a/n: first ever Gilmore Girls fic. Though I don't really know if this can count as a full fic considering right now I'm only planning on making it in a series of one-shots revolving around Richard and Rory's relationship. I'm going to go ahead and mark it as complete right from the beginning so I can end it at any point I want.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gilmore Girls.

The typical sounds of a hospital swarmed around him. The squeaky noises of metal carts being wheeled down over waxed hallways, the general rumbling of too many hushed voices, and the sound no one ever wanted to hear in a hospital-alarms. Though considering it seemed to be coming in the opposite direction then from the room that would've held his attention, he didn't concern himself with the noise.

No, throughout it all, Richard Gilmore stood transfixed to the same spot. His eyes locked onto one of the many tiny, cradled figures behind the glass in the room in front of him.

To a typical passerby, it was most likely an unusual sight. The image of a man of his age standing outside the nursery. Too old to be a new father staring dotingly at their newborn, and far too richly dressed to be the typical grandfather in a hospital such as this one.

'Grandfather,' the word was as foreign in his mind as he was sure it would be on his tongue. Of course (though he wasn't entirely sure), he was fairly positive that he had at least some say in what he would be called. At least...that's what the older men at the club had been boasting about in the months before they were officially to be dubbed a "Grandparent".

In his defense, Richard had always been fairly sure he'd have at least another four years before he had to think about those types of things. And the past nine months had been spent with him teetering on the brink of insanity.

Now, time was up. There was no more speculation. No more useless planning. No more talk of future and 'when the baby gets here', none of that. The wait was over, and here Richard was; left staring at the result.

In hindsight, there was a good possibility he might not get any say in the matter at all. Once Lorelai took a long enough break from fighting with her mother to remember the child she'd just had, he was sure that exact moment of clarity would be the second any minimal say he might have would be taken away. Which, he guessed, was why he was here now...

For the past two or so hours he and his wife had been sitting in uncomfortable chairs in a bland waiting room. Waiting (and in Emily's case-fuming) while their sixteen year old daughter had given birth. And no sooner had Lorelai been wheeled out of the delivery room and Emily and her were at it again. Richard had listened to them bickering all the way down the hallway to the room where Lorelai would spend the night.

While Emily had jumped right into berating their daughter on the finer points of the proper etiquette for going into labor. Richard on the other hand had been left standing like an idiot. At a loss as to what to do, he'd turned to one of the nurses that had accompanied his daughter out of the delivery room and made a few inquiries.

He'd been told that Lorelai had had a fairly easy, uncomplicated birth, and it had been relatively quick. And...that there was a newborn healthy little girl currently being wheeled to the nursery. Before he knew it, or even realized he was walking, he found himself here-in front of the nursery.

Staring at his granddaughter.

Lorelai had of course found out the sex of her baby beforehand. So there was no reason for surprise there. Hell, there was a whole room on the second floor of his house decked out to be this little girl's nursery...That he'd never bothered himself with looking at before.

It was wrong, so many things about this were wrong. Emily should've been beside him right now instead of arguing with their sixteen year old. Lorelai should've had a husband to drive her to the hospital, to hold her hand throughout the whole ordeal.

The child's father should've been here. Regardless if he wasn't in the delivery room with Loreali, he should've been here. In the waiting room with him and Emily at the very least. Christopher should've been here, he should've already have held his daughter by now.

Richard didn't give a damn if he found out the boy had a Calculus exam in the morning that his Princeton acceptance was riding on. If he found out that Straub and Francine had prohibited the boy from coming to the hospital. Or worse, Christopher had decided not to come of his own freewill...

That threat was better left unfinished.

"Excuse me, sir?" A polite voice interrupted his thoughts. Startled, Richard resisted the instinctive urge to jump, whirling around he came to face a petite woman hanging her head out the door of the nursery. She was small and blonde and wore a polite smile on her face.

"Uh," he cleared his throat roughly, a little flustered to have been caught staring. Even more embarrassed that he couldn't think of something to say. Emily would've been appalled.

Nevertheless, the woman's smile seemed to grow even bigger if that was even possible. "Are one of them yours?" She asked, nodding her head back towards the shifting sea of infants.

Richard nodded silently, then when he realized what it could be mistaken for. He hurried to correct her- "Grandfather. One of them-I'm a grandfather. My granddaughter is in there."

"Well okay then!" The woman practically chirped, and before Richard could manage to compose himself enough to even think about replying. She was gone, leaving the door wide open behind her; tilting to the side Richard could see her bustling around in the nursery. "Last name?" She called.

"...Gilmore." He replied, his voice wavering in confusion. What was she doing? For almost a split-second she disappeared from his line of sight, and then he heard her high pitched sound of triumph.

When she reappeared in his line of sight...she had a pink swaddled bundle in her arms. Beaming brightly she asked the words he hadn't been expecting-

"Would you like to hold her?"

Would he like to hold her? While one portion of his significantly impressive mind paused at the sheer absurdity of the situation. The other portion, a very tiny portion, was appropriately stunned mixed with outrage. She asked the question so casually, as if he were test driving some car. Nevermind for a moment, the fact for a moment that he actually was a grandfather. Could any old person stand out here and claim a relation to an infant, then just have them handed to them?

Maybe it was something in his expression, but the young woman apparently mistook his silence as acceptance. His brain still shutdown, it was as if everything was moving through jello. He saw her so cavalierly hand him the young infant, and even more shocking...he felt himself holding out his arms to accept her.

The moment he felt the warm weight settle in the cradle of his arms, it was as if someone had hit the play button.

And in a film worthy moment, around him, the world continued.

She felt so utterly small, held in his arms. Though he'd only held Lorelai a few times while she had been this young. He was sure his daughter had never been this tiny, this...fragile. In a sheer moment of absolute worry, the ridiculous notion that his large hands would inevitably crush her flitted through his mind. Despite his delusions that that idea was silly, he found himself being more careful than he ever remembered being with anything before in his life.

When he shifted the soft pink blanket she was wrapped in shifted, making her little face peep out at him. Her features were delicate, a puckered little mouth, a tiny button nose, and long dark eyelashes that brushed against her cheekbones. And on top of her head he could just make out a sprinkling of fine chocolate brown hair...

She was beautiful, his granddaughter. Beautiful, and tiny, and here. And he didn't even know her name-

"Excuse me?" He rasped, suddenly desperate. His throat dry, he tried to clear it as gruffly as he could while the blonde nurse turned back to face him.

"Yes?"

"Her name. Does she have a name yet?" Racking back through his memories of the past nine months, he didn't remember Lorelai seriously mentioning any names. Though if he knew anything about his daughter at all, than he knew that the first thing she had done was bestow a name upon this little girl. Dear lord he hoped he wasn't about to find out his granddaughter's name was Princess Banana-Rama or some other nonsense like that.

Apparently that was enough to alarm the nurse, if the wary way she was suddenly eyeing him and the baby was anything to go by. Though he was glad to see her at least blinking twice about her hasty decision to hand him the baby. It didn't bother her enough to try and take back his granddaughter from him. Keeping a suspicious eye on the two of them; she turned and quickly dug through some paperwork on the counter beside her.

"Yes," she said, flipping through a paper thin file. "Her name is Lorelai Leigh Gilmore."

"Thank you." He managed to choke out, his eyes prickling hotly.

'Lorelai Leigh Gilmore,' Lorelai had knowledgeably named her child after herself-Lorelai. He was sure, in the midst of deciding that, she had forgotten one key fact-

He and Emily had named Lorelai after his mother.

And Leigh, it was a family name of the Gilmore's. Yet he was positive that she'd thought up the name after some pop culture reference. Unknowingly (or maybe she had known?-he highly doubted it) Lorelai had named his granddaughter after the matriarch of the Gilmore family.

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-" he couldn't help repeating, placing the name to the face. Maybe it was in response to his slightly awestruck tone, but the newest Lorelai shifted in his arms. Her eyes fluttering open-

And he was struck newly dumb by the striking blue eyes that greeted him. Logically he was aware that all newborns were born with blue eyes, and that there was a good chance that they would gradually change over time. But staring at those piercing, innocent, baby blues; he wouldn't change a thing about her.

"I'm your Grandpa."

a/n: So I hope Richard wasn't too out of character here. And like I said, first ever Gilmore Girl fic. Depending if this gets any responses or not, I might continue. But I'm going to go ahead and mark this as complete anyway so I can end it anytime I want.