Baby Steps
Summary: Three years after season seven. Rory said yes to Logan and they are married and living in Palo Alto. He has just started his own business and it's taking up a lot of his time. Rory understands but when things change and she gets some big news she can't even find time to tell him… Rated M because of language and there may be some adult scenes, not sure yet.
Chapter Two: Trying Harder
"So Rory, why was it that you couldn't come to Josh's and mine? What was so urgent you had to rush back?" Honour asked, trying to make her voice sound jokey but she was genuinely concerned,
"Um, I can't tell you yet, I'll call you tomorrow, by then I'll be able to. I'm really sorry but I've got to go, love you Honour"
"You too Ror," Honour hung up and stared at the phone, it wasn't like her to be cryptic.
Rory was staring at her phone too, Oh screw it! She thought,
"Mr. Huntzberger's office?"
"Hi Shelly,"
"Oh, hi Rory, um Logan's busy right now, I can interrupt him if its urgent?" Shelly had been Logan's secretary since he'd started the business, the amount of times Rory called the two had become friends.
"Um, look it's not urgent but I do need to talk to him. Please, just tell him if it's possible to meet me for lunch I could really use it. I mean it's a Sunday and you're all at work! He's worked weekends for the past few weeks and I really need him, please, just…" Rory's voice was on the edge of cracking and Shelly knew it, she'd only once had Rory actually break down in tears on the phone but she could tell immediately,
"Hang on Rory, two minutes…" the phone went onto hold and some crappy music was playing that Rory was just ignoring,
Shelly walked into Logan's office, "Mr Huntzberger?" he looked up from his computer for a minute,
"What Shelly?" he asked the irritation at being disturbed clearly evident in his voice.
"Logan," he looked up again, she never used his first name but he could hear something in her voice that he couldn't place,
"Shelly?"
"Your wife is on the phone, she wants to meet you for lunch. And before you say you're busy you should know that your wife is on the verge of tears on the phone and if you say no to lunch she's probably going to cry and then I will officially be able to say that more than once I have had to comfort her when she's crying over the fact that you're never at home anymore and I just can't do that!" Logan wasn't sure if Shelly was getting emotional in front of him because of her pregnancy or if Rory was really that bad. Surely he'd have noticed?
"Shelly…."
"No Logan. She's on hold." Shelly turned and stormed out of the office.
"Ace?"
"Logan?" he could immediately hear what Shelly had meant and knew that she was not exaggerating, "Look, I need to talk to you. It's actually kinda urgent and really important and I want you to hear from me before someone else tells you," she knew Emily wouldn't be able to keep it to herself for long and soon the whole of Hartford, including the Huntzberger's would hear about her news.
"Ace?" panic evident in his voice, his immediate thought being that she was leaving him or cheating on him.
"Logan please?"
"Okay, lunch at the café across the street from my building, I'll put an hour aside for us. I love you so much Ace, just…. I know I've been busy a lot, I'm sorry!" His brain went into overload, oh my God! What would he do if she was leaving him?!
"Okay, that's fine Logan. I love you too but I need you to be there for me more, I shouldn't have to be thankful that you put 'an hour aside for us'. I'll see you in a couple of hours." She hung up. Despite the anger he heard in her last couple of sentences when he heard her say she loved him he felt instant relief, he knew she loved him.
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"Ace." He stood up and kissed her cheek when she walked over to the table he was sat at,
"Logan," he looked at her, she looked ill, pale, tired, not like his Ace.
"Ace are you okay?" the concern in his voice was obvious,
"Not really, I was sick this morning…." She thought this would be an easy way to ease into her big news,
"Ace, I'll put you in a taxi or something, you should be home if you're sick!" he stood ready to leave,
"No Logan." She pulled his arm back down so he fell back into his seat "There's another reason I was sick… in the morning…sick in a morning?" he looked at her completely oblivious to the point she was trying to make, "Really Logan?! Never heard of morning sickness?" realisation suddenly kicked in and his eyes widened,
"Ace?! Are you telling me what I think you're telling me? Are you…"
"Yes Logan. I'm pregnant." She sighed, exhausted, she was tired from travelling and he was being too slow.
"Oh my God Ace that's…." his smile was massive and as he stood to lean to hug her she leant away, he sat back down frowning,
"No, Logan, it's not 'wonderful', 'awesome' or anything else you want to call it because I feel like I'm gonna be doing this alone. You're never home. I need you, I was making allowances, I was being the good wife, trying to be the cleaner, cook, writer, lover and friend but it's too much! I need to have someone there to have my back, someone who's gonna help me raise this child! Not spend every fucking hour at work except for when he comes home and wants to sleep with me before leaving again! It's not fair on me!" she was crying now and a lot of the people in the café were staring at them,
"Ace I'm sorry but understand…"
"No, don't Ace me. I always understand and maybe now I don't want to understand…" she had a flashback to saying the exact same thing to her dad many years before. The other absent man in her life.
"Ace, I'll do it."
"Do what?"
"Anything, everything. I'm happy that we're gonna have a little you or a little me! I love you! If you need me I'll be there. You are the most important thing in my life! You always will be!"
"I'd love to think that but I had to hope you'd put an hour aside for lunch, does that sound right to you?"
"Ace…"
"No, promise me. I don't want late nights every single freaking night! I get the occasional one but not every night! I want you back, do you remember when you were in London, I saw you a few times and never for very long? I feel like I saw you more then…"
"Ace!"
"What?"
"I promise. To prove it…" he pulled his phone out and dialled a number, Rory only heard his side of the conversation but it made her smile so much…
"Hey Shelly?... I'm not gonna be back at the office today… Um, give it to Matt… Yeah he's ready… I don't care! Look I just found out my wife's pregnant, you think I care if Matt's nervous about a meeting he has to go for for me?... The send John in with him! Look I'm going to take my wife home and be the husband she deserves… Thanks Shelly… Bye."
"Shelly says hi." He grinned at her for a few moments before she began to get self-conscious at his staring,
"What Logan?" she said smiling back and laughing with him for the first time in a while,
"We're having a baby," his smile grew even further which she didn't think was possible,
"I know right… I'm making a doctor's appointment next week to be 100% sure but three stupidly expensive pregnancy tests don't lie… A baby…"
"I'll love it no matter but I kind of hope it's a girl," this surprised Rory,
"Why?"
"Dad wont force the business on her if she's a girl, if we have a son he'll become the new 'Huntzberger heir' plus; I'd love a baby Ace more than a baby me," he smiled, the look in his eyes of adoration always made her feel so beautiful, so perfect, she knew he'd try harder…
"I love you so much." She smiled leaning forward, he kissed her before replying
"I love you more."
"Not possible" she grinned before leaning in for another kiss. They both sat back.
"Logan…" he knew that look in her eyes, it meant she was hungry,
"I'm guessing the strange cravings have started already!" he laughed,
"Yeah, you could say that," she was staring at the food display case at the front of the coffee shop, "The apple over there looks really good," Logan looked at her in shock,
"Apple? Rory you realise that's healthy? It's fruit?"
"Oi!" she punched his arm playfully, "It's a Gilmore thing, we like apples when pregnant, my mum was the same…" she smiled remembering the previous night in Star's Hollow, her mum had been so excited at the prospect of being a grandmother,
"Oh my God! You have to tell your mum!" he smiled,
"Um… I kinda need to tell you something…" Rory grinned as she recounted the events of Saturday morning with Emily,
"Wow. So she actually got you to pee at her house just so she'd be first to know?"
"I think so, she wasn't happy when I told her I'd already called mum but she had to know before grandma, it might have killed her otherwise,"
"Come on, let's get that apple and then go home and look at baby furniture and clothes on the internet,"
"About that… my mum and I went a teeney bit overboard on baby clothes shopping…"she grinned,
"How overboard?"
"Um… Let's just say that I hid the receipt." She grinned again.
"Come on, let's go home." He smiled taking her hand and walking over to the cashier,
"Mr. Huntzberger, the usual?" the pretty blonde behind the counter asked, she fluttered her eyelashes and was not-so-subtly flirting with him, "Been to the gym again?" she asked giggling, this did not go unnoticed by both Rory and Logan,
"No." he answered curtly, she always acted like this but this was the last thing he needed with Rory only just forgiving him, "I need that apple for my beautiful pregnant wife here," he smiled gazing at Rory, she smiled, "I really love you," she grinned, both gazing into each other's eyes,
"Oh. Right away Sir…" she tried to regain her composure, he often mentioned his wife but she hadn't expected her to be so damn pretty, "Should I put it on your tab Sir?" she asked smiling at him and passing him the apple, not affording Rory a second glance,
"Um yeah," he said, still not looking at her but still staring at Rory,
"Have a good day Sir."
"I will," he grinned as the two of them walked out, him with his arm around her waist.
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Rory laid on the hospital bed as the doctor put the jell on her stomach,
"Please, he promised to be here? Just two more minutes?"
"I'm sorry Miss Gilmore, I can't wait any lon…" before the doctor could finish his sentence Logan burst through the door,
"I'm so sorry! I'm late I know but the nurse wouldn't let me through for some reason so we started arguing until I realised I…"
"Logan, you're here, that's all I need." She smiled, he kissed her.
"Can we start now?" the doctor smiled,
"Yeah, we're ready." They both replied. The doctor began moving the ultra sound device across her stomach,
"There, is your baby," he pointed to a small shape in the corner of the screen,
"She's definitely a mini you Ace,"
"Logan how can you tell that from a dot?"
"She's taken my breath away from the first moment I saw her," he grinned,
"Cheesey much?" she laughed
"Is cheesey bad?"
"No, I can handle cheesey," she smiled kissing him gently.
Author's Note: I'm such a soppy idiot for Rogan but who isn't? I am actually really loving this story now! The last scene was very cheesey and I know that but I couldn't resist and as Rory said, I can handle cheesey, it's better than absentee Logan. Thanks for the great response I got to chapter one. So many favourites and Followers to this that it really fuelled the writing so thank you so much guys. Reviews are always appreciated!
Shout Outs:
PuppiesRCute: Thank you for your responces to both this and 'Fool me once…'
lola1701: Things did look up for her! I'm just too big on the whole cheesey, romantic, gooey stuff.
xshynenstarx: As always thanks to you for the constructive criticism and your support in my other fanfic 'Fool me once' I promise to update it again soon. Did the ending give you the 'warm and fuzzies'? I hope so, my 'Hopeless Romantic' side kicked in and it just kept getting cheesier and gooier, it won't be an easy ride, of course I'm gonna have to throw in some drama to keep it exciting but who doesn't love some good Rogan Romance?
And thanks to my other reviewers, Followers and Favouriters, (is favouriters a word I don't think so but who cares).