Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

Chapter Twenty Seven

"Dad feels sick," Eli stated simply as he walked in the front door with his three younger brothers behind him and his father pulling luggage out of the trunk.

"Are you sure he didn't just say he was sick of you guys?" Rory joked as she hugged her oldest and turned her attention to the three younger boys, "He sent me a text and said you were a handful on the flight?"

"Luca wouldn't share his iPad." Christopher crossed his arms after Rory hugged him.

"Eli was being a butt head." James countered.

Rory raised her eyebrow at all four children, "I think we all know that is not how you are supposed to behave when you are anywhere, much less when you are travelling. All of you go wash your hands, go to your rooms and get changed. Logan will be home with dinner in a few minutes."

"What are we having?" Eli asked, "Grandma has been giving us leftovers for days."

"Grandma makes delicious meals, so I'm sure they were great leftovers," Rory countered, "and Logan is getting Indian food."

"Yes!" Eli grinned while Luca, James and Christopher mumbled.

"I made sure he got you butter chicken, you like that, just calm down. Go upstairs, I am going to help your Dad," Rory pointed to the stairs and watched as all four slowly meandered up the stairs. "You feeling ok?" Rory asked as she grabbed a bag from Perry.

"Now that we're here I feel a lot better," Perry laughed. "I'm glad I got to have some one on one time with them. Did you look at the house?"

"The one in Canada?" Rory nodded. He had sent her the listing and his agent had confirmed that it was completely doable, Rory had to admit, she liked the idea of them in a nicer area than what he had said about his condo in Buffalo. "It looked nice, I mean…they'll spend some time there in the summer, but are you still thinking you will come to them a lot?"

"If that isn't too weird for you and Logan," Perry shrugged as he closed the trunk and brought the last of the bags into the foyer. "Me hanging around…it probably would've been simpler in Manhattan because I could've just gotten a place. No offence but I don't really plan to buy something in Stars Hollow."

"The drawings right now have an apartment above the garage, and a pool house, so there is room, some guest rooms in the basement…you could be over and it wouldn't be like we were all sharing a wall or a bed or something. I want you to feel comfortable, wherever the boys are…"

"What about this place," Perry looked around at the house that Rory had so desperately wanted when they moved to California. He hadn't loved it as much as she had, but he had grown to enjoy spending time there since the split, "are you guys going to sell it?"

Rory crossed her arms in front of her body, there were a lot of memories in that house. Perry had lived in the pool house, the first few times they had stumbled back into bed together while they were separated was in that house, he had broken her heart in that house, but she still loved it in a lot of ways. It was where she was truly on her own after he left and before she found herself with Logan, her boys loved it. "I think so," Rory told him quietly, "there are a lot of amazing memories here, but also some not so amazing ones. Logan has to keep his place in Palo Alto for work and LHM, so we'll have a home base in California, but I don't see anything keeping us here. Hugo is based out of San Francisco, so for work if I happened to need to be in state, I would just stay in Palo Alto."

"So this is going to be an end of an era soon?" Perry smiled. "When do you think your house will be ready?"

Rory thought back to the conversations they had with the architect and designer, "well it is a pretty big build, so I'm not sure…the builder seems to think that money will talk and get it done, but Taylor will probably be a problem in town, the drawings have been approved, and the structural drawings are good…so they will probably start digging as soon as the ground has starts to thaw. I think we will probably stay here until the end of the school year, maybe the summer in Palo Alto while we sell this and then hopefully be in Stars Hollow for the beginning of the school year? If you're buying that place in Niagara, maybe the boys can spend July with you?"

"That would be good. Am I still good to stay in the pool house tonight?"

"Of course," Rory told him. "Logan is just going to get dinner and then we can eat. How was being home? Your friends? How is James? I must admit…I miss him, he always kept you in line."

"He still does. Gives me shit all the time."

"What for now?"

"Just the mess I made of everything."

"Perry, don't dwell on it. We're good, we're friends…don't worry about what went wrong and when, or how…"

"I'm going to go get changed, I feel gross from the flight."

"I'll send one of the kids when dinner gets here." Rory nodded. She hated to admit that she was looking forward to some normalcy. Perry leaving meant she could just go about her regular life, and that is what she wanted to do. Get the kids to and from school, see Logan on weekends…not have to manage whatever existential crisis Perry was going through. Three more weeks and she and Logan would be heading away for five days. She wasn't sure where they would be going, but she was hoping it would be London. When she had spent time with Logan in London while she was still at Yale, it had been perfect. "Boys, come on!" Rory could hear shouting coming from upstairs as she saw Logan walk in the front door with bags of food, "kitchen," she told him before she made her way up the stairs, warning them to stop before she got there. By the time she entered Luca's room, Eli was standing off to the side while his three brothers were in a dog pile of sorts. "Enough! What is going on?" Rory put her hands on her hips.

"James took my iPad!" Luca shouted.

"Luca hit me!" Christopher retorted from in the middle as Rory pulled them apart.

"I want to play candy crush!" James whined.

"Enough!" Rory demanded, "You," she turned to Eli, "what part in this did you have?"

"None," Eli shrugged, "I just watched."

"E, come on, you know better."

"Sorry, Mom."

"Alright, Eli, go to the pool house and get your Dad. Logan is in the kitchen with dinner," she turned her attention to her younger children. "The three of you, go downstairs, help Logan set the table, and after dinner all three of you are going to bed. I will be taking all iPads, and there will be no TV time. Understood?"

"But Mom!" Christopher protested, "He hit me!"

"I found you all piled up on the floor, I'm not going to get into who did what, you all made bad choices that led to this, so you will all deal with the consequences. If everyone listens, life is back to normal tomorrow after dinner…if you don't listen, there will be no technology, or friends, or swimming for a week. It will just be school and homework…understood?"

"Fine," Luca grumbled.

"And to be clear, you are in this together. One of you misbehaves, you're all grounded…so keep that in mind."

"You two better not mess this up," Luca glared at his younger brothers.

"Now go, set the table!"

xxx

The next evening, by some miracle, the three youngest boys had managed to behave and Rory couldn't help but love watching them play nicely with each other, however rare it seemed to be some days. "Alright guys, time to get a towel and say bye to Dad." Rory told them, they were all in the pool with Logan while Perry loaded his belongings into the car that had come to take him to the airport, "quickly, then you can get back into the pool."

"Go on," Logan helped one of the twins out of the pool and smiled at Rory as she handed them each a towel and instructed them to go to the front door.

"So guys, Daddy will be here in a few weeks and he will stay with you while Mommy goes away for a few days, and then in February we will get back into a more regular routine, sound good?" Rory smiled at Perry.

"Bye Dad," Eli was the first to hug his father.

"Be good for Mom," Perry smiled as Eli immediately went back out to the pool, he could hear his oldest shouting something at Logan followed by a big splash in the water. "You three need to listen. When I come back we'll have some fun, and I think for spring break, you can come hang out with me in Niagara with your cousins and aunts…"

"Bye Dad," Christopher hugged Perry around the legs and stepped back to Rory.

"I love you guys," Perry smiled as James moved forward and said his goodbyes.

"Go on outside," Rory told her youngest children while Luca stood staring at his Dad, "Luc, it's just a couple of weeks and he will be back."

"Can I come with you?" Luca pouted, "I could go to school there! And watch you play hockey. I want to play hockey when I'm big."

"Well buddy, I think staying here with Mom is for the best, you still have to go to school, even if you want to play hockey."

"I know you miss Dad Luca," Rory exhaled, "he will FaceTime when he lands, and you guys get five whole days together soon. I promise."

"Come on Luca," Perry bent down and hugged his son. "I love you, listen to Mom…and Logan." Luca stood firmly in his spot as Perry stood up and looked at Rory. She was twisting her enormous engagement ring around her finger. "Call if you need anything Ror, and you know, my sister is here if you need help." Perry stepped forward and gave Rory a friendly hug, he smiled as she embraced him, "thank you."

"Be safe," Rory whispered in his ear as she kissed his cheek, "we love you, play hard, don't play dumb…let us know when you land." Rory told him, it was almost the same ritual they had when they were married, but now it was friendly and decidedly unromantic.

"I will." Perry smiled, "Love you Luc."

"Love you, Dad."

Rory and Luca stood and watched Perry leave. He was always the one who struggled most with Perry coming and going, whether it was when they were married, separated, or divorced, Luca always wanted to be with his Dad. There was a time when it stung more, when she had been brokenhearted when Luca would declare that he wanted to stay with Perry, but she supposed it was the same way Perry felt, or Sarah when Eli would declare his love of Rory. "Ready?" Rory asked as the car pulled out of the driveway and the gate closed behind them.

"How long until he comes home?"

"All Star break," Rory told him, "Logan and I are going to go away for a few days, and Dad will stay here with you guys. I think Eli might hang out with his Mom for a few days."

"Could Auntie Sarah stay with us?" Luca asked as they walked back towards the pool where Logan was back to tossing the little boys around.

"Maybe, you can talk to Dad, and he can figure it all out." Rory took the towel off of Luca's shoulders as he walked tentatively towards the pool, "come on Luc, hop in, I'll go put on my bathing suit and we can all swim for a bit before bed."

"Come Mama!" Christopher grinned as he and James climbed out of the pool simply to jump back in.

"You ok?" Rory asked Luca who nodded his head in response and walked towards the pool entry. "I'll be back," Rory smiled as she walked back into the house and to her bedroom. Rory quickly selected a black set of bikini bottoms and a matching rash guard with a scalloped hem and put it on before returning to the pool where Logan seemed to be judging a cannon ball competition. Rory slipped into the water beside him and kissed Logan gently, "thank you."

"For what?" Logan smiled, he kept his eyes on the boys who were now talking themselves into bellyflops, "bonus points for creativity!" Logan laughed as they all started splashing in front of him.

"For this, for putting up with it all…Perry being here, judging bellyflop competitions."

"Don't thank me," Logan laughed, "Luca you definitely didn't bellyflop, that was like a knee flop!"

"I got my belly!" Luca protested.

"Points for creativity though," Logan winked.

"i just love it, and I love you."

"Mom?" James swam over to his mother who quickly scooped him into her arms.

"Jame."

"Where are you guys going? You said you and Logan will be gone when Dad is here?"

"I think we are hoping to go to London," Rory looked hopefully at her fiancé who nodded his head in response, "so it'll just be you guys and Dad."

"Are you going to get married?"

"Without you?" Rory laughed as James nodded his head, "Jame, Logan and I would not get married without telling you. Don't you want to be at the wedding?"

James nodded once more, "I heard Dad and Grandma talking while we were there and Grandma asked if we would be able to go because maybe you would get married just you and Logan because you had been married before."

"Chris, Luc, E, come here please," Rory called to her other children who slowly swam to their mother. "Jame said that he heard Grandma talking about my wedding to Logan. I just want you all to know that when Logan and I get married, you will all be there. We don't really know what our wedding will look like yet, but it will include all of you and our friends and family."

"Will Dad be there?" Luca asked.

"I don't know," Rory told him, "I don't think so…but…"

Logan took the opportunity to speak up, "Luca, your Dad will always be welcome in your Mom and my life, and we will talk about it with him once we have a plan…but normally, your Dad wouldn't be there when your Mom gets married again."

"But he could be?"

"Maybe," Logan nodded. He didn't want Rory's kids to think that he didn't like their Dad, but he also didn't want Rory to feel obligated to give Perry a free pass to come in and out of their lives whenever he wanted. "We will sort it all out closer to, but your Dad and us…we will always do birthdays and Christmas and Thanksgiving…those things can be together. But Mom and my wedding…it might just be us."

"But you like my Dad?" Luca asked.

"I do, I think your Dad is a good guy," Logan promised him.

"He likes you too."