SO- Oxford Part 2

A/N: I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, thank you all for the reviews, for everything. It seems like the reviews have somewhat dropped lately on my stories but I hope it's just the holidays. I will say I haven't written lately but Misters Before Sisters (one of my favorites by far!) got updated during the crazy Christmas weekend and it inspired me.

Logan walked through the door exhausted, the office had been insane for 2 weeks, with no end in sight to the chaos. The reason for the insanity was great though, it was an expansion that they had finally figured out. They were now setting up an office in New York and the partners at his company had asked if he wanted to head it up. It had been five years since they had lived on the East Coast and while Rory had put on a brave face, and while she had a life in California, he knew she would be excited to get back closer to home. The only thing getting him through the exhaustion was the thought of telling Rory about the move but when he walked in the door he found Rory sitting in the corner of their laundry room sobbing into her knees, all thoughts of the move dissipated as he knelt next to her and held her while she cried. "Ace, what's going on? What is happening?"

Rory sniffled a few times before she finally was able to but right as she opened her mouth a scream pierced through the house. "CON! Stop playing with my toy! It's my toy! You stop it right now!" Followed by a piercing scream from the two-year old of the house.

"I assume it's been like this all day?" Logan asked as he took in his wife's appearance, she looked exhausted, and beat down by the constant pressures of the house and her work. Her blog had taken off, she was honest, and unapologetic as she gave her honest opinions about the depression she faced, the feelings of inadequacy of not doing what she had initially went to school for, she was brutal, and raw as she discussed just isolating moments of her life were. This had led to newspapers to reach out to her, wanting her voice in their paper, book publishers calling her phone, the only media company that had been absent was HPG and she couldn't be more thankful.

"They just don't stop Logan. They're 4 and 2 and I'm telling you I've dealt with contract negotiations that were less stressful than some days with them. And I have a deadline by tomorrow night that I'm nowhere close to where I'm supposed to be. I just don't know how to keep doing this alone. And I'm sorry, because I know that you've been dealing with craziness at work and I know that I'm incredibly blessed to be working from home but that doesn't take away the exhaustion, or the fact that I'm 'on' from before the sun up to after the sun goes down. I'm so tired Logan." Her voice was resigned, there was no fight left as she said the words. There wasn't much more she could say.

"I have an idea, let's take a trip back home. We can go see your mom and Luke. Maybe get them to watch tiny and tinier for a weekend while we head to New York, check out the real estate?"

Rory's face scrunched up in tired confusion. "Why would we look at the real esta… Oh my god, the expansion! It's happening?! It's a go?!" Her once tear-filled face was now filled with a genuine pride as she jumped into his arms and hugged him.

"It's actually happening Ace. They want me to move back to New York to head up the office. I know it's a big change, but you'll be closer to your mom, and it's just back home. I think it's a great opportunity. I told them I'd talk to you about it."

"Well, call them and tell them we're moving back!" She was so happy until there was another piercing scream as a bundle of brunette curls ran into the room followed by a mop of blonde hair. Rory groaned and tried to hide under the blankets she had just washed earlier.

"Mommy, Conrad stole my toy and I want an applesa—DADDY! YOU'RE HERE!" Charlotte jumped into her dad's arms and Conrad tried to push his way into Logan's arms.

"I am home, and I have an idea how about you, your brother, and I all go for a car ride while your mom does some work or lays down." He shot Rory a look and she mouthed her thank you to him as he put the babies back on the floor and stood up himself, he helped Rory up and kissed her forehead. "Enjoy the quiet. I'll be back in a few hours with dinner."

Logan was brought out of his daydream when Rory yawned and stretched on his lap, she looked up at him and smiled before fully taking in her surroundings. "We're still in the air?"

"Yeah, we have about 45 minutes left. How did you sleep?" He asked her as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Fine, same I usually do on a plane." She watched as he wordlessly nodded to her statement as he continued playing with her hair. "Hey handsome, what is going on in that head of yours?"

"Just remembering when we decided to move back to New York. The kids were so little, and such hellions." He spoke with a sense of longing in his voice.

"And now they're perfect angels?" She asked him sarcastically, she usually didn't mind the reminiscing, but she could still remember the exhaustion that plagued her through those years.

"Well, now it's a bigger scale of hedonism. But at least they get along better now." With that both Rory and Logan looked over at their kids who had shared a row on the plane. Charlotte had propped her feet on Conrad's lap, and they watched as Conrad slapped her feet off in his sleep. "I didn't say they were perfect." Logan amended.

"I can't believe she's going to college in England. This was a terrible idea of yours letting her go." Rory nudged him with her elbow.

"I'm not dignifying that with a response I'll have you know." Logan answered her. "At least if she hates it, she can always come home, take a year off, sink a yacht, you know." He smirked down at Rory whose head was still in his lap.

"Over my dead body Huntzberger. Plus, I highly doubt she'll come back for a bit, especially with everything that happened last night."

"Yeah, did you ever find anything more out about that?"

"Since I know how much you love her and want to protect her, I'm going to refrain from going into specifics. He was an ass though. He knows it."

Logan's face shadowed over with anger and after a few minutes he calmed down. "I guess, as long as he knows he's an ass."

"He does. And you two are loud." Charlotte spoke with her eyes closed as she stretched out and purposely nudged Conrad with the heel of her shoe in his jaw. "Wake up loser."

"Are we going shopping?" He mumbled incoherently as he was trying to wake up.

"Most people snore, he quotes Mean Girls." Rory rolled her eyes as the pilot came over the intercom as they started to make their descent into Heathrow Airport.

RLRLRL

They had unpacked the last box in the dorm and Logan took a step back looking around the now crowded room. There had been a smaller scale of her Oxford wall back at home, a deep red comforter and sheet set, and everything else to make her dorm room complete. Rory stood back and looked around at the handiwork of the room that they had been working on for 3 days, before throwing her arm around Charlotte. "How does it look Tiny?"

"It looks great mom, thank you." Charlotte started to choke up as she looked around, taking it all in for the first time. This was her home now, right outside of her door were her suite mates that she would be living with for a year, right outside of her window was a campus that she got to explore, tucked into a city that was her new home, inside a country that was a foreign land for her. Before she knew what she was doing she turned to Rory. "Mom, can you… can you stay in London for a bit?"

Rory smiled at her daughter. "Your dad and Conrad are heading back, I head home in 2 weeks. Just in case."

Charlotte wrapped her arms around her mom and hugged her tighter. "Thank you, mom."

"You know, I'm offended, why didn't you want me to stay, or dad?" Conrad asked as he belly flopped onto her newly made bed.

"Well, for one, you don't know manners. And two, you need to get home to my best friend and niece or nephew and take care of them both. And, while I love dad, he can't pick out the good take-out like mom can." Charlotte said as she pushed Conrad's shoe clad feet off of her bed. Logan strode in at the tail-end of the conversation.

"I take great offense to that. I am an excellent take-out finder. Just because I can also enjoy the idea of a good homecooked meal does not make me inferior." He smiled at Charlie as he went to go hug her. "We have a few more days in and then we're out. But you know that we're always a FaceTime call away, or a plane ride if you're that desperate. The London apartment is around if you need someplace to escape for a little bit." With that he handed her a stack of wadded up bills.

"Dad, what is this for?"

Logan couldn't quite explain, he just knew it was the way he had to take care of her, and this was the easiest way he knew how to from across an ocean. "I just… I want you to enjoy your time here. Be careful, be respectful, work hard, but have fun. Make amazing friends, sometimes they overextend their welcome but they're worth it." He smiled at Rory. "Now, I need you to stay here while we leave for the airport, okay?"

"Why? I wanted to see you and Con off."

"Because my darling girl, if you come with me, I won't get on the plane." Logan hugged her as he looked across the room at Rory who was holding back tears. He remembered when he had told Rory that so many years ago, almost two decades now. He couldn't believe he was saying it to his own daughter. As he looked around the room, he realized that this was it for her. This was the right choice, even if it was killing him. Even if he had hated this idea ever since he saw that acceptance letter, she had chosen wisely, and he hated it. He hated that the little girl who made him and Rory grow up quicker than he had intended was now leaving their home for the first time in over 18 years. He squeezed her as tightly as he could, his eyes squeezed shut as well, trying to quell the tears that were threatening to fall. He moved to the side as Conrad stood up to say goodbye to his sister and Logan made his way to stand next to the Bonnie to his Clyde for over 20 years, as he put his arm around her shoulders he kissed the top of her head as they watched their kids say their goodbyes, all four of the Huntzberger's finally just letting the tears fall as the weight of what this goodbye would actually entail. It was the end of the era of the four of them, it was the end of their core family that Rory and Logan had clawed their way to build, and they couldn't shake how hard it was to say goodbye.

A/N: Didn't think about it until I was writing this last scene, but maybe the end?