At half past five, Lorelai and Rory sat at Luke's diner, deep in conversation. Both wishing time would stand still as neither one wanted to face the reality of saying goodbye. The conversation was about everything but it was also about nothing. Finally, Lorelai checked the time on her phone.
"Ten til six. I guess…I guess we should go," she said softly.
"Yeah, I guess," Rory began, but then she stopped, "Mom, why is Luke sleeping at the counter?"
"What?" Lorelai turned around to meet Rory's gaze. Luke had his head resting on his hand and was sound asleep. "Wow, I knew he had a talent for falling asleep anywhere, but he really can fall asleep anywhere!"
"I know he was at the party late and got up early for us, but dang, he is REALLY out!" Rory said with a laugh.
"Well, there was more to it than that. He actually didn't sleep at all and hasn't in two days."
"Why?" Rory asked as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Because he was too busy planning and putting together your goodbye party. He planned it, tarped it, cooked for it, and cleaned it up mostly by himself with a little help from Sookie, Lane, Zack and Jackson, but mostly, it was him. Sookie said that when they thought it was going to rain and they would have to cancel the party, he went around town collecting the tarps and raincoats. Then he stayed up all night stitching them together and hanging them up over the town square," Lorelai said, retelling the story that had been told to her, and even as she spoke the words, she was still amazed by what Luke had done.
"He did all that? For…" Rory began, but Lorelai interrupted.
"For you."
"For us, mom. He did it for you just as much if not more than he did it for me." Rory smiled at her mom who had turned to look at Luke. Lorelai got up from her chair and walked over to where Luke slept. She put her head close to his and whispered his name. No response. So she said it louder. Still no response. Upon saying it a third time, he jumped and nearly fell out of his chair.
"You okay there, buddy?" Lorelai said with a laugh.
"Fine…I was just…resting my eyes."
"Oh yeah, I could tell. Hey listen, we have to get going."
"Oh, okay," Luke said as he got off the chair and walked over to Rory. "Well…look, Rory, I know that I'm not your father or even your stepfather or anything, but I just want you to know…well, I want you to know that I am proud of you and everything you have accomplished and everything you will accomplish. You deserve this."
Rory smiled and gave Luke a quick hug.
"Luke, I love my father but let's be honest, you have been a bigger part of my life than he has. You may not be my father or even my step father but you are very much LIKE a father to me. Thank you for everything you have done for me all these years and for this amazing party. I won't forget it" This time it was Luke who hugged Rory.
"You have my cell phone number right?" He asked as they parted and Rory nodded to signal that she had. "Use it. Any time for anything." Rory smiled again then grabbed her handbag.
"I'll go wait in the car while you say goodbye to Luke," she said as she slipped out the diner door.
"That was sweet." Lorelai said sincerely. "You are pretty special to her."
"She's pretty special to me too," replied Luke.
"Listen, you head on upstairs and get some sleep and call me when you wake up, okay?"
"Ah, no, I'm okay. Go take her to the airport then come back here. We can have lunch and talk. Figure things out," Luke said as he put a hand on Lorelai's arm. She smiled at him.
"Luke, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you look awful. Go upstairs, go to bed. I'm going to take Rory to the airport, wait around to watch her plane take off and until it is out of sight. I may even wait until she calls me from Chicago. Then I'll go to the Inn and get some work done. After you have gotten no less than seven or eight hours of sleep, give me a call and we'll meet up and talk about our stuff, okay?" Luke nodded slowly, but agreed. He was pretty exhausted after all. "So I'll see you later then?"
"Yeah, see you later." There was a pause of awkwardness as neither one knew how this moment should end…a hug? Kiss? Finally Luke stepped closer to Lorelai and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Bye". Lorelai smiled and left the diner to drive her daughter to the airport.