The birth of an accident grew to a spectacle that couldn't wait. - New Mistake. Jellyfish
April 2017, Stars Hollow
Week 29
Liz arrives at the diner with both TJ and Doula tagging along even if she's talked about just her helping. On instinct he moves from the front to a safer place behind the counter and starts folding napkins when he sees them coming. Luke speaks his mind the moment they enter.
"Why are you all here? It doesn't start for another hour, we don't need this many people crowding the place!"
"Figured we could use the company." Liz tries.
"Don't worry 'bout it, Liz." TJ says. "I know when I'm not wanted. I'll just go back and work on my project." He turns to Jess. "If they could make suspension bridges for moats in the dark ages I'm pretty sure I can construct my own garage door opener."
"Sure, TJ." Jess says, not letting his morbid amusement show.
TJ heads for the door where Luke is stationed.
"Such a scam to buy a ready-made, huh, Luke?"
Slight panic runs across Luke's face.
"What one man can do, another can do!" TJ hoots as the door closes behind him.
"Uhm, TJ!" Luke calls and heads after his brother-in-law.
Lorelai shoots Jess a look, which he pointedly ignores, he has his own baby on the way without looking after Liz' chosen one. Liz puts her bejeweled bag on a table and steps up to the counter.
"What can we do? What do you need? Your bidding, good sir."
He smiles tightly and nods to the storage.
"Lane's the boss."
Liz heads to the storage and Doula sneaks in behind the counter stopping at his side. She seems to be too old for the giggly, unreserved hugs, at least for the time being. She gets into distinctly physical moods though, and today is such a day. She leans against his side, rolling her entire body back and forth over his shoulder. He smiles and shoves her back.
"They're driving me crazy." She sing-songs.
"Keep it together and you can come stay with us this summer."
"How long?" She asks suspiciously, probing the offering.
"Long weekend?"
"A week."
"Deal." He hands her a stack of napkins and she starts folding. Lorelai calls him for help and they move two tables to make a space for gifts. She looks at him, expression amused.
"What?"
"Your negotiation skills could use some work."
"I want her there, Lorelai."
"No, it's just, you better start practicing now, or you'll be no match for your kid, he'll have you around his little finger in no time."
"I hear that's supposed to happen anyway." He goes.
"Fair enough. But being a parent is constantly being trapped between wanting your kid to be happy now as well as later, and that often takes two very different decisions."
He simpers.
"Well, luckily I'm just a brother in this case, plus, I think preventing a murder might be good for Doula's present and future. One of those unique situations I guess."
"Fine, be willfully ignorant." Lorelai sighs.
"Fine."
"Fine."
Liz emerges from behind the curtain with Lane, the two of them carrying the helium tank. They place it in the corner and Lane runs back to fetch the rest of the decorations. Liz walks up to the table where she left her bag and rummages through it retrieving a soft package. She hands it to him.
"It's for your kid, and I know it's tradition to give stuff like that to the mother, but me and tradition have never been that close."
He stares at the gift, not knowing what to do with it.
"Open it." She says.
He stifles a sigh and quickly unwraps it. It's a pale, yellow piece of cloth from old flannel with a pattern of teddy bears along the edge.
"It's a baby blanket." She explains. "Yours to be precise."
He stares at her, can't control his expression, which has to be some form of mild shock. The two of them moved more times than he can account for, and they never brought many things with them, too much of a hassle. His reading habit grew substantially with age and must have been one of the things annoying her the most since it meant bringing along heavy boxes for their everlasting journey. It's quite possibly what made his ideas of personal possession so liberal, since she knowingly sent off a lot of his books to rid the two of them of baggage, causing him to steal them back from wherever he could. And, as an added bonus it drove her crazy when he got into trouble. The idea of her holding on to anything they didn't absolutely need for so many years seems unreal.
"It's nothing special. I bought it on a discount about a month before you were born. A friend at the time was tagging along and told me you could never have too many blankets for your kid, so I said: 'what the heck'."
He looks at the cloth in his hands. It draws him in and he wants to inspect it closer, smell it, but it's too intimate a gesture to share with Liz.
"It was a pretty day," she continues, "weather was lovely and Jimmy was a doll. And it used to be so soft. I used to pet it myself those last weeks before you were born. It's aged well. It's probably why I could never bring myself to toss it."
He's uncomfortable and it takes him a few seconds to realize he's in pain. He stops his thumb from moving over the surface of the blanket. He turns and places it on the table reserved for gifts behind him. Takes a second to draw a breath and spots Lorelai and Doula peeking at him and Liz with different degrees of wary.
"Thank you." He says, balancing his tone to keep it from being too tight without it acting as an invite for more.
"It's nothing." She says, and even though he didn't want any public displays of affection, he's taken aback by inherent bitterness of the words. They're barren and not like his mother at all, who's is all about the overwhelming gestures, of love, of anger. He uses it for cover though. The thing really must be worthless, or she'd have sold it years ago. Probably kept it around for padding moving boxes. He knows the thoughts are toxic, but they're part of his make-up at this point even though he tries not to oblige them so much these days. He straightens his back. "Doula and I are gonna wrap a gift for later." Liz finishes and gestures for her daughter to join her. The two of them disappear behind the curtain.
He glances at Lorelai, prepared to face whatever comment she might feel the need to voice, but she's mounting a nozzle on the helium tank and leaves him be.
Luke returns a few minutes later.
"Where's TJ?" Lorelai asks. "Did he fall into the moat?"
"I sent him shopping." Luke responds. "You can never have too many coffee filters."
"Wanna bet he'll prove you wrong?" Jess goes.
"Thanks for helping out back there," Luke says caustically, "you're a real lifesaver!"
"The man is not my responsibility."
"Then who's is he?"
"How about whoever willingly married him or, I don't know, his own? Both of them could use the practice." Jess mutters.
"You know what they say about old dogs?"
"Probably something unfair to dogs."
Lorelai bursts into laughter. Luke glares at her.
"Nice."
She slaps a guilty hand over her mouth.
"Hey, don't you think you forfeit your right to a personal bodyguard if you refuse to read warning labels while being the reason they were invented?" Jess remarks.
Doula joins them before Luke has a chance to answer and Jess falls quiet. He feels a little bad. He doesn't hide his feelings about Liz and TJ, but usually lets his sister set the tone for conversations regarding them and tries to reel her in when she gets upset. It's rare for him to make fun of them openly when she could easily overhear. Then he notices the time.
"I'd love to stay and banter, but I gotta go get Rory."
He leaves the diner as Liz, Lane and Lorelai get started on the balloons, and makes his way to the house. His timing is perfect; Rory pulls up the car when he's about to climb the stairs.
"Hi."
"Hi." He turns and meets her at the vehicle. "How'd it go?"
She smiles before answering which is a really good sign.
"They want it!"
"No!" It's his go-to response to good news. Still eerily uncomfortable with unadulterated joy.
"Yes!"
"I thought it was just a pitch meeting."
"I did too, but, she actually read the outline I sent her. And, turns out she wasn't just being polite when she coaxed that first draft copy from me."
"That is great! Diane is a gem."
"No kidding! And so nice about it, went on and on about how the book is perfect for Silver Moon."
"It is. I'm so happy for you."
Rory inches into his arms.
"It probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you so, I owe you thanks too."
"Cork it." He kisses her.
"She also asked about you." Rory's words fall from her mouth even as it's pressed to his. "When were you gonna publish new material." Her tone is light, but he knows the enquiry is personal too. If he told her to just go eat right now, she'd agree, but he needs to stall. He shrugs.
"I don't know. I have all these sections and I had a plan but… just doesn't seem relevant anymore."
"What do you mean?" She looks worried.
He pecks her nose with a small smile to calm her. Shrugs again.
"I just don't think the story is about what I thought it was. I have to do some re-writes but I haven't decided how yet, and it's been a while since I've worked on it and it's not…" He pauses. "It's not a priority right now." He strokes a hand across the expanding curve of her belly. She smiles a little.
"Are we meeting mom at Luke's?"
"Yes." With an arm around her he sets them walking in a distinctly slower pace than usual and steers them along the scenic route rather than the closest. She's apparently to distracted by the topic to object. They're halfway down the street when she speaks again.
"Hey, do you need me to be a paying costumer? 'Cause I can do that. I'd pay, say twenty bucks, for your take on how the Beast spent his ten years in the castle. Did he read all the books? I mean, he wouldn't have been busy cleaning. And if so... Wow."
He laughs.
"It's fine. Don't worry about this, not today."
"Alright."
She reaches her free arm around his waist and hugs him as they're walking. The town square becomes visible ahead a few minutes later. He keeps asking questions, a bit to see how long he can keep her mind busy.
"Okay. So… that's it? Silver Moon'll publish it?"
"Yeah. Well. Diane had some revisions she wanted me to consider. A change in the order of the story, a shift in the focus, it would require writing a few more sections."
"Are you gonna do it?"
"I said I'd think about it. Let her know within a week."
By now you couldn't miss it.
"What's going on at Luke's?" She says, spotting clusters of green and silver colored balloons anchored at the entrance.
"No idea." He responds, only partly lying he tells himself. Apparently, she can tell anyway.
"Jess!" She says, frowns at him, then looks back, eyes widening in some kind of realization. They've slowed their pace but are moving closer, the alien designs getting clearer on the silvery balloons and the stringers of UFO's in the windows becoming visible. Her mouth drops open as she closes the remaining space between her and the entrance. The guests inside the diner hoot their 'surprise!' And she spins around and glares at him through her wide professional smile.
"I said no baby shower!"
"Yeah, that's easy for you to say when you're not the one convincing Lane of it!" He responds through a smile of his own.
She looks back, walks inside and receives the group hug charged by Lane. Jess tries slipping by to the back, but she snags hold of his arm while he's passing and closes the distance between them in a hug, all the while she hisses in his ear.
"What good are you if I can't use your antisocial behavior for my own benefit? I need to be able to trust you to protect me like you would your own social life!"
"I was in an impossible situation!" He says defensively. "I talked her off costumes and renting the Inn. Give me some credit."
"It's a baby shower!" She protests loudly.
"Technically," Lane goes, slipping an arm around her, " it's a casual gathering of individuals bringing the occasional gift or hand-me-down for the baby. No funny business. Boys allowed."
Rory quirks an eyebrow at her friend.
"And they will mostly be running errands, but it's a pure coincidink." Lane adds reluctantly. "Oh! Come on! Just accept this silly tradition without a fuss for once!"
"Okay." She lets herself be led inside for a greeting round. Lorelai and Emily are there of course, and Liz, Doula and Paris. Mrs. Kim is sitting with Babette and Patty at a table which, like the others are covered in green, disposable cloth, peppered with golden polka dots. She laughs.
"No leprechauns?"
"Yeah! I was shocked to find that apparently most green party-decorations are meant to connotate St. Patrik's, not alien-baby-showers! The market's just too narrow to meet your unorthodox needs. But, I think it works anyway, for instance: Check out your pot o' gold!" Lane points to the gift-table in the corner. It's already filled with packages, cards and flower, among others a bouquet from Sookie who's apparently not able to attend. "Now, before you freak out, these are all hand me downs! Everything here was gonna come your way anyway, and, you need it. You don't know it yet, but you do. Look at this." Lane lifts down a big, soft package that seems to be wrapped in brown, paper bag, tied together with silver string. "These are some of Steve and Kwan's old clothes and toys."
Rory glares at her.
"What?" Lane says. "You had to get them at some point. Open it!"
Rory opens the package with some difficulty and finds a bag filled with clothes and what looks like the occasional baby toy. She picks out a garment.
"This one still has the price-tag."
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe all the stuff we got for our kids, some of it we never got around to use."
"Right."
"Just you wait. You'll see."
She gives up, laughs, and hugs Lane, rocking them back and forth, pecking her cheek as she pulls back. Luke has appeared, and him, Jess and TJ are placing trays of mac 'n cheese on the counter, as well as some dutiful salad, bread, and bowls of fried bacon.
She winds up at a table with Emily, Liz and Lane. Paris plops down beside her, plate full of mac 'n cheese.
"So, how's our fetus doing? Active? Any nausea?"
"Yes and yes." She answers.
"Good, both good signs."
"Well, I just wish good signs didn't feel so, bad, I guess."
"Comes with the territory." Paris says. "Thank god you have the culinary taste of a toddler, you shouldn't be within a block of wild salmon or tuna in any form. And don't get me started on soft cheeses. You should be glad you don't know all I know, in my line of work you can't be too careful."
"Thank you for not telling me."
"You're welcome," Paris says, straight-faced, before smiling, "that would take a particular brand of meddling, right?"
"One you're simply not capable of." Rory quips.
"I'm all in favor of the more you know," Lane says, "but if anyone told me how to handle my own body to cater to what is essentially a parasite I'd start swinging."
"As long as the experts don't move in next door you have to listen to them." Emily interjects. "They know what they're talking about."
"Then how come the guidelines change so much?" Lane asks. "I mean, one decade a glass of wine is a catastrophe and the next it isn't."
Paris clears her throat loudly.
"I think you're confusing new guidelines with the difference between pregnancy and breastfeeding." She says firmly. "It was never okay to drink again once that was out the window. Do you know what alcohol does to a fetus?"
Rory stifles a sigh.
"Can we possibly not read the pamphlet right now?"
"Fine," Paris says with an overly dismissive gesture, "be it on your own heads, but let me just add, that if there's ever an occasion-"
"I haven't had a drink since week five, Paris." Rory assures.
"Okay, so no alcohol, but the foods!" Lane says. "Isn't that constantly changing? What were the guidelines like in the sixties, Emily?
Emily smiles.
"Nothing like today." She says. "But alcohol was generally frowned upon. And I remember some from when Lorelai was pregnant, you weren't supposed to eat fish back then either, at least not certain kinds, because of the mercury." She passes the question on to Liz who's sitting next to her. "You must have been pregnant about the same time. Do you remember?"
Liz puts down her plate and shrugs cheerfully.
"Guidelines were all different then and, y'know, I wasn't particularly particular with what I ate, drank or inhaled to begin with."
Paris glares at her.
"You're lucky he came out intact, and in working shape." She says. "I hear Doula's having trouble with math. Some cognitive function develops in narrow stretches of time from week to week. Can you account for your diet in the time before week twelve and between week 22 and 30?"
Liz laughs.
"Honey, I don't even recall what I had for breakfast this morning."
"Luck." Paris says pointedly.
"Don't I know it." Liz admits, tone light. "Oh! And I do remember! Granola and a boiled egg!" She adds triumphantly.
Emily shoots Rory a concerned glance that she answers with a small, apologetic smile that has to be slightly sad by now. But Liz is a master of deflection, which actually makes her something of a social Houdini. An expert on navigating awkward situations. She puts her hand to Rory's belly.
"Tell us about the activity, hun. What are the odds of getting your ass kicked?"
Rory smiles.
"Pretty high at the moment, Jess took one to the ear last week, I think he's officially done using me as a pillow."
"You're lucky you get any cuddling time in. "Lane says. "I wouldn't let Zack within ten square feet of me during my pregnancy. Too nauseous, too full of baby, and he did that to me!"
"If I was bearing twins I might feel the same."
"You bet you would. And the kicking! Four legs! I swear sometimes it'd look like a xenomorph was bursting out of me!"
Rory raises her glass for a sip and the others follow her example.
"You don't seem too fond of being pregnant." Emily observes.
"It was the worst time of my life." Lane says simply. "I'm gonna assume you don't share that experience."
"That'd be correct. I quite enjoyed it. Lorelai was planned for and wanted and me and Richard were so very happy..." Her voice fades, then she takes a breath and continues. "The birth though." She looks around. "It might be why I never wanted a second one."
There's hum of confirmation from the others and a following paus.
"I kinda liked giving birth." Paris's voice breaks the silence at the table. Everybody turns and looks sharply at her.
"You are an insane person!" Lane goes.
"What!?" Paris retorts. "It was a chance to understand my true potential! Pain is nothing, it only makes me stronger! I can survive this, I can survive anything!"
"I feel you." Liz says in her warm way. "First time was pretty disorienting, but I'm pretty sure it was the entire situation that made me feel like that. Everything that had happened up 'til then, and everything that was about to happen... It was there in those moments. I wasn't clean, physically or emotionally, y'know?" She turns to a significantly pale Emily. "Second time was so much better, safe space, safe people, probably the biggest day of my life."
Lane looks between Liz and Paris, and to the others. After a few beats she smiles.
"Well, we are all here. That is pretty cool."
"Hear, hear." Emily says.
A whistle cuts through the diner. Lorelai's on her feet and everyone falls quiet.
"Hi! Since it's about time for cake I thought I'd take this chance to slip in a few words. First and foremost, thank you Lane for orchestrating this thing. I'm not much for traditions, at least not in the traditional sense, so it's good to know that our friends make sure that we don't miss out." She raises her glass to Lane who mirrors the gesture. "I'd also like to thank all the guys doing their best to carry the weight 'round here today. Keep it up!" She raises her glass to Luke and Jess behind the counter and Luke lifts the coffee pot in response. "Also, a shout out to my very own baby, Rory. When I was pregnant with you a baby-shower wasn't appropriate, but if it had been I would've liked if it'd been like this. And the sweetest thing about the two of us is that being happy for you is being happy for myself." Rory and Lorelai smile at each other. "Of course, the honorary guest of this party isn't here yet but already listening in. So here it is baby; The venue used to celebrate your imminent arrival is well chosen since there would be no you without it." Rory glances to Jess who's already looking at her, with one of his almost invisible smiles on his lips. "And I wanna make myself clear: You are anticipated." Lorelai looks directly at Rory with those words. They smile at each other again and Lorelai blows her a kiss. "So, it is with great pleasure that I proclaim this place your mothership. See you soon!" She raises her glass again and the entire diner mimics her. "Cheers!"
TJ wheels out the cake which is giant and green and in the shape of a UFO.
The door chimes and Christopher walks in followed by a teenage girl, Gigi. Rory has to stop her jaw from dropping, she hasn't seen her sister in years, and even then, just in passing. Since her parents broke up for good she hasn't been keen on involvement with anyone from the Hayden family, and the relationship between Sherry and her father being what it is, or isn't, has made it difficult to initiate contact with Gigi. And then, too much time had passed for her to feel good about calling. Christopher walks up to her and kisses her cheek, over his shoulder she spots her mother smiling weakly at them, while Luke keeps purposefully busy with the cake. Emily's expression is icy in a way that's almost comforting.
"Hi, kiddo", her dad says.
"Hi dad."
Christopher smiles and steps aside ushering Gigi forward. She smiles shyly, pretty, preppy, in an outfit that would do her mother proud.
"Hi Rory." She says. "Congratulations." She hands her a package in gift wrap.
"Gigi!" Rory says, and finds she's a bit choked up. "Thanks for coming, I- I'm so glad you came!" She puts down the package on the closest table and leans in to hug Gigi. Her little sister responds a bit awkwardly, so she gives her a firm squeeze across the shoulders before stepping back.
"Now that you're safely delivered I'm gonna go for a walk, see about some unicorn shops." Christopher says. "I'll be back in an hour or so." Gigi nods at him and he turns and walks out the diner reaching out and grasping Lorelai's hand as he leaves. She smiles at him. Luke stays busy. Emily and Christopher briefly nod at each other.
Rory looks back to Gigi, who regards her more openly now.
"Thanks for inviting me."
Rory lets out a silent laugh, because she of course didn't, but it's hardly appropriate to let Gigi know.
"It was a given. I'm just so happy you came." She pulls her little sister down on a chair and sits opposite her. While she endures the usual interview regarding the baby's ETA and such, Jess brings them lemonade and cake. She wants to grab his hand, but that'll escalate to more, too much, so she settles for kicking his ankle. He skips and shoots her an insulted look which she helplessly returns, and his expression softens.
She and her sister talk for a while. Gigi's back from France, attending Chilton and loves to read, although their tastes differ as she mostly reads urban fantasy or different kinds of romance, she sticks her chin out slightly when she talks about it, like she's used to defending herself. Rory smiles in recognition, used to be the odd one out at that age, at least before Chilton, and to be honest pretty frequently after that too. Gigi reports on Sherry (intense but cordial), Christopher (busy but generous) and Francine (actually kind of cool since Straub died a couple of years back) and it's good to hear someone with a similar perspective on these people talk about them. Her sister goes on about Sherry and Rory's surprised to find that it doesn't hurt to hear her name anymore, that it's not just a bad memory, but the beginning of something that doesn't have to be irrelevant to her.
"Did you know I attended your baby shower?" Rory starts, possibly interrupting Gigi.
"No. But it's nothing personal. I don't seem to remember that party at all."
Rory laughs and is more than a little impressed at the wit of this girl.
"Well, I'm pretty sure it inspired the theme of this one."
"A space-theme?" Gigi gapes. "I can't imagine my mom approving that."
"Actually, I think this is supposed to be an Alien-theme. But to be honest it's more an elaborate joke, yours just had the color green."
"Well, how was it?"
"Weird. I mean, we knew no one there, so it was a bit awkward, and y'know, showers are a strange kind of party in general, probably why I didn't want to throw one at first."
"It is strange to have a party for someone who hasn't even been born yet." Gigi agrees. "It's like a funeral, but the other way around." She pauses. "So, are you happy with this one despite the weirdness?"
"Oh, yes. And you know, once you were born I got what the fuss was about, so, that party made much more sense in retrospect."
Gigi smiles.
"Hey, don't forget to open the gift!" She says, pushing the package on the table beside them towards Rory.
She carefully peels off the paper. It's three tops for the baby, one with a pun about miso soup, another with a rebel symbol and the words 'The Force That Awakens' and one that reads 'My aunt rocks'.
"I know it was supposed to be second hand-stuff, but I have so little of mine left and I couldn't resist these."
"They're great. Thank you."
Doula comes up to them and hands Rory a package.
"Open mine next."
She unwraps it and reveals a somewhat worn copy of Where the Wild Things Are.
"It's my old one." Doula says with badly covered enthusiasm. "Look in the binder."
She opens it and finds Jess's neat hand writing there. 'For Doula from Jess. Christmas 2008'. And underneath: 'For Nephew from Doula. April 2017', in finicky letters. Rory closes it.
"But it's yours." She protests.
"Exactly! It was my favorite as a baby." Doula says. "The first monsters I ever saw."
"And he bosses them around," Gigi fills in.
"Right," Doula says. "Like they're his pets."
"It's a good lesson," Gigi smiles.
"Your baby might need it." Doula insists. "At least for learning to howl at the moon." She adds with a laugh and Rory joins in. She pulls Doula into a hug.
"You're just the sweetest. Thank you. You're really living up to your name."
"I try to."
"Hey, do you like creature features?" Gigi asks Doula.
"I don't know. I might be more into ghost stories than like, slime and stuff." Doula responds.
"Fair enough." Gigi says and launches into a list of recommendations which Doula excitedly jots down on a napkin.
Rory listens, since she knows little to nothing about the genre. The furthest she's gotten is magical realism, although her mom sometimes tries to get her into King. She's always had Lorelai, but never really anyone else. And it's a strange sort of loneliness she's aware of just now, when it's practically gone. She's sitting amidst two different kinds of sisters, but hers. Lane joins the conversation and it shifts towards music and when Christopher shows up a while later, it's a reluctant goodbye drawn out by the exchange of phone numbers, email addresses and social media accounts. When Rory and Gigi hug and they hold on for extra moments, she swallows down tears. After waving her off, she spins around and backs Jess in behind the curtain as he tries to exit.
"Woah." He looks concerned at her expression, so she smiles from behind her blurry vision to let him know she's okay.
"How did you even-?" She starts without really being able to finish.
His hands are up in a defensive gesture.
"This is all Lane. I just carried out orders."
She laughs in a sniffle. He leans into her, whispers, as if they're sharing a secret, which they sort of are here behind the curtain.
"I don't know if you noticed; she's a bit of busybody."
She smiles broadly.
"She's a Kim after all."
He strokes her cheek.
"Hope we didn't overstep."
"Overstep?" She shakes her head. "Of course you did. You overleapt." He laughs. "But it's good. Sometimes meddling is just the thing." She kisses him in attempt to honestly communicate her feelings, but still thinks it falls short. "How'd you do this?"
"Oh, it was a nightmare; I had to use the phone." He smiles.
"Yeah, I know that's not even an exaggeration."
"It was no biggie. I just called Christopher s'all."
Just called Christopher. There's guilt and gratitude, and she grabs the sides of his face with both hands and presses her lips to his and keeps their faces together for a beat after.
"Thank you." She whispers.
"You're very welcome." He responds, kisses her again, and goes back out to serve coffee. She takes a breath and returns to the table with Doula and Lane. Sits next to her best friend and squeezes her hand.
They clear out the diner and end up sweeping the gifts into a duffel bag; A number of toys, a baby watch, the baby tops, Doula's book, and a faded yellow baby blanket mixing with the clothes from Lane's kids.