Epilogue: Home Is Where The Heart Is

"Rory, what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

GgggggggggggggG

Logan Huntzberger had never been one to dwell on a fight, a fight with a girl above all. A fight that couldn't even considered to be a fight. Hell, he had never been deep enough into a relationship that it would even come to a fight. He always had avoided developing feelings for a girl, it always was just about fun and sex. Moving on always was easy for him. He didn't want to be tied down to anything or anyone, not before it was strictly necessary. His father had his future laid out for him, and Logan knew he had no say in that no matter what. So he had started living every day of his live as if it was his last one. And he didn't regret anything so far.

But he hadn't reckoned with the force that was one Rory Gilmore who found the way into his heart the moment his eyes had locked with hers in that park all those weeks ago. Weeks that felt like a lifetime. It hadn't been long before he'd had to admit to himself that he was falling for Rory, hard and so fast that sometimes he wondered when he would hit rock bottom.

Well, he did hit rock bottom. Rory hadn't called and Lord knew he did try to reach her, but she ignored his calls. He had seen her on campus a few times but never caught her to talk. He knew she avoided him because of their encounter with Marty on the first day back. It was natural to him to talk to Marty like he did work for him, Logan, because that's what he did – Marty worked for him. He knew he had been arrogant and his behavior was most likely not the definition of nice. But he hadn't expected that Rory would get so angry with him.

The truth was, she fit in so well with their little group that he tended to forget that she hadn't grown up in society, that she wasn't used to money and people working for her. Once he had realized that he had tried to call Rory. When she wouldn't call back at all he began to cut himself off from everything. He mentally kicked his ass for being one; for falling for Rory for he had always known that girls meant trouble. Finally he admitted that he missed her. He missed her so much that he just wasn't hungry anymore. There was no point in getting showered or dressed.

He had hit rock bottom and it hurt bad.

When he heard a knock on the front door he wanted to ignore it, but the visitor was pretty persistent and it didn't seem they would back down anytime soon. For a moment he hoped Colin or Finn would open the door, but then he remembered they had actually gone to class this morning. Of all days they had to choose to be responsible students today. Sighing he stood up from his bed and dragged himself to the door, ready to scare off whoever it was.

He certainly hadn't expected to find himself face to face with the reason for his miserable state. For a moment they just stared at each other in shock, and Logan suddenly found it hard to breathe. I didn't matter that they hadn't talked to each other in days because she was so damn stubborn, but once again he was taken aback by the sight of her. Why did she have to be so beautiful? With every fiber of his being he had to force himself not to take her and kiss her senseless.

"Rory, what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice rough as if he hadn't used it in days.

"We need to talk."

GgggggggggggggG

His eyes went wide at her response. Could it really be? Had she come to her senses? For a moment he just stared at her, but suddenly remembered that they were still on his threshold. This was a conversation better held inside of a closed room. He stepped back and made an inviting gesture for her to enter. She mouthed a Thank you and when she walked past him he could smell a mix of her shampoo and perfume and his heart skipped a beat.

He closed the door and for a moment they stood awkwardly in the living room. Then he gestured to the couch. "Finn and Colin have class, we can talk here" he said.

"Okay" Rory said and moved to sit on one end of the couch while Logan chose the other end. The air was thick with tension as another round of awkward silence fell over them. Rory nervously rubbed her hands together and looked everywhere but at Logan.

Logan on the other hand had his eyes firmly locked on Rory. He could tell she was nervous, but he couldn't help thinking it served her right. He knew he probably had overreacted by hiding himself off all week. But not talking to her, being ignored by her had done a lot of damage to his newly exposed heart. She had hurt him bad and now seeing her, having her sitting in his dorm on his couch only feet away from him made him realize that he was actually mad at her. Mad at her for being able to get to him, for being able to break his heart, for ignoring him all week. He could feel his patience wearing thin with every passing minute she sat there not saying anything, and then, when he couldn't take it any longer –

"You wanted to talk. So talk" he said, with his voice sounding rather cold. But now that she was here he knew he needed to protect himself and his heart from getting any more hurt.

Surprised at his cool voice Rory looked up and locked her eyes with his for the first time since she had entered the room. Logan had locked away all the hurt she had seen in his eyes before and all there was left was a cold emptiness, as if he was trying to protect himself from something. From getting hurt, she realized and all at once she felt even worse. What had she done? She was so stupid! Suck it up Gilmore and get it over with! she mentally kicked her butt and took a deep breath.

"I am sorry, Logan" she said with her voice slightly shaking. "I'm really sorry for being such an idiot. I was hurt because of the way you treated Marty and I felt like... well, I sort of felt offended myself. Because, you know, I'm not used to your lifestyle and..." she took another deep breath. "Well, I'm sorry. I never intended to make you feel miserable."

"Then why did you?" Logan asked softly. He knew Rory meant every word she'd said.

"I don't know!" Rory exclaimed. "I wanted to prove a point, I guess. But it was stupid, I know that now!" She fell quiet for a moment. "A screaming match would've been healthier I guess" she added quietly.

"Probably" Logan agreed and a soft chuckle escaped him.

Surprised Rory looked at him and upon seeing his smile she couldn't stop her own smile forming on her face. For a long moment they just kept smiling at each other, glad, that this stupid thing was finally over.

"Do you forgive me?" Rory asked after a while. Instead of saying something Logan just moved over and pulled her into a hug that she gladly returned. It felt so good being in each other's arms again and for what felt like an eternity they stayed like that. Rory couldn't help but think how right it felt being in Logan's arms and she wondered how she could live without that ever again. When Logan finally pulled back to look at her she smiled. "So that's a yes, I guess?"

Logan nodded and grinned. He felt much lighter now, much better. He had his new friend back, the girl he was falling so hard for. That scared him and after this week he knew he had to take this – whatever this was – much slower. He didn't want to get hurt, and Rory definitely had the power to hurt him badly, to damage him beyond repair.

"I think I need to shower and change" Logan said as he looked down at himself and suddenly felt very dirty. "If you want to wait, we can meet up with the others at the bar later."

"I'd like that" Rory replied and smiled at him. And then did the most unexpected thing. Leaning over she put one hand on his bearded cheek to turn his face to look at her and then kissed him softly on the lips.

It was sweet and innocent and held a lot of promises and Logan savored this moment as much as he could. When Rory finally pulled back he couldn't help but think how beautiful she was, with her cheeks flushed and her lips slightly swollen even though the kiss hadn't been this intense. Her hand lingered on his cheek a moment longer and beamed at him and he mirrored her happy expression. Because only one word could describe how he felt right now. He was happy.

"I'm not ready for a new relationship" Rory whispered and Logan nodded. He knew that. "But I will get there."

The smile on Logan's smile grew even bigger. There it was, his promise. The promise he had felt in their kiss.

"Now go, get showered" Rory chirped and patted his cheek. "I'll call Steph and the boys."

Logan nodded and with that he got up and disappeared into the bathroom to take his much needed shower.

GgggggggggggggG

Rory had been really worried about meeting Colin and Finn after the incident last week. The two were very protective about Logan and him being miserable because of her might have left them more than angry with her. But apparently they thought if Logan could forgive her than so could they. When she and Logan had entered the pub together, both with shining eyes Colin and Finn had jumped up and hugged her and welcomed her back.

"This round's on me" Rory announced when the waitress brought over their beverages. She smiled at the guys and they grinned back at her. "My way of saying I'm sorry. I was an idiot and I overreacted and I know that now. I hope you can forgive me."

Finn put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "We will always forgive you, love. You're one of us now, remember?"

Colin nodded. "We were idiots, too, you know? Maybe with you around we can change a little bit."

Rory smiled. "But not too much." Her eyes drifted to Logan, who was sitting on her other side, and she was glad to see that his warm brown eyes had their mischievous sparkle back. He shot her his famous smirk that she had grown to love so much and that made her knees go weak and she could feel herself drowning in his eyes once again.

Under the table Logan grabbed her hand as if to reassure her that everything was fine between the two of them now.

Their friends watched their silent exchange for a moment, but got bored quickly when Rory and Logan once again got lost in their own world and forgot everything else around them. Steph, Colin and Finn smiled, happy for their friends and then engaged in their own conversation, giving the two lovebirds some space.

Rory had found pretty quickly that with Logan, she didn't need words. They seemed to have this ability to just communicate by looking deeply into each other's eyes. It seemed like they had this special bond, this bond you only have with the fewest of people. Like the one she had with her mom, or maybe Lane. But she hadn't had such a connection with one of her former boyfriends, neither Dean nor Jess. That connection was what made her relationship with Logan - if you could call it that - so special.

Stephanie's loud laughter pulled Rory and Logan out of their little bubble and they turned to see the happy grins on their friends' faces.

"To that I drink" Finn exclaimed and raised his glass. Rory laughed, even though she had no idea what about. But to her it didn't matter. She was happy, she was together with her new friends. Because simply being with them, at a pub at Yale, was all she needed to be happy.

They all raised their glasses and called cheers and clinked their glasses and laughed happily and drank to just being friends.

And Rory was the happiest she'd been since forever.

Because she was home.

Fin

Well, this is it. After so many years I finally finished this story. I had this last chapter lined out for months now, but life's gotten in the way big time and, well, you know how it is. I hope you enjoyed my little story and I would like to thank all my readers for sticking around so long and being so patient with me.

All the best,

Ellie