AN: Here it is! Please remember this story is nearing the end, I'm not sure exactly how much is left but it won't be much longer. The next chapter we will celebrate Christmas which I m excited for. Please read, review, enjoy (but really...the reviews keep me going)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter Twenty Five

Logan was tired…tired…was that a strong enough word? No, Logan was exhausted. But then as if things couldn't get any worse, his parents had just surprised him by showing up in town and now Rory wasn't answering her phone, not to mention the fact that his in-laws were on their way to pick up the kids and his daughter had no interest in going to see them that night. He had also been working late all week in an effort to make sure things were running smoothly at work, but he thought those days were almost behind him as the startup was taking off.

"Look, you guys can't just show up here and think that it is no big deal. Does Honor know you were coming?" Logan glared at his parents as he ignored his daughter having a tantrum in the other room.

"Of course Honor does't know we were coming," Mitchum rolled his eyes as though it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard, "if Honor knew we were coming the first thing she would've done is tell you and then you would've made sure not to answer the door."

"She's a good sister," Logan rolled his eyes. "What do you want? As you can see I've got a lot on my plate here and respectfully…it has been months."

He wasn't wrong, it had been months. It was nearing the middle of December. He thought his decision not to go home for Thanksgiving would've been a clear enough signal, but apparently it wasn't.

"Logan," his mother spoke, obviously hoping that she could make headway that her husband couldn't, "we cannot let this silly little argument continue you. We are family, like it or not, we are all each other has…you, your father, your sister and I…and then your families…"

"Funny, I don't think Dad was thinking about that when he offered my girlfriend a job in an effort to get her to move halfway across the country!"

"Logan, that was a misunderstanding. Surely you can understand that your father thought you would join her."

Logan was sick of the conversation, and he was sick of listening to Olivia scream in the other room. "I have to deal with this. Please leave. I will give you a call when I can talk. When are you leaving town?"

"We don't have a plan yet. We wanted to speak with you."

"Please just go," Logan told them again, "I will call you later." He didn't wait for his parents to say anything when he walked out of the kitchen and found his daughter screaming on the floor in front of the television while Jack was happily watching his show. "Liv," Logan warned, "stop."

"I don't wanna go!" Olivia screamed.

"Livie, you have to go."

"No!"

"OLIVIA!" Logan shouted which got her attention. He waited a moment and her bottom lip started to quiver before she burst into tears once more, "Liv," Logan exhaled and walked over to her, picking her up on the floor as she sobbed into his shirt. "Sweetheart, what is wrong?"

"I," Olivia heaved against him, "I wanna stay with youuuuu!"

Logan rubbed her back as she calmed down. She had declared a few hours earlier that she didn't want to see her Abuela and Abuelo and instead wanted to stay home, "honey, they are on their way to get you. You have to go today…"

"But not anymore?" Olivia sniffled.

"Why don't we talk about it?" Logan suggested, if he could get her through the weekend then at least they could make a plan for the future as opposed to him declaring that she didn't want to visit them. "You go this weekend and then we will figure out a new plan?"

"I don't wanna!" Olivia sobbed.

"Liv," Logan exhaled, he heard the sound of his front door opening and closing and he was relieved that his parents had at least left, nothing like a child with emotions to get them to flee as quickly as possible. "Abuela and Abuelo love you."

"I wanna play with you and Rory."

"Ahh," Logan exhaled, "honey, Rory will be here on Sunday when you get back."

"P-p-p," Olivia hiccuped, "promise?"

"I promise," Logan heard the door opening downstairs and he knew that Rory must've arrived, he wasn't sure if this would make it better or worse but he figured it was worth a shot, "Liv, that is Rory, why don't you go say hi?" He suggested as he put the little girl down.

"Really?"

"Yes, now go," Logan exhaled as Olivia ran to the stairs, "slow," he warned her and she immediately came to a stop and walked delicately down the stairs.

"Rory?" Olivia sniffled as she made her way into the basement.

"Hey kiddo," Rory smiled as she put her weekend bag down and picked Olivia up to hug her, "have you been crying? Are you ok?"

"Daddy won't let me stay here," Olivia sniffled as Rory hugged her.

"Well sweetie you have to go see your grandparents, they probably have lots of fun things planned and good snacks," Rory explained as she walked up the steep stairs to the main floor where Logan and Jack were now sitting watching television. "Hey," Rory smiled as she sat down on the couch with Olivia still attached to her, she leaned towards Logan and gave him a kiss, "things here are…"

"Livie no want come to 'buela," Jack didn't even more his head from the television, "you pretty," he added as he did finally look at Rory.

"Thank you," Rory laughed as Olivia leaned against her.

"I told Liv that we can talk about a new plan moving forward, but she needs to go because Abuela and Abuelo are on their way."

"Well honey, why do you want to stay here?" Rory asked.

"You are here and you and Daddy are going to have fun."

Rory shook her head, she had learned in the time she had known these kids that sometimes lying was the only solution, for example she had told the kids there wasn't enough room on the plane when Rory had gone to Hartford for Thanksgiving and Logan and the kids had stayed home. "Babe, I have to work this weekend," at least this was true, she did have some work to do but certainly not enough to take up an entire weekend. "But if you go to Abuela and Abuelo's house for the weekend, I will do all my work and I will see you Sunday for dinner and then on Thursday I will come here and we will go to your Christmas pageant and then I will stay here for a while and we will celebrate Christmas…how does that sound?"

"Will we make cookies for Santa?"

"We will make cookies for Santa and we will have so much fun, and I don't have to work, and it is going to be the best time ever."

"Do I have to go tonight?"

"Liv," Logan interrupted, "why don't you want to go?"

"I don't want to miss the fun."

Logan nodded. He understood. Olivia was afraid that something extra fun was happening while Rory was there, and sure there was some adult fun going on, but there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as Olivia was concerned. The doorbell rang before he could say any more and Logan stood up, "you guys finish this show and then come to the door, understood?" Both of the kids nodded and Logan made his way to the front door. He swung the door open and saw both of his in-laws standing in front of him. He had known of course that eventually Olivia wouldn't want to spend every weekend with them, but he still knew it was going to be a hard thing for them, it was going to be confusing and heartbreaking, but he also didn't want them to not see the kids. "Hey," Logan smiled as he ushered them in. "I was…I was hoping we could talk for a minute. The kids are in the other room with Rory."

"Your girlfriend is here," Michael nodded, he immediately received a strong glare from his wife as if to remind him to be on his best behaviour. Logan nodded his head and Michael waited a moment to speak, "I have an apology to make," Michael admitted, thinking back to when he had seen them at the restaurant and he hadn't been the kindest person.

Logan nodded as Michael walked away and he turned to Maria, "so…."

"It's too soon," Maria exhaled, it was as though she knew what was coming before he even said it, "she is a little piece of Lucia in every way…including this," she added with a laugh.

"She thinks she is missing out on something here," Logan explained, he could see that Maria was actively trying to suppress her emotional response to this. "I think maybe…maybe we just need to revamp this," he suggested, "we'll do some weekends, and maybe we can do Sunday dinner?"

"Sunday dinner?" Maria's eyes twinkled a bit thinking back to having her own two daughters at her table every weekend, "you would?"

"I'm not looking to take them away from you, and I'm not looking to replace their mom. I'm sure sometimes it feels like a lot is going on…but I don't want you to think that you will ever be anything but family."

"Your mother called me," Maria told him with a smirk.

Logan rolled his eyes, "sorry about her. If it makes you feel any better she surprised me in town tonight, her and my father."

Maria's eyes widened, "mijo, no!"

"Something about family reunification," Logan laughed.

"I told her, I said 'Shira, the boy needs space, do not come here', I thought she understood. I'm so sorry, I would have warned you."

"This is on them," Logan shrugged. "So…do you think he's making an ass out of himself or…"

"You know how he gets," Maria laughed. "I don't want to force Olivia to come here," she told him honestly, "I want her to enjoy it. So if you are comfortable with Sunday dinners when we are all in town, maybe we can just ask her every other Thursday if she wants to come for the weekend and that choice is hers…"

"I think she will say yes more often than you think," Logan admitted. He and Rory had discussed the possibility of her subletting her apartment in January and her moving in so Logan figured that once Rory was a more permanent figure, Olivia wouldn't cling to weekends with her as much.

xxx

Michael had lingered in the back of the room before he made his presence known, just watching as Rory interacted with his grandchildren. He watched as she rubbed Olivia's back and wiped a bit of drool from Jack as they were watching the show, Mac was curled up on the couch with them as well. He watched as both kids slowly snuggled into her and she embraced them warmly. It hurt, of course. Watching someone else do the things that his daughter should have been doing with her children, but as his wife had pointed out, Logan could have ended up with a woman who didn't love those kids and that would have been much more painful than seeing them with a woman who did love them.

"Mija, Mijo," Michael interrupted the moment and both kids jumped up and ran to him, for all of her objections Olivia was now thrilled to see her grandparents, "hello my love," Michael knelt down and kissed them both on the cheek, "you two are bigger since last time?"

"No," Jack giggled, "I no big."

"I am a big girl," Olivia proclaimed proudly. "I got a new dolly."

"A new dolly? Can you go get it? Show me?" Olivia nodded and just like Michael had suspected, Jack toddled off after him, leaving Rory, Michael and Mac in the room, Mac was standing in the middle between the two adults as though he was prepared to moderate, "I was hoping we could talk for a moment."

Rory nodded her head, "sure."

"I owe you an apology," he stated simply, Rory was visibly surprised by his statement, she expected that he would skirt around the subject, not committing to an actual apology until he was forced. "I was rude to you, and I was rude to you for something that you can't help. My daughter is dead…" he paused as he thought of years ago seeing Lucia walk through the space, "and seeing you with Logan, with my son, it brought up feelings that I wasn't ready for, but that is my problem. I am sorry for being rude to you, and I am sorry that I did not make you feel welcome in my family, because that is what we all are all family. My Lucia…she would love that you love her babies, she would be happy that her love had found a new love. You aren't a replacement, and I should have been kinder to you. I hope…I hope that you will accept my apology and we can move forward because as long as you love my grandchildren, then you are a part of this family."

Rory felt tears in her eyes, her heart broke for this man of course, he had faced a terrible loss and watching his son in law move on would be difficult of course. "Thank you," was all Rory could manage. "I really…I love them. I love them so much and…I don't want to replace Lucia, I want to honour her in any way that I can, and I want to love her children because they are amazing and that is…that is because of your daughter, and Logan and you and your wife and their family…"

"So…"

"Don't apologize again, please," Rory told him with a smile as the kids came back down the stairs with dolls in tow and Rory could hear Logan and Maria coming closer.

"This is my new doll, and her name is Mommy, because I saw a picture of Mommy and I thought she looked like her…" Olivia explained as she held up the dark haired doll.

"She does look like your Mom," Michael smiled, "she is beautiful, just like you."

"All good?" Logan asked as he moved beside Rory who nodded her head, "you guys ready to go?" Logan asked his kids who were excitedly talking to their grandparents.

"Uh huh," Jack smiled.

"Can we get ice cream?" Olivia grinned.

"Of course but don't tell Dad," Michael winked.

"Hugs," Logan laughed and both of his kids ran to hug both him and Rory.

They said goodbye and Rory stayed in the living room when Logan walked them to the front door to help get the kids in the car for Michael and Maria. She was relieved that they had mended fences. She could understand why Michael struggled, she could only imagine what a difficult position he was in and so to know that they were all on the same team was a good thing.

"You two good?" Logan asked as he returned a few minutes later.

"We are good," Rory promised him as she gave him a kiss, "you," she looked her boyfriend up and down, "look exhausted."

"Well that is good because I am exhausted and you haven't heard the half of it."

"Go sit," Rory told him, "I'll make us a drink and we can order pizza and go to bed."

"Well I'm not that tired," Logan grinned at her, "and I want to talk to you about Christmas."

"Sit," Rory shooed him away as she walked to the kitchen and retrieved a pair of glasses, she poured them each a scotch and returned to the couch, handing Logan his glass before she snuggled against his body. "What is going on?" Rory took a long sip of her drink as she waited for a response.

"My parents are here," Logan told her and then he too took a sip of the drink. "I didn't know they were here until they showed up at my door just before you got here."

Rory took a moment to process what he was saying. They hadn't really talked about the estrangement except that Rory knew they weren't speaking, she knew he had quit Huntzberger, she knew why he had quit Huntzberger and Rory hadn't pressured him beyond that. "Wow."

"That is what I said…well, there were some expletives, but we didn't really come to blows because the kids are here."

"Where are they?" Rory asked, she was hoping that they weren't hiding upstairs in a guest room or something.

"I told them to leave," he admitted, "and I mean…there is no love lost between Mitchum and I…but even with that in mind, it felt weird to ask my parents to leave my house."

"Of course it did," Rory rubbed his shoulder, "they're your parents…"

"So you think I should…"

Rory laughed, "I don't know that I'm qualified to get involved in this," she admitted. "I support whatever you want to do when it comes to your parents, but I think you are better talking about this with your sister or Colin…I mean…sorry, no, you can talk to me about it…but I think they might be better to give you advice. If I were looking to give advice about being estranged from your parents, I would probably give you the same advice a very smart man gave me once."

"Smart?" Logan smirked, "probably a hot guy too."

"Yes," Rory laughed, "very smart, very hot…but he said life is too short…"

Logan exhaled, "I knew that would come back to haunt me."

"I mean…it helped with my family…"

"Your family aren't a bunch of pathological sociopaths…"

"You love Honor."

"There haven't been any DNA tests done to confirm she is related to them," Logan laughed. "You really think I should try to move past it?"

"I'm not saying forget it. But you can still give them a chance…"

"My father is not a man who learns new tricks, he doesn't see the error of his ways, he sees new angles to manipulate people."

"So you know that," Rory shrugged, "I'm not telling you to work for him, I'm not telling you to grovel, I'm saying be open to a conversation and see where that goes. Keep him at arms length and engage in basic pleasantries…"

"And if he wants me to go back?"

"Name your price or tell him where to shove it."

xxx

"Stop it," Rory giggled as Logan had his arms around her and his lips peppered hers with kisses, "your parents are on their way."

"I have two kids Ace," Logan smirked, "they've seen worse. Plus they're already going to be pissed," he nodded to Mac who was sitting patiently beside them.

"Don't they like Mac?" Rory furrowed her brow at the thought of someone not liking Mac.

"They like Mac…at home," Logan smirked. He had chosen Zazie for a few reasons, one was that Mac could come because it was their weekly dog friendly dinner, but also because he had found out years earlier that they paid their employees a living wage and benefits, tips were not expected, not to mention the food was good. He knew his parents would enjoy the food, but they would struggle with how forward thinking the establishment was even if it had been in business for quite some time, not to mention the aesthetic, he could imagine his mother clutching her purse under her arm. "More kissing though," Logan smiled, "we have a few minutes."

"We should go sit," Rory gave him a quick kiss before she took the leash from him and the pair walked hand in hand to the front door. They were led through the interior to the garden patio in the back and Rory was surprised, it wasn't what she expected from the front but it was cozy and beautiful in the back. "So did he say anything to you today?" Rory referred to the conversation Logan had with Mitchum earlier in the day. She had gone for a walk with Mac to give Logan some privacy.

"Nothing really," Logan shrugged, "he doubled down that offering you the job he assumed I would move east, and how he expected me to understand my obligations to the family. I told him that was where he was confused because I did understand my obligations to my family, and that was the difference between him and I. My obligation is to my children, not to my parents."

"So this is going to be…"

"It'll be tense but he'll behave," Logan assured her, "wine?" Rory nodded as the server arrived, he wanted to at least have that ordered before it became a pissing match with his father making an ass out of himself asking about random bottles of wine that he knew they didn't have. "Would you be able to bring us a bottle of the Ken Wright Pinot Noir?" Logan asked, the server agreed, "and make sure you bring the bill to me, no matter what anyone says. I will take care of it," he added pointedly. The last thing he wanted was for his father to feel as though he was owed something, especially something as stupid as another dinner. The wine came a few minutes later and Logan was relieved that it arrived before his parents, even just barely. He saw his mother first, he could tell she was trying to keep a smile on her face despite the fact that she assumed she would hate the restaurant she was being led through. Logan stood up to greet her, "hi Mom," he kissed her cheek, "Dad," he nodded to his father.

"This is such a quaint little spot," Shira looked at him, "if it wasn't for the driver we would never have found it on our own."

"Mom, this is Rory Gilmore, my girlfriend," Logan smiled as Rory shook her hand, "and Rory, this is my mom, Shira Huntzberger, and you've spoken to my father before, Mitchum." He looked pointedly at his father for a moment, "Dad I don't believe you two have met in person?"

"We haven't," Mitchum greeted her, "I understand you found a new writing job?" Logan immediately bristled at the idea that his father had been keeping tabs on them. He knew he hadn't told Mitchum anything about Rory and he had told his sister not to mention her either. "Get the stick out of your ass Logan," Mitchum looked to his son, "Google is a wonderful thing."

Rory tucked a hair behind her ear as they all sat back down and she noticed that Logan immediately took a gulp from the wine that had already been poured, "I am writing again, and tutoring…"

"Tutoring," Mitchum nodded and Shira tried to keep the horror from showing on her face, "well I guess startups probably don't have a huge budget to work with."

"Dad," Logan warned. "How was your day here?"

"Day was fine. It's warm, your mother spent money, I had work calls."

"If you were too busy to come you should've stayed home."

Rory shot Logan a look, not a glare but more of a concerned look, she wasn't used to seeing him like this. He was sharp toned and deliberate in every word he spoke. "How long are you going to be here?"

"We've been talking about staying through the new year," Shira was grateful for the change of subject, "but we might head home."

"Don't stay on my account," Logan scoffed.

Rory put her hand under the table and squeezed his thigh reassuringly, "what are Honor and Josh doing?" She asked the question in hopes of keeping conversation light.

"They're with his family this year," Shira explained, "last year we went to Aspen with them, remember that Logan?"

"I do," Logan nodded, he didn't really care to remember it because what had happened was his parents had harassed him to agree to come to Aspen and he had refused because his barely two year old was a nightmare to travel with and he wanted to spend the holiday with Lucia's family. "Mackenzie loves it there."

"Well you love to ski too," Shira prodded, "so does your father, it's practically in your blood."

"I think we all know that doesn't make a difference," Logan countered, the older he got the more infuriating he found the sentiment that blood mattered. His friends had shown up for him when his wife died, his sister had shown up for him…his parents they had barely managed to come out for two weeks, instead writing a cheque as though it would help with something.

"Enough of this," Mitchum leaned forward, he was gritting his teeth as he spoke which although it may have seemed menacing to an outsider, Logan actually knew it was simply because he didn't want to cause a scene. "Your mother is trying, and your girlfriend is trying…if you have an issue with me, we can talk about that but to fucking talk about it you would've had to answer any one of my calls. I screwed up. Is that what you want to hear? I screwed up and shouldn't have involved myself and I'm sorry. I'm sorry to you," he turned to Rory, "and I'm sorry that you got caught up in this as well. Can we not just move past this for the sake of my grandchildren and your sister and your mother. The one trait you take from me without any qualms is your ability to be a stubborn, pigheaded son of a bitch when you see fit and from one stubborn, pigheaded son of a bitch to another, I am asking you to move on. I'm not asking you to come to work for me, I'm not asking you to grovel, in fact I think I am the only one here grovelling at this point. So can we not just move the fuck on."

Logan scoffed. "You think this is it?" He leaned forward at the table and looked at his father. "This is the one thing in life you're apologizing for? You have done nothing to make anything in my life easier since Lucia died. Not to mention the psychological warfare of the first two decades of my life…"

"What do you want from me? Do you want me to take out a full page article outlining what a terrible parent I have been to you? What is it that you want from me? I did to you what my father did to me, and I wanted you to grow up. I'm sorry if that didn't fit in with your plans but that was the best I could do!"

"Mitchum," Shira interrupted him with a hand on his shoulder, "this is not the time or the place."

"There is a dog at the damned table Shira, I am not worried about the time and place," Mitchum nodded to Mac who was sitting between Rory and Logan under the table at this point.

Rory closed her eyes as she waited for Logan to respond, she had of course hoped this blow up wouldn't happen at dinner, but she also supposed that I needed to happen at some point. They couldn't just sit on all of the hurt they had done to each other. "Maybe if you treated anyone with a single ounce of respect it would help? I don't need you. Is that why this is so hard? You are so used to having people come crawling back and kiss your ass that you can't handle the fact that I just walked away? I don't need your money, I don't need your parenting if you can even call it that, and unfortunately right now that makes you collateral damage mom, but as long as you are showing up here unannounced after you were told not to come…it says a lot," Logan told them pointedly. "I'm sure you didn't think Maria would tell me but she did because she cares about her grandchildren which is more than either of the two of you can say."

"I think," Rory spoke up as she saw Mitchum opening his mouth to speak, "if I may interject here…you guys kind of just dropped in here…and then had some…expectations about where this conversation would go and that is a lot for anyone…so maybe…I don't know…meet with a therapist or find somewhere neutral and private to have this discussion. I appreciate the apology," she added, "I don't appreciate having been drawn into this game you were playing with your son, but thank you for the apology. You cost me time with a man I love, and with children that I love…I uprooted my life, I quit my job because I wanted to believe that you were a decent man. Because my own father or grandfather would never use their child as a pawn like that…but Logan had the benefit of history and he knew…so…you've said what you had to say, and Logan has told you where he stands on this…why don't we all just enjoy our dinner and you two can talk about this privately another time?"

"Rory is right," Logan agreed begrudgingly and then looked at his mother, "I'm sorry Mom."