Six chapters later and it's over. You know, when I started this fic I never thought I'd actually be able to give it a happy ending but it just kinda followed. I can only hope that things can work out for Luke and Lorelai in S7. Both need to realize their mistakes and figure out how to forgive and understand that loving each other is more important than anger. Guess we'll see in a few months. At least I can say my catharsis is done, I have faith in Luke and Lorelai once again. Thanks for reading and please review!
This morning when Luke wakes up, before he opens his eyes, he can already tell that things are not the same as they were yesterday morning when he woke up. Not only are they not at Lorelai's house, but this time he knows she's still in bed with him. As much as his arms are aching from her laying on them all night, he has no desire to move them even an inch. Instead he buries his face in her hair, breathing in the fruity scent of her hair and the salty scent of all the tears she cried.
Then he opens his eyes and looks down at her sleeping face. Seeing her as more peaceful than he can remember in the past year. Her lips are curved into a small smile and it melts his heart. He longs to reach out and stroke his fingers over her soft cheek and run his thumb over her lips. And he wants to lean down and kiss her lips.
It's at this point he realizes that any negative feelings that have coursed through him since Friday night have all disappeared. The simple words from her lips, telling him that he's the only one she's loved. That he's the beginning and end to all her dreams. That he's the one she's fighting for. It's all he's needed.
Sure it had hurt, knowing that she had given herself to Christopher, but after all of yesterday, he has finally understood why. That his own part had been to shut her out, keeping her from seeing him anymore as a person that she could go to. That she now fully regretted her mistake and for him to stay angry at her was to prolong their separation and to cause even more anguish in the woman that he loved. She had forgiven him for everything, for not living up to being the person he promised to be, for not seeing how much he was hurting her. It was only fair that he let go of his hurt feelings for her betrayal.
And last night, when she was upset, she had come to him. And he hopes that he responded in the way she needed him to. He believes that he has.
But where to go from here?
They had talked and explained. They had forgiven and repledged their love for each other. They had each tried to fix their wrongs. And last night, they had finally returned to being the couple that they had once been. Two people there for each other through the good times and the bad. And he had held her close as he does still and now suddenly realizes that he's finally ready to take their two lives, their two personalities and form it into one strong solid marriage.
Moving the arm that she's not laying on, Luke touches her hand on his chest with his, taking her hand in his. His fingers playing with the sparkling ring on her finger. He stares at it, admiring its beauty, really seeing how well it fits to her finger, how it is almost a part of her. And he smiles to himself, as if he is almost a part of her. And then her fingers squeeze his back.
He looks down into her eyes, the soft smile on her face. "Morning," she whispers. He squeezes her hand.
"Morning," he responds. She adjusts to lay flat on her back, her head on his arm. Taking his hand between both of hers, she begins to play with his fingers. He bends his head down, smelling her hair again, placing a few small kisses next to her ear and he hears her giggle softly. He picks his head up and gives her a knowing smile, but hers disappears, and she gnaws on her bottom lip. "Hmmm?" he grunts.
"Luke, I don't want to sleep together until we're married," she says gravely. Luke raises an eyebrow.
"But…" He glances up and down her. "We just…" She shakes her head.
"No, Luke, I mean sleeping together, sleeping together," she says.
"Ah." She sniffs as the pained look returns to her eyes.
"I still feel so…" she trails off, pressing her lips together. "I love you Luke and I want to be with you, but…"
"I get it," he says. She stares up at him.
"Really?" He shrugs.
"Maybe."
"It's like a born again virgin kind of thing," she explains causing Luke to burst into laughter. She grins at his response. "I just need to not feel it anymore, that whole night, I don't want to feel that for the rest of my life – our life." Luke nods.
"Speaking of that, when are we going to get married?" he asks.
"Really? You're asking me that?"
"Well, Friday night didn't work for me," he responds lightly, as an attempt at a joke. She rolls her eyes. "But I want to marry you Lorelai. And I know saying that is getting a little 'boy who cried wolf' so I want to make good on that." She smiles. "That is, if you will please take back your now or never ultimatum."
"Thrown out the window," she responds instantly. Luke nods, squeezing her hand, interlacing their fingers. They both watch their hands for a moment.
"You know, it is May 10th," he notes. She looks up at him with a puzzled expression.
"That's what my joke of the day email told me too," she jokes.
"How much of that stuff from June 3rd do you still have paid for?" he asks. Her eyes open wide in shock.
"Are you serious?" she wonders in disbelief. He shrugs.
"Sure. I mean, I talked to Emily yesterday, she said that the lawyer she hired for me is trying to get the process moving quickly. And even then, he's getting me visitation rights with April. It may take some explaining to April, or something, I might need a little help with that." Her eyebrows rise again.
"You'd let me do that?" she asks in surprise.
"Lorelai, I do my best, but you're the one who saved me in that birthday party. And she's fitting into our life, not our lives, our life and that means both of us," Luke responds.
"Well one and one still equals two," she notes.
"Not once we get married," he contends. She smiles softly. He reaches up and brushes some of her hair out of her face. "You still scared?" She shakes her head.
"No, I'm ready Luke, I'm ready," she maintains. "Just please, don't back out on me again." He shakes his head, leaning in and kissing her.
"Never," he promises.
"Well, we still have the church. And I've got the dress. And I'm not sure about the caterer but Sookie can still whip something up."
"What do we still need?" Luke asks. "Can we get it together in less than a month?"
"I don't know, maybe. We need invitations," she says.
"We'll just call people. Are we inviting many people that Patty can't just get through the gossip chain?" She grins.
"Nope, not that I can think of."
"Okay then. What else?" he asks. She opens her mouth to respond and then closes it.
"Luke, are you sure you want to do this on June 3rd? I mean it's really soon," she reminds him.
"Yes, I realize that, but there's nothing I want more than to finally marry you. The quicker we do this, the quicker you become Mrs. Lorelai Danes." She grins.
"I like the sound of that." She purses her lips. "You sure you want a big wedding? I mean you were talking about eloping."
"I want you to have your perfect wedding," he insists. "And I want you to be happy. I want you to be able to look back on our wedding and forget all these months that lead up to it, all the pain I put you through, all the pain you've put yourself through in the past few days. Because, Lorelai, I couldn't live with myself if you still saw that side of me, I couldn't live with myself if you spent everyday repenting for past transgressions. We need to start anew." She frowns, reaching up and running a hand down his cheek and then cupping his chin. She takes a shaky breath as if she's about to cry, and she is, but not the painful tears of the night before.
"You won," she says.
"I what?"
"You won, Luke. You said you wanted to fight for me, for us. Well you did, you won. And I won. I won you." He nods, leaning in and kissing her again.
"You did," he agrees, laying his head back down next to hers. "Can I ask you something?"
"If you can move your arm that has fallen asleep?" she guesses. He chuckles. She moves her head so that he can adjust his arm. He breathes a sigh of relief. "Better?" He leans over and kisses her nods.
"Much. But I wanted to ask you about that movie."
"Indecent Proposal?" she asks.
"Yeah. Can we see that sometime? Because I'm thinking I'm really going to like that David guy," he asks. She cracks up.
"Anytime you want. Hey, if we're getting married on June 3rd, does that mean you're going to move in on June 3rd?" she asks.
"Yup. You ready for me?" She shrugs.
"Sure. The real question is if Paul Anka is ready for you," she comments. Luke sighs.
"Man, I at least thought I rated over the dog," he groans. She laughs. They lay there for a moment in silence and then she curls into him, burying her face in his chest.
"Luke," she says softly.
"Yup?" he grunts, having almost fallen asleep again. She looks up at him, waiting for him to wake up enough to look back at her. And after a moment, he does.
"Are you happy?" she asks. He nods.
"I am. Are you?"
"Happier than I've ever been," Lorelai responds. With that Lorelai tilts her head up to capture his lips once more with her, kissing him deeply and longingly. Then she rests her head against his chest as he nestles his nose in her hair. And they both close their eyes, knowing that they are once again at peace and that though recent times had been hard, they only served to make the future a little sweeter and a little more certain and, now that they have climbed out of that hole, a little bit brighter..