Chapter 2: How Did I Get Here?
When they got up off the couch to refuel, Lorelai noticed the time. It was 5:00 in the morning. She and Luke became man and wife just a few hours ago. She was so concerned about Rory that she left the town square shortly after their secret ceremony and didn't have time to explain things to Luke. Where was he now? Where did he think she was? The ceremony they had planned for the town was going to be held at 5:00 in the afternoon. That was hours away, but Rory needed to her. She needed to get things off her chest. Hell, Lorelai also needed answers. They both needed sleep and Lorelai needed to know where Luke was. She picked up her cell phone and called him. He answered on the first ring.
"Lorelai?" Luke asked anxiously.
"Luke, I...I...Rory needed me and I had to get her home as quickly as possible," she explained. "I'm sorry I took off without telling you."
Luke explained that he saw the two of them sitting on the steps of the gazebo. He realized Rory was upset or crying and noticed they left together.
"I saw you leave and figured that the two of you needed some girl time. So I decided to hang out here and make sure everything is ready to go for later today. How is everything? Is Rory okay?"
Lorelai explained to Luke, "Well, the short of it is, she will be okay. But, I don't have the complete story yet, and apparently, it's a very long story. I got her calmed down and she started to fill me in, but she is not even close to the ending. I've got about a gallon of coffee and two tons of sugar in me. I'm hoping to get us both to the point where we can try to get some rest for the ceremony this afternoon."
"Lorelai, we are already married. I feel no need to go through with the ceremony this afternoon if Rory needs you. We can just postpone it, or cancel it altogether. We are married! I'm your husband, you're my wife. Who cares if everyone in this crazy town sees us get hitched?" Luke insisted.
Lorelai responded, "That is so sweet of you to cancel our wedding for Rory, but if this town doesn't get to witness the real ceremony, they will most likely not believe that it ever happened. With all the ups and downs our relationship has been through over the years, they need to see it happen more than we need to have it happen. There will be no dealing with anyone if we don't go through with this. We will never hear the end of it."
Luke agreed, "But...Lane, Rory, and Michel witnessed our marriage, not to mention Reverend Skinner performed it. They can confirm that we actually did get married."
Lorelai understood, "You're right, we do have witnesses, but my parents were also planning to attend. If I cancel this wedding and tell them it's because we got married in the middle of the night, I'm afraid that my mother will go ballistic. I don't want to deal with her right now. Especially with Rory needing my help. I'm confident I can get Rory settled enough so that we can still have the planned ceremony this afternoon."
Luke was concerned about Rory, but he also agreed with Lorelai. He didn't know what it was that upset Rory, but if Lorelai thinks that she can get her settled, then they should go through with the afternoon ceremony.
Luke relented, "Okay, if you are sure. It is best that we go through with the ceremony for the town and your parents. I'm just about done here. Kirk can handle the rest. I'm going to head home. Do you need me to pick up anything?"
Lorelai thought for a minute, "Can you get some coffee, pie, and a box of tissues please?"
"Sure thing. I'll be home in 10 minutes." Luke responded.
Lorelai left her bedroom and returned to the living room downstairs. Rory was sitting on the couch waiting for her. She was reading over the notes that Lorelai had written during the first part of their discussion. She walked over to the couch and sat down next to her daughter, putting an arm over her shoulders and resting her head on Rory's. She needed answers just as much as Rory needed her support.
"The ball is in your court, kid. Where do we go from here? Do you want to continue? It's up to you. I want to let you know that Luke is on his way home with coffee and pie, and we still have the ceremony planned for this afternoon. I don't want to rush you, but canceling the ceremony at this point is not an option. Your grandmother would definitely not handle that well at all. But, I understand that you need time to get this off your chest." Lorelai looked into Rory's eyes sympathetically and waited for her answer.
Rory looked her mom in the eyes and held her stare. She had read her notes and questions, so she knew what she was thinking at this point in their discussion. She needed to explain a few more things in order to get to the point where she felt she could put this aside for now and focus on the main event of the day.
Rory explained to her mom, "There is no way I am going to be able to rest or relax until I am able to explain a few more things to you. After reading your notes, I understand what you need to know and it is basically the end of my story. I'll skip the middle details and fill you in on all of that later. For now, I'll jump to the end so I can begin to move forward. Is that okay with you?"
"Sweets, I am here for you. You tell your story however you want. I'm listening. Unfortunately, I do have to give you a time limit for now. Later, we can talk until we fall asleep, but we both need to get some rest in order to get through the rest of the day and the ceremony this afternoon. Will an hour be enough to get you settled, and then we can talk it all out later?"
Rory responded, "Thanks mom, an hour should do it. I just need to give you the basics for now. Later, will work for all of the other details. I want you to be well rested for your big day, even though you already had your moment with Luke. It's really considerate of you to go through all of this for the town, and grandma."
Lorelai scoffed, "Please, it's not so much the town as it is your grandmother. I do not want to listen to her rant if I cancel this thing. This is self-preservation at its best my child. Whenever you are ready to continue, I have my pen and paper ready."
Just as she was beginning to talk, Luke walked in. He greeted both girls, placed the coffee and pie on the table, handed the box of tissues to Lorelai, kissed his wife and stepdaughter, and headed upstairs explaining that he was going to shower and sleep. Lorelai and Rory thanked him and watched as he ascended the stairs. When Rory heard the shower running, she resumed her story.
Rory began to explain to Lorelai that she eventually broke off her relationship with Logan once she realized that his family had a stronger hold on him than she did. She did not want to be the "other woman" and told Logan that he needed to either come clean with his father, or let her go. She refused to continue the charade in private while Logan was seen in public with Odette. Logan assured Rory that he would come clean, but he never did, so Rory took herself out of the equation. She stopped writing for companies that required her to travel to London and would only write for U.S. companies. She had plenty of work and did not need the stress of traveling to London and risk running into Logan. About a year after she ended her relationship with Logan, she met Paul and started dating him. She did not intend for their relationship to get serious. She did not want that and made it clear to Paul that what they had was just casual, he agreed.
"That brings us to the events that happened over the past year," Rory explained. Lorelai looked up from the paper she was writing on with a puzzled look on her face. She realized that Rory wasn't finished and continued to listen.
Although the relationship with Paul lasted way longer than she had planned, he continued to be present in her life. She still insisted that she wanted nothing serious, and he assured her he wanted the same. The relationship was strictly "friends with benefits," that is how both of them agreed to keep it. Paul was happy, Rory was happy, it was a no-brainer. Eventually, Rory started traveling to Europe again. Her travels took her to London, it was okay with Rory as long as she didn't run into Logan. In order to keep the story short, she explained that she and Logan ran into each other and eventually he convinced her to resume their relationship. Rory was powerless to deny him, she was just too in love with him to let him go again. Thoughts of Paul didn't even enter her head as they had both agreed their relationship was strictly casual, no ties. She asked about the Odette situation and Logan explained that they were engaged, but Odette was living in France and rarely visited him in London. Although they were engaged, no wedding date was set. She was living her life in Paris, and Logan was living his life in London. It was, in his eyes, the perfect arrangement. He got Mitchum off his back, but he was able to live his life the way he wanted. Logan assured Rory that the wedding would never happen, and despite the little voice in her head that told her otherwise, she jumped in with both feet. She wanted to be with Logan and he wanted to be with her. She turned her back on what she knew the consequences were and decided to ignore the voice in her head that told her to run in the other direction. She had been so unhappy since she and Logan broke up, she just wanted to be happy again, at any expense.
Things were wonderful for several months, but then Odette started spending more time in London with Logan. It was beginning to interfere with Rory and Logan being able to spend time together. It didn't help that Rory was working on a story for a popular London magazine and was spending a lot of time in the city. Most of that time she spent with Logan, at his flat. When Odette came into town, Rory had to stay in a hotel. This began to happen more often. In fact, it became the norm. She found herself exactly in the place she wanted to avoid the first time she broke it off with Logan, she became the "other woman." After this realization, she began to avoid Logan, finished up her last article for the magazine, and moved back to New York. She was still involved with Paul, even though she had spent the last 3 months in London with Logan. Once she was back in New York full time, she and Paul picked up where they left off. It was shortly after she returned from London that she began to suspect that she might be pregnant. She remembered that while she was in London she ran out of birth control pills and needed a new prescription. That required a trip to her doctor in the states, so she decided to wait to get a refill. She knew she would be returning within the next month and she had already broken up with Logan so she wasn't worried about pregnancy at that point. But, Logan came to her hotel to convince her to stay. He tried to convince her that he was going to leave Odette. He explained that Rory was his soul mate and he couldn't live without her. They made love one last time in London and then she asked him to leave, knowing that he would never give up his fortune for her, no matter what he said about her being his soul mate. A few weeks later, after she moved back to Stars Hollow, he visited her and they made love one last time that weekend. She already suspected she may be pregnant, but couldn't bring herself to tell him. She left him, making it clear that they were finished as lovers.
"That brings us to present day. I saw the doctor last week and she confirmed the pregnancy. I'm about 6 weeks pregnant and the baby is Logan's, without a doubt. Paul and I have not had sex since I returned from London, so I'm positive Logan is the father. At this point, I haven't decided what I'm going to do. I know all the options, but I need advice, I need a sounding board. I'm completely open to anything at this point, I just don't know what decision to make. That's it. Now you know just about everything, minus some minor details that I will fill in later."
Lorelai sat silently for a minute, looking at her notes to see if she had any questions. She realized that Rory pretty much covered all her major concerns and questions, except the one about what she was going to decide about the baby. Since Rory had already explained that she needed advice, Lorelai decided not to press the issue at this point. They both needed sleep before she was going to get married for the second time in twenty-four hours.
"I have no questions for you at this point. You answered most of my questions and gave me information on things I was wondering about. So, I say we both get some rest. What do you think? Are you at a point where you feel like you can sleep?" Lorelai asked.
Rory definitely felt calmer than earlier. She was also very tired. "I can use a few hours of sleep. I'm calm and tired enough to get some rest." Rory told her mom. "How about you?" she asked.
Lorelai assured Rory that sleep was not going to be a problem for her. They got up off the couch and Lorelai walked her baby girl to her room and tucked her into bed. "Sweet dreams kid," Lorelai whispered to her daughter as she covered her up. "See you in a few hours. I love you, Rory!" Lorelai spoke into the darkness of the bedroom. "Love you too," she heard her daughter whisper.
Lorelai made her way up the stairs to her room. After making sure the alarm was set, she quietly slipped into bed next to her husband. Needing comfort, she cuddled close to him. Sensing her presence, Luke rolled over and spooned his wife while wrapping her in his warm embrace. She sighed with the comfort of his loving embrace and quickly fell asleep.
