A/N: I don't like this chapter. I don't think it's my best work but I kind of wrote myself into a hole, but things should improve after this chapter b/c I've already started writing and I like it a lot better. I'm also writing under emotional stress b/c Heroes might get cancelled. :-(( Mondays, 9/8 central people!

"Mom, are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll let you know if I get there," Lorelai answered, staring at the space in front of her.

"Hey, guys, you going to Luke's?" Lane asked, joining them on the sidewalk.

"I dunno," Rory answered, looking uncertainly at her mother. "Are you up to going to Luke's, Mom?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Lorelai answered, still zoned out.

"Okay, what's going on with your mom?" Lane asked quietly.

"Well…we just got back from her appointment with her OB-GYN," Rory began.

"Oh my God, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, nothing's wrong per se, but she was measuring and looking stuff up and she decided to do a sonogram and it's not totally definitive, but the doctor seems to think Mom is either having twins, or she's giving birth to the next Chunk, though she didn't specifically say the Chunk thing."

Lane blinked as she processed. "Oh. My. God."

"I think Mom is still working up to that reaction," Rory said. "You know, I told her a long time ago she was secretly in love with Luke and wanted to have his twins, but she didn't listen to me."

"I heard that!"

"Although she has apparently inherited her mother's hearing."

"Heard that, too!"

"This is…woah. Just…woah," Lane said.

"I know," Rory agreed as they followed Lorelai into the diner.

"Hey, guys, sit anywhere," Luke told them after a quick glance in their direction. "Except for you. You work here."

"I know that, Luke," Lane replied, tying on her apron.

Lorelai and Rory sat down at an empty table without a word. Rory bit her lip and stared at her mother in concern. Luke delivered his plates to a nearby table and walked quickly over to them.

"Lorelai, are you okay?" he asked, the worry evident in his voice. "You didn't ask anybody to move. You didn't say anything. You just came from the doctor. Is everything all right? Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Lorelai answered numbly.

"Mom?" Rory prodded.

"How am I supposed to tell him?"

"I don't know!"

"Him is right here," Luke reminded them. "What are you supposed to tell me?"

"I don't have premonitious dreams, not real ones anyway."

"Premonitious isn't a word."

"How would you know?"

"I'm a professional writer dating a professional writer. I know these things."

"Know-it-all!"

"Chicken!"

"Hey!" Luke interrupted. "What the hell is going on? What premonitious dream are you talking about?"

Lorelai looked up at him sheepishly. "I told you about it. You remember, the night you let me stay with you after the fire at the Independence? You know, the alarm clocks?"

"Yeah, I remember," he said before his face went completely blank. "Wait a minute, you're not—you—we—you are—oh my God!"

Luke ran up the stairs like a man running away from a guy in a hockey mask with a chainsaw. Lorelai looked at her daughter wide-eyed.

"Should I follow him?" she asked.

"Duh!" Rory replied.

Lorelai quick-stepped after her fiancé while Rory shook her head. Lane looked at her and said, "That went well."

"Oh, yeah, it was awesome," Rory agreed sarcastically.

Rory smiled as she finished reading the sketch Jess had written for her mother's bachelorette party. She'd listened to Luke and Lorelai yell for most of the evening. They weren't angry or arguing, they were just bursting with ideas. Luke's were mostly about bedroom furniture. Lorelai was mostly coming up with names. The frontrunners so far were Milo and Otis. Luke thought Lorelai was insane, but that wasn't new.

She closed her laptop and reached for her cell phone on the nightstand. She hit the second number on her speed dial and waited as it rang.

"Hey," came the reply.

"Oh, no," Rory said, rolling her eyes. "I'm turning into one of those girls that gets butterflies at the sound of her boyfriend's voice, even if it does only come in monosyllables."

"Oh, really?"

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Don't let your head get too big, mister."

"That'd be impossible right now. I'm working on my first revision and feeling very small," he explained with a sigh.

"Poor baby."

"Yeah, and if Chris wasn't bad enough, you are a very harsh critic," he told her.

"I was an editor of a college newspaper, remember?"

"'Journalism is literature in a hurry,' remember?"

"Matthew Arnold does not know everything."

"Actually, he doesn't know anything. He's been dead for over a hundred years."

"Jess! Stop being an ass!"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, laughing.

"Changing the subject: how do you feel about Milo and Otis?"

"It was entertaining when I was seven."

"Not the movie, the names themselves."

"Works for animals. A little weird for people."

"Well, that's what Mom currently wants to name her twins."

"What twins?"

"The twins she's having with Luke."

"Jeez, is there something in the water in that place?"

"Hope not. As my mother so delicately informed me, we were going at it like bunnies last week."

"Ah, we have to make up for all the times we have to wake up alone."

"So, you just have sex with me out of a sense of obligation?"

"Oh, sure. I can get all the unobligated sex I want right here in Philly."

"Yeah, but only from women named Adrian."

"Low blow, Gilmore."

"You had it coming, Mariano."

"I miss waking up with you, Rory," he said after a pause.

Rory smiled shyly. "Was that painful to say?"

"Yeah, I'm bleeding."

"I miss waking up with you, too…but there is a lot more room for me to actually sleep."

"Gee, I feel so loved."

"You are loved, Jess, really."

"I love you, too, Rory."

"Goodnight."

"Night, Rory."

She replaced the phone and thumbed through the stack of envelopes on the nightstand. She sighed heavily before settling down in her bed and shutting off the light.

"God, why, why did I tell her she could come today?"

"Temporary insanity?" Rory suggested.

"I doubt that would hold up in a court of law."

"Or in the court of Emily Gilmore."

"I really didn't think Luke was going to go crazy, too," Lorelai said, plopping down in the armchair in the guest bedroom where they were hiding.

"Luke is trying to find out how well the house is built so it doesn't fall down on top of his wife and kids," Rory explained. "He's just being Luke."

"This house has been standing for ten years. I think it'll be okay."

"What do you actually think of this house?" Rory asked, sitting down on the trunk at the foot of the bed. "You weren't very enthusiastic about the other four we've seen today."

"I don't know," Lorelai said, glancing around the room. "There's a lot of land, which makes Luke happy, and the outside is really pretty. The inside looks like my mom's evil twin decorated it."

"It's a little gaudy," Rory agreed, "but that can be easily fixed."

"True, and this is the first house with enough bedrooms for everybody, if the twins share. Oh my God, what if they're not the same sex?"

"That's what the fourth bedroom is for."

"But where will you stay when you're in town? I want you where I can keep my eye on you."

"Wow. You are so trusting."

"Well, you are under the influence of that terrible hoodlum."

"Mom, he's not a terrible hoodlum anymore."

"I know. He just looks like one. Ooo! I know, the basement is unfinished. We could turn it into an apartment, and that way when you and Jess are having sex, Luke won't have to be uncomfortable because he can hear you."

"Oh, jeez."

"So…have you thought about all those letters you got the other day?"

"Yeah, they're just offers for interviews, but they're from all over the country, and I really want to talk to Jess about it, and it's not really a phone-type conversation," Rory explained.

"I understand, kiddo, but you are going to have a conversation with him aren't you?"

"Of course, Mom."

"And you're not going to ignore all the amazing job offers from all over the country just because you'll be farther away from Jess, are you?"

"And if I do, that's my choice," Rory replied, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Lorelai said, holding up her hands in surrender. "I just want what's best for you, kid."

"I know, but did you ever think that maybe I want what's best for me, too, and so does Jess?"

"I guess," Lorelai replied glumly. "I just feel like I should still be the one that's always got your back."

"Oh, Mom," Rory began, sitting on the arm of the chair, "I'll always want you on my side…just don't be so bossy about it."

"Me? Bossy? No!"

Rory giggled and hugged her mother.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Oh, hey, Mom," Lorelai said, seeing her mother in the doorway. "We were just…enjoying the décor.

"Are you serious? This house is completelyover designed."

"Told you. Evil twin," Lorelai said to Rory.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lorelai quickly excused.

"Well, I think this house would be perfect for you," Emily announced. "There are plenty of rooms, new appliances in the kitchen, the exterior is well-maintained, you're only a quarter of an hour from both Hartford and Stars Hollow, so your children will have plenty of choices when it comes to school. The interior design flaws can easily be overcome."

"Duly noted, Mom."

"Hey," Luke said, appearing behind Emily, "I just talked to Tom and he's going to do a walk-through tomorrow, but this place is the best constructed of any we've seen today, but, you know, we still have time if you want to keep looking."

"Let's make them an offer they can't refuse," Lorelai answered quickly.

"You sure?" Luke asked. "I mean, we still have time, we could—"

"Lorelai, this is highly irregular for this sort of thing, even for you."

"I don't want to house hunt anymore. My feet can't take it," she whined. "Impulsive decisions have always worked for me in the past. Why not now?"

"Lorelai, there are more people involved here than just you."

Lorelai looked at her fiancé who smirked in return. "I'll go talk to the realtor."

"Rory, where are you taking me? It's late, I've worked all day, I'm extremely pregnant, and I'm exhausted. What—"

"Surprise!"

"Oh my God!" Lorelai cried as Rory pulled Miss Patty's door aside. "What-what's all this?"

"Your bachelorette party," Rory explained.

"But I'm pregnant and I can't get drunk," Lorelai complained as everyone herded her inside.

"That's probably a good thing, Mom, now go sit with Grandma. I have to go get ready."

"Get ready for what? Mom's here?"

"Of course I'm here. I didn't miss the first one, did I? What is going on here, anyway?"

"I don't know, Mom. Didn't you hear them yelling 'surprise' when I came in?"

"Lorelai, really," Emily admonished.

"These are for you two, sugars," Babette said, handing them two red, plastic cups.

Emily sniffed the contents of her cup and scowled. "This is fruit punch."

"This is definitely not fruit punch. Trade you," Lorelai said, switching their cups.

"Alright, everyone, take your seats," Miss Patty announced from the front. "We have something very special planned for your enjoyment. This has been a labor of love from all of us to our very own Lorelai on the long-awaited occasion of her marriage to our very own Luke. So, without further ado: Lorelai Victoria Gilmore-Hayden-Gilmore-soon-to-be-Danes, this is your life."

Everyone laughed and cried as Lane and Rory and Kirk and Lulu and some of the kids from Miss Patty's acted out the significant events of Lorelai's life. The time she stole her father's Yale diploma brought sentimental tears. Lorelai stiffened and watched her mother out of the corner of her eye when they got to the point when she found out about Rory. Emily's face was implacable. When they got to the scene when Lorelai ran away to Stars Hollow, Emily took a long drink from her plastic cup.

"Careful, Mom, they use Miss Patty's Founder's Day Punch to clean engines," Lorelai warned.

"I don't care," Emily stated flatly.

Rory was in the middle of chasing Kirk around begging for a cup of coffee when Emily suddenly stood up and walked out. Lorelai followed her into the cold.

"Mom! Mom! What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"I'll never understand why you chose this life, Lorelai," Emily explained. "You could have done so much more. You were so bright and gifted."

"I happen to think I'm still bright and gifted."

"Lorelai!"

"Mom, stop! What is this all about?"

"This isn't the life I wanted for you. It's difficult to sit there and see it acted out as if it were some sort of sick joke."

"No, you downing that cup of Founder's Day punch was a sick joke."

"Lorelai!"

"Mom! This is my party, in my town. I want you to be a part of it because you're my mother and I love you, but if, after all these years, you can't deal with the fact that my life hasn't been what you would have liked, then you should just leave."

"I will."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Lorelai sighed ruefully as she shivered against the cold and watched her mother walk away.

"Mom?"

Lorelai turned at the touch of a hand on her shoulder. She cocked an eyebrow at her daughter's outfit of cut-offs, tie-dyed t-shirt, cowboy boots, and trench coat.

"What—"

"It's my first day at Chilton," Rory explained quickly. "What happened with Grandma?"

"She's…just being Emily," Lorelai replied before hugging her daughter tightly. "Thanks for all this, kid."

"You're welcome. You want to come back inside and watch the rest? It's got a killer twist ending."

"You mean I die suddenly?" Lorelai asked, aghast.

"Of course, Mom, that's exactly what I mean."