"Is that..?"
"The scan pictures, yes."
Logan's hand moved the remaining distance and lifted the pictures as though they were the most delicate things in the world. His expression shifted as his eyes scanned down the strip of pictures and he turned the page to try and work out the angle of the image before him. After a few moments inspecting the pictures he lay the strip back onto the coffee table and picked up the glass Rory had put next to him. He drained it in one go and shook his head as though to clear his thoughts.
"Another one?" Rory asked, talking about drinks was easier than the conversation the were about to have and for the first time since she discovered her pregnancy she wished she could've had a drink too.
"Please." Logan held the glass out for Rory to take and refill, a smaller amount this time, then handed it back to Logan. She brought the bottle with her to the sofa and set it on the coffee table as she sat down opposite Logan again. She knew Emily would have had a fit at the bottle on the table rather than the drinks trolley but she couldn't be expected to stand next to it the whole time and based on how quickly his first drink had disappeared she would no doubt be refilling it again soon. He nursed his glass but didn't drink anymore as his gaze returned to the pictures.
"How-When-" He paused to have another sip. "When is it-When are you due?"
"May,"
Another long silence, Was she meant to give more details? Was he working out the timeframe? She wasn't good at silences, she could feel the verbal vomit on it's way, she just prayed he said something first.
"End of May. They can't know for sure because everyone is different and the baby will come when the baby is ready but that's what they said end of May. I was early, were you early? I think they say people who are born early have early babies themselves."
Luckily all it took was a look from Logan and her words just stopped. She took a deep breath and sat on her hands to stop them from tapping on the table or arm of the chair. Logan was opening and closing his mouth Rory almost wondered if he was trying to be funny doing fish impressions but assumed he was trying to get another question out. As his mouth opened for the fourth time there was a nock on the door. Glad of a distraction Rory raced to the door to answer it.
After ten minutes Rory could no longer see the sofa she had been occupying before they arrived, it had been covered in boxes. Each box had a number which correlated to the delivery note Rory had been given by the delivery men as they arrived. There were more items on the list than she had been expecting again, at this rate she wouldn't need a baby shower, it seemed Emily planned to buy everything for the baby herself. The lighter items she had asked to deliver to the lounge but the cot, changing table and rocking chair she asked the delivery men to bring upstairs. Rory led the way to the nursery, appologising over and over again for being slow on the stairs, not realising that the men carrying the boxes of solid oak furniture were more than happy with the speed. As she reached the door and gestured for them to go in ahead of her she saw Logan had followed them up.
"Over by the window is great, thanks." She instructed as they turned the box on its side to get it through the doorway. " I think all the rest can go in here please."
"Sure thing." The delivery men put the box in the far corner and returned to the van to bring the rest of the boxes in. Logan looked unsure as he moved into the room to get out of their way but started looking around the nursery in progress. Rory knew it didn't look much at the moment so she tried to help him understand her vision for the room.
"It's obviously not ready yet, but we've got some time. The cot's going over here and the changing table in that corner. The rocking chair will be here in the window with the bookcase the other side. Of course the baby will be in with me for the first few months." It obviously hadn't been a good idea to tell him her plans for the room, his face changed as he turned to her.
"What's going on Ace? How are you acting like this is all normal? Talking about where the baby will sleep when I only found out you're pregnant because my sister happened to see you at an appointment and told me about it. Didn't you think of telling me yourself?"
"I didn't know how-" Rory began before he cut her off
"Didn't know how? Have a chat with Honor, she'll tell you how she did it. Something like 'Hi Logan I need to talk.' or 'can we meet up I've got some news.' or even 'Hey Logan get some diapers.' would have done. But nothing, you've known for months and not told me?"
"Can I finish? I didn't know how to get in touch with you. I couldn't send you an email, It's not like I could even come to London and talk to you. I couldn't tell you."
"You could've called, you have my number!"
"I did. She answered." Rory's voice was hardly a whisper at this.
"Odette answered? You didn't tell her did you? When did you call? What did you say?" he held his phone in front of him and started scrolling through his call history.
"No I didn't say anything It was a few weeks ago, She answered and I just hung up. That was the last time I tried. When I realised Vegas was a stupid idea."
"It was your suggestion."
"I know. I am capable of having stupid idea's you know, especially around you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan stopped looking at his phone now.
"You know what it means. I never would have stolen a boat or dropped out of Yale before I met you."
"I wish you would stop blaming me for those things, you wouldn't have jumped off 7 story scaffolding with just an umbrella or organised the best DAR function Hartford has ever seen before you met me either."
"That didn't help me, I was supposed to be a journalist not an events manager. None of that helped me get published and now look at me." Rory waved her hands around her trying to emphasize her point.
"We've had this conversation before." Logan looked skeptical.
"No we haven't" Rory would have remembered getting this off her chest.
"Do you even remember Hamburg?"
"Of course I do." Rory remembered it well.
Rory had been shocked to see Logan in Hamburg. To be honest she had been terrified. Looking back she didn't know why it had surprised her so much, she knew he had returned to the family business, it made sense for him to be at a press conference but it had thrown her so much she had dealt with it the only way she knew how, the way her mother had taught her. Drink.
It wasn't that she was scared of Logan, or even of his parents anymore, she just hadn't been prepared to handle it in a strange country with strange people and the only person she recognised was Logan.
So one drink had led to another and another and another until she felt like she had consumed the entire vat of Miss Patty's founder's day punch and was waking rather groggily in a strange room, in a strange bed trying to remember what had happened, where she was and who the blurry figure was sitting across the room. As she started to sit up she soon realised too late she had no clothes on, he had heard her. This required some quick thinking and her current state wasn't helping.
"Morning, I couldn't find anywhere that would make a taco at this time in the morning but I've got waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs and some interesting looking pastries over here." Logan lifted his head from his paper to look over at her.
"Taco?" She really couldn't understand why he was talking about tacos right now, surely there were bigger issues here.
"It's your hangover remedy isn't it? or have you progressed to burritos now?" half a grin covered his face at his own joke.
"No, umm, waffles are fine. I just need…" The ground to swallow her up. Rory didn't know how to finish that sentence she was so embarrassed. Logan had clearly gone back to his old ways since she had last seen him. She was almost surprised not to see Colin, Finn and Robert here playing cards with him.
"There's a spare robe over the chair and extra toiletries in the bathroom just to your left." He nodded his head to indicate the items then went back to his paper as if it was totally normal for her to be here and there hadn't been 7 years between their last morning like this.
She stretched her arm out to the chair with the robe being careful to hold the bed cover close with the other hand while she did. She quickly slipped her arms in and did it up as she headed to the ensuite. She splashed some water in her face and grabbed the toothbrush, how much had she drunk last night? She couldn't remember a thing. She stared planning in her head as she brushed her teeth and hair and tried to freshen up a bit. First thing she needed to do was find out where her clothes were, then check she was in fact still in the same hotel, this room certainly didn't look like hers but of course hers wouldn't be as expensive as Logan's. She needed to have a conversation with Logan about the situation and the fact she wasn't just going to be at his call from now on. This was it, one time, meaningless. They both had their own lives to get back to.
AN Thank you all for reviewing. I hope it's worth the wait for those of you who came back.
Again this isn't following my original plan, it just seems to have a mind of it's own at the moment. That's why I've added the Hamburg bit here, I hope it doesn't take from the main story but I feel it is needed to understand where they are both coming from. I started writing it as a one shot but just felt it needed to be part of the main story. Next chapter will be up soon, in the mean time if you could review that would be great :)
