AN: First off, I am SO unbelievably sorry for the delay in updating! With everything going on in the world, my free time has not been my own. I was sick for a few weeks, was finishing up graduate school, and trying to learn how to work in the new normal. Real life stinks sometimes.

A recap since it's been a minute, I'll refresh you on what story you're reading:

It's currently October 2004. We started our story in September 2003 and met freshman Rory and her best friend Finn. Our dear Logan H. has been Rory's boyfriend for six months (but his father thinks it's been nine months due to the "fake" girlfriend bit for a few months). Rory interned with Mitchum for a month (August 2004) and has agreed to be his 'Logan consultant' without his knowledge. We have an unknown character "Admirer/Secret Admirer/"Teddy" to Rory and Finn" harassing Rory. Our last interaction with "Teddy" was him photo-shopping pictures of Logan and Rory to break up the happy couple.

Chapter 16

Thursday, October 7th, 2004 – Sterling Law Building

"You actually want me to believe that you went on a date with Sarah Michelle Gellar while she was on a break from Freddy Prince Jr.?" Rory cocked an eyebrow at Collin as they waited for their class to start. She was seated on a bench flipping through her notebook as they asked each other random questions.

"Believe what you want Gilden, but just know I have friends in high places." He stood in front of her, pretending to hit his imaginary golf ball with his imaginary golf putter.

"Why do all boys do that?"

He gave her a curious look.

She waved her hands haphazardly at him, "Pretend to be golfing when they aren't golfing. Or just pretend in general, like that they went on dates with famous celebrities."

He shrugged, "No idea, but I do like to practice my golf swing to focus my thoughts. Helps me channel all the magic going on up here." He tapped a finger to his temple and smirked.

She smacked his leg with her notebook in response, "Gah! How does Steph stand you?"

"Naked normally." He shrugged as he took another smack to the leg, "So, you ready for your big day?"

Rory sighed, "I'm nervous! Steph won't tell me anything about Saturday. You don't want to help me out and give me a hint, do you?" She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

He raised his hands in surrender, "Oh no, you're not getting me with those. Preserving my own self-interest here. Steph might castrate me if I ruined her surprise."

Rory huffed, "I hate surprises!"

"What girl actually hates surprises?"

"Me! I'm nervous not knowing what's going to happen, I have to pack blind, I have to dress without knowing if it's too dressy or casual…"

"Girl…" Collin interrupted, "You have got to relax. In Omnia, remember?"

Rory raised her notebook to smack him one more time, but Collin jumped out of arms range. "You have got to quit abusing me like this. What would your mother think of you injuring her favorite attorney?" He faked another swing at his imaginary golf ball with a smirk as she scowled darkly at him. A drunk Lorelai had deemed Collin her favorite attorney and Collin wasn't letting Rory forget anytime soon.

"I hope you landed in the sandpit."

XXX

October 8th, 2004 – Rory's Apartment

"Sleeping Beauty…"

Rory hummed appreciatively as she felt a warm breath on her neck. Soft lips pepper her neck and cheek with kisses. She rolled over and those lips lingered on her face and took their time on her own lips. She opened her eyes slowly.

"There she is." Logan spoke softly but smiled widely and smoothed out Rory's hair from her face. She took a quick minute to stretch before dragging him down to lay beside her in bed.

"Happy Birthday Gorgeous. I brought you breakfast with coffee included. Are you going to class today?"

She sighed, "I'm going to be a good student and go. I'm freaking out about tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I'm sure Stephanie's planning this big party in the city with a million people and fire breathing acrobats hanging from the ceiling. I would much rather just have all my friends and family together for pizza and a movie."

"I mean, we can arrange that! I can arrange anything for you." He smiled widely down at her and ran a finger across her cheek.

Her grin was evil, "Anything huh? How about…space? I want to be an astronaut and float and look down at the Earth."

There was a split second of silence.

"Okay, maybe not ANYTHING!" Laugh ricocheted off the walls as they both enjoyed the silliness of the morning. "How about you and I do something special tonight?"

"Yes, please!"

XXX

"Can I take off the hood?"

Silence.

"What about now?"

Silence.

"Logan, are you alive?" Rory blindly started feeling around to see what she could figure out without words or noise. She felt the scratchy fabric of something heavy in her lap. To her left was more scratchy fabric, only on a person. She reached farther to feel soft short hair and something wet.

"Eww!" Whoever it was, she had put her finger in their mouth. Before she had time to say anything else, she was being pulled up and walking. 256 steps to be exact. Sit. Shoes come off. Stand up. Scratchy fabric on.

"Logannnnnn…" Her whine vibrated her whole body. She giggled thinking of what she must sound like.

As quickly as everything went silent, the hood and noise-cancelling headphones were being pulled off. Rory squinted against the light and tried to get her bearings. They were in a plane hangar and a jet the size of a small building was parked in front of them. The back was let down, but there wasn't a single person around. Rory slowly turned around to find a group of familiar faces.

"SURPRISE!"

Logan. Colin. Finn. Stephanie. Rosemary. Lorelai. Christopher. Honor. Josh. Francine. Juliet. Paris. Lane. Emily. Richard.

Rory's eyes started to get blurry and she couldn't even see the rest of the faces filling the hangar. Everyone was dressed in the same navy-blue jumpsuit with a light blue "G" logo. There was an awkward stand-off as Rory tried to figure out what was going on, but Francine started a stampede toward Rory. Warm arms were passing her around wishing her a happy birthday and how excited they were before another thought could pass her brain.

"My sweet cheeks! Twenty years old. When did I get so old?" Lorelai grinned cheekily.

Finn walked up and put an arm around each of the Lorelais, "You're a fine wine Lorelai. You just get better with age." The older woman shook her head while Rory elbowed him. "Happy Birthday Love! You ready to go to space?"

She turned to look at her best friend and noticed underneath the logo, in small letter, it said 'Zero G'.

"Wait…" Rory's mouth fell open and looked from Finn to the plane and back, "Did you guys….?"

Finn nodded subtly to Logan who was standing off from the crowd, wearing a soft grin as he watched Rory surrounded by her friends and family.

She broke away to walk to the blonde, "Logan, I have no words."

"I told you, I would do anything for you. Even find a way to take you to space. Or as close as I can get you to space without years of training and government intervention."

She eyed the plane with new wonder, "So what exactly is it?"

"It's Zero-G, an anti-gravity flight. They are basically going to fly us straight up into the air to the point where we get to float like there's no gravity at all."

She felt like a five-year-old, twinkling eyes and jumping up and down, "Oh! My! Gosh! This is the COOLEST thing anyone has ever done for me. Can we go? Can we go right now?!"

"Anything the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets!" He whistled sharply and suddenly crew started fluttering around and setting up an orientation.

Orientation, loading up the plane, signing waivers was all a blur. Rory blinked and she was laying flat in a wide, white padded area as the plane climbed thousands of feet into the air. All she can hear is the whir of the engines and the chatter of everyone around her. Logan grabs her hand just as the pilot yells out, "Zero-gravity coming up!"

Weightless. That was the only word Rory could think as she literally soared through the air like she was a feather in the wind. She smiled widely as she starts swimming (against the rather loud protests of the moderator; apparently, that's a no-no they talked about during orientation) towards her mother. They latch onto each other and spin in a circle before gravity starts to hit and they lay down.

A few minutes later, she's swimming back towards Logan. He grins widely and tugs on her hair that's fanned out all around her, "You're kinda cute like this; it's like a beauty queen put her finger in a light socket."

She smacks him and they tumble in circles through the air. She squeals and grabs hold of him to have some semblance of control.

He pulls her around, "I love you, do you know that?"

Air AND gravity are missing in this moment. Her eyes are wide and her tear drops actually start to flow into the air, "Oh thank god."

He has a puzzled look, "Wait, what?"

She's about to start on this long-winded speech when she stops herself, "Thank God you love me too."

His smile breaks his face as he kisses her.

AN #2: Chapter 17 is ready and I will post tomorrow!