I don't own anything but the story idea.

A/N:  I originally posted this without my beta-reader editing and I'm so glad I can change it!  Thank you Jade, for catching all those little things I miss!

~~

Lorelai flopped onto Sookie's couch and heaved a sigh.  Sookie sat next to her friend and said, "You want some tea?"  David was sleeping peacefully in the bassinette nearby and Lorelai took in her friend's appearance.  Sookie looked exhausted.  Her hair was unwashed, bags were forming under her eyes, and her skin looked tight and drawn.

"No, honey," answered Lorelai.  "But can I get you something?"

"No," Sookie sighed.  "It's just good to be sitting down and talking with another adult.  I swear, Jackson is so damn lucky.  He gets up everyday and goes to work.  Me?  I sit here and change diapers and heat bottles and he just gets to go out and gallivant all day!"  Sookie was almost shrieking now.

"Okay," said Lorelai soothingly.  "Calm down, it'll be okay.  Yes, you're home with David now, but soon you'll be coming back to the inn soon."

"Not soon enough," muttered Sookie.  Then, shaking herself out of her funk, she said, "Enough about that, though.  David will be awake soon and I want to catch up with you before I have to get back to him."

"Okay, well there's nothing really new to talk about.  Rory and I made up.  We're all going to my parents' for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  The entire town still thinks that Luke and I are getting married any day now."

"Well, they've been waiting long enough for this to happen," giggled Sookie, mostly returning to her old bubbly self.  "Can you blame them?"

"I guess not," admitted Lorelai, "but would it be so difficult to keep it to themselves?  Things are going really well and I don't want them to jinx it."

"How could they jinx it?  Either you'll get married or you won't.  Luke has never been the kind of guy to be influenced by the town."

Lorelai paused and then said slowly, "I guess you're right."  They sat quietly for a moment until Sookie asked, "Do you not want to get married?"

"No, I do, it's just really soon, you know?  I mean, yes, we've known each other for years, but we've only been a couple since the end of the summer.  It was practically September when we got together and now it's only Thanksgiving.  What is that, three months?  Don't you think it's too soon to be talking about marriage?"

"Who am I to ask?  Jackson and I dated for a few months and then skipped moving in together and got married right away," Sookie pointed out with a shrug.

Lorelai nodded.  "Okay, I need to stop thinking about this.  He hasn't mentioned it and I don't think he will, so it's a moot point."

"Moot," agreed Sookie.  Then she giggled and said, "Moot's a funny word."  Lorelai smiled back at her.  David started to fuss in his bassinette just then, so Sookie brought him over to the couch where they were seated and handed him to Lorelai.  "I've got to get his bottle ready.  Will you hold him?"

"Sure," said Lorelai taking the baby.  She cradled him in her arms and gazed with wonder at him.  He was beautiful.  All that pink skin, tiny fingers, and downy hair.  He was exactly what a baby should be.  Sookie came back after a few minutes with the bottle and said, "Do you want to feed him?"

"Sure!" repeated Lorelai with more enthusiasm as she took the bottle from her friend.  Feeding David, Lorelai became overwhelmed by a sense of rightness.  This was right, this moment.  It was perfect. 

"So," Sookie interrupted after a long silence.  "You look comfy.  Do you ever think about having another one?"

"Yeah," Lorelai confessed, "I was just thinking that.  But who knows?  I'm not even married yet and I don't think Luke wants kids."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he said to me, 'Lorelai, I'm not sure I want kids of my own.'"

Sookie sagged against the couch and said, "Ever?"

"Ever," confirmed Lorelai.  "We'll see, though.  If I ever actually do get married, I might be too old."

"Stop," said Sookie.  "You've got plenty of time left."

Lorelai shrugged the thought off and went back to concentrating on David.

~~

Back at the Dragonfly after her lunch break with Sookie, Lorelai sat in her office and milled through some paperwork.  Her staff would be able to handle things tomorrow when she was at her parents', but there still were bills to be mailed, orders confirmed, and a thousand other things to do.  Unfortunately, her mind kept wandering to her conversation with Sookie.  How badly did she want to have another baby?  Enough to push the issue with Luke?  Or should she let it lie for a while?

We're not even married yet, she told herself reasonably.  Yes, she answered kindly, but do you really want to be in a relationship with a man who ultimately doesn't want the same things that you do?  I'm not sure, she admitted.  If the choice was happily ever after with Luke or the chance to have more children with another man, what was the right thing to do? She wondered.

After work that night Lorelai didn't stop at the diner on her way home, even though she knew he was there.  Once home, she settled on the couch with Lulu and some ice cream to ponder her future.  She would be 36 in May.  At best, that meant that her time was running out.  What's really crazy, she thought, is the fact that I never had these thoughts when I was with Max or Christopher.  I finally meet a man who I love enough to want to have kids with and he's not sure he wants them.

When Luke came home that evening he found Lorelai curled up on the couch asleep.  He sat down on the edge of the cushions and brushed his fingertips across her forehead before giving her a soft kiss.

She sighed and slowly blinked her eyes open.  "Hey," she said with a sleepy smile.

"Hey," he answered, smiling back.  "Resting up for tomorrow?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes and said dryly, "All the rest in the world couldn't prepare me."

"Don't be so pessimistic," he answered taking her hand in his.  "It'll be fine."

"Yeah, and world peace is just around the corner.  Oh, and by the way, I saw some flying pigs this afternoon.  They were having tea with these enormous elephants in pink tutus." 

Luck cocked his head to one side and regarded her frankly.  Then, from out of nowhere he said quietly, "I love you so much."

Lorelai smiled at him and said, "What brought that on?"

"Just your ordinary prattle.  It's endearing."

"Since when is prattle endearing," scoffed Lorelai.

"Since now," he assured her.

She ran a hand up his stubbly cheek and her fingers lingered on his lips as she said, "I went to Sookie's today."

"How's she doing?"

"She's good," answered Lorelai.  "Going a little crazy, I think, but most new moms have that trouble in the beginning.  She can't wait to get back to work."

"I bet."

"I got to feed David," she ventured some more.

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh.  It was pretty cool.  He was all soft and warm and it was just amazing how completely dependent he was on me."

"Yeah, until his next diaper change when he becomes a shrill little monster," chuckled Luke.

"They're not all shrill," answered Lorelai with an expert eye-roll.

"Oh, really?  And you've got documented evidence of this?  Because whenever one of them comes into the diner, guess what.  Shrill.  Little.  Monsters."

"You really are an old grump, aren't you?"

"I try," he said passively.

"It's like you've been studying and you've perfected this image."

"Like I said, I try."

"I'm starving," she said as she pushed him away and got up from the couch.  "Did you bring me anything to eat?"

"I brought you some fries and a slice of pie."

"And to what do I owe that?" she questioned suspiciously.  Usually, she had to eat a real dinner before he'd allow her dessert.

"Nothing," he shrugged.  "Just trying to distract you from tomorrow."

"Mmm," she answered as she pawed through the bag he handed her.  "Fries and pie: the perfect dinner combo."

They sat next to each other on the couch and Luke took off his boots and hat and flicked the TV on with the remote.  Lorelai brought some ketchup from the kitchen, doused her fries with it and ate for a few minutes before she realized what Luke was watching.

"Oh, no," she declared.  "We are not watching this."

"Why not?" he asked belligerently.

"Because it's news.  The news makes me want to cry because it's always bad," she whined with a mouth full of fries.

Luke sighed and handed her the remote.  She flipped around until she found an old rerun of Friends.  "Woo hoo!  Success!"

Lulu wandered in, sniffed at the fries, and then jumped up to Luke's lap.  With her back legs on his left thigh and her front paws up on his chest, she rubbed her face against his in welcome.  He stroked her sides and said hello back.  Lorelai watched them and smiled a little.