A/N: With this chapter, this story's now reached 200.000 words. Wow. That's about it. I am so completely blown to pieces that you guys still have the patience to read this and not kill me for the slow updates and still review, even after all this time. Thank you. You are all completely awesome. *hands out coffee and home made muffins* Thank you again.

Baby Shower

"Get me out of it." Rory whined to her mother Saturday morning as they were having breakfast in the diner.

"You're very naïve if you think even I have that much power." Lorelai laughed in reply, picking up her coffee cup.

"She tried to get the doctor to put her on bed rest for the weekend."

"Snitch." She glared at her husband and he smirked. "And I didn't try it, I joked about it with her. There's a difference." She directed her comment to her mother, laughing.

"Don't worry, hon, if there's anyone in the world that truly understands the need to be as far away from my mother and her friends, it's me. You were always the one that was so 'oh, grandma, you're neat, I love spending time with you'."

"I don't mind spending time with her. It's the DAR bunch I want to stay far away from."

"You'd be so much more believable about liking spending time with her if you hadn't bailed out of dinner last night, leaving me completely at her mercy."

"Mom, I have a job. I know you've heard of the concept. Sometimes, I have things to do and I can't get out of them early."

"And your story was… ?" She looked at Jess, trying to look intimidating.

"Would you mind leaving me out of your madness? It's a bit early in the morning." Jess chuckled, shaking his head.

"I thought after living with Rory for years, there was no such thing."

"Hey!" Rory protested, pouting. "For that, you have to get me out of the shower."

"Nice try."

"I had to." Ruffling Jess' hair, she smiled. "Can you play the controlling husband part for a day and not let me go?"

"You really think anyone would buy that you would ever listen to anything I say?"

"Grandma's friends might."

"And then Taylor would seriously have a reason to call some support group for you."

"It would never get back to him. Please, Jess, please, please, please?" She batted her eyelashes before kissing his cheek.

"No."

"I'll buy you a cookie."

"Chocolate?" He smirked, sipping from his coffee mug.

"Yes."

"No." He shook his head again, trying not to laugh. "You're on your own."

"Jerk." She made a face at him before turning back to her mother. "He's mean."

"Yes, he is."

"I'm going to leave you two alone now." Jess announced, standing up. "There really is only so much I can take."

"I'll be up later to change per grandma's instructions."

"Ok." He shrugged, heading up the stairs.

"Is he ok?" Lorelai asked, looking after the man.

"Yeah. He was just up late writing last night." Rory smiled, picking up a piece of bacon with her fork.

"What's he working on?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged. "I keep telling him to get all the sleep he can now, but he's not listening."

"Are you?"

"I'm trying." She laughed. "She's not making it easy." She rubbed her stomach, smiling down at it. "Now you're sleeping, demon child."

"Welcome to motherhood."

"We can still run, right?" Rory looked at her mother as they stood in front of the country club.

"Say the word and I'll drive us to Mexico."

"She'll track us down."

"Very likely." Lorelai grimaced. "So… ?"

"I suppose we have to go in."

"You had to go and get pregnant, didn't you?" She sighed before walking towards the door, Rory following behind her.

"Rory, you look wonderful." Emily greeted as they walked in the front room, a couple of servers standing there.

"Hey, we're on time." Lorelai announced surprised as she looked at the clock on the wall.

"Of course we are." Rory shot at her mother. "Thanks, grandma." She looked back at Emily, smiling. "Place looks great."

"Thomas is around, he is responsible for this."

"Thomas?" Lorelai chimed in.

"The planner."

"I thought her name was Joanne." She asked, confused.

"Oh, no, she didn't work out."

"Do I want to know why?"

Rory shook her head quickly, warning her mother to avoid the subject. "Should we go in and not keep everyone waiting?"

"Yes, yes, let's go." Emily realized, guiding the two towards the dining room.

"Mom went all out." Lorelai whispered to Rory a while later, after they were done greeting most people. "Though seriously good champagne."

"Thanks for that." Rory grumbled, looking around her. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. Especially in front of me. Really glad."

"With a bit of luck, I'll get drunk and she'll kick me out."

"I will kill you if you do." Seeing a blonde woman heading towards them, Rory bit her lip, grimacing. "Please tell me grandma didn't invite her."

"Who?"

"Shira."

"Logan's mother?"

"Uh-huh." Rory whispered, putting on a fake smile as the other woman finally reached them.

"Rory, hello."

"Hi, Shira." She replied, trying to keep the smile on. "I don't think you two have met. This is my mother, Lorelai. Mom, Shira Huntzberger."

"I've heard a lot about you." Lorelai Smiled at the woman, shaking her hand.

"You look wonderful, Rory." The woman addressed Rory again.

"Thanks."

"How far along are you?"

"Just starting month eight."

"But you only got married in December!"

"Must be magic." She mumbled, rolling her eyes. "How's Mitchum? I do hope his business is doing better, last I heard it was still suffering from the recession." She shot back.

"Oh, yes, thank you."

"Good to know, I wouldn't want him to lose any more papers."

"I should be going. I only dropped by for a second because I heard it was your baby shower."

"It was nice seeing you again."

"Yes, you too."

"Give my best to everyone."

"I will. Goodbye, Rory."

"Bye." Breathing a sigh of relief as soon as the woman was gone, Rory looked at her mother. "She's as pleasant as I remember her to be."

"You handled it better than I would have. I think my tongue may be bleeding from how much I had to bite it."

"Thanks for refraining. I don't want to ruin grandma's day."

Rubbing her daughter's arm, Lorelai smiled. "Not much left." She took a sip from her glass, pausing for a second. "What was that about Mitchum?"

"He had to sell a couple of papers. Nothing major, but hopefully it dinged his ego a bit."

"I must say, I like the less angelic version of you."

Giggling, Rory shook her head. "If they can't play nice, I won't either."

"Meow." Seeing Emily motion for Rory, she tilted her head towards her. "I think mom needs you for something."

"Lorelai, right?" A woman smiled, approaching Lorelai as Rory was talking to a different group.

"Hm?" She swallowed, glancing at the woman. "Yes. I'm sorry, I don't… "

"Oh, no we haven't met." The other woman laughed, sipping from her glass as well. "I'm Nancy Sanders."

Trying to place the name, Lorelai pushed her hair behind her ear, hemming. "I… "

"You dated my son?"

"In high school?" She tried to guess, still unsure.

"Oh, no, this was a few years ago."

"I must have completely lost any brain cells I still had, but I cannot… wait, Sanders? Peyton!" She finally realized. "How is he?"

"Good. He got married a couple of years back."

"To his Jaguar dealer, I'd guess." She quipped quietly to herself. "Send him my congratulations."

"Did you ever get married?"

"Yeah, five years ago. I had a son last year."

"Really? I thought Rory was your… "

"My daughter. Yes." She confirmed, laughing. "I wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any sibling rivalry issues."

"Oh. That's… nice?"

Rolling her eyes, she smiled at the woman. "If you'll excuse me, I see someone else I should talk to." Walking to Rory, she waited for her to free herself from the conversation. "Can I leave now?" She pleaded when the younger woman walked to her, pouting. "Please?"

"Why?"

"Let's just say my sense of humor is totally lost on this crowd." She laughed, looking at all the women around them. Nodding knowingly, Rory smiled.

"You still can't go."

"But are we ever going to do anything? It's a baby shower! I don't expect games, but at least opening presents?"

"Sorry."

"Seriously?"

"Grandma said there will be cake. Cake's good, right?"

"Suppose." Lorelai pouted. "Oh, by the way, someone offered to give me the number of her plastic surgeon to pass on to you." She snickered.

"What?"

"So you can schedule your lipo for after the baby's born. She strongly recommends the week after."

"Is she insane?"

"I'm convinced ninety percent of the people in this room need to have their meds upped."

"I'm not sure you're wrong about that." Rory smiled.

"Did I tell you at least three people so far have scolded me for not being a member of the DAR and letting the family name down?" She giggled again, picking up another glass of champagne. "I'd ignore you and leave, but I love you too much to leave you at their mercy."

"I'm permanently indebted."

"I still say we should have arranged to have Jess call and say he's in the hospital or something so we could get out of it."

"And jinx it? No way." She shook her head, grinning. "I'm going to go find grandma and see how long until cake."

"Tell her to hurry."

"Just have more champagne!"

"Oh, I'm going to." Lorelai grinned as Rory stepped away from her.

"Hey, grandma. Thank you so much for this, the party's great."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it. Here, Natalie wanted to see you." Emily smiled, guiding Rory towards the other woman.

"Rory, you look fabulous!" She exclaimed as Rory readied herself for another round of mind-numbing chit-chat.

"… And then of course I told her 'Listen, darling, I don't care what you think you heard, I said no later than Tuesday!'." The woman continued her story with a giggle and Rory smiled politely, nodding.

"Of course."

"Oh, we miss you so much at the meetings. You should come more often." She changed subjects, completely ignoring Rory's discomfort.

"I would love to, but I'm afraid I can never make it in time. Philadelphia is so far away."

"I heard you're not even attending the local chapter's meetings."

"Oh, I… " She hesitated, trying to formulate an answer. "I just don't think I could ever have as much fun as I had with this group. If you'll excuse me, I need to sit down for a minute. Baby." She excused herself quickly, faking a grimace and holding her side before finding a seat as far away from the woman as possible.

"You said there would be cake!" Lorelai whined, sitting next to her daughter. "An hour ago! And guess what? Still no cake."

"Mom, you've got a complaint, take it up with grandma."

"You're snippy. Not nice." She pouted.

"Sorry. If one more person questions Brett's name, I'll throttle them."

Trying to stifle her giggles, Lorelai bit her lip.

"What?"

"The visual of eight months pregnant you jumping on someone is just so… too… " She started laughing and Rory joined in after a few seconds, both of them covering their mouths with their hands trying to stay below everyone's radar.

"Are you two having some sort of fit?" Emily shot them a look and they both sat back up at the same time, still grinning.

"Sorry, grandma."

"If you're done, it's time to cut the cake."

"Yay!" Lorelai yelped excitedly. "Sorry." She apologized, seeing her mother's disapproving look.

"You should say a few words to your guests first." Emily encouraged Rory as she stood up and the younger woman took a deep breath.

"Do I have to?"

"They're all here for you, Rory."

"For the love of all things, do what she asks so we can go." Lorelai whispered in her ear, pleadingly.

"Fine." She sighed, glaring at her mother. Grinning, Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest.

"May the fourth be with you."

"You've been waiting all day to say that, haven't you?"

"Hey, I only get one chance a year to use it."

"You're demented."

"What's going on?" Emily glared at the two.

"Nothing." They replied in unison, giggling again.

"Finally." Rory sighed, crashing on the couch in the diner apartment later that day.

"How was it?" Jess put his book down and she curled next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Not bad. Long. Your daughter spent a lot of time kicking me."

"Thought we'd talked about this, spawn." He smirked, running his thumb over her bump. "Sorry." He kissed Rory's head, making her smile.

"It's ok. I won't let her watch TV for the first six months of her life or something."

"That's a bit harsh, isn't?" He kissed her head again. "Anything exciting happen?"

"Logan's mother was there, for whatever reason, seeing how she's not even a member of the DAR. She didn't stay long."

"I still don't get what you saw in that jackass."

"I don't get what you saw in Shane, but that doesn't mean I hate her."

"Let me give you a hint: that wasn't my bra in the backseat."

"Karma is totally punishing you with a daughter, for the record." Ruffling his hair, she grinned. "And don't even start on your whole speech about Brett not dating."

Kissing her palm, Jess smiled. "Fine. I'll let it go this time. Did you get any good presents?"

"I don't know." Rory shrugged, standing up. "They're all at grandma's, mom and I are going by tomorrow morning to open them."

"I thought the entire purpose of a shower was to… ?"

"It is. Usually. Grandma thinks it's tacky to open presents at a party."

"Of course." He rolled his eyes, watching her as she paced through the room. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah. Just a bit uncomfortable."

"You want to go to the hospital?"

"No." She shook her head, looking at him. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" He caught her hand in his, making her stop walking for a second and Rory nodded.

"Yes. Don't worry about me."

"I can call the doctor if you want." He ignored her statement, still looking up at her.

"Jess… "

"I'm going to shut up now." He smirked, letting go of her hand and leaning back against the couch, watching her as she kept walking around the room.

"Thanks. Oh, and apparently we were supposed to have given her a middle name, so people could have gotten stuff monogrammed."

"Should've told them it's Moon Unit. That would have shut them up."

"They already think we're insane for naming her Brett."

"I think they're insane for being part of an organization that gives membership solely based on being related to someone who aided in achieving independence."

"I'm a member."

"I question your sanity anyway." He chuckled and she glared at him.

"I married you, there's no other proof needed that I'm a basket case." She laughed, checking the time. "I should go, I'm supposed to meet Lane for coffee and cake at Weston's soon and it's going to take me ages to waddle on over."

"Call me if the pain gets any worse, ok?"

"Jess, it's seriously nothing but the usual pregnancy discomfort."

"Rory… " He mimicked her earlier tone and she sighed.

"Fine, I'll call."

"Thank you."

"Crazy."

"My mother's friends are insane." Lorelai laughed, kissing Luke's cheek quickly as she walked in the diner the next day.

"I take it you're done opening presents."

"Oh, yeah. And Jess and Rory never have to buy anything for their baby ever again."

"Where's Rory?"

"Right here." The younger woman smiled, walking up to the counter. "Is Jess upstairs?"

"Yeah, watching Will. You want me to go get him?"

"Luke, I can walk up a flight of stairs."

"Sit down." He smiled at her.

"You're as silly as Jess is." Rory laughed, looking for a free table. "Aw, nowhere to sit. Bummer."

"Sh, don't say that, he'll… " Lorelai started saying, watching Luke as he walked from behind the counter, standing next to Kirk's table.

"Move."

"What?"

"I said move." He asked again, glaring at the man.

"But… "

"You've finished your lunch, you're not getting any more coffee, get out."

"But… " He tried to protest again.

"Kirk."

"Fine." He sighed, standing up. "I'm not leaving you a tip."

"He kicked Kirk out." Rory pouted, rubbing her bump.

"Never underestimate the craziness of men." Lorelai shrugged, sitting at the now free table.

"What can I get you to eat?"

"Cheeseburger with bacon and fries."

"Can I at least put some salad on it?"

"Yes. I won't even take it off."

"Thank you. Lorelai?"

"Same, but don't bother with the greenery. Oh, and no bacon either."

"At least there's that." He sighed, heading towards the counter.

"So, how do you feel now that you have two months left?"

"Excited, terrified… the usual." She snickered, shrugging. "Can't wait to meet Brett."

"Have you figured everything out?"

"Almost, except for her middle name. I'm supposed to write my birth "plan"… " She giggled, rolling her eyes. "… with the doctor at the next appointment. Apparently get her out of me with as little pain as possible is not that great of a plan."

"I think it's brilliant."

"Thank you."

"I did expect you to have this written down months ago, given your organizational freak tendencies. And I say that with all the love in the world."

"I'm still researching things. Plus, living with Jess all this time has made much more relaxed about everything." She smiled before bringing the conversation back on topic. "So, any suggestions about the plan thing? Because you're the one that's been through this before and I need all the advice I can get."

"I still want to build whomever invented the epidural a statue, so that gets my vote."

"I think I'm too much of a wuss to go without one." Rory laughed again as Luke brought their coffees.

"What are you talking about?"

"Rory's birth plan."

Grimacing, he closed his eyes briefly making both of them laugh. "Go back to the kitchen, hon." Lorelai encouraged him.

"Thanks."

"Is Jess going to be in the room with you when she's actually being born?" Lorelai asked when they were alone again, sipping from her coffee.

"Did you see the shade of green Luke turned? Jess turned a similar one when I mentioned it." She snickered. "We're still talking about it, but he said he's willing to do anything I want."

"Aw, sweet. What do you want?"

"I want him there. And you, obviously." She smiled, waiting for Lorelai's reaction.

"What?"

"Well, I'm not doing it without you. Unless you don't want to be in the room, in which case I suppose… "

"Yay!" She shrieked, jumping from her and hugging Rory. "Of course I want to."

"You sure?"

"Hey, no questioning this. I'm here for anything you want. Especially if it involves being there when you have your baby."

"Please don't start crying, because if you do, I will and I'm trying to make it through a week without crying in public."

"Not crying." She shook her head. "Not at all."

"Mom… "

"I'm fine." She let out a breath. "I love you, kid."

"Love you too."

"Food." Luke announced, standing by the table. "Everything ok?" He asked, noticing the two women's red eyes.

"We're fine." Lorelai nodded, wiping her eyes quickly.

"Promise." Rory reassured him as well.

"Call if you need anything else."

"Thanks, Luke. For everything."

"Don't mention it." He smiled at Rory before walking away.

"What was the final count on bedding sets?" Lorelai changed the subject, picking up her fork.

"Five, I think."

"Crazy." She snickered, shaking her head.

"At least it's done."

"Next stop - town shower." Lorelai grinned.