"Bye Luke" Rory eyes shined with tears but she remained stoic, she didn't want to break down in front of her mother. She knew her mom was putting on a brave face but she also knew she was the most fragile she had ever seen her, like a glass doll, she looked like she could crack at any moment.

Rory held her arms out towards Luke, and without any awkwardness he embraced her. She unabashedly pressed her face into his shirt and breathed in his scent. He smelt like the breakfast they'd just devoured but there was an underlying clean Luke smell.

It was comforting.

He chuckled and she felt the deep rumble against her head, she looked up at him as he said. "You're going to miss your flight, Obama is waiting" His eyes smiled with sadness.

She wasn't embarrassed as she pulled away and caught her mom taking in the whole scene. She didn't know when she'd be back here and she wanted to take it all in, savour it.

"Luke's right hon, we better get going" Lorelai spoke with reluctance, she hated to break up the moment. She loved seeing her daughter hug Luke like that.

It made her think of how it should be. If things hadn't gone so wrong, this scene could be taking place at the airport. Luke would have gone there with her to drop off Rory and she would have been just as sad but the feeling that she was going to combust would have been less, because he would have been holding her. She would have known that she would be going home with him, their home, and perhaps…. just perhaps there would have been new life growing in her belly which would have made it all more bearable…but there was none of that.

She would have to say goodbye to her daughter alone, and she would be going to her home alone, and she didn't really know where Luke and her were heading and whether they could fix them and maybe there wasn't a chance now for babies and…

"Mom?" Her thoughts were interrupted by Rory, by the look on her face Lorelai could sense she had been calling her name more than once.

"S-S-S- sorry" She averted her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ear nervously as she could feel Luke and Rory looking at her concerned. "W-we should go" She stuttered and looked around for her purse.

She gave Luke a watery smile and herded Rory towards the door. Rory walked ahead of her to the jeep and Lorelai followed. She felt Luke remain close behind her and as Rory sat in the car he stood in front of her before she could open her own door.

"Hey" He said softly, he placed his hands on her forearms. It was the first time he'd touched her since their kiss the night before, it felt like another lifetime now. It surprised her.

"Hey" She replied, looking up at him expectedly and not knowing what else to say.

"Once you've dropped Rory, maybe you could stop by the diner…" He thought then that maybe she wouldn't want to come back to the diner with all the towns people looking at her with sympathy or with knowing eyes after seeing the kiss. "…Or you could go home and call me, I'll come over with food…or whatever" he trailed off.

Her face gave nothing away, she was comforted that he was there but she felt a degree of numbness, mainly caused by the goodbye she was going to have to say in the next couple of hours.

He shook his head, at a loss of what to do with her silence, it wasn't often that she didn't talk.

"…I just don't want you to be alone…" He uttered.

She seemed to awaken then, she smiled and took a deep breath, "Thanks Luke, I'll call you when I get back…I'm…I'm glad you're here" She tried to convey how much she meant this with her eyes, hoping he would understand that she couldn't open herself up to him right now, if she did she would most likely break down and probably be unable to get back up.

He smiled too, the uncertainty gone, he seemed to understand.

He rubbed her arms a little, looking over her head, avoiding her face. He wanted to kiss her but they were both aware that Rory was sat in the car. Then again, her view was of her Mothers behind so Luke decided to take the risk and kiss her after all. She received the kiss with surprising ease. It felt normal, natural, but then their physical relationship hadn't been the issue.

He pulled her closer and squeezed her, "It'll be OK" he whispered in her ear as she rested her face into his neck. She remained there and he felt her nod.

He gently pushed her away and opened the car door for her. "Don't forget to call"

She kept eye contact "I won't".

The door slamming shut refocused her attention to the task in hand. She looked over at Rory who looked pleased that she and Luke were continuing from where they left off the night before.

"All set?" Lorelai asked with false cheerfulness.

Rory nodded as they pulled away.

"I'm going to miss you so much, what am I going to do without you?" Lorelai whispered, eyes clenched shut as the tears she had tried so hard to keep at bay came dribbling down her cheeks.

"Oh mom, you're not going to be without me, you're just going to be far away from me, but I'm here, I'm always with you" She said earnestly, her own tears were spilling freely.

"Oh kid, I know" The words came out shuddered as Lorelai released them with a large breath.

"…and you have Luke now" Rory said earnestly pulling away to examine her mother who didn't speak. "…you do, don't you? You have Luke? You're going to try again and make it right this time, right? That's what you were talking about at the car?"

There was a familiar air of desperation in Rory's voice that could have easily come from Lorelai's own inner dialogue. She realised in that moment that Rory was more concerned about her even though she was going off into the world on a new adventure. She nodded reassuringly, "Yeah of course" She shook her head as if to shake away her tears and sadness and composed herself.

"Look Rory, I don't want you to worry about me. Luke and I are good, we love each other and he said to call him when I get home and he'll come over so I'm not going to be alone, OK?"

Rory smiled "OK" she said, nodding her head definitively.

"Good, now you just go and take over the world. Be confident, be happy, be you and don't forget to call me as soon as you land"

It was then that they heard a scuffle behind them and "There you are! Richard they're over here"

Emily Gilmore, immaculately dressed, make up perfect and untouched. She smiled at them both.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"

"We wanted to say goodbye to our granddaughter Lorelai" Richard explained as he appeared next to his wife.

Lorelai looked slightly confused, they had said their goodbyes at the party last night and hadn't mentioned coming to the airport. She realised she didn't really mind though and shrugged "OK". She watched them hug Rory and she hugged her one last time as she walked through to her gate.

She stood sadly trying to smile as Rory looked back at her. As soon as Rory was out of sight, the tears were back, relentlessly trailing down her cheeks. Her mother pressed a tissue into her hand, her dad put an arm round her shoulders.

"Come on Lorelai, we're taking you back to ours, your father will drive your car, you're in no fit state" Emily pronounced confidently, she was able to hide her sadness at Rory's departure better than Lorelai was, maybe she was used to it.

She couldn't argue with what her mother had said, she couldn't imagine driving herself back to stars hollow. She let herself be guided to the car park by her parents.

She stopped once they were by her jeep, "Wait…how did you guys get here? What about your car?"

"Don't worry Lorelai, we got a cab here" Emily said as she slipped into the passenger seat. Richard smiled at her fondly at she watched amused as he contorted his tall body into the driver's seat.

Lorelai frowned in thought as she sat in the back seat, it occurred to her then that her parents had come to the airport for her.