Lorelai and Emily spent many hours of the next two weeks cleaning and organizing the Gilmore household. As they dug up old items such as pictures and mementos, they remembered the good and bad times. They discussed their relationship and talked about their feelings. Although they had a few disagreements, by the time they finished organizing the house, they had learned to let each other in and see each other's point of view more often. They had grown closer, closer than they had ever been. They had learned to respect each other's opinions, learned to listen to each other better, and learned to appreciate each other. Richard's death had really changed things for them, they realized that you might not get all the time you want with your loved ones and every minute you did get with them was important.
Six months after Richard's death, Rory came for a visit and she, Lorelai and Emily bonded. They supported each other and talked about Richard fondly. They were still hurting, but they were sensible to not dwell on the fact that Richard was gone; instead, they thought of happy memories and shared them with each other. One night, after he came home from school, Will went straight to his room and slammed the door behind him. Lorelai followed him and asked him if it was alright if she came in. He didn't respond, she entered his room and saw him lying on the bed, face down. Lorelai sat at the end of the bed and asked him what was wrong. It took him a minute, but Will sat up and whispered, "I miss Grandpa."
Lorelai took one look at his face and immediately reached out to him. "Oh, honey. I miss him too." She held him until he stopped crying.
Samantha never really understood that Richard was gone, but she stopped asking about him, she seemed to have gotten used to his absence and she recognized that asking about her grandpa only made her mother and grandmother sad.
One year after Richard's death, things had become easier, the pain and deep feeling of loss were still there, but they weren't as strong, and the lives of the Gilmore women moved on.
The following Spring, April graduated from university. Luke, Lorelai and the kids all attended. A couple months later, she moved to Cape Cod and got a job as a marine biologist. Her boyfriend moved with her.
Summer of the Following Year
Luke received a phone call from Buddy, he informed him that Maisy had had a heart attack and passed away. This time, Lorelai was there to comfort Luke and help him with his grief.
At the end of the summer, they decided to take a family trip to the beach.
As Lorelai put a hat on Sam, she frowned and said: "I want to wear my hat backwards, like Daddy."
Lorelai raised her eyebrows and Luke smirked. Although it wouldn't protect her from the sun that way, Lorelai let Sam wear the hat backwards. She finished helping the kids apply sunscreen and went in the water to swim with them. Luke watched from a chair, it was too hot to wear a flannel and jeans, so he wore a t-shirt and shorts. When he changed into them, Lorelai whistled and said, "You've still got it, babe."
Luke just smiled softly at her.
When Lorelai and the kids came out of the water, Sam asked Luke if he would help her build a sandcastle. "Sure." He replied. While they did that, Will read a book and Lorelai sat back and relaxed,
Luke and Sam spent a good amount of time building the perfect sandcastle. When it was complete, Sam tells Luke, "I love it! You're good at making sandcastles, Daddy!"
Luke grins, "Well, it looks so nice because you helped me make it."
Sam smiles back and Luke quickly kisses the top of her head. He gently pulls her up and leads her to a spot a few feet away. He slips off one of his shoes and plants his foot in the sand and pulls it away after a few seconds. Sam watched and when she saw his footprint she giggled and copied him.
"Dad? Can we go fishing now?" Wil asks.
Luke glances over at him, and then looks back at Sam who is looking out at the water.
"Sure, let's go." He tells Will. He leads Sam back to Lorelai's and Will's chairs. He bends down and gently touches Lorelai's arm. She opens her eyes.
"Hey, I'm gonna go take Will down to the dock to see if we can catch anything, are you gonna take Sam out swimming again?" Luke asks her.
"Okay. Yeah, we'll go swim again. I'm starting to sweat, it's so hot."
Luke nods, "All right." Will stands and waits for Luke to lead the way back to the car so they can get their fishing rods.
"Hey, you're supposed to say: 'You're always hot, babe' " Lorelai tells Luke in a joking tone.
Luke just rolls his eyes in response. He quickly bends down and kisses the top of her head. "See ya later." He mutters.
"Hey, you missed." Lorelai says in a playful voice.
Luke squints at her, he doesn't get what she means at first then he leans down again and she smiles before he presses his lips to hers for a brief kiss. "Bye" She says when he pulls back. He flashes her smile before stepping back and walking away.
Luke and Will spend the next hour fishing. They catch a few fish and Luke is happy to see that Will seems to love it. He asks Luke if they could ever go camping and Luke tells him that he'd love that.
Later that night, as Lorelai and Luke lie in bed, they talk about the day.
"Sam loved that sandcastle so much. It was so cute to see you help her build it." Lorelai says.
"Yeah, she really enjoyed it and it was nice to see her so happy." Luke replies as he runs his fingers through Lorelai's hair.
"And she loved swimming; maybe we should let her take professional lessons." Lorelai ponders.
"Maybe. Will really enjoyed fishing, too. He asked if we could go camping." Luke tells her.
"Oh, you should take him sometime, do some father-son boding." Lorelai responds as she gently massages Luke's shoulder.
Luke smiles, "Yeah, I think it'd be great. But you and Sam could come too."
"Nah, we like the indoors more, at least I do. Me and Sam can watch movies and paint our nails and do girly things. Or, actually she is a daddy's girl, so she might want to go camping with you." Lorelai grins at him.
Luke nods, "We'll see." He sighs, "I'm exhausted."
Lorelai rubs his arm, "Well then, let's go to sleep."
"Goodnight." Luke whispers before he gives her a peck on the lips.
"'Night, hon." Lorelai whispers back. They turn off the lamps and settle close to each other in the bed.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a review. I don't know when the next chapter will be released, as I have a little bit of writer's block. The next chapter might have a big time jump.