One Week Later

The house is on fire. Lorelai bolts out of her car. There is a fire truck and a police car outside of the house. They are trying to put the fire out. Lorelai runs past a firefighter, but he shouts at her to stop. She turns to face him, "My husband and my kids… they're in there. This is my house." She tells him.

The firefighter stares at her, "I understand that, but you can't go in there. I have to ask, do you know how the fire started?"

Lorelai stares back at him, "I… no, I wasn't here… but my husband, he wouldn't…" She trails off, wondering how this could have happened. She asks the fireman what they're doing to get them out.

"There are men inside right now." The firefighter tells her. Lorelai just nods and tries to stay calm. Two minutes later, another firefighter comes out of the burning house. Lorelai watches as he walks towards her and the other firefighter. He doesn't seem to notice her.

"It was too late; they were trapped and couldn't get out, a father and his two kids." The firefighter tells the other one. Lorelai stares at him for a few seconds before she starts walking towards the house. One of the firefighters grabs her arm and holds her back.

"No! You don't understand! My kids! And Luke... they can't be, they can't!" She shouts. Once the firefighter releases his grip on her, she falls to the ground and screams.

Lorelai jolts awake and sits up in bed. "It was a dream." She tells herself. She looks beside her and sees Luke asleep, snoring softly. She feels tears prick her eyes and she reaches out and gently touches Luke's cheek. She smiles, feeling relieved. Then, she gets up out of bed and goes to Will's bedroom. She finds Will sleeping peacefully in his bed. She gently runs her hand over his hair then leaves his room. Next, she goes to Samantha's room to find her also asleep, clutching her teddy bear and surrounded by other stuffed animals. Lorelai smiles and touches Sam's cheek before she leaves the room.

She doesn't think she'll be able to fall back asleep, so she goes downstairs and turns the T.V. on. She curls up on the couch with a pillow and blanket. But she doesn't pay attention to the rerun of an old sitcom on the T.V., she thinks of Richard. She doesn't hear Luke enter the room.

"Lorelai?"
She turns to face him. He walks over and sits down next to her.
"What are you doing out of bed? Couldn't sleep?" Luke asks, a look of concern on his face.

Lorelai nods, "Yeah." She sniffles, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. "Go back to sleep, I'm fine." She tells him.

"No, you're not. You can talk to me, Lorelai. I lost my father too… I know what you're going through." Luke looks into her eyes.

Lorelai sighs, "It's not just my dad… I uh, had a nightmare." She whispers.

Luke reaches out and gently pushes her hair off her face. "Tell me about it."

She clears her throat, "Um… I… there was a fire, at the house. You and the kids were inside and no one could get you out, it was too late." Her voice shakes a little, "So Rory and my mom were all I had left… and I…" She stops and breaks down crying.

"Hey, shh, it's okay." Luke whispers as he pulls her into his chest. She pulls back a little and says:

"My dreams have come true before, what if this one d…"

Luke cuts her off, "It won't. I'm not going anywhere, Lorelai. The kids aren't either."

Lorelai nods, "It's just that my dad was here, and then suddenly, he wasn't. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye."

Luke shakes his head, "It was an accident, yes, they happen every day, but, I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens to the kids or you or me."

Lorelai nods again, as tears roll down her cheeks. She knows he's saying this to make her feel better, but she still can't help but feel scared that anything can happen.

Luke pulls her closer and kisses her cheek and her temple. Lorelai has a thought suddenly,

"Oh my god," She gasps.

"What?" Luke asks, alarmed.

"My mom, I've barely talked to her in the past week. I can't imagine how she must be feeling… she lost her husband, she's a widow."

Luke nods. "Why don't you go see her tomorrow? You and Rory."

Lorelai looks him in the eye, "Yeah. I can't believe I've been so selfish, I didn't even think about what she's going through. I only thought of myself."

Luke looks back at her, "It's okay, you realized that you all need each other now. Emily, and you and Rory need each other the most right now."

Lorelai gives him a small smile, "And you, I need you too. Thank you." She whispers.

"You don't need to thank me… are you coming back to bed?" He asks.

She shakes her head, "No, I'm going to stay here. I'd probably just toss and turn in bed the rest of the night."

"Okay." Luke responds. He rubs her arm gently before he gets up. Before he leaves the room, he turns to face her and says: "I love you."

Lorelai nods, "I know, I love you too."

The next morning, Luke wakes up early and wakes the kids up to get them ready for school. He finds Lorelai asleep on the couch and leaves her there. Rory doesn't come out of the guest room, so Luke figures she's still sleeping. An hour later, he returns home after dropping the kids off at school and doing some errands. He finds Lorelai and Rory sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee.
"Hey." Luke greets them. Rory smiles at him.

"Hi, hon. How are the kids?" Lorelai asks.

"They're fine. Sam was excited to go to school, as usual. And Will seemed to be okay." Sam was too young to understand that her grandfather would never be coming back and Will understood, but he also had a little trouble believing that Richard was gone for good.

"I'm going to go start the car." Rory says and she gets up and leaves the room.

"We're going to see Mom." Lorelai explains.

Luke just nods. Lorelai gets up, walks over to him and wraps her arms around him. He hugs her back tightly. She sighs, the sound muffled by his chest, as her face is pressed into it. He pats her back gently. She pulls away, but he keeps a hand on her back.

"See you later." She whispers and she kisses him softly before leaving.

Three hours later, Lorelai and Rory return. Rory says she's going to take a nap and she goes upstairs. Luke asks Lorelai how the visit went.

"Well, we talked a lot; we worked out a lot of concerns. Rory was feeling… guilty, she was in the car with him and she thinks that maybe if she had insisted on driving, this wouldn't have happened. She said she wishes he didn't have to pick her up, because then they wouldn't be on the road at that time. Or she wishes she could have done something to stop it. I told her it wasn't her fault, that it was the drunk driver that hit them. She still wishes she could have done something to prevent it, but I think she knows it's not her fault. And my mom… she kept on saying that my dad had promised her that she could go first, and she's… devastated that he couldn't keep that promise. We, um, really well, bonded. We all got our feelings out in the open and we talked and it helped." She finishes and she lets out a deep breath.

"That's good." Luke replies. He doesn't know what else to say. They relax together for a couple hours before Luke leaves to pick up the kids.

Later that night, Luke lies in bed next to Lorelai. She is having trouble getting to sleep. When it seems like she is finally drifting off to sleep, Will pushes the door to the bedroom open.

"Mom? Can you help me with my homework?" He asks.

Lorelai opens her eyes and gives Luke a sad smile. He nods and tells Will that he can help. Will leaves and Luke slowly gets up. Once he's standing, he grunts. Lorelai asks:
"What's wrong?"

"My back again," Luke mutters. His back had been hurting on and off for the past few months.

"You should get it checked out." Lorelai says

"Okay. But don't you need me here? You and the kids need me."

"Luke, I'll be fine. It will only take an hour or so, we'll be fine. You should get back to the diner too."

Luke nods, deciding not to tell her that he feels like he needs to stay with her; the diner doesn't matter right now. He leaves the room and goes to Will's bedroom.

Once Luke gets Will started on his homework, Will asks: "Why can't Mom help? She usually does."

"She just needs some rest right now. You understand that, right?" Luke replies.

Will nods, "She's sad about Grandpa, right?"

Luke nods too, "Yeah, but I'm here too, if you want to talk or… anything."

Will stares at him then nods slowly. He turns his attention back to his homework.

An hour later, after bathing Sam and putting both kids to bed, Luke returns to the bedroom to find Lorelai asleep. He gets ready for bed then settles in next to her. Lorelai wakes up in the middle of the night, but Luke is there to comfort her.