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~~~ Still Quarantined ~~~

Things may really slow down update wise. My husband got news about his work transfer today, and we could be moving in the next few weeks. We've been waiting for a move date for a few weeks now, but we should have one on Wednesday. I'll try to write and update as much as I can, but if it takes me a while, that is why. I have an entire house to pack up and clean, along with figuring out how to withdraw my kids from one school and register them for a new one, all in the middle of a massive pandemic

I hope all of you are remaining safe and healthy. The covid numbers where I live are spiking like crazy! Please, if you weren't taking this virus serious before, I urge you to do so now. Please follow the health dept guidelines, and practice social distancing, and for the love of all that is good, please PLEASE WEAR A MASK when you go out in public!

Thank you everyone who has posted a review for me to read! I absolutely LOVE reading them! I am so glad you guys are loving this story! Your kind words mean a lot to me, and help keep me going. Thank you so much!

Friday, February 3, 2017

8:00pm

New York City, New York

"Any idea where we are going?" Logan asked as Frank drove through the streets of the city with Rory and Logan in the back of the car.

"Did you ever think that maybe Frank should get a variety of colors for his fleet of cars? I don't think the paparazzi would be following a blue SUV, or even a white one. Why are all the car service vehicles always black? Wouldn't it be smarter to get a variety of colors, just to throw off the press?"

"That is actually a pretty good idea. Maybe we can talk to the service about it. Frank isn't in charge, but he has been there the longest because we pay him so well."

"Frank should just start his own service. Or maybe, what if we started our own service, just for HPG?"

"How often would we really use it? You hate using the car service."

"That's a good point. But I do think that they should get a variety of colors for their cars. Always having a black escalade is a pretty obvious sign to the media that there is someone of interest inside. They should think about changing things up a little. Get some different high end cars, in a variety of colors."

"HPG could actually start its own car service, but we would have to compete with everyone else for clients."

"Do you think it would be a good business move?"

"I'm not sure. Let me think about it some more. But I definitely agree with having a variety of cars and colors."

"I hope this media frenzy dies down soon. I don't understand people's obsession with our lives."

"We're rich. They wish they had money, so they like living vicariously through us. Funny thing is that our life isn't much more interesting than anyone else's. We're pretty boring compared to most other people."

"But you weren't always this way."

"No, I wasn't. And I was a tabloid punchline for years."

"Which is probably why they're so obsessed with us. They're waiting for you to screw up again."

"Pretty much. I'm done with that life though. I've learned the error of my ways."

"You've grown up a lot since I met you."

"I have, but I'm still the same idiot Logan sometimes."

"Logan, we already talked about this. I'm not mad at you. It was pregnancy hormones."

"But I still feel bad. I hate seeing you cry. And I can't stand that it was my fault."

~ * ~ * ~ * Flashback * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"Hey." Logan greeted, walking into the bedroom he shared with Rory, to get himself changed before leaving for dinner.

"Hey Babe!" Rory chirped as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, putting her earrings on.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you."

"I'm really sorry about earlier. It was stupid of me to try to trick you into giving me information. Especially using that dress."

"That dress is gorgeous. I wish I could wear it."

"Maybe later this year we'll go somewhere fun."

"I would love that."

"I have something for you."

"You do?" Rory asked as Logan held a velvet box out to her. "It's your birthday, and you're giving me a present?"

"I bought this for you a while ago. I've been waiting for the perfect time to give it to you. I should have done it this morning."

"Logan, it's your birthday. I don't need presents for your birthday. And you don't need to give me things because you feel bad about something stupid."

"I know. I just think it will look good with your dress."

"Logan . . ." Rory said as she took the box, and slowly opened it to see a simple round diamond on a delicate silver chain. "Babe, it's beautiful."

"No, you're the one who is beautiful." Logan said gently kissing her, then reaching to remove the necklace from the box, and clasping it behind Rory's neck.

"Thank you Logan."

"I am so sorry I upset you."

"You didn't upset me. The pregnancy hormones upset me."

"But I added to it. I am really sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I'm sorry for getting upset over nothing. It's your birthday. I have no right to be upset with anything you do today."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is. It's been a really big day for you. I am so proud of you!"

"It's been a really big day for you too. You've handled it all angelically."

"Only because you've been right there with me."

"I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else. I love you Ace."

~ * ~ * ~ * End Flashback * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"I shouldn't have tried to trick you into giving me information." Logan said as he took Rory's hand in his own, and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

"It's not like I even had the information in the first place. I purposely put your sister in charge, just so I didn't have to keep anything from you."

"So you really don't know where we are going?"

"I know nothing about any party. All I know is that there is some kind of celebration."

"So that is where your Mom and everyone disappeared to?"

"Most likely."

"Who all is there?"

"I have no idea. It could just be family since they're in town."

"Really?"

"I have no idea who is coming. But you had better act surprised!"

"How can I not when I have no idea what is going on?"

"Well it looks like you are about to find out." Rory said as the car pulled to a stop, and Frank exited the vehicle, and walked around the car to open the door for them.

"There is a lot of media here. Would you like me to help you get inside?"

"Thank you Frank, but I think we can manage." Logan said as he climbed out of the vehicle, then held his hand out to help Rory.

"Frank, make sure you come inside and enjoy the party too, ok?"

"Yes, madam, I'll do that. Happy birthday Sir."

"Thank you Frank." Logan smiled, then led Rory through the crowd of photographers, and into the building where their coats were taken, before they were escorted to a set of double doors where Honor stood waiting for them.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Honor asked.

"I definitely am." Rory answered.

"Let's do it!" Logan agreed.

"You better at least act surprised." Honor warned him.

"How can I not be? I have no idea what you've done here."

"Happy birthday baby brother." she said as she pulled the doors open to reveal a massive room full of all of their family and friends, singing "for he's a jolly good doctor" and then screaming happy birthday.

"Oh holy crap!" Logan muttered, taking in the scene in front of him.

The entire place was decorated to look like Rich Man's Shoe, the pub Rory and Logan often frequented with their friends back at Yale, and everyone in the room was wearing a white lab coat with a toy stethoscope hanging from their necks.

"Wow, Honor, this is crazy! How in the world did you come up with this?!" Rory said as she looked around.

"I was trying to think of where we should have the party, and I remembered that you had told me about the felon party that Logan and the crew had thrown for you back at Yale, and this idea just came to me. I was actually considering having the party at Rich Man's Shoe, but then I thought that having everyone drive to New Haven for a party might not be the best idea, so I brought New Haven to us."

"This is incredible!" Logan told her as he followed his sister into the room. "I can't believe you did this!"

"I had a lot of help. It's just like Rory's felon party, but with much better food."

"And a ton more people. Thank you Honor!"

"More people and absolutely zero alcohol."

"Please tell me that you're kidding."

"I am. I had the bar tenders stock up on sparkling cider and stuff for Shirley Temples for Rory and I. The rest of you drunks can drink your heart out! Oh, and before I forget to tell you, I told people that in lieu of presents, they could make a donation to either the hospital foundation, or the new HPG charitable foundation that I am launching next week."

"You're starting a charity for HPG?"

"I've been working on it for a few weeks now. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Go enjoy your party."

"Did you know about Honor starting a company charity?" Logan asked Rory as Honor walked away.

"She asked me some questions about maybe doing one, but I didn't know that she had actually run with it."

"Honor doesn't ask questions unless she's up to something."

"I'm learning that." Rory told him as some friends began to approached them.

"Doctor Huntzberger! Happy birthday, young man!"

"Doctor Johnson, thank you, Sir! Thank you so much for coming! Have you met my wife? This is Rory. Rory, this is Doctor Johnson. He helped train me when I first started my residency."

"Mrs. Huntzberger, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you so much, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. Thank you so much for being here tonight, and for everything that you've done for Logan." Rory smiled, greeting the older man.

"There is no need to thank me Dear. It was an honor to train your husband. He was my last resident before retirement. I've heard he's become an amazing doctor. Congratulations on your new clinic!"

"Thank you so much. You will have to come by one day, and I'll give you a tour. Maybe we can do lunch." Logan told him.

"That sounds wonderful. I will call you next week to set something up."

"Perfect! I look forward to it."

"Happy birthday Logan!" Dr. Greenley said as he joined the group. "Doctor Johnson, it's great to see you again! How is retirement treating you?"

"It is treating me very well. How are you Steeven?"

"I am doing wonderful! Just wanted to come wish my former partner in crime all the best on his new adventure. Rory, Honey, how are you?"

"I'm doing very well. Thank you so much for coming." Rory told him.

"Doctor Greenley agreed to be my back up doctor at the clinic, whenever I have to be out of town, and after our baby is born. In a few months."

"I think that is an excellent choice you made." Doctor Johnson agreed. "Steeven is a good man. You two have always made a good team."

"Logan, buddy!" a voice said from behind the group.

"Oh my gosh! Of all the gin joints in all the world!" Rory said excitedly as she turned around to greet the new face.

"Hugo Gray, how are you?!" Logan asked as he turned to see what Rory was so excited about.

"Wow, Rory, look at you! Congratulations!" Hugo said reaching out to hug Rory, then Logan.

"Thank you! What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years!"

"I got a phone call a couple weeks ago about Logan having a birthday, and I couldn't possibly pass up the chance to stop by to say hi. I heard you two were back together again. When did all of this take place?"

"Back in October. Well, September, but we got married in October." Logan told him.

"And now you've got a baby on the way."

"We do." Rory confirmed as Logan placed a hand on her stomach.

"I am really glad you two worked everything out. Rory just wasn't the same without you, Logan. She was still an incredible writer, but after you two split, I could tell that something was off. Her energy was just different."

"I didn't do so well without her either." Logan commented.

"I can't believe you went to medical school! That's a HUGE change! You just gave up journalism?"

"I needed a change. Something to focus on and keep me from drinking myself into oblivion."

"So you chose medicine. And it looks like you like it."

"I do, it's been an entirely different world for me. Science was always mildly interesting when I was going to school but I never actually considered becoming a doctor until I blew everything up, and hit rock bottom."

"That is incredible! Congratulations!"

"Thank you!"

"Rory, what are you doing now? Are you still working for the Times? I haven't seen you write anything for them lately?" Hugo asked.

"I'm not. I was actually let go shortly after Logan and I got back together."

"What?! Why would they do something so stupid?!"

"Because I stepped in to help run HPG after Mitchum got sick. I'm now the CEO."

"Wow! Congratulations! That is HUGE!"

"Thank you. It's definitely been an experience. Actually, I just had an idea . . . If you have the time and are interested, I have an opening on the board of directors that I need to fill. I've been trying to come up with someone for weeks, but no one I've thought of has been good enough, until now. What would you think about maybe joining us?"

"I think that is definitely something to think about. Why don't we all get together maybe next week, or the week after, and we can talk about it."

"Yes, definitely! Call my office, and I'll have my assistant set up a time."

"I will do that. You guys have a ton of guests, and I don't want to hog your time, but I wanted to come say hi, and happy birthday."

"Thanks Hugo. It's great to see you! I'm really glad you came tonight." Logan told him.

"Yeah, me too. We'll talk soon." Hugo agreed, then walked away.

"Nurse Veronica, you are in so much trouble!" Logan said as he saw Veronica passing by them with another nurse.

"Happy birthday Logan! I'm glad you liked your surprise."

"You realize that you are going to be the one cleaning it all up on Monday, right?"

"Eh, it's festive. It can stay for a while."

"I'm pretty sure the health department won't be seeing it that way."

"Dang it! You've got me there! Amanda and I will get it taken care of."

"Thank you." Logan said, then took Rory's hand and moved through the room to greet their other guests.

"Hey guys, how was dinner with the parents?" Collin asked as Logan and Rory joined the group of old friends.

"It was interesting. I'm not used to having parents who are actually friendly."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Stephanie asked.

"Trust me, I wish I knew." Logan chuckled. "It seems like Dad's heart attacks actually may have changed him."

"Your mother was nice to me today." Finn told them.

"You Finn? They both hugged me today! On their own, without being told or expected to." Rory shared.

"Was it completely weird?" Rosemary asked.

"Uh, only very! They've hated me since the day I met them!"

"Did they come tonight?" Collin asked.

"No. There is alcohol here. My parents aren't ready for that kind of temptation. They're at Honor's with Mom's therapist and Dad's nurse."

"So it takes a therapist and a nurse to wrangle those two."

"It's been good for them. They are going through marriage counseling to try to actually make their marriage work."

"Do they even like each other?" Stephanie asked.

"I'm not sure that really matters." Robert commented.

"They've always tolerated each other well enough. I think that maybe Mom was the one with the feelings in the beginning, but I think that Dad may have grown to have some over the years." Logan told them.

"And how are you feeling about all of this?" Juliette asked.

"I'm not really sure. It's definitely something to experience. Dad has been a real bastard to mom over the years, so if they ever decided to separate, I think as long as my Mom got a fair settlement out of everything, I would be ok with it."

"Wouldn't it be weird to have your parents divorce?" Collin asked.

"Yes and no. They've never really been together the way that the rest of us are, so I think it might be fine. I don't know. We'll see what happens with all the therapy. Dad is actually talking about moving to California for a while, to be with mom while she finishes rehab."

"Hey, maybe they'll both move there permanently."

"We can only hope." Rory told them.

"As nice as that would be, I don't think it will happen. My Mom is suddenly very excited for grandbabies. She's been ordering stuff like crazy."

"That sounds dangerous." Stephanie commented.

"It is. You should see the boxes piled up in our garage. I may have to restrict her amazon access."

"You haven't opened the boxes?"

"I'm afraid to." Rory told them. "Stuff keeps showing up. I only open them if I'm the one expecting something, but I've learned to check the tracking numbers to make sure it's what I ordered. There are a ton of clothes and toys that we won't need for years."

"You should just donate all of it to a shelter or something." Stephanie told her.

"Trust me, I've considered it. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about doing something like that for a baby shower. It kind of seems unfair for everyone to buy us stuff that we don't really need, and can fully afford to provide for ourselves when there are so many other women out there that could really use the help. I was thinking that maybe instead of buying us presents, maybe people could buy things to donate to someone else?"

"That is a really good idea. I'll work with Honor to get it arranged."

"Thank you." Rory told her. "I just feel really bad being given so much. My Mom and grandma have been going baby crazy for months, and now with Shira going insane on us, it's just getting overwhelming. We already don't have room for all of it."

"Oh, speaking of room." Collin interrupted. "Logan, your building permits were approved today."

"What building permits?" Rosemary asked. "What are you building?"

"We're adding onto our house."

"You're house is HUGE!" Stephanie told them.

"But when the whole family is in town, we run out of space for everyone pretty quickly, and end up booting someone over to Honor's house instead of staying with us. They've always been fine with it, but we figured that with the babies coming, maybe we should just add onto the house to give us a little more space to accommodate everyone."

"That makes sense."

"You can start work next week, if you want to." Collin told him.

"That's awesome! Maybe we can have it all done before the baby comes." Rory said excitedly.

"We'll see." Logan told her. "Let's not get our hopes up too soon."