A/N: See? Next chapter up fast. How about I get a pat on the back in review form? I hope you like this chapter. Thank you for the reviews, you are awesome(and welcome, new readers!).

Going for an award

Later that night, Rory was standing in front of her hotel, waiting for Logan to arrive. A few minutes past 8, he finally got there. Getting out of his car, he walked to her, a grin on his lips.

"Hey, Ace. You look nice."

She nodded, smiling back at him. "Thanks. You, uh, look good too. Healthy. Which is a good thing."

He chuckled, looking at her. "Thanks, I guess. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure." The both walked to the car, trying to avoid looking at each other. At the end of a very quiet drive, they walked in a large restaurant and were seated at a booth. After a few more moments of silence, Logan finally looked at her.

"You're uncomfortable."

"Yeah." She nodded, biting her lip. "I don't know if I should be, but I am."

"Relax, Ace." He put his hand on top of hers but she quickly pulled it back, resting both her hands on her knees. "I don't bite. Well, not unless you wan…"

"Stop there." She snapped at him, not giving him a chance to finish his sentence.

"Ok." Logan nodded, trying to ignore her reaction, then quickly smiled again. "So, what's the job like?"

"Tiring. I'd like to be around home more, but other than that good. Still definitely looking forward to the elections so this can finally be over."

"And your mom?"

"Good. She married Luke a few months ago. Almost six months ago. Honor?"

"She's fine. Pregnant with her first child actually."

"Oh, wow, you're going to be an uncle. When's she due?"

"End of September."

"Congratulations. And send her and Josh my congratulations next time you talk to them."

"You should call her yourself. I'm sure she'd like to hear from you."

"I wasn't sure if I could, after…you know."

"Yeah, I do." He replied, suddenly more serious.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up." She bit her lip, not knowing where the conversation was going to go to.

"It's fine. Not like we can pretend it didn't happen, is it?"

"I suppose not. But we can not talk about it."

"Probably the best choice."

"Definitely." Rory nodded. After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, the waitress came and dropped their plates on the table.

"Ok, good, food." She exclaimed, happy with the distraction.

"You're that hungry?"

"Not really. But might make things less weird. You know, things to cut and chew and stuff."

"I see your working under pressure skills haven't improved much."

"Not really." She laughed softly. "Sorry. I'm not trying to make this any weirder than it is."

"It's ok."

"I'm just…it feels odd. Running into you like this and all. It was unexpected."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm slightly uncomfortable as well." He finally confessed. "So know you're not alone in this."

"Definitely helps." She smiled gratefully. "So, what else is new? This is supposed to be about catching up and all that." She remembered, trying to find something to talk about."How are your parents? Well, actually, I kind of know how they are because grandma loves dropping their names in conversations…"

"Why?"

"Uh, I…don't know." She dodged his question, not wanting to tell him that Emily was still hoping they'd get back together and make the conversation awkward again.

"I guess that means you know more about them than I do. Mitchum and I are still not on speaking terms and mom…well, she's taken his side."

"I'm sorry, Logan."

"It's fine." He blew it off quickly. "Really, is not even unusual for us. You might remember we weren't exactly the Cosbys. I suppose we'll resume communications at some point in the future."

"Good. I mean, you're supposed to talk to your family, but it's ok if you don't. Depends on the situation, I guess."

"Yeah, it does. So I take it your grandparents are ok?"

"Yeah. Grandpa's fully recovered after his surgery. Back at work full time, travelling and all that, with grandma on his case trying to tell him to take it easy. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Send them my greetings."

"Yeah, sure, I will."

Finishing his drink and ordering a new one, Logan looked at her, a sly smile on his lips. "Have you given any thought to what you're going to do after you're done with this job?"

"Not really. Apply for something on the East Coast. Preferably Philadelphia, but anything around that area works fine. Wouldn't say no to a job for the New York Times, you know."

"Why Philly?" Logan asked again. "I never knew you were a big fan."

"Uh…" Rory hesitated for a bit, not knowing exactly how to answer. "That's where my boyfriend lives." She finally decided to go straight for the truth.

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah."She nodded, biting her lip.

"I didn't see that one coming." He remarked coldly, drinking from his glass. "I probably should have, though. So, this boyfriend, he's a good guy?"

"Yeah, he is." She smiled happily. "He's a really good guy." Pausing again, she finally realized something. "Actually, you've met him. Jess. He came to Hartford once when we were in college and we went to dinner? Well, you were in college, I was on my idiotic hiatus."

"You're dating that jerk?"

"Don't. If anyone was a jerk that night, that was you." The words flew out of her mouth, almost without realizing, leaving him looking at her, stunned. After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head. "I'm sorry. There was no reason to dig that up. But, no matter what your opinion of Jess is, I would prefer it if you kept it to yourself. He's a great guy and he makes me happy."

"You love him?"

"Yeah, I do."

"That was quick."

"You didn't honestly expect me to pine for you all this time, did you? And it's been a year, Logan. More than a year, in fact."

"No, but I did expect more from you than jumping in the arms of your jerk of an ex."

"What, sleep around for a while? Because I'm convinced you're not spending your nights crying over me either." She snapped again.

"That was uncalled for, Ace."

"At least don't insult my intelligence by telling me you haven't even been near a woman since we broke up. Because there's no way I'd ever believe that one. And what is uncalled for is the fact that you keep insulting my boyfriend, despite the fact that you barely met him. Try it a third time and this dinner will be over."

"You're really into this guy, aren't you?"

"What, it wasn't obvious from me telling you I love him?"

"So you'd say yes if he asked you to marry him?" He asked, bitterness and anger in his voice and she pulled back even further away from him at the table and leaning back against the cold fake leather seat, crossing her arms against her chest, not sure of how to answer.

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Take that as exactly what it was-me telling you that any marriage plans between me and Jess are none of your concern."

"Hey, I'm just asking a question. You didn't seem to have any trouble answering a different one I asked."

"Logan, what do you want from me? You honestly want to dig that up? We broke up, it happens. And frankly, you might remember that breaking up was your decision, not mine."

"Because you didn't want to marry me."

"I wasn't ready to marry you. And we would have both been unhappy if we would have gotten married. Even leaving Jess out of this, I am still convinced it was the right decision. For both of us."

"Well, it's nice to know you didn't love me as much as I loved you. Terrific, really."

"Oh, wow, are you going for the jerk award tonight or what? I don't want to argue this with you anymore. I am sorry you got hurt, but guess what? It wasn't the easiest spot for me to be in either. But I am over it and I have a good life and a good guy who I love and who loves me back. If you just asked me to dinner to make me feel guilty over not marrying you, well, tough, because you can't. It was the right choice." Digging through her purse, she picked up a couple of bills and put them on the table. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really don't feel like being here any longer. Have a nice life." Standing up, she looked at him, picking up her purse.

"I drove you here." He managed to reply, looking at her.

"I'll take a cab." Rory snapped back, leaving him behind as she headed for the door. Hailing the first cab she could see, she picked up her phone, quickly dialing Jess' number.

"Hey." He answered.

"Hey." Rory finally smiled softly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm done with dinner."

"Earlier than I expected. How was it?"

"How many synonyms of awkward can you think of?"

"Three right now but if you give me five minutes, I might come up with more."

"Well, add uncomfortable, pointless and oh, yeah, while we're adding things you can throw in a bit of shouting, and you have a pretty good picture."

"Shouting?" Jess tried to not get angry and listen until the end, knowing there wasn't anything else for him to do.

"He decided to bring up the fact that I said no when he proposed. And he called you a jerk, which I didn't agree with. Long story short, it ended with me storming out of the restaurant."

"Not sure how I feel about you defending my honor." Jess chuckled, trying to calm her down.

"Well, I couldn't let him be mean to you. I'm the only one who's allowed to call you a jerk."

"What, I'm no longer perfect?"

"Right now, you're way more than perfect. But you might annoy me at some point in the future, so I reserve my right to be the only one that calls you that."

"Fair enough. Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine once I'm back in my hotel room." Remembering her night, she hid her face in her free hand. "Ugh, this night sucks. I wish you were here."

"I'd like to be there as well. I'm sorry I can't be."

"Don't worry. I know. I'll just take a long shower once I'm back in my room and forget this night ever happened."

"Can't say I'd mind being there for that either." He smirked, making her laugh softly.

"See, this is why I need to be allowed to call you a jerk."

"You made it too easy."

"Maybe. Give me two minutes." The cab pulled in the hotel parking lot and she took out money from her purse, paying the driver then got out. "Ok, done." She walked in the hotel lobby, then pushed the button for the elevator.

"Back at your hotel?"

"Yeah. Ugh, I'm just…I want to see you. I miss you so much. No chance you're going to be up at my room when I get there, is it?"

"Sorry, Ror."

"It's ok. I'm being a baby again. 4 months and a bit left, right?" She walked out of the elevator and into her room, dropping her purse on the table.

"Yes."

"And that's not that long?"

"It's not."

"Good. And after these months are over, we can talk about the whole sharing a roof and its respective pillars thing again? Seriously talk about it?" Rory started walking around the room, biting her lip.

"Well, depends on what you mean by seriously. If it means that we're not allowed to throw in any jokes, then no." He smirked.

"I mean seriously as in considering as a real possibility. Jokes are allowed."

"Yes."

"Ok. I'm…looking forward to that conversation. And to spending more time with you. Stop missing you." She rambled, then took a deep breath. "Anyway, I should let you sleep. And I do mean sleep as in go to bed, turn the light off, close eyes, not read or write."

"What if there are monsters under my bed? Can I leave the lights on?" He chuckled again, hoping she'll relax and feel better.

"If you're that scared of monsters, you can have a night light. Ask Santa for one."

"Can it be in the shape of some cartoon character?"

"Which one?"

"I don't know."

"I'll get you a book shaped one."

"Wait, wasn't this supposed to go in my letter to Santa? Why are you getting me one?"

"Sorry to break this to you, but Santa isn't real." She laughed, sitting down on the bed.

"You've just ruined my dreams here. I might have to go cry now."

"You're procrastinating from going to bed. Again."

"Yeah, that's kind of the whole not enough sleep thing happens."

"I will remind you that you have work again tomorrow." Rory smiled.

"You see, I was all excited about the night light…" He tried to sound serious but she still ended up laughing. "…and then you had to tell me that Santa isn't real and I have to work tomorrow. Any other bad news you'd like to share?"

"The Easter bunny isn't real either." She smiled. "Now go to sleep."

"Ok. Have a good night."

"You too. Bye." She hung up the phone, then threw it on the bed, getting ready to go in the shower when it rang again. Not checking the number, she picked it up.

"Forget something?"

"What?"

"Sorry, mom. I just got off the phone with Jess."

"So that's why it was busy!"

"Yes, that's why. Why are you still awake?"

"Are you kidding? I want to know how dinner went!"

"Dinner went…not well." Rory quickly recounted her night to her mother.

"Oh, wow, what a jerk."

"I'm sure it could have been way worse than that. I think I just got out at the right moment, before we provided an entire restaurant with free entertainment."

"Are you ok, hon?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Talking to Jess helped. And, despite the shouting and unpleasantness, I'm glad I went."

"Why?"

"I don't know if I can explain it. I think it's because now I am sure that there is not even the smallest chance that we could ever be friends. Don't take this the wrong way, it doesn't mean that I wanted to be best friends, but I would have preferred if I didn't have to cross the street if I ever saw him again. But now that chapter is even more closed than it was before."

"I'm sorry, kid."

"Eh, it's fine." She just brushed it off quickly. "I wanted to make it possible to at least be civil if we were ever thrown in the same room at some point in the future, for one of grandma's things or whatever, but if he doesn't want to, I'm not going to cry about it. And really, it's not like I know if I'll even see him again anytime in the next 20 years. So good that I went, bad that it didn't work any better, could have been worse and everything stays the same."

"So, living in Philadelphia then? After this job is done?" Lorelai changed the subject.

"Doesn't seem like a bad plan, does it?" She smiled happily. "It's close enough to Stars Hollow that I can come spend weekends home, there are a couple of good papers there…all signs point to it being a good idea."

"And you promise you'll come visit?"

"I promise. Actually, I'm thinking of spending a week or so home after the elections, just so we have some time together and then start applying for jobs again. I was thinking week-long movie marathon, so we can at least try to make up for all this time."

"What about Jess?"

"He understands. He knows how much you and the town matter to me."

"Aw, sweetie…That's nice of you. Just…how about you spend a few days there first, then a few with me? And then go on to rule the world."

"And you wouldn't mind?"

"The fact that I suggested it means that I wouldn't mind. I know what being away from the guy you love is like."

"Wait, does this mean that Jess now has your official stamp of approval?"

"He's had it for quite some time now. Tell him he now has an official invitation to join in any movie marathon. And I won't even try to send him behind the counter at Luke's when we're there, to make him bring coffee, because my mean husband still refuses to let me go there, but has no problems with him doing that." Lorelai rambled quickly, before an idea popped in her head. "Oh, can I get a real stamp and stamp his hand? Or forehead? Or something visible?"

"I don't know. Take it up with him." Rory laughed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I should go take a shower and then sleep. I want to walk around tomorrow, maybe I'll actually have time to see more than the inside of a coffee shop."

"Bite your tongue! Coffee shops are the best things in the world. There is nothing more important to see in a different city."

"Yeah, but Luke's coffee is better. Tell him to send me a cup."

"I'll teleport you one myself first thing in the morning." Lorelai grinned. "Take care of yourself, babe."

"I will. Night, mom."

"Good night."