CHAPTER 24: Maybe, Just Maybe
Weeks pass by and time moves forward, becoming a little more settled and a little more comfortable for everyone.
While it has taken a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of work, slowly Rory and Logan are settling into more of a routine with co-parenting Elleigh.
In short, everything is going as well as can be expected under their circumstances.
#
It's a typical Sunday night when there's an expected knock at the door. Within seconds, a young voice is bellowing throughout the house.
"He's here, mom! Dad's here!"
Logan never tires of hearing his daughter's excitement through the walls and unopened door whenever he arrives, resulting in a proud smile on the man's face. Seconds later, the door flings open and Elle manages to throw herself into her father's arms despite both his hands being full. "Hi dad!"
"My girl! How are you, sweetie?"
"Good!" Elle responds, before proceeding to tell him all about her day, her week and her year. "Come in!"
After the initial greetings, the father and daughter eventually make their way further through the house to where Rory is in the kitchen preparing the foods for the evening that require little more than opening packets or boxes and the occasional reheating.
"Hey Ace" Logan greets as he strolls into the kitchen with Elle.
Rory puts down the freshly-popped bag of popcorn that she'd been microwaving on the bench as the exes briefly share a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"So what's the movie tonight?"
The mother and daughter had invited Logan over, for the three of them to hang out together and have a movie night.
In response to Logan's question, Rory looks to their daughter and waits for Elle to fill her father in, knowing that she had been the one to decide that for the three of them.
"Well, I want to break the rules, tonight! We're actually watching a TV show. Have you heard of McLeod's Daughters? Mom and I have been addicted to it."
Logan scrunches his face up a little, conveying the fact that he hasn't heard of the series, as much as he might try to recall it. Then again, he'd never been a huge fan of TV since he's never really had the time for it.
"It's an Aussie show, set on a farm in the outback, very feminist..." Rory explains, adding to what her daughter had told him. "My mom loves it too. And, since we've started watching it, Elle's decided that she wants to be a jillaroo now."
Logan just chuckles, looking over to his daughter. He just can't help the overwhelming feeling of pride for everything that she says and everything that she does. "I bet that my parents are just going to love that idea. You'll have to tell Finn though, Elle, he'll be very proud."
Elle beams at her father's advice and the idea of telling her uncle before she keeps talking, explaining the series, the characters and the episodes to Logan, catching him up, detail by detail.
Rory interrupts Elle's explanation of the main love triangle to inform the father and daughter that she'll be back shortly, telling them that she's just going out to pick up dinner.
"So what do you want to do now, Nance? We have a bit of time to kill before your mom gets back."
"Wanna play truth or dare? Steve, Kwan and I have been playing it during lunchtime a lot lately."
Logan grins at the suggestion, having a little throwback moment as he tries to remember the last time he'd played it. This provides an excellent distraction as he tries not to worry and spend too much time thinking about what any of the dares might entail, considering that his daughter has just told him that she plays the game with two boys.
"Truth or dare... Wow. I haven't played truth or dare in a long time. Sure."
Elle claps her hands together excitably at the done-deal. "Great! Truth or dare, dad?"
As she gets the game started, she leads Logan into her room and takes a seat on the side of her bed. He walks in after her and sits on the ground in front of her, legs crossed comfortably.
"Uh, dare."
"I like dares" Elle grins, ever her father's daughter. "I dare you to go and hide the coffee in the kitchen from my mom... But, you have to tell me where it is."
Logan jumps up and doesn't tell Elleigh about how he used to do that very thing to her mother, back in the day, when he shared an apartment with Rory. Instead, he just silently reflects on the past for himself. It had started when Logan had heard Lorelai grumble about how Luke used to do the same to her, in his feeble attempts to try and get her to give up caffeine. However, the same thing was always more of a game to Rory and Logan... Every now and then he'd hide her coffee supply, while she'd hide his booze.
Logan fulfills his dare, hiding the enormous coffee canister in a big soup saucepan he had found in the very back of a cupboard in kitchen. He's sure that the saucepan had never been touched; it still had its price tag on it.
Then, after Logan's dare, the game of truth or dare continues with Elleigh being dared to prank-call Lorelai using Logan's phone. A round of truth follows it with Logan learning that centipedes are Elle's biggest fear, before she poses the next question to him.
"Why do you call my mom, 'Ace'?"
"Good question, kiddo. Well, the story goes that I first met your mom when we were in college. We were both working on the paper there, The Yale Daily News. Anyway, she tried to get information from me for a scoop that she was working on, a bit like how you did. So, then after that, I started calling her 'Ace', short for 'ace reporter' because I knew she wouldn't stop until she got her scoop, and then the nickname has just stuck ever since."
"It's a bit like how you call me 'Nance', like Nancy Drew."
"It is..." Logan says with a smile, realising how similar the only two nicknames that he's assigned to people had turned out to be.
Elle chooses another dare, being told to avoid the word 'and' for an hour. Next, Logan chooses truth, before warning her that this should probably be the last round they play; Rory will be back soon. Consequently, Elle's mind springs to action with the sudden deadline, she works out what she really wants to know; what's important for her to find out about.
"Okay, truth... Dad... Do you still love my mom?"
Logan is floored by the question and the fact that it's coming from his daughter.
He doesn't have to think about his answer to Elleigh's question. Rather, he only needs to consider whether or not he'll share the answer with his daughter.
There's an impromptu silence after Elle's question as Logan tries to assess the situation, what to do, what to say and what outcome and ramifications either option will have. As he quickly thinks it over and weighs up his options, Logan can't escape Elleigh's intense gaze. Her eyes are locked on him as she waits for the answer to her question.
So, under pressure and in that moment, Logan sees it as a perfect opportunity to build trust in each other.
"Can you keep a secret?" Logan questions, receiving the biggest grin and a bouncing nod from the blonde girl sitting in front of him.
Hesitantly, he shuffles closer to Elle and leans in to where she's gesturing to whisper the answer in her ear, as though they aren't the only ones home.
He begins to lean towards her ear, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair behind his daughter's ear before whispering into it.
"I always have, Elle."
#
Rory had arrived home again just minutes after the big question that Elle had posed to her father. The trio carried on as normal, but Logan was mentally second-guessing his quickfire decision that he had made when he was stuck, lodged, between a rock and a hard place.
After dinner, the three migrate to the lounge, where the TV and the munchies are all ready and waiting. Upon catching sight of the abundance of food that is sitting on the coffee table, the food that she knows she didn't buy, Rory jokingly teases the man in the room who she can safely assume brought it all along.
"Logan, you didn't have to bring all that. I do feed Elle occasionally, you know" Rory says as the mother and daughter share a smile at her joke.
"Well, I know how important the catering is with copious amounts of junk food for a Gilmore movie night, so I figured it was only right for me to chip in, too."
"Thanks..." Rory just replies with a small smile as she begins opening up the munchies for the evening before bringing over their dinner; half a dozen small boxes of assorted Chinese food.
While Rory prepares the food and the DVD, Logan and Elle get comfy on the couch. Watching the father and daughter share the big couch, Rory goes to take a seat on the single-seater, closest to the TV before being ordered around by her daughter.
"Come join us here, mom" Elle says, patting the space on the lounge beside her.
It takes only a moment of thought before Rory accepts Elleigh's invitation and the blonde child is the happiest girl on earth as she is comfortably sandwiched between both of her parents, either side of her, as they settle in for the night...
It almost feels like they are a normal family... almost. Well, at least it's the closest that Elleigh has ever felt to feeling that way...
#
By 11 that night and after five episodes straight of binge-watching, Elleigh is fast asleep and dead to the world.
While Elle had originally begun the night sitting in the middle of the lounge, vertically, she has slowly grown closer and closer to achieving a horizontal angle. Currently she is leaning to the left with her head resting comfortably on her father as her legs are kicked over her mother's lap.
In the silence, both of the little girl's parents are gazing adoringly at and admiring their sleeping daughter as they sit either side of her.
"She's so peaceful... She looks so much younger when she's asleep" Logan comments, quietly whispering to Rory in the dark.
The room is dark, the TV has long been turned off and they can just see each other's forms and expressions in the soft lighting from the hallway light and from where illumination pours in from the street-lights outside.
"She does... I've always loved watching her sleep. Even if I've had a bad day or something, just watching her there and watching her sleep, it just does wonders."
"You know, I still can't get over the fact that we made her, Ace... Best thing I've ever done."
Even in the darkness, Rory can see, Rory knows that Logan is giving her that smirk that is as evident in his eyes as it is on his lips... That smirk that just makes her melt... That smirk that has always made her melt... That smirk which has always been his trump card over her...
She looks away, blushing, almost as though she is embarrassed. When her eyes return to Logan's she notes that his smirk, that grin of confidence has grown exponentially at the fact that she couldn't keep eye-contact; the fact that she couldn't help the light pink blush spread across her fair cheeks.
Even though it's late and even though it's dark, he can sense her embarrassment, her slight hesitation, so he playfully taps her foot with his own, where they are seated on the lounge.
"No need to blush, Ace..."
She looks at him more confidently this time, as though trying to convince him that she so was not blushing, that he so got that wrong... But it so does not work.
Instead, they just smile and share one another's smiles in the dark.
It has been such a good night...
Maybe it's because it's been such a good night. Maybe it's because it almost feels like falling into an old routine, wearing your most comfortable jumper... Maybe it's because Rory and Logan are finally comfortable with each other and in each other's company again, just like when they had been dating and living together through college... Maybe it's the reciprocal feeling of love and pride with their daughter sleeping between them...
However, whatever the reason is, right there and in that moment as Rory and Logan smile at each other silently, it feels like ten years haven't passed. And, suddenly Rory feels a surge of butterflies ripple in her stomach from the man sharing the couch with her... It feels like a moment. But, the moment and Rory's feeling is interrupted as Elleigh suddenly jolts a little, still fast asleep, as she takes a big gasp of air and her elbow flies into Logan's leg at the sudden jerk of movement.
"Before I go, I can move Elleigh and carry her to her bed. She'll be so sore in the morning if she stays like this" Logan says with a small chuckle, looking at the number of different angles that his daughter's body is sprawled out into.
"Stay... if you want. I mean, do you want to go out the front and chat for a bit?"
Rory isn't ready for the night to end just yet.
So, when Logan replies, with a smile, she can't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, after all these years they still stand a chance...
"Sure. I'd like that."
... Maybe, just maybe...
Massive thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate the ongoing support!
Next chapter: What will happen as they talk in the middle of the night, with their daughter fast asleep? Then, Lorelai is not happy when she learns something about Logan.