Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, though I wish I was the genius who does!

Chapter 7

The next day was easier. Rory got up, showered, and dressed all before nine, and joined her mother in yet another one of their daily trips to Luke's. Though she was struggling internally, she showed none of her pain and despair through her actions. As the pair walked down the street, the sun greeted them joyfully, lifting their spirits through its warmth. They entered the familiar establishment and took a seat at the counter. At that moment, Luke came out from the back, a smile on his face.

"Well, somebody is pulling a Mr. Rogers this morning. Take some happy pills, or something?" Lorelai asked facetiously, hoping to get some sort of rise of him.

"Nope. There were no narcotics involved in my morning routine this morning, I promise. I'm just in a particularly good mood. No rhyme or reason to it, I just am," he replied as he poured the girls coffee. Lorelai and Rory exchanged a look of confusion, but chose not to question it. These moods were rare and they didn't want to do anything to affect it. "We're still on for tonight, right Lorelai?" Luke asked as he wiped down the countertop in front of him.

"Of course, Lukey," Lorelai replied in a baby voice. Luke looked up at her and stared for a moment. Lorelai expected a snarl or growl of some sort, but to her surprise, her boyfriend reached over and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Um, thanks?" Lorelai said, very confused at this point in her life. She turned to Rory who sat in the seat next to her, perfectly content with her warm mug of java. "So what do you think? Did aliens abduct him? Or did Taylor's army of man-eating clones attack and brainwash him with thoughts of taffy and soda shops?"

"I think either are a possibility. But the Taylor thing seems a lot more practical," Rory said, playing along with her mother's bit and seemingly enjoying it. Lorelai smiled, happy to see her daughter not quite as zombie-like as she had been the last day and a half.

"So Luke? What's the verdict?"

"Huh?" Luke replied, distracted by something unknown.

"What happened to you? Was it the aliens? Or Taylor?" Lorelai said as if the question was completely obvious and normal.

"I'll never tell," he said freakishly, much like the girl in Don't Say A Word.

"Oh, that was creepy," Lorelai replied with a shudder. She then stood up as she drained the last bit of her coffee. "Well, we better get going. I've got to ship this one back pretty soon," she said, nodding in the direction of Rory, " and I want to squeeze out every possible moment I can." Rory stood as Lorelai leaned over to give Luke a soft kiss on the lips. "See you later, Elisabeth Burrows," she commented with a laugh.

"Who?" Luke asked, perplexed by the name.

"I am shocked by you Lucas! Don't use a pop culture reference if you don't know what you are talking about!" she replied facetiously. With a wink, she made her way out of the diner, Rory acting as the leader. "See you tonight!" Lorelai called as she closed the diner door behind her.

"Yeah," Luke murmured with a smile as he watched the Gilmore girls walk down the street, "see you tonight." Luke turned and walked in the back, a mischievous smile plastered on his face.

"So, what do you want to do today, kid? I know you only have a couple of hours until you want to get back to Yale, but I thought maybe me could shop around town, go to the bookstore, and then hit up Al's for the international food of the week."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," Rory replied. Lorelai smiled and put her left arm around her daughter. The two continued to walk down the street, sunlight streaming down onto their shiny brunette hair. They walked towards the bookstore and just as they arrived at the entrance, they saw Logan walking in the opposite direction, right towards them. Rory stopped dead and Lorelai followed suit. Not seeing them at first, Logan continued to walk at a brisk pace. But as soon as he spotted Rory, he stopped short.

"Rory, honey, why don't you go in the bookstore."

"Mom, no. I don't need you to fight my battles for me. I can handle this, I promise." Rory said, a note of agitation in her voice.

"Rory," Lorelai began turning toward her daughter, "please. I just want to talk to him on my own." Rory sighed heavily, and stared at Logan, who stood fifty feet away from them, staring at her in dead silence. She flexed her jaw in frustration.

"Fine," she huffed, making her way into the store.

"Rory, wait!" Logan called, running up to the entrance.

"No Logan, you wait," Lorelai replied angrily. "Look, I want to talk to you about this. Do you realize what you have done to her? She's been walking around for the last day and a half with some dazed expression and she's so hurt that she can't even mask it. Usually, she can hide her feelings from me but this time they're at such a caliber there is nothing she can do to avoid them. And finally, just finally, she comes around today and she starts to act a little more normal than she was yesterday, and you show up to ruin it again? I don't think so pal. I think you need to give her some more time to cool off before you come running in, thinking that she'll forgive you. She's not going to accept your apology quite so easily. She's been hurt too many times and I'm not going to let you do it to her again. I just won't accept it."

"You have no right-" Logan began, trying to get a word in. But the four measly words he was able to release just made Lorelai angrier.

"I have no right? I'm her mother. You better believe I have the right! She's my daughter and my best friend and if I feel the need to protect her, I will. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" At this point, Lorelai fully intended to walk away from this boy, and leave him to contemplate what she had just said. But when she finally took the time to look at Logan, she saw in his eyes that he was hurt and honestly in pain. She took a deep breath and gave him a somewhat sympathetic look. The two stood in silence for a moment, neither of them making an attempt at taking a step forward in this situation.

"I…" Logan began warily, not exactly sure what he should say. "I didn't mean to hurt her. I mean, I thought what I was saying was a joke and I didn't know it was so sensitive to her. If I had known that she was going to react the way she did, I would have never said it. But at the same time, she's the one who ended it, not me. She's the one who slammed the door in my face with a firm goodbye after she gave me the cold shoulder for a full twenty minutes and then forced me to chase her through the courtyard. And then I come here yesterday to try to fix things and apologize, and all she does is run away from me again and then tell me that I don't fully comprehend the situation. Maybe I don't understand the main issue here. But at the same time, she won't help me to understand." Logan ended his rant, and stared at the ground, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the concrete sidewalk. Lorelai stared at him, unsure of how to respond. One half of her just wanted to kick him where it counts and deprive him of ever bearing children, and the other half wanted to bring him to Rory and help the couple fix things. But as she contemplates her feelings, Logan began to speak again.

"I came back here today because I was up all last night thinking about the fact that I cannot let this end. She honestly means the world to me and yesterday she told me that she wasn't willing to lose me. And I am not, under any circumstances, going to let her go. I've come too far and care too much to let her go. I just will not let it happen." Logan sighed, and leaned up against the wall of the building beside him. Lorelai stared at him intently.

"Logan," Lorelai said, biting her lip, "I think that you should go back to Yale and wait for her. I want to keep her in town for a couple more hours, but I promise that she'll be back by late afternoon and then you guys can talk and whatnot. Because even though part of me wants to kill you right now, I'm sure that feeling will eventually pass and my entire body will know that you are good for her." Lorelai stood there, tucking her hair behind her ears as she stood, waiting for Logan to accept her proposal. Logan stared past Lorelai's face at an object in the distance, obviously trying to decide what he should do. Finally, he looked at Lorelai demurely.

"Fine, I'll do that." He sighed heavily as he ran his fingers through his locks of golden blonde hair. Without a word, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away, his head hanging in sorrow.

Lorelai watched as he descended down the street. She couldn't quite figure out what this relationship between Logan and Rory could become. It started out perfect, but all of a sudden it seemed to be falling in a downward spiral. There had to be something that could give both Rory and Logan what they truly wanted.

Rory and her mother had spent the day together doing ordinary, everyday things. Neither of them mentioned what happened with Lorelai and Logan outside the bookstore. Lorelai had offered no information, and Rory had asked for none. They had just spent the day together in peaceful bliss, ignoring the fact that there was an issue hanging over their heads. And it wasn't until Rory pulled back into Yale that she realized she was going to have to step outside of her world of make-believe, and accept the issues that reality had handed her.

She approached her dorm, key in hand, breathing slowly. She knew that if nothing else, there would be a message or two from Logan, requesting that they discuss the current concern that lay before them. Rory turned the knob to her communal dorm room, the heavy and weathered oak greeting her with its immensity. As the room welcomed her back after a weekend of absence, Rory saw nothing, and heard nothing. She saw no red light blinking on her answering machine, no used tissues strewn about the floor where she knew she had left them the night her mother rescued her from herself. Boy, did that seem like it was a million years ago. Feeling a little bit better, she made her way into her own personal room. She put down her things and lay down on her bed. Staring up at the ceiling that had coaxed her to sleep many a time, she thought about the fact that school was over. The fact that she was still here was strange and she became overwhelmed by the space restraints and the way this place was making her feel. Rory jumped off her bed and began to pack up her belongings. Tomorrow, she would take all of her things and make her way back to Stars Hollow, where she would reside for the summer. She smiled as she pulled open her closet doors and began to make piles on her bed. Even though she had tried so hard to keep her room in order, her closet was full to the brim with clutter and things that she didn't really need.

Rory continued to work diligently until the silence of the dorm room began to drive her insane. She went out into the community room, planning to crank some tunes. Just as she reached the stereo, she heard a firm knock on the door. She stopped short, knowing that it could only be one person. But he was someone she had to greet, for they had to fix the problem that they were treading in. So with a brave smile, she pulled open the door.

"Hey, Lo-" Rory began, but as she realized that the person in front of her was not Logan, she stopped short. The person that was taking up the space in her doorframe was not Logan. It was not Logan at all.

A/N: How you are enjoying? Should I continue? Please let me know. I love love love reviews! Thank you so much for all your input so far. It's greatly appreciated!