HAPPENSTANCE

1 - Harbinger

For the last fifteen years, life had been good to Rory. Hell, it had been better than good. Her life was near perfection, to be honest. She had a loving and successful husband. A brilliant and beautiful daughter. A family who loved and supported her. A rich and fulfilling career of lecturing about journalism and literature at universities all across the entirety of New England.

With all this in mind though, Rory couldn't help but feel ungrateful at her how crushed she felt at that moment.

It's funny how a little plastic stick that you pee on can completely ruin your morning, she rolled her eyes in disgust. It had been almost two years now, two whole years they'd been trying to conceive. Rory was starting to lose hope. What am I doing wrong? I've taken all the fertility drugs that Paris prescribed me! I'm the same age as Mom was when she had Billy! So why can't I get pregnant? Why? It's not fair!

"Damn it," Rory muttered under breath. She glared at the wastebasket where the offending negative pregnancy test had been thrown before kicking the entire thing over in frustration. She felt an odd sense of satisfaction at how the plastic receptacle bounced then fell over at the blow but that sensation was fleeting, gone as quickly as it had come. Yeah, that was a mature response, Rory.

"Mom? You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Winn," she lied, not wanting to worry her only child. "Just accidentally kicked over the wastebasket, is all."

"Alright, if you say so," the teen stated, obviously not believing her mother but choosing to drop the subject. "Remember that the headmaster wants to speak with you and Aunt Paris this morning."

"I haven't forgotten, kiddo," an already tired Rory told the teenager. "I'll be down in five minutes."

"I love you but your five minutes starts now, mother," chirped Winifred before the echo of her saddle shoes could be heard clicking against the hardwood of the stairs. "Move it or lose it, Gilmore-Harrison!"

"Move it or lose it, Gilmore-Harrison," a heavy hearted Rory repeated to her reflection. Time to get your shit together, Lorelai Leigh.

If there was one thing that Rory found reassuring, it was the fact that Chilton never changed. Sure, several members of the faculty had retired and been replaced by eerily similar younger counterparts but all in all, her old high school alma mater had remained the same.

"If that isn't the most pathetic expression of nostalgia I've ever seen, I don't know what is," a familiar voice teased from her left. "Hello, school chum."

"Hello, dear friend," Rory smiled at her old classmate. "How are you?"

"That's a loaded question, Gilmore-Harrison," warned Paris with a playful smirk. "You know why we're here, right?"

"Yeah," sighed the taller woman. "I had really hoped our girls would've worked their differences out already."

"They're our daughters, so I'm not surprised that they haven't," the blonde doctor stated. "Winny has your dislike of confrontation while my Milly has the infamous Geller stubborn streak. Thinking they'd work this idiocy out by themselves was probably wishful thinking."

"True but I honestly don't know what the headmaster thinks we can do about it," admitted Rory.

"Actually, I don't believe there is a lot you two can do about this," the headmaster commented from behind them.

"Then why have us come here at all, Headmaster Medina?" Paris turned to face their former English Literature teacher, an action that Rory was quick to follow. "Because, as you well know, my time is quite precious to me. Or rather, to my clients."

"Be nice," Rory told her friend, who scoffed in return. "But Paris does bring up a good point. Why bring us here to talk if you don't think we can help, Headmaster Medina?"

"We're all adults here, Rory," Headmaster Medina stated once he'd joined them at the bottom of the stairs. "Would it be too much to ask that you call me Max?"

"Not while we're in your place of work, Headmaster Medina," she told him, resolute. "Wouldn't it diminish your authority if one of your charges were to overhear me talking to you so casually?"

"I'd give up on trying to debate us on this one, headmaster," Paris cut in before he could reply. "Might I remind you that you're talking to the former captain and vice captain of the senior debate team here."

"Duly noted, you two," Max chuckled, hands raised up in mock surrender. "But back to the matter at hand." He gestured down the hall that led to his office. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way, Headmaster Medina," Rory agreed.

Following their meeting with Headmaster Medina, Rory and Paris went their separate ways with a promise to meet up later in the week. Although Rory felt a little guilty for not confiding in her friend about once again being unable to conceive, she also felt that her husband had the right to know before anybody else.

I am not looking forward to this conversation, Rory let out a resigned sigh while approaching her husband's office building. As she pushed her way inside via the revolving door, the prospect of having to once again witness Marty's face fall in disappointment caused Rory to hesitate. I can't do this to him. Not right now. It'll ruin his entire day.

With this thought in mind Rory spun on her heel and left, deciding it would be best to put off telling her husband the bad news until Marty came home from work later that evening. Remembering that there was a coffee shop only two blocks away, Rory began the short trek towards where she could buy a cup of the life sustaining liquid.

Upon her arrival inside the coffee shop, Rory momentarily despaired at how many customers were ahead of her. When her turn in line finally came up, she ordered herself a double shot cafe latte then turned away to wait for her drink at one of the few open tables available. Seeing how busy it was at the moment, Rory decided to check her lecture notes over as she waited. With her tablet set atop the table she quickly became so engrossed in her work that Rory barely took notice of the waitress placing her order next to the former reporter.

In that time and space, every worry fell away from her. Her inability to conceive another child with Marty, along with all the pain and disappointment that it brought, was momentarily forgotten. The troubles that her beloved daughter Winifred was experiencing at Chilton faded into the background. Nothing mattered to Rory but the need to finish her lecture notes.

"It's good to see your ability to block out the world hasn't changed since Yale," a vaguely familiar voice stated, breaking her concentration.

"Excuse me?" she glanced up, only to blink in surprise at who was now addressing her. "Logan?"

"Hey, Ace," her college boyfriend greeted with a smirk. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, long time," an uneasy Rory agreed, desperately trying to ignore how hard her stomach was twisting itself into knots right then. It took the former reporter a moment to recognize this feeling of dread but once she did, a confused Rory couldn't help but wonder at its reason.

It wouldn't be until a few months time that Rory got an answer, and by then her entire world would be teetering on the edge of total collapse.

And so begins the sequel to 'kismet'. I hope you enjoy it.