The Wedding Part 3

By Steph ([email protected])

A/N-- Thank you for the reviews. Thanks also to Jen and Bajo2005 for patiently explaining what a Narco is. I do appreciate it.

Thursday Night

"Rory," Lorelai called.

"In here," Rory called back. "How was your date?"

Lorelai walked into the kitchen. "It was good."

"Tell me everything," Rory said.

"Give me a second," Lorelai said opening the freezer. She took out a pint of ice cream. "Luke's not too big on eating junk food and I am going through withdrawal."

"Get two spoons," Rory said.

"Way ahead of you, sister," Lorelai said. She sat down across from her daughter.

"So where did you go? What did you two do? Did he get all dressed up?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders. "Well, he did break out the nice flannel. The flannel that he saves for special occasions."

"What about the cap?"

She laughed. "Well he wore it for the car ride, but when we got to the restaurant his head was cap-less. It was weird. I told him he didn't look like himself. I told him he looked like Luke's long-lost, fancier cousin Duke. And then I asked him if I could call him Duke when he wasn't wearing a cap. Can you believe that he said no?"

"Where did you go?"

"We went to a Chinese restaurant. One of those healthy ones." She said "healthy" like it was a dirty word.

"What did you get?"

"Let me tell you, my options were very limited. I ended up getting some super healthy chicken and vegetable dish. Once I poured soy sauce on the chicken and gave Luke all my vegetables, I was happy."

"Was it weird?"

"The meal?"

"No," Rory said. "Being on a date with Luke."

"Yes," she admitted. "We were nervous with each other at first. Like we didn't know how to talk to each other in this setting. But it got a little easier."

"That's good. Did you do anything after dinner?"

"Yes," Lorelai said happily. "Somehow he found this place…this magnificent place…that somehow both serves coffee and vile, healthy fruit-related juice drinks. And with this simple act, a compromise was reached. It was wonderful."

"If only all compromises were that easy…" Rory mused.

"There isn't one disagreement that a café serving both a steaming cup of coffee and an orange-strawberry-wheat germ-bee pollen concoction couldn't solve."

"Sounds like cartoon superheroes."

"That would be so cool!" Lorelai said. "The crazy adventures of Java, the fun, carefree, caffeinated hero, and Juicy, the anal-retentive, health-conscious, nerdy sidekick. I would so watch that."

Rory laughed. "Back to the date."

"Oh right. We drove back here. That's it."

"That's it?" Rory asked.

"He kissed me and then…" she smiled softly.

"What? Nothing dirty?"

"No, it's our first date. He said to me 'I guess it's official now" and that was it."

"What's official?"

"That we're dating. It's so weird. I am dating Luke," she said trying it out.

"And tomorrow he's going to meet your parents." Rory pointed out.

"I know," Lorelai said. "That's what I'm a little afraid of."

Friday morning

"Mom, oh good you're there," Lorelai said.

"Where else would I be? You aren't calling to cancel tonight?" Emily asked.

"No."

"And the Iceman is coming?"

"Mom, he does have a name."

"I am perfectly aware of that. I wasn't planning on calling him that to his face."

"So when you meet him you're going to say 'Hello, Luke, nice to meet you.'?"

"What part of that sentence do you object to?"

"Well actually, " Lorelai said, an idea forming in her head. "His real name is Lucas. And he likes people

to call him that when he first meets them. Something about not liking people to get too familiar with him before he knows them."

"That sounds reasonable."

"It was a couple of days before Rory and I were allowed to call him Luke. If he allows you and Dad to call him Luke right away, that's a very good sign."

"Well, we do want him to like us. God only knows what you've told him about us."

"Nothing bad, Mom. Oh I did tell him about the whole child sweatshop ring you two were involved in, but other than that…"

"Honestly Lorelai, I don't know why you say the things you do sometimes."

They said goodbye and hung up.

Friday night

"You're early," Rory said.

"I'm on time," Luke told her.

"That's early. She's still getting ready. Come on in," she said opening the door.

"You look so different," Rory said. He was dressed in black pants and a nice white shirt. No cap to speak of. She grinned. "Almost like a long-lost, fancier cousin…possibly named Duke."

"Don't start," he said and turned away so Rory wouldn't see his smile. She still saw it.

"Okay, that's it," Lorelai said coming downstairs. "Rory, we are definitely going shopping tomorrow. It was either this dress or going naked and breaking out some body paint to make it look like I was wearing…" She stopped when she saw Luke. "Oh hey. Didn't expect to see you here."

"So I imagined the invitation last week?" he asked.

"No, I mean I didn't expect to see you yet. Okay I'm ready. Let's go."

They let Rory walk ahead and shared a quick kiss. "I was just kidding about the body paint," Lorelai said.

"Oh," Luke said. "Too bad," he said. He walked ahead.

She smiled surprised. "Dirty" she thought to herself. She must be rubbing off on him. Hee, that was dirty too. She followed them into the car.

"So any last instructions?" Luke asked as they stood outside.

"Nope, you're on your own, soldier," Lorelai said.

"Our prayers are with you," Rory said.

"Remember the world is depending on you," Lorelai added.

"Try to get a damn straight answer…" Luke muttered shaking his head.

"Just show her some of that patented Danes charm and they'll be in loooooove with you," Lorelai said.

Rory reached out to press the doorbell. "Be strong," she instructed Luke.

Lorelai turned to Luke. "I'll tell you what Rory and I tell each other whenever we don't really want to come here. It'll be over in a few hours and then Luke will make you a cheeseburger. Oh wait, that really doesn't help you, does it?"

The door finally opened. "Come in," Emily said. "Welcome Lucas."

Luke looked at her for a second before saying. "Call me, Luke, Mrs. Gilmore." He shot Lorelei a dirty look.

Emily beamed. "And I'm Emily." When Luke's back was turned, Lorelai gave her mom a thumbs-up sign.

Richard stood up to say hello to everyone. He held out his hand to Luke. "Glad you could come, Lucas."

Luke shook it and said. "Luke, Mr. Gilmore. Call me Luke." He shot Lorelai another dirty look.

"Well, fine then. Call me Richard. Who wants drinks?"

After everyone was settled, Emily turned to Luke and Lorelai. "So, I hear you two went out last night. What did you do?"

"We went to this healthy Chinese restaurant and then to a coffee/juice place." Lorelai said.

"I know my daughter doesn't eat well, so all this health food must be your doing," Emily said.

"I try to eat healthy," Luke admitted.

"Well you must be a good influence on the girls."

Lorelai laughed. "Mom, he's our supplier. Who do you think makes us burgers and fries on a daily basis?"

"That isn't healthy for you. If you won't think of your own health, at least think of Rory's. It's not healthy to eat like that all the time. You two don't need to diet to lose weight, but you need to eat healthier."

"My former partner had this assistant," Richard began, "who was always on this weird diet. Some days she wouldn't eat anything; other days she would eat everything. She used to go through whole cartons of doughnuts and cakes. She was a nice enough girl, but always taking restroom breaks."

"Umm dad," Lorelai said, "that's not a weird diet. She was probably bulimic. Hey that reminds me, did you hear the one about the bulimic's birthday party?"

"Mom," Rory hissed. She made a throat-slashing gesture. Lorelai nodded.

A few minutes later they all sat down to dinner. They stuck to safe, pleasant topics. Rory's upcoming seminar in Washington and Sookie's wedding.

"I was glad to see that you finally joined everyone at the wedding Luke," Emily said.

"I had some business to take care of before I was free," he lied.

"Yes," Richard said. "We were almost late as well. I had some phone calls to make."

"It was very nice to see you, although I must admit I have had more skilled dance partners in my life." Emily said.

Luke looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry again."

"That was a joke," Lorelai said. "Trust me. I'm fluent in Emily."

"Don't be rude," Emily said. Then she smiled again at Luke.

"Now, Luke," Richard said. "You own that little diner, right?"

"Right," he said.

"How long have you owned it?"

"Almost 20 years," he said relieved. He'd rather speak about his diner than his lack of dancing skills any day.

"And has it been successful for you?" Richard asked. "Because I just read this wonderful book on small businesses…"

Emily and Lorelai met each other's eyes. They made some excuse about checking on dessert and went into the kitchen. Rory followed them in after two seconds of business-talk.

"I like him," Emily said. "He's a nice guy."

"He is," Lorelai said. "I know he's not superrich and I've heard that his dancing leaves something to be desired…"

"He's good to you and to Rory, isn't he?" Emily asked.

"Very good," Lorelai said.

"Very very good," Rory said.

"Well, that's what matters doesn't it?" Emily asked. She picked up the plate of cookies and went into the dining room.

"She never stops surprising me," Lorelai said to Rory. They walked back into the dining room.

"So it's over," Lorelai said to Rory and Luke as they drove home. Richard had lent Luke seven business books and Emily had lent him one on ballroom dancing.

"They're nice people," he said.

"They're surprising. I'll give them that," Lorelai said. "Let's go to the diner."

He sighed. "Coffee and donuts only. I'm not cooking."

Lorelai looked over her shoulder to Rory. "Sounds good to me," Rory said.

Lorelai looked over to Luke. "Sounds like a deal." A second passed. "Lucas."

A/N--Bad ending, I know. So should we end this here or continue? If you want another part, I am very open to suggestions. I am all for continuing this, but unlike "Baskets," which had a definite linear plot, I have no idea what to do next. Ideas are very welcome. If not, then "The End."J