"Oh and one more thing, Rory?"
"Yes, Finn?" He started getting nervous, for the first time i'd ever seen, fidgeting in his pocket.
He got down on one knee, opened up the most beautiful miniature box i've ever seen. "Will you marry me, Rory Leigh Gilmore, and make me the happiest man and father, alive?"
"Aw"
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RORY POV
I couldn't even answer Finn right away, and I don't even know why, the last few weeks i'd thought about nothing more than marrying Finn, with everything i've known about him throughout college, throughout the last year. Did I love him? Absolutely! Did I want to be with him? That wasn't even a question needed to be asked. I think the biggest thing stopping me, was because my mom wasn't here. She hated the society lifestyle, not that she ever really considered a part of society, but none the less, he was. She knew what she had to do.
She picked up her phone, scrolled until she found who she was looking for and hit the little green button, it only took 3 rings before they picked up.
"Rory, is something wrong?"
"No, nothing is wrong, but I do need to come see you, alone, if that's ok?"
"You know you never need to ask, how soon will you be here?"
"Well, we're in Hartford now, so maybe 30-45 minutes just for the drive, is that too short of a notice?"
"No, that's perfectly fine, I'll have Caesar take over the diner for me, and do you want to meet at the house, the diner, the Inn, where at Rory?"
"The house, would be fine, Luke, thank you."
"I'll see you within the hour, hun."
Hanging up the phone, she went back into the house.
"Finn?"
"Yes, love."
"I hate doing this to you, now of all times, but would you mind if I took a trip to Stars Hollow by myself for the day, to talk with Luke?"
"Not at all, love. I would figure you'd want to talk to someone, I remember your pro and cons lists from college." He started snickering, which also made me laugh. My mom would probably be laughing in Heaven as well.
"Thank you, I may be there for the night, and sleep at mom and Luke's, so i'm going to pack an overnight bag."
She was ready in 15 minutes, after getting some things together, she kissed all her babies, and gave Finn a hug and kiss goodbye, and promised to call, once she got to Luke's diner.
The drive all the way to Stars Hollow was uneventful as normal, and as promised she picked up her phone and gave Finn a call, to let him know she was safe and sound.
"Love, I take it that you make it ok to the Diner?"
"Of course, an uneventful ride, no harm done, nothing eventful to report, Finn. I love you."
"I love you, too. Tell Luke I said hello."
"I will." And the call was disconnected as I was walking into the diner, my phone rang. It was an unknown number, which I usually don't answer, but for some reason I had.
"Hello," I said into the phone.
"Rory?" I heard her voice, and dropped my phone.
"Rory, are you ok?" Luke asked in a worried tone, picking up my phone and, and trying to hand to me, which all I could do was look at it, and back up to him.
He then steered me to the stairs, which led to the apartment above the diner, told Caesar to bring up a coffee and 2 burgers to go, which he obliged. We made it up the steps, slowly, but surely.
"Rory, are you alright?"
I was still staring at him, but I had finally gotten myself to acknowledge his question, by shaking my head.
"What is it, Rory? Talk to me?"
I didn't know how to answer him, but knew I had to either way. "I heard her boice, Luke. I heard my mom's voice on the other end of the phone."
"Rory, you need to breathe, I hate to have to tell you this sweetie, your mom is gone."
"I know she is, Luke. But i'm telling you, I would know my mom's voice anywhere, and that was her on the other end of that phone call."
"I believe you, I really do. What number did they call from, whoever it was?"
"It was a blocked number, I usually don't answer them, because usually it's Logan calling from the prison, Finn and I haven't had my number changed yet, because theres too many people that have this one, that I would never remember everyone that does."
"I understand Rory, no need to explain that to me."
I looked up at Luke. "Thank you?"
"For what, Rory?"
"For always being there for me. For never giving up on me, even when mom did when I dropped out of Yale. For always trying to keep mom calm, when she was still alive and with us, even when it concerned grandma."
"That's nothing to thank me for, Rory. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat if need me. I love you, just like your my daughter. And I still love your mom, Rory, even though she is gone." He hugged me, even though he wasn't ever really big on affection.
"Now, I know you didn't come here just to freak out on me, and have the hell scared out of you, Rory. So what is it?"
"Well, Luke, Finn asked me to marry him?"
"What did you say, Rory?"
"I couldn't give him an answer, I called you right away. I've had a lot of things going through my head about the whole thing."
"What kind of things?"
"You know, the whole issue, mom had with society, well there's that, and mom being disappointed in me because I chose that life, as opposed to the life that was built here in Stars Hollow, losing him once I give him either answer, to either a red headed bimbo, or to death, or to something else."
"Rory, listen to me. I've seen you guys together even in college, he loved you then, and he's very much more in love with you know, you've got nothing to worry about with him leaving you for any colored hair bimbo for that matter, and Rory everyone dies, everyone gets sick, but even if he dies before you, well you'll always be in his heart, and he'll always be in yours and the kids, no matter what you choose, so what do you say, rory?"
"Well, if he'll still have me, would you walk me down the aisle, please?"
"Rory, I would love to, but don't you think Christopher should?"
"No, I don't. He wasn't really a part of my life growing up, you were there from day one, you were the one to always bandage my boo-boos, you were there to pick me up when i'd fallen, you were the one to bring soup to the house for me, when mom couldn't leave work, you were the one that moved me in and out of Yale 3 different times, as well as supported my, no matter what i've done, hell Luke, you've even put my New Yorker pieces on the back of your menus, now that's a father."
We heard footsteps at the door, before someone else had walked in.
"She's right Luke, you were more of a father, than I ever really could be to her, if she decides to marry whoever, the job is yours to walk her down the aisle, you deserved that right. You may only be her stepdad, but you're her dad in every since of the word. No matter how much I wanted to hate you years ago, I couldn't because I knew no matter what I thought and what I believed those girls were treated like a queen and a princess by you, and that's all I ever really wanted."
**rang, rang**
It was Luke's cell phone this time.
"Hello," Luke said into his phone, there was no answer
"HELLO," Luke almost yelled into the receiver, still nothing but a dial tone, whoever it was, had hung up.
**rang, rang**
It was my phone, again.
"Answer it, Rory."
"Hello?" I don't know who it was, but it was her voice again.
"Rory,"
"Who is this?"
"Rory, let me see the phone, please." I looked at my dad, who had his hand held out.
I handed him my phone. "Hello. Who is this?"
He sat for a minute, he seemed so calm about whoever was on the phone, and then he started smiling, with the biggest smile i'd seen on his face, before his tears started falling.
"Lor, where the hell are you? Do you have any idea how much hell everybody has been through, because of this case?"
Huh? Lor? My mom, was the only one that he called that.
Just then, we heard a knock on the apartment door, before anybody could answer it, the door open wide, with someone walking in with a black cloack on, and shut the door behind them, before dropping their hood.
"Rory, sweets. It's so good to see you."
"Mom?! But it's impossible, we buried you. The casket was buried mom, it was sealed."
She came, and wrapped her arms around me, before telling me to quiet down.
"Did you ever get to look inside the casket," she asked, and then I shook my head no.
Just then there was a lot of racket in the diner below us, with ms Patty and Babette cat calling, and then there were 2 sets of steps on the stairs, followed by Finn and Colin coming through the door with my babies.
"What are you 2 doing here, Finn. You knew I had come to talk to Luke."
"Love, Colin has something to tell you. Hello Loralei, how are you doing?"
"Well, good, now that i'm back."
"Ok, first off, please don't be mad at me. I did it because it was the best for everyone involved."
"Just spit it out Colin," I looked at him, and i'm pretty sure I could have filled plenty of buckets with nothing but my tears, as I reached for Loralei, who we had nicknames Lei, as she was my comforter most of the time, Finn handed her to me.
"Basically, you're mom witnessed a murder that was by the hands of Logan and Mitchum, we can't go into details. Mitchum is now in a prison cell with his favorite son," He smiled at his own joke, "And will probably be there the rest of their life. Your mom tried to come back to tell you the day you were shopping, but we had to stop her, which in turn, led her to see Logan cut the brake lines on Luke's jeep, which in turn everybody had to stay believing that she was dead, even though she wasn't. Your mom is in better health though, she was receiving her treatments, she is due in about 2 days with your little sister, Rory, and your daughter, Luke, as well as she is now in remission as well."
"How in the hell, did I not notice this, when I am the reporter girl."
"We almost slipped up, a few times reporter girl, with you. You were so close to finding something out, and you didn't even know it, we had to hide her out even more so, in places Logan and Mitchum had never been too.
**rang, rang**
"Now who the hell is it?" As we looked at the called id, it was none other than Logan Huntzberger.
"Answer it, Rory, but put it on speaker," Colin had said. I did as he told me to do, put the receiver up to my ear even with it on speaker phone.
"Hello, this is Rory Morgan."