She had sat down and cried as soon as she had seen the stick turn pink. A baby. She was going to have a baby at 16. She had no idea how long she had sat in the bathroom stall at school. She had missed at least one class, possibly biology, as she sat on the toilet, feeling numb as she clenched the pregnancy test in her fist. She had eventually pulled herself together long enough to make it to her locker, throw on her coat and head home, skipping the rest of her classes.
She had changed into a pair of pyjamas and crawled under the covers as soon as she had gotten home and she had stayed there, claiming illness when her mother came to demand her presence at dinner.
"You have no fever, I'm assuming you haven't thrown up," Emily had ranted at her. "Get out of this bed and get dressed for dinner immediately." Lorelai and her mother locked eyes for a long moment before she finally agreed, too scared and tired to argue.
That was all in the past now. As she lay in bed, curled around a heating pad trying to sooth the cramps away, she allowed herself a moment to lament the 2 weeks she had lost worrying about the pregnancy she was, had been, carrying. As she pulled her self out from under the covers to head to the bathroom again, she couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief, knowing that in a few hours, maybe days, her body would force the intruder out and she'd be able to go back to being a 15 year old who'd had a pregnancy scare she hadn't told anyone about.
2.
Something about Christopher Haden had changed for her over the last year. He was no longer her goofy best friend who would sneak off with her to hide in the den and watch TV while they were at some boring dinner party.
He had gotten tall, his shoulders and chest had started to broaden and carry some muscle tone and his voice had started to drop to a silky tenor.
They had mostly stopped hanging out together after school too. He would head over to the parking lot of the A&P after school while she headed to the mall with her friends to pick out the latest fashions, make up and music.
"Come on Lorelai!" Missy Hollerman called to her after school one day. "We'll miss the bus!" Lorelai pulled her gaze away from Chris' retreating figure.
"Right, coming," she said as she quickly grabbed her sweater and book bag before she slammed her locker shut and jogged after Missy.
"Hey!" Lorelai called to the group of boys.
"Hey," Chris called back with a smile and a nod. She couldn't help but smile when she saw him. He had taken off his sweater, shoved his tie in the back pocket of his pants and rolled up the sleeves of his button down Oxford shirt.
"Whatcha up to?" she asked as she came to the group, inviting herself into their little circle.
"Not much," one of the other guys commented automatically as he and 2 others went back to discussing the new wheels on his skate board.
"I think I'm gonna get a new board," Christopher told her as he picked his own up off the ground. He flipped it over and they both examined the worn bottom where they could see the wood showing through.
"Sounds like a plan," she said as she looked up from the board and to him again.
"What?" he asked her after a moment when he realized she was still looking at him. She chewed on her lip for a moment and just as she started to lean towards him, a bubbly little blonde popped up, seemly out of no where.
"Hi Chris," she said brightly before she threw her arms around Christopher's neck and kissed him long and hard. Lorelai jerked her head back, slightly taken aback by this. When the hell did he get a girl friend?
"Hey Jennifer," he said with a goofy smile on his face. "Lorelai, this is Jennifer. Jennifer, this is Lorelai, my best friend," he said.
"Hi!" Jennifer greeted Lorelai brightly as she moved to the side.
"Hey," Lorelai replied, trying to cover her surprise and disappointment that Chris had chosen some one over her.
3.
"I want her to go to nice people, people who already have a kid," she told the social worker that the hospital had sent in to talk to her.
"We do have a family in mind already," she told Lorelai calmly as she made a few notes.
"Are they nice? Good? Do the have any other kids?" she asked eagerly.
"I can't tell you that, we've been over this before, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," she said, sounding more than a little dejected as she played with a loose thread on her blanket.
"They will write you once a year and send a picture of her though," the social worker said with a small smile, trying to comfort Lorelai.
"Good," she said. "And. . . and I can send her a birthday present? Maybe even a Christmas present?" she asked hopefully. Giving up her baby had mostly been her parents idea, but she knew that on some level, they were right. She was 16 and not even done high school, how on earth was she going to care for a baby?
"That will be up to the discretion of her parents," the social worker said as she made a few last notes. "Well, I think we're done here." Lorelai jerked her head up from the blanket to look at the woman sitting beside her.
"Really?" she asked in a tiny little voice.
"Really. All I need is your signature here," she said, pointing to a thin black line as she held out her pen to Lorelai. She clenched and unclenched her fist a few times, trying to stop the shaking.
"Lorelai?" her mother asked. She looked over at her parents for a moment before she finally steeled herself to take the pen. She quickly signed her name and handed the clipboard and the pen back to the social worker.
"Wonderful," she said as she looked the document over, making sure everything was in order. "We'll see you in two weeks at the hearing," she finished, slipping the documents into her brief case before she shook Emily and Richard's hands. She left the room soon after.
"You did the right thing, Lorelai," Emily said quietly. Richard nodded in agreement. "And, on two weeks time, we won't have to talk about this ever again," she said, referring to the court date when Lorelai would official terminate her parental rights over her baby girl.
"Yeah," she said with a sigh as she turned her attention back to the blanket. "Two weeks."
4.
Lorelai flopped back on the bed, breathing heavily, feeling a great deal less pain now that she had finally delivered the baby, a little girl. Something had to be wrong though. While the baby was crying heartily, the Doctor and Nurses were all very quiet.
"What?" she finally asked. "What's wrong?" she sat up on her elbows slightly and started to bob her head around, trying to see her baby.
"Nothing," one of the nurses said quickly, offering her a smile. "We're just going to take her down to the nursery and clean her up before we bring her up to you. Okay?"
"Okay. . . I guess," Lorelai said as she let the nurse gently push her back down onto the bed.
Lorelai leaned against the railing of her hospital bed as she listened to the Doctor talking to her parents. It was a serious conversation and that niggling feeing in her gut that something was wrong with Rory was starting to grow. She had picked a name, at least, some time before the demoral wore off. Her baby was going to be Lorelai Leigh, Rory, Gilmore.
"What is it?" she asked when her parents came into the room slowly, grim looks on their faces. "Where is she?"
"Lorelai," her mother started as she took a seat at the foot of the bed. "The baby. . . "
"Rory," Lorelai filled in.
"Rory. . . There's something wrong with her." Lorelai stopped and blinked at her mother for a moment.
"Wrong how?" she asked quickly. "Is she sick? Is she hurt? What? Tell me!"
"She has Down's Syndrome," Emily finally got out.
"She's in the nursery still?" Lorelai asked.
"Of course. Lorelai, did you hear what I said?" Emily asked. Lorelai ignored her and threw the covers off. She groaned as she slid out of bed and slowly, but determinedly made her way towards the nursery at the end of the hall. She came to a stop in front of th large windows and scanned the bassinets until she came upon the one that bore her name.
She stared at the little girl, at Rory, for a long moment.
"Lorelai?" she heard her mother ask her again.
"She's perfect," Lorelai finally said. "She's beautiful and she's perfect and she's mine."
"She's not perfect though," Emily told her quietly, making sure no one else was listening in on their conversation. "She's retarded." Lorelai turned quickly and glared at her mother.
"She's Rory and she's mine and she's perfect, I don't care what you say or the Doctors say. She's perfect," she said firmly before she turned her attention back to her baby.
5.
"I'm here for a job, any job," Lorelai said firmly as she looked the woman who owned the Independence Inn in the eye. She shifted Rory a little higher up on her hip as she waited nervously for her answer.
Mia stared at the skinny little teenager in front of her, the one who was standing in front of her with a baby who couldn't be more than a year old in her arms.
"Well," Mia said a smile coming over her face. "What do you say we head to the dinning room for a cup of tea and a talk."
"Could you make that a cup of coffee instead?" Lorelai asked hopefully as she followed Mia to the dinning room.
"Of course," she said brightly. The trio all took a seat at a quiet table in the back and began talking. Mia eventually got Lorelai's name and a few other details out of her and promised her that she was going to consider it.
"Oh, great," Lorelai said, trying to keep a positive tone to her voice. She had no idea where she and Rory were going to stay tonight, she hadn't gotten that far.
"I'll tell you what," Mia said quickly. "Why don't you two stay here for the night and I'll give you an answer in the morning."
"That's very generous," Lorelai said quickly. "But I definitely don't have enough to stay in a room here, even for a night."
"On the house," Mia said brightly as she stood up and led Lorelai towards the front desk.
"Wow, well, thank you very much," she said with a genuine smile that Mia returned. Once Rory and Lorelai were settled in their room for the night, Mia went back down to the front desk and pulled out the large Hartford directory they kept under the front desk. She quickly flipped to the G's and found the Gilmore's. She dialed the first number and when she heard the frantic "Hello??" at the other end, she was more than certain that she had found the right house.
"Mrs. Gilmore?" she asked.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"My name is Mia and I own the Independence Inn in Stars Hollow. I think I have some things that belong to you," she said quietly.
"Lorelai?" Emily asked immediately, clutching the phone receiver a little tighter. "You have Lorelai and Rory there?"
"They showed up on my door step a few hours ago. I've put them up for the night, but you're welcome to come down and pick them up."
"Wonderful!" Emily said before she called to Richard that she had found Lorelai and Rory. "We'll be there as soon as we can. Thank you so much for calling us," she said and Mia was sure she could hear the tears of relief in the other woman's voice.
"My pleasure," she said. Good byes were
exchanged before they both hung up and Mia sat down on the lone chair
behind the desk. Lorelai was still a child herself and Mia was done
raising children. Her youngest was off at college, finally, and she
wasn't really looking to take on another.