Two weeks later was the day of the surprise party for Lorelai. Miss Patty and Babette were in charge of the planning and the party would take place at the dance studio. Rory decided to let Luke in on it so he could provide some of the food. Sookie would be bringing the rest.

Luke thought it was a great idea. He knew that the town wanted to show their love for Lorelai. They weren't really involved with everything during the last several months and they wanted a way to show they cared. Luke knew Lorelai would be thrilled and overwhelmed by the party. He was excited for it.

On the night of the party, Rory and Luke set up a plan. They made Lorelai think that she would just be attending a town meeting, the first one since she revealed her diagnosis to the town. Rory told them she would meet them there. It was her job to make sure everything was set up and everyone was there before Luke brought Lorelai there. She told Luke to bring Lorelai a half hour after she left.

"But why don't we all go together?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, I'm going to visit Lane first." Rory said quickly.

Lorelai bought it. "Oh okay." She shrugged.

Rory said goodbye and rushed out of the house. Luke and Lorelai stayed at home for bit as planned. They walked into town hand in hand. When Lorelai saw that no one was heading into Patty's, her brow furrowed.

"Is everyone already in there? Are we late?" She wondered.

Luke looked at his watch. "No, we're right on time."

Lorelai pulled on his hand to get him to walk faster. She didn't believe him. His smile grew as they approached the dance studio. He reached out and pulled the door open for her.

"Ladies first," He said rather loudly so that the townies could hear them entering.

Lorelai smiled sweetly and stepped inside the studio.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted at once. Luke was a little surprised that they hadn't messed it up.

Lorelai gasped. "Oh! Wow is this… a surprise party for us? An engagement party?"

Babette came over to her. "It's a celebration for you dollface. To celebrate the fact that you're cancer free,"

"And to celebrate your engagement," Miss Patty chimed in.

Lorelai put a hand on her heart. "I thought this was just going to be a town meeting. You guys really didn't have to have a party. I'm touched." She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"We wanted to do it sweetie." Miss Patty gave Lorelai a big hug.

Lorelai grinned. Luke stood next to her and looked over the room, smiling. Rory made her way through the crowd.

"Were you surprised?" Rory asked.

"Yes, very surprised." Lorelai said. She looked at Luke. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Luke nodded and put his arm over her shoulder and rubbed her back gently.

"I can't believe you guys." Lorelai looked from him to Rory to the townies.

"Come on, let's party!" Babette exclaimed.

Lorelai laughed then cheered. Rory grinned, happy to see her mother so excited.

They walked around the room to greet everyone. Kirk startled Lorelai by embracing her.

"It's so good to see you Lorelai!" He said.

"Thanks Kirk." Lorelai awkwardly patted his back.

Lulu came to pull Kirk away. She also told Lorelai that it was nice to see her.

When Taylor came up to them, Lorelai was a little worried about what he'd say. She thought he might disapprove of the party.

"Lorelai, how are you?"

"Sorry, I can't hear you Taylor." It was hard to hear over the music.

Rory gestured for Lane, who was the DJ to turn down the music a little.

"I said how are you?"

"I'm good. You? You're not going to shut down the party are you?" Lorelai pouted.

"No, no. The party planners came to me first to make sure everything was in order and I'm fine." Taylor nodded curtly.

Lorelai smiled at him. "Try to have fun, okay Taylor?"

Taylor looked away for a second, frowning. He looked back at Lorelai. "I'm glad you're okay." He said sincerely.

"Thanks Taylor. That means a lot, really." Lorelai smiled again.

Taylor gave her a small smiled then walked away.

Lorelai and Rory danced for a bit. Lorelai wondered where Luke wandered off to.

"Did you see where my man went?" She asked Rory when they had sat down.

Rory looked around the room then pointed. Luke was standing with Miss Patty. Lorelai gulped nervously. She knew Miss Patty was sort of dangerous in a way; that she needed to pull Luke away fast.

Rory raised her eyebrows.

"I better go get him." Lorelai said. She got up and quickly walked over to where Luke and Miss Patty were.

"Hi you two," Lorelai said as she approached them. She put a hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Hi Lorelai, I was just telling Luke about my second husband, he kind of looked like him, a little scruffy, tall… well tall dark and handsome really."

"Is that so?" Lorelai said. She pulled Luke a little closer. "I was just coming over to get Luke. I was going to ask him he wanted to dance with me."

"Oh. You two have fun then. I won't stop you… I was going to ask, did you set a wedding date yet?"

"Yeah, we did." Lorelai said gently. She and Luke exchanged affectionate looks.

"That's great! When is it?"

"Um you know I think we'll just announce it later." Lorelai said.

"Oh all right." Miss Patty seemed a little disappointed.

Lorelai told Patty that they'd see her later and she guided Luke away.

Luke let out a sigh of relief when they were out of ear shot. "Thank you"

Lorelai smirked. "You weren't having fun with Miss Patty?"

"No." Luke deadpanned.

"You'd rather have fun with little old me?" She ran her hand down his chest.

Luke nodded. He leaned in for a kiss. Lorelai pressed her lips to his. It was a longer kiss than he had expected.

He caressed her cheek as he pulled back. She smiled at him.

"This is so… amazing." She breathed. "I can't believe everyone came together and arranged all this for us."

"For you," Luke said, not taking his eyes off hers.

"Did you help plan it?"

He shook his head. "Rory just told me the plan. It was the town that did all of the work. She helped too, but they planned everything."

"I went around thanking them all but I don't think saying thank you is enough." Lorelai sighed happily. "They're all coming to the wedding, you know." She said matter-of-factly.

Luke made a face but he knew there was no way he could stop any of the townies from coming to the wedding. "All of them really care for you and love you. That's all that matters." He said sincerely.

Lorelai smiled softly. "Yeah,"

The sound of the music stopping turned their attention to the front of the room. Rory was standing next to Lane. She had a microphone in her hand.

"Um I just wanted to change things up for a bit. Mom, Luke, I thought you two would like to share a dance to this song." Rory spoke into the mike.

Lane started the music again. It was slow song, Reflecting Light.

"Our song," Lorelai said softly. She felt herself tearing up again.

"Come on, let's dance crazy lady." Luke said. He held out his hand to her.

She took his hand and he led her to an open spot on the floor.

They danced slowly to the music, her head on his shoulder, one hand in his and the other resting on his other shoulder, his arm around her waist.

As the song ended, Lorelai whispered in Luke's ear: "I think we should use this song for our first dance," He responded by pressing a kiss to her temple. He agreed.

Liz came up to them a minute later. "Lorelai!" She shouted, pulling her into a hug.

"Hi Liz," Lorelai greeted, reciprocating the hug,

They chatted before Lorelai excused herself, wanting to find Rory. When she found her, she wanted to hug and kiss her.

"Rory!" Rory's back was to Lorelai. She tapped on her shoulder.

"There's the woman of the hour! Are you having fun, Mom?" Rory grinned.

"That was so sweet, Rory, stopping the music and playing that song for Luke and I. Thank you. Mommy loves you. You know that right?" Lorelai teased.

Rory giggled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I just wanted you and Luke to have a special moment. The party is mostly for you, but Luke deserves it too. He's done so much for you, for us."

Lorelai nodded. She was crying now. She thought of something suddenly, "Did you invite Grandma and Grandpa?"

"I did but they said they might not be able to make it."

"Oh. Well this isn't really their kind of thing anyway."

Luke came up to them then. He also thanked Rory for playing the song. She said there was no need to thank her. Lorelai said that they should get everyone's attention and thank them. Luke agreed.

They went to the front of the room, Lorelai holding the microphone. She tapped it to make sure it was working.

"Hey everyone,"

Everyone looked at them, smiles on their faces.

"We just wanted to thank you all for planning this and for coming tonight. There are no words to…" Lorelai got choked up. She took a deep breath. "You don't know how happy I am to call all of you my friends. The last eight months have been rough but everyone's love and support has really helped me. Thank you all so much."

Luke held Lorelai to his side for a few seconds before he took the mike from her. "I want to say thank you too. All of you were so understanding when I closed the diner and that really meant a lot. And since the diner's been up and running again, it's been nice to see you all, really. I'm proud to be a citizen of Stars Hollow. Thanks everyone."

Everyone clapped and cheered. A few of them yelled out "We love you."

Lorelai took back the mike and announced the wedding date. More cheers and applause ensued. The next couple hours were spent celebrating. Sookie and Jackson showed up later, they had left Martha and Davey with a neighbor. Lorelai and Sookie started discussing the wedding planning. Sookie vowed that she would be the caterer. Lorelai said that she wouldn't have it any other way.

The next three months were filled with wedding planning. On a Sunday afternoon, Lorelai, Rory, Emily and Sookie went wedding dress shopping. After trying on ten different dresses in two different shops, Lorelai was feeling a little hopeless.

"Let's just look in one more shop." Rory said.

"There's one more on the list." Lorelai said half-heartedly.

"Come on, perk up a little. I'm sure you'll find the perfect dress here." Sookie tried to cheer Lorelai up.

They stepped in the bridal shop and a sales associate helped them. Lorelai picked out two dresses to try on. Emily was very fond of one of them.

"But you haven't seen it on me yet." Lorelai pointed out.

"I know, I just think it will look nice on you." Emily replied. "Just try it on." She urged.

"All right, but I'm trying the other one on first." Lorelai went into the dressing room.

She came out a few minutes later. Before any of the women said a word, she groaned, "I hate it."

"Mom," Rory said gently. She felt bad. She had hoped Lorelai would've found the dress by now.

Lorelai looked in the mirror and reached up to touch her hair. It hadn't grown much, it was only just below her ears and it wasn't as thick as it was before chemo. She still missed her hair.

"So does anyone like this dress?" She asked.

When no one said anything, Lorelai sighed and headed back into the dressing room. The assistant was silent as she helped her get the dress off. She helped Lorelai into the other dress. Lorelai didn't ask how it looked before she stepped back out into the room.

Sookie and Rory gasped.

"What? Is it that bad? If it is I don't want to look in the mirror."

"No honey, it's beautiful. It fits you like a glove." Sookie told her.

Lorelai slowly turned her body to look in the full length mirror. She looked up and down, turned around and looked at the back. The dress did fit perfectly. She stared at herself in the mirror.

"Mom, it's gorgeous." Rory said.

Lorelai looked at Emily, waiting for her to share her opinion.

Emily got up to get a closer look at the dress. "It really is lovely, Lorelai. And it does fit you perfectly."

Lorelai looked back in the mirror and frowned. Something felt off. She suddenly remembered something. She walked over to Rory's chair and picked up her purse which was hanging on the back of it.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked.

Lorelai dug around in her purse until she felt what she was looking for. She pulled out a wig. She walked back over to the mirror and put the wig on, adjusting it a little. It was almost the exact colour of Lorelai's hair before and it was in a curly style.

"Mom," Rory didn't know what to say. She had no idea Lorelai had bought the wig.

Sookie was also speechless. Emily just stared at Lorelai.

"I just um wanted to see what a dress would look like on me with uh my old hair. This was the best wig I could find." She had bought it a week ago. She told Rory and Luke that she was going clothes shopping but she also wanted to find a wig.

"I think this is the dress." Lorelai decided.

"You think?" Sookie asked.

"Mom," Rory got up and stood next to Lorelai. Lorelai turned to face her. "You're beautiful with or without the wig. The dress is perfect and you're beautiful."

Lorelai nodded and touched Rory's face affectionately.

Emily came over to Lorelai's other side. "She's right. Lorelai you don't need the wig, but if you feel like you do then that's fine. You look beautiful though, either way."

"Thanks Mom." Lorelai said. She let out a breath. She couldn't decide if she really wanted to wear the wig on the wedding day.

Sookie also came to stand with them. "You're gorgeous." She said gently. "Luke is going to cry when he sees you, not matter what your hair looks like. You're stunning Lorelai."

"This is the dress, I'm sure. I'm not sure what I want to do with my hair…" She reached up and took the wig off. "Or not my hair," She smiled.

"Well there's still time to decide that." Rory said.

"Yep, I'm going to ask Luke for his opinion."

Sookie gasped. "You're not going to let him see the dress, are you?"

"No, of course not,"

Lorelai took one last look in the mirror then went back into the dressing room. After she changed, she told the sales associate that she would be buying the dress. After Lorelai payed for the dress and it was wrapped and put in a box, the three women headed home.

Sookie took her own car and headed back to Stars Hollow while Lorelai and Rory stayed in Hartford and followed Emily to the Gilmore residence.

"Lorelai, can I speak to you a moment while Lila makes the coffee?" Emily asked.

"Um sure," Lorelai answered. They left Rory in the living room. She understood why they needed alone time.

Lorelai followed Emily to her and Richard's bedroom. She watched as Emily picked up a box and put it on top of the bed. Before she moved to take anything out of it, she turned to Lorelai.

"I wanted to show you something, well ask you something."

"What is it?" Lorelai had no idea what her mother wanted.

Emily kept her eyes on Lorelai for a second before she turned back to the box. She pulled out something then turned back to Lorelai.

Emily held it up. It was a tiara. "This is the tiara I wore for my wedding. I wanted to… to ask you if you wanted to wear it." Emily pressed her lips together and waited for Lorelai's response.

Lorelai wasn't expecting that. She put out her hand out and Emily passed her the tiara. Lorelai looked at it, turning it in her hand.

"It's very pretty." She said.

Emily nodded. "You don't have to wear it, it's very old but you could have it polished. I understand if you don't want to wear it."

"No, I do." Lorelai answered. She stepped in front of the mirror and placed the tiara on her head. It stayed put.

Emily stood next to her. "I think it would look pretty with or without the wig. But you don't have to wear it if you don't want to." She insisted.

"I want to wear it Mom." Lorelai smiled. Their eyes met in the mirror and Emily smiled back. "And I agree, I think it will look nice either way."

Lorelai looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she removed the tiara.

Emily put out her hand and Lorelai gave it back to her.

"I'll get it polished for you."

"Thank you Mom, really. It's perfect."

"You're welcome Lorelai."

"Let's get back to Rory, shall we? I'm sure my coffee is ready by now."

They left the room and headed back downstairs. Later, on the drive back to Stars Hollow, Rory asked Lorelai if Emily had given her the tiara.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"We talked about it. I told her that she was really supportive these past months and that we really appreciated it, that I love her, that we love her." Rory said slowly. She glanced at Lorelai before she continued, "And I told that giving you the tiara would be nice gesture."

"Really?"

Rory nodded. "Actually, she said she was thinking about giving it to you but she wasn't sure. I told her that you would really appreciate it, that you wanted her involved with the wedding planning."

Lorelai beamed. "Thank you honey,"

"You should be thanking Grandma."

"I already did. I'm thanking you for being the best kid ever."

Rory smiled at that. "That's because you're the best mom ever, the best friend too."

"I love you." Lorelai said.

"I love you too" Rory said.

Author's note: Thanks for reading. There wasn't much Luke in this chapter but he will be in the next one, the wedding and the final chapter.
Reviews are appreciated.