Chapter 4

"Are you ready?" Christopher asked, reaching for the doorbell.

"No." He dropped his hand, allowing a couple of moments of silence before asking again.

"How about now?"

"Still no."

"I'm hungry." GG said, tugging on Lorelai's dress.

"Yeah, mom." Rory agreed. "I'm hungry! Let's go in already."

"I need another minute." Lorelai insisted. Rory huffed and tried leaning around her mother to ring the doorbell, but Lorelai slapped her hand away. "Rory! I said I need a minute! You know what is waiting for us in there."

"What's in there?" GG asked curiously.

"Bitter, bitter disappointment, Geege." Lorelai replied, holding GG's hand in both of hers and shaking her head pitifully.

"Actually, we're the ones bringing the disappointment." Commented Christopher, holding GG's other hand.

"So?"

"So, technically, the disappointment is out here with us." He said, grimily.

"What's out here?" GG asked scared, this time looking over her shoulder behind them towards the driveway.

"See, now you're scaring her." Rory chided her parents. "It's nothing, GG. Mom and Dad are just being silly."

"Silly?" Lorelai asked indignantly. "You know very well how Emily is going to act about it!"

"Yes, she will be a bit put out by you rejecting her ideas, but she'll be glad you're finally showing some interest and she wants it to be something you'll like. She'll be fine."

"Come on, Lor. Just like we rehearsed. We've got this." Christopher gives Lorelai and reassuring smile and squeezed GG's hand in his.

"Ok." Lorelai takes a deep breath and rings the doorbell.

As the maid opens the door and lets them in, they take off their coats, Christopher helping GG with hers, and they walk to the living room where Emily serves them mocktails (the house is currently alcohol free to abide to Richard's new dietary restrictions). Richard had been back from the hospital for only a couple of days. Th doctor was happy with his recovery so far and said there was nothing keeping Richard from going back to his normal life, as long as he didn't over exert himself in the next few weeks. Emily had, of course arranged for a professional chef to become their cook, in order to prepare healthy, low-sodium meals that Richard would still enjoy eating, despite the fact that it was all fish. On Richard's last day at the hospital, Emily has started commenting to Lorelai that she was going to have to postpone the engagement party for her and Christopher, but that only gave her and Lorelai more time to plan it to perfection. Knowing that if her father's heart attack couldn't cancel the party nothing would, Lorelai and Christopher had talked about the party and decided that they would do whatever they could to make it something actually enjoyable. But in order to do that they would have to veto a lot of Emily's ideas. That was not something they were looking forward to do. Nevertheless, they had a plan, they had rehearsed it, and they were hoping for the best. After drinks and convincing Richard to stop watching golf and join his guests, they moved to the dining room and sat to eat. Richard wasn't happy to be eating yet another fish dish, so Emily took the first opportunity to change the subject to something that would not put the focus on Richard or their food: the engagement party.

"Lorelai, Christopher. Now that things are back to normal, it's time we started planning the party again. You'll be glad to know that I called the venue and got them to rebook us to March 15. I've already contacted the printers with the new date for the invitations and they are going out early next week. It's a bit last minute, but our guests will understand the circumstances. So that is all arranged. But we still have to finalize the menu, the flowers, the seating chart, the music, the cake and what you're wearing, of course." She Emily talked, Lorelai and Christopher exchanged glances, nodding encouraging to each other.

"That sounds great, mom." Lorelai said as soon as she thought she could sneak a comment in her mother's monologue. "March 15 will work really well." Part of their plan was being positive about details that had already been set and could not be changed and letting Emily take several wins, in order for her to let them have their say in other details. "I have been thinking about the menu. You remember Sookie, right? She's catered a few of your DAR events. I think we should ask her to cater. She's reliable, we know for a fact her food is good, and we work together so I can make sure that the date works for her as far as the inn is concerned."

Christopher gave Lorelai a discrete wink and nodded his head in praise. Emily looked pleasantly surprised with Lorelai's words and interest. So, when she agreed with having Sookie be in charge of the food, Lorelai knew it was time to give her something she wanted, before trying to get more of the party done her way.

"Great. I will set up a meeting with her here for us to go over ideas for the menus with her and then ask her to give us a tasting about two weeks before the day of the party, for us to approve everything. You had mentioned Cornish game hens, right? Sookie made a great lemon pepper Cornish hen dish at the Dragonfly last year. Maybe she could do it again. What day next week would suit you best?"

Emily was positively speechless at that. "uhm… Tuesday afternoon."

"Tuesday afternoon is it." Lorelai agreed, a took another forkful of her sea bass. She glanced at Christopher, signalling that it was his turn.

"About the clothes, I actually already have a suit picked out from my father's tailor. He's been dressing the Hayden's for events for generations. I'm sure you'll be pleased. But I do need help with picking something for GG." He smiled at his young daughter. "Would you know someone that could take care of that?" He asked Emily, but Lorelai immediately jumped in, as previously rehearsed.

"Well, Miss Celeste is dressing us, isn't she, mom?" She asked, referring to the ancient dress maker that had been dressing Gilmore women since the Great Flood and kept comparing Lorelai to Elizabeth Taylor. "Do you think she could bring us some options in GG's size as well?"

By now, even Richard was looking surprised by how the conversation was going, his attention completely distracted from the bland fish dish he was eating. "Yes, I believe she carries some children styles…" Emily said.

"Fantastic. Did you hear that, GG? You're going to get a dress together with Lorelai and Rory for the party."

"Yay!" GG replied happily, eating her sea bass with gusto.

The conversation went like that for a little while longer, with Lorelai and Christopher agreeing with the flower and decorations decisions that Emily had previously hinted at. They also asked if she would be willing to organise the seating chart for them, since they were just oh so busy these days and Emily was so experienced in these things. That was the icing on the cake of their plans. It had all gone as they had hoped so far. They had thought that giving in to so many of her wishes, and seeming positive and interested in the planning of the party would make Emily more likely to give in to the one aspect of the party that Lorelai and Christopher did not want to leave to Emily: the music. If there was to be any hope that this party would be something they would enjoy, they could not have a string quartet, or anything like that. They needed an actual band. It was time to go for the jugular.

"Now, mom. Last time we talked about the music, you suggested a string quartet. That's a nice idea and all, but we want something a little different. We want a band. We actually already know the band we want. They are a 7-piece soul band called Soul Purpose. They played at a few Independence Inn weddings back in the day. They have a really fun list of tunes. They play classic soul, Motown era and some modern classics too. Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Al Green, but also some Prince, Amy Winehouse, James Brown. Something for every age, and all very, very danceable. I've called them and told them more or less when the party was going to be and they are free around then. I'll call them tomorrow with the actual date and make sure they save it."

A long silence stretched out after Lorelai's speech, making Lorelai and Christopher literally start to sweat at the pressure. Rory saw it and started to worry that they would break. They had been prepared for it, but she knew this was the hardest part. Lorelai had structured her sentence very carefully, in a way that acknowledged Emily's ideas and provided strong support for her own suggestion, but at the end was a statement, and not a question for permission or approval. Now they had to hold the silence and let Emily be the next to speak. But the longer the silence lasted, the harder it was. Rory caught her mother's eyes and nodded her support, willing her not to break. To hold strong just for a little while longer.

"Fine." Emily said finally, putting down her fork and looking to her guest's dinner plates. "Are you all done? Aurora, please take our plates and bring out the dessert. We have fruit salad."

Later, after all of dinner had been eaten and the coffee drunken, Lorelai, Christopher, Rory and GG were putting their coats by the front door, saying their goodbyes to Emily and Richard.

"Thank you so much for a lovely dinner, Emily. Richard." Christopher shook hands with his father-in-law.

"Yes, thank you for dinner, Grandma Emily and Grandpa Richard." GG said, minding her manners.

"You're very welcome, Miss GG." Said Richard. "And I thank you again for the lovely card you made me. I'll place it in a place of honour in my office."

"Really? Thanks!" GG said and hugged Richard around the legs. Every one smiled and the adorable little girl hugging a man more than three times her height.

"I'll call you this weekend, mom, with a time for us to meet with Sookie. We can even do it at the Dragonfly if you want. Have lunch there."

"Sounds good. Tell Sookie I look forward to hearing her ideas." Lorelai led her family out of the door, wanting to get out of there asap, before Emily decided to disagree with everything they had decided tonight undo all the work they had made towards making the party bearable. Just as the door of the Gilmore residence was about to close behind them, Emily called.

"And Lorelai, what that really so hard?" She smiled sarcastically and closed the door, leaving her departing guests wide eyed and jaw dropped.

"She played me. My mother Gilmored me."

"Yup." Rory patted her mother on the shoulder in sympathy.

"I need a shower."

Pirates on Skates

The weeks until the party absolutely flew by. Lorelai and Christopher were busy with work and their own parts in preparing for the party. Lorelai had five more meetings with her mother than she had wanted to, discussing everything from the Sookie's food to cocktails, table cloths and centrepieces. On top of that, she had to attend multiple dress fittings for herself, Rory and GG. Christopher had also been semi bombarded with questions about his suit and samples of pocket squares. And Rory had been sending copies of her CV to what seemed to be every newspaper in the country and attending interviews almost every other day. She had also spent a lot of her time planning and executing every classic birthday celebration trick for Logan's 25th and a knock out baby shower for Lane and Zack.

Logan's birthday hadn't gone exactly as she had planned or hoped. At the last minute, Mitchum Huntzberger had called Logan and invited him and Rory out to dinner. While the dinner itself hadn't gone terribly, after dinner Logan's mood seemed to shift and he wasn't as excited about the surprises she had planned for him as she had hoped. Still, they had a nice evening ice skating in central park and then breaking into the piñata and eating all the candy in bed together. The baby shower, however, was going to be a blast. She had everything planned out, all the signs and banners, the cake, a gazillion onesies and enough finger paint to decorate all of them. She had even convinced Lorelai into helping talk Mrs. Kim into going to the baby shower. The only minor issue Rory had was that she had been invited to a job interview on the day of the shower. But since it was The New York Times, there was no way she was going to miss it. So, she arranged with Logan for them to leave the city right after her interview and she'd change in the car while he drove them to Stars Hollow.

However, the morning before the party, just as Lane and Mrs. Kim made peace - with the help of Lorelai- about the babies attending church and being allowed to eat "unclean" meats, Lane felt a sharp pain and was taken to the hospital. The doctor prescribed her with strict bed rest until the birth of the babies.

"This sucks!" Lorelai was venting to Christopher while they prepared lunch. "Rory planned every single detail and now we can't do it. She's going to be devastated."

"Is there really no way? We can get Lane a wheel chair, push her around the party." He suggested while making GG a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"I asked the doctor. He said she must stay in bed. Because its twins, Lane is very likely to go into early labour and the doctor wants the babies to stay in there as long as possible."

"Well… if a wheel chair won't work, how about a wheel bed?"

"What do you mean?" She asked as she prepared some coffee.

"We could put wheels on her bed. Now, the pushing her around the town square on a bed isn't going to go very well, I see that." He took a pause to think while about that as he cut the crusts off the sandwich. "But maybe we can move it somewhere else, inside, where the bed can stay put and have everything happen around it. Maybe Miss Patty's?"

"You could do that? Put wheels on her bed?"

"Yeah, sure. I'd just need to buy some skate boards or something like that. There's a skateboard shop in Bridgeport. Some plastic strips and silver tape and you're away."

"I'm so in love with you right now that I won't even mock you for knowing the location of the nearest skateboard shop." Lorelai laughed as she hugged him, planting a big kiss on his cheek. "Can you go get them now? I'll go talk to Miss Patty and start moving the party stuff indoors."

"Yeah, I can. But what about lunch?" Christopher questioned as Lorelai rushed around the room getting ready to leave. She pulled a pop tart out of the cupboard and handed it to him with an impish smile.

"Come on GG." She said as she wrapped GG's sandwich in napkins and handed them to her. "We have a party to save."

Pirates on Skates

Coming back from Bridgeport, the proud new owner of 4 skateboards, Christopher went straight to the town square, where he saw several of the town's people moving in and out of Miss Patty's with tables, cakes, boxes, and more. Right away he noticed another obstacle they were going to have to deal with, in order to save the party.

"Hey Jackson." He greeted his friend who was just coming out of Miss Patty's on his way to get another box of food Sookie had prepared out of his car.

"Christopher, hey!" Jackson greeted him with a warm handshake. Christopher and Jackson had had several man-dates together since the first. Except that now they were actually friends, so they didn't call them 'man-dates'. One of their favourite activities was watching whatever sport was playing at any given day on Christopher's big screen tv. Lorelai and Sookie where happy with that arrangement, for the most part, as it saved them for having to watch the games with their respective husbands. "Lorelai told us of your idea to put wheels on Lane's bed. We're almost done moving the party into Miss Patty's. Have you got the wheels?"

"Yeah, I have them here. Only, we have another problem."

"What?"

"We are going to need a ramp over these stairs." He motioned towards the steps leading into the dance study. No way can we wheel her bed in there without a ramp."

"Oh my god, you're right! I didn't even think about it."

"Can you get on it? I have to go attach the wheels to Lane's bed."

"Yeah, I guess. But I'm really not a tools kind of guy. I don't want to make something that is going to collapse as soon as we get the bed on top of it."

"No. That would be bad." He agreed with a laugh. "Let's not maim the woman heavily pregnant with twins."

"I could ask Luke to help. He's good with construction and tools and such." Jackson suggested, eying Christopher for his reaction. Christopher and Jackson hadn't really talked about how Christopher felt about Luke. Christopher still didn't feel completely comfortable discussing it with him, considering Jackson had known Luke for much much longer than Christopher. Nevertheless, Jackson, along with everybody else in town, was aware that Christopher had been making weekly visits to Luke's diner to order coffee. He never stayed long, always taking his coffee to go, and certainly didn't start long chats with Luke while he was there. But he always acted friendly, waved to the other patrons and had gotten into some fun discussions about 90s rock bands with Zack. Luke, for the most part, was cordial. If he had to serve Christopher himself, he would do it promptly and move on to the next customer as soon as possible. After a couple of visits, he even started adding a couple of monosyllabic replies, like 'hey' and 'yep'. All in all, things were going well. Still, Christopher was glad that Jackson brought up asking Luke for help, saving him from having to suggest it himself.

"Great idea. I'll go ahead and go work on Lane's bed. I'll come back when I'm done, see if you need any help." Christopher started walking away, sending Lorelai and GG, who were inside Miss Patty's rearranging the decorations, a smile and wave, lifting the bag of skateboards and nodding his head to Lane's.

Fitting the wheels to Lane's bed worked fine. He had to briefly ask Lane to relocate to the couch, just so he could lift the bed off its legs, but once the wheels were on, Lane went safely back to bed. Christopher even tested the weight of three more people on the bed and the wheels held perfectly. After that he went back to Miss Patty's to check if the ramp was done. Thankfully, Luke had done fast work of it, and Christopher didn't need to help with more than just holding a couple of boards in place while Luke screwed them in place. Just at that moment, Rory arrived.

"Hey! What's going on? Why if all the party stuff inside Miss Patty's?" She asked sounding a little panicked about her party plans not being executed to perfection.

"Hey, Rory." Christopher straightened up from the ramp and gave her a side hug, kissing her on the temple. "Everything is ok. Lane had some pain and the doctor told her she needs to be on bed rest. But look, we have it all figured out: We've moved the party into Miss Patty's, fitted her bed with wheels, and Jackson and Luke built this ramp so we can push Lane into the dance studio and have the party around her." As he spoke, Luke and Jackson also straightened up and waved at her. "Your mom and GG are inside with the others, finishing all the decorations."

It was a lot for Rory to take in at once, and she clung to the news that something was wrong with her best friend. "Lane was in pain? Why? Is she ok?"

Lorelai had heard Rory arrive and approached her. "She's fine, hon. It's just because it's twins. They tend to come early. But she's in good spirits, right Chris?"

"Yes, she's doing great. I was just with her, attaching the wheels to her bed. She's excited about the party."

"The ramp looks great guys! Thanks, Luke, Jackson." Lorelai nodded at them.

"Yes. Thank you so much!" Rory added, sincerely.

"No problem." Luke answered with a gentle smile.

"Are we ready to bring Lane out?" Christopher asked Luke.

"Well, we should test it first." Luke walked on the ramp, bouncing on it slightly to make sure it would hold. Jackson and Christopher joined him, adding more weight. "Feels good. I think we're good to go."

"Great. Everybody, the party is about to start!" Lorelai shouted walking back into the dance studio.

Rory, Christopher and Jackson walked to Lane's and, with the help of Zack, wheeled her, on her bed, across the square towards the party. At the bottom of the ramp, Luke and Kirk joined to help push the bed up the ramp. Everything went smoothly and as Lane arrived inside the party, everyone broke into cheers and applause. Christopher gave a small sigh of relief that the wheels he had installed hadn't sent his daughter's pregnant best friend tumbling down the ramp. Looking to his right, he saw that Luke looked just a relieved as him and, before he could think twice about it, Christopher smiled and extended a hand to Luke to shake, in congratulations of a job well done. Luke eyed his hand for a moment, and Christopher almost pulled it back, but then Luke reached out and shook Christopher's hand in a firm handshake. Before the moment could get any more awkward, GG called for her dad to join her to see the banners she had helped hang up and he gladly joined the party.

Pirates on Skates

The baby shower was well underway and everyone was having a great time. Rory had spent some time going around checking that everything was set up properly and that no one had forgotten anything, but everything was perfect. Lane was so happy. She couldn't stop looking around at everything Rory had planned and thank everyone for helping to make it come true. She particularly liked the station with projection photos of what the babies would look like based on meshing together baby photos of her and Zack. The photos looked really weird and kind of disturbing, but Zack really liked them – after an initial period of being really freaked out by them – and now couldn't stop talking about them and day dreaming about what the babies would really look like.

Rory, Christopher, Lorelai and GG were on the onesie decorating station, Rory telling her parents all about her job interview with The New York Times. She felt that the interview had gone really well. She had been prepared and confident and had had a lovely chat with the interviewer.

"My daughter working for the New York Times." Lorelai said dreamily.

"I haven't got it yet, mom. I don't want to get too excited ahead of time. It might not happen."

"It'll happen!"

"Even if it doesn't, you obviously made a really good impression. These newspaper people all know each other and they talk. So, making a good impression to them will improve your chances everywhere." Christopher said, as he cleaned his paint brush in a cup of water and started on another colour, completely focused on his work.

"Exactly. I had a good time, I made a connection. Now at least one person in there knows me, That's enough for now." Rory said with a content smile.

"What did Logan say about the interview? Why isn't he here, by the way?" Asked Lorelai. Rory's smile vanished, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"He's had a tough few weeks at work so he went to Vegas with Colin and Finn." She couldn't help letting her irritation show in her voice.

"Oh? Is everything ok?"

"Well, they seem incapable of facing their problems. Instead they run off, fly around the globe to blow off steam and leave things to blow over. Whatever, it's not my problem. I don't want to think about them right now."

Lorelai and Christopher exchanged glances, obviously aware that Rory wasn't super happy with Logan right now and wondering how to change the subject to distract her. Thankfully, GG chose this exact moment to ask the question that every parent dreads having to answer.

"Dad, where do babies come from?" She asked nonchalantly, barely looking away from her onesie, which she was decorating with a rainbow and something that looked like might become a unicorn. Rory and Lorelai held in laughs when they saw the look of slight panic in Christopher's eyes. He looked to Lorelai for help, but she just held up her hands and shook her head.

"Don't look at me. Rory never asked me that. She just went to the library and looked it up." Rory confirmed her mother's story with a nod.

"Uhm…" Christopher started slowly. "They come from the mother's belly, GG."

"How do they get in her belly?"

"They just, uhm, grow there." Christopher's strategy was to say as little as possible. Being only 5 years old, GG was definitely too young to grasp all the details of the truth. Besides, she was probably just wondering about it now because she was surrounded by baby stuff.

"Is that why Lane's belly is so big?"

Christopher laughed. "Yes, that's right. But her belly looks even bigger than normal because she is having two babies"

"Two babies? At the same time?"

"Yes. Normally mothers have one baby at a time, like with you and with Rory. But sometimes mothers can have two babies, or even three babies growing at the same time."

"Can I have a baby?" She asked sweetly, just like she was asking for another chocolate chip pancake or ice cream after dinner. Lorelai jumped in.

"I'm sure you'll have a baby when you're older, Geege. But, let me tell you, babies aren't all that great. They eat all your food, and pull on your hair, and it takes years for them to go away." She said, winking at Rory. GG frowned, displeased at the thought of something pulling her hair, and pushed the onesie she was decorating away from her.

"Wow, GG! That looks really good!" Rory praised her sister's decorated onesie. "Even better than the drawing you made for grandpa. How did you learn to draw so well?"

"Dad said I get it from him." The three girls turned their attention to Christopher, who had been focused on putting the finishing touches in his fourth onesie.

"Dad, look at you!" Rory said surprised, pulling his finished onesies towards to her for closer inspection. "These look amazing! Lane and Zack are going to love them!"

The onesies Christopher had decorated showed logos of famous rock bands. One was in black and white, recreating the electrifying font of Metallica. The second one had, in red, the iconic lips and tongue of The Rolling Stones. The third was in a mix of yellow, red and orange and showed a cartoon of a skull in flames inside of a circle, the logo of his beloved band, The Offspring. The final one, his most elaborate one, had two revolvers pointing in opposite directions and wrapped in the thorny stems of two blood red roses. In the back, a yellow circle with the words 'Guns N Roses'. Rory's enthusiasm about the onesies called the attention of Gipsy and Babette, who were standing nearby, looking at the collage of baby photos hanging on the wall.

"That's quite a talent, Christopher." Gipsy said.

"I can't believe you drew these. I didn't know you could draw and paint so well." Rory continued.

"Thanks." He gave a humble smile. "I used to draw a lot in high school, but didn't do much of it afterwards. Since GG started playing with pencils and crayons I kind of got back into it."

"I remember one time, when we were 10 years old, I wanted to go to Disneyland for my birthday." Lorelai started to tell. "I really wanted to meet Goofy. Of course, Emily wouldn't dream of it. Whoever heard of children spending their birthday running around a park, eating fried food and going on rides? Instead, she put me in a dress with more ruffles than waves on a beach and got tickets for us to go to a Brahms concerto in Boston. It was so boring, oh my god. I told your dad how much it had sucked the next day at school and by the end our last class that day he gave me a drawing of me taking a photo with Goofy." She laughed happily. "It was the best birthday present I had ever gotten." She squeezed his hand with a big smile. Everyone around them smiled at the story.

"I can't believe you remember that." He said, pulling her hand to his lips and planting a kiss to her knuckles.

"I still have it." She said simply.

"You do not!" Christopher said disbelieving.

"I do. It's at the house. I'll show you."

"I have an idea. How about this year, for your birthday, we go to Disneyland and get a real photo with Goofy? All four of us." He suggested to Lorelai a glint in his eye.

Lorelai's smile grew impossibly larger. "Let's do it."

"Yeah! I want to meet Goofy!" GG cheered.

Author's Note: Thanks everyone for reading! Like I said before, I'm definitely not a writer and I struggled with this chapter. Basically, I got bored with it. I almost gave up finishing it. So please let me know if you liked it and/or want to read more/want me to continue. A little bit of encouragement will go a long way right now. Also, if you have any ideas of scenes you'd like to see between Christopher and Lorelai (or anyone else) in this verse, let me know. I can always use some ideas for inspiration. Have a great week!