AUTHOR'S NOTE: I WISH I COULD SEE THE LOOKS ON PEOPLE'S FACES WHEN THEY SAW THAT I HAD ACTUALLY UPDATED THIS STORY. I THINK IT HAS TO BE SOME KIND OF MIRACLE. IF THIS IS TERRIBLE WELL THEN I'M SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT THIS LONG FOR A TERRIBLE UPDATE. I ACTUALLY DON'T THINK IT'S TERRIBLE. BUT YOU KNOW I COULD BE BIASED. ANYWAY WITHOUT FURTHER ADO HERE IS FINALLY CHAPTER EIGHT OF NEARLY PERFECT. - KRISTINE.
RATING: PG
DISCLAIMER: UH, NO.
CHAPTER EIGHT: JAZZ, OMELETES, AND PAULA
- N - & - P -
There are moments when Logan is holding Lo early in the morning and feeding her breakfast that he finds himself simply amazed. There are these little faces she makes that just grabs a hold of every heartstring he has. When he was younger he always foolishly believed that that he would never be able to love anything like he loved Rory. Of course that was proven wrong the moment that he laid eyes on his little blonde-haired, blue-eyed bundle of joy. He'd move heaven and Earth to protect her.
This particular time though it is late at night. He thinks it might have been the storm outside but something woke her up. Rory had been trying, but failing to will herself out of bed when he assured her that he could handle it. Now they're sitting on the couch in his office listening to an old jazz album that his grandfather gave him, it's one of the only things his grandfather has eve given him that he liked. She's staring up at him with those big blue eyes of hers. Just staring at him as if she is trying to memorize every detail of his face.
"Do you know how much I love you?" He whispered quietly as he continued to gently bounce her. When she manages to shoot him a sleepy smile he thinks it is a little sad at how sappy she has made him. He wonders quietly how it is his parent never seemed this invested in him. He has a hard time imaging his mother or father holding him this way. Hell he can't even imagine them holding him in general. He once asked Honor about it but she feigned ignorance because she was so young. He knew that really meant that she couldn't remember it occurring very often so it was better that they pretend she was too young.
"You are the very best part of your Mom and me Lo. I mean the very best parts of us." He whispered and sighed softly when she finally gave into the sleep. "No matter what you can't forget that Lo."
- N - & - P -
"Did she go back down okay?" Rory murmured as she felt him climb back into bed beside her, letting out a content sigh when she felt him snag his arm around her waist.
He smiled and placed a gentle kiss in her hair. "Of course. Just needed a little Daddy and jazz time to tire her right out."
"You know only our child would love jazz, right?" Rory said, chuckling softly. She can still remember the first time she realized just how soothing her daughter found jazz to be.
Apparently Lo had been fussy and unwilling to take a nap. Remy had decided not to fight with her and instead put her in her bouncy seat to try and tire her out that way. Logan later joked that she got her stubbornness from Rory. Even though she had wanted to fight that assertion she'd eventually had to admit that he was right. She had never been one for giving unless she was certain that it was her idea. Anyway Remy had put on this eclectic French jazz CD that she always liked to listen to when she was working. She said that it inspired all of her senses, which Rory could understand she felt the same way about Mumford & Sons. Anyway within minutes of the CD being on she looked over at Lo whose eyes were heavy and was struggling not to sleep. Since that day they always put her to sleep to it.
"Of course she has your weird genes. If I remember correctly you were watching 60 Minutes by yourself at age 4." Logan teased her.
"Better my awesomely nerdy genes instead of your suave and debonair I can drink bourbon and smoke cigars like it's still appropriate to smoke inside genes."
"Ouch," he whispered. "And here I thought my suave and debonair genes were part of the reason we had a baby together in the first place."
She chuckled softly and rolled her eyes. "I actually think it has more to do with your smirk."
"My smirk?"
"Yes it's very disarming. It makes it impossible not to fall for your charm." Her voice was light as if she was joking, but she was actually being honest. There had been so many times in her young life when she had felt like she was blinded by his charm. She would be acting like a completely rational person and then he would flash her that smirk and next thing she knew she was under his spell.
"Well I'll keep that in mind when it's time to make baby number two."
"Baby number two? Who says there is going to be a baby number two?"
"Come on it's obvious that Lo is going to end up the spitting image of you. I think I should get a chance to have a mini-me who makes reckless decisions and drives you up a wall." Logan told her in between peppering her shoulder with light kisses.
Rory rolled over to meet his eyes. "You really want another baby?"
"As long as you do. I don't think right now is the right time, but maybe down the road."
"Don't you remember how easily I cried when I was pregnant?"
"Of course I do," he admitted laughing softly. "But I also remember the way you glowed and the way you radiated like a Disney princess."
"A Disney princess?"
"Stop teasing me and say that you've at least thought about it too."
Rory bit her lip. She of course had thought about it. Every single time Lo went up a size she tried to imagine what it would be like when her little girl wasn't so little anymore. Plus her mother had been hinting that they would love another grandchild.
"I can't promise I'll be ready anytime soon, but of course I'd love to make another perfect little person with you." She told him, rolling her eyes again when she saw the way his face lit up. She was struck by the realization that she never realized Logan would love being a father this much. "Now let's go to sleep or when she actually wakes up for breakfast we'll be just barely higher functioning than zombies."
- N - & - P -
"So I was thinking that for Olivia's christening present we could have a portrait made of that picture of Stephanie holding her." Camille replied as she continued to make breakfast while Finn peacefully fed James with one hand and flipped through the paper with the other. She smiled just like she always did when she thought about how different he was than the man she first came to work for. She didn't even know if that Finn could name the local paper.
Finn looked up from his paper briefly. His heart pounded a little faster in his chest just like it always did when he laid eyes on her since realizing that he had fallen in love with her. She was wearing an old Harvard t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Of course he thought she was the living, breathing picture of perfection. "The one you took when Stephanie first brought her home."
"Yep," Camille said as she slipped his omelet onto a plate.
"That'll be perfect," he agreed. "I don't know how you always come up with the best gift ideas. I probably would have gotten her something useless like a pony."
"She's barely a month old," Camille pointed out.
"Exactly," Finn said, laughing at the ludicrousness of it all. "That's why I'm rubbish at giving gifts."
"You've given me nice gifts."
"You're easy to shop for," he countered. "Plus you would be touched if I brought you home a pack of your favorite chewing gum."
"It's the fact that you know my favorite gum that counts." She said, wondering just like she had every day for the last month what he was going to tell her that night. Afterwards everything had gone back to business as usual for the two of them. Still she noticed that the air was even more sexually charged around the two of them than it had been before their date. It was like they were both just minutes from passionately kissing each other, but both were terrified to make the first move.
He grinned, but didn't say anything. Instead he silently dug into his omelet smiling when he noticed that she had somehow come up with a different combination. "Watching Food Network again?"
"This is what happens when you leave me and James home alone all day. Instead of using my powers to help you maintain your busy schedule they get used to do things like learn new omelets and professionally paint a wall yourself." She said, only half-joking.
"You know if people didn't know better they'd guess we were an old married couple."
This time it was her turn to smile, but say nothing in response even though on the tip of her tongue was the assertion that nothing would make her happier at this point.
He started to make a joke about how she was a pretty great wife when his phone started to ring. He frowned thinking that it was going to be Nancy, the girl he had hired to fill in for Camille while she took care of James. He frowned when he didn't recognize the number.
"Who is it?" Camille asked, noticing the way his brow furrowed.
"I'm not sure," he said before answering it thinking that it was probably just a colleague with a number that he hadn't bothered to program. "This is Finn," he greeted in that all business tone that he had been surprised to learn that he had.
"Finn this is Paula. I'm in the states. I wanted to come see you and James."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Paula?"
"Yes, you gave me your number last summer. You told me to call if I ever ended up in the States. Well I'm here. I'm in New York City actually. I know from gossip that you brought James back with you. I wanted to see him."
"You wanted to see James?" He asked if the words wouldn't sink in.
"I know that the situation is unusual, but I'd really appreciate being able to see my son Finn. Don't you want to see me?"
He let out a sigh that was a mix of defeat and exasperation. "I'll arrange for you to have a room at the Plaza. I'll bring him to you."
"I could really come see you. I remember you telling me who amazing your apartment was in Hartford."
"I said we will come to you. I'll have my assistant get you the information in the next hour." He explained and then without warning he hung up.
Camille stared at him for a moment before finally asking the question she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to. "Was that?"
He nodded, but wasn't able to actually say her name out loud or voice that it was indeed her on the phone.
"What does she want?"
"To see him," he whispered. His voice was so soft it bordered on being broken. "I said we would take him up there tomorrow."
"We?" She asked, even though she wasn't sure why she surprised that he would bring her. They rarely went anywhere without each other. Yet another quirk that made it seem as if they were married.
He blinked in surprise. "Did you not want to go?"
"No, of course I do. I just didn't know if you wanted to me be there since this has the makings of a family reunion."
"Don't be ridiculous love. Of course you're going to be there. You're more his mother than she is. Anyway I'm only going to get her to sign some paperwork. I don't want this happening again."
Camille smiled gratefully. After all she did feel like his mother. She changed his diapers and read him a bedtime story every night. She also knew about his food preferences.
He cursed softly. "Good thing I'm the boss because it looks like I'm going to be late. I'll see you guys tonight. Let me know if you want me to bring something home for dinner." He said before kissing James softly on the forehead and then handing him to Camille. He then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead too. "Her presence doesn't change anything Camille."
- N - & - P -
Rory laughed when she walked into the kitchen and found Logan animatedly reading Lo the sports pages. "And you say I'm the nerd."
"You are a nerd. I just happen to have my own set of nerdy tendencies that Lo must combat with. We both know that you would have been reading her something about the budget deficit." Logan pointed out as he poured her a cup of coffee before sliding it across the island towards her.
"You can never be too young to be informed," she said grabbing the section of the paper that he was not looking at.
He rolled his eyes and started to remind her that he highly doubted Lorelai was reading to her about anything that heavy when she was a baby. Just as he opened his mouth to speak the phone rang and interrupted his thoughts. "Finn my good man," he greeted in his best impression of a Renaissance worker. He smirked when he saw Rory roll her eyes.
"Logan, mate, I've got a situation."
"What is it?" Logan asked as he sat down. Instantly his mind went back to all of the situations that used to warrant phone calls before Camille came into the picture. Specifically he remembered the time that Finn had somehow ended up in Miami with no idea as to where he actually was or how he got there. He was hoping that there was not a repeat of that incident because it took a solid two hours to clean that mess up.
"James' biological mother, Paula, she rang me this morning. Apparently she's in New York City. She wants to see him." Finn explained and found that even acknowledging his problem made him tired.
"What'd you say?"
"We would go up to the city tomorrow to meet her. I was going to have my attorney write up some papers to avoid this from happening again."
"How did Camille take the news?"
"She was a bit shocked, but got over it pretty quickly."
"Okay well let me know if we can do anything."
"Will do. Thanks mate," Finn said before hanging up.
"What was that all about?" Rory asked as she took note of the strange look on Logan's face.
He sighed. "Apparently James' biological mother is in New York City. Finn is taking him to see her tomorrow as well as to get her to sign some papers."
"Is he okay?" She could only imagine the shock and aggravation that he was dealing with. "What about Camille?"
"They're both fine. I think this actually might help them."
"What do you mean?"
"We both know this Paula hasn't just shown up to see James. I think she wants to setlle down with Finn. This will make him choose Camille and hopefully they'll admit their feelings." Logan explained.
Rory looked at him skeptically so of course he flashed her his trademark smirk and all she could do was laugh and say that she hoped he was right. She really wanted Finn and Camille to get their shit together so that the six of them could get old and raise their children together like some sort of cliché television show that featured so many nearly perfect storylines it was impossible to imagine it as real life.
"Have I mentioned how much I love you this morning?" Logan asked as he fed Lo some mashed bananas.
"Not yet."
"Well I do. I love you so much that even if Lo ended up in some weird twist being Dean's I would fight the gentle giant before I would ever let him within a foot of her."
"Well since we've both seen her smirk I think it's safe to say you won't have to be doing that anytime soon," she said between fits of laughter. "And you better be right about Finn and Camille because Stephanie has threatened to send them letters from each other admitting their feelings."
Right on cue as if she understood exactly what her mother said, Lo started to laugh and clap her hands. When Logan laid eyes on her he silently though that he always seemed to get that heartstring pulling when it came to his little girl.
- N - & - P -
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING YOUR THOUGHTS. THIS WAS A REALLY LONG CHAPTER. I'M SORRY IF SOME PEOPLE TUNED IN EXPECTING COLIN AND STEPHANIE AND THEN THERE WAS LIKE NONE. THEY WILL MAKE AN APPEARANCE IN LIKE TWO CHAPTERS. I HAVE SERIOUSLY FALLEN TOO HARD FOR FINN/CAMILLE AS A COUPLE. I'M PRETTY SURE YA'LL COULD TELL THAT THOUGH. ANYWAY YA'LL ARE AMAZING FOR EVEN READING THIS. I DON'T WANT TO MAKE FALSE PROMISES BUT I ACTUALLY THINK I KNOW HOW THIS WILL END AND IT ISN'T FAR AWAY. HAHA. SO REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED AND WILL LEGIT MAKE MY DAY. - KRISTINE.