Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or the characters. Otherwise I would brag a lot.
A/N: Okay, we've got another kind of a creepy, mystery-solving thriller here. Apparently, Gilmore Girls makes for fun mysteries in my book. Color me strange. Well, anyway, I hope you like it! Oh, and by the way, this is set after the whole series, on the basis that Rory DID accept Logan's proposal and that they remained together. Please tell me what you think. Updates will come soon! (:
"Okay, boys, it's time to get going!" Rory Gilmore shouted over the din of the newspaper room.
She handed them all the coffee she'd been carrying in on her little cart.
"There are muffins and coffee, but don't you dare get used to it," Rory added with a cheerful smile. "One time only thing, just celebrating getting this last paper out before we decide on this year's new beats."
"Please, Rory, you do this every time we get a paper out," Blake, in the back of the room, said, laughing.
Rory tried cover up a smile. "That is not true! Last time, I only brought blueberry ones. Today, we have an assortment."
"Oh, an assortment?" offered Jackie, sitting on her left, with a grin.
"Yes," said Rory proudly. "We have blueberry, chocolate chip, banana nut, and the most magnificent, most wonderful, most heavenly of all: the super-rich fudge brownies with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting."
"Is that even healthy?" asked Christine.
"Do you see me dropping like a fly?" asked Rory. "Nope. I am not dropped, I am not a fly; I am very happy, and full of chocolate. And I have brought this happiness and chocolate to you, my favorite people."
"Am I not your favorite people anymore, Ace?" asked Logan, striding into the office.
Rory frowned at him. "Now that's not fair. How do you expect me to be in good standing here if I don't say nice things that I may or may not mean?"
"I'm sorry. I was just holding out hope that maybe you might not be liking the whole newspaper staff here better than me," said Logan with a grin. He eyed her cart full of coffee and muffins. "Presents again, Ace?"
"The paper's coming out! We're delegating new beats today! Today is a very important day," said Rory. "There needed to be presents!"
Logan laughed and shook his head. "Enjoy yourself, kids. You're all on my payroll anyways, so I'd better at least keep you all full of sweets, I guess." He grinned. "Hey, Andy, keep an eye on everyone out here. I'm gonna go take this little one outside for a talk."
Andy nodded. Andy was Rory's second-in-command at this paper. Since she had three papers in the area to run, she wasn't always there to answer questions. So Andy was the go-to guy at this particular paper. "Sure thing," he said with a smile.
Logan led Rory outside by the hand.
"What is it?" Rory asked as Logan half-ran out the door with her.
"I've got some great news," Logan said.
"Okay, okay, spill," said Rory.
"You know that trip to London I have next week?" Logan asked.
"You don't have to go?" asked Rory.
"No, unfortunately, I still do, but I did get it shortened," Logan said.
"That's great! So not two weeks?" Rory asked.
"No, it's only a week and a half," he said. "I convinced a couple of the advertisers to come a few days earlier, so everything's not so spread-out."
"Well, that's good," Rory said.
"But that's not all," said Logan. He was grinning.
"Well, stop smiling like that and tell me! I can't stand it when you do that!" Rory said, playfully swatting his hand.
"After that, I have a new guy coming in, who I spent all last month training, and he will be working on several of the papers that need looking after…"
"Which means..?" Rory asked, trying not to be hopeful.
"Which means, you and me, for three weeks, will have a wonderful tour of Europe," said Logan.
Rory was silent.
"Are you excited?" he asked, wary of her silence.
"Are you kidding? I can't believe it! Three weeks? We haven't had a vacation together that long since- Well, we've never really had a vacation that long! That's so great, Logan! I'm so excited!" She kissed him. "Are you sure you can take off three weeks?"
"I'm sure I can, and I'm sure I will," Logan said. "The papers are all running fine. I've spent the past couple of months making sure everything's in good shape so we could do something like this."
"Logan, I can't believe it," Rory said breathlessly.
"You can even start looking for wedding dresses if you want. London, Paris, Milan, I don't care. If you want to go somewhere, if you want to look somewhere for wedding stuff, you just let me know."
"Thank you," Rory said. "Logan, this is the best thing I could've heard all day."
"Good, because I wasn't quite sure what I was going to top that with," said Logan with a sheepish grin.
"Now, as much as I would rather stay out here with you, I do have to go inside and give beats out to everyone," said Rory.
"Oh, come on, do that later, let Andy do it, stay out here," Logan said.
"No, you know I have to," Rory said, smiling. "And you have to get everything in order so you can go to London, so that you can come home, so that we can go on our trip!" she said, grinning widely.
"You're giddy," Logan said, laughing. "You're actually giddy."
"I know, I just can't believe it- three weeks in Europe, with you, away from work? It sounds too good to be true."
"Well, it's not. It's going to happen."
"Good," said Rory. "I'm going to hold you to that."
"Fine, I'll get back to work then, only because that will bring me that much closer to our trip," said Logan.
"That's a good boss," Rory said, giving Logan a kiss.
"No, no, you're the boss," said Logan, chuckling. "Remember?"
"No, I mean, I'm the editor-in-chief, yes, but you're the owner still," Rory said with a laugh.
"You're the editor-in-chief of three papers, I'm the owner who stops by every once in a while," Logan said.
"They're still your papers though," Rory said. "I'm working on your papers, which makes you the boss."
"Well, I disagree, but I will defer to you," Logan said. "Boss," he added in a whisper.
"Logan!"
"Gotta go, Ace!" Logan said, giving her another kiss. "I've got stuff to do. Papers to look at, people to yell at- you know the gist."
"Bye, Logan," she said.
"Bye," he said. "I love you."
"Love you too," she said, grinning as he walked back to her car, turning around one last time to wave at her.
She turned around and walked back into the office. "Okay, kids, let's get those new beats handed out!"
