"It's Still There – part 22"

. . . . .

After the graduation ceremony, Richard and Emily presented a very surprised Rory with her new car. They politely declined Lorelai's invitation back to the house, and instead told Rory that they'd celebrate the occasion with a special dinner the next night. Rory hugged them, and after exchanging goodbyes with the others, Richard and Emily left.

Rory stared down in disbelief at the car key in her hand. "I can't believe they got me a car."

"High school graduation's a big deal," Lorelai said. "They had to find the biggest and best present possible for their angel grandchild."

"If they're giving me a car now, I can't even imagine what they'd get me for graduating from college," Rory said.

"Well, if they decide to stick with the transportation theme, maybe it'll be a yacht," Lorelai suggested. "Or a helicopter."

"And I hear that if you get your Masters, you get a vacation home in Tuscany," Luke remarked.

"Which you can sail to on your yacht," Lorelai added. "Or fly to in your helicopter."

Rory smiled. "Sounds good." She glanced up at the school and sighed. "Goodbye, Chilton. It was nice knowing you."

Lorelai put her arm around Rory and they stared up the school together. "I can't believe it's finally over. Remember your first day here? It looked so huge and unconquerable."

"Yeah, I remember," Rory said with a nod. "But I finally conquered it."

"Yes, you did." Lorelai kissed her on the cheek. "Now let's go home and celebrate that conquering, huh?" She turned to Sookie and Jackson. "So, we'll meet you guys at our house?"

"Yup. We just have to stop home real quick and pick up the goodies I made," Sookie said. "We'll see you in a little while." Sookie and Jackson started walking toward their car.

"I think Lane should be home by now. I'm gonna stop by on the way home to show her the car," Rory said. "It's okay if I invite her over, right?"

"Absolutely," Lorelai replied. "Let's go."

. . . . .

Back at the house, everyone else was chatting in the living room while Luke and Sookie were in the kitchen getting the desserts ready to be served. Luke was slicing one of his homemade apple pies while Sookie placed some cookies on a platter.

"Mm, I can smell the cinnamon in that pie from here," Sookie commented.

"Did I put in too much, you think?" Luke asked.

"No, it smells just about right," Sookie assured him. "Then again, don't go by me. My senses have been a little off lately because of this little guy." She patted her stomach. "He's making being a chef a little difficult."

Luke smiled. "That's great that you can call it a he already. Makes me feel guilty for calling ours 'it' all the time." He heard footsteps and glanced toward the doorway as Lorelai walked into the room.

"What's taking so long?" Lorelai whined. "I'm starving. The baby needs some nourishment."

"Cake, pie, and cookies don't exactly fall into the category of nourishment," Luke told her.

"Actually, they do," Lorelai countered. "Nourishment is defined as food, so while cake, pie, and cookies may not be nutritional, they are in fact still considered nourishment. You'd think someone who owned a diner would know that."

"Well, in my book, the term food applies very loosely to crap like this." Luke gestured to the junk food on the table.

"Yes, and that's why no one reads your book, hon," Lorelai replied. "I tried to once, it put me right to sleep." She grabbed a cookie from Sookie's platter. "You guys need help with anything?"

"Actually, we're almost done," Sookie replied. "You can take the plates and forks out there if you want."

"Will do," Lorelai replied. She picked them up from the counter and headed back to the living room. A few minutes later, Luke and Sookie brought in the desserts and everyone filled up their plates.

. . . . .

When they were finished eating, the girls talked in the living room while Luke took Jackson out back to show him the new laundry room.

"The part where Lloyd goes to Diane's house and holds up the boombox and In Your Eyes plays. . .come on, who didn't love that?" Lorelai asked.

Lane nodded in agreement. "It's hard to think about that movie without that scene popping into your head."

"I think we need to have an 80's-movies marathon soon," Rory suggested.

"Definitely," Lorelai agreed.

"Maybe we can do it this Saturday while Jackson's helping Luke paint the nursery," Sookie suggested. "We can do it my house. We'll get pizza."

"And I'll bring the leftovers for dessert." Lorelai gestured to the food on the coffee table. "Well, if I don't eat 'em all by then."

"Sounds like a plan." Rory turned to Lane. "Can you come?"

"I think so," Lane replied. "But to make matters easier, if my mother asks, we're thinking of watching The Ten Commandments, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The King of Kings. And that's not lying if we say 'thinking of' because technically we're thinking about those movies right now, right?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, I'm thinking about how incredibly boring movie night would be if we invited your mother."

Luke and Jackson returned to the room. "We're gonna go look at the nursery," Luke told the girls.

"Ooh, we'll come," Lorelai said. "Sookie and Lane haven't seen it yet." She held her hands up. "Help, someone."

Rory helped Lorelai up off the couch, and everyone walked upstairs to the unfinished nursery. Luke flipped on the lights as they walked inside. The room was empty except for the baby shower gifts that were piled in the corner of the room.

"Ooh, it looks so big," Sookie commented.

"Yeah, this is a good-sized room for a nursery," Jackson commented.

"Once we got the laundry room stuff and all the other junk out of here, the room practically doubled in size," Luke said.

"We don't have any of the furniture yet, but I already know how I want to set it all up." Lorelai pointed out where she wanted to put the crib, dressers, and changing table.

"Don't forget the rocking chair," Rory reminded her. "That's going in here, too, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Lorelai pointed toward the window. "We'll put that right over there."

"Are you keeping the hardwood in here?" Jackson said, tapping his foot on the floor.

"No, we were thinking of getting a throw rug," Luke replied. "So we'll have to pick one up before we get the furniture."

"I think – ," Lorelai started, then winced slightly and brought her hands to her stomach. "Ooh." Everyone became concerned, but she quickly waved them off. "It's just those practice contractions again. . .I'm okay. It just surprised me." Several sighs of relief were released.

"They're called Braxton-Hicks contractions, right?" Sookie asked. "I've read about 'em, but I haven't had them yet. Do they hurt?"

Lorelai shook her head "You feel some pressure, but not pain." They talked in the nursery for a few more minutes before Lorelai's craving for ice cream led them back downstairs.

. . . . .

Almost two weeks later, Lorelai and Rory were at the inn in Lorelai's office. Lorelai was on one side of the desk working on payroll checks. Rory sat across from her filling out some forms that had come in the mail from Yale.

"Mom?" Rory said.

"Hm?" Lorelai replied without looking up.

"What should I put down on these forms when it asks for your name?"

Lorelai looked up from her papers with confusion. "You forgot my name? You feeling okay, hon?"

"I mean, do you want me to put Lorelai Danes or Lorelai Gilmore Danes? Does it matter?"

"Not to me," Lorelai replied with a shrug. "Put whatever you want." She watched as Rory began writing something. "What are you putting?"

"Lorelai Danes." Rory quickly filled in the other information on the form and set it aside. "Okay, that one's done."

"Oh, hey, did you find out about that parking information my dad was talking about at dinner on Friday?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, yeah, I went online and printed it out." Rory picked up a folder and flipped through some loose pages until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a piece of paper and passed it across the desk to Lorelai. "It looks like it's gonna cost about six hundred dollars a year." Rory nibbled nervously on her bottom lip.

Lorelai's eyes widened. "Wowzie."

"Yeah. It's a lot, I know."

"That must be some parking space," Lorelai said. "What, is there some guy standing there offering you free champagne and caviar every time you get out of the car?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Or maybe a bunch of professional stylists are standing there waiting to fix your hair and makeup, and brush the lint from your clothes and get out any wrinkles that may have resulted from you sitting too long in the car."

Rory nodded in agreement. "Also possible. That would definitely drive up the price."

Lorelai sighed down at the paper. "Six hundred bucks. . ."

"The parking in New Haven is a mess. Grandpa said getting a spot in a garage is what most students with cars do."

"I know, I remember."

Rory shrugged. "But I don't have to bring the car with me."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, I want you to have that car there for whenever you need it, for whenever you wanna come home."

"Are you sure?"

Lorelai nodded. "Positive. We'll call and reserve a space for you." She put the paper aside. "So. . .have you thought about what you wanna do with your other car?"

"Not really."

"We can sell it," Lorelai suggested.

Rory shrugged and started fidgeting with her pen. "I don't know. . .I'd feel weird doing that. I mean. . .he made it for me."

Lorelai frowned sympathetically. "I know, hon. But you can't stick something like that in a box and keep it forever."

"I know."

"Too bad it's not made out of that stuff they make Shrinky-Dinks out of, 'cause then we could just aim some flame-throwers at it and shrink it down to a nice convenient size, and you'd have a nice piece of memorabilia from your first relationship."

"Yeah, that'd be good." Rory was quiet for a moment, then she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I guess. . . I just need to think about it some more."

Lorelai nodded understandably. "Okay." There was a knock at the door. "Come in."

The door opened and Michel stepped into the room. "Am I interrupting Mommy and Me class?"

"Yes, you are," Lorelai replied. "What do you want, Michel?"

"You have a phone call."

Lorelai glanced at the phone on her desk. "I didn't hear the phone ring."

"Oh, what a shame. However, since pretending to care about your hearing problems does not fall under my job description. . ." Michel turned and left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

Lorelai frowned after him, then picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, doll," Babette replied. "It's Babette."

"Hey Babette." Lorelai glanced at the side of the phone. "Oh, my ringer was turned off." She slid the switch over.

"Excuse me?" Babette asked.

"Oh, sorry, never mind. Uh, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, dear, everything's fine. I just wanted to let you know that whatever you guys ordered from Baby's World just came in, and no one was at your house, so the delivery guys brought it over to mine."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes with confusion. "Wait, we didn't order anything from there."

"Are you sure? There are two huge boxes addressed to you. One of 'em is like twice as tall as me; took two delivery guys to lift it. And boy were they sexy."

Lorelai scratched her forehead. "Hm. Maybe Luke ordered something without me knowing. I'll call and ask him. Thanks for calling, Babette."

"No problem, doll. See you later."

Lorelai hung up the phone. "Do you know if Luke ordered anything from Baby's World?" she asked Rory. "Babette said two huge boxes came for me from there."

Rory shook her head. "Not that I know of. Maybe he's surprising you with something."

Lorelai picked the phone back up and called the diner, and Luke told her that he didn't order anything. Both curious about the mysterious boxes, they decided to meet at home in a few minutes to see what they were.

. . . . .

Luke was already home when Lorelai and Rory arrived, and Morey was helping him bring the boxes over to their house. They set them in the living room, and once Morey had left, they opened the largest box. Luke peered into it. "Looks like the pieces of a crib."

"Someone sent us a crib?" Lorelai asked with wide eyes.

Luke pulled out one of the wooden slatted-sides. "Definitely looks that way."

"Wow, looks like a nice one, too," Rory commented.

"Yeah, very nice," Lorelai agreed. "Is there a card in the box?"

Luke pulled the rest of the crib pieces out of the box, and attached to the assembly instructions was a packing slip. Luke read it over and announced, "Order placed by Emily Gilmore."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I should have known."

"And apparently, there's not only a crib, there's also a baby swing." Luke looked up from the paper. "Guess that's what's in the other box."

Lorelai groaned. She picked up the cordless phone and dialed a number as she walked toward the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked.

"Telling her to stop buying us stuff," she snapped.

Luke rolled his eyes toward Rory. "If anyone else had sent it. . ."

". . .she'd probably be fine with it," Rory finished. "I know. But you know how she is. She's always gonna have some issues with them."

In the kitchen, Lorelai sat at the table listening impatiently to the ringing on the phone. When Emily finally answered, Lorelai greeted her with, "Mom, why are you buying us stuff?"

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't have to buy us a crib and a baby swing."

"Oh, did they finally arrive?" Emily asked. "It's about time. I ordered them on Saturday."

"Why did you order them, Mom?" Lorelai asked with obvious annoyance in her voice.

"Because on Friday you mentioned still not having some things for the baby yet, so I thought I'd surprise you with a few items," Emily replied. "Have you set up the crib yet? It's gorgeous, isn't it? And the best part is that it converts into a twin bed frame when the child grows out of the crib. All you'll need to buy is a mattress for it. Isn't that convenient?"

Lorelai sighed loudly. "We didn't need you to surprise us with anything, Mom. We were gonna go out and buy everything ourselves this weekend. We're perfectly capable."

"Oh, so if a baby's parents are perfectly capable of providing for their child, the child's grandparents aren't allowed to buy things for it?" Emily asked. Lorelai hesitated a moment, and Emily added, "I'm not doing this because I think you can't, Lorelai, I'm doing it to be nice."

"Yes, but – "

"But obviously it's impossible for you to admit that I would ever do something nice."

Lorelai sighed and reluctantly muttered, "Yes, it was a nice thing, Mother, and they're nice gifts, but – "

"Oh, good, I'm glad you like them," Emily interrupted with surprising cheerfulness. "I'll see you on Friday. Bye, Lorelai." There was a click on the other end of the phone.

"Mom?" Lorelai said. "Hello?" When there was no answer, she frowned and hung up the phone. She walked to the living room and complained, "She hung up on me,"

"Were you being mean to her?" Rory asked.

"No, I told her the gifts were nice, but before I could start my attached diatribe about how this is our first baby together and how Luke and I wanted to pick out the baby's stuff ourselves, she told me she'd see me on Friday and she hung up."

"She must've known the diatribe was coming," Luke said.

"She does have experience with you calling and complaining about things," Rory agreed with a nod. "She knows when to get away."

Lorelai perched herself on the edge of the couch and gestured to the boxes. "So what should we do with this stuff? Send it back?"

"Why would we do that? It's nice stuff, Lorelai," Luke said. He gestured to the second box they'd opened while Lorelai was in the kitchen. "The swing's nice, and the nurses at the class said they're really helpful for infants with getting 'em to sleep."

"I know, that's why we were gonna buy one," Lorelai pointed out. "We, as in us. Not we, as in my parents."

"Okay, yes, Grandma bought you things, and you hate when she does that," Rory said. "But look at it this way – here are two nice expensive things that you needed to buy and now don't have to anymore, thus saving you money that you can now spend on your grown daughter's six hundred dollar parking space."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"Parking at Yale's more expensive than we thought," Rory told him.

Lorelai walked over to the pile of crib parts in the middle of the floor. "It is a really nice crib," she admitted. "And apparently, it turns into a twin bed frame."

"And if anyone else had bought it for us, you'd thank them and forget about it," Luke pointed out. "So why not do the same with your parents?"

Lorelai sighed and shrugged in defeat. "Fine, we'll keep 'em, but they're not allowed to buy us anything else this big. Bibs, sure. An outfit, okay. A rattle, fine. But if anything else big like this comes, we're sending it back. Deal?"

"Sure." Luke gestured to the swing and crib. "I'll put 'em together tonight. I gotta get back to the diner."

"Yeah, and we gotta get back to the inn," Lorelai said.

As the three of them walked outside, Luke glanced at Rory. "Tell me you're kidding about the six hundred dollar parking space thing."

. . . . .

A few Fridays later was the fourth of July, and after dinner with the grandparents, Lorelai and Rory attended the large barbecue that was thrown annually in the town square. They helped themselves to the dessert table, each grabbing some cookies decorated like flags before wandering over to a group of townspeople.

"Hey guys," Lorelai greeted them.

"Hey dolls," Babette said. "Just get here?"

"Yup." Lorelai held up a cookie. "And we wasted no time getting to the food."

"Good, you need to stay full so that little baby stays happy," Morey remarked.

Lorelai nodded as she bit into the cookie. "Exactly. I'm only doing it for the baby."

"How was your first week of maternity leave?" Patty asked.

"Oh my God, so relaxing," Lorelai replied. "I loved not having to get up and go to work." She put her arm around Rory. "Plus, I had my little girl home with me, so we got in a lot of mother/daughter time. Right, hon?"

Rory nodded. "Yup. We've been going shopping for dorm stuff and baby stuff, going to movies, hanging out, talking. . .it's been fun."

Lorelai saw Taylor walking by, and she called, "How much longer 'til the fireworks start, Taylor?"

Taylor checked his watch. "Oh, about ten minutes, so I'd go get a good spot on the lawn if I was you." He continued on his way.

"I should go get Luke," Lorelai said.

"Is he at home?" Babette asked.

"No, he's at work." Lorelai gestured toward the diner.

Patty glanced across the street at it. "Oh, really? I thought it was closed tonight."

"Yeah, it's closed, but he was gonna do inventory while we were at my parents' house," Lorelai replied. "We'll see you guys later." She and Rory started walking toward the diner. "You know what I'm thinking?"

"If you're about to say that you don't understand how he could go off and get married so fast after Sydney disappeared, please don't," Rory said, rolling her eyes. "The Alias finale was two months ago, we don't need to talk about it every day until September."

Lorelai scoffed. "Excuse me, that's not what I was gonna say."

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"Rory!" a voice called from behind them. They turned around and saw Lane jogging toward them.

"Hey," Rory greeted her. "What are you doing?"

"A bunch of us are gonna go watch the fireworks at the lake," Lane said, gesturing to a group of kids over by the gazebo. "Wanna come?"

"Sure." Rory turned to Lorelai. "You don't mind, right?"

"Nope, go ahead."

"Okay. Before I go, what was it that you were thinking?"

Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "Actually, you were right, it was about the finale."

Rory smiled and rolled her eyes as she kissed Lorelai on the cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Bye hon." Lorelai watched Rory and Lane walk off, then she continued to the diner. The 'Closed' sign was up, but the door was unlocked, so she walked inside and headed toward the back. "Luke?"

"Back here," he called from the storage room. Lorelai appeared at the doorway, and he smiled. "Hey."

"Hey. The fireworks are starting in a few minutes, and Rory just went off with Lane to watch them at the lake, so I need someone to watch them with. What do you say?"

"Sure." He walked over and kissed her. "How was dinner?"

"Good. My parents are leaving for Martha's Vineyard tomorrow and won't be back until the 19th," Lorelai said. "So we have a few weeks off from dinner."

"Bet you're happy about that."

"Yup." They walked outside and headed across the street toward the gazebo. People had started to sit on the grass surrounding it as they waited for the fireworks to start.

"You know what I was thinking on the way home from dinner?" Lorelai asked.

"About how disgusting it is that most kids today don't even realize what the Fourth of July signifies?" Luke gestured at the people around them. "About how their parents drag them off to some picnic like this to stuff their faces and watch fireworks without even explaining to them what the hell they're celebrating?"

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "Uh. . .no. I was thinking about how for months we've been saying that we'll decide on baby names later, and how there are only three weeks of 'later' left before we're going to be holding a nameless child."

"Oh. I was close."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, if by close you mean completely off the mark."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off. "So what's your point?'

"My point is that I think we need to settle on some names once and for all instead of constantly putting it off." They found a clear spot on the grass. Luke sat down first, and Lorelai sat down in between his legs and leaned back against him. "I think we need to vow not to go to bed tonight until we finally decide on names. Or until I get really tired. Whichever comes first."

He began gently massaging her shoulders. "Okay, fine. . .you wanna decide, let's decide. We have a girl name already, don't we?"

"No, we narrowed it down to two, but we keep changing our minds. Last week it was Hope, the week before it was Katelyn."

Luke thought about the choices for a few seconds, then declared, "I like Hope. What about you?"

"I do, too," Lorelai agreed.

"Okay, good, then we're halfway done," Luke said. "What were our final choices for a boy?"

Lorelai ticked them off on her fingers. "Nicholas, Benjamin, Joseph – "

"Wait, I thought we cut out Joseph because you always think of Joe the pizza guy when someone says that name?"

"Oh, yeah," Lorelai said. "We cut out Joseph, but we brought in Joshua."

"And we took out Matthew, but brought in Michael," Luke said. "So it was Nicholas, Matthew, Joshua, and Michael as the final four."

"Right. Okay, so let's think about the names while we watch the fireworks, and then we'll each say what our favorite is," Lorelai suggested, and Luke agreed. The first group of fireworks was launched, and Lorelai settled back against Luke to watch the colorful display in the sky.

. . . . .

Twenty minutes later, the fireworks ended and the people sitting around them began to stand up and disperse. Lorelai craned her neck to look back at Luke. "Okay, I've decided on my favorite."

"Me, too."

"I really like Nicholas," she declared. "What about you?"

"I'm thinking. . .that I really like Joshua."

Lorelai gasped and turned her body around to face him. "You do? Really? Because that's my favorite!"

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "You just said Nicholas was."

"Well, I like Joshua and Nicholas both the same, but I didn't think you liked Joshua as much as the others, so I didn't think you'd pick it, so I didn't mention it. But I really like it."

"Really? So you wanna go with Joshua?"

"Yeah, definitely." Lorelai grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Ooh, I'm so excited we finally have both names." She held up her hands. "Wait, so, we're definitely going with Hope and Joshua, right? Those are our final decisions?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Cool." She smiled and patted his leg. "That's exciting. Aren't you excited?"

"I'm very excited," Luke agreed. He stood up, then helped her up off the ground.

"Are you going back to the diner?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, but only for a few minutes," Luke replied. "Come with me and then we can go home together."

Lorelai nodded and they started walking toward the diner. "Okay, so now we should do middle names. Most people would say to just put your second-choice first name as the middle name, but I don't think Hope Katelyn and Joshua Nicholas flow too well. Actually, Joshua Nicholas doesn't sound too bad. That might be a possibility, but there might be something else that flows a little better. A good flowing name is very important, you know what I mean?" She glanced at Luke, who didn't appear to be paying attention. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't really feel like doing the middle names tonight."

"Come on, we agreed that we'd stay up until we had the names," Lorelai reminded him. "The middle names were included in that agreement."

"Sorry, you didn't specify that beforehand. I'm already out of name-picking mode."

She pouted and laced her fingers through his. "Come on, Luke."

"No, thanks."

Lorelai sighed. "Fine, we'll do it another night."

"Thank you."

"Man, you're so stubborn sometimes," she muttered.

Luke scoffed amusedly. "I'm stubborn? Hello Kettle, this is Pot. . ."

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him, and they continued toward the diner. As they approached it, Lorelai glanced up at the William's Hardware sign over the door. She thought for a moment, then suddenly stopped walking. "Wait."

Luke looked at her with concern. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I think I know what I want the boy's middle name to be."

Luke groaned. "What, did you develop short term memory loss or something? Did we not just agree to do that another night?"

"Yes, but. . .look. . ." Lorelai glanced up at the sign, and he followed her gaze. "Wouldn't that go well with Joshua?"

"Joshua Hardware Danes?" Luke asked. "Yeah, that flows pretty well."

Lorelai smiled and nudged him. "Come on. . .seriously. What do you think?"

"Joshua William?"

Lorelai nodded. "Don't the names sound good together?"

"I guess, but William's my middle name," he reminded her.

"Yeah, I know, but I really like the way it sounds. . .Joshua William Danes. It flows so well. I know you said you didn't want to name the baby after anyone, but it's just the middle name, not the first." She took both of his hands in hers. "We don't have to decide right now. Just think about it, okay?"

Luke muttered the name a few times, then nodded. "I'll think about it."

. . . . .

Almost three weeks later, it was a few nights before Lorelai's due date, and Luke was asleep in bed. As he shifted his body to get more comfortable, his eyes drifted open and he saw that the bedroom light was on.

He rolled over to check on Lorelai and found her sitting up next to him. A notebook was open on her lap, and she had a watch in one hand, a pen in the other.

"What are you doing?" Luke muttered, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"Shh, wait a minute." Lorelai glanced down at the watch and wrote something in the notebook, then turned to Luke. "Hey."

Luke glanced at the clock. "It's two o'clock in the morning. What are you doing?"

Lorelai smiled at him. "Uh, well. . .actually. . .I'm pretty sure I'm in labor."

Luke's eyes widened and he quickly sat up. "What? Are you serious?"

Lorelai nodded. "I've been having light contractions for a while, and I don't think they're the practice ones." She smiled and patted his hand. "I think this is it, hon."

Luke stared at her for a moment, digesting the words. This is it. He suddenly jumped out of the bed, ready to take charge. "Okay. . .labor. . .right. Let's go to the hospital. . ." He rushed over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans, then glanced over at her as he clumsily pulled them on over his boxers. "Uh, aren't you coming?"

Lorelai shook her head. "It's too soon."

Luke froze and stared at her in disbelief. "Lorelai, you're in labor. We should go to the hospital. That's what women do when they go into labor."

"Luke, this is the early stage of labor," she told him. "It could last for hours." She gestured to the notebook. "I've been timing the contractions, they're almost thirteen minutes apart. You don't go to the hospital when they're that far apart. They'll just send me home and tell me to come back later." She patted the bed. "So come back to bed. We have awhile before the baby's coming."

Luke hesitated a moment, then climbed back into the bed with her. "You know, I'm not really prepared to deliver this baby myself in our house, so I hope you know what you're talking about."

"I do, trust me," she assured him. "Though you delivering the baby would make a great story to tell people. We'd probably make the front page of the Stars Hollow Gazette."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, just what I've always dreamed of." He sighed as he stared at her with concern in his eyes. "Shouldn't we at least call the doctor and tell her you're in labor?"

"I'll call her in the morning. Nobody can do anything until the contractions are closer together, so there's no need to wake her up in the middle of the night for no reason."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Speaking of which, why didn't you wake me up?"

"I was actually just about to," Lorelai told him. "I just wanted to make sure the contractions were in a regular pattern first."

"Do they hurt?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Not really. They're stronger than the fake ones, but not painful yet."

"Good. So. . .now we just wait?"

"Yeah. We'll go back to sleep, and when we wake up, we'll time the contractions again and just take it from there."

Luke nodded. Lorelai put the watch, notebook and pen on her nightstand, then got up to use the bathroom. She returned to the bedroom, turned out the light and climbed into bed. Luke waited for her to assume her usual sleeping position on her side, then he moved closer to her and held her from behind. He kissed the back of her shoulder. "Night."

"Night, hon." Lorelai nestled into his embrace, and they both closed their eyes to go back to sleep.

. . . . .

It was nearly seven when Lorelai woke up, and she rolled over to see if Luke was awake yet. He was lying on his side staring at her, and she smiled at him. "Hey. How long have you been up?"

"For awhile. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when you know that your wife's in labor?" he asked. "I kept waiting for you to wake up in pain and yell for me to get you to the hospital. It was freakin' me out."

"Aw, poor guy." She kissed his cheek. "Don't worry, I'm fine." She smiled and tapped his arm excitedly. "Do you realize that we're probably only a few hours away from meeting our baby?"

Luke smiled. "I've been thinking about it all night."

"I can't wait to just finally be able to hold it. But if this turns into one of those painful labors that lasts for days, you might wanna keep the baby away from me until the intense anger I'll be hoarding against it dies down. Just a little tip."

"I'll keep that in mind." He reached down and put his hand on her stomach. "The contractions are still coming?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yup. They're getting stronger." She sat up. "We should time them for a little while, see how far apart they are."

They timed the contractions at eight minutes apart, then called the doctor. Doctor Palmer advised Lorelai to call back when the interval of contractions was down to five minutes; it was then that she should head to the hospital.

Lorelai went down to tell Rory what was going on, then went to take a shower. While he was waiting for her, Luke called Caesar to tell him he probably wouldn't be in to work for a few days, and instructed him to take care of the ordering for the next week.

Lorelai finished up in the bathroom and Luke took his turn in the shower. Lorelai went through the bag she'd packed days ago for the hospital to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything, then she wandered into the nursery and looked around. She walked over to the crib and stared into its emptiness, trying to imagine what it would look like to see a little tiny person cuddled against the new white sheet.

She picked up a teddy bear from atop the dresser, then sat down in the rocking chair with it. She cradled the bear like she would soon cradle her baby, and the realization at how soon it would really happen made her overwhelmed with emotions. She blinked her tears away, then closed her eyes and began rocking the chair lightly.

A few minutes later, she heard, "Hey."

Lorelai was startled, and she opened her eyes to see Luke in the doorway. "Geez, you scared me. I'm getting you a collar with a bell on it."

"Sorry. What are you doing?"

Lorelai shrugged and glanced around. "Just thinking about how empty it feels right now." She walked over to him and kissed him passionately before letting her body relax in the comfort of his warm embrace. "It won't feel empty much longer though."

. . . . .

It was a few more hours before Lorelai's contractions became five minutes apart, and they checked into the hospital shortly after 11 a.m. Lorelai settled into her room in the maternity ward, and Doctor Palmer came in with a nurse to examine her.

Doctor Palmer made some notes on her clipboard, then smiled at Lorelai. "Okay, things seem to be going well so far. I'm going to check back in on you in a little while, see how things are progressing. If there are any problems or questions, just use the call button and a nurse will be right in."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, thanks."

"Yeah, thank you, Doctor," Luke added.

The doctor and nurse left the room, and Luke and Rory stepped closer to Lorelai's bed.

"I can't believe you're about to have a baby," Rory gushed. "I'm so excited."

Lorelai smiled. "You're excited? Do you know how much I'm looking forward to getting back to my real clothes? Goodbye pants with elastic waistbands, nice knowing you."

"You're about to give birth and that's all you're thinking about?" Luke asked. "Clothes?"

Lorelai scoffed. "No, that's not all I'm thinking about. I'm also thinking about how I can resume to my normal level of alcohol consumption. Do you think that right after the birth, the doctors will let me drink a beer to celebrate?"

Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm seriously doubting it."

Lorelai frowned. "Aw, that stinks."

"When are you gonna call Grandma and Grandpa?" Rory asked.

"After the baby's born," Lorelai replied.

"But I think they'd probably wanna know that you're at the hospital already."

"Yeah, but if I tell them I'm at the hospital, then they'll drive down right away to see me, and I don't really want anyone else here right now," Lorelai said.

"But you called Sookie and told her what's going on," Rory pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's because Sookie already knows that I'd rather have people come to visit me after the baby's born, not before," Lorelai replied. "I only want you and Luke to be here beforehand, and my parents would completely ignore that request. We'll call them when it's all over."

Rory nodded. "Okay."

Lorelai shifted to get more comfortable. "It kinda stinks that only one person can come in the delivery room with me."

"That's okay," Rory said with a shrug. "The actual birth's not really something I need to see up close anyway. That video we saw in the childbirth class was enough for me." She shuddered and made a face. "Yuck."

Lorelai wagged a finger at her. "Hey, someday that yuck will be you giving birth to my grandchild, so. . . ooh. . . " She took a few deep breaths as she felt the next contraction starting. "Agh. . ." She clutched her stomach with one hand and reached toward Luke with the other. "Luke. . .hand. . ." He held out his hand toward her and she grasped onto it tightly for the duration of the contraction.

. . . . .

"Okay, Lorelai, give us another big push," Doctor Palmer told her.

Almost two hours had passed. Lorelai had been wheeled to the delivery room just minutes earlier. She was fully dilated, contractions were coming almost every minute, and she was more than ready to get the baby out of her.

She was surrounded by the doctor, several nurses, and Luke, who was standing supportively by her side in green hospital scrubs. He was clutching her hand tightly, his heart racing with excitement that this moment was finally here.

Lorelai groaned loudly as she began pushing. "Ow. . .ow. . .ow. . ." When she ran out of energy, she threw her head back and panted heavily to catch her breath. "Mmkay, I think the epidural is starting to wear off and I'm not really a big fan of the pain. . ."

"It's okay, we're almost there," the doctor assured her. "Just a few more minutes."

"I'm pretty sure that a few more minutes of this pain is going to kill me, and then my baby will be motherless," Lorelai muttered, her eyes clenched tightly. "Is that what you people want?"

Luke rubbed her arm comfortingly. "Hon, you're doing so amazing." He leaned down to kiss her forehead, which was covered in perspiration. "I love you. Hang in there. . .it's almost over. Everything's gonna be fine."

Lorelai opened her eyes and stared up at Luke with a half-smile. "God, you're much better at that now than you were in the class." He smiled and kissed her lips gently, but she broke away with a yelp. "Ow. . .it hurts. . .get it out of me. . ." The doctor advised her to push again, and she let out a loud groan as she complied.

Luke dabbed the sweat off her face with a towel. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was using her breathing techniques to control the pain in between the pushes. Lorelai glanced down at the medical staff peering between her legs at the foot of the bed. "How's it going down there?"

"Very good, keep it up, Lorelai," Doctor Palmer said. "We're ready for another big push."

Lorelai waited until she'd caught her breath, then pushed with all her might. She groaned loudly and her face reddened from the intense straining.

"The head is out," Doctor Palmer announced.

"Ooh!" Lorelai gasped through her panting. "Our baby has a head, Luke."

Luke nodded, then leaned forward to see it for himself. His eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the top of the baby's head sticking out. He swallowed hard, trying to control his emotions. "Wow. It's. . .got hair. . ."

"Lorelai, one more big push should do it," the doctor said encouragingly. "Anytime you're ready. . ."

Lorelai took a few quick breaths, then grunted loudly as she gave what would be her final push. The baby slid halfway out of her, and the doctor pulled it out the rest of the way.

"Congratulations, it's a boy," Doctor Palmer announced. The baby's nose and mouth were immediately suctioned to clean his airways, and soon a loud wail echoed throughout the room.

His first cry sent chills through both of his parents, and an exhausted Lorelai smiled up at Luke through her tears of joy. "It's a boy." She brought Luke's hand to her lips and kissed it, then held it against her cheek. "We have a boy."

Luke swallowed hard and tears welled up in his eyes. "We have a son. . ." He leaned down and kissed her. "God, you were so incredible. That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

The doctor instructed Luke on how to cut the umbilical cord, and after he did, a nurse wrapped the baby up in a blanket. His cries died down once his tiny body was warm again, and a nurse placed the bundle gently on Lorelai's chest. "Here you go, Mom. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Lorelai choked out. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared down at her tiny boy. "Oh my God, you're so beautiful," she whispered as she gently kissed the baby's forehead. His eyes were closed, his face calm and content as he lay against his mother's chest.

Luke blinked away the moisture from his eyes as he rested a hand on the baby's back. "He's perfect."

"Well, perfection does run in the family." Lorelai sniffled and ran a finger over the baby's chin. "You're lucky you're so cute or I might've had to hold a grudge against you for the pain you just put me through."

"Don't lie to him," Luke said. "You'll be holding that grudge anyway 'til he's thirty."

The nurse was waiting to take the baby to be cleaned up and checked over. "Does the dad want to hold him before I take him away for a few minutes?"

Luke nodded and stared hesitantly down at the baby. He reached forward and lifted it as gently as possible from Lorelai's chest, then cradled it in his arms. He shook his head in disbelief that he was actually holding his son "Oh my God. . ."

Lorelai smiled and patted Luke's arm. "Feels amazing, doesn't it?"

Luke nodded. "He's so light. . .so tiny. . ."

"And he even looks like a Joshua," Lorelai added. "Don't you think?"

Luke nodded as he whispered, "Hey, Joshua William. . .I'm your dad." He stared down at the baby in awe, unable to take his eyes away from him.

After half a minute, Doctor Palmer said, "Okay, we're gonna take him away for a few minutes to clean him up and check him over. Lorelai, we're gonna get you to push a few more times to deliver the placenta and then we'll get you cleaned up." Luke handed the baby over to a nurse, and he and Lorelai watched her walk to the other side of the room with their son.

After the last phase of the labor was completed, Luke and Lorelai smiled at each other, and he leaned down to hug her. "God, I love you."

She was crying against his chest. "Love you, too."

"You were so great," he told her. "I mean it. . .that was so. . .wow."

"Trust me, I couldn't have done it without the moral support. You were pretty great yourself." She pulled back with a smile. "I'm impressed you didn't faint, especially when you saw the head sticking out. That must've been quite a sight."

Luke nodded. "It was definitely not an image I'm gonna forget any time soon."

Lorelai pulled him down for a kiss, then smiled through it. "We have a son, Luke."

Luke smiled proudly. "We have a son." He clutched onto her hand tightly and the two of them stared across the room, waiting patiently for the nurses to bring the baby back over to them.

. . . . .

To be continued. . .

Thanks to those who've been reviewing, I really appreciate it. :)