15 - Oy, With the Poodles Already!
Rory had been enjoying a perfectly good sleep before her alarm clock went off, its klaxon breaking through the haze to disrupt her slumber. She reached out and slammed a hand down on the snooze button, then attempted to fall back to sleep. She groggily lifted her head at what sounded like two people whispering, finding it strange that she wasn't at all concerned on who the other people could be.
So tired, Rory groaned, burying her face back into her pillow. She only had a vague sense that one of the people who'd been whispering at her bedroom door had left, while the remaining person, who was giggling under their breath, padded softly inside towards the bed.
"Try it, and die," she warned, slightly muffled by her pillow.
"But Mom!"
Mom? Rory frowned into her pillow, wondering why she wasn't more shocked by this. "Shh, trying to sleep here."
"Daddy told me to wake you up," the child whined, shaking her.
"Then you can tell your father that his wife is very annoyed at him," Rory grumbled, sitting up to regard the young girl standing near the bed. "Good morning, Fred."
"It's Winifred, Mother," the girl huffed, glaring at Rory with bright blue eyes. "Fred is a boy's name."
"Yeah, yeah," she chuckled, ruffling her daughter's curly brown hair. "And Jayne's a girl's name."
The blue eyed girl, who appeared to be around eight years old, gave her mother a confused frown. "What?"
"Nevermind," Rory smiled, casually waving her daughter away while rising from the bed.
"Are you feeling okay, Mom?" Winifred inquired, earning herself a questioning look from Rory.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be, Baby Girl?"
"You're kidding, right?" Winifred asked back, pointing at her stomach before running out of the bedroom. "Now hurry up, Daddy's making breakfast."
"Oh, sleep, how I miss you already," Rory sighed with a wonderous shake of her head at the young girl's remark, then grabbed her nearby robe and headed downstairs to join her family.
"Morning," her husband greeted from the kitchen.
"I can't believe you sent our eight year old daughter to wake me up," she griped while taking a chair beside Winifred, who simply grinned up at her. "Coward."
"Grouch," he retorted.
"Freaks," Winifred piped up.
"Fred, be a good girl and grab Mommy a cup of coffee, will you?"
"She's asking for coffee again, Daddy," Winifred told the man cooking their breakfast.
"You can't have coffee, Rory," her husband called out from the kitchen. "It makes you sick, remember?"
"Traitor," she squinted at her daughter, who threw an innocent expression back at Rory. She frowned after suddenly realizing what her husband had just said, confused at the implication. "Wait, why's that again?"
"Because my baby sibling hates it," her daughter informed in a know-it-all voice, pointing at her mother's still flat stomach once again.
"What?" Rory squeaked, delicately placing a hand on her abdomen. "You mean, I'm-"
"Pregnant?" Her husband finished, entering the dining room to place a pair of plates in front of his wife and daughter. "Yeah, I'm afraid so."
Rory felt her breath catch at the sight of her smiling husband, realizing then what was going on. And what was about to happen. No, not again...it's not fair! This is just cruel!
"Sweet, you made me french toast," Winifred chirped in delight, deepening Rory's dread. "You're the best, Daddy!"
"You're looking a little green there, Rory," Marty said in a concerned tone, placing a hand on her forehead. "You okay?"
It was then that Rory's eyes popped open, the familiar (and unwelcomed) sight of her bedroom in Chicago coming into focus.
"No, I'm not okay," she whimpered a moment later, her hands clutching the pillow. I'm not okay at all!
She let out a deep sigh and reined in her emotions before rising from bed to get ready for the day, trying not to think about her coming lunch with Marty. Of course, this action backfired, because the first moment she wasn't distracted her mind wandered back to that damned dream. It had been on repeat every night ever since Marty had told Rory of his plans on proposing to Andy, taunting the brunette with images of a future that was becoming more and more remote with each passing day.
This sucks, she groaned on her way out of the apartment. Minutes later, Rory found herself standing outside of Sutton's Bistro, mentally preparing for the coming lunch with her friend.
You can do this, Gilmore, Rory told herself. It's not like you're falling in love with him, now is it?
Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, Kiddo, Lorelai's voice scoffed in her head.
Be quiet, Mom, she ordered in annoyance, then rolled her eyes at the notion of arguing with somebody who wasn't even there.
"Oy, with the poodles, already," Rory sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before entering the restaurant.
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