3 months later—January 7, 2013, early morning
"Rory! Rory, open the door!" Rory stirred from her sleep to the pounding on her door. She stumbled down the hall of her apartment and threw open the door. Meg and Jack tumbled into the apartment in sweatpants, t- shirts, and fleece jackets. They looked like they just rolled out of bed.
"What? What's wrong?" Rory asked urgently, shaking her sister's shoulders.
"Jinx is in labor!" Rory flew into her room when she heard that and flew into a pair of jeans and sweatshirt. She shoved on her sneakers and grabbed her keys and her purse on the way out the door. Luke and Lorelai were waiting in the car when they got outside.
"Where's Jinx?" Rory said, closing the door.
Luke drove slowly and carefully out of the apartment parking lot and down the main street of Stars Hollow, towards the diner.
"Pick up the pace, Lukey."
"We've done this before, Lorelai, you know we have hours before the babies come. A whole lot of waiting."
He jumped out and stuck a sign to the door of the diner, which Rory assumed explained his absence.
"She and Tristan went ahead to the hospital. They were halfway there when they called me a half an hour ago." Lorelai said as Luke jogged back to the car.
"She's almost full term. 6 ½ months isn't bad for a woman carrying 5 babies." Rory said optimistically.
"No, she carried them for a long time. But still..." Lorelai sounded worried but didn't want to worry her younger children. When Rory leaned forward and patted her arm, Lorelai looked into her eyes with a look Rory recognized as fear.
"Did you fix things with her Mom? I never asked." Rory asked suddenly, halfway to the hospital.
"Yes." Lorelai said tensely, preoccupied with thinking about the well-being of her daughter and future grandchildren.
They drove into a parking space near the door and Luke led the way to the lobby.
"Genevieve Dugray, please." Lorelai said upon reaching the counter. The young receptionist typed into the computer for a moment before responding.
"Room 345. Take the elevator to the 3rd floor..." The receptionist trailed off when she realized the group wasn't waiting for her. They ran to the elevator and Rory willed it to go faster as they went to the third floor. Even though they had a lot of waiting ahead of them, Rory would feel better once she knew her sister was ok.
"I could walk faster..." Meg grumbled. Jack jabbed her in the side and she closed her mouth.
The Danes clan quickly found room 345 and their spirits were brightened when they entered to see Jinx throwing ice.
"That's my girl." Lorelai murmured.
"Mom! Daddy! Rory, Meg, Jack!" Jinx called. She immediately hunched in pain.
Meg, Jack, and Luke stood still in horror, but Rory and Lorelai advanced.
"It's just a contraction. Luke you wouldn't think you'd gone through 3 births with me." Lorelai shook her head as she went to the other side of the bed. Rory settled in next to Tristan.
"Mom, I'm scared." Jinx whispered as she held her mother's hand.
"You'll be fine, baby. You're strong and you're going to have 5 healthy babies." Lorelai whispered, brushing hair back from her face.
"I hope so."
Luke paced impatiently and Meg, Jack, and Lorelai fidgeted in their seats. Rory sat on the windowsill and watched raindrops roll down the window. Every once in a while someone would heave a huge sigh. This had been the drill for the past 6 hours since they had been kicked out of Jinx's room.
Suddenly Rory flew from her window seat to the door and everyone looked up to see a haggard looking Tristan standing in the doorway. Rory threw her arms around him and he visibly sunk into her, dropping his head to her shoulder, exhausted. They all immediately crowded him to hear the story.
"She was great. Amazing. You wouldn't have recognized her." He said.
"Is she ok?"
"She's fine. She is resting now, probably sleeping, and the doctors expect she will sleep for a while."
"Tris, what about the babies?" Rory asked hesitantly.
His face clouded over. "I guess we were lucky. All were delivered and we saw them for a few minutes before we...before we lost one."
"Oh god." Luke said. He wrapped his arms around Lorelai and silent tears ran down her cheeks. Rory wrapped her arms around Tristan, her best friend since forever, as he cried in her arms over the loss of his baby. Meg sunk down to the couch and she and Jack held on to each other.
"Does Jinx know?" Luke finally asked.
"Yes." Tristan said, gaining some control. "I knew she would want to know. She is devastated and she feels like it is her fault, but the grief counselors are working with her and she will be ok. She is happy, if you can use that word, that 4 of the babies are ok. They will have to stay here for a while and they only weighed in at about 1 ½ pounds each. Unfortunately, they aren't out of the woods yet." Tristan said.
"What are they?" Jack asked.
"There are 2 girls and 2 boys. We lost a little girl, and Jinx already decided to name her Lorelai Joy..." He took a deep breath, forcing back tears, and went on. "...for the joy she brought us for just a few minutes." Lorelai gasped and buried her face in Luke's shoulder.
Luke rubbed Lorelai's back and spoke to Tristan. "Can we see her? Can we see the babies?"
"The doctor says it would be best to wait to see Jinx until tomorrow. As for the babies, they are in NICU and only I can go in. I'll hold each baby up to the window, though, and you can see them."
"Have you seen them yet?"
"Yeah. They are beautiful. So tiny but so beautiful." He said, smiling like a new daddy.
"Let's go see the babies."
They went down the hall quietly and came up to a window. Looking in, they could see tons of babies in incubators, some malformed babies, others who were very tiny.
"Ok, I'm going in." He disappeared behind a door and a few minutes later he reappeared inside the room in full garb. He wore a mask over his face, a gown, and a cap on his hair. He indicated a row of 4 incubators and they all stared intently at the little bundles, little bundles of hope.
"Steven, they are so beautiful." Rory spoke into her cell phone as she looked through the glass at her 3 week old nieces and nephews. They were out of incubators and were growing at a steady pace. Each now weighed about 4 pounds, except for the runt of the litter who still only weighed in at 3.5.
"I can't wait to see them. Have they named them yet?"
"Yeah, she is finally telling us today. They get to leave tomorrow, and Jinx is so happy to have all her babies at home with her." Rory said.
"That's great. Well, my plane is landing in a few minutes, so I have to go. I'll see you at home?"
"You should come to the hospital. We'll still be here and you can see Jinx and meet the babies. I can't believe they kept you on this business trip for 3 ½ weeks."
"I know, but I'm back now. I'll be there in half an hour. See ya, babe."
"Bye, Steve."
Rory hung up the phone and smiled. She and Steven had been going out for several months and they were still very happy.
"Rory. She's going to tell us now!" Meg said, jogging down the hall. Sure enough, Rory looked into the nursery to see a nurse and Tristan picking up the babies.
"Great. I'm so excited!" Rory said. Meg and Rory hurried down the hall to the waiting room.
"Jinxie, sweetie, tell tell!" Lorelai was saying urgently.
"No, Mom, not until everyone is here and the babies are here." Jinx laughed.
Just then the babies arrive with Tristan and the nurse and were set in the 4 baby carriers next to Jinx.
"Ok." Jinx said, standing from the sofa. She went to the first carrier. "This will be Wyatt Lucas Dugray." Murmurs of approval were heard throughout the room. She removed the blue blanket to reveal a blue sleeper with 'Wyatt' embroidered on it. She put him back in the carrier and continued down the line, on to the green clad baby. "This is Nicholas Gilmore Dugray...Caroline Danes Dugray... and Jordan Meghan Dugray, our runt." She removed the blanket for each girl and revealed Caroline in pink and Jordie in yellow.
Rory clapped in excitement and Jinx smiled. "We tried to pull out the family names. Lucas, Gilmore, Danes, Meghan, and Lorelai. Everyone is in there somewhere." Everyone laughed.
"So do they have nicknames?" Meg asked.
"Yes, the ones on their sleepers. Nicky in green and Jordie in yellow. Caroline and Wyatt don't have instant nicknames but we'll come up with something."
"Wy." Tristan said.
"Why? Because I love the name, I told you Tristan. You loved it too." Jinx said.
"No I mean Wy can be his nickname." Tristan said with a laugh. "I'm just lucky I liked the names she picked." Jinx slapped his arm and gave a smirk.
Rory laughed. "I love them too, Jinx."
"Good. Now, Rory, Megs, Jack….would you guys like to be the godparents of some of our little ones?"
"Oh Jinx! We'd love to!" Meg said, excitedly looking from her brother to her sister.
"Awesome. Meg and Jack, you'll have Jordie and Wyatt. Ror, you will have Nicky and Caroline. And we were hoping….do you think Steven would like to be the godfather?"
"Oh Jinxie, I think he'd love it." Rory said with a smile. "He's stopping by, you can ask him."
"Oh, good."
"So our runts are in yellow and blue?" Meg said with a smile.
"Yup. Good thing for us is they aren't identical...in fact, two are blondies and two are brunettes. Coincidentally, Rory's are the dark haired bunch and Meg and Jack's are the blondes." Jinx informed the family. They buzzed around, trading babies.
"Oh, Jinx, they all have blue eyes just like you and Tristan." Rory exclaimed. Each baby had big blue eyes staring up at them.
"Knock knock knock, anyone home?" Heads swiveled to the door and Steven stood there with a dozen roses. Rory ran to him and they kissed.
"Ok, no PDAs when you're holding my child!" Jinx called.
They broke apart and Rory blushed, hugging Caroline to her. Steven strode over to Jinx and kissed her cheek. She hugged his neck and he gave her the roses.
"Did I miss the naming?"
"Yeah, but we have a surprise for you." Jinx said, moving to Tristan's side.
"Oh, what's that?" Steven said, putting his arm over Rory's shoulders.
"Steve, will you be the godfather of two of our children?" Tristan said.
Steve looked shocked. He looked for Tristan to Jinx to Rory and back again. "Are you sure?"
"Definitely. It'll be you and Rory and Meg and Jack."
"Of course I will! Which ones do I get?" He asked excitedly.
Everyone chuckled as Rory held up the pink clad baby she was holding. "This is Caroline Danes Dugray. Nicholas Gilmore Dugray is in green, and he's our other little one." Luke stepped forward with the baby and Steve cupped his cheek. "Jack and Meg have my other beautiful niece and nephew, Wyatt Lucas and Jordan Meghan Dugray."
"Wow...lots of names. Let's see if I can get this. Wyatt, Nicholas, Caroline, and Jordan."
"Good job. I think I can even identify them by color." Lorelai said with a laugh.
"It'll be a challenge." Jinx said uncertainly, reaching for the closest baby, Caroline. "I'll need a lot of babysitters. Tristan and I can't do this on our own."
"Don't worry, kid. I've got godchildren now so I think I'll have to stay in town more often." Steven said, slinging an arm around Jinx and Caroline.
Rory folded her arms. "I guess a girlfriend wasn't enough."
"Oh babe, you know you've got me." He said with a smile. Rory defiantly began to walk away. He grabbed her around the waist and swung her around to face him. He kissed her nose and she smiled, so glad to have her boyfriend back.
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