Chapter 70

September 25th, 2015

Logan hadn't had that many people in his life that he'd called his girlfriend before, that number being something he could count on the fingers of one hand, and even out of those most had been brief. There had been even less of those with whom he'd had reason to formally meet the parents of that girlfriend, and he recalled well how in Rory's case the first meeting hadn't exactly been too admirable. In fact, he could imagine the situation having been 10 minutes further down that road the only way which would've been worse. Of course he wasn't counting all of those cases he'd had to mingle with the parent's of someone he'd slept with before, but this was different. And in this Logan felt strangely unconfident in.

Meeting Odette's parents was potentially more than that. They'd talked with Odette about the possibility of making their friendship with occasional benefits into more than that, and by that point, truthfully, they hadn't even fully decided yet, and that for several reasons.

He was still kind of hoping for a better, more real reason for marriage - but it seemed such a far fetched, living in fantasy land type of thing at the moment. Rory was traveling all over the place, and she didn't even always see him for months, even if calling each other happened at least a few times a week. Rory seemed happy with what he was offering her now. There was nobody else even remotely serious that he was seeing, however.

Also Odette was all over the place with her work and flings, currently having a boyfriend on stand-by on three continents or thereabout - he didn't really ask for details. But with the increasing pressure to have a plus-one on standby for various events, fighting the suspicions of gossip columns to prove that he wasn't just a handsome bachelor still in the closet - it did make sense to take what he had. Maybe all that talk about finding someone perfet was just that - talk. It was not like he had that many real life examples of successful relationships that he could say had that true love componant. Even Honor and Josh were going to therapy at that point, trying to patch up their marriage.

This weekend, however, Odette had invited him along to present himself as her boyfriend at her parent's 40th anniversary - a big weekend long celebration in Paris. He'd complied, realizing that this might indeed be what he needed to acquaint himself with. And besides, Odette had recently helped him out on several occassions, some very short notice. And Odette did know very well how to get her way, offering him either her puppy-dog-eyes or a week of pouting, the cute kind, usually if she didn't. What he liked about Odette at this point was the honesty - there was no avoidance of certain topics like it was with Rory. Without painful wounds to reopen, things with Odette were just simpler, lighter, less paralyzing.

The British or American society circles he knew, but the French was a little different, it was certainly something he didn't quite have a grasp on just yet, even his business experience being rather with the Germans and the Swedes than the French. Hence, it was another reason for him to feel a little nervous, which Odette had laughed off at the limo, saying he was being ridiculous but had massaged the valley point on his hand to try to relax him.

The maid that had greeted them at the door, had been dressed in fairly untraditionally, split neckline black pantsuit which reminded him more of a spa uniform than that of a maid, which he hoped to be a good sign that Odette's parent weren't despite their age the overly uptight kind like Elias had been.

The place definitely had its share of historical character, 1600s he would presume, which had had several modernizations done - the prime examples being the glass ceiling covered patio in the middle of the house, which reminded her of various adorable little North-African hotels if the glass ceiling hadn't been there, and the glass-walled elevator that had been put into one of it's corners.

But what surprised him the most was how relaxed and casual this place looked, definitely inviting. He'd expected millions of dollars of marble, classical French art displayed on the walls and antique furniture. But what she saw was - well classical art of a different genre.

"That's the André Derain," Odette replied, having handed over her jacket to the maid, and gestured towards the painting Logan had been staring at.

It was a picture of a woman in her chemise, hiding her topless upper body with her hands. It was a masterpiece alright, he'd actually heard of it sometime, the painting standing out for it's unusual color pattern of salmon-pink, green, dark blue and bright red on the woman's hair.

There were other spetacular paintings in the room, one that Logan wasn't quite sure whether it was Pollock's or not.

The furniture was tasteful, no doubt a mixture of some antiques, but rather Asian if anything, but several notches less intimidating than one would've expected. The limestone wall of the patio to which he was being guided to by Odette, held an impressive number of hanging greenery.

The next moment the elevator sound caught their attention, having gotten very little instruction from the maid where she was expected to go, so she waited.

"Bonjour, mama," Odette said, and kissed her mother as she emerged from the elevator. The older woman, a little shorter than Odette considering the heels Odette was wearing, looked vibrant for her age, her short blonde bob adding an almost scandinavian look. The woman wore an oversized dark blue waterfall sweater and a simple pair of chinos, indeed something a lot more relaxing Logan would've rather expected to see in the Vineyard rather than in the 6th Arrondissement in Paris.

"Bonjour," Logan reflected, as Odette introduced him, and offered the older woman casual le bise without actually touching.

"Parles-tu français?" the woman, whom Odette had introduced to him as her mother Sabine, asked

"Un peu," Logan replied, humbly. He really hoped he wouldn't have to speak much, his French being a little rusty. He was probably better than most of the people he knew who claimed to know French, he just knew quite well what weren't his strong areas in it, like dialects or slangs and speaking in monologs.

"Où est Papa?" Odette inquired after her father.

"Il reviendra bientôt," Sabine replied, saying he'd be back soon enough.

The statement made Odette roll her eyes, not even hiding it, as if that was something so typical. At the very least it seemed fathers who were away from home a lot, mostly working, but he was sure based on Odette's stories that also elsewhere... ahem..., were something they shared. It made him think why Odette would really like a repeat of that, as how it looked now, he certainly wasn't going to be very different with the hours he worked alone. But maybe his parents had been right all along, that the only way to survive that kind of lifestyle was to distance oneself, marry someone one liked instead of loved and just carry on.

They continued onwards to the drawing room for drinks. It only really took about fifteen minutes until the topics grew more serious from the light and casual, revealing underneath the casual layers a woman with quite strict values. She was just like Shira, she just looked more modern, and seemed to act oblivious to both her husband's whereabouts and the kind of life Odette was living, almost describing her as some kind of a nun, which nearly made Logan want to burst into laughter recalling the one time Odette had sang 'Zou Bisou Bisou' very seducitively at a pub in London when out with him.

Logan knew people who were like Odette's mother, and he also knew that it took an awful lot of willpower to keep a blind eye to things hitting so close to home if one loved the other.

What he did knew now from this meeting was that he needed to keep a low profile from now on, at least not get caught with anyone else by the press which could reach Odette's parents. This meant hotels and clubs, public physical contact and public dates. But he didn't really see a problem so far, as Rory was always rather hesitant towards public displays fearing to be caught by his parents in the oddest of places.

But even without having fully decided on anythign with Odette yet, things were moving towards this taking a more serious course, that of course, unless one of them diverted knowingly from it.

The ringing on Logan's phone excused him from the discussion that was already discussing holiday homes in Finistère that they would enjoy some day, and how wonderful the location was for a day at the beach with the kids.

Logan moved back towards the lobby to answer his phone, but it seemed difficult to find a place to speak without it echoing through the whole house.

"Yeah?" Logan answered Rory's call in whisper, fearing she might hang up before he answered otherwise.

"Sorry, is this a bad time?" Rory replied, but burst into tears the next second, realizing it from his whisper that it must've not been entirely convenient moment to speak.

It wasn't ideal, but how could he tell her that.

"What is it? What happened?" he asked with genuine concern, feeling a sense of adrenaline, his mind already thinking up possible excuses to get away. Something at work? Wouldn't work, as it was already a Friday. Something with Honor? Would require filling her in on everything.

"My grandfather had a heart attack, it was massive… he didn't make it," Rory sobbed, barely holding it together.

"I'm so sorry, Ace," Logan replied with his deepest sympathies.

He'd been there for her the last time, a long time ago, right there at the hospital, holding her hand and making sure her family had everything. He remembered vividly how scared everyone, including Rory, had been that time. But he was in no position to hop into an airplane or a copter to get there now. He was a secret from her family just the same. It wasn't his place, he was too far, having made other promises for the weekend. It was safe to say he was conflicted.

Rory just sobbed at the other end of the phone.

"I'm sorry, I can't be there for you," Logan apologized, his heart feeling heavy, not knowing what else to say. "He was a great man," he added. He had looked up to the man himself.

It was then the front door opened, and an elderly gentleman, dressed in a gray suit, reminding him a little of John Slattery, having that same kind of womanizer look about him, walked in, alerting him that he needed to put on a performance again, and staying talking on the phone to his sobbing (ex-)girlfriend wasn't the impression he could leave. He desperately wished he could think of a better excuse to leave, but his mind was just frozen. She didn't really want him there with her publicly anyways, she'd made that clear, and he reluctantly swallowed his feelings, burrying them deep within himself.

"Listen, I'm truly sorry for your loss. But I need to go. If there's anything I can do, just let me know, okay?" he added, rather formally. He couldn't really do anything if she didn't ask. And that went for their entire relationship.

"It's okay, go, I know you have to…," Rory replied in whimpers, forgivingly, knowing that there were a number of things Logan couldn't help really.

But the bad feeling, that he hadn't been able to give her what he felt he should've, what she needed, carried for the rest of the week, making him go through the motions of this weekend on auto-pilot, his mind being elsewhere. He felt like he was betraying her on a level way worse than something physical.


November 27th, 2021

"Hey, Logan, good to see you again!" Christopher exclaimed, shaking his hand, as Logan and Rory stepped through the doors of his Beacon Hill townhouse a little after noon the next morning.

"Hey," Logan replied, while Rory continued to hug both Christopher and Gigi. Christopher, dressed in a relaxed combo of jeans and a t-shirt, and Gigi, wearing some type of oversized sweater and leggings, definitely presented a very different style home compared to his last experience with formally meeting the parents, well technically a parent.

"When Rory said she was bringing you, I can't say I was surprised," Christopher replied with a low chuckle. "I had a feeling we'd be seeing more of you," he added, as he led them onwards to the living room, making Logan raise his eyebrows at him, trying to hold back his smug smirk. He'd always liked Christopher a lot, he felt like he got him.

"Dad!" Rory scolded him gently, but Logan smiled. At least in this household he didn't seem to have a problem with popularily.

Gigi looked at Rory questioningly, having not gotten as detailes of Logan's reasons for coming with her.

"Logan and I are back together," Rory explained to Gigi, nearly having wanted to tell them they were engaged, as they really seemed to be so many steps ahead of being back together. But supposedly there was a limit to how much detail she was supposed to give her little sister, who was no longer so little. Gigi knew of her former relationships, the highlights at least, at least the one's she'd had out in the open, having shared some girl talk and boyfriend advice a number of times by now.

"Right," Gigi commented. "I always thought he was the cutest out of the guys you've been with," Gigi made a very worldly comment in whisper to Rory, but certainly she was only really able to speak about Jess, Paul and Logan whom she was aware of from various photos. But still it was a sign to Rory that her sister was more grown up than she'd thought. She kept forgetting that sometimes.

Rory smiled at Gigi, certainly agreeing on the fact, though didn't really want to go into it right then and there. She was just glad Logan hadn't overheard it.

"So, how have you been, dad?" Rory asked instead, as they took a seat on the set of beige velvet couches.

"Good, work's been the same. I guess now it's just for me to bite my nails until Gigi hears back from the colleges, and hope she doesn't want to move anywhere far," Christopher explained.

"Well, my guess is she'll have a choice of a few decent places at least," Logan pitched in.

"Logan read her essays with me, actually," Rory added.

"You did?" Christopher responded, sounding appreciative. "Well then you know more than I know of what she wrote," he complained, and chuckled.

"Because you always say the lamest things, dad," Gigi noted with the roll of her eyes, and got up to get herself something from the kitchen, not finding the topic very interesting.

"So, what's in the store for you guys? How's Em taking this?" Christopher asked curiously.

"As good as can be expected, I suppose," Rory replied with a light shrug.

"We're taking it slow," Logan said. "Not that that's easy considering our history…," Logan admitted.

"Yeah, I know what that can be like," Christopher replied, reminding Rory well of his impromptu wedding to her mother in Paris. They truly had gone from dating to married in the period of a month, not caring what any of the kids thought. For a moment the thought crossed even Rory's mind that maybe something like that would just end a lot of hesitance from her mother and Jess, but she brushed the thought away knowing there were other things that this would not help. Besides - she needed to learn to not feel the need to anchor herself down by things like that. A quick marriage wasn't a guaranteed for anything as history had shown.

Rory also suddenly recalled that Gigi also had the experience of a stepmom in the form of her mother, even if had been for a short time. And in a way Lorelai was still like a close aunt to her. Lorelai had been at hand when she'd first gotten her period, at least over the phone, and a number of other times her father had needed advice on something or other and Sherry had felt too distant. Sure, Gigi's relationship with Sherry didn't compare to what Jess had with Em, but the situation was still a little similar. Rory made a note to maybe one day talk to Em how it had felt for her to get step-mom like that. She also wondered why his dad had never re-married, and the brief mentions of Lana had just stayed that.

"Yeah, it's been a little challenging with mom and Jess, to be honest. I'm taking Logan to mom's tomorrow," Rory explained, knowing Logan was a little worried about that.

"Well, Lorelai is a force... she's stubborn… but you know she cares," Christopher contemplated, which really was no news to anyone.

"Yeah, she is, but I think it's more than that. Jess has started all these custody issues with me, which I think I am handling the correct way, trying to share fairly and keep it constructive, friendly. But I think mom's feeling like she's stuck between two stacks of hay here - Luke's siding with Jess as far as I can tell, and mom with me, I guess, so it's causing some tensions there as well," Rory explained, realizing that she hadn't really shared this insight with Logan much until now. It was just a feeling that had solidified in her mind over the past few days that was beyond just feeling like Luke was angry at her.

"Wow, that's hard, I bet," Christopher replied. "Have you talked to Luke about it?" Christopher asked.

"He's been avoiding the topic, I honestly don't know what he's thinking," Rory explained, and noted Logan just observing her. "I know he doesn't have the best experiences with custody issues himself, but surely he must know I don't mean to cut Jess out of Em's life," she explained.

"Sometimes, I guess, these things just take time," Christopher sighed, offering his support but not a lot of advice. That was what he was like, but it was better than not having him around, and Rory knew it. She'd just grown to accept him for what he was.

They talked for a better part of an hour, Christopher inquiring into Logan's view on this, his business and life in general, the two of them now even having in common the way they'd both broken off from their families and their money at one point. Christopher seemed open to help them however they needed, even if talking to Lorelai was it, unsure if it'd help or not.

But all in all, they both left the townhouse, feeling like they at least had this one side as their support. It felt like having at least two pillars supporting the roof, one being Rory's father and the other being Honor. Now they just needed to win over the other two, Lorelai and Jess. Luke being less essential to how they functioned.

But at the very least - whatever happened - Logan knew that this time he could be there, that this time Rory wanted him to be there. It meant more to him than she probably realized.


AN: Some of you may notice that I made a few 'Mad Men' references here. The song 'Zou Bisou Bisou' is definitely worth checking out if you don't know it. Some think the scene in 'Mad Men' was embarrassing, but I actually liked it. And especially put it into another time, I think it would work quite well on the Odette I imagine.