Chapter 10

"Finn!" Rory spotted Finn across the courtyard as she instructed the movers on where to put the furniture in her dorm. She quickly caught his attention as he ran over to her and picked her up.

"LOVE! How are you my darling girl?"

"I'm good, but can you please put me down, I need to organize my room and unpack." He did so, and she started to unpack her books as the movers finished up. "When did you guys get back?" She hadn't expected them back until later that afternoon, and if they did get back she expected something from any of them, especially Logan. It wasn't like them to not even let her know they were back and safe.

"Well, you see, technically Logan wanted to surprise you. I wasn't even supposed to leave the dorm while they went and ran an errand, but I got bored and of course you saw me. So, when you see Logan can you please pretend to be surprised?"

"Sure Finn, I will pretend to be surprise so you won't get in trouble. But, only if you carry that box into my room?"

"Is it books?" When Rory shot him a smirk he groaned as he went to pick it up and carry it to her room. As he left her room he was trying to quickly get back to his room when he ran into Colin and Logan.

"Finn! You were supposed to stay in the dorm, did she see you?"

"No! I promise, I avoided her dorm like the plague, I just had to get out. Why couldn't I have come and helped with the errand?" Finn lied easily, but he was agitated he hadn't been allowed out them.

"Because Finn, you like to make a spectacle of yourself and our anonymity is crucial."

"You were hiding from Rory, not the IRS, Colin, calm down. Rory is a girl, not a hound dog. What did you guys go do anyway?

"Ah, but she's a reporter, she can spot a scoop from a mile away. And we just had a few more LDB things we had to do."

"Hey, I'm in the group. I could have helped out too."

"No, because once again we had to not draw attention to ourselves."

Logan watched Colin and Finn argue for what can only be described as their millionth argument since they had been gone. He rolled his eyes at Colin's last point as his phone buzzed.

RLRLRL

After Finn had left Rory wanted to see how long Logan would last before he came to visit her, deciding to hopefully speed up the process she sent him a message before she got back to the unpacking she had to do. *Hey you! I miss you guys, mainly you but at this point I'd take any of you. Hope you're all safe and in one piece. See you today, right? *

An hour later Rory was still unpacking her room when she heard the front door open and close. After a few moments she thought she heard someone milling around. Hoping it was Logan she went out to greet him with a huge smile on her face, the moment the door was opened the smile dropped her face as she was face to face with Paris. "What, what are you possibly doing here?"

"I live here." Paris deadpanned while staring straight at Rory. With one last eye roll Rory turned to head to her room. But just as she did there was a knock on the door, before she could get to the door Paris was already there and opened it up to unveil Logan leaning against the door as he smiled up at Rory.

"Logan! You're here!"

"In the flesh, Ace. You happy?"

"Of course, I am!"

"Oh yeah, how much?" With that Rory ran up to him and kissed him, completely forgetting about a shell-shocked Paris standing next to them. When they finally broke apart for air Paris had found her voice.

"So, when did this happen?"

"Beginning of the summer."

"Well, you certainly have a type don't you Gilmore? Let me see, cocky, blonde, trust-fund, yep Huntzberger checks all the boxes."

Rory shot Paris a glare. "Ignore her, let's go see my room."

"Bye Paris, a pleasure as always, I'm sure I'll see you in the newsroom." With a tip of his imaginary hat Logan followed Rory into her room and as soon as the door was closed she kissed him again as soon as she moved her mouth to his jawline he spoke again. "So, Paris is your roommate, huh?"

"Babe, you really want to talk about Paris right now? Really? Maybe we should talk about where you were off to the past few days?" He had told her before he left that what he was doing was unfortunately secret but that it would all come out in her first few weeks at Yale, she just had to be patient.

"You know what, I think I like your original plan much better." She smirked as his lips came down on hers again.

"That's what I thought mister."

"Shh, stop talking Ace." Logan said, as he kissed her again.

RLRLRL

Chris and Lorelei had left Gigi with her nanny back in France as Chris had wanted to be able to give Rory any time that she would allow them. Lorelei was constantly dragging her feet or making comments. "You know, I don't know why you're getting your hopes up. You know how those society girls can be."

For the tenth time since they had landed in Hartford Chris rolled his eyes at her comments. "That 'society girl' is our daughter Lorelei. Stop, now."

"Our daughter who said she was done Chris. I don't know why you suddenly want this." Christopher didn't usually get mad but with the way he downed his scotch and shot Lorelei a look, she knew it was best to not say anything else. The rest of the ride was quiet as they made their way to New Haven.

RLRL

"You know, you distracted me. I was supposed to be unpacking."

"Why didn't you just have the movers unpack?"

"Because then I couldn't put my stuff away like I want to, and excuse me, they would have touched the books."

Logan laughed and rolled his eyes at her. "Yes, how dare the movers touch the books, the books that are only supposed to be seen on a shelf and never touched by human fingers."

"They can be touched!"

"I've seen you swat people's hands away from them."

"That was Finn's hands and he had jam on them." As Logan was silent at that last point Rory smiled in triumph. "Ha! Game, set, match."

"Sports reference? Really Gilmore?"

"Oh hush, you're just mad because I won." As he went to kiss her quiet he heard Colin and Finn barge into the main living room and start bugging Paris.

"GILMORE! Get these two out of my face right now."

As her and Logan made their way into the common area Paris was already yelling at her. "Okay, I knew when I asked to be paired with you that it would come with these three assholes, but I'd prefer if you kept my interactions with them at a bare minimum. Thank you."

"Wait, you asked to room with me?"

"Of course!"

"Dear god, why?" Rory asked just as she heard Finn, Colin and Logan all laugh. "So not the time boys."

"Because you're my only friend at Yale."

"We're friends?"

"The closest thing I have at least." Paris shrugged her shoulders as she went to leave their room. "I'll be back in a few hours, please have them out of here by the time I get back."

As the door shut behind Paris the three boys laughed while Rory groaned louder this time, then she set her focus on Logan. "You are seriously laughing at this? I'm your girlfriend, you can't even be a little nice to me right now?"

Logan continued his laughter and finally choked out, "Nope, this is way to funny. This trumps girlfriend loyalty by a long shot."

"Wow, some help you are. Fine, because of this, you all have to help me unpack."

"What if we paid someone to help you unpack?"

"No Colin, you guys laugh at my misery, I create misery for you guys. Come on, let's go."

RLRL

Lorelei and Chris walked around the campus that they had toured in their youth, suddenly Lorelei remembered all that had originally been in jeopardy when Rory was brought into their lives. Suddenly Chris spoke again, it was the first time since their argument in their car. "I recognize that girl, she was Rory's graduation. Maybe she knows where Rory is?" As they walked up to Paris they asked her.

"Oh my god, my dorm is going to be like Grand Central Station, lovely. Yeah, she's right through there, make a left and it's the first door on your left. Beware though, with who she has in there it could already be a wreck, also, can you tell her that if there's a mess she and her guard dogs are cleaning it up. At least she finally has Huntzberger on a shorter leash." As the strange girl walked away they heard her muttering something about a Finn.

When they knocked on the door a tall boy with green eyes and an accent opened the door. Chris recognized him as the boy who carried Rory out of Richard's study on that fateful night back in May. "Um, hello, I'm not sure if we have the right room but we're looking for a Rory."

"Finn, who is at the door?" Rory came out of her room and as she saw them her face dropped.

"Hi Rory." Chris' voice was timid as she just stared at them. Behind Rory Logan walked out and put his arm around Rory. Rory's face was trained on Christopher's, so she missed the look of disgust on Lorelei's face as she recognized the boy who put his arm around her daughter.

"I'm sorry, I just, um, what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we received your letter and I know you said that it was your closure, but Rory we missed you. We just want to be part of your life."

Just as Logan went to say something Rory spoke up again with a pointed look at Lorelei. "Oh, so it's a 'we' thing? You feel this way too?"

"We just want to try Rory. Please." Chris spoke up again, ignoring the way the questioned was directed at Lorelei.

"Fine, you want to try? We were just getting ready to unpack my room. You guys are more than welcome to help."

Logan, Finn, and Colin who had joined once he heard the tense voices all looked at her like she was insane. Finally, Logan whispered in her ear, "Are you sure about this Ace?"

With a small smile thrown his way Rory said, "Of course! The more hands on deck, the quicker we get done and then Finn can go to the Pub." With that she led them into her room, now very cramped with the six of them in there. They silently started unpacking boxes.

As Lorelei unpacked Rory's movie collection she found a few that they had in common, while Chris found a few CDs that he also enjoyed. Logan kept shooting Rory looks to make sure she was okay, but what he saw worried him. There wasn't a tear, or a look of anger, there was just a blank face. Is she really this unaffected? Just as the thought crossed his mind he saw her grab something out of one of the boxes. "Oh wow, a baby book. Chris, Lorelei, would you like to see what you missed out on for so long?" And just like that, they were off.

Chris' face fell as Lorelei's eyes shone with anger. "Don't give me that bullshit Rory, you clearly had a good life."

"You're right, I did. I still have a good life, but did you really think that you two could walk into my life at any given point? I've seen the both of you more in the past 4 months than I have in the past 4 years. I don't care what you both have to say to me. We've been in here for the past 45 minutes and you haven't said a word to me."

"That goes both ways there kid, you haven't exactly spoken up either."

"Because I'm the kid! Because the repairing of our relationship isn't on me. In fact, I tried to end our relationship because I don't want you guys here, but you show up and you act like everything should be fixed because you decided to come to college orientation, are you kidding me?"

"We were just trying, we want to try." Finally, Chris spoke up as he had seen how Lorelei handled conflict with their oldest daughter.

"If you want to try, then leave. Be a good parent to your other daughter. Where is my sister by the way, decide to dump her off to the Hayden side and let the Gilmore side have a break for once?"

"Hey! Don't speak about her like that." Lorelei started to defend them, but Rory continued."

"That isn't a criticism on her, I don't have any issues with her, I just feel pity for her. I feel pity for the fact that this poor girl has selfish and narcissistic parents who have proven time and time again that they don't care about anyone else around them and only care about themselves. I told you I was done, and I meant it. Then you showed up here and I still decided to give you another try, to see if you guys would even try to open your mouths to say a word. But you didn't, that is not on me, that is on you. The both of you." She directed her last comment at Christopher, the man who kept trying to shirk his culpability at the fucked-up relationship standing before them.

"How were we supposed to ever talk to you when you have a cavalcade of bodyguards? You should have sent them home and we could talk." Lorelei had grown tired of the three boy's presence that seemed to be constantly looming over her daughter.

"These three? These three have been there for me my whole life, these three have also been silent this whole time, letting this argument to continue. They would have stood by me no matter what I choose and how I decided to handle my relationship with you. Do not blame them for anything. These three are more of a family than you two have ever or will ever be."

"I just think—" Chris started again before Rory interrupted him.

"And I just think, it's time for you to leave."

"Rory please, you don't mean that." Chris was trying hard, and he wasn't about to admit defeat.

"I do, I need you to leave. Now." Logan, Colin and Finn wanted to step in, they wanted to step in at the first ill word spoken towards her but that fire in her eyes was something they hadn't seen since the night she tried to announce her decision to go to Yale.

"Fine. We will be in town for the next week. This is our hotel, if you change your mind." As Chris left the common room Lorelei stopped right in front of her daughter.

"You could have been nicer to him Rory. He's trying here."

"It's 18 years to late Lorelei."

"As your parents, we deserve more respect."

"And as your daughter, I deserved more love. Get out, now." Rory closed the door behind her mom and took a deep breath. Logan wrapped his arms around her as she took another deep breath. Finally, after the second breath she regained her composure and turned to face Colin and Finn who gave her a round of appalause and a bow.

"Bella amore!"

"Finn, I didn't know you spoke Italian." Rory finally laughed for what felt like the first time all day.

"Well, if you think the ladies find an Australian accent sexy, just wait until they find out you're bisexual."

"It's bilingual Finn." Colin told him.

"I wasn't talking about the language."

"Oh my god. Can we just go back to the bedroom please?" The second the word's left Rory's mouth she immediately regretted them.

"See, it works every time." Finn winked as Colin followed him, rolling his eyes.

Logan pulled Rory back for a minute as he kissed her forehead. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, really I am. But maybe, just to be on the safe side, my handsome boyfriend can help me unwind later?"

"I think that can be arranged." As he winked at her she gave him a small kiss and they went to finish unpacking.

RLRLRL

Hours later the dorm was unpacked, and Rory and Logan were back in his dorm. Paris had decided to have "company" as evident by the groans that were heard from the other side of the door. Rory and Logan had made their way back to the dorm when they heard it and quickly turned on their heels and made a beeline towards Logan's room.

As they laid in his bed that night Logan ran his fingers through her hair. "You know, I was kind of hoping to be your biggest surprise today." He felt her laugh against his chest. "Was I at least your best surprise?"

"Hmm, you would have been." Rory was joking around with them.

"What?! Who else beat me to it?"

"One, I knew you were coming home today, remember that? Plus, I actually saw Finn before I saw you. He told me he was supposed to stay in your dorm, but he got bored."

"Damn it Finn."

"It astounds me how many times we say that same sentence in a day."

"Me too, Ace, me too."

Just then they heard a loud crash come from the common room and a mumbled, but distinctly Australian, "shit."