Part 10

Facing Consequences

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I know some things

Never change

But this can't be one of them

And I don't think I can stand it

Any Longer

Are you scared?

Are you scared?

Are you scared?

Cuz if you're scared,

You're not alone....

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Lane knocked on the bathroom door anxiously. "You almost finished?"

"Just a second!" Rory called back through the door, bitterly. Moments later the door swung open and Rory held up the tiny stick that would decide her fate in 120 seconds. She placed it down on top of the box it had come in, started the timer Lane had set up while she was in the bathroom, and crossed her arms, grumpily.

"You look frustrated," Lane commented. "How do you feel?"

Rory glared. "I just peed on a stick. How do you think I feel?"

"Look," Lane began. "I know you're nervous and scared and everything, but let's just try to stay optimistic until we know for sure, huh?"

"You mean try to be optimistic for the next 100 seconds?"

"Couldn't hurt," Lane said, shrugging.

It was only 8 o'clock. Brian had been extremely helpful. He sensed in Lane's voice over the phone that running this errand was immensely important, and so, having nothing better to do, he ran out to get the test immediately, and then headed straight to Stars Hollow. Rory and Lane went out and met him at Doose's Market, where he gave them the bag with the test inside, and then returned immediately to Lane's house. Mrs. Kim was a little suspicious, but not so worried that she stayed home to keep an eye on them instead of going to her church choir rehearsal. Rory was glad she'd left them alone. It was hard enough keeping this a secret from her mother... and come to think of it, everyone she knew except for Lane. She didn't need Mrs. Kim peering over her shoulder all the time.

Rory sighed. "Ok, I'm trying to do the optimistic thing, but I'm just WAY too nervous." She started pacing around the room. "I need-a distraction. Something to keep my mind elsewhere."

"Oh!" Lane exclaimed. "I know! Music!" Lane ran to her closet and pressed play. "Femme Fatale" by the Velvet Underground started playing.

Rory smiled slightly, hearing the familiar beginning. "I like this song." She paused. "But it's not really distracting me from the nervousness."

Lane racked her brain for a way to help. "Um... um... oh, how about some obscure musical facts?"

"It's worth a try. Go ahead."

"Um-um-OH! This song was written by Lou Reed about Nico. Cuz you know what's interesting, is that he wasn't incredibly fond of her. Lou and Nico both wanted to be the front man-well in Nico's case, front woman-"

"It's not helping," Rory cut her off. "I need to do something physically distracting."

"Ok." Lane paused, contemplating. "Oh! Do Jumping Jacks!"

"What?"

"Don't think, just DO!!!"

Rory nodded and started doing jumping jacks in a steady rhythm along with the music. Lane joined her. It was 20 seconds before Rory asked, "Lane, why are we doing jumping jacks?"

"I don't know. Is it working?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

"Ok well keep it up!"

But there wasn't anytime left. After ten more seconds, the timer went off. Rory and Lane froze simultaneously, staring at the timer, both of them dreading what they'd see when they looked at the test.

"So..." Rory said. "It's done, huh?"

"Yeah," Lane said, panting. "Suddenly, I'm very worried. How bad does my physical state have to be that I get out of breath after 30 seconds of jumping jacks?"

Rory didn't answer. She just stared at the floor.

"Rory are you ok?" Lane asked. "Ok, that was a stupid question. But-what are you feeling? Dread? Nervousness? Terror? Anxiety?"

"Pretty much all of those at once," Rory answered. "So do we just-look at it now?"

Lane nodded. "I guess so." Neither one of them made a move toward it. "Do you want me to go look at it for you?"

"No, no," Rory shook her head. "I mean, I can handle it..." she paused. After a few moments, she tried to take a step toward the box on the table, but feeling the sudden numbness in her legs and sinking feeling in her stomach, she decided against it. She sat quickly on the bed. "On second thought, I really can't handle it. So you should probably do it."

Lane nodded. "Ok. I can do that." She took two steps toward the test before turning back and sitting right beside Rory on the bed. "I can't do this," she whined.

"Lane!" Rory pleaded. "I need you right now! Don't wimp out on me!"

Lane sighed. "All right, let's just get this over with." She walked over as quickly as she could and picked it up. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

"Oh God," Rory said. "What is it?"

"That's the problem," Lane answered. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know what it means!" Lane cried. "It's blue, but I forgot what that means!"

"Well read the box!!!"

"Ok, ok!!!" Lane picked it up, her eyes scanning the tiny print on the back. "Ok, how to use, blah blah blah, we already did that. Wait 2 minutes before the stripe fully appears--Aha!!!! Blue means..." she stopped.

"What?" Rory asked, her voice barely loud enough to hear. "What does it mean?"

Finally, Lane smiled slightly. "Let's just say you'll have at least a few more years now to find a better name than Frankella."

Rory felt her stomach jump. "What?"

"False alarm," Lane said, grinning.

Rory breathed a sigh of relief. "Really?"

"Would I lie to you about something like this?"

"Well maybe if you were really cruel."

Lane offered the test to her. "Here, see for yourself."

Rory took it. "Wow. That's the most beautiful blue stripe I've ever seen."

Lane nodded. "I agree. I feel suddenly as though I've taken their beauty for granted all these years."

"Who knew they could symbolize so much?"

"Happiness," Lane offered.

"A bright future," Rory suggested.

"A chance at life, as opposed to your mother killing you."

Rory nodded. "Yes, that too." They both admired the blue stripe for a while. After a few minutes, Rory put it down, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"What's wrong?" Lane asked.

"I'm suddenly remembering that I peed on that, and therefore holding it up like that and admiring it doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore," Rory said. They both exchanged looks of disgust.

"We should throw it away," Rory said.

"Not here," Lane said, shaking her head. "Mama Kim would find it. She has like this sixth sense that can sense when things are in the garbage that no one should have had here in the first place. I got grounded for a month when she found a Cosmo magazine in my trash can."

"Ok," Rory said. "We need a plastic, not transparent bag. I'll take it out and put it in one of Luke's trash bins or something."

"Why Luke's?" Lane asked.

Rory smiled. "Well, I haven't exactly been the best girlfriend lately, what with the whole pregnancy scare and all, but with this recent news, I have a very strong urge to see Jess."

Lane nodded. "I see." she handed Rory a bag to put the test in. "Are you gonna tell him what happened?"

Rory sighed. "I think so. I mean I owe him that much." She bit her lip. "Still don't have any idea HOW I'm gonna tell him, but I'm going to try."

"Well good," Lane tried to be as supportive as she could. "I wouldn't worry, he'll probably be cool about it."

Rory snickered. "I'm sorry, have you MET Jess?"

Lane smiled. "Ok so he's probably gonna flip out at first. But as soon as you explain, he'll be fine." She sighed. "He loves you."

Rory smiled. "I know," she said. "And you really like telling me that, don't you?"

"What tipped you off?" Lane asked. "The fact that I say it every time I see you?"

"Not so much that, as the way you and my mother discuss it over the phone sometimes."

"You heard that?" Lane asked. Rory giggled.

"I'm going to Luke's." she took her bag and headed to the door, but turned back. "Thank you, Lane."

Lane smiled. "Hey, anytime. But not really anytime. I'd really appreciate it if from now on you could avoid pregnancy scares like this. Because it really wore me out, with the jumping jacks and everything."

"Duly noted." Rory said as she walked out the door. "Be back later!"
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Luke looked up when he heard the bell by the door and saw Rory walk in. He stood up straight, suddenly self-conscious. Did she know what had happened the other morning? How was he supposed to act? Like nothing happened? He knew Lorelai told Rory almost everything.... But not absolutely everything, and what if this was one of those things she didn't feel the need to tell?

Thankfully, Rory seemed too distracted by something to even care. "Luke, is Jess around?" she asked before she even reached the counter.

"Oh, yeah," he said with a slight smirk. He added under his breath, "he's been upstairs for a few hours. He hasn't said anything about it, but I think it's pretty obvious he's waiting for you to call."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because he brought the portable phone in the bathroom with him when he showered so he wouldn't miss any calls."

Rory smiled a little.

"Just don't tell him I told you that," Luke said. "His ego would be all wounded, and it'd just be a big mess-"

"I know," Rory said. "My lips are sealed." She sighed. "Can I go up and get him?"

"Sure," Luke said. "But you know the rules. I'll be up every-"

"Every ten minutes, I remember. But I actually was hoping we could go out somewhere."

Luke nodded. "Sure thing. Go on up."

Rory walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. Moments later Jess opened it, trying not to look as overjoyed as he was to see her. When she'd hung up on him the other night, she'd left the phone off the hook, knowing he'd try to call her back. It didn't exactly give him confidence that everything was working out ok.

"Hey," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh... I came because I need to talk to you about something."

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

"No, no, don't worry!" she said. "It's nothing bad. Well, not REALLY-I don't know, it kind of depends on how you interpret it."

Jess opened the door wider to let her come in. "I'm all ears."

"Actually," she said, "I was hoping we could go somewhere. Just outside somewhere. I just don't wanna do this here, with Luke bursting in every ten minutes-"

"I get it," Jess said, grabbing his denim jacket. "Let's go."

She could sense that he wasn't looking forward to this. For some reason, every time things started to get even a little rocky between the two of them, he seemed to think she was about to break up with him. But she hardly blamed him. All his life he'd been left by people, hurt by people-hell, even she'd treated him like crap after they kissed that day at Sookie's wedding. After he'd closed the door and was about to head down the stairs, she grabbed him impulsively by the arm and pulled him into a long kiss.

"What was that for?" he asked, confused.

"I'm not going to break up with you," Rory said with a comforting smile. "Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ANYTIME soon, ok? I promise."

"I didn't say I thought you-"

"You had a look," Rory said. "You didn't have to say it." she smiled a little. "Let's go." She continued down the stairs. Jess smiled, relieved, as he followed her.

As soon as they got around the corner from the diner, they were completely alone. The streets of Stars Hollow tended not to be inhabited by anybody after 7 o'clock unless people were on their way to Luke's or on their way home from Luke's.

"So," Jess tried to spark conversation. "What happened last night?"

Rory sighed. "Well... it was nothing really. I just-momentarily freaked out about something."

Jess looked at her expectantly but she kept her eyes to the ground. He laughed, incredulous that she wasn't making any attempt to elaborate.

"That's all?" he asked. "That's all you're gonna tell me? You freaked out about SOMETHING?"

Rory stopped walking and faced him. "Well I'm trying to elaborate, but I don't really know how to say this, so give me a minute!" she said in a slightly whiny voice. One thing she'd certainly inherited from her mother was a tendency to become immature when in uncomfortable situations.

"Ok, ok," Jess said. "Take your time."

Rory sighed. "You're going to completely overreact."

Jess' face froze. "Oh God," he muttered.

"What?" Rory asked, confused. "Oh God what?" There was no way he'd guessed it already from the things she'd said.

"Don't say what I think you're gonna say," he said.

"What do you think I'm gonna say?"

"Did you and Dean-I mean, did something happen with Dean that I should know- "

Rory interrupted him with a loud chuckle. "Don't even think that," she said through laughter. "Dean is not even on the radar screen right now-not with everything that's been going on with us lately."

Jess looked confused. "Then what the hell's going on?"

Rory looked at the ground. "Ok... um... well remember how you and I kind of... slept together?"

"Yes, I believe I do vaguely recall that," he answered sarcastically. "What about it?"

"Well see Jess," Rory began, "Sometimes, when two people sleep together, there are certain consequences-"

"I took the class in the 8th grade, I'm familiar with all this," he said. "You can just skip to the part that concerns us in particular."

Rory took a deep breath, "Well, the thing is... the other night when we were on the phone, and I was looking at my day planner, I noticed something about the date that really worried me." She raised her eyebrows, giving him a pointed stare, hoping he'd catch on and fill in the rest of the blanks for himself. He just looked more confused than ever.

"You probably should just spell it out for me," he said. "I mean, YOU are the smart one, remember?"

She ran her fingers through her hair anxiously, and decided to just say it and get it over with. "For a while, I thought I was pregnant."

"WHAT?"

Rory winced. He looked... well, a little more freaked out than she'd EVER seen him.

He turned and started walking away. "Wait, Jess!" Rory called after him, "Don't just leave!"

"I'm not leaving," he said, turning back to her, but keeping his eyes focused on the pavement. "I'm pacing-there's a difference."

Rory stepped back a little, sensing that he needed some space. She was quiet, unsure of what she could say to make it better, since she wasn't even sure why he was reacting this way. She expected him to be weirded out, but not panicked like this.

Finally he turned back to her. "Damn it, HOW can you be so calm about all this?" he accused her.

"Well, I wasn't calm at first," she replied. "In fact, I was acting exactly the way you are, with the pacing and the... well, more pacing, until I took the test and found out it was a blue stripe-"

"Blue stripe? What does that mean, it's a boy?"

Rory's eyes widened. Suddenly she understood why he was so nervous. He hadn't caught the past tense when she said she thought she was pregnant. He was under the impression that she still thought she was.

"No! no!" she cried. "Blue stripe doesn't mean Boy baby, it means non- existent baby."

"Huh?"

Rory sighed, trying to be as clear as possible. "There's no baby," she said. "I am completely unfertilized as of this moment. It was just a false alarm."

"Oh my God," Jess muttered as he turned away again and started walking.

"Are you leaving, or doing the pacing thing again?" she asked.

Jess turned back, not answering her. "Someday, you're gonna give me a heart attack, you know that?"

Rory smiled meekly. "I'm sorry?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "So you're totally sure?"

Rory nodded. "100 percent." She paused. "Are you still mad?"

Jess sat on the steps of the gazebo, his elbows on his knees. "I wasn't mad," he said. Rory sat by his side on the steps as he continued. "I was fearing for my life, that's all. I mean, seriously, Rory. If there were ONE unforgivable sin in Stars Hollow, it would be getting you pregnant. They'd all run me out of town with pitch forks and torches."

Rory smiled and tried to lighten the mood. "I'd never let them do that to you. Besides, we don't even have that many pitchforks in town. Regular forks, sure. But they don't really have the same effect... well actually I guess they could. I mean, I know I'd be scared if a whole bunch of angry crazy people came at me with forks."

"You're hilarious," Jess commented sarcastically.

"Yeah well I try," she answered. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you right away, I just... I thought you would freak out. And it turns out I wasn't altogether wrong in my prediction. Not that it makes it excusable, I just-"

"It's ok," Jess admitted. "If it'd happened to me, I woulda' done the same thing."

"You mean if you thought you were pregnant?" Rory asked with a smirk.

"Yeah well I'm not on the pill or anything, so it's something I gotta worry about," Jess played along.

"Jess is there something you'd like to tell me?"

He smirked. "Yes, Rory. I'm pregnant."

"Oh boy, what a pickle we're in," she said.

"You better stick around and not become one of those deadbeat mothers, cuz I'll give your picture to America's most wanted in a heartbeat."

"You wouldn't."

"Yeah? Try me."

Rory smiled. "So we're good? No more crazy pacing and such?"

"As far as I can see, yeah." The corners of his lips curled up a little as he leaned in to kiss her, and she immediately pulled him closer to her. She'd gotten so attached to him over the past few weeks that even separation for more than 24 hours seemed unbearable. It just felt natural, to be kissing him and touching him. She knew that right then she had to hurry back to Lane's, and they didn't have any time... but she wanted him. She couldn't pretend she didn't. She pulled away from him a little.

"I have to go," she said softly.

"Oh come on," Jess said. "Stay."

"I want to," she said. "But I can't." She sighed and kissed him again. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Jess smirked. "Call me irrational, but I'm beginning to want more than just your word for it."

She smiled. "I promise." She held up her pinky. "Pinky swear. Come on, give me your pinky."

Jess chuckled, shaking his head, and let her fold her pinky around his.

"I won't let you down," she assured him. She kissed him again quickly before standing up and heading back to Lane's house.
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"Mom!!!" Rory called. "I'm home!!!"

It was 4:30 PM the next day, and Rory had just gotten home. Usually after school, she was home by 3:30, but today she'd had to spend some extra time at Lane's house, prepping for the conversation Rory was about to have. She'd made up her mind the night before, lying in bed awake. She had to ask her mother about birth control pills.

She had no intention of telling her that she and Jess had already had sex. She would just make it sound like a precaution. She had already mentioned to her months before that she was thinking about it, so it would be no big shock... she hoped.

"Rory?" Lorelai called, coming down the stairs, trying not to seem too eager to see her daughter. She'd been through such a huge range of emotions over the night and day since she'd overheard the conversation, she really had just needed to see Rory's face, and let her natural instinct as a mother tell her what to do. Now that she saw her, walking into the living room in her uniform, completely unaware that her mother had overheard her, she suddenly felt... well, scared to tell Rory she knew. She'd decided, after tossing and turning for hours in bed awake, that she would confront Rory about it, trying not to be too angry, but obviously not happy about it either. But now, seeing her, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was scared Rory would hate her for having listened, that somehow it would ruin what the two of them had. She really just wanted to pretend she hadn't heard it, because she couldn't bring herself to look at her daughter's sweet, innocent, smiling face, and think that she had not only slept with Jess, but also lied about it, and now was possibly pregnant. She wanted Rory to tell her about it, so she wouldn't ever have to tell Rory she knew. She didn't want to bring it up. She felt completely ashamed of her immaturity and inability to face the problem... but she couldn't help it.

She walked down the stairs. She couldn't tell if the immediate and obvious tension between them was completely of her own creation, because Rory seemed awkward and nervous too. She tried to casually sit on the couch and spark up normal conversation. "So, how was Lane's house?"

Rory smiled. "Oh. It was fun." Silence hung in the air. "Um, mom?"

"Yeah honey?" Lorelai sat up and looked her in the eye. She was going to be attentive. She was going to be supportive of everything Rory said. If Rory were about to say, 'I'm gonna get a soda from the fridge', Lorelai would cheer her on throughout the entire event. She wanted to be super-cool mom, so that Rory would feel like she could tell her anything, and hopefully she would.

She was overdoing it a little though. Rory felt almost intimidated by Lorelai's overwhelming kindness. It wasn't natural. She looked like a high school guidance counselor. Rory looked at her hands, hoping it would make it easier to speak. "I um... I was wondering... well, there's been some stuff going on the past couple weeks-important stuff-and I was wondering if we could talk."

Lorelai nodded, her super-cool-mom smile still plastered on her face, and completely contradicting the look of desperation in her eyes. "Sure honey, you know we can always talk about anything." She paused. "What's it about? School? Personal stuff? Boy stuff?" she swallowed and tried to make it come off as an innocent guess when she added, "Sex?"

But Rory had caught the strange pitch in her voice when she said it. She knew how to read her mother better than anyone, and now that she had read her, she felt her stomach drop. Her hands went cold and her heartbeat raced. "Oh my god," she said, disbelieving. It was clear to her. "You know already, don't you?"

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A/N: mwahahahahaah. Cliff hanger endings!!!!! So much fun. I bet u guys hate them. If I'm overdoing it, let me know in reviews. And seriously, keep reviewing because those who review and express opinions definitely have influence over how and what I write. Hehehe aren't you all glad I didn't make Rory pregnant? I promise guys, I won't let you down. There are always false problems introduced, that's how long stories stay alive. If things seem to start going down hill, don't worry. No matter what, I will always bring them back up, because this story is going to have a HAPPY ENDING. As always, you guys who read and review are my heroes and I love you all. The Rory and Lorelai Discussion comes soon!!!!!! I'm already writing it and... well... it's juicy. Lot's of fun to write. Ok gotta go sleep. Bye!!!

~Emaline