a/n: I still do not own gilmore, and I wanted to mention a couple of things. First of all, if any of you thought that it was OOC/inappropriate for Logan to have put the wedding together, truthfully, I did that for a few reasons, 1) I don't think Rory would have been all that into the wedding planning, Emily and Shira would have driven her nuts, but Rory likely would have been chill 2) Like I said in the chapter, if they had a wedding in Hartford, it would have been a society show, and 3) I'm in the early stages of planning a wedding, and I want to poke myself in the eyes repeatedly, its stressful trying to accommodate everyone when all you want to do is be with the person you love. Now, in this chapter we do jump forward quite a bit, but I wanted to be able to move forward with their lives and not get complacent. No Logan in this chapter but we have room for a little bit of tension.

edit to a/n: Just to clear a couple of things up, Rory got pregnant in December (keep in mind she had only meant to tell Logan when she happened upon Honor and Josh, so normally she wouldn't have told everyone so early), and then had the baby in August. More flashbacks etc. will be in the next few chapters to kind of tell more back story, but like I had said previously, I wanted them to move forward, but all of the important moments will be told.

Chapter 35

Lorelai had been right, giving birth was the most horrifying thing Rory had ever experienced. She didn't find it fun, or magical, it was awful, and truth be told, she wasn't sure if she ever wanted to do it again.

"Mom" Rory groaned as she dialed the familiar number to her childhood home.

"What's up babe, its 3am?"

"I just got Nate to sleep, and now I'm afraid that if I go to sleep I won't wake up if he needs me" Rory admitted, Nate was 4 months old and had finally gotten a sleeping schedule together, albeit an inconvenient one.

"Where is Logan?" Lorelai asked, trying to hide her growing irritation for the newly announced president and CEO of the newly re-named Huntzberger Group.

"He's in Toronto for work" Rory told her, "I told him to go, I thought I would be fine"

"Ror you need to ask for help" Lorelai scolded her daughter gently, "Give me an hour, I'll get to the house and take a shift"

"Mom you don't need to do that" Rory half heartedly protested, "And Logan has to work"

"Logan has to be a father" Lorelai corrected her, "I'm just going to tell your Dad that I'm coming, I'll spend a few days there"

"Thanks mom" Rory sighed with defeat.

In the first weeks after Nate was born Logan had been around all the time, and so she had encouraged him to return to work, Rory had always been an over achiever and assumed parenting would come naturally to her with a newborn. However as weeks turned into months, and as The Huntzberger Group expanded into new markets, and further into media, Logan was less and less available, and Rory didn't have the heart to tell him that she needed him at home. So when he called she put on a brave face, and spoke to him as quickly as possible before passing the phone to Ava.

Rory didn't even realize she was crying until she heard the sound of the door to the nursery creek open, and she saw Ava's eyes peering up at her.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" she asked her, wise beyond her years.

"Nothing sweetheart" Rory smiled, wiping her eyes, "Why are you awake?"

"I heard you talking to someone" Ava explained, "I thought Daddy was home"

"I'm sorry babe" Rory told her, "Daddy will be home in a couple of days, you need to go back to bed, school is tomorrow"

"Mom there isn't any school" Ava corrected her, "We're on Christmas break"

"Of course you are" Rory hugged her, "Please just go back to bed though"

"Are you going to bed?" Ava asked her worriedly.

"Yes" Rory nodded, "I promise"

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By the time Lorelai walked into her grandson's nursery, she expected to see Rory curled up in the oversized mint green chair they had hand selected to fit the spot.

"Babe" Lorelai rubbed Rory's shoulder, "Ror wake up"

"I'm up" Rory groaned, wiping her eyes, "Is it Nate? Is he alright?"

"Nate is fine Ror" Lorelai told her, "You need to go to your bed"

"No" Rory sighed as she sat up, "I'm fine, I've gotten some sleep"

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore Hayden Huntzberger" Lorelai snapped at her daughter, "You need to get to bed, and you need to do it now"

Rory knew immediately when her mother had used all of those names to address her that she meant business, she sighed as she stood up to leave the room, taking one long look at her brown eyed boy who was peacefully sleeping, "Thank's mom" she sighed as she walked into her own room and collapsed into her huge, empty bed.

Lorelai tried not to be angry with Logan for his part in this, she tried to tell her family that it wasn't his fault and that Rory had practically forced him to go back to work, but couldn't he see how insane Rory was going. She needed help, and even though Lorelai had run from all of the privileges that Rory had embraced, Lorelai knew she had to do something.

Once Rory had found out that she was pregnant, she had decided to let her nanny go, believing that if she was at home with the baby anyway, she could also manage the house and take care of Ava. What Rory hadn't expected was that when she was 7 months pregnant, they finished building their dream house and then her life became consumed with nesting and decorating and making the 15,000 square foot home feel like a home. She had picked out every decoration, paint colour, piece of furniture and rug that was in that home, and she had even been sure to hand select every photo, photo frame, and nick nack on the shelves. There wasn't a thing about that giant house that didn't have Rory's stamp of approval, but the entire process had left her exhausted. Almost immediately after the house was finished she had given birth to her son, Nathaniel Mitchum Gilmore Huntzberger on August 16th. Rory loved both of her children, but the truth was, Nate had changed the way she felt about just about everything, she always knew how Paris had felt when she first held Ava, but the moment that Rory held Nate in her arms, she was in love. She had promised her dad that her next child would have either Christopher, or Hayden in the name, however it had been a struggle to convince Mitchum that really, his name was a little bit weird, and they didn't want to do that to their child.

As Lorelai sat on the overstuffed, over slept in chair, she couldn't help but think about how just 2 years earlier, everything was different, and now, Rory was married, and she had two children.

"Oh hello, is this Lorelai?" a somewhat familiar voice filled her ear as she answered the phone at the inn.

"Well I said Lorelai speaking when I answered, so I'm thinking yes" Lorelai quipped quickly.

"This is Shira Huntzberger, Logan's mother"

"I know who you are Shira" Lorelai smiled, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine" Shira continued, "It's Rory"

"Oh god" Lorelai immediately sat up straight in her chair, for a moment she had forgotten that her daughter was nearly 9 months pregnant and somehow had found herself at the Huntzberger's compound in Martha's Vineyard, "Is Rory ok?"

"Rory is fine" Shira eased her nerves slightly, "Her water broke this morning, and we have had her airlifted back to Connecticut, she just arrived at the hospital there, and I told her I would have you meet her there. The rest of the family will be there by this evening"

"Is Logan with her?" Lorelai asked, terrified that Rory was alone, like she had been when she gave birth.

"Yes" Shira told her, "Logan is with her, and I assumed you would be on your way. We will all meet you there when we get there, can you call Richard and Emily?"

"Of course" Lorelai began frantically looking for her keys, "Thank you for calling Shira, I'll see you in a few hours then?"

"Yes dear" Shira's voice was so calm, "I guess we're going to be grandparents again"

Lorelai sighed as she closed her eyes, hoping that she would also be able to get some sleep before her grandson awoke. She turned off the baby monitor so that Rory wouldn't be woken up if he woke up, and kept the door open a crack so that she could see if and when Ava got up. She knew from what Rory had told her that Ava knew to check the nursery first to find Rory, so hopefully Lorelai would be able to keep her from waking up. She quickly set her cellphone alarm to go off at 7am and then closed her eyes.

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"Lore, hey" Chris gently shook Lorelai's shoulder as he put a coffee down on the changing table. It was 7:15, Lorelai had ignored her first alarm, but the baby was still asleep, and Ava was still asleep as well. Lorelai had left a note for Chris to come, with coffee, and Gigi when he woke up.

"Oh" Lorelai opened her eyes tiredly, "Hey, thank you"

"No problem" Chris told her, giving her a quick kiss. "Why don't you head to the guest room, get a few proper hours of sleep, and I will keep watch of this little guy"

"It's alright Chris, you don't have much experience with newborns" Lorelai told him.

"Alright fine, is there anything I can do?" Chris asked her.

"Just being here is good. Ror is exhausted, it breaks my heart to see her like this" Lorelai admitted.

"Where is Logan?" Chris asked, not completely sure if he really wanted the answer.

"Well, you remember how Rory had pushed him to go back to work so soon after Nate was born" Lorelai explained, "I don't think she was counting on feeling this overwhelmed, so when he went back to work earlier than planned, he had to dive head first into all of these expansion projects for The Huntzberger Group, and so he's traveling and buying other companies and expanding the media. I'm so angry with him, because he knows Rory better than to believe she can do everything, but the flip side is, he's providing for them, and I truly believe if Rory let on just how tough it was, he would come home"

"Well maybe we should talk to him?" Chris suggested.

"I don't think so" Lorelai shook her head, "But! Go into the study, get Rory's address book, and find Ava's old nanny...crap, what was her name...Olivia, get her number, call her, and beg her to come back to work. For all I care, we can pay her, but Rory needs some help"

"So what do I say, 'Hey I'm Chris Hayden, you used to work for my daughter, Rory Gilmore-Huntzberger, and she needs you desperately?'" Chris asked as he took a sip of his own coffee.

"Yes" Lorelai nodded, "Exactly. You tell her that we will work out a salary, if she can be live in, even better. Then while you are down there, call my mother and get the name of her cleaning lady"

"You want me to call your mom?" Chris was clearly shocked.

"Chris this is bad, and our kid needs us" Lorelai shrugged, glancing at the clock once more, "Hurry up, we've only got maybe another hour or so before she wakes up assuming she has two kids to watch"

Chris quickly walked down the stairs and down the long hallway adorned with family photos, Rory had always called it her wall of fame and it is what led to the giant office/ library that Rory had designed for herself and Logan. Sitting down on her huge leather chair, much like Richard's, he tapped the mouse and heard the familiar sound of the iMac firing up, he waited what felt like an eternity before he saw the address book pop up and quickly he selected the number for Olivia.

"Hi Olivia?" he paused to wait for an affirmative response before continuing, "this is Christopher Hayden, I'm Rory Gilmore-Huntzberger's father. Look, I need a favour, and I don't know if you know, but Rory has the two kids now, and she needs help. We are willing to pay you whatever, but we need you in here...you can today? Great...do you know where the new house is?...perfect, I'll text you the address"

Christopher was relieved, one easy call down, he knew Emily would be much more difficult to deal with because of her incessant need to know everything that would be going on.

"Gilmore residence" the maid answered the phone, Christopher had to admit he was surprised that the staff was in so early, but he really knew better than to be surprised by anything that Emily did.

"Hi, this is Christopher Hayden, can I please speak with Emily?"

"One moment please Mr. Hayden" she quickly put him on hold.

"Hello?" Emily's voice came on the phone, slightly more shrill than usual, probably because she hadn't been expecting the call.

"Emily, hey, it's Chris"

"Christopher, it's so early, why on earth are you calling so early? Is everything alright?" Emily's voice became frantic, and oddly enough, more shrill as she spoke into the phone.

"Everything is fine" Chris assured her, "I was actually just hoping to get the name of the service you get your maids and cleaning ladies from. I was thinking I might surprise Rory with some help around the house as a Christmas gift"

"Does Rory need help? Is she struggling with Nathaniel?" Emily asked, immediately assuming there was a problem, she really didn't need to know that there was in fact a problem.

"Rory is just tired, I thought it would be a nice thing to get her. I mean really, Emily, you know this as well as I do, what do you get the woman who has everything" Christopher played it cool, he knew how to work Emily over.

"Well I suppose" Emily agreed, "I'll have the maid send it over"

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"Dad?" Rory groggily rubbed her eyes as she stumbled out of her own bedroom.

"Hey kiddo" Chris smiled as he happily bounced Nate while they paced through the hall.

"When did you get here?" Rory asked him, pulling her oversized wrap sweater tightly around her body.

"A few hours ago" Chris told her as he kissed Nate's head, "How was your sleep?"

"Good" Rory admitted, "Thank you"

"Anytime kid" Chris smiled, "Your mom is just taking Ava over to Frank and Linda's, she is going to spend some time over there before Christmas"

"You didn't have to do that, I'm fine Dad, really, I just got a little bit overwhelmed last night and needed to talk to Mom" Rory tried to explain.

"Ror" Chris looked at her with genuine concern in his eyes, "Can I say something to you, and you promise not to get upset?"

"Dad, I need to feed my son" Rory knew what conversation was coming and she really had no interest in participating in it.

"No, you don't. You left breastmilk in the fridge and I just fed him half an hour ago" Chris told her, "So I have now burped, and changed him, and I am going to leave him in his playpen downstairs, and your sister is going to watch him for a little while, and you and I are going to sit in the kitchen, have some breakfast, and talk"

"Seems a little late to be taking on the fatherly role" Rory snapped, immediately regretting the words as they came out of her mouth, "Dad I didn't mean that"

"I know, and that is why we are going to talk" Chris told her as he began walking down the stairs, turning right at the massive staircase to enter the living room where Gigi was reading a book, "Here kid, watch your nephew for a little while, just leave him unless he needs something" Chris told her as he set the infant into his playpen on his back.

"Dad" Rory sighed as Chris turned and began walking towards the massive eat in kitchen.

"Sit down Rory, what do you want to eat?" Chris asked her as he poured her a glass of orange juice.

"Cereal please" Rory felt like she was admitting defeat by accepting the gesture but it was also nice to just be sitting and not run off her feet for a few minutes.

"Alright" Chris nodded as he got a box of Corn Flakes from the cupboard and poured them into a bowl, sliding it across the island to his daughter. "I called your nanny" he began, "Your mom and I would like her to start working full time again, you have the space for her to be live in"

"Dad-" Rory began to protest.

"No, Rory, we aren't saying you can't do this on your own, tonnes of women do, and its possible, but you are SO fortunate that you can afford to have help, so take advantage of that, she isn't going to raise your kids, she is going to help you so they both get the best things they can in life. And that brings me to another point, and this is non negotiable, your mom and I have hired you a twice weekly cleaning lady for one year. Consider it a Christmas gift, or a push present, or whatever, but you need it"

"Fine" Rory sighed, she had known for weeks that she needed more help, and she knew her parents were doing what was best for her, but she hated admitting that she hadn't been able to do it all on her own.

"Now, Logan" Chris glared at her.

"What about Logan, dad?" Rory sighed, this was all too much for her, were she in a better frame of mind she would have probably refused all of this, but she was just too exhausted, "I sent him back to work. I wanted him to go, so how exactly do you want me to tell him I need him at home"

"Rory" Chris shook his head, "This isn't about admitting defeat, you have never raised a newborn before, hell, I have barely raised a newborn, but it is not easy and you are allowed to ask for help. When was the last time that Logan was home for more than 24 hours"

"I don't know" Rory admitted, "A month or so"

"And when do you expect him home?" Chris asked her calmly even though he was incredibly irritated with Logan.

"I think on Thursday" Rory explained, "He promised he would be here for Christmas Eve with the kids"

"Alright, so, until Thursday, you will have help from Olivia, and you will have help from Mom and I, and right now, you will go shower, because you've eaten, and you look like garbage"

"Dad" Rory laughed.

"Kid, this is what is best for you. Go have a shower"