Although Rory had successfully survived her first encounter with Logan and had come out of it relatively unscathed, she still felt a little like the Earth's axis had shifted somehow. She lay in bed the next morning feeling slightly dazed by the whole thing. Seeing Logan last night had caused every good memory and all the emotions attached to them to hit her all at once. It was almost like she had completely forgotten about some of them until just that moment, but she knew that for the most part, she had just pushed them to the back of her mind. The feelings had become so strong after he had confronted her outside the bathroom that she had no choice but to remove herself from the gala as quick as possible. They always had such a strong connection and she was surprised by the force of it, she wondered if he could feel it too.

It had been five years since her heart had shattered into tiny pieces as she had watched Logan walk away from her at Yale. Looking back, had she known that moment really was going to be the end of their relationship she might have called after him or stopped him but hindsight is a wonderful thing and she had never thought it possible that was how their story was going to end, so abruptly. Rory had clung on to every last bit of hope for the next few weeks but Logan never called and her own stupid pride prevented her from picking up the phone and begging for him to compromise in some way. She had loved how things used to be between them and it had made her incredibly sad every time she thought about it, knowing that neither of them had actually fallen out of love with each other, yet they weren't together. It was at that point that Rory learned that love does not, in fact, conquer all and it felt that they had just thrown everything away carelessly.

As time went by, in the first couple of years after they broke up she had contemplated storming the castle and invading his life and there had been many times that she had regretted not just doing that, but the fact remained that he had chosen to walk away from her so who was she to go chasing after him, knowing that's not what he wanted.

Before James came along, she had pretty much accepted the fact that she would probably never fully love another man, not in the way she loved Logan, so completely – she loved all of his flaws and all his mistakes. With the distance that was between them now, she appreciated that she was lucky to have had the opportunity to experience that once-in-a-life-time ridiculously inconvenient all-encompassing love that so many others don't get to feel and regardless of what still lay under the surface, she had made her peace and was now in a happy healthy relationship with a wonderful man, who she loved, even if she found impossible to love him with her whole heart.

Rory had met James Attwood at the opening night of the Broadway show that he was currently starring in. She was interviewing him for a first-night review piece for the Times and they had hit it off immediately. Rory had been single for a while and loved the flirting and attention she was receiving from this good-looking man and he basically swept her off her feet. A well-known actor, on paper they were pretty much a bad fit from the start but as they had got to know each other, they realised they had more than in common than they had originally thought and their relationship developed quickly. So quickly, that within six months James had asked Rory to marry him and to the surprise of pretty much everyone including herself she said yes. Being faced with a proposal for the second time in her life had kind of blindsided her and deep down she thought it was too soon in their relationship, way too soon, however, Rory had already said no to one man and he had left her because of it. She was scared if she turned down this proposal she would be left on her own once again.

There had been moments in the run up to the wedding where Rory had wondered if she was really doing the right thing but she knew that she could love James - albeit a quiet and steady love and nothing like the burning passion that she had once felt for Logan. Even though she never really wanted to admit it to herself, there was always a part of her that was still hung up on Logan and the worst thing was, she never expected it go away.

James knew that something was up with Rory. She had been acting strangely at the gala last night and afterwards, when they arrived home she wasn't really herself. It all seemed to be connected to her new boss. He would admit to being a little surprised when Rory had told him that she had dated Logan but he had been relatively soothed by her telling him that it had been nothing serious. He was sure she probably dated lots of different people in her time at Yale and that Logan was just one of them. James figured that is why she had never mentioned him before.

Rory's strange mood had continued the next morning so he had left her in bed a little longer. She was up and about now, he could hear her moving around the bedroom and he was really hoping that she was in a better mood. There was something on his mind that he really wanted to talk to her about. He looked up as she entered the living room.

"Is there coffee?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll go get you some," James said as he stood up.

"No it's okay, I can get it myself," Rory said as she started to walk towards the kitchen.

"It's fine, sit, I want to talk to you about something"

"That sounds ominous," Rory thought to herself as she sat down on the sofa. She hoped and prayed that it was nothing that he had picked up from the previous night. She had tried really hard to act completely normal around Logan, not wanting to give away that he had been such an integral part of her life. All James knew was that they once dated – Rory slightly regretted how she downplayed it, she knew she probably should have told him the truth.

James came back into the room and carefully handed Rory her hot cup of coffee. She thanked him and looked at him carefully as he took a seat opposite her. He looked nervous and she wondered what could possibly be on his mind.

"What did you want to talk about," Rory said as she absentmindedly flicked through a magazine and took a sip of her coffee.

"I think we should have a baby"

Rory spluttered on her drink. "I beg your pardon?" she said as she looked up at him and put her cup down on the coffee table.

"I think we should start trying for a baby Rory," he said as he reached over and grabbed hold of her hand. "We've been married for a little while now and you know people will be expecting it…"

"Seriously? I don't care if people are expecting it!" Rory pulled her hand away and slammed her magazine shut.

"It's time though, don't you think? We talked about it before…we both said it was what we wanted." James reasoned.

"I…I know we did but that doesn't mean I am ready to do it now. I have my job to consider and…" Rory couldn't quite find the words she wanted to say. How could she tell this man, that loved her so much that the thought of having a baby right now horrified her? What she couldn't work out was why it horrified her.

"You can put your job on hold for a bit, couldn't you? There's no reason for us not to start now and you know it."

Rory got up off the sofa and walked over to the window where she stood and looked at the city streets below. He was right, she knew he was right. This had always been part of their plan. They had discussed it previously and there was no real reason not to start trying. As much as she loved her job and didn't want to walk away from it right now, she knew it would still be there for while she took a break. Rory really didn't have much of a defense other than the niggling doubts that were so strong in her head. She was pretty sure she wasn't ready to take that next step but then she wondered if she'd ever be ready.

"Come on Rory," James said as he stood behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. "It will be great. Just imagine, a little piece of you and me running around forever."

Rory took a deep breath and relaxed into him. "Yeah, okay, let's see what happens," she said, against her better judgement. This was her life now, the life she had chosen.

"You want to start trying right now?" he said as he gently trailed kisses down her neck.

Rory closed her eyes as she soaked in the sensation. He knew exactly how to attack her weak spot. "Now?!" she squealed as James picked her up.

"No time like the present" he laughed as he carried her to the bedroom.

"Gilmore's House of Horrors"

"Mom, that's no way to talk about Luke" Rory joked.

"Loinfruit! It's been so long since we spoke I barely recognized your voice" Lorelai said her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Rory rolled her eyes even though her mother couldn't see them. She felt a little guilty that she didn't call home quite as often these days but life in the city was hectic at times. "It's only been about a week and you know, I've been busy."

"Too busy for mama. That makes me do a sad" Lorelai said in a little voice down the line.

"I'm talking to you now, aren't I? Anyhow, I have two pieces of news." Rory bit her lip as he tried to decide which news she should give her mother first, knowing there'd be a copious amount of questions about both.

"Good or bad," Lorelai asked.

Rory paused "I think that kind of depends on your point of view I guess."

"Ooh, intrigue I like it. Okay, hit me."

"So…James wants us to start trying for a baby" Rory said quickly.

"What, really?" Lorelai shrieked. Secretly she was desperate for a new baby in the family but she hadn't imagined it was anywhere on Rory's radar yet.

"Really. In fact, I think we may have just started trying" Rory laughed a little.

Lorelai grimaced. "Ewww. That is too much information for momma. How do you feel about it though? Do you think you are ready for this? I mean, I know you were excited about all the new things happening at work…"

"Ah work, well that leads me nicely on to my second piece of news. So you know that the newspaper got bought out last week, don't you? Well my new boss, Logan, starts in the office on Monday." Rory said.

"Logan? As in Huntzberger?" Lorelai questioned.

"The one and the same"

"Oh, Rory." Lorelai knew that whatever her daughter might have told her or even believed herself, Logan was always going to have an impact on her. She just hoped that Rory was strong enough now to push through and not let it affect her life.

"Tell me about it. I saw him last night" She bit her lip nervously.

"You did? How did that go?"

"As awkward and unpleasant as you might imagine." Rory half-joked. "We said our polite hellos, I met his girlfriend, he met my husband. It was suitably uncomfortable."

Lorelai paused while she contemplated asking the next question. In the end, she just decided to go for it figuring there was no other way to ask what she wanted to know. "Did you feel anything for him?"

Rory gasped. "What? No! Of course not, that ship sailed a long time ago. It's not even a dot on the horizon anymore. I can't believe you even asked that it's been five years mom!"

"Jeez, just asking." Lorelai thought that they lady doth protest too much but she wasn't going to push the issue now. "Well that's good right, I mean, that will make things a bit easier at work, presuming you'll have to work together at some point."

"God, I hope so, I hadn't really thought about that too much" Rory groaned as she threw herself down on the sofa and wondered just how she was going to cope with seeing Logan every day.