Author's notes: For the record I am pro-choice and my writings will reflect that when the subject arises. Thank you to everyone for your kind feedback so far. I'll do my best to update steadily but real life will occasionally intrude. Please bear with me.

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True to her word, Lorelai had Rory in the doctor's office bright and early on Monday morning. It only took a few minutes to confirm that the stork had indeed scheduled a delivery to Rory Gilmore for the end of February or beginning of March. Even though she had been expecting the verdict of 'pregnant', the official proclamation left Rory hyperventilating. Right up until she heard the words, she had been hoping that the home tests were wrong. And now she knew they were right.

"You do have options you know," Dr. Larson said gently. "You're only about six weeks pregnant and that gives you plenty of time to make up your mind. If you opt not to continue the pregnancy, you have 14 weeks to act. After that, you'll have to go to term."

"I'm not having an abortion Dr. Larson. Thank you though." Rory clutched the paper gown a little tighter around herself and wished that she hadn't insisted Lorelai stay in the waiting room. All of a sudden, she wanted her mother.

"Okay then. I do need to discuss some other issue with you then, in order to ensure a safe pregnancy and healthy baby. I'm going to start you on prenatal vitamins. You can get them over the counter in any drugstore. Take one in the morning and one in the evening. How are you doing with morning sickness? Has it been a problem?"

"Only for a about the first hour after I get up. Then it fades away."

"Good. If that changes for the worse, you need to let me know. It's very easy to get dehydrated from vomiting. Make sure you brush your teeth every time that happens to prevent tooth decay." She continued on for a few minutes, outlining for Rory the importance of resting when she felt tired, eating healthy, not drinking or smoking or ingesting caffeine, as well as getting regular exercise and going over the warning signs of miscarriage to watch out for. "At your age, losing the baby is a slim possibility but with every pregnancy the risk is always there. If you have any cramping or bleeding or anything of that nature, call me right away or go to the emergency room if you think it's serious. I'm sure you'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Okay." Rory nodded nervously, her mind reeling from the overload of information she'd been given. "Is that everything?"

"Pretty much. I'm going to let you get dressed now and the nurse will give you some pamphlets to take home. They cover everything we just talked about, so don't worry if it didn't all stick."

"Thank you." Dr. Larson left and Rory started absently pulling on her clothes.

***********

"I can't be queen of denial anymore," Rory said quietly that night. She and Lorelai were curled on the couch, pretending to watch "Sorority Life". "This is really happening."

"Yes it is. No denying that," Lorelai agreed. "Do you want to talk?"

"I'm not having an abortion Mom." There, she'd said it.

"I didn't think you would." Don't freak out, don't freak out. "So you're having a baby."

"I don't know if I'm going to keep it. I'm thinking really hard about putting it up for adoption." Why did it hurt to say that?

"That might be the smart thing to do. What about college? You're supposed to be starting Yale in less than two months."

"It'll have to wait. I'm not going to class with my stomach sticking out two feet in front of me."

"Can I ask why not?"

"I don't want people staring at me like I'm some sort of freak. How many pregnant freshmen do you think are at Yale? I'll be the only one and it's all people will remember about me later. The first thing that will pop into their heads when my name comes up will be 'pregnant.' And if I give the baby up, I'll have to explain to so many people. I'd rather defer for the year."

Before Lorelai could respond to the very persuasive argument, the phone rang. "Hold on just one minute." She grabbed the cordless and jabbed the 'talk' button. "Hello? Mom? What's wrong?" Lorelai felt her face go pale. "When? What happened? Are you okay?" Rory mouthed a question but Lorelai didn't respond. "Do you want us to come over? Okay, I'll see you in an hour." She disconnected the phone and stared down at her hands.

"Mom what's wrong? What happened?"

"Gran just died."