Chapter Fourteen: I'm looking through the night…
"T minus thirty minutes and counting," Laylee announced, swinging the door of her grandparents' house wide open and bounding in. Her dark curls were in braided pigtails falling on her shoulders, a hot pink cap backwards complementing her hot pink baseball tee with "Team Laylee" scrawled across the front and L V GILMORE printed across the back. "How much of my team's here?"
Luke, decked out in a blue tee bearing "Team Luke" and PAPA DANES, caught the bouncing child in the foyer, spinning her around, careful of her slinged limb.
"Don't waste all your energy before the game, Lay," he warned, placing her down with a kiss on top of her cap. "I like the uniform."
"Why, thank you, Luka. A certain grandfather bought them for me and the rest of my team."
"How do Nicholas and Jake feel about hot pink?" he asked, referencing Laylee's constant companions and henchmen, Nicholas Kenner and Jacob Forrester.
"They're a little upset, but I've got 'em whipped. Jack, Grayson, and Uncle Jackson objected the most, but Natalie and Aunt Sookie told the boys to suck it up. You have April's, right? Lily and Mom already have theirs."
"April's got hers on already," Luke grinned.
"Really?" Laylee grinned. She was actually the member of the family who anticipated the arrival of April the most. Then again, gregarious Laylee adored just about everyone.
"Run on out back and say hello."
"Is the rest of my team here yet?"
"Nicholas and the youngest Forresters aren't here, but April, Jack, Connor, and Grayson are in the backyard with your mom and Uncle Jackson and Aunt Sookie are on the way."
"And your team? Do they have their uniforms? Are they here?"
"Will, Julia, Natalie, and Will's Chilton friends are here."
"David and Michael?"
"Right. They've already got their uniforms."
"So just Ryan and Kellington?"
"Yes. Now go out back. You've got people who wanna see you."
"Got it!"
Laylee ran out onto the back porch. Seated on the back steps were the present members of Luke's team, dark blue baseball tees with their respective names (W R DANES, J D PORTER, N E MAKEPEACE, M P JANSEN, and D K RUSSELL) emblazoned on the backs that were facing Laylee. The teens were laughing and joking, Will's arm snaked around Julia's waist. Jack and Grayson looked very manly in their hot pink and were flipping burgers around the grill, Connor eagerly watching but not allowed to get too close. Laylee grinned at the J G DANES, G S LABARON, and C N MAKEPEACE contrasting with their bright jerseys.
"Well hey there, good looking," her grandmother interjected into her observations. Laylee spun to take in Nonna's pale-pink-striped umpire's shirt. Lorelai turned to show off the MAMA DANES printed on the back. "Like my shirt?"
"Indeed I do," Laylee grinned. "Now, where are you hiding my aunt?"
"She actually just went looking for you. I bet she got stuck talking to your mom."
"I'll go find her."
"Alright, little one. T minus twenty-three minutes and counting."
Laylee winked awkwardly and ran back into the house. She found her mother and her mother's stepsister conversing in the kitchen. They wore matching pink jerseys, both claimed for her team, Rory's marked with L L GILMORE and April's with a playful D R NARDINI in reference to her profession.
"April!" Laylee squealed, throwing her one arm around April's middle.
"Hello, Laylee," April smiled lightly, returning the hug gently. "I like the jerseys. Did you pick the color?"
"No," Laylee deadpanned, "They were Luka's idea."
Rory snorted. "Stop telling lies, Gilmore."
"How's your arm?" April questioned, easing the cast out of the sling and pretending to examine it thoughtfully. "This is an excellent plaster job."
"We'll be sure to tell the doctors in Hartford that you approve," Rory teased.
"You'da done better, April."
"Thanks, Laylee. How long until we start?"
"T minus nineteen minutes and counting!" Laylee grinned.
"Laylee! The Forresters are here!" Will shouted from the backyard. Laylee shot out to greet the new arrivals, Jake, Lily, and Ryan (ten, twelve, and fourteen, respectively). The three younger Forresters were good friends of the Gilmore-Danes clan and often were involved in such events.
Nicholas (N A KENNER) and Uncle Jackson (U J BELLEVILLE) arrived to round out Laylee's team. Will and Jack's playmate since childhood Kellington (K T YEATMAN) came to complete Luke's team.
Soon, both teams were fully assembled in the backyard and preparing for the game. A baseball diamond was set out in the clearest part of the yard, white plastic barely visible through the browning grass marking the bases and pitcher's mound. Surrounding the mound were wooden baskets of tiny pumpkins, the perfect size for slow pitch softball. The Danes Family Thirteenth Annual Halloween Pumpkin Series was one of a long tradition. That first year had been one basket of pumpkins, one wooden bat, two sons, one father, and infinite giggles. The next year, two more baskets of pumpkins were added along with nineteen-year-old April and the Belleville family. Since Laylee was four, they'd been fielding two full nine-player teams each year, and Uncle Jackson's baby pumpkin sales were through the roof.
"Call it in the air, Lay," Lorelai announced, looking to the young girl standing beside her.
"Heads," Laylee grinned cheekily across to her grandfather as Lorelai threw the coin in the air and let it fall to the ground. She had long ago stopped trying to look cool with a toss and catch system, instead favoring the random hurl upward.
After rummaging through the grass with her toe, Lorelai said, "Tails."
"Ha!" Luke teased.
"Luke, bat or field?"
"We'll bat first," the captain of Team Luke assured his wife. "Lay, get your team on the field."
"Patience, Luka, patience."
Jack took the mound, and Laylee squatted behind her grandfather, the first in the batting line up. The rest of Team Laylee spread across the field, Rory taking right field at her daughter's teasing request.
"Papa Danes is first in the line-up for Team Luke. Pitching to him today will be the battle-hardened, unstoppable Jack Danes. Can the old man hold up?"
"Thanks, Will," came Luke's sarcastic reply to Will's running commentary.
"'ey, batter batter. 'ey, batter batter," Laylee called, putting sunglasses on with her one hand that were more protection against pumpkin juice than sunlight.
"Hey, no heckling, Gilmore," Kell Yeatman, second in the line up, called from the makeshift bullpen created from two picnic benches.
"Alright, Dad, don't let Jack intimidate you," Will shouted to his father. "He doesn't always throw perfect games."
"Will, you're on my team, remember?" Luke admonished, sending a sidelong glance to his older son as he finished warming up. He then directed to his wife, who was seated with Sookie in lawn chairs behind the plate and an overturned picnic table. "Ready, ump?"
Lorelai tipped her Long Island Iced Tea towards the game and announced: "Play ball!"
Jack pulled back for the first pitch and sent it sailing as fast as a pumpkin can, right over the plate. Fortunately, from that distance, pumpkins can't go very fast or very far. The projectile slid easily over the plate, where Luke whacked it and it exploded onto a giggling Laylee. The farthest piece landed just outside the first base line.
"Foul ball! Strike one!" Lorelai called playfully over the chuckling crowd. "Try again, Burger Boy."
"Ah jeez."
"Not so hard this time. You used too much force," April called from third base.
"I agree," Will said, backed up by his Chilton buddies, David Russell and Michael Jansen.
"I don't wanna hear about the science of pumpkin baseball, science geeks. Throw it again, Jack."
Jack grinned and picked up another pumpkin from one of the surrounding baskets. "Are you sure about this, old man?"
"Throw the damn pumpkin."
"Language!" Laylee, Nicholas, and Jake shouted at the same time.
"Ah jeez."
After the game (a Hot Pink victory late in the sixth inning, when everyone was tired and Luke announced that the next run won), Laylee ran upstairs to change into her costume (SHHS football player, complete with a borrowed uniform she practically swam in) before Jack and Natalie took her, Jake, Nicholas, and Connor trick-or-treating. Rory, April, Jack, and Will, pumpkin-stained and exhausted, sat on the wooden steps to the back porch, talking and teasing. Luke paused in his cleaning up and watched them and the easy way they all fit together. The twins shared stories from school, April told humorous tales of horror from the Bellevue ER, and Rory recounted one of her more interesting recent interviews. Will grinned mischievously and hooked an arm over April's shoulders, saying something that made her elbow him in annoyance as they all fell into laughter.
"Hey," Lorelai said softly, slipping under his arm and reaching around his waist, head tucked on his shoulder. "What ya lookin' at?"
"Our kids," Luke smiled. "They get along pretty good, huh?"
"Amazingly," Lorelai laughed. "Better than I could've hoped."
"William Danes!" Rory objected, smacking Will's shoulder as he fell back, red-faced with laughter.
Jack in turn put Will in a headlock. "A little more respect around the ladies, Will. They could beat us up."
"Yes, we're big bullies," April rolled her eyes behind her glasses, oblivious to the pumpkin seed dangling from the right side. "Super human strength and all that."
Rory leaned over and picked off the ornament.
"You're the genius doctor," Will said in a strained voice, struggling to get out of his brother's grasp. "Who knows what you've managed to cook up in some laboratory somewhere. Speaking of which, wanna help with my AP Chem homework?"
"Not especially."
"Ouch! April! Mean."
Lorelai snorted from beside Luke. "One's a mom, one's a doctor, one's president of his class, one practically runs your diner… Two valedictorians. Two sports stars. Get them together and they act like a bunch of six year olds who've been in the back seat together too long."
Luke laughed. He had had very few qualms about how Rory would handle the arrival of the twins nearly sixteen and a half years ago; they had been a sort of informal family for about a decade by then, and Rory had been asking about half-siblings since the wedding. April, on the other hand, worried him. He had known about her for less than a year when they found out Lorelai was pregnant, and she was just starting to really feel comfortable in the blended family. Would the arrival of new siblings chase her away? Fortunately, Will, Jack, and April's first meeting proved his fears unfounded.
"Whoa. He's really small," April said, eyes wide and nerves shaking her voice and hands. "Umm, are you sure I can do this?"
"You'll be great," Lorelai assured her, gently laying the infant in the seated girl's arms. "Support his head. Yup, there you go."
"Which one is this?"
"That's Jackman. Your dad's got William. I think."
April looked up, shocked, bewildered. "You can't tell!"
Lorelai grinned.
"She's teasing, April," Luke assured the girl. "We can tell them apart."
"How?"
"Jack's in 'Artesian Water'."
"Translation: Dark Blue," Luke clarified.
"Will's in 'Sapphireberry'."
"Translation: Light Blue. Lorelai's obsessed with paint colors."
"That's it? What color they're wearing?"
"Yep. Oh, I hope I put them in the right colors today…"
April looked horrified.
"Lorelai," Luke laughed lightly, "Stop messing with her head. Sorry, April, you're our first visitor, and she's been really bored."
"I can pretty much tell them apart, and Luke's getting the hang of it. You'll eventually be able to tell, too. For now, don't worry. What do you think of him?"
"Really small."
"Twins are generally smaller."
"Really wrinkly."
"Babies tend to be. Freaked your dad out, too."
"Kinda… cute?"
"We think so, too," Lorelai beamed. "Now stay here. I'm gonna get the camera. Luke, get over there with April."
Luke joined his daughter on the couch, where she sat with her back perfectly straight, completely on edge.
"Relax," he said gently. "You'll get used to it."
April deflated a little, leaning instead against the back of the couch.
"So Jackman is an interesting name… Where'd you get it?"
"I'll be right there! Luke, where'd we put the camera?"
"Check Rory's room!" Luke returned his attention to April. "It was your grandmother's maiden name."
"And William was my grandfather's name. Like the hardware sign."
"Right."
"Y'know... I'm not exactly a baby person, but this big sister thing should be pretty cool. I went through a brief phase in second grade where I really wanted a younger sibling, and I thought I had outgrown it, but… Do you think they'll like science?"
"With two of 'em, we've got a pretty good shot. And with big sisters like you and Rory, they'll definitely like to read."
April smiled at that. "Maybe I'll write something for them."
"Or name the next chemical thing you discover after them. They'll like both. Cool thing about being an older sibling is for the first ten years, you can do whatever you want and they'll still think you're the greatest."
April smiled again, looked down at dark blue-clothed Jack in her arms, over at light blue-wrapped Will, and up at her father.
A camera flash interrupted their gaze.
"Ah jeez!"
The rest of the week and most of the next passed by like many normal days had passed before for the Gilmore-Danes clan. Jack went to school, went to practice, won a football game, impressed a few more scouts, and passed his evenings in the company of either Natalie or his family. Laylee went to school, finished most of her homework, terrorized the town with Nicholas and Jake, scratched her healing arm, and kept her Luka company in the diner. Rory wrote her articles, traveled to Chicago, thought about her last conversation with Jess, and came to a decision. Will, by this time also impressing scouts, went to school, scored touchdowns, tried his best to avoid the temptation of Caroline Brewington, and came home more determined than ever to stay committed to Julia.
And perhaps this aspect was not quite so normal. Will was completely obsessed with proving that he could be a good boyfriend. He spent nearly all of his free time with Julia, doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and playing the perfect boyfriend, even taking the Baker kids to the park during his usual babysitting time just to meet up with Julia. Yet, as soon as he got to school, he fell into a pattern of flirtation and banter with the captivating Caroline Brewington, who still believed he had a sordid secret, and struggled to keep their relationship completely platonic. His manic devotion to Julia as a result was driving everyone in Stars Hollow, his family, his friends, and even Julia herself, more than a little crazy.
Julia knew something was not right. She had known Will for a good chunk of her life, had seen him with several of his fleeting girlfriends, and had never seen him like this. It was more than a little unexpected, and more than a little smothering. She voiced her concerns to her friends, who told her to stop complaining about having a boy like Will Danes on so tight a leash. She tried to talk to Jack, but he just looked uncomfortable and asked her to pass the silver nitrate, please, and try not to get it on her hands, it leaves ugly stains.
Julia did not know about Caroline Brewington.
She decided to give Will a week or two to settle down, and then she would confront him about just how little space he was giving her.
Friday, November 10th, was the Dueling Pianos night. Will had spent what little free time he wasn't devoting to Julia practicing with Morey and sometimes Natalie. There was no set play list – they were going to take requests from the crowd – but the two musical souls just used the upcoming event as an excuse to return to the old days of frequent jam sessions.
By the end of school that day, Will was visibly anxious to get out of there. Since it was Friday, there was no practice and there wasn't a game until the following night. This left only one item on Will's to-do list: Dueling Pianos.
"Antsy are we, hero-boy?"
Will tore his eyes away from the clock to meet Caroline Brewington's dark gaze.
"I've got some stuff to do at home," he informed her as the teacher began to pack up and gave the students the last five minutes of class to start on their homework.
"Barn raising?"
"Piano concert."
"Spectator?"
"Pianist."
"Really?" Caroline questioned, leaning towards him across the aisle. "Never took you as a musician, hero-boy."
"You've known me two weeks."
"Good point. Does this mean I'm closer to uncovering your secret?"
"Couldn't give away the mystery," Will responded evenly, powering down his laptop and slipping it into his messenger bag.
"So where is this mystery concert you're running off to perform in? Better yet, where is this small town of yours?"
"I've told you before; thirty minutes away."
"Are you hiding something from me, hero-boy?"
"Just retaining some mystery."
"I've told you everything about me," Caroline pouted.
Will scoffed, "Uh-huh. I don't even know where you lived before here."
"Manhattan. Now tell me where you live."
"Maybe someday."
"Okay then. Well, I've got a question. It's going to sound really funny, since we've only known each other two weeks, but I have to say you're my best friend here."
"You seem to be fitting in well."
"So not the point."
"Alright then, proceed."
"Have you ever heard of coming out?"
"Of the closet?"
"No!" She indignantly smacked his shoulder. "Into society. Debutante kinda thing."
"Yeah. My big sister did it, a long time ago."
Caroline didn't comment on this clue into Will's life, choosing instead file it away and then dive onward into her original point.
"Well, my mom is dead set on me coming out in two weeks, and I really need an escort. And you, handsome, charming, hometown-hero, are just the perfect candidate, since you've got that good breeding to go along with your small town appeal."
"You want me to be your escort?"
"I'm sure you look wonderful in tails."
"So not the point," Will teasingly echoed her. He contemplated this. "Caroline, I have a girlfriend."
The girl looked shocked for a fleeting moment but covered it quickly and well.
"So not the point," she repeated their new catch phrase with a bright, playful smile. "As long as the girlfriend's okay with it, I'd really love it if you could help me get through this night."
"I'll talk to her. Could you get me the exact date? It might be a football game."
"Can do."
The bell rang, and the uniformed students jumped to their feet, filing out of the door. Will nodded goodbye to Caroline as they exited the classroom, since her locker was in the opposite direction of his.
"Hey, Will?" she called after him, causing him to pause amid the chaotic swarm of students and wait for her to come into view. He saw her before she saw him again, and she was biting her lip a bit nervously. The clue disappeared as she saw him, and she put on an unreadable look. "She's a hometown girl?"
Will nodded, and Caroline disappeared into the crowd, leaving a cursing Will in her wake. Things had just gotten even more complicated. It was hard enough to ignore his attraction to the flirtatious Miss Brewington when she was merely temptress and flirt; now that there was some sort of emotion behind it, his defenses seemed to be crumbling. He opened his locker forcefully, a little solace coming when he noted the recent picture of Julia he had tucked in his locker at the beginning of the week, her blond, curly hair and green-brown eyes catching the comfortable and carefree attitude she'd represented as long as he'd known her. Julia was easy to be around, just playful enough to keep him interested, just serious enough to keep him grounded. They had known each other growing up (it was Stars Hollow, for goodness sake), but had not really learned anything about the other until Julia and Jack were made lab partners at the beginning of the year and spent some Saturday afternoons studying in the Danes house. It had been a steady progression from there.
Will was pretty sure this was a situation warranting a Rory talk.
"Heya sugah. You here to see my Morey?" Babette asked as she answered the door with her five-year-old cat Nutmeg in her arms.
"And you, Babette. Morey and I decided we would all walk over together, if that's all right."
"'All right', Willy? Sounds wonderful. It's not often I got two handsome gents with me. Now come in, come in. Morey's just finishin' gettin' ready. You want somethin' to drink?"
"I'm okay. Thank you."
Will ducked into the house and settled onto one of the small couches, Nutmeg hopping out of Babette's arms to study the new arrival. She sniffed a few times, rubbed up against Will's legs, and finally recognized him as the piano boy, returning to her owner's side.
"So, how's your moth-a? We do miss havin' her right in shoutin' distance. Though it's nice to have that crazy little girl next door; Laylee's such a trip."
Will smiled. "Mom's great, Babette. Bugging Dad to get a new dog."
"Oh, really? That's great! She was so sad when that Paul Anka died. Now let me get you some cookies, Willy."
"Alright, Babette," Will grinned, letting her grandmother him as he always had.
Will and Jack had many "grandparents", most of them in Stars Hollow. The most grandparental, though, had passed away when he and Jack were eight, and ever since Will had been careful to spend time with everyone close to him. As much as he loved Miss Patty, Babette, Morey, and to some extent Taylor, and the tiny toys and sweets they had been slipping him since infancy, and as much as he loved his Grandma and Grandpa, he would always cherish his moments with Buddy and Maisy.
"Papa Buddy! Gramsie!"
"Oh ho! William, Jackman!" Buddy laughed as the five-year-old twins swung the door to Sniffy's Tavern wide open.
It was mid-afternoon, so the restaurant was virtually deserted save a few waitresses rolling silverware, a regular drinking coffee by the window, and the proprietors. Buddy was seated on a stool behind the cash register, reading glasses low on his nose as he reviewed the lunch receipts, and the boys wrapped their arms around his waist after barreling around the counter.
"Where's Gramsie?" Will questioned, glancing around the deserted establishment. 'Gramsie' was the contraction of Gramma Maisy, as given by novice-speakers Will and Jack.
"In the kitchen," Buddy grinned, scruffing their hair as he released them. "Where're your parents?"
"Parking the car," Jack answered, "Can we go in the kitchen?"
"Of course. Remember, no touching without Maisy's permission. We like your fingers still attached to your body."
"Alright, Papa Buddy," Will cried as the twins took off towards the kitchen.
Luke and Lorelai entered a few moments later, his hand on the small of her back as he said something lowly to make her laugh.
"Heya Buddy… seen my boys?" Lorelai grinned, leaving her husband's side to kiss Buddy's cheek in greeting.
"They scurried right on into the kitchen to see Maisy. Prob'ly hoping for some cookies. So glad you all could make it out here this afternoon; it's nice to see the boys."
As Lorelai and Luke settled at a familiar booth in the back, Maisy emerged from the kitchen with the twins in tow, Jack covered in flour and Will with a rag wrapped around his hand and splotchy red cheeks.
"Uh-oh," Lorelai started, "What did you two do?"
Will sniffled and climbed into his father's lap, burying his face in the crook of Luke's neck. Jack brushed himself off as best he could before scooting in next to his mother.
"We was just helpin', Mommy," Jack explained innocently.
"We were," Lorelai instinctively but affectionately corrected, brushing some leftover flour off of his cheek. "But what happened with the flour?"
"The bag fell on my head," Jack answered honestly.
"Because someone tried to daredevil his way up the shelves and get it down," Maisy tattled, looking pointedly towards Will.
"And what happened to your hand, Will?" Luke asked, arms wrapped comfortingly around the boy. "Can I see it?"
"Pans are hot," Will offered by way of explanation, unwinding the bandage to reveal an angry red burn.
"We put some cold water on it; it'll be fine," Maisy continued, "Now what are we having for our early dinner today?"
"S'ghetti," Will sniffled pathetically.
"Drama king," Lorelai accused playfully, to which Will returned an extended tongue.
"Put that tongue back in your mouth or I'll get the scissors," Luke warned, tickling Will's sides.
"Ack! Mommy! Save me!" Will cried, playfully abandoning his father's lap in favor of his mother's with a mischievous grin that matched Lorelai's.
"I don't know…" Lorelai smiled, kissing the top of his head. "You did stick your tongue out at me."
"Very rude," Jack added.
"Yes, very rude."
"Sorry, Mommy. So can we have s'ghetti, Gramsie? Please?"
"How do you feel about spaghetti, Jack?"
Jack shrugged. "Okay."
"And Mommy and Daddy?"
Luke and Lorelai agreed as well.
"Papa Buddy? Spaghetti?" Maisy questioned her husband as he joined them at the table.
"I'll get on it right now. You want some bread to start?"
"Ha. Funny question."
Buddy smiled and teased, "Comin' right up, Mrs. Danes."
Buddy prepared the spaghetti and then joined everyone else at the table, stealing Will from Lorelai's lap and depositing him on his. Maisy had already gathered Jack up and was whispering something silly in his ear to make him giggle and look to his parents with a grin.
"Gramsie says this is where your first date was," Jack grinned at Luke and Lorelai.
"That's right," Luke smiled lightly at his son.
"It was very special. We knew how much your daddy loved your mommy even then."
"You did not," Luke objected, pausing to compliment Buddy on the spaghetti and glancing sideways at his wife. "Gramsie is making things up. She just loves a good story."
"It's true," Papa Buddy weighed in. "You'd never brought a girl here before, Lucas."
"'Course," Will chimed in. "Why would Daddy be with any girl but Mommy? Unless it was Rory. Or April. Did Daddy ever bring them here?"
Lorelai laughed gently at Will. "He did later. But Mommy was the first."
"'Cause Mommy's special," Jack sang.
"Like, don't eat the paste special?" Lorelai asked, remembering something Rory had said multiple times.
Will and Jack giggled, curling into their "grandparents".
Author's Note: Characterization of April might be a little off from how they develop her on the show, since I don't yet know how that will evolve, what her relationship with Lorelai/Rory will be like, but chalk it up to the fact that this story is getting more and more AU as Season Six progresses (this story has L/L marrying in April coincidence of 2006, with the twins born in May 2007) and that she is a twenty-nine-year-old adult who has spent over half of her life in this family.