Chapter 216

September 7th, 2017

Rory could feel a nasty sharp sting in her abdomen before she could hear or open her eyes. And truth be told her entire crotch area felt like it was swollen and sort of numb. She'd never felt like that before, but frankly she was just scared to find out. She then felt the reduced heaviness on her abdomen, followed by a duller pain, her body possibly having attempted to move her arm - but she wasn't really moving herself consciously at this point.

"Try to be still, you've got stitches," she heard her mother's voice. It sounded like she was speaking from the end of the tunnel.

Her throat felt hoarse, mouth dry and there was a strange taste in her mouth that she couldn't quite place. Suddenly she remembered what had happened - or glimpses of itat least. More so than the labor itself, she remembered feeling the warm and wet lump of a baby on her chest, making a weak whimper. That had been real, right?

"The baby is fine, Jess' feeding her at the NICU with some donor milk. They'll be down once you're feeling better," Lorelai continued to speak, seeing her daughter half-awake. Rory's eyes were still closed, her lids feeling too heavy, but her eyes were moving underneath them, but she was definitely stirring herself a little. But each time she moved she could feel the ache on her belly, but her brain wasn't quite linking the movement to the ache at that point.

That answer should've satisfied her, but at that point it just didn't make sense. But then again a large chunk of her labor she'd been in a psychosis of some sort. She hadn't yet been given a formal diagnosis because it hadn't gone beyond her words - like her request to have Jess leave the room, her sobbing and incomprehensible babble. One of the midwives had just commented to Lorelai how they hear the strangest things during the final hours of labor and it is nothing new to them, assuring not to worry. But the doctors had advised the family to keep a close eye on her to be on the safe side.

"I need to make a call," Rory mumbled, not making a lot of sense, trying to move her hands again, almost wanting to pull out her IV, but every movement of the muscles hurt her abdomen.

She could feel her mother holding her arms, hushing her.

"A call?" Lorelai asked. "Right now you don't need to make calls, baby. I've already called everyone. Everyone is okay, they'll be over soon," she assured.

"I need to call… I need to call... I need to call Logan," she rambled, sobbingly, the name coming out almost incoherently, but Lorelai had heard it.

"Hush, kid," Lorelai soothed her, thinking she must've still be under her meds, not making sense.

She could feel her mother's hand on her skin, her forehead and arm, soothing her. And it did calm her.

"Listen honey, you've just been through a lot. You have a beautiful little girl upstairs, she'd absolutely the loveliest things in the world and she can't wait to see you again. You have a loving man that looks like he was born to do this when he handles her... You've had surgery, you've lost a lot of blood. You must be hurting… Just try to get some more sleep, baby," Lorelai continued, getting a little emotional herself.

Lorelai stroked hair and occasionally also the bridge of her nose just like she'd done when Rory had been a child. Just like when she'd been a toddler, not thinking she'd ever fall asleep, she dozed off now again at her touch, the brief mumble forever forgotten, and exchanged in the next few days against new memories of a very real live baby girl that filled her heart completely.


August 6th, 2022

Rory had snuggled into Em's bed, next to her daughter, and was stroking her hair, every now and again trailing her skin much like her mother once had. She especially knew Em loved it when she traced her eyebrows and the bridge of her nose, as if making circles around her eyes with a gentle paintbrush. The purchase of an adult sized bed for Em was proving especially useful now that Rory was feeling like she was becoming the size of a whale by the week.

They'd gotten back to Hartford that morning since Rory had her prenatal appointment, having postponed it by a week due to the honeymoon. And since Jess had taken Em by Stars Hollow to see his mom and sister and they'd all ended up at Luke's for dinner upon Em's request, they'd gotten back to Harford no earlier than an hour before bedtime. The girl seemingly hadn't missed her much at all until she'd seen her.

Em had clung to Rory like a monkey, not wanting to leave her side. But for Rory it had been pretty much the same - she'd missed her too, even if the entire Honeymoon had been a bliss.

She'd bathed her, dried her up and combed her hair. She'd read her a bedtime story, despite the girl often reading her own stories these days, and unlike usually had laid down next to her to wait for her to fall asleep, wanting some of that different kind of closeness. Em's hands had rested on her bump, having gotten a feel of the baby too. Rory couldn't be sure, but it had seemed that Em had dozed off just as she'd smiled at one of the kicks, her eyes already closed.

Em was long asleep now, but it was Rory who was unwilling to move for quite a while. It was eventually her bladder that forced her to leave the room.

As she made her way to her bathroom, she realized she'd nearly forgotten Jess was still downstairs, hearing him and Logan talk in a low tone, while they had some talk show on in the background. She'd asked Jess to stick around for a coffee, knowing he had a long drive back still, wanting to check in on how he was doing with that whole Jimmy issue. They'd told Em almost a week ago that Jimmy was sick that he might die if he didn't get better, keeping things simple and age appropriate, and the couple of times Rory had talked to him in the meanwhile she'd gotten the gist that Jess was at least trying to push forward regardless, trying not to let himself be influenced by this too much. But they hadn't really talked.

It was as she began to come down the stairs, she heard Jess and Logan talk. She stopped to listen. It was too tempting not to, curious on what the two most important men in her life had to talk about.

"He actually told me not to run the test," Rory heard Jess confess. Clearly Logan had asked about Jimmy.

"He's tired of fighting?" Logan reflected.

"I guess so, he's not exactly good with expressing himself," Jess replied. "He didn't know Sasha had asked me either, he was pretty pissed at her actually," he added.

"Yeah - either way it's not an easy thing. While mine might have technically been around more, I am not sure I would've been that selfless when it came to him. I'd rather give a kidney to my buddies than him, but then again he probably would've been too proud to accept it even if I had tried," Logan speculated.

"So I guess you don't really have the most exemplary father figure to take after in this?" Jess asked.

"Well, he wasn't all bad. He certainly knew how to push me the right way. Even the drive to prove him wrong was pretty efficient. But I think I've picked up a few things from here and there… and while I don't want to suggest having Em around here is me experimenting on her - with her. But I guess it's been good for me to see what it is like up close. I am no replacement for you, that's for sure. But it has helped me understand how my time is not always my own, how sometimes the kid's needs need to be put first and so forth," Logan discussed.

"I guess that's good. And trust me, your world will never be the same after you have that baby…," Jess explained. Rory could already imagine his body language along with that statement, possibly shaking his head in disbelief.

"I don't doubt that for a second," Logan replied.

"But you need to prepare yourself for other scenarios than the pink bubble as well. There's no telling how her body will handle this - physically or mentally. I am not saying she's not going to handle it, I really hope she can. But there was just a lot of confusion in her head during those first few days. They say it's like 1 in 500… but people don't talk enough about it," Jess explained, having lowered his voice a little.

This was a little much for Rory to hear, being spoken in such a way behind her back. And truthfully, she really didn't like to think about those first days much - it all was a blur in her mind. She liked to not remember too much and at that note she made her way downstairs in an audible manner, jolting Jess and Logan out of their discussion.

"I'm so sorry, Jess. I must've dozed off for a minute and the next thing I know.. It's this late," Rory fibbed, glancing at her watch.

"It's alright, I got my caffeine boost and I think I am ready to go," Jess said, standing up. Rory could see that hint of guilt in his eyes but he tried to pretend innocent at the same time.

"You sure you don't want to talk?" Rory asked, pretending to not have overheard any of it.

"Nah, I'm good. Jimmy's refusing help anyways, so I guess I am off the hook," Jess explained quickly and shrugged.

"Oh, right," Rory commented.

"Alright, you two - take care. I'll see you in two weeks," Jess said, as he grabbed his jacket and stepped towards the door.

"Bye," Rory said, and watched him leave.

It was as she turned, she could tell from the way Logan was looking at her that he clearly had questions. Logan knew also much better than Jess, how well things said on the living room couch carried to the upstairs hallway, leaving Rory under the impression that she probably had heard the last part of their conversation.