Chapter Twenty-six

Rory stirred as she felt someone kiss her forehead gently. "Logan?" she asked sleepily, barely opening her eyes to check.

Logan knelt next to her, keeping his voice quiet. "Yeah, ace. Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you."

"No, it's fine… I wasn't sleeping…"

Logan chuckled softly. "Well, even if you weren't, it seems your humble servants definitely are."

Rory finally prised her eyelids apart and took in the scene before her. Sprawled around Logan's apartment were Finn, Colin, Robert and Paris. Paris and Finn appeared to be snuggled together on one end of Logan's corner sofa, whilst Colin was on the floor next to Robert, a bowl of popcorn between them. As for herself, Rory was wrapped in several layers of blankets at the other end of the sofa. The end credits of a movie rolled over the T.V. screen.

"Wow. I guess today took its toll on us all."

Logan gestured towards Paris and Finn. "What on earth…?"

Rory simply shrugged and pulled a face. She had no clue if those two were about to become an item or if this was just another one of Finn's passing fancies. Finn as a step-dad? Stranger things have happened, I guess.

"Oh, hey, how's your dad doing?"

"Good. We should get you into bed, Rory."

Rory made to get up, but gave up after a second. "It's too far. I'll stay here."

Logan scooped her up into his arms. "Come on, sleeping beauty. Bedtime."

"Logan?"

"Hmm?"

"What happened between you and your dad?"

Logan sighed. "Long story, ace."

"I've got time."

Setting her down on the bed, Logan pulled off his shirt and headed through to the en-suite to get ready for bed. Ten minutes later, he slipped between the sheets next to Rory. "Ok. Are you sure you wanna know this, ace? It gets pretty ugly…"

"Tell me everything."

"Well, right after I landed I went straight to see Odette. She was still living here. She told me everything straight away and obviously, I became mad. So, I jumped into a taxi and headed to see my father."

Rory yawned. "And then you had a fight?"

"Yeah pretty much. I stormed up to his office and interrupted a meeting with a pretty important client. Dad was less than impressed, and said he should fire his secretary there and then for gross incompetence. The poor woman couldn't have stopped me if she tried."

"Oh, God, did she lose her job?"

"No, ace. We started yelling at each other, I forget the details of what was shouted. He told me again I wasn't fit to be a Huntzberger or pass the name down onto our babies- I won't use the offensive term he used-"

Rory was incensed. "He referred to his own grandchildren as bas-"

"Yeah, he did. That's when I really lost it, and told him he could keep his name cause I was gonna be a Gilmore after our wedding anyway."

Rory clapped a hand to her mouth in horror as she saw the argument between Logan and his father playing out in her mind's eye. "Oh, Logan."

Logan looked away and blinked furiously. "And that's when he got ill. After I told him about the wedding plan, he sort of went this ashen grey colour. Then he loosened his tie, and then he just keeled over and grabbed at his chest. Which is when I realised he was having a heart attack, and called an ambulance."

"Have you managed to talk much since?"

"Not really. He's Mitchum though, you know? He won't ever back down and admit to being in the wrong so we will do it the Huntzberger way and pretend it never happened."

"I'm so sorry, Logan."

"It's fine. Really, ace. It's not like we were close, is it?"

"That's true, I guess. Are you ok?"

"I will be. When we get home, and get married."

Rory grinned and her tone became teasing. "Oh right, we're getting married. I almost forgot."

Clutching his heart in mock devastation, Logan pulled a sad face. "Feeling the love, ace."

"You know full well I'm truly, madly, deeply in love with you."

"You better be." Logan leaned in for a kiss, then pulled back. "How are the wedding plans going anyway? I assume Emily is keeping you up to date?"

"Well. The caterer is annoying her, because she won't commit to a cake-"

Logan laughed. "Sookie, huh?"

"Of course, who else? The venue was booked…"

A frown creased Logan's handsome features. "When you say 'was' you mean it isn't now?"

"It was double booked. Grandma tried to use the Gilmore name to sway it in our favour, and that failed. She even tried using the Huntzberger name. No joy."

"We have no wedding venue?"

"Ok. Don't freak out. We can't have a big Hartford wedding, but mom has a back-up plan for a nice, small Stars Hollow wedding…"

Faltering at the look on Logan's face, Rory's heart began to pound as she realised he wasn't keen. "You hate the idea."

"No, I don't hate it… You really like the idea though, don't you?"

"Yeah. But if you don't we can find somewhere else in Hartford. Maybe you can pull some strings, I mean, you are Logan Huntzberger after all…"

"Honestly, ace. If you're happy, I'm happy."

"So I can tell my mom yes?"

"Sure thing, ace. Now please, go back to sleep."

Rory didn't need telling twice. She yawned and snuggled down into the sheets. "If you insist."

"Hey, ace?"

"Hmmm."

"What about Hunter for a baby name?"

"Hunter?"

"Yeah. Hunter Gilmore."

Rory opened one eye and smiled sleepily. "Hunter Richard. I kinda like it."

A huge smile lit up Logan's face. "Night, ace."