The One - Gilmore Girls

Chapter 40

Rory sat down and the same old loneliness settled in that used to every time he would pick up Ricky.  She knew that she had to work through this for all of their sakes.  She grabbed her purse and tried to decide where to start. 

After a few minutes, she decided Finn would be first.  It was Friday night, normally he would be out, but with the Rosemary dilemma, she assumed he would be home.  When she got there, she parked and went straight up to his apartment.  She knocked and waited for an answer.

"My god love, finally!  I thought I was going to have to come to you!" he answered and immediately pulled her into his arms. 

That was all it took for the tears to start, and he led her to the couch and held her until she was ready to talk.  "So he told you?"

He nodded, "Sunday morning, he showed up looking like he had been put through the ringer."  He paused, then continued, "so tell me what's going through your head."

She took a deep breath and tried to decide where to begin.  "We ran into Odette.  I didn't know he kept in touch with her and Ricky talked to her like they were best friends...how does that happen?"

"Rory, do you know how he met Odette?" She shook her head, so he continued, "Shira didn't just pick her out and set them up. We grew up with Odette. She might be French, but she has lived here most of her life. She is a friend to all of us that grew up in society. They both happened to be in London during some key events and both went by themselves and ended up hanging together during the event. They were photographed together, people began thinking they were an item, so they let them. It turned out their parents were happy with it and left them alone. That went on for a time and eventually both heard pressure about marriage. They thought they would shut them up by saying they were engaged. Odette had a boyfriend in Paris, and Logan had you. They were extremely happy with the charade. However, her boyfriend was getting impatient and broke it off shortly before you did. That's why she "moved in," she was heartbroken, and Logan tried to help her through it. I don't really know if they ever slept together. I do know that there were never any feelings beyond pure and simple friendship. After you broke it off, they moped together."

He could tell Rory was processing, so he got up and went to get her some club soda.

She couldn't quite take it all in. She always assumed that Shira picked her and pushed her on Logan. Their friendship was actually what propelled them into the agreement. In some way, it actually gave Logan the freedom to see her instead. She was still a little confused about the Ricky part of Logan and Odette being friends, but she could discuss that with Logan later.

However, she was beginning to realize how badly she handled the situation and, looking at it objectively, she needed to fix this getting mad and leaving thing she tended to do. In her mind, she made a list of the people she needed to talk to.

Finn brought her club soda back, "so, feeling better love?"

She took it, "yes, thank you. I should have just asked Logan, I know that. I need to work on my communication issues." He nodded and waited for her to continue. "So what about you? I'm afraid Logan and I have been so wrapped up in each other that I haven't been a very good friend. What's going on with Rosemary?"

"Well, we talk on the phone, text, email, but we haven't been able to see each other in person since New Years so not much. We don't really want to talk about it seriously until we can do it in person. But Rory, I want her. Not just like that, I mean all of her. I'll do anything for her. I just don't know how to say it without sounding desperate."

"Hmph, I think that's love Finn." She curled up into his arms and they just sat for awhile. It had always been this way with Finn, no expectations, just mutual admiration.

Finally, she knew it was time to continue on. She texted Steph, who said that the twins were in bed, and she was pouring the wine as soon as she finished the text. "Well, I need to start my journey. Any words of wisdom?"

He stared for a moment, then nodded, "he's worth it Ror. I'm no expert on relationships, but there is no doubt in my mind that the hard work will pay off." He hugged her tight then sent her on her way.

When she got there, Colin was waiting at the door for her and said Steph was in the kitchen. "Do you mind if I talk to both of you first?"

He nodded and followed her.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?" Stephanie asked immediately.

"So you know, huh?"

They both nodded, Colin explained, "he showed up Sunday night. Told us what happened. Rory, you don't know the history-"

She stopped him, "I do now. I talked to Finn and he explained. I was wrong. I should have talked to Logan, but I did what I always do with him. I ran and then closed myself off. I'm here because I need advice. You two have one of the strongest marriages I know. How do you do it?"

Stephanie set a glass of wine in front of Rory then took Colin's hand in hers. "You already know that it is anything but easy. Rory, why do you think that you give your friends the benefit of the doubt, but not Logan? But when it comes to letting him go completely, you can't?"

Rory wasn't sure what the answer was...she just sat there lost.

Colin spoke up, "you love Logan so much that he is also the person that can hurt you the most. You respond out of fear because you think that if you get out at the first sign of danger that it will hurt less." He took his wife's hand and looked into her eyes, "that's also the reason you can't do that.  Why do you think we were off and on for so many years Rory?  It's the same thing."

"Just because we know these things Rory, doesn't mean we don't fight.  It doesn't mean it's not hard.  We made a choice that we would rather have it hard and have each other than easy and alone."  Stephanie took her hand, "I know that you and Logan would rather be together and working at it."  She turned to Colin and said, "time for girl talk honey."

He nodded, gave her a kiss, then turned to Rory and squeezed her hand.  "Nights girls."

"So, what are you gonna do?"

"Well, there are a few more people I want to talk to first.  I'm beginning to realize that I've never been in a truly heathy adult relationship.  Even with Logan in college, there were so many other factors.  I can't screw this up.  I have to remember that we have a child together, and I still forget how much he can get hurt by it sometimes..."

She nodded and hugged her friend.  "I've got the guest room ready for you so let's just hang out tonight, and you can continue your journey tomorrow."

So they finished the bottle of wine and enjoyed the time they had together.