AN: Thank you for the reviews and encouragement, here we jump to almost present day. March 2020...everyone remember it? When things got weird and started going bananas? Well, lets see what our favourite duo are up to. Also, for the purposes of this story, although AYITL didn't happen, Logan still met Odette, and Richard still passed away, which resulted in Emily moving to Nantucket.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

Chapter One - It's Him or Me

March 11, 2020

Rory Gilmore was pacing. She was exhausted. She was stressed. She didn't know what to do. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket and exhaled as she pulled it out. "Hey," she breathed, "you made it home?"

"I just got to my house," Logan assured her.

"Any problems?"

"I wore my mask, the flight crew stayed away…don't worry," he told her, he knew she would worry. Logan was confident that Rory hadn't stopped worrying since February 2008 when their son had been born. "How is Nate doing?"

"Nathan is doing fine," Rory could hear their pre-teen son in his room, it sounded as though he was getting his bags ready. "Are you sure about this?"

"Look, Ace, I think that things are going to shut down really soon and I would rather him be in Hartford where he has space, he can do stuff on the property, he has the ATV's, the room to just be…he won't be able to meander the mean streets of Brooklyn if this blows up. I think it's best if he comes here. What does he say?" Logan asked. He had been watching the news with peaked interest over the last few weeks and days, in fact he had cancelled a trip to Italy for fear of the spread of COVID-19. His mother and father had holed up at their Boca Raton estate, his sister and her family were stocked up in Hartford and Honor had made sure that his house was stocked as well. Rory had told him that her mother had proactively made the decision to shut down the inn temporarily and cancel all future reservations for the next couple of months, this was all at the insistence of Taylor who was acting as though doomsday was coming. Doose's Market had managed to secure enough masks and toilet paper to make someone's head spin. Luke was able to keep his diner open, but Lorelai was in the process of packing up to go to be with her mother, to ensure that Emily was safe and not completely alone through what seemed like it might just be a few weeks. Lorelai was certain she could manage for three or four weeks before things returned to normal.

"He wants to go," Rory admitted, she ran her hand through her hair, she didn't want her son to go. She was worried about what was happening around her, but she wasn't sure that the solution was to send her son to to Connecticut to live with his father during such a tumultuous time. "So I guess…do you want me to drive him? Do you want to pick him up?"

"I can send a car if he wants…"

"I'll drive him," Rory shook her head and rolled her eyes, thankful that Logan couldn't see her. They had figured it out over the years, but at 36 and 39, there were still things that were challenging for them, and Logan's willingness to simply send a car because it was convenient remained one of those challenges. "If we leave in the morning is that alright?"

"Will that be ok with Mark?" Logan popped the k at the end of the name. Mark Cartwright had been Rory's boyfriend for almost two years. They had moved in together just before Christmas and for all Logan had heard about the man, he was nice enough. He hadn't been particularly warm and fuzzy to Logan during their Christmas celebrations in Hartford, but he had stuck it out with the traditions that Rory and Logan had created for their little family.

When Nathan was born, Rory and Logan had worked out an arrangement, and they had stayed true to it in the years that had passed. They spent Nathan's birthday together no matter what, that meant some of the early years, Rory had taken Nathan to Palo Alto. When Logan had relocated for eighteen months to London when Nathan was four, Rory had taken Nathan to London for Christmas. When Logan had married a French socialite, Rory had still made sure that Nathan was available for Christmas and the four of them enjoyed four awkward Christmas celebrations before the pair divorced. Logan would faithfully take Nathan to buy a Mother's Day gift for Rory, and Rory in turn would help Nathan procure a gift for Father's Day each June. Logan was a good dad, there was no denying that he had kept up his end of their deal. He was always there when he said he would be. He had never flaked, he had never missed anything except for the year he got food poisoning and couldn't make it to a soccer game. He had never chosen work over his son, and he had never chosen anyone else before Rory and Logan. They had remained his priority. He had made sure that Nathan went to the best schools available, he was respectful of Rory and had always supported her as a friend. They had a friendship. They had remained friends over the years which was a big part of what made it easier on everyone, even if their respective spouses and significant others didn't always understand.

"Mark just wants Nathan to be happy and safe," Rory assured him. She hadn't mentioned it to Mark. They had a pretty consistent rule which was that Mark didn't really get a vote when it came to Nathan and Rory and that had been a thorn in their relationship from time to time. Not because he wanted to take Logan's spot, but more so because he wanted to feel like his opinion mattered.

"So tell him to pack what he needs, and you drive him out here. Do you want to stay for dinner before you drive back home or what?" Logan asked.

"I guess, sure. We can maybe come up with a bit of a game plan?"

"Text me when you leave?"

"Goodbye Logan," Rory hung up the phone and exhaled. She looked out the window of her condo and watched as the streets seemed to be emptier than usual and those who she saw were wearing masks, she saw people carrying staples into their homes, she could feel the sense of panic setting in around her. Swallowing the lump in her throat she went and knocked on Nathan's bedroom door, waiting a moment to let herself in, "hey buddy," Rory smiled at her freshly minted twelve year old. The last time she had seen Logan was at Nathan's birthday party a little over a month earlier.

"Hey mom," Nathan looked up from his computer. Dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, his hair reminded her of photos she had seen of Logan during his preteen years, messy and unkept but a little bit more boyish than when she had first met him in his twenties. "Everything ok? One of my friends from school, Jake, he said his parents are taking him to the Hamptons to ride out the next few weeks."

"Everything is fine," Rory tried to assure him, "we just need to be careful for a few weeks, everything will be normal soon." Rory knew she was hoping more than anything, but she would have to go with that for now. "I just talked to dad."

"Is he home?" Nathan sat up a bit more. He and Logan had always been close. Sometimes that was much to Rory's dismay, especially given her own close relationship with her mother, sometimes she wished that she and Nathan shared that same kind of bond, but she was glad that he was close with his father.

Rory nodded, "he got home today, and he was thinking…with things getting crazy here, maybe I can drive you to Hartford and you can crash there for a few weeks until things get normal?"

"Is that allowed?" Nathan asked. He may have been closer to Logan, he may have loved sports and video games like every other pre-teen boy on the face of the earth, but he was also keen on watching the news, he was interested in current events, which she supposed he got from both of his parents. Rory worked for a small online newspaper and Logan was in charge of the digital platform at HPG, a role that had been created for him when he moved back east after he got married.

"Dad and I say it is, so it is. I'll call the school and get your homework sent," Rory assured him, "but it'll be fun. When is the last time you and dad had a few uninterrupted weeks together?"

Nathan shrugged and began looking through his clothes, "you'll be safe here?"

"I'll work from home, and so will Mark," she assured him, Mark worked in an office and had the option of working from home whenever he wanted, "he is just making sure his parents have groceries."

"I should pack," Nathan told her.

"You pack, but don't pack everything, you have clothes there."

xxx

Rory drove her car through the open gates at the property Logan had purchased when he moved back from London. Rory was certain that his wife at the time had hated the place, but she put up with it. Odette and Rory had gotten along for the sake of Nathan and Logan. Rory didn't quite know what Logan saw in the woman, but she had respected their relationship. Odette for her part had always struggled with Logan and Rory's relationship. She had always been good to Nathan, kind to Nathan, but she couldn't wrap her head around why Rory would always be a priority for Logan. "Dad said he was going to make sure the ATV's were out," Rory told Nathan as they pulled into the driveway. It was a long and impressive driveway. Logan was on a ten acre lot, five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms and almost seventy five hundred square feet was more than enough room for Nathan to not feel too claustrophobic with everything going on. When Rory stopped her Jeep Grand Cherokee at the end of the driveway and cut the engine, he immediately jumped out of the car and ran to the front door, leaving Rory a few steps behind to grab her purse and then his suitcase from the trunk. By the time she got to the front door, Nathan was already inside telling his father about some of the latest drama at school with the boys hockey team. "Don't worry about me," Rory called dramatically as she lugged the suitcase up the front step and over the threshold. "Hi," she smiled as Logan took the bag from her, their hands touching for a moment as he grasped the handle and pushed the bag out of the way.

"Good to see you," Logan pulled her in for a hug. He was relieved to see her. The last few weeks, with everything going on, it had been stressful. He was glad to see her, he was glad to see Nathan, glad that Nathan could spend some time away from what he imagined was going to be a very stressful time in New York City.

"I think this is a good idea," Rory admitted as she looked for Nathan.

"He went up to his room," Logan explained, "something about needing to charge his phone."

"Who thought giving a twelve year old a phone was a good idea?" Rory sighed as she followed Logan into the living room. She untied the belt on her coat and draped it on the back of the chair.

"I think we made that decision, before you try to make it sound like it was just me trying to be cool dad."

"You're always cool dad," Rory rolled her eyes, "you don't even need to try."

"You're never going to get over the fact that our son likes having me around, are you?" Logan laughed, he didn't wait for a response, after all, it was a rhetorical question. "You ok?" he asked, "you look worried."

"I am worried," she admitted. "It just seems like everything is shutting down, the world is shutting down, maybe not everything here…but…I don't know, it's scary."

"I'll be working from home," Logan assured her, "you and Mark can work from home…"

"And I told Nathan I would get his schoolwork…your parents are alright?"

"They're fine. They've got enough scotch and pinot noir to to survive a nuclear attack. My bigger fear is what they'll do having to spend that much time alone together. Honor had a big talk with them about taking this seriously and staying home, even if it wasn't what their neighbours were doing. Mitchum Huntzberger is too big an asshole to be done in by some weird, multiplying virus that we can't seem to get our finger on. What about your mom? You said she was going to Nantucket?"

"She's worried about grandma," Rory nodded, "so she leaves on Monday I think, and then she'll come back in a few weeks."

"A few weeks and this will all be back to normal. Nothing to worry about Ace. Do you have masks?"

"I bought a box of disposables when I got extra hand sanitizer and ordered a few off of Etsy that arrive next week."

"You'll tell me if you need anything? Absolutely anything…" Logan knew she wouldn't. Rory would never ask him for anything. For as long as Nathan had been alive, she had never asked him for extra help, even when he knew she needed it. He had paid child support, an amount decided on the two of them that had been adjusted as Nathan had gotten older, but she had never accepted anything for herself, nothing that would make her life any easier, no matter how much he tried. He had started buying her birthday and Christmas gifts a few years into Nathan's life, it at least made him feel like he was helping her out by giving her some luxuries along the way.

"Mark and I will be fine," Rory looked at her watch. "I should go though. Mark has been with his parents making sure they're all set up, so I told him I'd be home for dinner."

"Let us know when you get home, alright?" Logan asked, he worried about her still. He knew she worried about him as well, he didn't really see that stopping.

"I will," Rory stood up and put her coat over her arm, Logan stood too and she walked over and hugged him, "you take care of him, alright? And take care of yourself. Order groceries. Don't do anything dumb…"

"I've been taking care of myself for years, Ace," Logan tried to reassure her with his boyish smile, the one that still made her heart flutter.

"No, one of the many lovely housekeepers you have employed over the years has been taking care of you, and it's not lost on me that she isn't here right now, so I have to assume that you're worried enough about this to have sent her home…"

"She has kids," Logan shrugged, "I can take care of myself so that she can take care of hers."

"Don't let anyone else know you're a secret softie," Rory kissed his cheek. "I'll say bye and then let myself out."

xxx

March 27, 2020

"Mark, I don't really have a choice here," Rory shouted, she was pacing around her condo, exhausted from what had become a two day marathon fight with her boyfriend.

"What do you mean you don't have a choice? Stay here. That is the solution. Don't up and leave. We're in a pandemic!"

Rory had to actively work to control her facial expression, "are you kidding me? Up and leave? Mark, I'm going to be with my son!"

"Bring him home. Nate would be perfectly fine here!"

"Yes, he would be fine here. The three of us could happily coexist in this shoebox…or I can put his needs above mine, which for the record I have been doing for almost thirteen years at this point if you factor growing him for forty weeks into the equation, and I can accept the offer from his father to go and stay there. So that my son has space to be outside safely, so that he has room to himself and privacy and so he can be somewhere that five thousand people a day aren't testing positive for this damned virus!"

"And what am I supposed to do? Just sit here? Who knows how long this is going to be anymore? They said two weeks, and here we are and it's just getting worse! What are we supposed to do?!"

For the first time in the marathon argument, Rory understood what he was saying. The choice he was asking her to make. "Mark, please don't do this."

"I'm asking you not to go and stay with your ex Rory. That isn't a huge ask."

"No, you're asking me to pick. You're asking me to pick you over Nathan and I can't. Tears began to fall from her bright blue eyes and she bit her lower lip to keep a sob from coming out. She was about to break up with someone she loved. It wouldn't be the first of her relationships to end because of her loyalty to her son, her loyalty to Logan and their little modern family, but this one arguably was the biggest shock. "I'm sorry Mark, but I pick him. So if you're telling me that if I walk out that door to see my son, we're over. Then I guess we're done…"

"I love you Rory, doesn't that count for something."

Rory snapped her head up before he could continue, the sadness quickly turning to rage before she spoke, "no," she told him, "if you loved me you wouldn't be pulling this shit. I'm leaving. I am going to be with my son. I don't know when I will be back, but you can stay here until I come back and then you can take your things, and you can leave."

Rory had initially intended to leave the following morning, but given the turn of events and the hostility in the home they shared, she quickly put on one of her surgical masks and grabbed her rolling suitcase and her purse. She looked back once more, she could see that he was surprised, but she knew there was no going back. She had promised herself when Nathan was born, he would always come first, in the same moment she had promised herself that she would never waste time on someone who didn't understand where her priorities were, and her priorities were her family. Other people would come in and out of her life, but Nathan and Logan, they would always be there. That was the promise they had made. She heard the door click behind her and she took the elevator down to get to her car and began the drive. She didn't even bother calling to tell Logan she was coming early. She knew he wouldn't mind. She knew that the room she would be staying in would be empty, just waiting for her. The streets were eerily quiet, they had been for the last few weeks, the highway wasn't busy and the drive was routine and mechanical. She saw the lights on in the house as she came up the driveway just before eleven and she quietly knocked on the door. "Hi," Rory breathed.

"You're early," Logan moved to give her access to the foyer.

"That alright?" Rory raised an eyebrow, "or were you expecting someone else?"

"You alright?" Logan didn't need her to tell him what had happened, he could figure that out all on his own.

"I could use a friend."

"Come on," Logan locked the door and draped an arm around her, walking down the hallway with her as she left her suitcase at the door, "lets watch a movie. Everything feels a bit better after watching the shit show that is Ben Affleck as Batman."