The following Sunday, both Lorelai and Luke slept in past 10 AM. Luke shifting in the bed woke Lorelai.
She rolled over and watched Luke get out of bed.
"Morning. What time is it?" She asked.
"Past ten," He answered after he turned to face her.
"Wow. I'm surprised Owen didn't wake us. I guess Rory was up with him."
"Mmm hmm." Luke responded. He started heading over to the bathroom.
"Wait for me." Lorelai called out.
Luke slowly turned at smirked at her.
"I don't recall inviting you to shower with me." He teased.
"I don't recall ever needing an invite."
Luke smiled and pulled her close. They walked into the bathroom together.
Meanwhile, Rory was getting ready to go out on a walk with Owen.
Owen glanced up at her from his stroller and smiled.
Rory smiled back at him then kissed the top of his head.
"We're going to go see Auntie Lane and Uncle Zach."
Owen cooed. He obviously didn't understand what she was saying but he was happy.
Twenty minutes later, Rory arrived at Lane and Zach's house. Zach answered the door.
"Rory! It's so good to see you." Zach held his arms out for a hug.
"Oh." Rory whispered, not expecting it. She gave him a quick hug.
"And Owen. I haven't met him yet." Zach bent down slowly and greeted Owen. "Hey little man,"
Rory followed Zach inside. Lane was in the kitchen making a meal that appeared to be brunch.
"Rory! Get over here!" Lane exclaimed.
Rory giggled a little, happy to see her best friend. They hugged each other.
"Wow, Owen's gotten bigger." Lane had met Owen a few days before Rory woke up.
"Where are the boys?" Rory questioned.
"Oh they're at Mrs. Kim's." Zach said.
"Oh." Rory smiled. She was hoping to see them but it was also good that they weren't here. She didn't know if they had ever been around a baby before and Steve could sometimes be a handful.
"Sit. I'm making brunch." Lane urged.
"I already ate breakfast, but I can totally eat more." Rory took a seat at the table.
Zach sat at the opposite end of the table.
"That's good to hear since I made plenty." Lane set down a plate of food on the table.
"Mmm," Lorelai pulled away from Luke's kiss then finished getting dressed.
"Where are you going?" Luke asked as Lorelai started to head downstairs.
"To check on Owen and Rory,"
"Oh right." Luke was a little surprised. He thought she'd want to go back to bed while he cooked breakfast.
He followed her downstairs and they were surprised to find Owen and Rory gone.
"A note," Lorelai held up the note Rory had left on the fridge. She read the few words. "They're at Lane and Zach's."
"Ah okay." Luke said. He opened the fridge and looked inside. "You want some breakfast?"
"I'll just have cereal… unless you feel like making banana pancakes?" She smiled softly at him.
He couldn't say no to her. "Comin' up,"
She grinned and rubbed his arm affectionately.
While the pancakes were cooking, Lorelai got out another spatula and slowly crept up behind Luke.
When Luke felt a gentle tap on his behind, he muttered: "Don't."
"Aww are you Mr. Grumpy Pants today?" Lorelai pouted.
Luke turned to face her. "Your pancakes will be burned if you distract me."
"Fine, but I want a spatula fight. We haven't had one on ages."
"I forgot you were seven years old." Luke deadpanned.
Lorelai just snorted.
Luke continued making breakfast and by the time he had turned off the stove, Lorelai was sneaking up behind him again.
He could hear her this time and he turned quickly, raising his own spatula in defense. Lorelai tapped his spatula with hers, grinning.
Lorelai aimed for his butt again but Luke blocked himself with his spatula.
"Argh," Lorelai groaned. She tried again but he blocked it again.
Luke rolled his eyes. "You don't want your pancakes to be cold, do you?"
Lorelai laughed. "You're trying to end this spatula fight before it even starts?"
Luke sighed and once again defended himself with his spatula when she tried to hit him again.
Their spatulas kept knocking against each other like swords until Lorelai suddenly stopped.
"Did you hear something?" She whispered.
"No." His brow furrowed. They stood in silence for about twenty seconds.
He let his guard down and Lorelai took advantage of this.
"Ha!" She cried as she gently hit his butt with her spatula.
"What's going on in here?" They heard a booming female voice suddenly behind them.
They turned around to face where the voice had come from and found Emily standing in the hallway. She was giving them a disapproving look.
"Mom… what are you doing here?"
"I came to see Rory and Owen of course. I tried ringing the doorbell, but I think it's broken. You should really get it fixed. I tried the door and it was unlocked so I just came in." Emily answered.
"Oh." Lorelai slowly stepped away from Luke. She realized Emily must have seen her hit Luke and wondered if her mother thought she was immature.
"Where are they?" Emily asked.
"Rory went to Lane and Zach's with Owen. She should be back in an hour or so I think."
"You think?" Emily moved to take a seat at the kitchen table. She glanced around the room, clearly noticing the mess.
"Well I don't know if Rory is planning to go anywhere else, like maybe she wants to do some shopping at Doose's or something." Lorelai shrugged.
Luke put their breakfast on plates and put Lorelai's plate at the place next to Emily and his across from hers.
Lorelai sat down without saying a word and Luke did the same once he prepared a cup of coffee for her and a tea for himself.
"Would you like anything to drink, Emily?" He asked.
"I'm fine, thank you Luke."
Luke took his seat and began to eat. Emily spoke again as soon as Lorelai had taken her first bit of pancake.
"Aren't you worried about Rory being on her own? After recovering from a coma?"
Lorelai finished chewing and swallowed. "She's fine. Lane and Zach will make sure she's well taken care of. And she recovered pretty fast actually, the doctors were a little amazed, remember?"
"I meant when she's walking out and about in the streets, she didn't take her car." Emily said.
"She'll be fine." Luke and Lorelai said at the same time.
"She'll call if anything happens." Lorelai added.
Emily looked unhappy, but she muttered: "All right."
Luke and Lorelai ate in silence as Emily sat there looking around the room.
Lorelai bit her lip. She could tell Emily disapproved of the messy room. Neither she nor Luke had had time to tidy up lately.
"Uh Mom, did you want to wait until Rory and Owen get home or…" She trailed off. She was going to ask Emily if she had anymore plans today. This was an unexpected visit unless Emily had contacted Rory beforehand without Lorelai knowing.
"I'll wait until they get home."
"Okay." Lorelai managed a smile.
"Are you sure you don't want anything to drink or eat?" Luke asked her. "We have some of those bran muffins you like."
"All right. I'll have one if they're still fresh."
"I just got them a couple days ago." Luke said as he stood up. He had already finished eating his breakfast.
He got Emily a muffin, handed it to her and then sat back down. The three of them chatted about the Inn, the diner and Rory.
An hour later, Rory was heading back home when her cell phone rang.
"Hello?" She didn't bother looking at the caller ID.
"Hey kiddo. Just thought I'd check in and see how you're doing." Christopher answered.
"Oh hi Dad. I'm fine, Owen is too." She added although he hadn't asked about his grandson.
"That's good. You looked at little sad when we talked on Skype the other day."
It wasn't actually a couple days ago, it was a week ago but Rory didn't correct him. "I'm okay. Just getting through it day by day. How are you?"
"I'm great. Gigi says hello by the way."
"Okay tell her hello." Rory looked down the street and squinted at something down the street. "I have to go Dad, sorry."
"That's all right take care of yourself kid. Love you"
"Bye." Rory didn't wait for him to say bye or say I love you back before she ended the call.
She walked down the street as fast as she could.
"There she is." Jess Mariano said when he saw Rory.
"Jess!" What are you doing here?" Rory gasped.
"I'm here to see you and meet the kid. I thought you'd take the hint when I'd texted and asked you where you'd be today. I arrived about twenty minutes ago and I've been walking around trying to remember where Lane and Zach lived."
"Ah. Yeah they're in Sookie's and Jackson's old house… not that you'd know where that is." Rory laughed.
"So are you going to introduce me to your son or?"
"Oh! Right. I was just shocked to see you. You took some time off work?"
"Just tomorrow. I head back tomorrow night."
Rory nodded. She bent down and pushed the stroller cover back. "Here's Owen."
Jess bent down and glanced down at the baby. "Cute." He said tonelessly.
Rory smiled gently. She knew Jess wasn't exactly fond of kids.
Rory's cell phone rang again and she excused herself to answer it, not looking at the caller ID again.
"Hey Rory. I thought I'd call to talk and to let you know I can come this Friday night as planned."
"Oh hey Logan. That's good so you're not falling behind on work again?"
Logan chuckled. "No I'm all good on that front. How's our baby?"
Rory felt herself blush and she wondered why. Hearing Logan call Owen her baby was strange, it made her remember the night he was conceived.
"He's good. We're walking back home now."
Owen suddenly started crying and Jess took a step back.
"Am I hearing him crying or…?" Logan stopped.
"Yeah he is. I better go." Rory looked at Jess who had bent down in front of Owen again. She tried to signal at him but he wasn't looking at her.
"Okay. Have a great day. See you soon. Give Owen a kiss for me."
"Yep. Bye." Rory said quickly and then ended the call.
Jess was trying to pick up Owen, but Rory stopped him. "I've got him."
She picked up Owen and immediately noticed that he had a wet diaper.
"We've got to get home… are you coming to see Luke and Mom?"
"Uh… no I'll stop by later. I'm going to drop my bag off at the apartment and have lunch at the diner. You can tell them I'll be by later." Jess replied.
"Oh okay. See you later then."
Jess nodded curtly. "You uh…"
"Huh?" Rory was confused.
"You look good. You've recovered well. I was worried about you." Jess swallowed.
Rory smiled. "Thanks. Yeah I'm feeling pretty good."
Jess nodded again. "I'll see you later." He flashed a smile.
Owen was still crying and Rory shifted him to her other side. "It's okay. We're almost home and then I can change you."
When Rory got home, she was surprised to be greeted by Emily.
"Oh hi Grandma, I forgot you might be visiting today."
Emily managed a smile. Owen had stopped crying but there were dried up tears on his cheeks that Rory hadn't had the chance to wipe.
"Is Owen all right?" Emily took him from Rory without asking.
Lorelai and Luke stepped up behind Emily and Lorelai gave Rory a small apologetic smile.
"He just needs to be changed." Rory told Emily.
"I can do that. There are diapers in the nursery I'm assuming?"
"Yes. Thank you Grandma." Rory accepted the help.
"No need to thank me." Emily said before she walked away from them.
"How are Lane and Zach and the twins?" Luke asked once Emily was out of earshot.
"Oh the boys were with Mrs. Kim and Lane and Zach are good."
Luke and Lorelai smiled. Lorelai helped Rory put the stroller and diaper bag away.
"Jess is in town. He's coming here after lunch." Rory told Luke and Lorelai once they all sat down in the living room.
"Oh really?" I didn't know he had time off work. He didn't tell me." Luke said.
"He only has tomorrow off and he's leaving tomorrow night."
"Ah." Luke nodded.
"He met Owen then?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah," Rory answered.
"That's nice. I guess it's about time he met his… uh first cousin once removed?" Lorelai giggled. It was hard to figure out what exactly Owen was to Jess since he was only Rory's step-cousin.
Rory laughed too.
"It will be good to see him… we haven't seen him since the wedding last year." Luke said.
Rory and Lorelai nodded in agreement. Although Lorelai sometimes joked about her inconsistent relationship with Jess, she cared about him.
"I put Owen down for a nap." Emily announced when she returned downstairs.
"Good, thanks so much Grandma."
Emily waved her hand, dismissing Rory's thanks. She took a seat next to her.
"So you were at your friend's house?"
"Yeah. Lane and Zach. We had brunch."
"That's nice." Emily said sincerely.
Luke excused himself to go clean up the kitchen.
Emily asked Rory how she was feeling.
"I'm fine. It's a little overwhelming getting used to Owen's schedule or trying to put him on one, but I'm managing fine. Mom and Luke help a lot."
Emily managed a smile. "And you know I'm only a phone call away of course?"
"I know." Rory assured.
"And how about Logan, are his visits going okay?"
"Yes. He's a good dad… speaking of dads, Dad called."
"Oh, how is he?" Lorelai asked curiously. She hadn't heard from Christopher in a while.
"He's fine."
Emily didn't seem to bothered by Christopher's lack of involvement with Rory and Owen and the girls were surprised by that.
"I think I'm going to let Logan take Owen to New York for the weekend. I'll go with him to see his place too."
"Oh are you sure you're up for that trip? It's a long drive, hon." Lorelai was concerned.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. Logan wouldn't let anything happen to me."
Lorelai wasn't sure but she didn't want to upset Rory so she nodded in agreement. She knew Logan loved Rory and Owen and he would inform Lorelai and Luke if anything went wrong.
Emily left before Jess came by the house. Jess caught up with Lorelai and Luke. He had called Luke about once a week but it was better to talk in person.
The four of them ate dinner together and Jess stayed a couple more hours before heading back to Luke's old apartment.
Once Jess had left, Rory put one of her and Lorelai's favourite movies on and Luke went upstairs to do some bills and things.
Owen was sleeping on Lorelai's chest and she was watching him instead of the movie. Rory turned and watched her mother and son.
"He's perfect, isn't he?" Rory reached down and gently touched the top of Owen's head. A little bit of blond hair had started to grow.
"Yes. He is the perfect first grandchild." Lorelai kissed Owen's forehead.
Rory continued to watch Owen breathe in and out.
"Do you want to take him upstairs?" Lorelai whispered after a few minutes when she had turned her attention back to the movie.
"No. I want to watch him right here."
Lorelai grinned. "Good because I'm comfortable and so is he. I love watching him sleep. It reminds me of my first few weeks with you when you'd fall asleep on my chest almost every night."
Rory smiled and shuffled closer to Lorelai.
"You were perfect too." Lorelai whispered softly. "All pink and soft," She looked over at Rory.
Rory smiled again.
Lorelai yawned which made Rory yawn too. The three of them ended up staying on the couch for most of the night. Long after the movie had ended, Luke came downstairs and gently took Owen from Lorelai. He settled Owen in his arms without waking him and carried him upstairs. Then he came back and put a big blanket over Lorelai and Rory.
Author's note: Thanks for reading, reviewing and waiting for this chapter. It's sort of a filler chapter, I hope you don't mind. The next chapter will hopefully be out by next weekend at the latest. I put Jess in this chapter because I figured he had to meet Owen and he would be worried about Rory. I don't see anything romantic between them and nothing romantic will happen in this story. I'll always be a Rogan fan
Reviews are always appreciated.
