Chapter 26: "Richie picked this out?
"Richard Holden Mariano!" Rory said, calling to her almost ten month old son as he ran away from her and out the bedroom door towards the living room when he heard their apartment door open, signaling his father was home.
Just after the new year, Richie had started crawling. Then over Valentine's Day, he stayed with his grandparents so Rory and Jess could have some time alone and discovered crawling wasn't enough to keep up with Hunter. He began standing and taking a few steps at a time shortly after and by the end of March he was completely on his feet and could now chase his Uncle Hunter around as much as he wanted.
"Dada," Richie said, running into Jess' arms as Rory stood back, watching her husband and her son, big smiles on their faces as they embraced each other. It had been a big moment for Jess when he first said it. Luke and Lorelai had came to pick Hunter up from a weekend he spent with them a few weeks after Valentine's Day and a few hours after they left he was playing with some toys with Richie when the word slipped out.
Neither Rory or Jess had spent too much time trying to encourage him to say the word, but had heard Hunter say it a few times when he would talk to Richie as the two of them played. Hunter had also squealed for his own "Dada" when Luke and Lorelai arrived so they figured Richie had just picked it up from him. For Jess, just hearing Richie call him "Dada" meant everything. Never in his life had he ever called anyone "Dad." Even with him in his life and talking on occasion, Jess still called his own father, Jimmy so hearing his own son call him "Dada" really touched him.
"Looks like it's bath time," Jess said, carrying Richie towards Rory so the three of them could walk back into the bedroom.
"You're early," Rory said.
"Sorry," Jess said.
"Never fails. I was hoping to get his bath in before you got home today, but as soon as he hears that door he takes off," Rory said, taking their naked little boy back from his father, setting him into the thankfully still warm water while Jess changed out of the clothes he had worn to work, in favor of his favorite pajama pants, "I swear, next time I'm holding off until you get home."
"As long as he's not running through here wet in the middle of winter sans clothes, he's good," Jess said, joining them to assist Rory in washing their giggling baby boy, trying to avoid the splashes of water as Richie bounced his favorite toys in the bubbles.
"True, though I'm kind of glad you were early so he wasn't running through here wet and almost slipping again," Rory said, pouring a bit of water over his head, rinsing out his baby shampoo.
"Alright splash monster," Jess said a few minutes later, picking Richie up out of the tub and handing him to Rory as she wrapped a towel around him, "Time to get you dressed."
"No," Richie said, wiggling around in his mother's arms until she was forced to set him down so she wouldn't drop him, running into his room he grabbed a toy car from his toy box, dropping to the floor driving it over the rug they had made special for him. Instead of the usual generic city map rug most kids had, Lorelai had found someone who could make one up of any city they wanted so they had one made up of Stars Hollow, complete with pictures of the gazebo, the diner, and all the houses of everyone they knew.
"You just couldn't wait to play with your toys, huh buddy?" Jess asked him, joining him on the floor while Rory grabbed his pajamas.
"Isn't it a little early for this?" Rory asked, "He's not supposed to be so defiant until he's a teenager."
"Ma," Richie said, handing a car to her to play with when she sat down with him and Jess.
"Thank you, sweetie. Let's get you dressed so you can continue playing," she said, setting the car down on the rug, holding her arms out to him.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear the kid shares DNA with Kirk somewhere with this naked phase of his," Jess said.
"Or Finn. I swear he was naked half the time I knew him at Yale," Rory said, "I'm sure he'll grow out of it though. It's just his Tommy Pickles phase. No harm in that."
"Tommy Pickles?" Jess asked.
"Yeah. Didn't you ever watch Rugrats?" Rory asked.
"Sometimes. Can't say I remember that one," Jess said.
"I think it was a pretty early episode. Wanting to be like his dog and Reptar, Tommy takes off his shirt and diaper, declaring to the other babies that being naked is freeing," Rory told him.
"How profound," Jess said.
"Do you and Jess have any big plans for your anniversary? It's coming up in just a couple weeks," Lorelai asked, giving Hunter a push. She and Rory had taken Hunter and Richie to the park for a few hours at Luke and Jess' insistence so they could prepare dinner for all of them.
"It's in the middle of the week so we can't really go anywhere on the actual day so I think we're just going to go out to dinner that night," Rory said, pushing Richie as he swung alongside Hunter, "We'll probably have April watch Richie for the night. I'm not entirely sure, Jess hasn't mentioned any plans."
"I imagine he'll surprise you. He usually does," Lorelai said.
"Very true. He already did with breakfast in bed this morning, helped served by this little man here and then of course you guys showing up was a surprise ," Rory said, "Though that surprise was on you, too. You never mentioned you were coming."
"That was the idea. I wanted it to be a surprise, but did you really expect me to miss your first Mother's Day?" Lorelai asked.
"I was hoping you wouldn't," Rory told her with a smile, "It's a pretty cool feeling."
"What?" Lorelai asked.
"Walking down the street and seeing the displays of gifts in the windows, the cards at the front of the store, all dedicated to Mother's Day," Rory said, "It's really cool to see all that and know that today is for me too now. I'm a Mom."
"Ma," Richie said, reaching up for her to pick him up when the swing stopped.
"Slide!" Hunter said, pointing to the piece of equipment across from the swing set they were on.
"Okay, we'll go on the slide," Lorelai said, picking him up from his swing, setting him on the ground where he immediately ran off towards the slide.
"Me," Richie said, wiggling in Rory's arms so she would put him down so he could follow after his uncle.
"Slow down, buddy," Rory called, moving quickly after him as Lorelai chased after her brother.
"Hun," Richie called after his uncle as he watched him climb the steps up towards the slide.
"Richie, slide," Hunter said, running from the bottom of the slide towards the steps to take another turn.
"Let Mama help you buddy," Rory told Richie, taking hold of his hand as he began to try to follow Hunter up the steps.
"Hold tight to Richie, sweetie," Lorelai told Hunter as Rory set her son in her little brother's lap so the two could slide together. It wasn't a big slide. It only took a couple steps to reach the top of and the slide itself was short enough that Rory or Lorelai could lay on it and touch the top and have their feet flat on the ground. Even though it was a short slide, Rory didn't want Richie going on his own until he was older so letting him slide along with Hunter while she was at the top and her mother at the bottom was the best option.
"Hunter don't move until Mom takes Richie from you, okay," Rory said.
"Okay," Hunter said as he scooted forward a bit to slide down the slide, squealing along with Richie as they went down into Lorelai's awaiting arms.
"Was that fun?" Lorelai asked her grandson, picking him up, Hunter taking off quickly to go again.
"Mo," Richie said, pointing towards the slide, showing he wanted to slide more.
"You want to go again, Richie?" Rory asked, taking her son from her mother.
"Mo," Richie said once again.
"Okay. How about we go with Mama this time," Rory said, carrying Richie up the steps, sitting down with him in her arms, kissing his cheek before taking off down the slide.
The next hour or so was spent continuing to play at the park. Richie loved the slide, especially when Rory finally let him go somewhat by himself, holding him up from the side of the slide as he slid down, her hands never leaving him. When they weren't sliding or going back on the swings, Hunter and Richie spent their time chasing each other around, simply enjoying running and being outside. Before they left Rory and Lorelai took turns accompanying the boys on the bigger, twisty slide that was too high up for them to go themselves. Hunter had watch another boy go down it and wanted to go, but became scared when he saw how high the steps were. After the park, they walked back to the apartment, excited to see what the men had prepared.
Walking into the apartment with the kids, Rory and Lorelai were hit with the scents of the delicious food Jess and Luke had been preparing.
"Everything looks great guys," Lorelai said, looking at the spread set out on the dining room table.
Luke and Jess had prepared a roasted beef tenderloin, baked potatoes, baby carrots, a salad, and some mashed sweet potatoes for Richie. For dessert Jess got a cake from a bakery a couple blocks from them that Rory loved and went to often when she walked with Richie. He had got a devil's food and had them pipe Happy First Mother's Day Rory on it. Luke had also made one of his boysenberry pies since it was Lorelai's favorite.
"Wow, I'm stuffed," Lorelai said, setting her fork down on her plate after her second piece of pie.
"Everything was amazing," Rory said, "Thank you for making all this. I couldn't have asked for a better first Mother's Day."
"It was our pleasure," Jess said, leaning over to kiss her, taking a box from his pocket to hand to her, "And it's not over yet."
"Jess. You didn't have to get me anything. The breakfast, this dinner, Mom and Luke coming," Rory said, "I don't need anything else."
"Well, it's not from me. Your son picked it out actually," Jess told her.
"Richie picked this out?" Rory asked, holding the small white box in her hand.
"Yep. I took him to the store with me and he was walking back and forth looking in all the cases, pointing at different things. The people there loved it," Jess said, "He was looking at different things saying 'Ma' or 'pitty' to the things he liked."
"And you got him to pick just one?" Rory asked with a laugh.
"Surprisingly yes," Jess told her, "After awhile of looking his little eyes found that made his whole face light up when he saw. I think it was the bright color on the stone, but it's perfect nonetheless."
"Oh wow. It's beautiful," Rory said, opening the box in her hands, touching the word that had become her favorite the moment it belonged to her. Richie had pointed out to Jess a white gold and white sapphire 'Mom' necklace with a heart instead of an 'O.' In the center of the the heart was a big purple, alexandrite stone to represent Richie's birth month of June.
"Ma," Richie said, reaching to her from his highchair.
"Come here, baby boy," Rory said, setting the necklace on the table and picking him up, setting him in her lap before picking the necklace up again, "Did you help Daddy pick this out for Mommy?"
"Ma, pitty," he told her, grabbing the box from her to look at the necklace.
"Yes, very pretty. Thank you sweet boy," Rory said, kissing his cheek before taking the box back from him, handing it to Jess so he could put it on her.
"Pitty," Richie said again, fingering the necklace as it rested against Rory's chest.
"It's beautiful, Richie," Lorelai said, getting a look at the necklace, "You did a good job picking that for Mommy."
"Ga!" Richie said, turning around on Rory's lap, holding arms out to Lorelai when he heard her voice.
"Why don't you go to Grandpa," Lorelai said, handing Richie to him, "He can take you to go play in the living with your parents and Hunter while Grandma Lorelai does the dishes."
"You don't have to that Lorelai," Jess told her, "Luke and I were going to do them."
"Or we can leave them and I'll do them tomorrow," Rory said.
"No. You guys go hang out in the living room. This is my gift to you my darling daughter," Lorelai said.
"Thanks, Mom," Rory said, before joining the rest of the family in the living room where Richie and Hunter already had half of Richie's toys out of his toy box, trying to decide what they wanted to play with.
Once Lorelai had finished the dishes she joined them all in the living room, sitting with Rory on the couch as they watched their husbands playing with their sons for awhile before Lorelai, Luke, and Hunter headed back home, leaving Rory and Jess to get Richie off the bed before retiring for the evening.
"This was the best first Mother's Day," Rory said as she and Jess lay in bed after getting Richie laid down, "You guys all really went above and beyond. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Jess said, kissing her, "Happy to do it. You deserve it. You're the best Mom."
"I love you, Jess," Rory said.
"I love you, too," he told her, kissing her again before pulling her close to him, his arm around her as she laid her head on his chest.
"Goodnight, Dodger," Rory mumbled, kissing his chest as she closed her eyes.
AN: I'm really, really trying to keep up with writing this and my other two stories. It's like I have senioritis or something. I have been struggling to find the motivation to just sit down and write. But, I will not abandon any of my stories. They will get done. I have so much I want to do and say with this one. It has a long way to go to before being done. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know I had Richie walking a bit early, but some kids do that and he was motivated to walk so he could keep up with Hunter. Thanks and happy reading!