Rory opened her eyes slowly and yawned and stretched her arms upwards. She wondered what time it was, figuring that it had to be relatively early as it was a very rare occasion that she woke up before Lily, the human alarm clock did. She reached over to her bedside table for her cell phone so she could check the time and was surprised to see a little envelope symbol flashing in the corner of the screen. She opened the message; she could see it was from Logan.

"I'm ready".

Her eyes widened. What did that mean? He's ready?

She sat up in her bed quickly. She needed to reply as soon as possible but had no idea what she should say in response. Rory typed out so many different replies, many long rambling responses, but nothing sounded quite right.

"Why don't you come over?"

Simple and to the point.

When Logan had received her message he had called her back and arranged to come over to the pool house later that day. Rory was extremely nervous and had busied herself tidying and cleaning the place from top to bottom. She was only glad that her grandparents had left for a few months in Europe or else Emily would have had a seizure at seeing Rory with the feather duster in her hand and not one of the many maids that she employed. She had just got Lily changed to a special outfit – she wanted her to look nice for her first proper meeting with her father – when Logan tapped at the door.

Logan waited outside the door, his heart in his mouth. He wanted to turn and run but all too soon he heard Rory's voice calling out.

"Come in!" Rory shouted. Logan opened the door to see Rory on the other side of the room where she had just placed Lily down on the rug to play with her toys. She settled Lily down in a nest of cushions and then walked over to greet Logan.

"I'm really glad you came, I hadn't expected to hear from you so soon, but I'm so glad you are here." she smiled.

Logan smiled back, it was slightly warmer than the smile he had offered her at the coffee shop but he stood by the door awkwardly not really knowing what to say or do. After Rory had invited him over, he had become unsure of what he was doing. Yesterday he had felt like he wasn't ready to face things but lying in bed with nothing to do but think all night had cleared his head a little. He was still experiencing a lot of anger towards Rory and the whole situation in general but he knew that he needed to try and push past those feelings because this wasn't just about him, or Rory. There was someone else to consider in all of this.

"Come over, we were just about to play with the noisy toys. Lily just loves the noisy toys" Rory rolled her eyes as they both knelt down on the rug next to Lily who was completely disinterested in the pair of them, her attention being taken by a light-up drum that was playing an incredibly annoying melody. "My mom's doing…I think it's some kind of revenge" she said laughing as she picked Lily up and gave her a cuddle.

Rory could feel Logan watching her. She turned to him. "Do you…do you want to hold her?" she asked tentatively.

Logan looked at her nervously. "I'm….I'm not really sure. She doesn't know me, will she want to come to me?"

Rory smiled "Of course she will, she's not a shy girl at all, she just loves everyone. Lily, you see this guy here? This is your daddy" she cooed at the little girl in her arms.

Logan looked at Rory talking softly to their daughter, calling him daddy, and he felt like his heart was going to burst right out of his chest.

"Logan," she said as she handed over the little girl "I know you have already kind of met but I would like to properly introduce you to Lily." Rory smiled as Logan took hold of her.

The emotions Logan felt as he held his daughter for the first times were indescribable. He still couldn't believe that this little girl belonged to him – that this was something that he and Rory had created together.

"or…" Rory continued "….Lily Lorelai Huntzberger as she is more formally known."

Logan turned to look at Rory open-mouthed "You gave her my name?". He felt a swell of pride that this beautiful little girl bore his name. He hadn't really considered what her full name would be but he would have presumed that Rory had chosen to go with Gilmore like her mother had done before her.

Rory shrugged "It seemed the right thing to do at the time. Plus I was totally out of it when I named her – the drugs they give you when you are in labour are awesome" she smiled. "Almost worth doing again for those alone"

"You went with Lorelai too?"

"Had to, it's tradition" she laughed "but I didn't really want her to be known as that and so I chose a different name for her altogether. All through my pregnancy, she was intended to be a Gilmore. I wasn't keen on heaping on the pressure of being the fourth Lorelai Gilmore – there's a whole load of baggage that comes with that."

"So, Lily Huntzberger." He nodded. "I like that," Logan said. "It suits her"

"I'll go get us some coffee?" she asked and Logan nodded.

Rory stood in the kitchen waiting for the coffee and watched as Logan interacted with their daughter. He had been a little awkward at first but he was slowly becoming more comfortable. Lily was being her normal charming self, which made it all the more easier.

Logan sat back down on the rug with Lily while Rory made the coffee. There had been so many times on the way over to the house that he had nearly turned the car around but he kept forcing himself to continue, knowing that this was something he was going to have to face sooner or later. Sitting there now he was glad that he had pushed through. He looked at the little girl sitting in front of him, handing him her favourite toys and he already knew that he was going to love Lily, how could he not - she was part of him and part of the only girl he had ever loved. There was no doubt in his mind about that. What he was most worried about was what sort of relationship, if any, he would have with Rory in the future. This, out of everything was the unchartered waters that they were heading into. They hadn't been together for over eighteen months and therefore it was unlikely that they would become a couple again anytime in the near future – especially as right now they were barely friends and things were fractious but Logan was confused about what this meant and uneasy about the difficult times they were bound to have ahead of them.

"Here you go," Rory said as she returned with two steaming mugs of hot coffee. "Oh someone is tired!" she exclaimed as Lily let out a huge yawn, "I think I had better put her down for a little nap or we will soon be paying for it. She has a decent set of lungs this one. I'll just take her…unless…." She paused looking at Logan "….unless you want to do it"

"Erm, sure, I mean, I don't know what I am doing but I've got to start somewhere I guess." Logan smiled nervously.

"Okay, well why don't you bring her in and I'll come with you." Rory smiled as Logan bent down to pick up Lily. The little girl surprised him by extending her arms out to reach him. Logan followed Rory into the bedroom. He thought how weird it felt to be in this room again, the scene of many a romantic tryst between the pair in their Yale days. He could never have imagined that this is where they would be now.

"All you have to do is pop her into the crib there and pull that blanket up. I normally just leave it level with her tummy." She watched Logan do as she said "Then I just give her a little kiss and leave her to it" Rory said leaning in to drop a kiss on Lily's head.

"That's it?"

"That's it! She's a very good sleeper thankfully." Rory said as they walked out of the room and pulled the door over behind them. "Right, we have about half an hour now before she walks up and will demand refreshments!"

Logan and Rory walked over and sat down on the sofa with their coffee.

"Thanks for inviting me round," Logan said before taking a sip.

"Of course! I mean, I am so grateful that you've come Logan, really. I had half-expected you to say no."

"It wasn't easy…." Logan said staring down into the bottom of his cup.

"I know". Rory said gently.

"Rory, can I ask you something?" he said without looking at her.

"Anything" Rory shifted a bit uncomfortably, she had no idea what he was about to ask her but she felt like she owed it to him, to be honest about anything he needed to know.

"When I saw Lorelai she explained a few things to me. She kind of intimated that you had thought about having an abortion when you found out. Is that true?"

Rory looked down. She was embarrassed that her mom had told Logan that about that. "Yes," she said quietly. "I thought about it."

Logan looked across at her. "What stopped you?"

"A few things really. A major part was knowing that even though my mom had that option with me, she didn't take it and I really felt that if she could do it, get through it on her own at that young age, then so could I but I guess the other reason, the main one really was because of….us.

"Us?" Logan questioned.

Rory took a swig of her coffee before continuing. "Yeah, you and me" she paused before she took a deep breath. She knew she was about to enter into a lengthy ramble. "I know there wasn't at 'us' by that point but we had this big love, you and I. It was an amazing thing and Lily, while she may have been an accident and a huge shock, she came to exist as part of that love. I knew that if I had terminated the pregnancy that would most definitely be the end of the road for us, for good, there would be no going back and I didn't want to close that door. She was a part of us that I couldn't let go of." Logan went to interrupt but Rory held up her hand "Please, let me finish, I need to get all this out."

Logan nodded for her to continue.

"I found out I was pregnant only a few weeks after we broke up and my heart had been shattered into pieces. I was still at that time clinging on to every little last bit of hope that you and I would reconcile. Blame the hormones, but I had this crazy idea that you'd call, we'd makeup, I'd tell you that I was pregnant and we'd all live happily ever after, but as the time went on I knew that it was becoming more unlikely. Before you say anything Logan, I am not even near suggesting that is what I think will happen now. So much has happened, we're eighteen months further down the line and I know what I've since done to you is unforgivable. I never told you I was pregnant and I have denied you nine months of getting to know your daughter. I don't blame you for hating me for the rest of your life."

"I don't hate you. It's going to take me a while to come to terms with everything, but I don't hate you Rory" Logan said looking at Rory.

"You don't?"

"No. I mean, I wanted to but how could I hate you? Look what you've given me! Sure we have a lot of stuff to deal with right now but at the end of the day, you're the mother of my child, you're always going to be an important part of my life. I'm glad you decided to go through with the pregnancy by the way."

"Yeah, me too. I couldn't imagine my life without Lily now. She's the reason I drag my sorry ass out of bed every day." Rory smiled.

"I can see that she could have that effect." Logan laughed.

"Just as well with no job or career, I need something to get up for," Rory said with a hint of sadness.

"I'm sorry that you've had to sacrifice that, you know," Logan said sincerely. "I know how important it was for you to establish your career."

"Thanks," Rory said with a grateful smile. "There's plenty of time though, I guess I'll just have to do it all in a different order."

Just then a sharp cry interrupted them.

"Oh, there's Lady Lily waking from her nap" Rory smiled "She does like to announce herself," she said about to pull herself up from the sofa.

"Let me go," Logan said as he got up.

"Sure."

Rory watched as Logan walked into the bedroom. She could feel her heart beating as she listened to him talking gently to their little girl. It was about more than she could take when she saw him emerge from the room carrying their daughter. Lily was sleepy, sucking her thumb gently, with her head snuggled on Logan's shoulder and Rory couldn't help but think how well they just fit together. It caused her equal amounts of both joy and pain.

Logan noticed Rory looking at him. "What?"

"Nothing" Rory shook her head "It's nothing."

Logan stayed at the pool house for a little while longer, helping to feed Lily her dinner and he played with her some more before he needed to leave.

Rory and Lily went to the door to say goodbye. Despite the initial awkwardness, the three of them had a really nice afternoon together and Rory was hopeful that they might be able to do it again sometime time but she was mindful that she didn't want to push Logan to do anything before he was ready.

"Thanks for coming Logan, it's been great"

"I had a nice time too" he smiled. "Bye Lily, I'll see you soon." He said and smiled as Rory waved Lily's little hand. "Bye Rory." He said as he started to walk away.

"Logan!" Rory shouted after him. He turned to look at her "Just so you know, you're really important to us too" she smiled.

A/N: Have updated this chapter as I mentioned Lily having 'tea' and this was picked up by a reader presuming this was the drink. Sorry, a total British reference, we have tea (food not drink) in place of an evening meal!