Chapter 3

April 25th, 2017 - Midtown Manhattan, NY

"I'll leave you two the room," Rory's lawyer said, leaving the room herself and leading out Logan's representation along with her, and nodded respectfully.

It was a warm spring day outside, yet being up on the 28th floor, separated from that sunny weather by thick glass windows in an air conditioned room, almost made it feel like it wasn't real. Surreal was the keyword here.

"So this is it… I guess," Rory said hesitantly, breaking the silence. A part of her would've hoped the lawyers had made this final goodbye something more formal than this, less private even. But no, they had to be the understanding kind, leaving the two of them, two and a half technically, alone like this - sitting awkwardly across from each-other.

Under the table Rory rubbed the bottom of her stomach, already prominently round at 31 weeks, the baby in her womb making itself known by hitting the same spot over and over again. Definitely way more than a 'half' by now. That feeling was definitely more real than any other form of confirmation they'd gotten on the fact that she was pregnant during these past months.

"It is for the better no matter how much I hate this… It is," Logan reflected, needing her confirmation to convince himself of the fact yet again.

They'd gone over this a thousand times by now, or so it felt. He'd known about Rory being pregnant since Christmas. Four months. After she'd told him for a full 15 minutes it had been the most shocking, craziest, scariest, most wonderful Christmas present ever. But a lot had happened since then, the reality of the situation making itself crystal clear both in theory and practice.

By no means had this been an easy decision.

"Yeah… This is for the better," Rory agreed, her eyes involuntarily landing yet again to Logan's hand that now held a brushed gold wedding ring, like they had a few times during the past hour.

Rory knew she had no right to be jealous. After all, it had been her choice. It had been her choice more than once. She was, much like her mother, had never been a firm believer in pregnancy being the reason for two people to be in a relationship together necessarily, let alone married to each-other. She wasn't well enough herself to believe someone could actually want her for her.

But even this wasn't the main reason they were here today.

Logan noticed her gaze, and moved the fingers of his other hand to cover it, trying to appear casual. He had actually considered removing it altogether coming in here, it being the first time for her to see him wearing it, but he just felt it wouldn't be fair to her. That was the reality. And while he didn't want to hurt her or rub in the fact that he had a whole other life across the Atlantic, he also didn't want to lie to her or disrespect her by pretending being unattached.

Logan had just minutes ago signed away his right to paternity and he'd vowed to not sign the birth certificate, giving away all parental rights looking forward. Rory was going to have full custody. Rory had assured with her own signature in return that she was never going to contest his paternity even if a DNA test confirmed it at some point for whatever reason. There was a NDA on the whole thing as well, naturally, and even this meeting was taking place under the strictest secrecy.

She didn't need his child support, the child wasn't lacking money for private schools, college or for a trust fund, Rory having agreed to take on her dad's offer to help them out however they needed until she got on her feet.

The child would be missing a father, but Rory was pretty sure that just like she had, the baby was going to survive that. It certainly was better than the alternative. It sounded cold and calculated - but it was what she needed to tell herself.

This whole thing was for the baby's sake. Logan was essentially giving up his rights to paternity because they'd both agreed it was better this way. The list of reasons was certainly not short. Some even remaining in their own private thought spaces.

"You know… if you want I could still send you pictures sometimes. I don't know - birthdays and Christmases sort of thing?" Rory suggested, actually feeling sorry for him, there had been an awkward silence for several seconds. But neither seemed in a hurry out of there either. They felt like they were supposed to say something, but everything just seemed so redundant or on the contrary not substantial enough.

Rory knew It was unfair, and mostly unfair to him. Logan didn't like to pity himself - he wasn't even sure he deserved a role like that, not in his position, essentially stuck between a rock and hard place, his predestined life having kicked in in a way that had proved all these former years to only be a trial run. With another last name things would've been different, his whole life would've been different.

Already back in December Rory had had lists of reasons why she didn't need anything from Logan but that Logan had expected - this was Rory after all. He hadn't even requested a paternity test, even though she had willingly suggested it.

Rory had plans A-s, B-s and C-s even if all of them only really covered the part that she needed instead of what she wanted. It didn't mean, however, it hadn't been hard for her. Even telling him had been one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do - simply facing him was hard. And the message had been even harder. But with Luke's horrible experience with April and a mountain of respect, and also love, for Logan - Rory knew she could not not tell him.

But as their discussions had carried on and Logan's life began to shift to a direction more and more out of his grasp, he too had begun to see the benefits of what she'd suggested. He didn't want the child to grow up in their mess, in his mess - messes that would be picked apart by every gossip magazine now that Mitchum had gone into politics and made him the CEO. It didn't help that Logan was about to marry the heiress of one of the most famous auction houses in Europe who just happened to be very popular with the press. That reason sounded like one of the most superficial reasons ever - but they both knew there was more to it.

There was also the question of geography, neither being in the position to move across the ocean.

What had been the final straw, however, was Rory's fear that if something happened to him the baby would get swept up into the Huntzberger way by having the custody situation altered. Rory was too vulnerable - she had too many holes in her life - diagnosed anxiety and depression and the tiny fact that technically she was unemployed ex-felon, even if the only place that mentioned her yacht incident was some stupid blog from 2005.

One would think worrying about the health of a fit man in his mid-30s, but he did have cholesterol issues and his father had history of heart disease mostly linked to stress from his early 40s. There was also the issue he hadn't even begun to share with Rory, not wanting to worry her - his position seemed to come with threats, some rather serious ones, which was the reason his driver doubled as his security detail.

In the present day, sitting across the large mahogany conference table from Rory, Logan was quiet, unsure if to grab at straws or make a clean break, thinking over Rory's offer. He really didn't know which was for the better - both for the baby's, Rory's and as the final aspect - his sake.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested that. It's not what we just agreed on," Rory apologized, seeing him go all quiet like that.

"No… Yeah. Send them, please…," Logan said, seeing not just hesitation but also some disappointment in him in her face just now. Her opinion of him had always mattered more than she realized. She needed to know he wanted to know, even though he didn't know what good that would do now.

"To the private e-mail, I assume," Rory suggested.

"Yeah," Logan sighed, reluctantly, knowing his work e-mail was monitored by his two assistants who were not supposed to know.

"Okay," Rory exhaled.

"I'm so sorry it had to be like this…," Logan said, fighting the tears in his throat.

"I'm sorry too…," Rory replied, and reached out across the table and squeezed his hand. In some lifetime she would've craved a hug, he did too - but it felt too painful mentally to go there. This would have to do.

"Okay," Logan inhaled sharply, pulling the hand away. In the midst of all of this, whatever he felt needed to be swept under the carpet. "I guess I better get going, I got a plane to catch," he added.

"Yeah, I better go too. It's mom's birthday," Rory said, raising the corner of her mouth. In this context it almost felt like life did go on even after life changing decisions.

AN: I am not an American so I don't know all the legal aspects. If there are flaws in those parts - sorry!

Also if you think Mitchum going to politics is OC then I just put it on him liking the power and wanting to entertain himself with something like that at his age. It didn't mean he was very successful at it.

I honestly wrote this chapter a few times, never being quite happy with it. One option was to not give you a lot of answers straight away and I guess the part about Odette is stil a little hidden away - we'll get to that. But anyway - what I hope came across from this is that Logan did what he thought was better for the baby. I think there is something admirable in doing something so hard to protect someone even if it was not the 'right' thing by many standards.