CHAPTER FOUR
Logan
I rang the doorbell the next night. Rory opened it. I handed her one of my two flowers I brought.
"Hey Ace, this is for you" I told her
"Thank you Logan. It's beautiful. Come on in" Rory said, moving to let me in. "Cameron stop reading for a second. You have a guest" She called for Cameron, who was sitting on the couch reading.
"Who is it?" Cameron asked, not taking her eyes off of the book.
"She gets that from you, you know" I teased, earning a smack on my arm from Rory.
"Come over here Camie" Rory said
"In a minute" Cameron said stubbornly.
"And she gets that from you" Rory teased me right back. "Come on Cameron, put the book down" Cameron signed before putting the book down and joining Rory on the couch.
"Your the guy who was going to help me find Mommy" She said to me.
"Yeah I am"
Rory practically threw her back out advoiding eye contact with me.
"I brought you something Cameron" I handed her the flower.
"Thank you. I don't know your name" She said.
"My name is Logan Huntzberger" I told her.
"Huntzberger? That's my last name"
"Really?" I asked, shocked. I thought Rory would have use Gilmore like Lorelai had with her.
"Well, Gilmore-Huntzberger" I turned to Rory.
"It seemed right" Rory said. "Honey, come here." Cameron sat on Rory's lap and put her arm's around Rory's neck."Do you remember what Carol Jefferson said to you?"
"Yeah. She told me that I didn't have a Daddy because he didn't love me" I flinched. I was here now, that had to of counted for something.
"And what did I tell you?" Rory asked, it was obvious to me that Rory was going to tell Cameron that I was her Father.
"You told me that my Dad did love me very much and one day I would meet him and see"
"Did you believe me?" Rory said
"Of course I did"
"Good Honey, because this is you Dad" Rory said, gesturing to me. Cameron stared at me for a moment before hopping off Rory's lap and taking my hand.
"Want to see my room?" Cameron asked me and at that moment, there was nothing more important.
"Sure" I said, getting up and letting Cameron lead me to her room. About an hour later, I emerged from her room smiling. I had put my daughter to bed for the first time. There was nothing like watching that girl sleep. She looked exactly like Rory. I remember staying up to watch her sleep, memorizing her beauty. I went searching for Rory, who stayed out in the livingroom to work. I sat next to her on the couch.
"Is she asleep?" Rory asked me.
"Yeah, she is" I answered. "I told my parents"
"I can only imagine all the nice things they had to say about me" Rory said sarcastically, and it was true. I had flinched at what they had said.
"It was pretty bad" I admitted.
"I didn't expect anything else"
"Can you blame them? I mean, they just found out about their Grandaughter. Trust me, it takes a while to process"
"I understnad that, but not they have something against me, besides being too 'goal oriented'"
"Well it really does not matter what they think" She beamed at me.
"Good to hear. What did they say?"
"They want us, you me and Cameron to come to dinner on Saturday" I informed her.
"I don't know Logan. It wasn't very pleasent last time and Cameron is young. She won't understand the War of the Worlds scence going on"
"Are you comparing my parents to world destructing aliens Ace?" I laughed.
"Yes I am. I'm not far off either, make sure to sneeze around them, kill the virus before it spreads!" She exclaimed.
"They want to meet her, there isn't a way around this"
"Rory signed. "What time?"
"I'll pick you guys up at 6:30"
"We'll be ready" Rory told me and I got up to leave.
"Bye Ace"
"Bye Logan" I stalled for a second before closing the door behind me.
Rory
"Mommy this dress is itchy" Cameron told me for the 5th time that night.
"I know Hon, but you don't have to wear it for long"
"Where are we going?" I straightened her dress, wondering how I was ever going to survive this night.
I exhaled. "You are meeting your Dad's parents"
"So Dad is coming tonight?" Cameron asked, smiling.
"Yes. He will be here in a minute. Ok, time to go down the checklist" This was something we did before we went anywhere, because as Gilmores, we were intended to forget things from time to time. "Bag?" I called out.
"Check" Cameron added.
"Book?" I said, going through my mental list.
"Check"
"Where are my keys?" I said, feeling my coat pocket.
"On the couch"
"What about my cell phone?"
"On the coffee table" Cameron answered knowingly. She kept better track of my stuff than I did.
"That's my little genuis" I praised her.
"You looked beautiful Mommy" She told me and I smiled.
"Thank you Honey" The doorbell rang and Cameron ran to the door.
"Dad is here!" Cameron flung the door open and hugged Logan.
"You look pretty Cameron" Logan said before looking to me. "Wow" He said outloud, I was sure on purpose. I was wearing a classic 'Rory' dress, showing off my conservative taste while highlighting my curves I knew I had. I had spent a good hour picking out this dress, with my Mom's words rang in my mind about what wearing black meant exactly, I'm not sure why I picked this one, but I knew I wanted Logan to think about me the way he used to when we were in college.
"Are you ready to go or are we going to stand here reenacting The Little Match Girl?" I asked sarcastically.
"Let's go. I told my Mom we'd be there by 7:30." We drove in Logan's car to Hartford, arriving well past our expected time. I took notice to another car in the driveway, I recognized it immediantly.
"Honor is here?" I asked Logan, making sure of what I saw.
"Mom must of called her. She has a son now, you know"
"Really?" I said, not suprised. Honor and Josh always seemed like kid people.
"Yeah. He's two. Very rambunctious thing"
"Must be a male Huntzberger trait" I teased him.
"It mellows over the years"
"I'm sure" I said, helping Cameron out of the backseat.
"Come on Cammie." I held the girl's hand as Logan rang the doorbell. Honor flung the door open, followed closely by a small boy.
"Your never on time for anything." Honor said, hugging him. "Hi Rory, long time no see"
"Hey Honor." I said politely, thinking of how much she must hate me.
"Is this her?" Honor asked, refering to the blond girl honding mine and Logan's hand.
"Yes it is, Honor, I'd like you to meet Cameron Lorelai Gilmore-Huntzberger. Cameron, this is your Aunt Honor and your cousin Kyle" Logan introduced them and Honor hugged Cameron.
"Aren't you a pretty little thing" Honor cooed over Cameron. I smiled ackwardly, taking my coat off in the house I once found amazing.
"They are in the livingroom waiting for us to return, so we should really get in there" Honor suggested and Cameron tightened her grip on my hand. I knew she was nervous about this whole night, meeting her Grandparents for the first time. I stopped and kneeled down and both Logan and Honor were staring my me.
"This will only take a second" Honor shrugged and left for the livingroom and I noticed Logan stood where he was, continuing to watch us.
"Honey, I know you are a little nervous"
"Understatment" Loved her wordsmithing.
"Alright, very nervous, mondo nervous. Better?"
"Yeah, that's it"
"Everything will be fine. Trust me, just make it thought the night and tomorrow we will go shopping with Nana, how does that sound?"
"Like a plan" Cameron smiled and I moved the curls out of her face.
"Come on Munchkin. Ready?"
"As a tank diver"
"That's my girl. Come on" I stood up and took her hand then we walked into the livingroom where everyone was sitting quietly. We sat down.
"Mom, Dad, Grandpa, you remember Rory"
"I believe we do" Shira said.
"Yeah well, This is Cameron" Logan told them, putting his hand on the top of her head. I wished I had a camera to capture the smile on her face.
"So this is the child?" Elais said, not taking his eyes off of his drink.
"If by the child you mean my daughter, then yes, this is her" Logan told them.
"I'll be right now" Shira said, disapeering around the corner, she hasn't changed at all. She came back a moment later swatting the smoke away.
"How do you know that she is even yours Logan, have you thought about this at all?"
I couldn't believe that Elais would question his great Granddaughter's pedigree right in front of her.
"Kyle, Cameron, why don't we gfo play in the other room" Honor held out her hand to Cameron and I silently blessed her. Cameron took her hand after an encouraging nod from me.
"I have thought alot about this. Cameron is my daughter and i'm going to help raise her"
"We understnad that you feel strongly about this Logan, we just want you to be sure" Mitchum said and I tried to bite my tounge, this was absurd, they could talk about me and how I was unacceptable to be with Logan, but they couldn't talk about my daughter, questioning where she came from. How dare they think I cheated on Logan.
"Logan is Cameron's Father, as he would of found out if he got to stay in conneticut. So we can just stop debating her pedigree right now" I said, not being able to listen anymore. "You want to know her? That's fine. She is a really cook kid but you have to know that this is your Grandchild"
"I guess we should eat dinner" Shira said, distracting everybody and standing up.
Logan
I was driving Rory and Cameron home, looking in the backseat once in a while to see Cameron sleeping peacefully.
"She hasn't moved you know" Rory teased me.
"I know, I just..." I struggled for the words. I turned and looked at Rory, making eye contact for a second before she quickly looked away.
"Like to watch her, I understand that completely" I looked at Cameron in the rear view mirror once again and a guilty feeling came over me. I hardly knew anything about my daughter. I didn't know her birthday or if she had the chickenpox before or if she had lost any teeth or even her favorite fairy tale.
"Febuary 8, 2008" Rory said after a few minutes of silence.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"That's Cameron's birthday. I know you must be wondering"
"How did you know?" I asked, amazed by her clarvoyant abilities.
"Easy. I know you" She said, and I saw her trying not to smile. I thought about it.
"Febuary 8th, that's two weeks away" I pointed out.
"Is it?" Rory said, teasing me.
"What are we planning on doing?"
"We are having a birthday party at my apartment"
"Are you sure it's big enough?" I countered.
"It'll be fine" She smirked and laughed.
I signed. "I missed alot of her growing up"
"I know, but she's not exactly in college yet" She rested her chin against her palm.
"I missed you" I said, unsure why I said that.
"You did?" She asked me, sitting up.
"Yeah, I htought about you all the time"
"Logan..." She started to protest.
"I know I hurt you when I left Rory, but i'm here now" I tried not to sound too corney, but I knew that was how it was coming out.
"I'm not sure about this Logan, I have Cameron to think of"
"I'm her Father" I insisted. I pulled in front of her apartment and stopped. She didn't move.
"That she has known for a week"
"It wasn't my choice not to know her" I said, instantly regretting it. She got out of the car silently, getting the sleeping girl from the backseat and carrying her to her room, she had yet to say anything or even look my way. I knew I struck a cord. I walked to the door but stopped. I couldn't leave things like this, not if I wasnted a fighting chance in hell with her. I turned around and saw she was reading on the couch.
"I'm sorry" I told her sincerly.
"I know you are" She said, not taking her eyes off the cook but obviously not reading. I was unsure of what to say, Ace always left me toungetied.
"I'm not saying never Logan, I just saying give me time to figure this out" I accepted it, it wasn't a no and I wasn't giving up anytime soon. She got up and walked me to the door. "Goodnight"
"Goodnight Ace" I told her, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek.