Lorelai shakes her head as her face grows red. Her nostrils flare, and a million thoughts rush through her head. She shakes her head, and shrugs.
"Rory, I don't really know what to say to you right now."
"Something, anything."
"I don't want to say something that I will regret."
"I need you to be honest with me."
"Rory this isn't going to be any walk in the park, you know. Being a parent is the hardest job that you will ever have."
"I know that."
"How are you going to juggle all of this? What are you going to do?"
"I am going to finish school, no matter what."
"It costs nearly thirty thousand dollars a year to go to Yale," Lorelai reminds her.
"I know that."
"How do you plan on paying for a baby? How are you going to support your child?"
"I don't know. I'll get a job, I guess."
"You guess? Rory there is no way that you can work, go to school, and take care of a baby. It's not feasible."
"Is this where you morph into Emily Gilmore, and tell me that I am throwing my life away?"
"This is where I tell you that you are on you own."
Rory furrows her brow in complete, and total confusion, "What?"
"You are on your own, kid. I am not going to bail you out this time. This is your circus, and these are your monkeys."
"What does that mean?"
"I am here to support you, always. I am your mother, and I love you unconditionally. You are the one who has to figure this out. You made these choices, and now you have to live with them."
"Tough love?"
"Rory I love you to the ends of the earth, and beyond."
"But?"
"There is no but," Lorelai insists.
"However?"
"You are an adult. You can vote, and go to war, or college. You can be charged as an adult for committing a crime. This is your mess, you clean it up."
"What are you saying?"
"I will support whatever choice that you make, but I want to make it clear that all of this is your responsibility."
"I have no idea how I am going to do this. I don't have any clue where to even begin," Rory admits.
"You go see an OB/GYN."
"I did that," she admits.
"And?"
"It was completely horrifying. How did this happen to me?"
"You didn't listen. I told you how this happens. You threw caution to the wind, and you took the key off your belt."
"I am sorry that I ripped off the chastity belt."
"Now is no time for jokes, Rory."
"I do not know how to handle this. Tell me what to do."
"I can't. I can't tell you what to do. You have to decide this on your own. You decided to have unprotected sex with Jess, and now we're here."
"Thank you for the play-by-play," Rory rolls her eyes.
"So," Lorelai folds her arms across her chest, "What are you going to do? What do you want to do?"
"I am going to have a baby," she answers.
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Probably cry in a rather ugly fashion, for many hours."
"Be serious," Lorelai insists.
"I am completely terrified. I am supposed to embark on a four year stint at an Ivy league school in a few days. I can't have a baby, and…" she begins to hyperventilate.
"Rory, just take a deep breath, and tell me what you want."
"I want to graduate. I want…" she trails off.
"To be a war correspondent," Lorelai reminds her.
"How can I do that? I mean, plausibly, how can I possibly do that? I can't trek around the country scouting out the best job to get me on the trajectory that I am seeking. I certainly can't traipse around the globe. I can't be a parent from halfway around the world."
"What are you saying?"
"I think this dream is going to have to be deferred," Rory responds.
"Which one, Langston?"
"I am going to figure out a way to do this."
Lorelai's eyes widen, as her frustration grows, "Do what?"
"Raise another human being."
"Rory, are you sure?"
Rory falls silent. She reaches into the back pocket of her jeans, and pulls out a picture. She allows the picture to come to rest on the surface of the kitchen table. She glances at the picture, and then her eyes shift towards her mother as they both shift uncomfortably in their seats. Without a single word Lorelai takes the still image from her. She studies the image closely.
"So, Lorelai the fourth?" Lorelai questions.
Rory smiles, "I am sorry that I kept this from you for so long."
"How far along does this make you?" Lorelai queries.
"The date of conception was almost four months ago, fifteen weeks."
"Oh."
"I can go to Yale for the first semester, and get in as many classes as I can. I'll take spring semester off, and contemplate what the best fit is for me, moving forward."
"What if it's not Yale?"
"Then I will have to live with it."
"Rory, you have to tell Jess."
"He is an immature asshole. What makes you think…"
Lorelai cuts her off, "Despite whatever thoughts, or feelings that either one of us has towards Jess the bottom line is that for the rest of your life the two of you will have a child. You have to tell him. At the very least afford him the opportunity to make the conscious choice whether or not he wants to be in his child's life."
"What are we going to do with a boy?"
Lorelai furrows her brow, "What do you mean?"
Rory points to the ultrasound picture, "It's a boy."
"Wait! What?!"