A/N: i know, i suck. i'm really sorry for the delay. it involve (s) stress, a few hospital visits, work, school, crazy friends, etc. ive had most of this written for a while but i didnt really know how to keep going to hopefully it doesnt disappoint, though it is shorrt. i think only one more chapter of this story. enjoy and review.

chapter fourteen

His knocking on the screen door was rapt, hurried. If she was here, he wanted to know. If she was here, he wanted to see her, now. He heard the soft padding of slippered feet down a flight of steps and when she slowly pushed open the screen door and stepped out on to the porch, he had to blink twice.

Pregnancy had done wonders for her. Curves, a healthy glow, a sparkle in her eyes he didn't even know was possible. She looked beautiful. Her stomach slightly rounded, shown by a thin black tee and a pair of gray sweatpants.

She didn't say anything as tears were in her eyes, his eyes furrowed in worry.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, not letting her say anything but also letting her know that he was okay, he had forgiven her for anything she may have done.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes, laughing. "Come in." She held open the door for him and he stepped inside, and she followed.

He hadn't said anything, he hadn't really been able to form words. This is where she had been? She chose this run-down bungalow over her home? Being alone instead of being with him?

She led him to the kitchen where some plates from earlier were piled by the sink, the coffee maker sat empty and unused. "So, how have you been?" she asked.

He nodded, "Okay, I guess. My father told me he had come here after I found out where you were."

She pulled out two bottles of water from a fridge. "Yeah, he was here."

"I'm sorry for anything he might have said."

"Oh, no. He was perfectly nice about it all. A little too nice for my liking, but it was fine."

She sat next to him, a long silence between them. There wasn't much noise, other than the steady sound of the waves and wind. It was another dreary day, but she really didn't mind. She liked it.

He cleared his throat, "So, how are you? You look good, healthy."

She blushed, "Yeah, I'm good. Just sort of pulling it all together."

"I could have helped you."

She shook her head, "No, you couldn't have. This is something I had to do for myself. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm actually doing something right and worthwhile with having this baby. Do you know how scary it is to feel that?"

"Yeah, I do. Because that happened to me, too, and then I came to see you only to find you vanished into thin air."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Will you come back?"

She nodded, "Next week. I talked to Paris and everything."

He pursed his lips in thought. "You know that phone call, last week, when you called me?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you call me then?"

"Your father had just left. I realized I shouldn't have shut you out like that but I don't know any better. Everything I do are things I was taught to do. Run, be defensive, sarcastic, strive for a semblance of perfection."

"No one's asking you to do that."

She scoffed, "Please. My whole life revolved around that."

"But it doesn't any more?"

"No, it doesn't. I'm going to focus on raising my child so he or she will be the best they can be, I'll give them everything I have. I'm not going to be at work more than I would be at home with my children. I'm going to be there and I know I'm going to mess up, but frankly, I don't know if its hormones or otherwise, I just don't care, because this child will know that they are loved."

He stared at the table, listening to everything she said. "Move in with me."

"What?"

"Come back next week and move in with me."

"Logan, that's completely different than what we were talking about."

"I know, I know. But, why can't we do this together? I want to be there, Rory, I want to settle down, I want to marry you and have this baby with you and raise ten more."

Tears were brimming in her eyes after he finally, finally said what he had wanted to. "I want that, too. But that would be it. You're either here or you're not. I'm giving you the out if you want it, but if you choose to leave, don't come back. I don't want her to have instability of parental figures in her life. I had it, and I don't want anyone else I know to go through it."

"Rory," he said, scooting his chair over to clasp his hands around her cold, shaking ones. "I don't know how many more ways I can tell you that I want this other than the ones I just did. I want this, I want you, I love you."

"I…I don't know what to say. I mean, this is all too fast. We have to think this through."

"Too fast?" She stood up and paced in front of the stove. "Rory, are you insane? It'll be two years this year. Just, for the love of God, let me in."

She stopped at turned to look at him, but he continued on. "We're having a baby, Rory. A baby. Do you want this baby to not know its father when I'm asking, begging you to take me. That baby will never forgive you."

"What do you know about forgiveness with your parents? You're still angry with them for the life they forced you to have."

"Yes, but I talk to my dad, which is more than I can say for you."

"Stop!" she yelled. "This is even the point of the conversation!"

"Rory," he said calmly, pulling her back into her chair. "Marry me, be with me, don't think about it, just do it. You know we're good together, otherwise this whole relationship would have never gotten to this point. And yes, it'll be hard, but I want it, and I know you do, too."

She sighed, letting her eyes wander his face. He looked tired, but his eyes still had that fight in them she noticed the first night. So she let him in. She leaned forward and pressed her lips firmly to his, whispering yes, as he pulled her into his lap.