It had been yet another month of hectic schedules, midterms, and Mitchum pushing Logan more than he had for a while. She knew he enjoyed the work, didn't have to deal with his father directly, could work at his own pace with his own schedule. It was a good change for him, but at the same time, she felt like they didn't have time for each other. She knew it wasn't true, they had started making time for each other, making sure they actually talked and it wasn't just small talk. He dropped by the Yale Daily News every meeting to drop off coffee and she always set aside five minutes to catch up on their days before dinner.
She walked into the kitchen, bag slung over her shoulder as she pulled her hair up in a ponytail. "Colin and Finn called again, Logan," she called out. He was rummaging through papers he needed to finalize the plan for the Stamford Gazette. "You really need to call them back. They're feeling neglected." She grabbed the first thing she saw and took a bite. As she did, he stood up, folder in hand and phone in the other.
"I know, and I'll call them today. I just have to send this over to my father," he told her. He looked at her with a puzzled look. "Do you know what you're eating?" he then asked. She was confused, of course she knew what she was eating. But it wasn't until she looked that she actually realized what she was eating. "When did you start eating apples?"
"I'll see you tonight when I get home," she told him, practically running out of the apartment and pulling her phone out of her pocket. When the elevator doors closed, she dialled her mom's number as she took another bite, savoring how good it actually tasted. 'No!' she thought to herself. 'No, it doesn't taste good because there's only one reason an apple would taste good and that can't be it.'
"Fruit of my loins!" her mom cheered. "I was wondering when you were going to call. What's up?"
"Big problem. Like probably going to skip class problem, Mom," she said, voice on the edge of panic. This couldn't be happening. Emily was going to freak out, her dad was going to freak out, Logan was going to freak out. Logan. Her mind stopped, as did her legs as she thought.
"Rory!" she heard her mom yell. "You okay, hon? Been trying to get your attention for about a minute and a half now," she then said.
"I ate an apple, Mom. And I liked it, and I'm still eating it." Her mom's silence didn't help with her freaking out as she walked out of the elevator and to the convenience store down the road from the apartment. "I'm still eating the apple!" she then almost yelled at her mom as she took another bite.
"Rory, take the test," she then said. "It could be a false alarm. You remember when I had my false alarm? I ate an apple and you are still with no siblings."
"I know I'm sibling-less, Mom, but I haven't been feeling good recently. And you had your false alarm the day after. It's been a month since the last time we… well, you know. And I just thought it was stress from the paper and from school, but now. Oh god," she then said, standing in front of the wall of pregnancy tests. "Which one do I get. I only have so much on me, and it's not like I'm going to use the Black Card for this because what if he checks the bank statement and it says I spent like two-hundred dollars on pregnancy tests and they're all negative and he asks why I didn't tell him. What am I going to tell him?" She was practically hyperventilating. A part of her wanted to sit on the ground, heat between her knees. She couldn't be pregnant. Now was not the right time, and they hadn't even had a serious discussion about kids since the whole Huntzberger dinner debacle. And she could not raise a child alone.
"Use the card I gave you for emergencies. Three of the most expensive, they're the ones that are worth the money. Go home, take the tests and then call me." How could her mom be so calm about this? She could be pregnant, for crying out loud! This was not the time for rational thinking, this was the time to be freaking out.
"But he's at home, Mom! I can't go home because he's gonna be all like 'why are you home, don't you have class?'" she said, voice lowering trying to mimick him. "And then I'm gonna have to be all like, 'Well, Logan, I think I'm pregnant.' Not gonna work out mom!" She grabbed the three most expensive tests, walking up to the cashier.
"Put them in your bag, go home, say you aren't feeling well - which is obviously true - and then go straight to the bathroom. The cashier checked her out, putting the three boxes in a plastic bag which she then slipped into her bag, making her way back to the apartment.
"What do I do if I am, Mom? I don't know if I can do this," she then said, voice soft.
"You're going to have this baby, Logan is going to be there for as long as he can, and then you'll have me and your dad and Luke and the entirety of Stars Hollow, not to mention his sister and those two crazy friends of his and your grandparents and maybe even Mitchum if he plays his cards right. You're not gonna be alone in this, babe. I promise you that," her mom assured you. "Now, call me when you find out." With that, the line went dead.
She pushed her phone back in her pocket. She walked into the building past the doorman and to the elevator, taking deep breaths. She kept her eyes on the numbers on the elevator, trying to keep her mind off the brick in her purse. Who knew three tests could seem to weigh so much? When she stepped out of the elevator and reached the door, her hand hesitated on the doorknob. It wasn't too late to leave, wasn't too late to go to her classes and worry about this later. But she knew that if she put it off, it would drive her crazy. She had to do this, now or never.
When she walked back in, Logan was hunched over the papers, his laptop sitting on the coffee table next to him. He looked up, confused when he saw her. "Not feeling good," she mumbled before rushing into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She could hear him stand up, could hear him walking towards the door. She pulled the bag out of her purse as he knocked on the door, almost causing her to drop them.
"You okay, Ror?" he asked. She could tell he was leaning against the door at that point, but she wasn't going to unlock it or let him in, not yet.
"I'll be out in a minute," she called back, taking the tests out of their boxes. In that moment, she was really glad she didn't use the bathroom before she left that morning. It saved time and stress. One by one, she sat them on the counter, before washing her hands and then sitting on the floor. The cool marble felt good against her legs as she waited, glancing at the clock on her phone every couple of seconds. Who knew three minutes would seem like an eternity?
"You sure you're okay?" he then asked. He hadn't moved from his spot, and she didn't know if she could move from hers any time soon. She replied with a weak 'yeah' as she checked the time on her phone. The moment of truth had arrived. Slowly, she stood up, getting lightheaded in the process. She hoped it was just the anxiety and not from a possible pregnancy. As she looked at each one, she was met with the same sight - two lines, positive.
She wanted to puke, this time knowing it was from nerves. She wasn't done with school yet, Logan was sick, she wasn't married, nothing was where it needed to be for this to be happening. Yet it was. A sick twist of fate, but she knew what her grandmother would say - aside from the snarky remarks about this child being conceived out of wedlock - if you're grown up enough to have sex, you're grown up enough to deal with the consequences. She walked over to the door, still in shock as she unlocked it.
He was the one to open the door, and she just looked at him, not saying anything. She saw him glance between her and the counter, and she knew the wheels were turning in his head.
"Are you?" he asked. She just nodded her head. "Are you sure?"
"I doubt most people get three false positives, Logan." Rather than walking into the living room, she sat on the marble floor of the bathroom again. He sat with her as she leaned into him, his arm wrapping around her shoulders and holding her close. He placed a kiss on the top of her head as her mind went a mile a minute, but her mind kept going back to the one fact that changed everything. She was pregnant.
A/N: I typically put these at the beginning, but I wanted to say something after it all. This was always in the cards for them. For as long as I've had the story in my head, this was how it was supposed to go, even with all your comments about wanting it and at the same time not. For me, this delves more into the idea of wanting that happy ending for them. Wanting them to raise a child and be with each other for many years to come, but reality is a slap in the face sometimes. So, I hope you enjoy. I hope to read your reviews and comments and probably mini-freakouts. The next chapter will be up probably tomorrow, like usual. Thank you so much for all the feedback. I really appreciate it.