Lorelai was awaken early in the morning by the sounds of Rory suffering from morning sickness. The sound brought back a myriad of memories. Despite the drama Lorelai had had to endure during her pregnancy, she had a lot of good memories. Her most precious one being the first time she had felt Rory move inside her, it was like butterfly wings were brushing her skin from the inside. It was the first time Lorelai hadn't felt alone. At the sound of Rory retching again, Lorelai remembered the less fond memories of being pregnant: the morning sickness, constant backaches, sore feet and sleepless nights -- just to name a few.

It was close to nine o'clock and Lorelai hadn't heard Rory or Logan make a noise since Rory had exited the vomitorium. Lorelai decided to let them sleep as long as they wanted; they had had a stressful night and deserved all the rest they could get. Lorelai had grown tired of tiptoeing around the house; everything she did seemed excessively noisy -- filling the coffee pot with water, knocking a lamp over in the living room, accidentally slamming the door shut after getting the morning paper.

Lorelai knew that she would not be able to maintain the level of quiet needed to allow Rory and Logan to rest so she decided to take Paul Anka for his walk.

Lorelai was at the door when she attempted to put her sunglasses on her head while she tried to hold on Paul Anka's leash and to open the door at the same time. After the lamp-breaking incident, Lorelai should have known that she did not have the coordination to pull off the multi-tasking. Lorelai dropped her glasses and almost tripped over Paul Anka. The door swung open as Lorelai crouched down to pick up her glasses, Paul Anka barked once and then proceeded to growl, Lorelai looked up to see what caused the normally placid Paul Anka to show signs of aggression.

Mitchum Huntzberger was standing on her front porch. He looked out of place in a five-thousand dollar business suit and black Italian loafers. He stood frozen, his hand poised in the air as if he was about to knock on the door.

Lorelai was in shock to see Mitchum standing before her. "Ohhh, No!" Lorelai stood quickly and was trying to picture what a fight stance looked like. Lorelai had visions of Bruce Lee with muscles flexed and making strange noises, or Daniel Sun doing the crane. None of these images seemed particularly dignified so she took the classic Mom stance -- arms crossed under her breasts and her face set and her eyes sharp.

Paul Anka sat down by Lorelai's feet and continued to growl.

Mitchum felt confused at the greeting Lorelai had given him as he hadn't said anything yet. "Excuse me?"

"No, you can't be here. No, scrap that. You're not welcome here, get off my property." Lorelai could not believe that Mitchum had the nerve to show up at her house after the way he had treated Rory and especially after last night. She moved herself more firmly into the doorway, ensuring that Mitchum would not be able to enter the house without going through her and since Lorelai was on absolute protective-Mom mode there was no way Mitchum would get past her.

Last night after Rory had filled Lorelai in on the happenings at the Huntzberger's, it had taken a solid fifteen minutes of pleading by Rory to convince Lorelai not to go and hunt down the Huntzbergers and kill them in their sleep. Rory had very rationally pointed out that people who commit murder normally end up in prison, and Lorelai would not look good in an orange jumpsuit. That and the fact that Rory refused to tell Lorelai where the Huntzbergers lived ensured that no bergercide would be occurring that night, or any night in the near future.

The only positive side was that Lorelai had invented a new word, bergercide. Bergercide was the technical term for when one wanted to commit justifiable homicide on a member of the Huntzberger family. Rory liked the term so much so that she planned on using it many times in the future.

Mitchum stood on Lorelai's quaint, but picturesque front porch, he was flabbergasted. No one told him no.

Lorelai was not impressed with the great Mitchum Huntzberger. For a man in publishing, his vocabulary and speaking skills were severely lacking. "Are you dumb? I told you to get the hell off my property." Lorelai moved her hand to the door, ready to slam it on Mitchum's face.

Mitchum found his voice after being insulted, "I just came to speak to my son."

Lorelai had forgotten she was trying not to wake Rory and Logan, her voice rose with her anger. "I don't give a flying leap if you came to talk to Santa Claus. You have caused enough damage to my family." Lorelai gestured wildly towards her daughter's room, "My daughter is pregnant and if you think that I'm going to sit back and let you yell at her some more then you have another thing coming."

Paul Anka barked in agreement.

Mitchum took a deep breath, and mentally counted to ten. He and Shira had spent a lot of time last night reflecting on their relationship with Logan and their future daughter-in-law. They had decided that they wanted a better relationship with their grandchild, and hoped in the process bridges could be built between themselves and the younger generation.

Shira had refused to come with Mitchum to Stars Hollow; it seemed that the impervious Shira Huntzberger was capable of feeling shame and regret. It also seemed she was a coward and was not able to face the people that she had wronged. This morning when Mitchum had resigned himself to flying solo on this mercy mission, he had sworn he would do everything that he could to avoid a confrontation. Of course at the time, he had not factored Lorelai Gilmore into the equation. A mistake he was not planning on repeating. "I have no intentions of yelling at anyone."

"Ohhh that's right, you'll coolly and calmly tell it like it is. You don't B.S. Well, guess what? Neither do I. You are nothing but a self-absorbed, self-gratifying, judgmental bully. Not only are you a terrible business man with no people skills, you are also a poor excuse for a father."

Mitchum made a calming gesture with his hands, both for the sake of Lorelai and himself. He was still attempting to stay calm but Lorelai was seriously testing his self-control, his ego was screaming out to be let loose. "I just came to talk."

"I'm sure you did." Lorelai did not hide the skepticism from her voice. "Think of some insults that you missed last night? Before you get started let me give a few insults of my own. You have your head so far up your own ass that you can't see what a dick you really are." Lorelai had to pause to allow Paul Anka to bark again. It appeared that he agreed with everything that Lorelai was saying. "You have absolutely no regard for others, nor do you take the time out of what I am sure is a busy schedule to get to know people and their qualities."

Mitchum ignored the crude language, he had a feeling that Lorelai was talking about more than last night. "You still can't be going on about what happened at the Eagle Gazette?"

"Damn right, I am." Lorelai had been dying to pull a Gordon Ramsey on Mitchum over what he had done to Rory and now seemed like the perfect opportunity. "Because of you, my daughter and I didn't talk for months. Because of you my daughter almost lost her way, thank God she is better than you ever gave her credit for."

Mitchum had had enough, "Now, hold it right there, it's because of me that she went on to achieve what she did. She needed a push and that's what I gave her."

"Oh! My god! You pompous ass… you actually believe that. You pushed her over the edge and you did it deliberately. She was never the ingénue that you painted her to be, she has just as much drive and determination as you, she just isn't an ass about it. You credit her with the changes you have seen in Logan, well you were right to because she showed him that he didn't have to be an ass-wipe like you to be successful." Lorelai was really wishing that she could come up with some insults that didn't involve the word ass, but Mitchum was just such an… ass it was affecting her vocabulary.

Mitchum took a step closer to Lorelai, pointing a finger at her, his voice deepened with anger, "Don't you dare judge me."

Lorelai was not impressed with Mitchum's attempt to physically intimidate her, nether was Paula Anka, he stood up and growled, flashing his teeth. Mitchum looked down at the growling dog wondering just how dangerous the canine really was. "Why not? It's not like you have extended that courtesy to my family. So why should I extended it to yours?"

"You have no right to talk about things you don't understand."

"Oh, I do understand. I understand that image is the most important thing, above everything else. Let me tell you something, image means nothing if you are alone." Lorelai saw Mitchum flinch; clearly she had hit a nerve, a nerve that she was planning on exploiting. Mitchum Huntzberger deserved to be taken down a peg or two and Lorelai was more than happy to be the one to do it. "You sit there on your high horse issuing your proclamations to the peasants on the land. You preach of obligations, but what about your obligations to your son?"

Mitchum would have liked nothing more than to refute everything that Lorelai had said, but standing in the front of a woman who had left everything she had known to pursue a life of her own, his arguments seemed weak. Nevertheless, being the man he was, Mitchum had to try. "I lived up to my obligations; I worked hard to ensure Logan could have the lifestyle he has been accustomed to."

"And what about the obligation to be there for birthdays and Christmas?" Lorelai had grown up in a house where business, financial and social obligations took priority over being happy. She would have given up one den, two bedrooms and three bathrooms if it meant that her parents would have been home for her birthdays and Christmas, she would have done it in a heartbeat. "What about the obligation to give a damn about your child's happiness."

"I care." For emphasis Mitchum pointed at his chest, it was true he did care. He wanted nothing but the best for his children, he had believed the best could only be obtained with money. He had never stopped to consider the best would have been for him to have more of a presence in his children's lives.

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it."

"You think that I don't love my son?"

"I never said that," Lorelai didn't doubt that somewhere in Mitchum's black, little heart he loved his children. "But do you know your son? Did you ever take the time out of your busy schedule to actually get to know him?"

Mitchum had no idea how he had entered this conversation with a complete stranger, what he did know was that he wanted out of it, now. "I really didn't come here for a confrontation, least of all with you."

"What did you seriously think was going to happen? Did you genuinely expect a warm welcome here?" Lorelai stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for an answer.

What had Mitchum expected when he planned on coming? He honestly had no idea what he had expected, he had planned on speaking to his son and that was it. He really had not thought beyond that.

"I just came to speak to my son."

"Good luck with that, since you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into this house to speak to him. You'll have to find another venue. Now for the last time get off of my property or I'll call the police." Of course this was a hollow threat. Chip and Chuck, the town's two policemen, did not start work until after midday on Fridays.

"You can't stop me from seeing my son."

"I can if he's on my property and especially if it involves my daughter." Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest; she knew that there was no way for Mitchum to argue his way around that logic.

"I'm not leaving until I see him."

"Well, I don't think he wants to see you." Lorelai snapped back.

"Then we seem to be at a stalemate."

"The only thing stale here is that fact that you are still standing at my front door."

"He won't leave, Lorelai, until he gets what he wants," Lorelai jumped at the sound of Logan's voice coming from behind her.

"Well, he will just have to rot where he stands because there is no way that I will be giving up first."

Mitchum made a noise as if he was about to say something, Lorelai looked back at him, "Shhh!"

Logan struggled to suppress his smile at the sight of Lorelai shhhing his father. "Believe me, Lorelai, I know how stubborn Rory is and I know that she gets that from you. But having someone at your front door twenty-four seven is going to get old fast."

Mitchum went to speak again. "Shhh!" Lorelai cut Mitchum off again, he was not impressed. Lorelai gave Mitchum a critical once over, it was the kind of look someone gave a car that they really didn't want but that it was all they could afford. "I could put him in a red and black suit and he would be my very own doorman."

Lorelai had instinctively known that Mitchum was about to speak, "For the last time, shhh!"

Mitchum had no idea why, but he found himself actually giving up trying to speak. His input obviously was not needed for this particular part of the conversation.

"But then you would have to feed and give him water." Logan once again found himself needing to suppress a smile as Lorelai cut his father down again. Logan had never realized just how much Rory took after her mother. Life was never going to be dull that as for sure.

"Only if I wanted him to live."

"As valid as that point is, I don't think that it would work. He would look terrible in red."

"Okay, so we can make the uniform completely out of red."

"Lorelai, you don't have to do this… protect me from my father."

Lorelai looked back at Logan, she was careful not to move from the doorway unless Mitchum tried to barge his way in. Up until that moment Lorelai had hoped that Logan had not heard the whole conversation that she had had with Mitchum, but that one little line indicated that Logan had heard most if not all of the little confrontation. "Well, I threw you in for free. I've wanted to yell at this dummkopf for a long time."

Logan sighed, "It isn't going to solve anything."

"Yeah well, it's making me feel better."

"Believe me, I know how cathartic it is to yell at him, but if you keep yelling it's going to wake Rory up and I would really prefer it if she didn't know he was here." Mitchum felt insulted that Logan, his son was talking about him like he wasn't there.

Logan moved closer to the door so he was standing next to Lorelai, "Why don't you go check on her and I'll walk my dad off." Lorelai was hesitant to let Logan be alone with his father, but in the end she relented. Logan had to fight his own battles.

Lorelai made way for Logan who looked back before closing the door behind him. Lorelai couldn't fight Logan's battles for him, but she could offer him a reassuring smile.

Logan nodded at Lorelai's sign of support before he stepped outside and closed the door behind him; he walked to the edge of the porch and out into the early morning sunlight. He had heard just about everything that Lorelai had said to his father, he had always known Lorelai didn't approve of him wholeheartedly. But despite her concerns about him, Lorelai had stood in the face of one of the most frightening people on the planet and defended him. Perhaps in time Lorelai would trust him with Rory's heart.

"What are you doing here, Dad?"

"Last night didn't go how I… how your Mother and I would have liked it to." Mitchum's voice came from right beside Logan. Logan had known his father would follow him; he stepped off the porch and heard his father continue to follow him.

Logan felt strongly calm, he was all argued-out from the previous night and with the air cleared with Rory, his issues with his parents did not seem as important. "Well, that was your doing not mine."

"Bull, you came in ready for confrontation."

"Because that's all I get from you," Logan sounded tired.

Logan sounded so tired that Mitchum feared it was too late, that Logan had already turned his back on them. Mitchum had promised Shira he would make sure that they would still have access and be a part of Logan and Rory's lives. Mitchum planned on not breaking this promise to his wife – a promise which was perhaps the most important promise that he would have to keep. "Logan, I know that we haven't always had the best communication in the past. I know that I could have handled things differently, but I raised you the only way I knew how."

The pair found themselves standing in front of the town car that had brought Mitchum to Stars Hollow. The driver would normally be waiting to open the car door for Mitchum, but today the driver had very wisely decided to stay in the car, away from any arguments. It was also not the first time the driver had used this self-preservation technique.

"Dad, it doesn't matter." Logan was bone-weary of the constant arguments between him and his family. He knew that in order to have a healthy relationship with his child he would have to let go of his issues with his father. On the bright side, he did have a yard stick of what not to do. Logan knew in the years to come, if he was ever unsure of what to do, all he had to do was recall what his father had done or what his father would do, and then do the exact opposite and he would be on the right track.

Mitchum knew what Logan had said was only a partial truth; he knew it mattered a great deal that they had had a poor relationship. "Logan, I want you to come back to the company."

Logan looked back at the house, where Rory was safely asleep." No, Dad, I can't." Logan wasn't surprised at the offer, he had been expecting it.

"Logan, don't be ridiculous. You have responsibilities now. You can't just flounder around; you have a family to support."

Logan remained calm. "And I will support them, in my own way." Logan ran his hand over his face and though his hair. "Dad, is this the only reason you came? To offer me a job?" Logan, despite his earlier words, foolishly hoped there was more to the visit than a job offer. He knew he would never have a healthy relationship with his father, but it didn't stop him from wanting one.

"I just..." Mitchum changed what he was originally going to say, "Don't shut us out, Logan. We would really like a chance to be a family… to get to know our grandchild."

These were the words Logan had been longing to hear his whole life -- to know that his existence was more than just an obligation. The strange thing was that now that Logan had heard the words he felt that they didn't really matter anymore. For all his faults and imperfections, his father was who he was and Logan needed to accept that, and maybe in return, Mitchum would accept Logan for who he was. "It's not that easy, Dad. You crossed the line with Rory last night, Mom in particular. That's not just going to go away. You need to apologize and you need to mean it." Logan saw his father look back at the house. There was no way he was going to allow his father anywhere near Rory. "Not today though, I don't think Rory can take any more stress."

"But, she's okay?" It had never even occurred to Mitchum to check on Rory's well-being.

"She's okay. The doctor said that her blood pressure is a little high, but she's fine, the baby is fine."

"So, when is she going to have the baby? I would like to get started on the terms of the trust for my grandchild." Now that Mitchum knew that Rory would be fine he found himself slipping into the much more comfortable role of being a business man. "And of course, we'll need the pre-nup written, I assume that Richard will be the one to talk to about that."

"Dad, stop… I'm not going to talk to you about any of these things."

"Don't be a fool, Logan. You need a pre-nup, this isn't just about you, you know."

"Dad, that's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what?"

"I can't ask Rory to be involved with you until you make amends." Logan knew it would be a hard task to get Rory to willingly interact with his parents again but he also knew that Rory was an incredibly forgiving person. He hoped a thoughtful gesture from his parents would start the healing process. Logan opened the car door for his father signaling that the conversation was over. Mitchum reluctantly stepped into the car. Logan was about to shut the car door when he decided to give his father some advice he wished he had been given when dealing with Rory. "Just as a tip, Rory can't be bought, if you want to apologize you need to put some thought into it." Logan slammed the car door, turned his back on his father and walked away.

******************

Lorelai watched as Logan stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door behind him. She listened as Logan and Mitchum's voices started to fade. Only when she was sure that Logan was leading Mitchum away from the house did she leave her post at the front door to check on Rory.

Lorelai knocked on the door softly, Rory did not answer nor did Lorelai hear her stir.

Lorelai opened the door quietly and peeked into the room. Rory, her baby, was fast asleep bathed in the soft sunlight filtering through the drawn curtains.

Lorelai felt a great sense of sorrow at the sight of her sleeping daughter. Rory was going to be a mother in her own right soon. She was going to be moving all the way to California to be with her fiancé. Lorelai would no longer be the most important person in her daughter's life. Lorelai knew that that was the way things were meant to be: Rory was supposed to grow up, move on and have her own life. It was a sign Lorelai had done a good job as a parent; that her child was going out into the world to live her own life. But as a mother who was very close to her daughter, Lorelai felt that she was not meant to do it yet, it all seemed so soon.

"You know its creepy watching someone while they sleep." Rory had been aware that her mother had been looking at her for the last five minutes. She had originally planned on finding out how long it would take for her mother to say something but she had gone impatient to wait any longer.

"Well, I'm running out of time to be Hedy Carlson."

Rory opened her eyes to find her Mom leaning against the doorjamb, her arms crossed over her chest. "Mom, we are already freakishly alike, you don't need to stalk me."

"I'm not stalking you." Lorelai stepped into the room, Rory moved back from the edge of the bed, making room for her mother to sit down.

"No? Then what are you doing?"

"Stealing time."

Rory sat up in bed, sweeping her bangs to the side, "I don't get it."

"Rory, our time is over. The Gilmore Girls are no more."

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Rory, we are facing the end of the Gilmore Girl dynasty, the division of a kingdom if you will."

Rory was starting to understand what her mother was talking about. "Please continue, Zahi."

"Well, you will be leaving the Matriarch," Lorelai paused, putting the most hoity toity look she could muster on her face, "Moi, to establish your own kingdom in the far away and strange land known as California."

"No, I'm not leaving. I'm going on an expedition, with the intent of establishing a colony on the left coast in honor of my Matriarch, and one day I will go back home, uniting our two kingdoms, bringing in a new era of joy and happiness."

Lorelai smiled at her daughter sadly, she appreciated the attempt at humor, but it wasn't enough to take away her woe. Lorelai pulled her daughter into her arms, "I'm gonna miss you, Kid."

"I know." Rory nodded her head, her face buried in her mother's neck.

Lorelai pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes, the pair sat in silence for a few moments, "So, what are your plans for the day?"

"I want to visit Lane and we're supposed to meet up with Honor at lunch time, other than that my schedule is free and easy."

"What about your dad?" Lorelai had been avoiding the subject of Christopher, but ignoring Christopher was as simple as ignoring an elephant in the living room.

"What about him?" Rory chewed her bottom lip.

"When are you going to tell him that he is going to be a granddad?"

"Well, I was hoping that you would tell him," Rory flashed her bright blue eyes at her mother, hoping that Lorelai would not be able to resist her patented Rory Gilmore look.

"No way! I had to tell him about you, you have to tell him about the mini you."

"Mom, I can't do it again, I can't stand to be yelled at again."

"Well, you don't have a choice… this is part of being an adult." Lorelai cut off Rory's protests before they could be made. "Okay, how about this… I'll call your Dad and make him promise not to yell at you then you can tell him. Rory, he deserves to hear it from you."

"I know."

Lorelai got up from her daughter's bed and fetched the phone from the living room; Lorelai dialed Christopher's number from memory. The phone rang briefly before he answered.

"Hello,"Christopher had just seen GiGi off to school; he was sitting in his home office about to start work.

"Hi, Chris, it's Lorelai." Lorelai started to walk through the hallway to the living room; she wanted to have this conversation away from Rory.

"Hey, Lor, what's up?"Christopher was surprised to hear Lorelai call him out of the blue, they had yet to reestablish their friendship since the divorce.

Lorelai was insulted; Christopher was making it sound like she was always the bearer of bad news. "Why does something have to be up?"

"Because you don't make social calls."

"Chris…" Lorelai was desperately trying to come up with an explanation of why she only called when there was drama.

"It's okay, Lor, I get it. We just need some time." There was a pause; they didn't know what to say to one another. "So, why did you call?"

"Because something is up."

"Huh! I knew it." Lorelai could hear the joy of being right in Christopher's voice. "You were about to go into a rant about how you don't just call when there is trouble brewing, if I hadn't cut you off, how long would it have taken you to try to convince me that the reason you were calling had nothing to do with something being up?"

"Ten, fifteen minutes tops."

"Well, since I saved us all of this time, I think that you should get to the point." Chris kept his voice light to insult Lorelai.

"Our daughter has something to tell you… it's big, really big." Lorelai started walking towards Rory's room.

"So put her on so she can tell me."

"Before I do, I need you to make a promise."

"What kind of promise?"

"Like no matter what she tells you, you will stay calm. You cannot yell at her for any reason. You cannot give her a hard time. If you give her any trouble or make her feel bad about this…"

"Okay, geez I promise that I will stay as calm as if I was on Xanax." Christopher was intrigued; he had not had a buildup like this for…well twenty-three years.

"Okay, I'm putting her on now, but you break this promise I will break your arm."

"It's okay, Lorelai, I get it… very important, don't make her feel bad." The wheels in Christopher's head started to turn, "Hey, Lorelai, she's not going to tell me that she's…"

"Here's Rory." Lorelai cut Christopher off, she knew where he was going and she didn't think that she had it in her to lie to him, not about this.

Lorelai passed the phone to her daughter and left the room, closing the door behind her. Rory needed to do this alone.

"Hi! Dad."

"Hey, Kiddo, your Mom eluded that you had something to tell me."

"Yes and I need you to promise that no matter what I tell you… you will stay calm."

"Gee, whatever it is, it must be big. I've already promised your Mom that I would stay calm upon pain of death."

"Well, you know how Logan asked me to marry him and I said no?"

"Yeah, I was there during the proposal… the salmon puffs were also especially good that night."

"Well, due to certain events, I got in contact with Logan and we have not only reconciled, but I have also accepted his proposal."

"That's fantastic! Congratulations!" Christopher felt genuine in his congratulations; he liked Logan, from the second time that they had met right up until he had broken his daughter's heart.

"Thank you."

"Rory, you know that I like Logan, I thought that I had made that pretty clear in the past."

Rory crossed her legs and sat up straighter in bed. She felt like she should have good posture for what was to come. "Yes, you have."

"Then why would you think that this news would cause me to get upset?"

"Because I haven't finished telling you everything yet."

"Well, go on, I'm listening."

Rory took a deep breath, "Dad, I'm pregnant." And just like everyone else, Christopher had been stunned into silence.

"Wow, I always thought that I understood Richard's reaction, but I didn't till now, not really."

"Dad, don't forget that you made a promise."

"I'm not forgetting… it's just that I'm grappling with this overwhelming desire to kill Logan right now."

"Dad, you just finished telling me that you liked Logan."

"I know I did, and I'm sure in time that I will again. I just need a little time… How much time do I have until I'm grandfather?"

"I'm due sometime the early part of February."

"Wow, that's only like seven months notice."

Rory nodded her head, "Yep."

"Well, it's more notice than I had for impending fatherhood."

There was a long silence and the longer her father didn't speak the more Rory's insecurities grew. "Dad, you're not disappointed in me, are you?"

"Rory, you are a lot of things to me... a daughter who is intelligent, amazing, beautiful but you haven't been and never will be a disappointment to me."

"And Logan, you don't really feel like killing him, do you? Because he's still recovering from Grandpa's threat."

"Rory, I can't really be mad at him for something that I had done myself in the past. And besides, I am going to have a grandchild whom I know will be so incredible. Logan's a smart guy; he has proven that by picking you. I just hope that he is smart enough not to make the same mistakes that I did."

Rory knew what her father was alluding to; her emotional wounds were still raw from last night. Rory didn't know if she wanted to have this conversation with her father, she had accepted him for who he was with his flaws and all. "Dad, you don't have to …"

"Yes I do, Rory. I regret that I wasn't there for you like I should have been. I let you down. I'm just lucky that your Mom is incredible enough that I wasn't missed."

"Dad, you were always missed." Rory sounded so sad; she really wished that her dad had been around more.

Chris's mournful tone matched that of his daughter's. "I wish that wasn't true."

"No, you don't."

Christopher no longer knew what to say, so he changed the subject. "Rory, I want to pay for the wedding."

"You don't need to do that, Dad."

"Yes I do. Isn't there some kind of tradition where the father of the bride is expected to pay for the wedding?"

"I do recall something about that archaic tradition. Dad, like I said, you don't have to. Logan and I don't even know what kind of wedding we're going to have yet."

"I know I don't have to. I want to. Besides, think about it, if I pay for the wedding then Emily and Shira won't be able to have a say in it because they're not paying for it."

Rory took a moment to contemplate her father's words. "We might actually get a wedding that we would enjoy. Ooo… it could have a spring-fair theme, with rides and a hay bale maze and cotton candy, funnel cakes and corn dogs."

"Hey, don't forget the acrobats. Not the cheap kind either. The Circus de Soleil kind, nothing is too good for my girl."

"I'll talk to Logan about your offer."

"Okay, Kid."

Rory smiled, she liked the sound of that, "Okay."

Rory had spoken to her father for another fifteen minutes before she ended the call. Christopher kept his promise, he had stayed calm and by the end of the call he was almost tolerating the thought of being in the same room as Logan without eviscerating him.

Rory felt good enough that by the end of the phone call, she felt motivated to get up and out of bed. Rory could smell the aroma of wonderful coffee coming from the kitchen. Her mother was just being cruel; she knew Rory had taken a stance not to drink coffee while pregnant.

Rory opened her bedroom door and was greeted by the sight of sheets and sheets of white paper plastered all around the walls with captions from what appeared to be studies on the effects of caffeine on pregnancies.

"Now, I know that you said that you were not going to drink anything with caffeine while pregnant, which means that you are ether switching to decaf…" Lorelai makes a face of disgust, "… or giving up coffee all together that I decided to do a little research. I could not find one report showing that if the consumption of caffeine is kept to two-hundred milligrams per day that there will be an ill effect on the unborn child. I took the liberty of printing these reports off so that you could read them in your own time."

"Two-hundred milligrams? Really?"

"Yep," Lorelai took a sip of her own coffee, with a smug look on her face.

"That means that I could have one cup of coffee per day."

"Or two small ones."

Rory sat down at the kitchen table and started reading the reports; she needed to see it with her own eyes that she could have the elixir of life.

******************

Logan had stayed standing on the front porch of the Lorelai's house until long after his father's car had driven out of sight. Finally, he walked back into the house and entered the kitchen. "Hey, Ace."

"Hey," Rory sounded unhappy, sitting and staring at what appeared to be a small cup of take-out coffee from Luke's. Logan knew that Rory had not picked up the beverage herself; it must have been Lorelai in an effort to convince Rory not to give up coffee. It also appeared that Lorelai had constructed a question mark next to the coffee out of coins, enough coins to purchase a second small cup of coffee.

"What's the matter?" Logan was pretty sure he knew what the problem was. Rory had confessed that she was not going to drink coffee while pregnant. From the moment Rory had told him about her plan he had had his doubts on how firm Rory's resolve was.

"I don't know what to do. There are dozens of studies all saying that they cannot find any proof that 200 milligrams of caffeine or less is harmful during pregnancy. But what if that's the point? What if they just haven't found any proof that it's harmful? On the other hand, look at my Mom, she drank coffee like Jim Morrison at an open bar when she was pregnant with me, and I turned out fine. No extra toes or anything." Rory had delivered her entire speech with her eyes glued to the cup in front of her. She didn't know what to do, then suddenly she had an idea, she turned to Logan, "Tell me what to do? To drink or not to drink that is the question."

Logan smiled; he had been right, "I'm not telling you what to do. It's your body."

"But you're the father," Rory retorted.

"Ace, I'm not telling you what to do." This time Logan said it more firmly. He knew that Rory would not drink coffee if she honestly believed that it would be bad for the baby, no matter how hard it would be on her. Logan sat down on the chair closest to Rory. Clearly Rory was not going to leave the table until the matter was resolved.

Rory groaned. She could not understand why Logan would not have any opinion on her dilemma. He was, after all, the father of their child who would be greatly affected if she drunk caffeinated coffee.

Logan could see that Rory was working on a second wind; he knew that he had to distract her or he was going to get in trouble. "Where's Lorelai?"

Rory answered but she didn't look up from the coffee, "At the Inn. Sookie called about a problem with too many carrots, or not enough of them." Rory folded her arms on the table and rested her chin on her arms. She sighed loudly.

Wow, Logan thought. He must have been really distracted by his father to not notice Lorelai leaving the house.

Logan realized that Rory was still focused on the coffee; he knew that he needed something more interesting to distract Rory other than Lorelai's whereabouts. "So, my Dad was here."

Rory bolted upright, "In Stars Hollow?" Logan nodded. "What did he want?"

"He wanted to apologize and he offered me a job. I thought it was a bit insulting in the way he offered it. He also asked that we don't shut them out of our lives."

Rory was beyond shocked to hear that Mitchum Huntzberger wanted to apologize. Rory had always thought that there were better odds that Rob Snyder would make a good humorous movie. "What did you say?"

"Well, I turned down the job offer; I'm not running back to Daddy." Logan grabbed Rory's hands and held them both in his. "I'll support us, Ace… I'm not relying on him for that. It's not like he has something to hold over my head."

Rory looked at their joint hands; she could hear the pride in Logan's voice. "You won't be doing this alone, Logan. I'll be working part time and I can work from home for the most part, I can work full time if I have to."

"You don't need to, Ace. I'm not making a lot from my job but with the income distribution from my trust fund, we have more than enough. You only have to work as much as you want to."

"You're sure? Because I don't mind."

Logan pulled on Rory's hand forcing her to stand or fall off the chair. Once Rory was standing, Logan drew Rory onto his lap so she was sitting sideways. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Well, I do mind. We agreed that only one of us would work full time and for the moment that person is me."

Rory could see the look of determination in Logan's eyes; she knew not to argue with that look, at least for the moment. So she turned back to her cup of coffee. "Do you think that it would be appropriate to flip a coin on the matter?" Rory leaned forward reaching for a coin on the table.

"Not if it's a quarter."


Okay guys, we are getting to the business end of this story, there are only about 4 or 5 chapters left. But who knows, my muse may have a moment of inspiration and find a new point for me to explore or maybe she will want me to move on to the next story that I have been working on, (the new story is going to be a love triangle between Logan, Rory and.......... you will just have to wait and see.)

I know some of you wish that this story could go on forever, but I'm just not that good, but I do plan on this story have a proper ending unlike the show. So if there is something you are dying for me to address in the story now is the time to speak up. Or maybe you just want leave me a review by pressing that pretty little button just below, every review really does add to the creative juices.