A/N: I never thought I'd be updating this far before the weekend. Thanks for all your reviews on the previous chapter and thanks to my amazing beta for proofreading so fast. I love you all!
Previously on The Whole Package:
"Do you see that?" She pointed at the screen.
"Yeah. That's the baby, right?"
"Yes and no."
Lorelai looked confused, her head was hurting too much to understand a word game. She looked at Luke in the hope that he understood what the doctor was saying.
"Yes and no? Is it the baby or not?"
"It is a baby, yes, but not the one you saw before." She looked at the screen and scanned the uterus to make sure there were only two babies.
"You mean we're getting twins?"
Chapter 11 - Too good to be true?"Yes, you do. I don't see any more babies, so you're getting twins."
"Twins, as in two babies at a time?" Luke needed confirmation.
"Yes. 2 babies at once."
"Like two for the price of one?"
"Yes Luke." Lorelai looked at her husband, annoyed by his reaction.
"Wow, uh…. Wow."
Dr. Elder looked at the interaction between the couple, knowing they needed some time to talk. "Both of the babies look healthy. Reschedule an appointment in about 3 weeks from now, unless you have any questions before that. The door to my office is always open for the two of you. If you have no questions now, I'll leave the two of you alone to talk, alright?"
"Fine." Luke groaned.
Lorelai nodded. "Thanks for everything doctor. We'll call you."
With that Dr. Elder left, not bothering to take the machine with her, knowing that would take too much time at the moment.
"What was all that?" Lorelai looked at Luke, not understanding his reaction.
"What was what?"
"Your reaction here. Aren't you happy about this?"
"Well, honestly I don't know. One baby is one thing, but two? How much work will that be? I mean, one baby knew perfectly well how to keep us up at night, how will it be if we have two at the time? When one is finally asleep, the other one wakes up. We're never going to sleep again."
"So it will be a little more work. But won't we get twice as much love too? The first smiles, how they squeeze your finger?"
"I don't know Lorelai. I have to think about this."
"Think about what?" For the first time since they started this conversation she raised her voice. "What is there to think about? We're getting twins. There are two babies in here and there is nothing you can do about it."
"I'm sorry." With that he turned around and walked away.
"Luke." Lorelai yelled after him, but he didn't even look back. She rested her head in her hands. Her headache became even worse, even though she thought it was impossible. "Ugh…" She yelled in frustration.
"Everything alright ma'am?" A young nurse walked into the room.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Good. The doctor said you can leave. All you have to do is sign the release papers and you're good to go."
"Thanks."
The nurse nodded and walked away to give Lorelai the space to gather her things.
Lorelai slowly stepped out of the bed, looking around for her stuff, all she found was her coat. Looking for her purse, she realized she didn't have it with her. It was probably still at the Inn. "Great. Now how do I get home?" She put on her coat and walked to the reception. "Hi, my name is Lorelai Danes. I want to sign out."
"Of course Mrs. Danes." The desk clerk turned around and looked for the papers. "There you are." He put the papers in front of her on the desk. "All you have to do is sign here and you're free to go." He handed her a pen.
Lorelai signed the form. "Thanks."
"Is there anything else we can do for you ma'am?"
"Is there a phone I can use?"
"There's a pay phone over there." He pointed.
"I don't have my purse. I was taken in by the ambulance so I have nothing. No cash, no cell phone. I need to call someone to pick me up."
"Wasn't your husband here before?"
"Please, can I use your phone or not?" She was tired and did not want to go through this with him.
"Of course." He put the phone on the desk so Lorelai could use it. "You need to dial 9 first."
"Thanks." She waited until the man walked away, and then dialed Rory's number.
"Hello?"
"Rory, it's me."
"Mom?"
"Yeah. Listen, I'm at Hartford memorial. Can you come pick me up and give me a ride home?"
"What happened?"
"I'm fine. That's all you need to know now. Please, can you come or not?"
"I have a class in 20 minutes, but I guess I can miss it. Can't Luke come?"
"No he can't."
"Doesn't he know that you're in the hospital?"
"Rory he does. Look, I don't need you to lecture me, I just need you to pick me up and give me a ride home. You want to do it or not?"
"I'll be there in about 30 minutes."
"I'll be waiting for you." Lorelai put the phone down with a sigh. Without saying anything to the desk clerk she took a seat in the waiting room. She waited 25 minutes before she walked outside knowing it wouldn't take long before Rory would get there. After three more minutes she saw Rory's car pull up in front of the main entrance. She opened the door for her mother, who stepped in.
"Mom, what happened?"
"Geez, can I sit down first?"
"Yeah sure. Of course. I'm sorry." Rory waited almost five minutes before she asked again. Hoping her mother would start talking on her own. But all she did was staring out of the window. It was hard to read her expression. "What happened mom?"
Lorelai turned to face her daughter. "I went to the inn to tell Sookie about the baby. Then suddenly I fainted. When I fell down I hit my head on the floor. Someone called an ambulance and they took me here. I have a mild concussion, nothing to worry about."
"You fainted?"
"Dr. Elder says it's not uncommon to have low blood pressure at the beginning of a pregnancy, and that causes dizziness and sometimes even fainting. I was just unlucky."
"So, you came here with the ambulance, then what?"
"Then they did some tests and figured out I have a concussion. End of the story."
"What about Luke?"
"What about him." Annoyance was evident in her voice.
"Doesn't he know you're here? Are you afraid he's angry at you or something?"
"He knows. Someone called him too. He arrived before the ambulance did and came with me to the hospital. He just left before."
"But why? It doesn't make sense."
Lorelai sighed, knowing she had to tell everything. "Dr. Elder came to do an ultrasound to see if the baby was ok."
"Is there something wrong with the baby?"
"The baby's fine. She did the ultrasound and pointed at the baby and then pointed again, at another baby. I'm pregnant with twins. So I was starting to smile, but then Luke just freaked out. Dr. Elder sensed this and got herself out of the room fast, and Luke went on and on about how much work it's going to be to take care of twins, and then he just stormed out." She shook her head. "He just left me there. He didn't even look back."
"Oh mom….." Rory tried to find something to say, but there wasn't anything she could say to make her mother feel better at the moment.
"Why did he do that? Even if he freaked out, he knew I couldn't go home by myself. He forgot about me. I don't know what hurts more. He just left me."
"He needs time to think. He'll come around."
"I don't know Rory. I haven't seen him like this before. He freaked out about things before, but not like this." She knew that wasn't entirely true.
"But he loves you, and Lucan and the babies. He just needs a little time to think and then he'll be home, begging you to forgive him."
"I hope so." Her voice was low.
Rory stared at her mother, who went back to staring out of the window. The rest of the drive they remained silent, until they entered Stars Hallow. "Where do you want me to take you?"
"Can you drive by Sookie's house so we can pick up Lucan? I assume that's where she took him."
"Of course." Rory drove towards Sookie's house and parked her car on their driveway a few minutes later. "We're here."
"Thanks."
"Do you want me to go in and get Lucan for you?"
"I'll do it. Just wait here okay, I'll be right back."
"Okay."
Lorelai stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door. She rang the bell and it didn't take long before Sookie opened the door. "Lorelai, are you okay?"
"Just a mild concussion, I'm fine."
"I was so worried." She hugged her friend, carefully not to hurt her.
"No reason to be. Now, where's my son?"
"In the living room, playing with Martha. You should see the two of them together. They're so cute."
Lorelai smiled. "I can imagine."
They walked towards the living room, when Sookie suddenly noticed Luke wasn't there. "Where's Luke?"
"He had to do something. He'll be back soon." She hoped Sookie wouldn't see through her lie. She didn't want to explain once again what happened, without knowing what was going to happen first.
"Oh…. Are you here alone?"
"No, Rory's with me."
"Uhuh…. What's wrong Lorelai?"
"Nothing. I just want to get my son and go home, okay? We'll talk later."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Lorelai walked into the living room and smiled when she saw Lucan fighting over a toy with Martha. He was much smaller, but refused to let go. She stood still, waiting to see who was going to win the fight, and to her surprise, that was Lucan. Martha just let go and turned around to find something else. It wasn't until then the little boy looked up and smiled. "Dada." Lorelai's eyes filled with tears immediately and she tried to blink them away before Sookie noticed.
"I'm mamma." She kneeled down next to her son and pulled him into her lap. When she was sure she had control of herself she turned to look at Sookie. "He calls everybody dada."
"He'll learn to say more soon. Just wait."
"I will." She turned Lucan around so he could stand on her legs. "What do you say, are we going home?"
"Dada." The little boy smiled.
Lorelai forced a smile. "Yeah, let's go see dada." She stood up carefully and slowly, afraid to become dizzy again, especially with Lucan in her arms. When she was up and sure she was steady, she helped Lucan into his jacket and said goodbye to her friend. "Thanks for looking after him Sook."
"Any time. You know that. Although next time you want to get rid of him for a few hours, just ask. You don't have to make a scene around it."
"Good to know." Lorelai smiled for real now. "I'll call you tomorrow. I promise."
"Good. I'll be waiting."
"Thanks again Sookie."
"Don't. Just take that boy home and get some sleep."
"I will." She walked outside to Rory's car. She sat down on the passenger seat, with Lucan in her lap. "Drive slowly."
"Will do."
The drive home was short and Lorelai dreaded going into the house. Part of her hoped that Luke would be there, but part of her knew that he wouldn't be. A strain of nausea caused her to move faster. She pushed Lucan in Rory's hands and ran inside, happy she didn't lock the door on her way out that morning.
Rory walked inside after her mother, closing the door behind her. She took Lucan's jacket off and put him in the playpen. When he started to protest, she put a toy car in his small hands, hoping it would get his attention. Lucky for her it did. She took off her own coat and threw it on the couch, then walked towards the bathroom to check up on her mother. When she opened the door she saw Lorelai sitting on the floor, tears were rolling down her cheeks. She hurried inside, sitting down next to her mother. "Oh mom."
Lorelai rested her head on Rory's shoulder. "I messed up."
"What. No. How did you mess up?"
"I'm stupid enough to get pregnant with twins. And even more stupid to think for even one second that it was a happy thing. I'll probably end up raising three little kids all by myself."
"Mom no. You're overreacting now. Luke will come around and he will be happy about this. I promise."
Lorelai shook her head. "I'm going to bed. The doctor says I need to rest. Can you look after your brother for me, or do you have to get back to Yale?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
Rory watched Lorelai walk up the stairs towards her bedroom and coming down a minute later. "I can't sleep there right now."
"You can have my room."
Lorelai nodded. "Thanks hon."
"Don't say it mom. Just get some sleep okay?"
"Okay."
When Rory heard the door to her bedroom close, she sat down on the couch. She waited a few minutes before she picked her cell phone out of her pocket. She dialed Luke's cell number. After a few seconds his voicemail picked up. "Hey Luke, it's Rory. Call me if you hear this okay. My mom is freaking out. I took her home from the hospital so you can call the house too. She's not angry, just scared. Please call me."
After Luke she called Warren who picked up himself after three rings. "Hello?"
"Warren it's me."
"Hey. How are you?"
"Fine. Hey listen, I'm at my mom's house."
"Did your class fall out?"
"No, I skipped actually. My mother fainted at the Inn this morning and was brought into the hospital by ambulance. She has a mild concussion. Is that serious?"
"No, it isn't. I had one when I was twelve and fell of my bike. My head was killing me and I was nauseas, but that was over after a few days. All I remember is that my father had to wake me every four hours."
"Why?"
"To see if I was responding clear, if it wasn't something more serious."
"Okay. I'll do that then."
"Rory, where's Luke?"
"My mom's OBGYN came to check if the baby was okay, and when she did an ultrasound she found out my mom is pregnant with twins. Luke freaked out and ran out of there, leaving my mom behind. That's when she called me. I tried calling his cell, but all I got was his voicemail. I left a message and I'm sure he'll be here in a few hours completely regretting his bad reaction. I'm going to hang out here until he comes. Someone has to keep an eye on Lucan, and you said I have to wake my mom every four hours so I'll do that. I'll call you later okay?"
"Do you want me to come over?"
"No. You have a big test tomorrow. Just stay there and study. I don't want you to fail."
"Okay. But don't forget to call me, alright?"
"I won't. I promise."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Rory hung up and turned around to look at her brother. He was caught up in a game so she figured she could do something for herself. She thought about calling her grandmother and tell her what happened, but figured it was better not to. Not until Luke and her mother were okay.
-xxxxxx-
Lorelai was lying in a hospital bed, two small babies in her arms. She looked at her two kids and couldn't help but feel lonely, even with the two kids in her arms. She didn't know why though. It felt like it should be the happiest day of her life. A nurse walked into the room. "Hey, do you feel like going home soon?"
"Absolutely." Lorelai smiled. "I can't wait to go back and finally have my family complete at home."
"I'm sure your daughter will be here to pick you up soon. She promised to bring your son as well."
Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll be here soon." Not long after she finished the sentence she saw her daughter walking around the corner, Lucan in her arms. "Hey baby." She smiled at her son, and couldn't help but think how much bigger he seemed than just one day before.
"Mama" The young boy extended his arms.
"Can you take the twins so I can take him?"
Rory sat Lucan on the bed and took the twins from Lorelai's arms. "How are you feeling?"
"More than ready to go home. I can't wait to have all of you in the house. I know it's going to be a lot of work with two little babies and this young man here, but it's going to be great."
Rory smiled. "I bet it will be."
"Hey, where's Luke?"
Rory's smile vanished. "Mom, you know that he's not coming right?"
"I do? Of course I do. Sorry, I'm just not thinking clear. I must have hit my head or something." Lorelai forced a smiled.
"Did the doctor say you can go?"
"A nurse did. I'm sure the doctor will be here soon, and then I'm out of here."
A little more than an hour later they arrived at home. Lorelai took Lucan out of his car seat and put him on the floor next to her. Then she took on of the twins in her arms and let Rory take the other. Lorelai looked around for Luke's truck, but it wasn't there. 'Maybe he left it at the diner.' They walked inside the house and Lorelai looked around, but there was no sign of Luke. "Where are you?" She whispered.
"Mom, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just happy to be home."
"Do you want to go to bed, or do you want to lie down on the couch or something?"
"I guess I can spend some time on the couch. I don't really feel like sleeping. These two however could use a nap. You can take them to their beds if you like."
"Sure, I will."
Lorelai watched her daughter walk away with her two babies and sat down on the couch. Lucan walked towards her immediately. "Mamma up."
Lorelai lifted up her son. "How are you my big boy."
He smiled.
"Where's your daddy?"
The little boy shook his head. "No dadda."
"What do you think, should we call him?" But before she could even get up to get the phone, the doorbell rang. "Maybe that's him." She put Lucan on the floor and walked towards the door. She was disappointed to see here parents standing there. She faked a smile. "Mom, dad. So nice of you to come."
"We want to see our new grandchildren. How are they doing?"
"Rory's putting them down for a nap, but we can take a look if you want."
"That would be nice." Emily pulled her daughter in for a hug first though. "Congratulations sweetie."
"Thanks mom."
They followed Richard into Rory's room, where Rory was standing in between the two cribs that now filled the room. Lorelai was surprised to see this. 'I thought we were going to add to the house. We were not giving the twins Rory's room.' She shrugged.
"They are beautiful Lorelai." Emily looked at her two new grandchildren. "I can't believe Luke left you alone with them."
"Luke what?"
But Emily ignored her. "I really changed my opinion on him, but when he left you just because you were pregnant with twins... I guess I was right after all."
"Mom no." Lorelai tried to defend Luke. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"Don't be silly Lorelai. He didn't call after he took his stuff out of the house. I'm sure he'll be mailing you the divorce papers soon."
"What? Don't say that."
"You know it's true Lorelai. He didn't look back, he hasn't even seen his own son in months." Emily shook her head. "But you're going to be fine all by yourself. I know you will."
Lorelai forced a smile. 'Luke left me? He didn't come back?'
When her parents left a while later, Rory stood up as well. "Mom, I have to go. Warren's waiting for me at home."
"Sure babe. Will you come by tomorrow?"
"Mom, I'm living in Phoenix. You know I wanted to stay longer, but these two stayed in there much longer than planned and my free days are up. I have to go. My flight leaves in three hours."
Lorelai just nodded. "I'll miss you hon."
"I'll miss you too mom. I'll try to visit as soon as possible."
"Do that." Lorelai forced a smile.
The minute Rory walked out of the room, both of the babies started crying. She held them both in her arms, trying to calm them down. But they continued crying, and suddenly Lucan was in front of her, crying as well. "Mommy up."
Lorelai looked at her son. "Mommy can't pick you up right now, honey." She had never felt more helpless in her life. The two babies didn't stop crying, and Lucan sat down on the floor, hugging his stuffed bear as he sobbed. "Mommy… mommy…"
"Mom. Mom." Lorelai slowly opened her eyes. "Mom, are you okay?"
Tears filled Lorelai's eyes immediately, as she rested a hand on her stomach. She could feel that it wasn't flat. The babies were still in there." She put her other hand on her forehead. "How long was I out?"
"Four hours. Warren said I have to wake you up every four hours. Are you feeling okay?"
"Just a headache. So it was just a dream?"
"What was?" Rory sat down on the bed, next to her mother.
"I was in the hospital by myself, with two babies in my arms. Then you came to pick me up and at the house my parents came to visit. There were two cribs in your room, while Luke promised to add to the house. He promised, so they won't get your room. They won't."
"Mom, what happened next?"
"My parents came to visit and my mother said that Luke left me. That he wanted a divorce. And when they left, you left too. You moved to Phoenix with Warren. So I was all alone and just when you closed the door the twins started crying, and then Lucan started crying too. I couldn't comfort all three of them at the time. I can't do it by myself."
"You won't have to mom. Luke will be there for you. And I will be there too. I promise."
"So the other part was a dream too? It felt real. Where's Luke?"
Rory stared at the sheets, not wanting to look her mother in the eye. "That part wasn't a dream mom. But I know he'll come around. He loves you, and Lucan. He's not going to leave you. He just needs some time to think, and he'll be back here, begging you to forgive him before you know."
Lorelai's expression was blank now. "I don't know Rory. I don't know."
"But I do mom. I know. I'll call him again, maybe he turned his phone on by now."
"Where's Lucan?"
"I put him in for a nap earlier. He was exhausted. I'm sure he's going to be out for a while longer. You can sleep some more if you like."
"Not really." She was still tired, but she was afraid her dream would come back. She couldn't handle that right now.
"How about you take a nice hot shower, and I'll go down and get you some food?"
"I'm not hungry."
"You have to eat. Even if you're not hungry, there are two babies in there who need something."
Lorelai nodded. "I'd like some Mac and cheese then."
Rory smiled. "It'll be done in half an hour."
"Thanks hon."
"You don't have to say that." Rory kissed her mother on the cheek, then turned around.
Lorelai watched her daughter walk away, and then picked up her cell phone, that was lying on the bedside table and dialed Luke's cell phone number. His voicemail picked up soon. "Hey Luke, it's me. Please call me when you get this message. I'm not angry at you, I'm just worried. Please tell me that you're okay. I know we'll find a way to make this work, together, like we always do. Just call me okay? I love you." She hung up with a sigh and dialed the number of the diner next. Jake picked up after a few rings. "Hey Jake, is Luke there?"
"No, sorry. I haven't seen him in a while."
"When's the last time you saw him?"
"He got a phone call early this morning and he stormed out of here with Lucan, yelling we had to take over. Haven't heard from him since. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to ask him something. He left a while ago and his cell is off, so I was hoping he was there. But I guess not. Tell him to call me when you see him, okay?"
"Sure, will do."
"Thanks Jake."
Lorelai suddenly felt angry. What if something serious had happened and she really needed him right now? She didn't know where else he could be. She picked up the phone again, starting to think of who else she could call. She couldn't think of anyone. In frustration she threw the phone towards the wall, which broke in small pieces. Her anger suddenly turned into sadness and she started crying again.
T.B.C.