Author: Lady Eliza
Characters: All Characters
Rating: T
Summary: Total AU Rory and Logan Spoiler Warning
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters.
AN: Thank you to my reviewers for the wonderful feedback. Please continue to review because I love the feedback I get on this story. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter. Please Review.
Chapter 21: Planning Her Downfall
Rory and Paris were being couch potatoes; they were watching CSPAN and Paris wasn't even yelling at the TV screen. There was a knock at the door and neither girl moved or made any effort to answer it. After the insistent knocking wouldn't go away Rory got up and yelled, "I'm coming."
She yanked the door open and saw a deliveryman with two-dozen or so pink roses. "Hello Miss Gilmore I have a delivery for you."
"Are you sure that's for me?" asked a sceptical Rory.
"Yes Miss, they are for you. Oh…by the way, on behalf of New Haven Flowers, I would like to congratulate you and Mr. Huntzberger on the upcoming arrival of your baby. Goodbye." The deliveryman handed Rory the roses and left her at the door completely stunned.
Paris who had heard the whole thing from her spot on the sofa said, "What the hell was that about? You're not expecting are you?"
Rory snapped out of her reverie, "I have no idea where that man would get it in his head that I was pregnant. And of course, I'm not expecting. I would have told otherwise."
"Alright, don't get so defensive. I was trying to figure out a reason why the delivery guy assumed you were pregnant. Wow! Nice flowers. Who are they from?"
"Huh…I don't know." Rory closed the door and sat down on the couch next to Paris. She smelled the flowers and took the card out to read the note. She sat there for a minute staring at the note before she wordlessly handed it to Paris.
Paris read it out loud, "Dearest Rory, Congratulations. I'm so glad that you're going to be a mommy. Love, Cousin Marilyn."
"I am really confused. I have no idea why everyone thinks I'm pregnant. I mean I only went wi-" Rory stopped in the middle of her sentence.
Paris looked at her oddly and said, "What?"
"Paris did you happen to see a man with a camera following us or flashes going off when we were leaving the doctor's office?"
"Not that I can remember. Why?"
"I think the paparazzi caught us when we were leaving the gynaecologists office. Oh god I have to call Logan."
"Why would the stupid paparazzi assume that you're pregnant from going to the gynaecologists office, lots of woman go for check ups" said a confused Paris.
"What's more juicy 'Gilmore Heiress Pregnant with next Huntzberger Heir' or 'Gilmore Heiress has a routine check up'?" asks Rory.
"You're quite right. I can see how they went with the pregnant story. Go call Logan."
Rory went into her room and dialled Logan's number as fast as possible. When he answered she told him to get his butt over to her dorm immediately. She was too agitated to study or do anything besides pace. She couldn't believe that people thought she was pregnant. When Rory heard the knock on the door she ran to open it and dragged Logan inside.
Logan had walked the distance from Berkeley to Brantford collage and throughout the entire trip people had congratulated him. He had no idea what he had done to receive their accolades but they were insistent on handing out the good wishes. Logan would have asked them why they were wishing him well but he had heard the panic in Rory's voice and didn't have time to ask questions.
As soon as he was pulled into her room he knew something was amiss. When she started explaining to him about the paparazzi getting a picture of her coming out of Paris' doctors appointment and how it all went downhill from there. He had to sit before he got light-headed. When Rory was finished all Logan could think about was that he was going to sue the tabloid that printed the false story for all it was worth. Whatever he won from the court battle he would put into a trust fund for Paris' child.
Rory and Logan decided to talk to Richard and Mitchum about what was going on. Maybe the two men could be of some help to dispel the misconception about Rory being pregnant. Both Logan and Rory's lawyers would have to come out with joint statements dismissing the false rumours about Rory being pregnant.
In the rush to arrange meetings with Richard, Mitchum and their lawyers neither Rory nor Logan thought about telling Emily, Shira, and Francine about the false rumour. They would regret that decision later on. Oh yes, they would dearly regret it.
Lorelai was pacing from the phone to the living room trying think of the best way to confront Rory about her pregnancy. After she stood in Doose's magazine aisle for ten minutes she bought a copy of the tabloid. She now knew why people had been looking at her weirdly; it was because they knew that she was going to become a grandmother before she even found out her daughter was pregnant.
Instead of calling Rory she called Luke. She knew if she needed someone to make sense of all that had occurred it would be Luke. She was so upset when she first found out she had actually cried; thank god no one she knew had come along looking for a magazine at that time.
Luke knocked on the door to the Crap Shack. He had been in the middle of placing orders when Lorelai had called in the middle of a nervous breakdown it seemed. He had gotten Jess to fill in for him and had come running to rescue for his damsel in distress.
The minute Lorelai opened the door she thrust the tabloid at him and said, "Look, just look at where Rory and Paris are coming from and she didn't even tell me."
Luke was a little taken aback when Lorelai didn't even let him in the door before ranting about what Rory had done. He wanted to say something but then stopped when he happened to glance at the tabloid. He read the heading and the blurb underneath the picture a few times before he looked at Lorelai and said, "So what? She went to the doctor."
"So what? Luke don't you realize that Rory is pregnant. This is yet another part of her life that she has not told me about."
"I sorry, but have you gone insane. You are reading a rag tag tabloid for god's sakes. How do you know this story is true? Rory might have gone to the doctor for a check up and Paris just happen to accompany her. Did you think about that scenario?"
Lorelai looked dumbfolded she had never thought that the tabloid might be wrong. She just jumped to conclusions. Lorelai assumed the worst in Rory since their relationship wasn't all that good. "Umm…I…never…I mean…I didn't…"
"That's right you didn't think it through before you assumed the worst about Rory. Lorelai, you're her mother she would have phoned you and told you the minute she found out she was pregnant regardless of the state of your relationship. If you wanted to confront her so badly you could have gone to Yale and yelled at her and made a fool out of yourself there. When are you going to let the girl live her life the way she wants and not let your preconceived notions about high society cloud your judgement? You jumped to the wrong conclusion so you could say 'I told you so' about Logan being a bad influence on Rory isn't that what this whole thing is about?"
Before Lorelai could give him a piece of her mind the phone, which had been ringing insistently during Luke's preaching, was picked up by the answering machine. 'Hello, we're not home right now, we have a life. Leave a message if you must. Tootles.'
'Hey mom it's Rory, I don't know if you have gone grocery shopping or left the house yet, but I'm on the cover of a tabloid coming out of a gynaecologists office with Paris and it basically says I'm pregnant. I'm not pregnant and that article is a huge lie. I wanted to let you know so you didn't think otherwise or answer unnecessary question from the townsfolk and the media. Well, I've got to go clear this mess up so I'll talk to you later. I love you mommy.'
Jess was covering for Luke since today was one of his off days. He hadn't heard hide or hair from Logan and Rory since the newspaper debacle. He didn't like the fact the Logan was way so confident in his relationship with Rory. I mean she had to have some feelings for Jess, why else would she tolerate him?
Jess had been busy refilling so many cups of coffee that it seemed like he hadn't had a chance to sit down. He didn't understand why there was a constant flow of people coming in and out of the diner. The people that came into the diner were not locals so there must have been something that was going on in Stars Hollow that was attracting there here.
Jess was back behind the counter making more coffee when he overheard a conversation between a man and a woman that were sitting on the stools.
"Ronnie, why do you assume Miss Gilmore will come back to her small town in her condition?"
Jess' ears perked up when the word 'Gilmore' was inputted into the conversation.
"Well Cheryl, I think if the woman is pregnant she might want to touch base with the place where she was raised. All that hearth and home nonsense."
Jess dropped the cup that he was holding and all eyes in the diner turned to him. He gave them his best sheepish grin and started picking up the pieces of the cup. He didn't think he had heard the pair correctly, Rory, his Rory, was pregnant since when? Jess didn't want to believe it; he would rather be in denial than admit that Rory was pregnant with Logan's child.
Jess would get to the end of this and he would do so before the end of the day. "Cesar, I'm going to take a break. I'll back with Luke."
Susan, Lindsay's mother, was grinning when she saw the headline news on CNN. 'Gilmore Heiress Pregnant?' Well, now that didn't surprise her too much. That Rory was just like her mother Lorelai and as the saying goes 'Like mother, like daughter.' Susan was happy that the girl was finally showing her true nature and everyone in the world could get to see her for the person she was.
Susan was still simmering mad at Rory Gilmore for ruining her daughter's marriage to the Forrester boy. Sure, they were working things out now, but that was after many hours of therapy. That therapy had cost way too much money, money that neither the Forrester's nor Lindsay's parents had. The two families were heavily in debt, but that was the better of the two evils. The choices for Lindsay and Dean had been go through a lengthy divorce that would cost a hand and a leg or work things out with many hours of therapy. Didn't need a rocket scientist to figure that out.
When Susan found out about Rory's inheritance she thought this was a way for other woman to pay. She hadn't anticipated that a simple girl such as Rory Gilmore would have such rich and powerful friends and relatives. Susan had known Rory most of her life and hadn't realized exactly who she was. She was shocked as many people were hereabouts that the shy, naïve, and bookish Rory Gilmore was in fact Lady Lorelai Leigh Gilmore III, heiress to the Gilmore Fortunes. Susan was shocked when she was threatened with financial ruin from Rory's other grandmother Francine Hayden, wife of late Supreme Court Justice Straub Hayden.
Susan had reluctantly let go of her vendetta to get back at Rory Gilmore, but now seemed like the perfect time to strike when all of Rory's family members were running around buying baby gifts for the pampered princess.
She hated that Rory Gilmore should be lucky to have such an influential and wealthy family and her poor Lindsay should suffer with a man like Dean Forrester and his minimum wage jobs. Why couldn't her Lindsay have a man like Logan Huntzberger with his jets and limos? Now there was an idea that Susan hadn't thought about. If she was going to humiliate Rory and leak the affair with Dean to the press then Lindsay could comfort Logan after he realizes his girlfriend is not worth the effort. Susan began to plan the downfall of one Rory Gilmore.
By six o'clock the news outlets were notified, by Rory and Logan's Lawyers, that the story about Rory being pregnant was fabricated. The media was gravely disappointed the story was not true because it would have been one interesting cover story.
Jess had gone to Lorelai's and gotten the answer he was looking for about Rory's pregnancy or lack thereof and returned to a very empty diner after news broke about the made up story. Luke and Lorelai spent the rest of the day together watching the press conference with Mitchum and Richard addressing the press about the lawsuit that would befall the tabloid for fabricating such a story.
Lorelai had talked to Luke about her improving relationship with Rory and her efforts to see Logan in a different light. Luke spoke of his worry that Jess was trying to get Rory back but was too hard-headed to see that she had found happiness elsewhere. They also spoke of their future together.
Susan, Lindsay's mother, was on the phone with a reporter from the New York Times telling him about his career making story about the Gilmore Heiress. She was plotting against Rory, she was planning her downfall or so she thought.
AN: I have just recently gotten myselfa blog or a blogspot, whatever there called. If anyone wants to visit it, the link will be in my profile. Only one person responded to my asking which spelling of Rory's sister's name they prefere: G.G. or Gigi.I have seen G.G. written in both ways so please vote in and tell me which one isyour favourite version.
AN: Please, Please, Please Review