"Hey baby brother!" Honor, dressed in a sleek Ralph Lauren jumpsuit, placing her coat on the back of the couch, greeted as she hugged Logan, laying small pecks on his cheeks.

"Glad you could make it," he replied, gesturing her towards the living room. It really had been too long, since before Christmas. "How was Frankfurt?" he asked politely, knowing she'd just recently returned from Germany.

"Disappointing this time of year and the real estate market is skewed towards tiny apartments - looking for a 5 bedroom apartment is like mission impossible so we'll probably have to get a house. And that means we have to have a gardener and a maid. I must be out of my mind for doing this with him, but I really have no leverage here," Honor explained with a shrug. Logan knew how much Honor loved Josh - it was an interesting relationship of Honor being the loud one and publicly it seemed like she was the one wearing the pants in the relationship, but inside she just wanted him to be happy, and vice versa, hence when Josh had told Honor he wanted to take a job in Frankfurt am Maine - there wasn't really much discussion, just lots of whining about the details concerning the boys' schooling and finding a suitable place to live. But that Josh could live with, having mastered the skill of ignoring it.

"Too bad I sold the Hessen house Elias left me, that would've been, what, 45 minutes out?" Logan pitched in.

"See, Elias knew these things!" Honor replied, taking a seat on the couch. She was under no impression Elias had been a supportive and yielding man, but he did have strategic thinking when it came to setting up home bases around the world. Logan still owned one of his estates in Marrakech - which he'd never even been to, but apparently every consultant he'd spoken to about selling it had advised against it, saying that the place would be blooming in 10-15 years time, explaining it with the expected potassium fertilizer crisis in the world.

"Well, Elias made a lot of mistakes too," Logan tried to balance, preparing to explain to Honor why he wanted to meet with her.

Logan took a sip of the water that was in front of him on the coffee table, swallowed, and took one last deep breath.

"What is it Logan? You look like you're about to tell me something dreadful," Honor said before he had a chance to open his mouth.

"Remember those photos Rory talked about when she was at the Vineyard with us just before we got married?" he began, remaining standing.

"The ones about our summer holidays at the Maine house?" Honor replied, recalling it vaguely.

"Yeah, I sort of found out that there was a little bit more to it," he said, handing over his phone with all the pictures they'd found. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, other things just got so out of hand - with Rory and Odette and Finny… I found out and I just let the information sit, I didn't think it was worth pursuing for a while," he added apologetically.

"Tell me what?" she inquired, with a frown.

"It turns out dad had another family there. He has a son. His name is Owen Ward. Dad was actually considering leaving mom to go live with them. And Owen is on some of those pictures with us," he added, pointing out the baby next to them. "I guess we also kind of have family there," Logan explained, expecting Honor to start yelling at him any moment now.

Instead, Honor stood up from the couch, beginning to pace around the room, trying to wrap her head around this.

"So that woman - Catherine - I've heard her mention her son - so she was that woman?" Honor replied with some disgust in her face. Frankly she was more disgusted by the fact that she'd interacted with the woman without knowing the truth more than her father's infidelity.

"Yeah, but she did nothing wrong here - it's all dad - or well not even him - grandpa, and my guess is mom was in on it too. They paid her off - not really leaving either of them much option in the matter. Dad was threatened to be cut off and lose the custody of us - so he gave all that up. He knows that I know, he also knows that I've reached out to Owen and Catherine," Logan explained.

"God, I feel sick," Honor exclaimed, feeling her stomach go all gueasy at the thought. She took a deep breath as Logan continued to observe her.

"So that's why you went to Maine?" Honor asked, feeling disappointed in her brother for not being honest with her. Besides it was beginning to feel to her that every time her brother wanted to use the Maine house there was some big secret involved - first it was Rory now this.

"It was just part of it. Rory had her thing there too," he explained.

"But why?" Honor asked confusedly.

"Because they are nice people, they've done nothing wrong - technically Catherine still has a NDA but Owen doesn't and I wanted him to know that he is a part of this family too. Rory knows him better than I do, but as far as I see, he's just as curious about us as I am of him," Logan said. "I don't want this family to function like it did under Elias' or Mitchum's rule - I don't want things, people, to be brushed under the carpet. Sure it wasn't admirable - but have I been any better?" Logan added, recalling his less than admirable past that was known to the press when it came to publicly marrying and divorcing Odette within months and then showing up just two months later with noticably pregant Rory at the HPG gala.

"So we have a brother," Honor reflected with a deep accepting sigh. "And you didn't tell me!" she huffed, her anger surfacing, pointing a finger at him.

"I'm sorry…," Logan sighed. There was nothing to be undone about not telling her earlier.

"It does concern other people besides you you know - me, mom. What, you consider yourself the new head of the family or something?!" Honor scolded, needing to vent.

"I know, but I don't really expect mom to care - not anymore. And for you - I guess it's up to you what you do with the information," Logan added. He wasn't going to explain the responsibilities he felt for the family - that was too complicated even for him to comprehend. He'd always fought it but now somehow he couldn't help but to feel some obligation towards making this types of decisions anyways.

"Why do you care about this so much? Why not just let it be?" Honor asked.

"I told you…," he began with a sigh.

Honor glanced at him, knowing there must've been more to it.

"Catherine was in the Life and Death Brigade with dad, they were college-sweethearts. Then dad married mom and they had us, then some years lalter half by chance they met again and then came Owen. This was like a whole other side of dad that I learned about - the kind that wanted to put his love for that woman first, but didn't do it largely for us," Logan emphasized, almost feeling guilty.

"And the company," Honor added pragmatically.

"That too. But can you see why this is important to me?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, but dad is not you and Catherine is not Rory - surely you see that," Honor sighed, sitting back down on the couch. It was obvious the similarities between Catherine and Mitchum's relationship to Logan and Rory's were significant - despite the different outcome.

"I know…, still I can't help but to wonder 'what if'?" Logan pondered - and that in both cases. What if his dad had made a different decision - what would all of their life have been like? What if he would've made the wrong decision with Rory?

"So what does this mean?" she asked.

"That I'm going to Owen's wedding in June. We should try to find someone else to take care of the house. Catherine shouldn't be doing that anymore, but we'll keep the financial support as it is. If Owen wants money, he's going to have to ask for it - we didn't put down any details - but it's dad he's going to be asking that from in that case and I honestly think that is only fair. And he'd like to know you too," Logan explained, having shown Owen the pictures as well.

"And what does dad think about all of this?" Honor asked.

"He wasn't opposed to me going to talk to him, but I haven't really talked to him since then. He tries to appear all indifferent, but honestly - I don't think he is," Logan discussed.


"So…, wow, sorry, I didn't expect to be this nervous," Celeste apologized, as she smoothed her skirt, feeling her palms sweating more than she'd expected, and sat down at the small conference table opposite Noah, placing her rugged leather binder and a smaller binder, that formed her portfolio, in front of her.

"Hey, I just hope I can help," he replied friendlily, trying to hide his nervousness too, but his leg that kept bouncing under the table was clearly failing him.

They'd decided to meet at Truncheon at the end of the work day. Jess was still at work too, having plenty to do, and they'd consider it only logical so they could share a ride home after. It was work-related after all with the recent Iron Circle merge, it only would make sense if it went under Noah's work hours, neither Jess or Celeste daring to expect him to do this out of the kindness of his heart.

"So yeah, these are what I have. Well I have more of course, but I'm not too great at wrapping a story around them and if the story requires more, that can be done," she explained, handing Noah her portfolio.

He browsed the dozen pages of her portfolio slowly, pausing a few that caught his attention, noting her fidgeting with one of her unipins while he did. It was almost like he actually enjoyed her slight nervousness, recalling well how nervous he'd once felt around her, all those years ago.

"I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but I think that they are definitely good," he began, seeing the look on her face relaxing notably. "So do you have a story you'd like to tell with these or is that what the hold up is?" Noah asked.

"I'm no a writer, I'm an avid reader and I recognize good reading when it see it. The tricky part with this is that I don't want to lose that mystery about these. I like that they can be interpreted multiple ways - and I guess I'd like the story to keep that ambiguity. And I guess I also need some artistic guidance probably - what to do differently, what to leave out, what to add - sort of artistic editorial so to speak," she explained.

"Well I think the ambiguity is definitely worth keeping, you are right about that," he commented. "Do you mind if I look at those too?" he asked boldly, gestured towards her leather binder, catching her off guard. While the choise he'd seen was an interesting one, it felt a little withheld, too careful almost.

"These are not really organized," she replied hesitantly, knowing that the binder held also some more intimate pieces that she didn't care to display, still feeling uncomfortable around him.

"Up to you," Noah shrugged. "I just wondered if you had any other style examples," Noah specified.

"Let's see," she relented, and opened the binder up in front of her, not outright displaying everything in front of him, and pulled out a few pages as examples of his other work, that she'd experimented with.

"Hm-hm," he noted approvingly, though he was genuinely curious to what else she had in that binder of hers but decided not push it for now.

"Do you think you can help me with these? I don't know - refer me to someone?" Celeste asked hesitantly.

"Do you mind if I take these? Or do you want me to make copies? I'd definitely like to take some time and think about it, but it would be good to have reference," he replied.

"I guess not, if you promise to bring them back," she agreed.

"I promise," he assured.

"Okay, thanks," she replied humbly.

"And I am sorry, for earlier…," Noah added, unable to stand not having apologized to her directly.

"Apology accepted," she replied, with an exhale having not noticed she'd been holding her breath as he'd said it. She'd managed to nearly push those fears aside, the background check supporting her and their positive experiences with him since things were cleared up along with it, but still...it made her a little apprehensive how things would go.

"Good," he sighed, sounding relieved, adding, "I'll let you know when I have something for these," holding the portfolio in his hand.


Lorelai had been finding herself in many strange positions these days, and that both mentally and physically. Her current position - laying on her bedroom floor, trying to reach Paul Anka's favourite doggy-toy from under her bed, was a similarly bright example as was the way she'd searched every nook of the house for Finny's teddybear quite recently while he was crying his eyes out at the lack of it and how she'd played 'Guess who?' a game which she'd never thought she'd have a chance to pull out of her closet again, with Leo last week. Every week seemed to bring something across the path she'd forgotten or thought she'd never have to deal with again.

One would expect that by the time she reached the age 50, that she now was, she would be set or some people even began saying how one's life was over, but frankly - she'd never had this many roles in her life. She was a daughter, a (soon to be three-time) grandmother and a mother, naturally. The latter she was in many forms - there was the biological kind to Rory, no doubt, but also in a way a sort of back-up mom from April, Lane and on rare occasions also to Paris, adoptive mother to the dog, whose toy she was currently trying to retrieve, and now a foster mom to Leo. None of these things had been planned very carefully - they all sort of happened.

Lorelai really hadn't expected Rory to procreate at the speed that she was doing it, but neither had Rory, but this was certainly not Lorelai's place to bud in - but as an unexpected side-effect she was almost beginning to feel like the hole that Rory's fairly sudden independence from her two years ago had left in her, was little by little beginning to be filled by all the other people in her life - some old, some new. There was even Celeste, whom she really hadn't expected to like - but as they both had a bit of an issue with their parents, she understood her probably a lot better than Rory did when it came to that. She'd even quite similarly attempted for some time to manage without the family's money like she and she respected that drive Celeste seemed to have for independence. Jess and Celeste were a part of her family, even though not by blood, and having seen Jess go through one of his rebellious phases while she was around too, made her believe that she understood him quite well too. She knew what it was like to communicate to one's parents feeling like they weren't really hearing her and she also understood what working herself from the ground up meant. It was safe to say that besides being the loudest sideline cheerer to Rory, even to her surprise she kind of felt the same way about Celeste and Jess.

While she had plenty to deal with in her life as it was - there was the Inn, though Michel ran it almost independently these day and now there was Leo who was at the moment her main priority, she couldn't help but to miss some of that adult interaction that she'd had with Rory, excluding Luke's grumbling over how caffeine was bad for her blood pressure or how everything cost more than it used to. Hence what Celeste had told her over the weekend about her relationship - clearly having desperately needed to talk to someone, Lorelai hitting a cord just by asking, had made her try to make sense of it even based on the little information she had. Maybe the change of roles in one's life from the main character to the supporting role was why 'old ladies' tended to be prone to gossip and budding in where it wasn't their business? She cringed at the thought that perhaps she was beginning to take over the role of Mrs. Patty and Babette.

There was no doubt that Celeste and Jess had jumped head first into a very serious relationship. She knew well what it meant to love someone, who you once had loved based on the image you had of the person - and it made her wonder how people's impressions changed and whether people themselves truly did. There was only so much she knew about the person Celeste was, all she'd seen was that she was an incredibly loving and caring person - both to Jess, to her daughter, to Lorelai herself and to Rory, when she'd really needed a friend. She liked to think she got Jess too - and she'd already seen him change considerably - the once angry teen becoming a well-grounded father. For most people she would expect the latter to be the preferred option, but as Celeste had told her - she'd actually been missing the Jess she'd briefly known from the time before, she couldn't quite grasp why someone would want that. She wanted to understand, to help, and knowing how awful breakups were for the kids involved, she really had meant it when she'd said to Celest that she could talk to her, having whispered that to Celeste once more when she'd hugged her goodbye in Woodbury. She could imagine how alone she felt - not connecting with Jess, Rory busy with her studies and kid, pregnant at the same time, recalling well how important any adult contact was while having a one-year-old was to keep one sane.

"Ah-ah! Got it!" Lorelai exclaimed victoriously as he finally caught the end of the pink dog rope. "Paul Anka! Come and get it, boy!" she called out, already hearing the dog's claws clinking against the floorboard as he approached.

She'd gotten Paul Anka, years ago, to fill a Rory-sized hole in her life, and for a while Luke had been certain that offering to take in a foster child was another development of that - Lorelai realizing that Rory was never really going to be back in her life the same way she once were. And surely, to some extent he'd been right - but Lorelai had been wanting a kid even before that hence it was a little easier to her to convince him that it wasn't just about that. She wanted to contribute, and her experience as a teen-mom actually did help grasp quite well what a lot of young parents were going through, even understanding their reasons for making mistakes and her numerous experiences with various children, she'd figured she had the means to help. She knew that once the foster child moved on, it was likely going to hurt - but she at least needed to give this a try. And that she had. Leo was a wonderful kid, who by now had gotten over part of his shyness, at least around her. While he was a little hesitant with Luke, she was sure that would just take some time.

"Leo?" she called out, "Want me to order some Chinese tonight?" she asked, as she walked down the stairs. Leo was in his room, Rory's old room, doing his homework. Lorelai had already begun to think there was something about that room - anyone who stayed there was instantly put in a studying mode.

"Chinese?" she asked again as she reached his doorway.

"Okay," a humble voice said.

"Noodles or Rice?" she asked, wanting to get him more involved in family decisions. He wasn't too adventurous when it came to food, usually preferring some simple carbohydrates with some mild flavored toppings.

"Noodles," he replied.

"Chicken or pork?" Lorelai asked.

Leo shrugged.

"Alright..." she sighed, picking up her phone to place the order, slightly dissapointed for his low level of excitement.

"So while we wait - you need my help with your homework?" she suggested, leaning against the doorway.

"I'm almost finished," he replied plainly.

"Well, okay…," she replied, turning on her heel. She still felt insecure with him, to be honest - was he really as okay as he seemed to be? She felt rude to double check his homework for example. She didn't want to push and inquire if he missed his mom, he must have, right? All she could do was be there and try to pay attention - but the passive stand was really not something she was good at. She sighed to herself, and walked over to the living room, switching on some random reality tv-show.

Perhaps budding her nose into other people's business wasn't such a bad way to occupy her mind? - she pondered, grabbing her phone to typing Celeste a text.

"We had a cancellation at the Inn for Friday and Saturday, all paid for. Maybe you two would like to grab at the chance?" she typed.