Lorelai stirred early one morning and reached her arm out, wanting to pull herself into Luke's chest, but her open palm met the bed sheets. She wriggled a little, eventually realizing that Luke had shifted further down the mattress. She felt his hand on her stomach, and held still, not wanting to interrupt whatever Luke had started. She heard murmurs, felt his lips against her stomach and turned her head subtly so she could hear him.
"I'm your daddy. You already know mommy. She's great. You probably already know that, but just in case you don't, your mother is one of the most amazing women, no, the most amazing woman I've ever known. You've got two sisters. If you're a girl they'll be your best friends, and if you're a guy they'll probably be your worst nightmare, but they mean well, and that's what's important. Your oldest sister, Rory, she already knows about you. She's just as excited to meet you as your mommy and I are. Your other sister, April, she's a few years younger than Rory. She's going to be sixteen. I'm going to have one kid in diapers and one learning how to drive a car. I'm too old for this stuff, I'm telling you. But that doesn't bother me too much. I'm too excited to meet you to be bothered by any of it. Since you can't talk or even hear yet, I'll offer a confession: I've taught a kid how to drive, but I've never changed a diaper. I taught your sister Rory how to drive, and I guess I'll teach your sister April and you too. But I have no freaking clue how to change a diaper."
"It's not that hard," Lorelai murmured, and Luke immediately blushed.
"How long have you been awake?"
"Since you introduced yourself."
"Oh, good, so, most of it then."
"Good, I'm glad I didn't miss any of that." Lorelai said genuinely.
"You feeling sick?" He asked, looking up at her with eyes full of concern.
"Nope, just missing my guy."
"He's right here."
"I wanted to cuddle into you and you were half gone." She complained.
"I wasn't gone, I just wasn't where you expected me to be." He argued teasingly.
"Come back up here, please." She pleaded, ending the argument.
"Well, since you said please." Luke smiled, straightening back up and wrapping his arms around her. "No more eavesdropping on me and the baby."
"The baby is attached to me. If you need to keep anything private it should probably wait until after we're separated."
"You're supposed to talk to the baby. It's good for them. I want them to know who their daddy is."
"They'll know. And it was adorable, by the way."
"I'm not adorable." Luke grumbled.
"You don't get to argue with me, I'm carrying your child."
"You'd better keep using that card, you've only got 6 months left on it."
"No, six months from now I'll be able to say 'I carried your child.' This card doesn't have an expiration date."
"Lucky me." Luke remarked sarcastically.
"And don't you forget it." Lorelai concluded.
"I won't," he assured her more seriously. "You should go back to sleep."
"I don't want to go to sleep, there's a handsome man in my bed."
"Staying up all night probably isn't helping your fatigue during the day."
"The fatigue is because the baby doesn't have my caffeine tolerance yet." Lorelai grumbled. She gave up coffee willingly for the health of her baby, but that didn't mean she wouldn't complain about it.
"And hopefully she never will."
"She? You hoping for a girl?"
"You know what I want. I want a happy, healthy baby. But we seem to have good luck with girls."
"Yeah, we do."
"Maybe I'll get this one to go fishing or toss a ball."
"Yeah, and maybe she'll eat salads." Lorelai teased, rolling her eyes.
"I'm willing to compromise."
"I hope that she's like you. Smart, calm, steady."
"I hope she gets your eyes."
"We have the same eyes."
"We do not have the same eyes. That doesn't even make sense." Luke said and Lorelai giggled, knowing exactly where this fake-fight would go as they had had it many times before. "And besides, I hope she's like you. Excited about things, bright. Wanting everything the world will give her and then some."
"That attitude got me in a lot of trouble, mister."
"Oh god. She can't leave the house. If we have a girl she can't leave the house." Luke realized.
"Luke Danes! 1965 called, they want their ideologies back." Lorelai gasped
"The progressive women's movement is for women who aren't my daughters. My kids can stay safe at home until they're thirty."
"You let Rory go."
"I had to let Rory go. She has so much to offer the world."
"So does April."
"Not yet. April has two years left of being daddy's little girl. Don't take them away from me."
"They'll always be your girls. All three of them."
"She's looking at Yale."
"April?"
"Yeah."
"That's close. She'd get to spend a lot of time with her baby sister. That sounds really nice, Luke."
"You think so?" Luke asked, lifting his head to look at her a little.
"Of course I do, Luke. She's your daughter, and my step-daughter, practically, and our baby's big sister. I love April. You know that." Lorelai defended herself.
"I know, I know. You're not the one I'm doubting."
"What does that mean?" She asked, turning around in his arms to look at his face.
"I just, I don't know. I don't want her to be upset. I don't want her to think 'why didn't he do that for me? Why didn't he change my diapers, why didn't he warm my bottles?' You know? I don't want her to think that I want the new baby more or her any less."
"Oh, Luke, she won't think that. She knows that you didn't know about her. She knows you would have been there if you had known. I think you've more than proven yourself over these past few years. She won't be jealous, Luke. She's a smart girl. She knows better."
"We going to tell people soon?"
"After my next ultrasound, I think. Once you make it through the first trimester it's pretty safe. We need to tell my parents."
"And April."
"Sookie."
"Mia."
"Mia," Lorelai agreed. They hadn't seen her in years but she was important to both Lorelai and Luke when they were younger.
"You know, all of this conversation could have waited until the morning."
"Goodnight, Cranky."
"Goodnight, Lorelai."