"Great, so, I'll see you at 3 pm then. Can't wait!"

Rory smiled as she placed her cell phone down on the counter in the kitchen. It had been months since she'd last seen Jess and he'd just called her to let her know he was in New York. They'd arranged to meet up for coffee later that day and Rory was looking forward to catching up with one of her oldest friends and finding out what he had been up to. Only now, she found herself wrestling with whether she should tell Logan that she was meeting Jess. She had nothing to hide but she didn't normally update him on her daily whereabouts so she kind of felt that it would feel like it was turning the impromptu catch-up into a bigger deal than it was.

"Well, there she is!" Jess stood up with his arms open wide. Rory smiled and gave Jess a big hug. "Wow Rory you are huge!" he said looking her up and down.

Rory playfully slapped Jess "That's not polite!" she said pouting. "I've missed you".

"I missed you too Rory," Jess said as they both sat down at the table. "So what's new with you?"

"Oh, you know, not much, I'm getting fatter by the day…" she said rolling her eyes and patting her tummy. "We're having a boy, did you know that?"

"Luke told me," Jess said, "I really thought you'd have a girl."

"And Logan asked me to marry him," Rory said holding up her hand to display her impressive engagement ring.

"I heard that rumour" Jess smiled "Congratulations. So you're finally officially being taken off the market…when's the big day?"

"Oh, we've not set a date yet, but soonish I guess? Logan would like to do it this year but…" Rory trailed off.

"…but? Not keen? I figured you'd be marching him down that aisle!" Jess laughed.

"I'm very keen!" Rory said raising her eyebrows "I'm just not quite ready"

"Doubts?" Jess said with a smirk.

"No! Not at all" Rory said, "I'm absolutely sure that Logan and I belong together…" Rory felt uncomfortable and seized the moment to move the conversation on. "Anyhow, enough about me, what about you? Any love interest at the moment?"

"Well, now you come to mention it…" Jess said shyly.

"Jess you dark horse! Tell me more!"

Jess told Rory all about his new girlfriend Georgia. She was also a writer, who had just had her first book published by the company Jess worked for. He had met her at a recent launch event and they had immediately clicked. "It's all very new" Jess smirked "but so far, so good. I think you'll really like her." he said to Rory.

Rory smiled "Well, in that case, I hope I get to meet her very soon! You sound happy Jess, I'm glad".

He was happy. Jess had spent a long time fighting his feelings for Rory but he had always known that ultimately Logan was the guy for her. He was just grateful that after all these years they had been able to maintain a close friendship, he knew that whatever happened they'd be friends forever. Georgia had come into his life just at the right time, and for the first time since meeting Rory, he felt that elusive spark he had been searching for all these years and he had a really good feeling about this one.

Jess looked at the time on his watch "Shoot Rory, I've got to run. I'm heading back to Philly for a launch thing tonight."

Rory and Jess said their goodbyes. "Don't be a stranger Jess?" Rory said kissing him gently on the cheek "This baby is going to need his Uncle Jess to keep him grounded" she smiled "and don't forget, I want to meet Georgia!"

Jess gave Rory a hug and walked towards the door. He was just opening the door to leave when he heard a scream, loud enough to make him spin around on the spot.

"Oh!"

"Rory!" he said as he saw her doubled over in pain clutching onto a chair by the door. He rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I…" Rory struggled to her words out. "I don't know…ow."

People were looking on concerned. "Shall I call 911?" one of the serving staff asked.

Rory shook her head "No, it's…fine…oh!" she said again clutching her tummy.

Jess put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her up to lean on him. "Right, Rory, I'm getting you to the hospital. Now. Could you be in labour?" he asked sincerely hoping that she wasn't.

Rory shook her head. Well, she thought, it's a possibility. She still had a good six weeks to go until her due date but she wouldn't have been the first woman to give birth a few weeks ahead of schedule.

"C'mon," Jess said slowly walking her towards the door.

Jess grabbed a cab and escorted Rory to the hospital where she was quickly admitted to be checked out. The pain had eased somewhat since they arrived but the doctor insisted that she still be given a full once-over. Jess noticed the doctors had become even more attentive when they had looked at her notes. When they realised just who she was related to she was ushered quickly into a plush private suite. Jess was impressed with how just a small mention of a name could get you so many perks and privileges. It was a lifestyle he was not privy or accustomed to.

"Jess you should get off to your book launch," Rory said.

"It's fine Rory, I don't want to leave you on your own…"

"Logan will be here soon, the hospital will have phoned him…"

"Ah, in which case…" Jess smiled and raised an eyebrow "I'm going to love you and leave you." He said kissing her on the cheek. The last thing Jess wanted for any of them was an uncomfortable confrontation with Logan in a hospital room. Things hadn't exactly been peachy the last time they saw each other.

Rory smiled as Jess left the room. She really missed having him around sometimes and wondered if there was ever a way two of the most important men in her life could ever be friends.

Logan burst into the hospital room to find Rory lying down, totally fixated on the tv.

"Alright there Ace?"

Rory looked up and smiled "I would be…but this channel is depriving me." She said with a pout.

"Depriving you of what Ace?" Logan smiled, relaxing now that he had seen that Rory was comfortable and happy.

"Lori and Monte!" she exclaimed.

"You've kinda lost me…." Logan said sitting on the edge of the bed to see what she was watching.

"Atlanta! I want Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta"

Logan laughed and kissed Rory on the head. "You're crazy, you know that?" he smiled "You feeling okay now? I was so worried when I got the call"

"False alarm, really strong Braxton Hicks contractions apparently. Just my body trying to give me a sneak preview of what lies ahead for me in the near future…" Rory said rolling her eyes. She kept trying to forget that in a few short weeks she would be experiencing what her mother had always kindly described as "doing the splits on a crate of dynamite".

"I'm so sorry you had to come on your own."

"Logan" Rory paused "In the interest of full disclosure I should probably tell you…I wasn't on my own" Rory shifted uncomfortably on the bed.

"You weren't?" Logan asked.

Rory looked at Logan wondering how to break the news that she had been out with Jess at the time. She wished more than anything she had just been straight up and honest with him in the first place. She had nothing to hide but now, because she hadn't told him about the fact they were going to meet up, it seemed like she did.

"No…I was with Jess".

Logan looked at Rory in disbelief. "Jess?"

"He was in the city and he called to meet up as we've not seen each other in months. I would have told you but, it didn't seem like a big deal." Rory lied. She knew it seemed like a big deal which is why she had chosen not to tell Logan where she was going.

"Rory, we need to be able to trust each other"

"We do!" Rory said putting her hand on Logan's arm.

"Finding out that someone is hiding things from you – it makes it pretty hard to trust". He said standing up.

"Logan…"

"No Rory, I am pissed. I don't keep anything from you and you purposely didn't tell me you were meeting your ex for some secret rendezvous." He said waving his arms around.

"It's not like that! You know Jess is like my family now! Ugh, Logan, I can't believe that once again we're fighting about Jess. You need to let this go."

"Maybe if you weren't sneaking around behind my back, that would be easier to do" he shot back.

"I don't know what makes you so mad about Jess, Logan" Rory said putting her head in her hands before she looked up at him. "There is no reason to feel anything. Do you know what Jess wrote in his note to me when he left Nantucket?" Logan looked at Rory as she continued "He told me he was leaving because he didn't want to make my life difficult knowing that we, me and you, had stuff to sort out. He stepped aside and told me not to screw it up. Does that sound like somebody who wants to come between us?" she said exasperatedly.

Logan didn't have time to answer as the doctor entered the room with Rory's notes. "Miss Gilmore, everything looks perfectly fine here, there's no reason for us to keep you in, you can leave when you're ready. Though, I think we'll be seeing you again pretty soon" he said with a wink.

Rory got dressed and Logan went to fetch the car to bring it round to the front of the hospital. For the most part, they journeyed the short distance back to their apartment in silence, Rory not knowing how to make things better. Logan was the first to speak.

"I think we should set the date," Logan said looking forward and keeping his hands tightly gripped on the steering wheel.

Rory turned to look at Logan, slightly in shock. He was bringing this up now? It wasn't what she was expecting him to say at all.

"What?" she said almost laughing.

"For our wedding. We should set the date?"

"Is this about Jess?" Rory asked.

Logan scoffed at Rory but couldn't deny that the whole episode had made him feel insecure, and Rory's sudden reluctance recently to set a date for their wedding was only adding to the insecurities that were piling up.

"This is not about him, " Logan said, with a loud sigh "I don't understand you, Rory. You wanted this – you wanted to get married – and now you're dragging your heels over it."

"I…." Rory started to say, not entirely sure where she was going with it. The truth was she knew that she had been avoiding the conversation and she didn't fully understand her reasons herself. She wanted to marry Logan, she knew that it was all she wanted in life, but she'd felt all over the place recently with their impending arrival. For Rory, all her focus and energy recently had been around the baby that she was carrying. If there was any hesitation on her part, it was only that she knew as soon as they had set a date the wedding arrangements would run away with themselves and take over her life. Now it seemed that Logan thought that she was avoiding it because she had changed her mind.

They continued on their way in silence and remained that way when they got home, going to bed without saying another word to each other.

The next morning Rory woke up to find a cold empty space next to her in the bed. She hated when they were angry with each other and she hated it, even more, today, knowing that Logan had been so right about everything, especially about hiding the fact that she was meeting Jess. What she hadn't realized until the journey home was how much she was hurting Logan by not setting a wedding date, she'd not really considered it that it had meant that much to him.

She stood up slowly and padded into the study where Logan was sat working on his laptop. Rory opened the door quietly and he looked up at her. He couldn't help but smile at her sleepy appearance and her mussed up hair. So beautiful he thought to himself and she doesn't even realize it.

"Not going into the office today?" she asked quietly walking over towards where he sat at the desk.

"No, I thought I'd stay here today, just to make sure you're okay after yesterday."

"I'm fine," Rory said, putting her hands on Logan's face and kissing him tenderly.

Logan looked at her "Rory, I'm sorry…." He started to say before Rory cut him off by putting her finger over his mouth.

"I'm glad you're here today," Rory said with a smile "Because there's somewhere I want you to come with me this morning…"

"Oh yeah?" Logan said, intrigued. "Where are we going?"

"City Hall," Rory said firmly. "Let's get married."

A/N: Ooh I didn't think I'd get another chapter out so soon but the story just flowed out. I've already got the next chapter half-written! Hope you like it!