A/N: Thanks to those of you who have read and reviewed and of course thanks to LorelaiAkaCoffeeAddict for proofreading and the nice feedback you give me. I hope you're having a really good time in the States, and like I said, I can't wait to hear about it!

Chapter 32 Sleep tight

It was Sunday night when Lucan woke Lorelai up. It was her night to get out so she turned the baby monitor off quickly, hoping not to wake up Luke. He had early deliveries the next morning and he had been pretty tired earlier. She stepped out of bed and walked into their son's room. The little boy smiled at his mother when she picked him up from his bed. "Huh." She mocked at the baby in her arms. "You're definitely not my son aren't you? Waking me up in the middle of the night and laugh about it?" She smiled and ignored the tiredness she was feeling. They sat down in the rocking chair together.

"You know, it's a long time ago that your sister was this small. I can't believe how fast she grew up. You have to promise me not to grow up so fast." The baby smiled again.

"I take that as a yes." She smiled back. "You will grow very big too though. You're going to be as big as your daddy aren't you? You look so much like him, and that's definitely a good thing."

"I doubt that." A gruff voice came from the door opening.

"Why are you awake?"

"Crying baby?" He looked at her like she stated the obvious.

"Well yeah, but it's my night. Why are you awake? I tried to be fast so you wouldn't wake up."

"Well I did anyway."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I don't mind to be up."

"But you have early deliveries tomorrow. Why don't you go back to bed? I'll have a little chitchat with our son here. He finds it very amusing." She smiled at her husband when he walked in the room and leaned down next to them.

"What kind of crazy things are you telling him? Don't believe anything your mother says, son." The baby smiled at his father.

"I never tell crazy things my friend. You should know that by now."

"Yeah right. But he's smiling here, why don't you put him in bed? If he's happy he can go back to bed."

"Nah...if I put him back now he'll start crying and will be all upset. I prefer him like this."

"True. But he's fooling with us though. He wakes us up and than enjoys it."

"That's what I told him. He's laughing at us for falling for it every night. Maybe we should let him cry next time so he can learn to sleep during the night."

"I don't know, he's so little. We can't just let him cry."

"Before when he woke up, he was upset and we had to try everything to calm him down, but now he wakes up because he know we'll pick him up anyway. He's trying us out."

"He can't do that, he's only a baby."

"Yeah well, he's not crazy. He knows exactly what were doing. If I put him in bed right now he'll look at us, seeing how we'll react and he won't start crying until we walk away."

"I don't believe that."

Lorelai stood up and placed the baby in his bassinet. She tucked him in and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight baby." She gestured Luke to do the same, so he did. They saw the baby looking at them, waiting to see what would come next. Lorelai took Luke's hand in hers and pulled him out of the room. She closed the door and at that same moment the baby started crying. "See?"

"Okay you were right. Now what do you want to do?"

"I guess just let him cry? He has to learn to sleep through the night."

"But…" Luke wanted to do anything for his son, even waking up in the middle of the night every day. But he realized Lorelai was right. It was time he learned to sleep during the night. He was playing a game with them, as tiny as he was.

Lorelai pulled Luke towards their bedroom and turned the baby monitor back on. The laid down and bed and listened to the crying. "Now what?" Luke looked at his wife.

"I guess just listen to him cry until he falls asleep? There's not much else we can do."

They waited for 5 minutes and the crying didn't subside. Luke started to feel sorry for the baby. "Lorelai?"

"What?"

"I can go. He's really really upset right now. He will never go to sleep like this."

"I know this is hard, but if we don't go through with this now, he'll never learn it."

"But we can start tomorrow right?"

"Like you won't feel exactly the same way then like you feel now."

"But…"

"You know I'm right. Trust me. He's a little confused right now because we just put him in bed and we're not picking him up while he's crying. We already let this go on to long."

"I don't agree with you. I can't do this Lorelai. I can't listen to this. He's really upset."

"Then I'll just turn of the baby monitor so you can't hear it." Inside she felt the same way Luke felt. She wanted to keep Lucan with her as long as possible, and she wanted to enjoy every moment, but she also knew that they both had to get to work the next morning, Luke even earlier than she and the nightly interruption was getting to her. Of course it helped that they were taking turns, but she also knew from experience that babies are very good in controlling their parents. She was only a little away from getting up and pick up the baby to comfort him, and Luke begging her to let him go wasn't making it any easier.

"Lorelai."

"It will only be a few nights Luke. And he's not crying for so long. Just leave him for a little while, he'll stop soon enough."

After another 5 minutes Luke couldn't take it any longer and stepped out of bed. Lorelai knew that if he hadn't done it, she would have done it herself. She wondered how it was possible that a 2-month-old baby could control them and got them to do things they didn't wanted. She knew they would try again the next night, and also knew it was going to be really hard.

Luke walked into the nursery and picked up the baby. His little face was red and he made fists out of his little hands. His crying stopped almost immediately though when Luke picked him up. That's when Luke realized Lorelai was right. Lucan knew exactly that they would give in and pick him up. He noticed the baby was tired, and had probably fallen asleep by himself if they had let him cry a little while longer. "We'll try this again tomorrow." He said as he cuddled the baby to his chest.

Luke took Lucan to the diner the next day, so Lorelai walked into the Dragonfly by herself. She walked straight into the kitchen. Sookie looked up and smiled as she saw her friend enter. Lorelai stood by the counter, put her elbows on it, rested her head in them and sighed deeply.

"What's wrong?"

"Since when do our kids get to control us instead of the other way around?"

"Oh I don't know. I guess that's the way it always has been."

"Not with me it wasn't. As long as I can remember my mother tried to control my life, not the other way around."

"I assume we're talking about Lucan?"

"Yeah." Lorelai sighed again. "You know that he wakes up in the middle of the night every day right?"

"Yes."

"Well, lately he isn't upset anymore when we pick him up, he just smiles at us, and listen to us talking to him. He's playing this game with us. Last night I talked to Luke about it and we kind of agreed to learn him to sleep through the night by letting him cry. He wouldn't believe that the cute little baby is controlling us, so I said that if I would lay the baby in his bed he wouldn't start crying until we walk away. He still didn't believe me so we tried it out, and as suspected Lucan started crying the second I closed the door. We decided to go to bed and let him cry, but after ten minutes Luke gave up and went to comfort him."

"So you're upset that he gave up and went to get the baby?"

"Nah, I would have done the same thing if he hadn't done it. But how can I teach my son to sleep through the night, if we can't let him cry?"

"If you really want him to learn it, you have to let him cry or he'll never learn. Otherwise you have to give up for a month or so and try again later."

"Ugh… why is this so hard. Rory woke up too the first few weeks but she stopped by herself and decided that sleep was a good thing to do at night. She hated me waking her up ever since, no matter how small she was."

"Every kid is different, you know that right?"

"Yeah I do, and it's interesting too. I just…. I guess we could just wait until he decides the same thing Rory did."

"You could, but than you didn't resolve your problem. You still have to get up every night."

"It's not that bad you know. I really like it. He's growing up fast enough. That's why this is so hard I guess, I want to teach him things, but I also want him to stay that small forever."

Sookie smiled. "I know. With your first you're really proud when they learn stuff and you want them to learn everything, but then with the second kid you just want them to stay small forever."

"Yeah exactly. But why do I get the feeling Luke doesn't want him to learn those things?"

"Because he's a father. That's different. They are very proud when their kid learns something new, but they want to protect them from the big angry world and they don't care if that comes into the learning process."

"Yeah, you're right. You should have seen Luke's face when Lucan first smiled. He was so proud."

"Same with Jackson. And wait till you get a baby girl, that's even worse then when you have a son."

Lorelai smiled. "We're not there yet. We haven't talked about getting more kids. I know that we're both getting older and that if we really want another one, we shouldn't wait to long, but it's too soon. Lucan's only 2 months, 2 and a half almost."

"You've got time. Plus you already have 2 kids. How is Rory by the way?"

"She's doing great. She's glad she went back, because now she realized how much harder it was to do her assignments from here. We miss each other of course, but I'm glad she decided to go back too. But uh, it's getting late so I better get some work done.

Lorelai went to the diner for lunch. Luke was holding a crying Lucan in one arm, while he was carrying plates with his other. Lorelai smiled when she saw this but took Lucan from him so he could really serve his customers. She cradled the baby to her chest. "Luke, what happened?"

Luke turned his head to look at her when he put the plates on the table in front of him. "He woke up half an hour after I fed him and he was like this ever since."

"How long has it been?"

"An hour or so? He's really upset but I don't know why. I changed him, I tried if he was still hungry, but nothing."

"Maybe just a little stomach ache. She put her feet on the stool next to hers and laid the baby on her legs. Then she started rubbing his stomach. He stopped crying soon.

Luke walked towards her, kissed her lips and asked "How did you do that?"

"Like I said, his belly hurts. The rubbing eases the pain and makes him feel more comfortable."

"Oh…" He felt stupid for not thinking of something so simple.

"Don't worry. I've spent 2 months at home with him, plus I raised Rory, you just didn't know. That's okay. Now you know that happens sometimes and what you can do to help him. He should go back to sleep soon now."

Luke nodded. "Thanks."

"Well, you can make me a cheeseburger with fries to show me how grateful you are."

"Sure, coming up."

"Wow, no complaining?"

"Nope. I decided to give up. Maybe we can teach the baby some things, but I realized you're to old to learn stuff."

"Hey thanks." She hit him in the chest.

"Ouch. This way you can forget all about lunch".

"No, please, I'm sorry." She pouted.

"Yeah right." But he walked into the kitchen to make her lunch anyway.

When he came back and set the plate in front of her, Lucan was asleep in her lap. "Let me take him upstairs so you can eat?"

"Yeah, thanks."

She was already finished with her burger when Luke walked into the diner again.

"Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"What do we do about his nightly adventures?"

"I don't know. Do you really think we can get him to sleep during the night?"

"Yeah. I do. I think this will be harder for us than it will be for him."

"I'm sorry I went to get him last night. I just couldn't take it. He was really upset."

"I know, I would have done the same thing if you hadn't done it."

"He was pretty tired though when I walked into his room. I had the feeling that he would have fallen asleep soon if I hadn't gone in there."

"I think we should give it a try, and if, after a few days he still wakes up, we'll try again later. But I really think this can work."

"Okay, then that's what we're going to do."

That night Lucan woke up again at 2.30, waking up both Luke and Lorelai. They turned to look at each other. "Let's do this." Lorelai sighed. Luke nodded and kissed Lorelai's forehead. Together they listened how the baby cried. After a few minutes the crying stopped, only to continue half a minute later.

"I thought he went back to sleep." Luke said.

"He's trying to listen if we're coming."

After a few minutes the crying stopped again. "Maybe he's asleep now?"

"I'm not sure. He could be."

"Let's take a look?"

"Okay." They stepped out of the bed and walked towards Lucan's bedroom, carefully not to make any noise. They listened at the door but heard nothing.

"Let's go in." Lorelai whispered and she opened the door slowly. She took two steps in the room and saw that Lucan was still awake. He started smiling the second he saw his mother. She walked back and closed the door, but of course it was already too late. He cried and now they felt bad because it was their fault he was crying. They walked back in the room and picked him up. "I guess we'll try again tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai had the Tuesday off. She decided to visit her mother in the afternoon so Luke could close for the night. Her condition was still approving, although there was no word on when she would be released from the hospital yet. Before Lorelai went upstairs, she walked into the clothing shop. She hadn't seen Karen much after Emily was doing better, and especially since they were visiting mostly after dinner, when the shop was already closed.

Lorelai placed the carrier with Lucan on the counter and waited for her friend to show up. Karen was in the room in the back, probably doing some paperwork or drinking some coffee. Lorelai didn't have to wait long, though and Karen seemed very happy to see her. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing great thanks. How are you?"

"Good. I haven't seen you around much lately."

"No, I know, that's why I came to see you. I went back to work last week although I have today off. Luke went with me to the hospital most of the nights, having his employees closing the diner. I told him I'd go now, so he can close for a change so the others can leave a little early."

"Well, I'm glad you stepped by. How is your mother doing?"

"She's doing better every day."

"No words on when she can go home yet?"

"No, unfortunately not. She really wants to leave the hospital, but the doctors say it's too soon. Maybe sometime next week."

"I hope so."

"Yeah, me too."

"How's the baby?" She looked at Lucan who was wide-awake.

"He's good. We're trying to get him to sleep through the night. It's kind of weird actually, when we were here he hadn't woken up once, but the first night we were home he woke up again."

"And how is it going so far?"

"Oh very good. The first night Luke went to comfort him after ten minutes, and yesterday we went into his room to see if he was asleep when he stopped crying, only to find out that he wasn't. Of course we couldn't just walk away anymore without him crying so we had to get him out."

"So, not so good huh?"

"Not really. Maybe it will go better tonight."

"Yeah. My husband and I had the same problem when we wanted to get Kayla to sleep through the night. It took us a week before we stopped giving in and another week before we woke up realizing she wasn't crying."

"Well thanks, I feel a lot better now."

Karen just smiled. "And how is Rory?"

"She went back to London last week. She is enjoying her last few weeks there."

"I thought last time we spoke she decided to stay here? I thought they gave her assignments to do from here?"

"Yes they did, but it was a lot more difficult to do them from here so we decided it was better for her to go back, besides it's only 6 more weeks. 5 Now."

"And you're okay with it?"

"I had to convince her, and I miss her like crazy of course. But I went back to work and that really helps."

"How is it to be back?"

"Great! I was getting so bored at home, I really wanted to go back. I had to fight Luke about it because officially I had two more weeks and he thought I should take them. He didn't realize how I was feeling so we talked about it and agreed that I would go back part-time for the first two weeks, and fully after that. It works for the both of us."

"Good, I'm glad."

"I'm taking Lucan with me one day, and Luke has him for two days. You should have seen Michel with him. Michel's our concierge. He's from France and he's really sarcastic, but he's really good at what he does. Sookie and I worked with him at the Independence Inn and we took him with us when we opened our own Inn."

"Isn't that the Inn that burned down a few years ago?"

"Yeah. We tried to stay open at first, but we had to close almost all our rooms and it wasn't working at all. We had no other option but to close the place. It did give us the perfect opportunity to open our own Inn. You should come and stay with us some time. For free of course, because you've done so much for me the last few weeks."

"I'd really like to come. We can let Tom's parents take Kayla, but we will pay. You don't owe me anything. I'm glad I was able to help you."

"I know I don't, but I really want to. I insist even. But we'll talk about it later. You have my phone number so call me whenever you feel like coming."

"I will. You better go up to see your mother now."

"Yeah I will. It was nice to catch up again."

"Absolutely. Come again soon, otherwise I'll call."

"Okay, sounds great!"

The women hugged and after that Lorelai picked up the carrier and walked towards the elevators.

"Okay buddy. You have to try to stay asleep tonight. I know you can do it." Luke talked to his son as he lay him in bed that night. The baby listened to his father's words, although he probably didn't understand what he told him. He just liked the sound of his father's voice.

He put the baby in his bed and covered him up. "Goodnight kiddo." He kissed the baby's forehead and walked away. He listened at the door and the baby kept silent. It was never a problem during the day, or in the evening. He wondered why it was at night.

2.30 a.m. and crying came from the baby monitor. "Ugh…" Lorelai put her head in her pillow. Luke put his head on her shoulder and together they listened to the baby monitor. Again Lucan tried to listen what his parents where doing and after 15 minutes he realized that they weren't coming and kept quiet.

"Shall we watch again?" Luke lifted his head.

"No way mister. I'm not falling for that again."

The listened another 5 minutes and the baby kept quiet. "Is it weird that I feel guilty now?"

Lorelai looked at Luke. "No. I feel the same."

"It's weird you know because this is what we wanted, but it feels wrong. What if he'll hold this against us for the rest of his life?"

"He won't. He'll have enough other things to do that later."

"Geez thanks."

"We'll better go to sleep to. It's no use for us to be awake if he isn't."

The next day it took only 10 minutes for Lucan to fall asleep again, and after four more days he didn't wake up at all, during the night. Both Luke and Lorelai did though, both expecting the baby to wake up any minute. They waited the whole night and listened carefully. At 4.45, Luke's usual time to get up they looked at each other. "I guess he won't wake up anymore."

"No. I wonder why we are. It was better when we got up for him. Before we were up for half an hour or so, now we were up half the night and mister himself is nice asleep."

"But we did get what we wanted."

"Let's see what happens tonight. He better not wake up again, because I'm freaking tired."

"Why don't I take him to work today, so you can sleep for a few extra hours before you have to get to work?"

"No. I think I'll take a shower with you, take my time to get dressed and watch some TV until he wakes up, give him a bath and feed him. Then I'll come to the diner for some breakfast and take my time to go to work. We'll feed him early tonight so we can go to bed early."

"Who says you can take a shower with me?" Was his only response.

"Well, you can't deny me anything." She winked at him, stepped out of bed and walked towards the bathroom. Luke smiled as he got up and followed her.

A/N: Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think! I don't know when I'll post the new chapter. As you probably got from my first note, LorelaiAkaCoffeeAddict a.k.a. my beta is going on vacation. She won't be back until the beginning of June which means I have to wait posting my new chapters until she's back. But I promise I'll keep writing so I can update a fewchapters faster than usual!