Once again, can I just say a massive thank you to everyone who is bothering to read and review this story. I am astounded by the response so far and I am so eager and excited to continue with this. I have seven chapters ready and waiting to post! The next update will be up sooner than the last two.
CHAPTER 4: Dig Deeper
"You know that man that you were talking to at grandpa's funeral... Who was that?"
Rory instantly squirms uncomfortably as soon as she hears her daughter's unexpected question that hits a little too close to home. However, she is able to quickly regain her composure to be able to carry on as though it is nothing.
"You heard who he was, Elle. I introduced you to him, remember hun? His name's Logan Huntzberger. He's an old friend of mine."
Elle nods at her mother's response, although her eyes don't leave the identical pair of blue orbs. It's almost as though what Rory has just told her isn't the response that the younger girl had been expecting to hear.
"I recognised him... Isn't he in your college photos? Like the photo where you're holding hands with the umbrellas as well as the other one where you're wearing that blonde wig."
Rory is instantly floored.
She knows that her daughter is intuitive and she knows that her daughter is clever. However, what she doesn't know is where Elle had seen or when she had shown her daughter those college photos, particularly any with Logan in them. Not to mention, she also doesn't know how Elleigh managed to recognise and make the connection between the face of the man in the photos and the man who she had met only briefly; over ten years on from when those photos had been taken.
"You used to be boyfriend and girlfriend, didn't you?" Elle adds before Rory has a chance to recover from her surprise and before she even had a chance to answer Elle's previous question.
Rory momentarily weighs up all of her options, quickly compiling a mental pro-con list. She decides that she has no reason not to confirm her daughter's question; wanting to avoid lying to her as much as she can, despite the fact that Elle's probing questions are getting a little too close for comfort.
"Um, yes... Yes, he was in my college photos and yes he used to be my boyfriend. I hadn't seen him in a very long time. Where are all these questions coming from? And where did you see those photos, Elle?"
"I thought so" Elle grins, the fact that she has her guess confirmed as being correct is a little confidence booster for the younger girl. "Glam-ma showed me the photos last year when she was looking after me one day. You looked like a princess in the umbrella photos, mom."
Rory gives her daughter a smile, trying to hide her nerves and the increasing pounding of her heartbeat after the unexpected conversation that she's just had.
"Thanks sweetheart. Now I better get back to my work and you better get to bed soon."
Elle nods at her mother and gives her a charming smile that reminds Rory one hundred percent of her daughter's father before she walks off obediently.
However, despite her smile and despite her charm, the child doesn't let on to her mother that there was much more to Elle's question than just a simple suspicion of who the stranger from the funeral had been and how he knew her mother...
Elle didn't mention to Rory that she knew that Logan had been in her mother's graduation dinner photos too, seeing as he was the person in the other photos. She had seen the way that they had had their arms slung around each other, lovingly in the photo with Logan, her mom, grandparents and great-grandparents. However, she had also received the confirmation of what she already guessed; that Logan and her mom had been together during college.
Elle knows that a pregnancy lasts for nine months.
Elle knows that she was born seven months after her mother graduated college.
Elle knows that her mom was in that picture that was taken just over seven months before she was born, with someone she had dated at some point in time.
Elle knows that her father is a sensitive and uncomfortable subject with her mother.
However, Elle also knows that she has other ways to find out information, beyond just asking her mother directly.
So, not only does Miss Elleigh's hunt for information not quite end there, but little does she know that she's not the only one digging for information...
#
Once Logan returned to work from Hartford and the funeral, he couldn't help but do a little research of his own. While he hadn't gone to the funeral to see Rory, he had hoped to even at least catch a glimpse of her from afar while he was there. When he did see her, they didn't have very long to chat before they were interrupted and before she consequently left.
So, Logan decides to try and find out for himself about what she's up to these days and where her life has taken her over the past nine years.
Taking his fifteen minute lunch break for the day, Logan decides to spend it doing some research and finding out what he can with the help of Mr. Google.
He quickly types 'Rory Gilmore' into the search bar. He quickly determines that she doesn't have any public social media accounts, not that that's surprising. He then begins looking for news articles and Logan is initially met with a few just mentioning her name in conjunction with her grandfather's recent death and obituaries.
When his search deepens just a little, Google tells him that she attended a D.A.R. luncheon with her grandmother in New York, just six months ago.
Google tells him that she had obviously found some success with journalism and freelancing, with her name proudly on the by-line of numerous articles published by a number of different papers over the last four years.
Google tells him that in conjunction with some freelancing articles, she appears to have permanent work based in Stars Hollow, working with the local newspaper there.
Google tells him, that apparently she has found favour and credibility for her work, being positively recognised and received by fellow journalists.
However, what Google doesn't tell Logan is why there seems to be a gap and hiatus not only in her portfolio -but also any other mention of her- from half a year after her graduation and their breakup, spanning across another five years after that before her life seems to carry on as normal after the seeming absence...
#
After feeling like her mom had dried up as a useful resource, Elle didn't give up, but simply moved onto something else.
She decided to do an internet search to see what news and what information Logan's name would produce. Last year in school, they had learnt how to do Google searching for research and as a demo they all had to try typing their own names into Google. Steve and Kwan had been terribly jealous that the name 'Elleigh Gilmore' brought up a bunch of news results from her connection to the Gilmore family while their names had led to nothing.
After Elle's initial Google search of 'Logan Huntsburger', she was promptly led to the more popular search term of 'Logan Huntzberger'.
There, she found an abundance of resources at her fingertips; she could basically write a biography about the man that she knew nothing about apart from his name.
Elle scans a few web pages that mention Logan, along with a lot of other names of people and companies that she hadn't heard of. One article in particular was informative and interesting, essentially summarising his life and career as a successful entrepreneur.
She finds a multitude of other recent, glowing articles and reports about him, as well as a few paparazzi shots connected to pointless articles featuring him grabbing coffee or getting in and out of cars.
However, it's only when she finds another, much older article that leads to a dead link when Elle's search for information becomes a bit deeper...
The article heading from 2007 catches her attention reading 'Huntzberger Heir Embroiled in Scandal'.
The link to the article was dead and the page had either been moved or deleted altogether as it told her 'this webpage cannot be found'.
Trying to find any other links that work, Elle finds a number of other similar articles with similar headlines such as: 'Media Magnate Mitchum Huntzberger Rescues Disgraced Son' and 'Huntzberger Heir Brings Controversy upon Family'.
None of the links that she found from the brief search worked and consequently nothing led her to any articles that told her anymore than what their headlines did. All she knows is that Logan had been wrapped in some sort of trouble in 2007, a few months before she was even born and she knows that it isn't going to be easy to find out what that trouble was.
However, Elle isn't deterred by the setback and she simply makes a mental note to keep it in mind and return to researching that particular off-shoot at a later date.
Instead, her attention is turned to something else. Another webpage that had only been posted in the last week. The webpage presents her with a once-off chance, an opportunity, to keep digging, to further her research and to find out whether or not she is right again about her new suspicions.
The nine-year-old is more of her mother's daughter than what anyone ever realised...
Elleigh Gilmore feels like she has a scoop, a strong lead that she is determined to follow up and now she has the opportunity to pursue it.
Please let me know what you thought of the chapter. Also, let me know if there's anything in particular that you would like to see in the story or anything you'd like me to incorporate. No promises, but I'll do my best!
One of the big questions that keeps coming up in reviews is why Rory didn't tell Logan. You'll find out why Rory never told Logan about Elle further on... Could it have anything to do with Logan's scandal? More about both of those issues will be revealed in upcoming chapters.
Another recurring question is how come Logan never found out. My explanation is that similarly to Lorelai, Rory kept Elleigh out of and away from Hartford's 'society' bubble and functions. Sure, Emily may have mentioned having a great-granddaughter to her friends but unless there's ages or dates involved, there's really no reason why it would get back to Mitchum or Shira and why they would jump to the conclusion of it being Logan's. After all, people move on.
Next chapter: As Elleigh pursues her scoop, where exactly will it lead her? What 'opportunity' has she found? Plus, it's panic stations when Rory and Lorelai discover that Elle is missing.