Title: Goodnight Baby Danes
Author: Karleen
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Warner Brothers, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone. This was just written for fun.
A/N: A Luke and Lorelai ficlet- Alternate Universe- they're married, she's pregnant, she wants him to talk to her stomach...

"Come on Luke, talk to your unborn child." She pointed at her stomach.

"What do I say to it?"

"Our child's not an inanimate object."

"I'm feeling a little silly saying him or her every single time I mention... Him or her."

"It's your decision not mine."

"Is it so wrong that I don't want to know the sex of the baby until I see it?... Him or her.. dammit!"

"Potty mouth!" She covered her stomach with her hands as if to protect baby Danes from hearing the word.

"Sorry." He paused. "Hey I thought you hated that word."

"I do. I stand by teaching our kid not to refer to the bathroom as a place to go potty."

"Your mommy already has plans for you to talk and you're not even out yet." He whispers to her stomach. "Good luck kid."

"I heard that." She gave him a look. "Here just take this." She handed him a book.

"Goodnight Moon?" He read the title.

"I used to read it to Rory all the time before she went to sleep." She smiled and he looked at her intently. "I practically have it engrained in my brain."

"I bet." He said softly as he took her hand and kissed it.

"Would you like to read to my stomach instead?"

"Uh... Okay." He let go of her hand. "I'll sit on the floor so you can stretch your leg out on the bed."

"You sure?"

"It'll be more comfortable for you."

"Okay."

"In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red ballon
And a picture of-
The cow jumping over the moon..." He said as she looked at him thoughtfully.

She still remembered every word and mouthed it along with him. As he turned the pages she started to yawn.

"...Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere." when he finished, he looked at her and she had fallen asleep. He stood up and placed the book on her nightstand. He fluffed her pillow gently and made sure not to wake her. Then, he grabbed the blanket on the foot of their bed and draped it over her body. "Goodnight my love." He kissed her forehead as he laid down next to her.

- - - -

"What's this?" Luke handed her an old, a little bit wrinkled folded piece of paper.

"A poem?" She opened the paper.

"It's called Goodnight. My mother... She used to read this to us, Liz and I when we were kids. I would hear this story every night before I went to bed." He looked at her. " and even if it would end the same way, I still loved it. Because my mother did."

"Oh Luke."

"I've never shown it to anyone else." He sat next to her on their bed.

"Little baby, lay your head
On your pretty cradle bed;
Shut your eye-peeps, now the day
And the light are gone away..." She read softly and he had his eyes close the entire time. It had been a while since he'd heard it read out loud. He remembered the day he found it. He was looking through his father's coupon tin and there it was, amongst the pile of clippings. It was one of the handful of memories he had of his mother and he held it dear to his heart.

"...round about her cradle-bed: So till morning shineth bright, Little baby dear, goodnight." She looked up at him and his eyes were opened. Tears found their way out of them. She wiped them away. "This is beautiful hun." She held his face close to hers. "I'm sure our son will love it as much as I did." His eyes widened and she let go. "Oh my god, I'm sorry."

"Our son?" He gave her a big smile.

"I didn't mean to... "

"It doesn't matter." He held her hands. "We're having a boy?"

"We're having a boy." She said softly. He leaned in and kissed her gently.

"I love you, do you know that?" He said as he hugged her tight.

"I have a crazy feeling you do." She gave him a smirk.

"Well you're right about the crazy." She gave him a look. "I love you."

"I love you too." then she kissed him back.

.the end.

- - - -

Story and poems mentioned are owned by their respective authors.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Goodnight by Jane Taylor