Chapter 7
"So that's Kilimanjaro?" she asked, head cocked, looking up at the snow-topped mountain.
"Yup, that's Kilimanjaro," he confirmed.
"Okay, so color me confused," she began. "How are we going to do anything beyond maybe a week's worth of stories here? We can do a day, maybe two, on how the base area is being deforested; then a day of us climbing the actual mountain, which, with me involved, might be more comedy routine than hard news story - I'm still not the most outdoorsy person ever born; then a day or two on temperatures at the peak. That's the entire story, right?"
"Yeah, that's the entire story," he agreed.
"That's more like a 60 Minutes segment, not a multi-week, ongoing story," she reasoned. "There's just not enough here for us to report on to make this story last for three or four weeks."
"I got it, Ace," he said, blowing air out of his mouth and running his hands through his hair.
"There's no reason to take that sort of tone," she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest, looking over at him from under her bangs. "We're not having a fight here, so don't get mad at me for pointing out an obvious flaw in this plan."
"I'm not mad at you," he returned, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm just…this was my idea, and you're right - this isn't the kind of story we should be covering. I'm irritated with myself for suggesting it. There's not enough meat, not enough there."
"Hey," she said softly, pulling him down to sit on the bench next to her, pulling his hand into her lap. "It's no one's fault; we're both learning here. We're going to make mistakes."
"Yeah, I know we're going to make mistakes," he nodded, obviously not buying her reasoning. "But I should have known that this wasn't a good idea. Not that there's no story here, because there is. But there's not enough of one to warrant the type of coverage we plan on giving. I should have known that, I've been working in an international newsroom for the past year.
"Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and the Palestinians - that's long term. Moscow - there's always something going wrong in Russia or one of the old Soviet satellites. China and Taiwan - there's always something bubbling there, saber rattling and such. Japan, China, and North Korea, not that we could get in to cover that, but the Dear Leader is always threatening someone. Rwanda, that's not very far from here, Darfur. Those are big, ongoing stories that we can cover."
"You want us to cover Rwanda?" she asked, slightly uncomfortable.
"No, not really - at least not at this point," he shook his head. "Though it's not a bad idea if we wanted to spend several months there once we really know what we're doing. I'm just saying I should have known this wasn't a big enough story for us."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Like we said before, we're learning here," she said, twining one of her hands with his and running the other hand through his hair from the base of his skull, massaging as she went. "I think we should go inside, unpack, find something to eat, and then maybe call it a night. We'll figure out what to do with the rest of our time here - I know we will."
"Actually," he said, looking out at the mountain, "I heard the driver telling one of the other people in the Range Rover today that the elephant population has really increased since the outlawing of the international ivory trade."
"That's cool," she agreed, standing to pull him inside their hut. "I would have thought a black market would have cropped up to fill the gap or compensate for the legal trade."
"True," he granted, following behind her. "That would seem logical. Maybe I should do some research after we get back from dinner."
"Let me go ahead and check our email, then you can use the computer we have already unpacked, later," she said, going through to the bedroom of their hut, where their bags were, taking the laptop out of sleep, and heading out to the living area. "Oh look, email from Mom," Rory announced excitedly after a couple of minutes.
"Didn't she have a date with Luke last night?" he called out from the bedroom, thinking he remembered her mentioning something like that.
"Yes, she did," she confirmed.
"How did it go?" he asked, coming to stand behind her and read along.
"Looks like it went really well," she said, scanning through the email quickly. "They had sex. Well I'm assuming here, but he stayed over, she's light on the details."
"Okay, so leaving out the fact that I can't imagine having this sort of conversation with my mother , "pretty much…ever," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders, and leaning into her while reading what she was telling him about. "Didn't you tell me they slept together on their first date before?" he inquired.
"Yeah," she acknowledged, "but this hasn't been anything like then, you know that. It took him eight years just to work up the nerve to ask her out, and all summer to get over their fight after Jess and I were in a car crash where I fractured my arm, now it's taken him a year and a couple of months to forgive her. That's not even taking into account everything else that lead up to what happened. That's pretty good, I'd say," she said, looking up over her shoulder at him.
"You're right," he nodded. "That is pretty good, probably better than we expected. Tell her I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her, for me, will ya?"
"I will," she affirmed with a nod. "Oh, and she's going shopping for apartments for us this weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. That should be interesting."
"I guess Richard got the money from Dad, then?"
"Looks like it," Rory replied. "She says she should have some pictures for us to look at on Sunday."
"Well tell her I'm looking forward to that - I want a blow-by-blow. Include that along with giving her my best."
"I shall. You know, you could write her a note yourself - it's not written anywhere that I have to act as intermediary," she smiled over her shoulder."
"Okay," he returned, a mix of surprise and skepticism in his voice.
"You don't have to," she rushed to assure him, not wanting him to feel like she was pressuring him to have a closer relationship with her mother. "You can think about it while we go get some dinner. I'm starving."
"Write now, I have other things I want to do when we get back," he replied suggestively, kissing her neck.
"I thought you were going to research the ivory trade when we got back," she laughed.
"I can do that tomorrow," he murmured, nibbling the skin above her clavicle. "I'd rather continue my ongoing research project on my favorite subject tonight."
"Oh," she sighed. "And what would that be?" she asked breathily.
"Mmmm, you," he chuckled, distracted by her rumbling stomach. "Let's get you fed, so I can continue my research."
"Gilmores were not made for the great outdoors," she whined, taking off her boots and socks to inspect her blisters.
"You're a Huntzberger as well now, and Huntzbergers are outdoorsy," he replied as he came into the tent.
"I'm just a Huntzberger by marriage; all my genes are Gilmore!" she groused. "A sense of adventure isn't in the Gilmore DNA."
"I have met your mother, don't forget," he chuckled. "And your family came over on the Mayflower if I recall, so at least one of your ancestors had a sense of adventure."
"Oh yes, make light of my situation. Some husband you are," she continued to bellyache. "And I would say the Gilmore sense of adventure wasn't too great, since we didn't make it further west than Connecticut. My mother ran away from home with me and only made it thirty miles," she continued, gingerly peeling the socks off her battered feet. "Some sense of adventure the recent generations have had!"
"Sometimes all that's needed is adventure in one's mind," he said, looking over his shoulder from where he was rummaging around in his backpack. "I'm trying to see if we have the necessary items in the first-aid kit to lance the blisters, disinfect and dress your feet."
"Lance the blisters?" she repeated, her voice rising in obvious distress. "There will be no lancing - that's disgusting. Logan, stay away from me!"
"How are you feeling?" he asked, plopping down to sit next to where she was paddling her feet in the wading pool outside the main mess hall of the safari camp where they were staying.
"My feet are on fire, but this feels really good," she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder. "The camp nurse told me I should stay off them for a couple of days, try not to dress them, so they could begin to heal, and she gave me some salve that will help them heal and keep them disinfected."
"Well, good. I know you feel helpless, and I'm sure you hate it," he returned. "But hey," he continued, tapping her thigh, "I do have some good news."
"What? I could use some," she complained.
"It looks like the real estate shopping trip went really well. We got three different emails from Richard, Emily, and Lorelai about what they saw."
"All of them?" she asked, amusement in her voice.
"Yeah, pictures from your mom; measurements, specs, repairs, and work she thinks need to be done from Emily; and history, prices, property values, insurance, and crime rates from Richard. Pretty much covering everything we could need."
"I want to see," she whined. "You've seen already, I should get to as well! You should have brought the laptop out here."
"Then I would have had to get you and the laptop back to the hut. It's much easier to just get you back."
"Well how is that going to happen?" she asked, looking around for someone to carry her back to their hut.
"I'm going to carry you," he replied.
"You can't carry me," she shook her head. "I weigh too much."
"You do not weigh too much," he laughed. "Plus, I wasn't planning on carrying you in my arms. I thought we could try piggy-back - it sounds much easier. Here, stand on this clean towel, then I can pull you up on my back," he suggested, helping her swing her legs around and pull her up. "Are you ready?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Yeah," she squeaked nervously.
"I swear I'm not going to drop you. If I do, you can file divorce papers tomorrow," he reassured over his shoulder.
"Okay, get my salve first, then I'll climb on, and you can hand it back to me," she directed, waiting for him to follow her instructions before slowly climbing on his back.
"Are you comfortable?" he asked, trying to adjust her to where he felt she was secure. "Is my butt big enough that you're not going to just slip off?"
"I do think your butt is sufficiently big enough that I'm not going to fall off. I guess you can call me Sir Mix-A-Lot, cause I like 'em big. Giddy up," she laughed, slapping her hand down across his chest.
"Are you going to make it?" she asked after about fifty yards, as he began to slow down and weave as if he were losing his balance and momentum, her voice obviously worried. "Should I start yelling for someone to come help us?" she continued, looking around frantically.
"Just let me concentrate, you…maybe you…weigh…," he gritted out.
"Logan…Logan…," she started turning her head frantically looking for someone to help him.
"Ha! I got ya!" he laughed, and adjusted her position on his back.
"Logan!" she exclaimed in outrage.
"Oh please, Ace," he rebuked, throwing her a smirk over his shoulder. "'I weigh too much,' what am I, Richard's age? I can't carry my wife fifty yards?"
"I'm not a size zero you know," she pouted. "or Juliet. I do eat."
"I'm very aware of your eating habits," he grinned, pausing to better adjust her once they got the stairs of their hut, having her balance on the post. "You've got some beautiful curves that I love. I wouldn't want you to be a stick; it wouldn't be as fun. I like the curves, remember that. It is hot and humid here, which I'm not used to. I need a drink when we get inside, but other than that, I'm fine," he reassured, breathing a bit hard. After a few moments, he adjusted her and continued inside, dropping her in a chair at the table before heading over to the counter to get a bottle of water.
"Okay, should we salve your feet before we look at everything?" he asked once he finished his drink and joined her at the table.
"I guess we should, but I want to see the apartments!" she replied eagerly.
"Hold on a sec, I'll go get the laptop out of the bedroom - that's where I was looking at the emails," he said, getting up and heading that direction, "then I can doctor your feet while you look at the apartments. Here you go," he finished, laying one of their laptops down on the table in front of her.
"You just need to put some of it on all the affected and open areas. She already told me it was going to sting," she told him, peaking through her fingers, which were covering her face, not wanting to watch as he opened the jar and pulled her abused feet toward him. "Oh, oh, oh," she sang out as her feet reacted to the first of the salve hitting them, her breath whooshing into her mouth.
"I'm going as fast as I can," he tried to reassure her, quickly switching feet.
"I don't think the speed, or lack thereof is, the problem here; it just stings," she gritted out.
"Okay, all done," he told her, putting the lid back on the jar.
"This is the weirdest sensation," she said after a moment. "One second it stings like crazy, the next it feels like there are icepacks on my feet, the next like someone stuck them in an oven."
"Are you going to be alright?"
"I have to be - I can't cut off my feet," she replied smartly.
"You're going to be fine - your sarcasm has returned," he laughed. "Since I can stop worrying about you and the fate of your abused feet for a moment, let's look for a place to live."
They looked at the emails sent by her family for an hour, debating the pros and cons of all four, settling on two they preferred. Both were warehouse style lofts, similar to their apartment in New Haven, but not quite as open, and each had two real bedrooms and baths. Once they had narrowed it down they sent an email to Richard asking for him to have those two inspected by one of his assessors, and another to Lorelai to send them more pictures, and one more to ask all three of them if they would look one more time to make sure they had found everything available in the price range they were looking in.
"Hey, you look tired," he said after they had finished emailing back various Gilmores. "Do you want to go ahead and go to bed?"
"I don't want to go to bed too…" she tried to beg off, not succeeding as she began to yawn. "I guess you're right."
"Come on," he encouraged, cupping her cheek. "I'll get you to bed, then I'll find something to eat. I'll keep something for you too, if you wake up and are hungry," he said, swinging her up in his arms, quickly moving into the bedroom and depositing her on the bed. "Comfy?" he asked once he had pulled the sheets off the bed and then settled it back down on top of her, moving to arrange the mosquito netting around her so her sleep wouldn't be disturbed. She was already asleep.
"Sleep well, Ace," he whispered, brushing her cheek with a kiss and gently pulling the rubber band holding up her ponytail out of her hair.
"Oh my God!" Logan exclaimed, throwing down the bags he was carrying and quickly moving to where Rory was lying on the floor. "I left explicit instructions with the people in charge of the camp to come look in on you regularly so something like this wouldn't happen," he continued, his voice laced with worry, beginning to check her body for injuries. "What happened?"
"Logan," Rory tried to interrupt.
"What hurts?" he kept going.
"Logan," she tried again, a bit firmer.
"Where are you bleeding?" he ignored her.
"Logan!" she finally yelled.
"What?" he looked up, his face filled with confusion.
"I'm fine," she said, once he was focused on her, and then started to giggle at the situation.
"What?" he asked, annoyed at her amusement.
"I'm fine," she repeated, taking a moment to get herself under control. "I asked the woman that comes by to have Keno and another guide come by to help me get down here. I'm doing the breathing exercises that you found for me to do to try to change the pitch of my voice."
"Oh," he replied sheepishly.
"Yeah, oh," she chuckled. "Remember I have to lie down on the floor to do them."
"Well yeah," he returned, "but you hadn't been injured when you were doing them before this."
"I know," she smiled, lifting a hand to brush his dirty cheek. "It's sweet how worried you were about me."
"Well, I've grown a little attached to ya, Ace," he smiled, turning to kiss her palm.
"Mom, thank goodness," Rory whined in relief.
"Rory?" Lorelai answered. "Is that you?"
"Yes, unless you've acquired another daughter in the last couple of months, it's me," she continued whining.
"What's wrong? Married life already bottomed out?" Lorelai teased.
"No, Logan's wonderful," Rory sighed. "He's out looking at elephant populations today, while I'm stuck at the hut nursing massive blisters on about two-thirds of my feet."
"You're what?" Lorelai gasped.
"The day we climbed Kilimanjaro?" Rory asked.
"Yeah," Lorelai replied.
"Well the whole 'Gilmores aren't made for strenuous activities' came back and bit me in the ass," Rory explained, "or maybe the feet. I ended the day with horrible blisters on about half of the bottoms of my feet. Then because there was no other way to get down, other than walk, I had to suck it up and make it all the way back down, ending up with about seventy percent of the bottoms of my feet covered in huge blisters. I haven't really been able to walk in a couple of days."
"Oh my God, Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"
"Yeah, it just sucks," Rory, replied, feeling better just talking to her mother. Logan had suggested it early that morning when he had left with the guide, and she had waited till she thought Lorelai might be home from work to call. "I can't get around, so there's a woman that comes by every hour or so to make sure I have anything I need, and Logan's taking really good care of me, but I couldn't really walk for three days and it's still hard to get around, and I can't do much anyway since they don't want me to get an infection. Mostly I just feel like an idiot."
"If I've told you once, if I've told you a million times, Gilmores were not made for arduous activity," Lorelai sympathized.
"I know, but I feel like an idiot," Rory started whining again. "I didn't get sick, or even something that Logan can freak out about and get super over protective, like getting pregnant; I have blisters that have made me immobile."
"Well thank goodness you're not pregnant," Lorelai laughed.
"I know," Rory agreed. "I'm not complaining - well I am - but I just feel like a baby. And now for the last few days, Logan's had to do all the work."
"You're not able to do anything?" Lorelai queried. "I thought you did the vocal track the last couple of days, and the blog entries for the last few days have your signature on them. Is that footage old?"
"I've done some editing and the voice work," Rory clarified, "so Logan doesn't have to do everything, but I still feel like I'm being a burden. He's dead tired every night when he gets back."
"Not that I'm one that can give any sort of relationship advice," Lorelai chuckled, "particularly marital advice, but it would seem to me that part of being in a partnership, one that works at least, which yours and Logan's seems to, is that sometimes one of you has to pick up the slack when the other one can't handle things. He's just filling in for you while you're not able to help out. Just like Arnold you'll be back, and I know he knows that."
"I know," Rory agreed. "I know you're right, but I feel still feel like an idiot. And I feel guilty when he gets back and is so tired."
"Oh honey," Lorelai replied.
"Okay, I have to stop; I didn't call you to whine. I was hoping to get cheered up. Things are going well with Luke?" Rory emphatically changed the subject.
"You know what, they are," Rory was grateful that Lorelai was letting her steer the conversation; plus, the excitement in her voice was proof that there were recent developments that Rory didn't know yet. "I was going to email you tonight; we had dinner with Anna and April last night."
"Mom, that's awesome!" Rory exclaimed. "Or at least I think it's awesome. How did that happen? Last time around he didn't want you to meet her."
"I told him that if we're going to make this work then things can't be kept in boxes. We're either a part of one another's lives or not. He had to choose," Lorelai said, her smile evident in her voice – it had been missing for so long. "It was a conversation we probably should have had right after he had found out about April, but it's better late than never. He chose us. He talked to Anna; they'd hammered out a visitation schedule several months ago, and he told her he was April's father, she had kept that from him for years, and the fact that he wasn't included in decisions about her wasn't his fault, but everything wasn't just her decision, it's both of theirs."
"Mom, wow," Rory grinned, though she knew her mother couldn't see her, "that's amazing."
"Yeah, a complete and total turn around," Lorelai agreed. "I was floored when he suggested us all having dinner together, but it all worked out. We actually got along really well."
"It's not like April is a little girl anymore really - she's what, fourteen?" Rory pointed out.
"Yeah, she is, so it's not like when she was little," Lorelai agreed. "I'm just relieved it went well, and that Luke actually listened to me when I told him we had to do this differently this time if we're going to make this work."
"Well the one thing I learned, probably Logan and I both learned, while he was in London was that if we're going to make it we have to talk to each other, to communicate," Rory said, trying to impart some of what she had learned during her relationship with Logan, hoping it would help. She wanted nothing more than for her mother to be happy. "I know that sounds easy at times, but it's not. But it was all we could do last year; so we got good at it. No matter how much we missed each other, we got through it by telling each other everything. We became much better friends while he was away. If I could say there's one magic pill for a good relationship, it would be communicating, even when it hurts, or even if you think it's trivial."
"This is pretty sad," Lorelai laughed. "I'm probably getting the best relationship advice of my entire life from my twenty-two year old daughter."
"Your twenty-two year old, happily married daughter," Rory replied cheekily.
"Rub it in, why don't ya," Lorelai shot back. "You are still in the honeymoon phase, you do know that."
"I know," Rory agreed. "But I also know that we both learned a lot while Logan was away. That was when we learned how to make the relationship work, not just be in love with each other - they are different, you know."
"I'm learning," Lorelai chuckled.
"Well, love makes you want to work through the problems," Rory returned. "Because they do happen. That's the great thing about finding someone that loves you - really loves you. He wants to work through things, instead of running away. Or at least that's Logan's way of doing things - he's not one to run away, at least not from me. I, apparently, do not scare him."
"You are a sea of normalcy," Lorelai replied.
"Oh please," Rory laughed. "I'm your daughter, normalcy isn't part of the package; quirks, however, are.
"Before we need to go I wanted to ask you about the apartments," Rory continued, changing the subject. "Have you been back?"
"We're going on Sunday, so day after tomorrow," Lorelai returned. "I really like the one in the Meatpacking district."
"That's the one we're leaning toward," Rory agreed. "There's that little room or alcove at one end of the main room, which we thought we could make that a small study or library."
"I forgot to send you pictures of them, but the master bathroom and closet are to die for in that one," Lorelai replied. "They're kinda similar to what you and Logan's apartment in New Haven had."
"I loved the closet, dressing room, and bathroom there - I felt like Oprah or Imelda Marcos," Rory giggled.
"Well, if you like the pictures, your grandfather is putting a bid in on it at the beginning of next week. He had it inspected and thinks it's in fabulous shape. He also found out it has access to a roof garden," Lorelai elaborated. "But the thing is, it's currently the property of the Federal Government - it was confiscated in some sort of tax fraud case, so it's listed at far below market value, and your grandfather has an inside track on it, since his firm is somehow involved in the whole mess - I think they own the insurance policy on the building or something like that."
"Oh that's handy," Rory returned.
"Yeah it is, so they have right of first refusal, I think," Lorelai continued. "Also, I was going to tell you, your father wanted me to let you know that if you don't have enough left over, or if you end up needing something extra, he would cover it. But he wanted to let you know that anything you need for furnishings, furniture, bedding, whatever, he would be happy to help out. And of course I'm more than happy to shop for you so you have a fully furnished home to come back to."
"Tell him thank you, though I'm not sure how much we'll need," Rory replied. "You know you can tell him he's free to email us any time he wants, I know he's sometimes hesitant about it, but it's not like we'd ignore him, he has dropped emails to the site, just not to us.
"Anyway, we have all our stuff that's in storage from the old apartment, and then we have all the stuff we got as wedding gifts - dishes, crystal, weird lamps, and hat racks. We'll probably need furniture for the second bedroom, but that's about it. Maybe a new couch - I'm not wild about our yellow one, but don't tell Logan."
"Haha!" Lorelai chortled. "Things aren't quite as perfect as you try to make them seem between the two of you!"
"Oh, please," Rory laughed. "Just because I don't always like Shira's taste one-hundred percent of the time does not mean we're having problems. But do tell Dad we'll keep his offer in mind, and tell him thank you."
"Well, he wants to help out, since he found out what your grandfather and Mitchum are doing," Lorelai explained.
"Speaking of Mitchum, have any of you heard from him?" Rory asked.
"No," Lorelai assured. "I know your grandparents have seen him and Shira at the club a couple of times, and out at some charity and DAR events, but nothing has come up. Either he doesn't know, or if he does he's not saying anything."
"Honor's said pretty much the same thing - she thinks he doesn't know yet," Rory replied nervously. She and Logan were both very worried about his father finding out about their venture. It had already been nine weeks since they launched, and they had assumed that Mitchum Huntzberger would have learned something about it by now.
"Well, kid, Honor's probably going to know more than any of us, since she has to deal with them more," Lorelai pointed out.
"Oh we know; I was just wondering," Rory returned.
"I don't want to, since it's been so long since we've spoken, but I should probably go. This has to be costing a fortune," Lorelai reluctantly pointed out.
"I know," Rory halfheartedly agreed. "Actually, we've been using google chat to talk to Honor and Josh, you should download the program, we could talk whenever we're both able to that way."
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai returned, confusion lacing her voice.
"Your email is through google, gmail. Right?" Rory asked.
"Yeah." Lorelai confirmed.
"Well there's the google chat function, we've used it before, remember?" Rory continued.
"Yes, the iming thingy," Lorelai acknowledged.
"Well there's a chatting or voice version of it too. You have to download the program, but it doesn't cost anything really," Rory explained. "We use it pretty regularly to talk to Honor and Josh."
"Oh, well you know I'm a technotard, I have no idea how to do anything, so I'm sure I'll just frak it up," Lorelai asked. "Remember I waited till you could help me to learn about downloading music."
"True, okay," Rory agreed. "One of us will put it on your computer when we're home for the holidays. Then you'll be all set up once we leave again. So back to this costing a fortune, I really should go, I'm so glad I got to talk to you, though."
"I am too, kid - I miss ya," Lorelai said, sadness obvious in her voice.
"I miss you too Mom, I'm glad things are going well, though," Rory replied.
"I am too. I'll email you as soon as I get back and have the pictures to upload to an email, and I'll keep you informed about your grandfather's negotiations for the apartment," Lorelai returned. "Take care of yourself, take care of your feet."
"I will," Rory chuckled.
"Give Logan my love," Lorelai continued. "I love ya, kid, as much as I miss you too."
"I love you too, Mom, bye."
"Sir, I think you should look at this," Harris said nervously, entering his boss's office.
"What is it?" Mitchum replied impatiently. "I have a plane to catch to Toronto; I don't have time to waste."
"I think you'll want to make time for this, sir," Harris replied, moving around his boss's desk. "You already shut down your computer, so I'll just show you on the one in my office. It's called ."
"I don't care about little internet startups," Mitchum interrupted, his annoyance obvious, but he followed his assistant out to his office anyway. "There were zillions of internet startups a few years ago, then the dot com bust happened, and they were all looking for work."
"That's not exactly what this is. You're going to want to…"
"Is that my daughter-in-law?" Mitchum barked, pointing at the video feed of Rory bending over an open grave in India.
"Yes sir, it is," Harris confirmed.
"What the hell?" Mitchum snarled. "Where's my son?"
"He's on some of these as well," Harris replied uneasily.
"What the fuck is going on?" Mitchum yelled, hand slamming down on the desk. "I can't stay here, I have to get to this conference in Toronto, but find out everything you can about that site, what they're doing, where their financing is coming from, what company their server is on. It doesn't matter how trivial you might think it is, if it has to do with this site, I want to know. Logan might think he's pulled one over on me, but I've got a different story for him, he won't be getting away with this!"
"Look, lions!" Rory pointed.
"And tigers, and bears," Logan laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Shut up," she pouted, sticking her tongue out at him and lightly slapping his stomach. "Those are real lions."
"And giraffes," he said, directing her gaze.
"Oh my gosh, those are real giraffes!" she sang. "I've seen them before, but only in a zoo, which isn't the same. And zebras!" she clapped. "And ostrich!"
"Just wait till we get to the watering hole and you see the hippos, elephants and gnu," he laughed happily at her childlike wonder, thankful she was feeling well enough to join him, he'd missed her while he had been forced to work alone.
"Really?" she asked, eyes huge, continuing when he nodded affirmation. "It's like The Lion King!"
"Just warn me if you're going to break out into The Circle of Life or Hakuna Matata!"
TBC
AN - A little writing process here, or fun factoid, however you choose to view it. I tend to write in a somewhat disjointed manner and then piece things together. One thing that happened in this chapter is I wrote the bit of Logan removing Rory's hairband before any of the rest of that section, and then worked, wove and built my way to that moment.
reviews are greatly appreciated