Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

A/N: Thank you all for the kind reviews and encouragement after all the time it has been. When I first started this story, my daughter was about to turn 1, and now, she is 4 and I have a 2 year old as well...a lot has changed, but this is fun. The goal is just for this to be some fun fluff with Rory/Logan, their family. So hopefully no major drama, and maybe when I wrap this up, I will start something new. Or a rewrite of one of my more dramatic stories that I took down a few years ago. Read & review

Chapter Eleven

It was December 23, and like Rory had predicted, Logan had been pouty for a while, but thankfully he had cooled down. Charlotte's temperature had vanished as quickly as it had come and she had spent a couple of days with Lorelai. Rory and Logan had agreed that they would spend the time until New Years together at the Gilmore house and then Logan would return to work in January. Rory had decided she would take some time away from work. The house in Philadelphia was up for sale, and Rory had made the decision that she would finish writing her second book. The news was a relief to Jess who had been pestering her since the summer to finish her second book. Charlotte would be home from her time with Lorelai in a couple of hours, and Logan was unpacking his belongings in a guest bedroom.

"So tomorrow is…?" Rory paused trying to remember the schedule they had worked out for events.

"The Huntzberger party." Logan looked towards the door where she was leaning against the frame. "It's extended family, business associates and whatnot. Your Mom and Luke, Emily, all more than welcome to come."

"I don't think that is a great idea." Rory shook her head, "But Charlotte and I will be there."

"A car will pick is up at 4 and we can head over together? We can leave around 8?"

"You can stay later Logan, these are your traditions. I will come home, we'll put the cookies out for Santa, and then I will pour a glass of wine, turn on the Hallmark Channel and play Santa while she is asleep." Rory told him.

"I want to join you." Logan told her immediately, "If you don't mind, of course."

"I don't mind." Rory smiled, she was glad, she had wanted him to do this with her, but she had wanted him to want to.

"I do have a favour though."

Rory laughed, "What is it?"

"On New Years Eve, we normally have a pretty big bash. Finn, Colin, Steph and the boys, Robert comes, my sister and her family, we do a dorky kids countdown, put the kids to bed wherever we are and then we party like it's 2005." Logan explained, "So I was hoping that maybe we could have it here. That way Charlotte will fall asleep in her own space…" he paused to gauge her reaction, surprisingly, she was grinning, "I was thinking that maybe Honor, Josh and the kids could have the pool house, Colin, Steph and the kids could have your Moms old room, and Finn will sleep anywhere."

"This is my Mom's old room." Rory gestured to the room they were standing in. Three other bedrooms were still undergoing renovations. The basement had been converted to an enormous rec room and three bedrooms as well, but those were unfurnished at this point.

"I'll sleep on an air mattress in the basement." Logan told her. "If it's ok with you?"

"That sounds great Logan. I assume you have caterers or whatever?"

He shook his head, "We order pizza, an absurd amount of champagne, and we just…for a night we aren't a bunch of rich assholes."

"Don't be ridiculous." Rory winked, "Finn is always a rich asshole, it's what makes him endearing. It sounds fun though. But….so….Christmas Day."

"Christmas Day…."

"Normally my parents and Grandma and everyone would be together, but this year, they want to give us our space…they really just want us to be together with Charlotte, they want you to enjoy it."

"They can come over."

"They will." Rory laughed, "They aren't that selfless. My Mom proposed that they come over around 2? Charlotte will probably be asleep so we can kind of regroup and start over. Sookie will come with all of the food, Luke will bring some sides, my Dad will bring the booze, and there will be more gifts than you can imagine. So the whole crew is Mom, Luke, Jess," Rory paused, relieved when Logan nodded at her to continue, "Dad, Gi, Grandma, Sookie, Jackson and the kids, Lane, Zack, the boys, Mrs. Kim sometimes comes but I don't think she will come with this. She is a day of decision."

"Sounds packed."

"It is, but when we're in Connecticut, it's our little tradition."

"Well, I think that sounds great." Logan grinned, "Are you sure I shouldn't go? I can crash Josh and Honor's dinner?"

"Logan, you're her Dad. You have to be at Christmas. That is important, no matter what, I want us to celebrate holidays, birthdays, celebrations…Charlotte is what matters, not us." Rory assured him, "But when do we celebrate with your family. Like…small scale? I assume business associates are not your only celebration? I hope at least?"

"January 1." Logan told her, "It was basically the only thing that Josh held onto when they got married, he wanted to be able spend Christmas Day with his family because so much of their time was eclipsed by Huntzberger obligations."

Rory nodded, she could understand why that was important, it was a feeling she had become familiar with when she and Logan were together in college. "Well, we have a plan then."

"We have a plan." Logan agreed, "And then in the New Year, we talk…about us."

"I'm going to go make lunch, do you want anything?"

"You don't cook Rory."

"You don't call me Rory." she countered, "And as you know, I make a mean grilled cheese, canned soup, and macaroni."

"Didn't your Grandma have a chef?"

"I am not hiring a chef." Rory laughed, "And it was a housekeeper, or maid, whatever, who did absolutely everything for Grandma and Grandpa."

xxx

"What do you wear to this thing?" Rory asked, Charlotte was asleep, exhausted from decorating cookies that morning with both of her parents, so Rory and Logan took advantage of the time to get ready. Rory had showered for the second time that day and changed into sweatpants while she tried to decide what the best choice was. She walked into the room Logan was staying in, he too was fresh out of the shower, sweatpants slung low on his hips and his hair was wet. "Sorry," she stammered as she found herself staring at him.

"Hey, no worries," Logan grinned at her as he towel dried his hair, "It's a bit on the formal side. I'll be in a tux, so I would say you should probably go with either a black dress or something more formal if you have it."

"More formal." Rory nodded, she was still staring at him. Somehow she hadn't noticed his body this way in the summer, that he had possibly been in better shape than when they were in college, that his appearance had gotten better with age. "Can you come…look?" she gestured towards her bedroom, "I think I have a couple options."

"Lead the way." Logan followed her to her bedroom, there was an assortment of dresses tossed on the bed.

"What about this one?" Rory picked up the silver satin gown and held it up to her body.

"Jesus, Rory." Logan had to catch himself before he said too much.

"Too much?"

"It's perfect." Logan smiled. "You will look stunning."

"My Grandma bought it for me a few weeks ago." Rory admitted, "That and a few other formal outfits. She speculated I might be needing them this year."

"Emily knows nothing if not Hartford society." Logan laughed.

Rory bit her lip, she had told him they needed to wait, that they shouldn't fall back into old habits, but seeing him, it was taking all of her self restraint not to jump him. "I'm not going to get dressed yet, I am going to do my hair and makeup, then when Charlotte gets up, I'll get her dressed quickly, and hopefully you can help me zip myself up?"

Logan chuckled, he was trying to keep it friendly between them, but he could feel their chemistry, he knew if he could feel it she could feel it too, and it wouldn't be long before what had brought them back to their Vegas agreement all those years ago would be back. Rory was right though, sex wasn't the problem. Sex had never been the problem. "Sure thing. Call when you need me to zip you."

Rory didn't look at him while he walked out of the room, she couldn't, she didn't want him to leave, but she knew he had to. She had a child, they had a child, a child who didn't need to endure the confusion that Rory had spent her entire life going through with her parents. Would they or wouldn't they? Were they or weren't they? Without even thinking Rory walked back to her closet and selected the skimpiest piece of shape wear she owned. She was playing with fire, she knew she was playing with fire. She supposed that the one thing she knew that made them different than her parents was that it had always been Logan for her. She had never loved anyone else. There had never been a thousand yellow daisies, there had never been another wedding date looming over her. Logan was it. She had loved him since she was 22, and even if she couldn't quite explain it, having Charlotte, even before Logan was in the picture, it had made her love him more. Rory slipped into the extraordinarily overpriced piece of lingerie, the Kiki De Montparnasse lace bodysuit and made sure to examine herself in the mirror before she put a fluffy bathrobe over top and retreated to do her hair and makeup. "You can do this Gilmore." she told herself.

xxx

"Charlotte have you gone pee?" Rory asked her daughter for the fourth time.

"Mommy I told you already." Charlotte groaned. "I did go pee."

"Alright, arms up." Rory stated as she slipped the silver sequinned dress over her head. "Where did Grandma find this?" she wondered out loud.

"We bought it at the Mickey Mouse store." Charlotte mumbled as the dress fell over her face. "I love it."

"You look beautiful." Rory smiled as Charlotte slipped on a pair of sparkly flats that Lorelai had gotten her during their sleepover.

"Grandma says I look like Elsa."

"You look just like Elsa." Rory laughed and kissed her daughter, "I love you honey."

"I love you too, Mama."

"Why don't you play with your dolls for a few minutes? Dad is almost ready, and I'm going to put my dress on." Rory looked at her watch, "Then we will be ready to go." Charlotte nodded and wandered over to the window seat that had been converted to include toy storage. Rory smiled as she watched her play for a moment before retreating back to her own bedroom. "Logan," she called as she walked, she heard his muffled response from his bedroom, "I need your help." she slowly slipped her robe off, she could hear him leaving his room as she stepped into her gown, pulling the sleeves up over her shoulders as Logan entered, "Zip me?"

"Turn." Logan stated simply, Rory turned, exposing part of her back to him, "You really want to play this game, Ace?" he asked her, she pulled her hair over her shoulder to allow him to pull the zipper up. "You look amazing."

"You don't look so bad yourself." Rory countered, smoothing the fabric over her stomach and slipping her feet into the Christian Louboutin heels that her Grandmother had insisted she needed to match the dress, she would have to thank Emily later.

"You're going to kill me, Rory Gilmore." Logan laughed, stepping back and breaking the trance between the two of them, "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

xxx

"Rory, Merry Christmas!" Honor hugged her tightly, "I'm so glad to see you here, I wasn't sure if you were coming."

"Merry Christmas Honor." Rory smiled, Logan had slipped away somewhere with Charlotte, explaining that the kids were all together under the watchful eye of a team of professionals and that he would return in a bit. "Logan and I figured we would try to do things together this year." she explained, "For Charlotte…and for Logan, this is a big deal. His first Christmas where he gets to be her Dad."

"A lot has changed." Honor thought back to the year prior when Odette and Logan had spent the majority of the evening bickering in a corner, smiling when necessary but obviously hating every moment of their time together. She recalled how Odette had thrown a fit when Logan had wanted to spend some time with her boys, and how eventually Mitchum had involved himself in the situation to calm her down. "He is happier."

"I didn't ruin his life?"

"You didn't cause any of this." Honor assured her, "And trust me, aside from when you two were together as kids and had no responsibilities, I have never seen him so happy as when he is with you." she caught herself, remembering that they weren't together, "You know what I mean, as…coparents."

Rory nodded as she grabbed a champagne flute from a passing tray, "I should probably find your parents, say hello."

"They are in with the kids." Honor explained, "But, Colin and Steph are right over there." she smiled. "I'll catch up with you in a bit?"

"Thank you." Rory grinned as she walked across the room only to have a man in a tuxedo step in her way, "Matt, hi." she had to admit, she was surprised to see her date from the week prior standing in front of her at the Huntzberger mansion, "What are you doing here?"

"Family Christmas party." he laughed awkwardly, "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Family?"

"Matt, old buddy, how the hell are you? You haven't been to this thing in years!" Logan's voice boomed behind her and embraced the man.

"Well, a divorce will certainly help bring you back into the family fold." Matt laughed as he embraced Logan, "Things seem to be going well at Huntzberger for you?"

"They are, really well." Logan nodded and turned his attention to Rory, "Have you two met? Did Honor introduce you?"

"We've met." Rory smiled, "How are you two…"

"Matt is my cousin!" Logan grinned, "A couple years older than me, but his Dad is my Mom's older brother. We see each other a few times a year."

"Weddings, funerals and bachelor parties."

"Jesus Christ." Rory muttered under her breath, taking a sip of her champagne. "I'm surprised we never met before." she offered.

"Before?"

"Rory and I dated a long time ago, in college." Logan explained. "Matt on the other hand when we were in college was busy saving the universe, he was volunteering in…man, where was it?"

"Ghana." Matt told him.

"He's a saint," Logan laughed, "anyway, so he spent a while inoculating babies or something, and then he met his dream girl, got married, came home and gave his dad a literal heart attack when he told him, and has been working at the accounting firm ever since."

"And I got a divorce." Matt shrugged, "Ten happy years of marriage down the drain."

"It happens when your wife announces she is a lesbian." Logan chuckled, "Is she here tonight?"

"No," Matt shook his head, "I thought I might have met someone who would have fun here, but I don't think it will work out."

"What a shame," Logan paused for a moment, "and how do you two know each other?"

"We've intersected at the neighbourhood Starbucks." Matt told him smoothly.

"Matt is who I was on a date with last week." Rory added to the story, Logan turned his head to her quickly.

"That was Matt?"

"It was Matt." Rory nodded, suddenly regretting having told him about their kiss. "I didn't know…obviously, that he was your cousin."

"And you asked her out?" Logan directed his glare at his cousin. "You thought there was an abundance of Rory's in Hartford? You had your tongue down her throat?" Logan choked, recalling what Matt had told him days prior about the date he had been on, "The mother of my child? You are fucking kidding me." he hissed.

"Logan," Rory put her hand firmly on his chest, "it was a mistake, I didn't know you two were…related. It was one date." she assured him, her other hand went to his chin, gently bringing his eyes in focus with hers, "Before our talk Logan, it was before our talk." she was praying that this wouldn't ruin it all, ruin their progress, ruin Charlotte's Christmas.

"He knew." Logan glared at Matt, "He knew who you were Rory. I'm not mad at you." he clarified, "But you," he looked at his cousin, "we're fucking done. You go and say goodnight to my parents, you tell them you don't fucking feel well, and I don't want to see you unless it's a funeral."

"Logan, come on, over a girl? We've shared more than that before."

"This is not a girl." Logan stepped closer to the man, "We are not sixteen, and this is not some bet about who can get to third base with someone. You could have picked anyone else, go fuck Odette for all I care. But you have crossed a goddamned line here Matt, and there is no turning back." he stood and waited for a moment before Matt put his hands up as though to surrender and watched the man walk away. "Sorry." Logan muttered to Rory.

"Can we…talk?" Rory sighed, she felt terrible. She wasn't trying to upset him, she was trying to be straight forward. She didn't want Logan to think she was hiding anything, or anyone, and it had nothing to do with whatever romantic entanglements they might end up in.

"Let's go upstairs." Logan nodded, placing a hand on the small of her back and leading her towards a back staircase, "My old room." he laughed as they entered, it hadn't changed much over the years.

"I'm sorry." was all she could muster.

"You didn't know. You had no way of knowing." Logan assured her, "I'm not mad at you. He knew. He knew every fucking thing about this, and he was a piece of shit and did it anyway."

"So forget about him." Rory spoke to him softly, "He doesn't matter. This is special, this is our first Christmas, this is your first Christmas with your daughter. So enjoy it. Don't let him get in the way of it."

"You're right." he nodded.

"I know I'm right." Rory laughed, "You're a better man than he is." Rory told him honestly, "You think sometimes that you're not a good man, that you're not meant to be a good man. The plans that were made for you…the decisions you have made in the past. They don't define you. They are not who you are Logan Huntzberger," she took his hands in hers, "do you see the way she looks at you? Charlotte thinks that you hang the stars in the sky. So be that man. Forget being the guy everyone else wants you to be."

"Rory," Logan paused, trying to memorize all of her features as they spoke, "if you don't want me to kiss you, I'm going to need you to tell me." he paused, imploring her to tell him to stop, to tell him not to complicate things, not to complicate them. "I love you Rory Gilmore. Always have, always will." his thumb gently stroked her cheek before he lowered his lips onto hers. Tentatively at first, giving her a moment to change her mind before she wrapped her arms loosely around h is neck and pressed her entire body into his, their kiss deepening.

Rory pulled him as tightly as she could to her body, it was like coming up for air. After everything that had gone on over the past five years. New Hampshire, finding out she was pregnant, her Mom marrying Luke, moving to Philly, having Charlotte, him not coming to find them…she could exhale again and she wasn't going to fall apart. "I love you too." Rory murmured against his lips as they pulled apart.