A Few Months Later

Will decided to attend the University of Connecticut. They offered him a partial athletic scholarship. Luke and Lorelai were proud of him and they were happy that he would be attending a school that was nearby. Emily gave him a car for a graduation present. He could live at home and drive to school each day, but he chose not to. He wanted to experience life outside of Stars Hollow, he wanted to have a chance to live somewhere else and meet new people. But he still promised to come home every other weekend.

At first, it was a little strange for Luke and Lorelai to only have one kid in the house. They eventually got used to it, they still missed Will, but it got easier as time went on. Sam also missed her brother, they had a close relationship. The years stated to fly by, and in the blink of an eye, Sam was in her senior year of high school and Will was in his last year of university.

Neither Will or Sam had the grades to attend Chilton. They both attended Stars Hollow High. Sam had a small group of close-knit friends and she had only had one boyfriend in 10th grade. It was Kellan, he asked her out and they dated for a bit, but then they decided they would be better off as just friends. Sam was the shy, introverted type.

One day, Luke and Lorelai sat down with Sam. They told her that it was time to talk about which colleges she wanted to apply to. Sam had been dreading this conversation for a while; she had felt like she was going to disappoint her parents when she told them what she needed to tell them.

"So do you know what colleges you want to apply to?" Lorelai asks her.

"Um, actually I… well I don't want to go to college." Sam tells both of them.

"What?" Luke wasn't sure he had heard her right.

"I don't want to go to college." Sam repeats.

Lorelai's brow furrows. "Why not, honey? You have the grades and ambition for it. Just explain what you're thinking." She says in a gentle voice. She didn't want to sound angry.

Sam takes a deep breath. "Well, I just can't picture myself in college. Yes, I manage to get good grades and I enjoy school sometimes… but I just don't think I'm cut out for college."

Luke shakes his head. "That's nonsense, you have so much potential!"

Lorelai didn't say anything. She wanted to wait until Sam explained herself more.

"There's… just nothing I want to do, career wise. I'm not that interested in any fields really… I don't know." Sam let out an exaggerated sigh.

Lorelai frowns. "Well, you can't just live with us forever; you have to do something with your life." She was starting to feel irritated.

Sam looks down. "I could take over the diner." She mutters.

"What?" Luke replies. Neither he nor Lorelai had actually heard her.

"I said I could take over the diner." She meets his gaze.

Luke was taken aback. He wasn't expecting her to say that. She had worked at the diner on the occasional weekend since she had started high school. She would serve the customers and cook. He didn't know she had liked it that much.

"You really want to do that for the rest of your life?" Lorelai asks.

"Yeah, I think I do. I do enjoy working there and I love this town. I don't want to leave it and, Dad you can't work there forever and your employees can't either."

Luke knew she had a point. For the past year, he had only worked two or three days a week. He was sort of settling himself for retirement.

"Do you really think you could handle it?" He asks her.

Sam nods. "Yeah, I know how you like everything to be done, and I know how to handle all the financial things and I even know everyone's usual orders." Sam replies.

Luke presses his lips together. "Well, I don't know."

Lorelai agrees, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. What, were you planning on selling the diner to Kirk?" Sam jokes.

Luke couldn't help but laugh, but her joke also made him think. He was thinking about what he'd do with the diner once he officially retired. He knew if he just closed it people would be disappointed.

He looks at his daughter straight in the eye, "Well, if you're set on this, you could try it out for a year, after you graduate this year of course… and if it's okay with you mom." He turns his head to look at Lorelai.

Lorelai gives him a small smile. She turns her attention to Sam. "It's okay with me, as long as you're happy and this is what you really want."

Sam nods, "It is." She smiles. "Thank you for listening to me and not freaking out." She stands up and walks over to Luke, bends down to give him a hug. "Love you." She whispers in his ear.

Luke rubs her back. "Love you too, sweetie."

Sam also gives Lorelai a hug and whispers "Love you," too. Lorelai also whispers it back.

A few nights later, Luke came home late from the diner since he was the one to close as his employees couldn't. He heads straight to bed and Lorelai joins him shortly after.

Lorelai found him lying face-down, not asleep.

"You okay hon?" She asks, concerned.

"My back is killing me." He admits.

"Aww, want me to give you a massage?" Lorelai asks with a flirty tone to her voice.

"No, you don't have to do that." Luke mutters, but Lorelai was already on the bed.

"Sit up and take off your shirt." She tells him.

Luke did what he was told. As soon as he feels her hands rubbing his back, he groans softly.

"Feel good?" Lorelai whispers.

"Mm-hmm," Luke responds.

She massages him silently for a couple minutes before she speaks again.

"This is why it will be a good thing for Sam to take over the diner; it really tires you out and makes you sore… old man." She teases him and giggles.

Luke just chuckles. She continues massaging him until he tells her to stop.

"Did it help?" She asks.

"Yes, it really did.", then "Come here." He says in a low voice.

Lorelai grins and moves in front of him. He captures her lips with his. She kisses him back.

She is the one to pull away. "Hmm, I thought you were too old for that." She laughs.

He just shakes his head and pulls her back to him. They keep kissing as they start to remove each other's clothes.

Later that night, just as Lorelai was falling asleep, Luke whispers: "Thanks for the massage."

"Shouldn't you be thanking me for something else?" She gasps "Dirty!"

Luke rolls his eyes: "You've never changed, have you?"

"No, but you love it." She kisses his chin.

He smiles, "'Night."

"'Night babe," She pecks his lips then settles next to him in the bed.

Author's note: Once again, this chapter was just kind of random. I'm definitely finishing this story; I've decided that the next chapter will be the last one, the epilogue. I don't even know if anyone is still reading this haha. Thanks for reading, reviewing following and favouriting this story anyway.