A/N: I can't remember which one of you it was that told me that Richard needed to know, but here's the chapter before Richard finds out, so I hope you enjoy it. This one was pretty easy to write, and I hope you enjoy it. It's set five years in the future, for any of you that wonder about the timeline. The story is about to get heavier starting the next few chapters, and then eventually it will simmer down into fluff and then probably will hit a heavy point again. Keep with me, people, I'm loving writing it and all I know is the endpoint, but how I get there, you guys can help me decide. I hope you love it, please R&R!

Not mine.

Five years later (Lydia's POV)

"Hold mommy's hand tight, honey," I said, looking down at my four year old daughter Christina. She smiled up at me as we crossed the street, her little body bouncing higher than Tigger after a pot of coffee. Her blonde ringlets were bouncing with her body, and her dark green eyes looked up at me.

"Mommy, hurry, I want to go see Auntie Lorelai!" I laughed and hurried my steps a little. "I need to show her my new Barbie, hurry! You know how much she loves my Barbies!" I laughed and opened the door to the inn, letting go of Christina's hand. I watched as she sprinted up to the front desk and pulled at Lorelai's skirt.

"Auntie Lorelai! Auntie Lorelai! Look at my new Barbie!" Lorelai crouched down to Christina's level and admired her Barbie, her eyes completely focused on the little girl. As I watched them, I couldn't help but think, as I often did, how Lorelai would make such an incredible mother when the time came. She had patience with little kids that I could only dream of having. Four year olds can really wear you out, but Lorelai wasn't worn out by anything. Maybe it was the coffee, but I doubt it. The girl had a natural energy about her. She'd had it since the day I met her in the sandbox when we were four. She was go-go-go.

Christina ran into the lounge with her Barbie and I took the opportunity to make my way over to Lorelai. I hugged her tight. "It's divorce Barbie. She comes with all of Ken's stuff." Lorelai laughed.

"Good to see you, Lydia." She smiled, sitting down on the nearest couch. "Business is slow today, I'm glad my two favorite girls stopped by."

I smiled at her. She had a new glimmer in her eyes. I hadn't seen it for a while. I wondered what could possibly make her so smiley today. "Yes, well, we have to see Auntie Lorelai, you know."

Lorelai smiled. "How's she doing?"

"Oh, she's doing great. She's getting excited about going to Kindergarten next year. Right now she's in her Disney Princess phase and she really loves Sleeping Beauty. She's painting the walls now, too. Great bright colors. Blues and Reds. Luckily, she uses her finger paints so it's not that hard to get off." I laugh and think about yesterday when she made hand prints all over my walls. She'd genuinely thought I'd love it since I liked her Christmas ornament this year, which was her little hands and feet painted on stone. The whole only coloring on paper thing was way over her head.

Lorelai smiled. "And how's Stephen?" I smiled as I thought of my husband. I'd met him during our senior year in college and had instantly taken a liking to him. We'd gotten married before Christmas the next year and the following summer little Christina had come into the world. We were quite the fast movers. Emily always said I was the type to jump in and never look back. Not at all like Lorelai. She's the type that never jumps.

"He's good. Any men in your life?" I ask, hoping for a different answer today.

"Nope, not since last Wednesday, at least." She answers, and I know she doesn't want to elaborate. Lorelai hasn't had the best track record with relationships. It's been long and lengthy and with more heartache than I can fathom. Chris was the beginning of her relationship problems. The lousy bastard. After he'd found out she'd miscarried he'd refused to talk to her about anything. He completely shut her out and pretended as if he'd never known her. It was rather convenient for him. He'd moved out west to California and flunked himself out of UCLA. Last I heard he was living in a trailer park somewhere in Alabama with some cheap hoe. He never quite realized his "full potential," as his parents called it.

Alex was next, and he was actually not a bad guy at all. They never fought and he treated her like a princess, but Lorelai couldn't have that. For some reason, she thinks she must be punished for all of her life for the one mistake she made with Chris. She broke up with Alex when things got too serious. It wasn't that she didn't want to marry him or be with him, she was just scared. He tried to get her to see the truth, and he tried to convince her that she was meant to be with him, and that she deserved to be happy. But Lorelai's stubborn, and when she decides something, there's no going back. And even though Alex tried to win her back more times than I ever thought possible, and even though he nearly succeeded, ultimately, she was too scared, and she ran away. She still talks to him every now and then. Last I heard he was a fancy lawyer up in New York with a mortgage, a wife, and two little girls. He was doing pretty well, too.

After Alex came Jason, the stock-broker. He was interesting. He was the first relationship Lorelai didn't ask us girls to sign off on. He was quite charming and he lured her in with his good looks. Lorelai didn't even see it coming. After what happened with Alex she'd told herself she had to give him everything she could. Well, everything short of sex because Lorelai made it quite clear she wasn't going there again. Not until she was settled down. Ultimately, that's what ended it between her and Jason. She wouldn't put out, so he found someone who would. He always was an asshole.

Her latest squeeze was a man named Max. Max was a lot like Alex in that he loved and respected Lorelai more than she could handle. He was one of my coworkers at Chilton, and they met through some talent show or other school function they both went to. Lorelai was automatically smitten with him. He could keep up with her wild banter and random conversations; he was nice looking, and he genuinely liked her. They dated for over a year. She even let him kiss her goodnight and they exchanged their three words constantly. They were most definitely in love. And then Max made a terrible mistake. He asked her to marry him. It was quite romantic. He made her a video and told her all of the things he loved about her and all of the things he wanted out of their relationship. One of which was a white picket fence with three little kids playing on the floor. Then he got on one knee and proposed. She ran off and broke his heart. It wasn't that she didn't want to marry Max, she just couldn't handle the idea of giving herself away to someone again, and the possibility of getting pregnant and losing another child was more than she could take. And if Max wanted children, she didn't want her fears to keep him from having what he wanted. And so she left. He's still single. And lonely. But he only wanted what's best for her.

"Okay," I said, remembering our conversation last week. "What is new?"

"I think I'm going to tell my dad," she said, looking at me. "He deserves to know, right?"

I nodded. "You know I think you should have told him years ago. He could have helped you through it."

She looked down at her hands. "I just don't want him to be ashamed of me." She said softly, tears forming in her eyes.

I reached over and took her hands in mine. "Lorelai, your father won't be ashamed of you. He loves you. He wants you to be happy."

She nods. "I let him down though. He wanted a good, Christian daughter… He got me."

I looked at her incredulously. "Lorelai. You are a good, Christian daughter. Sex doesn't make you a heathen."

She sighed. "No, but it sure makes you feel like one."

I touched her face lightly. "Lorelai, talk to your father. Tell him. Maybe when you do you'll finally be able to move on from all this." She looked at me like she could never move on and opened her mouth to protest. "No, listen to me. I know you're hurting. I know it's painful. But you can't stop living your life because you had one road block. If everyone that miscarried stopped living her life, can you imagine how many dead, lifeless people we'd have? Lorelai, you're too special to be wasting your life away on something like this. You need to get past this. Maybe Richard can help you."

She looked up at me and nodded. She bit her lip in her tell-tale sign that she was scared and nervous. I squeezed her hand lightly and she looked down at it.

"Okay." She said softly. Inside I was surprised. Had Lorelai really just agreed to tell her father? To begin to get over this mess that was eating her up inside? Was she really about to start living her life again?

She got up and went over to the front desk and picked up the phone, staring at me the entire time. "Hi Dad… it's me." I heard her voice shaking, but it didn't seem as if it would be too visible across a telephone line. "I need to talk to you about something important… No, I'm fine, I just want to talk with you… I'd rather not do lunch… Can I come over sometime? Yeah, tomorrow afternoon is fine. I'll be there at three. I love you too, Dad. Bye." She hung up and looked at me, tears welling up in her eyes. I got out of my chair and walked over to her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie. You'll see. It's going to be fine." And with that I kissed her cheek and turned around to see Christina and Barbie heading toward me, ready to go home.