Disclaimer: We own nothing. This is in place from here on in.

A/N: This is a collab work between Lorelai90, Schuyler Lola and DiehardJavaJunkie14. Each "episode" may take a little while to get out. All three of us are going over each part. Please bear with us!

Lorelai gently opened the door to the diner. She trudged in, seating herself at the counter. She'd known it was coming, even if she'd only known for a few days. Now there was a void, an obvious and painful void. Rory was gone… things just weren't going to be the same. Dropping Rory off at the airport left Lorelai emotionally drained. She had tried not to cry when she was at the airport, but when Rory had lost it, so had Lorelai. And now, Lorelai sat, staring at Luke, in a state of denial and on the verge of losing it again.

From the way she had walked into the diner, Luke knew something was upsetting her. Now getting a look at her, he knew what it was. Her face said it all…Rory was gone...and she had come to the diner, of all places. He wrapped her into a hug and held her close, and Lorelai broke down again.

"I can't believe she's gone," Lorelai cried, her face buried in Luke's shirt.

Luke kissed Lorelai's forehead, trying to help her in any way he could. He knew there wasn't much he could do, but for Lorelai, he would try anything and everything. She needed him, and he would come through for her as he always did.

"Why don't we get you home?" Luke asked. "That way, you won't have to deal with these nutcases asking you a whole bunch of questions, and you can adjust at your own pace."

Lorelai leaned on Luke, allowing him to lead her to the house. He brought her to the couch, where Paul Anka was waiting. She sniffled as she scratched the dog behind his ear.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked, handing her a box of tissues and sitting down next to her.

Lorelai took a tissue and shook her head. "Not right now."

"Well, I'll be here. Just let me know," Luke said.

Lorelai grabbed one of the couch pillows and lay down on it, clutching a tissue in her hand as she curled herself up next to Luke.

"It's so different," Lorelai said. "I mean, when I get up in the morning, I won't know exactly where Rory is. And her room… all her stuff…"

"You can leave Rory's room as is."

"But I won't know when to call Rory. She's a busy girl, and she's important, writing for an online magazine… she might not …"

"Lorelai, I promise you, Rory will not abandon you. Rory's way too thoughtful of a person to do that. Besides, she's your best friend. I mean, the way you two talk to each other… it's like you have your own language. She's not leaving you for good," Luke promised.

"I know… it's just… not the same."

He gently stroked her hair until she fell asleep.

Rory tried to lug her carry-on bag through the aisles of the plane without injuring anyone. It was a task that proved difficult. She tried to be aggressive, pushing her way into the aisle, but the other passengers beat her to it.

She finally made her way off the plane, and stepped outside. It was going to be weird, staying in places that were nothing but unfamiliar. Everywhere she had gone before always had some element of home. Rory felt extremely out of place, almost as if everyone was staring at her, watching her every move.

She took a taxi to the small restaurant where her new boss had agreed to meet with her. Rory swore she wasn't going to start following Barack Obama, a presidential candidate, around without some sort of meeting and a conveyance of expectations from her boss.

She walked into the restaurant, which was busy with lunchtime customers, and looked around for a man who might be her boss. She saw a lot of official-looking businessmen, all of whom could be the man who hired her.

"You must be Rory Gilmore," a man said from behind her.

She turned around. "Yes," she said.

"I'm Dale Young. It's a pleasure to finally meet the reporter everyone's been talking about," he said, extending his hand for Rory to shake.

Rory shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Why don't we have a seat, and I'll get you up to date on the plans?"

Rory nodded, following her new supervisor. He seemed nice enough. From the brief introduction, he seemed easygoing, and not too intimidating.

"Well, Rory, I'm sure you've heard by now that we want you to cover Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Your first assignment's going to be a town hall style meeting. Here are directions, as well as details on the town meeting. I presume you've been doing research on Senator Obama?" he asked, opening the menu.

Rory nodded. "Yes, sir, I have."

"Good. You're well prepared. And you don't have to call me 'sir'. It sounds… stuffy. I may be old, but I'm not stuffy."

"Okay," Rory said.

"I hear you're from Stars Hollow, Connecticut. A colleague of mine works for the Courant. It's a nice little area, I stayed there once on my way to an assignment. Charming town," Mr. Young said, scanning the menu for something that interested him.

"We're a close knit community. Most of the townspeople are a little crazy, but they mean well, and they really care about everyone else," Rory said.

Rory took a breath when she thought Mr. Young wasn't looking. She wasn't as anxious as she was before. Mr. Young was really nice. She knew she could go to him if she had a problem or a question. By the time the lunch was over, Rory felt extremely relieved. Everything was going to be okay. Rory could breathe a little easier now that she knew what was expected.

"Luke, how's Lorelai?"

"She's taking it one step at a time… she's doing the best she can, I guess."

"Can I see her?"

"Babette, I don't think right now's a good time. She's still… in shock. Give her a little while to recover, and then I'm sure she'd love to see you," Luke insisted.

"Well, would ya tell her we're thinkin' of her?" Babette asked.

"I will, thanks Babette."

Lorelai opened her eyes, hoping everything that had happened was all a dream. But it wasn't. She shot up, and thoughts started running through her head. Had Rory called yet? How long had she been asleep? Who else had come to visit?

Luke turned the corner and stopped when he saw Lorelai sitting up.

"Hey," he said sympathetically.

"Hey," she responded.

"How are you feeling?"

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Okay. Any word from Rory yet?"

Luke shook his head. "But you've had plenty of visitors… Babette, Miss Patty…"

She stood up from the couch to find a fruit basket on the table. "A fruit basket?" she asked, pointing to the monstrosity of colors staring back at her.

"That's from Taylor. He was saying something about fruit, and how he thought you could benefit from eating fruit… then I realized that you don't eat fruit, and I blocked out the rest of his babbling," Luke replied, walking toward the door to answer it yet again. "Now if you really don't feel like talking to people, I suggest you lie down on the couch, and stay there until I let you know it's safe. You have more well-wishers."

"They act more like mourners," Lorelai said, lying down on the couch and covering herself with the blanket. More to herself, "They better not be wearing black."

Luke opened the door and Kirk poked his head inside, trying to catch a glimpse of Lorelai.

"Is Lorelai home?" Kirk asked, carrying flowers.

Luke shook his head. "No, but Paul Anka is. He might be a little more your speed, Kirk."

"I want to see Lorelai."

Luke blocked the doorway as Lorelai shoved her head into a pillow, trying not to laugh. Lorelai wasn't surprised that Luke made the comment, but she was surprised Kirk was so insistent on seeing her.

"Kirk, she's not doing so well right now, she needs space. I'll make sure she stops by and sees you when she's feeling better," Luke insisted, taking the flowers and shutting the door.

"Wow… that was really funny. The joke about Paul Anka? Priceless," Lorelai said, sitting up and stretching. She moved the blanket and the pillow so Luke could sit next to her.

"Well, frankly, I think Paul Anka is much more intelligent than Kirk. But that's just my opinion, the jury's still out," Luke said, wrapping his arm around Lorelai.

Lorelai moved closer to Luke. She was happy to have a moment without the rest of the town trying to make her feel better. It was the first time in a long time that Luke and Lorelai had some alone time, and Lorelai vowed to enjoy it. Then the phone rang. Lorelai jumped on the first ring, lifting up the blankets and throwing them aside. She searched on the table, under the couch, and in the kitchen before Luke held up the ringing phone. Lorelai jerked the phone from Luke's hands and answered it.

"Rory?"

"Mom! I miss you already!" Rory said from the other line.

Lorelai sat down on the couch. "I miss you, too, sweets. Tell me, tell me all about it! I want so many details that your story becomes a novel you would hate because of the excessive use of descriptive language without getting to the point."

"Okay… well, I got off the plane…"

"Ah, Rory, come on, I need to know from the moment you got ON the plane. That's hours of your life that I'm missing! I need to know everything!" Lorelai interrupted.

Rory sighed. "Okay, I got on the plane."

"Where did you sit? Aisle seat or window seat?"

"Aisle, of course, to catch the flight attendant for some peanuts," Rory stated plainly.

"I should have known. Continue," Lorelai replied.

Luke pointed to the kitchen, motioning to Lorelai that he would give her some privacy. Lorelai shook her head, grabbing Luke by the wrist and pulling him to sit down next to her.

"Well, then I opened up my carry on, and I got the note from you and Luke. That was really nice of you guys to write me a note. Anyway, so then I read the note, about six times, maybe seven if you count the time I was interrupted by the peanuts," Rory continued.

"Seven it is," Lorelai replied.

"Okay, seven times. Then, I pulled out the magazine we bought at the newsstand, and I thought of you when I came across the title article. 'How to make him believe anything you say'. You should read it, it's very informative. Anyway, so then I listened to the iPod Grandma and Grandpa got me that one time, that I've never used until now. It's a very useful gift."

Luke broke free from Lorelai's grip and went into the kitchen. He started making coffee as Lorelai talked to Rory.

"Okay, so then?"

"By the time I listened to my first playlist, my flight was over. I got off the plane and went to meet with my boss. His name is Mr. Young, and he's nice. He's about Grandpa's age, maybe older, and he was really helpful. He talked about Stars Hollow like it was the eighth world wonder," Rory replied.

"Not necessarily the entire town, but Luke's is enough to get that label… maybe just the coffee."

Rory groaned. "Mom, the coffee here is terrible. The food is awful, too. I had a burger today that tasted like rubber. I know I'm moving on after the town meeting with Senator Obama, but still, I need some good coffee and good food. I need sustenance, to get me through! Where is Luke when you need him?"

"He's in the kitchen, allowing me to experience the eighth world wonder for myself. He's making a pot of coffee that is much needed. Now when you come home, you'll want to eat at Luke's all the time. Or will the rubber hamburgers ruin the thought of all meat on buns for you?" Lorelai teased.

"When I come home, there is no doubt that I will eat all of the food I once took for granted. How could I pass that up?"

Lorelai took the cup of coffee Luke offered her and blew him a kiss as he walked back into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes, muttered "Jeez," under his breath, and went back to whatever he was doing in there. Lorelai sipped the coffee and sighed.

"Yeah, kid, you're missing out. I'll drink twice as much for you, so that way, you won't feel like you're missing it. And when you come back, we'll give you some coffee right away, to ensure that you're attentive enough to do all of the things I will drag you to do," Lorelai insisted.

The girls heard a click on the phone line, and Lorelai took the phone away from her ear, almost as if to check to see if something had disconnected their call. She put the phone back to her ear.

"Just to let you know, Lorelai, you will not be getting twice as much coffee from me. I don't know how that thought got in that complicated and very twisted brain of yours, but it's now being taken out," Luke said from the other phone line.

"Luke! Hi! I never really got to thank you for the really, really nice party I got the other day. It was so sweet of you to help out."

"Luke, how are you talking on the phone if I'm talking?" Lorelai questioned, taking another sip of coffee.

"You have more than one phone, and I just wanted to ensure that Rory doesn't get worried about the high levels of caffeine you swore you would ingest on her behalf. I won't allow it," Luke said. "And you're welcome, Rory, you deserved a nice party."

"What gives you the right to go on the other phone line? That's the trick my mother pulled on me when I was eight, trying to listen to my phone conversations to figure out what was going on in my life."

Lorelai leaned over the arm of the couch to try to see Luke. She couldn't catch a glimpse of him.

"This conversation might get slightly confusing," Rory pointed out.

"I just wanted to make sure that both of you knew I wasn't going to let Lorelai even think about that much coffee. The intoxication might happen by a thought process or something," Luke insisted.

"How dare you mock my coffee consumption. It's part of a myriad of quirks that make me who I am!" Lorelai teased.

Luke grunted. "And what would no coffee do to you?"

"Well, for one thing, it would make me extremely grouchy. Oscar would have to make some more room in his trash can, and prepare to divide the rent. Second, the withdrawal symptoms would allow me to wreak havoc on you, Luke. It's a win-win situation as long as you keep the coffee coming."

"Guys?" Rory interrupted.

"Yup, I'm here, kid, what's going on?" Lorelai answered.

"I miss you."

"We miss you, too babe."

Luke knew that was his cue to hang up. He did so, and allowed Lorelai some time with Rory on the phone.

"So, how are we going to solve this problem? I mean, I know there's a void. It's weird not being able to come home whenever I want to," Rory started.

"We should set up a calling time. A time you know you could be free, and I know I'll make time to talk, and we can talk. Seven?" Lorelai insisted.

"It sounds like a good plan, but then again, we're preventing each other from calling at six if we so choose," Rory pointed out.

Lorelai stood up from the couch, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and bringing the coffee mug into the kitchen for a refill. She pouted, and Luke rolled his eyes, but the silent exchange resulted in another cup of coffee.

"Good plan, Rory. Call me, e-mail me, do whatever you want. I love you, and I miss you, and even if you're lonely at three in the morning, call me! I'd wake up for that," Lorelai replied, seating herself at the kitchen table.

"I love you, too, Mom. I'll call you."

"And do it soon. I can't go for long without talking to my lovely daughter!" Lorelai pleaded.

"Of course. I have to go, but I will call you at the most random time interval you can imagine," Rory promised.

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks, sweets."

"You're welcome," Rory said.

"Bye, Rory."

"Bye, Mom."