September, 2009

After the Christening, everyone piles into Miss Patti's for a brunch, and Liz hands over baby Virginia into Luke's arms, figuring most people are interested in seeing both of them, so why not kill two birds with one stone. He's not completely comfortable with a baby, but by now she's 3 months old and bigger and sturdier than she was as a newborn, so a lot of his fears of not supporting her head have been alleviated. She looks up and smiles at him a couple of times and he's amazed how much she resembles her mother, and he's proud and happy for Liz to have been given a second chance at parenting.

He makes small talk with Kirk who inexplicably speaks to him in baby language as if Luke's not an adult himself, but mercifully Virginia starts to wail and TJ comes running to see what has so upset his mother's namesake. Luke is relieved of his duties temporarily and tries to stay on the sidelines while others mingle and smile at him from the buffet tables.

"You're still here." He hears Lorelai's voice behind him and turns around.

"It's what I came for. The main event." He tells her and smiles.

"Ah, right. The Godfather."

"Me, huh? Who would have thought it?"

"I always felt you had a sinister streak in you." She jokes.

"The stories I could tell." He teases her and pours himself some juice. "Is Rory here?"

"No, she couldn't get done marking all the papers from her TA class, so she decided to stay the weekend."

"How does she like Columbia?"

"It's different." Lorelai says thoughtfully. "I think she was overwhelmed by the big city at first, and she hated how busy it was, but she actually prefers the crowd there. Lots of international students – she brings one over almost every time they visit. They miss their families and Stars Hollow is a good double for that."

"Do you feed them?"

"That's mean."

"Sorry, I was kidding."

"I know."

Things are strange between them. They were best friends, then they were lovers, and intensely so. They gave of each other and to each other and then they were nothing. Now, enough years had passed by so that the immediate pain and awkwardness was gone, and they could regard one another as old acquaintances, except everyone involved knew they were much more. It was a tightrope.

"Anyway, it will be all worth it when she gets her doctorate. My kid, a Doctor. Not even my parents can say that. Wow."

"She is amazing. You've done an amazing job with her."

"Nah, it's all Rory."

"No way." He disagrees. "She owes you a lot."

"You should have seen her at her Yale graduation." Lorelai says wistfully. "She looked so beautiful, and like she belonged there, with all those brilliant minds."

"I did." He says quietly.

"Pardon?"

"I was there."

"Where?"

"At her graduation. Two years ago, I was there."

Lorelai shakes her head, completely shocked by his admission and moves to a corner of the room, away from prying eyes. He readily follows her and they stand across each other, close.

"What, like Mel Gibson in that movie when he had no face?"

"What?"

Then she remembers she's talking to Luke and he's got no idea what she's referring to.

"In the back? You stood somewhere by yourself?"

"I didn't want to impose. I know you were there with your parents."

"How did you get a ticket?" She asks, because she knows it's always a mad dash at Yale for extra tickets and it's usually kids with connections who end up scoring them.

"Rory sent me one."

"Rory sent you one." She repeats stupidly. "Okay, wow."

"I'm sorry." He says glibly, unsure whether he's upset her.

"No, no, she has every right to invite whoever she wants. She just never told me about it."

"She thought it would upset you. So she sent me one of Paris' extra tickets."

"I would have been okay with it. I know you were important to her, I know what you meant to her. I never wanted her to feel like she had to lose you just because I did."

"I know. It's okay, Lorelai."

"So you were there."

"I was. It was a proud moment. I think I even cried a bit."

"You? No!"

"I'm afraid so." He says, embarrassed.

"That's alright, I cried a lot!"

"I bet it was incredible for you."

"I can't put it into words even. And I'm sorry now that Rory isn't here. She would have loved to see you."

"Maybe I will stay a few more days." He hedges.

August, 2009

"Mom?"

Rory calls her name through the seemingly empty house. It's the first time she's back from New York since Richard's funeral and she's afraid of the state she may find her mother in.

Lorelai sits in the kitchen table with a large, elegant basket of flowers in front of her. Rory recognizes the white and cream roses with spray orchids and heather woven between them. It's absolutely beautiful.

"Mom?" She asks and Lorelai passes her the note that accompanied them.

"'It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.'

Deepest sympathies for your loss.

Love,

Luke."

Rory reads the note and then wraps her arms around Lorelai, allowing her the comfort she knows she needs now and wondering how it's possible that today, three weeks after his death, is the first time she's really see her break down.