Change Of Plans

Graduation

"Do you know if she said yes?" Emily asked Lorelai as they walked around Yale with Richard, looking for Rory.

"I know just as much as you" Lorelai said

"You have to know something" Emily said. "You two are practically joined at the hip"

"Mom, I haven't seen or spoken to Rory since she left the party last night" Lorelai said.

"I can't believe you don't know anything"

"Please don't bring it up to Rory unless she does first" Lorelai said. "She needs time to figure out what she wants from her life, and us bugging her isn't gonna help her make a decision"

"Fine"

The found Christopher who gave them each a glass of champagne and a little while later Rory found standing on the grass.

"Hey, there's our graduate" Christopher said

"Hi" Rory said. She immediately noticed the champagne and was already thinking up reasons why she wasn't gonna have any.

"Logan's not coming?" Emily asked. Lorelai rolled her eyes. She asked her mother to do one thing. Not bring up Logan.

"No, he's here" Rory said. "He went to talk to some of his friends"

"Oh"

Lorelai handed Rory a glass of champagne. "Here. Liquid courage". When Rory reached out to take the glass, Lorelai noticed that she wasn't wearing a ring.

"Um...mom, can I talk to you for a minute?" Tori asked

"Yeah" Lorelai said and followed Rory to a quiet spot a few feet away. "Sorry to bring it up, but I can't help notice you're not wearing an engagement ring"

"Yeah, um...I did say yes" Rory said. Lorelai started to get excited but Rory continued talking. "But we're gonna put getting married on hold for a while"

"Why?"

"There's just a lot going on right now" Rory said.

That was the point when Lorelai noticed that for someone who just got engaged and was at their college graduation, Rory didn't seem too excited. "What aren't you telling me?"

"You can't tell anyone"

"What?"

"If I tell you now, you can't tell anyone, or make a big deal out of it"

"Ok"

Rory took a breath. "I'm pregnant"

"Ok. Um...wow"

"Yeah"

"That...a lot to process"

"Yeah"

"Are- were- wh- there's no good way for me to ask you what I'm trying to ask you"

"Just ask"

"Did you get engaged because you're pregnant?" Lorelai asked. She was hoping the answer would be no. Of Rory and Logan got engaged because they love each other and want to get married then great, she was happy for them. But getting married because she felt like she had to wasn't something she wanted for her daughter.

"No" Rory said. "When Logan proposed he had no idea. That's why I didn't answer right away. I couldn't say yes without telling him"

"Good" Lorelai said. "So, you're happy?"

"Still processing. We're trying to figure out where we're gonna live, and work, and all that stuff" Rory said. "But I think it's gonna be fine. Not exactly the way I thought things would go, but if we got married we would've had kids at some point anyway"

Across campus, Logan was standing around with Colin and Finn. They were talking but Logan was in another world entirely. He was thinking about Rory, and the fact that he was gonna be a father. It scared him. He didn't have a great father growing up so how was he supposed to be one?

"Maybe he's dead" Finn joked

"Logan?" Colin asked.

"Logan, are you in there?" Finn asked

"Earth to Logan!" Colin shouted right next to Logan's ear.

Logan brought his hand up to cover his ear. "What the hell?"

"You've been staring at a tree for half an hour" Colin said

"Sorry, I'm a little distracted"

"And what is it that's occupying the young Huntzberger's mind this fine morning?" Finn asked

Logan hesitated for a minute before deciding to just tell them. "Rory's pregnant"

Colin and Finn's eyes went wide. "Bloody hell" Finn said

"Don't tell anyone" Logan said

"Logan Huntzberger as a father" Colin said. "Wow, that's weird"

"I think he'll be a good dad" Finn said. "People with shitty parents always turn out to be amazing parents"

"I've heard that" Colin said. "Although does that mean that Rory will be a bad mother because she has a good one?"

"You guys are useless" Logan said and started walking away from them.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Rory"

——

After the graduation Rory and Logan were in the empty living room of the apartment that they shared with Paris and Doyle, getting the last of their stuff packed. That was their last night in that apartment. After that Rory was supposed to spend some time in Stars Hollow and Logan was gonna stay with Finn until he got his own apartment.

"Hey, do you know how I was talking about us possibly moving to California?" Logan asked

"Yeah" Rory said. If she was being honest, 2 days before, she would've thought it was a great idea, but now she wasn't so sure she wanted to move that far.

"Well, I kind of figured that with you being pregnant, you weren't gonna want to move that far from your mom" Logan said. "So, I called and asked if there was any chance that I could do the same job for the company, but from the New York office"

"And he said yes?" Rory asked. She knew the company had an office in Manhattan, but it was a lot smaller.

"Not only did he say yes, but he offered to hook us up with an apartment in the city until we could find our own place" Logan told her. "I mean, you can go stay with your mom if you want, but I thought you might like this better"

"I do" Rory said.

"He also has a connection at the New York Times who said they'd be happy to have you as a writer" Logan continued. "He knows the situation and said that you can start as soon as you want and work until whenever you would need to go on maternity leave, and your job will be waiting for you when you get back"

"So your saying that in 12 hours you completely solved our problem of not having jobs and not knowing where we're gonna live?" Rory asked in disbelief

"Yes" Logan said. "But only if that's what you want. If it's not we can work something else out"

"I love you"

"I love you too, Ace"