Chapter Thirty-Seven – The Hypotheticals of Yale

37.1

"Here," Logan grinned as he came back to Rory and handed her a blended juice from an independent store near the Yale campus. He knew that she was still going to have to be without coffee for…four? Five months? Still, he could try to spoil her in other ways. He remembered how he had tried to get her attention after the bridesmaids debacle but in hindsight, it probably wasn't the best place to send all of those fancy gifts. "Ace, tell me this isn't Chinatown, baby," he teased with a wink to her and sat down beside her on the bench.

Logan had agreed to walk with Rory around campus to see where her classes for the upcoming semester were and so that they could find out good routes. He had been able to postpone everything to fit this little day trip in for the two of them. They both knew the campus well, but this was a Rory Gilmore tradition, and Logan would rather participate in one of those than anything his mother might call traditional.

"It's good," Rory hummed as Logan watched her, taking far more interest in her than the drink.

"Yeah," he looked up at the people passing them. Every so often, he would keep his head bowed so that hopefully a girl he had either flirted with in the past or worse, slept with, would take the hint and leave the two of them alone and not drag him into a conversation.

"You haven't even tried yours," Rory smiled before slipping her hand into his and gestured for them to get up. "I think that I've had enough time to rest. So, you're with me for the day, Huntzberger, no plans on escaping."

"Never," he chuckled before kissing her hand as he helped her up. "So, what's the first-class that you have?"

"Advanced History of Journalism," Rory said as she looked at the class listing, "With Professor Nobles." Logan smiled at her, he had blown off a lot of his studies at Yale but he still knew where the classrooms were – he also knew the best make out spots near every classroom but that wasn't something Rory needed to know – and this would be an easy walk.

"I promise you, Ace, you are going to be a journalist," he said as this was something that people had started to say about Logan. Whereas in the past they might have been concerned about Logan not being serious enough to be a father, some were saying that Logan would take away her want to work and turn her into a society lady.

Whereas there was nothing wrong with being a society lady if one wanted their life to be like that, that wasn't Rory and that wasn't their relationship. Logan didn't want to be one of those men who needed to have dinner on the table for him when he returned. Lazing around with Rory with the idea of takeout on the forefront of their minds was even better.

As they got nearer to campus, Rory could hear people whispering and some girls even started pointing at where she had started showing, they thought they were being secretive in their actions. Still, there was nothing small about the way they were pointing and asking whether she was pregnant or whether she was fat.

Logan bit his lip when he saw a few of them do it. They were all pretty girls he had flirted with as a joke or whilst he was with Colin and Finn. He had never taken any girl as seriously as he did with Rory. He knew that she was special but he had been someone who hadn't taken life that seriously before he met her and started dating her. He had thought that life was a joke and when it had all been set up for you since you were a kid, who could blame someone for that.

Logan took a step back and gestured for Rory to step back when a brunette senior-year student approached him and pointed at Rory. Logan took a half step in front of her. "Are you kidding me, Huntzberger!?" she asked and Logan sighed and exhaled slowly. "You didn't want to date me because I gained ten pounds and this is the girl that you're settling for."

"Excuse me," Rory said as she took a step forward herself. "What did you say to me? Look I am sorry if you had a problem with my fiancé in the past but -"

"Fiance!?" the girl asked and glared at Logan, who had wrapped an arm around Rory. "So you really have changed your view on fat chicks."

"Ashlee," Logan said as he saw Rory about to bite back at her, "I know I shouldn't have judged you for that or…allowed myself to joke about it so much and I apologize for that. I'm sorry that you are carrying that as baggage even now but I am happy and hope that one day you'll be the same."

"Well, just know that fat girls can be beautiful but you -" Ashlee continued feeling a need to fight and stand up for herself.

"I'm not fat," Rory said in a calm and nonthreatening manner. "I'm pregnant. We're engaged and going to have a child. I don't know who Logan was when he was dating you but the two of us are very happy to be together, so as he said, I hope one day you can be happy."

Ashlee stared between them and laughed bitterly, "You've turned into such a weird loser," she said to Logan who looked away from her. He had plenty that he could have said in response to that but it was nothing that a father wanted to tell their children they had said. He wanted to be mature for Rory and that wasn't what this day was all about.

"Good luck, Ashlee," he said before leading Rory away. He looked up and rolled his eyes with a shake of his head.

"You broke up with her because she gained weight?" Rory asked as she placed a hand over her belly where their son was resting. She didn't know if she would ever lose the weight she had put on whilst going through her pregnancy, but she knew that Logan was very different from the person everybody thought he was.

"That was a different person, Ace," Logan tried to explain and she nodded with a hum. "I would never do that to you or our son. I was a jerk and you know that about me but I promise to do my best never to slip into who I used to be. Just as I hope that we'll keep any boat keys out of the hands of our son until he can be responsible."

Rory rolled her own eyes but nodded. "I know that you're different from that former version of yourself," she told him. She allowed Logan to take her hand and sipped on the juice she had nearly finished. She eyed Logan's own half-drunk juice and he offered it to her. She finished her own, threw away the cup, and then took his.

"So, how many buildings are named after you here, you told me once but remind me again," she joked with him and Logan smiled.

"Named after me personally or named after my family?" he asked and Rory hugged him without saying anything. He hugged her back unsure whether to ask but decided not to. Sometimes she just needed to feel some stability and someone close to her who loved her and that was something he could give to her.

37.2

Rory smiled back at Logan as the sun started to come down, they had walked around nearly the whole campus but had decided to go to the journalism office at the end of their walk. It's where they had spent a lot of time together, it was what gave Rory motivation for continuing at Yale, it was where Rory had enjoyed countless hours of student life.

As they turned the corner, Rory was surprised to see Doyle sitting on a bench outside the office with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Hi, Doyle," she said as she came over to him and saw him look up and hum before standing up.

"Something wrong?" she asked and Doyle looked at the two of them as if he was seeing them for the first time that day.

"Wow, sorry, no not really. Hi, Rory…Logan," he said to the two of them and then looked back at the offices. He sighed and then sat down on the bench again. "I have to ask that you forgive the moans, I've just been told to face a lot of hypotheticals with my answers needing to come immediately."

"That's what having a girlfriend…or a fiancée is sometimes, man," Logan laughed and Rory sat down beside Doyle. Logan, leaning up against a wall, watched Rory lovingly to make sure that she wasn't getting cold or uncomfortable. It was harder to do everything when you were pregnant, that's what he had heard and he loved her, if she was uncomfortable then seeing that would make him uncomfortable.

"Paris?" Rory asked and Doyle laughed

"Who else," he said before gesturing to Rory's belly, "I'm sorry. I should have asked how the whole pregnancy thing is coming but I'm not that fond of pregnancy, there's no a lot of good visuals that you can put in a paper and I don't even mean the pregnancy part but some of these children that come out, those babies, not trying to sound cruel but you don't really want them in the paper but saying that to Paris right now."

"Wait, Paris wants to put pictures of babies in the newspaper?" Logan asked and Doyle sighed as he looked up. He seemed exhausted and Rory knew that Paris was extremely able to exhaust others.

"No. That might be easier to handle. She's been asking me what I would do if she were to get pregnant, she's even been looking into some things that I don't think anyone wants their girl looking into, if you know what I mean," he said as he looked to Logan who nodded.

"From my conversations with Paris it doesn't seem that she wants to be pregnant," Rory said and Doyle nodded.

"That's what I said but now we need some plan and how can Logan, no offense," he said as he looked at the blond, "be able to stay committed to Rory when I can't even say that I'm ready for a baby and when I said that there wasn't even a baby to be ready for it didn't make any difference to her."

"Wow," Rory said stunned and Doyle nodded.

"Yeah, wow, indeed," he told her. "It's not as if you wanted to have a baby."

"We weren't expecting one yet but we're happy about it," Rory said as she looked to Logan who nodded in agreement.

"Just agree with her," Logan advised and Doyle looked up at him. "Look, I'm not saying lie to her but there's no baby involved, as you said, it's all hypotheticals. So, what's the harm in telling her that you'd want to raise a baby with her if she was pregnant. It doesn't mean you magically get her pregnant."

"In the hopes of self-preservation," Doyle nodded. "Good idea."

Rory smiled weakly, "How about you two join us for dinner?" she asked and Doyle nodded.

"Good, a buffer, a buffer might be the best right now and she does really like you, Rory. Thank you," he said and Rory shared a look at Logan. Those two really did work well together, both neurotic but somehow it seemed to click.

End of Chapter Thirty-Seven

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