"Are you excited?" Lorelai asked two weeks later.
Luke looked at her from the driver's seat of the Jeep. "Yeah," he said. "Our lives are about to change."
"Finding out if we're going to have a Lucas Jr," Lorelai said, ignoring Luke's discouraging frown. "Or another little Lorelai."
"We are not naming our son after me," Luke replied.
"Why not? I named Rory after me," Lorelai said.
"That's different," Luke replied. "She goes by Rory, not Lorelai."
"Yeah, I guess it would be a little weird to have two Lukes," Lorelai admitted.
Luke pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine, then turned to look at Lorelai. "You ready?" he asked.
"Yup," Lorelai replied. As they walked hand in hand into the doctor's office, Lorelai said, "So I left my Fit Pregnancy magazine on the top of the recycle bin this morning."
"So?" Luke asked as he opened the door.
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "So….Everyone knows that Babette will come snooping around and see it, meaning that everyone in the town probably already knows that I'm pregnant."
"Good," Luke replied. "It was a dumb idea to call a town meeting to announce it."
"Hey, that was Sookie's idea, not mine," Lorelai replied.
"I know," Luke replied.
"So now's the fun part," Lorelai continued. "Everyone's going to be watching us and buying us presents."
"Damn small town," Luke said. "Why can't they just mind their own business?"
"Okay, grumpy, you sit there while I check us in," Lorelai said with a smile.
When she returned to his side a few minutes later, Lorelai looked at Luke. "You know that they're just trying to show us they care," she said. "In their own weird way."
"I know," Luke replied. "But when they start betting on whether the baby is going to be a boy or a girl, then I'll have something to say about it."
Lorelai laughed and patted his leg. "Then I give you permission to do whatever you want to them," she said.
A nurse appeared in the doorway. "Mr. and Mrs. Danes?"
Lorelai smiled as she stood up and followed the nurse, Luke following closely behind her. After taking Lorelai's weight and asking her the routine questions, the nurse handed her a hospital gown and told her the doctor would be in shortly.
"Luke, this is so exciting!" Lorelai said as she settled herself onto the examining table. "We're going to see our baby again!"
"I know," Luke replied. "But I still wish it would kick."
Lorelai rested a hand on her belly. "I can feel it," she said. "You probably won't have to wait too much longer."
The door opened and Dr. Tompkins entered. "Hello, Lorelai, Luke," he said. "I understand congratulations are in order."
Lorelai smiled as she intertwined her fingers with Luke's. "Thanks," she said.
"So do you have any questions before we get started?" Dr. Tompkins asked.
"Yes, is it normal that the baby still isn't moving enough for me to feel it?" Luke asked.
"Well, Lorelai is four months along, well into her second trimester," Dr. Tompkins replied. "And the measurements look good, so the baby should be developing normally. Now there is no exact time to say when the baby will start moving, but within the next couple of weeks it should be start moving."
Luke nodded, and Dr. Tompkins reached to turn on the ultrasound machine.
"We want to see if we can find out if it's a boy or a girl," Lorelai said.
"Usually that's possible at this time of the pregnancy, but it just depends on the position of the baby," Dr. Tompkins said. "Ready for the cold?"
Lorelai nodded and gasped only a little when se felt the gel on her stomach, but adjusted quickly. When Dr. Tompkins ran the wand over her stomach and the image appeared on the screen.
"There's the baby," he said, pointing. He moved the wand around, examining the screen closely. "Everything looks normal. Let me see if I can get to a position so we can see the sex."
Lorelai felt Luke squeeze her hand and she smiled up at him for a moment before she returned her eyes to the screen.
"All right," Dr. Tompkins said. "You're sure you want to know?"
Luke and Lorelai both nodded eagerly. "You're having a boy," Dr. Tompkins said softly.
"A boy…" Lorelai whispered, slowly moving her gaze to look at Luke. "A boy, Luke."
"A son," Luke repeated. "Wow…"
"I'll go print out the pictures and give you two a moment," Dr. Tompkins said as he stepped out of the room.
Lorelai leaned forward and pressed her lips to Luke's. "This is so amazing," she said. "A little boy."
"Thank you," Luke whispered. "Thank you so much."
"And thank you," Lorelai replied. She raised a hand to stroke his cheek. "I never thought I would have a son."
Luke placed a soft kiss on her hand, then Lorelai started to get dressed. When Dr. Tompkins came back a few minutes later, he handed the pictures to Luke and said, "Your next appointment should be at the beginning of the third trimester, and then you'll be coming every other week."
"Thank you, Dr." Lorelai said as she took Luke's hand.
When they were back in the car, Lorelai turned to Luke and said, "So, who should we call first?"
"Rory," Luke immediately replied.
"Okay," Lorelai replied. "But I'll just tell her to come home. I want to tell her together."
Luke smiled and reached over to take her hand.
XXXX
When they drove into the driveway half an hour later, Luke asked, "What the hell is going on?"
There was a group of people, with Babette and Patty in the front, mulling around in the front yard.
"Well, I'll put my money on Babette finding the pregnancy magazine," Lorelai replied.
"And now they're going to be watching us constantly," Luke replied.
Lorelai patted his leg. "Hey, you live here, babe," she said.
"We should consider moving," Luke grumbled.
"Oh, cheer up," Lorelai said good naturedly. "How often to you get to announce that you're going to have a son?"
That brought a grin to Luke's face. "You're right," he said with a sigh.
They got out of the car and Babette immediately walked over to Lorelai. "Suga, is it true?" she asked. "Are you pregnant?"
"Yes, Babette," Lorelai replied.
"Is that why you got married?" Patty asked.
"No," Lorelai replied. "It just worked out that way."
Luke, who was standing off to the side, rolled his eyes when Kirk approached him. "What do you want, Kirk?"
"Well, I just received my First Aid and child care certification from the state of Connecticut…" Kirk began.
"No chance in hell, Kirk," Luke said.
"But Luke…"
"You're never going to be responsible for my son."
"Even if…"
"Never going to happen."
Kirk sighed and walked away, defeated. Lorelai walked over to Luke and slipped her arm through his as they began walking towards the house.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Lorelai asked as Luke unlocked the door.
"Kirk wants to be in charge of baby sitting," Luke replied.
Lorelai's hands instinctively went to her belly, as if protecting her baby from the words. "No way is he ever coming near our baby," she said.
"That's what I said," Luke replied, ushering Lorelai into the house.
"Good boy," Lorelai said, giving him a quick peck as she walked towards the couch. "Can you press the messages?" she asked as Luke walked into the kitchen.
Luke pressed the button, and they both immediately regretted his doing so.
"Lorelai, this is your mother. I read about your wedding in the paper. Honestly, Lorelai, not even informing us of when your marriage is. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to explain to our friends that we weren't even aware that our daughter was getting married, let alone why they weren't invited? And those were the same people we had to explain why you never graduated high school. And now you're pregnant, Lorelai, this is absolutely…"
The machine cut Emily's message off, and Lorelai buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God, Luke," she groaned. "Why does she have to spoil every good moment of my life?"
Luke sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Maybe you should call her," he said softly. "Just to explain things to her."
Lorelai sighed. "I should," she said softly. "I mean, they are paying for Yale and everything."
Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, you know, we're married now," he started.
Lorelai laughed as she lifted her head to look at him. "Is that why I've been wearing this band on my finger for the past couple days?" she asked in amusement.
"What I meant," Luke said with an exaggerated eye roll. "Is that we're married, and I have some money saved away."
Lorelai sat up and stared at Luke seriously. "What are you saying?" she asked.
"I want to pay for Yale," Luke replied.
"Luke, no," Lorelai replied immediately.
"Why not?" Luke asked. "It's not like it was a few years ago. We're married now, you're not taking a loan from me."
"Luke, you've worked hard for that money," Lorelai replied. "really, I would rather that you save the money for something you want."
"I want to do this," Luke replied.
"Well, then we can save it for this little one's college tuition," Lorelai replied. "Luke, I can't ask you to give away all the money you've worked so hard for to pay for Rory's school. Especially since my parents are paying for it."
Luke looked down at his lap. "I thought we were in this together," he said. "I consider Rory my daughter just as much as I consider that baby my son."
Lorelai leaned forward and cradled Luke's face in her hands. "I know you do," she said. "And that's why I love you. But my parents get a cheaper deal for being alumni anyways. It works well."
"Except she's keeping this over your head," Luke countered.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Lorelai asked.
"Because every time that you have any contact with your mother, you come home moping and crying, and it takes you days to get back to normal!" Luke replied.
"So it's so terrible having to comfort me," Lorelai replied. "So bad that you would offer to pay thousands of dollars a year to get out of it."
"That's not…" Luke paused in mid argument. "Is this a mood swing?" he asked. "Cause you haven't really had any of those, but I was kind of hoping…."
He was interrupted when Lorelai rolled her eyes and stood from the couch. She marched up the stairs and a moment later Luke heard the door to their bedroom slam loudly.
With a sigh, he climbed the stairs and knocked on the door. "Lorelai?" no response. "I'm sorry, Lorelai. I shouldn't have said those things. And I think it's fine that you're okay with your parents paying for Yale."
The door opened and Lorelai stood before him, looking angrier that he'd ever seen her. He instinctively took a step backwards.
"Yale?" Lorelai cried. "Luke, this is not about Yale! This is about you hating me!"
"What?" Luke asked. "Lorelai, that is the stupidest thing I ever heard."
"Great, so now I'm stupid," Lorelai replied with a sniffle.
"Lorelai!" Luke said firmly. "Would I have planned that entire wedding for you if I didn't love you? Would I be here right now? You know that I love you more than life itself."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said. "Just…go to the diner or something."
"I'm not going anywhere," Luke replied, folding his arms across his chest and staring at her.
Lorelai slammed the door in his face.
With a sigh, Luke started back down the stairs. He sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands. He didn't even know how his offer to pay for Rory's school had turned into an argument about the sincerity of his love for her.
XXXXX
That night, Lorelai sat on her bed, flipping through a magazine. She wasn't mad anymore, but she didn't want to break down and tell Luke that she didn't even know why she had gotten mad at him in the first place. So she'd stayed in the room all night.
A knock on the door brought her back to reality. "Lorelai? Are you going to come out yet? Because it's getting kind of late."
"There are extra blankets in the closet downstairs," Lorelai replied.
"Lorelai, can't we talk about this?" Luke pleaded. "You can't stay locked up there forever."
"Good night, Luke," Lorelai replied.
With a sigh, Luke turned and walked down the stairs. He set up the couch, but when he lay down, sleep was the last thing on his mind.
As he lay in bed staring at the ceiling, he wondered if there was something that he should have done differently, to make Lorelai less mad at him. He felt guilty, even though deep down he knew that it was mood swing and she would get over it.
Suddenly, there were footsteps on the stairs. Luke turned to see Lorelai standing on the landing, looking down at him. "Luke?" she asked timidly.
Luke immediately scooted over on the couch bed so that she would have room to climb in with him.
"I'm sorry," Lorelai whispered as she rested her head on his chest and clung to him tightly.
"It's okay," Luke replied.
"No, it's not," Lorelai replied. "I got so upset with you, and I don't even know why."
"It's just part of the deal," Luke replied. "I'm tough, I can handle being yelled at every now and then."
Lorelai smiled slightly. "All I could think about was you sleeping down here alone, and I just…I couldn't even remember why I was so mad at you."
"It's okay, Lorelai," Luke assured her. "I know that your body's going through a lot of big changes right now. Beautiful ones," he added quickly when he saw the expression on Lorelai's face.
"You're so good to me," Lorelai whispered, pressing her forehead to his. "I hate to ruin this happy time in our lives by bringing my mother in."
"Just call her and see what she wants," Luke replied. "Maybe she just wants to see what's going on with the baby."
Lorelai shrugged. "I'll call her in the morning," she replied. "But for now…we've got some major make up sex in our near future."
Luke grinned as she pulled on his hand and led him up the stairs.
XXXXXXXX
The next morning, at the inn, Lorelai wandered into the kitchen. "Sookie, do you need help with anything?" she asked.
Sookie smiled. "No, Lorelai," she replied. "And I know that you're just putting off calling your mother."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I don't want to talk to her," she replied. "Not after she insulted Luke and sent Christopher to the house to try and break us up again. And now…"
"Lorelai, there is a woman here to see you," Michel interrupted, stepping into the kitchen.
"Who?" Lorelai asked.
Michel rolled his eyes. "I am not a secretary," he replied. "Find out for yourself."
Lorelai rolled her eyes at Sookie, then pushed past Michel. When she got to the front desk, she stopped short when she saw her mother sitting on a chair in front of the window.
"Mom?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
Emily stood up. "Hello, Lorelai," she said. "You look wonderful."
Lorelai stood silently for a moment before she said, "Thank you."
"Is there somewhere we might be able to speak in private?" Emily asked.
"What's wrong with right here?" Lorelai asked.
"I want to have a private discussion with you, Lorelai," Emily replied. "I tried to do that by leaving a message on your machine, but you didn't seem to have the common courtesy to call you back."
"I didn't get the message til late, Mom," Lorelai lied. "And I was going to call you back today. But since you're here, you might as well tell me what you want."
Emily stood tall for a moment, then said, "I want to know why you didn't invite us to your wedding."
Lorelai sighed. "The wedding was a present, Mom," she said. "I didn't know about it until I got there."
"That's ridiculous," Emily replied. "Who planned the wedding?"
"Luke," Lorelai replied. "Now, do you have something that you actually wanted to do besides criticize my husband?"
Emily pursed her lips. "I'm happy for you, Lorelai," she said. "I want you to know that."
Lorelai looked at her closely for a moment. "Thank you," she said.
"And I want to be here for your baby," Emily added. "I missed watching Rory grow up."
"Mom, I'm not going to stop you from seeing this baby," Lorelai replied. "But the second you start telling me and Luke how to raise him, it's going to be over."
"Him?" Emily repeated. "You're having a boy?"
Lorelai softened as she saw Emily's excitement. "Yes," she replied.
"That's wonderful, Lorelai," Emily said.
"Thank you," Lorelai replied.
"And…when you're ready, I'd really like you to come back to Friday Night Dinner," Emily said.
Lorelai nodded. "Maybe I'll come this week," she said. "I'll have to check with Luke though."
Emily nodded. "All right," she said. "Just give me a call when you've figured out whether you can come or not. I'll let you get back to work now."
Lorelai nodded. "Thanks for coming by, Mom," she said.
Emily smiled, surprised at Lorelai's statement. "You're welcome," she replied.
Lorelai watched her mother leave, and she couldn't help but wonder if things were going to be different.
As she walked around the desk, the phone rang and she reached for it.
"Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai speaking."
"Lorelai, I think you should come home."
"Luke?" Lorelai asked, feeling a sudden panic. "What's wrong?"
"Well, Rory came to the diner to talk to me…" Luke started. "And, well, I think that you need to come home and talk to her."
"Is she okay?" Lorelai asked as she grabbed her keys and purse from her office.
"Yes," Luke replied. "But…hurry. Be careful, but hurry."
Lorelai knew that something must have really been up. Luke never acted so evasive unless he was hiding something or he was really concerned about something. Either way, she knew that she had to get home quickly to see what was going on.