Nobody Said it Was Easy
- Guinevere -
A/N: So I've got to know: do you want Jess to come back, or do you want someone else? I've got my opinions on that, but I want to hear what others have to say. Thanks for the reviews, and keep them coming.
Disclaimer: Everyone belongs to someone else, although the verdict is still out on Jess - he must belong to himself now that his show got cancelled and he was all but kicked off Gilmore. Anyway, on with the show.
~*~*~
- 3 - Don't Panic
"Well, Rory, how have things been going so far?" Dr. Lancaster asked as he readied for the sonogram. Lorelai had taken a seat next to Rory and was holding her daughter's hand.
"Pretty good, except that the morning sickness is killer." Rory had been sick every day for the last two weeks.
"Saltines, they work wonders if you can find some over here," the doctor suggested. "How did you deal with it Lorelai?"
"A lot of Def Leppard and Diet Coke. But I wouldn't suggest either to Rory."
The doctor laughed and nodded in agreement. "Either way, it should be over soon enough. So are we going to find out the sex of the baby today ladies?"
The two looked at each other, nodded and said "Yes," simultaneously.
"Well, then take a look at the monitor there and tell me what you think."
Rory only saw what seemed to be a wiggling blob while Lorelai could just barely make out the shape of a baby. "It is human, isn't it?" Rory asked, trying to find the humor in all of it.
"I'm quite certain that it is. In fact, may I be the first to suggest buying a lot of blue baby clothes over the next few months."
Rory looked to her mother who nodded. "The Gilmore girls are having a boy," Lorelai exclaimed, leaning over to hug Rory.
"Really? How can you tell?" Rory asked. It still looked like a blob to her.
"Well, kiddo, if you have to ask…" Lorelai joked and Rory swatted at her.
"And everything seems to look healthy, so if there aren't any questions, I've got a game of golf to head out to, and I'm sure you girls have some shopping to do."
"Just one question: when is she due?" Lorelai asked.
"I'd estimate around January 5, give or take a few days." Just soon enough for Rory to start second semester at Yale, Lorelai though to herself.
~*~*~
"So, what are you thinking for names?" Lorelai asked as the two sat eating lunch in a crowded café.
"Ryan?" Rory posed, still unsure of it herself.
Lorelai thought this threw, then came to a verdict: "Nah, not enough oomph."
"Well we can't exactly name him Lorelai, now can we?"
"We could, but… How about Matthew?"
"Again, with the oomph – it has none. Nathaniel?"
"I like it, Nate, Nathan… I don't know. How about Jason, or Jack, or Jakob with a 'K' like Jakob Dylan? Ooh, I've got it! Jakob Dylan Gilmore!"
"An homage to the Wallflowers? I don't think so. But I do like the idea of J.D., as in J.D. Salinger."
"Well then, we'll just call him J.D. until we come up with the perfect combination of a J name and a D name."
~*~*~
Luke was standing behind the counter taking orders from three very indecisive cub scouts, marveling that in a few years his nephew would be one of these little kids, jam hands and all, when he heard the bell over the door jingle. He glanced up and saw the familiar Army duffle bag and almost black hair that belonged to the father of that soon-to-be-born nephew of his. He scribbled cheeseburger times three and went into the kitchen, careful to avoid saying anything in front of half the population of Stars Hollow. He knew Jess would follow him.
"Luke," he called as he tossed his bag on the floor and headed into the stockroom where Luke had gone.
"Jess, what are you doing back here?" he asked, busying himself with reorganizing the pickle supply.
"I couldn't stay there and work in a hot dog cart, and I had nowhere else to go."
"Well you and I are finished, I told you that. You broke you're part of the deal, so I broke mine."
"I got my GED, went in one day and got a perfect score," Jess offered, hoping to ease some of the tension.
"You were supposed to graduate from high school, don the blue cap and gown and march down the aisle and all that, not just pass some stupid test."
"But it's not that easy Luke. There were circumstances beyond my control."
"You had control; all you had to do was go to class instead of picking up extra shifts at Wal-Mart." Luke was not going to give in to the part of his brain that was telling him to save Jess. Jess had to save himself for once.
"Yeah, well I didn't and that is in the past."
"So you've come back here to ask Rory to marry you or something? You think that GED will get you in to McDonald's U?"
"Now I remember why it was a relief to not have to wake up to you every morning."
"And I you."
"Look, can I stay here for a week? And I promise, it will only be a week – I'm going to New York as soon as my mother gets back from Florida."
"Whatever Jess, just stay out of my way." By the look of things, Jess wasn't going to take any responsibility for his child. If I were going to be the father of a Gilmore kid, Luke thought, I wouldn't shirk the responsibilities. "Hell, I'd be by her side every minute of the day," he muttered to himself.
~*~*~
Emily Gilmore was sitting in her garden with a notepad in hand, jotting down figure after figure as they came into her head. She too had been thinking about Lorelai's wacky plan, and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. Her daughter and granddaughter had been in Europe for almost four months now, so no one in the Western Hemisphere had even caught a glimpse of Rory's protruding stomach. The only people who knew anything about the baby were herself and her husband, Rory's father, the doctor, Luke and the baby's father, and if they stayed in her mother-in-law's English manor until the baby was born, no one would. As 1950s-hiding-the-pregnancy it seemed, the plan might just work.
"Heather, would you kindly bring me the telephone?" Emily called to the maid. She dialed the number of the most recent hotel Lorelai and Rory were staying at and waited for an answer.
"Hello?" Lorelai asked, out of breath from the run across the room.
"Lorelai, how is Rory doing?" Emily asked.
"She's all right, a little hot since they apparently haven't heard of air conditioning here in Barcelona." Emily could picture the two of them, beat red with sun burn and sweltering wherever they went.
"Well I wanted to let you know that I've been thinking over your plan, and it may work nicely."
"Hold on," Lorelai stepped out on the balcony out of Rory's earshot. "So you really think it could work?"
"Well I'm not entirely sure how yet, but it seems to be all coming together. I still haven't found a way to explain the father, but otherwise, it works. If you and Rory stayed in your grandmother's house outside of London until the baby was born, then you could come home and Rory could start school in January."
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
"Yes. And then your father and I could pay for childcare while you worked on your inn, and Rory could come home on weekends as she planned in the beginning. But you'd have to find a father and start spreading the word back home that you are pregnant."
"This is all like some James Bond covert operation, although I never saw you as my partner in crime, no offense" Lorelai mused. "And I think I can find a father, though I'm not sure if he'll agree to the job."
"Well, you find out and call me back, okay?"
"Okay, bye Mom."
Now all the two of them had to do was convince Rory of their idea.
~*~*~
Lorelai reentered her room, checked to see that Rory really was asleep and went back outside. She dialed Luke's number and waited for it to connect.
"Hi, you've reached Luke. Leave a message," his voice said from the answering machine.
"Hi Luke, it's Lorelai. Call me back as soon as you get this. Bye." She hung up and the phone immediately rang. "Luke?"
"Yeah, hi. I was in the shower. You're calling awfully early," Luke said.
"Sorry, forgot about the time difference. So Luke, I was wondering, how would you like to be the father of my child?"
She heard nothing on his end of the phone, then a flustered Luke mumble "Uh…"
"Come on, I know you want to," Lorelai teased.
"What are you talking about Lorelai?"
"Well what if Ror and I stayed here until J.D. is born and then came home and said he was mine?"
"It sounds to me like a bad Lifetime movie."
"How would you know? Anyway, you wouldn't have to marry me or anything. We could just say that you and I decided to have a kid together, like Madonna and Rupert Everett in 'The Next Best Thing', only you're straight."
"I don't know Lorelai; it sounds a little ridiculous to me. What does Rory think about this?"
"Well, I haven't told her yet; we're still in the planning stages."
"Call me when you have a definite plan, okay?"
"Okay. Hey, have you heard from Jess lately?"
"You know he was here last month, but I haven't heard anything since. I think he's in New York with his mother."
"Okay then, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye."
Lorelai went back in her room and sat down next to Rory. It was hard to believe that so many people were trying to make this better for her daughter when no one had been there for her.
~*~ To Be Continued ~*~
