Rory stepped out of her house into the warm summer evening as soon as she saw Logan pull up. She was ready to go, and somehow waiting courteously until her date came knocking just felt old.
"Now, Ace, you're supposed to wait while I come to the door, have you forgotten all the dating etiquette?" Logan said, stepping out of his Lexus.
"Come on, Logan, we're not in college anymore," she dismissed his banter, putting her phone in her purse.
"You look beautiful, Rory," he added after a lengthy pause, taking in her amazing figure and the way her pale skin looked in contrast to her dark hair. She wore a greyish blue off-shoulder light chiffon dress, showing off her long legs in grey heels.
"Logan, thank you. You look good too, I like the sunglasses," she said, referring to his shiny aviators.
"So where are we going?" she asked, taking the passenger's seat.
"It's a bit of a drive, but you'll see," he replied briefly.
They drove to a small inn at the outskirts of New Haven, where a dinner table was set up on the porch overlooking the ocean, just for the two of them. The porch was lit up with string lights hanging from the ceiling. As they devoured their sea-food menu, with a bottle of excellent Sauvignon blanc, they discussed the recent twitter curiosities and the not so recent Pulitzers. This reminded them very much of their lunches in London a few years back, but this time, it was guilt free.
After dinner they snuggled up, a little awkwardly at first, in the porch swing, wrapping themselves in a blanket. Rory pushed off her shoes and pulled her legs up under the blanket while he wrapped his hand around her, gently stroking his fingers against her shoulder. The string lights moved in the wind, and soon the ocean was only heard in the darkness.
"Logan, you know you don't really need to try so hard anymore, you don't need to impress me. I would spend time with you even if we watched TV at home or had a simple coffee somewhere. I've seen your tricks, I am won over," she explained. She knew Logan was the kind of boyfriend to really go all out when it came to dates - gifts, trips and private dinners, he'd bought her a Birkin bag for God's sake. While she'd appreciated it all and did so now too, she felt it was a little unnecessary at this point.
"Rory, I am not doing this to win you over, I too know that I don't need to, but I want to, you deserve it. I want to make it up to you any way I can," he explained.
"Make it up to me?" she inquired, raising her eyebrows.
"That I didn't recognize sooner that you wanted more than Vegas," he sighed, adding "It took me a while to grasp it fully and by then I just felt it was too late," he explained apologetically.
"I asked for Vegas, I assured you that on more than one occasion. In some ways that was all I thought I could ask, and I don't regret it in that sense. It enabled me to spend time with you, despite the unfairness of the situation to other people," she said, knowing it had been an incredibly selfish arrangement, but it had been a terrible year for her, she had taken then what she could to survive.
"Why did you feel like you couldn't ask for more?" he inquired.
"As dr. Burg has now explained to me, it was a result of low self-esteem and a couple of fallacies in my thinking back then," she began. "Apparently I didn't think I could live with the responsibility of changing your life around with the chance that you may later regret it."
"Sounds like a smart man," he stated, adding, "You don't still think like that, do you?"
"The situation is different, but I guess I now recognize at least how it was flawed thinking and I have to trust you to be able to make your own decisions," she explained.
"Now you're the one making the big changes," he stated.
"I guess I am, but this is something I can control," she replied.
"This time I am the one feeling a little responsible for what happened," Logan said apologetically.
"Logan, no, don't go there. I made the decision," she said, adding, "you didn't cause this. Even if you hadn't been around, I'd still felt like something was missing. You just helped me realize it sooner rather than later."
"Can we just from now on agree to really talk, not try to guess what the other one is thinking? I think we've proved that we cannot be trusted alone in our minds for too long," he asked.
"Yes, I believe we can," she agreed.
"So first things first, I just want to make it clear that I am all in, I want us to be together. There are no others, and I don't want there to be," he stated.
"I want that too. But you need to keep in mind that I am not able to just throw Finn out of my life, he is going to be around for a long time, and I cannot say that I don't care for him. I have to take him into consideration whenever it affects Leah," she replied.
"I get it, and you don't have to choose between me and keeping good relations with him, I won't put you in that position," he promised.
"Thanks for that," Rory said, wrapping her arms aound him.
"You know, another thing I've been thinking…," she began a few minutes later. "I think you've aged really well," she added smugly.
"Are you telling me I look old?" he laughed, glad to shift the heavier topics away for the time being.
She traced her finger down from his temple, along his cheek and over his lips, making him quiver slightly. Logan felt the urge to kiss her right then and there, but as he did she pulled back just a little, teasingly, only to return with her own fierce kiss.
"Unlike communication, we've always been good at this," he stated, continuing kissing her.
"I know," she laughed, adding, "Do we have a room here or do we have to drive back to Hartford? Because I am not sure we'll make it that far," before kissing him once more.
Rory woke the next morning abruptly to the ring of her phone.
"Yea," she said, not looking at the caller.
"I'm taking Leah to the ER," Finn said, speaking hastily.
"What? What happened?" Rory asked, jolting up in bed, only then fully realizing she was not at home.
"She was running a small fever last night, but by the morning it was 103.5 and she's really drowsy, not like herself at all. I called the ER and they told me to bring her in," he added.
"I'm on my way," she replied, trying to gather her dress and underwear off the floor.
Logan had woken at the noise and grasped the seriousness of the situation by the tone of her voice.
"We got to go, it's Leah," she said.
40 minutes later they arrived at Hartford General, Rory checking her phone nervously.
"I am coming in with you," Logan stated, letting her know what he aimed giving her an opportunity to tell him not to if she had a problem with it.
She didn't reply and accepted his statement. All she wanted was to see her daughter, whether that followed a comfortable situation for Finn and Logan, she didn't really care.
"Finn!" she called, as soon as she saw him pacing around the waiting room. "Any news?" she asked, still wearing her cocktail dress.
"They just took her to the OR a few minutes ago," he said. "Appendicitis apparently," he explained.
Rory sighed, and took a seat. It was out of her hands for now. But she couldn't help but feel bad for not being there when she had needed her.
Logan nodded to Finn in greeting, adding "I'll go get us some coffee."
"Mom," Rory called, "We're at the hospital, Leah has appendicitis. Can you do me a favor and bring me a change of clothes, I'm a bit overdressed. I might be here a while," she asked.
"Sure, I'll be right over. How is she doing?" Lorelai asked.
"They just took her to surgery," Rory replied, still breathing rapidly.
"Just try to calm down, they got her, they know what they are doing," she said, trying to calm her down.
"Okay, I'll see you soon," she added, hanging up.
"I should've been there," Rory stated, feeling somehow quilty for her incredible night.
"I was and still I couldn't do anything to prevent this," Finn said. "I felt so helpless. Even the doctors said for children this young it is really rare and difficult to diagnose," Finn added. "I'm just glad they caught it in time," he sighed.
As Logan returned with three cups of coffee and a bag of donuts a few minutes later, sitting down next to her, the three continued to wait in silence nervously.