Just Another Society Party

DISCLAIMER: I own no rights to the characters from Gilmore Girls created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. I merely recreate scenarios.

TIME: Set during the episode of season five "The Party's Over" in which Dean breaks up with Rory. A focus on Logan's perspective.

My first ever fan fiction so please review!

Logan walked through the door with his parents, Finn following close behind him. He heard Finn mutter something about another 'shindig' and an Australian word he couldn't quite catch. His mother and father walked into the entrance hall and grandly greeted Emily so Logan and Finn took that time to escape, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and his parents, especially his father.

"Blimey, there's not one woman here that I can see. Why all the men?" groaned Finn, grabbing a drink from one of the waiters. He grimaced when he realised it was champagne and put it down next to an elderly couple.

Logan grinned. He hadn't told Finn the reason for coming tonight. All he had to say was "Another society party buddy?" and he was in a suit ready to go. Logan knew he was at the Gilmore's house and that many people his age would be there. Perhaps a certain young reporter would be here. His father, the Mitchum Huntzburger, told him it would be a good chance to meet up with the boys who he had lost touch with from the many school attempts.

He was surprised at the lack of girls though. No sign of any females. As they walked through the crowds he saw only couples like his parents, and young men his age who gave him a wide berth. Laughing to himself he settled against a wall, waiting for something to happen as was bound to happen, at a classic society party.

"Apparently we're made for each other," said a man's voice and Logan straightened up confused. Who was this guy talking to?

"Oh gee, well how convenient." He grinned widely hearing Rory Gilmore's voice reply, not sounding impressed at all.

"It's nothing like having your family play matchmaker. How old are you?" Logan frowned as he recognised something malicious within the guy's voice.

"Me?" he could almost envision the confusion on Rory's face. "Oh I'm almost 20." Logan couldn't take it anymore. He turned around the corner and saw Rory and a tall guy talking together.

"Alright good, just making sure everything's legal." The guy laughed and said "You need a drink?"

Logan was getting more and more disgusted by this man by the minute, not even sure why he cared. He couldn't explain why he felt pleased that he heard her say "No, not a drink" in that sceptical tone of voice.

"Why? You get a little crazy when you drink?" The guy leaned a bit closer to her and Logan made his move.

"I'd like to see that" he heard the guy said before he called out to her and walked towards the two.

"Rory!" He saw the shock in her face as he put his arm around her shoulder. "There you are I've been looking everywhere for you. I'm late, I'm sorry, don't be mad." He looked towards the guy and extended his hand. "Logan Huntzberger."

"Jordan Chase" came the reply and Logan recognised the name. The playboy, party boy much like himself but with less self-control. He could feel Rory relax a bit by his being there and decided to continue the charade.

"Good to meet you. Thanks for keeping my girl busy. If you hadn't, she would have noticed exactly how late I am and then she might have left and that would have been very, very bad." He noticed the guy blanch at the words my girl and inside Logan's head someone cheered.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, you're with her?"

"Going on a year and a half." At this point he felt Rory awkwardly reach up and stroke his hand and he felt extremely happy with himself and surprisingly comfortable as well. He tapped her shoulder and she tapped his hand and was very pleased when Jordan left, muttering "What the hell am I doing here?" as he walked away.

He pulled away from Rory when Jordan had left his sight and heard a sigh of happiness.

"Oh thank you."

"You looked cornered" said Logan grinning at the relief on her face.

"I was." She nodded emphatically.

"Well I'm glad to be of service. Man I hate these parties," said Logan, looking around.

Rory nodded her head. "Not really my bag either." She looked so uncomfortable Logan figured that she hadn't gone to many of these society outings before.

"Well at least the bar is stocked and I must say your grandmother has excellent food."

"Wait my grandmother?" He saw her confused expression and was about to make a comment when Richard Gilmore came up behind him.

"Logan? How are you son?" Richard said, shaking Logan's hand firmly.

Logan saw Rory's confusion increase as he replied "I'm very well sir, and yourself?"

"Well, I'm fit as a fiddle. It's good to see you. Are your parents here?" asked Richard looking around.

"Wandering around here somewhere," answered Logan, "My mum was obsessed with Emily's new draperies." The two men shared a grin as Richard answered "Ah yes Emily has exquisite taste in fabrics. Alright Rory," said Richard, focussing on his granddaughter, "since I see you are in capable hands I will make another round and end up at the bar."

"It's been good to see you Richard."

"Good to see you Logan," answered Richard making his way towards an old group of Yale Alumni.

Logan turned to Rory and saw the impressed look on her face. "You know my grandparents."

"My folks are good friends with Richard and Emily," replied Logan waving that thought away. Realising it was time to get away from all this formal stuff he looked Rory straight in the eye. "Ok, so lesson one with coping with boring parties: Form a sub party." He moved towards the drinks table and grabbed a bottle in each hand.

"Where are you going?"

He ignored her and yelled out "Finn!"

"Finn's here?" He laughed inwardly at her amazement that he came with someone but just yelled out for Finn once more.

"Finn!" Finn came over casually and said "You rang?"

Logan handed a bottle over to him and said "Time for a change in venue," walking away following a path that lead to the pool house.

He heard Finn say to Rory "Do I know you?" and he just shook his head in wonderment for the ignorance of his friend.

Logan felt much more comfortable with the loud, raucous behaviour in the pool house. Along the way to the house, they had picked up a group of guys and had successfully formed a much more suitable party for people their age. At first Rory seemed uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her dinner but then looked much more relaxed as everyone around her just laughed and forgot about the political correctness of high society life. Logan looked across the room and saw Colin pouring a drink from one of Richard's scotch bottles.

"Colin, make sure you refill that bottle with something; don't want Ace over here to get busted." Not that Logan actually thought Ace would get in trouble, clearly Emily and Richard viewed this girl as being young and innocent. Logan was pretty sure they were correct; the tiara seemed to set that thought off nicely.

He offered Rory a refill with her reply of "Sure, why not?"

"Because drinking is bad," answered a tipsy Finn. "It is very, very bad and we're bad for doing it. Spank me." Logan grinned at the smile on Rory's face when she replied to Finn "I think the hangover tomorrow with be punishment enough."

Logan laughed out loud at her still able intelligence as Finn told Logan to make her drink more, before he left the couch. Logan joined her and had to admit to himself that she looked very flattering in that dress.

"Hey listen, I forgot to tell you I read the article."

"You did?" The shock in her voice surprised him. Surely, she knew he would read about the Life and Death Brigade; it's the only thing good in the Yale Daily news.

"Yep, not bad."

"Thank you," she said, still surprised.

"Covered the spirit of the thing I'll give you that."

"But?"

"No, not buts, you've got a good style." She leant back and contemplated that for a minute. "There were a few too many similes for my taste," he teased, "but definitely had a little Josef Mitchell thing going for it. I liked it."

"I'm surprised you even bothered to read it." This shocked him again. The blatant suggestion that she was just another writer actually bothered him, though he would admit that to no one.

"Are you? Hmm . . ." Logan stood up and looked around the room.

"So," he said loudly, getting the attention of the men in the room. "Who's it going to be?"

He grinned wickedly at the flabbergasted look on her face as she sat up and said "What?"

"Well this shindigs an obvious meat market. I got the feeling that your grandparents are expecting you to choose someone tonight so . . ."

"Oh well . . ." A chorus of 'pick me's' came out of the room as all the young men crowded around the young woman. As the only girl in the room, every guy wanted a shot and he couldn't help feel like she could do so much better.

"Wow," said Logan, grinning after Finn and Colin's comments about exotic bird flu. "A room full of guys and still extremely thin pickings."

Rory just looked amused, not what Logan had been expecting. "Well, I don't know. It's a pretty tough choice. Maybe I should let my boyfriend help me choose."

A communal sigh went around the room and Logan felt shock course through his body. He questioned "You have a boyfriend?" He was surprised at how he had assumed her singleness but why was he surprised? She was pretty and intelligent and definitely a girlfriend sort of girl so of course she had a boyfriend.

"Do Emily and Richard know about this?" said Logan sitting down on the couch next to her. She shrugged and said "Yeah, they do," and just looked accepting of it.

Logan was very confused at her quiet acceptance of this obvious matchmaking party. "They're just trying to make sure you've got a backup?"

"No they're just . . ." She searched for an excuse and then shot forward. "Oh no, what time is it?"

"It's crime time," answered Finn, looking into the skies.

"Eight-forty five" said Collin, checking his watch. Rory stood up and stumbled forward looking for her stuff.

"Dean is meeting me at eight-thirty!" Logan followed her and laughed inwardly at her scrambling around. Being late for a girl never bothered him but he should have realised that Ace would be the sort of girlfriend who is always on time. This made Logan think about the sort of guy this Gilmore would go for. He realised that this guy must not be of means or else Emily and Richard would have never have organised a courting ritual for this young woman in front of him.

"Where?" Logan asked.

"Here! Out front!"

He grinned and said thoughtfully "Dean. Is this the boyfriend?"

"Yes, this is the boyfriend," came the exasperated answer as she put her shoes on. He wouldn't have to wonder anymore. He could go out and check out this guy for himself.

"Woah," said Logan. "Well we have to see this guy." He would be able to see if she was in love with a country hick or a suitable gentleman caller.

"What?" He grinned as he saw her shocked face and slight misapprehension. "See the man who's won over your heart. Gotta make sure he's good enough." He laughed loudly at her stuttered "But-"and yelled out "Let's go boys!" A chorus of drunken cat calls and whoops followed the men out and he looked back at Rory.

"You coming?" She stood up straight and followed him out, not missing the grin widely on his face. Oh how it was fun to mess with her.

The big group of guys followed the young Rory Gilmore through the entrance hall and then into the driveway. Logan saw a tall brown haired guy leaning against a beat up truck and in his head he ticked the box country town hick. The guy frowned when he saw the big group of guys with Rory and Logan laughed with the guys, some making comments about his truck. Rory walked forward and Logan could hear her talking to Dean about the party. Words like "Friends from Yale" and "so boring" came to his attention and he just grinned. It was like watching a young fairy-tale.

"Bit of a bean pole, isn't he?" commented Finn, and Logan couldn't help but agree with him. The guy was tall but there wasn't an aura of mystery or even intelligence about him. What would a Gilmore see in this guy?

Logan looked over at Rory and Dean again and heard Dean say "What am I doing here Rory?" The muffled reply frustrated him and he began to realise that not everything was going well especially with Dean's next words.

"I don't belong here. Not anymore. Do I?" Logan quieted all the guys down and step forward slightly, listening to Dean's resigned tone of voice.

The boys all shut up behind him and one of them muttered "He wouldn't. Not here. Not her." Logan couldn't help but agree with him. Logan didn't have much experience in the relationship part of courting but he knew that there are certain things you do in private.

"Dean . . ."

"You look good." Logan watched as he moved away from Rory and got back into his beat up car. Dean shut the door and looked at Rory, who folded her arms, trying to hold herself together. After one last look at Rory, her boyfriend drove off, leaving her there in the driveway.

Logan motioned the guys forward slowly and went up to Rory. She looked in shock and crushed, like at any moment she could fall apart completely. He felt this desire to make her feel better and rant that the guy was a jerk but he didn't know for sure that that would help. The guys all hung around behind her, and he could feel the sympathy emanating from the men.

"It'll be ok," he said, adhering to the fact that a fight is a fight and they could fix it.

She just shook her head and he saw a tear drop. "No. It won't." The acknowledgement of the relationship being over was straightforward and he realised that maybe it was not only one occurrence that made this relationship ending final. He looked at her broken hearted face and felt a strong need to protect her and be part of her life, in any way possible.

"Ok, that's it, back to the pool house men. We have some serious bucking up to do here." A loud agreement from the men had them turning around and Collin stepping forward.

"I swiped some scotch," he said, as if that answered everything.

"I'll re-enact the passion of the Christ" volunteered Finn and Logan realised this night could get a whole lot worse. The guys walked back into the house and Logan turned to Rory.

"Come one Ace. Nothing ever seems quite as bad after Finn's passion of the Christ," he said with a small smile, adding as an afterthought "Except Finn's passion of the Christ."

She gave a rueful grin and sniff and looked into his eyes. The blue teary eyes met his and he felt an ache in his chest at the pain this night had caused her and he put his arm around her, pulling her close, hoping for a minute that she would feel comfort at his being close to her.

He watched her stumble out of the limo very tipsy and fall over a bit.

"Woah Ace, need some help there?" He gave a loud yell and then watched as she yelled "Bye!" walking into her house.

He looked at her dainty little country town home and saw what he assumed as the mother looking at them all. He climbed back into the limo and opened the window.

"Wow, her sister is gorgeous," slurred Finn, leaning against Logan's shoulder.

"Mother, I think," answered Logan. He looked once again at Lorelai's piercing gaze and realised that maybe this wasn't the sort of girl he was used to. But since when did that stop him before?

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