Lorelai scoots the chair closes to Rory's bed. That is when the scene begins to resonate with her. She looks around the room memorizing every detail. She follows IV tubing from Rory's hand to an IV pump. A clump of cords runs from a fetal monitor to Rory's midsection. She says a silent prayer, and her hand reaches for her seventeen year old daughter. She squeezes her hand. She tries to focus on Rory's face, but she can't seem to take her eyes off the rounded edges of Rory's midsection that rest underneath her hospital gown. Rory watches in silence, uncertain of what to say, or do. Lorelai shakes her head.
"Rory how did we get here?"
The question is more than Rory can handle. The tears begin to stream down her face, before she can attempt to stop them. The tears come fast, and hard. She can barely catch her breath between the tears, and the contractions. She feels a crushing sense of anxiety, and fear. Without a single word Lorelai wraps her in her arms. Rory presses her head against her mother's shoulder. Lorelai pushes Rory's hair off her face. She can't maintain composure for a second longer. The reality hits her like a ton of bricks.
Her baby is having a baby. Before another day passes another life will join them. A life that has been growing inside of her daughter for all of these months. She wonders how she missed all of the subtleties. Her heart breaks for Rory. Her heart breaks that her only daughter, her whole world, couldn't tell her the truth. Rory lets go.
"I was angry, and hurt. For once in my life I just wanted to be rebellious, and not consider the consequences. I didn't want to be Mary, anymore. I was so tired of being the girl who was holding back, because she was afraid. So in the matter of a few moments I threw everything that I have worked for my entire life out the door. I couldn't tell you. I could barely live with the disappointment that I felt. I knew I couldn't handle your disappointment too. I didn't want to see the look in your eyes. I knew that the moment you found out I would have the image of you looking at me with such disappointment permanently burned into my memory. And there you are, looking at me like that."
"Oh, Rory."
"We both wanted more for me."
"You dreams do not have to end today."
"Mom, I'm not you. I am not as strong as you are. I am not as independent, or as fearless as you are. I can't do this. More than that, I don't want to. I made a mistake, and I can admit that. I refuse to let one mistake define the rest of my life. I am seventeen years old. I don't want to be anyone's parent. I just want to finish high school, and go to Harvard. I don't want to give up on my dreams. I can't," the tears are uncontrollable at this point.
"What are you saying?"
"I spent countless hours considering what to do, and in the end I realized that I'm just not ready. I am not in a relationship with Tristan. It is best for everyone involved if I don't…" she trails off. Her hand comes to rest on her stomach.
"You're not keeping it?" She tries to stay calm, and hide her mixed emotions.
"I want her to have two parents who love her, and give her the world. I don't want her to grow up feeling like she was a burden."
The statement nearly takes her breath away. For the first time she feels like her eyes are wide open. "Rory is that how you feel?"
"No. I didn't feel that way, but you wanted me. You always wanted me. I don't even know how to conceive of wanting her."
"Rory, I don't know what to say," she admits.
They sit in silence for the next hour. Soon there is a knock on the door. The door opens, and Emily sticks her head in. Rory wipes her eyes.
"Come in."
"I found a young man in the hallway who is looking for you," she adds.
"Come in," Rory insists.
They enter the room. Emily crosses the room, and silently takes a seat next to Lorelai. Tristan stands at the end of the bed, wearing a dark jacket, and a pair of blue jeans. His typically messy hair is now neatly cropped. He smiles at her.
"I didn't miss it, did I?"
"No. How did you get here so quickly?"
"I cashed in all of my favors, and convinced my dad to send the company helicopter. I told you I would be here."
She stares at him in complete shock.
"You thought that I would flake," he realizes.
"Yeah," she nods.
"I am slowly, but surely becoming a man of my word."
"I see that."
"So what's the verdict?" He questions.
"I am actively in labor. My mucous membranes have ruptured, and I have progressed too far for them to stop the labor."
"I thought that she wasn't due for six more weeks," he points out.
Emily chimes in, "It's probably Lorelai's impatient nature that is lurking in her blood."
"I guess today is the day, then."
"It will probably be several hours," Lorelai points out, "First babies tend to come rather slowly."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"I am already dilated to five centimeters," Rory adds.
"I guess she's in a hurry," Tristan comments.
Lorelai briefly glances out the window. She sees the first hint of a lovely white substance blowing against the window.
"Obviously she is trying to meet the first snow," Lorelai points out the window.
Rory smirks, "It seems like it."