Title: Taking a header or staying the course
Author: Joy
A/N: So you get a few more chapters than I thought and Spike in the bathtub is right. Thank you for all the reviews. I've been asked about my illness so I will give an update. They have found out what's wrong, just not why. If I lay down and they take my heart rate and blood pressure its completely normal. However if they then make me stand up, take a minute to get my equilibrium and do the same tests again, my blood pressure falls by twenty points and my heart rate raises twenty points. That is the equivalent of doing aerobic exercises, but all I did was stand up. At this point it's a wait and see game. Thanks for the concern.
Chapter 9: The return to Yale
Rory dropped her bag in her room at school that same day. Colin and Finn left for Yale almost immediately after breakfast...something about plans being worked out. Logan and Rory had stayed at bit longer enjoying each other's presence, but also spending time with Lane and Zach.
Later Logan sat through and apparently enjoyed Cowboy Bebop: The movie but he being the great reporter at heart asked several questions along the way. Eventually Rory told him to shut up and watch the movie...or she would make him watch the first nine episodes to the series to answer all his questions. He made it through the rest of the movie only commenting a few times on Rory's apparent attraction to the main character. It was long about that time he found out from Lorelai that Rory had a history of infatuating over animated men since there was still a special place in her heart for Prince Phillip in the Sleeping Beauty movie.
A few more cups of coffee at Luke's plus a couple to go and the couple was headed back to Yale. Logan walked Rory to her room before heading home himself. She collapsed on the couch just as her delightful roommate appeared. "Look what the cat dragged in?" Paris chirped from her door. "Ya know you could have warned me that the limo boys were truly going to invade our lives!"
Rory rolled over and looked at her roommate. "Paris...this has been a weekend to remember and I have to admit I wasn't terribly concerned about your reaction to the infusion of the limo boys into my world."
"Oh I know you have had and odd weekend. I have been the one here fielding the questions and phone calls."
"What questions? What phone calls?"
"Rory...you missed classes, YOU, on Friday as did Logan. Our room was overpowered by Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb, which scared Doyle to death. Then you still didn't come home or call... but I got more visits from various individuals associated with that pack verifying that you in fact had snatched Huntzberger off the market. I said you had to be safe... Of course this was compounded when people start preparing for the party in your honor tomorrow night."
"WHAT?" Rory yelled.
"It seems Finn has decided that your life and experience must be shared with the mass public to ensure acceptance of your new role as Queen to Logan's King at Yale," Paris continued.
"WHAT?" Rory fussed again.
"I always knew this would happen with you... I had thought it would be Tristan since he really had a thing for you. But no you just went for the big one instead."
"WHAT?" Rory shouted a third time.
"I suggest you get on the stick if you want to stop this or at least keep up," Paris muttered handing Rory her cell phone.
"Huntzberger's House of Pain, name the fantasy we will make it a reality," Finn said into Logan's cell.
"Cut the crap Finn...what is this about a party and where is Logan?"
"Rory luv... So good of you to call and not rush over to beat the tar out of me."
"Oh don't worry...I'm working up to that. I do know my mom's grab and twist technique Finn and I'm not afraid to use it."
"Like I told your mum, I say bring on any experience that would cause a Gilmore girl to be touching my tackle," he said in a smarmy tone.
"Your tackle?" Rory said in confusion.
"Now I know you were playing with Logan's tackle this morning so I know you are familiar with the apparatus."
"FINN!" Rory shouted.
There was a scuffle on the other end of the phone. It was rather obvious that the cell had been knocked to the ground and now boys were wrestling near it. "What are... you saying... to my... girlfriend?" she heard Logan growl.
"Just offering... some other bits... to play with man," Finn groaned back.
Eventually someone picked up the phone and there was a long pause before, "Is this Rory?" came through the phone in the form of Colin's voice.
"Yeah...would you mind telling me what is going on with this party or better yet hand the phone to Logan."
"Sorry...I escaped the room with the cell and have now carefully found a place to hide for a while...since Logan doesn't know about the party either," he said quickly.
"He doesn't."
"Nope... This was a Finn invention."
"Why?"
There was the sound of metal doors creaking and then air whirling past before knocking. Rory opened her door to Colin who simply grabbed her elbow and pulled her from her room. "Bye Paris... If they find my body dead somewhere, Colin is the one that accosted me."
"I'll tell the police," Paris answered back.
"But not Logan!" Colin shouted.
"Fine!" the hostile girl called.
In a few minutes Rory found herself in the basement of the Art department. "What are we doing here?" Rory asked.
Colin took her cell phone and looked at her deeply. "We are turning off Logan's phone and my phone. Yours will go off after Logan has made his frantic phone call to you to make sure you are okay."
"Alright why? What is going on?" Rory said sternly.
Colin rolled his eyes and began, "When we got back, I may have tried to talk to Steph as suggested. It turns out there was a huge deal made about our absence last night. Steph found out from some girls at a party that were 'in line' for Logan that you had been identified as the trouble maker in the midst of everything."
"In the midst of everything?" Rory asked.
"Mitchum apparently really is very excited about you and Logan dating and contacted your grandparents on their second honeymoon."
"Oh no..." Rory said sinking down onto one of the stools in the basement.
"Oh yes... Logan's mom has been passing it around her social circles about her son finding a girl that brings out his best qualities...so forth and so on. Those women have talk to their daughters...the one's 'in line'... and there you have the grapevine."
"Okay but what does that have to do with the party?"
Colin rolled his eyes yet again, "We got back and had a ton of messages about such a new development from everyone and then some. We checked in with Paris who was having the same experience. Steph is the one that let us know that several of the girls were going to do their best to put Logan back on the market."
Rory nodded slowly, "I knew that would happen."
"I know," he said softly sitting on a stool next to her. "Finn devised this party thing before we left Star's Hollow. It was just gonna be a few people...mainly the guys we know to put the fear of god or Logan in them...that you were off the market. We know Robert was definitely into you and wanted to make sure no one did anything stupid."
"Like Scott," Rory said softly.
Colin agreed, "Like Scott... Look we trust you. Hell, we even like you. But there are a lot of guys out there that Logan's stepped on the toes of by having girls leave their boyfriends to come to him... Anyway, once we saw what was already happening here we just made it a bigger party."
Rory's cell rang, so she eyed Colin who nodded at her. "Hello?"
"Ace?"
"Hey, Logan. What's up?"
"I wanted to be sure you were okay and not mad about Finn and all," the blond said nervously.
"He's harmless. Everything is fine. Why didn't you call on your cell?" she asked playing coy. Colin gave her a smirk.
"Colin has disappeared and he seems to have kidnapped it... Listen Ace. Has Paris let you know what's happened?"
"In what way?" she asked curiously.
"About the attention our relationship has already drawn?" Logan muttered.
"Yeah...I knew it would happen. I warned you it would."
"I suppose you did... Listen, where are you? I want to see you."
"I'm getting my head together a bit. Come by my room with coffee in twenty and you can see I'm just fine."
"Oh...okay...I guess," he grumbled.
"It's okay Logan... just give me some time."
"Alright I guess...Love you."
"Love you too."
"How'd I do?" Rory asked Colin.
"Smashingly... So since we are short on time, here's the deal. Logan will find out about the party tonight and invite you...Finn might have told him by now. He will know it's in honor of you but no real details so you will be more in the loop than he will."
"I like that... What else?" she smiled.
"Basically we are just going to make you look like the best thing in the world."
"Do I have to dress up?"
"No, this is your speed. Finn went out to...heaven help me... a thrift store and picked us all up some worn jeans for the occasion."
Rory bit her lip to keep from laughing, "Thank you for making the sacrifice."
"Yeah well to pay me back you have to tell me how to get Steph to... I don't know...notice me," Colin said uncomfortably.
"I can do that... but first what do you mean you are going to make me look like the best thing ever?"
He shrugged, "I can't tell you to much, but basically we are just going to make the things that Logan loves about you shine through."
"This is requiring a lot of trust," Rory stated seriously.
"And you think me asking for help with Steph isn't?"
"Good point...Let's get started."
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On her way back to her dorm Rory called her mom to discuss the new developments.
"Do you know I have hung up on my mother eight times from overseas and she still hasn't gotten the picture?" Lorelai stated before Rory even said hello.
"Mitchum and his big mouth," the younger Gilmore grumbled.
"Don't I know it! I have been invited to tea at their house."
"What!" Rory said in shock.
"I know...I told him I thought it was more appropriate for Logan to initiate those sorts of introductions, especially since Mitchum hasn't met you yet. He proceeded to tell me he would call you as well, but I swayed him."
"Really?"
Lorelai was smirking; Rory could just feel it. "Yeah. I said it would probably go a long way with Logan in believing that Mitchum was serious about letting Logan run his life if he in fact got to invite his girlfriend to meet his parents and such."
"What did he say to that?" Rory asked in shock.
"He laughed saying that it must be a Gilmore girl trait that allows us to guide headstrong Huntzberger men from a misguided goal. I told him so far all that I knew you had guided Logan away from was the misguided goal of bedding every woman between 18 and 25 on the eastern seaboard. His response was that in and of itself proved the point."
"Well now your little Australian boyfriend is throwing a party in my honor tomorrow night to help win over the Yale population to accept me as Queen," Rory said with distaste.
"I know... I'll be there," Lorelai said nonchalantly.
"You will."
"Yep... I promise, you are going to have a blast. But you can't let Logan know you knew about it until after you are at the party."
"Alright...well...he's probably already in my room waiting for me."
"Bye hun."
"Bye mom."
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Rory came into her room to find Logan sitting on the sofa. "Your grandmother called twice in the last fifteen minutes," Paris yelled warning.
"I'm not speaking to my grandmother," Rory yelled back.
Paris came to the door, "Yeah well... You get to tell Emily Gilmore to go to hell but I'm not delivering the message for you."
"That's fine... Anything else?" she asked.
"You've turned Huntzberger into a nervous wreck. Oh how the mighty have fallen," Paris said heading into her room. Logan winced at the accusation.
Rory smiled softly and crawled into Logan's lap putting her arms around his neck. "Why the sad face?"
Logan looked at her like she were nuts, "I have no idea what to do now that we're back. I guess I thought it wouldn't be this bad this soon. I suppose I hoped that the pandemonium wouldn't go into full swing until after spring break."
"Hey...we're in this together," she murmured quietly as he wrapped his arms around her middle.
"Yeah."
"You jump, I jump, right?" Rory whispered very close to his mouth.
"You jump, I jump," Logan repeated before kissing her gently. He kept the kiss very chaste and sweet.
Rory pressed her forehead to his, "We're good."
Logan smiled, "We're good...Oh, there is going to be a party tomorrow night, Finn's idea. Give a bunch of our supposed friends a chance to see us together...I can cancel it if you want."
"No, that's a good plan," she uttered with her head still pressed to Logan's. "The more people that see this is for real, the more guys will be happy you are off the market and hopefully help control the female groupie population."
Logan smirked, "Practical...always practical... You know the female groupie population has got nothing on you right?"
Rory smiled, "I know... Just don't underestimate what lengths some of them will be willing to go. I wasn't kidding about the parties I will study through. You will be on your own...and you will have to stay in enough control to make good choices."
"So...how bout I have an alcohol limit for non-Rory parties."
"That might be a plan."
Logan suddenly groaned having remembered something, "I hate to do this to you so soon but my dad is really pushing to meet you. If you're willing to do the coffee thing with dad, I think I can put off the inevitable dinner at the Huntzberger estate for a little while."
"Can it wait until after exams?"
"The dinner can wait until after exams but the coffee pretty much needs to be Monday."
"Coffee Monday it is then," Rory murmured before kissing Logan again.
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Rory hadn't completely shut the door to her room when she entered, which made it easy for Marty to observe the couple pretty much without problem. He knocked gently alerting the couple to his presence. "Hey... I came by to see if the rumors were true. I guess they are," Marty said quietly. He was shifting his feet back and forth a bit not knowing if he should stay or go.
Logan cleared his throat, "If you mean the rumor about us together, then you're right. The rumor about us being engaged is completely untrue. The rumor about the Gilmore and Huntzberger merger is also unfounded...as is the rumor that Rory is pregnant. I think those were all the major ones I heard," he said thoughtfully.
"Ah..." Marty nodded looking at Logan strangely.
"Listen, Marty, we are having a party tomorrow night at my room...at least that's where I think it is. You being one of Ace's best friends...it would be really great if you could come and support us. There aren't to many people happy for us right now. In fact on campus I can think of three definite encouraging people and those are all on my side of this. Pretty much everyone else seems to be against it."
Paris came to her door, "Hey, I'm not against it. I just wish I had a little warning before the plague of the socialites set in without my expressed consent."
Logan turned back to Marty, "As I said...not many people are up with this. It would mean a lot if you would be there."
Marty looked passed Logan to Rory. "Can I talk to you a second?" he said gesturing to Rory's room.
"A...sure... I'll be right back," she said getting out of Logan's lap and heading for her room followed by Marty.
There was a pained look on Logan's face as they left.
"Huntzberger..." Paris called getting Logan's attention. "Don't worry. He's not going to talk her out of this."
He shrugged, "Yeah...its just... I don't do insecure well."
Paris gave him a half smile, "She loves you...and when she loves, it's with her whole heart. I put her through hell when I first met her and she became my best friend. Even once we became friends and I would be horrible to her, she never gave up on me... Now I am not in anyway saying she would take your sorry ass back if you screwed around on her, but I am saying you don't need to worry about her bailing on you now that she has made a commitment to you."
"Thanks..." Logan said with a smile. "You'll come tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah...Rory's happy. I'm happy."
Logan nodded.
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Marty was pacing a bit as Rory stood watching him. "You're together?" Marty asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"You believe he's going to be faithful to you?"
"I have to or I couldn't make this commitment Marty."
He came over and stood in front of her, "I don't get it. I mean... I... when..."
Rory just shrugged, "We have been together exclusively for not even forty-eight hours, but he's Logan Huntzberger so this is a big deal."
"He has been with so many girls...I just..."
"I don't have the most innocent history either Marty, despite popular opinion. I can only deal with what is happening with us. If I hold the past against him then I have to be prepared for the same... I know you don't like him or them, but I mean... he came to my town. Everyone interrogated him. He knows how angry I am with all of them for their superior attitudes...and he is trying to change it."
"I just don't trust him," he said shaking his head.
"And you have no reason to...but I do," she stated clearly.
They stared at one another for a while before Rory said, "It really would mean a lot if you would come tomorrow."
"You want me there?" Marty clarified.
"Yeah...and if Colin makes one snide comment to you I will kick his ass," she said half joking.
"Somehow I don't think he will find that too intimidating."
"Like hell he won't. He saw me knee my former boyfriend in the groin this morning. He lives in fear of me."
Marty laughed a little. "Okay...I will see you tomorrow night."
"Good."
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Rory shut the door behind Marty and turned to see Logan standing behind her. He had a very serious look on his face. "What's up Logie?" she teased.
He smirked, "Just want to know I am still the boyfriend." Logan wrapped his arms around her waist drawing her to him.
Rory settled her arms around his neck. "You are very much still the boyfriend."
"Good," he whispered and dropped a light kiss on her lips.
There was music playing in the background that was soft and slow. The couple danced together cheek to cheek happy to be in each other's arms.
Paris gave a small smile from her doorway. Rory was happy so she was happy.
TBC...
A/N: Not so funny as last time but it sets everything up that is to follow.
Now class: Please REVIEW over the hiatus. It is very important you REVIEW your materials so when class is back in session you are prepared. Oh...whatever, just REVIEW to make the invalid happy. Thanks for the support.
