Puppet Master

Light suddenly streamed rudely into Rory's room, accompanied by a frenzied scream. "Gilmore! Where were you last night? I was worried sick!"

Even in her drowsy state, Rory smirked at Paris' irritation. "I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't realize I had to check in with you."

"Don't be obtuse, Rory. It doesn't suit you."

"Did you need something, Paris? Because if you don't, I'm tired, and would appreciate some more sleep."

Paris rolled her eyes. "You always need more sleep. Let me ask again, where were you last night?"

"Stars Hollow."

"With who?" prodded Paris, with a knowing grin.

Rory sat up. "What do you know, Paris?"

Paris shrugged. "Huntzberger dropped you off last night."

Rory nodded. "Yup!"

"Did he go to Stars Hollow with you?"

Again, Rory nodded.

Paris sat down on the edge of Rory's bed. "I didn't know you guys were getting that serious?"

Rory just looked at her. "He wanted to come."

"And you didn't warn him away? Did he know what he was getting into?"

"Nope, and nope. He wanted to come, I let him."

Paris shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm having trouble imagining Logan Huntzberger in Stars Hollow. How did he do?"

"He did fine." Rory paused, debating what to tell Paris. She sighed. "He got along just fabulously with my mother."

Paris narrowed her eyes at Rory. "That wasn't sarcasm, but do I detect a trace of bitterness in there?"

"I'm okay. I just didn't expect them to get along so well. They have more in common with each other than I have with either of them."

Paris chuckled. "First of all, you have half of your mother's DNA, and that's more in common with her than Logan has." Before Rory could argue that that wasn't what she meant, Paris continued. "And besides, they both love you. That's enough to bond anybody."

"Not anybody," said Rory, thinking of her mother's animosity towards Jess. "Wait, Logan doesn't love me!"

Paris sighed, exasperated. "You are so oblivious."

"He doesn't."

"He does too."

"He does not!"

Paris threw her hands up in the air. "I am not going to play that game with you this morning, Gilmore. But he does. It's obvious. Period. End of discussion."

Rory stayed silent.

"So other than the fact that Lorelai and Logan have too much in common, how was your night?"

"It was okay," said Rory, obviously trying to forget her sojourn into self-pity land. "Hey, you know how Doyle said that Logan took last year off to gallivant around the world and sink his father's yacht?"

Paris nodded slowly, head spinning at the abrupt change of topic.

"Well, I got the story straight from the horse's mouth!"

Rory's excitement was catching, and even though she wasn't really interested in the story, the reporter in Paris recognized the possibilities this presented. "Yeah?"

"Here's the way Logan explained it to me. Three important lessons were learned in Fiji. One: Vodka, rum, and bourbon don't mix. Two: Anchors need to come up when you want to go somewhere. Three: Never let Finn captain a boat."

Colin woke up, groggy. He couldn't for the life of him, remember how he had gotten home the night before. Speaking of that….he opened his eyes carefully. Yes, he confirmed, he was in his own room. He let out a sigh of relief. At least he hadn't done something completely stupid and slept with Stephanie.

He turned to roll over, but found that a heavy weight was making that impossible. His eyes opened wider, and he looked warily down. Stephanie. His heart sunk.

He groaned in frustration at himself and reached down to disentangle himself from her. As he did so, he realized belatedly that both were fully dressed. His heart returned to its usual place.

He padded over to the door, and opened it to the common room. Light abruptly hit his eyes, but he concealed his moan until he had shut the door behind him. His eyes closed, he dragged himself over to the couch and moved to lie down.

"Hey!" came a surprised Aussie voice.

Abruptly, Colin opened his eyes to find himself practically on top of his roommate. Halfheartedly, he muttered an apology and moved to the other end of the couch before closing his eyes again.

He could feel Finn watching him, and opened one eye. Finn's face swam into view.

"What's wrong, mate? You look….well, you look like me!"

Colin emitted an ungentlemanly snort, and instantly regretted it. "What does the sun think it's doing out this early?"

Finn laughed delightedly. "You sound like me too!"

"That should concern me, but oddly enough, it doesn't," commented Colin laboriously, rubbing his eyes.

"Good," Finn nodded decisively, folding his newspaper. It was only then that Colin took in his roommate's position.

"Finn? Maybe I'm missing something here, but why are you on the couch, reading a newspaper at…" he trailed off to glance at his Rolex. "7:39 am on a weekday?"

"Well," began Finn, "both of my roommates were out until all hours of the morning last night, and I thought I'd wait up to see how you were both feeling this morning."

"How considerate of you," drawled Colin. "Wait, Logan was out late too?"

"Not nearly as late as you were, of course, but that goes without saying."

Finn was talking much to fast for Colin, who seemed to have a hangover despite Stephanie's threat of making him be the designated driver. "Why? How late were we out?"

Finn shrugged. "I fell asleep at about 3 and you still weren't home yet."

"Where did Logan go?" asked Colin wearily, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

"To Rory's hometown, I think he said."

"Meet the parents?" Colin gasped.

"You really do sound like me! That's exactly what I asked."

"What did he say?"

"He didn't say, just went to his room."

Their speculation on Logan's night was cut off as a door opened. Logan walked into the room, went over the kitchenette and poured himself a cup of coffee. As he savored the flavor, trying to figure out exactly what it was about the drink that captivated Rory so much, he looked up. Both Finn and Colin were staring at him intently. "What?"

AN: Hey guys! I'm back. Let me know what you think! Please- Rebecca