Author's Note: We're getting closer to the end... only 5 more chapters after this one! Once again, thank you everyone who has been reading and reviewing, I am loving the response to this story! This chapter is a bit of filler, but there's a few key points brought up that are definitely necessary for the remaining chapters.

As always, enjoy!


Chapter Six - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy - Gayla Peevey

December 19th, 2009

"You had sex with him again!"

"Lane!" Rory looked toward the other room where Zach was with the babies. "Keep your voice down!" she hissed.

"Sorry." Lane lowered her voice to a whisper. "You had sex with him again!"

"I know!" Rory leaned forward to rest her head on her knees. "I don't know what I was thinking! Okay, I know what I was thinking, but that's not the point. We were at the pub, and we were having a great time, and then we left and--"

"Had an even greater time?" Lane filled in helpfully. She laughed at the look Rory gave her. "What? I'm just saying, I can only assume that it was even better than drinking at the bar." She leaned closer. "So was it? Good, I mean."

"So good," Rory admitted, finally straightening back up to a sitting position with a glassy look in her eyes. She composed herself with a shake of her head and looked back at her friend. "What am I going to do, Lane?" She shook her head again. "I already told him that it didn't count, but seriously? Even I'm not stupid enough to believe that crap!"

"Wait, you said it didn't count? I don't understand. The two of you are back together now, aren't you? I mean, no more of this whole getting to know each other and new beginnings crap, right? No more making the poor guy jump through hoops?"

"I don't know!" Rory buried her face in her hands again. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? He's doing everything right, but I keep baiting him to see if he'll do something wrong so that I can just call an end to this and be done with it once and for all."

"Is that what you really want?"

"What?"

"To be done with him once and for all. I gotta tell you, Rory, I don't believe that is the case at all. Not even a little bit." Lane shook her head to emphasize her point. "No. You're clearly head over heels for this guy, everyone else can see it, you may as well just admit it to yourself now, before he does take your bait and run."

Rory sighed. "It's not that simple, Lane. I wish it was, but it's not."

"Really?" Lane challenged. She fingered the charm bracelet on Rory's wrist and looked up at her again. "Seems pretty simple to me. He's in love with you and you're in love with him. Only he's got the guts to say it out loud."

"That didn't count either!" Rory insisted.

"You're protesting an awful lot here, best friend."

"He hasn't brought that up yet, you know," she said quietly. "The whole I love you thing." She bit down on her lower lip. "What if he regrets saying it? Do you think he does? He'd probably have brought it up by now if he didn't. Or what if he doesn't remember? What if he really was drunk and doesn't have a clue as to what he said?"

"You could always ask him about it," Lane pointed out logically. She smirked at the look Rory threw her way. "What? You could."

"No I can't!" she protested. "How could I? He'd ask me why I waited to long to ask about it! And then who knows how that conversation would go! The other night we tried to talk about the people we've dated the last couple of years and I swear, Lane, I couldn't even stand to hear the most general statements he had about that whole situation. There's no way I could handle a conversation about how he said he loved me while we were having sex."

"You're so in love with him, Rory."

Rory screwed up her face for a moment and then sighed. "You're probably right," she conceded. She groaned and fell back against the couch. "What am I supposed to do, Lane?"

"Yeah, I'm not going to tell you that. You need to figure it out on your own. But seriously? You are in love with him. Get used to it." She laughed as Rory stuck her tongue out at her. "Yeah, you're still in love with him, only now you're acting like you're twelve."

"I am still in love with him, aren't I?" Rory sighed and dropped her head back into her hands. "Crap. Crap"

Lane couldn't keep from laughing. "Oh, the joys of true love," she mused as she patted Rory's arm comfortingly. "Come on, let's get you a cup of coffee and I'll show you the latest selection of toys Zach bought the boys for Christmas that they really don't need."

"I'm home!" Rory called as she walked into the house, shutting the door behind her. "Anyone else here?"

"Kitchen!" Lorelai called.

Rory kicked off her shoes and headed for the kitchen. "What's all this?" she asked, seeing at least half a dozen bakery boxes stacked on the kitchen table. She stepped closer "Mozzicato's?" She looked up again.

Lorelai nodded. "They were delivered this morning. My guess is they're from Logan."

"What makes you say that?"

Lorelai held up an envelope. "The fact that this card says to Rory from Logan." Her voice was high-pitched as she spoke the last few words. "Something you want to tell Mommy about last night?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about?" Rory lifted the lid off of one of the boxes and selected a cookie.

"He sent me my own box of cookies," Lorelai stated. "Let me read you the note he sent me." She made a big production of clearing her throat. "Lorelai, thanks for the advice last night. You'll be happy to know, I knocked it out of the park." She looked up pointedly at Rory who promptly choked on her cookie. "Want to explain?"

"Not really," Rory sputtered as she wiped at her eyes. "We had a good time," she said lightly, avoiding Lorelai's eyes.

"Uh-huh. I bet." She shifted her gaze to the cookies that covered the table. "He knows his cookies, I'll give him that."

"Mmhmm." Rory popped another one into her mouth as she opened up the envelope addressed to her. She choked again as she read the note inside.

"Here's to making next time count! For what it's worth, you're definitely as sweet as I remembered."

"You okay there?" Lorelai patted her back until she stopped coughing.

"Fine," Rory gasped, stuffing the note into her pocket before Lorelai could ask to see it. She felt her cheeks flaming and turned to the kitchen sink to get some water and to avoid the look her mother was giving her. "Just swallowed the wrong way."

"Hate when that happens," Lorelai said with a smirk. She leaned back in her chair and watched her daughter. "You look happy," she said carefully.

"I am happy," she agreed. She turned back and faced her. "Does that surprise you?"

"No," Lorelai said honestly. "It doesn't at all." She sighed. "Stop looking at me like that, I'm trying here, Rory."

"I don't know what you want me to say," she admitted. "Yes, I'm happy, I love having Logan back around." She shrugged. "I do, I know you don't like it, but it's the truth."

"Do you love him?"

That question was following her all over today. "Mom."

"No, it's a perfectly valid question I think," Lorelai continued. "You said that you love having him back around, so I need to ask. Do you love him, or do you love all of the dinners, the games, and the gifts more?" She held up another cookie pointedly.

"I don't think I like your implications," Rory said, trying to keep her voice calm.

"And I don't think I like your answer." Lorelai paused. "Rory, what are you doing? You can't jerk this poor guy around if you have no intentions of giving him the answer he wants. It's not fair to you, and it's really not fair to him."

"I must have missed you switching to Team Logan."

"Yeah, I'm not thrilled to be there either," Lorelai retorted. "You still haven't said it, you know. You haven't said you loved him and not the effort he's putting into this."

Rory's head snapped up. She was still reeling from her admission to Lane earlier and she did not want a repeat with her mother, of all people. "Yes, I am enjoying the effort, as you call it, that Logan is putting into this. There's nothing wrong with that. He loves doing these things, he always has. In case you hadn't noticed, they're designed for me to enjoy them." Lorelai opened her mouth but Rory continued on. "However, that does not mean I am using Logan in any way, or that I don't get the meaning behind each and every single gesture he has brought forth. I know that he's doing everything that he can to get me back, of course I know that. He says he loves me still, and I do believe him. But maybe," She gave her mother a pointed look. "Just maybe I happen to love him back. Maybe I never stopped. But I'm not going to put it in the air in skywriting until I know it's an absolute fact, and believe me, he will be the first to know."

Lorelai sat in silence for a minute. "Then tell him," she said quietly. "Tell him now before it's too late, because take it from me, if you wait too much longer, he's going to turn around and walk away again."

"Which is what you're waiting for, isn't it?" Rory challenged.

"No," Lorelai shot back. "Rory, come on. We both know that I'm not Logan's biggest fan, but so what?" She smiled. "You, on the other hand, well, I'm always going to be your biggest fan. You can't get rid of me. And I want you to be happy, that's all I've ever wanted for you." She shrugged. "So, I don't get to pick who or what makes you happy, I guess I can be okay with that."

Rory looked at her doubtfully. "You can be?"

Lorelai nodded dutifully. "I can be." She held up a cookie and mock-toasted it against the one in Rory's hand. "What is it about the guys we love bribing us with sweets?"

Rory laughed. "They know us well," she agreed. Her phone rang and she looked down at the screen, "Speaking of." She grinned. "Excuse me." She grabbed another cookie and headed for the living room. "Hello?"

"Hey." His voice was warm and she found herself smiling. "Did the cookies arrive?"

"They did," she confirmed. "Very wise move, sending my mom her own box."

He laughed. "I knew if I didn't, you'd fight over the others. So... did you get the note?"

She giggled. Crap, she giggled. "I did, and almost choked to death as I read it, Logan! What if my mom had opened that envelope? What if Luke had seen it?"

"Another reason why Lorelai got her own box." Logan chuckled. "But I meant every line of that note." He lowered his voice. "Especially the part about sweetening you up still."

She tossed a look over her shoulder to make sure her mother wasn't within earshot. "And here I thought I was sweet enough," she flirted. "There were no complaints last night that I remember."

"Believe me Ace, there's nothing about last night I could complain about." He tried to stifle a yawn but Rory caught it anyway.

"Tired out?" she teased lightly.

"You have no idea. Dad had me on the phone at five-thirty this morning. I've been on the go ever since, and he's scheduled two more meetings for this afternoon," Logan admitted. "But don't worry about it. It's Friday night, I definitely have date plans for the two of us."

Rory frowned slightly. She instantly felt guilty for how much time of his she was consuming when he was dealing with work at the same time. "Logan, you're going to be exhausted. We don't have to--"

"We do," he said quickly. "I want to see you tonight, Rory. I've got it all planned."

Her brow knitted at his words and she thought back to the conversation she just had with Lorelai. "Are they plans that can be canceled? Or at least, postponed?"

"What? Why?" Logan's voice was sharp. "You don't want to go out?"

"Calm down," she said sweetly. "I'm not saying that. I'd very much like to see you tonight too."

"Don't scare a guy like that." He paused. "I guess the plans could be canceled, why?"

"I got tonight," she said simply. "Leave it to me."

"Oh you got tonight, do you?" he teased.

"Well I probably won't have any family members help me like someone else does," she said dryly. 'But I've planned my fair share of dates too, don't forget. Just don't expect anything as fancy as say, jet-setting off to Majorca for dinner."

"Damn it, those were my plans." Logan laughed with her. "Okay, so they weren't, but all right Ace. I leave tonight up to you."

"Great. When you're done with work, swing on out this way."

"You're not picking me up? What kind of date are you?"

"A cheap one, if I listen to anything you have to say."

"So true," he said admiringly. He yawned again.

"Are you sure?" she asked suddenly, again feeling guilty over his work. "If you need to work late, I get it. I really do."

"Rory, it's Friday night," he insisted, but he yawned again. "I'm spending it with my girl."

"Okay." She found herself smiling over his use of pronouns. She really was an easy mark for him. "Then I will see you when you get here. I hope the rest of the day is a bit easier for you."

"It will be now that I have something to look forward to."

"Wow, you're full of lines today. I like it."

"That's the point. I'll see you tonight."

"Bye." She set the phone down and grabbed a notepad and pen of the table and began scribbling away. She didn't have much time to pull this off, but it had to be perfect.

So Lorelai was concerned that she was only in this whole mess for the perks of being with Logan. Admittedly, she was enjoying the lengths he was going to, but she also knew there was so much more to it than that. She was however, worried that Lorelai had a point and that Logan would begin to wonder about her intentions. Crap. She paused in her writing and stared out the window. Did she really have intentions? She chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully and tapped the pen against the paper. Slowly, a smile teased at her lips as she fully realized just how far into this she was.

She wasn't going to worry about that just yet though, not that it was really something to worry about. She had other things to worry about, starting with the preparations for tonight.

"Mom?" she called into the kitchen. "You and Luke are going out tonight, right?"


It was nearly nine-thirty that evening before Rory heard Logan's car pull into the yard. A quick glance around showed Rory that everything was in place, and she was at the door and opening it before Logan could even knock.

She smiled sympathetically and raised a hand to the cheek of the figure leaning against the door frame. "You look like crap," she said softly. His clothes were a wrinkled mess, she could see dark circles under his eyes, and his usually perfectly styled hair was anything but. He looked exhausted.

"Huh. It's nice to see you too." He was still leaning against the door.

She smiled again. "Come on in," she said, reaching for his arm and peeling him from the door. "Guess your day didn't get much better after we talked, huh?"

"Not really," he admitted. He looked up at her quickly. "But I wanted to be here. I want to be here."

"I know." She slid his coat from his body, kneading her fingers into his shoulders as she did. He shuddered under her ministrations and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Are you seducing me in the hallway?"

She laughed. "No," she confessed. "Just trying to relax you."

"By all means, keep going." He stopped talking, enjoying the feel of her hands on him. "Are you sure you're not trying to seduce me?" He caught her hands and turned to face her. "It's so hard to tell sometimes."

She rolled her eyes. "You wish." Pulling him into the living room, she showed him all that she had set up, which really, wasn't that much at all.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "A movie night?"

"A Logan night," she corrected sweetly. She laughed at the look on his face. "You've been working so hard," she explained. "And while it's fun, staying out all hours of the night with me isn't exactly doing you any favors."

"So a night in with you will?" His hands settled on her hips and he pulled her closer. "Still sounds like seduction to me."

She allowed him to kiss her for a few seconds and then pulled her head back. "Nope, not seduction. Relaxation is the word of the night." She smiled again. "We have season one of The Office, the British version." He grinned appreciatively. "And as you can see, an assortment of your favorite junk food." She swept her arm out toward the coffee table full of carefully placed snacks. "And, while scotch doesn't go with Skittles and popcorn, thank God, there is a fridge full of your favorite imported beer." She dragged him into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to prove it. "See?"

Logan inspected the fridge and then turned to smile at her. "Well, you've thought of almost everything, haven't you?"

She scoffed. "Almost? There's no almost here, I have thought of everything. I remember our Logan nights very well, thank you very much." And she did. They hadn't happened very often, but especially once Logan had begun working more and more with his father, Rory had quickly learned the ways of getting his mind off of work when he needed rest.

"Oh really?" he challenged. "You're missing one very important thing. Logan nights are always done in pajamas"

She handed him a beer and jerked her head toward the stairway. "Go upstairs and shower. You'll find your precious casual wear up there."

"Go shower?" he repeated with a smirk. "Now I know you're trying to seduce me."

"Stop!" She laughed. "I told you, you look like crap. A shower is exactly what you need to pick you back up and get you ready for tonight." She tried to dodge him but he grabbed at her waist again.

"Will you be joining me in said shower? That would be a nice pick me up too." He backed her up against the corner and kissed her again. "I like this, you know."

"Like what?"

"This." He kissed the side of her neck. "Being able to kiss you and not worry you're going to freak out." He kissed her again. "You're not freaking out, are you?"

"I'm not freaking out," she said softly. She leaned forward and kissed him once more. "Now go. Shower. Come back down all relaxed and ready for tonight."

"You sure you won't join me?"

"Go!" She pushed him toward the stairs.

"I liked you better when you were seducing me," he called over his shoulder as he headed up the stairs. She just laughed and headed into her room to change into her own pajamas.

Twenty minutes later she was about to knock on the bathroom door when it swung open and Logan emerged, freshly showered with slightly damp hair. He grinned. "I knew it! If I had just waited five more minutes you totally would have been in that shower with me."

She scoffed. "Hardly. I was just coming to see if you needed another beer." She smiled sweetly and held the bottle out to him. "And to see if you'd fallen asleep in there."

"Yeah sure." He backed her up against the wall and ducked his head to kiss her. "You just wanted to see me naked and wet in the shower. Can't blame you for that though."

Rory let her eyes close and enjoyed his assault on her lips. For a couple of seconds she did let herself picture him naked in the shower. Reluctantly she pressed her hands to his chest and pushed him away. "As fun as this is, we should really--"

"No," he interrupted her. "There's nothing more fun than this. Trust me."

She shrugged and grabbed the beer from his hand and took a drink. "If you say so, but I was going to say we could move this party down to the couch, but you're right." She gave him a bored look over her shoulder. "Standing in the hallway is so much better."

Logan watched her walk down the stairs, unabashedly enjoying the view. He always did love her in leggings and a tank top. Pushing himself from the wall he followed her back down into the living room and stole his beer back from her. "Get your own," he said mildly as he took a long draw from the bottle. Grabbing a handful of popcorn from one of the nearby bowls he arranged himself comfortably on the couch and beckoned for her to join him. "Okay, let's see what Tim and Gareth are up to." He felt himself relaxing considerably as Rory leaned into his side. She had been right, this was exactly what he had needed after the day he had. Halfway through the first episode he turned to her and kissed her temple. "Thanks," he said gruffly.

She smiled and reached up to feed him a few pieces of popcorn. "You're welcome." She rolled her eyes upward as he caught the tips of her fingers in mouth and bit down lightly. "One-track mind," she admonished lightly.

He nodded but released her fingers. "I hadn't realized how much I'd missed you," he said seriously. "These last few years, I didn't know it. I should have, but I never let myself think about it. So yeah." He gestured between them. "This is nice. I'm going to take advantage of it while I can." He leaned forward to claim her mouth again. "For as long as you let me." He took her little sigh as permission and leaned her back against the cushions, the television forgotten and the bowl of popcorn sliding from her lap and onto the floor. They both chuckled against each other at the crash but neither moved from the embrace.

Neither pulled away as the front door opened and closed either, and through her haze, Rory dimly heard her mother's voice from the hallway.

"There's a boy's car in the driveway and I'm betting you didn't think Mommy and Daddy would be home this early!" she yelled. Rory tried to untangle herself from Logan. "I'm counting to three really loudly and then we're coming in!"

Logan finally became aware of what was going on and he too, tried to separate himself from Rory. The overstuffed couch cushions and their current entanglement proved to make this more difficult than they anticipated, and he was just pulling himself off of her as Lorelai and Luke walked into the room.

"Seriously? I counted to three," Lorelai complained.

"Should have made it five," Rory quipped, running a hand through her hair. She heard Logan snicker behind her. "What are you guys doing home? I thought it was date night for you two."

"We tried," Lorelai said with a pointed look at her husband. "But someone here couldn't take Ethiopian night at Al's."

"It's not that I couldn't take it, I didn't want to," Luke huffed. "There's a difference."

Lorelai sighed. "And then, Kirk was running late to Black, White, and Read and no one else could run the freaking projector because he has a bicycle lock on it and we couldn't figure out the combination." She shrugged "So, date night was effectively ruined until I thought, hey, pizza and a movie, classic combo," She eyed the scene before her. "Great minds think alike, huh?" She turned to Luke again and mocked wiping a tear from her eye. "Right down to the making out on the couch. Like mother, like daughter." She frowned at Logan. "You look like crap," she stated simply.

Logan snorted. "You girls sure know how to bruise an ego."

"I'm just saying. You look tired." She gave him a pointed stare. "Unless we're too late, and she's already worn you out for the night?"

"Lorelai!" Luke waved his hand at her. "I don't want to hear about that."

"Hear about what, Luke?" Lorelai asked innocently. "About your stepdaughter being defiled on your couch?"

"Hey!" Rory made a face at her mother. "I wasn't being defiled on the couch!"

"She really wasn't," Logan interjected. "However, if you had given us maybe three or four minutes."

"Not helping!" Rory hissed.

Now Lorelai grimaced. "I really don't need the image that's in my head right now, thanks."

"You asked for it," Luke pointed out. Logan couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I don't really need to remind the two of you about what I walked in on in here two weeks ago," Rory reminded her parents, enjoying the fact that they both squirmed at that.

"Okay, new topic!" Lorelai said, clapping her hands. She looked from the couple on the couch, to the television, back to Luke. "Okay, this is awkward," she admitted finally. "How do we do this? I guess we could go upstairs?" she suggested to Luke, knowing full well he was going to throw a fit at the idea of pizza in bed.

"What movie did you get?" Logan asked, casting a glance at Rory. "I mean, it's not like we haven't seen this show a dozen times already."

Rory lifted an eyebrow at what he was proposing. The last double date she had been on with her mom and Luke had been a disaster, and she wasn't looking forward to a repeat of that. "Or we can, um..."

"The new Terminator," Luke interjected. Lorelai and Rory both rolled their eyes.

"Really?" Rory asked her mother in disbelief. "You let him get that?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I thought we were eating Ethiopian, I was doing my part to make him happy." She glared at Luke. "Then he backed out on Al's."

"Smart man," Logan snickered. He turned to Rory again "No really, I'm up for some Terminator if you are." He glanced up at Lorelai and Luke. "What do you guys say?"

"Sounds like a plan," Lorelai said finally. Rory nodded her agreement. "Okay." She set the pizza down on the coffee table and then turned back to the two of them. "Off the couch you two," she said with a jerk of her thumb.

"What? Why?" Rory shook her head. "We were here first!"

"Yes I see that." Lorelai kicked at the overturned popcorn bowl. "I call the couch. I'm the mommy, I said so."

"I'm the mommy shouldn't work when I'm almost thirty," Rory grumbled as Logan helped her up from the couch.

"And yet it does," Lorelai smiled triumphantly.

Logan just grinned as he pulled Rory across the room to the loveseat. "Look at it this way," he placated as he sat down and wrapped her in his arms again. "Smaller couch, less room, more reason to cuddle."

Lorelai's eyebrow knitted as she listened to the two of them. "That's a really good point. Okay I change my mind," she pouted. "I want the loveseat."

"Take the couch, Lorelai," Luke said as he came back into the room with plates and drinks.

"Fine." She made a big production of plopping down on the couch but then turned back to Rory and Logan."No funny business over there, I've got my eye on the two of you." She pointed to her eyes and then back at them.

"Sorry about this," Rory whispered to Logan as the movie started. He just shook his head and pulled her closer to him.

"It's good," he whispered back. He grinned and looked over the top of her head back at Lorelai. "Hey Lorelai, maybe you can help me out with something here?"

"I better not hear something dirty coming out of your mouth next." Rory couldn't help but giggle at the embarrassed sound coming from Luke.

"What's Rory's favorite Christmas movie?"

Lorelai burst out laughing. "Seriously? That's an easy one, it's--"

"Miracle on 34th Street!" Rory interrupted quickly. She shot a pleading glance at her mother, who kept laughing.

"Right. Miracle on 34th Street," Lorelai parroted even as she shook her head emphatically in the negative.

"Come on!" Logan protested. "It's not like I'm going to break up with you over your choice in holiday films."

"You might," Lorelai said dryly. She shrugged at Rory. "I'm just saying, it's an awful movie, kid."

"What is it?" Logan pleaded.

"As far as you're concerned, it's Miracle on 34th Street," Rory said firmly. She nodded toward the television. "Shouldn't we be focusing our attention on this masterpiece of a film?"

Logan snuck another glance at Lorelai who just shrugged her shoulders and held up her hands, as if to say her hands were tied in the situation. "A hint?"

Lorelai scrunched her face up. "Sequel," was all she said before Rory threw a pillow at her.

"Sequel," he repeated. "Well that narrowed it down considerably. "I'll figure this out yet, Ace," he said confidently. He folded her into his arms again and the four of them turned their attention to the movie at last.

"Poor Marcus," Lorelai said several hours later.

"Poor Marcus," Rory agreed. "I think I like Christian Bale better as Batman though."

"Oh absolutely, Batman is way cooler," Lorelai agreed. She looked down and saw that Luke was asleep on her shoulder. Then she looked over and saw Logan was asleep with his head in Rory's lap. She smirked. "Guess neither of them were very fond of the movie," she said dryly.

Rory looked down at Logan and ran her hand over his head lightly. "He's had a rough week," she admitted quietly. "His dad's been running him all over the place. It's why we didn't go out tonight. I knew he'd be too tired."

Lorelai nodded. She stared at her daughter for a moment and sighed. "Hey kid," she whispered, so as not to wake either of their sleeping men.

"Hmm?"

"You look happy."

Rory tilted her head to the side and thought about the statement. "I am," she said finally.

Lorelai nodded too. "Good." With a stretch, she gently shook Luke awake. "Come on, Burger Boy, let's get you into bed." She had him standing and was walking him toward the staircase before he was fully awake. He mumbled something about leaving Rory and Logan alone in the living room and Lorelai just smirked and rolled her eyes at Rory. "Trust me, Babe, they're not doing anything but sleeping tonight. Come on, up we go." She looked at Rory once more over her shoulder. "Night Rory."

"Night mom." Rory waited until she heard the click of the bedroom door upstairs before turning her attention back to Logan. As much as she hated to wake him, her legs were beginning to ache and she needed to stretch them out. She ran her fingers over his back lightly. "Logan," she murmured quietly, trying to rouse him. "Logan, come on, let's go to bed."

"I knew it," he muttered, his voice still laced with sleep as he turned and looked up at her. "I knew you were trying to seduce me."

She smiled and bent down to kiss his forehead. "Yes, my whole plan was to wait until my mom was in the room directly above mine, to get you into my bed, and have my way with you. You know me so well." She was still whispering.

Logan shot up from her lap, his eyes wide awake now. "I have to go. What time is it? Shit, I have meetings all morning."

"On a Saturday?"

"Yes," he said grimly. He tried to stand up but Rory held him down, a frown on her face. "Rory, I've got to go."

"No," she said simply. She was still frowning. "It's late, and you're exhausted. I'm not letting you drive. You're coming to bed. You can leave for your meetings in the morning after you've had a good night's sleep."

"You really think I'm going to want to sleep if I'm in bed with you?" He gave her a look. "I'm tired, but I'm not dead."

"Sleep," she instructed. She got up and held out her hand. She sighed. "Logan, I'm not letting you drive home so you can either sleep right here on the couch or you can come to bed with me. I'm sorry but those are your only choices right now.

"I forgot how bossy you could be," Logan grumbled, at the same time taking her hand and leading her into the bedroom.

"You like me bossy." She busied herself with pulling the blankets back and making sure there were enough pillows, anything to keep herself from fixating on the fact that she had willingly just invited Logan into her bed.

"What's this?" Logan asked. She glanced behind her and cursed inwardly. Clearly, she hadn't thought this through or she would have Logan-proofed her room before letting him in.

"Oh that?" She shrugged as she pulled her hair up into a pony-tail and sat down on the bed. "It's just mistletoe."

"Just mistletoe?"

"Fine, from London," she said defensively. "I kept it, you know that."

Logan raised his eyebrow at her but said nothing as he inspected the dried leaves. "Do you think it still works?" He climbed next to her on the bed and held the mistletoe out to her.

"Still works?" She eyed him suspiciously but didn't move as he inched closer to her. She rolled her eyes as he held the sprig above their heads. She shook her head slowly. "No way. You're exhausted, remember? We're going to sleep." She didn't pull away as he leaned closer. "It's late," she whispered.

"Hey, I don't make the rules of mistletoe," he said with a shrug. "And you're the one who left it out."

"Fine." She leaned forward and pecked him on the lips, snagging the mistletoe from his hands and putting it back on the nightstand at the same time. "Now go to sleep!" she ordered lightly. She leaned over him purposefully and switched off the lamp.

"Tease," he growled, trapping her in his arms and rolling her underneath him. They were both laughing as he pressed her deeper into the mattress and kissed her. Several slow and languid kisses later, Logan rolled off of her again and pulled her into his chest. "Night Ace."

"Now who's the tease?" she muttered, but she was still smiling. Within minutes she heard Logan's breathing even out and not long after that, she found herself being lulled to sleep by the sound of his heartbeat.


The insistent ringing of a cell phone jolted Rory from her sleep. She reached blindly toward the table next to her bed, trying to find the offending object. "Hello?" she mumbled after she had finally located it and brought it to her ear. She glanced down at Logan and couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was still sound asleep, not having moved once at the interruption.

"Logan?"

She winced at the barking tone on the other end of the phone. "Not Logan," she said before she could stop herself. She looked at the phone and swore quietly. It hadn't been her phone ringing. She recognized the voice though. "Mitchum?"

"Yes Mitchum," he snapped. He paused. "Rory?"

"It's quarter to six, Mitchum," she pointed out.

"I'm aware of the time. However, I didn't expect you to answer my son's phone at this time." Rory winced. "Where's Logan?"

"Asleep."

"Wake him."

"No. It's quarter to six, on a Saturday," she pointed out again. "With all due respect, you've been working him to death."

"Clearly not, if he still has the time to be with you."

"He's exhausted!" Rory snapped, fighting to keep her voice a whisper. "He's trying to so hard, and taking everything you're throwing at him, and as far as I can tell, he's doing it all without a single complaint. Are you trying to break him? Are you purposely trying to make him hate working for you?"

Mitchum sighed. "I'm sure he's told you, we are in a hell of a crisis here. Like it or not, he is a part of it. He chose to work for me Rory, I didn't make him."

"Then cut him some slack," she pleaded gently. "At least let him have a couple hours of sleep this morning still."

MItchum contemplated her words. "Make sure he's at the office by nine," he said gruffly.

"Eleven," she countered.

"Ten."

"Deal."

Mitchum laughed in spite of himself. "Go back to sleep yourself, Rory. Ten o'clock. Don't make me regret this." He disconnected the phone call and only then did Rory realize what she had just done. Not only had she stood up to the great almighty Mitchum Huntzberger, but she had basically just begged Logan's daddy to give him time off. That wasn't going to go well. At all. She set the phone back down on the table and flopped back down on the mattress. Logan still didn't open his eyes, just muttered incoherently before turning on his side and wrapping one arm around her again. She let herself relax into him again and as sleep once again overcame her she decided to worry about the fallout of the phone call when the sun came up, and not one minute before.

It was just after eight when Logan finally stirred. He sprung up out of bed, disoriented at his surroundings. Finally, it registered that he was in Rory's bedroom. She wasn't in bed, and from the sounds coming from the other room, he assumed her to be in the kitchen. He glanced at the clock and swore. He was late. Picking up his cell phone, he was shocked to see there weren't any missed calls from his dad. Taking a resolute breath, he dialed the office and prepared himself for his father's tirade.

"Good morning, Son!" Mitchum's voice boomed over the phone. "I take it you slept well?"

Logan blinked. "I did," he said cautiously. "I just wanted to call and let you know I'd be in soon. I'm sorry, I didn't realize how late it was and--"

"I told your girlfriend to make sure you were in at ten." Mitchum paused. "You haven't talked to her yet?"

"My girlfrien--" Logan sighed. "You talked to Rory?"

"I did when I called at six this morning. She's quite good at putting me in my place, that girl. I have been working you hard, Logan, I know that. If you can't handle it though, how about you come talk to me instead of having her do your dirty work for you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She simply told me how exhausted you've been. Frankly, I'm pissed off that you couldn't come to me yourself with that information."

"Dad, I'm fine."

"Rory doesn't seem to think so."

"Rory should have kept her mouth shut!" Mitchum chuckled, irritating Logan even more. "What?"

"How does it feel Logan? To have someone interfere with your life when you don't want them to?" Mitchum laughed again. "Maybe you'll remember that the next time you try to interfere with hers?" He let his words hang in the air for a minute. "Don't mess this one up, Logan. Not again. Oh, and while I have you on the phone I may as well tell you we'll be spending the better part of the week in New York City. Be ready to leave tonight."

"Dad, New York?" he protested. "We were just there."

"And now we're going back." Mitchum laughed. "Logan, bring the girl along," he prodded. "Yeah, your ass is mine during the days, but I sure as hell don't care what you do on your nights. I'll see you at ten." He hung up the phone and left Logan staring at Rory's bedroom wall.

"Good morning!" Rory smiled brightly at him as he came out into the kitchen. She held out a coffee mug. "I was just about to come wake you up. How did you sleep?"

"What did you tell my dad?" he demanded, setting the coffee cup down.

Her shoulders deflated slightly, but she looked him dead in the eye. "The truth," she said simply. "I told him you were tired, and that letting you sleep in a couple of hours this morning wasn't that big of a deal in the scheme of things. He happened to agree."

"It wasn't your place, Rory."

Her eyes darkened but she held her ground. "No? Well, too damn bad. I meant what I told him, and I was right." She shrugged. "I'm the one who has to deal with the fact that now your dad thinks we're sleeping together!"

Logan laughed. "He already knew about that."

"What?"

He sighed. "Not that we're sleeping together, but that you're back around. You knew he knew. Hell, my whole family knows, Rory, it's not like Honor can keep a secret. But that's neither here nor there, my dad couldn't care less that you answered my phone for me." He took a drink from his coffee. "But you still shouldn't have done that."

"Well too bad," she said defiantly. She shrugged. "I got you a couple hours of sleep, the least you could do is thank me."

"By undermining me to my dad?"

"I'm sorry, is there a thank you, Rory anywhere in this tirade or not?"

"You want a thank you?" Logan laughed. "Would you have thanked me if you had known I went to my dad to get you a job?"

Lorelai was two steps into the kitchen at this declaration and immediately backed out without a word, deciding it would be wise to get her coffee from Luke's this particular morning.

"You what?"

"Relax, he's not going to do it."

"Well of course he's not going to do it!" Rory cried. "Your dad hates me, Logan, he thinks I suck as a writer, why on Earth would he get me a job? Why would you do that?"

"No!" Logan sighed and set his coffee down. He walked over to her and took the mug from her own hands, setting it on the counter. "He would have gotten you a job, any job you wanted, that's not the point. The point is, he made me see what a bad idea it was, me going to him without your consent. He knew you wouldn't take a job that way. He knew you'd be furious at me for going to him and not telling you anything about it."

She didn't meet his eyes. "And so what you're saying is that me asking your dad to let you have a couple of extra hours of sleep is the same as you running to him to get me a job?"

He shrugged. "In the grand scheme of things, yes."

She grabbed her coffee mug back and took a sip. "I forgot how cranky you can be in the morning," she commented. Finally, she met his eyes with her own. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," he said, settling a hand on her hip. "And thank you. For last night, and for this morning." He drew her closer. He pressed his forehead to hers. "I've got to go to New York again," he admitted. "Sounds like it'll be for most of the week."

"Oh."

He nodded against her. "If you can pack your bags quick enough, you can come with," he offered. "We leave tonight. Think about it, Ace, an impromptu mini-vacation in the City? We can hit all of our old favorite restaurants, do some shopping..."

Rory sighed and contemplated the offer. As tempting as a few days in New York with Logan sounded, she knew it would involve more gifts, fancy dinners, and probably a dress or two. And while she enjoyed all of those things very much, she couldn't get Lorelai's words from yesterday out of her head. "I can't," she said reluctantly, pulling away from Logan.

He frowned. "You can't? Sure you can. Why can't you?"

"I..." She didn't know how she could explain it to him. "I shouldn't," she said finally.

Logan stared at her for a second before finishing the rest of his coffee. "Okay," he said with a shrug. "Well, I need to get going if I'm going to be in Hartford on time this morning. I guess I'll call you when I'm in New York?"

She blinked back her surprise at how easily he was letting this go and quickly nodded. "Sounds good," she said, not entirely recognizing her own voice. She plastered a smile on her face and leaned forward to kiss him briefly. "Have a good day, and a good trip."

"I will, thanks." He leaned in again and kissed her once more. "Bye, Rory." He grabbed his things and was out the door, leaving Rory completely bewildered as to what had just happened.

Ten minutes later she had her answer, in the form of a text message.

"A car will be there to pick you up at seven tonight if you change your mind. Please change your mind."

She shook her head and poured another cup of coffee before grabbing a pen and a pad of paper from one of the cupboards. This wasn't a decision she was going to make lightly, oh no.

She needed the help of a good old fashioned pro-con list.