AN: We get cuteness, we get Nathan, we get fluff. There really is no angst here and it's fun and nice which we all need in a pandemic. What I loved about the comments on this chapter is how it really shows in a nutshell how 2020 was for us. We all have different comfort levels for the risks we take in regards to covid. Logan I think feels a more profound need to keep 'his people' safe, and that extends to Rory and Nathan and their family, whereas Rory only has to really worry about her family and her friends as opposed to an organization of people working for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter Ten - The Hypothetical Baby

"You're late…" Logan repeated once more, "late…" the expression on his face went from confusion to shock to excitement all in a matter of seconds, "like…late?" They were both standing now, Rory looked like she wanted to pace around the space and Logan was just trying to keep her from spiralling.

Rory nodded, still mentally counting, "I…," she pulled out her phone and Logan took it from her hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked, he wanted to wrap her in a hug, he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to shout it from the rooftop.

"I need to order a test on Amazon," Rory told him simply as she took the phone bag and opened the app. "I need…I don't have a test. Normally I keep a test under the sink," she thought back to the box of ClearBlue digital pregnancy tests that were sitting under the sink at her Brooklyn condo. "I can't go to a store, obviously."

"Right…a test," Logan nodded. "I guess…so…you're just late? How late? Are you normally late?"

"I'm never late," Rory lowered her voice, remembering that where was a chance Nathan would pop up around any corner given that he was in the basement. "I'm a twenty eight day cycle like clock work, I have never been late except for the last time I was," she lowered her voice even more, "pregnant."

"Ace," Logan put his hands on her shoulders and smiled, "we'll wait until the test comes and see. Just try to relax," he told her. He was now the mature one, he was thinking one or two or three steps ahead at all times and it certainly was a flip of their personalities from the first time they were together.

"But if I am…" Rory thought for a moment, "how…what do you…what will we do?"

Logan let a smile play on his lips and he pulled her body to him for a hug, he held her body close to his and his lips settled just by her ears, "this would be amazing," he admitted. "I mean…if it's just you and Nate and I forever, then I'm happy, but if it's you and Nate and another baby and I…I would be really happy about that…"

"You would?" Rory looked up at him without removing herself from his embrace, "you don't think we're too…"

"Too what?" Logan smiled, "too old? Too newly together? I mean, we know that genetically we produce good looking kids."

"We do," Rory nodded, "so I guess it would be a travesty to deny the world another Huntzberger…"

"Yes we do have a responsibility to repopulate the world with the Huntzberger family, my dad would probably dump another seven figures into my bank account for another Huntzberger," Logan laughed and kissed her gently, he was very obviously joking about his father, but he did know his parents wanted him to have more kids. "I mean… if you're not, I guess we should talk about it, but I would love to have another kid with you one day, or nine months from now, whenever."

Rory exhaled, it was a relief to hear at the very least that the idea of having another child wasn't enough to make Logan run in the other direction. "We'll wait until the test comes," she told him. "Let's just not…"

"Sure," Logan agreed.

Rory took her seat again and Logan did the same, they both started eating quietly, Rory thinking about all of the different options, all of the different things a late period could mean. It could be as simple as stress, certainly things were chaotic with the pandemic and family and everything else going on. She remembered the first time she had taken a pregnancy test, alone and in a hotel on the campaign trail somewhere in the middle of nowhere after buying it at a twenty four hour convenience store. She remembered sitting on the toilet crying as she saw the positive result and the absolute fear about telling Logan. She had wished so desperately back then that they were finding this out together, that they could go through all of it together, and while they did go through pregnancy together in some ways, Rory had spent many days and nights of her first pregnancy feeling alone and scared. Logan was always a phone call away, he would drop anything for her and come if she asked, but she never asked because at the time she didn't know how to separate her romantic relationship with Logan and the partnership they were trying to embark on.

xxx

"When does Amazon normally come here?" Rory pouted as she and Logan sat curled up on the couch Saturday morning. Nathan was still asleep but Rory and Logan had woken up early. Logan had intended to run, but somehow Rory had managed to convince him to just relax with her. He had never been good at saying no to Rory and that morning was no exception.

"Soon," Logan assured her, he didn't even move his body as they watched the campaign coverage for the upcoming 2020 election. "Relax."

"Easy for you to say," Rory glared at him playfully. She was still in her pyjamas while Logan was fully dressed, he always looked like he was ready to be interviewed for something and Rory found it equal parts attractive and infuriating. "You don't have to worry. If you drink four cups of coffee, it doesn't matter, or if you have a mimosa for breakfast, it doesn't matter. If I do those things and then find out I am with child then I am the worst mom ever even if I didn't know yet!"

"Ace," Logan kissed her temple, "no one who has ever met you would accuse you of being a bad mother, first off. Secondly, it has been proven that moderate amounts of alcohol and caffeine at this point in a pregnancy are unlikely to have any impacts."

"You tell me that if I drink the coffee and I'm pregnant and this baby comes out with an extra toe!"

"If you are pregnant and this baby comes out with an extra toe, I would love that baby just the same as I love Nate. And if you aren't pregnant, then I will pour you a mimosa if that is what you want."

"I just want to know."

"I get that."

"What about benefits?" Rory moved herself from his embrace and sat up.

"Benefits?" he repeated, and Logan sat up slightly as well, "so I guess we're not waiting to talk about this…" Logan thought back to how Rory had said they would talk about it when the knew.

"Well I just…it's coming in waves. The what ifs. I don't have a job, I don't have benefits. When Nate was born I was on a plan with my dad, but… would the baby just go on your benefits?"

"The hypothetical baby?"

"Yes, the hypothetical baby, keep up!"

Logan yawned which he could see irritated Rory immediately, she had been up before him, in fact he had woken up acutely aware of the fact that he was being watched and when he lazily opened his eyes, that feeling was confirmed as his eyes settled on a pair of blue eyes that were burning into him. The knock on the front door brought them out of their thoughts and Logan stood up, "I'll get it. It might not be Amazon. I'm waiting on a new computer."

"Why did you need a new computer?" Rory asked, he hadn't mentioned ordering a new computer.

"Work," Logan told her, "we are just doing upgrades, but it could also be Amazon," he added knowingly.

Rory nodded anxiously as Logan walked to the door, it seemed like it was taking forever for him to return with the brown box in hand, "Amazon?" Logan nodded and handed it to Rory who tore it open, revealing that not only had she bought a half dozen pregnancy tests, because naturally one couldn't do the trick, but also Sour Patch Kids, M&M's and what looked to be Tim Tams which Logan never understood Rory's love for, but she couldn't find them easily in supermarkets and so he had gotten used to her ordering them from Amazon. "Do you want to…" Rory inhaled and picked up the tests. "Upstairs?"

"Do you want me to?" Logan asked, once again aware of the fact that he had missed this when Rory found out she was pregnant with Nathan. Although, he wouldn't have missed it if he hadn't been so stubborn, if he hadn't refused to really listen to her when she had said no to getting married. "I mean…I can just wait in our room…I don't need to be there while you do it…"

"Well no Logan," Rory laughed, "I didn't want you to watch me pee. Come on," she told him, reaching for his hand with her left hand which wasn't holding the tests. They walked in silence upstairs and Logan closed the door to their bedroom while Rory went into the washroom. Time seemed to be moving backwards, he checked his e-mail, then he checked it again, as if something was going to change on a Saturday morning. When Rory came out he looked at her with caution but excitement. "Another minute," Rory told him, she had left the stick in the washroom but she just couldn't stand staring at it for any longer. "Do you like this bed?" she cocked her head to the left as she looked at the beige tufted bed that they shared. "Don't you think this space needs more colour?"

Logan smirked, he could tell she was spiralling a bit, "you know, I actually wanted this room to be really muted and calm specifically to avoid having too much colour in here," he told her. He had wanted the room to be peaceful and calm when he had redecorated after Odette had moved out.

"We can talk about it," Rory shrugged and looked at the timer on her phone which was now down to it's final seconds. She turned it off and then looked to Logan and shrugged, "I guess now…"

"Go on," Logan nodded, he followed her into the washroom and they both stood on their respective sides of the vanity, staring at each other and not the plastic stick sitting on the counter. "So…"

"So…I mean…no matter what, we're…we're good," Rory told him. "If it is, it is, if it's not, it's not…"

"And if it's not do we want to…try?" he asked cautiously.

"Maybe," Rory shrugged. "Do you want to?" she asked, she had experienced that moment before, being the first one to know, the excitement and joy and fear that all hit you at the same time.

"Why don't we," Logan edged forward and Rory did too, "both?"

"Sure," Rory nodded, they both stepped forward and looked, their eyes moving from the test to each other, back and forth more than once before either of them reacted.

"So," Logan exhaled, he tried to temper his reaction as he felt the corners of his lips twitching up towards a smile.

"So," Rory nodded, "how do you…feel?"

"I…" he paused, trying to consider his words carefully, "is this what this feels like?" he laughed, "is this what it felt like when you found out with Nathan?"

Rory broke out into a full blown grin and nodded, "I mean, I think there was more terror back then," she laughed as Logan picked her up and dramatically spun her around the washroom, "so you're happy?" she asked as tears filled her eyes.

"Ace," Logan kissed her after he put her down, holding her close, "I…I mean, finding out about Nate was the best day of my life, tied maybe with the day he was born, or maybe your grandparents vow renewal…but this is up there…this is tied for the best day of my life."

Rory began to cry, she was about to say she didn't know why she was crying, but he knew from her first pregnancy that she would cry at the drop of a hat when she was expecting. "I can't believe this," she admitted. "I mean…what are the…what are the chances?"

"Who cares?" Logan laughed, "wanna go buy a lottery ticket?"

"Are you poor now? Should I be worried about bringing new life into the world with you?" Rory joked.

Logan made a face and gently pulled Rory back to the bedroom. He just wanted to hold her, he just wanted to bask in the information and think about all of the hopes and dreams that he had for this baby that he didn't know anything about yet. "Come on," he gently pulled her down and wrapped his arms around her, making him the big spoon and her the little spoon. "I love you, Ace."

"I love you too," Rory smiled, she was glad that he couldn't see her face, partially because he would make fun of the stupid grin she was wearing, and partially because she didn't want to explain the tears streaming down her face. They were tears of joy, tears of happiness. Over the years she had thought about having another kid. She had discussed it with a couple of her partners over the years but for some reason or another she had always found a reason that she didn't think they should have a child. She couldn't really use the excuse of having a child out of wedlock, she had done it once before, but it hadn't worked out. She had considered during some of their single stints asking Logan to have another child with her, but although she and Logan had coparented well, she wasn't sure she wanted to bring another child into an immediate coparenting situation, she wanted a chance at the romance. The reality was, although Rory and Logan got along and coparented well, there was no denying that things would've been easier if Rory and Logan had been living together and had been able to support each other completely when Nathan was young. "So…what do we do?" Rory asked him.

"I was going to ask you that," Logan admitted. "This is my first rodeo."

"Well, I should order vitamins," Rory thought of all the things that would need to change, "and we should probably order some decaf. I can do half-caf for coffee, and I'll probably need iron supplements. Remember with Nathan I was borderline anemic?"

Logan did remember. He remembered staying up all night and googling the possible side effects of iron deficiencies, and how to increase iron levels. "And no more soft cheese."

"False," Rory corrected him, "no more unpasteurized soft cheese, and again…moderation."

"We can see what the doctor says," Logan agreed.

"I guess I'll have to make an appointment."

"You saw a doctor here with Nate. Is she still around?"

Rory shrugged, "I'm not really sure, I'll have to call around."

"When do you want to tell people?" Logan asked after a moment of silence.

"I mean, we need to tell Nathan first, obviously," Rory told him, "and then…I don't know? We can't do all the normal stuff and make a big deal out of it, which I guess is kind of good? Right…I mean with Nathan, we were so young and things were complicated. I don't want to make a huge deal of this and then have him feel…different."

"You think he would?" Logan asked as Rory turned around to face him.

"I think that when my dad had my sister, who I love…it was weird and hard, and I wondered sometimes why he tried with Sherry when he wouldn't stick around for my mom. And even…god I can't believe I'm going to say this, but when he was present with her, I wondered why he was never that way with me…so I don't want Nathan to wonder why we weren't together for him, and now we're together."

Logan paused to consider how he thought Nathan might react to the news. He thought Nathan would be happy. He remembered his son asking about a sibling when he and Odette had been married, but that had never worked out. "So we just need to be careful," Logan agreed, "but we also were together for a period of time when he was little…"

"He doesn't remember that," Rory countered. It was the truth. Nathan had no recollection of his parents being officially together when he was a kid, not that they were ever truly official…they were…complicated, but they had been together and they had loved each other. "I think until I've gone to a doctor, and given it a few more weeks," based on her last period she would only be a few weeks along, "we should keep this to ourselves. I'm older now, and…I don't know, I don't want to tell him and then have something change, you know?"

Logan nodded his head in agreement, "so I guess you should make an appointment?"

Rory sat up on her elbows and smiled at him, "this is really happening?"

Logan leaned in and kissed her, pulling her body down onto his, "it is," he told her as she settled her body between his legs, the full weight of her small frame on his. "Can we still," he kissed her neck, "or how does that work?" Logan laughed, he felt like a teenager in sex-ed. They hadn't been intimate during her first pregnancy, and he wasn't sure how that worked this early in a pregnancy.

Rory laughed, the irony of Logan Huntzberger not being sure about something related to sex wasn't lost on her. She adjusted her body so she was straddling him and Logan regretted his decision to get fully dressed as she leaned forward and kissed him again. "How does what work?" Rory played shy as her hands went under his shirt and he sat up to kiss her again.

"Are you making fun of me?" Logan asked, regretting his decision to get fully dressed that morning, this would be easier if he was still in his sweatpants.

"Me?" Rory pulled his shirt over his head as fingers moved underneath the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. "Never."

"Fuck," Logan groaned as Rory then pulled her shirt off and kissed him again. Rory enjoyed the moment, just getting lost in each other in a way that reminded her so much of when she had lived in her grandparents pool house many moons ago. "Ace," Logan moved his hands between them and started undoing his belt, Rory took note and assisted with the buttons on his jeans and lifted herself off of him to free him of the hard denim material.

"I love you," Rory smiled as she looked at him and brought their lips together once more as her hips ground into him.

"Mom? Dad?" Nathan's voice interrupted them as Logan moved his hands to free Rory from her own pyjama pants. "What the hell?"

"Fuck," Rory looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she realized what had happened, the door slamming closed once again. She was also eternally thankful that her pants were still on and she was covering any particularly traumatic parts of Logan.

Logan bit his lip and started to laugh, unsure of what other course of action there is, "I mean, I already knocked you up so he's going to figure it out," Logan gave her a kiss on the cheek before she rolled off his body and flopped onto the mattress.

"You know," Rory put her hands over her head after she pulled her shirt back on, Logan for his part found his recently discarded pants and boxers and waited a few minutes before he he was ready to put them on. "I have had boyfriends," Logan made a face, unsure of where this conversation was going, "I lived with Mark and Nathan has never caught me once having sex…a few months with you…"

"Nate knew you and Mark were having sex," Logan countered and scrunched his nose up at the thought of the conversation he once had with his son who was almost eleven at the time.

"No he didn't," Rory shook her head, that wasn't possible. Surely Nathan would've told her.

"He did, and I got to talk to him about it…" Logan added awkwardly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I handled it and Nate was fine, and I'm pretty sure the last thing you wanted to talk to me about was you and Mark going at it…"

"Don't be crude," Rory laughed. "We should go down."

"I'll go," Logan had his pants on, "you should probably get dressed." Logan stood up and smiled as he saw Rory just remain flopped down on the bed with a silly grin on her face. Logan closed the door and walked downstairs, finding Nathan slamming things around in the fridge. "Hey," Logan made his presence known. Nathan glared at his father and grabbed the jug of orange juice before slamming the fridge door as effectively as he could. "Nate…"

"No," Nate glared at his father, spinning to stare at his father. "You guys…you two are gross! What is wrong with you?"

Logan listened, his eyes widened a little bit as he listened to Nathan speak. He supposed it wasn't an off base reaction. Logan had never thought of his parents as sexual beings, sure, he knew that his father would screw anything with legs, but he was never faced with any direct evidence of his parents being together. "I'm sorry you saw that," Logan told him calmly. "I understand that was probably really weird for you, and uncomfortable, but your mom and I are…we're young, and we're attracted to each other, and when two people are attracted to each other, they are intimate."

"I don't want to hear about you and my mom being together like that!"

"Well I don't think we want you to hear about it either, but Nathan, you need to come to terms with the fact that this is part of what happens when your parents are together. You knew about mom and Mark, and Odette and I were…intimate when we were together."

"Dad," Nate looked at him pointedly, "me not wanting to hear about you and my mom have sex doesn't mean I do want to hear about you guys doing it with other people."

"Why do you call her your mom?" Logan asked, taking a step back from the incredibly comfortable conversation they were in the midst of.

"She is my mom."

"Yes, I know she is your mom, I was there when you were born. But you've never called her my mom before. You've always called her mom when you were talking to me…" Logan followed as Nathan walked to a chair at the island with his orange juice in hand, he waited a moment and then sat down beside his son.

"I just…it's always been mom and I."

"Yeah…" Logan nodded, "and I was always around too. I mean, I know you don't remember she and I being together, but we were together for a bit when you were really young."

"But you weren't always here. Mom has always been here, and it's always been mom and I."

"Do you not want mom and I to be together?" Logan tried to keep from allowing his face to show any particular reaction to whatever Nate was saying, he simply tried to listen to what his son was saying. Nate had always been closer with Logan. It was obvious to everyone and he knew it had bothered Rory for years, so hearing Nate talk about how he and Rory were the package was a bit strange to him, not that it didn't make Logan happy to hear Nate talk about his mother with such affection. "Or are you worried about this changing the dynamic?"

"I just…" Nate paused. He wanted his parents to be together, but he still struggled with it. Logan had always been the fun one. He was a good dad, he was a fun dad, he always had the best of everything, but his mom was constant. Rory never faltered. While Logan went on business trips, Rory was around. While Logan worked late, Rory was around. "It's weird being here. All my life you've always been coming and going and back and forth and work and work, and with the pandemic you're around more and I like that. But…it's always been mom and I."

Logan nodded, he knew that Nate wasn't literally making sense, he was twelve and he was kind of talking in circles, but Logan understood what he was saying. He was afraid it wouldn't last. He was afraid that this would shift the way things were. "You and your mom are always going to have a special bond, and you and I will always have a different bond that is also pretty cool. But buddy, I promise you, and you know I don't promise if I can't make good on it. I promise, mom and I are going to stay together. I mean, I don't know if we're going to live in Hartford forever, but for the foreseeable future we're going to be here, and we're going to be together."

"Can you two like…lock the door or something if you're going to do that?" Nate brought the conversation back to what he had walked in on earlier.

"Sure," Logan agreed, "mom and I will lock the door more often."