a/n: to rock'n'rollbitch this story takes place somewhere between 1900 and 1910. The year isn't all that significant because I'm too lazy to do a bunch of research of the era to make it all historically accurate. I just thought that the Victorian/Edwardian social structure would be perfect for this story. So if you want a year, let's say it's 1906, just for the hell of it. If anyone has any objections, or if I've made some huge blunder in historical accuracy, you know where the review button is.

FYI, as a rather lame reference that most of you would probably know, Titanic (ah, such a sad movie) is 1912.

I love all your reviews and reactions. Please keep them coming

Chapter Seventeen: Questions and Answers

"Where are you going?" Lorelai cried, rushing towards her husband as quickly as her pregnant body would allow her.

"To kill him."

"CHRISTOPHER!"

He turned, startled that she had yelled at him.

"He got her pregnant Lorelai."

"Just like you and I twenty years ago. Do you really think you would be happy right now if my father had killed you?"

"Well that just doesn't make any sense at all. If I'm dead I can't feel emotion, now can I? Plus, isn't Heaven supposed to bring you eternal peace and joy?"

"Who said anything about Heaven?"

"I hardly think I deserve Hell," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at his wife with a playful expression.

"Not the point," Lorelai said, after meeting his gaze for a moment. "If you do kill him you will end up in Hell."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked.

"It's Rory's secret to tell, not mine."

"Then why did you just break it to me."

"They're running out of time," Lorelai said. She sank into her armchair; her swollen ankles soar and tired. "You have to step in and do something."

"What can I do for them?"

"You're her father. Give them the approval to get married."

"That doesn't mean Mitchem will agree to anything. In case you forgot his decision was quite final."

"This isn't a business deal," Lorelai snapped. "This is two kids who need to do something soon. It doesn't matter if Mitchem agrees or not, Logan is an adult. He will graduate from Yale in just a year's time, he'll get a job, they'll do fine. Plus we can provide for them for a while. He may be cut off, but we won't take away her inheritance."

Christopher sighed and rubbed his forehead. "When did our lives start to fall apart?"

Lorelai sighed. She was not about to throw it in his face and reply that everything changed when he was in Europe. He did not drive the girls to make the choices they made during those months. The silence between them was thick; they both were thinking about Luke, though Christopher did not know the true identity of the man tormenting their lives.

"Do you love him?" he asked at length, unable to restrain the question that had been burned in his mind since the moment he realized his wife was pregnant.

Lorelai studied him; guilt flooded throw her as she recognized the hurt and anguish in his eyes. She looked down. "Yes."

From the corner of her eye she saw Christopher nod slowly, processing the information. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. "I'm so sorry, I don't know-"

"It's alright Lor," he said quietly. "I understand that for some reason I was just never able to love you the way you needed to be loved."

She bit the skin of her lip, thinking about their awkward relationship.

"Do you want to be with him?"

"I don't know."

They sat in silence for a long while. Emily's voice could be heard faintly from downstairs.

"Why are you protecting me?" Lorelai asked, breaking the prolonged silence.

Chris shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I didn't want to deal with the fact that you're carrying another man's baby. Maybe I want another one of my own. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

"And now?"

He turned to her to see that she was looking at him too. "I'm not backing down if that's what you mean."

"Then what are you thinking about?"

"I'm not going to hold you here if you would be happier with him."

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"So you promise you're not mad at me?" Lorelai asked as she helped her daughter pack her things in trunks.

"Of course not," she said. "Maybe I should have gone to him myself, sooner too."

"It doesn't matter now. You have the house in Stars Hollow, and you're marrying Logan this evening, everything is working out nicely."

"I can't believe he found us a house. It sounds lovely," Rory said, smiling happily. "Two days is so soon."

"Your father understands how important this is," her mother said, folding some of Rory's old baby clothes she had saved. Her daughter would need them more than Lorelai. She had been ordering them for several months.

Rory looked around her room with a reflective look on her face.

"It's only about twenty miles away," Lorelai said.

"That's still a more than a days trip," she said, looking at her mother sadly.

"Not if you buy a Model T."

Rory smiled. "I'm not letting my son get any wild ideas about fast automobiles," she replied, rubbing her stomach protectively.

"Son, I thought Logan was convinced it was a daughter."

Rory shrugged. "I think the world has all the Gilmore girls it can handle."