Disclaimer: I had a dream that I owned Gilmore Girls. Then I woke up. It was a sad day.

A/N: Hallo there! This is the first chapter I've posted after getting 200 REVIEWS!!! I'M SOOOOO HAPPY!!! I just want you all to be on the lookout for frequent updates!!!

Thanx: To all my reviewers: without you, I don't know where I'd find the inspiration to write.(200 reviews, baby!!!) And a special thanx to my muse, Katherine (rosie 4299) who is a constant inspiration to me when I reach major writers' block. Read ALL her stories.

Rating: PG-13 (for language)

Chapter 20: Troubles in Love and Pantries

Luke and Lorelai froze for a millisecond. That was all the time they had to process the fact that Rory was one room away, before they made a mad dash for their clothes. Luke was about to run out the back door, Lorelai pushed a half-naked Luke into her pantry, instead. She motioned to him that the back door was broken and she couldn't get it open; then, she quietly closed the pantry door behind him while calling out to the teens that she'd be there in a second.

Rory stood in the entrance, awkwardly, with utter terror inside of her. This was it. She was telling her mother she was pregnant. Only a few years ago, she would have sworn that there was no way she ever would have turned out to be like her mother. After all, her mother screwed her life up. She could have been something great. Rory mentally berated herself for thinking thoughts like those; her mother was something great, but she did mess up her life by having Rory.

Tristan sensed Rory's anxiousness and grabbed her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. She tried to give him a grateful smile, but Tristan could see the fear behind her ocean blue eyes. Usually they were the brightest blue, but whenever she was stressed or scared they changed to the color of the deepest depths of the sea. He wished he could kiss her and make her eyes the color of the sky, but he knew that wouldn't change how she felt.

Lorelai quickly finished getting dressed and ignored the hisses coming from the pantry as Luke tried to get her attention. She took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen, hoping she didn't have a hickey. Luke let out a groan as she left. He was pretty sure she heard him, but just decided to ignore him. How did he always get himself in these situations? First on the porch, and now in the pantry.

"Hey kiddo... oh, and you." Lorelai greeted.

"Hi," Rory answered, with her eyes on a part of the floor she found particularly interesting.

Lorelai knew something was up, because the second she entered the room, the temperature dropped a chilling fifteen degrees. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Rory's nose was red, so either she had a cold or she had been crying. The tearstains on her cheeks made the answer obvious, though.

"What's going on?" Lorelai asked, switching into Mom-mode.

"Uh..." Rory started, but Tristan cut her off.

"Maybe we should be sitting down. How about the kitchen."

"NO!" Lorelai yelled. "I mean, no. Let's go into the living room."

Tristan and Rory were too preoccupied to even think about why Lorelai was acting weirder than usual. Rory's stomach was tied up in knots, and she knew that she'd probably be throwing up again, within the hour.

"So, what's wrong? And don't say nothing, because I know when something's bugging my kid."

Rory took a deep breath and did something out of character. She was blunt, "Mom, I'm pregnant."

Lorelai froze. She didn't know how long she just sat there staring at her daughter and that boy. That evil little creature that took her baby's innocence away and now she was pregnant. All she could think about was her fight with Rory about not using a condom. Now she was pregnant! She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She just stared and thought about how her world was crashing down.

Rory really needed her mom to say something right now. She was scared, and her mother had been through this before. But there she sat, just frozen in place. Two minutes ticked by, and the second hand seemed to go in slow motion around the clock. Finally, Lorelai turned her head and set her face from stun to glare.

"You!" she spat at Tristan.

"It wasn't enough to torture her during high school? Now she's pregnant! My straight-laced daughter made it to Yale and now because of YOU, all her dreams are crashing down. I knew you were just like Christopher. I knew it, but I kept my mouth shut and I decided to let my daughter make her own mistakes. I just didn't think she'd go against everything I taught her! But this whole thing is ALL your fault!"

"Really!?" Tristan screamed back.

"Yes really! If you hadn't of come along, I'd still have my sweet VIRGINAL daughter, and she wouldn't be knocked up!"

"Excuse me?" Rory said meekly from her spot on the couch.

They ignored her however and Lorelai continued. "I know your kind, and now you've done the one thing I've tried so hard to stop. Do you realize what you've done? Do you know what people will say?"

Before even waiting for a response she kept her rant going, "They'll say 'like mother, like daughter.' Do you have any idea the kinds of sacrifices I'VE had to make to keep that from happening? Of course you don't, because you couldn't keep it in your pants!"

He was pissed now, and he didn't even think about the impact of his words as they spilled out of his mouth.

"Then why don't you explain your precious naive little girl knocking me down and climbing on top of me, so we could fuck each other senseless like animals on the floor!"

Rory's face burned with anger and embarrassment as she stared at Tristan in shock and horror. He just screamed out one of their intimate secrets to her mother! The emotions of the past few hours compiled with how angry she was with Tristan. She pulled herself to a standing position and tried to keep herself from throwing up as she stared at Tristan with all the hurt and anger she had been forced to endure.

"Tristan! How could you?"

"Rory, oh my God. I'm sooo sorry..." he said, finally realizing the impact of his words, but it was too late.

One slip of the tongue, and he knew it was bad. He replayed the scene over in his mind and felt sick to his stomach when he thought about how absolutely crude that remark was. That was one of the boldest sexual things Rory had ever done, and he blurted it out. He was such an idiot!

"Get out," Rory said in a quavering voice, as she tried to keep it even.

"Mary."

"Mary! Now you use that name as some sort of sick joke? You're the reason she's not a 'Mary' anymore. You heard my daughter. Get the hell out of my house."

Tristan sadly looked at Rory, but he knew he'd better leave. Rory watched with her fists clenched at her sides as Tristan's usually flawless posture slouched on his way out. The moment the door closed, Rory burst into tears. Her anger melted into sorrow and embarrassment and she just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Rory, honey. It's okay. It'll all be okay," Lorelai reassured her.

Luke stood in the shoebox-sized pantry, fully clothed, in shock. He had known Rory since she was a pre-teen, and now... He was stunned, to say the least. All he wanted to do was rip the head off that stupid playboy boyfriend of hers. How dare he say something so downright despicable about that girl? She was intelligent and caring, and should never be treated with that much disrespect. Ever.

While Luke fumed, Lorelai wrapped her arms around her sobbing daughter and tried to tell her that everything would be okay, but how could she possibly know that. She was scared to death when she found out she was pregnant with Rory, and she never wanted that to happen to Rory. The problem was, the worst had happened and now they'd have to deal with it somehow.

"M-mom? Wh-why would h-he say th-that?"

"I don't know, sweetie. I really don't. He doesn't deserve to be cried over, though."

"Y-yes he doesss."

"Why?" Lorelai asked, completely confused.

This was the boy who just yelled a personal moment between the two of them out for her to hear, well and Luke. Luke! Lorelai quickly pushed him back out of her mind, though, because she had to deal with her pregnant daughter. Pregnant. Lorelai still couldn't get her head around the gravity of the situation at hand.

"Rory listen to me. That boy doesn't deserve you. Do you understand me? He is disrespectful and..."

Rory cut her off. "But I love him."

Luke listened as their voices drifted into the kitchen and his heart almost broke alongside Lorelai's. This girl was deeply in love, and she was hurting now. This was supposed to be an exciting memorable time in a young woman's life, but now it's just filled with fear and panic. Luke wanted to burst out of the pantry and hug her until her pain went away, but he ignored his instincts and stayed put.

"Oh baby, I know you do."

"I love him so much," Rory repeated as fresh tears filled her eyes.

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Tristan leaned his head against the door and heard Rory begin to sob. He knew he was the cause of those tears, just like he had been the cause of her tears earlier in the day. Tristan couldn't deal with all this and although he wanted to make things right with Rory, right now he was scared shitless.

He climbed into his car and sped towards his sister's house for the second time that day. Tristan desperately needed to talk to her, because this was too much for him to handle. Once he was on the highway, traffic went smooth and he was sitting in his car in front of her house within the hour. His mind wanted to go to the front door and hug Nessa like his life depended on it, but his body wouldn't listen. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to gather his wits to be able to climb out of the car.

"Tristan? What are you doing here?" Nessa asked him, as she ushered him inside.

"I need to talk to you."

Nessa had never seen her brother look so... broken. He looked worn out and emotionally exhausted. There was a difference between physical and emotional exhaustion. physical is seen in the body, but emotional is seen in the heart and soul of the person. Something was definitely bothering her baby brother. Something big.

"Well, Dan and Morgan went to get pizza. Now why don't you tell me what's going on."

Tristan new the direct approach was the only way to deal with this. "Rory's pregnant."

Nessa sucked in a breath of air and stared at her little brother. "Oh Blondy boy."

"I know! God, I'm such an idiot. Rory was scared to death and I was such a jackass."

"Wait, you didn't leave her did you?" Nessa asked, clearly appalled at the prospect.

Tristan sighed, "Well..."

He then proceeded to tell his big sister the whole story. She sat there and listened to him, and she felt his pain. When they both lived at the DuGrey mansion, they would tell each other everything. In a weird way, Nessa was glad Tristan could still come to her when things got bad. It made her like he still needed her in his life. Finally, he finished and he sat in silence for her response.

"Now, the female side of me wants to whack you upside the head for being such an insensitive jerk. But, the sisterly part wants to give you a hug."

She opted for the latter and held Tristan, tightly. They embraced each other for a few minutes, and it was exactly what Tristan needed right now. He couldn't imagine being a father, especially seeing Nessa's pregnant stomach. Somehow it made it more real. He was going to be a father.

"Oh my God. I'm going to be a daddy."

"Yeah, you are," Nessa told him, realizing that's the first time he really saw the big picture.

"Tristan, I know it's scary but you can do this. I know you can do this, and I want you to listen to me. Go talk to Rory, she's probably ten times more terrified than you are because she has about a million different hormones inside of her that are going off the wall. She'll need you, and I'll bet she already does."

"I want to see her. I really do, I was such an asshole to her, but I just can't tonight."

Nessa nodded and did the only sisterly thing to do. She invited him to stay for the night. Even though she knew he wouldn't eat a thing, she also knew he shouldn't be alone right now. He was petrified at the thought of being a father, and soon that thought would become a reality. She just hoped he'd somehow find the strength to deal with it all.

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Rory finally fell asleep in Lorelai's arms after crying for half an hour. When she thought it was safe, Lorelai moved Rory onto the couch and snuck into the kitchen. She couldn't even imagine what Luke would think, but she couldn't keep him locked inside her pantry forever.

"Luke I..." she started, but he wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay."

Lorelai returned his hug, and bit back the urge to cry like a little girl about how unfair life was. The comforting thought was that she knew with all her heart that Luke would let her. He would be the one to kiss her tears away, and she began to fall in love with him the instant she realized that.

"I should probably go, unless you need me to stay," Luke said after a few moments.

"I do need you to stay, but you should go. I'll be okay, I can handle this," she said, more to herself than to him.

He nodded and gave her a tender kiss on the lips before sneaking out the front door. He quickly glanced at Rory's form. She was balled up in the fetal position with wet tears still glistening on her porcelain cheeks. It pained him to see her like that, and he couldn't wait to get his hands on the guy that caused her so much grief.

A/N: This was an extremely fun chapter to write! I've been wanting to write a trory fight scene, but I haven't had the opportunity to. I hope you all enjoyed this installment. And by the way, thanx for the info about that song (Torn by Natalie Imbruglia) Now, I'm looking for a trory beta for an NC-17 fic for my own exchange! Please email me if you're interested! Review PLEASE!!!!