"Well, we went to the bookstore and then I couldn't think of anything else. I didn't know if it was kosher to go to the diner or not, so I figured we would come by here first."
"Well, at least you're nice to look at. Even if you aren't fun." Lorelai teased.
"It's not a big deal Ms. Gilmo... ..." Logan responded, looking a little confused and embarrased. "I don't even know what to call you."
"Posh Spice." Lorelai said with a grin. "No, Lorelai is fine."
"It looks like you are working hard to get this place up to snuff." Logan responded changing the conversation as he looked around at his surroundings. The room was nearly empty excpet for a folding table, with a plethura of walkee talkees sitting on top of it, a stack of folding chairs and several different kinds of power tools strewn in various places around the room.
"We haven't been working on it too long. It took forever to get permits from Taylor." She sighed. "But it's coming along slowly but surely."
"Taylor Dosee?" Logan asked. The last time he had spent any good amount of time in town he had been fascinated by the one man freak show that was Taylor Dosee.
"That would be the one." Lorelai said. "There's not a whole lot to look at, but if Rory wants to show you around she can and then we can all go over to the diner together and have lunch."
Logan looked from Lorelai to Rory,who shrugged and smiled before responding. "Sounds good to me."
Rory took a step towards the hallway and massive wooden staircase that was before them and looked back at Logan. "I will be your tourguide for the morning. Please keep flash photography to a mininum and keep all hands and feet in the vessel at all times."
Logan laughed and followed the brunette through the dusty and mid remodel rooms of the downstairs. Even though there wasn't a whole lot to look at currently you could tell that when it was done it would be spectacular, and Logan made a mental note to say so to Lorelai later.
"And here's my favorite room." Rory said, pushing a darkly stained wooden door open to reveal a large room lined on three of the four walls with dark bookshelves. There were only a few books scattered amongst the shelves but even so the room was so inviting and warm, he could see why Rory liked it so much.
"It's a great room. Reminds me of those dark corners of Yale's libraries." he said softly looking at her.
"I didn't know you paid attention to your surroundings in the library all those times I drug you there."
Logan chuckled. "While you are the main star of most of those memories, I do remember other things about the time we spent there. Like the leather chair in the corner next to the biographies that you claimed as your own. Or the Shakespeare books, and how you always had to reorganize them because whoever stocked the shelves didn't do a good job." He smiled at the memories.
"Wow. Color me impressed." Rory said with a grin.
There walk down memory lane was interrupted with Lorelai's call up the stairs. "Gilmore party of two, the lunch train is leaving the station in five minutes."
"Be right down mom." Rory called back before looking at Logan. Smiling she reached out for his hand. "Baby must like this room too, every time I come in here the kicking goes crazy." She took Logan's larger hand in her smaller one and rested it against her stomach.
"It's so cool to feel the baby move like that." Logan responded stepping closer to Rory, his hand still on her stomach. "I can't believe we made that." He said, his voice quieter and huskier than usual.
"It is pretty cool. Except at two am when it wakes me up and then I realize that I have to pee for the fourtieth time of the night." Rory said with a small smile.
"Ror..." Logan started. "I..." he stuttered trying to find the words to say to her. " I mean...I..." he shook his head and leaned over, pressing a brief kiss against her lips. Rory returned the kiss and then pulled back slowly.
"Wow..." she said softly as she looked into his eyes.
"Yeah...wow." Logan said as they both stood there, unsure of what to do next or even of what to say.
"C'mon kiddos, lets rock and roll." came Lorelai's voice up the stairs. Suddenly being drawn back into the present the two regianed their compusere and Logan let his hand drop from Rory's belly before laughing.
"Let's not keep her waiting." he said almost awkwardly before they headed downstairs and met Lorelai in the foyer to the house.
"Ready?" Rory asked her mother when they reached her.
"I'm never not ready for food loinfruit, you know that." Loreali responded as the trio filed out of the house one at a time.
"Do you think Luke will make me S'mores pancakes and bacon mac and cheese?" Rory asked as they crossed the street.
"On the same plate?" Logan asked. He was familair with Rory's odd eating habits, but that one kind of put the others to shame.
"Don't judge me, it's your baby too!" Rory said, pretending to be offended.
"I'm sure he will make you whatever you want." Lorelai responded after the laughter at Rory's comment had died down.
A few minutes later, Lorelai led the group into the diner where Luke smiled broadly at his step daughter and then glanced at Logan and trying not to be awkward extended his hand. "Hey Logan, long time no see."
Taking the hand that was offered Logan shook it before responding. "Good to see you Luke."
"Go ahead and sit anywhere, although I'd avoid the counter. Petal was here with Kirk earlier and somehow climbed on the counter. It still smells faintly of Kirk's mother's perfume and pig."
"Point well taken." Rory said as she chose a table near the window, and Logan sat beside her while Lorelai hung out with Luke for a few more moments.
"He said he would make you both of your rediculous foods, but only if you ate a salad too." Lorelai said as she sat across from her daughter, who frowned slightly at the mention of what she referred to as rabbit food. Seeing the look on her daughter' face Lorelai added. "Hey kid, I don't make the rules. I just pass them on."
Several minutes later the three had ordered food. Lorelai had gone with chilli nachos and a oreo milkshake, Rory had decided against the earlier choices and ordered a double bacon cheeseburger and peach pie with a root beer float. Logan had made the healthiest order of the trio and gone with a grilled chicken sandwich and crinkle cut fries. Luke had taken their order and told them he would have it out in no time.
Once they had settled into their seats Lorelai decided she might as well use the time to get reaquainted with Logan. "So Logan, what are you doing these days?"
"I am the 'face' of my father's company. I handle all the public appearances. Do a lot of contract work, do meetings. A lot of the legwork." He said, the distaste for everything involving his father evident in the way he spoke and the expression plastered across his face.
"Sounds important." Lorelai said. "How is your dad?"
Logan shrugged. "I talked to a nurse before we came to the inn. They found some more damage and blockages when they opened him up. So surgery is going to take longer."
The three continued small talk ranigng from what each individual did for work to various other topics. They were talking about Taylor, and the amount of businesses he now owned in Stars Hollow when Luke walked over with their drinks, and behind him wa Cesar carrying their entrees.
"Enjoy." Luke said as he glanced at all three people sitting at the table. "It's on the house today." He retreated back to his spot behind the counter a few seconds later.
By the time Logan had eaten a handful of french fires, Rory had already demolished her slice of pie and made quite the dent in her cheeseburger. "Whoa whoa Ace, slow down." he joked as she dropped her burger on the plate to wash it down with some of her milkshake.
"Grrrr." Rory responded making silly little growling sounds.
Logan chuckled and went back to eating his lunch. After the three of them had sufficently stuffed their faces and thanked Luke, Lorelai took off for the inn again, and Logan and Rory said they would catch up with her later. They aimlessly started strolling the town square. Logan couldn't help but reflect on how nice it was to be somewhere where he could actually hold a conversation without someone expecting him to sign something or go to a meeting about something else. As they neared the gazeebo he looked at Rory and cleared his throat.
"So...should we talk about what happeend in the library before lunch?"
Rory shrugged. "Eventually, yeah probably. But not right now. I don't want to spoil the day we are having." She frowned realizing that her words sounded worse than she had meant them to. "Not that it was a bad thing. It wasn't. I just..."
"I understnad, and that's totally cool with me. I just didn't want you to think that I was avoiding talking about it." Logan responded.
"I didn't think that at all." Rory said with a smile, as she climbed the steps to the gazeebo, sitting on the bench she watched as Logan followed and sat beside her. "It's funny though, I never thought I would see you here again." She chuckled. "Then again, I never thought I would be pregnant, or having your baby either. So I guess it's just a whole new world for me."
"You and me both." Logan said with a grin as he leaned back on the bench and stretched his legs out. After a few moments of quiet Logan looked at Rory and asked. "Do you want to raise the baby here?"
Rory nibbled at her lip as she thought of her answer to the question. The issue had been weighing on her mind, ever since she had decided to tell Logan about the baby. Part of her wanted to raise the baby in the same enviroment that she had been brought up in. Stars Hollow had a lot going for it, there were plenty of people to help raise the baby and the town had something that any other town she had ever been in was lacking. However, she also wanted to raise her and Logan's child somewhere that allowed him or her lots of opportunities. While Stars Hollow had tons of loving people, it lacked a lot of opportunity. She shrugged and turned to Logan. "I don't know yet. I haven't decided yet. I know we need to start thinking about that. But there are so many decisions to make about the baby, that sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by it all."
Logan smiled softly and reached over to pat her hand. "Well, you can let me help. I might not know a whole lot about babies. But I'll try to help in whatever way I can. I would like to raise the baby in the best place for it to thrive."
Rory nodded, and Logan's phone rang breaking them from the conversation they were trying to have before it really had the chance to take off. Logan stood, and pulled his phone from his pocket in one swift motion looking at Rory before he took a step away. "I bet its the hospital. Be right back." He brought the phone to his ear and answered it as he made his way down the stairs to the outside of the gazeebo. "Hello?"
"Mr Huntzburger. I have some bad news for you I'm afraid." came the voice of the doctor that he and Rory had met just that morning.
"Okay." Logan answered, unsure of what news was about to be shared with him.
"Your father didn't make it through surgery. He flat lined about fifteen minutes ago. I along with my team tried very hard to save him, but the damage just seemed to be too far. It appears that he had been suffering from heart disease for a long time, and that we were just too late."
Logan unsure of what to say, or really how to feel stood with the phone to his ear motionless and silent for a minute. His back was to Rory at that moment, something that he was actually glad for at time being.
"Mr Huntzburger...Mr Huntzburger. Are you there?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, sorry. I'm here. I just... I don't know what to say."
"That's understandable. Loosing a parent, or any loved one is a big deal. No one expects you to say anything. We would like to see you and speak to you. And if you would like to see him, you can."
"Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can. Thank you for calling." Logan responded before hanging up. He took a few more seconds to compose himself before turning to face Rory.
"Logan, what's wrong? You're pale as a ghost. What happened?" Rory asked, springing up from her seat on the bench and racing over to where Logan stood like a statue, his phone still in his hand.
"He didn't make it through surgery. Ace, my dad's dead." Logan responded, his gaze finally shifting to her.
Without thinking Rory wrapped her arms around Logan and sighed sadly. "Oh Logan, I'm so sorry. I know you guys weren't close. But I'm still so sorry."
Logan felt the tenseness in his body relax just a little bit as Rory wrapped her arms around him, he relaxed a little and pulled her close wrapping his own arms around her smaller frame. "They want me to come to the hospital and talk to the doctors. I guess to make sure we aren't going to sue or anything, and they said I could see the body if I wanted to."
Rory looked up at him and tilted her head. "Of course. That makes sense. Well the talking to them does. The seeing the body is a little weird to me." She shrugged. "But what do I need to do. What do you want me to do?"
Logan looked down at Rory and sighed. "You're doing it. Right now." He closed his eyes for a minute and just lost himself in the moment. He hadn't ever expected his dad to die, at least not like that. He was sure that Mitchum Huntzburger would get stabbed in the back by an ex employee or client before a heart attack would kill him. But he had been wrong. A few moments later he opened his eyes and looked at Rory who had remained silent waiting for more of an answer from him.
"Do you want me to come with you Logan?" she asked, not really being able to read his facial expressions, or the silences.
"I coudln't ask you to do that. This is my family. This is something I need to deal with."
"That's why I offered, I knew you would never ask me." Rory said simply.
"Oh Ace." Logan said softly.
"Then that settles it. I'll send my mom a message, we can go get the car and go back to the hospital."
"I really wish us seeing each other again was under better circumstances." Logan said as their embrace broke apart and he watched Rory pull her phone out and quickly text her mother.
"Logan, it's okay." she said without looking up from her phone. She hit the send button slid her phone back into her purse and returnd her gaze to Logan. "Okay all set."
Logan held his hand out, Rory hesitated before taking it and together they walked back towards her house where his car was parked. Once they had gotten inside and situated Logan pulled away from the curb and glanced over at Rory. "Thank you again for this."
Rory nodded. "Of course. I don't have any experience with loosing a parent. And I know that you weren't that close, but I can be here for support and help in anyway that I can."
"That's all I ask. I've always done all this type of stuff alone, so I guess that I just am not very good at asking for help when I need it."
Rory smiled softly. "It's a good thing I know you so well."
"I guess it is." Logan said softly as they left Stars Hollow and headed towards Hartford and the hospital.