AN: Thank you for all of the love, I love writing this little (big) modern family. So here it is, enjoy
Disclaimer: I do not own anything
Chapter Fifty One
"I don't want to watch Star Wars," Luca glared at his younger brothers.
"I don't want to watch your stupid movies either," Eli countered, injecting himself into the argument for no reason other than to rile his brothers up.
"My movies are not stupid."
"Are too," Eli told him as he grabbed the remote control.
"Mom is going to be down in a minute and she will choose," Luca tried to get the remote back. James and Christopher knew that the best move would be to let the older two boys fight this out instead of re-involving themselves.
"She's going to side with them because they are little," Eli nodded to James and Christopher.
"We are not little!" James took offence to this statement.
They were however lucky to be interrupted by their father emerging from his basement bedroom to join them in the rec room, "guys…what the heck is going on?" Perry grabbed the remote and put it on the edge of the couch.
"Eli says my movies are stupid."
"Your movies are not stupid," Perry told him and then looked at his oldest son, "Eli, everyone is allowed to like their own type of movies."
"You like bad movies too, mom even says."
"Well, mom still put up with them when it made me happy, and so whoever picks tonight, we're all just going to relax and enjoy it because I'm leaving in a few days and then I probably won't see you until Thanksgiving."
"Where are we going for Thanksgiving?" Christopher asked.
"I think you guys are going to come see me, and mom, Logan an Sophie are heading to California for some work stuff. You guys will spend the week with me."
"I want to go to see my friends," Luca groaned.
"If you stay with me, I'm sure we can find a hockey game to see. Plus, they are going to Palo Alto, not Encino, so you wouldn't see your friends. Mom says you'll spend spring break in Encino," Perry had all of this information fresh in his mind from a conversation earlier in the day where he and Rory had essentially scheduled out custody for the next year. They worked out holiday plans, times when the boys would go to Canada to see Perry, times when Perry would come and stay with them, times when the boys would head West to see their friends and everything else imaginable. Rory and Perry had both agreed that the kids would spend Mother's Day with Rory and Father's Day with Perry, and they would spend one full month in the summer with Perry, and during that month, Rory, Logan and Sophie would be in Palo Alto for LHM. Perry and Rory had agreed that the boys could fly between Niagara and Hartford when necessary, and that if Perry disagreed with flying them out, he was always welcome to drive and pick them up. They had figured it all out. All of the question marks that had loomed when Rory and Logan had found out about Sophie were gone in regards to impact on the situation with Perry. Perry and Amanda would come for Christmas, Sarah would stay in Stars Hollow as well this year, and the following year Eli would spend his choice of Easter or Thanksgiving with Sarah, whichever he didn't choose, Sarah was welcome to join them wherever they were. They were figuring out this whole modern family thing. It wasn't without hiccups, of course, there would always be hiccups. There were moments when Perry knew that Logan didn't want him there, moments that Perry felt a twinge of jealousy knowing that another man was experiencing all of these things with a woman he once thought the sun rose and fell for. But mostly, Perry was happy. Perry was happy that they had worked out a plan that while uncomfortable from time to time for the adults involved, was undoubtedly for the best for the kids.
"Alright everyone," Rory came downstairs with a tray full of snacks and junk food, "pizza will be here soon, Logan has Sophie, and after he changes her, they will be down and I think, in honour of his first family movie night here, Perry, you can pick movie night."
"What an honour," Perry laughed, movie night and everything that came along with it was something that Perry had enjoyed about embracing the Gilmore way of life when he and Rory had been together, "but I think that the man of the house should do it."
"Ever the diplomat," Logan smirked as he came down the stairs with Sophie on his shoulder, "boys can pick."
"You two are ridiculous," Rory rolled her eyes, frustrated that no one would make a decision, "by the time we pick, the pizza will be here."
"And the problem with that is…?" Eli laughed as everyone adjusted their positions on the couch. Logan was sitting on one end of the sectional with Rory leaning against him and Sophie on his chest. Beside Rory was James and then Christopher. Luca was on the other end of the sectional and Perry and Eli and both sat on chairs.
"You miss the start of the movie because you're busy chewing," Rory told him as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Alright…I pick…"
Before she could continue, Luca interrupted her, "Logan said that we could pick. I want to watch Mighty Ducks."
Rory inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, this was one of the things that drove her crazy about being a mom of four boys. The sports movies. The superhero movies. She would rather watch Braveheart on repeat than watch Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay for the fiftieth time. "One, two or three?" she asked Luca.
"Two."
"Absolutely the superior option," Perry laughed.
"This sucks," Eli huffed as Logan used his phone to stream the movie to the large screen.
"Guess we don't need to worry about missing the first part of the movie to pizza?" he looked at his wife.
"I guess not," Rory pouted.
"This is nice," Logan whispered as he looked around them, Sophie had settled and his hand was on her back now, the boys were chatting about something, Eli seeming to have moved on from his disdain for the movie choice.
They were about halfway through both the movie, and the pizza when Logan declared that he would take Sophie up and put her to bed. She had done what newborns do and needed a new diaper, and it was around the time they normally tried to get her down. He assured Rory that she should enjoy the movie with the boys, she could take the next feed and he would take the late night feeds as they had been done before so that Rory could get a few uninterrupted hours of sleep, and Logan would get the early sleep. The boys all said goodnight to their sister and Logan disappeared upstairs. It wasn't long until the boys had passed out on the couch and Rory used her phone to turn the movie off and looked at her ex-husband. "There's one more thing we need to talk about," she told him.
"Good or bad?"
"I'm not really sure," Rory admitted with a laugh. "Could be either."
"Want me to put these guys to bed and then we can talk?"
"Do you mind?" Rory asked, Perry nodded his head, "I'll wake E and send him up, you take the little guys first, come back for Luc?"
"How much longer do you think you'll get away with calling them the little guys?" Perry laughed as Rory brushed the hair away from Christopher's eyes.
"Not long enough," she laughed, "it feels like Eli was just born, and in a few years he'll be driving…Luca…god, do you remember when he was born?"
"They were so little, and fragile."
"But so indestructible at the same time," Rory smiled. "Crazy to think I have another."
"She is amazing," Perry nodded as he lifted James up first, Rory watched him whisper something into his ear and then took the little boy up. A few minutes later he was back for Christopher and then repeated it once more for Luca.
"E," Rory whispered as she gently tapped on his shoulder. He had moved onto the ground with Luca part way through he movie, "buddy, you've gotta go to your room," she told him, giving his shoulder another small tap. He rolled over and groaned as he registered her words and a moment later he was standing, he groggily said goodnight and started heading upstairs. Rory followed a few steps behind him, they would take care of the mess in the morning. When Perry came downstairs Rory was sitting at the island with the paperwork that Mitchum had left for them. There was probably a better moment to bring it up, but Rory had wanted to be sure they could talk about it privately, she wanted Perry to be able to say how he felt about his kids accessing this kind of money if they went ahead with it, and she wanted him to not have to worry about what someone else thought of his opinion. Although the three of them very much exemplified a good coparenting relationship, but at the end of the day, decisions for the boys were for Perry and Rory to make.
"Everyone ok?" Perry asked cautiously.
"Everyone is fine," Rory assured him as she pushed the envelope across the island. "Logan's father would like to set up a trust for the boys and Sophie," she explained, "they would all have access to their share when they came of age…the actual age is negotiable, but I wasn't sure how you would feel about this. The truth is, this is my father in law trying to extend an olive branch. To show that he sees your and my children as family and it is a big deal for him, but it's also-"
"A lot," Perry commented as he perused the paperwork.
Rory nodded, "it is. And whatever age we all choose, once they hit that age, the money is theirs. Now…they'll have money no matter what, but as it stands right now, they have the trusts that you and I started for them, and those are smaller…I don't know," she admitted. "Sophie is a Huntzberger, it is her birth right, and Logan has done very well for himself…so it's not like they're going to be getting financial aid at school…but is this too much?"
"Thirty," Perry stated simply.
"Thirty?"
"I think that when they turn thirty they can access the money. They'll have to have supported themselves before that, and they won't be stupid enough to blow it on cars and Vegas hopefully…I mean, don't we just have to hope that we raise them to be smart adults? To understand the value of money? I've worked hard, you've worked hard, Logan has worked hard…so hopefully that is what they see."
"You really have calmed down with Amanda?" Rory laughed, the Perry from immediately after their divorce would have been furious about this. He would have claimed that someone was trying to manipulate him by coming after his boys.
"She's got a way of putting things into perspective."
"Well, you read this stuff over, make your edits, and then we'll get it back to Mitchum?" Rory told him, "I'm going to bed before she wakes up again. Goodnight Perry."
xxx
Rory smiled as she crawled into bed after brushing her teeth and washing her face. She could hear Sophie softly breathing in her bassinet, and as soon as she got in bed, she felt the mattress move and Logan pulled her against him. "Thank you," she smiled as he kissed the back of her neck as it was the only place he could easily access.
"Night Ace," Logan whispered, "I love you."
"Love you too," Rory closed her eyes. It wasn't too long until Sophie was up, of course, but Rory could certainly appreciate that she was a pretty easy baby to put back to sleep as long as she was fed, changed, swaddled and had her soother. She woke up at 11:30 with Rory, and Logan took the 3:30 shift, both of the exhausted parents were relived when she slept until just after 7 in the morning. Logan had volunteered to take the first feed so that Rory could continue sleeping or have a shower, and she chose the latter. Hoping she might be able to make breakfast for the boys before they went to spend the day doing whatever it was that Perry had planned for them. Rory watched as Logan carried Sophie into her nursery, talking to her in a sing song voice and explaining exactly what was going to happen that morning. It was adorable, and it wasn't lost on her that Sophie Huntzberger already had all of the men in her life wrapped around her finger. Even Luke was a puddle when he saw the little girl. He had loved the boys of course, and Rory was certain she had seen a tear in his eye when she told him that Luca was named after him, but Sophie was different. Sophie was Lorelai the fourth, and there was something about that that which apparently meant she would never be able to do wrong in their eyes. Rory showered quickly and went downstairs. She started by brewing a pot of coffee and then moved on to preparing pancake batter and then she started on the bacon, she figured she would cook the pancakes when the kids came down. She heard them, a little bit after 8 starting to shuffle upstairs and Christopher was the first down, "hey," she smiled at him.
"Where is everybody?" Christopher asked as he wiped his eyes.
"Asleep still," Rory told him, "except Soph is with Logan having a bottle and hanging out."
"Are they coming down?"
Rory nodded, "soon, but I wanted to make breakfast. How do pancakes sound?"
"Can we have waffles instead?" Christopher asked. He didn't normally get to make this kind of request, partially because Rory didn't normally entertain substitutions at meal time, she didn't have the energy or patience for that, but also as one of the youngest children, Christopher usually got outvoted by the older boys.
"Sure," Rory smiled, "I think Sookie even made sure we had whipped cream. How was school yesterday?" Rory changed the subject as she put the pancake griddle away and started searching for the waffle iron.
"Boring."
"Any more than that?" she laughed, it was still hard for her to come to terms with that her children weren't quite the eggheads that she had been. Eli loved school, but the other three, while they did well, they were smart kids, they usually grunted a response when they got home and then tried to play for a while.
Christopher waited for a moment before he spoke again, as though he was thinking about all of his options of what he could say in a rate moment of peace and quiet with his mother. "Can we go to the park one day?" he asked.
"Sure," Rory shrugged, "we can plan a day to go after school?"
"But just us?" Christopher asked timidly.
Rory smiled, "it's been a while since you got any one on one time, hasn't it?"
"I've had it with dad."
Rory nodded, trying not to let it show that the comment was like a dagger to her heart. She had gotten pregnant, and gotten married, they had the house stuff, work stuff…and unfortunately maybe she wasn't paying as much attention to the kids as she should have been. "I would love that," Rory told him, "what about tomorrow? We can go in the morning, and maybe we can go to Luke's for lunch? Have a slice of pie? I think if we talk to him now he would make sure that they have cherry because it's your favourite."
Christopher smiled broadly as he heard his brothers starting to come downstairs, "thanks mom."
"Of course sweetie, don't tell them, and I will make sure they are stuck with dad," Rory stuck her tongue out. Maybe that would be what she tried to do this final week before Perry left. She would take the boys to do something one on one. "Hey, slow down," Rory looked at Luca and James who were shoving each other as they came into view. "Waffles for breakfast?"
"Is that bacon?"
"Smells like bacon," Logan appeared after them.
"Where is Sophie?" Rory asked, a little bit of panic rising in her chest like any parent of a newborn.
"In her crib sleeping," Logan told her, "I have the monitor up on my phone," he continued and showed her the app which showed a fuzzy image of a sleeping infant.
"Well this is a rare treat," Rory laughed, thinking back to just how attached the boys had been to her in infancy, although maybe it was more of a codependency issue than anything else.
"Morning," Logan kissed her gently, ignoring the groans he heard coming from the boys around them.
"Morning," Rory put her hands on his cheeks and gave him one final kiss, "waffles?"
"Can't wait," Logan nodded as he moved to grab a coffee cup.
"Who wants to go wake up dad?" Rory turned her attention to the boys.
"Me!" they all put their hands up at once.
"Go on," Rory nodded before turning to Logan and putting her arms around his neck as he set his coffee down, "hi," she smiled.
"Hey yourself," Logan pulled her close and hugged her, "how are you feeling?"
"Alright," Rory told him honestly, "I'm pulled in about a million different directions, but I've never been happier."
"Good," he whispered in her ear. "Have I told you how incredibly sexy it is to watch you as a mom?"
"Probably not as sexy as it is to see you with Sophie," Rory giggled, she closed her eyes and inhaled his scent for a moment, just enjoying being wrapped up in his arms. "And if you think this is sexy just wait till you see me covered in spit up."
"Likewise," Logan laughed. They stayed like that for a moment until the sound of footsteps both large and small interrupted them and Logan reluctantly loosened his grip on her hips, "coffee Perry?" he smiled.
Perry nodded, "thanks," he stood awkwardly. "I was thinking," Perry cleared his throat for a moment, "if the boys want, maybe I can get a couple of rooms at the Dragonfly and we can stay there. If it's alright, I'll borrow your car, still do the school stuff…you guys can have a few days without me…in your hair?" he suggested as Logan handed him the cup of coffee.
"You're not in their hair," Luca stated simply, "we're having fun."
"Of course we're having fun," Rory smiled sweetly to her son, "but I think what dad means is that right now, with Sophie waking up a lot, you guys aren't sleeping well, and Logan and I are really tired, and dad is only here for a few more days, so maybe some one on one time with him would be nice? And I was hoping to make some special dates with you boys too," she jumped the gun on mentioning it to the kids before she brought it up with Perry or Logan. "So tomorrow I was thinking I'll take Chris out and then Monday I can take James, Tuesday Luca, Wednesday Eli? We can do something you guys want and then have dinner? And then when dad heads home, you guys will come back home?"
"Will Sookie cook for us?" Eli asked.
"Luca," Logan interjected tentatively, "your dad can stay here. If that is what you want, he is always welcome to stay here. But I think he just thinks it might be nice for you guys to have some quality time…"
"That's exactly it," Perry agreed.
"I guess," Luca shrugged.
"Can I sleep on the floor?" James asked, Rory chuckled a bit, he had always had a weird obsession with sleeping on the floor, but it was harmless at the very least.
"I'll go call your grandma and see what she says," Perry told them, "you guys go eat with mom and Logan."
Logan stood for a moment while the boys got their plates and Rory started the waffles. Part of him wanted to follow Perry. To thank him. To acknowledge that as difficult as it was for Logan to leave town before Sophie was born with Perry stepping in to help out, as hard as it was to watch some of the interactions where the six of them simply seemed to fit together, he imagined it was harder to watch another man live a life that used to be his. To watch a woman you loved in the arms of another man, to watch your kids want to be with a man that isn't you. He had always been aware of it, of course, the complicated nature of being a step-parent and of coparenting with their dad, but he had never really considered that Perry now felt like an outsider with his own family. He inhaled and decided that it was better not to approach him about it right now, he didn't want to make it weird, not any weirder than it already was, but Logan supposed that this moment at the very least gave him an awareness that he hadn't had before, and a reminder of how fragile all of these relationships really were.
