While Ben and Liam napped in their parents' bedroom, Lorelai reorganized their closet to make space for all of the new toys they had gotten at their birthday party. She had just sat down in the rocking chair to take a break when Rory walked into the room. "Hey, kid," Lorelai greeted her daughter warmly.

"Hi, Mom," Rory replied glumly.

Holding her arms open in a welcoming gesture, Lorelai said, "Come here and tell me what's wrong."

Rory shuffled across the room and climbed into Lorelai's lap. As Lorelai wrapped her in a hug, she complained, "Why did Ben and Liam get so many new toys? It's not fair."

"It's their birthday."

"No, it's not," Rory argued. Scowling and crossing her arms over her chest, she huffed, "Their birthday was days and days and days ago."

"Yes, but we didn't celebrate until today," Lorelai explained patiently. She gently unfolded Rory's arms. While stroking Rory's left wrist with her thumb, Lorelai continued, "We waited for you to get your cast off. That way you could swim with everyone else. If we'd had Ben and Liam's party on their birthday, you wouldn't have been able to go in the pool. Aren't you glad we waited?"

"Yes, that was nice," Rory grudgingly conceded. "But I still don't think it's fair that they got so many toys. I didn't get that many for my birthday."

"You don't have to share your birthday."

"So?"

"Well, Ben and Liam share their birthday and their birthday party. They're also going to share all the toys. It would be like if you and Jess shared a birthday party. There would be twice as many presents, but only half of them would really be yours. Does that make sense?"

"Sorta. You're saying that Ben and Liam got the same amount of presents as I got for my birthday. It just looks like more because they got them at the same time."

"Exactly. Do you feel better now?"

"A little bit. I still want more toys though."

Lorelai chuckled, "I know you do."

"Do you think I'll get a lot for my birthday?"

"You always do."

"I can't wait," Rory cackled, rubbing her hands together and grinning mischievously.

Lorelai bit her lip to keep from laughing. When she was certain she could keep a straight face, she said, "You should distract yourself. Want to help me get rid of some of Ben and Liam's old toys?"

"Why would you do that?" Rory gasped in horror.

"To make room for their new toys."

"Won't they miss the old ones?"

"No. I'm only going to get rid of the toys they've outgrown."

"Ooooh! You mean their baby toys."

"That's right."

"Because they're not babies anymore."

"No, they're not," Lorelai pouted, unconsciously tightening her hold on Rory. "My babies are all growing up."

"You could have a new baby," Rory said innocently. She slid off Lorelai's lap leaving her mother sitting alone in stunned silence. It wasn't until she was kneeling in front of the twins' toy box by herself that Rory realized Lorelai hadn't moved. She looked over her shoulder, her head tilted to one side, and asked, "Aren't you coming? These toys aren't going to get rid of themselves."

L&L L&L L&L

As Lorelai went about the rest of her day, she couldn't get the thought of a new baby out of her head. By dinnertime she had nearly convinced herself that having another baby was a good idea, but, by the time she crawled into bed, she had started to worry that a new baby was less of a possibility and more of a probability. Her worry continued to grow while she waited for Luke to finish checking on the kids and come to bed. When he walked into their bedroom, she was nervously chewing her lower lip and twisting the blankets in her hands.

Luke took one look at Lorelai and knew something was wrong. He slowly closed the bedroom door and cautiously approached the bed. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you want to talk about it or tear a hole in our blanket?"

Looking down at her hands, Lorelai was shocked to see the tangled mess she'd made of the blanket. She set to work smoothing out the wrinkles as she told Luke, "Earlier, while Rory was helping me sort through the twins' old toys, she said something to me and I can't stop thinking about it."

"What did she say?"

"She said we could have a new baby."

Luke was so relieved that nothing serious was bothering either Lorelai or Rory that he couldn't stifle his laughter. After his laughter had faded away, he asked, "Is that all?"

"It's not a joke," Lorelai scolded defensively.

Flipping back the blankets and sliding into bed, Luke insisted, "It has to be. We already have four kids."

"I know."

"Don't tell me you're actually thinking about it."

"I think it's too late for thinking," Lorelai cried, burying her face in her hands.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Lorelai's voice was muffled by her hands as she responded, "It means I'm late."

"You're late?" Luke repeated, still confused. A moment later, he suddenly understood what Lorelai had been trying to say. "You're pregnant!" he accused.

Pulling her hands away from her face, Lorelai turned to Luke and, with a guilty expression, admitted, "I might be."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't even realize my period was late until Rory got me thinking about babies."

"So, you're not sure yet?"

"No."

"Okay, well, I'll go get you a pregnancy test tomorrow."

Lorelai blinked at him. "Y-you'll get the test?" she spluttered.

"Uh, yeah? Is that wrong?"

"No. It's actually very sweet," Lorelai said as she shimmied closer to him and kissed his cheek.

"Ah geez. Don't go spreading that around."

"I won't, but I can't make any promises about Taylor. If you don't want to be the talk of the Stars Hollow grapevine, you might want to go to Woodbury to get the test."

"Good idea."

L&L L&L L&L

The next night, when Luke came home for dinner, Lorelai met him at the door. "Did you get it?" she asked in a frantic whisper.

"Why are you whispering?" he whispered back.

"Did you get it?" she hissed, her hushed tone taking on a harsh edge.

Luke was more than a little freaked out by Lorelai's behavior. He held his hands in front of him in a defensive motion and shook the small, white paper bag he was carrying as proof that he'd done as he'd promised. When Lorelai snatched the bag out of his hand, he said, "What's the rush? The lady at the pharmacy said you should wait until the morning to take the test."

Rolling her eyes, Lorelai informed him, "I've done this before. I know the drill."

"Then could you spare my fingers? You nearly took my hand off."

"Sorry. I just want to get this upstairs before the kids notice that you're home and descend on us like a pack of wild animals."

"Why? What's the big deal."

"The big deal is that our kids are nosy and like to ask questions. Do you really want to talk to them about what's in this bag?"

Just the thought of discussing the pregnancy test with Jess and Rory was enough to fill Luke with dread. His whole face scrunched up in distaste. Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, he said, "I'll head them off in the living room. You make a break for the stairs." Lorelai was already gone when he opened his eyes.

L&L L&L L&L

The sun was just starting to rise when Lorelai woke up. As she got out of bed, she nudged Luke's shoulder. "Wake up. It's time. I'm going to do it," she announced with firm determination.

"Do what?" mumbled Luke.

"Take the pregnancy test," Lorelai answered as she walked into the bathroom.

While she was gone, Luke rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up, letting the blankets fall to his waist. When she came back and started to pace around the room, he asked, "How did it go?"

"I peed on a stick. It's not rocket science."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah. I know."

"Okay, then do you think you could sit down? You're starting to make me dizzy."

"Sorry." Lorelai stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of the bed, but her nerves made it difficult for her to remain motionless and her leg started to shake uncontrollably.

With a heavy sigh, Luke moved across the bed to sit behind her. He rested one hand on the small of her back and used the other to hold her leg still. "Would you relax?"

"I'm trying."

"Everything's going to be okay. No matter what the test says."

"Mhmm," Lorelai murmured noncommittally.

"How long do we have to wait?"

"Three minutes."

Luke shrugged. "That's not too bad."

Glancing over her shoulder, Lorelai scowled at Luke. "It'll feel like an eternity," she sneered.

"What do you usually do while you wait?"

"Freak out."

"No, really, what do you do?"

"I really freak out," she reiterated assertively. "The first time, I tried to do my history homework, but ended up freaking out about how I was going to tell Christopher and my parents that I was pregnant. Then, with the twins, I was just starting to freak out when Rory stole a book from Jess and Jess pulled her hair. I got so busy breaking up their fight that I almost forgot I had taken a pregnancy test."

Lightly running his fingers up and down Lorelai's spine, Luke suggested, "Why don't we skip the freak out this time? Maybe try something new?"

"Ha! It's too late to skip the freak out, but, if you want something new, you could try freaking out with me."

"How is that new?"

"I had to freak out alone the other times. This time I could have company."

"As fun as that would be, I still think we should do it my way and skip the freak out."

"What happened between 'it has to be a joke because we already have four kids' and now to make you so calm?"

"I had a change of heart."

"How nice for you."

"It's been three minutes."

"I don't think I can do this. I'm not ready!"

"I'll do it," decided Luke as he kicked the blankets the rest of the way off and stumbled gracelessly from the bed.

Lorelai waited anxiously while Luke went to check the pregnancy test. When he returned, she prodded, "Well? What's it say?"

"What does a pink line mean?"

Groaning, Lorelai fell backwards across the bed and dramatically threw one arm over her face. "It means that we're going to have that basketball team you wanted."

Luke smiled at her reference to the conversation they'd had after they'd learned the twins were both boys and joked, "I don't think any of our kids are going to be athletes."

"Not the point, Lucas."

"What is the point?"

"We're going to have five kids. Five!"

"Ah. You're back to freaking out."

Lorelai propped herself up on her elbows to glare at him. "I never stopped."

"You should. Everything's going to be fine," Luke said, pulling her off the bed and into his arms.

"How are we going to take care of five kids?"

"We'll figure it out. We always do." He sealed his promise with a kiss, then teased, "Let's celebrate. There's still time before the kids wake up."

Surprised, Lorelai remarked, "You really are happy about this."

"Over the moon." Kissing her neck, Luke added, "I'd like to make you happy too."

When he began sucking on her collar bone, Lorelai finally relaxed into his embrace. "You're off to a good start," she moaned in pleasure.