When Rory saw Jess' wedding invitation as she flipped through her mail, she smiled. She couldn't believe how fast things were going; she sighed as she looked up and took in the dishevelled mess of her living room, Hannah's new toys from her birthday the previous week scattered all over.

"What's that?" Logan asked, loosening his tie and kissing Rory's cheek.

"Jess' wedding invitation."

"Wow, I guess it is coming up fast, huh?"

"Yeah," Rory sighed, turning to Logan and tugging gently on his tie. "How are you doing?" she asked quietly.

"I'm okay today," he whispered. It was a simple question, but Logan knew what she was getting at. He'd been struggling for months; slowly, he opened up to Rory and told her his parents were having health issues but didn't volunteer much else.

Part of the problem was that he himself didn't know how to feel about it – on one hand, they were his parents, but on the other, he had no regrets about cutting ties with Mitchum, and Shira hadn't made any further attempts at an olive branch since the doll house a few years before. He got the odd letter from her, but that was all. Logan never answered, for fear it would enrage Mitchum. Instead, he sent his best wishes to his mother through Honour, always through Honour. When Honour first told him what was happening, Logan made a choice – not to reconnect. Honour understood that it was not a choice he made lightly, and she respected it; he hoped his mother understood this too, and that hope surprised him.

Rory smiled, finding solace in such a small word: okay. She didn't even know whether it was Mitchum or Shira – or both. Because she was naturally curious, part of her found Logan's utter lack of detail absolutely maddening, but she respected it. She could see he was struggling – anyone would struggle with their parents having health issues, but Logan's situation was more complicated than most. He made a choice. All she could do was be there for him, give him the space he needed and listen when, if he decided to open up. Rory held Logan's gaze.

Logan saw he had to give her something. "No news is good news," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders.

"Okay. I'm going to show this to Hannah," Rory smiled and gestured to the wedding invitation, "she'll be so excited."

A few weeks later, Rory was in Brooklyn with Hannah for a fitting for her flower girl's dress. Kathleen was there too, with her sister Andrea and her mom Carol for fittings of all their dresses.

"So, Rory, Kathleen tells me you've known Jess for a long time," Carol smiled.

"Yeah. We met when we were teenagers."

"Hannah must be so excited to be a flower girl. She's an amazing little girl."

"She really is."

"It's so wonderful that you and Jess have maintained your friendship for all these years."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Rory laughed.

"Well, Kathleen's been telling me for ages how wonderful Hannah is and how much she's grown to love her these past few years. She says Jess has a really special bond with her."

"He really does."

"I'm so happy to finally know you, dear," Carol whispered, giving Rory's knee a gentle squeeze. "Kattie! Andrea! How's it going in there?"

"Almost set," Kathleen answered. "I'll be out in just a few!"

"I swear, you need an engineering degree to get in and out of wedding dresses these days," Carol joked.

"That's why we leave it to the professionals," Andrea answered. "I'm going to need diagrams and step by step instructions for the wedding day."

"I heard that!" Kathleen laughed, "Stop being so dramatic! It's just a zipper!"

"Mama! I'm so excited to show you my dress! It's the best dress ever!" Hannah called out excitedly from the fitting room next to Kathleen. Hannah had insisted that Rory let her try on her dress by herself, with the help of one of the fitters, just like Kathleen and Andrea and Carol.

"I bet it's beautiful, sweetie. I can't wait to see! Hurry so you're here when Kathleen comes out!" Rory called back.

"You hear?" Hannah said to the fitter helping her. "Hurry, hurry!"

This was a happy occasion, and everyone was lovely; Rory appreciated Kathleen's invitation to include Hannah in the fitting process with her family this way, so Hannah could feel like she was part of everything. But for some reason she found herself flashing back to the birthday party Emily threw her as a teenager, inviting everyone at Chilton without realizing that Rory wasn't friends with any of them, because no one liked her and she didn't exactly care for them either. That was a lifetime ago, she thought to herself, no, Kathleen and I aren't exactly friends, but this is nothing like that. Snap out of it.

Rory shook her wandering mind back into focus when she heard Kathleen call to her daughter.

"You ready Hannah? You show them your dress first, okay?"

"Okay!" Hannah answered excitedly. "I ready!" Hannah's fitter opened the curtain with a flourish, and she ran out, giggling uncontrollably.

"Wow," Rory smiled widely. "You look so pretty! Can you spin for me, honey?"

Hannah laughed and twirled, the knee length tulle skirt lifting slightly as she spun. The top was simple, sleeveless silk and the waist was accented with a tiny navy-blue sash, tied in a bow at the back. She ran right to Rory, who scooped her up and sat her in her lap.

Carol and Andrea smiled at Hannah as though she was their granddaughter, their niece. The sincerity Rory saw reflected in their happiness warmed her heart.

"I'm just sorry Kathleen's nieces couldn't be here too," Carol sighed. "But it's a long trip with little ones, especially when we're packing so much into such a short visit. No matter. I'll bring them their dresses and I'm sure they'll look just as pretty as you, Hannah," she smiled, rubbing Hannah's cheek.

"I hope so," Hannah nodded.

"They'll be so excited to meet you," Andrea said.

"Me too! With them!"

"Okay Kattie, you have a captive audience and if you take any longer, we might have to postpone the wedding," Andrea joked dryly.

"Okay," Kathleen replied, "here I come." When she stepped out, there was a collective gasp.

Kathleen waited for someone to say something, but there was only silence. She saw her mother's eyes fill with tears and Andrea put her arms around Carol and did the same. "Stop it," she whispered, a lump rising in her throat, "don't get me started."

"Sorry," Carol laughed, "I can't help being a mother. You look – just, perfect."

"You do," Andrea nodded. "I love you. I can't believe my sister's getting married!"

Kathleen smiled, a happy tear falling down her cheek. "You guys have to say I look perfect. You're my family," she teased. Blinking her tears away, she turned to Rory and Hannah, "What do you ladies think?"

"I never seen anything to pretty," Hannah said.

"Your mom and sister are right," Rory agreed. "You look amazing."

"Look at your dress, little miss!" Kathleen said to Hannah, "you look so pretty!"

"Nuh-uh, you're prettier," Hannah said.

"Aw, thank you. Do you think Jess will like it?"

"Yeah, he will. Won't he, Mama?"

"He won't know what hit him," Rory chuckled.

"So Hannah had fun?" Jess asked. "Sorry I waited till after your mom left to ask but – "

"Tons," Kathleen laughed. "And don't worry, if you'd asked while my mom was here, she might've started crying because of sad she was not to have her granddaughters here."

"Well then I take it back – I'm not sorry. It was really nice of you to invite her – Hannah, and I guess Rory too, I mean."

"Yeah, Hannah loved it – but I knew she would. And it was nice to have Rory there too; I mean, I know I don't know her that well, but your circle's so small, you know? She's such a big part of your life, it was nice to get to know her a bit better – without you there… no offense."

"None taken," Jess chuckled. "She didn't give you mounds of dirt on me, did she? Because that's kind of Ella's job and if she and Rory are going to be coming at you from all sides – just, please don't pull a Runaway Bride on me."

"No. I think she felt a little out of place in the bridal shop, which I guess is understandable, considering that I, as I mentioned, don't know her very well. But by the time we went for lunch, she was chatting easily with me, my mom and my sister like she's known us for… months, at least. And for Hannah, the whole day was just about her best day ever, so far. We all ended up having a great day; I'm really happy everyone was there, and I think Rory was glad she was there too, in the end," she promised, kissing Jess' cheek.

"I'm glad," Jess answered, flashing Kathleen a loving wink and smirk.

"But, I have to ask – what do you know about Runaway Bride?" Kathleen asked with a giggle.

"Remember my best friend, Ella? She's more of a girly girl than she'd have most of her friends believe and she loves all things chick flick and kinda has a slightly disturbing 'thing' for Richard Gere; and even though that movie was ten years old by the time we became best friends, she's made me watch it an embarrassing number of times. Pretty Woman too, but that's another story. For another day."

"Okay, well, suffice it to say: don't worry Jess, I'm not lost; I know what kind of eggs I like, regardless of how you like yours."

"So, should I have proposed to you with some old running shoes I was looking to get rid of instead of that ring?" Jess asked teasingly, pointing to her engagement ring.

Kathleen snapped her left and close to her body and laughed. "Don't even think of taking my beautiful engagement ring away and replacing it with a pair of your old, worn-out, smelly – Converse runners, I'm guessing. You gave me this ring and I intend to keep wearing it for the rest of my life."

"That's the master plan," Jess said sincerely, brushing a strand of Kathleen's firey red hair away from her face and kissing her lips tenderly.

As soon as Hannah had her flower girl dress, Rory and Logan had to have daily talks with her about why she couldn't wear it every day.

"After the wedding, we might not be able to get her out of it. She'll never want to wear anything but that dress ever again," Logan laughed.

"Just don't go giving her ideas," Rory rolled her eyes.

Logan kissed Rory's forehead tenderly as she snuggled against his side in bed later that night. He sighed sweetly against her skin and pulled her closer. He was steeling himself to tell her something incredibly difficult. The closer he held Rory to him, the safer he felt. "Ace, I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Rory asked, placing a hand on Logan's bare chest and leaning up a little to meet his gaze. "Is everything okay?"

"No. It's… it's not. I don't even know if I'm making the right choice – I might regret it as soon as I get there, but if I don't go, I might find, unexpectedly, one day, that I'll wish I had – in spite of everything that's happened, someday, I don't want to regret… I just feel like I need to go, for the rest of my family, be with them for a few days while we…"

Rory was getting worried now. "Logan, regret what? What happened?"

"I'm going to London. And I don't want you there – not after everything my parents have subjected you to since they heard about Hannah." Logan sighed heavily, took Rory's face in his hands and looked at her. "This has nothing to do with – you know I love you, and I am not ashamed of you – or Hannah! I love you both more than anything, you know that. But if my mother's in a mood, and with all my parents' friends lurking around like vultures – I just can't subject you to everything again; I won't, it's not fair. But I – I have to go. I'll only be gone for a few days – less than a week, just while we sort everything out with the rest of the family."

The love, tenderness, heartbreak and pain that were evident in every line of Logan's face and every glint of his brown eyes as he stared at her broke Rory's heart. "Logan… slow down. You're not making a lot of sense. When did you find out about going to London? When did you decide you need to go to London?"

"Yesterday – and, yesterday."

"Just tell me what happened."

"Mitchum had been having a series strokes over the past few months, the last one was the worst and – and he –"

"Wait. What do you mean had? What do you mean last?" Rory asked quietly. In a split second she knew what was coming, but what Logan said next still managed to shock her and send a shiver down her spine.

Logan looked down for a few seconds and took a deep breath, in an attempt to slow his heart rate and gather his restless thoughts. Moving his hands from Rory's face, he took both her hands in his, squeezing them tightly. Despite his best efforts, he knew Rory could feel his hands trembling as he held hers, but he didn't particularly care. Finally, he looked back up to her, his brown eyes staring intently into her blue ones: loving and unflinching.

"Mitchum died yesterday. My father's dead, Rory."