A/N: This takes place right after "Wedding Bell Blues." This is where my brain thinks the story continues, and I would love to see this happen on the show.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. I wish I did.

After the guests had gone home, the champagne had been cleaned up, and the dresses had been stored away, Lorelai sat on the steps to her front porch, sipping a beer and trying to figure out what went wrong that night.

Rory stood in the doorway for a few minutes, trying to decide whether Lorelai's current mood was caused by her or not. Finally, she decided to try and talk to her mom – something she really hadn't done in quite a while.

Rory gingerly sat down next to Lorelai.

"So tonight sucked," she stated.

"Uh, yeah," countered Lorelai, with that familiar edge in her voice.

They both sat in silence, already at a stalemate.

"Rory, what is up with you? Why the sudden penchant for hooking up with guys at the most inappropriate times? And what is going on between you and this Logan guy… I mean I SAW what's going on with him, but what's his deal? And more importantly, why didn't you tell me about him?"

"Whoa, slow down there, Ms. Walters."

"As in Barbara? That's the only reference you could come up with?"

"It's late. I'll think of a better one tomorrow."

"You're faltering, Gilmore."

"Oh, I know. Blame it on Yale. They're brainwashing me into becoming one of those robot children who does nothing but study and regurgitate information."

"So you're becoming Paris."

"Well, I know how much you've always wanted a daughter like her, so I thought I should try it."

"A ha," said Lorelai, defeated. As much as she enjoyed bantering with her daughter, this conversation was starting to give her a headache, and she decided that she didn't much care anymore about the complications of college romance. She had enough of her own crap to deal with.

When she abruptly ended their sparring match, Rory looked up at Lorelai in worry. It was then that she saw the tiredness in her face and the sadness in her eyes. Rory started to think that maybe, if she and her mom didn't have each other, then who did they have? And since when had they stopped telling each other things? She decided to try and remedy that, and right now seemed like a good time to start.

"Mom," said Rory, after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Yes, hun?"

"I like him. I really really like him."

"I hope so. Because if you don't, then we really have something to talk about here."

"I didn't tell you about him because I knew you wouldn't like him."

"How could I not like him? I don't know him," said Lorelai pointedly.

"His dad owns like 5 billion newspapers, and his parents are friends with Grandma and Grandpa. That's why he was there tonight. And when I saw him there with that girl, something snapped. I guess it's true that you always want what you can't have."

"Wait a sec. Logan is the guy with the limo? You like HIM?"

"You see, this is what I was trying to avoid."

"Sorry. But what happened to Marty?"

"Nothing. We're friends. We always have been. I don't like him like that, and I don't know why you think I do, or should, or whatever you think."

"Rory, I can't tell you who to fall in love with."

"Ok, a) I said nothing about love. And b) no, you can't. Just like Grandma can't tell you who to fall in love with."

Lorelai considered this for a moment.

"Ok, point taken. But WHY, Rory? Why would you go for a guy like that?"

"I don't know. Why do you love Luke?"

"I said nothing about love."

"Oh, please. You've been in love with him since, like, the day you met."

Lorelai regarded her daughter for a minute, suddenly noticing how much she had grown up in the past few years.

Lorelai sighed, and said, "I just… in all these years, I always thought that you would want the same things as me. I never considered that you would want to be a part of the world that I so determinedly ran away from. I mean, I spent so much time not talking to my parents, and making sure they were not a part of my life, and now you have the relationship with them that I never got to have."

"I'm not you, Mom."

"I know. I guess I just always thought you would want the same things as me."

"Well, in my defense, making out with a boy at one of Grandma and Grandpa's fancy parties is totally something you would do."

"Christopher told you about that, huh?"

They both laughed a little at this, but the thought of Christopher in general made Lorelai's stomach tie itself in knots again.

Lorelai put an arm around Rory, and they sat like that for several minutes, before Rory spoke up again.

"Was Luke really mad?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Have you talked to him?"

"I'm letting him cool off for a little while."

"Hm. That's probably a good idea."

"And you, missy, lay off the relationship advice for a little while, ok?"

Rory laughed at this, "ok."