So, my health has been crappy and I can't help that but I've a really good few days so I've done a few update on my story London Rain, but AURORALESLEY asked and so you shall receive. Thanks for still reading it means a lot.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but love it all.
Chapter 2 – *Highway Don't Care
Bet your window's rolled down and your hair's pulled back
And I bet you got no idea you're going way too fast
You're trying not to think about what went wrong
Trying not to stop 'til you get where you goin'
You're trying to stay awake so I bet you turn on the radio and the song goes\
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby, baby
"Oh. My. God."
He hears the words before he's had a chance to turn and actually acknowledge the other person in the room. But the voice he hears is surprisingly familiar.
"Finn?" The woman says.
Finn can't help the smile that plays on his lips as he responds. "Rory Gilmore."
"I can't believe it." She says again. "You're the last person I expected to see here."
"I'll take that as a compliment." He laughs as he walks over to hug her.
"It is!" She exclaims and returns the hug.
Finn makes a realization though, as he leans down to hug the girl. She has remained sitting, in a wheel chair.
"You ok, Love?" He motions as he pulls back up.
"Not so much. Long story." She tries to change the topics. "What are you doing here?"
Finn points dramatically to his hip and gives her a brief run down of the accident.
"You're never going to change are you?" she laughs
"Not if I can help it. Now don't think I didn't notice that change of subject there. Fill in the blanks for me please, Love."
"Car accident, about three months ago."
"And you're still here? Several surgeries?"
"Nope. One surgery and "traumatic" spinal injury that has apparently healed in an unfortunate way."
"Paralyzed?" He asks, afraid she will confirm what he thinks he's hearing.
"Meet my new best friend. I've named her baby, and no one puts baby in a corner. " She motions to the chair beneath her in confirmation.
He is quiet, unsure of how to proceed.
She laughs at him, his conflicted expression clear on his face.
"It's not funny, Love." He says, but giggles along with her. Her laugh has always been infections.
"I'm sorry Finn but you looked so confused."
"I'm just not sure how to respond." He admits.
"It is what it is."
His laptop chimes in his bag on the table, "Duty calls." He laments.
"Family business?" she questions as he walks to the desk.
"No surprises here."
"That must really cut into your drinking time." She quips
"You'd be surprised." He adds as he opens the machine and puts in his earpiece. "Morgan." He states to the person on the other end.
Rory takes the book she was looking at him before she was interrupted and puts it in her lap. She turns her chair around and begins to roll out of the room.
"Give me just moment, Mate." Finn responds to the person on the phone, "Love, I am no where near done with you." He gently warns her.
She takes his phone from the table and opens the notepad and type in her room number. "Now, get back to work." She commands.
"Slave driver." He jokes and can only half hear what his associate is saying as he watches that once so vibrant girl from his youth turn and roll out of the library.
I bet you got a dead cell phone in your shotgun seat
Yeah, I bet you're bending God's ear talking 'bout me.
You're trying not to let the first tear fall out
Trying not to think about turning around
You're trying not to get lost in the sound but that song is always on, so you sing along
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without you I can't live without you baby, oh baby
Back in her room Rory closes the door behind her. She was suppose to be gone by now. Suppose to be home, suppose to be trying to get her life back into so me semblance of what is use to be, back to trying to be her, whoever the hell that was. If it wasn't for her mom and her grandmother asking her very nicely to say here for just a little bit longer, she would have run, well rolled away screaming. In the last year her life had gone to shit. Not need to mince words here. Shit, her life had gone to shit. A year ago she had whatever it was that you wanted to call what she had with Logan, but she had him, and she had the promise of still being able to get her writing career off the ground. She had momentum finally from her few articles that had been published and a website practically stalking her to let them hire her, and a few suprises along the way that she'd actually been happy about, and suddenly in that one moment, that one second, it all changed.
Sure by the time of her accident she'd already screwed up the thing with Logan, and ruined any chance of SandeeSays into the ground, and she was living at home with her mom and Luke again, but there was one thing she was surprisingly happy about. One little thing.
One little thing that was suppose to grow over nine months. One little thing that she would hold in her arms one day, but the driver of the big rig who fell asleep at the wheel and t-boned her car on her way home from Jess's clearly had other idea. The doctor thinks she must have lost the baby on impact.
Jess has been her rock. Since the day she found of she was pregnant he had been there. Being the first person she told, even before her mom. She had been feeling sluggish and tired and more than a little nauseous when she checked the date on her phone and it struck her like a live electrical current. That night that last night, so impromptu, so fun, so hard to let him go, had been the one and only time they had ever not used protection.
Maybe it was the knowledge that in the morning she would have to send him home, for good. He was getting married and this, "Vegas" deal she had initiated was now too hard for her to handle. She loved him, had always loved him, and saying goodbye over and over too hard to do anymore. She needed to say it once more, and then never again, because she knew too many more goodbyes would break her. She had wanted to be close to him, in a way she had never been, no barriers. It wasn't a conscious decision, it was just that she didn't even think about stopping him when he kissed her and began to remove her clothing.
The years had been good to the man that lay next to her in his room at The King's Head Inn but he now belonged to someone and she had to let him go. She knew this was their last night and maybe on some level he did too, because the boy who was always prepared didn't stop once she in his arms, either. That night there were no boundaries between them as they said their silent goodbyes. The hat he sat so gently on her head before letting her go. Once again, giving her all the power in their relationship and respecting her wishes when she knew he didn't want to. That was what Logan did. He respected her wished even when he disagreed, even when part of her had wished he would have fought for her, told her that he was leaving Odette and he wanted her and only her. But she knew in her heart that he wouldn't. She had hurt him too badly all those years ago for him to want to take the chance. It should have been her.
That was the last time she'd seem them all. Her friends that she missed so dearly, and the love of the boy, the man that she'd always wanted had walked out of her life and left her a piece of him she never expected. The baby was a shock to say the lest, but knowing that she would hold a piece of him so close to her gave her some semblance of peace. She had struggled in deciding what or if to tell him. He was after all getting married, and a Huntzberger and with Mitchum as a grandfather she was a little afraid of the entire situation, and looking back at her and her mom, she suddenly saw the reason's her mom raised her alone.
She loved her dad, but Christopher wasn't someone you could depend on. He was barely a responsible adult even in his late 40's. While there were many things he and Logan shared, being irresponsible wasn't one of them. If she told Logan about that baby he would do what was right. No matter Odette or his father, Logan would be there for the baby, but at what cost? It could cost him everything, and she refused to do anything else to hurt the man she loved.
Needing some time she found herself in Philadelphia, and parked in front of Trucheon Books hoping maybe that Jess was home. She opened the door to the business front and walked in. Her first sight of Jess takes her breath away. That troubled young boy had turned into a very handsome, confident, successful man. He was her friend, her best friend now a days it seemed, and really since her mom and Luke had gotten married he was family.
"I'll be with you in a minute." He says over his shoulder not even looking at her. He's talking to man and when he fished he turns and she see him from the corner of her eyes as she browsing the shelves looking at the books he's published.
"Well I'll be dammed, Gilmore." He saunters over in only the way he can and hugs her.
"The one and only." She smiles back and hug him.
"UH oh. What's wrong?"
"What makes you think something's wrong?"
"A surprise visit from you Gilmore always means you've got something on your mind."
She laughs because she knows he's right.
"Come on lets' go grab some dinner and you tell me all about it." He says.
He says his goodbyes to his partners and the head over to the nearest burger place.
They two sit and talk about life and laugh and enjoy each other and the food for a couple of hours before Jesse finally turns the light conversation.
"So, what's going on with you and Logan?"
"Huh?"
"I've seen the face before, several times and it's usually about him."
"I haven't seen…"
"Dee Dee?" He raises an eyebrow. "You're "friend" in London?"
"How did you…?"
"You always come back from there just a little bit happier than when you left."
"I can't believe you figured it out. I can't tell if my mom knows or not."
"Shed have told Luke and he'd have asked me so I doubt it. Now spill."
"We said goodbye a couple of weeks ago."
"For how long?"
"I said a couple of weeks ago."
"I mean how long is goodbye for this time?"
She gives him an incredulous look. He continues, "You said goodbye at your graduation, you said goodbye after Hamburg, you said goodbye after you found out about Odette, and now you've said goodbye again. You two clearly don't know how to say goodbye."
"She moved in with him finally. I can't ignore the situation anymore and I can't go there and stay in a hotel while he sneaks away to see me. I guess being able to stay at his place when I was there made her and the engagement seem less real. But she's there, in the bed I slept in, or I guess I should say she's in her bed. At that point it was too fucked up even for me."
"How far along are you?" He says again, making Rory's mouth fly open and hang there.
"You always have a drink, always, and this time, not even a sip from mine… there's only one reason, for you, that's you not touch it at all."
Rory looks down, sad, embarrassed, unable to make eye contact with the boy she'd date so many moons ago. Granted this was why she'd come to talk to him, maybe not this directly, in fact she didn't even want to talk about this specific subject. She's not dumb, and she knows that the boy sitting across from her has always cared about her and she doesn't want to hurt him.
"Just tell me Rory. You know I've always got your back." He reassures her, "No judgment. Promise."
"8 Weeks." She finally says.
"What does he say?"
She says nothing again, and the dark haired boy pushes, "He's not ok with it?"
She doesn't want to say she hasn't told him, so she responds, "He's getting married."
"Even after this?" He's genuinely surprised. He may not have ever liked Logan, the guy was in love with the same girl he was, but he knew that the boy did love her, and he can't imagine that he would ever have said no to her, not now especially, with a baby on the way. Did Logan love that other girl more than Rory?
"Being a single mom is not is the end of the world, Jess. My mom did it."
"So did mine and you see how that turned out."
"You're an amazing guy Jess."
"No thanks to her." He responds. He's not so angry at his mom like he use to be, but she didn't exactly make him the man he is now, that was Luke.
For a few moments there are no words exchanged as everything settles in, "So then you're keeping it." He finally says, it's not a question.
"I am. I don't think I had really made that decision until right now. I am." She repeats those two words and knows that it's never really been a decision. This baby was made out of love and there's no way in hell she'd ever not have him or her.
"Well, then, what do we do next?" He downs the rest of the beer and steadies himself. "Doctor appointment? Prenatal vitamins?"
She looks at him surprised, but she knows she shouldn't be, he has always been there for her, unless he was telling her he loves her and running away. But that scared little boy was long gone.
"I'm going to tell my mom tomorrow after the wedding. I just saw my doctor today to confirm it and she already gave me what I needed. I can let you know when I know more." She admits to him.
"Of course, I'll do with you, if you want me to."
"I haven't told Logan." She finally admits.
"You have to." He says, now finally understanding why the man isn't here right now tell him to get the hell away from her.
" I know." She relents. "I'll tell him, just let me get through this wedding, and I'll tell him."
"I'm gonna hold you to that Gilmore." He says.
She nods and takes a sip of her water and takes the pause to change the conversation, "You still dating Rebecca?"
"You bet your ass I am. She's pretty special." He says. They'd met a club where she was singing and he's never told anyone this, but those feeling he use to always secretly harbor for Rory, were null and void. The brunette singer with the hazel eyes had stolen his heart that night and he's pretty sure he's never getting it back. The last few months with her have been the happiest he's ever had, and he can imagine a future like he's never been able to do.
The two friends sit and talk about everything for few more hours, and Rory is now more than content with everything that's happened to her for a long time. This baby would come into her life and even if she never got another chance to make things right with the daddy she would always have a little piece of him in her life, just the piece he would always hold in heart.
They say their goodbyes and she gets into her car and heads home. The smile on her face won't yield to any other emotions. She's happy, genuinely happy. Tomorrow her mom will marry Luke, and she'll walk her mom down the aisle, she'll tell her mom about the baby, her grandmother too, and then mostly importantly, Logan. That one scares her more then anything else, but it doesn't matter, she's going to be a mom, and that makes her feel better then anything else in the world.
Those are the last things she remember though, that and a very bright light.
The highway won't hold you tonight
The highway don't know you're alive
The highway don't care if you're all alone, but I do, I do.
The highway won't dry your tears
The highway don't need you here
The highway don't care if you're coming home, but I do, I do.
I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby
I can't live without you I can't live without you, baby, oh baby
Lyrics are Highway Don't Care by Tim McGraw