The door to my dorm has been annoying me the past few days, or maybe it's just the key. Mechanics is not something I'm good at. But as I try the key in the lock for the fourth time, I'm finally frustrated and thinking I might actually do something about it.

Just then, the door opens for me. "April. I knew it had to be you. I've been hearing keys and the door shaking for about five minutes," my roommate, Julia, says. Five minutes it took her to decide it was me and open the door, how like her. I sigh and fake a smile.

"Thanks, Julia," I say, but not meaning it. This door and my roommates will be the death of me. Okay two of the three roommates. Julia's a history major. She comes from the rich part of Boston, not far from the Kennedys and not far from our Harvard campus. Unfortunately, this allows for her family to stop by whenever they want, which can drive me crazy.

Sally's a philosophy major from Ohio. I think she's still annoyed with me for asking her about cows and farming. Hey, I'm from Connecticut. What do I know about Ohio? Her parents are teachers that raised a genius, who graduated from high school a year early and got full scholarship to Harvard. Lucky girl, because my family can't afford this place, but I think she lives her life in a dreamland.

I go into my room and throw my stuff on my bed and glance over at my favorite roommate, the one that shares a room with me, Mallory. Mallory's family is rich like Julia's but she doesn't constantly talk about it. She's a real person. She likes hanging out and studying. She's a film major but she's got no big dreams of living in Hollywood.

"Bad day?" Mal asks.

"Ug," I sigh, throwing myself on my bed. "Julia," I say, motioning with my thumb towards the door. I can practically hear Mallory smile. "Key." She laughs.

"But you passed your chem test?" she asks. I smile, sitting up.

"I aced it." She nods, knowingly. Between the two us, I'm the one who cares more about school, probably because I'm majoring in Genetics and planning on going to med school one day. I'd better care about it if I'm planning on spending the next half a century in school.

"April! Phone!" I hear Julia scream from the other room. I look at Mal strangely.

"I didn't even hear it ring," I comment. She shrugs.

"I turned it off to nap." I nod and pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"April?" I hear Marty ask. Wow. Marty. Something big must be going on. Marty's my – oh how are we related? Marty's wife is Rory and her mom is married to my dad. Therefore, he's my step-brother-in-law? Yeah, okay.

"Hey, Marty, what's up? Is Rory okay?" Marty's never the one who calls. For one thing, Rory and I only met about six years ago, and for another, he's kind of the quiet type, except around Rory. And probably Lorelai, Rory's mom. No one's quiet around Lorelai, I think she could get anyone to open up, even Charlie Chaplin himself.

"Rory's fine." He sighs. Okay, now I'm really worried. Marty's hesitating, it's gotta be bad news. Something wrong with the twins? "It's your dad." Oh. "He – uh – he – uh – he's – God, this is hard to say over the phone."

"Marty? What's wrong with my dad?"

"He's dead," Marty says. I fall to the floor, my knees just go right out from under me.

"April?" Mallory calls, coming to my side. I lean back against the dresser. My dad is – no, can't be.

"Marty? Are you sure?" I ask. Mallory has knelt down beside me, waiting to hear the news.

"Yeah, April I'm sorry. I'm also sorry Rory couldn't call but she's not doing well and for that matter neither is Lorelai and…" he sighs. "Sorry, I've got to go. I have a few more calls to make and… I'm sorry April." I nod, tears welling up in my eyes. "April?"

"Yeah," I respond, realizing he can't hear me nod. "I'll be there as soon as I can." We hang up. "My dad died." I begin to cry, as Mallory pulls me into her arms. I have this image in my mind of my dad and I miss him.

I didn't always know my dad, but you could say he's the reason I want to go into genetic counseling. I met Luke Danes, my dad, when I was 12 and I was doing a project for the science fair. It involved getting hair samples from 3 different men I had determined were possibly my biological father. It turned out that Luke was my dad. He came to the science fair to find out. And I never thought I'd see him again.

Little did I know, Luke wasn't what I expected. He called my mom and we began to get together. And I was amazed how much we had in common and how much I had missed not having a father. Now, I love my mom, and for 12 years it was just us, but I would have really missed out not having my dad in my life. I would have missed out not knowing Lorelai and Rory and the twins.

I remember my graduation from high school. My mom was so worried about my dad not coming that she must have called a million times to remind him. Thankfully, Lorelai understood and thanked my mom each time. Like Rory, I graduated as valedictorian of my class, of course I didn't graduate from some uppity private school like Chilton, I graduated from Woodfill High School. But my research in genetics got me into any school I wanted.

After graduation I took pictures with my friends and my mom before I managed to find Dad, Lorelai, Rory, Marty and the twins in the back of the auditorium. There were tears in my dad's eyes that day and I was complete taken aback. My dad's not an emotional guy. "I feel like I'm Sean Penn in I Am Sam. How did some guy like me end up with such a smart, beautiful daughter?" He hugged me then and I realized how proud he was of me. I appreciated that my mom was proud of me and my grandparents but that my dad, who I had only known for five years, was proud of me, it meant so much. I really loved him then. I can't believe he's dead.

"April?" Mal says. I nod.

"I have to get to Stars Hallow," I manages between sobs. I have to go. My dad is one of the two reasons I am who I am and I have to be at his funeral. And even though I only met them six years ago, Lorelai and Rory are my family. I have to help them. I have to be there for them. Because they love me. Because I'm their family. Because that's what we Danes's do.

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A/N: I know most of you hate April and the whole idea of her, but I just couldn't ignore her. Besides, I think she's cute. But keep reviewing!

And for those who want Luke to be alive, I'm not sure if I can still do that. I'm working on a few other things that are a little bit happier for Luke, because I love him too.