So here is the next chapter - it is going a bit slow at the moment and I appologize for that, but we are still not back to normal after Covid19, but getting there - please have patience - I hope you will like this chapter.

Enjoy

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"Well Emily, I hate to say this, but you should start preparing for delivery." Joshua stated after her examination.

"What? I still have almost four weeks until my due date and I went almost ten days over with Lorelai – what do you mean by preparing?" Emily looked from Richard to Joshua as she rose to her feet.

"All the indications of that fact are there."

"But she has been staying of her feet since we were here Joshua?" Richard chimed in as he helped Emily into a chair before sitting himself.

"I'm sure of that, but it is just a matter of time, it could be later today as a matter of fact or a week, maybe you will even get to your due date – but it looks like it is more a matter of days rather than weeks." Joshua explained

"But will the baby be strong enough if I deliver early?" Emily grabbed Richards hand and held on tight

"Yes, she will. And if she needs some help when she gets here, we will be ready for that." Joshua knew how to calm her down.

"But I don't have any indications that she is ready to come out, I don't feel heavy, I'm not more tired than earlier, nothing." Emily said and felt Richard rub his thumb over the back of her hand.

"As I said Emily, it is in the hands of a higher power at this moment as to how long she stays where she is. There is nothing you or I can do to stop it. If she wants out, she'll come." Joshua started "But stay of your feet, keep your activities to a bare minimum, don't get to agitated, relax." He pointed at her

Emily nodded and looked over at Richard "Well then we better get home and get the last things in place and planed." She reasoned

"Yes dear, we better do that. Joshua, thank you and we will see you soon, I guess." Richard smiled and shook Joshua's hand before he helped Emily to her feet and started guiding her out of the office.

Emily was quiet the entire ride home, Richard kept looking towards her. She looked worried and it worried him. As he parked the car, he went around to help her out, but she refused to take his outstretched hand and walked into the house, the maid was greeting them and hurriedly took Emily's coat and asked if she could bring them anything. Emily didn't answer she simply walked to the stairs and walked upstairs.

"Thank you, Grace, would you prepare a tray for Mrs. Gilmore with some iced tea, and maybe some toasted bread and fruit, I'll go upstairs and make sure she is settled nicely, just bring the tray to the bedroom.

"Of course, sir, do you need anything?" Grace asked, she noticed Richards behavior to be of.

"No, no thank you." With that he left her alone and walked upstairs.

Richard stopped at Lorelai's room, knocked on the door and waited for her 'yes' then he entered. He quickly explained what he knew to his daughter who seemed to understand the worries her father had and she agreed to leave her mother alone for the day. Then he walked towards the bedroom, he slowly pushed the door open and looked inside the room, Emily was sitting on the side of the bed starring straight ahead of her.

"Emily? Darling?" he started as he moved towards her, as he was about to reach out to her, she held up her hand to stop him.

"Tell me, do you really think I can do this?" she said just above the whisper

"Do what darling?" he stopped right in front of her and folded his hands.

"This whole baby thing?"

"Emily you are four weeks away from your…" she cut him of

"Answer my question, I know how long there is to my due date, you do not have to emphasize that further. I need to know if you think I can do this whole thing again. Apparently, I cannot even hold the baby for the proper amount of time inside, I am putting the baby at risk even before it is born. This whole thing is going to scare Lorelai, add on unnecessary worry to her and her baby. I haven't even completely finished the nursery!" as her speech went on, she became louder and louder. She started sobbing.

Richard hurried to her side and pulled her into his embrace "Of course you can do this Emily, how can you even doubt it? You are not putting our little girl in here at any risk, she is just eager to see the world. Joshua said they will be ready whenever she decides to enter our lives. I just explained the entire thing to Lorelai, and I can tell you that she is worried about you and her sister, but it is not transferred to her own situation, she understands it all." Emily looked up at him, he dried her cheeks and gave her a soft peck on the lips "You are a wonderful mother Emily and do not doubt that."

"Ha, your sixteen-year-old is pregnant!" Emily said with a huff

"You are not to blame for that darling, Lorelai don't like rules and she knows how to bend them at their finest. And even if we had done anything differently then we would probably still be in this situation with her." Richard chuckled

"We could have locked her up." She said and dried her eyes

"See had we done that, even then she would have found a way out. And we would have been terrible parents. By the way – see this time in bed as an opportunity to get people to get things here instead of you running around and draining yourself out. This way you can get everything in place for the marriage between Lorelai and Christopher – get Francine to do the running." Richard smiled

"I will not let Francine plan anything for my daughter's wedding – she can get Christopher's clothing in order along with his mind towards this whole marriage."

"Lorelai keeps claiming that she doesn't want to marry, not Christopher." Richard said and moved a little on the bed

"A child needs a mother and a father." Emily said once again, her mantra almost.

"Is that how you felt….back then?" Richard questioned

"Yes, and…well…..it's what my mother always said when she talked about how we should be careful when boys showed interest, marriage, children, family and so on when Hope and I were younger." She explained

"But we didn't get married until long after our…..uhm…..mistake." Richard cleared his throat

"I know, but we couldn't have gone through with the pregnancy Richard. First of all, it would have been a scandal to your family and mine and we would never have heard the end of it, neither of our parents would have accepted that child. Second the times where not in our favor, at least now women can have a child and work outside the home, and no one looks at her wrongly. Third we were in college, and we would have had to stop that, Lorelai can still attend college, we'll take care of the baby, that would not have been an option with us." Emily tried to find more arguments

"You don't have to convince me dear; I know." He leaned in and kissed her.

They stopped when a knock on the door interrupted them, the maid brought in a tray with what Richard had ordered, she placed it down on the vanity and curtsied before she left again. Richard got up and poured a cup of tea, he handed it to Emily and sat down beside her again.

"I just feel so inadequate at the moment, I can't keep up with Lorelai's mood, her mood swings, I'm tired all the time, I have never before cared about people starring, talking, whispering or anything else behind my back, but at the moment I do, I am too old to be pregnant and I can't even keep her inside for the time I'm supposed to." She rattled of quickly

"Emily the amount of time she stays where she is, is the time she is supposed to be there, you are almost at the due date now, I would maybe have said something else if this had been in April or May."

"What would you have said then?" she challenged him

"That you stayed to busy and that you should have let somebody else do all that planning, party participating and so on. But I would never have blamed you if it had happened!"

"But as far as Joshua said that may or may not have changed anything." She snapped at him this time

"I know love, but you have kept her safe and growing for many, many weeks, and even if she is born tomorrow, you will continue that quest. Don't say you've done anything wrong here, she is just eager." He kissed her nose tip and smiled at her.

"I hope so, I just hope everybody will shut up once they see her."

"They will, she will be dotted over as much as Lorelai, I know. With a mother like you, she will be the prettiest baby in the world, just like Lorelai was when she was born." He knew how to play this game, when Emily's mood was this way, the fact that he meant what he said just made the game easier to play.

"I just hope she will be as easy as Lorelai was as a baby, I'm sixteen years older now than when she entered the world. I also hope she will turn out well proportioned."

"You are not old." Richard quickly stated

"Tell that to the younger women at the midwife's office." Emily rolled her eyes

"What do you mean by well proportioned?"

"Not like Lorelai, don't you remember the bigger than average head? She kept falling when she started walking because that big head threw her balance off." Emily ran her hands over the baby bump.

"Oh yes I remember, how many times did we cringe because she kept falling. I am still to this day amazed that she didn't get hurt more often than she did." Richard chuckled, Emily tried to hide the yawn but was unsuccessful "Sweetheart you need your nap, I'll go get some work done." Richard pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

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Are you looking forward to that baby arrives? I sure am - and I promise you it wont be long till that happens - Did you like this chapter? leave me a little word :-) Thank you.