Chapter 54: Starting over

The elbow to his ribcage was slightly annoying, so Luke pushed against it, only to be prodded again.

"Luke, wake up! You're missing the best part of the movie!"

Huh? What movie? Weren't they supposed to be on their way to the hospital? Somebody was pinching his nose, now, making him open his eyes finally, only to find three slightly amused faces staring back at him.

His step-daughter was shoving another handful of popcorn into her mouth while his nephew was clutching a chips bag.

"You are the only person I know who can sleep through Rosemary's baby, seriously, Luke!" Lorelai was grinning at him, balancing a bowl with popcorn on her belly as he finally managed to sort out what had really happened this evening and his weird dream.

He had sent Lorelai out of the kitchen to play with Rory and Doula (and yes, sometimes both his wife and his step-daughter were like little children, sticky hands included, and that's why he sent her to play…).He had cooked together with Jess, and walked in on a session of both women trying to invent vertical Jenga… okay, so it was more Lorelai talking about how funny it would be playing with the bars standing instead of laying and dragging out the game in order to show her daughter how it might work.

It didn't really work, though the talk shifted from vertical Jenga to Jengkado (obviously a mixture of Jenga and Mikado, where you threw up the bars in the air and tried to build a tower out of them after picking them up without juggling another bar). All of this in top Gilmore-speak paired with giggling fits that had scared Paul Anka away from his place behind the couch to hide behind one of the bigger potted plants. Thank god Doula was a heavy sleeper.

Jess just threw his uncle a look. "It's too late to run, I guess."

Patting his nephew's shoulder he answered with "Way too late, son", before telling those two psych ward refugees in his living room that Dinner was ready.

They had sat in front of their TV then, and that's obviously where he had fallen asleep.

"Are you okay, Luke?" Lorelai now asked, when he didn't say anything.

Running a hand over his face, the Diner man shifted into a more upright position, frowning at the woman in the movie who was stuffing her face with raw meat.

"I had a weird dream. Must be contagious around the two of you… Jess was talking about those two doctors from your show being shot, and Rory was scolding him that he should not joke about it, and your water broke…", he informed them, looking directly at his wife, knowing very well that they would bug him long enough to spill the contents, anyway.

"Aw, Sweets, but today's Steve's and Kwan's birthday, it would be really mean if Sid and Nancy would steal it from them… and the only one getting shot was Burke so far, and bless whatever deity who removed that arrogant, full of himself…" Lorelai was on the verge of starting a full blown rant, but had to shift as another spasm ran around her lower back.

"Ow. Stupid back. Now, can we watch the movie, please? Nobody's having any more kids today!"


The alarm clock on his night stand showed 4:03 a.m. when he finally woke to Lorelai's prodding.

"Luke…"

"Mrm?"

"Luke, wake up!"

"Just remember you dream and tell me in the morning…"

That got him a swat that made him jolt into a sitting position.

"LUKE!"

"Lorelai!" Fiddling around until he found the switch of the lamp right next to his bed, he threw his wife an annoyed look threw squinted eyes, that quickly faded as he saw her pained expression.

"Is it your back again? Should we call the Doc? Or should I…?"

"Well… I thought it was my back… The spasms have grown to full blown contractions, however, that are more or less 10 minutes apart…"

Luke just continued watching her.

"Uh… you know, that means I am in labor, and that we should either get to the hospital or have lots and lots of plastic sheets in here, because I don't wanna ruin my new bedroom… Luke?"

Her husband just chose to smile. He did not remember how he had reacted in his dream, but a tiny bit of him had always thought he would panic, and that in the end they would have to call Rory and Jess to handle things because he was a flapping mess on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"I'll go fetch your bag while you get dressed. You want me to call the kids now, or from the hospital?"