Chapter Fourteen

"Grandma!" Rory chimed. She was aware that her voice was far too chipper and cheery. She wasn't even attempting to act natural; her emotions were far to frayed for her to try and control them. However, Emily was immediately suspicious. She got out of the car and her eyes homed in on Logan's car and the man himself standing right beside it, looking a little sheepishly at the three Gilmore women.

"Logan!" Emily exclaimed, obviously not expecting to see him anywhere near her daughter's house. To be honest, Rory hadn't been expecting it either. "What brings you to Stars Hallow?" Emily then shot her daughter and granddaughter a disappointed look. Lorelai returned the look with an incredulous one of her own. Rory quickly interpreted her mother's look to mean 'how was she supposed to know that Logan was coming, and for that fact that Emily would be coming, and then relay this information'. She had not been aware of anyone coming to visit except for Rory and Ricky.

"Hello, Mrs. Gilmore. I just came to pick Rory up. We had plans for the weekend, and I figured it would be easier to meet here instead of having Rory come back into the city on the train and then heading north again," Logan explained. He stayed standing next to his car, obviously sensing the tension between the women and wisely choosing not to get too close.

"You're going out with Rory?" Emily asked. She turned her disappointed look from her daughter, Lorelai, to Rory. Lorelai also turned to look at her daughter and, much like her mother, this was the first she was hearing this.

"Yeah. It's fairly new," Rory tried to explain. She desperately wanted to extract herself from the situation but her only other option was to go stand by Logan which would not help the situation.

"I see," Emily said, drawing out the words. Everyone stood around rather awkwardly for a beat, not quite sure what to do. Then, suddenly, Emily's expression changed and a worrying, gleeful glint developed in her eyes. "Well, if you two are back together then Logan, you should definitely join us for Thanksgiving dinner!"

Rory swore under her breath. She barely liked going to the Gilmore Family Thanksgiving. Instead of a loving family bonding time, Thanksgiving at the Gilmore's was essentially an opportunity to brag about their success for the year amongst their equally extremely successful friends and neighbours. Rory always felt like a show pony whenever she was there and if she were to bring Logan along, it would make all of that even worse.

But then, she couldn't exactly say no. With Emily, it was always easier to go along with what she'd asked then trying to say no or coming up with an excuse. Emily would question and needle and pry until you gave in and relented anyway. Logan would have to come to Thanksgiving. There was no getting around it now.

"That would be lovely Emily. My family is all busy with vacations and their own family dinners so I was just going to have a meal by myself or go to a dinner or something, but this will be so much more enjoyable." Logan smiled warmly at her grandmother. Rory had forgotten with the passing years who absolutely amazing Logan was at schmoozing, especially grandparents and even more especially grandparents of the 1%.

"Well, I don't want to keep you and Rory any longer. I was just coming over to discuss wedding details with my daughter. You two should be heading off on your grand adventure," Emily replied, demurring at Logan's complement and ushering Rory towards Logan and his car. As Rory moved to get in the car and her mother moved back to the house, the younger Gilmore girl mouthed an apology to her mother. She wasn't sure how this whole mess was her fault, but she definitely felt that it somehow was.

Rory spent the two weeks between her grandmother's invitation to Thanksgiving dinner and the actual dinner itself in a state of absolute terror. It seemed that each day that passed, moving the dinner closer and closer Rory realised something else that made her panic even more.

First there had been the idea of her grandmother's friends discovering her boyfriend (or whatever relationship status she and Logan possessed). Her grandparent's acquaintances and friends were extremely nosy and gossipy. They wanted to know everything about everyone so they could judge them and decided if said person was worthy of being around. For most of her adult life, since her grandparents had become a more permanent part of her life, Rory had been trying to keep as much of her private life private from this group of people. They didn't need to know about who she was dating.

Then, she realised that bring a boy to an important family gathering like Thanksgiving dinner made their previously undefined relationship much more concrete. People in casual relationships didn't tend to meet families. People who were just having fun and enjoying each other's company usually preferred to just spend time with each other, maybe meeting friends but in a very casual, everyone hanging out situation. Would Logan coming to Thanksgiving dinner make him think that Rory wanted more out of this relationship? Would it make him think that this was more serious than it was? Did he want it to be that way? After all, he had agreed to come. He could have easily said that he was busy instead of revealing his depressing Thanksgiving Day plans.

Finally, and Rory was a little upset with herself that it was the last thing she thought about, Logan being invited to Thanksgiving dinner would mean an entire evening in which Logan would be in the presence of his son. Rory had been so careful, for so many years, trying to keep her secret. Logan had moved on quickly after they'd broken up and she hadn't wanted him to feel tied to her against his will, so she hadn't told him about Ricky. Then, not wanting the fact that Ricky was Logan's son to get back to him, she hadn't told anyone else about who Ricky's father was. Having Logan and Ricky around each other for an entire evening would mean that someone would put two and two together and all of the years of hard work that Rory had put in would all be for nothing. That was probably the biggest reason that Rory was currently panic, but it was also too late to really do anything about it.

"Okay. You've got your book, your schoolwork. Do you need a second book? Will one be enough?" Rory asked, fretting over her young son. Ricky for his part stood still, an exasperated expression on his face.

"I'm fine mom. But we won't be if we don't leave soon," Ricky said, grabbing his backpack with his things in them and heading out of the door. Rory let out a stressed sigh and followed after him. She felt extremely frazzled and, as she climbed down the stairs, she started to worry about whether or not she'd packed her train passes. She was digging through her purse when a horn sounded nearby. Normally, the sound of honking was part of the background soundtrack of her life, but this horn sounded extremely close and was followed by someone shouting her name.

Extremely confused, Rory looked up from her purse and felt her heart drop. Normally, the sight of Logan made Rory feel warm and fuzzy inside. However, on this occasion, seeing him standing outside his town car had the absolute opposite effect. It would take around two hours to drive up to her grandparents' house, which would only increase the amount of time that Logan and Ricky would be spending together.

This was the absolute last thing that Rory needed at that moment, but she didn't want to raise any suspicions, so she plastered a pleasant, but surprised, smile on her face. "Logan! You've got to stop surprising me with car rides. A heads up is always appreciated."

"It's more fun this way," Logan responded, a sheepish smile on his face. Rory couldn't help but mimic his playful expression before, slightly reluctantly, ushering Ricky towards the car.

"Ricky, this is my friend Logan. He knows Grandma Emily and Grandpa Richard and they invited him to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. Tell him thank you for the ride," Rory spoke to her son. Ricky nodded his thanks instead and then hurriedly climbed into the car. Rory followed, noticing that her son had made himself comfortable in a seat about as far away from the open door as possible. He had pulled out his book and quickly lost himself in it. Rory slid in beside him, essentially blocking her son from Logan. He followed her into the car and closed the door.

"Shall we," Logan asked. He was looking at Rory and not paying any attention to her son nestled in quietly beside her. Maybe she would be able to survive Thanksgiving. Maybe Ricky would be unassuming enough that no one started to put two and two together.

"How is life in New York, Rory? Is it just as glamorous as I imagine? Do you spend every evening going to Broadway shows, or the ballet, or the opera?" an insipid woman whom her grandmother knew through the DAR chatted Rory's ear off. As she listed the 'glamorous' options for Rory's evening she swished her nearly empty champagne glass around, the expensive liquid threatening to spill forth with every motion.

"Oh no nothing like that," Rory commented. She was trying to signal Logan with her eyes and slight head motions because he was across the room chatting to some businessmen-looking-types. She was hoping that he would come and save her from the boring conversation she had accidentally gotten herself in to. Her mother and Luke, who she was positive had also been invited, hadn't arrived yet, so she was relying on Logan to act as her quote unquote protector for the evening. At least until her mom arrived.

"Hello ladies, mind if I cut in here?" Logan asked, finally getting Rory's signals and coming over to save her. Without waiting for a response from the boring socialite crowd around him, Logan steered Rory away from the group and into the corner where Ricky had taken up residence. So far, Rory had been right about her son being extremely unassuming and drawing little attention; barely any one at her grandparent's little party had even acknowledged that Ricky was there.

"Thank you for saving me," Rory spoke, a little out of breath at the whirlwind of it all, "I was drowning over there. Those women and the conversations they have are so vain and banal that I feel like I was losing brain cells just standing there."

"Well, these women lead very small lives, so they only have very small topics to draw from," Logan responded, his tone jovial as he took a swig of the amber liquid in his highball glass. Rory wasn't sure what it was, though it did smell a little like whiskey.

"I know. I hate these sorts of things. Friday night dinners are fine; my grandparents can at least hold an interesting, intelligible conversations, but for some reason their friends cannot. I try and avoid these parties at all costs, and I'm really sorry that you got dragged into all of this." Rory took a step closer to Logan. Even though he hadn't done much, his little heroic act of saving her from party chitchat had left Rory feeling quite romantic. He was her knight in shining armour and she would gladly play the damsel in distress.

Logan, likewise, stepped closer to Rory and began whispering intimate sweet nothings in her ear. The fact that Rory was standing only feet from her son was quickly forgotten and, for his part, Ricky seemed oblivious to his mother standing in front of him.

"Rory, a word," the slightly harsh voice of her grandmother broke Rory out of her revere. She and Logan had been standing only inches apart holding a flirty suggestive conversation only seconds before. In fact, if her grandmother hadn't stepped in, Rory was sure that they were only moments away from finding a secluded room for some along time. Instead, Rory was forced to take a step back from Logan and turn to her grandmother.

"Yes, Grandma," Rory responded. She was still a little clouded from her interaction with Logan and so it took her a moment to realise that Emily had a strange expression on her face. It was a combination of anger, shock, surprise, relief, and something else that Rory couldn't quite put her finger on. The number of warring emotions combined to produce an overall crazed look on her grandmother's face. Instantly, Rory knew it was serious.

"Let's go talk somewhere private," Rory quickly spoke, directing her grandmother away from the crowded party and into her grandfather's office. It was always a place of refuge and Rory knew it would be empty. They could talk here and not worry about someone overhearing them.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Emily asked as soon as the door closed behind her. Rory was confused.

"Tell you what, grandma?" Rory's tone may have come across a little more innocent than she had intended, but she genuinely had no idea what her grandmother was talking about. What had happened to Emily at the party that had caused her to act in such a strange way.

"About Ricky and Logan!" Emily exclaimed exasperatedly. Rory froze. The one thing that Rory had been worried about getting out, the one secret she had (and one of the only ones she'd ever had) had been found out. If her grandmother knew, soon everyone would know.

"What are you talking about grandma?" Rory tried to play it off. Maybe if she could convince Emily that she was barking up the wrong tree, she could convince her grandmother to drop the whole thing.

"Don't play dumb with me Rory. I saw the two of them. Side by side the similarities are hard to miss. Ricky looks exactly like Logan. And he was born only a little while after the two of you broke up. Logan is Ricky's father!" Emily had been working herself up more and more as she spoke and was almost yelling by the time she finished. Rory realised her tactic hadn't worked; in fact, some might even say it had backfired.

"Okay, okay, grandma. Relax. There's no need to yell," Rory said, trying to calm her grandmother down. The last thing she needed was someone else at the party overhearing and her secret getting out that much faster.

On the other side of the door to Richard Gilmore's office, Logan Huntzberger quietly slunk back into the crowded party behind him.