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Their flight touched down from D.C. in the end of the afternoon. It wasn’t how Rory preferred to fly these days, but she’d conceded Marty’s request. He’d been incredibly good to her the past three years and he’d been so insistent that they get into town for dusk, though he wouldn’t tell her why. Whatever secret he was keeping was fine with her. She was just happy to have some time off with her friends and family at Christmas this year.
She’d been so busy covering the 2008 campaign and working her way up to becoming part of the President’s press team that she hadn’t been home since finishing at Yale.
Rory talked to her mother whenever she could. She’d tried to make it every day at first, but she was too busy. Between work and trying to settle into a new town, she barely had time to sleep. It was in remembering those times that she really appreciated Marty and all the things he’d done for her.
They’d met again on Rory’s first day in the White House. They were both interns, though Marty had been there nearly six months at that point. She’d learned a few tricks from him in the first few days, making her transition easier. They spent most of their down time together. Rory didn’t know anyone in Washington that wasn’t a friend of her grandparents and Marty didn’t have anyone. It wasn’t long before Rory couldn’t remember why she’d never dated him at college. Three months into being in D.C. they were living together.
That was four years ago now. Four years of working seventeen hour days and sleeping at the office and not taking any vacation. She was dedicated. That was the word Marty used to describe her to friends when she couldn’t make it to dinners or parties or holidays. Delusional was what she started to refer to it.
She missed out on so much in those years. She’d not seen her mother in all that time, she’d not been back to Stars Hollow. She’d heard about the gazebo catching fire only after they’d rebuilt it. She didn’t get to experience Al’s one month of actually making pancakes and she’d learned that Taylor had died in an email Lane sent her after the funeral.
Marty had been watching her slowly fall apart for the last few years and was having a really hard time of it. He’d escaped the White House internship with a job at a private contracting firm doing detailed security work. They paid him handsomely to escort special priority people around town. He didn’t take much time off either, saving his vacation weeks for something special. Now he had two months and he was using them up on an all or nothing trip.
Big city living was getting the best of both of them and it was time for a change. Their families were in Hartford and Stars Hollow. Everything they missed was there. So they were going back.
At least Marty was. He was hoping for a miracle to get Rory to stay with him.
The car ride from the airport was blissful. Trees shed of their leaves lined the back roads from Hartford. And snow was piled high along the sides of the roads. They’d had snow for some time now. Rory hadn’t known.
They drove past the turn to Marty’s parents place and he made an excuse not to go their first. Marty was starving and wanted a burger from Luke’s. Rory had built the place up so much during their time together that they had to go their first.
Rory didn’t say anything, though she thought it suspicious. Marty’s parents had come out to visit a few times. Maybe he was just being considerate and letting her see her family first.
They drove in silence most of the way, Rory holding Marty’s hand with hers and resting her head so she could watch as the snow started to fall. She told him she loved him more than once as they entered Stars Hollow.
Christmas lights were up on every building. All of them coordinated as though Taylor had risen from the grave and demanded it. In hindsight the town probably did it in his honor. As much as they hated him, he was part of the family too.
They skipped the turn to Luke and Lorelei’s house. Rory expected that because Marty had never been there and she didn’t tell him when to turn. She wondered how he knew to get to the diner as they made a turn and took the side street to get there.
Marty parked the car on the side of the road and rushed around to Rory’s door to open it for it. He didn’t often do gestures like that, not since she broke her foot and needed a hand getting out with her cast for the first time. But she didn’t argue with him. It was nice to be catered to.
They walked arm in arm until they reached the front doors of the diner. The lights were off inside, but Marty tried the door anyway.
“Since when is Luke’s locked up at seven on a Friday?”
Rory’s outraged was dimmed as she turned around and saw the newly built gazebo across the street. It was lit like a beacon with Christmas lights and thousands of yellow daisies were planted through the lawn. Rory was about to ask aloud what was going on, but she was interrupted by Marty.
“Let’s go see what’s going on.”
There were a few people out on the street as they crossed, but no one Rory recognized. They walked the side walk around to the Stars Hollow sign and up the path as a string quartet played a rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Modern Love’. In the gazebo there was a small table, candle lit, set for dinner with a bottle of champagne already chilling. Rory felt the crispness in the night air for the first time as they made the last step up into the gazebo.
“Lorelei Gilmore,” Marty started, letting go of her hand for the first time since they landed and reaching into his jacket’s breast pocket. “I have spent the last four years watching you grow from the sophisticated young Rory I met that first day at Yale into the self-confident, powerful, intelligent woman you are now. And I would be remised if I didn’t do everything in my power to know you when you’re a surprisingly spritely old lady. Rory, I want to spend forever with you.”
Marty stopped fumbling with the tiny blue box and got down on one knee as he opened it. Revealed inside was a custom designed diamond ring. The design was old but it was clear it was made to look that way. Classic and dazzing. Just how Marty saw Rory. He had been very pleased with the outcome of the ring, and was brought back to that feeling when Rory’s face dropped at the sight of it.
“Rory, will you spend forever with me?”
It was as though her life flashed before her eyes. Meeting Marty in the middle of the night as he slept naked on the hallway floor. Their conversations at Yale, the Harpo costume. Seeing him on her first day at the White House. Moving in together in Washington. Their dog Frank Sinatra. Their first Christmas together, getting promoted to the press team, Marty moving to the security firm. She remembered sleeping on the couch at work more than in her bed at home. How tired she all the time. How she needed a change. She loved Marty, but not the life they were living. She remembered all the sacrifices Marty had made for her to make her way to where she was now. How much he had done for her since she had arrived in D.C. How perfect he was.
“I would be honored to spend forever with you Martin.”
With that he slipped the ring on her finger and stood up. He brushed Rory’s hair behind her ear as he leaned in for a kiss. The music continued on as Luke approached with a giant silver covered tray in his hands.
He placed the tray on the table and lifted the lid before Rory noticed he was there.
“Luke!” she screamed, looking Marty in the eye before breaking away from him to give her step dad a hug.
“Luke, I’m getting married. Don’t tell mom yet.”
“I won’t say anything Rory.” Luke hugged back, one arm still holding the lid.
“She already knows doesn’t she.”
“Of course she does. When you’re done here she wants you to meet us at the Dragonfly. There’s going to be a surprise engagement party for your guys there. Don’t tell your mom I told you.”
“Thank you Luke.”
Rory loosened her embrace on Luke and let him slip out of her grasp. She was thankful for remembering that she didn’t like surprises as well as the food. Luke left her side and walked around the table to Marty before speaking to him.
“The people in this town really love this girl. I appreciate you looking out for her when she was starting out. Lorelei says you’re a good guy.”
“I try to be. Rory makes it easier.” Marty noted, his eyes fixed on a now anxious to eat Rory.
“That being said I’ll be watching you.”
Luke gave Marty a hard smile, walking past him down the steps in the direction of the diner. The words ‘Enjoy your meal’ trailed off in the distance as Rory took a seat opposite Marty to dig in.
Rory took the big platter in her hands and sat on the bench in the gazebo. Marty didn’t need an invitation to join her. He sat down next to her and she placed the tray down on their laps. She cuddled into him as she picked up one of the burgers.
“To our new forever.”
She held the burger up to cheers Marty with his. Their burgers bumped as he repeated her line and she moved the heaven scented dinner to her lips.
Whatever surprises waiting for them at the Dragonfly would be there when they were ready for them. Rory was going to savor this moment for as long as she could as she took her first big bite of a burger from Luke’s in half a decade, starting her new forever with the only person she wanted to be with, in the town she truly called home.