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"How are you doing Honey?" Lorelai asked as she walked into Rory's bedroom to see her daughter sitting in bed, surrounded by thank you cards, and lists.
"I'm alright. Just trying to get a jump start on all of the thank you cards that need to go out. Did you guys get all the gifts loaded up?"
"We did. It's a good thing that we decided to rent a moving truck, because we ended up with way more gifts than we even imagined. Did you know that Grandma asked the security crew to start accepting gifts as people arrived, before entering the party? The gift area we had set up was already overflowing, so she had them take the gifts at the gate, and put them in the garage. You wouldn't believe all the stuff people brought!"
"Did you get the list of monetary donations for me? I want to make sure those people get thank you cards as well."
"I've got it right here. Honor took care of opening all of those envelopes while the rest of us loaded everything into the truck. Did Grandma give you addresses?"
"She said that she has a list for me."
"Do you want to know what the total is on the checks?"
"I'm guessing it was a lot?"
"Only $35,480."
"Wait a second . . . So with the $50 grand that Logan handed the woman, we're donating over $85,000 in cash, and then a crap ton of gifts?!"
"Actually, you're donating $100,000. Honor and Mitchum wrote out checks to make it an even 100."
"That is incredible! I never expected that!"
"Well, that's the DAR for you. The $480 came from Stars Hollow."
"I had no idea that people liked me that much."
"I'm not so sure it's necessarily about liking you, more than wanting to make themselves look good. Plus, it's all tax deductible. All Grandma and Shira's rich friends will be getting nice tax write offs this year."
"That's crazy! I didn't even care about the tax write off when I signed the HPG check. I did it because I wanted to. And then Logan told me that he was going in halfsies with Grandpa, to match what the company gave. I didn't even know about the Columbia donation. I have no idea how Logan pulled that one off!"
"You did see Doctor Schultz here today, didn't you?"
"He came with his wife. I saw them briefly."
"I saw him talking to Logan when he first got here."
"That is probably where that check came from."
"Well you can all enjoy a nice tax write off this year."
"I doubt HPG even needs it. I wouldn't know though. Logan's accountant takes care of all of that stuff. The only thing I know about the company's financials is that we are making more money than we spend."
"Hey, that's pretty much all that matters. As long as you aren't in the red, you're good to go!"
"Exactly!" Rory agreed.
"But Honey, let me tell you a little secret . . . A big company like HPG, they can ALWAYS use a tax write off! Plus, didn't you once tell me that Logan can't spend large amounts of money without his accountant's approval? I'm pretty sure that the accountant is the one who wrote the checks, not your husband. It may have been Logan's idea, but I'm sure he's not dumb enough to do something like that without first checking with his accountant."
"That's true. He's not the insanely immature blow your trust fund without a second though guy that he used to be."
"I would be terrified for your future if he was."
"Hey Mom?"
"What's up?"
"Do you think that Luke would do me a favor this week?"
"I'm sure he will. What kind of favor do you need?"
"I was wondering if he could go check on some HPG properties here in the city for me. Mitchum bought like 12 different properties while he was running things, supposedly for business. One we know for sure was his personal residence. But the others were supposedly for business. They were supposed to be for visiting clients and stuff, but honestly, why do we need so many? I was thinking that if I had to keep some, I would keep maybe two. MAYBE. But then again, why should I when I can just put people up in a hotel if I need to? But then again, real estate is so pricey here in the city that we could actually make money by renting them out, rather than keeping them vacant all the time. But the problem is that Logan and I don't even know if the properties are vacant or not. Logan pointed out that given Mitchum's history, there could potentially be a mistress or two living somewhere that we don't know about. And I don't even know how to find any of that out. And if Mitchum has some random mistress living for free in a company apartment, why should I be paying for it?"
"So you want to send Luke to check these places out for you."
"I just don't know who else to ask."
"Do any of these places have someone like a Doorman or something, that you can ask for information from? See if anyone has been coming and going? Ask if maybe they know anything?"
"I honestly have no idea. I was thinking that I could probably send Collin over to look at them, but Collin would be almost useless. For one, he's kind of a small guy and doesn't look intimidating at all. He's a freaking shark of an attorney, but he just doesn't look at all intimidating. And two, Collin wouldn't know how to scope out a property, even if I explained it to him. Luke would at least be able to take a look at stuff, and tell me if it's in good shape, or needs some kind of work. Luke knows a lot more about that kind of stuff. I of course wouldn't ask Luke to do any of the work because he's busy enough running the diner, and taking care of us girls, and just doesn't have time for any of that stuff. But he would at least be able to tell me if I need to get some kind of inspection done, or a maintenance crew to come in."
"Well, you can definitely ask him about taking care of all of that for you. Maybe you should also talk to Collin about it, and maybe the local police department, and see if you can maybe get a peace officer to go with Luke, just in case. You don't exactly want him to accidentally let himself into an apartment that someone is living in. They would probably try to charge him with trespassing, or something. Having a peace officer with him would make things a little safer and more legal."
"That's a good point. And then if there are people living somewhere, hopefully we can get their information, and then Collin can serve them with an eviction notice."
"I hate to state the obvious, but wouldn't it maybe be easier for you to ask Mitchum about the properties? See what kind of information he gives you?"
"Normally, yes. But what if he's hiding stuff? Do you really think that he would tell us about it? I mean, I need to know if someone is living there, and why I should be footing the bill. I'm just not sure that Mitchum would be completely honest with us about it."
"What about hiring a private investigator?"
"I thought about that, but that takes some time. I would rather just knock on the door, and if there is no answer, Luke can let himself in, and go exploring."
"I completely understand it, but I'm trying to look at it safety wise, and from a legal stance."
"And I completely understand that too. It's just one of those things that I would like to get done without too many people involved. I'm going to get myself a list of properties this week and start researching them to see what I can find out, but I'll just need someone to go check out the places in person since I obviously can't do it myself."
"No, you definitely can't do that. Someone else you may be able to send to check things, is your security team. Maybe ask Carlos about it."
"That's a good idea. I could probably send a couple of the guys with Luke."
"I would do your research, and talk to Logan about it. Then you can both go to Luke and Carlos, and figure out the best plan of attack."
"That's a good idea. At least maybe then I can have a small idea of what we might be up against."
"Exactly! And talk to Collin too. Because in case there is someone living in one of the places, and you need to evict them, Collin would need to take care of it for you."
"At least with Collin, I won't have to explain Mitchum's past habits. I almost don't want to involve Carlos for that exact reason."
"Just be evasive about it. You can just give him minor details. Obviously you don't want Mitchum involved in any part of the business, so you don't want to go asking about the properties, but you have no records of whether the properties are in use, so you need help finding out if they are. And if they are, it isn't anyone's business why anyone is there, except yours and your attorney's. If someone tells the guys that Mitchum gave them permission to live there, you serve them with an eviction notice. If they happen to have some kind of crazy contract with Mitchum, giving them the right to be there, then that becomes Collin's problem to take care of. Mitchum is no longer running the business, meaning that pretty much any kind of personal contract that anyone has with him is now null and void. If Mitchum gave them a ten year lease to live in an apartment, you look at the end date and determine if it is a past or upcoming date, and you go from there. If it's indefinite, well, Mitchum is gone now, so sayonara squatter!"
"That's true."
"You just need to remember that this is business, and you can't take any of it personally. Your job is to do what is best for your company. And giving someone free rent is a complete waste of money!"
"No, I completely agree! That is exactly why I am doing this. I don't understand why we are wasting so much money on things that we don't need. Mitchum was such a cheap ass when it came to replacing needed equipment that is actually in constant use, but he wasted a ton of money on stuff that no one has any use for, like 12 random properties here in the city, and who knows how many more elsewhere. I just don't get it. I can see having one property anywhere we have a corporate building, like Chicago, London, Florida, and Los Angeles. But random places like Nebraska, why would we need a property there? We only have like 3 papers in the entire state! You can get a decent hotel room for pretty cheap. Even if you want to splurge on the Four Seasons or something, it's still cheaper to stay there for a few days, than it is to pay a mortgage on a property that is sitting completely vacant for 51 weeks a year. I just don't understand so much of what Mitchum wasted money on. The new copy machine that we bought to replace the 30 year old machine in the London office cost us less than a yearly mortgage."
"I totally understand your position. Especialy as a business owner. That all sounds very excessive."
"Mom, you know that if you ever needed an investor to expand the Dragonfly, or whatever, Logan and I would be more than happy to give you the money, right?"
"I would never ask that of you, but yes, I do."
"Mom, come on, I want you to ask. If you ever need something, just tell me. You don't even need to ask. Just say the word, and we'll be all over it. What's the point of having all of this money, if we can at least use it for something useful? And we wouldn't even put crazy stipulations on it, like Friday night dinners. It would be more like we hand you money and you can give your guests our newspaper every morning with their coffee. We would figure something out. I don't want something to happen, and for you to have to get some loan with a crazy APR, or Gilmore style Pinocchio strings. If something were to happen, and you need help, I want you to come to us, alright?"
"Ok. If something ever comes up, I'll let you know."
"Did all of Grandma's friends finally leave?"
"I believe so, why?"
"I'm just wondering if it's safe for me to hang out downstairs in my house again, without random people going in and out."
"Would you like me to go check? I can send Logan upstairs to bring you down."
"Would you mind? I'm just feeling kind of cooped up."
"The walls start to close in on you, don't they?"
"Like you wouldn't believe!"
"Now you realize why I moved out of Grandma's house."
"I'm really starting to. Some days this house feels like a prison. I love this house, I really do. But bed rest sucks!"
"I completely understand! Is there anything that I can bring back for you, while you wait for Logan?"
"No. I'm a little hungry. I feel like I could eat a sandwich, or a salad or something. But I can do that when I get downstairs. I just need to get out of this room."
"Ok. I'll head downstairs then, and if your house isn't empty, I'll start clearing people out, then send Logan up to get you."
"Thank you, Mom. I don't know what I would do without you."
"Well hopefully you won't ever have to find out." Lorelai smiled as she got up from where she sat next to Rory on the bed, and headed out of the room.
*~*The Next Afternoon*~*
"Hey Babe, Doyle just handed me the list of properties that you asked him for. He said something about this being just the properties in the state of New York, and that he is still working on getting you the information for all of the properties elsewhere." Logan said when Rory answered her phone. Logan had gone into the office that day, to see a few patients, and pick up files Rory had asked for, while she worked at home.
"Wow, that was fast! I only asked him for those this morning. How many are there?"
"12 here in the city, and 5 elsewhere."
"Your Dad seriously has 17 properties here?!"
"One of these is the building that I am currently sitting in, but yeah, it looks that way."
"Are all the rest of them residential, or are some of them businesses?"
"I honestly have no idea. I just recognized this address. I'll start researching these for you when I get home."
"Would you mind texting me a few of the addresses, while you're there working, and I'll at least get a start on those? I could use the distraction."
"You remember that we've got an editors meeting in an hour, right? You wanted me to set you up on Facetime."
"No. I don't remember that at all."
"Ace, It's on the calendar."
"Can I claim pregnancy brain?"
"Not that I care if you are wearing pajamas for a video meeting, but you can ask Rosalinda or Emily, or whoever is there helping you, to help you look whatever version of presentable you feel like being today, and have them bring you my laptop, and get both computers set up for you, that way you can use one for the video meeting, and one for your research and notes."
"Rosalinda is here with me. Grandma is out shopping with Honor, and Grandpa is playing golf with your Dad. I haven't moved off the couch since you left, except to use the bathroom."
"That is perfectly fine. Our house is pretty quiet. I'll send out a text message to let everyone know that we are doing a virtual meeting, so they know to be quiet if they come back while we're working."
"Thanks Babe. I'll figure out where Rosalinda is."
"Remember that the intercom is linked to your phone now, so you don't even have to yell."
"You make my life so easy." Rory smiled.
"Only because you are carrying the next Huntzberger heir." Logan smirked.
"Crap, I totally forgot that I was supposed to sign her up for clown college. I need to remember to do that before all of the red squeaky noses are taken."
"Alright, well you go have fun signing our daughter up for clown college, and I'll call you on FaceTime when I'm ready to start the editor's meeting."
"Bring me home loaded Nachos?"
"Anything else?"
"Maybe a chicken burrito?"
"Your wish is my command. Let Rosalinda know that I'm picking up dinner, so she doesn't need to worry about cooking,"
"You are the hottest delivery boy in the world!"
"It's a damn shame that I allowed that pesky PhD to ruin my future career prospects in the food delivery service, isn't it?!"
"Eh! Maybe one day we'll be able to afford to send you back to school to get a Masters degree in Fast Food Delivery. Your skills are really lacking though, so they'll need some practice first."
"Well maybe we'll see if McDonalds University has some courses that can help me refine my skills."
"Maybe they can even teach you to make french fries while you're there!"
"One can only hope!"
"Hey, do you have time before the meeting to bring me some fries and a strawberry pie?"
"Would you like a burger too?"
"I'll take a Big Mac and a spicy chicken sandwich, please?"
"I'll have it delivered to you. Is there anything else that you need?"
"Just those addresses, and a really hot boy toy to stare at, and keep me motivated."
"I'll be home for dinner. I love you."
"I love you too." Rory smiled, then ended the call, before pulling up the intercom app on her phone. "Hey Rosalinda? Would you mind coming to help me when you get a minute?"
*~ * 45 Minutes Later * ~ *
"Mrs. Rory, you have a visitor." Rosalinda said as she escorted a guest into the Huntzberger's living room.
"Rosalinda, I hope you're hungry. There is plenty of greasy goodness to go around." the guest proudly spoke, his accent ringing clearly through the air.
"Oh no, no greasy food for Rosalinda."
"Oh come on, it tastes delicious! You will love it!"
"No no. You eat your greasy lunch, Mister Morgan. Mrs. Rory, would you like a drink?"
"Some chocolate milk would be great." Rory answered as her guest took a seat next to the couch.
"And you Mister Morgan?" Rosalinda asked.
"Chocolate milk for me as well. Thank you Rosalinda."
"One moment." Rosalinda smiled, then turned to leave the room.
"Finn, I've missed you! When did you get back?" Rory asked as her friend opened the large McDonalds bag he had brought over, and began handing her food.
"Just this morning. I have a dinner meeting this evening, but Logan asked me to bring you and the baby some lunch."
"Thanks Finn! I'm glad you are back. I actually need your help with something."
"Name it."
"This address, right here." Rory started, pointing to her computer screen. "Your family owns this building."
"Yes?"
"I need to know about unit 743."
"Details?"
"HPG owns 17 properties in the state of New York, all acquired while Mitchum was in charge. I want to sell everything that we don't need, but Logan says that some of these properties might be occupied."
"So you want to know if someone lives there."
"I need to know who, why and for how long."
"And Collin will be doing an eviction?"
"That's right!"
"Is this the only Morgan property?"
"That I don't know. I don't have the full list yet. Logan only gave me 3 addresses. He'll have the others with him when he gets home."
"Email me the list, and I'll find out what I can. I should be able to take care of this one tonight."
"Finn, you are my favorite!" Rory chirped as she happily bit into her hamburger. "I've really missed you!"
"You just miss my junk food delivery."
"Well that too. You always bring me the best food."
"I have chocolate from Switzerland." Finn said, pulling a small package from his coat pocket, and handing it to Rory.
"I hope I'm not the only one that you bring presents to after your business trips."
"Only you and Stephanie, but I suppose I'll have to start bringing back gifts for the children now too."
"You know that you don't have to buy us stuff to make us like you."
"I know. Just call it penance for all of my drunken charades."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Name it."
"How come I'm the only one that you don't put on an act for? You act like drunk crazy Finn around everyone else, even when you are completely sober. But when it's just you and me, you are completely different. How come I'm the only one that you act like a mature adult around?"
"Do you want me to act like a drunken fool?"
"Finn, come on. I'm serious. As fun as it is to have to babysit you all the time, how come I'm the only one that you are normal around?"
"I'm not sure . . ." Finn answered after a brief pause. "Everyone else has been around for so long that I guess they just expect me to act a certain way."
"But I've known you since college. It's been like 12 years. That's a really long time. You are typical crazy Finn whenever anyone else is around, but when it's just you and me, you are completely different. Like when you came to visit me on the campaign trail, and took me to dinner. I never knew that I could have an actual adult conversation with you, until that first night. You've always just been drunken, irresponsible Finn. And I don't dare mention it to anyone else, because they would never believe me."
"They know me well."
"You know that you don't have to put on an act for everyone. You can just be you. As much as we all love your crazy drunken Finn antics, it's ok to be serious once in a while. You don't have to pretend all the time."
"No, I know. But it's what everyone expects of me. And it keeps life interesting."
"But you shouldn't be expected to be someone you aren't. That's not fair to you, Finn. You act one way around me, but completely different around everyone else. How come I'm the only one who knows the adult side of Finn."
"You aren't the only one. Logan just doesn't remember."
"Logan has seen your serious side?"
"Who do you think sat with him while he was drunk out of his mind in California?"
"How come I didn't know about this?"
"Because Logan doesn't remember. I pretty much lived with him. Logan was just too messed up to realize it. I'm the one who convinced him to go to Honor and fix his life."
"Really? Logan never told me that."
"Because he would be sober enough to go to work in the morning, but then came home and started drinking again every night. Logan was miserable without you."
"How come you never told me all of that?"
"Would it have mattered? You had a job to do. You love being a reporter. Taking care of drunk Logan was my job. I would never drag you down with his drama. Logan needed to get himself together before he could win you back. You didn't deserve his mess."
"I wish I had known."
"It wouldn't have done you any good. You did what was best for you. You've always known what you want. Logan needed to figure his life out."
"I'm glad you were there for him."
"Logan is my best mate. I would never not be there. He's always been there for me too."
"Like when? You've never needed much from anyone."
"Logan keeps me out of jail. He pulls me back from my stupider antics."
"Like what? Jumping off a cliff in Costa Rica?"
"No, I was the one trying to stop him from doing that." Finn chuckled for a brief moment, before going somber. "Logan was there when my sister died."
"You have a sister?"
"She passed when I was 10."
"I'm so sorry Finn, I had no idea."
"She was 17. A drunk driver hit her car while she was out with friends. She died on impact. I never got to say goodbye."
"Finn. . ." Rory said softly, reaching for her friend's hand.
"I loved my sister. She always took me to do fun things. I didn't know who I was after she passed. My parents said I changed and lashed out."
"I can only imagine. It sounds like you two were close."
"She was my best friend."
"I am so sorry Finn. How come I never knew that you had a sister?"
"Nobody talks about her. It's taboo in my family. Only Logan, Collin and Stephanie had met her, but they never hung out with her the way I did. She dropped us off somewhere a couple times, but that was it. They never had a relationship with her."
"I know it's been a long time, but I am so sorry for your loss, Finn. That must have been so hard on you."
"It was. I still miss her, but it helps being with you. You are a lot like her. She liked to write too." Finn told her as Rory's phone and computer both lit up with a FaceTime call.
"I'm sorry Finn, I have an editors meeting. But I want to talk to you."
"It's fine. We'll talk later. I'll go take Rocky to the park."
"Thanks Finn. I really appreciate you being here." Rory smiled as she reached for her laptop, and clicked the button to connect Logan's call.
"Hey, did Finn make it over?" Logan asked once the video connected.
"He did. And he brought chocolate from Switzerland. Thank you for sending him. I've got junk food galore!"
"Rosalinda refuses to eat any of it." Finn said, leaning toward Rory, so he could see his friend.
"Rosalinda doesn't eat fast food."
"I'm taking your dog to the park."
"Thanks Finn. He'll love that." Logan smiled. "Rory, are you ready for this meeting."
"I am." Rory answered.
"Alright, give me a second while I switch you to the computer." Logan told her as Rory watched him pull the earpiece from his ear, and reach for the computer that sat in front of him.
