Chapter 9

Beach Blanket Bingo

"Geez, Mom, we're only going like fifty yards. Do we really need all this stuff?" Lorelai gestured to the growing pile on the patio table that already included beach blankets, towels, several large tote bags, and two beach umbrellas. Just as she asked the question her father and Luke were rounding the corner of the house carrying four fancy wooden folding chairs.

"You will thank me later, Lorelai," Emily answered as she went back into the house.

"So all set?" Luke asked leaning the chairs against the table.

"No, I think my mother went back in for the refrigerator, or possibly the couch. I can't be sure which," Lorelai replied with a huff.

Luke chuckled quietly at Lorelai's impatience. "Why don't you just grab some stuff and head down to the beach?"

"And disrupt the system? No way. I'd hear about it all day." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the door her mother had disappeared through tapping her foot.

Emily emerged from the house carrying a hammer and large covered basket. "Okay, stop dawdling. Let's go," she instructed as she placed the hammer into a beach bag.

Luke leaned in close to Lorelai's ear and whispered, "Why do we need a hammer?"

"Don't try to figure it out, just grab as much stuff as you can carry and let's go," she answered quickly.

Lorelai and April, each with armfuls of towels and tote bags over their shoulders, headed down the stairs with Luke carrying the chairs, two in each hand. Emily followed, the blankets draped over one arm and holding the large picnic basket. Richard lifted the beach umbrellas up onto his shoulder picked up two folding tables and brought up the rear.

Within twenty minutes they were encamped on the beach under Emily's direction. Beneath each giant hunter green beach umbrella were placed two folding wooden lounge chairs separated by a low table. The chairs and tables were oak, the seats hunter green canvas that matched the umbrellas. Two large beach blankets of hunter green and burgundy plaid covered the sand in front of the chairs, the corners secured to the ground with built in stakes.

Emily sat down on the edge of one of the chairs facing everyone. She reached into the basket, extracted five glasses, and set them out on the table next to her.

Mesmerized by what she was doing, Lorelai took a seat under the second umbrella and watched her mother. Luke sat on the chair next to her and April plopped down on the blanket at their feet.

Inside one of the large totes, which turned out to be an insulated cooler, Emily unzipped a plastic bag filled with ice. Using the ice tongs that she produced from the basket, she placed several cubes of ice in each glass. Next, she poured cherry limeade into the glasses leaving room in four and filling a fifth to the top. "Here you are, April" she said handing her the last glass.

"Thank you," April replied.

She again reached into the basket and pulled out two silver flasks. Smiling she asked "So, rum or vodka?" Holding up each in turn.

Lorelai shook her head in disbelief. "What no tequila?"

Emily's hands dropped down. "Oh, I didn't know you'd want tequila. Richard, could you go back –"

"No, Mom, rum is fine," Lorelai interrupted.

"Are you sure? Your father could go back and get the tequila if you'd prefer that," Emily offered.

"No, Mom, I was kidding really. This is great," she gestured around her to the set up on the beach. "If you've got a blender in there somewhere, I may have to start calling you MacGyver."

"Don't be silly. Where would we plug it in?" Emily asked incredulously as she added rum to the drinks and passed them out.

"Well you could run a cord from the house," Luke offered under his breath. Only Lorelai heard him. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and laughed quietly.

"You know, I believe I saw a battery operated blender in the Sharper Image catalogue. We should look into that. Might come in handy," Richard suggested as he sat down on the chair next to Emily.

"Guys, it was a joke, really," Lorelai explained.

"Still, it is a good idea," Richard continued to mull it over as he took a sip of his drink.

From behind her large sunglasses, Emily watched those that had gone down to the water. She had a book open at chest level, but so far hadn't read a word. April and Lorelai had been the first into the waves. April swam back and forth a short distance out occasionally swimming by Lorelai and the two would splash at each other playfully. Lorelai it seemed preferred to stay about waist deep, probably so that she could easily taunt Luke who had so far refused to get wet.

Richard watched his wife as she watched the others. She looked gorgeous in her big floppy black hat and matching cover up. She had removed her sandals and the dark red of her toe nail polish gleamed in the sun, the only splash of color she wore besides her lipstick. He reached out and took her hand, smiling when she turned to look at him. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Mmm hmm," came her throaty reply. "You?"

"I think I might go down and see how the water is? Care to join me?" he asked hopefully.

"No, you go ahead, but put on sunscreen first, you know how easily you burn," she warned knowing that he'd be out there splashing around with Lorelai in no time and spend longer in the sun that he planned. Releasing his hand she reached into her beach bag and took out the tube of lotion. She held it out to him.

Richard removed his button up sports shirt and began applying the lotion to his arms and chest. Then he turned to his wife, a mischievous grin on his face. "Care to help me, my dear?"

"Come here," she answered hiding her smile with an air of annoyance. She put her book aside and shifted her legs over so that he could sit down on her chair. Picking up the lotion she applied some to her hands and began smoothing it over her husband's broad shoulders and back.

Lorelai had grown tired of trying to cajole Luke into the water and decided that the direct approach would be more effective. She waded out of the water and over to where he stood. "Come on, Luke, I'm not asking you to swim the English Channel here, just wade in. Up to your knees is fine." She grabbed his hand and pulled. As she did so her eyes landed on her parents. "Oh, man," she groaned quickly covering her eyes with her free hand.

"What's the big deal?" Luke asked looking back up the beach at the elder Gilmores. "Hey, you didn't offer to rub suntan lotion on my back."

"You haven't taken your shirt off yet," she grumbled, "unlike my father."

"You expect him to swim in his clothes?" Luke commented.

"No," she rolled her eyes, "I wasn't really expecting him to swim at all, honestly." By this time Richard was walking up to them. "Hey, Dad," she greeted him overenthusiastically.

"Lorelai, Luke," he replied walking past them and into the water up to his knees. "Ah, invigorating, don't you think?"

"Yeah, sure," Lorelai agreed.

Richard walked a bit deeper into the water and turned back to his daughter. "Are you coming back in?"

"Just trying to persuade Luke here to join us," she answered giving Luke a 'help me here' look.

"Fine, but no splashing." Luke pulled his tee-shirt off and tossed it a good way up the beach far from the waves and allowed Lorelai to pull him into the water.

April swam up to them, "Hey, Dad, you're in the water." She sounded surprised.

"Yeah," Luke answered brusquely. "It's cold."

"It is at first, but if you move around you warm up," April said.

Lorelai moved behind Luke and winked at April, then nodded and both began splashing him mercilessly. At first he stood there in shock, thinking that they'd stop after a moment. When they didn't he started to splash back, but they had him covered no matter which way he turned. Richard backed a bit away and watched the three of them from a safe distance.

"This isn't fair. It's two against one," he yelled out.

Lorelai yelled back, "Yeah… well… get used to it buddy."

Luke lunged for April and caught her around the waist. Lorelai kept splashing him. He tossed April off to the side and in the same movement got close enough to Lorelai to grab her. April stopped splashing and laughed as he pinned Lorelai's arms to her sides in a bear hug from behind. Then abruptly he changed his hold and picked her up then dunked her into the water. She came up sputtering and splashing, her hair hanging in her face. Figuring there was no way to stay dry anymore, Luke just dunked himself under the water and stood back up.

Richard and April were standing off to the side laughing uproariously.

"Lookin' awfully dry there, Dad," Lorelai brushed the hair off her face with a wicked gleam in her eye and began splashing her father who laughed even harder. Soon everyone had water running off of their faces and was trying to catch their breath.

After a few minutes, April went back to happily swimming around and body surfing in the waves. Lorelai and Richard provided color commentary for each other. Luke decided that it was good for Lorelai to spend a little time enjoying her father's company, so he gradually edged away from them and out of the water.

Lorelai noticed him backing slowly away. "Where are you going?"

"Just going to take a little break," he replied. "I'll be back, I promise."

"Okay," Lorelai shrugged.

"Oh look at that form. Good job, April!" Richard called out and Lorelai's attention was drawn away from Luke's departure.

"So, do you and Mom spend much time on the beach when you're here?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"Some," Richard answered. "I even manage occasionally to persuade her to get into the water, but she prefers to swim in the pool."

Lorelai nodded. "Sounds like Mom." She glanced up the sloping sand at her mother then back out across the waves.

Back on the beach Luke picked up his shirt and walked up the slight incline to the area with the chairs and umbrellas.

"Would you like something to drink?" Emily asked as he picked up a towel and ran it over his face and hair.

"No thanks," he answered.

"There's beer, sodas, water," she offered.

"Okay, water would be nice," Luke replied putting the towel over on a chair and sitting down. Emily handed him an ice cold bottle of water. "Thanks. Wow, those coolers you've got really work. I'll have to look into getting a couple of those."

"They are nice," Emily replied. "I can give Lorelai the catalogue where I found them."

"Thanks. That would be great." Luke answered and took a sip of his water.

They sat quietly watching the others for a few minutes then Emily broke the silence still looking out at the three in surf. "Your daughter's a very special young lady."

"Thank you," Luke answered sincerely.

"You seem to be doing a very good job with her," Emily continued.

"Well, I watched Lorelai with Rory for a lot of years," he replied. "She's a terrific parent."

"Yes, she is," Emily replied with a smile and a note of regret. She turned to look at him now, and pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head. "She cares for you a great deal, always has I think"

"Yes ma'am," he answered, "I love her a great deal too."

"I can see that." Emily nodded and glanced out at where Lorelai and Richard were standing then back at the man next to her. "I've been very impressed with how you've taken care of my daughter and granddaughter over the years."

"I just did what anyone would do," Luke said with a shrug as he looked out at the ocean.

"No, it's not what anyone would do," she stated, an edge of some deeper emotion creeping into her voice. "Don't sell yourself short, Luke."

He could see she was waiting for an acknowledgement of some sort. "I'll try not to."

Emily turned toward the water and slipped her sunglasses back down over her eyes. "Just keep taking care of her. I know that she can take care of herself if she has to, and she may tell you she doesn't want to be taken care of, but she does."

Luke looked out at Lorelai still standing in the water with her father. "I know… and I will."

He saw Emily nod out of the corner of his eye.

Down in the water Lorelai was stealing looks back at her mother and Luke. She edged closer to her father as the waves lapped against her thighs. "So what do you think they're talking about?"

Richard glanced back at his wife and Luke. "I don't know, but I wouldn't worry."

"I'm not worried," Lorelai answered a little defensively, "well… not a lot."

"Your mother and I have grown to respect and appreciate him quite a bit these past few years. I know that on several occasions he has dropped everything to be there for you and Rory," he saw Lorelai start to smile, "and he makes you happy. As long as he treats you well and continues to make you happy, really that's all your mother and I want for you."

"Wow… um" Lorelai paused and took a deep breath looking up at her father. "Thank you Dad. That really means a lot."

"Well that and maybe a few more grandchildren," Richard added teasingly, "but that's really up to you."

"Well gee, thanks for leaving that last part up to us," Lorelai replied with a bit of forced laughter.

April swam over to them then stood up in the water. "I think I'm going to take a break for a while. Getting a bit waterlogged here," she said holding up her pruny hands.

"I agree," Richard replied. "Besides, I'd say it's about lunch time. Shall we see what our options are?"

April nodded and walked toward the beach.

"If you're talkin' food, you know I'm in. Know what Mom's got in those coolers?"

"No," he answered, "but I say it's time we find out."

"Sounds good to me," Lorelai and Richard walked up to the beach following April.

After lunch everyone was happy to just lounge on the beach. Richard closed his eyes but swore he wasn't sleeping. Emily finally began to read a bit of her book. April was also reading sprawled comfortably on the blanket in front of her father who made no pretence about taking a nap. He had his baseball cap over his face and was out like a light. Lorelai thumbed through a few magazines until she got bored. Then she flipped her head down to the foot of her chair and laid on her stomach so she could whisper to April.

April got up, took two of the empty water bottles down to the ocean and filled them. When she came back she handed one to Lorelai. Emily watched secretly while still pretending to read her book. Lorelai motioned for April to walk to the outside of Luke's chair, then to pour the water on his stomach. Luke bolted up into a sitting position yelling out. Lorelai quickly caught him from the side, right in the face. Water splashed into his open mouth. He turned and started to rise out of his chair at Lorelai when April sprayed water at the back of his head. He whirled around and April took off down the beach, Luke in hot pursuit. Lorelai laughed uproariously, and Emily chuckled. Lorelai grabbed for her camera and was snapping pictures of Luke and April.

Richard was roused by the commotion and saw the tail end of what had transpired. With attention diverted elsewhere, he reached over and extracted a couple of melting ice cubes from the bottom of his glass. He leaned slowly forward. Emily sat up to watch as Luke caught April and headed for the water. He walked chest deep plunging the struggling girl in his arms under the waves. Richard seized the opportunity and dropped the handful of ice cubes down his wife's back.

Emily leapt from her chair, with a shriek. Shaking her loose cover-up as the ice fell onto the sand next to her chair. She was still holding her book in one hand and used it to whack Richard squarely in the chest.

Lorelai turned camera in hand and kept taking pictures silently thanking God for auto focus.

"How could you do that?" she demanded.

Richard quickly stood up next to her and took hold of the book. He smiled down at her rakishly. "You looked a bit warm and I thought I'd cool you off."

"I'll show you cooling off," she picked up her glass of ice water and Richard quickly backed away from her his hands up in surrender. After several paces, he turned and ambled down to the water. "Honestly," Emily muttered to herself as she put the glass back on the table and sat down with her book.

After her father had walked away Lorelai caught the small smile that played at the corners of her mother's mouth as she looked down shaking her head.

Once things settled down, Lorelai started to look through the pictures she had just shot and realized that her mother had taken several from the shore while the rest of them had been in the water earlier. She'd even used the telephoto lens and captured some really great action shots of the water fight.

"So, Mom, did you have any problems with the camera?" she asked with a knowing grin as though she had caught her mother at something she wasn't supposed to do.

"What?" Emily asked putting her book down across her stomach. She glanced over at Lorelai and saw that she was looking at the camera. "No, it was pretty straight forward. I didn't think you'd mind."

"I don't mind at all," Lorelai answered putting the camera back down. "I'm glad you got these. They're great."

"You looked like you were having fun," Emily said with a shrug as then reopened up her book.

"You could have come down and joined us," Lorelai said in what she hoped was a casual way.

"Oh, I'm fine here with my book," Emily answered.

"Well, yeah… but you could come down and just put your feet in or something," Lorelai suggested. Her mother didn't reply, and actually looked like she might be considering the idea. It had become something of a challenge for Lorelai now. She stood up and got two clean towels from the pile on the blanket at the foot of her mother's chair. "Come on, Mom… just for a few minutes… just to stick your feet in."

Emily put down her book and looked up at her daughter who promptly stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "Oh, all right, but stop that silly pouting. You're not four years old."

Lorelai immediately smiled in triumph and the two walked toward the surf. Richard and Luke were standing at the very edge of the waves watching April swim. Lorelai strolled up behind Luke and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind resting her chin on his shoulder. His hands covered hers and he gave her a quiet "hey," which she echoed.

Richard turned and was surprised to see Emily standing a few feet behind him just beyond the water line. He gave her a smile and held out his hand which she took allowing him to gently pull her next to him the waves washing softly across their bare feet. When she was closer, Richard let go of her hand and draped his arm across her shoulders. Lorelai glanced sideways at her parents and squeezed her arms around Luke.

The four stood watching the waves breaking off shore and April swimming among them. After enjoying the calm sound of the waves for a while, they noticed the tide was slowly coming in. The water was halfway up to their knees.

Lorelai reluctantly spoke, her voice soft as she tried to hold on to the calm easy feeling that had come over her. "You know… if you were serious about going to that Seaside Festival April mentioned this morning, we should probably pack up soon."

"Yeah," Luke agreed with a sigh. "We probably should," but neither made any effort to move quite yet except to reposition their feet as the sand shifted out from under them with the waves.

Notes: Thank you to everyone that posted a review sinice my last update: GilmoreGirlsnOCRock, RiskaSG, lilienprinzessin, pjt-gg, Emily-RichardFan, ace5203, Mary, LorLukealways, Miss GoodManners, HippieWinterSweet, UnaVitaSegreta, Stranger than Friction, gilmorefanforever, J.Stone, javajunkishness, gilmoregirlsalwaysforever, and mudgielovesgilmoregirls. It means a lot to know that you are all enjoying the story.