One

Rory knew by the tone in her Grandmother's voice that something was up. She was asking Rory to come to dinner, key word: asking. Emily Gilmore never asked unless she had something up her sleeve and Rory new full well what Emily Gilmore was capable of.

She wished she could just be alone, with her homework and her books, to finish her final year of Yale out in peace before escaping into the world of journalism or anything else for that matter, but the matriarch Gilmore always seemed to have other plans, plans Rory knew full well revolved around Hartford Society and Rory's place in it.

She may not have had a conventional upbringing and her arrival to the world had been surrounded by scandal, but Lorelei Gilmore-Hayden had an inheritance to live up to. As the sole surviving heir of both the Gilmore Insurance Group and Hayden Development Corporation, Rory was steps away from having a fortune handed to her and one day they both would be completely under her jurisdiction. No pressure or anything.

As she listened to the voice mail her Grandmother had left her, rambling on about specifics she cared nothing about, that familiar aching in her heart began as it always did. She missed her mom and their crazy conversations and desperately wished she was there to play interference with her Grandparents as she so often had before. But after her untimely death 2 years ago, Rory was left alone and she just didn't have the attitude, or the spine, that her mother had in order to maintain any sort of boundaries. Rory might as well have changed her name to Doormat.

Since her mother had passed away her grandparents had been starring a little too much in the show that was her life. Their presence had been a relief immediately after her death, they had seen to all the arrangements, something a 19 year old Rory just couldn't wrap her head around at the time. It was the beginning of the end she soon realized, as their monthly dinner had turned into weekly dinners, the phone calls increased dramatically and her grandmother had even managed to get her involved with the DAR over the summer, much to Rory's dismay. Suddenly the world that she had built and managed over the years had been subject to a hostile takeover.

She erased the message, immediately walking over to her giant calendar of events, crossing off "Book Club" this Saturday night and inking it "Dinner at the Gilmore's", sighing as she dialed the all too familiar number.

"Hello Grandma" she called into the phone, trying her best to sound polite.

"Rory darling!" a voice cooed back, "Did you get my message?"

"Yes Grandma, I've put it on my calendar, I was just letting you know I'd be there."

"Fantastic! We are having a few other guests and I want you to look your best. It's going to be semi-formal attire so a long gown would be appropriate, perhaps that dress I got you in Paris?"

"That sounds delightful," she responded, trying her best not to gag on her own words.

"Wonderful, wonderful, we'll send a car around 6:30."

"I'll see you then, have a good night Grandma."

"See you then sweetheart, we love you," and with that they hung up.

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Rory was decked to the nines, the long smoke-grey Chanel gown clinging to her lean figure. She felt naked. Hell, she was naked. The dressed gripped her hips and curves far too well and there was no way to avoid lingerie lines other than to go without them. She had her hair pulled back into a loose, asymmetrical bun and she had kept her makeup to a minimum, knowing she looked best more natural than made up. Her shoes were simple and she wore the basic, albeit, large diamond stud earrings that had been a Christmas gift last year from her Grandparents Hayden as well as a rather ornate diamond band on her right hand, a tribute to her mother, as it was the only piece of jewelry her mother had worn consistently that glimpsed to her privileged upbringing and wealth and she had only ever done so because it had belonged to Rory's great-grandmother, Lorelei the first.

She checked her appearance once more, hoping not to be made over by her Grandmother upon arrival, and grabbed her clutch, heading to where the car waited outside.

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"Rory you look lovely," her grandmother said kissing her check lightly, careful not to transfer her lipstick.

"Thank you," she smiled graciously, happy to have gotten it right and not to have been immediately been whisked upstairs for a "redo".

"Ah Rory," her grandfather bellowed, kissing her forehead and taking her by the arm, "so lovely to see you and so soon after out last visit," he said as he steered her toward the parlor.

"Nice to see you as well," she smiled, genuinely happy to see her Grandfather who shared her love of reading and news and politics, holding onto him like a life line as to not be sucked into the whirlpool that was Emily Gilmore.

"Now, our other guests are already here and are most looking forward to see you!" her grandmother went on, grinning as she turned the corner leading them into a basically empty room, except of course for Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger, whom Rory recognized from previous gatherings at the Gilmore Estate, and a tall, handsome, young man, who – though they had never met – Rory knew by reputation as the illustrious Logan Huntzberger, playboy extraordinaire.