AN: Hey, guys! We're going back in time with this one. Sorry, if you are disappointed at not seeing more Ellie and Ronan. Don't worry, there will be plenty of time for that. But, for now, I wanted to visit something set during the original series.

In chapter 12 of BLP, I made a quick reference to a Friday night dinner that Logan attended after they got back together in season six where Richard wanted to kill him for putting his hand on Rory's thigh. This is an exploration of that little incident. It's set between 'You've Been Gilmored' and 'A Vineyard Valentine.'

Also, I'm so sorry I've been quiet for a couple weeks. This installment was a slow comer for whatever reason, plus my parents were in town for a few days. (I survived. Thank you, sweet baby Jesus).

Hope you all enjoy!

The Cowherderess and the Milk

Friday, February 3, 2006

"Now who looks nervous?"

Rory's eyes narrowed as she slowly turned her head toward her boyfriend. They'd been sitting in his Porsche for about five minutes now, parked, with no sign of opening the doors any time soon. She was stalling, and he knew she was stalling - the same way he had when he'd taken her to his parents for dinner more than a year ago.

It was a strange feeling, being this nervous sitting outside her grandparents' house. She never imagined that she would feel this way about coming here. This was her mother's territory. Her job had always been to roll her eyes and push her toward the door, thinking that Lorelai was exaggerating her hesitancy to go inside. Now, however, she knew differently.

Being around her grandparents was still a struggle. It had gotten better after the monster of a dinner they'd had a few weeks ago. Getting so many built up emotions and resentments out in the open had gone a long way in repairing the broken relationship between them, but things were still awkward. They were tense and uncomfortable. And the last time Rory had been over for dinner, her grandfather had started screaming about shrimp.

"Maybe this was a terrible idea…" she said, biting her lip.

"This was your idea," Logan reminded.

"I know," said Rory.

"You're the one who said it would be stupid for us to drive to Hartford seperately since we're both going to end up at Josh's birthday party tonight anyway."

"I know!"

"And you're the one who said that things with your grandparents were 'fine.'"

"I know!" she said again. "And they are fine. It's just… in the Gilmore world 'fine' is usually code for really really bad."

"Look…" said Logan. "I get that things might be awkward at first. But, let's not sell your grandparents short, okay? They're smart people. It's been months since the minister incident. I think they've had plenty of time to process the fact that their twenty-one year old granddaughter is in an adult relationship…"

Rory only blinked at him.

It was kind of adorable actually. To most people, there had always been a somewhat obvious dynamic between the two of them. So many people looked at them as if Logan was the experienced, tainted, roguish man of the world while Rory was a naive, idealistic little princess. Moments like these were always somewhat amusing, when Logan was the one so inexcusably naive while Rory was the cynical pragmatist. It happened more often than many would think, and it was usually due to the causal ease with which Logan was often able to breeze effortlessly through life entirely unconfronted by nature of his gender, socioeconomic status, and race.

In so many ways, he was completely oblivious to the way the world worked. And the naive optimism that came from that was often entertaining.

"Besides…" he continued with a shrug and a smile. "Your grandparents love me. It can't be that hard to remind them of that. I'll just hand off the bottle of wine I brought, compliment Emily on whatever new flower arrangements she has, and all will be normal again. Trust me. This isn't my first rodeo."

Logan's unflappable confidence was always something that Rory had been attracted to. In fact, it was probably the thing that had first attracted her to him to begin with. Though, at times it bordered on cockiness. Many people despised that about him, and she could understand why. But, right here and right now, she just found it amusing.

He truly had no idea what he was about to walk into, which was doubly ironic considering the fact that his own family was so profoundly dysfunctional. And it probably didn't help that Logan had never seen the Gilmore clan on something less than their best behavior. If he thought Emily's cold avoidance of him at her birthday was bad, he was in for a rude awakening. He'd never experienced Emily's cold attention.

In his mind, he was just the charming well off boyfriend of their adult granddaughter. They'd once reveled in the fact that they were together, and this incident was nothing more than a slightly uncomfortable speed bump along the way. It was nothing that a nice wink and a smile wouldn't be able to fix. He'd never stopped to think about the deep rooted trauma that the entire incident had triggered.

He wasn't just the charming well off boyfriend of their adult granddaughter anymore. He was a walking trigger for memories of their only daughter coming home at sixteen and telling them she was pregnant, and that all the hopes and dreams they had for her were destroyed. He was a corrupting factor in their quest to see that Rory became everything that her mother was supposed to be. He was a threat to their great plan. The truth was that they had stopped looking at him as Logan Huntzberger months ago. Now they looked at him and saw nothing but a teenaged Christopher Hayden.

It might not be fair, but it was the reality.

"Well, you sound confident," she stated.

"I am," he replied with a deliberate nod. "And hey…. I wore the lapels that your grandmother loves."

She wasn't going to argue with him about it. She'd done her due diligence in warning him, and it was his choice whether or not he listened to what she had to say. Plus, undercutting his confidence at this point would probably hurt more than help the situation. If he was able to walk in there with a calm demeanor and a clear head, the evening would at least go off better than if he went in there panicked and uncomfortable.

The sound of a car pulling up behind them indicated that their time to stall was now officially at an end. Rory flicked her eyes up toward the rear view mirror, seeing the taillights of her mother's Jeep shining at them from behind. She sighed one final time and popped the passenger mirror down in front of her to check her hair one last time.

"Well…" she said, adjusting her bangs. "Here we go…"

Unlike the last time Rory had brought him to a Friday night dinner, she didn't wait for him to open her door. She took the lead, popping it open herself and swinging her legs to the side before stepping out of the vehicle. As soon as she was upright, her mother's voice called out to her from behind.

"There she is!" Lorelai cried, dramatically, before slamming her car door closed. "My daughter! The kept woman!"

Rory rolled her eyes. She walked around the back of the car and met her mother on the other side, noting the coffee cup in her hand and the slightly rumpled look of her outfit.

"I'm not a kept woman," Rory replied.

She knew her mother was merely teasing her about her new living situation, but it was actually something that she did feel a little strange about. Living in Logan's apartment rent free had never really been part of her plan. Yet, circumstances being what they were, it was the situation they found themselves in. She'd considered getting a part time job to help chip in, but Logan wouldn't hear of it, claiming she had more than enough on her plate with catching up from her semester off and her new position as editor. She'd even considered asking her father for a bit more help, but again Logan shut her down. He insisted that the apartment was already paid for anyway, and her being there didn't make any difference.

Still, in a perfect world she would be doing more. It was one thing to be supported by her parents or grandparents, but to be supported by her boyfriend was something else. In her worst moments, she wasn't sure if it was a sign she was growing up, or a just sign that she was taking advantage of him…

"Whatever you say," Lorelai chimed in a sing-song tone before turning her attention to the man standing to her life. "Hi, Logan."

There was a smile on her face. It wasn't entirely a genuine smile. It was a bit stilted, and there was a certain air of awkwardness about it. But, still, it wasn't entirely fake. She was trying. She was keeping an open mind. And that was all Rory could ask for at the end of the day.

"Hey, Lorelai," Logan replied with a smile of his own. "You look nice."

"Aw…" Lorelai replied with an amused laugh. "You're so full of shit, but that's nice of you."

Logan clearly wasn't sure how to respond to that statement. His face dropped and his shoulders tensed a bit in anxiety. She understood why. In his world 'parents' didn't say things like that. And considering the fact that he and her mother still didn't know each other very well at all, it was no wonder he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He had no idea that this sort of casual ribbing from her mother was actually a very good sign, all things considered.

"Long day?" Rory asked, jumping in to Logan's aid.

Lorelai sighed and nodded her head. Her shoulders sagged, and as the three of them started making their way toward the front door she trudged along, her footsteps heavy and labored.

"Yes," she whined. "I came straight from the Inn. Apparently somebody mixed up Michel's Post-its, so naturally all hell broke loose, and he couldn't function for the rest of the day. Then there was a mix up with the poultry delivery and Sookie had a meltdown. And somehow the honeymoon suite was double booked…"

Rory tried to listen to her mother as she continued to vent about her hectic day, but as they drew closer and closer to the front door, her nerves got the best of her. Even Logan's hand in the small of her back didn't help the situation. If anything it made them worse, reminding her about the source of her particular anxiety to begin with.

They stepped up in front of the domineering solid wood door, and Rory's eyes landed on the doorbell to her right. At that moment, she completely zoned out, not hearing a single word coming out of her mother's mouth. Once again she was dreading pressing it, and she desperately wanted to stop feeling that way.

"...And then some anthropomorphic Jack O'Lantern started riding Cleetus around the grounds and chopping guests' heads off and carrying them off into the night."

"What?" Rory asked. "Oh… that's too bad. I'm sorry."

Lorelai laughed.

"Wow…" she said. "You really don't want to go in there do you?"

"What?" Rory asked again. "No… I… It's fine. I'm happy to be here, We're happy to be here. I'm just distracted by something that happened today at the paper. That's all."

Her mother clearly didn't believe her. The teasing smile on her face reeked of schadenfreude, and Rory had the distinct feeling that she wasn't going to live this certain period of her life down any time soon. Their strange role reversal was endlessly amusing to her.

"Uh huh," said Lorelai, gazing at her skeptically. "Sure."

Lorelai leaned forward, her arm cutting across the two of them as she reached to press the doorbell.

"Come on my little cowherderess," she said as she moved. "It's time for you and your farm boy to face the music…"

"Farm boy?" Logan asked, his brow furrowed. "Why am I a farm boy?"

Rory sighed. The last thing she wanted to do at this moment was to explain the long and completely unimportant origin story behind her mother's new nickname for her.

"I'll explain later," she said just as the doorbell chimed with the press of her mother's fingers.

In the ensuing seconds that followed, Rory could feel the tension spread across her shoulders. She took advantage of the last few remaining seconds to outwardly display her anxiety, but as soon as the sound of the knob turning from the other side reached her ears, she threw on a smile and swallowed her discomfort.

"Hi," Lorelai said to the unfamiliar young woman dressed in the familiar grey get up donned by all of her mother's maids. "We're the daughter and the granddaughter and the granddaughter's boyfriend."

The mousy haired brunette nervously looked to the ground as she silently ushered them all into the house. Once they were all inside and the door shut behind them, she wordlessly shot her hands out at them, gesturing to take their coats. Her gaze, however, remained squarely on the floor.

"Oh… uh…okay…" said Lorelai, peeling off her coat with the rest of them and awkwardly handing it over to the maid who then disappeared in the direction of the study.

"Lorelai! Rory! There you are!"

Emily rounded the corner from the living room with a smile on her face. Yet, as soon as her eyes landed on her daughter, her cheerful expression fell. Shamefully, Rory felt a profound sense of relief at the fact that she and Logan weren't the immediate source of her grandmother's displeasure.

"You're wearing pants," Emily said as she scanned Lorelai from head to toe.

"Yeah, Mom. I'm sorry," said Lorelai. "I had to stay late at the Inn this afternoon, and I didn't have time to run home and change - "

"They're wrinkled," Emily continued, ignoring the apology completely. "You look a mess. You couldn't run a comb through your hair so you didn't show up at the door looking like a hobo?"

"Well actually, I've decided to start taking my fashion cues from Fran Lebowitz. Next time you see me the pants will be baggier and I'll have cut all my hair off to my chin."

Emily didn't look amused.

"Mom, I'm sorry," said Lorelai with a huff. "I told you I had a long day."

"A long day is not an excuse, Lorelai," Emily scolded. "Is it too much to ask for you to look presentable once a week when you come here for dinner?"

"No…" Lorelai sighed.

"I'm sure Rory had a long day full of classes and working on the paper," Emily continued. "She still managed to put herself together. She looks lovely."

"That she does."

Logan's interjection succeeded in getting Emily's attention off of Lorelai. It did not, however, do anything to improve the mood. While Emily had been irritable just moments ago, it was at least better than the cold lack of emotion that she was currently exuding. The dead expression on her face reviled the look she'd given him at her twenty-first birthday party, and Rory's fears that bringing him along was a terrible idea were only growing.

"Hello, Logan," Emily said.

"Emily," Logan greeted with a smile. "Thank you for having me this evening. I brought this for you and Richard. Just a token of my gratitude."

He handed them the bottle of wine that he'd brought along, and Emily accepted it. She looked down at the bottle, trying to hide the fact that she was clearly impressed by the label. Then, when a few seconds of silence passed without a response, Logan continued speaking. Though, the way he rocked slightly forward on his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets was a dead giveaway to her that he wasn't feeling as confident as he was pretending to be.

"It's a Malbec from a barrel my Dad bought on his last trip to Napa."

"How nice. Thank you," Emily finally said.

"Of course -"

"Unfortunately, we're serving fish tonight."

Rory's lips pursed in an ironic smile as she watched Logan's effortless charm fail him for what might be the first time in his life. The cockiness from the car had come crashing down in record time, and it seemed that he was starting to understand why Rory had begun thinking that this might have been a terrible idea. But, there was no going back now.

"Some other time then," Logan replied as he salvaged the smile on his face.

An awkward pause settled over the four of them as they stood in the foyer. The soft sound of classical music was the only noise in the house, and they were all avoiding eye contact with each other.

"Well…" Lorelai finally said, clearing her throat. "I know I could go for a nice glass of wine right now. Or a martini."

With her mother's comment, Emily turned on her heel and ushered them into the living room where apparently her grandfather was already waiting for them. Logan hung back for a moment and Rory stayed with him, observing the dumbfounded expression on his face as he watched the other two Gilmore women walk away. At this point, her anxiety was officially giving way to amusement. But, she felt slightly guilty about the fact.

Not guilty enough to stop her from teasing him about it, however.

"Come on, Farm Boy. Let's go," Rory said with a smirk. "Two and a half hours and you can start washing away the stench of this night at Josh's party with a nice round of shots…"

She reached down and grabbed Logan's hand, pulling him forward toward the living room. Logan sighed, and reluctantly but valiantly took a step to follow her lead, responding to her in a way that made her heart flutter and a genuine smile break out on her face.

"As you wish."


It wasn't the most awkward cocktail hour that had ever passed during a Friday night dinner. There were quite a few that could easily be classified as worse. There was the disastrous visit with the Haydens, the evening Rory had brought Dean along, the evening she'd brought Jess along, countless nights where her mother and her grandmother were icing each other out, the nights when her grandparents had been separated, and of course the evening just a few weeks ago when her grandmother was painting moonscapes.

Though, even though it certainly couldn't be classified as the worst, it was still very far from the best. The mood was undeniably tense, and no matter what subject of small talk was brought up, it didn't seem to stop her grandfather from grimacing as he swirled his scotch in his hand and actively refused to make eye contact with Logan across the coffee table.

Logan was a trooper. Though, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to keep the conversation moving. Thankfully, they had Lorelai on their side this time around, making the evening a somewhat ironic inverse of the last time Logan had come along to a Friday night dinner.

"So, Logan…" Lorelai asked, smiling at him. "You have a birthday coming up right? Rory mentioned something about that."

"Um… yeah…" Logan answered. "In a few weeks."

"You'll be what? Twenty-three?"

"Twenty-four, actually."

"Oh twenty-four…" said Lorelai, blinking in surprise. "I didn't realize you were that much older than Rory."

Lorelai's observation triggered something in Richard. He chose that precise moment to stand up and walk over to the drink cart, refilling the glass of scotch that he'd drunk in record time. The timing of his sudden interest in a refill made Rory a bit nervous. But, he wasn't grumbling anything under his breath, so she wasn't in full panic mode.

She understood why the reminder of Logan's age set him off. In Richard Gilmore's mind, Logan had utterly corrupted her. His young, innocent, naive granddaughter had been taken advantage of by an older more 'worldly' man, and as a result her virtue had been thoroughly debauched. The ultimate irony, of course, was that her "virtue" had already been thoroughly debauched before she'd even met Logan. Though, considering how he was reacting to the nature of her relationship now, she wasn't all that inclined to divulge the details of her most recent relationship with Dean. If this was how he dealt with the knowledge of Rory having sex with a boyfriend that he liked, she couldn't imagine how he would react to the knowledge of her having sex with a boyfriend he couldn't stand.

"Yeah," said Logan. "I was on a five year track to begin with, and I took a year off so…"

"Five years?" Richard asked on his way back to his chair. "I imagine Mitchum has had some things to say about that…"

Logan's mouth dropped open to respond to the somewhat blatant dig at his scholastic pace. It was a sore subject, one that Mitchum had had a lot to say about. And nothing particularly nice or supportive either. She could feel him tense up next to her, and she knew that he was trying as hard as possible to keep the steam from coming out of his ears.

Thankfully, Lorelai once again jumped in to play mediator before he had a chance to say anything. Rory knew quite well that Logan could be argumentative and confrontational when his hackles were up, and that was the last thing they needed at the moment.

"You know, I actually read somewhere that most undergraduate students are taking five years to graduate these days," Lorelai said, kindly. "It's the new national average. Their workloads are just a lot bigger than they used to be..."

Rory looked at her mother gratefully. She squeezed Logan's hand, and the small gestures from both of them seemed to be succeeding in bringing him back down.

"Is that so?" Richard asked, his tone less than convinced.

"Yes, Grandpa," Rory answered firmly. She made pointed eye contact with him across the coffee table, silently communicating that she wasn't at all happy with his comments. "I have a lot of friends who are planning to stretch out their classes over five years. It's perfectly normal. There's nothing wrong with it."

In truth, Rory wasn't only feeling defensive on Logan's behalf. There was also a part of her that was starting to worry about her own ability to finish in the time that she'd initially planned. The blow she'd faced in Freshman year when she'd been advised to drop her class load from five a semester to four a semester was hard enough for her to face, but now with the semester she had taken off this past year, the pressure was doubly on. She felt like she was constantly moving, overworking herself to keep up with the demanding schedule she'd set for herself. And she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep it up.

Unfortunately, however, she didn't exactly feel like she had much of a choice. The idea of disappointing her grandparents more than she already had was still devastating to her. And to them, college took four years. Period.

"I keep telling her to give herself the same leeway," Logan said, his tone heavy with the indication that he was still trying to get the point across to her, even in the presence of her family.

He'd made more than a few comments about it. Rory had always kept herself busy, even in the days when they were just casually dating. She knew that her over-achieving personality was somewhat of an adjustment for Logan, but he'd been able to handle it well enough. This semester, however, the level of commitment that Rory was undertaking was a lot even for her, and Logan was starting to give her more and more little hints.

They lived under the same roof, but it seemed like they saw less of each other now than they did in the early days of their relationship. She was coming to bed late and waking up early, overwhelmed with school work as she attempted to catch up. Plus, her duties at The Daily News weren't exactly helping to lighten her load, though taking a step back from the paper would be a horrible choice. With Yale's lack of a journalism major, working on the paper was the only direct field experience she was getting at school. And Editor of The Yale Daily News was a pretty good line item on a resume.

Rory's packed schedule wasn't hurting their relationship exactly. It definitely wasn't making things easier, but despite some clear sexual frustration Logan was being supportive. He was worried about her more than anything.

"Why do you say that?" Emily asked, concerned. She then turned her attention directly at Rory. "You're not struggling with your class load are you?"

"No!" Rory said quickly. "Logan's just being overprotective. I'm just a little busier than usual trying to catch up from last semester. That's all."

"Overprotective?" Logan asked, scrutinizingly. "How much sleep did you get last night exactly?"

Logan knew very well how much sleep she'd gotten, because it was his bed she'd climbed into at two-thirty in the morning. Though, she wasn't about to remind him of that fact in front of her grandparents. She planned to be safely miles away when she filled them in on the news regarding her current living situation.

"Hey, I'm young," Rory replied. "I can sleep when I'm dead."

Logan wasn't particularly amused by her response, but he wasn't going to push the issue here. Instead, he merely sighed.

"Whatever you say, Ace."

With his capitulation, Logan reached down and placed a supportive hand on the middle of her thigh. It was a gesture that was more of a reflex than anything. In fact, she was pretty sure Logan wasn't even conscious of the fact that he'd done it. She, however, was perfectly conscious of it.

She was conscious of the pressure from his fingers as he gently squeezed at her flesh. She was conscious of how dangerously close his hand was to the hem of her skirt. She was conscious of the profound relief she felt at her decision to put on some sheer black pantyhose before leaving the apartment so that his hand at least wasn't caressing her bare skin. And, more than anything, she was conscious of the near aneurysm her grandfather was experiencing across from them, especially as Logan's fingers started to mindlessly trace circles around the inside of her thigh.

Richard's eyes were completely glued on Logan's hand, and Rory could see his fingertips going slightly white as he clutched his rocks glass tightly in his grip. Were they living in some kind of cartoon, it would no doubt shatter, sending shards of glass and drops of liquid flying everywhere. Thankfully, though, they lived in the real world. And while Richard was certainly a physically imposing man, he didn't quite have the hand strength to break the glass simply by squeezing it too hard. Although, at this point Rory wouldn't put anything past him.

Realizing that she needed to put a quick end to this particular display of affection, she reached down with her on hand, lacing her fingers through his and pulling his hand to a more innocent position on top of her lap. Logan looked over at her with the action, suddenly realizing what he had been doing. A panicked look settled in his eyes, and Rory squeezed his hand in support.

"It's okay," she said, her words carrying a double meaning for both the conversation at large and the silent conversation she was having with her boyfriend. "I'm okay. It's nothing I can't handle."


As the evening progressed, the flow of conversation seemed to improve - at least between her mother, grandmother, and Logan. Richard was still mostly quiet, doing a wonderful impression of his past self the night she had brought Dean over for dinner. Tonight, however, it was a lot harder for him to grill her companion regarding his plans for the future. They all knew exactly what Logan's plans for the future were, and they all knew that they were exactly the kind of plans that Richard Gilmore approved of. As a result, he mostly remained quiet, sometimes giving monosyllabic replies every time he was directly addressed.

Rory wasn't quite sure how she was going to get her grandfather passed this. She had empathy for him, of course. She knew that in his mind she was still a little girl, and she also knew that the events of her mother's youth had left an exceptionally raw open wound within him when it came to this specific subject.

At the same time, however, she couldn't feel too sorry for him. Rory hadn't done anything wrong. The truth was, she wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a grown woman, albeit a young one. And her having an intimate relationship with her now long term boyfriend at the age of twenty-one was not the same thing as her mother having a sexual relationship at sixteen and ending up pregnant. She and Logan were both adults. They were extremely careful. And by the looks of it, Logan wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

As a matter of fact, Rory had been thinking a lot about the future of her relationship with Logan in the last couple of months since they had gotten back together. There was something different this time. Things felt different than they had between them before their brief period apart over the winter break. Living together obviously had a lot to do with it, but it was more than just the physical proximity.

Logan was different. He hadn't changed entirely. He was still his regular fun-loving adventurous self. But, where their relationship had once felt like mostly a fun-loving adventurous fling, now it felt far more serious. They were both taking it more seriously this time around. And Rory was starting to think in the long term. They hadn't had a conversation about it out loud, but Logan asking her to move in was a pretty clear indication to her that he was thinking along the same lines.

Her grandfather was just going to have to get used to the idea that she was an adult woman in an adult relationship. She wasn't sure how to go about getting him to accept that, but she also wasn't interested in continuing to hide the reality of her life from them. That was how they'd wound up in this mess to begin with. Yet, judging by way the evening was going, she wasn't exactly starting to rethink her decision to keep the fact that she'd moved in with Logan to herself for the time being.

The conversation came to a brief lull as the maid started placing their dinner plates in front of them. The steaming salmon looked perfectly cooked and moist, and the smell of the butter and the herbs emanating from the plate was making Rory's mouth water and her stomach grumble. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until this moment, and she was also just realizing that she'd forgotten to eat lunch.

"This looks delicious, Emily," said Logan.

It was taking a bit more effort than he'd originally planned, but Rory had to admit that Logan's persistent compliments over the course of the evening were wearing her grandmother down more than she'd expected them to. Emily smiled as she picked up her fork, and actually addressed him in a tone that wasn't entirely confrontational.

"Thank you, Logan," she replied.

"Though, that hardly surprises me. I don't think I've ever been served anything less than perfect in this house."

Across the table, Lorelai twitched her eyebrows at her, silently communicating her… amusement at Logan's over the top attempts to get back on Emily's good side. At least, she hoped it was amusement and not annoyance. These days her mother was so hot and cold when it came to Logan, she couldn't be entirely sure. Yet, the water had been feeling more consistently warm as of late so she was letting herself be optimistic.

"You're too kind," said Emily.

"I believe my mother went with your catering recommendation for Honor's wedding," said Logan. "She couldn't stop raving about them after your vow renewal last year."

Rory watched as a complicated mix of emotion passed over grandmother's face at Logan's comment. She was no doubt trying to temper her reaction, wanting her to keep her face neutral and unaffected due to her recent resentment of Shira and yet still secretly thrilled at the idea that her caterer was being used for a Huntzberger wedding.

"Well… they are excellent," Emily replied as she started cutting into her serving of fish. "How are preparations going? It should be getting close, isn't it?"

"Uh, yes," said Logan, nodding. "It's coming up in a few weeks."

"Honor must be getting excited."

Logan laughed.

"Excited is one way to put it," he said. "Slightly deranged might be another."

"Stop it," Rory scolded, throwing him an unamused look. "It's her wedding. She should be able to get through it without being ruthlessly mocked by her only brother."

"No, see, this is where your existence as an only child blinds you to the way the world works," Logan shot back at her, playfully. "As her only brother it is precisely my duty to ruthlessly mock her."

"I'm sure it will be absolutely beautiful," said Emily. "I bet you'll both have a wonderful time."

"Yeah, it should be nice," said Rory. "Though, I don't know how much fun I'll be. I'll probably end up having to bring my laptop to do some work in-between the ceremony and the reception…"

Emily seemed a little put off by that comment. She rested her fork back on her plate and furrowed her brow as she looked at her scrutinizingly.

"You know…" she said. "If you're struggling this much to keep up with your school work, perhaps you should consider taking a step back from the paper for a while. Just for this semester. Focus on your classes."

"Well I'm not sure how easy that will be considering she's the editor," Lorelai interjected, cheekily.

Rory's face went white as a ghost. She probably should have informed her mother that she hadn't yet announced the good news about her new position to her grandparents. But, somehow in the hectic whirlwind of her week, she'd entirely forgotten to tell her. It wasn't that she was trying to keep the news from them, it was just that she wanted to do it in person. She'd planned on doing it at some point this evening, but there hadn't been an opportune moment yet. And now it looked like she was deliberately hiding it from them.

"Editor?!" Richard exclaimed, his fork freezing in midair between her plate and his mouth. "What do you mean editor?!"

Rory looked back and forth between her grandparents, her eyes eventually landing on her mother whose mouth was open and eyes were wide in apologetic shame. She'd clearly picked up on the fact that she'd dropped a piece of information that she shouldn't have, and she immediately attempted to back pedal.

"Nothing!" Lorelai jumped quickly. "It's just… you know… college kids… they have all that… writing to do. You know. And they have to be their own editors. Cause… you can't really send off a term paper to an editor. And… that's not fair. Is it? Because they're already so busy - "

"Were you made editor of The Daily News?" Emily asked, cutting over the rambling voice of Lorelai as she attempted in vain to backtrack.

"Um… well…" Rory started. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked downward at her plate, wondering how on earth she was going to navigate the situation she now found herself in. It seemed that the Logan situation was now the least of her worries. But, honestly, she wasn't sure if that was for the better or the worse.

"She was," Logan said for her, confidently. His hand found her knee under the table and he squeezed. "It's about time they got someone competent in that place…"

"Well, you're damn right it is," Richard boomed in a strange sort of aggressive agreement. "But that doesn't explain why we're just hearing about this now."

"Oh, well...Grandpa…" Rory started. "It was all so recent. It just happened. I was just trying to figure out the best way to announce it..."

"When did it happen?" asked Emily.

"Um…" Rory paused.

She momentarily considered lying to them, telling them that it had just happened a couple of days ago. But, ultimately, she decided that would be a bad idea. It wouldn't be that hard for them to find the information themselves, and if she was caught in the lie things between them would only grow even more strained. She had to tell the truth. It was really her only option.

"A couple weeks ago," she said, timidly.

"A couple weeks ago?!" Emily shrieked. "You were named editor of The Yale Daily News a couple weeks ago, and you're just now telling us about this?"

"I was going to tell you…" Rory pleaded.

"And, when, pray tell, were you going to bless us with this information?" Richard asked. "Before your graduation I hope."

Rory sighed. She had the profound urge to bury her face into her hands and hide away from the conversation, but unfortunately she knew that wasn't an option. She would just have to get through it and try to convince them that she hadn't meant any slight. And hopefully in the process she could keep the evening from completely going off the rails.

"I swear I wasn't keeping it from you on purpose…" said Rory. "There were just a lot of things to figure out. A lot of… road bumps. I wanted to tell you in person, and I wanted to have everything figured out before I did."

"Who else knows about this?" Emily asked, her expression hard and confrontational.

"Um… well… Mom knew," said Rory. "And Logan knew. Obviously. Cause… he's on the paper. And… Dad knows…"

"Christopher knows?!" Emily exclaimed.

"Mom."

Lorelai had finally moved past panicked, fully switching into defense mode. Her warning tone was firm, and Rory was grateful for her attempt to intervene. Yet, she knew that ultimately it probably wouldn't help much. They were way past the point of intervention.

"I guess now that your father is paying for your school he suddenly gets to know everything about you before we do," said Emily. "A year ago, you refused to even speak to him. But now he's suddenly father of the year!"

"Dad just happened to be there the day that it happened," Rory explained. "I didn't purposely tell him first."

"That's a likely story."

"Mom!" said Lorelai. "She wasn't deliberately hiding this from you. She just had a lot going on the last couple weeks. There were a lot of details to iron out. She's catching up with school work. She had to take over a sinking ship. She had to find a place to live…"

Rory's eyes shot up to her mother's in absolute horror, and Lorelai's eyes once again went wide in apologetic shame. She was supposed to be an ally, and yet it seemed like she couldn't stop putting her foot in her mouth and letting all kids of secrets slip. The difference this time was that Lorelai knew perfectly well that the living situation was strictly off limits.

Next to her, she could feel Logan stiffen as well, bracing himself for the confrontation that he knew was inevitable at this point. His face, however, remained neutral. And Rory was left wondering yet again how on Earth he was always able to appear so calm under pressure.

"Find a place to live?" asked Richard, looking between her and her mother. "What do you mean she needed to find a place to live?"

"Find a place to live?" Lorelai asked, floundering to fix the mess she'd accidentally made. "Did I say find a place to live? I don't know why I - "

"I thought you were living with Paris," said Emily.

"Well… I was," answered Rory. "But… as you may remember Paris was the editor, and she didn't exactly take kindly to me becoming the editor…"

"Oh, Rory, tell me you didn't have to move back into a dormitory with some random lunatic you don't know…" said Emily.

The new information seemed to let some of the anger out of her tone, and Rory could even detect a twinge of sympathy and concern in her voice. However, how long that sympathy and concern would last was anyone's guess.

"Um… no actually," Rory answered. "I looked for an available dorm, but there weren't any vacancies."

"So you still live with Paris?" Emily asked, confusion marring her expression.

"Well… no. Not exactly."

"Well you can't possibly be affording rent on your own. Unless your father is paying for that too. Did Christopher get you an apartment?"

"No, Grandpa," said Rory. "Dad didn't get me an apartment."

"Well, I'm confused," said Emily, frustratingly. "If you're not living with Paris and you're not living in a dorm and your father isn't paying to rent an apartment for you, then where exactly are you living? You can't possibly be commuting to and from Stars Hollow every day - "

"She moved in with me."

The announcement landed in the middle of the dining room table like a nuclear missile, annihilating the conversation entirely and leaving nothing but shock and devastation in its wake.

It was precisely what Rory had been trying to avoid, and yet she felt a strange sense of gratitude to Logan for saying it. He was always far better at these things than she was: ripping off band aids, confronting things head on. And his choice to make the announcement turned the attention away from her and toward him. He was falling on a sword for her. And while Rory had always considered herself a devout feminist, she had to admit that there was something particularly touching about the chivalric gesture.

Her grandparents, however, were not nearly as touched. A silent outrage was boiling behind her grandmother's eyes, and her lips were curling into an angry snarl. Richard, however, didn't look angry at all. The expression on his face was something far worse, something that tore Rory apart. He looked absolutely heartbroken. And instead of kicking off the rage-filled screaming match that Rory had been expecting, he silently stood from the table, looked at both of them for a moment, and then wordlessly walked out of the dining room toward his office.

A few more moments of silence followed, punctured only by the slamming of her grandfather's solid oak office door.

"Mom…" Lorelai started, hoping to calm the situation.

Of course, she should have known that any attempt to do so would be in vain. Instead of allowing her daughter to speak, Emily stood from the table in a similar manner to her husband. She glared over at Lorelai and threw down her napkin on the surface of the table.

"This is your fault," she sneered.

Lorelai's mouth popped open in disbelief, and she let out an offended breath of air. Emily, however, didn't stick around to hear her defense. She left the dining room as well, heading into the kitchen to clear her head and leaving the three of them shellshocked at the table.

Logan's hand reached for hers, and he squeezed it in a silent show of support. She appreciated it, but it hardly felt very helpful. After all the progress she'd made with her grandparents over the last few weeks, she was now feeling as if they were back to square one.

"Well…" said Lorelai, taking a sip of her wine. "I hope you guys have a good time at your party tonight."


Needless to say, they didn't hang around for very long after the disastrous turn dinner had taken. Rory and Logan had stayed at the table for a few minutes, picking at their meal as they listened to her mother and her grandmother scream at each other from the direction of the kitchen. Unfortunately, Rory was finding that her once voracious appetite was entirely gone. And hearing bits of the conversation from the other room wasn't exactly helping to bring it back.

"Mom, this is 2006! Not 1960! Things don't work the same way anymore - "

"I don't care what year it is! She's a Gilmore! She shouldn't be living with that boy without a ring on her finger - "

"Mom! They're in college. They don't want to get married!"

"Well, of course not! Why would he ever want to marry her when he's already getting the milk for free?! You'd think you would have taught her that, but then considering your own track record, I guess I shouldn't be surprised!"

"Hey!"

It was when the argument yet again turned toward the subject of a child needing a mother and a father that Logan had decided he'd heard enough. He cleared his throat and stood from the table, pulling her chair out from under her as he suggested they go ahead and leave. Rory took a few minutes to brave the wilds of the kitchen, popping in just long enough to inform them that they were leaving before turning right back around and heading to the foyer.

At that point, her mother and her grandmother were so engrossed in their own ever present issues with each other, that they didn't do much to stop her. She and Logan were all but let loose, completely free to make a run for it without so much as another word. Yet, as Logan stood behind her and slid her coat over her arms in the foyer, she couldn't help but feel something tugging her toward her grandfather's study. Her eyes were glued on the closed door, and as Logan asked her if she was ready to go, she couldn't help but feel as though she wasn't.

She didn't want to leave things like this again. The rift that existed between them was breaking her heart, and the idea that all of the slow progress they had made had been ruined in one evening was almost too much for her to bear.

"Go ahead and start the car," she said. "I'm just going to tell Grandpa we're leaving."

Logan pursed his lips in response, and he looked at her in that quizzical way that he often did. His head was slightly tilted forward and his eyes were looking up at her from underneath a furrowed brow.

"You sure?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yes, I'm sure," she answered. But, Logan hung back for a moment. "Go."

With a sigh, Logan turned around and walked out the front door. Rory paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to help build up some courage to help her do what she was about to do. Feeling resolved in her decision, she took a few steps forward, stopping for just a few more seconds before she lifted her hands and rapped her knuckles against the door.

She didn't receive a response to her knock. Though, she also didn't really allow for one. Instead of waiting, she opened the door immediately, slowly peeking around the solid mass to find her grandfather buried in some paperwork on his desk in an effort to distract himself. He didn't look up at her entry, but Rory was determined.

"Logan and I are leaving," she said, softly as she closed the door behind her.

Richard didn't reply, but Rory noticed his shoulders stiffen and his hand momentarily pause in writing whatever it was that he had been writing. He didn't stop for long, though, and in a matter of moments he was right back to scribbling away, hardly even acknowledging that she was there.

She was nervous, and she'd always heard from her mother that Richard's temper wasn't ever something to underestimate. Rory of course knew that he had an infamous temper, but she'd never felt as if she was the one who was in danger of sparking it until this moment. But, as scary as the idea was, the idea of their relationship falling apart was far more terrifying to her.

"I know you're not happy about this, Grandpa. And I'm so sorry that I've been disappointing you so much lately," she started.

Her voice was dangerously close to quivering as she attempted to hold herself together. As soon as she'd opened her mouth, the overwhelming urge to cry had washed over her, but she was determined to make it through without falling apart.

"I've only ever wanted to make you proud…"

This time, she wasn't able to keep the crack in her voice from coming out, and it was clear that her grandfather had noticed it. He paused in his work again, longer this time. And to Rory it seemed like he was struggling a bit more not to look up at her.

"I do want to make you proud," she repeated. "But… I'm not going to apologize for my relationship."

Her heart was starting to pound, and her hands started to shake, but she carried on.

"I love Logan. And he loves me," she said. "And… we're adults. It's not the same as Mom and Dad."

Richard bristled at that comment, and Rory paused, worried for a moment that she might have gone too far. However, when he merely returned his attention once again to his paperwork and refrained from exploding at her, she decided to keep going.

"We're…" she paused again, suddenly needing to shove down a profound feeling of awkwardness at what she was about to say. "We're very careful. And we're much older. Logan is graduating this year. And… and even if something did happen - which it won't - we would be able to figure it out. Together. It wouldn't ruin our lives. I would still be able to finish school. We would have help. And… maybe we would get married. I don't know. We… maybe...maybe we'll get married regardless...at some point."

At this point, her attempts to keep her tears at bay were failing. She could feel them starting to prickle at the corner of her eyes. Though, thankfully, she hadn't erupted into unintelligible sobs. She was still able to speak. She was still calm.

"I hope…" she sniffed and looked down at her fit. "I hope you realize that Logan didn't have anything to do with what was going on with me over the summer. It was me. I… I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't know how to handle failure. And I didn't deal with it well. But, it wasn't Logan's fault. He… he was just caught up in the middle of it. And it wasn't fair to him. But, all he ever did was try to support me. Through all of it. It was all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Grandpa."

The sobs that she had been so successful in holding back finally wrenched their way to the surface, and the tears that had merely been pricking at the corner of her eyes were now flowing freely down her cheeks. She felt like a failure all over again, ashamed that she wasn't able to get through one conversation without blubbering like the pathetic little girl that she was trying to show him she wasn't.

Richard on the other hand didn't seem quite as put off by her show of emotion. In fact, it succeeded in achieving the one thing that Rory hadn't been able to achieve up until this point. He threw his pen down on the desk, his attention now entirely focused on her, and he stood up. In a matter of moments, he'd made his way across the room and wrapped her up in his arms. Rory threw her arms around him instantly, and the tears on her face immediately started to bleed through his crisp white shirt.

She continued to cry and heave for a few moments while he held her, and Rory couldn't help but reflect on the strange symmetry of it all. This whole entire mess between them had started with Rory breaking down in her grandfather's arms months ago, and with any luck it would now end in the same way.

"Now you stop that," Richard said, squeezing her tightly as her shoulders were shaking. "You make me proud every day."


AN: It was so much fun to finally write a bit of Richard. So, I hope you guys don't mind too much that it was a flashback rather than a flashforward. While I was writing this, I realized that I don't think I've ever read a fic where Richard and Emily find out she moved in with Logan. It goes right from Richard's sex house meltdown to them being proud of him for moving to London at the very end of season six… I have to imagine there was somewhat of a journey getting there. Lol. And I'm a little surprised that it isn't written about more often. Anyway…

Thanks for your patience with this one! Hope you enjoyed it. As always, reviews are so so appreciated.

Thanks!