Lorelai POV

We had discovered the hard way that if Rory did too much or was tired, that her legs would put her in agonising pain. We knew it was a possible side effect from the broken legs and from the surgery needed to fix it, but it didn't make us feel any better about it.

"I know it hurts, baby, you just need to get to the car," I promised, "Your dad can still carry you so we'll use that to our advantage."

I would have liked to have been joking, but I wasn't. I was holding her up, but she was finding that rather difficult and we were only halfway there. We managed a few more steps and then she sunk down to the ground, dragging me with her.

We sat there for about five minutes, half-laughing, half-crying. And then I pulled her up and we started again.

I finally got her home, where Luke was waiting. He helped her out and then carried her through to the sofa. She had cried all the way home, embarrassed that she hadn't made it through the school day without her legs screwing her over, but it wasn't her fault.

I watched as he grabbed her blanket, tucking her in and handing her the TV remote so she didn't have to move. Luke then kissed her forehead before kissing my and telling me, "Call me if you need me."

I set myself up in the kitchen, working from home. I could do a lot of my day-to-day work from home, so that was what I was doing when Jess walked in. I saw him freeze when he saw Rory and he looked over into the kitchen, "I needed a book for school?"

"What book? I asked, watching him panic. I sighed, "Be honest; were you skipping school?"

He nodded, "You were supposed to be at work. Wait, why are you two home?"

"Severe leg pain," I told him, "She can barely walk."

He nodded, "Do you want me to go back to school?"

I looked up at the clock, "It's not worth it for an hour and I have no way of making you go... Go and work at the diner for a while, I'll phone Luke so he knows you're coming."

Our week passed like that, with Rory only doing half-days because of the pain. We were hoping the doctors were able to do something, but the cause of the pain was being investigated. When the weekend rolled around, we planned for the kids to have a movie night with Lane and Tristan (something that made me incredibly nervous) and a date for me and Luke since we hadn't been on one in a few months due to other things.

I held up the two dressed to Rory, not knowing which one to go for. She picked the red one and then returned to her book as I changed, "What movies are you watching tonight?"

"We're going for action films; Tristan has a huge collection of films so he and Jess are picking from it."

"How big?" I asked, curious. I knew she had been to his a few times for him to grab something before a date, but she had only said the house was bigger and colder than the Gilmore mansion.

"It's like my floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that Luke made, but with films. It's awesome."

I was jealous, "I wish we could have that! That would be amazing."

"He said we could borrow from it whenever we like, as long as we return it in the same condition," She told me, turning a page, "I forgot to tell you."

"You're definitely going to have to take him up on that offer," I told her seriously, "I wonder how long it'll take for us to watch all of them."

She rolled her eyes, and then got up to do my dress up, "What do you think of Jess and Lane?"

"Like as a couple?" I asked, looking for confirmation.

She nodded, "I know that she has a crush on him because of his love of rock bands and how well-read he is, so I thought I'd ask your opinion since you're usually good at that kind of thing."

"They could be good," I said, "But I could also see it going really wrong. And how on earth would they do that with Mrs Kim around – you're barely getting away with it as it is. And what does she think about tonight?"

"She thinks me and Lane are having a sleepover, something that Mrs Kim only approves of because she enjoyed sleepovers growing up. The boys know to hide upstairs if someone knocks on the door, just in case – while she knows Jess lives here, she knows he's out or in his room most of the time, which is okay."

"You've really thought this out... What about the films and junk food?"

"Mrs Kim has seen me eat massive amounts of junk food before and will believe that it's all mine. We're also getting a salad for Lane to 'eat', just in case. We've done that at Luke's and as long as it looks half-eaten, she buys it, and Lane doesn't really mind the salad anyway so it's not going to waste. When it comes to the movies, we plan on hiding the boxes and if Mrs Kim shows up, we'll turn off the TV and claim that we're talking about our 'problems' and finding ways to solve them."

I laughed, "I taught you well."

"You did," She confirmed with a laugh.

Luke poked his head into the room, "The boys are back and we should go if we're going to make the reservation."

We headed downstairs to find the boys spreading out the food they had collected on the way. I almost laughed at the sight, and leant forward to whisper in Rory's ear, "You trained them well."

"And it only took 8 weeks," She said with a chuckle.

We arrived at the restaurant and were quickly seated. It was the restaurant where we had our first date and where he proposed, and we made a point of returning on a semi-regular basis. It was the place where I had told him I was pregnant both times, and it was where we celebrated my taking over the inn when Mia moved away. Of course, she still owns it, but I ran it.

"What are we celebrating tonight?" I asked him cheekily, and he just smiled.

"How about the fact that our daughter is mostly happy and healthy?"

While it annoyed me that we couldn't say she was completely healthy or that she was truly happy, it was nice to be able to celebrate it, especially since it was better than the alternative.

AN: Next weeks chapter is a big one, and you might hate it but you might also love it. I love it and found it easier to write than this one (and ended up writing it before this one, too), but I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it was a bit of a filler.