Lorelai watched from her car as Luke left the diner and headed towards Doose's. She held her cell phone to her ear and said "Luke" into it. She listened to it dial and waited until the machine picked up. When it beeped she took a deep breath and began.

"Hi Luke. It's me. You said not to leave without saying goodbye and while we don't have the best track record with answering machine messages, here it is. I know this is the chicken shit way of doing it but if I'd done it face to face, I'm not so sure I could have still walked away." Lorelai breathed out a shaky sigh before she continued. "To be honest, I'm not so sure you would've let me walk away. And I need to walk away Luke. It hurts too much to be around you and not be around you. Luke, I love you. I know we never said the exact words and now is a really lousy time to put it out there, but some part of me knows you were always saying it, I just wasn't listening and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for a lot of things. I'm sorry I never told you before how I felt and I'm sorry you didn't believe me when I finally did. I'm sorry that my mother is an interfering old witch who just cannot let her daughter be happy and make no mistake, Luke. I was happy. I guess now it's time to find someplace else to be happy in. Two more things before I sign off. Don't call me and don't call Rory. I realize she's my daughter but she loves you too and I don't want her to feel like she's in the middle. She's got enough of that feeling considering my problems with her grandmother and Christopher." Lorelai paused when she caught sight of Luke going back into the diner. "This may sound stalkerish and weird but I called you when I knew you wouldn't be in the vicinity and now you're on the way back so I should wrap this up. I'm sorry we ended the way we did Luke. Truth of it is, I didn't want us to end at all. And thus ends my diatribe. Goodbye Luke. Be happy."

Lorelai hung her cell phone up and took a deep breath. She looked at the car in front of her and nodded at the driver. Rory turned around and started her car.

And with that, the Gilmore Girls left Stars Hollow.

"Uh, Luke?" Lane ventured to her boss a few moments after she'd watched Rory's car and Lorelai's jeep pull away from the curb.

"Yeah?"

"I think I heard the phone ring before."

"Did you answer it?"

"Why would I answer it?"

"Because you work here."

"And?"

"Well, if you heard the phone ring, I'd think, that as someone who works here and wants to keep their job, you'd answer it."

"Luke, no where in my job description does it say answer Boss' phone."

"Oh, you mean my apartment phone rang?"

"Yeah," Lane shook her head, confused. "Luke? Don't take this the wrong way, but have you been sleeping?"

"I'm gonna go check my messages."

"Okay," Lane shrugged.

Luke headed for his apartment and Lane went back to waiting tables. She looked up when the door opened and smiled. "Hi Liz."

"Hey. My brother here?"

"In his place."

"Thanks," Liz headed for the back. She entered just as the message ended:

"…Truth of it is, I didn't want us to end at all. And thus ends my diatribe. Goodbye Luke. Be happy."

"Was that who I think it was?"

"If you think it was Lorelai, then yeah." Luke stood up, "Told her not to leave without saying goodbye. She didn't think I'd let her walk away if she did it in person."

"Was she wrong?"

"Still would've liked the chance to try."

"Luke, maybe she did the right thing here."

"She did the chicken shit thing here Liz."

"And maybe it was the only thing she could do," Liz said. "Luke, I know how you feel about her. But you're the one who let her go."

"I didn't mean for her to leave town."

"Maybe you should have told her that."

"I want her home, Liz. I want her in this town. I want her in this diner."

"You want her back."

"How the hell did I let this happen?"

"I'm gonna tell you something and I don't want you to get mad at me."

"Oh this can't be good. Go ahead."

"You're way too much like Daddy. You and Jess both. It must be in the bloodline."

"Liz, what the hell are you talking about?"

"You, Dad, and Jess never say what's in your heart until it's way too late to do anything."

"Aw what are you talking about?"

"Dad never said 'I love you' to either of us, Jess didn't say it to Rory until it was too late, and did you ever tell Lorelai how you felt about her?"

Luke didn't say anything.

"Yeah I didn't think so. I'm on your side, always, but you are an idiot."

"Thanks Liz."

"You want her back?" She handed him the phone, "Start dialing."

"She said not to call."

"So what?"

"So, it's my turn to be chicken shit. She wants out, she's got it," Luke turned and exited the apartment.

"Idiots, the both of you," Liz whispered.