See guys, I'm a super hero. I've now updated twice this weekend. Doesn't that make you all happy? Well I'm feeling better now, knowing that I don't have to do any homework right now, because hey, it's Saturday! Yay! Yippy! I actually hate Saturdays, but for now, they're my best friend! Well I'll keep this short and to all of you who haven't reviewed the last chapter and normally do review, I would really appreciate it if you reviewed that chapter first before reading this one. Just a nice little request from me, the provider of the story. I could easily take it away too. Just remember that.

Disclaimer: Hmmm, if any of my dreams were to come true, it would surely be the dream where I don't fail French, I actually get at least a 90 in all my classes, and my friend Josh dumps his clingy girlfriend and realizes I'm just as fun to be around at that freak. Since this has not been fulfilled, I don't think the Gilmore Girls dream has been either.

Chapter 22:Can't Take It, Can Hide It

"Hello Lorelai, Rory." Emily greeted.

"Mother?" Lorelai responded. "Why are you answering the door?" Lorelai asked.

"Because the maid is too stupid to hear it." Emily answered.

"Maybe because she has had to learn how to block out much louder sounds." Lorelai suggested with a smile on her face.

"Well there is no excuse. Come in and have a drink." Emily finally said.

They both followed Emily into the living room where Richard was standing at the drink cart.

"Rory! Lorelai!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Grandpa." Rory said as she gave him a hug.

"Soda?" he asked her.

"Yeah." Rory answered as she took the seat next to her mother.

"Lorelai?" Richard asked.

"Ah…vodka martini please." she answered.

"Lorelai!" Emily screamed.

"What?" Lorelai questioned.

"You're pregnant! You can't have alcohol!" she screeched. "I mean, you would think you would be more careful!" Oh god, I just walked into that one didn't I? And it's starting off right as we get inside. I wish I could have that drink to block out her screams. Why did I have to do that? Why! Am I really that stupid? Now I have to tell her about the…and I just can't handle it right now! Lorelai argued, ranted, rambled, whatever you want to call it, in her head.

"Mom--" Lorelai tried to say something but was interrupted by her mother.

"You realize that can lead to brain damage and mental retardation?"

"Mom, please stop." Lorelai pleaded quietly.

"Why? You do know that you could kill the baby don't you!" she lectured.

At the last line Lorelai's eyes welled up with tears. She quickly got up with her purse and walked to the bathroom as she tried to hide the tears that were streaming down her face. "Lorelai! Lorelai! Where are you going?" Emily screeched after her. Emily looked questioning at Rory who had a look of deep grief on her face.

"She…she…."Rory tried to get out.

"She what Rory?" Richard asked.

"Mom lost the baby a few days ago. It broke her and Luke up, and every time it's mentioned, she starts to feel the pain again." Rory answered quietly. She then got up and followed her mother into the bathroom. Emily flashed a look of shock at Richard, whose face only mirrored Emily's.

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"Mom?" Rory asked quietly as she knocked on the bathroom door. She could only hear sobbing on the other side. Rory slowly opened the door to find her mother sitting in the corner of the room with her head in her hands.

Rory rushed to her mother's side, hugging her tight and rocking her back and forth. Rory knew that her mother was not in the mood to talk right now; she just needed comfort. "Shhhh, it's ok mom." Rory comforted quietly.

"I can't do it Rory." her mother answered.

"It's ok." Rory responded.

"No it's not! I can't keep pretending that life's ok! My life has never been as screwed up before! I lose both my baby and Luke. How is that fair? How is that right? What did I do to deserve that? And I can't go back because it's never going to be the same. Even if I went back to Luke, I would always end up keeping him at arm's length. I just don't know Rory! I don't know what to do! And even if I did, I don't know if I could! I am just so tired of my messed up life! I want to rewind time, and get Luke back! I want my baby back! I want my family back! I…I…" Lorelai sobbed. She didn't know what she wanted. She wanted too much. She had just realized that she wanted too much. But she couldn't just let that want go. She couldn't. But she had to. It was eating her up inside and she couldn't take it.

Rory didn't know how to respond without saying the wrong thing. There were so many things she could say, but all of the things she came up with sounded wrong. They sounded insensitive because Rory couldn't do the verbal comforting thing. She had always been the one to be able to give a hug, or advice, but never comforting words. Never.

"Rory, what am I going to do? I just can't think. I can't live like this. I need someone there. I need Luke. I can't forget him. Last time I was able to at least pretend that I didn't love him anymore, but now…I can't. Even if the baby still was alive, I wouldn't have the strength to pretend. I've done enough of that, and now I just want to be happy. I just want to be happy Rory." she sobbed some more.

"I know. I know mom." Rory responded quietly as she continued to rock her sobbing mother back and forth.

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"She lost the baby." Emily whispered to herself.

"She tried to tell you." Richard said without emotion. The only emotion he felt at the moment was anger towards his wife, and he had to keep that inside.

"I know, but what was I supposed to do? I thought she was pregnant and drinking alcohol. Plus interrupting is extremely rude." Emily said a-matter-of-factly.

"But you never listen to her." Richard said, getting annoyed with his wife now.

"I do too!" Emily said resentfully.

"No you don't." he said, almost at his breaking point now.

"Of course I do! Why would you think I don't?" she asked as if she knew everything.

"No you don't! You never listen to her! You insult first, and then ask questions later on! Maybe she has a reason for the things she keeps from us! Because she's afraid you will take it and turn it against her!" Richard yelled. He had lost his temper. He himself was hurt. How could his wife be so cold hearted? He walked off to his study.

"Richard! Richard! Don't you yell at me like that and then run off to your study!" she yelled at him as he walked away. Emily got up and followed him. "Richard!" she called one last time.

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Rory had holding her mother for the past 10 minutes. She heard the sobbing stop, and all that was left was a little bit of sniffling.

"You ok mom?" Rory asked as she pulled away from her mother a little bit.

"No, but I'm getting there. I'm sorry you've been dragged into all of this over the past week. I really am sorry." Lorelai apologized.

"It's ok. Us Gilmore girls have to stick together." Rory joked.

"Yeah, we do. Thanks Hun."

"Anytime." Rory responded.

"Shall we go out and witness the wrath of Hitler?" Lorelai joked as she lifted herself off the floor.

"Sure." Rory answered as she too got up off the floor. Lorelai wrapped her arm around Rory's shoulder and they both walked out of the bathroom, heading towards the living room.

When they reached the living room, they discovered it was empty. But they could hear yelling coming from the study. Rory gave her mother a puzzled look. Lorelai shrugged and they both moved to the study door. It was open about an inch or two.

"You keep terrorizing our daughter with your rude comments and insults!" they could hear Richard yelling. Rory had a look of shock on her face. She couldn't remember a time where her grandfather had yelled at all. But here he was doing it freely.

"I am doing what I see is best for her!" Emily screeched back.

"That is not what you are doing! You are putting her down for not living her life the way that you see fit!" Richard responded.

"Sorry to interrupt your shouting match here, but me and Rory are going to head home." Lorelai interrupted. Both her parents looked at her quickly. They hadn't meant for anyone to hear them yelling.

"Oh, ah…" Richard tried to find something to say.

"Bye dad." Lorelai said. She walked out to the car. Rory quickly gave her goodbyes and then followed her mother out to the car. They had taken the jeep because Rory was spending the night in Stars Hallow and taking one car saved gas.

"Ready babe?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah." Rory answered quietly. She was still in shock from the little fight she had just witnessed.

The rest of the ride home was silent.

"Don't forget we have to stop at the diner." Rory reminded her mother. They had planned to pick up Jake on their way home from dinner.

"Ok." Lorelai answered quietly. She was terrified that Luke might come out and approach her. She was terrified, but she somehow managed to hide it.

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"So I'll run in and get him. Be back in a sec." Rory said as she jumped out of the jeep and made her way into the diner.

She opened the unlocked door and walked up the stairs to the apartment. She knocked on the door which was quickly opened by Luke.

"Rory. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here to pick up Jake." Rory informed him, looking at him as if he was crazy.

"No, I meant why are you here so early? Normally the dinner goes on for at least another hour or so." he clarified.

"Oh, well grandma…kind of brought up the fact that mom was drinking alcohol which lead to an emotional breakdown, which lead to a fight between my grandparents. It's been a really long night." Rory said, exhaustedly. Luke just smiled.

"Come in then. I'll just go get his stuff." Luke told her. How had things come to this? When did Luke become the kind of dad that got three hours out of the week to see his son? When did all of this happen? Luke felt awkward in this kind of situation. He hated it. But he couldn't change it. He packed all of Jake's toys that had been in the diaper bag back in the bag, and then he grabbed the little boy's shoes.

Jake was happily crawling around inside the gate that had been purchased by Luke when Jake had first started to crawl. Luke was hoping the walking wouldn't start for a while, but he wouldn't bet on it. Jake was already pulling himself up by the edge of the gat and walking around in circles, while holding on of course.

"I'm sorry Luke." Rory apologized. Luke looked up surprised.

"For what?" he asked.

"For all of this. Mom, you, Jake. Just the whole situation. She doesn't mean to hurt you, just keep herself from getting hurt." Rory told him with sincerity in her tone.

"I know, but I wish she would just see that I'm not here to hurt her. I've always been there to help her when she gets hurt." Luke told Rory as he fidgeted with the tiny shoes in his hand.

"I know. But she has been hurt too many times. She just doesn't have the energy to deal with more hurt right now. You may not hurt her at all, but she sees it as a possibility. She just lost the baby. She knows that that baby made your relationship stronger, and now that it's gone, she is emotionally weak, and just can't see anyway of dealing with more hurt. I really am sorry Luke." Rory said. Luke was silent. He knew what Rory had just told him was true, but he didn't want it to be. He wanted it to be simpler, easier to overcome. But it wasn't.

"So here's his stuff. Tell your mom that Jake seems to be running a low fever, so just keep an eye on that." Luke said as he handed over the diaper bag and a few toys.

"Ok." Rory answered quietly. She still felt bad that Luke should get the shorter end of the stick, but she didn't want to get mixed up in it. She didn't want to be on Luke's or her mother's bad side. So she just let it be.

Rory took the things and then picked up Jake.

"Bye Luke." she said as she opened the door.

"Bye Rory." Luke said as he shut the door behind her.

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"Luke said that Jake has a small fever." Rory said as she finished buckling the smiling baby into his seat.

"He did?" Lorelai asked. How would Luke know? Oh wait, the last time Jake had a fever Luke was the first to notice.

"Yeah. So home now?" Rory asked. Lorelai was pulled out of her thoughts.

"Uh, yeah." Lorelai answered as she put her foot on the gas.

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When Luke knew that Rory was out of hearing range, he leaned against the door and fell to the ground. His head lay in his hands as he let out the tears that had been caused by the mention by Rory of the now nonexistent baby.

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Dum dum di dum! So there you go! Nice of me isn't it? Well I was feeling a bit generous and I thought the last chapter sucked, so redeeming myselfseemed like the only other option. So, please review and tell me if this chapter was worthy of your eyes and thoughts. Come on, two in two days, the last time that happened was...about two or three months ago I think. So please review, add to the morning happiness of Ducky. I haven't gone upstairs to face my parents yet and I'm guessing all they'll say is 'you're failing French, no more track, no more friends, oh, and no more internet!' so hope for the best.

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