A few days after her final chemo treatment, Lorelai met with her oncologist to discuss the next steps. Luke came along to the appointment. After exchanging greetings, Stephanie got straight to the point:

"Good news, the chemo did exactly what it was supposed to. Your tumor has shrunk a lot."

Luke squeezed Lorelai's hand and flashed a smile at her. She returned the smile. Before she could ask what was next, Luke spoke.

"What's next, surgery?" He questioned.

Stephanie nodded. "Yes. A lumpectomy will be next."

Lorelai pressed her lips together. "When can we schedule it?"

"Well, it's best if your body has some time to recover. We usually perform the surgery anywhere from two to six weeks after chemo. With your case I'd say we should wait at least three weeks."

Lorelai nodded slowly. "Oh… so would I be able to travel or go anywhere during that time?"

Luke wondered if she was planning something.

"As long as you feel up to it and it's not too far of a trip I think that should be fine." Stephanie answered.

"So everything else is fine then? The cancer hasn't spread or anything?" Luke asked in a low voice.

"Yes, Lorelai has responded well to chemo and the cancer hasn't spread to any other organs. The outlook is good."

Luke let out a breath. He felt relieved. Now that chemo was done, they were one step closer to Lorelai being cancer free. He felt more confident that everything would work out.

Lorelai brushed the top of his hand with her fingers. They weren't out of the woods yet, but the hardest part was over.

"I'll have the hospital call when we're ready for surgery or it we need you to come in for anything else." Stephanie said.

"Thank you." Lorelai replied as she stood up.

Luke stood up and gave Stephanie a small smile and whispered "Thank you."

With a quick "Take care" and "Goodbye" from Stephanie, Luke and Lorelai left the office.

Luke took Lorelai's hand without saying anything and they walked to the truck.

Before Luke could open the passenger door, Lorelai tugged on his hand and he turned to face her. He frowned, confused. Before he could ask if something was wrong, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. It was a long, sweet kiss. Luke's hand came to rest on her lower back and he kept it there as she pulled back.

"Love you." She grinned.

He couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. "I love you too." He found it much easier to say those three words over the past few months. Maybe it was the thought of losing her without her knowing how much he loved her. They didn't have to say it every day, but they both liked hearing it.

Luke wrapped an arm around her, "Come on, let's get you home."

She leaned into him and he pressed a quick kiss to her temple. He opened the door and helped her into the truck.

When they got home, Lorelai called Rory, briefly forgetting that she was in class. She hung up after the first ring, praying that Rory's phone couldn't be heard in the classroom.

Rory called her back half an hour later.

"Hey Mom," She said casually.

"Rory! I'm so sorry… did I disrupt your class when I called?"

"No, my phone was buried in my bag, I barely heard it."

"Oh, thank god." Lorelai laughed a little. "So, how's class?"

"Class is fine." Rory said quickly. "Tell me how your appointment went."

"Well the chemo did its job and my tumor shrank." Lorelai said enthusiastically.

"And?" Rory prompted.

"And I'm going in for surgery in a few weeks. I get a break…"

"Oh, that's great. You definitely deserve a break." Rory said gently.

"Yeah… I don't know what we're going to do though." Lorelai said as she watched Luke make the bed. They were running late, so he didn't make it that morning.

"Maybe you should go on a trip somewhere." Rory suggested.

"Where?"

"I don't know you'll think of something, or Luke will."

"Yeah. So I'll see you at Friday night dinner?" Lorelai watched as Luke lied down on the bed.

"Yep. I'll be home around six."

"Okay. I'll see you then."

"Bye Mom. Love you."

"Love you too hon." Lorelai hung up.

Luke gestured for her to come over.

Lorelai put the phone on the dresser then walked over to stand next to the bed.

Luke patted the spot next to him. Lorelai smiled then walked over to the other side of the bed and got under the covers.

"Is it nap time?" She asked as she reached out and started running his fingers through his hair.

He just nodded and closed his eyes.

"Well I won't object to that." She said. She moved and held herself over him then leaned down and kissed his cheek.

They slept for a couple hours.

A few days later, it was Friday night dinner. Once everyone had their drinks, Richard started the conversation:

"Lorelai I," He stopped and looked at Lorelai.

Lorelai smiled, tried to encourage him.

"I am, no, your mother and I are so proud of you."

"You are?" Lorelai replied. Luke had said the same thing and she was amazed.

"Yes. You've stayed strong throughout all of this, you didn't give up. We know it must have been very hard." Richard nodded. He looked at Lorelai and saw her frowning.

"But I didn't really do anything… it was the chemo that did all the work…" Lorelai said quietly. She didn't have the heart to tell her parents that she had wanted to give up before.

Emily shook her head. "But you're strong Lorelai, I like to believe it's because we raised you that way, but it's not. You raised yourself and Rory from the time you were seventeen… you did a great job." She touched her eye, wiping at a tear.

Lorelai was a little shocked at her mother's words. She knew her parents had never exactly approved of the life she chose for herself. But she was touched that Emily had told her that she did a great job. It reminded her of when Rory went to the dance at Chilton.

"Thank you." Lorelai said gently. "Thank you for coming to my chemo sessions. It meant a lot to me to have you two there." She nodded and looked down as she felt tears threaten to fall from her eyes.

Luke squeezed her knee.

"Are you planning to do anything special before your surgery?" Richard asked to break the silence.

Luke swallowed nervously. He knew Richard was talking to Lorelai, but it reminded him of what he had been thinking about the past few days. He had been thinking about proposing sooner than he had originally planned. He was thinking it might be better to just take a leap of faith and propose before Lorelai was cancer free.

"I don't know. We haven't put much thought into it." Lorelai replied.

"Well, we received a phone call from our realtor this morning and he told us that our usually rental house on Martha's Vineyard is available now. We usually go there in the spring, so we thought you two might want to spend a week or two there."

"Me and Luke? At Martha's Vineyard?"

"Yes. Is the idea so preposterous?" Emily responded.

"Well no. What do you think hon?" Lorelai asked Luke.

"I think it sounds nice. It would be nice to relax for a little while." Luke replied.

Lorelai nodded. "All right. We'll go then. Thanks guys." She said to Emily and Richard.

"You're welcome." Richard said gently.

"We can stay there for a week and you can come down on the weekend." Lorelai said to Rory.

"Maybe, I might have a lot of school work to do. And besides it can be romantic for you two without me there." Rory raised her eyebrows.

Lorelai laughed. She wasn't expecting Rory to say that. She looked over at Luke, whose face was red which made her laugh even more.

The maid came into the room to announce that dinner was ready.

An hour later, when Luke, Lorelai and Rory were leaving, Richard hugged Rory goodbye. When he pulled away, he looked at Lorelai.

Lorelai smiled and stepped closer to him. He didn't move so Lorelai initiated the hug. It was a very brief hug.

Emily was talking to the maid when she stepped into the foyer to see Lorelai and Richard pulling apart. She smiled at the sight.

Richard gave Lorelai a small smile.

"We'll see you in a couple days so we can get the key to the house." Lorelai said.

"All right, drive safe." Emily said.

The three of them said goodbye and left.

On the drive home, Lorelai fiddled with the radio station. Rory had drove home before dinner that night so they the three of them drove over in the Jeep.

"Would you just pick a station?" Luke grumbled.

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him and Rory giggled. She imagined them as an old bickering married couple and smiled.

Lorelai gasped suddenly.

"What?!" Luke shouted.

"Shh" Lorelai gently hit his arm.

"Well you almost gave me a heart attack." Luke lowered his voice.

Lorelai wasn't listening; she was listening to the song playing.

"There she goes, there she goes again." Lorelai started singing along.

"Racing through my brain" Rory joined in.

Normally Luke would be annoyed by their singing, but he didn't mind. He was just happy to see them happy.

A couple days later, Luke and Lorelai arrived at the house on Martha's Vineyard. It was late at night and all they wanted to do was sleep.

Luke was putting his shoes back on.

"What are you doing babe? Come to bed." Lorelai said.

"I just have to get something that I left in the truck. I'll just be a minute." He told her.

Lorelai pouted but nodded.

Luke stepped outside and hurried over to the truck. He opened the door and reached in to open the glove compartment. He kept the ring box there, under maps, a flash light and some other things. He would never expect Lorelai to open the glove compartment. He took the ring box out then closed the compartment and locked the truck.

He stood there for a minute. Do it. He told himself. He hadn't told Liz or Rory that he had changed his mind. Maybe I should do it at sunset tomorrow, that'd be nice, sunset on the beach. He thought. Yeah, he smiled to himself.

Luke headed back in the house.

When Lorelai heard him come into the bedroom, she muttered: "That was longer than a minute."

"Sorry." He whispered. He had put the ring in the dresser in one of the spare bedrooms.

"It's okay. Just come here, I'm cold and I need you to warm me up." Lorelai said in a flirty tone.

Luke smirked and told her that he was going to the bathroom first.

"Okay." She replied.

He returned a few minutes later. She had rolled over and was on the side of the bed that was farther from the bathroom.

Luke took off his shirt and jeans and quickly put on his sweatpants. He slid into bed and rolled over, spooned Lorelai.

Lorelai kept her eyes shut and placed her hand on top of his. "This is nice." She said gently.

Luke kissed her shoulder. "Are you warmer now?" He asked.

"Yep," She answered simply before she turned to face him. "Hi," She whispered.

"Hi," He whispered back, leaning in to kiss her.

They kissed slowly for a few minutes.

Lorelai pulled away. "I'm not really… I can't-"She stopped.

Luke understood. "It's okay"

Lorelai smiled. She kissed him again. "Goodnight."

"'Night" He moved away a little.

She turned around and then bent her arm back, reaching for him. He wrapped an arm around her and closed his eyes.

Lorelai fell asleep in minutes while Luke's thoughts kept him up. He finally fell asleep an hour later; his last thought was of the ring on Lorelai's finger.

The next night, Luke and Lorelai ate dinner on the patio.

"Wanna walk on the beach?" Luke asked when they had finished eating.

Lorelai put a hand to her heart. "How romantic, I'd love to." She said.

Luke stood up and held out his hand to her. She grinned and took it.

He had the ring in his pocket and he was just waiting for the right moment, hoping he knew when that would be.

When they were halfway down the beach, Lorelai dropped his hand and looped her arm through his.

Luke's heart started pounding. He was feeling nervous. He was pretty sure she'd say yes, but he still had a little doubt for some reason.

Lorelai sighed happily. "The sunset is so beautiful."

Not as beautiful as you. He thought. God, when did become such a sap?

He cleared his throat, which turned into a cough.

"You okay honey?" Lorelai patted his back.

He nodded, his heart skipped a beat as it always did when she called him a term of endearment.

They kept walking until Luke stopped.

"Luke?"

"Lorelai, I…"

Lorelai stared at him, waiting with a slight smile on her face.

"You're everything to me. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"Luke." She said gently.

"I was in a dark place before you came into my life. My dad had died a few years before and I hadn't seen Liz and Jess in a year…" He looked into her eyes. "When I met you, I knew you would be a constant in my life. I gave you coffee, but you didn't go away, you kept coming back."

She laughed softly and took his hand.

He continued. "And you were just this… big ball of sunshine. You were always so happy and quirky. Your coffee addiction annoyed me, but I couldn't get you out of my head. When I met Rory, I came to admire you. You raised her with almost no help and she's a great kid because of you. We became friends and before I realized it, I had fallen in love with you." He smiled softly at her.

"I still can't believe you're mine. These past few months have made me realize that I'm so lucky to have you. I mean I realized that before, but I know now that anything can happen and I don't want to live life with any regrets. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives, no matter how long they might be." He dropped her hand.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the ring box then slowly knelt down on one knee. He opened up the ring box and held it out to her.

"Lorelai, will you marry me?"

Lorelai gasped, "Luke…"

Author's Note: Big cliffhanger haha!
Thank you for all the reviews, favourites, and follows. I really appreciate it. I was debating whether or not to put the "the rest of our lives, no matter how long they might be."

Please let me know what you think of this chapter.