Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls
A/N: Remember when I told you guys that this story was going to be light and fluffy and fun? i think i'm holding up my end of the bargain here!
Chapter Twenty Eight
Logan was exhausted. He was pretty confident he had started his first meeting of the day at seven in the morning and it was nearly eleven by the time he went home. He had been reminded, somewhat relentlessly that his father had been up for just as long as he had and that Mitchum had spent his entire career maxing out on five hours of sleep at most. Like it was some sort of competition. Logan had reminded him on more than one occasion that there was no prize for whoever was the biggest asshole in the family so Mitchum could try to relax a little bit. It was Thursday and he knew that he would have to be back in the office for a series of additional meetings in just a few short hours. It was the legal aspect of the merger between LHM and HPG, the nitty gritty, the details of how employees would be handled and how much control Logan would retain over the business that had been his baby and how much Mitchum would control of his side of the business. He had left Encino on Sunday night anticipating an exhausting week, but even this was beyond what he had imagined. The month was going to be extraordinarily long at this rate, but he knew the light at the end of the tunnel was his trip to London with Rory. He just hadn't broken it to her that he would likely have to do a little bit of business while they were gone.
"Logan, it's late, are you alright?" Rory answered her phone groggily as she heard it buzzing on her bedside table.
"I'm fine, sorry, I know it's late…" Logan paused, "I won't keep you, but come there tomorrow after school. Hop in the car, or I'll send a plane, the chopper, whatever….just bring the boys, come on."
"Logan what is going on?" Rory sat up a bit and rubbed her eyes.
"I'm exhausted," he admitted as he drove through the streets towards his house, "but I just…I want to be with you and the boys, so please, just come. I know that you weren't going to and you were going to stay home, and I have work to do or I would come to you, but just…come."
"Come to Palo Alto?"
"Please?"
"Do you have a car big enough for my soccer team?"
"I'll buy one…well, that is a lie. I will send someone to go buy one because these fucking meetings are killing me. Go to the airport after school, the plane will be waiting there. I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise? In addition to the car you just decided you were going to buy? Do not buy a car, we can rent one."
"No, you have four kids, so I think by extension I have four kids…so I need another car. A car that fits all of us. So what…two boosters?
"You don't have to buy a car, and James and Christopher are almost out of boosters."
"I'm buying a car, consider it bought."
"No other surprises."
"The other surprise isn't so much for you, it's for the boys. You'll come though?"
"Go to bed Logan, I love you, goodnight."
xxx
"Dad, you need me more than I need you!" Logan shouted into the air. They were conducting this part of the negotiation via teleconference and a larger than life image of Mitchum Huntzberger was on a television screen in front of him. Logan was in his boardroom, suddenly regretting all of the glass walls and open floor plans he had insisted upon. There were three corporate lawyers, his personal lawyer, his Vice President of Operations in the Palo Alto office, and in Manhattan, there was Mitchum, five corporate lawyers, two personal lawyers, the CFO and the Chairman of the Board. "So, my guys keep their email addresses, we can have it built into the system that if someone e-mails it will forward to - you don't seem to get it. We are not being enveloped by you, you are being boosted by us. I'm not throwing everything I have worked for out to simply become Huntzberger Publishing Group! I'm not!"
"Everything you've worked for? Ten years? Logan this building, these offices, this is the culmination of a hundred years of work. It is my work, it is your Grandfathers work, your Great Grandfather, your Great Great Grandfather founded this company! You may be a boost to us, but these walls, this building is your legacy. It is our family legacy!"
"Dad that family treated me like shit, for years. I was never good enough for your family but now that you need me you want me to just embrace it like you took me camping every year as a child? Did you make it to every soccer game? This is a sticking point to me. My employees remain the employees of LHM, LHM becomes a branch of HPG but a lateral branch, we aren't under you."
"You are being childish."
"And you are being a stubborn pain in my ass, Dad. So tell me, do you want me to walk away? Is this the hill you want to die on? I can stay in Palo Alto and do my thing from here, make another billion or two while you stay on the fucking Titanic headed towards an iceberg! Are you going down with the ship, or are you going to get into the lifeboat so we can figure out this mess that you got yourself in by listening to Grandpa and failing to digitize your publications, failing to predict the changes to news media because of technology."
"Clear the room," Mitchum demanded.
"My guys can stay. Transparency, Dad."
"Logan, I am asking you, as your father…please clear the room."
"Guys," Logan looked around them, "meet me in my office, I'll be there in a few. We'll break for lunch? Back in an hour, Dad?"
"Sounds good," Mitchum waited until he watched the men shuffle out of both rooms. "Logan, what is it that you want?"
"I want my legacy to remain my legacy."
"So you understand what I want as well then."
"Dad, when we talked about this, when this all came out, you said that you would not expect me to be subservient to you. I have done employee research, I have spent a fortune on employee research…my people don't want to work for you, my people want to continue working for me. So in order to retain the talent that I have painstakingly selected over the last 10 years, I need them to keep their e-mail addresses. Everything except for their bonus at the end of the year needs to be about Logan Huntzberger Media. We are not a publishing organization. We don't put out papers. We buy and sell startups, we develop new social media platforms and infuse money into ideas we love. We intersect with the news because with LHM and HPG being together, we can keep the fake news bullshit out of social media, and at the same time, put HPG publications into the forefront of every social media application we work with…we aren't the same. This isn't like owning the Lakers and the Dodgers, this is like owning the Lakers and the New York City Ballet."
"You are the Lakers in this analogy?"
"It doesn't really matter who is who Dad…it's like Disney buying ABC. We can help each other out, but ABC is still ABC and Disney is still Disney."
"I need this to happen Logan, not just for the company…if I'm going to retire, I need you to take this over."
"I've told you I will, but you need to give a little."
"Fine, you can have your e-mail addresses."
"You go tell the vultures. Also, we need to review our in-house counsel, not right away, but within a year or so…"
"Fine."
"Enjoy your lunch, Dad."
xxx
"Is it done?" Logan walked into his house a few minutes after four, and hopefully about an hour before Rory and the boys would arrive. His phone was pressed to his ear as he dropped his keys on the counter and took his laptop bag to his office to deposit it, hopefully for the full weekend, but Logan expected he would have to take a call Saturday afternoon. The person on the other end of the phone assured him that it was, "I'm checking now…I won't find a painter or the weird lady you told me about from Pottery Barn Kids?" Logan paused, now he was headed upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. "Thank you, really… you have outdone yourself Honor. Planning this all from the other side of the country…and in a week…I'll call you later, let you know what they think." Logan put the phone down at his side and smiled. The weekend prior, he had asked Honor to update the bedrooms in his house to be suitable for the boys. Four boys, three bedrooms. He knew that James and Christopher still liked to share a room, so that was convenient as it left two additional guest rooms in the house. The little boys room had two bunk beds, double on the bottom, twin on the top, a pair of dressers, each with a mirror above them, and two book cases filled with various age appropriate toys and books. The bedding that Honor had chosen was Star Wars themed, Logan and given her a list of a few things that each boy liked, and she had managed to have custom wall hangings made with their names. Logan smiled as he looked in the closet and found it full of clothing and toys. He went to Eli's room where it was without a doubt more grown up. He had a queen sized bed with a bedside table on either end, Honor had told Logan it was a smoked grey finish but Logan though it looked more brown, and there was a trundle that pulled out for additional guests. Honor had created a seating area with bookshelves, and a desk, and she had updated the closet organizer and again filled it with clothes for the boy, additional sheets, towels, anything he could need. Eli's bedding was a navy blue striped duvet and white sheets. Logan would need to send Honor a purse or something to thank her, she had clearly gone above and beyond, and Logan assumed that she had dropped the Huntzberger name quite a bit to have it all done in less than a week. The rooms had been painted, rugs had been brought in, new furniture, everything was new and everything was perfect. Luca's room was last, and Honor had truly taken his suggestion of hockey and imagined a room that was only about hockey. There was a loft bed with the space underneath designed to look like a hockey net, he had a desk and a dresser, signed hockey memorabilia was on the wall, and Logan thought most importantly, there was a Cramer jersey hung on the wall. Logan pulled out his phone once more, and called Honor again, "did you pay for that jersey?"
"Do you think I called her ex-husband and asked for it? Of course I paid for it, and I had to pay extra to get them rushed…seems ridiculous. Anyway, I left your name out of it. Three jerseys, one for when he played for the Rangers, the Kings, and now the Sabres…in case you were wondering, I now know more about hockey than I ever thought possible."
"Your boys are baseball kids."
"Yours is a hockey kid."
"He's not mine."
"Logan, you just spent a lot of money, and did a lot of work for kids that aren't yours."
"You did the work, I just spent the money. How did you even pull this off?"
"You asked me to, and I happen to have a great relationship with Pottery Barn Kids considering how often I have had to redecorate for my own boys…anyway, do you love it?"
"It is pretty amazing."
"You know, my services would be available for a little baby girl too," she grinned into the phone, "there is too much testosterone in that house. You need to help and level it out."
"I don't think I can guarantee to… as you say…level it out."
"Come on, just imagine…and I mean, Rory has cute kids, but blonde curls, blue eyes, her skin…"
"You want me to call you before we do the deed too?"
"Just tell me that you guys are considering it? Having a baby of your own? You are so good with my boys, and Colin's kids, you are amazing with Rory's kids. You are meant to be a Dad."
"Well, I had such a good example."
"Logan, nothing you have ever done is like Dad, just like I am not like Mom. Even your business, your employees love you, they respect you…you don't do the Machiavellian thing."
"We've talked about it Hon, having kids…I just…we aren't married, we don't live together."
"You spend all the time you can together, I'm assuming they are…what? Fifteen minutes away right now? You are building a house…come on, it takes nine whole months to cook a baby, so put me out of my misery! I need to be an Auntie."
"You are an Auntie, you have nieces and nephews."
"But those kids belong to Josh, they don't get us, I need kids that are just a miniature version of you, but female and cuter…so really, a miniature version of me."
"And Rory?"
"And Rory."
"Say that as a full sentence and then call your shrink. Thank you Honor, I owe you huge, but I've gotta go."
"Bye."
Logan laughed and hung up the phone, Rory had texted a few minutes earlier to say they had landed and so they were a few minutes away. He pushed aside Honor's suggestion of jumping right into having another baby…blending the family was enough work on it's own, he wasn't going to try to force the issue of another child. They had agreed. When it happened, it happened. Rory had her IUD removed that week, so there wasn't much else to do at that moment. Logan noticed the keys on the counter, his assistant had gone out and bought him a car that morning. The only thing she could find to drive off the lot was a brand new Cadillac Escalade that would seat seven comfortably, and thankfully it was in black. Logan had all black cars, the only exception being his Porsche, but that was more for nostalgia than anything else.
"I told you not to buy a car!" Rory bellowed as she walked in the front door with four mumbling kids behind her. Eli and Luca seemed excited about the new car sitting in the driveway, Christopher and James didn't seem to care.
"Well, I told you I was buying a car," Logan walked from the kitchen to the foyer and embraced his fiancee, "I'm sorry, but we needed something here, especially if this is going to be our base in California when we move to Stars Hollow."
"You're trying to tell me this was a practical purchase?"
"I paid the deposit on Amex for the points…"
Rory laughed as he kissed her, "I missed you."
"It's only been a few days, Ace."
"You two are gross," Luca rolled his eyes. "I'm hungry."
"Cookies are in the kitchen, and then I have a surprise for all of you."
"A surprise? In addition to the car?"
"It is for the boys," Logan told her again, "eat some cookies, and lets go upstairs."
"You got us a new car and something else," Eli grinned as he walked a few steps ahead to the kitchen.
"Well, hate to break it to you, the car is for your Mom and I…you just get to ride in it."
"But Mom said you were getting something so we could all fit and then Mom doesn't have to drive us here, we can just fly."
"Sometimes we will fly, sometimes we will drive." Rory corrected him, "Dad doesn't want you guys turning into spoiled brats who only travel by jet, so trust me…you will be spending time on Southwest flights like regular folks, and stuffed in the back as well."
"I googled you," Eli told Logan.
"You googled me?" Eli nodded his head in response as he took a cookie. "You went to Yale, like Mom."
"I don't think that was ever a secret," Logan laughed,
"And you used to date lots of people. There was a whole story about it…something about bachelors at Yale."
Logan cringed a little bit, it was a piece he was involved in for charity in his freshman year, he supposed that his reputation for being kicked out of boarding schools, combined with his money, looks and the parade of women in his life made him seem like quite the catch, "that was a long time ago."
"Then, in 2016, you were named one of San Francisco's most eligible men."
"Wow, you wanna date me, or am I still marrying your Mom?" Logan laughed.
"Eli, how did you even do this?" Rory asked.
"On my phone," he shrugged. "It said you are really rich, and when your Dad dies, you'll be really, really, really rich."
"Those things are all true," Logan told him, "but I'm not in a rush for my Dad to die, so in the meantime, I will keep working hard."
"Why does Mom have to work if you have so much money?"
"Eli!" Rory glared.
Logan laughed, it wasn't the most unreasonable question he had heard. The truth was he didn't care if Rory did or didn't work, he just wanted her to do what made her happy, and right now that was working for Hugo. "Your Mom works because she likes working. But my money has nothing to do with whether or not your Mom needs to work."
"She didn't work when she was married to my Dad."
"That is between your Mom and Dad," Logan assured him, he could see that Rory was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. "When you are older, you will understand all of this a lot better. For now though," he looked at all four kids and Rory, "I have a surprise, and I really want to show you. Are you ready?"
"Is it a new Nintendo?" Luca grinned.
"Go upstairs, bring your bags, Mom and I will follow," Logan ushered them up the stairs.
"What did you do?" Rory asked.
"You'll find out, you have so little faith."
"I'm sorry about Eli," Rory sighed as Logan took her hand while they followed the boys up the stairs.
"Don't apologize, the money thing has always made you a lot more uncomfortable than it has me. He's a kid, he's curious…I probably seem shiny and new. Your money, Perry's money, it's all more attainable than the kind of money I have. There is an allure to that, or so I'm told."
"Mom! Mom! Come see!" James screeched from the doorway to his room, Rory came running behind him, worried that he may have hurt himself or that something was wrong. "Logan made us a room!" James pointed excitedly at the wall where he could see his name and the Star Wars bedding.
"You did this?" Rory smiled as Logan came behind her. Eli and Luca were calling from their respective rooms as Christopher and James ran in to see everything.
"Well, I commissioned it, Honor organized it, and some very nice people from Pottery Barn Kids and Benjamin Moore have been running around my house like crazy for the last 4 days."
"You did this, for my boys?" Rory felt tears coming to her eyes as Eli and Luca joined them in the twins room. They all climbed up on the bunk beds and looked around.
"Of course I did Ace, they needed a place for themselves here. A safe space that was their own."
"Mom, look, there are clothes!" Christopher opened the closet.
"Logan, they have clothes!" Rory put her hand over her heart and smiled as she watched her boys run around with pure joy on their faces. She turned to Logan and put her head on his chest, "thank you. I love you…this…this is everything."
"I need you to stop thanking me. I'm not a dirtbag only with you for your looks Ace," Logan whispered in her ear as he hugged her close, "I love them, I love you, they need space. They aren't just visitors in my life."