After laying Ben and Liam down for their afternoon nap, Luke went to the kitchen to wash the lunch dishes. He found Lorelai sitting at the table and staring out the window, presumably watching Jess and Rory play in the backyard. Her feet were propped on the chair next to her and she was absently stroking the slight swell of her abdomen.
As it always did, the sight of his wife bonding with their unborn baby brought a smile to Luke's face and stopped him in his tracks. He watched Lorelai for a few minutes before realizing the distant look in her eyes meant she wasn't really watching the kids play. Once Luke recognized that she was distracted, it was easy for him to figure out that the most likely cause was her never-ending list of concerns about the new baby.
Luke knew he had to bring Lorelai back to the present and get her to talk about her worries, so he walked up behind her and kissed the top of her head. In a gentle voice, he said, "You're freaking out again."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Only to me," Luke replied as he moved to stand in front of her.
Lorelai sat up straighter and let her feet fall off the chair she had been using as a footrest in order to give Luke a place to sit. "Good. I'd hate to think I was completely transparent," she quipped sarcastically.
Ignoring her sarcasm, Luke asked, "What is it this time?"
"I don't know where the baby going to sleep."
"In a crib."
"No," lamented Lorelai, rubbing her temples. "What room? I need to know what room the baby is going to sleep in. The kids are already doubled up and Jess and Rory are getting too old to share a room. Where are we going to put everyone?"
With a careless shrug, Luke stated, "It's simple. We'll use Liz's old room for the new baby."
"I thought you wanted to leave Liz's room alone in case she ever came home."
"Clearly, that's never going to happen."
"Um, okay, but what about Jess and Rory? They really can't keep sharing a room."
"One of them will have to share with the baby. We can start moving kids around as soon as we know whether the baby is a boy or a girl."
"You make it sound so easy."
"It is easy," agreed Luke. He slid his chair closer to Lorelai until his knees brushed against hers and reached out to tuck her hair behind her ears. "You're just overthinking things."
"Gee, thanks, that's just what every pregnant woman wants to hear," Lorelai groused, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm sorry, but it's true. You know it's true."
"That doesn't mean I want you to rub my nose in it."
Leaning forward, Luke made a big show of examining her face. "Looks clean to me," he teased, brushing a kiss across the tip of her nose.
Lorelai laughed briefly before dissolving into a fit of tears. "I'm sorry I worry so much. I don't mean to be such a problem."
"No, no, no," Luke panicked, frantically wiping away Lorelai's tears. "You're not a problem. You worry just the right amount."
"I don't want to be such a nutcase. It's just these damn hormones," Lorelai continued as if Luke hadn't spoken.
"Ah geez. Come here." Luke pulled Lorelai into his lap and then he started to ramble, "You're not a nutcase. Please stop crying. I'll do whatever you want. I promise I'll fix everything if you just stop crying."
"I can't!" Lorelai sobbed into his shoulder. Then, just as suddenly as she had started crying, she stopped. Pulling back to look Luke in the eye, she announced, "I'm hungry."
Confused, Luke repeated, "You're hungry."
"Uh huh. Very hungry."
"I'll get you a snack," Luke said, shifting Lorelai off his lap and back into her own chair. As he stood up and walked away, he muttered under his breath, "Sometimes I think she does this to me on purpose. It's like she's trying to drive me insane."
L&L L&L L&L
A short while later, Lorelai was happily eating apple slices dipped in peanut butter when Rory came bouncing through the backdoor and hopped onto the chair next to her. "Hi, Mommy!"
"Hi, Rory."
"Can I have an apple slice?"
"Sure. Have as many as you want. If we run out, we'll have your dad cut us another apple."
"No more! You've already had three!" Luke yelled from the living room.
Lorelai stuck her tongue out in the direction of Luke's disembodied voice. "Don't listen to him, Rory. He'll give us more."
"I know. He's Daddy," Rory responded with confidence while using an apple slice to scoop up a large glob of peanut butter.
"He does have quite the reputation for feeding us, doesn't he?"
"Mhmm," Rory mumbled her agreement around a mouthful of peanut butter. She smacked her lips and scraped her tongue roughly across the top of her mouth several times to clear away the peanut butter that was making it difficult for her to talk. When she was able to speak again, she asked, "Can I have something else?"
"Yeah, just go tell your dad what you want to eat."
"No, not something else to eat."
"Okay, then what do you want? Something to drink?"
"A little sister."
Lorelai was caught off guard by Rory's answer and choked on her apple. Her eyes began to water as she coughed and smacked her palm against her chest to clear her throat. "What?" she croaked.
"A little sister. I want you to make the new baby a girl."
"Any particular reason why?"
"We have enough boys. We need another girl."
"Well, um, I don't really get to decide whether the baby is a boy or a girl."
"Why not?" Rory asked. She stared expectantly at Lorelai while reaching for another apple slice.
"Because science decides that."
"That's not fair," Rory argued, banging her fist the table. "It's your baby and you should get to pick the kind you want."
"Would another brother really be so bad?"
Rory's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I guess not. I just really, really want a sister to play Barbies and babies with."
"Your brothers play with you all the time."
"It's not the same. They like to make their dinosaurs eat my Barbies and they use their trucks to run over my baby dolls."
With an understanding nod, Lorelai told Rory, "You can always play with Lane. I've never seen her use a dinosaur or a truck against your dolls."
"She's nice to my dolls, but she can't play all the time. She has to go home sometimes. And to church. A lot."
"That's true. That girl spends an insane amount of time at church."
"That's why I need a sister. A sister would live here and could play with me all the time."
"I can't promise the baby will be a girl, but, when Lane is busy, you can play with me. I love playing Barbies and babies."
"You're busy," Rory sighed sadly. "You have real babies."
"Yes, but Ben and Liam won't let me dress them up in frilly pink dresses. They just don't seem to like them."
Rory giggled at the idea of the twins wearing dresses. "My babies like to wear frilly pink dresses," she declared, still giggling.
"I know they do. Should we go play with your babies now?"
"Can we?"
"Of course, we can."
"Yay!" Rory leapt off her chair and dashed out of the kitchen. In the hallway, she collided with Luke. "Hi, Dad."
"Where are you running off to in such a hurry?" Luke asked, ruffling her hair.
"My room. Mom and me are going to play babies."
"That sounds like fun. You go on upstairs, I just need to talk to your mom for a minute."
"Okay, but hurry."
"I will," promised Luke. He watched Rory skip all the way up the stairs, then went to talk to Lorelai.
Lorelai was bustling around the kitchen cleaning up the leftover apples and putting away the peanut butter. When she saw Luke, she stopped moving and asked, "How much of that did you hear?"
"Boy or girl, Rory will love the baby."
"So, you heard everything."
Luke nodded as he slowly moved closer to Lorelai. "Rory's the one who wanted a new baby in the first place," he reminded her while gently taking the jar of peanut butter out of her hands and setting it down on the counter.
"Apparently, she had a specific type of baby in mind."
"She's just upset that Jess doesn't want to play with her today."
"What happens the next time her brothers don't want to play with her and we're too busy because we have five kids? Huh, tell me, what happens then?" Lorelai ranted, jabbing her finger into Luke's chest.
"We won't be too busy," protested Luke, resting his hands on her shoulders.
"Five of them and two of us. I'm not great at math, but to me that adds up to us being too busy. Especially since one of them will be a baby. Babies are a lot of work."
Luke let his hands glide down Lorelai's arms to her hands. As he interlocked his fingers with hers, he calmly said, "I remember, but you're forgetting something very important."
"What's that?"
"This time we'll only have one baby, not two, so it will only be half as much work as the other times we've done this."
"I didn't think about that," Lorelai admitted, smiling brightly.
"See, everything's going to be okay."
"You're right."
"I'm sorry. I didn't hear that. What did you say?"
"You're right."
"Thank you." Luke kissed Lorelai's forehead and let go of her hands. "You better get upstairs. Rory's waiting for you."