AN: We are at our final three chapters, so there is this + 2 more and I'm a bit sad about it. But...we jump forward a few weeks and have some progress, some frustration, but I think underlying tones of happiness. For those of you who read my other stuff; next will be Forever My Girl, hopefully in the next few days depending on how inspired I am.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

Chapter Twenty One

Rory sat in her office and inhaled. Parker was off. Parker was still off. What had she been thinking giving the man three weeks off for his honeymoon? Of course, she was thinking that he was a loyal employee and he had become a friend. She was thinking that the least she could do after he had managed all of her shit for years was give him a chunk of time off…but now she was sharing an assistant with one of the other VP's for a few weeks, and she didn't particularly like it. She wanted Parker. Parker knew when to bring coffee, he knew when to stay and chat. He knew the ins and outs of everything. She did not like him being gone.

Not today.

Today she didn't want to share an assistant.

Logan had been gone for three days, Parker was two weeks through his time off, Emma was behaving like a near angel, and they were a couple of weeks away from taking possession of the new apartment.

And her divorce was being finalized today.

At any moment, her phone would ring and she would answer it herself and it would be her lawyer confirming that the divorce was final and that she was no longer legally married. Logan had offered to come and meet her, but she had declined. It wasn't that she didn't want to celebrate with him. But even though this divorce was necessary and this divorce is what she had wanted. There was still a sense of loss associated with it and Rory needed to process that on her own. When Abigail and Logan had finalized their divorce, they had been able to amicably hug each other when they saw each other next. Logan had sent her flowers and a bottle of champagne. Rory didn't know what to expect with Dean. She supposed that was part of the problem too. Along with the divorce decree, Rory was getting an update from her lawyer on Dean and his progress. Of course she had heard about his progress. In part from Emma and in part from updates that her mother and Luke had given from when they supervised the visits. They told her he seemed calmer, more relaxed, he seemed to be trying.

The sound of her desk phone ringing brought Rory out of her thoughts. She picked it up without looking at the caller ID, "Rory Gilmore," she answered.

"Uh…hey…it's…well, it's me, Dean," his voice was shaky and Rory felt oddly comforted by the sound of her almost ex-husband on the phone.

"Hey," Rory exhaled, "Dean…is everything ok?" She wasn't sure what to say to him, there was a part of her that wanted to just talk to him. Talk to him like she had for the past two decades, talk to him like she had when they were young and full of hope and this insane idea of what their lives would turn out like.

"I just…I'm sorry," he exhaled. "I know I've said it before…but…"

"I know," Rory wiped a tear from her eye as she put her free hand on her forehead and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Do you think…after…I mean for Emma, we can…try to…I don't know, be friends?"

Rory felt her voice crack as she began to speak, "I don't think so," she told him honestly. "We will coparent…we will get along…but I don't…I don't think I can be your friend. You…"

"I fucked it all up."

"You fucked it all up," Rory was relieved as her call waiting went off, "Dean I have another call coming in. I'll see you on the weekend though for Emma's swimming?"

"Yeah, sure. Uh…goodbye Rory."

Rory clicked the button to pick up her next call, "Rory Gilmore," she felt winded as she spoke.

"Rory it's Jennifer," the lawyer knew she didn't need to introduce herself. Hell, normally she wouldn't even be making this call, but there was something about the situation with Rory…well, it had reminded her in many ways of herself. A woman who married young and became successful and a husband who didn't understand that, a husband who hadn't grown with her.

"Jennifer, hi," Rory straightened up, she wasn't even sure what to say next, so she waited.

"You are a single woman," Jennifer told her. "Everything is done, it's all taken care of…I know we have the meeting with his lawyer and the psychiatrist…but the divorce is final. You are…no longer married, you have sole physical custody of Emma, joint decision making…"

"Wow," Rory breathed, "uh…am I supposed to feel…should I feel different?"

Jennifer let out a sympathetic laugh. "It should feel the same. You've been living your life these last few months. I have to say…I'm happy for you."

"Thank you."

"When I see you I will bring the paperwork, in the meantime I will e-mail you a digital copy. The house is transferred into his name, any funds that were going to him have been sent over…you are done. So I'll let you go but we will all be on the phone again in a bit, ok?"

"Thank you," Rory repeated. She hung up the phone slowly and rubbed her temples. All she could think was that she wanted to go home. She thought she would need time to process. Time to go over it all…time to relieve every moment. The highs, the lows…everything in-between from their marriage…but it was done. She wasn't married, and all she wanted to do was go home and see her daughter and Logan. She couldn't though, because in fifteen minutes, Rory would be on another call to discuss if Dean was safe for Emma to be around alone, and what their future looked like. Rory pulled out her cellphone and opened the photos. She scrolled through and settled on some of the photos she had from when Emma was merely a toddler. She saw pictures of the three of them laughing, pictures of Dean and Emma. There were pictures of her Grandpa and Emma…so many memories and now…now that part of her life was just over. It felt strange. Strange to think that what had once been so full of hope and joy was now just a cause of anger and resentment. She didn't even realize how long she had been looking at her cellphone when her desk phone rang again and Rory answered it, "Rory Gilmore."

"Rory, it's Jennifer here again, and I have Andy Talbot on the line as well as Dr. Paul Mustafa who has been seeing Dean for the last few months."

"Hi everyone," Rory greeted them as if she would any meeting, "I'm just going to put you on speakerphone so I can take some notes," Rory hit the button to transfer the call to the speaker and pulled out the leather bound notebook that Logan had given her for her birthday so many months ago.

"As we all know," Jennifer spoke first, "the request has been made to consider how Mr. Forrester is doing in terms of his progress since the divorce has been finalized, but it is understood that it may be a couple more months until we actually see any change to the visitation structure. This is all dependent on the report we get today. Andy, do you have any questions?"

"All good on my end," Dean's lawyer assured her.

"Then Dr. Mustafa, go ahead."

"Good afternoon," he spoke professionally of course, Rory wasn't sure what else she had expected. "I'm going to start with a quick statement of facts and then we'll get into the progress that Mr. Forrester has made." He paused to see if anyone had anything to say and then began with his assessment. "I have been seeing Dean Forrester for almost four months now. This was a requirement of his divorce proceedings and in order to allow him visitation with his daughter who is a minor. It is agreed that Mr. Forrester assaulted his wife during their divorce proceedings and that Mr. Forrester had frequent outbursts and concedes that he had developed a dependency on alcohol during the last several years. Mr. Forrester has now been sober since the assault on Ms. Gilmore." Rory was relieved to hear that, of course she had expected it, it was a requirement but hearing it was a relief. "Mr. Forrester has attended twice weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, once weekly anger management classes and once weekly sessions with myself. Mr. Forrester feels tremendous remorse for his actions towards Ms. Gilmore and has been provided coping mechanisms for dealing with the end of his marriage, he understands that he is not the victim of this situation. Mr. Forrester agrees that he must continue to attend therapy and all of his sessions as well as continuing with his sobriety in order to have a relationship moving forward with his daughter."

Jennifer was the first to speak, of course, having done this before she also had a better idea of what needed to be said. "Do you feel that his progress is genuine? Or is he going through the motions."

"It seems that Mr. Forrester is making genuine progress. My recommendation would be to allow him unsupervised visitation and review for overnight visits in another three months."

Rory felt a strange sense of relief. Her fear had been that she would be told that Dean should immediately have full overnight access and Rory wasn't ready for that. "Uhm…" Rory paused, she wasn't really ready to hear anything else, "can this be…Jennifer, can you stay on and summarize this for me? I just…"

"It's been a difficult day," Jennifer agreed. "Andy, Dr. Mustafa and I will carry on with the call and I will send a synopsis with the entire group so that there is nothing missed."

"Thank you," she hung up the phone and let the tears immediately start pouring from her eyes. This wasn't what she wanted. It wasn't ever what she wanted, to have to withhold access to their daughter, to have to question if it was safe for her to be near him….none of this is what she had wanted for them. She got herself together, wiping her eyes with a Kleenex and ensuring her makeup was still in tact and then Rory called for the car and packed up her laptop and took the elevator down to the main floor. A car was waiting for her by the time she got to the lobby and Rory sat in complete silence for the drive back to the apartment. She said hello to the doorman and a couple of neighbours she had come to recognize in the time she had been living there and then she walked into the apartment she shared with Logan and Emma, and for the first time since she had gotten the news, something felt different. Nothing felt clandestine anymore. There was no looming shadow of a marriage. There was no worry about someone mentioning her husband…she didn't have a husband. She was just Rory Gilmore. For the first time in her adult life, she felt like she was living the life she had chosen for herself, not the life she had thought she was supposed to have. "Hello?" Rory called as she walked inside.

"Mom?" Emma stood up, she was sitting on the couch in the living room with a book, "I thought you were going to be late?"

Rory shook her head and walked to her daughter, pulling her in for a hug, "I just wanted to come home."

"Mom why are you acting weird?" Emma asked, stifling a laugh as her mother kissed her hair. "Is everything ok? Is it Grandma?"

Rory held Emma out at arms length and shook her head, "everything is fine. I…I should tell you…we should sit down. Is Logan here?" She asked. It was completely possible he had gone to run an errand or something.

"He's in the shower," Emma told her. "You're freaking me out, Mom."

"Honey, everything is fine. I just…I want you to know that your Dad and I…well, we are officially divorced."

Emma paused. She had kind of thought that had been the case since her mother had moved out months earlier. "Well you guys haven't been together since Christmas…"

Rory nodded her head, "you're right," she smiled. She supposed that Emma wasn't really that familiar with all of the details of a divorce filing, she hadn't been aware of all the fighting at various stages either and Rory was glad about that. "But now it's all official. The papers are signed and a judge approved them and your Dad and I are free to…well…our only tie to each other now is you."

"Oh," Emma made a face and Rory realized that might not have been the best statement to make.

"I just mean that your Dad and I will figure out how to coparent. The fighting…all of the other stuff should be done," Rory assured her. "This is a good thing."

"So you're…just single I guess then?"

Rory shook her head from side to side and smiled, "I mean, legally? Yes. But…"

Emma giggled a little bit, "do I get to see Dad alone now?"

Rory inhaled and paused. She rocked back and forth on her feet for a minute as she considered the appropriate response, the truthful response. Of course Emma knew what the requirements were for Dean to get time with her, at least in theory she did…they had been vague and abstract, but now they were actually being reviewed. It was being determined if he had met the ask in terms of his progress. "Hopefully soon," Rory nodded. "I talked to him and the lawyers and the doctors and hopefully we can get something sorted out soon. It would be nice if you could just see him without Grandma watching over you and everything…"

"Uh huh," Emma nodded. "I've gotta finish my reading…"

"How is school going?" Rory asked, lingering for another moment. "I know the drive is long to get back there. Logan and I talked about it a little while ago…it is hard to have that kind of commute."

"Do you think I'll ever go back to living with Dad?" Emma asked, before Rory could separate the two things she continued, "because if I'm going to live with Dad again, then I won't have to drive back and forth forever. But if this is where I'm gonna live now…"

"I think you'll probably be with me primarily," Rory told her softly. "I mean, nothing is official, but…are you happy in Manhattan? With Logan and I…"

Emma nodded, "I like it here."

"And so what about school then?"

"School is good. It's not hard, but…I don't spend any time there, so I can't really see friends unless it is a big deal and I spend the night…I guess if I can see Dad again soon maybe that would be better, but…"

"You can change schools," Rory offered. "You don't have to. We can keep doing what we're doing…but you can also change schools. We can find something here, somewhere with a good swim program… the year is almost over, so you could finish this year and we could look for something new in the fall?"

Her voice was soft and she pulled her loose, long hair into a ponytail at the back of her head. "Thanks Mom, do you think you could…"

Rory nodded, she knew what Emma was going to say before she got the words out. Rory would've done the same thing, "I'll tell Dad. Once we've sorted it out…he and I will talk about the plan."

"Thanks."

"I'm going to go get changed," Rory told her with a smile. "Dinner soon?" Emma nodded and Rory left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her. Rory felt conflicted of course as she entered their bedroom and closed the door behind her. She could hear that the shower had turned off so Logan was in the bathroom and Rory took her shoes off and placed them on the shelf in the closet before looking for a pair of sweatpants that would suit the occasion. She was exhausted. Mentally and emotionally drained. She hadn't expected this day to be easy, but she hadn't expected it to effect her as it seemed to. Rather than grabbing a pair of yoga pants, Rory looked on Logan's side of the closet. She grabbed a pair of his Yale sweatpants and an old HPG t-shirt and then began to strip off her outfit from work before putting his clothing on.

"Ace, you ok?" Logan surprised her as he came into the closet and saw her standing just absently staring at the clothes.

"I'm fine," Rory jumped ever so slightly and turned to him and smiled, "I borrowed some clothes."

"They suit you much better than they suit me," he smiled and walked towards her. "Rory…you can talk to me," he assured her. "Even if you think I might not like the content, you can tell me, and I will support you no matter what."

Rory leaned into his frame. Without even thinking she grasped his shoulders firmly as he stood before her with just a black bath towel snug around his waist. "I love you," she breathed into his still damp shoulder.

"Let me get dressed," Logan suggested, "then we'll talk?"

Rory nodded as she stepped back. She put her phone on the shelf in the dresser as Logan began to get dressed. She took a moment to let her eyes linger on him as he towelled himself off and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Am I under dressed?" Rory laughed as he was looking for his watch.

"You're exhausted, and I have been in suits, so something about jeans feels nice."

"My mother would wonder what was wrong with you if she heard anyone say they were voluntarily wearing real pants outside of work hours." Rory walked back into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed. She fought the urge to get under the covers. She knew they had to eat, she wanted to spend some time with Emma, and she had some work things to go over.

Logan followed and sat on the bed beside her. He took her by the hand and rubbed his thumb along her hand. "You are allowed to feel whatever you feel…" he began.

"I told you when I was divorced I would give you an answer," Rory exhaled as she thought back to his impromptu proposal. "And now, I'm divorced."

"I didn't mean immediately," Logan assured her. "I don't need an answer today or tomorrow or next week. I need an answer when you're ready. For today you are allowed to be upset, and I can take whatever you throw at me. Whatever you want to say about the loss of your marriage…I'm ok."

Rory waited for a moment to say anything. She had told him when he proposed to her that she didn't want to make an impulsive decision, she didn't want to jump into another marriage, she wasn't sure how she would ever feel about marriage again. How things ended with Dean had soured her views on marriage. Not even just the end, not how he behaved when he found out about the affair…just Rory's ability to betray him the way she had and how she had justified it every step of the way. Was that an institution she even believed in anymore? But then…the part of her that wasn't reeling with emotion over the official dissolution of her marriage. The part of her that looked at Logan and saw nothing but a partnership, the part of her that saw a future and a life in a way that she had never imagined with Dean…that part of her wondered why she wouldn't want to marry the man. He had shown her time and time again how he would give her space, he would give her what she needed. This was a man who walked away from his marriage even when there was no guarantee that they would be together, or that Rory and Dean would divorce. Instead he walked away from his marriage because it was the right thing to do. Logan wasn't Dean…but Rory wasn't far enough away from ending one union to even think about another.

"I'm glad it's over," Rory admitted. "I'm glad that the paperwork is done and I don't have to worry about that. I am…well, I'm worried about Em because Dean and I are not you and Abigail. But…I'm also optimistic that now that there aren't any lines to be blurred, maybe it will all work out ok. Maybe we'll be able to just coparent and do what is best for her."

"It isn't always easy with Abigail," Logan told her honestly. In facts, there had been moments, most in the early weeks where things had been downright difficult. Sure, it hadn't been anywhere near as difficult as Rory and Dean had been, but there had been plenty of moments where Logan had wanted to scream and there had been plenty of moments where Abigail had screamed. "It isn't supposed to be easy. But we're good now. With time it worked itself out and she is happy with Tom."

Rory laughed. She could always see how Logan tensed a little big when he talked about Tom, even more if one of the kids talked about Tom. "You know, Tom is a really nice guy."

"I know he is. Tom Hanks. Great dude. I cannot compete with Tom Hanks."

"You know he isn't that Tom Hanks, right? Like the way you always call him Tom Hanks is frankly a bit odd…"

"You don't see the irony of the fact that my ex-wife is dating a man who shares the same name as a man who is like…the father of America? Everyone loves Tom."

"And this makes you feel…"

"It makes me happy for her but also it pisses me off a little bit because my ego is the size of a skyscraper."

Rory leaned over and kissed him, "thank you."

"For what?" Logan gave her a confused look as she began to giggle almost uncontrollably. It was one of those moments where he couldn't help but laugh too even if he had no idea what they were laughing at. "Ace, are you alright?"

Rory kissed him again. With more passion this time as she gripped his shirt. "Thank you for trying to make me feel better by admitting that you are human enough to feel a bit intimidated by him."

"I'm not intimidated by him," Logan countered. "Has this helped?"

Rory nodded, still giggling, "it has. Thank you."

Logan rolled his eyes and draped his arm around her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Did you tell Emma?" He asked. He still worried of course about how Emma was handling all of this. Even if she said she was fine and seemed fine…he worried. Of course Rory didn't hear anything concerning from her counsellor, but that didn't necessarily mean that things were all peachy for the girl.

Rory nodded, "before I came in here. She is…good. She wants to think about changing schools and going to school here in the fall…which I think might be good for her. This has all been…well, more dramatic than I think anyone expected for her. Not to mention the commute…for a kid…it is a lot."

"It makes her stand out, and not in a good way," Logan nodded. He understood that and he knew how tiring it was for all of them to keep up with her activities.

"So we'll see how things go after I talk with Dean about…all of it and what the plan is long term. But that can't be done until we talk about how he is doing." She paused once more and bit her lip before she continued, "he called me."

"The doctor?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

Rory shook her head, "Dean. He called me…we just commiserated for a minute or whatever."

"Oh," Logan nodded. He wasn't quite sure what to say. He didn't like Dean. He would never like Dean. He would tolerate Dean as he was Emma's father, but as far as he was concerned, if he never saw Dean Forrester again, it would be too soon. "I see." He hadn't really considered how he would feel about Rory and Dean carrying on a relationship after the divorce was final. He had figured they would coparent and leave it at that. Although Rory wasn't telling him she wanted to have family dinner with Dean, in fact, all Rory had told him was that she and Dean had spoken which seemed like a perfectly normal thing given that they did share a child. "How was that…"

Rory leaned her body closer to Logan, a feat that was barely possible as they both sat on the bed side by side. "I can't hate him because he is Emma's Dad…but if he is looking for some…bosom buddy friendship after all of this then…well, he will be in for a very rude awakening. Every time he wants to bring something up outside of Emma, I just want to scream at him. I want to tell him that he ruined this. He ruined any chance we had of being able to truly get along and coparent. He ruined it because he couldn't handle losing because he saw me as a fucking prize to be won, and nothing else." Rory felt Logan squeeze her body against his and she relaxed a bit more. "It's no way to go through life. I was a thing to him, I wasn't…I wasn't a partner."

"Some people have…different ideas of what a marriage should be."

"Well you should've seen him when we were younger. He wanted me to be just like his Mom. She always had dinner ready for Randy and the house was perfectly kept and Randy went to work. When Randy came home, May handed him a drink and he watched sports or whatever it is he was interested. On weekends, he mowed the lawn and did man jobs…May was…baking or…sewing or…whatever."

"Sounds very…"

"Strange," Rory admitted. "It was strange for me. It's never something I saw. My Mom and Luke didn't get together until I was a teenager, and my grandparents…well, Emily Gilmore does not cook, and Grandpa didn't mow the lawn. So Dean had this idea….this idea of what I should have been doing that I was never cut out for, and….I guess neither of us got what we wanted out of it because he didn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy. He was lazy. He was entitled. He was so bitter about my job and my success, but we needed that success in order to have a roof over our head. It was all just so backwards and I got caught up in the need to feed his ego….to make him feel better about just how shitty a provider he was." Logan wasn't sure how to respond. He couldn't relate. So he just listened until the vibration of Rory's phone came between them. "Jesus," Rory groaned as she pulled it out of her pocket and saw the caller ID. "I have to answer," she told him as she swiped to answer the call. "Hello?" Logan was going to stand up but Rory took his hand as if to secure him to the spot he was in and he complied, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Rory, it's May."

"Your ears must've been burning," Rory hoped the sarcasm wasn't too evident in her voice. Of course her now former mother in law had to call. The woman couldn't help herself. "Emma and I were just talking about you."

"Well the feeling must be mutual," May replied, her voice didn't give anything away. Rory couldn't be sure if Dean had called and told his mother the divorce had been finalized or if maybe Rory had been the topic of May and Randy's evening chat. "Do you have a moment?"

Rory nodded, "I do. Is everything alright?" While there was certainly no love lost between Rory and May, she also knew that May was Emma's grandmother and Rory didn't want to get in the way of that relationship, even if increasingly it seemed as though May thought differently.

"Oh yes, of course. Everything is fine. The reason I'm calling is because I was hoping that Emma might be able to come to Chicago and spend some time with us. I understand that there is all of this ugliness between you and Dean and I'm truly sorry that is happening, but what I was thinking is that the long weekend is coming up," Rory fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course this wasn't an ask but instead it was that May had made a plan and just expected Rory to agree completely. "You could fly her down, we would get her at the airport and then she would come home after…"

Rory paused for a moment, "I'll talk to Emma about it."

"Well of course Emma would love to. She hasn't seen us in months, and she didn't come at Christmas."

"Emma is old enough to choose what she would like to do in terms of travel May," Rory stated firmly. "I will talk to Emma, I will look at our plans," she was cautious not to explicitly mention that she would run this by Logan, she knew exactly what would happen if she did that, and Rory wasn't in the mood to fight with anyone. She was already exhausted. "I will get back to you in a few days. I should also check with Dean."

"I have spoken to Dean," May interrupted, "he agrees that Emma needs to see her grandparents."

Logan could see that Rory was annoyed and he gave her a look, a look as if to say he would gladly take her phone and throw it out a window to be crushed by a taxi many, many stories below, but Rory shook her head and gave him a warning look. For her part, she could see just how hard he was trying to restrain himself. She loved that about him. She loved how hard he loved Emma, he loved how hard he loved her and how he didn't view Emma as not his problem…he viewed Emma as a daughter. " May, as you know, Dean doesn't get to make those decisions right now. When Dean has Emma, he is more than welcome to take her to visit you, or you visit them, but until Dean has overnight visits with her, it is my call."

Rory hit the button to flip the call to speaker and lowered the phone to her lap, in the process also giving Logan the ability to fully hear both sides of the conversation. "You can't keep him from this daughter! You can't keep me from my granddaughter! This is ridiculous. You left them and you can't just keep her from us!"

Logan once again began to open his mouth and Rory put her finger gently against his lips. "May I have been respectful of you and Randy, I have encouraged my daughter to call you. I have suggested that you meet up in Stars Hollow…but for you to sit here and diminish the things I have had to do because your son assaulted me is unforgivable. If you ever want to have access to my daughter again, you will stop right now. I will speak to Logan about what our plans are for the long weekend and if we are able to come to Chicago. But let me be clear. You will not be taking my daughter for an extended period of time."

"Rory there is no need to be defensive. You and Dean had a misunderstanding."

Rory could once again see that Logan was about ready to jump out of his skin, "goodnight May. Have a wonderful evening." Rory pressed the red button to disconnect the call and tossed her phone onto the mattress. "At least Dean comes by his delusion naturally."

Logan ran his hand through his hair and shook his head in disbelief. "She can't be real? I mean…my mom is a lot. I know you've only met her professionally…but my Mom is a lot and I don't even think she would go that far…"

"Well, social graces have never been May's strong suit." Rory shook her head and then put it back down on Logan's shoulder. "I don't know in what world she thinks berating me, and excusing Dean are going to help her get a one on one visit with Em."

"Emma isn't going, right?" Logan wanted to make it a statement. He wanted to simply say that it wasn't happening, but he also knew that wasn't his place and he would support whatever Rory thought was best when it came to Emma seeing her grandparents.

Rory laughed and kissed his cheek. "Emma isn't going alone. But if Emma wants to see them, I will make it happen."

"What do you mean you will make it happen?" Logan asked, "I just…I can help too. I understand they probably don't love me, but…I want what you want."

"We should probably make some dinner," Rory moved away from him on the bed, carelessly swinging her feet over the side. "Emma is going to be hungry, and I am hungry and you haven't told me about your business trip."

"I'm serious Ace," Logan got off the bed and walked towards her, "I have business in Chicago from time to time…I can behave."

She smiled, almost without realizing it was happening. "I love you. And…what we were talking about before. What we were talking about with Dean and marriage and how screwed up it all got…"

"That is a weird jump, wouldn't you say? I love you…hey remember when we were talking about my ex-husband…" He would tell her later just how much he enjoyed the fact that Dean was finally her ex husband, and even if they weren't ready for marriage yet, knowing that they had a wide open future was a tremendous relief to him.

Rory laughed and put her hands on his cheeks. "One day…not today, and probably not in a few months, but one day, I promise you, we will get married, and then one day once all of these kids are gone and grown," she stroked his stubble with her thumb, "we are going to see the Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto and walk hand in hand through the airport, and we are going to go to Paris and see Paris. I want us to go to Montserrat and listen to the choir. I want us to have grandkids and be the fun grandparents…"

Logan kissed her gently. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers before he spoke. "I want all of that."

"So we just need some time, ok? But…needing time…it doesn't change that I love you."