A/N: Finally an update! Hope you guys enjoy this!

Chapter 54

Rory stood hunched in front of her mirror, elbows resting on the vanity counter as she drew what was supposed to be a tidy line just above her lashes with her liquid eyeliner. There was a knock on the door and her hand jerked, leaving roughly one centimeter of misplaced liner to the right of her eye. She tried to wipe it away, leaving a smudge of black just beside her eye. The knock sounded a second time and she momentarily put the eyeliner disaster on hold to open the door.

"Ah, I understand the two knocks now," Logan said, taking note of the eyeliner smudge. "You know, I like you even without all that stuff on your face."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but it's mildly offensive when you refer to my trying to look nice for you as me putting 'all that stuff on my face'."

Logan chuckled. "Noted. I'm just saying – don't poke yourself in the eye or something. Honor did that with a mascara wand."

"Ouch," Rory said, wincing. "I'd never use mascara again."

"She hasn't," he filled in. "She's mascara averse now."

She led him into her room and spread himself out on her bed while she finished getting ready. Rory picked up the offending liquid eyeliner and told it, "I graduated first in my class at Chilton. And I'm a student at one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. You will not get the best of me, eyeliner."

"You tell it," Logan called from her bed. "That'll teach it to not mess with you."

He glanced over at Rory's nightstand, noticing the few new items peppered among the usual bottle of water and alarm clock. There was a sound machine set beside the alarm clock, and not far from that was a pair of earplugs.

"Noisy neighbors?" Logan asked.

"Huh?"

Rory glanced back and saw Logan examining the earplugs.

"Oh, yeah, it's been a little noisy here lately."

"New love, huh?"

"Yeah, they've been discovering that love a lot. And all over the place. I no longer can sit on that couch without putting a blanket down first."

"You've got to be kidding me," Logan said. "Tristan I could see being that crazy, but Paris?"

"She's an animal," Rory said, shaking her head. "Believe me, I've seen the scratch marks to prove it."

"Ah, that right there, Ace? Information I didn't need to know."

"Anyway, they were keeping me up and you know how much I need my seven hours of sleep per night."

"Yes," Logan said, nodding. "I've seen you without those seven hours and each time suffered some bodily harm. Remember that time you threw a full binder at me because I made fun of you for eating two sleeves of poptarts in one sitting?"

"That had nothing to do with my lack of sleep," she returned drily. "And two sleeves isn't that much."

"That's four poptarts."

Rory shrugged. "So?"

"That's something like half your daily calorie intake," he said.

"I still don't see your point."

Logan laughed, giving up on trying to convince Rory Gilmore that consuming something like 800 calories in one sitting was excessive. If he learned anything about the Gilmore girls, it was that their eating habits were above comment.

"Well, I'm sorry you have to deal with Tristan and Paris."

"It's not that bad. I'm not in the apartment that much, anyway, and when I am I just hole myself up in here and get the sound machine going. If the sound machine isn't enough then I go to the earplugs."

"You know, there is another option," he said.

"I thought about killing them, but getting all the blood out of the carpet would be a real drag."

Logan stared at her. "You know, I actually can't tell if you're joking."

Rory rolled her eyes.

"I figure the honeymoon can only last so long. The whole let's-bang-every-minute thing is bound to pass."

"As a guy, I can honestly tell you it doesn't," Logan replied. "But, hey, I have an idea."

"Okay."

"You could move in with me."

"You mean with you, Colin and Finn?" Rory said, nearly snorting. She loved Logan, but she would never move in with those three stooges – even if one of them was her boyfriend.

"No, I've been looking at places off campus. The fraternity living – while it has its perks – also has significant drawbacks. Namely, Finn has taken to lounging in the nude."

Rory winced. "Ew."

"I found this really great place on Oak and sent in my application to rent last week. I was approved yesterday."

"So, you're getting your own place?"

Logan nodded. "If everything goes as planned."

"And you want me to move in with you?"

"Yeah, if you want to. Do you want to?"

Rory leaned against her vanity, thinking over his question. Moving in was a big step. Even for people like them, who had gone through so much, it was not something to be taken lightly.

"Um, Ace, a response would be nice."

"Oh, sorry," she said immediately. "I'm just…wow. Moving in together. Into an apartment. That's a pretty big step."

"I know," he said, sitting up on the bed. "But we're ready. This thing between us has been going really well, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to give living together a try. You still have your dorm, so if it doesn't work out or we've moved too fast you could come back here."

"Logan, I don't know."

"The apartment's a little further off campus, but a bus picks up right in front that gets you to school. And worst case scenario, you could always have Frank drive you."

"You've really thought this through," she noted slowly.

"This isn't some split second decision for me, Ace. I've been thinking about this for a while."

"I can tell."

"So? Do you want to move in with me?"

She didn't give him an answer and he stood up and walked over to her, snaking his arms around her waist.

"Just think about it, Ace. You and me together. I'll make you dinner –"

"You've never cooked a day in your life," she returned lightly.

He laughed and said, "Fine, I'll order you really good takeout.

"That sounds more like it, buster."

He dropped his mouth to the crook of her neck and kissed her skin. "We'll be together every night." He moved up and kissed her neck. "And every morning." His mouth came level to hers and he murmured, "Best of all, you won't have to hear Paris and Tristan boning each other all the time."

"You make a convincing argument, Mr. Huntzberger."

"So?" he asked, mouth curved into one of the smiles she loved so much. "What do you say, Ace? You want to give this living together thing a go?"

She hesitated for only a moment before murmuring, "Okay."


Rory never could keep things from her mother for long, and in true Gilmore fashion she ended up spilling the beans no less than five minutes into the conversation with her mother the next day. Lorelai was initially silent, which Rory knew meant she had reservations. If Lorelai had anything it was unbridled excitement for things that she liked. This situation – i.e. her daughter moving in with her boyfriend – did not warrant even modest titillation.

"You're moving in together, " Lorelai repeated slowly. "Why?"

"Paris and Tristan's marathon sessions have been a bit much for me lately," Rory explained.

"Have you tried talking to them?"

"That would require them coming up for air."

'Are they really that bad?"

"You have no idea," Rory said glumly. "But, I think this can be a good thing. I mean, moving in is the next step for Logan and I."

"It's a very big step, babe. I just don't want you to make this decision because your roommates are bothering you. It should be because you and Logan think it's time."

"Well, it's that, too," Rory returned.

"Are you sure? Or is this just convenient?"

To be honest, it felt a bit more like the latter but Rory didn't fully subscribe to the notion that the two couldn't go together. Why couldn't moving in with Logan remove her from a trying situation and benefit their relationship?

"Logan and I love each other. This is the right thing. Besides, if it doesn't work out I have the dorm still. I could always move back."

"Alright," Lorelai said, voice clearly indicating she was not convinced.

"Don't worry, Mom. Logan and I living together is going to be great. You have nothing to worry about."


Beep! Beep! Beep!

Rory stood on a small step stool beneath the smoke alarm, feverishly waving a pot holder under the alarm to make it turn off. Behind her the sautee pan of burned onions sat in the sink, running water dousing the burned mess. The alarm wouldn't stop and each bleep seemed to be louder.

"Turn off! Turn off! Please turn off!"

The front door opened and Logan came tearing in, eyes wide as he yelled over the alarm, "What the hell happened?"

TWO DAYS EARLIER

"You really don't have a lot of stuff," Logan noted, taking the last box from the dorm room down to his car. "Maybe I'm just used to Stephanie's stuff from all the times the guys and I helped her move. She has a lot of stuff."

"The dorm doesn't hold that much," Rory said. "Besides, I study too much to need stuff."

"That would explain it. Stephanie has never done anything remotely akin to studying."

He put the box in the trunk and closed the hatch. As he went to walk over to the front of the car Rory said, "We need to get my books."

"Your books?" he asked, glancing back at her.

"Yeah, they're in the closet. Paris said they were too distracting to have in the room."

"Books were too distracting?"

Rory shot him a look. "Hey, just because you don't understand the allure of a book doesn't mean the rest of the world is similarly impaired."

They walked back into the dorm room and Rory opened the closet. Nestled inside were five large bins filled almost completely with books. Logan exhaled loudly and said, "I take back what I said about you not having a lot of stuff."

"I can help," Rory offered.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You mean you can lift one of these boxes?"

"Fair point. All I can offer is moral support."

The door opened and Tristan and Paris walked in. Rory brightened and said, "Tristan can help you!"

"What am I helping with?" he asked.

"Those books need to go to Logan's car."

"You sure we shouldn't just chuck them?" Tristan asked. "Logan, man, if she has time to read you're doing something wrong."

He gave Paris a heady glance and she blushed, tucking her hair behind her ears. Rory groaned and said, "Tristan, just take the books to Logan's car."

The boys headed downstairs and Rory said, "You guys are gross."

"You're just jealous you and Logan don't have our unbridled passion," Paris said loftily.

"No, you're actually just gross."

Paris sighed contently. "Maybe we are, but I don't care. Being with Tristan is just…" she sighed again.

"Alright, I get it. He's great. You're both great."

"He's a very sensitive lover," Paris continued, either unaware or blithely irreverent to Rory's discomfort. "I wouldn't have thought it before but he is finely attuned to womanly needs."

"Please stop," Rory murmured.

"Fine, I'll stop," Paris said with a goading smile. "So, you and Huntzberger are really doing it."

"If by 'doing it' you mean moving in together, yes we are."

"It's a pretty big step," Paris said leadingly. "But I think this is good,"

Rory gave her a look and said, "If you say it's because you and Tristan get to have even more weird sex all over the place I will throw something at you."

Paris laughed. "No, I think it'll be good for you and Logan. If anyone is ready for that step, it's you."

Rory didn't expect that to come out of Paris' mouth.

"Well, thanks Paris."

"And all the weird sex is, of course, just an added bonus."

"Alright, and I am going to go check on Logan."


They didn't fully move in for a few days as they rounded up all their stuff. Rory went back to Stars Hollow over the weekend and picked up some odds and ends that hadn't made it to her dorm. She stopped at The Dragonfly on her way out and paid Sookie a visit, leaving with the one and only recipe she had ever solicited from the chef.

When she returned from Stars Hollow she found that Logan had unpacked for both of them, the apartment looking homey and lived in. She walked over to the kitchen and pulled open the cabinet, smiling wide when she saw that he had not only provided her favorite coffee but an arsenal of poptarts.

"I see you found the stash," Logan joked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I'm glad to see you understand my poptart needs." She turned her mouth up to him and he dropped his lips to hers. The kiss started out light and as it deepened his hands brushed lower.

"You know one of the perks of living alone?" he whispered.

"Whatever could that be?" she teased.

He pressed her back against the counter and kissed her deeply, his hands exploring the smooth expanse of her waist. He pulled away and took a hold of her waist, lifting her up on top of the counter.

She made a sound of surprise but it was swallowed up by his mouth on hers again, his fingers furiously working at the buttons of her shirt. She rolled her shoulders back as he peeled the shirt off, her own hands down working on the button of his pants.

He tossed her shirt on the floor and gave her a hard kiss before kissing and licking his way down to her breasts. He pressed his mouth to her through her bra and she arched her back, pressing his mouth firmer down on her.

She could feel him straining through his pants and she messily tugged them down, his mouth still working on her left breast as she freed him from his boxers. She ran her hand down his length and he shuddered, his forehead resting on her chest.

"Logan, do you have a…"

"Yeah, in my wallet."

He reluctantly pulled himself away from her body and crouched down to pull his wallet from the heap that was his pants. He glanced up and nearly choked at the sight of her reaching under her skirt and tugging down her panties.

"I have the hottest girlfriend," he murmured.

She scooted herself back up onto the counter and pulled him toward her. He kissed her collarbone, her neck, anything and everything that he could as he pushed up into her. Her legs tightened around him and he held still, giving her a moment to adjust. When she was ready she began moving. She held on to him tightly at first but then let her hands explore other areas. She cupped his bottom, squeezing as her climax built. He knew the exact moment she finished – her fingernails leaving small crescent moons on his skin. She rested her head on his shoulder, breathing heavily.

"I think I'm going to like it here," she murmured.

He chuckled, lips grazing the side of her head. "Told you."


After their kitchen session Logan went off to class and Rory diligently de-sanitized the area while she swore they would never do that again (knowing full well that they probably would). They might stay away from the kitchen in the future, though. There were food products there, after all.

On the topic of food products, Rory began to cook the special dinner she'd planned for her and Logan's first night together in the apartment. The recipe called for caramelized onions, and after chopping them – and swearing profusely over the burning in her eyes – she put them in a sauté pan with some olive oil and began thinking that maybe this cooking thing wasn't that difficult.

She left the onions to cook as she straightened up the rest of the apartment. She'd just finished realphabetizing her biography collection when the smoke alarm went off.


"What the hell happened?" Logan said loudly, wincing as the smoke alarm continued to bleep loudly. The entire apartment must have heard it by now.

"I burned some onions!" she said loudly, furiously waving the potholder.

"Why were you cooking?"

"Because I wanted our first night together to be special, dammit!" she yelled back, beginning to panic when she heard sirens. It was their first night together in the apartment and they'd be sharing it with firefighters.

This is what she got for trying to make their first night together in the new apartment special. All week she'd been prepping for the meal. She got a recipe from Sookie and spent the usual hours she'd be poring over homework watching Youtube videos detailing how to sauté, chop and any other culinary trick she could find. She should have watched a video on how to turn off smoke alarms.

Logan quickly went and opened all the windows in the apartment. He walked over to the stove and turned on the fan. A few seconds later the fire alarm fell silent.

"Opening windows," she murmured. "I didn't think to open the windows."

Logan walked over to her and offered her his help to get down from the step stool. She took his hand and muttered, "The entire apartment is filled with smoke and I don't even think to open a window."

"It's okay. You were panicking."

"I was. There wasn't even an actual fire and I was panicking." She remembered the fire truck and stammered, "Do you think the truck was for us? Oh my God, they're going to come up here and think I'm an idiot."

"The truck passed," he said slowly, taking a hold of her shoulders. "What in the world were you doing in the kitchen?"

"I wanted tonight to be special," she said. "I got a recipe from Sookie this weekend. She said it was fail-proof."

Logan snorted, pulling her into a hug. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and said, "Only you, Ace, could set off the fire alarm with a fail-proof recipe."

"I'm sorry," Rory said. "I wanted tonight to be special and I just ended up making it a mess."

"Hey, that's not true," he said. "At least we know the smoke alarm works."

She frowned. "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

"A little," he admitted. "But, the alarm stopped. Crisis averted. We'll just order some takout."

"I feel like a putz."

Logan smirked. "You're not a putz. Not even close. And you don't have to do anything to make tonight special, Ace. We're together, that's all we need to make it special."

She took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right."

"Although, a repeat of this afternoon probably wouldn't hurt."

She gave him a look. "We can't do that again. Do you know how long it took me to clean up that area?"

"I'd rather you not ruin the magic."

"But…" she began, sliding her hands up around his shoulders. "I'm not partial to the bed."

Logan smirked. "Takeout can wait. Lead the way, Ace."

A/N: Lots of sexy time in this one! On that topic, I know I never had a first time scene. That's because I hate writing those. So...you all can just assume the ship sailed long ago for Logan and Rory. Yay.