A/N: Hey everybody. I owe you all a huge apology for not updating sooner. Getting used to a new schedule demanded more time than I thought, and I couldn't get inspired. But things settled down a little. I'm getting used to my new working hours and traveling between my home and where I live now during the weekend. I actually started this chapter on the train yesterday when I drove the train back to my 'work-town'. I finished half a chapter, then started all over again and had to stop when I had to transfer to the next train. Because my battery was almost empty I had to wait until today before I was able to finish my chapter. Finally! It's Monday evening now, and because I don't have internet here, I have to wait until tomorrow before I can update. I decided to update without having it read by my amazing beta, just because I don't want to wait any longer with updating. I promise I will send you my next chapter again, because I really appreciate your opinion! Don't be mad ;)
This chapter takes place a few weeks after the last one. It's Lucan's first birthday! I hope you all like it and don't forget to let me know in a review once you've finished reading!
Chapter 14 Lucan's first birthday
Lorelai woke up when she heard Lucan's voice through the baby monitor. When she opened her eyes slowly, she suddenly remembered what today was. She was completely awake right away. She smiled when she looked at Luke. "Can you believe it's been a year since our son was born?"
"Unbelievable isn't it. That year went by so fast."
"I know. He's not a baby anymore now."
"He's still the same as he was yesterday."
"You know what I mean. He changed so much the past few weeks. He can sit and stand by himself, he's trying to walk. He can say mamma and dada."
"He's growing up so fast."
"Yeah."
They listened in silence to Lucan for a while before they decided to get out of bed. "Let's get him breakfast. Rory and Warren will be here around 10 o clock so we can do the presents then? We can put him down for a nap early so he's awake when everybody else comes at 3."
"I still can't believe I let you talk me into giving him a party."
"Don't tell me you still think he's not going to like it."
"I still do. But hey, let's hope I'm wrong because I want our son to have a great time on his first birthday."
"So do I. Let's get the birthday boy out of bed first." She stepped out of bed, put her robe on, tying it around her stomach and watched how Luke got out of bed as well. They hold hands when they walked towards their son's bedroom. When they opened the door they saw how the boy was standing up in his bed, smiling when his parents came into view.
"Mamma. Dada."
Lorelai started singing. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Lucan, happy birthday to you."
Lucan raised his eyebrows. He wasn't used to his mother being this happy early in the morning. But he liked it so he started smiling.
"Come here sweetie." Lorelai lifted her son out of his bed, placing a kiss on his forehead. "Happy birthday sweetie." After giving him a big hug she handed him to Luke. "Your turn."
"Happy birthday little boy." Luke kissed the boy on the top of his head. "Let's go downstairs. I'm sure you're hungry."
"He is my son after all." Lorelai smiled, and together they went downstairs.
"So, what do you think for your special birthday breakfast?" Luke asked Lucan.
"Dada."
"How about oatmeal?"
"So much for special. That's what he gets every day."
"So? He likes it."
Lorelai had to admit that was true. She still couldn't understand how both her men could get the stuff down their throats and was happy her morning sickness stopped completely. Although ever since then, she hated oatmeal even more than before. "As long as I don't have to eat it."
"How about pancakes?"
"Chocolate chip?"
"Only because it's our son's first birthday."
"I feel very special." She took Lucan from Luke's arms. "You're the best."
"Thanks." With a small smile on his face, Luke walked into the kitchen.
Lorelai sat down on the couch with Lucan. "When it's your sister's birthday, I wake her up at the time she was born. But since you're born in the evening, we have to start a new tradition. A year ago I woke up looking this fat." Lorelai indicated with her hand how big her stomach was, and smiled when she saw the small bump where the twins were growing behind.
Lucan looked at his mother's hand with a smile, smacking his hand on top of it.
"Funny sweetie." She put his hand in hers and rested it on his leg. "I woke up looking that fat and I felt like you would never coming out. It was one more week until my due-date so I didn't expect anything to happen, although I prayed every night you would finally come out. Honestly I was happy you were still in there because you scared me to death a few weeks earlier, but you were okay and was very anxious to meet you. My back ached, my ankles were swollen and I had to pie every few minutes. I went to the diner and after having breakfast I went upstairs to lie down for a while because my back was killing me. When your daddy came to check up on me the contractions suddenly started. Because they weren't very strong and I was afraid they would stop before we reached the hospital, we stayed at the apartment for a while."
Lucan looked at his mother with interest. He had no idea what she was telling him, but he liked the tone in her voice and the attention he was getting.
"We still didn't know what we were going to name you. We've thought about it for a long time, and we couldn't decide. So that's what we did while we were waiting to see what the contractions were doing. I wanted to name you after your daddy, but he wouldn't hear any of it, but I could convince him to call you after his father. Your grandfather William. I never met him, but from what I heard, you can be very proud to carry his name. And somehow I could convince him to call you Lucas as well, and your first name was going to be Lucan. Of course by then we didn't knew you were a boy yet, so we came up with girls names too. After we decided what we were going to name you, the contractions became stronger and I let your dad drive me to the hospital. Man did that take a long time. Your dad was driving so slow. Everybody was passing us and it hurt so bad. All I wanted was drugs to make the pain go away, but your dad didn't listen to me when I told him to go faster.
When we finally made it to the hospital they found out I was dilated 6 centimeters already. Your sister never wanted to come out, but you were curious to come into the world so you were a lot faster. And after they gave me some drugs it wasn't that hard. Before I knew they wheeled me into the delivery room and after 20 minutes of pushing you came out. It hurt like hell and I was so tired, but when they put you on my stomach and I could meet you the very first time, all I could do was cry. I was so happy."
Lucan looked up when he felt his mother kiss him on top of his head before she continued.
"I can't believe it's a year later already. Time went by so fast. Unbelievable."
"I agree." Luke walked in with the plates. "What were you telling him?"
"The story about when he was born. I do that with Rory every year on her birthday. I wake her up at 4.03 a.m. because that's when she was born. But since he's born in the evening and we'll have visitors then, I decided to tell him the story now."
"Did he like it?"
"Yes he did. He was listening very intense."
Luke smiled. "So, what about breakfast?"
"Please, I'm starved after all that talking, and I'm sure he is too after all that listening.
After breakfast they showered and got dressed, and Lucan got a bath. They were back downstairs a little before ten and had to wait for Rory to come. Lorelai was very excited to give Lucan his presents and hated that she agreed to wait for Rory. She yelled "finally" when she heard the front door opening a little after 10.
"We're not that late." Rory yelled towards her mother when she hung up her coat. Then she walked into the living room where Lorelai was sitting on the floor, playing with Lucan. She sat down next to them, giving her brother a kiss on his cheek. "Happy birthday."
Lucan looked up and smiled. "Mamma."
"I'm not mamma. I'm Rory. That's mamma." Rory pointed at her mother.
Lucan just smiled.
"It took me forever to teach him to say mamma so it'll take a while before he can say your name. Just be patient hon."
"I'll try to be."
"Where's Warren?"
"Outside helping Luke with something. Want me to get them?"
"Yes please. I really want to give Lucan his gifts."
"Okay." Rory stood up and walked toward the front porch. "Mom asks if you guys come inside so we can give Lucan his presents."
"Tell here we'll be right there."
"What's so important that can't wait an hour?" Lorelai was standing behind Rory now.
"We're putting up the banner you asked me to put up."
"Okay fine, 5 minutes, no more."
"5 minutes."
The girls walked inside and Lorelai walked into the kitchen to make coffee and tea.
"Is that still in the house?"
"Coffee?"
"Yeah. I can't believe Luke's okay with that."
"I know I made a big deal about the coffee thing when I was pregnant with Lucan, but I don't want to risk anything going wrong with these babies so I decided not to be stubborn and give up coffee while I'm pregnant."
"I didn't think I'd ever hear you say that."
"You already heard me say that a dozen times at least. You've been asking me this same question every time you're here and I offer to make you a cup of coffee."
"And I can't believe I get the same answer over and over again. I'm really proud of you mom."
"Thanks kid."
10 minutes later they were all sitting on the floor. Lucan was sitting in the middle, liking all the attention he was getting. The gifts were gathered around them. "Can I go first?" Lorelai was still impatient.
"Sure."
Lorelai picked up her gift and put it in Lucan's lap. The boy looked at the big thing at his lap and had trouble looking over it. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with it so Lorelai decided to help him a little by tearing at the paper. Lucan liked this game so he decided to help his mother and started tearing as well. He had small pieces of paper in his hands and liked the sound of the tearing paper. He made the pieces of paper smaller and smaller. They all had to laugh, even Lorelai. They ended up taking the paper from his hands so he could look at the gift. Lucan didn't like this though and started crying.
Lorelai took the little boy in her arms. "Shhh…. You can get the paper back later if you like okay? She showed him the box that was without wrapping paper now. "Look, this is a car where you can sit on top and then you can drive the car." She opened the box and took the car out. Then she put Lucan on top. They took a few pictures and took him off the car, which caused him to start crying again.
"Can I go now?" Rory asked.
"Sure." Lorelai handed her her brother. "Look what Rory has for you."
"Hey, look at this." She tried to comfort her little brother with the tone in her voice, and draw his attention to the gift in her hands. "Can you help me take the paper off so we can see what's inside?"
Together and without crying they managed to open the rest of the gifts. There were a lot of cars, because those were Lucan's favorite toys at the time. There were also some clothes and a pair of pajamas.
"Now it's time for the cake." Sookie was very disappointed that Luke wanted to make his son's birthday cake himself. She had a lot of idea's for a cake, so they agreed on making two. Luke made a small one which they would eat in the morning, and Sookie made a big one for the party in the afternoon. Luke's cake had chocolate and a lot of whip cream because those were Lucan's favorite flavors. Plus, Lorelai insisted on it. In the middle of the cake was one candle that was burning. They made a few pictures of that, and then Lorelai helped Lucan to blow out the candle and they cut the cake. After they all finished the cake, Lucan was getting tired, so they decided to put him in bed without lunch. He wouldn't be hungry after the cake anyway.
-xxxxxx-
A little after 3 the house was filled with people already, and more were coming every few minutes. Luke wondered if Lorelai invited everybody in town for this party, and still doubted if Lucan was going to like it. The birthday boy was still asleep upstairs, and they didn't want to wake him before he woke up by himself, knowing he would become cranky otherwise.
"Hey." Sookie walked in with Davy and Martha.
"Hey sweetie." Lorelai gave her best friend a hug.
"It's crowded in here."
"I know. I'm sure he'll love it."
"I'm sure he will. Where is he?"
"He's still asleep. He had a busy morning with unpacking gifts and eating cake and playing games with Rory and Warren but we put him in early so I'm sure he'll be awake soon. I'll go check up on him in a minute. Where's Jackson?"
"He had to deliver some vegetables in Litchfield but he'll be here in an hour or so."
"We'll see him then. Why don't you give the kids something to drink? All the food you brought is set up in the kitchen and there's a wide selection in drinks as well."
"I'll do that."
"Hey Luke?" Lorelai walked to her husband who was currently chatting with Andrew and Kirk."
"Sorry guys, but I have to go."
"Yeah the wife's calling." Kirk mocked.
Luke just turned around towards Lorelai. "How many people did you invite?"
"I don't remember. But I'm sure this isn't it."
"He's going to be terrified."
"No he won't. Trust me. Did you hear him yet?"
"No, but he should wake up soon. Do you want me to check up on him?"
"No, I just wanted to tell you that I was going to do that. Do you keep an eye on our guests?"
Luke sighed.
"Remember to be nice." She gave him a quick kiss before she climbed the stairs. She opened Lucan's bedroom door quietly, not wanting to wake him if he was still asleep.
"Mamma." Lucan was sitting up in his bed and was happy to see his mother.
"Hey sweetie. Were you awake already?" Lorelai walked to her son's crib and took him out. She hugged him for a minute or so, before she walked to the changing table. She changed his diaper and put his clothes back on. As a finishing touch she put his baseball cap on his head.
Lucan put his hand towards his cap, wanting to pull it off again.
Lorelai took his hand in his. "Don't do that sweetie. You look very cool, almost like your daddy. Come on, let's go downstairs. There are a lot of people here to see you." She walked downstairs.
Everybody started singing happy birthday when Lorelai came downstairs with Lucan in her arms. The little boy turned around in his mother's arms, not liking the hard noise when he just woke up.
They all walked towards Lorelai, wanting to congratulate the little boy. He started crying when everybody came too close. "Give him a little time okay? He just woke up so he just wants some space to breath. Lorelai walked into the kitchen, hoping to find a little quietness there, but it was just as full there as it was in the living room. Lucan hid his face in the hollow of Lorelai's neck, trying to shut everybody out.
Luke shook his head when he saw Lorelai and Lucan. He knew this was going to happen, but Lorelai wouldn't listen to him. He wanted to go to after her into the kitchen, when the doorbell rang. He walked to the front door and opened it, not surprised to see Richard and Emily on the other side. They were the only people to ring the doorbell on a party. "Hey, come in."
"Congratulations Luke." Emily shook Luke's hand.
"Congratulations." Richard followed Emily's example.
"Thanks. Can I take your coats?"
"Yes please." They both handed their coat to Luke. "Where's Lucan?"
"I believe he's in the kitchen with Lorelai. He just woke up so he's still a little shy. He doesn't like the crowdedness in here."
"I can imagine. This is no place for a young boy to be."
"I know, but I couldn't convince Lorelai to keep the party small so this is what we're getting. I'm sure it'll be better once he gets used to it. If you don't try to take him away from Lorelai, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."
"We'll go see if that's true. Thanks for inviting us Luke."
"You're his grandmother Emily. You're supposed to come to his first birthday party."
Emily just nodded and then walked towards the kitchen, while Richard stayed behind. He took an envelope from his pocket. "This is for Lucan. I know Emily bought him a gift, but I figured this is something he can use when he gets older. I assume he has his own bank account?"
"He does. But it's not necessary."
"I know, but I like doing this."
"Thanks." Luke took the envelope from Richard and put it in his pocket. "I'll make sure it will be put in the right place and he does something nice with it when he's older."
"I'm sure you will. I'm going to find Lorelai now." And with that Richard walked away as well.
-xxxxxx-
"Hey, there's my grandson." Emily smiled when she got Lorelai and Lucan into view.
"Yes. Look who's there sweetie." Lorelai told her son, who was still hiding in her arms. "He's a little shy."
"So I heard. Big party."
"Yeah, almost everybody is here now."
"Nice of everybody to show up."
"Well, it is Stars Hallow and if you throw a party, everybody has to attend." That's when Lorelai noticed her father's absence. "Where's dad?"
"He was right behind me." Emily turned around to see where Richard went. When she didn't see him she turned back to face Lorelai. "I assume he's still talking to Luke."
"I'll see him later. Can I offer you something to drink?"
"I can help myself. You have your hands full."
"Thanks. Everything's on the counter. There's also cake and a lot of other food Sookie made."
"That's nice of her. But, didn't Luke want to make the cake?"
"He did, so he made the one we had this morning when we opened the presents with Lucan and Rory and Warren. He didn't want to bake a huge one, that's more Sookie's thing."
"How did he like his presents?"
"I think he liked the paper better. He didn't understood why we gave him something and then took it away from him again."
"It'll be better next year. You were exactly the same on your first birthday. You didn't like any of your gifts, but the wrapping paper was a lot of fun."
Lorelai smiled and saw her father walking into the kitchen, looking for her. "Dad, we're here."
"Oh, hello Lorelai. Congratulations with your son."
"Thanks."
A few minutes later Lucan got used to the crowdedness and wanted to leave the safe arms of his mother. He turned around to see everybody in the room and extended his arms towards his grandmother. "Mamma."
Emily took her grandson in her arms, very proud he wanted to come to her. "I'm grandma. But I think that's a little difficult for you to say. How do you like your birthday so far?"
Lucan smiled and pointed his finger towards the living room. "Dada."
"Yes, your dada is there. Do you want to go find him?"
When Richard and Emily walked away with Lucan, Lorelai went to find her daughter. She and Warren were talking to Lane in the living room. "Hey kid."
"Hey, where's Lucan?"
"With grandma."
"Oh, they're here? I haven't seen them yet."
"They came in about 20 minutes ago. You'll see them later. I want to show you something upstairs."
"Uh okay?" Rory looked at her mother questioning.
"We'll be right back." Lorelai said to Warren and Lane, then put her hand on her daughter's lower back and guided her towards the stairs.
"Where are we going?" Rory asked.
"My bedroom."
"Why?"
"You'll see." Lorelai opened the door and Rory looked around to see if there was something different. The place seemed exactly the same as the last time she was there, except from some clothes laying on the chairs.
"What are we doing here?"
"You're not very patient, are you."
"I got that from you I guess."
"Sit down."
Rory did as she was told and sat down on the bed.
Lorelai kneeled down next to the bed and pulled something from underneath there. She stood up and sat down next to Rory, handing it to her.
"What is this?" Rory looked at the small gift wrapped box in her hands.
"Open it." Lorelai smiled.
Rory carefully ripped the paper off and soon held a jewelry box in her hands. With shaking fingers she opened the box and inside she found a gold locket. She opened the locket and inside was a baby picture of herself. "Mom?" She looked at her mother, not understanding why she gave her this.
"This is your first birthday present."
"But I'm already 22?"
"I know that. You know how I feel guilty that I can give Lucan and these two babies in here more than I could ever give you."
"And I told you so many times that you don't have to worry about that. Things change mom."
"I know. But I owed you this one."
"I don't remember what you gave me for my first birthday, but I'm sure you gave me something."
"I gave you a stuffed animal I made myself. You cold him Olly when you got older. And some clothes I made you myself as well."
"Then I don't understand."
When my mother turned one, she got a locket from her mother, with a picture of herself and her name and address. Then when I turned one I got one from my mother, with the same things inside. You know you have those identification necklaces now? My grandmother was inventive in her own way." Lorelai stood up and opened her jewelry box, taking out the locket she got from her mother a long time ago. It was white gold and the locket was very small so it wouldn't look weird on a one year old. The necklace itself was replaced within the years when Lorelai got older and bigger. "I've always loved this necklace. It's the best present I ever got from my mother and when I was little I promised myself I would give my daughter a locket for her first birthday, to continue the tradition. But there was no way I could have afforded it at the time, or even the few years following and at some point I just forgot about it, until this week. I went through my jewelry box and saw this locket and since it's your brother's first birthday day, I started thinking what I forgot to give you all those years."
"It's beautiful." Rory handed the necklace to her mother. "Can you help me put it on?"
"I'd be honored."
Rory turned around and lifted her hair so her mother could close the lock behind her neck. Then she stood up and walked towards the mirror to look at herself. "It's really beautiful mom. I really really like it. Thank you." She turned around and walked to her mother, giving her a big hug. "You're amazing."
"No, you're amazing."
"Just promise me one thing." Rory said, once she pulled back from the hug.
"Sure."
"This is the last thing you did, trying to make up for the past because there's no reason to. Okay?"
"I promise."
"Good." She hugged her mother once more. "Can I see yours?"
"Sure." Lorelai handed her the locket.
Rory opened it carefully. Inside was a baby picture as well. "I thought you had no baby pictures of yourself left?"
"This is the only one."
"You were not ugly as a baby mom. You're head was not weird at all."
"This picture is very very small so you can't judge. But thank you. I appreciate that. Now let's go back downstairs before they start to wonder where we disappeared to."
"Let's do that."
Together they walked downstairs and Lorelai smiled at Luke, letting him know Rory was happy with the gift. She told him the story and it was him who suggested that she bought Rory the locket now. She watched how Rory walked towards her grandmother.
"Grandma look."
"Hello Rory." Emily turned around. "What is it?"
"Look what I got from my mom. A late first birthday gift."
Emily looked at the necklace hanging around her granddaughter's neck and knew why Lorelai had given her this. "It's beautiful." Over Rory's shoulders she gave a smile to Lorelai, letting her know how much it meant to her that Lorelai continued this tradition.
-xxxxxx-
"That was a long day." Lorelai snuggled close to Luke, resting her head on his shoulder.
He put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Yes it was. But the party was a huge success. I have to admit that Lucan even liked all the attention."
"I told you he would. But you were all skeptic, not trusting me."
"I always trust you Lorelai. If I didn't trust your opinion, I would have never allowed you to throw the party in the first place."
"Good to know. But tell me you did not thought I told you so when he was so shy right after he woke up."
"I won't because I can't. But I'm happy it turned out the way you expected it to."
"Me too. Do you think he'll remember this party when he's older?"
"No he won't. He's too small to have long term memories, but he'll have a lot of pictures to remember this party by and you can tell him the stories. I'm sure it will mean a lot to him when he's older."
"I hope so. It sure meant a lot to me."
"I know." He kissed her again.
"I can't believe how fast that year passed."
"I believe we discussed this already this morning."
"I know. I'm just still amazed by the fact that it felt like yesterday that they put him on my stomach the very first time. So slimy and red. And how we all held our breaths waiting for him to start crying."
"I remember."
"And in a few months, when these two get born he'll be a big brother. Today I realized how much he loves attention so I'm sure it won't be easy when he suddenly has to share all the attention with two little babies who will demand a lot of attention at first."
"He's still young. He'll get used to it. I'm sure it will be hard in the beginning but I know he's going to love them and protect them when he's older."
"Like you protect Liz?"
"That's what you do for siblings right?"
"I don't know. I never had any, although I always wanted to have one. I'm glad Rory didn't stay my only kid. I know there's a huge age difference between her and Lucan and the twins, but I like to believe that when they get older, she's going to need them as much as they need her."
"They will. They'll all love each other and they will be there for each other long after we're gone."
Lorelai looked up at him and smiled. "What is it with you and wanting us to die. This is the second time in a few weeks you mention it."
"I…."
"I know what you meant and I know that you want us to live a long live and that you want our kids to live even longer and I like that thought as much as you do."
"Good. Now let's get some sleep. Lucan will wake us up very early tomorrow morning, demanding attention after all the attention he got today."
"I'm sure he will."
And with that they went to sleep.
T.B.C.