AN: Chapter 32 is going to be the big families dinner

Chapter Twenty Nine – A Gilmore Girls Lunch

29.1

Despite how well the dinner with her grandmother had gone, Rory still felt nervous about bringing her baby into the world in which she had always lived at the border of. It was as Shira had said, she didn't really understand the world of the rich in terms of country clubs and cotillions. She might be able to learn and she might be able to understand the techniques and skills she'd need quickly but she hadn't ben bred for that. She didn't know what she would breed her son or daughter to do and that wasn't something she had fully discussed with Logan.

What responsibilities did their unborn son or daughter already have? Would they be equipped from birth with the tools necessary to enjoy the life they had been born into.

She sighed as she looked at her phone. She had found an upscale burger place with some other items on the menu including steak, salad, and fish. She had wanted to go somewhere where she could find a point between both sides of her world especially since she hadn't discussed what this meeting was going to be about.

As she saw the first woman coming, she smiled and stood up, unconsciously putting a hand over her belly. "Grandmother," she smiled as Emily hurried towards her, making sure that her shirt didn't show creases. "Thank you for meeting me here."

"Of course, I mean, if my granddaughter needs me then I'll do whatever I can," Emily looked around again and then frowned as she saw someone exit with a hamburger to go box. "I don't understand why you chose here but…but let's enjoy it, can't be worse than that Luke's Diner."

"I like both places," Rory said before Emily gestured for them to go inside. "We still have one member of our party we're waiting for."

"I thought that Logan was doing his last couple of months in London, that's been the news around the club anyway," Emily said before hearing the noise of keys, she looked up to see Lorelei there having just come from The Dragonfly. Rory saw the look that each of them gave to the other before seeing Emily smile and Lorelei bite her bottom lip.

"Hello…mother," Lorelei said with a look to Rory that she should have prepared her for this non-scheduled dinner. "Is something wrong?"

"Your outfit today is lovely," Emily commented Lorelei who twitched having heard that. "Your hair is a bit-" Emily waved her hand in the air to show her belief that her daughter should have run a comb through her hair at least a couple more times before meeting them.

"Thank you, mother," Lorelei replied before looking at Rory. "Is anything wrong?"

"Can we just enjoy a meal together first?" Rory asked and Lorelei looked at the burger joint, yes it was a classy burger joint but the image of her mother eating any type of burger was beyond her. She knew how her mother had tried to make things right between herself and Luke but he would always be on the outside. Well, now that she could admit that she loved Christopher more than Luke, Luke would remain an outsider. Still, burgers and her mother were not a combination that filled Lorelei with excitement.

"Oh, so you don't think I can do it," Emily challenged her. "Then Rory and I will enjoy our dinner alone,"

"No. I have to come in here," Lorelei smiled. "I have to see you eating one. We could take photographs, put it on the holiday newsletter. Greetings from a Connecticut Burger Joint."

Rory sighed, "I wanted to talk to both of you," she tried to explain. "Please, I need to figure out what's best for them," she still had her hand placed against her belly and both Emily and Lorelei looked to one another and nodded. As much as they wanted to argue, there was definitely one thing that they were on agreement for, doing their best for not only Rory but the life she carried as well. They both nodded and headed into the restaurant.

29.2

Rory smiled as their food was brought to them. She had gone with a regular burger with fries whilst her mother had chosen something large with gooey cheese and bacon and to her surprise, her grandmother had ordered a mushroom burger with roasted potatoes on the side. Maybe it was so that she could show Lorelei that she was able to eat a burger, that was something all three of them had boldness, they wanted to prove that they could do something especially if someone said that they couldn't.

"So, Rory," Emily brought up the subject as she took a knife to her burger and cut a piece off, Lorelei was already holding hers in both of her hands due to the large size. "You asked us down here for a reason, are you able to tell us what that is or we could wait until after dinner -"

"Or you could just tell me and I could pass the message on," Lorelei winked and Emily rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what to do with the baby," Rory said and both of the other women looked at her confused and with a little concern. "I mean, when they are born they are going to be Huntzberger, Gilmore, and Hayden."

"A good combination of genes right there," Emily said taking another sip from her water glass.

"So…how do I do this? How do I raise a baby to live up to those names?" Rory asked and Lorelei sighed.

"You don't have to live up to their expectations, Rory. Truthfully, I doubt that either the Snotsburgers or those elite pricks you have as grandparents and I'm not meaning you," Lorelei said as Emily looked ready to tackle her in this fight, "will ever come to be doting family members."

"Even the right childhood doesn't work if you can take your mother as an example," Emily bit back. She shook her head. "I am sure that Shira and Mitchum would be happy to be grandparents. They may be very opinionated but that is something that coming from a good family allows you to do and some people may be a little too opinionated," Emily coughed as she looked at Lorelei.

"Holding a mirror up to yourself, are you, Mom?" Lorelei asked before turning to Rory. "But why are you bringing this up?" she asked Rory. "You never felt like you needed to be raised a certain way. Even when you went to Chilton, you were a free thinker as I've always arranged for you to be. As much as I care for Paris, don't tell me that you'd want her childhood."

Rory took slow breaths. She cared about Paris too but her childhood was stressful because she was made to live up to expectations and one of those unmet expectations was getting into Harvard. Both she and Logan would be Yale alumni but if her son or daughter didn't want to go to Yale, she wouldn't mind. If she knew Logan as well as she thought she did, he wouldn't mind the child not going to their school either.

"For a child to be raised in that type of environment, you have to start early right?" Rory asked as she changed the subject.

"Painfully early in most cases," Lorelei said.

"And some people were fighting the natural child rearing from the time of infancy," Emily said before seeing Rory's face. "I would say that to properly raise a high society child, then you should start now before the baby is even born but that doesn't work for everybody. I can ask for a list of appropriate nannies and mistresses if you would like."

Rory shook her head, "No. Thank you though, I want to take care of them by myself…well, me and Logan by ourselves." She smiled as she thought about the image of Logan as a father. He'd make a really good dad.

"I'll keep looking for the best for my greatgrandchild anyway," Emily announced and Rory gave her a half smile.

Lorelei frowned as she watched her daughter. "I can give you some ideas but I thought that didn't matter to you?" she asked and Rory placed her hand over her belly once again. She may have thought in the past that this wouldn't matter. She knew that she had grown up with a happy life that not everyone was lucky enough to have. However, it wasn't as if she was marrying and having a baby with jess or even with Dean. There were certain things that marrying Logan and them having a child together meant. Her father had felt estranged from her grandfather and she had to believe that it had something to do with the perception of her father throwing everything away.

Rory just wanted this child to be in a place where they could turn to people in their family. She wanted them to never doubt how many people loved them since it still made Rory feel guilty sometimes how much she had burdened her parents by her mother becoming pregnant at such a young age. This baby should never have to worry about something like that.

29.3

Rory was going to be spending the night with her mother. She had noticed that after the meal, Lorelei was trying to ask her more questions about why she was so concerned with raising the baby to belong to the right kind of society. It would be easier were she at home and she wanted to talk to her father. Christopher had been so supportive towards her and it showed he loved her but there was more to discuss.

She just needed to get her mind sorted, she needed to start figuring things out and she absentmindedly walked to where Luke's Diner was. She looked into the window and moved aside so that she wouldn't be noticed. Luke was still there flipping burgers with Ceasar there as well. It seemed like she was stepping into her past, it had been that long since she had seen him.

So much had passed from that time. There were so many questions that she had that involved her, Jess, her mother. It reminded her of those movies in which one can step into an old relic of their past and come out and everything would have changed. She sighed. No. She couldn't dwell on the past whilst she had so many unanswered questions about her future.

She was about to walk out of view before she heard a voice behind her, "Rory! Wait up!"

End of Chapter Twenty Nine

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty Eight

Bserial, December Jeffries2, eyann85, Hollyelvira, KathyMesser, lysen5972, roganjalex, Rori Potter