I know Apryl must be happy! Updating hasn't really been a strong point lately, but I'm just really busy – it's a lame-o excuse, I know!
For all you Mitchum haters out there – love it by the way! – Rory's day to tell him off will come and I promise you that Rory and Logan will fight him in a united front. However, that day is not today…
A little recap: Rory and Logan aren't fighting anymore and both are making an effort to improve their relationship. Rory was out shopping and got an instant need for some HDC (hot delicious coffee). She wanted to share this epic moment with her beloved. She rushed to Logan's office, and finally decided to take a nap on his couch, only to be woken up by Mitchum. Things get a little tense, and Logan tries to smooth it over – finally sending Mitchum away and Rory home.
In this chapter, Logan confronts Mitchum and gets some good news as well as some bad news…. Let me know what you think!! There is a little sexual content in this chapter - not much and hardly M rating worthy in my opinion..so yeah, if it offends you - sorry - let me know if you want me to up the rating, I guess.
Thank you all so much for the reviews, I really love them! And, thanks for adding this to your fav's and story alerts. That still blows my mind! You ROCK!
Love,
Gilmoregirl19
Disclaimer: It's all ASP.
PS: Will be updating Not So Simple Life next - if you haven't check it out! (Hey! A little shameless plug never hurt anyone!)
Logan didn't get much sleep last night. Mitchum kept him at the office well past midnight and he needed to be back at Huntzberger Publishing before eight this morning. Luckily, Rory wasn't a light sleeper, so she almost never woke up when he crawled in and out of bed.
As he let the hot shower sooth his body, he thought about his conversation with Mitchum.
"Has she left?"
Logan looked up from his desk and shot his father a pointed look. He really did not appreciate Mitchum treating Rory as if she was some lesser being. "Don't worry, I called her a car," Logan said with a heavy sigh.
"Don't start with me, son," Mitchum warned.
"Dad, I don't want Rory to feel like this place is off-limits to her." Clearly, Logan wasn't in the mood to obey his father.
"It's a place of business, Logan," Mitchum said dryly, "You do not need to be distracted right now, and she is a distraction."
"So you treat her like she's worthless?" Logan questioned offended. "So, it's okay for you two to joke of dinner at the Club, but suddenly it's a distraction when she's in my office…"
"….showing you her purchases of the day," the senior Huntzberger interrupted. "What did you do? Give her an unlimited amount on the black card?"
Logan crooked an eyebrow, "Frankly, I don't think that's any of your business. And more to the point – she wasn't showing me the purchases of the day - she was craving coffee!"
He said it as if it explained everything, and a smile crept over his face at the thought of a coffee-crazed Rory standing in his office. Logan noticed the confused look in his father's eye. "Anyway," he waved the images out of his mind, "You wouldn't understand. It's a…thing."
"Obviously," Mitchum nodded, somewhat surprised by how defensive and caring his son was being. Somewhere Mitchum always thought that Logan was "just doing the right thing" for the baby's sake. They never talked about family, since this was a place of business and all, but Mitchum started to realize how rooted Rory and Logan's relationship was.
"So, is she upset?"
His father's question caught him off guard. He always needed to be careful what he said around Mitchum. One wrong word, too much emotion or not enough information could open a whole other can of worms.
Logan weighed his words carefully, "Of course she's upset. She's pregnant, she's emotional, her husband is working crazy 100-hour weeks, we barely have anytime to share a meal together…."
He paused, noticing Mitchum's features beginning to soften, signaling Logan to switch gears, "So imagine how she feels when she shows up my office, to spend a few minutes with me, and her father-in-law sends her away…."
"I see," Mitchum nodded slowly, "It's quite a bit of pressure on you kids…"
To an outsider this would sound like compassion, though Logan knew it was another test. Saying something along the lines of oh, the pressure is killing us, effectively killed any potential you might have had within the company, since, in Mitchum's eyes it was an admission of being weak.
However, Logan knew this game well, so the right answer flowed effortlessly from his lips.
'We manage."
"Good man," Mitchum sighed and looked at the black leather couch where Rory had been napping, "I'd better send the girl some flowers…"
"What?"
"To apologize,"
"Well, well, I must be going deaf…" Logan smirked. The Huntzberger men had a complicated relationship. It flowed from unbearable tension, to easy breezy in a matter of minutes.
"Cut it, son" Mitchum pointed his finger at Logan, "Twenty long stemmed pink roses?"
"Have you met Rory?" Logan asked sarcastically.
"It's what your mother gets – I've got the florist on speed dial…" Mitchum pulled out his phone.
"Wow, romantic," Logan muttered under his breath. He sighed, and smiled since he realized that he had the upper hand in this situation.
"Look, Dad, call her up to apologize, you don't need to send her something…."
"But…"Mitchum interjected. It was really the only way men of Hartford society knew how to apologize and Logan understood that.
"Well, sunflowers are her favorite, but she read an article about certain flowers affecting baby's sense of smell later in life or something…"
Mitchum crooked his eyebrow in confusion.
"It was in the middle of the night …" he said by way of explanation, "So, maybe chocolate or baked goods. She likes cherry bonbons, lemon Danishes, chocolate chip muffins and every cookie on the planet. However, she is paranoid, so she might think that Shira via you is sending her chocolate to fatten her up… "
Mitchum chuckled, "I wouldn't put it past your mother."
"You can always get her movie tickets and a popcorn maker. Jimmy died the other day and we haven't gotten a new one," Logan bobbed his head as he contemplated this. It was not a bad idea.
"Jimmy?"
"The popcorn maker," Logan clarified.
"You employ someone to make popcorn?" Mitchum asked in disbelief.
"No, that's what we call the machine…" Logan smirked.
"Okay, Jimmy it is." Mitchum shook his head and quickly typed a reminder in his phone, for later. He looked proudly at his son. Logan had grown up tremendously in the last six months or so. He had is career on track and a seemingly loving, caring, equal relationship.
"You know your wife," Mitchum nodded.
"I know my wife," Logan nodded in response, as a smile crept over his face.
Mitchum could not help feeling a pang of jealousy. Over the years, he had grown fond of Shira, but it was not a smoking hot firecracker, his and her towels kind of love. She was a fresh-faced twenty something; straight off, the bus from Hicksville and it was painfully obvious that they were not compatible. Mitchum kept her around for entertainment purposes only, though when she became pregnant with Honor all he could do was become her lawfully wedded husband.
"Keeping me home for a weekend would be a good gift to Rory, too," Logan semi-joked as he felt like he and his father had reached a new level of understanding.
Mitchum shook his head, focusing back on business, "Best rent the whole damn movie theater, son."
Logan shot his father a disbelieving look. "What?"
Mitchum slowly sat down on one of Logan's desk chairs, "You got the job."
"I thought I'd find out three weeks from now?"he asked confused.
"Milton has plans," Mitchum replied shortly.
"What kind of plans?"
"We are launching Travel Magazine two weeks earlier, making it public that you are our new Senior Consultant and will be working on re-creating the whole on-line market for HPG."
He was excited, but at the same time he knew it sounded too good to be true. "What's the catch?" he asked unfazed.
"Well, to get the magazine out on time we have to go into total lock-down for the next three weeks. No one from the outside world for three weeks, until we get the magazine straightened out."
'But," Logan tried, but his father shot him down.
"No buts – it's classic Milton." The excitement for this new business venture was obvious in Mitchum's voice.
"But, three weeks…"
"What's three weeks in a life time?" Mitchum asked.
"A lot for a baby!" he countered.
Logan tried to wrap his mind around what just happened. He got the Senior Consultant position. He would almost be his own boss. It was the second highest position in the company; Mitchum's of course, being the highest. Mitchum was known for letting the Senior Consultants pretty much run the show, with him only intervening when necessary.
Mitchum essentially gave Logan the paper. At the same time, three weeks away from Rory, no e-mail, no phone, no contact. He knew that the second doctor's appointment was scheduled next week, so he would be missing that. He would be missing her, worrying about her. What if something happened to the baby?
"Son, you've got this job. It is your job. Surely, Rory will support you."
Logan blinked, as he contemplated this. It would take some convincing, but Rory would let him go. He knew that. She was not really a fan of him working for HPG, but she understood that this was the corporate position he craved. He also knew that she would think it was some twisted way Mitchum was out to get her and that a new popcorn maker was not going to smooth everything over. The frustration he imagined in Rory's eyes, made place for the eagerness he saw in his father's eyes. His father wanted – needed – him there.
"Okay" Logan stuck out his hand.
Mitchum shook it, "Okay. Let's get to work."
The following morning Rory awoke, from a dead sleep to the sound of the shower running. She stayed in her warm bed for a minute, contemplating what to do with her day when last night's events came tumbling back to her.
Every. Last. Word.
She jumped out of bed and excitedly made her way over to the bathroom, and brushed her teeth as she did every morning.
"Ace?" Logan questioned.
She mumbled something incomprehensible, but as soon as she rinsed she pulled open the shower curtain, revealing a very naked Logan.
"What are you doing?" He smirked. He was happy to see her.
"Brushing my teeth," she replied innocently.
"Why?"
"So I could do this," she stood up on her tippy toes, leaned in and gave him a sweet kiss, not minding that the shower water was spraying her navy blue Yale pajamas.
"Well, well," he smirked as the pulled apart. She closed the lid on the toilet, sat down, and watched him. She was waiting for him to spill, but he was not buying into it.
"So, do you come here often?" Logan joked, "Or is watching someone shower a new thing for you?"
She continued eyeing him shamelessly – he was her husband after all. "No, it's a new thing," she replied, as he turned around exposing his lean back and perfect rear to her, "but I'm not disappointed," she smirked, copying a page from his book for once.
He laughed heartily, turned and looked at her. "Why don't you join me?"
"Babe," she shook her head, "That'll never fit. I'm HUGE."
"You aren't huge," he sighed, "and even if you were – this shower is king sized." He raised his eyebrows seductively.
"I'll just enjoy the view…"
"Oh Ace, what fun is that?" He splashed a little water on her, "You can live a hundred years, without really living for a minute…"
She laughed at his old college pick-up line. She later admitted to him, that those words made her love him, and she thought it was plain mean to use them against her now. At the same time, she couldn't help but laugh. She bit her bottom lip, looking like a calculated seductress as she watched the effect this little shower escapade was having on Logan's body.
She wanted more than to enjoy the view.
She held out her hand, he grabbed it to help her get up, as she giggled, "You still need to tell me about Mitchum….."
"Not now, Ace," he said between passionate kisses. He swiftly pulled her pajama top over her head, and ever the gentleman, extended his hand and pulled her into the shower.
After the sultry shower, Rory lay sprawled out on the bed, grinning as she watched Logan hurriedly get ready for work.
"What time is it, Ace?" he asked as he stuck his head out of the closet.
"7.35," she replied, "Why?"
"Just, you know," he sighed, "Running late…"
Rory rolled off the bed, and walked over to him. "You should be relaxed after that shower, "she said sweetly as she encircled her arms around his waist, "not tense…."
"I know," he shot her a half smile, "It was great – but Mitchum…."
"Ah, yes," Rory pulled away from the embrace as she remember that she still needed to be filled on that converstation, "Every. Last. Word." She shot him a pointed look.
"I know, I know," he nodded as he fixed his tie, "I'll tell you tonight…"
"You won't be home 'till four in the morning…." Rory shot back half-jokingly, half-seriously.
"You don't know that," Logan defended weakly.
"Please, I know how HPG operates," Rory retorted.
"Not for much longer," he muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing," he was quick to say, and continued fumbling with his tie.
"Logan," She touched his arm lightly, forcing him to turn towards her.
"It was nothing, Ace…"
"Yes, yes it was," she said somewhat aggressively, "And it has Mitchum written all over it."
She crossed her arms across her chest.
"Ace," he rolled his eyes.
"Logan," she sighed, growing out of patience. "Just tell me,"
He slowly picked up a pair of tan shoes, and whispered, "I got the job."
"The senior consultant?"
"Yeah," he nodded slowly.
"Isn't that what you wanted?" She noticed how he looked agitated and upset, "Uh, not to be rude but why aren't you happier about this? We had a fight that went down as the Great Fight of February for crying out loud!" she rambled.
He shot her a soft smile, "Because, Mitchum and Milton…."
She rolled her eyes, "What? Want you to go on some secret mission before they let you in the company?"
"Kind of – we are re-launching the magazine and we have to go on lock-down the next three weeks. No phones, no email, no contact with the outside world," he spoke solemnly.
"What?"
"Just work and coffee," he tried to joke.
"That's insane!" Rory threw her arms up in the air in rage.
"I'm sorry…"
"But, the job is more important. It doesn't matter that this means you'll miss the second doctor's appointment, or more baby shopping, or baby shower planning. It's okay for you to be holed up and drink coffee while I listen to Emily and Shira blab on about pink cupcakes and Nicole Richies' midwife," she spewed in anger.
"Rory, I never went to those lunches anyway…"
"That's not the point – you were out on the golf field with Richard and Mitchum. You were there if I needed you. Now, Mitchum's taking everything away!"
"The whole company is on lock-down Rory," Logan lectured her; "It's not fair if I get to keep my phone. People are upset as it is, since I swooped in and got the Senior Consultant job as it is…."
She remained silent, as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Ace…" he rubbed her shoulder. "It's three weeks…"
"Yeah, 21 days," she wiped a stray hair off her face, "I hate this. I mean, it started out with working late, then weekends, now this – what else, Logan?"
"Nothing, Rory, I'm Senior Consultant – we write our own hours."
"Do you have that in writing? Is a contract signed?"
"No, but, it's …." He searched for the word he was looking for, "it's the way it is."
Rory shot him a pointed look, "Three weeks."
"Three weeks," he nodded in reply.
"When do you leave?" she asked, bitterness lacing her tone.
She caught the guilty look on his face. Tomorrow night at midnight,"
"What?! Midnight?" Rory was outraged, "Is Mitchum running the freaking CIA?"
"Ace…" he sighed defeated.
"No," she held up her hand, "I know. I get it." That wasn't a lie. She honestly understood that he needed to do this. And he couldn't stand up against Mitchum, not yet at least. It was just bad. The timing, being alone, being pregnant.
"It's just…" she swallowed as more tears filled her eyes, "hard."
He stepped forward and embraced her, "I know. I don't want to go…"
She wanted to say 'don't go', but she knew she could not. She could not be selfish. "But you have to,"
"Yeah."
The couple remained in silence for a few moments, until a small, bitter laugh escaped Rory. "That damn OB-GYN is going to think Mr. Huntzberger doesn't exist."
Logan smiled wryly as he knew it was the truth. "I'll be home for the birth, I promise."
"Don't make a promise you can't keep, Logan…" she warned.
Rory immediately felt guilty, and cast her gaze towards the plush carpet. Sure, she felt bad, but she could not help the words that escaped her mouth.
"Hey," Logan gently rubbed her cheek with his index finger, "I'll be there…"
"It's eight o'clock" Rory said as she caught the bright red numbers on her alarm clock.
"Shit!" Logan said, and placed a quick kiss on her cheek before rushing off to the closet once more. Comfort-time was over, business-Logan had taken over.
Rory remained quiet as she watched Logan pack the rest of his things for work. She liked it when he was home. His mannerisms, watching him getting ready in the morning fascinated her. She loved being with him, laughing with him, or cuddling up and watching a movie together.
She felt the baby kick gently, signaling that she was awake. It still startled her, but after Logan's life-saving Google search her nerves calmed a bit. That's why she needed him. He could calm her worst nerves. He knew her, and she hated to admit it, but she depended on him. To pay the bills, protect her, make sure the door is locked at night, order pizza and pick it up, so she did not have to deal with the sexed-up 17-year-old delivery boy, staring at her larger than normal, pregnancy-induced boobs. She thought about him leaving, and hated the idea of being a lone in the City for the next three weeks.
"Hey," she said a little hesitantly, "I think I'm going to go to Stars Hallow, spend some time with my Mom, get baby tips from Lane…"
"When I'm away, you mean?" he asked.
"Yeah," she nodded, trying to sound upbeat.
"Sounds like a plan, Ace," his voice came from the closet and she noticed how distant he sounded. It was his business tone.
He emerged from the closet, and walked over to her. "It'll be fine. What's three weeks in a lifetime?"
A lot for a baby! she thought. "Yeah, it'll be fine." Rory said, mustering up the tiniest bit of enthusiasm.
"Just tell me when you want to go; I'll get a car and driver set up. I don't want you to drive all that way."
She nodded, and he leaned in to kiss her goodbye, pulling away and placing a gentle kiss on her stomach. "I love you!"
"Love you too," she whispered and nervously bit her lip.
She heard the front door slam shut and sat there, overwhelmed, for a while, before reaching for her cell phone and hitting speed dial.
"Gilmore House – where your pleasure is our priority,"
"MOM!" Rory yelled into the phone, "What if Grandma was calling?"
"Caller-id, sweets," Lorelai laughed, "What's up?"
"Just wanted to make sure you haven't converted my room into a gym, or something…"
"Go wash your mouth. A Gilmore never exercises!"
Rory chuckled, but it wasn't her usual happy laugh.
"Hon," Lorelai asked, "What's up?"
"I need to come home," Rory said sadly.
"Do I need to pull out the trundle?" Lorelai asked, though she knew the answer.
"No."
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