Author's Note: A shiny new chapter of my story 'Baby Of Mine', full with the drama and the fluff that are the essence of this story. Last chapter was full of drama. Luke proposing, the fight between him and Chris, Sherri and Christopher's loss... I tried to come with another solution to their situation but my usually creative mind failed me. I really didn't plan on Sherri losing the baby - I believe I already told you I write following my instincts? Sherri's miscarriage was so hard for me to write, especially with my beautiful Chiara. I cried a lot.
NEWS: I am a mommy! My beautiful baby daughter Chiara Elizabeth arrived at April 18, exactly the same day TomKat's kitten Suri.
Shipper: Rory/Tristan, Lorelai/Luke, hints of Lorelai/Christopher.
Chapter Summary: In the aftermath of 'Heart to Heart' events, a dream of Sherri reveals her the secret of Lorelai and Christopher, but she fails to see it.
Baby Of Mine
Chapter Ten - Nightmares
The sun was starting to rise, marking the beginning of a new day, in a cloudless sky, when Tristan pulled up his car into the Gilmore's driveway. He supported his forehead against the wheel, sighing. It had been a hard, sad night, with the death of Christopher and Sherri's unborn baby girl.
Sherri had a crisis of hysteria and, according to the nurse, it had been necessary that the doctor gave her a sleeping pill so she could get some rest. Christopher never left her bedside, worried what she would be feeling when she woke up from her induced sleep. It didn't matter that he didn't love her and didn't want to get married to her - she had been his girlfriend for quite some time and had lost his baby.
Tristan got out of his shiny vehicle, rubbing his hazy eyes and walked to the door, being surprised when a clearly anxious Rory pulled it open.
"So, what happened? How's Sherri?" She asked as she ushered him in. Tristan scratched his sore neck.
"Sherri's gonna be fine", he said in a murmur, running his fingers into his spiky hair. Rory felt sorry for her love as she noticed the heavy bags under his usually bright blue eyes, which were now clouded with exhaustion and sleep. "But the baby..." He shook his head sadly. "She lost it".
"Oh, Jesus", Rory fell onto the couch, shell shocked, her hand convering her mouth. Surprise shone into her blue eyes. "How's she? How's daddy?"
"She had a pretty bad reaction", Tristan said falling onto the couch next to his fiancée. "And your father grieved. He loved the baby already".
"Sure", she nodded. He smiled tightly.
"But, on the bright side, he and I came to an agreement about us", he pointed at her and then at himself. Rory looked curiously at him.
"Really?"
"Really", he nodded. "I made him see that I love you. Don't ask me how". He yawned. She smiled sympathetically.
"Poor baby, you wanna go to bed?" She asked him speaking like a small child. He grinned naughtily.
"You offering?"
She blushed a little and smacked his forehead lightly. "Always with the dirty thoughts. Although I'd love it, my mom is at home and you're tired. It'd be more probably that you'd sleep on top of me".
He shrugged. "You're right, I guess. I'm too tired to do anything besides catching up with my sleep", he yawned and got up a little bit, allowing her to stand up. After she was up, he folded his arms and rested his head on them. One eye opened sleepily. "Can I nap here?"
She smiled lovingly. "Sure, bible boy", she covered him with a light blanket. "Night. Sweet dreams".
"Love you, babe", he muttered incoherently, nearly asleep. She smiled tenderly.
Sherri was engulfed in darkness, yelling desperately. She looked down at herself and panicked. Where was her baby? She knew she was carrying a baby... She was sure she was going to be a mother. But she knew she hadn't given birth yet. So, she was supposed to have a growing belly. But - and she looked down at herself to confirm it - there was nothing there. Where was it?
Tears running down her cheeks, Sherri ran. She ran until she was out of breath and her legs hurt and her lungs burnt. But she never managed to escape the suffocating darkness that seemed to be strangling her. Suddenly, a little white point of light appeared between the solid darkness and, relieved, she ran a little more. She stepped into it - and a second later wished she was back into the murdering darkness. Being suffocated was better than feeling the breathtaking terror that twisted her soul as her eyes grew accostumed to the light and she could distinguish the adults on the center of the white room.
Christopher and Lorelai stood side by side, surrounded by Rory and Tristan. There were wide smiles into their faces and they all were looking in loving curiosity at a baby who slept soundly, safe in the cradle of Lorelai's arms. At first Sherri felt relief thinking she had finally found her baby. Of course the baby was hers - otherwise why would Christopher be looking at it with such love and awe?
She stepped forward, her feet making a sound that rang too loudly into the stilled silence of the room. The four of them looked up, curiosity filling their eyes as they recognized her. Lorelai held the baby a little tighter. Looking at her and then at each other, Tristan, Rory and Christopher exchanged a nod, stepping forward and standing shoulder by shoulder, building a protective wall around Lorelai and the child. Sherri frowned.
"What are you doing here?" Her fiancé asked clearly not understanding why she was there. Lorelai, oblivious to the exchange, cooed at the baby.
"I was looking for our baby, honey", Sherri replied lovingly. "Tell Lorelai to give me my baby".
Rory looked at her with eyes full of desbelief.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, clearly confused. "What baby?"
Sherri felt the first seeds of anger growing into her soul.
"I want my child!" She screamed. Was Lorelai going to take her daughter away from her? Why? Wasn't the beautiful, intelligent, sweet, smart Rory enough? "Gimme my baby!"
"She doesn't understand", Lorelai stated from behind the human wall. They sidestepped and made space for her to appear in the middle of them, having Chris at her right and Rory at her left. For the first time, Sherri noticed the baby was wrapped in a light blue handmade blanket. "This is not your child".
"Whose baby is it then?"
Lorelai and Christopher shared an intimate, loving smile. His arm slided slowly to wrap itself around her trim waist, his fingers caressing her shapely hipbone. Sherri noticed the sparkle of golden in Christopher's and Lorelai's left hands and looked down at her own hand. Her beautiful, antique diamond ring - the one that had been Christopher's greatgrandmother and was now hers as his fiancée - was gone. She panicked.
"It's ours", Lorelai stated softly.
"Gabriel Christopher Gilmore-Hayden. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hayden".
She screamed.
Sherri woke up with a startle, sweaty and dizzy. Where was she? Suddenly the events of the previous night came rushing back to her and she looked down at her abdomen. It was flat again. Tears filled her eyes. Her beautiful, baby princess... Born of her love for Christopher... Gone. Dead. Why?
The dream (no, the nightmare) filled her mind. She couldn't understand why her mind had conceived such a scene. Lorelai's baby wasn't Christopher's, she knew that much. Lorelai had told Christopher and Christopher had told her. It was fruit of one-night-stand of its mother with some guy named Luke.
Christopher was nowhere to be seen. She bit her lower lip. Where was he? She knew he knew she had lost their baby, he was there when they heard the final bip of the fetal heart monitor, he had cried with her mourning their deceased child.
He walked in a little later, a beautiful sandy-blondish haired, blue eyed woman right behind him. The woman wore a pair of impossibly tight jeans and a white T-shirt that hugged all the right curves. Sherri smiled thinly at him, noticing fondly the bags under his eyes and his wrinkled shirt. He simply nodded at her, turning to the woman.
"Hey", he kissed Sherri's forehead briefly. "How are you feeling?"
Dead. Lost. Desperate. Panicked. Afraid. "Empty", she replied truthfully. "I was already used to the belly. You?"
Relieved. Sad. Hopeful. "What I'm feeling is not important right now", he replied slightly coolly. Shaken by her dream - nightmare -, Sherri felt panic growing inside of her."This is Chelsea", he introduced the woman. "She's my twin".
"Hey", Chelsea muttered coldly. She hadn't liked this woman her brother was going to marry and for her it didn't matter if Sherri noticed her dislike. Chris's twin was still the leader of the cheerleading squad for Christopher and Lorelai. If this girl hadn't gotten knocked up, her oldest and bestest friend and her brother would be husband and wife now and everyone including that stunning niece of hers would be happy.
"Hello", Sherri said politely. "Nice to meet you".
Chelsea shrugged and went to a window. She didn't like hospitals. Having felt the hostility radiating from Chelsea towards Sherri, Christopher cleared his throat.
"Hum... Right. Rory called this morning. She said she's sorry for our loss and is coming later with Tristan to visit you".
Something like panic flickered inside Sherri's eyes.
"Rory knows?" She squeaked. With Rory knowing it was sure that Lorelai also knew already. Christopher nodded.
"I was with her and Tristan at Stars Hollow when Drake managed to reach me", Christopher said. Sherri's eyes narrowed.
"What were you doing there?" She asked, a hint of jealousy into her voice.
"Drake told me Tristan and Rory are going to get married and I went there to ask my daughter if it's true", he lied - partly. He had gone there to ask Lorelai if Rory's engagement to Tristan was true, but he actually was with the young couple when he received the news of Sherri's miscarriage.
Sherri widened her eyes. Chelsea squeaked in surprise - Lorelai had forgotten to mention that when they talked earlier that week.
"Excuse me", she interrupted her brother, "Rory's getting married to Janlan DuGrey's grandson, Chris?"
Christopher nodded. "She is".
Chelsea let out a low whistle. "Wow. Mother and father are proud, I guess".
"They still don't know", Christopher said. Chelsea shrugged, a wicked glint inside her eyes.
"They're gonna be. Rory's managed to get what neither of us failed to do".
"A proper wedding", Christopher completed with a nod.
"Proper?" Sherri asked, feeling slightly sick. She sensed she was not going to like what her sister-in-law-to-be was going to say. Chelsea smirked at the other woman.
"Oh, yes. With someone who belongs to Hartford's circle of good families. You know - the heir or heiress to a great fortune, with beauty and intelligence. Someone who is worthy of being the spouse of a Hayden". She shrugged. "Getting married was never one of my plans and Annabelle is too much a hopeless romantic to submit herself to Mother's and Father's orders. However, Chris here", she winked at her brother, giving his shoulder a friendly slap, "nearly managed to walk the only heiress to the Gilmore's fortune down the aisle, but Lorelai isn't my best friend just because of her beautiful eyes".
Sherri paled. Christopher glared at Chelsea, who turned back to the window with a smirk curving his lips. Someone knocking on the door broke the uneasy silence, and Chris sent a quick prayer of thanks to the heavens before saying:
"Come in!"
Rory, tightly holding hands with Tristan, walked in. The young man had a bouquet of white lilies in his free hand. Rory smiled at Chelsea and stood on her tiptoes to give Christopher's cheek a kiss. Tristan smiled politely at Sherri and shook Chris' hand firmly - the young man's ease around her fiancé made Sherri widen her eyes. For as long as she remembered, Tristan feared Christopher and the latter played very well the role of jealous father. As Chris introduced Tristan to Chelsea, Rory approached Sherri's bedside.
"How are you feeling?" She asked quietly. Sherri smiled weakly.
"I'm going to be okay", she took Rory's right hand on hers and looked at her engagement ring. "Congratulations are in order", she said. "I'm sure you're going to be very happy. Tristan loves you very much".
Rory blushed, but a smile graced her face as she looked around.
"I said yes to Tristan's proposal here", she said lightly. "His sister was having a surgery", she lied - mentioning a baby around Sherri would break her. "And we were waiting for news. Everyone was so tense because there were complications. But then the doctor came out from the operation room and said she was going to be fine. And we partied. Between the mess, I whispered yes into his ear"".
"And when he proposed?"
"When in the way to here", Rory said. "I feel like I'm gonna wake up and realize this is all a dream".
Sherri tried to focus on Rory's small talk, but her dream kept coming back to haunt her, and her eyes kept going for Chris' form, which was standing next to the window, talking in whispers to his twin.