Come Back...Be Here (Gilmore Girls Post-AYITL)

Chapter 21

Logan and Rory arrived had in London shortly before midnight and they collapsed in an exhausted heap on the couch of his London apartment.

For Rory, while she was very familiar with Logan's apartment, having spent more than her fair share of time there, it was the first time she'd stepped foot in the place since Odette had officially moved in and she couldn't help but feel a little bit weird about it. Even though she had now moved back to Paris, there were still plenty of reminders of Odette in the apartment – women's toiletries in the bathroom, books lying around that clearly were not of Logan's choosing and a satin robe hanging on the back of the bedroom door. Rory found it hard being there when there were still these traces of Logan's ex-fiancé hanging around, although she knew that rationally she had no right to feel that way – as, there was no other way of putting it, she had been the other woman.

Logan hadn't really known what to expect when he returned to the apartment for the first time after the break-up with Odette but bar a few bits and pieces, most traces of her had been removed. Nevertheless, he had felt Rory tense when she noticed the framed picture of Logan and Odette at the top of the Eiffel tower, which was hanging on the bedroom wall. He knew that he was going to have to do some serious clearing up if Rory was going to feel comfortable here he thought to himself as he removed the picture and the robe from the back of the door and bundled them into a box, before placing it into a cupboard.

--

Over the next few days, Rory and Logan fell into a routine. Rory would spend the mornings sitting at Logan's desk in the apartment, working on her book while Logan headed off to the office and spent his days at HPG trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible.

In the afternoons Rory had taken to going for a walk in one of the local parks, mainly to get some fresh air and stop cabin fever setting in. It was another reason she knew that she couldn't stay in London with Logan long-term – she didn't know anybody in the city and was really missing having company while Logan put in long hours.

Rory sat staring at the monitor of Logan's desktop computer. Her mind was completely blank, writer's block had well and truly settled in for the day and she knew that it was hopeless trying to carry on - she might as well give up. She was just pulling on her coat and heading out of the door to pop around to her favourite coffee shop when the phone rang, stopping her in her tracks. Rory faltered for a moment, they rarely used the phone in the apartment, both favouring their cells and she knew that whoever was calling, wouldn't be for her. Dammit, she said as she ran back in to answer the call.

"Hello," she said into the receiver, breathlessly. Running had never been her forte and was even less so now she was pregnant.

Rory was met with silence.

"Hello?" Rory repeated impatiently.

"You must be Rory," The voice said on the other end of the line. It was a voice she had never heard before but Rory's blood instantly ran cold when she realised who it belonged to.

"Odette". Rory just about made the word, she wasn't even sure if she'd said it out loud. She cursed herself for going back to answer the phone.

"Well, well. It didn't take long for you to take my place did it?"

Rory remained silent.

"I'm presuming Logan isn't there right now," Odette said.

"No, he's...Odette, I...I'm really sorry." Rory started "We...I...we never meant for this to happen." Even though Rory was happy to be back with Logan, she truly was sorry. She knew that Odette and Logan's engagement was more of a business arrangement than any form of romantic relationship but she still felt bad for the hurt she had caused.