Epilogue

Monday, July 27, 2020

"This will all make sense when I am older. Someday, I will see that this makes sense. One day, when I'm old and wise I'll think back and realize that these were all completely normal events. I'll have all the answers when I'm older, like why we're in this dark enchanted wood. I know in a couple years these will seem like childish fears. And so I know this isn't bad, it's good."

"Mom you're on mute," Rory said, trying as hard as she could to keep any tone of annoyance out of her voice.

Lorelai had officially reached the state where she'd completely abandoned the idea of keeping up on technology. They'd been making calls to each other on Zoom since March, but every time they spoke Lorelai somehow either ended up being on mute when she was supposed to be off – or being off mute when she was supposed to be on. It wasn't exactly helping with the already awkward circumstances they found themselves in, and Rory had accidentally become privy to some conversations between her mother and Luke that she had never wanted to become privy to.

"I swear to God, it's not me!" Lorelai exclaimed after touching her screen to unmute herself. "It's the people at Zoom. They have it in for me. They're spying on me. Doing this on purpose. I know how to work Zoom. I swear!"

"Sure, Mom," Rory agreed.

"I'm not old!" Lorelai pleaded.

"Of course not."

"Ugh this is the worst!" Lorelai cried. "Roll me out with the trash where I belong. I'm finished. I might as well move to Nantucket with my mother!"

Rory smirked in amusement. Her mother clearly meant the comment in jest, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was a slight amount of truth behind the concept at this point. They were all going a little stir crazy, and the idea of sequestering themselves inside a large island home with access to the beach and a huge backyard seemed like paradise - especially to her.

There was only so much of this she could take before she completely lost her mind. Rory was used to working at home. She was used to taking care of her daughter while she worked at home. What she wasn't used to, however, was not being able to walk down the street to the playground to let Ellie run off some energy, and having her husband at home all hours of the day, constantly needing things, constantly making messes, and generally using her as the target for all of his never-ending extroverted energy.

She loved him. And she loved her daughter more than anything in the world. But, she couldn't deny that a change in scene with room to let Ellie run around would be a welcome distraction.

She and Logan were already talking about heading down to the Vineyard in August. His parents had gone down in June as always, but both he and Honor had decided that heading down there at the same time would be a terrible idea. They claimed that they were merely following the recommended guidelines and there wasn't any special consideration behind their refusal to participate in the annual Huntzberger pilgrimage this year. But, Mitchum's underlying health problems were a far larger factor than either of them were willing to communicate to him.

Instead, they decided to spread their trips out. Honor and Josh were there with the boys now, and she and Logan would head down as soon as they left. To say they were looking forward to it was an understatement. Rory was aching to see anything other than the same four walls of her house, and Logan was aching to get out to the sea and get away from everything else.

This wasn't the first time that Lorelai had made a joke about heading down to Nantucket. The change of scenery would no doubt be nice for them too. But, Rory also knew that her mother was worried about her grandmother. She may never admit it out loud, but it was pretty clear all the same.

"I think you're being a little melodramatic," Rory chided as she leaned further back into her plush couch and brought a steaming mug of coffee to her lips.

"Um, yes. Hi, Lorelai Gilmore. It's nice to meet you for the first time ever," Rory smiled and rolled her eyes. "So what's going on, sweets? How ya holding up?"

"Oh… you know… as well as can be expected."

"Sure," Lorelai agreed. The subtextual implication of 'shitty' didn't really need to be spoken out loud – by either of them – by anyone on the planet really.

"Although," Rory said. "Speaking of being old… Paris called me yesterday to see how I was doing and to check in on my 'geriatric pregnancy.'"

"She did not…" Lorelai said with a laugh of disbelief. Even after twenty years, Paris' lack of tact still never ceased to amaze her.

"She certainly did," Rory responded. "I think that term technically stopped carrying favor a long time ago. But…"

"Paris," Lorelai answered as if it explained anything and everything that needed to be explained.

"Paris," Rory agreed with a nod. She sighed. "Though, I have to say, I do appreciate how involved she's been. She sends me new research and updates all the time. I just have to keep them away from Logan, because he's going absolutely out of his mind with worry."

"I can't say I blame him, kid," Lorelai commiserated. "I'm kind of worried myself."

"I know…" Rory said with a deep breath. "But the data isn't terrible. It's just… not the best time to be pregnant right now."

"Well…" Lorelai started with a teasing tone. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you had all that hot dirty quarantine sex."

Rory ignored her.

The quarantine baby jokes had been coming their way from every which direction since the moment that they announced they were officially expecting a new member of the family. Lorelai loved to tease them for it, but her comments were nothing compared to those from Logan's family and coworkers.

It didn't help that about three weeks into the New York shut down, Logan had attempted to entertain himself by starting a company pool on who would be the first person to announce a pregnancy. He'd put a hefty amount of money on Bobbie and her husband, Jon. He poked, prodded, and teased them about it constantly. But then, mere weeks later, he found that it was he himself who had fallen victim to the baby boom cliche.

He also found out that, unbeknownst to him, he had been overwhelmingly declared the horse with the best odds.

"And when Logan isn't worrying about me and the baby catching it, he's worrying about if the hospitals will ban visitors again if there is a second wave. And when he's not worrying about the virus, he's worrying about the business functioning with everyone at home."

"Ah, yes. How is your new marriage arrangement coming along by the way?"

Rory managed to crack a smile this time. As much as she needed to vent out her anxieties and frustrations, she appreciated that her mom tried to keep her spirits up as much as possible.

Since February when Logan and Mitchum had first started considering the fact that it was highly likely that they would need to completely shut their offices down all over the country - and all over the world for that matter - Rory had mentioned that Logan seemed to spend more time on the phone with his IT Director, Tim, than he did with his wife and daughter – despite the fact that he was stuck in the house with both of them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Logan's new business relationship had prompted her mother to claim that Logan was clearly trying to add a third to their marriage. And Rory, desperate for any form of amusement at this point, let the joke continue.

"I'm sorry to say that Tim has been replaced in Logan's heart," she said.

"Oh no! Not Tim!" Lorelai cried dramatically. "I was so looking forward to him being my new son-in-law-in-law! Who could possibly steal his affections away?"

"Bob. The chief of legal," Rory said with a sigh.

After weeks of non-stop calls and meetings with IT in which Logan was working tirelessly to iron out all of the technical problems that came with suddenly shifting the majority of his work force to their homes, the problems and road bumps seemed to be ironing out. They'd both breathed a sigh of relief that the ordeal seemed to be taken care of. They didn't, however, have very long to relax before brand a new crisis hit.

"The chief of legal?" Lorelai asked with a raised eyebrow. "You got anything you want to tell me about, kid?"

"We're not in trouble," Rory said, rolling her eyes. "But you know... now we have reporters all over the country being arrested, thrown into jail, and mysteriously ending up with broken ribs and concussions while covering protests."

"Jesus…"

"They're asking for things like bail money and legal counsel."

"Journalists…." Lorelai said, shaking her head. "So demanding."

"They're a needy lot."

The jokes hung in the air, but failed at bringing any sense of levity to the conversation. Her entire industry was under attack. Her colleagues were in the line of fire, getting hurt and intimidated on the streets of the United States of America. When she was younger and her sights were set on being a foreign correspondent, she used to dream about the excitement of reporting in a high stakes environment. She just always assumed that kind of work would require travel. She never expected to find it happening in her own backyard.

"Logan seems to be taking on quite a lot here, kid," Lorelai said, softly.

"Well, Mitchum is slowing down," Rory explained.

Her father-in-law was sixty-seven years old, and while he didn't seem ready to hang up his tie completely any time soon, he didn't have the energy, the stamina, or even the will to do as much as he used to anymore. As a result, the responsibilities of running 'The Failing New York Standard,' as the President had so eloquently dubbed it, were landing far more frequently on her husband's shoulders.

"Some days I don't know whether I should feel proud of him or concerned for him," Rory continued. "On one hand, he's fully living up to the potential I always knew he had – even during his yacht sinking and cliff jumping days. But, on the other hand I'm pretty much certain he's going to end up on blood pressure meds by the time this year is over."

"Well… give him a hug for me, will you?"

"I will," Rory sighed. "Anyway, enough about the Huntzberger situation. How's Luke doing?"

"Luke's doing okay," Lorelai assured. "He's been open for take-out, and Taylor even arranged to set up tables all over the town square for people to eat. Luke and Al have both been doing pretty good business with those."

"And how are you doing?" Rory asked.

Lorelai's face went somber.

"We'll be okay. We'll figure it out," she said.

They both let the unsaid hang in the air. Rory knew that her Mom's finances were in decent shape. But the longer people stayed away from traveling, the more she was hurting. With no end in sight, anxiety around the future of The Dragonfly loomed high. And she refused to accept Logan's help.

"Alright," Lorelai said, raising the pitch of her voice and sitting up higher in her chair. "Enough with the gloom. Where's my baby, and why are you keeping her from me?" Rory rolled her eyes again.

"I resent that. I remember when you used to call me your baby, and you were excited just to see me."

"You're old news, Gilmore. Sorry 'bout, it."

"She's taking a-" she was interrupted by the sound of a big thump coming from the ceiling above her. "- nap. At least she's supposed to be."

Seconds later Rory heard the undeniable ruckus of her three year old bounding down the stairs. Then, a blue flash of tulle and glitter streaked through the living room and collided with a thud right into Rory.

"Oof," Rory grunted while she jerked to save her coffee from spilling all over the couch and tried to ignore the sharp pain from an elbow jabbing into her side. "Ellie, remember we talked about how you need to be careful around Mommy's tummy?"

"There she is! Queen Elsa!"

"Queen Elsa?" Rory asked as she wrapped her arms tightly around the little girl that was now settling into her lap. Ellie, suddenly realizing that she had more than just her mother's attention, turned bashful for a moment and tucked her head underneath Rory's chin. It wasn't often that Ellie turned shy, but it took her awhile to warm up to people when she'd just woken up from a nap.

"I didn't realize that she'd been promoted to royalty since I put her to bed this afternoon."

"Oh yeah," Lorelai said. "Ellie is short for Queen Elsa now. It's not Lorelai anymore. Get with the program, Mommy."

Ellie laughed, but she was still playing coy. Rory adjusted herself, so she could get a better angle on both herself and her daughter on the phone.

"Are you going to say hi, little miss?" Rory asked as she started running her fingers through her daughter's messy blonde curls.

"Hi, Nonna."

"Hi, cutie pie!" Lorelai greeted with a smile. "I see you got the dress I sent you."

Ellie had indeed gotten the dress her grandmother had sent her – along with the Elsa doll, the Olaf plushie, the Anna toothbrush, the copy of a book called "Kristoff's Crystal Adventure," and the homemade Sven hoodie complete with antlers. Rory had hoped and prayed that getting pregnant three years after the release of Frozen might help her to avoid the Frozen mania taking over her house and home. Alas, with the release of Frozen 2, any hope that she'd had of escaping it went flying right out the window.

Her days and nights were now filled entirely with Frozen. She could recite every single line of the movie from start to finish. The songs played in her head on a loop at all hours of the day and night. She knew the names of the most minute characters. She couldn't even enjoy Veronica Mars anymore because every time Kristin Bell opened her mouth, all she could hear was Anna.

"She hasn't taken it off," Rory said. The night before, Ellie had even insisted on sleeping in it. It really wasn't a big deal, especially since it wasn't like they were leaving their house anyway. But, she was starting to worry about what would happen when it started to smell. "Why don't you show Nonna what you learned yesterday?"

Lorelai gasped. "What did you learn?" she asked. With a slight nudge from her mother, Ellie sat up straighter, finally recovering from her grogginess and dropping her shy act.

"E-L-um…." The little girl paused, looking back at her mother for slight encouragement. Rory squeezed her a bit tighter. Lorelai was beaming through the phone.

"Go on," Rory said.

"L-I-E!'

"Good job!" Rory said, pressing a kiss to her daughter's head as she burrowed back into her chest.

"Did my grandbaby just spell her name?!" Lorelai asked. "She's a genius. I knew it! You're a genius, Ellie."

"She gets a little caught up on the double Ls sometimes."

"Where's Daddy?"

"Daddy's in his office, sweetheart," Rory answered. Before she knew what was happening, her lap was suddenly thirty pounds lighter. Ellie had launched herself off and was rocketing herself back up the stairs.

"Oh no…" Rory said, slowly getting off of the couch. She knew by the time she managed to extract herself, her daughter would have probably already barreled into whatever meeting Logan was hosting at the current moment, and when Logan was in meetings, she was the one who was supposed to be on Ellie duty.

"DADDY!"

"Oh boy," she added. Lorelai simply laughed. "I have to go, Mom. I have a toddler to wrangle."

"Good luck, sweets!"

Logan had a pounding headache.

He didn't know if it was stress, lack of sleep, the brightness of his screen, or the seemingly never ending barrage of meetings that he'd been sitting through since 7:30am. All he knew was that the pressure under his brow had been building for the last hour and if he wasn't able to rectify it soon with some painkillers, it was going to turn into a day ruiner. If his father would just stop talking for one second, he might be able to wrap this conversation up and get some Tylenol.

"…I think it has potential. Good reporters. I think it could be a decent holding for us if we can get in there soon and move some things around. Their quarterly profits are down, but if we can shift their focus from printing, get them a more robust online platform, market to a younger demographic – college kids, grad students-"

"DADDY!"

The piercing shriek of his daughter's voice cut through the air like a knife, and Logan could see the faces of two members of the board wince over the Zoom screen. Before he even had a chance to look over his shoulder, a thirty pound sparkly torpedo landed right into his chest. He grunted and planted his feet firmly on the ground in an effort to try to stop his chair from rolling out from under them both.

"Hi, sweetie. Isn't it nap time?" he asked before turning his attention back to his screen. "Sorry, gentlemen."

A quick look at his computer showed that three out of the five people currently attending this meeting did not at all appreciate the apparent new addition to their board making her appearance known in the middle of their meeting. He was also pretty sure that he could expect a lecture from his father about keeping his family under control while they were working as soon as this call ended.

"I'm not tired!" Ellie stated emphatically. At least that made one of them.

"Okay…" Logan said with a sigh. Ellie started squirming in his lap as she rummaged around his desk for paper and pens to draw with. "Well why don't you go find Mommy and get a snack?"

"I'm not hungry."

Logan took a deep breath. He wasn't exactly sure what to do here. He'd managed to avoid the children/dogs crashing the Zoom meeting cliché until this very moment. He didn't want to upset Ellie by kicking her out, especially since she really hadn't done anything wrong. Also, if he was being honest, he'd much rather be spending this time drawing pictures with his little girl than listening to his father drone on and on for twenty more minutes about the newest HPG acquisition for the third meeting in a row.

And, now, undoubtedly, he would be subject to his Dad droning on and on about how his inability to put a lock on his office door is negatively impacting the work environment. Looking back to his computer screen, he was just about to apologize once again when he was suddenly stopped short by the look of sheer glee on his father's face.

"Is that my girl?"

Ellie seemed to notice the joy in Mitchum's face as well, because upon hearing her grandfather's voice, she stopped fidgeting with the papers on Logan's desk and gave him a big smile instead.

"Hi, Grampa."

"Hi, Princess. Don't you look pretty today." Ellie's bashfulness returned and she curled into Logan's chest. He pressed a kiss into the crown of her head. "Boys, isn't my granddaughter the prettiest thing you've ever seen?"

Instantly, the men who were seconds ago annoyed by the interruption of little miss Ellie Huntzberger were now chiming in with comments about how precious and delightful the little girl was. Logan could only watch in bewilderment and astonishment. Apparently, the quarantine really was getting to his father's head.

At the sound of two quick and soft knocks on his open door, Logan turned around to see his wife standing there looking slightly guilty.

"Knock knock," she said as she walked toward Logan and Ellie. "Sorry, gentlemen," she said leaning into the frame. "She got away from me. Come on, Ellie. Daddy is working."

"She's okay, Ace," Logan said, clinging onto his daughter a little more tightly. He wasn't about to let this snuggle time pass him by while he father was in such an agreeable mood. Holding Ellie in his lap might actually make this meeting far more tolerable. Rory cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, gotta start grooming her for the family business sometime,"

"Hi, Rory. How are you feeling? Is my grandson treating you okay?"

"I'm alright. The morning sickness is settling down a bit."

"Glad to hear it," Mitchum said. "And is my son treating you okay?"

"No complaints at the moment," Rory said, actually cracking a smile. "But I'll let you know as soon as that changes."

"I'll expect a call by the end of the day then," Mitchum teased. Logan rolled his eyes.

"Well I don't want to hold up your meeting any longer. Sorry about the intrusion," Rory said to the team of uptight men assembled on the screen. "Are you sure she's okay?" she asked more softly, directly to Logan.

"She's perfect."

"Alright," she leaned down and kissed Ellie on the forehead. She brushed her fingers over Logan's shoulders as she walked behind him. He reached out and grabbed her hand before she had the chance to slip away.

"Can you bring me some Tylenol? Headache."

"Of course."

Logan turned and watched her walk out of the room. His heart suddenly felt replenished. With this baby girl sitting in his lap and the feeling of his wife's fingers on his shoulders still lingering, he felt like a truly blessed man – so blessed that he almost forgot about the meeting that was still transpiring in front of him. When he focused back on the screen, he realized that everyone else was waiting for his attention in silence. He was about to apologize, but his father beat him to the punch.

"Okay, now that you're done staring at your wife's ass, we can get this meeting back on track… I hope we got all of that in the minutes, by the way…."

And there was the father that he knew. Thankfully, Ellie seemed to be none the wiser to Mitchum's less than savory comments, and was happily scribbling away on a piece of HPG stationary with his Mont Blanc pen. Her little tongue was sticking out in fierce concentration. Not for the first time, Logan ached to know what was going on in her little brain. Her nondescript and messy scribbles seemed so entirely random and illogical to him. And yet, the amount of utter determination on her face as she was making them made it seem like they were completely and totally deliberate.

He never ceased to be in awe of her. Saying that the day she was born was the happiest day of his life was such an overused cliché – but nothing had ever been more true. When he held her in his arms for the very first time he was overcome with a wave of love so powerful he was almost knocked over by it. He'd never realized that it was possible for one human being to contain that much love in their person. And what he hadn't even imagined was how every day this little girl was in his life that love would continue to grow by decibels.

He was a goner. Logan had thought he was a goner one previous time in his life – when some random brunette started yelling at him in a dorm hallway and called him Judi Dench. But, looking back, he knew that was nothing in comparison. He loved his wife. He had since he was 22 years old. But no woman ever could steal his heart so swiftly as little Lorelai Huntzberger did the second he first heard her scream. He would die for her. And that wasn't hyperbole.

With Ellie's smiles and cuddles taking some of his attention, he found that the remainder of the meeting so much more tolerable. After popping the Tylenol that Rory brought to him and relaxing in the presence of his daughter, he found his headache slipping away.

Four months ago, he would have checked himself into an insane asylum for thinking this – but he was starting to get used to being stuck at home.

It would be nice if he had the opportunity to get out just a little bit more and if the feeling that the walls closing in on him would go away. It would be nice if he could see his friends in real life rather than just on one of their Animal Crossing islands. It would be nice to get a break from the never ending stress that this year was bringing. It would be nice to have someone to talk to other than his wife during the rare times that being around each other so constantly started to drive them crazy.

But, overall, he knew exactly how lucky he was. The slight annoyances that he and Rory had faced over the last few months were more than tolerable compared to the alternative of not having each other. Dealing with the tiny idiosyncrasies that drove one another crazy about the other was so much more tolerable than one of them being sick. And more often than not, Ellie's boundless enthusiasm kept them entertained rather than burnt out. As far as quarantine environments went, Logan had to assume that he had a pretty good deal. He wasn't looking forward to what September would bring once Ellie was supposed to begin pre-school, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

A lot of people he knew weren't quite as lucky. He was all but certain that the only reason his parents were still married at this point was because his Dad had basically moved into the pool house. Colin's relationship was fraying at the edges. Finn was going absolutely insane with not being able to travel and living in his big apartment completely by himself.

He knew exactly how lucky he was, because sometimes when he looked at his friends he couldn't help but think about how if just one thing had gone wrong three years ago, he himself would also be living through his period of time in absolute misery.

But, he didn't want to think about that now. It only sent him down a mental and emotional path that he didn't want to follow.

He was lucky. He was happy. And, on the good days, he was almost grateful for the amount of unprecedented time he got to spend with his family.

Now, if only he could convince Keisha that he wasn't joking when he said he wanted to set up a meeting with Bob Iger to talk about the possibility of removing Frozen from Disney Plus...

Several hours had passed since Rory had slipped back into her husband's office to hand him some pain killers, and she hadn't seen him since. Ellie had long ago extracted herself from the room, having gotten tired of drawing and the boring old men droning on about business analytics far outside the comprehension of a three-year-old . Rory had put her to bed almost an hour ago. The Brooklyn sun had already set, and her stomach was full of the dinner she'd eaten alone.

She'd been able to get quite a bit of writing done during the time that Ellie was in with Logan, and she was feeling content and accomplished. Her newest book was coming along nicely, and considering the fact that she was writing a deep dive into the somewhat hostile corporate takeover of community based healthcare systems across the country, it was a pretty timely moment to be writing it. She was rarely short of inspiration, and her publisher was far more excited about her decision to move her writing career back in a more journalistic direction. Clearly, current events had him thinking it would be more profitable that he'd originally believed.

As a reward, she'd put on a pair of sleep pants and a sweatshirt, popped open a carton of Cherry Garcia, and settled into the couch to finally watch the season finale of Drag Race All Stars. She'd been anxiously waiting for a chance to watch this episode since Friday, hoping that Shea Coulee would finally win her just reward. Over the last couple years, she had started to joke that she'd been so shocked by Sasha Velour's unexpected victory over her in 2017 that it was responsible for sending her into labor. It wasn't exactly true, but it was funny to pretend it was.

RuPaul was just instructing the girls to prepare to lip sync for their legacy when she heard footsteps making their way up the stairs into the living room.

"Hey," she said as Logan padded barefoot to the couch and settled himself down next to her. "I was getting ready to file a missing person's report."

Logan smiled and brought the glass of scotch he'd brought with him from the kitchen to his lips. He then let out a long sigh and rubbed at his eyes. Rory settled himself into his side

"Long day?" Rory asked. She reached her arm around his back and started running her fingernails through the hair at the nape of his neck. Logan shivered and instantly relaxed at the touch.

"Yeah," Logan answered with a yawn.

"You okay?" Rory asked.

"I'm fine. How are you feeling?" Logan asked.

He wrapped his arm around her and his hand landed on her stomach. Logan, having not been around for the worse of her morning sickness with Ellie, was overly concerned with every trip to the toilet or dizzy spell. Rory would be annoyed if she wasn't just a little bit touched by his concern.

"Tired," she answered before settling herself even closer to him. Then, feeling a bit bold, she placed a hand on his thigh and started administering a light massage. "A little horny..."

Logan snorted.

"I dunno, Ace," he said. "I'm pretty tired myself." Rory sat up a little bit straighter at his response.

"Logan Huntzberger, did you just turn down a blatant invitation for sex?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "Okay… now I really am worried about you."

"What can I say? You're married to an old man." Rory scoffed.

"Oh please. You're not old."

"Pushing 40," Logan said.

He took another sip of his scotch and shot her a sideways glance. Rory rolled her eyes. Honor's 40th birthday back in November had really been getting to him. The ironic thing was that she had actually taking it in stride. Logan was the one who seemed far more disturbed by the idea.

"Well, then I guess we're just going to have to make the most of these next two years before you turn forty and instantly start to disintegrate and dry up into an ashy pile of dust like that Nazi guy from The Last Crusade."

Rory settled herself back down. She cuddled up against Logan, resting her head in the space between his shoulder and chin. Logan threw his arm over his shoulder and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"Besides… you're not the one with the geriatric pregnancy."

"Fucking Paris…" Logan grumbled.

The truth was that Rory was a little worried about the way that Logan had taken to the idea of getting older. It had gotten really bad since the lockdown, but she couldn't help but think that the stress and fatigue that he was feeling had far more to do with the current political and social environment than it did with his age. But, then, Logan wasn't used to being this affected by political and social strife. He was used to gliding through life completely oblivious to most of it because it never actually had any consequence on his life. Adjusting to the current reality was rough on him, and he liked to find any other excuse for why he was feeling the way that he was feeling.

There were a lot of unprecedented fears he was living with - that everyone was living with. And they were making other stressors like aging and preparing for a new baby and juggling all of his responsibilities at work all the worse.

"I love you, Ace."

Rory shifted a bit in his arms. The declaration had come out of left field, and she hadn't really been expecting it. It wasn't that Logan didn't tell her he loved her regularly. He did. But, statements that sincere usually didn't come when they were in the middle of teasing each other.

"Aw," Rory said, continuing with the teasing tone she'd had just a moment before. She reached up and pinched his cheek. "I love you too, you big softie."

"I'm being serious."

Rory glanced at him, somberly. The puppy dog look on his face was undeniable.

"This entire year has been such a nightmare…" he said. "I know that I'm not alone in that. But… sometimes I wonder how I'm going to make it through to the end of all of this. The only thing keeping me going is you and Ellie and the baby. And then I remember how close I came to not having you."

"Logan…"

"I came so close to living through this time without you. With someone else," he said. Rory could see his eyes getting glossy even in the dim light. "How would I be able to handle all of this with anyone but you?"

Rory craned her neck up to come level with his face. She brought her hand to his cheek and caressed the spot where his skin met the quarantine beard that he'd started growing back in April. Leaning forward, she pressed a soft and lingering kiss to his lips.

"Let's not focus on what could have happened. It doesn't matter..." Rory said, softly. "The only thing that matters is what did happen."

Logan leaned down to kiss her this time, and when he pulled away he rested his forehead against hers. Rory smiled at him and continued to caress his cheek for a few seconds, her fingertips running over the fine hairs completely covering the bottom hand of his face.

"You know…" she said. "I have to admit… the quarantine beard? It's growing on me."

Rory knew instantly that her mission to improve his mood had worked. Logan's somber expression was quickly replaced with a wide smile, and he started needling at her all over again.

"Oh yeah?!" he asked. "What happened to Miss 'beards-are-ugly-and-they-hurt-and-I-hate-them'?"

"That's Mrs.'beards-are-ugly-and-they-hurt-and-I-hate-them' to you, Mister," Rory quipped. "And I dunno. I guess I'm just starting to see the appeal. That's all."

"Oh yeah?" Logan asked again, wiggling her eyebrows at her.

"Yes, okay? It's sexy. I admit it," she said. "And it doesn't really hurt that much anymore."

When Rory settled back into the crook of his shoulder, a comfortable and peaceful silence fell between them as the show continued on. A few minutes later, Janelle Monet's voice filled the living room and Rory watched with rapt attention as the final lip sync battle commenced. In a matter of moments, RuPaul delivered the final verdict.

"Oh my gosh!" Rory cheered, a beaming smile lighting up her face. "Logan! Shea won! Shea Coulee is vindicated! All is right with the world again!"

The only response Rory received to her enthusiastic cry of celebration was a single snore. Sitting up, Rory looked over at her husband and found him fast asleep. His head was lulled over the back of the couch and his mouth was slightly open. Rory smiled. Leaning over him, she reached for the glass of scotch still hanging in his right hand and placed it on the coffee table before he had a chance to spill it all over the couch.

"Well…" Rory said to herself as she snuggled back into him and watched Shea parade around the runway with her newly donned crown on her blue wig. "…some things are right anyway."

AN: Alright, guys, this is really the end! This epilogue was actually one of the very first chapters that I wrote, hence the slight rewind in the current timeline. I thought briefly about updating it to now, but I thought that it was just a bit more powerful earlier on in the pandemic. So, I kept it as it was.

I know some of you were hoping to see the wedding. The truth is, the wedding is just too eventful in my mind to use as a good epilogue. Too many plot details and craziness. I do plan to cover it in one of my spin offs eventually though. So, you will be seeing it eventually.

I hope this fluffiness made up for the angst of my most recent TFB update. Though, if you haven't checked it out, I would love it if you would give it a chance.

Writing this for you all has been such a privilege. Thank you again for all of your support and your reviews. Until next time!