AN: Sorry all Luke fans.
Chapter Seventeen – Take To The Sea
Somehow this felt right and she hated to admit it.
Lorelei had felt so much from Luke, he had been a person who she had trusted her life to. He had been the person who had made her the happiest and the loneliest. He was also a person who things had been difficult with and the love she had carried for him these past few months felt like she had been holding them because of need to hold them. She had thought that she could cope with everything including the knowledge that Luke had a child, April. She couldn't.
Luke was kind and honorable and he lived for his passions. He had tried to tolerate her family despite how they quite often misjudged him and had come to her even when her mother had tried to destroy their relationship. Yet, Luke hadn't prioritized her. She thought that she would be okay with that. She wasn't. To be a supporting cast member in her own life, what woman would seek out that role.
And it wasn't until she had Christopher with her once again without any additional baggage to him (aside a child she would be a stepmother to) that she had felt herself worth prioritizing, that she had felt that the need to be with Luke was a need to be with a man who cared about her and let her into decisions, told her that he had a child when he found out about it and didn't get upset with her for talking with the child's mother.
As much as she disliked Sherry , especially when she had run out on not only Christopher but Gigi too, Chirstopher had thanked both her and Rory for being there for her when his second daughter was born.
What Lorelei hated these days though was how people seemed to think that they just understood what happened when she was a teenager. Most people came to the conclusion that Chris was scared, that he hadn't lived up to his fatherly duties, that he had just gotten her pregnant and ditched her like most teenage fathers would.
Christopher had actually supported her, told her that the plan of getting married and him having his future planned for her would be best. He would have stood beside her and raised Rory had she let him. She had felt that she was making sure that at least he had followed his dreams. Maybe it would have turned out better had he been like Logan although she wasn't sure how much of the true Logan he was allowing to show.
Lorelei stood up as she heard the back door. She turned to see her husband and daughter as well as the father to her daughter's baby. They were all carrying fancy grocery bags and she took a deep breath in. She bit her tongue. What would the neighbors think if they saw that instead of going to Doose's, they had driven somewhere where half the items had an organic label on them.
"I think we got everything on your list," Christopher smiled as he started taking the items out of the bags including a premium bag of coffee. "I did treat the kids too."
"Well, I do say that Rory is quite mature for a kid," Logan joked as Rory playfully hit him, he laughed and Lorelei felt her stomach drop as she saw the playfulness between them. Still, her childhood had been filled by restrictions and lost opportunities. Chris might have money but he was choosing to spoil his children…and her.
"That's for sure, I mean, I can't believe that soon I'm going to be a grandfather," Chris joked as Rory helped him unload the bags which had a variety of things in them including vegetables. Lorelei picked up a tomato and smiled, shaking her head. She wondered if Sookie would be happy with his choice in produce…or whether Jackson would have seen this.
"Did you consider going to the market?" she asked. "It's just that I know that Jackson…might…"
Rory cringed as that was said. She forgot about that and people in this town liked to talk, Babette especially and she'd probably spread word that they had gone to a more upscale market. She looked down remembering how he had been upset over the biggest pizza fiasco. Now she would definitely have to order from him so that she didn't hurt their family friendship.
"Sorry, I didn't remember. I'll make sure to buy a lot of vegetables from him in the future and if anyone asks, I'll explain that it was my error," Christopher said as he approached Lorelei and kissed her on the forehead before wrapping his arm around her, she held onto his hand and squeezed it.
"So, since they are going out tonight," Christopher gestured to the two of them, "I thought that I would make you a dinner with steak wrapped in bacon and some bacon potatoes and tomatoes and salad…although I'll give you a smaller portion of that," he joked and Lorelei smiled.
"You're not going anywhere risky, are you?" she asked them and Logan shook his head.
"No. Just out for dinner with some friends of ours and I'll even be able to drive us there and back so don't worry both Rory and our baby are in safe hands," Logan said and Rory felt him embrace her, she moved into him, feeling his chest rise and fall upon her back.
"You mean you're not drinking?" the older Gilmore lady asked and Logan laughed weakly, pushing his hand through his blond hair and messing it up even more.
"Can't," he admitted to them, "My father wants me to fly back tomorrow. I was only here for a short time but soon I'll be back for longer. I promise that by the third trimester I will be here permanently." Rory nodded sadly and Logan kissed her, gazing into her eyes in a very loving and protective manner. "Come on, Ace. You know I hate to leave you."
"I hate when you leave us too," Rory said as she strategically placed her hand upon where the baby was and blushed a little as she saw the happiness in her love's eyes.
"I wish I never had to," Logan assured her and as she looked at him, Rory could just imagine herself melting into that gorgeous smile and those beautiful admiring eyes.
RGLHRGLH
Logan parked the car outside of the elegant seafood restaurant in Hartford. Rory looked to it and as she took some deep breaths in, Logan panicked a little. He grabbed her hand and Rory could see that he still had some boyish innocence to him. He was trying really hard to not become the old version of himself again. He was trying for her benefit and for the benefit of their child.
"Ace? You feeling okay? You know, if you feel nauseous we can always go somewhere else. I don't know how you are about seafood, this girl at work told me that I should make a list of all the dietary preferences or restrictions or something," he said and Rory leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Logan smiled, "Are you okay, Ace?"
"Doing okay, captain," Rory saluted playfully and Logan took a few deep breaths to steady himself. "No. I mean it," she said as Logan pushed her hair back in an affectionate manner. "I'm a little nervous to see how Colin and Finn will be but…"
"Ah," Logan nodded. "Well, the two of them have always supported me. They're like my brothers so yeah…they'll give me crap about it but you know that they just joke around a lot of the time." Logan sighed and lifted Rory's chin with his hand. "Are you that frightened about their reactions, Ace? It doesn't feel much like you."
Rory nodded, it wasn't much like her at all. She liked to take risks and to prove herself. She wasn't ever going to shy down from an argument and she knew how to talk to a group. No. She needed to be fearless. Their child needed her to be fearless. "If you tell me that I'm going to hunt a whale out here," Rory told him as she got out the car.
"You get me a fishing rod that'll do the trick and we can just eat what we catch without going into the restaurant," Logan joked feeling relieved that Rory was acting more comfortable now. Both Colin and Finn might feel a little shocked to hear that he was going to be spending more time with his own kids than with the famed Life and Death Brigade but he and Rory would consider them to be uncles to their children.
"I'm much more of the mood to knock people's hats off," Rory winked and Logan pointed to someone with an old fashioned straw hat on.
"We could start with them if you really wanted," he joked before hearing someone laughing from behind him.
"Yes, I dare say that would be a lot of fun," Colin smiled as he approached them. Logan grinned as they gave each other a 'frat-boy' type of hug.
"Would we get to keep the hats once we knocked them off?" Finn asked as he approached with a redhead who Rory hadn't met before, she did look a little familiar though. "We'd have to keep count."
"Well, yes, definitely a tally," Colin agreed. "Now would these hats be worth a particular number of points considering on how big they are."
"Now," Finn replied, "I've never been of the mind that size matters but the worth of these hats. I think that the worth could definitely mean something, now is our fearless leader going to begin or -"
"Should we go in?" Logan asked as he rubbed his shoulder a little and took Rory's hand in his. He turned to Finn's new girlfriend. "Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Logan….Huntsberger, this is Miss. Rory Gilmore, my hopefully in the not too distant future, wife."
Rory blushed and pushed him gently before holding out her hand to the girl, "Rory Gilmore," she told her and Colin and Finn shared a look with each other. They knew how important Rory was to Logan but for him to start introducing her as his wife led them to question what else might have gone on between them. Logan had said that he had news to tell them. An elopement was entirely possible.
"Nice to meet you. Zara Evans" the girl smiled. Rory blinked, she hadn't been expecting an accent from Southern California but it definitely sounded refreshing. "I'm an actress. I've been in a few Broadway shows and a little bit of tele-"
"Isn't she gorgeous though," Finn said as Zara blushed again. "When I saw her and she decided to give me a chance well I'm glad that I did hang in there so long."
"Right to the point of stalking, I'd say. How many flower bouquets did you send to her, twenty three wasn't it?"
"Only fifteen," Finn said, "I remember because I went to see that production fifteen times."
"I suppose it would take that long to get acquainted with your face enough to survive a date," Colin joked and Finn laughed along with that.
"This will be our sixth, thank you very much. Now, Rory, Logan, how will you explain the terrible fault in not inviting us to your elopement?" he asked and Logan shook his head. "Maybe over a round of beers."
Rory took a deep breath in and clutched to Logan's hand. She would have preferred to do this whilst inside the restaurant but the time seemed right. "I'm pregnant," she told them and Colin looked at them wide eyed.
"So…not over a round of beers," Finn said with the same shock. Logan smiled at Rory and kissed her cheek as they both waited for the two men to form some sort of response. Hopefully they would have their support, the baby needed all the love others could give.
End of Chapter Seventeen
Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated
Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Sixteen
Jordana60, Kellybras, nourseholly, Rori Potter, xshynenstarx, YaleAceBella12,
