Just one scene today, as it's 10 pages long. Charlie's about 4.
"Mom, that dress is too much!" Lorelai said when she saw the flower girl dress Emily was busy picking out for Charlie to wear at their vow renewal."Don't be silly Lorelai, it's just precious," Emily said as she pulled it off the rack Miss Celine had brought over. Charlie, who Celine had taken to calling Shirley, was sitting on a near by chair making faces at the dress.
"Charlie, come help Grandma pick out a dress for you," Lorelai said.
"Yes, Shirley, let's find the perfect dress," Celine agreed as she perused a second rack of dresses she had brought over. Lorelai picked Charlie up so she could get a better view of the dresses.
"This one!" the little girl said with a smile as she wrestled a dress off the rack. It was simple and white with very little crinoline in it.
"Gorgeous!" Miss Celine exclaimed as she took it from Charlie. "Shirley always did look adorable in an empress waist Cinderella dress," she said as she held it out to see. "Go, go. Put it on immediately!" Charlie giggled as Lorelai took the dress and followed Charlie up to one of the bedrooms upstairs.
"Well?" Charlie asked as she came tearing out of the bedroom a few minutes later. The dress was white and sleeveless with an empress waist and a skirt that fell to the middle of her thighs. A cream coloured ribbon sat along the seam at the empress waist, tied in a bow to the left hand side. Detailing on the skirt and bodice were picked out in glass beads and silver thread.
"Just imagine!" Miss Celine said, clasping her hands as she walked around Charlie. "With her hair properly curled and a matching cream ribbon in her hair? Darling! Just darling!" Charlie looked up hopefully at her grandmother.
"It's gorgeous," Emily agreed and Charlie bounced a little.
"White ankle socks," Miss Celine decreed immediately. "Thin ones, with an elegant lace trim. And white Mary Janes! I have just the pair, in fact, they belonged to Miss Shirley Temple herself."
"Really?"
"Yes really," Miss Celine said. "Step up here." Lorelai picked her up and placed her on the chair as Miss Celine made note of where the dress must be tailored for the perfect fit. "Now, take it off before you get it dirty!" Charlie giggled excitedly as Lorelai swept her off to the bedroom again and back into her jeans and t-shirt.
"The dress is ridiculous," Lorelai told Luke later that night after Charlie was asleep. "White and beaded and ridiculous."
"And she loves it and looks absolutely adorable in it, right?"
"If she was blonde, you'd be calling her Shirley too," she said with a smile and a shake of her head. "And she loves it already." Luke chuckled as he turned off the light in the bathroom and headed to join Lorelai in bed.
"So, next week . . . Suit and tie?"
"Of course. But, you can get dressed there."
"Thank God," he said. "Because that just makes it SO much more bearable," he said sarcastically. Lorelai shook her head before she kissed him good night and they snuggled down under the covers.
"Hello?" Luke called the day of the vow renewal.
"Luke?" Lorelai called form upstairs.
"Luke is already here?" Rory called from her bedroom.
"Luke!" Charlie called as she barreled out of her room and into Luke's arms.
"You're the only one that's ready?" he asked, hanging his garment bag up by the door.
"I'm low maintenance," the four year old explained to him. He chuckled as they talked a while longer before Lorelai jogged down the stairs, hers and Charlie's garment bag over her shoulder.
"Let's go Rory!" she called as she soon came out to join them. Coats were quickly grabbed as they headed out the door.
"Aren't you going to lock up?" Luke asked.
"Oh yeah. Babette! Lock up when you leave!"
"Sure thing doll," she said as she popped her head up from the couch where she was sleeping off her hang over. Luke jumped when he saw her, but didn't say anything as he followed his girls out to the jeep.
"Seriously?" Luke asked when Richard said to follow him to get ready. Lorelai shrugged.
"Have a scotch or what ever he'll have stashed there. It'll be fine. Just watch out for the tailor, he'll try to tailor you." Luke looked at her again as Richard came over, presenting Lorelai with two necklaces, one of which she was to pick for Emily before they all went their separate ways.
When the girls got to the dressing room, Rory immediately hung her things up, Charlie bounced around in excitement and Emily began to nag Lorelai, mostly out of nervousness. Charlie was immediately plunked in a chair so Emily's stylist could begin on her hair while Rory changed and Lorelai dealt with the necklaces.
"Which one?" she asked Emily simply. She chose and Lorelai headed off to return them to Richard. By the time Lorelai got back to the room, Charlie's hair was all up in curlers, Rory was dressed and finishing up her hair and Emily was mostly dressed as well.
"Hurry up!" Emily called to Lorelai who simply rolled her eyes and ducked into the back to change. Emily sent Charlie back not long after. "Smarter to put the dress on before you take the rollers out," she reasoned and Lorelai simply rolled her eyes. To her, this just meant more time for Charlie to find something to get dirty in.
"You are simply adorable!" Emily gushed when she saw Charlie all put together. Dressed all in shades of white and cream only helped her bright blue eyes and dark hair to stand out against her pale complexion. Charlie smiled brightly and twirled a little before Emily and Marilyn began herding the Gilmore Girls towards the Rose Room for the ceremony.
Everyone oohed and awed over Charlie as she made her way down the aisle. Richard smiled as he watch his little granddaughter muttered away silently to herself about how fast she should walk and what she should do with the rose petals in her basket. She smiled brightly at him as she took her place beside Rory and turned her attention to her mother who was now walking down the stairs.
As the ceremony went on, Lorelai was impressed that Charlie was managing to stay still and quiet through the whole thing. Charlie was a mover and shaker and rarely stood still for more than 5 minutes at a time so Lorelai was sure it was a minor miracle that she stood still for the whole 30 minutes it took for the ceremony to end.
"Did I do good?" Charlie asked Luke immediately after finding him in the reception hall.
"You did perfectly," he assured her before greeting her mother. "You did perfectly as well," he assured Lorelai. She smiled and led them to the bar for drinks, Martini for her, beer for Luke and 7up for Charlie.
"Best to keep all liquids clear for now," she said. Charlie agreed, knowing that there would be some kind of bib or something for her to wear when dinner was served. As Lorelai shooed Charlie and Luke to the table, Christopher made his way over. Luke watched as they talked for a moment before Charlie noticed he was here.
"Want to go talk to him?" he asked her. Charlie frowned.
"No," she said, still mad at him for not calling her for the last two weeks. Luke grinned to himself as he sat down and pulled the little girl onto his lap.
"What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked him.
"Your mother invited me," he replied as he continued to down his drink.
"I'm here with Luke," she told him.
"How did he take the fact that you spend that night drinking with me last week?"
"It was fine," she said. "In fact, he suggested I see if you were alright. Well, he wasn't pleased with the fact that I was hung over, but other than that there were no big issues. See, in our relationship, we actually talk to each other about things." Lorelai watched as the emotions rolled over Chris' face.
"Good for you," he said. "If you'll excuse me?"
"Gladly," she said as she turned on her heel and headed back to the table. "You didn't come and say hi to your dad?"
"Nope," Charlie answered as she lounged against Luke. "He didn't call again," she said. Lorelai frowned a little, but didn't push it.
As the night progressed, things went smoothly, except for Christopher. Emily had come to him with a very specific warning and he would be damned if he didn't pay attention this time. As he downed another glass of scotch, he watched as Lorelai convinced Luke to dance with her. Charlie was quickly deposited in her older sisters lap as the couple headed for the dance floor and he couldn't take it any more. He got up and headed to the small salon that was located just off of the main room. Rory watched him duck out and she frowned a little.
"Let's go say hi to dad," she said.
"No," Charlie replied. She was having her first freeze out against him and she had no intentions of giving in until her mother or Luke made her.
"He was probably just busy with Gigi," Rory tried to reason with her.
"How come he hasn't come to say hi to us yet then?"
"Fine," she said as they continued to sit for a while longer. "Want to dance?" Rory asked.
"Yes!" Charlie said enthusiastically as she slid off of Rory's lap and practically dragged her out to the dance floor.
Lorelai and Rory watched as Luke twirled Charlie around the dance floor a little later in the evening.
"She's adorable today," Rory said with a smile.
"She is," Lorelai agreed as she watched the pair on the dance floor.
"What?" Rory asked when she heard her sigh.
"I think Luke might be the one," she admitted to Lorelai. "He's great to you and fabulous with her. . . "
"And you can't imagine a day without him?" Rory joked.
"I can't," Lorelai said with a shake of her head.
"I'm really happy for you," Rory said as she hugged her mother. "I'm gonna go and talk to dad," she said after a moment. Lorelai nodded and let Rory go as she continued to watch Luke and Charlie dance for a moment longer before Richard came and cut in.
"Jealous?" Luke asked as he came back to the table and saw Lorelai staring at him.
"Nope," she said with a smile. "Have I told you I love you recently?" she asked. He smiled and said that she had, but that he was glad her opinions hadn't changed.
"Where's Rory?" he asked after a moment.
"Talking to Christopher," she said, her eyes still focused on her father, waltzing around the floor in with Charlie giggling away in his arms. Her attention was pulled away from this, however, when both she and Luke heard the beginnings of a commotion in the salon. They both frowned as they got up and headed to see what was going on.
"Luke is not keeping her from you," Rory told her father as she moved away from him. "She's mad you because you haven't called her in two weeks!" Rory turned as she heard the door open.
"I've been busy!" he said to her, not noticing that the door had opened.
"How hard is it to call and say 'hey, I'm really busy this week, but I love you and I'll call you next week'?"
"Come on Rory," he said again. "Don't be like this."
"Why shouldn't I?" she asked as she brushed past him and her mother and Luke on her way out the door and back to the reception. Chris turned to see the two of them standing there.
"I should go," he muttered as he quickly brushed past the pair. He paused for a moment while he considered leaving, but when he saw Charlie dancing with Richard, he changed his mind and headed over to them. He quickly cut it and began worming his way back into Charlie's good graces. While Luke and Lorelai had both returned to the reception hall in time to see this, a relative Lorelai didn't remember had cornered them and was chatting them up. Lorelai worked in a rather rushed fashion to get out of the conversation so she could rescue Charlie, but she wasn't succeeding and neither was Luke. Lorelai grew more desperate as she watched Charlie's face begin to fall.
"Excuse me, I really have to go," she said with a forced smile as she pulled Luke along with her and hurried to the dance floor. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded as she pulled the distraught 4 year old from her father's arms. Charlie quickly clamped on to her mother, ignoring her father as he made excuses.
"Get a cup of coffee Christopher," she growled at him as she turned tail and left with Charlie, trying to get out of her what exactly Christopher had said.
"Lorelai!" he called as he began to go after her.
"You should really get that cup of coffee," Luke said as he put out a hand to stop Christopher.
"Get off of me," he said, pushing Luke away. "She's my kid, not yours." Luke quickly grabbed his arm to stop him again. The two men stared each other down as people on the dance floor began to notice.
"Christopher, Luke," Richard said as he quickly came over. "How about another drink?" he asked.
"Sure," Luke said.
"I need to talk to Charlie," Chris said.
"I think you need some coffee, son," Richard said, tightening his arm around Christopher. "I think Luke can manage to check on the girls," he said. Luke nodded and ducked out quickly, heading off to find them.
"Party's over?" he asked when he found Charlie cuddled in Lorelai's lap and Rory fuming beside her.
"Party's over," she agreed. "Right?"
"Yes," both girls said.
"Alright, let's go," she said as she stood up.
"Oh good, here you are," the photographer said as he came up behind the group. "I want to get some shots before the cake is cut."
"5 minutes," Lorelai said as she immediately headed to the bathroom with Charlie and Rory. The Photographer looked a little panicked, but he quickly headed back to the reception to get a few of just Emily and Richard with the cake. Luke hovered near the girls when they came back to the ball room, making sure Christopher stayed away from them.
"You and me," Lorelai whispered to her mother when the pictures were done. "We're done," she said as picked Charlie back up and headed for the door, Rory and Luke on her heels.
"You guys want to stop for anything, or are we just heading home?" Luke asked as he climbed into the drivers seat after Lorelai had all but thrown the keys at him.
"Just go home," she said as Rory and Charlie sat in the back seat, staring out the windows. The drive home was a quiet one, no one really saying anything.
"Can we watch a movie?" Charlie asked when they were nearly home.
"Sure," Lorelai replied. "You wanna rent it, or see what's on a Black, White and Read?"
"Black, White and Read," she said as she started to perk up a little. Rory agreed and Luke shrugged, he wasn't really in any position to deny the three Gilmore Girls. As they settled into their seats, Lorelai couldn't help but smile as Charlie glued herself to Luke, making sure she was seated in his lap to watch the movie. He was definitely the right one.
"What exactly happened?" Luke asked as he came into the bedroom from making sure Charlie was down for the night. Lorelai shook her head as she took her dress off and changed into a pair of sweat pants and a tank top.
"Charlie said he started off apologizing for forgetting to call, but he quickly moved on to trying to get her to talk about our relationship and how you treated her and trying to get reassurances from her that she loved him more. . . It was classic Christopher," she said. She waited for Luke to say something as he changed into his own pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.
"That's it?" he asked. Lorelai hesitated. "What else?"
"He told her that he wanted her to come and live with him, that he didn't like what was going on with us and he wasn't sure if it was good for her." She waited for him to explode, but it didn't come.
"He really is a piece of work," he said with a shake of his head. "Why the hell was he there?"
"My mother invited him. Rory told me that he said he was going to make us a real family." That finally got Luke's attention.
"What?" She nodded as she came over to him, wrapping her arms around him.
"Emily is determined to get her perfect ending," she said as she hung on to him. "I can only imagine what would have happened if you and my dad hadn't stepped in," she said. She felt his breathing start to speed up for a moment before he finally wrapped an arm around her and began to calm down. "I'm done with her and her games," she said firmly as she pulled back to look at him. "No more. Rory and Charlie can make up their own minds about how much time they want to spend with Emily because I'm done."
"Come on, it's been a long day," was all Luke said as he kissed the top of her head before letting her go and leading her to bed. Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief. She knew how important family was to Luke and if he wasn't going to protest this, she knew she had made the right choice in putting her foot down.
"Rory?"
"Come on," she said as she rolled over to face the little voice that was calling her. Charlie quickly grabbed her blankie and scrambled into bed with Rory.
"Why would dad do that?" she asked after she was snuggled under the covers and tucked into Rory's side. Rory sighed as she played with one of Charlie's curls.
"Because he's scared of losing us."
"He knows where we are," the 4 year old replied. Rory smiled.
"He's starting to realise that Luke is here for you and me and mom all the time. He's scared that we're not going to want to be with him any more because we'll have Luke."
"He's still dad though," she replied.
"But he's not really our dad, he never really has been," Rory said.
"I don't understand."
"He's never here, Charlie. He's never here with us, he never really does 'dad' things with us the way he does with Gigi. Luke does all those things." Charlie considered this for a moment.
"Mom's really mad, isn't she?"
"She is. She's mad at dad and grandma," Rory said as she closed her eyes, having a feeling that the conversation was drawing to a close.
"I'm mad at them too. But not Grandpa. He was good."
"Grandpa is always good," she agreed.
"Can I stay here tonight?" Charlie whispered.
"Of course," Rory whispered back with a smile as the pair drifted off to sleep.
Lorelai rolled out of bed the next morning and headed to the shower. Luke was still snoring away and since she didn't hear the TV on, she assumed the girls were both still asleep. She showered quickly before drying off and getting dressed in jeans and long sleeved shirt.
"Hey," Luke said as he cracked an eye open.
"Hey sleepy head," she said as she came to sit on the edge of the bed to put her socks on. "Any plans for today?" she asked.
"Not really," he said. "I should head to the diner for a bit, but Lane and Caesar can handle it for the day if need be."
"I think I might take Rory and Charlie shopping today," she said.
"Retail therapy?" he asked, slightly disgusted. She smiled.
"You're catching on," she said.
"I'll stay at the diner then," he said as he sat up in bed.
"We always love a pack mule . . ." she hinted.
"Not today you don't," he said as he kissed her before he got up to start his day.
"Spoil sport!" she called to him as he shut the bathroom door. She shook her head and headed down stairs to make some coffee. She paused and looked into Rory and Charlie's room and smiled when she saw the pair snuggle in bed together. Seeing this also made her think. Rory was the same age she was when Rory had been Charlie's age. Almost to the day in fact. She some times wondered if Rory ever thought about that, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. Rory had made it. Rory had made it to the Ivy league school of her dreams after graduating top of her class at Chilton. If Rory could make it, Charlie definitely would. With one final look, Lorelai pulled the door almost all the way closed before she continued on her journey to make coffee.
"Mmmmm . . . coffee," Rory said a few moments later when she trudged out of her room.
"Hey Sweets," she said as Rory wandered over to her. Lorelai threw an arm around her shoulders as she leaned against her. "Are you busy today?"
"I have an article I should work on," Rory muttered as she waited for the coffee.
"Too busy for some shopping?"
"No, actually, I don't think I am," she confirmed with a smile.
"Good. You, me and Charlie are hittin' the malls today," she said as she let go or Rory and pulled the coffee put, sticking a cup in the machine to catch the drip while she poured a cup for Rory. "Here, wake up," she said as she handed it to her eldest. Rory took it and wandered slowly to the table. "Hey baby," Lorelai called softly as Charlie wandered out of the room as well, rubbing her eyes. Lorelai removed her cup form the coffee maker, sticking the pot in it's place before she scooped up Charlie. "How are you doing?" she whispered in her ear.
"Okay," she said as she snuggled down against Lorelai's shoulder.
"Good. Feel up to some shopping today?" she asked. Charlie hesitated for a moment.
"I wanna stay with Luke."
"We're all gonna hang around here for a while. Do you think that will be enough time?"
"Maybe."
"Okay," she said as she put her cup on the table and headed to the fridge to get some milk for Charlie. "We can decide later."
"Okay," she said with a yawn.
"Pancakes?" Luke asked after he came down and took a good look at the three of them sitting around the table.
"With bacon," Rory said.
"Sausage," Lorelai replied.
"Both," Charlie chimed in. Pancakes were comfort food and everyone in that room knew it. Breakfast passed quietly, no one really saying anything until Luke was done cooking and the table was covered in food. "Are you going to the diner?" Charlie finally asked.
"I am. Wanna come?" Charlie nodded and Luke agreed. "Do you still want to go shopping?" he asked.
"I wanna stay with you today," she said, glancing over at her mother.
"Well, we'll just have to bring you home something good then," Lorelai replied Charlie sighed contentedly as she continued eating, listening as Rory and Lorelai made their plans for the day.
"Go get dressed," Lorelai told Charlie when she was done as she, Luke and Rory began to clean up and put the leftovers away. Charlie rushed into the bedroom she shared with Rory and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and her favourite blue t-shirt before appearing in the kitchen again. "Brush your hair?"
"I wanna keep the curls," she said, giggling as she shook her head and they tickled her face.
"Grab a hair band then," Lorelai said. Charlie quickly disappeared again, coming out shortly after with a blue elastic hair band holding the curls away from her face.
"I guess we'll see you later," Luke said as he and Charlie headed to the door to put on their coats.
"Have fun babe," Lorelai said, kissing each of them in turn.
"Bye mom," Charlie said as they left the house. Lorelai watched as Charlie quickly slid her hand into Luke's as they walked towards town.
"So, just us gorgeous women again," Lorelai said as she sauntered back into the kitchen for another cup of coffee. Rory shook her head as she headed into her bedroom to finish the article and get dressed for the day.