AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story. Your support meant alot to me. If I tried to name you all individually it would take up so much space there wouldn't be room for the story, so I'll just do it like this: THANK YOU EVERYONE! I LOVE YOU ALL! I HOPE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. I started writing this story when I was 16 or 17 and I turned 20 last month. God it's been going forever. I know I sucked at times with my updating 'schedule' and the truely crappy ways I went about some of my plots. I apologise for that and just want to say again, how grateful I am to those of you who stuck with me. That's it. I'm done, so now enjoy the final chapter of Life Can Change.

Karen Scott held her four year old daughter's hand as they exited the baggage claim, her husband of four and a half years, just a step behind them.

"Karen! Keith! Over here." called out Lorelai Danes, holding her two year old son in her arms. "Oh, Lily, look at you. You're so big!"

"Hello Lorelai." the little girl, smiled up at her, moments before her father scooped her up in his arms. "Hello Henry." she added, now face to face with the baby.

"I'm so glad we decided to do this. We haven't gone on vacation for so long."

"I'm glad you're here too. I've missed you guys." They all hugged and then headed out to the parking lot to drive back to Stars Hollow in Lorelai's jeep. "Rory and Tristan are getting in later today."

"Lucas is driving up tommorow, and Haley's flying in on Saturday."

"I cannot belive that our kids are getting married. I mean, I know it's not a wedding yet, but they're engagement party. It's here so fast." Lorelai was deleriously happy with how her life had turned out. She was happy, and everybody she loved and considered family were also happy.

FLASHBACK

Tristan and Rory sat in Luke's diner, watching the crazyness of the firelight festival outside. They were both in their third year of college, and spending a few days with Lorelai and Luke, before the baby came.

"Can I get you guys anything?" Luke asked, stopping by their table.

"No, thanks, I think we're going to head out to watch the bonfire. Are you-"

"Luke! Come on, we've gotta go or we'll miss the Harry-Taylor fun!" Lorelai announced as she burst through the door, seven months pregnant.

"I guess I'm going." he replied, to the qestion Rory almost asked.

"Cool. Well, we should go. Come on." Tristan took Rory's hand and lead the way out side as Luke called over his shoulder to Mason, the new cook he had hired in anticipation of fatherhood.

"Do you mind if I steal Rory away for a little while?" Tristan asked as they reached the town square, Harry and Taylor already bickering about having nothing to light the fire with.

"Yeah, sure. I'm bored with her." Lorelai replied, giving her daughter a smile.

Tristan lead Rory away from all the lights and noise and people to a bench and sat down, facing her.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Ok."

"And I don't want you to feel any pressure to give me an answer, but, I have to ask. Because I love you."

"Ok." The way he was looking at her was making her nervous, but she tried not to show it.

She watched him as he held her hand, and smiled. "Will you marry me?" She was stunned and speechless. "I don't mean right away. I mean, if you said yes, it wouldn't be something we would do anytime soon. But I love you and I just really want to know that one day we'll..."

"Tristan, I... I love you too. I..." she shook her head, to clear her thoughts. "Yes."

He kissed her and pulled her into his lap. "God, I'm so happy you said yes"

END FLASHBACK

And now three months later, they were all coming together to celebrate.

Another thing to celebrate was the going-on in the Jygalski-Davis relationship.

Jenny's fifth birthday was coming up and Brooke had decided that she had had enough of just being Jenny's father's girlfriend.

FLASHBACK

Three weeks earlier, she had been watching Jenny play at the playground.

"Hey, you been here long?" Jake asked, sitting beside her and keeping one eye on his daughter.

"No. Just a few minutes."

"Good. So how's your day been?"

"Actually, I have something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Uh oh."

"No, it's a good something, at least I think it is, I guess that's up to what you have to say about it."

"Ok. Hit me."

"You know I love you, and I love your daughter. And if you'll let me, I would love to make her our daughter." Brooke had been rehearsing that line in her head all day. Now, sitting with Jake, saying it outloud, hearing it for the first time, she realised how much she loved the sound of it.

"Are you saying what I think you-"

"I want to adopt Jenny." she explained, quickly.

"That's what I thought you were saying. Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yes. I love her, so much, I never thought I would ever care about a kid this much, but I do."

"Being someone's parent is a big deal Brooke. It's not all fun and games. And you wouldn't be able to just come and go whenever-"

"Jake, I know all of that. And I don't come and go from your lives now. Why would I start doing it? The three of us are so happy, I just thought it would be nice to-"

"Yes." Jake replied hurriedly, having made his decision, after hearing how pasionately she felt.

"What?"

"Yes. If you want to adopt Jenny, if you really want to officially make her your daughter then I say yes. Let's do it!"

"Oh my God! Yes? Oh, I'm so happy. I already made an appointment with Steve for two weeks from now so we can discuss everything with him and then we can head to Stars Hollow for the party."

"That sounds great. I can't believe you want to do this."

"I love you. You and Jenny are my family, I want the whole world to know that."

"I love you too." Jake replied, kissing her on top of her head as Jenny ran over to them.
END FLASHBACK

Peyton and Nathan were also headed into town, but they weren't going to have any spectacular news to share. They were just hoping they could make it through the celebrations without falling back into old habits, i.e. each other's arms.

They had tried staying together when they left for college, but with the distance they had had trouble.

Six months of emails, missed phone calls and lonely nights had proved too much and so, when Nathan had a weekend free, he flew up to New York to surprise his girlfriend. But Peyton had a surprise for him too.

FLASHBACK

When he arrived, she answered the door, tiredlly, and didn't really look up as she pulled back the piece of wood seperating them.

"Hey baby. Surprise." Nathan spoke softly as she rubbed her eyes and looked at him.

"Nathan? Oh my God! What are you doing here?" she was so excited to see him, she forgot all about her need to sleep, and the project she had been working on all night that still wasn't right.

"I wanted to see you. Talk to you."

"Umm, come in. I wanted to talk to you too. But I didn't want to do it over the phone."

"Is that why you've been missing all my calls or just abiout to head to class?"

"Yeah. That's part of it. Sit down." he sat on her bed as she sat on her desk, just a tiny distance away in her shoebox of a single dorm.

"It's not working is it?" Nathan asked, reading her mind.

"No. It's not."

"I really thought we could do this."

"I wanted it so bad Nathan. You have to believe that."

"I do."

"But we're just too far away from each other and it isn't fair for either one of us to ask the other to give up on our dreams. We just can't do this now."

"But maybe, after we're finished with school, when we know where we are in our lives, we can try again?"

Peyton nodded, dropped to the floor in front of him and held his hands. "I love you Nate, I do,"

"I love you too. But we aren't in love. We just can't be together."

"I know. I've known for a while. I just didn't want to admit it." Peyton moved onto the bed and kissed him, intending for it to be a last kiss, but, after such a long time, being deprived of that kind of affection, they both fell into an old habit they had been missing.

Alot.
END FLASHBACK

After they made love, they lay in each other's arms, both knowing that it didn't mean they were ok. They were broken up, and that was just a goodbye.

Or maybe, a see you later. Because everytime they were in Tree Hill afterwards, they managed to find one another and duplicate the night.

But they were both determined not to let it happen this time. Nathan was seeing someone and he didn't want to be the old Nathan Scott.

She wasn't coming with him to the party, because she had to work, but Nathan was going to remind himself every thirty seconds of her existence, so as not to fall into any old patterns.

He and Peyton were friends now. They hadn't been friends since they were about fourteen and it felt good to have that back, without all the added pressure of high school.

With everyone gathered in the town square to celebrate their engagement, Tristan and Rory, invited up Haley and Lucas to stand beside them before the crowd.

"We are so glad that everyone could be here tonight for this, because we love you all. But our engagement is not the only thing that you're here to celebrate." Rory began, then turning to her fiance.

"You all know my brother Lucas, and his girlfriend Haley by now. And they have something they would also like to share with you. Luke, Hales?" He stepped to the side as the other two smiling people moved forward to address the crowd.

FLASHBACK

Lucas was on an absolute high. He had just won the last game for his team. They were going to graduate soon and everything in his life was great.

As he sat on the ground at the rivercourt, he thought back on how this had all begun.

His uncle Keith, now his stepfather, bringing the high school basketball coach to watch him play with his friends.

Lucas owed alot to Keith, he knew that. He vowed to make it up to the man, for everything he had done for him.

"Hey superstar. How are you feeling?" Haley asked, coming to join him on the ground.

"Oh Hales... I can't explain it. I just... I don't think there will ever be a moment that tops this one. This is the best night of my life."

Haley smiled and shifted in her position on the ground. She had been sitting beside him, her legs crossed, Indian style, but at his words, she folded her legs underneath her body and brought herself up on her knees.

"Will you marry me?" she asked, simply, holding Lucas' hands in her own.

"Yes." he didn't miss a beat. The second her question was finished, his answer followed.

"Yes?"

"Of course it's a yes. I can't believe you just asked me to marry you. But yes, my answer is definately yes!" she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, they lay down together on the ground and just enjoyed the feel of their fiance's body against their own.
END FLASHBACK

They had decided that they should't tell anyone until they were older. Keeping that secret to themselves was so hard they decided to tell Rory and Tristan, hiding it from everyone else for almost four years.

When they were done explaining, Karen almost fainted, but Luke, who was standing between her and Lorelai, caught her just in time, steadying her as Keith stood dumfounded on her other side.

Once again, just like the night of their graduation, there were questions, mixed in with the congratulations and Haley's parents rushed towards the two of them, wrapping their daughter and future son-in-law in bear hugs.

No one had known they were coming except the twin Scott brothers and their fiance's.

As the entire town celebrated the double engagement, long into the night, Rory smiled around at her home and her family.

She had never imagined that when she got that letter from a town in North Carolina that she had never heard of, that she would be standing before every person who meant something to her, with Tristan Dugrey beside her and an engagement ring on her finger.

But she was happy and didn't think anything would make her happier.
THE END

That's all. Thanks again to everyone, I'd love to know what you thought of the ending.

Megan