Chapter 51

"Maybe I could just keep the dorm room until the end of the year and then just say I moved in with Paris?" Rory grasped at straws as they waited behind the front door at the Gilmore mansion. They could already hear Emily huffing at the maid for not getting the door after the first ring.

"And then she'd want to personally deliver you a bronze sculpture with stupid naked angel buts and she'd find out and make a big drama about you being kidnapped when she doesn't find you there," Lorelai replied, knowing while the elements of that scenario might've been different, Emily Gilmore had a tendency to find things out.

"I wish he'd be here at least," Rory managed to say just as the door swung open. There was no confusion she'd meant Logan, but she could already anticipate what her mother's response to that would've been - he was safer elsewhere, and in this particular case in the City with his father on some business dinner. At the very least the Dark Lord hadn't requested Logan bring a date this time, in a way it was validation of their relationship already. Still, despite anticipating her mother to be right, she at the very least felt as if Logan's presence would've at the very least spoken about their commitment a little beyond what her own words could. Logan had been apologetic, but unable to do much about these arrangements his father kept making on his behalf. All Rory could do about those was let him unload when he felt frustrated about them.

"Rory! Lorelai! Hello, come in, come in…," Emily urged, sounding like she was in a particularly good mood.

"Hi grandma," Rory greeted.

"Hi, mom. Someone looks happy," Lorelai noted.

"It's because I am," Emily exclaimed excitedly, causing the two to exchange looks of wonder.

They handed over their jackets and headed for the living room.

"Drinks, ladies?" Richard inquired.

"Yes, please," Rory said and sat down, expecting to be served the same old club soda she was served ever since she'd realized drinking regular coke all the time wasn't all that healthy. That too was Logan's influence.

"The usual, please," Lorelai added.

"I was more thinking of the 1969 Dom Perignon," Richard added with a suspicious-looking smirk.

"Oh, okay...That is fine too," Lorelai agreed, downplaying this obviously momentous occasion, having heard talk of that particular bottle for years. "I'm getting a feeling someone has some news?" Lorelai inquired.

Richard handed everyone a glass of champagne, including Rory, while himself remaining standing, raising a glass.

"We have just secured our family an estate on Cape Cod," Richard announced.

"Cape Cod? Wow!" Rory exclaimed, and took a sip as did the rest.

"What's the occasion, mom?" Lorelai inquired, getting the sense this had something to do with standing up to the Huntzberger's standards. She'd seen it with her own eyes how blinded they'd been to prove their worth in front of them at the dinner, and that despite Emily also sensing Shira hadn't been a big fan.

"We just thought it was time. We've been thinking about it for years…," Richard added.

"It's got five bedrooms and a separate guest house with three more, it's got a pool, a huge deck, tennis courts and a pool naturally. The kitchen has to be a complete remodel of course," Emily began and continued on to discuss gardening and interior decoration for several minutes, including casual mentions of how the neigbourhood had a lot of kids.

Rory just kept waiting for her to finish, so she could get her own news out, subconsciously ignoring her grandmother's other hints. Finally the moment arose and Rory felt like her throat was dry as sandpaper.

"I've been actually doing a bit of decorating myself," Rory spit out, her voice sounding a little off as a result of her nervousness.

"Do tell?" Emily inquired, cluelessly.

"I know this is a little unorthodox and I realize you may have pictured things going a little differently, but Logan and I are moving in together," Rory confessed, sensing her mother actually being a little proud of her for doing it. It had been also motivation to get it out there to do one better compared to how her mother usually told them things.

Because of the silence that prevailed, the celebratory mood that justified getting the '69 Dom changing dramatically, Rory just continued to go on about the apartment's prime location, hoping that at least a penthouse at a fabulous, respectable, building would somehow undo the awkwardness.

"Now, mom - dad," Lorelai began, sensing she needed to say something in Rory's defense before they opened their mouths. "Before you start telling Rory how it's not proper or whatever, I would like to remind you that times are different now and young people live together all the time. And also I would like you to consider that your granddaughter here has chosen to be honest with you about this, and believe me she is a responsible, level-headed and smart girl who will not need you to call Reverend Boatwright nor the rabbi to talk some sense into her," Lorelai continued, getting a very small, hesitant, smile from Rory in return.

Richard just sighed deeply, and put down his half-empty champagne glass and headed for the bar cart to replace it with something stronger.

"And I guess Logan's family is picking up the costs, am I right?" Emily huffed, somewhat arrogantly.

"His dad's company actually. I wanted to…," Rory began, but realized she couldn't say anything about her credit card in front of her mother.

"Huh," Emily snorted grumpily.

"I'm convinced that we'll find a way for Rory to contribute, I don't think that should be an issue," Lorelai added.

"You realize that when people find out that she's living with him and doesn't have a ring on that finger, that our entire family name will be laughed at, right?" Emily explained, disappointedly.

"I don't see why they would," Rory defended herself. "This is 2006! Not the 1960s," she added, sounding a little upset.

"Rory, you're in an age where you think that reputation doesn't matter. But you are soon about to find out that it does," Emily continued and brought out a number of names that were well-known as gold diggers to the present day.

"Isn't it better that I'm not jumping at the chance to marry him and just stay with him because I genuinely love him?" Rory discussed in a huff, already sensing her mother's hand on her knee, cautioning her for raising her voice. Her mother knew how little point there was, that hardly ever worked.

"Yes, but why would he ever need to marry you if he gets everything he wants without a real commitment," Richard huffed, and walked off into his study without dinner without even hearing her out.

That response had been cruder than Rory had anticipated. She wasn't even sure she dared to use the money now, after knowing how he felt.

She very nearly began to fret whether they might use her Yale tuition as a condition of this not happening now - what if she'd need to drop out altogether? Her worries and thoughts were spiraling, even if realistically thinking she figured this didn't really have to do with their interest in her academic achievements.

"We are committed, we're just too young to get married…," Rory said, hopelessly.

"Dinner is served," the maid announced in a hesitant tone to which Emily rose from her seat and headed for the dining room, expecting the two to follow on their own. They did, exchanging hesitant glances at the same time.

"Serena, will you ask Mr. Gilmore if he'd like to have his dinner in his study?" Emily asked.

That too had hardly ever happened in this household, but Emily didn't seem insistent somehow.

"You know the summer season is looking really good at the Inn…," Lorelai tried to steer the conversation to another direction, but it hardly got picked up just like any other subject.

It was the first time Rory had actually seen her grandparents show their disappointment in her and actually noticeably pout. But there didn't seem to be any good way to undo it. She was moving in. She already had some things bought to the place - a few furniture items and a nice soft rug. But it did limit her wish to use her own money in case that ticked her grandfather, who might've seen her bills, off even more. She could only hope time would improve this.

The following week passed with a sense of hesitance, while keeping up with a million things. Rory not only had her things to pack up and move, but also her internship to go to and her classes and homework to get through. They'd also gotten the invite to Honor's engagement party which was happening in a week's time. So you could say she had distractions which kept her from worrying about her grandparents opinion too much.

The internship seemed to be going well. While she was still the one to anticipate needs - sorting the mail, making copies and coffee - the normal things interns did, but she was also gaining courage to speak up. Even on occasion she needed encouragement, being unsure if her opinion was wanted, so she'd learned this small signal of holding up her index finger low when she had something and Mitchum would ask for her input 8 out of 10 times in that case. It seemed unintrusive enough but she was at least showing her engagement.

Thankfully, the next Friday evening her grandparents were out of town so she could instead of going to dinner head back to New Haven from her internship on the train.

It was just as she got on the State Street Station, her phone rang. She was running low of battery so she hoped it wouldn't be her mother, who could never limit a phone call to under five minutes.

"Hey," she asked with glee in her tone, seeing it being Logan.

"Hey, how far are you?" Logan asked, having been apologetic about not being able to pick her up from Stamford that day as he often did.

"Just got off the train," Rory replied.

"You may not want to head back to campus," Logan said a little cryptically.

"Um, why not?" Rory asked, not quite following, her attention being a little focused on getting across the street in one piece.

"Because you won't find anything there," Logan added, the smirk becoming more evident in her

"We're moved in!?" Rory cheered, finally realizing what he was getting at. Besides, this would cut her walk 'home' - 'home' that still sounded odd - short by at least five minutes.

"We're not unpacked but close enough," Logan declared. "Oh, and we're having the housewarming party tomorrow night, I hope that's okay?" Logan added.

It was a little sooner than she'd anticipated but it was indeed a worthy cause for celebrating. She hadn't seen their friends in a while and after all the lingering guilt towards her grandparents and how hard she'd been working, she knew she could use a night to just let loose too.

"Yeah, sure..," Rory agreed. At the same time she was a little worried how regular these parties would be. As at this point this pretty much was her main concern about living with Logan. How much did her opinion count when it came to his friends and his freedom when she wasn't contributing much?

'As expected, Logan hadn't cared the least bit that she'd scaled down on her input into the apartment, not wanting to upset her grandparents any further. She had talked to Logan about what they'd said, but left out the not so subtle hints about marriage. He felt he had enough pressure about a lot of things without it.

"Okay, Chinese or pizza?" Logan asked, making it evident he was providing them with dinner.

"Pizza, definitely pizza," Rory agreed, believing pizza was the ultimate moving day food.

Rory arrived at the Taft building which still didn't quite feel homey with its grand lobby and Carl the doorman, who appeared like a nice guy, always greeting her personally - "Good evening, Ms. Gilmore," which at least made her feel a little better. She wasn't treated as Mr. Huntzberger's visitor or someone random. It was strange how such a small thing felt like validation of sorts.

Rory arrived upstairs, already having the key, to Logan having unpacked a good chunk of her books already. But what was more impressive was the way he'd decorated the apartment with candles, many of them placed on top of the mountain of boxes, and put the lights low. It looked incredibly sweet and romantic.

"Aw…," Rory chimed. She let her book bag drop to the floor, and more than willingly let his hand wrap round her waist and hips as he pulled her in for a kiss.

"Welcome home," Logan said.

"This is.. Just wow," Rory commented, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I know… I still can't quite believe it myself," Logan commented, looking over the place with her, his arm still wrapped around her.

"Yeah, I would've never imagine a year ago that I'd be moving in with anyone…," Rory commented.

"Let alone with me?" Logan teased.

"Kind of true…," Rory confessed laughingly.

"Well it took a very special kind of girl…," Logan murmured.

"And you think I'd just do this with just anyone?" Rory replied, his closeness melting the stress of the week away instantly.

"I sure hope not," Logan chuckled quietly, and focused on kissing her again.

"I wonder if the bed is made?" Rory asked, raising the corner of her mouth seductively.