A/N: Hi readership! It's here. I truly hope this satisfies. Thank you for your patience. Note to self, never post a major cliff hanger before you completed the next part. This was especially hard to write, so I hope it did some justice. Sometimes the dialogue doesn't add up, so it takes time. I want as usual to thank you all for the reviews. My personal record. I'm glad and humbled to know you are so invested in the characters to give quality reviews. Even if it means Ben and Logan are certainly in the readership's doghouse... To be honest, I was slightly rattled at the reaction for the previous chapter.
Each time I wonder if I should point out stuff or clarify/justify character's logic or action. When posting comes, I always decides against it. You might want to refresh your memory on Chapter 3. (*EDIT*: I meant chapter 4)
June 2006
London
Logan liked to 'play pretend.' He was convinced faith, luck, a pandemic, zombie attack, or a higher power will interfere - and London wouldn't happen. Hope is a powerful tool of deception.
Chelsea said he was burying his head in the sand.
"London is temporary," He answered, "Have a drink."
Chelsea didn't know that when he was supposedly working on the final project for his business strategy class, he was literally building a real company. Logan liked to keep things separated. It's a reliable defense mechanism.
What Mitchum didn't know didn't hurt him. Him being Logan.
They didn't have a name for it yet, but the business plan was shaping together; it looked promising. Logan was damn excited. Ben was starting to believe it might work.
Not even Logan's charm could win over their potential investor. He met them once, twice, looked at the business plan, and decisively called their idea – Logan's baby project - 'un-baked.' A premature investment.
The plan fell through like a house of cards. Ben said whatever will be, will be. They'll try again.
Then, at graduation, the reality of the dynastic plan hit. Logan, fresh out of college, was shipped to London faster than he could say 'Eisenhower.'
It was the end of the world. Logan was furiously mad.
For the first time in his life, Logan didn't know where he and Chelsea are going. She changed her tune about following him to London, said she couldn't stand the rain. Instead, she kept talking about endless opportunities waiting for grab in the place where it never rains: California.
"Average rainfall in California is about 16 inches of rain a year." He argued back on the other side of the phone. He had looked it up.
Logan didn't understand. She could be an interior designer anywhere. She has a blank canvas apartment and executive office at her disposal to transform.
People in London always talked about the weather. Too. She would fit just fine.
"This isn't just about the weather, Logan."
"What's your next argument?"
Mitchum reduced Logan to a branch in the family tree. The bird meant to sing on it was the migrating kind. She didn't want what he had to offer.
Xx
Logan loved and hated London. It was a golden cage.
The moment Finn, Colin and Chelsea crushed the office, waving a bunch of festival tickets, he was out the door. Logan needed not to be asked twice to embark on a wild ride of freedom.
He ignored his father's calls until his phone died, never bothering to charge it.
Logan and Chelsea made out in the backseat the whole way to the Isle of Wright. They only broke for air once, quickly disappearing into a washroom, when they stopped for gas.
The rest is a flashes of moments. Finn and his heart were singing Cher in the backseat drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar. Colin's earplugs. Night sky stretching as far as he could see. Music. Moon. Sea. Cheap Booze. Jeans. Clumsy lovemaking in a tent.
Playing pretend with Chelsea was his favorite pass time. She tasted like freedom.
She made him feel like the one. The Stereophonic's song stuck in the car's CD player and Logan's mind. Colin complained the singer sings like a chain-sew.
It only made Finn turn the volume up, louder.
The next time Logan and Chelsea stopped for air, was when Finn and Colin decided to participate in the Gloucestershire Cheese-Rolling festival.
Xx
Laying naked with his girl on the kitchen tiles, in a sterile London apartment, both washed over with satisfaction still riding out the wonders of ecstasy. It was the end of their wild ride.
He doesn't know where Finn and Colin disappeared, and he doesn't care. He wants to be attached to her side forever.
"I want to fall in love like that every day. Over and over again." Chelsea says breathlessly. She supported herself on her elbow, her head prompt on her hand.
He can't help but grin.
"Let's do it, Logan."
Her blue eyes are shiny, filled with something he can't pinpoint, maybe spank.
"Let's do what?" he asks, confused. They just did it. He is too spent to move.
"Let's get married."
Mitchum Huntzberger always said that life is about making the most of everything you're handed. Just make sure you are bulletproof.
Now, this is handed to him – all her ever wanted: Freedom, Chelsea, a middle figure to his father.
Who is he to say no? He was being rescued.
Logan's face broke into the silly-est smile, "Alright. I'll call my lawyer."
"This is going to be so great! Give us a kiss!" She capped his face, her lips smacking his excitedly. Then she quickly pulled away, bouncing up happily in search of her phone, "I'm gonna call the real estate agent!"
Xx
Mitchum blew a fuse when his son finally called him from his new home in California. He never enjoyed sticking it to his father more.
"I hope you signed a prenup, Logan." He said before the call clicked off.
Logan didn't know then, that Chelsea will never be a branch on the Huntzberger's family tree. Family names came with obligations – no one knew it better than Logan. He didn't care when she changed her maiden name from Rosen to Rose.
Ben fainted when Logan showed him the seven zero's on Aaron Rosen's check.
A wedding gift. A father's gift.
Chelsea hasn't spoken to him for weeks once they registered the company in Seattle.
~w~
April 2013
Seattle
Colin was beginning to think the surrogacy idea- as insane as it was - was a better idea. Even consuming Logan's finest scotch couldn't convince him otherwise.
"Do you need a time machine?"
The blue-eyed woman reviewing the contract looked like she kept waiting for someone to pop up and shout: April Fool's day! Colin couldn't blame her - he wished it himself. Especially once Logan left him with the warning to 'be nice.'
Logan went over to Ben's. Colin could imagine what the tall man's reaction will be - A leaf out of Mitchum Huntzberger's book. Somehow, Colin knew Logan wouldn't dare to tell Ben, yet.
"Do you think IKEA makes them?" Her memorizing blue eyes snarked at the lawyer's face.
Colin looked amused. Logan was a sucker for blues eyes and a quick come back.
"It's a pretty standard custody agreement if you skip the whole child conception circumstances." He observed her facial expression, "No need to worry, Logan likes to debate; I'm sure he'll go the rounds with you if you have any reservations."
Rory Gilmore shoots him a look of pure disdain at his crudeness. She ran her hand through her hair.
This was disorienting.
"But he'll want it in writing because that's his insurance policy to not to get fucked over. It's was drilled down to him since birth; it came through from him once. He won't give that up. It's best for both of you."
Rory felt like she fell into the rabbit hole.
Colin stood up and returned with two glasses and an expensive-looking bottle and a can of Coca-Cola.
"The only thing he won't budge on is the Huntzberger name. So don't waste your breath. While it isn't the best name to be born to, it has certain perks."
He poured her a healthy dose.
"Macallan 25, Cherry oak. Drink up." She looked like she needed it.
"That's disgusting." She watched the lawyer mix her glass with the fuzzy liquid.
"Coca-Cola will dull the taste. I'm surprised he has it lying around. He's laying off the caffeine."
Rory knew why he had the soda. She was the one drinking it.
"Go on. Logan will be extra mad to know you didn't drink this very rare whiskey neat." Colin smiled, trying to ease the tension. Spinning the Amber liquor. "How well do you know Logan?"
Good question. Rory is starting to think that maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought.
One sip wouldn't hurt. "Is this a test?"
"No, just a question. I've reviewed that thing fourteen times. I get Logan's motivation. But, for the life of me, I just can't figure out what would make you want to sign this coo-coo contract."
The girl looked like she was second-guessing herself.
"You're Logan's friend."
"Look, I promise nothing you will say will leave the room—attorney-client confidentiality."
"You're Logan's lawyer."
"Trust me; As Logan's friend - nothing will make me happier than to keep information from him. He can taste his own medicine for once. Whether I choose to validate Logan's obscene legal documents– the jury is still out on that issue."
Colin indulged himself with another small sip of the aged whiskey. He studied her carefully.
"We can go over the legal jargon. I'll explain it. But I think you can guess my intuition."
"What kind of law do you practice?" She didn't trust him. Understandable.
"My father believes your profession should be what you do best. He is best at getting divorced. So, the family business and I, as his son and successor - practice family law."
"My dad's a lawyer too. I have no idea what kind of law he practices." Rory Gilmore plays with her drink, "We're not close. His dad was Strub Hayden."
"The judge." Colin assesses her, reflectively, "You'll fit brilliantly in our group of impaired folk with daddy's issues."
"Sounds like a fun group," Rory says sarcastically.
"We try." Colin summed leaning back in his chair; he might as well get to know the girl, "How was Morocco?"
"How do you know I was in Morocco?" She finds his serial questioning abnormal.
"Your name comes up in different conversations. I connect the dots." Colin was starting to see why Ben was worried, "Ben has legitimate reasons to get anxious when Logan, women, and Current mix. Our boy was pretty upset."
"One cannot get upset if one insists he doesn't want to date one, and yet decides to break up with one quoting Casablanca at the airport." Rory crossed her arms across her chest, "I didn't even know it was his birthday! He never breathed a word about it. Birthdays are usually a big deal; you'd imagine someone will say something."
"Obviously, Logan finds birthdays overwhelming. Don't be so hard on yourself; Logan likes to leave blanks to control the narrative. You weren't to know." Colin borderlines on dismissive, "He went movie-geek on you?"
The layer wore an obnoxiously amused expression on once again.
"Yes. AND Phil Collins." She says irritated. "What?"
Oh, Logan.
"He does that when he's nervous. You got under his skin." His face softens. "Look, Rory; I believe he was trying to do the right thing by all parties involved. Logan dug himself into a hole with you, and the only exit strategy he has is 'abort.' Let's leave this at that."
She goes to speak, but the Colin cuts her off.
"For what's it worth, I don't think he expected this to affect him as much as it did. He thought he had it figured it out, and he was under-prepared for it to backfire at him. You should take the rest up with him. That's not what I'm here for."
"Logan is not talking to me."
"It's what Logan does when he doesn't get his way. He shuts down, he thrashes about, lashes out, but in the end, he always bends. He'll come around."
Rory looked at him doubtfully. "Logan never bends."
"From what I hear from Ben, Logan bends quite a lot of rules for you. And if Logan is willing to risk clashing with Ben then…" The lawyer wiggled his head, thoughtfully, "It takes something extreme, or someone extraordinary to make Logan reconsider anything."
"Colin, can you stop talking in riddles?"
"What I'm trying to understand is- whether this is purely a business arrangement." Colin gestured at the contract papers calmly, "Or the wording are intentionally aloof, and Logan is trying to find a loophole out of him being your boss. Because the contract doesn't specify any engagement other than parenting purposes."
"You're the lawyer and his friend. You tell me." Rory Gilmore gulped a large amount of the hard liquor shakily.
"I wouldn't be asking if I knew. Parenting doesn't imply romantically involved."
Rory parched her lips. She noticed that too.
"Did Logan made you do this?" Colin asked, "I have to ask because this whole thing holds no water if he asked. We can't ignore the fact that he's your boss, and asking a subordinate to do something like this is an abuse of power."
"No." She says firmly.
"Did you ever discussed having a baby?" Colin question next, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Bizarrely, yes. Apparently. According to Logan." The way her voice is unsure tickles the attorney's bone. "I didn't think so at the time."
He can't help by be surprised.
As far as he knew, Logan wasn't looking for someone to share his baby. He was flying solo.
"Let me get this straight; something doesn't add up. Please, don't get me wrong, but I was under the impression it was purely randoms hooks up. Logan is usually very clear on the terms of engagement. If he wants something, he asks bluntly."
"Logan keeps changing the rules." Her frustration shows, "I don't understand how he can go so fast from zero to a hundred. He wanted to keep it casual. It didn't work for me, so I put a stop to it because let me tell you – your friend - is a real jerk. What difference does it make if we sleep together in Hartford or Seattle? He's still my boss in when we do it in New England."
Colin blinks at her silently. It looked like the girl needed to vent. Finn was so much better at this.
"When we hooked up again over Christmas, he picked up a fight about whether he can or can not be my baby daddy. I thought he was just argumentative because I said he couldn't." She rubs her temples and closed her eyes. "It was the worst timing ever."
Colin bit his lip. There was nothing in the world Logan hated more than people telling him he can't do something. Colin would bet three times his trust fund that this whole mess started because Ben, rightfully, warned Logan off.
"Was that a hypothetical argument?" Colin tried to swallow his shock at her speech. How many layers does this mess entail?
"Damn straight; it was hypothetical! He knew there was no baby. That's what started this whole conversation in the first place." Rory's temper strikes.
Logan hated missed opportunities too. Colin was confused, but let it go.
"But other than that, did you ever discuss it again? Did you make any plans to have one together? Did he, at any point, said anything to indicate he wanted to have a baby with you? did he ask you directly?"
"Well, no. Unless you count pointing out at a man jogging with a stroller during an argument about how we want different things - and saying he wanted 'that.'"
"With you?"
Rory Gilmore looked a little green.
"Logan didn't want to do anything with me until I…, and then he said he'd call his lawyer. Come in you."
Colin McCrea just realized another important thing.
Logan hasn't called him to bail him out. Logan called Colin to talk Rory out.
Coward.
"Logan is pretty keen on starting a family. Shockingly. For a while, I was surprised too. Although, based on his activities in New York, I was under the impression he intended to fly solo. Logan is usually a man with a plan. I guess something changed."
"I don't follow."
Colin wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, but someone had to do it: He was going to rat Logan out.
"Has he ever told you what he does in New York?"
She shrugs, "He calls its Huntzberger obligations. I'm guessing it's something to do with the family business. And he told me he visits Congressman Rosen at the hospital. But all in all, Logan doesn't share with the class."
"To me, it sounds like he's talking to you more than you think." Colin tried to give her an assuring smile.
He was starting to see why Ben was wary. This girl had the potential to make Logan go down blazing. If she hadn't already. And she didn't even realize it.
Rory huffed in disagreement, reaching again for the mixed drink. "He should try to learn English then."
"Did he tell you anything else?"
"Like what?"
"Logan never mentioned his plastic-cup-New-York style baby plans?"
"What plastic-cup-New-York-style baby?" Rory's voice sounded strangely apathetic. Like she has misheard him.
Colin's face clammed up. She didn't know. Classic Logan.
"Logan was conceiving a baby with a surrogate. He put the whole Manhattan project on hold in February. When he lost the baby, he has eight frozen embryos on stand-by."
Rory Gilmore looks like someone just bashed her head with a pair of cymbals.
Colin McCrea wished he hadn't said anything at all, because two things happened that moment:
Rory Gilmore threw up the Macallan 25 all over his shoes.
He became the Finn to what Ben called Logan's second Chelsea.
~w~
"Feeling better?" Colin asks. He sits on the coffee table, shoe less, his tie loosened, the top buttons of his shirt undone rubbing circles on his temples.
The last couple of hours were baffling. Poor girl, it was a lot to take in. At least she didn't cry. Colin was helpless when girls cry.
Rory nodded chewing on an energy bar he found in one of the cabinets.
Colin sighed and moved to her side on the couch. He felt as if the girl deserved more hindsight.
"Ben is so much better at explaining this than I am."
"Explaining what?"
"Explaining Logan." The lawyer, turning the contract over to find a blank page, "Give me that pen."
Next, he draws a cloud of five dots on the paper. Each dot then is given a name. Colin continues to connect the dots in a smooth pen's swift inaudibly. New York - New England – London – California – Seattle – and back to New York.
The five locations stare back at her from the paper. When connected in sequence, the dots makes a star shape.
Intriguing.
"Ben has this theory that Logan sets on keeping the different parts of his life separate. He says it's a defense mechanism. Now, it's all too Sci-Fi theory for my taste. But Ben knows Logan best after..." Colin scratches his head uncomfortably, never completing the sentence, "According to Ben, the ricochets are flying everywhere; because the worlds are starting to collide. And based on your venting rant from before - he might have a point."
A star.
"What do you mean?"
"You fit in Hartford." Colin colors the small triangle leg of New England. Then continues to blacken Seattle's leg. "You fit in what he built in Seattle. Your departure, no matter how unintentional, had unfortunate timing, and Logan is flash-backing. Finn thinks you shuffled the cards."
He circles California, but he leaves it unpainted and provides no explanation.
"The New York baby-drama followed. And now, you're willing to do this – make his Manhattan project come true."
The blue-eyed woman looked dazed when he colored the New York part as well, "Logan must be going fruit-loop. You are not seriously considering it, are you?"
She keeps silent—a fucking star. "What's London stands for?"
"I can't say." Colin says sincerely, "I don't know."
Both brunettes are silent for a moment.
"I'd never sign this if I were you. The idea of having a kid freaks me out in general. But, this is all backward." Colin admits.
Rory looked back at the paper. A star. The universe is trying to tell her something. It's a sign.
"That." She points at the star Colin draw, "That's a sign."
"What sign?" Logan's preppy friend looks at her concerned, his tone cautious.
"That this is it. This is what I'm supposed to do."
"You don't make a life-altering decision based on a sketch." Colin found himself scolding the girl.
He knew that stubborn glint in her eyes. He seen it so many times before, under different circumstances, on another set blue of eyes.
"I make my life-altering decisions based on pro-con lists."
Chelsea always had a quick comeback too. Not quite as balanced, but still.
Colin feels defeated, "Just make sure you have a good lawyer to take a look at this. Protect your interests."
~w~
"You're not sleeping in here," Ben said as Logan closed the door behind him mid-day and flopped down on the couch in his business partner's office.
"Just resting my eyes." Logan was already sprawled out with his arm over his eyes. "Twenty minutes, and I'm good as new."
"You have your own couch now," Ben said firmly.
"This one is more comfortable. It's broken in." Logan kicked off his shoes, revealing the Crocodiles on his socks. The more stressed out he is, the more childish the socks get.
Ben hummed skeptically.
"I can't sleep on that couch," Logan mumbled, annoyed, "She did that on purpose. So I wouldn't sleep in the office."
"How is Chelsea?" Ben tried to keep his voice flat, but resentment still crept in. He was not glad to have her back in the mix of things. The Chelsea effect drove Logan to make irrational decisions: Asking Mitchum to buy Current, for one.
"Happy and gay." Came Logan's short reply. "Don't you ever leave that chair?"
"Not all of us have ADHD," Ben replied calmly, "Are you talking again?"
"No, we're not talking. We don't talk."
Ben hummed in understanding. "Any other blue-eyed girls you aren't talking to?"
"Don't start," Logan warned.
"You want to feel sorry for yourself, don't you?"
Logan scowled at Ben. He was intentionally preventing him from falling asleep.
"Things didn't go exactly the way you wanted, and all you can think of it your feelings. One woman has hurt you, and you take revenge on the whole world. You're a coward."
"Casablanca, huh?" Logan said dryly, not slightly amused.
"I heard that's in fashion these days."
"Since when you are on 'team Rory'? I heard someone threatened her with Mitchum Huntzberger." Logan countered unhappily. "The man has bionic ability to hear his name whispered across the continent. Don't throw it around in vain."
"I'm in your corner here, Logan." Ben reminded him, "What I'm trying to do is prevent a repeat performance of a Chelsea catastrophe. Or worse. 3.7 million dollars are laying on the line. I can get us to deliver, but I need you on your A-game too. Preferably in Seattle. Not in New York. Not in London."
"I am at the top of my game!" Logan's crocodile covered feet now paced agitated, "And she's not Chelsea."
"As long as you remember that."
"As long as you do too!" Logan's Crocodile socks left Ben's office demonstratively, only to come back a second later to collect his shoes. "Socks without shoes is ridiculous."
~w~
"Hey." Rory Gilmore is standing at the other side of his door.
"Hi."
"Can I come in?" He lets her in the apartment.
He thought the contract would scare her off. Colin clammed up and didn't give any indication otherwise.
It was annoying.
The days passed, and he heard nothing from the brunette beauty. Logan didn't like to admit it, but he kind of missed having her larking around. If it had lasted a few more days, he would have sought her out himself.
"I'll do it." She announced her hands holding tightly on to the camera.
"I beg your pardon?" He asks, dumbfounds.
He knew legal agreements wasn't her intention when she showed up that very night. Having a baby wasn't on Rory's mind; it didn't take a genius to tell. Logan wasn't stupid, plus, he knew her well enough.
He doesn't know what his reaction would have been if she hadn't caught him in the moment the sleeping pills started to kick in. He'd like to believe he'd act differently. But he doubted it.
It was the words she said, and the way she said it.
"On one condition."
Rory figured what worked on her first L would surely work on her other L. The more she thought about it, they weren't that different her mom and Logan. If he wanted a business deal, then a business deal it is. This is a game of give-and-take. They were playing this by her rules this time.
As her grandfather said; She's Rory. What she tackles, she conquers.
"Since you want me reproductively involved in your life, I want to be actively involved in your life."
"Reproductively is not a word." Logan is an argumentative smart ass. Playing scrabble with him would be a nightmare. "What do you mean?"
"I want a weekly dinner." She hears Emily Gilmore speaking from her throat.
"What?"
"Monday nights. You and I will have dinner. And if you are in New York, then you owe me compensation dinner for every dinner you miss."
"What kind of dinner?" He questions, "Public dinner? Private dinner? A five-course dinner? Black-tie dinner? Grab-on-the-go dinner? Dinner-and-movie Dinner? Just trying to understand the scope of my commitment. If I happen to agree."
"It's dinner. You eat food." She doesn't appreciate his query of the specifics. She hadn't thought about it. She was glad he didn't ask what kind of compensation. She didn't have an answer to that one either.
She was winging it.
He looks like he is considering it, so she pushes her luck and throws another in the mix; "And – "
"You said one condition."
So close. Rory quickly recuperated, "It's a two-part condition. You let me take your picture. Any time, any place, anyway I want."
"No pictures."
"No pictures, no deal - no baby." She challenges him. "Take it or leave it. I'll e-mail you the version with my lawyer's alternation."
"Rory, wait. We should talk about this."
"I don't have time to talk now. I just wanted to let you know." She brushed him off. "I have an appointment I can't be late to."
Xx
A big enveloped with her name on it sits on her desk a few days later. Rory grabbed it and rushed to the washroom. Once locked inside the accessible stall, she stares at the letters of her name written in his penmanship.
Logan tends to use only capital letters.
She tears the top because he sealed it and slides the contract out of the white envelope. Logan used an orange marker to indicate the changes her attorney suggested. Her conditions highlighted in a blue marker pen.
Her dad referred her to a colleague to make the alternation. She said she was asking for a friend. Chris was so eager to please and thrilled of the opportunity to get back into her good books, he didn't question.
Logan's initials appear at the bottom of each page. His full name signed on the final page.
The post-it pasted beneath reads: SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED, I'M YOURS.
Stevie Wonder.
Was he nervous?
Rory felt her stomach churn. It was the first time she threw up in that stall; it wasn't the last.