Chapter Eight

"Rory!" Logan shouted from the small lobby of Huntzberger Enterprises. Rory took a split second to calculate if she could make it to the elevator without causing a scene or burning any bridges. Determining that it wasn't a feasible option, Rory slowly turned back towards Logan. She hid her son behind her legs, obscuring Logan's view of the boy.

"What is it Logan? As you can see, I have to leave," Rory motioned towards the elevators and not her son to indicate her need to depart. She was worried that Logan, in the brief amount of time Ricky had been in his presence, had figured out her secret. She didn't want to draw any more attention to the boy in that moment on the rare chance that he was still oblivious.

"I just thought, since we had such an enjoyable time, that maybe you'd like to go out to dinner with me?" Logan asked. Rory froze, shocked at the words that she had just heard. Had he seriously just asked her out? They hadn't seen each other in over a decade and yet, after spending only the briefest amounts of time together, Logan thought he would be successful asking her out.

She knew, for a fact, that she didn't do anything to lead Logan on. She'd been very careful about her actions, words, and interactions. It had been a part of her defense mechanism; she didn't want to do anything to increase his interest in her. And yet, here they were.

"I- you- what?" Rory stuttered, still not quite processing what was happening around her. Logan didn't respond to her strained statements. Instead, he simply stood in the lobby of his company's office, hands in his pockets.

Then, almost as suddenly as if someone had flipped a switch, Rory's mental faculties returned. She had been looking at Logan, slack-jawed, when she'd remembered her son, hidden behind her. She couldn't afford to stand there, in front of him much longer or surely, he would start looking at Ricky. That would simply compound this moment and make it one of the worst she'd experienced.

"Look Logan," Rory spoke, her confident demeanour quickly returning, "I really don't have time to date anyone right now, really busy with work and helping to plan my mom's wedding and all." Just as she finished her statement, the elevator pinged its arrival and the doors slide open. Rory hurriedly ushered her son into the box before turning to press the lobby button. As she did, Rory saw that Logan was still standing in his lobby looking cocky, his eyebrow raised in a suggestive manor.

Rory sighed in relief as the doors slide shut. She and Ricky were safe, at last.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Ricky asked, having obviously picked up his mom's heightened emotional state moments earlier. Rory smiled down reassuringly at her son.

"Fine, Ricky. I just wasn't expecting Logan to ask me on a date is all," she responded.

"Who was he, mom? How do Grandma and Grandpa know him?" he looked up at her with large, curious eyes and Rory felt her throat go dry. She'd been so worried about Logan noticing Ricky that she hadn't thought about it happening the other way around. While Ricky's curiosity steamed from her grandparent's reactions at dinner a few days previous and the interaction he just witnessed, he'd still managed to ask the one question she had been dreading.

Rory had gotten lucky in the past ten years. Ricky hadn't seemed all that concerned about who his father was; he hadn't asked questions or made up stories about his absence. Rory suspected it had something to do with her relationship, or more accurately lack thereof, with her father. Ricky was just used to his family being strong single mothers raising curious, independent children. Fathers were not an important part of their lives.

Yet Rory had always been worried, especially when Ricky started school and began encountering children with two parents, that his curiosity would be sparked, and he would start asking questions Rory didn't want to answer. She'd dodged that bullet throughout almost six years of schooling only to be felled by her job.

"Logan was an old friend. His parents know Grandma and Grandpa very well. The Huntzbergers live in Hartford too, and Logan and I went to Yale together," Rory explained. She hoped it would be enough to quell her son's curiosity. None of what she said was a lie, and she never wanted to lie to her son, but it wasn't exactly the truth. There was a lot more that Rory had conveniently left out, like the extent of her relationships with all of the various Huntzbergers. But that hadn't been what Ricky was asking about. He just wanted to know why Logan was so friendly with his mother; old college friends should be enough to satisfy him.

Ricky was quiet the rest of the ride down to the library, leaving Rory to believe that he was satisfied. She let out another relieved sigh. The hits today just kept on coming and she couldn't seem to get a break before the next blow was delivered. It was only just noon and she was already planning to spend the rest of the day at home with Ricky, lounging in her pyjamas. That was about all she could manage at that present moment.

Rory and Ricky quickly hurried across the lobby, waving a thankful goodbye at the security guard at the desk before exiting out to the street. Rory, with the expertise of a decade's long New Yorker, raised her hand to hail the cab that was speeding their way. It pulled to the curb right in front of her and Rory opened the door to allow Ricky to slip in. Normally they would have walked home or taken the subway, but Rory wanted to get away from Logan, Huntzberger Enterprises, and the day as quickly as she could.

"Rory!" Logan's crisp, commanding voice called out. Against her better judgement, and own will it seemed, Rory turned away from the cab and towards the sound of Logan's voice. "If you're too busy right now, maybe we can arrange something for later. You know, after you've submitted your paper and your mother and Luke have gotten married. I don't mind waiting."

Rory couldn't believe Logan's audacity. She'd forgotten that he didn't take a 'no' answer very well. This was the boy after all who had stalked her with a coffee cart after they'd broken up. As the memory floated through her mind, she almost gave in. Maybe a date with Logan would be nice. He'd always known how to treat a girl right and Rory could do for some pampering.

Then she remembered why she needed pampering, why she was currently feeling terribly stressed. It was Logan, and his finding out about his son; the son Rory hadn't told Logan about because he'd gotten engaged to another woman only months after he'd been rejected by Rory. She distinctly remembered reading Logan's wedding announcement, both at the time it had happened and early the week before when she'd been doing her research.

"I am busy Logan, for the foreseeable future. But even if I weren't, I wouldn't go out with a married man. And I'm sure your wife wouldn't want you to be asking out other women." Rory then slipped into the cab before Logan could say anything else. The driver of the cab was irritated that she'd held him up with her conversation, but Rory barely registered his displeasure. That last hit had dazed Rory. She wasn't thinking straight. In fact, she wasn't really thinking at all.

"Eh, lady! Where to?" the cabby snapped.

"Grand Central," Rory responded, the words slipping out of her mouth before she was even aware of them. Having a destination, the cabby turned back to the road and quickly merged into the oncoming traffic.

"Why are we going to Grand Central, Mom?" Ricky asked, his tone confused. "Where are we going?"

"Home," Rory responded, only further confusing her son. But she didn't care. She was in shock, overcome with too many jolts to her system. She needed her mom and she needed her mom right now.

It wasn't until Rory and Ricky were sitting on the train headed to Connecticut before Rory realised, she should probably give Lorelai a heads up. It would be quite the surprise for her mother to come home from the inn and have her daughter and grandson waiting on the couch. Lorelai would never turn them away, even if her house was destroyed in a fire or tornado or something, but she would probably appreciate some heads up to tidy the house a little.

"Is something wrong?" Lorelai asked as soon as Rory had relayed her imminent arrival to her mother. Rory's eyes flitted to her son, who was looking out the window at the scenery that was whizzing by. She didn't really want to talk about her romantic or employment woes in front of her son.

"I'll tell you tonight over pizza and ice cream," Rory answered. She knew it wouldn't stop her mother from asking extremely invasive questions when they saw each other, but it satisfied her for the moment.

With that task checked off her list, Rory sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. She was absolutely exhausted and fell asleep almost as soon as her eyelashes brushed her cheeks. The day had been too much and she needed to disengage, even if it was for only a few hours.

"So, are you ready to tell me what sent you my way last minute in the middle of the week?" Lorelai asked. Rory was quite impressed that her mother had lasted as long as she did before asking Rory. She and Ricky had been at her mother's house for all of thirty minutes and Ricky had only just settled himself on the front porch with his homework, that he had thoughtfully packed before heading out to 'work' with his mom that morning. Rory chuckled slightly at her mom. She wrapped her hands around the fresh brewed cup of coffee and sat beside her mother at the beat up, much-loved-but-rarely-used, kitchen table.

"Well, I had my interview with Logan today. I was really worried that he would derail it, that he would somehow drag me off my train of thought, but we got through the questions that I had without too much pain. Then, at the end of the interview, as Ricky and I are trying to leave he asked me out. Like out of the blue; I hadn't done anything to make him think I would be interested in such a thing.

"And then he accosted me on the street as we were getting a cab. I had to remind him about his wife before he would let me leave. I was just so out of sorts that all I could think of was coming here and being with my mom.

"Sorry if I interrupted your plans," Rory added as an afterthought. Her child had almost derailed her interview with Logan today; she didn't want to do the same thing to her mom.

Lorelai waved her hand in a non-committal way. "I was just going to see Luke for dinner tonight. At the diner, no big deal." Lorelai added her comment about the diner after Rory had felt her features slip into a mask of regret. She was sorry that she'd potentially ruined an evening with her mother and her fiancé, even if they lived together and saw each other every day.

"In fact, we can still do that because I don't have any food in the house and my prep crew is otherwise occupied," Lorelai commented, standing up from the table. Rory chuckled at her mom before she went to retrieve her son and leave for the comfortable, familiar food at Luke's.

The threesome chatted amicably, mostly about details of Lorelai and Luke's upcoming nuptials. They were just in a middle of a discussion about the colour scheme when Rory's phone began to chirp. She quickly went through her mental checklist of people who could be calling and just hoped that it wasn't Miranda demanding to know why Rory had only booked off the morning for an interview but then proceeded to not show up at all.

She was too worried to remember to check her caller id, and simply pressed the accept button. "Hello?"

"Is this Ms. Gilmore? The reporter?" a hushed voice asked. Rory was relieved that the caller wasn't Miranda, but she still didn't relax. Hushed speech was quite unsettling, even if it was something that had happened before in her line as a reporter. Rory was pretty sure this was someone calling in a tip who felt guilty about betraying trust, but she wasn't about to drop her guard.

"Who is calling?" she asked, not answering the caller's question and confirming her identify.

"My name is Olivia. I work at Huntzberger Enterprises," the caller responded, her voice becoming slightly shaky. This caller was obviously incredibly nervous about this interaction.

"This is Rory Gilmore. What can I do for you?"

"I have some information. I can't share it over the phone. Can we meet? Tomorrow at the Starbucks on Delancey St? I'll tell you everything then."

"Absolutely," Rory responded, trying to keep her voice level. This was what she had needed, what she'd been waiting for. This was a source, inside the company, willing to spill their closely guarded secrets. She didn't want to appear to eager and put off the source, or worse, make the source think that their information was as valuable as it actually was.

Rory took a quick glance and realised that, while she had stopped walking to take the call, her mother and son had continued on to Luke's. at that moment, they were just entering the front door. If Rory wasn't quick, her mother might order her food which, depending on Lorelai's mood, could be an excellent thing or a truly disgusting thing. Rory quickly confirmed details with Olivia, though she was sure that wasn't her real name, then hung up the phone and hurried towards Luke's.

Slightly out of breath, she really needed to find more time to work out, Rory entered Luke's. she found her mother and son at a fairly large table in the middle of the restaurant. However, they weren't alone as Rory had been suspecting. Instead, they were joined by a dark, somewhat shaggy haired male. He looked vaguely familiar, but Rory couldn't place him just by the back of his head which was the only thing that Rory could currently see.

Hopefully, she thought to herself as she walked towards her family, this wouldn't be another hit. Her psyche couldn't take it.

"Rory, so glad you could finally join us!" Lorelai jokingly called out, causing the somewhat familiar man to turn.

"Hey Rory," he said, his voice deep and velvety like she'd remembered it.

"Hey Jess."