Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Lizzie McGuire characters.

Previously:

A flood of emotions crossed Gordo's face.

Gordo: "Please don't."

His voice was scarcely a whisper.

Lizzie: "Why shouldn't I? I mean, you're giving me all this space. I can't sit around doing nothing with it."

He came to her with one long stride, threw his arms around her, and crushed her against his body.

Gordo: "Don't, Lizzie. Don't leave me. I can't make it without you." he pleaded.

Chapter 7-Good News, A Promise, & A Wedding

After the way he'd been acting toward her during the past weeks, Lizzie was caught off guard by his impassioned plea.

Lizzie: "You've been avoiding me, Gordo. It hurts."

Tears welled in her eyes. Her anger was gone, but not her frustration.

Slowly Gordo released her. He took her hand and walked her to the sofa., where he sat her down and studied her face with his blue eyes, so intently that she thought she might drown in them.

Gordo: "Staying away from you hasn't been easy for me."

Lizzie: "Why would you do it in the first place? If you're miserable and I'm miserable, why would you continue to ignore me?"

Gordo: "That's not what I was trying to do, Lizzie."

He sat next to her without releasing her hand.

Gordo: "I……I really don't know how to explain what I've been feeling."

Lizzie: "Just try."

Gordo: "It really bummed me out when the cancer flared up again and I had to start radiation. After I went through chemo, I thought it was finished. Instead, I discovered it had just begun. Dumb of me."

Lizzie: "But this could be a fluke. Once you complete radiation, it'll be gone for good. You've done it all-chemo and radiation. What's left?"

Gordo: "If this doesn't work then I'll need a bone marrow transplant. If the cancer spreads to my bone marrow, there's no other treatment."

A chill frosted her heart and made her stomach tighten. She'd read enough and seen enough on TV to know that bone marrow donors were scarce, mostly because it was so difficult to find a compatible match.

Lizzie: "You aren't there yet. And I don't think you will ever be. Chemo and radiation will fix everything. You'll see."

Gordo: "A lot will depend on how the tests turn out. The scans and bone marrow aspiration will tell the story."

She squeezed his hand.

Lizzie: "I know. And speaking of the hospital, why won't you let me come with you? Why are you shutting me out?"

Gordo: "Maybe because I'm worried the scans won't be alright."

Lizzie: "Don't you want me with you if the news is bad?"

He looked vulnerable and terrified.

Gordo: "Yeah. More than anything."

Lizzie: "Then let me come."

Gordo: "I want you to have a regular life, Lizzie. You shouldn't have to sit around hospitals and doctor's offices waiting for me. Waiting to see if my life's going down the drain or not."

Lizzie: "Gordo tell me what a 'regular life' is? Dating someone else?"

He answered her question with one of his own.

Gordo: "Do you like this guy from the library? Do you really want to date him?"

Lizzie: "No way. But you're not dating me either."

Gordo: "It's because I hate tying you down."

He glanced at the floor, looking ashamed.

Gordo: "If I love you, I should want what's best for you. You didn't sign up to have a sick boyfriend. You're beautiful, Lizzie, you should have more than I'm giving you. You should be going to parties and doing stuff that's fun."

Her heart went out to him as the reason for his actions became clearer to her.

Lizzie: "So you thought by avoiding me, I'd get interested in somebody else."

Gordo: "Yeah."

Lizzie: "But when I told you I might date somebody else…."

Gordo: "I couldn't stand it. I love you so much it hurts. So you see, I'm not only sick, I'm a coward too." he said cutting her off.

She eased off the couch, knelt on the floor in front of him, rested her palms on his thighs, and gazed into his face.

Lizzie: "I hate what's happening to you, Gordo. I think it's unfair and horrible. But it doesn't change the way I feel about you. I still love you, and the feeling isn't going away."

The look he gave her reminded her of a drowning man miraculously thrown a lifeline. He caressed her cheek gently and she turned her head and kissed the inside of his palm.

Gordo: "I'm sorry, Lizzie. Sorry if I hurt you in any way. I only want what's best for you, and sitting around and waiting for me to get well doesn't seem like something you should have to do."

Lizzie: "But it's what I want to do. And this time next year, when this is all over, being with you is still where I'll want to be. This time next year, you'll have a college all picked out, and wherever you go, I'll go."

Gordo: "But your mom-" he started to say.

Lizzie: "Will live with it. I figure you'll only take a scholarship to a great college, so she'll be happy when I choose the same great college. No matter how you look at it, everybody wins."

Gordo: "If I get offered a scholarship "

His face clouded.

Gordo: "Who will want me, Lizzie? What college coach is going to take a chance on a quarterback who has cancer?"

Lizzie: "You'll be well by then. And remember, my dad is on your side. He won't let anybody reject you because of health problems."

Gordo: "You have more faith than I do."

She patted his hand and rose.

Lizzie: "One of us has too."

He stood and took her by the shoulders.

Gordo: "When I go for my testing in two weeks, will you come with me?"

Lizzie: "Absolutely." she said with satisfaction.

Gordo: "And this guy at the library who wants to date you?"

Lizzie: "Is history."

A slow smile spread over Gordo's face, making Lizzie's knees go weak and her pulse flutter.

Gordo: "Lets go to a movie, and afterward get ice cream to celebrate."

Lizzie: "I'd love to. I missed dinner tonight."

Gordo: "The I owe you. I owe you big time."

Gordo swept her into his arms and buried her mouth into a kiss.

Lizzie, Gordo, and his mother once again made a trip to the hospital one warm morning during the last week of June. Lizzie and Roberta waited while Gordo was getting his tests done. Gordo finally came back and sat with them to wait for Dr. Kessler.

In the late afternoon, Dr. Kessler ushered them into his office. Lizzie's palms were sweating and she felt sick to her stomach, remembering the last time he had spoken to them and dropped the bomb about the tumor. But today, he was all smiles.

Dr. Kessler: "You're looking good, Gordo."

Gordo: "Really?"

Roberta: "Thanks God" she whispered, her voice trembling.

The CT and bone scans were spread across the light board hanging on the wall behind his desk.

Dr. Kessler: "We won't have the results of the bone marrow aspiration for a few days, but I don't expect any surprises."

Gordo: "So I'm cured?"

Dr. Kessler: "I didn't say that."

Lizzie's elation did a stutter-step.

Lizzie: "But if there aren't any bad cells?……" she began.

Dr. Kessler: "I prefer to think of your disease as in remission. No two cases of cancer are alike, but the longer you remain in remission, the higher the probability that you'll completely recover."

A grin split Gordo's face.

Gordo: "I don't care what you call it, I just want it out of me."

Roberta: "What do we do now?"

Dr. Kessler: "Go home and have a great summer. I'll see you in three months."

Gordo sprang out of his chair.

Gordo: "Let's get out of here." he said happily to his mother and Lizzie.

After goodbyes to the doctor and staff and scheduling of another testing day in September, they headed home. Once home, they decided against a party. But Lizzie's father insisted on celebrating and took them all out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. The dinner was perfect and her father couldn't stop grinning and slapping Gordo's back and toasting him with pitchers of coke. Lizzie's mother equally happy over the news and Gordo's mother couldn't take her eyes off her son.

Sam: "Can't keep a good man down for long." he kept saying.

Under the table, Gordo slipped his hand into Lizzie's, and when they returned home that night, he gave her six long-stemmed red roses-one for every week he'd isolated himself from her. She put them in a vase and fingered the petals tenderly.

Lizzie: "You always can get to me with flowers, David Gordon. They're beautiful."

Gordo: "So are you."

Lizzie: "I'm going to miss you when you go off to New York." she confessed.

Gordo: "I want to talk to you about that."

She noticed his eyes were glowing and realized he'd been hiding a secret.

Lizzie: "What about it?"

Gordo: "I called my uncle and told him that as much as I appreciated his offer, I couldn't come."

Lizzie: "But Gordo-" she started.

Gordo: "Just listen. I told him that I couldn't stand being away from you, not even for a free month in New York."

She shook her head, thrilled in one way, sorry in another.

Lizzie: "Call him back and tell him you're coming."

Gordo: "Well, that's just it. He called me last night and said that he's coming here to see me. He's bringing along his girlfriend."

Lizzie: "That's so cool! But you should have gone. It would have been a nice vacation."

Gordo: "I don't want to leave you." he said looking into her eyes.

She slipped into Gordo's arms and kissed him.

Lizzie and Gordo were at the airport waiting for Gordo's Uncle and his girlfriend.

Steve: "Gordo! Over here!"

Gordo and Lizzie turned to see a man waving and a red-haired woman, who looked to be in her thirties, held one of his hands. After hugs, Gordo introduced Lizzie and Uncle Steve introduced the woman as Nancy O'Ryan, his "significant other." Steve insisted on first names and Lizzie liked the idea. She felt awkward calling him "Uncle."

Gordo: "How was the trip?"

Nancy: "Perfect." she said happily.

Steve studied Gordo's face.

Steve: "You look so much like my brother."

Gordo: "Mom's showed me photos of dad when he was my age, but I don't see a resemblance." he replied.

Steve: "Trust me. You're the image of him at seventeen. It's like seeing a ghost."

Nancy: "Steve, we should get our luggage."

Steve: "Yeah lets go."

They went to the baggage claim area, and Steve and Gordo went to get Steve's and Nancy's luggage. Lizzie and Nancy hung back.

Nancy: "How's Gordo feeling?"

Lizzie: "Really good. You guys coming here has taken his mind off cancer."

Nancy: "Steve's been worried sick ever since he found out. We would have some earlier but we thought he was coming to us. He called and said he couldn't leave you, so we talked and decided to come."

Lizzie: "You guys came at the right time. He wouldn't have wanted Steve to see him following chemo anyway. He lost all his hair and got really sick. And then radiation made him tired, he wouldn't have wanted his uncle to visit then either."

Nancy: "Steve figured since he didn't want to come, we would come to him. Plus a vacation for us."

Lizzie: "Gordo's over the worst of it, and this is way he wants his uncle to see him-not sick with cancer."

Nancy: "I understand."

Nancy's green eyes clouded.

Nancy: "My mother died from cancer five years ago, It was hard watching her suffer."

Lizzie: "I'm so sorry about your mom. But that's not going to happen to Gordo. His last checkup was perfect, and now all he wants is to get on with his life."

Nancy: "And with you cheering him on, I'm sure his life will be interesting."

Nancy's eyes sparkled mischievously, and Lizzie blushed.

Nancy: "Steve told me Gordo plays football."

Lizzie: "Yeah. With Gordo, our high school has a great shot at going to the playoffs. At leats that's what my father says."

Nancy: "You make Gordo sound like a true hero."

Lizzie: "Okay, so I'm his biggest fan." she smiled.

Nancy: "Good for you." she smiled back.

Lizzie's gaze connected with Nancy's, and she knew she had made a new friend. After Steve and Gordo came back with the luggage, they drove to Gordo's house. Steve and Nancy greeted Roberta with hugs. Roberta was in hurry because she had work. As she left they made plans to take Steve and Nancy out and show them around. They were about to leave but Steve stopped them.

Steve: "Before we take off, there is something very special I want you to plan on doing with us while we're here."

Gordo: "Name it." he tilted his head, his expression curious.

Steve: "It's a big favor. And we need both of you to help and of course your mom Gordo."

Lizzie: "Count me in." she said also curious.

Steve reached over and laced his large fingers through Nancy's small delicate ones.

Steve: "While we're here in this great city, Nancy and I want to get married. And we want you two to be our best man and maid of honor. What do you say?"

Gordo: "Married?"

Gordo's face broke into a grin.

Gordo: "That's cool. Of course I'll be your best man."

Lizzie felt less enthusiastic. She'd only just met them and didn't feel qualified to be a madi of honor.

Lizzie: "But what about your family? And how about your best friends? Won't any of them want to be in your wedding?"

Personally, she couldn't imagine getting married without Miranda standing with her.

Nancy: "I'm the only one left in my family. And Steve's my best friend."

She patted his hand affectionately.

Nancy: "And we made up our mind that we want the wedding to be very small and very intimate. We just want the two of you and Gordo's mom there."

Steve: "And I was the best man at your parents wedding. If my brother were still alive, I'd ask him, but you're his son and that's the next best thing to his being there."

Gordo: "When are we going to do this?"

Steve: "We were thinking about the week right before we go home. We saw this little chapel online up the coast and that's where we want to do it."

Nancy: "And the chapel is so beautiful." she added.

By now, Lizzie was too caught up in the excitement. It all seemed so romantic. Of course she agreed to participate.

The day of the wedding had arrived and Lizzie lay in her bed that morning thinking about all the fun she was having. The phone suddenly rang and she picked it up.

Gordo: "Lizzie, meet me at the chapel at ten."

Lizzie: "The wedding not until on."

Gordo: "I know, but I want to talk to you before the wedding. And I don't want to be rushed."

Lizzie: "Is something wrong?" she asked, feeling a flutter of fear.

Gordo: "I just want to talk to you. Please, it's important."

Lizzie: "Ok I'll be there."

After she hung up she quickly got ready to make it in time. She got in her car and drove there.

Lizzie pushed open the timeworn wooden door. Inside, the air was cool, candles glowed on the altar, and small rectangular windows allowed sunlight to filter into the darkness. She waited for her eyes to adjust and saw Gordo sitting in a pew near the front. She slid beside him.

Lizzie: "Hi. What's up?" she whispered.

He turned to her and took her in his arms.

Gordo: "I wanted to be alone with you here, before the wedding and all."

She returned his hug and felt her anxiety evaporate.

Lizzie: "Well, here I am."

Gordo shifted in the pew, and Lizzie could tell that something was troubling him.

Gordo: "What if you could never have babies, Lizzie? Would that make you not want to marry someone?"

Caught totally off guard by his question, Lizzie fumbled for an answer.

Lizzie: "Gordo, I haven't decided what college I want to attend. It's hard to think about having babies and what I might want years and years from now."

Gordo: "But it's important. I…..I need to know."

Lizzie: "Did all of Steve's talk about kids make you think about your future?"

He shook his head.

Gordo: "It started me thinking about what my doctor told us about the radiation possibly making me sterile. It made me wonder if getting married knowing I might not be able to give a woman kids would make her not want to marry me in the first place."

Lizzie: "If having kids was the most important thing, then maybe it would make a difference. But no one knows if they're able to have kids until they start trying. I guess if babies are that important to a couple, and they can't have their own, then they adopt. It seems like the world's full of unwanted babies."

Gordo: "That's true, but I want to know how important having children is to you."

Lizzie: "Why?"

Gordo: "Because I love you, Lizzie."

Lizzie: "I love you too."

Gordo: "Because I want to marry you."

The atmosphere in the chapel became charged, and Lizzie could scarcely hold in her breath. Her heart hammered against her rib cage.

Lizzie: "Didn't you ask me that in the sixth grade?"

He smiled at the memory, easing the tension.

Gordo: "Yes, and you said, 'Get lost, bozo.'"

Lizzie: "Ouch! Was I that mean?"

Gordo: "You've made up for it."

Lizzie: "So is this a genuine marriage proposal?"

He took her hand.

Gordo: "There's never been anybody else for me except you, Lizzie McGuire. And there never will be."

Her heart melted.

Lizzie: "And you're afraid I might not want marry you if I know you might not be able to have children?"

Gordo: "You should have a choice."

Lizzie: "You're my choice." she said softly.

A smile of joy and relief lit his face.

Gordo: "That's what I wanted you to say. You already told me that the cancer didn't matter to you, but I had to know for sure how you felt about this baby thing."

Lizzie: "Now you know."

He straightened his leg, dug in the pocket of his jeans, and withdrew a small box.

Gordo: "This is for you."

Heart pounding she opened it and saw a ring of fine silver, intricately carved, with a turquoise set in its center.

Lizzie: "It's gorgeous." she whispered.

Gordo: "It's Mexican. Long ago, before soldiers went off to war, they gave this kind of ring to their special girl as a signal to others she was taken."

Lizzie: "So is this my engagement ring?"

Gordo: "It's a promise ring."

Gordo removed it from the box and slipped it onto her third finger of her left hand.

Gordo: "It's a promise that someday I'll buy you a diamond engagement ring, when I can really plan on marrying you. I know you have college and I know your mother will kill me if you don't go."

Tears filmed her eyes as she held out her hand to stare at the ring.

Lizzie: "We both have college." she reminded him.

Gordo: "Well, the jury's still uncertain about my future."

Lizzie: "Don't say that! You can't promise to marry me and then say you might not have a future. I won't hear it." she said with an urgent tone.

Gordo: "Knowing that you want to marry me someday gives me more to look forward to that anything else ever could." he said in an attempt to calm her.

Lizzie: "Even more than playing football?'

Gordo: "Football's only a game. You are real life."

He leaned forward and, in the quiet sanctity of the chapel, he kissed her lovingly on her lips.

Hours later, Lizzie returned to the chapel with a nervous Nancy and Steve. Since the ceremony was to be small, Nancy didn't walk down the aisle. She joined Steve at the altar in front of the priest. Lizzie thought Nancy looked beautiful in a simple white summer dress. A white lace Spanish mantilla covered her head and flowed down her shoulders. Her bouquet was made up of lilies mixed with pale purple orchids. Steve's eyes gazed at her, reminding Lizzie of candles alight with fire. Lizzie wore a sundress, carried a bouquet of daisies and gardenias, and quivered with excitement and anticipation. Someday, she would be the bride, and Gordo her groom.

Gordo stood beside Steve, looking lean and fit in a navy-blue suit. The family resemblance between nephew and uncle was striking. Roberta was sitting on the front pew watching with excitement. During the speaking of the vows, Gordo caught Lizzie's eye, and it was as if every word the priest spoke was meant for them also: "…….for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part."

The words took a new meaning for Lizzie. Getting married was serious business-a life and death commitment. A pledge to be joined with one other person for all earthly time. And when the person you loved, as she loved Gordo, already had a life-threatening illness, the promise seemed more profound.

She locked gazes with Gordo and saw his love for her shining in his eyes. She smiled, hoping to communicate that she was willing to make such a commitment to him. That she was willing to stand by him no matter what his future held.

She fingered the silver and turquoise ring on her finger-his promise ring. Silently, she promised to love and stick by him until they could say their vows before God and formally pledge their love for all time.

A/N: Sorry the last part didn't have much dialogue. Hope you like this chapter. Thanks for all the reviews. Please review more!!!!