his again.
Luke stood up and followed her as they blindly found their way to the stairs in their heated embrace had them pressed in the door frame that led upstairs. Luke didn't want to ask her while they were making love, or even afterward, he didn't want her to think it was the heat of the moment, she had to know that this was the plan from the evening's onset. Lorelai's tongue swirling in his mouth was distracting Luke from his objective, Luke knew he had to ask her now."Lorelai, do you know how much you mean to me?"
"Luke ... I want you, too," Lorelai was overwhelmed with feelings, she knew she had to tell him how she felt, that this thing between them was definitely long term for her.
Luke tried to recover his serious moment, "Lorelai do you know what I want?"
"To get naked?" Lorelai enticed.
Luke pulled away, "Lorelai," he met her gaze, found the courage to stare down her beautiful blues, all he had to do was bend his knee in the diner and ask. Do I really have to get down on my knee? I mean I'm not the kind of guy who carries around a handkerchief or a cape for ladies to cross puddles.
"Yes, Luke?" Lorelai was examining his face expectantly.
Luke was over thinking it; this was it this was his moment. All he had to do was open his mouth and blurt it out. "Lorelai... I want you ..." to be my wife.
However, Lorelai's cell began to ring and even she groaned.
Luke sighed, disappointed they were always interrupted. "You should get that," he said thinking if they got all the distractions out of the way, maybe he could finally pop the question.
"No, it might be my mother…" Lorelai thought he was finally going to say it, that he loved her and then she could say it then they could celebrate their beautiful declarations of "I love you" alone upstairs.
"It might be Sookie with another wedding emergency."
At that possibility Lorelai gasped, and push Luke off her to answer her phone; Lorelai rummaged through her bag on the counter, "Hello?"
"Mom?"
"Oh, hey, Rory."
"I need you to be calm," Rory said seriously.
"Calm about what?" Lorelai asked. She turned to look at Luke as she listened to her daughter on the phone.
Luke mouthed, "What's wrong?"
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My own review:
Luke was going to propose … BUT! Lorelai gets the call…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
EVIL!!
I know I'm sorry!!
A favorite line
"Thank you," Paul nodded to Lorelai, happy she could soothe her savage date.
A/N:
Mrs. Molloy
He held me for an instant
But his arms felt safe and strong
It only takes a moment
To be loved a whole life long
Cornelius
And that is all that love's about
Mrs. Molloy
And we'll recall when time runs out
Both
That it only took a moment
To be loved a whole life long!
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R/R: PLEASE, I like to better myself. To quote The Princess Bride,
"...Remember this is for posterity ... so be honest."
Please be specific with R/R; name one (or as many as you can think of or want to mention…) At least one specific thing you liked
Please! It makes me feel good...inside (Dirty!)
Hence the Rant option below.
Insert Rant here V
A/N: if not completely satisfied with this chapter, please return unused portion for a full refund...