Thursday arrived painfully slow. Logan had taken half a day off to join Rory at the clinic for her check-up and ultrasound, being almost as nervous as she was, but he tried not to show it. This felt in a way like the moment of truth, while the path forward was still not risk free, it was like an invisible magic line, that most references swore by, from which forward statistics were on their side.
They now sat at Paris' Manhttan clinic in the office of Dr. Norton's, who was due any second. One of the nurses had already taken Rory's vitals and tested the urine sample, and now it was just left to wait. Paris had told them that he was exceptional, and that she paid this particular doctor in question more than anyone else in her company just to keep him there. His office looked professional and sleek, conjac color leather armchairs for the patients opposite to his large glass table, a wall behind it full of diplomas and award certificates. On paper, well mostly on the internet these days, he seemed indeed like they were in very capable hands.
"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Hunzberger. It'll be my pleasure to be working with you," he said, shaking their hands. "I understand you've had your previous visit with Dr. Gellar about a month ago?" the grey-haired but fit older doctor checked, looking over their file on his tablet.
"That's right, Paris... Dr. Gellar, is a friend of ours. We got our preliminary confirmation from the ER a few months ago and she just confirmed everything and did the full blood work," Rory confirmed.
"Indeed, I have the results here, and they look perfectly normal, as I am sure you've already been informed. And good, I see you've filled out the forms as well. No hereditary illnesses, as far as you know, good," he read out from the forms.
"That's right," Rory nodded as she held onto Logan's hand over the armrest.
"I see this is your second pregnancy," the doctor noted with a note of condolence in his voice. "This must be making you a little anxious," he stated, putting down his notes.
Rory nodded, adding, "I'm seeing a therapist for that, Dr. Rita Thompson," her voice a little shaky. Logan squeezed her hand in assurance. To him she was already being so brave - doing this, getting help and talking about it.
"Well, I can just tell you probably what you've already heard - the risks are minimal from this point onward, therapy is a good thing to keep up if it still worries you. But I assure you that we will keep a very close eye on you. Whenever you feel like you need confirmation, you are free to drop by the clinic for a checkup, even when it's not scheduled," Dr. Norton confirmed.
"That is good to know," Rory replied thankfully.
"We won't need to run any bloodwork this time, the urine sample you provided was clear, and as the nurse has confirmed the blood-pressure was also fine. So we have an ultrasound to do today, and just make sure we get answers to all of your questions," he continued.
The doctor led them towards the adjoining examination room, and had Rory scoot herself onto to the examination table. Rory lifted up her shirt exposing her abdomen, taking a deep breath for courage.
"May I?" Dr. Norton asked, suggesting he wanted to fold down the edge of Rory's pants as well.
The two nodded in confirmation, but appreciated the question.
The gel had been warmed so it didn't feel uncomfortable when he placed it on her stomach. After dimming the lights, the wand began to move around her stomach and a series of images flipped on the screen, none of which reminded either of a baby. That until it stopped moving.
"Here we have the baby. You can see the head, spine, legs, arms, umbellical cord and placenta," he described pointing each detail out for them.
Logan held onto Rory's hand even firmer now, as their eyes were glued to the screen. The doctor turned on the volume, adding, "and there's the heartbeat - 144 bpm, perfectly normal." Rory didn't even realize that she'd been holding her breath a little, now finally able to fully exhale. As a response the baby's arms moved just a little, almost shocking the two.
"Was that a move just now?" Logan asked, indeed of confirmation.
Tears of relief fell down Rory's cheeks, her lip quivering.
"It was. This is why breathing exercises are so effective. They love their oxygen," the doctor said smilingly having noted Rory's exhale. "So if you get a little further along and start to feel the movement you can try taking a couple of really deep breaths or drinking a glass of cold water and see if that gets the baby moving," he suggested.
He continued to do some measurements assuring them a few minutes later that everything was looking good, and they had no cause to worry.
"Would you like to know the sex of the baby?" Dr. Norton asked.
Rory and Logan glanced at each other, Logan squeezing her hand in confirmation.
"Yes, please," Rory replied, wiping off her tears.
"It's definitely a boy," he stated confidently.
As the two walked out of his office after a series of questions from the "first time parents top list of worries", Rory felt like she needed to gather herself a little before returning to the real world. She took a seat at one of the chairs outside the doctor's office. Logan got her a cup of water, which she thankfully gulped down, calming her a little. He held her hand again, sitting down next to her, letting out a sigh of relief as well.
"So this is really happening," she said, the fact finally really becoming clear to her. "We're having a baby, Logan," she added, grabbing his forearm more firmly.
"We are," he replied with a wide smile.
They'd got all the confirmation they needed in the past hour - the baby was real, his little heart beat perfectly and his limbs moved, he was healthy as far as could be detected, and with it's gender known, he had the beginnings of a character as well. All of this was more than they'd ever had with Sam, making this far more tangible. And while Sam had been what had brought them back together, though sadness and grief, he was their way forward.
"Just look at the floors in this place," Luke exclaimed glancing at the impressive hardwood parquet, as he and Lorelai stepped off the elevator to the penthouse foyer, feeling a little out of place.
"Wow, so much light! It's almost blinding!" Lorelai exclaimed at the wall of windows outlooking the terrace, where the sun shone in from between the neighboring building, rolling along her small hard-shell suitcase.
"Hey!" Rory announced happily, emerging from the kitchen. "I was just putting the lasagna in the oven," she added apologetically for not being at entrance the to greet them.
"I don't know where to start. You cook now? Penthouse?" Lorelaid said, careful in the choice of her tone of voice. The tone was surprised and comical rather than judgemental. She did think the place was excessive, but she knew if she said let out so much as a word of critique it could leave a life-threatening dent in their already fragile relationship.
"I may not cook a lot or cook the menu Sookie would, but I'm not completely useless in the kitchen. Logan and Luke have taught me well," Rory replied, in a light manner, deciding to ignore the 'penthouse' comment - it was what it was.
"Luke? I know he's been trying to get you to eat vegetables and...things, but I'd never thought you'd succumb to it," Lorelai noted. She'd seen Rory cook with Logan before, and that she'd been actually impressed with.
"I've been giving her some pointers actually," Luke confessed, causing Lorelai eye him sideways.
"So where is that husband of your's?" Lorelai asked, looking around the main floor of the apartment observing her surroundings with astonishment.
"He should be here any minute, he's just stuck in traffic," Rory replied. "Do you guys want a tour now or do you want to wait for him?" she asked.
"No better time than the present, I'm sure he's seen the place," Lorelai replied laughingly.
"So this is the living area, or well… more of an entertainment area. The main reason we went for a bigger place like this was this, because when we started to count up all of our friends and family, there was no way we could fit them into anything smaller," Rory began. "And here we have my study, and just down the hall over there Logan's home office," she gestured along the smaller hallway bordered by the gridded window and a view of the terrace. They moved through the back corridore over to the kitchen that also doubled as the media room, their everyday living room as it had become in the past few days. "Kitchen, fridge, TV, pantry, dining room and we're back in the living room," she listed, pointing everything important our for them.
"It's a nice place, you've got here," Luke commented.
"You may just as well bring your luggage along, I'll show you your room as well," Rory added, just before heading downstairs.
"You mean there's more?" Lorelai exclaimed, jokingly. Little by little her humour was becoming more relaxed, and while there was a touch of 'mocking the rich' still in her undertone, Rory was not particularly bothered by this - this was too much of Lorelai's personality to ever cease.
Downstairs, she showed them the smaller seating area, currently having no real decided purpose.
"And here we have your room for the weekend," Rory said as she opened the door to the guest bedroom. The room was clean-cut, the sand colored king size continental bed bedded in stonewashed dark green linen. The following bedroom was similar, but had a slightly narrower bed and instead of the green, the room had a slightly more beachy feel, with shades of white and blue, which she'd chosen with her grandmother in mind.
Rory was already about to skip the nursery when she heard Logan come down the stairs.
"Hey! I'm sorry, the road construction is making traffic crazy right now," Logan apologized, stroking the small of Rory's lower back as he kissed her in greeting.
"And then there's our bedroom," Rory said, skipping over the nursery, as if chickening out. They'd thought about telling them when they did the tour. There was even a single blue balloon just on the other side of that room, but Rory hesitated. Instead, she let Luke and Lorelai to glance over their bedroom, Lorelai noting the view of the greening treetops as 'pretty'.
"And there's one more room actually," Logan began, knowing that Rory wanted to tell them before everyone else, trying to encourage her. He could see it in her face that she was just scared, not deciding to keep it from them.
"There is," Rory said, gesturing towards the nursery door, thankful for Logan pushing her just enough.
"Is this what I think it is?" Lorelai asked, looking at Rory, her eyes already getting watery. What else could it have been?
"Go ahead," Logan suggested.
Lorelai turned the handle and pushed the door open, her mouth falling open at the sight of a single helium-filled baby blue balloon floating in the middle of the room.
"Surprise!" Rory said with a brief giggle. Telling people was still a new notion to her, and she felt usure how to do this.
"We're having a little baby boy. She's just passed the 12 week mark," Logan said, feeling like despite the puddle of tears the two women were already creating the facts needed to be spelled out.
"Well congratulations," Luke shook Logan's hand firmly.
Lorelai and Rory looked at each other hesitantly for a moment, but a second later wrapped their hands around each other, having had a brief wordless conversation, in a careful but deeply comforting embrace.
"I'm so happy for you," Lorelai sobbed, adding, "for you too Logan," over Rory's shoulder, not wanting to let go of her.
"Oh, come on, don't suffocate the girl," Luke scolded playfully, wanting to hug Rory as well.
