Archive of Our Own ^beta

Luke was off the couch in an instant, lunging straight over the coffee table in an effort to reach her as fast as possible. “Baby, what’s wrong? Talk to me, please.” The words sounded shaky and frantic in his own ears as he finally got to her. Mind racing a million miles an hour, he found himself checking her over for any injuries but came up totally empty and held her cheeks in his hands instead. 

Alex and Flynn let her go willingly, and Julie threw her arms around his neck so fast he nearly stumbled back into the wall with the force. Clutching her to him to keep them both upright, he turned his gaze to their friends for answers. Why was she crying?

Fear burned white hot through Luke’s body. She didn’t appear to be physically hurt, so what had happened that had her so distraught? Had someone else gotten hurt tonight? Had they run into somebody who said something cruel to her? Fuck, did they run into Carrie Wilson?

Why wasn’t anybody saying anything?

Alex had finally opened his mouth to respond when Julie’s voice pierced through the static in Luke’s brain. “I just love you so much. I can’t wait to marry you.”

What? That was why she was crying?

Luke forced Julie back far enough that he could look at her face again. The mascara Flynn had put on her earlier tracked down her cheeks, her pretty brown eyes shimmering with further unshed tears. He tried his best to wipe the dark lines away with his own shaky fingers as he looked back to Alex and Flynn for further explanation. 

At his obvious prompting, Flynn rolled her eyes. “She insisted she needed to come back home to you tonight. Said she couldn’t go to sleep without you. We would’ve called to warn you we were bringing her back but she was kind of…a handful.” Her eyes flicked back toward Julie between them, still clutching to Luke and petting a little clumsily at the messy waves on the nape of his neck. 

Alex nodded vigorously in confirmation. “We didn’t even make it back to Flynn’s with her. She started saying she missed you at the club and then there was just no going back after that.”

And, yeah, that tracked. Drunk Julie had a tendency to be a little emotional, but that usually translated into little quips about how much she loved their family and a little extra affection to all her friends. He’d never seen her cry quite like this before, but then they also didn’t typically frequent going to the clubs without the other. She’d been so excited for this, though. A night out with Flynn and Alex and Willie and some of the friends she’d made from their tour crew. When he’d kissed her goodbye earlier in the night she had willingly and excitedly accepted the overnight bag he’d laid across her shoulder. 

Still, if Julie missed him and wanted to sleep in their bed together instead of on a big pallet at Flynn’s, he couldn’t find it in himself to complain. 

“That true, Future Mrs. Patterson? You didn’t want to go stay with your friends tonight? You know I’ll still be here in the morning.” Now that she was home and safe he really didn’t want her going anywhere, but this was supposed to be her bachelorette party, after all. Flynn would want whatever Julie wanted, but he still had to make sure she hadn’t changed her mind and wanted to return to a slumber party with their friends.

Julie’s head shake was emphatic. “No, I just want to get married and never sleep apart ever.” A different thought crossed through her mind, and her eyes lit up with joy. “Will you make me some food first, though? I’m so hungry.” 

Luke couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, I can make you something, boss. Don’t you want to say goodnight to Flynn and Alex first, though?”

Julie’s eyes widened and she spun around so fast Luke was a little worried she might get dizzy from it. He held his arms out behind her at her little stumble, but then she was back at the doorway pulling both of their friends into a sloppy group hug. “Thank you guys so much for tonight! I had the best time. I’m sorry I got all weepy at the end. Please don’t hate me. Thank you for bringing me home.” 

Alex started to rub comfortingly against her back until the white sequins of Julie’s jumpsuit scratched uncomfortably against his hand, and then he grimaced and patted her bare shoulder instead. “Anytime, Jules. You know that.” 

“Well, maybe not ‘anytime’,” Flynn interjected. “After all, we’re only planning on you getting married once.” She winked over Julie’s shoulder at Luke, and he laughed a little at the reminder that they were, in fact, getting married in just three more weeks. Three weeks, and then forever. 

Julie pulled back from their hug, nodding enthusiastically as she planted a firm hand on either friends’ shoulders. “That is correct. Thank you for the best bachelorette party. I especially loved the Tarzan stripper. He will live in my dreams forever.” 

Luke squawked indignantly, but Alex and Flynn were back out the door before he could question it.

Ten minutes later they were perched together in the kitchen, Luke scrambling eggs in one pan and browning a single sausage in another while Julie sat next to him, feet kicking against the cabinets below as she babbled happily about the night she’d had. She wasn’t quite making sense in her stream of consciousness storytelling, so Luke made a mental note to ask her to retell it all tomorrow even as he hummed in agreement and laughed when it seemed she prompted it. She’d kicked her heels off the second they’d shut the door behind Alex and Flynn, but the sequins on her jumpsuit still scattered tiny rainbows of light across the countertop and cabinets around them. She was a little disco ball right there in their kitchen, and Luke couldn’t help but smile at that. Leave it to Julie Molina to light up any room.

“--and then Willie convinced Alex to do a body shot! Can you believe that? I saw our best friend do a whole body shot out of his husband’s belly button.” Luke jumped lightly as Julie slapped a passionate hand down onto his shoulder.

Luke laughed. He’d definitely have to run that part by Alex the next day. “I hope you got a video of that. Cheese, please.”

Julie dutifully handed over the bag of shredded cheddar, and Luke dropped a handful on top of the eggs.

“Do you think Flynn was upset that I wanted to come home tonight?”

Luke chanced a glance up from where he was mixing the cheese into the eggs to make sure it melted evenly to see that a troubled pout had taken over Julie’s features. He hadn’t been super successful in wiping the remnants of mascara off her cheeks, and the black smudges made her look far more upset than she likely was. He’d definitely have to help her wash her face before bed or she’d yell at him in the morning over the state her white pillowcase was in.

“Nah, Flynn loves you. She just wants you to be happy. You wanted to come home, so she brought you home.” He flicked the knobs to turn off the two burners before dishing the food out onto a plate. A fork was snatched from the silverware drawer, and Luke shut it with his hip before bringing the plate over next to Julie and stabbing a bite of eggs to hold out to her. “Now, I made you your most favorite eggs. No more pouting, no more crying. Yummy food and then bed.”

Julie dutifully took the bite offered to her and waited patiently for Luke to prepare another.

Little moments like these were the ones Luke adored. Julie, who always worked so hard to take care of everyone else, would very rarely let her guard down enough for him to return the favor. She always needed to be moving, to care for others, and Luke knew it was in large part to distract her from the grief of her mother. Especially lately, with their wedding so close, he could tell she’d been feeling her mother’s absence more and more. So she’d made herself busier than usual, throwing herself both into wedding planning and into anything else she could get her hands on (reorganizing the garage–even though they’d only just moved in!–and working in the studio and taking Reggie on day trips to DisneyLand) so extensively that Luke had grown more than a little concerned she was spreading herself too thin as of late.

So if he could do this for her, feed her eggs and turkey sausage at 2 am and guide her through her makeup removal and snuggle her in the warm comfort of their shared bed, then Luke would do that any day.

“I love you a lot, you know. I can’t wait to be your wife.” Julie’s words came as a surprise while he focused on cutting off a bite-sized piece of sausage from the plate.

Luke smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her nose. “I know. I love you too, boss.”

And that he did.