He was driving down the roads, looking at signs that would point him in the way of Millinocket. He shook his head as he got lost in his thoughts. He didn't understand this. It was very unlike Lorelai to leave town because of something like this. Well, with the exception of Max. But that was a little different.

First of all, she took Rory with her. And she could have easily done the same now since Rory was out of school for the summer. And her leaving without even telling Rory was very odd. If she couldn't even include her daughter, her best friend, in on this, then this was way bigger than he thought. And second of all, she wasn't really in love with Max to begin with and was upset because she thought that she had lost her chance. Her chance for that package. She didn't think she'd ever get it after that.

And, she probably felt the same way now. Probably thinking "It's gone.. again. I lost it.. again.". And it was all his fault. But still, he never thought she'd leave town because of it. Now he knew that she was more than just extremely upset, she was devestated. Her world as she knew it was seeming to be coming to an end. All she had left was Rory.

The more he thought about this as he drove, the more frustrated he got.

"Damn it!" he muttered, beating his fist on the steering wheel.

He needed to do something. He had to make this work. He couldn't just sit around thinking of ways to get her back, he had to do it whether he was ready or not. If he didn't.. he might lose her for good.

But what will he say when he gets there? Will she even want to talk to him? She did say when he was ready and sorted things out.. but had he sorted things out?

Then it came to him. He had one place to stop at before seeing her.

oOoOo

Lorelai sat on the bed reading a book, one that belonged to Rory. It was Pride and Prejudice, which Rory had read when she was ten, and she thought that reading might occupy her mind for a while. There wasn't much you could do in a hotel to keep you busy. All she had was her cell phone, a tv with few stations, and this book.

Man this guy is a jerk. She thought, refering to Mr. Darcy. How could this chick fall for a guy like him? I guess he must get better as the book progresses. I need to stop asking Rory what happens in books before I actually read them.

So far, it seemed to be working. Although she still hadn't forgotten about why she was here. No, she would never forget this.

oOoOo

Luke stood in front of the door, waiting for it to open after he had knocked. A female face appeared behind it with a bit of a suprised face.

"Luke, hi. I wasn't expecting you." Ana said

"Yeah, uh, I was wondering if I could talk to you and April." he said, wringing his hands together nervously.

"Sure, come on in." she said and opened the door wider to let him through. They walked into the living room where April sat on the couch in front of her lap top.

"Hi Luke." she said when she looked up and saw him standing there.

"Hey April. I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"Sure, what's up?" she asked.

"I'll just leave you two to talk." Ana said, heading toward the kitchen.

"Uh, no, stay. You should hear this to." Luke told her.

"O..k." she said sitting down.

"Ok, well, I'm not sure if you know Ana, but I'm engaged. I know you know April. But anyway.. well, we kind of took a wrong turn and I need to fix it. I know you don't really know who Lorelai is, but she's very nice and smart and.. well, she's just a great person. So.. I was wondering Ana, if you wouldn't mind me taking April for a few hours. I want her to meet her."

"Oh, well, that's fine with me if it's ok with April." she said.

"Yeah, it's fine with me."

"Good, good. Well, April, we won't be gone too long." he told her, "I promise I'll have her back by nine, ten at the latest."

"That's fine, she doesn't have school until Wednesday."

"Ok. Thanks for letting me take her."

"Anytime. Be good April." she said and gave her daughter a hug before she left.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what you always say and so far my face has been mug shot free." she said, hugging her mother back.

Ana laughed and walked them to the door and shut it when they left.

oOoOo

Lorelai was still deep into the book when she heard a knock on her door. Thinking it was a maid or something, she walked over to it and opened it. Who she saw was the last person she expected to be standing in front of her this very moment.

"Lu-Luke. Uh, hi.. how..how did you know I was here?" she said, barely getting the words out, still suprised that he showed up here.

"Rory told me." he said. He was nervous beyond belief and prayed that this would work out.

"Oh..well, uh, what are you, um, doing here?"

"I want to talk to you." he said.

Lorelai nodded and sat on the bed after shutting the door, waiting for him to say whatever it was he had to say.

"I, um, I feel really bad for what you've been going through. I didn't mean for any of that to happen. I guess I just got caught up in what was going on with me and stopped thinking about anything else. I didn't realize what a jerk I was being and I'm sorry I was that way to you."

Lorelai just sat, looking at her hands. She didn't know what to do, so she just nodded her head. Luke pulled a chair up in front of her and put a hand on her arm.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so upset?" he asked softly.

Lorelai sat silent for a few minutes. "I didn't want to seem selfish or unreasonable... I knew this wasn't easy for you and didn't want to build up to your stress."

"I don't ever want you bottling up your feelings like you have been for the past few months. That's not good for you, or anyone for that matter. I should have known something was wrong."

"It's ok, you had other things on your mind."

"It's not ok. I want you to always tell me when something is wrong. And I shouldn't just focus my mind on one thing. I know now that you want to meet April, and I didn't let you before because I didn't think you'd want to."

"What? Why would you think that?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I..I don't know. I wasn't sure if you wanted her in your life. I didn't think you'd want that responsibility of being a stepmom and all."

"Of course I want her in my life. Just because you had a kid with another woman doesn't mean that I'm going to look down at her in anger. I had Rory with someone else, but you don't hate her do you?"

"Of course not! I could never hate Rory. Nobody could."

"See? April's a bright girl and she's your daughter. I do want her in my life."

"Well, it's good thing you're saying that because she's here."

"What?"

"April's here. She's out in the hallway."

"You brought her all the way out here? Doesn't she go to a year round school?"

"Yeah, but she's off today and tomorrow." he said. "Hold on. I'll be right back."

He walked out of the room and then walked back in with April. They stood in front of Lorelai and Luke had his hands on both of April's shoulders.

"April, this is Lorelai."

"Hi, nice to meet you.. again." April said, holding out her hand.

Lorelai took it and shook it. She couldn't believe that Luke had actually brought her here.

"Hi April, nice to meet you again too."

"I have to go put more gas in the truck, so I'll be right back." Luke said.

"Oh, ok. Bye." Lorelai said. She was a little nervous about being left alone with April. This was her chance to make a good impression and she didn't want to blow it. She wanted April to like her.

Luke smiled and walked out of the room.

"So, you're engaged to my father?" April asked.

"Well, uh, yes I am." Lorelai told her, not knowing how to say that the engagement was put off. Especially because she was part of the reason for it. She didn't want her to feel like this was her fault, because it wasn't.

"Heard you guys hit a rough patch."

"Yes, we did, but we're working through it."

oOoOo

Luke came back twenty minutes later to find April and Lorelai both sitting on the bed laughing. He wasn't expecting to find this. But he wasn't expecting to come back and find them in a death match either. He was happy to see them like this.

"Hi." he said from the door way.

"Oh hi." they both said, still laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked them.

"Lorelai just told me something Jay Leno said and it's pretty funny. Ok: Everybody is talking about finding Bin Laden. How about finding Dick Cheney? Where did he go? What have we got caves over here now, too? Where did he go? I think his Secret Service code name is 'Waldo'."

Luke laughed. "Yeah, she has many jokes. Well, I should get you home. It's 8:30."

"Ok, it was nice talking to you Lorelai. Hope to see you soon." April said.

"Yeah, same here." Lorelai said smiling.

"Go ahead and go out into the hallway April. I'll be there in a minute." Luke told her. April nodded and walked out into the hallway.

Luke walked over to Lorelai.

"So, you guys talked?"

"Yeah, she's a sweet kid. Funny too. A lot like Rory."

"Yeah she is. Well, I wanted to come down here to prove to you that I am ready. And I want April to be in your life. I just wasn't sure what you thought. But, I've been thinking and I've changed. I'm not going to be the same person I've been for the past couple of months. I want to marry you and I want to make you happy. I just freaked out when I found out I had a kid and I didn't know what to do. I'm really sorry about this Lorelai. I love you."

Lorelai knew by his tone of voice that he was serious about this. And she was tired of crying and being depressed, she was ready to make things better.

"You're forgiven." she said.

Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object.

"I guess you'll be wanting this back." he said, holding up her ring.

She smiled and he placed the ring back onto her finger.

"I'll see you later?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I just have to check out of here and then I'll head home."

"All right. I'll see you later then."

"Definitely." she said.

Luke pulled her into a hug and then gave her a short albeit loving kiss. He opened the door, waved, and then walked out. Lorelai got her stuff together and then went downstairs to check out. She got into her car and started driving back home. Things seemed to be looking up now and she was relieved. She hated not being with Luke and was glad she was again. Though they still had some things to discuss, it looked as if they wouldn't be running into something like this anymore. Sure, they would have their arguments and usual banters, but that's the way they always were. It had never been this drastic. They were back, and that's all that mattered to her at the moment.

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Hey guys, I hope you liked this chapter. For those of you who read my other LL fic, Always Be My Baby, I will update that this weekend. I promise. I know it's been a long time, about a month, since that update. Sorry about that. Anyway, about this joke: I had a much funnier one (this one wasn't very funny) to put in, but it was inappropriate and April would not have been allowed to say it and I'm sure Luke wouldn't want his fiance telling his daughter a joke like that. I loved my reviews and I'm happy you guys got so emotional about it. That's what I was aiming for. Happy late Easter to all the Christians. And hope those who aren't had a fun three day weekend.