Chapter 4: The Flu, Ruby Slippers, and Junior too

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Ugghhh..." Rory groaned as she reached to turn off her screaming alarm clock. She lay back down on her bed. It was 6:00am. Sun was shining through her window. It was a beautiful morning, but she felt horrible. Her cravings for Luke's were in overdrive, and her stomach didn't even feel like she would ever again be able to get rid of that craving. The morning sickness had never hit her this hard yet. Even though the cravings had been there all week, she had never felt this crappy. It was only one more reminder of what she could barely believe. She was pregnant.

She shook her head and rolled over in bed. She didn't want to think about that right now.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm serious. The flu has been really bad this year. It was just a matter of time before one of us caught it." Logan lied into his cell phone while walking on the sidewalk of the main street in Stars Hollow.

"Logan, I understand that she's sick, but we have a very important meeting today. As CEO of this company, you are required to go. Also, it will help you to prepare for when you take over." Mitchum responded on the other end.

"The meeting's not 'til 5:30!" Logan argued as he approached a small diner on the corner.

"I need you to be here to prepare and discuss what we'll be talking about."

Logan walked into the diner.

"Okay...how about I come by at 1:00. That will give us plenty of time to prepare and discuss this crap." Logan replied as the gruff owner pointed to a sign reading No Cell Phones that was hung on the wall.

"Fine, one o'clock sharp." Mitchum declared then hung up.

Logan flipped his phone closed. He walked up to the counter and ordered 4 large decafe coffees, 4 danishes, 2 cheeseburgers, 3 large fries...

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Then a scream and a big thump could be heard.

"Owwww..." Rory mumbled as she rubbed her aching butt.

"Rory!" Logan yelled from the other side of her apartment door, but she could hardly hear him over her noisy alarm that had apparently only been on sleep.

A minute later she saw a hand turn off her alarm clock followed by a blonde-haired man's face.

"Hello." He smirked at her. She glared at him which only widened his smirk.

"What, no hello back? I think this babies already getting to ya, Ace." Logan said.

"Yes, of course, that is 100 of the problem. It has nothing to do with the giant bruise on my butt - thanks you, by the way, for contributing to the reason it's there - the ringing sounds in my ears, or the fact that I now know that I left my door unlocked all night!" Rory ranted as she tried to untangle herself from the heap of blankets and pillows that had fallen with her onto the ground.

Logan reached out his hand to help her. Once she was out, she laid down on the bed on her stomach next to him.

"What are you doing her?" Rory asked Logan as she turned her head toward him.

Logan smiled and reached over the side of the bed. He brought up a bag labeled 'Luke's' and set it in-between them. He could see her melt when she glanced at the label.

"What's this?" She quietly inquired.

"Food." He answered with his trademark smirk.

"It's Luke's." Her voice was barely audible, but he still heard it.

"Yes, it is…This is only the breakfast bag though. I have the lunch and dinner bags in the living room. Do you know how hard it is to get Luke to put the food in separate bags according to when you're going to eat them? Anyway, coffee," He reached over to the nightstand. "Is right here. Don't worry it's decafe...although that probably gives you more reason to worry."

Rory tried hard to keep the swelling tears in the corner of her eyes from falling.

"I've been craving Luke's all week long." She said, again her words were barely audible.

"I know." He smirked again.

She leaned forward and hugged him.

"Thanks you, Logan." She whispered in his ear.

"Your welcome, Ace."

They let go and started digging through the bag. Rory was trying to hold down a bite of her first danish when she looked over at the clock.

"Oh my God! I have to be at work in five minutes!" Rory screamed as she began to get up from the bed. Logan stopped her though.

"You're off today, Ace." Logan said as she tried to wriggle out of his arms.

She stopped wriggling when she heard him. He hadn't been ready for her to stop so he ended up pulling her right up against him, leaving not more than 5 inches in-between their faces.

"What?" She asked and he could feel her breath on his face.

"You're off today." He re-stated.

Rory slowly pulled away and sat back down on the side of the bed.

"Why?" Rory investigated with a slightly accusing note in her voice.

"Would you believe Mitchum's gone soft?" Logan supplied as he sat down next to her.

Once again she glared at him. He only smiled. He liked that glare. He didn't know why he liked it, he just did. All he could do was smile or smirk when she gave him that death glare.

"I didn't think so." Logan said.

She waited for him to continue but he didn't. She didn't like that he wouldn't continue. If he didn't want to continue it meant she wasn't going to like what he had to say. Her stomach started to feel even queasier.

"Logan, what'd you do? Why don't I have work today?"

Logan bit into his danish to buy him time. He chewed and swallowed slowly and then answered her.

"I called in for you."

"What!" Rory shot up off the bed. "What excuse did you use? You didn't tell him about this," Rory pointed to her belly. "Did you? And if you didn't then you lied to my boss! I really don't care if he's your dad, because he's still my boss, Logan! God!"

"Rory." Logan tried to cut in.

"And it would be even worse if you did tell him 'cause if he finds out about this he'll tell Shira who'll tell Emily who'll tell my mom who'll get mad at me for not telling her first!"

"Rory."

"Not to mention Emily, Richard, my mom, my dad, and everyone else in my family would all be disappointed in me! Then, the whole town would find out and I'd be the new, hot topic around there, let me tell you!"

"Rory!" Logan called to her and took her by the arms to stop her pacing. "I didn't tell him about Junior. I said you had the flu - which is not a complete lie 'cause you do have morning sickness which is not to far off from the flu - and that I was over here taking care of you because it was really bad."

"Oh." Rory uttered in shock and embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks start to turn red. When he smirked, she knew that they were definitely red. She lifted her head trying to gain her dignity back. He laughed at the gesture which, in turn, made her laugh too.

Still blushing and smiling she asked, "So why are you here?"

He smiled and said, "A cause de votre grippe."

She attempted a glare with no luck so she just replied, "In English please."

"Mais oui, Madame, because of your flu."

Rory sighed.

"But I'm not really sick. So what is the real reason you took the day off?" Rory questioned.

"Now who's got the ego. I'm only here 'til twelve. Then I'm off to discuss a meeting with the wonderful wizard of Oz at one." Logan mocked as he sat back down on the bed, soon followed by Rory.

"Well, I'll be sure to have my mom send you her ruby slippers. Now, you're avoiding the topic at hand. Even if you didn't take the whole day off, why'd you take time off?" Rory asked before biting into her danish that she once again was eating.

Logan took a deep breath.

"I figured we should probably talk about how to tell our families and friends about Junior here."

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A/N: Hope you liked it! Please review! I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up because it's not finished yet, but I'll shoot for sometime soon.