The time had come; Luke was leaving April at her dorm. They had just returned from doing some last minute shopping and now they were saying goodbye.
"Well, I guess this is it." Luke mutters.
"Yeah… and before you ask, yes I have everything I need and I'll call Mom after you leave." April tells him.
Luke nods, "Okay, um well… have a good time and study hard. I'll see you in a couple weeks." He holds out his arms and April steps into his embrace. She rests her head on his shoulder and he remembers how he used to be able to rest his chin on top of her head. He realizes how much she's grown in the past few years, not just physically, but also how much their relationship has grown. Although he doesn't feel like they've made up for the years he's lost with her, he feels grateful for the relationship they have now. He quickly kisses the top of her head before she pulls away.
She smiles at him; "Bye Dad. I love you."
"Bye. I love you too." He turns around and walks to his truck.
"Drive safe!" She calls out after him.
On the drive home, he thinks about what Lorelai said about April growing up so fast. Then he thinks about Will and Sam, hoping that the years don't fly by with them. He wants to enjoy seeing them just be kids for a while. When he returns home, Lorelai is waiting for him in the living room.
"Hey." She greets him.
"Hey." He says back.
"Come here." She says, standing up. When he gets to her, she wraps her arms around him. He relaxes in her arms and stays in them for a little bit.
"So, how do you feel?" She asks when she pulls away.
"I'm fine, just missing her already. I guess I just got used to having her around these past few days."
Lorelai nods, understanding how he feels.
"Where are the kids?" He asks.
"They're both napping." She tells him. Lorelai's cell phone rings at that moment. She looks at the caller ID, "It's Rory." She tells Luke. He nods, telling her to answer it. She goes into the kitchen.
Twenty minutes later, Lorelai comes running to Luke. "She's engaged!" She shouts.
"What?" Luke asks, confused.
"Rory, she's engaged! Jeremy proposed and she said yes!"
Rory had been seeing her boyfriend (now fiancé) for over a year. He had met Lorelai and Luke a couple times.
"Oh, wow that's great." Luke replies.
"I know. It's so exciting, my daughter is getting married! Oh! Maybe I can be her Matron of Honour… or maybe she'll ask Lane… I didn't even ask her yet… and oh! Will can be the ring bearer!"
Luke just smiles at her, happy to see her so excited and he's happy for Rory too.
Lorelai smiles back, then frowns. "Oh, hon I'm sorry, I got all excited about Rory I forgot about you, do you want to talk about April?" She asks.
"No, I'm fine. Call Rory back, I'll go see if the kids are awake yet."
"Okay, thanks." She gives him a quick kiss then leaves the room again to go call Rory.
A Couple Months Later
It was an unordinary day for Lorelai, she woke up before Luke. It was also a special day; it was Luke's forty-seventh birthday. She knows he doesn't particularly enjoy birthdays, so she hasn't planned anything special and she just bought him a couple simple presents. She leaves the room for a few minutes to check if Will is still sleeping and he is, so is Sam. She lies back down on the bed and watches Luke sleep for a minute before deciding to wake him up, although she anticipates that he will be grumpy. She gently shakes his shoulders and he groans but doesn't open his eyes. She kisses his scruffy cheek.
"Morning." She whispers.
He opens his eyes and stares at her.
She smiles, "Hey, it's November eighth, did you forget? It's your birthday, babe. Happy birthday!"
"No I didn't forget I just don't like birthdays." He tells her.
"Aww, but they're fun… at least for me and Rory they've always been fun."
Luke frowns then says: "Well sure they're fun when you a kid, but when you're an adult you just get older each year… and everyone feels like they have to be nice to you just because it's your birthday and people buy you things that you don't even have use for…" He stops when he sees Lorelai's expression.
"But thanks for saying happy birthday." He quickly kisses her forehead then gets up out of the bed and goes to the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, he walks into the kitchen to find Lorelai feeding Sam, and Will eating cereal. Lorelai gasps when she sees him.
"What?" He asks, astonished.
"It's just that your face… it's visible… you shaved."
"It's not that shocking, I shave sometimes."
"Yeah, I know, but you always have at least a little stubble."
"What? You don't like it?" He asks, sounding offended.
"No hon, I'm just not used to it. I like your face, shaved or unshaved." She tells him with a smile.
Luke just rolls his eyes. "I'm going to head to the diner, I told Caesar I'd open."
"Oh, um wait, first I want to give you your presents." She tells him.
"Okay." He nods and gives her a small smile. She hands him Sam and leaves the room. He sits down and finishes giving her the bottle.
"Hi Daddy." Will greets him between bites of his cereal.
Luke smiles, "Hey buddy."
Lorelai returns carrying a gift bag. "Here you go." She passes it to Luke and he gives Sam to her. He opens the bag and removes a gift card for a fishing/camping supply store and a pair of jeans. "Thanks." He says simply.
"You're welcome." She responds. He stands up and she follows him to the front door.
"You're not going to eat before you go?" She asks him.
"No. I'm not really hungry; I'll just take a lunch break later."
Lorelai just nods in response. He leans down and kisses Sam's forehead. He turns to walk out the door.
"Hey, what about my goodbye kiss?" Lorelai teases him.
"Sorry." He mumbles then gives her a quick peck on the lips.
"Bye." She calls after him.
Luke returns that evening to find Lorelai and Will eating pizza.
"Hi hon, how was work?" Lorelai asks him.
"It was fine, Liz and T.J. came in and wished me a happy birthday… then Kirk got on my nerves… he asked me when I'm going to retire and if he can take over the diner when I do. He reminded me how he opened "Kirk's" when he crashed a car into my diner. He seems to think I'm older than I actually am or something or that I lost my mind… I'm not retiring anytime soon and I'd never sell the diner to him!" He shouts the last part.
"What? Kirk? Running Luke's? I can't even imagine that. There's no way could make coffee as good as yours." She smiles at him, "So do you want to join us, I got some whole wheat crust, veggie pizza for you."
"No, thanks, but I feel really tired so I'm just going to go lie down for while if that's alright with you." He replies.
"Sure." She tells him. He flashes her a smile then heads upstairs.
A couple hours later, Lorelai heads to the bedroom and finds Luke fast asleep. She starts gathering dirty clothes to do laundry. Luke opens his eyes and sits up. Lorelai notices this.
"Hey did you sleep well?" She asks.
"Yeah. How long was I asleep?"
"A couple of hours. I put the kids to bed."
"Oh, you should have woken me up, I would have helped." He tells her.
"It's fine. You look like you needed the sleep." She sits next to him on the bed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Are you okay? You seemed a little… off this morning." She asks.
He sighs, "Yeah it's just… I feel… old."
She giggles. "What? Luke, you're not old."
"I don't know, I've just been feeling so tired lately and… I shaved this morning because I saw that my hair started looking greyer and I'm balding… and…" He trails off when
Lorelai puts a hand on his knee, "Hey. You're not old. Forty seven is not old and you're still very handsome to me."
He smiles softly at her then looks down. "Also… I don't know if I should be worried about this… but my dad… he was forty seven when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I might g-" She interrupts him,
"Luke, you're not going to get cancer."
"How do you know that? Cancer can be genetic, Lorelai. My dad wasn't diagnosed until it was in a late stage and he died months later."
Lorelai felt tears welling up in her eyes; she didn't like talking about this. "Well, Luke if you're that worried about it maybe you should see a doctor, get a physical."
"Yeah that's probably not a bad idea." He replies and he looks at her to see her tears running down her face.
"Lorelai… I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you talking about this. I just think about it sometimes and now that I'm at the age my dad was when he died I'm a little scared, but I'm sorry if I made you upset."
Lorelai nods, "It's alright; I just… can't imagine living without you."
Luke wraps his arm around her and pulls her close. "I can't imagine living without you either. I love you."
"I love you too." She lifts her head up and he meets her halfway for a kiss. Soon, their kissing becomes passionate and they end up making love.
Author's note: Sorry if that part about Rory getting engaged seemed random, this story is about Lorelai and Luke, but I wanted Rory to be happy to and I can't imagine her getting back together with Dean, Jess or Logan so I gave her new guy