"Can I feel?" Celeste asked as she lounged next to Rory on her bed the next day, observing the peculiar lopsided shape of her bump.
"I'm a circus freak now," Rory grumbled, feeling discouraged, but naturally allowed it.
"It's almost like… empty?" Celeste described the feel of the side of the bump that before had contained twin B.
"Yep, a freak, I tell you," Rory exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, feeling helpless.
"I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to carry two babies," Celeste recalled being pregnant with Evie.
"Nothing to envy," Rory grumbled. Maybe the fact that she was a little older had something to do with it as well, but she hadn't remembered anything being that hard with Finny.
"Except for getting two cuties in the end…," Celeste replied, hoping to cheer her up. Every now and again she did think that what if she'd met Jess earlier - maybe she would've had a change to have more kids. But she knew it was better that way - neither of them was willing to risk her life like that again.
"So… how was Philly?" Rory tried to divert the subject, feeling sick of giving overviews on her conditions to everyone who had called - her dad, Lane, grandma, even Sookie.
"Wonderful," she smiled in response, looking down, feeling slight blush appear on her cheeks.
"Aw… you guys are cute," Rory replied, beginning to wonder how many months, weeks and days it would take when she could enjoy anything again.
"Hm-hm," she mumbled. "But it wasn't all that, we really got a chance to talk, like really… and I think we're really good right now," she added, full of hope.
Rory squeezed her forearm assuringly. She really hoped she'd done the right thing by telling Jess what she'd learned about Noah. While she didn't know that they had talked about it, she hoped they had. She really didn't want to ruin the friendship she'd developed by being the reason they'd gotten into a fight or worse, but Jess was almost family - and in the past months they too had rekindled some of their friendship that had been a little neglected for a while - she couldn't just not tell him either.
"Are you guys just going to hang out down here or do you want me to help you upstairs?" Logan asked as he walked through the bedroom door. He was determined to work at home for the next few weeks before his holiday began, wanting to make sure he made Rory as comfortable as possible. He was very rapidly beginning to realize how having stairs between the entrance and the bedroom was not the best idea perhaps, already beginning to consider the possibility of getting a bed of some sort for her study, at least temporarily.
"This is what my life is now - bed, couch, bathroom, couch, bed, bathroom, bed..," Rory complained.
"Paris said it might still return to normal," Logan tried to soothe Rory, getting a grim look from Rory. During the past 24 hours, it had only bega to hurt more.
"You said swimming might help, right? So we'll go tomorrow maybe?" Celeste suggested.
"Maybe," Rory replied. She currently wasn't feeling it, but she knew it might help.
Rory tried to keep her back as straight as possible, not pushing her ribs into her stomach, as Logan supported her as she climbed the stairs, there being a very real question of fine balance so she would not fall.
They found Jess on the living room carpet, helping the two toddlers build a castle of some sort out of wooden blocks. The kids seemed to be enjoying the attention of another adult sitting at their level.
Finny noticed Rory approaching and hurried to her, calling "Mommy!" He'd been missing her, and she him. Sure they'd seen each-other but as Logan had tried to explain to the little boy that she wasn't feeling well, it had been mostly up to Maya or himself to entertain him.
"Hey, Finny," she replied, hating that she couldn't even crouch down or bow to him, as she spoke to him. "Why don't you show me what you built?" Rory tried to keep things positive in front of him as she held his hand. Compared to Evie Finny as a strong cherubic chub, it showed it every move he made and how he played - his movements being rougher and at times slower.
"Maybe you should put some mattress or something on the floor here, it won't look nice, but this way Rory could lay on her side and play with him a little. It'd be a lot less lonely up here than in bed," Celeste suggested practically.
"Would you like that, Ace?" Logan asked, as he assisted her to lie down on the couch in the meanwhile, handing her some smaller pillows to make her comfortable.
"Sure, we could try, maybe tomorrow," Rory replied.
"Hey, what's with that name anyways, I don't think I ever asked?" Jess inquired sitting back to the floor. He'd heard Logan call Rory 'Ace' a bunch of times but never fully figured out where it had come from.
"Ah…," Logan exhaled, barely noticing it himself as he called her that. It was so organic to him. "It's from when we met, we were on the paper together - she just was such a goody-goody back then, I just had to tease a little, it just stuck," Logan admitted, smiling smugly.
"Huh, and I thought it was for my excellent penmanship…," Rory commented jokingly, knowing too well that Logan hadn't truly meant anything negative.
"Well, it's cute," Celeste said, sitting onto the floor as well, cross legged, her back against the couch Rory was laying on. Evie had missed her too, and was taking any opportunity to climb into her lap, beginning to play with her hair, thankfully not pulling on it (yet).
Rory observed Evie - she herself had quite little experience with little girls other than Evie. And her mind did wander, trying to picture what her girls would look like.
"I got a chance to meet one of Jess' exes on Friday," Celeste said almost triumphantly. With everything that had come after, she was seeing no real threat, but it had been interesting in seeing what his type had been before her.
"You don't say? Tell me more," Rory inquired curiously. She frankly didn't know much about Jess flings before Celeste and after herself.
"Geez, I'm right here," Jess grumbled, Logan simply chuckling along.
"So I was thinking," Logan began, as he'd returned from putting Finny to bed one night, opening up his laptop and bringing it to bed. With Rory spending most of the days in some sort of a form of rest or another, she was really not too tired by the time she usually would've been. "I have some ideas what to get Owen as a wedding present," he added, wanting to get her opinion on it, as he figured there were a few things Rory knew more about Owen than he did.
"Are you sure they don't already have plans for London, I bet they've been planning this for a while?" Rory asked, knowing Logan was determined to help them make their honeymoon even more special by contributing.. She knew Owen hadn't really travelled all that much, hence this was probably a big deal for him and his fiance.
"Well I don't, but it seems like the most logical thing to give them - I've lived there, I've partied there, I've…," he explained, 'dated there' having almost slipped his lips by accident. "How about dinner at Clos Maggiore for starters?" he suggested. He'd been to every fancy restaurant, club and lounge worth going, with money being no obstacle, he still kept feeling like Owen should deserve to experience at least some of that.
"Sure it's romantic, but in the summer - I don't know," she argued. There was also the matter of how comfortable Owen would feel there - he was not ill mannered, but he hadn't really seemed like the type to appreciate fine dining either. These places Logan had loved tended to be the kind that required bringing a whole other wardrobe even.
"How about Le Pont de la Tour then, they have a terrace overlooking the Tower bridge," Logan added, Rory hadn't been there and Rory knew better than to ask what had taken him there. It was easy forget that for years he'd had a life that had been separate from her, now that seemed almost impossible to imagine.
"Better...," Rory commented.
"Okay…," Logan massaged his forehead. "How about the Mandrake's terrace? Maybe I could even get them a room there or something?" he pondered.
"Much better, but when it comes to getting them accommodations maybe not force it on them, maybe book it but ask first if they want it - you don't really know, maybe they've put a lot of effort into planning this, saved up…," Rory explained.
"Private tour guide slash chauffeur, I know a guy," he proposed.
"If they want," Rory insisted. "I wouldn't want a third wheel around all the time if I was a newlywed," she added.
Logan groaned. Why was it so difficult? He used to be excellent in gift giving - and when it came to his friends, girlfriends, his sister or family - he was. He just had zero experience giving something to his brother and his fiance whom he knew so little about.
"Maybe you're just trying too hard?" Rory said, looking up to him, as she laid there on her pillow, her elbow under her head.
"You're right, I really don't know what I'm doing," he exhaled.
"How about you book all those options you just said, with possibility to cancel, and just tell him he can call you anytime if they want to ask something - if they don't know where they should go or what is a good place to eat, you have them text you or call you and you help - organize things for them as they go. I know you probably had secretaries do all the actual organizing but what I'm sure he'd appreciate a personal touch, not just some lavish gesture," Rory explained.
"You really think that'd be okay?" Logan asked.
"I'm sure," she replied, pulling him close by his chin and giving him a kiss.
"Maybe I should just move here, so the pool would be closer," Rory sighed as she did a few breast strokes, the cool water feeling incredible around her body. Here she was weightless, able to stretch, glide and float - she knew nothing better than this.
Celeste laughed friendlily at the thought.
They'd come without the kids this time, as it was easier for Celeste to aid Rory, in case she needed her support while getting dressed or showering. Rory was already adjusting to the uncomfortable position of twin B, as long as she didn't need to put on her shoes or teach anything she'd dropped to the floor.
"So I heard you had your mom over the other day," Celeste began as she glided through the water next to her.
"Yeah, she was… it was nice," Rory replied. "Maybe it's my hormones or something, but I've been missing her and the town…, I guess I'm just going insane at home," she explained, then rolling her eyes.
"I think there's nothing wrong with missing something like that. It used to bring you comfort, it was home, safe..," Celeste explained. She could only really relate through something she'd read in books, she'd never had a place that was just that - comfort, home, safe - except the house she lived in now - but she'd never been a part of a community like that. Not even in their family holiday house on the outskirts of Nice - the high gated household connecting very little with everybody else. All her life she'd just gone from one big anonymous city to another, she didn't even know if she was able to be a part of a community like that.
"Earth to Celeste?!" Rory called, seeing her eyes glaze over for a few minutes, deep in though,
"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking how I don't really know what I'm talking about," she replied, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Have you ever considered that maybe you guys should get like a holiday home there or something - I mean if you love the place as much as you think you do, wouldn't it make sense to have a place there more permanently, so it wouldn't involve staying at the Inn or driving home every night?" she suggested. There were a number of holiday homes the Huntzbergers had, not that they fully had a chance to experience all of them, but this one actually made the most sense to her, but this was up to them of course.
"Hmm.. I never really thought about it that way to be honest," Rory pondered. The Inn had always provided that options, and unless it was some wedding that had fully booked the place, there usually was enough room for a few people to just crash without much planning, but wedding season was upon them now, and it was like this every year - getting a room there in the summer was iffy. There had been a few occasions they's stayed above Lukes's diner, but that place wasn't really family friendly.
"Well clearly you're too preoccupied to think about it right now, but I would consider it. I mean it's definitely a nice place for kids, all the events Lorelai is always telling about…," she trailed off, beginning to recall some of the more peculiar events she'd never been to but that had sounded interesting.
Rory glided across the water on her back now, embracing being able to be this way without feeling the added pressure to her spine. She thought about a lot of things - the sudden lack of room their penthouse now seemed to have, the beauty of having a pool and an actual outdoor space on ground level. Maybe a new place, or a second place, was really something they ought to be thinking about. She didn't want to move from New York, the location not too far from the university was important to her, but maybe there were some alternatives they could explore. She'd never really considered spending their joint fortune like that - sure, she bought necessities - baby gear, furniture or clothes - but it was never something that she just wanted and didn't have use for - considering getting a bigger place, with the mentioned luxuries seemed so excessive - so spoiled. She almost felt embarrassed for thinking those thoughts, yet somewhere in the back of her mind the thought lingered - maybe they needed something more than their apartment?
"What is that?" Jess inquired, as he walked past Celeste, having just gotten dressed to go to work one morning, seeing Celeste filling out what looked like a survey on her computer.
"Well apparently, this is my therapists idea of exploring myself - I am doing lots and lots of personality tests, there are even a few career tests in this bunch," she explained, showing him a few that she had open on different tabs. Evie had already eaten, and had happily spent the last ten minutes figuring out how a zipper worked, the latest addition to the busyboard they kept in the kitchen.
"Huh," he noted, continuing to make them both a green smoothie, telling Evie to cover her ears, before he switched the blender, which she had learned to thankfully comply to.
"Is it just me or does this seem… I don't know, kind of high school? Are you sure this Erica is any good?" Jess inquired sceptically a moment later.
"Well I've found out I'm what is called the commander type apparently. A person to whom failure is not an option - and this is why I am filling these out," she replied, feeling slightly ironic about the result. "So no, they're not completely useless, but you're right, I could've figured a few of these out on my own. I guess she's just trying to get me to reflect and analyse myself instead of sitting paralyzed and waiting for something to fall on my lap," she explained and walked over to the kitchen cabinet, requesting Jess's attention to watch her take her meds. Celeste swallowed her pills and water.
Jess still didn't particularly enjoy this part of their morning - he just wanted to trust her that she did that - but she didn't. She hadn't missed a single one since she started, but somehow still she didn't trust herself enough to take them on her own time.
"Any plans for today?" he asked, as she returned to the table with the smoothie, Evie having now demanded to climb into Celeste lap, so she was left trying to continue with one of the forms with Evies hands trying to type something on her computer as well.
"I think we're going to the park today," Celeste replied, her pitch elevating a little as she said it to Evie, knowing she would understand the word. So much for no baby talk. "And then Kathy is coming in the afternoon for a few hours so I'll go to pilates and then I ought to make a drawing for the book, but I'm having a bit of a creative block," Celeste added.
"What's the message Noah has written for it?" Jess asked, trying to help.
"It was….," Celeste began, pulling up the e-mail Noah had sent her last week. "We're told some people are beneath us, yet they are judged only by their surface not their person," she read out loud.
Jess pondered - he had to admit, Noah did seem to get what she was trying to make of this book, hence he really truly hoped, what he'd learned from Rory wouldn't ever become an issue. He worried that if it did, this would ruin the good thing Celeste seemed to have going for her - and he wasn't sure if she could handle a setback like that. Sure, he could get her published - but in that case without the text and he was pretty sure Noah had been right about that too - the pictures were better with the texts.
"I liked the ones you've done with swimming pools, I like how you draw water. Maybe something like a person walking underwater, but the top of the head is above the water, maybe wearing some fancy pill-box hat or whatever the British Royalty likes to wear," he suggested.
"That's not bad, thanks. I might try that," she replied. It felt good to have Jess involved in this, even if just on this level - it meant the world to her. He was not just tolerating that she was doing this, this was genuine support.
"Michel! Back from paternity leave already? Time just flies," Lorelai noted as she watched Michel put his things in the employee's lounge.
He'd in fact asked to come back to work earlier, having realized being at home with a 5 month old wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Him and Frederik had in fact adopted in the end and his well-deserved extended paternity leave had been Lorelais gift to him, while she tried to manage things on her own and with the help of one of the senior receptionists Michel had hired a few years ago.
"Hello, Lorelai. Yes, it certainly does," Michel muttered, making a smug smile in the back.
"Good to have you back," Lorelai hugged him, getting a disgusted look in return. She knew he didn't mean it - it was just the way he was.
"So what do we have in the agenda?" he inquired, opening up the office computer to go over what he'd missed.
"Eight weddings, two birthdays, occupancy rate 98% for the next four weeks," Lorelai replied cheerily, looking at June's schedule. This was for both of the Inn's and she was definitely proud of how well they were doing. What she lacked was time - and with Leo's summer holiday fast approaching, she knew it was going to be even more of a challenge to keep everyone happy.
"Anything classier than cake smear and the conga line?" Michel asked in a discouraged tone.
"Well… you know what they say.. You can never really control what's going on in a groom's mind when he decides to ruin his wife's perfectly applied make up by smearing cake on it. What a way to start a marriage," Lorelai commented casually.
"I see you have a few of these planned out here already, have you got to-do lists so I can continue? Got to make sure it's done properly," Michel grumbled.
Lorelai rolled her eyes at him, clicking open the to do list she'd saved under each even folder on the office computer. Michel was a perfectionist, and while she could easily pull off a wedding, Michel always found something to complain about - but it was good they had high standards. That was what kept bringing theme customers, just as long as someone else did the actual communication part once the event was happening - they were splendid.