May 2017

"Rory's in labor!" Lorelai shouted excitedly as she burst through the diner door and ran up to the counter.

Luke came out of the kitchen, "Really?" he asked, still processing the news.

"No, I just wanted to get you out here faster so you could get me my coffee," she replied sarcastically with a grin.

Luke just stared at her confused, unsure if she was joking or not. Lorelai sighed and finally clarified, "Yes, I'm serious! She just called me," she said exasperated, holding her phone up for evidence.

Babette, who was sitting at a nearby table interjected, "Hey, Lorelai, wish her good luck from me. She's a sweet little thing, and childbirth," she shook her head, "Not for the faint of heart."

Lorelai nodded towards Babette, "Don't I know it," she agreed. She then turned back to Luke, "I'm going now, but it could be a while, so you good to stay here and take Val and Andy to the hospital afterschool?" she asked him.

Luke nodded, "Tell Rory I'm thinking of her, and call if you need anything," he said, the thoughtfulness evident in his voice.

Lorelai smiled, "Will do," she replied as she leaned across the counter so Luke could plant a quick kiss on her lips before she turned and dashed out the door.

"Luke!" Babette called out grabbing his attention, "Be sure to keep us in the loop. I want all the details," she glanced across the table at Miss Patty who was nodding in agreement, large smiles on both their faces.

"Will definitely not," Luke deadpanned, not bothering to look up from the cash register.

Ignoring Luke's clear desire for everyone to stay out of his business, Miss Patty responded to Babette, "I really don't have anywhere I have to be today. I can just stay here and listen for updates," she said, pleased with the plan.

"Oh, that'd be great Patty, we wanna be sure we don't miss a thing," she replied enthusiastically.

"Did you not here what I just said?" Luke called back at them frustrated, as Babette and Miss Patty just continued to chatter on, still ignoring him. He rolled his eyes. Why couldn't people just mind their own damn business?

Luke was about to stalk back into the kitchen and hide out from everyone to avoid being driven insane, when Kirk called out his name, "Luke," he said in his usual monotone. Luke kept walking, hoping to get away with ignoring Kirk, but Kirk was not going to let that happen, "Luke," he repeated in a slightly louder tone.

"What is it, Kirk?" Luke asked gruffly as he turned around to face Kirk at the counter.

"Hi Luke, I just wanted to ask you a question," Kirk said clasping his hands on the counter.

"What?" Luke barked, losing his patience.

Kirk continued unfazed, "I was just wondering if you could explain the inner workings of childbirth for me. I've asked Mother, but she refuses to give me any details," he stated plainly, "Now of course I understand the general idea of how the baby comes out and all, but the details are still a bit fuzzy. I know you were there for your own children's births, so I would assume…" Kirk continued to explain before Luke cut him off abruptly.

"Go home, Kirk," Luke snapped as he turned around and finally made his escape into the kitchen. This was going to be a long day.

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"Mom!" Rory cried out in relief, like a little kid left alone for the first time when their mother comes back to get them, the second Lorelai entered her hospital room.

Lorelai walked over to Rory's bedside, opposite from Marcus, and began stroking her daughter's hair as she gently grasped her hand, "How's it going, babe?" she asked soothingly.

"It's horrible! It's so much worse than I imagined, and it's taking forever!" Rory vented, clearly having been working herself up for some time. Lorelai glanced up at Marcus who shook his head and put his hands up as if to say his efforts to calm his wife had been futile.

Lorelai looked back at her daughter, "Well, I warned you. I made sure to give you a yearly reminder each birthday, remember?" she asked, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned.

"I thought you were being dramatic!" Rory moaned.

"What about when you were lucky enough to witness your brother and sister's birth?" Lorelai shot back with a small smile.

"Don't remind me," Rory groaned, "I thought I was going to puke in the delivery room, and I wasn't even in the cheap seat that time. You're right, why did I think this was a good idea?" she wailed, clearly on the verge of panicking.

Lorelai placed her hand lightly on Rory's shoulder to calm her and get her attention, "Hey, but do you remember after that part, when Andy and Val were all cleaned up and they handed them back to us? Remember looking into their eyes for the first time?" she asked softly, "When you hold your son for the first time and you look into his tiny, little innocent eyes, it will be worth it," she said reassuringly.

Rory was taking deep breaths and seemed to have relaxed somewhat, "I guess you're right, I'm just scared," she admitted quietly. She then turned towards Marcus, "I'm sorry for screaming at you for the past hour," she added sheepishly.

Marcus let out a small laugh and planted a kiss on Rory's forehead, "It's ok, scream all you want, I understand. I don't know how much it helps, but I'll be here with you every step of the way, no matter how much you scream," he said reassuringly.

"It does," Rory responded, smiling up at her husband.

A few seconds later though, Rory's smile turned into a grimace, and she groaned, clutching Marcus's and her mom's hands as another contraction started. As she eventually released her grip, she noticed Marcus shake out his hand, "Just be grateful I don't have her death grip," Rory said, motioning towards Lorelai.

"Hey!" Lorelai responded in mock offense.

Rory laughed, "You can't deny it! My hand was bruised for two weeks after the twins were born," she said, enjoying letting out some of her aggression by teasing her mom.

"Well that just means I'm stronger," Lorelai shot back in defense.

"Are not!" Rory argued back.

"Am too!" Lorelai responded petulantly.

"Are not!" "Am too!" "Are not!" "Am too!" they continued bickering like children.

After what felt like days, but was really a few hours, the doctors finally announced that it was time for the delivery room, "Who's going in with you?" she asked Rory as she prepared the hospital bed to be wheeled out of the room.

"Both of them," Rory immediately responded, her voice tight with pain as she pointed at Marcus and her mom.

Lorelai looked at Marcus who shrugged, "I guess both of us it is," he confirmed to the doctor.

As the nurses maneuvered the hospital bed down the hall and set it up in the delivery room, Rory began working herself into a panic again, "How am I going to do this? I have a very low pain tolerance, you know. Like, Mom, do you remember when I got my first paper cut and I just cried for hours and hours. I insisted on wearing those Barbie bandaids for a week because it hurt too much anytime something brushed up against it. If I can't even handle a simple paper cut, how the hell can they expect me to handle this?" her voice rose continuously throughout her rant and by the time she finished, she was practically shouting.

"Well, for one thing, you were six when the paper cut incident occurred," Lorelai replied logically, "I'm surprised you even remember that."

"It was traumatic," Rory defended with a frown as she crossed her arms.

"Well, here's your opportunity to show you've grown since then," Marcus replied with a smirk.

Rory shot Marcus a glare with her arms still crossed, "Haha," she responded sarcastically, "Let's all gang up on Rory even though she's the one already suffering."

Marcus put his hands up in defense, "Alright, I'm sorry. I just think you need more confidence in yourself. You're capable of a lot more than you realize and you're much stronger than you give yourself credit for," Marcus said sincerely.

Rory never really thought of herself as strong, but Marcus loved to push her out of her comfort zone which had made her recognize that she tended to hold herself back based solely on fear. His reassurance did manage boost her confidence slightly, but before she could respond, another wave of pain hit her and it was clear that whether she believed she was capable or not, there wasn't much she could do about it.

After a painfully drawn out delivery, Rory finally relaxed as the doctor took her newborn baby aside to be cleaned up, and found comfort in the knowledge that she would soon get to hold him in her arms for the first time.

Marcus watched as the doctor and nurses cleaned off his son, but felt a prick of concern start to grow as he noticed the way they were staring at him and shooting glances at each other, "Is everything ok? He's healthy, isn't he?" he asked worriedly.

"Oh yes, Mr. Emerson, don't worry, the baby's perfectly healthy," the doctor reassured Marcus immediately, "…It's just that he is actually a she," she added.

Marcus glanced at Rory and Lorelai who both looked equally as shocked as he was sure he did.

"It's rare, but mistakes like this can happen in the ultrasound if the baby is positioned in a certain way," the doctor continued to explain, "I know this adds an extra element of surprise, but the good news is you have a beautiful, healthy little girl," she emphasized.

Lorelai was the first to speak up, "Well, I guess you better hope she likes the color blue," she said jokingly.

Rory smiled, "It's good. We're already starting her out as a feminist. Elizabeth Candy Stanton would be proud," Rory responded with a nod.

"We can yell at everyone who sees the blue and tells us we have a handsome son," Marcus teased causing Rory and Lorelai to laugh.

Glad to see that everyone was just happy to have a healthy baby, the doctor walked back over and gently handed her to Rory.

Rory stared at her daughter with wide eyes, "Wow," she breathed, taken aback by how she could already feel such an emotional connection to the tiny baby in her arms, "She's perfect," she whispered.

Marcus leaned over and wrapped his arm around Rory's shoulder as he too, stared into his daughter's eyes, "She is," he agreed quietly.

After a few moments, Rory looked back over her shoulder, "Mom, come look," she called softly, "What do you think?"

Lorelai smiled down tenderly at her granddaughter, "Perfect, just like her mother," she responded softly, never able to forget the day Rory was born and how she had felt like her daughter was the first perfect thing in her life.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door, "Come in," Rory called softly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful baby that Marcus had just placed back into her arms.

The door opened quietly, and Rory's little siblings walked in, followed closely by Luke. Valerie and Andy were staring at their new baby niece in awe as they crept slowly towards Rory in the hospital bed for a closer look, "Meet your new niece," she smiled at them, "And granddaughter," she added, looking up at Luke.

After a few moments, Andy caught onto what Rory had just said and turned his gaze away from the baby to Rory, "I thought it was supposed to be a boy," he said in confusion.

"She pulled a Mulan on us," Lorelai responded jokingly.

Andy and Valerie giggled, but their attention was soon recaptured as they stared at the brand-new baby in fascination. "She's so tiny," Valerie said in wonderment, "I didn't know that babies were ever so small."

Andy nodded in agreement, "She doesn't even look real," he added.

"Rory, am I her aunt?" Valerie asked, her forehead wrinkled as she tried to work out if that was the right relation. Rory nodded and Valerie grinned as she turned towards her brother, "Andy that means we get to tell people we're an aunt and uncle. No one else at school is an aunt or uncle!" she said excitedly.

"Cool!" Andy replied enthusiastically, but his eyes were still fixated on the tiny baby.

Rory smiled at her siblings enthusiasm, and then turned her gaze up towards Luke, who had been standing just behind the twins with a content smile on his face as he watched the interaction, "Luke, do you want to meet your granddaughter?" she asked as she raised her daughter up slightly so Luke could pick her up.

Luke nodded as the smile on his face grew and gently took the baby from Rory's arms, "She's beautiful," he said gently as he stared down at his granddaughter lovingly.

"Awww, she looks just like you, Daddy!" Valerie exclaimed, causing all the adults to burst into laughter at the irony of this since Luke was the only one in the room not biologically related to the baby. Valerie looked around puzzled to as why what she had said was so funny. She eventually made eye contact with her brother who shrugged. They'd both heard people say stuff like that about babies before and it never elicited a laughing reaction.

A few minutes later, Luke pulled his gaze away from the baby in his arms to Lorelai, "Does Grandma want a turn?" he asked with a smirk, knowing what his wife's reaction would be. Lorelai just glared back and crossed her arms.

Marcus looked at Rory, perplexed by Lorelai's reaction. Rory rolled her eyes, "Mom's refusing to be called Grandma, but she won't come up with any other alternatives," she explained exasperated as she shot her mother a disapproving look, which went unnoticed by Lorelai who now had the baby in her arms and was completely focused on her.

"No, that's not true," Lorelai responded with baby talk, her attention still fixated on her granddaughter.

"'Woof' doesn't count," Rory deadpanned, referencing what one of Lorelai's ideas had been after she heard that was what Gwyneth Paltrow's mother had wanted to be called by her grandkids.

Lorelai's attention was still focused on her granddaughter as she responded, still using baby talk, "Well, it's not my fault if you don't like my ideas."

"Why couldn't you just pick out a name, like Luke?" Rory asked rhetorically, knowing it would never be that simple with her mother.

"Luke's such a 'Papa'. That was easy," Lorelai shot back, smiling at Luke who she knew liked the name.

"True," Rory conceded, also shooting a grin at Luke, unable to deny it.

Luke had a begrudging smile on his face, not enjoying the attention being turned on him, "Speaking of names," he began changing the subject, "Now you're going to have to start from scratch figuring out a name for her," he motioned towards the baby who had made her way back into Rory's arms, "Guess it worked out that you weren't able to figure out a name beforehand," he added.

Rory and Marcus looked at each other, smiling as they agreed on something through silent communication, "I guess we just knew deep down," Marcus said jokingly.

"Parental instinct," Rory agreed with a grin.

Everyone else in the room was looking at them with curiosity, so Marcus started to explain, "See, before we knew if it was going to be a boy or girl, without trying, Rory and I just kind of figured out what we were going to name her if she was a girl," he said, "Then, when we found out it was supposed to be a boy, we could not decide on anything for the life of us. That's why we ended up determining that we would have to name him after meeting him."

"So, without further ado," Rory took over with an air of drama, "I would like to introduce you all to Lorelai Isabelle Gilmore Emerson," she paused a moment before continuing, "Isabelle is after Marcus's grandmother, and Lorelai after you, Mom," she said, smiling at her mom.

Lorelai looked shocked, but touched, "But she comes from a long line of Lorelai's; your great grandmother, you," Lorelai pointed out.

"I know, but she's named after you," Rory reinforced with certainty, "Besides, I'm not that self-absorbed," she added teasingly.

"Hey," Lorelai responded half-heartedly, but she was clearly overcome with emotion as tears began to form in her eyes, a few dropping onto her cheeks as she leaned over to give her daughter a hug.

Once Lorelai finally pulled back, a few tears still left in her eyes, Rory continued, "We even decided on a nickname; Laila," she said, still looking at her mom in a way in which their special connection was evident.

"That's beautiful," Lorelai responded sincerely, her voice slightly choked from her tears.

Everyone was quiet for a for a minute, absorbing the moment, until Andy broke the silence, "Rory, can I hold her?" he asked sweetly.

Rory looked at Marcus, unsure if an eight-year-old was really capable of holding a newborn properly, "Sure Andy," Marcus answered as he stood up and pulled up an extra chair next to his, "I'll help you," he added, patting the chair next to his for Andy to sit in before standing up to pick Laila up from Rory.

Once Andy was seated, Marcus gently placed Laila in his Andy's lap while also keeping his arms around her to provide most of the actual support. "Wow, this is so cool," Andy breathed as he stared down at his niece in fascination.

Jealous of seeing her brother get to do hold the baby first, Valerie whined impatiently, "Can I have a turn?"

"Patience Val," Luke responded to his daughter sternly.

Valerie let out a small huff and squeezed herself onto the chair next to Andy to feel a little less left out. Laila let out a little 'coo', causing Valerie's frown to turn into a smile, "She likes me!" she exclaimed happily.

Rory smiled contentedly at the scene before her. Everyone she loved most in the world was in the room with her. It was a perfect moment, and she wouldn't change it for the world.

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And that's a wrap… at least for this particular story. I had fun writing in this AU and have been working on another story also set in it, so stay tuned! I hope you enjoy imagining this future for Gilmore Girls as much as I do and want to read more!