"Logan, what's going on?" Mitchum asked as he walked into the kitchen with Honor behind him, setting his bag down on the counter.
"Dad!" Logan said dropping the spoon he was using to stir the dinner cooking on the stove in front of him, and rushing over to throw his arms around his father. "Thank you for coming!"
"Must be a pretty big problem to get a greeting like this. Are you ok? Do I need to call the lawyers?"
"I honestly don't even know at this point." Logan told him as he stepped back and leaned up against the counter. "Collin is working on it, but I just don't know what to do. I've never dealt with anything so completely ridiculously stupid before!"
"Where is Rory? Is she ok?"
"Rory is upstairs in bed. She's been put on bed rest for gestational hypertension."
"Heart problems. That means there is a problem with the baby, right?"
"Potentially. Right now the baby is ok, but Rory needs to stay in bed and get as much rest as possible. The pregnancy is now high risk, and there is a high chance of developing pre-eclampsia which is life threatening for both her and the baby."
"So this problem you have, did this cause Rory's problems?"
"Well, fortunately and unfortunately, no. Rory woke up at 2:30 this morning from a bad dream, and was completely freaked out, convinced that something was wrong with the baby. She begged me to go to my office to get the fetal heart monitor I had there, and then decided to go with me. Her pulse was racing when she woke up, and barely calmed by the time we got to the office, and when I checked her vitals, she was already hypertensive. I called her doctor who had me take her to the hospital, which is where the real nightmare started."
"Alright. . ."
"Where's Blake?"
"I'm right here." Blake spoke up, as he entered the kitchen.
"Hey,I know your job is to help out my Dwhilewe'read, but you're a nurse, so I was hoping that maybe you wouldn't mind helping me out with my wife while we're here. If it's too much to ask, I can have someone else brought in."
"No, it's perfectly ok. What's going on?"
"Rory has gestational hypertension and is on bed rest."
"When did you last check her vitals?"
"About an hour ago."
"I'll go check on her."
"Thank you Blake."
"No problem Doctor Huntzberger."
"I'll show you the way." Honor told him, stepping past Blake, and leading him through the house.
"So anyway, I get Rory to the hospital, and there was a physician's assistant running the shift in labor and delivery. From the second she met me, the woman decided that she completely hates me. First she didn't like me consulting on Rory's treatment even though the hospital's policy allows me to do so. And then how dare I ask the nurses to please run all of Rory's treatment and diagnosis information by me, and not stress her out with it, because I'm obviously not just her husband, but also a doctor, and my wife has more than enough going on right now and doesn't need extra stress adding to her problems."
"That all sounds perfectly reasonable. You do the exact same thing to me and your mother."
"Exactly! So the PA calls me manipulative and controlling."
"Why?"
"I have no idea, she's crazy! So we get in an argument and she snaps at the nurses to call in the resident who is on shift, and to have her take over because this bitchy PA has decided that she won't treat Rory. Fine! Good, that's one less attitude that I have to deal with. Good riddance!"
"Sounds like you dodged a bullet."
"You would think. So then a few hours later Paris, Rory's doctor, comes in, and I find out from both her and the resident that this bitchy PA is calling me manipulative, controlling and abusive."
"That's ridiculous!"
"Then, to make matters worse, a couple hours later, someone comes into the room asking to speak to me privately, and pulls me out into the hall to tell me that the chief of staff wants to see me. By the time I get down to his office, I find out that the bitchy PA has gone to Internal Affairs and had an investigation started."
"What kind of investigation?"
"Patient abuse."
"To who? Does she have any evidence?"
"To Rory. My wife."
"Anyone else?"
"Just Rory. She is going around telling people that I'm manipulating, and abusively controlling my wife, and forcing the hospital staff to not only allow me to do it, but also to conform and follow suit."
"That's completely ridiculous!"
"And she's using Rory's diagnosis to push her agenda, making it sound like I forced Rory to get pregnant, just so I could further manipulate and abuse her."
"You said you talked to the chief of staff?"
"Oh, I talked to not just him, but the entire hospital board. Most of them are on my side they know both me and Rory. They worked hand in hand with us for months, to open the clinic. The witch had gone to the chief of staff right after he had come in this morning, and when he tried to calm her down, and keep things quiet, she went over his head to internal affairs. So now I'm not only being investigated for abusing my wife, but I am also suspended from work and from stepping onto the hospital grounds until the investigation is over, and I am found to be innocent."
"And how long is that supposed to take?"
"I have no idea! But to make matters even worse, while I was dealing with the hospital board, and finding out about all of this, someone from IA ambushed Rory in her hospital room."
"You're kidding?!"
"I wish I was. Rory is smart and called Collin as soon as she found out who the lady was and what she wanted, and Collin helped her stall and call Paris for help."
"Paris is Rory's doctor."
"Rory and Honor's OBGYN. She's an old friend of Rory's from high school. We went to college together at Yale, then again at Columbia. You've met her before; Paris Gellar. She married Doyle McMaster who you also met. He ran the Yale Daily News for a while."
"Oh yes, I remember Paris and Doyle. Doyle is Rory's assistant now."
"That's right."
"Paris is a doctor?"
"She helped train me."
"Oh yes, I remember you telling me that. Alright, continue. Rory was ambushed and called Collin for help."
"That's correct. Rory knows better than to answer any questions without a lawyer present, so she called Collin for help. She put Collin on speaker phone so the lady could hear him, and knew that Rory had legal representation on the way. Collin told Rory to have Paris paged immediately, and then helped her stall the woman long enough for Paris to storm into the room and successfully end any interviewing that would be happening. Honor happened to be in an appointment with Paris when all of this happened, so when Paris got the emergency page to Rory's room, she brought Honor in with her. They didn't know that I wasn't there with Rory because I was being questioned at the same time, so Paris left Honor to help Rory, and came storming into the meeting I was in to let me know what was going on."
"That had to piss you off."
"Most definitely! With everything already going on with Rory, being interrogated for something so ridiculous was the straw that broke the camel's back. I went tearing out of there with Paris, and by the time I got upstairs, Collin had arrived and taken control of the situation. He sent Rory and Honor into the bathroom to get Rory changed out of her gown and back into her regular clothes, then snapped at the nurses, demanding discharge paperwork. When Paris and I got to the room, Rory was dressed and sitting on the bed waitingfor her IV to be pulled, so she could walk out the door. She was supposed to stay until sometime tomorrow, for further testing, but with everything suddenly going down, there was no way that Paris, Collin and I were allowing that to happen, so we got her the hell out of there. Honor, Rory and I left within two minutes of me walking back into that room, and Collin and Paris dealt with IA and the hospital board from there. Rory and I gave Honor our phones, so she's been dealing with everything all day. Paris told me to take Rory and go home, and that she would contact me later with further instructions. I was of course way too upset to go home. I feel like running, but with Rory's condition, I can't exactly take her and disappear to a remote island in the middle of nowhere, so we came here. This house is basically Fort Knox. I don't know if the psycho PA is stupid enough to go to the press with her nonsense, but I couldn't risk putting Rory in further danger. My reputation is on the line already. I just opened the Huntzberger clinic a month ago, and now I'm in danger of losing it. This obviously jealous, incredibly bitchy woman could completely destroy everything I've ever worked for, and I just don't know what to do! My life is completely falling apart, and I can't control the bombs that keep dropping! My wife needs me. Her life is at risk, and now our entire relationship is under a fucking microscope! I don't know what the hell I ever did to deserve any of this, but I just can't deal with this bull shit right now! I'm losing it Dad! I want to hurt someone! I want to hurt the person who did this to us! I am so mad, and I can't control my anger anymore! Rory and Ayribella are the two most important people in the world to me, and I can't lose them Dad! I can't lose them!" Logan said as tears sprang to his eyes.
"Hey, Logan, it's going to be ok." Mitchum said as he pulled his son into his arms again. "I'm going to take care of this for you. You did the right thing bringing me home, and coming to stay here at the house. You guys are safe here. I turned the company over to Rory, but I can step in for her while you guys hide out."
"I don't think that will be necessary, but we'll see what happens. Doyle has everything under control right now. Honor says that the good news about all of this is that we own a good chunk of the media, so if the nut job PA does go to the press with her nonsense, we can squash her like the piss ant she is, before the story ever gets printed." Logan said as he let go of his father, and leaned back against the counter again.
"That's right, we can. Or we can just destroy the little witch before she gets a chance to go to the media."
"I considered that option, but I really just want to keep this whole thing quiet. Rory has more than enough to deal with right now, and my reputation and business are on the line. I just want this entire thing to go away."
"What about the clinic? You opened the clinic as a partnership with the hospital, but if this all goes south, we could probably sue for breach of contract and give you your own office, separate from the hospital, with them being left with no rights to anything, and having to pay out a large chunk to both you and Rory in damages, as well as millions of dollars in damages for potential earnings."
"We might need to. I was really excited to be partnering with the hospital, but in all honesty, right now, I am just so hurt that it has completely tainted this entire thing. I don't even think that I want the clinic anymore. I love being a doctor, but I'm just done with that hospital. How could they do this to me? How can they let this happen to me? To my wife? After everything that we've done for them lately, how can they put me through this?!"
"I don't know son, but we'll figure this out."
"Gosh damn it! I just want to take this pot off the stove and throw it right through the window over there!"
"You need some expensive scotch."
"The house is dry."
"Like that has ever stopped you."
"I can't drink, my wife is pregnant, and she needs me."
"Let Blake take care of Rory for a while, ok? Blake is a professional, hec an handle it. You need a break. You deserve a nice stiff drink."
"I won't drink while my wife is pregnant. It's a deal I made with myself. I won't drink until she does."
"Logan, you need to take a break and get yourself focused and back in the game. I think that a nice stiff drink could really help you right now."
"I don't care. I won't do it. I can't. Rory needs me. I won't abandon her."
"What were you making for dinner?"
"I was going to make spaghetti, but I just can't right now. I can't deal with this shit." Logan sighed as he slid down the front of the cabinets, and collapsed in a puddle on the floor.
"Alright, I'm ordering take out. You go upstairs and lay down with Rory. Send Honor downstairs, and we'll bring you up some dinner when it arrives."
"Dad, I can't ask you to do that. You just spent the last four hours on aplane."
"Logan, go upstairs to your wife. You need to rest too. You've had an incredibly traumatic day. Go lie down, and I'll bring dinner up to you when it gets here."
"Dad. . ." Logan sighed.
"Get yourself up off the floor, and head upstairs. I'm turning this stove off, and ordering take out. Now go!" Mitchum said as he tapped Logan's leg with his foot, and held his arm out to help him get up.
*~ * ~ * ~ * Second Floor, Huntzberger Mansion * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Hey Logan." Honor and Blake greeted as Logan slowly walked into the bedroom he had grown up in.
"Hey. How's she doing?"
"Did her doctor give you guys any blood pressure medication?" Blake asked.
"I'm not sure if it was sent over to the pharmacy."
"I'll take care of it." Honor told them as Logan kicked off his shoes, then moved toward the bed.
"Other than hypertension, she seems good. Just exhausted. The baby is moving good too. You look like hell though." Blake said as he turned to face Logan.
"Logan, get in bed. Other than the couple hours you slept at the hospital early this morning, you haven't slept in over 24 hours." Honor told him.
"Doctor Huntzberger, do I need to pull rank on you?" Blake asked him.
"Honor, Dad needs your help." Logan said as he pulled the blankets back on the side of the bed.
"You two rest. We'll be downstairs if you need anything." Honor told him, then headed out of the room.
"I'll call her doctor about medication. You get some rest. I'll check back in about an hour." Blake said as he prepared to follow Honor.
"Thanks Blake." Logan yawned, then climbed into the bed and snuggled up next his sleeping wife, wrapping his arms around her.
"Hey Baby." Rory said softly, relaxing into his strong arms as they heard the bedroom door close and latch.
"My Dad is here."
"He'll fix this. Just try to get relax. You didn't do anything wrong."
"I can't lose you."
"You won't. I'm not going anywhere."
"Dad said I need to drink."
"You can you know. It'll help you relax."
"I won't. You need me more than I need this bullshit numbed."
"Logan. . ."
"We'll talk about it later."
"You know how much I love you, right?" Rory asked, turning her head so she could see his face.
"Yeah." Logan murmured, giving her a gentle smile. "I love you too."
*~ * ~ * ~ * Downstairs * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Honor, we are ordering take out." Mitchum said as Honor entered thekitchen.
"I know. I'll take care of it. I know the perfect place."
"Your brother needs scotch."
"He wouldn't drink it, even if the house wasn't dry." Honor told him as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and began typing, before putting it to her ear.
"Luke's!" a voice came through the receiver.
"Hi, I need to order take out for six. I'll come pick it up."
"What name will it be under?"
"Huntzberger."
"Huntzberg. . . Who is this?"
"It's Honor."
"Hey Honor, it's Luke. How's Rory?"
"She's ok at the moment. She's asleep upstairs. You guys can come by if you want to. We're at my parents' house in Hartford."
"Yes, of course. Give me your order and then I'll give you to Lorelai."
"Lorelai is there?"
"Yeah, she's right here having some dinner."
"Oh good! Perfect timing then. I don't really know what to order, I just need food for six. Two need to be healthy for Dad and Rory."
"You need comfort food . . ."
"Yeah, and Dad probably wants a steak."
"We'll bring it by when it's done."
"Do you want a credit card?"
"No, don't worry about it. You're family. You guys have had a tough day. We'll see you soon."
"Thanks Luke. You're amazing!"
"No problem. Here's Lorelai." Luke said as he passed the phone to his wife. "It's Honor."
"Yay!" Lorelai chirped as she put the phone to her ear. "Honor, how are you? What's going on? How are Rory and Logan?"
"Uh, they're ok I guess. Logan is in pretty bad shape."
"Parisf illed me in a little bit. I can't believe what happened!"
"I know, we can't either. He's super upset. The last time I saw him this down was when Rory walked away after he proposed."
"Oh wow! I don't even know what to say."
"My Dad just flew in, so he's going to take care of it."
"Your Dad is there? Things must be bad for you guys to call him in."
"Did Paris tell you that Logan has been suspended from the hospital until the investigation is over?"
"You're kidding?!"
"I wish I was. We need some dinner, there is no food in this house, and I figured if I called Luke, he would know exactly what Rory and Logan need."
"You made the right call. We'll take care of it."
"Hey, if you wouldn't mind, we haven't been able to get Rory's medication yet. Blake is talking to Paris right now."
"Text me the pharmacy information, and I'll pick it up on my way."
"Thank you so much Lorelai. You guys are absolutely amazing!"
"It's the least we can do to help. We'll bring supplies, ok? Don't worry about anything. This is why God created parents. Everything is going to be ok."
"Thank you. We'll see you soon." Honor said, then disconnected the call.
"Their food will be ready in about fifteen minutes. Caesar is going to close up tonight, so we can head out." Luke said as he walked out of the kitchen to see Lorelai reaching for her purse.
"That's perfect! I'm going to run to Doose's. I'll be right back."
*~ * ~ * ~ * An Hour Later * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Knock Knock . . . The food fairy has arrived." Lorelai's voice sang out as Logan's bedroom door opened, and the light was turned on. "Sorry to wake you, but you both need to eat, so we thought we would bring the party to you."
"Hey Mom." Rory smiled as she opened her eyes and untangled herself from Logan's arms, pushing herself up to a sitting position.
"Hey Sweetie, how are you feeling?"
"Exhausted. Beat down."
"I'll bet. You guys have had a pretty eventful day."
"Logan, wake up." Rory said reaching over to shake her husband. "Food is here."
"Huh?"
"Food fairy!" Lorelai said in her chipper sing song voice.
"Oh, hey Lorelai." Logan said in a sleepy voice as he opened his eyes and pushed himself up.
"Wow, you do look terrible."
"I'm not sure which is worse, how I look or how I feel."
"Hey, are they awake?" Luke asked as he followed Honor into the room.
"Hey Luke!" Rory smiled.
"We needed food, so I figured calling Luke's would get you the comfort food you needed." Honor told them.
"Mashed potatoes and mac and cheese?" Rory asked.
"With a veggie burger, salad and cherry pie." Luke confirmed.
"Best Dad ever!"
"We've got meat and potatoes for everyone." Lorelai told them as Josh, Blake and Mitchum entered the room, with the younger men carrying chairs.
"I don't think I've ever had this many people in this bedroom." Logan told them.
"We could add twenty more, and still have plenty of room." Lorelai said as she handed him a container of food. "We picked up Rory's medicine on the way here. Apparently Paris grouched at the pharmacy."
"I'm not surprised, it's Paris."
"They gave her a protein supplement and blood pressure medication."
"Your doctor said she would bring over a fetal monitor for the baby in themorning."
"If it's just a Doppler, I have one. It's in my bag." Honor spoke up.
"You have a Doppler?" Logan asked.
"Hello, I'm pregnant too."
"I didn't know that you bought one."
"Eh, Christmas present to myself."
"Well that would have been handy at 2:30 this morning." Rory chimed in as Luke handed her a container of food, and a set of utensils.
"We have four kinds of juice, what would you like? Apple, orange, cranpineapple, or lemonade?" Lorelai asked.
"Lemonade please." Rory answered.
"Same for me." Logan agreed. "I need silverware.
"Everyone, help yourselves." Luke said as he poured the requested drinks.
"I went to Doose's while Luke was cooking, and got you guys some supplies to get you through at least tomorrow morning. There are breakfast foods in the kitchen, and some snacks. I can send lunch over from the Inn if you'd like."
"I want to say it's not necessary, and I can do some grocery shopping, but Sookie's cooking is amazing!" Honor told her.
"Then lunch will be delivered tomorrow." Lorelai agreed.
"If I wasn't on bed rest, I would just come hang out at the Inn." Rory told her.
"I know Sweetie. But it's fine. You are nearby now, so as long as Honor and Mitchum don't mind, I'll come by to visit every day."
"That will be fine." Mitchum agreed as he took a seat with a container of food. "Luke, this looks delicious!"
"Oh, I also brought you some smoothie stuff. Paris told me that you need to eat healthier."
"I eat pretty decent. Logan doesn't let me eat a lot of crap."
"There are donuts downstairs, from Luke's."
"Bes tMommy ever!"
"I do my best." Lorelai told her as she sat down on the foot of the bed.
"How are you guys doing with everything?" Luke asked as everyone settled in to eat their dinner.
"I'm being investigated for allegedly abusing my wife." Logan said as he rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, that's just stupid!"
"My lawyers will be here in the morning. We'll handle it." Mitchum told them.
"Honey, do you want me to call your Dad? I know you've got your friend who is an attorney, and I'm sure Mitchum has a great team coming, but your Dad can help you guys too. He's got an entire office of lawyers that would be happy to jump in."
"Dad is busy. He's got a lot going on over in Boston."
"Sweetie, he might be busy, but he's still your Dad. He'll drop everything to be there for you."
"I don't want the media getting a hold of this one." Logan told them. "We don't need that kind of nightmare."
"No, definitely not. Especially when Rory is on doctor's orders to stay in bed, so you can't purposely put yourself out there to prove that nothing is wrong.
"You'rer ight. The easiest way to deny marriage trouble is to shove PDA down people's throats." Logan agreed.
"That's a little hard to do when your wife is stuck in bed."
"There are ways around that, but it would throw Lorelai into the spotlight, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want that." Mitchum commented.
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"Shoving PDA down people's throats is the easiest way to prove that there are no marriage problems. Rory is stuck in bed, so we can't really shove Rory and Logan making out all over the place, in people's faces. But there are other ways to prove that there aren't any problems. One way is to have Logan seen out in public with Rory's parents, meaning you and Lorelai. Everyone knows that Rory is very close to her family, so having Logan seen out in public a lot with Rory's mother shows that obviously there are no hard feelings there. No animosity. If Logan was abusing your daughter, you wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near my son. You would have him in jail. Or dead."
"The man has a point." Luke agreed.
"So if this whole thing were to hit the media, that is one way to show that everything is categorically untrue. We send Logan out in public to spend an enormous amount of time with Rory's parents."
"But then who is going to stay with Rory."
"Rory can stay with me, or with Honor. Or we can bring in Emily andRichard to help out. There are plenty of ways to deal with this situation. We just have to think outside of the box."
"Dad has been dealing with this kind of stuff for years." Honor chimed in. "He knows all kinds of tricks to flood the prying public wit information without really giving them anything at all.
"Well let's just hope that we don't have to deal with any of that. I'm sure that the hospital doesn't want this situation going public. That would be really bad press all around." Lorelai told them.
"Should we call Grandma and Grandpa?" Rory asked. "Maybe they should know what is going on. Just in case."
"It's up to you Honey. I can call them if you want me to."
"I don't know, I mean, should we involve them? Grandpa is on the board at HPG, so potentially, if all of this gets leaked to the media, we would need him involved. But then again, maybe we should just keep things quiet for now. I don't know. I have no idea how to handle all of this.
"Honey, you just need to focus on resting. Let the rest of us deal with all of this, ok? We'll take care of everything. You just focus on resting and growing the little baby inside of you."
"She's right Rory. We'll take care of it." Honor agreed as her phon rang. "Sorry, excuse me everyone. I'll be right back."