a/n - thank you for the reviews, I'll be honest, reviews make me anxious because I want everyone to like it. :) I want to touch on a couple of things, first, Rory and Lorelai's relationship - they are still close, but certainly not as close as they were when Rory was younger, and I think that is normal as people grow and change. In Rory's case, she had to leave Stars Hollow in order to be her own person. Also, most of the inspiration for Charlotte's personality is a combination of my nieces/nephews and my daughter.
Chapter Two
"I need to speak to Lorelai Gilmore." Logan tried to remain calm as he spoke into the phone.
"I am sorry, Lorelai is not here at zee moment." the French voice responded. "I will not take a message."
"Look, you don't understand, I need to talk to her. Can I have her cellphone number? Can you tell me where she is?"
"Do I sound like a telephone directory? Because I most certainly am not."
"This is Logan Huntzberger and I need to speak to Lorelai or Rory Gilmore, can you please tell me where I can find them?"
And just like that, the line was dead and Logan assumed that calling back would get him the same response, maybe he should have said he was someone else. Logan was in his car, he was on the freeway and he was driving. He wasn't sure where he should go, if he should go to Hartford or Stars Hollow, or if she was still in Philly, she didn't have any ties to Philly that he knew of, so he had no idea where to start. "Call Finn." Logan spoke into his bluetooth and waited for the phone to dial.
"Logan, mate, we're at the hotel, they've let us in, but uh...you seem to have misinformed us, as you are not here. Are we meeting elsewhere? Perhaps a less than reputable Gentleman's Club?" the Australian chuckled.
"Finn I need you to find out where Rory lives. Now!" Logan barked into the phone.
"Rory? Like Reporter Girl Rory? Broke-your-heart-Colin-bought-a-bed-and-breakfast Rory?"
"Yes, that Rory." Logan told him frantically. "I can't explain, just find it, and once you've found her, call me, and once you've told me, book a flight and get yourselves there, and get us a few hotel rooms somewhere decent."
"Will do, mate." Finn responded simply, not needing to know any more before making his decision to help his friend. "Is everything alright?" he asked warily.
"She had a baby Finn, four years ago, Rory had my baby and Odette knew. She never told me until tonight when she also informed me that she wanted a divorce. I need to find her, and I need to make her believe that I didn't know."
"We'll sort it out Huntz, we'll be there soon."
Once he hung up the phone, Logan turned up the music as loud as he could handle and drove, he drove towards Connecticut and figured that once he knew where Rory was, he would go to her, but in the meantime, maybe his sister could help him make some sense of all this. It was nearly 9:30 when Logan received a call from Finn, he was almost in Hartford, only to be told that Rory Gilmore was living in Philadelphia in a quiet suburb. She was a school teacher who had published a book and was writing her second while she cared for her young daughter. There wasn't much information about her personal life, but before Logan could ask, Finn had explained that Colin's family jet was in Hartford, they were on their way via helicopter and the three of them would take the short flight to Philly together. Logan didn't always appreciate his friends as much as he should, but in this moment, he couldn't have been more thankful for them.
xxx
The flight was barely an hour from tarmac to tarmac, it was just after 11:30 when they landed, and Logan didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to drive over right away, he didn't want to spend another minute with them thinking that he had chosen something else, or someone else over his own child, or the love of his life, but he also knew that barging in at midnight wasn't fair to Rory, and it certainly wasn't fair to her daughter. It was a Thursday night, Rory would be working the next morning and presumably their little girl would have daycare.
"Let's get to the hotel, Logan." Colin interrupted his thoughts, "You can't fix this tonight."
"He's right mate," Finn agreed as they walked to the waiting limousine, "we do need to call your Dad though, because this...agreement," he looked towards the envelope that Logan was holding, "it just won't do."
"What do you want me to do?" Logan exhaled, the last thing he wanted to do was call his father, and the last thing he had ever expected was for Finn to be remotely sensible about the situation.
"You need to file for an annulment on the grounds of fraud. It will be a bit of a tough sell, and we'll have to get a PI to do some digging, if I had to guess there is more to find out here. I'm sure Odette will agree after you have it all set out for her. She needs to issue a public apology, admit to her part in this, otherwise...you'll just look like a shmuck who cheated and she will look like the victim who finally had enough. For now, just tell her your lawyers are reviewing everything and not to release any statements."
"I don't want a big scene." Logan sighed, "I just want her to tell Rory that I didn't know. I can deal with the fallout from the rest. I don't care what the rest of the world thinks about the divorce." he continued before he looked directly at Colin, "And I have to call my Dad." Logan acknowledged.
"You need to call your Dad." Colin agreed.
The men rode to the hotel in silence, they were staying at The Logan in three separate rooms. Logan had called his Dad on the drive over and told him he needed to get to Philly as soon as possible. The news of his divorce, and his child, and everything else was something that could effect business and so Logan knew that he needed his Dad to know what was going on. Upon reaching their rooms they all assured each other that they would meet up first thing in the morning, and Colin promised Logan he would keep tabs on Finn. And so he sat, in his hotel room drinking glasses of water. He wanted to drink scotch, he needed to drink scotch. He had about half a dozen missed calls from Odette, and he was waiting for his Dad. It was a weird thing, here he was, after all the years of wanting Mitchum as far away as possible that he needed to talk to his Dad.
A knock on his door interrupted him, it was just after two in the morning and he still hadn't slept, hell, he still hadn't taken off the suit he had worn to work that day. He walked slowly towards the door before he opened it, "Dad," he nodded as the older man walked in, "I have to tell you something."
"Odette wants a divorce." Mitchum stated simply as he walked into the room and took a seat, receiving a bit of a stunned look from Logan in response, "She faxed a copy of the paperwork over around 9." Mitchum explained, "I hope she had enough decency to tell you first?"
Logan nodded to affirm that he had in fact known first, "Did you see the last page?" Logan asked, he received a nod in response, "I can't believe I have to ask this," he took a deep breath, "did you know?"
Mitchum shook his head and Logan sat down beside him, "I am a lot of things, son, but I wouldn't keep you from your child, and I would have taken care of your child and Miss Gilmore. This...this is all a shock to me and it will be to your Mother as well." he admitted, "I've not told anyone, but I've spoken to the lawyers, what do you want to do? I've got Mica, my PI looking into her, seeing how long this affair is has been going on and seeing if we can use that to help us. Did you know that she had been seeing someone?"
It was Logan's turn to shake his head, "She told me that we both quit our vices before we got married, about nine months before in fact. She knew about Rory, and as long as I was discrete, she was alright with it, but she had never said she was seeing anyone after Rory and I broke it off. In fact she explicitly told me that she wasn't seeing anyone anymore." Logan explained, "I just want her to fix the mess with Rory, I want her to know that I didn't know about any of this until a few hours ago."
"You need to rest, son, you have a big day ahead of you. I assume you are planning to go and see Miss Gilmore?" Mitchum put a hand on Logan's shoulder, Logan nodded in response, "We will get what you want out of this, I promise."
"I hope to, but if I were her...I wouldn't want to see me."
"You need to tell her the truth. Normally the truth isn't something I encourage, you know that, but show her all of this, show her you didn't know. You can fix this Logan. I've never been a great Dad to you, but I certainly hope you can do better than I did."
xxx
Rory felt off. She had since the evening prior, maybe it was the Chinese food, something about it hadn't sat well with her. Jess had spent the night, something that normally happened at the request of her precocious but adorable daughter, and normally they would end up in bed together. Rory didn't do boyfriends anymore, she didn't meet guys for one night stands, but when she had an itch to scratch, Jess was always more than willing to take care of it, so long as he was unattached. She had told him after that she didn't feel well and he assured her that he would take Charlotte to school and that she could take a sick day so that she would be up and running for the party on the weekend. It was now nearly noon, and Jess would be returning Charlotte from her half day of pre-school on Friday instead of taking her to his work where she would pretend to read books and colour for a few hours most Fridays.
The knock on the door startled her from her coffee and she glanced at her watch, 11:15, she exhaled and walked to the door, nowhere near prepared to see what was on the other side of it. He immediately reached forward and grabbed her mug, knowing that she would have dropped it otherwise. "May I come in?" he asked quietly, he wasn't his usual smug self, he was vulnerable, a side of Logan Huntzberger that was rarely seen. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a polo shirt, he looked remarkably casual, and he looked exhausted. She nodded without saying a word and she led him to the kitchen, he put her coffee on the counter and she silently poured him a cup and then just stared at him, waiting for him to speak. "I'm getting a divorce." he told her, "Or maybe an annulment," he continued, "I'm not really sure." he took the paperwork that Odette had given him the night before and handed it to her, "Just read it, before you get mad and yell, just...just look at it."
Rory couldn't even think of a word to say, seeing Logan on the other side of her door was something she had stopped hoping for long ago, and now he was here, apparently getting a divorce, and there was something she needed to know. As he stood silently in her kitchen she read through the papers. Divorce papers. They had been drawn up by Odette Huntzberger, according to the date a few weeks prior, the settlement by all accounts seemed fair, although Rory had to admit she was shocked by the assets that the two of them shared. Rory had always known that Logan was beyond rich, but she had never seen the numbers. It was the last page though that caught her attention, it was a copy of an e-mail she had sent four years earlier. She could see that it had been forwarded on to another e-mail, she assumed Odette's, and that is where it had been printed from. It was the e-mail where she as much as asked him to come to her, and she waited at the hospital hoping he would come, when he didn't, it nearly broke her heart. "You're saying," Rory began fumbling for words, regretting having not gone to work that morning so she wouldn't have been there for this run in, "you didn't see this e-mail? You didn't ignore us? You didn't spend four years knowing you had a child and just chose not to be a part of her life? You are Gavin here? You didn't know?"
"I'm Gavin." Logan nodded, "Although, Odette certainly isn't Gwen. Everything I can put together tells me that she forwarded the e-mail to herself and deleted it from my phone. We were leaving for our honeymoon that day, she had accidentally packed her cellphone and she used mine. The e-mail must have come in while she had it. I never knew."
"You never wondered about me? You never asked around town? Surely your Father knew? Your Mom?"
"Rory I swear to you, none of us knew." Logan tried to remain as calm as possible, he wanted to scream, he wanted to tell her that he wouldn't have gotten married if she had told him earlier, and that had he gotten that e-mail he would have run to her as fast as he could. "Ace," he used her old nickname, "please tell me you believe me."
"I don't know." Rory admitted, "But I need time, to digest all of this. I would imagine that you do too."
"I've been digesting since last night. I don't know what else to digest. I mean, obviously you're sure that she is mine. So I don't have any questions about paternity. Can you...can you tell me about her?"
"She's amazing. Charlotte Emily Gilmore." Rory's face lit up as she spoke about her, "She has your hair, it's blonde and adorable," she passed Logan her phone to see some photos of the little girl, "she loves books, I mean, not at the level I do, but she likes to read to herself and to me. She tends to just describe what is happening in the photos. You...," Rory sighed as she spoke, she knew that this was going to hurt him, but he had to know, if she didn't tell him now, he would find out soon, "you should know that Jess is a really big part of her life. He has gone to her Father-Daughter picnics at school and daycare, he comes over throughout the week, he's a huge help to me. We are...we aren't together, but we..."
"Does she know about me?" Logan interrupted her, he wanted to know more, he needed to know more about Charlotte, and he knew he didn't want to hear anything about Rory's sex life with anyone, much less a guy he never liked who evidently played Daddy to his daughter.
"She does, she has seen photos, you've been mentioned." Rory told him, "I don't know if she would know you to see you, but she knows of you. She'll be home soon, Jess is picking her up."
"I guess I should go." Logan hadn't known what to expect, and he supposed this was about as good as he should have expected, he didn't know what came next. "I'm at The Logan, so if you want to talk or anything while I'm here, just stop by, or give me a call." he handed her a business card.
Rory nodded as she took the card and put it on the side of her fridge, "My family is in town this weekend, to celebrate Charlotte's birthday. So I will be pretty busy. How long are you in town?"
"I'll stay the weekend, but you say the word and I will be back in town in a couple of hours."
"I guess you're pretty close to running the show now, aren't you?" Rory gave him a smile, she was proud of him, she had always been proud of him. He had grown up, he wasn't the frat boy he was in college, she had seen who he was when they were seeing each other before, he was driven and successful, and it suited him.
"The dynastic plan." Logan shrugged as they both moved towards the door.
"The dynastic plan." she repeated softly.
xxx
"Mommy? Mom? MAMA!" Charlotte squealed as she ran into the house, Jess a few steps behind her.
"Yes baby girl." Rory smiled and embraced the little girl.
"I'm FOUR!" Charlotte grinned.
"Yes you are sweetheart." Rory laughed, "And you are going to have a party tomorrow, and it is going to be so much fun. Do you still want an Alice in Wonderland Party?" Rory hoped that the answer hadn't changed and was thrilled to see a nod in response, "And a rainbow cake?" Charlotte nodded again, "Alright sweetheart, why don't we go make some lunch for Jess before he goes back to work?"
"Lunch for me?" Jess grinned.
"You know I make a mean bowl of macaroni." Rory winked, "And I have it on good authority that Charlotte loves macaroni.'
"I DO LOVE MACARONI! I DO! I DO!" Charlotte jumped up and down in front of her mother.
"So what do you say?"
"I could never turn down free macaroni. I guess you're feeling better?" Jess asked as Rory moved to grab a pot and put the water on to boil.
"I am." she nodded, pulling a cup and milk out for Charlotte who was climbing into a chair to wait for her lunch. "I guess some rest helped." she smiled, she wasn't sure how, or when to tell him about Logan, and she knew that he would be upset, not only for the fact that he would worry about losing the relationship he had with Charlotte, but he would also worry about what it would mean for Rory. "Thank you again for picking her up."
"Always." Jess took a bottle of water from the fridge. "So Miss Charlotte, what do you want for a birthday gift?"
"Dah!" Charlotte laughed, "Why you no get it already?"
Rory smiled at the exchange, Dah, the name that Charlotte had given Jess when she was just over a year old. Rory never stopped it, it was a term of endearment and over the course of the last year or so, Charlotte had become aware of the fact that she didn't have a Dad the way that her friends and classmates did, so Rory was not prepared to try to take that away from her.
"Because I've been busy taking care of you!" Jess laughed as Rory gave them each a bowl of pasta. "Thanks."
"Be careful honey, it's hot." she warned her daughter. "Grandma and Grandpa will be here soon! I was thinking that the four of us could go to the park and play?"
"Just with Gramma Gampa!" Charlotte countered.
"You don't want Mommy to come?" Rory had to admit she was a bit disappointed - with the party prep, and the nearing end of the school year, she hadn't spent as much time this week with Charlotte as she normally would, and so to hear that her daughter didn't actually want to spend the time with her was a tough pill to swallow.
"Fiiiiine, Mommy come too, but Gramma take me to DonaldsMc." Charlotte countered.
Jess and Rory both laughed, for some reason, although Charlotte could say both 'Mc' and 'Donalds', she couldn't put them together in the correct order for the life of her, "I think Grandma would love that, Grandpa...maybe not so much, but that is a deal."
Jess looked down at his watch while Charlotte focused on the task of eating each of her noodles one by one, "I should get going." he stood up and rinsed his bowl in the sink, placing it in the dishwasher before he gave Charlotte a kiss on the head, "I love you, kiddo."
"Bye, Dah." Charlotte smiled at him.
"I'm going to walk Jess out, you sit tight, alright?" Rory looked at Charlotte before following Jess to the door once her daughter had mumbled an acknowledgment. "So I will see you tomorrow?" Rory asked him.
"What time should I be here?" Jess asked.
"Party starts at 2, so anytime is fine." Rory told him, "Thank you for your help today. I'm feeling much better." Rory felt guilty for not telling him the truth about Logan, she knew that her motives were pure, but she couldn't help but feel bad.
"You don't need me to swing by later tonight after she's in bed?"
Rory felt a blush creeping to her face, "My parents will be here, my Grandma, Luke..." she laughed, "That seems like a bad idea." she added as she leaned up and kissed him gently, "Have a good afternoon at work."
"Try to get some writing done if you can. The guys are excited about what they've read so far." Jess winked as he walked to his car.
xxx
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA. Your Mom said that I would take YOU to DonaldsMc?" Lorelai dramatically put her hands on her chest as Charlotte hopped off the swing and ran to her Grandmother.
"Mhm." Charlotte nodded triumphantly, "And Grampa."
"Well sweets, I'll be honest with you...Grandma doesn't like DonaldsMc."
"YOU DO TOO GRAMMA!" Charlotte shouted as she began to giggle uncontrollably. "You eat chicken nuggets ALL the time and no tell Grampa!"
"Me?!" Lorelai laughed, "Never! But of course we will take you to DonaldsMc for a special date." Lorelai hugged her close, "Maybe we can even get some ice cream?"
"I'm getting a cavity just thinking about this!" Luke exclaimed as he walked over from the swing, he had been pushing Charlotte until she simply needed to get off and tell Lorelai of their impending plans.
"No cavity Grampa, pwomise!" Charlotte opened her mouth to show Luke her cavity-free mouth.
"Well that is a relief, and a shock given the eating habits of your Mom and Grandma." he winked at the little girl.
Rory smiled at the exchange and then took a quick glance at her watch, "It's nearly five." she told them, they had arrived at her house around 2 and Charlotte had immediately helped them unpack for the weekend and then demanded that they all head to the park. "So if you're going to get McDonalds and be ready for Great Grandma Emily when she arrives, then you had better get going."
"Wha'bout Papa?" Charlotte asked, referring to Christopher.
"Papa will be here first thing in the morning." Rory smiled, "He is bringing Aunt Gi."
"We take Mommy car." Charlotte told Luke and Lorelai, "It has a carseat for me."
"What is Mommy going to do?" Lorelai looked to her daughter, assuming that she had some errands to run before the party.
"I have to go and meet up with some people from work, pick up some things I missed by not being there today." she lied, "I shouldn't be too long though. Is it alright if I take Luke's truck?"
"Sure." Luke shrugged, he had replaced his old truck a few years earlier with a Dodge Ram, "I'll just need to grab a couple things from it?"
Rory nodded as she handed her Mom the keys to her VW Jetta, "Thank you for taking her."
"Everything alright, kid?" Lorelai asked, sensing that her daughter was just a little bit off kilter.
"Everything is fine Mom." Rory smiled warmly and then leaned down to her daughter, "You be good for Grandma and Grandpa? Mommy will be home soon, and then when you wake up tomorrow, it will be time for your party."
"Is Abby coming?" Charlotte referred to one of her friends from preschool.
"All of the kids in your class are coming." Rory assured her, "And Abby's Mom told me how excited Abby is for the party."
"I love you."
"I love you too babe." Rory kissed her forehead, "I'll see you soon." Rory smiled again at her own mother before walking to Luke's truck and taking the keys from him. As she sat in the front seat under the guise of getting an address for the GPS, she quickly took out her cellphone and the business card Logan had given her earlier and put his number in to send a text message.
The Logan has a rooftop bar, meet me there in twenty. PS- Who stays at a hotel with the same name as them? There's a song about that isn't there? You're so vain, I bet you think this hotel is about you, don't you, don't you... ;)
Rory added the smiley face to add a bit of levity to what she knew was already an incredibly awkward situation. She was only a few minutes away from the hotel, but she wanted to arrive first so that she could order herself a drink before he got there. At a stop light she quickly glanced at his response.
I didn't know if you would remember where to find me if I didn't stay somewhere glaringly obvious. Text me once you're situated and I'll come up.
Rory laughed, as much as she hated to admit it, they fell back into their carefree banter pretty easily. Unfortunately though, she knew that they would have to deal with the reality of their situation. Rory had assumed for all these years that Logan knew about Charlotte and had chosen not to be a part of her life, so she had made the decision to carry on without him. She didn't long for him, or miss him, she had come to the conclusion that not knowing their daughter was simply Logan's loss. She had tucked him away in a back corner of her mind, in a tiny box where he needed to stay. He was small to her. She had never considered that he hadn't been absent by choice, and so here she was, forced to take him out of that little box in the back of her mind and she needed to see who he could be to Charlotte.