Lorelai Victoria Gilmore raced down the hallway of the hospital, one hand holding her favorite stuffed dog, and the other holding her father's hand as he led her through countless sets of double doors (three, to be exact, but Lorelai was too excited to count.)
Her father stopped abruptly at the door of one of the rooms, then squatted down to Lorelai's eye level.
"Now Lorelai," he said, a very serious look in his eye, "your mother is bound to be very tired, and the baby will be sleeping, so I need you to be very quiet. Can you do that for me, my dear?"
She nodded.
"Yes, Daddy," she whispered.
He smiled at her, kissing her forehead and standing up.
"Good girl." He offered her a hand, which she took eagerly.
"Now, are we ready to meet your sister?"
The hospital room was a little warmer than the hallway had been, though not by much. She saw her mother, exhausted but smiling, holding a tiny pink bundle.
"Mommy?"
Her mother looked up and smiled at her, beckoning her closer.
"Is that my little sister?"
"Yes, dear, this is Juliet Leigh."
"She's so pretty," Lorelai said in an awed whisper.
"Yes, she is," Emily answered. Then, with an ironic chuckle, "Thank God her head isn't as large as yours. I think it would've killed me."
Lorelai felt her cheeks flame up. She waited for a defense from her father that she knew even at her early age wouldn't come. He merely chuckled and kissed her mother's forehead.
Any other day, a barb like that would've made her cry or pout, or hide in a corner, but not today. She didn't want to do anything that might keep her from looking at the baby in her mother's arms.
"Can I hold her?" she asked, still whispering.
"May I?" Richard corrected her.
"May I hold her?" Indignance slipped into her voice. Juliet's power could only do so much.
Thankfully, her mother didn't reprimand her for her tone this time.
"Yes, you may," she said with a small smile, "come sit up here and I'll help you."
Lorelai climbed up into the hospital bed, snuggling into her mother's side in a rare moment of affection. Emily carefully passed the bundle to her, keeping her arms firmly around Lorelai's.
She thought she'd loved her sister when she first looked at her. But when she felt the warmth radiating from the tiny baby and leaned down to smell her head, she felt as though she would burst with affection.
Then, the baby opened her eyes, and blue eyes met blue, and Lorelai could've sworn that the baby smiled at her in recognition. She let out a tiny gasp when Juliet's pink hand reached out and curled around one of her fingers.
Right then and there, almost three-year-old Lorelai Gilmore swore she'd never love anything or anyone as much as she loved her baby sister.