a/n: okie dokie, soooo it's one day earlier than you all expected! haha am i fantastic or what? im just kidding, not that conceited, lol. well i was home sick today yuck so i had time to spit out another chapter fairly fast. okie dokie well it's not my best, i'll admit it, and its a little jumpy, and there is a little bit of a surprise in there for you guys! yay! and i'm going to warn you now, not too much happening in this chapter, more of a filler. okie dokie well here it goes...

Disclaimer: i don't own gg, im sadd, and unfortunately, neither does amy sherman palladino anymore, i think i'll go have myself a good cry.


"I can't believe it! Grrr, oh my gosh I can not believe it!" Rory screamed in frustrated disbelief as she stomped her way into her house. The rest of her day had been equally as bad as her first period.

"Can't believe what?" She heard Lorelai call from the kitchen where she was sitting at the table dipping a cookie in her milk.

"Group project for English."

"Great! You love projects!" Lorelai exclaimed, it taking her a moment to realize there was more, "But you're not smiling my dear."

"You'll never guess who's in my group!" Rory said sarcastically.

"Who?"

"Logan."

"Huntzberger? Ew." Lorelai twisted her pretty features into a look of disgust.

Rory helped herself to a cookie, replicating her mother's look, and took a bite out of it before placing her head face down on the table and slightly bouncing it against the wood surface. "Exactly."

"Is it just the two of you?"

"No, Paris is in our group which isn't too bad but then again there are Finn and Colin who are Logan's cohorts."

"Well, first of all, stop hitting your head against the table, your killing all of your smarty-pants brain cells," Lorelai said, gently lifting her daughter's head from the table, "and second, I promise you that this will be okay, it's only one project and there are so many of you that I doubt you will actually have to talk too much."

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Of course I am!" Lorelai exclaimed happily, closing the cookie box and standing up, "Now do your homework so we can go get food."

"Mmmkay." Rory mumbled, also standing up from the table and walking into her room to start her homework.


After dropping Colin off at his house after school, Logan and Finn drove down the streets of Hartford towards Finn's home.

"So mate, what are you going to do about this group project?" Finn asked interestedly, fiddling with the dials on the radio to find a good song.

"What do you mean what am I going to do?"

"Are you going to make a move?"

"What do you think?" Logan asked, looking at Finn with his smirk.

"Of course, how could I have been so stupid?" Finn laughed, leaning back into the car's seat, "You're whipped." He said, keeping his eyes straight ahead of him.

"What?" Logan asked, turning his head and looking directly at Finn, who refused to meet his glare.

"You heard me mate, you've got it really bad for Gilmore."

"Maybe I do like her, but I am most definitely not whipped." Logan stated defiantly, shuddering at the mere thought of being tied down to anyone in a long term relationship.

"Whatever you say." Finn said, putting both hands up at the sides of his head in surrender.

"Now get out of my car." Logan laughed as they pulled up to the Rothschild mansion.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, more of that wonderful English project!" Finn screamed with mock enthusiasm as he slammed the car door shut and watched Logan drive away.

When Logan got home, he parked his car in the garage and let himself in the house. Honor sat at the kitchen island, hovering over whatever subject she was currently taking at Yale. "Hey little brother!" She called, causing Logan to divert from his original path towards his bedroom to the kitchen.

"Hey Honor."

"How was school?"

"It was school."

"Good point," she looked up for a moment and smiled at him, "Anything special happen?"

Logan considered whether or not to tell his sister about Rory. She was a girl and would probably be able to happen, and they were really close, "Actually, I need some advice."

"You? Asking me for advice?"

"Honor, don't mock, I really do."

"Okay, sorry Logan, shoot." She gave full permission for him to tell his story.

"Well, it's a girl."

"A girl? Since when do you have girl trouble?"

"I don't!" He began to defend himself, "Well, I didn't, until now." He admitted.

"So what's her name?"

"Rory."

"As in Rory Gilmore? Oh my gosh if mom knew that you and Rory were together she would have a cow! You know how happy this would make her?" Honor began to go off on a tangent, letting her thoughts wander and forgetting about the problem at hand.

"Honor! Please!" He brought her back to earth.

"Right. Sorry. So, Rory Gilmore?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure, I think I like her." He paused for a second to choose his words carefully, "but I'm not sure, because in case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty much commitment-phobic."

"You don't need to tell me that twice."

"Well, she hates me, just a series of bad coincidences and she thinks I'm too cocky and rich and I asked her out, but she just keeps saying no."

"Wow." Honor put down her pencil and turned her stool to face Logan, "Well, you want to know what I think?"

"A little insight might be good."

"I think you need to give her some space, let her think. Try to be her friend, and then maybe later things will work out between you two."

"Okay, thanks Honor." Logan smiled at his older sister and stood up from the counter.

"No problem Logan, keep me updated!" She called after him, picking up her pencil and getting back to work.

'Maybe Honor is right. Maybe I do need to tone it down a little, try and be her friend.' Logan thought to himself as he closed his bedroom door and flopped down on his bed, staring up at the plastic glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling that he had become permanently fixated there when he decided to put them up in kindergarten. This was a strange afternoon.


"Good morning Rory." Rory heard a voice from behind her say, turning around to see Logan standing before her with a large paper cup of coffee.

"Rory? Back to calling me by my name?" She laughed sarcastically, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee and wondering why Logan was suddenly deciding to play nice.

"Only on certain occasions, I'm trying to get on your good side." Logan laughed as he watched her literally down half her cup in a matter of seconds.

"Interesting." She laughed throwing away the empty cup and entering their English classroom.

The group of five worked on their project some more during class that day and planned to meet at Logan's after school tomorrow to work on it some more. Rory and he had surprisingly gotten along very well and the bickering was minimal.

"Rory? What was that all about?" Paris demanded to know as she caught up with Rory after class.

"What was what all about?" She asked back innocently.

"You and Huntzberger, getting along? Since when?"

"Oh, I'm not sure, he decided to show up at my locker this morning with coffee, who was I to turn him down?"

"You've got me." Paris laughed, "You like him?"

"God no!" Rory exclaimed, "I still pretty much hate the guy, one day of him being nice and calling me by my actual name is not going to change that."

"So Huntz wants to be your friend?" Paris smiled amusedly.

"Maybe." Rory laughed at the possibility, walking into her next class just before the bell rang.


"Logan?" Finn called, dodging the people in the hallway to keep up with his friend.

"What Finn?" Logan said back impatiently.

"What was that all about?" He demanded, but knowing exactly what it was all about.

"I've decided that if we're working together, we should at least be civil."

"Interesting concept Huntz." Finn rolled his eyes, following his friend to their next class.


Later that afternoon, Logan slipped into class a couple of seconds after the bell rang, luckily going unnoticed by the teacher.

"Miss me Ace?" He asked, leaning over Rory's right shoulder and whispering in her ear.

"Oh Logan, and I thought we were going to be getting along so well and here you are, back with the nicknames!" She remarked sarcastically, looking down at her notes.

"Still hate me?" He asked, laughing at her antics.

"Never hate, only dislike and yes, one cup of coffee and you saying my real name once does not make us pals mister."

Logan just laughed and sat back in his chair, "Have you ever wondered why I chose that particular title for you?"

"Honestly? No. and I'm not so sure that I really care to know." Rory rummaged through her pencil case searching for her pen and upon finding it, uncapped it and began to scribble important information in the margins of her book.

"Well I'm going to tell you." Logan continued, leaning back over her shoulder, "because every moment that I have seen you since I can remember, you are always asking questions, taking interest in the things around you, and you have the best notes I have ever seen. And Ace, you are a damn good reporter. An ace reporter."

Rory paused in her writing for a moment, not looking up from her paper but processing what Logan had just said.

"Yes Rory, I did just give you a compliment." He said, smirking when he noticed her stopping.

Being given a compliment from Logan Huntzberger would normally not be that big of a deal, but this time, he sounded sincere and Rory noticed that. She turned her head over her shoulder and looked at him, still not saying anything.

"And yes, I did mean it." He smiled, pointing to the front of the class room so she would turn around and leaning back in his seat once more.

Rory turned back around and smiled to herself, she may not like the guy, but he sure did have his ways.


"Coffee, coffee, coffee!" Rory cried, walking into Luke's after school, where she was meeting her mother, "and a muffin! Please!" she added as an afterthought, smiling at Luke and climbing up on a bar stool next to Lorelai.

"That's my daughter!" Lorelai smiled proudly, passing her daughter the plate with the muffin that Luke had just set out, along with her mug of coffee.

"One day, all this caffeine is going to kill you." Luke grunted as he walked back into the kitchen.

"How was hell?" Lorelai asked, looking at her daughter sip her coffee.

"A little warm." Rory smiled, pulling off a piece of her muffin and putting it in her mouth.

Lorelai laughed at stole a piece of the muffin, earning a swat at her hand from her daughter.

"Any more group project stuff?"

"Yeah, we got a lot done and Logan was civil. He actually paid me a compliment today." She laughed as she said the last part.

"Wow. You sure are covering some fast ground with this kid."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rory looked at her mother accusingly.

"I mean that, for two people who claim to hate each other, you seem to be getting along quite well." Lorelai looked back, raising her eyebrows.

"Mom! Don't even think that way! You know how I feel about him!" She said, defending herself.

"Okay! Fine!" Lorelai said, surrendering, "But don't act surprised later!"

Rory just rolled her eyes and finished her muffin, forgetting about Logan and their project momentarily.


"He called you by your name?" Lane asked, amazed, as her best friend caught her up on the day's events over the phone.

"Yes, but then he went right back to calling me Ace, but at least he gave me an explanation as to why." Rory laughed, struggling to cradle the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she ate a piece of pizza.

"Which was…" Lane prompted, eager for more.

"He thinks I'm a good reporter or something like that." Rory replied with her mouth full.

"Wow." Lane said, in awe.

"Now can we please stop discussing my life? I'm getting bored of it."

"Oh please Ror! I have no social life! The least you can do is let me feed off of yours!"

Rory just laughed and told her friend that she had to go, hanging up the phone and finishing off her pizza. She stood up and walked into the living room where her mom was sitting with her books for the inn.

"Lots of paperwork?" She asked, plopping down on the couch next to her.

"Not too much, I just procrastinated at work and didn't get it done." Lorelai explained, closing the folder.

Just then there was a knock at the door and Rory stood up to go answer it.

"Who is it?" She called, walking into the foyer.

"Open the door and find out!" A familiar voice called from the other side of the door.

"Dad!" Rory called out as she pulled open the door and threw her arms around her father's neck.

"Hey kiddo!" Her father replied, hugging her back, "Hey Lore," he said over his daughter's shoulder.

"Hey Chris." Lorelai smiled and pulled Christopher into a friendly hug.

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked excitedly, clapping her hands together in child-like glee.

"Well I was just in the neighborhood—,"

"The neighborhood? Chris, you live in freakin California!" Lorelai interrupted, smiling at him.

"What? A guy can't make an unplanned trip to see his favorite Gilmore girls?" He smirked and put an arm around his daughter, "But I have no idea where I'm going to stay," He began, but couldn't finish his sentence before Rory stepped away from him to go get blankets for the couch.

"Don't be silly Dad! You can sleep on the couch!" She called from the hall closet, where she was stacking thick blankets high on her arms.

"You sure about that Lore," He said to Lorelai, searching for her approval.

"Yeah, of course Chris!" Lorelai said, following her daughter to go help put the blankets down on their couch for Chris.

Rory went to bed that night extremely happy, her dad was in town and she hadn't seen him in a really long time. She knew that her parents feelings for each other used to be very strange but they were now nothing but platonic. She smiled to herself as she turned over to her side and drifted off to sleep.


"So, what brought you back?" Lorelai asked Chris from her place on the arm chair next to the couch.

"To Stars Hallow? I missed my kid. And I missed you, I'm tired of not being part of your guys' lives, you both mean a lot to me and I made some huge mistakes choosing not to be there for you, and I want you to know that I am now, one-hundred percent." He smiled at Lorelai and pat the place on the couch next to him, "Come sit."

Lorelai stood up and sat back down next to Chris, grabbing the remote off the coffee table as she sat. She flipped on the TV and scrolled through the channels with his arm around her shoulders comfortably. She found an old movie playing and set her head on his shoulder, settling into the couch. By the next commercial break, Chris looked down to see Lorelai asleep on his shoulder. Smiling to himself, he reached over and turned off the lamp, falling asleep as well.


Christopher dropped Rory off at school the next day, wanting to see where she was being educated. "So this is Chilton?" He asked her, looking up at the tall stone towers.

"Yep." She replied, following his gaze up to the gargoyles.

"It looks so—,"

"Off with their heads?" She cut him off.

"Exactly."

"That's what mom said." She laughed, smiling at her dad. She climbed out of his white Volvo and slammed the door shut, peering through the open window.

"See you after school dad!" She smiled and turned to walk into the building.

Logan watched from afar as Rory got out of a small white car and said good bye to the man inside. Curious, he stepped forward to try and get a closer look, causing him to trip over a trashcan and fall into the bushes.


"Woah!" He called out, startled, and grabbing at the window sill to pull himself back up.

"All right there mate?" He heard Finn's voice called, sticking a hand into the bushes and grabbing Logan's.

"Thanks man." Logan said, slightly embarrassed, as he allowed Finn to pull him up. He wiped his palms on the side of his pants and casually glanced over at Rory, who was now walking away from the car that was slowly pulling away.

"That's her dad." Finn said, as if reading his mind.

"What?"

"The man? That Rory was talking to? Her father." Finn said, looking at his friend.

"That is not what I was wondering." Logan answered defiantly, still trying to subtly glance over in Rory's direction.

"That's bull mate." Finn said to Logan, laughing and turning to walk away, "And you know it too."

Logan stood for a second, staring dumbly ahead of him and thinking of what Finn had just said and then tried to jog and keep up with him, "Wait, what?" He asked, walking next to his friend.

"You were jealous."

"I was not!"

"Logan, I saw the way you were looking at them, and the not paying attention to where you were going? You only do that when you're distracted." Finn reasoned.

"Finn, I was not distracted! I wasn't even looking at Rory!" Logan fought back, not wanting to believe what his best friend already knew.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Colin asked, approaching the two.

"We're arguing over Logan's interest in Rory." Finn supplied, looking at him with a small smile playing across his lips.

"Oh man, you are so obsessed with her." Colin said, laughing and nudging his friend in the arm.

"I am not!" Logan said once more, getting annoyed with his friends.

"Logan, look at yourself! You haven't hooked up with anyone in over two weeks, you're always 'casually glancing' about the school, but we both know that you're looking for Rory, this is not your typical self mate! You like her, a lot!" Finn exclaimed rather loudly.

"Keep it down man," Logan began, "alright, I know I like her but I'm not obsessed! Just watch, I can check out other girls!" Logan turned and winked at the first girl he saw, who giggled and let out a shy "Hey Logan!"

"Winking at one girl is not hooking up man, you always flirt, that's just who you are, hell mate, you flirt with me!" Finn laughed, "Now that you say that I agree." Colin laughed as well, winking at Logan.

"Shut up guys." Logan walked away and went to his locker, Colin and Finn were both right, he did like Rory, a lot more than he was letting on, but he wasn't ready to tell anyone, let alone let himself believe it.

He walked into the English class that he shared with Rory, early for once, and sat down in his usual seat. When Rory arrived, he sat nonchalantly, pretending not to notice her entrance. She sat down in front of him and pulled out her novel and began to read.

"Good morning Ace." He whispered over her shoulder.

She turned around, her blue eyes still fixed on the page of her book as she doggie eared the page and shut it, turning her eyes to Logan.

"God! Logan! Why are you so damn close!" She cried, not realizing how close he had leaned into her.

"Why, do you mind?" He said, leaning in even further so his nose was mere millimeters away from hers.

Just then Colin and Finn entered the classroom with Paris not at all far behind, "Rory!" she said, walking over to where Rory was sitting and taking the desk next to her, "We need to figure out what we're doing for this project!"

Rory pulled back from Logan and turned her attention to Paris, "We all agreed that we're going to Logan's tonight." Rory explained, slightly confused.

"Yeah, but you and I both know that the three stooges won't let us get much done, and especially if you and Logan decide to finish what you were just starting." Paris threw Logan a disapproving look and pulled her book out of her backpack.

"Wha—, me? Logan? What were we starting?" Rory stuttered, knowing exactly what Paris was referring to.

"You know what Gilmore." Paris smiled and turned to face the front of the classroom.

"Paris, I was not starting anything, he leaned into me and you walked in before I had a chance to back up on my own." Rory whispered when Mrs. Johnson's back was turned to the class.

"Mmhmm." Paris hummed sarcastically.

Rory sat back in her seat, defeated. Absolutely nothing was going on with her and Logan. She still didn't like the guy the least bit, and sure, he'd been nice recently, but that didn't make up for the past twelve years.


"Ror! What time are you going to Logan's tonight?" Lorelai called to her daughter that afternoon when Rory got home.

"Umm, we all agreed to meet there at six-thirty!" Rory called back, getting her project stuff together for that evening.

"Do you need a ride?" Lorelai asked, walking into Rory's bedroom, "Woah, what tornado hit this room?" She asked, slightly shocked.

"Sorry, I lost my book, and then I had to find it, then I lost my phone, and had to find it, then I couldn't find my shoes, which required more looking." Rory explained exasperatedly as she flopped backwards onto her bed. "Feels good to lie down." She murmured to herself. "Yeah, I could use a ride, I'm not in the mood for driving tonight."

"Okay, your grandparents heard that Chris was in town so I'm going into Hartford anyway, they want to enjoy a 'nice family dinner'." Lorelai said sarcastically, using air quotes to emphasize the family dinner.

"The last time you guys all had a family dinner it ended in a shouting match!" Rory exclaimed, sitting up straight.

"I know," her mom said, sitting on the bed next to her, "Richard and Emily are scheming and I know it!"

Rory laughed and stood up tossing her remaining things into her tote bag and swinging it over her shoulder. "Ready?" She asked Lorelai, giving her mom her hand and pulling her up.

"Chris! Lets go!" Lorelai called upstairs.

The three climbed in the car and drove the forty-five minute drive to Hartford with very little traffic. When they pulled up to Logan's house they sat in the driveway for a good five minutes just staring at the house.

"Woah." Lorelai uttered, turning her head to the side.

"Uh-huh." Christopher echoed.

"And we thought Grandma and Grandpa's house was big." Rory completed. "Well I guess this is the part where I get out and wave goodbye." Rory shrugged, climbing out of the Jeep's backseat and stepping onto the concrete driveway.

"Have fun!" Lorelai said sarcastically, waving at her daughter and driving away when she saw that she made it to the front door safely.

Rory rang the doorbell and heard it echo throughout the house. She stood waiting, tapping her toe and readjusting her bag on her shoulder. The door swung open revealing Logan and a huge marble foyer.

"Oh my God." She said to herself, staring dumbfounded at the room before her.

"Impressed?" Logan smirked, shutting the door behind her.

"Slightly." She managed to squeak out.

"Finn and Colin are in the kitchen, Paris isn't here yet." Logan said as he led the way through the living room and into the kitchen.

"Woah! Is that a Velasquez?" Rory asked, her jaw dropping open in awe.

"I believe it is." Logan replied, smiling at her excitement.

"Oh my goodness, where have I just walked into?" She asked herself, following Logan into the kitchen.

"Well, they call it the china palace." Logan said, pointing to Colin and Finn.

Rory smiled and approached the boys, sliding onto one of the kitchen's oak bar stools and placing her bag on top of the counter. Just then her phone began to vibrate, signaling an incoming call, the caller ID panel advertised that Paris was calling.

"Hello?" Rory asked, holding the phone up to her ear.

"Rory, I'm not going to be able to make it." Paris said quietly.

"Why? What's the matter?"

"Jaime just broke up with me." She said, softly sniffling.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Don't worry about coming we'll work on it and catch you up tomorrow, if you want, I'll pick you up after and we'll do some hard core wallowing." Rory smiled sadly, feeling bad for her, and after agreeing to the wallowing session, she hung up the phone and turned to the boys. "Okay guys, Paris can't make it, her boyfriend broke up with her, so it's just us."

"Oh?" Finn asked, turning and looking at Colin, "Well then, I just remembered, uh-, Colin and I uh- have to go to the dentist!" He exclaimed triumphantly, putting both hands on his hips.

"We do?" Colin asked, confused.

"Yes we do." Finn replied firmly, through gritted teeth.

"Right! We do. We'd better be going." Colin finished, walking right for the front door with Finn closely following.

"Have fun you two! Get lots done!" Finn called with a wink as he closed the door behind him.

"Okay then Ace, I guess it's just the two of us." Logan said, smirking.

'Crap.' Rory thought to herself, 'How am I going to get out of this one?'


a/n: yay! another chapter done! okay sooo were you guys surprised about Chris? haha well don't worry if you didn't like it, i'm not really much of a balconybuddy fan, i absolutely looove javajunkie fics so it will most likely end up that way, but not with out a little drama, mwahahaha evil laugh...lol okay well i hope you all enjoyed it and expect another chapter around next thursday, and thanks for all the reviews! leave another if you please!