The next morning, Lorelai woke up feeling nervous. Luke was not in bed, but his side of the bed was still warm so Lorelai suspected that he had just gotten up. She checked the time; it was just after 8 A.M. She figured that Luke was downstairs eating breakfast.

After lying there in silence trying to clear her mind of frightening thoughts, Lorelai got up and headed downstairs. She found Luke sitting at the kitchen table, eating.

He looked up when she walked into the room. "Morning," He said gently.

She took a seat across from him. "Morning hon. Rory's not up yet?"

Luke shook his head. "No. I didn't reall cook anything; I just made oatmeal for myself."

Lorelai understood. Rory would be woken by the smell of pancakes or eggs and bacon cooking, not oatmeal. "I think I'll go wake her up."

"Okay. I can make some French toast or something for her before we leave." Luke replied.

Lorelai smiled. "I think she'd like that." She opened Rory's bedroom door and stepped inside, closing the door almost all the way behind her.

Rory was still sleeping. Lorelai walked over to the bed and bent down next to the side Rory was sleeping on. She reached out and gently touched Rory's hair. She thought about what Rory would have to face during the next few months. She would have to watch her mother, her best friend, the person she was closest to fight for her life. Lorelai couldn't imagine what that must feel like.

Rory moved suddenly and Lorelai pulled her hand away. Rory slowly opened her eyes. She saw Lorelai.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Good morning, sweets. How'd you sleep?" Lorelai responded.

"Fine," Rory said quickly.

Lorelai wondered if Rory was lying, but she didn't want to press her. This day would be hard enough already.

"How are you feeling?" Rory asked as she started to get out of bed.

"I'm all right. A little nervous, but I suppose that can't be helped." Lorelai told her the truth. She knew there would be no sense in trying to pretend everything was fine.

Rory gave her a quick hug. Lorelai smiled at her when she pulled away. Rory didn't have to say anything to show her support and love. Lorelai knew that both Rory and Luke would stay by her side no matter what.

"Did Luke make us a yummy breakfast again?" Rory asked.

"No, but he said he could make something for you before we leave."

Rory smiled. "I love having Luke here… not just because he can cook us breakfast at home though, I-"

Lorelai cut her off, "I know, hon." She knew that Rory loved and cared for Luke deeply, and vice versa.

They left Rory's room and went into the kitchen.

"Hey Rory, any special requests for breakfast?" Luke flashed a smile at her.

"Hey Luke, French toast would be perfect thanks."

Lorelai and Luke exchanged a look. Lorelai gave him a knowing smile.

Since Luke had moved in, they had never run out of food. Luke got up took out the ingredients and cooking utensils needed for French toast. Rory sat down at the table and Lorelai stood next to Luke.

"You want anything?" He asked her, hoping that she would be able to eat something.

"I'll just have coffee and a muffin." Lorelai said in a low voice.

Luke nodded, accepted that she was probably too nervous to eat much. She continued standing there.

"I'll make coffee for both of you, you can sit down." He told her.

Lorelai glanced at him for a few seconds before she stepped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Luke placed a hand on top of hers.

"Thank you." She whispered in his ear.

"You don't need to thank me." He murmured.

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before she removed her arms from around him and sat down.

After the girls ate breakfast, Luke and Lorelai went upstairs to get dressed and get ready.

An hour and a bit later, the three of them arrived at the hospital. They met with Stephanie, who took them to a private room to meet.

Once they had all taken a seat, Stephanie said:

"Now, I know I told you that you could start treatment today, but we think it would be best if you had a port installed first."

"What's a port?" Luke asked before Lorelai had the chance to.

"It's a device that's implanted in your skin; it's a way to administer the chemo. And after reviewing Lorelai's case more thoroughly, we've come to the conclusion that it would be easier to install one than to insert an IV each time chemo is administered." Stephanie informed them.

"Okay. And how is it installed?" Lorelai asked.

"It's a simple procedure, performed with a local anesthetic. You could have it done today and start chemo in a couple days… I'm just sorry I didn't realize that it would be easier to use a port in your case."

"And there are no risks associated with the procedure?" Rory asked nervously.

"As with any surgical procedure, there's a risk for infection, but it's a very low risk." Stephanie told her.

Rory nodded.

"Okay. I'll do it. Set me up." Lorelai said firmly.

Luke looked at her and he could tell by the look on her face that she was ready. He knew she was trying her best to be strong and brave.

"All right, I'll go get everything set up." Stephanie concluded.

A few hours later, Lorelai was out of surgery. Luke and Rory had stayed in the hospital the whole time and they were there when Lorelai spent some time in a recovery room before going home. On the ride home, Lorelai went back to being her usually self for a bit when she joked that she was "kind of like a robot" now with the port in place. It lightened the mood and Rory and Luke were glad for that.

Lorelai had decided that she wanted to wait a little longer to tell the town. They didn't attend the one town meeting that took place during the week since Lorelai's diagnosis. The only people that knew were Rory, Luke, Sookie, Jackson, Lane, Logan and the Dragonfly staff, as Lorelai told them that she would be taking time off.

A couple days after her port was installed, Lorelai finally went to the hospital to receive her first chemo treatment. Luke and Rory came of course. They did blood work and took vitals, and before that Lorelai filled out a lot of paperwork. A little while later, they were escorted to a private room. Lorelai was told that she would receive the first couple of treatments in a private room, and then move to a bay where other patients received chemo.

Both Luke and Rory were allowed to stay in the room while Lorelai received treatment. It took a little while to get everything set up. About thirty minutes after she arrived in the room, her treatment was officially started. A nurse stayed in the room for a little while to make sure everything was going smoothly. Once she had left, the room went silent.

Luke sat in the chair next to Lorelai's. Rory was in another chair a few feet away. Luke played with Lorelai's hair and asked: "You okay?"

Lorelai just nodded.

Rory stood up abruptly. "I'm gonna go get a coffee. Do you want anything, Luke?"

"No, but thanks Rory," Luke responded.

Rory left the room without saying another word.

"Is she okay?" Luke asked Lorelai.

"Hmm… I don't know really. I think she's scared to talk to me, but I told her she could… my dad also said she could talk to him."

"It's gotta be hard for her, seeing you like this." Luke said gently.

Lorelai nodded. Then she gasped suddenly.

"What?" Luke was alarmed. He was worried that she was in pain.

"It's just that, your dad died from cancer, Luke. You had to watch him die and now you have to see me go through this." She looked away from him.

Luke squinted at her. He reached out and cupped her chin gently. "Hey." He whispered.

She looked at him.

"Yes, I had to watch my dad go through that and it was awful, but I'm going to stay by your side not matter what. It's going to be rough sometimes, but you need me and I'm never going to leave. We're going to face this together." He told her.

Lorelai felt tears prick her eyes. She knew he would say something like that. Of course she appreciated that he would stay by her side; she just didn't want to see him hurt or upset.

She whispered, "Okay." He quickly kissed the top of her head.

The nurse came in then to check on things. She told Lorelai that she could sleep if she felt tired. A few minutes after the nurse left, Lorelai wondered why Rory hadn't returned yet. Luke told her that he would go look for Rory. He also told her to rest while he was gone.

Luke didn't have to go far to find Rory, she was sitting on a chair down the hall.

"Hey." He greeted her as he came to stand in front of her chair.

Rory looked up, "Oh hey, Luke. Is Mom okay?" She sounded a little worried.

"She's fine, she was just wondering where you were so I came to find you."

"Oh, yeah sorry um I just kinda wanted to get out of there for a bit." Rory looked away and took a sip of her coffee.

"I understand. It's tough to see her like that." Luke replied. He took the seat next to her.

"It really is." Rory said in a low voice.

"She's worried about you too, you know. She wants you to be able to talk to her about your feelings, but I get that that may be hard for you. She also said that your grandpa offered his support to you?" Luke looked at her, a bit of a wary expression on his face.

Rory managed to give him a small smile. "Yeah, Mom and I both have a good support system."

Luke smiled back. "And you can talk to me too." He offered.

Rory nodded. "I know." She wiped at the tears that had started to fall down her face.

Luke stood up. "Ready to come back?" He asked hesitantly.

"Um… yeah," Rory stood up. She sniffed and Luke put his arm out, offering a hug.

Rory smiled and Luke pulled her in for a quick hug. When they pulled apart, Rory picked up her coffee cup and waited for Luke to lead the way back to Lorelai's room.

"We're all going to get through this together." He told her.

Rory smiled softly. "I know." They went back to the room to find Lorelai asleep. The next couple hours were spent in the hospital. When her treatment was done, Lorelai received post-treatment care instructions and booked her next treatment session before leaving. Luke drove Lorelai home in his truck, Rory took her own car.

About an hour after returning home, Lorelai called her parents. Emily answered.

"Lorelai, I was expecting a call from you today. How did it go?"

"Hey, Mom um it went fine. I feel fine, just a little tired."

"You're not in pain?" Emily asked.

"No, the side effects won't kick in for at least a couple days. I'm fine." Lorelai told her.

"All right. Thank you for calling, Lorelai. I appreciate that you're keeping us informed."

"Of course Mom," Lorelai replied simply. She heard Emily saying speaking to someone else.

"Your father wants to talk to you." Emily told Lorelai.

"Okay, put him on."

Lorelai told Richard the same thing she had told Emily. Richard had the same reaction as Emily. He also thanked Lorelai for keeping them updated. Lorelai was grateful to have their support of course. Richard asked to speak to Rory so Lorelai gave the phone to her.

Luke had gone to the diner to check on things and close up. Just as he was locking the door behind him, Taylor walked up to him.

"Luke! Just the man I wanted to see."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I can't talk right now Taylor." He just wanted to get home.

"Well, I would have talked to you before now, but I haven't seen you in the past week. Every time I came into the diner looking for you, I'd find Caesar or Lane." Taylor explained.

"Well, I've been really busy for the past week." Luke said quickly.

"Busy with what?" Taylor asked blatantly.

Luke glared at him. "None of your business,"

"Fine, but I've been trying to contact you because I need to know if you still want the Twickham house. You haven't given me the down payment or anything yet. If you still want it, you're going to have to let me know, Luke."

Luke stared at him. He completely forgot to tell Taylor that he was backing out of wanting to own the Twickham house. He had just ripped up the cheque the other day. He knew that it would be better to live at Lorelai's house, especially given the current situation.

"Oh, sorry Taylor, I don't want the Twickham house anymore." He told him.

Taylor looked taken aback. "Really? Are you sure, Luke? You seemed so intent on owning it before."

"I'm sure, Taylor. I'm living with Lorelai in her house… that's all you need to know." Luke started to walk away. Taylor didn't try to stop him. He seemed to understand somehow.

After Rory finished talking to Richard, she checked her cell phone and saw that there was a message. She played it:

"Hey Ace. I know you may not be able to get back to me right away because of what's going on today, but I need to see you. My dad said something… about you, something about what happened at the paper when you interned there. I don't know. I just need to ask you what happened because what my father said made no sense. So call me back when you can. Bye."

Rory sighed. She didn't want to deal with this right now. She didn't call Logan back. She left her bedroom and found Lorelai upstairs in her bedroom. Without saying a word, Rory walked up and hugged her mom.

Lorelai grinned and hugged her back. When Rory pulled away, she asked:

"What was that for?"

"Nothing, I just thought you might need a hug." Rory answered.

Lorelai smiled. "Well, thanks honey."

"Are you still feeling okay?" Rory asked.

"Yep. I'm gonna head to bed once Luke gets back though. ..Unless you want to watch a movie or something?"

Rory shook her head. "No. I'm gonna head to bed too. I'm tired." She admitted.

"Today was a big day for everyone, wasn't it?" Lorelai conceded.

"Yeah," Rory agreed.

"Are you feeling okay hon?" Lorelai asked. She knew it was important to ask Rory how she was felling and to show her that she could talk about anything.

"Um, yeah. I'm okay. I mean I guess I wasn't before and I'm sorry I just left. But I'm okay now, really." Rory said slowly.

"Okay. You don't have to apologize about before, I get it." Lorelai replied.

Rory just nodded. Lorelai opened her arms and Rory went into them.

"Love you, Mom." Rory said softly.

"Love you too." Lorelai responded.

When they pulled apart, they walked downstairs. They said goodnight to each other before Rory went into her room.

Luke walked in the door a minute later. Lorelai was heading towards the stairs when she heard the door open. She turned around and met Luke in the entryway.

Once he had taken off his boots, he looked up and saw her standing there. "Hey." He greeted her casually.

"Hey back." Lorelai walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"Are you okay with going to bed now?" She asked when she pulled away.

"Sure." He replied. He felt exhausted.

They headed upstairs. They got ready for bed quickly and cuddled up close under the sheets.

"'Night hon." Lorelai said gently.

"'Night," Luke responded. He stoked her cheek gently and gave her an affectionate look. Even though it was dark, and they couldn't see each other, Lorelai smiled. They knew how the other felt without words.

Author's note: Thanks for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting this story. Please feel free to leave a review, let me know your thoughts on this chapter.