"I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it… an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches… always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared… or even noticed."

-Rose Dawson, 'Titanic'

January 1984

Lorelai sat in the stiff-backed dining room chair, fiddling with the edge of the sleeve of her red velvet dress. She stared down at her almost completely full plate in front of her. She wasn't hungry.

She focused on sitting up straight and keeping her elbows off of the table as she poked at her food with her fancy silver fork, trying to make it appear as if she'd eaten more than she actually had. She didn't want her mother to scold her. That was going to happen soon enough.

Lorelai placed the palm of her right hand on her stomach, thinking about that afternoon. The memories of just a few hours ago were choppy.

A pregnancy test, from the school nurse.

Locking herself in the bathroom before her mother got home.

Pink. She could clearly remember the pink.

She hadn't told anyone. Not a soul. Not Christopher, not her best friend.

And definitely not her mother.

She knew that Christopher should be the first to know. That she should have told him the minute it became a possibility. But she just couldn't.

Because mentioning it would make it seem real. And she didn't want to think it was.

She just told herself that she'd tell him once she knew for sure. That way, she still had a way out. Nothing was certain.

But now it was. And she had no choice but to tell him.

Or did she?

Would it be better if he never knew? If she just broke up with him now, he would never have to know. He wouldn't be tied down or feel guilty. Everything would be normal for him.

But what if it were the other way around?

Lorelai was certain that she would want to know if she had a child. She wouldn't want to miss out on her kid's life. She'd want a chance to be there.

So with two simple words, she gave Christopher that chance.

"I'm pregnant."

Then, of course, he'd wanted to follow the proper procedure. He'd wanted to get married. But that's not what she had wanted.

She was sure that they weren't ready for marriage. She said that they should wait and maybe later, if it was right, they could get married.

Her parents didn't take the news well at all. They were even more angered when they heard that Lorelai and Christopher weren't going to be married.

She lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling through the dark. She had cried enough and there were no tears left.

Until this, she had always thought that she would grow up to lead a life like her mother's. That she would marry rich and become a trophy wife who plans and attends numerous pointless functions and gatherings.

Not that that was what she wanted. It was just what was expected of her. It's what was expected of every young woman in a 'civilized society'. She had never considered doing anything different.

But now?

She'd already broken quite a few of the unwritten rules of people of a class such as hers. She had snuck out of her house late at night. She had attended parties where extremely illegal substances were served. She'd gotten pregnant at sixteen. And she'd refused marriage to the father of her unborn child. She was a regular rebel.

So one more rebellion couldn't hurt.

Soon after, she began hoarding bus schedules, trying to figure out the perfect place to run to after her child was born. She spotted it.

Stars Hollow.

It was close, not a long bus ride at all. And it was small. She'd always wanted to live in a small town. The people there were probably not rich or snobby.

She could be whomever she wanted. She could do whatever she wanted.

She would be free.

Look out, Stars Hollow!

The End!