As soon as Rory hit the deck, the bridal consultant that had been following her out of the room screamed loudly. Outside of the dressing room, the three women waiting heard the commotion and Lorelai looked at Emily and Shira for a moment as they all wondered what on earth was going. It was only a few seconds before they heard the consultant calling for them urgently. Lorelai jumped up off her seat and ran as quickly as she could into the dressing room.
"Oh, my God what happened," Lorelai said as she looked down at Rory lying on the floor surrounded by tulle. "Mom, MOM!" she shouted "call 911, now!" she said as she crouched down next to her daughter.
"What Lorelai? Oh!" Emily said as she walked into the room and looked down at a passed out Rory lying on the floor.
"Mom!" Lorelai shouted.
"Right, right" Emily pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialled 911, telling the handler on the end of the line what the situation was and where they were. It didn't take too long for the ambulance to get there and while Rory had started to regain consciousness while they were waiting, she was quickly whisked her off to the hospital to be thoroughly checked over.
"Does one of you want to come with her in the ambulance?" the paramedic asked as they were getting into the vehicle.
"You go with Rory mom, I had better call Logan and let him know what is going on. I'll follow on in a minute in my car." Lorelai said to Emily.
"Alright," Emily said as she picked up her bag.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Shira asked nervously. She felt a little out of place amidst all the drama.
"Oh…no…I don't think so" Lorelai said "but thanks," she said as she pulled her cell phone out of her bag. She dialled Logan's number but there was no answer. She tried again but it just went to his voicemail service again.
"Dammit Logan," she said in frustration as she snapped her cell phone shut.
"You could maybe try his secretary" Shira suggested quietly "She'll probably know where he is."
"Right…do you have the number?" Lorelai asked.
Shira shook her head. "I'll call Mitchum," she said as she got her own phone out of her bag. She waited impatiently for her husband to answer the call.
"Mitchum, it's me. Do you know where Logan is?" Shira said when Mitchum finally answered the call.
"Yeah, he's in a meeting downstairs with some of our investors. Why?" Mitchum asked, sounding irritated by the interruption from his wife.
"I really need you to go get him now, it's Rory," Shira said.
"Shira" Mitchum sighed "What now? Can this not wait…I'm not going to interrupt his meeting just so you can…" he was stopped in his tracks when Shira interrupted him raising her voice.
"MITCHUM! Rory has been taken to the hospital. I need you to get Logan and tell him that he needs to go to Hartford Hospital now!" Shira yelled.
Lorelai looked at Shira and smiled encouragingly. She was seeing a whole new side to this woman and right now she didn't hate it one little bit.
"What?! Okay, okay, I'm going. He'll be there as soon as possible" Mitchum said to his wife.
Mitchum ended the call and immediately went to fetch Logan out of the conference room and told him what was going on. Logan raced out to his car and drove to the hospital as fast as he could, breaking all speed limits in his rush to get to Rory. When he arrived he quickly found his way to the women's health department where Lorelai and Emily were stood in the waiting area.
"Lorelai, what's going on?" he said breathlessly, having run all the way from where he had abandoned his car near to the entrance to the hospital.
"Oh Logan, you're here, thank God," Lorelai said relieved that the message had got through. She didn't have the highest confidence in Mitchum. "I don't know what the matter is. All I know is that she was trying a gown on and then she passed out. I panicked, I didn't know what to do so I called 911 and they brought her in because she didn't come round immediately. I mean she was conscious when we left and all, seemed okay, but I've not seen her yet…" Lorelai rambled on.
Logan pushed his hand through his hair. "And now? Where is she now?"
"I haven't spoken to the doctor yet, but mom is over there now hassling them for information." Lorelai pointed to where Emily was stood talking to the doctor animatedly.
Logan walked over and greeted Emily with a nod before turning to the doctor. "Where is Rory, can I see her?" he asked.
"You are…?" the doctor asked.
"Her fiancé" Logan said feeling annoyed. He just wanted to see if Rory was okay. "And the father of her child" he added for good measure, hoping that would give him further traction.
"Very well, yes, you may come through. Just the father for now though please" the doctor said to Lorelai and a pouting Emily.
Logan tentatively walked through the door to see Rory propped up in bed with monitors strapped to her. "Hi," he said quietly "Are you okay?"
"Hey! I'm fine" she smiled and rolled her eyes.
"You don't look it," Logan said as he took in her pale appearance and the abundance of machines that she was currently hooked up to.
"It was all a lot of drama over nothing, these are just precautionary apparently," she said. "I do have a headache though, seemingly my head broke my fall" she winced as she touched the back of her gently with her hand.
Logan turned to the doctor who had followed him into the room. "Doctor, do you know what caused this to happen?"
The doctor looked at him and nodded. "We do. We've run a few tests but we believe that Rory simply had a sudden drop in her blood pressure. It's quite common in pregnancy, more so in the second trimester. The expansion of the circulatory system and hormonal changes cause the blood vessels to dilate. It's generally not too much of a concern however as Rory was out for what we would consider an unusual amount of time we'll be keeping a close eye on her as that might have come from the bump on the head" he said.
"Is it something that is likely to happen again then?" Logan asked with concern.
"It's quite possible yes, some people are more prone to episodes than others but we shouldn't be too concerned about it. The only major risk really is injuring yourself during a fainting episode" the doctor said to Rory.
"What can we do to prevent it? Should she stop working?" Logan asked. He looked at Rory – all he wanted to do was protect her and their unborn child.
"Logan…" Rory said as she shook her head. She didn't need him to be given any excuse to wrap her up in cotton wool.
"No, that wouldn't be necessary. There's really not a lot you can do to stop the decrease in blood pressure, however, you can try and lessen the symptoms – things like eat little and often, don't take your baths or showers too hot, drink more water, and avoid getting up too quickly. All of those things will help. Limit stress as much as possible too, that's a big one."
Rory listened to the doctor and nodded. "There are no other risks then? I mean to the baby?"
The doctor smiled "Other than hurting yourself if you fall, everything is fine. Now, Rory, you'll be able to go home today but we do want to keep you here for a few hours more, just to monitor you and do a few blood tests."
"Okay," she smiled as the doctor left the room leaving Rory and Logan alone.
"You really scared me there Ace," Logan said as she sat down on the bed next to her.
"Sorry about that. I was a little scared myself. I was worried the fall might have hurt the baby but the doctor listened in to the heartbeat and everything was fine so I am feeling a lot more relaxed about it now" she said with a sigh.
"That's good," Logan said as he kissed her head. "Can you just not do it again? I think I've aged fifteen years today" he joked as she snuggled into him.
A few short hours later and Rory was on her way home with a very over-protective Logan by her side. The doctor was as happy as he could be that everything was fine – just telling her to keep an eye on her head injury which may have caused a mild concussion, and he gave her strict instructions to come back if she started feeling sick or dizzy.
"Are you sure you feel okay?" Logan said as he took Rory's arm and gently led her over to the sofa.
"Logan… I am perfectly fine! You heard the doctor it's really nothing to worry about! I was a bit overwhelmed today and I didn't eat breakfast or lunch which probably explains it."
"Rory, you fainted, you were out cold for a good few minutes and you've got a concussion, that's not nothing. You could have really hurt yourself!" he said as he looked at her.
"But I didn't. I'm fine and the baby is fine" she smiled at him as she sat down.
"Why were you feeling overwhelmed today, what's going on?" Logan asked with concern.
"Oh, I don't know, I guess it was this whole dress shopping excursion. I just don't feel ready to do it yet. It feels like too much pressure to make a choice right now. I mean, I'd like to be able to think about it properly especially when I've got to pick something that I can be sure I will be able to squeeze my sorry ass into a few weeks after giving birth…you can imagine the type of dresses they want me to wear too…" she ranted. "But it's fine, it's just our families, I know what to expect."
"It's not fine if it's upsetting you. Do you think that this is all too much?" Logan asked her carefully. He wanted to be careful with his words so as not to unintentionally upset her. He was very aware she was riding a hormonal roller coaster right now.
"What?" Rory looked at him.
"Working at the Courant, looking after Ava, being pregnant, planning a wedding and having to deal with our families…" Logan trailed off. "It's a lot to take on."
"No, I mean okay, it has felt like a bit of a struggle recently but that's because I've been feeling so sick and dizzy recently, but things will settle down now we've reached the second trimester…" Rory reasoned.
Logan took hold of Rory's hand. "Please don't take what I am going to say next in the wrong way…but why don't we postpone the wedding, set a new date once the baby has been born? Maybe that would help? It would certainly take the pressure off."
"Are you saying you don't want to get married?" Rory felt the tears spring to her eyes.
"Did you hear me say anything of the sort Ace?" Logan asked. "Of course I want to get married – I asked you remember! I want it more than anything, but not if it's going to make you unwell. It's too big a price to pay. You, Ava and our new baby are the most important thing in the world to me."
Rory bit her lip to stop herself crying. "I really want us to get married, Logan. I was content to wait but then we set a date and the more I've thought about it the more I really want to do it."
Logan smiled at her. "Well I am really glad to hear that, and we will get married, but not like this." He shook his head. "This isn't what you really want is it?"
She looked at him puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"The big society wedding…getting married in a huge ball gown a few weeks after you've just had a baby…" he said.
Rory took a deep breath. "No not really" she wrinkled her nose "but I don't want to disappoint anyone and I don't want to take that away from you if it's what you want."
It wasn't what Rory wanted at all. In her head what she had pictured for their special day was a super low-key wedding and she really didn't care if that was going to be with a baby bump on display, but she had been railroaded into this big wedding and cajoled into picking a date as soon after their due date as she was comfortable with. Shira and Emily had insisted that it wouldn't be the done thing to walk down the aisle so visibly pregnant and Rory had gone with it just because all she really wanted was a quiet life – and to marry the love of her life.
"Then if this isn't what you want - let's do something else Ace," Logan said firmly.
"Like what?" Rory said with a shrug. "I can't see our families being too pleased if we run off and elope, though right about now it sounds very tempting."
Logan thought for a moment. "Do you trust me?" he asked her.
Rory rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I trust you…"
"Then leave it with me. You should have the wedding that YOU want and I have some ideas of how we can make that happen" he winked.