Hi!

Congratulations to BLUEDANCER - my 200th reviewer! That's awesome, I never expected that this story would get over 200 reviews. Thanks to all my other amazing reviewers/readers. You guys are SUPER!
I'm stoked you liked the last chapter; for a second there I thought you'd maybe think the Huntzberger take-over was a little Bold and the Beautiful.
Anyway, I hope you liked this new one! Let me know. I know a lot of you are dying to see the baby-shower, though it'll probably take a while before we get around to that - is there anything else you want to see in the story? Let me know!!

Enjoy!
Love,
Gilmoregirl19

Disclaimer: Don't own the Bold or GG

The following morning had an entirely different feel to it. Normally Logan and Rory were busy getting ready for work, drinking tea, scarffing down a pop tart or two, checking last minute emails and heading out the door, always running late for their jobs. This morning, however, Logan was dressed for work, packing his briefcase as Rory was still in her pajamas' frowning in to her tea mug.

"Are you going to be okay?" Logan asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'll figure something out. It's just weird, you know. I have nothing do to."

"It's not all bad – you could be working for HPG," Logan joked, but by the look on Rory's face, it was too soon.

"Seriously, though, maybe it's better you aren't working. You can focus on the baby, catch up on your reading, watch whatever we tivo'ed when we were away, I'm sure Ellen's had some good guests…." he tried again.

She sighed heavily and nodded. "That's a good idea…I heard David Beckham took his shirt off…," She mused, trying to sound somewhat enthusiastic.

He chuckled, "Well, have fun with David – I'd offer to meet up for lunch– but Mitchum has me in meetings all day, but to make it up to you, I'll cook dinner, whatever you want!"

He kissed Rory quickly, and headed for the door. "I'll be back by six!"

Rory sat on her breakfast barstool, the silence of the apartment ringing in her ears. Everyone she knew was at work, what did she have to do? Yesterday, she was Old York's "it-columnist" now she was a nobody, just another one of the thousands of New York's unemployed. Not only unemployed – she was pregnant. She was pathetic!

She shook her head. "It's not the end of the world; I would have gone on maternity leave in a few months, anyway. It's just a little sooner." She rambled to herself, as she grabbed a paper napkin and a pen from the breakfast bar, to make a pro/con list.

"And, I won't have to rush back to work, after it's been born, so that's a pro," she continued talking to herself. "Oh, talking to myself, that's bad…" She noted this on the con side. She jotted down a few items on each side, and glanced over the list, sighed heavily as she crumbled the napkin to a ball and tossed it in the garbage can. She would figure the work situation out another day.

"What am I going to do?" she asked the empty apartment. For now, she decided she would indulge in her current workless state. She changed in to a clean pair of pajama's, grabbed her favorite blanket and book, set a pot of tea and curled up on the couch.

She ignored everything, except Logan's occasional text message. She spent the rest of the week like that, living in her sweats, reading her books, replying to Logan's texts, eating Logan's home-cooked 'I'm sorry your life turned into an empty mess' food. She only talked to her mother once, but Lorelai had to cut it short – work intervened.

When her home phone rang she let the machine pick it up, she really couldn't deal with Emily Gilmore at a time like this. Late Friday afternoon the phone was ringing again.

"RORY, LOGAN? Are you there? Honestly, it's impossible to get a hold of you two these days! I hope everything is okay – Rory, are you still tired?
Anyway, excellent news. Your grandfather and I have dinner plans with Mitchum and Shira Sunday night. I gather this means you to have finally told them – it was about time!"

Rory shot up from the couch as Emily's shrill voice filled the room. Shoot! Rory had totally forgotten about the Huntzberger dinner. She let herself fall back on to the couch and groaned loudly.

"Wow, you always make noises like that when you're alone?" Logan smirked, as he entered the living room.

Rory shot up again, "Ha, ha," she deadpanned. "Emily called."

He rolled his eyes, and headed towards the bedroom, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. "What did she want this time?"

Emily had been leaving messages all week – completely random things, like if Rory was taking any prenatal vitamins, or that she saw a cute Dior baby dress. It was driving them crazy! On the other hand, Emily had fully embraced their relationship and the baby – that was a big silver lining.

"She wanted to let us know your parents invited them to dinner Sunday," she called lazily from the couch.

"Well, at least we won't be alone, maybe they'll show us some support…" He said as he emerged from the bedroom dressed in his sweats, and leaned over the couch to kiss Rory.

Logan cooked dinner, as Rory set the table. After dinner, Rory did the dishes, as Logan selected their movie for the night. Before, they would just munch on take-out and spend a significant amount of time on-line, finishing up work before going to bed. Now that Rory was out of work, Logan did not want to be taking his home. It was remarkable how comfortably they fell in to this new routine. They liked it, though Logan was slightly concerned that Rory was living in her sweats, sure, she bathed and everything but she rarely made it outside. He was worried that laying on the couch and eating twizzlers and chocolate all day wasn't the best course of action for Rory. On the other hand it could be a pregnancy thing – what did he know? For now, they both seemed content with the situation, so Logan decided to let it rest. Sundays' dinner would bring enough drama.

Logan walked in to the bedroom to find Rory in her bathrobe surrounded by several piles of pants, blouses, dresses and skirts. Rory was frantically pacing between the piles of clothes, picking up random items, holding them up to her bathrobe-clad body, sighing and tossing them to the side.

"Uh, Ace…"

She turned sharply towards him, and snapped, "What?!"

He tried hard not to smirk, but he really couldn't help it. He thought she was very cute when she was all riled up.

"Nothing – just wanted to see if you were ready…"

"Well, then, that's not nothing is it?" She glared at him. He shrugged, acknowledging she had a point. "Oh, sure, just shrug. If you want to ask me if I'm ready just ask!"

She threw her hands up in the air, and got back to digging through the piles of clothing.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but we really need to get going. It's a long drive to Hartford," he didn't sound angry. He wasn't, he knew Rory acted crabby when she was under a lot of pressure. And he knew she was still trying to come to terms with her unemployment, the baby, the Huntzbergers, everything.

"Don't you think I know that, Logan? We have been to Hartford many times before. Just because I stopped working, doesn't mean my brain has!" She glared at Logan, and mumbled, "Asshole."

"Excuse me?" Logan asked incredulously. Rory had never called him that before. He was sure she didn't mean it, and he knew she could have called him much worse, but it was still amazingly out of character.

"You heard me!"she boomed. "Asshole, asshole, asshole!" She stomped around the bedroom, kicking a pile of clothing each time she exclaimed asshole.

He stood there, taking it all in his stride. She was definitely putting on quite a show, but they really needed to get a move on.

"Rory, just calm down!"

He walked over to her, and tried to pull her into a hug. After a brief struggle, she relaxed in his arms. "Now, what's wrong?"

It remained quiet. He sighed, "Rory, ´

She pulled back from the hug, "I'm stupid" she declared solemnly.

He laughed loud and heartily. At moments like this, he wondered exactly how Rory's mind worked, why would she think she was stupid?

"Ace," he sighed as he finally caught his breath, "You aren't stupid!"

"Uh, yeah I am," she countered, now letting go of Logan and thrusting out her stomach for him to see. "All of this won't fit in any of this," she spread her arms out across the room gesturing towards the clothes.

He looked at her – she was right, she had put on some weight. He cheeks were rounder, her breasts fuller, she had the tiniest baby bump and he knew she was sporting some nice love handles.

"So, none of it fits?" he asked, trying to be the supportive husband.

"Nothing!"

"Uh," he was thinking, "not wanting to run the risk of being called asshole again…" She shot him an apologetic smile, "but what about maternity clothes? I thought you were going shopping?"

"It turned out I was really busy this week…" she blushed.

"Oh,"

An awkward silence filled the room, both wondering what to do about the situation.

"Damn those twizzlers." Rory laughed, breaking the silence.

"Hey, nobody puts baby's twizzlers in the corner…." Logan laughed back.

He sighed, and dug through a pile of clothing, holding up different dresses, each vetoed by Rory.

"What about this?" Rory asked, holding up Logan's favorite Yale sweatshirt.

"It's a little casual," Logan shrugged.

Rory untied her robe, pulled on a plain white tee and the sweatshirt. It was big on her, hitting halfway her thigh but super comfortable. She twirled, like a model, waiting for his approval.

"Pants, Ace, pants!" Logan smirked, definitely enjoying the little show.

Rory dug through another pile of clothes and pulled out pair of black leggings.

"I said pants," Logan smirked, Rory shot him a death glare, "but close enough," he relented.

She smiled as she finished getting ready. She tied her hair in a loose bun, dabbed some clear lip-gloss on her lips, found her ballerina flats and put diamond studs in her ears. She completed her high-end, super casual look in less than five minutes.

"Wow, I do believe we have set a new record!" Logan laughed.

Logan and Rory stood in the Huntzberger foyer handing their coats to the maid, listening to the hushed voices of Richard, Emily, Shira, Elias and Mitchum.

"Right this way,"

The pair followed the maid as she lead them into the sitting room. Tense silence immediately filled the room, as the Huntzbergers and Gilmores took in the couple.

"Rory!" Emily scolded, "What on earth are you wearing?" The Gilmore Grandma was mortified; she wanted Rory to make a good impression, show up looking stunning, not homeless.

"Uh, I made a miscalculation…" Rory bit her bottom lip nervously; did she really want to jump right in to the whole pregnancy thing?

"Rory and I need to find a day to hit up Mom's R Us and do some serious damage to the black card," Logan jumped in, and placed his hand protectively on her hip, "but Dad's been keeping me busy with this transfer." Logan swiftly tried to change the subject and earned some polite laughter from the group.

"Well, why don't you two sit down," Shira said in her best society voice.

Mitchum, Logan, and Richard were talking about the business. Elias sat there, quietly, flipping through TIME magazine, looking up occasionally, shooting Rory a comforting smile.

She sat there quietly, squeezing Logan's hand, exchanging friendly smiles with Logan's grandfather and listening in on Emily's and Shira's conversation, the pair were gossiping about Bea Wellington's new hairstyle.

It was all polite pre-dinner talks, the real and possibly fatal confrontation would not come until dinner, post-appetizers, pre-after dinner drinks.

"So, Rory," Shira asked sweetly, as the maid cleared away her salad plate, "I'm dying to know, how did you run in to Logan. I thought you were off in Iowa…" Shira narrowed her eyes as she said Iowa, as if she was accusing Rory of something.

Rory took a sip of her soda, stalling, since she really hated that sickeningly sweet fake tone Shira had. She swallowed hard, and smiled her best society smile.

"Well, Shira," Rory mimicked her mother-in-law's sweet/accusatory tone, though she spoke slowly, almost as if she was speaking to a child. "I was in Iowa for the first three weeks of the campaign trail, which started almost two and a half years ago… It ended for me in Mississippi, since I was fed-up with all the travelling." She paused, not really wanting to bring up her now non-existent place of employment. "I moved to New York, and one night I ran in to Logan at an industry get-together."

The table remained silent as they took in Rory's words. Emily, Richard, and Logan were impressed that Rory won this round. But, of course, Shira would be back for more.

"Well, that's just lovely," Shira said with a tightly clenched jaw. Logan wanted to pipe up, but it was becoming clear that this would be a showdown between the old Mrs. Huntzberger and the new Mrs. Huntzberger.

"Dear, if you don't mind my asking, how exactly did you get yourself in to this little…" Shira leaned forwards, and brought her voice down to a hushed whisper, "predicament."

Rory locked eyes with her competitor and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Well, I hardly see how a child created out of love can be labeled a predicament, Shira."

Rory: 2 - Shira: 0.

Emily grinned widely, extremely proud at how her sweatshirt-wearing granddaughter was handling herself in this situation.

Shira took a sip of her wine, carefully deciding on her next move. "That as it may be, sweetheart, I'm sure you agree this situation is far from ideal. I am sure you planned to be married a proper amount of time first, before thinking about the joys of parenthood…" Shira paused, "But then again, you haven't exactly had the best role models."

Rory silently thanked her Grandma's messages, in between all the fluff; Emily had actually left some pretty useful information about Shira's past. Emily knew that the only reason Mitchum married Shira was because she was pregnant with what would turn out to be Honor. Shira wasn't even in a committed relationship with Mitchum, though he insisted on getting married since it was the "right thing to do." However, he never changed his playboy-ways. This little bit of information was one of Hartford's best-kept secrets, for obvious reasons, and Shira certainly was not aware that Emily knew this.

Rory let out a tiny, barely audible snort. Was this lady for real?

She smiled, a huge fake smile, "I could say the same for you."

Shira almost choked on her wine. Was Rory bluffing or did she know?

Rory: 3 – Shira: 0

The maid entered with the main course and they had started eating. Slowly conversation had shifted back towards the new business, as Shira sat there, angrily cutting her steak, pissed off tremendously that some young presumptuous girl had the upper hand in this situation.

"Well, I hope you understand the consequences," Shira said suddenly, bringing business conversation to a halt. "Society will have a field day…."

"Will you give it a rest, woman?" Elias boomed from across the table.

Rory, Logan, Shira, Mitchum, Emily and Richard shot him surprised looks.

"Excuse me?" Shira asked, completely shocked at her father-in-law's behavior. Mitchum told her that she would be the one to handle this situation – what was Elias doing?

Elias got up and walked over to Shira. "Would you look at them?" He pointed his fork at Logan and Rory, who were sitting there like deer caught in the headlights. "The boy took her all the way here, to face you, in my book that's amore."

Elias turned towards Shira again, "Now concerning the rest of their relationship - babies, secret weddings, pre-marital sex," Elias gesticulated widely, "hell, I don't want to know. If society does, than that's a sad state of affairs, but I'm sure Emily will take care of that… "He looked over his shoulder, "right, Em?"

Emily laughed politely, and nodded. "Off meds" she mouthed at Logan and Rory. This was another one of Hartford's secrets Emily knew about. A few years back Elias had some sort of breakdown, and he had tended to speak his mind afterwards. Since it often came across like drunk rambling, the Huntzbergers kept Elias on strict medication.

"I'm sure you are worried about the money – heaven forbid you can't buy those new Gucci's or Prada's, or have that little nip/tuck you were talking about…" Shira uncomfortably squirmed in her chair, "I'm sure the boy has set up some sort of agreement, and if not, Mitchum will take care of that. So, society's out of the way, moneys' taken care of…"

Elias looked around the room, making sure he did not forget anything. "That's it. So, Shira, just be happy for the kids. They deserve it." He walked over to the other side of the table, and kissed Rory's cheek before kissing Logan's, "Congratulations, kids! Goodnight and goodbye!"

With that, Elias walked out of the dining room, humming the melody to "Wild Thing". They waited until the "music" faded away, and Mitchum directed himself towards his guests.

"Sorry about that. My father really never recovered after that little episode in 2006…" he apologized.

"Oh, don't be!" Richard laughed, "It was quite amusing, and he has a point…"

Mitchum nodded seriously. He was glad that Richard seemed to agree with him. Society men did not have the time to dwell on what happened, it was much more important to deal with the situation at hand, to the men it did not matter if the children loved each other, as long as they accepted responsibility for their actions.

"Well, they have taken this all in their stride," Mitchum stated.

"Hmm, yes, very responsible," Richard agreed.

"I trust Emily will take care of the society side of things…" Mitchum replied, getting down to business.

"Announcements for all the important papers have been typed up, just waiting for the word. Most of the prep-work for the baby shower has been done, and once we have a sex and a due date we can plan the christening. We are trying to get her an appointment with Nicole Richie's doctor and apart from fatigue everything is going swimmingly." Emily reported. She paused for a second, "This is not a bad thing, gentlemen. It was bound to happen eventually – albeit I had hoped under different circumstances…."

"Good, make sure to involve Rory in as much of that as possible, she has the time…" Mitchum quickly interjected, ignoring Emily's comment not wanting to discuss the emotional aspects of his son's relationship any longer.

The elders continued to discuss details of Logan and Rory's future, as the couple in question sat there, eating in silence.

"Is it me, or did they forget we are here?" Logan whispered in his wife's ear.

"Hardly," Shira spat, but quickly carried on with her meal since Mitchum kicked her under the table.

Soon enough the awkward main course was over, and dessert was served.

"Tiramisu!" The maid announced excitedly as she placed a large bowl of the coffee drenched Italian dessert infront of Rory.

She nervously bit her lip, a wave of panic washed over her. She could not eat this, not here, not now. Oh, oh, that smell, the sweet smell of coffee filled her nostrils and instantly a wave of nausea hit her. She jolted up, her chair falling to the floor and ran towards the nearest bathroom.

An evil smile played at Shira's lips, Rory: 3 – Shira: 1. She was so smug about her little 'victory' she didn't notice Logan shooting her death glares and excusing himself to make sure Rory was okay.

"How could you, Shira?" Emily exasperated, "I specifically told you that coffee was not to be served or incorporated in any of the dishes seeing as it clearly upsets Rory…"

Mitchum, Richard and Emily glared at Shira.

"Well, I must have misunderstood...," she shrugged and dug in to her desert.

Emily looked at her disbelievingly. Was this woman for real?

Mitchum offered the Gimores an apologetic smile, signaling that he would deal with his crazy wife.

"Shira, are you out of your mind?" He sighed frustrated, rubbing his temples.

"What?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"I told you that it was okay to be upset with the children, since their whole coupling is not something we anticipated, however they are together now, and our families have been joined. It is important that we present ourselves as a united front, for business purposes and society…." Mitchum spoke slowly; making sure his wife took this all in.

Mitchum sighed, remembering what Emily said before, "It means a lot to the children, too." He looked at Emily, who was smiling widely, and Richard was nodding contently.

"Well, I refuse to see it that way!" Shira exclaimed, "you know as well I do that Rory Gilmore is nothing but a gold digging floozy, who tricked Logan in to sleeping with her. She was never good enough for him, she changed him, she.."

"ENOUGH!" Logan yelled as he pointed at his mother. "I sat here all night listening to you trash talk my wife…." Shira's balled her fist in frustration, she hated that Logan referred to Rory his wife, "That's right, my wife.. You are right – she changed me for the better. She is the perfect girl for me, and she'll make a fantastic mom. If you can't see that and accept that, then, I guess we won't be seeing you any time soon." Logan glared at his mother. She he was serious.

He shifted his gaze towards his father. "Dad, thanks for your support. I'll fax you any legal document you want, right now Rory and I should get home…" Mitchum nodded, and looked at Emily and Richard. "Thank-you for coming tonight, it means a lot to us. See you Friday?"

His grandmother-in-law nodded, "I'll get you Nicole Richie's doctor's number as soon as possible, this nausea can't be normal."

Logan smiled weakly, he turned sharply on his heal, leaving his now crying mother behind. He met Rory in the foyer, and was about to open the door when the maid stopped him, handed him two bottles of water, two bottles of coke and a box of saltine crackers. "Compliments of Mrs. Huntzberger."

Rory and Logan looked at each other, both smiling widely.

Rory: 4 – Shira: 1

GAME OVER.