Sorry for the delay! I've had a busy week and I've not had time to write! Anyways, here's the next chapter! :)

Chapter 8

The door to Rory's bedroom opened slowly. "Rory?" A quiet but excited voice said.

Rory looked up sleepily. "LJ?" She said. She glanced at the clock and groaned. "It's 5 in the morning, bro."

"But he came!" LJ said earnestly. "Santa came!"

Rory groaned and buried her head into her pillow. "It's still 5 in the morning." She mumbled sleepily.

LJ ran over to her bed and jumped up on it. "But it's Christmas!" He said excited.

Rory turned over sleepily but couldn't help but smile at the excited face of her brother. She could remember getting as excited when she was younger. "I know, I know." She sighed, finally giving up going back to sleep and sitting up. "Did you see any presents?" She smiled.

LJ nodded excitedly. "Lots and lots! Santa came!" He beamed.

Rory chuckled. "He sure did."

Suddenly another head peeked round the door.

Rory laughed. "Not you as well."

"LJ woke me up first." Katie said but Rory could tell she was as excited.

"Katie, Santa came!" LJ repeated.

"I know." Katie smiled at her younger brother. "I bet he knew just how much of a good boy you've been this year." She said.

LJ beamed.

"Come and sit with us." Rory smiled at Katie.

Katie grinned and jumped up on the bed as well and as LJ started babbling on excitedly about Santa and all the presents and Katie listened patiently, Rory sat there and smiled at her younger siblings. These were the moments to treasure. She remembered being just as excited when she was Katie's age and she didn't want her brother and sister to lose that excitement.

"Let's go wake mommy and daddy!" LJ beamed jumping off the bed.

"Whoa, wait a minute mister!" Rory stopped him. "I know you're excited but I'm doing this for your own good. At least wait another hour before you go to their room or else I think daddy really will kill us." She joked.

LJ giggled but jumped back up on his sister's bed, cuddling into her.

About an hour later, Rory followed Katie and LJ upstairs and smirked as they went charging into their parents' room.

"It's Christmas!" LJ exclaimed jumping onto their bed.

"You couldn't have waited until 7?" Luke groaned, spotting Rory at the door.

"Hey, they wanted to come in at 5. I gave you another hour's sleep. You should be grateful." She grinned.

"Oh yeah, very grateful." Luke said dryly but couldn't help but smile as his son launched himself at him.

"Santa came!" LJ said excitedly.

"He has?" Luke played. "Wow!"

Lorelai smirked and sat up as well. She cuddled Katie who had jumped up onto her side of the bed. She smiled as she saw Rory standing by the door. "Too old to jump on your parents' bed now huh?" She joked.

Rory grinned. "Nah just thought I'd let them wake you up first so I wouldn't get the grief." She joked going and sitting down on the bed.

"So they woke you up at 5?" Lorelai smirked.

"Yep. And as much as I tried to ignore them and go back to sleep, that little one just wouldn't let me." Rory joked, pointing to LJ.

Lorelai grinned "Well they just love their big sister." She said.

"Yeah well I'm quite lovable." Rory grinned.

"Right, come on then. I'm guessing you're not going to let us sleep anymore so I'll go get started on breakfast." Luke said getting up. "First one to the kitchen gets to open the first present." He smirked.

LJ and Katie ran out the door after him, giggling.

Rory glanced at her mom and smiled, giving her a hug. "Merry Christmas, mom."

"Merry Christmas, hon." Lorelai smiled.

After breakfast, everyone gathered in the living room where LJ was waiting impatiently under the tree. Katherine, Liz and Jess had arrived along with Emily and Richard, who was recovering well from his health scare.

"Oh Lucas, put him out of his misery and let him open a present already." Katherine laughed as LJ was getting restless.

Luke smirked. "Go on then." He said and chuckled as LJ launched at a present.

The unwrapping of the presents lasted over an hour but there were shrieks of excitement as the kids opened their presents and found lots of what they had asked for. As it got down to the last few presents, everyone started watching everyone else.

It was Rory's turn and she picked one up that was from Katherine. She opened it and was surprised to find a pearl necklace. She looked next to her at her Grandma confused. "This is yours..." She said.

"I thought it would suit you." Katherine said softly.

"But..." Rory said.

"I want you to have it. Please." Katherine said quietly.

Rory felt tears prick her eyes as she knew what Katherine was implying. She gave her a hug. "Thank you." She said quietly. "I'll treasure it forever."

Katherine fought back tears of her own and forced a smile onto her face. "I'm glad you like it." She said softly.

"I love you Grandma." Rory said quietly, exchanging a glance with Jess who was on the other side of her.

"I love you too." Katherine said.

"I...uh...I'm just going to go check on the turkey." Luke said getting up and going to the kitchen.

Lorelai looked up at her husband, concerned, as he headed to the kitchen but before she could say anything, Richard stood up. "I'll go and see if he needs any help." He said following Luke to the kitchen.

Richard found Luke leaning against the counter, taking a breather. "I wondered whether you needed any help." He said cautiously.

Luke jumped a little, not having noticed him walking in. "Uh no...I've got everything covered. Thanks."

Richard nodded and stood there for a moment. "Your mother told us." He said softly.

Luke looked over at Richard, surprised.

"I just want you to know that if you need anything at all, even if it's just to talk, Emily and I are here for you." He said sincerely.

Luke just nodded. "Thanks." He said quietly.

"I'm really sorry." Richard said quietly. "I know you must be going through a hard time right now, especially because you've lost your father already. But you can always talk to me if you want to."

Luke gave him a small smile. "Thanks." He said sincerely. "But I think I just want to enjoy today and make it the best Christmas ever. That's what mom wanted for today."

Richard nodded and smiled. "Well then we'll just have to make sure it is." He said. "Now do you really not need any help in here?"

Luke smiled sheepishly. "I could probably do with some help with the vegetables." He admitted.

"Right well tell me what to do and I'll do it." Richard smiled.

Later on in the afternoon, after having a delicious Christmas dinner, in the living room Katherine was sat on the couch observing everyone. She smiled at LJ and Katie playing with their presents excitedly. She smiled as she saw Jess and Rory comparing what books they had gotten and already discussing when they were going to borrow each other's. She smiled when she saw Lorelai talking with Emily and Liz. She was glad Lorelai's relationship with Emily was improving and she knew Lorelai had actually liked bonding with her again. And then there was Liz. She had achieved so much over the years and she was so glad Jess and her relationship had improved especially since Jess would really need his mom when the inevitable happened. Then there was Luke and she smiled as he sat talking to Richard. Luke was everything to her and she knew this was going to hit him hard. She suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of sadness wash over her. She loved her family so much and she wasn't ready to leave them yet. She slowly got up and headed to the front door and went out and sat on the steps of the front porch.

The door opened after a minute or two and Lorelai came out and sat down next to her. "Hey. How are you holding up?" She asked.

"I'm holding." Katherine said giving her a small smile.

"Rory really loves that necklace." Lorelai said softly.

Katherine smiled genuinely. "I'm glad."

"It's ok to be sad." She said. "I think it's natural."

Katherine sighed. "I was just sitting there and I realised how much I would miss days like today. Where we're all together and where we're all happy and having fun. I think I just realised how real this is. I mean this is really happening to me and I think it's just sunk in. I'm just going to miss all of this." She said sadly.

Lorelai put her arm round her. "I'm sorry." She said sadly. "I don't really know what to say..." She admitted.

"No it's fine. Sorry, I'm just being sentimental. I guess it's just today and how well today's gone. It's exactly what I wanted and I'm just sad that I probably won't be around for the next one." She said.

"Don't think about that now. Today's been great, like you said. Let's focus on that and keep that happiness for the rest of the day." Lorelai smiled at her.

The door opened and Luke appeared. "Everything ok?" He asked.

"Everything's fine." Katherine smiled at her son. "Just your mom being a silly old sap, that's all." She said. "What's up?"

"The kids want to play charades so I said I'd come and get you but we can start without you if you need some time." He said.

Katherine shook her head. "No, there's no way I'm missing Charades hour." She smiled. She looked at Lorelai. "Focusing on today right?" She smiled.

"Right." Lorelai said softly.

Lorelai went past Luke into the house while Luke glanced at his mom. "Are you sure you're ok?" He asked.

Katherine went over and gave him a hug. "Just getting a bit sentimental, that's all. But today isn't over yet. I want to enjoy what's left of it." She said. "Plus I'm going to wipe the floor with you at Charades." She joked.

Luke chuckled. "I'd like to see you try."

"Ooh a challenge, I like it." She laughed.

Luke smiled as he followed his mom into the living room.

About 45 minutes into their Charades playing, the phone rang. Luke got up and answered it. He looked over at the group. "Uh Rory? It's Tristan." He said awkwardly.

Everyone fell quiet having heard about the incident after the dance and not really knowing how to react. "Oh, uh, well he said he might ring to say Merry Christmas. I told him that would probably be ok." Rory said hesitantly.

"Well come on then, don't take all day getting to the phone. Otherwise I might change my mind." He smirked holding the phone out to her.

Rory grinned and got up to go and get it from him. She kissed his cheek. "Thanks dad." She said before putting the phone to her ear and heading to her room. "Hello? Hey! Yeah I'm good thanks, you?" She smiled into the phone.

Luke watched her disappear into her room before going back to the couch and sitting down next to Lorelai and his mom. Lorelai gave him a kiss on the cheek as well. "I'm proud of you." She said quietly.

"Yeah well, they only wanted to wish each other a Merry Christmas. Who was I to deny them that?" He said.

"You know you could have but you didn't. And that's why I love you." Lorelai smiled. She was then beckoned by her kids so she left Luke and Katherine sat on the couch to go and play with LJ and Katie.

"She's right." Katherine smiled at Luke. "You could have said no but you didn't."

Luke sighed. "Well you wanted a happy Christmas. I didn't want to start any arguments. Especially today of all days." He said.

Katherine smiled and took hold of his hand. "You know, I don't think Tristan is that bad. The first time I met him, he was nothing but polite and friendly. And that was before the two of them had defined their relationship." She said. "Cut him some slack. He's gone through some stuff in his life as well. Rory wouldn't pick a jerk to go out with. You know that." She said softly.

Luke sighed. "Yeah I know." He admitted.

"Promise me. Promise me you'll give him a chance." She said.

Luke glanced at his mom. "Is this emotional blackmail? Because that's not fair! You know I can't say no to you." He said.

Katherine smirked. "Well I have to get some perks." She said.

Luke smirked. "Fine I'll give him a chance." He said defeated.

"Thank you." Katherine smiled leaning her head on his shoulder. "And thank you for today. I know how hard you've worked to make this such a special day. I've loved every minute of it."

Luke smiled sadly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it." He said softly. "And it's not over yet. How does some hot chocolate and a Christmas movie sound?"

"Sounds perfect." Katherine smiled.

"Right everyone! Who wants to help me get some snacks together? We've got a movie to watch." He said, smiling as LJ and Katie, and surprisingly even Jess got up to go and help. He passed Rory's room and heard her laughing down the phone. He peeked his head round. "10 minutes or we're starting the movie without you. And I'm pretty sure there won't be many snack for long so it's your choice." He smirked.

Rory grinned. "Be right there." She said.

Luke nodded and left her to it.

15 minutes later, they were all gathered in the living room scoffing down snacks and drinking hot chocolate while watching a movie. Everyone was happy and relaxed. Katherine glanced round the room and smiled. It really had been a perfect day.

So I hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming and let me know what you think! Thanks! :)