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When Rory wakes up the next morning the house is quiet. Getting up, she goes into the kitchen to discover Lorelai drinking coffee with one hand, her other cupping her head.

"Bad?" Rory asks, making her mother startle, and Lorelai replies, "The coffee's helping."

"So bad?"

"I won't be singing showtunes this morning, let's put it like that. I guess I did that last night."

"You gave the Coyote Ugly night a run for its money."

Lorelai groans as Rory picks up the pot, pouring herself a cup of coffee, and nods as Rory asks, "Did Dad go?"

"He took off about an hour ago."

"Good."

"Rory."

Rory sips coffee in place of replying and Lorelai sighs.

"It was good he was there to help out."

"I'm sure."

"I mean, could you have gotten me home without your dad?"

"Eventually."

"Right," Lorelai says. She sips her own coffee before looking over the rim of her cup and asking, "So do you want to elaborate on the Jess situation?"

Of course that sticks in Lorelai's hungover haze. Rory shrugs, saying, "There's not a lot to tell."

"You slept with him!"

"Mom, I said I don't want to talk about it, remember?" Rory snaps. "Well, maybe you don't remember, but –"

"I remember."

"It still stands. I don't want to get into it."

"Why not?"

"You know why not! You'll say it's a mistake and it's too soon and I'm still figuring it out!"

"And I can't give you any advice?"

"Fine," Rory says after a pause. "What's the advice?"

"Don't you think this is kind of abrupt?"

"This is exactly what I knew you'd say!" Rory exclaims. "You'd say it's too soon!"

"It is soon, Rory! You and Logan are barely over!"

"It just happened," Rory says. "I didn't know I – we – were….Mom, I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Fine," Lorelai says after a moment. "But Rory, I remember last time."

"This isn't last time!"

"You were heartbroken!"

"You've always hated Jess."

"Rory this is not about me hating Jess! Okay, I'm not his biggest fan, but you came home devastated and I'm your mom! I don't want you getting hurt!"

"That was a long time ago and it was completely different!"

"It wasn't that long ago and hey, same people!"

"It's not the same," Rory says again, getting up. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, I'm done."

"Okay," Lorelai replies, holding her hands up. "But –"

"No, Mom."

"Fine. I'm just saying, that if you do want to talk…."

Rory nods, finishing her drink and taking the cup to the sink. Looking over her shoulder, she asks, "Are you and Luke okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that whole speech last night…you sounded hysterical. And the whole super party people thing."

"What?"

"I just mean you sounded kind of upset, about not being married yet."

"Rory, I'm fine," Lorelai says firmly. "It was just way, way too much to drink. Nothing to read into."

"If you say so."

"I do," Lorelai says, managing a weak smile. "Okay, I have to go to work…God help me."

"Keep drinking the coffee."

"Like that's a challenge!"

The rest of the day is uneventful. Rory goes to Weston's, trying to study, but spends most of her time there fielding questions about Lorelai and her impassioned speech. When Jess calls Rory is only too relieved to get out of Stars Hollow for a night. She leaves Lorelai a note, not wanting to deal with questions, and is there in record time. She and Jess don't bother with smalltalk and afterwards, as they lie tangled together, Jess asks, "This add to your day?" Rory giggles, nodding and remarks, "I'm assuming it made yours pretty good."

"You Gilmores think a lot of yourselves."

Rory answers that with a kiss and, smiling, Jess says, "Can't argue that you're wrong."

He puts his arms around her as Rory settles on his chest and asks, "So how was the wedding?"

"You mean weddings."

"Huh?"

"Lane wound up having three. Turns out her grandmother is actually Buddhist and Mrs Kim has hidden being Christian her whole life."

"Huh."

"Yup. Guess it runs in the family."

"Did it work out?"

"Perfectly. Lane had that wedding, a church wedding and this amazing party in the square. I've never seen her so happy."

"That's great."

"Yeah. The bachelorette party was fun too – we wound up in Brian's aunt's basement."

"What?"

"She had a rec room."

"Of course."

"We missed the showing of American Gigolo."

"Tragedy. You know, Luke asked me if I was a gigolo once."

"Excuse me?"

"He didn't know about Walmart and wanted to know where I was getting extra cash."

Rory and Jess look at each other, simultaneously bursting out laughing, and once recovered Jess manages to say, "Sounds like Lane had a great time – with the party and the weddings."

"She did. I told her congratulations from you and she says thanks."

"Good. I'm glad she had a great wedding – weddings, I should say."

Rory smiles but sombers as she adds, "It wasn't a perfect night though. Mom found out about us and she wasn't entirely thrilled, plus she got super drunk. Dad and I had to carry her home."

"I saw Luke earlier – he alluded to that. He said you admitted it to Lorelai."

Jess's voice is steady but there's a touch of hurt and Rory sits up, biting her lip.

"Jess. I didn't tell Mom because of how she is about us – you remember."

"Oh, I recall."

"Plus…I really liked our night," Rory says weakly, wincing at herself. "That came out wrong. I mean, it was special. I didn't want to tell Mom because it was our night. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Jess says, his voice normal again, and he kisses Rory's cheek. "I get it."

"I'm not sad about it."

"No?" Jess teases and Rory grins.

"No."

She kisses him this time, pressing her body to his and making Jess groan. Conversation turns to more kissing and more sex and, breath short, Jess says, "Think we need to warm up next time?"

"Haha."

"I'm wiped."

"Me too. Give us five minutes?"

"Funny lady," Jess says, rolling his eyes but smiling. "You good?"

"Very good," Rory says, sitting up. "No complaints."

"Likewise."

Jess gets up to make them coffee and, handing Rory her cup, asks, "So…are we good?"

"I already said I'm fine."

"I know. I mean, are you good with this? Whatever this is?"

"I'm still figuring out what this is," Rory says, after a pause. "Mom said this stuff about it all being soon…I'm mad at her but she's not totally wrong. I feel weird being single – or not single. I don't know."

Jess nods but he looks a little lost and Rory sighs.

"This part doesn't feel weird," she says and laughs when Jess says, "You only want me for the sex. I know how it is."

"Not true," Rory says at his grin. "Though that part's pretty good. I'm not sure, that's all. Being in a new relationship sounds kind of a lot."

"I get it" Jess says mildly. He squeezes her hand but Rory asks in concern, "Jess, is that okay?"

"You don't have to ask that."

"But –"

"We're good," Jess says firmly. "Just wanted to know where we are with this."

Rory nods, drinking her coffee, and relaxes as Jess slips his arm around her. Being here right now is enough.

"How was Luke?"

"Huh?"

"You said you saw him yesterday," Rory says. "How is he?"

"Fine – why?"

"Do you think he and Mom are okay?" Rory asks after a pause. "Mom said nothing's wrong but she said all this stuff at the wedding about not getting married yet and there's the whole thing with April and I – I don't know, but do you think they're okay? I feel like they're not."

"I'm sure they're fine," Jess says, but he doesn't seem sure. "It took them this long to get together, right? They've got a wedding date, they're going to get married. They're just stressed because of all this new stuff life's thrown at them. I mean, did you ever think a secret kid would be on the list of things Luke had to handle?"

"No," Rory says, feeling better. "No way."

"They can handle it," Jess says firmly. "Trust me."

Rory nods, relaxing, and lifts her empty cup.

"Any chance of a refill?"

"The things I do for service in this place," Jess groans, giving her a kiss. "Wait there."

"Not moving."

The rest of the week is slow after the rush for Lane's wedding. Rory doesn't talk to Lorelai about Luke and Lorelai doesn't talk to Rory about Jess, and the two keep topics light until Rory heads back to Yale. One evening, Rory is finishing up in the newsroom when she looks up to see Juliet come in.

"Hey Rory!"

"Hi!" Rory exclaims. "How was Costa Rica?"

A concerned look fills Juliet's face as she says slowly, "Well, you know…"

"Know what?"

"Didn't you go see Logan?"

"Juliet, I don't know what you're talking about," Rory says, putting the papers down. "Feeling a little freaked out here."

"Logan got in an accident," Juliet tells her. "Didn't you know?"

"Is this the face of someone in the know?" Rory exclaims, heart pounding. "An accident? Is he okay?"

"He was pretty beaten up but he's going home today. I thought you knew – I thought Colin and Finn told you."

"No one told me," Rory says, shallow breaths coming out of her mouth. "What hospital?"

"He's home now – well, at Colin's. It was really scary but the doctors saved him – it was some stupid stunt gone wrong. They had to airlift Logan to the hospital!"

"I have to go," Rory says, blindly brushing past Juliet. "No one said a word."

Rory practically speeds to Colin's apartment and the second the front door is opened, Rory yells, "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Looking somewhat shell-shocked, Colin replies, "Rory, we were going to call you."

"So why didn't you?"

"I didn't let him," comes Logan's voice, and Rory pushes into the apartment to see her former boyfriend lying on the sofa. "Who did tell you?"

"Juliet," Rory says impatiently. "Logan, you look really bad."

"A coma will do that to a man."

"What?"

"I'm fine."

Whirling around, Rory faces Colin and exclaims, "You didn't tell me?"

"We didn't know if we should," Colin says nervously. "You were broken up and Logan was literally broken and I wanted to call you, but Finn said not to because you aren't together and then we were so focused on Logan coming out of surgery and then he was conscious and said we shouldn't and –"

"Rory, it's fine," Logan cuts in. "Colin, can you give us a minute?"

"I'll give you a few as I'm so generous."

"You are many things but that," Logan says, coughing as he laughs. "Thanks."

Rory pulls a chair over after Colin leaves and sits next to the sofa, staring at Logan.

"What did you do?"

"Stunt went wrong. You were right, I shouldn't have gone."

"I should have stopped you."

"No one could've stopped me. Besides, we broke up."

Rory nods, looking at him for a moment before saying, "I would have come to the hospital."

"I know. I didn't want you to know because you'd be upset."

"Understatement," Rory chuckles but is serious as Logan asks teasingly, "Is it kind of romantic, seeing your guy injured?"

"Logan. No. You're not my guy."

"I'm just messing around," Logan says quickly, but he sounds disappointed. Rory looks away for a moment before saying, "I would have come because I care about you. I still want to know if you get hurt like that, but –"

"I know," Logan says wearily, cutting her off. "I know."

"Are you okay? Because you really don't look okay."

"I'm going to be fine. Colin's taking care of me."

"Colin?"

"And Finn."

"Those two can't take care of a goldfish!"

"They can handle it," Logan says. "Colin already paid for a nurse to help out – well, his parents did, which is more than I can say for mine. My dad didn't visit."

"What?" Rory asks blankly. "Did he know you were in hospital?"

"I'm sure he got at least three of the hundred phonecalls, texts and emails I'm promised were made."

"You dad is disgusting," Rory says angrily. "I can't believe that."

"I can."

Rory pauses and says, "If I was there I'd have made him visit."

"I know, Ace," Logan says, smiling. "I know."

Rory smiles back, straightening up. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm fine."

"How about water? You must be thirsty."

"Water would be good," Logan says and thanks her as Rory refills his glass. "I'm fine, I swear."

"Good. I'm glad you're going to be okay."

"I know. See you, Rory."

"Bye, Logan."

Rory doesn't let herself think until she's back in the apartment, utterly grateful to have it to herself for the night. Making coffee, she sits down at the table with a mug, feeling her breath catch as she tries to even it. Big tears fall from her eyes and into the cup and, even though Rory knows Logan's going to be okay, she cries quietly. She cries for him being hurt and not knowing and the finality she's feeling. Rory knows it was over between them before but it still saddens her, and she doesn't know what to do with it. By the time she finishes her coffee is cold. Rory drinks it anyway and slowly gets up. It's dinnertime but she's not hungry. Rory thinks of calling Jess but dismisses the thought – he won't want to hear about Logan, she's sure, and instead Rory finds a movie. Curling up on the sofa, Rory settles down with her sadness and the film she won't watch.