Chapter Twenty Eight
"Rory It's a surprise I'm not telling you where we're going." Robert told her. They had been on the road for a really long time and Rory had been complaining nonstop about the blindfold. When she fell asleep for about an hour and half he was thankful because if she continued to pout he would have given in.
"Ask Logan how much I hate blindfolds Robert." Rory said crankily
"That sounds strangely kinky." Robert said smirking at her
"It's not. I had to wear a blindfold for the Life and Death Brigade event. I hate blindfolds." Rory said reaching up to pull it off.
Robert's hand jerked up to hers. "No. Leave it on. Let me surprise you." Robert said softly pulling her hand down with his entwining their fingers.
Rory went silent and her whole body tensed as he held her hand, but Robert didn't notice. He had kissed her goodnight or goodbye before but he had never held her hand. It felt wrong. It felt like it wasn't supposed to be happening. Rory pulled her hand away gently so it didn't seem abrupt and ran it through her hair. Her brain was working on overdrive trying to find out what to do with her hand so that it was occupied and unavailable for holding, but couldn't come up with anything. Robert was reaching for her hand again when her phone rang. Thank you Rory said to herself and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She couldn't see the caller id so she just answered it. "Hello."
"Fruit of my loins."
"Hey Mom."
"Whatcha doing?" Lorelai asked
"Sitting next to some strange guy while being blindfolded."
"Kinky."
"Funny mom."
"So you and Logan playing dress up or something."
"I'm not with Logan."
"Tell Mommy you aren't with Robert." Lorelai said pleading
"I am."
"Rory, honey you have to end this. This is going to blow up in your face. You do realize that you are dating Robert right."
"No I'm not."
"Yes kiddo you are. You are dating Robert."
"Well you liked him didn't you?"
"No. I liked Finn. Date Finn."
"Why would I go out with Finn?" Rory said noticing that Robert's head whip around and face her
"Because I like him."
"I couldn't date Finn even if I wanted to."
"And why is that?"
"It's against the rules."
"What rules?" Robert asked
"Ooo Mommy's gotta go… talk to you later hun." Lorelai said and hung up
Rory sighed and hung up her phone. "What?" she asked even though she knew what he had said
"I said what rules?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You told you mom you couldn't go out with Finn because it was against the rules. We don't have rules, so what rules."
"Oh, mine and Logan's rules." Rory said softly
"You and Logan have rules?"
"Yes."
"I thought it was just a no-strings attached relationship."
"It is."
"So why are there rules?" Robert asked stopping the car "You can take your blindfold off now."
Rory quickly discarded the blindfold and looked around. "Where are we?"
"There's a clearing over there. I thought a picnic would be good. Plus we could talk."
"How far away from Yale are we?" Rory asked remembering that they had been in the car for a really long time.
"Pretty far." Robert said nonchalantly
Rory sighed. He took her hand again and pulled her towards the clearing.
xxxxxx
Logan was jealous and he was freely admitting it now. "Where is she?"
"How should I know?"
"I don't know."
"Logan, what's going on with you?" Stephanie asked
"She's dating Robert."
"She's dating you too Logan."
"And she's dating Robert." Logan pointed out again
"Well if she was only dating you then you two would be in an exclusive relationship, and that's not what you want is it?"
Logan didn't say a word.
His silence spoke louder than anything. "You do? You want an exclusive relationship with Rory Gilmore." When Logan still didn't say anything she smiled. "It's about damn time."
"What?"
"It's about time. We were all waiting for this."
"For what?"
"For you to realize that you wanted only her."
xxxxxx
The picnic went rather well. Robert hadn't attempted to ask her about Logan again and the talking that he suggested hadn't come up. But Rory knew that it wouldn't be much longer before they would have to talk. Her mom was right. She was dating Robert and she hadn't even noticed it. And she felt bad too because she didn't want to be dating Robert. She wanted to be dating Logan. The whole thing had just gotten out of hand. She had planned on ending everything with Robert but then the whole fight thing happened and she felt bad and now she was dating him. She was running out on Logan to spend time with Robert. That wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. She wasn't aware that she had been so silent for so long until Robert tapped her on her hand.
"Penny for your thoughts."
"Is that all my thoughts are worth to you?" Rory asked coyly
"Thousands of dollars for your thoughts." Robert tried again
Rory nodded and smiled. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Are you just using me to try to get at Logan?"
"Why would you think that?"
"It's just you know how much it irritates Logan that I'm with you right now and you tend to rub it in his face."
"I'm not using you Rory. I like you." Robert said honestly. "It may have started out like that, but it's not like that now. I really do like you."
"Are we dating?"
"I like to think we are."
"You do realize that I'm still dating Logan right?"
Robert looked slightly annoyed. "We seem to come back to Logan a lot. When's the last time you and Logan went out?"
"I don't know last week I think." Rory offered lamely, "I haven't really been available. You took up most of my time, and I left him today to come out with you."
"I bet he was thrilled." Robert said sarcastically
"He looked hurt." Rory said softly so that Robert didn't hear her, but he did.
"He'll get over it. I'm sure he called someone else on his speed dial and is having a special night right now."
Rory looked mad and Robert noticed it. "That's not fair. What would you have done if I hadn't agreed to come with you and stayed with Logan?"
"I wouldn't have replaced you right away like that. I would have been upset."
"And he was. Make no mistake about this. Me and You, Robert we aren't in an exclusive relationship. I am with Logan too. I may go out with you occasionally but I go out with him too. I care about him, and I refuse to listen to you bad mouth him while he's not here to defend himself. It's not right."
"Why not you can just defend him and it'll be like he's here with us." Robert said loudly
"I don't want to fight with you." Rory said standing up and walking away from him
"Where are you going!" He yelled after her
"Home."
"You don't even know where you are." Robert said when he caught up to her
"I don't care I'll find a way."
"Come on let's just go back to the picnic blanket and we can talk."
"If you yell at me again. I swear I am out of here." Rory said walking back towards the blanket knowing that he would yell again and she would leave, but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
xxxxxx
The phone in Logan's dorm was ringing. He ignored it for a long time since Finn was closer to it, but when Finn showed no desire to answer the phone he sighed and walked over to it. "Hello."
All he heard was sobbing.
"Hello?"
"Finn?"
Logan recognized the crackling voice as Rory's and was immediately worried. "No Ace, its Logan. What's wrong?"
" I…need…to…talk…to…Finn." Rory said between sobs
"Ace, just tell me what's wrong why are you crying?" Logan said loudly
"I…Want…To…Talk…To…Finn!" Rory said forcefully
"Ace!""Logan damn it let me talk to Finn!"
Logan looked at Finn who had an extremely worried look on his face and handed him the phone. "She wants to talk to you."
Finn took the phone and Logan looked over at Colin. "So help me God if that bastard hurt her I am going to kill him!" Logan yelled and walked out the door.
Colin looked back at Finn. "You need to go after him, if he sees Robert he won't even give him a chance to talk. And this could have nothing to do with Robert anyway." Finn told him. Colin nodded and ran out after Logan
"Rory? Doll what's wrong."
"He left me here."
"Who left you where luv?"
"Robert. He left me here. We were talking and we got in a fight and he left me."
"Where are you?"
"I…don't…know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I…was…blindfolded."
Finn ran his hand through his hair. "How far away are you? Do you know?"
"Pretty far. We were in the car for hours."
"Ok, luv. I'll call you back on my cell ok. I'm coming to get you…"
"Just you right?"
"Yeah. Logan's not here anymore. My guess is that he is headed over to Robert's right now. But since Robert's not home yet… never mind. I'll call you right back."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Finn said hanging up. He dialed Colin's cell number which was immediately answered.
"Is she ok?"
"They went out and he abandoned her. They got in a fight and he just left her. I gotta go and get her."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know." Finn admitted
"What do you mean you don't know? How are you going to get there then? She didn't tell you where she was?"
"She couldn't."
"Why?" Colin asked starting to worry
"She doesn't know." Finn admitted
"She doesn't know? How is that possible?"
"She was blindfolded the whole time. Where's Logan?"
"About twenty feet in front of me. I'm trailing him, but I don't want to approach him yet. He's still really angry. When he finds this out he's going to kill him."
"Which is why you are there. To stop him until I can get there to help." Finn said. Hearing his cell phone ring he told Colin to hold on and answered it. "Hello."
"Please tell me you are going to get my baby." Lorelai said crying
"Yes Lorelai, I'm going to get her as soon as I can find her."
"I was going to get her but I wouldn't even know where to begin…"
"I'm going to try a few of the LDB spots we use. I swear to you I'm going to find her." Finn said trying to reassure her and not even caring that he shouldn't be talking about the Life and Death Brigade with her.
"Find my baby Finn. I swear I am going to kill that boy. I knew this was going to blow up in her face."
"Lore, you don't have to worry about killing him. Logan will do it the second he sees him and he doesn't even know what Robert did. All he knows is that Robert made her cry. But Lore if I'm going to find her I need to get off the phone and start making calls."
"Call me when you find her." Lorelai said trying her hardest to be strong and not cry again
"I will." He said hanging up. "Colin, you there?"
"Yeah. Was that Rory's mom?"
"She's freaking out." Finn said. After a long pause he added. "I'm freaking out. I don't even know where to start looking."
"Call Robert." Colin said
"Well now that's the obvious answer isn't it. Hold on a second." He said dialing Robert's number. The phone rang four times before he answered.
"Goodbye Finn."
"Don't you dare hang up on me you son of a bitch where is she?" Finn yelled
"Why should I tell you? I should let her precious boyfriend Logan find her." Robert said hanging up
"Bloody hell the bastard hung up on me." Finn said to Colin.
"Ok let's think this can't be too hard. I mean they were in the car for a couple of hours right?"
"Right."
"Ok so let's assume he didn't go south since we have nothing south until you get towards the Carolina's."
"That leaves New York, since Maine and Vermont are too far." Finn said
"We have like four different places in New York. How are you going to narrow it down?"
"I'm going to call the bastard back."
"OK." Colin said
Finn dialed the number again and Robert answered it. "She's in New York."
"Where in New York!" Finn demanded
"The clearing we used for the fourth last year."
"You are a bastard you know that right?"
"Whatever you say. I don't care. Tell Logan he can have her. I'm done with her."
"Well yeah cause after you abandon her in a place where she has no clue where she at, I'm sure she'd still call you to go out. Get over yourself." Finn yelled into the phone and hung up.
"I found her. She's at the clearing we used for the fourth last night." Finn told Colin.
"She must be terrified Finn. It's getting dark and it'll be late before you get there."
"I know. I gotta go."
"Bye."
Finn hung up the phone, grabbed his cell and ran out the door. He got to his SUV and dialed her number. "I found you. I'm on my way."
AN: OK so how much are we all hating Robert right now…and I know most of you are thinking it should be Logan looking for her but if Logan's looking for her then how can he have the confrontation with Robert… so bare with me here. I have a plan… read and review…