So I'm not particularly sure I like this fanfic. It's definitely not my best work, let me just say that. But I thought I'd publish it anyway.


Rory Gilmore hated this feeling. As she sat on the left hand side of the campaign bus, the sun warming her bare arms, all she could do was stare blankly at the world passing her by, thoughts and emotions rushing through her with great force. There was regret. There was guilt. There was sadness. There was a desperate longing for the man she loved to be in her arms once again. But that was unfair.

Rory hadn't "wallowed" between the time of the break up and the time she'd left for this amazing opportunity. There hadn't been any time. Which meant that now she was spending long hours on a campaign bus, she had plenty of time to do the usual assessing of emotions. She should be having the time of her life right now – this was her first, official job out in the real world. This was the real deal! But all she could think was Logan, Logan, Logan.

At the time, after much deliberation, Rory had believed that refusing his proposal was what she truly wanted, what was best for her. Now she was reassessing her decision. That was the regret, the undeniable regret. Because if she'd just said yes, they would still be together. So what if she wasn't ready for marriage? It was called a long engagement!

Then there was the guilt. It seemed every time Rory had a chance to think, the image of Logan's eyes at graduation filled her vision. She'd hurt him. Then there was the sadness for obvious reasons. And, well, desperate longing wasn't difficult to figure out.

"You okay Rory?" That was Marco, another journalist following the campaign who had latched onto Rory on the very first day. Well, not exactly latched onto. Apparently she was the "only interesting person on this goddamn bus".

Rory liked Marco very much. There were only three things you needed to know about Marco. One was that he had impeccable fashion sense and was incredibly attractive, of Italian decent. Second was that he was just about the sweetest guy around. And third, Marco was very, very gay.

She looked up to him now and tried to plaster an optimistic smile on her face. "Yeah. Fine."

Marco frowned at her. He obviously knew she wasn't fine, but left it and continued up the bus to the tiny toilet cubicle up the back. Rory leaned her head back against the seat. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she took it out – her mum was calling.

Rory couldn't help but smile. If Lorelai Gilmore couldn't cheer somebody up, then what the hell could?

"Hey mum."

"How's my smart, beautiful campaigner daughter going? Forget your mummy already?" said Lorelai.

"Who is this?" said Rory.

"Don't do that to your mother, my heart is growing faint from old age!" said Lorelai over dramatically.

"Sorry," said Rory.

There was a pause. Of course Lorelai knew when her daughter was down. "How are you doing?" Lorelai was being uncharacteristically serious and Rory appreciated it.

"Well… you know," said Rory. She would rather discuss the details when she saw her mother face to face.

Lorelai sighed. "I know you miss him."

Of course Rory missed him! It was Logan! "I think I maybe made the wrong decision," said Rory quietly. It was the first time she had admitted it to her mother out loud and she could tell Lorelai already knew Rory had been thinking that.

"Babe, you can always make it better…" said Lorelai.

"How? How can I make it better? Logan has moved on already!" It hurt to say it, though it was true. Paris had called and told Rory she'd seen Logan at some society event, with another girl, and they had shared a kiss on the dance floor. How had Logan gotten over Rory so easily, apparently the one girl who had influenced him to settle, the girl he wanted to marry? Evidently it had been easy for him, while Rory was still suffering.

"Hon, I doubt Logan is as good as he appears."

"Then why is he being seen kissing other girls?"

Lorelai guffawed.

"That is a really unattractive noise," said Rory.

"Ever heard of a rebound?" said Lorelai. Rory could almost see the damn smirk down her end of the line.

"Mum, I'm going to go now," said Rory. "I'll call you later, okay?"

Lorelai sighed. "Okay babe. Just remember, Logan is probably suffering just as much as you right now, and you'd be naïve to think differently."

After Rory hung up, she tilted her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She missed not just Logan (although the absence of Logan was incredibly painful), but everybody else who was dear to her. Lorelai, of course, although they basically talked daily. Rory was positive that if Lorelai by chance happened to get on the bus, she'd be able to name everybody from Rory's stories. She missed Lane dearly, and Zach. The twins were doing very well and were keeping them busy, though. She found herself missing the entire town, actually, even Taylor Doose and his annoying tendency to pop up wherever he precisely wasn't wanted. But God, she missed Logan.

When she'd told Paris on the phone (or more Paris had bullied it out of her), Paris had said: "What is wrong with you? Grow some balls, Rory, and tell him!"

It was easier said than done. Paris didn't understand what she was talking about – she had Doyle. And as much Paris denied being tied down to one man so early on in life, Rory knew that Paris and Doyle would spend the rest of their lives together, as clichéd as that sounded.

Marco returned down the aisle. "God, you're melancholy today," he said. "Seriously, what is up? You're not still pining for that guy are you? He's a bastard."

Rory knew her face had grown extremely offended but tried to hide it for the sake of her dignity. "No…"

Marco slid into the empty seat next to Rory and leaned towards her. "Okay, tell me the appeal of this guy."

Rory glared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Let's see what you've told me… so when you started dating he messed you around, slept with other girls and didn't want an exclusive relationship."

"Yeah but he changed," muttered Rory.

"Then when you guys took a break or whatever the hell it was, he slept with an entire wedding party basically."

"We were broken up… it was different…"

"Then he was a total jerk with alcohol and an ass to that friend you were telling me about… Jess? And then he makes you steal a boat."

Rory was getting increasingly angry with Marco. "I convinced him to steal the boat Marco! I told you that!"

"Because of his Dad," said Marco.

"It's not Logan's fault that his dad's a total ass!" Rory all but shouted. She noticed the rest of the bus had stopped talking and was listening in. How long had that been going on? Rory really didn't want everybody knowing her private business – she wanted to keep things professional. Also, her stealing a boat probably wasn't the best way to get started in the real world.

"And then," said Marco, continuing despite the glances in their direction, "He gives you this ridiculous ultimatum. Marriage or nothing. If he loved you he'd understand your point of view."

Rory stood and glared at Marco, shoving past his legs into the aisle. Then she leaned down so she could hiss at him. "You have no right to say those things about my life. You don't know anything about my relationship with Logan. And all that stuff you just brought up? The good overcomes the bad. And I can't help that I miss him," she added quietly before turning away.

She walked up the aisle to the toilet and shut the door. Then she sat on the closed lid and stared at the wall. Ugh. What was this? Who the hell was Marco to talk to her like that? Sure, when Rory had first begun this tour she'd needed to vent a little. She'd turned to Marco for support. She'd tried to tell herself it was all for the best, putting forward the bad things Logan had done and none of the good. So of course Marco would have a one-sided view of Rory and Logan's relationship. But it wasn't the truth. Logan was the most amazing, wonderful man she'd ever known. He'd completely changed himself for Rory, going from the single guy that slept with anybody to the exclusive girlfriend type guy. He proposed for God's sake, at a party at her grandparent's house. Not every guy had the courage to do that. Logan did.

It was sitting in the tiny cubicle that a thought suddenly hit Rory like a speeding train. She stood up quickly, pushed the door open and hurried back down the aisle, falling into her seat and picking her bag up off the floor. She found her day organizer, an essential for a job like this (or any job if you were intent on being organized) and hurriedly flicked through the pages until she reached the date she needed. Then she just stared.

She could feel Marco's eyes on her from his seat across the aisle, though he didn't say anything. He knew he had overstepped the line and it hadn't been long enough for him to start acting his normal chipper self again. But Rory was thankful of this fact. She wanted to go through this seemingly life changing moment alone.

She was six days late.


Yeah, I know a heap of people have written stories about Rory getting pregnant and all that but there you go. Can you tell I have such little faith in this story? Haha. Anyway, yeah. Oh, and I'm Australian so that's why I wrote it MUM, not MOM. x