Persuasion

Perfect

Elliot Richard Huntzberger was born on June 3rd, with dark hair and porcelain skin. When the nurse handed him to me, she had to repeat herself three times when she told me it was a boy. A fact that Logan will not ever let me live down. So much for mother's intuition. It didn't matter though, he was perfect. Logan and I counted fingers and toes and cooed over this beautiful human we created. Everyone was smitten by him and even Shira's icy exterior melted after seeing her grandson curled neatly against her son. The transition to having a baby from not having one was a difficult one but we managed. Logan was always in tune with how I was feeling so it was no surprise that he had a similar gift when it came to Eli. He was a happy baby and just starting to show aspects of his bubbly personality when I had to go back to work. I had spent most of the last eight years wishing I had a stable job to go to, and when I had to return to it, it felt ironically unimportant. The first couple of weeks I spent a lot of time crying and pouring over the photos that the nanny sent of Eli during the day and insisting to Logan as I forwarded them to him that he looked as if he had grown in the couple of hours it had been since we saw him last. It got easier though, we were better about keeping work at work and during normal business hours. Logan tried to travel less and work from home more. I got better at enjoying my time at work and home with my family in opposite but equal ways. I felt more at ease with a newborn than I had for the past several years of my life, Logan and Eli gave me roots and we flourished together in a way only a family can.

When I walked back into the apartment on a Friday afternoon after a particularly long week when Logan was travelling, I could feel the quiet. I was certain that Eli was asleep, which was the case on many early evenings. The nanny who was usually busy in the kitchen when Eli was napping, however was nowhere to be found. I tiptoed into the nursery asleep and spied Logan asleep with Eli in the rocking chair. Logan had taken off his dress shirt leaving only his soft v-neck undershirt that Eli was curled against drooling. I snapped a picture of the two of them, chuckling at the soft blonde hair that had taken the place of the dark tresses apparent on the top of Eli's head. I rubbed Logan's cheek gently and brought my lips to his.

"Mmm" he responded with a smile spreading across his face.

"You fell asleep again" I whispered.

"He's stubborn Ace, he wouldn't let me put him down" he responded softly.

"I don't know where he got that from" I teased.

He chuckled softly trying not to move.

"I thought you weren't getting back until later, I was expecting Angie."

"I sent her home early. I wanted to surprise you" he explained.

"Good surprise."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We missed you" I said feeling the swell of warmth in my chest as I spoke the words.

"Thus fulfilling my master plan."

"Har har" I feigned amusement.

"I missed you both too" he said honestly moving his thumb gently on Eli's back.

"How was Chicago?"

"Windy."

"I've heard that."

"Good pizza though" he added.

"I don't think you're allowed to say that in New York Logan" I warned.

"I'm a rebel" he said with another soft chuckle.

"Don't I know it" I said rolling my eyes.

"I got something for you Ace."

"Is it pizza?"

He shook his head with a small laugh.

"Shucks" I said with a smile. "You going to put little man down so I can welcome you back properly?"

"That's an invitation" he said with his eyebrows raised.

"Only if you can put him down" I said flirtatiously and turned on my heels retreating to the kitchen.

I heard him walk in behind me as I emptied the dishwasher, returning items to drawers and cupboards methodically. Without turning around I acknowledged him "You did it, I wasn't sure you had the strength. I think he has you wrapped around his little finger. I know you missed him but we have to be better about putting him down. I've been reading that if you don't establish good sleeping patterns early on they will be terrible sleepers when they get bigger. It's just so hard when he's so darn snuggly. You know?" I asked not waiting for his reply. "Do you want to order something for dinner? Or did you eat already? I'm starving. You said pizza and now that's all I can think about."

"Ace" he said quietly.

"What do you not want pizza, because I won't tell them that you said that Chicago had better pizza. Or are you all pizza'd out? I mean I don't think it's possible for me but I suppose other people might have an instance where there is such a thing as too much pizza."

"Rory" he said more forcefully this time.

"Yeah" I turned and saw him kneeling with a small blue box in his hand "what are you doing?"

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, you are. . . incredible and I am so happy that we found our way back to one another after everything we've been through . . . and I want you to be there for all the things we will go through . . and we have Eli and as much as he was a surprise and a challenge sometimes, he is . . . amazing and something I never knew I needed in my life. I just . . . I thought that last time I had this whole rehearsed speech and I wanted to just talk off the cuff but I'm nervous and jetlagged and nothing is coming out like I want it to. . . I just . . . I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Rory, Ace, my Ace will you marry me?"

I stood there mouth agape and felt tears start to form in my eyes.

"Please don't turn me down again Ace, we just renovated the apartment I don't want to have to move again and Eli is kind of used to having me around. I know that your mom isn't super thrilled with me but I think we're making progress and the last time we saw Paris she actually told me that I was a better dad than Michael Jackson, which thinking about it now was probably intended to be more of an insult than a compliment but-"

"Logan" I said holding my finger to his lips to stop his babbling "Yes."

"Yes?" he asked letting the word sink in.

"Yes" I said taking his hand and pulling him up to stand with me.

"You know I thought I was ready to ask you and then I said it and I saw the look on your face and I just panicked. I wanted it to be perfect and -"

"Shhh" I whispered wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him close to my body as I nuzzled into his chest "it was perfect"

"Here" he said taking the ring out of the box and holding my hand. He slid the familiar ring on my finger slowly, smiling as he did.

"It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful" he said running his thumb along the side of my face "and I can't wait for you to be my wife."

"I love you Logan."

"I love you too."

THE END