Epilogue

"Hey, kid," Lorelai whispered, holding her cell phone to her ear, her voice rough from sleep.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. You were asleep. You were still asleep?! It's noon!"

"Didn't get much sleep last night," she smiled a little, looking at Luke, sprawled on his stomach, still out cold next to her.

"Oh! I should let you-"

"No, no, it's fine, I'm awake. What's up?"

"I just wanted to check up on you. Mom, Luke called me last night looking for you. I told him you were fine, but I wasn't so sure… I told him he really should talk to you… did you see him at all?"

"Um, yeah. Rory, I have some news. I'm engaged."

"Uh… Mom, I have bigger news. You've been engaged for like a year."

"Well, Luke actually proposed. On one knee. And there's a date now. So it's more like a really real official engagement."

"Luke on one knee?! And a date! Oh, Mom, I'm so happy. Fall wedding? Winter?"

"June twelfth."

"Really. I thought you'd want something sooner."

"Well, three weeks is a bit long, but it's the best we could do without eloping."

"June twelfth of this year?!"

"You busy?"

"No, no. That's perfect, actually. Oh my god, you're getting married. In three weeks. Wow, what happened last night? Luke finally came around?"

"We're working things out. We have a wedding to-do list and a fixing-the-relationship to-do list, but I think we'll pull it all off in time."

"Whossat?" a delirious-sounding Luke croaked without opening his eyes, reaching his arm around Lorelai's waist and moving his head to her shoulder. She wrapped her free arm around him and played with the curls at the nape of his neck.

"It's Rory," she replied.

"Mmm, good. Was s'posed to tell you to call her. And your mom. Forgot."

"Go back to sleep, hon," Lorelai smiled. He kissed her shoulder and sighed contentedly before falling back to sleep.

"Luke is still there? And I woke you… aw man. I'm hanging up. Tell him I said congratulations. Call me back when you're both dressed and not in bed."

Lorelai laughed softly, "I will. Have fun at Logan's graduation and tell him I said congratulations as well. Oh, hey you wanna be my maid of honor?"

"Um, yes. We'll arrange a time to go shopping when you call me later. I love you, Mom, I am so, so glad everything worked out."

"Me too, kid. Bye."

Lorelai grinned widely, stroking Luke's muscled shoulders. She leaned her head against her sleeping fiancé's. The position wasn't particularly comfortable, but she relished the contact too much to readjust, and started to doze lightly until her phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Lorelai, it's your mother."

"Hi, Mom. I'm okay."

"Good. I was worried. You were a mess when you left."

"How's your eye?"

"Better, thank you for asking," Emily paused and Lorelai could hear her take a nervous breath, "Lorelai... "

"He found me, Mom."

"And?"

"We set a date. And you're going to freak out because it's coming up quickly, but it works out for us. June twelfth at the Dragonfly."

"June twelfth," Emily repeated softly, "Oh, Lorelai, I'm glad."

"There's something else."

"Please do not tell me you're pregnant."

Lorelai snorted, "No, Mom. We want to look at the house this week, before we get too caught up in the rush of a last minute wedding."

"Okay. I'll arrange it and call you later. Lorelai, are you sure everything is okay with you now? Last night..." Emily drifted off.

"Better than okay."

"All right then. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Actually, I know you have some connections with florists… can you set something up for you, me, Rory, and Sookie?" Lorelai smiled at the surprised gasp on the other end of the phone.

"I would love to. I'll call you later with the details."

"Thanks, Mom. For everything. I don't think this would be happening if you hadn't shown up and beat Luke over the head with reality."

"Well, he better make you happy."

"He does. And will continue to do so. I'll talk to you later."

Emily walked into Richard's study and pulled a business card from a pile of papers, dialing the number listed.

"Good morning, Lorene, this is Emily Gilmore. I'd like to arrange another viewing of the house as soon as it's most convenient."

Author's Notes: And thus was "Partings" prevented.
No, it's not completely untangled and uncomplicated, just significantly less so. No relationship is perfect, and in real life, successful relationships are less about having every last complication worked out and more that you are dedicated to actually working them out (because there will always be SOMETHING). And, yes, I decided Luke was doing quite a bit more than just sitting on his ass waiting for his life to orient itself without having to actively help it, and I decided he'd been looking into a custody lawyer. Because the Luke I knew from past seasons got shit done, damn it, and he deserved to make a comeback in season 6.