Sorry it's been so long! I've been swamped.

I've gotten requests for more Rory/Logan scenes … from now on, I'll try to cut the superfluous scenes out … unless you guys start to miss them.

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8.10 "You Rip my Heart Right Out"

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Rory stood on the corner, arms folded, waiting for Jess to find his words. "Why don't you go back inside with your boyfriend?" he finally came up with, his words sharp and biting. He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked away from her.

"Jess …" Rory began to argue. She was at a loss for words, mostly because she had none with which to defend herself.

"So, what, is this it? He shows up and just like that, he gets his chance? His third chance." Jess forcefully ran his hand through his hair.

"Can you just … calm down, Jess?" she asked, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I know what you're thinking."

"That you're crazy?" he asked. "Rory, doesn't this all look a little suspicious to you? His father hires you, invites you to that stupid banquet, and all of a sudden Logan reappears? How many coincidences does he get before you realize you're being set up?"

"I know it all looks a little suspect-"

"A little?"

"Okay, a lot suspect," Rory continued. "But, Jess, whatever conspiring that's going on here, if there's any, I think it's all on the part of Mitchum. He came to see me today."

"Ah jeez, Ror. Let me get this straight. Somehow you and Logan met up last night – and I really don't want to know what for – you go into work today, on a Saturday, and Mitchum shows up? You're a smart girl, Rory, but sometimes that head of yours can't see which way is up."

Rory wanted to be angry with Jess, but she knew that his words were purely out of love and concern. "Can you just let me figure things out first before you jump down his throat?"

Jess wore a pained look on his face; the prospect of being polite to Logan Huntzberger not wearing well on him. "I'll do my best." He gave Rory a half-hearted hug before turning to leave, hands in his pockets, abandoning all hope of making it to the art show today.

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Logan stood frozen in the kitchen, unsure of whether to leave or not. He wanted to believe that Rory was going to come back, that the last look that she sent his way meant that he should stay, maybe even that he belonged there. As much as he and Jess didn't get along, he owed it to that guy. It pained him to hear about how he'd broken Rory after he left. He always thought that he was the one who needed her more, and that her refusal to marry him proved it.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in her smell. Following his nose, he found himself in her bedroom, where he'd spent the night with her. Something wasn't right. He should be ecstatic, over the moon about Rory calling him. But he could see the doubt in her eyes, they way she curled in a ball away from his touch last night.

He heard the door to her apartment open, but he remained frozen in his spot in her bedroom. The sounds of her footsteps approached from behind him. "Should I go?" he asked. With no response, he finally turned to look her in the eye. "Ace?"

"I don't know," she admitted, honestly.

"Is Jess-"

"He left."

She didn't answer the question that he was going to ask, but he decided to drop the subject. "We should talk."

Rory nodded. She remained silent for a moment, then opened her mouth to speak. Thinking better of it, she closed her mouth again and continued looking at the floor.

"What is it?" he asked, hope in his voice.

Rory fidgeted for a moment. "The blonde?" she asked, visibly regretting it once she did.

"I thought we covered this already," he answered, a smirk poking through. Despite himself, he was happy that she cared enough to be jealous. It was small, but it was a start.

"I need to know," she admitted, embarrassed. "I just don't want a repeat of the bridesmaid fiasco."

"Are you saying there's a chance?" Logan's heart soared at the possibility. He took a step closer to her.

Rory held up her hand. "I'm saying that I need to know."

"She's an old family friend," he replied, his eyes intensely locked with her.

"Were there others?" Rory, suddenly feeling very vulnerable, wrapped her arms around herself.

"No."

"I kissed someone," she spat out unexpectedly, surprising herself.

"Great!" Logan grinned. "Ace, I don't care." Rory nodded, unsure of what to say next. "Rory, I'm going to die if I don't touch you soon."

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Lorelai awoke to a note on her pillow from Luke asking her to meet him at the diner when she woke up. She knew she was supposed to be happy, after Luke's extraordinary display of emotion last night, but Lorelai was still unsure about their situation. She loved him, but she hated how secretive he could be.

Finally making her way to the diner, she sat down at the first stool and waited for Luke to finish taking an order. He finally approached, coffee pot in hand.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked, leaning over the counter to kiss her.

"Do you give all the ladies that same greeting when you serve them coffee?" she asked, her eyes smiling. "I mean is it, here's your menu, your coffee, and a big smackaroo! Because if it is, I've been getting gypped for years."

Luke rolled his eyes. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Is that anyway to treat the girl you've just kissed? Are you a love 'em and leave 'em type of guy? I didn't sign on for this."

"Lorelai …" he grumbled. He gestured to the other diners.

"Two eggs, sunny side up, with one piece of bacon."

"That it?" he asked.

"In a smiley face." Lorelai demonstrated the smile for him.

"I'm sorry, you're how old?"

"Hey, you're the one who asked if that was it. If you'd left that out- OH! And half a piece of toast, for it's hat." Lorelai beamed, completely proud of herself.

Luke sighed in exasperation, but couldn't bring himself to deny her of something that would probably make her day. He wrote the order down, then paused. "Let's get dinner tonight. We need to talk," he told her before he disappeared to another table.

An inexplicable wave of anxiety momentarily hit Lorelai. She shook her head, pushing negative possibilities out of her mind.

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Before she knew what was happening, Logan's arms were engulfing her. Her first instinct was to hold him back, but she stopped herself, freezing mid-move. "Rory, please?" he whispered into her ear. She wasn't sure what he wanted her to do. These days, she wasn't really sure of anything. Overcome by the uncertain turn her life had taken, Rory let herself sink into Logan's arms.

Feeling her reaction, Logan breathed in a sigh of relief. He couldn't stand being so near to her and not being able to touch her. "Logan?" she asked, her face hidden in his shoulder. Reluctantly, he pulled back to look in her eyes. "Why did you leave?" she asked, fighting back the tears.

"Because I'm the biggest idiot in the world." He pulled her back into a hug and kissed her temple. "But I promise that it'll never happen again."

"Logan, I don't know if I can do this again," Rory voiced, stepping backward from his arms. "I don't even know if I'm the same person that I was, Logan." Logan searched her eyes for any indication of what she was thinking. "When you walked away … that was it for me, Logan."

"No, Ace, it wasn't it. If that was it, you never would have even considered working for my father," he argued. Logan had been telling the truth. There was no way that he was going to let Rory go again. She was it for him. Rory opened her mouth to argue, but Logan cut her off. "Ace, I know you. I know how much you hate my father. If you really, truly, never wanted to see me again, you wouldn't have taken the job."

Rory bit her lip. "I saw you once," she admitted quietly. "I was in San Francisco on the campaign trail. And I saw you get into a cab."

"And?" he asked.

"And the world stopped."

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Jess lay staring at his ceiling, reexamining the day's events in his mind. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly, about Logan that made his skin crawl. It wasn't just one singular thing that he could put his finger on – no, it was everything, but nothing at the same time.

His thoughts were interrupted by thing ringing of his phone. Quickly checking the caller ID before he answered it, the name brought a smile to his face. Sitting up, he flipped open the phone and answered, "I swear whatever Lorelai told you about me climbing through Rory's window is a complete and total fabrication. I climbed out of it, you see."

"We'll deal with that later." Luke could think of a thousand ways to punish Jess for his past indiscretions. "I need you and Rory to come down tomorrow."

"Why? Is everything okay?" he asked. His concern touched Luke; after all his efforts, Jess had turned out alright in the end.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." Luke smiled. "I just want you two to be here when April arrives."

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I'll try to write the next installment this weekend. Thanks for sticking it out guys!