Logan felt like he'd just stumbled into the middle of a cyclone on Valentine's Day, and he wasn't at all sure which of the three of them was closer to being hauled off to an asylum. By the time Rory left work, he had asked her three times if she would be able to make it home in one piece, and Brian wasn't much better when he got home.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Brian asked every five seconds. The shirt, the pants, the tie – Logan had never seen a tie around Brian's neck, and he was surprised there was even one in his closet. They had a ten minute search for his keys as Brian ran around the apartment, a box of a dozen roses in hand, screaming, "Where are my keys! I know I put them right here!"

In the end Logan had found them in Brian's jean pocket on the bathroom floor.

"Are you sure I look all right?" Brian asked, turning one more time at the door.

"Here." Logan reached out and adjusted Brian's tie with a small jerk. "Perfect."

Brian breathed his smile and excitement down in one gulp. "Wish me luck."

"Luck," Logan said as the pain screeched through his heart.

"Don't wait up," Brian said, and the phrase pulled Logan's hands into fists.

If the person in front of him had been anyone but Brian, he would have knocked him flat. But Brian would respect her feelings, and Logan had to admit that was more than he had done in the past.

The door closed behind Brian, and Logan sighed. He could see her as though she was standing right in front of him. Balancing on heels that were a little too high, pulling at a dress that was a little too tight, pushing the ringlets out of her eyes. Shoving the air away with the picture, he went upstairs.

If nothing else, he could get some work done on the model they had started. He carried it carefully down the stairs, slid the David Bowie CD into the player, and made believe that he was designing their backyard. It was the only thing that took the pain away. Pretending. And something told him, he might live the rest of his life pretending.

OoOoO

Kaya was crowded by the time they arrived, and the heels were already pinching Rory's feet. She stepped carefully so as not to aggravate the blister she was sure was forming on her toe.

"There's a place over here." With his hand on her back, Brian guided her though the crowd. "Man, this place is insane."

"Yeah," she said thinking that she didn't remember the music being so loud the last time they were here.

"You want something?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." When he was gone, she sat, wishing she could convince herself she was fine as easily as she had convinced him. For some reason the guitars seemed screechier tonight, and the lights more chaotic. "You just need to dance and unwind a little."

"Geez, you'd think I'd asked for a hand grenade instead of a simple Coke," Brian said, setting a Coke in front of her. "The act like they've never heard of the stuff."

"I said I didn't want anything."

"I know, but I thought you might later."

"Oh." She turned her focus to the dancers spinning in the swirling lights. "So, how's your mom?"

He leaned in to hear her question. "She made it back okay."

"That's good." Her body tired to move to the beat, but everything seemed half-a-beat off tonight. "Did you finish that model?"

"Not yet. We worked on it a little last night, but it's still a long way from finished."

She nodded. Her voice was starting to hurt from screaming over the sound system.

"Dance?" he asked, standing at her side.

Had there been a way to say no, she would have, but ignoring every protest from her feet to her head, she stood and followed Brian to the dance floor. She tried not to sigh when he started moving in front of her, but one escaped anyway. Fighting to get her body to unwind, she moved, but nothing felt genuine. It felt like an act.

After an interminable amount of time, the beat switched to a softer version of the same pounding. Gently Brian took her into his arms as her toes screamed in pain. Even as they danced, the only thought that kept running through her brain was. "I want to go home!"

OoOO

"Are you okay?" Brian asked when they were back in his car long after one o'clock.

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. You just seem… distant."

"I've got a headache," she said softly. "It's not a big deal."

"Oh."

They rode in silence as the streetlight illuminated the car and then plunged it into darkness.

"Have you thought anymore about Sunday?" she asked.

"We're doing brunch, right?"

"Yeah, 11:30."

The car laced its way through traffic and through a stoplight.

"You want me to pick you up?"

"If you don't mind," she said, sensing his trepidation.

He smiled and reaches across the seat for her hand. "I don't mind."

Coercing her brain into believing that, she leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes. Sometimes being with Brian was the easier thing in the world, and sometimes it felt akin to tightrope walking a volcano.

The car pulled up to the curb, and Brian killed the engine. "So, what about tomorrow night?"

"What about it?" she asked, never opening her eyes.

"I thought maybe we could check out that new Bruce Willis film over at the Cinestar."

She would rather have hot wax poured on her blister than go to a movie where a minimum of 200 people would get killed, but tonight she was just too tired to argue. "Sure."

OoOoO

"You must really be something special," Logan said, tossing an orange in the air and catching it Friday afternoon as they sat in the atrium.

"Why do you say that?" Rory asked, not altogether steadily.

"A dozen roses and a tie? Guys don't do that for just anybody."

She shrugged as she bit into a chip. "You do it everyday." Her glance caught the questioning look on his face. "Okay, not the roses part, but…"

"You think I do all this for you?" he asked, smoothing out his tie. "Nope, it's for Martha in classifieds."

"She's 80 years old."

"I like mature women."

"Mature… or dead?"

Logan shrugged. "Couldn't be any worse than I've been doing."

Rory laughed. "I know that feeling."

"I thought you and Brian were doing good."

"We are," she said a little too quickly, "I meant before."

"Oh." He ripped into the orange, took a bite, and then looked at her. "So, you ready for Sunday?"

She shrugged as though Sunday was just another day on the calendar. "I hope so."

"Brian's nervous," he said, feeling like a traitor for telling her that. "He's almost as bad as you were with his mom."

Rory checked him with a skeptical glance.

"I said almost."

"Mom'll be fine, she just wants me to be happy," Rory said with a sigh, "It's Luke he has to watch out for."

"Protective?"

"Oh, yeah. Especially after Jess and Dean."

A puzzled look crossed his face. "Jess and Dean?"

She shook her head off-handedly. "I got dumped in high school and he still hasn't gotten over it."

"Long memory. That's no good." He saw the questioning look on her face. "For Brian. That's not good for Brian."

She nodded.

"It sounds like he'd better watch his step."

A half smile played at her mouth. "I don't think Brian will have any trouble."

Logan looked at her softly. "Neither do I."

OoOoOo

"I must be insane," Brian said, Sunday morning as he fought with the tie in front of the bathroom mirror. "A tie two days in one week. What's this world coming to?"

"I feel for you, man," Logan said, lounging next to the wall in his oldest sweats. "But I guess you'd better get used to it."

"Thanks for that comment."

"What'd I say?"

Still fighting with his tie, Brian stalked past Logan into his bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed to pull his shoes on. "How do you stand these things?"

Logan shrugged. "You get used to them, I guess."

"I'll never get used to a tie."

"So, why do you wear one if you hate it so much?"

Brian shook his head as though Logan was hopelessly naive. "Rory, man. She always dresses so nice, like she just stepped out of a magazine. I can't show up looking like Lurch."

"Well, she fell for you when you looked like Lurch, so why change now?"

"Because, my friend, that's what happens. You meet someone, you fall madly in love with them, and then change everything about yourself to make them happy."

"So what happens when they find out that's not really who you are?"

Brian stood from the bed. "That's called marriage."

OoOoOoO

"Are you nervous?" Rory asked, clutching her handbag as she sat in the front seat of Brian's car.

"No, you?"

"No. I just hope my mom let Sookie or Luke do the cooking. If not, I apologize in advance because we'll be having beefaroni and tator-tots

He looked at her and laughed. "What?"

"She can't cook, but she's been on a kick lately where she thinks she can." Her body wouldn't stay still. She knew moving would wrinkle she silk dress, but as much as she tried, she simply couldn't stop fidgeting. "And Michel, oh Lord. Let's just hope he's out for the weekend."

"They can't be that bad," Brian said.

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that."

When the car pulled up to the inn, Rory squeezed her ees closed and willed every bad thing that had ever happened to her away from her brain.

"Shall we?" Brian asked.

She looked at him, and for one moment, she was thankful that he was by her side. "Yeah."

They pushed out the doors, and he waited at the car's bumper for her to come around. Her hands were busy pulling and smoothing her dress, her hair, her skin.

"You look great," Brian whispered, and she smiled at him appreciatively.

Hand-in-hand they walked up to the door and before Rory could reach the handle, the door flew open and she was engulfed in a sea of hugs.

"Rory, my heart! It's so good to see you, I was worried that I wouldn't recognize you." Lorelai said, wrapping her daughter in a bear hug before holding a hand out to Brian. "And you must be Brian. It's nice you could come." She ushered them into the entrance and through the library. "Luke's in the kitchen helping Sookie if you want to go say hi."

"Luke's in the kitchen with Sookie?" Rory asked with trepidation.

"'Fraid so," Lorelai said, the smile never leaving her face. "There's been some yelling all morning but it's died down in the last twenty minutes or so. I figure either one killed the other or they finally decided to play nice. Oh, and Michel's back there too."

"Thanks for the warning."

Knowing they would have to face it sooner or later, Rory took Brian's hand and led him through the dining room to the kitchen.

"Now, if you'll season the meat, while you're cooking it, it really brings out the marinade…"

"Hi, Luke," Rory said, breaking into the cooking lesson.

"Rory!" Instantly Luke turned two gloved and weapon-loaded hands on her. "You're early."

"Couldn't stay away," she said, arching her chin as he hugged her. Then she backed away from him. "This is Brian."

"Brian, it's nice to meet you," Luke said, transferring the skewer to his other hand, offering and then taking his hand back to remove the glove. "It's nice you could join us," he said looking Brian up and down.

"It's nice of you to invite us," Brian said, shaking Luke's hand.

"Hi Michel, how are you?" Rory said turning to Michel.

"I thought you had forgotten me," Michel said.

"I could never forget about you," Rory said with a flashing smile.

"I think you've gotten prettier, who are you trying to impress anyway?" Michel said, giving her a once over.

Rory ducked her head as her ears went hot.

"And you must be Brian. I would say it's nice to meet you, but that would be a lie," Michel said turning to leave.

Rory put a hand on Brian's shoulder giving him a small smile.

"Rory, honey! How are you?" Sookie said, coming around the counter and pulling her into a hug.

"I'm great Sookie, it's been awhile since I've seen you," she said with a laugh when her face disappeared into the hug.

"I agree with Michel, you have gotten prettier," Sookie said, pulling back and surveying her outfit.

Sookie kept her arm wrapped around Rory. "It's nice to meet you, Brian."

"Nice to meet you, Sookie."

OoOoO

Rory was amazed. For the first time in their lives, her family was acting semi-normal. Not one weird joke. Not one baiting word. But she knew it couldn't last, this time, next time, at some point the mask would crack, and Brian would see her real family and friends. Not that she minded, she loved them all very much.

"So, what'd you kids do for Valentine's Day?" Lorelai asked as they sat around the table, everyone's very best table manners out on display.

"Mom," Rory said in warning.

"What?" she asked in annoyance.

"We went to Kaya," Rory said.

"Oh, what's that? Some tropical island?" Luke asked.

"No, it's a club in town. And Brian gave me roses," Rory offered.

"Oh, really?" Lorelai said, and then nudged Luke. "You hear that Luke, he gave her roses."

"I'm not deaf Lorelai."

"A dozen," Roy said, breaking into the argument she knew by heart. "Red roses in one of those long boxes like you see in the movies."

"It sound wonderful," Lorelai said, smiling at her.

"So, Brian what is it that you do for a living?" Luke asked.

"I'm…" Brian cleared his throat as he was suddenly thrust headlong into the conversation. "I'm a landscaper."

"A landscaper, huh?" Luke said, nodding appreciatively. "What do you landscape?"

"Well, right now I work for my uncle. He does a lot of commercial stuff. Mowing and maintenance mostly, but I'm really more interested in the design aspect."

"Yeah," Rory interjected. "You should see these models him and Logan do. They're unbelievable. And Logan, he's working on one you would just fall in love with, Mom. It's got this statue in the middle and a birdhouse in a whole area of flowers."

"Who's Logan?" Lorelai asked.

"He's Brian's roommate," Rory said off-handedly. "Brian's been teaching him about design."

"Yeah, and he learns quick too," Brian said. "I got home the other night, and he's almost finished that whole model on his own. It took me two classes to be able to get one right."

"You've been to school then?" Luke asked.

"Two years. Back in Denver."

"And you moved here?" Lorelai said skeptically.

"There's too much winter there for a landscaper. I thought I'd have a better chance at getting my design on the ground here."

"Sounds smart to me," Luke said. "And you're going to start designing for your uncle?"

"Well." Brian knifed into his steak. "I really want to start my own business – do a few things on the side, get my name out there."

"Your own business?" Luke asked, and then he pointed his fork at Brian. "Rory, hang onto this one. He's a keeper."

After lunch Lorelai insisted that Brian take a look at the inn grounds. "I've been wanting to redesign them for years."

"Lorelai, the boy's here about Rory, not about your yard."

"Well, I know, but I just want to get his opinion," Lorelai said to her husband, and then she looked at Brian. "If you don't mind."

"Course I don't mind."

They walked out back behind the inn that was cluttered with tools from the shop that sat in the far corner. Projects in various stages of repair and disrepair sat around the lawn.

Lorelai led the group around the yard. "I've always thought I'd put a bird-bath over here and I've always wanted some flowers, but the ones we've planted before always died before we got them home from the nursery."

"I'd be glad to bring my models sometime and let you look, " Brian said, one hand in his pocket an one firmly gripping Rory's.

"That would be great. I'd love to seem them."

OoOoOoO

When five o'clock finally rolled around, Rory insisted she had to get home. It took another 20 minutes of hugs and "please come backs" before they finally extricated themselves from the inn and escaped to the safety of his car. Rory exhaled as her nerves unwound around her feet.

"They're nice," Brian said as he started the car.

She rolled her head to the side to look at him. "You're just saying that because you have to."

"Okay, I'm just saying that because I have to." Then he smiled. "No, I'm serous. They're really nice."

She reached across the seat and rubbed his arm. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For today."

He smiled at her and then refocused on traffic. "Anything for you."

OoOoOo

"How much do you know about Rory's family?" Brian asked over the model the next night.

"Some, why?" Logan asked, concentrating on keeping his focus on the total balance of the model.

"I don't know. Her mom's pretty cool, and Luke seems like a great guy. But she never called him dad."

Logan continued focusing on the model and nodded.

"I didn't get to meet her dad, and it was almost like he was never even a part of the family."

"I don't know much about her dad," Logan said, looking up from the little shed he had placed in one corner. "Rory doesn't talk about him much."

"Runs in the family." Brian shrugged. "There was this one picture on the piano. Rory was ten or something, and it was definitely her, her mom, and her dad. But no one mentioned him – not once."

"Huh." Logan reached for the Exact-o knife, which Brian handed him. "But besides that they seem normal?"

"Comfortable suburbia," Brian said as though it was the worse place in the world.

"White picket fence?"

"With a shining daughter and a small town Connecticut inn." Brian laughed. "A nightmare come true."

OoOo

The Chris question hounded Logan more than he wanted to admit. Something about him just was not right. Rory had talked about her family so much, and yet he was all but invisible. The next afternoon as they sat under the canopy of trees, he started at the meeting the parents' day, and wound his way around to the question of her dad.

"So your dad didn't come to the inn to meet him then?" Logan asked as though it was a perfectly logical question.

Instantly Rory's face went hard as she gazed straight ahead. "Chris?"

"Brian just mentioned him," Logan said with a shrug. "I figured the whole family would want to be there to meet the new boyfriend."

"No," Rory said, staring at the half-eaten sandwich in her hands. "Chris didn't come."

He heard the tears in her voice, but it was too late to take the question back. His gaze slid down her face with concern. "Why not?"

"You know, I'm not very hungry today." With that, she stood and threw her sandwich into the trashcan never even glancing back at him.

Totally confused Logan jumped up and ran after her. "Rory, wait." He caught up with her at the elevators. "What did I say?" Gently he reached out and touched her arm. "What?"

When she looked at him, the tears glinted across her lashes. "Chris isn't…" Rory stopped and exhaled slowly. "He isn't around, he found himself a new family and doesn't need me anymore"

"He doesn't need you anymore?" he asked as his hand dropped from her arm.

"He and my mom got pregnant so young, he was never around. I always thought he would get his life together and we could be a happy family, the three of us. I believed him, all those years. But when he finally did get things figured out, it was with another family. Now it's like my mom and I don't even exist, he's got a new family. A real one. It's as if I'm a mistake that he just brushed aside."

"Rory, I'm sorry, I didn't know."

She smiled up at him, but he could see the shattered pieces of her heart scattered across the plain of her eyes. "I know you didn't it's not your fault. But he doesn't want me, he doesn't want to be my dad…"

"Come here." And then, right or wrong, he pulled her to him and held her as she cried.

I know, I know, when are Rory and Logan going to get together? Don't worry I have it all planned out...