Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter! Things definitely start picking up after this chapter and don't slow down for awhile.

Chapter 6

Lorelai was awakened by the sound of April's groans. She rolled over to face her stepdaughter, who was faced away from her and all but hanging off the bed.

She pressed a hand to her own stomach, willing the nausea to go away. She needed to deal with April without the worry of morning sickness right now. She took a few deep breaths and laid there for a few minutes before the sick feeling began to subside. At that moment, April let out another groan.

"Are you awake?" She whispered.

"Yeah," April murmured, not moving.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, propping herself on her elbow and pulling April's hair away from her face.

"How did I get here?" April countered.

"Well, you called me to come get you at Kayla's last night, so I brought you back here, I wanted you in here with me in case you needed me," Lorelai explained.

April rolled over onto her back and clamped her eyes shut. "Everything is spinning."

"I can imagine," Lorelai nodded, leaning over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and grabbing the water and aspirin from it, handing it to April. "Take this."

"Thanks," April said, leaning up to take the medicine.

"I'm going to run to the diner to get us some breakfast. Any requests?" She asked as she started to get out of bed.

"I don't want anything," April told her.

"Honey, you need to eat, it will make you feel better faster," Lorelai replied, pulling clothes from her closet. "I'll just get a variety of things."

"Can I take a shower?" She asked, sitting up against the headboard with her palm against her forehead, willing the room to stop spinning.

"No, we don't allow showers in this house," Lorelai teased, April cocked her head, giving her a smirk. "Of course, your suitcase is on your bed."

"Is Dad at the diner?" April asked. "Is he gonna kill me?"

Lorelai let out a quiet laugh.

"What's so funny?" April wondered.

"It's just that this is the third time I've told you that your dad is in New Hampshire," Lorelai answered from inside the closet. "And while yes, you're in a load of trouble, your dad doesn't know what's going on, your mom and I agreed not to ruin his weekend with Buddy."

"I'm sorry I ruined your weekend," she told her.

"You didn't ruin my weekend…" Lorelai said, stepping out of the closet to face April. "I'm mad as hell that you would do something like this, but I'm just glad you're safe."

"You think I could stay here for awhile?" She asked.

"That's something you'll have to discuss with your mom, you know this is your home and you're more than welcome to be here as long as you'd like," Lorelai answered. "But know that there are going to be consequences for your actions and you're going to have to earn our trust again whether you're here or New Mexico. So don't think you're going to be getting off easy just because you're here."

"I know," April hung her head.

"I'm going to change and run to the diner, after you take a shower, you need to call your mom," Lorelai said as she stepped back into the large walk in closet to change clothes.

"I'm not calling her," April told her.

"Yes, you are," Lorelai argued, peeking her head around the corner as she hooked her bra. "You have to face the consequences, April."

"She can't even take the time to sit down and talk to me when I'm in the same house, why should I give her the time of day when I'm all the way across the country?" April asked, raising her voice slightly.

"April, I know your mom is busy with your grandmother, but she's your mother, and she loves you and she's worried about you," Lorelai said, emerging from the closet fully dressed. "So you either call her after you get out of the shower or we're calling her after breakfast, it's your choice."

"We'll call her after breakfast," April muttered, getting out of bed.

"I love you kid," Lorelai said, pulling April into a side hug, shuddering as she smelled the stench of alcohol. "But you reek…go shower. I'll be back in a little while."

By the time Lorelai returned, April had showered and was downstairs drinking a cup of coffee.

"That's my girl," She grinned, sitting down diner bag down on the counter. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better than I did before you left," April admitted.

"Yeah, there's something about a shower that makes you feel a little more human," she told her, pulling containers of food from the bags.

"You think you got enough food?" April asked, looking at the amounts of food she brought home.

The truth was, Lorelai wasn't sure what she herself would be able to stomach, so she had Cesar make a little of everything. Since neither of them felt like eating much, they finished quickly and April tried to make a break for it when Lorelai was putting away the rest of the food.

"Stop right there young lady," she said without turning away from the task at hand.

"I was just going to the study to read," April said innocently.

"No, we're calling your mom before we do anything else today," Lorelai told her, grabbing the phone and sitting down on a barstool.

"I'm not talking to her," April argued as she came over to take a seat next to Lorelai.

"Then let's go to the airport right now, you're going home," she told her.

"No!"

"Then you're going to talk to your mom, I'm not putting up with this April," Lorelai raised her voice.

"Fine," April grumbled.

Lorelai dialed Anna's number, Anna quickly answered on the other end.

"April?"

"No, it's Lorelai," she replied. "April's right here though, she wants to talk to you."

"No, I don't," April said as Lorelai handed the phone to her. "Mother..."

Lorelai went upstairs to gather clothes, then came back downstairs to start some laundry. As she walked through the family room, she could hear April's voice coming from the office. She could tell she was arguing with Anna, telling her when she's not with April's grandmother, she's with "him." Was Anna seeing someone? she thought. Continuing with the task at hand, Lorelai went into the laundry room, she heard April raise her voice a few different times while she was on the phone.

"Lorelai," April's voice called out.

"I'm in the laundry room," Lorelai replied.

April appeared in the laundry room and handed the phone to Lorelai. "She wants to talk to you."

"Okay," Lorelai said as she took the phone. "Hey Anna."

April quickly turned to leave the room.

"How dare you!" Anna roared on the other end.

"Excuse me?" Lorelai wondered why Anna was mad at her.

"Telling her she could stay there!" She continued. "I'm her mother, she lives with me! If anyone there had a say, it would be Luke, not you! Not to mention the fact that she's not supposed to be there until later in the summer."

"Anna, I think you're misunderstanding this whole thing," Lorelai said calmly.

"No, I understand it just fine, you're wanting to be the cool parent who lets her off the hook for flying across the country to go to a party without permission," Anna told her. "And you're acting like it's no big deal!"

"Anna, listen…" Lorelai paused, waiting for Anna to continue her rant, when the other end of the line was silent, she continued. "I told April that this is her home just as much as it is mine, Luke's or Rory's, and she's welcome here whenever she wants, but that was something she would have to talk to you about. And just because she's here doesn't mean she won't have consequences. I told her that when her dad got home, her punishment would be discussed between the three of us, but if it's something you want to discuss with Luke alone, that's fine. I also reminded her that she screwed up and she was going to have to earn our trust again."

"So you plan on just keeping her until he gets home tomorrow?" Anna wondered. "I want my kid on a plane today!"

"Anna, before I called you, she said she wasn't talking to you and I told her I was taking her to the airport, I don't have a problem with that, I realize she's your kid, that's something that's been thrown in my face the entire time she's been a part of my life," Lorelai said. "I love April like she's my own and I want what's best for her, but I'm not trying to take your place, I thought we were over this a long time ago."

Anna whimpered, and Lorelai could tell she was crying. "It's just that she wants nothing to do with me, she'd rather stay with her stepmom."

"I know how it feels to feel like the dad's wife is taking my daughter away…I thought Rory's father's wife was trying to take my place and it hurts, but that's not what I'm trying to do," Lorelai said. "I know that tensions are running high right now, it might be better for both of you to calm down before we send her home, but like I said, if it's what you want, I'll book her a ticket home now. I didn't just tell her she could stay here like I had the right to tell her that, I told her she had to talk to you first."

"She hates me," Anna cried.

"Well, most teenage girls go through that," Lorelai reminded her. "Although Rory was almost 21 when that happened with her."

"How did you deal with it?" Anna sniffled.

"I stayed away, she was an adult and she had to work through her issues on her own terms," Lorelai answered, they were both quiet for a moment. "May I ask if there's something more going on? I know you're busy with your mom, and I understand that, but that's something you've had on your plate since you moved there, I don't know why it would just now become an issue for April now."

"Truthfully, I think it's because of this guy I'm seeing, that's when we started growing apart, I didn't spend that much time with him in the beginning, but I've been wracking my brain and that's when she started pulling away, wanting to spend more time with friends, so I had more free time, and I started spending it with Brent," Anna explained.

"So she doesn't like Brent?" Lorelai asked as she leaned against the counter in the laundry room.

"You know I've always been against bringing other people into April's life, but as she's gotten older, I've slacked up on that rule a little, it was still quite awhile before he got to meet her," Anna told her. "But she seemed to like him, or at least she pretended to like him."

"I see…well, that could be it, we could have a jealous teenager on our hands," Lorelai sighed.

"She wouldn't tell me what happened last night, what did you get out of her?" Anna asked

"She got drunk, and the guy she came up here to see tried to drug her and have sex with her," Lorelai replied.

"Who is he? I'm gonna kill him."

"His name is Austin, I didn't get a last name, but she kicked him in the balls and told him I would cut his penis off if he didn't leave her alone," Lorelai replied, they both laughed a little at the thought. "Anyway, when I got there, she was in a guest bedroom in just a bra and panties, he had ripped her shirt off and took her jeans, she was very visibly shaken up about it, and thank god she had enough sense to not drink what he was giving her, and to fight him off."

"Thank you for taking care of her, Lorelai," Anna said. "And I'm sorry for the things I said, I know you have April's best interest at heart, and you love her like she's your own daughter…I honestly don't think I could ask for a better Stepmonster for my daughter."

Lorelai laughed again at April's nickname for her that she started using as soon as she and Luke were married, because she knew her stepmom was anything but. "No need to apologize, like I said, I understand where you're coming from." She said. "And I'll let you know when I find out when Luke's coming home tomorrow, and we can figure everything out once he's here. In the meantime, should I ground her from her phone or anything?"

"Yeah, get her phone and her laptop," Anna sighed.

"So we're all good? Nothing left unsaid? You want me to head to the airport?" Lorelai asked.

"No, I think I got it all out, and no, let her cool off, then we'll figure it out," Anna replied.

"Will do," Lorelai said. "And I will talk to you tomorrow."

Once she ended her call, she went to go track down April, finding her upstairs in her room packing her suitcase.

"What are you doing?" Lorelai asked as she sat down on April's bed next to Paul Anka.

"I figured I should pack so we could head to the airport," April replied, methodically folding the clothes Lorelai had quickly tossed into her suitcase the night before.

"Do you have a flight booked?" Lorelai asked.

"No, I figured you or Mom would have one booked by now," April said.

"You're staying at least until your dad gets home tomorrow and we can discuss everything," Lorelai replied. "Unless you're ready to go home."

"No!" April exclaimed.

"In that case, give me your phone and laptop," Lorelai said, holding out her hand.

"I knew that was coming," April exhaled, handing her phone over, then pulling her laptop from her bag and placing it on the bed next to Lorelai. "Can I go to the bookstore?"

"No, you're not going anywhere until we figure out a punishment, I know I've been lenient on you up until now, but that's partially because of the state you were in last night," Lorelai explained. "But April, I meant what I said when I told you that you would have to earn our trust back. You ran away from home, you hid when I came to Kayla's looking for you yesterday, you went to a party we explicitly said you couldn't go to, you had us worried sick."

"I'm sorry," April hung her head as she sat down on her bed on the other side of her suitcase.

"I figured you were at Kayla's, but not knowing for sure, I had a million thoughts going through my head," she had tears threatening to spill down her cheeks as she continued. "And when you called me last night, I was so relieved to hear your voice…but when I heard the panic in your voice, even through the alcohol, I was terrified. All the way to Meriden I had to worry about the condition I would find you in. And I was kicking myself for not coming into the house yesterday afternoon and dragging you out."

"I messed up, I'm sorry, I know that isn't enough, but I really am," April said, reaching over to take Lorelai's hand, they were both crying now. "And believe me, it's not something I'm going to be doing again…I don't like the feeling of not having control of all my faculties, I was mad at Mom, and mad at you and Dad for not letting me go to the party that I went a little overboard. I had drank before, but not like that. So believe me when I say that I don't plan on drinking again until I'm legal and maybe not even then."

"Music to a parent's ears," Lorelai smiled

The next afternoon, Lorelai had just walked downstairs after her shower. She had gone to look in on April in the study when the house phone began to ring. She went into the kitchen to grab it from the base on the counter, seeing it was Luke's number, she smiled.

"Hey babe," Lorelai answered.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Luke asked. "Have you had a relaxing weekend at home by yourself?"

"I wouldn't call it relaxing," Lorelai said as she pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator, even coffee didn't sound good to her. "I've felt bad most of the morning, so I finally made myself get out of bed and take a shower."

"Is it the morning sickness?" He wondered.

"I don't know, my stomach hurts, my back hurts, and I've felt gross all morning, and I think my blood pressure is high, but I can't find that cuff to check it," she told him, going into the living room to sit down on the couch.

"Lorelai…" he sighed.

"I know, I'm trying to keep it down, that's why I stayed in bed all morning," she said.

Truth be told, she had noticed light spotting when she got up that morning. She tried to tell herself that everything would be okay, so she laid in bed until she couldn't lay in bed anymore. She kept going back and forth between being hot and cold. The spotting didn't get any worse, but it hadn't gone away. It had happened weeks before the first miscarriage, and it was revealed that it was just the egg implanting in her uterus, and she hoped that's what was happening now. She didn't want to worry Luke any more than she already had, so she didn't mention it.

"Well, Buddy and I are in Meredith getting ready to head out, so we'll be home soon, I'll bring something home for dinner," Luke told her.

"Okay," she agreed.

"Sit on the couch and watch movies all day or something," he suggested.

"Okay," she repeated.

"We should be there in about four hours," he said.

"Okay, that should be about 4:30 or 5," she said, looking at the clock on the wall. "I have a surprise for you when you get here."

"Oh yeah?" He asked curiously.

"Yep, I'll see you when you get home," she told him. "Bye, I love you."

"I love you too," he replied. "Bye."

She hung up the phone, and without moving from the couch, Lorelai called out "April, you wanna watch a movie with me?!"

"Sure," she called back, saving her spot in the book and placing it on the end table in the study, then going into the family room where Lorelai was.

Since things had calmed down, they had only left the house to go to the diner for lunch the day before. Sookie had brought them dinner the night before, even after Lorelai told her she didn't need to. Other than that, they had stayed at home doing nothing. Lorelai did a few things around the house including laundry, while April was back and forth between reading in the study and playing with Paul Anka in the back yard. It was nice, and while Lorelai was anxious for her husband's return, she was dreading his reaction to what April had done.

April came in and plopped down on the couch next to Lorelai as they searched the guide on the TV to find a movie to watch. After agreeing upon one, April grabbed a large quilt from the chest in the corner and covered it over herself and Lorelai, leaning her head on her shoulder.

Lorelai smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of April's head before resting her cheek on April's head. It had been so long since she had had a girls' day with either of the girls. Every time they were in town, they were either overbooked or Luke and Jess were there. Not that she was complaining, but sometimes she longed for the days when she and Rory could just sit at home and have movie marathons. After she and Luke married, and April was a constant in their lives, the two of them had grown very close. And for that Lorelai was thankful.

They had been sitting there watching the movie for awhile when Lorelai pulled the blanket tighter around her as a chill went through her body.

"Are you feeling okay?" April lifted her head to look at her stepmom.

"Yeah, why?" Lorelai shrugged.

"You stayed in bed until almost noon, then you took a really long shower, you haven't even had coffee, and…" April pressed her palm to Lorelai's forehead. "I think you have a fever."

"No, I'm—" before Lorelai could finish her sentence, the dull ache in her abdomen turned into a sharp shooting pain. "Owww!"

"Lorelai, what's wrong?" April asked, holding her hand out for Lorelai to grab, which she did. "Do I need to take you to the hospital? Call Dad maybe?"

She gripped April's hand tightly as she squeezed her eyes shut, her brows furrowed. When the pain subsided a little, she took a deep breath.

"April…I need you to stay calm," she said, unsure of how to throw this at her without having her freak out. "I think I may be having a miscarriage, and I need you to take me to Hartford where my doctor is."

"What?!" April screeched. "Why didn't you tell me you're pregnant?"

"Because I wanted to spare you from having to go through this again," Lorelai said, doubling over in pain as she remained on the couch. "If you don't think you can take me, I'll call Sookie."

"No, I'll take you," April said. "I'm going to run upstairs to get my shoes. You need anything from up there?"

"My cell phone, it's on the nightstand next to the bed, and yours is on the dresser if you want to take it, you may need to," she told her.

April bolted upstairs as Lorelai went into the mud room to put some shoes on and get her purse. Realizing it would probably be cold in the hospital, she started to grab a jacket.

"Here, wear this," April said, appearing in the mud room with one of her dad's flannel shirts. "It will make you feel better."

Lorelai smiled at her thoughtfulness, letting April help her into the shirt, not bothering to button it over the black tank top she had on. April helped her into the Armada and climbed in the driver's seat. Surprisingly, she remained calm on the outside, but all it took was one look in her eyes, and she knew April was torn up on the inside. They were silent during the drive. Lorelai was trying to get up the courage to call Luke so he could meet them at the hospital. Finally, she just decided to do it.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Luke…" Lorelai murmured, trying not to cry or sound panicked, but Luke knew her all too well.

"Lorelai, what happened? Is it the baby? Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm uh…" her voice wavered, and she bit her bottom lip, almost hard enough to bring blood, letting out a long breath, she continued. "I think I'm miscarrying. Can you meet me in Hartford at the hospital?"

"Of course…who's taking you?" He asked, she hesitated. "Don't tell me you're driving yourself."

"I'm not," she replied hesitantly. "April is taking me."

"April? What is she doing there?" Luke asked, then realized. "Oh god, she didn't go to the party…"

"She did, but Luke, that's handled for now, I hate to be selfish, but I need you right now," she admitted, tears once again streaming down her face.

"I'm on my way," he said. "Can you put the phone on speaker so I can talk to April?"

"Luke…"

"I'm not going to get into it with her right now, I just need to tell her something," he replied.

"He wants to talk to you," Lorelai whispered to April as she pressed the speaker button.

"Hi Dad," she said.

"Hey sweetie," he replied. "I know you've only had your license for a few months, so I need you to drive carefully, get Lorelai there in one piece, please."

"I will Dad," she assured him.

"She's doing great," Lorelai added.

"I love you both, I'll see you soon," Luke said.

"Love you Daddy," April replied.

"Love you too," Lorelai said at the same time.


So not exactly what Luke expected to come home to. Let me know what you think!