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“Lorelai I’m back!” Luke announced as he walked through the front door. He threw his keys into their bowl by the door and turned to walk into the living room only to find Paul Anka barring his way and growling.
“What the-“
“Shhh!“ Lorelai’s head popped up from the other side of the couch. “It’s beauty sleep time for the girls, be quiet or our loyal canine guard won’t let you through.” She explained, talking in a whisper tone worthy of an ASMR video.
“Oh right, sorry, I forgot…” He replied, trying to speak in a lower volume. Paul Anka decided the effort was good enough and returned to his post on the armchair.
“It’s alright, the little one was awake already anyway and Rory is out like a light until the next feed.” Lorelai told him. He walked around the couch to find that she was sitting on the floor while their newborn granddaughter was laying on the couch cushions, surrounded by toys. Luke smiled at the scene, knowing he had busted his wife sneaking extra play time with the baby but chose to not say anything about it and instead joined her on the floor.
“What was your bit today?” He asked, pointing to the stuffed bunny and to the set of oversized plastic keys Lorelai was holding in each hand.
“Bunny mayor awarding her the keys to the city for being the cutest and most perfect baby ever.” She replied, cooing at the infant. She bothered to look away from the baby for 2 seconds just to see Luke grinning at her. “Oh, don’t give me that look, you know my bunny mayor is a lot more fun that your talking mug that explains the dangers of caffeine addiction!” Luke kept looking at her with the same expression. “What?” She asked.
“Nothing, I just like to see you with her.” He shrugged, almost reminiscent of the time he’d told her “I just like to see you happy.”.
“Awww hon!” Lorelai threw an arm around his shoulders, bunny still in hand, and pulled him closer to give him a quick kiss. “You are not getting baby fever on me, are you? Because in case you forgot: we are grandparents, we’re old, ancient even!”
“Nah, I’m fine with just this baby around.” He took advantage of their proximity to steal a second kiss from her, yanking the bunny from her hands while he had her distracted.
“Thief.” She scoffed.
“Hey there Lila!” Luke said to the baby, tickling her feet with the bunny’s ears. In the four weeks since the birth of the fourth Lorelai Gilmore, currently chilling on their couch, they had realized that while Luke didn’t coo to babies or engage in baby talk, he did however have a “baby tone”, consisting of normal grammar and vocabulary only with a very calm and soothing tone of voice that revealed more sweetness and love than even himself was aware of. The now dubbed “Lila voice” had made its first appearance the first time Luke had held her at the hospital and had been consistently appearing since. “Shouldn’t you be taking your nap now? Did a crazy lady sneak into your mom’s room again to hang out with you just by herself?”
Lorelai gasped at the accusation. “She woke up on her own, I swear! She started whimpering a little while ago but I got to her before she could wake Rory. I checked but she wasn’t hungry or wet so I’m guessing she just felt a little lonely in her bassinet.” She explained. “Didn’t you my love? You just wanted some cuddles and a little show?” She cooed at the infant.
“Fine. But we should really try to get her down for at least just a little bit or nobody in this house will get to sleep tonight.” As if to agree with Luke, Lila let out the tiniest of yawns. Lorelai glared at the smug face Luke made in return.
“When you grow up you are really going to have to pick a side kid. You are either with us or against us.” Lorelai quipped as she quickly pushed most of the toys aside and motioned for Luke to spread one of the swaddling blankets over the cushion while Lorelai picked the baby up. “Though right now you are mostly going to be in a baby burrito.” She sang happily, placing Lila on the blanket and swaddling her in record time, feeling Luke’s eyes glued to her hands.
“There you go! All set for sleepytime!” Lorelai gushed, chuckling at her granddaughter’s displeased scowl at having her fun time cut short.
“I still can’t figure out how you wrap her like that, you do it too fast for me to follow.” Luke murmured against her shoulder as they both stared at the baby adoringly, watching Lila’s face morph from annoyance to relaxed muscles and slowly blinking eyes worthy of a drunk old Irishman.
“I used to do it to Rory multiple times a day when she was little, it makes them easier to transport from room to room when you are a maid. I’ll teach you my tricks properly just in time for Babette and Miss Patty to see you move about the diner with burrito Lila in tow.” She mused.
“Ah jeez.” Luke groaned. The day they’d brought Rory and Lila home from the hospital Babette had appeared on their porch so quickly they hadn’t even shut the front door. In two weeks’ time, once Rory was living above the diner with the baby, he was sure he’d get random townies begging him to have Rory come downstairs to show the baby off. Maybe he’d implement an “asking about baby” tax and use that money to help with a college fund.
Lorelai could have read his mind telepathically and couldn’t help but snicker at the mental image of Luke yelling at Kirk about trying to sell commemorative plates with Lila’s date of birth and footprint. She returned her attention to Lila and moved to pick her up, figuring some one-on-one baby time might help take Luke’s mind off how to best handle the Stars Hollow baby welcoming committee.
“Do you think your grandpa could use some snuggles little girl? You seem to really like him when you are feeling snoozy.” She proposed, more to Luke than to Lila.
“That is just your nice way of saying I put her to sleep.” He said, nevertheless moving from the floor to the couch and holding out his arms so Lorelai could pass the baby over.
“She finds you comforting, it’s probably all the cozy soft flannels.” Lorelai quipped. “Or she’s already figured out her grandpa is a softie despite the outward grumpiness.”
“She’s a smart baby.” Luke replied, adjusting Lila in his arms and cradling her to his chest, feeling a tiny baby cheek settle itself over his heart. Lorelai got up off the floor and sat by their side, her head peering over Luke’s shoulder to continue baby-watching.
“Oh she’s snuggling into your chest! Isn’t she just the sweetest little thing you’ve ever seen?” She gushed.
Luke felt the baby turn just a teeny bit more towards him so she could burrow herself even more into his shirt. “She is.” He agreed, peacefulness adorning his features.
“And you don’t look half bad holding her…” Lorelai teased him. Luke managed to yank his eyes away from the baby for just long enough to catch Lorelai winking at him.
“Don’t look at me like that when I’m holding the baby!”
“Hey, it’s not my fault evolution has made me go gaga for a hot guy holding a baby. I see this bit of adorableness and the primitive part of my lady brain wants to smooch your face off!” She defended. “Though I obviously mean that in a figurative sense that does not require any actual removal of faces - if I’m being honest there is a relatively short list of hot guys I’d ever contemplate letting you switch faces with like in that movie Face-Off – I’d let you switch with that cute guy from Six Feet Under maybe.” Lorelai rambled.
“You’d trade just our faces instead of dumping me for the guy from Six Feet Under?”
“Well duh, I need your arms around to make me coffee and your brain is the one that already knows all of my quirks! I’m too old to train someone else from scratch!”
Luke failed to suppress a mild grin at his wife’s antics and turned his attention back to the baby he was holding. “Your grandma is crazy Lila.” He told her, his voice gruff yet sweet.
“Hey!” Lorelai protested. “I still haven’t settled on what she’s going to call me, if you say grandma it will confuse her!”
“But me being called grandpa won’t confuse her?”
“Yes, it won’t because she’ll understand that I’m too young and beautiful to be a grandmother while you my friend have a few years on me and this whole grandfather-ly sweetness going on. When I look at you with her it makes me think of Werther’s originals.”
“You are making me sound like a real catch there.”
“Let’s see… You are sweet, gentle, caring, loyal, you can cook, aaaaand – most important of all - you make me coffee so good I that I wouldn’t trade you for any of my celebrity crushes. Yep, sounds like you are a total package dollface, I’m lucky I snatched you off the market before word about this side of you got out.” Lorelai quipped.
“Oh well, as long as you think I’m the whole package I guess I can take you calling me an old man.” Luke conceded. He turned to look at Lorelai expecting her to punctuate their banter with a kiss but instead found her gaze focused on the infant asleep in his arms.
“Lorelai?”
“Huh? You said something?” She asked.
“Is something on your mind or are you just distracted by the baby?”
“She is pretty damn cute but I just got distracted thinking about something… it’s nothing.” She tried to dismiss. Luke quirked an eyebrow at her, silently asking her to elaborate on all the “nothing” she’d been thinking about.
“Fine I’ll tell you!” She rolled her eyes. “It’s just that we were talking about what she may call me and we said the work package several times, none of which in a dirty sense, I cannot comprehend how I missed that chance though I do think some of the sexy banter you and I have going on sometimes isn’t as sexy when one of us is holding this bundle of preciousness – she’s so distracting in how precious she is, it’s not a fair fight to our middle-aged libidos…”
“Lorelai…” Luke cut her off in an attempt to bring her train of thought back to the original point.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, you caught my brain and my mouth doing that thing where I change subject without even meaning to, you were supposed to find it endearing by now…”
“Who says I don’t?” He quipped, smirking at her.
“Ok, now you are the one who’s distracting me!” She complained. “But my original point was going to be this: I spent so many years wondering if I was ever going to get that whole package nonsense, you know? Career, a guy, some kids and a house with a picket fence and dog. And those things came along in their own way and in their own time when I didn’t try to force them. I had Rory, I didn’t need a picket fence when this house was right here, Paul Anka was the dog I was meant to have and even you have agreed with me on that in the past, the Inn has been doing great and now I get to push myself further with the challenge of opening the annex. When we got married I remember thinking, this is it, I completed the list, I finally have it all.”
“You had me for a very long time before that.” Luke added.
“I know I did; which is why it was so special to finally make an honest man out of you!” She replied with a wink. “But what I was thinking about right now was: I thought I had finally checked off all those things. All those things I rambled to you about wanting all those years ago that night in the diner and that it would be it. And I was so happy about it and convinced it was as good as it would get. But -” She paused, nodding towards Lila. “- then this little one came along almost out of nowhere and I didn’t even dream her! The closest I came to imagining her existence was some very abstract and far-off image of you and me with some grandkids around.” She confessed. Luke gazed at her adoringly in response. “Lila wasn’t really an integral part of the whole package I envisioned but I’m just so happy we have her Luke, I really am. Just when I thought I couldn’t be any happier this happened, the whole package was not yet complete and I didn’t even know it!”
Luke smiled at her words and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. “Lila is pretty great, isn’t she?”
“If I was wrong about already having the complete package, who is to say there won’t be more stuff in store for us that we didn’t even realize we wanted until we had it? What if the complete package is never really fully complete? Maybe there’s just a very packed box but it hasn’t been tapped shut for shipping and if you get in there and move some stuff around from where you thought you wanted it will all fit?”
“I think I can look forwards to us finding out whether or not your theory is right together.” Luke replied. “And I’m happy Mimi got all the things she really wanted those years ago.” He added.
Lorelai smirked at him. “You remember Mimi huh?”
“How could I forget? She was quite the looker, but I don’t think things could have worked with us, she was too into coffee.” Luke teased.
“You know there’s no such thing as being too into coffee! You profit off the caffeinated masses who drink your coffee!” She defended. “Now, going back to the starting point of this whole conversation: I was thinking about that whole package nonsense and that night in the diner and it got me thinking - what would you think if my grandmother nickname were Mimi? It doesn’t sound as ancient as granny, gammy or even meemaw and strangers could always assume it was my name. Like that chick from rent? The druggie?” Lorelai proposed. Luke stared at her, thinking over the idea.
“And I think it could also be a nice reminder of how lucky we got. More than I ever thought could be possible.” She added.
Luke remained quiet for a few more seconds to fully process the idea until a serene smile graced his features. “I think Mimi suits you.” He told her sweetly. Lorelai’s face broke into a giant smile, the kind where her eyes would nearly disappear, and she kissed Luke on the cheek before tucking herself even more firmly into his side and peering over his shoulder at the sleeping baby.
“Did you hear that Lila? I’m your Mimi!” She gushed in a lullaby-like tone. Lila stirred a little bit in her sleep and moved her head slightly, in what Lorelai decided was an attempt at a nod.
“Yeah cutie, I think it sounds better than grandma too!” Lorelai replied.
“We should get her back in the bassinet, she seems to be finally asleep for real.” Luke posited.
“Yeah, it would freak Rory out if she woke up and the kid was gone.” Lorelai agreed and swiftly got up from the couch ahead of Luke.
“Lorelai.” He called after her. She stopped halfway to Rory’s door and turned back to look at him.
“Yeah?”
“I hoped we would have grandchildren someday, it was on my list.” He told her.
“Really?”
“And it is way better than anything I could have imagined putting in that stupid imaginary package.”