AN: Thank you for the reviews!


Chapter 4

Rory hadn't taken the shortcut from Chilton to Stars Hollow in years, and the fact that the 3 mile stretch of gravel road connecting to main highways, where she'd once gotten hit by a deer, now had been paved came as a positive surprise. Rory's nausea had been near constant that day, but thankfully not quite bad enough to lead to anything worse than that, but every roundabout or a curve that she'd taken a little too fast was putting her dangerously close to it, and she really didn't want to throw up while driving.

It wasn't much longer, perhaps 20 minutes or so, until she reached the familiar streets of Stars Hollow, turning soon enough to Maple street. To her surprise, Lorelai's old Jeep was nowhere in sight, neither was Luke's truck, instead there stood an utterly indistinct white Honda SUV. Rory eyed at it sceptically, pondering if one of the neighbours had a visitor who'd parked wrong or whether there was someone visiting, but still the placement seemed odd.

She took a deep breath, readying herself to face Lorelai. They called perhaps once every one or two weeks these days, mostly talking about Finny or their plans in general, either one coming for a visit or simply giving a quick update on how Rory was doing in school or what was going on in Stars Hollow or the Inn, but they rarely discussed much more than that. Rory had spent time alone with Lorelai only a handful of times in the past years and then usually having the convenience of having Finny nearby which meant his caretaking provided a convenient excuse from awkward silence or small-talk. This time, coming alone to Stars Hollow just for one night, she was short of excuses to stay anywhere else, and she just needed to survive the night, hoping that they'd just co-exsist.

"Mom!?" she called out as she stepped in and hung up her coat.

"In the kitchen," Lorelai called out, while making coffee.

"Hey, what's the deal with the Honda?" Rory said casually, as she carried her small suitcase to the kitchen aiming to take it to her old bedroom.

"The Jeep died. It's parts are antiques so I finally...," she explained, Rory's next question cutting her explanation short.

"You redecorate or something?" Rory asked, as she placed her suitcase on to the bed, that seemed to be the only thing left of her old furniture. All excess furniture, which used to hold her books, was removed, some items replaced with more modern pieces, textiles changed to blue-grey striped ones. If she didn't know any better, the room almost looked like a boy's room.

"Yeah, about that... I meant to tell you once you got here," Lorelai said apologetically.

"Well I'm here. Tell me what?" Rory inquired, observing her mother carefully. Were they selling the place? Renting out the room?

"Coffee?" Lorelai asked, clearly stalling a little.

"Nah, I'm fine," Rory said as she stood at the bedroom doorway, hands placed defensively across her waist. First the Honda, now this?

Lorelai made a surprised face at her reply regarding coffee, unsure whether she was refusing it because of the context or for other reasons. She didn't want to spend the short time she had with her fighting.

"At least sit, please," Lorelai insisted.

"Fine," she replied and took a seat at the kitchen table.

"You know how Luke and I have thought about potentially having another kid for years now. And we've come to the conclusion that we're just too old to have one of our own, even with a surrogate. But we've decided to become foster parents," Lorelai exhaled, carefully observing her expression.

"Wow, like… wow, that's huge! I just can't believe I'm hearing about this just now, but I guess that's great news," Rory stuttered, unsure what else to say. This couldn't have been something they just thought of and decided to renovate her room, these things had a process so surely Lorelai had plenty of time and opportunity to tell her if she really had wanted to. And deep inside she was a little hurt that she hadn't. But knowing how distant she'd been herself, in a way she did understand, having not exactly given her a lot of opportunities on a silver platter either.

"Well we went through the process a while ago, beginning of last year and we weren't really even sure if we'd ever be asked to take in a child, so I really didn't know there was much to tell," she explained.

"And now there is…," Rory concluded.

"There's this boy, 8 years old. He's from a rough background, mother has a drug problem, and we were just suggested to take him in just a week ago. We only just finished the room a few days ago," Lorelai explained.

"Wow, so this is real? You're getting a kid," Rory reflected.

"Yeah," Lorelai replied, feeling slightly emotional at the thought but smiled through it. "His name is Leo and he's coming on Monday," she added.

"Well, for what it's worth - I'm happy for you," Rory replied after a moment of silence, letting the news sink in. This wasn't quite adoption but it was almost like she was getting a brother.

"Thanks, hon," Lorelai sighed, reaching out for her hand across the table to squeeze it thankfully. "You're not mad I didn't tell you sooner?" she asked hesitantly, clearly feeling a little bad about that herself.

"I wish you had but no, I'm not mad," Rory replied, forgivingly.

"Are you sure about that coffee?" Lorelai asked again, wanting to go and pour herself a cup, a moment later.

In the midst of all this honesty Rory really felt bad for hiding her own reasons from her, but it was the sudden feeling of the sandwich she'd had in the Chilton cafeteria coming back up that made her rush towards the bathroom, that pretty much canceled all of her effort to bother hiding anything.

Rory was just washing her face, trying to gather herself, as Lorelai asked from the doorway, "so I guess there's a reason for your coffee reluctance?" Lorelai had sensed something different about her, her choice of comfortable but still formal clothing, and her skin that seemed paler than usual - the nausea only confirming her suspicions.

"It's early, but yeah," Rory sighed, returning to the kitchen and started going through the cabinets in search of some saltines.

"Wow, I guess we both have big news," Lorelai replied.

"Your's might be more urgent, but I have double the news," Rory noted with a deep sigh.

"No way!?" she exclaimed, sounding more excited about it than Rory.

"Yep, I'll have to start taking lessons from Lane pretty soon," she commented.

"Oh, kiddo," she sighed, wrapping her arms around her daughter for a hug.

The hug woke something in Rory as well, having not really hugged her mother since Finny's birth, and she had to admit, she too had missed this closeness. Maybe this was the way forward - neither of them having the full focus on their relationship but instead finding challenges in their separate lives, meeting in the middle just on occasion to reconnect?

"So...New York Minute, The Parent Trap and Room For One More?" Lorelai asked, thinking quickly, picking up her phone to start ordering take out.

"Sure, but get some ginger ale for me," Rory replied, continuing to observe her mother, while biting onto a piece of saltine - her mother was getting another kid.


"So, Noah. It's been a while. How have you been?" Logan asked friendlily, as he met up with Noah for lunch in a Italian restaurant in Dumbo, not wanting to steal him away from his work day for too long.

The weather was gastly outside, the rain, or rather rain turning into ice as it hit the ground, turning the streets into a real life ice rink as they spoke, and Noah had just taken off his coat and was wiping raindrops off his rimless glasses, which he didn't always wear.

"It sure has. I've been well, can't complain," Noah replied without much thought, adding, "Truncheon is a pretty good match for me and I am grateful that you recommended me," he added, placing his glasses back on his nose, beginning to peruse his menu.

Noah Hart was about the same age as Logan, but a good five inches taller than him, his build somewhat leaner and his face Frankish with a hint of resemblance to Aleksander Skärgård, his blonde hair cut high and tight.

"I had a feeling it might be," Logan replied smugly, taking a sip of water while they waited for the waiter to take their order. "Are you happy about the move, you're not missing Germany?" he asked casually.

"I guess what I did there was slightly more diverse, more responsibility. But what can you expect coming to this country with no prior work experience locally?" Noah replied, with a shrug.

"Getting itchy feet?" Logan asked, just as the waitress came to take their order.

"What can I offer you today, gentlemen?" the clearly attractive looking young woman asked, with a hint of flirt in her tone.

"Day's special for me," Logan replied swiftly, knowing that the place in question used only the freshest produce for specials, making them the best bet.

"I'll take the arugula ravioli and a coke," Noah requested.

"Is that all?" she asked.

Logan nodded in response and the waitress headed off.

"You were asking if I was planning to leave Truncheon, right?" Noah reflected Logan's last question, as if actually wanting to answer it.

"I was," Logan replied.

"Well, as I said, it's not terribly exciting right now, so I'm not going to lie - I'm open for suggestions if you got any. But I have to admit that I did just recently pitch an idea to Jess that might prove interesting. I guess it's now just the question if he trusts me to do it," Noah explained, surprising Logan with the fairly good description of the situation he'd also heard from Jess.

"Well, I have to say - I didn't come here with a concrete job offer or anything, but I do think you are a valuable asset to HPG in general and I just wanted to check in, make sure that you would talk to me before fleeing to a competing company if you were considering it," Logan explained. Logan knew that his contract was ending in a few months anyways, so meeting him for this very purpose actually did seem very plausible.

"Thank you for that, I really do appreciate you saying that," Noah replied, glancing briefly out into the icy street.

"But when you mention trust… Do you mind me asking, what's going on with you and Jess? Are you having problems with him? " Logan asked, sounding concerned while playing oblivious.

"Oh, I thought you knew," he replied surprisedly, taking a deep breath.

"Know what?" Logan asked.

"I just said something stupid once and now he thinks I'm a threath to his wife, or well you're ex-wife to be more exact," Noah explained.

So he had placed the faces together correctly.

"You're going to have to clarify this a bit, I'm not sure I'm following," Logan insisted, pulling his best poker-face.

"Oh come on, Logan - I'm not blind. I'm probably breaking my NDA as we speak but Celeste and Odette are clearly the same person. And I know that's most likely the very reason for the NDA on my contract, and I know there's some hush-hush background to this that I'm not supposed to know. And I am not asking. But the only reason I noticed this is that I used to take a summer school programme with Odette in London during my BA studies. It was a really long time ago. I had the biggest crush on her, but she hardly noticed me," Noah explained. "No wonder, I was this geeky skinny fellow back then," he added with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood nervously. "And I swear for a moment there I just wondered if she remembered me, so I mentioned to her that I recognized her, but that's all I meant by it. I'm not after exposing her or anything like that, I swear," Noah tried to assure Logan.

Logan observed him carefully, taking another sip of water. "Well, if all that were true, I would certainly not be the one to confirm it. But surely you can see why something like this might make Jess nervous if that were the case," Logan replied, beginning to feel a little ridiculous for the glomar response he had to give.

Noah actually sounded sincere, and scattered red blotches on his neck and cheeks showing that clearly he was also a little embarrassed by the whole ordeal. Logan could even see why he wasn't eager to tell Jess the whole story - unsure himself which was worse from Jess' perspective - having someone potentially carrying scandalous information or having had an interest in his wife romantically. Logan himself knew exactly how things like that made a man feel, having gone through something fairly similar when he'd found out Jess had still been in touch with Rory, Rory even having gotten the idea to write the book in the first place from Jess.

"I do. I just stepped on a fucking landmine by telling her about it, and now Jess doesn't trust me. If I could take it back, I would," Noah replied. He could've been a very good liar, but the story seemed just too innocent and plausible, fairly easily to be checked up on - hence he did believe him.

The next moment the waiter brought their food to the table, Logan beginning to sprinkle some parmesan onto his Laganari.

"Alright," Logan sighed, finishing that conversation. There was no point dwelling on it any longer - he'd heard what he needed to hear. They continued to eat for a few minutes.

"Hey, you don't happen to know what Uwe Schneider is up to these days? I heard he quit at the end of last year," Logan continued with other topics of interest, feeling almost like back in a Hamburg Biergarten with him talking business with a side of 'life' like they had years ago.


"Oh, she's a little shy," Celeste apologized as Evie hid behind April, who she was a lot more accustomed to than Luke and Lorelai, who'd just stepped through the front door, a large gift bag at hand.

"Hey dad, Lorelai!" April waved her hand at the arrivals, continuing to show Evie what sounds the wooden xylophone made.

"Hey, April, and Evie! Luke noted, Lorelai adding her greetings as well.

"Jess is upstairs with Logan, but he'll be down shortly," Celeste added apologetically, pondering what Logan was saying to Jess being pretty sure that the conversation involved her secret. She hated when men just went to talk business like that - not involving her when it concerned her.

The guests took the hint to take off their shoes, seeing a line of boots in the foyer, their living room and dining room having been turned into a no-shoes zone due to the floor being set up of toddlers with toys everywhere and play blankets laid down for them.

Rory sat on the floor at the far end of the room currently making car sounds to Finny who was exploring a soft-toned street carpet with a little wooden car.

"Wow, she's grown so much," Lorelai exclaimed, "and boy, Finny too," she added, not having seen Evie since Rory's birthday and Finny since Christmas in Nantucket.

"Tell me about it," Celeste noted. "Sometimes it all seems like one really long day but then I look at some older pictures and 'puff' she seems bigger again," she added casually.

"Help yourself to snacks, we made it buffet style, as people won't all be eating at the same time anyways with these little ones around," April added, feeling quite at home.

Lorelai headed to the couch to sit to make acquaintance with Evie who was still a little hesitant towards her, which she found adorable, while Luke, feeling rather hungry, went to grab some food.

"So April, how's school?" Luke asked. April had only really come to stay with Jess and Celeste for six months or so until she did her internship at IBM, but the internship had at least made her realize what she wanted to study. And as the understanding was mutual - April helped out Celeste with Evie a lot, and they had the space that she could stay - there really wasn't much real reason for her to move.

"Tanden is pretty cool, definitely different than MIT, but it's more hands on, you know," she replied cheerily. She'd taken a polytechnical approach instead of classical academics, and was quite happy with her choice after the first semester. "We'll soon get to work on artificial organs and everything," she added excitedly.

"Wow, that's cool," Luke noted, feeling relieved to see his daughter happy. While she had her scholarships and worked as a waitress for her daily expenses, he was still paying for part of her studies. But the fact that she looked happy, was what mattered to him.

"This avocado salad is really good," April gestured towards the largest bowl on the table.

"I love the food here, every time I come it's like I'm too full but it's only stuff that's actually good for you," Luke added, Celeste hearing him.

"Thanks, Luke," she replied, brushing her hair behind her ears, before getting herself a chicken skewer. Her hair was almost back to normal, having just recently dyed her hair in balayage style to not draw too much attention to the auburn color at the ends which she had regretted, the rest being almost like her natural blonde but a tone darker. When not considering the large scar on her stomach, pregnancy had been easy on her and she'd shed the baby weight quickly as soon as she was okayed to exercise again, her choices in dresses still making Jess glance after her.

It was then Logan and Jess returned downstairs, Jess hoisting Evie high along with her giggles as she wobbled towards him.

"Hey, guys!" the two greeted almost in unison.

Finny made a beeline to Logan, dragging him by his finger to come and take a look at the street play that he had discovered. Strangely enough today with a lot of people around Evie hardly wanted to play with Finny like they usually did.

"Shall we open the presents?" Jess asked.

"Liz is not coming?" Luke asked, having hoped to tell everybody about Leo.

"We're going to them next weekend, Doula had a Lacrosse match in Boston this weekend," Jess explained.

"Oh, right," Luke commented, an ounce of dissapointment in his tone.

"Here, open our present first," Rory suggested, gesturing towards the wall, where their tote stood, while she herself got up from the floor, Finny being a little reluctant to let her to leave.

"Let's go give Evie her present," Rory said to Finny, picking her up onto her hip. The toddler in question was getting really heavy, always having a healthy appetite, already weighing 28 pounds.

"Present!" Finny exclaimed, trying to grab the present for himself.

"You already had your birthday, you have your presents at home," Logan, who was standing next to them, told him.

"Look Evie, what is this?" Jess exclaimed demonstratively, placing her back on the floor and sat next to her, legs crossed, allowing the 1 year old to look through the bag herself.

Evie found a jumbo caterpillar plush toy extending over 4 ft, with different material and texture at each part of its body.

"Wow, amazing! Thanks you guys," Celeste said, as she observed her toddler in awe, who's eyes were lit up by the present.

"Our's is in the foyer," Luke added.

"You're supposed to put it up in the kitchen or somewhere where you are near but need to do something else while she keeps herself occupied," Lorelai explained.

"This is great, thanks," Jess replied, lifting the large hand made busy board out of the bag. It was clear Luke had made it himself.

"Don't worry, we had Kirk test it, everything that's on there is safe," Lorelia added smilingly.

"Look, Evie, you can try out all these buttons later," Jess exclaimed, placing the board against the wall.

"Now mine!" April said, handing over a smaller tote form by the couch. "This is a princess starter kit. I've noticed how she loves all things shiny, so here," she added.

The bag contained a frilly pink glittery skirt and a dull-ended magic wand with feathers on it and a little plastic crown.

"You want to try it on?" Celeste asked Evie, getting a nod in return along with an excited giggle. She quickly exchanged Evie's skirt with the frilly one and place the crown on her head.

"Can someone take a picture of us?" she asked.

"Sure," Lorelai replied, taking out her phone.

People continued to eat and talk while the kids shared the new toys friendly, Evie's new wooden walker-pram with a baby doll already prominently displayed which Celeste had gotten her on behalf of her and Jess.

"Listen, guys, I don't want to draw your attention away from the special birthday girl, but Lorelai and I have some news which can't really wait. And as here we have already Jess and April in the same room, I figured you'd understand.

"Sure, what's up, Luke?" Jess encouraged.

"We've decided to become foster parents," Luke sighed. "And everything just happened really fast and we're getting a little boy, Leo, 8 years old, who's coming to stay with us starting Monday. I just hope that all of you are okay with it, and don't hold hard feelings for us not telling you sooner - we just didn't imagine it would happen so suddenly," Luke explained.

"Wow, cool!" April commented.

"That's great," Jess added, patting Luke on the back.

"It's wonderful!" Celeste replied, hugging Lorelai. She could see that Rory and Logan weren't too surprised, assuming that they knew, but surely that was only logical.

"He's definitely welcome at all of our family events," Jess added, trying to show his supportiveness. In a way he felt like he'd been that foster kid, though not 8 at the time, and while Luke had always not chosen the best methods for raising him, his intentions had been pure and in the end he'd been the father figure to him more than anyone. He was truly happy for him for getting a chance to relive some of what he'd missed.

"Now how about some cake? We have a fruity birthday cake for the kids and who else wants it, and then we have vegan chocolate cake, but I swear you can hardly tell it's vegan," Celeste added, as she headed for the kitchen to get the cake from the fridge and add a birthday candle.