AN: I'm loving see Logan in Daddy mode to Emma, but we do see a bit of Dean, and hopefully a better side to Dean this chapter. I will hopefully have Forever My Girl updated in the next few days, I am just cycling through. Please read, review, and enjoy. AND I'm curious...if you have read multiples of my stories, what is your favourite and why? If I had to pick it would be Happier, Amelia Lane, Everything Has Changed, Not The Only One, Forever My Girl, How Long Will I Love you, The Holidate, I Knew You but honestly I enjoy them all for just how different they are. So let me know.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

Chapter Seventeen

It had been a week. It had been the week from hell if Rory would admit that to herself. She had been up extra early to make sure that Emma had everything she needed to get to school back in Farmingdale, then she spent the entire time that Emma was in the car on the way to school worrying, then she went to work and typically by the time Rory was getting in, Emma was just returning from school as well. Thursday had been the exception where Rory had left work in enough time to get to school and pick Emma up for swimming. Rory had worked in the parking lot and when they got in the car with the driver they had picked up McDonalds for the drive home. It was frankly exhausting. Rory had her lawyer send the message to Dean's lawyer that he was not to show up at swimming lessons. Rory had worried of course that he wouldn't listen, or worse that he would show up and cause a scene, but it seemed that not only was Dean remorseful, but he was scared.

After the discussion with her lawyer on Monday, Rory had spent the week going back and forth between her lawyer and Logan about what seemed like the best course of action moving forward and by midday Wednesday they had agreed on what they believed made sense for Emma. They then reached out to Dean's lawyer who reviewed it and sent it off midday Friday in order to avoid a the potential of a scene at swim practice. Rory knew Dean wouldn't be thrilled by any of this, and Rory didn't take any particular joy in taking away his time with his daughter, but she had come to realize that it wasn't safe for Emma to be alone with him right now. What had cemented for Rory that this was the right decision for her daughter is when Emma had simply agreed. There had been no fight. There had been no kicking and screaming to see her father. Emma looked relieved that for the time being their visits would be supervise, and even more shocking to Rory was how willingly Emma had accepted the suggestion that she talk to a counsellor about how she was feeling about all of this.

"Em," Rory called as she walked into the foyer and hung her jacket in the closet, "you home?"

"Yup," Emma responded from the kitchen.

"Sorry I'm late," Rory smiled. "Logan is meeting Noah and Lily in the lobby and then they'll be up soon. Did Linda put the lasagna in?" Rory asked her. She knew the second that the words left her mouth that Emma was going to give her a quick pre-teen retort given that you could smell the lasagna cooking.

"No I think maybe the tooth fairy did," Emma shrugged. "Can I call Dad tonight?"

Rory paused cautiously. While she may have let Emma in on what was being proposed for visitation, she hadn't told her when Dean would be getting the updated paperwork, the last thing she wanted was for her daughter to walk into a shit storm with her father. "Did he call you?"

Emma shook her head, "no."

"Ok…well…" Rory inhaled deeply. These were the moments she hadn't been expecting. Although she had never expected her soon to be ex-husband to physically assault her, and she never expected to find out that her daughter was so aware of the issues in their marriage, so she supposed that there was no way to be prepared for how to have these discussions. "If he gets upset, I need you to either give me the phone, or hang up on him."

"Why would he get upset?" Emma asked, reminding her mother once more of just how young she was. "Is he mad at me?"

Rory shook her head, "no. He is not mad at you, he is mad at me. And…well…Dad got the paperwork today about the changes to visitation and custody…the official ones. I know you and I talked about it, and this is not a huge shock to him, but he might be angry. He is angry at me and I understand why he is angry at me. But…sometimes when he gets angry, he will lash out at anyone even if he loves them more than anything. Tomorrow when we go to Stars Hollow and you are with Grandma and Grandpa, I'm going to talk to Dad at the diner."

Emma paused for a moment and considered what her mother had said, "I can talk to him. He doesn't get mad at me like he does at you."

Rory instinctively pulled her daughter in for a hug and held her even when Emma froze momentarily at the contact. "Sweetheart, I love you, but you don't have to try to keep him calm. That isn't your job. That isn't my job either. It is his job and he needs to get help with that, I'm sorry that you had to take that on…that you felt like you had to keep Dad calm. You never should have had to do that," Rory wasn't sure why she was crying. Maybe it was knowing how bad things had gotten at home before she finally left, and maybe it was knowing that she had left Emma there to deal with him because she thought it was better and it was what Emma wanted…or maybe it was all of it. Maybe it was seeing Logan love Emma as if she were his own, and seeing Emma become more and more comfortable with not being responsible for her father, and for herself…well maybe for herself Rory was finally getting to exhale and not feel like someone was going to try to take her out at the kneecap the second she got her footing. It had taken time. Not days, but weeks and months for Rory to fully see jut how dysfunctional her marriage had become and the impact it had on her daughter. Now that she had seen it, she couldn't not see it. She had of course had her part in where things ended up between her and Dean. She cheated on him, she was indifferent to him by the end…but he hadn't just been some happy quasi-stay at home parent. He had been verbally and emotionally abusive, and Rory could finally see that she was out of that cycle and more importantly, so was Emma.

"Is he going to hate us?"

Rory kissed the top of Emma's hair and shushed her daughter, "no honey. Daddy won't hate us. He could never hate you…he loves you more than anything in this world."

"I miss him," Emma admitted softly, something that had been hard for her to admit over the past week with Rory and Logan.

"Of course you do," Rory let go of Emma and smiled at her. "He is your Dad…you miss him and you will see him tomorrow. Grandpa won't get in the way, he will just be around."

"What if we want to go for a walk or something? Could he take me for ice cream?"

"Emmie," Rory sighed as she heard the door starting to open, "not yet, ok? We'll talk about it later, but not yet. If you want to go call him, go to my room and call and then you can come out and see Lily and Noah?" Emma nodded and went into Rory and Logan's bedroom, the door closing just as Rory heard the trio coming inside. Rory grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and waited as she heard the commotion of jackets being hung and shoes being put away. "Hey," she smiled as Lily came into view first followed by Logan and then Noah a few steps behind.

"Smells good in here," Logan walked over and gave Rory a kiss on the cheek.

"Linda put a lasagna in," Rory explained as Lily and Noah both said hello, "Emma is just on the phone with her Dad," she tried to ignore that Logan immediately seemed to bristle at the thought, "she's in our room, so Lily if you want to put anything away, your room is free."

"Thanks," Lily smiled at her. "I'm going to call Mom and tell her we're here?"

"I texted her," Noah joined in. "Dad if I get tickets to a Rangers game next weekend with some friends, can I stay here?"

"I'll talk to your mom. Rory and I have plans on Friday, but the game is Saturday?"

"Do you think the company tickets are free?" Noah took a seat at the counter.

"No…you just said if you get tickets. How were you planning on getting tickets if the company seats aren't available?"

Noah shrugged, "I just figured you wouldn't be going."

Noah wasn't wrong and Logan hated that. The New York Rangers seasons tickets were hardly the hottest ticket that Huntzberger Publishing Group had purchased. "Noah, you can't just make plans with your friends and then hope that I can give you free tickets."

Noah bristled and looked from Rory to his father, he could see that Rory was watching the interaction sympathetically, "I'm sorry Dad," Noah exhaled, "I didn't think it would be a big deal."

Logan knew when he was being played, and he was reminded so much of himself when he watched his son try to manipulate the situation to get what he wanted. Of course this was all in all relatively harmless, but Logan didn't want to become the fun place for his teenaged son. He wanted to have the same structure and boundaries that Abigail had for them in Great Neck. "I'll talk to your Mom, and you will pay me for the tickets. Not full price, but I'm not giving you a box for free. Understood?"

Noah grumbled but nodded his head, "I guess. Can we use a car too?"

"No," Logan shook his head. "You want the car you pay for the car. This stuff doesn't grow on trees Noah. I pay for this."

"But the company is your company, isn't it?"

"The company is still a company, it isn't my private bank account, I can't just take things because you want them. You know better," Logan told him. "We'll talk later about how much I'll charge you but I'm not paying for a night on the town with you and a couple of friends. If you want a free night out, you can come to a game with Rory and I, or your Grandparents"

"When is dinner?" Noah changed the subject.

"Ten minutes," Rory smiled, "do you want something to drink?"

"I'll take a Coke," Noah nodded with a smile that in Rory's mind made him look far too much like his father.

"Jesus Christ Noah," Logan glared, "get your own drink, or say please…"

"Logan," Rory gave him a look, "it's fine."

Noah rolled his eyes at his father and then looked at Rory, "can I have a Coke please?"

Rory grabbed the drink from the refrigerator and passed Noah the can, "I'm going to go get Emma," she looked at Logan, "can you take the lasagna out in when the timer goes off and let it sit for a few minutes?" She walked out of the room and heard Logan say something about using his manners and Noah reluctantly agreeing. She could imagine how tough this was on Noah even if he was trying to play it off like everything was fine. Rory knocked on the door to her bedroom and Emma let her in a moment later, "almost time for dinner," Rory told her.

"Ok…"

"Come out when you're ready," Rory nodded and then went to knock on the door to the room both girls shared, "almost dinner Lily," Rory told her.

By the time everyone was out for dinner, Rory had just started plating the food and Logan helped bring it to the table. Noah had for his part made a point of introducing himself officially to Emma and Lily followed suit.

"Wine?" Logan asked as Rory took her seat, a smile on her face as she watched the kids interact. She had known that they would get along if you simply removed the cheating from the equation. They weren't strangers. They had known each other for years, it was just a matter of reacquainting themselves with each other under new circumstances.

"Please," Rory nodded and passed the salad down to Emma. "Thank you," Rory grinned as Logan handed her the glass and sat down, "everyone have everything?"

The discussion flowed naturally. Lily and Emma seemed to have a fair amount in common. They were both athletic although they were involved in different sports and they seemed to like the same music, Noah had interjected with his own thoughts on their taste in music and everything seemed normal.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Lily asked as Logan began cleaning the plates. "Can we go to a movie?"

"Yeah I can take you to a movie," Logan shrugged, "No, you coming?"

"Sure."

"What about Rory and Emma?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Oh," Rory tucked a hair behind her ear. "Emma and I are leaving early tomorrow to go visit my parents in Connecticut, so we won't be home until around dinner."

"And I'm seeing my Dad," Emma offered with a smile. "Maybe another weekend we can go to a movie?" She added hesitantly, in the way that a kid did when they were putting themselves out there to new friends.

"There are so many movies I want to see!" Lily grinned.

"Your next weekend with us," Rory nodded, "we'll go see a movie."

Rory and Logan spent most of the evening in the living room watching a documentary. The kids came in and out but ultimately seemed to be getting along. Of course Noah didn't seem overly interested in spending time with his sister, he was at the very least polite and made an effort to get to know Emma. Both Rory and Logan were both relieved that the first true blended evening had gone well once everyone had gone to bed. They knew there would be bumps along the way and that there would be busy and chaotic moments, but at least they had all met and for the moment they were all getting along. Morning came too early for Rory as it always seemed to do on the weekends. She got up and showered and checked on Emma who was already waiting for her in the living room, Rory kissed Logan goodbye without waking him and then set out to leave for Stars Hollow. Rather than making anything for breakfast Rory decided to embrace the fact that Luke owned a diner and passed on making breakfast, instead just getting herself a large travel mug of coffee and hitting the road. She knew Emma was excited to see Dean. No matter what else was going on, Emma loved him and Rory didn't want that to change…she just needed it to be safe for Emma.

Rory hadn't felt any nerves on the drive until after she had dropped Emma off with her mother. Once she was pulling back out of the driveway of her childhood home and heading towards the diner that she had basically grown up in, she felt nervous. The kind of nerves you got on the first day of school when you didn't know anyone in your class, or the ones when you knew you were going to be in trouble for something. Rory hated the feeling, but she also knew that there was no way to avoid it. She had to talk to him. Not for herself, not even for him…she had to do it for Emma. The bruise had mostly faded now and Rory was relieved as the visual reminder of their altercation disappeared, but it still remained fresh in her mind. If she closed her eyes she could replay it and Rory hoped that memory would dissipate with time.

Rory parked her new BMW SUV in front of the diner and immediately knew that she was the first one there which was a relief as it would give her time to get situated like she wanted to. Luke wasn't in, she knew that because he had just agreed to make Emma waffles for breakfast. She took her black YSL crossbody bag off the back seat and carried it inside with her, hanging her black jacket on the chair and smoothing the fabric of her fitted black turtleneck. Rory hadn't been sure what to wear, which seemed silly and inconsequential, but the last thing she wanted was for Dean to think she was broken. Her hair was neatly pulled back and she wore no jewelry.

A coffee appeared before her along with a plate with a couple of pastries. Rory thanked Cesar and knew that Luke must have told him to be ready for her. She checked her phone a couple of times, relieved to see that Logan had woken up and texted her asking for an update once she was done and wishing her luck. Obviously the entire situation was less than ideal at the moment, but she was glad that Logan would get to spend the morning and into the afternoon with his children one on one. She hoped that once things settled down, whatever that meant, that they would be able to have more one on one time with Logan. She didn't want them to feel as though they were imposing, especially while Emma was living with them full time. Rory inhaled deeply as she saw his Dodge Ram pull up and park in front of her BMW and for a moment, for a flash in time he looked like the man she had known many years earlier. His hair was cut a bit shorter than when she had seen him the week before and he was clean shaven wearing a pair of ill fitting jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. Rory gripped her mug a bit harder as he came inside and she was reminded immediately of all of the pain that had been caused by him in the last seven days.

"Hi," Dean mumbled, he tried to smile at her but even he knew he column't try to charm his way through this encounter.

"Hi."

"Is Em…" he looked around to make sure their daughter wasn't nearby.

"With Luke and my Mom," Rory reminded him.

"Can I get a coffee?" Dean asked awkwardly.

"Free country."

Dean stood up and went to the counter where he was greeted by a too enthusiastic Cesar agreeing to bring him a drink. He returned to the table in the corner that Rory had selected and wished that it wasn't quite as busy as it was. It wasn't jam packed, but it was busy enough that Dean felt like they were on display. Although he knew that was the point. Rory didn't want to be alone with him…actually, no, it wasn't that she didn't want to be alone with him, she didn't feel safe being alone with him which he knew was much, much worse. He returned with his coffee and sat down, lowering his voice when he spoke, "Rory I'm so sorry. I…there is no excuse for what I did, I just…you didn't listen and I was so upset about the divorce and you moving on…I couldn't see straight and I don't know what came over me."

Rory pursed her lips and leaned forward, lowering her voice to match his. "The place to stop that sentence was after I'm sorry, there is no excuse. Do not make excuses for what you did to me, and for what you have done to our daughter. I have owned my mistakes every step of the way in this and now…I don't care what upset you or how blinded you were by rage," her voice cracked despite her best efforts, "the man I saw in that garage, he is not the man I married." She paused a moment before she continued, "I am not here to absolve you of your guilt. I do not forgive you. I am here to discuss a way to move forward for Emma."

"I saw the stuff from the lawyer. You can't actually think I need anger management Rory."

Rory stared at him, "if you don't get anger management and attend AA I will go to the police about last week," she told him firmly. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw the colour drain from his face. This was why she wouldn't be alone with him for this conversation. She watched as he clenched and unclenched his fists at the table and his foot began tapping feverishly. "I have photos and I have our text messages that corroborate that I was with you, and also your apology messages and voicemails after the fact. So your choices are to go to AA, anger management and see a therapist about your issues…and then you and I can civilly work on a plan to get custody closer to 50/50, or you can fight me on this, I will go to the police, you will be charged, you will lose your job and at the end of the day you will still probably be required to do those things…in addition to having state supervised visits with our child…"

"How…" Dean rubbed his jaw with his hand, "how long until I can see her again…without…Luke or your Mom or…whatever."

"At least six months…but it depends on your progress. There will be a therapist brought on to serve as…I don't know a middleman who will review everything with your therapist, and you, and will also talk to the counsellor I am hiring for Emma."

"Emma doesn't need a shrink!"

"Listen to yourself!" Rory looked at him, her eyes widening to match his shocked expression over the idea that Emma might need to talk to someone about the things going on in her life. "This is about her. Not you, not us, not whatever toxic views on mental health that your mother had when you were growing up…this is a lot for a kid. Her mother cheated on her father. Her father is falling apart in front of her. All Emma wants is to fix this for us and she can't, and the sooner you acknowledge the burden she is carrying and the sooner we do something to ease that burden, the better off she is."

"What did she say about living with me?" Dean looked slightly panicked at the revelation.

Rory wiped a tear from her eye as she thought about what Logan had woken her up to tell her the week before. "Dean she thinks that she can keep you calm. She has put that pressure on herself that she is your keeper and she can keep me safe from your anger and keep you calm by staying in the middle between us." Rory paused as another tear fell, "I don't want that for her. I don't want her to carry that burden. I want her to be a child. But for her to let it go, she needs help and you need help…and I am seeing someone to untangle some of my shit. We aren't alright. Pretending that we are…it's stupid. If this is about the money, I told you I will pay for the counsellor, I don't care. I will do anything to help her let go of this."

"It's not the money," Dean murmured, much to Rory's surprise. "I'll pay my half of it…" he swallowed hard and bit down on his tongue. "I didn't…I told myself she didn't notice. That because I wasn't yelling at her she would understand…"

"She is scared Dean. She isn't scared of you, she is scared for you. There isn't a lot of this mess that we can fix, but I think we can help her. But we need…you need to get some help and we need to figure out a way to communicate in a way that is not going to hurt her."

"Ok."

"…ok what?"

"I'll do it," Dean told her simply. "I'll go to the programs, I will work on myself and then…in six months we can review me seeing her alone again?"

"Yes."

"And what about my mom? Can my parents see her? Or supervise the visits?"

Rory paused for a moment. She had thought that Dean would agree to these things with time, so she was actually doing better than she had anticipated, but Rory was also aware that asking for time for May and Randy was going to be an issue. "If they want to come here, maybe we can all do some things together…or I can bring Emma to Chicago for some weekends to visit…but Dean…"

"What Rory?" Dean glared at her, his tone becoming sharp once more. "I get it, you've moved on but that doesn't change that my family is her family no matter what you think of us."

"I don't think anything of your family Dean!" Rory glared right back, "I just…I don't know. But right now, no. Your parents cannot have unsupervised time with her. They can have visits during your time with her, supervised, or we can make arrangements for a weekend visit with myself present."

"So what, you would visit my parents?"

"Well I thought you would probably be there too, and Em and I would stay at a hotel."

"What about your boyfriend?" Dean grumbled.

"I don't know," Rory shrugged, "maybe? Maybe he would come. Depends on if he's up for a trip to Chicago, or maybe he wants one on one time with his own kids." Rory exhaled deeply, "do you even care that she likes him? Do you care that he loves her? He has really only just started to get to know her, but he treats her like she is another part of his family. He knows she has a father, he doesn't try to get in the way of that. He just loves her. Isn't that what you want for your child? More people who love her. If you met someone who made you happy and loved Emma…I would be happy. I would be happy to have another adult she can confide in…why can't you be happy for her? Be happy that I am with a man who looks at our daughter," she gestured between herself and Dean, "as a bonus to his life as opposed to a detriment. Are you just…are you that pissed off about me leaving? You would rather punish me than have good things for Emmie?"

xxx

"So," Dean looked across the table at his daughter. He was incredibly aware of Rory's stepfather watching them from behind the counter. "You made it to swimming on time this week?"

Emma nodded her head as she fiddled with a hair elastic on her wrist. "Yeah, then Mom picked me up."

"Does Mom drive you to school every day?" Dean followed up. He was embarrassed to admit that he had spent most of this week in such a state of depression that he hadn't paid much attention to some of Rory's messages. He hadn't had anything to drink since the night of the incident, but he also couldn't believe that it had gone that far. He knew that his anger wasn't ideal for his marriage, but he had also never imagined he would lay a hand on Rory. Emma nodded her head and looked at her chocolate milk without offering much more of a response. "I guess this is all pretty confusing, isn't it?"

"Not really," Emma shrugged. "You and Mom got in a big fight…Mom and Logan didn't think I should stay with you anymore…"

"Did…did Mom tell you about the fight we had?"

Emma shook her head, she wasn't really sure how to interact with her father once she had been given some space to think about the past few months. "Logan just said you two got into a fight and that everyone needed some space…"

Dean nodded, he wondered if he would've done the same thing if it were him. If he would have protected the relationship between a father and daughter even when he could have just told the truth and probably caused permanent damage to the relationship. "We got in a fight and…well, I know you've heard the yelling, and sometimes I throw things…I…" he rubbed his chin for a second, "I've always thought that it was ok because I wasn't physically hurting anyone. But…Em it wasn't ok. I was hurting people. I was hurting you and your Mom and I'm sorry. So I'm going to take some time and get some help with my anger so that some day soon it will be safe for you to be with me overnight and so that I have the tools to channel those feelings in a way that is…healthier. You know?" Emma nodded her head in response. "I love you and I just want you to be safe."

"Are you going to be at home?" Emma asked, suddenly worried that her father would be locked up somewhere to get this help he needed.

"Yes," Dean took a sip of his coffee. "I'm going to be working and seeing a therapist and going to some courses…I'm really sorry Em. I…I am sure it has been scary sometimes, and I need to work on myself but I'm sorry that you…that you had to feel responsible for that, and I'm glad that your Mom has a safe place for you. Do you like being in Manhattan?"

Emma followed suit and sipped her chocolate milk from the straw, "it's fun…um…the apartment is really nice. I share a room with Logan's daughter…Lily. She's my age and really nice."

"And things are good with Mom and Logan?" Emma nodded cautiously. She knew how her father felt about the situation and the last thing she wanted to do was set him off, especially when he had just said he was trying to work on himself. "You can tell me Emmie. I won't be upset. I want you…and your Mom to be happy."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Mom seems happy…" Emma paused to gauge his reaction, to be sure that she could really trust that he was comfortable hearing this. "They don't do much…just come home from work…make dinner…watch tv or read…it's…just normal I guess?"

"I'm glad," Dean assured her. It was a lie. There was still a huge part of him that wished that normal was at home with him, but it had become clear that ship had sailed. They were past the point of no return. He was certain that they were past the point of no return when she didn't go to Chicago for Christmas, but they had sprinted past that point when he grabbed her in the garage. There was no going back from that…he just hoped that they could try to heal. "It sounds like Logan is…a decent guy."

"Are you going to come to my swim meet?" Emma asked, changing the subject quickly.

"If you want me there," Dean nodded, he had the schedule on the fridge at home. "Did you talk to your Mom about it?"

"Yup," Emma told him, "she said it was ok."

"Then I'll be there."

"Hey Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"I still love you. I can like Logan and Mom, but still love you, right?"

Dean gave Emma a reassuring smile and nodded. He realized in that moment how quickly his relationship with his only child had become fractured, and it wasn't lost on him that it was his former wife, the woman he had called a slut and a whore. The woman he had lashed out at verbally and physically…she was the person trying to make sure that Emma knew her father still loved her. "Yes Em. The more people in your life who love you the better. Mom and I will always love you…and," he waited for a moment, trying to keep from choking up as he continued, "and if Logan is good to you, I'm happy. You uh…you don't have to pick."

xxx

"Can I have a new phone?" Emma looked at her mother as they sat in the living room waiting for Logan, Noah and Lily to come home with dinner.

"No?" Rory raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her chardonnay. It had been a long day and Rory had no regrets about unwinding with a glass of wine while they waited. She had purposely avoided peppering Emma with questions about her visit with Dean. She wanted Emma to know that her relationship with her father was still her own, even if Rory wanted more information. "Why do you need a new phone?"

"Other kids have newer ones," Emma told her.

"Other kids like Lily and Noah?" Rory asked, she wasn't sure how in less than 24 hours Emma was already asking for upgrades.

"No…kids at school too…"

"Let me call and see when you are due for an upgrade. But I'm not buying you a new phone to keep up with the other kids."

"Am I going to have to change schools? Or will I keep driving back to my school?"

Rory hadn't given it much thought, although she supposed she probably did need to give it more thought than she had. It wasn't fair to Emma for her to spend that much time commuting to and from school and even though Rory knew Logan would tell her the cost simply didn't matter, it was a stupid way to spend money. "How do you feel about that? Do you want to stay at your school?"

"Where do Lily and Noah go?" Emma asked.

"They go to school near their house," Rory couldn't honestly remember what the school as called but she knew it was a private school and that the kids were happy there. "Do you want to go to school with them?"

Emma shook her head, "no…I mean…I don't know. I don't really know them that well yet."

"Why don't you think about what you want to do for school?" Rory suggested, "I will talk to Logan about options. You know we're planning on moving, so the school stuff…you could go to school here. I could look into a private school…we would need to talk to Dad about it…" The truth was Rory hadn't really thought that Emma would permanently be there. But it was becoming increasingly clear that there were many ways Rory could provide a more stable home life for Emma at this point, and they needed to deal with the reality of the moment they were in, not the hypothetical moment where Dean was doing better.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

Emma nodded. "I'm going to go read."

Rory was used to her almost teen daughter disappearing into her room to read or watch shows or call her friends. There was a time that it scared her, but she was glad to see that Emma was still doing all of her normal home things in Manhattan, even if in this moment Rory would've been happier not being left alone with her thoughts. It had been a long day. While things with Dean had gone better than she had expected, it had still been tiring. She also had to worry about how things had gone with Emma, but seemingly everything was…calm on that front, which is what she had wanted. Rory decided to get some work done on her laptop while they waited. She hadn't exactly been fully present at work in the last few days…she had stayed on top of everything but between the emotional turmoil over the Dean situation and worrying about Emma commuting back and forth, and dealing with lawyers…unfortunately work had taken a backseat.

"Ace?" Logan opened the door and Rory immediately smelled the Greek food Logan had promised her. "Emma?" He called as the commotion of Lily and Noah followed. "We're home."

Rory stood up and walked to the front door, grabbing the bags from him, "how was the movie?" Rory asked Lily and Noah, both of whom agreed that it was good. "I'll get this on plates. The table is set," Rory told them all as she walked back into the kitchen. Lily perched herself at the counter on a barstool and began telling Rory all about their afternoon. Starting with lunch and a bit of shopping, ending in the going to see a movie where Lily was thrilled over all of the snacks her father had let her get.

"And," Logan came into the kitchen and helped himself to a drink, "we agreed that going to a movie with your father is no longer cool, right No?" Logan laughed. They had run into a couple of his friends from school who were unsupervised and of course Noah had tried to play it off. Logan figured that some of these kids were in similar situations to Noah in terms of spending weekends with parents, so he imagined that is why they had descended upon Manhattan given that the kids went to school closer to Great Neck.

"Oh sweetheart," Rory laughed as Logan gave her a kiss on the cheek, "you are well past being cool to be seen with," she joked.

"Ha ha," Logan rolled his eyes, "get your daughter out here and I'm sure she is sick of you too."

"Bite your tongue," Rory smiled as she put some souvlaki on a plate, "Lily do you mind getting Emma?"

"Sure," Lily complied, only to return a couple of minutes later when the food was on the table with Emma a few steps behind her.

"What is this?" Emma made a face. Greek food had never been her favourite, Dean hated it too which meant they didn't have it often, no matter how much Rory enjoyed it.

"Pork souvlaki," Rory answered as she sat down and took a sip of water. She knew it was the only thing Emma would eat from the restaurant. "You like it."

"I don't like the stuff," Emma pointed her fork to the tzatziki.

"Then don't eat it," Rory suggested as she began to eat.

Conversation flowed naturally. Logan and Rory asked the kids about preferences for a new apartment. Turns out as they had expected the requests were minimal except for the fact that they wanted to have their own bedrooms. Emma and Lily had agreed that they could share a bathroom if it was the right space, and all of them had said they wanted to come see the options if Rory and Logan were serious about them.

Sure, it wasn't seamless. There were hiccups and awkward moments between everyone, but Rory thought that all things considered, their first weekend as a fully blended family was going reasonably well. Noah and Logan had agreed on plans for the following weekend and Rory took it as a good sign that Noah wanted to spend more time with them and not less, even if it was to go see a hockey game. Soon dinner was over and the kids had slowly gone to their rooms. Noah and Emma had left first, both of them declaring they were going to call friends and going to their respective spaces. Lily had hung out for longer. She asked Rory questions about growing up in a small town and going to Harvard. She asked about what it was like to work as a reporter and editor, she certainly had the Huntzberger knack for journalism based on how she spoke. Eventually though Lily too declared that she was going to her bedroom to hopefully hang out with Emma as the two seemed to be hitting it off.

"Babe," Rory nudged Logan gently after she put her glass of wine down. The kids had gone to their rooms and Rory had finally felt as though she caught up on all of her work. Logan had of course told her to leave it, to wait until Monday to catch up, but she knew that it would nag her if she ignored the pile of e-mails. They both knew that their jobs never really stopped. They were always on the clock, always responding and reviewing things as they came in, Rory was sure that it had initially been part of what drew them to each other. They never had to explain work or why it was a priority, they just understood.

"I'm going to throw your laptop into the Hudson," Logan groaned, "someone needs to tell your boss to fuck off."

Rory laughed as she stood up from her spot on the chair and walked to Logan who was sitting on the couch, "I'm sorry," she told him, "I promise my full attention." Her cheeks were flush from the several glasses of wine she had enjoyed that evening and for the first time in over a week, she just felt like herself. "Are you ready for bed?"

Logan gave her a devilish grin and playfully pulled her into his lap. "Did you have a good night?" Logan asked as Rory put her hands on his shoulders and he let his roam her back and under the fabric of her black thermal pyjama shirt.

"Other than the work thing," Rory nodded, "it was good."

"How can I make that up to you?" Logan let his hands travel down her back until he was firmly gripping her ass.

Rory smiled and brought her lips to his. It felt like it had been forever since he had touched her. He had been on his trip with Lily and Noah and then there was Dean and the emotional turmoil that followed, so as his tongue brushed against her lips to gain entry to her mouth it felt like it had been forever since he had kissed her, since he had looked at her with anything but a little bit of fear in his eyes, sadness even. Rory suppressed a squeal as he pulled her closer to his body and while one hand stayed put the other tangled itself in her hair, giving it a small tug as she playfully nipped at his lip. "Logan," Rory breathed as his lips left hers and she looked into his dark, lust filled eyes for a moment.

"Shhh," Logan told her, his lips went to her ear and sucked gently on her earlobe and then travelled slowly down to her collarbone. For her part Rory found herself grinding her hips into his and letting her own hands travel underneath the cotton of his t-shirt.

"Bedroom," she told him breathlessly. She may have wanted to keep going right where they were, and there was a time when they would have, but that time was not when there were three kids who could pop out at any moment. "Quietly," she added as she slowly pushed her body off of his and stood up on someone wobbly legs.

"No fun," Logan stood up and took her by the hand, he pulled her close to his body and kissed her again. And so began the dance as they stood in one spot, his hands once again pulling her flush against him where she could feel his erection pressing through the denim of his jeans.

"Logan!" Rory giggled into his ear as he lifted her, once again fusing their lips together they made their way to the hallway which would lead to their bedroom. It took a second for her to let go and embrace his kiss as he kept her pressed up against the wall, his hands slowly lifting up the fabric of her shirt to expose her delicate skin.

"You know," Logan began to move towards their bedroom again, "this kid thing," he joked as his lips trailed along her neck and she played with the hair at the base of his neck, "might get in the way of some of the fun."

"You two are fucking disgusting!" Noah made his presence known as he stood frozen in doorway of his bedroom. He was leaving to grab a bottle of water but his eyes were assaulted by the image of his father and girlfriend as he left the room. "Don't you have a bedroom? Aren't you too old to…this is nasty!"

Rory immediately untangled herself from Logan and planted herself firmly on the ground and in reality. She didn't know what to say. Emma had never caught her and Dean and she had only just started getting to know Logan, add to that the fact that they normally weren't groping each other in the hallway and the girl hadn't managed to catch them doing anything.

"Noah," Logan rubbed his chin, "we thought you were asleep."

"So you were doing it in the hall?" Noah snapped back. "Whatever…this is gross!"

"Noah!" Logan spoke a bit louder, "do not be rude to Rory."

"I'm not being rude to Rory!" Noah glared at his father. He didn't care who he was being rude to, he couldn't even put into words what was going through his mind. On one hand the image of anyone over the age of 30 in any state of undress or compromising position seemed foreign to Noah. He didn't look at figures of authority as sexual beings. His teachers? Nope. Coaches? Nope. Parents? Definitely nope. He was sure he had never seen his parents do anything more than hug and kiss in front of him and those moments were a quick kiss at best. Seeing his father with his hand up someone who was not his mom's shirt was a whole other ballgame.

"I'm sorry Noah," Rory was the next adult to speak. "We got carried away and you're right…we have a bedroom. I'm going to go…" she looked at Logan and then at Noah as if to remind Logan that he needed to talk to his son.

Logan exhaled and Noah followed suit as the two stared at each other for a moment. "Look, No…you shouldn't have had to see that," he told his son honestly. "But…I know I seem ancient to you, I seem old but I'm not even forty."

"Yet," Noah scoffed.

"The point is, you don't have kids and then your libido just dies," Logan couldn't believe he had just said libido to his fourteen year old. "Do you want to sit down? I want to talk to you about this. I don't want you to be freaked out…"

"I don't want to talk about you having sex!" Noah glared at him.

"Noah we need to talk about this."

"Go talk to your girlfriend, or maybe you have another one somewhere! Isn't that what you did to Mom? So no Dd, I'm not going to sit down and listen to a lecture about being a good man when you were cheating on my Mom!"