Becoming Rory

chapter nine

At sixteen weeks pregnant, Rory finally made her way to Noah's apartment to retrieve her things.

As soon as Sadie returned home, Rory nearly cried out of joy. She couldn't believe the number of things she had done while her girlfriend was away. She was still upset over the whole situation with her ex-fiancé, but she knew that they could get over it. She knew Noah, she had known him for her entire life. He wouldn't give up his child just to spite Rory. They would figure it out.

Sadie didn't know how to react to the story. She felt extremely badly that she wasn't there for Rory, her pregnant girlfriend, during such a stressful situation. She couldn't believe the horrible odds.

Sadie had missed Rory more than she could possibly explain. Every time someone mentioned something, she was quick to associate it with Rory. She couldn't get her off her mind. Rory consumed every piece of her, every fragment of her mind. She didn't know how to live without her.

All of this made Sadie feel an enormous amount of sympathy for Noah. If he felt as passionate about Rory as Sadie did, she couldn't imagine the amount of pain he must have been in. Sadie couldn't go two days without Rory and they had only been dating for a few months. She was growing very attached to Rory in a very short amount of time, which was incredibly frightening.

Their relationship was going well, minor disagreements aside. They still hadn't publicly announced their relationship at work, which was absolute torture for both. They knew that they would be treated differently by their coworkers, as well as the fact that Rory had been engaged, and was now pregnant. There were bound to be rumours circulating.

Rory had debated whether she should go over to Noah's, and, previously, her, apartment. She had put it off for a long time, ever since she and Sadie returned from their two-week hotel stay. She had bought a couple of new articles of clothing and done a lot of laundry, so she hadn't needed much.

Now, though, there were a couple things that she needed.

She and Sadie had begun to assemble the nursery in their apartment for the new addition growing rapidly inside of Rory's uterus. As Rory put the room together, imagining the pieces that she had at Noah's apartment simply wasn't enough anymore.

She had a box full of things that had gotten passed onto her through her family for when she had a child of her own. Ashlyn had gotten her own box, the ensemble of items to be split between the two of them was decided on when they were children.

She needed those things, they were one of the only happy memories of her childhood, the ones where everybody in the house was happy. She had dreamt of the day that she would have a child her entire life. Now, that day was fast approaching in a few months, but instead of concentrating on that, she was torn between all the complications and everybody else's feelings.

She needed something that was hers, something that would make her new home hers. There, in an apartment surrounded by Sadie's decor and choices, she felt like a guest. She needed to get her things and make the place her own.

The only factor was Noah. He was the only one who truly had a right to complain. Every time he thought it was getting better, he was hit by more news. He must have been so overwhelmed. Rory couldn't even imagine what the news of the pregnancy had done to him.

Which was why she was so surprised when he opened the door to the apartment to reveal a half-assembled crib and a stroller in the middle of the living room.

"So, I was online, right? And I was checking out high-chairs and everything, but I didn't know what you had gotten, yet. I just wanted to check in about a couple things so that it's not as big of a change for the baby when they come over to my place," He spoke, but Rory wasn't certain that he was talking to her. She had just been bombarded with information that she had no idea what to do with.