AN: I will say this again - Rory is not pregnant!

Chapter 7

September 23rd, 2022, Boston

There hadn't been a good reason for a semi-formal Friday night dinner in months in this Beacon Hill townhouse, and tonight was certainly the most nerve wracking one Rory had experienced in years.

She'd tried to not make the evening seem like that special - but it undoubtedly showed to Christopher who'd been watching her go back and forth between the dining room and kitchen as if she'd cooked the food from scratch, making sure everything looked delicious and beautiful - the dark red and peach-colored dahlias, a couple of pink freesias and a few branches of snow berry decorated the clear glass vases at each end of the table, while six chairs were set across from each other behind the pink linen table place settings, along with earthy but minimalist Fable tableware.

Rory and Logan had after a lot of thought, having talked over messenger throughout the week, and decided to ease Em into the fact that he was her father, and first just share a meal, and then see how it went - either tell her together that same night or have Rory tell her it the following day privately. They honestly weren't sure, which was a better option, not wanting to spring it on her but then again not delay it by much either. What they had agreed on was that Em should be given the news in a safe and neutral environment - which no doubt was her home.

"Hey, it's going to be fine…," Christopher soothed Rory, seeing her looking a little overwhelmed, once the table was set, feeling like she still needed to do something.

The whole menu, the house nor the table setting wouldn't have been quite up for the Gilmore's or Hayden's standards but it was a big step up from eating tater tots off paper plates, meeting somewhere between the two worlds. This was the new normal.

"It is?" Rory said, unsure how true that was and let out an exhale.

"Yes!" Christopher encouraged her, subbing her shoulders supportively.

"Maybe I should've told her in advance…? What if she takes it bad and…?" Rory began to fret.

Thankfully she wasn't given much more time to wind herself up as it was then the doorbell rang.

She took a deep breath and muttered, "Here goes…"

When Rory had told Logan he was invited to dinner, she hadn't specified that it'd be more than just the three of them. But somehow seeing both Rory and Christopher at the door, Logan actually felt a little relieved. It almost felt like Rory's dad served as a buffer, as back up in case he ran out of things to stay, the whole situation being just too extraordinary for him to feel like he could guarantee a polite thread of smalltalk throughout the evening.

"Hey," Logan said, wearing a simple pair of dark jeans and a navy V-neck sweater underneath his coat.

"Hey," Rory replied, still a little in awe being not used to seeing him like this - up close. Five years and now twice in one week.

Rory looked vibrant in her black poppy-patterned mini shirt dress. Logan was beginning to grasp that one way or the other her outfits seemed to either reflect her mindset or the other way around - either way she looked good. Causing Logan to worry about her, as he had for years, a lot less, even if he didn't yet know everything about her.

"And welcome," Christopher added, gesturing him in.

"It's quite a place you've got here," Logan replied, unsure to whom to direct the comment to. He'd certainly been a little surprised to hear that he was coming to such a luxurious neighborhood but Christophers next comment explained a few things without him having to ask.

"Yeah, I got really lucky… what, eight years ago or something, when this place opened up. It's not easy to come across these," Christopher replied.

"I've… well we have been crashing here for a while now," Rory admitted as Logan took off his coat.

"And I'm happy to have them. There is far too much room in this place for just me, especially with Gigi off at Yale most of the time," Christopher explained. From what Logan knew about these houses was that many had separate floors for each or pairs of bedrooms, which enabled one feel a lot like living at a separate apartment, so he definitely wasn't thinking negatively about this - even if he did have some concerns about whether Rory was at least theoretically self-sufficient.

"Em?! Gi?! Dinner's ready," Rory called up the stairway, making it evident that there was yet another person joining them for dinner.

"So your sister's going to Yale?" Logan asked Rory.

This was something he was actually kind of glad to hear, both the fact that they'd clearly spent some time living in the same house, hopefully being closer than they'd been for years which had always made Rory feel guilty, and that there seemed to be a Yale tradition being upheld - despite Rory herself working for the former enemy, jokingly speaking of course.

"Yeah, she just started. It's her first weekend home," Rory replied, leading Logan onwards through the living room towards the dining room.

"What's for dinner, mommy?" came a sudden girly voice from behind them, jolting the two perhaps more than it should've. Somehow the girl had made it downstairs without making a sound. It was indeed the moment they'd been worrying about, both of them individually in their heads.

"Em, you remember Logan, right? Christopher said, seeing the two other adults being a little tongue-tied at the sight of her. They'd agreed, however, not to use the old friend title again, not to enforce that half-truth even further.

"Uh-uh, hi," Emma replied with a nod. Emma wearing a purple velour dress, which looked both comfortable while a little dressy. To Logan it was a new sight to see her longhair all mostly lose, just the sides clipped up to keep out of her face, as during the soccer game she'd had it tightly tied back.

"Hi, how are you?" Logan asked, unsure whether to just address her as casually as he could or crouch down to her level like he knew was recommended with preschoolers, but he somehow felt it would've been making too big of a deal of this moment which might have been confusing for her without the context - clearly he was overthinking this. It was not like he was walking out of here today with actually getting her to hug him or get her to call him 'dad' - he wasn't that delusional.

"I'm good. How are you?" Em asked, almost overly politely.

"I'm great, thank you for asking," Logan tried to reply with the same courtesy, smilingly.

"Em here, spent some time with my grandma Emily this summer, you see. She came back like this," Rory said, feeling a little entertained.

Logan was somewhat relieved to hear that at least Rory still seemed to have contact with her and that the old woman was still alive and well.

"Well Emily Gilmore's cotillion school is well renowned. Even my sister, Honor, went through it and looked how well she turned out," Logan commented.

"She did?" Rory reacted, having not expected an association quite that close. She also couldn't believe this hadn't come up ever before.

"Yeah," Logan replied, smilingly.

"Wow, small world," Christopher chimed in, his face showing perhaps the biggest smile at the sight of these three in the same room. In this sense the old friend act really did fit well, as there were things in common, things that were painless and they provided them something to talk about.

Soon Gigi's steps could be heard and they were joined by a blonde 19-year-old and very sporty-looking…. Um, supposedly teenager was the right word, dressed more relaxed than anyone in the group, wearing just a pair of leggings and an oversize sweater.

"Gi, I told you we had company tonight," Rory scolded her sister in half-volume, clearly having something to say about her looks.

"Um yeah, I forgot. Most of my wardrobe is at Yale anyway," Gigi replied with a shrug. But Logan really couldn't care less.

"Logan, this is my sister Georgia Hayden, whom we call Gigi - this is Logan Huntzberger," Rory introduced the two. Rory had talked about her before, but the two had, in fact, never actually met.

Logan was a little puzzled whether Gigi had been already let in on the secret or not, he hadn't yet gotten around to telling Honor and frankly he would've preferred to do it in person, though at this point he was not yet sure when he would be flying back to London to make that happen. So he realized that he might just have to do it over video chat over the next few days. He was very sure he'd be the recipient of Honor's fury so it was not going to be a completely fluffy conversation, but would also involve digging up some heavy things he'd preferred not to think about these past years.

They didn't even really have a chance to exchange mutual pleasantries, until Emma said, "I'm hungry," making it clear food was of the essence to this little girl much like Logan had known to be the case with her mother when he'd first met her.

"Let's get some food in you, then," Rory suggested, leading the girl ahead of her towards the dining room.

"Dinner smells lovely," Logan commented and observed a rather unusual sigh - Rory picking up the heavy Dutch oven from the kitchen island and carrying it to the dinner table while the rest were already taking their places at the table. Everyone seemed to have their regular places, so Logan ended up sitting next to Christopher, across from Em, who was seated between the two sisters. Very briefly he wondered about the sixth chair that seemed to remain vacant, having half-expected Christopher to have remarried by now, but this evening he had better things on his mind to inquire about such things.

"You need help with that?" Christopher took the words out of Logan's mouth, the Dutch oven looking like it was a little heavy.

"I'm fine," Rory replied, and placed the dish to the center of the table onto a wooden board.

The table already held two large bowls of salads, one with coleslaw and another a simple tomato, avocado and cucumber salad. There was what looked like fresh buns and a couple of different bread spreads, as well as red wine and a large pitcher of berry water.

Rory let the puff of hot air out from under the lid of the Dutch oven and the room was instantly filled with a delicious scent of pot roast, before she cautioned Em about the dish being hot.

Logan didn't want to touch upon things that could possibly be taken as criticism or even teasing, he felt like he was on thin ice here as it was, hence he didn't comment on the fact, but it almost looked like Rory had made this feast happen, which was definitely something new. Maybe she had indeed learned to cook now that Emma was in her life? Or maybe there was a two-person kitchen staff hiding out somewhere? Or maybe Christopher cooked?

"Rory, this looks lovely," Christopher commented.

"Definitely smells better than the stuff they have at the cafeterias," Gigi commented, clearly missing some of the luxuries of home.

"Ah, please. All I did was throw what Camilla prepared into the oven," Rory answered the question that had been forming in Logan's head. "She's the housekeeper here, she's around a few days a week," Rory explained to Logan.

"So what college are you at?" Logan found the safest topic to ask, directing the question to Gigi. He wanted to engage with Emma, but he was at a loss of what one might talk with a 5-years-old. Asking about her school or soccer games didn't seem too original, and truthfully, while she had some experience with his sister's kids, they were now in their pre-teens, hence it had truly been a while.

"Berkeley," Gigi replied, as she helped Em a little with her salad.

It was good for Logan to see Em also had an aunt, a young and youthful aunt who'd clearly been a part of raising her.

"Logan lived there too," Rory explained. When they'd just been over there a couple of weeks ago, it was the first time in a long while she'd truly and in length thought about Logan, in fact, the place bringing back a lot of memories. She'd wondered how he was doing - whether he was happy, whether he maybe even had kids of his own. She realized she didn't really know the answer to that yet, she'd just assumed he didn't.

Christopher poured everyone, except Emma, some was treated like the half-Parisian that she was in this household, but it did raise some questions for Logan who wasn't that aware of all the details.

"Yeah, I am at L-dub this year," Gigi replied, piling up her plate generously.

Christopher, Rory and Gigi continued to talk a little bit about Gigi's Yale experience so far - how they'd helped her move in and what she was majoring in, though truthfully, Logan wouldn't really have recalled the exact details of that part, as he mostly just observed Rory assist Em at cutting up her meat and potatoes, which she'd piled onto her plate herself, despite having spilled some salad. The girl ate with her elbows on the table, despite having a pillow on her chair to adjust her height a little. He liked how this household was relaxed enough that the girl hadn't gotten scolded for something as unimportant as that - but supposedly he should've expected that. This was Rory after all.

But what was interesting was how Rory almost appeared to be a motherly figure to not only Em but also Gigi.

"So Em, did they decide yet what the fall play is going to be about at school?" Rory asked Em, almost as if intentionally to engage her more.

Logan was thankful for that, as as a rare event he struggled to think of things to say to the girl.

"We're doing the one with the three little pigs," Em replied, and blew on her piece of meat on her fork.

"And what role will you play?" Christopher inquired.

"I wanted to be the wolf but I'm going to be 'mommy pig' instead," Em explained, squinting her nose, appearing to be not too enthusiastic about the fact.

"Why did you want to big the wolf?" Logan finally got together the courage to ask something of substance.

Em's mouth was currently full so it took her a while to actually respond.

"Is it because you like huffing and puffing?" Rory suggested.

"He huffed and he puffed and huffed and he puffed," Em recited dramatically, causing everyone at the table to chuckle. Clearly, the little girl was well acquainted with the book already.

They talked a little about what Em liked to read to her and that she was learning letters now. Logan knew Rory had been a very early reader, but he didn't see this as something to be considered a negative. He really didn't want Emma rushed through her childhood as he had been.

"Rory, how's the event planning coming?" Gigi asked her sister at one point, closer to the end of the main course.

"Um… pretty good. There's just been some struggles with the travel agency - our plenary speaker keeps changing his flight times so we're picking up the changing fee each time so it's kind of the question of how high is the Department's tolerance level on that until we have to tell him that that's it or he's canceled. But I truly hope that doesn't happen as then that'll mean I'll have to find someone to replace him," Rory explained.

"What kind of event is it?" Logan asked Rory.

"A smallish 60-person symposium. Literary forms and cultural power, medieval to early modern," Rory added, slipping into her professional mode for a second.

Logan nodded approvingly. He wasn't yet sure what to think of this whole job of hers - he wasn't sure if he was even entitled to really have an opinion. But he still mostly just wanted her to be happy. It was certainly different, he just hoped it truly was something she liked.

Since Rory had mentioned the book the other day, Logan had tried to look it up. And while he did find that it had been published under some small publicist that no longer existed, leaving a very big question to Logan why she hadn't at the very least applied the services of the Truncheon, which he knew to have been of close connection to her through Jess, he had not found a single copy of the book left anywhere besides a few images of its cover. There was no reprint and no reviews, which was definitely odd.

Christopher inquired some more into Emma's doings, for which Logan was again grateful, allowing him to just focus on observing her, little by little beginning to recognize some tiny details about her that seemed familiar, even if he wasn't yet able to pinpoint them.

Perhaps he'd been staring at her too closely, but by the time Rory and Gigi had cleared the table and replaced the food with dessert - chocolate mousse in glasses - when Gigi said something.

"So you and Logan dated in college, right?" Gigi said, continuing, "It's kind of cool you're still in touch," she added.

"We've kept in touch, yeah," Rory replied, sheepishly, but the way she said was definitely the way that left some room for interpretation for anyone over the age of 18 around that table.

"Oh my god… he's not…," Gigi reacted suddenly, and looked intensely between Emma and Logan and Rory.

"Gi!" Rory cautioned her sister quietly, her eyes wide.

"Oh, of course… sorry…, or well - 'yay'?" Gigi replied, unsure what position to take, shrugging her shoulders.

That certainly answered a couple of questions for Logan - no Rory's sister had not known and at least there seemed to be no hatred towards him in this household. At least no by first impression.

Emma finished her dessert first, but then again her glass had been smaller than the rest too, and was already beginning to wiggle around in her chair.

"Can I please go play, mommy?" the girl made a puppy dog face.

Rory looked at Logan as if asking a question but he couldn't quite read her mind at this point, so he shrugged. The only thing he could think of was that maybe Rory had wanted to keep her around for him or to actually go ahead and tell her in the next few minutes. But for the first time in his life he felt like he was actually hesitant to make the jump. Logan worried about her reaction and her questions, not all of the possible questions being the kind he had a good answer to just yet, at least the kind that would be graspable to a five-year-old.

"Okay, go play. But I want to talk to you about something in a little while, okay?" Rory said, exchanging again a glance with Logan.

As the girl scattered off upstairs, it was Gigi who spoke first.

"Sorry," Gigi said apologetically, realizing how she'd nearly ruined it.

"It's fine, I was going to tell you after we told her," Rory explained.

"So? What's the story there?" Gigi asked, point blank. Gigi definitely had an attitude - sort of bold and unshakable, very self-aware in a good way.

"We, um… we just decided together that this was best for her at the time," Rory began, wanting to outright say anything compromising that Emma might actually overhear.

"Yeah, I'm going to need more than that," Gigi requested boldly and a little impolitely.

"Gi!" Rory scolded her almost in unison with Christopher.

Gigi just shrugged.

Logan took a deep breath, almost feeling like this was a practice round for telling her sister and soon after that also Finn, whom he was seeing tomorrow. "Well… I didn't want her subjected to my family - they can be pretty vicious...I wouldn't want anyone to have my childhood. Rory was concerned that they might even under some conditions take custody and at the time with all the press interest there was directed towards me and my family… There were stress-related health issues, threats even… plus the distance and the fact that I was married… we just thought it'd be more stable, safer, if Rory had full custody. And we set agreements in place so this wouldn't get out to protect all of us," Logan explained.

"What threats?" Rory asked, that little piece of information coming as news to her.

"Just business-related, possibly also related to my dad's politics at the time," Logan shared, feeling a little apologetic having spilled that.

"Like death threats or something?" Christopher felt he needed to ask.

"Not directly in such words but close enough. They caught the sender though, even if it was years later. By-gones now, I guess," Logan replied, trying to remain unshaken.

"So that's why you were with the bodyguard? I just thought he was there because of the paparazzi," Rory asked.

"Well, that too," Logan smirked, having hid behind a technicality essentially at the time.

"Well… that's rough, either way," Christopher commented, and finished his glass of wine.

Logan wasn't sure if Rory was mad at him for hiding the fact or just surprised - he at least didn't think it matter in the end.

"You realize this won't be easy, right? I mean… she may start to like you and spend time with you - I assume this is what you're here for, right?" Gigi continued.

"Gigi!" Rory scolded her again, but she didn't seem to stop.

"It's the trust that's going to be tricky, and hey - I'm speaking from experience here," Gigi replied, sounding a little defensive.

"Gigi's mom left for a few years when she was about a year and a half…," Christopher explained to Logan. "But I don't think this really applied here, her situation was different," he added.

Logan didn't remember the details, but there was something he recalled about Gigi's mother going off to Paris. He hadn't thought much about it at all, but thinking back he could imagine there being some kind of a mental health issue behind that, postpartum depression and other such maternal issues being by now much more common knowledge than back then.

"Yeah, still. Just be careful, okay?" Gigi relented but requested from Logan the thing everyone did, nonetheless.

"Hey, I appreciate the concern, believe me - I am under no illusion of this being easy… but I am all in on this, I am," Logan assured.

"I think that's what all of us just really want…," Christopher added, supportively.

For a moment silence lingered, some of the adults finishing their wines.

"So you want to come and get this first part over with?" Rory suggested, feeling like delaying this any further would not make this any easier.

Logan nodded in agreement, and got up after her.

"Em? Honey? Can we talk to you for a bit. You can continue to play later, I promise," Rory said, as they stepped into Emma's room that was on the third floor of the house. To Logan the room itself was a sight and frankly he wished he could just spend several hours in here, studying it.

Rory gestured to Em to get up on her bed while she sat next to her. Logan wasn't sure whether to sit, stand, crouch, he even struggled to decide what to do with his hands, wanting to not appear defensive or too hesitant.

Eventually Logan just sat onto the ottoman a few feet from the bed, and rested his elbows onto his knees, which were eager to bounce nervously but he willed them to stop.

"Em, there's a reason why I wanted you to meet Logan tonight," Rory began, speaking calmly. "You know how some time ago I told you how your daddy wasn't dead but just away, right?" she added, the word 'daddy' definitely hitting a cord with Logan.

"Kind of…," Emma hesitated, looking rather uncomfortable in the seriousness of this conversation. Logan could imagine she hadn't had many talks quite as serious in her lifetime.

"Well… Logan, you see…, he's your dad and..," Rory continued, struggling a little with choosing the right words. She didn't yet dare to make a promise that he was going to be around, the trust not quite being there yet to that extent but at the same time she didn't want to show doubt either. "Maybe if you want… we could spend some more time together sometime," Rory added. It was going to be a while until Logan would be spending time privately with her, that was one of the things they'd agreed upon too, wanting to ease the girl into this.

Logan was a little thrown by the fact that the girl had been given an option to decline. What if she did?

But Em didn't say a word.

"You know - we could go somewhere fun or he could just come hang out with us here," Rory said, glancing at Logan briefly as well.

"I'd really like that," Logan said, his tone a little broken, understandably feeling a little emotional.

"Anywhere you'd like," Rory promised.

"Could we go to Robbins Park again?" Em asked, not paying much attention seemingly to the key message, but focused on something more tangible. The girl was referring to Robbins Farm Park, which really wasn't that spectacular besides the view in Rory's opinion, but did have cool long slides which Em still enjoyed but which was a bit of a drive away.

"Um, sure…," Rory reacted, the girl's request being quite humble, all things considered. But she too had been more apprehensive about her reaction to the real news but there seemed to be no reaction on that part. She'd read by now that it might take a while for the message to sink in, so she tried not to worry.

"Can we go tomorrow!?" the little girl asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up in an instant.

Now this really did propose a dilemma. Logan was due in the City tomorrow, and Rory knew it.

"If that's okay with your mom," Logan said, making a snap decision. Finn wasn't going anywhere - he could just take a later flight or invite him over to Boston instead. This was the priority right now.

"Well, okay," Rory replied, smilingly, feeling relieved that the first request Em had had, had not been turned down by a 'I'm sorry I have to…,' message which she hoped to avoid. There was of course the question whether this was indeed rushing things, but that remained to be seen.

AN: Thank you for all of your reviews! You are great!