Chapter 16

Another week and a half passed and not much changed in the day-to-day ongoings. They were busy people, trying to squeeze a personal life between the two ambitious careers. A few days ago Logan had taken a short business trip to Boston, which had pretty much been the only night Rory had not slept over.

Rory had finished a couple of exceptional articles and gotten praised for them, and while Logan insisted it wasn't really his help that had gotten her there, Rory still claimed his influence was in it. Either way it made him feel good to be able to support her at what she was meant to do. Mutual encouragement and support had always been something they did well.

Logan's business - was going okay. Not exceptionally well but they were staying afloat enough to pay themselves a mediocre salary. Finn and Colin didn't really need one, they probably didn't even notice the salary, but it was nice to think this was no longer a voluntary operation. For the short time they'd been in business, no-one was ready to celebrate yet, but it was good news they were breaking even sooner than most new businesses.

This evening, however, the company or Rory's writing were very far from Logan's mind. He'd just returned from his father's lawyer's office, where he'd sat through a very long and excruciating meeting with every one of his father's relatives and other beneficiaries present. It had been the big conference room - a room full of sharks hungry for any drop of blood that had dropped into the ocean. That was how Logan had seen it. Despite the will-reading having ended hours ago, Logan still felt like he'd spent the entire day in a haze with his ears ringing.

"Hey, you're back!" Rory cheered, obviously feeling already quite comfortable in Logan's kitchen, where she'd been unpacking some take away.

"Hey!" Logan exhaled, suddenly feeling very guilty for not having told Rory straight away what he'd been up to today. Rory knew some things - that this had something to do with getting his father's things in order and Honor having been mad at him for missing some appointments. But she didn't know the whole story. But right now, Logan just wished he would've told her - because all he felt like doing was falling into a puddle on the floor and sleeping for a year, preferably in her arms.

"Everything go okay?" Rory asked, casually, and observed him carefully head to toe.

Logan hadn't realized there was anything so 'off' about the way he looked, but apparently his poker face wasn't what it used to be.

"I guess that depends on the point of view," Logan exhaled,still trying to piece it together in his head how to explain everything, and walked over to the kitchen cabinet that held his booze. He poured himself a double scotch. He just needed a minute.

"That bad, eh?" Rory asked, after swallowing half a dumpling. For now she didn't really sound concerned and continued to offer him a dumpling from between her own chopsticks.

Logan took a big sip of the scotch, not enjoying it much, and took a bite, not really feeling terribly hungry. He liked being fed by her, already feeling like her presence was beginning to distract him from his own issues.

"My head just feels like it's toast…," Logan began to explain. He didn't really feel like talking about it yet. He just didn't know how to serve the news to her. His stomach felt like it was in knots, just like it used to be when he'd been stressed in the past, and he could just feel the heaviness of the decision pressing onto his chest. Things were still undecided, but there was a very big decision to be made ahead and he knew it.

"Well, I've heard this is a cure for many things in the world," Rory said and returned to put his glass back to a half-full state.

"Now, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to get me drunk," Logan said, liking the way Rory and her body language were trying to distract him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rory said, innocently.

"Now, come one - you're not going to let me drink alone, are you?" Logan mused, hoping to spend the rest of the night distracting himself from big decisions the way he once used to. A combination of alcohol and sex. The good kind of combination, that is. The combination didn't sound half bad right about now and with Rory - not half as destructive as it had for years.

"Um… actually, I better not. Not tonight," Rory replied, hesitantly.

"You got an early morning?" Logan asked in all honesty, not quite understanding why Rory was pulling the brakes on this.

Logan didn't understand why a causal explanation wasn't just falling over Rory's very kissable lips. Something about needing to work afterwards or getting to the office early. But he could just see her being now the one to search for her words.

"Actually…," Rory took a deep breath. "I didn't want to tell you this today, because it could all be nothing. But… I'm late," she added, dropping the bomb.

Logan was usually a pretty bright guy, but in this moment, it took him a long moment to understand what she was saying, having for a second genuinely thought she was late for some engagement rather than… this.

"Like late - late? Like you think you might be pregnant?" Logan reacted, his eyes going wide open on instinct. He was so used to this being the news one never wanted to hear. And even now, this possibility had definitely caught him by surprise. The instinct was to flee or fight. But little by little, Logan began to do the math in his head. Their sexual relationship hadn't been that long - three weeks? Could this really be? His disbelief stopped him from thinking the thought fully through, distracting him. But Logan did know how Rory was like when she was on her period - she wanted to just climb under the blankets with a hot water bottle, eat junk and watch TV, until at the end of her period she would become super needy for his touch again. She would've definitely not been up for date nights out in the city and all the things they'd been up to prior to those weeks either. As far as he could tell - having gotten to know her tells pretty well - she really could be late. He almost wanted to kick himself for not having done the math prior to this himself. She could really be… pregnant.

"I haven't taken the test yet. They say you should do it in the morning. But then a co-worker of mine did this overview on the tests available and she said they have a pretty high probability for false positives, so I don't know - maybe I should just go to the doctor? I mean, even if I were to get an answer, I'm pretty sure I'd want to go see one anyway to be sure, you know," Rory blabbered, hurriedly, clearly feeling nervous about the whole topic.

"But how could this happen? I thought we were being careful," Logan replied, trying to go over all the times they'd had sex over the past few weeks. Surely he couldn't remember all of them down to each detail, but he was pretty sure the pack of condoms on his night stand was emptying at a rapid speed.

"I'm on the pill but… I mean they say it's not a 100%," Rory replied.

"But still?" Logan reflected, still not believing it. Those things only happened in stories, not in real life as far as he knew.

"There might've been one time. At night. When we might've skipped…," Rory replied, biting her lips, sounding like the details were a little fuzzy on her too.

Logan tried to piece his memory together, but he couldn't really be sure which time she was referring to. They'd had sex in every room in this place. In the mornings, lunch, evenings and nights. Almost fully dressed and completely nude. Half-asleep, and fully awake - there would have well been another time when the dreams had transformed into something more real than that.

"And just so you know this was not planned, not at all… and I am not even sure how I feel about this," Rory continued, nervously.

Logan found it confusing she would even say that - it hadn't even crossed his mind. But what bothered him was the fact that Rory might actually think that he would suspect her of something like that. He wanted to respond to that somehow, but couldn't find the words.

"I'm not sure either," Logan shrugged instead.

"Great, now we're both stressed about this," Rory exhaled, disappointedly.

"Hey, I'd rather I'd know than not. You shouldn't worry about this alone!" Logan replied, touching her shoulder.

"So, you're not mad?" Rory asked, a hint of genuine sadness in her tone.

"Well, I'm as much to blame if this is the case, so why on Earth would I be mad at you?" Logan replied.

"Okay," Rory exhaled with relief.

"You know, we could probably still get you seen by Dr. Simmons?" Logan suggested, referring to a Manhattan-based private family doctor who'd once seen them at an odd time of the day when they'd been in the city and Logan had developed an ear infection. The guy had been a hoot - being a person that was truly hard to forget. Getting seen by him at this hour would cost a pretty penny and Logan was definitely going to have to use his name as well, which he no longer enjoyed doing. But right this minute - every dollar seemed very worth it.

Waiting for Rory's response, ready to get to the bottom of this, had wiped Logan's head clear of everything secondary. Nothing seemed more important than this.