Change Of Plans

Dad

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked. She was standing at the door, holding her 14 month old daughter, looking at her father who she hadn't spoken to since telling him she was pregnant.

"Hi" Christopher said. His eyes traveled from Rory to the baby she was holding and back. "Rory, she's gorgeous"

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked coldly. She didn't appreciate him just showing up at her apartment a year and a half of no contact.

"I don't know. I just...I miss you" Christopher said. "Can I come in?"

As much as she didn't want to let him in, she had neighbors so talking in the hallway wasn't a good option. She opened the door further, letting Christopher walk into the apartment, and closed it behind him. "Why are you here, dad?" Rory asked

"I got your wedding invitation. Congratulations"

Rory was gonna say something but Del beat her to it. "Mama"

"What?" Rory asked and Delilah put her pancake in Rory's hand. "You don't want it?" Delilah shook her head. Rory took the pancake and walked into the kitchen to throw it out.

"You look good" Christopher said. Rory glared at him. She didn't want to exchange pleasantries, she wanted to know why he was there. "Look, I got your invitation and figured it was your way of...I don't know...trying to fix things"

"I'm not the one who needs to fix things" Rory said "and I didn't send you the invitation because I want you there, I sent it because Logan was right. I would regret not sending it"

"Look, my reaction when you told me you were pregnant was a little..."

"Offensive?"

"Fine. Offensive" Christopher said "but that doesn't mean it wasn't true. Having a baby young isn't a good idea"

"It's not about the age, it's about the people. On one side we have the people who leave and only show up to see their kid when they feel like it, and on the other side we have Logan. When Logan proposed to me at that party, he had no idea that I was pregnant. I was prepared for him to leave when he found out, but he didn't. Instead he proposed to me again. He stayed"

"Rory, I was so young when you were born. I didn't know how to be a parent"

"Neither did I!" Rory snapped and instantly felt bad that she did because Delilah got startled. Rory hugged Del tight and kissed the top of her head. "Neither did I" she said softly. "And neither did Logan, but he stayed and we figured it out together. And I'm glad we did because this little girl...my daughter...she's my entire world. Her and Logan. I don't know what I would do without them"

"I'm glad it worked out for you, but that wasn't an option for me"

"Why not?" Rory asked. "Mom could've given me up, but she didn't. She figured it out too, and she did it on her own. Nothing you say, can excuse you not being there. And I didn't see it before. I was ok with how things were, but then I had a daughter of my own and realized just how much I would hate for her to grow up with a father who never bothered to show up for her"

"Damn it, Rory. Just listen to me for a minute!" Christopher shouted

Delilah started crying.

"Get out" Rory said. Christopher could've had a calm conversation with Rory to try and work things out, but instead he yelled in front of her daughter, making her cry.

"Rory, I'm sorry"

"Go" Rory said firmly. If she wasn't holding her crying baby she probably would've yelled at him.

Just then Logan walked into the apartment. He took a second to observe what was happening. Rory looked pissed and she was holding Delilah who was crying, and Christopher was there. He knew that Rory hadn't spoken to or seen Christopher in almost 2 years.

"I'm not going anywhere" Christopher said

"Leave"

"No!"

"She said something" Logan said, making his presence known.

"Just give me a minute" Christopher said

"Rory told you to leave. You're not welcome here" Logan said. "Get the hell out of our apartment"

"Fine" Christopher said and left, slamming the door behind him.

"What happened?" Logan asked as he took Delilah from Rory. He could tell she was on the verge of tears and figured it would be better if he took the baby so she could try to relax. Del snuggled her head into Logan's shoulder and he rubbed her back.

"He just showed up here" Rory said.

"Are you ok?"

"I...I don't know"

"Come" Logan wrapped one arm around Rory, holding her close. "You want me to kick his ass?" He asked jokingly

"I wouldn't be opposed" Rory chuckled and wiped away the few tears that escaped her eyes. "You know I wouldn't change anything, right?" She asked. "What we have here...us and Del...I wouldn't change it for anything"

"Me neither, Ace" Logan said and kissed the top of her head. "Me neither"

A few weeks went by and the incident with Christopher had long been put behind them. On Saturdays Logan usually played basketball with Colin and Finn. This week was no different, except that he came home with a large box.

"Dada!" Del ran to Logan when she saw him walk in.

"Hi noodle!" He picked her up and kissed her cheek. "Ace" he quickly kissed Rory when she walked over to him.

"What's in the box?" Rory asked

"I got something for noodle" Logan said and put Delilah down before getting a knife from the kitchen to open the box. Rory watched Logan open the box and pull out one of those plastic baby basketball hoops and a little ball to go with it.

"Oh, my god" Rory laughed. "That is the cutest thing ever"

"Isn't it?" Logan asked. "Del, come see what I got you" he handed Delilah the little ball. "Put it in the hoop"

"No no no" Delilah shook her head.

It took a while, but eventually Delilah understood what she was supposed to do and actually really loved the basketball hoop. And Logan loved it because his daughter was having fun doing something that he'd enjoyed his whole life.

A few days later Rory was sitting at the kitchen island, working on and article and listening to Logan play with Delilah.

"Throw it" Logan said.

Rory looked up just in time to see Delilah throw the ball right into Logan's face. She couldn't help but laugh.

"You saw that, didn't you?" Logan asked. He heard Rory laugh and didn't think she was laughing at her article about climate change.

"Maybe" Rory said.

"Well, I did tell her to throw it" Logan said

"Yes, you did"