Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is the creation of Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Chapter 9: Luke

Hartford, Connecticut, St. Joseph's Hospital, Thursday, May 18, 2017, 12:00 pm EST

Logan had briefly toyed with the idea of going after Lorelai but then shrugged it off. Lorelai hadn't liked him the first time around -he recalled her comparing him once -albeit favorably, but still - to the guy who thought up smallpox blankets. Yeah, he couldn't see how his getting Rory pregnant while engaged to another woman would have improved her opinion of him.

Logan would rather have been the one to tell Rory about the paternity test and he'd really have rather been the one to break the news about interrupted wedding, but there was nothing to be done about it now. As much as he would have preferred to spare Rory Lorelai onslaughts on both topics, he hadn't been prepared to race Lorelai through the hospital and tackle her in the corridor. Rory knew her mother. Rory knew him. They had managed to navigate a two and a half year relationship during college and had somehow found each other again eight years later. Rory had a track record of putting Lorelai's opinions in proper perspective when it came to him. He'd have to trust that that filter was still in place.

If Logan explained the paternity test, he would make it clear to Rory that it was necessary because of the Huntzbergers. Lorelai would do her best to put a negative spin on the reasons for the test. Maybe she'd even try to plant a seed that Logan didn't believe that he was the father. He knew that the suggestion was ridiculous and he knew Rory would know the suggestion was ridiculous. But he still would rather Rory not have to deal with a riled up Lorelai on his account.

As for the fact that the wedding had, in fact, been scheduled for that week, Logan knew Rory -already uneasy about her and Lucas's reception into the Huntzberger world - would take the news as yet another excuse to worry and invent reasons for his parents to hate her. Getting that news from Lorelai was probably worse than getting the paternity test news because he knew Lorelai hated his parents -not that Shira and especially Mitchum hadn't done plenty to earn that hatred. Lorelai, he assumed, would emphasize his parents' possible reactions to the news that their son's wedding to the "perfectly acceptable" heiress had been cancelled because of their son's "perfectly unacceptable" ex-girlfriend.

Instead of running after Lorelai, Logan stuck around the NICU and provided Dr. Allen with the swab she needed for the paternity test. He assured the doctor he'd talk to Rory about the paternity test and get her to agree to taking the necessary swab from Lucas.

Once he'd finished up with Dr. Allen, Logan found himself uncharacteristically hesitant on his next steps. Between seeing Rory for the first time in months and meeting Lucas for the first time, ever, it had been an intense morning. That wasn't even including everything else that had happened over the course of the past day.

Glancing at his watch, Logan realized it had been nearly 20 hours since he'd left London. He would definitely be missed by now. He couldn't dodge his family and friends forever. He would have to step back into reality eventually. The NICU had a family lounge area adjacent to the nursery with comfortable chairs and sofas. Taking off his suit jacket, he laid it on the arm of a chair and settled in a cushioned seat.

Pulling out his cell phone he powered it up. Glancing at his messages, he saw that there were texts from Finn, Colin and Honor. Grinning, he quickly surmised they all amounted to the same thing: "what the hell is going on?" Honor had obviously, at some point, extracted the truth from his friends; her last three texts were requests for pictures of the baby.

Finally, there were three voicemails.

Voicemail number one:

Logan, I don't know what the hell this is all about - I thought you got all this rebelliousness out of your system years ago. What the hell are you doing? Damnit. You like Odette. Remember? Not that you care about this but your mother is at her wits end. I know you flew to New York and took a car to Hartford. Call me.

Voicemail number two:

Logan, where are you? We're still getting married on Saturday, aren't we? Please call me.

Voicemail number three:

F: Logan, we wanted to let you know we were all right. The Dark Lord has not yet ensnared us into the underworld.

C: Yeah, Finn's gone incognito!

F: Logan, have you any idea how soft these Ritz Carlton robes are?

R: I'm actually enjoying myself, Huntz. Your wedding has improved dramatically in your absence.

F: Now, what was I saying? Honor outsmarted us so she knows about Logan Jr.

C: I think she drugged me, Logan.

R: Seriously Huntz. You should refrain from showing up to all your future shindigs.

F: We wanted to let you know -

British accented hotel attendant: Excuse me? Sirs? Can you please lower your voices? Perhaps this is not the right place for using a speaker phone. Also we must ask that guests be properly attired when sitting in the hotel common areas. We're getting complaints from the other guests.

F: Complaints? From whom? How dare-

C: Finn, you should drop the robe. They obviously don't know the meaning of the word 'complaint''.

R: I don't think he should do that. It would crush his delusions of adequacy.

Following this interplay there was a cacophony of raised voices as everyone spoke at once. Then it suddenly ended.

Dial tone.

Bemused, Logan looked quizzically at his phone. Reading between the lines of what had -and hadn't - been said, he deduced several things.

Although he knew where Logan had gone –probably through his credit card – Mitchum still didn't know why he'd left. Despite his firmly entrenched network of investigative reporters, Mitchum hadn't yet caught wind of the fact that Rory Gilmore had been admitted to St. Joseph's maternity ward. If his father was still monitoring Logan's credit card, he'd figure it out soon enough since Logan had given the hospital his credit card information as secondary insurance for both Rory and Lucas.

Odette had no idea what was going on.

Finn, Colin, and Robert had somehow managed to extricate themselves from the Huntzbergers –with the exception of Honor - without breathing a word about Lorelai's call. Considering the amount of alcohol they seemed to have consumed, that was no small accomplishment.

Finally, Finn seemed to be going through a naked phase.

All things considered, Logan knew he needed to get the paternity test results to his father and his would-be father-in-law as quickly as possible. Once Lucas was common knowledge, the wedding would be officially put on hold. Permanently.

Logan smiled. Marriage to Odette - although long accepted as a tolerable concession to his family responsibility - had only ever elicited in him a feeling of ambivalence. The new option- not marrying Odette and instead getting Rory to one day agree to marry him - evoked hope and happiness. Enthusiasm. If he didn't already feel tugs toward his son, that alone would cement undying devotion. The kid's timing was perfect.

Logan was amazed at how it felt to suddenly lose the ambiguity that had long defined his personal life. For years, whatever happy moments he'd been able to grab had been moments stolen here and there. Rory. Even hanging out with Finn, Colin, and to a much lesser extent, Robert. But now? Now he was excited for his future and not just the stolen moments on the sideline. Thinking about the baby that was part him and part Rory asleep on the other side of the wall, Logan grinned. Rising to his feet, he decided to visit Lucas once more before rejoining Rory and the Gilmores.

Upon his return to the maternity ward, Logan saw that the Gilmore group had filtered out. Lorelai, Emily, and Sookie were nowhere to be seen. Only Luke remained, sitting in the lounge area outside Rory's room. With the others gone, Logan wondered if there was a reason for Luke's continued presence.

"Hi Luke." He greeted Rory's step-father.

"Hey, there, Logan." Luke stood, laying down the copy of The New Yorker he'd been perusing. "Lucas good?"

"Very. He's a good kid." Logan's eyes met Luke's. "You couldn't ask for a better namesake."

"Uh, yeah," nodded Luke, obviously uncomfortable with the topic. "Well, you know. I've known Rory since she was little and -"

"Hey, I don't mean anything by it. I get it. It's fine." Logan shrugged. "Huntzbergers don't do the junior thing."

They stood in an awkward silence.

"Rory awake?"

"She dozed off before. Might still be asleep."

"Lorelai and Emily leave?"

"Yeah, Lorelai needed to check on the progress at the new place. Emily went with her and Sookie went back to the Dragonfly." Luke looked down before lifting his eyes back up to Logan's. "Did Rory mention Lorelai bought an old folks' home that she's renovating into an annex to the inn?"

"I don't think so. Makes sense though. Times I was down there the place was always busy. A lot to be juggling now. Can't be easy on you, all the back and forth. Sounds like you and Lorelai have pretty much been here around the clock."

"Lorelai especially," nodded Luke. "Rory may be 32 but she'll always be Lorelai's little girl."

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I get that. I want to thank you. For being here for her. For being here for both of them."

"Rory's like my daughter." Luke made a face, obviously uncomfortable. "Logan, Lorelai's pretty upset about the whole DNA test thing. She feels like she didn't do a great job protecting Rory from having a crappy father. She doesn't want to see the same thing happen with Lucas."

Crappy father? Ouch. Tell me what you really think.

Glancing over Luke's shoulder at the nurses station, Logan saw the red-haired male nurse from earlier standing there avidly watching them converse. "Luke, I don't think it's a good idea to talk about this right now."

"No one's paying attention. Besides there's all these hospital privacy rules."

"I'm pretty sure the privacy rules don't extend to waiting room drama." Logan jerked his chin toward the nurses' station.

"Oh?" Luke looked behind him to glance at the nurses station. He scowled. "I don't believe this," he muttered. "Is nothing sacred?" Luke, still staring at the nurse called out harshly. "Hey buddy! You want some popcorn to go along with the show?"

The red-haired nurse appeared affronted at being called out for his obvious watching and eavesdropping. Chastised, he made a show of sitting facing away from the lounge.

"Listen, Luke," Logan held up a hand and continued in a lowered voice. "While I appreciate your and Lorelai's concern, it's not my intention to be a crappy father -"

"Lorelai thinks otherwise."

"Yeah, well," Logan let out a frustrated sigh, "with all due respect, I don't care what Lorelai thinks. Or what you think. The only ones I care about are Rory and Lucas."

"Yeah? What do you think Rory's gonna think when she finds out you need a paternity test?"

So Lorelai hadn't told Rory about the paternity test?

"It's not for me. I know Lucas is my son. And Rory knows that."

"Then why the need for a paternity test? Even if it has to be done -for insurance like you said - does it have to be done now? They're both still in the hospital. They don't need this."

Logan let out a breath. Pulling ten-year old memories from his brain, he decided to appeal to Luke based on what he knew of the older man's experience. He was, after all, the family's other 'secret baby daddy.' Logan smothered a laugh.

"Luke, you have a daughter?" At Luke's nod, he continued. "But you didn't know at first. You found out later. I seem to remember that she was some kind of child protégée who did the paternity test herself as a science project…?"

"Yeah, that's right. April's very smart."

"If she hadn't had proof, would you have accepted she was your daughter at only her word?"

Logan paused as Luke considered. When the older man remained silent, Logan continued.

"You knew her mother. You knew the girl's age. Did she look like you? Maybe you could've just accepted it at her word, no proof needed. But what if you had a family with money? A lot of money? And constant talk of heirs and birthrights?"

"So what you're saying is this test isn't for you," said Luke, more as a statement than a question.

"You got it," Logan nodded. "I don't need it but it's still pretty important it get done. Now. Before the rumors start," he paused. "And to justify what I'm doing."

"What're you doing?"

"I'm torpedoing the dynastic plan." After saying the words aloud, Logan shook his head, laughing. He hadn't had such clarity on his personal life in quite some time.

Luke, meanwhile, was staring at him like he was insane. "What? What the hell is a dynastic plan? You sound like Taylor -."

"Never mind. As for - it's less about what I'm doing than it is about what I'm not doing. What I'm not doing is getting married on Saturday." Logan took a breath. "That might piss off a few people."

"You were supposed to get married on Saturday? This Saturday?" At Logan's silent nod, Luke sighed again. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure my wife and mother-in-law can be added to that list of pissed-off people."

"I figured," nodded Logan. "I told Rory I'd stay until Lucas was released from the hospital. In order for me to do that- for me to keep my promise to Rory- I need the paternity test."

"Okay, I think I got it." Luke shot a glance toward Rory's door. "I'm gonna go say goodbye to Rory and then head back to Stars Hollow."

Logan laughed silently to himself. He had been wondering if Lorelai had stationed Luke outside Rory's room solely for the purpose of getting answers to her questions about the paternity test. Yep. Answers secured, Luke was taking off.

"You think Lorelai will understand about the paternity test?"

"I've known Lorelai a long time. If there's one thing I've learned about her –"

"Is that she can see reason?"

"-is it's best not to try to predict how she's gonna react." Luke shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, I get it. It makes sense to me. Hell, I went through all this with April and Lorelai saw that. Not that I got your kind of money, but the Gilmores were all over us about the financial stuff. Protect our assets from grifters. Get better insurance. Don't let pot-smoking bimbos into the house."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "I have to admit I'm a little surprised you needed Richard and Emily's advice on that last one."

Luke waved a hand. "You had to be there. Anyway, I'll explain it to Lorelai. That's all I can do."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Logan hoped Luke's intervention on his behalf might help a little. But, knowing Lorelai, he wouldn't count on it.

AN: Thanks again for reading. Did everyone read "The Talk" by Twister88?

05/08/2017