Chapter 132

February 26th, 2022

Rory and Gigi returned downstairs perhaps 10-15 minutes later. They hadn't talked much, Gigi having been too upset. But Rory had worked her magic on Gigi's eyes so they wouldn't look so red. She had a plan, at least a preliminary plan.

After those minutes that she'd spent upstairs, suddenly small talk and catching up with friends no longer seemed like the priority. Rory hadn't really gotten a lot of chances to mingle, and now she was pretty sure she couldn't even though she realized she'd probably still had to, and she truly tried her hardest.

"Hey, we're out of juice for the kids, should I go grab some?" Lorelai caught Rory just as she was about to step into the living room. Gigi managed to slip onwards, her cell phone, glued to her hand, providing a good diversion.

"Um… there should be some in the pantry, did you check there?" Rory suggested. While the topic would've been right up Lorelai's alley, at this point it was crystal clear that they didn't need hurricane Lorelai on the topic.

"Look at you, sounding like Emily Gilmore by the second," Lorelai teased, the idea that Rory had an actual separate pantry on top of her sizable kitchen sounding like such a over the top luxury to have. "I'll go check," she added, having not thought to look for any separate room.

"Yeah, just down the hall, just next to the laundry room," Rory explained, and made her way onwards into the crowd, seeing Gigi already waiting for her. The mission was to talk to their dad and ask if Gigi could stay the night for starters.

"Hey, where did you two disappear?" Christopher inquired, seeing Rory and Gigi. "These mushroom caps are delicious by the way," he commented, joyously.

"Oh, just, girl talk," Rory replied, swiftly. "Hey, dad, we were actually thinking - maybe Gigi could stick around for a few days, stay overnight. Logan and I could talk about Yale, we could go shopping tomorrow," she suggested.

So much she'd understood from Gigi was that she was in shock and just needed a moment to think and that without her father, who was 'mister positive' and especially eager to chat during road trips, that would just lead her to hold it in and lie to him. This really wouldn't have helped her the way she was feeling now. Rory knew they'd need to tell him, but there was a right time and a wrong time for it, and right now Rory felt it was time for her to help her little sister. Whether that included just holding her hand when she told Christopher, or something else, was yet to be determined.

"Sure, that sounds like fun. It's been a while since you two hung out," Christopher replied. The truth was it was probably more like two years since they'd hung out, Rory recalling a festival of some sort and a movie night they'd had over at Stars Hollow - all the Gilmore women together.

Rory promised Christopher they'd make sure Gigi would get home safely in time for school on Monday.

The rest of the evening Rory felt she was in some sort of a trance, mostly just keeping an eye on Gigi, chatting casually about nothing too deep as if on auto-pilot. She even had a large glass of wine, even her personal anxiety level being higher than usual due to the unexpected news.

Gigi looked so young to her, despite looking very much like a woman in her high-waisted ⅞ length dark jeans and her chunky but cropped sweater that only barely came down to the waist of her jeans. She could've been any one of her seniors at Chilton, except she wasn't wearing her uniform. Hell - she was a senior. Rory saw herself in her, her aspiration of going to a good college, but also her mother disappointing her parents - the whole monologue by Straub that she'd had to listen to when she was 16 coming rushing back to her. She knew that Gigi's situation was different - it was a different time, she was 18 - not 16 and her father had least had some perspective on making a mistake like that though he sure wasn't going to be happy when he found out. But if anything - there was only really Francine to truly disappoint. Considering how old and frail the woman was the news actually might kill her, Rory realized.

As the night drew to a close, they all said their goodbyes, and while Logan was patting the shoulder of his buddies in goodbye, Loki along on his leash about go out for his evening stroll, Rory pulled aside Tristan who was just about to leave.

"Tristan, I wanted to ask you something," Rory said.

"I'll be right there," Tristan said to Liam and Laura and used the remote to open the doors of his car for them. Liam was just passing Logan and naturally wanted to play with Loki for a few more minutes. "What's up?" he asked Rory.

"Listen, it's a bit of a sensitive subject and it's not for me. I know I could probably google this, but as someone who works at the ER I'm sure you can give me the quickest answer," Rory began, fretting asking him a little. "Is there something along the lines of Planned Parenthood that's open on a Sunday in Hartford? Like where might a teenager be able to go for advice?" Rory asked. Whatever Gigi was going to do, Rory felt information, along with someone examining her, was what she could offer her, especially in a situation where Sherry was on another continent. Rory was almost about to add some elaborate story about it being for someone she knew in her school, but it only really took Tristan one look back into the living room where Gigi was sitting on the couch with Em, letting the little girl braid her hair, and glance back at Rory and Rory knew he'd made the connection already.

"Normally we'd recommend waiting until Monday when our clinic has working hours. But if it's urgent we do have an OB-GYN attending. I'm at work tomorrow, you could just text me and I can see how busy we are," Tristan suggested.

"Thanks, that'd be great," Rory replied, sounding concerned. She squeezed his arm briefly as a 'thank you', and closed the door behind him.

"I can't believe you just had a party and there are no leftovers - zero, zip, zilch, nada," Lorelai came from the direction of the kitchen, having been there to help clean up a little. She'd also filled her thermos with coffee for her drive home. But iIt was clear her mother had been stalling, and Rory had a pretty good guess she didn't like being alone at home. But considering they'd just transformed one of the guest bedrooms into a playroom for Em, they only had one to spare, and that was going to be Gigi's tonight.

"I promise I'll make and order food with the Lorelai coefficient next time," Rory promised, and hugged her mother goodbye.

They agreed to talk again soon and Rory waved her off, noting that the driveway and the side of the road was quickly emptying of visitors.

"I'm kind of tired," Gigi confessed and rose, as she saw Rory had let her mother out.

"Not yet, Gigi. It's too early!" Em pleaded, liking being around her very youthful aunt a great deal.

"Of course," Rory replied. "And Em, it's time for bed for you too, missy," she told her daughter. "Come on, I'll show you to your room," Rory said to her sister.

She told Em to go brush her teeth until she'd be back to help her with her bath, after she'd made sure Gigi was comfortable.

The guest bedroom held a comfortable king-size platform bed, its headboard decorated in dark gray velvet. The nightstands and dresser that mostly just held wrapping paper, Halloween costumes and Christmas decorations until Rory figured out a better place for them, were dark wood. This room shared a bedroom with the other guest bedroom. But overall it was still a very nice room, even if a little anonymous.

"Towels are in the bathroom, if you get hungry or thirsty - help yourself to anything in the fridge. We'll talk in the morning, okay? I know this is scary but we'll figure this out, okay," Rory said, assuringly.

"I just feel so stupid, I can't believe I was that stupid…," Gigi fretted, running her fingers throgh her blond hair. She was no doubt going to get a poor night's sleep and there was nothing anyone could do to help that.

"We'll talk, we'll go see a doctor if you want. Right now just try to get some rest," Rory said. She wanted to ask a lot of questions - who the father was and how far along she thought she was for starters. Though she could guess by Gigi's slim figure that it couldn't be far, even if she thought back to Sherry's pregnancy and recalled that it barely showed on her.

"Thank you, Rory," Gigi replied, and hugged her again.

Rory said goodnight and went to give Em a bath, not hurrying it. She had a lot on her mind and kept thinking of possible scenarios for her sister, perhaps even dwelling on her decisions a bit too much, almost as if they were hers, trying to imagine herself in her position.

She read Em a story - 'Dragon Love Tacos'" which was more of a silly story than anything else, definitely a part of the lighter side of Em's bookshelf. It was during that when Loki came through the door, already knowing where he was supposed to be. His nose and paws were a little wet, indicating that Logan had washed him, which seemed to be a smart idea when it was getting muddy outside. Rory cautioned Loki to sleep in his bed by the foot of the bed, by pointing a finger at it, and the dog was actually pretty obedient if treats were included. And they all knew that it was wise to have a few snacks nearby at all times.

When Rory returned to her bedroom, accompanied by a deep sigh, her mind still swirling around Gigi's situation, she was caught by surprise by Logan who was standing in the doorway of their bathroom, his toothbrush in his hand.

"Anything you want to tell me?" he asked with that glimmer in his eyes.

Rory felt a little confused for a moment. But soon realized what this must've been about.

"If you're referring to the positive pregnancy test in bin then I'm sorry to disappoint but it's not mine," Rory sighed, hating that was the news she had to tell him.

"Oh," Logan reacted, but was clearly a little disappointed. "Gigi?" he asked, making the logical connection to the reason why she was staying the night.

Rory nodded. She hadn't exactly had a lot of time during the evening to fill Logan in on everything, except telling him Gigi was staying the night.

Rory could see the concern on his face, but they both headed for the bathroom to brush their teeth in silence at that moment.

It was as they climbed into bed and switched off the light, when Rory finally spoke again.

"I'm going to need you to watch Em for me, we might go see a doctor with her," Rory spoke in a whisper, just in case.

"Of course," Logan replied. "Do you know anything about the situation? What's she going to do?" he asked.

"Not yet, she was too upset…," Rory replied.

"Wow… that must be a lot. I can't even imagine," Logan said, sounding compassionate.

"Me neither," Rory agreed. "I don't know what she wants or who the dad is… but I was thinking..," Rory began, having just now gotten an idea. She hadn't thought it through, not by a long shot, but she just needed to throw it out there.

"Yeah?" Logan urged her to speak.

"I could offer her at least, that if she wanted us to - that we could help her. I at least want to show her the options, but I want you to be okay with it before I go offering anything," Rory explained.

"Help how?" Logan wanted her to specify.

"I don't know. Maybe either let her live here, or just take care of the baby… I just don't want her to think it's the end of the world or that she only has one option," Rory whispered.

"Well we can help, I don't disagree with that," Logan said. "But... I do think it's a little soon to be thinking of solutions that far along unless you know exactly what she wants. I can't imagine being a guy her age and wanting her to keep it, even if it sounds horrible," Logan added, honestly.

"If it weren't for my mom, I probably wouldn't either," Rory admitted. "But maybe with the right support system, it would be different," she added with a shrug.

"Offer help, but the specifics… just let them wait, okay?" Logan suggested, knowing a thing or two about the legal aspects in these things thanks to Colin. It'd not be an easy path if they chose to raise the baby, or even adopt. It was just drama knocking on the door.

"Okay," Rory sighed. "I'm sorry it wasn't mine," she added, speaking of the pregnancy test.

"It's okay," Logan added, and kissed her hair, holding her.