The One - Gilmore Girls

Chapter 8

"You know there are more than a few women in here wondering how you pulled that off...no offense," chuckled Logan as he followed Lorelai to a dark corner table. He had grabbed a waiter on the way and asked for a refill and a martini for Lorelai. They received their drinks just as they were sitting down.

"Oh Logan, if I was single, I could have any man in here...with age comes so much wisdom and experience," Lorelai replied with a wink as they sat down.

"Then it's lucky for all of the other women in here that you're married."

"Maybe so, but it doesn't matter to one woman in here," Lorelai didn't want to beat around the bush. "What are you doing Logan? I mean really doing? I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't be at a bar trying to pick up a woman on one of your nights with Ricky."

Logan just looked down, took a drink of his "scotch," and sighed but didn't answer her. She took it as a cue to continue, "are you trying to hurt Rory because of whatever happened between the two of you at the restaurant? I thought you loved her, why would you do that?"

Logan still didn't answer, but his mind went back to the last time Lorelai asked him that question.

Lorelai had shown up and immediately noticed how exhausted Logan.  He hadn't showered or slept in two days.  She gently intercepted the sleeping baby and ordered him to either take a shower or nap or both. 

Two hours later, Logan emerged from his bedroom to find Lorelai rocking in the recliner watching an old rerun of something with a sleeping Ricky in her arms.  He had only intended to shower, but he sat down on the bed for a minute and the next thing he knew, he was waking up.  He wondered how Rory was managing on her weeks with him.

Seeing Ricky so content with his grandma brought so much happiness to him.  He didn't get to see that side of his son's life very often.  Lorelai turned and saw him walking into the living room and looked relieved to see him more rested. 

"Coffee?" Logan asked on his way into the kitchen, even though he already knew the answer.

"Of course," Lorelai answered.

When he returned with the coffee, he put one cup in Lorelai's hand and sat down on the couch with his.  "Lorelai, thank you so much for your help.  I know it probably seems silly to get so worked up over something so small but you really helped me."

She smiled back at him, "Logan, I know that this situation isn't ideal, but don't ever think that you can't call me.  It doesn't matter what the problem is.  Anytime."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.  He could tell the wheels were turning in Lorelai's mind, so he just waited until she was ready to say it.  "This situation...it's not what I wanted for Rory, but I am incredibly proud of the father that you have become.  You need to know that."

He nodded, those words meant more to him than almost anything else that he had ever been told.  Lorelai's approval was something that he had so desperately wanted for years, now he couldn't believe that he was hearing them, especially considering the road that he and Rory had travelled over the last thirteen years.  "Thank you Lorelai.  That means a lot."

"Logan, I've never been one to beat around the bush so I'm not going to start now.  This situation, how did it come to be?"

"I'm sure Rory explained-" but Lorelai put up her hand.  "She did, but I want to hear your side of it.  Why is my daughter following in my footsteps by being a single mother?  One thing I have never doubted over the years is your love for her, you do love her right?" 

Logan knew that he owed Lorelai an honest answer, "I don't remember a time that I wasn't in love with Rory Gilmore.  But your daughter makes her own rules, she's a lot like you in that way, and if a man aims to keep her, he follows them.  I didn't realize how blindly I was following her until she turned down my proposal all those years ago."

"It took years until I finally felt like I was over her.  I had decided that I wouldn't take a chance of being that hurt again, so I let me parents arrange a mutually beneficial relationship with a French heiress.  We never involved our feelings and our parents knew not to expect it.  I was happy enough until I saw Rory in Hamburg.  That was about two years before she got pregnant."

"From the second I saw her getting out of that cab in front of me, I knew I had never really gotten over her.  We had dinner and the same old flames were there, at least on my end.  I tried to ignore them.  I told her about Odette and that the plan was to be engaged in about a year and then married in another.  It was simply a business arrangement to make our parents happy and save us from the constant nagging and set-ups.  Rory told me she had been dating a guy from New York for about a year, but it wasn't serious because she travelled so much."

"When we finished our meal, I gave her my card and got her back to the hotel safely.  I thought I would never see her again, but the next day she called me.  She said neither of us were free, but we weren't tied down either.  She proposed the Vegas agreement, and at that point I had decided that I would take her in any capacity that she would let me."

"I'm not proud of it, but I'm sure Luke would tell you that being in love with a Gilmore girl completely consumes you.  When I took her away to New Hampshire, I had hoped she would finally tell me that she loved me, but instead she told me goodbye.  After that, I definitely thought I'd never see her again.  Then I got the letter...I want to be a better father than mine was.  And again, I will take Rory in any way that I can get her.  If that means as co-parents and friends, then so be it."

"Lorelai, I don't date, and I don't intend to.  My life is focused on being a good father and running the family business.  Occasionally, I let mom fix me up to get her off my back.  When I need a release I go to a bar, but I am extremely careful.  Ricky won't ever have a stepmom or step siblings, I can promise you that."

Lorelai had never asked again, and when they saw each other, they tried not to talk about Rory.  But tonight, they had been thrown together again.  "Of course I love her, but I had to see if Colin was right. He said the reason she ripped into me is that she's jealous."

"And you thought putting the moves on another women right in front of her was the way to do it???"

"Would she have answered me honestly if I asked her?"

"Probably not, I don't think she even realizes it yet. She has decided to bury it with alcohol unfortunately."

"Are you guys taking care of her?"

"Of course Logan. We've got her back," she reassured him. She wasn't sure how he would take this next part, "look, if you want your answer, then I'll give it to you. Yes, she is jealous. She wouldn't admit it, probably not even to me, but she still loves you. Seeing you with other women is hard."

Logan's jaw dropped, he was speechless, but she thought she saw a glimmer of something in his eyes. Maybe hope? She continued, "I don't know if there will ever be a chance for the two of you to be together again...that's not up to me. I do know that if you want even a chance, you need to get out of here. Put down your water, go home, be with your son, and give her some time to realize it on her own."

He nodded, stood up, and gave Lorelai a hug. "Thank you, I better get going...how did you know it was water?"

"You are an amazing dad, I know you won't let any harm come to Ricky or yourself if you can help it."

He slipped through the crowd, and Lorelai knew she wouldn't see him again that night.