Sorry I took so long. I'd give you a shitload of excuses, but...do you really want to hear it?

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

"Hey, boss man? How was your weekend? Waking up to your gorgeous face in the Sunday Times was definitely a bonus. But I get to see it in the flesh five days out of the week, so it kinda made me feel greedy, but whatevs. You looked yummy in that tux. You should totally wear that more often. Wait, F.Y.I. if you're going to take a photo with a public figure, especially the Mayor you should at the very least fake a smile, just sayin'." Patrick breaks through the haze and plops in a chair in front of my desk.

"Hhmm, is everything okay?" He asks. I hear him but I can't find it in me to tear my eyes away from what's in front of me.
"Hhheeelllooo, anyone home? Logan, Logan. You okay? Log-" The pitch in his voice was rising.

"Logan, what the fuck is going on?" My father shouts as he burst through my office like a tornado.

I stayed unmoving, just staring at what is in front of me. He wanted to talk, argue, belittle me, who the fuck knows. I haven't seen or spoken to him or anyone really since the party. After Rory walked away I just couldn't go back. So, I went home. I sat in the dark and thought. I ignored the calls, texts, emails, bbms, smoke signals, carrier pigeons, everything. I eventually sent a mass text letting everyone know I was okay and to leave me the fuck alone. I needed to think. I needed to plan. And that's what I did and I had a brilliant plan.

But it all went to shit.

"Logan? Logan? Are you listening to me? Where the hell did you run off to after the party? Where were you yesterday? Logan? Patrick, what the fuck is going on with him?"

"Sir, I..I...I don't don't know. When I came in he was...he was like this." Patrick stammers. I feel like I should save my assistant from the wrath of my father, I usually do, but I don't have it in me.

"Ugh, what the hell is the matter with him."

I feel a hand on my shoulder give me a hard shake. Drawing my attention away. I lift my eyes to my father, his expression softening as I shift my eyes to him.

If I was in the right frame of mind I would have been shocked to see it but I wasn't so I just blankly stared.

"Patrick, can you please call Honor and have her come down here?"
"Hhmm, sure, sir."

My father's eyes never left mine as he spoke to Patrick.

"Logan, what's going on?" He asks once Patrick leaves and closes the door, his voice calmer, softer and more patient then I was use to. I haven't heard him use this tone with me since I was a little boy. Not even when I was in the hospital after Costa Rica. It sounded like he actually cared. I should have been shocked. But I just stared.

I threw the stack of papers that I've been staring at to him. He catches them and lifting an eyebrow in question, but I just made a motion for him to read it.

I was at a lost for words.
He was mine.
But he wasn't.

"Oh, he just got here. Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be home in a couple of hours. I love you too babe."
I stopped in the doorway of the reception area of my office. Babe? Babe? Was that Rory? What the fuck was he doing here?
"What the fuck are you doing here, Masen?"
He let's out a laugh guffaw.
"Isn't it obvious? For you, arsehole. Listen I don't have a lot of time. I'm needed in London. I would have done this yesterday but apparently your arse hadn't left your flat since the night of the party." He says taking a step towards me and shoving a manila envelope into my chest. He keeps his hand on top it, digging it into my chest and levels his eyes with me. "Now that you know about Landon what do you want?"
My answer is automatic, I know what I want. "I want my family." I was shocked at his forwardness but I already knew my answer.
He looks into my eyes searching, gauging my sincerity. He gives me a nod. "Just as I thought. This is from Leigh or Ace to you, yeah?" He says emphasizing by nudging the envelope into me deeper. "This is why she kept saying it doesn't matter." He says as he backs away and starts to gather his things. "I assume by family you want the whole sha-bam?" He asks.
"Yes, of course. I want bo-"
"Good. First, you're going to have to show her you want HIM. Use that same energy you've used on making grand gestures for her, for him. You have to show her you want HIM."
I was dumbfounded, he was seriously giving me advice?
"Hm, well thanks, man."
"Don't thank me. You have to do all of the work. I figured I'd give you some unsolicited advice while I dropped the papers off. My love wouldn't let me just let it go and let a mail carrier hand this to you. He's convinced you both are meant to be. A romantic that one. So good luck, you're going to bloody well need it."
"Yeah, I know I fucked up. Big-time. I won't be able to apologize enough, and I will never stop trying. I want my family."
"Good to hear mate. Keep that in mind when you read those papers."

"Involuntary termination of. Parental Rights? Who the hell is L.E.H.? What the hell is go-?"

"I have a son." I interrupt, looking straight into my father's eyes. I will not be ashamed of Landon. He didn't deserve that.

My father's eyes widen at my words.

"His name is Landon. Landon Eli Hayden."

"Hayden?" He bellowed.

"Yeah, he is mine and Rory's son. He's four, he'll be five in December."

"Four? What the- Why are we just hearing about this now? Is she trying to get money-"

"NO!" I shout. Is that a serious question?

I WISH she was asking me for something but clearly she was telling me to stay the fuck away.

Fuck. Anyway she's a Gilmore and a fucking Hayden.

"Then why now Logan?" He yells back. "Why is she telling you about him now? I don't understand all this legal mambo jumbo, but I see abandonment a lot. You fucking abandon them?" His face was turning beet red and a vein in forehead pulsing furiously.

"I didn't abandon them!" I yelled back, but weakly. "Well not on purpose."

"Not on purpose? What does the hell does that mean?"

"Dad, would you relax! You look like you're going to have a heart attack." He shot me a glare but took a deep breath and leaned back against my desk.

Deep breaths, good idea. In. Out. Deep breath.
Once we are both a less on edge I start to explain.

"Dad, okay. Look. Shit. Five years ago Rory told me she was pregnant, but I didn't, I didn't know she kept him." I lower my head in shame. I was such a dick. I am a dick.

"I don't understand."

"I thought she got rid-"

"Why would she do that?" He says his voice getting louder again with each word.

"Because I told her to..." Before I could finish my sentence my chair is slammed against the floor to ceiling windows of my office, I was almost sure the force of would make it crack and I'd fly out the window.

My head throbbed. Fuck.
My father was in my face, his fists clenched on both sides of my head, seething. His voice low as he spoke. "You told Rory to get rid of your child?"
I gulped; I've never seen him so angry.

"Hm, is everything okay? Honor is on her way." Patrick said from the doorway, his voice shook.

My father pushed away, moving to the adjacent wall, pacing. He was shaking with anger and muttering to himself.

"Hm, yeah, Pat. Everything is good. Just tell Honor to come in when she gets here." I reply, my voice shaky.

I get up; rub the back of head, trying to soothe the pain. Fuck. A nasty bump already forming.
After I straighten my suit and walk my chair back to my desk. I nod to Patrick letting him know I was okay. He hesitates as he makes a move to close the door, his eyes darting between me and my father.
I nod my head again to reassure him, I would be okay. Or at least I hoped I would be. I moved to the side of my desk to make sure something was between us. I wasn't that much of an idiot. I had some sense of self preservation.

My father was still pacing but he was no longer shaking with anger. Thank god. He suddenly stops and stares at me. His eyes showing not anger but sadness. "How have you lived with yourself?" He says roughly. "I can't believe you would do that. I thought that if you were to ever have a child especially with Rory, you'd take responsibility for it, him. I mean this is Rory, Crackle. She made you happy. She made you smile, laugh, love...she was your one. I was sure of it."

"Wow." My chest tightened at his declaration. I was taken aback by his words and his easy use of my childhood nickname. It was our thing when I was younger. I was the Crackle to his Pop. If he was home in the morning before we went to school he'd sit at the breakfast bar and eat Rice Krispies together. Honor was more of a Trix kid.

"Logan," he says coming closer to where I was standing. "Regardless of what you think, you are my son and I love you. I always have and always will. I never meant or wanted us to be so...so...disconnected, but it happened. It was definitely a lot of me...but it was a little bit of you too, you know." I start to speak but he waves me off. "It doesn't matter, we'll fix us along the way. If you want to that is..." He asks, for the first time in my life, my father was unsure, hesitant.

"Yeah, Pop." I agree he smiles so wide, it almost scares me more than when he was angry before. I don't even know when was the last time I've seen him smile like that. If ever. He chuckles at my expression and then suddenly turns serious.

"Okay, good. But first let's fix this." He says picking up the papers. "I hope you learn from my mistakes and don't do that same with your children. Don't be disconnected from them."

"I don't want that to happen. I want my family. My whole family. I want them back. I'm going to get them back."

"Okay, then we'll do just that."

Honor arrived and found my father and me sitting across from each other...laughing. He was regaling me with a tale of my younger years. Apparently I invented the term terrible twos.

"Hey, hhmm is everything okay? Patrick said he was afraid the Apocalypse was going on in here."

"Yeah Rabbit, everything is fine. Come, come. Take a look at your nephew."

We laughed loudly at Honor's expression. She gasped loudly. Her head darting back and forth between us.

"Yeah, I know. Anyways, I told him. Everything."

I caught her up to date of the situation, about what happened in the coat room on Saturday, the papers that was delivered this morning and what I wanted to happen now.

"Masen, eluded that I might have a chance. But I have to do this right. I feel like I only have one chance. And I can't fuck it up. I just can't."

"Wait, Masen? Anthony Masen?"

Oh, shit I guess I forgot to mention that. "Yeah, he was the one who dropped off the papers to me. He said I had to prove to her that I want Landon."

"That makes sense." Honor piped in.

"Rory is probably convinced you don't want anything to do with Landon. And they are a package deal, little brother. You're going to have to show her and him you really want to be a family, with the both of them."

I nodded my head at her words. Agreeing that was what I had to do.

"I need to get these fucking things to Josh and Colin to look into this." I say scowling at the papers in front of me. "I know they don't deal with family law, but I want to at least know my options."

Honor and my dad agreed and Honor offered to drop off the papers to their office. I asked her to explain to them what I wanted, and what they thought would be the best options for me legally.

After Honor and my father left, I tried to go about my day as best as I could. I often got distracted with thought of Landon and Rory, my mind drifting to how our reunion would go. Of course in my fantasy I wished that all will go well and everything will be forgotten. Landon would ecstatic to meet me, Rory will love me again and we'd be a family. What? I said it was in my fantasy. I know it probably wouldn't happen like that, but fuck it if didn't hope it would.

Later on that night, Colin, Josh, my father and I sat around my dining room table and discussed some strategy plans.

Huh, it's nice in here. I think this was the first time I've ever actually used this table.

After much debate, we all came to an agreement that the best course was to choose a lawyer from within McCrae Associates. I was extremely reluctant to entrust anyone else besides my best friend or brother-in-law. This was my chance and I didn't want some asshole fucking it up for me. But I guess I can see that they might make it worse since they both didn't know the ins and outs of family laws. But they promised they will still oversee the case, so that made me agree to use someone else as a co-counsel.
Another thing was I wanted to keep everything under wraps the last thing I wanted was to draw attention to Landon or Rory. We needed to choose someone who knew their shit, and would be able to keep their mouth shut.
The real kicker was they needed to know English family laws. The papers were filed in London, so we would have to fight the case there.

"How did they get a judge to agree to terminating someone's rights like this, shouldn't the father have at least been notified?" My father asked.

"Well technically he was notified." Josh answered, his eyes cutting to me. "Um, the papers state he was notified and you choose to not be a part of the pregnancy, the birth and subsequently the child's life. They were filed six months after he was born and since you made no contact it was considered abandon-"

"I didn't know she kept him!" I shout, slamming my hand onto the table. I cringed at my words and hung my head in shame. "Fuck. I know it was dick move. And I will regret it forever. But I didn't know, okay. I tried...I tried to contact her. I mean I didn't know about the baby but I did try, I wanted Rory, I loved...love her, but then she disappeared. And I looked for her. I would have wanted the baby, I want him now." I say my voice sounded frantic even to myself.

"We know Crackle," my father says lowly placing his hand on my shoulder "and we'll do everything we can to bring your family together. Right?" He says turning his attention to Josh and Colin. Both with wide open mouths and eyes. Yeah, it was definitely shocking to hear my father so soft spoken. It still made me do a double take and make sure it really was him and not some pod-person.

"Ahem, yes of course." Josh spoke up first. "Honor would kill me if I didn't get Rory and Landon back to us."

"Yeah, Steph too. First thing tomorrow I'm going to have my assistant pull files of the associates that fit our criteria. We'll interview them and do background checks. I think we need to tread lightly with this. Reporter girl is easily spooked and we don't want that. We've seen how good she is at disappearing and hiding."

"Yeah, yeah. Definitely need to tread lightly, definitely. Do you think I should reach out to her first? I just...I just don't want her to think I'm trying to take him away. I'm not trying to do that. I want them both." I reiterated.

"I honestly don't know, Logan. I want to say yes, go talk to Ror and hope you can make her see reason and that you want to be a part of their lives. But I just don't know. I don't want to fuck it up. I feel like we should get all of our ducks in a row before we take any actions. This can't be rushed Logan. We have to do it right. And I can't in good faith give you any advice without knowing for sure where you would stand legally."

I simply nodded, because I knew it was true. I needed to make sure I did this shit right. Anything we did could make or break it. I'd rather us take our time and get it right then swoop in like savages and fuck shit up. I'd wait. I've waited five years...what's a couple more days. Because what was most important was the end result and that was getting what was mine. My son and my Ace. My family.

AN: Thank you for reading, I'm back I swear. I have not abandon this and will not...I will see it to the end.