AN: I own nothing.

It was odd waking up in her childhood room. It had been years since she had been back on a 'permanent' basis. She was happy. When she had been with Logan, she hadn't realized how stifled she had been. It was a great feeling to wake up and have the whole day ahead of her, as if it was a blank slate waiting for her.

The first thing she did was confirm the interviews she had lined up for the next week. She would be traveling to the NY Times offices, as well as a paper in Hartford, and the Boston Herald. She wasn't sure what would come of the interviews, but she was excited.

After she had taken care of business, Rory decided to head to over to the Black, White, and Read bookstore to pick up her husband's latest book. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about for herself. She took her new book over to Luke's, set herself up in the corner, and settled in.

Rory was interrupted multiple times by nosy neighbors and busybodies, asking how she was, if she was still engaged, and what she had been doing with the sexy author. She tried to field the questions with grace and poise. It wasn't entirely clear if she succeeded, but finally she was left in peace with her book and coffee.

All of a sudden during the afternoon lull, the diner door slammed open, banging against the frame. She looked up, startled. There was Logan, looking righteously pissed off. He stalked toward her table.

"Rory, where have you been? You came to the apartment like a thief in the night, took your shit and left without a word. Is that all our relationship meant to you. You can't even talk to me like an adult?" Logan was fuming.

"What is left to talk about, Logan? I told you how I felt. I told you it was over, and I told you I was moving out. There is nothing to be surprised about." Rory put her book down with a sigh, "We were no good together. We never brought out the best in each other. Let's cut our losses and move on."

Logan zeroed in on the book she was reading. "I can't believe you spent a single penny on that crap. He is a no good grifter. He probably wanted to use you to somehow get at my family. What can you possibly offer him?"

Rory was seeing red. "Get out! Get out! I never want to see you again. If you come near me or my husband again you will regret it." She was shouting so loud that everyone in the diner was staring, as well as some people in the street.

"You married him?" Logan spat the words with utter disgust. "You are going to regret ever going against me or my family. I'm glad I found out that you were trash before I married you."

Before Logan could say another word, Luke had him by the collar of his shirt. He threw him out onto the sidewalk. "Get out, and stay out, Logan. If you ever set foot in my diner again the cops will be here so fast your head will be spinning."

Luke walked to where Rory was sitting. "Are you ok?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, I will be. Can I go up to the apartment? I don't want to risk heading home right now."

"Of course. Do you want me to call your mom?" he asked.

"No, it's fine, I'm sure she will hear about this soon enough…"

Rory tore up the stairs and pulled out her cell phone. She didn't have Jess's schedule on her, but she was fairly certain that he wasn't busy until later.

He picked up almost immediately. "Would you believe I was just thinking about calling you? I wasn't sure if it would make me seem too desperate to be the only one reaching out." She could hear the teasing tone in his voice.

"Don't worry Jess, you don't seem too desperate, yet… I wish I was calling just to chat, but unfortunately I have some bad news. Logan was just here in Stars Hollow. He lost his shit when he realized I had already moved out. I also may have accidentally let it slip that we had gotten married. Let's just say that information did not go over well..."

Jess was silent, after a moment he responded. "I have a meeting tonight with my publisher and my business partners at Truncheon Books. Let me talk to them and see what they think the best course of action is. I know we were going to take things slow, but we might need to get ahead of this before Logan can spin the story."

As he was talking, Rory had sat down at the ancient computer Luke kept in the office and logged into her email. She gasped in shock as she realized that Logan had worked faster than either of them had anticipated.

"Jess, I had three job interviews this week. Two have been canceled due to 'more qualified candidates being identified'. This reeks of Logan! The only interview I have left is with the NY Times! If that doesn't pan out I am in serious trouble. What will I do? All I have ever wanted was to be a journalist. What if he knows someone at the Times?"

Rory suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. "What am I going to do? I can't stay in Stars Hollow forever. I don't want to work at the local paper. They have a freakin poem they put on the front page in lieu of news. Why is he ruining my life?"

"Rory, don't worry, we will figure this out. I'm sure you will be able to find a job. Logan is being an ass hat because you embarrassed him in front of the world. I'm sorry he is taking it out on you this way." Jess tried to encourage her.

"Are you ok? Do you need me to call your mom or someone else to be with you?" He cursed the fact that he was so far away. He also wished they had spent a little more time together before everything went to hell in a hand basket.

"No. I'll be fine. Everything happened in my step dad's diner. I'm sure the town has alerted my mother and she will be bursting in any moment. Will you call me tonight after your big fancy dinner?"

"Rory, it will probably be very late there by the time we are done," he replied.

"please call," she said in a small voice.

"Of course," he replied. It was already obvious that he was powerless when it came to Rory.