. . .
The next afternoon, Lorelai and Luke had just finished the tour of the ice cream factory. Luke, his hands shoved into his jeans' pockets, was following Lorelai around the gift shop as she excitedly searched for souvenirs.
"Oh my God!" Lorelai held up two cow-spotted coffee mugs. "How adorable are these?"
"Adorable," he replied dryly.
"You can never have too many mugs," Lorelai said.
"Uh, yes, you can," Luke said. "We only have so much cabinet space."
"Well, we'll have to move things around," Lorelai said with a shrug. "Or we'll get rid of some other stuff. Or you can build a bigger cabinet."
"Right, because me undertaking a construction project to build you storage for some new mugs is much more convenient than the other option of just not buying new mugs," Luke said with a nod.
"Exactly." She held them out to him. "Here, hold these. I wanna look through the T-shirt racks."
With a sigh, Luke pulled his hands out of his pockets and took the mugs. He followed her to the clothing section, and watched as she rifled through the shirts.
When she had draped her fourth one over her shoulder to buy, Luke said, "Okay, I think that's enough shirts."
"I'm not done yet," Lorelai said.
"Lorelai, you don't need that many," Luke said.
Lorelai scoffed. "Excuse me, Grumpy the Dwarf, when you go away on a trip, you bring back souvenirs for other people. These are not all for me, so stop your whining."
"Then who are they for?" Luke asked.
She glanced at the shirts on her shoulder. "One is for me, two are for Rory, one is for Jess."
"Jess?"
"Yeah," Lorelai replied. "He'll like it."
"Uh huh."
"And now I'm looking for one for you," Lorelai said.
"I don't need a shirt."
Lorelai ignored him and pulled a shirt off the rack. "You'd look good in this. Nice, huh?"
"Put it back. I don't need one."
Lorelai pointed across the gift shop. "Ooh, if you don't want a shirt, I saw a hat over there with a cow-spotted bill that I think would go really well with plaid. How 'bout it?"
"No, thank you."
"You gotta get something," Lorelai said.
"I don't need anything."
"Luke, you need a reminder of our honeymoon, and we're not leaving until you have a souvenir," Lorelai declared. "So the sooner you give in, the sooner we get outta here." She folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head.
Luke sighed and raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, you win, pick out a stupid shirt. I don't care."
Lorelai smiled. "Thank you."
As she started skimming the rack again, Luke said, "You do realize that the chances of me actually wearing the shirt are very slim."
"That's why I'm looking for one that'll fit you, but will also look good on me," Lorelai said.
"So, then, it's not exactly my souvenir."
"No, it is, because you're gonna wear it around the hotel room later to establish initial ownership, and so then it'll officially be yours and I'll just be borrowing it."
"Ah."
Lorelai finally found him a shirt, then she draped all five that she'd picked out over Luke's shoulder. "Okay, you hold these. I need my hands free to get some other things."
Luke pursed his lips. "What other things?"
"Don't worry about it." Lorelai waved him toward the cash register. "Look, just go get in line. I'll be right there." She gave him a shove in the right direction and he exhaled loudly as he walked over to the checkout line.
A few minutes later, Lorelai walked back over, her arms full of Ben and Jerry's paraphernalia. "Man, I practically had to push some little old lady out of the way to get the last ice cream scoop, but I got it," she said, smiling proudly.
"Who the hell is all that stuff for?"
Lorelai glanced down at the items she was carrying. "Some of it's for us, some is for Sookie, I got a little something for Babette because she's getting our mail, some random things for other people. . . they're all necessary items."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Uh huh."
When it was their turn to check out, Luke set the items he was holding on the counter, then pulled his credit card out of his wallet and handed it to Lorelai. "You pay – I have no desire to see how much this comes to."
Lorelai smirked. "Fine. I'll meet you outside." Luke headed toward the door and waited outside.
A few minutes later, Lorelai walked out with the bags. "Ready?"
"Yup." Luke took one of the bags from her, and they walked toward the car.
"You know, that was the first time I've gotten to sign my new name," Lorelai said.
Luke smiled. "Oh yeah? Did you use all three?"
Lorelai nodded. "Lorelai Gilmore Danes. . . but I've been thinking about it, and I'm not sure if I'm gonna do that all the time."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, sometimes I'll use Lorelai Gilmore Danes, and sometimes I'll just use Danes," she explained. "You know, it's kind of like dental floss."
Luke narrowed his eyes with confusion. "What?"
"Yeah, the dental floss sits in the medicine cabinet just in case you get the urge to use it one day, just like the Gilmore is still apart of my name just in case I wanna use it, but I don't necessarily have to use it all the time, just like I don't use dental floss everyday," Lorelai explained. "And really, who uses it everyday? No one I know. But just knowing it's there just in case you want it is all that matters."
Luke nodded understandably. "So. . .did you wanna stop babbling now, or did you have more to say about dental floss?"
Lorelai thought for a moment. "Nah, I'm pretty much done."
"Okay, good."
. . .
That night, they were watching television, waiting for their room service to arrive, when Lorelai's cell phone rang. She rushed over to the desk and grabbed it. "Hello?"
"Hey," Rory replied.
Lorelai smiled. "Hey hon!" She walked back to the couch and sat down next to Luke.
"How's the honeymoon?" Rory asked.
"Best honeymoon I've ever been on," Lorelai replied.
"That's good," Rory replied. "What did you do today? Anything that involved a yummy frozen treat?"
"Yes! We went on the tour, it was so cool," Lorelai said excitedly. "And they give you free samples, and I got Luke to try some Cherry Garcia."
"Luke ate ice cream?"
'Yup."
"Wow, he's becoming a Gilmore," Rory said.
"Yes, he is," Lorelai replied, looking over at him. "And then we went to some science museum, which was kinda cool. And now we're waiting for our dinner to arrive."
"Are you at a restaurant?" Rory asked. "I can call back later."
"No, it's okay, we're at the hotel," Lorelai replied. "We stayed in tonight and ordered room service."
"Nice," Rory commented.
"Yup. What have you been up to?" Lorelai asked. "Things going good?"
"Yeah, things are good," Rory replied. "We just got back from dinner at this improv comedy place. The food was good, and the people were really funny."
"Sounds like fun," Lorelai said.
"It was. You would've loved it," Rory said. "We'll have to find a place like that around us."
"What are you up to tomorrow?" Lorelai asked.
"Uh, I'm not sure," Rory replied. "I think we might go to a matinee or something before he brings me home. What about you?"
Lorelai made a face. "Luke's dragging me fishing."
Rory let out a laugh. "Fishing? Wow, Lorelai and fishing are not two words that go together."
"I know, tell me about it," Lorelai said. She sighed. "The things you have to do when you're married, I'm telling ya."
"Poor girl," Rory said sympathetically.
"I know."
"Mmkay, I should go," Rory said. "I'll call you tomorrow night when I get home."
"Okay."
"Say hi to Luke for me," Rory said.
"I will," Lorelai replied. "Love ya, hon."
"Love you, too. Bye Mom."
"Bye." Lorelai smiled to herself as she turned off the phone. She patted Luke on the leg. "Rory says hi."
"She having a good time?"
"Sounds like it."
"Good."
A few minutes later, they were watching an old rerun of Happy Days when Lorelai suddenly muted it and said, "Hey?"
"What?"
Lorelai gestured toward the television. "Are you disappointed that I'm not gonna be like that?"
Luke followed her gaze. "Like what?"
"Like Mrs. Cunningham – one of those homemaker-y type wives who'll have dinner waiting for you on the table after a long day at work," Lorelai said.
Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "When have I ever shown an interest in that type of lifestyle?"
Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know. . .sometimes guys expect things to be like that when they get married."
"If I wanted someone like that, I wouldn't have married someone who was the complete opposite of that," Luke pointed out.
Lorelai reached for his hand and started aimlessly squeezing his fingers. "So you're not gonna be disappointed when you come home from work and there's not a nice home-cooked meat loaf on the table?"
Luke smirked. "Besides missing out on the entertainment value of watching you try to prepare a meat loaf, no, I won't be disappointed."
Lorelai smiled. "So. . . things are gonna be just like they were before we were married."
"Yeah." Luke narrowed his eyes and thought for a second. "Wait, didn't we already have this conversation?"
"Yeah, but. . .I don't know, I was still a little concerned about how things would go," Lorelai admitted.
"Well, things are gonna be the same," Luke assured her. He leaned over and kissed her. "Promise."
. . .
The next morning, Luke and Lorelai were eating breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel. Lorelai scooped a forkful of eggs from his plate and ate them. "Mm, these are good." She reached for a second forkful.
"You know, this might be a crazy notion, but if you wanted eggs, you should've ordered eggs," Luke said.
"But I didn't know I wanted eggs at the time I ordered," Lorelai said. "I wanted French toast back then. Things change. Deal with it."
"Yeah, well, I could deal with it better if you weren't eating all of my food." Luke took a bite of his toast, then flipped open the brochure he had brought with him from the room. "So we'll stop at the sporting goods store that's around the corner and pick up a one-day fishing license, and then it looks like there's a nice-sized lake just a few blocks from there."
Lorelai took a sip of her coffee. "Okay, you do realize that I have no idea how to fish, right?"
Luke shrugged. "It's not hard. I'll show you how to do it."
"Just like the time you tried to show me how to make marinated chicken?" Lorelai asked. "Because that didn't go over too well."
"Yeah, because you weren't paying attention," Luke reminded her.
"I was too."
Luke sipped his orange juice, then gave her a doubtful look. "You were reading a magazine."
"But I was still listening to you," she insisted.
Luke rolled his eyes. "It comes down to the fact that the unsuccessful teaching session wasn't because of me, the teacher, but rather you, the unfocused student. This time will be different. There won't be any distractions."
"Oh, trust me, I'll find a distraction," she said, nodding her head emphatically.
. . .
That afternoon, they were at the lake, and Luke was teaching her the basics of fishing. He positioned his hands on the pole and said, "Okay, you wanna clutch onto the rod like this. . ."
Lorelai giggled. "Dirty."
He ignored her. "And hold down this little button, then throw it out toward the water like this." He cast the line into the lake. "And while it's out there, make sure you don't jerk the pole around. . ."
Lorelai giggled again.
"Or else you're gonna scare the fish away," Luke finished. "You have to be really still."
"Aren't we supposed to be going out in a boat like all those people are doing?" she asked, gesturing to some boats she saw out in the middle of the lake.
Luke nodded. "Well, the fish are easier to catch out there, but we're not wasting money on a boat, so we're just gonna fish from here. Okay, now, when you wanna pull out. . ." Lorelai giggled again, and Luke let out an annoyed sigh. "Would you please try to act like an adult for the next three minutes so I can show you how to do this?"
Lorelai put on a straight face and folded her arms across her chest. "Serious now, sorry."
"Thank you." He sighed again. "Okay, now, when you wanna pull out. . ." He paused to see if she reacted to that, but she kept her straight face. ". . .of the water, you turn this part down here." He showed her how to reel the line in. He shrugged and added, "That's all there is to it. It's really simple. Just throw it out and bring it back in."
"Sounds like a fascinating activity," Lorelai said with obvious sarcasm.
"It provides a good opportunity for thinking," he informed her, tapping the side of his head. "While you're sitting there waiting for the fish, it lets you clear your mind and think about life."
Lorelai stifled a laugh. "Wow, fishing turns you into Melodramatic Philosopher Luke. Very interesting."
He handed her a fishing pole. "Here."
"Ooh, hey, maybe we'll discover the meaning of life while we're out here thinking," she suggested. "That'd be a good story to share with everyone when we get back home."
"Not as good as the story about you freaking out," Luke said.
Lorelai narrowed her eyes with confusion. "When did I freak out?"
"You're about to." Luke reached into his tackle box and pulled out a small plastic container.
Lorelai eyed it curiously. "What's in there? Did you get that when you went in to buy the license?"
Luke smirked as he pulled the lid off. "Yup." He held the container out toward her.
Lorelai peeked into it, then made a face and took several steps back. "Ew, ew, ew!" She shuddered and shook her hands out animatedly. "That's so gross."
"You need bait. Here, take one," he said, walking toward her.
Lorelai scoffed and took several more steps back. "Ew, just keep those things away from me. You know I hate worms. They're all squishy and jiggly and . . ." She shuddered again. "Ugh."
"That's kind of how I feel about Jell-o," Luke remarked. He set the container on the ground and kneeled next to it to bait his hook as Lorelai watched on from a safe distance.
. . .
A few hours later, they were carrying their fishing stuff to the truck. "See, I don't get the point of this activity," Lorelai said. "We're sitting there for two hours before you finally catch a fish. . .and then you reel it in, look at it, then . . .throw it back in! Seems like a big waste of time to me."
"You don't always throw them back in," Luke said. "But unless you want to drive all the way back to Connecticut with a fish in the truck, there's no point in keeping it."
"And what would you have done if we were at home?" Lorelai asked. "Cooked it up and ate it?"
"Well, I'd probably clean it and de-bone it first," Luke said. "But then, yeah, cook it up and eat it. Fish is good for you."
"Yeah, well, it's not as tasty as cow," Lorelai said. She handed him her fishing pole, and he put it into the back of the truck as she sniffed her hand and made a face. "Ugh, I smell like. . .nature."
"You can take a shower when we get back to the hotel," Luke said.
"I'm gonna have to take a four hour one to get this smell off of me," Lorelai said. "It'd be easier to just leave it on me and pretend that this is my new normal smell."
"Yeah, because standing under a stream of running water and applying soap to yourself can be a very difficult task."
Lorelai frowned. "The mockery is not appreciated."
"Neither was your whining for the past hour, but I dealt with it." He took hold of her arm and pulled her toward him, capturing her lips in a kiss. He pulled back and made a face. "Ew, you do smell."
Lorelai gasped and smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up. So do you."
Luke smirked as he pushed her toward the passenger side door. "Well, the faster you get in, the faster we can get to the hotel and take a shower."
. . .
The next morning, Lorelai woke up and realized that she was alone in the bed. She glanced toward the bathroom, and through the closed door, could hear the faint sound of running water.
She yawned as she groggily climbed out of the bed and walked to the bathroom. She pushed open the door and found Luke at the sink brushing his teeth, a towel wrapped around his waist and his wet hair slicked back. He glanced over at her and smiled. "Hey."
"Hi."
She leaned against the doorway as he finished brushing, and as he wiped his mouth on a towel, he walked over to her. "Hungry?"
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah."
"Room service?"
Lorelai stifled a yawn as she stretched her arms up over her head. "Yeah, that sounds good." She rubbed her eyes. "I guess I'll take a shower while we're waiting for it." She leaned forward and hugged him, resting her head against his bare chest.
"I don't think rubbing up against someone who just took a shower constitutes as taking one yourself," Luke mused.
She looked up at him and stroked the sides of his neck with her thumbs. "Hey?"
"What?" He rested his interlocking fingers on the small of her back and pulled her closer.
She nuzzled her nose against his neck and whispered, "I had a great honeymoon."
Luke kissed the top of her head. "Good. Me, too."
. . .
A few hours later, they were at the same rest stop they'd stopped at on the way to Vermont, though this time Lorelai opted for the cookie instead of the pretzel. They were sitting on a bench in the parking lot while she ate it, and she suddenly pulled out her cell phone. "You know, I haven't called Sookie this whole time."
"So you're gonna call her now when we're only two hours from seeing her?" Luke asked.
"Yup." Lorelai dialed the inn and nibbled on her cookie while she listened to the ringing.
"Independence Inn, Michel speaking," Michel answered.
"Michel, hi, it's me," Lorelai replied.
"Oh. What do you want?"
"Nice to talk to you, too," Lorelai said. "How's everything going?"
"Oh, after four days you finally call to check up on things? How nice."
"I was busy, Michel. You only have one honeymoon," Lorelai reminded him. "Well, unless you're Larry King. But anyway, I'm calling now. . . so tell me, how are things?"
"Well, I turned the lobby into a discotheque, but everyone seems to have taken to it quite well," Michel said.
"Oh yeah? That's nice. Don't shake your thing too much, it might scare the tourists," Lorelai said. "Now pass me onto Sookie, please."
Michel sighed into the phone, and then there was silence. Almost a minute passed before Sookie finally picked up. "Hello?"
"Hey Sookie," Lorelai said.
"Lorelai! What are you doing? How's the honeymoon?"
"Great, it was perfect," Lorelai replied. "We're on our way home."
"Oh, good," Sookie replied. "So, tell me, were you that couple?"
Lorelai smiled. "You know what. . .surprisingly not. We actually went out and did stuff. . .museums, the ice cream factory, restaurants, we even went fishing. Apparently there's more to this marriage besides the physical attraction. . .who woulda thought?"
Luke narrowed his eyes at her, wondering exactly what they were talking about.
"Well, I'm glad you had a good time," Sookie said.
"How are things there?" Lorelai asked.
"Oh, everything's good. The workers went over and took down the tent and the tables and everything out of your yard."
"Oh, good. I'd forgotten about that," Lorelai said. "Rory didn't mention it when I talked to her yesterday."
"Oh, I saw her and Dean last night at Al's," Sookie said. "She said she had a good time with her dad."
"Yeah, she did. I can't wait to get home and see her."
"She's looking forward to seeing you, too."
"Aw, good." Lorelai smiled. "Okay, we'll be home in a few hours, so I'll probably see you tonight."
"Okay, honey. Bye."
"Bye."
Lorelai turned off the phone, slipped it into her purse, and shoved the last piece of cookie into her mouth. "Ready?" she mumbled with her mouth full.
Luke nodded. He stood up and they started walking to the car. "It's my turn to pick the CD."
Lorelai gasped. "Nuh uh, you picked the last one!"
"The Moulin Rouge soundtrack?" Luke asked. "Uh, try again. That was all you."
Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "Oh yeah." She sighed. "Okay, fine, it's your turn. What's it gonna be this time?"
As they approached the truck, Luke pulled the keys out of his pocket and twirled them around his finger. "I'm thinking maybe the Eagles."
Lorelai giggled. "Okay."
"Something funny?"
Lorelai smiled and shook her head. "Nope."
They stopped at the back of the truck, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"
Lorelai shrugged. "Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but you don't really know the words to Hotel California."
"So what?"
"So it's fun watching you try to sing along because you just kind of mumble the entire time until they get to the chorus and then you sort of shout out the Hotel California part extra loudly as if that'll make up for you not knowing the rest of the words." Lorelai laughed. "It's highly entertaining."
Luke rolled his eyes and pointed to the passenger door. "Just get in the car or I'm leaving you here." Lorelai smirked at him and they climbed into their seats. She put on the CD as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home.
. . .
A few hours later, they pulled up to their house, and Lorelai jumped out of the truck. She ran across the yard and burst through the front door. "Rory, we're home!"
There was no answer. Lorelai frowned as she walked to Rory's bedroom. Empty.
"Rory!" she called. She glanced at the kitchen table hoping to find a note, but there was nothing there.
She walked to the living room as Luke walked through the front door with a suitcase. "Thanks for the help," he said.
"She's not here," Lorelai said sadly, fingering the strap of her purse that was resting diagonally against her chest.
"No? Is there a note?" Luke asked as he set the suitcase by the staircase.
"Not that I see. . ."
"Maybe there's a message on the machine," Luke said, walking over to the desk. "Aha." He picked up a piece of paper and read, "Mom, went to the diner with Lane at two. I'll be back around three."
Lorelai walked over and snatched the note from his hands. "Mom, went to the diner with Lane at two. I'll be back around three," she read.
"Huh. . . sounds vaguely similar to what I just read," Luke muttered.
Lorelai took hold of Luke's wrist and checked the time on his watch. "It's twenty of. Let's go to the diner."
"Why? She'll be home in. . ." Luke's voice trailed off in response to the evil glare she was giving him. "Well, I should probably check in on Caesar anyway," he decided.
"Good boy. Let's go." She took his hand and pulled him out the front door, and they walked to the diner.
As they approached the town square, they saw Rory and Lane walking down the sidewalk toward Kim's Antiques. "Rory Gilmore!" Lorelai called.
Rory turned around toward the sound, and smiled when she saw Lorelai. "Hey!" They jogged toward each other and hugged in the center of the street.
"Ah, I missed you so much!"
"Me, too," Rory said. She pulled back and smiled as Luke walked up to them. "Hey Luke."
"Hey. How was the trip?"
"Good, yours?" Rory asked. "I see you survived the car ride."
"Yeah, just barely," he said with a smile. He put his hand on Lorelai's shoulder. "Hon, I'm gonna go check with Caesar."
Lorelai's eyes widened and she slowly turned to look at him. "What did you say?"
Slightly confused, he narrowed his eyes and repeated, "Uh, that I'm gonna go check with Caesar."
Lorelai shook her head. "No, you said, 'Hon, I'm gonna go check with Caesar.'"
"Did I?"
Lorelai smiled. "Yeah. You've never said that before."
"I think I have."
"No, you haven't. I've said it like a million times, but you've never said it. . . at least not while I was paying attention."
Luke, failing to see why this was exciting to her, shrugged. "Okay. . .well, it must've slipped out."
Lorelai kissed him on the cheek. "Well, I hope it slips out again. It's sweet."
Luke adjusted his baseball cap and gestured toward the diner. "Uh, so. . .I'll be at the diner."
Lorelai nodded. "Okay." As Luke walked toward the diner, she turned to Rory and smiled. "My husband just called me hon."
Rory smiled and nodded. "I heard. It was cute." A car honked at them, and Rory said, "Maybe standing in the street's not the best idea." They linked arms and walked over to Lane on the sidewalk.
"Hey Lane. Whatcha got there?" Lorelai asked, pointing to the box Lane was carrying.
"Oh, I got this whole box of old CDs at a yard sale a few days ago for ten bucks, and we just finished going through them," Lane explained.
"Cool. Find anything good?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah, I definitely got my money's worth," Lane replied.
"Good." Lorelai tapped Rory on the arm. "So, tell me, do I look any different?" She sucked in her cheeks and turned to the side.
Rory stepped back and looked Lorelai up and down. "No. Why?"
"Because this is the first time you've seen me in the daylight as a married woman." Lorelai scoffed as if Rory should have picked up on that fact. "Come on, there's gotta be something different-looking about me."
Rory glanced at Lane, who shrugged and said, "Don't ask me. . .I don't see it."
Rory nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me either. There's no difference, Mom. Sorry."
Lorelai frowned. "The observation skills of teenagers today are shockingly low."
"O. . .kay," Rory replied slowly. "Um, I'm gonna go help Lane put these CDs away into her intricate filing system and I'll meet you at home."
Lorelai frowned. "Aw, how long are you gonna be?"
"Not too long," Rory promised. "Like fifteen minutes or so. Then I'll come home and we can swap trip stories all night long and plan what we're gonna do this weekend."
"Your last weekend before school starts," Lorelai added.
"Yup, my last weekend with no homework. We have to use the time wisely," Rory said.
"Okay." Lorelai leaned forward and kissed Rory on the cheek. "Meet ya at home. Bye Lane."
"See ya."
Lorelai watched the two of them walk toward Kim's Antiques, then she turned around and walked toward the diner. She was about to pull open the door when Luke walked out. "Hey." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Where's Rory?"
"She's helping Lane with something," Lorelai replied, gesturing over her shoulder toward the Kim's house. "She's gonna meet me at home in a little while. What are you doing? Staying here?"
"I'm gonna go home and unpack, then come back here and take over so Caesar can leave a little early," Luke said. "He could use some time off."
"Sounds good," Lorelai said.
They started walking down the sidewalk toward their house. As they neared the gazebo, a woman pushing a baby stroller was coming from the other direction. As they passed by her, Lorelai and Luke both glanced into the stroller and saw the sleeping baby nestled inside. They shared a brief look before they both stared straight ahead and continued walking home.
Finally, Lorelai broke the silence. "Luke, we haven't talked about it in awhile."
Luke didn't have to ask what she was talking about. He knew that she was thinking about the same thing he was. "I know," he replied.
Lorelai stopped walking and turned to face him. She reached down and took his hands into hers. "I still want one."
Luke nodded. "Me, too."
"Yeah?"
He stroked the top of her hands with his thumbs. "Absolutely."
Lorelai smiled, then reached into her purse, fumbled around inside, and pulled out a compact. "Then just say the word and I'll go off the pill."
Surprised, Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "You carry those things around with you all the time?"
"No, but I had them in my purse for the trip instead of packing them in my suitcase," Lorelai explained. She waved him off and shook her head. "But forget that. Just say it. . .just say that you're ready to start trying and I'll stop taking 'em."
Luke rested his hands on her waist and pulled her closer. "Are you sure that you're ready?"
"Uh, I think I've kind of made that point clear by the fact that I'm practically ready to throw these pills down the street," Lorelai said, shaking the compact at him.
Luke took it from her. "No, don't do that. You shouldn't litter unless it's directly in front of the market to tick Taylor off."
"Well, the point is. . .that I'm ready." Lorelai tilted her head and stared at him questioningly. "What about you?"
He stared down at the compact for a moment, then brought his gaze up to look into her eyes. She was staring back at him with an almost nervous look as she waited for him to respond. He reached forward and slipped the compact into her purse, then placed his hand on her cheek as he kissed her.
Lorelai kissed him back softly, then pulled back and swallowed hard. "Well?"
Luke brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "Go off 'em."
Lorelai's eyes widened and a small smile formed on her lips. "Yeah? You mean it? You're ready?"
Luke nodded. "Yeah."
Lorelai's smile widened and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He hugged her back tightly as she said, "Oh my God, we need to start thinking of baby names! And we better start buying baby clothes. Ooh, I wonder if they make little baby coffee mugs! Oh, and we need to start buying toys. They have such cute things out there nowadays, we really – "
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Luke interrupted as he pulled back from her. "Why don't you wait until you're actually pregnant to start doing stuff like that."
Lorelai grinned and rubbed her palms together. "I'm just excited."
"I know. . .so am I, but let's just wait," Luke said. "Especially since if anyone in town sees you buying stuff like that, it'll be all over within minutes that we're trying to have a kid."
"And then you'll have the whole town just staring at you, wondering when the hell you're gonna do your job and knock me up," Lorelai added with a smirk.
"Yes, and that kind of pressure can be very difficult to work under," Luke informed her.
Lorelai smiled and nodded. "I understand. The possibility of disappointing an entire town with your sexual prowess could be pretty detrimental to your ego."
"Yes, it could," he confirmed.
They smiled at each other for a moment before Lorelai raised up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. As he returned the kiss, he gently stroked her back with his fingertips. She pulled back with a content sigh and smiled at him. "So. . .let's go home," she said. Luke nodded. Lorelai laced her fingers through his and they continued walking down the sidewalk.
. . .
THE END. . .
Author's Note:
Wow. It feels very weird, and kind of sad, to type "The End". . .but yes, it's true, it's the end.
Okay, since this is my last chance to show my appreciation, I will bring it out in full force – thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over! I was completely blown away by the support and encouragement that I received for this story. Every single one of you who has ever given me feedback, no matter how long or how short, no matter if it was positive or negative, I thank you tremendously for reading this story and for letting me know how you felt about it. It's my first Luke/Lorelai story, and it was incredibly fun starting up and developing a relationship between these two characters that I love to death.
Okay, well, after 10 very long months, and approximately 1100 pages spread throughout several Word documents, I'm officially declaring this story complete. Thanks so much for reading! :)