Entry tags:
birthday prezzie
Even though I'm a wee bit early, I'm posting this anyway. Mainly because I like sleep, and thus I don't want to have to get up any earlier than I already need to in order to post this in the morning. So, here it is.
Happy 21st Birthday to![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shannigansx!! I'm so glad to have "met" you those seven months ago. And in honor of your birthday, I have written a fic. So here it is.
Title: Her Best Birthday Ever
Fandom: Gilmore Girls
Ship: Luke and Lorelai
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It's Lorelai's best birthday ever...thanks to Luke.
A/N: My sincerest thanks toenigmaticblues and ciachick711 for your comments and corrections. They were invaluable to me, and made this piece better.
“We should have birthday sex every night,” Lorelai said as she snuggled down under the covers of her bed, resting her head on Luke’s bare chest. Luke chuckled, and Lorelai reveled in the vibration his chest made on her cheek. She continued. “I’m serious. If birthday sex with you is always that good, we should have it every night.”
“But since it’s not your birthday every day – nor is it my birthday every day - that would be impossible,” Luke pointed out.
“You would have to do that.” Lorelai lifted her head and pretended to glare at Luke, who was resting on a mound of pillows with one arm above his head. His other hand was busy tracing circles on her lower back.
“What?” Luke asked, a small smile beginning to show on his face. “State the obvious?”
“You call it stating the obvious. I call it trying to rain on my parade. But lucky for you, my friend, I’m in a forgiving mood today.”
“Yes, lucky for me.” Luke’s tone was sarcastic and his smile was getting bigger.
“Hey, mock me if you must. But today is my birthday, which means I get whatever I want. Regardless of what you think, Mr. Practical.”
Again, she glared at him, pretending to be mad. “I’m declaring every day my birthday, so we can have birthday sex all the time. Or better yet, I could just declare every day my very merry unbirthday like in Alice in Wonderland.” She paused.
“I think I might be onto something here.” Lorelai was now resting with one elbow on the bed next to Luke and one hand on his chest, talking rather animatedly.
Luke, however, was looking satisfied and rather sleepy. “Whatever you say, Lorelai,” he mumbled, his eyes beginning to close. He had learned long ago to just agree with Lorelai and her crazy ideas. They were amusing, if nothing else. And if truth be told, he wouldn’t have her any other way. Her crazy ideas were part of what made Lorelai who she was, and her steady stream of banter was just one of the reasons he’d fallen in love with her.
“No seriously, Luke. I know you’re falling asleep over there, but you should really try to follow this train of thought with me. This benefits you too, after all. Unless I missed the memo telling me you’re no longer interested in sex.”
Luke perked up a little at that. “What? No.” His eyes now wide open, he paused, looking confused. “Lorelai, tell me why are we having this conversation again.”
“I was attempting to point out to you the sexual benefits of it being my birthday every day. Of course, maybe we could split the days of the year. Half of them could be my birthday and the other half yours. That way we’d still be having birthday sex every day. But it’d be 50/50. Not always about me.” She paused and looked at Luke as if this were the most serious conversation in the world. “What do you think?”
“Lorelai…” Luke started.
“I know. I’ll stop. You want to go to sleep.” Lorelai chuckled to herself as she realized just how ridiculous she was being. She couldn’t help it, though. She loved birthdays, and the fact that it was hers excited her, even if it was almost over. Add to her excitement the fact that she was in bed with Luke, and she was downright giddy. Lorelai figured she was entitled to some ridiculousness. Her face revealed her happiness.
Luke could never resist a happy-looking Lorelai, especially when he knew he was at least partly the cause of her happiness. “Come here,” he said, nodding for Lorelai to join him near the top of the bed. Lorelai pushed herself up the short distance until her face was right above Luke’s, looking down at him. “Happy birthday, Lorelai,” he said. And then he lifted his head and kissed her long and slow, one hand cupping her face and the other tangling in her hair.
Lorelai sighed into his mouth, one of her own hands resting on his cheek. When the kiss was over, Lorelai leaned back on her elbow and looked him in the eye. “Thank you, Luke.” She gave him one of those smiles that lit up her whole face. “You make me so happy. You know that, right?”
He smiled and reached out to play with a strand of her hair that was lying on her shoulder. “I suspected so, but it’s nice to hear. After everything I put you through recently…” he trailed off. His eyes were focused on his fingers playing with her hair, but they briefly looked up and met hers. “You make me happy, too.”
Lorelai smiled. “Well, good. ‘Cause all joking aside, that was some seriously awesome sex we just had. Have you been practicing…without me? Wait.”
“Nope, I’ve just been saving up all my good moves for your birthday.” Luke’s tone was playful.
Lorelai smiled. It was so rare for Luke to joke around with her. “Well, whatever it was, you were amazing. And not just the sex. This whole day has been amazing, Luke.”
“It really has.” Luke yawned. “Sorry.”
“Hey, no need to be sorry. You’ve got good reason to be worn out. It’s time to call it a night. I’ll let you sleep now.” She gave Luke another kiss and then laid down on his chest again.
“Night, Luke.”
“G’night,” he said in a muffled voice. And within minutes he was asleep, snoring lightly. Lorelai, however, knew sleep would be a long time in coming for her. Her mind was racing. She was still too high on the day.
* * *
The day had started out with breakfast in bed. Luke had made her chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream. Of course, being Luke, he’d also given her a bowl of fresh fruit with her pancakes and demanded that she eat it. She whined because whining over eating something healthy was her thing, her bit. But deep down, she knew that this was Luke’s way of expressing his concern for her well-being. He did not want to lose her prematurely to unhealthy eating habits. So she ate the fruit and enjoyed it, although she let Luke think each bite was a struggle.
She had then met Rory in Hartford for some frivolous girl shopping and lunch, while Luke checked in on things at the diner and waited for April to arrive. It had taken many months and several serious conversations before she and Luke had reached an understanding about what the other wanted as far April was concerned. Lorelai had hoped for a long time that Luke would realize how much she wanted to meet April and invite her to do so. But instead of this happening, Luke had only become more and more closed off and unwilling to talk about anything having to do with his daughter.
At her wit’s end and seriously doubting the stability of their relationship, Lorelai had finally confronted him about the situation, demanding to know what she had done to lose his trust. This had thrown Luke for a complete loop, and once he realized exactly what had Lorelai upset, he had begun apologizing profusely. He had admitted that he did in fact want her to meet April, but had been convinced that this was not what Lorelai wanted. He had misinterpreted her awkwardness whenever April’s name was mentioned to mean that Lorelai wanted nothing to do with April. So to make Lorelai’s life easier, he had stopped mentioning her at all. Having learned a lesson in the need for constant communication about their feelings, they then began taking steps to correct the April-related problems in their relationship.
A few weeks prior to Lorelai’s birthday, she and Luke had gone to Woodbury for Lorelai to officially meet April, and Anna. The Anna part had been at Lorelai’s insistence, partly because she wanted to size up the woman who was the mother of Luke’s child, but mostly because of her strong sense of the mother code. If Lorelai was going to be spending any time with April, she wanted Anna to be comfortable with it. She figured the best way for Anna not to feel threatened by her and to trust her with April was for Anna to meet her in the flesh. To have a chance to size her up too.
A week later, Luke, Lorelai, Rory and April all had dinner together at Sniffy’s, away from the inquiring eyes of Stars Hollow. The meal had been awkward as all parties involved were nervous, and April tended to be very reserved, just like her father. But eventually the four of them had struck up a comfortable conversation. Lorelai, Rory and April had even bonded over a shared love of stupid TV and movies.
“The worse it is, the better,” April had stated. “I find stupid TV incredibly fascinating, and amusing.” Lorelai and Rory had wholeheartedly agreed.
Ever since then Lorelai had made an attempt to stop by the diner at least briefly during the times she knew April would be there. She wanted to give Luke and April time to get to know one another, so she tried not to crowd them. But she also wanted to get to know April and sensed that April was at least vaguely interested in getting to know her. So she would stop at the diner and drink a cup of coffee at the counter while chatting with Luke and April when possible.
Luke had surprised her earlier in the week when he had asked if she’d mind if April joined them for her birthday celebration. He knew that Lorelai and Rory were planning a big movie night, and since he knew April also enjoyed movies, he thought it would be a great opportunity for her to hang out with the family. Lorelai had been incredibly touched, both by the fact that he had called the three of them a family and that he wanted April to join them. So after making sure it was okay with Anna, plans had been made for April to attend movie night.
So today, April had ridden her bike to Stars Hollow and then come home with Luke once Lorelai and Rory returned from their day of shopping in Hartford. They had ordered a pizza for dinner, proving that it was indeed Lorelai’s birthday by the mere fact that Luke put up little stink over this choice for dinner. To Lorelai’s squeals of delight, everyone (including April) had then given her their gifts. Luke gave her a bracelet he’d had Liz make that matched the earrings and necklace he’d previously given her. For this, he earned a big smile and a kiss. Rory had purchased nearly ever Paul Anka album she could get her hands on and given them to Lorelai, along with a framed photo of Paul Anka, the dog.
“He’s part of the family,” Rory said. “It’s time he took his place on the mantle with the rest of us.” Lorelai found herself teary-eyed at this.
April had then hesitantly given Lorelai her gift, and Lorelai could only suspect that Rory, Luke, or both had helped her pick it out. It was a DVD of March of the Penguins, and Lorelai bounced up and down and clapped upon seeing it. She made sure that April knew just how much she loved the gift, and April visibly relaxed.
Then it was time for movie night, complete with the typical assortment of junk food and a line up that included Sixteen Candles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and thanks to April, March of the Penguins. Luke let his disgust be known over the food that was being consumed, but April was in heaven. Luke watched movies with the girls for awhile, but once it was evident that April was having a good time and would be fine without him, he slipped out, saying that he was going to check on the diner. He returned a little over an hour later, just in time to catch most of the last movie.
It had been arranged with Anna, due to the fact that movie night was sure to run late into the evening, that April would spend the night and Luke would drive her home in the morning. So they set up a make-shift bed for April on the floor in Rory’s room, and after saying goodnight, left Rory and April chatting to go upstairs to their own room. To Lorelai’s surprise (since both April and Rory were in the house), Luke had wanted to have sex.
Lorelai, who was beginning to doze off while still lying on Luke’s chest, lifted her head and gave his chest a quick peck. Today had been a rather quiet day as far as her birthdays went. And yet as she thought about it, she was convinced it had been one of her best birthdays yet. Today, she, Luke, Rory and April had truly begun to feel like a family, and that made her feel happier and more at home than anything. She’d make sure to never let her secret out (as she also liked being spoiled on her birthday), but today had proven to her that a simple day spent in the company of those she loved most in the world meant more to her than getting the world’s largest pizza for her birthday.
She snuggled up closer to Luke, and letting out a contented sigh, finally fell asleep.
* * *
“Lorelai….Lorelai.” She was awoken by the sound of Luke whispering her name into her ear and lightly tapping her on the shoulder. She had been in one of those deep sleeps, having a dream that she could not remember upon waking. Had Luke not been whispering her name into her ear, she probably would not have remembered who she was, or where she was for that matter. Those were her favorite kinds of sleeps.
She peeked one eye open and turned her head to look up at Luke. “Hey,” she said in a sleepy voice. “What time is it?”
“It’s about seven.”
“Seven am? Luke, why are you waking me up - let alone attempting to talk to me - at seven am? On one of my days off.”
“Because I need you to get up. I want to show you something.”
Luke had been standing behind her, leaning over her. Lorelai now flopped over in bed to face him. He was fully dressed. Flannel shirt, work boots, baseball cap and all.
“Luke, have I taught you nothing since we’ve been sleeping together? On days when you do not have to open the diner, you do not get up and get dressed by seven am. You should still be sleeping at seven am. Or pretending to sleep. For sleep is glorious,” she said in a whimsical voice. “So take off those clothes, and come back to bed. I may even be persuaded to do other things besides sleep,” she purred, burying herself back under the covers once again and closing her eyes.
“Lorelai, please. Just get up.”
“No-ooo, Luke.” She was whining now.
“Please?” This was said with a combination of desperation and exasperation, so Lorelai figured she better start listening.
She opened her eyes and looked at him again. “But why, Luke? Why?” a slight whine still in her voice.
“I told you. I have something I want to show you.”
“This something is so important that it cannot wait for just one more hour?” She loved sleep enough to try.
“Lorelai,” he was getting really frustrated now. “You can drag me out of bed at three am to go to a ridiculous town meeting, but I can’t wake you up at seven am? For something a lot less ridiculous than a town meeting.”
“Well, you do have a point there,” Lorelai admitted. “But how do I know it’s less ridiculous?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me on that. It’s just – well, I want to show it to you while we can still be alone. Before everyone else starts waking up and disturbing us.”
“Well, OK.” And that was all it took. Lorelai’s curiosity was peeked. She tossed the covers off and headed for the bathroom. “Can I have a moment to pee?”
“Jeez, Lorelai.”
She turned back to look at him. “Hey, mister. It’s a natural bodily function, and I haven’t gone for several hours. It’s not like I can help it.”
“I know that, Lorelai. But you don’t have to…” he stopped, knowing better than to start down this road with her. They’d never get anywhere if that happened. “Never mind, just go.”
Lorelai came out of the bathroom a few minutes later to find Luke sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked rather impatient, and was that nervous? Lorelai thought that whatever he wanted to show her had to be something really good if he was this worked up over it.
“So Luke, should I be putting some clothes on? Where are we going?”
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it should be something warm. We’re going to the garage.”
“The garage?” She shot him a confused look, her curiosity at an all-time high. What could possibly be in the garage that he was this adamant about showing her? What – in the garage - was worthy of waking her up at seven am to see?
“Yes, the garage. And the faster you get dressed, the faster we can get there.”
“OK, OK. I’m moving.”
* * *
They were standing in front of the garage, the doors still closed. Or as closed as they could get with the boat in there. Wait, Lorelai thought, the boat. Could it be possible Luke wanted to show her the boat? She was not sure why that would be the case, but it seemed the only logical explanation at this point.
“Luke, did you bring me out here to show me the boat?” Lorelai asked.
He paused, his hand on the garage door. He looked momentarily surprised before responding. Apparently he had not expected her to figure it out. “Yes, actually, I did.”
Without further ado, he opened the door.
Lorelai gasped. “Luke, it’s finished! You finished the boat?” She looked at him for confirmation, and he nodded affirmatively. “You finished the boat,” she stated again, pride in her voice.
Moving into the garage, she began walking down one side of the boat, taking it all in. Luke had painted it a bright white color with a navy blue trim. It looked like it could seat about four people, two in front behind the steering wheel and other controls, and two in the rear of the boat facing one another. The seats were covered in tan leather. And a shiny glass windshield rose up in front of the two front seats. It really was beautiful.
Standing behind the rear of the boat, she looked up at Luke and grinned. “Luke, it looks amazing. But when did you finish it?” She did not think he’d worked on it much during the winter due to the cold weather. But he must have been working on it more than she thought. Maybe when she was not around.
“Well, I’ve been working on it whenever I could over the past several months. But I’ve tried to keep it pretty quiet, to work on it when you weren’t here or were otherwise occupied. I wanted to surprise you with it for your birthday.”
“Awww, sweet. But my birthday was yesterday,” she teased him, a playful look on her face.
“Yes, but you would have been expecting a surprise on your birthday. So I figured I’d throw you off a bit. Make it a real surprise by showing it to you the day after your birthday.”
“Oh-ho-ho, you’re good, mister. You are good.” She smiled at him.
He smiled back at her, looking rather proud of himself. He reached his hands behind his back and tucked his thumbs into his back pockets while rocking up on his toes. “Last night when I said I went to the diner, I actually came out here and put some finishing touches on the boat. Made sure it was ready for this morning.”
Lorelai looked impressed. “You are sneaky, and I am proud. I knew there was a reason you’re my fiancé.” She placed her hand on the upper edge of the boat and ran her hand along its smooth surface as she walked around to the other side of the boat. “Really Luke, it’s gorge-”
She stopped short when she saw something written on the boat. “Luke, what’s this?” she asked, her mouth hanging open.
Written in beautiful cursive letters on the side of the boat was ‘The Lorelai.’
“That would be the name of the boat,” he told her, finally walking over to join her.
She turned to look at him, one hand on her heart and tears in her eyes. “You – you named the boat after me?”
Luke now hung his head, suddenly very bashful. “Yeah. I did.”
She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. “Luke, look at me.” When he looked up, she leaned in and kissed him briefly.
When the kiss was over, she stepped back and looked him in the eye. “I don’t even know what to say, Luke. No one’s ever named a boat after me before.”
Lorelai knew that Luke said more with his actions than he ever did with words, so this latest act left her feeling incredibly touched. Especially after everything they’d gone through over the past several months. First with Rory and then with April, and Lorelai’s worry that Luke didn’t love her anymore.
“Yeah, well. You know I’m not too good with words,” Luke started. “But I thought it was fitting to name the boat after you. I mean, if not for you, the boat wouldn’t be finished now. Either someone else would have it, or it’d be in a trash heap somewhere.”
“Well, I am good for something,” Lorelai joked.
Luke looked at her. “Seriously, Lorelai. As much as I was against it at first, finishing this boat has meant a lot to me. It’s made me feel closer to my dad than I have since his death. And well, with everything else that’s been going on lately, I know I haven’t been giving you a lot of attention. I haven’t handled things very well.”
“No, Luke. I haven’t always handled things well either,” Lorelai cut in.
He put his hand on her arm to stop her. “Well, regardless. You told me that you need to hear that I love you more often. And this is one way I figured I could tell you. I love you, Lorelai.”
She reached up her hands and cupped his face, running her thumbs along his cheeks. “I love you too, babe. And thank you for this. It means a lot.” She leaned closer to him and kissed him again.
When she leaned back and looked up at him, she said, “This was worth getting up early for.”
“Well, I’m glad,” Luke said. “But that’s not all.” He broke away from her embrace and walked over to the boat. Standing on his tiptoes and reaching over the edge, he pulled out a small package from the console.
“There’s more?” Lorelai asked, nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.
“There’s more,” Luke stated. “And I’m hoping this part is even better than the first.”
“Better than having a boat named after me. Oh yay!” Lorelai was clapping in excitement now.
Luke handed the package to Lorelai, and she grabbed it eagerly, ripping the bow off in a hurry. When she opened the outer box, she found a small black velvet ring box inside. “What is this?” she asked, dropping the outer box on the ground and gripping the ring box. She looked up at Luke, excited curiosity written all over her face.
“Well, open it,” he said, smiling. “Then you’ll know.”
Lorelai hesitantly opened the box and looked down, finding inside two wedding bands, a man’s and a woman’s. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. They were beautiful and simple, made of white gold, just like her engagement ring. Lorelai briefly closed her eyes, letting out a huge, happy sigh. She then slowly looked up at Luke.
“Luke, does this mean…” she trailed off without finishing the question.
Luke grabbed hold of one of her hands. “Lorelai, will you marry me?” He stopped, then started again, rushing on, “Next weekend, I mean. Will you marry me next weekend?”
The tears were now falling from her eyes. “Luke, I’d marry you right now if you asked.”
“So the answer’s yes?” Luke looked a little worried, which made Lorelai laugh through her tears.
“Of course I’ll marry you next weekend, Luke.”
She practically jumped at him, throwing her arms around his neck, clutching the box with the rings in her fist behind his head. Regaining his balance, Luke put his hands on her waist. And then they kissed, long and hard. If only Lorelai did not need to breathe, she could have kissed him forever.
Once the kiss was over and Lorelai’s feet were firmly planted on the ground again, she opened the ring box again and stared at the rings.
“So you like them?” Luke asked.
“I love them,” she said, clutching the box to her chest. “Really Luke, they’re beautiful.” She looked up at him and smiled. Suddenly remembering something, she said, “Oh no. Luke, I totally forgot! There’s a convention at the Dragonfly next weekend.”
He held up his hand. “It’s already taken care of.”
“It is?” she asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“So you’ve been planning this?”
“I guess you could say that,” he told her, again with a smug look on his face. “I talked to Sookie about it, and she was so excited, she told me to tell you not to worry about next weekend. She’ll make sure everything’s covered. Oh, and she promised not to tell anyone. So hopefully the secret’s safe, at least for this week. But I did have to promise her that she could throw a big reception for us later.”
“Well, good. The reception can definitely be arranged.” Lorelai smiled. “Where exactly are we going for this secret wedding? Do you have that planned out too?”
“That I do. I rented us a place on Martha’s Vineyard again, like we talked about. And there’s a justice of the peace there who’s agreed to marry us. We’ll be getting married on Friday at 4:30, by the way.”
“Friday at 4:30. Hmm…Friday at 4:30.” She gave him a huge grin. “Sounds good to me. Oh, but what about Rory?”
He just smiled at her.
“You have that covered too?”
“Yep. She knows. And she’ll be there. She actually helped me pick out the rings.”
“She did, did she? You are sneaky, my friend.” She looked at the rings again. “Thank you, Luke. This is amazing. I can’t believe you did all this. But I love that you did.”
“Well, you can thank me later.” He winked at her suggestively.
It was so rare to see Luke do something like that, Lorelai laughed until she cried, doubled over. “Oh, you bet I will,” she said between gasps of laughter.
Luke just stood there and waited for her to finish, but there was a definite smile on his face too. When she was done, he asked, “So are you still glad I dragged you out of bed?”
“You bet I am. It’s not every day a girl has a boat named after her and finds out she gets to be Luke Danes’ wife in a week.”
“Wife. I like the sound of that,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to begin the walk back to the house.
“I like the sound of it, too,” Lorelai said. “And this means I can start calling you ‘husband’ soon, shouting it out anytime I want something. Yes, I definitely like it.”
Suddenly, Lorelai stopped and faced Luke.
“Oh, you know what I just thought of?”
“What?”
“Marriage sex has got be better than birthday sex.”
“Aww, jeez. Lorelai…”
“Think about it, Luke. Unlike birthdays, once we’re married, we’ll be married every day. Which means we can have marriage sex every day.” She just grinned at him.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s nice,” Luke said. “But Lorelai, we’re outside where people can hear. Babette could hear, and Rory and April. I really don’t need tales of our personal sex lives spread all around Stars Hollow. Nor do I need my daughter – or your daughter - to hear it.”
“Oh fine, but you just think about it, mister.”
“Fine, I will. Can we go inside now?”
“Yes we can,” she said, leading the way up the porch stairs. Into her house. And into her future with Luke.
Oh yes, this had most definitely been her best birthday ever.
ETA:shannigansx, you have no idea how badly I've been dying to tell you about this story. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
Happy 21st Birthday to
shannigansx!! I'm so glad to have "met" you those seven months ago. And in honor of your birthday, I have written a fic. So here it is.Title: Her Best Birthday Ever
Fandom: Gilmore Girls
Ship: Luke and Lorelai
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It's Lorelai's best birthday ever...thanks to Luke.
A/N: My sincerest thanks to
enigmaticblues and ciachick711 for your comments and corrections. They were invaluable to me, and made this piece better.“We should have birthday sex every night,” Lorelai said as she snuggled down under the covers of her bed, resting her head on Luke’s bare chest. Luke chuckled, and Lorelai reveled in the vibration his chest made on her cheek. She continued. “I’m serious. If birthday sex with you is always that good, we should have it every night.”
“But since it’s not your birthday every day – nor is it my birthday every day - that would be impossible,” Luke pointed out.
“You would have to do that.” Lorelai lifted her head and pretended to glare at Luke, who was resting on a mound of pillows with one arm above his head. His other hand was busy tracing circles on her lower back.
“What?” Luke asked, a small smile beginning to show on his face. “State the obvious?”
“You call it stating the obvious. I call it trying to rain on my parade. But lucky for you, my friend, I’m in a forgiving mood today.”
“Yes, lucky for me.” Luke’s tone was sarcastic and his smile was getting bigger.
“Hey, mock me if you must. But today is my birthday, which means I get whatever I want. Regardless of what you think, Mr. Practical.”
Again, she glared at him, pretending to be mad. “I’m declaring every day my birthday, so we can have birthday sex all the time. Or better yet, I could just declare every day my very merry unbirthday like in Alice in Wonderland.” She paused.
“I think I might be onto something here.” Lorelai was now resting with one elbow on the bed next to Luke and one hand on his chest, talking rather animatedly.
Luke, however, was looking satisfied and rather sleepy. “Whatever you say, Lorelai,” he mumbled, his eyes beginning to close. He had learned long ago to just agree with Lorelai and her crazy ideas. They were amusing, if nothing else. And if truth be told, he wouldn’t have her any other way. Her crazy ideas were part of what made Lorelai who she was, and her steady stream of banter was just one of the reasons he’d fallen in love with her.
“No seriously, Luke. I know you’re falling asleep over there, but you should really try to follow this train of thought with me. This benefits you too, after all. Unless I missed the memo telling me you’re no longer interested in sex.”
Luke perked up a little at that. “What? No.” His eyes now wide open, he paused, looking confused. “Lorelai, tell me why are we having this conversation again.”
“I was attempting to point out to you the sexual benefits of it being my birthday every day. Of course, maybe we could split the days of the year. Half of them could be my birthday and the other half yours. That way we’d still be having birthday sex every day. But it’d be 50/50. Not always about me.” She paused and looked at Luke as if this were the most serious conversation in the world. “What do you think?”
“Lorelai…” Luke started.
“I know. I’ll stop. You want to go to sleep.” Lorelai chuckled to herself as she realized just how ridiculous she was being. She couldn’t help it, though. She loved birthdays, and the fact that it was hers excited her, even if it was almost over. Add to her excitement the fact that she was in bed with Luke, and she was downright giddy. Lorelai figured she was entitled to some ridiculousness. Her face revealed her happiness.
Luke could never resist a happy-looking Lorelai, especially when he knew he was at least partly the cause of her happiness. “Come here,” he said, nodding for Lorelai to join him near the top of the bed. Lorelai pushed herself up the short distance until her face was right above Luke’s, looking down at him. “Happy birthday, Lorelai,” he said. And then he lifted his head and kissed her long and slow, one hand cupping her face and the other tangling in her hair.
Lorelai sighed into his mouth, one of her own hands resting on his cheek. When the kiss was over, Lorelai leaned back on her elbow and looked him in the eye. “Thank you, Luke.” She gave him one of those smiles that lit up her whole face. “You make me so happy. You know that, right?”
He smiled and reached out to play with a strand of her hair that was lying on her shoulder. “I suspected so, but it’s nice to hear. After everything I put you through recently…” he trailed off. His eyes were focused on his fingers playing with her hair, but they briefly looked up and met hers. “You make me happy, too.”
Lorelai smiled. “Well, good. ‘Cause all joking aside, that was some seriously awesome sex we just had. Have you been practicing…without me? Wait.”
“Nope, I’ve just been saving up all my good moves for your birthday.” Luke’s tone was playful.
Lorelai smiled. It was so rare for Luke to joke around with her. “Well, whatever it was, you were amazing. And not just the sex. This whole day has been amazing, Luke.”
“It really has.” Luke yawned. “Sorry.”
“Hey, no need to be sorry. You’ve got good reason to be worn out. It’s time to call it a night. I’ll let you sleep now.” She gave Luke another kiss and then laid down on his chest again.
“Night, Luke.”
“G’night,” he said in a muffled voice. And within minutes he was asleep, snoring lightly. Lorelai, however, knew sleep would be a long time in coming for her. Her mind was racing. She was still too high on the day.
* * *
The day had started out with breakfast in bed. Luke had made her chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream. Of course, being Luke, he’d also given her a bowl of fresh fruit with her pancakes and demanded that she eat it. She whined because whining over eating something healthy was her thing, her bit. But deep down, she knew that this was Luke’s way of expressing his concern for her well-being. He did not want to lose her prematurely to unhealthy eating habits. So she ate the fruit and enjoyed it, although she let Luke think each bite was a struggle.
She had then met Rory in Hartford for some frivolous girl shopping and lunch, while Luke checked in on things at the diner and waited for April to arrive. It had taken many months and several serious conversations before she and Luke had reached an understanding about what the other wanted as far April was concerned. Lorelai had hoped for a long time that Luke would realize how much she wanted to meet April and invite her to do so. But instead of this happening, Luke had only become more and more closed off and unwilling to talk about anything having to do with his daughter.
At her wit’s end and seriously doubting the stability of their relationship, Lorelai had finally confronted him about the situation, demanding to know what she had done to lose his trust. This had thrown Luke for a complete loop, and once he realized exactly what had Lorelai upset, he had begun apologizing profusely. He had admitted that he did in fact want her to meet April, but had been convinced that this was not what Lorelai wanted. He had misinterpreted her awkwardness whenever April’s name was mentioned to mean that Lorelai wanted nothing to do with April. So to make Lorelai’s life easier, he had stopped mentioning her at all. Having learned a lesson in the need for constant communication about their feelings, they then began taking steps to correct the April-related problems in their relationship.
A few weeks prior to Lorelai’s birthday, she and Luke had gone to Woodbury for Lorelai to officially meet April, and Anna. The Anna part had been at Lorelai’s insistence, partly because she wanted to size up the woman who was the mother of Luke’s child, but mostly because of her strong sense of the mother code. If Lorelai was going to be spending any time with April, she wanted Anna to be comfortable with it. She figured the best way for Anna not to feel threatened by her and to trust her with April was for Anna to meet her in the flesh. To have a chance to size her up too.
A week later, Luke, Lorelai, Rory and April all had dinner together at Sniffy’s, away from the inquiring eyes of Stars Hollow. The meal had been awkward as all parties involved were nervous, and April tended to be very reserved, just like her father. But eventually the four of them had struck up a comfortable conversation. Lorelai, Rory and April had even bonded over a shared love of stupid TV and movies.
“The worse it is, the better,” April had stated. “I find stupid TV incredibly fascinating, and amusing.” Lorelai and Rory had wholeheartedly agreed.
Ever since then Lorelai had made an attempt to stop by the diner at least briefly during the times she knew April would be there. She wanted to give Luke and April time to get to know one another, so she tried not to crowd them. But she also wanted to get to know April and sensed that April was at least vaguely interested in getting to know her. So she would stop at the diner and drink a cup of coffee at the counter while chatting with Luke and April when possible.
Luke had surprised her earlier in the week when he had asked if she’d mind if April joined them for her birthday celebration. He knew that Lorelai and Rory were planning a big movie night, and since he knew April also enjoyed movies, he thought it would be a great opportunity for her to hang out with the family. Lorelai had been incredibly touched, both by the fact that he had called the three of them a family and that he wanted April to join them. So after making sure it was okay with Anna, plans had been made for April to attend movie night.
So today, April had ridden her bike to Stars Hollow and then come home with Luke once Lorelai and Rory returned from their day of shopping in Hartford. They had ordered a pizza for dinner, proving that it was indeed Lorelai’s birthday by the mere fact that Luke put up little stink over this choice for dinner. To Lorelai’s squeals of delight, everyone (including April) had then given her their gifts. Luke gave her a bracelet he’d had Liz make that matched the earrings and necklace he’d previously given her. For this, he earned a big smile and a kiss. Rory had purchased nearly ever Paul Anka album she could get her hands on and given them to Lorelai, along with a framed photo of Paul Anka, the dog.
“He’s part of the family,” Rory said. “It’s time he took his place on the mantle with the rest of us.” Lorelai found herself teary-eyed at this.
April had then hesitantly given Lorelai her gift, and Lorelai could only suspect that Rory, Luke, or both had helped her pick it out. It was a DVD of March of the Penguins, and Lorelai bounced up and down and clapped upon seeing it. She made sure that April knew just how much she loved the gift, and April visibly relaxed.
Then it was time for movie night, complete with the typical assortment of junk food and a line up that included Sixteen Candles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and thanks to April, March of the Penguins. Luke let his disgust be known over the food that was being consumed, but April was in heaven. Luke watched movies with the girls for awhile, but once it was evident that April was having a good time and would be fine without him, he slipped out, saying that he was going to check on the diner. He returned a little over an hour later, just in time to catch most of the last movie.
It had been arranged with Anna, due to the fact that movie night was sure to run late into the evening, that April would spend the night and Luke would drive her home in the morning. So they set up a make-shift bed for April on the floor in Rory’s room, and after saying goodnight, left Rory and April chatting to go upstairs to their own room. To Lorelai’s surprise (since both April and Rory were in the house), Luke had wanted to have sex.
Lorelai, who was beginning to doze off while still lying on Luke’s chest, lifted her head and gave his chest a quick peck. Today had been a rather quiet day as far as her birthdays went. And yet as she thought about it, she was convinced it had been one of her best birthdays yet. Today, she, Luke, Rory and April had truly begun to feel like a family, and that made her feel happier and more at home than anything. She’d make sure to never let her secret out (as she also liked being spoiled on her birthday), but today had proven to her that a simple day spent in the company of those she loved most in the world meant more to her than getting the world’s largest pizza for her birthday.
She snuggled up closer to Luke, and letting out a contented sigh, finally fell asleep.
* * *
“Lorelai….Lorelai.” She was awoken by the sound of Luke whispering her name into her ear and lightly tapping her on the shoulder. She had been in one of those deep sleeps, having a dream that she could not remember upon waking. Had Luke not been whispering her name into her ear, she probably would not have remembered who she was, or where she was for that matter. Those were her favorite kinds of sleeps.
She peeked one eye open and turned her head to look up at Luke. “Hey,” she said in a sleepy voice. “What time is it?”
“It’s about seven.”
“Seven am? Luke, why are you waking me up - let alone attempting to talk to me - at seven am? On one of my days off.”
“Because I need you to get up. I want to show you something.”
Luke had been standing behind her, leaning over her. Lorelai now flopped over in bed to face him. He was fully dressed. Flannel shirt, work boots, baseball cap and all.
“Luke, have I taught you nothing since we’ve been sleeping together? On days when you do not have to open the diner, you do not get up and get dressed by seven am. You should still be sleeping at seven am. Or pretending to sleep. For sleep is glorious,” she said in a whimsical voice. “So take off those clothes, and come back to bed. I may even be persuaded to do other things besides sleep,” she purred, burying herself back under the covers once again and closing her eyes.
“Lorelai, please. Just get up.”
“No-ooo, Luke.” She was whining now.
“Please?” This was said with a combination of desperation and exasperation, so Lorelai figured she better start listening.
She opened her eyes and looked at him again. “But why, Luke? Why?” a slight whine still in her voice.
“I told you. I have something I want to show you.”
“This something is so important that it cannot wait for just one more hour?” She loved sleep enough to try.
“Lorelai,” he was getting really frustrated now. “You can drag me out of bed at three am to go to a ridiculous town meeting, but I can’t wake you up at seven am? For something a lot less ridiculous than a town meeting.”
“Well, you do have a point there,” Lorelai admitted. “But how do I know it’s less ridiculous?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me on that. It’s just – well, I want to show it to you while we can still be alone. Before everyone else starts waking up and disturbing us.”
“Well, OK.” And that was all it took. Lorelai’s curiosity was peeked. She tossed the covers off and headed for the bathroom. “Can I have a moment to pee?”
“Jeez, Lorelai.”
She turned back to look at him. “Hey, mister. It’s a natural bodily function, and I haven’t gone for several hours. It’s not like I can help it.”
“I know that, Lorelai. But you don’t have to…” he stopped, knowing better than to start down this road with her. They’d never get anywhere if that happened. “Never mind, just go.”
Lorelai came out of the bathroom a few minutes later to find Luke sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked rather impatient, and was that nervous? Lorelai thought that whatever he wanted to show her had to be something really good if he was this worked up over it.
“So Luke, should I be putting some clothes on? Where are we going?”
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it should be something warm. We’re going to the garage.”
“The garage?” She shot him a confused look, her curiosity at an all-time high. What could possibly be in the garage that he was this adamant about showing her? What – in the garage - was worthy of waking her up at seven am to see?
“Yes, the garage. And the faster you get dressed, the faster we can get there.”
“OK, OK. I’m moving.”
* * *
They were standing in front of the garage, the doors still closed. Or as closed as they could get with the boat in there. Wait, Lorelai thought, the boat. Could it be possible Luke wanted to show her the boat? She was not sure why that would be the case, but it seemed the only logical explanation at this point.
“Luke, did you bring me out here to show me the boat?” Lorelai asked.
He paused, his hand on the garage door. He looked momentarily surprised before responding. Apparently he had not expected her to figure it out. “Yes, actually, I did.”
Without further ado, he opened the door.
Lorelai gasped. “Luke, it’s finished! You finished the boat?” She looked at him for confirmation, and he nodded affirmatively. “You finished the boat,” she stated again, pride in her voice.
Moving into the garage, she began walking down one side of the boat, taking it all in. Luke had painted it a bright white color with a navy blue trim. It looked like it could seat about four people, two in front behind the steering wheel and other controls, and two in the rear of the boat facing one another. The seats were covered in tan leather. And a shiny glass windshield rose up in front of the two front seats. It really was beautiful.
Standing behind the rear of the boat, she looked up at Luke and grinned. “Luke, it looks amazing. But when did you finish it?” She did not think he’d worked on it much during the winter due to the cold weather. But he must have been working on it more than she thought. Maybe when she was not around.
“Well, I’ve been working on it whenever I could over the past several months. But I’ve tried to keep it pretty quiet, to work on it when you weren’t here or were otherwise occupied. I wanted to surprise you with it for your birthday.”
“Awww, sweet. But my birthday was yesterday,” she teased him, a playful look on her face.
“Yes, but you would have been expecting a surprise on your birthday. So I figured I’d throw you off a bit. Make it a real surprise by showing it to you the day after your birthday.”
“Oh-ho-ho, you’re good, mister. You are good.” She smiled at him.
He smiled back at her, looking rather proud of himself. He reached his hands behind his back and tucked his thumbs into his back pockets while rocking up on his toes. “Last night when I said I went to the diner, I actually came out here and put some finishing touches on the boat. Made sure it was ready for this morning.”
Lorelai looked impressed. “You are sneaky, and I am proud. I knew there was a reason you’re my fiancé.” She placed her hand on the upper edge of the boat and ran her hand along its smooth surface as she walked around to the other side of the boat. “Really Luke, it’s gorge-”
She stopped short when she saw something written on the boat. “Luke, what’s this?” she asked, her mouth hanging open.
Written in beautiful cursive letters on the side of the boat was ‘The Lorelai.’
“That would be the name of the boat,” he told her, finally walking over to join her.
She turned to look at him, one hand on her heart and tears in her eyes. “You – you named the boat after me?”
Luke now hung his head, suddenly very bashful. “Yeah. I did.”
She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. “Luke, look at me.” When he looked up, she leaned in and kissed him briefly.
When the kiss was over, she stepped back and looked him in the eye. “I don’t even know what to say, Luke. No one’s ever named a boat after me before.”
Lorelai knew that Luke said more with his actions than he ever did with words, so this latest act left her feeling incredibly touched. Especially after everything they’d gone through over the past several months. First with Rory and then with April, and Lorelai’s worry that Luke didn’t love her anymore.
“Yeah, well. You know I’m not too good with words,” Luke started. “But I thought it was fitting to name the boat after you. I mean, if not for you, the boat wouldn’t be finished now. Either someone else would have it, or it’d be in a trash heap somewhere.”
“Well, I am good for something,” Lorelai joked.
Luke looked at her. “Seriously, Lorelai. As much as I was against it at first, finishing this boat has meant a lot to me. It’s made me feel closer to my dad than I have since his death. And well, with everything else that’s been going on lately, I know I haven’t been giving you a lot of attention. I haven’t handled things very well.”
“No, Luke. I haven’t always handled things well either,” Lorelai cut in.
He put his hand on her arm to stop her. “Well, regardless. You told me that you need to hear that I love you more often. And this is one way I figured I could tell you. I love you, Lorelai.”
She reached up her hands and cupped his face, running her thumbs along his cheeks. “I love you too, babe. And thank you for this. It means a lot.” She leaned closer to him and kissed him again.
When she leaned back and looked up at him, she said, “This was worth getting up early for.”
“Well, I’m glad,” Luke said. “But that’s not all.” He broke away from her embrace and walked over to the boat. Standing on his tiptoes and reaching over the edge, he pulled out a small package from the console.
“There’s more?” Lorelai asked, nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.
“There’s more,” Luke stated. “And I’m hoping this part is even better than the first.”
“Better than having a boat named after me. Oh yay!” Lorelai was clapping in excitement now.
Luke handed the package to Lorelai, and she grabbed it eagerly, ripping the bow off in a hurry. When she opened the outer box, she found a small black velvet ring box inside. “What is this?” she asked, dropping the outer box on the ground and gripping the ring box. She looked up at Luke, excited curiosity written all over her face.
“Well, open it,” he said, smiling. “Then you’ll know.”
Lorelai hesitantly opened the box and looked down, finding inside two wedding bands, a man’s and a woman’s. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. They were beautiful and simple, made of white gold, just like her engagement ring. Lorelai briefly closed her eyes, letting out a huge, happy sigh. She then slowly looked up at Luke.
“Luke, does this mean…” she trailed off without finishing the question.
Luke grabbed hold of one of her hands. “Lorelai, will you marry me?” He stopped, then started again, rushing on, “Next weekend, I mean. Will you marry me next weekend?”
The tears were now falling from her eyes. “Luke, I’d marry you right now if you asked.”
“So the answer’s yes?” Luke looked a little worried, which made Lorelai laugh through her tears.
“Of course I’ll marry you next weekend, Luke.”
She practically jumped at him, throwing her arms around his neck, clutching the box with the rings in her fist behind his head. Regaining his balance, Luke put his hands on her waist. And then they kissed, long and hard. If only Lorelai did not need to breathe, she could have kissed him forever.
Once the kiss was over and Lorelai’s feet were firmly planted on the ground again, she opened the ring box again and stared at the rings.
“So you like them?” Luke asked.
“I love them,” she said, clutching the box to her chest. “Really Luke, they’re beautiful.” She looked up at him and smiled. Suddenly remembering something, she said, “Oh no. Luke, I totally forgot! There’s a convention at the Dragonfly next weekend.”
He held up his hand. “It’s already taken care of.”
“It is?” she asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“So you’ve been planning this?”
“I guess you could say that,” he told her, again with a smug look on his face. “I talked to Sookie about it, and she was so excited, she told me to tell you not to worry about next weekend. She’ll make sure everything’s covered. Oh, and she promised not to tell anyone. So hopefully the secret’s safe, at least for this week. But I did have to promise her that she could throw a big reception for us later.”
“Well, good. The reception can definitely be arranged.” Lorelai smiled. “Where exactly are we going for this secret wedding? Do you have that planned out too?”
“That I do. I rented us a place on Martha’s Vineyard again, like we talked about. And there’s a justice of the peace there who’s agreed to marry us. We’ll be getting married on Friday at 4:30, by the way.”
“Friday at 4:30. Hmm…Friday at 4:30.” She gave him a huge grin. “Sounds good to me. Oh, but what about Rory?”
He just smiled at her.
“You have that covered too?”
“Yep. She knows. And she’ll be there. She actually helped me pick out the rings.”
“She did, did she? You are sneaky, my friend.” She looked at the rings again. “Thank you, Luke. This is amazing. I can’t believe you did all this. But I love that you did.”
“Well, you can thank me later.” He winked at her suggestively.
It was so rare to see Luke do something like that, Lorelai laughed until she cried, doubled over. “Oh, you bet I will,” she said between gasps of laughter.
Luke just stood there and waited for her to finish, but there was a definite smile on his face too. When she was done, he asked, “So are you still glad I dragged you out of bed?”
“You bet I am. It’s not every day a girl has a boat named after her and finds out she gets to be Luke Danes’ wife in a week.”
“Wife. I like the sound of that,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to begin the walk back to the house.
“I like the sound of it, too,” Lorelai said. “And this means I can start calling you ‘husband’ soon, shouting it out anytime I want something. Yes, I definitely like it.”
Suddenly, Lorelai stopped and faced Luke.
“Oh, you know what I just thought of?”
“What?”
“Marriage sex has got be better than birthday sex.”
“Aww, jeez. Lorelai…”
“Think about it, Luke. Unlike birthdays, once we’re married, we’ll be married every day. Which means we can have marriage sex every day.” She just grinned at him.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s nice,” Luke said. “But Lorelai, we’re outside where people can hear. Babette could hear, and Rory and April. I really don’t need tales of our personal sex lives spread all around Stars Hollow. Nor do I need my daughter – or your daughter - to hear it.”
“Oh fine, but you just think about it, mister.”
“Fine, I will. Can we go inside now?”
“Yes we can,” she said, leading the way up the porch stairs. Into her house. And into her future with Luke.
Oh yes, this had most definitely been her best birthday ever.
ETA:
shannigansx, you have no idea how badly I've been dying to tell you about this story. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this entire fic. From the birthday sex conversation, to the happy family moments, to 'The Lorelai' and the elopement plans, to the marriage sex talk. *sigh* I loved every single second of it. You are a very talented writer! Where have you been hiding your mad skills?! Why can't the actual show be like this? Everything would be so much better.
Thanks again!!! *super big hugs*
Off to bed now. Night :-)
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In all honesty, it's been having the opportunity to beta your fics (and you letting me stick in a few sentences here and there) that have made me realize that maybe I can write. Maybe I do have something to offer to the fandom. Now if only more ideas would strike me. I have no idea where this one came from. Must have been the birthday fairy! ;-)
Again, I'm so happy that you enjoyed it. THANK YOU for being such a great person to know! And someone I can proudly call a friend. Happy birthday, sweetie! Kiss some a$$ on that test, and enjoy yourself tonight.
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Maybe one day, you'll have another awesome idea for a fic, and then you can right it! Of course, this probably means that we need to figure out how to have more time in a day... I feel like my poor fic is getting neglected. I'm going to have to dust off all the dust it's accumulated next week so I can write more.
Aww! Thanks, Heather. I'm so happy that we're friends. I can't imagine what this last (almost) year would have been without you.
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