Season 2

Rory groaned as she rolled out of bed and blindly stumbled towards the vicinity of the phone that was ringing.

"Hello?" she asked as she collapsed onto the couch. Luke had finally dropped her off at home somewhere around 3 am and by the time she had finally fallen asleep, it was closer to 4.

"Rory! What on earth are you still doing in bed?"

"Grandma?" she asked, waking up slightly. Talking with Emily Gilmore required at least part of her brain.

"Of course Rory," she said, tapping her foot slightly. "Tell me all about it."

"About what?" she asked as she dragged herself to the kitchen to start the coffee.

"About what . . . About the delivery! I can't get through to your mother until after 10." Rory squinted at the clock, it was only 8:30.

"Uh, I wasn't there. I mean, I wasn't in the room, Sookie was."

"What's a Sookie?"

"Sookie, Grandma," Rory said as she dumped the coffee grounds into the canister before flipping the on switch. "Mom's best friend? She's the chef at the Inn."

"Where was your father?"

"Stuck in California. He couldn't get a flight out," she said as she stared at the pot, willing it to go faster before she headed towards the pop tarts. "It's a girl, by the way," she tacked on.

"Wonderful! Richard, a girl!" Emily called. "Name, weight, height?"

"Charlotte Abigail, we're gonna call her Charlie. 6 pounds 10 oz, 18 inches," Rory rattled off to her grandmother as she quickly repeated it back to Richard.

"Well, at least she's not another Lorelai . . . Who does she look like?"

"Me, as far as I can tell," she said as she was finally able to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Why don't you and Grandpa just head down? Visiting hours start at 10 too," she pointed out as she picked up the pop tart that had just popped out of the toaster as well.

"That's a wonderful idea! Will we see you there?"

"Probably not right away. I have some homework to finish so I was planning to head up around noon."

"Well, you just call before you leave and you stop at the house first, we'll all go over together, alright?"

"Sure," Rory said, a little confused as to where this new sunny attitude had come from. Her grandmother had spend the months since Christopher had left lecturing and preaching about learning from your mistakes and the humiliation of having a second illegitimate grandchild. While she had never said such things when Rory was in the room, Lorelai had passed them along, simply to keep Rory apprised of why the relationship between her mother and grandmother had suddenly gotten extremely cool once again.

"Wonderful! We'll see you this afternoon then."

"Okay. Bye Grandma," she said as they finally hung up. "Weird," was all she could get out as she looked at the phone for a moment. She put it down on the counter as she finished her pop tart and coffee. She quickly headed to her bedroom and after taking a long moment to look forlornly at her bed and then to the stack of homework on her desk, she decided that 2 more hours of sleep wouldn't hurt and that she'd still have plenty of time to finish up her homework, drive up to Hartford for a few hours and return to get a start on her extra credit work. "Mmmm . . Still warm," she muttered as she snuggled back under the covers.

"I don't know if I'll be able to make it Emily," Richard replied after she spilled out their plans for the afternoon.

"It's Saturday Richard," she pointed out. "You don't have any work on Saturday."

"I have plans, Emily," he told her, almost patronizingly. "I'm meeting Randal at the club at 3."

"Well reschedule," she said as she followed him into his study. "We're going to meet the baby." Richard kept his back to Emily as he looked at one of the book shelves in his study. He was still quite angry over the entire situation and didn't particularly feel like celebrating yet another blemish that Lorelai had wrought upon the Gilmore name.

"I can't, this is business," he said, finally picking out a book and heading to one of the chairs to sit.

"Richard Gilmore! You will be ready to leave this house as soon as Rory gets here. You will put on a smile and be happy for Rory and Lorelai and you will hold that baby," she informed him. The two of them locked eyes for a moment. "You will be civil about this," she said. "I would like to see this granddaughter grow up," she said, pointing a finger at him before leaving the study. She had phone calls to make, announcements to prepare and a gift to wrap.

Richard sulked into his novel for a moment before he laid it in his lap. For all of Lorelai's failings, she did tend to produce remarkable children, if Rory was any example. He also supposed the Emily was right about having a chance to be in the child's life full time instead of the patchy relationship he'd had with Rory. "Hmm," was all he could say to the empty room as he turned back to his novel.

"You will never guess who woke me up at 8:30 this morning."

"It wouldn't happen to be a rather butch looking nurse by the name of Wanda, would it?" Lorelai asked over the phone as she played with Charlie's hands.

"Almost," Rory said, balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she flipped through one of her text books. "Grandma called."

"That would be why she hasn't called here yet. Or shown up."

"We'll be there around 1. I'm driving up to Hartford at about noon and Grandma wants me to stop there first."

"Hmm," she said as she ways to make the visit as short as possible.

"Grandma seemed really excited," Rory filled in as she finished up her last question for Chemistry. "Oh, hold on, I'm beeping," Rory said as call waiting went off in her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey kid!" Christopher said.

"Hey, when did you get in?"

"I was at the hotel by 7 and I only meant to sit down for a second, but, here we are." Rory smiled, she knew that feeling.

"I'm heading up to Hartford around noon," she told him. "You should phone Grandma, I'm stopping there first."

"Will do," he said. "Hey, you talk to your mom yet today?"

"She's on the other line," Rory filled in as she put her books away. "Charlie's fine and mom is ready to get out of there. Something about scary nurses and cold exam tables." Christopher laughed.

"I'll let you get back to her then, I'll see you later."

"Bye dad," she said as they hung up. "Okay, I'm back."

"New boy friend?"

"Dad's in town. He'll be coming over with us too," she said as she finally stood up from her desk and headed to the kitchen for a snack. "I mean, after all the stuff Grandma said, I expected to have to ask her to come and see you two," she said, switching back to their original conversation.

"She has plans," Lorelai as she tried to deduce what they might be. "She sees some opportunity that we don't. It will all become clear in time and we'll probably regret it. How much did you tell her?"

"Name, weight, length. Why?"

"Birth announcement, most likely an embarrassingly large one," she shook her head a little at the thought. "Oh, my butch friend is back," she muttered into the phone. "It may have been 15 years since I last did this, but I haven't forgotten everything. Oh well, see you when you get here,"

"See ya," Rory said as they both hung up. Rory quickly dialled the phone again. "Hello Mrs. Kim? It's Rory. May I please speak with Lane?"

"Okay, you have the best sense of timing in the world. I mean, if I had to be in the kitchen with the sprouted wheat for one more minutes, I was going to sprout," Lane said quickly as soon as she was out of ear shot of her mother.

"Guess where I was last night," she said with a smile.

"You and Dean are back together?"

"Lane. . . "

"No idea then. Spill!"

"The hospital!"

"Oh my God! Really?" the two girls took a moment to squeal in joy together. "Boy? Girl?"

"A girl!" she said as she quickly rattled off all the information again. "She's gorgeous! Lots a hair, blue eyes. . . Mom says she looks just like I did."

"Wow, are you sure your dad had anything to do with either of you? I mean, I've seen your dad, be it briefly, but you don't really look like him." Rory laughed.

"I'm told we have a similar left earlobe," was about all she could provide. "I'm heading back up to Hartford this afternoon, I promise millions of pictures," Rory assured her.

"You better!"

"You know, I get the feeling that your mom is going to hate me even more."

"I've told you, she doesn't hate you, it's the whole unwed mother thing."

"Well, hate my mother more then," she amended.

"Such is life with Mama Kim," Lane said with a sigh. "Ah, gotta run. Sprouted wheat waits for no girl," she said. The girls quickly said their good byes and Lane went back to her sprouted wheat with an extra spring in her step.

The rest of the morning passed quickly for Rory. She had gotten a half decent start on her extra credit work and had had time to stop in at Luke's for coffee and a muffin before climbing back into the jeep and heading to Hartford.

When she did finally arrive, she barely had time to greet her father and grandfather before Emily rushed her away to pass judgement on the outfit Emily had picked out. Rory tried to smile and praise the little pink dress her grandmother had picked out, but she was having trouble seeing past all the ribbons and bows. "Is that crinoline?" Rory blurted out, unable to control herself.

"Of course," Emily said, slightly surprised that Rory would expect anything less. Rory's eye brows simply shot up higher on her forehead as she continued to consider the garment in front of her. "Can you believe the sales woman actually tried to sell me a cotton dress, a cotton sundress?"

"Unbelievable," was all Rory could come up with.

"Do you think your mother will like it?"

"She'll enjoy it," Rory said, choosing her words carefully. Her mother would enjoy it. . . She'd enjoy mocking it when Emily wasn't there.

"Wonderful!" Emily exclaimed as she carefully wrapped the tiny dress back up an had Rory help with the bow. "Well, lets get going then," she said as she handed Rory the box and ushered her back down stairs.

"Did she show you . . .?" Rory asked her father as she gestured to the box.

"Oh yeah," he said with a nod as they lingered slightly behind Emily and Richard. "I was at a loss for words."

"All I could say was 'Is that crinoline?' and agree with her."

"Hopefully your mother will hold it together until they leave," he whispered to her before everyone piled into Richard's car.

"Oh. My. God," was all Lorelai said before she burst out laughing at the dress Emily had brought. She had, in fact, managed to stay quiet and thank her mother, bursting out only after the Elder Gilmore's had left. "Crinoline? And petty coats. Oh Emily Gilmore, you have out done yourself this time!" Rory and Lorelai snickered over the little pink dress as Christopher stared into the bassinet that contained his new daughter.

"Need instructions?" Lorelai called to him, finally taking a break from her mocking.

"I don't want to wake her up," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"You won't, go a head," she said. "Oh wow, it stands up by itself!" she said as she and Rory fluffed out all the layers and watched as the dress held itself up. The girls snickered as Christopher finally gave in and scooped Charlie up, however awkwardly. "Hey Rory, why don't you go scam us some snacks?" Lorelai asked as she pointed to the drawer with her purse in it. "I should have some change." Rory nodded, grabbed the change and headed towards the vending machines.

"She's pretty," he said as he wandered over to her.

"She's perfect," Lorelai corrected him. She smiled sadly as she remembered having this exact same conversation when Rory was born.

"Marry me," he said as he came right over to the bed. "I don't want to miss it this time. I want first steps and first words and first smiles. Marry me, Lor, and we'll raise Charlie and Rory right."

"Oh Chris," was all she could say, shaking her head. "That's no reason to get married and we both know it. All you have to do is come visit more than every 6 months and you'll get to see all of that."

"I love you Lorelai, I always have," he said as he sat on the edge of her bed. "I love Rory and I love her already."

"That's all well and fine, but what about 6 months from now? 6 weeks?" she asked, trying not to get upset, but failing. "What happens when your company goes under, or you can't take being tied down any more?"

"It's not gonna happen this time!" he insisted.

"But it always does," she said, starting to cry. "No matter how many promises there are, how much you love me and Rory, it always falls through. A second chance isn't going to change this, isn't going to change us," she said.

"But it could if you let it!" he insisted as he shifted closer to her on the bed. "I was an idiot to pack up and leave in September and I knew it as soon as I hit the highway but I couldn't come back. But I'm here now, for good!"

"How's your company doing Chris?" He hesitated. "I see," she said as she looked away from him to stare out the window, trying to collect her thoughts.

"It's not as great as I said it was, but it's there. It's new and so it's struggling a little, but things will pick up," he assured her.

"And if they don't? You can't support a family on hopes and dreams Chris. It's not going to put Rory through Chilton or pay my mortgage or keep Charlie in diapers."

"Then I'll find work, Lor! I'll commute to Hartford, New York if I have to! God, what do I have to do to prove I mean it this time?"

"Just that, prove it," she said as they looked each other in the eye. "Be a grown up for a while, Chris. Be a grown up with a real job and responsibilities that mom and dad don't bail you out of. Come visit your kids and call them once a while. Then we'll talk." Chris opened his mouth to reply but changed his mind and Lorelai sat back against the pillows and waited for him to collect himself.

"I should go," he muttered after a moment as he handed Charlie over to her mother.

"Chris, no," she called to him, accepting the baby.

"Did you ever think that maybe I'm not the one who's afraid of commitment?" he asked her as he headed for the door.

"Then why are you always the one leaving when things get hard?" she asked him, before he left the room. He hesitated in the door way for a moment.

"I'll say good bye to Rory before I leave. I'll call when I get back to California," he muttered as he finally left the room.

"Damn it," Lorelai said as she watched Christopher stalk out of the room. Everything was happening again, almost exactly as it had happened when Rory was born. Christopher saw this image of a happy little family in his head while Lorelai saw bills, midnight feedings and hard work. "Repeat offender, your dad," she told Charlie, who simply yawned and shifted slightly in her blanket before drifting off again. Lorelai sighed and watched the baby for a while longer, feeling slightly like her 16 year old self had felt the first time. Just as she was really starting to get into her memories, Rory waltzed back into the room, her arms full of snacks. Her face fell when she looked around and didn't see Christopher.

"Did you two have a fight already?" Lorelai nodded.

"Same one as always."

"He asked you to marry him?" Rory asked as she dumped the bags of chips and the chocolate bars on to the bedside table before stretching out next to her mother on the bed.

"The traditional post-partum proposal. Such a romantic your dad," she said as she rolled her eyes, throwing an arm over Rory's shoulders.

"Maybe he meant it this time, I mean, he's been calling regularly and keeping in touch, and he showed up, here, now," Rory grasped at straws and Lorelai let her. "I mean, I bet if you asked him he'd get a real job, like in an office or something and he'd move up here to Stars Hollow," Lorelai finally cut her off.

"Do you think he'd make all these offers if Charlie hadn't come along? Do you think he'd be up here professing undying love and a want to support us?"

"No," Rory finally admitted after a while.

"He's not ready for this, for us. I don't know if he ever will be," she admitted as she passed the baby over to her sister. "It doesn't matter though," she said as she threw an arm over Rory's shoulders again, now that she had the baby. "All we really need is each other."

"And Luke."

"And Luke," Lorelai agreed. They both knew they'd starve or die of exposure if something ever happened to Luke.