A/N: Thanks for the reviews.
Disclaimer: Don't own…
On with the story…
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Chapter 7: I Do
Six months ago Kevin was attacked by Brent. The trial was 2 months after that and Brent was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Rory and Kevin testified and both of their families came for moral support. They really came because they wanted the bastard in jail. Four months after the incident Kevin proposed to Lo. Even though they hadn't been together for very long, they knew they would be together forever and that was all that mattered to them. Both of their families were skeptical to the impromptu nuptials, but accepted that they couldn't change the fact if they wanted to.
Today, they were to be married.
With Stevie as the flower girl, Davie as the ring bearer, Rory and Lorelai as the matrons of honor with Tabby, Lexis, Tara, and Stacie as bride's maids, and all of Kevin's groomsmen which included Justin and Mike, they were to be married. The Bridal March started and tears formed in her matron's eyes as she slowly made her way down the aisle on Jess' arm. As they reached the end of the aisle he lifted her veil and kissed her cheek, then sat down in his place next to Luke.
Kevin's family had suggested a small wedding with few guests, but Lo heavily frowned upon the very idea of not inviting all of Stars Hollow and Woodbury. Seeing as it was her day, the guest list was 1,500 people long. Star guests from Stars Hollow were Miss. Patty, Babette, Mory, Taylor, Andrew, Gypsy, and the Troubadour. Matter of fact, the Troubadour was playing the Bridal March. This was the way Lo always imagined her wedding. Woodbury's audience included all of the replicas of Stars Hollow's residence with different names. Kevin's side was much smaller, but that was okay. This was her day.
"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" the priest asked.
"Her mother and I do," Jess stood and answered with a nod.
"Very well, do you, Lorelai Lorinn Gilmore Mariano, take one, Kevin Richard Greeley to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?" the priest asked.
"I do," Lo recited with tears in her eyes.
"And do you, Kevin Richard Greeley, take one, Lorelai Lorinn Gilmore Mariano, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do you part?" the priest asked.
"I do," Kevin answered, looking at his angel with happy tears in both of their eyes.
"May I have the rings please?" the priest outstretched his old, rickety hand to the best man, Austin Greeley, Kevin's brother, "Lorelai, repeat after me," the priest said to Lo.
Lo nodded in understanding.
"With this ring I thee wed," the priest started.
"With this ring I thee wed," Lo said as she started to slide the wedding band onto Kevin's finger and tears spilled down her face.
"Promising all of my love."
"Promising all of my love," Lo recited.
"And faithfulness forevermore," the priest finished.
"And faithfulness forevermore," Lo said as she fully slid the ring on his finger.
"Kevin, repeat after me," the priest said as he handed Kevin Lo's ring, "With this ring I thee wed."
"With this ring I thee wed," Kevin repeated with a mile-wide grin.
"Promising all my love."
"Promising all my love."
"And faithfulness forevermore," the priest finished.
"And faithfulness forevermore," Kevin recited as he finished sliding the ring onto Lo's delicate finger.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride!" the priest exclaimed as he closed his book, threw his free hand up in the air, and grinned.
Kevin pulled Lo to him as they met in a passionate kiss. Once they broke apart, Kevin surprised Lo by picking her up and carrying her back down the aisle while they were showered with white rose petals.
The reception was going well and it was time for the speeches.
Clang Clang
"Could we have your attention please?" Rory asked through the microphone.
The room went silent.
"Thank you," Rory started, "My mother and I are supposed to be up here tonight to tell you how in love Lo and Kevin are and to wish them a happy life, but we're Gilmores and we don't play it like that!"
"We Gilmore girls stick together through thick and thin. Thus, we've seen Lo through the best times and the hardest times her life has ever seen. This woman has been through so much over the past 11 years that we ourselves are surprised to see how well she has held up," Lorelai said with tears.
"I missed 16 years of my baby girl's life because of my grandmother, but that didn't stop the unbreakable bond we gained the instant we were reunited," Rory stated.
"Lo has always been an independent, confident, self-sufficient person since we've known her. But under that outside cover, she's a fragile woman with emotions out the wazoo. To outsiders, she may seem stronger than an ox, but to her family, she's just the girl who tries to be strong for her little girl," Lorelai said. Out in the crowd, Lo, Tabby, and Lexis had tears in their eyes, knowing that all of this was true.
"Now, before we ruin every woman's make-up in this room, we have a surprise for you baby girl," Rory started, "Lisa, could you come up here?"
Lo gasped and looked to where the spot light was being pointed, Lisa McCoy was making her way to the stage. Once she reached the microphone, Rory and Lorelai made their way back to their seats.
"Hey Lo! Babe, you're married!" Lisa started with tears in her eyes, "My little girl that was in diapers yesterday is married. I am so sorry that you had to go through so much pain as you grew up and I know I contributed to some of it. I never meant to give you or the Gilmore family pain, I was trying to protect you," Lisa was officially in tears, "I love you so much, babe, I hope you never forget me."
Lo let go of Kevin's hand and ran up to the stage. She ran up the stairs and over to Lisa to give her a big hug, "I could never forget you, Lisa," Lo whispered.
The crowd erupted in 'awww-s' and applaud. As the claps died down, Austin made his way to the stage.
"Okay, so, I'm pretty sure I can't top that," the crowd laughed, "but I can tell you that I have never seen my brother so happy. He's had other girlfriends and he's loved other people, but he's never loved anyone the way he loves Lo," the crowd 'aww-ed', "Now, the first night we was with Lo didn't go so hot, nor did the day following that, but Kevin didn't care. All he had to do was look at little Stevie or into Lo's eyes and he knew that this is where he was supposed to be. I wish you guys love and happiness for your life together! Love to you!" Austin finished and walked off the stage. The crowd clapped and Austin went back to his seat.
Jess rose from his seat and went up on stage to the microphone.
"Hey everybody, I'm Lo's dad, as most of you know. As soon as Lo and I reunited we became close. And I know that not many father-daughter relationships come close to the level we've reached. Almost instantly, we became best friends. That's just how Gilmore/Mariano families work," Jess smirked, "I missed 16 years of my best friend's life and it still hurts me everyday that I wasn't there for her first steps, or first word, or first boyfriend, but I've learned to live with that and make the most out of the time I do have with her. I know Lo loves Kevin and I knew that the night she came back from her first date with him and looked at him and let her baby girl call him 'daddy'. She's never done that with any other man that she's been involved with, not even Justin. Who's Justin you ask? Justin is part of our family. It's not my place to describe the importance of our dear Justin Glade, so that concludes my speech. I love you Lo, hope your life with Kevin is wonderful!" Jess finished and walked off the stage. He walked back to his seat which was next to Lo and gave her a hug, "Love you, babe," he whispered in her ear.
"Love you, too daddy," Lo said and it touched his heart every time she called him 'daddy' because that's when he knew that she never blamed him for what happened.
The rest of the reception went smoothly and soon enough Kevin and Lo were on their way to Hawaii for their honeymoon.
They were on the plane that would take them to California so that they could catch another plane to Hawaii. She was sleepy and he was reading a book. She had her head rested comfortably on his shoulder and both of her arms hugging his right arm. He held the book in his left hand and let both of her delicate hands play with his right. They sat in silence sans the low mumblings of the people surrounding them.
"I love you," Lo whispered, looking at their entwined hands.
"I love you, too," Kevin replied just as quietly, tearing his eyes form his book to look down at her. She sifted her head to look up at him and smile. He smiled back, and then turned back to his book.
"Read to me?" Lo asked. Lo had obtained her parents love for reading.
"Sure," Kevin answered.
"If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them," Kevin started.
"Hemingway?" Lo whined. She had also obtained her hatred for Hemingway from her mother.
"Yes," Kevin said and continued, "The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry," Kevin finished the paragraph and was about to continue when Lo interrupted.
"Wow," Lo said.
"What?" Kevin questioned.
"Nothing, it's just I never really listened to what he was trying to say. Maybe Hemingway isn't that bad," Lo smiled and settled into Kevin's arm.
Kevin smiled and continued reading.
Finally, they arrived in Hawaii and headed straight for the hotel, exhausted from the plane rides. They threw their bags on the ground near the dressers and collapsed on the bed.
They hadn't had sex yet.
Lo snuggled into Kevin's chest and drifted off into a deep sleep. Kevin followed moments later and when they awoke it was time for breakfast.
"So, what do you want to do today?" Lo asked from the bathroom where she was applying make-up to go down to the dining room for breakfast.
"Hmm," Kevin said as he came into the bathroom and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. She stopped applying her mascara and leaned back into the embrace.
"I was thinking we could stay in today," Kevin suggested as he kissed the back of her neck.
Lo smiled while biting her lip, "Oh yeah?"
Kevin smirked and kissed the side of her neck, "Yeah," he whispered in her ear.
"Okay," Lo said simply and finished doing her make-up. He smirked and left the bathroom.
They went down to the dining room for the continental breakfast sharing secret smiles and looks during the whole sitting. They played footsy under the table like teenagers and held hands when they could. They both decided that this being in love thing was good, very good.
They giddily made their way back up to their room, holding hands and kissing every once in awhile until they finally reached room 3B. They stumbled into their room both giggling as they did so. They fell ungracefully onto their bed and looked into each others eyes. This was where they were supposed to be.
Their eyes made a decision and they both simultaneously leaned in for the first kiss of many.
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Back in Stars Hollow
Tabby and Justin were visiting the Hollow since Stevie was staying there while Lo and Kevin were gone. Tabby, Lorelai, Rory, and Stevie were shopping so that they could spoil little Stevie while Justin and Jess were just hanging out around the diner.
"Nice speech at the reception," Justin commented as they were cleaning tables. The diner was in a lull so the only customer was, of course, Kirk.
"Well, it was true," Jess shrugged his shoulders and continued to wipe down the counter.
"Yeah, now everyone's probably wondering what the hell I have to do with any of this," Justin said.
"Only Kevin's family. Everyone else knew what I was talking about," Jess reasoned.
"Well, I hope they don't think I'm going to like try and take Lo or something," Justin said.
"I doubt it. I don't think that I implied that you were going to do that. I simply stated that you were very important, which you are," Jess reiterated.
"I know, I just hope Kevin knows that," Justin said concernedly.
"I'm sure he does," Jess stated with a shrug of his shoulders.
They continued in silence until Jess broke it again.
"I want to thank you for taking care of her," he said without looking up.
"I didn't have a choice, it was what I was supposed to do," Justin said quietly.
"Well, thanks," Jess reiterated.
"No problem," Justin smiled and they continued to do little things around the diner.
Hartford Mall
"So where's Lex?" Rory asked curiously as she held a sleeping Stevie on her hip while walking around the upper level of the mall.
"Mike's driving her here and then he and Davie are going to the Diner with the rest of the boys.
"Tabs!" Lexis called from the elevator that she was exiting.
"Hey Lex!" Tabby exclaimed and ran up to her to hug her.
"Hey Lorelai, Rory, Steves," Lex said, seeing as Stevie had awoken when Lexis screamed Tabby's name.
"Davie?" Stevie said sleepily.
"No, Davie's at the Diner sweets," Lexis cooed at a very sleepy Stevie.
"Otay," Stevie said and fell back asleep on Rory's shoulder.
"She's so cute," Tabby gushed.
"She is a Gilmore girl," Lorelai said logically.
"True," Rory agreed.
"I wonder what Lo and Kevin are doing right now," Lexis pondered, completely changing the subject.
"Ew, I don't," Lorelai said.
"Aw, gross mom!" Rory made a disgusted face and tried to shake the image of her baby having sex.
Tabby and Lexis simply laughed as they followed the mother-daughter duo through the mall while Lorelai mercilessly teased Rory.
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Hawaii, Hotel Room 3B
The Passion was blinding, the Lust was driving, the Sweat was appearing, the Tears were spilling, and the Love was overflowing. Quick, exasperated 'I love you-s' were exchanged as they cried out at the same time and collapsed as a heap together on the bed.
Sweat.
Tears.
Passion.
Lust.
Love.
They had finally made love.
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A/N: Okay, so I wrote this chapter in a different style than usual. Do you like it? Totally hate it? Want me to use it more often or never use it again? I liked the way it ended. I actually liked how this turned out, but I want your feedback. You are the ones reading the story! Oh yeah, what should Lo's name be now? We have to fit Greeley in there now and oh my gosh please don't murder me for using Hemingway! My paper on A Farewell to Arms was sitting around and it had that quote on it. Anyway, press the pretty little button!