Disclaimer in first chapter.

Okay, I know it's been awhile since I posted an update to this story too but the good news is that I have most of the next chapter already finished so you shouldn't have to wait this long for another update again!

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"Ooh what about this one? Or this one? But this one is pretty too. This one would look great in the kitchen and before you say anything I know you just recently painted the kitchen before we moved in but this color just screams 'kitchen." Lorelai laughed, "It's even named after a food."

As Luke stood at the kitchen sink, he had his back to his wife who cooed over what seemed liked endless paint samples much to his own annoyance. Since Cesar wanted more time at the diner, Luke allowed him to open up this morning while he stayed home and spent the morning with Lorelai. In hindsight he thought the idea was great, a lazy weekday morning at home with his wife, until Lorelai broke out her paint chips that she had successfully hidden from Luke for the past few weeks and declared that they could use this time to pick out a paint color for the nursery. But her version of them picking out paint colors was her oohing and aahing over every color while he just nodded along and hoped she would choose a color soon. He blamed himself since over the past week he harped on about how they needed to choose a color soon so painting the nursery could be one thing they could check off their to-do list before the baby was born.

Luke finished cleaning up the rest of their breakfast mess before he turned around to face Lorelai who was leaned back against the counter with one hand flipping through paint samples and one hand resting on her small rounded midsection that seemed more prominent that it did just a couple of weeks ago. He sighed inwardly when she cooed over yet another color that was probably for some other room in the house besides the nursery.

"I think I have found the perfect color for the nursery," Lorelai announced much to his surprise. She smiled and turned the card towards him, "What do you think? Could our baby grow up in a room this color?"

Honestly he couldn't tell the difference in this shade of yellow from the other shades of yellow she showed him this morning over breakfast. They were all a pastel shade of yellow that had some ridiculous name attached to make the color 'cutesy', as Lorelai called them.

"I think it looks the same as every other color you showed me this morning," Luke replied gruffly.

Lorelai made a face. "Okay, someone's grumpy this morning."

"I'm not grumpy."

"And I'm not pregnant – oh wait," Lorelai quipped with a smirk on her face. "So whats with the tude mister? I'm supposed to be the one with the mood swings."

"I'm not grumpy," Luke insisted. He ran his hand through his hair that was unburdened by his usual blue baseball cap. "It's just that color looks the same as every color you already showed me."

"See that's where you're wrong. There are subtle differences," Lorelai corrected him. "Slight and subtle but still there." She moved closer to him and held the paint chip at eye level. "So yes or no for our future child's room?"

Luke gently nudged the color sample away from his face, "Do you like it?"

Lorelai nodded eagerly. "It reminds me of these little duckies that Rory and I used to feed at the Inn when she was little. Whenever I got the chance we would sit outside in the afternoon, throw little pieces of bread at them, and Rory would end up chasing them and laughing because at two years old, ducks were her favorite animals."

"If you like this color then we can paint the nursery this color."

"I know that I like this but I want to know if you like it."

Before Luke could tell her that she was definitely better at the whole decorating and deciding paint colors for certain rooms than he was, a voice called out interrupting them. "Mom? Luke?"

"Kitchen babe," Lorelai replied. She looked up at Luke, "I'll just get Rory's opinion on the color."

A few minutes later Rory entered the kitchen with two duffel bags filled to the brim with dirty laundry which Luke immediately took from her and carried them towards the laundry room. Lorelai turned her attention to her daughter and held the paint chip that she tried to get Luke's opinion on out towards her.

"Quick! What does this color make you think of?"

"Aww little duckies," Rory responded almost as soon as her mother finished asking the question.

Lorelai grinned, "Exactly what I said." She turned around the minute she heard Luke coming up behind her. "Rory agrees on the color. So if you also agree we will have the paint color for the nursery."

Luke plucked the color sample from Lorelai's hand and slid it into the pocket of his flannel shirt. "I'll pick up the paint when I go to the hardware store."

Lorelai sent a smile in her daughter's direction, "That's his way of saying that he likes the color." She tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked at Luke, "And here you were worried that I was never going to choose a color. But see wasn't this painless?"

"Painless for you maybe," Luke replied.

"Oh hush."

Luke chuckled before he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll head out to the store now, let you spend some time with Rory." Instead of pressing a kiss to her belly as per usual, his hand rested there while his thumb rubbed small circles against the fabric of her shirt. "Call me if you need anything."

Lorelai leaned in and pressed her lips to his quickly. "I know babe."

The husband and wife shared another goodbye kiss before Luke turned and left the kitchen leaving the mother and daughter alone which Lorelai thought of as much needed mother and daughter time since their individual schedules left them for little time for each other lately.

"Not that I'm complaining about you coming by for a visit..."

"Or to do laundry," Rory interjected.

"To come visit your one and only, breathtaking mother," Lorelai continued on, successfully sidestepping Rory's need to do laundry. "It's a weekday, usually I see you Friday nights and weekends. What gives? No classes today?"

Rory shook her head, "Some professors canceled classes today so I figured I would take the time to do my laundry that was piling up. I was just going to do it at school but it seemed that everyone else had the same idea to do laundry so I decided to come home."

"Aww hon, you don't have to make up excuses just because you miss your mommy. I know with the new baby on the way that you might get a little jealous but I still love you too," Lorelai replied, a teasing smile crossed her face while her daughter rolled her eyes.

"Ha-ha very funny mom. So laundry?"

"The washer and dryer are free of charge in the monetary way but just note that they do come with having to spend time with your mother," Lorelai chimed in.

Rory nodded her head as she bypassed her mother and left the kitchen with the laundry room in mind as her destination. "You know giving someone something and requiring them to spend time with you sounds an awful lot like someone else I know."

Lorelai gasped as she followed close behind her daughter, "Don't you dare compare me to my mother. That's a way to get you voted off the favorite daughter list."

"You know you might not be able to use the favorite daughter thing for long, especially if this baby is a girl," Rory responded as she separated her dirty clothes in preparation to load them all into the washing machine.

"In that case, I'll use it while I can." Lorelai went to work helping Rory out with her laundry as they chatted. "So what's going on with you daughter of mine?"

"Let's see, school, school, and more school," Rory replied, placing her first load of laundry into the washing machine. "And on top of that even more school."

"Well it can't be too much school since I know that you spent most of last weekend playing kissy-face with your boyfriend."

"I take breaks for what's important."

"Not that I want to think about that but just as long as you're being careful," Lorelai responded. "But seriously, you're not working yourself too hard at school, right? You're doing okay?"

"Oh yeah," Rory replied quickly to assure her mother. "I'm doing fine. I'm not really complaining about the work because I do like most of it, just busy between the schoolwork and trying to write for the paper. Really though, college is great."

Lorelai nodded along as her daughter spoke, "Okay. Just checking in. There's no harm in dropping a class if everything is too much. I just want you to get the most out of your college experience."

"I know. But really Mom there's nothing to worry about, I'm great. School is going great."

Lorelai smiled, "That's what I like to hear kid."

With the first load of laundry going, the mother and daughter moved back to the kitchen where Lorelai put on a pot of coffee, the real stuff that Luke kept hidden from her since finding out about the pregnancy. When Rory pointed that out, Lorelai made sure to tell her that she had followed Luke's wishes over the past few days so it was perfectly acceptable to have a cup of the real coffee instead of the decaf that Luke insisted upon.

"I'll keep your coffee secret," Rory promised as she poured two cups of the precious liquid and passed one off to her mother before joining her at the small table in the kitchen. "So what about you? How's everything in the Hollow?"

"I'm good, your unborn sibling is healthy and growing and forcing me out of most of my clothes and into some of the new clothes I bought that aren't as cute as my clothes before," Lorelai started off. "Luke's his normal self, grumpy that he's doing something for the town although he was never even asked, he's just doing it because it needs to be done."

"Sounds about right."

"He went on a whole rant about not fixing the table that Taylor complained about since it would ruin The Festival of the Living Arts but that same night he was already out in his workshop working on the table," Lorelai informed her daughter. "Sometimes I think he just goes on rants because people expect him to."

Rory laughed. "I hardly think that's the case with Luke. You know he's just a softy who on the outside claims he never wants to do anything for this town but deep down he loves this place and will help out with festivals when it is needed."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed. "Oh did I tell you that Sookie's mid-wife kicked me out of the house when I went to visit her the other day?"

"What did you do now?" Rory asked. "Why would a mid-wife kick you out?"

"Apparently I give off anti-mid-wife vibes," Lorelai explained. One of her hands moved down to her baby bump, "When she noticed that I was pregnant too, she asked if I had a mid-wife lined up and if I was going to follow in Sookie's footsteps and have the kid at home but when I said no, she got upset and told me that Sookie's baby didn't need to absorb my anti-mid-wife vibes because it would create a hostile environment for the baby. Before she kicked me out though she gave me her number in case I needed her as a mid-wife."

"Wow," Rory sighed. "She sounds..."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed with her daughter even though she never finished her sentence. "I do love Sookie and support her with her mid-wife decision but this kid is coming out like you did."

"With you in a hospital throwing ice chips at the nurses?"

"Well they have no other use."

Lorelai savored the last little bit of her coffee and when Rory went back to fix herself a second cup of the caffeinated beverage, she made the switch from coffee to water which Rory couldn't help but tease her about since she had never witnessed her mother stopping after just one cup. When the timer buzzed letting Rory know that her laundry was done, she disappeared for a few minutes to prepare another load. When she returned to the kitchen, she found her mother saying goodbye to her own mother before setting the phone down with a confused look on her face.

"What's going on?" Rory asked, "Was that grandma?"

Lorelai nodded her head slowly, "Yep, that was definitely your grandma."

"Is something wrong?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Nothing's wrong," she assured her daughter, "Well at least not yet. I think that your grandma is up to something."

Rory sighed and began to search through the kitchen for something to snack on. "You always think Grandma is up to something."

"But you have to admit I'm right most of the time, like with your furniture at Yale. I knew that grandma had something to do with redoing your dorm room," Lorelai reminded her daughter.

"But you're also wrong some of the time," Rory pointed out. "Grandma is not always up to something."

"Okay, I'll let you have that one but this time I'm pretty sure she's up to something. She's called me like three times in the past few days just to check in. She doesn't do that. She maybe calls like once and then we just catch up at Friday Night dinner," Lorelai explained. "But with these phone calls, she keeps asking what we have done for the baby and what we haven't done or what we're planning on doing. Her questions are getting more specific every time she calls."

"Maybe she is just checking in," Rory pointed out. "You said that she said she wanted to be more involved in your life since finding out that she's going to be a grandmother again, maybe that's what she is trying to do."

"You give your grandmother the benefit of the doubt too much hon."

In between loads of laundry, the mother and daughter chatted incessantly until they were all caught up on things that they didn't get to discuss during their recent phone calls. Lorelai droned about how she couldn't wait for The Festival of the Living Arts to be over since that would hopefully be the end of Kirk going overboard for his role as Jesus and trying to gain followers throughout the town. Rory spoke of how having Paris as a roommate wasn't as bad as she originally thought it would be even though she still talked in her sleep and of how her relationship with Jess was still doing along just fine. Lorelai, happy that she had plenty of time to spend with her daughter, didn't even care that she actually ended up doing most of her daughter's laundry herself.

Later that night with Rory gone and Luke out in his workshop working on either their unborn child's crib or the table that he insisted he was not going to make, Lorelai sat curled up on the couch with the TV playing and serving as background noise while she went over some paperwork for the Inn that needed to be done. She adjusted the glasses on her face and made sure she was reading the numbers right since it seemed like every time she check in on the progress of the Inn that there was something else that needed to be done which meant in putting more money in than originally planned. After a few minutes, she decided that the paperwork could wait at least until the morning and she switched her choice of reading material over to a book of baby names.

In her book of baby names, she had a small slip of paper and a pen to make a list for when she found certain names that she liked. While she was pondering the fact over why some parents chose to name their babies ridiculous names, she heard the back door open and then the sound of Luke's boots clomping through the house soon after. She heard him make a stop in the kitchen before he walked into the living room and announced that he was done working for the night while simultaneously going on about why he agreed to make the table for the festival in the first place. Lorelai chose not to remind him that no one asked him and that he actually just volunteered. Instead she placed the baby name book down in her lap and reached out her arms, waving him towards the couch.

"Come on, sit," Lorelai called out to him and patted the spot on the couch next to her, "We can look through this book and see if we find any names that we like."

Luke shook his head, "I'm all sweaty. I need to shower first and then we can look through the book."

"You said that last time and then you fell asleep right after your shower, leaving me to look through the book alone," Lorelai reminded him. "It's going to be your fault if I end up naming this kid Lorelai too."

"I work hard, I was tired," Luke defended himself, he pointed his finger towards her, "And Lorelai is not an option for our baby. There are enough Lorelai's in this house."

Lorelai grinned, "Fine, no more Lorelai's. But for that to happen, you need to go through the names with me. I know it's early and we still have a while but still come and sit and look through the names with me." When Luke shook his head and mouthed the word shower while also heading towards the staircase, Lorelai poked out her bottom lip in a pout. "At least kiss me before you hop in the shower."

Luke moved back towards the couch where Lorelai sat and leaned down over her. His hand slid into her hair and held her close to him as he kissed her deeply. He pulled away only to have Lorelai pull him back and kiss him again.

"Better?" Luke asked once they finally broke apart.

"Mhmm, much better," Lorelai nodded her head as the smile grew ten-fold on her face. "Besides I think it's kind of hot."

Luke had a confused look on his face, "What are you talking about now?"

"You," Lorelai said grinning. "You outside in your workshop being all manly man and working with power tools, or you outside chopping wood with your shirt off," she pondered, lost in her own mind as she conjured up the very image of her husband chopping wood with his shirt off. An image that she was very grateful for at the moment.

"Let me stop you right there, I wasn't chopping wood and I had my shirt on the entire time."

"Shhh," Lorelai instructed him. "You're ruining the image I have of you in my mind." She reached out for him again, wound his arms around his neck, and pulled him back down to her level. "I think my man is very hot," she purred into his ear.

Luke flushed red from head-to-toe as her warm breath misted against his skin. While he didn't enjoy the mood swings that had Lorelai blaming him for things that he wasn't even aware that he had done, like accidentally suggesting that Sookie might be having twins, he had to admit there were certain perks to her pregnancy hormones. He knew that he should stick to his original stance of a shower since he had spent all afternoon working in his workshop but with the way that Lorelai was nipping at his neck, he knew that his original plan was quickly going out the window.

The baby name book eventually fell onto the floor and was forgotten about as it was kicked underneath the couch when Luke fell back onto the couch and pulled Lorelai into his lap where she continued her hormone-induced pursuance on him.

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