Title: Another Round
Chapter 8, WIP
Rating: PG/PG-13
Parings: Rory/Logan, Rory/Jess, Lorelai/Luke
Spoilers: Nov 22nd's episode
Disclaimer: No profit is being made from this story. All rights and characters are owned by the genius mind of Amy Sherman-Palladino and her writers and the WB.

"Yes, unless you want to go somewhere else," Lorelai said as she dropped the cookbook into her purse so she wouldn't have to carry it. "Sookie will be so excited, I bet she'll end up dropping whatever she's cooking when she sees you."

"Sookie's it is." Rory said, and they began to walk in that direction. "So are you dying to get the dirt? You can go ahead and ask."

"Dirt?" Lorelai asked innocently, "what dirt? I know of no dirt. Do we need to invest in a vacuum cleaner or one of those swiffer things, they look really neat but have that gross cloth and that annoying woman trying to sell them." She looked over at Rory hoping she'd launch into an explanation.

"Ooh and those annoying kids coming up to the doors with the swiffer cloth all dirty!" Rory said, nodding.

"Yeah," Lorelai made a face, "creepy commercial. I mean seriously what kids want to clean with one of those things? They need to get a new ad-agency, and more believable commercials."

"Well, it's not believable, no, but it almost makes you want to go out and buy one just to see if it works that well." Rory said.

"Gah!" Lorelai said turning to face Rory with a scared look on her face, "what have you done with my daughter you alien body-stealer?"

"I bet if I went home that I would find one hiding somewhere, huh?" Rory laughed.

Lorelai gasped, "Of course you wouldn't. Not unless a house elf left it, and I think that I had the place exterminated for house elves, unless of course they moved in with Luke...or the renovator guys. But I did not put a swiffer in the house."

"You think it was Paul Anka then? Cause I found one under my bed this morning," Rory told her, as they spotted the Inn.

"Poor Paul Anka, he was sick for awhile, I was afraid that he was going the way of the hamster, but Luke said he'd be okay, and he was." Lorelai said changing the subject. "So dirt?" she asked.

Rory shrugged. "You're the one who wants to know it."

"Do you want to tell me?" Lorelai asked, "or do i have to blackmail you?"

"Ooh, blackmail. That's an interesting idea. What exactly would you blackmail me with?" Rory asked curiously.

"Um...that time, when you had the funeral for the caterpillar. Ooh ooh, or the time that you took the coffee mug from Luke's and left it in the bookstore." Lorelai looked at her accusingly, "I'm sure that would get you cut off from the coffee for at least a week."

Rory gasped. "The caterpillar funeral was only common courtesy, you can't hold that against me." She paused. "And you left the coffee cup in the bookstore!"

"I don't think so, missy," Lorelai accused, "I handed you the cup before we went in, and look, now it's gone. I didn't have it, so you must have left it."

"Mom! It was your cup. Oh dear, we have to go back in get it. But we're almost at the Inn. Oy with the poodles already." Rory laughed. "We haven't said that in such a long time."

Lorelai laughed, "Those poor poodles must have missed us. And don't worry about the cup, everyone knows what Luke's coffee cups look like, I'm sure someone will drop it off for us."

"Are you sure? You told him you'd return it. Oh well, you're the fiancee, you get special rules, I guess," Rory said with a nod.

"Yes," nodded Lorelai, "I do. I can even raid his underwear drawer if I want to." she grinned evilly, "did you know that he has a pair of boxers with penguins on them."

"Penguins? Huh. I always thought he'd be more of a hearts guy. Oooh are they flannel?" Rory asked with a grin.

"Amazingly no," Lorelai said, "and he looks very good when he's not in flannel."

Rory shuddered. "Oh my gosh! Mom! The visual! Ewwwww! Ewww! Ahh! That was horrible!"

"Sorry," Lorelai apologized, "it's true though." She smirked. "To Sookie we shall go," she said as she opened the front door to the inn.

They walked to the kitchen and Rory went in quickly. "Sookie! Sookie i'm back!" Rory watched as Sookie dropped the pot in her hand.

"Ooh, Rory, honey, you're home!" She pulled her into a hug.

"Told ya," Lorelai said quietly to Rory who was being hugged very aggressively by Sookie. "She's back Sookie!" Lorelai exclaimed happily to her friend who was suffocating her daugheter, "But she might be six feet under if you don't loosen up a bit."

"Oh. Whoops." Sookie released her grip. "Ooh, what do you want to eat, babe? I'll make you anything you want. Everyone, drop everything."

Another pan crashed to the floor.

Sookie sighed. "People, people, I didn't mean literally."

"Um... I don't really-"

Sookie cut her off. "How about a homemade pizza? Yes, ooh, everyone, start making a homemade pepperoni pizza!"

Lorelai smiled at Rory. "Sookie, you don't have to go through all that trouble really."

"Oh, of course I do. You two just hang around for an hour or so, and it'll be ready." Sookie said and started busying herself with the cooking.

Rory looked at Lorelai. "Umm... really, Sookie... it's okay."

Lorelai gestured toward the door with her head, as if to say 'follow me' and walked into the dining room and waited for Rory. "Sit down, we're trapped, there is no use arguing with Madame Chef." Lorelai glanced around the dining room to see if they were alone, there was someone with their back to the two reading a newspaper on the other side of the dining room but that was it. "Okay, so spill." Lorelai said, "or I will tell Luke you stole the cup and left it."

"Hmm... spill... on my guy problems right? That's what you want to know?" Rory asked, stalling.

"As long as it's juicy and can be printed on the back of a pair of pants." Lorelai said leaning forward. "It's been so long, I've missed so much."

"Well, I can do juicy." Rory nodded. "I got the sex talk... from grandma, and grandpa, and a priest? I think it was a priest. I was told all about my special gift and my sweater and everything..." Rory laughed.

Lorelai laughed, "Only one? I had three, a priest, a rabbi, and a duck, wait that's a joke. But you get the point. You're lucky you only had one." Lorelai said and shut up so her daughter could continue.

"Yeah. I guess I am lucky. So.. um... Logan and I are on a break. The end." Rory said, and looked down a the table.

"Aww I'm sorry, what did he do? If you want I'm sure Luke would break his legs for you." Lorelai patted Rory's arm.

"Throw him out of the diner maybe?" Rory laughed, remembering Dean. "Well, I don't know. He just... was himself, apparently."

"Yeah, that's never a good thing," Lorelai said distractedly as she stared at the guy reading the newspaper that black hair looked familiar somehow. I must be imaging things, it's only because Luke mentioned him earlier Lorelai thought to herself.

"Well, if that's the case. Then I don't know why it just dawned on me." Rory followed her mother's gaze.

"Because you came back to being you. That's not your world, just like it wasn't mine." Lorelai said trying to get her daughter's attention off the newspaper guy. "Oh, crap. I forgot to give Sookie that book, I'll be right back," she said as she got up and went into the kitchen. "Sookie!" she called.

Rory looked at the guy. Oh my gosh. That couldn't be him... There's no way! She started coughing to see if he would look up.

"Sookie! I need you now!" Lorelai was frantically running around the kitchen when she found Sookie putting toppings on the pizza. "The guy, in the dining room. The guy...who is the guy?" Lorelai asked her.

"The guy, the guy..." Sookie stopped spreading the cheese around and pointed her finger at Lorelai. "Ooh, the guy! The guy who ordered the tuna fish sandwich..." She trailed off. "Oh dear. I forgot about that sandwich! He ordered it 45 minutes ago! I bet his wife is mad." She turned around and started pulling out slices of bread.

"No Sookie, this guy is alone, reading a newspaper. Young guy." Lorelai looked at her. "Any idea who he is?"

"Oh, that guy..." Sookie giggled. "He's certainly cute from the back."

"But you don't know who he is? You didn't get a good look at him?" Lorelai asked frantically, "He doesn't look familiar to you in any way?"

The man with the newspaper turned the page and smirked to himself, "Do you need a glass of water or something for that cough?" he asked without turning around or looking up.

She put mayonnaise on the bread, and pulled the already made tuna out of the fridge, and spread it onto the bread, adding lettuce. "Would you mind taking this to the man with the wife?" She looked around and placed a few cookies on the plate. "Tell him the cookies are on the house. Thanks, hun."

Rory gasped and started coughing for real. Oh my god. No way. Oh my god. It's not possible. She figured she must have imagined it, and started taking a drink of water.