"Why don't you start at the beginning?" John prompted. He gestured them to take a seat on the couch. He sat down on the chair.
Rory nodded. "We were at a dance. Dean and I had a great time, but we decided to leave early and get some coffee, maybe take a walk."
John nodded; Dean had told him this yesterday. Rory proceeded to tell him what she remembered about that night, but was again embarrassed about what happened the next morning.
"We were awakened by Miss Patty. There were several women in the studio, too and all of them were babbling about us."
"I left in a hurry and ran home." Rory had skipped over the pertinent part and if she didn't say something soon, Dean was going to interrupt. He let her continue for a few more minutes.
"My mom and I had a really bad fight then. She was insisting that I was going to go on birth control and I kept denying that I needed to." Rory was blushing really hard then and started to speak in a rush. "I was sore… down there… but I looked at the calendar and decided that since my period was supposed to start in a few days, I would be okay. I then took a shower and removed all evidence that Dean and I had had sex. I couldn't remember what exactly happened, so I checked myself. There were no bruises, contusions or anything." She blushed really hard then, "There was… some blood on my underwear, but I threw it out. Otherwise, our clothes were intact, even my stockings were okay. My dress was wrinkled, but I had slept in it. It wasn't torn. I think I would have done some damage to Dean, too, if I had fought him."
Dean stood up and turned away when he heard about the blood. He knew it sometimes happened, but being confronted with the knowledge was killing him.
John looked at her for a moment. He felt a little anger at what she had done and wasn't sure, really, why she had done it.
Rory finished what she wanted to say, "At the time, I had no memory of what happened, but I did have feelings and impressions. I knew this wasn't Dean's fault. I knew he didn't rape me. I couldn't allow him to be blamed or arrested for whatever happened. It's why I didn't want the police to get involved. Then, when we found out Dean and I had been attacked or whatever, I knew that the police would go to the next most likely culprit. I couldn't allow Tristan to be blamed for it, either."
John held up his hand. "Who's Tristan?"
Dean answered, "He's a kid at Rory's school. He has a thing for her and he tried to start a fight with me at the dance."
Rory interjected there, "Even if our cover story were true, Tristan wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't slip a girl some drug or anything like that."
"Rory…"
She turned to Dean, "He's a jerk, but he's not a monster."
John rubbed his hand over his face. "So you did this to protect Dean and Tristan?"
Rory nodded, "And Paris. The police would have looked at her, too. I couldn't risk it."
"Who's Paris?"
"She's a rival at my school."
John had a twisted smile on his face, "Does your mother know you're surrounded by enemies at that school?"
Dean looked at Rory, waiting for her to finish, but she didn't speak.
"You're not done."
Rory looked at him, helplessly.
Dean sighed, "She shouldn't have gotten pregnant."
John looked at Dean intently, "What do you mean?" He turned to Rory.
Rory still wasn't talking.
Dean blushed, "It's something to do with her cycle."
John looked at them comprehendingly. "Oh, that doesn't work."
Finally Rory looked up, "It can, but you have to keep really close track of it. You practically have to have charts and graphs and things."
John just looked at her.
Rory sighed and blushed again. Then she looked down at the floor, "The rhythm method requires that you chart your period, the first day of it. Then you count the days. Most cycles go in a 28 day cycle. A girl starts her period and 28 days later, she should start her next one. About 20 days after a girl starts her period, she should go into an infertile time of the month. This time lasts 5 to 8 days. My cycle was almost always about 28 days long and my period should have started by the Monday following the dance. It didn't. I checked the dates about 10 times!"
She got up and moved around the room. She was so embarrassed she couldn't look at them.
They waited for her to continue.
"When I was 12, I got my first period. My mom was very matter of fact about it. She told me to make a note of it every month. She said if I could see the pattern, I would never be caught by surprise. It became a habit. I always know when my period is going to start. When it didn't, I put it down to the stress I was feeling. We didn't know what had actually happened. I knew we had had sex, though. I just figured it was a manifestation of my fears. But then my next period was late, too. I gave it about a week more and then I told my mom and Dean.
"The infertile period is a medical fact. No woman can get pregnant during that time. All right, there are days at the beginning of the infertile period that, if the estimates are off, a woman can conceive, but I was well within the right time frame. This baby shouldn't be."
John looked at her. He believed her and it put a whole new spin on things. He nodded.
"All right, Rory, have you told Lorelai any of this?"
Rory shook her head. "She's… I've been afraid to. The fight we had that morning was pretty bad. I didn't want another one."
"She needs to know."
Rory nodded dejectedly. "I know."
GGSPNGGSPN
Rory was leaning on Dean a little bit when they left. She was both mentally and physically tired. As they were crossing the lobby of the inn, a banquet was ending. Dean left Rory sitting in a chair in the lobby while he went to get the car.
Rory was sitting there with her eyes closed when she heard the most unwelcome sound in the world.
"Rory?"
Rory opened her eyes to see Paris Geller standing over her.
"Oh, God!" Rory winced. "I don't have the energy for you tonight. What are you doing here?"
"My father's Masonic Lodge Father-Daughter Banquet was tonight. It's the only time I get to spend with him alone, so it doesn't matter that most of the 'daughters' in there have no biological link to the 'daddies' they're with."
"Well there's the door. I'll see you later."
Ignoring her comment, Paris looked at her with a snarky smile. "You couldn't take it could you? You dropped out because the pressure was too much. You know, I never figured you for a quitter. That's just pathetic."
Unable to resist defending herself, Rory answered, "I didn't drop out, I withdrew and it had nothing to do with stress. I expect to come back next year."
"Two girls dropped out of Chilton in the last two weeks, you and Jennifer McCauley, a senior. She's pregnant, but she was always a stupid girl; it was only a matter of time. Whenever it happens, there's an assembly for the girls; they tell us it's because the girl is ill, but that's just a euphemism for pregnant. Then they give us a 'refresher course' in methods of birth control, mainly pushing abstinence. This time there was an assembly for everyone. It was all about date-rape dru –"
Rory just looked at her.
The light dawned on Paris' face, "Oh my God! Your boyfriend?"
Rory shook her head, "No, Dean –"
Paris didn't wait for an answer, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fi –"
"I'll kill him!"
"Paris –"
"I know people."
"No! Paris –"
Just then Sam and Dean Winchester came into the lobby. They spotted Rory and moved over to greet her.
When Paris saw Sam she went ballistic and she moved to stand between Rory and Sam. "You've got a nerve! Showing your face here. How do you live with yourself? You're a monster!"
Sam was immediately angry at this girl blaming him for something he hadn't done, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Dean was watching the girl yelling at his brother, but since he knew Sam could handle himself, he waited to see what she would do.
Rory started to stand up, but Paris held out her hand to stop her. Then she turned and pushed Sam in the middle of his chest to back him up.
Sam had been taught not to hit girls, but this was getting personal and he started toward her.
Dean put a hand on his brother's arm to bring him around to look at him. "Look at the girl, she's protecting Rory."
Sam looked at his brother and then glanced over at the girls. He took a deep breath and nodded.
Meanwhile Rory finally stood up, "Paris, that's not Dean!" she shouted.
Paris finally heard Rory shouting at her. "Dean has a twin?"
"No, he has a double."
At that point, Dean Forester came into the lobby. When he saw Paris, he knew something had happened.
He walked over to the small group. He sighed, "Paris what are you doing here?"
Paris was looking back and forth between Sam Winchester and Dean Forester. "Are you related?"
The boys looked at her and shook their heads.
"It's genetically impossible for two unrelated people to look that much alike. You have to be related."
Rory grabbed Paris' arm and turned her around. "Listen to me and stop jumping to conclusions! My Dean and Sam Winchester are not related. I did not leave Chilton because of stress or illness. On the night of the dance, Dean and I left early, we stopped and had coffee when we got back to the Hollow. At some point we – ingested something. End of story."
"That's not the end of the story."
"It is for you."
Paris looked down at the floor; she nodded and asked quietly, "Is there anything you need? Are you back at high school here?"
"No, Dean and I are being home-schooled. And no, I don't need anything."
"Why are you being home-schooled?"
"Because people are blaming Dean."
"What?"
"I wasn't handling the situation very well and I couldn't continue to hide something. You know Paris, now that you're here to be the town crier, everyone will know."
"Know what?"
"Jeesh, Paris! I never figured you for being dense!" Rory moved her hand over her stomach and revealed the small baby bump.
