Meet Again

Nicky

On Monday morning Logan and Rory were sitting in the hospital with Nicky. Grace was at preschool and Sammy was with Stephanie.

"Nicky, are you ready?" Dr Browne asked.

"Can I take my blanket with me?" Nicky asked. Before he was born Lorelai made him a small fleece blanket with little giraffes on it. He still slept with it every night, and Logan had brought it to the hospital for him.

"I'm sorry, we're not allowed to bring anything with us" The doctor said. "But I'll tell you what. You can give your blanket to your mom and dad and we'll make sure that you have it when you wake up. Does that sound ok?"

Nicky nodded and gave Logan his blanket. Just like that Logan and Rory were left standing in Nicky's empty hospital room with the knowledge that the next 6 hours were going to be hell.

"Logan?" Rory said to Logan who was sitting next to her in the hospital waiting room.

"Yeah, Ace"

"What the hell are we gonna do if he has cancer?" 

"I don't know"

——

Stephanie was sitting in Rory and Logan's living room, watching Sammy.

"Stephie, open this" Sammy said and held out his Mickey Mouse straw cup. "Open this, Stephie. Open this"

"What do you want me to fill it with?" Stephanie asked.

"Juice"

"Alright, come on" she said and Sammy followed her into the kitchen. "Does your mommy still mix your juice with water?"

"I want mama"

"Oh man, I shouldn't have said that" Stephanie said. Once Sammy got over the initial upset of Rory leaving him, he was fine. That was until someone mentioned her. Then he went back to crying. Lorelai watched Sammy and Grace until Monday morning. Stephanie had offered to give her a break after that, so she was watching Sammy while Grace was at school. Honor would be picking Grace up and then she would be with them overnight. Rory and Logan hadn't thought past that point.

Stephanie could see that Sammy was about to start crying and she really, really didn't want that. "No, hey, Sammy, it's ok"

"I want mama!" Sammy started crying.

"Ok, come here" Stephanie said and picked him up. "You don't need to cry. It's ok"

"Mama!"

"Let's get you your juice, ok?" Stephanie said. While still holding Sammy, she opened his cup and filled it halfway with water before filling the rest with apple juice. "Here"

"No!" Sammy said and pushed her hand away. "I want mama!"

"I definitely do not miss when my kids were this young" Stephanie mumbled to herself. "Where's that little blanket of yours? That thing calms you down, right?" She asked. Just like Nicky had his blanket, Sammy had one too and so did Grace. Nicky's had giraffes on it, Grace's had little pink elephants, and Sammy's had little yellow duckies. "Let's go find your blanket"

Before Steph could go upstairs, she heard the front door open. "Hello?" Logan called out.

"Daddy!" Sammy reached for Logan when he saw him.

"Hi there" Logan said as he took Sammy from Stephanie. Sammy put his head down on Logan's shoulder. "Why are you crying?"

"I made the mistake of mentioning your wife" Stephanie told him.

"Oh yeah, he's got some separation anxiety" Logan said. "We're working on it"

"What's going on? Is Nicky ok? Why are you here?"