Chapter Twenty-Eight
A/N: Hello there! First of all, thank you so much to Summer2391 who reviewed and to those who added this story to Alerts or Favourites. I'm sad to say that this will probably be the second-last chapter of the story. So, it'll be good to end it but also sad. I do have other stories that I would like to write so I may get to work on those, like Juror Duty.
Anyways, enough of my ramblings. Onto the chapter!
Lorelai Gilmore was excited that she would finally be able to go home. After a few days in a hospital bed, supposedly relaxing, she had grown tired of the unusual smell of the place. Rory Gilmore arrived to visit her mother, holding a large bouquet of flowers. Luke was also there packing up his wife's few belongings.
"Hey there," Rory greeted as she placed the flowers on the small tray table on the bed. Her mother kissed her on the cheek in greeting.
"Luke's being mean to me." Lorelai said and Rory rolled her eyes.
"Hello Rory. She's being very fussy about how she wants her clothes packed." Luke said and Rory laughed. "Can't you just be happy about going home?" Luke said and Rory decided to help with the packing. Lorelai laid back in her bed, milking the opportunity of others working for her.
"So, I went home and did a small Donna Reed makeover to the house," Rory said and Lorelai raised her eyebrow at her. All of them only remembered Rory's Donna Reed night with Dean only too well. "I only mean that I slightly tidied the house for your arrival home." She explained.
"And you didn't wait for me to do the ritual Mother-Daughter window washing?" Lorelai mocked as Rory shrugged. Luke suggested that they focused on taking her home but were interrupted by the sound of another voice. Rory turned to see a doctor standing in the doorway, clutching a brown clipboard with her mother's file. Next to him was a wheelchair and he gave them a rather mischievous glance at the family.
"Thought you might need this," he said gesturing to the wheelchair. Luke thanked the doctor and helped Lorelai into it. Rory picked up her bag as they walked her mother through the halls. During her weeklong stay, she had managed to make a variety of friends and enemies in the hospital.
"Oh, Rory, that's the guy who stole my decaffeinated coffee. Any chance we can trip him over?" Lorelai said with a sly smile and Luke steered her far away from the man in question. As they passed through the halls, they waved to the familiar-looking nurses and doctors. Pain started to shoot through Lorelai's body again and she attempted to hide it from everyone. They had eventually made it to her Jeep outside in the Disabled spot. Luke helped Lorelai to stand up and walk over to the car but she started to panic.
"Luke, maybe we should let her sit a while." Rory suggested, suddenly worried about her mother's health. However, she insisted on being able to make it home. The moment she took another step towards the car, water gushed out onto the pavement and Lorelai collapsed back into the wheelchair.
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Over an hour later, Rory crashed into a chair next to Luke's in the waiting room of the maternity ward. She and Luke had managed to find a nurse to move her there and Rory had offered to call Emily and Richard from their vacation. Both of them were too exhausted to speak another word even though it was only ten in the morning. She wondered whether she would call anyone else such as Sookie and Jackson or even Jess. It would take a while for them to arrive but Rory had heard that labour often took a few hours. She knew that Lorelai probably wouldn't have wanted anyone other than Sookie and Jackson there but Rory definitely needed to talk to Jess. Mustering up the energy to leave the slightly uncomfortable chair, she offered to go get tea and coffee. Rory had recently become an expert in navigating the hospital halls and finding the decent vending machines. She would need a cup of coffee to handle various relatives and friends all day. Rory entered the cafeteria and immediately sat down at the quiet table in the corner. She had become fairly fond of this spot when she needed to make important phone calls or read a book as a nice change of pace. Rory pulled out her phone and dialled The Dragonfly. A gruff Michel answered the phone and Rory suddenly perked up at the idea of torturing him.
Michel: Dragonfly Inn, Michel speaking.
Rory: Hey Michel, it's Rory. Guess what?
Michel: Has Lorelai died?
Rory: No, she's having a baby!
Michel: Oh, really?
Rory: Yes and we were thinking of naming it after you. Your name could really work for either a boy or a girl.
Michel: Was there something you wanted?
Rory: Can I please speak to Sookie?
Michel: Fine.
Rory waited impatiently on the phone, listening to the sounds of happy families enjoying Sookie's famous pancakes or French toast. It sounded a lot like Luke's Diner except fancier. Michel certainly took his time reaching the kitchen and a strange sound indicated that he had almost dropped the phone onto the metal bench. An exasperated Sookie St James finally answered the phone.
Sookie: Rory?
Rory: Hey there. I just thought I'd call and let you know that Mom's in labour at Hartford Memorial hospital.
Sookie: Oh, she is! I'm coming right now as soon as I find Jackson and the kids. But we will be there. Thanks for calling me sweetie.
Rory: You're welcome. Feel free to take your time; she probably won't be out for a while.
Sookie: Oh this is so exciting. I'll see you there soon.
Rory: See you soon! Bye.
She hung up the phone suddenly feeling happy about everything. Sookie's vast amounts of energy always had that effect on her when she was a small child. Feeling her energy return, she dialled Jess' number without thinking. One of the other men working at Truncheon answered the phone and she asked for Jess. There was a slight snicker as the phone was passed to Jess; clearly they knew who she was by now, especially after having already met her. When he finally answered the phone, Rory relaxed despite the sudden butterflies in her stomach. Their conversations last week about her jobs had all gone well but she was yet to break the big news to him. Nerves had gotten in the way every time.
Rory: Hey, how fast can you get to Hartford?
Jess: A few hours. Why?
Rory: Mom's in labour and I thought you might like to join the party.
Jess: Well, congratulations on the future sibling but I figured that this would be a girl thing.
Rory: Not entirely. Luke, Grandpa and Jackson will all here. Plus the male doctors but only the handsome ones are coming to the party.
Jess: Huh.
Rory: And I wouldn't hate your company. Please come?
Jess: Alright, I'm leaving nowish.
Rory: Great, see you later.
Jess: Bye.
Rory hung up the phone in almost satisfaction. Now she would definitely have to tell him that she wanted to go to Philadelphia. Her mother was likely to mock her forever for wanting to live in the City of Brotherly Love but that would be fun. She suddenly remembered the whole reason that she had gone to the cafeteria in the first place and ordered a tea for Luke and a coffee for herself. When she had gotten the hot beverages, she headed back to the waiting room where Luke was waiting. She gave the tea to him and sat down with her coffee as Emily, Richard and April Nardini arrived.
"I called her when you were gone," Luke said in reference to his daughter's arrival. Rory nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"Where is she?" Emily demanded and Rory said that she was in one of the rooms.
"Emily, why don't we sit and wait?" Richard said as they both sat down. April opted for sitting next to her father as she exchanged a greeting with Rory.
"Hey Grandma and Grandpa. I think Mom is going to be a while," Rory said before turning to Luke. "So, I've called Sookie and Jackson who should be here soon. And I also called Jess but it's going to take him a few hours to get here." She said and noticed Emily's shock at the mention of Jess coming; Rory couldn't believe that she still remembered the awful dinner with the three of them. "I promise he'll behave," Rory assured her but that did little to relieve her anxiety. Luckily, Sookie and Jackson arrived and Luke went to greet them, allowing Rory and April to catch up.
"So, how's MIT going?" Rory asked and April began to tell her about the different experiments that she was doing there. Although Rory had to struggle a little with the scientific lingo, Richard had surprisingly managed to keep up. She wondered whether he had been researching April's course. Once she was done, Richard and Emily enquired after her recent employment situation. "Well, I've been accepted to work at either The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer." She announced and they were both surprised at the latter option.
"And have you chosen where you would like to work?" Richard asked.
"What nonsense! She's going to work at The Times; she's wanted to work there for as long as she's wanted to be a journalist." Emily said.
"I thought it was the CNN because she wanted to be like Christiane Amanpour." Richard said and Rory sat back in the chair as they argued over where she wanted to work.
"Yes, then after that she wanted to work at The New York Times." Emily said and April laughed as she watched the conversation.
"I'm going to Philadelphia," she announced and her grandparents immediately stopped talking.
"What? Why? What about New York? What happened? It was that juvenile delinquent your mother insisted on allowing you to fraternise with." Emily demanded.
"I can go to New York later but right now I want to go to Philadelphia. The Inquirer is a perfectly respectable newspaper and I would be very happy there." Rory said and Emily proceeded to discuss this with Richard. "I hope," She added quietly. She suddenly became very nervous as she watched their debate. April quietly congratulated her as her father came back with Sookie and Jackson. Ignoring her grandparents, she stood and hugged them in a greeting. The whole group listened to the debate and Rory decided to cut in and end it all.
"Please stop, we're here for Mom." She said and Emily sighed.
"You're correct Rory. We will support you no matter which newspaper you work at as long as you're happy." Richard said and Rory thanked them. Now that that was finished, the whole group sat in the chairs patiently waiting. April pulled out her homework that she had managed to bring. Richard and Rory each pulled out a book while Emily looked over her notebook and began to shift around her appointments for the week. It was clear that she intended to spend a lot of time with her daughter and meet her new grandchild. Luke, Sookie and Jackson had taken to talking about different things in Stars Hollow as well as cooking techniques. Rory anxiously checked her watch in between chapters and also kept peering at the door to see if Jess had arrived. He should be here soon though.
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A couple of hours later, Jess Mariano finally arrived much to the relief of Rory and Luke. Dropping her book, she ran over to him and hugged him as though it had been months. Luke also shook Jess' hand when he and Rory had parted to let him through. He explained that Lorelai had finally gone into the delivery room and Jess immediately lost interest. He didn't want to hear about this. Rory placed her arm around his waist as she led him over to the rest of the group.
"Lively party," he said as she introduced him to Richard and refreshed his memory about the others. Sookie and Jackson were polite to him and Emily, for the most part, ignored his presence. When Rory explained that Jess had written a book, Richard became intrigued and struck a conversation with him about his favourite books. Rory was only too eager to join in as well, which also piqued April's interest. During this time, Emily was able to ask Sookie to cater for a few events over the following weeks, which Luke found a little amusing.
A little while later, Rory offered to go for another coffee run for everyone. Everyone had wanted a cup of coffee except for Richard, Emily and Luke. Jess even offered to assist her and they slowly walked towards the cafeteria. Rory was grateful that she would finally have a chance to talk to Jess alone.
"So, I'm assuming you're heading in the right direction" he said as a conversation starter and Rory nodded. She was suddenly very nervous once again but decided that it was now or never.
"So, you remember how I got those jobs in New York and Philadelphia?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, have you chosen one?" He asked and Rory took a deep breath. "You're going to New York, aren't you?" Jess said, suddenly also feeling nervous about this.
"Why would you say that?" Rory asked even though she knew the answer. Everyone was well aware that she had always wanted to work at The New York Times, even Jess. She looked at him waiting for an answer but he remained silent. "I was thinking of coming to Philadelphia actually." She said and Jess smiled instead of his usual smirk. "I haven't hashed out the details of where to live or anything." Rory started as Jess' lips came crashing down on hers, depriving her of oxygen. He could feel her smile as he kissed her. When they finally parted, Rory saw that Jess was sporting that one smile that had always been for her. "I'm guessing this is a good thing." She said, breathlessly.
"Yeah, it is. Are you serious though? What about your dream to go to New York?" Jess asked, just to double check.
"New York's not going anywhere." She said as she took his hand and led him through the hospital corridors to the cafeteria. Jess followed her in amazement; it was most likely the best thing that had happened to him after meeting Rory Gilmore. Dazed, he was unable to think about anything else. She surely couldn't stay with him and the other guys above Truncheon Books. But that didn't matter; she was coming to Philadelphia. Rory noticed that he was almost glowing as much as she was when they reached the cafeteria. Jess sat down in the nearest chair while she ordered the different types of coffee. Afterwards, she joined him and took his hand once again.
"I just don't believe it. You're actually going to give up your dream to be with me." He said and Rory smiled at him.
"I'm not giving up my dream; I'm fulfilling it." She said as she kissed him once again. Jess placed his other arm around her, pulling her closer. As he deepened the kiss, they were interrupted by a crackly voice.
"I remember those days of young love," an old lady said at another table. Rory and Jess pulled away to look at the older couple who laughed at them.
"That's so cute," Rory said as her face went red with embarrassment. Jess took a few of the cups as they went back to the waiting room.
Once they had arrived and had handed out the beverages to their respective recipients, Rory noticed a newcomer was sitting with Sookie and Jackson. The blonde head turned and she saw that Zach had arrived.
"Hey Zach," Rory greeted him.
"Hi Rory. Lane's just gone into labour," he explained and Rory's eyes went wide with shock.
"Lane's pregnant too?" Jess asked, smirking at Rory, who quickly confirmed this fact. "Your friends have certainly been getting busy," he said sarcastically, causing Luke and Zach to blush accordingly. Rory playfully hit his arm as a light punishment.
"Well, isn't this all very convenient? Now they will have the same birthday!" Rory said. She was suddenly very excited about the arrivals of new babies to play with. Although she was intending on moving to Philadelphia, Rory was sure that she would miss them almost as much as they missed her. She was also secretly relieved and excited that a new baby would probably distract her when she was living in Philadelphia. Just as a lull occurred in the various conversations, a pretty nurse in a white jacket showed up and they all looked up at her expectantly.
"A Lorelai Gilmore has come out of the delivery room and is staying in room 2B43." She said. Rory and Luke both stood up at the same time. "Congratulations, it's a boy." The nurse said with a wide smile on her face. Luke and Rory hugged each other excitedly with rounds of 'congratulations' from everyone else. The nurse informed them that she was a little tired from labour and only one visitor would be allowed. Rory gestured to Luke that he should go see her first and he thanked her quietly. Luke Danes then followed the nurse through the hospital to see his wife. As Rory sat back down next to Jess, a loud scream pierced through the maternity ward. Zach smiled gleefully at this noise and Rory raised an eyebrow at him.
"That's Lane," he explained.
Luke Danes was nervous and excited about seeing his newborn child. The nurse led him to a window where there at least twenty babies lined up but Luke could see his immediately; he had inherited Lorelai's deep blue eyes. Unsure of what to do, Luke smiled at him thinking of all the things he would have to teach him, beyond the obvious. Luke couldn't wait to see that first smile, the first step, the first day of school; all the things he had missed out on with April. Images flashed through his mind of him and his son fishing at the lake or camping in the forest. Although Lorelai said that she didn't mind what gender the baby would be, he had secretly wanted a boy.
"Would you like to see your wife?" She asked and Luke nodded, too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. "I'll bring your baby to you and Mrs Gilmore." She said as she pointed to the door of Lorelai's room. Stunned, Luke stumbled towards the room and saw that Lorelai was asleep in the hospital bed. He decided to go inside anyway. She started to stir at his presence and smiled at her husband.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Luke asked and she mumbled about being sleepy. "We have a baby boy," he said, still reeling from seeing the newborn. The nurse brought him into the room as promised and placed him in Lorelai's arms; her eyes suddenly lighting up at the sight of him. Luke leaned over and kissed her on the cheek; he loved seeing her so happy. "We need to name him." He said and Lorelai nodded.
"I already have a name for him. William Lucas Danes-Gilmore." She said. "I know how much your father meant to you. It only seemed right to name him after him and you." Lorelai explained and wiped away a small tear on her husband's cheek. He then peered over and watched his little son gurgle indescribable sounds and kick his tiny legs.
An hour later, Sookie, Jackson, Jess, Richard and Emily arrived in Lorelai's room to see the newest addition to their family. Sookie pulled Lorelai into a bone-crunching hug while the others cooed over the bright pink newborn child.
"Congratulations Lorelai." Emily said as she touched Lorelai's shoulder as a sign of affection. Richard, as per usual, presented a white envelope containing a cheque. Lorelai rolled her eyes and thanked him as he explained that babies were very expensive. She noticed that Jess was standing in the corner and slightly waved at him. Gaining his confidence, he approached Lorelai and congratulated her.
"Where's Rory?" Lorelai asked and Jess said that she was with Lane and Zach but would be here soon. She sighed at that but continued to give her attention to Sookie and Jackson. Jess decided to break into the conversation once again.
"Rory told me to ask you something." He said, handing her a slip of paper. Opening the paper, Lorelai laughed out loud as she read the contents. Confusion crossed everyone's face and Lorelai gave it to Jess to read aloud. It would be entertaining to watch him squirm. He cleared his throat in preparation
"Was it like doing the splits on a crate of dynamite?" He read and laughter erupted from everyone as Jess blushed.
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Rory Gilmore sat in the chair next to Lane's bed after she had returned from the delivery room not long after Lorelai. Zach entered the room making plane noises as he carried a small newborn baby. It certainly seemed to be the day for gurgling babies. Lane cooed as Zach handed the baby to him.
"We've got ourselves a little lady," he said and Rory laughed at him.
"She's so tiny," Rory said as she reached out her pinkie finger for the baby to hold on to. "What are you going to name her?" She asked as she made faces at the baby. Lane and Zach looked at each other nervously; they hadn't really thought of a name yet, but there was time for that. Rory looked up at her best friend when she realised that she hadn't received a response.
"We don't know" Lane confessed and Rory shrugged. "How about something Korean?" She suggested. "Or Rory."
"Yeah?" Rory asked, thinking that they had merely wanted her attention.
"No, we name her Rory." Lane said and Zach agreed. Rory had been a big help with babysitting Steve and Kwan. Embarrassment washed over her as she looked at them both.
"You can't name her Rory" she protested. "It's very sweet though."
"Why not?" Zach asked and before Rory could respond, Jess arrived at the door. Sighing, she removed her finger from the little baby's grasp and stood to leave.
"Okay, not that you need my permission. I would love it if you named your daughter 'Rory.'" She said and Lane squealed with excitement. Walking out of the room, Jess' arm immediately found its way around Rory's waist as he led her down the corridor.
"Baby Rory, huh?" Jess said and Rory's face flushed red once again. "I think it's cute."
"Thanks. Did you give Mom my note?" Rory enquired and this time it was Jess' turn to be embarrassed. "She made you read it aloud?" Jess nodded in confirmation and she kissed him on the cheek. When they finally reached her mother's hospital room, Jess focussed on trying not to blush anymore.
Lorelai's face lit up as she spotted her daughter enter the room with Jess Mariano. She rushed over and hugged her mother, noticing the baby in her arms.
"Lane's baby is a girl," she said as she stood back and Lorelai smiled excitedly.
"Now that Rory's here, I think we can announce the name of our new child." Luke said and everyone immediately simmered down, eager to properly initiate the baby into the real world. Silence hung over the group for a few seconds when Jess told him to hurry up. Rory playfully hit him again and Luke just glared at his mischievous nephew. "William Lucas Danes-Gilmore." Sookie and Jackson erupted into loud cheers and encouraged everyone else to join. Richard, Emily and Jess remained silent but managed to congratulate Lorelai and Luke. Amidst the celebrations, Lorelai started to fall back asleep and Rory decided to usher everyone else out of the hospital room. Rory sat down on a chair and Luke moved little William to the small bassinet next to the hospital bed and watched him fall asleep.
A/N: So yay for little babies! Yes, the names are a tad unoriginal but I'm terrible at coming up with names. Maybe that's why I write Fanfiction… because there are already names for most of the characters!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Please review! Pretty please?
