Chapter 21: Happy New…What?

The holidays were coming to an end and tomorrow would be New Year's Eve. The time to ring in the New Year and make resolutions; which people would try to stick with. Rory sat on the window seat of the newly renovated living room – which was done about two years before after Luke finally moved in and made a home of the place. She looked out at the snow and let her mind wander. She had been doing well not thinking about Logan and the month before. A ding on her laptop caught her attention, bringing her back to reality.

A new email and maybe a response to one of the many resumes she had sent out. Rory quickly went to her outlook account and started reading through. It was from Mr. Boyd. What did he want? She started scanning through the email. He owned a publishing company and worked on various things from books to periodicals. A couple of magazines too, which kind-of intrigued her. She decided to start the email from the top again.

Happy Holidays Miss Gilmore,

It was a pleasure meeting you several weeks ago at the Yale Daily News reunion event. Our conversation was quite riveting. As promised I have read through several of your pieces that you so kindly sent and took the liberty of speaking to several of your past work colleagues. I only heard positive things and everyone spoke very highly of you, especially, Paris Gellar.

I am writing to you today to extend an offer of freelance writing, so to say. The position would be full-time, but working from home. We feel that a writer needs to be where they are comfortable. On occasion we would ask you to come into one of our publishing offices to touch base. The writing gig we think would fit your unique humor and writing style is an opinion column. This would include writing about any experiences you may have had, politics… the list goes on. This offer for the position would be for our print and online magazine: Touché.

Please feel free to contact our offices with a reply within the next 30 days.

Boyd

Rory sat and stared at her computer for a moment and then reread the email again. She got excited, knowing that someone was reaching out to her for employment. It was the normal four-walls, desk and coffee-maker type of job, she'd have the freedom to work from whenever the majority of the time. This opportunity seemed perfect and exciting to her, but she would take the time to think on it for a few weeks, at least.

She sent a quick email back to the secretary that had forwarded it on to her and closed her laptop.

Lorelai was enjoying the snow; it had been a good day, thus far. She left work early to head over to her monthly appointment to get an update on the baby. It had taken about two hours and by the end of it, she didn't like the result. The doctor had informed her that she should stay off her feet as much as possible. Due to her age, less stress was the best option. She called Luke and he came to pick her up, since she had walked there.

"Just go to the hotel a few hours a day if you'd like," Luke suggested as he drove her home.

"Sounds like a plan. Although, Michele is not going to be too happy about this," Lorelai laughed.

"If he gives you any trouble, I'll talk to him," Luke quickly responded. "You and the baby are my first priority."

"I love you hun." She was picturing Luke poking Michele and the thought intrigued her.

"I love you too dear."

Honor opened the door to her New York City loft and found her brother was already in the kitchen making himself breakfast. "You're here early," she commented as she shut the door and set her things down. She was on her way back home, but stopped off to pick up a few things for her family for the next few days.

Logan looked up and smiled at her. He took a bite of the eggs he had just finished making and took a sip of juice too. "I came to tell you I can't come over tonight for New Years. I've got to finish this book I'm writing and I figured I'd do it at the London apartment."

She walked over and hugged her brother, "Well have a good new year and good luck with the book. Sorry, but I've got to run. I want to beat the traffic and get on the road."

"I'll call you when I get there," Logan said as she zipped off.

Rory had been feeling slightly queasy all morning, probably due to the stress of trying to figure out if she wanted to take that position that was offered to her. She had been thinking about it non-stop and couldn't wait to talk to her mother about it. She walked into the kitchen, of her old childhood home and opened the fridge. She was hungry. She grabbed some turkey lunchmeat, lettuce, tomatoes and bread. At that moment a knock came at the front door. Setting everything down, she walked over to answer it.

"Hey Rory!" Lane greeted as she came into the house, followed by two hyper boys. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Rory said happily. "I've got your Christmas present in my room."

"And I've got yours!"

"Let's go into the kitchen and I'll put some coffee on. We can exchange them there." Rory lead her long-time best friend into the kitchen and bade her to sit down. The boys went into the living room to watch television.

With the coffee ready and her sandwich made, she joined her friend at the table. Pouring the steaming liquid into the mugs they both started talking. They caught up on the latest town gossip, discussed their holidays, and talked about Rory's job offer. Rory finished her sandwich and Lane was on her third cup of coffee – long nights with the boys. They exchanged gifts and Lane decided it would be a good time to start getting home.

"Well, I think it is a good opportunity for you to take. A little more freedom in the position," Lane commented as she rounded up her children.

"Thanks Lane."

"I'll see you later Rory." They hugged good bye and she left.

Rory's stomach turned to knots as she shut the front door. She suddenly had to run to the bathroom.

Lorelai and Luke got home just before five. They walked in to find the house empty and dirty plates on the kitchen table. "Leave it to my kid to not clean up after herself!" Lorelai complained as she started grabbing dishes and mugs.

"I wonder who she got that from?" Luke quipped. He smiled when his wife turned to him with her eyes rolling.

"Rory, are you here?" Lorelai screamed. "Come clean up your mess."

She heard the toilet flush from upstairs and heard steps on the stairs. Her daughter came down and looked really pale. "Mom?" Rory murmured.

"Hello sunshine, are you doing ok?" Lorelai asked, concerned.

"I've had a very long day and well…"

"I know you've had a long day, look at this mess?" Lorelai interrupted. Why was she so angry about the table? Damn pregnancy hormones. "Help me clean…"

"I need to say something, stop interrupting.." Rory cut her mother off.

"Well, happy New…" Lorelai started.

"I'm pregnant," Rory shouted.

"What?" Lorelai finished her sentence. She immediately sat down on the edge of the kitchen table. "What?"

Luke dropped the dish he was washing, into the sink. "What?"

"I'm pregnant."

"How did that happen?" Luke asked.

Rory looked at him with a 'are you kidding me' look and he sat down turning red. "I wasn't feeling well this morning and thought it was stress. Then Lane came over and after she left I got really sick. I went to the doctor to see if I was coming down with something, instead I found out I was coming down with someone," she explained. She tried adding a bit of humor near the end to break the tension. No one was laughing.