AN: Thanks to everyone that reviewed from the last few chapters. I had a block as to where to take this story, but now I'm back and have a direction. For the long wait, I give you a long chapter and lots of Drama!! I don't own Gilmore Girls!!
Ch 11
"Hi" I hear her say half asleep and I look up and smile at her. She's wearing my dress shirt that's hanging barely on her body as she's leaning on the doorframe. We have been on San Francisco for four months. We started moving after the takeover, spent Christmas and new Years in Hartford with everyone. We moved into the house and I gave up the apartment. The house was there just sitting there and Rory took to furnishing it for the past months besides working. I couldn't give it up in hopes of this happening and now I'm glad I kept it.
"What time is it?"I question sitting back on my chair rubbing the back of my neck as she comes closer.
"After 2" she says leaning on the desk next to me. I just star at her perfection. "It's hard to sleep without you next to me" she tells me. I smile at
"I'm sorry Ace" I state pulling her down on my lap. "It's these spreadsheets, profit sheets and stuff, I just can't get them to balance, the accountant is coming tomorrow and I'm afraid of the outcome this quarter" I tell her as I hold her close. Just her being close calms me nerves. "Halifax is dropping circulation and I know it's because we're still fairly new, but the profits aren't there. We need more capital but it's not coming in. I'm nervous" I add and dating a Gilmore, you tend to ramble.
"Layoffs" she questions leaning into the computer. She understands this all. She spent majority of her European adventure in companies owned by HCI and learning everything. She also did her master's degree online for international business. That surprised me, she never wanted that at Yale, but I guess that things do change. She said that journalism and writing is her first passion, but she's good at business and it's rewarding. She's happy and that's what truly matters.
"It's going to be hard not to do that, we're not making the capital we need to stay functional; we are almost tapped out" I admit and I feel like I'm going to drown in self doubt again. I did that once and lost everything. I refuse to let that happen again. It was first the business than her. I can't let that happen again.
"What do you need Logan, talk to me" she says turning around and straddling me. God, that's not helping. All I want to do is say screw the work and throw her down on the desk. I groan and she giggles.
"And how am I supposed to talk business with you in my shirt and nothing else" I smirk as my hands disappear under the shirt. It's so hot when dresses like this. I love it and she knows it. She can get anything out of me when she's like this. She's moaning at my simplest touches and I can feel myself getting hard. We're not going to accomplish anything like this.
"No, talk to me, what is going on" she says. Giving into her, I lift her up by her thighs and carry her to the couch. I need to move her to talk. I place her down and stand up starting to pace.
"I have a lot invested in this company. More than I told anyone. Quarter profits have gone to replenishing my trust, because I put so much up at first. I needed to. I couldn't fail Ace, not again. I lost you and everything I knew. I was lost and knew I was a failure. I realized that I needed to start fresh; I needed to build this company up to compete with Mitchum. If I didn't, I would always be a failure to him, a failure to myself and to you" I tell her kneeling in front of her. The less I touch her right now the better.
"You're not failure to him Logan, even you said it. You saw a gleam of pride in his eyes when you walked away. You had the guts to do what he couldn't. You're not a failure to me not now and not even before. I'm so proud of you. Everything that you have done before, everything that you done since coming here and everything that you will do, I will never see you as a failure, I love the man you have become probably more than who you were, but you're still Logan to me" she says touching my cheek softly and I smile at her. Only a peep talk from Rory would make me believe it. I move her hand and kiss her palm. God, I love this woman.
"We're trying to baby Ace and I might lose everything. How am I supposed to take care of the three of us?" I say letting the emotions run through my voice and I know she can read me. How can I be a father and hopefully a husband someday when I can't even get my business to succeed? If I can't do this, how can I do anything right for her and our children?
"Because it's team effort Logan, you're not alone in this anymore. I love you and that has nothing to do with you being a Huntzberger or you being successful. Hell, stay home and raise the baby and I'll work. We'll flip the switch on society. Could you image the look on your mother's face…priceless! I really don't care either way. I love you Logan and that will get us through anything" she says and I lean up kissing her sweetly. Can she be any more perfect?
"Is it too early to ask for a little monetary help here" I question her hating myself as the words left my mouth and she laughs. I'm hitting rock bottom and she's laughing. The situation is completely switched now. In Yale, I never asked her for anything even though she offered. And now she's been offering but I couldn't, but now we need it if we're going to get pass this. I watch her get up and walk to bedroom. I'm a Huntzberger business and money is in our blood. How can I be drowning in this?
"Personal or business" she questions holding up two checkbooks and I laugh. The sight before me is too funny. Only Ace can look so silly yet so serious. Blue men's pinstripe shirt barley button and falling off her shoulder, red pumps which I realize she added for dramatic effort and two checkbooks, one plain brown leather and one with hello kitty on it. Only Ace…
"Why didn't you say anything? I can't believe you didn't" she scolds me like a child for the tenth time as she uploads all the housing bills first. She wanted to see everything from housing to the business. I can't deny her it anymore.
"I was fine, I guess those cross country trips were more costly than I thought" I say and she looks up at me with this I told you so face. She warned me, she told me not to keep coming out there, to let her come out to see me, but I couldn't. I was still at the apartment and it would have felt off.
"I told you it would be" she says before clicking on the accounts. "More than two months" she stares at me. She sounds like my mother when I brought home a bad grade, like she can't believe I did this.
"My earrings and bracelet" she says as reality hit her and I look out the window. She deserved them; there was no way she wasn't getting them. She deserves the best. I can't look at her to see her being disappointed in me.
"I'm sorry" I find myself saying. I feel her hand on my chest and look at her. "I love them, but you should have known better. I don't need fancy gifts from Winston's or Tiffany's, something from heart is all that I ask of you and you know that. I love you, all the material things mean nothing" she says and I nod. We exchanged simple kisses but it's the feeling that we're in this together. I want to pull her closer and show her that all I really need is her, but she has other ideas as she steps away from me.
"Okay, now back to this mess. You need a budget, we both do. No more spending out of the trusts, we're both guilty of that mister, but no more. We will only spend what we make...deal? No more extravagant gifts, mister no matter what holiday it is" she says and I nod. She has a point there.
"Except for medical" I tell her. Knowing that hospital bills alone could kill us with the baby or trying to get pregnant.
"You don't have medical" she yells and squishing her nose to me. Ouch, that's not a good look. That's a I'm about to rip you to pieces look.
"Another luxury we cut out for Nick, Alex and me, so that the workers had it" I tell her. It's what we had to do; it's what we sacrificed for the employees.
"Logan" she says and feel 5 again when I cut Honor's doll's hair and mom yelled at me. "You know what that's it. HGII is going to fix this now, let me help you Logan. If you don't want anyone to know that's fine, but you need the capital and I can give it to you" she demands grabbing her blackberry.
"No, I will not have your company funding this. We're a new company there is still kinks" I state angrier and grabbing her phone. I will not have her saving me. I don't want that over my head.
"It's either that or we find a nice way to hand ten people pink slips tomorrow for you, maybe gift baskets, people do love gift baskets" she smirks innocently knowing that I don't want that either.
"Let's just go bed, I'll deal with this tomorrow" I smirk pulling her up from the chair quickly and she looks at me. I run my hands on her back lifting the ends of the shirt up and she loves it.
"Just because you're sexy when you smirk like that doesn't mean I'm not still angry at you" she giggling and almost running away into the bedroom. I chase her to the room grabbing her arm and pulling her flushed against me.
"Good, angry works for you" I smirk lifting her up and carrying her to bed.
******************************************************
"Logan, I don't see what else we can do" Harry our accountant states and my head is on the table. I don't know how we lost control of this. We were fine, we were profiting, where did we go wrong? I feel completely to blame here.
"What about another investor?" Nick questions him. Rory's words from last night ring through my head HGII can fix this now; let me help you.
"Unless they can buy up the stocks that were sold, I don't see you having any other choice but to let go at least 7 people" Harry continues and I want to disappear.
"How much" I ask hating that I'm about to do this. Give in to her, let her bail us out.
"1.2" Harry says and they look at me. That used to be the answer, but not anymore.
"Not from me. I don't even have that, I don't even have a 1/8th of that" I tell them honestly and they are a little surprised.
"Then who, Logan? What are we supposed to do now, let people go when the economic crisis is already affecting the country?" Alex says Alexis buzzes in.
"Logan, I hate to interrupt but you have a visitor and she's refusing to leave until you see her" she says scared and I smirk since she has a voice that just got Gilmored.
"It's not Samantha is it? I thought you got rid of her months ago" Nick laughs. Samantha was lingering around the office for months after I broke it off. It took security to carry her out to finally get the picture.
"No" I laugh heading out, I see the hallway empty and Alexis points to my office. I walk in and I see Ace sitting in my chair.
"You know visitors are supposed sit on this side right?" I smirk and she turns around smiling at me. She's got this huge smile on her face that surprises me. Today is one of the worst days of my life, yet one look at the happiness in hers makes it better.
"Circus animals or pink ballerinas" she questions holding up wall paper I think and I'm confused. What the hell is she on about now? I thought the house was done.
"Come again" I say and she smirks at me. "Hold up…what did you say, Ace?" I questions finally registering what she said. She gets up and walks to me, not really walking more like bouncing. "I was thinking circus animal but you have this thing with clowns, so many teddy bear or frogs perhaps, I did hear that green is the new pink" she says biting her lip looking pieces of paper, her eyes are filled with happiness. I watch her for a second when I see that she's glowing, about like nothing can bring her off this high she's on. She's pregnant, she has to be.
"You're… we're…" I say not able to formulate a full sentence. I'm so thrown off by it even though we've been trying.
"8 weeks" she says with a small giggle and pulls out a picture. I take it and look at the peanut looking thing and then at her. What in the hell am I looking at?
"I know, you should have been there, but you had that big meeting with Harry and after last night, I didn't want to push you to be there. I wasn't even sure until this morning when all the coffee came back up. My baby hates coffee Logan! This can't be a girl. All Gilmore girls love coffee from the womb, it's in our DNA, but that's beside the point I want to know how did it…" she rambles and I grab her face and kiss her passionately.
"We're having a baby" I say in a whisper but beyond happily as I press my forehead to her. She wants this so bad and it's finally happening.
"Yeah Huntzberger, we are" she says and I lift her up and spin her around. This is the best thing to happen to us.
"Oh, crap I should have done that" I state placing her back down, worried that I hurt her. I have to be more careful with her. She's more delicate now. She has our baby growing inside her.
"It's okay, I'm not made of glass" she laughs.
"Come with me" I say yanking her out of my office and into the board room. "I have an announcement" I state and the three occupants look at me. Nick starts laughing at the us.
"Rory Gilmore, I should have known that all his happiness was because you. He's been like London Logan all over again. He's like a sick puppy" Nick jokes and she looks at me.
"Logan didn't tell me that Nick was London Nick" she countering Nick.
"London Nick that's a new one, but it's great to see you again, you look great" Nick comments to her greeting her with a kiss on the cheek.
"She's pregnant" I state pulling her to my side possessively and the room goes silent. No one can touch her, she's mine.
"We might have to work on your execution for the announcement there Huntz" Ace laughs at me.
"Wait, it's yours" Alex questions and I nod smirking at him. "She's the New York girl isn't she? The one that made you a pain in the ass for weeks" he continues.
"Yes and she may be just what we need" I say and Ace looks at me. She can read me without me saying anything. She knows what she said last night and I wouldn't be asking if I could figure out another way. She steps away from me and Nick looks at me confused.
"Lorelai Hayden" she says extending her hand to Harry, her voice going from fun and loving to a strictly business. It's this don't mess with me because I have you by the balls so watch your movements. It's such a damn turn on for me.
"Hayden as in HGII" Harry states shocked looking between me and Ace. He wasn't expecting that. I simple nod at him and his attention is returned to the stunning beauty of my girlfriend.
"Yes, and before I just hand over a check to Halifax, there is a few things we need to correct that the boys here were lax on before I even consider signing any monetary checks to Halifax" she states taking my seat, crossing her arms and staring at Harry. The boys look at me slightly scared.
"She's quiet scary like that" Nick whispers and I'm amused. Sexy professional Rory is hot down to the core. It's a don't like just because I'm a girl you can persuade me in your favor but I still love the sweats and tee Rory too.
"Boys, you might want sit down for this it might take a while" Ace demands in her seat down and shut of voice she's used on me Colin and Finn before. That's not a good thing it usually involves a lecture and rants from her and we all run like little boys to the opposite side of the table. Distance is always a good thing when she's like this.
"Ouch" Alex says walking out three hours later. Ace can ramble with the best of them. Sometimes I wonder why she wasn't a lawyer. She can talk anyone into anything. She laced into all of us about the health care and continued to belittle us for incompetence and not functioning to our full potential.
"She's ball buster and a hell of an entrepreneur, isn't she?" Nick adds and I smirk. That's my Ace anything she touches goes gold. She knows what works and will fight to the end for what she wants and demands nothing but the best from people.
"She knows what works and what doesn't" I add as Harry waits for the bank check to be signed that just arrived. I watch Ace and Harry laughing about something but I don't know what. I never knew Harry could laugh like that, but being with a Gilmore Girl can make anyone change.
"Logan" Alexis says and I look at her.
"Rory told me to tell you she wants Chinese for dinner and she's starving like a pig on slaughtering day. She said you would know what that means" she looks at me confused and I laugh. Ace's appetite is something people still don't understand, that's half the fun with her.
"Order the large of everything in middle of the menu and two of everything from the appetizers" I tell her knowing that I order from the same place all the time and now I have three heads staring at me as I was crazy.
"Is that just for you two, I know she's pregnant but man that's a lot of food" Nick questions as we lean against the wall across from Alexis, but watch through the glass meeting room Rory handing Harry the check.
"Just the two of us, but Ace could eat that alone. Trust me, oh and have them through in some chief's specials D3 and D5" I smirk knowing that she is feeding for two now. Nick taps my shoulder and points to where Ace is shaking Harry's arm. I swallow hard knowing that it's done.
"She owns 30% of our company now" Alex says aloud what we're all thinking. "I hope you don't screw up man" he laughs walking to his office.
"Hi" Ace smiles and kisses me cheek. This is fun Rory back. I simple wink at her as she snuggles into my side.
"You all done" I question and she nod.
"Where did Alex go, I want to talk to you three" she says sweetly.
"Do you have a split personality" Nick questions her and we both laugh.
"No, that was professional Rory with business and this is me but don't get me pissed off because then I turn into my grandmother and you might just want to leave the country at that point" she says pointing to herself smiling and I laugh. Nick looks almost petrified at her.
"Okay thanks for the warning…well I'll leave you two to your dinner" Nick say walking away still scared of the petite woman at my side.
"Thank you" I say pulling her into my arms as we close the door to my office. Holding her tight and breathing in the sweet sound of vanilla, I feel calmer than I did earlier.
"I told you last night I would help. You think me dropping in unannounced was me being spontaneous, come on Huntzberger you know me better than that?" she smirks at me. I should have known she had a hidden agenda.
"You're hanging out with Steph, just a tad too much" I laugh and her face goes white.
"She's going to kill you" she screeches and I look at her for her outburst. Where did that come from?
"And why is that?" I question amused at her behavior as she pushes me away and pace the floor.
"She said and I quote if Logan knocks up before my wedding I will personally kill him" she says and I look stunned at her. Crap, Steph is worse than a cat in heat when she's pissed at you.
"They're getting married in a month, I doubt you'll be that big" I state smiling at her and she bites her lip.
"No matter, we can't tell anyone. No one, no mom no Honor, no no one" she states serious and staring at me. I nod and step to her.
"I would rather wait anyways Ace, just to make sure" I say caressing her cheek. I've been researching her condition and so many things could go wrong. We could lose the baby before she even gets to the second trimester. She could form a blood clot at delivery that could prevent her from giving birth natural, preeclampsia is another factor. As much as I want a baby, I need her more. I can't lose her.
"I guess you're right, we need to be careful for now" she says launching herself into my arms.
"A baby Logan, we actually did it" she says so excited. Wow she's changing moods in seconds, this is going to fun for the next 7 months.
"Yeah Ace we did" I says into her hair. My only fear is that she's so excited now that I'm not sure how she will react to losing it. I'll just keep that fear to myself for now.
AN: So what do you think? Let me know if it was to your liking. If you all have suggestions, I would love to hear them!!