"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Jess shouted while running around the kitchen in his Superman costume with his cape trailing behind him. "Watch me fly, Mommy!" he called as he raced past Lorelai and bumped into the chair Rory was standing on.

Lorelai didn't look up from the pins she was sliding into the hem of Rory's fairy princess costume. "I see. You're very fast, but you need to be careful. Don't knock your sister over."

"Okay! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

"Than-ouch!" Lorelai cried, pulling her hand away from Rory's dress. Sucking the pinprick of blood off her thumb, Lorelai scolded Rory, "Hold still. If you don't stop fidgeting, you'll be trick-or-treating with me attached to your skirt."

"Sorry, Mommy," Rory crooned sweetly. She managed to stand still long enough for Lorelai to place two more pins in her hem, but then started shifting impatiently from side to side. "When we get to go trick-or-treating?"

"After I sew your costume, Daddy gets home from work, and we have dinner."

Jess had been pretending to fly around the kitchen table and skidded to a stop next to Lorelai. "But, Mommy, that's gonna take forever," he whined.

"I can make it take longer," Lorelai threatened, her voice sickeningly sweet.

Heeding their mother's warning, Rory froze and Jess took off running again. "Whoosh! Whoosh!" he squealed as he sprinted toward the living room.

"That's better," mumbled Lorelai. She quickly finished pinning Rory's skirt and helped her hop off the chair. "Okay, you're pinned. Take it off, so I can sew it."

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Shoveling the last bite of his macaroni and cheese into his mouth, Jess pushed his plate away. "Candy time!" he declared, still chewing.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Luke reprimanded him. "And you have to wait for the rest of us, so sit back down."

"Fine," groused Jess, sinking back into his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't understand why we have to go trick-or-treating anyway. We don't need any candy. You two shouldn't eat all that sugar. It'll rot your teeth."

Wanting to avoid any further ranting, Lorelai said, "It's only their baby teeth and they've got to lose those sometime. They'll be fine. Especially since I'm going to eat part of their candy anyway."

"That doesn't make me feel any better. You need sugar even less than they do."

"Well, none of us need your annual lecture on the evils of Halloween, candy, sugar, and the joys of childhood, but here we are."

"Is that your way of telling me that we're going trick-or-treating no matter what I say and that

all three of you will be bouncing off the walls by the end of the night."

"Exactly," Lorelai confirmed with a grin. "I knew you were smart."

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Two hours later, Lorelai was pushing the twins' stroller through the center of town. Rory was walking next to her while Jess and Luke walked a short distance ahead of them. Suddenly, Jess started to run, dragging Luke behind him. "Come on, Daddy. We gots to go see Gypsy!"

"What's the rush? Don't you have enough candy yet?" complained Luke, reluctantly letting himself be pulled down the street.

"No!" screeched Jess.

Lorelai chuckled as she followed them to Hewes Bros Gas & Service Station where Gypsy was dressed as a witch and passing out candy by the handful. When Lorelai reached Luke, she sent Rory to get her candy. Once Rory had joined Jess and the other kids who were crowded around Gypsy, Lorelai jabbed Luke in the ribs. "Stop being such a grump. Would it kill you to pretend like you're having a good time?"

"Yes, it would."

"Ugh! You're impossible! Watch the twins. I'm going to say hi to Gypsy." Lorelai passed the stroller to Luke and walked away, shaking her head in disgust.

Luke called after her, "Fine. At least they're not bugging me for candy."

Turning around to glare at him, Lorelai stole a piece of candy from Gypsy and proceeded to eat it slowly while looking Luke square in the eye. When she was finished, she finally acknowledged Gypsy. "Hey, Gypsy, great costume."

"Thanks. I can't wait to get out of this stupid get up. Take another piece of candy. The second it disappears, so do I."

Laughing, Lorelai grabbed several Tootsie Rolls. "I think I can help you out."

"Good. Here you go." Gypsy handed Lorelai the candy bowl, earning a cold stare from Luke. "What's with him?"

"He hates Halloween. If you ask him about it, you can get a well-rehearsed rant about the evils of sugar and childhood joy."

Gypsy's nose wrinkled, betraying her horror at Lorelai's suggestion. "I think I'll pass."

"I would."

"Come on, Lorelai. Let's go," Luke shouted impatiently.

Passing the candy bowl back to Gypsy, Lorelai huffed, "I'll talk to you later."

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It was just past midnight when Luke woke up to an empty bed. The sheets on Lorelai's side of the bed were cool to the touch. Realizing that Lorelai must have been gone for a while, Luke rolled out of bed and went searching for her.

After he failed to find her with any of the kids, he went downstairs and headed straight for the kitchen. He found her sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of miniature candy bars to her left and a pile of empty wrappers to her right. Jess and Rory's empty plastic pumpkins sat in front of her.

Lorelai didn't immediately notice him, so Luke cleared his throat to alert her to his presence. When she turned around to look at him, Luke asked, "Don't you think you've had enough?"

Shrugging, Lorelai answered, "You didn't want the kids to eat it. This is my way of making sure they don't."

"I didn't want you to eat it either. Especially all in one night. Do you have any idea what that stuff will do to you?"

"Make me happy?"

"Guess again. It'll keep you up all night."

"Yeah, yeah, and it'll rot my teeth. Tell me, how is staying awake all night tonight different from all the other nights that's happened?"

"This time you won't be able to blame Ben and Liam."

"Eh. Details. I'll blame them anyway. It's not like they're going to argue with me."

"You would blame our innocent sons, who can't even defend themselves, for your poor choices."

"Why not? I blame you for things when you're not around to defend yourself."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"You should also be unsurprised that I want you to go back to bed, so I can blame you for all the candy I'm going to eat."

Luke crept up behind Lorelai, reached over her shoulder, and started to return the uneaten candy to the plastic pumpkins. "I have a better idea," he whispered in her ear. "Why don't we both go to bed? Maybe we can find a way to occupy ourselves until your sugar rush turns into a sugar crash. If we really work at it, we might even wear you out to the point that you're able to get some sleep tonight."

"I'll probably fall asleep just in time to wake up and feed the twins."

"Does that mean you're not interested?"

With an enigmatic smile, Lorelai stood up and pressed herself tightly against Luke. She ran her hands up and down his back, lightly scratching him with her nails. "Oh, I'm very interested."

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The middle of the night flirtation that Luke and Lorelai shared in the kitchen turned out to be the calm before the storm. By breakfast the next morning, Luke was snapping at everybody over the slightest offense. During the next few weeks, his mood only got worse until he was yelling about forgotten candy wrappers, mislaid toys, and unfinished meals.

It reached the point where Lorelai barely recognized her husband. He had always had a gruff exterior, complete with occasional rants, but underneath he was patient, thoughtful, and, at least where his family was concerned, affectionate. However, by Thanksgiving, he had become irritable, irrational, and withdrawn. Every time Lorelai tried to talk to Luke about what was bothering him, he growled at her and stormed out of the room.

Finally, after a month of trying to avoid petty fights and attempting to protect the kids from angry outbursts, Lorelai had had enough and decided it was time to force Luke to talk to her. On the last day of November, she called Babette to sit with the twins while Jess and Rory were at school, then she walked to the diner to confront Luke.

As she walked through town, Lorelai got lost in her thoughts and didn't notice that the sidewalks around the diner were strangely deserted or that the diner itself was oddly quiet until she tried to open the door and walked into it instead. Stepping back, she saw that a cardboard sign had been taped to the door. It simply read, "Gone fishing."

Before Lorelai could find her keys and let herself into the diner, Taylor appeared at her side. "Where is your husband?" he demanded angrily.

Looking pointedly at the sign on the door, Lorelai said, "Well, I believe he's gone fishing."

"He can't just close for a day without notice," Taylor raged. Suddenly, there was a hopeful glint in his eyes and, with a more cheerful tone, he added, "Unless, of course, you're here to open the diner for him. In which case, you're late."

"It's Luke's Diner, he can close it whenever he wants."

"That's not realistic. People have come to rely on Luke for their daily meals. You'll just have to fill in for him."

Lorelai cocked her head to one side, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Taylor with a mix of amazement and disbelief. "Yeah. That's not gonna happen."

"Well, you have a key, don't you?" asked Taylor, his arms flapping wildly in agitation.

"Yes, but I'm not here to open the diner."

"Somebody has to."

"No. They don't."

"But, people have already missed their breakfast. You can't expect them to miss lunch and dinner too. They'll starve."

"I'm sure they'll find somewhere else to eat."

"But…"

"Not now, Taylor! I have more important things to do then stand here and explain to you why you're wrong."

"Now, you listen here…"

"No," Lorelai repeated forcefully. Having found her keys, she said, "Goodbye, Taylor."

In one fluid movement, Lorelai stepped up to the door, unlocked it, and opened it just wide enough so that she could slip into the diner. She shut the door on Taylor and swiftly flipped the lock, so that he couldn't follow her inside. Ignoring Taylor's screaming and banging on the door, Lorelai looked around the empty diner. The only thing out of place was a letter bearing Lorelai's name that was propped up against the pastry display, which held a single sprinkle covered donut.

Lorelai pulled out one of the barstools and sat down to eat the donut while reading the letter. After reading the letter twice, she slapped her palm against her forehead and said, "I'm so stupid!" She quickly gathered her things and left through the back door in order to avoid Taylor on her way home to wait for Luke.

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Luke timed his return home for after everybody was supposed to be asleep, but before the twins were due to wake up for their middle of the night feeding. He moved slowly as he unlocked and opened the front door, trying to make as little noise as possible. Expecting to be able to sneak into the house, sleep on the couch, and make breakfast for everyone in the morning as if nothing had happened, Luke was surprised when Lorelai met him at the door and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're home," she mumbled into his neck. "I've been so worried about you."

Luke turned his face into Lorelai's hair and inhaled deeply, taking comfort in the familiar scent of her shampoo. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"It's not your fault. I should have realized what was bothering you. I'm sorry that I've been such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot. I've been a jerk. I should have just told you why I was being an ass."

"I should have realized that you were missing your dad."

"You were busy picking up my slack and dealing with all the kids."

Lorelai chuckled half-heartedly. "Are we really arguing whose fault it is that we've had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month?"

"Yes, Alexander, we are," joked Luke, having picked up on Lorelai's reference to Jess' favorite book.

Offended, Lorelai stepped out of Luke's embrace and poked him in the chest. "That's Alexandra to you, mister."

"My mistake. Are you ready for bed, Alexandra?"

"I can stay up a while longer, if you want to talk about your dad."

"No. I spent a whole month focusing on my dad, now I want to focus on my wife."

"Aw. I knew you were a romantic."

"Ah geez," Luke muttered, blushing. "Maybe I'll just go to bed alone." He started to walk away.

"No, no, no," protested Lorelai, hurrying after him. "I want to come too."

"That's the idea."

"Dirty."

"You started it."

"And you'll finish it."

"Dirty," Luke quipped, throwing her words back at her.

"Just take me to bed."

"Yes, dear."