In September Nicky had surgery to remove the tumor from his lungs and 2 weeks later he started chemotherapy. He also discovered that they make superhero themed Lego and was now more obsessed with Lego than ever. Lorelai and Luke had also had a fire in their house and were staying with Rory and Logan while the repairs were being done.
One morning in October Rory woke up with Logan's arm around her and her head on his chest.
"You know, I like the short hair" Logan said. The day before Rory had gotten a haircut. She went from her hair being past her waist to it barely passing her shoulders.
She chuckled softly. "You do not". Logan liked it better when her hair was long and she knew that.
"Yeah well maybe I changed my mind" he said. It was true that he liked Rory's hair when it was long, but she donated her hair to an organization that makes wigs for kids with cancer. That kinda made him change his mind. Besides, it was her hair and he thought she should do whatever she wanted, regardless of his opinion.
Just then there was a knock on the door. Any of the kids would've just walked in so they knew it was Lorelai. Luke wouldn't be knocking on their bedroom door.
"Come in" Rory said as she sat up.
The door opened and Lorelai was standing in the doorway, holding Sammy. "Does this belong to you?" Lorelai and Luke had been staying there for 3 days and Sammy had been climbing into bed with them every morning. Lorelai wouldn't have brought him into Rory and Logan's room, but Rory had told her that she could.
"Come here, baby" Rory said and Lorelai put Sammy on the foot of the bed.
"I found grandma" Sammy said
"I know, but I don't think grandma likes being woken up at 6 in the morning" Rory said
Just then they heard Nicky coughing and a moment later Shadow ran into the room and started barking at Logan.
"I'm coming" Logan said. They were warned before Nicky's surgery that he'd be coughing a lot afterwards, but the coughing seemed to stress Shadow out. Logan followed Shadow into Nicky's room where he was still sleeping and had stopped coughing by the time Logan got there. Logan gave shadow a treat before going back to his and Rory's bedroom which was now empty. He went downstairs and found Rory and Lorelai in the kitchen. "I leave the room for 2 seconds and everyone's gone"
"We needed coffee" Rory said.
Logan chuckled and kissed her quickly. "Sammy?"
"Playroom"
Later that afternoon Logan, Luke, and Lorelai were all at work, and Grace and Sammy were at school, so Rory and Nicky decided to watch a movie. Halfway through Superman Nicky fell asleep with his head on Rory's lap. Rory turned the TV of and answered some emails on her phone until she heard the front door open.
"Ace?" Logan called out.
"Shhh"
Logan walked into her living room and leaned down to kiss Rory. "I need to talk to you about something"
Rory carefully moved Nicky off her lap and out his head on a pillow before going into the kitchen with Logan. He started saying something, but very quickly noticed that Rory was distracted by something else. "Ace, are you ok?"
"I have his hair in my hand" Rory said. She'd been mindlessly stroking Nicky's head while he was laying on her and she didn't realize until that moment that she had a bunch of Nicky's blond hairs in her hand.
They always knew it might happen, and at the end of the day it was just hair, but it just felt like one more crappy thing that was happening.
A few days went by and Nicky was losing more and more hair. On Thursday morning Rory and Logan sat down to have a conversation with Nicky.
"You know how your medicine is making your hair fall out?" Logan asked. Nicky nodded. "So sometimes when people have cancer and the medicine makes their hair fall out they decide to shave it. That way they're not covered in hair all the time"
"You don't have to" Rory said. "But we want you to know that you can"
Nicky was quiet for a few moments before he spoke. "Is all of my hair gonna fall out even if I don't shave it?"
"We don't know" Logan said. "But probably"
Nicky was quiet again. This time for longer. "I was wanna shave it"
"Are you sure?" Logan asked.
Nicky nodded.
"Ok" Rory said softly.
They went into the kids' bathroom which happened to be the biggest bathroom in the house. The brought a chair in there for Nicky to sit on and they just waited for him to tell them that he was ready.
"Nicky, you don't have to do this if you don't want to" Logan said.
"I'm just scared" Nicky said.
"That's ok" Rory said.
"You know what?" Logan said. Without saying anything else, he ran the clippers through his own hair, leaving both Rory and Nicky speechless. He held out the clippers for Nicky to take. "You can do mine first"
"What?" Nicky asked
"It's just hair" Logan said and sat down on the floor in front of the chair that Nicky was sitting on. "It grows back. And until it does...well maybe we'll get some cool hats"
Nicky got a huge smile on his face. "Are you serious?"
"Look at my head" Logan said and pointed to his head. He'd shaved a clean stripe right down the middle of his head. "Do I look like I'm kidding?"
Nicky giggled. Logan let Nicky shave his entire head before they switched and Logan shaved Nicky's.
Later that night Rory and Logan were cleaning the kitchen after the kids were all in bed. Logan was standing at the sink, rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, and he could feel Rory looking at him. "Is it that bad?"
"No. No. It's just...yeah. I'm sorry, you look really weird" Rory said. "But it's for a good reason. You made him feel a lot better about the whole thing"
"Good" Logan said. He couldn't take away Nicky's pain, and he couldn't heal him, but he could try to make his son feel a little less alone.
The next day was Friday which meant that they were going to Friday night dinner at the Gilmore's. It had only been 3 weeks since Nicky's surgery and he was still recovering, so they were prepared to not be spending much time there. Rory had also called earlier in the day to let her grandparents know that they'd shaved Nicky's head (and Logan's). She was worried that whatever reaction they might've had would upset Nicky. Although he was pretty excited to be wearing matching blue beanies with Logan.
"I have the best idea for Halloween costumes" Nicky said. "For me and daddy"
"Oh yeah?" Lorelai asked
"Lex Luthor and smaller Lex Luthor"
"Why?" Logan asked
"Because he's bald" Nicky said. "Oh, and Sammy can be Superman"
"Ok" Logan said. "We can do that if you want"
"Yay"
Later that night Logan was brushing his teeth when Rory walked into the bathroom and rubbed his head. He chuckled and spit his toothpaste into the sink. "How long are you gonna do that for?"
"Probably for as long as you're bald" Rory said.
Logan wrapped his arms around Rory's waist, pulling her close, and kissed her deeply.
"What was that for?" Rory asked
"Making fun of me"
"Maybe I should make fun of you more often"
Logan chuckled and kissed her again. "Maybe I should just do that more often and we can skip the making fun of me part"
"Deal" Rory said and kissed him.
"I love you. You know that, right?"
"I know" Rory said. "I love you too"