Summary: This story begins in episode 7.21 (Unto the Breach), immediately following Logan walking away after Rory has handed him the ring box. She has asked him a lot of questions about how it would be and Logan thinks she is saying no. It begins with a segment from "Unto the Breach" written in script format. Where it picks up is a narrative is where my intepretation begins.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Gilmore Girls, nor am I affiliated with the WB or CW – if I was, Gilmore Girls would still be around, Amy Sherman-Palladino would still be running the show, and Logan and Rory would've already gotten married. I don't know any of them, I have no connections.
Rating: For now, PG – this could change.
Shameless Plug: If you haven't given up on a Season 8, come join us at where you can participate in the Great8Mandate.
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Chapter 1
Rory approaches Logan from across the courtyard. He attempts to banter about his graduation as a way to ease the awkward silence, only half smiling, meanwhile shifting uncomfortably, until Rory interrupts him.
RORY: Logan. I'm sorry. I can't. I love you. You know how much I love you. I love the idea of being married to you. But there are just a lot of things right now in my life that are undecided. And that used to scare me, but now I kind of like the idea that it's all just kind of wide open, and if I married you, it just wouldn't be.
Rory's face is clearly pained – her eyes are genuine. She means everything she's just said. But Logan is frustrated, clearly hurt, borderline angry.
LOGAN: So what? I go to San Francisco, you stay in the east, and we see each other occasionally?
Rory's face beams with hope and optimism – all the while looking scared at the same time.
RORY: Well, we can try long distance. We've done it before.
LOGAN: You think that that's gonna work?
Rory is clearly shocked by his bluntness and the coldness of his voice.
RORY: I think it'll be hard but—
LOGAN shaking his head: I don't want to do that, Rory. I don't want to go backwards. If we can't take the next step …
RORY: What?
Rory asks, tilting her head to the side, even though you can tell by the look on her face that she knows what is coming.
LOGAN: I mean …
RORY meekly, sadly: Does it have to be all or nothing.
LOGAN: Yea … it does.
Logan's eyes soften a little, seeing her hurt – but clearly feeling it on his own end and not knowing what to do.
RORY with a pleading tone: But .. we could at least try.
LOGAN: What's the point?
RORY sadly, softly, hesitantly: So …
LOGAN hesitantly, also sadly, touched with frustration: So …
Rory digs the ring box out of her robe pocket and hands it slowly to Logan, who shakes his head. He looks at her as if to say 'Is this really what you want?' then looks down at the box, sighs, and rips the bandaid off, taking the ring from her.
LOGAN: Good bye, Rory.
Logan turns to his left and proceeds across the court yard, trying to walk with something other than hurt, dismay and humiliation. His lips are taught in a straight line, clearly angry, sad and heartbroken all at the same time.
Logan had only made it seven or eight feet away from her when Rory was shocked to find him shove the ring box in his pocket and walk at more of a quick pace.
"Logan!" Rory called to him, and he continued to walk, shaking his head, looking ahead, not looking back. Rory dropped started walking after him, quickening her step.
"LOGAN!" she called again. "Turn around. Talk to me. Don't make me run in heels."
"Why?" Logan said turning around and walking backwards, then opening his arms. "Why should I stop? Why are you chasing after me, Rory? You just turned me down – a least allow a man the opportunity to leave the most embarrassing experience of his life with a little bit of dignity." He started to turn back around to walk away from her.
But Rory caught up to him and held onto the sleeve of his jacket with her right hand before he could get too far away. He stopped immediately in his tracks – it was uncontrollable instinct that made him stop. He desperately wanted to run. This was the girl – the woman – that he loved, who had just casually ripped his heart out of his chest and continued to chase him as he, figuratively, bled to death. His breathing was shallow, his heart was beating, his ears were ringing – this was the only love he'd ever known. And he wanted to run away from it, forgetting it'd ever happened, forgetting what relief it'd ever brought him, forgetting the pain it was causing him now.
But he couldn't. Because it was Rory, and the second she caught up to him and clutched the sleeve of his jacket, it was like she'd stung him with immobilizing poison. Her touch numbed him, stopped him – and reminded him exactly what he felt for her, making it impossible for him to run. The fireworks, the sparks … all it took was her fingers on his jacket, and he was, in only a second, unable to move, unable to leave her – as much as he might've wanted to.
"Logan," she said softly, close to his ear, her breath tickling him and sending warm tingles up and down his spine.
Finally, he managed to turn his head towards her and look her in her eyes which was, if you can believe it, even more stunning and immobilizing than her touch. He could look at those wide, blue, still-somewhat-innocent eyes all day.
"What, Ace?" he responded at an equally soft volume and took a deep breath. The corners of Rory's mouth up turned just slightly at the sound of his pet name for her rolling off his tongue.
"You could look in the box," she said, reaching her hand into his pocket.
"Why would I do that? So I can see the ring that I spent weeks looking for, hours in shopping malls with Honor being drug to and from every jewelry counter until I and Honor found the perfect ring still in the box? The ring I was sure you'd take? The ring that I had to figure out your size for by slipping your butterfly ring off your finger in your sleep and taking it to the jeweler?" he said harshly.
"I knew I hadn't lost it! I wasn't crazy, you told me I was losing it and that you hadn't seen me wear that ring in weeks," said Rory, smiling and poking him in the bicep with the index finger of her right hand, then regaining her grip n his sleep.
"You're not answering me," he said. "Why?"
"Because I asked you to," Rory said, pleading, shifting her eyes to the ground.
"It doesn't work that way," he said. "Not anymore." He tried to be gentle but he realized it came out more harsh than he'd intended.
"Fine," Rory stated, firmly, releasing his arm and placing the ring box forcefully in his hand. "Don't look."
She crossed her arms over her chest, a stern look on her face and turned and walked slowly away.
Logan wasn't sure what it was that made her chase him. He also wasn't sure what it was that was keeping him standing still – why wasn't he running away? Or after her? Why wasn't he moving? But all he could do was stare at the ring box. And even though he'd said that she couldn't tell him what to do anymore, he couldn't deny the truth – Rory's words had an effect on him. And he couldn't fool himself – he'd do anything she asked.
And so, bracing himself to see the ring he'd carefully picked out with Rory in mind, he lifted the lid on the blue velvet box to find …
Nothing.
There was nothing in the box.
He turned around to find that, 10 feet away, near the tree she'd just turned him down at, Rory was standing, arms folded, starting at him.
He walked towards her, quickly – quicker than he'd been walking away.
"Where is it?" he asked.
Rory smiled her eyes finally regaining a twinkle, as she rolled the left sleeve of her graduation robe up her arm, revealing the hand she'd kept carefully masked in the length of her sleeve or her pocket or under her right arm all day.
Logan cocked his head "Are you saying yes? Because if you're not, that's an awful expensive piece of jewelry Ace, and I can't let you keep it – I'm not exactly rolling in dough anymore."
Rory smiled at him – and that was all Logan needed. He ran the last five feet to her, unable to wait, picking her up in a hug and setting her down to kiss her lips, holding her face in his hands – but only for a few seconds before the questions began circle his mind.
"That was a cruel little joke you just played, Ace …" Logan said. "So how much of what you said was true?"
"It's all true, actually. I do like that my life is wide-open now – but I think it can be wide-open with you. I do like the idea of marrying you … and I can't imagine living without you, it sucks, actually," said Rory.
"Sucks? C'mon Ace – you're a recent top-of-the-class Yale graduate with a degree in English, soon to be married woman – you can't come up with a better word choice than sucks?" he said.
"Well, that's the thing …" Rory began. "I want to marry you. I want us to move forward. And I want my adventures to include you. But I meant a lot of what I said – I'm not ready to just jump in. I don't want to rush. I like the idea of California and getting married … but I want us to have time. I want to be able to spend the summer in Stars Hollow with my mom – God knows when I'll be able to do that again. I want to be able to have a longer engagement, so I can find a job, get settled and not have to deal with the stress of planning a wedding and adjusting to a new career all at the same time – I'm a low-pressure kind of girl. I want us to be able to plan. I want to be able to come and go from California to Stars Hollow as I please, as I feel is necessary. And I want us to get married here, in Connecticut, at the Dragonfly, with my family and friends near by. Because here's the thing: wherever you are, I'll always be home … but Stars Hollow will always be home, too. And I need to find a way to merge those lives. So those are the conditions."
"Listen to you – issuing demands and conditions about our marriage and engagement," said Logan, with a smirk and a sarcastic, yet entertained tone. "You've been spending too much time around Richard, making bargains like that."
"But what do you say?" Rory said, a hint of panic in her eyes and for some strange reason in her gut – afraid that she's pushed him into saying no, which was not at all her intention.
"Well, for that little stunt you just pulled on me, I should give you a harder time—" he began.
"But … ?" Rory said with hope.
"But I'm a sucker for you, Rory. And as long as you're wearing that ring and as long as you want to marry me, that's all that matters to me. You're all I need," he said softly, looking deep into her eyes.
Rory smiled, dropped her mortarboard on the ground, and wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him in a deep kiss.
And, as Logan returned her embrace, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist, pulling him closer to her, needing him closer to him in this moment, and leaning her against the tree – Lorelai looked on from a distance, no one else noticing what was going on, and a pit of depression, sadness and the feeling that she would soon have to let go stirring in her stomach.
