A/N: I still don't own Gilmore Girls. Well, my other story is done :( so I am writing this for now, and maybe something else in the future, I've had a fabulous suggestion that I will be exploring. This chapter we move forward! YAY! Truthfully, I had originally planned to have Rory and Logan get back together in the chapter I just posted, but didn't want to make it too soon, but now with all of these FAB reviews telling me that I need to get them together...well, hopefully this lives up to your expectations! Also - I know nothing about journalism/news/newscasting, so just let me make stuff up because I am not pretending to be an expert :)
a/n 2: and to those of you who read this when I had accidentally put in Ava instead of Riley, my bad, I have updated it, that was a typo on my part! Thanks!
Chapter 6:
"Hey" Logan smiled as Christian pulled the door to the house open, "Did you get bigger? I think you've grown a few feet!"
"I haven't grown, Dad" Christian rolled his eyes as Logan put a firm hand on his shoulder, "Who got to pick the movie tonight?"
"I did" Christian told him as they walked into the house, "I picked The Mighty Ducks"
"That certainly is an oldy" Logan laughed, "Is the pizza here yet?"
"Yes" Christian told him, "Mom wouldn't let us have any until you got here"
"Ok, well you go to the theatre downstairs, and Mom and I will be down with the pizza in a minute. Where is Riley?"
"Riley is already downstairs" Christian told him.
"Go on, I'm going to grab Mom, she in the kitchen?"
"Yes" Christian told him as he headed towards the door to the basement.
"Hey" Logan nodded as he entered the kitchen, "Kids are downstairs, need me to take anything down for you?"
"Pizza" Rory nodded as she grabbed plates and napkins, "I checked the bar down there yesterday, so its all good to go"
"Perfect" Logan smiled as he kissed her gently.
"I've missed you" Rory admitted.
"Same" Logan quickly kissed her on the cheek once more as he grabbed the pizza.
"I should tell you something" Rory put the plates down for a moment.
"What's up?" Logan nodded as he leaned back against the counter, leaving hte pizza where it was.
"I broke up with Jess"
"What the hell is going on with you Rory? Who are you?" Jess glared at her, they were fighting, again, it seemed like ever since they had run into Logan and Honor in the summer, all they did was fight.
"I'm me" Rory threw her hands into the air, "I'm sorry I don't live up to whatever idea you had when we were 17!"
"Rory this is recent, what happened"
"I'm sleeping with Logan!" Rory spat, she was so sick of this dance, she was sick of pretending to like being with him.
"You're what?" Jess was a mixture of shocked and angry.
"I am sleeping with Logan" she repeated, "This is done. You and I, it's over" she told him as she stood up, leaving the coffee shop they had met at, "Don't call"
"Wow" Logan nodded, "You ok?"
"Of course I'm ok" Rory laughed, "It's what I wanted, he wasn't right, he wasn't when we were 16, and he wasn't now"
"Well, I'm glad" Logan laughed as he picked up the pizza, "He was never good enough for you"
"And who is good enough for me?" Rory smirked as they headed towards the basement.
"Me" Logan told her simply with a grin on his face.
"We'll talk about that later" Rory laughed as they made their way down the stairs, "Alright guys, pizza is here"
"Is there cheese?" Riley asked as she took a plate from her mother.
"Half cheese, half pepperoni on this one for you and Christian" Rory told her, "And then grown up pizza for Dad and I"
"Which one is cheese?"
"This one" Rory put the pizza on the coffee table in front of the kids, "Use a napkin"
"What do you guys want to drink?" Logan asked as Christian took a piece of his own.
"Grape juice please"
"You know we don't have grape juice down here with the couch" Logan told her.
"Mommy!" Riley pouted.
"Your Dad is right, you know the rules" Rory laughed, "Christian what about you?"
"Water please?"
"That is my easy kid" Logan laughed as he grabbed two bottles of water for each of the kids, "Did you have milk with breakfast"
"Yes" the kids answered in unison.
"Alright" he put the two bottles on the coffee table before sitting down on the other couch with Rory.
"It's all set" Rory told him as as she pressed play on the remote, bringing picture to the projection screen.
"How did you pick this Christian?" Logan asked, surprised that his son would pick such an old movie.
"There's a kid on my hockey team who told me" Christian shrugged, taking a bite of his pizza.
"Alright, well, whatever you want" Logan smiled as the movie began to play, he leaned to Rory and whispered, "Who ever thought this is what we would be doing?"
"Dad?" Riley called.
"Yes?" Logan looked at her, lowering his voice in order to avoid disrupting the movie.
"Will you come sit with me?" Riley asked, moving over to make room between her and Christian.
"Of course" Logan winked at Rory and went to sit between the two kids, putting his arm tightly around Riley, "Love you beautiful"
xxxxxxx
"If I carry him, can you carry her?" Logan looked at the two kids sleeping on the couch after making it through the entire Mighty Ducks trilogy.
"Deal" Rory nodded, "And we still have presents to wrap" as she picked Riley up, holding her over her shoulder.
"Good luck" Logan nodded to Riley, who notoriously woke up when she was being carried to bed, it was like she had a sixth sense.
"No pajamas, just straight to bed" Rory smiled as she began walking towards the stairs with her little girl in her arms.
"Alright buddy" Logan picked up Christian, resting his head on his shoulder as he began walking up the stairs, it was a moment Logan savoured, he knew in a few years, not only would Christian be too big to be carried, but he would probably be too cool to have his Dad carrying him anywhere, no matter what the reason.
Logan smiled as he walked up stairs, through the main floor and to Christian's bedroom. The bedroom was so un-child like, Christian had chosen everything himself in the years earlier. The queen sized bed had crisp white linens, like you would find in a hotel, and the walls were a relaxing shade of green, the only thing Christian really wanted in his room was book shelves, and a desk, so there were wall to wall built ins and a desk taking up a full wall. There were pictures, pictures of Christian and his friends, sadly Logan didn't know many of his friends due to the fact that up until recently, he had been somewhat absent from his children's lives, there were pictures of his hockey team, and pictures of the family, Logan couldn't help but notice how even the photos with Riley and Rory, he had no recollection of, and based on the huge rock Rory was wearing in the photos, he knew they were still married. Had he really missed out on that much of his children's lives?
Putting him under the covers, Christian only stirred slightly as Logan gave him a kiss on the head, and made a silent promise, a promise that he would be there for his son, and actively participate in the lives of his kids. Logan realized more in that moment than he had with all of the years of Rory yelling, screaming and crying about his absences, he had let his children down, he had turned into Mitchum.
Logan walked quietly out of the room, closing the door as he left, he smiled as he saw Riley's door was still open.
"No mommy" Riley whispered, "I don't want to go to bed"
"Honey you were just asleep" Rory kissed her forehead, "If you go to sleep we will be one more sleep closer to when Santa comes"
Logan smiled as he listened to Rory try to rationalize this with their daughter, to coax her back into bed.
"No" Riley told her, "If I go to bed, if I go to bed when I wake up Daddy will be gone, and everything won't be fun anymore"
"Honey" Rory held her hand tight against her heart, "I think Daddy will be here, in your heart" Rory pushed her hands gently against Riley's heart, "And I think that if you wish really hard before you go to bed, that maybe, things will be better. I can't promise what is going to happen, but Daddy is getting so much better, and I think that things are going to be okay again"
"So when I wake up, you and Daddy won't be fighting?" Riley asked again. Even though Riley had no real memory of her parents being married, she remembered the fallout, she remembered messages between nannies and snarky remarks.
"I promise you, Daddy and I are done fighting"
Logan backed away from the door listening to the conversation, he had always thought that Riley was too young, that she didn't know what was happening, that she wouldn't notice all of the changes. He had been wrong. He leaned back on the banister to wait for Rory, they needed to talk.
"Hey" Rory whispered a few minutes later as she pulled the door closed.
"I really fucked them up, didn't I?" Logan asked her, the pain evident in his eyes.
"Logan, they are kids, they're confused, and they don't understand all of the grown up things going on" Rory tried to ease the guilt she could see in his eyes.
"I want to fix it" Logan stepped towards her, "I missed too much, I didn't realize that it wasn't just money they needed"
"Logan" Rory couldn't help but smile, he was saying all the right things, all the things that she had been wanting him to say since well before the divorce.
"No" Logan shook his head, he was standing inches from her, "I need to make it to hockey games and dance recitals, know who their friends are, I can do it. I don't know why I didn't, but I'm telling you, Rory, dance recitals, hockey games, our anniversary. I'll never miss them again, just give me the chance, let me show you I won't let you down"
"Logan" she repeated again, a smile still playing on her lips.
"Please, Ace"
"You just said" Rory hadn't even noticed that her eyes had started to water, "Everything I have wanted to hear since before we were married. So if you're serious about this, if you are going to keep every promise you just made, then we can wrap presents later, because right now, we just need to go to bed. But if you're not serious, if you are just saying this in a moment of guilt, then we should go wrap presents"
Logan looked at her, intently, as if he was weighing his options, deciding how much he was willing to change to get his family back, he smiled as he leaned down and kissed her gently, resting his hands on her hips as she kissed him back, he could feel the smile growing on her lips as they continued to kiss and made their way back towards her, their, bedroom.
xxxxxxxxxx
"Dad?" Christian questioned as he opened the door to his mothers bedroom. "Mom?" his grin grew as he realized that his parents were in bed, together.
"Christian?" Rory shot up in bed, "Uh, give us one second, ok?" Rory smiled as Christian retreated out of the door, "Fuck" she looked at Logan who was still groggily taking in his surroundings, "Logan!"
"Shit" he groaned, he hadn't meant to fall asleep, but between the sex, and the talking which had occurred the night before, he had been too exhausted to move.
"Well, I guess this is it" Rory turned to him, "We tell them, and we tell them it is going to be different, and we tell them that no matter what we are going to be a family again" Rory told him firmly, "Or you go, and we never do this again"
"I'll take door number one" Logan mused as he fell back on the bed, "I've missed this bed"
"I replaced it last year" Rory told him as she got out of bed and put on a pair of sweatpants so she could go check on the kids, "Go shower"
"It's a new bed? It feels like the old bed?" Logan bounced around a little bit.
"Logan, up" Rory rolled her eyes at his child like behaviour.
xxxxxxx
"So Dad and I are going to be together again" Rory explained as she and Logan sat on the couch facing their two children. "How do you feel about that?"
"Are you going to keep fighting?" Christian asked.
"No" Logan shook his head, "I used to work too much, and I didn't put you first, and I promise Christian, I will always put you first"
"So no more sleepovers at your house?" Riley asked quietly, she was still in her pajamas, holding her stuffed bunny.
"No" Logan shook his head, "We're all going to live here again" he told her, considering Christian had already caught them in bed together, there wasn't much sense continuing with every other weekend, they both thought it would confuse the kids more. If they were going to do this, there would be no dating, they had to jump head first.
"Does that mean we only get one Christmas?" Christian asked
"Yes" Rory rolled her eyes, "You kids get too much anyway"
"So you guys are okay with this?" Logan asked his kids.
"Yes" they both repeated in unison.
"Better get packing?" Rory smiled, "Do you kids have anything at Dad's house that you want?"
"No" they both shook their heads.
"Alright then, so I just need my clothes" Logan couldn't contain the wide grin that was appearing on his lips.
"Daddy" Riley hopped off the couch and ran to him.
"Yes Riley?"
"You pinky promise?" Riley extended her pinky towards her father, "No more fighting?"
"I pinky promise" Logan smiled as he clasped his own pinky around hers. "I'm going to call my assistant, and have her send someone to pack my things" Logan looked from his children, to Rory, "Why don't we go make some hot chocolate?"
xxxxxxxxxx
"So you just...got back together with him?" Lorelai looked at her daughter, concern evident on her face.
"Well, yeah" Rory nodded, "I mean, truthfully, we've been sleeping together...for a while"
"You were sleeping with him? I mean you just broke up with Jess, what the hell is going on kid?"
"I don't know" Rory told her, "I just...Mom I've felt so broken since we split up, the kids have been broken, I've been broken, Logan makes us whole"
"But Rory, what about the things that went wrong?" Lorelai asked her, even though she had been a fan of Logan, she couldn't stand the way he put work ahead of Rory, and then later, the way he put work ahead of Christian and Riley.
"Mom we can work those out" Rory told her, "Do you believe that Dad was it for you? He was the person you were meant to be with?"
"Yes" Lorelai nodded, "But your Dad and I...we are just different"
"No, Mom, you're not" Rory shook her head, "Dad made mistakes, but you worked hard to make it work, and it wasn't always perfect, and you didn't always do that together. We took a break, we were apart, and Logan and I are both better people together"
"Are you happy, with him?" Lorelai sighed, Rory was right, if Logan was who made her happy, if Logan made their kids happy, and if Logan was prepared to step up, and to be the man that Rory had fallen in love with all those years ago, Lorelai was going to support them.
"When I'm with Logan, I feel like I can do anything, when I'm without Logan, I just...I feel like nothing I do will ever be good enough" Rory admitted.
"Do you think you'll go back to work?"
"I think I need to" Rory told her, "I wanted to be an international correspondent, and for some reason, I gave that up, I gave it up all on my own"
"Do you still want to be an international correspondent?" Lorelai smiled, she remembered how big her daughter's dreams were, for her entire life.
"I think I do" Rory nodded, "But I have two kids, and I can't just jump around the world"
"You can, Ror" Lorelai challenged her, "You can do anything, if Logan is back, if Logan is truly being supportive, there is no reason you cannot do anything you want"
xxxxxx
"Hey" Logan smiled as he walked into the house, their home after work. He was home at 6, like he was every other day, he had promised he would be home for dinner unless there was a reason, and even if there was a reason, he had to call. They had lasted 3 months like this so far, and Logan had yet to miss a dinner, or postpone a dinner.
"Hi" Rory smiled as she kissed him gently. She was wearing her wedding rings again, even though they weren't legally married, she felt like they were back to the way they were at the beginning of their marriage, when all there was between them was love.
"You look beautiful" Logan told her, "I got an interesting call today, at work"
"What call?" Rory asked as she grabbed a bottle of salad dressing from the fridge, "The kids are upstairs doing school work, dinner is in 10 minutes"
"Well I got a call from ABC" Logan told her, "Wanting to confirm a reference for one Lorelai Leigh Gilmore"
"Oh?" Rory couldn't hold her smile back.
"Yes" Logan smiled, "I didn't know you were applying as Lorelai Gilmore?"
"Well, I figure as a Huntzberger, on paper at least, I won't prove my own worth" Rory shrugged, "At least this way, they are offering Lorelai Gilmore a job, and then if they interview me, obviously anyone who lives in the United States would figure out that I'm Rory Huntzberger, but I don't want an interview because I am married to a media and publication mogul"
"You know HPG owns a huge share of ABC, right?" Logan laughed.
"Yes" Rory nodded, "But that is the point, I mean, I just want this job because I'm me, not because I'm married to you"
"Well, the good news is, they sound interested, so maybe in the next few days you can expect a call" Logan kissed her again, "What is for dinner? It smells amazing"
"Pork chops" Rory told him, "With some salad, veggies"
"Sounds great" Logan told her, "I was hoping, given that it is almost the weekend, we can go out for dinner together tomorrow, just the two of us?"
"I can see if my Mom can watch the kids?" Rory nodded.
"Or Honor and Josh can watch them?" Logan suggested.
"Sure, you call Hon, I'll go get the kids ready for dinner"
"Hey Ror" Logan grabbed her arm gently as she moved to leave the room.
"Yes Logan?" Rory smiled.
"I love you" he kissed her.
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"This place is nice, we haven't been here before...ever" Rory smiled as they sat in the dimly lit restaurant.
"I know, its new, my parents suggested it actually" Logan laughed.
"Mitchum and Shira, they do have great taste" Rory smiled.
"Did you get any calls today?" Logan asked, referring to the job with ABC.
"I did" Rory grinned.
"And..."
"Well, they want me to come in on Wednesday to New York for an interview" Rory explained.
"Rory thats awesome" Logan told her, "Why don't we have champagne, we should be celebrating!"
"I don't know" Rory smiled shyly. "I want this, so badly, but at the same time, I am afraid of what will happen if I'm not with the kids"
"Rory if you do this, your kids will know that their Mom can do anything" Logan reached across the table and held her hand.
"Is this what you want?" Logan asked her, he had asked her the same question for the past few months, since she had first expressed an interest in going back to work.
"I think so" Rory nodded, a slight look of concern in her eyes.
"Babe, you can do this, we can do this" Logan told her, "You aren't going to always be gone, you'll be gone a lot, but that is nothing we can't handle"
"It's easy to say that" Rory smirked, "There was a time that I thought our marriage could last even if you weren't around all the time"
"Well, this is going to be different" Logan told her, "We can do this Rory, you and I can do anything"
"So I'll go" Rory nodded, "And then we can figure it all out"
"Although, I do have another question for you" Logan smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.
"Logan" Rory smiled, she had been showered with gifts in the time they had been back together, something that she did love.
Logan remembered the first time he asked her this question, the nerves he felt, the uncertainty of where there future would go, but the only thing that was exactly the same this time around, all these years later, was that Logan was completely sure of how in love with her he was, even if he was about to ask her, for the third time, to marry him.
"Look, I know I screwed this up before" Logan fumbled over his words as they sat in the living room of their luxurious townhouse, eating Chinese food, like every other Saturday night since they had started dating, "But I want us to move forward Ace" he smiled at her as she cracked her fortune cookie open.
"Logan!" Rory gasped as the diamond ring fell out of the cookie, "This is"
Before she knew it, he was on his knee in front of her, "Marry me, Ace, make me the happiest man in the world. I will give you anything and everything, just say yes"
"Yes!"
Shaking his head to bring himself back to reality, he was in another moment, a decade later in his life and everything had changed, but so much was still the same. "I was thinking, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore Hayden Huntzberger" he laughed, "That maybe, you would do me the honour of marrying me...again"
"Logan" Rory repeated, a huge grin coming over her face.
"Rory" Logan repeated as she started to laugh almost uncontrollably.
"It is beautiful" Rory smiled at the massive pink diamond in front of her.
"Is that a yes?" Logan laughed.
"Of course it is" Rory nodded as Logan stood up and walked towards her, kissing her passionately, "I love you" she laughed as he took her old wedding rings off of her hand and put the new ring on.
"Thank you" Logan kissed her again, "Thank you for giving us this chance"
"The ring is beautiful" Rory laughed as Logan sat back down at his seat.
"It's Neil Lane, your old ones are Harry Winston, I figured I would switch it up a bit" Logan laughed, "I thought something different would be nice, and then we'll pick something more...classic out later"
"How on earth am I so lucky?" Rory laughed.
"Well I know you well enough to know that a pink diamond is not going to stay on your finger every day" Logan told her as the waiter brought over a bottle of champagne.
"This is amazing" Rory told him, "So we're going to get married"
"We are going to get married" Logan repeated, "I feel like I'm 25 again"
"Baby we are so far from 25" Rory laughed
"I know" Logan nodded, "But right now, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have you, and our kids, and our family"
"So I guess I'll be an international corespondent, planning a wedding, raising kids" Rory smirked, still staring at her ring.
"I think basically you're trying to call yourself super woman" Logan laughed, taking a long sip of champagne.
"Well obviously I'm super woman"
They ate in relative silence, a comfortable silence, a silence where they enjoyed the fact that things finally seemed to be returning to how they should be. Their families, respectively were glad that they were back together, and Logan had stepped up. He hadn't missed a dinner, or broken a promise, more than anything, as Rory had explained to him soon after they had gotten back together, she didn't think he always needed to be there for everything, she didn't need him to attend every swimming lesson, but she had told him that he needed to be sure that if he promised his kids, or his wife that he would be somewhere, he had to be there.
"Dinner was nice" Rory smiled as they walked hand in hand back to the car.
"Only because you said yes" Logan squeezed her hand, "I'm glad...that this is where we are, I never though we would get back here"
"This is where we're supposed to be Logan, we ended up where we were always meant to be"