Tea Parties in Boston

3 - For The Better

April 25th, 2017 - Midtown Manhattan, NY

"I'll leave you two the room," Rory's lawyer said, leaving the room herself and leading out Logan's representation along with her, and nodded respectfully.

It was a warm spring day outside, yet being up on the 28th floor, separated from that sunny weather by thick glass windows in an air conditioned room, almost made it feel like it wasn't real. Surreal was the keyword here.

"So this is it... I guess," Rory said hesitantly, breaking the silence. A part of her would've hoped the lawyers had made this final goodbye something more formal than this, less private even. But no, they had to be the understanding kind, leaving the two of them, two and a half technically, alone like this - sitting awkwardly across from each-other.

Under the table Rory rubbed the bottom of her stomach, already prominently round at 31 weeks, the baby in her womb making itself known by hitting the same spot over and over again. Definitely way more than a 'half' by now. That feeling was definitely more real than any other form of confirmation they'd gotten on the fact that she was pregnant during these past months.

"It is for the better no matter how much I hate this... It is," Logan reflected, needing her confirmation to convince himself of the fact yet again.

They'd gone over this a thousand times by now, or so it felt. He'd known about Rory being pregnant since Christmas. Four months. After she'd told him for a full 15 minutes it had been the most shocking, craziest, scariest, most wonderful Christmas present ever. But a lot had happened since then, the reality of the situation making itself crystal clear both in theory and practice.

By no means had this been an easy decision.

"Yeah... This is for the better," Rory agreed, her eyes involuntarily landing yet again to Logan's hand that now held a brushed gold wedding ring, like they had a few times during the past hour.

Rory knew she had no right to be jealous. After all, it had been her choice. It had been her choice more than once. She was, much like her mother, had never been a firm believer in pregnancy being the reason for two people to be in a relationship together necessarily, let alone married to each-other. She wasn't well enough herself to believe someone could actually want her for her.

But even this wasn't the main reason they were here today.

Logan noticed her gaze, and moved the fingers of his other hand to cover it, trying to appear casual. He had actually considered removing it altogether coming in here, it being the first time for her to see him wearing it, but he just felt it wouldn't be fair to her. That was the reality. And while he didn't want to hurt her or rub in the fact that he had a whole other life across the Atlantic, he also didn't want to lie to her or disrespect her by pretending being unattached.

Logan had just minutes ago signed away his right to paternity and he'd vowed to not sign the birth certificate, giving away all parental rights looking forward. Rory was going to have full custody. Rory had assured with her own signature in return that she was never going to contest his paternity even if a DNA test confirmed it at some point for whatever reason. There was a NDA on the whole thing as well, naturally, and even this meeting was taking place under the strictest secrecy.

She didn't need his child support, the child wasn't lacking money for private schools, college or for a trust fund, Rory having agreed to take on her dad's offer to help them out however they needed until she got on her feet.

The child would be missing a father, but Rory was pretty sure that just like she had, the baby was going to survive that. It certainly was better than the alternative. It sounded cold and calculated - but it was what she needed to tell herself.