Chapter Text
“So, what… now?” Lorelai asked after Jess and Rory had both left for school. Her voice was still a little shaky from the shock of the whole morning.
She was engaged.
Lorelai Gilmore, the woman who famously couldn’t commit, was engaged. It was pretty impossible to think of anything else in that moment. Even if it wasn’t such an overwhelming feeling by itself, which it definitely was, the reminder was all around her. From the ring on her finger to the flowers still leading the path from their bedroom to the front door, it was totally unavoidable.
And it was clear Luke felt just as unsure what to do with himself as he shifted on his feet. “I don't know. This is new for me.”
“Well, we should do something… official.” Lorelai stated.
“Official?”
“Yeah. Something to commemorate the moment.” Lorelai sighed, a huge grin over her face. “I mean, we're getting married. Luke. Married. You and me. Luke table-for-one Danes and Lorelai I'm-sorry-can-I-get-an-industrial-forklift- for-my-emotional-baggage Gilmore are getting married. Huh?”
“We could toast.” Luke suggested hesitantly.
“Toast! Yes. Toast! Good.” Lorelai cried eagerly bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Wait.” Luke grabbed onto her sleeve as she began turning towards the kitchen. “It’s only just gone seven in the morning. Way too early for alcohol.”
“Well it’s five o’clock somewhere.” But when Luke shot her a stern stare, Lorelai sank. “Right.”
“Though that still leaves us no better off for what we’re gonna do now. I mean, I called the inn and got you the morning off, but they said you still need to go in this afternoon.”
“Oh yeah. Me and Sookie are planning this huge dinner for the Bracebridge Group and there’s some meetings I can’t get out of.” Lorelai explained.
“I know, I’ve been told. By the way, that French guy’s a putz.” Luke grumbled, though a small smile was still toying at the corners of his lips. Not even Michel could ruin a day like today.
“Oh yeah, he knows.” Lorelai nodded as she leaned up to press a lingering kiss to Luke’s lips. From the moment his arms tightened around her waist, she was totally lost to the kiss. The way his lips moved against her own never failed to make her toes curl and her skin feel like she’d just been shocked by an electric wire. Pulling back with a mischievous smirk, she grabbed his hand and began eagerly dragging him towards the stairs. “Come on.”
“Huh? Where are we going?” Luke mumbled, his mind still foggy from the kiss.
“To Funky town.” Lorelai joked as she bounced up the first few steps, but Luke didn’t follow after her.
“No, hey, wait!”
“What?” Lorelai froze, her mind suddenly scrambled. “Did you change your mind? Oh, how did I screw it up so fast? Was the Funky town thing too quippy, 'cause I thought you liked that about me, but-”
“No, the Funky town thing was fine. I was just gonna ask what you’re doing?” Luke rolled his eyes at her, offering a smile that instantly calmed her momentary panic.
She smiled coyly. “Wasn’t it obvious?”
“I meant,” Luke began, pausing to shift his hands with a mischievous glint in his eye. And before she knew it, Lorelai was being hoisted up into his arms bridal-style, letting out a loud shriek as her feat left the ground. “What are you doing walking up the stairs?”
“You do know you’re not supposed to do this until we’re actually married, right?” Lorelai giggled as Luke began trudging up the stairs like she weighed no more than a feather.
“Well, I can put you down if you want.”
“Don’t you dare.” Lorelai threatened as he chuckled lightly to himself under his breath.
Once they crossed the threshold of their bedroom and he’d gently placed her feet on the ground, his arms came to rest around her waist, and he began to lean his face towards hers.
“Really? You're going to kiss me now?” Lorelai smirked. As he nodded, his face was so close to her own that she could feel his breath against her lips. “So incredibly predictable.”
Lorelai felt like she was floating, literally floating, the entire drive to work. Of course she knew that was impossible, but she was so happy she felt like she was going to burst. Every time she caught the slightest glimpse of the ring on her finger, she started giggling like an obnoxious schoolgirl.
While prying herself out of bed to come into work was almost impossible, especially when Luke told her that he had the rest of the day off, she also couldn’t wait to share the news with anyone and everyone. She wanted to climb to the top of the Church tower in the centre of town and start screaming from the top of her lungs. But sadly, she had to settle for sharing her news with plain, old talking.
Of course half the town probably knew all about it already given that Luke had set up the proposal in their front yard. In plain sight of Babette’s house. The woman had probably spent half the morning calling up every person she knew.
When she got to work, the first thing Lorelai planned to do was go straight into the kitchen and tell Sookie. They’d jump up and down for joy, and both squeal like children. They’d admire the ring and probably shed more than a few tears. But missing an entire morning of work had left her stuck in her office doing paperwork for what felt like hours until, finally, she could pry herself away from it long enough to share the most important news of her life with her best friend while watching the final round of auditions for performers for the Bracebridge dinner.
Walking into the kitchen, she found Sookie grinning like a madman while talking to a panicked looking Jackson. “I made it up. You passed the test.”
“Don't test me.” Jackson sighed and Lorelai took her chance to walk over.
“Oh hey, honey.” Sookie sighed sympathetically. “Are you feeling better? What was wrong?”
Well, at least those questions answered Lorelai’s own about how Luke had managed to get her out of going into work for the entire morning.
Feigning discomfort for just a brief moment, she said, “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Great, actually. I just came down with a case of… I’m engaged.”
By the time she finished answering Sookie, Lorelai was almost screaming and a wide grin had overtaken her face. The moment she held the ring out to Sookie, the woman joined her screaming, literally jumping up and down as she’d predicted, almost sending a basket of mushrooms flying across the room.
“Oh my God, oh my God.” Sookie cried, her eyes quickly welling with tears. “I can’t believe it. You’re engaged. I mean, I know you were kind of expecting it, but what was it like? Were you surprised? How did he ask you? Were-”
“Okay, Sookie, you’re gonna have to pause for a moment for me to answer.” After a mumbled apology from Sookie, Lorelai continued, “It was kind of a surprise. I was expecting it at some point, but not this morning. So… I woke up to a note beside me, telling me to ‘Dress Warm’. Yeah, like that’s a hint.”
“Plus, that could mean so many different things, like, warm fancy, warm casual, just a dressing gown-” Sookie interrupted, demonstrating perfectly Lorelai’s own confusion from that morning.
“Exactly. But anyway, when I left my room, I found the floor scattered in flower petals, including daisies, which aren’t even in season. And when I followed them, it led me outside to Luke and Rory stood in front of the words ‘MARRY ME?’, traced in the snow. There were fairy lights everywhere, and Jess sneakily taking photos from the porch. It was just… perfect.”
“Oh my God.” Sookie cooed, her face blushing slightly. “It’s all just so romantic. Don’t you think Jackson?”
“Oh yeah. Congrats.” Jackson mumbled, awkwardly avoiding Sookie’s eye.
“Ah… We have to start planning the wedding.” Sookie began. “What sort of thing were you thinking because-”
“Sookie, we were actually wanting to wait until after the holidays. Especially until after this dinner’s done. Which brings me to my other reason for coming in here, the auditions are starting. You wanna come watch?”
“Oh, yes. But as soon as the holidays are over-”
“You’ll be the first one I call.” Lorelai nodded.
“Auditions for what?” Jackson asked, his eyes flicking between the pair of them, seemingly deeming it safe enough to speak again.
Rolling her eyes, Sookie answered, “Musicians.”
“For the Bracebridge dinner.” Lorelai elaborated.
“Geez, you guys are going crazy with this dinner.” Jackson exclaimed dramatically, earning him yet another shared eyeroll between the two girls. Lorelai couldn’t believe how much Jackson had underestimated what a big deal this was. He and Sookie were in a relationship, he should know that this is a major thing they’re doing.
“Jackson, I told you,” Sookie sighed, “This dinner is not just about food. We are recreating an authentic 19th-century meal. The servers will be in period clothing, and there're gonna speak period English.”
“Here, look at the costumes.” Lorelai gestured to the stack of costumes in the corner of the room, also trying to subtly remind Sookie that she promised that Jackson would play the Squire.
“Nice.” Jackson nodded.
“We're talking 7 courses here. Soup, fish, peacock pie, the baron of beef, the salad, then the plum pudding, and the wassail.”
Nodding at Sookie’s list, Lorelai jumped in again to remind Sookie to ask Jackson, or tell him, about him playing the Squire. “And there's gonna be a big, raised platform where the Squire of Bracebridge is going to preside over the festivities.”
“Yeah, he tastes the foods and makes pronouncements.” Sookie nodded, shooting Lorelai a smirk. “He's like the host of the evening, and his costume is the coolest.”
“It all sounds great.” Jackson hummed, somewhat uninterested.
“Oh, it is. It is.” Sookie nodded to Lorelai before turning to Jackson, “By the way, you're playing Squire Bracebridge.”
“Ready?” Lorelai nodded to Sookie.
“Let's go.”
“Yeah.”
As the paired smirked widely rushing out of the kitchen, Jackson began following after them, fervently protesting Sookie’s statement. Of course, the pair continued to ignore every single protest the man made, focusing instead on the recorder players for the dinner.
“So, are we clear on this?” Jackson said firmly after Lorelai confirmed the gig with the performers, though his words were still being ignored. “I'm not playing Squire Bracebridge. Sorry you were under the impression that I'd do this.”
“When do the guests arrive?” Sookie turned to Lorelai, urging her to continue blanking Jackson.
“Thursday at 4:00 on their own jet.” Lorelai smiled.
“After buying out the whole inn.”
With a small sigh, Lorelai mumbled, “Must be nice to have money.
“Hey, you know what struck me today?” Sookie jumped eagerly.
“The fact that I’m not the Squire? Did that strike you?” Jackson spat out, still resisting his inevitable role as Squire Bracebridge.
“We are crazy for doing this.” Sookie answered herself.
“We are beyond crazy.” Lorelai corrected. “We're ‘Anne Heche speaking her secret language to God and looking for the spaceship in Fresno’ crazy.”
“Oh, oquinis no-goodo noto.” Sookie joked with a slight giggle.
“Il ecnatra dos guidan.”
Not amused by their hilarity, Jackson continued his complaining, “And springing this on me at the last minute too, I mean, that's just manipulative.”
“Sookie, fire.” One of the junior chefs ran out of the kitchen yelling, causing Sookie to roll her eyes with a smirk and humph.
“I got to get back in the kitchen. You'll handle the harp?”
“You got it.” Lorelai nodded.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Lorelai saw Jackson sigh dramatically. “All right, ok, I’ll do it. I'll play Squire Bracebridge if that's what you want. Geez!”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Sookie affectionately squeezed his forearm before darting off into the kitchen.
“As long as it's not just because I fit the costume.” Jackson called out after her, causing Lorelai to smile in order to hide the fact that was definitely the case. When Jackson realised that, he took off after Sookie yelling, “It's because I fit the costume, isn't it?”
“Go ahead.” Lorelai nodded to the harpist.
As the woman began to play though, Lorelai’s phone began ringing and, for some indescribable reason, her stomach filled with enough dread to force bile to rise in her throat.
“Hi, it's Lorelai.” She answered softly so as to not disturb the musician.
“Hey, Lor. It's me.”
“Christopher.”
Of course it was Christopher. He always did have a habit of poking his head up out of the dirt whenever Lorelai was most happy. It was as if he had some secret spy watching her at every moment, and he’d just received the latest report that she was engaged. Now he was calling and stabbing a knife into her and Luke’s bubble of joy.
“Wow, don’t you sound happy to hear my voice.” He replied, his words dripping with so much sarcasm she couldn’t help but dramatically sigh and roll her eyes.
“I thought it had been made completely clear from us that Rory doesn’t want to hear from you anymore.” Lorelai spat back as she stomped off to the corner of the room.
But instead of yelling back, he did something far worse.
“Well, I think the emails we’ve been writing back and forth for the past several weeks tell a different story there, Lor.”
Lorelai froze. She could practically hear his smug smirk through the phone growing wider with every word. And she couldn’t help but feel ever so slightly betrayed by her own daughter. How could Rory not tell her she’d been talking to her father? How could she keep something like this from her? They’d agreed a long time ago now that they needed to be completely open with each other, and here she was, yet again keeping secrets that led to Lorelai looking like a fool.
Not wanting to give him the advantage, Lorelai avoided his statement altogether and asked, “What do you want, Chris?”
“Since Rory and I are on such good terms now,” Lorelai ignored the urge to gag at the thought while Christopher continued, “And I know Rory has a break in school coming up, I was wondering if you'd be cool with her coming to visit for a couple of days.”
“Huh? A couple of days? You mean she'd stay the night?” Absolutely not. Even ignoring the fact that the last time they’d spent any time together, he’d left her alone in the middle of a restaurant in a strange city, Lorelai couldn’t even recall a time they’d spent more than a couple hours together without her. An overnight visit was completely foreign territory. And definitely not his idea alone.
“Don’t say it in that tone.” Christopher scolded before momentarily drawing her attention to the harpist still playing. “Where are you, heaven?”
“Do you even have room for someone to stay?”
“Not just room. A room. A designated guest room. Sherry fixed it up really nice.” And there it was. The first mention of the actual reason Christopher wanted to see his daughter.
It was completely ridiculous. Even if Rory had been emailing him, that didn’t automatically mean she wanted to spend several days with him and his girlfriend. There was no way she’d be going there. There was no way Lorelai was going to let that wicked woman sink her claws into her angel of a daughter. And even if she turned out to be totally normal, she still wouldn't make Rory go over there. Christopher would have to drag his daughter to Boston ove Lorelai's cold, dead body.
“Oh, good for her.” Lorelai rolled her eyes, all civility fading from her voice.
“Hey, Rory is my daughter too. And you let her spend God knows how much time around that boyfriend of yours. If he even is still you boyfriend, which I highly doubt he is given your track record with men.”
Now it was Lorelai’s turn to smirk. “No actually, he isn’t. He’s my fiancé.”
Silence was all she heard down the phone. Several seconds of silence. Then he returned fire.
“Well good for you. Settling for the first thing that comes your way, how romantic. I do hope you can afford to get married somewhere a little more extravagant than the courthouse given his low earning potential, though I doubt you’ll even make it that far into the planning process anyway.”
“Oh yes, Mr Big Bucks over here. The guy who couldn’t even afford to buy his daughter a book. Or is it the guy who walked out on his sixteen-year-old daughter in a restaurant, leaving her alone with an unpaid check in the middle of an unfamiliar city, at night.”
“I’m gonna go.” Chris mumbled. “Ask Rory about visiting. Have her get back to me.”
“Fine.” Lorelai rolled her eyes.
“Fine.” Then the line went dead.
After she exhaled a shaky breath, Lorelai noticed for the first time that there were tears welling in her eyes. If it wasn’t for Rory, she’d hate that man’s guts with every fibre of her being. How could she have ever found him endearing?
And what was worse, now she had to go and spoil everybody’s joy by telling them of her phone call.
If someone had told Lorelai a year ago that there would come a day where she’d actually be excited to go to dinner at her parents’ house for a reason other than witnessing either of them in pain, she’d have laughed in their face. But here she was, practically flying out of her car towards the front door. She never in a million years would have thought she’d be excited to tell them she was engaged; in fact she had often thought about how she could keep a secret like that from them for as long as possible.
This was completely different though.
Despite Christopher’s attempt to dampen her mood the previous day, nothing could stop Lorelai from yelling at every person she ran into that she was engaged. In the past 48 hours, she reckoned her hand had spent more time in the air than by her side and, for once, she had a good feeling that her news would receive a similar reception here that it had everywhere else.
“I can’t believe you’re actually looking forward to dinner.” Rory smirked as she walked up to Lorelai, who’d already rung the bell.
“I just have a lot to be excited about.” Lorelai grinned, shooting a glance to Luke who was walking over with Jess after forcing him to tag along.
Once the maid had opened the door and let them inside, Lorelai’s eyes began searching the room for her mother, though not in the way they usually would be.
“Hello, hello.” Emily greeted as she waltzed straight past them towards Richard’s study. “Go and sit down while I see if your father’s managed to figure out how to hang up the phone yet.”
And, without another word, she was gone. Lorelai deflated immediately, sulking off into the living room in search of something to brighten her temporary disappointment.
“What’s wrong?” Luke mumbled as she began pouring herself a large glass of white wine.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I was excited to tell them, and then it’s like I suddenly remembered who they were and…”
“I’m sure they’ll be happy when you tell them.” Rory reassured her from across the room.
“I guess. I just-” But before Lorelai could finish her thought, her mother walked into the room followed by her father, though the latter didn’t look at all present in the room.
“Lorelai, couldn’t you have waited two minutes for me to come back before helping yourself to a drink?” Emily scolded as Lorelai collapsed onto the nearest couch.
“Well I’m sorry, but I was thirsty, practically dying of dehydration, and I didn’t know how long you’d be.” Lorelai took a long sip to hide her dramatic eyeroll.
“Honestly, you can’t be here more than two minutes without alcohol? Nobody else felt the need to help themselves.” Emily sighed dramatically before getting everybody’s drinks and sitting down with an expectant face. “So Rory, how’s school going?”
“Good. It was my last day before the winter break today, so it was just a day full of endless tests.” Rory frowned.
“Oh dear.” Emily sighed. “Did they go well? How do you think you did?”
It was then that Lorelai sighed loudly and drew a harsh stare from her mother. It’s not like she didn’t want to hear about Rory’s day, in fact when Rory had told her about it earlier, she’d asked the same questions. But Lorelai had her own news which was far bigger than a few test scores, and the longer she had to wait to share it, the more jittery she grew.
Sensing her mother’s waning patience, Rory waved her grandmother off before glancing at Lorelai with a wide smirk. “Actually grandma, I’m not the only one with something to talk about, and my tests are far less important.”
Following her granddaughter’s gaze, her eyes fell on Lorelai, who was pursing her lips together so tightly to hide her wide grin that they were practically non-existent.
“Well, mom… We have some news for you.”
“Oh?” Emily’s eyebrows jumped up as Lorelai gestured between herself and Luke.
“Well…um…” Lorelai stumbled; her words were completely stuck in her throat. Her mother seemed to be holding a magnifying glass over the pair of them and her father was acting as if he had cotton wool stuffed in his ear, and Lorelai was suddenly a child again: so terrified to tell her parents something good in her life that she almost felt it was better to say nothing at all. Almost. After a long pause, she coughed, gathered her courage and announced, “Mom, dad, we’re engaged.”
The silence that followed that statement seemed to drag on for an eternity. Everyone seemed frozen, trying to gauge the reactions of Emily and Richard who were equally still. For a moment, Lorelai began to regret her enthusiasm to tell them so quickly. Perhaps she should’ve waited, come up with a better plan to ease them into it, instead of just blurting it out and expecting excitement.
But then Emily’s face broke out into a smile, a real, genuine smile, that caused Lorelai to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
“Oh that’s wonderful news. Richard, isn’t this wonderful.” Emily cheered while Richard nodded stiffly. “We need to celebrate. I’ll go tell Louissa to bring us some champagne.”
As Emily darted out of the room, calling the new maid’s name like she were a lost puppy, Lorelai’s eyes searched out her father, trying to gauge any sort of reaction from him. If he wasn’t happy with the news, she’d rather him say something now, get the hurt over with. Yet he still seemed totally indifferent. Several seconds of silence passed where Richard refused to look up from the ground, and every single one was another knife being driven through Lorelai’s chest. She found herself suddenly wishing for his anger and disapproval, not because she actually wanted it, but because it would at least mean he cared in some way.
“Here we are.” Emily came smiling back into the room with a tray of several glasses of champagne, two half-full for Jess and Rory. Holding up her own glass once everyone had taken theirs, Emily toasted, “Congratulations.”
“Thanks mom.” Lorelai smiled at the same time Luke said, “Thank you, Emily.”
Turning to Lorelai with eager eyes, Emily asked, “Well, do you have a ring yet?”
“Oh yeah.” Lorelai quickly held her hand out to her mother who’s eyes widened immediately.
“Oh my God, it’s wonderful.”
“You sound shocked, mother.” Lorelai raised a suspicious eyebrow, clearly even if Emily did approve of their relationship, her opinion of Luke hadn’t risen enough to believe he would pick out the most beautiful engagement ring Lorelai had ever seen.
“I’m not shocked, it’s just not what I was expecting.” Emily corrected sternly, still scrupulously examining the jewellery. “More extravagant, and tasteful. It almost looks vintage.”
“It is.” Luke nodded. “From the twenties, I think.”
“Well, you have surprisingly good taste in jewellery, Luke.” Emily smiled as she sat down.
“Why is that surprising?” Lorelai paused, but Luke placed a hand over her own to tell her to drop it.
“Actually I didn’t pick it myself; Rory helped me.” Luke explained and Lorelai was surprised her mother’s neck didn’t snap in two with he speed she darted around to look at the girl in question.
“You did?”
“Yeah.” Rory nodded. “Luke surprised me as I was coming out of school a couple of months ago and asked for my blessing to marry mom. After we’d planned most of the proposal, we went ring shopping.”
“A couple of months ago?” Emily raised her brow suspiciously, causing Lorelai to roll her eyes.
“Yes. They were waiting for it to snow, and it took a very long time this year, annoyingly.”
“We did come up with a plan to ask you on Christmas day if it hadn’t snowed by then.” Rory added. “But it wasn’t as good as writing it into the snow.”
“Harry’s House of Twinkle Lights would have had significantly less business if you hadn’t proposed like you did, let me tell you.”
“Twinkle lights?” Emily asked.
“Yeah,” Lorelai nodded. “They set them up all over the front porch, with flower petals leading a path out of the house, and Jess hiding on the porch to take photos. So, you can see for yourself once they’re developed.”
“Speaking of photos, the Star’s Hollow Gazette called today asking for copies when they’re ready.” Rory smirked.
Luke groaned loudly. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“Nope. They wanna do a whole story on it. They even offered to let me write some of it.” Rory grinned eagerly. “Though that’s probably just so they can get an insider perspective.
Before the debate over publishing their engagement in the local paper could continue any further, the maid interrupted to tell them dinner was ready. And by the time they were sat down, the need to discuss their engagement was overshadowed by Richard’s sulking at the head of the table. It was bad enough he spent most days completely absorbed in his work, but on the day his only daughter announces her engagement, not even being able to force a smile was a new low entirely.
In a desperate attempt to end the tension, Lorelai turned to her father and asked, “So what are your travel plans, dad?”
“Hmm?”
“You and mom, you always go out of town this time of year.” Lorelai elaborated. “Last year it was the Bahamas.”
“Yes, that's right, it was.” Richard nodded, still not tuning into the conversation.
“I remember you had fun, too. You said the Bahamamians were really nice.” At that point, Lorelai turned to Rory totally confused. “The Bahamites? The Bahamamamanians?”
“The Bahamians.” Rory corrected her.
“Yes,” Lorelai shot her a grateful smile. “They were nice.”
“They were nice.” Emily mumbled disgruntledly.
“So what are your plans?” Lorelai repeated, hoping to finally gain a solid answer.
“We're not going anywhere this year.” Emily frowned.
“Why not?” Rory asked. When Emily nodded over at Richard, who’d once again retreated back into the deep corners of his mind, Rory’s eyes widened. “Oh. Well, yeah, it... It can be really nice just to stay at home sometimes because you can do fun things that you normally wouldn't have time for.”
“Yeah, like play running charades and get out that slip 'n slide.” Lorelai smirked and while she saw a small smile playing at the corners of both Luke and Rory’s lips, nobody else seemed to find her as hilarious as she herself did.
“We'll see.” Emily mumbled.
“Yes, we'll see.” Richard repeated before standing up. “Would you all excuse me? I have to make some calls. Say goodbye before you leave, will you?”
“Yeah, sure, dad.” Lorelai nodded as her father left the room. Once the five of them were alone, she turned to her mother. “When is this awfulness with work gonna resolve itself?”
“I don't know. The man is so sensitive. He reads so much into every little perceived slight.”
“Yeah.” Recalling a similar occurrence when she was younger, she began, “I remember one time, when I was a kid, dad had put on some weight, and he bought a new suit to try to cover it up. He wore it for us and he said, ‘how do I look?’ and I said, ‘you look fat.’” At that point, she glanced around her. Every single pair of eyes was looking at her like she’d just said she wanted to shoot puppies or something equally as cruel. Realising that her story wasn’t making the point she really wanted it to, she added, “But I guess that wasn't really a perceived slight… So I'll think of another example.”
Thought the rest of dinner passed with a little less awkwardness, it still wasn’t as pleasant an experience as she’d been hoping it would be when they’d first arrived. But at least she’d told them about her engagement, and her chest felt a little lighter because for it.
Disappointment was not an emotion Lorelai expected to be feeling less than a week after getting engaged, but here she was in the Diner with Sookie and Rory trying desperately to drown her sorrows with a cup of Luke’s magic coffee. It wasn’t working though. The Bracebridge group were stuck in Chicago all thanks to her precious snow and the past several days of work were now a total waste of time.
And she wasn’t the only one feeling this way.
“I've got 30 pounds of aged beef, trays and trays of trout, mountains of prune tarts. I diced pumpkins until my hands turned orange. I've got pumpkin hands.” Sookie cried out, holding up her slightly orange hands for them all to see.
“Take a sip.” Lorelai gestured to the untouched coffee in front of her friend.
“How can you stay so calm about this?”
Lorelai shrugged. “There's nothing we can do.”
“I can't believe they got snowed in.” Rory said, articulating Lorelai’s own thoughts perfectly.
“All that work. All that extra help we hired.” Shaking her head, Lorelai took a long drag from her coffee, allowing it to warm her to her core before continuing, “Oh, well, at least
they paid for it already. We didn't lose any money.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Sookie sighed. “You know, I could still make up the dinner for the three of us.”
“Yeah, but, then it would be like the three of us all alone in the dining room.” Rory cringed as Lorelai nodded along with her.
“Oh, it would be like the shining, except instead of Jack Nicholson, we have rune.”
“Hey, you girls want anything besides coffee?” Luke walked over with the coffee pot, placing a soft hand over Lorelai’s shoulder. It was only a subtle gesture, but it still managed to bring a small smile to Lorelai’s face, despite her current mood.
“Hey, what about Luke?” Sookie smiled as if she’d just struck gold.
“What about him?” Lorelai shrugged.
“He eats, and Jess eats.” Sookie pointed out before glancing at the three of them, “Doesn't Jess eat?”
“What's she doing?” Luke asked Lorelai.
“I think she's inviting you for dinner.” Lorelai smiled hopefully up at him as his face sank.
“Yeah, come on, join us. It'll be fun.” Rory joined in and Lorelai could already feel Luke’s resistance weakening before he even had the chance to argue.
“You like peacock pie?” Sookie asked, not realising that wasn’t going to help their case in the slightest.
“I'm 100 percent sure I don't.”
Lorelai rolled her eyes. “There'll be normal food, too.”
“And decorations. And music.” Rory added eagerly.
“Come on. It'll be fun.” Lorelai urged him, looking up at him with her most pleading eyes.
“Well…”
Then it hit her. “Hey, you know what? Let's invite everyone.”
“Everyone who?” Sookie asked, as if the work ‘everyone’ alone wasn’t clue enough.
“Everyone everyone.” Lorelai emphasised.
Taking a deep breath as if to join in on Lorelai’s excitement, Sookie dipped again, “Everyone everyone who?”
“Everyone we know. Everyone we like.”
“And they can even stay in the inn.” Rory added with a grin. “All those empty rooms, all those uneaten pillow mints.”
“An out-of-control, over-the-top slumber party.” Lorelai cheered.
“I love it!” Sookie agreed.
“Done.” Lorelai nodded and then turned to Luke. “Spread the word.”
“Hey, I haven't said I’d come yet, so I’m certainly not gonna suddenly become your messenger boy.” Luke argued, but the moment he looked at Lorelai and watched her face fall, he let out a pitying sigh. “8:00?”
“7:00.” Lorelai corrected him as if it were obvious.
“Right.” He nodded before sulking off towards the kitchen leaving the three girls behind far happier than they had been just a few minutes earlier.
“Okay, so Rory are you okay handling all the RSVP’s and stuff, it’ll be a bit of a rush but we should be able to handle it if not?” Lorelai asked Rory, knowing that she had just broken up from school and certainly did have the time to help.
“Of course.” She agreed but then paused briefly. “Though not tomorrow morning, cause I’m working here.”
“Really?” Lorelai’s eyebrows shot up. “But tomorrow’s Sunday, and Luke doesn’t work on Sunday’s. How’re you getting here?”
With a dramatic eyeroll, she answered, “Luke offered to get up early and drop me off. And Jess.”
“Wow.” Sookie sighed. “He really will do anything the two of you ask, huh?”
“Well, I’m still trying to make headway on the chili-topped pringles, but apart from that, pretty much.” Lorelai grinned, and her smile only grew wider and more mischievous when she noticed Luke was back in earshot as she said that.
“That is something I will never agree to.” He stated firmly. “I asked you to marry me, and I want that marriage to last a long time. I go giving into requests like chili-topped pringles and suddenly I’m struggling to find an extra-large casket for you in ten-years’ time.”
Lorelai gasped as Luke stomped over to stand beside her again. “He is so rude to me. Gosh the service here has certainly gone downhill. Is there someone around I could file a complaint to?”
Without missing a beat, Luke wrapped his free hand around the front of her face to block her mouth, earning him a wide smirk from the two people either side of her.
“That’s better.” He smirked before turning to Rory. “Get her home soon, would you? I was wanting to close up a little early tonight.”
The moment he took his had off her face, which was smiling from ear-to-ear, she retorted, “Can’t imagine why? It’ll be very lonely for you, all by yourself on the couch.”
“Ha-ha.” He replied dryly as she stood up from her seat to put her coat on. “I’ll see you later, then?”
Nodding slowly, she leaned forward to press a lingering kiss to his lips, not caring that her coat was still hanging from the ends of her arms or that her daughter was fervently protesting her behaviour beside her.
With a smirk as he pulled back, she mumbled, “Later.”