AN: Here it is, I Knew You is over, so please enjoy this peak into where our favourite little family is when things return to some normalcy (congratulations to those of you living that life...you know i am not).
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Lyrics are Cardigan by Taylor Swift
Epilogue
But I knew you
Dancin' in your Levi's
Drunk under a streetlight
I knew you
Hand under my sweatshirt
Baby, kiss it better
"Where is she?" Rory crossed her arms over her chest, wrinkling the fabric of her floral print bandeau dress that she had chosen for the occasion.
"Where is who?" Logan gave her a coy smile.
Rory rolled her eyes as Logan pulled her towards him, "our daughter. Where is our daughter? I went to get her up from her nap and she was not where I expected and I will have you know it is taking all of my restraint not to become hysterical right now because the baby is not where I left her. So I will ask you again, where is Evelyn?"
"She is with her Uncle Finn," Logan pressed his lips to Rorys forehead. "He is being carefully supervised by Honor."
"You look sexy," Rory leaned forward and kissed him gently. To say that her libido had increased in the past month was an understatement and Logan wasn't complaining. "This isn't crazy, is it?"
Logan shook his head, "it's been a long time Ace," he almost couldn't believe they were there. Not only in the sense of the two of them being together, and the two of them having become the four of them just three months earlier when their daughter Evelyn Lorelai Huntzberger was born. "We can finally all be together."
Rory nodded her head and smiled, "we should go down?" She uncrossed her arms from her chest and looped her right hand in his left, her finger trailing over the platinum wedding band he was wearing. It still made her smile. They had made it. After all of the time and all of the others, after everything, they had made it. "It is our party, and I'm already late," she laughed, Logan had actually come in to find her. They were having their family and friends over for a barbecue, they felt it was best to do it a week before the holiday weekend because they knew everyone would be spread out all over the place and after everything that had gone on over the past year, they just wanted all of their people in one space.
They made their way down the stairs and to the backyard where the patio and green space were both full of people. Nathan and his cousins were in the pool along with Josh, Lane and her family were chatting with Lorelai and Luke while Christopher caught up with Emily, Mitchum and Shira were chatting with Paris and Rory was certain she could see Mitchum trying to figure out a way to send a smoke signal to get him out of the situation. Logan watched as his sister quietly chastised Finn who was rocking on the spot holding Evelyn in a black Beco baby carrier, one that he had actually purchased himself for the sole purpose of being able to use it with Evelyn. She was strapped to the front of him and facing inward which was her preferred way to be most of the time. She was a good baby, but she had strong feelings about being held most of the time which everyone else seemed fine with but Rory was frankly touched out. "You know," Rory smiled as she approached the man holding her daughter, "it is inappropriate to use a baby to pick up women at a family party."
"Especially a family party where none of the women want to sleep with you," Honor quipped.
"Well love," Finn ignored Honor and leaned over to give Rory a quick kiss on the cheek, "it is inappropriate to leave such an adorable little pumpkin alone in her pen. She just wanted Uncle Finny and to see what was happening at the party."
"You woke my sleeping baby, didn't you?" Suddenly it made sense why Rory hadn't heard Evelyn crying and why Logan had seemingly intercepted her before she could come down to the party and see Finn with the infant. Her play pen had been set up in Logan's office for her nap that afternoon..
"Me?" Finn feigned innocence as he used his hand to support the back of the carrier, "I am insulted."
"Uh huh," Rory rolled her eyes, "ten more minutes and then I want my child."
"You have her all the time!"
Honor took the chance to interject, "well then ten more minutes and I want my baby niece. I haven't seen her in forever because my brother said I couldn't come over until I had my second dose!"
Rory smiled as she hugged her sister in law, "how are you? I've missed you!"
"I just…" Honor almost immediately began to tear up, "I can't believe this year. Well…this year and a half. It's been…awful and wonderful and scary in so many ways and I never thought that we would see normal, and I never thought that you two idiots," she pointed from Rory to Logan who was talking to Colin, "would figure your shit out. And now here I am," she sniffled and dabbed her eyes, "I have a beautiful new niece, you two got married, and we're all together and I just can't believe it."
"It feels pretty surreal…not to mention we somehow kept your Dad sequestered for this entire time and managed to keep him from actually getting sick," Rory smiled. She understood the feeling. She remembered the moment she had gotten her first dose of the vaccine, five or six weeks before she gave birth, and then she remembered Evie being born. When she had first gotten pregnant, Logan couldn't even go inside for an appointment, and thankfully for the last few appointments he was able to attend. They had celebrated a couple of birthdays in the last few months including Nathan and Logan and Lorelai in small groups, but this… Rory looked around and saw everyone, this was the moment they had been waiting for.
Their wedding had been small, but they had managed to make it work so that everyone they had needed to be there was there. They had made the decision to get married in late October. It had come together in a matter of weeks in an effort to be able to host the event outdoors with a small group of their family and close friends. There had been champagne (sparkling water for Rory), there had been food and dancing and toasts. It had been perfect and understated and elegant. It had been just what the two of them wanted. Rory had never dreamed of a big wedding and Logan had already done the big wedding to appease his family, all he cared about was marrying the love of his life. Rory had managed to get her hands on a sample dress that fit her perfectly and Logan, well, Logan Huntzberger always had a tux. Rory was certain it had been the perfect night, surrounded by all of the most important people in their lives. They had discussed when to get married, to wait until after Evelyn was born, but Rory had been emphatic, she didn't want to spend more time not being married to him…not to mention the medical benefits.
Rory watched him from across the yard as she listened to Honor talk, she was paying attention to Honor of course, but she was also somewhat mesmerized by her husband. His growth as a person, his dedication to his family, the way his eyes sparkled when he talked about something he was passionate about, the way he gestured with his hands and became more animated. The way he lit up when he was talking about one of the kids…she loved every bit of him and although it would be easy to get lost in the regrets, the questions about if they had done it sooner… they had made it now and they were happy.
"Go," Honor finally said and Rory turned to her giving her a questioning look. "Go see him, you look like a lovesick puppy. But, if you go see him, I am taking my precious niece away from the big scary Australian."
"Finn," Rory looked towards the tall brunette man with a tan that never quite made sense to her, "give Evelyn to Honor. Hon, she'll probably need to feed in a little bit, so unless you've started lactating…" She watched as Finn reluctantly agreed and Honor helped him undo the baby carrier, she was sure that in a few months Finn would be asking to borrow the little girl to pick up women, but she would say no to that when it actually happened…his decision to purchase his own baby carrier was adorable regardless. She waited a moment until she saw that Evelyn was happily in Honor's arms and then he walked through the group to find Logan. "Hey," she smiled as she stood beside him.
"Convinced Evie is alright?" Logan draped an arm around her.
"You didn't think he would leave her alone with Finn?" Colin laughed as he took a sip of his scotch. Rory laughed in response, Finn certainly was the Peter Pan of the group, he would never really grow ups no matter how much older he got. "So…married life…"
"Did you know this man can barely make a bed?" Rory playfully put her hand on his chest and looked up at Logan.
Logan rolled his eyes and smiled, "and this one can't cook to save her life. I barely trust her to make toast," he joked and turned to Rory to kiss her gently, "you thinking of settling down?"
Colin laughed, "no, I'll just live vicariously through you two."
"Well we can always drop off the kids," Rory joked, "then for a night or two we can pretend to be carefree."
"Nate is…" Colin nodded to the pool where the kid he had basically not seen for a year suddenly was looking a lot more like a young adult, "going to be trouble."
"Hush," Rory chastised him. He was right though, as Rory looked at her son who became more and more like his father every day in both the good and not so good ways. Since changing schools and going to Chilton, Nathan had found a new group of friends and more recently her sister in law had told her about a rumoured girlfriend that Nathan had. He was tall and athletic, he looked like his father, Rory had told Logan that he needed to make sure to have a conversation with their son again about consent and always wearing protection and they had discretely left a box of condoms in his bathroom just in case. Rory had to promise herself never to go back and look because she couldn't handle the idea that her baby, the child that had made her a mother would be considering having sex. He was a good kid, he was smart which Rory liked to think he got from her but she knew well enough that it was from both of them. He was kind and confident, a nice mix of both of his parents and although he probably wouldn't admit it to his new friends, he was a wonderful older brother. He was happy to spend a night playing peek a boo with her and would occasionally offer to walk her around the property in her stroller. "He is a good kid."
"He is a perfect gentleman," Logan agreed as he pulled Rory in a bit closer to his body and smirked at Colin.
"Did Logan tell you about his new initiative at Huntzberger?"
Colin nodded and smiled, he could tell that Logan was immediately uncomfortable with any praise on the subject, "he tells me it was all you."
"He is full of crap," Rory rolled her eyes. She would tell anyone who would listen about how late one night Logan had woken her up and although she had been angry because shew as 37 weeks pregnant, she knew immediately whatever it was, it was important. He had shown her on his iPad all of the reports and numbers and explained how without impacting readership or revenue, they could restructure the company to ensure they were a diverse employers. He outlined his commitment to have people of colour make up 50% of his executive team by 2025 as well as his plan to have the overall Huntzberger Publishing corporate workforce at 50% by 2030. It was a lofty goal but Rory could see how passionate he was about it, he was also passionate about creating scholarship programs and working with charities to help marginalized people. It had been a tough year on everyone, that was universal, but even in the middle of the night she was thrilled to see her husband trying to make the best of it. "He woke me up in the middle of the night."
"I was preparing you for Evie," Logan smiled.
"He's a genius Colin, an absolute genius," Rory grinned, she knew that she was making Logan uncomfortable but she couldn't help but be proud him.
"You two are sickening and I need a refill. Anything?" Colin looked at his friends and laughed. The way they looked at each other was just like when they were all at Yale and he found it nauseating then too.
"Coke please."
"Still not drinking?"
"I'm nursing."
"Leave it Col," Logan warned. He knew Rory was sick of people commenting on whether or not she was choosing to enjoy a cocktail or not.
"Consider it dropped, coke it is," Colin walked away leaving the pair to themselves.
"Have you eaten?" Logan asked.
Rory relaxed her body against his, "no," she told him softly. "You?"
"Nope," he inhaled the scent of her hair. "It's been a wild ride, hasn't it?"
"What did you want to have happen?" Rory asked. She didn't move, she remained firmly planted against his body, her eyes on the pool as she watched her son, niece and nephew throwing balls around.
"Hmmm?"
"When you asked me to stay with you…last year…"
"I just thought everyone was better being under one roof. I thought Nate was better having more space…people were dying all over the place in the city, and … I just wanted the people I loved to be close to me."
"Control freak," Rory laughed.
"And what were you hoping for moving in with me?"
"I was hoping to keep Nathan from turning into a little lothario like his father," Rory laughed.
"You seem to have fallen victim to my charms, it's nice to know after all these years I've still got it."
Rory rolled her eyes and looked up to kiss him, "I think it is safe to say you've still got it."
