Logan woke early and crept out of bed carefully so as not to disturb Rory; they were up late, discussing Logan's decision to go to London alone. In the end, he convinced her that she needed to stay home, with Hannah. He told her that his trip was hard enough – worrying that Rory might come under fire would break him. He would breathe much easier knowing that she was at home, and he worried that it would upset Hannah if they were both gone – they agreed that bringing Hannah to London was out of the question.

"Be good Nannah. I'll be home soon, don't worry. I love you. I love you," he whispered, kissing his daughter's forehead lightly and rubbing her cheek. Logan watched her for a few minutes as she slept, and it calmed him; eventually, he tiptoed back to his own room. "Ace," he said quietly, gently waking her up, "I gotta go."

Rory opened her eyes and covered his hand with hers. "Logan," she said sleepily, "are you sure you don't want me to come with you? Hannah can stay with my mom and Luke – she'd be fine there. You shouldn't go through this alone."

"You are with me. I won't be alone."

"Under different circumstances, that sentiment would be romantic."

"Rory. Stay here. Let me just get through this and come home to you. Knowing that you and Hannah will be here to come home to – that's all I need. Okay?"

"Okay," she sighed sadly.

"I love you, Ace," Logan whispered, leaning down to kiss her. He felt a painful lump rise in his throat and tried to deny it from overtaking him; despite the ferocity of their embrace, he released Rory's lips when he could no longer control the quiver of his chin. Inhaling sharply and clearing his throat, he shook it off and held Rory's gaze until he could decipher the blue of her eyes in the dark. "I'll call you when I land."

"You'd better."

"Go back to sleep," he implored her, before kissing her cheek and turning quickly for the door.

Rory couldn't go back to sleep. She listened as Logan shuffled quietly through the condo and heard every click and creak as he opened the front door and closed and locked it behind him. After he was gone, it was like all her drowsiness left with him, she was suddenly wide awake. By the time she heard noise coming from Hannah's room around eight o'clock, she all but sprang out of bed.

"Where's Daddy?" Hannah asked as she ate her cereal in the kitchen. "He still sleeping?"

"No," Rory sighed. "He had to take a trip, honey. He'll be back in five days," she explained, holding up a hand, all five fingers outstretched.

"Where'd he go?"

"London."

"Is that far?"

"Yeah."

"He didn't tell me. He always tells me when he goes away somewheres."

"He didn't know he was going until after you went to sleep. He left really early, before it was even light outside. He didn't want to wake you up. But he did say goodbye to you, I know he did."

"Can we call him?"

"No. He's on a plane. Do you remember when we got on a plane to see Aunty Honour?"

"Sort of. Not really."

"Well, you can't use phones on planes. But he's going to call us as soon as he gets there."

"Is he sad, Mama?"

"What?" Rory was surprised by how specific and relevant Hannah's question was. "Why do you think he's sad?"

Hannah seemed to contemplate her answer before she spoke. "Well, you say he had to go, but maybe he didn't want to, which is why he didn't wake me up to tell me he was going. He didn't say bye because he didn't want to go. Maybe he's sad he had to go. When he lived – where was he, when he wasn't here with us?"

"California."

"Yeah. When he was there he was gone for way longer than a few days, but he told me he was going. He missed us, but he always talked to us. Maybe going to London he's even more sad than when he lived in Cawifornia."

"I think you might be right, little girl."

"Well, when he calls I'ma tell him not be sad. He'll be back home soon and I'll hug him and kiss him till he's not sad anymore."

"That," Rory smiled, "will make him feel so much better."

Logan eventually did call; he put on a brave front for Hannah, but when he spoke to Rory, he sounded lost, dazed, even hurt. It reminded her of the way Logan used to rail against Mitchum when they were in their early twenties whenever he'd try to force him to be an unwilling heir to the Huntzberger Business Tycoon throne. But the railing eventually stopped when Logan grew into his own future, in his own way. Rory knew he didn't regret his choices, but she was all too aware of the fact that Logan walked away from a lot of things when he refused to let Mitchum bully him into walking away from her. By choosing Rory and Hannah as his family, he was – with the exception of Honour- losing his family, too; Logan made this choice without flinching and the harsh reality of it was something that was rarely discussed. But when he called from London Rory heard it in his voice. She was suddenly struck by the fact that had she not gotten pregnant, Logan would have had a good relationship with his father right until the end. To say she felt responsible or guilty certainly wasn't right; but sitting with this knowledge was heavy when she heard, quite clearly, how depressed and conflicted he was.

Hannah was right – Logan was sad. And after spending one night without him, knowing what he was facing in London and knowing that she was quite possibly the only one who understood just how conflicted his emotions would be, she knew she had to do something. She spent that entire night sleepless, haunted by the memories of how lost and alone she felt after her grandfather died, and she knew she had to do something, anything, to try and save Logan from feeling that lost and alone – even if only fleetingly. Even if it made him angry, she knew she couldn't help him by doing what he asked and staying away.

After Hannah was asleep, Rory called Lorelai; she was surprised at how quickly her mother agreed with her, and after working out the necessary details, she hung up and made one more call.

"Crikey, Rory, the jet's flying early tomorrow."

"I'm surprised you went to sleep at all."

"Are you calling me old?"

"I didn't say a thing. You just called yourself old."

"Now that you've sufficiently deflated my ego, is there something I can help you with? We'll take good care of Logan, we promise."

"Yeah – I'm sure. Even if I believed you, it wouldn't matter. Can you delay takeoff for a few hours?"

"Why?"

"Because Logan left yesterday without waking Hannah to say goodbye, and I can't do the same thing. I have to explain it to her. I can't leave without saying goodbye."

"Come again?"

"Luke will be at the condo at seven. He'll take Hannah to Stars Hollow to stay until Logan and I get back."

"Logan told you he didn't want –"

"I don't care what he told me."

"He's trying to protect –"

"I. Don't. Care. He's grieving, he's confused and he's not thinking straight. His intentions are pure as the driven snow. I get it – but he's wrong."

"Rory –"

"Finn. I'm going with you. Delay takeoff."

"Fine, but if he bites your head off or you're eaten alive by disapproving mourners who would love nothing more than to tar and feather you as a way to honour the dead, I would like the record to show that I cautioned you against it."

"Fine."

When Luke arrived to pick up Hannah, both mother and daughter were packed and ready to go. Hannah was almost excited that Rory was going.

"I'll miss you, but I'm glad you're going to take care of Daddy so he won't be alone," she said as Rory helped her get he shoes on. Luke was standing by the door holding Hannah's small pink suitcase.

"Me too, sweetie," Rory smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

"Be a good girl for Poppa and Gamma, okay? And don't let Poppa feed you too many vegetables!"

"You know, that's not actually what parents are supposed to say, right?" Luke asked sarcastically.

"I said too many, not none, Luke," Rory laughed, "give me some credit."

"Not much."

"Hey – thanks for doing this."

"Of course," Luke said, waving a hand dismissively. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea, though?"

"Doesn't matter. It's where I need to be."

"Fair enough. Oh, is there a nice outfit packed for Hannah?"

"Why?"

"Because Jess and Kathleen are having their pre-wedding dinner tomorrow night in Brooklyn and we all said we'd go –"

"Oh no," Rory said quietly, feeling awful, "I completely forgot."

"Lorelai and I can take her, it's no big deal," he assured her. "Jess and Kathleen will understand."

"Let me grab a dress for her, okay? Two seconds. And I'll call Jess as soon as I land and tell him what's going on."

"We can tell him."

"No, I should explain it to him myself. Two seconds, Luke. I'll be right back."

"Mom, can I wear my –"

"No Hannah. You have to save your flower girl dress for the wedding."

"Please?" Hannah begged.

"Flower girl dresses are for weddings, not for dinners a month before the wedding. Which dress do you want? Yellow, pink or red?"

Hannah considered her options.

"Quickly, sweetie. Uncle Finn is waiting for me."

"Red with silver stars please!"

Rory reappeared a moment later with the dress, a pair of tights and a pair of black mary jane shoes.

With one more hug and kiss for Hannah, she shut the door behind Luke and did one final check of her own suitcase, making sure she had everything she needed. It was early, but she decided to try calling Jess before running out the door, no doubt to find Finn and Colin scowling like children for keeping them waiting.

"Hey Rory!"

"Kathleen? Did I dial your number by mistake?"

"No. I'm having breakfast and Jess hopped in the shower before he heads to Truncheon. I saw it was you, so I picked up. Can I give Jess a message for you?"

"No," Rory sighed.

Kathleen heard her exasperation. "Is everything okay?"

"No. I'm just in a rush, and I need to talk to Jess."

"He's going to be in a hurry when he gets out of the shower, but I can have him call you as soon as he gets to the office –"

"No. I'm getting on a plane soon. I'll call him later."

"Where are you going? Are you sure I can't tell Jess why you called? I mean, are Hannah and Logan –"

"I don't have time to answer all your questions!" Rory snapped.

"I'm sorry, I –"

"Look, Kathleen, I get that you're trying to help. But If I wanted to talk to you, I'd have called you. I don't have time to explain myself to you. Hannah will be there tomorrow. I won't. Neither will Logan. Tell Jess I'll call him tonight."

"Okay," Kathleen said quietly. "Travel safe."

"Yeah. Thanks." She sighed as she disconnected the call, shoving her phone into her purse angrily. "Don't start," Rory said to Colin and Finn when she got in the car and saw how they were looking at her, "let's just go."

"Excuse me, Mr. Huntzberger," Shira's butler said quietly, "so sorry to disturb, sir."

"What is it?" Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and downing the rest of his scotch.

"You have company, sir."

"It must be Colin and Finn, they were flying in today. Tell them see them at the service tomorrow."

"It's a young lady. She insisted that I not disturb your mother or your sister, but instead to come straight to you –she says she knows you'll be upset, but she hardly thinks you'll turn her away when she's come so far."

"What are you talking about? Who the hell is out there?"

"A miss Rory Gilmore."

Logan chuckled dryly. "You should check your eyesight and your hearing old man. Rory's not here. I specifically told her not to –"

"I know what you told me," Rory said calmly, walking into the study, "I didn't listen."

Logan blinked hard and looked at his mother's butler sternly. "Leave." He snapped his attention back to Rory, clenching his jaw. "What are you doing here? I thought I made myself clear. We agreed that –"

"I know," Rory took a deep breath and closed the door to the study before walking towards Logan and taking his hand. "But you're wrong, Logan. I love you, and your heart is in the right place, but you're wrong. I know you're worried about your family, and your parents' friends and what they might say to me, but I can handle it. Do you know what Hannah asked me yesterday?"

Logan's eyes stung at the sound of his daughter's name. "She's mad, right? Because I didn't say goodbye? Because I left without telling her?"

"No," Rory whispered, reaching up to stroke his hair, "she figured the only explanation for why you would leave without telling her is that you were too sad to."

"What did you tell her?"

"I said she was right. And that I had to come be with you so that you wouldn't be so sad. She practically pushed me out the door."

"Where is she?"

"With my mom and Luke."

"What did you tell her? About why –"

"I didn't. We won't be able to get away with that for much longer, but she didn't care why, she didn't even really ask why."

"Rory, I have no idea what my father's been saying about me, or you for the last six years…"

"It doesn't matter. Let the vultures circle, I don't care."

"Of course it matters. I can't just stand by tomorrow if they feel like coming for you."

"Yes, you can. The only thing neither of us will let them do is say anything bad about our little girl."

"You're really going to let them walk all over you, and whisper about you and point at you and judge you?"

"Yup. Because they don't matter. If they want to talk about me, pass judgement – let them. I didn't come here because I'm looking for approval. I came here for you."

"Ace…" Logan said quietly, his voice cracking. "He – he was an ass. And I don't regret walking away. I never even thought we would magically make nice one day. But I…"

"He was your father. And you miss him."

"Yeah. Is that – am I insane?"

"You're human, Logan," Rory breathed, "you're human."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not listening to me," Logan laughed bitterly, a sob finally escaping him.

A long day of travel, combined with her lack of sleep the night before, should have meant that Rory would've fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. But after making awkward small talk with Shira and not being able to get a read on her, this added to Rory being wired – sleep was out of the question. She was jealous of Logan's snores as he lay next to her. Maybe I should've had some of that scotch, she thought to herself.

Suddenly she remembered that she had to talk to Jess; she felt her cheeks flame when she recalled how she'd spoken to Kathleen. It was after midnight, which mean that it was around seven in Connecticut and Brooklyn. Swallowing hard, she crept out of bed and unplugged her phone before sneaking into the bathroom and dialing Jess' number.

"What the hell is your problem?" Jess snapped, without even saying hello.

"Jess, I can explain," Rory sighed.

"I'm listening."

"Mitchum died. Logan told me not to come to London, but I –"

"I know."

"What? How?"

"Luke told me. So, before you use that as an excuse, I'll ask again. What the hell is your problem?"

"I wasn't expecting Kathleen to answer your phone. She started asking all these questions, and I had to get to the airport, and I –"

"You snapped at her for no goddamn reason. There is absolutely no reason why you couldn't tell her that Logan's father died and you were rushing to the airport to go to London and be with him. I know the three of us are bonded by an extremely weird series of events, but do I really have to remind you that Kathleen knows all this? Logan's asshole of a father dying is not privileged information. The three of us aren't part of a super-secret club, Rory. You can't just refuse to tell her anything that has to do with you and Logan because I might 'understand' the situation better than she does. I don't expect you two to be best friends. I know that you're friends with her through me and you don't know her very well, in comparison – but get over it. I'm marrying her, so learn how to be civil if she does something harmless like pick up my phone when she sees you call and she's just trying to be helpful."

"I'm sorry," Rory whispered, feeling a shameful lump rise in her throat. "Jess, I really didn't mean to –"

"I know," Jess grumbled. "So does Kathleen; I explained everything as soon as Luke told me. I'm going to let this go on account of everything… else that you're dealing with. But I mean it, Rory. If anything other than the stress of this situation contributed to how you spoke to her this morning, get over it. I won't let you continue using her as a punching bag if you're going through shit that you'd rather talk to me about."

"Jess, I promise – it's not like that. Please tell her how sorry I am."

"I will. But you should also tell her that yourself."

"I will," Rory promised, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Don't… don't cry. You've got bigger problems than snapping at my fiancé."

"I'm sorry we're going to miss your dinner."

"Don't worry about it. Give Logan our condolences. Call us when you're back."

"I will," Rory said.

"Ace," Logan whispered groggily on the other side of the door, "who the hell are you talking to at this hour?"

"Go," Jess said, hanging up.

"No one," Rory answered, opening the door and kissing Logan's cheek. "Let's go back to sleep."

Mitchum's funeral went about as well as such things go. Rory hung back as much as possible after the service, electing not to schmooze much; no one said much of anything to her, but the way people stared and whispered made it clear that Mitchum had said something to most of his and Shira's friends about her role in Logan's life. She only came forward to stand next to Logan on the few occasions where she noticed he was having a particularly hard time keeping his composure – she was at his side in a split second whenever it looked like he needed it, suddenly taking over the conversation and diverting everyone's questions from him and taking them on herself. The first time she diverted the barrage of questions this way, she was afraid she'd overstepped, and that Logan would be mad – but, on the contrary, he looked utterly relieved. So this is what Rory continued to do – all day long.

"It takes a strong woman to do what you've been doing for as long as you've been doing it today," Honour chuckled as the crowds of mourners were getting thin and the house finally started to clear out.

"It's the least I can do," Rory shrugged. "It's like I said to Logan – I don't really care what anyone else has to say to me or about me, or how they might judge me because I'm here for him, not them."

"And I'm glad you didn't listen to him when he told you to stay in Connecticut, he really did need you here. And not just to divert the attention of a few of my parents' nosey and judgemental friends."

"I know. Once I made up my mind that I was coming, I didn't even think twice. And Logan was mad when I showed up last night – for about thirty seconds. I don't know if I've had a chance to tell you specifically, but I really am sorry for your loss."

"I know. Thanks, Rory. Really," Honour smiled, her chin quivering slightly.

"Rory, may I speak to you in private, dear?" Shira asked, coming up to Rory and stopping in front of the couch she was sitting on with Honour.

The term of endearment caught Rory off-guard, but she knew not to read much into it.

"I'll only take a few minutes of your time, I promise – and don't worry, I won't bite," she teased. "All that vitriol and bad blood was Mitchum's doing, not mine."

Rory looked at Honour, who gave a nod, seemingly to indicate her mother's sincerity.

The two women went into the study – the same room she found Logan in when she arrived the night before.

"Mrs. Huntzberger…" Rory started to say.

"Oh, call me Shira, please."

Rory was, once again, caught off-guard. "Okay… Shira – I was only going to say I'm so sorry for your loss. I know me being here must be a shock, but –"

"Thank you. Seeing you here is not as much of a shock as you might think. Hard as it might be to believe, I was glad you decided to come."

"You are?" Rory was utterly shocked.

"Yes – that's why I wanted to speak with you. I'm so sorry for everything my husband put you through these last six years. While yes, the circumstances of your reconciliation with Logan may have some – unsavoury elements- and though you may find this incredibly hard to believe, it was never my intention to completely disown my son. As I'm sure you know better than most, my husband could be quite a bully. I know we can't go back and erase the past – but I would like to… to move forward. I know this will take time, but eventually, I'd like to get to know my granddaughter," Shira said, sadness evident in her tone. And with that, she stood up, offered Rory a gentle, almost friendly smile, and left.

Two days after returning from London, Rory called Jess to give him a heads up that she'd be coming to Brooklyn that weekend.

Kathleen answered the door. "I'm so sorry about Logan's father, Rory," she said gently.

"Thanks. He appreciates it –we both do. I'm sorry too…" Rory said genuinely, feeling her cheeks blush in shame.

"I really appreciate that, Rory. Thank you. I was only trying to... you called so early in the morning, so I assumed something was going on. That's why I answered his phone; I just wanted to make sure he got your message quickly."

"I know."

Kathleen smiled. "Do you want to come in and say hi to Jess?"

"Actually, no. I came to ask you if you want to get a coffee and hang out for a bit."

"I'd love that," Kathleen grinned.