Hope Floats

Chapter 32:

Hartford

Lorelai is lying in her old bed at her parents place. She had spent the whole afternoon shopping, which had resolved the panic attack she was having earlier. Man, what was she thinking? Not having enough clothes, she had more than enough. O well, now she even had more cute outfits to show off her baby girl.

She had actually enjoyed shopping with her mother. Oh her mom had been annoying, like they she always was, but somehow it was more bantering than just making evil sniping remarks. Her mom wanted to go all out during their shopping spree and in the end it was Lorelai who had to hold her back, realizing quickly that she already had everything she needed.

After they left the mall, the driver told them that the wind was picking up strongly and worse was to be expected the next couple of hours. So she called Luke, who talked her into staying in Hartford.

She had convinced her mom to send all personnel home for the night and order some take-out. After that they watched a movie on the dvd-player she had bought for her mom a while ago. It wasn't the same as with Rory, but it felt nice nevertheless.

During the last 15 minutes of the movie the power went down and the entire house turned dark. Emily quickly collected some candles to light up the room and decided that it was better for them to go to sleep.

So here she is, lying in her old bed, listening to the whistling of the trees and the tree branches hitting the balcony outside. She is feeling totally relaxed, but somehow sleep just isn't coming to her. She smiles. For once in her life, everything seems to be going perfect. She was doing great. The inn was doing great. She had Luke back. She had a precious little baby coming her way. She and Rory were closer than ever and Rory seemed to be really happy. And to top all of this, she finally started to get along with her parents, especially her mother. Well she was going to enjoy this moment, because it probably wouldn't last. Something was bound to happen in the future, so she just had to enjoy it for as long as she could.

Her mind starts to drift away when she suddenly feels a stab of pain in her stomach, making her cry out loud. The pain keeps coming and going and she's lying curled up to make it go away, crying for her mother.

Not much later, Emily burst into her bedchamber carrying a candle.

"Lorelai! What's wrong? Is it the baby? Is it time?" She strokes the hair out of Lorelai's face.

"Mom, it is hurting so much." Lorelai replies between the sobs.

"You wait right here and I'll call for an ambulance. I'll be right back." And she runs out of the room.

Lorelai is left in the dark and starts to panic. This isn't right. Sure it hurt like hell when she started to have contractions with Rory, but this wasn't the same pain, this feels differently. She tries to get up and by the time she is standing next to the bed her mom runs into the room again.

Emily looks at Lorelai and sees that she is loosing blood. "Oh my god, Lorelai, you are loosing blood. Did your water broke already?"

Lorelai looks down and when she sees the blood she really starts to panic. "No mom, it didn't. Why am I bleeding? I don't want to loose this child." And she starts to sob loudly, until she cries out in pain again.

Emily grabs the bathrobe that is lying on the chair and pulls it around Lorelai. "You are not going to loose your baby, do your hear me! Now let's go, let's get you to the hospital. Do you think you can walk downstairs?"

Lorelai nods. "Is the ambulance gonna be here soon?"

"The phone lines are also dead, just like the power. And my cell phone isn't working either. Probably atmospheric disturbance created by the storm. And since we sent all personnel home, I will have to drive you to the hospital myself, but don't worry it is only a ten minute drive away." She grabs the emergency baby bag and puts her shoulder under Lorelai arm.

When they get outside they almost get knocked over by the strong wind. It is also raining cats and dogs and by the time the get to the car they are soaking wet.

Emily puts Lorelai in the backseat of the car, so she can lie down and try to relax. She tries her cell phone again, but there is still no connection. She starts driving but in the end of the street, Lorelai starts to cry out in pain again. She starts calling for Rory and Luke. Emily tries to calm her down. "Rory and Luke will be here as soon as possible, don't you worry. You are going to be all right and the baby is going to be all right."

She keeps on driving, even though she can hardly see a thing, because of the downpour of rain that is falling down. Finally she sees the lights of the hospital doom up in front of her. She drives her car right up to the emergency entrance. When she gets out, she is already surrounded by doctors who help her get Lorelai out of the car and put her on a bed.

They start to roll her inside and Emily runs after them. Somebody is yelling for her to remove the car, but she only replies that the keys are in the ignition. She keeps walking alongside the bed, holding Lorelai's hand. By now Lorelai is burning up with fever and starts to ramble. Suddenly Emily can hear her say "Mommy! Daddy!" and her heart nearly breaks. "Mommy is here, Lorelai. Don't you worry! Mommy is here."

By now they get to the delivery room and the doctor is asking all kind of questions on what happened and when she was supposed to be due. Emily starts to ramble, trying to explain everything and that she wasn't due for another 4 days. The doctor goes inside and tells Emily to wait in the waiting room.

Emily immediately grabs her phone and sees that it is connecting to the network. She calls Rory and tells her what has happened. Then tries to call Luke, first on his cell phone and then on the house phone. But there is no response, the lines are dead. Stars Hollow also must have been hit hard by the storm. Next she tries the hotel, where Richard is staying in New York. She tells the receptionist is an emergency and the receptionist forwards the call to his room. After a couple of rings, she hears his sleepy voice and finally she breaks down and cries.

xxx

Yale, Tristan's appartment

Rory wakes up by a ringing sound. She is still half asleep and cannot figure out where the sound is coming from. She looks around and sees Tristan lying next to her. He is also starting to wake up. Then she sees it is her phone that is making the noise. Immediately she is awake and picks up the phone.

Tristan is now also awake and looking at Rory who is talking on the phone. Her face is getting more concerned by the second. When she closes her phone she walks back to him.

"Is it your mom?"

She nods and starts to hug him. He puts his arms around her and she starts to cry. But it only takes a minute before she gets hold of herself and pulls away.

"We have to go to Hartford Hospital right away. That was grandma, who told me she had brought mom to the hospital after she started having pain cramps and loosing blood. She doesn't know how serious it is. The doctors are with mom right now."

"Okay let's go! But put on something warm first. The weather is really bad out there."

Rory gives him a quick kiss. "You're the best, you know that!"

He gives her an evil grin. "I know, I've been telling you that from the moment I met you."

Rory slaps him on the chest. "And this attitude is why my mom and I keep calling you ET. Now come on let's hurry."

xxx

Emily is sitting in the waiting room. Some nurse had given her something dry to wear. It wasn't till that moment that Emily had noticed that she was only wearing her nightgown and a robe and that she was soaking wet. So she quickly changed her clothes and cleaned up her face.

And now she was sitting here. Waiting. It was already 04:45. She had tried calling Luke the last 90 minutes and finally reached him 10 minutes ago and was now on his way.

"Mrs. Gilmore? You can go in now and see your daughter." A smiling nurse says to her.

Emily immediately gets up and follows the nurse. When she gets to the room, she sees Lorelai lying in bed, holding a beautiful baby girl. The doctor is standing next to the bed.

"Isn't she beautiful mom? And already so big." Lorelai says with a sleepy voice.

"She is absolutely gorgeous, just like her mom!" Emily replies with tears in her eyes. It feels like all the worries are lifted from her shoulders.

"Let's get this little princess checked and ready for bed, because you really need to sleep." The doctor said, while taking the baby. Mrs. Gilmore if you follow me? I'll show you where her bed will be.

"Alright!" She takes Lorelai's hand. "You get some rest now, you hear me? And everybody will be here when you wake up."

Lorelai looks at her mother, still holding her hand. "Thanks mom, for everything!" And then she drifts of to sleep.

Emily follows the doctor. "What exactly happened doctor?" She asks him.

"It was just a way from the body to tell that the baby was already fully grown and getting to big. Normally this comes together with going into labor, only this didn't happen to Lorelai. So when she got here we gave her something to bring on the contractions, so she could still have a natural child birth. And I can tell you that both mother and daughter are perfectly healthy, except for some exhaustion on Lorelai's part. But if everything goes well, they'll be out of here by tomorrow."

"Thank you doctor, that is good to hear!"

xxx

A/N: So what do you think? I just added the storm for the drama. Next chapter will be about the whole family meeting the baby. Please tell me what you think and review.