Disclaimer: Chapter 1

Chapter 8

The weeks had passed and it was here. Lorelai's due date had arrived, much to her dismay and excitement. Of course her luck had it that she hadn't even had so much as one contraction on that particular day.

Two days after her due date, Lorelai was lounging on the couch while Katelyn was in the kitchen. Luke wanted to stay home from school until Lorelai went into labor, which William and Katelyn agreed to but Lorelai refused. Her argument was that they had no idea when she would go into labor and that Luke was not going to miss too many days of school because of him waiting around. She had made it clear that if the big event started while he was in school then William would go and get him seeing as Lorelai requested that if anyone were to stay home with her it's be Katelyn. Lorelai was trying to think of anything she could do to send her into labor but she was coming up with nothing. Well, that was until she felt a pain on the side of her stomach.

She sat up on the couch holding her stomach, waiting to see if anymore came. They did, fast.

"Kate?" Lorelai called out, her voice was crackling. Lorelai let out a small whimper as another pain hit her. "What do contractions feel like?"

Katelyn came racing out of the kitchen at the word contractions. "You're having contractions?"

"Tell me what they feel like and I'll let you know."

"It's a really, really bad pain in my stomach. How else do I describe it? The pain keeps coming super fast now."

Katelyn's eyes widen realizing that Lorelai's labor had already been going on for some time now. "Okay, let's go. We're stopping to tell Will then getting you to the hospital."

Whatever the plan was, Lorelai didn't care. She just cared that the plan ended with getting her baby out, so she just nodded. Their stop at the hardware store was quick but the drive to Hartford Memorial, well Lorelai would describe that ride as a two-hour long ride rather than thirty minutes, faster with the speed Katelyn was going. Katelyn had managed to get Lorelai registered and soon Lorelai was taken to a room where she all but demanded Katelyn be in the room with her.

Lorelai felt like an idiot when the doctor came in to talk to her. She had read the books and didn't even remember that back pain was a sign of labor. That had meant she was in labor for a few hours already.

"Look, I don't care how long I've been in labor, okay?! I just want her out!" Lorelai barked at the nurse.

"Don't worry. By morning you're going to have a baby."

"Well that's not happening until my boyfriend gets here, understand that. This already hurts like a bitch and I am not going through the process of birth without my boyfriend here so I can break his hand."

The nurse wasn't phased by what Lorelai had just said, it's what she deals with all day long. "Just use the ice chips, ma'am."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Sure. I'll use my ice chips alright," just as she said that, she popped one in her mouth and spit it out in the direction of the nurse resulting in her hitting Luke.

"What was that for?"

"She told me to use the ice chips! It's the only fun thing I can do around here."

Luke smiled but shook his head at Lorelai. Katelyn had pulled him to the side and gave him the going-ons. And he had to be honest, from hearing how Lorelai was reacting, Luke was petrified. But he had a role in this and he had to go be there for his girlfriend.

Katelyn left to go wait in the waiting room with William as Luke sat by Lorelai's side.

WAITING ROOM

"How's she doing?"

Katelyn let out a soft laugh. "She's spitting ice chips at the nurses. Even hit Luke with one by accident. Poor girl had been in labor for hours. But the nurse told her she'll have a baby by morning."

"Was she as bad as you in there?"

She shook her head. "Worse. She was cursing up a storm most of the time. Lorelai told the nurse she wasn't going to have a baby until her boyfriend came so she could break his hand."

"Our Lorelai has a wild side to her...never would have thought."

LORELAI'S ROOM

Lorelai's face was covered with sweat as she looked at Luke with sad puppy dog eyes. "This hurts, Luke. It's like doing splits on a crate of dynamite."

"Thanks for the imagery."

"Welcome." Lorelai went and grabbed Luke's hand. "The nurse said we'll have a baby by morning. Soon we're going to be holding our little girl, Luke."

Luke nodded and smiled. He felt bad Lorelai was going through the pain, but was relieved that she was distracting herself with positive thoughts. Of course, he was brought out of his thoughts by Lorelai squeezing the life out of his hand.

"It better be soon. This girl is so going to owe me for the rest of her life."

By the time three o'clock in the morning had struck, Lorelai was on her fifth cup of ice chips and Luke was filling a nearby trash can with paper towels as he had been the one to wipe up the melted ice before someone slipped on it. Another half hour went by when they were told Lorelai was ready to begin pushing. They had to wait a couple of minutes for the doctor to come in and while waiting, Lorelai took a firm grasp of Luke's hand.

"I'm sorry for any damage that is going to happen to your hand."

"I'm sure it can't amount to what you're feeling."

WAITING ROOM

Katelyn looked at her watch then at the door of Lorelai's room. As she looked up, she spotted a doctor walk in scrubbed up. "Looks like it's time," she said to Will.

"Remind me to praise the girl for lasting this long without any of that medication. Almost eighteen hours in that room."

The two sat in silence a few minutes before William picked up a conversation. "I'm proud of the two of them. Of course, I wasn't too thrilled when we found out she was pregnant...but to have gone through all of this as well as keeping up with school. That's a lot to handle for two sixteen year olds."

"Lorelai's been wonderful with forcing Luke in school. Even the fact that she didn't let him stay home these past few days. And how she has given up her own time to help Luke with homework or teach him new studying techniques...I never thought anyone was better for Luke than Lorelai."

"Rachel?"

"Oh please. Never. Those two were never sta-" Katelyn was cut off by and ear-piercing scream followed by Lorelai's voice.

"I JUST WANT HER OUT!"

Katelyn looked at William, "and we're almost there. Anyway what I was saying was those two were never stable. Rachel was always...flighty."

LORELAI'S ROOM

Minutes after Lorelai screaming, she and Luke were rewarded with the loud cries of their daughter. Lorelai slumped back against the mattress as the doctor handed her daughter over to the nurse.

After cleaning her up and wrapping her in a blanket, the nurse handed Rory over to Lorelai. Lorelai stroked her daughter's cheek with her finger only to have it taken in her daughter's grasp. Looking up at Luke, Lorelai smiled softly then she looked at the nurse.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you...and the ice chips..."

"Don't you worry about it. I get it all the time. You're one of the few that actually apologize," the nurse said as she walked out of the room.

Luke chuckled from his place next to Lorelai. The two looked at each other before giving the other a light kiss on the lips.

"It's so weird to say I have a daughter. We're parents. We're parents to the cutest baby girl," Lorelai said.

"I know. It's hard to believe that it's only been ten months since we met."

"And nine months later we're greeted with a little tiny baby. I never thought about having kids; never really saw myself as a parent...but I would have been missing out. This is one of the best feelings ever, even though we seriously just met her minutes ago. Here, I'm hogging her up."

Luke took his daughter-their daughter- from Lorelai and smiled down at her. "We're sticking with our original name?"

"Um...yes! After all that pain you better bet we're naming her after me."

"Just checking."

The new parents stayed in their positions, each looking down at their newborn for the next few minutes. Luke handed Rory back over to Lorelai.

"I'm going to go let my parents know. They'll probably want to come in here, though."

"That's fine," Lorelai replied giving Luke they 'okay' to leave the room. "That, little girl is your Daddy," Lorelai cooed at the baby knowing she hadn't even understood a word. "He's one of the best things that ever happened to me. Next to you, of course. Daddy is a great man. Play your cards right and you can get anything out of him."

WAITING ROOM

William looked up as he saw Luke walking over to them.

"She's here. Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Danes. Four oh three in the morning. Six pounds, seven ounces and eighteen inches."

"Can we see her?" Katelyn asked excitedly.

Luke nodded his head. "Come on, I'll take you there."

Luke and his parents stood outside the door and caught the end of the one-sided conversation Lorelai was have with Rory and all three shook their heads knowing it was true. The trio entered and saw Lorelai half sitting, half laying on the bed cuddling with the newest addition of the family.

Lorelai smiled up at the three of them and offered Rory to one of her grandparents. The two gladly took turns as Luke sat in the chair next to Lorelai's bed and Lorelai began dozing off. Before she could fall asleep though, a nurse came in and asked if she wanted to try nursing Rory which prompted William and Katelyn to go back to the waiting room...and Luke trying to make an escape.

"Where do you think you're going? You'll be with me at the house when I'm feeding her...plus it's not like you haven't seen them before."

And so after her first-and successful-attempt to nurse Rory, the elder Danes walked back in the room and the four sat and talked until Lorelai eventually fell asleep. Hey, eighteen hours of labor will do that to 'ya.