Lorelai was worried, Luke had been gone for almost a month, he had called a few times but didn't say much other than he wasn't sure when he would return. There was something different about him, the tone of his voice, the seemingly curt responses, he wouldn't even tell her what the emergency was. She had tried to call April to find out more, but she never answered the phone or returned any messages. She had tried to stay busy with the Inn and the Annex but whenever the townspeople saw her, they would all ask about Luke and when he would return, and she didn't have anything to tell them. Caesar had been running the diner and Luke had even allowed him to hire someone to help which surprised Lorelai and made her worry even more. The townspeople were also wondering more about Rory, asking how London was, if she would be coming back soon and she gave noncommittal answers. If the questions about Luke and Rory weren't enough Shira Huntzberger had paid her a visit demanding money and giving her two weeks to come up with $5 million for her silence. Lorelai didn't have that kind of money, would never have that kind of money and when she tried to explain that to Shira the bitch wouldn't listen. It felt like Lorelai's world was crashing and she had not idea what to do, she had no where to turn. She had been calling Jess, but he wasn't answering the phone, he never called back… In desperation she picked up the phone and called him again.
Jess Mariano started at his cell phone and threw it across the room when he saw Lorelai's name flash across the screen. He was beat and he didn't know how to handle it, he wanted Rory he had always wanted her, but he couldn't see a way. Working with Lorelai had come too late; the plan was to late; they should have pushed the relationship sooner. He had hope when he suggested the book, he saw the spark come back to her eyes, but she never reached out to him after that. He made excuses to come to Stars Hollow to visit but he never pushed and that was his problem, he listened to Lorelai and waited. When he came back for the wedding the light was there, she was excited to show him the chapters, but she didn't ask him to read them, she just told him and ran off. But the day of the wedding… the spark was gone, there was something in her eyes that he couldn't place, that he didn't understand and then Lorelai told him she was pregnant, and she assumed that blonde prick was the father. Rory disappeared after the wedding, so he reached out, told her he wanted to help her with the book, wanted to read it and she told him she was in Hartford and invited him to meet her. When he arrived at the house he was in shock, Rory seemed like she belonged there as she was working to change things around, talking about paint and flooring and tried to control his temper and asked her about the book. She told him that she had been thinking about changing it, she didn't want to write a memoir she wanted to fictionalize it, protect the guilty she tried to joke. Looking back, he should have controlled his anger but he lost it, he asked her what she was doing, told her she didn't belong in that house, creating a fictional story when he told her to write a memoir. He asked her about the pregnancy, how she couldn't see how she was throwing her life away. Hell, he even offered to help her raise the child, they could be together, she didn't need that blonde asshole. He had never seen her so angry, well until the last visit that is. She yelled at him, told him it was her life and he left but he still held out hope that she would come back to her senses, come to him, but she never did. Then Lorelai had contacted him, and the hope bloomed, he went to see her again but she looked like the lady of the manor, she was rich, she had changed and he couldn't handle it. Even after that visit he still wanted her, knew that she belonged with him but now… he had to decide on pursuing her, creating a life with her or keep the life he had, the one he had built. If he picked her what would happen to everything else, could he really lose this business, his friends? Fuck the Huntzberger's he thought to himself. With that thought he walked out of his office and decided he needed to walk about Philly to try and forget about that day…
Jess sat in his office as he read through a contract for an author they wanted to sign. It had gone through so many changes and he could only hope that this version would be the last. A knock on the door pulled his attention and he looked at the clock, it was 7 at night and he had no idea who it could be. Before he could say anything, they door opened and an older gentleman he slightly recognized stook in front of him. "Can I help you?" he asked in an irate tone, he was in no mood for pleasantries the visit to Hartford a little over a week ago had put him in a foul mood.
"Well Mr. Marino, so kind of you to ask," the man replied with a condescending smirk on his lips. "You can stay away from Rory Gilmore and her entire family."
Jess stared at the man in shock for a moment before the anger kicked in. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
The man laughed and Jess noticed the calculation in his eyes. "I'm the Grandfather of her unborn child," the man stated his words said in a threatening tone.
Then in clicked, the man was Mitchum Huntzberger. "What pretty boy couldn't handle to competition, so he sent daddy to do the dirty work?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"There is no competition, there is just the fact that Rory does not what you in her life and your continued presence and intrusions are not welcome or wanted," he stated and glared at Jess.
"Rory and I have been friends for years," Jess retorted. "We belong together and soon enough your son will screw up again and she will realize that we belong together."
Mitchum laughed, a cold, hollow sound that sent a chill down Jess's spine. "The only two that belong together are Rory and Logan and they are finally getting it right. You had your chance, and she has shown no interest in you other that friendship. You will stay away from her, from them."
"Or what?" Jess asked feigning bravado. "What could you possible do to me?"
"How much money do you think it would cost to buy this… business?" Mitchum asked in a slightly bored tone. "If your partners won't sell there are other ways to drive you out of business. Are you really going to destroy something that your friends have spent such a long-time building? I don't want to hurt them, but I will. I have no problem keeping them all on staff and just getting rid of you. I could also just destroy you; did you forget about your juvie file and your attempted murder charge in California that was dropped when you pled out and attended anger management. What about your arrest for possession a few years ago? There is also the fact that you still use, and I have the proof, or how about the women you bought for sex a few nights ago?" Jess listened and felt a feeling of dread engulf him. Mitchum smiled, a calculated look and then he threw down the final blow. "I could tell everyone any of those things or I could just suggest to your partners that they really should look at the books better, check out some of those 'promising authors' that you signed and paid a bonus to but there hasn't been any book produced. Maybe they should look at that."
Jess knew he had a choice, he would lose everything if those accusations came out, if the guys started looking at the books he would be ruined. "What do you want?" he asked in a slightly defeated tone.
"Very simple, really," Mitchum replied in a bored tone. "Stay away from the Gilmore's the Hayden's the Huntzberger's, stay away from their friends, stay away from Hartford. You don't belong in her world, you never did. Cut off communication with Lorelai Gilmore, you are done helping her. Trust me I will know if you don't live up to these terms and trust me when I say I will win. Whatever you and Lorelai are trying to plan it stops now."
Mitchum left after he got Jess's word that he would bow out. He didn't want to, he hated to lose but it was either lose the girl or lose everything. Jess made his choice, but he still hoped that one day Rory would come back to him, he would wait.
Luke Danes studied the pictures on his phone and wondered how everything had gone so wrong in such a short amount of time. His life was finally where he had always hoped, he had Lorelai had finally gotten married and then… then everything started crumbling. As he often did, he wondered if the marriage was the beginning of the end. Within months after the happiest day of his life everything started crumbling, first Rory left but that was normal, she was a writer, but when he returned from the honeymoon, he had an uneasy feeling that Lorelai wasn't telling him something. That fear, that feeling, proved right when Emily Gilmore walked into his diner. Had it really only been not even a month ago? he wondered to himself. In the month since he had left, he went to visit April in New York where she was attending graduate school. He didn't want to tell his daughter what was going on, but he couldn't keep it in and let the whole story spill. April was surprised, but supportive and promised not to talk to Lorelai while he tried to figure out what to do. After a week in the city, he found a fishing cabin that he could rent away from everything and that is where he was, trying to figure out what to do. He knew he needed the truth from Lorelai about what she had done, he needed to see if he could move past this and they could stay together but he had a sinking feeling that there was no going back. While he didn't know everything that Lorelai had done, just her trying to convince Rory to not tell the father of her child he was going to be a dad made him sick, how could she do that knowing what he went through with April? Then to send Jess to her? There were decisions that needed to be made, he had to decide what to do but in the meantime he just sat in the cabin and remembered when he was happy.
Shira Huntzberger paced around her tiny living room as she smoked cigarette after cigarette. The apartment was sparsely furnished, not anything like what she had gotten used to. Yes, there was a couch, a tv a bed, but it didn't have any of the high-end furnishings that she had picked out, the expensive art on the walls. This place was beneath her and she wanted, no she demanded more! It had been almost two months since her world had crashed and burned, it had been two months since she had gone to Lorelai about wanting money to keep silent, but that woman was insistent that she had no money to give, she swore all of her money was tied up in the new addition and she couldn't get a loan or anything because the Inn's were not worth the amount she wanted and she had a business partner that would need to sign off on anything. So, here Shira sat, not wanting to give up on getting what she thought she deserved so she paced, and she drank, and she smoked, she tried to come up with a plan. She had nothing, Mitchum had made sure she had nothing. Yes, he moved her into this tiny apartment, he let her keep her clothes and even some jewelry he had given her over the years… she could sell that if she got really desperate for money. Honor had cut her off, she hadn't even been able to guilt any money from her own daughter! In her most desperate moments, she considered going to confront Rory about leaking her affair to the press but after all the news coverage about Odette and Logan's engagement being called off that affair wouldn't matter anymore, that engagement was old news. She knew Mitchum and knew his threats were very real and the thought of going toe-to-toe with him was not something she was prepared to do until she had escape money. Even after going to her so-called friends and blackmailing them with some of the 'secrets' that she knew she only had around $500k… not nearly enough to get her where she wanted to go. She debated about approaching Emily Gilmore to try and get her to pay her off… surely, she wouldn't want everything her daughter had done to get out and she would give her money to keep quiet. Now there was an idea…
Rory sighed as she woke up from a much-needed nap, she was now 35 weeks pregnant. After everything that had happened at the beginning of the pregnancy the last two months had been amazing, Logan had been amazing. They had been going to therapy weekly as a couple and she was still seeing her therapist every two weeks and Logan had even started personal sessions. With the help of the therapists, they had worked though so many issues and had started to understand more of what happened and how to move forward, she knew this is what she wanted and this life they were building towards was what she had been looking for. Her therapist had been working with her on her fears of childbirth and with her help Rory knew that the fear was rooted in the story her mother had told her each year on her birthday. Her OB had recommended that she attend Lamaze classes and they had signed up for those as well as a few other childbirth classes. Logan had made each class, holding her hand, supporting her and her fears for childbirth were subsiding.
Even though Rory knew she loved Logan, wanted to be with him, she was nervous about being intimate with him. Those fears had come up in a couple's session when Logan mentioned that he felt like Rory didn't want him to touch her and was holding back. She had broken down in tears, it wasn't him she just felt fat and ugly. Her body wasn't like it had been the last time they had been together, and she was worried that he wouldn't want her after he saw the stretch marks and the bloating. After that session, he had made it a point to tell her how beautiful she looked and one day he convinced her to let him see her naked. As he stripped off her clothes, he caressed every inch of exposed skin with both his lips and his hands. He murmured about how beautiful she looked, how much he loved the bump, how sexy he found it. With his words and caresses made her feel confident and loved. The intimacy they felt as they made love that day was unparallel to anything that they had experienced before.
Mitchum and Logan had also been helping her with her book… well books. Both men had read what she had written and were helpful in giving her ideas and feedback and even set her up with a literary agent that she loved and with her help she had signed a book deal with and HPG affiliate. The book would be published under Leigh Hayden and would focus on Rory's, on Stace's (short for Anastasia), life. Logan had smirked at her when he asked her why she chose that name and she had just replied with a small smile, immensely happy that he automatically knew she picked a name that had 'ace' in it. Rory felt that this book not only helped her come to realizations on her life, but it gave her a purpose and passion that journalism hadn't given her for a long time. As she wrote she found a thrill in crafting the story, replaying events from her youth had helped her come to terms with things that she struggled with and helped her to be more open in therapy, more open to what she was developing again with Logan.
Mitchum had also informed the couple that Jess had been taken care of, but he wouldn't provide them with specifics. While Rory wanted to know more, she relented and trusted that it was handled. There were no new developments with Shira or Lorelai. Mitchum also provided them with information on how far Shira had gone to try and destroy Rory…
Mitchum waited at an upscale New York restaurant for his colleague Jon Patterson to arrive. The two men had known each other for years and at one-point Jon had worked for HPG before moving to the New York Times.
"Mitchum," the other man greeted as he took his seat. "Thank you for coming up to meet."
"You said it was important," Mitchum replied as the waiter came over and took their drink orders and since both men were ready, they ordered their food as well.
"I saw the divorce announcement it the paper, there are a lot of rumors as to what caused the spilt. Everyone knows that neither of you have been faithful," Jon started and Mitchum just gave a noncommittal sound not sure where this was going. "One of the rumors is that Logan is going to be a father."
Mitchum looked at the man for a moment, "are you trying to get an inside scoop? Need some gossip to sell a few papers?"
"No," Jon replied. "This conversation is strictly off the record." Mitchum nodded and the man continued. "Another rumor is that Logan has been seeing his college sweetheart for years, even after she turned down his proposal." The man paused when the waiter brought back the drinks.
Mitchum took a sip and stated, "I'm not sure what you are implying but yes Logan and Rory ran into each other years ago and became friends again."
Jon sighed, dreading what he was about to say next. "Years ago, I worked on the panel to vet out the fellowship candidates, Rory Gilmore was the top choice and then all of a sudden someone else was picked. A few years ago, the guy in charge of the program got really drunk while he was going through a divorce and was talking about the things he regretted, and he mentioned that his biggest regret was cheating on his first wife with Shira. From what I was able to gather in his drunken state was that Shira had convinced him to do lots of things like firing women you had slept with, not giving Rory Gilmore the fellowship because she was Huntzberger property and then he helped blacklist her when she turned Logan down. Shira told a lot of people that Rory turning Logan down proved that she was only with him for his name and since he left HPG he could no longer help her…
Rory was heartbroken when she found out this information and Logan was ready to kill his mother. There was nothing that could be done to change the past and as much as this information hurt them, they had to come to terms with it and move forward. Shira was already blacklisted, her reputation in shambles there was nothing else they could do to her.
Odette sat in a small café in a tiny town in Greece. Her father had agreed that it was best if she get away for a while to let the gossip die down and she needed to regroup. As she sat in this small town, she had nothing but time to think about everything she had done over the past few years and she was ashamed of the person that she had become. Years ago, she had fallen in love with a fellow French heir, they had known each other since childhood and then they started dating. She was happy, they were in love, talking about marriage and children. All of the plans and hopes were crushed when she had decided to return early from a trip to surprise him. They had planned to go to Monaco together and at the last minute he had cancelled claiming a work emergency, she had missed him and decided to return to Paris early. She wanted to talk to him about moving in together, moving the relationship forward. After arriving in Paris she had tried to call and he didn't answer, instead he sent her a text that he was in a meeting and would call her when he got home that evening but warned her it would probably be late. Feeling bad that he was working so hard, she stopped at the store to get everything she need to make him dinner and then went to his apartment, letting herself in with the key had given her. She was in the kitchen putting things away when she heard a strange sound and went to see what it was, it didn't take her long to hear the moans and when she opened the door, she discovered him with one of her friends. They had been having an affair for months and Odette was crushed but it would only be worse when their engagement was announced three months later. Two days after the announcement she had ran into Shira Huntzberger and before she knew it a plan was concocted to get her, and Logan married. She never loved him, she just wanted someone richer and more handsome than her ex, she wanted to make him jealous. Shira promised her a higher status in society and money. It took Odette a while to understand why Shira wanted the match, Logan was in love with another woman, he had been in love with her for years and she didn't like the couple, hated the girl. Odette had lost what she thought of as her one true love, so she was fine with stealing someone else's. She let her own bitterness cloud her judgement and helped to try and destroy people's lives… she didn't even know the woman she had become.