A Gilmore Christmas

By: Alyson Tierney

DISCLAIMER: The characters of Lorelai Gilmore, Rory Gilmore, Richard Gilmore, Emily Gilmore, Luke Danes, Sookie St. James, Jackson Melville, and Davey Melville are solely the property of Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB network. The song is "All I Want for Christmas" by Roxanne. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment purposes. Don't sue; I'm a very poor college student who only paid $91 for 14 people's Christmas gifts.

NOTE: Yes, I am well aware that Christmas isn't for a month, but I want to get this out of the way, so I can do other fics for this Christmas season, as this one takes place a year ago. I hope you will enjoy this, I wrote it last winter, and that's when it takes place. This is the final chapter in the saga, and I really want to thank everyone who stuck with it all the way through. Your reviews meant so much, and I hope to see you all reviewing more of my stories down the road. THANK YOU!

Chapter Eight

Lorelai felt Rory shift underneath her, and the blanket slipped from her grasp. Lorelai opened her eyes, and smiled down at her sleeping daughter. Rory was still lying across her mom's lap, but now she was facing upwards, her left arm splayed out at an angle from her body, and her right hand was holding the blanket to her chin. She was so peaceful and happy in sleep, that Lorelai was afraid to move for fear of waking her.

Lorelai looked over at the clock sitting on top of the television and saw that it was just before two in the morning. They hadn't been sleeping for more than three hours. She leaned over and kissed her daughter, "Rory? Rory, babe?"

"Mmm." Rory's only response was a moan and she turned and buried her head into her mom's stomach.

"Rory, come on, let's get to bed. An actual bed, not a sofa-bed." Lorelai nudged Rory a few times until Rory's eyes opened and she looked at her mom sleepily. Lorelai smiled at her daughter, and then helped her off the couch and upstairs.

"Too many steps. Sleepy." Rory mumbled as they neared the top.

"Come on babe, you can do it." Lorelai coaxed, as they went into her bedroom. Rory climbed under the covers and closed her eyes, snuggling deep into the pillow.

"I love you, Mom." Rory mumbled, before she was back into dreamland. Lorelai watched her child a few moments, marveling in how peaceful and innocent she looked when asleep. She wished she could have slept like that when she was Rory's age, but no, Rory had been 3 years old and keeping her mother awake half the night most nights back then.

"I love you, babe." Lorelai whispered, and stroked her daughter's hair a few times, and then turned, remembering what had been stashed in the front hall closet several weeks earlier. She quietly went down the stairs, collecting half-full cocoa mugs as she went. After rinsing the mugs out in the sink, she opened the closet door and grinned. Two bags were stocked full of presents, and Lorelai took her time as she arranged them under the tree. She stood up after she was fully satisfied, and looked at the tree a moment. It was fully light, and she let her hand gently graze several ornaments before turning the lights off and heading to bed. She crawled in besides Rory and soon her daughter's soft breathing lulled her to sleep.

The bright sun streamed into the room on Christmas morning, waking Lorelai up. She looked for Rory, but she wasn't in the room. "Rory!" she called, a little frightened.

"Coming!" Rory's voice called back, "Stay right there!"

"Okay!" Lorelai called, smiling. Rory hadn't forgotten their little Christmas ritual. Breakfast in bed made by whomever woke up first, and then they opened gifts. She settled back into the pillows, and wasn't there for ten seconds before Rory opened the door. "Oooh, look! Food!" Lorelai cheered and clapped her hands.

Rory laughed, "I haven't seen you this excited over scrambled eggs and toast in ages."

"Well, it is Christmas morning and you did make it for me." Lorelai pointed out.

"Us, I made it for us." Rory corrected her, crawling onto the bed, balancing the tray with one hand. Lorelai took it from Rory and set it on the bed. The two of them began eating with gusto, like they'd never seen food before.

"It's good. Thank you, honey." Lorelai smiled a scrambled egg-encrusted smile and Rory groaned.

"Lorelai, don't open your mouth while chewing!" Rory scolded. Lorelai closed her mouth obediently, and put her arm around her daughter. Rory leaned into the embrace, breathing in her mom's scent. They finished eating quickly, wanting to get downstairs to open gifts.

They walked down the stairs and were halfway to the bottom when Lorelai gasped, "I forgot to put the Santa presents under the tree!"

"What?!?" Rory gasped.

"Kidding!" Lorelai chuckled, "There they are, see? I put them under the tree after getting you into the real bed that's not a sofa." She pointed to the tree, which did look fuller than yesterday.

"Oooh! Presents!" Rory giggled like a 4-year-old, and dove under the tree. She sorted out the presents, which was easy to do. They were either hers or her mom's. They opened their presents slowly, wanting to prolong the unwrapping process. When they were done, and had gotten everything they wanted, Rory went over to her mom and gave her a huge hug, "Merry Christmas. I love you," she said, softly.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie. I love you too." Lorelai said, kissing her daughter on the head.

"Mom, look, snow!" Rory exclaimed. Lorelai looked out the window, and sure enough, the first snowfall of the season was falling. She grinned, and led Rory over to the window, and there they stood, watching the falling snow, and basking in each other's company. Lorelai realized that her daughter had been acting completely normal for the last hour. She smiled, realizing that her daughter would be just fine. It would take some patience, but she would be fine. Lorelai squeezed her closer, as they watched the gentle flakes fall, covering the lawn in a dusty coating.

THE END....I hope you enjoyed this story, and let me know what you thought!