LASTING LOVE:
Rory is back at home after a year's absence. After a chance meeting with a familiar friend, Rory's future is as uncertain as it ever has been.

Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls does not belong to me. I only write off of it.

TEN: It's a Good Thing

"And then you said?"

"I said, 'No. I'm pregnant!' Then I ran out like an escaped prisoner."

"Maybe more along the lines of an escaped asylum prisoner."

"Let's leave the mentally deranged out of this perhaps? And maybe you could stop making me relive it over and over and over again."

Lorelai shrugged. "Sorry. I'm just having a hard time understanding your motives these days. Pregnancy has not been kind to you so far."

"Yeah, no kidding." Rory took a sip from her third mug of decaffeinated herbal tea. "Is Luke at all curious as to why I'm having tea so much? Much less decaffeinated?"

Lorelai took a heaping bite of her pancakes. "I told him that you were still a little rattled leaving your job and stuff. And, you know, that you've been off your meds lately."

"Cruel, cruel lady."

Lorelai signaled to Rory's untouched plate of pancakes. "I thought you were perpetually hungry these days. What gives?"

"Not in the mood to eat, I guess," Rory said wearily. "I must've peaked with the cake we ate last night at Weston's last night."

"Ah yes," Lorelai said dreamily. "Our finest creation yet. Chocolate cake with chocolate cake batter ice cream drizzled in a variety of syrups from hot fudge to caramel to butterscotch, covered from top to bottom in sprinkles and frosting with four cherries on top."

"Not to mention the two complimentary cupcakes that you got for flirting with the new cashier they have there."

"A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do for some sweets, hon."

Rory shuddered. "Yeah, well I'm swearing off food for now."

Lorelai grabbed Rory's plate. "I speak for every other ravenous pregnant woman on this planet when I say that I will think of you as I eat this."

"Gross."

Lorelai looked up at Rory from her plate. "I didn't think I'd be asking this question again, but are you going to talk to Dean any time soon?"

Rory nearly choked. "What? I thought I already covered that."

"Obviously not! You can't just bolt after telling him that you're pregnant. You ignored the most important half of the conversation: the one where you decide how to handle the situation."

"Damn. I don't know. Maybe I'll deal with Grandma and Grandpa first. They're a little easier to handle."

"In what world?"

"I don't know. I thought you said it yourself: my motives are all whack right now!"

"Yeah, and so is your vocabulary."

"Whatever," Rory grumbled. "Just tell me what the plan of action is."

Lorelai took another bite of pancake. "Okay. You go home for your nap while I go around town to run errands."

"Do I need to take a daily nap? I'm not even that tired."

"Hush!" Lorelai said, putting a hand up. "What did I tell you about disobeying the Bible?"

"That God will smite me?"

"No, not that one! What to Expect When You're Expecting. And what does the Bible say about you in your expecting condition?"

"That it would be a good habit to start taking daily naps…" Rory grumbled again. "This baby-making thing is a lot more complex than I thought it would be."

Lorelai ignored her. "So, after that nap, I will wake you up and we will proceed onto the most exciting part of the day: picking an outfit for Friday night dinner. I'm guessing that'll take us an hour or more, so I gave us two hours to complain about my wardrobe and to munch on snacks in between. After that comes the bad part."

"Friday night dinner," Rory groaned. "What a god-awful tradition. And it's all your fault, too!"

"Me?" Lorelai asked incredulously. "How is it my fault?"

"You were the one who promised them more Friday night dinners after I left last year. Why didn't you just cut off connection with them once and for all?"

"I couldn't do that!" Lorelai argued defensively. "Did you hear what Emily was planning? She wanted to add tennis courts to my inn, Rory. And a spa. It was either Friday night dinners or a business partnership with the Gilmores."

"Just finish your pancakes," Rory grumbled.

Lorelai frowned.

Lorelai Gilmore was a complicated woman. Although everyone appreciated and loved her, they also knew that she was a woman who came with baggage. Lots of it. She was a wonderful person to be around and an overall amazing friend, but everyone knew that when it came right down to it, Lorelai was not without her problems. And whenever it seemed like Lorelai had finally found her happy ending, something always came around to steal it away from her.

Getting pregnant at sixteen wasn't exactly a great start on the road to adulthood. But if anything, it only made her grow up faster. Being a mother to Rory wasn't a chore for Lorelai; it was something she enjoyed. If anything, she had a pretty easy time as a mother. Rory was the opposite of a problem child, the opposite of Lorelai.

However, having an easy time in raising Rory did not mean having an easy time in raising herself. Love never came easily for Lorelai. Christopher Hayden, the longest and most turbulent chapter in her life, brought her some of the happiest moments in her life as well as some of the most heartbreaking. No one could deny Lorelai's incredible effort to make the relationship work. Love came and went and eventually, so did Christopher.

Lorelai's chances at true love and adult relationships came so tantalizingly close with every relationship she had, only to be taken away from her. Max and Jason were her two real big shots at love before Luke ever came along. Max taught her the lesson of wanting more than she could handle, and the end of their relationship reflected that. With Jason, on the other hand, she felt more like she was going around in circles than anything else. She wanted stability and Jason couldn't offer that to her.

But when Luke finally came around, it seemed she had it all figured out. She had the relationship that everyone wanted…and everyone wanted for her. She found the perfect compromise between functional adult relationship and getting-to-be-immature-and-still-have-date-nights relationship. Luke was a solid man and in spite of all their misgivings, they managed to work it out. It might have taken more than just a couple years to get to where they were now, but what mattered was that they were there together. Lorelai figured that once Rory was out of college and ready to start a life of her own, she could do the same. After all, the two grew up together and now, they could start living life together…apart.

But now, Lorelai had all these doubts in her mind. Rory was pregnant – and she still felt like she hadn't completely grasped the concept. She would have to help her…she would have to put her daughter's future ahead of her own once again. She never resented Rory for it, but she resented herself. Here she was, always doing the helping for others and never helping herself. Luke could only wait so long and now, she felt like Rory's timing couldn't have come at a worse time…

"Lorelai!"

She whirled around as several cars honked at her. She realized she was in the middle of the street when she decided to stop. She ran quickly to the nearest sidewalk and looked around for the voice. Across the street, she saw Dean and almost ran away; she didn't want to have this conversation.

"Lorelai!" Dean repeated again from across the street.

"I hear you, Dean! Come here!"

Dean ran across to where she was after making sure that there were no other cars in the street. He was haggard; he looked as if he didn't sleep the entire night. Lorelai couldn't blame him, especially after the big whopper Rory dropped on him.

"Where's Rory?"

Lorelai folded her arms. "Look, Dean, I'm not sure talking to Rory right now is a good-"

"Lorelai, please," Dean begged. "I need to talk to her. I have no idea what's going on and Rory is the only one who can calm me down."

Lorelai grabbed Dean's arm and led him to a bench near them. They sat down together in silence for a couple moments, neither one sure what to say. When Dean started taking deeper breaths, Lorelai figured it was safe to start talking again.

"Look, Dean, Rory is handling this one day at a time. We all are. The fact that she told you is a big step in that handling process. You're not the only one confused here; Rory has no idea what she's doing either."

"It's not fair, though. You get to know everything. She just sprung it on me like that and she expects me to just deal with it, too? I don't get it. We don't talk for weeks and next thing you know, she's in Doose's telling me all of this!"

"Okay, I know that Rory's method of telling you wasn't exactly subtle, but you have to understand that Rory is having difficulty trying to figure everything out at the same time that she the only way she could tell you was that way. And I only get to know everything because I'm her mother; it comes with the job. Trust me – when I found out for the first time, too, I wasn't as calm as I am right now."

Dean sighed heavily. "I wish she would just talk to me. I wish I could just see her."

Lorelai patted his back awkwardly. "Dean, it's only been a day. Nothing big has happened. You still have seven months to figure everything out!"

Dean sighed miserably.

Lorelai looked at him directly. "You love Rory, right?"

Dean nodded. "Of course!"

"Well, if you love Rory, you need to just back down for now. Rory will come to you eventually. She can only do so much and I can only do so much. Do yourself a favor and take the time you have right now to try and figure things out on your own. Try and figure out how you'll help. You don't want to be unprepared when you and Rory finally talk; that'll only scare her more."

Dean nodded again, looking completely miserable.

Lorelai stood up. She didn't want to leave him sitting there feeling this way. She tried to come up with the best thing to say to him.

"Dean…this is a good thing." She smiled at him. "It may not seem like it now and it might not even seem like it in the next couple of months, but this is a really good thing. I was sixteen when I was pregnant, Dean. And you've met Rory. Trust me – it's a good thing."

Dean stood up and gave Lorelai a deep hug. The two smiled at each other before they parted. Lorelai kept going along to finish her errands.

Lorelai Gilmore, lives to serve. She sighed.

AN: Sorry for the late update again! But I know where this story is going, so have no fear! Hope you liked it! Read and review as always!