Disclaimer: This is an original story based upon the characters of Gilmore Girls. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit will be made from this story.

Author's Note: Thanks to all who have read and reviewed the last two chapters. I really appreciate it! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finish this story. I hope you like this next installment. I am not a romance writer by nature so I will cross my fingers that Luke and Lorelai will not hold that against me.  Enjoy!

"With a Little Help from Samantha"

"Luke, we need to talk…" I started for the fortieth time since I had left my parent's house. Nothing seemed right…what could I say? How could I tell him about how much I had changed in the past two hours? I wasn't afraid anymore. No matter what happened, no matter what the future held, I wanted to get married to Luke. I turned off the exit to Stars Hollow and within minutes I was in town. Suddenly as Luke's came into view, I got nervous. What if I told him what I was feeling and he didn't believe me? What if he didn't want to get married anymore? I stopped at the stop sign and just watched him, carefully wiping down the counters. I took a deep breath. I love him so much. Was there a more patient man in the world? I needed for him to understand. I needed for him to know that I was ready, ready to spend the rest of my life with him.

Suddenly, the answer hit me. I smiled slightly and then turned down the street to my house. I pulled into the driveway and ran inside—straight to the movie closet. I started pulling television dvd sets—Who's the Boss, I Love Lucy, Three's Company—finally I got to the one I was looking for—Bewitched. I grabbed it and ran upstairs to my closet. I pulled out my keepsake box out of the bottom of the closet. This was the place where I put my most precious things. I opened the lid and and looked inside. Mostly it was filled with mementoes of Rory—a few baby clothes, pictures she had drawn with "To Mommy" written across the top, her pumpkin Halloween costume, her Chilton skirt and many other things. There were other things too, my diploma from business school, my teddy bear. I kept searching through until I found it. I pulled it out, and smoothed my hand over the shiny dome. It was my snow globe. It had a wooden bottom, with a Christmas tree ornately carved in it. Inside the globe, was a small house in a forest, with a little family gathered around the house singing Christmas carols. I reached under and wound up the silver key. It started to play White Christmas. I closed my eyes and remembered back to that Christmas.

It was snowing—but for the first time in my life the snow held no magic for me. It was about ten o'clock at night and it was Christmas Eve. For the first time in three hours, Rory had stopped screaming and was asleep. It was so quiet—soooo quiet. I turned around and looked at my surroundings. I had done very well with the place—my own place. The rosebud wallpaper I'd got at the thrift store was beautiful, and the pretty curtain around the shower made me proud. It was my own anyway. I was doing it, I was living on my own, not expecting help from anyone.

Something was different tonight. I looked over at the little Christmas tree with a few balls I bought at the thrift store and a few presents for Rory. All of a sudden, I thought about the large Christmas tree at home—no at Richard and Emily's house. I thought about the presents under the tree, the apple tarts, and though I was trying desperately not to—I was thinking about Mom and Dad. It was easy to put them out of my mind while I was at work, it was easy to not think about it when I was taking care of Rory, and usually I was so tired that I fell right to sleep. But something was different tonight. It was Christmas Eve I guess—and I felt two tears slowly make their way down my cheeks as I admitted the truth. It was Christmas Eve, and I wanted to go home.

I wondered what they would be doing tonight. Would they have the annual party? Would they just continue on with life? After all, did it really make that much difference whether I was there or not? I almost jostled Rory awake. It had taken hours to get her to sleep, but now I wished she was awake. I wanted her company—even if it was screaming. Anything was better that the loneliness I felt.

Three times I stood up, ready to bundle up Rory and take the bus to Hartford. Each time I did, I imagined the door opening and my mother standing there in an elaborate party dress and saying, "What are you doing here?" I went back and sat down by the window. Maybe I could call them. After all, it was Christmas. I pictured Dad answering the phone, and my conversation with him

"Dad? It's me—Lorelai. Merry Christmas. Everything's fine here…except…I want to come home. Daddy please, let me come home."

"Stop it!" I said firmly to myself and heard Rory's rustling in the crib. "You're only remembering what you want to remember," I told myself. "You're not remembering the bad times. You'd die if you went back. Just stop it."

I picked up the broom and began sweeping the place—anything to keep busy. I was in such a fury that I almost didn't hear the knock on the door. For a minute, my heart jumped. Maybe it was Mom and Dad.

"Mia?" I asked as I stood next to the door. There was a slight pause and then an answer.

"Um…no," came the reply.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Luke Danes," came the reply. In a fury I grabbed my robe and wrapped it around me. I had to chuckle--I was seventeen years old with a year old baby—a little too late to care about modesty.

I opened the door and there he stood—he was so hot. He was older than I was, but only by a year. He had just graduated from High School in the Spring and was working for his Dad.

"Um…hi," he said, shuffling his feet on the ground.

"Hi…Merry Christmas," I said.

"Merry Christmas," he said back to me. There was a long pause.

"How's your kid?" he asked.

"She's fine, thank you," I replied—another long pause.

"Look," he said, "I got this thing that belonged to my Mom and it's not anything that's really important to me. I thought you might like it, you know, just cause this is your first Christmas away from home and you don't know anybody yet."

I swallowed hard—a Christmas present—for me. I was so not going to let this guy see me cry. He brought it out and handed it to me.

"Thank you," I said, trying desperately not to burst into tears.

"No problem," he said and then he smiled. I went weak in the knees.

"Well see ya," he said with a wave.

"I'll see ya," I said back with a smile. He walked a few steps and then turned around.

"Hey Lorelai,"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're here," he said and then he trumped off in the snow and was gone. I sat on the floor and opened my present with all the delight I had felt as a child. I put my hand over my mouth as I pulled out the snow globe. I did cry then—I knew I had a friend.

I shook myself out of my memory and looked at the clock—perfect, he would be closing up. I took the snow globe and the DVD's and went out to my car. I drove back over to Luke's and just as I was pulling up, he was putting the closed sign on the door. I waved to him and he went over and let me in.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine—just fine. Look, I really need to talk to you." I said solemnly. All of a sudden he looked nervous.

"What's wrong? Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. I nodded

"Let's go upstairs," I said and led him upstairs to his apartment, into his room with the DVD player.

"What are you doing?" he asked as I put the Bewitched DVD in and hid the snow globe behind the TV. I found the episode I was looking for and fast forwarded it to the part I wanted him to see.

"Lorelai, Hon, your mom died and you just went through what she left you tonight—you want to watch Bewitched now?" I turned to face him.

"This episode—it's called A is for Aardvark, don't ask me why, it has nothing to do with aardvarks. What is an aardvark anyway? I don't understand that."

He was looking at me totally confused now.

"What?" he asked. I realized I was babbling—he knew I always babbled when I was nervous.

"Look," I began firmly, "Darrin sprains his ankle and Samantha gets tired of running up and down stairs all day long and so she gives him magical powers and then he goes power crazy and wants to give Sam more. He thinks she needs more then what he has to offer. He thinks she wants something more than him." Suddenly a glimmer of recognition came into his eyes. I went on,

"Darrin goes overboard thinking that Samantha wants cruises around the world and fancy wardrobes. Then the anniversary present he bought for Samantha gets delivered and well…this happens." I turned around and pushed play.

"Darrin—who was that?"

Darrin turned and handed Samantha a large package.

"These are for you," he said. Samantha smiled, "For me?" she asked. "From whom?"

"From me," Darrin replied. Samantha opened up the box and saw there was a dozen roses.

"Oh Darrin, they're beautiful," Samantha sighed and then picked up a smaller box.

"What's in here?" she asked like a delighted child.

"Nothing much," Darrin replied. "I bought that a long time ago, just a couple of weeks actually, but it seems like a long time ago."

Samantha opened the little box and drew out a small wristwatch.

"Oh, it's beautiful," she said—starting to cry. She turned it over and looked at the inscription on the back.

"I love you every second," she said, and then turned to Darrin.

"Oh Darrin," she cried, "I love you. I'll go anywhere you want me to go, I'll live anywhere you want me to live. But please believe me, this watch and these flowers are the most important things that I've ever had in my whole life."

I pushed stop and took the snow globe out. I turned to face him. He was looking at me like I'd lost my mind until he saw the snow globe.

"I'd forgotten about that," he said quietly as I walked towards him.

I sat down beside him on the bed and rubbed my hand over the dome again.

"I just spent two hours looking through things and reading letters from a woman who never told me what was in her heart—never told anybody what she was really feeling. She was afraid of telling people what she felt. I don't want to be like that anymore. I don't want to be afraid anymore." I got off the bed and knelt down beside him.

"Luke—I love you. I'll go anywhere you want me to go, I'll live anywhere you want me to live. Believe me—this snow globe is the most important thing I've ever had in my whole life. I want you—that's all I want in the world—just you. I probably sound like the biggest sap in the world right now and I don't care," he chuckled slightly.

"Luke—I came here first. After I went through my mother's things I knew I had to see you and I had to see Rory. But I came here first because I wanted you to know that if Rory won't see me, if Rory doesn't want to have anything to do with me, I wanted you to know that what I am about to say wouldn't be because of that. Luke, I love you. I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He smiled at me, and reached up to wipe up a tear from my eyes.

"Lorelai…we're already engaged. You proposed two years ago." I took his hand.

"I want to get married to you next Friday," I replied. Now he looked serious.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Are you really sure?" I nodded. "Yea, I'm sure." He reached down and took my face in his hands. I reached up and met his lips halfway. His kiss was so passionate, so loving, it brought me back down to my knees.

"Is that a yes?" I asked.

"What do you think?" he replied. I laughed and stood up, hugging him.

"I love you too Samantha," he whispered in my ear.