Chapter Twenty Three

It had come down to this. Despite Paris' best efforts to negotiate, and Rory's good-faith concessions, it seemed that Logan wasn't really interested in time with his son if it didn't end up hurting Rory in the process as well. She'd never seen this side of Logan, this cool, calculating, manipulative side. This was a side she thought of in relation to Mitchum or Shira. They were the Huntzbergers who looked at a situation and saw how they could best stage-manage the people in it to get the best outcome for themselves. It wasn't the Logan that she knew. But then again, the Logan that she knew had been an earnest, if slightly naïve businessman, not some shady wall street tycoon only interested in the bottom line and filling his own pockets as much as possible. People changed in ten years.

"Now, Ms. Gilmore, please explain to the court why you kept such pertinent information from my client?" Logan's attorney asked. Rory had been testifying for about a half an hour, beginning with Paris walking her through raising Ricky, the sacrifices she'd made for his benefit and generally portraying her as the loving, caring mother she thought of herself as. It was now Logan's turn to tear all that down and paint her as an unfit mother.

"Well, when we broke up and went our separate ways, him to California and myself on the campaign trail, I didn't know I was pregnant. I didn't know really until a couple months later. I was stressed, not eating very well, not sleeping enough, worrying about reporting everything important and making it so that the reader wanted my take over any of the other reporters. I was brand new and it was a big assignment and it meant that I wasn't paying attention to the signs that I should have been.

"Then, once I did know, the first thing I wanted to do was tell Logan. My mom raised me as a single parent and while I think she did an amazing job and I wouldn't trade our relationship for the world, I know it was hard on her. I wasn't sure I had the same strength to do it on my own. So, I planned to visit Logan, tell him about it, and have him be a part of the baby's life right from the beginning."

"Ms. Gilmore," Logan's attorney butted in. "I asked you why you didn't tell Logan about his son and as nice as your touching tribute to your single mom is, I feel you have yet to actually answer my question."

"I was getting to that," Rory responded. She tried not to snap at the lawyer. She knew that the other woman was only trying to win the case for her client and Rory's attempt to humanize her and talk about how she had a single mother and didn't turn out absolutely terrible.

"I went to Logan's house. I was literally standing on the curb, when I saw two woman, one younger and one older coming out of his house. I was a little upset, you know, hormones and everything. So, I just left and went to a diner nearby. While I was there, I saw in the newspaper that the younger woman was Logan's fiancée. In that moment, I realised that Logan had obviously moved on and that if I were to tell him, it could ruin everything he'd built. I knew that he would want to be an involved father and it could destroy his relationship. I mean, if I was his fiancée I don't know if I would stick around when some girl from his past came back saying she was pregnant with his baby.

"I thought it would just be best to not tell him, raise my son on my own and let Logan have his life."

"You didn't think that it would work out well? Or that Logan had the right to know?" Logan's lawyer was getting a little shouty, a little almost hysterical, but she was still obviously in control. Rory wasn't sure how to respond, the questions were on the rhetorical end; Rory wasn't sure if she was allowed to ask questions like that. However, Paris wasn't objecting. Rory turned to the judge for any direction and the older man simply nodded, prodding her to answer the question.

"I don't know. I couldn't see into the future; I didn't know how things would turn out. And, I wasn't exactly thinking very clearly. I was a bit hormonal," Rory responded. Rory knew she sounded defensive, but the lawyer was attacking her at every opportunity and there was only so much that Rory could take.

"And what about now, do you think Logan deserves to see his son?" the lawyer asked. Her tone was calm, a little glad almost. Rory was sure that the lawyer figured she'd gotten what she needed out of Rory, though what exactly that was Rory wasn't sure.

"I think that Ricky should get to know his father. We tried to negotiate for shared custody, but you and your client weren't seeming to have it. I don't think Logan deserves full custody. Ricky doesn't even know who he really is. I'm open to a fair settlement, not this."

Rory was absolutely steaming. She wasn't sure how she'd managed to contain it while in court. How she'd managed to sit beside Paris and not betray the fury that was rolling through her. After Rory's time on the stand, Logan's lawyer had begun calling what Rory could only describe as anti-character witnesses. It was like she'd sent a spam email to everyone who had ever seen Rory at a low point in her life, or enjoying being twenty, and paraded them before the judge. Witness after witnessed described a college-aged Rory drinking, at times to excess, dropping out of Yale after stealing a boat, being in therapy, and any other unpleasant thing that Rory had ever done.

None of the witness talked about Rory as a mom. Logan hadn't been in Rory's life for ten years so they didn't know who she associated with now and, even if they did, Rory was sure none of her friends or family would show up in Logan's defense. All of the witnesses could only describe a Rory of ten years ago, but that didn't mean that Rory wasn't any less upset about the fact that every misstep she'd made when she was in her early twenties was being used to declare her unfit now, in her mid-thirties.

"It was muck-racking Rory. The judge will not be swayed by it. They don't have a single person who can talk about your character now. This is the case of someone who is used to winning and getting their way, but the legal system doesn't work like that. We've done our job to paint you as a stellar mom and the judge will see that!" Paris tried to calm Rory down. But, much like everything with this whole situation, Rory found it very hard to be rational and logical when it came to her son. She understood all of Paris' points, but they didn't permeate the dome of panic that had descended upon her when she'd read Logan's declaration of his desire to take her son from her.

"When do we need to be back in court?" Rory asked. Both sides had made their cases in the day's prior and now they were waiting on the judge's ruling.

"We won't know until the judge makes his decision. It could take a few days or a few weeks. Once the decision has been made, we will be informed and expected to be back in court the following day." Paris responded. Rory nodded at her words.

"Okay. I'll see you then," she spoke before walking away from Paris. Rory was happy that their relationship had never been one in which they shared their feelings a lot. They did it occasionally, but Rory knew that Paris wouldn't chase after her and press her on how she was feeling. Paris would either wait until Rory was ready to share, or until it began to seriously impact the brunette. That moment was neither, so Rory was able to walk down the courthouse steps and into the New York City traffic that moved along on the street. She had to pick up her son from school and then Rory had every intention to do what she'd done in such situations for the past few months. She was escaping to Stars Hallow for the next week, or as long as it took the judge to decide if he would take Ricky away.

'Thank god Ricky isn't at school next week or this could be yet another thing they drag out to show what a terrible mother I am.' Rory thought as she made her way towards her son's school.

"Mom!" Rory groaned out for what felt like the thousandth time that day. She wasn't really yelling at her mom, more at the universe through her mother. She was sitting in the living room of her mother's house, trying to finish her paper, but she kept losing her internet connection. At some time after Rory moved out, her mom had stopped paying for high-speed internet and now only used a slow, fairly unreliable internet. Normally, it wasn't an annoyance for Rory because when she came to Stars Hallow, she didn't do a lot of work but on this occasion, with Rory's piece scheduled to go to print in March, she'd had no other choice.

"Luke just got new high speed internet at Luke's and if you ask nicely, I could give you the password," Lorelai called from the kitchen. Rory wasn't sure what her mother was doing in the kitchen, it certainly wasn't cooking, but there had been some banging a few minutes prior.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top," Rory called back.

"LukeDanes1. Capital L. Capital D," Lorelai responded before banging something again. Rory chuckled at the lack of technological know-how that was so clearly displayed with that password. She then gathered her computer and bag and headed out the door, hoping that Luke's internet would allow her to put her finishing touches on the story and then submit it to Miranda the editor from hell.

"Where are you going?" a small voice asked from the stairs. Ricky had been upstairs in the bedroom he used when they were in Stars Hallow, reading, but he had obviously been alerted to something going on.

"Luke's. Grandma's internet isn't working," Rory explained. Her son nodded, happy with the explanation and turned to head back up to his room. "Do you want to come?" Rory added last minute. She hadn't thought about asking her son to join her. In fact, it sort of went against her plan to try and get work done. But there was the ever-present prospect that she would lose him and she was craving time with him whenever she could get it.

For his part, Ricky shrugged in response, turned on his heel to grab his book and bounded back down to Rory in only a few seconds. Apparently, Ricky also wanted to spend time with her. Rory felt a smile break across her face at that thought.

As they walked through the streets to Luke's, Ricky seemed exceptionally chatty. He was eagerly regaling her with the goings on at his school, the projects he was working on, the books he was reading, the silly things his friends did at recess. Rory and her mother had always had a close relationship, sharing everything that went on in each other's lives. However, Ricky was always a quieter boy, more at home in his books than around other people and he rarely let his mother in on the thoughts in his head. It had been hard at first, for Rory to not have the same relationship with her son as she'd had with her mother, but now she cherished they rare moments when her son did open up to her.

The small chime above the door at Luke's broke Rory out of her revere. It was quite busy inside, for a small town diner on a February in the middle of the week. It meant that Rory and Ricky had to take a seat at counter. Rory had been hoping for a table so she could easily spread out her work, but at the point, she would take what she could get.

Ricky eagerly jumped up onto the counter and pulled out a menu. He eagerly perused it, kicking his feet as he did so. Rory took the place next to him and began pulling out her laptop.

"Hey, Ricky! I wasn't expecting to see you here," the familiar voice of Jess Mariano spoke. Rory tensed up behind her computer. She hadn't seen Jess since the slightly disastrous bachelor/ bachelorette planning day.

"I'm on break. Can I get a hamburger and a coke please?" Jess nodded at the boy and then walked away without acknowledging her presence. She felt a little slighted, but also a little relieved. She wasn't really sure how she should act around Jess at that moment, with the possibility that he might like her floating awkwardly between them.

"Aren't you going to order, Mom?" Ricky asked as he watched Jess walk away, a small wrinkle on confusion blooming between his eyebrows.

"I'm not hungry, Ricky. Only came here to work. And remember Papa Luke will be making you dinner too, so don't eat too much." Ricky nodded in agreement, then pulled out his book and got back to reading. Rory for her part buried herself back in her work, clacking away at the keys on the keyboard of her laptop. She quickly lost herself in the work, and before she knew it, an hour had passed.

Rory looked up from her laptop, a little dazed and lost at the passing of time. She looked over at her son, feeling a little guilty at essentially ignoring her son for the past hour. What she saw surprised her. Ricky had long ago finished his meal and his plate was pushed off to the side, as was his book. Normally, Rory could assuage her guilt at not paying her son a lot of attention because he had usually contented himself with a book. She didn't do it often, mostly at the end of a story, but she could always guarantee that her son was occupied and happy while she worked. Seeing his book discarded was quite shocking.

What was even more shocking was that instead of reading, Ricky and Jess were bent over a comic book. It wasn't one that Ricky owned, so it must have been something that Jess had. They were deep in discussion and something about the sight pulled at Rory's heart strings. She hadn't thought a lot about what it would be like for Ricky to have a male, father-figure in his life but the few times she'd allowed herself to think about it, this was essentially the scene she imaged. Her son and his father-figure bonding over a shared love of books and discussing it for hours on end. Her week had started off rocky but this image, this almost idyllic image, was definitely doing a lot to turn it around.