"What're you thinking about, Ace?" Logan asked quietly. He and Rory were lounging on their bed, exhausted; Hannah almost refused to go to sleep because she was so excited about meeting Emmerson and Scarlett the next day that she wanted to stay up and watch the hours and minutes tick down.

"Nothing," Rory whispered.

"That's a big lie. Talk to me."

"Let me rephrase – it's nothing bad."

"I'm still listening…"

"Do you ever wish we had another kid?"

Logan was struck by the question. They'd never really talked about this before; the topic had never been broached or approached by either of them. He assumed – believed- it was because a conversation wasn't necessary. It wasn't a conversation they'd never had because they avoided it. Rather than answer, he countered it with a question of his own. "Do you?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I think, sometimes, when I'm picturing an alternate, idealized bizzarro world where we actually had a more traditional life and a less dizzying road to parenthood – maybe. But as soon as I get to a certain point in the daydream, I remember the life we do have – and for all its faults- I prefer it… we didn't have to fight, and fight and fight for this life, this life wouldn't be our life and maybe we wouldn't have made anything work at all."

"I know what you mean."

"I don't know if I would've wanted that idealized life. And honestly? I never really gave much thought to becoming a mother at all, until it happened."

"I hear that," Logan chuckled. "Do you… do you regret –"

Rory looked up at him with wide eyes. "Never. You know that."

"I know. I didn't mean like – I just meant –"

"I know – I understand. Do I wish our rough patches weren't black holes? Absolutely. Do I wish we'd found our comfy place a little sooner? One hundred percent. But I wouldn't really change… – I wouldn't change it. We have Hannah and she's everything and we love her dearly, but – I never really considered having more kids. And I just – with Jess and Kathleen and the twins, it occurred to me – what if you considered having more kids and we just never really talked about it the way we should have?"

Logan smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind Rory's ear. "Ace, if I wanted to talk to you about it – if I thought we needed to talk about it, I would have. I'm right there with you, on all of it. It's scary, actually, how in sync our thinking is, given we never talked about it."

"Really?"

"Totally. I'm happy being one and done. Hannah's not alone, or lonely – I'm not worried about how the lack of a sibling might have some negative effect on her development. I love our life; we don't need another kid to complete our family, and we shouldn't think we need to feel bad about it to make it okay."

"Thank God Hannah's never asked for, or expressed an interest in siblings," Rory laughed.

"After meeting the babies tomorrow, she might start," Logan winked.

"Oh God – you'll have to help me have the 'Mommy and Daddy are happy with just you,' conversation."

"You never know – she's young enough that she might just accept that answer at face value. Can't say the same for the round of twenty thousand intrusive questions adults would have. But with our seven-year-old? There's a chance…"

"If I have to spin this into a 'Mommy's too old…' justification –"

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that," he chuckled. "So… it's my turn to ask a question…"

"No."

"I'm not allowed to ask you a question?"

"You're allowed – I just know what the question is because you've asked me almost every day for the past week. My answer is still no. It's like you want me to fight with you about it," Rory laughed, kissing him. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm okay with this?"

"Oh, at least fifty times – before we get through with it."

"If you've changed your mind, we don't have to –"

"No, I haven't."

"Your word hole is saying you haven't, but everything else about you is saying maybe you have."

"I haven't," Logan promised. "Believe me, if I was having any second thoughts, I would've pulled the plug long before now."

"I swear to God, Huntzberger… if you pull a Plath and stick your head in an oven over this thing that was your idea – leaving me to raise our mutually agreed upon only child, all by my lonesome…" Rory teased playfully, "…I will most certainly curse your name for the rest of my earthy days and encourage our daughter to do the same."

"Well, if that isn't an impassioned plea to never leave you, I don't know what is."

Rory kissed him softly. "Damn straight. Never leave me – never leave us, Huntzberger."

"I won't." Logan caressed Rory's cheek and kissed her lips gently, smiling. "Right back atcha, Ace.

"This is Emmerson, and Kathleen's got Scarlett," Jess said softly, rocking back and forth on his feet as Emmerson cooed in his arms.

Rory gasped as she looked between them, taking in the sight of both of the babies. As she did, she instinctively reached for Logan's hand, intertwining her fingers with his. "Oh my God look at them. Aw, they're beautiful. So sweet."

"Yeah, I'd say they're pretty perfect. Well done, Kathleen," Logan smiled.

"Thank you!" Kathleen laughed.

"I mean, you too Jess, but –"

"Oh God, no, are you kidding? It was all her. I had a hand in making them, but the hard work was all Kath. I deserve no credit."

"They're so small," Hannah whispered.

"I know. But they're a month old now, so they were even smaller when they were born, if you can believe it."

"How small?"

"My girl Scarlett Caroline over there? She pretty much fit in the palm of my hand," Jess said, shifting Emmerson to one arm and raising his empty palm to emphasize the point. "Emmerson Luke was a bit bigger, and his arms and legs were longer than his sister's, so he never quite fit in my palm."

"Luke, like after Poppa?"

"The one and only," he nodded. "He cried when he heard."

"Aww, he's a curmudgeon with a heart of gold," Rory chuckled.

"What does… curmugon mean?" Hannah asked.

Jess deliberated before answering. "Generally… grumpy person."

"Poppa's not grumpy – not really…"

"That's because he likes you more than he likes any of us," Logan laughed.

Rory punched his shoulder. "Hey!"

"Fine – he likes Hannah better than most of us and she's the cutest of the bunch."

"Listen to your dad, Hannah, he's wiser than he looks," Jess smirked, "although… I'm sorry to tell you, Banana – you might not be the cutest of all of us anymore. These babies might have you beat."

"That's okay. They're younger and littler than me. They can be cuter, too," Hannah answered, walking over to Kathleen and staring at Scarlett's face before returning to Jess' side and doing the same with Emmerson. "Yup, they're definitely cuter than me," she smiled.

Everyone laughed.

"Where'd you come up with Caroline?" Logan asked.

"After my mom – she goes by Carol, but," Kathleen answered.

He smiled. "Perfect."

"My middle name is the same as my Gamma's name too!" Hannah said excitedly.

"Can't go wrong sharing a name with Gamma," Kathleen said with authority, validating Hannah's excitement.

"I'm meeting my other Gamma soon too – my dad's mom! We're going for Thanksgiving!"

Jess exchanged a look with Rory and Logan, and they both nodded to him calmly. Not my business, he thought.

"You are?" Kathleen asked. "That's exciting."

"Can I – can I hold one of them, please?" Hannah asked, looking between Jess and Kathleen.

"You bet, Banana!" Jess said. "You can hold both of them if you want. One at a time though – who do you want first?"

Hannah seemed to ruminate before answering, but she posed it as a question, looking directly at Kathleen. "Scarlett?"

"You got it," Kathleen nodded.

"Hey, Nannah," Logan crouched down to meet her eye, and took her hand, "why don't we go wash our hands first – you, me and Mom? Babies are delicate and we have to be careful with them – especially these two cuties because they're not even a month old yet- so we should make sure our hands are super clean before we hold babies that don't belong to us."

Hannah nodded.

Logan kissed her forehead. "That's my girl." He stood up, pressed his free palm into Rory's and the three of them walked towards the kitchen, hand-in-hand.

Rory and Logan made sure at least one of them was sitting beside Hannah to show her how to hold the babies properly and help her if anything happened. What followed was almost an hour of two babies being passed between four adults and a child, lots of smartphone pictures in all possible combinations and easy conversation between four friends.

Kathleen was the one who pulled the plug on the get-together as soon as she hit a wall of fatigue, and knowing the twins would need to be fed soon. "It's so cute," Kathleen said after everyone had left, "Hannah was like, genuinely sad she was too little to really help us with the twins in any way."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Kath. She may live a bit of a ways away, but give it a few years – I can pretty much guarantee that she'll be the most willing and eager babysitter we'll ever have," Jess smirked, with a wink. "And, bonus, to make it worth the commute for her, we can be childfree for an entire day, even full weekends at a time."

"I'm glad you're so sure of the future. I admire it, considering I don't see a crystal ball anywhere on your person."

"Scoff at me now; but mark my words, that's exactly what'll happen," Jess promised, kissing Kathleen's cheek sweetly as she settled onto their bed and positioned her nursing pillow.

"Dad?" Hannah said quietly.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Logan answered.

"What if… what if this grandma doesn't like me?"

"Honey… why wouldn't she like you?"

"Well – you didn't like her for a while, so what if she meets me and she doesn't like me?"

"Hannah," Logan sighed, picking her up and sitting her on his lap, "it's true, I didn't talk to my mom for a while, but it was never because I didn't like her. She never disliked me."

"Well then why? If you didn't not like each other, why would you not talk?"

"It's… complicated. We were going through lots of things. Sometimes, it's not easy to talk to your family, but it doesn't automatically mean you don't like them. That's not what this was. It took us time, but we're working everything out and we want to spend time together now. And she wants to meet you."

"Are you sure?"

"If I wasn't sure… Nannah, I would never do anything to hurt you; I'll never let anyone hurt you if I can help it. If I didn't truly believe that my mom wanted to get to know you, and if I thought she would hurt you, I'd never let it happen."

"Okay."

"Hannah, I'm going to ask you something and it's really important you tell me the truth, okay?"

Hannah nodded.

"Do you want to meet her? You were excited about it when you were telling Kathleen and Jess about our trip a few weeks ago, but if you've changed your mind and you're not excited anymore, we don't have to go," Logan spoke slowly, looking his daughter square in the eye. "You can tell me."

"I think…" she said softly, "I think I still do want to go, but I – I'm just scared she won't like me."

"Hannah, she'll like you. You're smart and sweet and thoughtful and curious – it's impossible not to like you. And remember, we're not just going there to meet your grandmother – we're visiting Auntie Honour and Uncle Josh and your cousins too, so you don't have to spend a lot of time with this strange new grandma if you don't want. I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. I just want you to be your kind, sweet self and let her grow to love you like everyone does, but it isn't your job to make it happen. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah."

"If anything happens, or you feel weird, you just tell me okay?"

"Yeah."

"Should we have a secret signal?" Logan smiled.

"Oh, yeah!" Hannah laughed. "Can we?"

"Of course! How about… pulling your ear and scrunching up your face, like you're trying to stop a sneeze?" He made a face, to show her.

"Okay," she giggled, mirroring the face and pulling her ear.

"Perfect! It'll be okay, Nannah, I promise. And remember – just be yourself, it's not your job to make her like you and you don't have to spend all your time with her. I want you to have fun and do what you want. And if you need me for anything at all, just make the face and I'm right there, okay?"

"Mmm-hmm. I love you, Dad," she said softly, wrapping her arms around Logan's neck.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear.

"Hi Gamma Shira, I'm Hannah," Hannah said shyly, tentatively reaching out to shake her hand.

Shira was momentarily speechless; Hannah had Logan's blonde hair and Rory's blue eyes; she looked at this little girl with her quiet, shaky confidence and was instantly taken back to when Honour and Logan were of similar age. "Hi Hannah. It's very nice to meet you," Shira smiled, taking her hand gently.

"I drew something for you."

"You did?"

Hannah nodded, turning to Logan. "Dad, get my backpack?"

Logan grinned and opened the main zipper for her before setting her bag down in front of her.

Hannah leaned down and pulled a drawing out of her bag and handed it to Shira. "Sorry it's a bit crumpled."

"That's okay," Shira said, taking the picture and unfolding it as she sat down on the couch. "Hannah, this is beautiful." The picture was of Hannah, Rory, Logan and Shira – underneath the drawing it said, I hope we can be friends. Shira's eyes started to well up.

"Don't you like it?"

"Of course I do."

Hannah's brow furrowed. "But you're crying." She was just about to look at Logan and pull her ear when…

"I'm crying because I like it. I promise," Shira said. "Thank you, Hannah."

Rory and Logan stood tensely, watching the whole interaction. Logan was ready to springboard in at any second. But when Shira said thank you, they both instinctively relaxed and looked at each other, exchanging tentative smiles.

"Is it okay if I go play with Georgie?" Hannah asked after a few minutes. Her question was quiet and nervous, as if maybe she wouldn't be allowed.

"Of course you can, Hun," Rory said.

"Are you sure?" she looked at Logan.

"Yeah," Logan smiled. "Go on."

Once Hannah was gone, Shira stood up, flitting her gaze between Rory and Logan. "She's beautiful. She's… she really seems like the best of both of you." Her eyes locked with Rory's; she spoke slowly and deliberately. "Thank you, for agreeing to let me meet her. For spending this weekend with us. I know we have a lot to work through. And I have no idea how to bridge this initial… I know we have a long way to go. And I have no expectations. I just – thank you. For agreeing to try to let me – to let me be a small part of her life, and yours. I know I don't deserve it."

Rory didn't quite know what to say. It took her a minute to find her voice. "All the stuff that happened – that's over now and… and we need to try to move forward." She nodded resolutely and looked to Logan. "I'll give you guys some time. I'm going to go unpack a bit," she said softly, kissing Logan gently, smiling at Shira and leaving the room.

Logan walked to his mother slowly and wrapped his arms tentatively around her.

"Oh Logan," Shira whispered, hugging him tightly. "I don't even know where to start. There's so much to –"

"It's okay, Mom. We have time. We don't have to fix everything this weekend. It'd be foolish to think we could."

"I just – I've missed so much. And as much as – it wasn't all your father's fault. I should have –"

"Yeah," Logan sighed. "But we're all here now. Let's treat this like a new beginning and see where we end up."