Title: It All Starts With A Kiss
Chapter Eleven: Acting Young While Being Old
A/N: Hee! I love reviews! You guys are great!
~~~~
"There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home." Judy Garland clicked her sparkly red heels together and suddenly appeared in black and white again. Lorelai ran back into the living room just in time to catch Judy pronouncing that the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion were all in her dream.
"Damn! They're in black and white again." Lorelai sighed and sank on to the couch. Watching the boring end of the wonderful movie, she munched on a saltine and thought. She was once again pregnant, nauseated, and alone. She'd told only one person about her baby: the father. Of course, there were slight differences between 1984 and 2003. Lorelai now had a nineteen-year-old daughter; she had a job and a home of her own. But she still had to talk to her parents. Lorelai sighed. Her parents! She had dinner in an hour. Lorelai pushed herself up off of the couch and ejected The Wizard of Oz. She placed it back in the case and headed upstairs to change for dinner. As she came downstairs twenty minutes later, she paused in the front hall to fix her hair in the mirror. As she looked at herself, her eyes wandered down to her stomach. She rubbed her hands over the flat surface, and then lifted her dress as if she were pregnant. She smiled. She was going to have another baby! She grabbed her purse and her coat and bolted out the door.
~~~~
"Bye, Brian, Zach, Dave." Rory said from the wings between the band's sets.
"Nice to meet you." Jess added.
"Bye, Lane." Rory hugged her friend tightly. "I'll call you later tonight."
"Bye, Rory." Lane hugged her back. As the girls seperated, Jess offered his good arm to Rory and waved his casted arm at Lane. She waved back, and then ran on stage. The band started as the couple hopped into a cab and headed for the elder Gilmore residence. Their cab pulled up seconds after Lorelai's jeep.
"Hey, babe! I've got great, big, important news."
"Really? Me, too!"
"Oh, what's yours?"
"What's yours?"
"What's yours?"
"What's yours?"
Jess shook his head as the Gilmores walked up to the front door of the colossal house, arguing. As they rang the doorbell, Jess stared up at the house. He'd only been there once, about a month ago. That was the one time he and Rory had--
"Lorelai. Rory. And who's this?" Emily asked, looking at Jess.
"Well, Grandma, this is Jess. My boyfriend."
"Oh. Jess. Come in." Emily abruptly turned and headed into the house.
"Hi, Mom. How are you? That's good. I'm fine too." Lorelai conducted an imaginary conversation with herself as she entered the house. Rory shrugged at Jess and they followed the women.
"Drink, Lorelai?" Richard asked as she entered the sitting room.
"Uh, no alcohol, just some water please."
"All right. Oh, Rory! How's your foot?"
"It's okay." Rory settled into a couch and handed her crutches to Jess. He took them, set them against the couch, and sat down next to her. She smiled. Lorelai took her water and sat next to her daughter on the other side. Emily and Richard sat in chairs across from the three of them. THere was silence for a minute.
"You know what's a good word?" Lorelai asked when she couldn't bear the silence any longer.
"What?" Rory indulged her mother.
Pregnancy, Lorelai thought about saying. Instead she said, "Y'all."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. It's like a contraction. You can say 'y'all' instead of you all, or you could say y'all instead of 'youse guys'."
"Do you say 'youse guys' a lot, Mom?"
"No. But hey, I can still say 'y'all'. As a matter of fact, it's my new word."
"Lorelai, what are you talking about?"
"Were you not here for the conversation, Mom? I'm going to start saying 'y'all'."
"Oh. That makes no sense, though."
"Mom, think. When have I made sense?"
"Rarely."
"Exactly."
There was another moment of silence, and then Richard broke it.
"So, Jess, what do you do?"
"I'm in college."
"Oh, really? Where?"
"Well, I was originally going to Hartford Community College, because I goofed off too much in high school, and my grades weren't that good, but I just got transferred to NYU."
"Really? Harry's son went to NYU." Richard said to Emily.
"Henry Johnson went to NYU? Why, I never would have imagined that."
"Oh, it's a very good school. I'm actually going because I miss New York." Jess said.
"Jess grew up there." Rory smiled proudly. "And it is a good school. I visited there a week ago."
Lorelai just looked on during this conversation, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had a strange feeling she knew where this was going. In order to save her daughter from being thrown out of dinner, she spoke up.
"I'm pregnant."
"What?" The other four all stared at Lorelai. She smiled and shrugged.
"I'm pregnant." She laughed. "I'm pregnant!"
"Mom, that's great. Congratulations." Rory hugged her mother and whispered into her ear, "It's Luke's, right?"
"Of course it's Luke's!"
"Luke? That's a new one. I don't think I've met this one. But we can't be surprised. After all, it's Lorelai." Emily said, her tone ice cold.
"Emily." Richard scolded.
"You've met him, Grandma. He owns the diner in Stars Hollow."
"Yeah, Mom, you said he wanted me to give him a lap dance." Lorelai said scornfully.
"And you actually did?"
"I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving." Lorelai picked up her purse and started for the door. Rory stood up to follow her.
"Grandma, you're being horrible again. She's pregnant! She's got to be on edge, and have multitudes of hormones running through her, and you just yelled at her. I can't believe you." Rory went in the same direction of her mother, diving over Jess for her crutches. Jess followed her as she started to leave, but Rory turned around to face her grandparents once again. "By the way, I'm transferring to NYU and moving to New York. This way you won't have to see either of us--me or Mom--again for a long time. Goodbye." She swung out of the room on her crutches. Jess followed her, but first, he confronted Emily.
"You're horrible to the two sweetest women on earth, one of whom I love. Bitch." He flipped her off and exited the house. Emily looked at Richard, who shook his head and walked out of the room.
~~~~
"Hey, Rory, where are you?" Lane's voice filtered out of Lorelai's anwering machine. "I'm guessing you don't have your phone on, cause you're not answering. Look, we just got finished playing, and we're leaving for Rhode Island in the morning. We're spending two days in Providence, and then we're heading for Boston for a week. I know neither of you are going to show up in Boston, so....Look, just call me when you get this message. We're staying in the Hartford Ramada, I'm in room four-twenty. I'll...talk to you later, I guess. Bye." Beep. Saturday, 7:30. Beep.
"Look, Lorelai, sorry to do this to you, but I don't think I can make it there till after eleven. There's some damn convention going on, and so I'm gonna have to close half an hour later. Do you still want me to come that late? I mean, I know you've got the whole nausea thing. Anyway, call me when you get this message. Love ya. Bye."Beep. Saturday, 7:52. Beep.
"Lorelai, doll, this is Babette. I was just wondering how you're doing. I heard you've been feeling a little sick to your stomach lately. Listen, did you have any of Al's clams? Cause I think they were a bad batch. Morey's been feeling a little sick too. Hope you feel better, sweetie."Beep. Saturday, 8:13. Beep.
"Lorelai, it's Sookie. Patty told me to call you; she said you're not feeling good. So are you feeling okay? Just remember, mystery pizza is bad! Call me, bye."Beep. Saturday, 8:20. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Lorelai turned off the answering machine abruptly to stop the beeping.
"Mom, are you okay?" Rory put an arm around her mother. Lorelai nodded, and then threw her hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom. Rory grimaced and then turned to Jess. "She doesn't sound good. I guess I'm gonna stay here tonight. Look, why don't you go home?"
"Okay. Keep her company. I'll send Luke over with some coffee later, and then I'll close up."
"Thank you. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye." Jess kissed her and then headed out the door. Rory headed for the bathroom and knocked on the half-open door.
"Hey, Mom, you want some supper?"
Her only response was the distinct sound of Lorelai throwing up.
"I'll take that as a no." Rory headed for the phone and dialed information. She got the name of the Hartford Ramada and called Lane.
"Hello?" A male voice answered.
"Uh, Dave, this is Rory. Is Lane there?"
"Yeah, let me get her." There was a slight scuffle on the other end of the phone, a giggle, and a goodbye.
"Hey!"
"Hi, Lane. What's Dave doing in your room?"
"Oh, we were working on something."
"And did that something involve lots of kissing?"
"Rory! But, yeah."
"Ooh, Lane's being a bad girl!"
"Yeah, I guess I am." Lane laughed. "But, what are you up to?"
"Well, I told my grandparents about me moving."
"Did they freak out?"
"I don't think so. It was right after Mom dropped the bomb about her being pregnant."
"Oh, my God! Lorelai's pregnant?"
"Yeah, it's great and all, but Grandma yelled at her, and so she's throwing up in the bathroom right now."
"Ew."
"Yeah. It's all a big mess right now, so I'm gonna spend the night here. I guess I won't see you for a few weeks."
"Well, we'll just have to stay in touch."
"Yes, we will. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
"Bye." Rory hung up the phone and deleted the other messages. Sookie wasn't ready for the stockpile of news yet, Luke probably already knew, and Babette and Patty could wait until tomorrow. Rory turned as her mother walked out of the bathroom.
"Hey, feeling better?"
Lorelai shook her head.
"Aww, poor baby. Wanna watch a movie?"
"Willy Wonka."
"Do you have it?"
"Got it this afternoon."
"Great." Rory grabbed a couple blankets from the hall closet as her mother went to change into pajamas. She also changed, and then the girls met on the couch and curled up together, like they used to do when they were both very young.
Chapter Eleven: Acting Young While Being Old
A/N: Hee! I love reviews! You guys are great!
~~~~
"There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home." Judy Garland clicked her sparkly red heels together and suddenly appeared in black and white again. Lorelai ran back into the living room just in time to catch Judy pronouncing that the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion were all in her dream.
"Damn! They're in black and white again." Lorelai sighed and sank on to the couch. Watching the boring end of the wonderful movie, she munched on a saltine and thought. She was once again pregnant, nauseated, and alone. She'd told only one person about her baby: the father. Of course, there were slight differences between 1984 and 2003. Lorelai now had a nineteen-year-old daughter; she had a job and a home of her own. But she still had to talk to her parents. Lorelai sighed. Her parents! She had dinner in an hour. Lorelai pushed herself up off of the couch and ejected The Wizard of Oz. She placed it back in the case and headed upstairs to change for dinner. As she came downstairs twenty minutes later, she paused in the front hall to fix her hair in the mirror. As she looked at herself, her eyes wandered down to her stomach. She rubbed her hands over the flat surface, and then lifted her dress as if she were pregnant. She smiled. She was going to have another baby! She grabbed her purse and her coat and bolted out the door.
~~~~
"Bye, Brian, Zach, Dave." Rory said from the wings between the band's sets.
"Nice to meet you." Jess added.
"Bye, Lane." Rory hugged her friend tightly. "I'll call you later tonight."
"Bye, Rory." Lane hugged her back. As the girls seperated, Jess offered his good arm to Rory and waved his casted arm at Lane. She waved back, and then ran on stage. The band started as the couple hopped into a cab and headed for the elder Gilmore residence. Their cab pulled up seconds after Lorelai's jeep.
"Hey, babe! I've got great, big, important news."
"Really? Me, too!"
"Oh, what's yours?"
"What's yours?"
"What's yours?"
"What's yours?"
Jess shook his head as the Gilmores walked up to the front door of the colossal house, arguing. As they rang the doorbell, Jess stared up at the house. He'd only been there once, about a month ago. That was the one time he and Rory had--
"Lorelai. Rory. And who's this?" Emily asked, looking at Jess.
"Well, Grandma, this is Jess. My boyfriend."
"Oh. Jess. Come in." Emily abruptly turned and headed into the house.
"Hi, Mom. How are you? That's good. I'm fine too." Lorelai conducted an imaginary conversation with herself as she entered the house. Rory shrugged at Jess and they followed the women.
"Drink, Lorelai?" Richard asked as she entered the sitting room.
"Uh, no alcohol, just some water please."
"All right. Oh, Rory! How's your foot?"
"It's okay." Rory settled into a couch and handed her crutches to Jess. He took them, set them against the couch, and sat down next to her. She smiled. Lorelai took her water and sat next to her daughter on the other side. Emily and Richard sat in chairs across from the three of them. THere was silence for a minute.
"You know what's a good word?" Lorelai asked when she couldn't bear the silence any longer.
"What?" Rory indulged her mother.
Pregnancy, Lorelai thought about saying. Instead she said, "Y'all."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. It's like a contraction. You can say 'y'all' instead of you all, or you could say y'all instead of 'youse guys'."
"Do you say 'youse guys' a lot, Mom?"
"No. But hey, I can still say 'y'all'. As a matter of fact, it's my new word."
"Lorelai, what are you talking about?"
"Were you not here for the conversation, Mom? I'm going to start saying 'y'all'."
"Oh. That makes no sense, though."
"Mom, think. When have I made sense?"
"Rarely."
"Exactly."
There was another moment of silence, and then Richard broke it.
"So, Jess, what do you do?"
"I'm in college."
"Oh, really? Where?"
"Well, I was originally going to Hartford Community College, because I goofed off too much in high school, and my grades weren't that good, but I just got transferred to NYU."
"Really? Harry's son went to NYU." Richard said to Emily.
"Henry Johnson went to NYU? Why, I never would have imagined that."
"Oh, it's a very good school. I'm actually going because I miss New York." Jess said.
"Jess grew up there." Rory smiled proudly. "And it is a good school. I visited there a week ago."
Lorelai just looked on during this conversation, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had a strange feeling she knew where this was going. In order to save her daughter from being thrown out of dinner, she spoke up.
"I'm pregnant."
"What?" The other four all stared at Lorelai. She smiled and shrugged.
"I'm pregnant." She laughed. "I'm pregnant!"
"Mom, that's great. Congratulations." Rory hugged her mother and whispered into her ear, "It's Luke's, right?"
"Of course it's Luke's!"
"Luke? That's a new one. I don't think I've met this one. But we can't be surprised. After all, it's Lorelai." Emily said, her tone ice cold.
"Emily." Richard scolded.
"You've met him, Grandma. He owns the diner in Stars Hollow."
"Yeah, Mom, you said he wanted me to give him a lap dance." Lorelai said scornfully.
"And you actually did?"
"I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving." Lorelai picked up her purse and started for the door. Rory stood up to follow her.
"Grandma, you're being horrible again. She's pregnant! She's got to be on edge, and have multitudes of hormones running through her, and you just yelled at her. I can't believe you." Rory went in the same direction of her mother, diving over Jess for her crutches. Jess followed her as she started to leave, but Rory turned around to face her grandparents once again. "By the way, I'm transferring to NYU and moving to New York. This way you won't have to see either of us--me or Mom--again for a long time. Goodbye." She swung out of the room on her crutches. Jess followed her, but first, he confronted Emily.
"You're horrible to the two sweetest women on earth, one of whom I love. Bitch." He flipped her off and exited the house. Emily looked at Richard, who shook his head and walked out of the room.
~~~~
"Hey, Rory, where are you?" Lane's voice filtered out of Lorelai's anwering machine. "I'm guessing you don't have your phone on, cause you're not answering. Look, we just got finished playing, and we're leaving for Rhode Island in the morning. We're spending two days in Providence, and then we're heading for Boston for a week. I know neither of you are going to show up in Boston, so....Look, just call me when you get this message. We're staying in the Hartford Ramada, I'm in room four-twenty. I'll...talk to you later, I guess. Bye." Beep. Saturday, 7:30. Beep.
"Look, Lorelai, sorry to do this to you, but I don't think I can make it there till after eleven. There's some damn convention going on, and so I'm gonna have to close half an hour later. Do you still want me to come that late? I mean, I know you've got the whole nausea thing. Anyway, call me when you get this message. Love ya. Bye."Beep. Saturday, 7:52. Beep.
"Lorelai, doll, this is Babette. I was just wondering how you're doing. I heard you've been feeling a little sick to your stomach lately. Listen, did you have any of Al's clams? Cause I think they were a bad batch. Morey's been feeling a little sick too. Hope you feel better, sweetie."Beep. Saturday, 8:13. Beep.
"Lorelai, it's Sookie. Patty told me to call you; she said you're not feeling good. So are you feeling okay? Just remember, mystery pizza is bad! Call me, bye."Beep. Saturday, 8:20. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Lorelai turned off the answering machine abruptly to stop the beeping.
"Mom, are you okay?" Rory put an arm around her mother. Lorelai nodded, and then threw her hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom. Rory grimaced and then turned to Jess. "She doesn't sound good. I guess I'm gonna stay here tonight. Look, why don't you go home?"
"Okay. Keep her company. I'll send Luke over with some coffee later, and then I'll close up."
"Thank you. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye." Jess kissed her and then headed out the door. Rory headed for the bathroom and knocked on the half-open door.
"Hey, Mom, you want some supper?"
Her only response was the distinct sound of Lorelai throwing up.
"I'll take that as a no." Rory headed for the phone and dialed information. She got the name of the Hartford Ramada and called Lane.
"Hello?" A male voice answered.
"Uh, Dave, this is Rory. Is Lane there?"
"Yeah, let me get her." There was a slight scuffle on the other end of the phone, a giggle, and a goodbye.
"Hey!"
"Hi, Lane. What's Dave doing in your room?"
"Oh, we were working on something."
"And did that something involve lots of kissing?"
"Rory! But, yeah."
"Ooh, Lane's being a bad girl!"
"Yeah, I guess I am." Lane laughed. "But, what are you up to?"
"Well, I told my grandparents about me moving."
"Did they freak out?"
"I don't think so. It was right after Mom dropped the bomb about her being pregnant."
"Oh, my God! Lorelai's pregnant?"
"Yeah, it's great and all, but Grandma yelled at her, and so she's throwing up in the bathroom right now."
"Ew."
"Yeah. It's all a big mess right now, so I'm gonna spend the night here. I guess I won't see you for a few weeks."
"Well, we'll just have to stay in touch."
"Yes, we will. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
"Bye." Rory hung up the phone and deleted the other messages. Sookie wasn't ready for the stockpile of news yet, Luke probably already knew, and Babette and Patty could wait until tomorrow. Rory turned as her mother walked out of the bathroom.
"Hey, feeling better?"
Lorelai shook her head.
"Aww, poor baby. Wanna watch a movie?"
"Willy Wonka."
"Do you have it?"
"Got it this afternoon."
"Great." Rory grabbed a couple blankets from the hall closet as her mother went to change into pajamas. She also changed, and then the girls met on the couch and curled up together, like they used to do when they were both very young.