Finding Home

Epilogue - Part 2

"Lorelai Amelia Morgan." Mia walked across the stage and stopped in the center, smiling broadly as she accepted her diploma. She laughed as she heard the exuberant cheers of her extended family - her parents, her Danes and Morgan grandparents, her brother Ethan and sister Sophie, Uncle Colin and Aunt Steph, Uncle Logan and Aunt Kate, and half of the town of Stars Hollow. She might not have grown up there, but they still called her one of their own. She finished her trek across the stage and posed for pictures before turning and waiting on her best friend and lifeline, Michael McCrae. They'd been born a few short weeks apart, and they had been inseparable since the first time they met when she was just a few days old. They had started kindergarten together, learned to drive together, and fallen in love together. Their friendship had grown into more during their sophomore year of high school, and unlike most other couples their age, they'd remained together and in love throughout the rest of high school and all of college. She cheered loudly as they called his name and waited at the edge of the stage for him. He accepted his diploma and then sprinted across the stage and swept her up in his arms, kissing her soundly as he spun her around.

"Michael!" she exclaimed as she laughed at his antics.

"We did it, Mia," he said proudly. Yale had been immensely hard, but they'd balanced each other out and pushed each other to do their best. He took her hand and led her back to their seats. He couldn't help but be a bit nervous. He'd talked to Uncle Finn and Aunt Rory and gone shopping with his parents and planned for the night; now he just had to wait.

A few hours later, as they all sat at the Morgans' Hartford home celebrating with a barbecue and drinks, Michael walked over to Mia and took her hand. "Take a walk with me?" he asked.

"Always," Mia answered softly. They walked toward the gardens, both trying to remember every moment of this day.

"Are you excited to move to New York?" Michael asked as they walked. They'd both accepted jobs in New York and their parents had gone together to purchase them an apartment for a graduation gift. They would be moving the following week and would both start their new jobs shortly after.

"Yeah, I can't wait. I know we've lived together the last couple of years, but this just seems...real, and permanent," she admitted.

Michael knew instantly that was his perfect moment. He stopped walking and pulled her back toward him. "Mia, you and I have had an amazing life together, first as friends and then as more. I love that you're the only woman I've ever loved and the only woman I've ever been with. You're it for me, I know that with absolute certainty." He paused for a moment and reached into his pocket and then got down on one knee in front of her, holding up the ring he had carefully selected. "Lorelai Amelia Morgan, will you marry me?"

Mia pulled him up and kissed him soundly as she choked back tears. "Of course I'll marry you, Michael!" she replied as they broke their kiss. She smiled, completely overjoyed in the moment. He was her only love, her only boyfriend, her only lover - he was everything to her, and she was going to spend the rest of her life with him.

He leaned in and kissed her again. "We should probably get back; they'll all be wondering what you said."

"If they know us at all, they won't be surprised at what I said," Mia chuckled. She took his hand and they walked back toward the party. Everyone looked up at them expectantly as they approached the group and Mia smiled and held up her left hand. "I said yes!" she exclaimed, causing everyone to cheer and crowd around the young couple to congratulate them.

Colin and Steph embraced Mia. "Welcome to the family officially, Mia. We've always considered you to be like our daughter, and now you'll be our daughter-in-law," Colin said warmly. He had always adored Mia and couldn't possibly be happier with his son's choice of future wife.

"Thank you both so much. I couldn't ask for better future in-laws," Mia replied as she hugged them both.

"And you - you were the first baby to be born to our group of friends, and we couldn't choose a better husband for Mia if we hand-picked him. Come to think of it, I guess we kind of did," Finn chuckled as he hugged Michael. They'd all joked from the time that Colin and Steph found out that they were having a boy that just maybe Finn and Rory would have a girl and they would fall in love and marry someday. None of them actually expected that to happen, and they'd all been pleasantly surprised when Michael and Mia had made the move from friends to dating. Now they would all forever be connected, their families united, when Michael and Mia married.