A/N: Here is Chapter Two - Hope you enjoy it, please let me know all of your thoughts in the form of lovely reviews :)
Chapter Two
"Please let me in," begged Rory. "There's a very important conversation that I need to have with someone inside."
After much discussion with her mother over how and when to contact Logan they had decided that the Annual HPG Charity Gala would be the best. It was not ideal in what it was or who would be there but mainly because it's somewhere she knew where Logan would be in the country. Lorelai had vetoed flying to England mainly in case the conversation went brutally downhill and the States was a more neutral territory altogether. Odette was now living in his London apartment and Rory would prefer to have this conversation in private. The other issue was that she didn't know where he was based when he was back in the country, whether he was staying with his parents or had his own place or was staying in hotels.
She was acutely aware of the fact that a gala wasn't exactly private, but her master plan had been to find Logan and then go somewhere discreet. She was sure there would be an empty room somewhere in the Plaza. She'd arrived after it had started to ensure she wasn't waiting around for Logan, less chance someone she knew would spot her. She was not in the mood for small talk or other reunions. However, Rory had not counted on the fact she was not on the guest list.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but you're not on the guestlist," frowned the tall, bulky, middle-aged doorman. With his shoulders filling his black suit out well and his straight grey moustache he reminded Rory of a drill sergeant and she took a deep breath to pretend she wasn't intimidated. She glanced at his security badge that was clipped to his lapel.
"Look, John, I know that I'm not on the guestlist but the good news is that I don't want to attend the Gala itself so we don't really need to worry about that fact," pleaded Rory with her best smile. "I'm clearly not wanting to go to the gala because I'm not dressed for it, am I?"
John only frowned harder as he glanced down at her attire. She had a dark blue duffle coat on with cream toggles, over a pair of black skinny jeans and knee-length dark brown boots. Her outfit was even complete with a cream pompom woolly hat and gloves. The waiters were probably dressed smarter than she was. "I can't let you in, Ma'am. Even for just a conversation. You should pick up a phone if you want to talk to someone."
"I normally would but there are just some conversations you need to have in person, you know," rambled on Rory. "I'm sure you understand that. Look, how about I wait here, and you go grab the person I want, and then you're still not letting me in and everybody wins. His name is Huntzberger. He really shouldn't be difficult to find, his name will be the top list. "
John sighed. "My job is security. I'm not going to bring someone out here when I don't know if you a threat."
"There's nothing to me, I can't be a threat," exclaimed Rory. "Besides, I've told you what I want to do, I want to have a conversation. That's not a very threat like thing to do."
"What is so important that you have to have this conversation now?"
"Well I can't really tell you that because it wouldn't really be fair to that person if they were even further down the list of knowing what that conversation is."
"Lady, I'm sorry but I –"
"Rory Gilmore, is that you?" shrieked a voice coming towards them. Rory looked round to see Stephanie, her old friend from Yale. She looked beautiful wearing her now shoulder-length hair in soft curls and dressed in a strapless long red dress with a black shawl wrapped around her shoulders. The years had been very kind to her friend, and it had been too long since she had seen her. She'd married a move producer several years ago and split her time between New York and Los Angeles these days.
"Stephanie, hi, how are you?" said Rory, hugging her.
"I'm well thank you. Wow it must be three years since I've seen you in person, some Californian Senator scandal sent you my way," smiled Stephanie. "What are you doing here? No offence, but surely you knew it was black tie."
Rory rolled her eyes at her friend's mocking. "I'm fully aware my outfit does not pass muster in these circles but I'm not here for the Gala. I just want to get in to talk to somebody, but John here is being mean."
"You're not on the list," sighed John.
"She's probably not but I definitely will be," smiled Stephanie. "Stephanie Irvine. I believe I have a plus one as well, so Rory here is on the list too because she's my plus one."
John was fed up with the whole exchange as he screwed his eyes closed for a moment before silently moving to the side and pointing inwards.
"Thanks John," said Rory with a smile as she walked past him linking arms with Stephanie. "And thanks, Steph, you don't know how grateful I am."
The pair spent a moment checking in Rory's outerwear at the cloakroom as a burst of warmth had hit her the minute she walked in and it did not help with her anxiety. In the lobby, she could hear the rumble of voices and music from the ballroom and she paused.
"Are you okay?"
"Can you do me another favour?" asked Rory meekly. "I can't really go in there; I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb, and I don't want to raise attention to myself. Would you be able to grab Logan for me?"
"I should have known it was Huntzberger you wanted to speak to," smirked Stephanie. "I always thought you two might have found your way back together after Yale but then I attended his engagement party so maybe not." Her eyes widened with a gasp. "Are you here to get him back? Because if you are you should have considered your outfit more carefully. That green sweater is cute but maybe a little black dress would have worked better."
Rory laughed weakly. "No, I'm not. I can't really get into it now but it's just really important that I speak to him alone."
"As long as you tell me about it someday," surrendered Stephanie. "Go sit down on the sofas, you know what these events are like. Even if I make a beeline for him it still may take a while for full extraction." She smiled and patted Rory on the arm before walking into the crowd.
Rory took a seat on the light blue velvet sofa and tried to remember how to breathe as she put her head in her hands. She'd puffed herself with confidence on the way here, but the energy needed to combat to get in had certainly deflated her. There was no turning back now. Even if she chickened out and left Stephanie was telling him she was here. Although he had not contacted her since New Hampshire he would if she demanded to see him and bailed. Rory imagined that would lead to the very conversation she was here to have now so it was futile.
"Ace?"
She looked up and bit her lip as Logan Huntzberger materialised in front of her. She didn't think it was fair that he looked perfect as always, he had always worn a tuxedo better than she anyone else she knew and now her brain felt scrambled. "Oh my god."
Logan frowned and crouched down in front of her, grabbing her hands as she went to put her head back in them. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing at all," she rambled, knowing her big baby blues were wide and crazy looking, but she couldn't control it. "I'm just here but it's difficult but I'm here so there's nothing really I can do about it."
"Are you drunk, Ace?" said Logan, with a soft laugh. "Because you're talking in riddles, Rory."
"You're talking in riddles!", blurted Rory, her stomach screwing up with tension.
"Definitely sound like you've had a few," said Logan concernedly, with a twinkle in his eyes he always had for her. "What are you doing here? I'm usually the one for dramatic scenes at fancy parties."
"I needed to talk to you," gulped Rory.
"And a text, phone, or email couldn't suffice? I thought after… well after that, we weren't going to speak to each other again. I never expected you would infiltrate an HPG event to do so."
"I'm Stephanie's plus one actually, so not really an infiltrator, more of a badly dressed guest when you think about it."
"Your drunken rambles are cute."
"I'm not cute, I mean, I'm not drunk."
"Yep, sure."
"I'm not!"
"You know out of the two of us over the years, if I thought one of us was going to get drunk to have the courage to seek out the other one for a 'talk' I thought it would be me," mused Logan, rubbing her hands with his thumb gently. "But after the last time we saw each other, I didn't think either of us would do it. We said goodbye. I'm here with my fiancée, Rory."
Rory felt nauseous. "I'm not drunk! And I'm not here for that kind of talk, I'm here because, well I'm here to talk to you. To talk to you about something. That something is why I'm here."
"I'm glad you don't write articles after having a few, your vocabulary and sentence structure are really something else," mocked Logan.
She glared at him before she felt her stomach heave. She snatched her hand back so she could cover her mouth, groaning slightly as she waited for it to pass. It did but only one outcome was inevitable. "Bathroom. Now."
Logan was quick on his feet, pulling her up with him as she kept one hand firmly over her mouth and the other clutching her stomach. With his arms over her shoulders he hastily steered her into a thankfully empty bathroom and locked the door behind him as she swiftly collapsed at a toilet basin in one of the stalls and started to hurl up what she had consumed that day. She flinched slightly as she felt his warm hand on her back and another pulling her hair out of her face. He kept silently rubbed her back until she knew it had passed and she pulled her head from the basin and they both sat on the floor facing each other.
"Before you say it, I'm not drunk," she grumbled.
Logan laughed. "The puke really hasn't helped your argument, Gilmore. The evidence is not in your favour."
She sniffled, fruitlessly trying to keep the tears at bay. "Logan."
He lost the grin and looked at her seriously. This was his protector Logan look, the one that was full of concern and stubbornness that he could fix things. "Ace, why are you here?"
She took a deep breath steeling herself when they heard a rattling of the door and banging against it.
"Hey, unlock the door!" shouted an angry voice, muffled behind the door. "I'm getting management. You'll be removed from this event."
"Go away," yelled back Logan, his eyes never leaving hers. "This is my event, I'll remove you." They heard the person trying to rattle the door a few more times before the person left presumably in a huff.
"We should go," said Rory anxiously, leaning forward to stand up. Logan put his hands on her shoulders and her body was forced to sink back down. "Logan."
"We're not going anywhere until I know you're okay. Are you sick?"
"Kind of," replied Rory, biting her lip. "It's only going to be a few months."
Logan suddenly gripped her shoulders harder. "It's terminal?"
Rory almost laughed. "No, no I'm not dying. Logan, I'm fine, really. I just meant I'm only kind of sick and it'll only last a few months."
"Rory, I don't understand, you show up out of the blue and you speak in only riddles or vomit. Help a guy out here."
"Logan?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm pregnant."
