"Where is my daughter?" Lorelai asked, running down the steps of her porch, halting steps away from colliding against the man she least expected to see outside her home.

"Hi Lorelai, how are you doing?" Logan forced a smile. He was determined to make it as unpleasant as possible.

"Cut the crap, Logan. Where is Rory?" Lorelai looked over his shoulder to the German automobile in her driveway. "Is she waiting in there?"

"She is not here." Logan answered.

"Oh!" The look of excitement over Lorelai's face was washed away by disappointment and a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Then what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked, crossing her arms.

"I am here to see you. Can we?" Logan asked, gesturing back to the house.

"Why? What more could you possibly want from me, Logan? You already have my daughter." Lorelai accused. "I don't have another one locked in a tower somewhere, in case you are here for that."

Logan was prepared to face hostility from Lorelai when he decided to come to Stars Hollow this morning. Still, he never imagined that she would make him out to be Rumpelstiltskin after her firstborn.

Looking around, Logan suggested again, "May we speak a little more privately?" He could see a lady holding on to a cat for her dear life, peeking from behind her curtain over in the next house.

Lorelai hesitated momentarily before finally saying, "Follow me."

Logan followed Lorelai through the door and sat down on the chair as she went into the kitchen.

"I hope this conversation goes a little more candidly than our last one." Logan jokes, trying to lighten the mood. But he can't deny that a part of him wanted to get it out. He never got over the fact that Lorelai lied to his face about being okay with him marrying Rory.

"Uh… would you like some coffee? Or water?" Ignoring the double-edged comment, Lorelai asked from the Kitchen.

Logan could hear the cabinets being opened and shut loudly.

"No, thanks. But I would prefer if you could give me a chan-" Logan started, but Lorelai cut him off in between.

"Some scotch, perhaps? We all know how much you seem to love that." Lorelai commented as she walked back into the living room, carrying a bottle of scotch in one hand and a colored glass in another. Lorelai placed the bottle and the glass on the table, pushing it towards Logan.

Logan's eyes flickered between the brown bottle and Lorelai, eyebrows knitted together.

He loved his alcohol, but he never knew his girlfriend's mother pegged him for an alcoholic. Or was she baiting him for a reaction?

He was determined to make things better for Rory and in return for himself. He would never achieve that without ignoring this particular jibe from Lorelai. Even though Lorelai's sarcastic remarks bothered him and lit his insides on fire, he never allowed the fitting response to surface on his face or his tongue.

"Sorry, we don't keep the high-end stuff. We prefer our coffee over scotch here." Lorelai added.

"I am aware of the love you and your daughter share for coffee." Logan said, ignoring another dig at him, this time at his wealth and regrouped his strategy by moving the conversation to Rory.

At the lack of any snide or sarcastic comment, Logan continued, "I know what you think of me, Lorelai. If you could jus-"

"You do? Good, great! Saves us both time. I am sure you can understand why I don't like you with Rory." Lorelai said, sitting opposite Logan.

"I will always consider myself a lucky man, but I am not the devil you are making me be. I assumed we were good before. If not, I was hoping you would see that now that Rory and I are going out again."

Lorelai took a moment to formulate the words in her mind. Closing her eyes and sighing before responding, "I don't want to see you anywhere near Rory. My daughter makes colossal mistakes whenever she's even in your radius. I can't just forget everything that happened before. You come into her life and just wreck everything on your way out. But I'll humor you, for a minute, let's see where this thing you and Rory have is going. You are not the type of boy Rory should be with. You are the opposite of the life my daughter lives and intends to live."

"I disagree." Logan interrupted.

"You are a spoiled waste of a trust fund, entitled, silver spoon-fed brat."

The words hit Logan like a whip.

"Rory, however, works hard for everything in her life. My daughter refused to take extra help when she scored less in school. She refused to be fed from my hands before she turned two. I know your family has tried to reduce my daughter into some gold-digging parasite on multiple occasions when she is anything but that. Your father tried to sabotage her career when she was this close to succeeding, crushing her dreams. While you sat in the prime row seat of that shit show and did absolutely nothing. You let her quit Yale! You'd understand why I wouldn't want you derailing her future again now, wouldn't you?" Lorelai was breathless when she finished.

"I did not make her quit Yale! She did that on her own. And I can defend myself on all those counts." Logan said, his anger flared.

He never responded well when goaded.

"Logan, let me put it even more clearly, my daughter is a small-town girl. I want her to fly worldwide and live her best damn life, but her roots will always be in Stars Hollow. Getting her dream job and repaying her tuition money to my parents was her out. She wasn't supposed to get sucked right back in your filthy world. But now you are back!" Lorelai cried out.

Logan never knew Lorelai thought that lowly of the Hartford circle. He was no fan of it himself, but it was becoming evident to him that Lorelai would never be pleased if her son-in-law came from her the life she supposedly left behind.

"What exactly is the problem here, Lorelai? Is it me or your parents?" Logan asked, deciding he had enough with the spiteful comments. He was surprised he was able to take it for so long. "I get that you didn't have a lot of breathing room growing up with your parents. Trust me; I didn't either. The only difference between us is that you were able to run away from that life." Logan retorted.

"The problem is that you are spoiled and your history of bedmates is almost as rich as the state of Connecticut!" Lorelai said, "Oh yes, I know all about your reputation Logan. Usually, I don't judge people like that, but you really are what is said about you. And every time you break my daughter's heart, I have to scrap her up from different surfaces. My smart, kind, beautiful, intelligent daughter."

"You don't understand how it feels to see your daughter cry and want to throw her ambitions away for a boy. It just about kills me every time you put her through things like that."

A knife twisted inside Logan. He had gotten a brief of the aftereffects of the founders day punch years ago. Even though he never blew off any plans he had with Rory that weekend. He didn't like the visuals that story put in his head, knowing he was responsible for that. A little less than the punch no doubt but responsible enough.

Logan's shoulder slouched for a brief second before he regained his posture, "Regarding Rory being a foreign correspondent, that's what I am assuming this is about? That has nothing to do with me. She was already working in the city when I met her. Regardless of what you would like to believe. I did not seduce Rory to give up being a foreign correspondent."

"Don't you get it? Your presence will take away that choice in the future." Lorelai said, narrowing her eyes.

"Do you even know if she wants to be one?" Logan asked intently, leaning forward.

"I know she does." The determined mask slipping from Lorelai's face, confirmed a lot of things.

"Well, since we are playing in the future game now. How about you consider, if you don't get over yourself and try fixing this with Rory, you and your daughter may not even have a relationship with each other in a few years." Logan said.

"How dare you?" Lorelai gasped and fumed.

Who did he think he was? Logan Huntzberger showing up at her house and telling her anything about her relationship with Rory.

"You have no idea what my daughter and I have. I can understand your inability to understand that with the sort of parents you have. I might even have been sympathetic to it before. But now that I know you run back to daddy at the first chance you get. You aren't any different from those people. You don't have what it takes to be with my daughter. You don't have it." Lorelai said, proud of herself for saying these words to someone who actually deserved it.

"So you giving me the permission to marry Rory was all a lie?" Logan said, circling back to that.

"Proposing to Rory at my mother's party?" Lorelai said with disdain lacing her voice like a poison, "I should have known you would never be able to leave that life behind."

It confirms more things for Logan.

Logan knows the reason he chose the place was to make sure Rory had her family close because of what they mean to her. It would backfire so bad, he didn't even dream of it.

"I am a Huntzberger. I can't change that and believe me, I have tried. And I don't want to anymore." Logan said, surprising his ears as well.

It took a long time for Logan to accept that. Even though he hated all the obligations that came with it, he was done running from it. Huntzberger obligations had finally caught up to him. He wasn't going to apologize for taking them on. Especially not to the woman in front of him.

"Can you answer something honestly?" Logan asked, "I thought we were good. For Rory's sake, at least. What has changed since the last time I was here?" Logan asked.

"Apart from my daughter dogging my calls? When you left her to go run around in California?" Lorelai said sarcastically.

"To work in California." Logan corrected.

"She wept her eyes off right there." Lorelai said, pointing at the staircase. "After her graduation party. It was supposed to be the best day of our lives. We had so many plans. And oddly enough, that's not the worst place my daughter has broken down into tears because of something you did. We crossed a huge milestone that day. That's all we talked about ever since she started walking. But you and your stupid proposal ruined it." Lorelai said, her eyes boring into Logan.

"Or the fact that when I suggested that she doesn't need you or your fancy ring or your stupid avocados. She packed her bags and spent the night with my mother. My mother! I wouldn't be caught dead at my mother's house willingly, but my daughter chose to spend the rest of the week there rather than with me before she went away." Lorelai said, almost at the brink of tears.

Logan knew when he was being fed crap of lies. He saw through the woman in front of him. This had nothing to do with him.

"On a second thought, I think I'll take that glass of water." Logan said, seeing Lorelai needed a moment.

"Sure." Lorelai got up to go to the kitchen.

As much as she hated the man in her living room, she wanted her daughter back more.

"Thanks." Logan said, taking the glass from Lorelai and sipping from it.

"Lorelai, I want you to know that I love Rory. A lot more than I ever thought I could." Logan said, seriously. One last attempt to show Lorelai that he wasn't a bad guy. They both were interconnected with a common link.

They both loved Rory.

If only Lorelai would hear him.

"Like you loved blondie? Ditsy?" Lorelai couldn't help herself sometimes, even if she wanted to.

Logan's mouth twisted, and he could taste the bile in his throat. Lorelai pricked the right vein for the second time that morning. There were only a handful of moments in his life where he felt like someone sucker punched him in his guts with words. Similar words were used the first time he felt like this.

It was like being reminded of the worst time in your life and being punished for how you survived it at the same time.

But he already did his time when Rory ghosted him. He wasn't going to let anyone else make him feel like that again, including Rory's mother.

"I don't care what you think of me." Logan finally snapped, "That's your prerogative. I love your daughter. I came here to help you get an in with Rory. Because I assumed this separation thing you both have going on was as hard on you as it's on Rory. Like you said the concept's still a little hard for me to grasp. But if you can't get your head out of your ass and apologize to Rory. Be my guest. It doesn't matter to me either."

As long as Lorelai's shock kept her from interrupting him, he added. "While you are at that, stop blaming me for all your problems with Rory? Maybe Rory left because she was sick of your holier than thou attitude, which might I add you use generously to judge every single person in your eye line. Except yourself. But hey, those are just my two cents." Logan said.

"Rory always described you as the cool mom. Frankly, I don't see it."

The slap of words seemed to bring Lorelai back to reality.

"Get out." Lorelai said, pointing out.

"Perhaps if you start seeing me more like myself and less like Rory's father, you could still salvage your relationship with your daughter." Logan regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.

"I said get out!" Lorelai thundered.

"Because Rory misses you." Logan got up from his chair, buttoning up his blazer, "But the only way your daughter is ever talking to you again is if you are willing to listen to her this time."

At Lorelai's silence, he added.

"I will get your foot in. Once. If you choose to blow that up, I can't help you again. One meeting with Rory. Think it over carefully."

Lorelai pressed her lips together to refrain from saying the names she wanted to call this white, rich male standing on the premise of her home. Because for once, she saw a path back to her daughter, and she wasn't going to burn it until she reached Rory.

"And Lorelai, I am here to stay this time." Logan said from the doorway. "You might as well wrap your head around that before you meet up with Rory."

Lorelai shook slightly as the door slammed on her back. She closed her eyes to take in everything that happened. She never intended to burst on Logan when she ran out to see if Rory was finally here to see her.

How many nights Lorelai had imagined Rory showing up at her door, apologizing and how many times she had imagined taking her little girl in her arms and whispering that she would always have her mother. They would always have each other.

Lorelai was not religious, but the only time she came close to praying on her knees was when she wished that Rory would come back and forget all about the boy causing their current fight. The reality came crashing down on her when Logan told her Rory wasn't there. And then her hell broke loose for her.

And Logan standing here as a live reminder of the rift between her and Rory, she couldn't keep her anger and hurt inside her.

Lorelai became a different woman without the love of her life with her. Without her daughter, she became a different woman, in the worst way.

Luke passed a hurrying blonde on his way home.

"Hey? Wasn't that kid Rory used to go out with?" Luke asked, putting the donuts on the kitchen cabinet. He eyed the mug full of now cold coffee on the table, "Lorelai, is everything okay?"

"Everything is messed up, Luke. Nothing is okay." Lorelai sighed, putting her hands in her hair.

"Is Rory alright? Is she in some kind of trouble?" Luke asked, growing worried by the second.

Lorelai picked her head to see Luke pale at the thought of Rory getting hurt. She got up to hug him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, "I love you. I don't say it enough."

"Will just tell me what's going on?" Luke asked, frowning.

"Nothing. I need to fix something." Lorelai pulled back from the hug and ran a hand through her hair and forced a smile on her lips.

"Okay." Luke said hesitantly. His eyes followed Lorelai into the kitchen. "Do you need my help with it or..?"

"Not for this. It's something I have to do on my own." Lorelai said, shaking her head, "Did you bring over donuts?" Lorelai asked, peeking into the living room from the kitchen.

'You were mumbling donuts all night. At first, I thought you were choking on them, but then I realized you were just dreaming about them. I figured it would be best to bring them home before I ran out of them at the diner."

"Oh, Luke." Lorelai ran over to Luke again. The colliding of their chest and Lorelai's arms around his neck took Luke by surprise.

"You sure everything is okay?" Luke asked again.

"Almost." Lorelai whispered.

Holding on to the box containing the last six donuts from Luke's, Logan went inside the apartment.

"Logan, you are back! What took you so long?" Rory asked from behind the kitchen counter.

"Sorry. I…" Logan took a breath in to explain his morning to Rory. It seemed like a great idea when he left in the morning to meet Lorelai, but now he didn't know how to explain… whatever it was they had. It wasn't a conversation for sure.

"Are these from Luke's?" Rory asked, taking the donuts from Logan's hand. "They are." Rory said as she opened the box and smelled them.

"I went over to Stars Hollow this morning." Logan said, his eyes studying Rory carefully.

"Oh, I love you. But you didn't have to go all the way over to Stars Hollow just to get Luke's donuts, silly." Rory said, placing a kiss on Logan's lips.

"I know how much you love and miss them."

As Rory took the bite, a possibility dawned on her. "You only went there for Donuts, right?"

"Uh yeah. About that." Logan started as Rory placed the donuts over the kitchen counter.

"Only donuts, right?" Rory asked again, panicked.

"I might have gone there with a different agenda on my mind." Logan affirmed.

"To get me a Luke's burger?" Rory asked, and as Logan's lips pressed into a thin line, she started pacing. "To meet Taylor? Ask Kirk about something? Something else? Anything else? Anything other than…"Her hands were flying frantically at every guess.

"I met Lorelai." Logan finally said.

"Logan, you had no right." Rory said, crossing his arms.

"Rory." Logan placed his hands on Rory's shoulder, "You miss her."

"So?" Rory's eyes were shooting daggers at him.

"Give her another chance. She misses you too."

"I can tell that from the voicemails. But you still didn't have any right or reason to go to Stars Hollow behind my back to talk to her." Rory said, sternly.

"I know that she is blaming this on me." Logan said.

Rory tried hard the past few weeks to keep the fight between her mother to herself. She didn't want to bring the drama to Logan. She was aware of how he reacted to it in the past.

"She'll come around. She always does. She just needs time to wrap her head around it. Which is what I was doing before you went in there trying to act all knight in shining armor." Rory accused. "Did you pause to think that it might do more harm than good?"

"Excuse me? So it's my fault trying to fix this between you and your mother?" Logan didn't know how he became the wrong party between all this.

He should have known better than to come between the crossfire.

"You don't fix this, Logan. You sit it out. You stay away from this. You don't know it, but you made this so much worse." Rory said, placing her hand over her forehead.

"How would you know that? You aren't even talking to her." Logan said.

"Logan, bless your heart, but you don't know what monster you have awoken. She is not going to take you cornering her well." Rory sighed, "She's going to lose it even more."

"I did not corner her." Logan said, defensively.

How the hell did she know?

"I know you, and I know her." Rory scoffed, "I can guess how you handled it, and I am sure she is sitting at the kitchen table right now going over the reasons she hates you. I don't want her to hate you." Rory said, leaning over the kitchen counter.

"Aren't you being a bit dramatic?"

"No. You'll see." Rory said, shaking her head.

"Then we'll see it when we see it. But for now, Lorelai seems to miss you, and you are definitely moping around missing her." Logan tries coaxing her, "Ace." placing a hand on her waist and pulling her close to him.

Rory never resisted his touch. She eased into it.

"I am not moping!" Rory replied softly.

"I heard some sniffling last night coming from the bathroom. Since I am a fantastic boyfriend I assumed it had something to do with your mom." Logan said, tucking a loose strand behind Rory's ear. "Unless you were pining for your other boyfriend?"

"I do miss his back rubs." Rory teased.

"Oh really?" Logan said, grabbing her waist a little tighter, pulling her closer to him.

"Maybe." Rory mused, biting her lips as Logan rolled her eyes. "Thank you for doing this, Logan. I don't know how this is going to turn out. But you did try."

"I did. Didn't I?" Logan said with a happy smile.

Logan sighed contently as Rory ran her fingers through his hair. Her fingers trailed down caressing the sides of his eyes where the thin lines creased deeper when he smiled. Sometimes she almost forgot how deeply he criticizes himself when he thinks he messed up. The self-hatred that ran under his charming exterior, a by-product of having a demanding father like Mitchum Huntzberger, was disheartening.

She couldn't survive him for a month. Logan called the man his father.

"Go on, give her a call then." Logan encouraged.

"Now?" Rory asked, widening her eyes.

"Yes, right now. I think she'll be waiting for your call." Logan said, almost giddy as if he was mending his own broken bridges.

At Least he always had Honor.

She wished she could express how deeply she wanted to ensure he would always have her. The words were at the tip of her tongue before she changed her mind.

"Okay."

She went towards the study but turned around, surprising Logan by placing her mouth on his in a quick motion, "I love you."

"Me too, Ace."

Rory waited as the phone rang. She wondered if talking to her mother would be awkward now. Would she still address the call in her silly, goofy way? That always puts a smile on her face. Or would talking to her be like walking on eggshells?

"Rory, hi." Lorelai said, out of breath.

"Hi, mom." Rory smiled without realizing. "Why are you breathless?"

"I was showing a potential wedding party around. I'm inside now. I didn't want to talk to you with a room full of clients and Stars Hollow top gossipers."

"That would make a fun award festival." Rory said. "Lorelai and Rory showdown. Pitch it to Taylor?"

"Yeah. Yeah, not bad." Lorelai said curtly.

"Is this a bad time?" Rory asked at her mothers short and distracted response. "Because I can call back if this is a bad time."

"No, this is not a bad time. It's a perfect time. Perfect, perfect time for mother and daughter to talk to each other." Lorelai said quickly.

Rory chuckled.

"Sorry, I am a little nervous." Lorelai admitted.

"Me too. Don't be."

"So you called, huh?" Rory could sense the softness in Lorelai's voice.

"Yeah. I was wondering if you would like to have dinner at our apartment sometime soon?" Rory said the lines she had rehearsed while the call was connecting.

Rory knew the silence on the other end meant that Lorelai was contemplating her answer carefully. Even though Lorelai didn't ask for it, Rory knew the queue of questions that must be forming in her mother's mind. She decided to provide an unasked answer to help her mother connect all the dots. "I'm moving in with Logan."

Lorelai said after a beat. "Oh, Sure. I would love to. Would it be okay if I bring Luke along?"

"More, the merrier." Rory replied.

"Well, in that case, maybe I should ask Michelle with the way he is staring me down right now. Oh, oh, it worked now. He is not staring at me anymore. He is swatting flies away with his hand."

"I am not swatting day mosquitoes away with my hands Lorelai. I am trying to push your annoying presence away from me and the register." Rory heard Michelle's voice in the background.

"You don't even like that register." Lorelai said to Michelle.

"I like it much more than you right now. Now please go away and talk to your child. Thank you. Bye-bye." Rory let out a small chuckle at Michelle's response.

"Sorry, hun. I am outside now." Lorelai was back to talking with Rory now. "I can't seem to find a decent place for an uninterrupted conversation."

"As much as I would like to see Michelle, I think it would be best if it were just the four of us for now." Rory responded.

"I agree. I have to go now, kid. And if you don't hear from me in a couple of days, ask the police to question Michelle first."

"I will do that." Rory bit the inside of her cheeks as she decided to change their meeting plan a bit. "Mom? Maybe you can come a few hours before dinner?"

Rory could sense the tension in the silence.

"To help me pack some of my things and take them over to Logan's before dinner?" Rory added. "'It will just be the two of us. Something we can do on our own?"

"Sure, hun. We can do that." Lorelai said happily.

"Bye, mom." Rory smiled ear to ear as she disconnected the call and brought the phone to her chest. She was lost in her thoughts when she saw Logan leaning by the door with his hands crossed against his chest, looking smug as hell.

"What are you looking at, Mister?" Rory asked, blushing slightly. Aware that he caught her.

"Just wondering how many different ways you are going to owe me for this." Logan said, his lips and eyes turning upwards.

"None. You did an act of self-preservation. I shouldn't be the one to reward that." Rory said.

"Foot massage?" Logan offered as an alternative.

"I am not touching your feet. You exercise. They get all wet and slimy." Rory scrunched up her nose.

"You know, I meant much sexier things than just a food massage by that, right?" Logan said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"No, no. I did not. And don't talk about those things- like that." Rory said, hastily getting up from the chair, stumbling a few steps forward. The chair reminded her of the things she did last night impulsively. She did not want to be on that chair with Logan talking dirty to her.

It would only fuel his imagination.

And his words.

"So, let me get this clear. You don't seem to have a problem with the actual act. Just talking about them?" Logan said, only to get Rory to walk over to him faster, "Note to self. Rory has no problem giving blow jobs, only talking about them out loud."

"Hush you." Rory said, widening her eyes.

"You are an original, Ace." Logan pulled her by her hand and kissed her.

"Well, I certainly hope so."

"So you made up with Lorelai, huh?" Logan asked, feeling particularly proud of himself.

"It's a step." Rory said, trying her best not to get her hopes up. She didn't want to bet on her mother coming around to their relationship with it biting her in the ass at the dinner. She would reserve all her judgements until the actual event.

"A step in the right direction?" Logan asked, raising his eyebrow.

"A teeny tiny step." Rory said, playing with the collar of his shirt.

"I am glad." Logan said.

"Oh, I completely forgot!" Rory said, jumping suddenly.

"What?" Logan furrowed his eyebrows. His hands snaked her waist a little tighter, keeping her close.

"The donuts. Luke's donuts."

Rory woke up the following day groggy. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at her side to see Logan sleeping with his buried under the pale blue sheets. She ran her fingers to the back of his neck to see if he would wake up.

At the lack of any response or movement from Logan. Rory got up and plodded her way to Logan's coffee maker. Waiting by the counter on her elbows for the coffee to finish brewing, she almost fell asleep again.

Rory picked up the mug fresh with black liquid as she went out the door to pick up the morning paper. Picking up a wad of at least five different newspapers, she knew she had chosen the right man.

Rory's eyes were glued to the papers and her lips to the coffee mug when she sat on the couch for her favorite part of the day.

Rory screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped out of the seat as her butt made contact with a firm body instead of the bouncy surface.

"Ow ow ow."

"What's wrong?" Logan asked, hurrying out from the bedroom, bare chest clad only in his boxer.

Speechless, Rory pointed to the man on the couch. Logan came around to take a better look at the situation.

"Great, now I am dripping in Gilmore's coffee."

Author's Note - Happy holidays, everyone. Here is my Christmas gift to you. Especially Ambarad12 you wanted this as your Christmas gift, here it is, almost on time :)Your comments over the reviews and PM's mean the world me. I listen to them very carefully.

I know I have been in serious remiss, I apologize. And your reviews on the last chapter, wow. I am blown away. Please be this good in reviewing this chapter as well and I promise I will go right back to writing the next one.

What do you think of Logan and Lorelai's morning? Can you guess who was on the receiving end of Rory's coffee? Lol.

Sending you all good wishes this festive season.