"How are you doing kiddo?" Lorelai asked when she walked into Rory's hospital room.
"This is going to take hours." Rory sighed. "I'm only three centimetres dilated."
"I'm sure the nice anaesthetist man will be around soon." Lorelai told her. "Where did Jess go?"
"Bathroom." Rory replied.
"Are you sure you don't want me to call your grandparents?"
"Call them afterwards." Rory told her.
"Are you going to tell me what you're going to call her yet?"
"No, afterwards."
Jess came out the bathroom, just as contraction was over.
"You okay?" Jess asked.
"You're going to be really nice to me when this is over."
"I'm always nice to you."
"After this you'd better be Prince Charming." Rory stated.
"Give it a few hours and she'll be wanting you dead or strung up in some way." Lorelai assured him.
"Do you want to grab it since we have some time?" Rory asked Jess.
"Sure." Jess went to grab something out of her bag.
"What?" Lorelai queried.
"You can help if you like." Rory told her.
"Help with what?"
"Do you remember a while back we were making paper cranes?" Rory asked.
"That was months ago." Lorelai recalled.
"We kept making them when we had time." Rory explained. "We were trying to make the thousand but we're not quite there yet."
"How many did you make?" Lorelai inquired.
"Jess?" Rory prompted.
"918." Jess replied.
"Luke hates hospitals; do you want some more help?" Lorelai suggested.
"That would be good." Rory agreed.
GG
The anaesthetist came a few hours later when the contractions were getting stronger and closer together and gave Rory and epidural, with Rory insisting she would love him forever. He had joked he got that a lot.
"Are you okay sir?" One of the nurse asked Luke as he paced up and down the hallway.
"Just waiting." Luke replied.
"Is your wife having a baby?" She inquired.
"I don't have kids or a wife." Luke stated. "My girlfriend's daughter is having my nephew's daughter and that sounds like some lousy soap opera."
"I've heard worse." She replied. "Do you need anything?"
"I'm not a big fan of hospitals." He paused. "I'll be fine."
GG
Eighteen hours after she had been admitted Rory held her daughter in her arms.
"She's beautiful Rory." Lorelai told her.
"You did great." Jess added.
"Why would anyone do that more than once?" Rory inquired.
"Well if they all end as cute as little one, they may have a good reason. So what are you calling her?" Lorelai inquired.
"Libby." Rory replied.
"That's a cute name. I like it."
"Are you going to tell her what it's short for?" Jess inquired.
"You can."
"It's short for Lorelai Elizabeth. Something about family tradition, don't know who would come up with that." Jess shrugged.
"That's really sweet." Lorelai smiled. "We didn't call Liz."
"Trust me we're all saner because of it."
"Okay let's get you tagged." One of the nurses, she took Jess's arm and attached a hospital ID bracelet to it. Libby and Rory both had matching ones. "We're going to get mom and baby cleaned up, you can both come back in about twenty minutes, I'm sure you have family and friends who want to hear about the new addition."
TBC