A/N: Anyone else as shocked by those last four words as I was? It took me a bit to process, and this story is a part of that. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

Rory sat on the gazebo, counting the seconds in the silence that stretched after she told Lorelai that she was pregnant.

One.

She knew it was somewhat indulgent to tell her after the wedding, but Lorelai was facing this new beginning, and in her own way, Rory was, too. She knew that becoming pregnant by an engaged man was not at the top of most people's lists – nor hers – but she'd almost felt a sense of relief when the strip turned pink.

Five.

Naturally, it was after the panic receded and she'd eaten and thrown up three tin-foil packages of Pop tarts. But, she had a purpose. After a year of being rootless, and lying through her teeth to everyone who cared about her that it was fine and what she wanted, she found herself with the most permanent of roots. She had a tiny person who would ground her for the rest of her life.

Ten.

"Are you okay?" Lorelai finally asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm…I'm better than fine. I'm good."

Lorelai turned toward her, hand covering her knee and squeezing gently. "Are you really? You can tell me the truth, kid. I can handle it. Some might say I am particularly equipped to handle this particular truth."

Rory smiled slightly. "I'm okay."

"When did you find out?"

"Three days ago," Rory said. She remembered taking the test inside of Lane's bathroom, her friend just outside the door. When she came out with the pink strip Lane said, "Well, at least you didn't get sand in your you-know-where conceiving it."

"I'm guessing it's Logan's?" Lorelai asked, her tone carefully chosen to not bely any feeling either way on the subject.

Rory nodded and said, "Yeah, we just…he came here a few weeks ago. We said goodbye."

"Have you told him yet?"

For the first time during the conversation, Rory grew uncomfortable. She scratched at the underside of her chin before saying, "No. I haven't."

Lorelai took a deep breath and asked, "Are you going to?"

"I don't know."

"Rory-"

"You did it alone," Rory said, turning suddenly to Lorelai. "You didn't need dad, or anyone else."

"No, I didn't. But, it wasn't easy. There were a lot of difficult times. Hopefully I shielded you from most of it, but it wasn't all sunshine and Brady Bunch variety show reruns."

"I know it wasn't."

"I don't want you to have to go through that. Not if you don't have to."

"I'll have you," Rory said. "And Luke. And grandma." Rory paled at the thought of telling the Gilmore matriarch her news. For the first time since winter of last year, she was relieved her grandfather was no longer with them. "I have people. Good people who will be here for me."

"You need to tell him," Lorelai said.

"He's getting married."

"I know."

"To a French heiress with a name that sounds like it should be a popcorn brand."

"I know."

"I can't tell him. He'll drop everything and come here. I know he will. And then he'll be stuck with-"

"You?" Lorelai said. "For some reason, I don't think he'd be too upset about that."

"I don't want someone to be with me out of obligation. And besides, he's engaged to another woman. That's the plan. He chose her."

"Don't you think the fact that he'd bolt so quickly from that engagement means something?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know I'm not Logan's biggest fan," Lorelai began slowly. "But I don't think you'd need to force his hand to get out of that engagement."

"Why do you say that?"

Lorelai widened her eyes and gestured at Rory's still flat stomach. "How about this, for starters?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

"Uh, as someone who just got married, I would argue having an affair with your college girlfriend very much means something. Don't keep this from him because you're afraid of ruining a relationship that, frankly, already seems pretty screwed."

"We had an arrangement," Rory said stubbornly. "It was just casual fun when I was in town. No strings. It didn't mean anything."

Lorelai gave her a look. "I've heard that before."

"I don't need to tell him. I have a best friend who runs one of the most well- known fertility clinics in the Western hemisphere. I'll just tell people she helped me get pregnant or something. I'm 32. My eggs are reaching their expiration date."

"You need to tell him. I'm not telling you to go and be with him. Honestly, I don't want that for you. I think you deserve better. But, this is his kid. He deserves to know. And this kid deserves to knew its father."

"Hey, Lorelai!" Luke called out, walking toward them. "Come over here! Sookie brought over one of the test cakes for us."

"Don't tell Luke," Rory said. "Not yet, at least. I want to be the one to do it."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay."

She pulled her daughter into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Lorelai held on to her for a few moments, face turned away to hide the tears that welled in her eyes.

The actual wedding was a Stars Hollow star-studded event, with the entire town nearly coming out to celebrate Luke and Lorelai's wedding. Those present at the earlier private wedding remained silent, grinning wide with the rest as the pair exchanged vows for the second time. Rory spotted her grandmother in the front row, and she was positively beaming. Afterwards, Lorelai cracked, "That Nantucket weather is doing you good. Do they bottle that stuff?"

Emily routinely ignored her and said, "It was a beautiful ceremony."

"Thank you, Mom."

"We're glad you were able to make it on such short notice," Luke said.

Emily looked at Lorelai and said, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." She paused for a moment and then said, "Of course, since this was announced so quickly, I didn't have a chance to fully prepare your wedding gift. One typically does that for the shower. But, of course, you didn't have one of those either."

"Thank you for pointing that out," Lorelai returned glibly.

"All of that was to say that your gift is on its way. I had Berta FedEx it."

"Wow, FedEx it? Listen to you all up on your postage lingo."

"It's two gifts, actually."

"Two gifts?" Lorelai asked, interest piqued.

"Down girl," Luke said in a low voice.

"Yes, as you know, I had one gift purchased for years," Emily began.

"You've had a gift purchased for years?" Luke asked.

"Yes. I originally purchased it when Lorelai was engaged to that teacher from Chilton. Anyway, I told Lorelai that I would save it for when she actually got married, and here we are."

"You're giving us a gift that you purchased for a different wedding?" Luke asked in disbelief. Lorelai patted him on the arm and said, "Just go with it, babe."

"The second gift is from your father," Emily said, catching her daughter by surprise. Lorelai gripped Luke's arm tightly. "It's from dad? But how –"

"A few weeks before Richard passed, we were going through some of our things and we came upon something that he mentioned we should put aside in the event you and Luke got married."

"Dad put aside a wedding gift for us?" Lorelai asked, her eyes welling with tears for the fourth or fifth time that day.

"He did." She smiled wistfully and added, "That man truly thought of everything. Anyway, you should expect it within the week. If you don't get it by Friday, tell me. Berta told me she got a tracking number, that way we can know where the package is at all times. Isn't that just ingenious?"

"The most. We'll let you know when we get it." She stepped forward and hugged her mother. She smelled different than she remembered. The heavy Chanel No. 5 was replaced by something lighter, floral maybe. In a soft voice she told her, "I'm really glad you're here, Mom."

When she pulled back, Emily's eyes were glassy. Emily sniffed daintily, covering the moment with a quick adjustment of her pearl necklace, and then said, "You two should continue greeting your guests. It's customary to spend some time with everyone."

"You're right," Luke said, sensing that his bride needed someone else to speak at the moment. "We'll see you later."

"Did you tell her?" Lane asked Rory, handing her a small glass of water with lemon. Not only was it hydrating, but also conveniently resembled a vodka tonic. Rory didn't want to have to explain her lack of drinking.

"I did," Rory said.

"And?"

"She took it like I thought she would," Rory said. "Although, she told me that I should tell him."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know."

They walked over to the outskirts of the town square where there were less people. They settled on a bench, Rory stretching her feet out in front of her.

"Sometimes I think about my own childhood. Would it have been better if my dad didn't know? I mean, it was great when he was there. But when he wasn't..." Rory shook her head, "…it hurt a lot when he wasn't. I don't want that for my child."

"You think Logan wouldn't be there?"

"I honestly don't know," Rory said. "I mean, he'd be here now. I know that. But he's never been good at responsibility. And this? This is just about the most responsibility that you can get. I don't want him to come here and then leave when it becomes too much. I remember what it was like having a dad who did that. He came when it was convenient, and while that might have been enough for him it wasn't for me."

"Wouldn't you still have rather had him in your life, though? Even if it was only for those short visits?" Lane asked.

Rory knew the answer was yes. She lived for Christopher's random phone calls and short visits, and while the distance between them did hurt, she never begrudged him for them. She loved him unconditionally when she was younger, and Lorelai did her best to not tarnish that. Lorelai never spoke an ill word about him in front of her, even when, in retrospect, she now knew there was tension between her parents.

"I need to think about it more," Rory finally said.

"Okay."

They were quiet for a moment, and then Lane asked, "So, I get to be this kid's cool aunt right? Because, you're Steve and Kwan's cool aunt. It only seems fair that I also, in turn, get to take that role."

Rory smiled slightly. "Who else would get that title?"

"Paris is a type of frightening that could be mistaken for cool."

Rory laughed. "Don't worry, you'll be the cool aunt. We'll just have to find another role for Paris."

That night Rory sat on her bed, scrolling through her old text messages with Logan. It was just about the most self-destructive thing a person can do in the late hours when pregnant with said individual's baby, but her fingers had a mind of their own. She went all the way to the first text after they'd seen each other in Hamburg. She laid back and held her phone to her chest. She closed her eyes and mulled over the same question that prodded at her since that afternoon in Lane's bathroom. Finally, she sat up, decision made. She sent him a quick text.

We need to talk.

Her phone rang almost immediately, Logan's number flashing on the screen. She took a breath before answering the phone.

"Logan, hi."

"You got it, didn't you?"

"I got what?" she stammered, confused beyond all measure.

"I'm so sorry. I just found out about it this morning."

"Found out about what?"

"The wedding invitation. Odette had been asking about any friends from Yale to invite, and I kept putting it off, so she just called Honor and asked her. Naturally, Honor wasn't thinking and gave her your name. I tried to fix it before invitations went out, but I was too late."

Rory almost laughed at the lunacy of this. "You invited me to your wedding?"

"Unintentionally?"

"Logan-"

"I'm sorry, Ace. You obviously do not need to come to the wedding."

"Logan-"

"It was a mistake. Just throw it out when you get it."

"Logan-"

"Or, use it as a dartboard. Wedding invitations make very good dartboards. Colin used to do that every time his dad married another trainer from their gym."

"Logan, I didn't get a wedding invitation I'm pregnant!"

Rory was met with silence and the deafening realization that she just blurted out that she was pregnant over the phone.

"You're what?" he finally asked.

"I'm sorry I did that over the phone. I meant to set up a time for me to come to London, but you were kind of imploding over there and…and I told you life changing news. Over the phone. I just told you I was pregnant on the phone."

"Hang up," he said.

"What?"

"Hang up the phone, Ace."

"But-"

"Please hang up the phone."

Her stomach coiled tightly. "Okay. I'm hanging up now."

She clicked out of the call and stared at her phone. The background was her and Lorelai in New York, pre-Wookie. They were huddled in front of Katz Delicatessen, mouths pulled into wide grins. Rory's phone rang, Logan's number flashing for a FaceTime. Rory held her breath as she swiped into the call. She didn't know what to expect. Logan's face appeared on her phone, and she couldn't read his expression. She noticed he was sitting on his balcony.

"Why are you outside?" she said immediately. "It's November. Are you at least wearing a coat?"

"How are you feeling?" he asked, bowling right over her weather talk.

"I've been in London in fall. It's forty degrees. At least put a scarf on."

"Ace, I'm fine."

"What about a hat? I can already see the tips of your ears getting red."

He sighed and said, "Fine, hold on."

He disappeared from the screen and then returned with a plaid scarf wrapped around his neck. She could pick out the edges of a pea coat.

"Now tell me how you're feeling."

"Fine. Normal. It's pretty early, so I haven't noticed anything. Just, you know, I missed…so I took the test. But I'm fine."

"And it's…" he trailed off, clearly uncomfortable asking.

"Yes, it's yours," she said. "That part of my life has been pretty dry lately. Sahara dry. So, um, definitely yours."

He didn't say anything for a long while and she almost thought for a moment that the call had frozen, but then he said, "I'm coming to Stars Hollow."

"No, Logan –"

"You really think you can give me this news and I won't do anything?"

"You can do a lot, but just from London. You're planning a wedding. You can't just up and leave."

"Rory, you're having a baby. My baby." He grinned at that, and it just about broke her heart. "We're having a baby. I never thought I'd say that and not want to throw up. But..."

"We're having a baby," Rory finished softly, ignoring the warmth that spread over her body at that statement. She needed to be practical about this.

"I'll take the earliest flight into Connecticut. How long will you be there? If you're going to be in New York I can go there, too."

"I'll be in Stars Hollow."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll call you when I figure out what flight I'll be on."

Rory nodded, not knowing what to say next. She had so many questions, but didn't know how to verbalize them next. She was too nervous for the answers.

"I'll see you soon, Ace."

"Bye Logan."

A/N: And that's a wrap on chapter one! Let me know if you'd like to see more! I tried to keep true to all the characters, flaws and all. Hopefully you enjoyed this! I'm planning for multiple chapters, all the way up to Baby G's birth.