"Lorelai Leigh Huntzberger, why on earth did you not tell me how you were feeling?" Emily had begun with a rather loud voice, but ended by sitting on Rory's bed and placing a hand on Rory's arm. "I've been so worried since Honor's call, what's the matter, darling?"
"Oh grandma," Rory sniffled, "Nothing's really wrong, I've just been worried about the babies, and work, and just feeling defeated laying in this bed."
"That's a lot for one person to be feeling all at once, Rory." Emily raised an eyebrow at Logan, who took the hint and suggested that he and Richard head out to the shop to pick up some more of Rory's favourite tea.
"I guess I didn't realise how lonely it would be, not having anyone else here when the babes arrive," Rory smiled sadly at her grandmother.
"Well, no need to worry about that now, we have all decided that we will be staying in London for at least the next month, if not longer. And you definitely do not need to worry about entertaining us, as you put it so eloquently over Christmas. Your grandfather and I have found a lovely apartment to rent around the corner from your house, and I believe Honor is going to make herself comfortable in your guest suite for the time being."
As Emily paused, Rory began interrupting her. "No, no, no, Rory. It's already been organised. We are all here to help you in any way we can. And if that means you want us to leave you alone for a few days, hours, whatever, you just say the word. God knows I told Trix to butt out when your mother was born."
Rory laughed at her grandmother's comment, imagining the refined Emily Gilmore telling Lorelai Gilmore I to stop interfering with her new baby. Ok, Grandma," Rory acquiesced. "Thank you."
"You are more than welcome, darling, but there's really no need to thank me. You're our granddaughter, and we love you very much. Now, tell me what's going on with my beautiful great-grandbabies."
As the day wore on, the number of visitors increased. Soon after Richard and Logan returned with Rory's preferred tea and a rather large bunch of flowers, Honor arrived and spent an hour in tears with Rory and Logan, before immediately admonishing Rory for not telling her the truth during their lengthy phone and email conversations over the past week.
Honor was interrupted by the arrival of Finn and Rosemary, giggling as Finn announced he had seen Rory in bed more over the past 9 months than he had any other one girl.
Rosemary rolled her eyes, and greeted her friends happily.
"Rosie, shouldn't you be at home, packing?" Rory asked with a happy but confused look on her face.
"Well, we decided to just move now. We were only another 2 weeks away from the move, so we've hired packers to finalise everything and ship it over here."
"That's right, my loves, we are officially Londoner's now!" Finn yelled happily.
Not long after Finn's excited outburst, Alice walked in, smiling at the family gathered in the room. "Well, Rory, Logan, I'm glad to see you have your family here finally.
"More to come, too, Alice." Rory said with a smile at her doctor, "I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all, birth should be celebrated. And I told you, you can't do twins on your own! Now, I am going to need to ask everyone to leave for about 30 minutes so that we can make some decisions about these babies."
Richard took charge and shuffled everyone out, announcing that they would organise a special dinner for everyone, "Take away, of course, Rory, we don't want you missing out."
Alice shut the door to Rory's room once they had all left, and sat down on a chair next to Logan, facing Rory.
"Alright, guys. I'm happy with how both babies are going. The test results from yesterday have come back perfect, so I think we need to have a discussion about stopping the drugs that are holding your labour off and letting your body do its thing. What do you think?"
Rory let out a long breath, "I think that sounds brilliant. Logan?"
"I agree, as long as you think it's safe, Alice."
"I wouldn't be recommending it if it wasn't safe. Normally we would advise you to head home and wait for labour to start, but given that you're having twins, I think it's best that you stay here. Off of bed rest, yes, but you would need to stay on the hospital grounds. How does that sound?"
"Amazing," Rory said, honestly. "Do you think it'll happen naturally or will you need to induce me?"
"Hopefully naturally, Rory. We won't rule out induction, but I think you'll be meeting your daughters within the next 48 hours."
"Wow, that quickly?" Logan asked, a look of shock running across his face.
"Don't go soft on me now, Huntzberger," Rory smirked.
"It'll be fine, Logan," Alice smiled, "I am on call this week, so I'll be here until 6 am, and then back at 6 pm. If anything happens while I am at home, the midwives will call me and I'll be here within 10 minutes. I promised you both that I would be here the whole time, and I intend to honour that promise. Let's get that IV disconnected so that you can enjoy a lovely dinner with your family. If you'd like, I can organise for you to use one of the conference rooms so that you'll all be able to sit and eat comfortably?"
"Thank you, Alice, that would be wonderful," Rory smiled at her doctor, glad to have found someone who went above and beyond.
It was 5 am when Rory woke up with a strong tightening feeling across her middle. She knew that this was it, no more false contractions, she was definitely in labour. She kissed Logan's lips, knowing that it was an easy way to wake him up, and smiled at him as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Morning, Ace," he said with a smile.
"Morning, gorgeous. Do you think you're ready to meet your daughters?"
"What?" Logan said loudly as he quickly sat up, "Are you…?"
"Calm down, sweetie. Yes, I am in labour. Yes, these contractions are only about 2 minutes apart. And yes, I would really appreciate it if you pressed the call button for a nurse."
It had been 4 hours since Rory had woken Logan up, 4 hours since her labour had started. She had been given an epidural an hour ago, and according to Alice was ready to push. Rory had requested that her grandma be in the room with her and Logan during the birth, with the others more than happy to wait outside. Emily had been overcome with tears when Rory had told her, and had embraced Logan warmly. She stood up by Rory's head, supporting when necessary but otherwise just delighted to be included in such a beautiful moment.
Rory had only been pushing for 10 minutes when Alice announced that baby a was ready to come out, and with words of encouragement from Logan, Rory gritted her teeth and delivered their first daughter. As discussed with Alice previously, Rory had planned to have immediate skin to skin contact. It had been unknown as to whether this would be achievable given baby b's position, but Rory had tears of joy as her daughter was placed onto her chest. A few minutes went past before Alice smiled at Rory that baby b was ready. Logan cut the umbilical cord and assisted the midwife in wrapping the baby in a blanket, giving her a kiss on the forehead before passing the baby to Emily. They had known that it may take a little longer for baby b to be born, but after 15 minutes of Rory pushing with all her might, baby b arrived safely. Rory was prepared this time, and after quickly asking Alice if it was ok, she reached down and picked the baby up from between her legs, taking her from Alice's hands and bringing her up to her chest. Emily watched in marvel at her granddaughter, amazed at how much she had grown as a young woman. She smiled at Logan, and passed baby a back to him, excusing herself from the room to leave the new family to bond together.
"You did it, Ace. I'm so proud of you." He smiled at Rory and kissed her softly.
"Look at our beautiful daughters, Logan. They are so perfect."
Logan watched as Alice cut the umbilical cord and placed a blanket over the baby on Rory's chest. "Can you believe they're really ours, babe?"
"Well, with their mops of blond hair, I can definitely believe that they're yours," she smirked at him before breaking into the biggest grin he had ever seen grace her face. "I love you," she smiled.
"I love you too, Ace. And I love you, and you." He punctuated each you with a kiss to each of his daughter's head.
"Alright guys, everything is good here. Rory, you did perfectly. No tearing, everything is great. To be honest, I've never seen such a perfect twin birth." Alice smiled as she stood up and began to walk to the door.
"Alice," Rory called out, "Would you like to meet our daughters?"
The doctor hesitated for a moment, normally families wanted this time alone to bond together. "Are you sure..?"
"Of course," Logan smiled, "We'd be delighted."
Alice sat with the family for a few minutes, amazed at how perfectly they fitted together. She congratulated both Rory and Logan, and let them know that she would be back to check on them later that night.
As the doctor left the room, the midwife helped Rory to begin feeding baby b, who was scooting around searching for milk. As she latched onto Rory's eyes went wide, but noticed the pain subsided fairly quickly. "You do get used to that sensation, trust me," the midwife smiled encouragingly, "Before you know it, you'll be feeding both at once!"
Once baby b was finished feeding, she was passed to Logan, who passed baby a back to Rory to feed. Once she was done, the midwife helped Rory into the shower. Rory enjoyed a warm shower, glad to be able to clean herself up before their family came in to meet their daughters. Logan and I have daughters, she thought to herself, two beautiful daughters. She dried herself off cautiously, and dressed in Logan's Yale sweatpants and a tank top and cardigan, choosing her top half wisely so that she could easily feed her babies. The midwife helped her onto a new bed, and left the family to settle in.
Logan sat next to Rory on the bed, and together they dressed their daughters into blush pink onesies, one with a light grey elephant, and the other with a light grey giraffe. Logan wrapped them how the midwife had shown him, before placing baby b in Rory's arms, and holding baby a to his chest. "I think the name's we've chosen fit them perfectly, Ace. What do you think?"
"I think you're completely right, Mr Huntzberger. Are you ready to introduce them to everyone?"
"I am, Mrs Huntzberger. Are you?"
"Definitely," she smiled at Logan as she heard light knocking at the door, "Besides, I don't think we'll be able to keep them away any longer."