Chapter Thirty - Sisterhood

When Rory heard her name being yelled, she stopped and turned to see her best fried behind her. It had been longer than she wanted to admit since she had last seen Lane. She had said that it would be nice to have done the pregnancies together and then so many other things had happened. She looked at the woman she felt a sisterhood with apologetically. "Lane," she laughed before Lane ran up and hugged her. She held her back and then paled as she saw Luke watching them. She gave a smile and a wave but Luke only nodded in return and went back to the diner.

"It has been too long!" Lane said with so much energy in her. "How are you? How is this little girl…or guy…do you know?" she asked and Rory shook her head. She looked at Lane's stomach and then her eyes returned to her face.

"How are you?" she asked and Lane laughed at that. Rory was only realizing just now how little her fears of the child attending the right childcare and going to the right clubs were to her now that she had her best friend at her side. She and Lane had never gone to things that were VIP only but they had made up their own games and had their own clubs which every now and again, Lorelei would try to join and they would usually let her.

"We're doing well, the three of us," she said and Rory nodded. "I think that Zack has been…he was a little nervous when I first told him that I was expecting twins but I don't really know what goes on in his head sometimes. I would ask Brian but I doubt that he knows either."

"He was nervous about the babies?" Rory asked as she imagined how Zack would be taking this. The two of them were young and were starving artists, it wasn't as if the Kim's furniture store made that much money and Mrs. Kim was very prudent as well. It wasn't like Logan who knew that he could most likely click his fingers and get anything that the baby might need.

"When he thought that they were conjoined, yes." Lane commented and Rory nodded and grinned to her about that. "See, that's what you like in a band member, that stick it to authority, off the beaten path, new way of thinking spirit but it's not the most comforting of a new father. I think that he's trying to do the best he can and when my mother said that she wanted to be a help to us."

"You told Mrs. Kim?" Rory asked and saw Lane sigh dramatically and she knew that there was more going on for them than for her and Logan. She had been able to experience living in a family house, returning to her classes with her father's help, having friends around, having her future sister-in-law, and having help from doctors and vitamins and supplements. She had a lot of wealth behind her but that wasn't the experience that Lane had had.

"She's decided to live with us," Lane replied and Rory could see the panic in her expression. "It'd be like your mother wanting to live with you, well not your mother but -"

"I get the idea," Rory said before looking at her own belly. They had said that the baby would be fine and that they were only one baby and it would be very unlikely if a second appeared but she had felt pressure already. Still, the baby would be born into a family with a lot of money and Logan was going to spoil them, she knew that already. As much as Logan may have felt neglected by his dad, that was the love he wanted to shower his kid with.

"It's even worse with maternity clothes when you know you're having twins," Lane said and Rory nodded. Everyone in her life was spoiling her and her grandmother had already sent her a few selections of wardrobes for different months. She didn't actually have to go out and hunt for clothes or make things. Her mother was able to make clothes but it wasn't as if Rory was a seamstress or even needed to be.

"Yeah," she said with a weak smile.

"I mean, are you getting spoiled with people buying you gifts? I'm sure that with Logan as the father with the more people you know, the more people want to show they care and if you've had a baby shower then I -"

Rory froze. This wasn't fair. She had been so involved in her own pregnancy and her own life that she hadn't thought about what it really would have been like if she had had a child with either Dean or Jess. They would probably have a similar life to Zack and Lane apart from the fact that she could take residence in The Dragonfly and wait for the baby to be born.

"Then let's have a party together," she suggested. "A baby shower together since the kids are coming at the same time…or around the same time." She knew that it would have to take a lot of talking to both her grandmother and Shira about it, she couldn't see either of them want to share the day. Lane shook her head and that made Rory feel a little more uncomfortable about how she was climbing a social ladder she wasn't comfortable with.

"It's fine. My mother, Mrs. Kim wants to throw a Mrs. Kim celebration so you're fine, you're off the hook," she laughed and Rory looked back at the diner. Lane was still working wasn't she? As Rory thought about how she had to go to school whilst pregnant and she wanted to write, she didn't actually need to work and earn money to support the child. There were even those in her life who would fully disagree with how Lane was acting whilst carrying a child.

"Lane," Rory whispered, "You'll always be my best friend."

"You'll always be mine too," Lane laughed before stepping back and tucking a strand of Rory's hair behind her ear. She could see that her best friend wasn't coping well but Lane had been without her before. Yes, she had loved being there for her during school and Rory was really the only one who could get into her head and understand her, well Rory and Lorelei but that was before Zack. It didn't seem that things were changing as much to Lane as they were to Rory but as the brunette Yale student cried, Lane felt something pushing them apart.

"We have to make time for playdates, for our kids to get to know one another," she said and Lane smiled.

"Absolutely, but I think that my break might be finishing soon and although Luke's kind enough to let me take a few more moments, I don't want to leave him alone so long. I'd love to spend some time with you or I can come and meet you, we can spend some time at that new house that you got," Lane grinned and Rory nodded.

She wasn't even sure how the setup for Lane was. The couple certainly didn't have the vast amount of money which she and Logan had to play around with. The babies' room most likely hadn't provided the things that the nursery had at hers and Logan's and even though it had been given a makeover she didn't like all of, they had their own space to grow up that was maybe even bigger than the place where Zack and Lane and now Mrs. Kim lived. She had been selfish and self-involved yet again.

"Lane," Rory said as she followed her best friend back to the diner, "If I share something with you, promise not to say anything to anyone, not even my mother?" she asked and Lane stood still, giving Rory a smile that said, 'I hope that as your best friend you can still trust me.' Rory took a look around to see that no one was watching them.

"Logan asked me to become his wife and I said that I would but now he wants to officially ask in front of our families but I'm not sure when," Rory told her and Lane grinned

"Congratulations but you should let Logan know that you don't mind it being simple, he doesn't have to make everything a spectacle with horse drawn carriages and the like. Just something romantic will do. It's the meaning that you put onto the proposal and not only the proposal itself," Lane advised and Rory nodded.

She froze as they got to the door of the diner and looked inside. She didn't want to go inside and things to be awkward. She knew that Luke still had feelings for her mother and her mother still had feelings for him. She also knew how much her mother had always loved her father.

"You don't have to come in if you don't want to," she said and Rory looked at Luke who was watching her as if he were an unsure puppy. Rory hugged Lane and shook her head.

"I don't think that I can do it just yet but thank you for running after me. We need to spend some time together more. I want for my kid to have some quality friends," Rory replied and Lane winked to her.

"Of course, huge compliment by the way," she said and Rory took a couple of steps back as she watched her friend get back to work. This was what a parent should be. A parent should be responsible for their kid and earn money for them and truly want to love their kid. She bowed her head and turned. All this time she had been thinking of the wrong thing.

She had become swept up in society, Logan's society. Maybe it was time for him to know that she didn't want to just leave out her own childhood and that she wanted to bring a bit of Stars Hollow experience to their child, their children. He would understand that need and longing for home, right? He had always supported her before.

Taking out her phone, Rory checked the time and smiled, he might not have gone to bed yet. Well, he most likely wouldn't, he went to sleep late and woke up early. He was a hard worker and that meant that she didn't have to work in a diner or work on anything other than her studies.

I want us to see Lane and Zack when you come back. I think they should have some involvement in our children's lives.

Rory hummed and tapped the phone before seeing a message come back.

Love the idea, Ace!

End of Chapter Thirty

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty Nine

Bseriel, Csimesser1, December Jeffries2, GayleOS, KathyMesser, Rori Potter,