"I'm here - did I miss it? Am I late?" Rory asked Celeste, breathing heavily as she rushed into Dynasty Maker's in Hartford, having gotten stuck in the morning traffic. It almost sounded like Celeste was about to give birth, but it really wasn't anything that urgent. Rory had just promised and had really wanted to be there, not really knowing what state she was in mentally.
"Did you miss my blood sample - no!" Celeste rolled her eyes, laughingly, as she sat in the waiting room waiting for her to be called. Taking the actual sample didn't seem like that big of a deal, it was the 7 days of waiting that followed - that she felt nervous about.
"So what's this test for exactly?" Rory inquired, only knowing it was in broad terms some genetic test. The last couple of days back had been hectic, Rory wanting to finish up Jess' book and spend some quality time before the kids.
"They call it noninvasive prenatal diagnosis - anything to avoid the really lo-o-o-o-ong needle, right?" Celeste replied, trying to joke to shade her nervousness.
"Absolutely - no lo-o-o-o-ong needles unless necessary," Rory agreed, knowing too well which needle she was speaking of.
"And it's testing for Down, Patau, Edwards, sex chromosomes…," Celeste explained, listing various syndromes. She herself was most worried about Down which she'd also read could elevcate hCG levels which sometimes brought on increased nausea. She'd never had nausea this bad with Evie, hence she was a little more worried.
"So you're also getting to know the sex, right?" Rory asked, hopefully.
Celeste shrugged. Knowing the sex made it so real, did she want it to be so real just yet?
"I'm sorry," Rory apologized, seeing her hesitate.
"It's fine..," Celeste replied. "Oh and I'm going to have to drive back - Jess brought me here today and we nearly had to pull over twice because I was nauseous. Driving is fine though," Celeste added, casually. While she knew about this tendency, she still kept trying, hoping to be over it. But as this had seemed the most logical thing to do, since Jess was driving to New York and Rory came by herself this time, there was no point bringing her own car.
"Paris! Hi!" Rory exhaled, seeing Paris, wearing her , walking into the hallway, and giving the nurses some instructions. They were still a little short staffed and Paris had taken a few patients that morning.
"Hey!" Paris replied and hugged her, continuing to do the same for Celeste. "Something happened to our golden boy?" Paris asked, noting the absence of Jess.
"He's out of town for business, Paris," Rory squinted her eyes at Paris.
"Good, I'll just go see if Vikki is free," she replied, casually and began to make her way towards Vikki's office, while the others followerd her.
"Is she the...?" Rory asked, being a little curious to meet her.
"Uh-uh," Paris replied, the smile on her face transforming to a content one.
"She's got her arm in a sling right now - she had a car accident. But she's back at work already," Pairs explained, having been unable to keep her home, her home, where Vikki and Silas had been staying for the time being because Vikki had needed a lot of help in the beginning without the use of her one arm.
"Oh, I didn't know…," Rory showed concern.
A minute later Paris invited the two into Vikki's office.
Celeste discussed how she'd been feeling and Vikki confirmed that at least her urine sample that she'd dropped off the day before looked good. Her hCG levels were a little higher than average, but nothing Vikki said was reason for concern. Vikki assured her that as it seemed she was able to keep up with her appointments, work and studies - it really wasn't anything to qualify as very severe nausea. Still - Celeste wanted to get this test over with.
Vikki gestured Celeste to the examination room.
"You can come, if it's not gross for you..." Celeste asked Rory.
"Oh, please," Rory mumbled, laughingly.
Of course Rory went, and held Celeste's hand the entire time. Vikki checked the heartbeat with the internal ultrasound, seeing Celeste worry and needing the added confirmation. It was there, and there certainly was just the one.
"Any more questions?" Vikki asked, after Celeste had had her blood drawn and they were back in her office.
"Not really. I've read everything there is to read..," Celeste replied, knowing too well the risks.
"Listen, since you're close with Paris, I'll tell you what, I'll make a call to the labs and see if we can hurry these things up a little. I have an old room mate that works there," Vikki suggested friendlily.
"That'd be wonderful," Celeste exclaimed.
"It's still likely come next week though," Vikki warned.
"Still - thanks," Celeste thanked her.
"And just try to relax - keep busy and try to not think about it too much. It makes it seem like time is going faster," Vikki suggested, wishing her well.
"So and how are you?" Rory asked, hugging Celeste sideways as they reached the parking lot. The appointment had mostly been about the baby and that part her worries, but there was more going on of course.
"I'm okay - really," Celeste replied. "Logan called the other day - I know this sounds so cold and heartless but I didn't really dare to say it out loud until he said it - that what I mostly feel is relief, a drop in pressure. I don't have to do anything anymore that relates to them - I can bloody let those estates rot if I feel like it. Yeah, I might go pay my respects someday but right now - no - this is more important," she said, holding her abdomen.
"You'll be fine," Rory reflected, seeing indeed that Celeste was handling it, and she was glad. But it didn't make her feel redundant - she no doubt could use a friend. They both did.
"So how are the kids?" Celeste asked after she'd gotten over the initial shock of driving Rory's XC90, which was bigger than what she was used to.
"Oh great, they're great. When I got home on Monday I snuck into Finny's room and slept there. You can imagine the squeal he woke me and the twins with," Rory described with a big smile on her face, and continued to tell Celeste in length how fast the twins were developing. Leigh apparently wasn't too far behind Emma and was beginning to push herself up to sit as well - she was still fairly unsteady, someone needed to watch her so she didn't hit her head, but it seemed Emma was having a good influence on her sister, showing her how it was done.
"And G?" Celeste asked.
"She's going to therapy, I haven't gone with her since that first time but I hope it's working. I haven't really had much chance to check in with her this week - she's been doing some big school project - something with training mice," Rory said, squinting her nose - she didn't really see the draw, but as long as her sister was learning something in her pricey institution. "But I did organize her birthday party. Finn got us a venue and I'm taking care of the rest. She wants you to come by the way," Rory said, continuing to descibe what venue she'd booked.
"Hmm… I haven't gotten an engraved invite," Celeste replied, jokingly.
"Well she hasn't exactly gotten Emily Gilmore's etiquette training," Rory laughed.
"It's next Friday, right?" she asked, making sure she remembered correctly.
"We might make it - got to check if Liz will watch Evie thought. But we could use a night out..," Celeste said. She hadn't really had a lot of chances recently for a datenight with Jess. Maybe this was their chance?
"I think you do too," Rory agreed, as they drove out of Hartford towards Stars Hollow.
"So London with Logan was good?" she asked. Sure, she knew the brief summary, but actually speaking to her one on one without the added shock of just losing her mother, she genuinely was just hoping for the juicy bits. Losing her mother had been just that - a shock, not a gut punch.
"Oh yea..," Rory exclaimed with a giggle.
"That good, eh?" Celeste asked.
"I never imagined that these questions actually worked - these are things that you never normally think about and it does peel off some layers. We had this crazy romantic night out.. It was just like old times - the guilt-free times...," Rory explained and brought out some examples of where they went and what they had spoken about. "And the toys... I mean... Don't get me started," Rory grinned widely, having kept Celeste in the loop while she was planning that weekend.
"You look a lot happier," Celeste commented after listening to her for a while.
"He's coming home tomorrow," Rory said and that was pretty self explanatory. It wasn't like he wasn't ever going to travel again, London was still remaining as one of his most frequent places to visit, but it still meant flipping the locations so that he'd spend most of his time home.
"And the house?" Celeste inquired, referring to the place in New Hartford.
"He says it's a hobby, and I don't really see the harm in him trying it out. He admitted that he didn't think through the way he communicated the whole thing, but overall…," Rory added with a shrug. She felt a little embarrassed explaining the whole survivalist aspect of this - somehow it seemed silly to her, but if she was going to show her support, she certainly wasn't going to put the idea down publicly, even if it was just Celeste she was talking to. She wanted to wait and see how it played out. If it really was just the hobby - proving to himself and whoever else was interested that something like this could be done - when why not humour him? All she wanted, was for him to be happy too.
"Maybe this will mean I might see you a little more often too - I mean you'll probably spend some time there over the summer, if he's getting horses and stuff. Honestly I'd totally love hanging out there," Celeste replied, continuing to explain how the kids would have such fun with the animals and the kiddy pool.
"Yeah, maybe," Rory replied, having not really thought of that side. Sure, there were horses at the Dragonfly, but indeed if Logan did get the farm up and running, and hired people to do it for him under the principles he wanted to, it would be quite a cool place for the kids as well. Maybe they'd grow up not fearing flower bulbs?
"Now this is just weird," Rory said as she watched the townsfolk gather to the Apparatus Bay, as she, Celeste with Evie on her hip, and Lorelai stood at the back of the Apparatus room. They'd all helped to set up the space so that the speakers would stand in front of Jess' desk, facing the side of the room. They were pretty sure Taylor wasn't going to like it, as he liked to have a stage of some sort to speak, but they wanted to grab the reigns and choose themselves where they were going to let people, wanting some privacy to remain.
"I know - it's like the council of Elrond taking place at Hogwarts," Lorelai commented. The town meeting had always been at Miss Patty's. It felt so out of place. Theoretically this should've been the second meeting but since Taylor had had the flu last week, it had been postponed.
Rory was a little surprised she knew what the council of Elrond was but she just shrugged.
The people seemed exited, chatting to each other and commenting on the space. There at least was no noisy AC here.
"Yup, or the MacKenzie Gathering of 1743 inside the TARDIS," Celeste added. Pop-references didn't come that naturally to her but she tried her best to keep up with Lorelai which was a tough act to follow.
"Here - I can hold Evie," Rory offered. Evie was at that age where for the first 30 minutes of being in a new crowd she was clingy, but after that she was likely going to be the one running and jumping through the meeting, crawling under the seats and so on.
"Incoming," Lorelai warned, rapidly, and headed to the back to pour some more Chardonnay into her travel mug.
"I better go..," Celeste said, and handed Evie over to Rory as she herself went to help Taylor get settled.
Rory observed Celeste mingle. She was handling everything like a pro - but Rory really shouldn't have been very surprised - this was what Celeste was born to do - she'd been brought up for this, she'd studied this, she'd done this for a living. She was no longer an outsider to Stars Hollow, but she was apart of this community, if anything- Rory was the one who wasn't. But she was fine with that.
Rory had driven home that same night, after Celeste had assured her she was fine for the millionth time. She really seemed to be and Rory simply needed to get used to the idea that grieving her mother was never going to be the same as it would be for her.
After kissing her kids goodnight, as gently as possible, Rory took a long hot shower and snuggled into her bad, hoping it'd be the last night she'd spend alone in a while. Sleep did come quickly, the day having been long and tiring one but much needed.
Rory thought she was dreaming when she felt an unmistakably familiar pair of lips kiss her upper arm, then shoulder and neck. She actually continued to think that for a while - the dream was a rather pleasant one in fact, as the sensation of those fingers soon reached lower, tracing the inside of her leg upwards from her ankle under the blanket. The fingers were a little shaky, but definitely not from hesitation. The hand gently pushed up the long tank top she'd worn to bed, continuing to caress her abdomen, thighs, moving with generous massaging strokes as if kneading her excitement awake. The hand then passed so close by her centre, she let out a groan of disappointment when it turned away.
It was his low chuckle at her reaction that really woke her.
"Welcome home," Rory murmured, realizing Logan had gotten an earlier flight. It was something he did - not to disappoint he tended to tell people he'd come the next day that he actually planned on coming.
Logan kissed her neck again, nuzzling into the back of her neck, while his hands continued teasing around ass and thighs. Rory could feel Logan's damp hair against hers, meaning he'd already had a chance to wash off the airport grime. The one notoriously teasing hand kept slipping between her legs, but not quite grazing her. Rory was incredibly excited by this prospect and began to slip down her cosy cotton panties, while arching her back.
"Aren't we eager?" Logan mused smugly.
"And you aren't?" she whispered in response, already sensing his hardness against her. She knew just what he felt - with the time difference and probably having napped on the plane he was wide awake, and she really didn't mind - he was home.
His hand reached down between her thighs, finally giving her what she craved, and sensed the intensity of her arousal. He was really home - the thrust of his hips that followed making that more clear than ever. The next movements, things taking their natural course, were subtle at first then more firm and demanding. Logan's hands slipped up inside her top, grabbing her breast with possessiveness. The low, withheld, groans and moans occurred in unison, and just as Rory was about to build up to a climax, Logan surprised her again by licking his thumb and gently caressing her sphincter. But she was too in the moment to let that unfamiliar sensation really stop her from enjoying the action.
"Trust me," he assured. He wasn't planning on any big milestones to be reached that day, it was just another bit of their journey of self-discovery - learning what they liked.
He only really pushed the tip of his thumb in a little, giving her an introduction of what these 8000 nerve endings were like, at the same time keeping up his solid thrusts that brought her to one of the most intense orgasms she'd ever had. He came soon after - a ridiculously content smile on his face that stayed on for a while. It was good to be home.
AN: spoiler (i guess) : I'm in the process on wraping this story up. if you have any final wishes for what you want to read about (roughly one week in this story timeline), let me know.