A/N Thank you to all who reviewed and continue to read the story. I hope you are enjoying their journey.

I own nothing.

Ch 35 Stay

Sunday night Luke and Lorelai were saying good-bye at the door of the new house. "I really don't want you to go back to your house." Luke is holding on to Lorelai tightly.

"I like waking up with you and I want you to be here tomorrow, but you won't be. Then Wednesday I have to go to New York for a board meeting and I won't see you again until we leave for your parent's on Friday."

Lorelai chuckles because she can see a five year old Luke ranting to his mother how life isn't fair. If it were her there'd be the accompanying pout. "Babe, I don't want to go either, but we do have responsibilities and I have some wedding things to get done this week. I'm sending out the wedding invitations soon, so other than the town and your sister, is there anyone you want on the list?"

"No one I can think of."

"No one from New York?"

"Oh, well, probably Tom and Annie, and Paige and Don. That'd be about it. How many people are we expecting for the whole thing, your mom going all out on the invites?"

"She'd better not, I gave her the opportunity to give me twenty names outside of our immediate family which includes mom, dad, Rory, Gran and cousin Marilyn. If she goes over or tries to sneak in too many 'couples' as a single name I told her I start striking out names indiscriminately without getting her approval. Hopefully that'll keep her in line, along with the handmade invitation that people are supposed to bring with them as their ticket to the most spectacular show of the decade." Lorelai grinned wickedly. "No ticket, no entry."

"So will they know they're supposed to bring the ticket thing with them? Why am I calling it a ticket, it's an invitation right?"

Lorelai grinned wickedly, "Nope, it's a golden ticket that'll be sent when they RSVP and they're supposed to bring that with them."

"You're talking golden ticket like the chocolate guy?" Luke rolled his eyes.

"Willy Wonka, you got it babe!"

"Lorelai, who's going to make sure that they bring their 'golden ticket' to the wedding?"

Lorelai grin got even bigger. Luke started to comprehend, "No, no Lorelai! Damn it no!" He stepped away from her his hands on his hips.

"Aw, com' on babe, you know he was just made for this! Plus if we give him this job he can't do any other, you never know when someone might try and sneak in, so he'll need to be on duty the entire night. That keeps him from being the bartender, D.J., or the wedding coordinator. Besides I asked Pete to help him out prior to the ceremony so the riff raff will stay out."

"Which Pete, Big Pete or Little Pete?"

"Little Pete. He's really larger than Big Pete."

"I've always thought so."

"So we go with Kirk?"

Luke sighed, "When have I denied you anything?"

Lorelai looked at him in all seriousness and answered, "Never, that's what's so amazing about you. Even with all my insanity, you still indulge me."

"I've known you and lived without you for five years and I've had you with me for five months. The five months with you has outdistanced the past thirty-five years. There isn't anything I would deny you if it's in my ability to get. I know I'll never again be able to live without you in my life." Luke took her face in his hands and gently kissed her on her forehead.

"And yet you won't let us write our own vows. You have the ability to put together the most beautiful thoughts and I'm the only one who seems to know this."

"Tell you what, if you want us to exchange our vows after the wedding in the privacy of our room, I'll write my vows to you. But in front of your family and friends I want the traditional vows. Deal?" Luke pulled her tightly to him.

Lorelai had chills go up her spine thinking of what he might say to her in private that she knows would never be said in public.

"Deal," she whispered and kissed him deeply. The kiss quickly heated up and Luke showed no sign of being his usually responsible self which caused Lorelai to start to laugh.

"Babe, if I have to pull the mom card on you I will. At least Rory needs to get home and go to bed; me, I'll be up for awhile since I'm too frustrated to sleep right now."

Luke put his forehead against hers and whispered his plea, "Stay."

It broke Lorelai's heart to have to answer, "We can't, but soon we'll start our life together then no more nights apart." She put her hand to his cheek and broke the embrace.

"I'll stop by the diner late in the morning tomorrow and we're still getting together for dinner here right?"

Lorelai smiled warmly up at him and Luke sighed, "Yes, I know I should be thankful for what we get, but I just miss you."

"Me too babe, me too, I love you and I'll see you tomorrow, sweet dreams." Lorelai gently kissed him and then she and Rory left for their house.

They had two very nice days before Luke had to take off for the B-D board meeting on Wednesday. He met with Tom on Wednesday afternoon and they went over the major points that would be covered the next day. Tom noticed something was off with Luke, he was quiet and more like he was the first few years they had worked with each other.

"Mr. Danes, if you'd like to wrap it up today we've covered all that the board meeting will deal with and we can address some of the company concerns on Friday morning if you want."

"No Tom, I want to get this done as soon as we can, I'd like to be in Stars Hollow as early Friday as possible."

"Yes sir. If I might inquire Mr. Danes, is everything all right?" Tom was really concerned with the way Luke had been acting. He hoped that it wasn't anything with his relationship with Lorelai.

"It's fine Tom. I just want to get back to my life in Stars Hollow as soon as possible."

Tom realized that Lorelai probably didn't join him on this trip and he was missing her.

"You know, when Annie and I were first married, I was so focused on my career that I took a course in maximizing profits that was held two states away three days a week for three months. It changed my life although not in the way one might imagine. I missed Annie so much that I realized I didn't give half a damn about maximizing profits as much as I did sleeping with my wife in our bed at home. Within five years I started to work for you and Annie and I haven't spent more than two days apart in the past four years."

"You're very blessed to have realized that with Miss Gilmore so early. I've seen the way she looks at you and anyone could see you belong together."

Luke barked a short laugh. "Try telling her mother that. A few weeks ago she invited Rory's father to dinner with Lorelai and me, Rory wasn't there, but Emily made sure Lorelai was."

Tom hadn't been sure about approaching the subject, but he felt he had to and Luke had pretty much opened the door, "Mr. Danes that would be Christopher Hayden, right?"

"Yep, that'd be the putz."

"Well, we're getting some reports from Boston that Christopher is missing deadlines again, he's been absent quite a few days in just the past two months and no one has been able to reign him in."

"Damn it, why can't the guy step up and act his age for once? Has his supervisor had any performance reports with him?"

"No one wants to overstep boundaries since Christopher is Straub's son."

"Tom, the jackass is middle management, not even executive level. Do they expect you to go down there?" Luke asked this rhetorically, but by Tom's reaction he saw that they actually did.

"Damn it Tom, no! We have management supervisors for just this reason. If you go down there it sends the wrong message to Christopher that he's a force to be reckoned with and he's just the same as anyone with his level of management. Call his supervisor and let him or her know that they'll not suffer any damage by having a sit down with Chris. However, if they're unable to do this small task I'll make sure the next person can. Got it?"

"Yes, sir. We also have another problem that's closer to home. One of the Hayden executives is sexually harassing our female staff in this building. We've had two complaints so far and he's only been working with us since mid November. Our line of action is to have him attend sensitivity classes, meet with a counselor for three months and then if we're still having complaints we'll terminate."

"That's the guy!" Luke exclaimed. "You told me that the first weeks he was here some of the women were uncomfortable with him, right?"

"Yes, sir. We had the complaints from two women within the first three weeks. He's either intimidating them or harassing ones who are uncomfortable telling someone about it because we haven't had any further formal complaints, but the gossip is still there."

"Yeah, he hit on Lorelai when we were here in December. If I remember the guy's a sleaze-ball so have the lawyers go over the buy-out agreement we have with him with a fine-tooth comb. I don't want to have any problems when I'm sure we're gonna have to terminate. Guys like him rarely react well to counseling."

"Yes, Mr. Danes. Well, that's the really heavy hitters for this month, did you have any thoughts on the files we sent over last week?"

"Yeah, there are a couple of questions I have on the plants in Ohio and one in Illinois. Before we get into that I forgot to tell you that Lorelai and I have moved the wedding date up to March 24th so we hope you and Annie can make that."

Tom eyed Luke and said, "March 24th, that soon?"

Luke sighed and looked down, "I told her people would react like that. Tom, you're not gonna get a birth announcement in six months. Since Lorelai and I both are responsible for teenagers we're spending too much time apart and we just want to start our life together that much sooner. The date corresponds with her Spring Break and the Inn had an opening. That's it."

"I understand sir, when you find that special person you want to start your life together as soon as possible. Congratulations and I'll let Annie know to keep that date clear."

"Yeah, warn her that you'll also get a golden ticket with your RSVP that you'll need to present at the door." Luke chuckled.

"Like Charley and the Chocolate Factory?" Tom was surprised; Luke wasn't the type to go for such things.

"Yep, apparently my bride-to-be is able to talk me into things I never would have imagined before." Luke actually laughed for the first time since he had been in the office that day.

Tom knew how important it was that Lorelai stay in Luke's life; he didn't even look alive until he started talking about her and their life together.

"You know sir our wives make new men out of us without even trying. I'd move heaven and earth for Annie if she so much as inclined her head."

Luke got a strange thrill from Tom referring to Lorelai as his wife; he really couldn't wait to be married. Luke smiled and nodded his head.

"I told Lorelai a week or so ago that I can't believe what she inspires me to do. But I'm so very grateful that I have the opportunity to find out." Luke's smile becomes a full-fledged grin.

Jess had come over to Lorelai and Rory's house for the two days Luke was away, he was sleeping on the lumpy couch and the complaining had begun long before the actual nightfall. But Lorelai had been working on her wedding dress all this week. And she needed to be at the house to finish it.

She didn't want to tell Luke she was making it because he would've insisted on getting her help. It was a fairly simple design; in keeping with the Russian winter wedding she was using white satin and white velvet.

The bodice of the dress had a sweetheart neckline in velvet and was fitted to the waist. The skirt of the dress was a body skimming velvet with a very small train in the back, she had made oversized bell sleeves that were attached at the shoulder, open to the elbow and then open to the cuff that fit around her wrist. The huge sleeves hung down by her side as she held the stand-in bouquet.

The main attraction was the actual train that was inspired by the velvet cape Luke had gotten her at Christmas. The detachable train was velvet, attached to her shoulders and fell behind her about four feet. The hood was oversized and flowed loosely about her head. It too was velvet and the entire train was lined in satin. There would be no use for a veil or other head piece, the reminder of how hoods were important to the couple would remain between them, perhaps Rory and Sookie would remember, but no other person knew what happened at the lake with both the kiss and the proposal.

She was going to have a woman in Hartford do the final fitting, since she really couldn't do it on herself, dirty, she giggled. Just as she tried the dress on with the train for the first time Rory came into the room.

"Mom," she gasped, "You're so beautiful. Where did you get that dress? Did you and Sookie go shopping without me?"

Rory was actually upset, she was sure her mom had left her out of a major part of the wedding experience.

"Rory, I made this."

"No, you couldn't have! It's so perfect Mom!"

"Yeah, thanks a lot."

"No, I mean it's amazing and I know you can make this, it's just you did it so quickly! Is that the material we just bought last Saturday?"

"Yeah, it's really a simple pattern, no beading, no fancy styles, just straight forward and zip."

"Grandma is gonna flip when she sees it! You're so beautiful." Rory started to tear up.

"Yeah, Grandma is going to flip all right. She's going to ask me what was I thinking having a velvet dress two days after the first day of spring." Lorelai chuckled.

"But frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. Luke will love it, I love it. I feel like a princess in it waiting to marry my prince." Lorelai looked in the mirror and envisioned what Luke would think when he saw her.

"You look like a princess," Rory whispered standing next to her mom.

Lorelai started to sway and sang softly to herself, "Stay, just a little bit longer. Please, please, please, tell me you're gonna."