Liz Danes

The next page was filled with pictures of a smiling little blonde girl, obviously Liz. The majority of the pictures were of Liz as a young child, and the page was probably made before Amy Danes passed away. "This page is pretty much dedicated to the… unique sister I was, uh… that I grew up with," Luke explained, motioning to the collage of pictures in the album.

Lorelai smiled as she looked at the pictures of Liz as a little girl. "She looked like a really sweet little girl."

Luke glared at Lorelai. "Sweet? In what universe? I lived with her, remember that?"

She sighed. "I'm saying that from an outsider's point of view. She probably was annoying, but looking in, you two were the perfect little sibling big sibling combination. You must have had some really nice memories with your sister, right? At least one really nice memory that the two of you can share?"

Luke looked at the pictures, and a picture of him and Liz caught his eye. They were both wearing raincoats, rain boots, and any other rain gear imaginable. Luke had a pained look on his face while Liz grinned to his left, her right leg bent in the picture, almost showing off her boots. The picture brought back a sad memory for Luke, but it was a story that Lorelai would really like. "Well, I remember one time, after my mom passed away... Liz and I got along okay for awhile. She liked to come and find me a lot when she was scared, or she missed our mom."

"What happened to your mom, again? I'm sorry to be really personal, I was just curious," Lorelai asked.

"She had breast cancer," Luke replied softly.

Lorelai nodded. "Oh. I'm sorry. Okay, so you and Liz, Liz liked to come find you when she got scared."

"She hated thunderstorms, and my mom used to be really good at making us less scared of them. I didn't really need her that much as I got older, but Liz was very slow to grow out of her 'little girl' stage. My mom used to go check on her often, and Liz was upset right after she died. So, Liz came into my room, thinking I'd protect her," Luke started.

Luke was in the middle of a deep sleep when he felt a sudden plop on his bed and shot up, surprised to have his dream interrupted. He opened his eyes to find Liz at the end of his bed, her lower lip trembling. "Lizzie, what's wrong?" he asked sleepily.

"I'm scared," she admitted, huddling up in her bathrobe. "Mommy always used to come and check on me when it was stormy, and now…" she sighed, obviously trying not to cry. "It's stormy, and she's not here."

He got out of bed and pulled a blanket out of his closet. "You can sleep in my bed for tonight, just tonight, and I'll sleep on the floor. Maybe you won't be scared that way," Luke offered.

Liz wiped her tears with the back of her hand and sniffed. She gave a slight smile and crawled under the covers. "Thank you, Luke," she whispered, pulling the covers up to her neck.

"Why do you have the covers like that?" Luke asked.

She sighed. "I guess no one told you about the vampires," Liz said in a sad tone. "They can bite your neck and suck your blood if you don't cover it with the sheets."

Luke rolled his eyes and grabbed an extra pillow. "Who told you that?"

"Mike Matthews, he's in fourth grade. He's a genius," Liz replied.

"Well, trust me, there's no such thing as vampires," he reassured his sister as he attempted to get comfortable on the floor.

"But what about the monsters that live in the closet? There are definitely really big and scary monsters in the closet, right?" Liz asked, concerned for her safety.

He opened his eyes, knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep for awhile. He'd have to tell her something really creative, something that his mom could come up with, on the spot, to make her less afraid. He thought long and hard about what he could tell his sister… maybe, just maybe, he could get away with something if he remembered something his mom had told him. Then his memory served him at exactly the right time. "You know, Mom told me once that monsters hate crackers."

Liz rolled over in the bed. "They do?"

Luke got off of the floor and opened a box of crackers he had in the bottom drawer of his desk. "I used to be afraid of monsters… when I was really, really, REALLY little, of course, but I was afraid. Once. A really long time ago. So Mom gave me crackers, and told me to eat them, and I did. No monster ever touched me."

Liz took a cracker from the box Luke had handed her and popped it into her mouth, chewing rather loudly. "Well, why do you still have crackers in your room, then?" she whispered.

"In case I get hungry," Luke reasoned.

She nodded and took another cracker. "What else did Mom tell you?"

"What else did Mom tell me about what?"

"You know, everything. I miss her already," Liz said, sniffing again.

Luke felt terrible for his little sister. It was hard enough on him realizing that his mom was gone, but Liz didn't have nearly as much time with her as he did. He sighed, trying to remember all the life lessons he had been taught by his mom. "She told me lots of stuff," Luke started. "One thing I can remember is that when you wash your hands for dinner you have to count to 30. Or sing 'happy birthday' in your head. That's how you know when your hands are really clean enough to eat."

"Really?" Liz choked.

He nodded. "And I know lots of other stuff, too. I'll tell you, just try to get to sleep, okay?"

"Okay. You're the best big brother ever," she said, sinking down into the covers once again.

Lorelai, completely moved by the story, was speechless. It was rare, but she was definitely without words this time. She cleared her throat. "Wow," she said. "That was… uh… so, sad, yet so sweet at the same time. You must have taken great care of her. And you must have been a big help to your dad, for that matter."

"Well, my dad wasn't around all the time, having to work twice as much to support the three of us. It was like my job to look after her," he explained.

She took his hand. "You did a great job. Liz is a great person."

"It was hard for awhile, especially with Jimmy leaving her after Jess was born. Then she grew up and went off on her own, and I pretty much resented myself for letting her… I don't know, get to that point. I guess I protected her too much," Luke said.

Lorelai shook her head. "You did what you could. Liz was Liz, and you were… you. You've always been a protector by nature, Luke. You did fine. Liz may be a little goofy, but she turned out okay. And look how much she adores you now."

"Yeah, she turned out okay," Luke said, giving a half smile.

Lorelai pointed to a picture that had fallen out of the book, of Liz and Doula. "That's an adorable picture of the two of them," she said with a smile.

Luke nodded. "I think you took that one."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, well, I guess that's why I like it so much," she teased. "I didn't know. I love how she looks just like Liz."

Luke nodded. "Better Liz than TJ," he said with a roll of the eyes.

"Ha! TJ," Lorelai said, cracking up. "Actually, now that you say it, I think she does look a lot like T.J. That's funny. Hang on, I swear I won't escape… I have to use the bathroom. I'll be quick as a cute little bunny with a cotton ball tail."

Luke sighed. "Sure, sure, a bunny, cotton ball tail, right," he muttered, knowing full well that she'd take a lot longer than she said she was going to. He looked at the picture, putting it back into the album where it belonged, and remembered a conversation he'd had with Liz earlier in the week.

"Big brother, you're a natural, taking care of little kids like that. Look at her, she adores you," Liz pointed out, referring Doula, who was fast asleep in Luke's arms, her head rested on his flannel clad shoulder. "You're a great babysitter."

Luke rolled his eyes. "She fell asleep on her own," he replied.

Liz shook her head. "You've got the 'daddy' aura about you that makes her extremely comfortable around you!"

"There's an aura?" Luke asked, perplexed.

T.J. sighed. "Hello? Auras are the thing that Liz knows best, besides how to make jewelry! Tell him, Liz."

She nodded. "Lorelai has the 'mommy' aura. It's this… intangible thing that you do, it's like a switch that turns on in your brain. You're in 'daddy' mode when you're around April, but of course you mold that to fit April's needs, and when your little one comes, you're going to have that switch on all the time."

"Even if you don't have any kids near you, Luke. Light's on, no one's home," TJ added.

Luke looked at his brother-in-law. "I understand it now that you explained it to me," he teased, leaving a confused look on TJ's face. "You've experienced the phenomena."

Liz just laughed and took Doula from Luke. "Seriously, Luke, you've got the aura. A very good one. Thanks again for babysitting, and especially on such short notice! We really owe you." she said, planting a kiss on her brother's cheek.

Luke came back to reality as Lorelai got back on the bed. "How many seconds?"

"Huh?" Luke asked.

"Were you timing me, like I asked?" Lorelai inquired. "How many seconds did I take this time?"

Luke shook his head. "I lost count you were gone for so long," he said, humoring her, and covering up the fact that he wasn't counting after all.

She snapped her fingers. "Darn. I suppose I don't beat my record of four minutes, then, huh?"

"Definitely not one for the Guinness Book of World Records guys to come and verify," he replied.

Lorelai shrugged. "Eventually. Someday, I will beat that record. But for now, I focus my energies on this book you are so kindly sharing with me. Next page, good sir."