The Maine Event

Chapter 24

"We need to talk," Logan began, both him and Rory feeling like they'd pushed this to the future long enough. Still Logan felt like he was failing Odette.

"Sure. This sounds serious," Odette noted in response, noticing the way Rory was fidgeting with her rings.

"Rory and I have some news and that's going to put some pressure on our plans," Logan said, gesturing between himself and Odette.

Odette inhaled deeply, as if having feared this.

"You're pregnant, right? Why else...?" Odette said drawing the only conclusion urgent enough for a talk like this. She landed on the couch next to Rory and put her arm around her.

Rory nodded, staring ahead. She didn't want to see Odette hurt, nor was she quite ready to talk about the pregnancy. She almost didn't want to believe it, thinking that if she really did embrace that thought, it would make her too fragile.

"That's great news, isn't it?" Odette continued, looking back and forth between Rory and Logan.

"It is," Logan replied confidently for both of them.

"And I get it. We should make a plan," Odette agreed, after taking another deep breath.

"You're okay?" Rory asked, as she looked at Odette, unsure what she was seeing.

"Hey, people have babies all the time, I'll be fine. Besides if anyone deserves a baby it's you guys. I hope that I can kind of be like an aunt for him or her," Odette said with a shrug. It seemed that Rory had fretted unnecessarily, at least Odette didn't show it and it was her rather than Rory that had to sooth the other.

"I think it might be wise to call and ask Colin to consult, in case there are any legal aspects that you need help with," Logan suggested practically.

"Sure," Odette agreed. "So how far along are you?" Odette asked Rory, clearly more interested in the baby part of the discussion. The way she took this, made Logan worry slightly - it was as if the matter was easily solved, almost too easily. Deep down he had a suspicious feeling she wasn't telling them everything. As far as he'd understood, there wasn't anything easy with her relationship with her parents.

"Still early - around 7 weeks. It's okay for now, just there is little they can assure me with before 12 weeks," Rory explained. Rory had gotten her pregnancy confirmed and registered at Paris' clinic here in New York. So far, everything looked good, but just in case they hadn't told anyone other than Paris, and now Odette. 

Rory was feeling pretty good, except for the slight nausea, but she hadn't really had any serious morning sickness, enabling her to continue both with her class that she'd started and NYU and work on a few titles for Jess. She wanted to continue her studies and her work, as long as she could, despite the pregnancy. Work or her studies were what she had always identified herself with and somehow letting those dreams go, or put them on hold, felt failure.

"Well I'm certainly rooting for you guys," Odette added, squeezing Rory's shoulder gently.

"Thank you," Rory replied tentatively.

The truth was, ever since this whole charade started, a lot had changed for Odette. She had accepted Logan's last minute plan to marry Rory instead because she really did understand that choice - she would've done the same thing in his situation. But when it came to her plans, Logan marrying her just as a pretence was only going to help her for so long. She'd wanted to change her name, ideally along with a citizenship. But now, legally untied, the outlook wasn't too good. She knew the French name change policy was strict, allowing name changes only in very particular cases and even then both names would become public information unless she was in a witness protection programme or something of the likes.