April 2002

Rory sat in a club chair next to a tray of hors d'oeurvres. All around her people were mingling about and having a good time. But she couldn't find it within herself to happily celebrate the start-up of her grandfather's new business. Her arm ached and she was tired, and pretty much everyone was getting on her nerves the past few days. Her mother had gone to get her a bottle of water and so there she sat, arms crossed grumpily, as she waited for her return. "Oh, there's Rory," The familiar voice if her grandmother landed in her ears and Rory immediately sat up at attention. "I was wondering where she's…" her voice trailed off as she and Lorelai entered the room where Rory sat, her eyes filling with alarm. "What's that on her arm?"

"Oh, I was gonna tell you about that." Her mother answered, trying to make her voice sound light and unconcerned.

"Hi Grandma." Rory stood to greet her with a guilty look on her face. Her mother handed her a bottle of Perrier and she took it.

"That's a cast," Emily replied, aghast.

"That is a cast," Lorelai confirmed. "She hurt her arm."

"When? How bad is it?" she asked, looking right at Lorelai.

"I fractured my wrist," Rory answered even though the questions wasn't directed at her.

"Oh my God."

"It's just a hairline fracture…it's just tiny," Lorelai tried to play it off. Somehow this only made Rory more annoyed.

"When did this happen?" Emily's questions were once again directed to Lorelai. As though she herself wasn't standing right there and perfectly capable of answering questions about her own life…her own body.

"Um, last week," she confessed.

"Last week? Why didn't you call me?" Emily scolded Lorelai. "Last week, I can't believe you."

"Um, well, I meant to."

"How did this happen?"

"Bees," Lorelai replied off handedly.

"I got in a car accident." Rory interrupted the argument which was apparently breaking out between her mother and grandmother who both seemed to have forgotten she was there.

"What?" Emily shrieked.

"Rory." Lorelai gave her a warning look; one that told her to let her mother handle this. But she didn't want to. She got herself into this mess, she was more than capable of dealing with the fallout.

"I got in a car accident," Rory repeated.

"Oh my God, how could you not tell us that she got into a car accident?" And of course she was back to blaming Lorelai. Emily blamed Lorelai. Lorelai blamed Jess. Everyone blamed everyone else except her. "Is this why she missed dinner? You said she had the flu."

"I just didn't want you to worry, Mom."

"Yes, well, clearly there was nothing to worry about. It was that car, wasn't it? The one her boyfriend made. Richard was dead set against letting her drive that death mobile."

"No, it wasn't the car, Mom."

"Well, then what was it?"

"A friend of mine and I went to get ice cream," Rory once again tried to take control of the conversation that was all about her.

"A friend? Which friend, Lane?"

"Jess." She noticed her mother roll her eyes in frustration but she didn't care. She didn't need her Mommy to protect her. She wasn't a kid anymore.

"Jess?" Emily asked.

"Luke's nephew."

"Him?" Emily sneered, turning back to Lorelai with a death glare. "I thought you were going to keep that boy away from her."

"Mom, do we have to talk about this now?" Lorelai mumbled.

"Yes, we have to talk about this now." Emily hissed in a low voice. "The child has a cast on her arm. I don't understand how you could've been so irresponsible." She wasn't a child. She was seventeen. She wasn't some helpless innocent anymore.

"Mom, please."

"Don't, 'Mom, please' me. It was your responsibility to stop this, it was your responsibility to make sure that he did not…"

"I gave him the keys." Rory broke in, her voice impassioned. Enough was enough. They may not want to listen to her, but they were going to. "I told him to drive. He wanted to drive back to Luke's and I said 'no.' I wanted to keep on driving and that's when we got into the car accident. This is just as much my fault as it is his, maybe more."

"Rory." Emily admonished.

"I've got this, Mom." Lorelai said, before turning to face Rory. "Can I see you in the hall for a second?" she asked. She put a hand on her arm, guiding her out of her grandfather's offices and into the hall away from the party-goers. "Hey, what the hell was that?" She asked when they were alone.

"I'm sick of this," Rory blurted out. "I'm sick of everyone treating me like I'm some kind of mindless idiot being led around by a guy."

"No one is treating you like that."

"Everyone is," Rory insisted. "The whole town is…Taylor, Babette, Dean. Everyone in my life, including you, is refusing to believe that I was just as responsible for what happened that night as Jess was."

"Really?" Lorelai asked, her eyebrows arched dubiously. "Were you driving the car?"

"No."

"Then you weren't as responsible."

"What if it'd been Dean, huh?" Rory asked. "What if Dean had been driving? Would everyone be assuming that it was his fault?" Jess wasn't some big bad wolf. And she wasn't some naive Little Red Riding Hood.

"No, because if Dean had been driving there wouldn't have been an accident because Dean is a much more responsible kid who loves you and would've been driving more responsibly."

"How do you know that Jess wasn't?"

"Hi...it's Jess." Her mother had never even tried to get to know Jess. Had never tried to be nice to him or understand him. Sure, he could have a bit of an attitude, and he liked to make trouble sometimes, but he wasn't exactly a hardened criminal. He was the kind of guy who caused fake crime scenes outside Doose's, not the kind of guy who committed actual crimes. If he were really bad, Rory wouldn't hang around with him. But Lorelai didn't even trust her judgment enough to respect that.

"Oh, right, Jess is the antichrist, I forgot. He wanted to get into an accident. He was looking for something to hit because he's a murderer with a death wish and he wanted to kill us both, right?"

"I know you think that Jess is your friend, but he's not. He is a completely out of control, really angry kid who has no respect for Luke, who has no respect for me…"

"It was an accident!" This had nothing to do with respect. It had nothing to do with being out of control. It wasn't Jess' fault. All he'd tried to do was not kill a squirrel.

"And he was driving!"

"So, what? No matter what I say, you're just gonna choose to blame Jess?" Jess was gone. Because of her. She'd gotten him kicked out of Luke's place and shunned by all of Stars Hollow and still, he was stuck shouldering all the blame.

"Yes, I choose to blame Jess."

"Just because you hate him?"

"That's right," Lorelai yelled. "I'm sorry, but when my daughter comes home broken, I get to hate the guy who broke her. That's how it works. He's gone, I win. You are wearing a cast and I get to hate him forever!"

"Fine!" Rory shouted back.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

There was an awkward pause as they both avoided each other's gaze. Rory's anger was still present, a warm buzzing in her gut. But she was suddenly also so incredibly tired. It all just seemed futile. No one was every going to change their opinions…of Jess. Of her.

"I just had this image of thirty-five businessmen, six servers, one pointman, all leaning up against that wall," she gestured at the wall behind them, "with glasses to their ears."

"I don't think they needed the glasses," Rory admitted. They'd been pretty loud…even for them.

"We've got good lungs, you and I."

"We're never gonna agree on this."

"You have to understand…"

"I do." She was always just going to be this innocent, good girl who could do no wrong unless she was led astray by a bad boy. It was like she had no agency over her own life or how people saw her. So what was the point of even trying?

"Okay."

"I don't wanna fight about this anymore."

"Neither do I. Do you wanna go back inside?"

"No, I wanna go home. My wrist hurts and I'm grumpy and I just made a total idiot of myself in there so I just wanna go home." The last thing she needed was the pitying glare of several dozen of her grandfather's associates.

"All right, well, I'll tell Mom, I'll drive you." Lorelai started to head back to the office, but Rory stopped her.

"No, it's okay. It's still early. I can catch my regular bus. You go back in."

"Rory…"

"I just want some alone time now." She loved her mother, but she needed to not be around her right now. Lorelai said she didn't want to fight about this anymore, but she knew her mother, and she knew she wouldn't let this Jess thing go. As hard as she tried, she'd never be able to hide her animosity, and Rory didn't think she could put up with the snide comments and the pity. Jess had been nothing but good to her; she felt guilty enough for ruining his life without having to listen to the commentary about how awful he was. But what could she do about it?

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Rory nodded. "I'll see you back at home."

December 2005

"Yes, of course. We appreciate it. Really, you have no idea how much. Thank you." Lorelai flipped her phone shut and turned to her daughter in her hospital bed. "We have a 10:15 appointment with Dr. Chen in Litchfield tomorrow. Another one of their high-risk patients had a c-section last night so they said you could have her appointments. Also, your Dad," she pointed Christopher's way, "picked up a blood pressure cuff thingy at the pharmacy for us last night so we've got that covered. I stocked up on celebrity gossip magazines to help while away the dull, bed-bound hours. I gave the hospital the name of a pharmacy in Woodbury to call your prescriptions into so we can pick those up on the way home without having to have the entire town see you…" Lorelai ticked off the to-do list one by one. There was still a ton of stuff to do over the next couple of weeks to get ready for the baby, but right now she was just concentrating on getting Rory home safely... "I think that's just about everything we need for now." She glanced at her watch to see the time. It was almost 2; hopefully the nurse should be by soon to discharge them. And they needed Logan and that Jo girl to get back with Rory's things.

Lorelai had been grateful to have a reason to send Logan away for a bit; it had been taking all her energy not to lunge across the bed and throttle him with his ridiculous puppy dog eyes and pathetic doting like he was the victim in all this. On some level she knew she should feel sorry for him; she'd heard the fight with his family. Well, not the specifics, but she'd heard enough to know it wasn't good. She was pretty sure he'd been cut off. And if she were a bigger person, she'd give him credit for standing up for Rory and the baby in the face of losing everything. But this wasn't a game they were playing here. If he was cut off he had no money, no place to live…possibly no degree if he kept insisting on staying here instead of going back to Yale. And how long before he got tired of actually having to work for a living and figuring out how to budget for diapers and groceries? How long before he went crawling back to his parents and left Rory and Samuel behind?

Sure, he said he was committed, but that was easy to say now, before the baby came and the bills started rolling in. If he really cared about putting them first, he would have told her family where she was. He would have made sure she got the help and support she needed whether she wanted it or not. Hell, he wouldn't have gotten her pregnant in the first place. But he had. And when he found out about it, instead of doing the responsible thing, he decided to treat it like some big, clandestine adventure—like his stupid Life and Death Brigade. He used his secret knowledge to play the hero and make a vulnerable girl fall for him. It only made Lorelai hate him more.

"They're gonna find out soon enough." Lorelai shook herself out of her daze at her daughter's unexpected words. She'd hoped Rory would relax and open up more around her once Logan was gone but she'd become even more sullen and quiet since he and Jo had left, so Lorelai hadn't been expecting her to speak up.

"What?"

"The town," Rory clarified. "I can't exactly hide this…" She motioned to her baby bump. "And even if I could, I think Samuel's arrival might eventually give us away…unless you plan on locking us in the attic like the Dollanganger kids."

"I know," Lorelai conceded. "I just figured you didn't need the stress of a giant welcome party forming a blockade down Main Street on the way back into town."

"From what I know of that town of yours," Christopher concurred. "I wouldn't put it past them." For as strained as Lorelai's relationship with Rory's father had been recently, she was happy to see him stepping up and being there for his daughter. Plus, if she was being honest with herself, she was happy to have him there for her too. She could use all the moral support she could get right now. There was power in numbers and since Luke had had to get back to the Diner yesterday, she didn't need to be in a one-on-one stand-off with Logan; who knew what he would convince Rory to do if given the opportunity.

"Yeah, but maybe it would be better to just get it over with. Let them know now before we get there, give them a chance to get the shock out of their system. Besides, I'm sure Babette has already realized you're not home and is forming all sorts of crazy scenarios in her head. Remember when she called the Belgian consulate on us?"

She had a valid point there. She hadn't told Babette where she was going in such a hurry when she called, and she'd hung up before her nosy neighbor could ask too many questions, but she was pretty sure Babette didn't think she was going away on a spontaneous vacation. Lorelai hadn't been anywhere but the house, the Dinner and the Inn since Rory left. Babette would know the only reason Lorelai went anywhere was because she'd found Rory…or at least had a lead. "True. And I should probably let her know she doesn't need to feed Paul Anka tonight."

"Paul Anka?" Rory asked, her nose scrunching up in confusion. "Why would Babette need to feed Canadian singer-song writer Paul Anka?"

"Oh umm…" Lorelai looked from Rory to Christopher as though he could somehow help her out here. A lot had changed in Lorelai's life the past six months. She'd already given Rory enough to take in, what with the engagement and Luke moving in and the addition to the upstairs of the house. But somehow her new canine companion had failed to come up until now. "Paul Anka is actually…my dog." She confessed.

"Your WHAT?!" Rory screeched. It was the most animation Lorelai had seen from Rory since she'd arrived at the hospital two days ago.

"My dog," she repeated guiltily.

"Someone let you get a dog?" Rory asked with horror.

Lorelai looked put out. She was tired of people acting like she was incapable of caring for a pet. "Yes," she huffed, hands on shoulders.

"And it's still alive?"

"Yes."

"But Skippy…"

"This is not like Skippy," Lorelai insisted. "You accidentally kill one, little hamster and no one ever lets you live it down."

"Are you sure? Did you actually ask Babette to take care of him? Or do just ask her in your head, think you really did it, and then leave him to starve?"

"He's being taken care of!" Rory glared at her suspiciously. "Look, I kept you alive, didn't I?" her daughter's glare didn't lessen. "Fine, I'll call Babette and check on him." Lorelai pulled her phone back out of her pocket. She flipped it open and went to dial but her fingers stopped, lingering over the keypad. "What exactly am I telling her?" she looked up cautiously at Rory whose face had gone from outrage back to melancholy. That expression broke Lorelai's heart and yet at the same time, any glance of her daughter's face, no matter how sad, also sent her heart fluttering with joy and relief.

Rory sighed, taking a few seconds to make her choice. "Tell her," Rory said. "I just want it over with."

Lorelai hesitated for a moment, giving Rory a chance to change her mind. "Okay," she finally said, "if that's really what you want."

"It is." Rory nodded.

Lorelai inhaled in preparation and began dialing the phone. The call went pretty much as expected. Her animated friend had gone from sympathetic to elated to shocked, and pretty much every other emotion in between, her nasal voice practically shouting through the line with astonishment at the news. "Does anyone else know yet?" She asked. To anyone who didn't know Babette, it would seem an innocent enough question. But Lorelai did know Babette and while her care and concern was genuine, her desire to be the first to have a juicy piece of gossip was an innate quality that could not be diminished. "Just Luke and Sookie," Lorelai told her. Babette offered to pick up some groceries from Doose's, or any other supplies they needed and then assured Lorelai their secret was safe with her; which only guaranteed Lorelai that every man, woman, and child in Stars Hollow would hear the news by sun down.

"Okay, it's done," she told her daughter after she'd hung up her phone. She was about to slide the phone into her pocket but stopped, giving the device an appraising look. "Maybe I should turn this off before…" As though on cue the phone rang, Miss Patty's name flashing across the screen. "Before that happens," she sighed.

"Here, give it to me," Christopher suggested. "I'll screen the calls for you."

Lorelai handed the phone over. "Thanks," she said. It was the better solution than turning it off. She wanted Luke to be able to get ahold of her. And the doctor's office in Litchfield had this number, and the pharmacy; she couldn't risk missing their calls.

"Okay, so it sounds like everything's all set," Christopher surmised. "We're just waiting on the discharge nurse and on Logan and Jo to get back with your things."

"If he didn't run off with her, that is," Lorelai let the snide quip escape from her lips.

"Do you really have to do that?" Rory asked, her voice strained with an undercurrent of anger. As though Rory really had a right to be the angry one here—after everything she'd put her through. About Logan of all things…after everything he'd put her through. She thought Jess was her daughter's bad boy phase. What she wouldn't give to have Jess back. At least he ran away when the going got tough; he didn't stick around and keep making things worse.

"Yes, actually, I do."

"I know you don't like him, but you're not even giving him a chance." Rory, harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest so they rested on the swelling of her stomach.

"He lied to me…to your grandparents, to everyone—for months. He knew where you were for months and he didn't tell anyone. He knew you were pregnant…He got you pregnant. He doesn't get a chance."

"He only did what I asked him to do…" Rory pushed herself up off the back of the bed to a fully seated position. "What I begged him to do. Logan was there for me when no one else was."

"And whose fault was that, Kid?" Lorelai threw her hands up in exasperation. "You act like everyone abandoned you but you're the one who abandoned us. You ran away without telling anyone what was going on. You say I wasn't there for you but how could I be when I didn't even know where you were or what was going on with you?"

"Hey, you told me! You told me not to come home. The minute I didn't do exactly what you wanted, you kicked me out."

"And I have regretted it every moment of every day since then. But I was upset, I was in shock. I acted badly, I know that. But it was one fight. I made one regretful comment and you bailed. You just bailed. You didn't even give me a chance to try to correct it, to apologize, to come to terms with the fact that everything we'd been planning for, working for, was changing."

"But that's just it. It's not 'we,' it's 'me.' It's my life, my choices, my hard work."

"Your hard work? Who do you think pulled 12-hour days as a maid for years to keep a roof over your head? Who do you think fed you and clothed you? Who do you think pulled all-nighters with you helping you study for those insane Chilton tests? Who do you think swallowed every ounce of pride they had to go to your grandparents to get the money for Chilton?" Lorelai raved. They were supposed to be partners. They were supposed to be in this together. The Gilmore Girls; them against the world. This wasn't just Rory's life, her actions affected others.

"And you never let me forget it. You never let me forget how you sacrificed your life for mine. You never let me forget how much you gave up and how hard it was for you. But it was all worth it because I was going to go to Chilton and Harvard and be this huge success. God forbid I strayed from the path and made all your sacrifice worthless."

"I made those sacrifices for you," Lorelai insisted. "You wanted it. You were the one who was parading around in a Harvard sweatshirt when you were five. You were the one who had to turn on CNN to watch Christiane Amanpour every night when you were eight. You were the one doing mock college interviews when you were ten. This was what you wanted."

"Was it? Really? Or was what I wanted to prove to you that I wasn't a mistake?"

"This isn't you talking. This is him."

"This has nothing to do with Logan."

"Just because his parents pushed him into a life he didn't want doesn't mean that's what I did. He's nothing but a spoiled, self-centered, rich kid who's unhappy with the life that was handed to him and thinks he can just walk away and have whatever new life he wants. And he's dragging you along with him. But what happens when he gets unhappy again? Huh? Is he just going to walk away again? Find a new life?"

"Oh, you mean like kicking his kid out and replacing him with a fiancé and a dog?"

"Hey, you left. The world doesn't just stop spinning because you're not there. I did what I had to to survive. And it's not like you weren't busy playing house with your beau while I had no idea if you were dead or alive."

"I sent you a letter."

"Ah yes, the letter. How thoughtful of Logan to try to ease his guilt about lying to us by convincing you to write some crappy, generic letter."

"It always comes back to Logan doesn't it? So what, you're just going to hate him forever?"

"Yeah, I am. I told you once before, I get to hate the guy who breaks my daughter."

"Of course you think I'm broken," she scoffed.

"Look around, Rory," she swung her arms out at their surroundings, "you're in the hospital."

"That's not Logan's fault."

"Then whose fault is it? The Pillsbury Dough Boy?"

"I'm the one who did too much…who pushed myself too hard. Logan didn't do anything but try to take care of me."

"He got you pregnant!"

The room got eerily quiet and Lorelai could hear the blood pulsing in her ears, her gut clenching with fury at the man who did this to her daughter…and at Rory for defending him.

"And that's the truth" Rory said after a moment, the words coming out as a sardonic chuckle. "You think I'm broken because I'm pregnant."

Lorelai's fury ebbed, partially replaced by a churning feeling of shame. "That's not what I meant."

"Yes, it is. Me getting pregnant has always been the worst thing in the world you could imagine." Rory was looking at her with such detached disappointment it caused her physical pain. How had it all come to this?

"Look, we're both upset and all this yelling isn't good for the baby. I think we should both just take a deep breath and forget it for now. We can finish this conversation when we get home." She turned away to busy herself by opening a drawer filled with items her parents had insisted on buying for Rory—some pajamas, a change of pillowcases, a few books.

"Logan and I are going to be a family." The words came at her from behind, cold and resolute. They probably shouldn't have been shocking but they were. Lorelai didn't turn around.

"Him, Samuel and me. He's got a job here in Boston. And he's going to get an apartment and when he does, Samuel and I are going to go live with him."

The rage was back, completely transcending any guilt or sadness she felt over her previous comments. Her jaw clenched tight, her teeth grinding together and filling her head with a painful grating sound. "That's not going to happen," she ground out.

"Yes, it is. And if you can't accept that—if you can't accept Logan—then I'm not coming home at all."

"You're on bed rest, Kid." She swept her hands out around the hospital room to punctuate her point. Where the hell do you think you're going to go? Logan's? Does he even still have a place? You think he's going to have time check your blood pressure and drive you to the doctor every day between finals?"

"I'll stay in the hospital if I have to."

"She can stay with me." If she had thought she was angry a minute ago, she had no idea. A fury like she'd never felt before licked white hot within her. He chose now of all moments to open his damn mouth?

"Excuse me?"

Christopher stood up from the chair he'd been silently parked in for the entire duration of their argument. "She can stay with me," he repeated.

Lorelai turned to him with a death glare. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute," she growled.

She watched him throw their daughter a look and a nod before starting towards the door. Lorelai followed him into the hallway.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed angrily as soon as the door had shut.

Christopher looked apologetic, but apparently not enough to back down. "Look, I know how hard these past six months have been for you and how badly you've wanted her back. But clearly there are some issues the two of you need to work out and I just think…"

"You don't get to think." Lorelai interrupted him. "You don't get to offer her a place to stay. She has a place to stay" She pointed towards the door that separated them from their daughter. "And you forfeited the right to swoop in and save her when you failed to show up for the first 21 years of her life."

"That's not fair."

"Oh no? And was it fair when I was taking her to the Girl Scouts father-daughter dance? Was it fair when she was sick and I was the only one there to take care of her? Or was it fair when you missed her high school graduation?"

"Fine, I know I was a crappy Dad before" Christopher acknowledged, his voice remaining annoyingly calm. "But that doesn't mean I have to be a crappy Dad now. I'm here now. And it's not the craziest idea in the world that she stays at my place."

"Yes, it is the craziest idea," Lorelai bellowed. "She belongs in Stars Hollow—with me."

"She doesn't want to go back to Stars Hollow right now. Maybe it's better if you give her a little space."

"She's had six months of space. She doesn't get to have anymore space."

"If she stays with me, at least we know she'll be well taken care of," he tried to reason. As though reason had any part of this. Rory was her daughter, that was the only fact that mattered. "And you can of course come over whenever you want. At least then she won't feel so much pressure which will probably help her come around sooner. Not to mention less pressure is better for her and the baby and isn't that what's most important right now? That she not be under too much stress. Plus, I live right here in Boston. She wouldn't have to travel, which really isn't all that safe at this point. She'd get to stay with her current doctor. And since I got my inheritance, I don't have to work anymore so I can be home with her and hire a nurse. Taking all the emotion out of it, you have to admit it's the best place for her."

Lorelai's eyes narrowed into wrathful slits. "The best place for her is home. You promised me, Chris. You promised.You told me you would do everything in your power to find her and bring her home." It was Father's Day and he'd just gotten back from following some lead in Cleveland that hadn't panned out. They'd had the same fight, about him being a crappy Dad to Rory all his life. And he'd said he was trying to change that and that he would do whatever it took bring her back home. Home. That was the promise. Not just to find her, but to find her and bring her home.

"And home can only be with you? Is that it?"

"Yes, Christopher," she snarled in fury. How dare he imply his place was in any way a home to her daughter. "Her home is with me, her mother; the person who raised her and took care of her."

"I'm her father."

"Like that means anything," Lorelai scoffed.

"Look, I did my part. I found her. I brought her back to you. But if you're not careful, you're going to wind up pushing her right away again. You know better than anyone how stubborn a Gilmore Girl can be. And how long they can freeze you out for. If you don't start showing her a little respect—showing Logan a little respect—you're going to lose her all over again. Is that what you want?"

"Oh my god, you're on his side now?"

"She's in love with him, Lorelai. And he's the father of our grandson."

"He ruined her life. He's ruining his own life, and he's going to just keep dragging her down with him."

"Ahem." The sound of throat clearing came not from her current verbal sparring partner, but rather, from behind her. Christopher was looking over her shoulder with a sheepish expression on his face. Lorelai turned to see who had joined them. Jo's face mimicked the awkward expression of Christopher. Logan's visage was much more stoic, but she could see the twinge of hurt in his eyes. She didn't care. Actually, she was glad. He should hurt, after everything he'd done to tear her family apart, he should suffer. He and Rory could be miserable together.

"Congratulations," she spat. "Looks like you won."

AN: Okay, full confession. I very seriously considered changing all the plans I've had for this story for like, a year, and making Rory go home with Lorelai. Just because of all the anti-Lorelai hate in the comments, lol. Of course, I couldn't really do that because then the entire rest of the story plot wouldn't work, so alas, you all get your wish.

I do just want to remind you, though, that even though I know it may not seem like it, especially after this chapter, Lorelai is not the bad guy in this story. There are no bad guys in this story (except maybe Dean, lol.) Lorelai is a very imperfect mother. And her and Rory's relationship is definitely co-dependent, which is not healthy. But Lorelai is her mom and they love each other and are ultimately the most important people in each other's lives, for better or for worse. Rory needs her. And they are going to have to reconcile at some point. It wouldn't be true to GG if they didn't.

Also, I don't care what some people say, were it not for this fight, it would absolutely make the most sense for her to go back to Stars Hollow until Samuel is born. I get that we don't want her there forever but it's the best place for her to convalesce. The most important thing for her health is that she be under as little stress as possible. And coming from a medical perspective there is evidence that people get better faster at home because that's where people are comfortable. And yes, I'm sure Christopher's will be comfortable, but I think we can all admit that there's nothing like being in your own house and sleeping in your own bed. And Christopher may be her father, but Lorelai is right about one thing here—his home is not Rory's home; his home has never been Rory's home. Sure, ultimately she needs to move on and make a new home with Logan and Samuel, so staying in Stars Hollow LONG term doesn't make sense. But it definitely was (until the fight) the top choice of places for her to be at least for the next couple weeks.