A/N: Thank you for the reviews, everyone. Keep it up, I really do love you for it.

For a moment, he just stared at her, at the acute sadness in her blue eyes. It took a second before he could realize, disbelievingly, that she had in fact said what she'd just said.

He swallowed thickly, ingesting her news. Okay. Rory thinks she's pregnant. She thinks, but she doesn't know, and still, she's looking at you like you're her only hope in the world.

It was like redemption. A chance to do it right.

"Okay," he said softly, as tears fell from her eyes. His heart ached for her. How much had she cried in the past few days? Too much. "Oh, Rory." He put his entire hand over hers and held onto her fingers gently. "It's going to be okay."

She took in a short breath. "You know how it is, right? You know. When your mom got pregnant with you when she was a teenager, you can't…you can't repeat her mistake. You just can't."

"Yeah," he said sympathetically. He really did know. "My girlfriend had a pregnancy scare in high school, and my mom slapped me. I know." He gaze her hand an extra squeeze. "I understand."

She pulled away from him abruptly, almost pushing him away. "No, no you don't!" she cried, contradicting herself. "Whatever happened in high school, you were there. You were there for her. My boyfriend and I just broke up. He cheated on me. This can't be happening right now. I don't have anyone."

It was then that she totally broke down, sobbing in earnest into his pillow. He watched her sadly, knowing that she needed the time to cry, to get the really heavy emotion out so that she could think a little. It was nine minutes, according to his digital clock, before her tears subsided a bit.

Tentatively, he took her hand again, interlacing their fingers. He caressed the soft skin of her hand with his thumb. He waited until her tragic eyes found his face again. "I'm right here," he whispered.

Rory didn't know how it had happened. Well, she knew how it had happened, it had happened when she and Logan had had sex, that much was obvious. It was the deeper things she didn't understand.

Rory was the queen of precaution. They always used protection, and she was on the pill. Growing up as the daughter of a woman only sixteen years older than you taught you to be extra careful.

Why now? She couldn't help but wonder. Why, when she was already so sad?

She couldn't believe it when she picked up the apple. She'd been pouring herself a cup of coffee when she saw it, and all of a sudden it just looked so, so very good. The strawberry frozen yoghourt earlier hadn't been that strange – it was still basically junk food. But she'd seen that apple and been absolutely ravenous for it. She'd wanted that apple with the intensity that she usually reserved only for coffee first thing in the morning. The first bite she took was heaven. She couldn't remember ever enjoying anything healthy quite as much. It really satisfied her craving. The second bite sent her hurtling back in time, leaving her to draw her own scary conclusions.

She listened to her mother's rant, unsure of what to feel as Lorelai discussed the chance that she was pregnant. Lorelai rambled about how the last time things had gotten 'primordial', and told Rory that it was her age plus nine months.

Rory tried to be soothing and supportive, using reason to comfort her mother. "But, that doesn't mean –"

Her mother cut her off purposefully. "I just ate an apple."

"Whoa," Rory said softly, realizing the significance of that craving.

"My body is telling me something," Lorelai said firmly.

She'd stared at that apple for a good five minutes, her mind blank except for a single horrified thought of Oh. My. God. Then her brain burst into overdrive, trying to figure out if there had ever been a point when they hadn't been careful.

She couldn't think of one. She needed to sit down. She'd worked hard to avoid this, she really had.

She couldn't have a baby. She couldn't be a mom.

She really, really needed to sit down.

Rory wandered into Lucas' room aimlessly, still clutching her mug of coffee and barely-eaten apple. She set them both down on the nightstand with careful precision before collapsing onto the bed, curling into the foetal position, wishing it had another, not-baby-related name. She shut her eyes tightly and didn't open them again until she heard Lucas call her name from the common room. It was only after he came in, kneeled down in front of her and looked at her with that look of his that she fell apart. She really did hate surprises, more than anything.

"Rory," he said so kindly she thought her heart might break cleanly into two pieces. "Breathe, okay? Breathe for a minute, just calm down. No matter what, it'll be okay."

She gripped his hand tightly and concentrated on inhaling and exhaling steadily. "Okay," she whispered, wanting nothing more than to believe him.

She recognized the contemplative, reflective look in his eyes. He was doing some quick thinking, drawing conclusions as fast as he could. "Okay," he said back. "You think you're pregnant? You haven't taken a test? Not yet?"

Rory shook her head against the pillow it rested on. "I ate an apple," she informed him, desperate for him to understand what that meant.

But, of course, that was a ridiculous expectation. "Sorry, Ror, you're going to have to give me more than that."

"I don't eat…fruit. I know I should," she hastily added, "but I don't, I don't like it, and I ate an apple. My mom doesn't eat fruit either, and the only time she's ever wanted an apple was when she was pregnant with me. That, and this other time when she had a scare."

"So maybe that's all this is," his soft voice reasoned. "A scare."

Rory shook her head stubbornly. "The thing is, I am so careful. So, so careful. But Logan…and his friends, I mean, you've seen Colin and Finn. They get really drunk, and they do stupid stuff, so no matter how careful I have always been…we were probably stupid at some point." It was the strangest, most surreal situation she had been in to date, she realized as she spoke. She never thought she'd be discussing her sex life with her ex with the guy who was looking at her with such adoration in his eyes.

"None of that means anything for sure. Rory, it's okay. If you're pregnant, we'll figure it out. If you're not…" he shrugged, "you're not."

Tears blurred her vision. "We'll figure it out?"

His serious smile became lighter. "Well, yeah. You didn't think I was going to quit at this point, did you? Do you remember nothing about my life story? Drama and I, we hang out all the time."

Lucas' mind was on some sort of rapid-fire speed, so he took a moment to just think and calm it down. Somewhere in his mind, the right thing to do, the right solution to every problem existed. He didn't want to pile all his advice onto Rory in one huge rambling rant, though, so he decided to take everything one step at a time.

The first thing he had to do was stand; his long legs were cramping up as he crouched next to his bed. He stood, and then sat down on the mattress, placing one hand on the other side of Rory and leaning his weight into it. "You have to find out for sure." That was the most important thing.

"Yeah," she said in a small voice. "I know. I'm just…right now it's a probably, and that's scaring the hell out of me…I just can't know for certain. Not yet. Not this minute."

Fair enough. "You want to call your mom?" he asked quietly.

"No. No, no, no."

"Look, I know it seems like a really scary idea…but you need to tell her. You need to talk to her; she's already worried."

"She's already disappointed. This'd just throw her into new level of disappointment."

"You're not sixteen."

"I'm also not married."

He smiled. "Happy medium."

Her smile was exhausted and pained. "Not yet."

"When you know?"

She frowned at his insistence but gave in. "Fine. When I know."

"Which will be when?" It was an important question, but he kept his tone light, almost teasing – he knew he had to be getting annoying.

Rory groaned. "Will you shut up already?" The gravity of it all seemed to hit her once more as she took a sharp breath in. "God, I can't do this." She glanced to the side and pouted. "Will you hand me my apple?"

He complied wordlessly, picking the red delicious up by the stem and holding it out to her. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the wall, and took a big, crunchy bite. He waited patiently, knowing that he had to take her lead.

"Soon, I promise," she sighed. "Just not yet."

He quirked his eyebrows and gave her a pointed look. "Classic denial."

"I know, I know…I really do."

"So then why are you doing this to yourself?" he prodded. "Are you really just going to sit here and torture yourself for hours with the thought that you might, very possibly, be pregnant?"

"No," she shot back, putting her apple back down and raising her hands to massage her temples. "I'm going to go to sleep and pretend for a few hours that this is just a really sick dream."

Lucas sighed. "If that's what you want to do."

"It is," she replied with certainty. "Do you have some Nyquil, or something? Tylenol? A hell of a lot of Advil?"

"Rory," he said calmly. "Is this really the best time to be taking a bunch of pills?"

Her glare let him know that she knew he was right. Her lower lip slipped into a pout as she regarded him.

"What?"

"Will you read to me?" she asked softly, not meeting his eyes.

"I…yeah, sure. What're you in the mood for? No Camus," he joked.

Her eyes lit momentarily. "Your book?"

"Nope," he said jovially, sure of his response.

Her lip stuck out even further, but he didn't waver. Finally, with a sigh, she said, "How about…Out of Africa? You have that?"

"Are you questioning my taste in literature?"

"Yes," she said brazenly, throwing him a small smile.

Lucas retrieved the book and sat next to her on the bed. She sunk down into the pillows, pulling a blanket over her as though she needed a protective layer against the world. She closed her eyes tightly.

He looked down at her vulnerable form sadly. "Rory, are you sure –"

"Shh," she whispered. "Just read."

He had turned to page twenty-one by the time she finally passed out into full-on REM sleep. He watched her eyes move hastily behind her eyelids worriedly. She was tormenting herself, and he was concerned about her. He knew, on instinct, that she needed her mom. He could just tell.

Briefly, he toyed with the idea of calling Lorelai, but he knew that it wasn't his place. Rory would never forgive him. She needed to tell Lorelai herself.

She also had to tell Logan. Whether she was pregnant or not. Lucas, of all people, knew what it was like to be the guy in this situation, and he did sympathize with Logan, who looked like he didn't know how to live without Rory.

If she was pregnant, what would she do? Society etiquette would tell her to get married. Rory followed rules. Would she take back the boy she'd declared she hated hours ago so that they could be a family? Would she and Logan attempt to co-parent and still go their separate ways?

Lucas knew he needed to stop theorize. There were a million things that could potentially happen. He was aware of them all, and he had a pretty good idea of what his response would be to them all.

However, in the end, no matter how good his intentions were, his opinion didn't count. He cared about Rory, but he was not involved in this situation. He was the helpful, supportive friend. It was her body, and her baby, and her relationship. His input would be taken into consideration, but it didn't really mean anything. Nevertheless, he did love Rory (in whatever way he did) and he wanted to be there for her.

In a way, for both her sake and his, he needed to be.

When Rory awoke from her relaxing nap, she got a sinking feeling in her stomach that she recognized well. At other points in her life, when she'd been overwhelmed, she collapsed into bed for a few hours for some peace, and to gather her strength. The sleep was always good. She dreamed useless dreams, or didn't dream at all. But when she woke up, it all came crashing down on her again. For a second, she would allow herself to hope it had been a dream, and then something would distinctly remind her that it wasn't.

That day, it was the sight of her untouched coffee.

"I'm going to have to switch to decaf," she muttered in horrified realization.

Lucas, who'd been dozing by her side, stirred. "What?" he asked blearily.

"Coffee. You can't drink coffee when you're pregnant."

He nodded to himself, appearing to sense her impending freak out. "There's decaf."

"Decaf is not coffee."

"It tastes the same," he murmured, still waking up. "Maybe you can drink a little bit of coffee. The occasional cup. I'm taking a wild guess here when I say that I doubt your mother quit coffee when she was pregnant with you, and look at you. You're fine."

"I'm an addict," she retorted, labelling herself with the one term she'd always denied.

"There are worse things to be addicted too."

"I can't get my kid addicted to a drug before it's even born. Caffeine is a drug. We all know it, we all pretend it's not true, but it is, and I'm going to be responsible for ruining a life!"

"Rory, really –"

"I can't be a mom!" she cried. "I'm not ready for this! I don't know how! I'm not…a kid person. At least, not yet. I plan stuff, you know? I was supposed to have kids later. Maybe when I was thirty. And in love. Marriage wouldn't have been a bad precursor, either," she added sarcastically. She felt like she needed to cry again. "My mom gave up everything for me, and loved me enough to do everything in her power to get me here. That's twenty-one years of love and support and it's still going. I'm still the most important thing." Her lips were trembling. "I don't think I can do it. I'm too selfish. I'm not as strong as she is."

Lucas' hand fell lightly on her knee. "Maybe you can be."

"I wish."

"You have a great role model," he argued.

"She's going to be so upset."

"Maybe, for a few minutes," he agreed with a shrug. "But if she loves you as much as you say she does – and I know she does – then she'll get over it and support you so much."

Her tears overflowed, but she didn't sob. "I'm scared, Lucas. What if I mess up? I'm not ready. I don't…I don't think I can do it."

His words were well-chosen, she could tell by the pauses he took. "Well…you don't…have to keep it and raise…your kid. You have…other options."

Rory looked over at him, wearing a wry, rueful smile. "Do I really?"

"Of course you do. You could –"

"No, Lucas," she stopped him, her eyes boring into his. "Do I really?" He searched her eyes, still not understanding, so with a sigh, she elaborated. "You know how it is, better than anyone. I was that baby. And I think about it sometimes, don't you? My dad's parents wanted my mom to get an abortion. What if she had? I wouldn't exist. You've got to know that feeling, it's so strange and sad. What if she'd gone on to all the great things she could've had: her own Yale education, a different, but equally successful career, a marriage to my dad and kids way later in life? What if she'd put me up for adoption and I'd grown up thinking that other people were my parents, or what if I spent my whole life wondering who the woman who'd given me up was? What if I'd had parents who were abusive or annoying or neglectful? What if I hadn't had Lorelai?" She shook her head. "I can't get an abortion. I can't put my kid up for adoption. I can't."

He just smiled at her.

"What?" she asked warily.

He gently rubbed her knee. "You'll be a good mom. Don't worry about it."

She sighed and reached out for a hug, needing to be held for a moment. Lucas obliged, holding her tightly. He relaxed his hold after a couple minutes, but she didn't pull away, just rested her head on his chest.

"What now?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"You want to –"

"No."

"Okay. How about calling Lane or Paris? Do you need some girl talk?"

She smiled at his thoughtfulness but shook her head. "I can talk to them if you'd rather…" she said hesitantly.

"That's not what I meant," he replied patiently.

She shrugged, a difficult move while cocooned in his arms. "Then no, you're all I need."

He exhaled. "You want to call Logan?"

Rory instantly pulled away and stared at him incredulously. How could he ask that? Why would she? "No! No, I'm not telling that cheating bastard anything."

"Rory, he deserves to know."

She shook her head even though she knew he was right. "When…when I know for sure. I'll tell him then. I don't want to, but…I will."

"Promise?" he asked. She knew he would hold her to it.

"Yeah," she sighed. Her throat seemed to close up, then, her body registering her emotions before her mind did. She choked on a sob.

"Rory…?" Lucas asked.

She began to cry in earnest for the first time since he'd found her on his bed. "I don't want my baby to have to deal with that. Logan's not…he's Logan! He can't even be in a relationship without straying. I don't want my kid to have a dad like mine, a dad's who's amazing sometimes but who always lets you down and breaks your heart and never sticks around. It's not fair. It's not…" she trailed off as, this time, Lucas initiated the hug.

"Listen, Ror. I know you feel like you're not ready, and I know you're really scared, but you're tormenting yourself here. We're sitting here planning your future, and your baby's future, and we don't even know if there is a baby yet. Can we go buy you a pregnancy test?"

She sighed helplessly and was relieved when he held her just a little bit tighter. "Can I have a banana, first?" she asked pathetically.

Rory eyed the drugstore as she chewed her last bite of banana slowly. Lucas knew he needed to wait for her to make the first move. She had to be ready to face this.

She was shaking, though she was trying not to. He took the banana peel out of her unresisting hands and dropped it back in the grocery bag, making a mental note to take the garbage out of Colin's car. He was thankful his roommate had agreed to let them take the vehicle. He was obviously very suspicious of their relationship, but Colin must have known something was wrong from the look on Lucas' face, because he handed over the keys.

She sniffled. Her eyes were red and shadowed. "They have bathrooms in drugstores, right?"

"Usually," he replied with a nod.

"Okay. So I think that maybe…I'll just take it in there."

Lucas felt his eyebrows shoot up. "Really? You don't want to be at home when you find out?" He realized when the words left his mouth that he'd referred to his dorm room as her home, but she didn't notice. Not that he could blame her; she had more important things to think about.

He saw her swallow hard, and admired the way she was trying to keep herself together. He placed his hand on her elbow to let her know that if she needed to let go a little, he was there. She glanced at him, then down at his hand, and her lips twisted into a sad excuse for a smile. "I think I just need to find out. Right now."

"Okay," he shrugged, undoing his seatbelt and reaching for his door handle. She didn't move, so he turned back to look at her, expecting tears.

Instead, he saw amazement and gratitude. "You're coming with me?" she asked softly, as though she hadn't expected it.

"I'm not coming into the bathroom with you," he told her with a quick, teasing grin, "but I'm coming with you, of course I am."

She walked into the store determinedly and marched down an aisle that had several labels, one of which was 'family planning'. Society-friendly code for birth control and pregnancy tests. He followed close behind and kept a watchful eye on her expression as she examined the various brands in front of her.

A middle-aged women stepped back them briefly, her walk businesslike, but in the one moment Lucas really looked at her, he saw conclusions in her eyes. She'd looked at Rory's pained expression and shot an automatic frown at Lucas. He really hated people who made assumptions when they had no right to.

"If only she knew."

His eyes flew to Rory, who was looking at him with a ghost of her normally cheerful grin. He hadn't thought she'd noticed the woman. "Ignore her."

"I intend to," she said purposefully. "You're wonderful and my ex-boyfriend's probably in Vegas for all I know, and I hate that she thinks she can assume things about my life." She exhaled and turned back to the shelf. Her shaky hand reached out and closed around a box. She held it up and quirked her eyebrows. "Let's do this."

He kept his arm around her as she paid, to support her and also to avoid any more scowls directed his way. The teenage girl at the cash register rang it through, stealing not-so-subtle expressions at them while she made the transaction. As she tore the receipt off and handed over Rory's change, she said softly, "I hope that tells you what you want it to."

Had Lucas been in her position, he never would have said a word. Though it was none of her business, he appreciated the girl's bravery and her sentiment, so he just shot her a half-assed smile before guiding Rory away.

"Okay," Rory said quietly as she stepped into the bathroom. "This is it."

Lucas reached out and rubbed her arm reassuringly before she closed the door. He leaned back against the wall as he waited, lazily reading a poster for some community event. His heart was pounding quickly. He thought he might've absorbed some of Rory's nervousness.

A couple minutes later her delicate voice called, "Come in."

Rory looked up from where she sat on the floor as Lucas entered the room. She knew she must have looked pathetic, sitting with her back to the wall on the floor of a drugstore bathroom. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and was clutching her watch like it could save her. "Three minutes," she reported softly.

He sat down on the floor next to her and gently draped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, but she didn't cry. She just wished she could will the second hand on her watch to move a little bit faster. She thought it was sweet of Lucas to sit there on the dirty floor with her. Everything he'd done had been perfect.

"You were wrong earlier," he said quietly into her hair.

"About what?"

"When you said you weren't strong enough to do what your mother had done. Look at you now. You are strong." His lips brushed the skin of her forehead. "You're gonna be okay."

"Thank you. For…everything." She pulled back slightly to smile at him. "You, too, you know? You're going to be a good parent. Whenever that happens for you."

Bitter, painful regret suddenly surfaced in his ocean blue eyes, surprising her. "Thank you," was all he said, but she sensed that her words had hurt him in some way. Fatherhood had to be tough for him to discuss after everything that had happened with his own father and his uncle, his constant father-figure. She was about to pry when her watch beeped.

Taking a deep breath, she looked down at it. Three minutes had indeed passed. "Okay," she said to herself, but she didn't move.

Lucas gave her a second, then pulled his arm away and asked, "You gonna look at that?"

She screwed up her face as though in pain. "Would you?" she asked in a tentative whisper.

He looked a little shocked, but not uncomfortable. "You sure?"

She laughed a little, nervously. "I'm more sure about this than I am about anything else in my life right now."

The world seemed to go in slow motion as Lucas stood up and walked over to where her test was resting. "You ready?" he asked her gently.

Rory winced, knowing that whatever he told her would be the truth. It was a very easy test to read. There was no mistaking lines or colours or symbols. If it said pregnant, then that's what she was. "Look at it," she whispered, painfully swallowing over the lump in her throat.

She squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the test box, which she still held in her hands along with her watch, and breathed in bravely. She was determined to be ready if the next words out of his mouth were: "You're going to be a mom."

She heard him exhale and swallowed again, more thickly than before. "Well?" she whispered.

A/N: Review! :)