Change Of Plans

And Then There Were Three

After 7 hours of driving, Logan finally arrived at his meeting around 2pm.

"You're Logan Huntzberger?" I woman asked when Logan walked into the building.

"Yeah" Logan nodded

"Charlotte Johnson, nice to meet you" she said and held out her hand.

"Likewise" Logan said and shook Charlotte's hand.

"Come, I'll show you to the conference room"

"Thank you" Logan said. As they were walking Logan's cell phone rang.

"You can answer that" Charlotte said. "We're not quite ready to start anyway"

Logan answered the call and put the phone to his ear. "Huntzberger"

"You better get your ass back to New York or your wife is gonna kill you" Lorelai said over the phone.

"Lorelai?" Logan asked.

"Logan, it's me" Rory said. While what Lorelai said wasn't necessarily wrong, it didn't get the point across so she took the phone.

"Ace, what's going on?" Logan asked. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine" Rory said. "I'm in labor, but I'm fine"

"You're what?!"

"How do you feel about becoming a father today?" Rory asked

"Oh, my god" Logan nervously ran his hand through his hair. He was at least 7 hours away from New York and that was without traffic, but it was snowing so there would definitely be traffic. "Ok. You're with your mom, right?" He asked.

"Yeah"

"Ok, I'm coming back right now. Keep me updated"

"I will. Drive safe" Rory said.

"I love you" Logan said

"Love you too" Rory said and hung up.

"You want to go to the hospital?" Lorelai asked

"Doctor said not to until my water breaks" Rory told her

"So what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know"

They decided to continue the movie, and 10 minutes later Rory's water broke so they headed to the hospital. 

Around 4pm Rory was sitting in the hospital, playing a card game with Lorelai.

"Grabbing the cards was smart" Rory said

"Yeah, you'll be here for a while" Lorelai said. "Got any sevens?"

"Go fish" Rory said. "10?"

"Go fish" Lorelai said. "Hey, did you pick a name yet?"

"We picked it a while ago" Rory told her. Rory and Logan had a baby picked out since a little after thanksgiving, but they weren't telling anyone until after the baby was born just in case they changed their minds. "But before you ask, no, I'm not telling you"

"Fine"

——

A little before 9pm, Logan found himself stuck in a huge traffic jam trying to get into New York City. He was too far back to see what happened, but given that the roads were icy, his best guess was that there was some kind of accident. Not only did he feel bad about not being there for Rory, but he was worried about missing the birth of his child. 

After half an hour of being stuck in traffic he decided to call and let Rory know what was going on.

"Hey, where are you?" Rory asked when she answered the phone

"Look, there was some kind of accident right outside the city" he told her. "I'm stuck in crazy traffic. I've moved maybe 10 feet in the last half hour. It's gonna be a while until I'm there. How are you doing?"

"Fine" Rory said. "Wish you were here"

"I know, Ace. I do too" Logan said. Words couldn't begin do explain how badly Logan wished that he was with Rory in that moment. "I'm really sorry"

"It's ok" Rory said. "Logan, the doctor just walked in, I have to go"

"I love you"

"Love you too" Rory said and hung up.

"How are we doing?" The doctor asked

"Logan is never allowed to leave New York again" Rory said

The doctor chuckled. "If you just wanna lay down, I can check you really quickly"

"No offense to you or anything" Rory said as she laid down "but someone should ready come up with a better way to do this because I've had your hand inside of me way too many times today"

"You know, I've heard a lot of things from women in labor, but I've never heard that"

"She's unique" Lorelai said

"Rory, you're 10 centimeters dilated" the doctor said. "Time to have a baby"

"No" Rory said

"Rory" Lorelai said

"Not without Logan. He can't miss this, he'll never forgive himself"

"Look, we can wait a little longer but at a certain point it becomes unsafe for both you and the baby" The doctor said

"Well, we can wait until that point"

20 minutes went by and still no Logan.

"Rory, it's time" The doctor said

Rory shook her head. "Logan's not here"

"You're uncomfortable, and in pain, and as soon as you start pushing you'll feel better"

"I can't" Rory said. "I need Logan"

Just then the door opened and Logan ran in. "I'm here. I'm here. I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize just get over here and give me your damn hand" Rory said and reached for Logan's hand.

"Good, because mine is numb" Lorelai said as Rory let go of her hand to take Logan's. Rory was a lot stronger than Lorelai thought.

"You're just in time" the doctor said. "Rory, are you ready now?"

"Yes"

At 10:48pm, on January 4th 2008, Rory and Logan's baby girl was born.

Around midnight Logan was sitting on the hospital bed by Rory's feet, watching Rory hold their baby girl.

"How did you get here so fast?" Rory asked. "When I spoke to you on the phone you said that you were in standstill traffic, but half an hour later you were here"

Logan chuckled softly. "Let's just say I met a very helpful police officer and that my car is still on the side of the highway"

"Are you serious?"

"I wasn't missing this"

"You're insane"

"Only because I love you". Logan leaned forward and kissed Rory softly.

A few minutes later Lorelai walked into the room with coffee and bagels.

"Yes, I love you" Rory said and took a cup of coffee from Lorelai. "You know what this is?"

"Coffee?" Logan asked

"My second cup of coffee in one day" Rory said. "You know how long it's been since I've had more than one cup of coffee in a day?"

"9 months?" Logan chuckled

"9 freaking months"

"Our daughter's gonna be addicted to coffee when she grows up, isn't she?" Logan asked

"Probably" Rory said and took a sip of her coffee.

"Speaking of that adorable daughter of yours" Lorelai said. "Do I get to know her name now?"

"Delilah Mae Huntzberger"