Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or the characters mentioned in this story that are also mentioned on the show.
(It All Comes Out)
As the night went on drinks were drunk, snacks were snacked on, and the five shared stories about their common link, Rory, while Logan had made himself quite comfortable with his arm resting on the back of Rory's chair.
It was beginning to get late, by normal standards, but Finn was just getting started. "Another round everyone?" He more announced than asked
Everyone, including Rory, nodded in agreement.
"Ror, these guys sure bring out a whole new Rory- the Party Rory! Staying up late, having multiple drinks! I'll take some time to get used to this side of you!" Kimberly exclaimed.
"Are you kidding me, Love? Our Reporter girl can party with the best of them! Hey Mates, remember the Male Yale party?" Finn laughed at the memory.
Colin and Logan nodded as Rory groaned at the memory of that night.
"Male Yale party?" Jill asked
"Yes, my dears, I'll enlighten you. It was long before these two" he gestured between Logan and Rory "began dating, but after the time they jumped off that scaffolding together. You see, Rory's grandmother got it in her head that Rory needed to have a good knowledge of the strapping young males, such as myself, that she went to school with at Yale; so Mrs. Gilmore threw Rory a Male Yale party. She invited all of the most eligible bachelors from Yale so they could meet her gorgeous granddaughter. This way Rory could choose which one of us she wanted to date. Colin, Logan, and I were all invited to this party, naturally. When we saw that our Love, over there, was having no fun being paraded in front of all of Hartford society, we convinced her to allow us to form a sub-party in the pool house—"
"Oh, I love sub-parties!" Jill shared very interested in Finn's story.
"Me too, my darling Jill, we should form one together sometime, if you know what I mean" he said with a playful wink in her general direction before he continued, "…Anyway, soon it was Rory with us three and a few of our good friends in the pool house having an all around good time sipping champagne and scotch and chatting the night away, until Ms. Rory remembered her boyfriend! She ran out of the pool house to meet him at the front door where he was waiting for her; and of course everyone from the pool house went with her. The lovely Ms. Gilmore couldn't date just anyone and, as her new friends, we had to make sure this bloke was good enough for our best girl.
Well, that boyfriend of hers got one look at her adorned with quite a few rather large diamonds and about 15 men watching from the doorway and the stupid man…well, let's just say that he left alone that night. So, we brought Rory back to the pool house to cheer her up. We all had much more to drink and we saw how our good little darling had no problem having a fantastic sub-party while I performed my rendition of the 'Passion of the Christ.'"
"Ok. That was a weird night, my boyfriend had broken up with me, I was not happy about being paraded around like a piece of meat and I was just getting to know you guys. That's not how I really act" Rory defended.
"I don't know, Rory." Colin said as an unsure smile crept over Rory's lips, "Sure, that night we partied to cheer you up, but you planned one hell of a party for Logan before he left for London. That was all your doing and it was a great party."
"I told you then, Ace, and I'll tell you now, that was the best party I've ever been to." Logan agreed
"Tell us about this party!" Jill demanded.
"Rory and Logan had been together for about a year and a half when Logan got orders from his father to leave for London the day after his graduation from Yale" Rory and Logan both shifted in their seats subconsciously and sighed audibly remembering that time in their relationship where they dreaded their separation. The other four noticed the change in demeanor in their two friends, but Colin went on with the story, "…and he was not looking forward to it, as you can imagine. Rory, being the good girlfriend she was, wanted her man to have a good last night in town. She invited all of his friends to their apartment and planned for everything at the party to go along with a British theme. People dressed up in costumes as people from England. You know, the Queen, the Beatles, Elton John, etc; and the whole apartment was decked out in British flags- even the snacks and drinks went along with the theme. Everyone had a great time and Logan got a really good send off."
Remembering that night and as sad she had been to see Logan go, she had a lot of fun planning something that she knew he would appreciate so much. With an exasperated smile at Colin for telling such a biased story Rory elaborated on the planning for the party, "You guys helped a lot! It wasn't like I did everything. You made sure he thought the two of us were going to have a quiet night in and you kept him busy while he thought I was at my grandparents' house. And besides, I wanted Logan to try to see that going to London would be ok. I thought that if he had good memories that he could associate with all things London it would be easier for him…and we all know that Logan loves a good party anyway. It was his night and I wanted to make it perfect for him." Rory explained thinking she had good reasons for knowing how to throw a good party to counter Colin and Logan's claims.
Finn cut in to reply to Rory saying, "Yes, but you did all the work, my love. It was all you and you can't deny that you know how to throw a damn good party."
But before she could hear Finn's last comment Logan had already caught Rory's attention when his hot breath tickled her ear causing her to shiver. He leaned in to her after her explanation of the London party and whispered, "It was perfect. Thank you, Rory. That party made everything ok. You were an amazing girlfriend to me." When she heard his words she turned to look at him and their eyes met.
Meanwhile, Jill was shocked at Rory's previous party experiences, "Wow, Ror, now we can finally know the real you! I knew you weren't all work and no play!" she teased. "Maybe I shouldn't be the party planner of the group anymore!"
At hearing Jill say her name she tore her eyes away from Logan's that had held her attention and blinked. "What?" she asked cluelessly. Her friends smiled back at her and Jill repeated herself.
Rory felt herself blush at knowing they all knew Logan had distracted her, but she quickly recovered and replied, "No, Jill, you should still do it. It's really not my thing as much as these guys make it seem."
Jill stood up and grabbed Kimberly's arm, "Excuse us, we're going to the powder room" and pulled her friend away. Three steps later Jill turned back and "Rory!"
Rory stood up and rolled her eyes, "I guess that's my cue" and followed her friends.
After she joined her friends Colin asked Logan, "Hey man, how you doing? And what is going on with you and Rory tonight?"
"I'm doing well." But he couldn't suppress a wide grin. He was more than well. "…and I don't know. I hope something though. It does seem like something's going on, right?"
"Oh, definitely! And Mate, you, with her, here, things seem right again, you know?
"Yeah, I know. It feels really good to be with her again. We're going out for breakfast tomorrow to talk about things so I'll keep you posted."
"Good man, Logan. I like her friends too." Finn said with a smile.
"Yeah, they seem like they could really be fun to have around" Colin agreed.
Logan rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what they were thinking.
LLG + LEH
Jill and Kimberly dragged Rory off into a corner of the pub that the guys couldn't see from the table and huddled together.
"Ok, what the hell was that all about?" Rory asked annoyed at the cliché girly-ness her friends were exhibiting in forcing her away from the guys and making a collective trip to the 'bathroom' no less.
"We wanted to check on you. You seem to be having a good time, but it wouldn't kill you to smile a bit more. It's obvious that these three guys care about you, so give them something" Jill encouraged.
A light bulb went off in Kimberly's head, "Oh, no, she's overanalyzing the Logan situation!" she said as if that was the reason for her less than eager participation in the conversation at the table.
"I am not! Logan and I are meeting tomorrow morning to discuss things. Tonight is not the time to think about my relationship with Logan!"
"So, you have a relationship with Logan?" Kimberly dead panned.
"No! Well, I don't know. I haven't decided yet."
Jill loved this kind of gossip and couldn't resist, "What are you going to say tomorrow? Do you want to get back together with him? Rory, think of everything we've heard tonight! You have so many good memories with the guy. You have a really good time together, think about when you used to be together! Besides, it's obvious he's still really into you."
"You guys know I've missed him too- really missed him, but I don't know." Rory said wringing her hands, "He probably works so much and has to take business trips all the time, and I have never liked that kind of life. I want to work and do what I'm doing now and if I do start dating anyone, Logan or anyone else, I would want to have an actual relationship with him, not just an occasional phone call telling me he has to go out of town again. I won't sit at home and spend my time waiting for a man to get home." Rory took a long pause. "But, yeah, if we could work things out and get back on track, talk over the last couple of years and get to know each other again, I would like to give a relationship with Logan another try. I think we could be good together."
The two girls beamed at her for a moment.
"Ok" Kimberly finally said, "We should get back. They'll think we were talking about them or something!"
"Yeah, 'cause, Kim, I'm sure they have no idea" Rory said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
The girls came back to the table and reclaimed their seats. Rory noticed that her chair had moved a few inches closer to Logan's so that there was no space between them, and she shot him a knowing look but wasn't at all annoyed. Rory had even felt comfortable enough to stay relaxed when she and Logan would touch- which was often considering he rested his arm on her chair back and his fingers periodically ran up and down her opposite arm and shoulder. As the conversation at the table continued Rory and Logan would, every so often, comment to one another on a story being told to each other and their secret whispers and intimate looks escaped no one's notice.
Rory admitted it to herself; she loved it. With Logan so close she could smell his aftershave that she remembered so clearly and she could feel his breath on her cheek when he spoke to her. She was already getting lost in him…and she didn't mind at all. It felt good to be around him, to be close to him again. It was where she was supposed to be- she was certain.
Around midnight, after the gentleman paid for their drinks, the group walked out of the pub and to their cars. Colin, Finn, Jill, and Kimberly all made it very clear that they were going together just as they had arrived together at the beginning of the evening and their cars left the parking lot as soon as they could. None of them had any doubt that they would be seeing each other again soon because of the situation obviously resurfacing between Logan and Rory.
Logan shoved his hands into his pockets and walked quietly with Rory to her car. "Rory, I'm really glad that Jill and Finn ran into each other on the weekend."
"You keep saying my name, not 'Ace' very much."
A little surprised at her train of thought, he told her, "You will always be my Ace, but right now it's more serious."
"Oh."
When they arrived at her car he leaned against her driver's side car door to face her, effectively blocking her entrance until he deemed it time for her to leave. "Rory, I had a great time with you tonight."
Standing in front of him she replied, "Yeah, it was fun remembering old times huh?" she agreed and gave him small smile.
"Yeah, but it was even better with you sitting there next to me allowing me to touch you. God! Rory, I don't think I could have taken my hands off you even if I had wanted to. You draw me to you!"
Rory felt her heart begin to beat faster at his admission and was taken aback. She would need some time to thoroughly process the events of the evening before they had 'the talk'. "Hey, I thought we were going to talk about everything in the morning, over coffee, remember my need for coffee?"
He could sense she was trying to change the subject, only Rory would turn to coffee as the new topic. He chucked at her. "Yes, I do remember your need for coffee, I was just trying to tell you that I really enjoyed being around you tonight and I've missed this with you." He said emphasizing his words emphatically gesturing between himself and Rory. He paused and looked into her eyes, "You know, there has been no one since you."
Rory folded her arms in front of her chest. "No. I didn't know that. Well, I haven't dated anyone else either." She said it all too quickly as she looked down to the ground like it was nothing more than just another fact to share.
He smiled at this, taking it as a sort of encouragement; he decided to make a bold move. He took both of her hands in his and pulled her to him. He draped each of her hands around his neck and connected her smaller hands behind his neck so she held on to him before he joined his own behind her back. She allowed this contact between them, but she refused to meet his eyes. After a moment she pulled her hands down his chest where they rested flat against his heart as if she needed to touch him, but at the same time needed something between them.
For a long time she stared at her own hands pressed against him knowing that he was staring at her with the same intensity she gave her hands. When she looked up at him he could swear he saw tears in her eyes and, again, and she was chewing on the corner of her lip. "What's going to happen, Logan? We have something between us, but I've spent so much time trying to get over you and just when I thought I was doing well you came back not once, but twice, and did you come to Stars Hollow?"
Surprised that she knew he answered, "Uhh, yeah, I did." He admitted calmly with a shallow nod of his head. "Right after Christmas. I wanted to see you, but then I didn't know if I could give you everything you should have because of work and trying to figure things out on my own; so I thought better of it and drove on. How did you even find out?"
She dropped her gaze to her hands again, "Miss Patty saw your car and asked me about it." She admitted.
He wanted her to look at him! "C'mon, Rory, look at me." He coaxed her gently and it seemed to work. She lifted her eyes to his. He went on, "Listen, I don't know what's going to happen. I know that now I'm ready to try my hardest to give you everything you need. I know now that I have the time to do that, I sure as hell know I want you back, I know now that I was wrong to ask you to marry me like I did and to give you the ultimatum. I meant everything I said when I asked you, I just shouldn't have done it like that. You don't know how much I've regretted my words and actions that last day at Yale every single day since them." He felt himself going off on a tangent so He cut to the chase. "Rory, I want to be everything you need. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere, but it's up to you. I realize that I will have to spend a lot of time rebuilding up trust and reconnecting with you, but I want to do those things, I feel like I need to do those things with you and for you."
Rory stared at him intently and countered, "If this is the way you feel why didn't you come back for me after you talked to my mom?"
He blew a breath out and ran one hand through his hair before joining it with Rory's hand on his chest. He held her hand tight and locked eyes with her. He had to make her understand it was for the best at the time. "It's really complicated. I had just flown back to California to find you because that's where your mom told me you would be. I was looking for you at my office and at my home, calling hotels in the area and not finding anything when Honor called with the news about my dad being sick. I had to get home right away.
Then, when I got there everything happened with the publishing group and I got put in charge of that. It all happened so fast and then I realized that until I had a better handle on my responsibilities and an understanding of the amount of time I had to commit to work, I couldn't ask you to be a part of that. It wouldn't have been fair to you or to us. If you let me back into your life I want you to be a part of mine too. It wouldn't have been fair to ask you for a relationship then when all I could have offered you was a daily phone call and an occasional rushed lunch date. You deserve more than that, Rory. Don't get me wrong, I wanted you then, just as much as I do now, only now I have a much better understanding of what my job requires of me and I have learned to delegate and I hardly travel…and..." He smiled and rocked back once on his heels, excited to tell her about the changes he made at HPG after he took over. He gripped her a little tighter as his eyes smiled back at her.
"What? Tell me!" She genuinely smiled back at him in anticipation as she sensed his excitement.
He decided, right then, that he would never be able get over those huge beautiful blue eyes of hers.
"Well… right after I became the CEO I decided that I didn't want to be the same kind of CEO that Mitchum was. He was my father and I wanted to do a good job in honor of him, but I remembered someone else who managed the Yale Daily News with great poise and who respected those who worked for her and how good she was at working hard, but knowing when to quit and I took notes, Ror, I took notes" Her smile began to grow when she realized how proud she was of Logan because of his maturity in this- albeit a bit embarrassed at the praise he directed toward her "…and I made the necessary changes at HPG. I now model my company after the way you ran the news at Yale. Now there is less traveling for everyone, work is delegated, I trust my employees, and since everyone can breathe a little easier at HPG it runs more efficiently—the same amount of work gets done at a smaller cost and faster than it ever has before! All the changes I made were inspired by you. Like I said before, you amaze me, Rory."
His energy shifted, it became a little more focused on the moment between them. Suddenly it wasn't just about work any longer. "I had to make my life worthy of you before I could ask you to be in it again. It's taken a long time and many talks with Honor and the guys to figure things out, but I'm pretty sure that you could be proud of what I've got set up at work now." He finished with a heartfelt smile that mirrored her dreamy smile at him.
While he was talking about work and telling her of the impact she's had in his life and in his work neither of them realized that the space between them grew smaller and smaller. By the time he was finished talking the most natural thing for them to do was kiss.
Her hands hesitantly slid up his chest and around his neck as his lips crashed down onto hers that were anxiously waiting to receive him, his arms wrapped tight around her body and pulled her flush against him. Their mouths opened against each other and their tongues dueled in his mouth. She had missed the taste of his mouth for so long now and she relished it now.
Her lips were just as soft and perfect to kiss as he remembered. He breathed her in. He'd missed everything about her, the way she smelled, the way she tasted, her silky hair and smooth skin, she was intoxicating and he knew that she was his lifeline. At feeling her respond to their kiss against his body, their kiss only deepened. The passion they felt for each other was mutual, it always had been, it always would be. They were sure of that.
His hands touched everywhere he could touch; and hers kept busy too, roaming over the expanse of his chest and his back while their mouths continued to move against each other into positions of power and submission at the same time. They couldn't taste each other enough, they couldn't feel enough of each other, and they couldn't touch enough; it was like they were relearning and rememorizing everything in that moment.
They kissed out of a deep need for each other. What they had that night, in those moments was an exact illustration of what they had missed from their lives since Rory's graduation and they felt it. When he finally pulled his lips from hers she let out a small moan and he playfully licked and nipped her bottom lip in response. The pair stood there with their foreheads resting together, eyes locked, and panting happily from lack of oxygen which had led to both of them having clouded minds after that kiss- it was the exact definition of mind-numbing. It was wonderful. There was no way anyone could think straight after experiencing what they had just felt from each other. He smiled down at her and they both realized they were lucky he was leaning against the car and she was leaning against him because they would not have been able to stand on their own after a kiss like that.
"Logan—" She started, but Logan interrupted her.
"Shhh, Rory." The Desperation plain in his voice, he only pulled her more tightly to him.
They stood there in the parking lot for a long time holding each other like it was the first and last time they would ever be together.
He laid a hard kiss on top of her head which was buried in his chest and she looked up at him, "Logan, I've missed this, I've missed you so much; I don't think I could deal with parting from you again." She admitted
Her fears were put to rest in his reply, "I'm not going anywhere without you, Rory Gilmore. I've missed you too much; I won't give you up again…but, if we stay here too much longer, we won't have gone to bed by the time our coffee date comes around tomorrow. So, as long as you promise to meet me for coffee like we planned I'll let you go to bed."
"I'll be there, Logan." She said with a smile. He moved aside and she got into her car. She started the engine and with a final smile back at her he closed her door and began walking away from her car. After a few seconds she called out, "Logan!" and got out of her running car. He looked up just in time to see his Ace quickly moving toward him just in time to catch her as she launched herself into his arms. "I love you, Logan Huntzberger" she whispered into his chest.
As much as he knew she meant her words they still weren't a promise that they could be together again like they had been before. There was still much to work out, but he was going to give it everything he possibly could for the sake of her, for the sake of his sanity, and for the sake of them together. At that moment he needed nothing else.
"Oh, Rory." He said with the kind of desperation he felt in his voice when he's asked her to dance only a few months earlier, "I've missed hearing those words come out of your mouth. It sounds like Heaven. I love you too, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore. I never stopped loving you." he murmured into her hair as he smiled with relief.
She heard his words only held him tighter. She was safe, she was home in his arms. She knew her decision was made, she would be his again. Her decision was made hours before; she just didn't know it until that moment.
They stood there for a long time holding each other, never wanting that perfect moment to end. When they finally broke their hug she looked up at him. "Hey, where's your car?"
"I took a cab here. I was here on business before Colin and Finn got a hold of me, so I got around by Limo before tonight."
"I'll take you to your house. C'mon, Logan. You tell me how to get there" She said as she took his hand a pulled him toward her car.
As she pulled out of the parking lot he directed her to Colin's beach house. Each time he gave her a new direction she looked over at him and asked, "Are you sure?"
And each time he would answer, "Yes, I'm sure" with a bit of an exasperated but playful eye roll.
When she pulled onto the street where he was sure Colin's house was she drove very slowly in front of Jill's timeshare.
He spoke up, "It's that one there, three more houses on the right." Pointing to a house that was only four houses away from the one she was sharing with her friends. She pulled over and turned off her car. "Rory, it's up there."
"Yeah, I know, but you can walk from here." She said as she got out of the car.
"What's going on, are you coming in?" He thought it was a little soon for her to be going with him.
"No, that's ok. I think I'll just go in to bed and see you in the morning, oh, but do you want to me to pick you up since you don't have a car here?"
"Ummm…yeah, sure?" He replied looking at her puzzled.
She smiled, she loved to confuse him. She walked over to him and pulled him into a hug and said, "Ok, I'll enlighten you now."
"That would be good" he said with a smirk as he kissed her cheek.
"Jill, Kimberly, and I are staying here for the week." She said pointing to the house behind them.
He looked at where she was pointing, "That house, right there?"
"Yup!" Rory looked at him cheerfully.
Smirking like only Logan could, he commented, "Well…this is a nice surprise. So all day you were literally just a few feet from me and we didn't know it?"
"It looks that way, Huntzberger!"
"Let me walk you to your door." He offered, liking how close she would be to him for the whole week. He took her hand and led her to the door.
They stood in front of the door and he turned to her, "Ace, I'm really glad we're here together. I look forward to coffee in the morning. I'll be here at eight to pick you up for our date. We're walking!"
"Walking! Logan, you know I don't exercise!"
Smiling at her obvious abhorrence to his idea he quelled the argument, "It's a short walk, you'll be fine. I'll be here at eight."
He pulled her into a hug and kissed her mouth sweetly. Just as her hands found his cheeks he pulled away smiling at her with a little glint in his eye. "Until tomorrow, Rory."
"Bye, Logan." she replied with a genuine smile back at him and went inside, closed the door and leaned back on it with a dreamy smile.
Jill and Kimberly heard the door close and raced from the living room to the foyer. Jill was the first to get anything out, "Ok you googly-eyed girl, spill EVERYTHING!"
They ushered her into the living room where she giggled and swooned over Logan with her friends well into the night.