In this cool morning that promised to be nothing but, Rory had had reason to dress up again, wanting to look presentable for house hunting. Now, dressed in a floral blouse and in a chiffon skirt - probably the last skirt that fit her out of her wardrobe, she observed the neighbourhood Hallam had brought them to, pondering whether she would like it on a daily basis. It was definitely clean, well manicured plantings near the surrounding houses, people walking their dogs, the street giving the impression it was clearly the 'old money' type of street - and mostly the older generation just by the look of the cars - classy but a safe - something like her grandfrather would've owned.

To Rory's surprise, while Logan had liked the idea of a new-built townhouse, he'd been very realistic about their space requirements which meant that he was rather leaning towards the 40 ft wide Upper West Side townhouse. It was a little pricier, and to meet Rory's taste, it definitely needed some simplifying in it's interior, meaning there was no way it was move-in ready for them. Logan was known for his ability to 'make a call' but there were even limits to his influence when it came to getting a construction crew and decorators to work and finish a place in just a matter of weeks during the summer.

Olivia had just finished giving them a tour, and the place definitely had some openness and airiness to it, that neither could deny, was enjoyable compared to the narrower townhouses.

"Would you like some moments to wander and discuss on your own?" Olivia asked. She had helped them find their current place, and Finn worked with her as well, her auburn curls doign most of the explaining there. But they'd gotten to know her quite well for a realtor and she was the kind that wasn't too pushy, giving them the time and space within reason to make their choises, which they had liked.

"Sure, thank you," Logan replied.

Rory landed on one of the couches in the living room, just needing to get off her feet for a moment. House hunting was hard work, and they weren't even done with the first one.

"You have to admit, this is pretty nice?" Logan began, adding, "I know it's not move in ready…but neither is it the other place and I can say that even without having been there yet," as he paced around the double-height sitting room.

"Logan," she began picking her words. "I get it - the width, the height - the number and placement of rooms is kind of perfect - but all this," she said, gesturing around them at the overly feminine classical interior decor around them, "I don't know…," she added sceptically. She really loved how there were three really spacious bedrooms all on one floor, even a separate kids study for them to share, which was kind of cute. She also loved how it had two full size studies side-by-side on a separate floor. There was a spacious unit for the nanny and another for Gigi upstairs on the 4th floor along with a few spare guest rooms that left some room to play. The garden was spacious for the kids to play in and the place even had a garage.

"Well if there's going to be work done, does it really matter how long it takes - we don't need to move with two-month-olds - we can wait a year if that's what it takes. No real rush, right? So just try to picture this like a blank canvas - without the over the top cornices and ornaments," Logan said, determined to convince her.

Rory couldn't deny that this was the type of living standard Logan had grown up with - he liked things to be big, even in a city that fostered everything small.

"Okay, I hear you, but I still want to see that other place," she insisted. The Upper East Side had one major benefit that was great schools, and Rory wasn't oblivious to the fact.

The 12 minute ride through the lush Central Park passed quickly, Hallam taking it easy in a few curves, knowing how Rory disliked them in her condition.

Rory couldn't pretend she didn't feel a lot more at ease in this neighbourhood, the place not being too far from their current place. She liked that most houses on that street had some type of front yard greenery, the street had speed bumps even - to her that being an indicator of a safer street and most importantly, the place was just a few houses from Hudson River Greenway, Neufeld playground 5 and River Run playground 4 minute-walk away. She'd done her homework.

"This has a little bit of a Yale feel, don't you think," Rory commented as they stood at the front door of the Elizabethan Revival, Olivia looking for the right key.

"So this place is also wider than most - 22 ft," Olivia began to describe the place, but the two didn't fully pay attention knowing the listing almost by heart already. They each had their things they paid attention to - Rory insisting on a good study, preferably three bedrooms on one floor and a feel that was just simple - homey. She had taken it to her head that small kitchen renovation they'd have time for - even if it meant getting an IKEA kitchen - she didn't care about brands as long as everything functioned, and surely replacing appliances wasn't an issue. This place had very much a similar feel to Jess' and Celeste's place, which neither minded, but Rory could see from Logan's face it was a little out of his comfort zone with its simplicity.

"I mean you can have you fancy tech and spruce it up with some art, fancier furniture, if you'd like," Rory suggested, studying his unimpressed body language.

"You think I think I feel I'm too good for this?" he huffed, feeling a little amused, as Olivia had headed off to the next room.

"Hey, all I'm saying, if Celeste can adjust…," she implied smilingly.

"Yeah, but…," he began, but Rory already walked after Olivia to the dining room. He didn't quite grasp why he would need to or want to, if he didn't have to, settle for less than he could afford.

"Ah..," Logan pointed at the outdated kitchen as if having proven a point. Sure the kitchen had once been top of the line, the marble countertops still being a good indicator of it but this was clearly from the 80s.

"Yeah, but kitchen cabinets are installed in a day, it doesn't take weeks of drilling or demolishing," Rory explained, having learned a thing or two from Celeste's renovation where Luke and Jess had done most of the work themselves.

They viewed the living room next, Logan being almost on board with that particular setup - the width of the room definitely showed here, the windows were large, giving the room also an airy feel, but here too he felt like the beige tonality was a little old-fashioned and dull.

"Okay, the second floor is as far up as I walk these days," Rory admitted, and pushed the elevator button.

It was the kind of elevator that you needed to wait before opening the safety door until the light turned on, and it really wasn't the fast kind. It was perhaps a little newer than a century, but it smelled and sounded old by the occasional clinks and thumps.

Rory and Logan barely fit in it together, considering Rory's bump and Olivia headed ahead by the stairs. Rory pushed the fifth floor button, figuring it'd be easier to walk downwards floor by floor. It was as the elevator dial indicated that they'd arrived to the correct floor, they noted that something was clearly off - they were stuck midway between the fourth and fifth floor. Rory was hit by a momentary panic, and Logan while concerned, kept his cool, just observing her reaction.

"Let's just try this once more, I've been in these before," Logan said calmly and pushed the fifth floor button once more. Nothing happened. Maybe it was the stress of the moment, but right then and there she felt a contraction - hoping it was a false contraction, like a few days ago, she tried to not show it - but Logan knew her better than that. It was one thing to prove a point, quite another to endanger lives.

Logan then pushed the fourth floor button, and thankfully the elevator moved, settling appropriately at the right level.

He observed Rory breathe heavily, clearly having panicked more than she'd tried to show, as they emerged.

"Everything okay?" he asked simply, stroking her back.

"Hm-hm," Rory sighed as the contraction passed. "I could use some water though," she added as she leaned against the railing. She knew false contractions sometimes were a sign for needing hydration.

Olivia came down the stairs inquiring with concern what had happened and Rory gave her the gist. Naturally the agent was utterly apologetic, adding that surely the price could be negotiated if it became a deal breaker. But Rory knew that an elevator change was a lot more work than kitchen cabinets.

Logan soon returned with a bottle of water from the car, and they briefly toured the rest of the place. And while otherwise Rory loved it - even the separate apartment with a loft sleeping area, which she thought would be perfect for Gigi. It still left some questions what to do with one of the spare apartments - she doubted they'd begin renting the place like it was probably meant to. But either way - the elevator incident hadn't exactly been reassuring.

Rory was thankful that Logan didn't gloat - she understood that there was a lot of work to be done, even if they didn't look at the rooms themselves, so again - this wasn't perfect - and it left Rory a little disappointed, having been hoping to get settled in the new place before the twins were born. Now this was beginning to seem more and more unlikely.

Rory and Logan were over at Celeste's and Jess' that evening, deciding to have dinner and allow the kids to play together. The week had been crazy with Owen visiting, the babyshower and houseshopping as it was, and while Rory still insisted on going to places and doing things instead of sitting at home, as if afraid to never leave once she did stay put, here they were - the closest place that felt homey.

Celeste had insisted on cooking, some sort of a tomato tart and warm turkey salad, while Logan was watching the kids, who for some reason, most likely because of the new puzzles Evie had recently received had preferred to play indoors. Not wanting to tore them away from their preferred game for the time being, Logan now sat on their living room floor, watching the kids share the toys surprisingly calm headedly. Logan kept picturing what it'd be like to have two more kids - would he be able to handle it at all? It all seemed nice in theory, he felt proud already, but reality was that he was a little scared as well - and this he hadn't truly dared to admit to Rory, knowing how unsure she'd been in the beginning of the life change ahead.

"Nervous?" Celeste asked Logan as if reading his mind, having just put the food in the oven. She glanced out the window, seeing Jess and Rory taking outside under the pergola, not wanting to go disrupt whatever they were talking about while leaving Logan inside alone with the kids.

"About the twins?" he asked.

Celeste nodded.

"I guess," he sighed.

Celeste knew all about the pre-delivery nerves - her own pregnancy had taken a nasty turn needing intervention to save her and Evie.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," she assured. There was never anything certain about labor and delivery.

Sometimes it was easy to forget how close they'd once been - they'd been best friends before Rory had reappeared in his life, they'd lived together, on more than one occasion, they'd been each-others trustees, the ones to not ask questions if either needed an outlet. Now - things were very different - each with their own family, yet somehow unable to really shake the memory of their former friendship. Mostly now it was in the form of guilt from either side - to Logan because of not having paid enough attention when Celeste had not been doing that great, struggling with her depression, and Celeste - not being there for Logan when he'd lost his mother - after all Celeste knew all about difficult relationships with parents and understood him probably even better when it came to that than Rory, and even Rory knew it. But they'd both had their reasons, and they didn't really hold it against each-other.

"Any luck finding the house yet?" she asked, seeing Logan a little thoughtful

"We saw a few places, but they need a lot of work, so for now I think we'll look some more, and if we don't find it we just wait..," he replied, having had a lengthy discussion with Rory about it the night before. It might have been Rory's hormones or her own nerves about what was to come, but somehow she seemed insisting on having control of what she could, that including getting some sort of it being the 'right place'. So far there hadn't been that.

"We've been thinking about moving too," Celeste admitted.

"Where to?" Logan inquired. He knew Jess had wanted a change of pace when it came to his work, but he hadn't truly known that it would involve a move.

"Well we're still discussing this, but I think I'd want to try Stars Hollow. Not necessarily permanently, but I think I need to feel what that would be like. I feel like here I am running up against some wall, you know?" she explained. "My therapist agrees that maybe a place with a slower pace and more welcoming people might help me," she added. Sure, her meds were working, the therapy was working and things were really good with Jess - but professionally and when it came to the community - just nothing seemed to work for her in New York. It wasn't just other people, but she too found people difficult to trust here.

"Wow, never would have imagined that from the person I used to party with all night long at the Chez Castel," Logan chuckled, recalling their Parisian adventures.

"Well I could say the same for the guy who's having twins who used to begin planning for the weekend before the last weekend was through," Celeste noted, cleverly.

"Do you think I'd be crazy to do it? I mean you have some more experience with the place, what do you think?" she inquired further.

"It has its quirks, for sure. But I mean it's a nice small town - that place basically raised Rory like it's own child - she turned out well, didn't she? It can be a little sheltering too, I suppose, but I think if anyone deserves a place to feel safe and protected in - it's you," Logan said.

"That's sweet," she replied, appreciating his words.

"And it's not like you'll have to stay there forever. I'd say you're free to try. Try new things - you can always move back. You could probably even keep this place for back-up for some time," Logan suggested, thinking practically, knowing how the prices had gone up in the last few years in the neighbourhood.

"I'm not really sure I could keep this place actually - we already chipped into Evie's trust fund to get this," Celeste noted, suddenly being reminded by how much she'd lost in the process of distancing herself from her family. Before her and Logan had felt like equals - one of the reasons their pretence had been so perfect, nobody had doubted their motives.

"Oh," Logan reacted. "Sorry, if that sounded presumptuous," he corrected.

"No, it's fine," Celeste replied.

"You could rent this out, or rent something there - the rents can't possibly be very high over there?" Logan pondered. "Or… if it's a good investment, maybe I could help out," he suggested.

"Logan, thank you. But we'll see. You've helped me so much already, I don't think I could…," she sighed. It was almost too easy with Logan - he was generous when it came to close friends and that was a part of him she'd liked when she'd first gotten to know him. He had a heart. He was smart about money, but he more often than not found some way to help out if he knew his friends needed it - whether that was in the form of investments or simply moving some funds around - that's what he did.

"Listen, Logan," she began a few minutes later, after having observed the toddlers play for a bit, "are you really okay with your mom's passing?" she asked, adding, "Rory's unsure, she doesn't really feel like she understands that whole thing… so I'm asking instead."

"Huh," Logan reacted. It occasionally seemed to him that Rory was more than comfortable discussing everything and anything with him - in bed, out of bed, a toothbrush in her mouth - you name it - hence it came as a bit of a surprise that there were still things that Rory didn't dare to poke.

"Well… Sure, it's sad but I'm not devastated - sure, she was my mother. It was a loss, but everything nice about her was in the form of a memory anyways. I don't miss the person she'd become. I'm good, really," he assured.

"Good," she sighed, hugging Logan as they sat on the couch side by side. "If you ever want to talk..," she offered.

"Likewise," he replied, adding, "but you better go check on the food," noting a slight scent of burning.

She jolted up from her seat and skipped over to the kitchen, sighing with relief: "Ugh - just in time."

At the same time Rory was outside talking to Jess, Rory's legs propped up on the outdoor couch, taking her preferred 'beached whale' position as she liked to call it jokingly.

"Would you think I'd be completely insane if I said that I might be considering moving to Stars Hollow?" Jess asked after they'd discussed his new book for a while, Rory having become almost his second editor in the last few weeks.

Rory nearly choked on her sparkling apple mocktail.

"Did I just hear correctly that you said, that you're considering moving to Stars Hollow?" she asked, not believing her ears.

Jess simply gestured towards the house, well, more to the person inside, and Rory really didn't need much more clarification.

"You're adorable, you know that," Rory replied, realizing that largely he was considering doing this for Celeste.

"I'm incredibly conflicted in this - I seriously hated the place. I mean there are so many nutty things in that place - some of the people, the events, odd opening hours - you name it. That school still gives me chills. I can't stand the sound of Taylor and I have an instinct to hide," he began to list.

"That's a good instinct," Rory replied laughingly.

Jess smirked back at her.

"But seriously - not everything is the same, I'm sure you know it. Taylor hardly has the energy these days to be full-on-crazy, even the town meetings are no longer obligatory, the town is a lot better connected, there are a lot more people who're commuting to Hartford. It's not so closed off anymore," Rory discussed. "And surely you see some other benefits besides making her happy?" she suggested. Briefly she considered whether what she was being supportive of would actually mean to her - she didn't want to have her friends moving 120 miles away, did she? But she knew herself, that there were times in life, when a change of place was vital - for her it had been Maine and later New York.

"It's a great place to grow up, when you're a child," he replied modestly, gesturing with his hand as if Rory should know.

"Can't argue with that," Rory replied recalling all the ways she'd been cared for - from free ice cream to participating in all the plays and carnivals. It had definitely been a fun childhood.

"And I mean, it's a cheap, theoretically nice and calm place to write - if I can't see or hear Taylor," he commented with a chuckle.

"Honestly, I'd hate to see you guys move," Rory admitted. "I know that I'll be swamped and pretty much disappear off the face of the earth pretty soon, but I'd miss you guys terribly, Finny would miss Evie," she sighed, knowing that she had no right to ask them to stay. But thankfully Jess knew what she meant.

"Maybe it'd be just for a while, or maybe we'll find some way to keep the place we have now and come back often to visit," he shrugged. He didn't have anything figured out yet, but more and more, he felt like he needed to try - and if ever then now when Evie was little, when she wasn't tied to a school, now when he himself had the freedom to work anywhere.

"You know, I think Dwight's place is for sale," Rory added, trying to push her selfishness aside.

"The one with the tricky sprinklers?" Jess asked, raising his eyebrows at her as if asking if she was serious.

"The very same, Dwight is getting married and moving, mom told me," Rory elaborated.

Jess couldn't help but to chuckle, shaking his head. It would've been an utterly odd course of events if he'd end up in that house. On the positive note, it was just across the way form Luke's and Lorelai's which would be very handy with Evie if they wanted them to babysit.

It was then Celeste emerged from the house, carrying the food to the table, Celeste adding, "Jess, can you go help Logan with the kids? It'll take some convincing to get them to the table."

Jess rose, giving Celeste a quick kiss in passing, making her smile at the butterflies she felt, and headed indoors.