Luke POV
I woke as Lorelai crawled out of bed and snuck out of the room, going to wake Rory and put on the coffee. That means I have 10 minutes before we do the first lot of presents. I raised my head and looked at the clock and groaned; it was only ten to six. Normally, Lorelai lasted another half hour.
10 minutes later, I heard the girls coming up the stairs. I heard Rory place two mugs down on my bedside table, crouching down in front of me and whispering, "Dad, it's Christmas."
I opened one eye and found her blue ones looking back at me.
"I know," I told her as Jess stumbled in, having been woken by Lorelai in the same way.
"Do they do that every year?" He asked gruffly, and I nodded.
He groaned, but Rory turned to him with a big smile, "Does that mean you're going to be here next year?"
"It's too early in the morning for that, Ror," I told her, sitting up and crossing my legs. Lorelai came in, armed with Jess' quilt and two mugs handing one to me. The kids sat down on the end of the bed, facing me, with Lorelai covering them up. Rory normally sat between us when we opened our stockings, but there wasn't room to do that with Jess and we had agreed to treat them as equally as possible, so we made an adjustment.
The kids ripped into their stocking while Lorelai and I sat back with our drinks. I found myself watching Jess, the surprise evident on his face when he found multiple presents waiting for him, even though the bulky stocking would have given that away. I knew that his view on Christmas and holidays would have been warped by the way he had grown up, but we had hoped we could show him what Christmas could really look like.
"This was a bad idea!" Rory said, shining the mini torch at me.
"That's supposed to go on your keys," Lorelai said with a laugh, "It's not for midnight reading!"
"Thanks for the idea, Lorelai," Jess said cheekily, holding his own torch in his hand.
They quickly moved onto the next thing and me and Lorelai started in on our own presents. The stocking presents were generally things we needed rather than wanted, or things that were generally helpful, like the mini-torches.
Nothing in my haul shocked me; socks, toothbrushes, batteries, a pack of sweets because why not, pens and a new mini-notepad for work, and many other little bits. And when Rory gasped, I was pulled out of my thoughts and back into reality.
She was holding a little black jewellery box in her hands, and I smiled; I had forgotten about that.
"It's beautiful," She said, and Lorelai smiled at her.
"Turn it over."
Rory furrowed her brow but did so anyway, and she smiled tearfully, "You had the date engraved."
"I know you might not want a reminder of it, but you survived something horrific, something that you can barely talk about. You survived, and that deserves to be remembered."
"I love it," She said, and you could tell that she meant it.
Shortly after that, we made our way downstairs to get started on the main presents. The kids got on the floor to start separating them, and you could just tell that Jess was loving every moment, even though he'd deny it later.
Lorelai ripped into the first present she got her hands on, finding a long-sleeved green dress that I had caught her eyeing a few months back, "Good to know you still pay attention."
"I believe the words you're looking for are 'thank you,'" I responded, opening the present in my lap. When I lifted the lid, I found a blue cap, almost identical to my favourite one that's now falling apart, which I immediately put on, "Thanks, Lorelai."
"Does that mean I can steal your other blue one?" Jess asked and I laughed, having expected Rory to make that comment.
She looked at him in surprise herself, "I guess it's first come, first serve, then."
They started bickering in the way they do, but we knew that it was fun for them more than actual arguing, and I took the opportunity to murmur in Lorelai's ear, "This almost feels right, like our family is close to complete."
She smiled up at me, "Next Christmas, maybe we'll have all three of the kids. And Anna too, if that's what she wants."
The idea of our family being complete was bittersweet; of course, it felt right, but we had lost two babies and it almost felt wrong for this to feel so right.
We arrived at the Gilmore mansion early, ready for the third round of presents. We had skipped the Christmas party last night since we prefer a family thing, which they didn't mind too much as long as they saw us over the Christmas period, which showed how much they were willing to bend for their family, even if they weren't great at showing it.
"Merry Christmas, Grandma," The kids chorused – after a discussion with us, Emily and Richard had told Jess he could refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa if he liked since he had no living grandparents and they were going to treat him as such anyway. He might have grumbled a bit and said to me that it was stupid, but you could tell he liked it; he acted like a tough kid and definitely was at times, but the idea of having a real, stable family appealed to him.
We were let in and taken straight through to the living room, and the kids were told to hand out the gifts. As they did, I noticed that Emily and Richard looked a little sad, almost like they were seeing what could have been.
When Lorelai lost her first fallopian tube, Emily told Lorelai about why she never had any more kids. Apparently, she had two miscarriages before Lorelai and one after, but the third one was ectopic, much like Lorelai's. Back then, they removed everything rather than saving what could be saved, so Emily never had the chance to try again. She then promised that Lorelai was not a failure in any way, shape or form and that Lorelai was not to let anyone make her feel that way. She also promised that Lorelai was not alone.
Richard also told me the story from his perspective and that if I needed to talk, he would listen because he knows what it's like and that no one thinks of the men.
And now, they were looking at two teens who bickered like siblings, and one looked like a mini Lorelai... it reminded them of what could have been.
I opened the present that had been placed in my lap, almost dreading it, to find a watch. It was simple and even though it was likely expensive, it didn't look it. There was a small, handwritten note in the box which made me smile; 'so you can keep your father's watch safe.'
I had mentioned in passing to Richard that I was looking for a new watch. My current one belonged to both my father and grandfather, and it was starting to get old. While I knew I could probably get it fixed, I almost didn't want to. I smiled at it, and he approached me, "My father's watch sits in a box in my desk, tucked away so it's safe but close enough so it feels like he's there. I would be heartbroken if something happened to it, so I thought you'd appreciate this."
"Thank you," Usually, I hated what they got me for Christmas, but when I said those words, I really meant it this time.
Once the kids were in bed, Lorelai and I got into bed ourselves, cuddling up together.
"That was a good Christmas," She said with a smile, "Wish April could have joined us."
I smiled, "Maybe next year."
She was quiet for a moment, "Despite everything that's happened in the last few months, this year has been a good one."
She was right. Rory was getting the education she deserved, I had finally learnt about my daughter and we were raising another teenager. Everything had changed for us, but for the better. I just hoped it would continue to change for the better.
AN: So, this is roughly how my Christmas pans out, so I just went with that instead of anything else. The next chapter will be the last for multiple reasons, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for reading.