A/N: Hello, reader peops. Anybody still out there and hoping I'd make a comeback to the fandom? Meh, maybe not after all this time, but nevertheless, here I am again. I had this idea such a long time ago, but I never really got around to writing it. After the first half a chapter, I just couldn't seem to make it work, until more recently and now it's working, so once I was sure it wasn't all going nowhere, I decided it was time to share. If anybody is still out there who loves Literati fic, hopefully you'll get a kick out of this, and please do throw me a review if you do ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and dialogue from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks who aren't me.

Chapter 1

"Mom?"

"Yeah."

"I'm pregnant."

Rory couldn't look at her mother when she said the words. It felt too strange, too real, maybe.

It wasn't as if she never thought that one day she would be telling her mom she was having a baby. She kind of figured that would happen eventually. When she was married, probably, or at least settled down with a guy she loved. When she had a steady job and all of the other things you were supposed to have before you got pregnant.

It was what Lorelai wanted, Rory knew. She didn't want the cycle to repeat itself, no matter how well their situation had turned out in the end. She hated the idea of her own sixteen-year-old having to go through the drama that she had to face herself. At least Rory was older, but somehow her barely thirty-three years still didn't seem like enough. She felt very young and kind of stupid in the circumstances.

"Mom?"

"Yeah."

"I-"

"I heard you. I'm sorry, sweets, I'm just... processing, I guess. Yeah, I'm processing."

Rory nodded because she well understood the need to take a little time and think about this. She felt as if she hadn't had much time to think on it herself before she told Lorelai the news, so she was still processing too.

"Um, so, you're pregnant," said Lorelai eventually. "And the father? I mean, I'm assuming there is a father. Like, an actual father. I mean, one you chose, and not... Before Mommy's head explodes, please tell me you're not renting uterine space to Paris and her company," she said urgently, her hand on Rory's arm.

"Oh, no. Mom, no, I'm not. This is... I, uh... This is all... natural."

For a writer, Rory sure did struggle to find the right words to describe the situation, but then, it wasn't one she ever thought to find herself in. There were a lot of things in her life that hadn't really turned out as planned, from her career to her relationships and almost everything in between. This pregnancy was just one more item on an ever-growing list, but Rory figured she would do as her mother always did. Just take whatever life threw at her and make the best out of it, because as today's wedding proved, it could all work out in the end, if you let it.

"So," said Lorelai, meeting her daughter's eyes then, "the father?"

Rory glanced away. "The father," she echoed, staring down into the champagne she dare not drink, no matter how much she was tempted right now, "is Jess."

It took so long for Lorelai to answer that Rory ended up looking back at her mother just to check she was still breathing. She wasn't sure what to make of the look on her face. It wasn't happy, but then she hadn't really expected that. Thankfully, she didn't look mad or even sad either. Maybe confused was the over-riding emotion, and quite honestly, Rory could sympathise with that.

"I... suddenly feel like we really haven't been talking as much lately as we should."

"Things have been a little weird this past year." Rory nodded.

"Weird, sure," Lorelai agreed. "Um, this is my wedding day," she said then, as if she just remembered that fact.

"I know."

"And my daughter is pregnant."

"I am."

"By my new nephew-in-law?"

"Also, true."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

There had been no explosion. Rory was still sort of expecting it to come, but she didn't mind if it never happened. If Lorelai could remain calm in the face of this situation, that would be great, because Rory could use a little calm right now. She honestly had no idea what she was going to do next. She should probably tell Jess about the baby, that had to be priority one, and yet, Rory couldn't even imagine what was going to happen when she had that conversation.

She hadn't been sure how her mom would react either and hadn't exactly planned to tell her like this. The news just kind of came spilling out in the moment. She wasn't sure she was ever going to find a better one, and as time passed, it was going to reach a point where Rory just had to say something or eventually junior was going to make his or herself known anyway.

"Does anyone else know?"

Rory shook her head to clear the haze out as much as to answer her mom's question.

"No, nobody knows. Just me... and the doctor who confirmed it... and now you, obviously. Jess doesn't know, but I guess he should, soonish."

"Soonish," Lorelai echoed, though whether that was agreement or not, Rory couldn't be sure. "Okay, I'm struggling a little here, sweets, so help Mommy out, again. I knew about Paul. I knew about Logan. I even knew about the Wookie. But Jess? How...?"

"It wasn't a plan." Rory knew she was wincing as she said it, though it wasn't really her one night with Jess or having to explain it that caused her pain.

Hearing her mom list off all the guys from the past year, it didn't make Rory feel great about herself. Sure, a strong, independent, modern woman didn't have to feel ashamed of indulging herself with more than one man. Rory Gilmore was no prude, neither was Lorelai for that matter, but her choices really hadn't been great.

Logan, who she knew was engaged to someone else, and yet carried on the affair anyway, as if Odette didn't even matter. Paul, who she had strung along, never even caring enough to end things, never really giving him more than a passing thought the whole time they were supposed to be together. The Wookie was just so ridiculous, she didn't even have an explanation for it, except that she must have momentarily turned into a whole other person. Maybe she had an early midlife crisis, Rory wasn't at all sure, but her behaviour had been so unlike herself, she had to wonder sometimes.

Of course, when she got to thoughts of Jess and their encounter, she couldn't really have any regrets there. They were both single, available, grown-up people who had known each other a long time and cared deeply for each other too. Maybe they could've been a little more sober and sensible, but no, Rory didn't have one regret about that night, even if it had left her unexpectantly expecting.

"Rory?"

Lorelai's prompting and her hand on her arm brought Rory back to the present moment and she sighed.

"Jess and me, we ran into each other. It was a couple of months ago. Ten weeks, actually," she began to explain. "He was down this way for a work meeting. He dropped into the Hollow to check on his mom and TJ. You know as well as I do, he cares more for Liz than he says he does. Anyway, we literally ran into each other in town. I had just been having one of those stupid days where anything and everything went wrong, and I was ranting about the stupid computer and my shoe that was killing me and the weather and just about everything. Jess was... he was sweet. He did what any guy who has been around a stressed-out Gilmore girl before would do - he offered to buy me coffee. But it was late and most places were closing, so we actually ended up at the secret bar for a while. I swear, I normally would've preferred a cappuccino, but Jess ordered a scotch and it sounded like such a good idea, I joined him.

"So, we had a drink. I think we had three or four, and then, the bar was closing and we weren't done talking. We seemed to get into everything, all the stuff we hadn't already caught up on from the last four years or more. Work stuff, friends, dating disasters, stupid stories. I remember laughing a lot, but I honestly couldn't tell you what was funny. It was just nice, like it used to be, when things were simple.

"When the bar closed, I asked Jess where he would go. He couldn't drive back to Philly so late and after so many drinks. He said something about crashing over the diner, but I knew there wasn't a bed there anymore. That was when I remembered you talking about cancellations at the inn..."

Rory couldn't look at her mom as she continued her explanation. It wasn't as if she was about to talk about having sex in Lorelai's bed or anything, but in her inn might still be a little weird for her, especially when the guy involved was Jess. They really never had got along all that well, and though they did a good line in civil and maybe even pseudo-friendly these days, Rory couldn't imagine her sleeping with the guy was going to go down well in any form.

"Uh, I remember us going back and forth about it. Jess insisting he didn't need the room, me insisting he did, him wanting to pay, me saying he didn't have to. Not that I could cover the fee, I just thought since the room was empty... Anyway, Jess took the room, and we never did figure out the money thing, as far as I remember. We did have a couple more drinks from the minibar, and then... and then I got up to leave. I looked back down at Jess sitting on the edge of the bed and suddenly I just didn't want to go.

"He asked me what was wrong. I told him nothing. Weirdly, when he was around, it never did feel like anything was wrong. I meant it. I really, really did. I don't really know what happened next, who moved first. I just know that we started kissing and then... and then, one thing led to another. You don't want the details, obviously."

"Obviously," Lorelai echoed, looking a little green when Rory finally glanced up from her hands in her lap to look at her. "You weren't careful?"

"No." Rory shook her head. "I mean, I was taking the pill. I told him that. I knew I was clean, he promised he was too. I didn't have a reason not to believe him, I mean, he's Jess. So, we just..."

"You just... made a baby," said Lorelai, meeting her gaze. "That's what you did."

"Apparently. It wasn't the plan - none of it was planned - but yes, me and Jess, we made a baby."

The silence that followed was less than comfortable, but Rory couldn't bear to say anything else. She figured Lorelai was doing a little more processing, probably trying to scrub away even the vaguest thoughts of her daughter and nephew-by-marriage doing the horizontal rhumba.

Rory didn't mind the memories she had herself. It had felt so strangely natural at the time, though it was an experience they had never shared up to that point. Rory would freely admit (to anyone who wasn't her mother, of course) that it had been more than worth the wait. Any concerns she may have had about building it up in her head, having expectations beyond reality, easily faded away as she and Jess made love for the first and only time. She just hadn't ever expected it to lead to this particular result.

"You have to tell him."

Rory looked up fast into her mother's serious gaze and sighed. "I know. I know that I have to do that."

"On my wedding day," Lorelai added, staring across town square that was becoming lighter and lighter as the new day dawned.

This was the day when she and Luke would have to go through another ceremony, for all their friends and family to see them get married, even though the actual event had already happened last night. It was a weird situation, but no more strange than what Rory had to face. Jess would be there at the wedding ceremony, the best man to her maid of honour, and she was going to have to tell him they were having a baby.

"On your wedding day," she said, eyes fixed straight ahead.

Lorelai's hand wrapped around her own and squeezed in comfort and consolation. Rory wished it made her feel better, she really did, but unfortunately, it just didn't.

To Be Continued...