A few hours later, Luke opened his eyes. He hadn't slept at all; he had just been resting his eyes. He suspected that Lorelai didn't sleep either. He looked over at her. She was right next to him. He felt her warm breath on his shoulder. Her hand rested on his chest.

Luke let out a breath and Lorelai opened her eyes.

"Hey" He whispered.

"Morning," She replied.

"Did you get any sleep?"

She shook her head. "You?"

"No."

Lorelai smiled suddenly. "Rory's coming home tonight."

Luke smiled back. He turned his head and kissed her temple.

She moved so that the upper half of her body was lying on his chest.

"What do you want to do today?" She asked.

"What do you feel like doing?"

"Um… something that will distract me until Rory comes home. There are too many hours in the day…" She mumbled.

"Are you up for a walk around town?"

"Sure. As long as we get some food in me first," She answered.

"Okay. What do you want?"

"Um bacon and eggs would be good."

"All right,"

She moved off him and he got up.

"I'm gonna take a shower while you cook." She told him.

"Okay."

She got up and rubbed his arm as she walked past him on her way to the bathroom.

Luke yawned. He was tired, but he could stay awake.

Twenty minutes later, they sat down and ate breakfast. When they finished eating, Luke stood up and started doing the dishes.

"You don't have to do those right now. They can wait." She suggested.

"I'd rather get them done now." He said flatly.

"But you're tired." She pointed out.

He sighed. "I can go without sleep for a day. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry." She said softly.

Luke turned the tap off. "Sorry? For what?"

"For last night, I kept you up…"

"You already apologized." He said stiffly. He didn't turn to face her.

Lorelai stood up and took a step towards him.

"I know but-"

He interrupted her. "No buts. I accept your apology. Can we move on?"

"Luke…" She whispered.

Luke finally turned around and faced her. She didn't meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry that I was acting selfish last night. I don't really want to give up." She muttered.

"I know." His voice softened. "You told me last night. I understand why you felt like giving up though. I-" He stopped. She still wouldn't look at him.

"Lorelai, look at me."

She slowly looked up.

"I'm sorry too. I uh… look; we're doing the best we can. We all are. Sometimes it's going to be hard. Most of the time it's going to be hard… but giving up is something we both can't do." He stressed.

Lorelai nodded. "Okay." She stepped closer to him. "And I promise that I will never decide anything without talking to you… and you have to promise to tell me how you're feeling. You have to let me know if you need space or anything, okay?" She looked into his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere. I told you before, we're in this together. I'm in for the long haul… I can survive without sleep. You don't have to worry about me all the time and you're not a burden." He said solemnly. He reached out and touched her cheek gently.

She stepped even closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Okay." She whispered in his ear. He held her tight. Neither of them wanted to let go and they stood like that for a couple of minutes, relaxed.

Lorelai pulled back.

"Ready to head out?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Just got to brush my teeth and put my shoes on."

Ten minutes later, they were off. As they walked through the town square, a group of people rushed over to them, including Miss Patty, Babette, Kirk and Taylor.

"Lorelai! How are you doing doll?" Babette asked. Kirk and Taylor spoke at the same time and Lorelai couldn't listen to them all at once.

"I'm all right Babette, thanks."

"How's Rory? Did she head back to Yale?" Miss Patty asked.

"Yeah" Lorelai said sadly. "But she's coming back to visit for the weekend tonight." She smiled.

"That's good." Miss Patty responded.

"I can get one of our bag boys to deliver some groceries to you." Taylor offered.

Lorelai was a little surprised at his gesture. "Oh no Taylor, that's fine. Luke gets our groceries." She patted Luke's shoulder.

"I can take over the diner." Kirk said to Luke.

Luke blinked. "No thanks Kirk." He deadpanned.

"Speaking of the diner, Weston's has satisfied the needs of your customer's, Luke." Taylor said.

"What does that mean Taylor?"

"Just that people still have somewhere to eat while the diner is temporarily closed." Taylor replied warily.

Luke just nodded.

"Lorelai, honey, you don't need that baseball cap. You're beautiful no matter what." Miss Patty said sincerely

Lorelai reached up and touched her baseball cap. Luke reached for her hand and squeezed it. He agreed with Patty.

Lorelai hesitated before she removed the cap. Babette, Patty and Luke all smiled at her.

"So how much longer until you're done treatment, sugar?" Babette questioned.

"Not too much longer." Lorelai told her.

"That's great. You let us know if you or Rory need anything, right, Patty?"

Miss Patty nodded. "You too, Luke," She reached out and touched Luke's arm.

Luke just nodded. They chatted a little more; Lorelai got caught up with the happenings of the town. When Lorelai and Luke left and continued their walk, the townsfolk stayed and started planning something.

When Lorelai and Luke returned home that afternoon, she called Sookie to catch up and ask how the Inn was doing. Sookie told her not to worry, that the Inn was fine. She also said that she would drop by the next day with a meal so that Luke could have a night off from cooking.

Meanwhile, Rory waited for Logan to meet her for lunch. She had agreed to talk with him over lunch before she drove back to Stars Hollow. Logan walked into the restaurant, spotted Rory and sat down across from her.

"Am I late?" He asked.

Rory shook her head. "I'm early."

"Did you order yet?"

"No. I just got my drink." Rory pointed to the glass of lemonade on the table.

Logan nodded and picked up his menu. The waitress came to the table a couple minutes later and Rory ordered her food. Logan ordered water with his food and Rory was a bit surprised.

"So, do you have another class before you head back home?"

"No. I only had one class this morning. My Fridays aren't very busy, it worked out well…" Rory said slowly.

"That's good." Logan replied.

There was a minute of silence.

"Logan?"

"Yeah?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about us these past few days since I'm not at home with my mom and… I think I want to end our break." Rory looked at him, waiting for him to respond.

"You think?" Logan replied with a small smile.

Rory smiled back, she couldn't help it. "No, I'm sure. I want to be with you. Having time to think about it really made me realize that I wasn't very fair. My mom's cancer has been hard to handle and I know it must have been hard for you to handle too. I mean we just started this relationship and I needed you so much but you couldn't always be there." She rambled then stopped, thinking about what she wanted to say.

"Ace, I get what you're trying to say but I was also wrong. I shouldn't have spent my free time at bars… I should have been there for you." He reached for her hand and she gave it to him. "But you're right; it was a lot for me to handle all at once. I was never a commitment guy before and then you needed me because you're going through all this… and it was hard for me to come through for you. I'm not exactly a stand-up guy, but I'm trying to change. For you," He kept his eyes on her.

Rory nodded. "I know and I love you for that. I think we can make this work. We just need to listen to each other's needs and try to see things from the other's side, you know?"

"Yeah," Logan agreed.

"Everything has been crazy these past few months, but I think everything will be okay." Rory said in a low voice. She looked down.

"Hey," Logan squeezed her hand. She looked back up. "Everything will be okay. We can get through this. I won't bail on you."

Rory trusted him. She wasn't worried about him bailing on her again. She was just anxious about Lorelai's treatments coming to an end and what that would mean. She was feeling both optimistic and pessimistic about the future.

"Okay." She whispered to let him know that she trusted him.

He smiled at her. The waitress came back with their food.

After lunch, they stood outside the restaurant to say their goodbyes. Rory was surprised when Logan carefully wrapped her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" He whispered in her ear.

She relaxed in his arms, laid her head on his shoulder. "It's just hard being away from Mom at a time like this. I'm going back now, but then I have to leave again and-." She stopped.

"I get it." He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head.

"But I'm happy to have you back. I missed you." She admitted.

Logan chuckled. "I know, you told me that last week." He said gently. He began rubbing her back gently.

Rory was the one to pull away.

"Call me if you need to talk." He insisted.

"I will." She assured him. She leaned in and kissed him. It was a long, deep kiss.

Logan smiled softly at her and gently touched her cheek before she turned around and got in her car and headed home.

Lorelai and Luke were lying on the bed. Lorelai had just fallen asleep when she heard the front door open. She immediately opened her eyes and sat up.

"Woah," Luke was alarmed. His arm had been around her and he was tracing random patterns on her back when she sat up.

"Didn't you hear the door? Rory's home!" Lorelai exclaimed. She got out of bed as fast as she could.

Luke smiled, he was happy to see her so energetic. He followed her out of the room and downstairs.

"Rory!" Lorelai screamed as she stepped off the last stair.

"Mom!" They collided in front of the stairs.

Luke felt a tear in his eye as he watched the girls hold each other tightly.

When they finally let go of each other, Lorelai asked, "How's Yale? How Paris? How class?"

Rory laughed. "You asked all that on the phone."

"I know, I just thought I'd ask in person too." Lorelai responded.

"Well Yale is fine. Paris is also fine and all my classes are good. I'm getting back into the swing of things."

Lorelai nodded. "Have you seen Logan?"

"Yeah, I want to talk to you about that later. Did you guys eat dinner yet?"

"Nope. We were waiting for you to come home. Is there anything particular you want?" Luke answered.

Rory smiled at him. "Anything is fine."

"All right, I'll go see what we have and scrounge up something." Luke headed into the kitchen.

"Scrounge up something? Are we running low on food? Luke always makes sure we have enough food." Rory was a little confused.

"Eh, I think he's just a little tired, you know? Stressed," Lorelai frowned.

Rory's face fell. "Oh. Are you guys okay?"

"Oh don't worry, we're fine. Nothing's changed." Lorelai moved next to Rory and wrapped an arm around her. "Tell me about you, what's going on with Logan?" She guided Rory to the couch.

They sat down and Rory opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Hon?"

"Sorry. Um well Logan and I got back together. We're not on a break anymore."

"And that's a good thing, right?" Lorelai inquired. She reached out and tapped Rory's knee.

Rory gave her a tiny smile. "Yeah, it's good. I want to be with him and I believe that he's changed and he won't bail on me…" She trailed off and looked away, lost in thought.

"But something's wrong?" Lorelai asked. She touched Rory's shoulder and Rory met her gaze.

"No. It's just that it's hard for me to deal with everything with you and it's hard for him too because he has to be there for me and he's never been boyfriend material…"

"Hmm well he's committed to you now, isn't he? You wouldn't want to be with him if he wasn't committed right?" Lorelai said slowly.

Rory nodded. "He swore to me that he's trying to change for me. He wants to be with me. I trust him and I love him, I really do."

"Okay. That's good. As long as you're sure you want to be with him." Lorelai replied.

"I'm sure." Rory said simply. She smiled.

They talked while Luke made dinner. On Saturday, they visited Richard and Emily and had dinner there. Rory also visited Lane and Sookie and Jackson came by the house for a visit.

A couple weeks later, Lorelai was set to receive her last chemo treatment. It was on a Wednesday, so Rory couldn't be there, but Lorelai was a little surprised to see Emily and Richard at the hospital.

"Mom, Dad hi!" She greeted them with a smile.

"You seem surprised to see us, Lorelai." Emily pointed out.

"I'm a little surprised, yeah."

"I can't see why, you told us when you would be receiving your last treatment." Emily said.

"We wanted to be here." Richard chimed in.

"I know. It's just that you didn't tell me you could make it. I'm pleasantly surprised, don't worry." Lorelai assured.

"All right then." Emily replied with a nod.

About an hour into treatment, Luke excused himself to use the bathroom.

"Has Christopher ever been here?" Emily asked suddenly.

"You mean in the hospital while I receive treatment?"

Emily nodded.

"No." Lorelai said dryly.

"Does he at least keep in touch with Rory?"

"Yes. They talk on the phone. Why?"

"I just thought he might like to be here, for Rory." Emily answered.

"Not for me?" Lorelai responded.

"No. You have Luke. You aren't with Christopher, you're with Luke."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Lorelai accused.

Richard wanted to say something, but Emily beat him to it.

"I didn't mean it like that. I know Luke has been here for you through all of this. He's a great man."

Lorelai blinked. She never expected to hear Emily talk about Luke like that.

"I can see that you two love each other very much. It's Rory's relationship with Christopher that I'm concerned about, not yours." Emily told her.

"Oh, well you should talk to Rory about that, not me."

"I have. She told me that he'll show up or call whenever he wants to. That was a while ago."

"Well he's never been here and I think Rory's okay with that. He still talks to her and I think she… I think she doesn't really need him to be here. She has you two." She glanced between Emily and Richard. "And she has Luke and Logan and her friends." Lorelai let out a breath. She was afraid to hear Emily's response.

"Well, I suppose that's all right. Maybe she doesn't need him." Emily said in a low voice.

"She has a good support system. We're all going to make it through this." Lorelai stared and them. "And I'm really grateful that you're both here."

Richard smiled at her and Emily managed a small smile too. "What about Luke?" She asked.

"What about Luke?" Lorelai pondered.

"With the way things are going, is he going to be Rory's stepfather? Do you have plans to marry him someday?"

Lorelai wondered why Emily had thought that. It wasn't like they were engaged or anything. Luke didn't ask Dad for my hand, did he?

Before Lorelai could speak, Luke returned with a bottle of water. He took the seat next to Lorelai.

There was an awkward silence.

"Is everything okay?" Luke asked, looking between Lorelai and the Gilmores.

"Everything's fine, hon." Lorelai reached out and rubbed his arm.

Luke nodded. Emily and Richard stayed for another hour before leaving. On the way out, Richard stopped in front of Lorelai. He stood there for a moment and Lorelai wondered what he was thinking. He bent down and gently touched Lorelai's hand. Lorelai smiled softly. After he left, Lorelai wondered if he had wanted to hug her.

"Can you believe I'm done with chemo after this?" She asked Luke.

"No. It's feels like it's been forever, but at the same time it flew by." Luke murmured.

"I know what you mean." She reached for his hand. He threaded his finger through hers.

"I'm proud of you." He said softly.

"Proud? Why?"

"For getting through this, for staying strong, for not giving up,"

"But I didn't always stay strong. I broke down. I wanted to give up." She contended.

"But you didn't give up. You weren't always positive, but that's normal. You're strong, Lorelai." He looked into her eyes.

She believed him. "I couldn't have done it without you." She choked.

He used the pads of his thumbs to wipe at her tears. Her heart pounded as she saw the look on his face. He looked content, relieved and upset all at once.

She gripped his hand tightly.

"Lorelai? Are you okay?" Concern filled his eyes.

She nodded and smiled.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. They sat in silence until she was finished treatment.

As they walked out of the hospital, he didn't let go of her hand. They were both felt frightened and optimistic about what was to come.

Author's note: Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated.