Expectations

Trust

Rory heard the front door open and she jumped and hurried toward it. She groaned when she saw her mother coming in.

"Well, hi to you too!" Lorelie began.

"Logan sent me a text" Rory glanced at her phone "43 minutes ago saying he was coming here, from Hartford, to talk. He should be here by now. I'm a little anxious." Rory explained.

"Oh! Well, this is a good sign, right? He's coming back." Lorelie asked as she hung her coat and bag in the entrance way.

"Mom, I'm afraid. When I told him about the baby, he was furious, I could see it all over his face. Then he just walked out! What if he's coming to tell me that he doesn't want to be involved - with the baby or with me?" Rory asked tearfully.

"Oh, hun. Is that the worst thing in the world?" Lorelie asked.

"Honestly, yes. I still love him mom. I have never stopped loving him. And for the last year or so, I tried to make having just an edge of his life, a tiny foothold of being with him be enough. But I truly believe that I can't do that again. I don't know how to be around him without being absolutely in love with him." Rory yelled back. "And I know what it's like to have less than even a part time dad. I don't want that for my child."

Lorelie reached out to her daughter and pulled her close for a hug as she cried. She gave Rory a kiss on the top of her head and looked up, noticing a dark silhouette standing just outside the front door. "Rory?"

"Yeah?" Rory sniffed and pulled herself together.

"I think you should open the door." Lorelie pointed to the figure standing outside.

"Oh!" Rory quickly wiped her eyes and pulled the door open. Logan stood on the other side with an intense look on his face. He had obviously overheard Rory yelling at her mother. He raised his eyes to meet Rory's and immediately pulled her towards him, crushing her in his arms.

"Rory?" He asked, his voice strained.

Lorelie quickly slipped into the house and headed up stairs. She wanted to give them their privacy for this conversation.

Rory had grabbed two handfuls of Logan's jacket tightly in her fists and began to cry. "Oh, god. I didn't mean to dump all this on you. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about the baby sooner, Logan ..."

Logan grabbed Rory's arms and pulled her back so he could see her face. "Dammit, Rory! I had no idea about the baby when I flew over here yesterday. You told me that you wanted to see me and I came. I came for you!" He searched her face to see if she was understanding him.

Rory smiled and reached up to kiss him lightly on the lips. "Logan, come in and we can talk. I'm trying really hard not to put my feelings first." She grabbed him by the hand and lead him into the kitchen. She sat on one side of the table and Logan sat across from her. He immediately grabbed both of her hands and held them tightly in his own.

"Ask me anything. Tell me anything. Whatever you need, Logan." Rory said simply.

Logan was stunned. "What I need? Rory, I need to know what you want."

Rory smiled. "That's fair. You deserve to know what I've been thinking. So how about this - I'll lay all my cards on the table."

Logan nodded. Rory took a trembling breath and had to break eye contact to continue. "I didn't know until I was pregnant, but I desperately want to have your baby. I want you to be in our child's life, as much as possible. But if I could have anything? I want to raise this child with you, as a family. And hopefully another child someday." Rory finished softly. She couldn't bring herself to look at Logan directly.

Rory sat in silence waiting for Logan to say anything. She couldn't bring herself to look at his face so she just concentrated on their hands that were still clinging to each other tightly. She felt that it was a good sign that he continued to hold her hands. She took a trembling breath and forced herself to look Logan in the eye.

Logan had his eyes closed and tears were damp on his lashes. He leaned forward and kissed Rory's knuckles and finally opened his eyes. Rory gasped when she saw his expression.

It had been years since Logan had last let his guard down fully. He leaned forward and stared deeply into Rory's eyes letting her see his love for her.

"Rory, I've never stopped loving you. I have always hoped that we would have a future together. I'm going to be the father of your children and the man in your life if that's what you really want. I've always wanted you in mine." Logan finally smiled.

"What about the dynastic plan? What about ..." Rory trailed off.

"Odette? That's not an issue." Logan reassured Rory.

"What? So your still going to marry her?" Rory pulled her hands back and sat up shocked.

"Whoa! No, Ace! No, I'm not marrying Odette! She has always known about you." Logan reached out to Rory, trying to get her hands back.

Rory shook her head confused. "I don't understand! Odette knows that you are here?"

"Of course." Logan nodded.

"And she's okay with calling off the wedding?"

"Well, yeah. It was never a love thing between Odette and I. We were both just getting to the point where the family pressure to settle down and get married was getting to be too much." Logan explained.

Rory couldn't believe what he was telling her. "Wow. I had no idea. You would have actually married her?"

"Probably not. We have been putting it off as much as we could. Odette took a job in Paris to push it last year." Logan confessed. "But both families have been getting impatient. I figure that she can use our 'breakup' to buy a few more years. "

"So your going to pretend to break up now?" Rory asked

Logan looked a bit ashamed. "Actually, Odette and I 'broke up' weeks ago."

"What?" Rory exclaimed.

"Yeah, just after New Hampshire. When I got back to London she and I were really getting pressed to set a date so we 'broke up'." Logan shrugged.

Rory sat back and took a breath. She couldn't believe that the whole time, his relationship with Odette had been an elaborate ruse.

"Oh, Logan! Why didn't you tell me in Hamburg?" She asked.

"I don't know. I did tell you that Odette and I were not exclusive, that was as much as I was willing to say at the time. I had no idea what you were thinking or what you wanted from me. I didn't want you to know that I was still hung up on you. You seemed to be happy with our Vegas arrangement. "

Rory shook her head. "If we had just trusted each other, if we had just talked- Logan, there is nothing in our way. We can have everything we both have wanted, we just have to trust each other."

Logan smirked. "What do you say, Ace?"

"You jump, I jump, Jack."