Note: I can't believe I am closing in on the end of Season 5, I predict I will have about 5ish more chapters before moving on to Season 6. I am going to keep everything in this one story, and will move to a new one once the OS is through. Anyways... enjoy! Logan's thoughts and perspective are in italics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls.

Part 046

Season 5

Episode 22

Title: Blame the Booze and the

Logan checks in with Rory in the morning about her plan for the evening. Between her internship, weekly grandparent dinner, and engagement party he isn't convinced that she can juggle all three obligations in one evening, but she is positive that she will figure it out. He is desperately hoping she can make it, but with the yacht leaving the dock at 8pm, he isn't too sure that she can swing it.

Rory calls Logan and lets him know her plans for the evening at that point. She plans to get to her grandparents early if she can, and leave after drinks. The only issue will be it if she is stuck in Stamford late, then she might have to forgo the evening entirely. It's all still up in the air, but she promises him that he will see her at some point, even if it's after they return to the harbor.

He can't understand why she would ever need to stay late, he gets that she is trying to make a good impression, and he gets that Mitchum has an expectation that dedicated people work late. But, Mitchum actually needs to attend this event, therefore she should be able to leave early, if solely based on the fact that the boss knows exactly where she is going, and is actually going there too. Of course, he has no intention or pointing any of this out to her. Reminding her that she is going to be seeing the boss after hours would probably throw her into a tizzy, feeling like she was somehow getting ahead because she knows the boss. He would bet anything that she would somehow conclude that attending the party on his yacht led the whole thing into some form of nepotism, which in theory she was against. Of course, Logan's whole life, and the dynastic plan set in front of him is based on nepotism, so he wasn't about to crack open that can of worms, not now, maybe not ever.

The only silver lining about the party being Honors, is her friends, and that Logan seems to think the party might go late into the evening. Knowing his sister's friends, and how much they love booze, he can imagine an after party that Rory can join him at in a worse case scenario. Of course, he would hate to have her waiting for him at the dock for the yacht to return, but of course he also doesn't want to not get on the yacht and wait for her, especially if she finds herself at her grandparents house, if she ends up missing the departure there really is no reason to rush through dinner to make it back down to Bridgport.

Of course, there are some negatives about Honor's friends too, especially when they are around an open bar like they will be that evening. Honor's friends have always shown an interest in Logan, ever since he came back from boarding school and wasn't the same pre-pubescent boy that they had recalled when they last saw him. He has made a point not to let any girl he was with think there was something more than there ever was, and Honor's friends are no exceptions. Honor doesn't approve of his extracurricular activities with her friends, but she is mostly mad at them, because she just can't wrap her head around why anyone would want to be with her brother. For this evening though, he can make sure that everyone knows he has a girlfriend, and hopefully it won't become a problem. Except maybe with the ones who simply can't take no for an answer.

I really want Rory to come to the party, and I already asked her to blow off her dinner with her grandparents. I don't want to push it and make her feel bad. She knows I want her there, there isn't really much more that I can say,

XXX

Logan gets to the engagement party and starts mingling with guests while he waits for a call from Rory. Both fortunately and unfortunately he knows quite a few of the guests that evening. Most of them are friends of Honors, a lot of them are family members, and another portion of them are acquaintances of the family (business associates of Mitchums, and ladies that sit on different charities with Shira) they either know one or both of his parents probably felt obligated to invite to the event.

There are a lot of obligations that come with being part of Hartford Society, and even more when you are a Huntzberger. He is sure there are people that have to be invited, regardless of whether or not his parents actually like the people. Logan ponders to himself whether or not the Gilmore's weren't on the short list for this event. They aren't really close friends, but his family went to their vow renewal, so it seems like they would make the list based on that alone. But it was Friday, and according to Rory, Friday's were sacred in the Gilmore household.

Logan put on a charming smile and made his way around the room, graciously thanking people for being there, and giving the equivalent of a stump speech about what he has been up to. It's always the same response: more than halfway through Yale, enjoying his time, but excited to graduate and dive head first into HPG. The reality is that he would rather dive head first into a kiddie pool, than actually jump into things with HPG while simultaneously putting up some fake enthusiastic facade. Logan has been bred to take over the family company, and knows all too well that there is only one door he has open to him, and come hell or high water, he is going through that damn door.

He checks the time on his watch for what is probably the hundredth time already, and glances down at his phone, which only displays the time without any missed calls. Rory had assured him that she would call him when she left the Gazette to give an update on her plans. He trusts that she will do that, and he hasn't seen his dad yet.

Logan continues to mingle with guests when Colin and Finn arrive with Colins dad and step mother. She looks young. Like not much older than us - young.

Colin and Finn are both dressed in tuxedos. They tell him that they have no intention of staying on that boat, "unless of course you can scout some willing lady friend of Honor's that might enjoy an evening of Finn."

Logan smiles and rolls his eyes. He is actually certain that there are plenty of willing single ladies there tonight. Some of which he most definitely hoped to avoid at all cost, until Rory made it and he can clearly establish that he is not interested..

"What's with the tuxes?" Logan inquires, it's definitely not that formal of an event.

"We thought that if we were only allowed to get behind the helm if we were hired for the evening, we thought dressing like hired help woud, you know, help." Colin reasoned, while staring off at his dad and newly minted step mother.

"Ha, I don't even think you're allowed to leave the dock, but if there's an after party I will definitely let you know. Do you have plans after this?"

"Yeah, something that Roberts is going to."

Ugh Robert, I wish I could forget that guy ever existed.

"You gotta get over the Robert thing mate."

"Excuse me?" Logan says, offended by the off handed accusation.

"He just means that you can't be annoyed with Robert for the rest of your life because he went to a party with Rory one time." Colin once again took the opportunity to translate the meaning behind the Australian man's statement.

"I think Robert is annoying because he does lots of annoying things, in addition to trying to date Rory when he knew that I was interested in her." I don't know how you guys could possibly like him as much as you.

"Well when do you think you can put it behind you?"

I guess I'm holding a grudge for no reason at this point. I got the girl, so I won, right? "I will put it behind me tomorrow. Let me just hate him for one more night."

"Sounds great!" Finn cheered with excitement.

"But I am not going to like him, I just won't hate him."

"We wouldn't expect anything more than that." Colin said with a subtle smile.

"But if he hits on Rory again, I'm going to have to hate him again." He tries to joke, even though it is definitely not a joke, and he secretly hopes that they make sure Robert knows this.

"Well I think as long as you are in an actual relationship, or you know, you vocalize you are interested at a bare minimum, most of the guys respect that."

I get it, this is my fault because I pretended I didn't want anything more than friends with benefits with Rory. "Okay, okay I get it."

Logan notices his mother across the room talking with some woman, he isn't sure who she is or the other person standing beside her, who he fears is her daughter, and some blatant setup attempt. He steps away from Colin and Finn to run interference, and starts spreading the word that he is not available.

XXX

Logan is chatting with one of Honor's friends and her husband. He is a little bored of the conversation that has now escalated to them showing Logan pictures of their toddler, who they describe as the cutest baby they have ever seen.

Logan starts to scan around the party, attempting to find another person to say hello to, someone he can use to excuse himself from the current conversation that he is wrapped in.

He continues to listen to Ben tell him about the pictures he is looking at, when he notices Rory slowly walking up the dock, approaching the yacht.

"Hey, you're here early!"

"I guess."

Logan checks his watch. Did time pass by faster than he noticed? I do feel like I have been sitting with these two for hours. "Way early, did you skip your dinner?" he shouts down to her.

"Come down here so I don't have to yell."

Logan excuses himself from the couple and thanks his lucky stars that he didn't need to make up an excuse, Rory has come to rescue him.

"So there she is."

"Who?"

"The boat. Calling them she is one of those fun nautical traditions." I am so happy you're here, I thought you were excited to see her, you don't seem very excited.

"Right. Something sexist in that, I'm sure."

"I'm sure." Logan can't tell if she is seriously offended or if she is just messing with him. Instead of questioning it he leans in for a soft kiss to properly greet her hello. "So how'd you get away?"

"I don't know, I just got away." she says solemnly.

"I'm glad."

"So who's she?" Rory asks, nodding toward the boat.

"Who?" I'm lost.

"The girl on the boat."

"Okay, I'm sorry, we were just calling the boat a she. I'm a little bit behind, but I'm catching up. She's a friend of my sisters." Why?

"Well, I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"You weren't interrupting anything." Are you okay?

"Looked like I was."

If you're thinking something was going on you're way off base. "I've known her forever."

"Well, I didn't mean to pull you away."

You didn't pull me away. "We were just talking, me, her, and her husband. If you want, I can have them pull out pictures of their two year old, Ben has them in his jacket pocket.

"Do you even want me here?"

Is that a serious question? "Ace, I invited you here."

"Right, on Friday night, when you knew I couldn't come."

You think it's on a Friday because that's the day I knew you couldn't make it? I asked you to ditch your grandparents and nearly begged you to come. "It's my sister's party, I didn't pick the night."

"Traffic sucked getting here."

I believe that, but it's not really my fault. "Sorry, but I can't do anything about the traffic either. Can we just, um…" Logan gestures up the dock and tries to guide her away from the boat by her elbow. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asks, more accusatory than he originally intended to.

"Nothing. I'm just in a weird mood."

Clearly. "I'll say."

"I'm sorry, can we just go somewhere else?"

You want to leave? "What?"

"Let's go somewhere else. I don't really feel like being around people."

Ace, you know I will go anywhere you want. "Okay, name it." He says seriously.

"Will your sister mind?"

I don't really care if my sister minds, nor do I think she would even realize I'm missing. My mother on the other hand… "I've been here for an hour and a half. I've talked to everybody, my duties done. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. Somewhere, far. Out there." she says gesturing out towards the water.

Not quite a destination. "Where?"

"Out to sea."

Is that like a riddle? "Out to sea?"

"Yeah, let's take that fancy pants yacht of yours out for a spin."

"Tricky, since it's about to head out with all of my sister's friends on it." Your head really is somewhere else.

"Oh, well don't you have another one?"

We do… "Not here."

"Well where's the other one?"

Thousands of miles away. "Far away. Let's just drive somewhere, let's go to New York."

"I don't want to drive. I want to be out there. Just the two of us, alone."

I don't know what to do here Ace, there aren't many places we can get to from the harbor without getting in a car. I would drive, obviously you need to decompress. "Well…" Logan tries to take a moment to think.

"You know, at the beginning of Mobby DIck when the narrator says that when he finds himself growing grim around the mouth and wanting to knock people's hats off he takes to the sea?"

I was right, this is a riddle. "Yeah?"

"Well, I feel like knocking people's hats off."

I'm not sure I'm following your train of thought. "So I guess we gotta take to the sea?"

Rory nods her head, and gestures towards another nearby yacht at the harbor. "That one looks good."

I think all the yachts here look good, ther better for the amount of money they cost. "Yeah?"

"Nice and sea worthy." she starts to hint at what she's suggesting.

Oh, you want to use it. "Not ours to take…" he starts, hoping that she isn't actually thinking what he thinks she might be thinking.

"That ever stopped you before?" It's like she dared him.

Having Rory egg him on like this was new, but not something he was going to be able to deny. "I think I've been a bad influence on you Ace." Scratch that, I know I have been a bad influence if this is what you want to do.

"Let's go Huntzberger."

"Let's go." He takes her hand and they start to make their way toward a boat at the other end of the harbor.

XXX

Logan pops a bottle of champagne he found in the galley, some foam sprays off the top, causing Rory's face to light up with glee. He hasn't seen her smile at all this evening, and he is thrilled to see that her mood has shifted.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asks her while handing over the bottle. He figures it's probably best not to bother using their champagne flutes on top of everything else they were taking without asking.

"It's nothing, it was just a bad day, and right now I think you are the only one who can make it better."

Rory leans in to kiss him passionately after taking a swig straight from the champagne bottle.

XXX

Everything happens so fast. They hadn't really taken the boat out to sea, per se. Once they left the harbor, reality hit Rory and all she really wanted was to be alone with him, truly alone. They were able to take advantage of the true seclusion that only existed when you are sitting on a yacht, surrounded by the sea, and finally ended up circling the Sound and then heading back into the Harbor.

Regardless of not spending a lot of time on the yacht she had somehow convinced him to take, he appreciated every part of her request. He knew that it meant something that she turned to him to make her feel better. Not Paris. Not her mom. But him. He wasn't striving to replace her existing friendships, but he definitely felt a shift between them, there was a closeness that seemed to have escalated to a new level.

Once they were returning to the very spot they had removed the yacht from, they hear voices over what sounds similar to some kind of intercom system.

Once they exit the boat they find themselves being confronted by the Bridgeport Police, the Harbors Security, and what one could only assume is the owner of the yacht they had chosen for their joy ride. The name Carpe Diem seemed like a sign at the time they were deciding which one would best meet their needs.

Note: I plan to circle back to their joy ride in the next couple of installments.