Author's Note:

Here's all of Chapter 7! Hope you enjoy it!

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Okay, I can play it cool. Just stick to the plan and everything will work out. I had to repeat that to myself as I treaded back to the front door of The Gilmore's "summer home," and back to confront Rory. I stood there for nearly ten minutes going over the details that Logan and I had worked out.

After the meeting at the coffee shop I drove Logan back to Steph's place so we could clue the group in on Logan's "revelation" about his feelings for Rory. Colin and Stephanie were elated, I think partly because they were tired of being known as "the couple" in the group, Jon was supportive of his friend and went to the kitchen to get supplies for a champagne toast, Parker was still cautious and, while happy for Logan, he kept his distance in the opposite corner of the room (if you ask me, I think he's torn between his friendship with Logan and the small feelings he had started to develop for Rory), and Finn was…wait, where was Finn? Oh yeah, it was only 2:00, Finn wouldn't have been up until 3:30 or 4. I smiled at the memory of the day I'd had so far, drew in a deep breath, and cautiously sauntered through the door. Now all we had to do was get Rory on board…

"Rory, I'm back! Sorry I took so long, I found this great little café and spent the whole afternoon there!" Okay, it wasn't the whole truth, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. I couldn't worry about the little details. I needed to get to work on "Phase 1" of the plan. "Rory? Where are you?" I had a feeling I'd find Rory exactly where I'd left her, so I went up to my room to change into an outfit that would be more appropriate for the rest of the day. When I came back down, I headed straight for the library. There was a surprise; Rory sitting in the armchair with her nose stuffed in a book.

"Rory? Hello? Have you been abducted and replaced with a drone or what?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? And when did you get back? I'm starving! Did you happen to get a pizza? I could really go for some pepperoni right now. You wore that to the grocery store?"

Oh no! With all the scheming going on, I had totally forgotten that my mission was to go to the store. Don't screw this up, think quick! "Geeze…You've been a totally space cadet lately, I've been back for nearly half an hour! I drove to the store and then found that café, and that's when I decided I was no longer going to support your incarceration here. I just changed, and I am expecting you to do the same.

"We (that means you, Rory, and myself) are going out to dinner. Nothing fancy, just something to help insure our survival; mine through feeding my appetite, and yours because if we don't get out of this house tonight, I am going to throw you into the ocean and forget about this entire vacation. 'Rory who'?"

Finally! A genuine smile broke out on her face. I hadn't seen that in days. "Well, for your information, I am a fantastic swimmer. If you're going to off me, you'd better be more creative than that! Although, if you're expecting me to wear shoes like those," she pointed at my feet, "you may be better at torture than I thought…"

"I don't know what you're talking about… These are my 'sensible' heels." We both had a chuckle. Rory thought anything above one inch was asking for the wrong kind of attention. The first time I met Lorelai she told me that Rory wasn't always so conservative. She said Rory had boxes of beautiful shoes and an entire closet of great dresses back in Stars Hollow. My only guess for her new taste in clothing was that she was trying to keep attention away from herself since her unfortunate breakup with Logan (and she would probably be even worse after the events from three days ago!) "Please tell me I don't have to pick out your outfit for you. We are on vacation here, so no cardigans!"

Rory rolled her eyes and shut the copy of Moby Dickshe had been reading and got out of the chair. (I knew she was lying about reading a book she had never gotten a chance to read! Her and I had discussed or referenced Moby Dick on numerous occasions.) She looked at me, her blue eyes nervous, and she nodded, agreeing to our dinner. "Since I don't have time to hire a personal dresser, you will have to do." She took me by the arm and led me to the closet in her room.

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Rory was almost completely ready when I decided that the second part of "Phase 1" should be discussed. Rory spoke before I could begin, "Are these earrings to hippie? I don't know if I can pull off the hoop-thing."

"Hmm…try these." I handed her a simple tear-drop shaped set. "Rory?"

"Uh oh…you look guilty. Why do you look guilty?"

Everyone always told me I was easy to read…great! I thought of something to cover it up, "No, not guilty exactly, it's just, a thought came to my mind and I wasn't sure if I was 'allowed' to think it…"

"Well, you have my attention. What's up?"

"It's nothing bad or anything, just an idea really…The other day, during our 'talk'," (she knew which "talk" I meant; the one where she poured her heart out about the years she was with Logan from how they met, both times, to his leaving her on her graduation day), "you mentioned that the only regret you had was losing touch with the friends you'd made while you were with…uh…"

"Logan… You can say his name. I mean, gosh Hester Prynne, I hope you were at least on a first-name-basis before you let him seduce you." Did she just make a joke? A joke about my sex life with her ex-boyfriend? I stole a quick glance over to her. Her face showed comedy, her eyes confirmed tragedy. "Don't look at me like that. It was funny! And the only way I'm going to wrap my mind around it is if we joke about it. It's that, or Jerry Springer."

"Well, Springer's out. You aren't my mom or sister and I am pretty sure Logan wasn't a cross-dressing stripper so…Do I have to actually have to wear the 'A' or can we just let this one go?" We smiled, and Rory let out a deep breath. "So…back to my question…I was wondering if you thought maybe we could give Stephanie a call. I'm sure she's dying to see you, and she doesn't have to tell anyone she will be with us. Maybe she could sneak off or make up some excuse to get away from all the guys? If you wanted to see her, that is."

Rory weighed the option for a short time and then looked almost hopeful. "That would be really great, but I definitely think she can't tell the guys that she is with you, or me. They're bound to sneak up on us if they find out, and I am not ready for that confrontation…Make the call. I will finish getting ready, and she can meet us somewhere. Where did you want to go anyway?"

"Hm, I didn't give it much though actually," thank God I wasn't facing her anymore, or she would have seen right through that lie. "Steph will probably know some place. I'll go call her." I moved out the door, probably a bit too eager, but Rory didn't notice. I dialed Stephanie right away. She must have been waiting next to her phone.

Hello? Jace? How did it go?

"Hey, 'Phase 1' is underway."

That's great! Did you have to push her at all? She can be so stubborn sometimes.

"Not at all! It was really easy, actually. I think she really wants to see you. Just make sure Logan doesn't get impatient and ruin the night. This is crucial!" She silently agreed and I paused before speaking again, "Are we doing the right thing here? Meddling- Isn't there a horrible saying about people who meddle in the lives of others?"

Relax. We aren't going to push her. We're just going to test the waters tonight. If she is really over everything from their past, we will find out. If she is still harboring feelings for Logan, we will know that too. Wasn't all this your idea to begin with?

"Yeah, I just don't want to make this harder for her than it is. She started making jokes about my 'indiscretion' with Logan today. It was weird. She tried to play it off like it was 'so funny' that we both slept with the same guy…maybe I'm not ready for this…I still feel horrible about the whole thing."

She really made a joke about it? Was she really okay or was she just trying to make the situation more comfortable? Rory is good at deflecting things.

"Yeah, it definitely seemed more like a deflection to me. Okay, freak-out over. So we'll see you at the-"

"Jace, did you get a hold of her? Is she coming?" Rory was walking down the hall, dressed and ready for a girl's night out.

"Oh okay Steph, great idea!"

Rory's back huh?

"Uh-huh, yep. Alright then. 'The Black Dog Tavern' it is. Remember, it's just us girls. Bye now!" I hung up the phone with my heart rate slightly elevated. We were all counting on this night's success in order for the plan to work. "Okay, let's get going! I hear this place is always packed. I hope we can get a table!" Of course we could…Steph had already made the reservation. "Ready?"

"Yeah, as ready as I will ever be I suppose. I hope she isn't mad at me for cutting off communication. I just thought it would be best. I didn't want to cause friction between her and…Logan." I was sure of it then, his name was still hard for her to say without having an emotional breakdown.

"Hey, you don't need to explain that to me. You can fill her in as soon as we get there, but I have a feeling that you are already forgiven." We walked out the door and into the black Mercedes I had arranged to pick us up.

"Hey Tom," Rory greeted the driver with a truly happy smile.

He nodded, "Miss Gilmore, Miss Sheridan. Where can I take you?"

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The evening was going great, just as planned. The three of us made jokes and told stories all through dinner, dessert and drinks. Rory begged Stephanie to forgive her. Steph assured Rory that there was no wrongdoing, except on Logan's behalf. We had been here for hours and I had definitely lost count of how many rounds we'd had so far. Time to get back to the plan, I thought while watching a group of guys send drinks our way.

"Rory, I have to ask you something, and I'm just going to be blunt about it…" Alcohol prevented me from using regular protocol when bringing up her ex-boyfriend.

"Give her hell, Jace," was Stephanie's only reply.

"Rory, why didn't you go after Logan? You loved him, why didn't you fight for him?"

"Geesh, you weren't kidding! Where did that come from?" The drinks from our admirers had arrived and I downed mine immediately giving the guys a polite smile as gratitude.

"I just wanted to know, now answer the question!"

"I don't know. I was just tired of fighting for us, ya know? The odds had been against us right from the beginning when I somehow got the king of casual relationships to commit. When he proposed like that, in front of all those people, I just knew that he was looking for a way out. He knew that, out of any place in the world, my grandparent's house was not the proper place. Why would I want to fight for that?"

Steph chimed in then, "You're out of your mind! There is no man on the planet that loves a woman as much as Logan loves you. He was afraid the new job he had lined up would scare you off. San Francisco is a bit different than Stars Hollow. He was scared and losing sight of you and the only solution was to bind himself to you however he could."

"Well that's a stupid reason to spring an impromptu proposal on a girl in front of one hundred people. He should have just told me! If we had talked about it or if he had even mentioned the idea of marriage in any serious connotation before the sneak attack, we would still be together now! Hell, we'd probably be living a happily married life in San Francisco eating nothing but avocados." Rory lost her composure then and rested her chin on her hand with a few tears sliding down her flushed cheeks. "Everything is so messed up. Why did he have to be here the same time I was? As soon as I was finally ready to consider letting the pain go, he walks back in…well, storms back into my life! I don't want to love him anymore, it's just too much! I can't take this! He has clearly gotten over me," she gestured in my direction and went back to crying. Ouch. I am definitely not prepared enough to face the firing squad…Tonight was not about me, it was about Rory. I held back the tears that immediately began to well up at her statement and forced a stern look onto my face.

"Rory," Steph and I said her name simultaneously. Steph played the comforting part by putting an arm around Rory's shoulder and pulling her into a half-hug, and I played the "forever prying" friend. Here we go, "Guys don't know how to get over a relationship anymore than we do! There's no science to it. Most guys feel that they have to 'get back out there' to get over someone. Time certainly hasn't helped you, and I sincerely doubt that Logan's actions helped him. Part of me wonders if he only was interested in me because my name is so close to 'Ace'," the scary part was that I really did think that. "Rory, thinking about Logan doesn't have to be painful! You have already admitted how you feel about him. You love him Rory. Face the facts and realize that there are definitely forces out there that wanted to give 'The Logan and Rory Saga' another chance!

"She's not far off here Rory, "Steph added. "Logan has been so torn up. This vacation is the first time any of us have seen Logan since he left for San Francisco. Colin and Finn played 'The Friend Card' on him and practically forced him to come. We don't hear from him more than once in a week, he goes to work and comes home, and repeats the steps six days a week, if not seven. Without you Rory, Logan doesn't really know how to be happy. He needs you. We all do."

Steph's words seemed to resonate around Rory's mind, but she wasn't speaking. I needed to push her further. "Rory, just come out with it! You're miserable, and heartbroken. You don't want to let Logan go because you know you want another chance to make it work. Say the words! Doesn't he mean the world to you now just like he did before?"

She tried to choose her words carefully, but they came out as more of a stutter, "I…He…it's just…ugh! Yes, okay? Yes! I don't want to stop loving him! I love him completely! But that doesn't help me at all seeing as he was the one who wanted to end everything we had. He issued the ultimatum, he walked away from me, and he stayed away from me…What else is there to do besides love him from a distance?"

Little did she know? We had all that taken care of…Phase 1? COMPLETE.

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Author's Note:

Okay, that's Chapter 7. Please leave me some feedback! I love getting critiqued. It only helps me better serve all of you! Thanks!