"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma."

Rory turned toward the baby balanced on her hip who was wrapped in an oversized blue raincoat. The blue blob tugged at the tiny rain boots that had taken five screaming minutes for Rory to put on. Impossibly, a tuft of yellow hair found freedom from the hood of the coat that was plastered onto the baby's head with rain.

"It's okay, Charlie. We're almost there," cooed Rory, grabbing at her son's desperate fingers as he tried to free his feet from their restraints. She clutched him closer, trying to protect him from the rain. Thunder echoed in the distance as Rory danced between the puddles that gathered on the sidewalk.

"Rory!" exclaimed Luke as the pair burst through the door to Luke's Diiner. "It's horrible out!"

"Is it?" Rory began to peel the soaking layers off Charlie first, and then herself, once she got him situated in a high chair. Once free of the coat, Charlie happily returned to the trying task of removing his boots while making eyes at the diner's other guests. He cooed as a woman at a nearby table waved at him.

Luke approached the table with two mugs of steaming liquid in hand. "What's the plan for today?"

"I'm not sure," responded Rory easily, checking to make sure her son was strapped securely into his chair. "Binge watch movies…junk food… basically a whole weekend crammed into a day."

"You two are always welcome to stay at the house," encouraged Luke, looking affectionately toward Charlie. "It wouldn't be a problem at all."

"Thank you." Rory smiled in appreciation. "It's just easier with Charlie in the apartment. And it's not that bad a drive anyway. And we have to be in New York early tomorrow."

"Can I?" asked Luke, motioning toward Charlie

"Of course," answered Rory. She unstrapped the baby from his high chair and handed him toward Luke. She teased, "Here you go, Grandpa Luke."

"So New York? Do you have a meeting tomorrow?" asked Luke, lifting Charlie above his head. Charlie shrieked in excitement. Luke made motor noises as he shifted Charlie back and forth. Rory couldn't help but smile at how fully Luke had embraced her son.

"I'm meeting Jess in the morning to go over some notes and then, yeah, meeting with the editors."

"Oh, yeah. Jess mentioned that the book was good – great. No wonder it got picked up so fast." Luke studied Rory's reaction. She smiled uncomfortably under his gaze, ducking her head toward the table.

"It still needs a lot of work. Jess is helping a lot," diverted Rory.

"How is he? Jess. I haven't heard from him in a while," pressed Luke as he returned Charlie to his high chair. He fumbled unsuccessfully with the straps. "These things really are child proof, huh?"

"Jess is busy," admitted Rory. She leaned over to help keep Charlie in the chair while Luke continued to fumble. "He's helping a lot, though. It's nice to have someone be able to read it and not completely slash it to pieces all at once."

"No, no," disagreed Luke. "I'm sure it's great, Rory. When do we get to read it?"

Rory laughed uncomfortably. "Not until it's done."

"Well, I expect an autographed copy," insisted Luke, as he retreated behind the bar.

Rory pulled out a disheveled looking book from a backpack crammed too full with belongings. She passed a pacifier to her son and put a can of Gerber Puffs on the table. Charlie struggled to get the pacifier into his mouth. She flipped a few pages into the book; the page had been dog – eared repeatedly.

Rory had hardly managed to read two paragraphs between repeated bouts of fixing the pacifier for her son before the door flew open again.

"There's the most handsome man!" cooed Lorelai as she rushed toward Charlie. Luke made a mock offended gesture from behind the bar. She freed him from his chair and lifted him into her arms. "He's gotten so big!"

"Mom," chastised Rory, "you just saw him a week ago."

"A whole week! I can hardly lift him!" exclaimed Lorelai dramatically as she made faces toward her grandson. Charlie laughed in encouragement. "When are you moving back to Stars Hollow? We don't see you two enough."

"We're not that far away," reminded Rory, used to her mother's pressure to move back home.

"Will you show him a picture of me every night, so he won't forget what I look like?" pestered Lorelai.

"It's just easier for work."

Luke appeared back at the table with a plate of pancakes. "Want anything else?"

Lorelai smiled. "12 more pancakes, 2 more coffees – take the caffeine from hers and put it in mine - a pyramid of donuts to rival the Egyptian ones - "

"Let me know when you figure it out," interjected Luke as he returned to his other customers.

Lorelai returned her attention to Charlie, bouncing him in her arms. "You want to come live in Stars Hollow with me, don't you, Charlie?"

"What's the plan?" asked Rory.

"Well, you two could move back into your old room immediately. It'd be a little cramped for a bit, but we'd make do. And then we could start the house search," began Lorelai. "Somewhere with a nice back yard for Charlie and - "

"What's the plan for today?" rephrased Rory.

Lorelai sighed dramatically. She returned Charlie to his high chair and turned her focus on the pancakes and coffee. "I just figured we'd sit around and stare at Charlie for a while. He's guaranteed to be twice as big by tonight."

Lorelai took a sip of coffee and made a face and switched her mug with Rory's. "How do you drink that stuff? It's not even coffee."

"You can't even taste the difference," exclaimed Rory.

"Maybe your unrefined palette can't," countered Lorelai. She took a large sip of her new mug of coffee. She smiled smugly.

"So what are we doing?" repeated Rory. She poured some of the puffs onto the table in front of the highchair for Charlie before putting a pancake onto her plate.

Lorelai took a puff from Charlie and popped it into her mouth. "We have every snack you can dream of at home – even some of those juice pouches that Charlie likes. I rented Annie Hill and Casa Blanca. Pedicures. You telling me every detail of your life. More junk food. And if the rain clears up, I can even give you a tour of the town."

"I'm sure a lot has changed in the last week."

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it. They completely changed the flowers they planted this year. You won't even be able to find your way back to the house."

"How's the new Inn?"

"The Tigertail?" asked Lorelai proudly. "Complete insanity. Someone should have told me what a horrible idea it was to open a second Inn before cloning technology has been further advanced."

"How's Michel holding up?"

"He won't let go of the spa idea," responded Lorelai. "He seems happier with all the chaos, though. We have a few suites he's organizing. He has a weird obsession the new mini-fridges. Not to mention that more rooms means more people for him to be annoyed at. And Theo keeps him busy. I swear, that kid never get tired. They must feed him a diet of pure sugar. I guess I just assumed all toddlers were like you. I've never even seen him blink!"

"Not even once?"

"Just think, soon you'll be chasing little Charlie around, threatening to send him off to boarding school and take away his organic, gluten free dessert."

"I can hardly wait."


Rory pulled into the apartment complex. Charlie was asleep in the back seat. She quietly closed the door to the car and went around back to carefully extract the sleeping baby from his car seat. She held her breath as she removed each limb from its restraint. Miraculously, he slept through the whole process. Balancing him on her side, she swung her bag over her shoulder and started toward the stairs.

The apartment complex was quiet. The parking lot lights buzzed in the background of muffled chatter behind closed doors. The nights were finally starting to warm up.

The apartment complex opened to the outside. Three stories of small brick apartments were stacked on top of each other with flights of stairs on either end. Far to the right was a small playground equipped with swings, a rusty jungle gym and animals on springs. The humble place hid its age well.

She had made it up the one flight of stairs that lead to her apartment before a car alarm went off unprovoked. Rory jumped and Charlie startled awake. He stared at her with big blue eyes heavy with sleep and his mouth open in shock.

"It's okay, Charlie. It's okay," she whispered reassuringly, bouncing him slightly in her arms. The car alarm continued to echo, but Charlie seemed more perplexed than bothered. Rory rounded the corner and walked briskly three doors down, fumbling with her keys the whole time. "Almost home. It's been a long day, huh?"

With the right key in hand, Rory managed to get the door open without shifting Charlie around too much. The door swung open, revealing the dimly lit modest apartment.

The living room had an old couch shoved in the corner across from a small blocky television. In front of the couch was a table piled with haphazardly organized papers with notes and highlighter marks all across. Amongst the pages, a laptop could hardly be made out.

"Time to get you to bed, Charlie?" cooed Rory, dropping her bag carelessly on the floor while simultaneously checking Charlie's diaper. She moved toward his room.

A wall separated the kitchen from the living room. The carpet changed to off white linoleum. A round table was centered in the kitchen. On three sides were counters with cabinets above and below with the stovetop oven and refrigerator squeezed tightly in between cabinets.

One door was directly across from the kitchen, while a short hallway led a few steps toward two other doors. Rory moved into the door across from the kitchen.

Charlie's room was the smaller of the two with a crib placed next to the window and a rocking chair in the corner. Toys sat on shelves against a wall next to a pack and play. Otherwise, it was bare with white walls and no decorations. Unpacked boxes laid crammed in a corner.

Rory carefully placed Charlie in his crib, and silently turned on the baby monitor. She quietly scuffled along the thick carpet. She left the door cracked and went to the retrieve the other half of the baby monitor.

Once settled, she began unpacking dishes from the dishwasher, sorting them into what was needed for the next day. The majority of what was washed was baby bottles. She began to separate each of the pieces into piles.

There was a knock at the door. Rory jumped slightly, startled from her thoughts. A quick check to the baby monitor revealed that Charlie was undisturbed. She tapped her phone once and it displayed the time: 11:48.

Under any other circumstance, Rory would have been in bed hours ago. Charlie had begun to sleep through the night, but was up inhumanly early in the morning. Rory had a feeling her mother had purposefully delayed them in an attempt to get her to spend the night,

Rory walked toward the door. She wasn't expecting anyone and immediately ran through all the scenarios of who could be at the apartment so late.

"Hey, Ace."

Rory stared blankly at the man in front of her. He stood in khakis and a light blue button up shirt with the top three buttons undone, revealing his white undershirt; the collar was wrinkled. He stood in front of her empty handed with not even a backpack on.

"Logan," Rory said slowly. "Is everything okay?"

Rory couldn't fathom a scenario that landed him on her doorstep at twelve o'clock at night on a Thursday. They hadn't spoken since they said their goodbyes and her mind began to fill with the worse scenarios possible.

"It's been a long day," stated Logan. He stepped forward into the light revealing his tired expression. "Long days? It feels like I've been up for weeks."

Rory stared at him.

He flashed her a hesitant smile. "So…can I come in?"

"Yeah," Rory responded slowly, stepping out of the way and making room for him to enter. Instinctively, she positioned herself between the door to Charlie's bedroom and Logan. She studied Logan, her annoyance and anger she didn't realize she had held onto was growing quickly.

Logan glanced around the living room and took a seat on the couch. He motioned to the scattered papers. "Is this where you write?"

"Make shift office for now," responded Rory, feeling suddenly embarrassed. She moved toward the coffee table and began gathering the various papers. The apartment was nothing like what they had lived in in college. Rory guessed that the whole apartment could have easily fit inside the living room of their apartment they shared. "It's a temporary thing."

"So this is where the famous Rory Gilmore works," praised Logan. He waited for a response but nothing came.

"It's nice," complimented Logan. "Seems like a quiet neighborhood. Well lit."

"Yeah." Rory continued to stand, clutching the stack of papers to her chest. She continued to stare.

Logan studied the living room intently, but couldn't seem to find what he was looking for.

"What are you doing here, Logan?" Rory asked softly. She was surprised at how well she hid her accusatory feelings. The situation made her nervous, but she couldn't figure out why.

"I should have called before I came," admitted Logan suddenly, shifting uneasily on the couch. "I don't know why I didn't. I just felt like I needed to talk to you in person, and I wasn't sure what you'd say on the phone."

Logan waited for a reaction, for a question, for something, but Rory just continued to stare.

"Can I get some water?" he asked abruptly and stood.

"Sure." Rory turned and lead him toward the kitchen. Suddenly, she realized she'd been holding her breath. She tried to steady herself as she went to a cabinet to grab him a cup.

Rory turned around, and Logan was holding one of Charlie's bottles in his hands.

"I have regular cups, too," joked Rory, forcing a smile as she filled the cup from the sink.

"So it's true?" Logan asked.

"What's true?" Rory offered him the cup of water, and Logan put the bottle down.

"Can I see the baby?" Logan stared at Rory. Logan's expression was unreadable. Rory's heart raced again at the mention of Charlie.

"Are you okay?"

"Please," Logan implored, stepping toward her but ignoring the water still in her hand.

"He's asleep." Rory suddenly wanted Logan gone.

"I'll be quiet. I won't wake him," promised Logan desperately. "Please."

"You should come back tomorrow."

"Just let me see my son, Ace."

"Did you even know you had a son until today?" snapped Rory. "It could have been triplet girls for all you knew."

Rory instantly felt embarrassed. She didn't want to act that way. She had come to terms with the situation a long time ago. She turned toward the counter to hide her face under the guise of assembling baby bottles.

"I didn't know I had a kid until today."

"What?" snapped Rory. She took a deep breath, gathering herself. "I called you. I told you. I didn't expect you to drop everything, Logan, but I did think you'd at least call me back and be an adult about it."

"Look - "

"Logan, it's fine. We're good here. You can see him tomorrow - "

"I didn't know. I never got the message. I would have called. You know I would have called. You have to know that. I'm sorry, Ace, but I just flew eight plus hours and I just want to see him. Please. Just for a second." Logan looked frantic. "I didn't know I had a son, and this is just a lot to process in a day, and I just want to see him."

"What do you mean you never got the message?"

"Odette told me when I got home from work today," explained Logan, visually stressed by the situation. "She got the message. She deleted it. I never knew. I don't think she thought any sane person would just call once with that type of news."

"So she waited over a year and a half to tell you?" demanded Rory.

"I think it just spiraled away from her. I don't know. I don't think she meant to keep him from me."

"Then what did she mean to do?" snapped Rory. At first, the unreturned phone call was a personal heartbreak. She hadn't wanted to destroy Logan's life, but she did feel crushed that he didn't even want to speak to her about it. After Charlie was born, it had turned into dread. Dread of what her son would one day ask and what she'd have to say and explain.

"I'm sorry," offered Logan. "I hate everything about this. But please, please just let me see him."

Rory's brain raced, spinning out of control with all the different ways the situation could have played out if Logan had received the message. It was overwhelming.

"Ace, don't make me get down on my knees," Logan joked, reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'll be quieter than a mouse."

"Where are you staying?" asked Rory instead, surprising herself. She leaned slightly into his touch.

"Some hotel or something."

Rory shook her head. "It's late. The couch isn't the best, but you're welcome to it."

"Can I see him?"

"Just for a moment, and you have to be quiet."

Rory lead him to Charlie's door and opened it, granting access to Logan. She watched as he slowly walked toward the crib and stared at her son, their son.

"What's his name?" Logan asked quietly.

"Charlie," whispered Rory from the doorframe. "Charles Richard Gilmore."

Rory turned around and began gathering things to transform the couch to a bed. She grabbed Logan a deflated pillow, sheet and old comforter and arranged them on the couch. When she returned, Logan was still standing quietly over the crib.

A weird feeling filled Rory. If Logan had truly been deprived of the first ten months of his son's life, then she felt sad for what he had missed out on, what she had been able to enjoy. The first time Charlie laughed and the sleepless nights Rory had spent when he was colicky. Rory couldn't imagine having missed it all.

Rory left Logan leaning over the crib. Suddenly, she didn't have the heart to pull him away.

Rory grabbed the baby monitor and went to her room and crawled into her bed, pulling the comforter completely over her head.