"I can't believe Luke won't fire Froggy." Lorelai complained as she and Rory made their way through the parking lot to the designated spot where they were to meet her parents before heading to the football game. Brennon—now known to Lorelai as "Froggy" due to her daughter's anecdote about a science class dissection and a sandwich—was the newest employee at Luke's and he was terrible.

"Well, you know Luke. He's stubborn. And when he believes in someone, he doesn't give up on them easily."

"True, I mean, look how many chances he gave Jess."

Rory tensed slightly at the mention of her ex-boyfriend. She knew what it was like to give him more chances than he deserved. Rory supposed she didn't give up on people easily either. Especially when it came to boyfriends. "Yeah, well, Jess was family" she defended, trying not to think too deeply about it.

"Yeah, plus Jess never gave out napkins from his back pocket."

"True," Rory agreed. "Hey, Mom," she said after a slight pause. All this talk of her ex-boyfriend and extra chances had her thinking of another ex-boyfriend. The one that had been in her thoughts a lot lately. Did he deserve another chance? It had been a week since she had last seen him, leaving that book in his dorm room. She hadn't gone back for it yet. She was still humiliated by the fact that she'd left it there in the first place. That wasn't her. If she wanted to see Logan again, all she had to do was call him.

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something." She wasn't sure how her mother was going to take this. She was never entirely sure how Lorelai felt about Logan. Still, she really needed the perspective.

"Oooooookay," Lorelai drew the word out cautiously, stopping to look at her daughter. "That sounds ominous. Should I be sitting for this?"

"Yeah, sitting might be good." They had reached the designated meeting spot anyway.

"A sitting conversation, oh goody."

The two women took a seat on the ground, leaning against an ivy-covered brick wall.

"Logan and I made up," Rory confessed.

"Ooh, okay. Wow. Umm—made up how exactly?" Lorelai asked, feeling her heart rate speed up nervously.

"Oh, no!" Rory was quick to clarify upon seeing her mother's distressed look. "Nothing happened. We're not back together. It was a platonic make up."

Lorelai scoffed. "Yeah, because you and Logan do 'platonic' so well."

Rory's cheeks pinked up in embarrassment. "It's not like I want to feel that way about him."

"But you do." It wasn't a question.

Rory looked away. "Yeah."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Rory answered truthfully.

"I think you do. I think you're just afraid to admit it to yourself, Kid." Lorelai put a comforting hand on her daughter's knee.

"What if he gets bored of me?" She suddenly blurted out. Damn right she was afraid. She had every right to be. "What if he leaves again? What if he realizes the whole boyfriend thing isn't him? He's Logan freaking Huntzberger! He's had almost as many girls as he does dollars. I can't compete with that. And I hate this person I'm turning into. The girl who thinks she's not good enough for a guy."

"Hey, that's called love, Kiddo. Romance is all about feeling small and insecure and hoping you don't get so nervous you throw up on his shoes. At least at first. And then one day it's not about that at all anymore. It's about that feeling of contentment you get when you're with them. It's about being with your best friend. It's about how you are not only good enough to be with them, but you're better because you're with them."

Rory sighed. She wanted that. She wanted it with Logan. "So I should give it another go?"

"I can't tell you that."

"But why not?" Rory whined.

"Because you're grown-up now. I'm not too happy about it. If it were up to me, I'd keep you just old enough to do your own laundry and dishes but not old enough to move out, forever. I liked having free child labor at my disposal like that."

"Well I'm glad I could make myself useful." Rory rolled her eyes.

"Totally! You're the only one who ever cleaned the windows. Pretty soon, I'm not going to be able to see outside without opening the door."

Rory sighed. "So you're really not going to tell me what to do?"

"No, but maybe if you come home and clean the windows I'll change my mind."

"Yoo-hoo, Girls, over here!" a voice cut through the crowd, interrupting them. Lorelai made a face at the obnoxiousness of it.

"God, who's yoo-hooing?" she groaned. She looked up in time to see her parents rounding the bend towards them. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed as she realized Emily was the culprit. She rolled her eyes. Could someone remind her again why she had agreed to a day of football and her parents?

Rory had to admit she'd been skeptical when she heard her grandparents mention "tailgating," but this was not like any tailgating she'd ever seen before. There was an RV that probably cost more than her mother's house, decked out with Yale paraphernalia, a professionally set table with expensive china, and a staff of four serving cocktails and steak seared with the letter Y". A girl could get used to this.

"What's going on over there?" she asked, looking up from her steak due to some commotion on the other side of the field.

Emily looked over her shoulder to see what her granddaughter was talking about. "Oh, Richard, it's Dan," she exclaimed gleefully, standing up in a hurry.

"Dan?" Richard asked, looking for himself. "It's Dan! It's Dan!"he agreed, waving the girls up from their seats.

"I thought we already saw Dan." Before tailgating Richard had introduced them to the first Yale mascot—a taxidermied bulldog named Dan.

"This is the current Dan," Emily explained, reaching for something under the table.

"Emily, get his bone."

"Got it," Emily proclaimed, wielding a "Y" shaped dog bone. The family headed towards the crowd surrounding a very alive bulldog in a Yale t-shirt. "Here you go, Dan." Emily bent down to offer the dog his bone.

"Enjoy it now," Lorelai spoke to the dog. "I just saw your future and it ain't good."

The family was couched around the dog, petting him, when Rory heard her name. "Rory, hey." She looked up from the dog, searching the crowd for a second before she spotted Marty.

"Hey," Rory said, walking over to her friend. "Did you see Dan?"

"Well, you can't help it," Marty acknowledged. "He's everywhere today in one form or another."

"I want you to meet my mom." They turned back around to see her mother and grandparents still crowed around Dan.

"I'll distract them," Lorelia instructed the dog. "You make a run for it. Dan, are you listening to me?" The dog ignored her, happily munching on his bone. "Stop eating. Your freedom's at stake here."

"Mom?"

Lorelai looked up guiltily. "I was just petting him."

"I want you to meet Marty."

Lorelai stood up, with a big smile. "Oh, naked guy," she greeted.

"You told your mother about me." Marty faked a smile, speaking through gritted teeth.

Rory had to the good sense to be embarrassed. "Um, yeah. Well, I included some anecdotes where you were actually clothed, too," she defended.

"Oh, I appreciate that," Marty crossed his arms self-consciously.

"And who is this young man?" Richard and Emily joined the group.

"This is Marty. He lives in my residence hall," Rory introduced.

"It's very nice to meet you, Marty." Emily had a glint in her eye. Who was this Marty? Was it possible her granddaughter had met a Yale man? It was about time.

"Why did my daughter just call you 'naked guy'?" Richard asked. He had obviously overheard the beginning of their conversation.

"Oh, well now, that's a funny story…" A new voice broke in. Logan walked up between Rory and Marty and laid a hand on each of their shoulders.

"I now owe you money," Rory told Marty flatly, as she tossed an annoyed look Logan's way.

"Hey, I'm not the one who brought it up," Logan replied. He turned his attention to Rory's grandparents with his most charming smile. "Richard, Emily, it's good to see you again," he greeted. "Lorelai, it's always a pleasure."

"Hi, Logan," Lorelai greeted, mustering up as much fake excitement as she could. She would support her daughter no matter what, but she would be lying if she said she was whole-heartedly rooting for the couple.

Emily's smile grew even bigger. Yale men were good, but some were better than others. And she did have her reservations about this 'naked guy.' "Logan, it's so good to see you. It's good to know that you and Rory are keeping in touch. It makes me feel so much better to know she's got a friend like you looking out for her."

"Oh, it's my pleasure," Logan responded enthusiastically. "Ace here is one of a kind."

Richard reached over to shake Logan's hands. "Good to see you again, son."

Marty watched the exchange, not sure if he should be relieved or annoyed. On the one hand, it was good to have Rory's family's attention focused away from him and his 'naked guy' status. On the other hand, they really seemed to love the smug jerk who had been witness to his embarrassment first hand. Why was he always hovering around Rory? Were they a couple? He'd never had the guts to come out and ask her.

"So, Marty…" Richard turned his attention back to him. "About that 'naked guy' story…"

Marty sighed defeatedly. He was definitely annoyed. "I, uh," he shifted his eyes away from the elder Gilmores. "I had an unfortunate experience with a keg and a party and a need to take my clothes off and fall asleep in a hallway," He explained.

"Oh, my goodness," Emily gasped.

"Oh, please," Richard scoffed. "That's nothing. I was naked an entire month my sophomore year."

"What?" Rory screeched.

"Welcome to tonight's episode of 'Things I Never Needed to Know About My Father.'"

Richard continued on with his story despite the reservations of his daughter and granddaughter. "I and a group of like-minded young men decided to protest the new dress code by wearing silk ties and nothing else. We were written up by the dean of admissions and threatened with expulsion. We were also suddenly very popular with the ladies."

Loga plastered on a fake smile at Richard's story. It was his turn to be annoyed. It was clear from the moment Rory handed Marty her robe in the hallway that night that the boy was smitten with his Ace. And now he was here with her family and somehow charming her grandfather with a story about getting drunk and taking all his clothes off? Logan was supposed to be the one the Gilmores loved.

"Ah, yes. This is exactly the kind of conversation I had hoped we would have with our granddaughter and her friends." Emily rolled her eyes. Was Emily really worried about making a bad impression on Marty? What had the world come to, Logan wondered?

"One night in the hallway does not a true naked guy make, my friend." Richard added for good measure.

"Would you boys like to eat with us?" Emily invited.

"Oh, I would love to, Emily. It looks amazing," Logan replied. "But actually, some of our friends are having a get together on the lawn. I was actually hoping I could steal Rory away for a little while." Logan grinned a grin that could make The Iron Lady melt. "You should come too, Marty," he turned to the other man. "The more the merrier." He hardly wanted to invite him along, but he couldn't afford to be rude in front of Rory's grandparents. Not to mention that playing nice with Rory's friends could only help his cause of winning her over. Marty may have had a thing for Ace, but he was no real threat to Logan. Marty was firmly in the friend-zone.

"Oh, I can't." Rory shook her head. She did want to see the gang again, but she couldn't ditch her family…could she?

"Oh, nonsense, of course you can go. Go visit your friends. I insist," Richard prodded.

"Are you sure?"

"We've got plenty of time before the kickoff, go."

"Okay." Rory relented easily.

"Take this with you." Emily handed over a Tupperware full of food which Logan accepted.

"Thank you, Emily. I'm sure it's delicious." Logan grabbed Rory's hand and headed off towards their friends with Marty trailing sullenly behind.

"X-ray vision, mate. It's a no-brainer." They were set up under a white tent with blue decorations. A large area rug had been rolled out on the grass. A couple of tables were loaded with food, and a few more were surrounded by chairs for people to sit at. There were also some blankets and throw pillows strategically laid out for sitting on the ground. Finn flipped a piece of steak on the grill.

"Are you having that much trouble getting a girl to take her clothes off for you these days, Finn?" Colin asked. He and Stephanie were laid out on one of the blankets, cuddling.

"I can get a girl down to her skivvies no problem. It's getting to see more than one girl naked at a time that's difficult. Plus Rosemary still won't take it off for me." He sighed longingly, pointing at the redhead in question with his tongs.

"Never gonna happen, Finn," Rosemary replied.

Rory chuckled lightly at their inane debate. She was at a circular table, sitting between Logan and Marty. A few members of the extended group were there too. "Well then why not pick invisibility?" she asked. "You could sneak into a locker room and see the whole field hockey team naked at once. And there a few less pervy perks as well…" she joked.

"Like making sure my professors can't see when I fall asleep in class!" Finn exclaimed. "You're brilliant, Love." He turned to Logan. "Isn't she brilliant, mate?"

"She keeps me on my toes," Logan agreed.

Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad I could help you use your fake superpowers for evil."

"Well what superpower would you want, Ace?" He had his hand on her shoulder, twirling a strand of hair around his fingers.

"The power to heal," she answered resolutely.

"Ugh," Colin fake gagged. "Could you be anymore disgustingly good, Gilmore? This is the real world, not that hippy-dippy, Mayberry town you grew up in."

"The real world where we all get to pick a superpower?" Rory asked, her eyebrows quirked up in amusement.

"Super speed." The table turned to face Marty. He'd barely said two words since he and Rory had joined the group. Marty seemed to turn three shades of red at the sudden attention. Why hadn't he just kept his mouth shut?

"Where's the fun in that?" Finn asked, furrowed brow. It seemed like such a boring super power. You could hardly use it to pick-up women. It wouldn't get you out of any annoying responsibilities...

"Umm, well, you could get anywhere really fast—like you could be in Cancun in no time."

"Isn't that what private jets are for?" Robert, another member of the group spoke up.

Marty didn't really know how to reply to that. "You could run on water," he added instead.

"Yachts…"

"Believe it or not Robert, most people don't have access to private jets and yachts," Rory replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Well they should. And if you had my superpower—the ability to clone things-you could just clone someone else's private jet, or yacht. Or you could clone enough money to buy your own."

"If you run fast enough, you could run through time," Stephanie piped in from her spot by Colin's side.

"Yeah, Robert, you can't clone a time machine," another girl, Juliette, piped in. "And super speed would burn super calories. I could actually eat," she added with a dreamy sigh. Juliette had a well-known aversion to food.

"I need a refill," Logan broke in. "You want another martini, Ace?" he asked as he got up to head over to the dry bar that had been set out.

"I'm good," she replied. "I have to go back to my family soon."

"Right, Richard and Emily probably wouldn't look too kindly on me getting you all liquored up. How about you, Marty?" he asked.

"Oh, I can get it…" he said uneasily, starting to stand up.

"Don't be silly," Logan replied, waving Marty back down. "You're not the bartender today, you're a guest. I've got it—beer, right?"

"Umm, yeah, beer's fine."

Logan walked away to get the drink and Rory turned to converse with Marty. She knew he didn't really want to be here, she should have been making more of an effort to make him feel included. It was just so hard to concentrate on anything when Logan was sitting next to her, playing with her hair and making all her insides go all butterfly-y.

Now that Logan had stepped away she could pay more attention to her friend. "You know, I think Juliette has a thing for you," she whispered lowly, elbowing her friend.

"What?" Marty's eyes darted from Rory to Juliette. "No," he shook his head adamantly.

"You're just her type," Rory continued.

"I highly doubt that," Marty supplied looking at his surroundings. He didn't fit in with any of these people. But Rory was different, or at least she seemed to be. He didn't understand how she could be so grounded when she was hanging out with society brats like these.

"Oh, I almost forgot…" Logan returned to the table setting Marty's beer and a club soda for Rory, on the table. "You forgot a notebook at my place the other day, Ace."

"Oh," Rory could feel the color warming her cheeks. "Is that where that went to?" she chuckled nervously, taking a big gulp of her drink.

"Yeah, you need me to drop it off for you. I wouldn't want you getting a lowly B+ on some final because I was holding your notes hostage." Logan reclaimed his seat next to Rory, throwing his arm over her shoulder.

"Oh, don't go out of your way on my account. I uh…I can stop by and pick it up myself."

Rory looked everywhere but at Logan. Leaving her notebook was such a juvenile thing to do. She was so embarrassed she had done that. She had tried to block out the memory of the act and just forget about it, but obviously Logan was going to find the notebook eventually. Not to mention that she actually did need the notes it contained.

"You sure? I don't mind."

"Yeah, I don't want to put you out." Rory glanced down at her wrist, but she didn't actually pay any attention to the hands on her watch. "Look at the time. I should get back to my grandparents."

"Oh, umm, okay," Logan said, a little disappointedly. Things had been going so well. He'd even managed to remain completely polite to the bartender despite the fact that the guy was clearly mooning over his Ace. So why did Rory suddenly go all jumpy and weird. Had something happened while he was getting the drinks? Had Marty said something to her? Had one of his friends? "I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah," Rory nodded, not making eye contact. She grabbed her purse and stood up from the table. "Bye guys," she waved her goodbyes to the rest of the group. "You coming, Marty?"

Logan watched with a glower as Marty got up from the table and walked off with Ace.

"So…" Marty said after they'd walked a few minutes in silence. "That was fun."

Rory laughed. "You don't have to lie, Marty. I know they weren't really your cup of tea."

"You just seem so different from them."

"I am…and I'm not. It's complicated. But I hang out with all different kinds of people."

"So…" Marty started, then hedged a bit, getting cold feet.

"So?" Rory prompted.

Marty took a deep breath, here went nothing. "So are you and Logan…I mean, the two of you seem kind of…are you dating?"

Rory diverted her eyes away. She knew Marty had a bit of a crush on her. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. She really liked him as a friend. "We were, for a very brief period last year." She admitted.

"Are you sure he got the message that it's over?" Marty asked. He was slightly relieved at the fact that Rory and Logan were old news, but he had a feeling there was more to it than that. "Because he still seems kind of into you."

"Oh, he got the message," Rory chuckled wryly. "He just deleted it."

"Huh?"

Rory stopped walking. She grabbed Marty's hand and he turned to face her. "Look, Marty…Logan has made it clear that he would like to give us another chance. I was resistant at first but—"

"But now you've decided to give him another chance." Marty finished for her.

"I know that's not what you wanted to hear. I hope we can still be friends. Please say we can still be friends," she pleaded.

"Sure," Marty replied glumly. "We can still be friends."

AN: So we got some Rory/Lorelai action, a bit of fun time with the gang, some Marty tension... That's a whole lot of fun for one chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, because the next one is going to be a doozy. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought.