The next morning, Luke woke up at 8 AM to find Lorelai still sleeping peacefully in his embrace. He didn't want to wake her, so he moved out of bed carefully and headed to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and returned to the bedroom. He was relieved to find that Lorelai was still asleep. He had called Caesar last night and asked him to open the diner for him today.

Luke headed downstairs and after he checked the contents of the cupboards and the fridge, he decided to make breakfast for himself and the girls. He made pancakes and bacon for them and oatmeal for himself. Rory was woken up by the sound and the smell of Luke's cooking. She got out of bed and entered the kitchen.

"Something smells good." She mumbled.

Luke turned away from the stove to face Rory. "Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm making breakfast. You can sit down, it's almost ready." He responded.

Rory grinned. She always appreciated how Luke would take care of her and her mother without being asked to. She sat down at the table.

A few minutes later, Luke placed a plate in front of her. He frowned suddenly. "I didn't wake you up too early did I?" He asked Rory.

Rory shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Waking up to eat a breakfast cooked by you is worth it."

Luke just smiled. He turned around and poured a cup of coffee for her. He set it next to her plate. "I'm gonna go wake up your mom. I hope it's not too early… she's working at the Inn today right?"

Rory swallowed. "I think so. She shouldn't be mad when you wake her up; especially after you tell her you made breakfast."

Luke just nodded and headed upstairs. Lorelai was still asleep, so he leaned down and gently shook her shoulders. She opened her eyes.

"Hey." Luke whispered softly. "How'd you sleep?"

Lorelai stared at him for a second before she replied. A smile crept over her face. "I slept fine. Thank you for staying over last night."

"No problem." Luke said quietly. "I made breakfast. Rory is up and eating already."

Lorelai glanced at the alarm clock then slowly sat up. "You are the sweetest boyfriend. Have I ever told you that?"

"I think so." Luke answered. He was happy that she had changed her mind about only wanting to eat 'Luke's breakfast' at Luke's.

They went downstairs and Luke ushered Lorelai to sit while he got her food and coffee. Once he placed them in front of her, he got his oatmeal and tea and sat with them. They chatted about everything except Lorelai's diagnosis. Both Rory and Luke could tell that Lorelai wasn't ready to talk about it yet and they didn't want to upset her.

After breakfast, Lorelai got ready for work. Luke decided to wait until she was done getting ready to head to the diner.

"Hey, so you're going to Friday night dinner tonight, right?" He asked her.

"Yeah… and yes, I am going to tell my parents tonight." She said solemnly.

"You want me to come? I could probably have Caesar close for me."

Lorelai smiled, but shook her head. "Thanks for the offer but I think it's better if I just do this alone..."

"Okay." Luke accepted her decision. "You want a ride to the Inn?"

"No, I'll just take the Jeep. I'm going to drive straight to Hartford after work and Rory can meet me at my parent's house, she has her car."

"All right," Luke replied.

They stood on the porch and kissed goodbye. Luke headed to the diner and Lorelai headed to the Inn. Lorelai told him she would stop by for lunch if she had the time.

Luke's phone rang in the late afternoon.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey, it's me. Sorry, I can't make it for lunch today. I have too much work to do." Lorelai told him.

"That's alright." Luke tried not to sound too disappointed. "Do you want me to stay over tonight?"

Lorelai smiled to herself. "Sure. I'll call you when I get back from my parent's house."

"Okay… don't tire yourself out." Luke said quietly.

Lorelai smiled again. She knew that he was concerned and that he just wanted her to be safe and healthy.
"I won't. See you later then?"

"Yep. Bye." He answered.

"Bye." Lorelai hung up and let out a sigh. She knew it wasn't going to be easy to tell her parents about her diagnosis. She wasn't sure how they were going to react. She cleared her mind and returned her focus to her work.

Lorelai and Rory stood in front of the Gilmore Mansion. They stared at the door, neither one of them made a move to knock on the door or ring the doorbell.

"You ready?" Rory asked as she turned to face Lorelai.

Lorelai let out a breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Rory knocked on the door. Barely twenty seconds had passed when the maid opened the door. Emily came from behind her.

"There you two are. You're late."

As Lorelai and Rory stepped inside, Lorelai said: "Sorry Mom, traffic."

Emily didn't respond. They all walked into the living room. Richard was sitting on the sofa, reading a newspaper. He put the paper down when he heard the girls walk in.

Rory walked over to Richard, bent down and kissed his cheek. "Hi Grandpa,"

"Hello, Rory. Tell me, how does it feel to be done with your second year at Yale?"

Rory and Lorelai sat down on the sofa opposite of the one Richard was sitting on.

"It feels good." Rory said simply. She gave Richard a small smile.

"Would you like a drink, Lorelai?" Emily asked.

"Um, no thanks Mom," Lorelai replied. She looked around the room nervously.

Emily raised her eyebrows, but she didn't say anything. She made a drink for herself (Richard already had one) and poured some club soda for Rory. She walked over to the sofa and handed Rory her drink.
"Thanks Grandma."

Emily sat next to Richard. Rory gave Lorelai a look, urged her to tell them.

"Um, Mom, Dad I have something to tell you." Lorelai mumbled.

Emily stared at her for a few seconds before her brow furrowed. "Oh my god, you're pregnant!" She sputtered.

"No! Mom I'm not pregnant! Geez," Lorelai wondered why both Sookie and Emily had come to the conclusion that she was pregnant.

"Well, you can't blame me for thinking that, you didn't want a drink and you usually have one." Emily replied.

Lorelai just shrugged. "The thing that I have to tell you isn't a happy thing…"

"Well, what is it? Just tell us." Richard said, sounding a bit angry.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "I've been diagnosed with breast cancer."

The room went silent. Both Lorelai and Rory stared at Emily and Richard.

"You're serious?" Emily inquired.

"Grandma!" Rory exclaimed.

Lorelai put a hand on Rory's leg to try to put her at ease, "Yes, I'm serious." She told Emily.

Richard remained silent.

"Well you joke so often that it's hard to know when you're serious." Emily muttered.

Richard started to open his mouth to say something, but Lorelai beat him to it.

"I would never joke about this kind of thing, Mom." Lorelai glared at her mother. She was hurt that Emily would think that.

"I'm sorry." Emily said sincerely.

Lorelai nodded and Rory managed to give Emily an appreciative smile.

"When did you find this out, Lorelai?" Richard questioned.

"Uh, the other day, it's been confirmed by the doctor… it's real. I had all the tests and everything. I'm just waiting for the biopsy results to find out what stage it is." She informed him.

Richard nodded. "Well, we'll have to make sure that you receive the best treatment." He said plainly.

Lorelai smiled softly. She had expected he would say something along those lines.

Emily stood up suddenly and walked out of the room. Lorelai, Rory and Richard all frowned. Richard started to get up, but Lorelai stopped him:

"I'll go talk to her, Dad." She said simply. She got up and walked out of the room

Lorelai found the maid dusting near the entryway asked her if she saw where Emily went. The maid told her that she saw Emily heading towards Richard's office. Lorelai thanked her and walked to the office.

She found Emily standing in Richard's office. Emily was just standing their completely still, staring off into space.

"Mom?"

Emily glanced at Lorelai. "Oh, Lorelai… I'm just…" She trailed off.

Lorelai stepped closer to Emily. "Are you okay Mom?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Emily said in a low voice.

Lorelai sighed softly. "Well, I'm handling it the best I can. It's still a little unreal to me, you know? But I know I'll have my family and friends standing by my side."

"Who else knows?" Emily asked.

"Just Rory, Luke, Sookie and you and Dad," Lorelai answered.

Emily nodded. "I see. Well, I have to admit, I never imagined that one of my family members would end up having cancer."

"Of course you didn't. We hear about people's cancer stories on the news all the time… no one likes to think about it happening to them or to one of their loved ones." Lorelai replied.

"Oh wait, now that I've thought about it, I remember my aunt had cancer. I think it was breast cancer too… it might have been ovarian though, I'm not sure. I was very young when she passed." Emily said quickly.

Lorelai just nodded. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with this information.

"Your father and I will be here for you, Lorelai. If you need to talk or if you just need support, we'll be there." Emily affirmed.

"Thank you." Lorelai whispered in response. She wasn't exactly sure what to say as she was used to the complicated, stressful relationship that she had had with her parents for the past several years. But she knew this was different as it was a serious matter and she wasn't surprised at how Emily and Richard were handling it.

"Do you want to come back to the living room now?" Lorelai asked calmly.

Emily gave Lorelai a short nod and started walking towards the door.

They returned to the living room and to find that Richard and Rory were no longer there. Lorelai followed Emily to the dining room without a word. They found Richard and Rory eating dinner.

"You started dinner without us?" Emily appeared to be upset.

"Sorry. We knew you two might be a while and the maid came and said dinner was ready. We didn't want to wait." Richard told her.

"Well I suppose that's all right." Emily said as she sat down.

Lorelai took her seat and glanced at Rory. She noticed that Rory's eyes were a bit puffy, as if she'd been crying. She decided to ask her about it later.

As they ate, Lorelai told them about what she had gone through in the past couple weeks. Richard asked if she had experienced any pain and Emily asked how she managed to go through it all alone. Lorelai answered their questions and shared her feelings with them. She thanked them for their support and promised to keep them in the loop. Richard insisted that she inform him when she started treatment so he could use his connections to make sure she received the best treatment. Lorelai assured him that she would. Before Lorelai and Rory left, Richard gave Rory a hug and whispered something in her ear. Rory just nodded in response.

On the drive home, Lorelai asked Rory what she and Richard talked about.

"Oh, um about you," Rory admitted.

Lorelai assumed so. "And?" She wanted Rory to feel like she could talk to her about anything.

"Well, Grandpa asked how I felt about it and I told him that it's still sinking in. I told him that I'm scared for what's to come… I'm scared for you." Rory's voice cracked.

Lorelai took her eyes off the road for a second. She reached out and touched Rory's hair. "I'm scared too, hon. I can't lie and say I'm not. But I'm going to try to be strong and keep a positive attitude. But don't ever afraid to tell me how you're feeling, you can always talk to me."

Rory nodded. "I know. I'll try my best to tell you how I'm feeling, it's just hard sometimes."

Lorelai understood. "What did Grandpa say?"

Rory smiled weakly. "He said he understood how I was feeling. He seemed to have trouble believing that this is happening to you… He told me that he would be there for me if I ever needed to talk or… vent or anything."

Lorelai nodded. "Your grandma pretty much had the same reaction. She told me that she and Grandpa would be there for me." She couldn't help but smile.

"Good." Rory said simply.

When they returned home, they decided to watch one of their favourite movies and eat popcorn.

"I told Luke that he could come over and stay the night again, is that okay?" Lorelai asked as Rory popped the movie into the DVD player.

"Yeah, of course, Luke is welcome here anytime… he's like family." Rory answered. Then she frowned. "Are you going to tell Dad soon?"

Lorelai bit her lip. "I'll tell him once I know how serious it is."

"Okay." Rory accepted that answer.

Lorelai called Luke and he came over ten minutes later. The three of them watched the movie together. Lorelai sat next to Luke and she wanted to cuddle with him, but she didn't want to make Rory feel uncomfortable. She knew Rory was okay with her dating Luke, but she wasn't sure that she would want to see them be affectionate.

As Luke and Lorelai lied in bed that night, Lorelai told him about Emily and Richard's reactions. Luke listened and told her that he was glad that she had the support of her family.

"Well, I'm glad to have you too." Lorelai said sweetly. She rested her head on his chest and smiled.

"You'll always have me." Luke said frankly. He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer.

Lorelai just smiled. They fell asleep fast that night, comfortable next to each other.

Author's note: Thank you for reading, following and reviewing this story. Please feel free to leave a review for this chapter.