Carrying her shoes in her left hand and her crown in her right Rory quietly walked up the long staircase to her bedroom. It was almost three in the morning and even though the main party had ended around two and a half hours ago she was just strolling in. After the party was over she hopped in the limo with Colin, Finn, Stephanie, Logan, and much to Colin's dislike a very drunk and super obnoxious Madeline. In the limo Finn admitted to what Colin had said all along after Louise suggested that they go to the bathroom together. They all decided to go to the only place open at this time of night IHOP. On the way out she heard the waitress gasp when she saw how much her tip was. Rory figured it had to be an hundred because she knew for fact that was all that Finn carried and he had been the one to leave it. Logan paid the nearly $200 dollar bill. The only reason that it cost so much was that they bought the entire menu twice because when you're drunk and rich you have a tendency to be a wee bit extravagant. Now here she was twenty one and half drunk trying to make it up the stairs which she was finding to be unusually challenging. It took her almost ten minutes but finally she got to her room. She opened the door, dropped her shoes, tossed her crown on the desk, and then allowed herself to fall backwards onto the bed. She laid there for a moment just quietly thinking about how great tonight had been. Ever since Logan had left parties had been completely drab. They lacked the qualities that made them interesting. She was almost half asleep when she smelled fresh roasted vanilla bean coffee. It was intoxicating. Suddenly she was no longer tired.

Christopher Hayden was sitting at his kitchen table looking through a photo album when Rory walked in the room. He was quiet for the most part only making noise whenever he flipped to a funny picture.

Rory watched her father quietly. She didn't want to disturb him. It wasn't usual that he ever really got alone time. All day he was holed up in his office making deals left and right. At night he spent time with Lorelai watching movies and just being together. Friday nights everyone met for dinner at the Gilmore's. On Saturdays when the Sox were playing at Fenway Park Rory and Christopher would go to the majestic setting and catch a game. Finally there were Sundays where he played golf in the morning and relaxed for the rest of the night. It was a never ending cycle. Her father wasn't good at being spontaneous and for the most part neither was she.

"Just getting in Rory?" Christopher asked without ever turning his head from the page. He'd heard her stub her toe on the way. She didn't really make a sound she just sort of sighed.

Rory smiled. He'd known she was there the whole time. "No I got in a little over a half hour ago. Actually I was almost all the way asleep when you made a pot of coffee."

"I should have known I would have gotten one of my girls up. I could play an electric guitar in your mother's ear and she wouldn't even flinch but a cup of coffee gets her right awake."

Rory nodded and laughed a little as she took the seat next to him. "What are you doing at this time of night?"

"Reminiscing"

"Reminiscing about what?"

Christopher flipped the page and then looked at his daughter. "Did you know that when your mother went into labor I was taking my SATs across town? I got to your grandparents house and the maid was hysterical yelling over and over in Italian "Hospital! Bambina! Hospital! Bambina! So of course I'm freaked out. I just took the test that decides whether or not I get into Yale and here is another curveball your mother is in labor. So I haul ass across town and I make it just in time for them to wheel your mother into the delivery room. When I got there your mother says "You better have gotten a 1400 because I just spent the last hour singing 99 red balloons while my mother attempted to coddle me. That was it. She wasn't angry at me for not being there. She just demanded that I do well."

"No one ever told me that story before."

Christopher smiled. "It's so hard to see you as an adult now. I mean I still remember when you were little and you didn't know all the answers to life."

Rory gently placed her hand on her father's. "I will never know all the answers to life. Like whether or not I should spend the rest of my days with Logan or not." Rory said quietly. You could tell that she was a little upset despite the fact that she was still a wee bit drunk.

"Rory if there is anything I could ever give you advice about its complicated love, because that is exactly what your mother and I share. See sometimes I wonder if your mother really needs me. I mean sure I buy her favorite ice cream and I make most of the money that pays for this house. I'm the one who pushed her to buy that inn, but for the most part your mother doesn't need me. See that was always the thing about her she never needed anyone. While most of the kids we went to school with relied on their parents for everything your mother wasn't like that. If she wanted something that she knew her parents wouldn't buy instead of giving up on her wish to own it she instead just worked for it. I've known Logan almost as I've known you and I can tell you one fact about your relationship with him he's always given it everything he had to give. He loved you the best he could which was really great considering he didn't grow up in a home full of love like you did. When you two were five you thought it was weird that Logan was going to boarding school instead of elementary school with you. Basically it wasn't until you were both what nine that Logan got to attend regular school and that was only after he got himself kicked out of most institutions. Even then it wasn't like his parents were there for him. When you came home from school people asked you how your day was, but Logan only had his nanny to ask him that. Every summer we all went to Cape Cod, but Logan went with Honor and his nanny. See Logan learned to love from you which means in a way he'd always love you. The only problem was he wanted to be his own person he wanted to make his own choices and if he went to Yale that would never have happened."

"Then why didn't he ask me to go with him seeing you as know so much about his mindset?" Rory said she was now getting a little teary-eyed.

Christopher put his arm around her shoulder and brought her close. "You would've followed him and he didn't want you to leave your mother. He knew how much going to Yale meant to you and he didn't want to see you screw up your life for him. Rory the only reason I can think like Logan is because in many ways I was Logan. I loved your mother so much because she was able to love not like most of the kids at school who were able to shop and bribe. Logan leaving didn't mean that he didn't love it just means that he couldn't bear to live here. Him coming back is a sign though that he regretted it. I wouldn't be surprised if he talked about transferring to Yale."

"I hope so because I can't stop loving him. I tried. I mean I went out with Dean for a good year. I even tried to erase his memory from my life. I went to Stars Hollow."

"Right you went to Stars Hollow running from being the girl who went out with Logan and sadly he left her for California. Logan left running from being Mitchum Huntzberger's son." Christopher pointed out.

Rory smiled and nodded. "When did you become so poignant and poetic?"

"I guess it was that weekend where I got so board I read one of your psychology books." Christopher joked. He got up from the stool and went to leave the room only he handed her the phone before he did.

Rory looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"Call him Rory. Don't be foolish and let the past stop you." Christopher told her and then gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving the room. He was tired and drained from being so emotionally deep. He looked back over his shoulder one more time and took a good long look at his now twenty one year old daughter and felt for the first time really old.

Rory sat there for a few minutes going over the pros and cons to calling him. Mostly the one real con she could find was that of she would have to admit that she still loved him and if she did this now there would be no taking it back later. Rory went over to her kitchen window and looked up to see if his bedroom light was still on. She wasn't surprised when she saw that it was. She slowly dialed the number to his cell phone and waited patiently to see if he answered. If he didn't she knew that she wouldn't be willing to put herself out there like this again. Three rings and then just as she was going to hang up she heard his voice. "Where are you I'm in your bedroom and you're not here." Logan said his voice was filled with this childlike laughter and amusement.

"You're upstairs in my room?" Rory replied shaking her head as she walked to the refrigerator to get some stuff out for them to eat. Suddenly she felt like a cookie would do her good.

Logan chuckled. "Of course where else would I be? I mean that is where you my fair lady rest your head at the end of the night isn't it?"

"Oh Logan no old English tonight. Just come to my kitchen. That's where I am." Then she hung up the phone and sat down on a stool.

It only took Logan a moment to get downstairs of course there was the awkward moment where he had to slink past her parent's bedroom. This was made more difficult by the fact that he had just a tad too much to drink tonight. As soon as he entered the room he smelled two things coffee and Oreos. "What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be upstairs in your room asleep from all of the wine coolers you consumed."

Rory laughed. "Unlike you I paced myself and believe me the amount of alcohol in my system is nowhere near the amount in yours. Plus if I were up there then I would have had to deal with nighttime prowlers."

"What are you looking at?" Logan asked kind of suddenly. He'd seen the book when he took a seat but couldn't make out what it was.

"Oh this it's just a collection of embarrassing memories that have been collected so that one day they can be used against us." Rory said with a shrug of her shoulders. Rory flipped the page and smiled. It was one from their debutante ball. It seemed like so long ago even though it was a little less than five years. Two things were obvious in this picture Rory had not been one of the girls to trip on the stairs and that Logan and her were head over heels in love with one another and there was no denying it.

Logan gently began to play with her hair twirling it around on his finger like he'd always done when they were sitting somewhere together. It was one of his many signs of affection for her. "You were so gorgeous that night. I mean God you stole the show. I mean remembering thinking when you walked down those stairs that I was the luckiest guy there." Then he gently kissed her on the lips.

"All I really remember is how jealous those girls from Jonas Academy where when they found out that I was the famed Rory Hayden who dated the charming and debonair Logan Huntzberger. I think they would have taken me out if it weren't for Stephanie telling them to go be bitches somewhere else because nobody wanted their second rate shit. God she's all been there for me. Once she told me that there was a time she was jealous of me because I had you but she said it lasted for literally two hours because then she saw why we were together and it clicked that we were perfect for one another. She said that if people could see that then they wouldn't want him as much anymore. I asked her what she meant by we were perfect together. She goes like one example is the fact that you guys like to watch CSPAN together. You act like it's a good movie. I guess most healthy teenagers our age don't watch CSPAN."

"No I doubt that most people think watching Tony Blair speak was quite as funny as we did. Oh my God I can't even remember what he was talking about this one time all I remember is you lost control you were laughing so hard and then I started laughing. You fell off the bed and your dad came to see what was wrong and I had tumbled after you and things didn't exactly look you know "kosher" but he looked at the television and said "You guys really got to get over Tony Blair's accent and the way he says some things. It's not that funny." Then your dad turns around and walks out the door shaking his head."

"Dean hated CSPAN he always wanted me to change the television to something else whenever I was watching it." She whispered quietly and then turned her head to look him in his eyes. "Logan I still love you. I never stopped. Please whatever you do though don't hurt me. I don't think I would be able to cope as well as I did last time which was really pretty shitty." She was on the verge tears and was trying to hold them back but was struggling.

Logan felt his heart aching for her. Could he promise that he wasn't going to hurt her again? He didn't know if he could. He'd been thinking about transferring since the moment his plane landed. Actually he'd been thinking about it since the moment he left. Still he'd have to be back here. He'd have to be back by his father. Was he willing to move back here just to make her happy? He was pretty sure the answer was yes. That he would move back. He didn't think he could stay away even if he tried. "I'm going to try not to hurt you Rory. I know I hurt you before and I'm sorry. I don't know how I lived with myself after leaving you. I felt so awful that I ached. That first night in my dorm room was so bad. I started to dial your number sixty four times. I had never felt so alone before. Each time I got to that last number I stopped myself because suddenly that pained expression that you had one your face popped into my head. I couldn't face hearing the tears in your voice again." He pulled her close and kissed her with a passion that she had missed. It felt so good to have her in his arms again.

Rory closed the book and grabbed his hand. All she wanted to do tonight was to sleep in his arms the way she had done in high school when her parents were out of town. She needed to feel the sturdiness of his abs. She wanted to feel safe again. As soon as they got up to her room she saw that he was planning to stay with her anyway. She stepped out onto her balcony momentarily and saw that his father was home. She turned back and looked at him. "I know whatever he said to you must have hurt." That was it and then she went into her closet to get into her pajamas. She knew that he didn't think they were going to do anything more than sleep together. When she got out of the closet wearing an old t-shirt she saw that he was already laying in her bed. She smiled. She climbed in beside him and snuggled close to him. Just before she fell asleep she whispered quietly "I love you Logan."

Logan watched her and memorized her face. "I love you too more than you'll ever know."