Lorelai gasped, "Luke…"

Luke remained silent. He was smiling, but that smile fell as the seconds ticked by without Lorelai saying anything.

"Lorelai?"

Lorelai grinned. "Yes, yes of course I'll marry you!" She grinned.

Luke beamed. He reached for her left hand and quickly slipped the ring onto her finger. Then he got up and she immediately jumped into his arms. He chuckled and lifted her off the ground.

They just held each other for a few minutes. When Luke finally loosened his hold of her, she put her hands on his face and kissed him. He deepened the kiss and pulled her closer.

Lorelai pulled away after a few kisses and pressed her forehead to his. They stood like that for a few seconds.

"Wow, the ring is beautiful, Luke." Lorelai said as she held her hand in front of her face.

"Rory helped me pick it out." He told her.

"She did? When? I'm just so shocked. I had no idea you were going to propose." She replied, a look of pure content on her face.

Luke laughed. "Well it was supposed to be a surprise. We picked out the ring a few weeks ago, right before Rory went back to Yale." He gazed at her "You're happy, right?" He asked a little hesitantly.

"Gee I don't know I can't seem to stop smiling, what do you think?" She answered.

He smiled. "I'm glad you like the ring."

She nodded. "I love it."

He looked away. She frowned.

"Luke?"

He looked at her, a tight lipped smile played on his lips.

"You okay?" She said in a low voice.

"Yeah. I'm happy you said yes… but you hesitated and-"

She interrupted, "Oh, sorry, I was just shocked. I wasn't expecting you to purpose."

"Oh." He said gently.

She reached out and rubbed his arm. "I didn't mean that in a bad way… it's just that these past few months have been so unpredictable. I've been through hell. But the one thing that's been a constant is you."

He met her gaze.

"You have been my rock. You never left me, you comforted me and you never gave up on me. I'm happy, I'm so lucky to have you. And yes, I want to marry you. You're the one for me, Luke. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter how long it might be." Her voice broke on the last sentence. He had said 'I want us to be together for the rest of our lives, no matter how long they might be.' She felt the same way. She wanted to marry him no matter what.

"Okay." He whispered as he pulled her back into his arms. He didn't know what else to say. He preferred to let his actions speak.

She pressed her face into his shoulder as she felt tears fall from her eyes. They were happy tears.

When they pulled apart, she smiled at him. He smiled back and pecked her lips.

"Ah! I need to call Rory and tell her!" She said suddenly.

He nodded and reached into his pocket for his cell phone, but she was already pulling hers out of her purse.

The phone only rang once before Rory picked up.

"Hey Mom, what's up? How's the trip going?"

"Luke proposed!" Lorelai shouted.

"What? Oh my god!" Rory squealed.

Lorelai thought she heard someone gasp in the background.

"I said yes of course."

"Of course," Rory responded. "Hang on a second I have to tell Logan, he thinks something is wrong."

Lorelai laughed. She looked at Luke. He winked.

"I'm back. Logan says congratulations."

"Tell him thanks."

"So how did it happen? What did he do?" Rory asked.

"Well, we were taking a walk on the beach and he stopped suddenly. He started by saying that he doesn't know where he'd be without me." Lorelai kept her eyes on Luke. She couldn't stop smiling.

"Aww, how sweet," Rory gushed.

"He had a whole speech…he said he's lucky to have me and that he wants us to be together forever. He was very romantic, I was surprised."

"You were surprised? Luke was the one who built you a chuppah, and an ice rink. He's always been romantic." Rory said bluntly.

"You're right, he is a sweetheart. He may act grumpy most of the time, but he's really a sweet romantic. He's my teddy bear." Lorelai giggled as Luke rolled his eyes.

"Yep, he's one of a kind." Rory said.

"So how are you and Logan?"

"We're good. I'm working on an assignment and he's dozing off when he should be studying."

"Oh, well I'll let you straighten that out. Oh! Luke said you helped pick out the ring?"

"Yeah. He asked me to come with him, but he was the one who saw that ring. I think he knew you'd like it without asking me what I thought of it." Rory told her.

"Oh, is that so?" Lorelai raised her eyebrows at Luke. He frowned at her.

"Yep,"

"Well I love the ring, it's gorgeous."

"That's what I said." Rory replied.

"So you kept this a secret for weeks?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes. It had to be a surprise of course. I didn't even know when Luke was going to propose."

"Well, he picked a good moment and a good place, sunset on the beach." Lorelai said.

"I'm so happy for you two." Rory sighed.

"Thanks hon. I couldn't be happier."

"Good. Well, I better let you get back to your evening. Who knows, maybe Luke has something else planned."

"Maybe," Lorelai answered. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Night." Lorelai ended the call. She put her phone back in her purse.

"How's Rory?" Luke asked.

"She's really happy for us. She told me that you were the one who picked out the ring, you saw it first."

"Yeah," Luke said simply.

Lorelai just smirked. She grasped his hand and squeezed it then let go.

"Oh! We should get a picture to remember this moment!" She exclaimed.

"We don't have a camera." He said.

"My phone has a camera. We just have to find someone to take the picture." She looked around and spotted a young couple and a baby in the distance.

"Come on." She grabbed his hand and they started walking over to them.

When they got there, Lorelai started the conversation.

"Hi! We were just wondering if you could take a picture of us?"

The boy and girl looked at each other than Lorelai and Luke. They appeared to be no older than eighteen.

"Sure." The girl was holding the baby and she passed her to the boy.

Lorelai held out her cell phone.

"Oh, we have a camera. We could take the picture and email it to you if you want… if you have an email address that is." The girl mumbled.

"Oh, yeah that would be better. My phone doesn't really take good quality pictures." Lorelai replied. She dug a business card out of her purse. She couldn't remember the last time she cleaned out her purse.

"Great." The girl said with a smile. She pulled a camera out of her sweater pocket and gestured for Luke and Lorelai to pose.

Lorelai moved to Luke's side. He wrapped an arm around her and she rested a on hand on his hip and the other on his chest. They both smiled.

"Got it," The girl said a few seconds later.

"Thank you." Lorelai said sweetly.

"No problem." The girl smiled.

"How old is she?" Lorelai gestured to the baby.

"Almost one," The boy said.

"She's adorable." Lorelai said.

"Thanks." The girl said gently.

Lorelai thanked them again and they said their goodbyes.

After Rory hung up the phone, Logan told her he would have to be getting back to his apartment soon.

"Aw, leaving so soon?" Rory pouted.

"Well, you said I need to study for my test tomorrow."

"You can't keep doing that here?"

"No. You'll distract me too much."

"Distract you?" She pretended to gasp. "I've been doing my assignment the whole time you've been here."

"Yes, but just being in the same room as you distracts me. I can't focus."

Rory was sitting at her desk, Logan was on a chair. He got up and walked over to stand behind her. He bent down and kissed her neck.

"Logan." She groaned.

He laughed. "Who's distracting who now?"

"Okay, okay. Maybe you should go." She said.

Logan started walking to the door.

"Wait! I need a goodbye kiss!" Rory called out. She got out of her chair.

He turned around. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips to his.

They kissed a few times, neither of them wanted to stop.

Rory finally pulled away and took a step back.

"See you tomorrow." She said gently.

"See ya Ace."

"I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too."

She wanted to ask him if he was sure, but decided not to. He did smile; I think he's pretty sure. She told herself.

Logan opened the door and left.

Rory went to close her door, but Paris walked into her bedroom.

"Paris I can't talk right now, I have to finish my assignment."

"Oh." Paris sounded disappointed.

"Did you want to talk about something?"

"I just haven't seen you very much in the past few days. I was wondering how your mom is doing." Paris said.

"Oh." Rory was touched that Paris cared so much. "She's good. She and Luke just got engaged actually."

"Luke?"

"Her boyfriend, well fiancé now I guess. He owns the diner in Stars Hollow. You met him once, remember?"

"Hmm. No I don't remember. That's nice though, that she's engaged."

"It is." Rory smiled.

"And what about the other stuff?" Paris asked hesitantly.

"Oh um well I already told you that she's done chemo and she's having surgery in a few weeks, nothing's changed there."

Paris nodded "Okay. That's good."

"Hey, do you want to do something tomorrow?" Rory asked.

"Like what?" Paris asked.

"I don't know maybe go see a movie or something?"

"Why are you offering?"

"I don't know. I've been spending a lot of time with Logan recently and I feel like I'm being a bad friend to you. And I go home every weekend."

"You have to go home every weekend, your mom needs you."

"Yeah, but I spend every other minute in class or doing homework or sleeping, or with Logan. I think we should do something, have fun." Rory shrugged.

"Okay, I guess we could do something tomorrow. I don't know what though." Paris deadpanned.

"We'll think of something tomorrow." Rory assured her.

"Okay. I'll let you get back to your assignment."

"Okay. Goodnight Paris."

Paris left the room and Rory closed the door behind her.

Later that night, Luke and Lorelai lied snuggled in bed.

Lorelai held her hand up to the light. She couldn't stop staring at the ring.

Luke took her hand in his suddenly. He brought it to his mouth and kissed it.

She giggled. "I can't believe we're engaged."

"It only took us about ten years to get here." He said in a low voice.

She smiled, remembering how he had said it had only taken eight years to go on a date.

"I'm gonna have to tell my parents, but that can wait until we go back home I think." She murmured.

"Yeah I guess it can wait. I might call Liz tomorrow though to let her know. I told her that I was going to propose."

"Okay." Lorelai said simply. She didn't mind Liz knowing. As long as it didn't spread around town like wildfire. "Oh! And I've got to call Sookie tomorrow. She'll be thrilled." She added.

Luke nodded. They were silent for a couple minutes.

"Hey babe?" Lorelai broke the silence.

"Hmm?"

"That couple on the beach today…that could have been me and Christopher."

"What?" Luke didn't like that she had brought up Christopher.

"I mean they were young, no older than eighteen probably and they had a baby. And I think they were married."

"They were married?" Luke didn't notice that.

"Yeah, she had two rings on her ring finger. Christopher and I were supposed to get married when I found out I was pregnant." She said gently.

"But you didn't want to marry him." Luke said gruffly.

"No. I didn't want to get married, at least not at sixteen. And I didn't really want to marry Chris. I mean sure, we may have thought we were soulmates when we were kids, but we're not a good match." She sighed.

Luke's brow furrowed. She sounded regretful. "Do you um… do you regret it? Not marrying him?"

"What? No, of course not… he's Rory's dad and I'll always love him, but it's a different kind of love. My love for you is different. I'm in love with you, I don't know if I was ever really in love with Chris. I want to marry you. Chris and I were never meant to be. You and I are meant to be." She kissed the spot below his ear.

A shiver ran through his body. He took a breath. "I'm glad you feel that way."

"Like you didn't already know that," She rolled her eyes.

"I guess I did." He teased.

It was silent again before Lorelai spoke, "You're going to be Rory's stepdad." She said gently.

Luke just smiled.

"I know you love her like a daughter and it's one of the things I love most about you." She moved closer to him and put her head on his chest.

"You've told me that before." He muttered. His eyes were starting to close. He was tired.

"Oh yeah, that's right." She whispered.

He didn't open his eyes.

"Goodnight." She kissed his cheek, held her lips there a second longer.

"Night," He whispered.

She moved off him but stayed close.

Soon, Luke started snoring softly. Lorelai watched him sleep. She reached out and touched his jawline then his cheek.

She liked watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful. He hadn't shaved in about a week and his beard was getting long but she didn't mind, she liked the way his beard tickled her face when they kissed.

She watched him for a few more minutes then rolled over, turned off the light and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she felt more certain then she had ever felt before, everything was going to be okay. She was going to marry the man she loved and she felt like nothing could bring her down now.

Author's note: Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated.