Chapter 11

"Finn!? You did have your car brought over, right?" Logan asked, standing in front of their office building, dressed in a black suit, staring at a long row of unfamiliar cars in front of him.

All Logan heard from the other end of the phone call was a long stretched out yawn. It was Saturday morning, and it was really no surprise that Finn was still asleep at 10 AM on a Saturday morning. The yawn was followed by a mumble how he'd done what he'd asked. Or at least asked someone to handle it for him.

"Fuck, great," Logan muttered, noticing the new parking arrangement. It had been street cleaning at night, so it was likely the car had totten towed. "Yeah, well… Not your fault. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it," he added, not wanting to blame Finn, who had likely no clue about what had happened.

But as soon as he ended the call he muttered a few more expletives. Sure, technically there would be some car service willing to drive him out of the city, but he no longer had those numbers on speed dial, nor the contracts to make this something he could arrange at the snap of his fingers. There was no doubt he would've figured out something, but he needed a ride now.

There really only seemed one other obvious call to make. One that he was both hesitant and secretly thrilled to make.

Fifteen minutes later, already feeling like he was close to running late, he reached Rory's apartment building. He had recalled from one of Rory's stories how she still had her Prius so it'd be easier to go home to Stars Hollow and to her grandparents'. Not that he'd ever thought he'd need that information for practical purposes.

"Thank you," Rory said, accepting the coffee cup from his hands, and opened her Prius' doors.

"I really am sorry to ruin your Saturday," Logan said.

"Hey, I don't mind. It's the perfect excuse to go see mom and Lane for a bit," Rory chimed, having simply pulled on a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, barely having had time to run a hairbrush through her hair.

"Liar," Logan teased, knowing how much she loved to sleep in when she could. Hence, he knew he owed her big time for this.

Logan still wasn't used to having to ask people for help like this. Hell - he wasn't used to no longer owning a car. It wasn't even about not being able to afford one, it was just that in NYC owning a car wasn't vital nor convenient, and he simply hadn't sensed the need until now.

"So, you decided to go to this thing," Rory began, about 20 minutes into the drive. "What changed your mind?" she asked.

"For Honor - mostly at least," Logan said, but got a disbelieving look from Rory.

"Fine - I guess she just convinced me that there was only ever going to be one funeral and it is going to be the only time when I actually don't have to pretend I enjoy a family event. And I mean while I didn't see eye to eye with him, I didn't outright hate him. I just didn't want the life that he wanted for me," Logan explained, maturely, showing Rory how he'd spent a lot of time thinking about this these past week and a half.

"Do you think he knew that?" Rory asked, thoughtfully.

Logan shrugged - "I don't know."

"Well, I guess these events… I mean nobody really likes them. You just have a different reason for feeling weird about it. I doubt anyone would even think twice about you coming," Rory discussed.

"I hope so. I warned Honor I'd made a swift exit if it got too frustrating," Logan replied.

"And form a subparty?" Rory said, a hint of flirt in her tone before adding quickly - "Sorry, I know it's bad taste to joke on a day like this."

Logan had noticed this about Rory before - these days she'd lost a lot of her filter around him. Mostly he enjoyed it, getting this unpretentious and genuine side of her that he was used to only seeing when they had been at their most intimate, mentally - not even physically speaking. But every now and again he wondered what had changed and what had made this change happen.

"Hey, don't be. Frankly, it's refreshing," Logan chuckled, not wanting her to overthink it. She was right to keep on joking about Mitchum just like they'd done in the past. Him being dead didn't change that, not in his eyes at least.

"You know what? Once it's over - we can form a sub-party of our very own. What do you think? Movie night? Or something else?" Rory tried to cheer him up, laughingly.

Logan crooked his eye at her, trying to figure out how much underlying meaning her offer held. Was she suggesting a date? Or more? It was hard to separate whether her words had the kind of naughtier meaning they'd sometimes carried in the past.

"Don't look at me like that!" Rory scolded her, trying to keep her eyes on the road. "I just meant that we should do something to get your mind off of it," she added.

"Still..," Logan mused, feeling too giddy for this to be the day of his father's funeral.

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" Rory laughed from the bottom of her heart.

"Watch out, you'll drive us off the road," Logan replied, playfully.

"Don't worry! I won't," Rory promised, continuing to laugh.

"Or maybe I should drive?" Logan suggested, watching Rory continue to laugh.

"Can you even drive anything lesser than a Porsche?" Rory replied, teasingly.

Logan was late getting to the chapel where all of his family's funerals had been held in the past. Not so late the ceremony had already started, but enough to find a long row of cars pulling up along with dozens of familiar faces.

"Ah, crap," Logan muttered.

"Are we late?" Rory asked, glancing at the time.

"No, not late. Just… late to avoid the people. Or too early," Logan said, already thinking they could drive around for a bit.

"Or I could just pull up at the back?" Rory suggested, seeing some member of the staff having a smoke at the side door.

"Yeah, let's try that," Logan suggested, and Rory complied, choosing an alternate route to get to the Chapel, believing he could sweet-talk himself into slipping in through the back without issues, and just hide out until it was convenient to slip into his designated seat without too many condolences. The truth was - he wasn't sure if he could make a genuinely sad face. The best he believed he could master at this point was something neutral.

Rory pulled up on the gravel road by the Chapel, and Logan got out, aiming to simply slip in.

"Why does this picture look familiar?" a familiar voice shocked both of them, however.

"I made it, didn't I?" Logan replied to his sister, who'd been just about to light up her cigarette. Honor didn't actually smoke, but she was her mother's daughter and on occasion Honor was known to feel the need to escape situations and smoking was her perfect excuse for that.

"Yeah, like the very last minute!" Honor scolded him, but then her eyes paused on Rory. "Wait, is that…?" she asked, bending down to look inside the car, and Rory rolled down her window as a result.

"Hi, Honor! I'm sorry for your loss," Rory said, struggling from switching her 'glad to see her' face to something more regretful. But it came out genuinely enough.

Honor made a "oh well" face, like she was already tired of hearing it, and focused on her instead.

"How have you been? It's been forever! You look lovely, by the way" Honor continued, complimenting her hair.

"Oh, fine. I agree. And so do you. I wish it was under better circumstances but...," Rory replied, humbly.

"Wait, are you two… like back together?" Honor asked, shifting her gaze back and forth between the two.

"There it is - that question!" Logan reprimanded his sister, like he was anticipating this.

"Oh, we're just… catching up, talking… too soon to label it, I think," Rory was quick with her words, even if a little too detailed to Logan's liking. Mostl he worried about the hope he knew this would give his sister. And that could be more pressure than he needed.

"Oh! Really?!" Honor chimed, hopefully.

"Uh-huh, and I'm just here dropping Logan off. He had some car trouble this morning. Just helping an old friend," Rory shared, glancing at Logan for a second as if regretting her candidness for a moment.

"So, I'll call you later…?" Logan began, ready to send Rory off in a casual manner.

"Oh, nonsense. You should come in. I want to catch up! You'll give me the perfect excuse to avoid all the people I don't want to talk to. I'd much rather focus on you," Honor suggested instead.

"Oh, no… I couldn't possibly. Just look at me," Rory said, eager to decline politely.

"Yeah, she already has plans for today," Logan added, but secretly found himself wishing indeed for her company on this day.

"Oh, please - clothes are the tiniest problem! I brought like three dresses to get changed here," Honor replied to Rory. "And are you seriously telling me Logan you wouldn't want her here with you?" Honor said, knowingly, not allowing either one of them to respond to her first statement.

"There may be some opportunities for networking later…" Logan suggested to Rory, hesitantly. He didn't want to outright admit, especially not in front of his sister, how secretly he wanted her there for support. Not support for grief, as that hadn't truly hit him and likely never would, but support of another kind. Just to get through the day, perhaps?

Rory looked at him as if trying to study him, and Logan could just read her face as her resistance grew into something softer.