It's Sunday, the day of rest and Lorelai Gilmore is doing anything but, the tried and true wallow, tried and failed meant that Lorelai was forced to take drastic and undesirable measures, a To Do List. Robbing a page from her daughter's book, instead of dwelling, she was running, the various mundane errands that get put off time and again, anything and everything to keep her mind from coffee and danishes and mysterious thank you's but mostly from the man behind them.

That's how she came to find herself outside of Doose's Market with every intention of buying groceries that, lets face it, were doomed to various stages of decay before finally being put to rest in the garbage can, that is unless hell froze over or pigs suddenly developed the ability to fly, but I digress.

Lorelai finds herself standing outside the market doing the very thing this early morning excursion was supposed to prevent, then again the non-wallowing had also backfired on Rory if Lorelai remembered correctly which she seldom did, Lorelai's thoughts had wandered to Luke. Her eyes glued to the diner down the street, a line of the repentant winds out the door and onto the steps all dressed in their winter coats and hats, four days later and the citizens of Starshollow were still braving the bitter cold to make their apologies to Luke. She smiles and shakes her head, the temperature brightening the pink of her cheeks. Lorelai was sure that Luke preferred the boycott to this outbreak of devotion. She can picture him adjusting his cap in annoyance, offering an 'ah geez', to every kind word before completely blowing his stack and having them all committed. Her smile broke into a full out grin as she imagines Luke in all his Lukeness, knowing that in a small way she still had a hand in driving him crazy.

"Lorelai!" Liz shouts with surprise as she steps from the market the door jingling shut behind her, a gallon of ice cream in tote.

"Liz!" Lorelai jumps, with quite some effort and very little grace she keeps the heels of her boots from skidding across the icy sidewalk, she feels exposed, caught, a little clumsy, the uncomfortable trinity. Liz couldn't know she had just been standing outside in the cold picturing Luke, right? For, how long? 10 minutes? Lorelai was gradually losing feeling in her fingers and could no longer say with any certainty that her nose was still in it's place, so yeah, about 10 minutes. Liz was not a mind reader but Lorelai wasn't taking any chances. She shook her head clear of any telltale thoughts and turned her full attention to Liz.

"Wow, look at you." She says recovering.

Liz stands before her clothed in a pink coat with fur trim and maternity jeans, if you had a cotton candy stand and needed a giant cotton candy sign, on which to write the name of your stand and then host high into the air to catch the eye of any persons and or vehicles passing by, then well, Liz could come in handy.

The very pregnant Liz chuckles. "Yeah, I've got my own area code."

"How are you?" Lorelai asks pulling her coat tighter around herself, still feeling a little bare.

"I'm great, except for the eight pound being waging war with my insides. I've had the worst cramps all morning, but I'm betting all I need is a little Ben and Jerry." Liz answers, rattling the bag with the ice cream. She then casually glances toward the diner. No, not a mind reader but it wasn't hard to guess who this particular brunette was thinking about once you had ascertained where her eyes had been focused.

"Cramps?" Lorelai repeats eyeing Liz's rounded stomach with some suspicion.

"This isn't awkward for you, is it? I mean, because of Luke." Liz asks.

"No." Lorelai answers quickly, then realizing her discomfort was obvious confesses."Yeah, a little."

"It shouldn't be, you and I are buds, you were there to save my wedding and now look." Liz smiles pointing at her belly.

"I didn't . . ." Lorelai stutters feeling an urgent need to absolve herself from any involvement what so ever in Liz's pregnancy.

"Would you look at that line?" Liz interrupts, pointing to the diner. "It's been like that for days, but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday completely empty. I swear the people of this town need to figure out what it is that they want." She turns, looking Lorelai boldly in the eyes.

Lorelai raises an eyebrow at her 'bud', something tells her that Luke seriously underestimates his sister. Lorelai debates whether or not she can take Liz, taking into account the women's current condition, of course, when Liz's current condition makes that decision mute. Her water breaks, pours in a steady stream down the leg of her pants and pools onto the concrete street below her. Lorelai's mouth drops open. Liz stares at her in shock.

"Of course." Lorelai mutters under her breath, talk to the pregnant sister of your ex-fiancé and of course she goes into labor.

"Oh my god!" Liz gasps, her face contorted in panic.

"Are you alright? Everything's going to be okay. Baby wants out, that's all, probably heard there was ice cream." Lorelai says kindly, side stepping to avoid the puddle. She places a comforting hand on Liz's arm and asks calmly. "Liz, where's TJ?"

"At, at home. I walked here." Liz mutters, leaning into Lorelai as her knees began to weaken.

Lorelai's pretense of calm flies out the window. "You walked! Your like 20 months pregnant, was that really a good idea?!" She shouts, her hair flying in front of her face.

"Not helping! AHHHHHHHH!" Liz screams, her first full on contraction shooting pain down her spine. Lorelai struggles to keep her standing.

"Oh. A contraction. Okay, um how about Luke? I could run to the diner. ." She offers with a grunt as she maneuvers her arms around Liz taking on much of her weight.

"He's not there." Liz pants.

"What? Look at that line! How. ."

"Ceaser. Lane. Luke's with TJ, finishing the nursery." Liz says through clenched teeth. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh, god. Okay, Liz, we have to get you to the hospital. Now."

Between huffing and moaning Liz manages to nod yes. Lorelai pushes the hair out of her face and wraps Liz's arm around her shoulder, helping her shuffle slowly to the Jeep which is parked nearby.

Taylor rushes out of the market drawn by the screaming and the moaning and the panting.

"Oh, my. What happened to my sidewalk? When that freezes over it's going to be one heck of a slip trip hazard, believe you me." He squints accusingly at Lorelai.

Lorelai addresses him over her shoulder. "Taylor, call Luke! Tell him to get TJ down to the hospital, Liz is having her baby!"

"Oh, but ..."

"Taylor, for god's sake, get over the sidewalk!"

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Nobody likes hospitals; this could be said for sure of Liz who was strapped to monitors on a hospital bed, seven centimeters dilated, an efficient albeit obtrusive nurse at her side and interestingly, considering the circumstances, even more so for Lorelai who starred with dread at the hospital room door.

"Are you sure its not drugs time, because I think now is looking really good." Liz begs, she couldn't remember any pain at all with her first child Jess, truth be told she couldn't remember a whole lot of anything concerning that first pregnancy due to the wide array of 'drugs' she was taking, which may explain a thing or two about Jess. The nurse shakes her head reaffirming that the time for drugs had passed, karma sucks. Liz glares fiercely but being an experienced professional the nurse is unfazed. As she works her way past Lorelai she glances at her with some curiousness.

"You know," begins the nurse "the heat works quite well in this room." She informs Lorelai gesturing toward her coat and hat.

"Thank you. I'm fine." Lorelai responds stubbornly. Sure, if fine meant sweltering, she could feel the beads of sweat seeping out from under her cap, knitted and blue, a perfect match for the wrap sweater she had on underneath her winter coat that was beginning to feel sticky against her skin. Too many layers combined with heart attack inducing anxiety makes for a special brand of claustrophobia, Lorelai tugs at the collar of her coat, looking from Liz to the door, she had to get out, now.

"Okay, so, TJ and Luke are on their way and you've got a terrific nurse here. Everything's going to be just great." Lorelai says with a smile as she edges towards the door.

"TJ and Luke, ha!" Liz responds scornfully. "Are you leaving?!" She asks with panic as she realizes where Lorelai is inching.

"Yeah. I should. ."

"No."

"Yes."

"No! You can't leave!" Liz repeats adamantly shaking her head.

"Liz, I have to go!" Lorelai replies startled to have found such resistance, she looks again to the door before coming to Liz's side to argue her case.

"No! No, stay with me, please. Don't leave me with them!" Liz pleads latching on to Lorelai's coat.

"Liz! I would stay, but I can't. Luke is going to be here any second. I need to not be here when he gets here!" She appeals with equal zeal.

"Lorelai!" Liz yells, pulling on her coat.

"Liz!" Lorelai returns, putting her hands on the bed to keep from toppling into her. "I've screamed at him, called him various colorful adjectives, had his character defamed, almost got him beat up by my neighbor and run out of town, and that was just this week! I'm the last person he wants to have at this joyous family event!"

"No! You have to stay!" Liz is nearly hysterical.

"Liz! But, but Luke!" Lorelai begs, fixing wide eyes on the door as if it would open to usher in the apocalypse.

"Oh, I am so tired of hearing about you and Luke!" She blusters abruptly letting go of Lorelai.

"Will they?! Won't they?! I love you! I hate you! You cheated on me! We were on a break! Whatever! Get over yourselves!" Liz pauses to take a breath, another contraction on its way. The ability to rant in all circumstances, definitely a Danes family trait.

"It's like being caught in a hell where all they do is play Must See TV reruns over and over and over and over! Enough! No one cares! This is not about Luke. This is not about you. AHHHHHHHHH!" She screams the contraction reaching its peak. "Hello! Pregnant women in labor! I am in pain; she won't give me drugs and you! If I say I want you here, then you're going to be here!" Liz finishes with a growl, grabbing Lorelai by the arm and pulling her into the side of the bed, Lorelai's leg connecting forcefully with the bed rail.

"Ow! Okay, geez." Lorelai mutters resigned to her fate. She rubs her leg with her free hand. "Still holding firm on that no drugs thing?" Lorelai asks the nurse who has been looking on with much amusement.

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14 ½ minutes later, Lorelai is curled up on the edge of the hospital bed, her coat and hat discarded on a nearby chair. With her back supported against the pillows and Liz's shaking hand clutching her own, Lorelai tells Liz the story of Rory's birthday. Though Liz's face is still red and blotchy from the strain of her last contraction her expression is relaxed. She leans her head on Lorelai shoulder and listens contently. Lorelai stays her story for a moment, her mind quickly calculating the best way to edit her comparison of childbirth to straddling a crate of dynamite, no need to frighten the woman any further, but the solution becomes unnecessary as the door swings open and TJ rushes into the room, Luke on his heels.

"Are you nuts?!" He shouts at his wife. "You said you just wanted some ice cream! Give a guy some warning, I almost blacked out, Luke practically had to give me CPR, and I hate it when that happens!"

Liz sits up straight in bed. "What is with people today? How are you, Liz? Me? I'm fine, just experiencing the worst pain of my life! No big deal!"

"Do you really want to play that game?"

"TJ!" She snaps angrily.

Speaking of CPR, for once in his life Luke Danes was glad he was standing in a hospital. The unexpected scene before him stole his breath. Luke coughs in an effort to manually restart his lungs and heart, despite the sound calling attention to its owner Lorelai diligently avoids looking in his direction. He watches her slip off the bed to her feet and attempt to use this new leverage to squeeze her hand from Liz's grasp but even in the midst of a heated discussion with her husband Liz firmly held on. Luke can't help but smile as she twists and contorts her arm at every angle to no advantage. Lorelai sighs, her shoulders slump in defeat. She finally lifts her fearful eyes to his.

"I am sorry. I'm sorry. I was just walking to Doose's and Liz said hi and I said hi, and she was telling me that things didn't have to be awkward between us and then she went all Mt. Vesuvius all over the side walk which was of course, awkward and then she started screaming and panting, so more awkward." Lorelai explains hurriedly, her free hand gesturing a mile a minute.

"I had to help her Luke, but she won't let me leave. Believe me, I tried, but she got scary, I mean really scary like suddenly the Exorcist seems tame to me scary and. . . ."

"Lorelai." He interrupts, taking a couple steps toward her. "It's fine. If my sister wants you here than you should be here. It's fine." Luke says his expression and tone unreadable. Lorelai begins to hate the word fine with a passion, knowing it had many synonyms. Luke reaches out to put a supportive hand on Liz's leg just as she has another large contraction. Liz screams and clamps down on both TJ and Lorelai's hands. Luke jumps back in horror.

AHHHHHHHHH!

"Liz! Ow, Lizzy, let go! You have to let go! Pain, can't feel my hand, dizzy, losing consciousness . . ." TJ utters sinking to his knees.

AHHHHHHHHH!

"Ow, ow, ow, okay, okay, Liz, look at me." Lorelai winces. "Breathe. Count it down with me, okay? 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5. . . okay were relaxing, the pains lessening, the contraction is waning . . . good. Now you can let go of my hand, good. Your doing great." She smiles at Liz encouragingly.

Liz lets out a deep breath and releases both their hands. TJ falls to the floor in a dramatic heap while Lorelai takes the one hand in the other, working the muscles and stretching all her fingers to make sure nothings broken. Luke stands, hunched over, his hands in front of his face as if he were being pelted by something.

The nurse walks through the door and checks the monitor, glancing around at the comical picture before her. "That was a good one. Keep that up and we'll have a baby soon." She says cheerily.

Luke peeks through his hands. "Okay, well it looks like you've got things under control here. I'm just going to get out of your way. I'll be out in the waiting room, waiting, in the waiting room, out there." He stumbles over his feet as he backs blindly out the door.

"Yeah, you know, I think I'll just go and make sure he finds it alright." TJ says pulling himself up off the floor.

"TJ!" Lorelai admonishes.

"I think he'll make it. Your needed here." The nurse says pointedly.

"Of course, I was just going to make sure he got settled and everything. Okay, let's do it!" He shouts, two fists in the air.

Lorelai rolls her eyes and turns to Liz, the women was sweating and shaking and staring at Lorelai beseechingly, with another sigh she offers her hand back to Liz.

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