Wow, thanks to everyone who reviewed and a special thanks to JJSoulmatesLL for motivating me to finish this chapter. All my reviewers motivate me but I've been so busy I forgot to finish this chapter and JJSoulmatesLL reminded me. I really want to respond to all of my reviews but I don't want to keep you guys from reading the chapter so I'm putting them at the end.
SATURDAY
"Mom, we have to get to the diner" Rory said.
"Sweetie, call Luke and tell him Izzy and Emma are sick" Lorelai called down.
"What?" Rory said heading up the stairs.
She immediately heard Izzy screaming at the top of her lungs. When she walked into the nursery Emma was also crying.
"What's wrong with them?" Rory asked.
"Well Izzy's tugging at her ear so it's probably an ear infection" Lorelai said. "And Emma's had a runny nose the last few days and now she has a cough"
Rory picked up Emma and started to rock her.
"I know it hurts baby" Lorelai said to Izzy. "We're going to take you to the doctors and make it all feel better"
Lorelai looked at Rory.
"She's clinging to me for dear life" Lorelai said.
Izzy continued to scream.
"Mom, Emma's really warm" Rory said.
Lorelai shifted Izzy to her hip and felt Emma's forehead.
"Call Luke on your cell phone, I'm calling the doctor" Lorelai said.
Rory nodded and went to get her cell phone.
"Grab the thermometer too!" Lorelai called after her.
Lorelai waited until Rory came back to call the doctor.
"He's on his way and Jess is staying at the diner in case anyone doesn't get word" Rory said. "They told Miss Patty and she's going to spread the word that the barbeque is off"
"The advantage of living in a small town" Lorelai said. "Can you watch your sisters while I go call the doctor?"
Rory nodded.
"Okay, you're going to have to pry Izzy off of my shoulder" Lorelai said.
Rory set Emma in her crib and took Izzy from her mom.
"Mama!" Izzy screamed.
"Iz, I'll be right back" Lorelai said.
Lorelai hurried downstairs and dialed the doctor's number. A few minutes later Luke rushed into the house.
"I need to talk to Dr. Matthews now" Lorelai said irritated.
She saw Luke and motioned upstairs. He went up there.
"She really says that…okay we'll bring her there" Lorelai said.
Lorelai hurried upstairs.
"The doctor says to bring them down to the Emergency room" Lorelai said. "Especially Emma"
Lorelai started throwing things into the diaper bag and Rory grabbed Emma's carrier and started to load her into it. Luke held Izzy. They all headed to the car. When they arrived at the hospital Lorelai and Luke started filling out forms. After a few minutes a doctor called Emma into a room.
"You go with Emma" Luke said. "I'll stay with Izzy. Rory why don't you go with your mom"
Rory nodded and followed Lorelai into the examining room.
"I'm Dr. Davis" the woman said. "And this is Amelia Danes?"
"Yeah, I thought Dr. Matthews was going to be here?" Lorelai asked.
"She's off duty, you must have been mistaken" the doctor said. "But I'll take just as good care of Amelia"
The doctor took Emma from Lorelai's arms.
"So what's wrong with this little girl?" the doctor asked.
"For the last couple days she had a runny nose. When I called Dr. Matthews she said not to be too concerned but then today she got a cough and started running a fever. Dr. Matthews said since she is a preemie I should take her here"
"Did she get her RSV vaccination?" the doctor asked.
"They gave it to her before she was released" Lorelai said.
The doctor continued to check Emma over.
"Is she around a lot of people?" the doctor asked.
"When we first brought her home that week we kept her away from everyone" Lorelai said. "But then we started work again. Dr. Matthews said if we were very careful we could bring her with us"
"And where do you work?" the doctor asked.
"An inn, but I keep her in the office with me most of the time" Lorelai said. "When she's at my husband's diner she stays in a playpen away from the customers"
The doctor nodded.
"It looks like Amelia just has a little cold" the doctor said. "But with the fever I don't want to take any chances, I want to watch her overnight. When you pick her up do you wash your hands?"
"We make everyone wash their hands" Lorelai said. "Even if they don't pick her up. We've done everything Dr. Matthews has said to do"
Dr. Davis nodded again.
"Preemies tend to be more susceptible to getting sick. Then when they do get sick they tend to have more severe symptoms. Since Amelia was born during winter she got the RSV vaccination which temporarily makes them immune to it. If she's had that immunization it wouldn't be RSV. I checked her for other signs of other illnesses preemies can get and she doesn't seem to show signs of them. That's why I think this is just a cold but because she is a preemie and she does have a fever, I want to keep her here" Dr. Davis said.
Lorelai nodded.
"I really think that even after the cold is gone she shouldn't be taken to your jobs" Dr. Davis said. "Its preemie cold season and it's just too much of a risk to bring her out. You can discuss it with Dr. Matthews, but in my opinion that's what you should do"
"We did discuss it and she said if we kept her away from people she'd be fine" Lorelai said.
"Like I said, it's just my opinion" Dr. Davis said. "Lots of doctors have lots of different opinions. Now I have to go, but a nurse will be in here to give you some papers and show you where Amelia will be put"
The doctor walked out of the room.
"So what are you going to do?" Rory asked.
"I don't know" Lorelai said. "I guess I'll take time off of work, if that's what will keep Emma safe"
"Do you want me to go tell Luke?" Rory asked. "About Emma being admitted to the hospital"
"If you can find him" Lorelai said. "We didn't exactly say where to meet back up"
"I'll go check the waiting room" Rory said.
Lorelai nodded.
"She'll be okay Mom" Rory said.
"I know" Lorelai said.
She smiled to let Rory know she was fine. Rory went out into the waiting room. She saw Luke waiting with Izzy still crying.
"Dad" Rory said. "How's Izzy?"
"Double ear infection and a cold" Luke said. "Where's your mom?"
"With Emma" Rory said. "They're admitting her because of the fever but they are pretty sure it's just a cold"
"They're admitting her?" Luke asked concerned.
"They just want to monitor her" Rory said.
"Mama!" Izzy shouted.
"Okay, wait here with Izzy, I'm going to trade places with your mom" Luke said.
Rory told him what room they were in and Luke headed to it. When he got in there, Emma was crying.
"Rory said they're admitting her" Luke said.
"Yeah, what'd they say about Izzy?" Lorelai asked.
"Double ear infection and a cold" Luke said. "She hasn't stopped screaming since we got here"
Lorelai sighed.
"I'll take Emma, you go home with Izzy and Rory" Luke said. "In the morning we can trade places"
"Are you sure?" Lorelai asked.
"Izzy wants her mom" Luke said. "Emma doesn't care who stays with her"
"I guess you're right" Lorelai said. "They don't think anything is seriously wrong with her so it should be okay"
Luke nodded. Lorelai handed Emma to Luke and got up.
"Rory's with Izzy in the waiting room" Luke said. "You better go rescue her. The doctor also gave me some medicine for the pain from the ear infections. For the cold he suggests Tylenol or whatever cold medicine we usually give them"
"Okay" Lorelai said.
She quickly kissed Luke and went into the waiting room. When she got there Rory immediately handed Izzy to her.
"She kept crying and I had no idea what to do with her" Rory said panicked. "I know I told Luke I was fine with being left with her…but never do it again"
Lorelai almost laughed at how panicked her daughter was acting.
"Rory its fine" Lorelai said. "She's going to cry no matter what"
"Well, crying children make me panic" Rory said.
"I figured that out when you ran away from your doll when it started to cry, you were three" Lorelai said.
"Its cry sounded like a monster roaring, Mia was afraid of it" Rory said.
"Yeah, yeah" Lorelai said. "Let's go home"
"Will Luke and Emma be okay?" Rory asked.
"They'll be fine" Lorelai said. "But Izzy needs a prescription picked up so we better leave"
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LATER ON AT HOME
Izzy had calmed down a little as Lorelai rocked her in a rocking chair. Rory was in her room doing homework. Izzy fell asleep and Lorelai found herself dozing off.
"Mom, phone" Rory said, waking Lorelai up. "It's grandma"
Lorelai stood up and put Izzy in her crib. She took the phone from Rory.
"Hello" Lorelai said, sounding a little tired.
"Why didn't you tell me Emma was in the hospital?" Emily demanded. "I had to find out from Suzie, whose sister told her that she had admitted Emma"
"I'm sorry" Lorelai said. "Izzy's sick too and I was taking care of her so I haven't had time to call you. Besides, they're only admitting Emma as a precaution"
"So you left her there all alone?" Emily asked.
"No, Luke's with her" Lorelai said.
"You sound tired, why are you tired?" Emily asked.
"Emma didn't sleep last night" Lorelai said. "Then when I was rocking Izzy to sleep I dozed off too"
"If need sleep you should ask someone to care for Izzy" Emily said.
"I don't need help" Lorelai said. "Well not right now, I would appreciate if someone could come stay with Izzy and Rory when I go to the hospital to pick up Luke and Izzy tomorrow"
"Well your father and I aren't doing anything tomorrow" Emily said. "We could come over"
"That would be great mom" Lorelai said. "I'm leaving for the hospital at ten so if you could be here at nine-thirty that would be great"
"We'll see you at nine-thirty then" Emily said. "Good bye, Lorelai, and get some sleep"
"I will" Lorelai said. "Bye Mom"
Okay, not much to say except review. All people who reviewed my last chapter, look further down for my replies.
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REPLIES
Amythestpony: Wow, sorry I didn't update soon. I was so busy. Thanks for not following through and stalking me though. Or at least I don't think you were stalking me, just kidding. Hope this update made up for the long wait.
CripticWolf: I try to write as much bickering as I can into my story. That's always been my favorite thing between Lorelai and Luke and it seems like the only thing they do in the new episodes is fight. This chapter was kind of serious but I hope I'll be able to write some more happy chapters soon.
J.Stone: Thanks so much for all your reviews, they always make me feel so better about my writing. I always look forward to them.
ProFfeSseR: You don't think I'd let Luke miss his chance at having a son. Although there's always the possibility of another girl.
LukelovesLorelai: Again, you scare me to no end.
ToxicDuck77: Congratulations on reaching a whole new level of creepy.
JJSoulmatesLL: Wow, it always amazes me when someone tells me they read my whole story. Thanks for taking the time to read through all of it.