Author's Note: I'm back with the next chapter! Yeah.. it's about a week later than I'd hoped, but well... it was a rough week at a new job and real life decided not to cooperate until this weekend. So here I am... and I do hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you again, for all of the amazing feedback I've gotten so far - keep it coming!

Also, I have to give credit where credit is due - the general idea of this chapter was inspired by an episode of One Tree Hill.

Enjoy!

Chapter Three - Santa Baby

Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa baby so hurry down the chimney tonight ~Eartha Kitt

"Aww, a first date? That's so freaking adorable. She's good." Honor carried her phone into the living room and gave a thumbs up to Josh who just shook his head and turned back to the newspaper he was reading. "Oh but Logan, you can't take her out tomorrow night!"

"What do you mean? I have to. I already asked her." Logan glared into the phone. "And she's about three steps from bailing on the whole thing so I'm not going to do something stupid like postpone it now."

"Calm down, would you? I'm not telling you to postpone it. Look, Logan, she wants to do things right this time, and I don't want you to screw it up."

"Believe it or not Honor, I do know how to date. Especially this girl."

"Yeah, and look how well it turned out the last time!" She sighed. "Sorry, that was out of line. Just hear me out, okay?" She paused and when he didn't argue, she smiled. "What you're going to do is take her on a day date. Just trust me, I'll take care of all of the details. All you'll have to do is show up."

"And if she doesn't show up? If she's got something going on during the day tomorrow?"

"What could she possibly have going on?"

"Work, maybe?"

"Huh." Honor paused on the other end of the line. "Is she working right now? In Stars Hollow?"

He sighed. "I'm not sure," he admitted.

"It doesn't matter," Honor carried on. "She'll be there. Just leave it to me."

They were dangerous words coming from his sister but he knew better than to argue with her. "I'm trusting you, Honor," he warned.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She was already flipping through the Connecticut phone book she kept in her desk. "Just be there to pick her up at one-thirty, okay?"

"One-thirty," he repeated. He sighed. "Thanks Honor."

"Oh don't thank me yet. Just remember to toast me at the wedding. Good-night, Logan." She hung up the phone and found the number she was looking for. She picked up the phone again and dialed.

"Mr. Danes?" she said brightly when the other end picked up. "Hi. You don't know me, but I know of you, and I need your help with something tomorrow."

December 15th, 2009

You are cordially invited to join Logan Huntzberger for lunch at one-thirty this afternoon. If you are accepting this invitation, please meet Mr. Huntzberger at the gazebo in the town square of Stars Hollow. Please bring with you the wrapped gift that is enclosed in this package. Do not open the gift until instructed to do so! Upon your arrival at the gazebo, you and Mr. Huntzberger will be given the option of continuing on with this date, or going your separate ways. If you agree to continue, and I do hope this is your choice, there will be another envelope, identical to the one this invitation was in, and directions will be provided to your first destination. Enjoy!

"Crap!" Rory cried as she tossed the invitation down on the table and looked at her watch. It was already noon and she was still in her pajamas. "When did this get here?" she called into the kitchen where Lorelai was making another pot of coffee.

"Not sure," Lorelai called back. "Luke dropped it off about an hour ago maybe?"

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Um yeah. I did tell you. You were sleeping and said okay, and then rolled back over to go to bed." Lorelai looked at her daughter as she stormed into the kitchen. "Is it something important? And also? Why were you still asleep up until a half hour ago? Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine, I just didn't sleep well last night," Rory mumbled as she poured a cup of coffee. It had been near six in the morning before she had stopped tossing and turning. "And this!" She held the piece of paper out to Lorelai. "This says that my date with Logan today is happening in exactly an hour and a half. How am I supposed to get ready in that amount of time?"

"A day date, I'm impressed." Lorelai scanned the card and then looked up. "So what happens if you decide not to do this date like the card says? Do you still get to keep the present? Like a parting gift?"

"I'm not missing the date," Rory said with a roll of her eyes. She stopped and turned. "Wait. Did you say Luke dropped this off? Why would Luke have it?"

"Believe me, I'm dying to find that out myself," Lorelai said dryly. "Okay kid, have fun on your date." She tried not to grimace. "I am off to the Inn, Sookie's off today because of the snowman contest and there's a huge group checking in at one."

"I'll see you later," Rory called as she went back into her bedroom. She opened the door to her closet and stared at its contents. There was no way she could be ready in an hour and a half. She shut the door and dove for her phone, which still lay on her nightstand next to the mistletoe. "Pick up, pick up," she muttered as the phone rang.

"You're not calling to cancel, are you?"

"No!" She smiled and moved back over to the closet. "But uh, well you see, I just found out about the sudden time change in plans and well... I'm just getting out of bed here."

"Spent all night dreaming about me, did you? That's okay, I hear it happens."

She rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to cancel?"

"I'll meet you there at two, does that sound better?"

"Perfect, I'll see you then!" She disconnected the call and headed for the shower.

Two hours and seven minutes later, she was racing breathlessly up the steps of the gazebo, pleased to see Logan was still there. "I'm sorry," she gasped, as she leaned against the railing and tried to catch her breath. "There was a minor fight with my blow dryer, I tried to be on time!"

Logan laughed. "Seven minutes, not bad. I would have given you at least another eight before I considered leaving. You never really were punctual to begin with." She opened her mouth to protest but shut it quickly, knowing that he was right. "So, we're both here." He gestured to the gazebo. "Should we see where this date takes us next?"

"You mean you don't know?" she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Honor," he said simply and she just nodded her head. "Oh, here we go." He found another pale blue envelope taped to one of the benches. He handed it to her and she opened it.

"We are supposed to go to Luke's for lunch," she said after reading it through. "That's all it says."

"Well, who are we to argue with Honor?" Logan asked. "Shall we?" He offered her his arm and they left the gazebo.

"I think Honor may have gotten a hold of Luke to help her with this," Rory said, unable to keep from laughing. Logan opened the front door to the diner and the bells jingled, signaling their arrival. The entire crowd paused to look up at them.

"You're late," Luke said flatly from behind the diner.

"Yeah, it looks like she did," Logan agreed. They sat down at the nearest table.

"Hi Luke," she called brightly, smiling over at him with a wave. "We're right on time, if we're following Gilmore time," she pointed out. He came from behind the counter and walked over to them.

"Hey," he said gruffly as he threw two menus down on the table. "You're lucky your mom is swamped at the Inn, otherwise you know she'd be sitting at the table next to you."

She laughed. "You'll be giving her updates, I'm sure," she said teasingly.

"Depends on what I see." He looked over at Logan. "Your sister is very pushy."

Logan winced. "I don't know what she roped you into, but I'm sorry."

"Right." Luke tossed another blue envelope on top of one of the menus. "I'll be back."

Rory let out a long breath. "Well that wasn't awkward."

"Not at all." Logan held up the envelope. "Shall we?" She nodded and he opened it, pulling out a single sheet of paper, identical to the ones they had received earlier. He read it quickly, and then looked up with a smirk on his face.

"What does it say?"

"We are supposed to look at the menu and order our favorite thing off of it for each other."

Rory's eyes brightened and she tossed her menu aside. "I won't be needing that." She smirked back at him. "Any chance your favorite diner food is still cheeseburgers?"

"Maybe." Logan picked up his own menu and began reading it.

"So what will it be?" Luke asked, coming back to the table.

Rory pursed her lips for a second, her eyes twinkling. "I'll have the Monte Cristo please."

"You've never eaten the Monte Cristo!" Logan accused.

"How do you know?"

"Has she ever eaten the Monte Cristo?" Logan looked to Luke.

"No one's ever eaten the Monte Cristo."

Logan looked at her triumphantly. She shook her head and tapped the piece of paper that lay between them. "Read the note, Logan, it says to order your favorite thing on the menu. It does not say I have to have eaten it myself." She smiled winningly. "And the Monte Cristo is by far my absolute favorite thing on the menu. Ask Luke."

"She does have some sick attachment to it," Luke offered.

"Fine." Logan snapped the menu shut. "I will have grilled chicken salad," he said, keeping his eyes on Rory as he spoke. "Would it be possible to throw some spinach in that? And extra tomato and some green pepper?"

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure."

"Good. And also? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure your Caesar dressing is great, but do you have anything...healthier?" Rory kicked him under the table and he chuckled.

Luke shrugged. "I whipped up a vinaigrette dressing earlier today with lemon."

"That would be perfect." He took a drink of his water and smiled at Rory.

"Anything else?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, could you substitute the spinach in that salad with oh... I don't know... croutons?" Rory asked. "Lots and lots of croutons actually."

"No croutons," Logan said firmly.

"Right." Luke stared at them for a minute. "Do I even want to know?"

"No," Rory said with a pout. "Can I have some more coffee please?"

"Coming right up."

"Monte Cristo, huh? Can't wait!" Logan rubbed his hands together enthusiastically. "Oh, there's more instruction on the card, if you're ready?"

"Let's hear it."

"We're supposed to tell each other two things we miss about the other person. And we're supposed to keep it PG-rated." He made a face. "Do we even have any PG-rated memories?"

She laughed. "I'm sure we can come up with something." She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "You realize we're being watched by every single person here, right?" she asked, sweeping her eyes subtly from one side of the room to the other.

He nodded grimly. "I'm sure that was all part of Honor's plan." He plastered a smile on his face and waved to Miss Patty, who was sitting at the counter next to the Rabbi.

"That reminds me." She leaned her elbows on the table. "Just how exactly did Honor end up planning our first date?"

Logan ducked his head sheepishly. "I called her on my way home last night, and she agrees with you completely, by the way, that we need to start over. She said to tell you how smart you're being." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, she insisted that it would be inappropriate," he paused to roll his eyes again. "For me to take you out at night. Apparently, day dates are the way to do things these days."

Rory laughed. "Oh, that's great. She's right about that though. Day dates are the new black. It's a good thing I don't have work right now."

"I was going to ask about tha-" Logan was interrupted as Luke arrived at their table again, setting down two plates in front of them.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you," He said to Logan, nodding at the deep fried sandwich. He turned to Rory. "You can eat all of that," he said as he pushed her salad closer.

"Yeah thanks." Rory made a face as Luke walked away, muttering about how he still didn't want to know what was going on. She plastered a smile on her face and turned to Logan. "Looks great!" she said fakely. Her smile turned genuine as she looked at his plate. "That looks awful," she said, barely containing her glee. "Are you really going to eat that?"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" He asked dryly. "Is that raspberry jam?"

"Blackberry actually," she said helpfully.

"Yum. Do people really eat this?"

Rory shrugged. "Not that I've ever seen." She stabbed at a piece of spinach with her fork before pointing at him. "You could be the first though. Maybe we should document it with a picture?"

Logan picked up the sandwich, eying it carefully before tentatively taking a bite and chewing cautiously. "It's not awful," he said finally.

"Dip it in the jam and tell me that."

"Would you like a little more dressing for your salad?"

"No," Rory grumbled as she stabbed at the salad again. "Okay, so two things we miss about the other person, huh? Shoot."

"Why do I have to go first? You go first."

She sighed. "I'll rock paper scissors you for it?"

"Best two out of three," Logan agreed. In the end he still lost. "Okay." He paused and took a drink of his coffee and thought about how he wanted to go about this. "I miss Sundays in bed with you," he said. "And not for the obvious reasons," he added quickly as she raised an eyebrow. "Though those reasons do stand on their own. No, I miss staying in bed until after two, and then having breakfast for lunch, and going back to bed with the Sunday paper and having mini movie marathons."

Rory nodded. "Not getting out of bed until after the sun went down and we needed to get things ready for the week," she remembered as well. She laughed. "Remember when I made you watch an entire day's worth of Lifetime movies?"

He grimaced. "I think I sufficiently got back at you with an action packed weekend of Steven Segal."

"So true," she agreed. "Okay, that's a pretty good thing to start with. Let's see, my turn now." She pondered the question for a moment.

"Don't think too hard there," Logan joked after a long silence.

"Shush." She stuck her tongue out at him. "I miss checking you over before you left the house each morning," she said finally. She shook her head. "Okay, that sounds stupid, but it's true. It was one of our routines though. Making sure you didn't cut yourself shaving and checking to see that your socks matched." She smiled wistfully. "Straightening your tie just before you kissed me goodbye and walked out the door."

"You make me sound helpless, Ace."

"You're the one who wore a blue sock on foot and a brown one on the other before I came along," she pointed out.

"Only a couple of times," he protested. "Our memories so far make us seem like an old married couple."

Rory laughed but stared down at her salad. "Do you think it would have been like that?" she asked softly.

"What?"

"Us married." She shrugged. "Would we have kept doing that? Giving you a once-over before you left for work every morning, tying your tie for you, and sending you off with a kiss?"

Logan looked away. There was an awkward silence as they both avoided looking at the other. Finally he cleared his throat and looked back at her with a shrug of his own. "I'd hate to think you'd let me leave with different socks on each morning," he said with a smile. There was another pause and he cleared his throat. "You used to make this face while studying," he said, listing off his second thing about her.

"What?"

"You did. It was adorable. I'd look over and you'd be reading your notes intently, and your nose would be all scrunched up and the tip of your tongue would poke out the corner of your mouth right here." He reached over and brushed his thumb over the side of her mouth. "And then, if you were really into your studying, you'd start playing with your hair without even realizing it. Don't you ever wonder why I made you take so many study breaks?"

"I thought we were keeping this PG," she said with a hint of warning in her voice.

"I am, that's why I mentioned that face and not the other one I was thinking about." And just like that, the tension was broken at the table and they both relaxed again. "All right, Ace, you're up again. Better make it a good one."

She considered the question for a minute. "I miss your spontaneity," she said finally.

He laughed. "You hated my spontaneity," he pointed out.

"Well!" She shrugged. "If it was the middle of finals week and you wanted to take off to Atlantic City, yeah, I hated it then, but..." she shrugged again. "If you weren't so spontaneous, you wouldn't be here right now, would you? We wouldn't be here right now. Sometimes, I miss that kind of stuff."

"Aww, that was a good one." Logan was going to say more, but he was interrupted as Luke dropped their bill off at the table. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and pushed his half-eaten sandwich away. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm stuffed," he said sarcastically. "Ready to get out of here?"

"Where are we going next?"

Logan held up another envelope. "Let's find out." He tore open the envelope and read aloud from the card. "Congratulations, you made it through lunch. Now the real fun begins. It's time to open your gifts so hand over the present you arrived with to the other person. You'll definitely need these for the next part of your date." He looked up at her. "Should we be scared?"

"Probably." She grinned as they each passed each other an identically wrapped box. "You go first," she instructed. "That way, if it blows up, I know not to open mine."

"Good to see you're looking out for me." He lifted the top off of the box and pulled out a pair of gloves and one of those furry hats with ear flaps. "And what do we think this is about?"

"Oh, that's hot," Rory snickered. "My turn!" She opened her own box and looked up at Logan. "Oh wow." She lifted out a pair of thin gloves and a pink cashmere scarf. She looked down at them and back up at Logan again. "I've seen this, this is too expensive, no." She tried to hand him the box but he held up his hands.

"Can't give back a gift I didn't give you," he pointed out. "Honor's good, but I would have picked something in blue."

"Hmm." She scrunched up her face. "Why do we need these?"

"Because." Logan looked down at the card again. "We are to go build a snowman to enter into the contest."

"Oh." Rory frowned. "We didn't fill out the registration forms, if Taylor catches us..."

"There can't be a law against building a snowman in the town square," Logan interrupted her.

"Have you forgotten where we are?" She asked.

"We can take him," Logan said positively. He set the gray furry hat on his head. "Looks good, right?"

"You know it," she said with a laugh. "Okay, let's do this." She waited for him to take care of the bill and they stepped out into the chilly air again.

"These aren't going to keep me very warm," Rory said doubtfully, looking down at her gloves. "What was Honor thinking?"

"In Honor's world, I would be the one building this snowman alone while you sat off to the side and did nothing but look pretty," Logan pointed out.

She scoffed. "Please, I've won this contest something like six times! You think I'm just going to sit back and watch?" She shook her head. "Oh no. I'm going to go pick out a good spot of snow, and you, sir, are going to go into that store over there and pick up a few supplies that we're going to need."

He looked to where she was pointing. "Le Chat Club? I'm not going in there. What if Kirk's in there?" She gave him a look and he relented. "Okay fine. What do we need?" He listened as she rattled off a number of things and then they separated; he going into the store and she toward the park to look for the perfect snow.

"Oh, and Logan?" She waited until he turned to look at her. "Ask Kirk if we can borrow his beard from Fiddler on the Roof!" She smiled at the look he sent her way and then began inspecting the snow.

"So, check me out." Logan appeared next to her about fifteen minutes later. "Not only did I manage to find everything on your very strange list, but I managed to sweet talk Kirk into getting us a forged registration form!"

"You're a rockstar!" She laughed at him. "And just how did you manage that?"

"He wanted Finn's phone number." Logan shrugged. "Okay, so are we ready to do this? Oh, wait!" He grinned again and handed her a second bag.

"What's this?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, you were right when you said that scarf and those gloves wouldn't keep you warm." He nodded at the bag again. "Go ahead, open it."

She peeked into the bag and laughed. "Are you kidding me?" She pulled out a hat similar to Logan's, except that it was blue and white, with cat ears sticking up on either side. There was also a matching set of mittens with cat faces on them.

"Kirk assured me all the ladies in Stars Hollow are wearing these this season," he said seriously. Then he laughed. "That store was great! You can get anything there."

"So I see." She held up the hat again and laughed with him. "It will keep me warm," she admitted. She allowed him to set the hat on her head and tie it securely under her chin. "How do I look?"

"Kirk knows what he's talking about," Logan said with a nod. "Okay," he rubbed his gloved hands together. "So what are we building here?" He looked around at the crowd slowly gathering with them in the Square to begin their own snowmen.

"It's a secret. We don't want to give ourselves away too early. Right now, we just need to build your typical snowman. Trust me, it will all make sense soon enough." With that, she knelt down and began piling the snow into formation. She looked up. "You going to stand there and look pretty, Huntzberger? Come on!"

"Okay." Logan stepped back and surveyed the work they had finished in the past hour. The general shape of a snowman was there. "Care to tell me how exactly this is going to be better than every other snowman here? I mean, Kirk and Lulu are building a snow-bot! Babette and Morey are doing an entire family of snow gnomes. Sookie is frosting a giant snow gingerbread man. With real frosting! We've got a snowman. A plain old snowman."

"It is not just a boring old snowman!" Rory protested. She looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to them before stepping closer to Logan. "Okay, hand me the bag." She pulled out the green and red plaid button down cardigan. "Oh, this is perfect. You really did do a good job."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so we've got a red and green sweater and a beard. Are we making Santa Claus?"

"Nope." She worked to get the cardigan to fit around the middle of the snowman. She turned and grinned at him. "We've got ourselves a snow Taylor Doose."

"Ace!" Logan shook his head and laughed. He stepped back and watched as she rearranged the beard along the top part of the snowman. "Isn't that going against regulation or something?"

"Whoa, check it out, it's Taylor!" Babette shouted from across the Square. She gave them a mittened thumbs up. "Boy is he going to freak out when he sees that, ain't he Morey?" Morey nodded from under his black hat. "That's great. Hey Logan,good to see you back!"

"Hi Babette," he called back with a wave. He leaned forward. "I think every woman in this town has the hots for me."

"Not just the women, Kirk too," she pointed out. She smiled at him from the opposite side of the snowman. "I'm glad we're doing this here," she said as she looked around. "I've missed a lot of this stuff in the last couple of years."

"Speaking of that." Logan was about to try to ask her again why she was in Stars Hollow in the first place when there was a commotion as Taylor came strolling by.

"What's going on here?" he asked, stopping in front of them. Rory quickly removed the beard from the snowman before he saw it. "I don't remember signing a registration form for the two of you."

"Sure you did," Logan said as he stepped forward. He held up the forged piece of paper. "See?"

"Hmm." Taylor frowned. He inspected the signature and shrugged. "That is a fantastic sweater you've got on this snowman," he said. "What is this supposed to be?"

"Santa Claus," Rory said quickly, trying to keep from giggling. "You know, when he's not working. When he's just relaxing up at the North Pole?"

"Very clever!" Taylor praised. He turned and looked at the rest of the crowd. "Unofficially, I'd say you all have some serious competition here!" He smiled at them. "Carry on." And he was on his way.

Rory reattached the beard and continued to mess with it. "Well that was close," she mock whispered. Finally, she stepped back. "We're missing something," she fretted. "I mean, you and I can tell it's Taylor, but it's missing something. What is it missing?"

Logan stepped back and looked at the snowman with her. "I know what we're missing. Hang on, I'll be right back!" He sprinted away from her before she could even answer. She watched curiously as he went over to where Miss Patty was helping one of her dance classes build a ballerina and pull her aside.

"I know that look." Rory turned around to see Sookie grinning at her knowingly.

"What look?"

"That I'm so hopelessly in love with the guy but am trying to play it cool look." Sookie nudged her. "You must be so happy to have him back, huh?"

Rory bit the inside of her cheek. "It is nice," she said carefully. "But we're taking it slow," she added quickly.

"Well, he looks like he's having fun." Sookie laughed. "It's not always so easy for an outsider to fit in here, you know? And then with that stunt he pulled yesterday, you're lucky Taylor's not watching you guys like a hawk."

"Everyone else seems to be doing that for him," Rory said pointedly.

"Oh that." Sookie waved her hand around carelessly. "We're all just happy to see you happy again. "

"Not all of you."

"Well, some of us will come around." Sookie patted her shoulder. "I'm off to go get some more icing for our snowman and it looks like your man's coming back. Have fun!"

"I've got it!" he said triumphantly. "You're going to love this." He turned and blew a kiss toward Miss Patty, who just winked at him. "And you won't believe the sweet talking I had to do to get it."

"I'm not going to fight Miss Patty for you," she said plainly. "I wouldn't stand a chance."

"You have nothing to worry about there."

"Okay, so what did you get?" She looked at him expectantly and squealed delightedly when he proudly held up the gavel Taylor used for every town meeting. "That's perfect!" Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck in a hug. His own arms wrapped around her waist and they stayed like that for a long moment. She pulled away shyly and smiled at him again. "We so have this now!"

After another twenty minutes of preparation, their snow Taylor was finally finished, and everyone else them was wrapping up as well. Taylor was making the rounds again, this time with his clipboard, and he was close to announcing the winner.

He paused in front of their snowman and frowned. "I don't recall Santa having a brown beard," he said as he turned to face them. "And is that... that's my gavel! What is going on here?"

"You got us," Logan said before Rory could open her mouth. "It's not Santa at all. Actually Taylor, we ran the gamut of great men to immortalize in snow. You know, like Obama, George Washington, the Beatles." Rory choked back a laugh. "And when it really came down to it, we knew what we had to do. If we wanted to immortalize a great man, it had to be you." He turned and nudged Rory. "Right, Ace?"

"Right," she managed to say before clamping her mouth shut again.

"Well!" Taylor stood still for a moment. "I don't know what to say. You certainly get points for creativity, you two." He smiled again. "I had my doubts about you, young man, after yesterday, but you might just be okay after all." He turned back to the snowman again. "It is a handsome devil of a snowman, isn't it?" he murmured, marking down notes on his clipboard. "Very nice indeed." He smiled once more and moved onto the next snowman.

Rory couldn't contain it any longer and burst out laughing. "Immortalizing a great man in snow?" she asked breathlessly. "You compared him to the Beatles?"

Logan shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?" He slung an arm over her shoulder and they both looked up at the snowman again.

"We're so winning this!"

"I can't believe we lost," Logan muttered as he pulled out a chair for Rory. The snowman contest had just ended and the two of them had decided to cap off the afternoon with dessert at Westin's Bakery.

"It was a technicality," Rory insisted. "We would have won. We did win, but no. Kirk had to run up and admit to forging Taylor's signature on the registration form to eliminate us." She sighed. "You should have known better than to trust him." They both looked out the window to see Kirk and Lulu heading toward the bakery; Kirk displaying his new trophy proudly.

"Believe me, I'll know better for next time." Logan stared hard at Kirk through the window, until he abruptly turned around and began walking quickly in the opposite direction. Logan laughed. "Okay, that was kind of fun," he admitted. He watched as Rory slipped her mittens off and held her hands to the mug of hot chocolate that was just set in front of her and frowned. "Are you still cold?" he asked worriedly.

"A little," she said with a smile. "I'm fine though."

He kept frowning. "Honor should have warned us we'd be spending the day outside. What if you get sick now?"

She laughed. "I'm fine," she insisted. "And this afternoon was a lot of fun. You'll have to thank Honor for me." She took a sip of cocoa and smiled at him again. "Are there any more cards?"

"Just one." He held it up. "Ready to see what it says?"

"Oh I can't wait."

Logan read it quickly and looked over at her. "We're supposed to share a secret with each other."

"A secret," she repeated. "About anything?"

"It doesn't list any restrictions." He ate a bite from his cake and then looked at her. "I'll go first, if you want," he offered.

"Wow, not even going for rock paper scissors this time?"

"Nah, I can handle this one." He laughed. "A secret, let's see. Did you know that there are two reasons I came to Stars Hollow yesterday?"

"You wanted to become Taylor's BFF?"

"Okay three reasons." Logan shook his head. "I hadn't exactly been in the greatest mood since we saw each other last month," he admitted. "I was kind of an asshole to pretty much anyone who tried to talk to me. I couldn't stop thinking about you and what had happened and..." he shrugged. "I didn't know what to do." He shrugged. "And then I did something you would be proud of. I made a pro-con list."

Her face lit in a smile. "You did not!"

"I did," he affirmed. "But it wasn't enough. I kept reading it over and over, and I couldn't get past a few of the cons."

She looked down at her pie. "So what happened?"

"A hooker showed me what I was missing out on," he said without missing a beat.

Rory choked on her hot chocolate. "I'm sorry, a hooker?"

He nodded. "Holly. That was her name. Don't worry, she was off duty at the time."

"And that makes it better how?"

He laughed. "Holly and I had a talk over drinks the night before I came here. She listened while I told her about you and I, and well," he shrugged. "She pretty much told me what a jackass I had been and was still being, and told me I better get over myself and come after you."

"Do you regularly get advice from hookers?" Her eyes narrowed.

"No, I can honestly say this was the first time. And you know what, she was right too. I did need to be here." He smiled at her then.

"I wonder how many great love stories begin with, 'so I was talking to this hooker,'" Rory mused. She looked over at him again. "So can I see this pro-con list I still don't believe you made?"

"Nope. But believe me, in the last two weeks I have made many pro-con lists. I see why you're kind of addicted to them."

She shook her head. "A hooker," she repeated. She couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, that's not a story we should probably share with many other people."

"It'll be our secret," he promised. He leaned back in his seat. "So, can you beat that one?"

She shrugged and stirred more marshmallows into her mug. "I was offered a job at a really great newspaper last week," she said finally. "In St. Louis. I haven't told anyone though, because I turned it down." She shook her head. "It was the first real offer I've had in months, and I said no."

Logan frowned and finally asked the question he'd been wanting to ask all day. "Rory, why are you back in Stars Hollow?"

"What do you mean? I told you, I'm taking some time off."

"Yes, but when you thought that, I didn't realize it meant you were living back at home with your mom. Did something happen after the campaign trail? I just, I don't understand why you'd be back here permanently."

Her face darkened. "It's not permanent!"

"No? How long have you been back?"

"Three months," she admitted. "But Logan, it's not like I'm here for good. I'm just here--"

"What happened to you?" He knew his face showed his concern. "When you graduated you were so determined to be going places. You spent an entire year on the road with one of the greatest jobs you could have had starting out, and now you're back here?" He looked around. "I mean, its a great place, yeah, but this was not what you wanted out of life."

"Nothing happened!" she insisted.

"Then what? Was it Lorelai? Did she throw so much guilt at you for being gone for so long that you had to rush back here to make her happy?"

"Leave my mom out of this," she warned tightly.

"I'm right, aren't I?" he asked. "She's holding you back still, and you're only too happy to let her, aren't you?"

"You think this is because I'm scared to leave my mommy?" she snapped. "You really think I'm that pathetic? If you do, then wow, I would ask myself why I was here if I was you! Do you know what it was like, getting off of that stupid bus and realizing I didn't have a job to come back to? During one of the worst recessions this country has ever seen? Print sales were down, Logan, way down. No one was hiring! I was lucky to find the work I did find, but none of it made me happy and I had enough money saved up so I came home for awhile to figure things out. There is nothing wrong with that," she insisted.

"You're right, there's not. But Rory, you just told me that you just turned down a job. Why? What is keeping you here right now?"

"It's not the job I wanted, okay? It's a great job, but I did not want it." She shook her head. "Not all of us can go running back to Daddy when we need a job." She snapped her mouth shut and looked up at him. "Logan, I didn't..."

He shook his head. "You think that's how it went? That I failed at my own job and went running back to Mitchum because I didn't have anywhere else to go? He sought me out, Rory. He came to me and asked me to come back. I didn't beg him for my job."

"And how would I know that?" she shot back. She shook her head. "This is exactly what I meant when we said we didn't know each other anymore." She pushed her chair back.

"What? So you're just going to leave?"

"It's getting late, and I think we should probably stop before either of us says something we might regret later."

"Rory."

She held up her hand and smiled tiredly. "I had a really great time today, Logan," she said softly. "Please, can we just leave it at that. It was an amazing first date, I don't want it to be ruined."

He stared at her for a minute before he finally shook his head. "Yeah okay. Let's go." He dropped a few bills on the table and stood up. "At least let me walk you home?" He was relieved when she nodded. They gathered up their things and left the bakery.

"So, can I still call you tomorrow?" Logan asked as they walked up the steps to her house.

She turned and looked at him, surprised. "You still want to?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well you never know, I might have to sit home with my mom and knit tea cozies," she said sarcastically.

He sighed. "Let's just forget what I said back there, okay?"

She closed her eyes. "Only if we forget what I said too?"

"Deal." He shook her hand firmly. "I had a lot of fun today," he said sincerely, his hand still holding hers. "One of the best first dates ever, if I say so myself."

"It was pretty epic," she agreed. "Thank you." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek quickly. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." She smiled at him once more and stepped into the house, closing the door behind her.

"You're home early," Lorelai said, looking up in surprise. "I hear you made quite the spectacle at the snowman contest. A snow Taylor? That's pretty brilliant if I say so myself."

"Yeah, we would have won, but, you know Kirk." She shrugged.

"Oh yeah. So," Lorelai took a deep breath. "How was the date? Want to come sit down and tell Mommy all about it?" She tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, but failed miserably.

Rory stepped back. "No," she said shortly. "If you don't mind, I'm just going to go take a hot shower and get out of these wet clothes."

"Hopefully you'll get out of the wet clothes before stepping into the shower," Lorelai pointed out helpfully.

"I'm not two," Rory snapped. "I don't need you telling me how to do things anymore."

"Whoa, settle down there Kid." Lorelai looked confused. "Are you sure you're okay?'

Rory sighed. "I'm fine, I'm sorry. It's just been a weird day. I'm going to go take my shower." She headed upstairs without another word, leaving Lorelai more confused than ever.

Meanwhile, Logan was deep in thought as he was on his was out of town for the night. So the night hadn't ended as well as he had wanted it to, at least it hadn't gone horribly wrong. He tried to talk himself out of his next move, but he failed after ten minutes and picked up his phone.

"Dad, it's Logan. Call me when you get this." He sighed.

" I need a favor."