Here's a early Valentine's Day present for me. Logan is going to play the Lorelai because he says a lot of her lines in this chapter.

A week later Rory sat in the new Dragonfly Inn's dining room and currently was enjoying Sookie's delicious food. While she was eating she tried to find a way to tell her mother that she wanted to go home to talk to Logan. He was supposed to come in about a half an hour. Rory was nervous. She knew Lorelai liked Logan, but on the other hand she didn't want her mother to get the impression that she was leaving her on an evening that she had longed twenty years for. From the corner of the eye she saw Lorelai coming to her table and stiffened.

"Hi Mom, how is it going?" Rory asked and hoped that her mother didn't notice how uncomfortable she felt.

"Well, we locked the kitchen crew in with Michel for twenty minutes, and it backfired a little..." she smiled a little pained. "Six of them quit, and now we have to start hiring again tomorrow." She ran a hand through her still too long hair and sighed. "When you're done, would you run home and grab some CDs? I totally forgot to have them in case one of the guests wants to play something in their room."

"Sure, no problem" Rory said and smiled reassuringly at her mother. And then she took the chance. "Is it okay if I stay at home a little longer?" she asked and tried to sound as casual as possible. "Logan's coming over."

"Of course, honey" Lorelai replied a little absentmindedly, then smirked. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Rory sighed in relief. Then she noticed someone in the living room. "Hey, you did notice that Jason's sitting in the other room, right?"

"Yeah, I'm handling it" Lorelai said exasperatedly and by the way she looked around Rory could tell that her mother was in work mode again.

"Okay." Rory nodded, then finished up her dinner and got up from the table.

Rory took a deep breath before she left the Inn, slightly worried about her oncoming encounter. Truth be told, she was scared and nervous about seeing Logan again.

Rory decided to start out on her CD errand, so she would have something to do with her time before Logan came. When she heard a knock on the back door she felt her heart skip a beat, but when she opened up she was surprised to see Dean. It had been a few weeks since they had seen each other.

"How'd you know I was here and not the Dragonfly?" she asked surprised instead of a proper greeting.

"Your mom said she sent you on an errand." Dean explained and smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, you went right to the source." Rory joked and they both chuckled.

"Can I –" Dean asked shyly and he gestured towards inside.

"Sure." Having a familiar face to talk to would be a good distraction, Rory figured.

"Thanks." Dean stated as he entered the Crap Shack.

"I'm just trying to find some CDs for the Dragonfly." Rory explained as she led Dean into her room.

"I hear Taylor's a big hip-hop fan." Dean joked.

Rory laughed, "Oh, he hops with the hippest of them. "

"Your room looks the same." Dean remarked when they entered Rory's room.

Rory laughed. "Yeah, I tried that whole French revival thing, but it didn't really work for me."

Dean nervously added. "So, um, is it weird being back at home after being away for a while?"

"No, it feels completely normal." Rory said and eyed him suspiciously. She wondered why Dean was nervously rambling, but she sure hoped he would stop it because it was making her strangely uncomfortable.

"So, um Rory as I have been spending time with you lately, it reminded me of all the good times we had when were together." Dean rambled.

"I have been feeling the same way." She too had been longing to go back to when they were together before Jess had moved into town.

"Don't you wish you could go back?" Dean asked.

"Yeah... I definitely would have done things differently" Rory honestly answered.

Dean started to move closer and for a minute Rory got a whiff of his familiar aftershave. For a brief second Rory wanted to lean in, just to feel a taste of familiarity. However, then she remembered that he was married. So she pulled back. "Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Lindsay."

"It's not working with Lindsay. I can't make it work. I've tried." Dean said in a melancholic tone.

"Are you sure? Because I've heard that the first two years of marriage are the hardest."

"We're not happy. She's not happy, and I can't make her happy." Dean said in almost frustration and Rory's heart broke for him. They were still friends, after all.

"I can't imagine that." After all Dean was a pretty good guy – at least he had been able to make her happy.

"It was a mistake, and I know that now. From the very beginning, it wasn't –" Dean now knew that he should not have married Lindsey, when he was on the rebound from Rory.

"Wasn't what?"

"It wasn't..." Dean was struggling with what words to describe to Rory about his situation.

"Maybe you could, um, go see a counselor or go away together" Rory suggested. Suddenly she found it very hard to think clearly.

"No, it's just... it's over. We both feel it. I know we both feel it."

"You and Lindsay?"

"Yeah, me and Lindsay."

"You both feel it's over?" Rory stated wanting to make sure that things were really at an end before anything would happen between them.

"I tried. We tried." Dean stated exasperatedly.

"Well, if it's over... I'm sorry you're not happy."

"I'll be happy again. Things happen for a reason, right?" Dean stated as he moved closer to her.

"Right. I can't believe this is... that we're..." Rory said as Dean leaned in to close the gap between them.

And then they kissed.

Logan was stunned to see through her window Rory and Dean kissing as he was walking towards the door of Rory house. How could she kiss her married Ex? He thought it was him, Logan, whom she liked. Not Dean. Plus, Dean was married. Didn't Rory care that her actions were breaking up a marriage? Apparently Rory was not the person who he thought she was. This was a side of her he didn't recognize. Defeated, Logan turned around and walked back to his car. He needed to think about how he was going to approach this situation.

In the first few seconds after Dean had kissed her, Rory was felt like she was sixteen again. Lively she remembered the sweetness of his kisses she had felt back then – but that's all it was; nostalgia and sweetness. There was none of the passionate and lust that she had felt when she had been with Logan. And it wasn't just the lust she missed it; it was the feeling that when she was kissing Logan that it felt just right and that she wanted more and more. Rory did not feel that way with Dean. She realized that the only person she wanted, the only person she wanted to kiss was Logan. It would be dishonest and horrible to keep kissing someone else. Rory wasn't that kind of girl.

As Dean started to deepen the kiss Rory pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked.

"I can't do this" Rory said quietly, but still looked straight into his eyes. "My heart belongs to someone else. I can't lead you on again like…" She remembered how she had strung him along for months, when she had started to like Jess; she didn't have it in her to do this again. Back then, it had almost broken Dean. She couldn't put him through this again.

Dean stared at her blankly but then it hit him. "Oh, it's the guy that Maria brought to the party, isn't it?" Dean remarked bitterly. He had heard rumors about them last spring.

"Yeah" Rory said, and when Dean looked at her unbelieving, she added "he's different around me, you know." Although she wished she was different enough for Logan to commit to her – and only her.

Dean didn't know, but then again he was glad that Rory had told him the truth. Of course he was sad that things with his high school dream girl were over, but he knew that if he would cling on to her, he would only get hurt.

"Well he's a lucky guy." He gave her a genuine smile and then turned to leave. "I better go now. I really hope you'll find your happiness, Rory."

"I hope you'll be happy, too." Rory and smiled. She really hoped Dean and Lindsay would work things out.

"I will try to be…"

Rory quietly led Dean to the front door of the Crap Shack. When he stepped out he turned back to Rory and smiled. "Rory, I think the person who will make you happy is in your driveway." And then he left.

Rory's heart skipped a beat when she saw Logan's silver porsche. "Thanks Dean" Rory almost whispered, then rushed to Logan's car.

Logan had crushed every spare can or water bottle that was in his car. He couldn't believe Rory. He didn't want to believe Rory actually had feelings for Dean after assuring him last year that everything between them was over. Still, if she had feelings for him it was still wrong that she was hurting someone else out of loneliness.

He suddenly heard a knock on his windshield and when he looked up he was surprised to see Rory. Alone. Logan opened the door for her and Rory took that as an invitation to sit right next to him. "Hey, I didn't notice you there. I have been so busy with everything…" she started to ramble. God, she was nervous.

"Yeah, I saw how busy you were…" Logan couldn't help it.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Rory asked surprised at how angry Logan was at her.

"I saw you kiss your married Ex! What were you thinking Rory?" Logan said in anger.

Rory allowed herself to hate herself for kissing Dean only one second, but then anger took over her. It was none of Logan's business whom she kissed or not. "Look, it was a moment of weakness, but Dean and I..." She really didn't want to explain the situation to him.

"He's married!" Logan shouted, not able to control himself.

"You don't understand the situation." Rory made a weak attempt to explain herself. She really hated the way Logan was making her feel like an immoral girl.

"Is he still married?" Logan asked in a way that made it sound like Rory was five years old.

"Yes, but –"

"Then I understand the situation."

"It's not working out between them. They're not happy." Rory said trying to defend her actions.

"Oh, Rory." Logan shook his head as he felt his anger flow away. Instead exhaustion took over.

"He tried the best he could, but it didn't work. It's over." She hated the way Logan was looking at her like a dumb fool.

Logan sighed. "He told you that?"

"Yes."

"He told you he's leaving her?" He didn't look at her.

"Well –" She now had a weird feeling that Logan was right. Rory was worried if he was because then it meant that she almost made a big mistake tonight.

"He told you he's moving out, they're getting divorced, he's got a lawyer, they've divided up the monster-truck season tickets?" Logan took a deep breath as he felt his anger coming up again. He couldn't remember the last time he had been that angry at a girl.

"We didn't get around to discuss everything." Rory defended herself.

"You didn't get around to discussing everything!" Logan shouted. "You, of all people – the girl who thinks everything through, the list maker – you didn't bother to discuss those things before you swapped spit with a married guy?"

Now Rory was starting to get mad because Logan was telling her things she never thought about. "Logan, it is none of your business who I kiss. You of all people who slept with a million sluts on a boat! I kissed Dean because I wanted to be with someone I could trust unlike…."

"Unlike me" Logan said clearly hurt. "You trust a married guy more than you trust me. That's rich, Rory."

"Logan, I trust you as a friend. I just don't know if I could trust as a boyfriend. And that doesn't matter because you're not my boyfriend."

"So you go and kiss Dean because you can't have me?" Logan looked at her unbelieving. "You shouldn't settle for that" he said partly in anger and partly ashamed of himself.

"The world does not revolve around you!" Rory hissed. "I missed being in high school, after a year of college when I couldn't connect to anyone. Dean represented my old life but when I kissed him there was no spark and I ended it. Not that it's any of your business."

"It is my business, when one of my best friends is in a relationship that could ruin her life." Logan stated.

Rory softened and then felt a sense of shame. "Well, I am not with Dean. Therefore, please stop making me feel like a fool." Rory felt so angry and ashamed, but mostly at herself. She didn't want Logan to see that he was right. Although she was pretty sure that he knew he was.

"I need to go inside…" Rory said quietly, the exited the car.

Logan did the same and started to follow her. "Rory I'm sorry," he called out. "I just care."

"I know Logan" she said and sent him a soft smile that not quite reached her eyes. "I just need some time to myself…" Then she slowly walked away.

Logan sighed. He wanted to follow her but he was afraid that would push her away. He hoped that next time he was going to admit his feelings there would be no Ex getting in the way.

I bet you're all breathing a sigh of relief. Did you really think I would let Rory sleep with Dean?