Leaps and landings

19

"Did you see it?" Odette called Logan after skimming through this morning's news alerts, among them the ones she still kept on the Huntzbergers. The habit was hard to kick.

"I did," he said, surprisingly calmly. He was in his car already, being driven to work, ambulance sirens rushing past him.

"How's she taking it?" Odette asked, concernedly.

"She feels like hiding but she has the option to do that for now. She's been on the phone with her grandmother and Lorelai already and I think she's beginning to accept it," Logan replied.

"Good, I might drop by later in the afternoon to see how she's doing. Call me if you need anything, okay?" she said, adding, "and thank you, again." She felt guilty that they'd pulled the press onto themselves to protect her. Perhaps she should just learn from this and avoid these events in the future? Surely her luck would run out at some point.

"Everything alright?" Jess asked as he stepped out of the bathroom, having showered, but also having heard the end of her conversation.

"Just this," Odette replied as she pointed at the screen in front of her, where the main gossip news of the day stood in bold letters - "Logan Huntzberger doesn't waste any time - remarried and expecting".

"Right," Jess sighed. It was an unfamiliar world to him, people taking an interest in other people's peronal business just by the association of their name. And Rory was sucked into that world now. He read the article quickly, hating the way it almost only focused on Logan, saying barely two words about Rory. And if anything, it insinuated Rory was somehow a replacement if anything. Knowing her, he knew that Rory might take that and the way she was pictured as someone who stood in Logan's shadow harder than the actual news of them being publicly announced as married and pregnant.

"I expect the follow-ups will come in a few days - who she is, their history, and someone's bound to do the math as well," Odette added. She was worried about Rory more than anything, what others thought of either Rory or her for the matter, didn't matter much. What mattered was how Rory handled it. Odette was used to gossip and lack of privacy, having learned not to care, Rory was not and she could only imagine how fragile she felt in her condition.

"That sucks," Jess exhaled.

"I'm going to go over there today, I think she might use some support, but other than that I think I need to stay clear of them until things calm down," Odette said, regretfully.

"I shouldn't have asked you to come, not that I didn't enjoy the evening...," he began, apologetically. He hated what this had turned into.

"I wanted to go, it wasn't just about you, I wanted to support her too," she replied. "Besides, they would've found out sooner or later anyways, they just took the leap a little sooner than planned," Odette explained.

"Just be careful when you go today, okay?" Jess suggested, knowing he was going to be working late that day.

"Do you think a head scarf and sunglasses might be overdoing it a little?" she chuckled, trying to lighten the mood bitter-sweetly. She was going to make sure she dressed a little out of character but she was pretty sure their apartment building was still undiscovered by the press. They didn't work that fast and it was not public information, unless someone leaked it.

He worried, but it was not like he could really do anything about it. Instead he kissed the top of her head, hoping that things would be okay. He'd tried to develop plans B, C and D in his head, probably just like Odette had, how to hide Odette again if it came to it, but not one of those seemed like a valid alternative creating her the stability she deserved, the peace of mind to enjoy her life. He'd even tried to imagine in his head how he could stand up for her, but he really had no idea who he was dealing with other than from what he'd read about her family or heard from Odette. That nasty feeling of powerlessness hung just below the surface again, there was nothing to make a man feel more useless than the inability to protect the one he loved.