Flashback

Rory vomited for the third time before sitting back on her heels. She wiped her mouth with a shaky hand and leaned her head against the smooth, cool tile of the walls. This was the third time this week she had been overcome with nausea. The first had been when Paris walked in with very disgusting looking organic food from the market off campus. Usually, Rory scrunched up her nose and stuffed it far away and out of sight and smell. Now however, Paris had walked in and handed the bag to her while she rooted through her purse for her ringing phone. Rory had taken one whiff of the steamed broccoli before making a mad dash to the bathroom where she puked up her pancakes. The second time had been when she smelled pizza coming from the room to her left. She once again barely made it to the bathroom before puking out the contents of her stomach. Now, the third time, had been because she simply thought of food.

"Are you alright in there?" Paris snapped from outside. "Are you sick? Is it that flu going around? I told you not to hang out with those chicks you met from class! I told you they looked iffy! If you're sick, just stay the hell away from-" Rory opened the door, looking white and shaky.

"I don't think I have the flu," she replied, her voice showing what her face did. Fear. "I need you to do me a favor. Could you go to the drug store on the corner and buy me a pregnancy test?" There was a long silence from Paris.

"Holy shit, Gilmore. You're pregnant, aren't you?" Paris said, looking honestly stunned. Rory shrugged once and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "I'll be right back. Just wait right here for me, alright?"

"Yup," Rory replied meekly. She went to sit on the couch as the front door closed with a final snap. Once Rory was sure Paris was gone from the house, Rory let out a small sob as fear and anxiety rocked her body. I'm not pregnant, she thought firmly. I did not get pregnant! I am not the irresponsible!

Twenty minutes passed before Paris returned with a bag filled with various boxes. "I didn't know which one to get! Each one told me it was better than the rest! I asked some woman which one she would recommend and she told me she wouldn't know, she couldn't have kids! Then she started crying so I ditched her and found some pimply high-schooler and he got all freaked out and just pointed to a box. I couldn't very well trust him, so I bought everyone of them. Here," she offered one to Rory. She took the box, feeling as though she were watching an out-of-body-experience and stared at it.

"So this is going to tell me whether or not I'm going to be a mother," Rory said in a whisper. Paris nodded once and looked uncomfortable and impatient.

"Are you going to piss on the stick or what?" she finally asked, after Rory stared at the box for eleven minutes. Rory turned to her with a shocked and frightened expression. "I'm sorry! I'm an only child and you're the only person I know whose gotten pregnant! Well, I haven't stayed in touch with Madelyn or Louise, so I don't know if they got pregnant, but-"

"I'll take it," Rory said, standing up and walking shakily to the bathroom.

"Do you need any help?" Paris asked, following her into the bathroom. "I could hold the stick while you pee on it, or I could make some tea…"

"Coffee would be nice," Rory said, scratching her head. Paris nodded.

"Coffee it is," she replied. "Call me when we know…"

"I will," Rory said with a shuddering breath. She waited for Paris to leave the room and then closed the door open. Two minutes later she was staring at the test in front of her, willing it to be negative. Please don't be positive, Rory thought, her eyes clenched tight. Please don't be positive. The timer next to her went off with a startling chime and Rory peaked over at the test. "Positive."

Present

"Rory?" Jess asked, staring at the carriage. He stood up, his face settling in a frown, his mind working furiously.

"Jess, what are you doing here?" Rory asked weakly.

"Liz is getting married to T.J. again and somehow I was guilted into coming back for it," Jess said, never taking his eyes off the carriage. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much," Rory said. There was a long pause. "Oh, um, I had a baby."

"I see that," Jess said his voice sounding as though it were desperately trying to stay calm. "Is it-" he stopped then and swallowed. His tongue seemed heavier than he last remembered and his mouth was remarkably dry. "Is it-"

"Yours?" Rory asked softly. He nodded once, glancing at the carriage.

Flashback

Rory sat on the bus for the second time on her way to New York. Tears were in her eyes as she went over the conversation she had planned for Jess. She would have the end it on her terms before he went and broke her heart again. Should she tell him that he was going to be a father? Should she explain to him that he didn't need to be there? Could she convince him that she could do it on her own? Could she do it on her own? Could she do this?

The bus shuddered to a stop after an hour of Rory lost in thought. She stood up with five or so different passengers and quickly walked down the steps and onto the pavement. The crisp, New York air was inhaled into her nostrils almost immediately. Rory loved it in New York.

Jess was expecting her and, as a surprise, met her at the bus stop. He had some flowers in one hand, something that seemed totally out of character to him, and a book in the other. He just made it so much harder for her.

"Morning," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. She tried to smile at him but just felt tears in her eyes. Instead of telling him the reason for crying, she lied and told him she was so happy to see him.

"I'm just very emotional right now," she lied. He gave her a half smile before gesturing towards the road that would lead them back to his apartment. Rory nodded once and they began walking across the busy streets, past crowds of people and the hot-dog stand guy.

"I cleaned up especially for your arrival," Jess explained, turning the key and pushing the door open. Rory could see quite plainly that he had cleaned. Books were stacked neatly in the bookcases in the walls or on the coffee table. The floors looked vacuumed, the dishes washed and put away.

"Very nice," Rory said with a half smile. "We need to talk."

"Sure," Jess replied and set the flowers down on the coffee table, next to an old book Rory had read many years ago. "What about?" Rory turned to look at him and found herself unable to say what was on her mind.
"It can wait," she said. He seemed to think maybe it was more important than she let on, but he knew that when she was ready, she would tell him.

"If you say it can wait, I can wait," Jess replied. "Cookie?" he extended a plate of cookies to her and she ate one quickly. After she decided it wasn't going to come back up and visit on his rug, she took another, and another, and fifth. "Hungry?"

"Very," Rory said with a nod. She turned to look at him again, she had shifted in case of vomit, and felt a painful twinge at her heart. Couldn't she very well tell him and hope for the best? If he can't be there, won't it be easier on her? Wouldn't she always know that it just wasn't meant to be?

With a sigh, Rory realized that this would be the end for them. She would have the baby without worrying Jess. She could do it on her own, her mother had done it and everything turned out fine. It was going to be alright.

For an hour, they sat on the couch and caught up with each other on everything. Rory talked to him about school, he talked about the high school credits he had received in California. He also voiced his idea about taking some classes at NYU. His grades were good enough to get in and they had an interesting writing program that had really gotten Jess interested.

"You must really like it if you're risking socializing with other people," Rory joked slyly. Jess rolled his eyes at her and then smiled.

"We had to write the first chapter of a book last week," Jess explained.

"Can I read it?" Rory asked.

"The teacher still has it for grading," Jess explained. "He read it out loud to the class." Rory let out a snort of laughter just picturing Jess's face at the time. "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" he asked and ran his fingers up her side. Soon, they were both in a laughing frenzy. Unexpectedly, Rory's lips crashed down upon Jess's, startling the both of them.

As Rory lay in Jess's bed, listening to him sleeping peacefully, she traced small circles on her stomach. She wondered how he would feel if he knew that right now, inside of her, his baby was growing. How would he react to it? Would he be happy? Would he ask her to leave?

"Afternoon," he said, his voice raspy with sleep. She turned to him and smiled.

"Afternoon," she replied, snuggling back down with him. "We need to talk, Jess."

"Alright, talk," he replied easily.

"This isn't naked, after sex talk," Rory said. "This is something serious we need to discuss." Jess sat up and looked at her before shrugging, rolling out of bed, and pulling a pair of pants on.

"Your turn," he said slyly. She felt a dull blush creeping up onto her cheeks as she got ready. Once her clothes were on again and she had brushed her hair to the best of her ability with his old comb, Rory walked into the living room. She heard Jess moving around in the kitchen and walked over to him.

"Something's come up," she said suddenly. Jess turned to her with his eyebrows raised. "I need to leave and I don't know if I can see you anymore." He didn't say anything. She felt tears in her eyes. "I just want you to know that I love you and I will always have a special place for you in my heart. Goodbye Jess," she said, sobbing slightly. She kissed his cheek tenderly before gathering her things.

"Rory! Rory, wait! Wait up," Jess cried, following her down the stairs. "Where are you going? What's the matter? Rory!" They stepped outside and she kept running to the bus, which had just pulled up. "Rory, wait up! Rory!" he bellowed. She stepped on the bus and walked down the rows until the back as the bus began to move again. Jess ran down the street with the bus as Rory sobbed into her hand. He gave the bus one last bang and stopped running.

Present

"Yeah," Jess said weakly. "Is it mine?"

"Yes," Rory said simply.

Lorelai

"Well, do you know where she went?" Lorelai asked Kirk who was sitting eating his fries.

"I did not see her," Kirk said in his odd voice. "I did, however, see one Jess Mariano walking down the street, if you're interested."

"No thanks, Kirk," Lorelai snapped and walked back to the counter. Luke was pacing back and forth looking worried. "How is it I can get a new pair of shoes and the entire town notices, but my kid and grandkid go missing and no one seems to see where they are?"

"Selective sight," Luke muttered. "Don't worry about it. Rory's got a good head on her shoulder. She wouldn't do anything dangerous with Lola."

"It's not Rory I'm worried about, it's that nephew of yours," Lorelai snapped. "He always seems to come in at the most inappropriate moment! He just couldn't have come back three days ago! Then at least we would have been at the hospital and I could have made an excuse to keep her an extra day or so."

"Well, he takes after his mother," Luke snapped, wiping down the counter. "We should go looking for them. I don't want them seeing each other unless it's in a controlled environment…"

Flashback

Lorelai walked into the diner and smiled at Luke. He was wearing his backwards baseball cap and wiping down the table in the far corner.

"Luke?" Lorelai asked timidly. He whipped around to stare at her.

"Oh, hey," he replied and hesitated before going back to what he was doing. "What's up?"

"Rory's pregnant," Lorelai said simply. Luke's hand stopped it's circular motion and turned to stare at Lorelai in disbelief.

"Wh-what?" he asked, his eyebrows lost under the rim of his hat. "Rory? Our Rory?"

"Our Rory got knocked up," Lorelai said, tears back in her eyes. "Like mother, like daughter, right?" Luke looked at her sadly as she stumbled over to a chair and sat down hard. "And you want to know what the worst thing about this whole situation is?" Luke didn't reply and Lorelai took that as a yes. "Your nephew knocked her up. That's right! Jess got Rory pregnant!"

"I'll kill him," Luke snarled. He went behind the counter and pulled out the baseball bat. "I'll bring him back here and we can both beat him to death! Sound like a plan?"
"Oh, how I want to do that," Lorelai said, laughing for the first time in a week. "He's going to be a father though. He's going to my grandchild's father." she laughed again and then cried slightly. "I'm thirty-five years old and I'm going to be a grandma! Now I know how my mother felt…"

"Lorelai?" Luke asked softly.

"Yes, Luke?" Lorelai whispered.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I think so," Lorelai replied.

Present

The door to the diner opened with a tremendous force. "Luke!" someone bellowed. Lorelai whipped around to see an angry Jess standing there.

A/N Please read and review.

I would just like to point out that Rory would leave and go to New York because she did so in the second season. Also, saying that she would be pregnant in two weeks isn't ruining anything, I say so in the summary. Sorry, don't mean to bitch but that was bothering me…