Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything up to Jews and Chinese Food is fair game. Past that, it's just where my mind takes over.
Teaser: When Rory and Logan's arrangement goes prematurely sour, his friends take it upon themselves to intervene. Sequel to Keeping it Casual
Story Title: Nothing A Good Friend Wouldn't Do
Chapter Title: The Welcoming Committee
AN: All weekend spent out of town. Not conducive to writing. But here you go: another chapter. To all of you who so faithfully review, thank you and I believe this story will be wrapping up in the next couple (two or three) chapters. Just a warning. Here's the next installment!
"Say it again," he prodded her childishly, reveling in her having totaled the figure and calculated the mean, median and every other statistic therein that she could on the long flight home.
"You heard me the first five times, I believe," she shook her head in the passenger seat, not giving him eye contact that he desired as he neared their exit on the highway. "And pay attention to the road, lots of animals hop out of nowhere along this stretch of road," she instructed.
"Hopping animals? Like rabbits and frogs?"
"I got hit by a deer once along here somewhere."
"You hit a deer with your car?"
"No, a deer hit my car. There is a difference," she said, sounding rather agitated about the whole ordeal, for whatever reason she wasn't pontificating about.
"Fine. I won't ask about the deer if you tell me one more time."
"Logan, you were there. You know very well how many times we had sex this past week."
He smiled, and she begrudgingly met his very satisfied gaze. "At least tell me it was some sort of record," she said, sounding more timid than she would have liked. It was no secret that it was very much a record for her.
He put his hand over hers that rested lightly on his leg, and squeezed it. "You think I'm some sort of man-whore? Of course that was a record. Besides, having the whole beach to ourselves like that, exactly how was I supposed to hold myself back?"
She gave a faint blush, and he noticed that her cheeks didn't quite flame as crimson as they used to when they first started interacting months ago. "If you held yourself back, I'd like to know when," she teased him.
"I'll let you know if it ever happens," he assured her as he slowed the car down to match the snail's pace of a speed limit that was heavily enforced in her hometown. "It's not too late to turn around," he informed her.
"I have to stop by home. Besides, I need to do all this laundry and pick up a few things."
Logan nodded, and continued driving in relative silence. He looked over at her, and watched as she looked out the window anxiously, viewing the goings on in her small town. The corners of her mouth would upturn slightly in recognition or amusement (or perhaps both) causing him to follow her gaze to whichever person she'd spotted. Finally he brought the car to rest outside her mother's house, and his own breath was taken away upon looking out the window at the view.
"Whose car is that?" Rory asked as they opened their doors.
"It's," he began, but he stopped as the front door opened to reveal her mother standing next to his father.
"I think you two should get inside. Now," Mitchum said with more than an air of authority. Logan looked to Rory, whose mouth was gaping open just as far as his own was. This wasn't a turn either of them expected.
"Logan," Rory hurried over to him as their parents had shut the door and moved inside to let them gather their belongings first. "What's he doing here?"
"I have no idea."
"Okay, but is this good or bad?"
"If I had to guess, I'd go with bad. Very, very bad."
"I think I'll take you up on that going back option," she murmured, looking back at the closed door.
Logan let out a soft laugh. "Would that I could, Ace."
"Right. We'll just go in, and it'll be fine."
"You're not so convincing."
"I'll work on that. Let's go."
He nodded and lifted her bag out of the trunk, carrying it up the steps and entering the house cautiously behind her, preparing himself for the worst possible situation.
XXXX
"So, did you have a nice trip?" Lorelai asked the pair, trying to send a covert glance to Mitchum. They were standing side by side in front of the hand-holding pair that was seated at an almost scandalous proximity on the couch.
"Mom," Rory said, having taken a breath of courage.
"You know what is amazing to me, Logan?" Mitchum piped up, sounding as if he was truly amazed at the realization he was about to share.
Rory felt Logan's weight shift uncomfortably into her, and she squeezed his hand.
"I'm amazed that when I called Ms. Gilmore here to inform her of her daughter's whereabouts, figuring it was the polite thing to do seeing as I found out that you had taken off without notice to Fiji, that she didn't seem all that shocked. In fact, I believe her exact words were: 'What are you, stalking my child? Because if you are, I'm going to call the cops, and if not, I have things to do, like making sure Michel isn't scaring away my customers.'"
Rory held in a smile, but caught her mother's eye. Logan held his father's gaze, despite the growing feeling that this had spiraled out of control long before they landed back in the States.
"Now, after I explained to Lorelai who I was, and she explained that Rory here had the respect and the foresight to call and let her know that she was taking off for a week with you, I should have been embarrassed at my son's behavior, but sadly, I wasn't even shocked. When are you going to stop doing things like this? And dragging Rory along with you? What were you thinking?"
"Dad, stop. We just wanted to get away."
"Away? From what? The harsh realities of college life? The pampered lifestyle that weighs on you during your days of having to get yourself to class should you choose to attend?"
"We've had a lot--," Rory jumped in, not liking the sight of Mitchum make light of Logan's life, or the feeling of Logan beside her catching the words his father was throwing at him.
"What did you expect, Dad? When you call me, Rory, Richard, and everyone else in our lives and have them call to hassle us about where this is going?" Logan found his voice quickly, not wanting Rory to have to haggle with his father. Not that he doubted her abilities, but it wasn't her fight, and he had the most experience in exchanging words with the man.
"I did no such thing."
"So, Richard came up with the golf idea on his own?"
"What golf idea?" Lorelai chimed in, also not liking her parents' involvement in Rory and Logan's relationship. "Do not get roped in by them, they'd have you married off by Friday," she shook her head in displeasure.
"Mom, it's fine," Rory insisted.
"It's not fine! If it were fine, you wouldn't have blown off classes to go to Fiji for the week. Classes, Rory. You've never blown off classes for anything. You would have gone to school with the mumps or bad bangs when you were little," she rambled.
"That's not true. Are you forgetting when I went to New York?"
"This has happened before?" Mitchum glared at Logan.
"Don't bring Jess into this; this is about you, Rory."
"I know it's about me, Mom. Actually, no, it's not. This is about Logan and me."
He held her hand tighter now, willing her to remember what they'd decided during their week of seclusion. They were a united front. They trusted one another to represent the other in their absence. He would back her up, no matter what, if she'd do the same for him. They were in this, not because they owed it to their friends after the debacle that was their getting together, but because it was right. They'd struggled against it so hard, because they hadn't wanted to give in to the unknown of what would happen. They knew it would be something bigger than either could imagine, and it was. Together it was so much better, scarier, and encompassing than they'd thought. But they did agree that the struggle was over. They were together now, and nothing would stop them.
"Logan, you haven't thought about any of this. This can't happen."
"It has happened. We have done nothing but think about this."
"What has happened, exactly?" Lorelai asked, knowing from her daughter's inability to meet anyone's eyes but Logan's meant something was more than up. It was orbiting around them.
"Oh my God. You didn't," Mitchum's face visibly paled.
"What?" Lorelai looked from the man next to her to the pair on the couch. "You did what?" she repeated at a louder decibel, not needing to remind anyone that her patience was growing thin on the being out of the loop front.
"You got married!"
"No!" the pair responded in like surprise and negation.
"I need to sit. Sitting is now necessary," Lorelai repeated to herself, as Mitchum pulled up a chair for her. He remained standing, his hand resting on the back of the chair that Lorelai had slumped into.
"Mom, I need you to stay calm, okay?"
"Rory, I swear to God, I know I said I'd be behind you on this, but if you don't finish school, or--," she shook her head sadly.
"I'm going to finish school—we both are," she said, looking up to Mitchum in an act of bravery. "It's just that as we finish school, we'll be sharing a residence."
Silence met her statement. Logan looked from her to the people who had just moments before been ready to read them every riot act in the book, including a few that they made up on the fly. Both seemed quite capable to make up new and inventive ways to rant and ramble on about the star-crossed lover type aspect of this union.
"I'm sorry, I misheard you on account of the stroke," Lorelai smiled sweetly. "Can you repeat that last sentence for me?"
"We're going to move in together," Logan reiterated.
"Like hell," Mitchum crossed his arms.
"We aren't asking your permission."
"Just for my money?"
"You act like I have none of my own, and as if I have no means of income."
"Emily is going to blame me for this," Lorelai blurted out.
"What? Blame you for what? She loves Logan," Rory reminded her.
Lorelai shook her head. "She wants you to marry Logan and lead a society life, Rory, she doesn't want you to shack up with him. They aren't going to pay for your rent, how are you going to live?"
"She doesn't have to worry about that," Logan said.
"Yes, she does. She doesn't live on handouts," Lorelai spat back.
Rory stood up. "I think it's time to go."
"We are not finished discussing this," Mitchum informed her, looking her dead in the eyes.
"He's right, we're not," Logan agreed, standing up next to Rory, averting his father's gaze to him. "Tell me what is so wrong with this relationship, Dad. Tell me right here, right now."
Mitchum glared at his son, "You know the issues your mother and I have with this."
"Enlighten me."
"Your mother and I feel there are better matches out there for you. Other women who will be of better assistance to you when you take over the company, which you will be doing."
"Excuse me," Lorelai said, getting a second wind as she stood up. "Just what isn't good enough about my daughter?"
Mitchum sighed. "Honestly, Lorelai, you grew up in that world. You know you didn't raise Rory to live this life, do you honestly want her to get into it now?"
Lorelai held in whatever seething comment was just at the tip of her tongue, Rory could tell. Her hands flew to her hips, however, unable to hold the action back.
"I want her to be happy. And if your son honestly makes her happy, then I'll support that. I'm not crazy about her having to deal with people like you, who look down their noses at people because they don't drive the right car or have the highest priced designer clothing, but it's her call. I also won't let her compromise her goals, and so help me, if your son gets in the way of that, I will not tolerate it."
"There is nothing wrong with working hard and earning a good living," Mitchum retorted.
"And that is exactly what I do, and what Rory will do. She's a better person than any of the people I ever knew growing up."
"Lorelai's right, Dad, and if you and Mom choose not to see that, I suppose there's nothing I can do about it, but I won't listen to it, either."
"Mom, we should get going. I'll call you later," Rory moved from Logan's side for the first time since arriving in the house, to kiss her mother on the cheek. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're welcome," she squeezed her daughter tightly before letting go.
"We'll be having a gathering, to announce this news to everyone, we'd appreciate if you kept this to yourselves until then," Logan said, not moving to say goodbye to his father.
"Logan, we still have things to discuss," Mitchum informed him.
"If it's about business, fine. But we're done discussing my personal life," he didn't blink as he gave his final word. He turned to Lorelai and smiled. "Thank you," he said sincerely, glad that they had one person in their corner that wasn't pushing them in any direction they weren't willing to go.
Lorelai nodded, giving him a small smile. "Get her back to school, before she implodes or something," she teased.
Logan took Rory's bag back in his hand, following her out of her mother's house. Once outside, he placed it back in the trunk of his car and moved to open the door for her. She turned her back to lean against the open frame of the car.
"Sorry about your laundry."
She shrugged. "Can you make change for a ten?" she teased.
"I'll see what I can scrounge up. Quarters are like gold," he smirked.
"That was insane."
"But it's over."
"Now we just have to tell everyone else."
He nodded. "You're still up for everything?"
She gave a smile that warmed him and reeled him in closer at the same time. "Yeah. I think you're worth it."
He leaned in and kissed her, his arms sliding around to grasp her waist as tightly as he dared without cutting off her ability to breathe. She leaned into him, the sweet pressure of her weight meshing into his chest, returning the passion that he directed at her.
XXXX
"If he's anything like you, I think it'd do best for you to just accept this," Lorelai said as she and Mitchum stood in her living room, looking out the front window at the pair of oblivious lovers as they continued kissing against the car.
"You don't understand my family dynamic," he sighed as he continued to watch his obviously happy son through the window.
"They're something apart from my family and your family," she said with a bittersweet smile. "They're this new blend of the two. Are you so sure that isn't a good thing?" she asked, tearing her eyes from her daughter to look at the now speechless man next to her.
"I should go."
Lorelai nodded. "It was nice to meet you."
He extended a hand to shake hers, and let himself out the front door.
XXXX
"What's this?" Colin held up the envelope Rory had dropped in his lap before depositing one over Finn's shoulder as well.
"First round of invites."
"Does this make us the A list?" Finn asked.
"Actually it makes you the 'no postage needed' list. Thanks for saving me stamps," she smiled as she sat down at the coffee table with a pen and pulled out a book of stamps with the smallish stack of matching envelopes.
"Oh my God. You did it," Colin sat up, causing Rory to look at him in surprise.
"Did what?"
"Got him to bite the bullet. Let me see your left hand."
Rory giggled. "These aren't wedding invitations."
"What is it, then?" he held up the envelope, as if he were incapable of opening it.
"I don't know, Amazing Kreskin, you tell me."
"I think you should take over Logan's room, love, you're much more entertaining," Finn informed her as he tossed his envelope next to him on the couch.
"What about better looking?" she batted her eyelashes at him playfully.
"Goes without saying," he said as if she should have known, as he picked up his bowl of cereal and commenced eating.
"Aren't you going to open the envelope?" Colin asked, clearly agitated at his friend's behavior.
"It's a party of some kind, yes? Count me in," he said, looking at Rory. "There, I've RSVPed," he informed Colin.
"Jesus," Colin swore ripping open the cream-colored paper. He scanned the words and frowned. "This is vague."
Rory shrugged. "It is what it is."
"When will Logan be back?" he asked.
"Not sure."
"Why are you here?"
"I have stuff to do. Don't let me interrupt you, go on about your normal business. Walk around in your underwear, scratch yourself, talk about women; really don't let me stop you," she told him without taking her eyes off her handiwork as she continued to address and stamp the envelopes.
Colin looked at her in disbelief. "What exactly do you think we are, apes?"
"Can you keep it down, though? I sort of need to concentrate," she looked up at him expectantly. He let out a hassled groan and went into his room, causing Finn to laugh out loud.
"Yes, I do like it when you're here," he nodded as he flipped on the television, watching in silence as Rory went on about her task.
