WHAT IT IS: A sequel, to my other Trory, What Happens When. Now, I had no
intentions at all to do a sequel. However, you're getting one, because of
all the Jess/Dean/Rory angst currently on the show—it's stressing me out.
So, since I had decided that fluff was probably all I'd get out of a sequel
and fluff is what I need right now (it's either fluff or unbearable angst
coming out of me right now)—here's a sequel.
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
AN: I've been wanting to get to this before I did, but I've been having all these other story ideas floating around, getting in the way. So I got them out, and am now focused. I swear. I'll be good, I promise.
The maternity ward waiting room was filled to the brim with excited relatives and friends of the couple that was working so diligently somewhere behind the double doors that they disappeared behind quite some time before. Erin sat with her head on Jess's shoulder, half in and out of sleep. He attempted to focus on reading a book. Next to him was Luke, who was trying to keep a nervous Lorelai in his lap, instead of pacing the floor in front of him. It also blocked his view of the hallway and anyone that might have tubes or fluids unnaturally traveling in or out of their body. Across a coffee table from them, sat Richard and Emily Gilmore, him reading a newspaper looking rather unaffected, and Emily inspecting her manicure with too much interest. Next to Richard was Christopher, who avoided Luke's gaze and was trying not to go crazy with the anticipation of meeting his grandchild. Behind Lorelai, at a table set up by some vending machines were Tristan's parents. They had instructed Janlan to stay home. While healed, he still wasn't up to staying up all hours of the night. They promised to call him as soon as Rory and Tristan could have visitors.
Lane came back in, causing everyone to look up at her. She was loaded down with drinks and sandwiches, which she had gotten at the cafeteria. They had been surviving for hours on the vending machine snacks, with many grumbles from both Luke and Emily. The fact that they were agreeing on anything made Lorelai sure she'd have nightmares for months.
Erin stood and rushed to help the other girl, as they moved to put the items down on the table in the rear portion of the room. They sorted through the food, and took some things for themselves.
"I hope I got enough. I asked some of the nurses what to stay away from, and I even found out that the coffee is supposedly quite good," she said, looking at Lorelai.
"No," Luke protested.
"You can't be serious," she stared at him.
"Nope, not now. You're nuts enough as it is."
Jess chuckled behind his book, which he was using more as a shield than a source of entertainment at this point.
"I need coffee to calm my nerves! My first born is having her first child, I need coffee!"
"Lorelai, honestly. Listen to your husband for once, won't you?" Emily asked.
Luke smirked at her, which enraged her even more. She tried to get up, but he held her firmly in his lap as everyone else moved to get food.
Meanwhile, as the fight for coffee ensued, Rory was screaming as loudly as she could ever remember screaming. She actually wasn't one to raise her voice often, but she couldn't help it. She'd been pushing for quite some time, and all the doctor kept telling her was she was making good progress. Currently, they were taking a break from pushing, and Tristan was wiping off her forehead with a cool washcloth. She attempted to smile at him, but it came out just looking like weariness.
"Do me a favor."
"Anything."
"Just, look and see what's going on."
"Rory," he protested.
"Tristan! I can't deal with this. Just tell me if you can see anything, if this is close to being over!"
"I really don't--,"
"You've never had any problem with that area before. Now look!" she commanded, using all her strength.
Sighing, knowing she was tired and despite that fact could probably still kill him in her state, he moved to wear the doctor had been. He was over conversing with the nurse. Lifting up her gown, he took in the view. He was surprised to see it wasn't as bad as the videos they had been forced to watch in the Lamaze class. Some of those images had given him nightmares. But as much as he wanted to, he didn't see anything that wasn't normally there. Shaking his head, he came back up to her side.
"Nothing?"
"Well, no person yet."
"No head?"
"No."
"Feet?"
"You really don't want this kid to be breech."
"I just want it to make an appearance already."
He nodded, wiping her forehead again as she munched on some ice chips. Her mother was right, they really served no purpose, but they were there so she figured she might as well crunch on some, and stay as hydrated as possible.
"Are we ready to start pushing again?" the doctor asked, coming back to his position at the foot of the table.
Rory nodded, and Tristan took a hold of her hand again, ready to have her bear down.
"How much longer do these things take?" Jess asked, leaning over to Luke.
Luke shrugged. "Depends."
"It's been a really long time."
"It was thirty six hours with Will."
"You're kidding."
"Nope."
"Wow. And you survived that," Jess mocked.
"Funny."
Lorelai sat at the table, with Lane and the Dugreys. Picking at her sandwich, she kept glancing at the clock.
"You know, I never thought I'd rather be on the other end of this whole situation," Elizabeth mused.
"Tell me about it," Lorelai agreed.
"Why is that?" Lane asked, thinking they must be crazy.
"It's much easier to give birth to a child than to know your kid is in this amount of pain," Lorelai explained.
"Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that."
"I'm sure they're doing fine," Thomas added.
"It's just taking so long!"
"It's only been about 16 hours total."
"Tristan took 20 hours. I never thought that kid was going to show up. He was breech, too."
"Rory took 19 hours. But it was so worth it, she was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen," Lorelai remembered.
"You don't know, do you?" Elizabeth leaned in, whispering at Lorelai.
"Know? You mean about the sex?"
"Yeah."
"She's adamant about not knowing. Both of them. No fun," Lorelai informed the other grandmother to be.
"Well, I guess it won't be long now, will it?" Elizabeth sighed, leaning back in her chair and taking a hold of Tom's hand.
"I see a head!" The doctor exclaimed, and as much as Rory could already feel said head and wanted to smack the know-it-all upside his head, she still felt a wave of relief sweep over her. She looked up at Tristan, who was intently watching the process unfold.
"How much longer?"
"Just a few more pushes, I promise."
"If you insist."
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah, yeah. I am," she talked herself into sitting back up, now supported by Tristan on one side and a nurse on the other. She began to push and felt the most intense pain of the whole previous 17 hours.
"And there's a shoulder!"
"Just one?!" Rory exclaimed, thinking that had to be both.
"Keep it going, we're almost there!" the doctor, now getting a little too peppy for her taste, continued.
"Tristan!" she moaned, pulling his hand in closer.
"I'm right here."
"Can you see anything?"
"Yeah, I can see the head, you're doing great, I swear, you're almost done," he coaxed.
She nodded and sat back up again. More pain, and then relief.
"You did it!" came the doctor's voice again, now sounding slightly less irritating. She began to remember why they picked the qualified physician as he held up the baby that had slid out after the second shoulder broke free.
"It's a girl!"
Tristan kissed her forehead, and wrapped an arm around her. She cried out in relief and joy, and held her arms out.
"Can I hold her?"
"Yeah, just let us clean her up and all that good stuff," came the doctor's reply. Within seconds, the nurse was placing a baby, wrapped in a soft pink blanket, in Rory's arms. She was enthralled with the small baby, wanting nothing more than to make this moment last forever.
"She's perfect," he breathed, leaning in so he was as close to his wife and daughter as he could be.
"Isn't she?"
"So, Mom, what are we naming the kid?" came the nurse's voice, with what looked to be a birth certificate in her hand.
Rory tore her eyes from her daughter, and fixed her gaze on Tristan.
"Do you still like it?"
"It's perfect, it fits her," he nodded.
She informed the nurse of the name they had chosen for a girl, and she copied it down, so they could get a crib ready for her in the nursery. Tristan told Rory that he better get down to the waiting room and tell people that it was over. She nodded, kissing him one more time before falling back against the pillows for a much-deserved rest.
Tristan made his way out to the waiting room, slowly. His muscles ached, he was just now aware, and he was starving. But he didn't care. He had a daughter. He was in shock and marveled at how perfect she was. He could already tell that she had her mother's eyes and his ears. They had made a little person out of the pieces of themselves. He found his father out in the hallway, on his cell phone.
"Here he is now, Dad, hang on," Tom said, looking up at Tristan. He smiled at his father and gave him a hug.
"Well?"
"It's a girl," he said softly.
Thomas smiled, and let his son into the room, where everyone stood in anticipation. Lorelai pushed her way to the front, standing in front of her son-in-law.
"Everyone, I just wanted to let you know that we just finished delivering our baby girl. She's 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and she's perfect. You can come see Rory in twos, grandmothers first, of course."
"What's the name?" Lorelai squealed in delight, jumping up and down a little.
"She wants to tell you herself. Come on, ladies, follow me," he said, taking his mom's hand, and being half dragged by Lorelai. They reached the room where they had moved Rory to rest in, the original room they had been in while she was in pre-labor. She had a small bundle in her arms and didn't even look up when the three appeared in the door.
"Someone's already in love," Lorelai smiled at her daughter, causing her to finally look up.
"Mom, Liz, I would like you to meet Ella Rose."
"That's so sweet!" Lorelai said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Elizabeth hugged her weary son, and Lorelai brushed Rory's hair back off her face.
"Can I hold her?" she barely whispered, in awe of her daughter and granddaughter.
Rory nodded, handing off the newborn to her mother's waiting arms.
"Aw, she has that great baby smell. You had that smell. It's intoxicating," she said, leaning into the baby. Ella yawned and brought her hands up to her face. When she removed them, she opened her bright blue eyes and looked full into her grandmother's face for a moment before closing them again.
"My turn?" came the other woman's voice, and reluctantly Lorelai handed her off. She turned to Rory, who couldn't keep her eyes off of Ella.
Elizabeth looked just as enthralled as Lorelai had. She smiled and made soft noises at Ella, before handing her over to Tristan, who finally got to hold his daughter for the first time. He had thought that he fell in love with Rory quickly, but this was faster than anything he had ever thought imaginable. He carried her over to Rory, and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Can you guys go get Grandma and Grandpa? Oh, and someone needs to call Paris and Marty," Rory remembered.
Two by two, well-wishers came into meet little Ella. She was pretty much asleep most of the time, but they didn't care. They were overjoyed to finally meet the baby, and at long last, Jess and Lane were summoned in. Lane squealed as Tristan handed the baby to her, and she talked to Ella, (loving the name, she informed Rory), before handing her over to Jess. He was good with babies; he'd always taken care of Will. Will had been a rather cute baby, but nothing compared to Ella. He was immediately taken with her.
"The reason we called the two of you in here together, was that we were hoping that you guys would consent to be her godparents," Rory announced, watching Jess hold her daughter.
"Really?" Lane asked, in awe, but obviously joyed.
"You're sure?" Jess asked, handing the baby back to Tristan.
"We're sure. You guys up for it?"
"Wait, that doesn't mean I have to live with Jess if you guys die, does it?" Lane asked warily.
"No," Rory giggled.
"Then I'll do it," she agreed, hugging her best friend.
"I'd be honored," Jess admitted.
Later that night, after everyone had come and gone, even Janlan, who was more than thrilled to hold his great-granddaughter, Rory and Tristan enjoyed some time alone in her room. Exhausted, they had been brought food, and were now trying to sleep. He lay in the bed with her, his arms around her.
"Are you asleep?"
"Nope," he admitted.
"I want to see her."
"Do you want to go down to the big window?"
Rory nodded.
"We really should sleep," Tristan pointed out.
"You're telling me you can just lay here and not go see her?"
"No, I was just saying, you worked really hard the last day."
"I just want to see her. Then we can sleep," Rory promised.
He helped her into a wheelchair, and pushed her the short distance to the nursery. There, amongst a dozen or so other babies, lay their daughter, in a crib labeled 'Dugrey, Ella Rose'.
"She looks like an Ella," Rory said softly.
"She already has your eyes."
"And my hair."
"My ears."
Rory looked at his ears, then back to Ella. "Yeah, she does," she smiled before she let out a long yawn.
"Okay, let's get back to bed. Sleep while we still can."
She let him wheel her away from the big window, and back to the room. They crawled into bed again, and fell asleep mashed into the other, just the two of them again. They slept well into the next day, until a nurse came in with Ella.
Tristan watched as the nurse gave her a quick lesson in breast-feeding and left them to bond. Rory just couldn't keep her eyes off of Ella.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not much," she said, still watching her daughter. "How did you sleep?"
"I dreamed she was sixteen and some guy came to the house to pick her up."
"And did this boy survive?"
"I don't know. We locked her up in the basement."
"We don't have a basement," she giggled.
"I'll build one when I get home," he promised her.
AN: There, the birth, part two. Not sure how many more chapters, there are some loose ends to tie up, so at least one or two more. Review!
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
AN: I've been wanting to get to this before I did, but I've been having all these other story ideas floating around, getting in the way. So I got them out, and am now focused. I swear. I'll be good, I promise.
The maternity ward waiting room was filled to the brim with excited relatives and friends of the couple that was working so diligently somewhere behind the double doors that they disappeared behind quite some time before. Erin sat with her head on Jess's shoulder, half in and out of sleep. He attempted to focus on reading a book. Next to him was Luke, who was trying to keep a nervous Lorelai in his lap, instead of pacing the floor in front of him. It also blocked his view of the hallway and anyone that might have tubes or fluids unnaturally traveling in or out of their body. Across a coffee table from them, sat Richard and Emily Gilmore, him reading a newspaper looking rather unaffected, and Emily inspecting her manicure with too much interest. Next to Richard was Christopher, who avoided Luke's gaze and was trying not to go crazy with the anticipation of meeting his grandchild. Behind Lorelai, at a table set up by some vending machines were Tristan's parents. They had instructed Janlan to stay home. While healed, he still wasn't up to staying up all hours of the night. They promised to call him as soon as Rory and Tristan could have visitors.
Lane came back in, causing everyone to look up at her. She was loaded down with drinks and sandwiches, which she had gotten at the cafeteria. They had been surviving for hours on the vending machine snacks, with many grumbles from both Luke and Emily. The fact that they were agreeing on anything made Lorelai sure she'd have nightmares for months.
Erin stood and rushed to help the other girl, as they moved to put the items down on the table in the rear portion of the room. They sorted through the food, and took some things for themselves.
"I hope I got enough. I asked some of the nurses what to stay away from, and I even found out that the coffee is supposedly quite good," she said, looking at Lorelai.
"No," Luke protested.
"You can't be serious," she stared at him.
"Nope, not now. You're nuts enough as it is."
Jess chuckled behind his book, which he was using more as a shield than a source of entertainment at this point.
"I need coffee to calm my nerves! My first born is having her first child, I need coffee!"
"Lorelai, honestly. Listen to your husband for once, won't you?" Emily asked.
Luke smirked at her, which enraged her even more. She tried to get up, but he held her firmly in his lap as everyone else moved to get food.
Meanwhile, as the fight for coffee ensued, Rory was screaming as loudly as she could ever remember screaming. She actually wasn't one to raise her voice often, but she couldn't help it. She'd been pushing for quite some time, and all the doctor kept telling her was she was making good progress. Currently, they were taking a break from pushing, and Tristan was wiping off her forehead with a cool washcloth. She attempted to smile at him, but it came out just looking like weariness.
"Do me a favor."
"Anything."
"Just, look and see what's going on."
"Rory," he protested.
"Tristan! I can't deal with this. Just tell me if you can see anything, if this is close to being over!"
"I really don't--,"
"You've never had any problem with that area before. Now look!" she commanded, using all her strength.
Sighing, knowing she was tired and despite that fact could probably still kill him in her state, he moved to wear the doctor had been. He was over conversing with the nurse. Lifting up her gown, he took in the view. He was surprised to see it wasn't as bad as the videos they had been forced to watch in the Lamaze class. Some of those images had given him nightmares. But as much as he wanted to, he didn't see anything that wasn't normally there. Shaking his head, he came back up to her side.
"Nothing?"
"Well, no person yet."
"No head?"
"No."
"Feet?"
"You really don't want this kid to be breech."
"I just want it to make an appearance already."
He nodded, wiping her forehead again as she munched on some ice chips. Her mother was right, they really served no purpose, but they were there so she figured she might as well crunch on some, and stay as hydrated as possible.
"Are we ready to start pushing again?" the doctor asked, coming back to his position at the foot of the table.
Rory nodded, and Tristan took a hold of her hand again, ready to have her bear down.
"How much longer do these things take?" Jess asked, leaning over to Luke.
Luke shrugged. "Depends."
"It's been a really long time."
"It was thirty six hours with Will."
"You're kidding."
"Nope."
"Wow. And you survived that," Jess mocked.
"Funny."
Lorelai sat at the table, with Lane and the Dugreys. Picking at her sandwich, she kept glancing at the clock.
"You know, I never thought I'd rather be on the other end of this whole situation," Elizabeth mused.
"Tell me about it," Lorelai agreed.
"Why is that?" Lane asked, thinking they must be crazy.
"It's much easier to give birth to a child than to know your kid is in this amount of pain," Lorelai explained.
"Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that."
"I'm sure they're doing fine," Thomas added.
"It's just taking so long!"
"It's only been about 16 hours total."
"Tristan took 20 hours. I never thought that kid was going to show up. He was breech, too."
"Rory took 19 hours. But it was so worth it, she was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen," Lorelai remembered.
"You don't know, do you?" Elizabeth leaned in, whispering at Lorelai.
"Know? You mean about the sex?"
"Yeah."
"She's adamant about not knowing. Both of them. No fun," Lorelai informed the other grandmother to be.
"Well, I guess it won't be long now, will it?" Elizabeth sighed, leaning back in her chair and taking a hold of Tom's hand.
"I see a head!" The doctor exclaimed, and as much as Rory could already feel said head and wanted to smack the know-it-all upside his head, she still felt a wave of relief sweep over her. She looked up at Tristan, who was intently watching the process unfold.
"How much longer?"
"Just a few more pushes, I promise."
"If you insist."
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah, yeah. I am," she talked herself into sitting back up, now supported by Tristan on one side and a nurse on the other. She began to push and felt the most intense pain of the whole previous 17 hours.
"And there's a shoulder!"
"Just one?!" Rory exclaimed, thinking that had to be both.
"Keep it going, we're almost there!" the doctor, now getting a little too peppy for her taste, continued.
"Tristan!" she moaned, pulling his hand in closer.
"I'm right here."
"Can you see anything?"
"Yeah, I can see the head, you're doing great, I swear, you're almost done," he coaxed.
She nodded and sat back up again. More pain, and then relief.
"You did it!" came the doctor's voice again, now sounding slightly less irritating. She began to remember why they picked the qualified physician as he held up the baby that had slid out after the second shoulder broke free.
"It's a girl!"
Tristan kissed her forehead, and wrapped an arm around her. She cried out in relief and joy, and held her arms out.
"Can I hold her?"
"Yeah, just let us clean her up and all that good stuff," came the doctor's reply. Within seconds, the nurse was placing a baby, wrapped in a soft pink blanket, in Rory's arms. She was enthralled with the small baby, wanting nothing more than to make this moment last forever.
"She's perfect," he breathed, leaning in so he was as close to his wife and daughter as he could be.
"Isn't she?"
"So, Mom, what are we naming the kid?" came the nurse's voice, with what looked to be a birth certificate in her hand.
Rory tore her eyes from her daughter, and fixed her gaze on Tristan.
"Do you still like it?"
"It's perfect, it fits her," he nodded.
She informed the nurse of the name they had chosen for a girl, and she copied it down, so they could get a crib ready for her in the nursery. Tristan told Rory that he better get down to the waiting room and tell people that it was over. She nodded, kissing him one more time before falling back against the pillows for a much-deserved rest.
Tristan made his way out to the waiting room, slowly. His muscles ached, he was just now aware, and he was starving. But he didn't care. He had a daughter. He was in shock and marveled at how perfect she was. He could already tell that she had her mother's eyes and his ears. They had made a little person out of the pieces of themselves. He found his father out in the hallway, on his cell phone.
"Here he is now, Dad, hang on," Tom said, looking up at Tristan. He smiled at his father and gave him a hug.
"Well?"
"It's a girl," he said softly.
Thomas smiled, and let his son into the room, where everyone stood in anticipation. Lorelai pushed her way to the front, standing in front of her son-in-law.
"Everyone, I just wanted to let you know that we just finished delivering our baby girl. She's 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and she's perfect. You can come see Rory in twos, grandmothers first, of course."
"What's the name?" Lorelai squealed in delight, jumping up and down a little.
"She wants to tell you herself. Come on, ladies, follow me," he said, taking his mom's hand, and being half dragged by Lorelai. They reached the room where they had moved Rory to rest in, the original room they had been in while she was in pre-labor. She had a small bundle in her arms and didn't even look up when the three appeared in the door.
"Someone's already in love," Lorelai smiled at her daughter, causing her to finally look up.
"Mom, Liz, I would like you to meet Ella Rose."
"That's so sweet!" Lorelai said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Elizabeth hugged her weary son, and Lorelai brushed Rory's hair back off her face.
"Can I hold her?" she barely whispered, in awe of her daughter and granddaughter.
Rory nodded, handing off the newborn to her mother's waiting arms.
"Aw, she has that great baby smell. You had that smell. It's intoxicating," she said, leaning into the baby. Ella yawned and brought her hands up to her face. When she removed them, she opened her bright blue eyes and looked full into her grandmother's face for a moment before closing them again.
"My turn?" came the other woman's voice, and reluctantly Lorelai handed her off. She turned to Rory, who couldn't keep her eyes off of Ella.
Elizabeth looked just as enthralled as Lorelai had. She smiled and made soft noises at Ella, before handing her over to Tristan, who finally got to hold his daughter for the first time. He had thought that he fell in love with Rory quickly, but this was faster than anything he had ever thought imaginable. He carried her over to Rory, and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Can you guys go get Grandma and Grandpa? Oh, and someone needs to call Paris and Marty," Rory remembered.
Two by two, well-wishers came into meet little Ella. She was pretty much asleep most of the time, but they didn't care. They were overjoyed to finally meet the baby, and at long last, Jess and Lane were summoned in. Lane squealed as Tristan handed the baby to her, and she talked to Ella, (loving the name, she informed Rory), before handing her over to Jess. He was good with babies; he'd always taken care of Will. Will had been a rather cute baby, but nothing compared to Ella. He was immediately taken with her.
"The reason we called the two of you in here together, was that we were hoping that you guys would consent to be her godparents," Rory announced, watching Jess hold her daughter.
"Really?" Lane asked, in awe, but obviously joyed.
"You're sure?" Jess asked, handing the baby back to Tristan.
"We're sure. You guys up for it?"
"Wait, that doesn't mean I have to live with Jess if you guys die, does it?" Lane asked warily.
"No," Rory giggled.
"Then I'll do it," she agreed, hugging her best friend.
"I'd be honored," Jess admitted.
Later that night, after everyone had come and gone, even Janlan, who was more than thrilled to hold his great-granddaughter, Rory and Tristan enjoyed some time alone in her room. Exhausted, they had been brought food, and were now trying to sleep. He lay in the bed with her, his arms around her.
"Are you asleep?"
"Nope," he admitted.
"I want to see her."
"Do you want to go down to the big window?"
Rory nodded.
"We really should sleep," Tristan pointed out.
"You're telling me you can just lay here and not go see her?"
"No, I was just saying, you worked really hard the last day."
"I just want to see her. Then we can sleep," Rory promised.
He helped her into a wheelchair, and pushed her the short distance to the nursery. There, amongst a dozen or so other babies, lay their daughter, in a crib labeled 'Dugrey, Ella Rose'.
"She looks like an Ella," Rory said softly.
"She already has your eyes."
"And my hair."
"My ears."
Rory looked at his ears, then back to Ella. "Yeah, she does," she smiled before she let out a long yawn.
"Okay, let's get back to bed. Sleep while we still can."
She let him wheel her away from the big window, and back to the room. They crawled into bed again, and fell asleep mashed into the other, just the two of them again. They slept well into the next day, until a nurse came in with Ella.
Tristan watched as the nurse gave her a quick lesson in breast-feeding and left them to bond. Rory just couldn't keep her eyes off of Ella.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not much," she said, still watching her daughter. "How did you sleep?"
"I dreamed she was sixteen and some guy came to the house to pick her up."
"And did this boy survive?"
"I don't know. We locked her up in the basement."
"We don't have a basement," she giggled.
"I'll build one when I get home," he promised her.
AN: There, the birth, part two. Not sure how many more chapters, there are some loose ends to tie up, so at least one or two more. Review!