Sometimes it's the things that we don't know that plague us. Days, weeks and months passed from the time Anna was released from the rehab center but she never came home, she never came to pick up April. Luke had tried to find her, even took the number of a private investigator from Richard, but she seemed to have vanished. The people at the center said she was doing fine and happy to reunite with her daughter when she left, but then no one had heard from her.

April was crushed. She spent a few days in her room, crying, yelling and being moody. But after seeing that Luke, Lorelai and Rory were determined to be there for her no matter how hard she pushed them away, she soon began to once again fall into the routine of being a full fledged member of the Gilmore-Danes family. Luke promised her that they would get to the bottom of it eventually, even Richard tried to comfort her and told her that his men were the best and he would keep paying them until they had an answer.

This year Luke's birthday fell on a Tuesday. As usual he made Lorelai promise there would be no big deal made and since she was eight months pregnant, she was happy to agree. Of course her idea of "no big deal" was to invite Liz and TJ and Sookie's family to movie night.

She convinced him to take the day off, telling him that it was the perfect time for them to shop for nursery items. Both of them were being cautious with this pregnancy as being over thirty-five Lorelai's doctor referred to it as a geriatric pregnancy. Lorelai was offended, however studies showed that pregnancies with women over that age were a higher risk for both Mom and baby. Luke did not want to buy anything until the baby was safe at home. Emily wasted no time telling them that they were crazy and they needed everything done before the baby arrived. Especially since Lorelai was refusing Emily's gift of a nanny. Lorelai managed to have everyone compromise that they would buy whatever they needed to bring the baby home with, register for some things and buy things but arrange them to be delivered later. Emily agreed that since they baby would be sleeping in a bassinet in Luke and Lorelai's room for the first few weeks that this plan would be fine.

Luke never thought he would be spending the morning of his birthday at Babies R Us beside his wife watching her excitedly use the scanner gun to add things to their registry. But here he was, and it made him happier than he wanted to admit.

"Oooooh, I love this," Lorelai cooed. "Can we get it?"

Luke looked at the item she was pointing to with utter confusion, "Uh sure. What is it?"

Lorelai giggled, "It's a playmat. See the toys hanging from this thing are for the baby to grab at when he's laying on his back and there are these pads on the bottom for him to bang on during tummy time."

"Tummy time?"

"I thought you were reading all kinds of books."

"I've been reading pregnancy books and what to expect while you're carrying and delivering the baby."

"That's great Babe, but you need to know about babies and infants. I'll show you which book to start tonight."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. D day is getting closer and closer. So did you scan the tummy time mat?"

"I got it. Let's go check out the big ticket items now. Then we'll get the rest of the little stuff." She smiled as she headed towards the cribs.

"Big ticket?" Luke asked, "Are we getting him his first car?"

"Crib, stroller, car seat, you know, the more expensive stuff. Things I want to buy ourselves and have delivered to the house later. Well except the stroller and car seat I guess. We need that to get the baby home."

"Okay, but we're keeping it in the garage until he's born."

Lorelai stopped shopping and looked at him, "Hon, I get the superstition of it all, but why do you seem so freaked out?"

Luke looked nervous, "I haven't talked about this with you, I don't really like to talk about it at all. Plus it's not really my story to tell."

Lorelai didn't say anything, it was her best way to show that she was taking this seriously.

Luke took in a deep breath, "When Jess was five Liz got pregnant again. She had gotten rid of all her baby stuff so naturally she had a baby shower, people bought her stuff and I helped her set up her place and the nursery . . . I don't want to talk about this now. Not looking at your beautiful belly."

Lorelai touched his cheek and kissed him, "She lost the baby."

"Just a few weeks before the baby was due. It was awful. She was crying and Jess didn't know what was wrong with his Mom. Her boyfriend went drinking. And I was there disassembling the crib, hauling away the rocking chair, it was really hard."

Lorelai had a few tears running down her cheek, just thinking of losing a baby, and imagining Luke taking on all that for Liz, "We'll keep it all in the garage. But most of it will be on the registry that we can buy after the baby is born. I promise there will be nothing in the house. And I'm so sorry I brought you shopping on your birthday when it made you think about this sad story."

"No, don't worry," Luke smiled as he wiped her tears away. "This life, with you, our girls, Jess, soon our new little guy … the life that I have now has made every bad, sad and heartbreaking thing that has happened before worth it."

Lorelai exhaled a small laugh as rubbed her cheek against his palm. "Man, you really have gone soft in your old age."

He rolled his eyes at her, "If you ask Rory, she thought I was a softie all along."

"Well for her you were!"

Soon they had finished picking out everything they thought they would need. The only items to come home were the diaper bag, along with the essential diaper changing must-haves, two outfits, and a few other items to get the baby home from the hospital. Lorelai explained to Luke that if you register for things and then come back to buy them later you get a discount. He had felt putting expensive things on the registry would make them look greedy. But when the store clerk confirmed Lorelai's explanation he was satisfied.

They went home, had lunch and took a nap together before the gang arrived for the movie night festivities.

The movie that Rory chose for the night was "The Goonies" because she felt it was the perfect movie for the age range of the party guests and because she was sure that Luke liked it, even though he wouldn't really admit it. But she remembered one time when she had chicken pox and her Mom had to work, Luke came and watched her for the day. At the time, The Goonies was Rory's favourite movie and when Luke sat to watch it with her they had a great time together. It was one of her favourite memories of Luke.

Sookie made her famous risotto and a million other dishes. Lorelai got Weston's famous strawberry shortcake, which she knew was one of the only sweets Luke liked to indulge in.

"Sookie, this food is incredible!" Luke marveled.

"You say that like you've never eaten my food before."

"Well usually you are making things like steaks, asparagus wrapped with bacon, stuffed mushrooms, and other fancy things. But you've made regular party food and it's fantastic."

"Well thank you, Birthday Boy. I hope that now you believe me when I say that I can help out at the Diner if you need me when the baby comes."

Luke wrapped one arm around her shoulders, "Thanks! But you have two little ones yourself. I'm sure Caesar and Lane will have it under control. I mean worst case, I could just close the place for a few days."

"Hey, guys get in here! It's movie night, not 'two chefs talking in the kitchen' night!" Lorelai called out.

"Better get out there," Luke smiled. When he got to the living room he smiled at the sight he found.

Lorelai and Liz were on the couch, each at an arm leaving the spot in the middle for Luke. TJ was in an armchair near Liz. Jackson was seated on the floor with Davey in his lap leaving the second armchair free for Sookie. Rory, April and Jess were also on the floor laughing and talking about their favourite 80s movies. It did Luke's heart good to see April so happy. Once Sookie checked to make sure Martha was sleeping in Rory's room, she joined the party and the movie began.

It was a great movie night where every one of Lorelai's rules were broken but she didn't care because everyone was having the best time, even the birthday boy. The room erupted into laughter when Davey shouted "Hey You Guuuuuys!" when he felt no one was listening to him. In fact the person on the porch peeking into the window jumped at the suddenly loud noise. They looked around making sure no one saw them before looking into the house one more time and then disappearing down the street.