AN: Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I just love getting them!
After a long soak in the bathtub and a very large slice of German chocolate cake, they'd settled under a blanket onto the red velvet chaise couch in front of the smoldering fireplace. Since Rory had taken a nap that afternoon already, she was now wide awake, yet too comfortable to leave Logan's side, who himself had dozed off around 11 PM. She'd found one of her old favorite books from one of the bookshelves, The Time Traveler's Wife, but she struggled to concentrate. She wondered what she ever did to deserve a guy like him. A guy that while imperfect at some of his attempts and choices in life in the past, she being not much better with her indecisiveness and certain insecurities, was now indeed willing to go the extra mile for her. He'd given up a lot to be there with her, he defended her fiercely and took care of her. He had always taken the time to listen, even when he had not been hers. That thought still hurt, but she knew that without that time, they wouldn't have been there today, in their newly formed bubble as husband and wife. She recalled Finn's words from the message before, and indeed, she'd fallen for Logan time and time again, though barely ever really falling out of love. His scent, his touch, his presence were just magnetic to her.
She placed down the book onto the wide armrest, only having gotten through about 40 pages, and nestled closer into Logan's side, resting her cheek against his bare chest. She could hear his heartbeat if she really listened.
"I love you," she whispered.
To her surprise, his hand, which was placed behind her, squeezed her hip tightly, and the corners of his mouth turned upwards at the sound of her voice. "I love you too, Ace," he replied, with his eyes still closed.
"I didn't mean to wake you," she said apologetically.
"Wouldn't want to sleep through our wedding night, would I?" he commented, turning to his side and allowing his fingers trace down her side along her silk robe.
She stared into his, now opened, eyes, placing her upper hand to the back of his neck, running her fingers through the back of his hair.
"I want to thank you Logan," she said.
"For what?" he inquired, surprisedly.
"For a lot of things. For being more impulsive than me, for speaking up when I couldn't, for everything you've had to do to be here with me today, for loving me, for marrying me, for taking care of me, us, for doing all this," she said, gesturing around the room with her eyes.
"Thank YOU for giving me a bunch of second chances," he said. "You have no idea how lucky I feel to have had those," he added. "And I thank you for being you, you're always real with me, and I thank you for giving me this," he said, moving his hand to the underside of her bump and kissed her softly on the lips. The idea that she was carrying his child had transformed the way he looked at her. She was a goddess, and he couldn't imagine anything sexier.
"You know there's been a funny feeling in here all day, like tickling from the inside," she noted, stroking the side of her belly, after their kiss broke.
"Do you think it could be the baby moving?" he asked excitedly, adding, "I think I read somewhere it might feel like fluttering in the beginning."
"Maybe, I'd have to check with Paris or the Doc. You've been reading about this?" she said.
"Hey, I meant what I said. I have little to look up to for parenting skills, I do what I can. Besides, my entire office is filled with scientifically proven information about pretty much anything they teach at Yale, so I am in the perfect position to become book smart at the very least," he argued smilingly.
"Speaking of that, you really should've told me we were doing our own vows," she scolded, recalling the shock in the middle of their wedding.
"Sorry, I sort of thought of that like ten minutes before the ceremony. I figured you wouldn't mind," he said apologetically.
"It's fine, just a little heads up would've been good," Rory said. "I liked what you said though," she added with a smirk, kissing him softly.
What started out gentle and innocent turned quickly into a much more urgent kiss. Their lips brushed each other yearningly, like being swept away by a tidal wave. His fingers traced her neck to her collarbone, down between her breasts, releasing the loosely tied silk robe, that quickly slid off, gently grazing her nipples. She slid her hand under his arm, stroking his muscular back, wanting to feel him as close to her as she could.
It was, however, becoming increasingly difficult to pull each other as close as they wanted to be, the small bump getting caught in the middle. She turned around, somewhat reluctantly, breaking the thirsty kiss and eye contact, yet the way her body molded into his and his hand cupped her breast from behind her moments later, soon made up for it. He let his finger trail her upper arm up to her neck again, brushing her hair aside, kissing her neck. She arched her back, pushing herself against him, there was no doubt that he was already erect. As he continued kissing her neck and shoulders, her eyes now closed in pleasure, his hand moved over her hips and slipped between her thighs. Her back curved even more, wanting to push herself into him even more, but he pulled away slightly, allowing room for his hand to stroke the succulent path. Doing this one handed, proved a little challenging, and leaving her pleading for more, his hand stroked her hips, waist and breast once more, squeezing her nipple slightly. To compensate, her hips rubbed against him even more, turning him wild.
They fit together organically, as if returning home and his entrance was greeted by a loud gasp of relief. The deliberate and tender slides prolonged the build up, igniting a small fire within them, taking it's time to grow, until devouring them entirely. Her body pulsated in reaction, yet he continued at the same pace, guiding her onto the verge once more, releasing a surge of quiver through her body. He was hopelessly inebriated by the jolts her body made as she came, allowing him to peak even without moving a muscle.
"This place is amazing, Logan," Rory said, still dwelling in the cozyness of the house, as she walked down the stairs into the kitchen in the morning, feeling well rested. It had turned colder overnight and every bush and tree outside was covered in an even layer of frost, transforming the backyard into a wonderland. They'd moved to the bedroom only around 3 AM, reluctant to leave the cozy warmth of the couch. He'd let her sleep nearly until noon. Having heard her take a shower, he'd begun preparing her breakfast and now he was pulling a frittata out of the oven.
"Good morning," he greeted, giving her a small kiss.
"Smells good," she noted, her stomach was already growling.
He cut the frittata open and placed a large slice on a plate in front of her, adding "watch out, it's still hot." He continued to pour her some coffee, which she accepted hastily, drinking ⅓-s of it in one sip. "Easy there," he commented, taking his seat next to her and blowing onto his first bite to cool down the dish faster.
"So what are the plans for next week? We should take care of the name change, anything else?" she asked.
"We need to go to the SSA and the Passport Agency, let our employers know. Oh, and we have a meeting with the accountant next Friday," he replied to the point, leaving out the much more uncomfortable parts involving telling those who still didn't know about their marriage.
"Right, that already sounds like a lot," she noted, taking a bite of the frittata.
"Once it's done, it's done," he replied.
"And then I'll tell my parents, and if you want we can call Emily and Christpher together, maybe go tell Luke in person," he suggested, jumping over the first part hastily.
"It's a little unfair that you have to do the announcement to Shira and Mitchum all by yourself," she noted.
"I don't see any reason why I should subject you to what I expect from that direction," Logan explained.
"Yes, but we are in this together, aren't we? I want to be there for you," Rory demanded.
"Fine, I'm not stopping you, just know you don't have to, if you change your mind. But can we please not talk about this until tomorrow or something," he pleaded.
"I'm beginning to feel I should also start buying baby gear," she said after a lengthy pause of eating. "Time is going so fast with everything that's been going on, I have no idea how I am going to get everything done once I sign the book deal," she noted.
"Then we'll do that soon, I can help with the research beforehand," he offered. "And in the end there is always online shopping if we feel we can't make it everywhere in person," he added.
"But should we even be buying stuff until we decide where we'll live once the baby comes? There wouldn't really be much point moving everything across the Atlantic," she hestiated. It seemed the difficult topics were not that easy to avoid after all.
"Rory, I cannot guarantee that I or we won't ever have to go to London, but honestly I don't really see us living there. The baby needs a support system, there wouldn't be any in London, not any that are actually capable of helping in other ways than getting a nanny," he said.
"So you're set on staying here?" she replied, surprisedly. She'd nearly already began to accept the possibility of moving, while not ideal and without concerns but she'd actually considered it.
"I am," he said, "besides, I'm still set to teach the Digital and Data Driven Marketing course. I don't intend to bail on them this short notice," he added.
"But what about the work once your contract ends?" she inquired, still feeling somehow responsible.
"I'll find a way," he said calmly. While there was a certain pull to the high stakes business he used to do, he'd realized that there were more negatives than positives that came with that position, almost beginning to apply Rory's famous pro/con lists in his mind. He liked the adrenaline that came with having to pitch his crazy ideas to the board or negotiate a deal, he liked to win, but the sleepless nights, weeks on end, the media attention picking apart his existence and the toll that lifestyle had already had on his father, was not something he longed for. And while as a reason it might have seemed a little childish at his age, he actually wanted to be around family - Honor's and Rory's.
"So we're staying here," she said it out loud to let it sink in.
"I was actually thinking we might look for a house, unless of course you'd like to live in the Gilmore house?" he added, taking a sip of coffee.
"That place would need a ton of remodelling before I could even imagine living there permanently, it just has Emily Gilmore written all over it," she commented, adding, "plus it's way too big for just the three of us. There's no way I'd manage to maintain the whole thing, even the utilities are crazy in that neighbourhood?"
"True," he noted. "You know this place is for sale," he suggested carefully.
"This?" she said surprisedly. "So this is not just a rental, is it?" she asked a moment later.
"Well I rented it for the weekend, so I guess that makes it rental, but they are looking to sell, when I spoke to the owners," he said. "Don't worry, I haven't made up my mind or talked to them seriously about it or anything, just I think it's pretty nice here. I know it's a little out of town, maybe there's a bit more nature around than what you are used to, but then again it's private, there's just enough room with the 3 bedrooms and a study. It's close to Stars Hollow, 15 minutes or so, Hartford is 30 minutes, New Haven 30 minutes," he noted, having done his homework. Rory really hadn't paid my attention during their ride there last night, having been texting with Lorelai about her plans with the Inn.
"Hmm.. I'd have to think about it," she said, "How much is it?" she asked.
"Less than the Gilmore house," he noted cryptically.
AN: something is up with this site and for some reason new chapters are not showing up. makes me so sad. miss your comments already ;( The chapters are uploaded and I can see them in the preview but the links only worked for like a few minutes, then suddenly not shown on story sites. I have written to support and hopefully it will be fixed soon. It seems to be working in the android app, so I suggest you try that out.