Chapter Sixteen

Rory was upset at her mom for the remainder of the car ride back to Stars Hallow. Then, she realised she was being an idiot and that there was nothing to be mad at her mom over. Rory was the one who had kept the secret in the first place, she shouldn't be mad at her mother because she had chosen to help her daughter keep it.

After Rory got over herself, she had a truly enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. Stars Hallow was always magical in and around Christmas time. The leaves in the trees were changing colour. There was a light dusting of snow, but not too much that it made it unpleasant to be outside. And people were usually in the midst of decorating for Christmas, so at night you could see a whole cornucopia of lights. Rory loved this time of year.

"That house has two Santa's? Why do they need two?" Ricky asked as he, Lorelai, and Rory walked through the streets of Stars Hallow to Luke's. It was the last night of the mini-vacation Rory had before she had to go back to work and Ricky had to go back to school. And, as per tradition, Rory had insisted on a burger at Luke's. Lorelai had been the one to suggest walking there and seeing all the lights that had been strung up. However, Rory was a little distracted. She still hadn't heard hide nor hair from Logan and was now obsessively checking her phone every other minute to make sure she didn't miss anything.

"Maybe they think it will double the amount of times Santa visits them," Lorelai responded when it looked like Rory wouldn't be. Ricky just looked at his grandmother with a look on incredulity. Had Rory not been distracted by her phone and its lack of activity, she would have mentioned to her mother that he son had stopped believing in Santa two years ago. He'd read that Santa Claus wasn't a real person who travelled around the world in one night visiting countless millions of children, that it was impossible, and he had believed it right away.

"What do you want for Christmas?" Lorelai tried again, attempting to change the current unsuccessful line of conversation.

"I've got a list of books. I can send you a copy if you want, grandma," Ricky responded. They were in sight of Luke's and, after he had spoken, Ricky ran towards the building. Lorelai hung back with Rory, who was still distracted and walking at what was almost a snail's pace.

"What's got your nose stuck to your phone?" Lorelai asked her daughter. Rory didn't respond, she didn't even look up from her phone. With an exasperated sigh, Lorelai grabbed her daughter's phone and stuck it in her pocket. "Have you even heard what's been going on for the past twenty minutes?"

Rory looked up at her mom, a little dazed, then looked around her to gather her bearings. "When did we get to Luke's?" Rory asked. However, she didn't wait for her mom to respond. She just walked into the diner to join her son. Lorelai chuckled at her daughter and shook her head in slight exasperation before she too followed them in.

Rory walked into Luke's and looked around for her son. He had taken up a seat at the counter and was animatedly talking to the man who was seated beside him. As Rory moved closer, she realised the man was Jess. Unconsciously, a smile broke across her face at the sight of him.

"Jess! It's good to see you again!" Rory exclaimed. Only afterwards did she wonder if she'd come across as too eager. That thought made her flush red and she immediately tried to hide it by grabbing up a menu. It was a poor excuse as she had memorized the menu years ago.

"You two Rory. Home for the holiday?" Jess pushed back on his seat a little to face Rory.

"Yeah. We had grandma's dinner on Thursday, and Ricky and I stayed here for the rest of the weekend. When did you get into town?" Rory, feeling the blush on her cheeks lessen, lowered the menu and slide into the seat on the other side of Ricky.

"A few hours ago. I spent Thanksgiving with my mom, TJ, and Doula. It was quite the adventure," Jess chuckled himself as he reminisced about whatever antics Liz and TJ had gotten up to.

"You staying long?" Rory asked. Her mother had joined her, Jess, and Ricky at the counter and was waving around a napkin to try and attract Luke's attention. The object of her strange napkin dance was currently in a deep conversation on the phone, probably with a supplier, and wasn't even glancing in their direction.

"Leaving tomorrow. Is your mom having a fit?" Jess asked his question under his breath, not wanting Lorelai to overhear it.

"No. Mom just hasn't eaten today. She was busy setting up the house for Christmas with Ricky and we kind of lost track of time. She's been starving for hours and has been letting us know about it." Rory didn't mention the fact that she would have reminded her mother and son to eat, but she'd had her face glued to her phone.

"Well," Jess said, slipping off his chair and heading behind the counter, "I think I still remember how to take an order." Jess pulled out a pad from beneath the counter and turned to face Lorelai. "What can I get you?"

Just at that moment, Luke got off the phone and came over to his nephew. "What are you doing? Get out from behind here," Luke said, gently shoving the younger male out of the way. Jess feigned an arm injury before he returned to his seat beside Rory. For her part, she couldn't stop the wide, ridiculous smile that spread across her face at the playful family scene. Her phone, the thing that had been distracting her all weekend, was completely forgotten.

When Rory returned to work on Monday, she wished she could return to that last evening at Luke's. It was like that night had been a fairy tale and walking into the New York Times office's was her rude awakening. Over the weekend, and all the worrying she about Logan spending time with Ricky, her grandmother discovering her secret, Logan vanishing, having to tell her mom a secret she already knew, and then wondering where Logan had vanished off too, the state of her article had completely slipped her mind.

But she was reminded of it as soon as she walked in the door. Miranda was waiting for her at her desk, arms crossed, and a look of frustrated anger clearly displayed through her clenched teeth, tight jaw, and squinted eyebrows.

"A word, Ms. Gilmore. If you're not too busy," Miranda spoke the words with a venom and slight sarcasm. It made Rory feel like she was getting at something, though what that something was, she wasn't quite sure.

"Yeah. Just let me drop my bag off at my desk," Rory spoke. Miranda gave her an annoyed look, like she thought Rory dropping off her heavy bag was a waste of time. Rory disagreed. She still hadn't gotten over her habit of always carrying several books with her and it made her bag extremely heavy, especially when she also filled it with folders of source material and excerpts for her articles.

Not five minutes later, Rory was in Miranda's office, sitting stiffly in the proffered chair and watching Miranda pace backwards and forwards behind her desk. Rory was forced to bite her tongue to not make a comment about who was wasting time now. She knew this was a powerplay, that Miranda was trying to show Rory that she was in charge and therefore the only one of the two of them who could waste the other's time.

"So, how's it going with your story on Huntzberger Enterprises. I'd expected an update, even an outline, by now but it has been radio silence from you. Which I found odd because you've been out of the office so often as of late. I had assumed you were meeting with sources and doing investigative work, but if I can't see your results, I might think you were handling personal business during working hours, which is a very serious infraction of your contract." Miranda had stopped pacing and was, instead, staring Rory dead in the eye.

"I'm still working on it. Trying to nail down some more details. I'm waiting to hear back from my source, but I can definitely have what I've got to you by the end of the week." Rory returned Miranda's stare, confidently looking her boss right in the eye. However, she did not feel the confidence at all. She'd basically just lied to Miranda; she didn't have any details and hadn't heard from her alleged source in two weeks. But hopefully Miranda wouldn't pick up on that.

"You'd better," was all Miranda said before waving dismissively at the door. Rory took it as her cue to leave and did just that. She didn't need to be told twice. She left the office and hurried back to her desk where she collapsed into a heap.

'What am I going to do?' Rory asked, burying her head in her hands and letting out a frustrated groan. Luckily, most of her nearby desk mates were out of the area at that moment and so no one heard her. She was just so frustrated at herself and couldn't contain it within in. She'd lied to her boss and if she couldn't at least piece something together by Friday, she was pretty sure Miranda would fire her.

'How can I pull this off? I have nothing. Less than nothing because I have a supposed source that won't contact me back!' Another frustrated sigh escaped Rory's lips and she sat back in her seat.

"Yeah. A whole weekend with the family can be rough," a chipper voice said from Rory's right. She turned in her chair to see a very smiley Zoe standing only a few feet away.

"My weekend was actually pretty awesome. Walking into work today, though, that's another story. Miranda called me into her office before I'd even really set foot in the building and then proceeded to imply that if I didn't show her progress on my story by the end of the week that she'd have me fired." Rory raked her hand through her hair in frustration. Zoe smiled ruefully at Rory as she moved to sit on the corner of her desk.

"Okay. So, we'll just have to work overtime on your story and get it done. No big deal. I've seen you work under harsher deadlines before," Zoe patted Rory encouragingly on the shoulder, but it was wholly ineffective.

"Except I have nothing to write. My source keeps dodging me, my interview with Logan went nowhere helpful for the story, and I haven't gotten any other information from any of the research that I've done. I can't write this story by Friday if I have nothing to put in it!" Rory felt tears begin to pool in her eyes and she tried to keep them at bay.

"Move over," Zoe said as she hopped down off the desk and pushed Rory's chair aside with her hip. "Where's the info you have on your source?" Zoe asked as she typed on Rory's computer. Rory pointed it out and, once Zoe had it located, she quickly typed it into a people searching software they had. After a few seconds, an informational box popped up with Olivia's address. Zoe quickly printed it out and then pranced over to the printer to pick it up.

"If your source won't come to you, then you need to go to your source!" Zoe said, handing Rory the paper. Rory looked a little skeptical. It felt a little bit like an invasion of privacy to show up at Olivia's house and demand answers. "Look, she reached out to you first. And she must have done it for a reason. Go. Push. Figure out why she reached out to you and what information she has. Be the badass reporter I know you to be!" Zoe then pulled Rory up out of her chair and began pushing her towards the door.

Rory stood at the door to the apartment. It was quite upscale, though Rory wasn't sure why that fact surprised her. Huntzberger Enterprises was a multi-million dollar company; working for it probably paid pretty handsomely.

Rory took a deep breath and then walked up to the doorman. "I'm here to visit Olivia Newell please. She's not expecting me but we're old friends. I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd drop in." She'd rehearsed her cover story the whole trip over, but she hadn't been able to come up with anything better. The doorman looked at her skeptically, but still let her in and buzzed up to Olivia's apartment.

"Hello?" a slightly metallic voice sounded through the speakers.

"You have a visitor, Ms. Newell. She says she's an old friend," the doorman said. His tone was professional, but Rory still picked up on the doubt he was telegraphing. She hoped Olivia wouldn't ask too many questions. If Rory was going to get the answers she needed, she would need to talk to Olivia in person and the best way to do that now would be to get to her door and ambush her.

"Oh great! Send her up!" Olivia chimed. Rory couldn't believe her luck. Either Olivia had been expecting a friend to visit, or she wasn't suspicious enough. Whichever way it was, Rory wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She nodded appreciatively at the doorman and then hurried towards the elevator. A short ride later, and a walk down what had to be the longest hallway Rory had ever seen, Rory found herself in front of Olivia's door. She knocked and waited.

"Hello-oh," Olivia said as she opened the door and saw exactly which 'old friend' had stopped by.