A/N: this chapter is more of Lorelai and Nick conversation. I know Lorelai doesn't talk about her problems to people all that much in the show like this; but I've figured that her brother is one of the few people she'll let see every part of who she is, good, bad and ugly. Sorry if it's gotten redundant but that's how things came out so here ya go.
Disclaimer: I may be a witty female, but i don't own Gilmore Girls, sad as that sounds.
Chapter Six: Telling and Waiting
Lorelai and Nick arrive at school the next day, both anticipating the day ahead. Lorelai had decided that morning in the shower that it was probably best to tell Christopher the news today. Since she had told Nick the previous night, she was feeling slightly less up tight about letting him know. Nick had taken it well for being so protective of her, so Chris shouldn't be so bad, right? She hadn't told her brother that today was Tell Christopher day, in case she bailed or it didn't go as she hoped. Better to deal with it on her own instead of having her brother unfocused the whole day as well.
The Gilmore siblings separated and went their separate ways to start their day. As Lorelai reached her locker Chris came up from behind and wrapped his arms around his girl. She flinched slightly, then relaxed into his arms, wanting to relish the feel of being in his arms, it felt good to be held and loved by someone. "So how's it going?" Chris asks, hugging her tight to his body.
"Good, its, uh, it's going good. Considering its 7:30 in the morning, yeah, all is well." She sarcastically replies; everyone in school knows how much of a morning person Lorelai is.
"Good. I feel like we haven't seen each other much recently. Where have you been?"
"Oh you know me, I've just been all over the place. I actually found this really good coffee that keeps me going longer than the stuff my mom drinks; and I have to sneak it, which is an annoying way to get a caffeine buzz to begin with." They both laugh, and she decides that right now is not the time to let him know. All of their friends are hanging around the lockers and if she told him now it would be all over the school faster than she could say she the word pregnant; which she figured she could get our really quickly when the situation arose. She will tell him sometime today though she promises herself, no more procrastination, although it does sound like a nice alternative, its worked so far.
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Nick waits at the car after school the next day, waiting for Lorelai to arrive so they can go home. Finally, he sees her coming out the school doors behind a large crowd. What he sees worries him, Lorelai looks shaken and near tears, not that anyone else would notice as Lorelai is good at keeping up appearances, but he is able to see past it. He quickly approaches her to find out what is wrong. "Lorelai? Are you okay?" When she doesn't respond he takes her by the arm and continues talking, "Come on, let's get in the car and go home."
Lorelai gets into the passenger seat and stares out the window as the road goes by. On any other day Lorelai would be chattering on about classes, Chris, her friends and all that had gone on during the day. Today though, Lorelai's silence filled the car. Nick figured that it would be better to wait until they got home and were some place quiet to question Lorelai about what was bothering her.
When they reached their house they walked in to find Emily finishing up a phone call with a fellow member of the DAR. "Why, thank you Bitty, I will see you tomorrow, you have a good evening as well. Good bye." She hangs up and turns around to see her two children walking in. "Hello Nicholas, Lorelai. How was school today?"
Nick responds that his day went well, while Lorelai replies with a slightly sullen "Fine." Emily is taken aback at Lorelai's quick reply, hoping for more of an elaboration. When none is given she turns to Nick and prompts him for more information about his day.
As Nick talks to Emily Lorelai stand beside him, contemplating her day and all that had occurred. She stood there, getting more angry, confused, hurt and a myriad of other emotions. Wishing she could go upstairs soon so that she wouldn't have to hide her feelings; since if she showed any now her mother would latch on and not let her go anywhere without divulging what was wrong. Having to tell that news a second time in one day was not what she wanted to do. She wanted to go to her room and wallow. Being in her room was safest.
Once Emily finished talking to Nick she glances at the silent Lorelai and comments "Lorelai, you really need to watch your weight. You seem to be getting chubby." At this comment Lorelai pales slightly, nods acknowledgement and quickly heads upstairs. Nick shrugs at Emily, indicating he doesn't know what's wrong, he makes a comment about going to do some homework and then slowly follows in Lorelai's wake up the stairs, not wanting anything to seem suspicious. In the meantime Lorelai has rushed to her room, shut the door and thrown her bag and sweater down by her bed. She takes a few seconds to breathe, then opens the door to see Nick pass by and enter his own room. She sneaks down the stairs to see what Emily is up to, she wants to go hang with Nick but doesn't need to worry about her mother walking by and poking her head in. There isn't any sign of either of her parents, just the maid of the week, Sarai, walking around making sure she's done everything Emily has asked her to.
Walking quietly up the stairs again, Lorelai heads towards Nick's room down the hall. Nick is in his room putting his school stuff away and getting ready to change out of his uniform when Lorelai knocks and enters once Nick yells "Come in!" She looks around, taking in Nick's room; which, unsurprisingly, was originally decorated in a fashion not horribly different from hers. Although his personal touches are not posters of his favorite bands, but of his favorite sports teams and other marks of his accomplishments throughout life.
"Oh, hey!" Nick says as a greeting, somewhat surprised that Lorelai had come to his room. He had thought about heading over to her room to talk, if she was willing to let him in, privacy was a touchy subject with her; but since she, for some reason had ended up in his room, he figured now was as good of a time as any to try and get her to open up again.
Lorelai continued to look around, browsing through his albums and cassettes, checking if he had anything new or good. "Sooo, do you have anything new here that I haven't seen yet? That I can steal and listen to?" she begins as she looks through the stuff she's seen before and the stuff that he's gotten since she last was in his room. She lets out a gasp, "Oh my god!"
"What?"
"You do not have the new Offspring! You have got to be kidding me!"
"Oh yeah, it just came out the other day, haven't you heard their stuff on the radio?"
Lorelai sputters "but – but, they aren't any good, I've heard two or three of their songs and they sound exactly the same, just different words but the same beat!" She holds the cassette at a distance as if being near it may cause her some kind horrible issue where she no longer listens to good music.
Nick snorts, "Yeah right Lorelai, because Metallica is the new Beach Boys. Come on Lorelai!" Nick retorts, not believing she is going to start ragging on his music collection. "I know I've seen Barry Manilow somewhere in your room" he teases.
"But the Offspring? I swear you and …" she suddenly deflates from her fake argumentative posture to one of defeat.
"Me and… what? Lorelai, if you're gonna diss my music at least complete your thought." Lorelai doesn't respond, once again seemingly lost in her thoughts. "Lorelai, is everything okay? You were really quiet on the ride home, normally you don't shut up.
She looks up at Nick and whispers "I told Chris today, that I've, you know, got a bun in the oven. Not exactly in those words of course, but he knows."
Nick takes in Lorelai's appearance and comes to a conclusion. "So can I assume that he didn't take it all that well?" Lorelai shakes her head as tears escape down her cheeks. He crosses the room, and for the second time in as many days, gathers his sister into his arms for the comfort he knows she needs. Lorelai cries in her brother's arms, upset at Chris's response to her shocking news.
"So, how what exactly was his response?" Nick asks, trying to get Lorelai to talk. He knows of the unspoken Gilmore code of keeping up appearances; but they're home now and away from the parents, so he believes that Lorelai really shouldn't have to deal with this on her own. Since she won't tell Richard and Emily, he is going to be there for her, like a big brother should.
Lorelai sniffles and looks up, gathering herself. "Well, I'd thought about telling him throughout the morning. So I pulled him aside at lunch; because he really should know since he's the father." Nick nods in agreement. "Okay, so I pulled him off into a corner where we wouldn't be interrupted or seen, because hello! This is kind of a serious conversation. Nick, it was really hard to tell him; harder than it was to tell you I think, because I really didn't know what he'd do while you are my brother and you'd be a little more understanding, which you were by the way. Thanks for that" she says with a sigh of relief. "I mean, I'm still just getting a grip on the situation and I've known for a while."
Nick move them over to his bed to sit down, as Lorelai has been pacing slightly and he'd rather she was sitting down; also knowing that this conversation is going to take a while.
Lorelai continues on, "I was trying all day to figure out how to tell Chris that he's gonna be a dad in a few months. While we're standing there he's probably wondering for what reason (other than a quick stolen kiss or two) I've dragged him away from lunch and his friends. Somehow, I gather the courage to just straight out tell him that I'm pregnant. The one time I can't come up with some quirky quip to ease into the conversation. Chris just stands there looking flabbergasted; well, who wouldn't with that kind of news. I try to get his attention, and finally, after a few moments he looks at me with surprise, and a little fear I think, in his eyes. Neither of us knows what to say, I'm waiting for him and he's just looking at me, like he's waiting for me to say that I'm joking or that I forgot to mess with him on April Fool's day or something and I'm making up for that lapse. Nothing happened! He ended up walking off to go eat lunch with his friends! Stupid boy! Because that was the smart thing to do, walk away from your pregnant girlfriend, because she's not emotional enough on her own! I really just want him to tell me that everything will be okay and that he'll be with me for everything. Oh wait, I forgot! He did manage to get out something about needing time to think about it, then he walked away!" Lorelai is close to losing her composure after this. She doesn't understand why Chris should get time to think about the situation and his feelings about it or what he's going to do. She didn't get to have any extra time to decide if she wanted to be involved. He should just be there for her, it wasn't all her fault she's pregnant.
Nick has patiently waited for Lorelai to get everything out into the open and is not wholly surprise by Chris's reaction. No doubt he is disappointed that his sister's boyfriend would act like that; he really would like to go give Chris a piece of his mind and maybe a piece of his foot as well. While Nick is thinking Lorelai has drawn up her knees and pulls them as close to her body as possible, trying to reign in her emotions. Nick sees that she is retreating and reaches out to her, wanting her to know that he's still there for her.
"Lorelai, you know I'm still here for you right?" She nods and he hugs her again. "No matter what, I'm here."
"Thanks Nick" Lorelai responds, holding on tight to the hug, not letting him go. They both sit there, each in their own thoughts, thinking about what's going to happen next.
Nick clears his throat, knowing what he has to say is going to most likely put Lorelai into her defensive mode. "Lorelai, do you think, now that you've told Chris, maybe you should tell – "
"NO!" she says severely as she pulls out of the hug and scoots away from her brother.
"But you should really –" Lorelai jumps up off the bed to face Nick.
"I know what I 'should really' Nick! But I know how they're gonna react; mom is going to flip and dad will just sit there, letting her go on and on about how horrible this is for them and that now I'll never do what I was supposed to do to fulfill the great Gilmore tradition."
Nick sits there, allowing Lorelai to calm down, realizing that this conversation has no easy button to help. "Will you let me talk?" he questions, "I promise I'll let you scream and shout as much as you want after I'm done." She sits, stews for a bit, then sighs and nods. "Okay, you do know that if you don't tell them then they'll figure it out on their own or hear a rumor; you know how gossipy people can be Lorelai, it's just going to be that much worse then if you tell them now, on your own terms. You've told me and you've told Chris. I personally would like to go kick Chris in the ass for leaving you standing there like that. Mom has been mad before, at both of us, so you know how to deal with that. I just think it's better for them to have time to get used to the idea rather than you leaving them a note one day 'Dear Richard and Emily, I'm having a baby' without ever telling them." Nick watches his sister as he finishes his speech. "Okay, I'm done for now."
Lorelai sits there, taking in all that her brother said; debating in her head the pros and cons of telling people. I am starting to gain weight, and people will start to notice. God, I'm pregnant. This is insane. Pros, I can't think of any, except that I won't be hiding anything anymore and maybe I'll feel better. Cons, oh so many; parents will be disappointed, people at school will be annoying, ugh, I don't want to think about this anymore, I just want to get out of here. She looks up at Nick after thinking it through and has come to a compromise of sorts, "Nick, can I at least wait and see if Chris has anything more to say to me before I go to mom and dad. I want to know how he really feels."
"Yeah. I wasn't going to force you into anything; I just wanted to let you know how I feel about the whole deal. I'm at school too you know, so come find me if you need anything."
"I will Nick, I promise."
"Good. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starving." He kids as they head towards the hall.
"Me, not hungry? I thought you knew me bro! Oh! You know what sounds really good? Chocolate pudding… and ham! And some pickles on the side! I wonder if I could get mom to make that? Or could I bribe the cook?..."
