AN: Thank you for all of the kind reviews. This may be a filler chapter, but I needed it to get them to where I need the story to go. Please enjoy. :-)

"I gotta say, when I told the guys at the office I was taking the weekend off to play tourist, this wasn't exactly what I was expecting."

"What do you mean? I've taken you to very important cultural landmarks in our nation's Capitol. Places that make us a better country just because of their existence! God bless America. You should be grateful."

He dipped his finger in the mountain of buttercream icing that topped the covered the cupcake in his hand and tipped it on Rory's nose. "I'm not sure the Sprinkles Cupcakes store qualifies as a cultural landmark, Ace."

"Hey! You are wasting perfectly good icing, bud." As she wiped off her nose, she began to clarify. "And Sprinkles might not be a cultural icon, but Georgetown Cupcakes is. Which did you like better, their Pumpkin Spice or their Peanut Butter Fudge? I've got to mark it on the list. Oh, and we can't forget about The Cupcakery. Did you taste the Red Velvet yet?"

She sat on the park bench, checking off the list of cupcake places they had visited that morning. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for his visit. The leaves were still had a vibrant autumnal glow, and the sun was warm and gorgeous. It was a perfect weekend for him to visit her.

Immediately after her code phrase delivery, Logan informed Rory that he was clearing his schedule and coming to D.C. that weekend. He wanted the Rory Gilmore style tour of the District of Columbia, he told her, and he was flying in on Friday morning.

She'd waited for him at the gate with all of the other car service and limousine drivers, holding a sign that read, "Gilmore D.C. Tour Group" and wearing a newspaper boy style limousine cap. He had run to her the moment he saw her and scooped her up into his arms, giving her a twirl and kissing her, in front of God and the drivers and everyone. She'd even heard a whistle from someone in the crowd, but they were both so captivated with each other that they might as well been the only two at the airport.

She'd told him that she had planned a busy itinerary for them, and he had wrongly assumed she meant a tour of some monuments and maybe a museum or two. But so far, in the two hours since his plane had landed, they had visited four cupcakes shops and currently possessed a collection of 2 dozen cupcakes that she was bound and determined he would taste test.

"I'm going with the Cinnamon Sugar from Georgetown. But unless you want your weekend to be spent nursing me out of my sugar coma at the hospital, I think I'm going to be cupcake free for a few more hours."

"You never would have survived the D.C. Cupcake Fad of 2012."

"A cupcake fad?"

"Oh, yes." She began explaining with a faux sincerity. "It was quite the political scandal. Cupcakes are all the rage in major cities, but no more so than right here, in the heart of American democracy. Everyone had to pick which cupcake store they liked best! And if you chose wrong, your friends might ostracize you. It was a very grave debate. Blood was shed, relationships ruined. Some have even compared it to Alabamians picking sides over their collegiate football teams. So I decided to like them all so I could remain neutral in the fight. I am a journalist after all. Neutrality is my gift."

He sat there amused, "Well I'm certainly glad you survived the battle. It sounds brutal. So cupcakes were a thing two years ago, but not now? What's all rage in the baked goods territory these days?"

"Gluten free cake pops, duh."

He laughed. "My bad. So what else is on our agenda for today?"

She pulled a list out of her bag, "I really want our first stop to be the Library of Congress. Did you know that there are over 23 million books cataloged there? The main building is the Thomas Jefferson, but John Adams and James Madison have their own spots as well. A little friendly rivalry even after their deaths, wouldn't you know? Dead guys competing for the books. And then, I thought we could go to see the Supreme Court building. I've arranged for one of my friends that's an aide for Justice Sotomayor to let us have a little tour. And then, I thought we'd go to the Smithsonian National History museum cause boys like dinosaurs and…."

She was silenced by Logan leaning towards her on the park bench and kissing her gently. "That was to shut me up wasn't it?"

"Never. I love it when you ramble on and on." He smiled "And on and on."

"I'm just so excited that you're here, Logan. So excited." She moved the cupcakes that sat between them and slid closer to him. Wrapping her hands around his neck, she hugged him tightly. "This time last week, I would have said that there was a better chance of Miley Cyrus returning to the Disney Channel than of you being in D.C. with me today."

"Well thank goodness for that because young children need to be shielded from the twerking."

"How did you manage to take off on a Friday? That seems like it would be a heavy duty marketing day your world."

"I told my assistant that I had a very important, very top secret meeting with an author about to publish a big time book, and I needed to have the full day to devote to impressing her so she'd give us her business."

"Smooth, Huntzberger. And he bought it?"

"Oh, Mark doesn't care. He's a kid out of college who's still intimated by working in the industry. He's not going to question what I do."

"That's better than your assistant that never told you I'd called in 2009."

"You are correct. Five years is a long time to wait for a delivered missed call memo." He paused. "Plus, my assistant back then was probably a little bit bitter."

"Why's that? Did you screw her or something?" The sheepish look on his face gave her the answer. "Well, no wonder. Note to self: don't leave messages with Logan's assistants. Wait, Mark doesn't have a crush on, you does he?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I know we promised we'd have this conversation later, but that's why I didn't call you back. Shannon and I had a thing. An innocent, nothing happened, inappropriate workplace thing. And she must have seen your name on my phone and decided not to give me the message."

"You're assistant knew about me?"

He held her hand and looked straight at her. "All of my assistants have all known about you. They are all given the explicit instruction on their first day that if they ever got a call from a Rory Gilmore that they were to get me immediately, no matter what I was working on."

"Wow." Still processing that heavy piece of information, she turned the mood lighter. "I guess I'm the emotional equivalent of a stray cat to you. I stick around for awhile and I'm hard to get rid of."

He burst out in laughter. "Oh God. That's horrible."

"It seems true though. And this" she pointed back and forth between them, "Our being together isn't breaking up a relationship now, is it? The very last thing I want is to be a home wrecker. Been there, done that. Bought the t-shirt."

He kissed her cheek. "No, Ace. There's no one else back home. I haven't had a serious relationship in 7 years."

"7 years? But that was with me!"

"It's good to see that journalism hasn't hampered your ability to do simple math."

"Logan, I couldn't have been your last girlfriend. I Googled you this week. US Weekly has several pictures of you walking the red carpet recently with Ibiza Frenchelle, the Victoria's Secret model back in April."

"Yes, and the scoop US Weekly is missing that Ibiza and her life partner are trying to market a reality show on Bravo and they thought getting her on the red carpet might help with some media exposure when she decides to step out of the closet and into the camera lights. I did a couple of favors for my friend who is her publicist."

"Oh."

"I haven't dated anyone seriously since you, Rory."

Relieved, she quickly changed the subject by brushing the cupcake crumbs off her lap. She stood up, grabbed his hand, and said, "Enough of the serious. We have books to visit."

"But you're a boy! Boys are supposed to like dinosaurs!"

"What can I say, Ace? I was always a Transformers kind of kid."

She flopped on her couch, exhausted. They had spent the entire day visiting all the stops on her itinerary. When she asked him what his favorite stop was, and his answer wasn't the Natural History museum, she was shocked.

"Well, what was it then? Was it the books? Cause you didn't seem so impressed with the books?"

"I had to remain unimpressed to keep you from getting so excited that you smelled the books. I didn't want people to stare." He sat down beside her, opening the Chinese take out they had ordered from Ming Foo's down the street. They had decided to stay in on his first night there so she could share the joys of her favorite takeout restaurant.

She couldn't help but pout. "Well, I'm taking you to the Air and Space Museum tomorrow. And I got us a private tour. So if you aren't impressed, you better at least pretend." She stole some of his fried rice. "My house. I can steal your food if I want to.

"You have some really nice digs here. How long have you lived in this building?"

"Moved in right after the campaign in 2009. It's so close to the campus that it feels collegiate. Helps me stay young."

"Like you are so old."

"I am. I'm in my 30's now, you know."

"Where's your cane? And your cold cream?"

"Logan!"

"You better be careful there, Grandma. Those chopsticks might not work in your shaky hands."

"Ok, I get it! 30 is not old. It just feels old sometimes."

"Yeah, but you are only as old as you feel. Am I going to have to start calling you GrandAce soon?"

She smiled, "I suppose I'm being a smidge theatrical. But only a smidge. Besides, you'll always be older than me."

"True." He took a bite of his lo mein. "So, I told you about Shannon and Ibiza. When do I get to pick your brain about what you've been up to during the lost years?"

She picked up the itinerary on the coffee table. "Let me look. Oh yes, I have that scheduled under "3 years from today."

"Rory—"

"Ok, ok. I dated. Some. A few set-ups by Paris and Doyle and the brother of a girl in my book club. But nothing lasted longer than a few months, 3 tops."

She smirked at her. "Wait, you mean you never hooked up with Jess? I would have bet money you dated once I'd left for California."

She flapped him on the shoulder. "I knew you were always jealous of him! "

"Not jealous. Just not oblivious."

"Well, you couldn't have been more wrong. When my mom and Luke got married, Jess became her nephew. And he was my step-sister's cousin. And my step-cousin. And it just became really weird that I'd even dated him in the past, much less something I'd consider for my future. Besides, dating your cousin is so two centuries ago."

"What's he up to now?"

"He's an editor, for Freedom House Publishing. He's in Philadelphia, actually. He got married last spring. Her name's Liza. She's sweet."

"Well, happy for him."

"Yes, happy for him."

They ate their Chinese food in easy silence for a few seconds. "Logan, do you ever think about where we'd be now, if we'd gotten married back then?"

"I'd probably have my man card revoked if I admitted how much those thoughts run through my mind. Especially in the past week."

"And?"

"And…..for a long time, I hated the words 'wide open future' because you thought being with me limited your potential. " She opened her mouth to interject, but he continued on. "But after a few years, I understood what you meant. The timing was bad, and you weren't ready. Truthfully, neither was I."

She put down her chopsticks and held his hand. "I don't regret my life now. But I wish we'd had more time together back then to see what would have happened. But then I keep going back and forth on where I'd be if that had happened. Who knows?"

He shook his head and scooted closer to her. "Exactly. Who knows? This is the last time we talk about this. The past is the past. I don't regret my life, especially now that you are back in it. Do you regret yours?"

"No."

"Ok, so we're starting fresh right now, Ace. New beginnings."

She'd heard those words before. Déjà vu ran down her back and a tingle up her arms. He'd said almost the exact same words to her the day she'd gone into his dorm back in her sophomore years and told him she was a girlfriend girl.

She put her feet up on the couch and laid her head on his shoulder. "So, does that mean I'm your girlfriend again?"

He laughed, "I guess. Do I need to officially ask you to go steady?"

"That's how they do it on 'Saved By The Bell.'"

"So I'm Zack and you're Kelly."

She ran her fingers through his blond hair. "Hey, our hair colors match theirs."

"Well, unless you have Bayside cheerleading uniform in your closet, how about if we just be Rory and Logan?"

"I'm down with that."

He began kissing her, sweetly at first, but with every kiss becoming more and more fervent. Each kiss lasted longer than the one before, and she felt so safe and guarded as his hands protectively and gently rubbed her back.

"Hey, Logan. I still haven't showed you the whole apartment."

Distracted, he continued kissing her neck. "I've seen what I needed to see, Ace."

"No, Logan, You still haven't seen my bedroom."

He paused. "Bedroom?"

"It's wonderfully decorated. And I have a fantastic mattress."

Ignoring her sly innuendo, he looked at her face. "Are you sure, Rory? Once we go there, we can't really undo any of this."

"That's precisely how I want it. Now, let me finish my house tour." With that she stood up from the couch, grabbed his hand and showed him the rest of her apartment.

As they lay in her bed together, she looked out at the sun setting on the park outside her window. Her thoughts floated back to last Sunday when she'd sat at her desk and wondered what life would be like if Logan was here with her. And now, here she was, closer with him than she'd been in years.

"You happy, Ace?"

"Completely. Who knew that 'Saved By the Bell' would be such an aphrodisiac?"

"Thank you, Mark Paul Gosselaar."

"And Tiffani-Amber Thiessen. Or is it just Tiffani Thiessen, now? I can't keep up."

He rolled beside her and kissed her forehead. "I can't think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be right now, than right here with you talking about TNBC."

"Me too. So I suppose we're going steady now?"

"Suppose so, Ace." He smiled at her. "Confession, though. I feel a little juvenile at the thought of calling you my 'girlfriend', though."

"Now who's talking about being old!" She smiled as she continued. "'Boyfriend' feels so weird too. It just seems so teenage angst filled. And you're more than that."

He slowly traced her arm. "Aww. I think you do like me."

"Stop. What if we don't label it? And if we go to a party and I have to introduce you, I'll just say, "This is my very special friend, Logan Huntzberger."

With a smirk, he winked at her, "I'm good with that as long as you don't call me buddy again."

"Deal."

"Hey, Ace, I have an idea."

"Oh, no. I'm not doing another on air shout out. Jon ribbed me for days about all the flourishes I put around my Russian piece."

Logan sat up in bed. "Thanksgiving is next week, right? I assume you're going home to Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah, Mom always does a dinner with Sookie and her friends in town at the Dragonfly."

"Let me come with you."

"Whoa, Logan." Rory sat up beside him. "That's a pretty bold. Even for you."

"I'm serious. I usually spend Thanksgiving huddled in my apartment catching up on old episode of some horrible AMC TV show I've DVR'd . Last year, I ate leftover pizza while watching a few hundred zombies take over Atlanta."

"That's depressing."

"Yes, and this year, I have you back in my life and I want to shout from the rooftops that the biggest regret of my life has some how turned out to be the thing I'm thankful for most." He put his hand on her leg. "And besides, I want to go to dinner and say to a complete stranger that the girl beside me is "my most special friend, Rory Gilmore." He kissed the tip of her nose.

She hesitated for a few seconds. "Well, I guess that could work. Mom and Luke and William will be there. So will a bunch of other people. Are you sure?"

"Do you mind if I come?"

"Not, Logan. I think it's great. I'm just surprised." She paused. "This'll get April to come."

"Huh?"

"April wasn't sure if she was going to go to her mom's in New Mexico or if she was going to come to Stars Hollow with us. I think she was leaning towards the desert, but knowing your coming will definitely put a plus on the Stars Hollow side."

"See, I'm just doing my part for the family."

"I'll tell Mom that that's your hostess gift."

She snuggled closer in the crook of his arm. "Hey, Logan, you know what would make this moment even more perfect?"

"Don't say it, I'll be right back." He kissed her forehead one last time, and got out of bed. She watched as he walked barefoot into the kitchen, returning with a box of uneaten cupcakes of various flavors.

"Cupcakes in bed, Ace. The only way to end a D.C. day. But I get the last Pumpkin Spice."

"That's the best one! You'll have to work at convincing me to just give you that one."

"Aw, Ace. You know how I feel about you working blue." And he met her blissfully happy face with yet another kiss.