5 – They never cease to amaze you
Lorelai had managed to avoid the towns people for almost twenty-four hours, by not leaving her house after coming home from Woodbridge the previous day. But if she didn't get to the inn soon, Michel would skin her alive.
She knew Rory had talked to Miss Patty and Babette the day before, so she didn't doubt that all of Stars Hollow would know by now. She had half expected people to be banging on the door the night before, but it had been a quiet night with lots of movies and junk food.
Still, she had to face the music sooner or later. Only she would prefer it to be later.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the front door and peeked out. No Babette on her porch or anywhere to be seen. Strange. She took a cautious step outside, but still nothing. Looking over at Babette and Morey's house, she noticed that the blinds were still closed. Were they asleep? But it was after ten?
Shrugging to herself, she closed the door behind her and walked to the car. As she reached for the handle, she remembered what the doctor had said about exercising more, so she decided to walk instead, she might as well enjoy the weather while it lasted.
As she got to the center of town, she was surprised to find it almost deserted. A few kids were riding their bikes in the streets and a young couple were sitting by the gazebo, watching a dog play, but other than that the square was empty. She could see Ceasar waiting on a few customers in the diner, but none of the usual breakfast rush. Weird.
Looking over at Miss Patty's dance studio, she noticed that the sliding doors were shut, and she couldn't hear any sounds coming from it. This was just getting more and more suspicious. Had the whole town come down with the flu or something?
Frowning, Lorelai continued her walk to the inn. Remembering she had forgotten her keys when she left the house, she called home to ask Rory to bring them by the inn later. But there was no answer.
"What the hell is going on?" She mumbled to herself, calling Rory's cell instead, but it went straight to voice mail. When she had left the house, Rory had still been in bed, dead to the world, but Lorelai knew that she never turned her phone off, even at night, in case Logan called.
As she walked up the steps to the inn, she checked her watch. Ten thirty-five. Michel would not be happy, but she could deal with him later. She opened the door and walked in, only to find the foyer deserted. Where the hell was Michel?
"Michel?" She called into the seemingly empty inn. "Sookie?"
"In the dining room!" She heard Sookie reply, and followed her voice.
"Do you know what's going?" She asked, pushing the door to the dining room, which never used to be closed, open. "The town's completely..."
"SURPRISE!" The entire room was filled with people, yelling and throwing confetti at her. Lorelai pressed her hand to her chest, thinking her heart would jump out of her body.
"My God, you scared me!" She exclaimed, but everyone just smiled.
"Were you surprised?" Rory asked, coming up to her.
"Surprised? That's the understatement of the year!" Lorelai replied. "What are you doing here, you were asleep when I left fifteen minutes ago?"
"I was just faking." Rory smiled mischievously. "Did I fool you?"
"You could say that." Lorelai nodded. "What is all this?"
"It's a baby shower, honey." Miss Patty announced, waving her hands around to show a table full of gifts and a large cake shaped like a stork. "When Rory told us, we knew we had to do something right away, or we wouldn't get the element of surprise."
"Oh, you got it alright." Lorelai replied, feeling her still overexcited heart beating way too fast.
"I'm sorry, we really didn't mean to scare you, especially not in your condition." Patty frowned, looking Lorelai up and down. "Maybe you should sit down?"
"No, I'm fine, just a little surprised is all." Lorelai smiled reassuringly.
"Hey, sugar, congratulations!" Lorelai heard from the crowd, and saw Babette rushing towards her. "We were so happy when Rory told us, we just couldn't wait to talk to you, but then Patty came up with this, and I thought, hey, what a great idea, why didn't I think of that? So here we are."
"Are you at least excited?" Rory asked, a small frown on her face.
"Oh, babe, I'm more than excited, this is amazing, I can't believe you guys would do this." Lorelai felt tears rising in her eyes. Damn pregnancy hormones! She angrily wiped at them.
"At a time like this, you need the whole town behind you one hundred percent." Kirk said, coming up to her. "We want you to know that we support you, no matter what Lu..."
"Kirk!" Lulu cut him off. "Sorry." She gave Lorelai an apologetic smile. "Remember what we said about mentoining the 'L' word?" They heard her lecture Kirk as she led him to the other side of the room.
Lorelai just smiled, amazed by the amount of care and love and support that could fit into a town the size of Stars Hollow. They never did cease to amaze her.
"Hey, hon, you have to try the cake!" Sookie said, giving Lorelai a hug. "I made it with this amazing..."
Lorelai tuned Sookie out for a moment, knowing she would go on about the cake for at least ten minutes. Allowing her thoughts to wander for a moment, she imagined what it would have been like if Luke had been there to share this with her.
"... and you haven't listened to a word I've been saying." Lorelai heard Sookie say in a hurt voice, and snapped out of the daydream.
"I'm sorry, Sook, I just got a little... sentimental or something, I guess." Lorelai said, squeezing Sookie's arm. "I can't wait to taste the cake."
"It's really good, I had a sneak taste earlier." A voice came from behind them, and they both turned around to find Liz and T.J.
"Liz, hi, I'm glad you're here." Lorelai gave her a hug.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Liz replied.
"T.J., how're you doing?" Lorelai asked, and T.J. shrugged. He was still a little hesitant towards Lorelai, but Liz was working on him.
"It's up and down." He now said.
"Ignore him." Liz said, taking Lorelai's arm, the one Sookie wasn't holding on to. "So, were you surprised?"
"Surprised? You have no idea." Lorelai replied.
"Good. Rory called me last night and told me, and I thought it was a great idea." Liz said. "This way the whole town can pitch in a little, I know they really want to."
"Yeah, I figured as much." Lorelai nodded. "I can't believe the amount of presents."
"Oh, I know, there's like hundreds." Liz agreed.
"Hey, Lorelai, there's someone here who wants to see you." Sookie said, looking in the direction of the foyer.
"Other than the entire town?" Lorelai joked, following Sookie's gaze. A small smile spread on her face, and she detached herself from Sookie and Liz, walking over to the new arrivals. "Mom, dad, hi. What are you doing here?" She said, giving her father a hug, and then, slightly more uncomfortable, hugging her mother as well.
"Well, Rory called us last night, and we just couldn't miss it." Richard said, holding up a large wrapped box. "Where can I put this?"
"I think it goes on the table over there." Lorelai said, indicating the table overcrowded with gifts. Richard went to free himself of his burden.
"This was a very nice gesture." Emily said.
"It was." Lorelai agreed. "I had no idea they had it in them."
"People surprise you, every now and then." Emily noted.
"They sure do." Lorelai nodded, looking at her mother. Their relationship seemed to be getting better, and she was grateful. They no longer fought every time they had to spend more than ten minutes in the same room, and Lorelai liked the change.
"It's nice to know that there are people here who care about you and Rory." Emily said. "Since you're father and I are all the way in Hartford."
"It's not that far away, mom." Lorelai countered.
"I know, but still."
xxxxx
"Hey, you having fun?" Rory asked an hour later, dropping down next to Lorelai on a couch.
"A blast." Lorelai replied. "Thank you." She squeezed her daughter's shoulders.
"Don't look at me, it was all Patty." Rory defended herself.
"I know, but thanks anyway."
"Aren't you glad we didn't go shopping for the nursery yet?" Rory asked.
Lorelai had put off buying furniture for the nursery, partly because the pregnancy was still in an early stage, but also because she didn't even know if she'd be able to add a nursery to the house. Now she had received gifts such as a crib, cradle, changing table, clothes in all colors and sizes, stuffed animals, toys and everything else she would ever need in the first six months of the baby's life.
"Sure am, kid." Lorelai answered, looking at the table were all the gifts were sitting. "Now I just need a nursery to put them in."
"I think I saw Tom around here somewhere." Rory said, looking around the room.
"Nah, I'll call him later." Lorelai waved aside. "This is a party."
"Exactly." Rory agreed, pulling Lorelai up from the couch. "Come on, let's go play 'pin the diaper to the baby'!"
xxxxx
Lorelai waited as the phone rang a couple of times before Tom's voice came over the line.
"Hello?"
"You really should answer your business phone a little more businessy." Lorelai joked.
"This from a woman who uses the word 'businessy' which I'm pretty sure isn't even a real word?" Tom replied.
"You got me." Lorelai laughed.
"So, what can I do for you?" Tom asked.
"I was wondering if you could do another proposition for an extention on my house?" Lorelai wondered.
"I thought you didn't have enough money?"
"Number one, never say that to a customer, number two, I've come into some unexpected money, and I really need that addition as soon as possible." Lorelai said.
"Sure, I'll get right on it." Tom agreed. "An extra room on the upper floor, right?"
"Actually, I'd like to add two rooms, one downstairs and one upstairs, if that's possible?"
"Where would you like the downstairs room?" Tom asked.
"I was thinking where the back porch is now, I mean, we don't really need it since we have the front one." Lorelai said.
"So off the kitchen, right?"
"Exactly." Lorelai confirmed.
"I'll get right on it, and I'll have a rough draft to you by tomorrow afternoon, that sound good?"
"That sounds wonderful, you're an angel." Lorelai replied.
"You're just saying that so I'll get the work done faster." Tom grumbled.
"That depends. Did it work?"
xxxxx
"Good evening." The door to the Gilmore house was opened, and Lorelai took a step back in surprise. She looked at Rory who had the same slightly shocked appearance that was no doubt on Lorelai's face as well. For the first time in the history of Friday night dinners, the same maid had opened the door two Fridays in a row.
"Good evening, we're here for dinner." Lorelai managed to get out.
"Oh, yes, of course. Please come in." The girl stepped aside to let them in.
"So, just out of curiousity, how long have you worked here now?" Lorelai couldn't keep herself from asking, earning a pinch in the side from Rory. "Ouch!"
"Don't ask her that!" Rory hissed, but the maid didn't seem to have noticed as she walked ahead of them towards the living room.
"I have been here ever since Mr and Mrs Gilmore came home from Europe, so almost two weeks now." She answered.
"Wow, that must be a new record." Lorelai mumbled, getting a frown over the shoulder from the maid. "Nothing."
"Do you think Grandma is sick?" Rory whispered.
"I don't know, but there must be something going on." Lorelai replied in the same hushed tone.
"Lorelai, Rory!" Emily explaimed as they entered the living room. "How wonderful to see you!"
"It's nice to see you too, mom." Lorelai replied, returning her mother's enthusiastic hug a little less overexcited.
"How are you feeling, is everything alright?" Emily asked and Lorelai nodded.
"Everything's fine, the morning sickness seems to have finally stopped, so that's great." Lorelai answered.
"I remember morning sickness." Emily said, a slightly disgusted look on her face. "Oh, how I hated it."
"Tell me about it." Lorelai agreed. "Now, the only draw back is the fact that I can't drink coffee."
"Right, the doctor told you to stay off caffeine." Emily remembered.
"Well, that too, but it's not a problem since the mere smell of coffee makes me sick." Lorelai complained. "I don't know how I'll survive the next five and a half months."
"Or the rest of us." Rory said under her breath.
"I heard that!" Lorelai slapped Rory playfully on the thigh.
"Do I need to seperate you two?" Emily asked in a light voice.
"No, Grandma, we'll be good." Rory promised.
"Oh, girls, you're already here, good." Richard said, entering the living room.
"Hi Grandpa." Rory stood to give her grandfather a hug.
"Rory, it's good to see you. Are you excited about going back to Yale next week?" He asked.
"It's going to be great." Rory replied.
"You just want to get away from your crazy, hormonal mother." Lorelai said grumpily.
"I'm sure that's not true." Richard assured her. "Hello, Lorelai, how are you doing?"
"I'm great, dad, just caffeine deprived." Lorelai replied.
"Don't ask about it." Rory quickly intervened, and Richard frowned.
"Alright, I won't. Have you talked to a contractor about the extension?" He went with instead, and Lorelai nodded.
"I have, Tom gave me a suggestion the other day, I thought you could have a look at it before I gave him the check." She pulled out a couple of papers from her purse and handed them to Richard.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that, I trust you to make the right decision." Richard said, looking at the papers.
"Yeah, I just wanted you to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off or anything." Lorelai joked.
"Well, this looks quite alright." Richard said, giving the papers back to Lorelai. "I see you're adding two rooms?"
"Yeah, I want April to have a room if she wants to stay over sometime." Lorelai said. She hadn't mentioned the fact that April would be activelly involved in their lives to her parents yet.
"April? But that's..." Emily didn't fininsh the sentence, knowing Lorelai didn't like talking about Luke.
"Yeah, it is." Lorelai nodded.
"How come she knows about this?" Emily asked.
"I wanted her to have the option to know her brother or sister, so I talked to her mom who agreed to let her know." Lorelai explained. "Just think about it this way, how would Rory have felt if Sherry didn't want her to know GiGi?"
"Well, when you put it that way." Emily agreed.
"So we decided that we would get to know eachother over the next couple of months, and then April could spend weekends with us if she wanted to and stuff like that." Lorelai continued.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Richard nodded. "It's always nice with a big family."
"That reminds me." Lorelai said, giving Rory a nudge.
"Oh, right!" She reached into her purse and pulled out a neatly wrapped parcel, handing it to Emily.
"What's this?" Emily asked, looking at the present.
"Well, mom, in the modern world that is known as a present or a gift." Lorelai quipped, and Emily raised an eyebrow at her.
"I know what it is, Lorelai, I was just wondering what the occasion was?" She replied dryly.
"No occasion, just a little something for you and dad." Lorelai shrugged. Emily was still looking at her suspiciously. "It's not going to explode or anything, just open it!"
Emily finally started unwrapping the present, still a little cautious. When she finally had the picture frame in her hands, Lorelai could tell that she was touched.
"Is this...?" She asked, touching the picture carefully.
"It's a picture of the baby." Lorelai confirmed, and Emily smiled slightly.
"Let me see." Richard said, taking the picture from Emily. "I can't see a thing." He announced, and Emily snatched the photo back.
"Of course you can't you're a man!" She declared, going over to sit next to Lorelai and Rory.
"See, that's the head right there." Lorelai pointed, and Emily nodded.
"And look at those tiny feet!" She gushed, and Lorelai smiled at her father. He had been right in thinking her mother would come around.
xxxxx
"So? How long will it take?" Lorelai asked, following Tom around the kitchen. She had managed to convinve him to come over on a Saturday afternoon, wanting the work on the house to start as soon as possible.
"I will be able to make a much more accurate estimation if you stop following me around!" Tom exclaimed, and Lorelai paused for a moment.
"So how long?" She asked a couple of minutes later, and Tom sighed.
"About six weeks, give or take a little." He said.
"Six weeks?" Lorelai frowned a little. She had really hoped to have it done by the middle of September.
"I could have it done in four if you moved out, then we'd be able to work on both rooms at the same time." Tom offered, and Lorelai nodded.
"That sounds great, I'll stay at the inn or somewhere." She said, taking out the blank check from her father. "So, how much?"
xxxxx
"Hey, kid, you don't have to try on everything you own!" Anna called from the kitchen. April had been in her bedroom for the past hour, rejecting outfit after outfit. Anna didn't know what she was so nervous about.
"I'm done." April announced, coming into the kitchen wearing the first thing she had tried on over an hour earlier, a pair of embroided jeans and a pink top.
"You look really nice, sweetie, but what's with the big clothes problem?" Anna asked, stirring the pasta sauce she was cooking for their dinner with Lorelai and Rory.
"I just want them to like me." April said, looking at her feet.
"Oh, honey, why wouldn't they like you?" Anna frowned.
"I don't know." April said avoidingly.
"Oh, I think you do." Anna pushed.
"It's just... after the party, I thought we had a good time, but then Luke said that we wouldn't be seeing Lorelai, so I just figured she didn't like me. I know you told him that you didn't want me to see her, but I thought that she would at least argue about it." April's voice sounded small, and Anna inwardly cursed herself. She hadn't thought about how April would react to not seeing Lorelai after the party, all that had been on her mind was to protect her daughter from getting hurt.
"Well, looks like I have to make a confession." She said, putting the lid on the pot with the sauce and sitting down at the table. April followed, sitting down opposite her mother.
"What?" She asked.
"Remember how you overheard your dad and I talking about Lorelai?" Anna asked and April nodded. "Well, I also talked to Lorelai."
"You did?"
"Yeah. She came over, I guess Luke told her about what I'd said, and she wanted to explain the whole party thing and I basically told her that I didn't want her to see you."
"Why?" April frowned.
"I got scared that you would get really attached to her, and then when she and your dad broke up, you would get hurt." Anna explained.
"How could you know they would break up?" April asked.
"I didn't, not really, it was just a safety precaution." Anna reached across the table and took her daughter's hand in hers. "But I happen to know that she did like you, a lot."
"Really?" April's face brightened. "How?"
"Because she told me that you guys had a lot of fun, and that she really wanted to get to know you." Anna said.
"Really?" April repeated.
"Really really." Anna replied. At that moment, the door bell rang. "That's Lorelai and Rory. Why don't you let them in, I have to finish the food?" Anna went back to the stove, and April ran to open the door.
"Hi April." Anna heard two voices from the hallway, and then April's reply before the trio came into the kitchen.
"Hey you guys, dinner will be ready in about ten minutes." Anna said, turning the heat down on the sauce before turning to greet her guests. "Did you find it OK?"
"Yeah, it was easy." Lorelai said, and Rory frowned.
"Easy? You made four wrong turns!" She announced, getting the evil eye from her mother.
"Remember how we were going to keep that information to ourselves?" Lorelai asked in a sweet voice shooting daggers at her daughter. Anna laughed.
"Don't worry about it, eveyone who's not from the town has trouble finding their way at first." She reassured Lorelai, who smiled a little.
"Thanks." She said. "So, do you want any help?"
"Well, actually..."
"Do not let her near the stove!" Rory cut her off.
"Rory!"
"I don't think it's considered polite to burn your host's house down." Rory said, giving her mother a stern look.
"Fine." Lorelai surrendered, crossing her arms in front of her. Anna watched the scene between mother and daughter with a smile on her face. Their interaction reminded her so much of her relationship with April.
"I was actually going to say that you could set the table." She said, and Rory let out a sigh of relief.
"That I can do!" Lorelai announced, finding the plates in a cupboard.
xxxxx
"So, how is everything going with the pregnancy?" Anna asked half an hour later as they were eating.
"So far, so good." Lorelai said, swallowing a mouthfull of pasta. "The morning sicknes finally stopped, so it's pretty good."
"I never got morning sickness with April, people kept telling me how lucky I was." Anna said.
"That is so not fair!" Lorelai exlaimed. "I could hardly eat before ten for the first five months with Rory, though this time around was a little better."
"How far along are you?"
"About fourteen weeks." Lorelai said.
"So that would meen..." Anna counted on her fingers. "Sometime in February?"
"The doctor said around February fifth." Lorelai nodded.
"Do you know if it's a boy of a girl?" April asked.
"You can't really tell yet, it's too early." Lorelai explained. "And I think I want it to be a surprise. I think it's a boy, though. Just a feeling."
"Maternal instinct." Anna said in an understanding voice.
"Exactly." Lorelai nodded.
"A little brother, that's so cool." April announced. "Can I see him whenever I want?"
"Of couse you can, you'll be his or her big sister." Lorelai assured her.
"Should we tell her about the surprise?" Rory asked, and Lorelai nodded.
"What surprise?" April asked.
"Well, our house isn't that big, it's really just my room and mom's room other than the kitchen and living room." Rory said. "So we had to add a room for the baby, and while we were at it, we thought we'd add a room for you too, so you can stay over if you want to."
Lorelai looked over at Anna to see if she had a problem with the idea, but she was just smiling at the excited look on her daughter's face.
"Really? My own room?" She asked in awe.
"Yup. And you can decorate it anyway you want!" Rory continued. "And we're all going to help with the nursery, too."
"Really? Can I, mom, can I help decorate the nursery and my room?" She looked at her mother, excitement evident on her face, and Anna nodded.
"Sure you can, baby."
xxxxx
Later, when April had gone to her room to get ready for bed, and Rory was warming up the car, Lorelai and Anna were left alone on the front porch for a moment.
"Sorry about springing the whole room thing on you like that." Lorelai apologized, but Anna shook her head.
"It's not a problem. This way, she won't have to sleep on the couch." She reasoned.
"I was going to talk to you about it first, but we got a little carried away." Lorelai explained.
"Don't worry about it." Anna assured her. "We both know that she'll want to stay over a lot, so it's better that she has a room of her own."
"That's what I thought too." Lorelai agreed. "So you're OK with it?"
"For the last time, yes!" Anna exlaimed. "Is it always going to be like this, you being afraid of doing something I won't approve of?"
"I don't know." Lorelai replied honestly.
"I guess I have myself to blame for it." Anna reasoned. "All I can say is that things are different now. You and Rory and this baby will always be a part of our lives from now on, and I'm OK with that. More than OK actually. So don't worry about consulting me on every little thing that concerns April, OK?"
"OK, I won't." Lorelai said, relieved.
"Just give me a heads up if you're planning on selling her to the circus, OK?" Anna joked, and Lorelai joined in her laugh.
"Will do." She promised, a smile on her face. This was going to work.