When the Bough Breaks - Chapter Six
"Everyone has a 'best-friend' during each stage of their life - only a precious few have the same one."
A.N. Okay, I don't even have the words to describe how thankful I am for the reviews you guys have been sending me. I've never had such a great set of reviewers any more and I think my updating reflects that so I guess I really depend on reviews even more then I thought! So I know you guys all want to see Ellie, and I promise pretty soon it'll be chock full of Ellie and Jess. As for the Rogan/Lit debate you guys are making great cases and every time I read a different review I change my mind, it's like ping pong in my head but in the end I (and Rory) will have to choose one and I hope you guys will be happy with whoever is chosen! Also applause to those of you who picked up on the baby thing, it was confusingly written, I know so if you figure it out yay! I also know that you guys want to know what caused the death of Rory's children and I promise you'll find out because it's absolutely key to the story and there'll be hints about it along the way but it might be a couple chapters before it actually comes out. Anyway I suppose this authors note is quite long enough and you just want to read the story so I'm done, I promise!
Rory woke up the next morning with a headache that was beginning to become as familiar as the morning sickness that eventually kicked in. One that came from falling asleep after crying to much right before bed, her eyes are blurry and she opts for closing them for a little longer against the bright light streaming through a crack in the curtains. But curiosity as to how long she's actually managed to sleep for one period of time eventually causes her to open her eyes again.
Rolling over on the huge California king size bed Rory first spots the white piece of paper covering the alarm clock. Picking it up Rory forces herself to focus on Logan's handwriting written across his office stationary:
Rory,
I figured it would be less confusing for you if I wasn't here when you woke up. I know you're hurting and confused and I don't want to be the cause of anymore pain. Everything I said last night at the gazebo was true, I would like to try again but I don't want you to make an decisions now. I know you have a lot of things in your life to figure out, and I want you to be sure of whatever decision you make about us - not make one as a result of your grieving.
-Logan
All of a sudden Rory remembers her thoughts before falling asleep the night before and she feels like an idiot for even thinking them. Logan was a good guy and he would take care of her if she asked him too. But the problems that had been in their marriage were still their. Their inability to be together when things got hard. The lack of communication. It hadn't changed. The night before had been proof enough of that. No, for now a reconciliation with Logan wasn't right. Because Rory had the feeling that in a couple of months they would return to being as unhappy as they had been before they'd made the decision to separate.
Rory's eyes move to the clock again and is shocked to find that it's 11:30, much later then she expected and on the second glance she notices the box of saltine crackers that she had to assume Logan had left with the note. She smiles at the memory that the crackers brought on, for all four of her pregnancies Rory had dealt with severe morning sickness and seeing Rory so sick had freaked Logan out to no end. So he'd done lots of research and it had been him to discover that saltine crackers before she even got up in the morning eased the end result...leaving her only nauseous for the morning instead of with her face bent over a toilet bowl.
After nearly twenty minutes of lying in bed Rory swings her legs over the edge of the bed and hops down off of the tall bed. Slowly Rory makes her way to the bathroom that connects to the bedroom, digging through drawers she finds what she's looking for, her travel toothbrush. Glancing in the mirror while she brushes her teeth Rory takes in her appearance, she still looks pale and the nausea that's started is probably to blame for that, and there are dark circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep in the last week. With a start Rory can't help but think that she looks more like she's dying rather then grieving for the dead.
After Rory rinses her mouth out she takes a step further away taking in her full appearance in the mirror and she realizes that it's the first time that she's actually looked in the mirror for days. She could remember her previous pregnancies she's spent so much time in front of the mirror tracking how her body changed day by day but it's only just now that she realizes that her boobs are already growing. They had always been the first indicator to the rest of the world that she was pregnant followed quickly by the bump that developed early.
Lifting her tank top Rory stares at her stomach in the mirror, gently placing her free hand on her stomach she realizes that if anything has changed about her stomach it's the fact that she's lost weight. It hits her with a rush that she's been so caught up in grieving that she's been putting her baby at risk and that revelation alone knocks the wind out of her. Rory freezes, her hand still on her stomach staring at herself hard as tears slip out of the corner of her eyes. She knew she needed to pull her life together, for herself, for her baby, for Ellie but Rory honestly didn't know how to go about doing that. There were two people depending on her to take care of the, because they couldn't take care of themselves, and so far Rory was failing miserable.
A throat being cleared causes Rory's to jump and quickly drop her hands and her shirt, her eyes meeting Lane's in the mirror, "Lane, what are you doing here?" Rory flies around to face her friend.
"Logan called me to let someone know where you were," Lane informs, "he said you could borrow his car to drive back to Stars Hollow but I thought maybe we'd make a day trip of it. Mitch's sister is watching the kids for me she promised them that she would take them to the pool..."
"You drove two hours to come pick me up?" Rory asks staring shocked at her friend, Lane had gotten married almost nine years before and had changed drastically. She was still fun, music loving Lane but she'd gotten married and became a mom and the role fit her nicely. Which was good, because nine years later she was the mother of two set of twins.
"What are best friends for?" Lane asks offering a small smile, her eyes are locked intently on Rory's and Rory is sure that her best friend is trying to figure out what was going on.
Rory steps forward and hugs Lane briefly, wiping at her tears as she pulls away, "thanks for coming. I'm ready whenever."
Lane nods, "why don't we head out now, we can grab something in the car to go with us."
Rory nods, "let me grab clothes, alright?"
"You've still got stuff here?" Lane seems surprised by this announcement.
Rory nods, "in my closet, I was actually planning on coming over at some point soon to pull my summer stuff out. Guess now is as good a time as any." Rory walks out of the bathroom with Lane right behind her, and as Rory disappears into the closet on the other side of the bedroom Lane settles on the edge of the bed.
Rory is just tying the belt to a pale blue belted sundress when Lane calls out, "Rory..." she pauses and quickly asks, "are you pregnant?"
Rory appears through the doorway of the closet, hands folded across her stomach, "is it that obvious?"
Lane grins, "only when you stand in front of the mirror with your shirt up staring at your stomach."
Rory blushes, "I've lost weight this last week, that's not good for the baby...that's what you walked in on." Slipping on the usually tighter fitting dress had proved that she had definitely dropped a fairly significant weight in a week.
"We'll stop and get something to eat," Lane's still grinning when she hops off the bed to stand in front of Rory. "I suppose this is a good time to tell you as well," Lane pulls her looser shirt taunt against her stomach revealing a definite bump there.
Rory's jaw drops and her eyes go wide, "you're pregnant too?"
Lane nods, "five months, it was totally unexpected but Mitch and I are excited...and it's not twins again, we know for sure this time. Which I've got to say is a relief, I don't know if I could handle three sets of twins..."
"Five months?" Rory asks, "why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Lane's expression falls, "I didn't know how you would feel about it...after everything that's happened. I was gonna wait until some more time had passed, but then...everything else happened..."
"Lane," Rory eases herself onto the bed slowly, her best friend's distance for the last couple of months making a lot more sense. "Is that why you stopped bringing the kids up to see me? Because you were protecting me?"
Lane shrugs, "yeah, I guess."
"I would have been happy for you," Rory promises, "I can't believe you think I wouldn't be."
"I could see the way you looked at the kids, it was so sad and I couldn't stand to see you like that. So yeah, that's why I didn't bring the kids up with me when I've come up to see you..."
Rory sighs, "you didn't have to do that, Lane. But I understand why you did. I haven't been the best friend, or person period, to be around for the last couple months."
"No one blames you Rory," Lane offers.
"Maybe not," Rory shakes her head, "but I need to pull my life back together."
"Nobody expects you to have all the answers right now Rory. Your allowed to me a mess. You're allowed to cry. You're allowed to lock yourself in the house and refuse to see anyone." Lane takes a deep breath, "but you're also allowed to smile. To me excited about the fact that you're going to have a baby. And I'll be here for whatever you need, if you want to talk, cry, watch a movie, throw a party...or if you just want me drive you home and leave you alone for a couple days I can do that too."
Rory offers Lane a week smile, "thank you."
Lane shrugs before wrapping an arm around Rory's shoulders, "what are best friends for?" Pulling Rory to a standing position Lane states, "now lets go get food, we're to pregnant woman...I say we splurge on a fudge sundae."