A couple of weeks before her surgery, Grace had one final checkup, with the pediatrician.
"Alright, so she's still hitting all the milestones, right?" The doctor asked
"Other than the babbling and talking" Logan said
"Does she try to talk at all?"
"Sometimes" Rory said "but very little, and very quietly. She does like to blow raspberries, though"
"That's alright. Once they implants are turned on she should catch up by the time she's 2"
"Ok"
"She looks great" The doctor said "I can clear her for the surgery"
——
Logan was keeping an eye on Nicky and Grace in the living room, while we worked from the couch. After taking a shower, Rory walked into the living room to see Grace laying on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, on the rug. Nicky was laying the same way, facing her. He was talking to her in sign language. Not wanting Nicky to notice her, and stop, Rory walked to where Logan could see her and waved to get his attention.
"That's the cutest thing ever" she signed
"I took pictures for you" Logan signed back "In case he stopped before you came down
Rory smiled
"Hey you" Rory said
"Me?" Nicky asked
"Yes you. It's time for bed"
"How many books can we read?" Nicky asked as he stood up
"3"
"Can I read them this time?"
Nicky couldn't quite read on his own, but he was getting there
"How about we read together?"
"Ok"
——
The day of Grace's surgery everyone woke up early. Rory and Logan got themselves ready, before getting the kids up. Rory took Grace to the hospital around 6:30. Around 10, Logan dropped Nicky off with Steph and Colin before joining Rory and Grace at the hospital.
"Hey, sorry I'm late" Logan said as he walked into the hospital room where Rory was sitting on a stool, Holding Grace.
"Perfect timing" Dr. Addams said "we were just about to take her up to surgery"
"I made them wait for you" Rory said and put her hand on Logan's arm
"From the time we take her up it'll be about 2 hours until she's back in here, and assuming everything goes according to plan, we'll monitor her throughout the day and then you can take her home tonight. She'll likely be in some pain, which we can give her something for, if you'd like. She'll probably be tired and grumpy over the next couple of days, she might need a little extra love and attention, but after about a week she should be back to normal"
"Ok"
While Grace was in surgery, Rory and Logan sat in the waiting room. Rory was texting Stephanie.
S:hey. How's Grace?
R: still in surgery. I'm going nuts. What's up?
S: is it ok with you if we take Nicky to the pool? He and Liam are asking to go swimming
R: it's like 40 degrees outside
S: it's an indoor pool
R: it's fine with me.
"Nicky's going swimming" Rory said
"It's freezing outside" Logan said
"Indoor pool"
"Got it"
After the surgery Rory and Logan were back in the hospital room. Rory was holding a very fussy Grace, snuggled up against her chest.
"She did great" Dr. Addams said "The surgery went better than we could've hoped"
"Thank you"
"She's probably in some pain at the moment. I'll give her some Tylenol and if you want you can feed her" Dr. Addams continued. She gave Grace some baby Tylenol before leaving the room so Rory could feed Grace.
——
A couple of weeks later, once things had calmed down, Rory, Logan, and the kids had Friday night dinner with Richard, Emily, Lorelai, and Luke. Nicky and Grace were both sitting on the rug, Sophie had a baby toy and Nicky was playing with magnetic building blocks.
"Mom, how's the inn?"
"The inn has not changed in 10 years" Lorelai said "how's Grace?"
"Grace is good" Rory said "you'd never know she had surgery"
"When do they get turned on?" Emily asked
"In 2 weeks" Logan said "that's when we find out if-"
"You just spent 20,000 dollars for nothing?" Lorelai interjected
"I was gonna say that we'd find out if it worked" Logan said "plus it was not 20,000 dollars"
"Less?" Richard asked
"More" Rory exhaled "a lot more...like almost 5 times that"
"100,000 dollars?!" Luke asked in disbelief
"Almost" Logan nodded
"Nicky, don't stick magnets to your sister's head" Rory said to Nicky, who was sticking his magnetic toys to Grace's head "wow, that was a weird sentence"
"It's funny" Nicky giggled
"It's not a toy, bubba" Rory said "please take the blocks off her head"
"Ok" Nicky said and took the toys off Grace's head
"How does that work?" Luke asked
"The internal processor that they implanted is magnetic. That's how it'll stick to the outer piece." Logan said
"And someone realized that this means that things could stick to her head" Rory said
"That's very cool" Richard said
"Can I try?" Lorelai asked
"Wha- no! You can't try!" Rory said "It's not a toy"
——
2 weeks later Rory, Logan, and the kids were sitting at the kitchen island, eating breakfast
"Mommy, is Grace getting her ears today?" Nicky asked
It took Rory a second to realize that Nicky had called the cochlear implants Grace's ears.
"Um...yeah" Rory chuckled softly
"And I get to go with grandma?" Nicky asked
"No, you're gonna play with Ava and Jenny, today"
"Ok"
——
"Before we start, there are a few things you need to know" Dr. Addams said "getting used to hearing is gonna take a while. Babies develop so much between when they're born and 9 months old, and Grace did that in complete silence. She'll likely be very easily overstimulated when she's wearing the processors, especially the first couple of months. Go at her pace, take them off when she wants. Now, in a few minutes we're gonna turn them on. You two will be in the room with her and we'll be in the control room, behind the window. I'm gonna tell you when they're on, everyone is gonna be quiet, and you guys are gonna talk to her. You'll keep talking and making noise while we adjust the settings and figure out what works best. She might get startled and she might cry. That's normal"
"Ok"
"Alright then, let's get started"
After Dr. Addams and the cochlear implants technician got everything set up, Rory and Logan got the signal that the processors were turned on and they should talk.
"Hi baby!" Rory said in a soft, high pitched baby voice
Grace didn't react at all
After a few minutes of adjusting the volume and the settings Grace reacted.
"Hey" Logan said and snapped his fingers
Grace got a confused look on her face and looked around the room
Rory gasped "did she hear that?!" She asked, excitedly
"She did" Dr. Addams nodded
After a while Dr. Addams came into the room and she, Rory, and Logan kept making sounds while the technician adjusted the steering.
"She looks so confused" Rory laughed "hi baby!"
Grace turned her head to look at Rory
"She can hear us" Rory said and got a little teary eyed
"She can hear us" Logan smiled and kissed the top of Grace's head