Author's Note: See Disclaimer and Title in Chapter One. Ok, here is what I had planned on adding to the last chapter. It's kind of short and ends in a weird place but not much more needs to be said before I go into the next chapter, which will be more Luke and Lorelai. YAY! I am going to update at least once more tonight. If anybody read Alone, another fic I wrote, you will recognize parts of this chapter. This was kind of a weird chapter to write so I hope they are all in character. Keep the reviews coming. I love them even if they are mad at me. And I blame Sway for sending me that review that made me want to quit the game I was playing and write four more chapters tonight. Really I love you, but you are detrimental to my laziness.

On with the story . . .

Chapter 14: What If?

Lorelai continued her conversation with Rory as she walked home.

"Do you think Luke will be all right?" Rory asked.

"Sure, he'll be fine," Lorelai assured her. "He is used to Taylor pissing him off."

"I hope so."

"He will. It's a good thing he has us to cheer him up. What would he do without us?" Lorelai teased.

"What would we do without him?" Rory asked seriously.

"Die of starvation, probably."

"Really, Mom. What would you do if he left Star's Hollow?" Rory had promised Luke she wouldn't tell her mother, but she hadn't said she wouldn't pose it as a hypothetical question.

"Why would he leave?" Lorelai couldn't see it happening.

"He does have a wife, you know. Maybe someday they will live together and I don't think his office-apartment is a good place for a family."

"Good point, but why wouldn't they buy a house? Luke will never leave the diner." Lorelai was confident about that at least.

"I don't think Nicole would want to live in Star's Hollow." Rory said, trying her hardest to sound casual, as if the thought had just come to her.

"You're right. She doesn't seem the type." Rory could hear the disdain in her mother's voice. Lorelai was always very protective of the town, but this sounded like a little bit more than that. Lorelai wasn't suspicious so far, so Rory decided to push it a bit further.

"What would you do if Luke left? I mean, we always thought he would be there for us forever, but it's possible he might not be." She paused for a moment, before adding, "I don't want Luke to move." Lorelai could hear real sadness in Rory's voice and wondered where it was coming from.

"Honey, I don't think anyone would want Luke to move, but luckily, that's not happening." She realized she was trying to reassure Rory and herself.

"Yet" Rory finished for her. "Make him stay" she blurted out after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" Lorelai was taken aback. Rory had abandoned her original plan of getting Lorelai to realize on her own that she didn't want him to leave. Rory realized how much she wanted Luke there and knew if anyone could get him to stay it would be Lorelai. She thought about how she should be mature and let Luke make decisions himself and stay out of it, but she didn't feel like being an adult about this. She wanted him there, always and forever, and didn't care how selfish that made her.

"Make him stay" she repeated. "He will listen to you. Tell him, if she ever asks, to say no. Tell him we need him." She was getting worked up now. Lorelai hated to hear Rory upset, but she couldn't deny that she was getting upset too.

"Honey, we can live without Luke" she said softly.

"Can we?" Rory asked. "I mean, yeah, we physically can, but do we want to? I don't. Do you?" There was a heavy silence on the phone. Rory knew she had finally broken through Lorelai's strong denial.

"I don't know" she said softly. "I would have to think about it." Rory took this as a good sign. Everything that ever meant anything to Lorelai had required lots of thought. As impulsive as her mother could be, she could be just as cautious.

"You have lots of thinking to do lately. Perfect guy and Luke? Maybe it could be the same thing?" she said teasingly.

"Rory Gilmore. You had better not be suggesting what I think you're suggesting" Lorelai warned. Rory held back a chuckle. She had pushed a little too far. She backtracked quickly.

"Of course not, I just meant, kill two birds with one stone. Purely for your convenience."

"Right" Lorelai said sarcastically. Rory laughed.

"Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, honey."

Lorelai hung up the phone, already lost in thought. She knew Rory was mostly teasing about Luke being her perfect guy, but there was a hint of seriousness there. The whole town had been hinting for years. More than that, Lorelai was thinking about Luke moving.

She thought about what it would be like if he left. She didn't have many memories that didn't include him in one way or another. She realized she had taken for granted, his always being there. She thought about the little jokes, the silly conversations that never meant anything. But, somehow, they meant so much. She thought about the lengths he would go to, to cheer her up, to fix things for her. She thought about all the sweet things he did, without realizing that he was being sweet.

She remembered the conversation about always having each other. About being in each other's lives permanently. But what if he wasn't? What if she couldn't see him and talk to him whenever she wanted. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if any one of the times she had called him, he hadn't been there. She had other people, but none of them could give her exactly what Luke could. How had she never realized that before now?

She knew she was selfish for even thinking these things. What if he did leave? It would be his choice, wouldn't it? It wasn't really any of her business. But it was. She knew she had never asked his permission for any of her life decisions, but now that she thought about it, if he had told her not to do something important, she would have had reservations at least. If she had thought about moving and he told her not to, she would probably stay. Easy to say, when she never planned on leaving.

She figured, she was just upset, because she was tired. She climbed her stairs and flopped onto her bed, not even bothering to change her clothes. As exhausted as she was, she still slept fitfully that night.