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Luke is staring out at the road, his mind is racing and he is trying to concentrate on nothing but his driving. Lorelai cheated on him. She slept with Christopher. His worst nightmare was coming true. She said those words to him, and he couldn't say a thing. He didn't give her a chance to say more, to break his heart anymore than those four words did. He left, drove straight to Chris' apartment, punched him square in the face and walked away. Now here he is. Driving. Not feeling any better. Him hitting Chris helped his head, his anger. But now the initial anger was starting to dissipate, Luke was beginning to feel the intensity of heartache. He arrives back in Stars Hollow, and out of habit, heads right for Lorelai's house. He catches himself just in time, and turns his old truck to the diner. Luke walks through the diner, ignoring the questions that were being thrown at him about where he'd been. He didn't stop until he was in his apartment.
"She slept with Christopher" he said out loud to nobody. He heads to the refrigerator, grabs a beer, opens it, takes one sip. He slowly spins around and everything he sees screams Lorelai. The tv she made him buy, because she couldn't bare to sleep every night without it. His red flannel shirt that was her favorite to sleep in because it was worn and soft was hanging on the bathroom door. The queen size bed he bought to replace his old single bed, that they shared so many loving nights on. The pictures on his bookshelf, some of April and Rory, his two girls. There were a few of him and Lorelai together, a couple in love. And his favorite picture of her. Sitting at the counter of the diner, her favorite coffee mug in her hands. She was laughing at something someone said, he didn't remember now. All he remembered was looking at her, and realizing how much he loved her.
"Lore..." he whispered as he finally starts to let his emotions out.
For the first time since his father died, Luke fell to his knees sobbing. He cried for what they lost. He cried because of the pain he felt. He cried because he loves her more than he had ever loved a woman before.
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The next day Luke went back to work. He opened the diner, and kept a stoic appearance throughout the day. Many of the townspeople realized they were missing Lorelai's presence. They noticed Luke was more miserable and withdrawn than usual, but they also knew not to bring it up in conversation. Day after day Luke would go to work, never mentioning his missing fiancee.
After a week the talk started and the entire town knew they were over. They knew to stop looking for her, she wasn't going to be there. Luke just kept pretending everything was okay, like he wasn't hurting. He told himself he would get over the pain. He told himself everything was going to work out. Everything would be fine.
At the end of day 21, he walked up the stairs to his apartment, as he walked through the door he noticed the date. He realized it had been three full weeks since he had seen or heard from Lorelai. He knew three weeks was too long. She wasn't going to come crawling back, asking for forgiveness. And Luke was too stubborn to grovel at her doorstep. At 21 days Luke realized it was over, he wasn't going to get married, he wasn't going to be Rory's dad, they were done. It took 21 days for the last of Luke's heart to break.
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The next morning Luke couldn't get out of bed. He'd spent the entire night crying into his pillows. No matter how many times he told himself to stop being wimp, he couldn't stop the tears. He couldn't stop thinking about her, no matter how hard he tried. Around ten in the morning he heard his phone ringing. He listened as his sister left a message for him.
"Hey brother, where are you? I'm worried...Love you." rang out Liz's cheerful voice.
At one o'clock he heard his door open. The only people who would dare to walk into his apartment without knocking were Lorelai or Liz. He knew without looking, it was the latter.
"Oh baby brother" said Liz softly. She sat on the side of the bed, she started to rub his back in an attempt of comfort, ignoring the fact that Luke hated to be coddled.
"Liz what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I, uhm... Well see I thought you might need me." she answered quietly.
"Liz. What, in my adult life, have I ever done to make you think I would ever need you….or anyone" Luke responded sadly.
"Well baby brother," she began "I uh, ran into Lorelai yesterday." He turned his head back away from her so she wouldn't see his eyes fill with tears.
"And," he said trying to keep his voice as steady as possible, "why would you seeing...her, make you think I needed you? I'm...fine" he finished in a whisper.
"Then why, Luke, are you still in bed, in the afternoon on a Thursday?"
"I'm sick" He replied plainly.
Lovesick, Liz thought to herself. She waited to see if he would look at her before she said any more. When he didn't she started rubbing small circles on his back and began talking.
"I may not be the best mother. Or sister. I have done horrible things in my past. But bro, I know you. I'm probably the only person in the world who knows you this well. I know you have an….. issue with 3 weeks." she felt his breath catch at those words, when it even out again she continued. "When mom died, you were only 15. I was an adult. I should have realized you were just a boy, but you seemed to be handling it so well. You were helping daddy with anything he needed. You only cried the day she died. Not even at the funeral. I thought. Wow, my baby brother has such a better handle on things than I ever could. Then exactly 21 days after her death, I walked into the kitchen to find you, in a ball, in the corner, bawling your poor little eyes out. There was a mess in the kitchen, you were attempting to perfect her famous chicken and dumplings recipe. It suddenly hit you that it had been three weeks and mom wasn't coming home. She was gone for good. And a piece of you broke that day." Liz paused to see if Luke would respond. When he didn't, she continued talking. "Then the same thing happened when Daddy died. You were a man at this time. Always kept your emotions in check. You broke down when I got to the hospital and you had to tell me I was too late. He was gone. But you quickly recovered when I started sobbing. You shifted to take care of me. I hadn't been around for years. Didn't see him sick. I should have been there to take care of you both but I wasn't. And I'm sorry. So we buried daddy, and you went to work in the hardware store. You wanted to keep his dream alive. Three weeks after, I walked into the store and didn't see you. Do you remember where I found you Luke? In the storeroom, sitting on boxes, with an old framed black and white of you and daddy. And what were you doing? Losing control. Crying inconsolably. Again, three weeks in and you realized he wasn't coming back and another part of you broke. The next three week issue you had was three weeks into turning the hardware store of daddy's, into Luke's. And again I found my baby brother hurting, stuck in a grief that he couldn't control."
She stopped talking and felt Luke's shoulders starting to shake. Liz knew he was starting to break, and as much as she didn't want to see him hurting, she knew he needed to do this. Luke was a strong man. But sometimes even strong men needed to breakdown and let their full emotions out.
"Lucas", she said very softly. "Lore is the only person in the world you love as much as mom and dad"
"Don't..." he begged his voice full of hurt.
"Luke baby, when Lorelai told me she hasn't seen you, not stepped foot in the diner in 3 weeks, I knew what you were going to be doing today, how you would be feeling. And I didn't want you to be alone."
At these words Luke turned to face his sister, tears streaming down his face. "Is this what you wanted Liz? I'm a wreck, ok? I haven't stopped crying since yesterday. I can't get her out of my mind. It's been three weeks. And that means it's over. Three weeks means we're done. Three weeks. And I feel like I'm dying. Like I'll never get over this pain."
Luke let Liz hold him at his point. She held him tightly, as if she was trying to put his broken pieces back together. She held him and rocked, rubbing his back, not letting go. He cried out how much it hurt. How much he missed her. How he loved her. She just held him, whispering "let it all out baby boy." They stayed this way for over an hour. Finally Luke was emotionally spent, and his sobs finally quieted. Liz let him go, and laid him back on the bed.
"Rest little brother" she said.
"Don't leave," Luke said quietly. " You were right, I do need my sister."
"I'm not going anywhere. Just get some rest."
Luke didn't fight it anymore. He pulled the blanket up, closed his eyes, and for the first time in 21 days, fell into a deep sleep.