A/N: I don't own GG.

Barnum and Bailey Have an Empty Cage

"I look like Eliza Lanchester," Lorelai complained. She'd been on the phone with Rory for a while.

"That would make Luke Boris Karloff," Rory pointed out. "And, I should mention that it's not as if you two have never gone out on a date before. It's just the movies."

"The movies with Luke," Lorelai stated.

"If it makes you feel better, know that modern movie theaters are dark, so even if you do look like Eliza, Luke, or as we now call him, Boris, probably won't even notice," Rory suggested.

"I can feel the love from here. I'm so glad that I can come to you in my time of need," Lorelai deadpanned.

"I can't talk to you when you're being crazy. I indulge you and send you on your way."

"So, you left early on Tuesday. Lane said you didn't even hear the end of the band's song. They sounded great," Lorelai said, broaching the subject she'd wanted to talk about since Tuesday.

"Yeah, I wanted to stay, and do the whole post-set groupie thing, but there was this thing and then I walked home and drove back to Yale," Rory said evasively.

"Well, sure if there was a thing."

"Mom!"

"What? You've been in a funk since the end of May, babe. Did something happen?"

"By something, you mean someone?"

"Is that yes?"

"If you must know, yes. Dean showed, we talked, we fought, he kissed me, I told him to leave. I came to Yale. End of story."

"Aw, hon," Lorelai began.

"Don't, mom. I'm fine."

"See, you've been saying that all summer, and all fall, and it's really beginning to lose all meaning. I want you to be able to talk to me. I don't like this wall that we've had recently, and I want to get rid of things in my life that I don't like."

"Basically, you're saying the wall needs to go?"

"Basically."

"I don't know what to say, mom. Dean is Dean, and he's married, and it's like he keeps forgetting. How do you forget something like being married? Why doesn't he listen when I say no? He popped out of the darkness, like a ghost, or a stalker. I just want it to go away," Rory rambled.

"This is just one of those things you're going to have to go through. It will get better, with time. You need to go through the pain, or the awkwardness. I'm sorry he keeps showing up and not listening to you. Are you sad that you said no? Do you wish you'd've said yes?"

"No! Saying yes would be bad, and lead to nowhere good. But each time he shows up, and he looks at me like that I doubt my resolve to say no, and I don't like that. I hate that he can do that to me. He lost the right to make me crazy and second guess girl two years ago. It was two years ago! Right? That should be enough time to move on…why didn't he move on? He got married, that's moving on…that's like the final curtain of moving on, but he didn't."

"Maybe that's not enough time, you're pretty memorable, my friend. And I wish I had some better answers for you, but my career as Dear Abby has long past."

"I know. And if you're still worried about the way you look, you could ask him to wear sunglasses."

"How will that help?"

"Dark theater, dark shades, practically a blind man."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Look, Logan, all I'm saying is that people are going to notice," Colin explained for the thousandth time.

"No one is going to notice," Logan responded, suddenly very tired of the conversation. The same conversation they'd been having all week.

"Several gorgeous blondes have thrown themselves at you, and you ignore them," Colin continued as if Logan hadn't said anything.

"I always ignore them. They're all the same. It's not like they care. It's a very apathetic relationship. They want me for the status, and I want them, well I'm not sure want is the right adjective – "

"LOGAN!" Colin couldn't take it anymore. "You've clearly been around Rory too much, you're beginning to rant like her."

"It is too early for this conversation," a groggy Finn said as he ambled into the living room. "And the yelling needs to wait for at least two more minutes."

"Two minutes?" Logan asked.

"I need a drink first," Finn said as he walked over to the bar.

"Ah."

"Now," Finn said as he took a sip, "what are we yelling about at this ungodly hour of the day."

"It's noon," Colin stated.

"Colin, we're done with this conversation," Logan said.

"No, I know you don't want to talk about it, but you don't get to be," Colin paused, "Hugh Heffner with Rory."

"Hugh Heffner? I'm not dating Rory. And, even if I was, this would not be your business," Logan argued.

"Uh, yeah it would be," Finn interjected. "Love is a part of all of us. You're not the only one who cares about her. We can't afford for you to mess this up."

"You both are nuts! Rory is her own person, capable of making up her own mind. If she doesn't want – "

"No," Colin interrupted with a shake of his head. "Rory is as oblivious to the situation as you are. Neither of you can be trusted where the other is concerned. We are talking because we care."

"Okay, Oprah," Logan snarked. "We're done here."

Logan stormed out of his room. He needed to get away from the crazy. His friends were insane, they should be committed. So what if he enjoyed being around her, so did they. Obviously. It appeared that they enjoyed being around her more than they did him. They were clearly attached to her, more so than he was, of course. It wasn't as though he was unaware of how unsuitable he was for Rory. If anything, he was all too aware. She was so far out of his league, she might as well be another country. She was beautiful and intelligent and completely deserving of a normal, stable boyfriend. He was neither normal nor stable. Although the thought of her with someone else made his stomach clench in an uncomfortable way, he knew he would simply have to settle for being her friend. Colin and Finn had nothing to worry about. They were overreacting because nothing could ever happen between him and Rory. And if nothing happened, then he wouldn't be able to hurt her.

"How do you know Logan?" Doyle demanded.

Rory looked up from her computer. She'd been trying to find a new angle on the whole illegal music downloading, but pretty much decided it was a pointless article that ultimately no one would care about.

"I know Logan. He came to Paris' wake. His parents know my grandparents," Rory answered.

"No, that's not what I mean. You know Logan. He and his friends swept you out of here the other day. That's not the kind of attention Logan Huntzberger gives to some girl who just happens to be the granddaughter of some of his parent's friends. You know him, and I want to know how," Doyle demanded.

"God, why does it matter?" Rory asked.

"Look, Logan comes into the paper just to make me sweat, and he succeeds. The only person who has actually caused me to perspire faster than Logan is his father. I need Logan to write articles so that his father doesn't descend upon this office and cause me to ruin yet another shirt," Doyle pleaded.

"What does me knowing Logan have to do with your perspiration? And might I suggest getting a better deodorant?"

"I've tried every deodorant on the isle. I bugged my doctor to find new ones, that will dry my pits more than the Sahara, but he won't take my calls anymore."

"Doyle!"

"What?"

"I really don't need to know about your hygiene. You were talking about Logan."

"Right, Logan. I need you to get him to write articles," Doyle blurted.

"Am I supposed to make him an offer he can't refuse?" Rory joked.

"Whatever it takes."

"Doyle!"

"Gilmore, I am your editor. I will use my editorial powers to my advantage if you do not help me."

"Fine, Doyle, alright? I'll talk to him, but that's it. I'm not going to threaten or beat him to write an article for you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

After her encounter with Doyle, Rory felt the overwhelming urge to shower, buy new deodorant and get a coffee. Since the first two were impractical, she settled for a journey to the coffee cart.

"Large double caramel macchiato," Rory ordered.

"Four-seventy-five," the coffee provided said.

Rory reached for her purse, only to find it not there. "Damn."

"Trouble, Ace?"

Surprised, Rory spun around. "Logan!"

"I didn't mean to startle you there," Logan said, a smile playing on his lips.

"You didn't startle me," Rory lied.

"Of course not, Ace."

"There's a line," the coffee guy interjected.

"Yes, there is," Logan observed. "I'd like large coffee, and whatever the lady ordered."

"Logan, you don't need to buy my coffee," Rory said.

"Well, Ace, without a purse, I'm not sure how you plan to pay the man for the coffee," Logan reasoned.

"I could…barter," Rory offered.

Logan laughed. "I do believe the barter system has expired."

"Well in that case, thank you. I had a desperate need for coffee," Rory said.

"More desperate than the constant desire you have for it during your waking hours?" Logan asked.

Rory rolled her eyes at Logan's smirk. "Doyle."

"Ah. That kind of need. What did Doyle do to cause such desperation?"'

"Well, that's the thing. He kinda pulled a Godfather on me, and now I have this thing that I need to do, but I really don't want to because it's awkward, and like an abuse of power, but I'm not part of All the King's Men so I'm not sure how to impose my will upon others. I'm not made for positions of authority. And Doyle is very good at using his power of authority as editor to get me to agree to things that I don't want to do, and aren't my job to do because I'm not the editor, or Hitler, which Doyle is not, but his audition is going pretty well. The mustache isn't coming in very fast, but the producers say that's okay because makeup can take care of that for him – "

"Ace, Ace, Ace," Logan interjected, "breathe. What did Doyle want you to do? And I'm guessing it has something to do with me."

"You?"

"Doyle wouldn't have cornered you and played Hitler for any other reason. His pores practically ooze whenever I walk into the newsroom," Logan answered.

Rory looked at the ground. "He wanted me to talk to you about writing articles for the paper. Something about his deodorant, and your dad and you causing his doctor no longer returning his calls."

"Seems I accomplished quite a bit with my impromptu visit," Logan said.

"I thought it was some journalistic siren call that lured you back to the Yale Daily News," Rory told him.

Logan smirked. He did love when she was quick with a comeback for him. It was refreshing to have intelligent conversations with women. "It was an impromptu siren."

"Ah, of course. How could I have forgotten about those."

"So Doyle sent you to get me to write articles for him?"

"No, not for him."

Logan raised an eyebrow at Rory. He watched as she nervously took a drink of coffee and bit her bottom lip.

"It would be for the greater good, for the journalistic integrity of the Yale Daily News. It would be for you, and you earning your place on the paper and proving to Doyle that he kept your desk free for a good reason, and – I'm out."

"I'm impressed with the list, Ace. But tell Doyle to not worry about it, I'll send some articles in, no reason for his hypertension to spike this early in the semester."

"Really?" Rory asked, amazed and happy.

Logan looked down at the smile on Rory's face. He'd never tire of seeing that look on her face. His earlier conversation with Colin and Finn came rushing back to him. He was finding ways to spend time with her, he was looking for ways to make her smile, he was offering to write articles for Doyle simply because she asked him to…none of these were typical Logan Huntzberger behaviors. He shouldn't be doing any of it. He needed to get some space from Rory. Tonight was the beginning of a weekend with the boys, the semester kick-off event. Time to sort through his thoughts and to figure out what to do about Rory.

"Yeah, Ace."

"Thanks Logan," Rory said. "Look, I've gotta go work out my article, but I appreciate the coffee."

"Anytime," Logan said as he walked away. After about ten steps, he allowed himself to realize how hard it was for him to let her go off on her own…without him.

Rory spent the rest of the day talking to different internet geeks on campus about music downloading. The more she heard about music downloading, the more she realized she didn't care about music downloading, legal or illegal. More to the point, if she didn't care, she was pretty sure that no one else would care either. The down point to this discovery was that she had nothing for her article. She walked out of the building, and found the ladies room. Needing the wake up, she splashed water on her face.

"Focus, Gilmore," she scolded herself. "You can find an article."

"Oops," a girl, wearing a gorilla mask said as she bumped into Rory.

Eyes wide, Rory took in the whole package. The blonde was wearing a full ball gown and a gorilla mask; it was like nothing Rory had ever seen.

"Didn't see you there," she continued. "Shhhh."

Rory watched as the girl stumbled out of the bathroom. It took her about ten seconds to realize she just allowed a potential story to walk away from her. She quickly followed the girl outside and watched as she entered a black SUV.

"In Omnia Paratus!" the girl slurred as a suit covered arm practically yanked her into the SUV.

Rory stood there, watching the SUV drive away knowing that she'd found her story. Now all she needed to figure out was what her story was about.

Two chapters in one day...it's a bribe, it's true. Christmas craziness is about to kick off, so updates might not be as religious as they have been, but finals didn't stop my muse, so maybe Christmas won't either. Anyway, let me know what you think!