KAT

"Kat's bump is little. Mine? Not so much." Lorelai said placing her hand on her abdomen

"You're hilarious. You may be currently larger than me, but I am definitely the current champion for rate of growth. It's not over either... I've been having growing pains since three days after I went to the hospital... still experiencing them." I countered.

"When are you girls due? Kat... it would have to be sometime around May?" Patty asked as Lorelai and I sat down

"May 11th"

"I was May 25th, but now they think May 19th."

Sookie's eyes got wide as she lookd over from the stove

"You two are so close now. You guys could –"

"Do not finish that statement Sookie. We are not in a poorly written TV show, book or movie. We are not going to go into labor on the same day. Period." Lorelai said firmly.

"Agreed... and my doctor told me I will likely go into labor way before my due date. She told me her goal is for me to stay pregnant as long as possible... which means low stress levels and highly caloric shakes courtesy of Sookie"

"and tacos!" Sookie added

"yes, and tacos"

"Taylor is going to keep things low stress for you. I promise you that."

Lorelai started laughing.

"That's an evil Lorelai laugh. What do you know? What exactly happened after Kat and I left?" Sookie prodded

"I don't know what happened at Patty's, but I do know what happened at my husband's. Let's just say little children might be sad in the summer at the lack of ice cream."

"Wait. What?" I asked, genuinely not understanding

"Taylor's lease is coming up. Luke isn't going to renew it. He has no idea what he's going to do with the space, he said he would make another ice cream shop."

"Lorelai!" Patty exclaimed.

"Luke isn't exactly Mr. Ice Cream Man." Sookie stated matter of factly.

"I reminded him of that immediately."

"Does he care about revenue generation?" I asked.

"I don't think he cares about anything except getting Taylor out of there."

"What if he turned it into a food co-op for the local farmers, only allow non-vendors to buy there too? You know people like Jackson and dairy farmers... people like that... they could take turns running it." I suggested

"Taylor would die." Sookie stated.

"I will die from all those farmers. Some of those butchers in Woodbury are as juicy as their tenderloins." Patty added

"We're going to tell your dad this idea, Kat."

"Here, my genius lady, are your fried avocado tacos with cucumber crema." Sookie said as she handed me a plate with 6 tacos on it, "and for my favorite preggo – no offense Kat-"

"none taken"

"are chicken and pulled pork tacos," Sookie said handing Lorelai a plate with 4 tacos.

"This looks fantastic," Lorelai said.

"Now Patty, do you want to split the lobster and Chipotle ones with me or do you want all of one?"

"I would say halfsies, but let me have one lobster and two Chipotle."

"Hey Sookie... Just wanting to check... Is six the amount I am supposed to eat... or is it just what you happened to make and so I have six? It just looks a little bit more than normal... I mean the hospital literally slapped a side of straight peanut butter at every meal, but this still looks...""

Sookie and Lorelai exchanged a glance

"So... Dr. Ayden and your dietitian sent me an updated meal plan. I gave it to Sookie after I got it, so I'm afraid it's all yours."

"Oh."

LORELAI

We sat there just chit chatting about stupid things Taylor has done and Sookie called Jackson about the idea for the ice cream shop.

At around that point I had finished all my tacos and Kat had almost kept up with me, having finished three of her tacos. She stood up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to walk around I think. Try to make some space. I'll be right back, promise." Kat said leaving the room.

"Is she okay?" Patty asked
"I think so." I said, no fully convinced myself
"I felt so bad giving her six tacos."

"It's not your fault Sookie"

"I just," Sookie began throwing her hands in the air, "She said she's having growing pains, so clearly it's already cramped quarters in there. Then Taylor. Can you imagine having someone getting that angry you look pregnant?"

"And then knowing you have to gain a lot more weight and will look more pregnant." Patty chimed in.
"I know, but she isn't where she's supposed to be weight wise even if she wasn't pregnant."

"What about the baby? Is that why she was in the hospital?" Patty asked and it dawned on me no one except Sookie, Luke, my parents, Jess, and myself knew why Kat had been in the hospital

"Some complications related to that, she's measuring close to where she should be at this point in the pregnancy though. She really is trying"

"Well, that's good. I was glad to finally see that bump today, even if Taylor wasn't." Patty said

"I was too! These were so good by the way Sookie. Like seriously."

"Oh absolutely fabulous," Patty added
"Well thank you!"

"I am going to grab an apple though." I stated, starting to get out of my seat
"Let me grab it... Here you go." Sookie said, tossing me an apple

"Thanks."

I ate the apple and when I was done I went to go track down Kat. She was in the library.

"You had told me people leave their airplane books here and it's true. I mean, I didn't doubt you... but there's so many copies of best sellers – like the same book with multiple copies."

"Oh yes, including a gazillion copies of The Notebook."

"Your bookshelves aren't crazy full from the surplus though..."

"For every copy of The Notebook, there is a book thief."

"Apparently one who even left a copy of The Book Thief," Kat said, pulling it partially off the shelf

"So. Are we going to go back to the kitchen?"

Silence.

"Kat."

Silence.

"Come on. Let's go to my office for a second."

Kat didn't say anything, just followed me. She sat on my couch in there.

"I just didn't want to have this conversation in the library since guests might come in. Does this have to do with tonight? How Taylor responded to your growing bump? If you haven't figured it out yet? Taylor is an asshole."

"This has nothing to do with that. I don't even know how I feel about what happened to be honest. Truly. It's like it happened to someone else in some weird way..."

"Then what's going on?"

"It's just a lot of food Lorelai. The sad thing is that I actually want to be able to just go and eat those last three tacos. I truly do. That's how I managed to eat the first three, despite being full to begin with. I left the kitchen hoping if I just walked around a little the fullness would be alleviated enough to go back and eat those three tacos. I didn't want to be dramatic sitting there staring at them. I thought it would help."

"So it's not what happened tonight?"

"No."

"You're sure?"
"I don't know, but I don't think so. If what happened starts to sink in? I'll let you know... or the therapist I made an appointment to go see on Monday."

"Wait. What?"

"That's what that phone call was."

"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No. Lorelai. It's fine."

"Hartford?"

"No. Purposefully not. In Washington. 9am."

"Good."

"Hopefully..."

"I'm going with good. Let's go back into the kitchen."

We went back into the kitchen.

"Hey, Sook. Thanks for the tacos. Kat and I are going to head back though. I am going to take her other three with us. We'll watch a movie and we'll see what happens after. Sound good Kat?"

"Yep."

"Do you need re-heating instructions?"

"I've got it Sookie."

"Bye Sookie. Bye Patty!" Kat said.

"Bye ladies."