A/N - I still do not own anything, thank you all for your kind reviews and encouragement! Charlotte and Logan meet in the next chapter and then we will see their relationship grow :)

Chapter Three:

"Gin and tonic please?" Rory smiled to the waitress as she took a seat at the bar located on top of The Logan. "Oh, and here." she handed the server her credit card, "Please just keep my tab open, put my drinks on this credit card, and no matter what anyone else says, charge me for them."

"Of course." the waitress smiled and walked away with the credit card.

Rory knew that Logan would try to pay for her drinks, she wanted him to know that she was doing fine. She didn't need him to pay for her drinks, she was doing fine on her own.

Ready when you are.

Rory typed out the message when her drink arrived and her credit card was returned, she took a long sip of the drink and then noticed him arriving out of the corner of her eye. She stood to greet him, secretly wishing she had chosen a different outfit. She was wearing dark jeans and a t-shirt. She certainly didn't look bad, but she also didn't look her best, which is typically what a person wants when they are meeting up with their ex-boyfriend-almost-fiance-lover-baby-daddy. "Thank you for meeting me." she gave him an awkward hug.

"I'm glad you texted me." he smiled. "Where is Charlotte?"

"She is with my Mom and Luke at McDonalds. Or DonaldsMc as she likes to call it." Rory smiled. "I thought we probably had a bit more we needed to discuss."

"Glad to see that Ivy League education has paid off." Logan laughed as they sat down and he quickly requested a scotch. "I don't even know where to begin. Why didn't you tell me when you were pregnant? Did you not think I would put her first? I mean, Rory, all the shit with us aside, I would have been there for my kid. You know that I wouldn't have married Odette. I mean, I don't know what would've happened between you and I, but I think I deserved the chance to be her Dad."

"I was..." Rory sighed, thinking back to when she and Logan had ended things, "I didn't want to tear your life apart, I didn't want to drop a bomb and be that woman. I was proud, way too proud. When I was pregnant, I figured I could just avoid Hartford. No one you knew would be in Stars Hollow, and then when I moved here, I just figured I could decide later. So then I was like seven months pregnant and Charlotte was kicking up a storm one night, and I was sitting in this little two bedroom apartment that my Dad was paying for, and I thought to myself what a great Dad you would be." Rory paused to take a sip of her drink, "So I was going to call. I had a speech in my head of things that I would say, how I would explain myself, beg you to forgive me. And in my head, you always forgave me, because you are you, and I am me. But then I thought about how your life would just be blown up. Because I swept in and blew it up. I didn't want to be that person. I had done it with Dean, I had ruined his marriage, and sure he was an equal participant and we were both young and stupid, but I didn't want to be that woman again. So I decided that what I was doing was best, and trust me Logan, I knew it was wrong."

"It wasn't your choice to make, Ace." Logan told her simply. He wanted to be furious, he wanted to yell, but he knew that in her mind she was making a decision that was right. "Didn't you think I could do it? You were always my biggest cheerleader."

"You always wanted me to wear a cheerleading outfit." Rory tried to joke, Logan barely cracked a smile. "I knew you would make a great Father, Logan. I knew it then, and I know it now." she admitted, "So when I went into labour, two weeks early on June 9, 2017, and I met our baby girl on June 10, I looked at her and I thought to myself how amazing she was. And this girl, oh my god, she was beautiful. I wondered how they would ever let me leave the hospital without completing an aptitude test, or maybe running some sort of CSI level blood work to confirm the levels of caffeine in my system. And in those moments I realized that I couldn't take this away from you, so I sent you that e-mail. I knew I would need to apologize in person, but I figured at least this way, you knew, you were making a choice. I had no way to know that your wife would've hidden it from you."

Logan couldn't argue with that last part, only a monster would keep a Father from their child. "And you just never called? There was no follow up?"

"It wasn't a job interview Logan, it was my life, and I didn't want to force you to be a part of our lives if you weren't interested. As far as I was concerned, you chose to ignore us."

"But you know me Ace, you know me better than that. And four years ago, you knew I loved you."

"Logan I'm sorry. Really that is all I can say. I can apologize and I will keep apologizing because unfortunately that is the kind of person I am. I should probably be Canadian based solely on the frequency at which the words 'I'm sorry' come out of my mouth. But I cannot change it, what is done is done. So now I suppose we are here to figure out how to move forward. The fact of the matter is, I live here. My life is here, my job is here, my house, Jess is here, and you are in New York."

Logan listened to her, he waited for her to finish, he was fairly certain she hadn't taken a breath through her mini rant. "Jess isn't a factor here Rory. Everything else, I can get behind, but we will work something out, but Jess is not a factor in the relationship that I get to have with my daughter. She is not his daughter, as much as I am sure that kills him, she is my daughter and I didn't know about her until yesterday, but I know about her now, and I have a right to get to know her."

"Jesus Logan. Listen to yourself." Rory took another short sip of her drink, "This isn't a pissing match between you and Jess. Get your priorities in check. He is a factor. Do you know why he is a factor? Because he loves her, and he picks her up from preschool and takes her to his work. He is her Dah, and she loves him. So yes, you are her Father and I want you to know her, but it is going to take time, and I think you need to come to terms with that. You aren't going to come blasting in and uprooting her life, we are going to have to figure out the best way for her to go through this, and that will probably involve a psychiatrist of some sort because lets be honest, this entire situation is fucked."

Logan could see that he had upset Rory, her cheeks were flushed and she was talking faster than he thought he had ever heard her talk before. He hated that it bothered him so much that Jess had been a Dad to Charlotte when he didn't even know about her, but the reality was, he only had one person to blame for that situation, and it wasn't Rory. "I'm sorry." he mumbled under his breath, "Do you think...I know it's fast and this is all a shock, but do you think I can meet her?"

"Logan my entire family is in town for her birthday, do you really think that is wise?" Rory sighed, "They have...ideas, and preconceptions about everything that has gone on." she continued to explain, "I hardly think anyone would be thrilled to see you after all these years. I'll need time, time to explain what has happened and to come up with a plan so that we can all start to get to know each other again."

Logan nodded, he understood her thoughts on the subject and although he wanted to dive right in, it was much more complicated than that. "What if I come back next Friday?" Logan suggested. "You can dot some I's and cross some T's, maybe you can send me some photos and videos of her, I can get some of my stuff sorted out. Maybe I can get a place to stay in Philly."

"Do not buy a house here." Rory told him seriously, "We need to take this slow, and real estate holdings are basically the opposite of slow. You come back next weekend, and we will start to sort all of this out." she agreed.

"In the meantime, I have some...divorce proceedings to deal with." Logan sighed, he still couldn't believe that she had done this, that she had been so vindictive. Logan and Odette were never in love, but at the very least, Logan thought they had a mutual understanding. When Rory and Logan were involved in their 'Vegas' agreement, Odette had been involved with an old boyfriend who her family had decided was not good enough to marry, all parties involved were discrete, and Logan knew that Odette had strong feelings for the man, and Odette knew that Logan loved Rory. When they had both broken it off with their respective lovers, Logan and Odette had agreed to monogamy, if they were going to be married, there wasn't going to be anyone else involved. They both found each other attractive, they met each others needs intellectually and physically, there was no longer room in their relationship for others, even if they weren't in love.

"I'll call you." Rory stood up, Logan following suit immediately after. "Say hi to the boys for me, I assume they're here."

Logan nodded, he leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "See you next week, Ace."

xxx

"Mom, can you bring out the cake?" Rory called into the house from the backyard. There was a bouncy castle and little mini tables with tea sets all around. It wasn't exactly a Pinterest-worthy Alice in Wonderland, but Charlotte loved it as she played with her friends. "Come on guys," she shouted for everyone to gather around her little girl as Lorelai came out with the cake that Sookie had made and everyone began to sing. Rory smiled as she watched Charlotte's face light up and she blew out the four candles that were lit. "Did you make a wish?" Rory asked as she gave her a little squeeze.

"Mhmmmmmm." Charlotte grinned, "Can't tell you."

Rory laughed as Lorelai took the cake away and began to cut it, "Everyone go find a seat and we'll bring you some cake. Charlotte, why don't you go sit with your friends."

"She's having fun." Jess smiled once the cake had been passed out and the kids were eating.

"I cannot believe that girl is four." Rory leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't thank you enough. For everything you do for us, and everything you've done for us over the years. I couldn't have done it without you."

"C'mon, give yourself some credit Ror. You are a great Mom, and I'm just lucky to be along for the ride."

"I need to talk to you after the party, once Charlotte has gone to sleep. I...we need to have a family meeting." Rory gave him a pained smile, she needed to tell them all what was going on, that things were going to change.

"Are you alright? Is it Charlotte?" Jess could feel the panic rising in his chest.

"Everything is fine, everyone is fine." Rory assured him, "Let's go get some cake."

xxx

Logan stuck around most of Saturday. He had considered just showing up at the house, announcing his presence and forcing Rory to deal with the consequences. As much as he wanted to, he knew that wasn't fair to anyone involved, and he knew it wouldn't help to bring the Gilmore's onboard with him being a part of their lives from now on. He knew that Odette was in Paris, and he decided that he would need to go and talk to her in person, he needed to know why she had done this, he thought she owed him at least that. She had continued to try to call on Friday and Saturday and he hadn't answered. He needed to see her, he needed to face her and get to the bottom of all of it. Mitchum had left Philadelphia on Friday afternoon, assuring his son that he would let him know if his PI dug up any dirt, shockingly he also expressed an interest in meeting his Granddaughter. Colin and Finn would fly home when Logan got on his flight to Paris, he couldn't get a direct flight on such short notice, so he had a quick stopover in London first.

"Are you going to be nice to her?" Colin asked, he had to admit, he would've been uncontrollable if he were in the same situation.

"I need some answers." Logan shrugged, "I mean, I'm assuming that she is where I think she is, so I'm going to get more answers with sugar than vinegar."

"How was Rory?"

"She was alright." Logan shrugged, "She's cautious, as you can expect. She says hello. Did my Dad say anything more about the PI?"

"Not when I spoke with him last. He said he would only deal with my Dad and I at the firm, he doesn't want this getting out, which I understand. Mica is looking into any relationships Odette had, and the lengths she went to in order to hide this from you."

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but do you really think she was being malicious? Or did she just make a horrible mistake and it took her a long time to admit it and fix it?" Logan sighed as he packed the remaining items in his carryon.

"Does it matter?" Colin countered, he now had two year old twins of his own, "You have a kid Logan, a kid who someone else has been helping Rory raise. If Steph hid a kid from me, I wouldn't care what her reasons were. Cooper and Riley are the most important thing in my life, and I know that you have this sense of love, the idea that you love Charlotte, but until you get to know her, you won't truly understand that love. It is more than you can ever imagine, and once you know her, you will hate Odette more for choosing to keep her from you."

Logan nodded, he felt like he was on a rollercoaster. One minute he felt rage towards Odette, the next he thought maybe it was just a horrible mistake that she didn't know how to fix. He supposed it could've been worse, he could have never found out, or missed out on more of her life. He couldn't change what had happened, but he agreed with his Father and Colin - he needed Odette to admit that she had kept this from him, he didn't need a skywriter or a public statement, he wanted it to be tucked away in their divorce proceedings so it could be found if someone wanted to look, and more importantly, he needed her to tell Rory the truth.

Finn's phone buzzed and he looked at Logan, "Our Uber is here, so we should go. You've got to go and figure out what the hell is wrong with your wife, Colin has to go and see his wife and kids, and I need a clean pair of underwear."

Colin and Logan exchanged concerned looks but both chose not to say anything more, "Thank you both for coming."

xxx

"Is she asleep?" Lorelai asked as Rory walked into the family room.

"She is." Rory nodded and took a seat beside her younger sister, "Thank you all for sticking around, I know you all have things to do."

"Rory, what on earth is going on, and why are we all sitting in this room? It is much too small for this many people. For goodness sakes, Jess is sitting on the floor."

"I'm fine, Emily." Jess leaned back on the palms of his hands.

"I don't care if you're fine, it is not appropriate to have your guests sit on the floor Rory." Emily ranted.

"Grandma, please. I just need to talk to everyone." Rory sighed, she had considered having individual conversations, but she wasn't sure she could handle all of the same questions being repeated over, and over again.

"Well spit it out then, this is ludicrous, and this couch is neither comfortable, or attractive, so I really don't know what purpose it serves, unless the goal is to get people out of your house as quickly as possible!"

"Well, alright then." Rory took a deep breath, "I heard from Logan this week."

"Logan?" Gigi questioned.

"Logan is Charlotte's father." Christopher whispered to his daughter.

"Logan? Logan Huntzberger had the nerve to come around here? What the hell did he want?" Emily was clearly not happy with the news, and with a survey of the other adults in the room, none of them were either. "I should've brought my whaling spear from Nantucket!"

"And you let Grandma talk about the couch when you were sitting on this bomb?" Lorelai tried to bring some levity to the situation.

Rory sighed, she wasn't quite sure where to go from here, but as she looked at Jess she was sure that all of the colour had drained from his face, and he looked heartbroken. "He didn't know." Rory explained, she was still looking straight at Jess, "His wife got the e-mail and deleted it after she forwarded a copy to herself. He only found out on Thursday, she asked him for a divorce and gave him a copy of the e-mail." Rory explained, "before you all say it, I don't have any proof, but I believe him. Even if none of you are particularly happy about it, that is going to have to be good enough, because I believe him, and I am Charlotte's Mom, and Logan is her Father."

"So what does this mean?" Luke asked.

"I don't know." Rory admitted, "He wants to have a chance to get to know his daughter. It doesn't change the last four years, and the feelings, the relationships that Charlotte has, but he deserves the chance to be a parent."

"I have to go." Jess stood up, he didn't know what to say, or how to feel, he just knew that he needed to get out of there.

"Jess," Rory followed him as he walked quickly to the front door, "Jess please talk to me."

"Jesus Rory!" he exclaimed once they were both outside, "You didn't think you should tell me privately? I mean, I get it, we aren't a couple, but we had sex like...36 hours ago? She calls me Dah, and yes, I know how to spell, so I know it isn't Dad but it's pretty damned close. So now Richy Rich comes to town and gets to play Daddy? Is that how little I've meant to you?"

Rory felt tears falling from her eyes as he spoke, "No, Jess, no. That is not it. You are the most important man in her life and you know that. But what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to tell him no? He is her father, biologically she is his, and if I am not careful, a man with billions of dollars at his disposal can come in and with his big time lawyers demand 50/50 custody, or he could try for worse. I need to be smart about this, and I need you to keep being the person you are to us. We are family, the three of us are family. It might not be perfect, or conventional, but you and I, we are the family that she knows."

"I just...Rory I need some time. I don't know if I can be all of that for you anymore. I can be that for her, I will be whatever she needs and whatever she wants for the rest of her life, but I don't know what I can be for you."

xxx

Logan wasn't sure what protocol was for entering the apartment that his wife owned in Paris. He had a key, they were still married, he supposed he could just let himself in, but something about that seemed...douchier than he was wanting to be, so instead he knocked on the door after walking past the doorman who nodded uncomfortably at him. Logan had to assume that this is where Odette carried on the majority of her affair, she was normally in Paris for about a week each month, more often than not without Logan. He waited a moment and then a man opened the door, he was older than Logan, his hair was salt and pepper and he had stubble on his chin, he wore a t-shirt and sweatpants, which struck Logan as odd, sure it was a Sunday, but Odette had always been the type of girl who was put together. She didn't subscribe to yoga pants and Ugg boots under any circumstances, and so to see someone so disheveled as her possible suitor seemed off.

"I'm Logan Huntzberger, I'm here to see my wife." he greeted the man. He smirked inwardly as the blood drained from his face and he merely stepped aside to let Logan in, "O, it's me." he shouted into the foyer.

"Logan?" her voice came rushing towards him, her hair in a loose ponytail with a pair of sweatpants slung low on her hips and a white v-neck tshirt, Logan was surprised that she wasn't wearing a bra, this was not the woman he knew. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." he shrugged as he walked into the apartment, "I mean, title or not, this is community property in the divorce, but I didn't need to walk in and see you with...whoever this guy is." he smiled awkwardly as the man stood watching them, "Do you mind? Just give us an hour or two? Don't worry, I'm not here to win her back, she is yours."

"Logan this is Michael." Odette sighed, "Michael, this is my soon to be ex-husband, Logan. Can you give us some privacy? I will call you later." she assured him, he leaned forward, mumbled something in her ear and placed a quick kiss on her cheek, as if to mark his territory, and then he walked out to leave them to their conversation. "What do you want Logan?"

"What do I want?" Logan laughed, "O, you've been blowing up my phone for nearly three days. Presumably you wanted to make sure I wasn't going to jump off a roof or a bridge or something, or maybe you were more concerned about your image." his voice was cool, he tried to keep as calm as possible while he spoke. "Tell me, tell me what happened. How this happened? How did we get here? You could've just let me see the e-mail, we would've gotten a quiet divorce and we both could've been happy earlier. Isn't that what you wanted? You said we both deserved to be happier than we were...so why didn't I deserve that chance four years ago?"

"Do you remember our wedding Logan? And all of the stress that went with it? You thought we would be able to quietly walk away?" Odette scoffed, "I did something horrible to you, and I regret that. But how did you screw up like that? We discussed it, each of us were going to go and break it off, I with Michael and you with Rory, but you got her pregnant? I would hardly call that breaking it off?! We flew from France to Fiji and you didn't even notice that I was furious. We didn't even speak the whole flight." Odette raised her voice as she spoke, "I gave him up, he hated me, I got married to someone else and so did he, so I was not about to send you back to your precious girlfriend to play house." she admitted, "It was awful, and I feel terrible about it now, but in those moments, I was just trying to keep my life together."

"By keeping an innocent baby from her father?" Logan shot back.

"Oh how do you even know that she's yours!" Odette spat, "This can't be the first person to claim to be the next heir to the Huntzberger fortune? Do you even know that she is yours?"

"You are such a bitch." Logan shook his head, "She is mine, that isn't a question. But good news, O. On my way over here, I got an updated package sent over by my lawyers. Door number one is that we'll be getting an annulment based on fraud." he tossed the paperwork he had brought with her, "You may have given up Michael, but it seems that your tennis instructor filled the void, right up until the week of the wedding. And, you know, like you just said, neither of us would've married the other had we known they were cheating right until the wedding. So you duped me into this wedding by making me think we were just with each other, hell, the diseases I could've contracted - good thing we used a condom for all these years. So that is door one, a messy, reputation ruining annulment, or door number two. Door number two might be a bit better for you, but not much. I will not tell anyone about your open-leg policy leading up to, and throughout our marriage, and you will admit that you withheld the information about my child. You will include a statement in our divorce papers saying that you hid the information from me because you were afraid of losing me. You will figure out a way to get in touch with Rory and you will respectfully explain what you did and that I had no part in it. I will admit in court documents to engaging in a longterm relationship while we were together, and that relationship produced a child who I just became aware of. You will not keep the apartment in the city, I will, you can keep Paris, and you will return any Huntzberger family heirlooms, as decided by my Mother and Sister. Basically if a Huntzberger wore it before you, you won't be keeping it."

"You would really do this to me?" Odette had to admit she was surprised, she hadn't expected him to be so vindictive, normally Logan was relatively docile when it came to matters of the heart, he was a romantic.

"You kept me from my daughter for four years. If I didn't have a multi-billion dollar organization to run, I would spend the next ten years of my life dragging your name through the mud, but I don't have time for that. So instead, while you're here explaining to Michael all the men you fucked while you were supposedly 'with' him, I will be getting to know my daughter." Logan dropped a second set of papers in front of her, the ones with the updated divorce agreement, "Sign them and have them sent to the lawyer."