Baby Gilmore On Board

J.B. Jeffries

Logan sat in the chair next to Rory's bed, feet propped up on the bed as he typed away on his laptop. He could feel Rory's eyes on him and he looked up. 

"144, " she said flatly, looking back up at the ceiling. 

"144...reasons you love me. 144...food items that you want right now. C'mon Ace, where ya going with that?"

Rory looked over at Logan defeated. "144 is the number of blue dots on the ceiling tiles." Logan smirked up the right side of his face and shook his head. "Logan, this is killing me. I literally have to take a wheelchair to the bathroom. A wheelchair, Logan. You might as well call me J.B. Jeffries, I am literally about to go Rear Window in here." Rory stopped with a sigh. 

Logan set his laptop on the hospital tray next to him, and slid his feet off the bed to a standing position. He lay one hand on the side of Rory's face and one hand on her growing belly. "As long as you two are safe and healthy, you can tell me all your theories of the goings on in the halls, J.B." He leaned down to kiss Rory, lingering with his hand on her belly while they embraced in a hug. He felt Oliver start to kick and move around in her belly causing a smile to grow on both his and Rory's face. Logan stood up, placing his other hand onto Rory's belly too. Feeling Oliver kicking more, Logan tilted his head towards Rory. "See, Ollie agrees with me. You. Bed. Relaxing.  All good things."

Rory pursed her lips. "You may be right. . .BUT I am still not happy about my current predicament. How long have I been here? Eleven years and sixteen days?"

"You've been counting there have you Ace?" She shrugged her shoulder, the look of defeat still on her face. "It has literally been less than..." Logan looked at his watch and then back up at Rory. "Less than 36 hours. And Dr. Feltzweir says we should be able to leave by tomorrow if..."

Rory knew Logan was still talking but all she heard was the word 'tomorrow'. It was like music to her ears. Even if she still had to be laying horizontal for a large portion of her day, at least she would be able to be home. Well, mostly likely Logan's home, but a home and not a hospital none the less. "Tomorrow sounds perfect," she interjected into whatever Logan was still talking about. 

He smiled. "Yes, let's focus on that. And let's focus on the fact you will have a lot of good material to write about for your book." Rory nodded in agreement. Logan handed Rory "The Splendid and the Vile", the book he had picked up for her to read on his quick trip to his apartment to grab his laptop, a change of clothes, and some of Rory's comfy socks. He sat down in his chair and got back to his work, while Rory opened the book and began to read. Logan peered up over his computer, "And J.B. I look forward to hearing all your hospital conspiracy theories. But hopefully Churchill can keep that big brain of yours busy for a bit."

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The nurse came in as Logan was helping Rory change into her comfy clothes to be discharged from the hospital. She cleared her throat as though to announce herself into the room. Rory and Logan both turned their attention to her and the stack of discharge paperwork in her hands. 

"So, I have this discharge and follow up form for you both to read and sign." She handed to paper to Logan. "I will be back once you have finished and we will go through the rest of the information for Miss Gilmore's discharge." As quickly as she had appeared in the room, she turned on her heels and was gone. 

Logan sat on the bed next to Rory. "So here are the discharge requirements, Ace." He began summarizing the letter as he read it. "For a majority of the day it is requested that Miss Gilmore sleep and rest on your side, with your knees or hips bent, and a pillow between your knees. For up to 6 hours per day, Miss Gilmore may lie on her back while being propped up with pillows or to lie on her back with your hips or legs elevated higher than your shoulders." 

"More of the same I guess," Rory shrugged her shoulders, commenting on the fact that those are the only positions she was allowed to be in at the hospital. Logan lay his hand on Rory's knee to comfort her, but continued reading. 

"To prevent muscle tone loss, we do recommend exercising with ONLY the exercises listed below: squeezing stress balls, pressing your hands and feet against the bed, turning your arms and feet in circles, tensing or tightening your arm and leg muscles. Avoid using your abdominal muscles when you are stretching or exercising. And, Ace, you are not allowed to do the following: cooking, light chores, walking, shower, driving. And as much as I know I am hard to resist, I will just have to say no to your advances. No sex."

"Literally, I am not allowed to do anything."

"I mean..bed rest. Means just that rest in the bed. But, at least you can watch while I try to clean, cook, or....maybe I will just hire someone to do that." Logan put his arm around Rory.

Rory looked up at Logan, smiling, "There is no one better than you when you order delivery. I can only imagine what it will be like when you hire a cleaning lady.... So dreamy." She giggled.

"As long as you are laughing, Ace. I am good. I need to make sure you are safe." Logan's tone had turned very serious. Rory knew that seeing her, in what she had heard was very scary scene, on the floor at Max's had done something to Logan. She bit her lip, the images of what she thought Logan had seen weighed heavy on her thoughts. She shut her eyes tight, hoping to close out the images she was playing in her head of her on the floor, and kissed Logan on the cheek hard. 

The nurse came in and watched as they both signed the paper that had discussed the restrictions Logan had read to Rory. She handed them a stack of pamphlets about what her condition was, when and if Rory would need to come back to the hospital, symptoms to look out for, etc. 

"Man, good thing I like reading." Rory tried to joke with the nurse and she fanned out the pamphlets in her right hand. 

The nurse's eyes came to meet Logan and Rory's and her tone became almost as serious as Logan's. "Miss Gilmore and Mr. Huntzberger. I can not stress enough the seriousness of the condition that you have here. Grade 4 placenta previa is something we do not see often, and typically it is too late. If you do not want to have any incident like the one that brought you in here, I urge you to follow these directions explicitly. If you have another hemorrhaging incident, it will not just be the baby's life at risk but your own as well Miss Gilmore." 

Logan swallowed hard, as looked at Rory who was wiping away a tear trickling down her cheek. As much as she wanted to joke, the seriousness of the situation- the one thing she was trying not to think about- had just been verbally handed to her and it hit her like a ton of bricks. She could not imagine losing Oliver or leaving Logan now that they had found their way back to each other. 

 "We will follow it to the letter of the law. I'll make sure of it." Logan shook her hand and forced his lips into a smile. He felt as though the air had been hit out of him. He could lose Rory, the love of his life and the son he always dreamed of.  If nothing else, Logan was determined to show up and insure Rory and Oliver were fully taken care of. The image of Rory on the floor of the bathroom at Max's covered waist down in blood was an image that he couldn't erase from his memory if he tried. He knew the Finn, Robert and Colin felt the same. To have the one person you always hoped would come back into your life, laying lifeless in front of you was something of a reality check for Logan. He needed Rory in his life. She was like the breath that inflated his lungs and he was damn sure going to do everything in his immense power to keep her healthy. 

"I am sure you will, Mr. Huntzberger."

The nurse signed the discharge paper herself and handed Logan the copy to go home with them. She pulled the wheelchair to the side of Rory's bed, and Logan slid off the bed and picked up Rory, placing her into the wheelchair so they could begin their trek back to his apartment.