"Don't go," a voice said from behind. Max looked up from the briefcase he was stacking papers into. His eyes met the bright blue of the woman he never thought would say those words.

"Lorelai?" he asked, not believing that the reason he was leaving was standing in front of him.

"Shhh…" she began, taking the papers out of his hand and pulling his face into hers…

Max was snapped out of this thought by the bell. He couldn't stop this fantasy that she would come back, beg him not to go, and fall into his arms, finally committing to being a family. That was why he had to leave, to get away from the ivy walls of Chilton, where a girl with the same blue eyes haunted him in the classroom. He shook his head sadly and continued to place the few papers he had left on his desk into his briefcase. He heard footsteps outside the door, and ignored them, keeping his focus on packing and leaving as quickly as he could without being noticed.

He heard a slight cough and a light rapping on the door frame. He sighed inwardly, his plan to leave unnoticed apparently over. He turned towards the door and for a split second his heart stopped. His eyes had locked into the same blue he had just been thinking about. After that split second, he realized that the eyes belonged, not to the mother, but to the step-daughter he almost had.

"Miss Gilmore?" he asked, nodding in her direction, focusing his attention again on his desk. He could not see those eyes anymore.

"Mr. Medina, I heard you were leaving. Please tell me it isn't true," Rory stated moving a bit closer to his desk.

"You heard correct, Miss Gilmore. I have been offered a full-time job teaching at Stanford, and I think that I have accomplished all I can here. The wind is blowing me elsewhere," he explained, still looking away from the girl he held so much affection for.

"Norman," Rory began, using his nickname to grab his attention, "that's not true and you know it. You're running away. Don't leave because of Mom. Stay, we need you here. Please?"

"You have no idea, Rebecca…" Max mumbled, staring at his briefcase.

"What?" Rory asked. "I didn't catch that. Please, you always make us look at you when you're talking, look at me." Max lifted his eyes to meet hers. The intensity of the blue was so great that the sophisticated Max Medina crumbled and unshed tears filled his eyes. He shook his head and wiped his eyes trying to forget about Lorelai.

"You have no idea how much I wish you were wrong. I don't want to leave here, I love teaching the young minds here at Chilton. But, I just can't. This school holds too many memories for me now. Maybe, in a few years, I will be able to come back."

"You mean, when I'm gone," Rory says sadly, taking her turn to look at her shoes, her eyes filling with tears as well. "I wish it had worked out you know. You will never know how much I wish that." She felt a hand on her shoulder and another hand tilt her head upward.

"Rory", Max began, "we both know we would have made a great little family. I care for you a great deal. But, I will not be able to teach you the same. I thought going away and coming back would have made it hurt less. But then, seeing your mother at the booster meetings; it was too much. I realized that I cannot teach in this school while there is a reminder of what I, we, could have had. I know it's hard for you to understand, and I hope you are never in a position to understand. But, I need to go. I need to get away and start over." Rory blinked back more tears and shrugged his hand off her shoulder.

"So, this is it, then? This is goodbye, forever?" Rory asked, her voice both sad and bitter.

"Well, let's leave it up to one of your mother's favorite ideas. Fate. If it is meant to be for us to see each other again, then we will. Right?" Max suggested.

"I suppose…" Rory commented.

"So, until Fate may bring us together again, I bid you farewell," Max said, putting his hand out. Instead, he was greeted by an armful of Rory. He awkwardly hugged her back, being careful of the open doorway. After he kissed Lorelai, he had been careful not to be overly affectionate. But, he warranted that this would be okay; one last chance to hug a Gilmore Girl.

"Bye, Norman," Rory said, eyes glassy, wanting to use his nickname one last time.

"Goodbye, Rory," Max answered, letting her go, unable to call her by her special name. Rory left quietly, leaving Max to lock up his briefcase and grab his jacket. He ran his fingers over the desk and gazed around his classroom one last time.

"Goodbye Lorelai," Max said to the empty room. With briefcase and coat in hand, he walked out of Chilton, drove out of Hartford, and left the idea of Lorelai.