Author's Notes: When I wrote this story I found out that it wasn't a chore to add Luke into it at all. In fact, it was so easy that it seemed like he was meant to be in it all along! (Again, please note that some of the dialogue is taken directly from the episode. I had to quote the phlegm line for sure ― it's one of my favorites!)
Lorelai spotted the blue and white sign first.
"Next block," she told Luke. "Turn right."
The medical complex came into view and Lorelai's eyes dashed from one informational sign to the next, trying to make sense of the directions.
"Just pull up into that drive," she directed him. "I'll jump out, and ― Uh, what are you doing?"
"Parking," Luke said succinctly, rolling down the window to grab the ticket for the parking garage.
"You don't need to do this!" she tried to convince him. "You've done your duty. Just drop me off and go back home!"
Luke scoffed, but was too busy looking for a spot big enough to hold the truck to glance over at her. "I drop you off, and then what happens? You and Rory head for the train station or the bus at some godforsaken hour of the night? I'm supposed to sleep while you're sharing a bench with winos and other assorted crazies? No, thank you!" He angled into a spot just a little bit larger than the others and shut off the motor. "This way at least I'll know you have a safe way home."
They jumped out of the truck and started over to the hospital walkway. "You don't need to come in," Lorelai quickly told him, still trying to make his night somehow better. "Why don't you go find a nice restaurant to wait in, or a bar, or ― or go to a movie, or something? You hate hospitals! You don't have to wait here all night."
"I'm here now," he pointed out, resigned. "I'll just stay. How long can it be, anyway?"
Lorelai's head snapped up and she smothered a giggle. "Man, you don't have a clue how these things work, do you?"
The door opened automatically for them and they entered the busy lobby. They dodged children running off nervous energy, wheelchairs, and dozens of helium-filled balloons held by an assortment of visitors waiting by the elevators. Lorelai scanned over the directory showcased there.
"I do hate hospitals," Luke agreed grimly, taking a sniff of the air suspiciously.
Lorelai looked up quickly enough to see what looked like pain clustered in the lines between his eyes. Sudden sympathy made her want to baby him but she smothered that instinct, knowing he'd hate it.
"You and Rory can commiserate," she told him. "I got an earful on the phone already about how disgusting hospitals are. She said she's already seen more bare behinds than she can count."
An elevator door opened and they stepped inside, squishing together to make room for everyone else who'd been waiting. Lorelai leaned forward, making sure that the button for the maternity floor had been pushed.
Luke grabbed her arm, suddenly looking alarmed. "Am I even allowed up there? I mean, I'm not family or anything."
"It'll be fine," she assured him. The man stuffed in beside her chose that moment to turn to his side to dig through a canvas bag and that pushed her hip into Luke's. She put a hand against his chest to stop herself from tumbling completely into him and unexpectedly found herself mentally reviewing all of the other 'moments' that had been shared between them over the years. "You're just fine," she said slowly, the words loaded with enough warmth to cause embarrassment when she heard them. She cleared her throat and tried to somehow compress herself, to make some space between them.
The elevator doors opened and good portion of the riders got off. A man in a bright red jacket held open the door for an orderly to maneuver a wheelchair inside the space. Once again Lorelai had to cozy up against Luke to make room.
The orderly got the wheelchair into position and one of those sudden hushes fell over everyone left in the confined space. In the abrupt silence, Moon River ended and the next piece of muzak began. The first notes were enough to make Lorelai wrap her arms around her stomach. She fought her impulse to bend over in distress.
"Are you OK?" Luke touched her shoulder and she tried to nod, but in the next instant he had one arm around her shoulder while the other wrapped around hers in front., as if he thought he was going to have to hold her upright. "Seriously, are you OK? I'm the one who's supposed to feel sick in hospitals, but you're looking kind of greenish-gray here."
"It's just the music," she admitted grudgingly. "Just a reaction I have. Kind of like Pavlov's dogs." She slowly drew her head back and tried to take a gulp of air, keeping her eyes closed. She opened them, shuddered, and tried to make a joke. "Can you believe that we're old enough for them to turn the music of our youth into muzak?"
Luke tipped an ear towards the ceiling speakers until he recognized 99 Red Balloons. "Didn't that thing start out as elevator music?" he asked disdainfully.
Lorelai tried to put on a smile, even though phantom cramps were still haunting her mid-section. "I loved it. I played it all the time. That's what was on my Walkman the night Rory was born. I remember listening to it the whole time I was waiting for them to take me to my room. The second I got done filling out all of those medical forms I shoved the headphones back on so that I could block out where I really was. For just a couple more minutes I wanted to pretend I was just a normal teenager."
He looked at her strangely and slowly removed his arm from around her shoulders. "They let you fill out the forms? You were just a kid."
For some reason his words made her defensive. "Well, it was me or nobody. And it's amazing how mature people think you are when you've got a stomach stretched out to here." She motioned with her arms about three feet out in front of her, further dislodging his protective stance.
"Alone?" he challenged her. "They let you come to the hospital alone?"
"No one was home," Lorelai explained, not really wanting to remember it. "I was watching Quincy when the contractions started. Did you watch that? I loved it, but I always hated how they had to bundle up all of the explanations into the last five minutes of the show. It always felt so rushed, like they forgot they only had an hour to solve the crime."
Luke was staring down at the linoleum on the floor. He looked like he was counting to 10. "You brought yourself to the hospital," he stated, keeping his voice even.
"Well, it was time," Lorelai said airily.
"You filled out the papers. You sat alone in the waiting room." Lorelai could hear the rant building.
"Somebody had to." Her eyes had been locked on the numbers of the floors, urging them to get to their destination. With relief she watched the doors open on maternity. "This is it," she said, leading the way, and hoped he'd let the topic drop.
She shook off that scared 16-year-old girl she'd once been and left her in the elevator along with the song. A whole other lifetime had passed since that night of terrifying pain and confusion. Rory's lifetime.
Luke's arm caught her elbow and made her turn around and face him. "You shouldn't have been alone." His eyes were dark blue with determination and they drilled into hers. "You shouldn't have had to do that."
She tried to play it off, even though his compassion meant more to her than he could imagine. "Long time ago, Luke." She forced a grin and patted his arm. "Doesn't matter anymore."
She could tell he was pumped to say more, but she escaped and stepped over to the nurse's station. "Excuse me, Sherry Tinsdale's room?"
"Right through there," the nurse nodded.
"Thanks," Lorelai said, but before she'd taken more than two steps a plaid whirlwind intercepted her.
"Mom!"
"Hey!" Relieved, she bent to kiss her daughter on her cheek, most of her anxiety fleeing as they were reunited.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rory gratefully chanted.
"You're welcome, and I'll be holding this over your head for the next 10 years." She frowned at the armload of papers Rory was cradling in her arms. "What are you doing?"
"Xeroxing," Rory said distractedly. She finally noticed the other figure in the dark leather jacket, who seemed to be trying to disappear behind her mother. "Luke?"
"Hey, Rory." He nodded, but the smile he tried to put on his face looked more like a grimace.
"What are you ―" Her quick eyes flashed between the strangely dapper Mr. Danes and her still on-edge mother. "Were you ―?"
"The Jeep decided to have a nervous breakdown tonight," Lorelai cut in, before Rory could misconstrue anything. "Luke played taxi driver for me."
"Aw, Luke, thank you!" Rory jostled her papers to one side and stepped over to give him a quick and awkward one-armed hug. "Is the Jeep really bad?" she then asked her mom.
"Well, let's just say that Gypsy will probably be able to afford a trip to Atlantic City soon and we won't."
"It might not be that bad." Luke uncharacteristically tried to be optimistic.
"What's with the Xeroxing?" Lorelai asked, tugging at the stack of papers.
"Sherry had these status reports to fax to people by tonight but she didn't bring enough. I've been trying to find a Xerox machine and I finally conned someone in ICU to let me use theirs." Rory's voice had sped up and Lorelai recognized the single-mindedness of purpose creeping in that normally accompanied her focus on her schoolwork. "I haven't found a fax machine yet," she fretted.
"Ohh-kay," Lorelai said, drawing the word out. "Come on." She put her hand on Rory's shoulder and started to ease over towards Sherry's door.
"But I have to fax these!" Rory protested.
"Uh huh," Lorelai said soothingly, her hand on the door.
"But we have a deadline!"
Lorelai pulled open the door and they all took in Sherry's squatting position on top of the bed as she talked a mile a minute on the phone. Rory and Lorelai shared a look of incredulity.
"I'm gonna stay right here," Luke murmured, and flattened himself against the hallway wall by the door.
"Yes, I'm having them faxed over right now," Sherry said, her voice just barely contained on this side of hysteria. "I'm not sure that the numbers I have are the numbers you have. That's right, that's bad." She took the hand that had been pressing over her stomach and waved it at Lorelai. "I think you should too." She put her hand over the phone and spoke rapidly to Rory. "Did you get those things faxed?"
"Sherry, hang up," Lorelai suggested, her voice calm.
"I have to finish this call!"
"Just say goodbye."
"But ―"
Lorelai stepped closer, trying to keep a reassuring smile on her face. "Call him back," she urged. She reached out and took the phone away. "Sherry's going to have to call you back," she said into the mouthpiece, shrugging. "I promise. Goodbye," she said, closing the phone and putting it out of Sherry's reach.
"But that was work!" Sherry protested, her wispy white-blonde curls bobbing around her face.
"Sherry, you really shouldn't be working right now," Lorelai pointed out to the crazy lady, as gently as she could.
Sherry trembled while she continued to balance on her ankles, her silky white robe rustling around her. "I just can't stop everything because I'm ―"
"― Having a baby," Lorelai said, supplying the words for her. "Admitting it is the first step."
"I'm not ready!" Sherry said, desperately. The diamond in her engagement ring flashed as she clutched at her distended middle. "I had it all planned. Christopher was supposed to be here!"
Something remembered caught in Lorelai's throat. "I know," she said, gently.
"I don't know what to do!"
"The first thing is to calm down and stop working," Lorelai's voice was firm.
"OK," Sherry capitulated, not putting up too much of a fight.
"And the second thing you need to tell me is why you are sitting like that."
Sherry looked at her seriously. "Maureen told me that Howard Stern said that squatting makes the baby come out faster."
Lorelai suddenly had an inkling of what it was like to be on the receiving end of some of the nonsense she spouted. "OK. As long as you have a sane reason from a reliable source."
Sherry's already milk-white complexion became even paler. "I'm scared," confessed.
"I know." Lorelai could barely believe how much sympathy she was feeling for the still perfectly-coiffed woman in front of her. "It's scary and it hurts like hell. And remember, when it comes out, don't look at it too hard until they give it a good cleaning or you'll think you gave birth to phlegm. But once they give it a scrub it's just unbelievably cool."
"Yeah?" Sherry asked wistfully.
"And look how good they grow up." She motioned over at her daughter standing on the other side of the bed, giving her a warm, proud smile. "Not bad, huh?"
Rory smiled, basking in her mother's approval. She kept her arms crossed over her chest and looked down modestly.
Sherry looked over in awe at Rory. "I hope I get that lucky," she said fervently.
"I've got a good feeling," Lorelai observed, starting to pick up the planners and notebooks spread open on the foot of the bed.
"Thank you," Sherry said, sounding calmer.
Lorelai continued to smile while she found room on the window ledge for all of the business stuff that was no longer needed.
"Lorelai?" Sherry's voice sounded worried, and Lorelai turned back at once.
"Yeah?"
"My ankles are starting to hurt."
"OK," Lorelai reached for her quickly. "Here. Grab an arm," she instructed Rory, and the two of them eased Sherry back into bed.
"I'm glad you're here," Sherry sighed in relief, leaning her head back gratefully on the pillows.
"At this moment you probably should be," Lorelai said, not able to keep just a touch of bitterness from creeping back in.
She and Rory pulled the blankets up over Sherry as the mother-to-be wiggled her feet under the covers, getting circulation going again. Sherry groaned in relief and put her hand up over the top of her head.
"So who's that?" Sherry asked almost immediately, her voice once again sounding too perky for her current situation.
"Who?" Lorelai asked.
"The man standing out there." Sherry pointed out the door.
"Oh, that's ― that's ―" Damn! The woman didn't miss a thing!
"That's Luke," Rory said, tossing a small look of anxiety at her mother.
"Luke!" Sherry turned to Rory and dropped her voice to a sharing-secrets level. "Who's Luke?" she asked.
Rory gave Lorelai another worried look, but she answered Sherry anyway. "You know who Luke is. He owns the diner in Stars Hollow."
Sherry's wide-open eyes grew even wider. "I knew it! I told Christopher there was something going on with you two!"
"Hold on now." Lorelai hastened to correct her assumption. "He played Good Samaritan and gave me a ride here tonight, that's all."
Sherry sat herself up a little bit more. "Bring him in. I want to say hello," she instructed.
"Oh, Sherry, that's probably not a good idea," Lorelai said, trying to nip that idea in the bud.
"Luke's really not much for social situations," Rory added, trying to save her diner man.
"Nonsense! He can come in for two seconds, can't he? Rory, just ask him to step inside, will you, please?"
"I don't ― Mom?" Rory looked to her mother for guidance.
"Oh, boy." Lorelai blew out a breath. "Hang on."
Reconciled to what was going to happen, she stepped out into the hall. Luke was still standing precisely where they'd left him, his feet planted immovably on the floor, his eyes fixed on a spot between his shoes.
She touched his arm. "You're being summoned."
He jumped and his head shot up, looking at her carefully as though making sure it was really her. "What are you talking about?"
She didn't see any need to sugarcoat it. "Sherry wants to see you."
"No." His response was immediate. "No way!"
"It won't be that bad," she started to wheedle, ignoring the way his head was emphatically shaking at her and the industrial-strength frown. "She knows you're out here and she just wants to say hi."
"No!"
"Luke, come on!" She started pulling on his sleeve, which she knew would annoy him even if it didn't make him move. "She's perfectly decent, all covered up in bed, and it hasn't gotten to the point where she's screaming and cussing out the whole male half of the population yet. It'll be fine."
"Lorelai, I swear…" he started, sounding irritated, but then he pushed away from the wall, much to her surprise, and let her lead him into the room.
Rory's eyebrows arched up when she saw him enter the doorway. "Wow," she mouthed to her mother.
Lorelai grinned at her, then took another step towards the bed. "Sherry, this is Luke."
They watched as Sherry swiftly scanned over Luke, cataloging the leather jacket, the pants, the deep blue eyes. Her hand automatically checked her hair before she offered it to him. "Hi, I'm Sherry Tinsdale. Soon to be Sherry Hayden. And this will soon be Georgia Hayden," she explained, her other hand patting her stomach as she smiled energetically at him.
He sighed and stepped forward, taking Sherry's hand, and Lorelai grinned again. She knew he was too polite to snub the pregnant lady.
"Nice to meet you." He shifted his feet. "Hope tonight goes smoothly for you," he offered, and then flushed slightly, as though worried that was the wrong thing to say.
Sherry beamed at him. "Well, aren't you sweet!" Her voice hitched into an even higher register. "I hear you're responsible for getting Lorelai here tonight."
Luke looked over at her and his steady gaze locked onto hers. 'I'd do anything for her,' she heard his gruff voice say in her head, as clearly as if he'd spoken the words out loud. Her heart stuttered again and a chill chased across her shoulders. By the time the roaring in her ears subsided she wasn't sure how much of the real conversation she'd missed.
"I can't believe how much better I feel, just knowing she's here to help me through this," Sherry was simpering to him.
"It's always good to have Lorelai on your side during a crisis," Luke replied, "even if she was the one who caused the crisis in the first place."
"Gee, thanks," Lorelai replied, still feeling somewhat flustered. "Sherry, I'm going to step out for a little bit and get Luke settled in the waiting area, OK?"
"Oh, of course! Thanks again, Luke!" Sherry's hand fluttered a goodbye.
Lorelai nodded at the threatening look Rory was giving her, the look that meant 'Don't you dare leave me alone in here!' as she escorted Luke out.
She noticed that both of them inhaled a huge breath of relief when they gained the hallway.
"So that's Sherry, huh?" Luke commented.
"That's her, all right."
"Not what I was expecting."
That made her glance at him, surprised, while they walked to the cluster of couches and chairs at the end of the hall. "What's that mean? You have seen her once before, you know."
"I guess they were in the diner that time, but I don't have any actual memory of her or what she looked like."
"So? What did you think she'd look like?"
He shrugged as they scouted out the waiting area. "I figured she'd look like you."
"Like me?" She stopped and laughed at the idea. "Why would you think she'd look like me?"
Luke pretended to be interested in the CNN feed on the wall-mounted TV. "I just figured that he'd pick out somebody else who reminded him of you."
Lorelai chuckled again. "You think that I'm imprinted on him? You think that because of me he's predisposed to only fall in love with brunettes?"
"It happens," Luke argued.
"It does, huh? So how about you? Do you have a type?" She began to needle him for fun when suddenly Rachel and Nicole flashed through the viewing screen in her head and she gasped. "Oh my god. You do. You totally do. And I…feel really stupid right now. Although that explains a lot."
"I do not have a type," he muttered.
"Yeah, you do," she said lightly, although the words seemed to be sticking in her suddenly dry throat. "You like skinny, ambitious, strawberry-blondes."
"Where do you get this stuff?" Luke asked, exasperated.
Lorelai found a little poise and hid behind it. "Just look at the similarities between Rachel and Nicole, and tell me I'm wrong. Although I do think Rachel got Nicole's helping of sweetness."
Luke opened his mouth to dispute her, but closed it abruptly. "That's not fair," he finally groused.
"But true," she added, wondering what part he thought wasn't fair.
"Only in your insane mind," he shot back. "And so what does it explain?"
"It explains why you've never tried ―" she choked off her words just in time. "Never mind. Here, let's get you comfy." She pushed him into a mauve armchair and tried to put his feet up on a coffee table, but he was having none of it. She snagged some magazines off a rack above his shoulder.
"This Women's Day looks older than Rory, so probably it's right up your alley." She handed him the crumpled magazine. "But, ooh! Look at that! Shortcake recipes! You should totally study those," she told him, nodding her head seriously.
"Too early for strawberries," Luke groused.
"Well, then, here." She thrust an equally-wrinkled issue of Cosmopolitan at him. "You can learn how to give him the most amazing night ev-ah!"
Luke's eyes tracked over the headlines on the cover, widening when he reached the one she'd quoted. He tossed it immediately onto the table, face-down. His scowling had reached new heights.
"And if that doesn't satisfy you…" She put her hand under his chin and gently tugged his face towards the TV playing on the other side of the room. "I'll leave you in Captain Kirk's capable hands."
"Shows you what you know," he scoffed. "This is Next Generation, not the original series. This is Captain Picard."
She took a step back, her face glowing like she'd just won the lottery. She bent from the waist, towards him. "Trekkie," she stage-whispered, gloating
Luke sighed. "Don't you have a birthing to attend?" he asked pointedly.
Her good mood evaporated. "Yeah." She looked down the hall to the room of perky. "Here, watch my coat, OK?" She took it off and dropped it onto the chair next to him before forcing her feet to carry her back to Sherry.
She turned back when she stepped into the hallway, just to make sure he was settled. He was flipping through the pages of the Women's Day, and he stopped on a page that surely did look like it was wreathed in strawberries. Oddly content, she entered Sherry's room, happier than she had any right to be under the circumstances.
By the time the girls entered the waiting room over an hour later, Captain Picard ― with Data's help, of course ― had once again saved the Enterprise, and currently on-screen Captain Janeway was bravely trying to get Voyager home.
"She's jogging in place!" Lorelai exploded at him.
"What?" Luke sounded skeptical.
"We think she's trying to aerobicize the baby out," Rory speculated.
Luke looked from Rory's concerned face to Lorelai's frustrated one. "Shouldn't you try to stop her?"
"I did!" Lorelai insisted. "She almost took an eye out!"
"It can't be good for the baby," Rory fretted.
Lorelai scoffed. "It's no worse than the guilt trip it'll get for showing up early."
"You do know it's a girl," Rory reminded her gently.
"Yes," Lorelai pouted. She looked down at her feet for a moment. "I should probably stop calling her 'it.'" She gave a sigh and looked back up. "Did you try calling your dad again?"
"Over and over and over." Rory dug her phone of her pocket and looked at the display again. "It's out of range, or not in service or something."
"You do know, if he doesn't get here, I have to go in with her!" Lorelai fumed.
"Yes, I do," Rory agreed without reservation.
"I don't wanna go in with her!" Lorelai said crossly.
"Well, at least you know what's going to happen," Rory pointed out.
"Not really," Lorelai grumbled. "I had the cheap seat before. My view was quite a bit different."
"Maybe Dad will still show up," the ever-optimistic girl hoped. She looked around at the waiting area. "I'm going to go down to the other end of the hall. There are vending machines there. You want me to bring you something? Luke?"
"I'm fine," Luke said.
"Coffee!" Lorelai begged. She watched the braid trailing down her daughter's back swing back and forth as Rory quickly set off down the hallway in pursuit of snacks. When she turned to Luke, ready to pepper him with Star Trek questions, she saw resentment simmering on his face.
"I'm sorry," she quickly said soothingly, folding herself onto the chair beside him. "I know this has been a rotten night for you."
He swiftly turned to confront her. "Why do you have to do it?"
"Do what?" She reviewed her words, trying to figure out what she'd said to tick him off.
"Why do you have to go in with her?" He bit the words off.
"Because she's terrified," Lorelai muttered, all at once feeling too tired to try and speak distinctly. "She's alone, and scared out of her mind."
"Who was with you?" he demanded, testing her.
She crossed her arms and didn't answer.
"That's what I thought." He flung his arm out in the general direction of Sherry's room. "Where was he then, huh?"
She was too tired; too drained for this fight. "He was just a kid," she explained, used to making excuses for him.
Luke looked like he wanted to kill somebody. "So were you!" he said angrily.
His indignation on her behalf made unexpected tears fill up her eyes, because she could still remember the weakness and the fear she refused to succumb to all those years ago. She instantly clamped her lips shut and turned away, but he responded quicker than she could deflect.
"Geez, Lorelai, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
His warm, strong arms wrapped around her. His brusque voice murmured next to her ear. "Last thing I wanted to do was make you cry. I'm sorry."
She blinked hard and saw Rory coming back down the hall. There were some things her daughter didn't need to know, so she squared her shoulders and turned back around; replacing his sympathetic arm with a bravery she hadn't really felt on the night Rory was born. "Oh, I wasn't alone. The nurse was wheeling me into delivery, and I was begging her to let me hit her, or pinch her, or use the Epilady on her because I thought that might make me feel better, and guess who shows up? My parents!"
"Not this again," Rory groused. She handed her mother a paper cup of coffee and gave Luke an apple before she sat down on the chair on the other side of him.
He looked at the apple as if it was causing his confusion. "What's an Epilady?"
"According to my mother, it was an instrument of torture devised in the '80's to rip hair out of women's legs," Rory informed him, pulling a Snickers bar out of her pocket and tearing off the wrapper.
Lorelai nodded vigorously. "I thought that seeing someone else hurting might make my pain feel better, but the nurse said no, I couldn't hit her or pinch her or use the Epilady on her. And then, just to add to my pain, there's my mother screeching at me because I'd deprived her of what was apparently her right to drive me to the hospital."
"And Grandpa couldn't walk, because he'd worn the wrong shoes," Rory said, getting the words out around the caramel and peanuts she was chewing. "His feet hurt."
"You remember it, do you?" Luke asked her, straight-faced.
She rolled her eyes. "This is all part of my birth story, Luke. Mom's told me a thousand times. Grandma wouldn't stop yelling at Mom, and Grandpa couldn't get Grandma to stop and let him sit down. Grandma said, 'You're having a baby, do you realize that, Lorelai?' and Mom said 'Well that explains the stomachache.' Then Grandma demanded to go into the delivery room, but the nurse wouldn't let her."
"At that moment, that nurse was my favorite person in the world," Lorelai chimed in. "Hey, maybe I should have named you after her."
Luke ignored Lorelai's flippant remark and instead fixed her with another one of those looks that tonight seemed to see clear into her soul. "So you were alone."
Lorelai's chin tipped up. She leaned across him and grasped her daughter's hand. "Not for long," she said, smiling at Rory. "I was soon joined by the most beautiful baby in the world."
"And we're off," Rory sighed in resignation. She patted Luke's hand in empathy before she shoved the rest of her candy bar into her mouth.
"No," Lorelai said, pretending to be miffed. "If you don't want to hear about the night of your glorious birth, I won't bore you."
"Thank you," Luke said with feeling.
Still chewing, Rory reached over Luke for Lorelai's coffee.
His face looked agonized while he watched the girl take a big gulp. He raised his eyes to the ceiling. "The only reason I'm not pointing out the fact that it's nearly midnight and you're letting her eat candy and drink coffee is because of where we are and what's going on tonight."
"Aw, Luke, you old softie," Rory teased him, bumping her shoulder into his.
"Just eat your apple, Butch," Lorelai recommended, patting his other shoulder as she stood up. She held out a hand to Rory. "As much as I hate to say it, we should probably get back in there with her. Who know what she's trying by now."
"She could be bouncing on a trampoline," Rory agreed, standing as well.
"Hush! Don't let her hear you!" Lorelai cautioned as they dragged themselves back up the hall.
In just a few minutes, however, they were heading back to the waiting area. Luke jumped up, alarmed to see them again so soon, and met them in the hallway.
"What's wrong?" he asked, throwing his half-eaten apple into the trash.
"The nurse is just in there, checking her," Lorelai explained. She could tell he didn't really understand by the quizzical look on his face. "You know, to see how dilated she is. To see if she's ―"
"OK, OK," he jumped in, holding up his hand. "I get it."
"Do you think we should get a camera?" Rory suddenly piped up.
"No," Lorelai said.
"A camera?" Luke questioned, looking from one to the other.
"Yeah, in case Dad doesn't get here in time," Rory continued.
"No," Lorelai said, firmly.
"But ―" Rory protested.
"No," Lorelai said, her tone set in concrete.
"I just thought it might be nice," Rory pointed out, taking on the mature role.
"It might be nice," Luke chimed in, but he sounded cranky, like he hated to agree.
Lorelai sighed and tried to find a little bit more benevolence in her heart but before she could search too deeply, the elevator doors opened again.
"Lor! Rory!"
A panicked Christopher stampeded over to them. His frantic hands grabbed at her, pulling her close to kiss her cheek, and then he quickly gave Rory a hug.
"Am I too late? Did I miss it?"
"Oh, Chris! Thank God! Perfect timing!" Lorelai was nearly giddy with relief.
"I thought sure I was going to miss it. I must've broken about 18 different laws getting here. I don't even remember where I parked my car," Christopher spoke fast, his nerves on edge.
"Well, take a breath. You didn't miss anything. Sherry's going to be thrilled," Lorelai smiled at him.
"Where? Here?" He followed his beaming daughter as she opened the door to Sherry's room.
Lorelai was about to follow but Luke stepped in front of her.
"He kissed you!" he hissed, scandalized.
She did a double-take, not able to believe that of all the things going on at the moment, this was the one he wanted to discuss. "Yeah, he did," she shrugged, trying to sidestep away from him and get into the room.
"And you're OK with that?" he demanded, anger warming his words. "You're OK that he just grabs you and kisses you?"
"Yes, I am," she said crisply. "He's an old friend, Luke. He's Rory's dad. Yeah, it's OK." Although...actually it wasn't. It made her feel abandoned and a little sleazy every time he did it.
"Well, he shouldn't," Luke grumbled, but he stepped out of her way and she joined the surplus of people in the hospital room.
"Yes, this is him! This is my Christopher!" Sherry was joyfully proclaiming. Apparently the last nurse's check had been a positive one, because the bed was now mobile, beginning the journey to delivery.
"Christopher, are you coming in with us?" the nurse asked him.
"Try and stop me!" He still sounded dazed. His eyes were locked on Sherry's face as he held her hand tightly and stroked her arm.
"Let's go then," the nurse ordered, and the bed started to move.
"We'll be right here, waiting," Rory happily proclaimed.
"Have fun," Lorelai suggested, a little smugly.
Rory turned to her mom as the bed disappeared out the door, her face scrunching in displeasure. "Have fun?" she questioned, her voice disapproving.
"Weeell," Lorelai said, channeling Samantha Stevens.
They collected their stuff from the room and joined Luke on the other side of the door. He took Rory's backpack from off her shoulder and the three of them headed to the waiting area.
"Now we wait?" Rory asked, looking around at the nearly empty seats.
"Now we wait," Lorelai confirmed. She gave Rory's shoulders a squeeze.
Rory zipped open the backpack Luke was still carrying and pulled out a text. She nodded to him in thanks and then settled herself at a desk pushed into a corner.
Lorelai watched Rory open her textbook and smiled indulgently. With a tired sigh she shuffled between some chairs and sat down gratefully.
Luke took his time sitting down across from her. His body language suggested he couldn't get comfortable. He tried to settle back against the seat, then he hunched forward, clasping his hands out over his knees. It wasn't until he tentatively reached across the narrow aisle and touched her knee that she realized he had something to say.
When she looked at him, he cleared his throat. "If you're angry right now, it's OK. If you want to pick a fight with me, or yell, or do something crazy, I'll understand."
"I'm not angry," she said, puzzled.
He chewed his lip and looked away momentarily, but his grip on her knee stayed firm. "You should be." His head motioned back towards what had been Sherry's room. "You got cheated out of all of that. It wasn't right that you had to go through all of that alone."
Once again his gruff understanding was threatening to topple the elaborate mythology she'd held in place with brute force for more than 17 years. She couldn't let it unravel now. Especially not tonight.
She looked over at her daughter who was already caught up in whatever spell that particular book had over her. She looked back at Luke, meeting his concerned gaze with confidence as her chin told him to look over at Rory.
"I didn't get cheated out of anything," she told him with heartfelt sincerity, when his eyes turned back to her.
He studied her solemnly before he spoke. "Rory's great, Lorelai. And the reason she's great is because of you. She's who she is because of you." He gave her knee a rough pat, as though he'd finally realized how Dr. Phil-ish he sounded. "I just hope you're proud of that, because you should be."
"I am." She gave him a strained smile and then scooted forward in her chair, letting her eyes close while her head rested back against the seat, signaling the end of the conversation. She didn't think she was up for more reminiscing right now about the good old days.
Through half-lidded eyes she watched as he stretched out in his chair too, his long legs crossed at the ankle and finding a home under the chair next to hers. Stealthily she studied his hair, so rarely seen without the baseball cap. She studied the lines of his muscles exposed by the fine knit of the black sweater she'd chosen for him back when she'd convinced herself that he should try harder with Rachel. She traced over his mouth with her eyes, wondering how it was that the few words he chose to say could be so soothing.
She squeezed her eyes shut tight, not wanting to obsess over the man sitting across from her. She needed to think of something else. Exhausted, she let her mind drift.
...In the kitchen with Sookie. Both of them laughing. Baker's chocolate being crumbled with a big knife; Sookie's hands firm on the blade as it glittered in the light. She grabbed a piece and popped it in her mouth before Sookie sent the rest of it into a double-boiler. More laughter. Jokes. Teasing. Then, she somehow managed to glance into the copper pot at just the right moment, right when the solid chocolate liquefied and turned into something else…
She pressed a hand over her nervous stomach. Just like the chocolate, her feelings and friendship for Luke had changed tonight from one thing into another. Instead of being antagonistic buddies and sharing a solid appreciation for each other, her gut and her fluttery heart were now telling her there was something more. Something different. Her always-odd friendship with this peculiar man had liquefied into something else. Something that was turning her warm and wanting. And scared. And very confused. And worried. Oh-so-worried.
No, she firmly told herself. No, you are not doing this. Do you hear me?
But her mind wasn't listening. It was rapidly overturning one of her most steadfast rules, the one that stated she would never, ever, under any circumstances ever change anything about herself for a guy. Her brain was too busy picturing how she'd look as a strawberry-blonde to pay any attention to the warning at all.