Chapter 35
Rory sat curled on the couch, her daughter's tiny fingers curling and uncurling against her side. They tickled a little, but Rory tried her best not to squirm. Usually, this moment would bring her peace—a time to sit down and relax but at the same time feel connected. Usually at this time at night though, she would be just barely awake, functioning on some kind of auto-pilot. But tonight, her thoughts had refused to settle - sleep having never really set.
The notepad with her late-night scribbles lay open on the coffee table, the words "Logan: B-negative" circled and underlined repeatedly. Rory chewed her lip, staring at the page. She felt torn—unsure if she should act - if so - how, unsure if she should just let it go.
Her phone rested beside her stating a silent challenge. After switching Nora around to the other side, she finally pressed call on a number she hoped that would offer some answers at least.
The phone rang three times before Paris's groggy but unmistakably irritable voice answered.
"This better be an emergency, Gilmore, or I'm hanging up and filing a human rights complaint about crimes against my REM cycle," Paris snapped.
"Hi, Paris. I'm sorry to wake you… I didn't know who else to call…" Rory said hesitantly, and bit her lip. But it was not like Paris had never woken her for her own ramblings during the time they'd been room-mates.
Paris groaned. "Oh, good. It's not an emergency. What do you want?"
"I have a question about... um… genetics. Rh compatibility, specifically."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Nora is okay, right?" Paris asked, her tone sharpening immediately.
"She's fine. Perfectly fine," Rory said quickly. "This is about... someone else."
"Then why are you calling me at four thirty in the morning?" Paris muttered, but Rory could sense Paris' tone becoming clearer as she began to move around, possibly sitting up and reaching for her laptop. "Fine. Go on. What do you want to know?"
It didn't hurt that Paris secretly enjoyed when people came to her for her expertise.
"If the mother is Rh-negative and the baby is Rh-positive, how does that work?" Rory asked.
Paris sighed heavily. "You're asking me to give you a crash course in blood type inheritance and Rh factor compatibility? What - did you doze off in class our freshmen year?! I would've noticed!" she teased.
"I am just not sure if I'm remembering things correctly," Rory admitted.
"The short version," Paris began, her tone clipped, "is that Rh-positive is a dominant trait. If one parent is Rh-positive and the other is Rh-negative, the baby can inherit the positive factor. That's basic dominance in Mendelian genetics. Now, if both parents are Rh-negative, they don't have the positive factor to pass on at all."
She paused, as though giving Rory time to catch up. "So, in that scenario, it's biologically impossible for the baby to be Rh-positive. The genes just don't align to produce it. Are you writing a high school biology column now, or can I go back to bed?"
"Not exactly," Rory muttered. "But if both parents were Rh-negative, it would be... impossible?"
"Highly unlikely," Paris corrected. "There are rare cases—mutations or errors—but that's genetic lottery stuff. One in several million people or less. Why? What's this about?"
Rory hesitated. "It's about Logan," she admitted finally, a regretful tone in her voice for even having to explain this.
There was silence on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of Paris typing rapidly. "Oh, for God's sake, Gilmore. Why are you dredging up Huntzberger's biology? Shouldn't he be someone else's problem by now?"
Rory sighed, rubbing her temple. "It's not about him—not exactly. It's about his other child. Odette's baby. He was just born… Honor mentioned something about there being some problems with Rh incompatibility, and it got me thinking..." She trailed off, unsure how much to explain.
"You're saying Logan is Rh-negative?" Paris asked, her tone flat.
"Yes. B-negative. I remember it from his chart after his accident. It was rare, and the doctors made a big deal out of it because there wasn't a lot available in the blood bank," Rory continued. "Of-course - my memory could just be failing me…," she added, doubting herself.
"Well, it was like 10 years ago," Rory could just hear Paris roll her eyes at her words.
"But I'm pretty sure…," Rory insisted.
"Please don't tell me you're asking me to remember Logan Huntzberger's medical history from years ago," Paris said, exasperated, recalling how Rory used to read his file out loud to her over the phone so she could understand the medical terms. "My brain isn't a garbage can, Gilmore. I don't store irrelevant nonsense."
Rory pressed her lips together, feeling a pang of frustration. "I just... need to know. Could a paternity test be wrong? Could someone have paid to fudge the results?"
Paris snorted. "Anything's possible with enough money and motivation. But why are you worrying about this? What's it to you if Odette's baby isn't his? Do you really want to get involved in that mess?"
"I don't… ," Rory admitted, slumping onto the couch. "I just know that if I keep quiet, and it turns out I was right, I'll hate myself for not saying something. But I also don't want to be the messenger that gets killed for delivering bad news," she added.
Paris was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "If you're smart—and let's pretend for a second that you are—you'll keep this to yourself. Let someone else figure it out. Trust me, nobody thanks the person who brings them this kind of news."
Rory barely slept. When she finally got out of bed, her decision was made. She couldn't tell Logan. Not directly. But Honor was another story. If anyone could handle this delicately, it was his sister. Maybe with her she could somehow serve this as a suggestion, as something to keep an eye out for or ask the doctors about.
Rory waited until she was sure Honor would be awake. At 9 a.m., she dialed her number.
"Rory!" Honor answered cheerfully, the sound of clinking makeup brushes in the background. "Good morning! What a surprise to hear from you!? What's up?" she reflected, excitedly.
"Hi, Honor," Rory said, her voice tight. "I, uh... I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Of course. What's on your mind?" Honor asked, sounding all preppy.
Rory hesitated. How was she supposed to phrase this? "It's about Logan. And the baby. His son, that is…," she stammered.
The clinking stopped. "What about them?" Honor asked, her tone cautious.
"I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it," Rory began, taking a noticeably deep breath for courage "And just know I am not bringing this up because I have some agenda. I'm just… I'm just looking out for him, if that makes sense…," Rory ranted, really not doing what she just promised and 'just say it'.
"Uh-huh?" Honor reflected, applying lipstick on the other end of the call in front of her mirror.
"You mentioned that Odette and the baby had Rh-incompatibility issues. And I've been thinking about that. If both parents are Rh-negative, the baby shouldn't be Rh-positive. Right?"
Honor was silent for a moment. "Right..." Honor said, not sounding at all convinced of the logic but just nodded along to her words.
"I'm not saying this to cause trouble, but if I remember correctly - Logan should be B-negative. When he had his accident, I remember it being brought up because it was rare… It just hit me out of the blue, like some faint high school genetic lesson or something. Does it make sense?" Rory's voice wavered slightly, but she pushed through.
Honor was quiet for several seconds, really taking in her words. Then she exhaled slowly. "You think there's a chance the baby isn't his?"
"I don't know. I know he had a test and he was so convinced that it was correct…Maybe it's just some weird genetic error or something?" Rory said quickly. "And maybe I'm wrong. But I thought someone should know. Just in case… you get there and… ask the doctors or something?"
Honor didn't respond immediately. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm but serious. "I'll look into it. Discreetly."
"Thank you," Rory said softly.
"He's lucky to have you in his corner, you know," Honor added after a pause.
"I hope that's the way both you and him see it… I really… I don't want trouble. I just want what's best for Nora… and for Logan, too," Rory exhaled.
"I know," Honor said simply.
As Rory ended the call, she felt a strange mixture of relief and dread. She had done what she thought was right, but the consequences of that decision were still unknown. Worse yet - she was going to be sitting in the dark for the entire time this information transformed into action all the way across the Atlantic.
AN:Thank you for your reviews. I love to hear from you. I know I haven't been interacting with my readers nearly enough in this story, but that is mostly because there are some commentors here who just get me riled up in the wrong way (make me want to argue, and I don't want these AN to be just about that). I mean - why the hell would I say this is a ROGAN story in the description if this wasn't the plan? If you don't enjoy this - then why read it?
I know I've taken you on a bit of a unconventional journey through various guys and simply induldging in scenes I've enjoyed writing, and taken my good time with getting to the actual ROGAN part. But again - I have no intention of rushing things. Also - I really don't agree with Rory being all flaky and forgiving of everything towards Logan, or the other way around. There's a lot to work through. Trust to build. And I personally would like them being parents first and lovers second. So lets just remove one obsticle at the time (as we can), first dismantling the connections to London a little bit (I assume this is no longer a real spoiler), and so on.