Author's note:
Hey there! I'm back. Do you hate me? Do I still have any readers left? I really hope so. And I'm really sorry about how long it took me to update. There is nothing I could say in my defense. I just hope I haven't lost you. And I want to say again that I am going to finish this story. One hundred percent. It will just probably take me a while.
Anyway, please enjoy this chapter now and don't think about how much is going to take me to finish this fic. :) It's a long one, I hope you like it!
A week later and ten weeks pregnant I was feeling like crap. My nausea made a splashing return, I experienced at least one nasty headache a day and I was feeling more run down than ever. My breasts were sore and every time Logan touched me, I wanted to moan. That would have been good, if I wasn't doing that in pain. Mild, but still pain. I tried to hide it, because I didn't want to let go of the feeling of his touch, but he caught me wincing one night and he has been careful ever since. Too careful in fact if you ask me, because the other thing that has significantly changed was my libido. I was crazy horny almost one hundred percent of the time and I couldn't keep my hands off of Logan. He didn't really mind, in fact he enjoyed it. The problem was that he went about it in a very sweet and gentleman like way. Every time he touched me he made love to me and that was great, don't get me wrong. It's just that I was so crazy with lust, I just wanted him to pin me against the wall and fuck my brains out. And I wanted that bad enough to fantasize about it and be slightly scandalized by my own thoughts.
Another thing, my mood swings were so rapid I barely had time to catch up with them. I was going from being okay and totally normal to horny, to angry, to horny again, to sad, to happy with tears, to cranky, only to end up horny yet again. Honestly, I felt like a crazy person. Like mentally crazy. I haven't been this scattered in my emotions since… well ever. It was all new to me, and I didn't particularly enjoy it, but it was part of the package. And I felt really bad for Logan. I mean he was the one who had to put up with me 24/7. Two nights ago I woke up around 3 A.M. because I was dreaming about McDonald's french fries. Logan was lying naked, partially on me, his head on my chest and his hands wrapped around my waist. I woke him up and made him go to the nearest McDonald's that was open throughout the night and get me some fries. So much for him trying to get me to eat healthier. But he went, never mind he had a 6 A.M. video conference with some people in Hong Kong and by the time he got home and I ate my fries, there was no point in him going to bed again, so he just went to work.
All in all everything my body was putting me through was pretty normal, or so the numerous books and blogs I read had said. I just wish that we were back in the states, so Logan could have some help with handling me. Because I was one hundred percent aware that I was a handful right about now. But he was my trooper and he was handling it all with grace and a smile on his face. To be honest, he seemed like he was genuinely enjoying the whole process. He had never looked as happy as I had seen him this last few weeks. And every time I saw his beautiful smile plastered on his handsome face, no matter the state or mood I was in, my heart was instantly filled with the purest form of joy. And in truth, it didn't matter that my crazy hormones were giving me a whiplash, it didn't matter that I was feeling physically down, it didn't matter that most of the time on the surface I was feeling sick, cranky and pretty miserable, I was still the happiest girl in the world on the inside. I had the most handsome, sexy, caring and loving man in the world right by my side, and I wasn't going to lie, I loved him with all my heart. We had two beautiful kids on the way, growing more and more with every single day inside me. And yes, sometimes the thought of them being here and me raising them scared me to death, but I knew with absolute certainty that I had, the previously mentioned most handsome man in world, going on that journey with me. So, whatever worries I had, they tended to disappear once I brought the picture of him holding our daughters, or our sons in his arms.
The same man who was currently holding me close to him, on the couch in his office, while feeding me a piece of cheesecake, after a very healthy and extensive lunch. I kicked off my shoes about half an hour ago, and I was currently sitting with my legs draped across his lap. The cheesecake was divine, but the feeling of his hand going up and down the length of my thigh was so much better.
"Mmmm…" I sighed in delight, after another heavenly bite of the dessert. "This is so good, I can't even put it into words." I said to Logan.
"Well, if the look on your face right now is any indication, I would say pretty damn good." He chuckled.
"What?" I asked after a few moments had passed between us and Logan was just looking at me with a goofy grin.
"Nothing, I just love seeing you this happy." He said taking my hand in his and pressing a sweet kiss to it.
"Well, you better get used to it, because I don't see that changing anytime soon." I said with a goofy grin of my own.
"Oh, I fully intend to get used to it. More than that. I fully intend to work hard for it." He said leaning toward me, his lips beckoning me for a kiss. I complied willingly.
His lips brushed lightly against mine… and that is all it took. Suddenly it felt like my entire body erupted into flames and all I wanted to do was rip his clothes off. And it didn't matter that it was broad daylight outside, it didn't matter that we were in his office, it didn't matter that this was a work place, it didn't even matter that his assistant was probably about to walk into his office any minute now to discuss his schedule. All that mattered to me right now, was that I tare his clothes off as fast as I could and feel his skin onto mine.
I was halfway through the buttons of his dress shirt when his intercom buzzed and Joel's voice came from the other side of the line.
"Logan, Bobby's here for you. Says she wants to drop off some papers. Shall I send her in?"
"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed. "Why does everybody feel the need to interrupt us, just about when is about to get good?" I whined.
"Not everybody, Ace. Just Colin. And you have to admit that you saw this coming. It is after all the middle of a work day." Logan said with a chuckle, while buttoning up his shirt and making his way to his desk. "Send her in." He said, pressing the button for the intercom.
"Are you complaining? I honestly thought that you were enjoying yourself, but I can keep my hands to myself from now on. If that is something you would prefer." I retorted.
Logan made his way to me with slow steps. His smug grin plastered on his face, and since my mood went from aroused to angry in a split of a second, right at this moment I wanted to knock that grin off his face. With a slap. And I used to be such a calm and nonviolent person. With his hands on his tie, fixing the knot I messed up just moments ago, he leaned over me. His mouth so close to mine, I could feel his breath. "Don't you dare!" I more felt than heard his husky, sexy as hell reply. And just like that my anger was gone and I was once again overcome by the sudden urge to mess up that knot he was so intent on fixing, and this time really rip his shirt open. Who needed buttons anyway?
A sharp rap on the glass door took me out of my trans-like state. Logan made no move toward it though. Instead, he just kept piercing me with his heated glare and his sexy grin until I felt lightheaded. It took me a second to realize I hadn't taken a single breath in quite a while. I took a deep breath in and pulled Logan close by pulling on his tie. He gave me a sweet light kiss that was so full of promise of what was to come later, I felt sweet sweet tingles all over my skin in anticipation.
He straightened, and with one last glance toward me he walked to his desk. "Come in." His voice sounded over his shoulder. Just as the door opened and Bobby walked in, he hit a button on his desk that made the glass wall of his office clear again, instead the frost one that it was just two seconds ago.
"Hello, you two!" Bobby strode in with a confident smile and a sway in her step that was more suitable for the catwalk than the office corridors. She was just as stunning now as she was ten years ago. In her pencil dress a-la Victoria Beckham and her sky high shoes, she looked like the slightly younger sister of Heidi Klum. Or even Victoria herself. She certainly fit the profile. You know, with the whole being married to a successful and extremely hot football player thing. "Rory, is so good to see you again. I haven't seen you in ages. You look radiant." Bobby made her way to me.
"Thank you. So do you." I replied with a smile and stood up to give her a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"How are you? Anything new to report?" She asked me.
"No, nothing new." I quickly said, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable with the lie. Yes, our families new that Logan and I were having a baby, but no one at his office knew about it. Not yet anyway. We wanted to wait and pass the three month mark before we started to spread the news outside of our immediate circle. His colleagues knew that he was moving back to the states soon, but they didn't know the main reason for it.
"Oh, come on. Give me some gossip, I'm dying here." Bobby pleaded with a smile and a wicked glint in her eyes. Ten years ago I would have said that she was being a sarcastic bitch, who didn't give a crap. Today, it just made chuckle.
"Nothing new to report, but if I think of something I promise to call and tell you right away." I smiled playfully at her.
"Good." She smiled back and we both laughed before she turned her attention to Logan. "I need you to sign off on Monique's book deal and the sum we agreed on, and I have the bank statements from the last financial quarter for you to look over, before I send them down to archive." Bobby said and handed him two very hefty looking folders.
"When do you need them back?" He asked, doing a quick browse through the folders.
"Anytime today." Bobby responded.
Logan flipped the pages close and threw the folders on his desk, where they landed with a loud thud. He turned to her with a smile. "You got it."
"Thanks." She smiled back. "I'm going to let you two enjoy the rest of your lunch." Bobby said and started to make her way to the door. "I'll see you later." She pointed a finger at Logan and turned to me. "And you I will see next week at the Christmas Ball. You're coming, right?" She asked me.
The Huntzburger Christmas Ball was an annual occurrence and one of the biggest events of the season. The hosting city was alternating between New York and London, the two cities being the company's largest headquarters on either side of the ocean, and this year was New York's turn to host. We were flying out of London early next week. The plan was to stay in the city for the ball and then head to Stars Hollow to spend Christmas Eve with my mom, Luke, April and grandma. On Christmas day we were having lunch with my dad in Hartford and after that we hadn't made any plans yet. But I knew the boys were coming to the ball, so I was sure that they were already planning something for New Year's.
"I wouldn't miss it." I replied to Bobby's question with an eager smile. It was my first time at the ball and I really couldn't wait. Every single big name in publishing, writing and reporting was going to be there and I couldn't wait to meet all these people I spend so much of my time admiring.
"Great. Bye now." She smiled back and walked out of Logan's office.
"Bye." I waved at her though the glass wall. I turned around and picked up my purse from the couch. "I think I'm gonna go too. You have work to do, and I want to do some writing before you come home. I have plans for you for later this evening and I don't want my guilty conscious telling me I haven't had any writing done in the last few days. I want a clear mind." I said with a suggestive smile.
"Mmmm… What for?" Logan came to me, wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me close to him. His eyes were shooting fire, melting my insides.
"You'll see tonight." I replied offering him my mouth for a kiss.
"I can't wait." I felt him murmur on my lips, and those were the last words we exchanged for the next half an hour.
Hours later I was standing by the kitchen isle, making a salad for dinner. Salad was the only thing I was allowed to do, since it was the only thing both Logan and I were sure I wouldn't ruin with my pretty much nonexistent cooking skills. The main course, whatever it was, was safely out of my hands, already in the oven, prepared with love by Logan. Logan, who was surprisingly a very good cook. And Logan, who was currently sitting in an arm chair, with his back to me, having a video call with Finn and Colin.
"When exactly are you two flying back home?" I heard Colin ask.
"We are scheduled to fly out of here Wednesday early afternoon, so we should be in New York just in time for dinner."
"Well in that case, how about we meet for dinner?" Finn offered. And since I was well aware of their tastes, and I knew that they would probably make reservations for somewhere way too fancy and way too expensive, I was quick to jump into the conversation.
"Can we keep it casual though, boys? I don't really feel like having duck liver, or anything of the sort." Don't get me wrong. Sometimes I really liked those fancy places. There is something very appealing about dining with style. And being with a man like Logan, who basically grew up in those kinds of places, fancy was inevitable. But I haven't been home in over a month, I was craving some classic American cuisine.
"What are you in the mood for?" Logan asked, turning his head to look at me.
"Burgers, fries, wings. Whatever. Just let it be something that does not require me putting anything other than those elastic jeans and a baggy t-shirt, preferably one of yours. If I have to squeeze into some of my more presentable clothes, I just might explode." I said with a bit of pout. "I feel huge." I whined and looked down at my barely there baby bump.
"Ace, you just started showing, you can barely even tell." Logan pointed out. And logically I knew he was right, but hormonally I felt like a whale. And I knew damn well that that feeling was only going to get worse.
"I'm well aware of that, but you're not the one whose entire wardrobe won't fit them anymore. Your clothes are the only thing that fits me these days."
"Well, I think you look beautiful. With or without clothes."
"TMI" Both Colin and Finn murmured indignantly.
"Prudes." Logan threw at them and turned his head to glance at me with a look so full of love and adoration that I am reminded of the afternoon a few days ago, when he noticed that I had started showing.
It was a Sunday afternoon. Logan and I were lying on the couch, with him sitting, his feet on the coffee table, while I was sprawled out on the couch with my head in his lap. I was binge watching some TV show that only my mom and I could truly appreciate. Logan gave up on trying to keep up with me about two hours ago and he settled for going through some work papers.
When I went through yet another episode Logan looked down at me amused.
"You finished?" He asked me with a sly smile.
I chuckled. "Hmmm… Not yet." I drawled and stretched, bringing my arms above my head. "But I can be." I looked at him with fire in my eyes and a suggestive smile on my face. His lips curled in that sexy 'bad boy' smirk of his that always made me a little week at the knees. Okay, a lot. His eyes darkened with lust and he let his gaze skim all over my body. Suddenly all traces of, if I may quite frankly put it that way, steam hot sex vanished from his eyes, being replaced with something between astonishment, surprise and awe. "What?"
"You're showing." He whispered, his eyes glued to my middle section.
"What?" I shrieked, my eyes shifting down and my hands going to my belly. I smoothed my palms over my t-shirt. I didn't see anything that wasn't there the last time I looked. "Are you sure you're not imagining things. I don't see anything."
"Come on." He said jumping from the couch and dragging me up with him.
"What are you doing?" I asked as he pulled me towards the bedroom. He stopped suddenly in front of the bed, causing me to bump into him. He steadied me before dropping his hands to the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head. I smiled in triumph. "Whatever it is, I like it already. Go on."
"You're a fiend, you know that." He laughed.
"I got a lot to be fiendy about." I said, my eyes roaming over his body.
"Fiendy?" He said with a chuckle.
"Not a word?" I asked with a grimace forming on my face.
"Not a word." He confirmed smiling. "But that's not what I had in mind. Come on." Logan said and grabbed my hands, pulling me inside the walk-in closet. He positioned me in front of the full length mirror and turned me so I would be facing my side. "Look."
And I did look. But there was nothing there. Not yet at least. "You're crazy, I don't see any…"
"Just look." He interrupted me insistently.
And this time I did. I really did. And I saw.
There it was. My teensy-tiny-little baby bump. I lifted my hands, meaning to bring them over my belly. But I couldn't. I looked down at myself, wanting to see with my own eyes, rather than just a reflection in the mirror. With my hands in mid-air I looked down at myself speechless. You couldn't see it if you weren't looking for it, and Dear God I was, but it was there. There was a bump. I was showing. My little babies were growing inside me and now I had the hard evidence to prove it. I was showing. My lips tugged into a smile, tears pooled into my eyes and my hands cupped my belly. I didn't think I could make a sound. I was in awe. This was the first physical evidence that my kids were really actually there. And yes, I already knew they were. Between all the pregnancy tests, sonogram pictures, vomiting, mood swings and all the other symptoms, of course I knew they were there. But me finally showing, was a thing at a whole another level. I didn't know how to describe it. I just knew that it filled and warmed me with the purest form of joy a person could feel. And I couldn't help but think that if that was the way I felt only by seeing my stomach getting bigger, what was going to be like when they started moving, or even better, when they were finally here. In mine and Logan's arms. I could only dream about it.
A camera click startled me and pulled me out of my daze. "Again with the photos?" I laughed and turned my head to look at Logan and his pointed at me phone camera. "You just had your weekly shot like two days ago." I pointed out. After that first photo he took last month, he really stuck to his word. Every week he took a picture of me, never mind that until now there wasn't much for him to take a photo of.
"This was a one worth taking." He said. Love pouring out from his entire being.
"Yes, it was." I agreed. With one last smile at him my eyes dropped to my belly again. In a second I felt his arms coming around me, circling me in his embrace. His hard chest pressed to my back. His hands resting on top of my own. I leaned into him.
Resting my head on his shoulder, I stole a side glance of us in the mirror. Logan was looking down at our babies with content on his face and so much love in his eyes it took my breath away. And as his hand stroked against the bare skin on my middle I really believed that life doesn't get much better than this moment right now.
I smiled at the memory and at Logan. "Thank you. You're very sweet." I dropped the knife I was holding and went around the kitchen counter. I walked to Logan a planted a sweet kiss on his lips.
"Now you are the one being sweet. Thank you." He smiled at me, ran his fingers through my hair and pulled my lips down to his.
"And now the both of you are way too sweet. I think I'm gonna be sick." Colin chimed all of a sudden. I laughed against Logan's mouth, feeling his tugging into a smile too. With one last glance at him a turned to walk back behind the counter.
"Well, you were pretty sweet to your own girlfriend last week at the restaurant, but you don't hear me complaining." Logan teased him and I couldn't help but let out a little laugh.
"That's right. Colin had a secret girlfriend. Please do go into that with some detail." Finn demanded, always hungry for gossip. I know Logan gave him the basics of what went on last week with Colin and Odette, but I believed this was the first conversation the three of them had had together since then. Colin must have known that he wasn't going to get away that easy without giving them an explanation about how exactly he and Odette came together. And to be totally honest, I wanted to know the details myself.
"Speaking of secret girlfriends, you're one to talk. Have something to share, Finn?" Oh boy. My bad.
I stopped dead in my tracks at Logan's words. Damn it. I totally blurted out to him that Finn has a girlfriend. And I did it after Finn specifically asked me not to. Never mind I thought that was stupid. I mean he did tell me over a month ago and since then he made no move to tell me anything more about her, or tell his best friends about her. Whoever she was.
"Love?" I heard Finn call for me.
"I'm so sorry." I spun on my heels, facing him (sort of), and his face told me everything his voice did a moment ago, 'How could you?'.
"You told on me." Finn blamed. And he was right to do so.
"I didn't mean to. Blame the babies. They're messing up with my brain, I have no filter." I tried to justify myself.
"Sure, blame this on my sweet innocent nephews. Some kind of mother you are." He snorted.
"Hey, not fair." I whined. "Pregnancy brain is real." I knew he was teasing me, and in no way meaning what he said, but still, he had no idea what it was like to have your brain scattered all over. Especially when you've spent your whole live having it tightly put together. Or at least for the most of your life, with the exclusion of some minor relapses and lacks of judgment.
"Wait a second, I'm missing something here. Finn has a girlfriend? Seriously?" Colin said with an incredulous look in his eyes.
"I don't know." Logan said. "Does he?" He asked, glaring at Finn through the computer camera lens, a knowing smile on his face, challenging him.
Looking frantically between me and his two best friends, Finn drew a deep breath in. "Alright fine. I have a girlfriend." He finally confessed, throwing his hands in the air. Finn sagged further down into his chair, his head dropping on his chest.
"My, oh, my!" Colin gasped. "The mighty Finn Astor finally fell under the spell of love!"
"Shut up, Colin. And Don't say another word. I really don't want to hear it." Finn groaned in exasperation.
"How would you know what I have to say?" Colin asked.
"Because is the exact same as what I would. You're about to tease, torture and make fun, and I know is just the way we guys are, but I don't want to hear it. Not about her." Finn explained in a rushed tone.
"You've fallen for this girl." Colin exclaimed in disbelief. Ding, ding, ding, Colin. Seems like he came to the same conclusion that I did when I first heard about this mystery woman.
"Yes, I have. And that is all I'm going to say." Finn said in a tone that hardly suggested he was done talking about this.
"You're not even going to tell us who she is? Or a name at least?" Logan asked, speaking for the first time since he first brought up the subject of Finn's Mystery Girl. And yes, I was going to refer to her as that from now on.
"No, and please, let's drop the subject." Finn insisted.
"Okay, okay. We're dropping it." Logan raised his hands in surrender. Colin opened his mouth to say something, but Logan quickly shut him up with a glare. "So, what are we thinking about New Year's?" Logan steered the conversation towards a more accessible topic.
"I was thinking somewhere warm. Like Mexico, or Hawaii. Ow, or better yet, how about Brazil?" Colin started listing the possible locations, his eyes sparkling with excitement at the prospect of half-naked girls, walking in front of him at the beaches in Brazil.
"And what could you possibly do in Brazil, Colin. You have a girlfriend now too, remember?" I couldn't help myself, leaning over Logan's shoulder to look at him.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Colin asked, looking slightly offended.
"Ahh, you know. All the temptation at those beaches. How are you going to restrain yourself and your libido?" I pressed, looking all innocent, going around the arm chair and strategically placing myself into Logan's lap. I saw the grin forming on Finn's face at my teasing his best friend, and the tremble of Logan's body as he tried not to laugh out loud.
"First of all, little miss 'Judgy', I'm not some hormonally crazed teenager. I am quite capable of controlling myself and my urges. And second, there is nothing wrong with just looking." Colin stated in his condescending way and tone that has become his trademark.
"Yeah, tell that to Odette." I murmured under my breath, so he wouldn't hear me. But Logan did, and he did appreciate the humor.
"What?" Colin asked.
"Nothing." I quickly said. I wasn't in the mood for one of his lectures right now, however entertaining they were.
"What about Aspen?" Finn joined the conversation again.
"What?" All three, me, Logan and Colin, asked simultaneously.
"Aspen, for New Year's." Finn explained.
"Ohh, that's not bad. And the St. Regis Resort there is amazing. But I'm afraid is a bit late for a reservation. I'm pretty sure they are already completely booked. But I'm confident we can still swing a villa or a chalet or something." Colin said.
"That won't be necessary." Finn jumped in. "I have a friend with a pretty big property there that we can use."
"Does that friend also happen to be your GIRLfriend?" Logan asked, emphasizing on the girl part in friend.
"Seriously, I thought we were dropping the subject." Finn said with an edge in his voice.
"Oh, come on. It's a valuable question. Besides, you totally left yourself open for that one." Logan reasoned.
"If you must know, yes it is her property." Finn conceded. "She invited us to spend New Year's with her."
"So, she's rich. If she has enough money to have a large enough place in Aspen to accommodate us all that must mean she's wealthy. Or her family at least. And if that's the case that must mean we know her." Colin concluded.
"You're such a snob, Colin." Finn remarked, though I doubt the statement was much a surprise to anyone.
"That I am, but I am also right." Colin said, quite proud of himself if I may add. "So, give it up. If she has already invited us then she knows us, or wants to know us. There is no point in your secrecy. Who is she?" Colin pressed. "And don't think we are not going to go into how long you have been seeing her later. Meeting the friends is a big thing. And spending the holidays with them is even bigger." He added after that. And he was right. Exactly how long has Finn been hiding this girl?
"It's better if you see for yourselves. Besides, you wouldn't believe me anyway." Finn said, refusing once again to give us any kind of information on his 'ladybird'.
At that point Logan and Colin started talking over each other, both of them after one goal. Finding out the name of Finn's Mystery Girl. Both of them loudly prompting him to finally 'give it up' as they said. They were whining and begging like two little kids trying to persuade their mother to give them ice cream, or some other kind of sugary sweetness. I kept my eyes on Finn, though. He was bubbling up, ready to burst.
"Charlotte James." And I guess he finally exploded. "Her name is Charlotte James. You happy now, you nosy bastards?" He spat out.
The boys were rendered speechless and it took me a second to figure out why. Pregnancy brain, remember?
"Wait, Charlotte James? Like, The Charlotte James. The number one music star in the world. That Charlotte James?" I asked with some kind of a mix between disbelief and shock. I mean, he had to be joking, right. People like Charlotte James dated other people like Charlotte James. They had a tendency to keep it in the family, you know. Celebrities date celebrities. Especially ones of such caliber. How many movie or music stars, found love outside of the industry? And sure, Finn was a public figure. Being a rich society kid who ended up expanding his family's business twice the size it was before the age of thirty, kind of tends to catch the public's eye. But he was not a celebrity. He was not in the entertainment industry, well, not if you don't count his night clubs. And Charlotte James most definitely was.
"Yes." Finn confirmed with a firm tone.
"You're so full of shit." Colin said to him with a shake of his head.
"I told you wouldn't believe me."
From there on out the conversation continued with the boys throwing remarks at each other and disputing whether what Finn said about his girlfriend's identity was true, or if he was bullshitting them. They ended up settling on not believing him, or at least Colin did. He said something about how Finn would never be able to score a girl like Charlotte James.
But there was something in Finn's eyes when he was talking about her, true he didn't say that much, but it was there. A spark that I have never seen before in him. The kind of spark that I often saw in Logan when he was looking at me. And that spark made me question not Finn, but Colin, and his one hundred percent assurance that Finn was out of his mind.
As the boys wrapped up their conversation I wrapped my hands around Logan's neck. He leaned over me to put his tablet on the table. Leaning back into his arm chair he put one arm around my waist, the other he rested on my belly. With light strokes and touches he caressed the gentle swell of my baby bump. Or as I liked to think of it, our baby bump. Or, if we were being technically correct, our babies bump.
"What do you make of this?" I asked after a minute of comfortable silence.
"Finn?" Logan asked.
"Yeah." I knew what I thought, but I wanted to hear from him if he was thinking the same I was.
"I don't know. The whole thing just seems kind of surreal." Logan said with a chuckle.
"I know." I laughed. "But still…" I trailed off not knowing exactly how to finish my sentence.
"But still it seemed real. For him at least." Logan finished.
"Yeah." Was again the only thing I said. "Well, she does fit the profile." I added with a smile after a minute.
"Yeah, she does." Logan laughed and I joined him.
Charlotte James was tailor made for Finn. Or at least where her looks were considered. I didn't know her, obviously, so I couldn't comment on her character, but if she was woman enough to bring this kind of behavior and secrecy out of Finn then I stand by my assessment, after the first time I heard that she even existed in his life that she must be quite the force. Anyway, taking the superficial road and talking only about a woman's looks, Charlotte was the life version of every single one of Finn's wet dreams. She was a drop dead gorgeous red head, who carried herself with such poise that her petite form didn't look quite so small when you saw her. At least that is how she looked to me when I saw pictures or videos of her in the press. And no matter what Finn said, or showed with his choice of women until now, he sure liked a woman with a healthy dose of self-confidence. Plus, she did have those vivid green eyes that he raved to me about back in New York. As a matter of fact those eyes of hers were notorious, and inspired love songs from not just one of her ex-boyfriends.
But whatever the deal was, and whether Charlotte James was really Finn's Mysterious Girl, was yet to be determined. And sure I was willing to believe Finn, but until I saw it with my own eyes I would remain positively skeptical on the subject.
With that in mind I, quite unwillingly if I may add, removed myself from Logan's lap and went on to finish with the salad I was making. While I was doing that Logan busied himself with setting the table and checking on whatever he had put in the oven. Whatever it was it smelled divine and I couldn't wait to taste it. Because I knew damn well that as soon as we were finished with dinner, I could have my dessert. And tonight my dessert included mint chocolate chip ice cream and a naked Logan in our bed. And if I had to be totally honest, dessert was the part of tonight's menu I truly couldn't wait for.
Late afternoon on the next day, I was lying on an exam table in a doctor's office, with Logan beside me, holding tightly onto my hand. There was also a doctor, a machine and a probe in the room with us. The doctor and the probe were currently making me slightly uncomfortable. First, because this was my first appointment with the Dr. Rose approved London doctor and I didn't know him very well, aside from our introductory appointment the previous week. Second, because said doctor was not exactly a female doctor, and I was enough of a prude to be slightly uncomfortable with that. Which I knew was completely ridiculous, but it was the case anyway. And third, because I wouldn't call the internal ultrasound the best part of being pregnant. Sadly they were a necessary evil.
The machine on the other hand, I liked. I liked it very much in fact. Especially the monitor, on which the current stars of the day were my babies. And they looked good. I could see their heads and their spines. I could see their legs and arms. I saw it all. The doctor had to point it out to me of course, the image was quite blurry and absolutely out of my league to make any kind of sense of, but I saw it all. The babies were facing one another and I knew it wouldn't be long before they started to kick each other on the butts, and me in the process. But I couldn't wait to feel them move. I couldn't wait for Logan to feel them move. I wiped a tear that ran down from the corner of my eye and turned to Logan. He wasn't crying like I was, but his eyes were glued to the screen with major intensity. He felt my eyes on him and tore his own from the monitor. No words were needed for me to see the feeling that seeing the babies brought out in him. The gentle smile on his face and the stronger hold on my hand told me everything I already knew, but wasn't tired of learning again and again.
"Do you want to hear the heartbeats?" The doc's question pulled me out of the daze I seemed to fall into every time Logan's eyes bore into mine.
"Can we?" I asked hopefully. Until now we were only able to see the heartbeats.
"I'm confident we can make that happen." The doctor said with a confident smile.
"Please!" Logan pleaded with such euphoric enthusiasm that I wasn't sure even I could pull off.
"Just give me a second…" The doctor trailed off and concentrated on looking at the monitor and pushing some buttons on my favorite machine.
I held on tighter onto Logan's hand, to which he replied by squeezing back and kissing the top of my head. I turned to him to once again look into those chocolate brown eyes, I loved so damn much. At the look of pure love I saw in his eyes and smile I literally felt my heart stop. Which seemed to be the perfect moment for it. Because that was also the moment I heard, for the first time, the sound of my babies heartbeats.
The sound of the heartbeats filled the small dimly lit room. So fast and so strong they sounded like galloping horses underwater, for some reason. If that makes any sense. But it was amazing. It was a sound so full of life and hope that brought big tears into my eyes and a huge smile onto my face. I would never forget this sound, until my last breath. I would cherish it and love it, because it was again one of those physical evidences that there were two living and growing human beings inside me. Human beings that I made with Logan. The only man I ever truly loved. The man who thought me so much about live and enjoying the moments as they come, because there was nothing greater about the present. The man who taught me how to take risks and take chances on myself and how to be bold. The man who has always been there when I needed him, be that to bring me up and dust me off after I've fallen, or to cheer on me and my success. The man who I knew with absolute certainty that loved me beyond reason, because that was exactly the way I loved him. And the only man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, being insanely and outrageously happy.
"This is the most amazing thing I have ever heard!" Logan whispered in my ear and I felt his hand, the one that wasn't holding mine, run through my hair followed by his lips.
I turned my head to look at him. The tears in his eyes took my breath away. I have never seen him cry before, and yet there he was. Brought to tears by the sound of our babies heartbeats. Love, devotion, awe, adoration, tenderness, worship. All of those emotions blasted out of every pore of his skin, out of the heated gaze he was looking at me with. I was at complete loss of words. The only thing I could do was just shake my head out of pure astonishment. At the things I was feeling, at the things I saw him feeling, and at the two tiny people growing inside me.
"I love you, Ace!" He whispered with a small smile. I smiled back and squeezed his hand tightly.
"I love you!"
And somehow that was all that needed to be said.
So, what did you think. How do you feel about Finn's Mystery Girl. I promise you will meet her very soon. In Aspen. ;)
I really hope I did the doctor's scene justice. I've never been pregnant and I don't really know how the thing with the machines and the heartbeat works, but I did some research and I hope I got the basics of it. If not, I'm sorry, but I think it looks good that way.
Thank you to whoever is reading this, YOU ARE THE BEST!
Until next time! :)
Disclaimer: I want to thank the mom to be at one of the blogs I used for my research. She was the one to come up with the reference about the baby's heartbeat sounding like galloping horses underwater. I loved it, so I used it. If she ever reads this, I want to say one thing to her. "Thank you, and please don't sue me for copyrights!"