Contains major spoilers from A Year in the Life. I know this is going to be done to death within the next few days, but I really would love to post my take on what happens next. Lorelai and Luke are married. Rory is pregnant and working on her book. The next chapters in the Gilmore-Danes-Huntzberger-Mariano lives.

Rated T.

What Now?

Chapter One

"Mom? Say something?"

Lorelai looked at her daughter, her mouth still hanging open. She closed her eyes and placed her champagne flute down on the step of the gazebo. "Um, what?" she asked, her voice not disguising the shock she felt.

Rory looked panicked, her eyebrows were knitted together and her cheeks were flushed. "I'm pregnant," she repeated.

"Pregnant," Lorelai said the word as though it was brand new and not apart of her vocabulary. "Pregnant," she said again.

Rory wrung her hands together, the sleeves of her red sweater falling past her wrists. "I wasn't feeling well-I had a cold, which by itself is nothing. People get cold's all the time…"

"Colds," Lorelai said absently, taking her champagne flute back in her hands and taking a long gulp. "Go on,"

"…but this cold wasn't going away and then I realized I was late."

Lorelai let out a deep breath. "Late,"

"And after having about a dozen panic attacks and slipping into a pretty serious rocky-road coma, I decided to go to the doctor and well, she confirmed it."

"Confirmed…"

"That I'm pregnant," Rory was looking Lorelai now with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay? Are you having a stroke?"

"Hmm, maybe," Lorelai said, before shaking her head and focusing her eyes on her daughter. "No, um, I'm fine…it's just, I wasn't expecting this."

"Neither was I."

They were silent for a moment before Lorelai placed her champagne down again. "Did you, uh…tell…the father?"

Rory looked down at her shoes and shook her head slightly. "No," she muttered, a little nervously.

"Right," Lorelai said, looking back out at the empty streets of Stars Hollow. "And, are you planning on…"

"Yes…no…" Rory looked at Lorelai and sighed. "I don't know,"

"Rory…"

"It's complicated and…I really need to think about it." She looked at Lorelai and saw the concern in her mother's eyes. She let out a breath and shook her head. "I shouldn't have told you."

"Rory, of course you should've told me!"

"Yes, but not now…not today…you didn't need this distraction on your wedding day,"

Lorelai opened her mouth to say something but the sound of Luke calling her name across the square pulled her attention. He was standing on the corner, his face still stretched in a giant smile, waiting for her to go back home and get ready for their second wedding.

"We should get back…get dressed," Rory said softly before standing up and walking down the steps of the gazebo. Lorelai remained sitting for a moment and watched her daughter walk towards her new husband. Taking a sharp intake of breath, Lorelai finally stood up and moved to join her family—trying desperately to get her head to stop spinning.

They had arrived back at the Gilmore-Danes house less than five minutes later. Piling out of Luke's truck, the threesome silently walked back into the house.

"I'm going to try and get a bit more sleep before the ceremony." Rory said, not making eye-contact with her mother or Luke. Lorelai nodded her head absently, watching her daughter walk towards her childhood bedroom and close the door behind her.

"Hey," Luke said, gently placing a hand on Lorelai's back. "You all right?"

"Of course I'm all right," Lorelai said, turning to face Luke, a small smile on her face. "We just got married. I'm fantastic,"

Luke arched an eyebrow and nodded his head before lightly pushing her towards the staircase.

"Luke, what are you…"

"Come on," he said, climbing the stairs behind her.

"Luke…"

"Don't wake Kirk, he'll be cranky all day."

Lorelai sighed and allowed her husband to usher her up the stairs towards their bedroom. Once they were inside, Luke shut the door behind them and waited.

Lorelai chewed on her lower lip, feeling the tears in her eyes start to build. Sitting down on the bed, she placed her head in her hands and let out a soft cry.

"She's pregnant," Lorelai said.

"Who's pregnant?" Luke asked, walking closer towards her.

"Rory," Lorelai said, looking up. Her tears were now falling freely. "She's pregnant."

Luke looked stunned. "What…how…"

"How? Do I really need to explain that to you?"

"When…with who? That Patrick guy?"

"Paul, and no…I don't think it's him." Lorelai wiped her tears away and placed a hand to her forehead. "She was supposed to have more than me. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go,"

Luke let out a breath and sat down next to her on the bed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. "It's going to be fine,"

"Fine," laughed Lorelai. "Yeah, maybe,"

"What did you say when she told you?"

Lorelai glanced up at Luke, her blue eyes still shining with tears. "Not much, to be honest."

"What's not much?"

"Not enough," Lorelai sighed and shook her head. "I was in shock…still am. I didn't know how to react or what to say."

"Yeah, this is definitely unexpected news…"

"She's been…she's been secretly seeing Logan while she's in London."

"Logan? I thought that was ancient history?"

"So did I but apparently Rory likes antiquing. He's engaged."

"Ah," Luke said, tensing up a bit.

"She's been having such a rough time this past year. We all have but Rory…She's realizing that the bright future of a Yale graduate isn't so bright after all. It's still a dark and scary world and she's finding herself and struggling. Everything is so different now then from when we were young, you know? It's not enough to be an ivy-league graduate anymore. Rory wasn't prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for that." Lorelai paused and wiped away another tear that fell down her cheek. "I never taught her how to socialize properly or handle her feelings properly. I never taught her how to prepare for the unexpected."

"She's thirty-two years old, Lorelai. You can't take the blame for everything that goes on in her life anymore."

"Still, I should've really listened when she told me she was seeing Logan in London. I wanted to say so many things but I was nervous. Nervous that if I put my two-cents in I would push her away. She was always so sensitive when it came to him. I held my tongue but I should've told her how I felt."

"Which is?"

"He's engaged." Lorelai said, looking up at Luke. "I should've told her to end it. That it's not right being the other woman. Again," Lorelai added before letting out a bitter laugh. "Oh man, I really did a stand up job, didn't I?"

"Stop this," Luke said, tightening his arm around her shoulders."People do things, Lorelai. People make mistakes. That doesn't define who they are. Rory has been and will always be an amazing kid. All her success? All her experience? All her passion? She gets that from you."

"All her emotional baggage, all her relationship problems…"

"Lorelai…"

"I know," Lorelai sighed and slowly stood up from the bed. "We should start getting ready."

Luke let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah," He turned to leave but Lorelai reached forward and pulled him back towards her.

"Hey," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you," She kissed him softly, allowing her lips to linger on his for a few moments before breaking away. "Now, skedaddle. Meet you at the ceremony. I'll be the one wearing white."

Luke smiled and kissed her again before grabbing his suit off the door and leaving.

tbc...