Close Encounters of the Third Kind
"Are you sure you don't want to call him?" Lorelai questioned a very distracted Rory, who was looking out the car window. Christmas was in less than a week and trees on the side of the road were covered with a magical dusting of snow. She would prefer to enjoy the view and not engage in this conversation. It was the gazillionth time her mother asked this since the news about the pregnancy. The subject, of course, would be one of today's topics, on the way to another doctor's appointment in Hartford. Especially because it was finally time for the baby's first ultrasound.
Rory's answer remained the same. "No. I already told you. After I got the test results, I wrote him an email and explained the situation. This way he'll have time to process and think without pressure. He'll say something when he is ready."
Lorelai insisted. "But emails can get lost."
"I am sure he got the message. I sent it to his personal account, which is linked to his phone. And I also sent an email to his private assistant just asking to make sure he checks the inbox. This sistem always worked before," Rory confessed, watching the road to avoid eye contact with her mother. "I won't call because I don't want him to think I am asking him to come to my rescue. Whatever he decides it's not about me."
"Well, It is about you too." Her mother remarked.
"You know what I mean. This decision must be about the baby. Whether or not he wants to be a father. Not about we getting back together."
"Right. Because he has a fiancé." Lorelai muttered.
One I never asked him to leave, Rory thought. This was a part of her recent actions she wasn't ready yet to admit out loud. Or talk about it with her mother and confront the real issue. Having an affair was wrong, yet forgivable, if she at least could justify she was still madly in love. But that was not the case.
Truth is the 'Vegas agreement' was all she wanted. That's why she never felt the urge to push Logan into ending his engagement. Technically, she was also in a relationship with poor Paul - despite forgetting the guy existed when she didn't need a body to warm her bed in New York. Now, what does it say about the kind of person she has become?
Rory was feeling lost and the Huntzberger heir has always been a good companion to be lost with. So, when they met again years earlier and her life was nothing like expected, Rory grasped at him to escape reality and cushion the fall as she crashed. Logan would allow her to be reckless again, to live without thinking of the consequences, to be rootless or whatever. No judgement at all. However, at some point, it was time to wake up and face real life - especially when his fiancé moved in.
It's true they loved each other once. Rory would never deny this. The young Huntzberger stole her heart and challenged her to be more confident. But she knew, in the long run, it didn't fit anymore. She didn't belong to the world where Logan and his family lived.
In the past, Rory changed a lot to get into the inner circle of high society. Bit by bit, she buried big pieces of the girl who was raised by her crazy and independent mother Lorelai. Too high a price to pay. Logan didn't exactly ask for it. But she did it alone - conscious or not.
That's why Rory finally pulled the plug on their so-called relationship after the last adventure with The Life and Death Brigade. Saying goodbye was really hard. They sure had a lot of history together, but every ride has to end. Otherwise, Rory would be stuck in the same place forever.
The plot twist of the last reunion wasn't in her plans. But life is like that: simply unpredictable. For a moment, Rory considered not telling Logan about the baby at all. She didn't want to give false hopes of reigniting a romance, especially because she could complicate everything going back to old habits in a lonely day. It was impossible to forget the mess she experienced many times from Christopher and Lorelai, very often getting hurt in the middle. She didn't want to repeat the pattern.
But Luke's example gave another perspective on things. Rory remembered how the man managed to be a present and loving dad to April without confusing things with his ex-girlfriend Ana Nardini. There were some bumps on the road at the beginning with Lorelai, but everything worked out in time. Now, living under the same roof, she got a chance to see father and daughter on the phone at least two times a week. He was even texting, against April's protests - and Rory encouraged him not to stop (just go easy on the emojis), because she knew the gesture was appreciated underneath the college girl facade.
The soon-to-be mother expected she and Logan could do the same. Rory really wanted him to be involved with his future son or daughter. So she put all her writing skills into summarizing the message in a short email. It started with the obvious consequences of their last and final rendevouz in September, the father's identity and the decision to keep the baby. The text also assured he was welcome to participate in the life of the child, if he wanted to do so. However, she made clear that: A) their relationship would be as parents, not lovers; and B) the baby would not be part of the dynastic plan of the Huntzberger family. The email was sent over a month ago. There was no answer yet.
Lorelai tried to give Rory some space to think, but they were only halfway to Hartford and it was impossible for her to keep quiet another 15 minutes. So she started the conversation again.
"Since you were roomies in London, please, could you fill me in and explain how Logan ended up in England? Last time I heard about the guy, he lost his trust fund in a bad investment and swore he was leaving daddy's business to pursue something on his own in San Francisco."
"He worked there for one year and he didn't get a promotion he was hoping for. So, he took a risk and quit to join a startup company, but the business went down in seven months. He tried another job after this. Small place, low salary. Almost a semester. That's when Mitchum called to make amends, whatever this means in that family. Next, things were arranged and Logan was back to the Huntzberger empire."
"Low salary, huh?" Lorelai said in a judging tone. "I wonder why a guy fresh out of college would expect more than a crappy paycheck to start. Hello! Is he above the rest of the ordinary mortals?"
"It is not that simple," Rory tried to defend.
"Well, I can't say it is a surprise. It is easy to say you want to be free of the hypocrisy and formalities of Richie Rich's world, but is completely different paying the price to do so."
"Mom..." Rory sighed. But her objection, in fact, had nothing to do with Logan. It was understandable he would give in for his family's money. He never knew another kind of life. Rory, on the other hand, had the example of her mother working hard to pay the bills and making her way up from the bottom. Yet, she also chose the easy path to the top.
Rory rejected the full time position offered by the small website she was hired to cover Obama's campaign because she thought it was beneath her. Then she turned to freelance journalism and got a few bylines in great publications, but it wasn't enough to pay the bills in the expensive New York - even if the rent was in Brooklyn. Instead of getting a steady job in less prestigious newsrooms to make a living while looking for better opportunities, the young journalist simply relied on the trust fund set up by her great grandmother, Lorelai the First, and her grandparents.
At first, $250.000 may seem a lot of money to spend. But against seven years with no regular paycheck, almost $ 2.000 rent per month, internet and phone bills, food expenses, transportation, occasional travelling, new clothes... Well, you do the math. And Rory wasn't exactly saving bucks. So, in the end, even her car was sold to cover her bank account, before she came back completely broke to Stars Hollow.
Rory didn't wanna face it before, but she acted exactly like the trust fund kids she used to make fun in Chilton. A younger - and surprisingly wiser - Rory would never believe this.
Mother and daughter drove the rest of the way in silence. Lorelai turned the engine off and broke Rory out of her guilt trance. It was time to focus on happy things and she was actually excited for the ultrasound. Of course, it wouldn't be possible to see much more than two inches of an awkward form, but there was already a head on a tiny body and a strong heartbeat by the end of the first trimester - as she discovered in a previous search on Google.
The girls entered the doctor's office without saying a word to each other. After informing the receptionist about the appointment, they found two seats in the waiting room. Rory was inspecting the modern decoration of the place when, suddenly, became really awared of her surroundings. It seemed like all the happy couples in Connecticut chose the same day to visit the doctor.
Even though Rory was comfortable with the idea of being a single mom, the image of a traditional family sometimes struck her. The hormones certainly didn't help the situation and this was one of those days the future mom was truly emotional. The first clue was how she cried at breakfast because Luke drew a smiley face with strawberries on top of her pancakes.
Lorelai caught the sad look on Rory's face and decided to finish the undeclared cold war they started in the car. On a whim, she held her hand, squeezed and didn't let go. It was enough to calm Rory. One thing she knew for sure: there was no one she wanted here more than her mother.
"Lorelai Gilmore?" The doctor's assistant finally called, waiting by the door. Mother and daughter stood up together when they heard the name. By the simple reflex, Rory realized this was going to be a complete new journey for both Gilmore girls.
A/N: Probably I'll get some hate for this chapter, but I watched two interviews with Alexis Bledel and she was incisive about Rory and Logan's thing in the revival: it's less about romance and more evidence of how lost Rory was with life in general. I agree because, for me, there's no other way to explain many bad decisions (including carrerwise). Hope you understand it is not my intention bashing Logan (or any of Rory's exes for that matter). And I tried to show Rory's taking responsabilities for her actions, even though she just admitted it to herself for now - but it is a first step. Review and tell what's your opinion about Rory's life
PS: Rory's trust fund is mentioned in season 1 and season 6 of the original series. It kicks in when she is 25 years old.