So, excuse time. I am so sorry that this is not up sooner. The thing is, I edited it almost two weeks ago. When I went to post it, FanFiction was having some issues so I didn't end up posting it when I intended to. Then, after that, work got crazy again. I have barely even glanced at FanFiction, so I managed to completely forget until I was driving home from the shops yesterday and I realised that I haven't posted this chapter, due to excuses A, B and C... Please accept my sincere apologies!
CHAPTER 18: Not-So-Little White Lies
After Logan made his decision to move to Stars Hollow and work from a base in New York, it took a few weeks for that move to get organised and take place.
Then, just days after receiving the keys for and just days after beginning to set the office up (or, getting his minions to set the office up, rather), Logan had invited Rory and Elleigh to take a trip into the city to see his new workplace today
Thanks to the extensive directions that Logan gave, the mother and daughter find and enter the building with relative ease, but he joked that he's sure that Elle could have got them both there without those instructions, with his daughter's ability to and reputation for navigating herself around New York preceding her.
After they arrive at and enter the building, the duo take the short ride up the elevator to reach the thirty ninth floor where the double doors open to a bare and unintentionally minimalist office. The area and the layout of the office is already beginning to take shape and it's becoming evident that it will be a predominantly open-plan workplace, aside from Logan's office, a meeting room and two other offices.
As Rory and Elleigh exit the lift they immediately spot the young, blonde man that they are here to from where he is standing on the other side of the room, before he sees them. From the second that she sees her dad instructing someone and pointing to a few different things around the room, Elleigh begins to race over to him, before the worker has barely begun to walk away from Logan.
Then, as soon as he catches sight of the two girls in his office -especially the one hurtling towards him for a hug- Logan goes from serious, furrowed-eyebrow, 'work-dork' mode to lighting up at their presence.
When Elle finally collides into her father's arms, she and Logan hug dramatically. He wraps his daughter in a big, bear-hug, furling over her with the intention of pretending to squash her within his arms as she giggles, playing along happily.
As she watches them from the other side of the room, the bond between the father and daughter is clearly evident and it's beautiful to watch. It's hard to tell who is happier to see the other. It brings a smile to Rory's face. But, she can only imagine just how much stronger and more evident that bond would be if they had known about each for longer than a month.
"Going for the minimalist look?" Rory teases, approaching the father-daughter duo as she scans the wide room that is lacking the furniture, furnishings, decor and paperwork of a normal office.
Around the room there are some workers constructing a desk in the corner, a couple of others entering or exiting one of the few rooms that are visible from the elevator and another employee is standing in the corner talking animatedly on her phone.
"Ha ha, Ace. I've learned that it's cheaper" Logan responds as he and Elle pull away from each other, although he keeps a hand on her shoulder affectionately.
"So where's your office? Can you show me?" Elle interrupts, looking up at her father curiously.
Logan smiles at his daughter and her interest in his new workplace, happily nodding at her request, preparing to show her his office, give her a rundown of his work and what he will be doing in that office.
Having assumed that Rory would follow behind too, it's only after he and Elleigh have walked off to his office when Logan notices that Rory's still standing frozen on the spot where they had left her last, looking dazed.
"Hey, Ace? Are you alright over there?"
Standing there, in the almost empty room, it takes Rory back to years ago. Years ago when she was in a very similar situation, finding and visiting Logan's other barely furnished office for the first time, visiting with the purpose of seeing him...
#
March 1 2008
Walking among the tall, sky-scraping buildings, Rory can't help but feel small.
Walking through the city is usually enough to make anyone feel small standing beside the buildings. But, today, Rory feels even smaller than usual.
Walking through the busy streets of Los Angeles and walking through the business district, Rory tries to navigate her way past the flood of people and through the unfamiliar area, looking for the large sign that she has come all the way from Connecticut for.
As walks around, Rory yawns for the umpteenth time today, unsure whether it's the red-eye flight or her newborn daughter's nightlife that is more to blame.
She had flown to Los Angeles very early this morning, aiming to only be away from her baby for a day and with the itinerary to fly in first thing, visit Logan, give him the news that will turn his world upside down, talk about that, stay in the city overnight if she must and then be on the next flight home to get back to her baby girl before midday the following day.
Rory had made the decision to leave Elleigh with her mother and step-father for the day, not too sure that she's quite ready for a six hour flight with a newborn on her own just yet. But, that's just one of the reasons, seeing as she doesn't think that her destination –a small start-up office- is really the place to bring a screaming, newborn baby, either.
Plus, by leaving her daughter in the very capable hands of her mother, it also gives Rory the chance to deliver Logan herself. Rather than that piece of news revealing itself and being delivered abruptly, in the form of a baby, as soon as he catches sight of her...
After a good twenty minutes of walking, Rory eventually finds the building, then the sign and then the level that she needs to take the lift to.
As she enters the elevator, she straightens her hair and pats down her skirt. With a deep breath, she tries to prepare herself for the fact that any minute now, any second even, she may be met with the face of the man that she turned down, the face that she had been forced to stand there and watch when she turned him down and broke his heart, shattering it into smithereens.
Rory is a nervous wreck. She feels nauseous and she feels like her stomach is containing a whole breed of vicious and violent butterflies. Ironically, both are sensations that remind her of her recent pregnancy, resembling the morning sickness and her daughter's kicking.
For all the time that she has spent thinking about it and for all the time that she has thought about exactly how she will say what she is here to tell Logan, she still feels no more prepared. For months, she had deliberated on how she should tell her ex-boyfriend firstly that 'we're having a baby' and now that, 'we have a daughter'. Even using the whole plane trip as one big, mental, practice run has left her feeling no more equipped.
She takes a few deep, long breathes to try and control her breathing and her rippling nerves. Although she tries to gain her composure and make sure she's presentable, Rory feels anything but. She is a rattled bundle of nerves, every inch of her oozing with nervousness. Not to mention, she feels like a bundle of nerves, with Louis Vuitton-grade, suitcase-sized, bags under eyes and paranoia that her perfectly clean clothes are covered in baby sick.
The lift comes to a stop on her level and it opens to a simple and clean office with closed doors, winding hallways and what Rory instantly heads for; the front desk with a stereotypical young, gorgeous, blonde receptionist comfortably sitting on the other side of the desk counter; as confident as a Queen sitting atop her throne, surveying her land.
"Good morning. How can I help you?"
"Hi, um, good morning" Rory utters nervously, pondering how she's possibly going to face Logan if she can't even greet a stranger without stumbling. "I'm here to see Logan. Logan Huntzberger, sorry."
The receptionist looks up from her computer, giving Rory a once-over, maintaining her firmly pursed lips.
"Do you have an appointment? Is Mr. Huntzberger expecting you?"
Rory shakes her head as she nervously wrings her hands within each other.
"No... No, he's not expecting me."
With a nod of acknowledgement, the receptionist wearing the name tag 'Natasha' looks down to her computer briefly and then once again up to Rory.
"I'm sorry, Log-, I mean Mr. Huntzberger is in a meeting currently. I don't know when he'll be out."
"That's okay. I'll wait. Please let him know that I'm here and I'll wait until he's free."
Natasha the receptionist nods and with a hand gesture that would rival an air hostesses gestures, she directs Rory to wait on one of the seats on the other side of the room, before picking up the phone to call her boss. "Logan? I have someone here to see you."
"Who is it Natasha?"
"They didn't leave a name."
"I'm still in the meeting. I'll be down when I get a chance. I have no idea how long that will be. Is it urgent?"
With a glimpse over in Rory's direction, Natasha subconsciously shakes her head.
"No, it's not urgent. Take your time, Logan."
#
As he ends the phone call with Natasha, Logan immediately returns to the meeting room that he stepped out from to quickly take the call.
Reentering the room, he runs his hands through his hair and takes a deep breath. Small beads of sweat are beginning to form on his hairline and his tie feels like it is becoming tighter and tighter; strangling him in the process.
Logan's work is stressful. It means late nights, long hours and gruelling, hard work is needed in order to push the company forward.
... And that's on a normal day.
Today, however, the stress of a normal day's work is multiplied exponentially. He and the other co-owners of the company are trying to acquire and secure a particular investor that would be a game-changer for the company.
All morning, before the business day even began, emails and phone calls have been flying back and forth. It's been one step forward, two steps back in the negotiation game and everyone is on tenterhooks.
Not to mention, hearing that someone is waiting for him in the foyer of the office comes as no surprise. Logan's used to receiving time-wasting visits and phone calls from either the media wanting insider information on his father and HPG, visits from canvassers or all sorts of other D-grade organisations and companies that are trying to contact him for one reason or another.
Needless to say, the anonymous visitor that's waiting on the level below very quickly slips Logan's mind.
#
After an hour and a half, along with quite a few subtle looks in Rory's direction, the receptionist -Natasha- finally works out why the waiting brunette looks so familiar...
She's been into Logan's office just a handful of times so it takes her a bit of time to make the connection between the photo on Logan's desk and Rory who is sitting in the corner, waiting to see him. She is the photo that's on his desk.
Much like about ninety percent of Logan's female employees and coworkers, Natasha has feelings for Logan and she has actively tried to convey that interest in him... After all, who wouldn't be interested in a handsome, young, entrepreneur from a multi-million dollar family?
Natasha has made a lot of effort over the previous months in trying to drop subtle hints to her boss... I'm free tonight, and tomorrow... Oh, you're going to that restaurant? I haven't been. I've always wanted to go... Yeah, I have a thing for blonde guys... Oh, you're single too?!...
After months of her hard work and effort in trying to pursue Logan, Natasha's effort had finally paid off and he'd asked her out for drinks on Friday after work.
So, if Natasha is right, if Rory is his ex and if Rory is the same brunette girl as the one embracing Logan in the picture that sits on his desk, then there's a very real chance that his ex waiting to see him is going to ruin her chances with Logan...
Natasha's train of thought is interrupted as the phone rings from beside her. She's quick to compose herself and answer it within three rings, true to company standards.
The phone call is just from one of the other higher ups of the company, in fact she's surprised that he's not in the meeting with the others as they try to acquire the investor. He only has a quick question, confirming the time of a meeting for tomorrow. However, Natasha uses the opportunity to dig a little deeper and use the man over the phone that she knows has been in business with Logan for the longest time, including before he moved to L.A.
Natasha covers her hand over the receiver, subtly, to make her words a little harder to hear and a little harder to read before she asks her co-worker the question to try and confirm her suspicions.
"Hey, you've known Logan for a few years, right? Did you ever meet his ex? What can you tell me about her? What does she look like?"
"Yeah... I met her once. Rosie? Ronnie? ...Rory, I think. The thing I remember most is her striking blue eyes. Fairly quiet girl. Tall, brunette, I think she's in the industry too. Why?"
Natasha does a double take and glances over to the girl that they both must be talking about. She has to be the ex.
"Oh, no reason... Just curious. Seeing as I have my date with Logan this Friday, I thought I'd try and gather some information on the ex without needing to ask Logan. That's a no-go zone."
Over the phone, Natasha hears a chuckle from her co-worker.
"It's after-work drinks, Tash... Drinks. I'm not anticipating an invite to your wedding anytime soon. I would cool it down a bit; you're coming off as a bit desperate."
"I didn't ask for your advice" Natasha hisses over the phone, glancing over at Rory once again, watching from afar as she sits there patiently waiting, her foot bouncing up and down.
While Natasha had been distracted with collecting information on Rory from the moment that she first struck her as looking familiar, during that same time Rory has been oblivious to the receptionist's attention and glances in her direction.
Instead, Rory is distracted with from suffering an awful combination of nerves as she waits and waits and waits to see the father of her child, preparing to come clean to him in addition to worrying and missing said child. Her trip to Los Angeles today marks the longest time and furthest that she has been apart from her daughter over the course of her short life so far.
As if her own mother knows exactly how Rory is feeling as she is sitting there waiting, she receives a stream of selfies from her mom.
Just recently, Rory had treated Lorelai and bought her her first iPhone that she fell head over heels in love. Most recently, she has been getting into spamming her daughter with selfies. Usually, Rory would receive photos of 'Lorelai at Luke's', 'Lorelai driving home', 'Lorelai sitting in bed, 'Lorelai at work' or 'Lorelai trying to get a selfie with her parents' throughout the day. When Rory feels the series of vibrations on her phone, she instantly sees the stream of photos from the new grandmother. This time, Lorelai's photos are an assortment of selfies of photos of- and with- her baby granddaughter.
The first is a photo of her mother uncomfortably trying to hold the baby, take a selfie and smile all at the same time and Lorelai's difficulty at melding those three factors shines through in the photo, providing Rory with a welcome distraction as she sits there and waits, stifling a laugh at the photo.
The second photo that comes through is one of her step-father, Luke, holding her daughter and looking down at the newborn dotingly, with the same total adoration that he is overcome with every time he comes into contact with Elleigh.
The third message seems to be a close-up taken at the same time as the last photo. The camera is zoomed in to show Elleigh sleeping peacefully in Luke's arms.
The fourth and final photo is a selfie of Lorelai, clearly having a little trouble with taking a one-handed selfie as she uses one hand to take the photo and the other to pretend to blow a kiss into the screen, to Rory, along with the following message.
Mom: Hope it's all going well, hun. Little miss has been an angel. So much so, we're not sure if we're ever gonna give her back. Proud of you x
Rory can't help but smile at each one of the four photos and the message that accompanies them. The familiar faces are just the comfort and distraction that she needs right now, effectively calming her almost instantly, before her nerves are jittered all over again...
From the other side of the room, Rory notices the receptionist on the phone saying what she makes out to be "Okay, no worries. I will do. Bye."
Faced with the chance of her hard work being for nothing and realising that the presence of his ex may ruin their chance for drinks, along with anything else that may come of that, Natasha steps in; just a little...
"Excuse me?" Natasha says as soon as she hangs up the phone from her co-worker, after collecting more input on Logan's ex and beckoning Rory over to her and the desk. "I'm very sorry, but Mr. Huntzberger won't be able to see you today. I ask that you please leave."
Natasha appeases her own conscience by arguing that if it's really important, she'll ask to leave a message... Right?
"Does he know that I'm here? My name's Rory Gilmore. Does he know that?"
Natasha pauses for a moment, taking the time to carefully select her next words which could be skewed to the way that she needs them to be, without being dishonest and without putting her job at risk.
"Mr. Huntzberger knows you're here."
... Natasha appeases her own conscience with the reasoning that, after all, she isn't lying. Sure, he might not know who is here, but he knows that someone is here. And, that someone happens to be Rory...
With the confirmation from the receptionist, Rory's heart plummets and her stomach churns. Through all her nerves and all her worries about seeing Logan again -one year on- to tell him about their daughter, she never factored in the fact that he might not want to see her.
"Oh..." Rory says, her voice instantly sounding more deflated than the last time that she spoke. "And he didn't say anything about making another time to meet or anything?"
"No he didn't, sorry."
Honestly, she can't blame him for not wanting to see her. She said no to marrying him, she has no idea how that must have felt to stand in front of all those people at her party, with such confidence that she was just as ready as he was to spend the rest of their life together, to only discover just how unfounded and misplaced that confidence was.
In Logan's defense, saying no to seeing her is nothing in comparison to her saying no to marrying him.
... That is what Rory tries to reason and tell herself, to reassure herself, in a feeble attempt to soothe the stinging feeling of rejection and karmic repercussion. It doesn't really help...
Taking her small notepad out of her handbag, she takes the pen that is sitting on the receptionist desk and quickly scrawls.
'We need to talk... I have the same number. Rory'
Tearing the small piece of paper out of her notebook, she hands the receptionist the paper and asks her to pass it on to the man that she has come all this way to see.
It's a last ditch effort and attempt and she can hardly imagine that a note will make any difference at all if he refused to see her. So, although Rory leaves the note with the receptionist -with Natasha- she doesn't expect anything to come of it...
As Rory walks out of the same start-up office that she had entered nearly two hours ago, her feeling of nervousness has now been replaced with a feeling of stinging hurt.
Rory tries to reason with herself that she attempted to do the right thing... She tried and she got knocked back. It's out of her hands now.
It's just Rory and Elleigh now.
They don't need Logan, anyway...
#
Five minutes pass after a rejected Rory had slunk out of the room.
Five minutes pass after the note that she had left is thrown into the bin by the intercepting actions of a receptionist, unbeknownst to Rory.
It's just five minutes after Rory left when a blonde head swings around the corner.
"Hey, Tash, I'm out. We did it. We scored Byron as an investor! And, hey, didn't you say that someone is here for me? You can send them in."
"She left... It mustn't have been anything too important."
"Oh okay. Thanks anyway..."
Beginning to walk off again, Logan pauses and freezes on the spot for a moment to run one last question byhis receptionist as he squints, feeling a tinge of something... The something that stops him from dismissing his visitor completely just yet.
"And you don't know who it was? They didn't tell you their name?"
... Sure, Natasha might have a pretty good idea of who it was, but she doesn't conclusively know who it was...
"No. Never mentioned their name, sorry."
Logan just nods at the information before chuckling lightly. Despite the stress of this morning, the successful acquisition of a new investor has him in a good mood.
"No worries, thanks Tash. I won't lose sleep over it. It can't have been anything important if they didn't stick around to talk then."
#
After Logan checked that Rory was okay, she encouraged them to go on without her to see his office, giving Rory the few moments she needed to stand in the near-empty, newly established office to gather her thoughts after the feeling of déjà vu from all those years ago.
Shortly after, Logan and Elle re-emerge from his office, the young girl smiling happily as she bounces over to her mother.
"Mom! He has a picture of me on his desk!"
Rory's noticed how Elle's been calling Logan 'he' a lot lately. Initially, Elleigh had been comfortable calling Logan by his first name, but she's noticed how just over the last few days, she has avoided addressing him as 'Logan', yet she hasn't called him 'dad' or anything else. Rory senses that it won't be long before she does, but for now the poor guy is just spoken of as 'he' or 'him'.
"Aw, does he?" Rory says in response to her daughter who can't wipe the smile off her face.
As the father-daughter duo approach Rory, she tries to shake herself from the past and the flash of déjà vu to help her return to the present.
"He said that there's a coffee shop just around the corner that does the best hot chocolates and coffees in the world... Can we go?!" Elleigh says excitably, asking her mother for permission.
"Of course... If you like, you two can go together and I'll meet up with you later on. I've got a couple of things that I can do while I'm in the city and it'll give you two a bit of time together."
From where she stays standing in the middle of the room, Rory watches as the father and daughter begin to walk off together after acknowledging her suggestion.
Seeing the way that Elle is with her father now, Rory can't help but feel like while she felt hurt and rejected in that moment, she should have seen the big picture that day...
She should have persisted.
She should have kept trying.
She should have made sure she got to Logan and she should have made sure he heard her out when she set out to tell him about their daughter that day.
She should have seen the right that her daughter had to have her father in her life and vice versa.
She should have known that Logan would set out to be a good dad; a fun, loyal dad that represents everything that his own dad was not.
As they begin to exit the floor of the office together, Logan pauses and stops on the spot for a second, quickly leaning down to Elleigh and whispering something in her ear as she stands still beside him. At whatever Logan has just whispered to her, Elle erupts into giggles before Logan begins to quickly and quietly hurry off, gesturing for her to follow him. The two partners in crime hurry off together, headed for whatever mischief they're getting up to en-route to the coffee shop.
Just as Logan and Elleigh have left his work together today, Rory can't help but reflect on how Logan should have left his work that day, all those years ago, knowing he is the father to that little girl.
That day should have marked the day that Logan and Elleigh knew about each other.
... It was the fault of the meeting that Logan was caught up in, meaning that he couldn't come out to see her immediately as he and his colleagues worked to secure an investor, putting that first.
... It was Rory's fault for not trying harder, for not demanding to speak to him despite her hurt and her sense of rejection.
... It was the fault of the receptionist who intervened, not letting Logan know that Rory had come all that way to see him and not letting Rory know that Logan didn't have a clue that it was her who was there... All for the sake of her own 'date' with Logan - those after-work drinks that he ended up cancelling in advance, anyway.
That day should have marked the day that Logan first knew about his daughter... But, it wasn't.
It was the fault of everyone, yet no one.
I hope you enjoyed that nice, long chapter to compensate for the marginally shorter one last time! I believe that this is the longest chapter yet!
I also hope that that helped to clarify a little more into the past and what exactlu happened that day when Rory went to tell Logan. I know quite a few people were interested in reading exactly what happened and I had a very clear idea of what went down, so I thought it was a good opportunity to tie that in with the present-day parallel.
Next chapter: Logan & Elle reach another milestone in their relationship. Then, Elleigh meets the senior Huntzberger's.