The Game of Life

by Lynn79

Rory's and Logan's life after graduation. With a wedding on the way, a secret identity, work, and friends how will the couple get through it all. Rated M for a FEW sexual situations [Rogan]

36. Are Those Strippers?

--

"Logan, promise me that there won't be any strippers," Rory said firmly.

"Ace, Finn planned this, not me. What if I promised you that, and Finn hired strippers? Then, I would be breaking my promise to you."

"I'm not kidding," Rory said, not giving up, "I don't want you gawking at naked women."

Logan smirked at her, "Fine, I promise that if I see naked women, I won't gawk. I will only think about how much I love you."

"Uhhh," Rory groaned, not wanting to voice the insecurities that she had even after all their time together.

"And," Logan said, stressing the word, "how I would rather have you in front of me naked than anyone else."

"That's better," Rory conceded and blushed, then leaned in to give him a short sweet kiss on the lips.

Just as she went to pull back, Logan held her in places, and moved to her ear, whispering,
"But there's just something about a beautiful woman taking off her clothes so enticingly, it's incredibly sexy. And if that beautiful woman happens to be the love of your life, well then, it's like heaven."

"What exactly are you implying Mr. Huntzberger?" Rory asked innocently.

"Just that the idea of you stripping for me is one of the sexiest things I can imagine," he replied honestly.

Rory smiled at his shameless flirting, but then saw the other girls looking on and froze. Looking at the goofy grin on his face, she demanded, "Who told?"

Logan snapped out of his very pleasant day dream confused, "Told what?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Rory said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Ace, I have no idea what you're going on about, honest."

"Who told you about stripping?" Rory said, thinking his face would show recognition.

"After hours HBO, maybe it was Showtime, I don't remember" Logan babbled, now getting very confused by her questions.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Rory huffed, then practically yelled, "About me learning to strip!"

"You learned how to strip?" Logan asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Seeing his surprise, Rory realized that he didn't have a clue about the stripping lessons at her lingerie party before she said anything and mumbled, "And you had no idea."

Logan smiled at her obvious frustration, and couldn't help but tease, "Nope, but I suddenly don't want to get on that plane." After saying that, he kissed her deeply before Rory could respond.

It was Saturday morning, just over a week had passed since the seminar, and she was standing at a private airstrip with Logan as he and the other guys were about to board a plane for Las Vegas. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving, the time they planned to have their bachelor and bachelorette parties. It was a bit early, but they had decided that with Thanksgiving the following week and the start of the Christmas party season after that, now was the best time.

Once Logan had his fill of the kiss, he pulled back and said seriously, "Rory, promise me there won't be any strippers," mocking her statement from a few moments earlier.

"That's not the same thing," Rory defended.

"No?" he challenged, "I don't want to think about you oogling some bodybuilder either."

"Logan," Rory said with an eye roll, "Lane planned my party. Who planned yours again? Finn was it? Who do you really think is more likely to hire naked people of the opposite sex for entertainment?"

"Point taken," Logan offered. "So…"

"So…" Rory replied with a smile.

"See you Sunday?" Logan asked, chuckling at their 'so thing.'

"Yeah," Rory said, giving him one more kiss, "Have fun, but don't get arrested."

"Yes, Mother," Logan mocked.

Rory smacked Logan across the chest and demanded, "Take that back!"

"Why?"

"You compared me to your mother, I'm offended!"

"Please accept my deepest apologies," Logan said dramatically.

"I'll think about it," Rory teased.

"Fair enough," Logan conceded and leaned in for one last kiss.

--

Colin and Steph stood silently facing each other, with a very pronounced one foot gap between them, both stubbornly not wanting to say anything. Finally, Colin caved, "How long are you going to stay mad at me?"

"How long did you act like an ass?" Steph shot back rhetorically.

"I apologized! What more do you want? Contrary to what you may wish, I do not have the ability to turn back time."

"And whose fault is that?" Steph said, hands now on her hips and tapping her foot.

"You're seriously yelling at me for not accomplishing something that is entirely fictional!"

Steph glared, "I'm yelling at you for being stupid enough the first time. Trust me, that's reason enough!"

Again they feel into silence, and again Colin broke it, "Well at least the strippers won't be so overdramatic!"

"Strippers? You're having strippers?" Steph growled.

"Oh, so you do care?" Colin asked, with a grin. When Steph didn't respond, he continued, "One minute you act like you never want to see me again, and now, you're jealous of strippers. Wow Steph, never pegged you as the insecure type."

"I don't care about you, you twit! I care about Rory! Don't you dare hire strippers Colin James McCrae!"

"We don't have to hire strippers for me to see them. I'm a big boy, we're going to be in Vegas, I can do things on my own."

Steph just stared at him open mouthed. After a few second, she regained her composure, "Well, I hope you enjoy them," then turned and walked away.

--

A few feet away, Bri was talking to Finn. She had her arms wrapped around his waist, but her head was tilted back so she could look at him as she said, "Have fun."

"You're not going to threaten me about hiring strippers?" Finn asked, a little disappointed that she didn't seem to mind.

"You didn't," Bri said confidently.

"This is a bachelor party, Doll," Finn explained, "Strippers are standard issue."

"That may be, but you didn't hire any," Bri stated.

"Is that so?" Finn asked, now confused by how calm she was being.

"Yes."

"How do you figure?" he asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Well first, you love Rory, and you know how much that would bother her; second, you don't want to cause problems between Logan and Rory, and strippers would cause problems; and third, you have amazing self preservation skills," Bri ticked off.

"Yes… true… and what?" Finn said, acknowledging each statement.

"You still want to have a girlfriend when you come back?"

"Very much so," Finn said with a nod.

"And you know," Bri continued, "that your girlfriend would be very upset by strippers."

"Would she?" Finn asked playfully, despite knowing she was serious, "You sound like you've met her."

"Perhaps," Bri teased with a small smile.

"I promise, no strippers," Finn said seriously.

"Good, now go have fun, and don't call me drunk."

"Finally, a woman who accepts my true love," Finn said dramatically.

"Bye Finn," Bri said, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck to pull his head down towards her. She kissed him and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too, Doll," he said sincerely, finally letting her go.

--

After seeing off their significant others, Rory, Steph, Bri, and Honor made their way out of the airport to the car they had waiting for them to head back across town.

"What's the plan?" Rory asked, curiously. She knew this was her bachelorette party, but besides that, she had no idea what had been planned.

Steph knew that she was digging for information so smiled and said, "Meet up with the others."

Rory rolled her eyes, but knew that asking any more questions would be useless, and instead turned to her friend, "So Steph, what is going on between you and Colin?"

"He won't take me to a spa," Steph said with fake pout.

"As in, said you can't go? Or won't pay for you to go?"

"As in he won't go with me," she clarified.

"And what made you think Colin would go to a spa?" Honor asked.

"He said we could go away for a weekend as a way to make up for flipping out about my job change."

"Okay…" Rory said, not sure where this was going.

"And after some thinking, I suggested a weekend at the spa," Steph said innocently.

"And I repeat, why would Colin want to go to a spa?" Honor asked again.

At this point, Steph gave a huge grin, "I thought that enduring a weekend at the spa would be the final part of his punishment."

"You," Honor said, "are an evil genius! And, you've obviously spent too much time with those boys."

This caused the girls to laugh, but then Rory turned back and asked, "So you weren't really fighting?"

"Oh no, we were fighting," Steph answered, and when no one said anything she offered, "What he did hurt me, supporting each other unconditionally is important to me."

"It is in all relationships," Bri offered, and the other girls nodded in agreement.

"It just threw us off. Things have been a bit awkward since then, which makes us both tense and we overreact and fight about stupid things," Steph said in a small rant. Smiling at the group, she perked up and said, "But enough about me, don't think I didn't see you blushing Rory."

"I saw that too," Bri commented.

Deciding to just admit what was said, Rory explained, "We were talking about his promise that there wouldn't be strippers…"

"There's not, Finn told me," Bri said, piping in.

"I'm glad," Rory said, "But Logan assured me that he would rather see me naked than a stripper."

"And that made you blush?" Honor asked surprised.

"Yeah, but it got worse later when he brought up me stripping for him. I thought one of you told him about our lesson!"

"We didn't!" Bri exclaimed.

"I know that now, but I didn't then, so I ended up telling him."

"Bet he liked that idea," Steph teased.

At this, Rory just started blushing again, but didn't say anything, causing the girls to laugh.

"You don't think they'll do anything too crazy, do you?" Bri asked, sounding a little nervous while changing the subject for her friend.

"Nope," Steph stated.

"You seem so calm," Bri said surprised. She knew that her relationship with Finn was doing well, and he had gone out of town for business trips, but this was different.

Honor decided now was a good time to jump in so she explained, "Look at it this way, if Finn screws up, chances are, the rest of them screwed up as well. They know what's good for them."

Hearing the way that Honor said the last part, Bri couldn't help but laugh, "So you're saying that I should stop worrying?"

"Yes!" Rory, Steph, and Honor exclaimed together. The group laughed for a while before falling back into a much less serious conversation. Soon enough, the car pulled up to a stop in front of a hotel.

"A hotel?" Rory asked, slightly confused.

"Patience, Rory, patience," Steph chided playfully.

Not being deterred, Rory continued to look around and stated, "Wait, this is Finn's hotel! Why are we at Finn's hotel?"

Without saying anything else, Steph rolled her eyes as she led them to the elevators and then up to the top floor. When the doors opened, Steph turned and went down the hallway, stopping in front of one of the few doors on the floor, which obviously led to one of the larger suites.

Slightly confused, Rory remained silent as Steph opened the door to reveal Lane, Paris, Louise, Madeline, Juliet, and Rosemary.

Rory went around greeting the rest of the girls. Finally, she reached Lane. After a long hug, Rory pulled back and asked, "What is all of this?"

Rory knew that Lane was planning her bachelorette party, so she was expecting something more low key. She didn't like to discuss money with Lane, but she knew that her friend couldn't afford an extravagant weekend, and she didn't want Lane to feel like she had to plan one. And truth be told, some of the weekends that Rory had spent on the couch with her best friend talking and watching movies were the most memorable.

Lane blushed, understanding the unvoiced question, "Well, I had a few ideas, and we're still doing some of them, but when I was at your shower, Finn and I were talking, and he offered this for tonight."

Rory didn't say anything, so Lane continued, "I had thought about doing it in Stars Hollow, either at your mom's or the Dragonfly, but we both know there isn't much to do there…"

Rory felt the need to interject, knowing Lane felt awkward sometimes around all the money, "Lane, you know I would have loved it."

Lane gave Rory a small smile, "I know, but when Finn offered the suite, I started thinking about all the stuff there is to do here."

"I know, but…" Rory began, wanting to make sure Lane knew it wasn't necessary.

Before she could finish, Paris interrupted, "Give it a rest Gilmore! We all know how boring your town is, and I, for one, am much happier in civilization."

"Hey!" Rory chided, feigning insult, but she and Lane couldn't help falling into a fit giggles knowing that Paris was right.

Lane calmed down, smiled, and replied, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Finn offered us any of the hotel services on the house."

"Any services?" Steph asked, looking very interested from her seat on the couch.

"Yup," Lane said with a happy smile, and as if on key, a knock sounded at the door. Lane walked over and opened the door, letting in a train of employees. As they filed in, Lane turned back to the slightly confused group and announced, "Manicures and pedicures!"

At once, all the girls began looking through the nail polish, trying to decide on colors, ready to enjoy some pampering.

--

The group of guys able to join Logan, Finn, Colin, for the trip were, of course the other two groomsmen, Josh and Seth; then Austin and Ben, two of Logan's cousins; Ethan, Steph's brother; and Brett, Jonathan, and Anthony, three guys from the LDB.

The flight started off fairly subdued, with the guys catching up with each other, and generally teasing Logan about being the first of the trio to settle down. Despite the teasing, Logan was enjoying himself, and soon enough Finn was mixing them all drinks, as they settled in to watch Snatch.

Shortly after the movie ended, the pilot announced they were beginning their decent. Finn used the silence this created to stand up, clear his throat and dramatically say, "Gentlemen, we are gathered here today, to give our last respects to our dear friend, Logan Huntzberger…"

"I'm getting married not executed," Logan said with an eye roll.

"The difference is?" he shot back.

"You like Rory!"

"Fine, ruin my speech," Finn pouted and began again, "Gentlemen, we are here for one last weekend of debauchery before Logan finally makes an honest woman out of the very beautiful Rory..."

"Too sappy," Anthony critiqued.

"So demanding," Finn said with a huff, "Gentlemen, we're…"

"No!" Logan and Colin yelled at the same time.

When Finn stopped speaking, Colin said, "We get it."

"Anything else you want to say?" Seth asked, hoping to spare the rest of the group whatever was about to happen.

"When we land, we're going to the hotel to check in, and then, we'll meet up at 3:00."

"What's the plan after that?" Austin asked.

"Patience, gentleman…" Finn said seriously as he sat down.

When they landed and got out of the plane, two limos were waiting to take them to the hotel. Once they arrived at the hotel to check in, the manager welcomed them and exchanged a few words with Finn before excusing himself, allowing the guys to go to their rooms.

Finn had rented the two suites on the top floor for the occasion. After taking some time to settle in, they started getting ready for whatever Finn had in store for them. Soon enough all the guys were gathered in the sitting room by 2:45.

Finn looked at the clock confused, "It's not 3."

"So?" Colin asked confused.

"We're early, we're never early. We're never early."

"Steph's not here," Logan commented.

"Hey," Colin defended, "Rory's not much better."

"Stop!" Seth commanded, "We're not doing this again, we're all whipped remember?"

"Hey," Austin, Logan's cousin, yelled, "Some of us are single."

"Whatever," Seth replied with a shrug, "Just tell us what we're doing Finn."

"We're going down to the casino."

"That's it?" Brett asked shocked, "All this secrecy, and we're just gambling. We're in Vegas, no shit, we're going to gamble! I thought that went without saying."

"That's where we're going first," Finn said as he walked out the door.

After a few grumbles, the guys made their way downstairs. Before they reached the casino floor, the hotel owner greeted them to ask if he could help with anything and to let them know the perks that they offered to their 'high profile guests.' He also assured them that if they needed anything, they should not hesitate to ask. Finn promised him that they would let him know and thanked him before leading them out onto the casino floor. Once there, the guys broke into smaller groups as they looked for different games.

--

"Lane, why won't you tell me where we're going?" Rory whined.

When she whined, Steph couldn't help but laugh from the other side of the car.

Looking at the blonde, slightly more concerned, Rory asked suspiciously, "Why is Steph so amused?

"No reason," Steph said way too innocently.

"What do you know?" Rory demanded. Seeing the small smile that formed on Steph's face, she added, "And, you've spent way too much time with Finn."

Shrugging her shoulders, Steph kept up the façade and said, "I know nothing."

"I don't believe you," Rory shot back with an eye roll.

Lane decided to take some pity on Rory and offered a pseudo explanation, "I didn't know much about New York so I called for some help."

"What kind of help? And from whom?" Rory asked, getting a bit nervous.

Lane offered, "I called Steph asking for some ideas for what we could do for dinner. She immediately said that she knew the perfect place, and it would be dinner and a show, then she offered to call and get it all organized."

"I'm suddenly much more worried," Rory said dryly.

"Hey!" Steph yelled.

"So who else did you call?" Rory asked, digging for more information.

"Nope, no more information," Lane teased, "You just have to wait!"

Rory pouted at that, but thought about the information that she had on dinner and began to think of all the different shows that she'd heard about in New York. She was sure she was missing something and kept looking around trying to pick up hints about where they might be headed.

"Are we there yet?" she asked, getting impatient.

"Calm down, we'll be there in a minute," Paris snapped from her place in the back of the group.

Deciding it probably wouldn't give too much away, and even if it did, Lane could say that she tried to warn her, she offered, "It's a restaurant called Lucky Cheng's."

Madeline got excited, "I love Chinese food!"

Lane and Steph couldn't help but giggle at the comment, while Paris just rolled her eyes and said, "Think Maddy."

"About what?" Maddy asked confused, "What's wrong with liking Chinese food? I mean who doesn't love reading their fortune."

When Lane and Steph started laughing again, Rory felt like she was missing something. She had faith that whatever Lane agreed to would be fun, so she settled for giving her friends a mock pout. Soon enough, the car stopped, and they were standing in front of a brightly lit building, the words Lucky Cheng's in neon lights.

"Finally dinner!" Rory said excitedly. They hadn't had a chance to eat since they ate breakfast with the guys before dropping them off at the airport. Needless to say, she was starving.

"I'm starving too," Bri exclaimed, happy that they would finally be eating.

Lane didn't say anything in response, instead led them into the building. When they walked inside, the room was much darker, but still colorful with neon signs covering the walls.

Lane walked up to the hostess stand and said, "Reservation under Gilmore."

The hostess looked down at the book, then smiled, "Ah, a bachelorette party. Just a minute."

As the hostess looked back up and walked out from behind the booth, it revealed a long sheer pink gown that only seemed to have a thong under it. When she saw this, Rory gasped in surprise, grabbed Steph's arm, who happened to be closest, and exclaimed, "That's a guy!"

Steph laughed, and just nodded. Rory looked around and was happy to see Bri, Madeline, and Louise looking surprised as well.

Bri, who was the first on to recover from the shock, walked up quickly and stumbled, "He...I mean she…well whatever…"

Before Bri could explain what she was thinking, Honor spoke up, "Looks oddly good in drag?"

"Not what I was thinking, but yes," Bri said, still a bit surprised.

"I know! I need to ask him what type of foundation he uses, the coverage is amazing," Louise commented seriously, having quickly gotten over her initial surprise.

"And did you see the nail polish?" Madeline asked joining the conversation, "I need that color."

As the two girls got lost in a conversation about make-up, Rory looked around the place more, finally taking it all in.

Seeing her still surprised face, Honor walked up beside her and said, "Come on Rory, you've never heard of Lucky Cheng's?"

Rory shook her head, "Should I have?"

Honor gave a light laugh, "It's a fairly well known restaurant and not for its food." When Rory just looked confused, she added, "It's mostly because all the servers are drag queens."

Lane had also noticed the look on Rory's face, and was a bit worried until she saw Rory calm down as Honor talked to her. Hoping to help Rory relax even more, Lane walked over as Rory was still looking around and whispered to her, "Kirk should work here."

It worked, and for the moment, Lane's comment caused Rory to laugh as she thought about all the crazy things that man had done. Rory was soon broken from her thoughts by the hostess saying their table was ready.

As they were seated, the group wisely sat Rory between Lane and Honor who would have the best luck at calming Rory down enough to have fun.

Before anyone could say much, a woman dressed in mini skirt and bikini top said, "My name's Eden, welcome to Lucky Cheng's. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

They ordered their drinks, while the girls continued to take in the restaurant.

Finally, Juliet sighed, "That's so not fair." Her comment brought all the girls out of their thought and focus on what Juliet had just said.

"What isn't?" Paris asked confused.

Rosemary answered for her friend, "Our waitress looks better in a string bikini than I ever will."

This caused the girls to laugh, but nod in agreement.

When the waitress returned, she served the drinks, but as she went to set the last one down she stumbled slightly causing a bit of the drink to spill onto the table.

"Oops," she said while quickly grabbing a towel to wipe it off. "Look at me, such a klutz. I'm supposed to be a graceful lady, not a guy wearin' a bikini walking like he's never worn heels."

The theatrics of her actions made all the girls laugh, and caused Rory to relax even more. The waitress finished wiping up the spill, then made a show of curtsying before walking away.

As she did, Lane exclaimed, "She's wearing 4 inch heels. Those would kill me!"

This caused the rest of the girls to look and sure enough, all the waitresses were wearing very high, high-heels and walking in them like pros.

"They wouldn't kill you," Louise giggled at the exclamation.

"Fine…maybe not kill me, but easily make me break an ankle or trip. And if I were wearing heels then I'd be at some large gathering because that's the only time I can be forced into them. In either case, I would end up falling, and then I would want to die," Lane ranted.

Hearing her expert rant, Bri laughed and asked Rory, "Does she get that from you or the other way around?"

"A little bit of both, but we both got it from my mom," Rory answered.

Lane nodded in agreement, "No one can match Lorelai: She holds the record for her Great Rant of 2002."

"Ah yes, 27 minutes without a pause," Rory said laughing at the memory.

Hearing this, Bri shook her head and said, "I don't know if I'm impressed or scared."

"Again, a little bit of both," Lane said, causing the table to laugh.

As the girls were laughing, their waitress came up and asked, "Now which one of you scrumptious ladies is Stephanie?"

Steph let out a small laugh while answering, "That would be me."

The waitress let out a small giggle, "I'm going to guess you have men wrapped around your finger."

"Yes," Rory, Honor, and Rosemary all replied before Steph had a chance.

"I do not!" Steph defended.

Juliet rolled her eyes, "Yes, you do. Don't deny it."

"Rory's worse!" Steph accused pointing at her friend.

"Am not," Rory said acting offended.

Paris looked at her in disbelief, "You've always had guys at your beck and call, just because you're too naive to realize it and to nice to take advantage of it, doesn't make it any less true."

Hearing this, the waitress smiled and asked, "Now that we have that settled, we can move on. Miss Stephanie, here, was asked to pre-ordered dinner for tonight. She picked sweet and sour chicken, General Tso's chicken, sub gum, mixed vegetables, egg rolls, and fried and plain rice. Is there anything you want to add?"

Glancing around the table, everyone shook their heads, but Rory bit her lip, thinking.

Seeing this, the waitress asked, "Yes, sweetheart?'

"Do you have Crab Rangoon?" Rory asked timidly, she wasn't even going to say anything, but it was one of her favorite appetizers.

Trying to look appalled that Rory would even ask the question, the waitress dramatically answered, "Only the best in New York."

Rory smiled, and said, "Can we add that."

"Sure thing, doll," and noted the addition.

"Anything else?"

Steph glanced around again, but seeing nothing said, "I think we're all set."

"Excellent," the waitress responded and walked away from the table.

The group was quiet for a minute after the waitress left. Breaking the silence, Lane asked the table in a loud whisper, "Do you think it's she?"

"What?" Juliet asked, not following.

"The drag queens, would they be a he or a she?" Lane asked now blushing slightly, feeling weird for asking the question.

"Well I mean, obviously, we know they're men," Rosemary offered, "but he doesn't seem right."

"Exactly," Steph said, "Besides the sign on the podium when we walked in clearly said Hostess, which makes them waitresses, so while we're here, it's she."

No one could argue with that logic, so the conversation dropped. The girls continued chatting when Rory saw one of the drag queens walking up on to the stage as the music started playing louder to gain the crowd's attention. Before the drag queen on stage could do anything, Rory turned and asked panicked, "Are they strippers?"

"Rory…" Lane, who was sitting to her right, tried to say calmly, wanting to ease her friend.

"Because I kept lecturing Logan about how he couldn't have strippers…"

"Rory!" Paris yelled, from her place across the table from Rory, managing to get Rory's attention, not to mention a few other people sitting nearby.

"No strippers, promise," Lane said calmly.

"If you say so…" Rory said, but still not completely comfortable about the whole thing.

"Rory," Honor said, "relax. Think about it this way, I'm calm. And if one of us should worry about what happens tonight, it'd be me. Who do you think will be more laid back about our plans: Josh or Logan?"

Rory knew that Logan would be the more laid back of the two, but she still wasn't sure if that made her feel better. However, she couldn't protest because the waitress returned, donning them all with bachelorette party sashes and tiaras, before serving them another round of drinks. To Rory's surprise, there were three large bowls placed on the table, all of which were on fire. Steph, who obviously had them before, quickly blew them out and put four straws in each bowl so the girls could share.

Almost immediately after the drinks were served, a group of dancers came out on stage in elaborate costumes to start the show.

The show started out very tame, with an almost chorus line feel to it. Then, they all stopped and when the music came back on, it was clear they were in for a major change of pace. It was loud and fast, and almost immediately the dancers got much more risqué.

Rory jaw dropped when she saw this and she whispered loudly, "I didn't know guys could move their hips like that…" Immediately after it came out, Rory slapped her hands over her mouth, but the table had already heard.

Wiggling her eyebrows, Steph said, "And here I've only heard boasting about that particular talent of Logan's. From all the things you've told me, I would have thought he could move like that if not better."

"Ewww!" Honor screamed and covered her ears.

"But that is so not the same as dancing, it's…" Rory began, but then got embarrassed about what she almost said and finished lamely, "Well for that."

Seeing how red Rory was turning, Steph let it drop and went back to watching the show, but couldn't help but laugh a little at how Rory was still flustered talking about sex even after being with Logan for over two and a half years now.

The group on stage continued dancing, receiving many cat calls and whistles from the women in the crowd. As their show ended, the guys left the stage and moved back to their normal tasks, some returning to wait on their tables while others dragged both men and women to the various chairs set up on tiny stages for lap dances.

After the dancing, another round of drinks were brought to the table, followed shortly by dinner. When they were done eating, Eden came by and politely told them that they had more groups waiting to be seated, and wanted to know how much longer they would be. Taking the hint, the girls finished up, paid, and headed out.

--

The guys had been in the casino for nearly two hours, when the group met back up in the lobby, ready to see what Finn had planned for their evening. Finn, however, just stayed quiet as he led them to a waiting limo, which started driving down the strip once they were all inside.

When they stopped, Logan watched as Ethan, Ben, Jonathan, Brett, and Anthony grinned, got quickly out of the limo, and started talking. As they walked towards the building, Logan could hear his blonde cousin, Ben, saying, "…and the next thing I know the stripper tore my shirt open and bit my nipple! It was the hottest thing ever!"

"I didn't need to know that about my brother!" Austin yelled from nearby, and catching up with the group to swat him on the arm, leaving the other guys laughing.

Logan laughed at his cousin's antics and turned back to the rest of the group who had remained still, looking at Finn in confusion.

Seth was the first to speak, "I thought you agreed to not have strippers."

"These are showgirls," Finn said proudly.

"I think the ban was against naked woman in general," Colin pointed out.

Logan saw Finn was about to argue with Colin on some random technicality, so added, "Or topless women."

Even so, Finn kept smiling, "Every bachelor party needs to have at least some scantly clad women."

Motioning to himself and Josh, Seth reminded Finn, "Some of us have wives that don't care why we saw them."

"I have a girlfriend too!" Finn exclaimed, getting frustrated that the guys seemed to think that he was the same guy from college.

"We know," Logan assured him, "So how is this activity one that won't get you on the bad side of the lovely Miss Carter?"

"They're traditional showgirls," Finn explained.

"Which means what exactly?" Josh asked.

"Bikinis and headdresses," Logan muttered, now seeing Finn's logic.

"Where's the fun it that?" Colin asked.

"You were the one who just said you couldn't see naked women," Finn argued.

"I can't, I just don't see the point of this."

"Every bachelor party needs scantly clad women," Finn repeated.

"So we're just going to go watch girls in bikinis? I can see that at a beach," Colin whined.

"We're having dinner here too," Finn told him, then explained "I was looking for something fun to do for dinner and when I saw this…I figured it was as good as anything else. PLUS, it had…"

"Women, we get it," Seth finished, and slapping Logan and Colin on the back, he headed towards the building, "Okay boys, let's go."

Laughing at Finn's logic, the guys headed inside to find that the rest of the group who was ahead of them. When they did, it was to find six highly disappointed men who had obviously realized what Finn had explained outside.

Once they were seated, Finn ordered a round of scotch for everyone. Since the rest of the meal had been preordered, their appetizers arrived quickly, and the show began shortly after. The guys watched silently as the show began. They weren't entirely sure what to expect at first, but soon found themselves much more impressed than they expected to be.

The silence was broken by Ethan commenting, in a whisper loud enough for everyone at the table to hear, "Some of them look really hot, too bad this is all we'll see."

"How can you tell the difference?" Austin asked, glancing along the row of women, not being able to see anything but slight height differences between them.

"I can't, doesn't mean they're not hot," Ethan defended, getting a nod from Jonathan and Ben, whom he had met through Steph and other LDB alumni, as well.

Seth glanced over at the eager looks on Ethan's and Jonathan's faces, and couldn't resist saying, "You know, they say a number of the girls aren't actually girls."

"What?" Austin said, whipping his head around to face Seth.

"Just something I heard," Seth said casually, watching the guys stare with much more skeptical looks.

"I heard that some of the showgirls are actually guys as well," Logan agreed, laughing as the rest of the guys seemed to lose interest in the show momentarily.

The group quieted down again when their food arrived at intermission, and stayed quiet during the second half of the show. Soon enough, the show ended, and they were leaving. Finn led them back out to the limo, where he surprised, and admittedly disappointed, the group by having them dropped back off at their hotel. Finn led them inside, but instead of going back to the casino floor, he headed down a deserted hallway.

As the group walked behind Finn, they were once again greeted by the hotel manager, who said, "Mr. Morgan, your room is ready."

"Thank you," he said simply and followed the manager, who led them further into the building. Finally, they entered a fairly large room that they could tell was set up for a private party, complete with a full size table for card games, craps, and roulette, a large screen TV, a fully stocked bar, and a couch spread throughout the room. There was also a bartender and dealer ready for them.

Before the guys could get distracted, Finn got their attention to let them know how the night would work. When Finn had been planning the weekend, the other groomsmen approached him, insisting that they contribute money for the weekend. After some thinking, Finn decided that he would use their contributions for a gambling tournament. There would be three rounds: roulette, craps, and poker. For each round, each of the guys would receive a set number of chips. They would play the first two games for a set amount time, and when it was up, everyone would be ranked based on the amount of chips they had left or in the order in which they ran out.

For poker, they would play until they ran out of chips, and their ranks would be determined by the order in which they ran out. After finishing the third game, the rankings from each of the three rounds would be added together, and the person with the best overall ranking would win. The money the other groomsmen contributed would be used as the winnings for the top 5 finishers. The rest of the guys would get prizes picked out by Finn himself.

Finn explained this to the guys, who hearing that Finn had bought the gifts himself, decided that was reason enough to try and do well.

Before the games started, they took a few minutes to get drinks.

As they were getting settled, Finn announced, "I have one more surprise."

"Please let his pants stay on, please let his pants stay on…" Colin whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"That's not what I was thinking, but now that you mention it…" Finn said, moving his hands to his belt.

"Fine," Colin huffed, knowing that Finn would take his pants off without hesitation, "I'm sorry, what did you really want to say."

"Well, you all complained enough that you would miss it," Finn hinted, giving Colin a look.

Obviously, Colin was as clueless as the rest of the guys in the room because he asked, "Miss what?"

Finn rolled his eyes and flipped on the TV. Finding the video ready to go, he hit play.

"The Yale/Harvard game," Anthony said pleasantly surprised, remembering the elaborate tailgates he and the other guys in the LDB put on every year for the rivalry game.

"The game was hours ago," Colin pointed out.

"Well, with the wonders of modern technology, I ordered the game and arranged for the hotel to record it for us to watch. It's not like you know what happened," Finn defended, never having understood the excitement of the American sport.

"True," Jonathan said, eyeing the screen, much more interested than he was moments before.

The guys watched the opening kickoff and the first few minutes of the game before making their way to the table containing the classic numbered red and black wheel for roulette. Because it was a game that didn't require a lot of concentration, they could talk and watch the game while they played. They were talking rather loudly during a commercial when Brett yelled, "Shh…Be quiet."

Everyone stopped talking leaving the only sound in the room to be coming from the TV and looked at him in confusion, but he wasn't paying attention. All he said was, "Wait for it…"

Logan was about to ask him how much he had to drink when he heard the voice on the TV say, "…Side effects may include headaches, upset stomach, delayed back ache or muscle ache. To avoid long term injuries, seek immediate medical help if you experience an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have sudden decrease in vision, stop taking Cialis and call your doctor immediately."

Hearing this, Brett started laughing, and finally acknowledging the group, said, "Gets me every time."

"Is it really that funny?" Seth asked, used to Brett's behavior after working on many stunts with him, but Brett still surprised him at times as well.

Taking a sip of his drink Brett, placed a bet on 32 red and explained, "Just think about it. You're…say 50, and you start having trouble getting it up…"

"Nice choice of words," Ben joked, now understanding why his cousin Logan and Brett got along.

"Do you want to hear this or not?" Brett asked.

"Ignore him," Austin said, figuring the explanation would be fairly entertaining if nothing else, and revealing in the opportunity to quiet his big brother.

"Let's say you go to the doctor to get the medication, it's probably because it's been a while since you got some."

"You pig," Seth muttered.

Ignoring the side comment, Brett continued, "So you get the pill and one night you see your chance, so you take it. At this point, it's been at least six months since you've had sex, but probably much, much longer."

"What's your point?" Colin asked.

"Just that, I'd hope after 4 hours, I was still having sex. Need to make up for lost time."

"You're 60, it could kill you," Josh pointed out.

"But what a way to go," Brett said with a smile.

"You have an interesting mind, my friend," Logan commented.

Brett rolled his eyes, "My point is, four hours isn't that long for some good quality sex. Now six hours later? Eight? Sure seek medical attention, before that…use it."

They guys started arguing over what constituted too long which inevitably turned to a conversation about their sex lives when they tried to figure out how long was the longest length of time they've had sex for. Discussing their longest time obviously led to a conversation about their first times, when of course it would have been a much shorter event.

"It's your bachelor party, Logan. I think it's only fair you tell first," Anthony said, having heard plenty about Logan's exploits during his early college years, but nothing before or after.

Logan laughed, "Thanksgiving break freshmen year, I was on vacation with my family skiing at Snowbird."

"Utah, good choice," Austin said absentmindedly, thinking of the ski resort that he had visited a number of times with their family.

Logan laughed at his cousin, "So of course, being Huntzberger's, we rented a house for the week. Dad invited a few business associates as well, and they were staying close by. Honor was in college, so it was just me. One night, my parents had this dinner party to attend, and I managed to avoid being dragged along. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my night when the doorbell rang. It turned out to be the daughter of one of his associates."

Knowing where this was going, Ben couldn't help but ask, "Was she hot."

"She was definitely good looking," Logan admitted, "She was a year or two older than me, long legs, dark red hair..."

"Wait!" Anthony interrupted, "I thought red heads were Finn's thing?"

"The obsession with red heads was definitely Finn's, but the obsession only started after he heard that I had sex with one," Logan said with a laugh.

"What?" Josh asked, confused.

"I thought that if I found a redhead, she would have sex with me, and it would be as wild as it was for Logan," Finn explained.

"So you lost your virginity to a redhead too?" Seth asked, wanting clarification.

"Blonde," Finn said with a smile.

"So why not be obsessed with blondes?" Brett asked, trying to follow Finn's logic.

"It wasn't as good as I expected," Finn said seriously, with a shrug.

"The sex?" Ethan asked confused, "What happened?"

"I was home for spring break freshmen year to enjoy the Aussie summer. One day, I was at the beach and met a girl who I invited to a party the next night. We went and ended up hooking up."

"I'm not seeing the bad part," Colin said annoyed.

"It just wasn't as exciting as Logan made it sound. Well, the next girl I was with was a brunette, and it was a little bit better, but still not wow."

"Did you ever think that maybe it was you and had nothing to do with the girl?" Jonathan teased.

"Nope," Finn scoffed at him, and continued, "Redheads are fiery: They'd make things exciting!"

"And you were right," Brett stated more than asked, figuring this was the reason he had been dragged to hunt down redheads by the Aussie.

Finn seemed to think for a while and glanced at his two best friends, but finally after thinking, he said, "I don't know."

Colin was the first to process the statement and yelled, "You don't know? What does that mean? You've been chasing redhead for years!"

"You always said they were feisty and exotic," Logan added on, remembering many of his friend's rants about why he wanted a redhead.

"They are feisty! But they're too stubborn to let me get anywhere with them," Finn responded seriously.

"B-but…" Colin sputtered.

"All those times you made us chase down a redhead you saw!" Logan yelled.

"I wanted to find out what they were like," Finn said seriously.

"I don't buy it," Logan said firmly after thinking about this new found information.

"Have you ever seen a redhead leaving my room?" Finn challenged.

At the question, Logan and Colin started to actually think back to the many girls that spent the night with Finn in college. There were all different types, but no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't remember a single redhead.

Finally, Logan spoke, "No, but…"

"I said I was destined to be with one, but you were the ones who always assumed I was sleeping with them."

"But you never corrected us!" Colin yelled, feeling like the last few years had been a lie.

"Nope," Finn said with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Logan however was still thinking, and finally asked, "You've been obsessed for ten years because of one story?"

"It's a bloody good story," Finn defended.

"Yeah, what happened after she came over?" Austin asked, remembering how they arrived at the current topic of discussion.

"She said she was bored, heard we had a hot tub, and was wondering if she could use it," Logan said, smirking at the memory.

"Oh, this is sooo classic," Seth commented.

"So I led her to the hot tub, and she took off her clothes, leaving her in this tiny little string bikini. She had these legs and these curves…" Logan said remembering how excited he had been at the time.

"We get it, she was hot," Jonathan said playfully, before muttering, "Aren't they always?"

Logan heard the last comment, and laughed, "Anyways, I wasn't sure what to do, but then she asked me to join her, so of course, I ran upstairs and changed into my swim trunks. I think I did it in record time too."

"Any teenage guy would," Brett joked.

"Right," Logan said with a grin, "So I came back down and got in the tub. It was a bit awkward at first, but we started talking, and then all of a sudden she kissed me. We made out for a while, and the next thing I know, she stands up right between my legs and unties her top, pulls it off, and drops it on the ground outside the tub, then gives a completely fake oops."

Anthony, thinking back to his first time, just said, "You lucky bastard."

"Tell them what she did next," Finn said, remembering the next part of the story.

Logan rolled his eyes, "She kneeled over my lap, untied her bottoms and threw them over the side as well, giving me this innocent smile, and saying I seem to have lost my bottoms, leaving poor little me all naked. Then, she settled herself on my lap, started kissing me, and rubbing against me. After a while, she stands up, gestures for me to sit on the side of the tub, and then…well…"

"Wait," Austin interrupted confused, "So did you have sex next to the hot tub or in the hot tub?"

"In," Logan answered, not really wanting to get into too many specifics. He knew a long time had passed, but he always felt weird discussing too many details.

"You lost your virginity in a hot tub?" Ben asked, wanting to make sure he understood correctly, his voice holding a combination of shock and awe.

"I did," Logan confirmed.

"So why did she make you get out?" Brett asked, not following.

"For other activities that happen before sex," Logan said lamely, really not wanting to get into the details.

"How is it that Finn heard this story, and I didn't?" Colin finally asked.

"It never came up," Logan said causally.

"But it came up with Finn? The guy who never took anything seriously?" Colin questioned, slightly offended.

"I had to tell someone." Logan defended, "Besides, you were at school in Europe when it happened. Finn and I were both at boarding schools on the east coast, I saw him more."

"It's called a phone," Colin argued, feeling a bit left out.

"Colin, I hate to remind you, but you were the most uptight person I knew back then," Logan offered, hoping this would make him see reason.

"I was not!" Colin defended.

"You were mate," Finn said while throwing an arm around his shoulders, "but don't worry, we stayed friends with you anyways."

"So that's the whole story behind Finn's redhead obsession?" Seth asked again, just wanting to make sure he wasn't missing anything.

"What do you mean whole?" Finn asked, trying to act upset, "That was an amazing story when I was 15!"

"I guess," Jonathan said, "But still, I expected there to be something bigger behind it."

Finn was now getting upset, but decided it was time to get the focus off of him, "So if it wasn't that good of a story, let's hear about your first time."

After some protesting, Jonathan gave in and told the story of his first time. Although a good story, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the first two. From there, the rest of the guys told their own stories.

Finally, they had all gone, when Logan gestured to his friend, and said, "Okay Colin, let's hear it."

"Hear what?" Colin asked, hoping the combination of playing dumb and the number of drinks the group had consumed would distract them from the topic.

"What have we been talking about?" Finn asked exasperated.

"My first time?" Colin asked in an almost convincingly confused voice.

"Yeah," Logan answered.

"I've told you before, why do I need to repeat myself?" Colin argued.

"No, you told us you had sex, and after some pestering, you assured us it was with a girl," Logan reminded him with a smirk.

"Some pestering?" Colin asked in disbelief, "Some?"

"Okay some pestering from me, I can't be held responsible for Finn," Logan conceded, the last comment caused Finn to scowl and everyone else to laugh. Getting back on subject, he said, "The point is, besides hearing that you actually had sex, we know nothing."

"It was sex," Colin said plainly, "What would you like, instructions? Diagrams?"

"We know how to do it just fine," Finn whined, "And, if I were going to get tips, it wouldn't be from you!"

"Hey!" Colin yelled.

"He just means that we don't need tips," Logan said somewhat patiently.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Colin said hoping that they would get frustrated with him and change the subject.

Unfortunately, he was not in luck: He was just making the group more curious. It was Brett who asked, "Where?"

Rolling his eyes, Colin sighed, "A hotel room."

"Junior prom?" Austin guessed.

"Homecoming," Colin corrected.

"Junior year though?" Jonathanquestioned.

"Yes!" Colin exclaimed exasperatedly.

"So what's the big deal?" Seth asked, not seeing why Colin was avoiding the topic, everyone else had talked about their first time. And, so far, this story sounded fairly cliché.

"Nothing, that's what I've been trying to tell you," Colin shot back.

"Then just tell us how it happened," Jonathan prodded.

"We were having fun at the dance, drinking some punch…"

"Spiked punch?" Finn asked.

"It was a high school dance, what do you think?" Colin said sarcastically.

"But, I wasn't there," Finn pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Seth pointed out, "You do know high schoolers started spiking punch long before you were born?"

"I choose to believe that I started that tradition at every school I attended."

"The reality you live in must be a fascinating place," Brett commented.

"I like it," Finn replied, without missing a beat.

"Back to the story," Jonathan reminded them, knowing how easily this group got sidetracked.

Colin threw his friend a glare, "We had kissed some at the dance, and she hinted at going somewhere to be alone."

"And you conveniently had a hotel room available?" Brent asked.

Colin dropped his eyes and muttered something.

"What was that?" Logan asked with a smirk.

"I said, I had to rent one," Colin yelled, then realizing what he did, swore under his breath.

"Why didn't you have one?" Brett asked.

"I didn't know what was going to happen," Colin defended.

Trying to save his friend some embarrassment, Seth said, "So you rented one."

"Right, then we went up there, and it happened…" Colin said quickly.

"Oh, come on! We all said more than that."

"But it wasn't some crazy thing, it just happened," Colin said.

Seeing how much Colin was avoiding the topic, Finn knew that there was something more to the story, not to mention that he and Logan had never gotten more out of Colin about the subject. Thinking, he finally asked, "Did you have trouble performing?"

"What?!" Colin asked, having no idea where the question came from.

"You know they make a pill now that can help," Jonathan said seriously.

"I can do it fine by myself, thank you," Colin defended.

Seeing that he was getting flustered, Logan couldn't help but add, "I'm going to need references."

Colin whipped out his phone and scrolled quickly through his phonebook when Seth said casually, "Steph doesn't mind you still having the numbers of girls you've slept with in your phone?"

Colin stopped instantly and mumbled something, but shut his phone quickly and shoved it back in his pocket.

Logan laughed at his friend's antics, and said, "You're avoiding this way too much for it to be nothing. Are you sure there weren't performance problems?"

"I can assure you, that worked just fine," Colin said seriously.

"So what happened?" Josh asked, at this point, even he was curious.

"We started making out, and after a while, I started taking off her dress."

"We know you're a prude Colin, but people are generally naked, or at least have some clothes removed before they have sex," Logan informed his friend.

Colin ignored his comment and continued, "We were still kissing, so I didn't get a chance to see her. My hands went up her back and I didn't feel a bra, so I was confused when I moved my hand to her chest and felt something still there."

"What?" Anthony asked.

"That was my reaction," Colin admitted, and let out a small laugh, "I was so confused I just stopped so I could look down."

"And?" Josh prompted, greatly intrigued by this story.

"It was a bra."

"But, I thought you said…" Benstarted, trailing off.

"I did," Colin quickly interrupted, "it wasn't there in the back, but it was there in the front."

After taking a few moments to try to dissect what Colin said, Seth recovered from his confusion and, laughing, commented, "Colin, that made no sense."

"What? Her dress was backless so I guess she got one of those backless bras…" Colin defended, "What am I supposed to call it."

"Sticky boobs!" Finn yelled, finally realizing what Colin was talking about.

"What?" Colin questioned, not understanding Finn.

"Sticky boobs," Finn repeated, "those bra things that stick to the girl's boobs."

"Yeah, I guess…"

Laughing at the boys' fascination, Seth spoke up, "I don't see what is so fascinating, Laura's worn them before, you guys had to have seen them before."

Seeing their still confused faces, Seth added, "All those parties we've attended, I'm sure Rory's worn them."

"Steph too," Anthony added.

"But this was in high school, I hadn't seen Steph naked yet," Colin pointed out.

"Damn straight!" Ethan yelled, not wanting to think about his sister's sex life.

Seeing the chance to finally turn the tables, Colin said, "Even now, she doesn't usually wear them, just goes bra-less…"

"Shut up!" Ethan exclaimed, clapping his hands over his ears, "I don't want to hear that!"

Logan just laughed at the exchange. Wanting to get the group back on track before they got completely distracted, he asked, "So what happened next?"

"She looked at me confused about why I stopped, and then noticed that I was just staring at her chest. I guess this made her look down, and when she did, she remembered what she still had on."

Finn gestured with his hands and excitedly asked, "So what did you do?"

Colin thought back to that night, and finally admitted, "I didn't know what they were, so I just kind of stared for a minute, trying to figure it out."

"Amateur," Brett muttered.

"This is the story of my first time," Colin argued, "Of course I was an amateur, that's the point!"

"Fine, but to not know what they were? All that would have taken was getting a girl topless," Austin pointed out.

"I was 17!" Colin defended.

"So what happened?" Anthony asked.

"She went in the bathroom, and a few minutes later came out in a bathrobe," Colin said plainly.

"And then?" Anthony asked, even thought he knew what was going to happen.

"You know what happened next!" Colin exclaimed, not wanting to talk about it any more detail.

"And how was it?" Brett asked.

"It was sex, I was a virgin. How do you think it was?" Colin asked rhetorically.

This comment caused the group fell silent for a moment. Finally Finn, who seemed to have been pondering something for a while, asked "Slow or quick?"

"The sex?" Colin asked, clearly confused, "I mean it wasn't the longest, but still I…"

"Not that, I'm sure you did fine," Finn said easily, but with skepticism in his voice, "The sticky boobs, did she take them off fast or slow?"

"I don't know, she was in the bathroom," Colin replied, never having pondered the issue.

"Okay, what do you think she did?" Finn asked, his mind obviously curious about the answer.

"Probably slow," Austin argued.

"I'd do it fast," Ethan debated back.

"That would hurt," Austin shot back.

"Women do pay to get waxing done," Jonathan pointed out.

"I never understood that," Ben said shaking his head.

"I learned a long time ago that I don't want to know why they do what they do to," Logan said.

"You sound traumatized," Brett said with a laugh.

"I was 12 and walked into the bathroom to see Honor plucking her eyebrows," Logan offered, knowing the story, while slightly embarrassing, was amusing.

"And?" Finn asked, feeling like there had to be more to the story.

"Well, her eyes were watering so I started teasing her for crying," Logan explained, and laughing mentally at the memory continued, "so she walked over, cornered me, and pulled out one of mine."

"What'd you do?" Austin asked, remembering how the brother and sister pair could be at that age.

"Screamed and ran out of the bathroom," Logan answered, then seeing the looks on his friends' faces added, "It hurt, you try it!"

"I'm good thanks," Colin said dryly.

"Yeah mate, I may have painted my nails occasionally, but at least I didn't pluck my eyebrows," Finn pointed out.

"It was one hair!" Logan defended, "And I didn't pull it out, Honor did!"

"Did you cry too?" Anthony asked.

"Shut up," Logan muttered.

"You did! You cried!" Finn said laughing and pointing.

"I was 12, and it hurt! I didn't know what to expect," Logan defended.

"I am suddenly very thankful that Steph is younger than me," Ethan commented, while laughing at Logan.

"Excuses, excuses," Seth said, in a teasing tone, then indicated that he wanted another card to the dealer.

They continued playing cards and talking until almost 1 a.m., when Austin finally won the last of Ethan's chips, effectively ending the night.

The dealer, whom Finn asked to keep track of how everyone finished, made a few notes on his paper before handing it to Finn. Finn looked it over and grinned before standing up. Keeping his drink in hand, he stumbled up to the front of the room and said, "Now for the results."

He walked over to a bag in the corner and dug through it before finally finding what he was looking for. He turned back to the group holding a pair on pink lace panties, "In last place…Colin," he announced and threw the panties at him.

Colin grumbled about it being rigged, but still held the panties in his hand.

Ignoring him, Finn turned back to his bag, with various sex related gifts for Jonathan, Ben, and Seth, the 9th, 8th, and 7th place finishers.

When he got to 6th place, he announced Logan's name and revealed a variety pack of body spreads. From there, he got to the places receiving money: Anthony, Brett, Ethan, Josh, and finally Austin, who had won.

--

The girls left the restaurant and made their way back to the hotel in their slightly inebriated state. When they got back, they saw that the rooms had been set up for a pajama party so they quickly went and changed into comfortable pajamas.

When they all had made their way back into the sitting room, Lane announced that they would be watching Monster-in-Law, in honor of Shira. The girls enjoyed the movie, but soon, it was over, and they were left wondering what they would do for the rest of the night.

Before they could wonder too much, Honor got up to face the group. "Now, we're ready to play some games," she said excitedly.

A few girls looked skeptical about this being fun, while Rory just looked nervous about being embarrassed.

Rolling her eyes at the looks on some of their faces, Honor went to her bag and pulled out a book and a stack of paper before announcing, "Bachelorette party Mad libs."

She passed out paper and pens to everyone, then opening it up to a random page, announced their first word, "Emotion," and waited for a few seconds as the girls quickly wrote down a word.

Honor continued down the list, "place of business…second place of business…animal….funny French name."

This received an, "O la la," from Steph.

Honor laughed, but continued, "…foreign male name…profession…name of horrible song…body part…adjective."

Looking up from her paper, Madeline asked seriously, "What's an adjective?"

Paris let out her typical snort, while Rory held down a giggle and answered, "A word that modifies a noun."

Seeing that Madeline was still looking at her confused, Rory took a breath and tried again, "A word you use to describes something."

"Oh," Madeline exclaimed, and quickly wrote down pink.

Honor finished up the list, "…name of someone at bachelorette party…name of a second person at bachelorette party…body part…inexpensive item."

Once they finished writing down their last word, Honor collected everyone's paper. Glancing through them, she found the one she was looking for and announced, "Of course, we'll start with the bachelorette."

Rory muttered, "Thanks."

Honor gave a happy, "Of course," then began…

"Rory was having a bachelorette party, but felt fear since it was her last night out with the girls as a free woman! What she really wanted to do was go to New York Times but her friends wanted to go to a restaurant.

"Boring!" Juliet yelled, knowing by the way Honor was reading, which were the words that Rory selected.

"What was amazing is that the maid of honor, Lane, whose nickname behind her back is porcupine had other plans. When the girls showed up, they were taken by Lane to a fancy hotel called Michel. Just then, an exotic male dancer named Evgeni came out in an astronaut outfit and started playing 'Mary Jane Shoes' by Fergie on his stereo. The most memorable time during the evening was watching the dancer move his hips to the music and singing in a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious voice."

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Paris exclaimed. "Four years at Yale, graduating with honors, as a Journalism major no less, and that's the adjective you come up with! Why not bellicose or even humdrum!"

"Humdrum?" Bri said laughing, "Please tell me you made that up!"

"It means lacking variety," Paris said in a huff.

"And bellicose?" Steph asked, sure this would have just as real of a definition.

"Hostile, ready to fight," Paris answered.

"So you?" Louise asked innocently.

Seeing that she was going to start arguing, Rory cut in, "Paris, it's a mad lib, you're just supposed to pick fun, random words."

When Paris didn't argue back, Honor continued, "What the bachelorettes' found out later was that Steph was taking pictures with her phone and planned on blackmailing the bachelorette. She did not believe in the statement 'What happens at Rory's bachelorette party stays at the party!' Luckily Lane found out and took away the phone, deleting the pictures."

"Go Lane!" Rory and Louise cheered.

"As a consequence they had the dancer place his foot on the blackmailer's lap which disgusted her to the point of her apologizing."

"Wow, foot actually worked," Paris commented.

"Overall, the party was a success and all the girls were given a coffee as a present for celebrating the Last Night Out party!" Honor read, then added, "The end!"

All the girls were chuckling and now wanted to hear more.

"Who's next?" Madeline asked.

"Looks like Rosemary," Honor said, waving the piece of paper Rosemary had given her.

"Rory was having a bachelorette party, but felt elated since it was her last night out with the girls as a free woman! What she really wanted to do was go to Neiman Marcus but her friends wanted to go to Saks 5th Avenue."

Hearing the two stores that she picked, Juliet exclaimed, "You copied!"

"Did not!" Rosemary argued back.

"Yes you did," Juliet continued, "Honor, look at mine, those are the same stores I had!"

"I was sitting on the other side of the room, how would I have copied?"

This left Juliet silent, allowing Honor to continue.

"What was amazing is that the maid of honor, Lane, whose nickname behind her back is dolphin had other plans. When the girls showed up, they were taken by Lane to a fancy hotel called Guiallaume. Just then, an exotic male dancer named Sergei came out in a Lawyer outfit and started playing 'Bye Bye Bye' by NSYNC on his stereo. The most memorable time during the evening was watching the dancer move his pecs to the music and singing in a firm voice."

"Oh I love a guy with nice pecs," Madeline exclaimed.

"I know, they feel so good when you press against them," Steph added.

"You know who had good pecs," Juliet, said seriously, "Finn!"

"He does," Rory said, blushing as she admitted it.

"Ladies!" Honor chided, "We all now know Finn had good pecs; I'm sure none of us better than Bri. Can we continue?"

The girls all blushed, especially Bri, but nodded in response to Honor's question.

"What the bachelorettes' found out later was that Juliet was taking pictures with her phone and planned on blackmailing the bachelorette. She did not believe in the statement 'What happens at Rory's bachelorette party stays at the party!' Luckily Steph found out and took away the phone, deleting the pictures. As a consequence they had the dancer place his teeth on the blackmailer's lap…"

"Ohhh," The girls said hearing what turned out to be risqué statement.

"…Which disgusted her to the point of her apologizing. Overall, the party was a success and all the girls were given a Louis Vuitton purse as a present for celebrating the Last Night Out party!

"Louis Vuitton is not inexpensive!" Rory exclaimed.

"It's cheaper than other things, say, a Birkin Bag," Rosemary defended, giving Rory a knowing look. Hearing this, Rory blushed and stopped arguing.

Unfortunately, the infamous brand caught Madeline's attention, "A Birkin bag? You have a Birkin bag!"

"Maybe," Rory said shyly.

"It's pink," Juliet said quickly, filling the other girls in, "Logan bought it for her."

"What was the occasion?" Louise asked.

Rory just shrugged in response, so Steph answered for her, somewhat jealous, "He was just in New York. No birthday, no anniversary, no Christmas. He was just in New York and bought it." Then she muttered, "Stupid Colin doesn't do things like that for me."

"How did he manage that?" Rosemary asked, never hearing that part of the story, and knowing better than to bring up Colin with Steph right now.

"He said that he went into the store a few weeks before he actually bought it and inquired about a pink one. They called him that weekend to let him know they had one," Honor said seriously, "I think there's more to it, because I had to wait 4 months for mine. How Logan got on better terms with the Sales staff there than me, I'll never know."

"We both know he flirted with the saleswoman," Rory said seriously, but her voice lacked any bitterness or jealously.

"But to get a purse that sudden, he'd have to convince the store manager, and she's like 60!" Honor exclaimed.

"And?" Rory asked seriously.

"Oh! Eeeeewwwwwwww!" Honor shrieked.

Rory let out a laugh and said, "I've seen him flirt with my Grandmother, to get her to agree with him, I promise you nothing will ever be as disturbing as that."

Once the girls recovered from that image, Honor kept reading through mad libs and after a few more announced, "Okay next is Louise….

"Rory was having a bachelorette party, but felt horny since it was her last night out with the girls as a free woman!"

"Because we all know Logan would never want to have sex once they're married," Rosemary teased.

"What she really wanted to do was go to a brothel but her friends wanted to go to a strip club."

"Seems someone's mind was on sex," Paris commented.

"It's a bachelorette party!" Louise defended.

"What was amazing is that the maid of honor, Lane, whose nickname behind her back is butterfly had other plans. When the girls showed up, they were taken by Lane to a fancy hotel called Marcel. Just then, an exotic male dancer named Jarkko came out in a doctor's outfit and started playing 'Living on a Prayer' on his stereo.

"What do you have against Bon Jovi" Rory asked, she grew up on some of his music.

Jumping in, Lane couldn't resist, "Come on Rory, Bon Jovi may not be bad, but that song can get old."

"Exactly!" Louise said.

Not wanting to get too distracted, Honor continued, "The most memorable time during the evening was watching the dancer move his penis to the music and singing in a large voice. What the bachelorettes' found out later was that Lane was taking pictures with her phone and planned on blackmailing the bachelorette. She did not believe in the statement 'What happens at Rory's bachelorette party stays at the party!' Luckily Madeline found out and took away the phone, deleting the pictures. As a consequence they had the dancer place his biceps on the blackmailer's lap which disgusted her to the point of her apologizing. Overall, the party was a success and all the girls were given a pair of stilettos as a present for celebrating the Last Night Out party!

"Who's next?" Rory asked excitedly, thoroughly enjoying this, having heard a few more.

Honor gave a small laugh and looked down to see, "Paris."

"Oh this should be good," Louise said

"Rory was having a bachelorette party, but felt tranquil since it was her last night out with the girls as a free woman! What she really wanted to do was go to Chuck E. Cheese but her friends wanted to go to Capitol Hill."

"Capitol Hill is not a place of business," Steph argued.

"They have a budget, employees, it's a business," Paris said in a very firm voice, one that people didn't argue with.

Raising an eyebrow at the blonde's sudden change in tone, Honor decided to ignore it and continue reading, "What was amazing is that the maid of honor, Lane, whose nickname behind her back is Barracuda…

"Barracuda!" Bri exclaimed, hearing it.

"… had other plans. When the girls showed up, they were taken by Lane to a fancy hotel called Jacques. Just then, an exotic male dancer named Pascal came out in a cardiologist outfit and started playing 'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion on his stereo."

Hearing the last two words Paris had picked, Rory couldn't help but laugh even harder.

"What is so funny Gilmore?" Paris demanded.

"Cardiologist, My Heart Will Go On," Rory explained while the rest of the girls started laughing too, and Paris rolled her eyes.

"The most memorable time during the evening was watching the dancer move his ass to the music and singing in a Panglossian voice."

"Panglossian means foolishly optimistic and derives from Dr. Pangloss in Voltaire's Candide," Paris offered proudly to the group.

"Because when I think optimistic, I think Paris Gellar," Louise joked.

"Shut it," Paris snapped, then gestured for Honor to continue.

"What the bachelorettes' found out later was that Bri was taking pictures with her phone and planned on blackmailing the bachelorette. She did not believe in the statement "What happens at Rory's bachelorette party stays at the party!" Luckily Honor found out and took away the phone, deleting the pictures. As a consequence they had the dancer place his coccyx…"

"Coccyx?" Juliet asked, not sure what this was but knew it sounded dirty.

"It's the scientific name for the bone at the tip of your tailbone," Steph answered before Paris could.

"Thank you!" Paris said, relieved that someone else knew what it was.

Picking up where she left off, Honor, said "…on the blackmailer's lap which disgusted her to the point of her apologizing. Overall, the party was a success and all the girls were given a pen as a present for celebrating the Last Night Out party!"

--

Rory was suddenly drawn out of her very relaxing dream by the shrill of her phone. The last thing she remembered was beginning their third movie of the night, and many drinks before that. Groping with her eyes still shut, her hand found it, and Flipping it open she saw she had a text from Logan, 'What are you wearing?'

'Pajamas,' Rory replied, slightly confused.

'Play along Ace!'

Glancing at her surrounding, Rory got up and made her way to a bedroom that was luckily empty. Locking the door, she slipped on a silk slip she had packed, climbed into the bed and replied, 'My blue silk slip, you like so much'.

'Mmm…I miss you baby.'

'Have you been a good boy?'

'Very good.'

'Should I reward you?'

'Are you drunk?'

'Yup, and so are you.'

'Guilty.'

'But you still think you should get a reward?'

'I'll let you do anything you want to me,' Logan offered.

'Anything?'

'Yes.'

'Handcuff you?'

'I knew you'd like that!'

'I did.'

'Yes, you can handcuff me.'

'Let me lick you?'

'Of course.'

'I can touch you anywhere and you couldn't lay a finger on me.'

'You're evil.'

'You said anything!'

'I'm sorry baby, please use my body.'

'I wish you were here.'

'Me too Ace. I wish I could be there with you, kissing your body.'

'Uh huh…'

'Sucking your tits.'

'Mmm hmm.'

'Fingering you, teasing you.'

'Oh god.'

'Licking your clit.'

'I really wish you were here.'

'And just when you are about to cum, stop.'

'Logan!'

'Baby, I want to be in you when you cum.'

'I want you in me too,' Rory texted and let out a moan. After nearly a minute of no response, she sent, 'Logan? You there?'

'Sorry baby, Ben just knocked on my door.'

'So…'

'To avoid suspicion, I need to go out there.'

'You sure?'

'As much as it pains me, yes.'

'And here I was just going to get naked for you…'

"You torture me!'

'Goodnight, I'll have to keep myself company without you.'

'Tease…I love you Ace.'

'Love you too, now go!'

--

The next morning Rory woke up to a loud noise. She was a bit hazy, forgetting how she ended up in bed, but finally remembered her late night before. She was about to roll over and enjoy a bit more sleep when she smelled coffee. Letting out a groan, she dragged herself out of bed and followed the scent. In the next room, she found Lane, Paris, and Bri eating a light breakfast.

Lane saw her walk in, but she waited until Rory took her first long sip before greeting, "Good morning," in an overly cheerful voice.

Rory glared at her, took another sip and replied, "Morning."

"I got a little breakfast for everyone," Lane said gesturing to the food.

Bri nodded and added, "The pancakes are pretty good."

Rory looked at the food a grabbed a few things to help her mild hangover. Slowly, they were joined by the rest of the girls, who were unusually quiet due to their hangover from the previous night.

They had finished eating a while ago, and were sitting around talking and watching TV, when Paris stood up and faced the group.

"You have two hours to get packed and be ready to go. Dress code is business causal," she said sternly.

Of course, having known her the longest, Louise protested, "There are only two showers, Paris!"

Paris, just rolled her eyes, but remained serious and added, "Starting now."

The group started to scramble, quickly setting a shower schedule with everyone saying they need to make it quick. As they were finally getting dressed, everyone seemed confused about the dress code, but not wanting to argue with Paris, they complied with a minimal number of comments. While they were getting ready, Laura, Seth's wife, showed up. Being pregnant and tired lately, she decided to forgo the party and slumber party the day before, but she wanted to at least do something with the rest of the bachelorette party while Seth was with the boys in Vegas.

They finished getting ready and were all back on the couches, waiting for Paris to explain what they were doing. Paris entered the room, but, instead of joining them on the couch, checked her watch and walked to the door.

She opened it to reveal a doorman who pushed a cart into the room covered in brightly covered fabric. Paris led him further into the room and announced, "Everyone has to pick out at least one scarf to wear." After making the announcement, she picked up a blue silk scarf and tied it into a bow around her neck.

Seeing that she was obviously serious about this, the other girls approached the cart. They found that the scarves were made of all kinds of fabrics, most of them brightly colored and bordering on tacky. Rory picked a brown and green shinny one and tied it around her waist like a belt, which, luckily for her, didn't look to bad since she was wearing a dark red skirt and cream shirt. Lane wore some of the brightest colored ones, thinking they were fun, one as a belt and one in her hair, while Laura wrapped hers around her neck like a more traditional scarf. Honor, Bri, and Steph each found something to wear without much protest as did Rosemary, being around Finn enough had taught all of them that sometimes it was easier to just go along with it and not ask questions.

This left Louise, Juliet, and Madeline staring at the pile, not having made much of a move towards picking something.

Tapping her foot, not happy to be waiting, Paris asked, "Is there a problem?"

"None of them match my skirt," Juliet said as if the idea of not matching was a felony, and pointed to her burnt orange skirt with white flowers to emphasize her point.

"You have to pick something," Paris scolded them.

"Paris, have you seen this. I think its polyester!" Louise said, holding up the offending garment like it was toxic, while looking desperately for something to match her sage green shirt.

"We aren't going to a fashion show," Paris retorted, but seeing the disbelief on the girls faces finally added, "And I promise, there won't be any guys where we are going."

Madeline seemed convinced when she heard this, and slowly picked through the scarves before settling on a very bright pink and orange one, which while tacky, could have been worse with her black pants and light blue shirt.

Louise on the other hand, hadn't quite given in so easily, "It's a crime against fashion, against who I am as a person," and turned to Juliet to see her nodding in agreement, all the while eying a blue, brown, and gold striped scarf as if it may actually harm her.

"It's only for the afternoon, it won't kill you," Paris pointed out, now getting frustrated.

"It might," Louise muttered.

Sending both girls one final glare, she said, "Put one on or you're not coming!"

Sensing that Paris was not about to budge on the issue, they relented. Louise finally settled on a brown one with dark green and fuchsia polka-dots and Juliet picked a bright blue, purple, and yellow one, both without any more complaints.

Seeing that everyone was finally dressed, Paris faced them all and said, "Now that we're all ready…"

But before she could finish, Louise asked, "How come yours is just blue? That's not as bad as the rest!"

"I planned it so I got to pick."

"That's not fair!" Juliet exclaimed.

"Life's not fair."

"But…" Louise started.

"Stop! No more questions. We're all dressed so we're leaving," she commanded. The group followed her down into the lobby and then out into a waiting limo. They rode for a few minutes through New York before finally coming to a stop.

As Rory was getting out, she looked up at the name of the building and read Alice's Tea Cup, but only really saw the word tea and was confused as to why Paris would bring her for tea. She knew about Rory's coffee addiction better than anyone other than Lorelai or Logan, after living with her in college. It was only this tea crisis that kept Rory's keen inner-reporter from figuring out what was going on.

They walked into the building, and after stopping for a minute for Paris to talk to a woman by the door, Paris led the group to a door in back. When she reached it, she stopped, grabbed the handle, and waited until everyone was gathered around her. Then, she opened the door and said, "Welcome to Rory's un-bachelorette party."

As the girls walked into the room, they were completely engulfed into the world of Alice in Wonderland. The walls were decorated with large playing cards and colorful flowers. From the ceiling hung all types of light fixtures, and hats of all styles littered the room.

As the girls looked around the room, they noticed a long table with mismatched china and silverware at each place setting and a variety of just as mismatched high back chairs. Paris gestured for Rory to sit at the head of the table in an almost throne-like chair.

This is when Rory noticed the top hat Paris had put on, complete with the 10/6 card tucked into the side. Rory let out a small laugh and exclaimed, "You're the Mad Hatter?"

"You should know by now that if I do something, I do it all the way," Paris explained.

"Thank you," Rory said sincerely and hugged her friend.

All the other girls heard Rory's outburst and looked at Paris. Seeing that she was telling Rory to sit, they all found seats as well.

As they sat around the table, they noticed that their cups were already filled, but on closer inspection saw the tea cups had champagne in them, while the wine glasses had what appeared to be tea in them, both cups labeled with the words Drink Me. On the table were platters of bite size sandwiches held together with toothpicks holding a pickle to the outside, flagged with the words Eat Me and chicken salad on bread with avocados on top, held with the same toothpicks. In the center of the table, a large cake in the shape of a hat was situated, decorated just as colorfully as any of the scarves the girls were wearing. The girls had some of the food and drinks on the table, but also kept noticing new things around the room and talking about it all. Even Madeline, Louise, and Juliet had gotten over their fashion crisis and were enjoying themselves.

Once they finished eating, the girls talked for a bit before Paris brought out two decks of cards. Rory saw these and said, "You know I'm bad at cards."

"I promise this isn't like regular cards."

"If you promise," Rory muttered.

Paris then gave the floor over to Honor to explain the game, because when Honor originally explained it said that it would be perfect for this afternoon. When Lane had contacted everyone about the weekend, and Steph had volunteered to organize dinner, she thought that Honor and Paris would want to help as well. So after calling them, it was decided that Steph would plan dinner Saturday night, Paris this afternoon, while Lane took care of the slumber party as well as all the miscellaneous details, and put Honor in charge of finding games they could play.

Honor stood up, now understanding why Paris had liked the game for this afternoon, and quickly got to explaining the game, "Everyone will get 5 cards. After the cards are dealt, the dealer will roll 5 dice. Whatever the dice adds up to will be the target number for that hand. Everyone then has to use 3 cards from their hand to try and add up to the same number that the dice added up to without going over. Cards are worth their value, aces 1, jacks 11, and kings 12. Queens are wild, but the queen of hearts beats everything.

"Everyone will start with five chips, and each hand the person closest without going over gets another chip. If you get the exact number you get two chips, but if you do go over, you lose one. The winner of each hand also gets to pick a question, which you need to keep fun, that everyone has to answer. There are gifts for everyone, but we will be picking in the order we finished in the game."

Everyone decided that it was a simple enough game, and soon enough the first hand was dealt and dice rolled. The number to reach was 19, and this resulted in 4 girls losing a chip and Steph getting closest with a 17.

Thinking for a minute, she finally asked, "Least favorite color?"

Multiple people could be heard saying brown, along with random colors like olive green, pink, and orange.

The next hand was won by Honor who asked, "Dream vacation spot?"

This time there was a little bit longer of a silence before the replies started, consisting of Hawaii, London, Venice, and other places throughout Europe, but there were also two very unique answers of Fez and Mali.

Lane, hearing Rory say Fez, asked, "Logan hasn't taken you there yet?"

"Nope," said Rory with a smile.

Bri on the other hand had to ask, "Mali?"

"What," Steph defended, "I've never been there, and this way, I could actually say I've been to Timbuktu," causing the girls to laugh as they waited for the next hand to be dealt.

They played for a while, enjoying themselves and having to answer some bizarre and funny questions. They eventually stopped to have some cake. Once they finished eating, they left the party and headed back into the limo, but were surprised when they saw that they weren't going back to the hotel. When everyone looked at Paris curiously, she just said, "One more stop."

This time the limo stopped in front of an art shop. Walking in, they were again led to a long table, this time with a wide variety of art supplies on it.

Paris announced, "Now, as a gift to Rory to commemorate her un-bachelorette party. We will be making her a set of cups and saucers."

Rory couldn't resist muttering, "Are you back to having an arts and crafts corner again," loud enough that she knew all the girls would hear her.

Paris actually laughed lightly at the reference, but seriously replied, "No, but I have been thinking about restarting it, Med school is stressful."

This only made Rory laugh more, but the girls finally calmed down when a worker came over to explain how they would be made, and they were excited to find out they could make different shaped cups.

When the woman was finished with the instructions, Paris added, "The only rules are to make them colorful."

The girls nodded, but Steph chimed in, "I think we should all have at least one thing on it that reminds you of either Rory or Logan or them together."

They all enjoyed making the shape of cups they wanted, but when they got to the decorating, the real fun started.

They hadn't been working long when Rory saw what Madeline was painting, causing her to look confused. Not sure what to say to the red design she saw on the cup, tentatively asked, "Madeline, you do know I went to Yale right."

"Of course," Madeline said with a giggle, "I'm not stupid!"

Hearing this, the other girls looked at her cup, with Steph asking, "But those are Harvard colors and you're painting an H."

"Yeah," Madeline said as if it was obvious, "all Rory talked about in high school was going to Harvard." Seeing the skeptical look on everyone's face, she added, "I'm doing the other half in Yale colors," which made them all feel better and get back to work.

Honor had painted a multicolored background on her cup and was busy adding small pink and red hearts. She knew the cup was supposed to be crazy, and it was colorful, but she wanted to put love on it somehow. She was thinking about how much her brother had changed since Rory came into his life and took a small break to look around. It was then that she noticed they were all taking the color rule to heart, and she couldn't help saying, "Rory, I need you to promise me two things."

Rory looked confused at the random request, but asked, "And they are?"

"One, that you serve my mother and your grandmother with these cups," Honor said, with an amused look in her eye.

Rory and the rest of the girls couldn't help but laugh just thinking about their reaction, so she settled on giving Honor a nod. Seeing this, Honor continued, "And two, I'm there to see it."

This request made Rory laugh even harder, but manage to get out, "Deal."

With a satisfied smile, Honor went back to her cup, adding a glittered glaze on top commenting on how it would make it, "Extra manly for Logan."

Finally, all the girls were finished, and they could look at the different cups. Rory saw one had an umbrella and tent painted on it which Steph said was hers. Next to that was Rosemary's cup which she decorated with a black and white stripped background, on top of which were a few martini glasses.

Curious Bri asked, "What's the story there?"

Smiling Rory said, "After the yacht incident, Logan decided to throw me a felon party."

"A felon party?" Lane asked, not having heard about this, "What's that?"

"You see, after you get arrested for the first time, you get thrown a party to celebrate the achievement," Paris answered in a serious, but sarcastic voice, then added, "We were so proud."

Ignoring Paris's rant, Rosemary jumped in and gave the real answer, "Logan rented out this bar and had everyone dress up in pinstripes. It was also the night Rory discovered espresso martinis," causing the group to laugh.

Rosemary continued her story, "It was a lot of fun, but it was also around the time I started to really get to know Rory and finally see why she was so good for Logan."

Next to that was a beach themed cup Louise had done, covered with a sun, beach ball, and even a bikini.

Seeing the bikini Rory laughed, "I still can't believe you talked me into buying that."

"Neither can I," Louise said truthfully.

"You actually got Rory to buy a bikini?" Lane asked surprised, not even sure Lorelai had accomplished that feat. "A real bikini?"

"String bikini. We ran into her and Paris spring break of freshman year," Louise explained, gesturing to herself and Madeline as she said it, "And she was down at the pool in a one piece."

"It was sad," Madeline added, nodding her head with the story.

"So one day, I got her to the store and told her she had to pick out a bikini or I would do it for her."

"I only picked one so you would stop bugging me about it," Rory explained.

"Did you ever wear it?" Steph asked curious.

"Not that spring break," Rory answered.

"Well that was a waste," Louise huffed.

"Actually, I did wear it eventually," Rory confessed.

"Really?" Louise asked, sounding more excited.

"The first time I wore it was on spur of the moment brigade trip with Logan."

"In front of people?" Lane asked surprised.

"We were staying in a condo with a private outdoor hot tub," Rory explained, knowing she would never have been bold enough to wear it in public for the first time.

"Well at least it was used eventually," Louise said, then muttered, "took long enough."

They came to Lane's next, who jumped in before anyone could ask. "I know, it has tons of different things, but I couldn't decide," she rambled. "The gavel is for when the town put Logan on trial, the lips and drums are for you guys making out at my concert, and the records and tiara are for all the times we played dress up when we were younger."

Hearing the variety of items, Rory couldn't help but smile at all the memories it gave her. Next was Honor's cup, followed by Juliet's which was London themed, complete with Big Ben and all.

Seeing Laura's cup, Paris said, "They haven't had their wedding yet."

Laura laughed and said, "I know, but these are memories from my wedding."

"How does that work?" Lane asked.

"Well, Logan was fortunate enough to catch my garter when Seth threw it. The funny part was next when I went to throw my bouquet, Steph here actually pushed girls out of the way to make sure no one but Rory caught it."

"What?" Steph defended, "I didn't want him putting the garter on anyone else's leg."

Hearing that, Laura admitted, "We weren't going to have them do that. We figured that we'd just have them share a dance, but when it was Logan and Rory, Seth and the guys quickly changed the rules."

Laughing at this, Steph replied, "Seeing how red Rory turned, it was worth it."

Embarrassed just remembering that night, Rory exclaimed, "He DID NOT need to put it that high on my leg. People probably thought he was doing something inappropriate!"

Still laughing, Steph said, "Just be happy that he didn't decide to put in on with his teeth."

This left all the girls laughing, for a minute before looking at the next cup. In all truth, it was the most peculiar cup on the table, and no one was surprised to find out it was Paris's. Rory looked at it for a few minutes trying to figure out the connection. Finally, she gave up and asked, "A whale?"

"I told you, you landed the whale. You're Annette Bening," Paris said, repeating words from years earlier, only this time with a smile.

Rory laughed at the crazy reference, but asked, "And the suns?"

Paris smiled again and sung, "We're walking on sunshine."

Rory had to laugh again, remembering the normally reserved Paris walking around their dorm singing into a hairbrush. Next was Madeline's completed Yale/Harvard cup, which actually turned out well and made Rory think of two very different times in her life. Next was Bri's, who went with an office theme. She had coffee cups, seeing as how they were both addicted, a camera, a notepad, a newspaper, and even a computer. Rory could see Bri's artistic side had come out, and was amazed at how well the drawings were done.

Finally, they reached the last cup. Seeing it, Honor asked Rory, "What's your story."

"For spring break Logan's senior year, the group went a villa in Cannes, Southern France. The second day there, I got sunburned. We were supposed to go out to a dinner, just the two of us, but I didn't even think I could move, and I felt so bad because I'm usually so good about remembering sunblock, and I knew he was looking forward to it.

"Well when I came in, I was so tired and fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw the room had candles and flowers all over it, Logan told me to go get in the bath he made, promising that it would help relieve the burn. I walked into the bathroom to see a bubble bath, testing the water felt it was fairly hot, but got in slowly anyways. It burned at first, but soon enough it started to feel so much better. He came in a little later carrying two glasses of champagne, handed one to me before getting in the tub with me. He told me to relax and we just sat together enjoying the moment.

"When we finally got out, he gave me a robe to put on, so nothing would rub my burn, and he led me outside onto the balcony. Then I saw that he set up a small table with more champagne and dinner. We ate and watched the sunset."

By this point, Rory had all the girls letting out small Awws, as they saw a sunset, bubbles, and champagne glasses and bottle on Rory's tea cup. Rory for her part was lost in the memories, and finally added, "That night, when I couldn't sleep, I thought about him and how much I would miss him when he was in London, how close we had become. It was the night that I realized I wanted to marry him."

This made the girls fuss even more. Rory was fine with sharing the story, but now wanted to focus on something else. Looking back down the table at the cups, she said, "There are only 11."

Surprised by the sudden question, the rest of the girls were quickly drawn back to reality, while Paris easily replied, "What kind of un-tea set would it be if there was an even number."

Rory had to laugh at the logic. Soon enough, the girls were leaving, the un-tea set packaged for the trip. They all got in the limo, which took them back to the hotel. Once in their room, Honor gathered everyone, saying it was time to select their prizes from the card game earlier. Showing the different items to choose from the girls quickly noticed they were all related to Alice in Wonderland, most were hand blown glass figurines of various characters from the movie, but there were also other items.

Honor stood back in front of the group and said, "The winner is Laura!" causing the rest of the girls to applaud. She went up to the table containing the prizes and chose the glass White Rabbit, saying it would be perfect for the baby's room.

Rory had come in second, and walked up to look at the various prizes. After a minute had passed, Paris said, "It's not rocket science, just pick one."

Rory laughed at her friend and reasoned, "I want something that's symbolic."

"Just pick something!" Paris huffed.

"Fine," Rory said and selected a Tweedledee and Tweedledum figure.

"What possible symbolism does that have?" Rosemary asked, curious.

Rory shrugged and offered, "Finn and Colin," which caused the girls to laugh.

Madeline was next bad chose a vanity mirror.

"What does that have to do with Alice in Wonderland?" Juliet asked.

"She falls through a mirror, but a full size one would be too big," Paris explained.

Paris finished fourth and picked the Mad Hatter figure saying, "To commemorate my role today."

"Are you being sentimental?" Louise teased.

"Drop it," Paris snapped and sat down.

Next, Honor picked a basket containing the book and movie versions of Alice.

Seeing her selection, Rory asked surprised, "You don't have the book?"

"Nope," Honor said happily.

"All the books in the Huntzberger library, and no Lewis Carroll?" Rory said shocked.

"Not that I've seen, but besides, that's the Huntzberger library, this is for the Ramsay library. Need to make sure your nieces and nephews are well read."

Getting excited, Rory started, "Are you…"

"No," Honor cut in, "Not right now anyways, I'm just saying in the future."

"Good plan," Rory said with a smile.

Steph had finished next, and after a short internal debate, she chose the Alice figurine, smiling and saying, "We blondes need to stick together!"

Lane picked the Queen of Hearts, which made Rory inquire, "The queen?"

"Look at her dress, it's so funky and colorful, and the slit up the middle, not Mama Kim approved."

"Married and still trying to rebel," Rosemary said with proud hint in her voice.

"Of course," Lane said proudly.

Next, Louise excitedly chose the Cheshire Cat.

"Happy to get that?" Bri asked, slightly confused.

"Yup, I was hoping no one would take it before my turn," Louise answered.

"Why?" Rory asked, "I never took you as a cat person."

"I'm not," Louise said, "But look at his face, you can just tell he's about to cause trouble," which caused the girls to laugh knowing Louise's ability to cause trouble.

The bottom three included Bri who selected a diary and key.

"Need to spill some secrets about Finn?" Honor joked.

"No," Bri said while blushing slightly, "But I figured Maddy could use it one day."

Juliet chose a mantle clock, leaving a basket of various teas and a tea pot for Rosemary.

Seeing only one gift left and knowing it was for her, Rosemary got up and sighed dramatically, "Hmmm, what should I choose. So many choices…"

"Well we all know how much Rory loves tea, I bet you she'd trade you," Bri joked.

At this suggestion, Rory pretended to look horrified, and clutched her figurine tightly. This set the girls into a fit of laughter as Rosemary picked up the basket and sat back down.

--

Sunday morning, Finn, to the surprise of everyone in attendance, woke them up at 7:30 a.m.

Looking at his former best friend, Logan questioned, "Why are we up?"

Looking unusually excited, given the hour, Finn answered, "We have an appointment at 9:00 sharp."

Cutting in Brett asked, "You, the sun-phobic, planned something before noon?"

Finn kept his face stoic, while saying dramatically, "I wouldn't have, I swear, but it is an all day activity, and if we wanted to do it, we have to get an early start."

Jonathan looked skeptical and muttered, "It better be some activity."

Finn just smiled and poured himself a large mug of coffee.

Again, the guys found themselves ready to leave slightly ahead of schedule, but piled into the limo nonetheless. Soon they were arriving at, what looked like, a large office. No one asked any questions, but followed Finn who was being directed down a long hallway. They walked until it led to a classroom, complete with desks, a chalk board, and overhead projector. The group gave Finn another confused look, but followed suit when he took a seat.

Just when someone was finally going to ask a question, two very official looking people entered the room, and commanded their attention. Almost immediately, the guy took the spot in the center of the room, and began, "My name is Russ, and this is Karen, and we will be your instructors for your session today at the American Racing Academy…"

Hearing this, the guys all gave a cheer, while some slapped Finn on the back.

Once the cheering stopped, Russ continued, "Today, we will be teaching you how to maintain and drive Indy cars…"

From there, Russ and Karen gave an overview on both Indy car mechanics and racing. Next, they gave an explanation of how pit crew's work and what they do before finally talking about driving.

Before they knew it 2 1/2 hours had passed, and the guys were given a short break where they could grab some food. When they were done and had regrouped, they were led from the classroom to garage area large enough to hold 15-20 cars. In the back of the room, an Indy car was lifted up on jacks, and it was to this car that they were led.

Turning to face the group, Russ grinned and said, "Now before we get to driving, you're going to have to perform a pit change."

"What exactly do we have to do?" Josh asked.

"Change four tires as fast as you can," Russ said simply, then added, "Karen will give you a quick demonstration."

The next thing the guys saw was Karen standing next to the car, impact wrench in hand, and a guy over her shoulder holding a stop watch. When the man barked Go, she quickly started removing the bolts. As soon as they last one dropped to the floor a guy came to remove the tire, and a second guy was rolling in the replacement. It seemed almost instantaneous that Karen was back in position and drilling the bolts back into place.

When she finished, the guy glanced at his watch and said, "9.2 seconds, not bad."

The group of guys were just standing in awe, while Ethan whispered, "That was so hot!"

Karen rolled her eyes, but handed the wrench to one of the mechanics standing nearby, and asked, "Think you can beat that?"

The guys wisely, remained silent, but were soon broken into teams by Russ and each was briefly instructed by a mechanic on how to use the equipment. They all got a chance to remove and replace the bolts and were surprised at how smooth the wrench worked.

While everyone seemed excited to be using the equipment and seemed to get the hang of it, Colin was on his fifth failed attempt to remove the bolt, "I don't see why you all want to do this. It's manual labor."

Logan laughed at him saying, "You're just mad because you got beat by a girl."

"Because you're faster?" Colin shot back.

"That's not what I said," Logan defended.

"So, you got beat too!" Colin argued.

"Yes, she was faster, of course she is, she's a pro," Logan said simply.

Before he could finish, Anthony jumped in and added, "But, we can at least do it. You on the other hand, seem to be deficient."

Colin just glared at his friends, and turned back to the bolt, more determined than bore. After three more tries the bolt could be heard falling onto the ground, followed closely by Colin exclaiming, "Yes!"

Before he could get too excited, the mechanic that had been instructing him chuckled and said, "Okay now put it back."

Once their practice was over, it was announced that their pit change would begin. Again, the man standing at the front of the car gave the Go that sent the guys into action. At first, the only sound heard was the high powered wrenches as the guys started removing the bolts.

Suddenly a loud, "Shit!" was heard.

"What happened?" Seth asked concerned.

"I just got grease all over my shoes," Ethan complained.

This brought all the guys to a halt. Slowly, Austin asked, "You're shoes? As in, the things on your feet?"

"Yes my shoes! These are brand new Prada shoes!"

"Steph?" Jonathan said, waving his hands in front of Ethan and asked, "When did you perform your own Face/Off with Ethan?"

When Ethan didn't say anything, Jonathan knocked lightly on his head and whispered, "Steph, I know you're in there, it will be okay."

Ethan still remained silent, so Finn walked over and gave him a hug and said, "Don't worry kitten, Colin will still love you."

"Ewww!" "Gross!" Ethan and Colin exclaimed at the same time.

This caused the rest of the guys to start laughing, and Ethan to go back to staring unamused at the group of guys, "You're not funny."

"Oh, I think he was plenty funny," Finn offered with a grin.

"Just because…" Ethan started.

"One minute!" came the call from man timing them.

This seemed to refocus the guys, but as they went back to work, Ethan said, "Don't think we're finished!"

As they continued, muttering could be constantly heard as the guys removed the screws.

"What are you doing? That's not how it goes," Josh corrected, and started showing Ben how to reposition the new tire.

At nearly the same time, Seth cried, "Finn, why do you have a steering wheel?"

"It's round and easier to put on," Finn said seriously, as he put in a bolt and hung the steering wheel off it, and exclaimed, "All done! We win!"

Seth just rolled his eyes, removed it, before gesturing for Brett to bring him the replacement tire, and the two worked to reattach it. Finally, all four tires, we're reattached.

"5 minutes and 11 seconds, gentleman."

"So how do we rank?" Logan asked.

Russ shook his head and said, "Most of our groups finish in 3-4 minutes, but I did have a group recently that clocked in at almost 7 minutes…"

"Ha!" Finn exclaimed.

"…It was a group of middle aged women," he finished.

"Well if we wouldn't have had members of our team acting like girls, and freaking out over their shoes, maybe we would have done better," Austin said, looking at Ethan.

Hoping to get them focused again, Karen chided, "And if you don't stop bickering like women, you'll never make it out to the track."

This efficiently shut the guys up about shoes, but as they followed Karen and Russ, they started a completely new argument.

"Of course I'll drive well," Colin said as if any other outcome was absurd, "I lived in Germany, do you know how much time I spent driving the Autobahn?"

Seth rolled his eyes and said, "They don't drive as fast as people think."

"Besides these are Indy cars, they'll drive different than any sports car you've had," Ben pointed out.

"What about you, how do you think you'll do?" Anthony asked Logan.

"I like to drive fast, you all know that," Logan replied with a smirk.

"So does the Connecticut State Police," Josh muttered.

Logan glared at his brother-in-law, "Honor has a big mouth," then turned the question back on him, "And what about you?"

Josh gave an impassive smile and said, "I think I'll do alright."

From there, all sorts of questions got asked, "How fast do you think we'll go?" "What kind of course will it be?" "Do we get to race each other"…

They reached the track, and again Russ started their next set of instructions, "Gentlemen, first of all, no you will not be racing…"

This resulted in the sound of disappointment, so Russ continued, "But to end your day, everyone will get timed doing 5 laps, and given an official time," which caused the guys to look even more excited.

Russ held in a laugh at the group of stereotypical competitive guys, and continued, "But before we get there you have a lot to learn…"

--

"I can't believe you won!" Austin whined, for what seemed like millionth time.

"You've mentioned that," Josh said dryly.

"I mean seriously, out of everyone…"

"And what happened to you Seth?" Logan asked, wanting to direct the conversation off of his usually quiet brother-in-law, "I would have expected more from you. What went wrong? Miscalculate the optimal turn radius?"

Seth laughed, "This is why I design things, not use them."

"We can analyze Seth's turning once we're on the plane, but right now, we need to keep moving to get ahead of the storm," Finn said, draping his arms around Logan and Seth as he hurried them to the waiting limo.

--

"Scoot over," Logan whispered. When Logan finally got home from the airport, he walked into the bedroom to find Rory sprawled across their bed asleep, wearing one of his shirts. He had called her from the airstrip in Vegas, letting her know they wouldn't be landing until late and not to worry, he would catch a ride home with Finn. So now he had a very cute and comforting scene in front of him, a scene he wanted to join, but his first plea got no response. Deciding to try again, he said slightly louder, "Ace, scoot over."

"Logan," she mumbled sleepily, but rolled over when she did, allowing Logan to slide into bed and kiss her neck.

Settling in behind her, he wrapped his arm around her and whispered, "Yeah."

"What time is it?"

"Almost 2, go back to sleep."

"You're late."

"There were some storms we had to fly around," he explained.

In her hazy state she asked, "Did you have fun?"

"I did."

"Strippers?"

"There was a close call when Finn started undoing his pants," Logan replied seriously.

"Too sleepy for jokes," Rory whined.

Logan laughed at her half-conscious state, "No strippers."

"Good," she yawned, and snuggled closer into his side.

"What about you, strippers?"

Rory shook her head against his chest then said, "Drag queens."

"Lucky Cheng's," Logan said surprised, then grinned, "Did you get a lap dance?"

"Too scary, said I'd kill them," Rory incoherently answered.

Logan laughed lightly, imagining Rory downright refusing. "Anything else happen?"

"Tea cups…shock Shira…"

"What?" he asked, now more confused, but highly curious. Getting no response, he looked down to see Rory was back asleep. Knowing he'd have to wait until morning to hear the rest of the story, Logan kissed her once more before following her into sleep.

--

A/N: Okay this is going to have two parts: first about updates and second about the chapter.

I apologize for not updating for so long, and besides doing that, I don't have much else I can say. Moving, work, and life got crazy and finding time to write was hard. And for a while, when I did find time to write, it was bad (ask Christi, she'll tell you, it sucked), and we refused to publish something that wasn't up to this fic's standards. I recently got back into my stride, and although it took a bit longer than before, the writing was back on track. So while I'm sure many have given up on this story, I am still working. I'm not going to tell you what you can or cannot say in reviews, but you really don't have to yell at me for the lack of updates, I know, and like I said, I'm sorry about that. Everyone who has received review replies lately, or read the updates on the blog should thank Christi because she's stayed up on that for me! Also thank her for pestering me CONSTANTLY and not letting me give up. We both really do love this fic, but when I was getting so frustrated with writing that I wanted to scream, she made me keep writing :)

Now onto the chapter, first I'm going to apologize. I know how long it's been since an update and you're probably are all ready to kill me because this doesn't have much R/L action and isn't my favorite in the fic, but this chapter has been planned for this point for a long time and as much as I hate this being the chapter you get after all this time, I can't really move it either. So sorry! Besides that, I hope you enjoyed it because there are a few scenes we really like AND Go Redwings!

B/N: For the mad libs part, Lynn asked me all the questions, and I choose all the words given the character of the girl in question. And…the names of the exotic male dancers were one of the mad libs choices the girls had to make (a foreign male name). So, if you can figure out the connection between the four names, you get extra credit! (PS. Boo Redwings!)