The other side of Yes.
What if Rory had said yes and then voiced her concerns? Would Logan understand? Would he still want it to be all or nothing?
"Rory Gilmore, will you marry me?" Time stopped. All that existed was Logan and this ring and his smile and her love for him bubbled up.
Suddenly, a freight train with the title Reality came crashing into her. She was graduating tomorrow. She had her whole life ahead of her. She didn't know where she was going to work or what her next step would be. If she wanted to make a name for herself, marrying into the Huntzberger name certainly wasn't going to help to trailblaze a path when the name came with an avenue St Petersburg citizens would be proud of. On the other hand, this was Logan. He wasn't Dean who would try to hold onto her in one place and he wasn't Jess who would ask her to blow off everything to just run away.
She realized that she had been stuttering out a "wow" several times by now, while looking down at Logan's hopeful face.
"Is there a 'yes' between those 'wow's?" There was so much hope and yet uncertainty in his face. Uncertainty? Didn't he know how much she loved him?
She cracked a huge smile, "Yes, yes, I'll marry you, Logan!"
He slid the ring onto the appropriate left-hand finger and stood to dip her into a low kiss. When he stood her upright, Rory's full hearing range returned to her. The crowd was clapping and a few were cheering. As she was pulled against Logan's body, she scanned the crowd over his shoulder. Her grandmother may have an attack due to her joy, her grandfather looked proud, her father's face was unreadable. Then she found her mother's. This was the face she was looking for. Lorelei's wore a big smile, but Rory could see there were tears in her eyes.
It was the same look as when Rory had graduated at Chilton. It was the same look as when she left Rory at Yale. The tears were because she knew this choice would signal a new chapter in Rory's life, one that would take her farther away, but that would never stop Lorelei from being happy for her kid.
Lorelei's smile was all the encouragement Rory needed. She fiercely hugged Logan back and took in the sight of the diamond he had just given to her. Holy cow. This thing was big.
Pulling back from Logan and intertwining their hands, she pulled him off the raised dais and asked to speak to him outside.
The two stepped out under the stars and into the dim lights of the path. Logan couldn't help himself. He spun Rory back into his arms and gave her another kiss. Rory stumbled as he let go and the smile faltered. "Hey, you didn't ask me to come out here to change your answer, did you?" He said it with a smile and the air of a joke, but a part of him couldn't believe how terrified he felt.
She placed a comforting hand on his chest and leaned in. "No, Logan, no. I'm not changing my answer. But I do think that there are a lot of things that we need to talk about. Should probably have talked about before you asked that question. We've never talked about getting married before. I've thought about it, you know, in the abstract sense, being your wife, but I never really imagined you asking me so soon."
Reaching a hand to enclose hers, so that they both rested on his heart, he used the other to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and then to cradle her face. "so soon? We've been together for 3 years, on and off. Mostly on. I know we never really talked about it, but I have really exciting news and I wanted to be able to present it to you as an engagement surprise." At that, the gestured in a sweeping motion at the horse-drawn carriage that was pulled up about 20 feet away.
How Rory hadn't noticed it was beyond her. Then again, she was graduating tomorrow, had no job prospects, and had just been proposed to. She supposed she had the right to feel a little scattered.
Holding out a hand to assist Rory's assent into the carriage, Logan quickly followed and draped an arm across her back. "I was offered the job in Palo Alto, Rory. They want me to start in two weeks. I did some looking around while I was there and there are a lot of good places for us to rent or to buy. One place had this adorable little avocado tree in the backyard," Logan smiled at Rory's brief interjection about guacamole, "You would be less than an hour from both San Jose and San Francisco, both with an excellent set of papers. Or if for a while you needed to work a little further away, we could make arrangements."
Sitting up straight, Rory realized just how much of their future Logan had mapped out. Was she okay with that? She had always wanted to feel in charge of her own life and yet she had always been beholden to someone else due to money or influence.
"Logan, Logan, Stop! Did you ever stop to think about what I wanted as you planned our entire future for us? What if I don't want to live on the west coast? What if I can't get a job at one of those papers? What if-" She was rambling and Logan wanted to derail this train before it became a full-blow runaway.
"Stop, woah, Rory, pause. If none of this is what you want then we'll find a way to work around it, but with the entire world at your feet now with your experience and your degree, I didn't think it would be that big of an issue!" He realized that his voice had raised above what he wanted and worked to lower it. He was still hoping to salvage the euphoric feeling from a moment before and to sweep his bride-to-be off on their carriage ride.
She felt floored. Not that big of an issue? "Logan! How could this not be that big of an issue? You've started planning out our entire future without consulting me? All I want to do right now is find a job where they'll pay me to write! I can't be tied down to one geographic location until I'm established enough to be able to go where I want to write, if that ever happens." She turned away from him. Though the night was warm, late spring in Connecticut, her words were chilled and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms to ward off their effect. She had said yes to marrying the man, not his hundreds of plans for them that apparently he didn't think she needed to be told of. "Logan, we've been through this, I'm not your mother. I'm not going to stand by and help you build up your fortune while doing nothing for myself."
Grasping her hand and gently coaxing her to turn and look at him, Logan had a half-smirk on his face. "I would never expect you to be like my mother. In fact, I would be extremely upset if you let your desires for life dwindle to what hers are. I know you, Rory. You want to write, you want to be a great journalist and I have every faith that you will be. I've checked, the Chronicle, the Bay Mirror, the Palo Alto Daily Post, Weekly Post, the Examiner, the Bay Guardian- they've all got openings. The Examiner and Guardian even have political correspondent positions. One is a fact-checker assistant type thing, but it's still in the paper, writing about a topic you love." He took her face in his hands and sealed their gazes upon each other. I did not take this job without making sure that there would be openings for you to do what you love. If you really hate it that much, we'll find something else, but if you're angry because I didn't tell you all of this earlier…" He trailed off and lifted his hands up in a defeated gesture. "Then I guess I'm sorry." Rory scoffed. "No, I am sorry. You're right, if I'm going to ask you to be my wife then I need to be willing to ask you about everything else, but I didn't leave you out of my plans!"
The desperation grew in his voice. Rory realized how much all of this meant to him. She knew that she meant a lot to him, but she hadn't realized just how badly he wanted their lives together. Thinking on it, she did too. He was right; he knew her very well. If she could get a job at one of those papers, what objections did she really have? "Okay, Huntzburger. I've said yes and I intend to see it through, but I have two conditions to agreeing to move completely across the country with you."
Placing his hands on her hips and going in for a kiss before putting that dazzling smile on display, Logan gently leaned his forehead against hers. "Name it, Ace, anything."
She believed him. He would give her the world, or as much of it as he could. "I want to get resumes out to all of those papers before we announce our engagement. I don't want to get anything because of an impending connection to your name. This might mean that we delay the announcement for a while. Are you okay with that?" She bit her lower lip, knowing that this might wound his pride.
"Oh no, you mean I have to put off the society parties my mother will insist on throwing in honor of my engagement?" He put a hand to his chest, "that might be a deal-breaker there, Ace."
Playfully hitting his chest, Rory continued, "And the second is that you remember that you have to include me in any future big moves. I'm not saying that I need to be in on every business deal, but if it's going to affect our lives, I need to know about it." He was still wearing that annoying smirk, so Rory grew concerned that he wasn't taking this seriously enough.
As she pulled away, Logan tightened his grasp, "Hey, hey," he pulled her close again and cupped her face with his left hand. "After how this night has gone, do you really think I'll make this mistake again?" He chuckled, "I promise, any grand gestures, which you know I'm a fan of, I will make sure they aren't life changing and I will consult you. I will consult you on the colors of my socks before a big meeting if you want me to. Rory! I put that ring on your finger and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep it there."
Linking her hands together behind his neck, Rory pulled Logan to her for a slow, deep kiss. "It's staying put, Logan. We've got a life to plan."
And, finally, Logan was able to sweep her up into the carriage to begin the rest of their fairy-tale.