Chapter 44: The Aftermath

"Where have you been?" Rory asked as Logan walked into her hospital room.

"Disowning my father," Logan said as he collapsed, exhausted in the chair next to her bed.

"Huh?" Rory replied, confused.

"I confronted my father. Believe me, it was a long overdue."

"How, when…?"

Logan sighed. "After you were hurt and before you woke up, I had a lot of time to think. A lot of time to reevaluate what's important in my life. And all of my thoughts kept coming back to the same place—we were happy before Mitchum. After Mitchum, we were not. Do you remember how I used to dream about having a father?"

Rory nodded.

"Anywhere in those fantasies, did I ever dream about an overbearing person who cared more about business than me?"

Rory shook her head.

"Was I ever constantly miserable?"

Rory shook her head.

"All my life I dreamed of what it would be like to have a relationship with my father. The sad thing is I didn't realize I already had one."

"Luke?"

Logan nodded. "Think about it Rory. He was the one that was there for me when I got sick. When I needed money for school. When I just needed someone to talk to. He loved me unconditionally—the way a father should. But somehow I thought that the biological connection would be stronger. So I kept longing for something more." Logan laughed bitterly. "Something that doesn't exist—at least for me."

Rory nodded.

"Mitchum said some really ugly things to me today."

"What did you say to him?"

"That I quit."

"Your job?"

"And the family. I told him I don't want to be Logan Huntzberger any longer."

"Wow."

Logan managed a weak smile.

"So he didn't take it well then?"

"Of course not. But he still let me walk out of there. Somehow I'm guessing that it's not that easy though."

Rory nodded. "Probably not."

"But I'm not going to worry about that right now. Now my focus is on you. How did your therapy go today?"

"Good. The doctor said I should be getting out of here tomorrow."

"That's wonderful! Are you going back to Stars Hollow?"

"For now. My Mom can fuss over me there."

Mitchum Huntzberger sat in his office fuming following the departure of his son. That ungrateful little….he was not going to let him walk away that easily. Not after all that he had invested in making his son the Huntzberger heir. Mitchum didn't understand why Logan had been so upset with him Mitchum had bestowed expensive gifts on his son, named him his heir, taught him about the family business. What more could Logan want? His relationship with Logan was no better or worse than his relationship with his own father.

Mitchum pressed picked up the phone. "Jeanine? Yes, I want you to call Straub and Francine Hayden and Richard and Emily Gilmore. I want them over at my house within an hour."

Mitchum slammed down the phone. There was no chance that Mitchum would be giving up his son without a fight.

"Mitchum, I demand to know why you dragged me away from an important business meeting!" Richard Gilmore angrily stated.

Straub, Francine, and Emily nodded in agreement.

"We have a situation on our hands," Mitchum replied ignoring the tone of Richard's voice.

"What kind of situation?" Emily asked.

"Following your granddaughter's wild escapades, Logan has suddenly decided that he no longer wants to be a part of this family."

"Are you implying that this is Rory's fault?" Emily replied, icily.

"With all of her drinking and partying, she hasn't exactly been a good influence on my son."

Emily glared at Mitchum, "I believe that it was your daughter that was the bad influence on Rory—encouraging her to drink at DAR events…"

"You cannot be suggesting that it's my fault that Logan has decided to throw his life away?"

"You didn't help things much," Richard shot back.

"Rory's wild upbringing probably didn't help matters much," Straub spoke up.

"You know absolutely nothing about my granddaughter's upbringing. You refused to be a part of her life, remember?" Emily shot back.

"With that wild mother of hers…." Francine started.

"You have no right to speak of my daughter that way! Lorelai did an excellent job of raising Rory by herself with little help from your wayward son!" Richard yelled back.

"My son would have married your daughter!" Straub replied angrily.

"And I'm sure he would have stuck around for a least a few months after Rory was born," Emily replied icily.

"Christopher would have been a good father!" Francine yelled.

"Lorelai never prevented Christopher from spending time with his daughter. He chose not to spend time with his daughter," Emily replied quietly.

"That's impossible," Straub responded.

"Emily is telling the truth, Straub. Do you know how many times Rory's heart was broken because Christopher promised he would show up somewhere and he didn't?" Richard asked.

"So we've determined that Christopher was a deadbeat father…" Mitchum continued on ignoring the icy glare from both Straub and Francine. "Let's get back to the matter at hand. Logan and what we're going to do."

"Mitchum, you had a fight with your son. Isn't this matter really between the two of you?" Richard asked.

"Rory has a lot of influence on Logan. For better for worse. She would be able to convince him to come back."

"Rory doesn't seem to want to listen to us," Francine said quietly.

"Who's fault is that?" Emily shot back.

"Richard and Emily, you're close to Rory. Can you talk some sense into her?"

Richard sighed, "Mitchum, Rory hasn't been happy since you came into her life."

"Richard, being connected to the Huntzbergers can give Rory so many opportunities. This really is the best thing for your granddaughter."

Richard and Emily nodded. "We'll talk to her."

Lorelai had just gotten Rory settled into her old room at the house when her cell phone rang...

"Hello."

"How can you let her throw everything away?"

Lorelai sighed at the sound of her mother's voice.

"I'm sorry who am I speaking to? I think I already told you that I'm satisfied with my long-distance carrier."

"Lorelai, you know perfectly well who this is."

"Yes, mother. So no how is Rory... Is she feeling better... No concern for your granddaughter..."

"Lorelai, this is serious. She's throwing her life away! Do you even know what I'm talking about?"

"You mean Logan telling Mitchum to take a hike? I think that's the smartest thing he's ever done. In fact, I intend to tell him that when I see him next."

"The smartest thing? Do you know what kind of opportunities he's throwing away? His whole life was settled for him."

"Did it ever occur to you that he didn't want that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Logan and Rory were happy before... They had everything they wanted in life."

"Everything? That's impossible. Mitchum can give them the type of life that everyone dreams about."

"Not everyone Mom."

"Lorelai, you just don't understand what this means."

"No, Mom you're the one that doesn't understand. Why do you think I wanted to leave?"

"Lorelai, that has nothing to do with this."

"Actually, it has everything to do with this."

With that, Lorelai, hung up the phone. She sighed. Unfortunately, it seemed that Rory was right, there was no way that Mitchum was going to give up without a fight.