For Lorelai Gilmore, the hardest part of the mornings was no longer waking up. That used to be the hardest thing in the world for her. Even when she was a little girl, her mother used to have to pull Lorelai from her bed and stand her on her feet to get the child to wake up.
In her teenage years and forward, Lorelai turned to coffee to wake herself up for the day.
Since Luke came into her life, though, Lorelai found that his 3 a.m. wake up was harder than her own 6:45 a.m. wakeup.
"Kirk will survive without blueberry pancakes," Lorelai mumbled against the warm skin of Luke's shoulder. When he rolled away from her to get out of bed, Lorelai rolled with him and wrapped her arms around him.
"Other people besides Kirk eat at the diner," Luke reminded her. He turned back toward her. Luke was already completely awake—long before he ran the diner, he was used to waking up early to help his father with the hardware store. "Other people will expect it to be open."
"Screw all of them," Lorelai's voice was slurred with sleep. Luke pushed some of her dark hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.
"No diner means no money," Luke reminded her.
"You have plenty of money," Lorelai mumbled. This was technically true, but it wasn't something the young Luke Danes liked to flaunt. "Besides, you're warm. You can stay five more minutes."
"Your concept of 'five more minutes' and everyone else's concept of 'five more minutes' are two completely different things, Lorelai."
"Mmmm." Despite her sleepy, whole-hearted protests, Lorelai was starting to drift back into sleep.
Trying not to laugh at the little routine Lorelai kept up every day, Luke untangled himself from her arms and slid out of bed. As soon as he stood up, Lorelai moved into the warm spot that Luke left behind.
While Lorelai slept, Luke made his way to the shower, knowing well enough that this morning routine wasn't actually over yet. After finishing his shower, dressing, and quietly leaving the bedroom, Luke made his way downstairs.
Rory was already waiting for him in the kitchen, rubbing her eyes and working on a coloring book.
"You know you could be sleeping, kid," Luke said, tousling her hair as he walked by.
"I like to eat breakfast with you, Luke," Rory told him sweetly, her words punctuated by a yawn.
"What do you want this morning?" Luke asked, opening the fridge. He had long stopped questioning Rory insisting on getting up before dawn with him, only to sleep for a few more hours, and get up again with her mom.
"Can we have omelets? And chocolate milk?"
"Sure thing."
Luke arranged Rory's plate so that it showed a face with orange slices for eyes and an omelet smile. He filled her glass with chocolate milk and stuck her favorite crazy straw in it.
Every morning, by the time Rory had finished her first breakfast of the day, her head would be drooping with drowsiness. Somehow she always held on just long enough for Luke to finish his plate.
Then Luke would scoop the little girl from her chair and carry her back to her room. After tucking her into bed, Luke would do the dishes and quietly slip out of the house where his girl lay sleeping.
Luke used to think rolling out of bed at 3 a.m. every morning was hard on its own. He never imagined that it would be even harder once Lorelai and Rory entered his life.