AN: Sorry, this has taken a bit longer than expected. I am now homeschooling my 4 year old while schools are closed, and working full-time, so basically I work until midnight every day...it's a treat. This is the second last chapter, so please enjoy it. I am considering an epilogue, or maybe some future dated onsets, or maybe someone will convince me to pick this up as a full time story and I'll continue. Who knows

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or the Holidate

Part Seventeen - December 24, 2021

"Don't do it," Logan groaned, tightening his grip around Rory's waist.

"We have to get up," Rory giggled but let him pull her flush to his body, "morning," she grinned.

"Morning," Logan gave her a quick kiss and she made a face, "oh come on, do you really have to be so dramatic about it?"

"Go brush your teeth then get back here," Rory scrunched her nose and moved her face away from him.

"Well you don't smell minty fresh either," Logan shot back as he released her and rolled out of the bed with just his pyjama pants on, "but I'm not done with you, Ace."

"I'll bet you aren't," Rory laughed as she followed him to the bathroom. She was wearing a pair of black pyjama shorts and one of his Yale t-shirts, she smiled at him as they both grabbed their toothbrushes and Rory couldn't help but laugh as she watched him, she was certain she had seen Paris and Doyle's kids make less of a mess while brushing their teeth as the electric brush splattered toothpaste mixed with water all over the counter and mirror. A moment later Rory clicked off her toothbrush, put it back on the charger and sprinted to the bed, Logan just a step or two behind her as he fell onto the bed beside her, "Christmas Eve," she exhaled and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Very busy day," Logan told her sternly, his finger tips were dancing along her arm gently.

"When do the caterers get here?" Rory asked, she had considered cooking, but she knew her grandmother would be incensed at the idea of actually preparing a meal for her guests, and so Rory had agreed that they would hire a caterer to cook a traditional Christmas meal. On Christmas Day, Rory and Logan planned to spend the morning in bed and then eat leftovers for dinner while having a movie marathon. It was a far cry from what either of them were used to, but they both agreed it sounded perfect. It gave Honor and Josh the ability to enjoy a Christmas at home with the kids, and Lorelai and Christopher would have their dinner in Stars Hollow at the Dragonfly with the Stars Hollow crew, Shira and Mitchum didn't do much on the actual holiday anyway, once the kids were past the obligatory Christmas tree full of gifts age, they hadn't really done much.

"Not for a bit," Logan told her.

"That isn't a time."

"Oh you caught on to that?" Logan smirked, "they'll be here around noon, so we have two hours," Logan continued. "Do you want your present today or tomorrow?"

"It's not Christmas today," Rory made a face and sat up on her elbows. "I told you not to get me anything."

"I know you told me that," Logan felt his smile grow even wider, "but I wanted to get you something, and I believe I saw a little something under the tree with my name on it?"

"It's just something small," Rory told him defiantly.

"So is what I got you."

"Says the man who bought me a Birkin?"

"I promise I didn't but you a Birkin," Logan sat up slightly and kissed her gently.

Rory pouted as he pulled away, "I thought we were staying in bed?"

Logan relented and moved his body until he was back under their white duvet and Rory followed suit, pressing her body against his warm, muscular frame. "We could cancel," he joked, "spend the day in bed instead."

"Dirty," Rory laughed.

"I didn't mean like that," Logan laughed, "I mean I'm up for it if you are, but I thought you might be tired after last night," he smiled suggestively, they had both worked late the night before, Logan had returned home with a pizza and a declaration of wanting to watch the news for a couple of hours, but Rory had other plans. She needed to blow off steam and evidently Logan was the only one who could hep her with that. Her time working with both publications was limited, but she had learned that gossip followed her everywhere she went. Logan had tried to tell her many times in the last week to just ignore it and move on, they both knew what the truth was regarding their relationship, and her getting this job, and nothing else mattered. Rory had gotten her job at The Times completely on her own merit, and the two of them ending up together was completely coincidental, and Rory didn't report to Logan in any capacity, in the few weeks she had been doing the job, she had never seen his office. So while she was certainly trying to ignore the whispers and the comments, she was coming home from work frustrated in more ways than one.

"Last night was," Rory blushed, "fun."

"Fun?" Logan repeated. "Fun is a Knicks game…"

"Alright it was amazing," Rory kissed him gently, "I love you," she added.

"I love you too," Logan told her.

"What did you get me?" Rory asked him sweetly.

"You said you wanted it tomorrow," Logan retorted.

"But I want a hint."

"The hint is that I think you will like it."

"Is it practical or fun?"

"For you practical is fun, so I don't think that will give you any additional information?"

"Did you go pick it out or order it online?"

"Both."

"Is it one thing or two things."

"A few things."

"A few…so not many buy more than one? Three or more? Four…?"

"You are relentless!"

"You liked it last night," Rory stuck her tongue out.

"I'm not telling you," Logan laughed, "shower?"

"You're insatiable," Rory grinned.

xxx

Rory was standing with her arms crossed as she stared at the dining room table which had been set for thirteen people with whatever overpriced table settings Logan had bought when he moved in years earlier. She could tell something was missing but she wasn't sure what as she inspected it. "Napkin rings!" she finally declared, partially to herself, partially to the team that was putting the space together for her, "napkin rings!" she repeated to one of the caterers, "can someone make sure there are napkin rings?"

Logan laughed as he watched the scene, Rory had seemingly become more and more nervous the closer they got to guests arriving. She had pulled her hair back into a high ponytail and applied some light makeup, she was wearing a plum coloured cowlneck sweater dress that she had bought online from The Gap on Black Friday - she knew her grandmother wouldn't approve but she had told everyone that it was a casual event, she had worn enough fancy dresses in the last few weeks, she didn't want to do it again. "Anything I can do?" he asked as he walked to the kitchen and poured himself a drink.

"I'll have one too," Rory smiled as Logan fixed them both a scotch.

"Can I get the napkin rings?"

Rory rolled her eyes, "you think you're cute, don't you?" she asked rhetorically as Logan approached her and handed her the crystal snifter, "thank you."

Logan licked his lips and smiled at her, taking a long sip of the liquid, he had grown to love the burning sensation as it washed down his throat, "I do think I'm cute, amongst other things, of course."

"Of course," Rory replied dryly. "How much time do we have?" she watched as someone began rearranging the napkins with napkin rings. She couldn't help but think about how not her this was. She was certainly used to attending events like this, but hosting an event with a caterer was a whole other thing. She was the kind of girl who picked up some appetizers from Whole Foods and called it a day, she organized dinners out with friends, and she certainly knew the best places for any takeout she could want in a ten block radius, but hosting a fancy, stuffy dinner party was not her thing. "Is this…" Rory paused, "this isn't me," she stated simply, looking at the room.

Logan put his arms around her gently and kissed her cheek, "it's not either of us," he admitted. Sure, he could keep up with the best of the best in journalism, but stuffy dinner parties weren't his thing, "but we're doing this because otherwise we would be attending one in Hartford," he continued, "and in a little while there will be four kids here making us remember exactly why we did all of this and all of the gifts and all of the crap. Tomorrow it is us and takeout and relaxing all day."

"Promise?" Rory pouted.

"I'll take you upstairs right now," Logan joked.

"No more," Rory warned as she pulled him in for a kiss, taking hold of his charcoal coloured cable knit sweater and pulling him as close as she could to her body.

Logan smiled against her lips as they kissed gently for a moment, his hands moving down her body and settling at the hem of her dress, "no tights? What would Emily Gilmore have to say about that?"

"First she would say that tights are for seven year olds, and pantyhose are for grown women, then she would probably accuse me of being a streetwalker or something to that effect."

"Never one to mince words, but you're my streetwalker." Logan laughed, "they'll be here soon."

Rory closed her eyes and leaned into him. She inhaled his scent, as though she needed something to calm her down before their guests arrived. Her parents came from this world, both of them, they knew how to exist in the society world that Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger came from, they could play nice with Emily and Richard, Honor had gotten along well with Lorelai on their several meetings over the past year. All of these people had met before, but somehow, having them together in this setting felt more intimate, like there was more at stake. "We could just not answer the door?"

"My sister has a key."

"Don't let my mother hear that."

"You can give your mom a key," Logan shrugged.

Rory smiled and stroked his cheek gently, "I really appreciate that offer, but trust me when I say that you don't want my mother to have a key. She doesn't really do the whole boundary thing well. When I lived at the other place, she had a key because well..she and dad owned it, but that led to some…interesting moments."

"Oh?" Logan was intrigued.

"With Jess…"

"Well I didn't think it was with someone else," Logan laughed. It always surprised Rory how confident Logan was in himself and in their relationship. When she had dated Jess in high school, he had been jealous of Dean, Dean had been jealous of Jess, the guys she had dated at Harvard had been protective about other men, and Jess on more than one occasion had let his jealousy show over her male colleagues when they were together as adults. She certainly didn't go out of her way to mention her ex boyfriend, but when it came up, Logan certainly wasn't bothered by it. "Tell me what she did, stories about Lorelai never get old."

"You are weird," Rory laughed. "She just…she would make plans to do something in the city and then just show up at our place without really telling us the plan. In her mind, because she had mentioned at some point or another that she would be coming to Manhattan, it was the same as telling us she would need to crash…so on more than one occasion I think she had to see more of Jess than she anticipated."

"He was a nudist?" Logan smirked.

Rory blushed and shook her head, running her hand through her hair in frustration that he was making fun of what had been an uncomfortable situation for her. "No, but he was known to walk around his apartment without all of his clothing on, like someone else I know," she eyed her boyfriend. "And my mother was also known for barging into our bedroom…"

"Well that is a buzz kill."

"Ew, no, she never walked in on that!" Rory clarified, "my dad would've had a coronary, I mean, he knows, obviously on a superficial level what happens when your adult child lives with a boy…"

Logan interrupted her, "a boy?"

"Ok, fine, a man," Rory conceded, her cheeks still red, "but he doesn't need to know what his daughter is doing with said man."

"Noted."

"He likes you," Rory assured him.

"Because he doesn't know the truth about us," Logan joked, "he thinks we're platonic roomies, doesn't he?"

Rory rolled her eyes as there was a knock at the door, "drop it and act normal, think you can do that?"

"Absolutely no promises," Logan followed her to the door and swung it open, unsurprisingly, Richard and Emily Gilmore were the first to arrive, "Emily, Richard, Merry Christmas, come on in."

"Grandma, grandpa," Rory hugged her grandparents as they came in the door, Richard was holding several large bags and Logan took them from him quickly, "how was your trip in?"

"Well, it can be stressful driving on the highways in the winter," Emily told them, "it would've been much easier had we stayed in Hartford…"

"Emily, we had a driver, we were in good hands," Richard told her as he helped his wife with her coat and Logan took it from him, waiting a moment for Richard to hand him his own jacket. "Merry Christmas," he smiled to Rory and Logan.

"Do you not have a maid?" Emily scrunched her nose up as Rory led them into the living room.

"No maid," Logan told her as he hung the jackets and returned to the group, "we have a housekeeper, but she is off today."

"But you have company?" Emily looked at the couple with confusion.

"Why don't I get everyone a drink?" Logan suggested, "Emily, what can I get for you?"

"A martini, vodka, dry."

"And Richard?"

"I'll have a scotch."

"Ace?"

"I'll have the same," Rory nodded to her grandfather.

"You don't like scotch," Emily stated as she looked at her granddaughter, "and aren't you cold with your legs bare?"

Logan smirked from the bar that was between the living and dining areas in the open concept floor plan. Rory tried to keep her smile plastered on her face, "no grandma, my legs aren't cold, I'm very comfortable, and sometimes I enjoy a scotch."

"Scotch is certainly not a drink for a lady. My goodness, no maid, scotch in the afternoon…it's like a whole new world!"

"Emily," Richard sat down beside his wife and smiled graciously when Logan handed them drinks, "the kids do things differently now."

"Well why does everything have to be different? What is wrong with societal norms? A lady has a glass of wine, or a martini…she wears pantyhose with a dress," Emily continued, Rory and Logan shot each other knowing glances. "And men of a certain status make sure to hire the appropriate help, they have a maid, or a butler, someone to assist them with running the household…"

"Grandma, Logan and I don't need that…Logan has an assistant at work, and we have a housekeeper, but we cook our own food, we do our own stuff…"

"Well how modern of you. Next thing you'll be telling me you don't shave your armpits anymore?" Emily raised an eyebrow at Rory.

"I never said that, and I do shave my armpits!" Rory was relieved when the doorbell rang. She stood up and excused herself, hoping on the walk to the door that it was Huntzberger so Emily would start behaving herself. "Honor!" Rory squealed as she saw the family on the other end of the door, "come in, come in, what can I take?" Rory asked as Honor walked in holding a carseat followed by Josh and their four children.

"Merry Christmas!" Honor gave Rory a side hug and passed her the carseat with baby Ava, "do you mind bringing her to Uncle Logan and he can pull her out?"

"Baby duty!" Rory took the carseat and handed it off to Logan who had joined her in the foyer. She smiled as she watched Logan pull Ava out of the carseat and hold her on his chest, she had noticed from the first time they had met the little girl that Logan was very good with her. "Jude, are you taller?" she smiled at the oldest child.

"No," he blushed as he hugged Rory and wished her a Merry Christmas before following Logan who introduced him to Emily and Richard.

"You two girls," Rory admired Catherine and Ella in their matching Burberry sweater dresses, "look beautiful, and I think you are both taller and probably smarter than the last time I saw you?"

"Hi Auntie Ror," Ella hugged Rory and Catherine followed suit a moment later.

"Go see Uncle Logan, there were so many presents under the tree earlier we couldn't even count them!"

The two girls ran off to join their siblings and uncle by the tree and Honor handed her coat to Rory, Josh following suit a moment later, "thank you," Honor smiled at her, "they love being with you guys. All three of them have been talking non stop about your plans for New Years Eve."

"I'm so glad," Rory smiled and hugged them both properly, "I thought you were coming with your parents?"

"We did," Honor nodded, "but unfortunately," she smirked, "mom and dad were in a different car and just got caught up in some traffic, so they should just be a few minutes behind us."

"What can I get you to drink?" Rory asked.

"I'll just have a sparkling water," Honor smiled.

"A scotch would be great," Josh nodded as the couple went and said hello to Richard and Emily.

Rory returned a moment later with their drinks and noticed how Josh was in deep conversation with her grandfather about insurance, and Honor and her grandmother were discussing the kids as Emily fussed over the new baby. Logan appeared at her side and put an arm around her waist, "hi," she smiled as she leaned into him.

"Hi," Logan breathed back as he took a sip of his drink. He knew things would be chaotic at best that night, but there was also something perfect about it, he enjoyed watching them all interact, and he enjoyed knowing that at the end of the night he and Rory would climb into bed and get to relax together instead of waking up in a bed somewhere else. The doorbell rang again and Logan and Rory walked to open it, revealing her parents standing in the hallway, "Chris, Lorelai, Merry Christmas, come on in!"

"Merry Christmas," Lorelai embraced each of them separately.

"Thanks for having us guys," Chris hugged his daughter. "Everyone here?"

Rory shook her head, "no, we are still missing Logan's parents, but grandma and grandpa are here already," Rory explained as she led them in, smiling as Logan took their coats, "what can I get you to drink? The appetizers should be out soon…"

"Let me help you with the drinks. Chris, honey, beer? Scotch?"

"A beer would be great," Christopher nodded, rolling his eyes at the fact that his wife was going out of her way to avoid her parents, "I'll put the gifts under the tree," he held up the bags he was tasked with carrying up.

Lorelai took Rory by the arm and the two went to the kitchen where Rory opened the fridge to grab a beer for her father, "slow down!" Lorelai scolded as Rory began searching for their bottle opener, "I'm trying to wait it out for Logan's parents to get here so hopefully my mother doesn't even notice me."

"Mom, you have to be nice to grandma," Rory rolled her eyes and laughed as she took the lid off the beer and poured it into a glass, "it's Christmas."

"She will probably not be nice to me before I'm not nice to her!"

"Well we can cross that bridge when we come to it," Rory told her as she walked to the living room and passed her father the beverage.

"Lorelai, are you not going to say hello?" Emily stood to greet her daughter.

"Of course I am mom," Lorelai kissed her on the cheek, "I was just helping Rory with drinks."

"You were helping her get one beer for Christopher?" Emily cocked an eyebrow.

"Yup," Lorelai nodded, "she has weak wrists. You remember, she sucked at tennis?"

Emily rolled her eyes and shook her head, "well please be polite, say hello to Honor and Josh, you remember their children?"

"Of course I do, mom."

Rory shook her head at the interaction and put her focus on the kids who were all clamouring around the Christmas tree trying to determine how many presents were for each of them. Logan had gotten each of his nieces and nephew three gifts, Emily and Richard had brought a gift for each child, and Lorelai and Christopher had done the same. Shira and Mitchum had sent over a huge pile of gifts for the kids a couple of days prior, and between the adults, they had agreed to exchange gag gifts. Upon hearing the idea, Lorelai had immediately drawn a parallel between the Huntzberger family and the British monarchy which was dripping with sarcasm, so Rory was hoping that her mother could remain on her best behaviour once everyone arrived. Shira and Mitchum arrived a few minutes later and Rory was relieved that Emily would be distracted by something other than how Lorelai was behaving.

"Can we open presents now?" Jude pouted as all of the adults were seated in the living room chatting.

"Ask your mom," Logan told Jude, they didn't have a hard and fast rule about when presents were opened, and Logan and Rory didn't particularly care what the order of operations would be for the evening so long as everyone survived it, "dinner is going to be in about twenty."

"Mom!" Jude stomped to his mother, "can we open presents?"

"What did Uncle Logan say?" Honor asked.

"Dinner is in twenty minutes and it's up to you," Jude repeated.

"Well if dinner is in twenty minutes," Honor told him, "we don't have enough time to open the gifts."

Jude started to say something before Lorelai interrupted, "you know…if I may…when I was a kid, my parents let me choose one gift early to open…what if we did that? The kiddos all open one gift, and we do the rest after dinner?"

Honor nodded her head as she considered the idea, "you kids understand you would have to put the toy away at dinner, right?" All three of her children nodded, "well if it's alright with Uncle Logan and Auntie Ror, then fine."

"It's fine," Rory smiled as the three children ran over to her excitedly. They went back to the tree and began eagerly looking for their first gift to open and Rory smiled at the antics.

"Pick one," Honor warned as her kids began looking for the largest present they could get their hands on.

"It's cute," Christopher smiled and whispered to his wife as they watched Honor and Josh try to get the kids to listen. "The kids, the little people…the excitement."

Lorelai nodded and leaned into his body, "think we should have another?" she joked.

Christopher laughed and shook his head, "no, I don't. We would go from being the hot young parents to the very, very old parents."

"Good thing you didn't comment on the hotness," Lorelai kissed him on the cheek.

Rory watched her parents out of the corner of her eye as she watched Jude rip into the new Nintendo Switch console that Logan had insisted the boy needed, Catherine and Ella both received new American Girl dolls, and they seemed excited, she felt bad as Honor was now tasked with keeping the kids from demanding more gifts, as well as trying to keep Jude from insisting that they needed to open his Nintendo immediately for him to use. Rory took a sip of her drink and took a moment to let it all wash over her. She had always enjoyed relatively quiet Christmas activities. Never chaotic gift opening sessions, as an only child she had no one to compete with in regards to opening gifts, and when she was a teenager, Sookie and Jackson had kids when she was a teenager, but Rory still hadn't been witness to many of the chaotic scenes which occurred on days like Christmas.

"We should sit down," Rory smiled as the scene calmed down.

"What do you mean should?" Emily asked.

"Dinner is going to be served," Rory corrected herself, "if everyone would like to come to the table, that would be lovely." Rory exhaled as Logan guided her to her seat at the table and everyone sat down, he didn't imagine they would be having many large family dinners after this. Between Honor worrying about her kids, Lorelai and Emily bickering and Shira and Emily throwing subtle jabs at each other about Logan and Rory and their future.

"The table looks lovely Rory," Shira smiled as they were seated, "did you plan this yourself?"

"Oh I just hired someone," Rory nodded, "my friend Abigail had a recommendation and they did a wonderful job. Thank you though!"

"I was so shocked to find out that Logan and Rory don't have a maid, did you know that Shira?" Emily asked.

"You don't have a maid?" Shira looked at her son with shock, "you used to have a maid!"

"I have a housekeeper," Logan didn't hide his frustration with his mother, "I haven't had a maid in years."

"I swear you had a maid."

"I'm telling you I didn't have a maid."

"I think the boy would know if he had a maid, Shira," Mitchum interrupted. "Everything looks wonderful, thank you both for having us. I know how busy you've both been at work these past few weeks, so this is no small achievement."

"Oh well, I can e-mail a caterer with the best of them," Rory smiled, "but you're right, work has been crazy busy, but I really am loving the new role. It's nice to be able to write with such…freedom."

"I find it hard to believe," Mitchum smiled and looked at Richard and Emily, "knowing Rory's goals, that we didn't meet her sooner."

"Well," Lorelai laughed, "that kind of falls on me if I'm being honest. We didn't exactly spend much time in Hartford when we could avoid it."

"Ah, yes, I recall," Shira took a sip of her drink, "well we sure are glad to have Rory now."

"You can't even believe how I feel about keeping her around," Logan interjected as the meals came to the table and Rory smiled at him, "everyone have a drink?" Logan looked around the table and saw that wine had been poured and plates were hot, "thank you for joining us, we're glad that everyone could be here today. Merry Christmas, and uh…I think I speak for Rory and I both when I say we love you all very much."

Rory gave his thigh a squeeze and smiled at his words, "Cheers, Merry Christmas," Rory clinked her glass against Logan's and then leaned forward and gave him a small kiss, "I love you," she added.

xxx

"Well this," Logan smiled as Rory walked back to into their bedroom with a tray in her hands, "is service."

"Don't get used to it," Rory laughed as she presented Logan with a plate of cinnamon buns and two coffees, "merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Logan kissed her gently as she got back into the bed. "You make these yourself?"

Rory took her coffee and enjoyed a long sip of the black liquid, "I did."

"From a tube?"

"Doesn't change that I made them."

Logan laughed as he took a bite of one of the sweet rolls and put it back on the plate, "when do you want your gift?" he asked her.

"The big? The small? The practical? The fun?"

"Any of the above."

"Not yet, we're in bed. You can't open presents in bed!"

"Who made that rule? When is the last time you woke up in your own bed on Christmas? We can do whatever the hell we want."

"Presents in bed?" Rory laughed as she leaned forward and took a bite of the pastry in his hands.

"Anything you want," Logan told her softly.

Rory took a moment to move the tray and plate onto the floor and pressed her body against Logan, her hand was on his bare chest as she placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, "this," she told him, "this is what I want." Logan put his arm around her and pulled her towards him, "this is perfect," she added.

Logan smiled and pressed his lips against hers, "I love you," he told her, like he did every morning. He never stopped telling Rory he loved her, maybe it was because he needed her to know it, maybe it was because he longed for the moments when she said it back to him, or the twinkle in her eye when he caught her by surprise with the comment, but he would never get sick of telling her exactly how he felt about her. He had watched her the night before as she gracefully navigated her parents and grandparents, and her grandparents and his parents, his parents and his sister, not to mention the love she had for his nieces and nephew. She fit. Rory fit every part of his life perfectly. Like the piece he didn't know that he was missing for all of those years and now he would do anything he could to keep it. "This is for you," Logan brought a small box from underneath his pillow, he had stashed it there when Rory had disappeared to the kitchen.

"Logan," Rory smiled as she handled the small blue velvet box, "what is this?"

"Open it," he told her as she played with the box in her hands. Rory slowly popped the box open and gave Logan a confused look, it was a diamond band of prong set oval shaped diamonds and if Rory wasn't mistaken, it was a wedding band, "I'm not asking you to marry me, but I want you to know that I am committed to you in every way that counts. So wear it how you want, where you want, whatever..but this is my way of showing you that I am yours, forever, no matter what. There is nothing that you could do that would make me stop loving you. You amaze me Rory, everything that you do, everything that you are…"

AN2: I really wanted to make it clear how committed these two are to each other even without any plans to get married, so that is why Logan gifted her something that would traditionally be considered a wedding band. I thought it was a sweet symbol of their commitment.