XXX

December 31st, 2012

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

A little foot stomped on the solar system rug, right on Neptune. "Roar-eeeeeee!"

"Work with me here, kid!" Rory exclaimed, practically begging. She shook the outstretched baseball pajamas in her hands, hoping it would make them seem more enticing. "Look, these are your favorite pajamas, aren't they? Who wouldn't want to jump into these cool pants! And this shirt has baseballs on it, how neat is that?"

Little arms crossed over a little chest, wholly unimpressed. "I don't wanna go to bed," the small boy insisted, pushing the blue PJs away. He made a pouty face that Rory knew far too well.

"But Will, it is way past your bedtime. I'm talking a Rip Van Winkle amount of time, buddy–"

"I wanna wait for Mommy and Daddy!" Will cried.

"Bud, we told you, Mommy and Daddy are out at Miss Patty's for the New Year's party and they aren't gonna get home until really, really late, too late for little boys to be awake. But you'll see them in the morning!"

"No!"

Rory dropped her head in defeat, still kneeling on the floor of her brother's room as the boy himself tore down the hallway, his no's punctuating the New Year's Eve broadcast blaring on the downstairs television. She attempted to take a calming breath.

Footsteps shuffled into the room, and then the face of April appeared beside Rory's, the younger girl wearing a sympathetic expression. "I told you," she said.

"I'm really regretting this extra Christmas gift of ours," Rory said, lifting her head again. The idea of giving her mom and Luke a New Year's Eve out with other adults had seemed great at the time, but she was questioning her sanity now. She collapsed onto her bottom, baseball pajamas still in hand. The should-be pajama wearer continued to stalk up and down the hallway, shooting a scrunched face at his sisters every time he passed the doorway. "He's Dennis the Menace tonight."

"Right?" April agreed, sitting also. She grabbed a nearby stuffed lion and held it in her lap, playing with the ears. "I can't believe how stubborn he can be."

Rory frowned at her stepsister. "He gets that from your dad," she accused.

"No way! It's all your mom," she countered, and then they both chuckled. They stopped abruptly, though, as Will peeked his head into the room like a stern schoolteacher.

Rory smiled hopefully. "Getting a little sleepy from all your stomping, kid?"

The Pout returned. "No." But his movements were more sluggish as he did another lap around the hallway.

"What time is it?" Rory asked.

"10:30."

"Ugh. I'm pretty sure Mom wanted him in bed two hours ago."

"Seriously? This kid?" April asked. "He's like the Energizer bunny."

"Apparently. How do we take out the batteries?"

"Will!" April called. A mess of brown hair slowly appeared in the doorway, followed by a forehead and blue eyes as the boy pushed himself along the hardwood floor. "Did Daddy and Mommy leave an instruction book on how to turn you off for the night?"

Will stared, not understanding. "No," he finally muttered, slinking back out of view.

"Word of the night," April sighed.

"I thought the twos were supposed to be terrible. Shouldn't he have grown out of that by now? He's almost four," Rory said, adjusting her position so she was sitting cross-legged.

"That's totally a myth," April agreed. "People think on a kid's third birthday they're just gonna become a perfect little angel, poof! The problem is, their little angel is growing at an incredible rate and taking in so much information that it's impossible to expect them to realize that they suddenly need to learn how to share and be polite and play nice—"

"And go to bed on time," Rory added darkly.

"Exactly."

They were both quiet for a moment, listening to Ryan Seacrest once again mention how crazy Manhattan was for New Year's Eve.

"Have you ever done New Year's in New York?" April asked.

"No, actually. It's always seemed too crowded."

"I sort of want to, one year. I mean, if I'm going to school in Manhattan, I should probably try to experience all the big, Manhattan-y events, right? Get a little wild?"

"Absolutely," Rory agreed, remembering her own more wild days at Yale. "Just promise that if you get arrested you call me to bail you out, not our parents… And don't take time off from NYU for no reason, it'll come back and bite you."

April rolled her eyes. "Does all of this go on the list with 'no boat stealing'?"

"Yes," Rory said, wagging her index finger at April. "Every time you're thinking about making a bad decision you need to consult the list I made you."

"My roommate saw it; I think she thinks we're weird."

Rory shrugged. "Well, we are a little weird."

"You should write about us for the magazine."

"Believe me, I've thought about it," Rory said. "This whole town is a features series waiting to happen. I've brainstormed a few different pitches for my editor if the time ever comes."

April smirked. "But you love it."

Rory laughed. "Duh. How could I have fully lived without more than two decades of Kirk?"

"Mysteries," April nodded, smiling. "Speaking of, why is Kirk so obsessed with Greg?"

Rory shook her head, bemused, thinking of her new boyfriend. "Something about his hair, I think. Greg is very, very wary about seeing Kirk again."

"As we all should be," April said solemnly. "It's too bad he couldn't baby-sit with us. Greg, that is, not Kirk."

"Yeah, but he hasn't seen his family in months… you know how expensive flying all over the country is."

"That I do. Hey, it's gotten pretty quiet out there."

Rory glanced at the doorway. She spied tiny fingers laying flat against the floor; she could visualize the way Will looked on the other side of the wall: stretched out on his stomach, arms reaching as far as they could, little toes protected from the cold wood by the green socks that matched the green sweater he refused to change out of. The image produced a sudden, strong surge of affection in Rory for her baby brother, propelling her to lie down on her own stomach on the solar system rug, facing the door.

"What are you doing?" April asked.

"Getting on his level," Rory explained.

The exchange intrigued Will, for his fingers became hands, hands became arms, arms became shoulders and disheveled hair and pale cheeks. His blue eyes weren't as alert, his small mouth no longer tight.

April got on her stomach, too, parallel to Rory, and the two girls stared at the boy, and the boy stared back.

"Rory," he finally murmured, voice high with exhaustion. "I'm ready for my 'jamas," he admitted, with an edge of shame.

"Are you really?" Rory asked softly, chin resting on her crossed arms.

"You don't want to finish your marathon around the hallway?" April added.

"No, April," Will said. "'jamas."

"Praise the Lord," Rory breathed, sitting up.

April followed suit. "I don't know what Jedi mind tricks you just used with the laying on the floor, but I think I'm gonna write about it for my Child Psych class. C'mere, Will."

Will's 3-foot frame sagged with fatigue as he trudged to his sisters. Rory lifted him so he sat at the edge of his little bed, and he didn't resist at all as she and April got him out of his sweater and pants and socks and into his baseball pajamas. They brought him into the bathroom and helped him brush his teeth, and Rory tucked him under his blankets as April retrieved the book he requested.

"How is he still awake?" she muttered as she returned to his bedside.

"Must be the Gilmore Will," Rory joked, not the first time that line had been used. She settled herself on the bed by Will's feet as April took some floor near his head so he could see the pictures. Rory tickled his toes over the blanket and he kicked at her lightly, a tired smile on his face. April began reading from the book.

"Here was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid…"

XXX

January 1st, 2013

"Hello!" Lorelai greeted softly as she entered the house, pulling off her heels as she stepped, Luke just behind her. She dropped the shoes there by the side door in the kitchen and eagerly made her way to the living room, following the light and sound.

"Huh," she said, upon finding an empty room. The television had some band playing, and not very well.

"What?" Luke asked, walking in behind her, sipping from a water bottle.

"No kids. What do you think – alien abduction?"

"Definitely," Luke agreed. He twisted his head and glanced up the stairs. "Or, they're up there."

Lorelai smiled at him. "I married a smart man," she declared, patting his cheek as she passed him.

"And you are a tipsy woman."

"Just a little!" she giggled. "Let's check on them. For all we know, Will's got them tied down and held at ransom."

"What would a toddler ask for as ransom?" Luke mused as they ascended the wide staircase together – the beautiful stairs and banister had been a big draw when they were looking to buy a new house.

"Oh, you know, candy, toy trucks, fewer nap times, a million dollars wired to the Cayman Islands."

"Right."

Soft light led them into the open doorway of their son's room, causing both Lorelai and Luke to pause before entering. They didn't look at each other – they were too wrapped up in admiring their children, all three fast asleep. Will was curled up under his covers, hand near his mouth; they'd been working on breaking his thumb-sucking habit. Rory was at the foot of his tiny bed, her legs dangling off the side, her head resting behind Will's torso. April was on the solar system rug, using a stuffed lion as a pillow, The Velveteen Rabbit left open beside her.

Lorelai felt Luke's arm come around her waist. She leaned into his side, and felt his breath near her ear. "No alien abductions tonight."

"Wusses," Lorelai replied quietly. "It isn't even 1."

"Should we wake them up?"

"Probably."

Neither made a move to do such a thing. Lorelai turned her face up to her husband's, smiling. "Happy New Year, babe."

He pressed his lips to hers softly. "Happy New Year."

XXX