Author's Note: Look!! It's before February!! (dances) ... (cough) Yes, I am jazzed I got this up before the date I promised. Leave me be about that.

Anyhoo!! Leave a review. They always make me smile!

We pulled up at the Hartford Memorial Hospital -Maternity Wing, and I raced from the car, jumping from it before it had even stopped moving. Richard quickly followed me, apparently not caring that he'd parked in a no parking zone. I burst through the doors, not all surprised to find Logan, and Luke there. Christopher's presence, on the other hand, did make me cock a brow as I rushed over to Luke.

"Emily!" he said, quite surprised to have me skidding toward him. "How did you know?" I had to smile at the man's question.

"I called her house and Babbette answered." I replied quickly, almost gasping for breath. Richard came up behind me and rested his hand on my back as Luke continued to question me. "What on Earth had you calling her in the middle of the night?"

I frowned. Hmm, let's see. I have a 6 month pregnant daughter and he's asking me why I called her house in the middle of the night. Well, if it had been 6 months ago, I would have given him credit for that. But it's not.

"Luke, my daughter is pregnant. I had a bad feeling, so I called her. End of story. How are they?" I retorted, my maternal worry kicking in. I felt my husband's hand gently rubbing my back as a shiver of concern shot through me.

"All I know is that she's in premature labour." he answered with a sigh. "They can't tell me more because I'm not family." The man took his hat off and tossed it in a near-by chair before running his fingers through his matted hair.

I feel sorry for the boy, in all honesty. With or without this baby ,(the paternity of the child really would make the difference), he would be family. June 3rd had passed several weeks ago, and I certainly know it was hard on Lorelai. I have an inkling it wasn't too pleasant for him. I let my hand rest on his arm for a moment, giving it a gentle squeeze, before walking over to the nurses' station. I ignored Christopher's visible flinch and clench of the fists as I moved past Luke and to the desk labeled 'Nurses' Station.' I nearly snort at the woman who's standing there.

The same nurse had been the one I argued with the night my husband had his heart attack, and I'm rather sure she remembers my face. She looked up at me and gasped, either in horror or shock. I honestly couldn't tell. "Mrs. Gilmore!" she said, almost knocking over the cup of pens on the desk below the counter.

"Yes ... I'd like to know how my daughter, Lorelai Gilmore, is doing?" I asked calmly, my voice resembling the ice burg that sank the Titanic. "Lorelai Victoria, not Lorelai Leigh." I mad sure she gave me the correct information. I really didn't want to have a heart attack. Yes, I was in a hospital, but ... Now would certainly not be the time. Richard couldn't handle all three of his Gilmore girls medically unstable.

"Um ... Yes ... Lorelai Victoria ..." the nurse said as she hunted down the chart. "A-hah. She is in premature labour, general cause would be stress, she's at the end of her second trimester, and has gestational diabetes."

The last bit of information made me gasp. I hadn't known about that. "Gestational diabetes?" I asked softly, hoping I had heard the woman wring.

"Yes, Gestational diabetes." she replied, setting the chart down and running off as an alarm sounded from one of the delivery rooms.

I peered in the direction she had gone and quickly raised my hand to my mouth as I spotted my daughter, clutching at the sheets on her bed as an obvious contraction over-took her. I moved quickly to the room, ignoring the protests of the doctors and my husband. "Lorelai!" I gasped, catching her off-guard.

"Mom!" she ground out as her body tensed during the contraction. My hand quickly found hers as she buckled down, then relaxed. "Mom, how did you-"

"None of that." I said softly, my free hand brushing an ebony lock from her face. "Are you alright? Is the baby alright?" My hands clasped over hers as I waited for her to reply, her panting for breath an obvious sign of pain.

"No!!" she screeched, baring down again as yet another contraction rocked her body. I bit my lip as her finger nails dug into my flesh. No wonder Richard left the room after an hour an da half into my labour with Lorelai. I probably nearly broke his hand. When said woman fell back against her bed, I took the wet cloth from the nurse about to dab her head and did it myself. "You're going to be just fine, Sweetheart." I said as I wiped the sweat from her forehead. "You and your baby are going to be absolutely wonderful."

My mind traveled back to another moment in our lives as another contraction his my daughter's form and her muscles drew up in pain.

Lorelai was about 6 or 7 years old and had already been grounded twice in her life. "Lorelai..." I said softly, disappointment evident in my voice. "You shouldn't have hit Christopher Hayden today."

My little girl was sitting on her bed, her arms crossed and her face crumpled into a disgruntled frown. "I know he pushed you, but you should have told a teacher, not broken his nose." I was squatting in front of her, my hands resting on her knees, my ball gown crumpled at my ankles. I had been quite surprised to receive a phone call from my daughter's principal saying she'd broken Christopher's nose in a fight.

"But Mama!" she whined. "I nearly fell in the sand!" I sighed. Yes, I would have been slightly disappointed if she'd gotten her very expensive plaid skirt and white blouse dirty, but I would have been much angrier at the little boy who'd caused it. "Yes I know you did. You've told me several times now. That still gives you absolutely no reason to break a little boy's nose." I retorted, more bitterly than I had wanted.

This caused my little girl to tear up, her little bottom lip quivering as a single tear fell from her eyes. Before I could say a word, she'd slapped me across the face and covered her own face with her hands as she started to sob. I sat there for a moment before taking her hands away from her face, a glare on my own. "You know better than to do that." I said sternly. I swatted her hands, not hard enough to hurt her severely, but hard enough to make it sting, before letting them go so they could move back to cover her face. She rolled over and continued to sob, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I hate you!!" she screamed. "I hate you I hate you I hate you!"

I sat on the edge of her bed and let my hand gently stroke her back. "No you don't." I whispered. "You may not like me right now, but you don't hate me." I don't know who I was saying this for more, me or her. Her words stung more than she could have possibly imagined.

"Yes I do! Don't touch me!" She moved away from my touch and continued to sob. I signed at the chiming of her small clock on her mantle, and pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her head before moving from the room and closing the door, knowing I would not be back from my function in time to tuck her in bed. I watched as the nanny walked passed me and moved to her room, probably having heard the crying from another room.

I heard my daughter's cries soften with the voice of her nanny, Cherryl, singing to her. I bit my lip to keep my emotions in check and let Richard help me with my coat, quickly moving to our car.

When I got back that night, I fired Cherryl for ... something and hired a new nanny. I suppose that was the beginning of a pattern I would follow for the rest of my daughter's childhood.

Lorelai's ear-piercing scream of agony and sharp nails digging into my hand brought me from my trance as Joshua told her to push with everything she had. I continued to bite my lip to keep my own screams in, not caring when I broke the skin and tasted the coppery flavour of blood in my mouth. Joshua told her to push again and she did as she was told, falling back against her bed after she did her best.

"That's it!" Dr. Reynolds said as he quickly snipped the umbilical cord of my newest grand-baby. "You're done, dear!" He turned his attention to the tiny baby on the table in front of him. I didn't know what he was doing, but I knew a baby cannot be that small and healthy. The little child was no more that 4 inches long, able to fit in one of my hands.

I turned back to my daughter as Joshua worked on the baby, moving from the delivery room as fast as he could. "You did it." I whispered, patting Lorelai's head with the wet cloth again. "You had your baby."

I could see her struggling with her emotions and simply wrapped my arm around her, as if signaling her to let herself cry. She did as was signaled, clinging to me as she sobbed, her tears no doubted to be ones of fear for her new-born. "It's alright." I whispered. "The baby's going to be alright, just like you." I gingerly stroked the back of her head as she buried her face in my stomach. Nurse gently tapped me on the shoulder and said she needed to examine my daughter before they could bring her to another room. I nodded and made my way from the delivery room after pressing a gentle kiss to the top of my girl's head.

Richard met me half way from the delivery room, wrapping his arms tightly around me before leading me over to a sofa. "How is she?" he asked quietly. "Is she alright? Is the baby alright?"

I held my hand up as if to tell him to give me a moment as I swallowed my emotions and turned back to him. "She's doing fine. The baby ... I don't know how the baby is." I replied, the truth of my words stabbing my heart. I leaned over against my husband and let myself cry inhis arms, not caring who might see.

For once in my life, I did not care that I was in a room full of people and sobbing. All I cared about was my traumatized daughter in the room down the hall who had just given a painful, premature birth.

Author's Note: (readies for impact) Leave a review! You are allowed to throw things!! Next chapie should be up before March! (Hides behind curtains)