AN: Guys I get my first dose in a couple hours! So exciting! Anyway, I will warn, just like in EHC, we are probably down to our last 5-6 chapters of this story. It has been fun to write though so thank you for coming along for the ride. We have some disagreements (which I think we've all had at some point during the last year with our loved ones?), and a bit more understanding of the burden Logan is carrying right now. So please, read, review, enjoy

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter Nine - People Are Dying

September 4, 2020

"I don't know why you have such a problem with this?" Rory hissed at Logan as they stood in their bedroom. "I can write anywhere, and it would be nice for Nathan…we've sent him to your sister, so why are you fine with that but not this?"

"Because my sister and Josh and the kids are at home all the time. Jesus Rory, your mom works in hospitality, her husband works in the restaurant industry, and your grandmother is high risk…how do you not see what is wrong with this?"

"So what because your sister doesn't work it's acceptable to see her?" Rory shot back. She just wanted to visit her mom for the weekend and then visit her grandmother. "Things are getting better, cases are doing down."

"They're going down but things aren't good not to mention…Nate will want to see kids, he'll want to see Steve and Kwan…"

"Are you actually telling me I can't see my family?" Rory countered, they had been arguing about this for a couple of days and it had finally come to a head because she was supposed to be heading out.

"I'm not telling you what you can or can't do, I'm asking you not to. Jesus Ace, people are dying, people who work for my papers have died, people are in the hospital…"

"There aren't any cases in Stars Hollow!"

"Fuck, fine," Logan threw his hands up in desperation, "do what you want. I can't win. You moved out here because you wanted to stay safe, and I'm sorry, I don't know when that stopped and it became the fucking Rory show."

Rory stopped in her tracks, "you think this is the Rory show? I don't have a job, I am terrible at helping Nathan with school. There is still someone employed to keep us fed half the time because you don't trust that I can cook…but sure, lets call it that…the Rory show because I want to see my mother who I have not seen in person since February!"

"Oh yes," Logan rolled his eyes, "poor you. This must be so hard for you. Living here…"

Rory sighed, "babe," she looked at him, "are we really doing this?"

"I don't know," Logan looked at her sadly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he exhaled loudly, "I just…I didn't think this was an argument we were going to have," he admitted. "I thought we were on the same page about this, and … I don't even let my people back in the buildings we lease. So you can see how it might be hard to stomach that my partner is just going and living her life…"

"You are simplifying," Rory challenged him. "I just think that seeing her is not the end of the world…it is a calculated risk and we will be outside."

"I'm not going to fight you about this," Logan shrugged. "Do what you want. If Nate wants to come, he can go…"

"You don't want to fight me about this," Rory repeated, they were very clearly still fighting about this in spite of what he was saying. "I'm going to go," she told him firmly. "We will stay outside, we will keep our distance, but I'm going to see my mom, and then I'm going to see my grandma under the same conditions. It would be really nice if you could understand that."

Logan sighed once more and ran a hand through his hair, "I'm going for a run. Are you going to be home for dinner?"

"Of course we'll be home for dinner," Rory told him, "I love you."

"I love you too," Logan leaned in and kissed her gently, "I'm pissed, but I love you."

Rory couldn't help but smile at the comment. They had been seeing a therapist together, and one of the things he had commented on was that the two seemed to be afraid of fighting and how unhealthy it was to live like that long term. They would walk on eggshells pretending everything was fine rather than engaging in a healthy debate or agreeing to disagree. "Call me after your run?"

"I'm in my thirties Ace," Logan laughed, "I'm not going to drop dead on a jog…"

"Tell that to all the people in their thirties who have dropped dead on a jog. You've been stressed out at work lately. I just want to make sure you're alright."

"I'm fine," Logan assured her. "Tell your mom and Luke I say hi."

"Can you tell Nathan we're leaving soon?"

"Take my car, yours is low on gas, I'll fill yours up tomorrow," Logan told her, he didn't want her stopping to fill up somewhere on the way and she had told him the day before that her Jeep was low. "Keys for the Range Rover are in the closet."

"You can't be that mad at me if you're letting me drive your precious car," Rory stuck her tongue out.

"Have fun, I love you," Logan smiled as he walked out of their bedroom and down the stairs. He called to Nathan as he passed the kitchen that it was almost time to go and reminded his son to bring masks and sanitizer before he put his AirPods in his ears and hit the pavement. He wasn't sure what other option he had but to run. He needed to get his frustration out somehow and fighting with Rory was certainly not productive. He knew she wasn't going to change her mind that seeing them was safe, and he wasn't going to change his that it was irresponsible given the current climate. He wondered for a moment if it was hypocritical to allow Nate to see his cousins, aunt and uncle, or to have his niece and nephew come over, but he didn't think it was. Honor and Josh were home, the kids were home, they all had their groceries delivered, they didn't go out unnecessarily, Logan couldn't recall the last time he was in a store. He knew that Emily wasn't going anywhere, he knew that because he was taking care of ordering her groceries and making sure they were delivered, but he did worry about Lorelai and Luke. Not because he thought they were being irresponsible, but because they both worked in industries which put them in higher contact with other people. If Logan had learned anything about people since the start of the pandemic it was that he couldn't control others, he could only control himself, and that seemed to be manifesting in the fact that he trusted no one except for Rory, Nathan, his sister and her family.

xxx

"Oh just come inside, no one will know," Lorelai pouted as they sat on chairs that were generously spaced out in the yard of her house.

Rory shook her head, she knew she was already pushing it by coming, she wasn't looking to go to war with Logan, and she certainly wasn't going to put her son in a position that he had to lie to his father. "Mom," Rory sighed, "it's better this way. Safer for everyone."

"I feel like we're on display," Lorelai pouted. Nathan was talking to Luke about something near the garage as the two women chatted.

"This place is a weird snow globe. No matter where we are we're always on display," Rory nodded to Babette who was frantically waving from her porch, "hi Babette," Rory smiled.

"Ok, fine, am I allowed to get you a coffee or is that a point of contention for your boyfriend?"

"Mom," Rory glared at her mother, "relax. I am good, I drank a coffee on my way here."

"Fine," Lorelai pouted, "it just feels like Logan gets to decide everything…"

Rory rolled her eyes and laughed. This was just like her mother, to decide to be territorial now that she and Logan were an item again. Lorelai liked Logan, the two had worked out their differences years earlier and Lorelai was on the list of people who had always encouraged Rory to make another go of it with Logan. "I know this is hard on you mom, it's hard on all of us," she thought back to her conversation with Logan before she left, "but…hopefully soon there will be a vaccine…"

"Is Logan rich enough to buy black market vaccines and host weird vaccine parties or something? You know…I watched one of those Real Housewives shows, and someone hosted a botox party, so maybe we could do that, and Logan could do it because I can't afford to buy black market anything much less black market vaccines…anyway, it can be fancy and stuff and salmon puffs, champagne….vaccines!"

Rory laughed at the image, "I don't think Logan will be doing that."

"He bought you a Birkin, and now you're telling me he won't buy you vaccines?"

"He wouldn't break the law for me…" Lorelai raised her eyebrow knowingly, "you know what I meant."

"Well…he is certainly less fun than the last time around."

"How are things at the inn?" Rory changed the subject. She knew that in addition to capacity being limited, bookings were down in general, they had been trying to offer packages to incentivize people to come but it was still a tall order given that Taylor didn't exactly make it easy for out of towners to get in. That was an experience Rory could attest to, she had to get a temperature check and fill in an online form confirming her condition, reason for visiting and a list of her recent contacts to be approved by Taylor. Once she had completed the documents, which could only be done from one of two checkpoints, they were forwarded to Taylor who reviewed if a person was allowed in. Rory had suggested that Kirk may not be the best person to be running a checkpoint, but her mother had explained that was only because one of the four police officers in town had recently gone on stress leave.

"They're alright," Lorelai shrugged. "We can't do anything with the Annex because I'm not comfortable with the personal services thing, but I think we have two rooms booked for the full week next week…which is something. We've been offering Sunday dinner boxes which Sookie has had fun making…the town has been really great about supporting businesses, which is nice…makes it all feel a bit less scary." Rory smiled, it didn't surprise her that the people of Stars Hollow had rallied around their local businesses. Lane had told her the same thing when they had spoken a few days earlier. They had started offering virtual music lessons out of Sophie's a few months back and those seemed to be a hit. "How is the book going?"

"It's…going," Rory laughed. "Some things are easier to write about than others…some seem like ancient history, and others feel like I'm picking pretty fresh wounds…"

"Oh?" Lorelai was intrigued.

"Writing about coparenting and stuff…I mean, obviously we're in a different place right now, and things have always been good…but acknowledging some of my…insecurities when Logan was married to Odette, the concerns I had about my own relationship with Nathan…putting that on paper is hard."

Lorelai could relate given the…interesting dynamic she and Christopher had enjoyed when they were raising Rory, although, that was long before coparenting was a thing, and all of the actual parenting had fallen on Lorelai. "Well, just remember that you are telling your story, not Logan and Odette's, not Logan…it's about you."

"I know, but I still…I have to be cautious. And Odette was a good stepmother to him."

Lorelai made a face, "her hair was unnaturally shiny. Like…what shampoo did she use? I can't trust a person who looked that put together all the time…"

Rory laughed, "yes, she was beautiful."

"Very European."

"Did you just use European as an insult?" Rory smiled, "mom, it's all ancient history now."

"So you and Logan are…solid?"

"We talked about it before we really made it official," Rory explained, "we don't really have the option to fail, so we are solid. We are good. He is…being back around him all the time, his work ethic and his drive, the way he cares about his employees, his passion…it's amazing to be around. It's almost intoxicating."

"I never thought we would be saying that about Logan Huntzberger," Lorelai laughed as she thought back to the first time Logan had returned Rory home, drunk in a limo with a bunch of men she didn't know.

"Well, he is very supportive of me, and the book…work has been really hard on him lately," she admitted. "Everything with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor…his people are covering it so that is stressful, there have been injuries, and court dates, legal fees. There have been threats about the articles that have been published in support of Black Lives Matter, and I mean…like all of us, it's really forced him to acknowledge his privilege, and some of the decisions made by his publications over the years. I try to tell him that he can't see everything before it gets published, but he views it all as his responsibility, his burden to hold…"

"I mean, it really has been eye opening…even just understanding how all those years I thought that I had left my privilege, but…I still had it. I flirted, I used my connections, and when I needed to I just ran back to my parents…"

"You didn't run back to grandma and grandpa unless it was about school…"

"Still…it's a bit of a bitch slap when you realize that you don't even know how good you've had it. If I weren't white…our lives would've been very different."

Rory nodded her head in agreement, her mother was right. Had Lorelai and Rory been Black, or Hispanic, or any other visible minority, they likely would not be in the places they were now. "We just need to keep learning, keep advocating…I talked to Logan. They are going to publish the book when it's done, and I want to donate a portion of the proceeds to an anti-racism charity, or maybe to BLM, but just…if I'm essentially going to be profiting off of my privilege, I need to give back."

"That is very…woke of you," Lorelai smiled.

"No one says woke, Grandma," Nathan made his presence known as he took a seat beside his mother. "Mom says we need to help other people because dad is rich and white…"

Rory made a face and laughed, "not quite what I said, but we do need to support marginalized communities."

"Because dad is rich and white?"

"Because we," she gestured to the group of them, "are very privileged."

"When are we going home?" Nathan asked, he was bored, he had looked at Luke's new boat, he had talked with him about school and everything else going on, but as many kids that age would agree, hanging out with his grandparents wasn't exactly high on the list, especially when they couldn't do anything.

"Soon," Rory gave him a look.

"Did you know my mom and dad got back together?" Nathan looked at his grandmother.

Lorelai's eyes widened jokingly, "I have heard something about that," she turned to her daughter, "how do you feel about that?"

Rory smiled and stood up, "I'll leave you two, I'm going to talk to Luke for a few minutes and then we've gotta run. I promised dad we would be home for dinner."

Nathan looked at his feet as Lorelai watched the boy in front of her for a moment, "I've missed you," she told him with a smile. She had never gone this long without seeing her grandson and it had been hard on her to say the least. "How are you doing?"

"Maybe by Thanksgiving we can be normal?" Nathan gave her half a shrug as he kept his gaze down, "I don't like online school."

"I know," Lorelai knew from the previous semester that he hadn't enjoyed his online classes as much as in person learning. "Anything I can do to help?"

Nathan shook his head. "What do you think about my mom and dad?"

"Well, I raised your mom, so I may be a bit biased," Lorelai chuckled, "but I think they are both pretty great. However, something tells me that isn't really what you're asking…"

"Do you think they'll break up?" Nathan asked, "you and grandpa Chris broke up."

"He and I were different…" Lorelai smiled. Nathan had heard stories about the brief moment where his grandparents had been married, "but your mom and dad…they are very smart, and they really care for each other, and they care for you, so they wouldn't do this if they thought it was going to mess things up for you."

"But dad married Odette and that didn't work, so how does he know if this will work?"

"You don't," Lorelai looked to Luke who was chatting with Rory, "and you'll figure that out when you get older. You don't know for sure that anything in life will work, but you have to have faith, and when you care about someone a lot, you have to trust that…and in this case, with your mom and dad, they wouldn't do anything that would hurt you."

"I guess…"

Lorelai knew from talking to Rory that Nathan had been asking questions about what could go wrong in terms of his parents getting back together, he was worried. He didn't want to get too comfortable with the idea of them being together just to have it fall apart. "Just trust them. Your mom and dad have cared about each other for a long time, and when you care that much about something…you don't risk it unless you're sure."

xxx

Logan was standing in the kitchen with his AirPods still in his ears as he felt two arms wrap around his torso and Rory's head leaning firmly into his shoulder. "You're back?" he smiled as he looked out the window into the backyard, a moment later he saw his son run past the window on his way to the basketball court.

"Yup," Rory nodded, not moving as she inhaled his scent. "Are we ok?"

Logan turned around and put his own arms around Rory, "we're fine Ace," he assured her. They weren't going to agree on everything, in fact they had never agreed on everything, but they could certainly figure out a way to respectfully disagree. "How are your parents?"

"Mom is good, she was bummed we wouldn't go inside, but I held strong," she told him resting her head on his chest as they leaned against the counter.

"Thank you," Logan kissed the top of her head, "one of my people died," he breathed out. He felt Rory tense against his body. "She worked in the building," he continued, "so she wasn't some random person at a paper. I knew her face when they sent me the update. She was young, had a couple of kids, a husband…and now she is dead because of this fucking mess."

"I'm sorry," Rory squeezed him a bit tighter.

"I think I rode the elevator with her…so I don't know what to do," Logan admitted, "there is a Go Fund Me, which is a whole other issue - people shouldn't need to fundraise on the internet to pay for a fucking funeral or medical expenses."

"What can we do?" Rory asked him, pulling away and looking up at him.

"I'm going to donate personally," he told her, "I mean…if you're alright with it…"

"Of course," Rory nodded. It surprised her in some ways, Logan seemed more bothered by this loss than he had when Odette's father died, but she supposed that had something to do with the fact that they had now spent six months following all of the rules, but people were still dying. "I'm really sorry," she told him again, "I know this is hard."

"It doesn't have to be like this," Logan exclaimed, putting some space between himself and Rory. He wasn't mad at her, but he was mad and it was not a feeling he enjoyed. "That moron Trump is telling people this is no big deal, people aren't taking it seriously…wear masks, stay home…give people paid sick leave. Make staying alive affordable to people so they aren't worried about fucking bankrupting themselves because they are sick." Rory nodded her head and listened to him. There wasn't much that she could do beyond being there and being supportive.

"When did you find out?"

"I knew she was in the hospital last week, we've been monitoring it. I mean, we've had plenty of employees contract Covid, but this is our first death at head office. I got the call while you were gone."

"Wanna go for a walk or something?" Rory suggested. "Get some air? We can watch Nathan for a bit…have a drink? Order pizza for dinner?"

"I think I just have some work stuff to do," Logan shook his head, "I'll be out in a bit? Pizza sounds good."

"I love you," Rory told him.

"Love you too," Logan gave her a smile before he retreated from the kitchen to his office.

Rory got herself a drink and stepped outside after grabbing a book she had been reading, The Wife Between Us, it certainly wasn't going to go down in history, but it was a recommendation from Paris and she was enjoying it. She watched as Nathan fiddled around with his music that he was blasting around the court, it took everything Rory had in her not to tell him to turn it down, she didn't want to be that mom when he was just enjoying himself. He dribbled, he practiced his layups, Rory saw a lot of Logan in him as he played. She had always loved how much like Logan he was, he was driven, he was athletic, he was smart, and maybe something that not many people saw in Logan was that he was hypercritical of himself, which is maybe one of the traits that she wished her son hadn't picked up from his father. She appreciated that Logan didn't project that on their son, he encouraged Nathan, he supported Nathan, something that Mitchum hadn't always done for him.

"Nathan," Rory looked up after sitting outside for an hour, "pizza is going to be here, go wash up for dinner."

"Where is dad?" Nathan asked as he turned off his music and walked to his mother.

"He's just catching up on some work," Rory explained. "Go get cleaned up, I'll get dad and then we'll eat."

"I am supposed to have a game night with Ellie and Gabe."

"Game night?"

"On the computer. Uncle Josh set it up."

"Ok, well, eat your pizza and then you can do that in your room or in the basement?"

"Basement."

Rory watched as he walked up the stairs and she waited a moment before poking her head into the main floor office. Logan had closed the door and it creaked when she poked her head in, "hey," she smiled, relieved when he looked up and gave her a smile, "we missed you out there."

Logan stood up and closed his laptop, "sorry, I just got caught up in it all…"

"I know," Rory rested her hand on his chest as he stood in front of her, "our son is ditching us after dinner. Josh set up game night for them?"

Logan nodded, "I forgot to tell you."

"What ever will we do?" Rory smirked as Logan kissed her, it wasn't a particularly gentle kiss, it was a hungry one and as his hands went to her back he held her firmly against him.

"Mom, dad?" Nathan came bursting into the room, causing his parents to push apart quickly, leaving Rory staring awkwardly at the ground and Logan running a hand through his hair, "pizza is here."

"You wanna take yours downstairs?" Logan asked, knowing that Nathan would've requested a meat lovers pizza and Rory and Logan were splitting a deluxe, "the thing is starting soon?"

"Can I?"

"Tonight only," Logan nodded.

"Why are you two being weird?" Nathan looked between the pair of them curiously.

"Just put ours on the counter, alright?" Logan suggested.

"We'll be right there," Rory rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on," Logan pulled her close once more once Nathan was gone and placed a series of kisses on her neck.

"Kids are a constant cock block," Rory laughed and pressed a gentle kiss into his lips, "come get pizza." They went to the kitchen and fell into the comfortable pattern they had adopted since she had moved in. Rory getting the plates, Logan getting drinks, "what day is it today?" Rory asked as she placed the pizza on the plates and walked to the table, Logan following a few steps behind with glasses of water.

"Friday," he told her, it was a common occurrence for Rory to lose track of the days given that not only was she not going anywhere, but she wasn't stuck to a particularly strict work schedule either.

"No," she shook her head and pulled her phone from her pocket, "it's the fourth…" she looked up at the ceiling and started counting quietly to herself before she looked at Logan. "I'm late."

"Late for what? What could you possibly have going on right now?" Logan was confused, but also incredibly used to Rory and how keeping up with her wasn't always an easy task.

"Logan, I'm late."