Rory woke to noises of Charlie shrieking loudly followed by giggling. She rolled over and the baby monitor displayed a video of Charlie standing in his crib, his fingers clutched to the bars.

Rory climbed out of bed to get her son. At the door, she doubled back and looked for her robe. She suddenly felt self-conscious in her own apartment.

When Rory finally made it into Charlie's room, Logan had beaten her there. She smiled at how natural it was to see Charlie in his arms.

"You can go back to bed," excused Logan, when he looked up to see Rory.

"He probably needs to be changed," advised Rory. She closed the distance between Logan and herself and offered to take Charlie.

"I can do it," agreed Logan. He went toward the changing table while Rory selected Charlie's first outfit for the day. No doubt he would need to be changed several times more through-out the day.

"He sure can wiggle," commented Logan, trying to wrangle his son into a clean diaper.

"It helps if you give him a pacifier or something." Rory appeared with a soft plastic toy in the shape of a giraffe. She offered it to Charlie, who eagerly grabbed at it. He shoved it toward the back of his mouth and gnawed enthusiastically. Distracted, Charlie was still enough for Logan to finish his task.

"You should write a book," proclaimed Logan as he began the trying task of putting his son's outfit on. Rory helped by making faces at her son. Logan laughed, noting her expressions. "I need to start carrying a camera around."

"Desperate times," replied Rory, laughing. She wasn't used to someone being able to watch her make a fool of herself for the benefit of Charlie.

"Done!" proclaimed Logan, throwing his arms dramatically in the air.

"Picture perfect," proclaimed Rory, lifting her son from the changing table.

"He is perfect, isn't he?" commented Logan, ruffling his son's blond curls.

"I'm so inclined to agree." Rory tickled her son, sending him into a fit of giggles.

"Let's go get breakfast," Logan offered. Suddenly, he looked like he wanted to eat his words. "Is there a place closer than Luke's?"

"Tons," laughed Rory, catching onto his discomfort. "Not ready to face the music?"

"Not ready to face the Gilmores," agreed Logan.

"The Gilmore-Danes, that is," corrected Rory with a grin.

"There are plenty of people to face," agreed Logan grimly. "Let's just keep this between us for a few days? I want to get some things settled before defending myself against Lorelai."

Rory made a show of thinking it over. She teased, "You better gather your best defense. You abandoned her favorite grandson."

Logan's gaze narrowed. Fiercely, he responded, "I didn't abandon him. I didn't know he even existed. I would have been here."

"Sorry," apologized Rory quickly, realizing her joke was in bad taste. "I didn't mean it like that."

"How about we get breakfast somewhere closer and take Charlie to the park and just have a good day. The three of us," offered Logan.

Rory was silent for a moment. She pursed her lips, weighing her options.

"Unless you want to go to Star's Hollow?" continued Logan with a sigh of resolution. "We can do that too."

"Luke's does have the best donuts. But I know another place."

"Last night was nice," commented Logan offhandedly. The pair had stayed up late talking over the excess of Chinese food between what Logan had ordered and what Jess had brought. They had talked for hours but neither of them had the courage to ask the hard-hitting questions. Logan looked softly toward Rory and began to say something.

Logan's phone rang.

"Go ahead and take that." Rory turned around to grab shoes for her son.

Logan hit the decline button on his phone. "It can wait. Let's go."


"I'll go put him down," offered Rory. They had just returned from feeding the ducks at the park. With Charlie in the stroller, Logan made a show of chasing the ducks around, and it had worn Charlie out. His eyes were mostly closed as they walked through the front door of the apartment.

"How does leftover Chinese sound for lunch?" asked Logan, immediately going toward the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and noted the many untouched cartons of food.

"Do you think we have enough?" playfully asked Rory as she went toward Charlie's room.

"With the way you eat? Not a chance." Logan began putting food on the counters and transferring them to dishes in order to heat them up.

"I'm offended," responded Rory a few minutes later. She exited Charlie's room and closed the door behind herself.

Rory helped Logan finish up heating the food, and they sat down at the kitchen table.

"So what do you think?" asked Logan in between bites.

"The rice didn't heat up well, " commented Rory.

"No, what we talked about yesterday."

Rory continued to eat. She chewed her food slowly, trying to buy time.

"Ace?" pressed Logan.

"You mean it?" asked Rory.

"Mean what?"

"Did you really mean that you want to be around? Permanently." Rory stopped eating for a moment, waiting for Logan to answer.

"I want to be here," repeated Logan. "I've already missed ten months and don't want to miss any more time."

Rory sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I wouldn't want to keep you from Charlie."

"What's on your mind?" asked Logan slowly.

"My father came and went throughout my childhood," explained Rory. "My mother didn't want to keep him from me, and I'm glad. But, there were so many times he promised to come and never did. I don't want Charlie to have to deal with that."

"Ace, I want to move here," repeated Logan. His exasperation was beginning to show. "I just need a little time to get everything set up. I want to be a part of his life full time. I want to be his father."

"I know you say that now."

"No, I'm not just saying that," corrected Logan. He felt as if he wasn't getting through to her; she just wouldn't understand. "You know what my relationship was like with my father, and I want to be better. I am going to be better. I'm going to be there."

There was silence. The conversation halted under the guise of eating.

"I didn't mean to offend you," finally offered Rory.

"I'm going to be there for him. We're in this together, Ace," asserted Logan. He cracked open a fortune cookie and teased, "Even says so right here."

Rory's phone began to ring.

"Take it," encouraged Logan, crunching on the cookie.

"Hey, Mom," greeted Rory, holding her phone to her ear.

"Mom - now's not the time," protested Rory. Her posture shifted; she sat upright. "Yes, he's here - No, I was going to tell you."

"It's been a busy morning. I had a busy day," continued Rory, making excuses.

Rory listened to what her mother was saying, occasionally nodding in agreement. Logan focused intently on his food.

"Yeah, for the foreseeable future," agreed Rory. "I don't know. A few days maybe?"

Logan got up and refilled their glasses with water. He was trying not to listen too closely to the conversation.

"Yeah, I'll keep you updated. I promise." Rory hung up.

"Everything okay?" asked Logan. He tried to hide his interest.

"Words out," responded Rory simply. She spun her lo mein in endless circles.

"What do you mean?" pressed Logan.

"Jess told my Mom and Luke that you were here," explained Rory.

"It was bound to happen eventually." Nonetheless, Logan didn't appear thrilled.

Logan's phone began to ring.

"Take it."

Logan shook his head and pressed the decline button. "It can wait."

"Mom's just upset that I didn't call."

"I'm sure I shouldn't take it personally?"

Logan's phone rang again. Again, he ignored it.

Rory glanced toward the phone. "I do think she's glad that you want to be a part of Charlie's life."

Logan's phone rang a third time.

"Someone really wants to talk to you," noted Rory. Rory got up from the table. "I'll give you some space."

"No, no." Logan grabbed at Rory's hand as she stepped away, pulling her gently back toward the table; he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. "It's just Finn."

Rory began to clear the table from lunch, as Logan answered the phone.

"Hey," greeted Logan simply, protecting his plate from Rory as she tried to take it away.

"No, I would never dodge your calls Finn," lied Logan. "I've been away from my phone."

Logan shifted awkwardly in his seat. "He'll get over it. "

Logan looked anxiously over his shoulder toward Rory at the sink and dropped his voice. "I know, I know. Look – I just had to get out of there."

Logan stood from his seat.

"What?" snapped Logan. "Where did you hear that?"

He began to pace. "Yeah, send it to me." Logan groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

"No, Finn, we haven't talked about it," replied Logan dismissively. "Sure, every kid should have an uncle."

Despite his frustration, Logan laughed. "No, we haven't asked Colin either. Finn, I have to go. Send me the link, okay?"

"Everything okay?" mimicked Rory.

Logan's attention was already diverted to something on his phone.

"Odette went public," replied Logan, his eyes glued to the screen.

"What do you mean?" asked Rory, stepping toward him.

"Looks like we don't get to wait a few days to tell people."

"What did Odette do?" pressed Rory.

"I have to call her." Logan continued to read, intentionally not making eye contact with Rory.

"I understand," Rory said simply. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Suddenly she felt foolish. She had had nearly forty-eight hours of everything seeming to fall into place; obviously it was too good to be true.

"It's not like that, Ace," Logan disagreed quickly. He stepped toward her and put his hand on her arm. "This doesn't change anything. I just have to deal with this."

"Deal with what? What's going on?"

Logan showed her his phone, with an article freshly sent from Finn pulled up. The headline read, 'Why the Huntzberger Heir Got Cold Feet Revealed.'

"Does this say what I think it does?" asked Rory, quickly scrolling through the article to skim. She hated the idea of Charlie being brought into the spotlight.

"I'll take care of it," assured Logan.

"Logan." Rory continued to read. "This says that you were supposed to get married today – you were supposed to get married this morning."

"Not my proudest moment," admitted Logan, exhaling sharply. He continued to pace.

Rory paused, uncertain if she wanted to know the answers to the questions bouncing around her head. "Did you tell her?"

"She told me about Charlie, and I got on a plane," explained Logan evasively.

Rory continued to scroll through the article. "She sounds hurt, angry."

"I'll call her. I'll ask her to stop talking to the press. She'll understand," assured Logan. He didn't leave her side.

Rory shook her head and handed the phone back to Logan. "You need to go home and sort this out."

"I'm not going anywhere," disagreed Logan, scrolling through the article again.

"Logan, you abandoned her." Rory's tone was accusatory.

"It's not like that," defended Logan. His tone was unconvincing.

"That's not what this makes it look like." Rory motioned toward the phone cynically.

"We hadn't been doing great," admitted Logan. "We'd both had our…transgressions. Odette wanted to come clean. She wanted a fresh start between us before the wedding. She told me everything."

"That's when she told you about Charlie?" rephrased Rory.

Logan nodded. "It just wasn't going to work."

Rory was silent, contemplating everything she had just learned.

"It wasn't just Charlie," promised Logan.

Rory and Logan stared at each other. Rory bit her lip. Logan was completely still.

"Do you want me to leave?" Logan finally asked quietly.

"I," began Rory, her heart suddenly racing. In that moment, she suddenly was confronted with her answer. It didn't make sense to her, but there it was clear as day. "No."

"I'm going to call her right now," stated Logan intently. He smiled at Rory, gratitude embedded in his eyes. "I'll sort this out. I'm not going anywhere, Ace."

Rory turned her back toward Logan to hide her shaking hands. She took a deep breath as Logan left the apartment, trying to steady herself. From a practical standpoint, it made sense that she didn't want Logan to leave; they were just starting to figure things out. She was starting to see a better future for her child; a future that didn't involve excuses as to why his father wasn't around.

Logan returned looking more frustrated than when he left. He paced in the living room, fuming.

"Didn't go so well?" asked Rory hesitantly.

"She's getting on a flight tomorrow. I'm meeting her in New York. She wants to talk."