Chapter 103

January 1st, 2022

Rory was dropped off by Jess on his way back to Stars Hollow. For once there hadn't been a moment of competitiveness or intentional hurtfulness between the two. They'd had a common goal and functioned as an efficient team. They'd been there for Luke, and Lorelai had insisted on staying in one of the nearby hotels until they got Luke's results, which they were warned could be a while due to the weekend, but she also had suggested the two go home. And fighting her stubbornness never yielded much success. Thankfully Jess had already at the early hours of the night made sure Robin was over at Babette's, despite knowing that that'd start a round of gossip, but he'd stuck to Luke having hurt himself as the headline.

Rory almost would've invited Jess to come sleep on the couch, but he seemed alert enough, the last cup of coffee, the better kind, having helped, and she didn't. Jess was a lot stronger than she was and they agreed that Jess could just call Em, who was still out with Logan, on his way back to keep him awake and also say his goodbye, having not gotten a good chance to do that in person this time.

It was as Rory got inside the house, closing the door behind her, her phone rang. She truly, deeply wanted to just ignore it, but since she'd texted Paris hours ago, she knew she had to take her call.

"Paris, I feel I could sleep a whole week right now…," Rory exhaled, picking up with a yawn, knowing she wouldn't mind. It was not like Rory had never been told to call back later, rather angrily, on several occasions by her even when they'd agreed to something. The two of them could be filterless like that.

"Listen, this is urgent," Paris began, the urgency evident in her tone.

"What?" Rory asked, being physically tired from the adrenaline already.

"I slept with Finn!" Paris whispered, the echo around her voice changing, almost like speaking in a hushed manner.

"You what?!" Rory asked in disbelief.

"I don't know how this happened. One minute we were playing pool and the next I woke up naked in the wrong room," Paris spoke in a panicked tone.

Rory chuckled lightly. "So what's the problem?" she asked, half teasingly.

"He's in the shower. What am I supposed to do!?" Paris asked.

"Um… leave, don't leave - up to you, right?" Rory asked, not seeing the problem.

"But I'm supposed to drive back with him - that's two hours of stuck in traffic, maybe more. Can you imagine how awkward that'll be?"

"Well.. not not awkward, but it's Finn. I'm sure he's fine with whatever you think this was…," Rory suggested. "Or if you want you can just leave him a note and split - he's a grown man," Rory added. Finn might play to be hurt, but she knew he generally wasn't.

"Yeah, thanks for the help," Paris snorted sarcastically.

"Listen, you didn't have a chance to look at the text I sent you earlier, did you?" Rory inquired, having explained to her the Luke situation, being not really very sure what the doctor's were testing him for.

"Oh, that, right…," Paris began, having nearly forgotten about that. "They'll try to rule out schizophrenia as the first step, bipolar disorder maybe. I'm not that good in psych really. But if they said there were other normalities I'd rather think it could be something physical - sometimes thyroid problems, but that'd usually be accompanied by loss or gain of weight. There's always the possibility of a brain tumor in the wrong place," Paris continued.

"Oh my god!" Rory reacted.

"It could be, it doesn't mean that it is," Paris tried to calm her. "There's Wilson's disease that could explain the copper levels, but usually people who get diagnosed with it are much younger. There's a possibility of infections, but those are usually crossed off the list really fast. Then there's Dementia, Alzheimers…," Paris continued to list along a seemingly endless list.

"So pretty much everything," Rory sighed, having not gotten much certainty but rather a myriad of bad and worse things. She didn't even see much point listing them to her mother as it'd only make her worry more.

"Oh crap, he's coming out now - and I'm still here," Paris complained and disconnected the call with a brief 'bye'.

Rory felt concern for Luke, but also a little amused for Paris and Finn. At the very least it was a healthy distraction to an otherwise worrisome morning. Oh, she'd definitely tease her a little while longer with this one, whatever this was. And she was also kind of curious whether Finn actually was that good as his reputation preceded him. Not that Rory was complaining over her current love-life.

It was then she heaved herself upstairs and landed onto her bed, falling asleep in mere minutes.

Several hours later she was woken by her daughter's voice and the careful whispers of Logan suggesting she not make too much noise - there just was something about the register of her daughter's voice that always woke her. But it was no wonder, since she hadn't bothered to close even her bedroom door. But she did feel better, clueless of how many hours had passed.

"Hey," Rory chimed as she walked back downstairs, her face all sleepy, but feeling at least a little rested by now.

Em hugged her, looking happy to see her.

She slipped her arms around Logan and pulled him in for a hug, as that was what she felt she needed and in part it spoke of gratitude as well.

Logan looked over her shoulder to see whether Em was directly looking, and seeing that she wasn't, kissed her.

"Hey," Rory repeated, directing the phrase more directly to him.

"Hey," Logan reflected, holding her hips a little closer to his. They were both a little saddened that they hadn't gotten to spend last night together the way they'd planned. There was a whole new set from Anya Lust that he hadn't gotten to see yet that Rory was sure he would've appreciated.

"Any news?" Logan asked. Logan was starving himself, in more ways than one, and began to unpack the selection of sushi and japanese snacks that he'd gotten for them.

"Not much, still running tests," Rory replied.

"Can I go get Logan's dog with him tomorrow?" Em suddenly appeared at their side, having a very direct question on her mind. She'd talked about that dog in length during their little outing, Logan having explained to her in generic terms how it couldn't hear, but he was pretty sure she didn't really get that whole concept just yet. Still it was fun to explore the way she thought and saw the world by talking to her in such length. Just him and her.

"I don't know, it's going to be a big day for Loki as it is, maybe that'd just be too much excitement for him?" Rory discussed.

Logan shrugged, not wanting to put Rory in a bad position. It was essentially her call.

"Well I guess we could go, though I might need to go to Stars Hollow to help out..," Rory added, the last part directed to Logan who probably knew there was cleaning up to do in the kitchen, before Lorelai would want to go back there.

"How about - we'll talk it over and let you know in the morning," Logan decided to suggest, not quite sure how Rory was feeling about them having a day to themselves again if she couldn't join them.

"Alright, let's eat," Rory suggested, and began to speak how surprised she was by the choice of food. It was not something she generally ordered or had expected Em to like, but the girl had apparently shown curiosity to try and Logan had made sure the spread had some alternatives to raw fish which the girl might be more likely to try - edamame, gyoza dumplings and panko prawns.

The setting by now felt entirely natural - almost like they really were a family. And Logan no longer felt like he was on his toes with Em. Jess would never lose his importance to the girl, and he wasn't there to change that. But it didn't mean he couldn't have a real relationship with her, and in a way he was beginning to feel fatherly about her, the comment he'd gotten at the playground, followed by him replying that she was his fiance's kid which had brought the flirtyness to an abrupt end, having only gotten him thinking in the way while the rest of the day had only solidified it.