She reached up and adjusted her rearview mirror, angling it to reflect the carseat in the back. The baby in it in it stirred slightly in her sleep, but Lorelai couldn't see her in the dark. She could only hear her soft breathing, a gentle reminder of the little life she was now solely responsible for.

"What am I going to do?" the girl whispered. With a sudden urgency, she pulled off the road into an empty parking lot, outside of a closed convenience store, and turned off the ignition.

She sat there in silence for awhile, listening to the baby sleep, willing herself not to cry. Images of her mother, her father, and Christopher invaded her thoughts and she closed her eyes tightly against them.

"Rory, what am I going to do?" Though her question was directed at the child, she spoke it with her head thrown back against the seat, face turned towards the sky.

"You deserve so much more than this. Better than this. God, what have I done?" She pushed back her hair from her face. "I'm not fit to be a mother. I'm just a kid, Rory. I'm going to fail you."

Lorelai leaned her arms against the steering wheel and pressed her forehead against her palms. She stared down at her lap in the dark, hot tears sliding across her skin.

"I'm going to fail you, just like I failed Mom and Dad and Chris. I'm sorry, kid." She hit the wheel with the heel of her hand in anger. "I'm sorry!"

The outburst disrupted the silence and startled the one-year-old, who woke and began to cry. Lorelai cursed under her breath and climbed into the backseat. She unbuckled the harness and lifted the swaddled baby up and against her chest.

"Shh...shh...it's okay, Rory. I'm sorry." A sliver of moonlight illuminated the soft, downy chestnut hair on the girl, and the teenager smoothed her hand over it and kissed her head. Rory's cries were subsiding, and her lids were beginning to droop back over her baby blue eyes.

"Go to sleep, babe." Her voice was hushed and soothing. "I'm sorry."

She shifted the baby's weight across her abdomen, and wrapped her arms protectively around the small body. In a murmur so low it could be mistaken for breathing, she whispered, "I've got you."

Rory made a little cooing noise as she drifted off, and her tiny fingers wrapped lightly around Lorelai's pinky. Her lips twitched upward, and she sighed daintily. Lorelai felt herself smiling ever so slightly down at the child in her arms, at her daughter. She was overwhelmed with strong feeling of love, and for an instant she wondered if Emily had ever looked at her in this way.

But as soon as the thought had come it was gone, chased away and replaced by set determination.

"I've got you," she said out loud. A little stronger this time.