Meet Again

1

It was the day before Nicky's first birthday. At the end of their work day Rory and Logan went to pick up Nicky from the daycare.

"Hi Maggie" Rory smiled

"Hi" Maggie, one of the daycare workers smiled "I'll go get Nicky for you"

"Thanks"

Maggie walked through a double door to where the babies were and a minute later she walked back out with Nicky, and handed him to Logan

"Was he ok?" Rory asked

"He was great" Maggie said "he-"

"Wait!" Rory interrupted her "I don't mean to interrupt you, but if he walked, I don't wanna know" Nicky had been really close to taking his first steps, the past few days and Rory was worried that he would do it at daycare and they'd miss it

"Well, he didn't walk, but just so you know, I personally believe that if the parents aren't there to witness a baby's first anything, it didn't happen" Maggie said

"Thanks" Rory chuckled

——

The next morning Rory and Logan's alarm went off at the usual time, even though they were taking the day off for Nicky's birthday.

They got out of bed and got themselves and Nicky ready for the day. Around 11, Lorelai, Luke, Honor, Josh, and Nathan came over.

Everyone was sitting in the living room. Lorelai was sitting on the floor with Nicky, who was trying to stand up, when Logan walked in from the kitchen.

"Nicky, go to daddy" Rory said "walk to daddy"

Nicky stared at Rory for a second before falling

"He does that" Rory sighed "he'll stand for a long time, but as soon as we try to get him to walk, he stares at us like that and then falls"

"Nicky, look at me" Nathan said and started running back and forth in front of Nicky "just like this"

A few minutes later Lorelai left the apartment and came back a few minutes later with a large, flat rectangle, wrapped in wrapping paper.

"This..." she handed it to Rory "is for all of you"

Rory and Logan were sitting next to each other, on the couch, and Nicky was on Logan's lap. Rory unwrapped it to reveal a large picture frame with a double picture in it. On top was a picture of Rory sitting in a hospital bed, holding Nicky, with Logan sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. That picture had been taken just a few hours after Nicky was born. Underneath that was a picture that they had taken just a week prior, when they had professional family photos taken. Standing in front of trees, Rory and Logan were standing next to each other, holding Nicky in between them.

"This is beautiful" Rory smiled "thank you"

"The idea was that you would put it in Nicky's room, but you could put it in your room, or really anywhere you want" Lorelai said

"Oh, my god, when did he get so big?" Rory said, looking at the pictures "you're growing too fast" she said and kissed Nicky's cheek.

Later that afternoon Rory and Logan were sitting a few feet away from each other on the rug. Nicky was standing in front of Logan, and Logan was holding him up.

"Go to mama" Logan said, sweetly "walk to mama"

"Mama" Nicky said

"That's right!" Logan said "mama"

"Come here" Rory held her arms out for Nicky

"He's not gonna go it" Honor said

"Shh" Rory shushed her "he's gonna do it"

"Go to mama" Logan said

Logan took a few steps towards Rory before falling into her arms

"You did it!" Rory said as she scooped Nicky up and hugged him, kissing his cheek. Logan moved over to them and kissed the top of Nicky's head before hugging them both "We have to baby proof this entire place"

"Yeah" Logan agreed

——

That night Nicky slept in his own room, for the first time ever. Lorelai and Luke were still there and after putting Nicky to bed, Rory and Logan rejoined them in the living room.

"God, it's gonna be so weird not having him in our room" Rory said

"Yeah, but now you can go back to having...adult time" Lorelai said

"First of all, not appropriate" Rory said "second of all, there are 3 bedrooms in this place that aren't his room or ours. Take from that what you will"

"You ever find it weird that they talk about this stuff?" Luke asked Logan, quietly

"Yes, very"

Later that night Rory and Logan were cuddled up in bed, Logan's arms around Rory's waist, holding her close.

"I'm just gonna go check on him" Rory said

Logan held her a little tighter "stay here, Ace. If you keep going in there, you'll wake him"

"But what if he's not ok?"

"You got the monitor right there" Logan said, referring to the baby monitor that was on Rory's bedside table "you can see and hear him. If something's wrong we'll know"

Rory took a breath and relaxed back into Logan's arms.

"Hey" Logan said

Rory turned her head to look at him

"Happy Nicky's birthday" he smiled and kissed her "thank you for giving me our beautiful son"