Chapter Twenty Two
Rory stood in her kitchen awkwardly looking at Jess. The realisation had washed over her only moments before and now she wasn't sure what the next step was. It made sense. Jess seemed to be acting a little irrationally. He was angry at her because she had returned to dating Logan, which was something that she could only reconcile if Jess had wanted to date her instead. And, once Rory knew this fact, she wasn't sure how to act normal.
"Would you – would you like some tea?" she finally asked. Maybe, if she could busy herself with something productive, she could process this in a timely manner and not just stand there staring at him.
"Sure," Jess said. He didn't sound like he wanted it, but like he too, wanted a moment alone. Rory nodded and hurried off to the kitchen. She wasn't really alone. Her apartment wasn't all that large and the kitchen, living room, and dining room were essentially the same. However, the small amount of space between them seemed to be enough and then tension that had been building between them dissipated.
Rory set to boiling water and selecting the tea she would serve. She figured, as she did so, the best thing to do for the next few moments at least, would be to focus on the task at hand. Once they planned the bachelor/ bachelorette parties, Jess could leave and Rory could really figure out what she was going to do with the fact that she was pretty sure that Jess liked her.
"So, we should probably go with something lowkey for the party. We could do a fun movie at the black, white, and read movie theatre. Maybe go to Casey's for some drinks. Something like that?" Rory asked as she plunged the tea bags into the cups of boiling water.
"That sounds pretty good actually. Something that they would both like and not compromising too much," Jess responded.
"Okay, well, I'll look and see what's playing and we can go from there," Rory responded. She handed Jess the cup, though now that they'd essentially finished their planning, she wished she hadn't. Now they would be forced to sit, awkwardly in each other's company while Jess finished his tea.
"You know what. I should get going. I have some work that I need to get done," Jess spoke, turning down Rory's proffered drink. He stood, grabbed his jacket and, without needing Rory to do anything, left the apartment.
As the door clicked shut, Ricky emerged from his bedroom. "Oh, great, tea!" he explained, grabbing the mug of tea that Rory still held in her hand.
After her strange run in with Jess, Rory didn't see him again. It wasn't strange; Rory had gone years only seeing Jess on the rare occasion that they were both in Stars Hallow at the same time. In fact, the amount of run-ins they'd had since October of the year before was a little odd. Now, this not seeing Jess thing was normal, but it felt strange because of what had happened with Jess. It was almost like, with the realisation, Rory was expecting to see Jess around more. Like her knowing would attract him to her more or something. So, it was a little strange that she wasn't seeing him.
The person she was seeing a lot of was Logan. The beginning of February brought about the preliminary stages of her legal issues. Paris had been emailing her incessantly, asking questions about what she knew, decisions she'd made, and arguments they could make. Rory's first appearance in court wouldn't be until after Valentine's day, so she could put off her worrying about that for a little while longer.
However, Paris and Rory did have meetings with Logan and his lawyer. They were trying to iron out a deal before they actually had to go to court. Rory was sure it was a lawyer decision because when Logan was sitting across the table from her in his lawyer's office, it seemed as though he wanted nothing more than to hurt her. Physically. Mentally. Rory was sure Logan didn't care how.
"My client is willing to accept partial custody, with primary custody residing with her," Paris said. Logan's lawyer, a fit, beautiful woman with immaculately applied makeup, leaned over to her client and whispered something in his ear. Logan whispered something in return and his lawyer turned back to face Paris.
"We're glad that you're willing to compromise, but my client wants full custody, nothing less. Your client kept the existence of his son from him for a decade. She has pulled him out of school countless times over the last month alone for no reason other than she was leaving town. That isn't painting an image of a very responsible mother," Logan's lawyer spoke, her tone and visage haughty. Rory clenched her fists tight under the table. She wanted to lash out at the pretentious woman, to wipe the smirk off her face but, seeing as she'd just been discussing things that made Rory seem unstable, she was pretty sure that such a reaction would only hurt her in the long run.
"That's cute. You don't even have proof that the boy is your clients son. You're basically asking the courts to abduct my client's son at this point. We were hoping for some good faith negotiating, giving some concessions because my client is only concerned about what is best for her son, but if you are going to dig in, we'll see you in court. " Paris began collecting her papers and then stood to leave. A little unsure of what was happening, Rory followed suit.
"And if you're going to try and paint my client as unstable, I have several witnesses, plus personal knowledge of just how unstable your client is," Paris added as she and Rory left the room. They walked down the hall to the elevator bank, Rory managing to keep herself composed the entire time. Then, when the elevator doors closed behind them and Rory was alone with Paris, she rounded on her friend.
"Logan is Ricky's father, Paris. The DNA will come back and it will show that. He isn't trying to abduct my son because it's his son too! He's going to take Ricky from me. I barely even want to share custody and he's definitely going to get that. Plus, the Huntzbergers are a powerful family. They could make things up, bring up my arrest, anything to make me look like an unfit mother!" Rory was close to hyperventilating by the time she was finished. The entire time, Paris stood next to Rory, her face expressionless.
"Are you done?" she asked. Rory took a few calming breaths, or at least tried to, but didn't respond to Paris' slightly condescending question. "I know that Logan is Ricky's father. You told me that and I believe you. It's a negotiating tactic; to remind them of how little legal standing we have right now. The DNA may come in before trial, but it also might not and if we can get all of this dealt with before it is scientifically determined that Logan is Ricky's father, that's good for us.
"As for him smearing your name, his lawyer will advise him to be careful of making accusations. Courts tend to side with mothers, and like giving joint custody way more than awarding one parent sole custody. You would have to be a truly terrible mother, which you so obviously are not, for the court to give Ricky to Logan. You not telling Logan about Ricky for ten years is not the mark of an unstable parent. Your arrest was over ten years ago, and before you were a mother, so it shouldn't have too much weight. And if Logan tries to make things up, it could very easily backfire on him and paint him in a bad light.
"Don't worry. I handle accused murders and other serious criminals on a daily basis. A little custody case in family court is small beans. You will not lose your son. I'm far too good for that." The elevator doors slide open to punctuate Paris' statement and the blonde woman stepped out into the lobby of the office building confidently. Rory followed, but much less assuredly. Paris was very convincing but a not-insignificant part of Rory was irrationally worried about losing her son and no amount of logic could assuage her feelings.
In an attempt to put her court issues out of her mind, Rory threw herself into planning her mother's wedding. Most of the major details were already established. The big day was only a few months away and they'd found dresses, for Lorelai and Rory, picked a venue, settled on a theme, nailed down the menu with Sookie, sent out save the dates and invitations, and even decided on what Lorelai and Luke's signature drink would be, an espresso martini. Now it was mostly just finicky details, like decorations of the ceremony and the reception, the seating plan, and the bouquets. But mostly, what Rory's role was at that moment was as referee between her mother and her grandmother.
It seemed that, because Emily had been fairly acquiescent during the planning of the major aspects of the wedding. She'd offered muted opinions on Lorelai's dress, though she'd definitely welled up when they got to the final one. She'd been silent in the decision to have the wedding in the town square with the reception at the Dragon Fly. She even stayed out completely of discussions of the menu. Now however, with the finer details, it seemed like Emily believed that she should have a greater say. It was like she'd traded them off. Be agreeable during the large things and be victorious in the small details. Emily was coming in strong on what she thought the finer points of the wedding should be.
"Oh no. You do not want baby's breath. Everyone uses that in their bouquets. You should definitely go for something more unique. Maybe some bluebells and lavender," Emily commented, snatching the flowers out of her daughter's hand and ushering a rather stunned Lorelai over to the other section of the flower market.
"Baby's breath is popular grandma. There's nothing wrong with having popular flowers in a bouquet," Rory replied. She wasn't sure how set her mother had been on her flower choice, but she figured that if she didn't step in Emily would continue steamrolling the outing. She'd done essentially the same thing with the dishes and place settings' that Lorelai had planned to use.
"Lorelai has never been about the popular choice. She's always stubbornly ploughed her own path. Now, aren't these so much better?" Emily presented a lovely bouquet of blue and purple flowers. They matched Lorelai's colour scheme perfectly and actually were quite stunning. Rory also couldn't help but feel like there was some sort of backhanded compliment in her grandmothers words.
"They're lovely mom," Lorelai responded, caving into Emily's wishes. As Rory watched the two other women move throughout the flowers adding finishing touches she couldn't help but hope that her negotiations with Logan would go better than her negotiations with her grandmother were currently progressing.
