Setting: Post Season 7

Winning Back the Gilmore Girls

Christopher Hayden was miserable. It had been six months since he'd left Lorelai, and he had yet to truly feel like it was the right thing for him to do. His mother constantly asked him why he did it, and the best answer he could give her was that he did it for Lorelai. Her happiness mattered more to him than his own.

Rory called him once a week to check up on him. She knew he was miserable, but she had enough on her plate and he didn't want to burden her. He tried to put on his chipper voice, and resolutely refused to ask about her mother. He knew she knew otherwise, but for now the charade remained intact.

The only person that couldn't tell how unhappy he was, was Gigi. And that was probably only because she was barely 5, and he worked extra hard to be happy in her presence.

He sat in his office in his Boston brownstone, the shades drawn to prevent the light of day from disturbing his mood, staring at the photographs on his desk. They were family pictures: he and Gigi in Paris, he and Rory in Stars Hollow, he and his parents at his graduation when he finally finished college, he, Rory and Gigi last Christmas. None of the pictures contained Lorelai, but she was behind almost every one of them. As much as he loved his family, his life was incomplete without Lorelai Gilmore.

He had a separate box that was put away high on a shelf in the back of a rarely used closet. That was where all of the pictures he loved the most were. Tucked away so they wouldn't remind him of how badly he'd screwed up on a regular basis. In that box there were pictures of he and Lore growing up together. He smiled at the thought that there was probably even one of their Lucy and Schroeder reenactment on the elder Gilmore's coffee table. Pictures of them as happy carefree kids, as teenagers in love, even some after it had all gone wrong, pictures of Rory in the hospital hours after she was born, her school pictures every year, snapshots of his intrusions on their lives over the years when ever he decided to pop into town, and even a few pictures from his married life with Lore, however brief it may have been.

He rubbed his blood shot eyes with the palms of his hands and poured himself another scotch.

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"Christopher?" he was suddenly wide awake to hear his mother calling for him. He briefly glanced at his watch, it was 10 am, and his mother was dropping Gigi off as she had kept her the night before. That was the one semi decent that had come out of him leaving Lorelai, his mother and his daughter were actually getting to spend time together, which he knew his mother loved. She had wanted so badly to spend time with Rory and his father just wouldn't permit it, by the time his father was gone, Rory was an adult.

"Coming Mother." He called as he rubbed his tie and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't even bother to glance in the mirror on his way to greet his daughter. He knew that the combination of sleeping at his desk, the bottle of scotch he consumed, and the tears he had shed were not a pretty sight.

"Daddy!" the excited 5 year old squealed as he came into sight. He winced involuntarily as the shrill of her voice did nothing good for his hangover.

"Hey baby girl!" he said, "how was your visit with Grandma?"

"We had a tea party!" she informed him.

"Christopher, you like you were just pulled from the floor of a bar," his mother hissed. "This has gone on long enough. Go take a shower and I will stay with Gigi for a little while longer."

"I'm an adult Mother, I can behave as I choose," he told her, but the look on her face told him now was not the time to argue, and he turned on his heel and headed towards his shower.

"Gigi, do you want to show me your new dolly?" he heard his mother ask as he shut the door to the bathroom. If she wanted to stay that was just fine by him.

He turned on the shower and looked in the mirror as he waited for the water to heat up. He hardly recognized the man staring back at him. His hair had grown out, since he couldn't be bothered to go get it cut, his eyes were blood shot and had dark circles beneath them, and he had 3 days worth of stubble on his face. His mother was right. This had to stop.

He stood in the shower until all of the hot water was gone, then took great care shaving. He located the bottle of Visine to 'get the red out', and by the time he left the bathroom he looked almost like himself again.

Gigi was playing on the floor in the living room when he entered. He scooped her up into his arms and spun her around. "Daddy! Put me down!" she screamed in delight.

"I can't!" he teased as she giggled. "So what do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Can we go to McDonalds for lunch?" she asked eagerly.

"Anything you want today Princess."

"Yay!" she cheered. He put her down and she ran off to her room to find her shoes. Francine was sitting on the couch watching the scene unfold, and as Gigi left the room she stood to leave as well.

"Thank you for everything Mom. You were right." Christopher told her as he hugged her goodbye.

"That's what mothers are for, dear," she told him as she patted his cheek. "Good-bye Gigi! I'll see you again soon for another tea party."

"Bye Grandma," the little girl said as she threw her arms around her waist to hug her goodbye. Christopher watched his mother's face fill with joy as his daughter clung to her waist.

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Christopher spent the entire day with his daughter. They started with Happy Meals ™ at McDonalds, then spent the afternoon in the park. Gigi happily chattered at him all day long, filling him in on her tea party with Grandma, the smelly boy at day care, and the little girl who's birthday party she hoped to go the following weekend. He didn't think about Lorelai once all day.

When they returned home from the park, Chris sent Gigi to put her toys away and pick out a movie to watch. While she was doing that he returned to his office to clean up from the night before. He gently returned the photographs to their designated spots, and tossed the empty scotch bottle in the trash. He sat down at his desk and checked his email. He was reading a rambling missive from one of his college buddies when a tearful Gigi appeared in his doorway.

"Daddy?" she wailed, holding what appeared to be a ballet leotard in her hand.

"What is it Gigi? Are you okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

"I need Aunt Lorelai," she said through her tears.

"Why?" he asked hesitantly.

She sniffed before she started her answer. "The dance show is next week and Aunt Lorelai promised she'd make my costume extra special." She extended the plain pink leotard for him to see.

Christopher sighed as he tried to figure out what to do. Initially Gigi asked for Lorelai almost daily for one reason or another, a bed time story, a new dress for her dolly, or a birthday party for her teddy bears. He had made excuses why Lorelai couldn't be there and eventually Gigi's requests became less frequent. It had been about a month since the last time Gigi had come to him wanting to see Lorelai. "I'm sure Molly could fix it for you." Molly was the housekeeper he had hired and she took care of most of those things.

"NO!!! I don't want Molly to do it. I want Lorelai to do it!" Gigi screamed. And then, she threw a temper tantrum, the likes of which he hadn't seen in almost a year.

Poor Gigi, Christopher thought, first her mother abandons her, then I try to keep her from the closest thing she has to a mother. "I'll call Aunt Lorelai in the morning," he finally conceded.

He had spent the entire day trying to move on, and it finally dawned on him, he didn't want to move on. His daughter needed Lorelai, he needed Lorelai. He had no choice. Christopher Hayden needed to re-win Lorelai Gilmore's heart.

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Logan Huntzberger was miserable. It had been a month since Rory had turned down his marriage proposal, and he still couldn't get over it. His Ace had turned him down. He'd been so sure she'd say yes when he asked. He wasn't the only one in shock, his parents and his friends were equally shocked. Not only had Logan Huntzberger made the ultimate declaration of love, but he'd had it thrown back in his face.

He could clearly remember the sad look in her eyes when he turned to walk away. It didn't seem to matter how much he drank, and he drank quite a lot, that look haunted him.

The first week Colin and Finn had spent the week with him, the three of them in a drunken stupor only sobering enough to order food or buy more booze, but after that Logan had to move on with his life. He had a job to get to in San Francisco.

The weeks that he had been in California he worked all day then came home and drank himself to sleep. He cut himself off from all of his friends and family, his own self-imposed solitary confinement.

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It was Sunday morning and he was jolted awake by a strange blonde shaking his arm. "Logan, wake up, there's someone at your door," the girl said. He shook his head trying to wake himself and trying to remember the name of the girl in his bed. His coworkers had forced him to come out last night and he'd gotten drunk and picked up some random blonde chick.

He threw his feet over the edge of the bed and pulled on some pajama pants that were lying on the floor. "I'm coming!" he shouted to the door as the knocking persisted. He flung open the door in annoyance to find Colin, Finn, Stephanie and his sister on the other side. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked angrily.

"Well it's nice to see you too, Mate," Finn retorted. "So cheery this one!"

"I'm so glad you convinced us to fly all the way out here Stephanie," Colin said, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"Shut up you two!" Stephanie started, Honor nodding in agreement. "Logan, you need us whether you want us here or not, so just step aside and let us in."

Logan stepped aside as the foursome hauled their bags into his living room. It was at this moment that the blonde decided to make her appearance. Luckily she seemed to have enough sense to know she wasn't going to be sticking around, as she was redressed in her clothes from the night before. "It was nice meeting you Logan," she said as she walked towards the door. "Call me sometime if you want to hang out again." She placed a card on his counter.

"Yeah, you too," he told her as she walked out the door. His face returned to a scowl and he looked at his friends. "Like I asked before, what are you doing here?"

"None of us have heard from you since you boarded the plane for California 3 weeks ago. We're worried about you, you big ass," Stephanie told him.

"Even mom and dad are worried," Honor added.

Logan snorted, he couldn't believe that his parents were possibly worried about him. At most they were worried about any scandal he might cause.

"Mates, he's fine. Look at the lovely Sheila that just left," Finn started. "What was her name Mate?"

Logan looked at his hands, then tried to glance at the counter to see if he could read her name off the card she left.

"He's not fine Finn. He doesn't even know the name of the girl who just left!" Colin exclaimed.

Logan walked into the kitchen and poured himself a scotch, then walked towards the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower. Stick around if you must," he told his friends.

He stood in the shower until the hot water was gone, then padded into his bedroom to throw on some jeans and the first cleanish shirt he could find. He glanced in the mirror to see his bloodshot eyes and 3 days worth of stubble, he just didn't care. He reentered his living room to find the place tidied up. The takeout containers had been picked up, and the newspapers had been piled into a neat stack. His friends were sitting at his dining room table sipping coffee. That's when the smell hit him. Fresh brewed coffee. "Get that shit out of my house!" he roared. He couldn't bear the smell of fresh coffee. It was just too much. Stephanie hurried into the kitchen to empty the remainder of the pot, and Honor picked up the cups on the table and dumped them down the sink.

"I was drinking that," Colin objected. Stephanie shot him a look and he quickly shut up.

"Sorry Logan," Honor apologized and the others looked appropriately contrite. Well except for Finn, who just looked confused.

He shrugged them off and took a seat at his table. "So is this where I should sit for my intervention?" His face was twisted into a sneer.

"It's not like that," Stephanie told him. "We just want to help. We love you and we were worried." The others nodded in agreement.

"You shouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine. I was fine before I met her and I'll be fine again," he told his friends with as much kindness as he could muster. He wasn't sure if they'd believe him. Hell, he didn't even believe himself.

"Yeah Mate, you're fine," Finn stated sarcastically, "That's why you've got a trash can full of empty scotch bottles and take out containers. I think the scotch bottles outnumber the take out containers by at least three to one."

"She was a fool to turn you down," Honor told him quietly as she laid her hand on his arm.

"She just wasn't ready to get married." Logan's head snapped up to see who had spoken. "Were you ready at her age?" Colin spoke again, looking at his hands.

"What the hell Colin!" Stephanie yelled at him. "If you're going to take her side, why did you even bother to come on this trip?"

All eyes were focused on Colin, most of them shooting daggers. "I'm not taking her side, I think it's crappy that she just walked away. But I'm just pointing out that at her age it might be understandable that she said no."

Logan sighed. He had forgotten that no one else knew that he was the one that had given her the ultimatum and walked away when she said no, even though she wanted to try long distance. He had also conveniently ignored the fact that her heart was probably just as broken as his was. He cleared his throat, and whispered, "uhm… I was the one that walked away. Colin is right, she wasn't ready to be married. She wanted to stay together and do the whole long distance thing while she was on the campaign trail."

The whole table was dead silent, then everyone started yelling at him all at once. "What kind of fool are you?" "Get her back!" "This is your own fault!" "I never thought you could be so stupid Huntzberger."

He crossed his arms on the table and laid his head on his arms. He deserved all the insults they could hurl at him.

After a few minutes the rant was over and the house was silent again.

"So what are you going to do now Mate?"

"I don't know," he said truthfully. He wasn't sure what to do. Did he want her back, or did he want to move on?

"Go get her back!" Honor shouted smacking him on the arm.

"What if she's moved on? What if she doesn't want me back?" he asked, fear laden in his voice.

"Well I guess that's up to you. Come on guys, let's go check into our hotel and give Logan a chance to think," Stephanie instructed as she stood up and went to retrieve her bags.

"We'll be back to pick you up for dinner Huntz," Colin said clasping his hand on Logan's shoulder.

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After his friends left, Logan went into his office and began to make a pro/con list. Looking down at his completed list he realized that he needed Rory Gilmore more than he'd ever needed anything in his life. He had no choice.

Logan Huntzberger needed to re-win Rory Gilmore's heart.

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Author's Note: I don't own Gilmore Girls, or David Sutcliffe or Matt Czuchry (although I really wish I did )

I know this kind of an odd perspective, but let me know what you think. Should I continue?