She takes a deep breath, as her face twists, and contorts in ways beyond her control. She attempts to maintain her composure. Her chest suddenly feels as if it is being wrapped in an ace bandage. In an instant she feels the breath being sucked out of her. She tries to wrap her head around the words that have just clumsily slipped from her daughter's mouth. The past thirty two years flash before her eyes. She inhales, and exhales a number of times. Her daughter stares at her in the silence that has enveloped them, unexpectedly. Rory sits to her left, waiting expectantly for a response. Without a word Lorelai grabs the bottle next to her, and vacates her seat. She rises to her feet, and descends the stairs of the gazebo.
"Mom?" Rory calls after her.
The tone of Rory's voice mimics the sound of her own broken heart. She clenches her jaw, as tears well up in her eyes. She doesn't turn around as her daughter calls her name a second time. She keeps walking.
"Mom?!" Rory calls a third time. "Say something!" She begs.
"We'll talk about this later," she insists as she walks away.
Later that day the wedding, and reception come, and go. Luke, and Lorelai take off on an unplanned getaway. Lorelai utters less than a dozen words to Rory in the hours proceeding her departure. After the pomp, and circumstance is over Rory returns to the crap shack. She takes a seat in the kitchen at an empty table. She finds herself hurt, confused, and perplexed, as she reflects on the events of the past year as she sits alone in an empty house. The sound of someone knocking on the door jars her back into a state of reality. She greets the familiar face at the door.
"What are you doing here?" She asks him in a small voice.
"Are you okay?"
"No," she admits for the first time.
"Can I come in?"
"Jess what are you doing here?"
"Did I miss something? I feel as if I missed something."
"Can I take your jacket?" She answers.
He nods, without missing a beat, "That bad, huh?"
She hangs up his jacket on the coat rack as he closes the door. He follows her as she silently makes her way into the kitchen. He follows suit when she takes a seat at the kitchen table.
"Rory? What is going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"With you? With you and Lorelai? The two of you barely said to words to each other today. Then she and Luke announce that they are taking off for Nantucket after the wedding. What happened? I suddenly feel as if I have stepped into some alternate universe."
"I think that I blew her mind."
He furrows his brow, "Blew her mind? How?"
"I told her that I'm pregnant."
He looks into her eyes. She drinks in the expression on his face, but it doesn't reek of surprise.
"Did it ever occur to you that you caught her off guard?"
"I am sure that I did. She didn't say anything."
"What do you mean?"
"When I told her she didn't say anything. She got up, and walked away. She literally turned her back on me."
"What did you expect her to say?"
"Anything," she answers quickly.
"She said nothing?"
"As she was walking away she told me that we would talk about it later."
"I see. You look concerned," he observes.
"It is one hundred percent out of character for her."
He smirks, "Characters grow, and change all of the time. Your mother is a multi-faceted being, and suspect there are a couple of sides that she doesn't let anyone see, even you."
"I don't have any idea what she was thinking. She gave me no indication what was going through her head."
"Rory this isn't about her," he points out.
She sighs, "I know."
"So what are you going to do?"
Rory shakes her head, and shrugs. She suddenly feels as if she is a teenager once again. Everything about this situation feels completely, and totally wrong. "I wish that I could give you some insightful answer, but I've literally got nothing."
"Are you going to keep the baby?" He quizzes.
"Yes," she confirms.
"Then what?"
"My entire life is up in the air. It only makes sense that I would haphazardly add one more thing to my plate."
"Did you ever consider that it's time?"
She furrows her brow as she stares at his deep brown eyes. "Time for what?"
"It's time to grow up, Gilmore."
She exhales. His words hit her hard. She allows the silence to set in, as she considers his musings. She would never, in her wildest dreams consider this scenario. Jess Mariano sits before her, telling her to grow up. He has had character growth. He has a job, and underwear, and a life that she knows nothing about. He has done it on his own, much like Lorelai. For a moment her train of thought goes off the track, and she wonders why she has never considered his likeness to her mother before. He clears his throat, and she meets his eyes once again.
"Rory stop waiting," he insists, "There is no knight in shining armor coming to save you. You are the knight and shining armor."
"You would never have to tell my mother that."
"No, I wouldn't. She has always been the heroine in her own story."
"I haven't. I am not as strong, as she is. I am not as brave, or fearless. I don't know how to be that kind of person."
"You become that kind of person, when you have no other choice," he tells her. He vacates his seat, and stops next to her. She reaches out, and grabs his arm. He looks down at her. In that moment they both realize they are in totally different places in their lives. For the first time Rory realizes that Jess has surpassed her maturity level. He smiles at her, and gently reminds her, "If you need me you know the number." She lets go of his arm, and watches as he walks away from her, too.
