Chapter 1: What Happens in New Hampshire...

Set directly after AYITL - Fall. Going to keep chapters short and try to update often. Thanks for reading and please review! - Allie

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm pregnant."

Rory watched as her mother's mouth popped open in surprise, closed, then opened again. She waited, but no words came out. Silence from the infamously fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore meant something. She just wasn't sure what, exactly.

Lorelai furrowed her brow. Looking out into the distance at nothing in particular, she tipped the contents of her almost-full champagne flute back and swallowed hard. Lorelai finally turned to her daughter.

"It's not the wookiee's, is it?"

"No!" Rory almost shouted. Luckily, No one was around to hear it in the dim early-morning light.

"Logan?" Lorelai replied, knowingly.

Rory nodded once and looked down, enveloping her hands in the oversized sleeves of her sweater. She felt very small. Lorelei refilled her glass and took another gulp.

"You know this isn't quiiiite what I'd imagined when I said to just 'surprise me' with a wedding gift." She smiled a half-smile.

"Should have registered if you were planning on being picky." Rory dared to look up at her mom, waiting for the calm facade to burn away. Thirty-two years old, an Ivy-league educated grown woman, but right now she felt like a kid who knew she'd done something bad and was awaiting punishment.

"Have you told him?"

"I barely worked up the courage to tell you."

"How long have you known?" Lorelai turned to her daughter, noticing a sheen welling up Rory's eyes.

Rory gulped and pawed at her eyes with her sleeve. "Three days." A dark look from Lorelai prompted further explanation. Rory spoke quickly.

"I wanted to make absolutely sure it wasn't a mistake first – definitely not a mistake, by the way. I took seven pregnancy tests, including the one that actually spells out 'pregnant' when it comes up positive...and I figured it was best to catch you when you were all blissed out after the wedding to minimize any violent reactions."

Lorelai sighed. "You know, I've actually pictured this conversation so many times in my head I can't even count."

"You have?" Rory looked surprised.

"It was always my biggest fear, for you and for me. You would get pregnant way too young and I would freak out on you, and you would run away, and I would start wearing pantsuits. It would be Lorelei versus Emily all over again." Lorelai admitted. She took a deep breath, reaching out and grabbing hold of Rory's hands. "But you're not sixteen anymore, kid. Hell, you're not even a kid, kid. So while I'm sure that this is not at all what you had planned for your life right now, it's going to be okay." With that, Lorelai wrapped her arms around Rory's shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Oh, m-mom!" Rory finally let the tears fall, sobbing softly as Lorelai stroked her hair.

"Shhh. I know, baby. I know." She patted Rory's back.

After a few minutes, Rory pulled away to look her mom in the face. "He's engaged." She held back a sob, biting her lip.

"So you've said." Lorelai considered her next words carefully. "But is it serious?"

"Mom, I just told you he's engaged. Oh God, I'm his knocked up piece on the side." Rory slumped back dramatically, staring up at the ceiling of the gazebo.

"Well, hear me out." Lorelei put a hand on Rory's leg. "Yes, you may be the other woman. But – glass half full here – at least he's not married this time!"

Rory grimaced. "Not helpful."

"Rory, I'm not condoning what you did. I love you kid, but I'm not in the habit of delighting in someone else's daughter being hurt because of something you did. But, it takes two to cheat and two to make a baby. Does Olivia -"

"Odette."

"Right. Does Odette know about you two sneaking around?" Rory winced at the phrase.

"Probably not. We cooled things off once she moved in with him. Before that she spent most of her time in Paris. Although..." Rory trailed off.

"Although?" Lorelai poked her in the ribs.

"A couple of weeks ago, I was really down. Nothing was going right, and I was having a really rough time." Rory sat up. "Logan, Finn, Colin and Robert showed up out of nowhere and surprised me with a night out. It was great, exactly what I needed."

"I'm guessing this is when 'it' happened?" Lorelai interjected.

"Yes," Rory answered reluctantly. "We ended up at this kitschy little B&B in New Hampshire. It was supposed to be goodbye. I said goodbye, he said goodbye – WE said goodbye." A tiny bit of fire inched its way into Rory's voice. Among the myriad of emotions that she was feeling right now, she found a tiny bit of anger was kicking around in her head. She did the right thing, she ended it – on a high note even – and this was the universe's way of reminding her that it calls the shots.

"You're thinking that a sudden overnight trip halfway across the world might raise suspicion?"

"Possibly. His family is here, and I guess if she got suspicious he could say he was meeting up with the guys, or on business. But...honestly, mom, I ended it because I was sick of the lies that were piling up. Sneaking around, as you so eloquently put it, trying not to be seen together; that's not how I wanted to be with him." Rory admitted.

"But you want to?"

"Want to what?"

"Be with him."

"I...no. That ship has sailed. We were just having fun. No strings, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Rory pulled out the line that she had used on Logan when this whole thing started.

"What about what happens in New Hampshire?" Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh."

"Listen," Lorelai's face became serious now. "Regardless of your feeling towards him romantically, you are having his baby. His child. You need to tell him that much, at least. Then you two can figure out the rest."

"I know." Rory slumped. "I just feel like crap for barging back into his life after being the one that ended things. Twice."

"That's life, kid. Sometimes you just have to eat your words."