A/N: You know how I was all done with school? I may not be. Voluntarily. And I have another exam which I need to cram for and yes, I'm a masochistic idiot. Send me some review love, pretty please.

Game of Pong

"I can't do this." Rory let out a deep breath as Lorelai opened the door to her house late Wednesday evening.

"Rory, babe, what's wrong?" The older woman sighed, letting her daughter inside the house before wrapping her arms around her in a hug. "Everything ok?"

"Yes. Except for the fact that I cannot have this baby, it's all fine." She ranted again, not letting go of Lorelai. Walking to the doorway, Luke gave hid wife a questioning look and she waved him away quickly.

"What happened, hon?"

"I got pregnant!" She pulled away, marching to the living room with her mother following closely behind her. "I plan things. Always have. Everyone knows that about me! I don't do spontaneous. So how did I not think to make damn sure this!…" She pointed at her bump, cringing. "Wasn't going to happen? I cannot give birth. No way. It's gonna hurt and suck and the tearing that no one ever tells you is a possibility and this must be some kind of idiotic cosmic joke and if one more person asks me if I'm excited since the due date is a month away, I will throttle them."

Lorelai grimaced, trying to stop herself from laughing. "Sorry." She managed to squeeze out before starting to giggle.

"This amuses you?"

"No, but you marching around the living room in fuzzy slippers and a dress with an elephant on it does. Not to mention the visual of you jumping at someone's throat in that."

"It's a t-shirt. I got it from one of those shops for tall people." Rory shrugged, looking down. "It's the only thing that's comfortable any more."

"Honey, does Jess even know you're here or did you freak out and drive straight over?"

"Jess is at work." She let out a breath, sitting down on the couch next to Lorelai. "Why didn't I plan this?"

"Because you can't plan accidents. It's not how it works."

"But…"

Wrapping her arm around Rory's shoulders, Lorelai smiled as she hugged her again. "You're gonna be just fine."

"I want to go back and have a choice, not be just fine. At least that way when I freak out about having to give birth, I can point out to myself that I decided to do this."

"You decided to keep her."

"It wasn't much a choice. I've wanted her from the moment I knew she existed."

"Then?" Lorelai smiled reassuringly again, waiting for the words to sink in.

"You're making me stop being angry again. I don't like you." Rory laughed, leaning back against the couch. "I hate the stupid hormones."

"I know you do."

"And being fat. I want to wear pretty clothes again and not look like a whale all the time. And I want a drink and a cup of coffee. I could kill for a cup of Luke's coffee."

"Rory, stop beating yourself up over it and have one. It's fine, I promise."

"But…"

"The doctor gave you her go ahead, right?"

"Yes." She nodded, biting her lip as a glimmer of excitement appeared in her eyes.

"So there's nothing stopping you. I'm not saying you should drink a bathtub full, but one cup will make absolutely no difference for Brett."

After a moment of hesitation, her face lit up at the prospect. "Can you…"

"I'm on it." She laughed, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. "Luke, can you please make us coffee."

"On it." He shrugged, walking in the room with two empty mugs and putting them on the table. "Hi, Rory. It'll be ready in a second."

"Sorry."

"For?"

"Making you cower in fear in the kitchen." She giggled, looking at her stepfather.

"I wasn't…uh…I was…checking…"

"He still can't lie." Rory grinned at Lorelai and she nodded.

"He tries, bless him."

"I'll be in the kitchen."

"And I made him hide again." Rory laughed before looking at her mother. "I need this kid out of me now before I terrify everyone I know."

"A minute ago you didn't want her to be born ever and now she can't be out soon enough?"

"Yes. And you were doing the same thing while pregnant with Will so you don't get to mock me."

"Not even a bit?"

"No."

"Can I at least remind you for the millionth time that it is worth it?"

"That you can."

"Really, it's why so many women have more than one baby. You forget all the bad bits once you have that kid in your arms. If it wasn't true, no one would have sibling."

"Except for adopted ones. Or half-siblings with the same father."

"Yeah, ok, except for them."

"I'm still scared." She acknowledged with a shrug.

"I'd question your sanity if you weren't."

"I didn't know anything could ever make me feel so conflicted. My brain is like a game of Pong. The only thing I know is that I really want her to stop growing." She paused for a second as a look of horror appeared on her face. "No, wait, she can't. She has to keep growing. I want to stop getting bigger."

"I'm glad you're at least sure of knowing that."

"Shut up." Rory joined her mother's laughing. "I'm scared."

"I know." Lorelai replied, rubbing her arm in a comforting manner. "You're gonna be fine." Realizing the empty mugs were still on the table, she glanced towards the kitchen. "I'm gonna go get the coffee since Luke seems to have forgotten the way. Call Jess, he'll be worried out of his mind if he gets home and you're not there."

"I will."

Squeezing Rory's arm one more time, Lorelai stood up, leaving the room. Dialing Jess's number as soon as she was alone, Rory waited for the phone to ring, rubbing her stomach, hoping to calm the baby down.

"I'm gonna be a bit longer, sorry." He mumbled when he picked up, chewing a pen between his teeth.

"It's not why I called."

"Is everything fine?" He asked, a panicked tone to his voice, throwing the pen on the desk.

"Yes. Calm down."

"Good." He let out a sigh of relief. "Ok, what's up?"

"I'm at mom's."

"So everything's not fine, you were pacifying me. What went wrong?"

"I don't know. I got scared and I needed her so I drove over." She sighed, pushing her bottom lip out slightly in a pout.

"Do you want me to take the train over and meet you there later?"

"Have you gone crazy?"

"Trying to keep up." Jess smirked, hoping to lighten the mood. "Ror, you call me to tell me you're two hundred miles away because you got scared and you think I'm not going to want to be with you?"

Pursing her lips together, she tried to hold back emotional tears. "I'm fine now. Or getting there. We'll have some coffee, talk for a bit and then I'm going to fall sleep on the couch or go to the diner and be back in the morning."

"At least you're not being an idiot and suggesting that you drive back tonight."

"You kidding me? I'm so tired the only thing keeping me awake is the promise of Luke's coffee. And either him or mom would tackle me if I tried to run."

"Hell, Will would probably take you down." He smiled, running a hand through his hair. "Take it easy for the rest of the night."

"I will."

"Promise."

"I promise." She smiled, shaking her head. "Things are really slow so I took tomorrow morning off work. I'll come pick you up from your office for the doctor's appointment."

"Are you sure you'll be ok?"

"Yes."

"And you don't want me over tonight?"

"No." Rory nodded. "But please get some sleep."

"Much easier without you hogging the bed."

"Hey!" Rory whined jokingly. "Mean."

In the meantime, in the kitchen.

"She won't bite." Lorelai grinned, kissing Luke quickly.

"I wanted to give you some privacy." He grimaced, wrapping an arm around her.

"How's Will?"

"Sound asleep. He got that from you."

"Please, you could probably sleep through a hurricane." She picked up a new cup from the cupboard and filled it with coffee, peering into the living room to see Rory still on the phone.

"How is she?" Luke asked, concern in his voice.

"She'll be fine. It's nerves over the baby, nothing new."

"Anything I can do?"

"Coffee's plenty." Lorelai hugged him, putting her cup down. "It really sucks that I can't wave a magic wand and make it all better for her though, you know?"

"Yeah." He nodded, kissing her forehead while his hand played in her hair. "How about some food, I can make something."

"What?" She pulled away.

"I don't know, I feel useless standing here."

"I'll see what she wants once she's off the phone. She should probably eat something, I don't think she had dinner."

"I can go to the diner and make burgers. Anything, ok?"

"You're seriously going to fire up the…know what, forget I asked." She rolled her eyes. "I love you." Kissing him quickly, Lorelai looked at the door. "I'm gonna go back."

"Let me know about the food."

"I will." She flashed him a big smile before grabbing the coffee pot and walking in the living room, finding Rory putting her phone down. "All good?"

"Yeah."

"I have coffee." She waved the pot around before filling the two cups. "Luke offered to make food, is there anything you're in the mood for?"

"Chinese." She grinned, picking up the cup. "Can we order some?"

"You have to ask?"

"Mom?" Rory asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What's up?"

"How did you and Luke do it?"

"Do what?" Lorelai put the food container down, guessing a serious conversation was to follow.

"Stay…you." She shrugged, biting her lip again. "After Will was born. I'm so scared Jess and I are going to change or won't have time or...everything, I suppose."

"Aw, honey…" She smiled, smoothing her daughter's hair down. "Don't worry about that."

"But…"

"Yes, your lives are going to change and it's going to take some time to adjust. But you and Jess love each other so much you really shouldn't even think about stuff like that."

"So you're going to be of absolutely no help?"

"No, I'm giving you my honest opinion. If you want help, the only advice I have is to go out for dinner without Brett as soon as you feel good with leaving her alone."

"I heard the state frowns upon kids being left alone."

"Not if they're over 12." Lorelai snickered. "Leave her with me or Matt or any of the other million people you have lined up to babysit and take some time to yourselves. It will suck the first couple of times you do it and your conversation will be entirely about her, but it gets better."

"That's it?"

"There really isn't anything more I can tell you."

"You're useless sometimes, you know that?" Rory smiled.

"Sorry, I'll get a magic wand or something." She replied, grinning as well. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. Being parents doesn't automatically mean you won't be yourselves."

"It feels like that sometimes."

"I promise you it's not."

"If I find out you're lying, I will be mad."

"Please, I can't lie to you about stuff like that. It's got to be somewhere in the motherhood rulebook."

"Let me know when you get your copy."

"Will do."

"I still can't believe you're old enough to have a baby, you know that?" Lorelai mused out loud, glancing at her daughter.

"Seriously?"

"I probably should, but I really can't."

"I'm 28."

"I know, I know." She whined. "I don't want you to be."

"Mom…"

"Sh, honey, let me complain. This isn't even about you making me a grandmother – but, by the way, shame on you!" Lorelai snickered. "You're…my baby. You can't be old enough to have your own baby." Wiping her cheek, she tried to smile again. "Plus, it was just the two of us for so long that the more people we add to the mix, the more I'm scared we're never going to have that."

"You started it, you got married."

"You left me, I had to find someone!"

"That's no excuse."

"Oh, so you'd rather your poor mother was alone."

"Well, if I didn't find a job or get married, I would have needed a place to live. And I couldn't crash with you and Luke, now could I?"

"Yes, you could."

"Not without it being awkward."

"You have first dibs on the house. I would have made him stay at the diner."

Laughing, Rory shook her head. "I'm sure he would have loved that."

"He doesn't get a say, you were here first."

"Good to know."

"In fact, I'll kick him out immediately and you and that baby can move in with me."

"Mom, Will is my old room. Even if you kick Luke out, it still wouldn't work."

"You can have the living room. Or kitchen."

"Yeah, I'll pass." Rory shook her head.

"Ungrateful, that's what you are."

"Yes."

"See if I ever try to do something nice again." Lorelai announced, turning the movie back on.

"I can't sleep." Rory whined as soon as Jess picked up the phone. "Mom crashed a while ago and I'm bored."

"So you decided to wake me up?"

"There's no way you would be sleeping at midnight. I doubt you even got home more than five minutes ago."

"You have a point." He replied after a short pause, smirking. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I've finally discovered the reason people don't have caffeine in the evening."

"You're on a caffeine high? The world's coming to an end."

"Hilarious." She pouted, pushing the curtain to the side and looking out the window. "Kirk's doing something in the town square."

"What?"

"Uh…I have no idea. I think he's trying to stand on his head, but I could be wrong. I'm unsure of the reason as well."

"Attempting to live like a bat for a week and didn't get a permit from Taylor to hang off a tree?"

"Someone told him people in Australia are upside down and he took it literally?"

"You could open the window and ask him."

"That would be way less fun." Letting the curtain fall again, she walked around the room, picking up a glass of orange juice. "I feel really pathetic over missing you."

"Whatever I say will get me chastised for being mean to my pregnant wife, won't it?"

"Not if it's something nice."

"I could try." He smirked, sitting down on the bed. "Bed is as boring as I anticipated it to be without you."

"Was that your something nice?"

"It was my something honest."

"I'll take it."

"Good, because I'm too beat to think of anything more."

"Work that bad?"

"Long." Jess ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Matt's the only one driving up with us on Friday."

"Couldn't convince Chris to come provide some support?"

"I think he'd rather be shot in the head with a nail gun repeatedly instead of coming to a baby shower."

"Mom may disown him."

"He'll live."

"Not if she gets her hands on him." Rory joked, before checking the time. "I should let you go to sleep."

"Not if you're bored, I can stay up a while longer."

"Don't worry. I'll read for a while."

"Call me back if you still can't sleep."

"I will."

"Say goodnight to the baby for me." Jess smiled, turning off the bedside lamp. "Night."

"Night, Jess. I love you."

"Love you too."

Putting the phone down, Rory finished her drink and set the glass in the sink. Walking to the window again, she checked to see if Kirk was still there but couldn't see him, so she pushed her shoes off with her feet before lying down on the bed. Letting out a sigh of relief, she grabbed the sheet and pulling it over her body.

"I know, kid, I miss your dad too." She smiled, pushing back against the foot poking her. "But there's no need for you to be rowdy and keep me awake." Getting another kick in return, she laughed, picking up her book. "Fine, I'll read to you, but you have to promise never to tell great grandma I let you anywhere near this sort of filth before your 18th birthday." She commented one more time before opening the book and starting to read out loud.