September 2016

When Rory arrived back in New York she decided that the best thing to do was to just grab the bull by the horns and get on with the things that she needed to deal with. After leaving the airport, she went back to her apartment for a quick nap and a shower before she headed into her office at Conde Nast to discuss the options for leaving her job. As soon as she was done there she decided to rip the next Band-Aid straight off and she went to see her mom in Stars Hollow.

Lorelai had been somewhat surprised to see Rory turn up on her doorstep. She knew that she had been in London with Logan and was due back soon but she had expected her to be worn out and certainly not up to driving to Stars Hollow after a long flight but she was happy to see her nonetheless.

As they sat opposite each other in Lorelai's kitchen, Rory bit her lip and looked at her mom nervously.

"Okay, come on, out with it kid," Lorelai said as she sipped her hot cup of coffee carefully.

Rory looked across at her mom. "How do you know there's anything to get out?"

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Please! I know that face. It's just screaming bad news."

"Well it's not necessarily bad, that's going to be a matter of personal opinion but at the very least…I guess it is news. Four pieces of news to be exact." Rory said.

"Hold on. Let me just put this out there - if one of those pieces of news is "Mom I'm pregnant" I think that ship has well and truly sailed kid. The jig is up." Lorelai smiled.

Rory rolled her eyes. "You'd better stay sitting down because I don't really know how you are going to take all of this. I'm just going to start with the easy one first. And mom? Just let me talk okay? Questions later."

"Okay, my lips are sealed" Lorelai promised, but they both knew that when it came down to it, that would never be the case.

"Okay. Well, firstly, when I was in London this week, Logan and I went for a scan and we found out that we're having a girl" Rory said as she placed her hand protectively on her tummy.

"Oh my god Rory that's wonderful," Lorelai said excitedly. "Wow, another Gilmore girl! Aww, I just can't wait to meet her."

"Yeah it is wonderful, we're both very happy, but just hold that thought for one moment, because after the scan, this happened," Rory said as she held up her hand to show off her matching engagement and wedding rings.

"Argh, my eyes. I'm blind!" Lorelai joked. "That's some bling you've got there kid!" she said as she looked closely at Rory's hand.

"Yeah" Rory smiled as she ran her fingers over the rings that Logan had presented her with earlier that week. It had been a complete surprise and she'd made a mental note to keep her eye out for something perfect for him too.

"So what does this mean? Are you engaged? But you're married already? I'm really confused right now…are you still getting divorced?" Lorelai rambled, breaking her promise not to ask questions.

"We've decided to stay married, hence the wedding ring" Rory shrugged "and then, Logan proposed to me over dinner…"

"Even though you're already married…" Lorelai said.

"Yes, even though we're already married" Rory rolled her eyes at her mom "but it was really sweet and he was really romantic…"

Lorelai pulled a face at her daughter. "Oh gee, there she goes with the Harlequin romance face again."

"Oh stop it. Anyhow once Baby H has made her grand entrance into the world, we're going to have a proper wedding, but this time with less tequila." Rory grimaced.

"An excellent idea, my mother will approve." Lorelai nodded.

She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the whole Logan and Rory being married scenario but she didn't want to be the one to step all over her daughter's happiness. Lorelai could see that Rory was on edge talking to her about all of this and she didn't really want to make things more difficult for her so she decided to push her personal opinions about the whole situation to one side.

"Which leads me nicely onto the next news – from this point forwards, I am officially going to be changing my name," Rory said firmly.

"Ooh let me guess what it's going to be!" Lorelai said sarcastically. "To…Ermintrude? Drusilla? Ooh I know, I know…Griselda!"

Rory cocked her head at her mom. "To Huntzberger. Legally, I already am one…and we're going to be a family so it makes sense." It was going to take her a little while to get used to being Rory Huntzberger but her immediate feelings were that she didn't hate it.

"So no Baby Girl Gilmore?" Lorelai pouted.

"I'm afraid not," Rory said as she patted her tummy. "She is most definitely going to be a Huntzberger."

"Poor kid" Lorelai grimaced.

"Mom!" Rory shrieked. "I'm also a Huntzberger remember…"

"I feel sorry for the both of you" Lorelai looked at her daughter and shrugged. "The thought of being legally bound to that family…"

"They're not all that bad," Rory said as she shook her head at her mom.

"If you say so…So come on, what's the fourth and final piece of news? I feel like you might be saving the best until last…" Lorelai winked.

Rory grimaced. "On the contrary. This is the one that you're really not going to like."

"Hit me," Lorelai said. "I'm a big girl."

Rory took a deep breath and spoke quickly before she changed her mind. "Well...I am going to be moving to London to live with Logan."

"What!" Lorelai gasped, the mood in the kitchen turning very serious all of a sudden. "No! You can't move to London Rory! Tell me you're joking."

Rory smiled sympathetically "I'm sorry, I'm not joking mom, I really am moving."

"What?! When?" Lorelai asked in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. All of other stuff was fine - she could deal with Rory being married to Logan and everything that came with that but she hated the thought of losing her.

"I'm going to be heading over in about two weeks…" Rory bit her lip and looked at her mom.

Lorelai shook her head. "Two weeks Rory?! That's so soon!"

"I know, but it's already getting too uncomfortable to fly…" she shrugged.

"You really have to go?" Lorelai looked at her daughter sadly.

"Mom, I don't have to go, I want to go. I want to be with Logan and make this work between us. All the options have been considered, believe me, and there's no easy solution so one of us just has to make the jump and right now, I really feel like it needs to be me" Rory admitted.

"But what about your job? " Lorelai asked.

Rory had been prepared for this line of questioning from her mother and was glad that she'd already been in to see her line manager and so knew exactly what the situation was. They were of course disappointed to see Rory leave but understood her reasons and were fully supportive of her need to relocate.

"I've been in to speak to them today and they're happy for me to close down what I am working on and finish up in a week. We've discussed the possibility of doing some freelance work for them or even maybe finding some work at Conde Nast in the UK, so there are options there if I want them. They've been amazing but I'm going to be giving up work soon anyhow so it makes total sense for me to go to London. Logan loves his job, I don't want to force him away from it" Rory said.

"And so do you, " Lorelai pointed out. Her daughter had worked hard to secure this position and she hated that thought that she was now going to walk away from it.

"I know, but I really want to take some time out with the baby when she arrives so it seems unfair to drag Logan over here and away from his work when there is no real reason for me to be here," Rory said honestly.

Lorelai looked pained. "No reason? Apart from your family. Rory, I want to be able to see my granddaughter!"

Rory sighed. "I know that part is going to be difficult but you know, I'll be able to fly home sometimes and perhaps you can come out…and there are lots of ways we can keep in touch nowadays…Skype and Facetime" she rambled.

"Sure," Lorelai said as she leaned back in her chair. "God, Rory. I didn't see this coming, I feel a bit blindsided, to be honest."

"I'm sorry mom, there was never going to be a good way to tell you," Rory said "I just hope you understand that this is something that I really need to do. For me and Logan."

After hitting Lorelai with all her news at once, Rory said her goodbyes and left her mom to digest it all. Later that evening once she got back to her apartment in New York, she lay on her bed chatting to Logan on the phone.

"How did she take it all?" Logan asked.

He had felt bad that he hadn't been with her to face the line of questioning. He was sure that Lorelai would have had some choice words for him, but he also recognized that it was probably something that Rory needed to do on her own.

"Oh, as well as you might expect…" Rory said. "Actually in fairness, it really wasn't that bad, but I think she might have been in shock. My mom is just concerned about me moving and my job and all that kind of thing, but I've explained my reasons for coming to London and so I just hope she'll get on board with that."

"And what were the reasons?" Logan asked with a smile.

"Oh you know, endless bags of fish and chips, British TV, all the Cadbury's chocolate I can eat and well, there's also someone I am pretty fond of over there…" she joked.

Logan laughed "Good to know."

"Yeah, and I also went in to see my line manager today about leaving work," Rory said.

"Really? How did that go?" he asked. Logan had mixed feelings about her walking away from the job that she had so badly wanted but he knew it was her decision.

Rory smiled "It went really well and there are options for the future so it's all good. How does two weeks sound to you?"

"Are you kidding right now? Two weeks until you're back out here? That sounds amazing!" Logan said in surprise. He'd hoped that it wouldn't be long before she was back in London with him but he hadn't allowed himself to imagine it could be that soon.

"All I need to do is tie up some loose ends and get myself packed up and we'll be on our way," she said with a smile, her hand resting on her tummy while her daughter practiced her best kung fu moves on the inside. "Now I just need to figure out what to bring with me and where I am going to stay…" she joked.

"Well if you come and stay with me, I might give you your own closet…and maybe even a shelf in the bathroom" Logan smiled.

"Now there's an offer I can't refuse. Hey, you know I remember a similar offer in the past and yet I'm still waiting for those Ginsu knives…" Rory smiled.

"You know you can't be trusted around sharp implements Ace…" he teased.

"Fair point" she smiled. "There's a lot to get done. I'm not even sure what to do about my apartment. I don't think I can afford to keep it on but I'm under contract for a while so maybe I could sub-let it…" she said as she looked around her room.

"Keep your apartment Ace, I'll cover the rent."

"Logan…" she started to protest.

"It will be useful – that way when we want to fly back to New York we've got somewhere to call home, and you don't need to worry about clearing it out now, just bring what you're going to need." Logan reasoned.

"Okay, if you're sure," Rory said. "Oh my god Logan, we're really doing this aren't we?"

"We really are, and I can't wait. Hurry up and get here Ace!'