Had to get this chapter up today because I'm starting class tonight, and I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to write. So enjoy the nice read. And yes, if you don't notice by the end that I've left you on a cliffhanger...then tough luck? Or am I just plain evil?

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"Rory?" Lorelai called into the dark office, almost sneakily as she stepped into the room and closed the door. There was no answer as she found the desk, turning on the light. What she found was Rory curled up fast asleep on the couch. She sighed, setting the full paper sacks on the desk and carefully sat next to Rory, careful not to put too much of the weight into the side of the cushion.

"Mom?" Softly Rory inquired, and rather quite sleepily. She tried to sit up but didn't seem to have the energy. Even through the haze she was feeling, she really was starting to dislike all the symptoms of pregnancy. Was this normal to feel all dizzy and sick? In fact the smell of food seemed to increase the nausea that she was feeling. She felt like she needed to throw up, but there was nothing to really throw up. What she had eaten for lunch had pretty much all been digested, and she had forgotten to eat dinner.

Lorelai ran her hand through her daughter's hair. "Hey Hun, how are you feeling?"

"Kind of like somebody hit me with a dizzy sledgehammer." Rory offered, hoping her mom would catch onto the referenced word.

"If I've learned anything about pregnancy, it's water is a pregnant person's best friend. How much water have you drank?"

"I don't know--" She could hardly think through the dizziness. "I had some for lunch."

"Well my dear, I would hate to have to drag you to the ER with a sign on your forehead that reads: My daughter needs help."

"Fine, point taken. Give me a hand." I need to sit up before I throw up on this green colored couch.

"That bad, huh?"

"Much worse than some horror movie." Rory groaned, sitting upright. Her left hand was curled up, resting on her stomach as if she were clutching any hope that she wouldn't have to see if any remaining contents of her stomach. "What all did you bring?" She mentioned of the bag, the smells wafting towards them. Even inside the bag, the food smelled delicious and nauseating at the same time.

"Two hamburgers, fries--" Grabbing for the bag, she reached in. "And I even stopped at the store on my way here because I thought you might need this." She handed Rory a can of 7 Up and some crackers, then fumbled inside her bag still on her shoulder. "Oh and before I left the house, I put this little stowaway in my bag. Every woman's guide to pregnancy. I thought you might be able to use this a little more than I can at the moment. "

Rory didn't move, instead looking curiously at the book that her mother set between them on the couch. "What to Expect When Your Expecting. This is the book I always saw you reading when you were pregnant with William."

"The one and only." Lorelai quipped, pulling out her hamburger from the bag. "Sookie gave it to me to borrow, and now I'm letting you borrow it."

"And you're sure Sookie wouldn't mind that you're letting me borrow it? Especially since I'm probably not going to give it back until way after nine months."

Lorelai laughed. "Would she ever. Something tells me that she wasn't expecting to have any more kids after the first two when she let me borrow the book. Of course you know Sookie. I think she was more surprised than anybody that Jackson had slipped past that big nurse at the hospital after delivering Martha; probably even more surprised when she found out she was pregnant with baby number three. Something tells me she's way past the book phase in her life."

The cracker package crinkled underneath Rory's fingers as she opened it. "Poor Sookie." Taking one of the crackers out, she stuffed the whole thing into her mouth. She was starving, but now she realized that the hamburger wasn't quite appealing as the crackers.

"Slow down their firecracker, there's plenty of crackers to go around." Lorelai warned, taking a bite of her own hamburger.

"Tell that to the growing thing in my stomach." Rory rubbed her stomach, swallowing. Without much thinking she swiped another cracker and it crumbled into her mouth.

"Easy sugar, you're tempting fate." Lorelai eyed her, then snatched the package from her hands. "More like throw up on the green couch fate."

There was an apparent muffled "Oh" as Rory kept chewing, although slower this time.

"Want to talk about it?"

"About what? The fact that I'm starving. Or how about, who knew that crackers tasted so good?"

"How about those yankees?" Lorelai quipped, sticking the crackers on the other side of her.

"What?"

"Nevermind. About Jess, Rory. You haven't mentioned him once since I got here a half an hour ago."

"And what if I told you that I was so hungry that I want to eat myself into oblivion? Give me those crackers."

Lorelai shook her head. "How about mother may I?"

"I'm not really in the mood to--." Rory offered, then changed her mind when her mother shot her a pointed look. "Fine. Mother may I please have the crackers? I promise that I'll be good."

"Fine, but only for a little while, then you need this juicy hamburger over here that's calling your name." She grabbed the bag, strategically placing her face behind it. "Rory, this is the hamburger in the bag talking to you. I want you to eat me!"

"Very funny."

Laughing, Lorelai commented, I thought so..." smiling her wide teasing smile. Eventually in that same moment, Lorelai handed over the crackers.

"Thank you."

Lorelai went back to eating her hamburger while Rory casually picked at pieces of cracker that she broke off and slowly placed into her mouth. Everything in the room was silent, until she piped again. Her hamburger plopped down into the stryofoam box. "So you're really not going to talk about him?"

"If I knew what I thought about all this, I would. I mean it all feels like the moment when he came begging at the doorstep. Except he's in New York. But why wouldn't he tell me, mom? I'm his wife. We haven't had a normal conversation in, and things are awkward between us; even after I told him about the baby. He acted so calm--" By the time she got to this point, Rory was crying out in frustration. "I can't do this alone."

"Oh no hon, you won't be doing this alone. I promise. We're going to bring Jess home, and then we're going to pummel him with a food fight until he talks. If that doesn't work, then you always have me, Luke, Sookie, Lane and of course no matter how supportive they are, you always have your grandparents who love you dearly."

"Yeah, I'm sure what grandma and grandpa want to hear is that there's turmoil between the two of us." Rory gave a little laugh.

"Ah, well you know your grandparents; very understanding people." Lorelai emphasized briefly on the last three words. "Their motto is: If you don't get the very best, they'll beat you with a stick."

Rory chuckled, then abrubtly stopped. Her face was crestfallen, her mouth tightened into a frown. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel so good. And I don't think it's the crackers that are talking--"

Lorelai gazed down at her daughter, only to see that her daughter's face was white as a sheet, eyes heavy. "Stay with me Rory. What day is it?"

"Why it's Tuesday. Mom, I think I need to lay down."

"Will you be able to get up?" That was meant as a quip, but came off more concerned as she reached into her bag. She didn't even correct Rory that Today was Thursday, not Tuesday.

"Who are you calling?" Rory inquired, rubbing her forehead and leaning her head back on the couch; no longer able to keep her head up without feeling as if she were swimming.

"Luke, Rory. I'm calling Luke."

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A/N: If you've read all the way here to the bottom, please remember to leave a review. I can't read minds, no. And I can't see invisible people, but I wish that I could. So I'll say it again: REVIEW! Let me know what you thought. Or if I'm evil (I'll take that too).