A/N: I don't own any of the characters. You know that. Unless ASP feels the need to give them to me for christmas, I never will.
This story is also posted on BWR, but here it is again - in all it's completed glory.

We need a date

Luke stared at Lorelai for a long time.

"Now... as in 'right this minute'? Or now as in 'we set a date and it's full steam ahead'?" he asked, panic rising inside.

She paused. "I hadn't really thought about that, but I suppose that the latter could come into play."

Luke stepped forward.

"Come here," he began, wrapping his arms around her shaking body. "Just... don't walk away, and we'll talk about this."

"Okay," she sniffed, as he gently placed a kiss on her forehead. He gently prodded her into the diner, and flipped the closed sign on the door. He walked over to the coffee pot and poured the sweet smelling coffee into the largest cup he owned.

"Lorelai," he began, "I want more than anything in the world to marry you. Why would you think any different?"

Luke saw the anger flash across her face again, followed by frustration. "It's not happening," she whispered into the coffee she was nursing. "You haven't done anything recently to make me think that you still want to do this." She paused. "I get it... you want to spend time with April. I don't get why you don't want me involved in that, but I see that it's important to you. But I can't just sit at home every night, in some sort of holding pattern, waiting for you to come back to me. Something needs to change, or I'm going to go crazy."

A smirk crept across Luke's face. "You've always been crazy." He saw the serious look on Lorelai's face, and changed tack. "But that's not the point right now."

Luke leant over the counter, and took her hands in his. "I want you. I want to marry you. You can't imagine how long I've thought about marrying you." He sighed. "I was scared. I've seen how angry Christopher makes you when he isn't there for Rory. And when I started to think about not being there for 12 years of April's life, all I could think was that I was exactly like him. I was the deadbeat Dad. I really didn't want for you to make the same comparison, so I didn't tell you straight away."

"Luke, that's ridiculous. You are nothing like Christopher," Lorelai stated, confusion in her eyes.

"I know, but it's how I felt at the time. Once I'd gotten over that, and you knew, I had two thoughts swimming around my head. One, what if April likes Lorelai more than she likes me? And two, what if Anna gets so angry about April being influenced by you that she takes away my contact completely? I wanted to get to know my daughter, and do it in my own time." He looked directly into her eyes. "But I never wanted to lose you in the process. Tell me what I need to do to make this better."

"Having a fiancée, and a daughter – these aren't mutually exclusive things, Luke." He hung his head and nodded. "You need to stop keeping us apart. She is your daughter. That is never going to change, regardless of the crazy lady you are engaged to. And if you really want to marry me, we need to plan a wedding. We need a date, and a venue, and all that stuff." She stood up, and drained the rest of her coffee. "Right now, I think we need to think about things alone for a bit."

She looked at him, this man that she loved so desperately, but who had done nothing but hurt her for the past few months. She smiled wanly at him. He had taken his cap off, and was rubbing his hand through his hair, as he did when he was nervous. The look he returned her was sad but hopeful.

"Okay. Sure," he ventured. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

He looked so scared, Lorelai couldn't help but smile at him just that little bit warmer. "Yeah, of course," she grinned, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "You have the coffee." With that, she walked out the door, and across the square to where she had parked her Jeep. She looked back at the diner, and saw him standing at the counter, watching her go. She felt the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she got into the car, and couldn't help asking herself what she would have done if he had said no. The thought of losing him forever was more than she could take, and she felt one tear slide silently down her cheek.

Lorelai walked through the front door to her dark, empty house, and went straight to the kitchen. She pulled a carton of Chunky Monkey out of the freezer, grabbed a plastic spoon from the drawer, and trudged upstairs. She pulled her sweatpants and a t-shirt on, and climbed into bed.

She had just taken her first mouthful of ice-cream when the phone rang. She reached for the cordless sitting on her nightstand, and took a deep breath before answering.

"Hello?"

"September 16th" she heard Luke say on the other end of the phone.

"What?"

"I want to marry you on September 16th in the gazebo. We started our engagement there. It seems fitting to end it there as well." She heard apprehension in his voice.

She relaxed, and a small smile spread across her face. "That sounds perfect," she whispered.

"Goodnight Crazy Lady. I love you" he said as he hung up.

"I love you too" she whispered into the dead phone.