Luke and Rory got in the truck and headed towards Hartford. They were barely two minutes away from the house when Luke pulled over. He put his face in his hands.

"Luke?" Rory didn't know what was wrong.

Luke took a minute to lift his head up. "What am I doing Rory?"

Rory frowned at him. "Um, buying Mom an engagement ring?"

"But I shouldn't." Luke looked away.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not even sure that she's going to…" He stopped. He didn't want to make Rory upset.

"Oh." Rory looked down. "You think she might die." She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I'm sorry." Luke whispered hoarsely.

"It's okay." Rory said gently.

"No it's not. I know you don't want to talk about it. We should try to stay positive." He met her eyes.

Rory looked back at him. "But it's a possibility, she might die. We can't just ignore that fact. I don't want to think about it… I want to stay positive but it's hard sometimes." She blinked to hide her tears.

"I know. I think about it every day." Luke's voice cracked. "It's hard not to but I can't imagine life without her."

Rory nodded slowly. "So you want to wait until she's cancer free to buy the ring?"

"I don't know." Luke admitted. He hadn't really thought it through. He knew he wanted Rory's help picking out the ring though.

"I think you should buy the ring now." Rory said quietly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean we don't know what's going to happen… there are no guarantees but why not jump? Make an impulsive decision." She told him.

"But it's not impulsive, I want to marry her. But I mean it's not like we're gonna elope before she finishes treatment."

"I know, what I meant was take a chance and buy the ring. You know you want to marry her and you may not get to." She took a deep breath. "But I think you should do it. Just buy the ring and propose when she finishes treatment."

"But what if she doesn't make it? Then buying the ring would be pointless." Luke sighed.

"That's a chance you're willing to take though? Right?" Rory stared at him.

"I think so. I want to believe that everything will be okay and we'll make it through this. I want to look forward to the future." Luke nodded a wistful expression on his face.

"I want that too and I know that Mom wants you to be happy… and you want her to be happy. You make her happy, Luke. If we can make it through this, we can all be happy. So yes, I think you should take a risk and buy the ring."

Luke smiled softly. Rory was a little confused. His mood seemed to have changed drastically.

"Thanks for the talk, Rory. It really helped me… I'm glad that you're here. You mean a lot to me." Luke got choked up.

Rory smiled at him. "I'm glad I could help. I don't know where Mom or I would be without you, Luke… you're a huge part of our lives." She looked away for a second then looked back at him. "Now, I believe we have an engagement ring to buy?"

"Yes, we do." Luke nodded and gave her a small smile.

At the store, Luke took some time looking at a few different rings. Rory shared her opinions with him. His eye was drawn to one specific ring. He called Rory over to look.

"It's beautiful." Rory gasped.

"You think she'd like it?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I think she'd love it." Rory grinned.

Luke asked the salesclerk what the price was and his mouth almost dropped open. It was almost twice as much as he expected. Lorelai's worth it. He told himself. But what if you have to return it? He asked himself. Don't think like that, just get it. He bit his lip.

"I'll take it." He told the clerk.

Rory almost asked him if he was sure, but she saw the look in his eye and she knew that he was.

They stopped at Doose's on the way back to keep up the charade that they went out to buy groceries. When they stepped inside the house, Lorelai was there to greet them in the entryway.

"My favourite daughter and my man have returned! What did you get me?" She teased.

Luke ignored her question. "How did you sleep?" He asked as she stepped closer to him and reached out for him.

"Fine," She answered. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.

"We got popcorn for movie night." Rory said.

"Isn't every night movie night?" Lorelai replied.

"It seems like it." Luke mumbled.

Lorelai made a face at him.

"I'm okay with that though." He said gently.

Lorelai smiled at that.

They ate dinner and spent the rest of the night watching movies. On most nights, Lorelai was only in the mood to watch movies or relax. Luke and Rory just wanted to see her happy, so they didn't object.

On the day Rory moved back to Yale, Luke took most of her things in his truck while Rory drove her car with Lorelai in the passenger seat. As they stood outside her and Paris' apartment, something in the air seemed to change. They knew things would be different without Rory at home.

"Are you ready to hit the books again kid?" Lorelai asked.

"Um yeah I think so." Rory looked down.

"Hey." Lorelai whispered.

Rory met her gaze.

"Try not to worry about me… that might be impossible." She pressed her lips together. "What I mean is, I'll be okay. I'll miss you like crazy and I'll want to talk to you all the time, but we can make it through this. We'll be okay." Lorelai kept her eyes on Rory. She felt a tear slide down her cheek.

Rory nodded. "I'll call you every night that is if you don't call me." She laughed nervously.

"And you'll visit on weekends?" Lorelai asked a little hesitantly.

"Of course," Rory assured her. She glanced between Luke and Lorelai.

Luke was surprised when Rory reached out and hugged him. He hugged her back and ruffled her hair a little.

"I know you'll take care of Mom. Thank you." Rory whispered in Luke's ear.

"You don't need to thank me." Luke whispered back before Rory pulled away.

Lorelai held out her arms and Rory stepped into them.

"I love you." Lorelai kissed the top of Rory's head.

"I love you too."

They hugged a bit longer and with a longing glance and a wave, Rory turned around and walked way.

Luke wrapped his arm around Lorelai and she did the same, her hand rested on his hip.

"Ready to go?" Luke didn't want to push her, but he knew they couldn't stay there forever either.

Lorelai just nodded. They walked away, Lorelai leaned against him. He pressed a quick kiss to her temple.

The next day Rory found it difficult to focus on her classes. After her second class of the day, she headed to the closest coffee cart. She saw Logan sitting on a bench nearby. She couldn't help but smile. She hadn't seen him in weeks and she missed him.

Logan looked up suddenly, and when he noticed her he grinned. He stood and waited for her to walk over to him.

"Hi. How are you?" He asked gently.

"Hi. I'm all right. It's my first day back and I feel a little distracted thinking about my mom, but I'm okay." She responded.

Logan nodded. "And how's your mom? You mentioned that she should be done treatment in about a month when we spoke on the phone?"

Rory managed a small smile. "Yeah. She's okay. I wish I could be there for every treatment, but I need to be here. How are you?"

"I'm fine. I've missed you." He said gently. He looked at her with a pained expression.

"I missed you too." She admitted.

"Do you want to go and talk somewhere?" He asked.

"I can't." She answered immediately. "I need to grab a coffee and get to my next class."

"Oh." Logan looked disappointed. "Well, I'll see you around?"

"Yeah." Rory nodded. "It was nice to see you. I want us to work, Logan, I really do. I just need more time to deal with everything."

"I understand." Logan replied. He leaned in slowly. It seemed like he wasn't sure if Rory wanted him to touch her.

Rory leaned in a little and let him kiss her cheek.

"Call me when you want to talk." He whispered.

"Okay." She whispered back. He walked away.

A few days after that, Lorelai received her next chemo treatment. While she was at the hospital, she received some bad news. Greta, the woman she had met before had passed suddenly. Although their diagnoses and cases were very different, this diminished Lorelai's hope. She was feeling more depressed about everything. She didn't share her feelings with anyone.

A couple days later, the side effects hit Lorelai hard again. She couldn't sleep. She rolled over and faced Luke. He was fast asleep, snoring softly. She reached out and touched his hair. As she looked at him, she thought about how happy he had made her over the years. She was thankful that he could still sleep. She didn't want him to sacrifice too much for her.

Lorelai moved her hand to his cheek and her thumb brushed it gently. He could sleep through anything. She watched him for a few minutes. When she decided to get up, she pressed the gentlest of kisses to his forehead.

She slowly got out of bed. Before she left the room, she whispered: "Sweet dreams babe."

Once she was downstairs, she looked through their movie collection. She picked up the case of Love Story, not remembering the plot of it. Okay I'll watch this, why not? She thought. She popped it into the DVD player and pressed play.

Luke woke up from a deep sleep and reached for Lorelai to find an empty space next to him. He looked at the clock, it was five A.M., and he wondered where she was. After a quick trip to the bathroom, he headed downstairs. He heard Lorelai sobbing when he was halfway down the stairs. He bolted, worry flooding his mind. All of the lights were off and he almost tripped. He saw Lorelai's figure in the dark, she was sitting on the couch. He stood in front of the couch and reached for her.

"Lorelai?!" He said loudly.

Lorelai didn't answer, she kept sobbing. It was as if she didn't notice him.

"Lorelai, please…" He said more gently this time.

She still didn't answer. She just sniffed.

He sighed and turned around. The TV was off, he noticed for the first time. Putting his hands out in front of him, he walked over to the light switch and turned the lights on.

"Don't." Lorelai said bitterly. She bawled.

Luke quickly walked back to her. He sat down next to her. "Lorelai, please you need to tell me what happened. Is Rory okay?"

Lorelai took a shaky breath. "She's fine, as far as I know. But it doesn't matter; we're all going to die anyway."

"What?" Luke didn't know what was making her say this.

Lorelai coughed as she held back a sob. "I just watched Love Story, Luke. I know you don't like that movie, but you remember what happens to Jenny, don't you?" She whispered.

"Um.." Luke thought about. "Oh.. She dies at the end right?"

"Yes. She dies… she had leukemia. Everyone dies… cancer kills everyone. Greta's dead and I'm going to be the next victim." Lorelai bit her lip as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Lorelai, no. People survive cancer. And Jenny is a fictional character." Luke said a bit harshly.

Lorelai glared at him. "Greta was a real person!" She shouted. "She died and I'm probably going to die too… just accept it. I've accepted it. I should probably give up and stop treatment now." She sobbed.

"I know she was." Luke said in a low voice. "But you can't compare yourself to her, she had lung cancer and she was a lot older than you and there were other contributing factors here… Lorelai please don't give up." He took a deep breath. "I can't lose you."

"I don't want to do this anymore… I'm sorry. I'm giving up. I'm tired and I'm scared and I'm done. You can't stop me. You have no say." Lorelai wouldn't look at him.

"You're talking crazy right now. You have to keep pushing through. You're almost done and Stephanie told you that the treatments are working. You can't give up now. You've come too far." Luke kept his voice steady. He didn't yell and he tried not to be angry.

"You don't get it." Lorelai pushed him away and stood up. "You don't see that I'm suffering." She turned and strode away. She went into Rory's room, shutting the door behind her, she sat down on the bed, picked up a pillow and pressed her face into it. It masked the sound of her sobs.

Luke sighed and followed her. He tried turning the knob of the door and found that it was locked.

"Lorelai please. Let me in. You can't just shut me out like this."

"No." Lorelai whispered between sobs. She knew he couldn't hear her.

"You can't stay in there forever. I'm staying here." Luke sild to the floor pressed his back to the door.

A few minutes of silence passed.

Luke sighed in frustration. "Damn it Lorelai. I may not know what it's like to experience what you're going through, but I'm here. I'm here to talk to you, support you and love you. You can't do this to me, I'm in this too. You can't…" He stopped and listened, hoping to hear her respond.

Another minute of silence, then Luke heard a sound on the other side of the door.

Lorelai got up and walked over to the door. Luke barely had time to get up before she opened the door. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

Luke tentatively held out his arms to her. Lorelai glanced at him for a few more seconds before she stepped into his embrace.

"I'm sorry." She said repeatedly.

"Shh," He whispered, clinging to her.

Lorelai pulled back a little. Luke's hands rested on her back.

"I know it isn't fair to you, but I really am losing hope and I want to give up. I don't know… it's just getting harder and harder and now Rory's gone and I…" She cried.

"I know." Luke pulled her closer. "But you're being irrational … I'm sorry, but it's true."

Lorelai pulled away and took a step back. She shook her head. "You don't know what it's like. I'm going crazy… and I have these crazy thoughts. But maybe they aren't so crazy. I just don't know." She stressed.

"Okay." Luke said gently. He walked away and picked up the phone from the table. He came back to her and held out the phone to her.

"Maybe you should call Rory." He said.

"What? No, it's 5 AM. She's asleep."

"She said you could call anytime." He reminded her. "Please."

Lorelai sighed and took the phone from him. It only rang twice before Rory picked up.

"Mom? Is everything okay?" Her voice was weak.

"I'm… not feeling so good right now hon." Lorelai confessed.

"What's wrong?"

"I um.." Lorelai exhaled. "I watched a movie… you know, Love Story and you know how it ends and I…I just broke down. I'm losing hope, Rory. I shouldn't even be telling you this but… I'm tired and I want to give up. I'm so sorry." Her voice shook as she cried.

"Mom…" Rory whispered.

"I'm so sorry honey."

"You have to keep fighting. I know it's hard… I can't even imagine how hard it must be… but you can't give up now. You've come such a long way. Please don't give up Mom. I can't lose you.. I can't." Rory choked.

Lorelai looked at Luke and his expression broke her heart. She reached out to him and he gave her his hand. She squeezed his hand then dropped it.

"I can't give up… you're right you're both right. The outcome may not be good, but I have to keep fighting for you, for me." Lorelai looked into Luke's eyes as she spoke. "I'm sorry." She said gently.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Don't apologize." Rory told Lorelai.

"I have to. It isn't fair to you and Luke and everyone. You've supported me day after day and I told you I want to give up. But I want to keep fighting because I can't leave you. You made me realize that I can't give up…I can't do that to myself or you." Lorelai conceded.

"I'm happy to hear that." Rory said. "Thank you for calling me, I uh hope I helped."

Lorelai smiled at Luke. "Luke told me to call you. You did help. You helped a lot. I love you so much Rory."

"I know and I love you too Mom. Stay strong, I'll be home tomorrow and we can talk all night. Can you give the phone to Luke for a minute?"

"Sure. I'll see you soon hon." Lorelai passed the phone to Luke.

Luke didn't know why Rory wanted to talk to him.

"Hey Rory,"

"Hi Luke. Can you do me a favour?"

"Um sure." Luke kept his eyes on Lorelai.

"I know something you can do that might cheer up Mom a little. Go into my room and you'll see my CD stack on my dresser."

"Uh okay." Luke replied. He gestured for Lorelai to wait outside of the room and stepped inside. Lorelai went to go sit in the living room.

"They're in alphabetical order. Under L, there should be a CD labeled 'Lorelai's favourite songs: 2004'." Rory told him.

"Yeah. I found it." Luke answered as he picked up the CD case.

"Okay. Take my CD player into the living room and play track number seven. Dance with her."

"What? Why?" Luke was confused.

"It's the song you and Mom danced to at Liz's wedding." Rory explained.

"Oh." Luke didn't know that Lorelai had that song on a CD.

"Yeah. She'll tell you about how we found the song, I know she will."

"Oh okay." Luke was wondering if this was a good idea.

Rory seemed to sense his worry. "Don't worry, this will make her happy. I know it will. Just do it okay, Luke?"

"Okay." Luke trusted her.

"All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye Luke."

"Bye Rory."

Luke walked out the room. He hung up the phone and sauntered over to Lorelai.

"Hey." He said gently.

"Hey." She whispered back.

"Wait here a minute." He told her.

Lorelai squinted at him. Luke went back into Rory's room and picked up her CD player.

He placed in on the table then pushed to table to make room. Lorelai watched in confusion. Luke took the CD out of the case and put it in the player. He plugged the player in then found the play button and pressed it. He skipped to the seventh song.

When the song started playing Lorelai gasped, she recognised it immediately.

Luke held out his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up.

"Rory told me to dance with you. This is the song we danced to at Liz's wedding." Luke said.

Lorelai smiled softly. "Remind me to thank Rory later." She gestured for him to put his other hand on her waist and he did.

They swayed slowly. "After the wedding, this song was stuck in my head for days. I told Rory about and she helped me find it online." She said slowly.

Luke nodded and smiled. "It was stuck in my head for a bit too." He admitted.

Lorelai smiled back. "She burned it to a CD for me and I listened to it almost every day… I thought about our dance and I was so happy but scared at the same time."

"Scared?" He asked.

They waltzed slowly. "Scared of my feelings for you, I mean you were my best friend and I was feeling these romantic feelings for you… I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"But I felt the same way."

"I know. I was just… overwhelmed. I didn't even know that that was a date and you asked me out again and I was amazed. 'I'm dating my best friend' I thought. It was wonderful and scary at the same time. But everything turned out great." She moved her hand from his shoulder to his cheek. "It's a good thing you asked me out that day…" She laughed. "I'm so happy to have you in my life."

Luke didn't say anything; he just pressed his lips to hers. Their kisses were gentle and passionate. Neither of them wanted to pull away.

When they pulled back for air, Lorelai pressed her forehead to Luke's. They stayed like that for a minute. The song had ended and the next one began. It was a much faster song and Lorelai started giggling. Luke chuckled.

Luke pulled her into his chest. Lorelai sighed.

"You're not going to give up, are you?" He asked seriously.

"No." She said softly.

"Good." He replied.

She started rubbing his back and he kissed her forehead. They were comforting each other.

After a couple minutes, he pulled back. "I love you."

"I love you too." She leaned in for another kiss.

They shared a couple sweet kisses.

"Want to come back to bed?" He asked.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep, but okay."

He took her hand and they walked upstairs together. Once they were lying in bed with the lights off, she moved and laid her head on his chest. They both closed their eyes and waited for sleep that wouldn't come.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, reviewing following and favouriting this story. I feel like maybe Lorelai's mood changed too fast in this chapter? Please let me know what you think. As always, reviews are appreciated.