First off, I need to apologize - I'm sorry it took me so long to update! Things in my family life has been going down the tubes, so I slacked a lot.

Second, I had a few comments, so I just want to remind - I'm not following the Dear Emily and Richard version of this. I finally got the DVD set of season 3 for my b-day (they skipped season 2, dangit!...come quickly Christmas!) so I got to see it, and I must say that it didn't change my mind. I'm going with Season 1 version, with my little tidbits.

Hehe! Enjoy, & please R&R!

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Lorelai had holed herself up in her room, schoolbooks strewn across her bed. Emily knew something was wrong - Lorelai had annual study sessions whenever she was upset. She tried not to worry, but it was the second night that Lorelai had missed dinner because of her depressed state.

Richard sat at the other end of the table, a newspaper folded up beside him. The couple was silent. Emily moved her chopped up vegetables with a lemon butter sauce around on her plate next to the immaculately chosen porkchops. She wasn't hungry when her daughter was so...depressed. What was going on that was making Lorelai the way she was for such a long period of time? It normally lasted a day at most.

It had been a week.

Normally, Emily let her daughter do her own thing - it was so hard to get that girl under control. "Richard," Emily said suddenly.

Richard looked up from his plate, raising his eyebrows at his wife. "Yes, Emily?"

"I'm worried about Lorelai."

"Oh, Emily." Richard moved to unfold his newspaper. "She probably has a big test coming up, it's no great dilemma."

"Richard, I-"

"No, Emily. Let it rest. She'll be back to normal in a few days."

"Who will be?" Lorelai asked suddenly from the stairs. She looked pale, her hair lank hanging around her shoulders. All of Lorelai's vitality seemed to have drained out of her.

Richard looked stunned - not only was his wife correct, but his daughter looked as if she were about to pass out at any moment. "Lorelai!"

Clear, concise blue eyes looked at him curiously, as if she were completely clueless about her current state. "Yes?"

"Lorelai, will you come sit and eat?" Emily's voice had taken on her usual tone, expecting Lorelai to refuse, but she surprised them.

"Sure." She stumbled slightly down the last few steps, but both of the elder Gilmores were too stunned to stand and help - as if they would have, anyway. She sat down even as Wilma, her mother's latest endeavor in a maid, hurried to get a placesetting and food.

The rest of dinner was silent, but Richard knew Emily was giving him those 'I-told-you-so' looks.

Emily unexpectedly ordered dessert, ice cream and fudge, Lorelai's favorite. Looking at her mother, she knew that the Great Emily Gilmore wanted to find something out. Lorelai knew what, however, she wouldn't break down and spit it out. They'd find out in time.

Halfway through their equally silent dessert, the doorbell rang, and as soon as Wilma turned the knob, Christopher broke through it, rushing into the dining room.

"Well, Christopher-" Richard started, but was abruptly cut off.

Lorelai stood up to meet this assault head-on. She was already looking a mixture of sad and angry.

"Lorelai! How could you drop a bomb like that on me and then freeze me out?" His words were loud, and added more furvor as he gesticulated angerly. "There's been a million ideas running through my head of what you've done to yourself!"

"You honestly think I would do something like that?" Lorelai asked him, hurt that he thought she could ever be such a person. She instinctively put her hands on her stomach. "I never asked for it, but I would never, never do something like that!"

Christopher frowned hard. "You can't just say that you're pregnant and walk away, Lore."

At this both Emily and Richard stood up, Emily's face turning sheet white while Richard's slowly escalated from red to purple. "What?" Richard braced himself against the table as he stared wildly at Christopher.

"Why couldn't I, Chris?" Lorelai's blue eyes begged for Christopher's understanding, which didn't come. "I needed time to take it in, to decide what I was going to do, hash out some sort of plan, be it short or long term. And I sure as hell didn't want this. I needed to figure out what I wanted before they were going to decide for me."

Emily felt as if she were hyperventilating, and prayed that this was some sort of nightmare, rather than actually taking place in her immaculately decorated dining room.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and more voices entered the vicinity.

Lorelai looked at Christopher, shocked. "You didn't...you can't've already told them." He looked at her apologetically, cinching the situation and how bad it was about to get. She put a hand to her forehead. "God, Chris, can't you keep a secret?"

"Not like this one...what did you expect me to do?"

"Keep your mouth shut!" Lorelai headed for the stairs, Christopher trailing after her as Straub and Francine stepped into the dining room.

"Your slut of a daughter - Chris said - what is going on, Richard?" Straub was livid.

Richard looked at Straub a moment, seeming to debate what to do next, Straub's son at the staircase, holding his impregnated daughter by the arm.

"My daughter is pregnant." Surprising the entire room, it was Emily's voice.

Tears coursed down Lorelai's cheeks. She sounded so disappointed...what was she supposed to do? Trying to blink the tears away, she climbed the stairs to the landing, where she collapsed, still hearing the voices that debated her future, but where she hoped she could cry in peace, until Christopher came to comfort her. She rested her head on his chest and cried silently, seemingly forever, just waiting for the tears to stop coming, but it never seemed they would.

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Please R&R...have I redeemed myself?