Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls doesn't belong to me.
AN: Pictures for this chapter are up on my profile.
Chapter 13
When Rory woke up the next morning, she noticed that she was alone in bed. She looked over at her alarm clock and saw a piece of paper leaning against it, with 'Ace' written on it. She opened it and found Logan's handwriting.
Ace,
I left to go get ready for brunch today. I will be back to pick you up soon.
I love you.
Yours, Logan
Rory smiled at the note, then noticed the time. She rushed out of bed and got her things to take a shower. Her shower didn't take long and before she knew it she was back in her room picking out a dress for brunch. She found the perfect dress and sat it on her bed while she went and fixed her hair and put her make-up on. Just as she was putting the finishing touches on her outfit, there was a knock on the door. She rushed to answer it before it woke Paris. Standing there in all his glory was Logan, he looked so good, that she couldn't stop herself from pulling him into a deep kiss.
"Wow, Ace, I hope I can get that reaction from you every time I show up at your door." Logan teased her.
Rory blushed, "I couldn't help myself, you just look so amazing. I am almost ready, I just have to put my dress and shoes on. Give me about 15 minutes."
"Okay, Ace." Logan said as he sat down on the couch and turned the tv on.
Logan watched tv for about 20 minutes when he heard her bedroom door open, he turned the tv off and stood up from the couch, when he finally saw her, he was speechless, "Wow, Ace, you look stunning." Logan appraised her.
"Thank you," Rory said and blushed as she was putting her shoes on, "Oh, before I forget, wear your wedding ring. I am going to wear mine and we are going to tell my dad and the Haydens everything. We need them on our side, plus we are probably going to talk about my birthday and the whole Hayden heiress thing so, in a way that concerns you too." She finished as she picked her coat up.
"Okay, Ace. I understand what you are saying. I have been wanting to actually wear my ring on my finger, instead of around my neck for a while now." Logan said as he took the ring off of his necklace and slid it on his finger.
Logan helped her into her coat and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "You ready to get to the club, Ace?"
"Yeah, I think I have everything," Rory said as she checked to make sure she had her keys, purse and cell phone, "Let's go tell my dad and grandparents, that I am married."
Logan smiled at her and guided her out the door towards his car. He opened the passenger side door and helped her into the car. He hurried around to the driver's side and got in himself, he gave her hand a quick kiss before driving out of the parking lot, "So, we are going to tell the Haydens everything?" He asked as they started to drive towards Hartford.
"Yes. I don't think that they will have any negative views on it. Unlike my mom. Even though they said some pretty bad things to me back when I was in high school, things are different now and we get along pretty well." Rory told him and reached over to hold his hand.
"Yeah, I was waiting on you to bring your mom up," Logan told her as he squeezed her hand, "I heard some of the things that she said, when I was coming back from talking to Honor. They were subtle, but you could tell that she was not happy that you are with me."
"Yeah, they were pretty subtle and I could see something in her eyes, that I wasn't really sure about. She might have sounded and looked happy yesterday, but she was anything but." Rory said with a deep sigh.
"I know your mom's opinion means a lot to you, Ace. I will try everything in my power to get her to like me. You know that I'm different, hell the main reason why Colin was throwing a hissy fit was because I had changed and he doesn't like change." Logan said with a tight laugh, remembering Colin's issues with Logan being a one-woman man.
"That is true. We will just have let my mom see that you are a different person from the high society stereotype that my mom has in her head." Rory told him with a smile, just as they pulled into club. The valet opened Rory's door as Logan got out and handed the keys off.
Rory and Logan walked hand and hand into the club. Rory looked around and noticed her dad and grandparents sitting off to the side of the room, "There they are, Logan." Rory said, pointing them out.
Logan took a deep breath and guided Rory over to the table. He was nervous, this was the first time he had ever had to meet a girl's father, and this time, he is not only meeting her dad, he is meeting her dad after he married her in a secret wedding.
"Dad, Hi!" Rory said and went to give him a hug.
"Ror, nice to see you. How have you been?" Christopher asked her.
"I have been fantastic. Grandmother, Grandfather, how are you both?" Rory asked her Hayden grandparents.
"Lorelai Leigh, darling, we are just fine. Who is this young man you have brought with you?" Francine Hayden asked, looking at a nervous Logan.
"Right, okay, names first, then there is something that we need to tell you," Rory told them, looking Logan in the eyes, "Logan, this is Christopher, Francine, and Straub Hayden, guys, Logan Huntzberger, my husband." Rory told them and waited for the reaction that was sure to follow.
"Um...wha...what did you say?" Came the stuttered response from everyone, other that Rory and Logan.
"Let's sit and I will explain everything." Rory said, as Logan pulled her chair out for her.
"Logan and I are married. You guys and only 4 other people know. Mom is not one of them," Rory started, "We met in Europe over the summer. Got to know each other, without knowing each other's last names. He followed me throughout Europe and we started dating, our last stop was Paris. We came across an old chapel and got married. We are in love, what I feel for him is nothing that I have ever felt before or even dreamed possible and I know that it's the same way for Logan." She finished and gave Logan a sweet kiss, before turning back to the stunned adults sitting across from them.
"She is right. What I feel for her is something that I never thought would happen for me. Growing up, I thought I was going to be forced to marry someone for a business deal and then live the rest of my life miserable and cheating on her every chance I got. But then I met Rory and I knew that there was something better out there and she was who I was meant to be with." Logan said, laughing a little at how sappy and chessy he sounded.
"Dad, Grandmother, Grandfather, the reason why I told you guys, straight away was because I knew that you guys would support us and you wouldn't judge us on the fact that we got married secretly after only knowing each other for 2 months. Am I wrong with that assessment?" Rory asked them.
"No, sweetheart, you are not wrong, we will support you. I can see that you two are both deeply in love with each other. So...Congratulations," Straub said, getting up to give her and Logan a hug, "Welcome to the family, son." He said to Logan.
Logan let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you, you don't know what that means to us. We know that we are going to have a big fall out, especially once my family finds out." Logan said to them, after Christopher and Francine gave them hugs as well.
"Congratulations, Rory. I'm happy that your happy." Chris told her.
"Thanks dad. At least I will have one parent happy for me," She said, "We met mom yesterday, and even though she had a smile on her face, it was fake and she was not happy that I am with Logan. We told her that we are just dating. So she has no idea about the wedding yet, but once she finds out, she is going to be pissed."
"I will be there to help with your mom, once you decide to tell her." Chris reassured her.
"Thanks dad," Rory said with a smile, "So, what was this brunch for?"
"Ahh...yes, darling, we wanted to talk about your birthday. Now, since you will be turning 20, you are now only a year away from full access to the Hayden fortunes. I wanted to start to prepare you for the life you are going to have once you do become of age. You have been the heiress only on paper since you were a baby." Straub started to explain.
"Right, I knew all of this. I will take all of this graciously, but I only ask one thing." Rory said and looked over at Logan who gave her an encouraging nod.
"What is that one thing, Lorelai Leigh?" Francine asked.
"I don't want to come forward as the Hayden heiress, just yet. I want to wait until possibly next summer, before the world finds out about me being a Hayden. I am not ashamed to be a Hayden, I am just not ready to face the press and anything else that comes along with that name. I would also like to keep mine and Logan's relationship private and if I came out now and said I was a Hayden, our relationship won't be private anymore." Rory finished with a sign.
"Mom, dad, do you think we can do that? Especially with school and everything, I think it would be for the best. I don't want her to get so stressed out and have her grades drop or her relationship suffer. You both remember what I had to go through, when I was with Lorelai and while I was in school. And she is not even taking full control of it yet, this birthday was just going to get her started." Christopher said to them.
"That sounds reasonable. You can sign all the paper work, but for the rest of the world your identity will still be hidden. You know that you will still have to do some things, but nothing that would out you." Straub told her with a smile.
"Yes, I know that. Thanks grandfather." Rory said and felt a huge weight come off of her shoulders.
"Yes, thank you both, for agreeing to that. I know that it's important to Rory to keep our private life private. My sister and I are the only one's who know about Rory being a Hayden, and I know that she won't say anything and neither will I." Logan stated.
"Alright, enough of that," Chris laughed, "Where are you two living now?" He asked, wondering if they had an apartment.
"Oh, we are still living in the dorms," Rory told them, then paused so they could order their food, "When we got married, it was so close for school to start that we decided to just stay in the dorms and alternate which one we stay at."
"Look, guys, what do you say to me getting you an apartment, close to campus?" Chris asked them.
"Dad, that's not really necessary. Things are fine the way they are for now." Rory said, just as the waiter brought their food out to them.
"Non sense Rory, let me do this, as a wedding present." Chris said, not taking no for an answer.
Rory looked at Logan to see what he thought, he gave her a nod, agreeing that they should take him up on his offer, "Okay, dad. That will be fine, but it has to be really close to campus."
"Perfect, we can start looking after your birthday." Chris said and they all settled in to eat their brunch.
After they finished eating, they decided to finalize things with the paper work that Rory had to sign and also for apartment hunting, Logan looked at his watch and noticed that he needed to get back, he had a paper to write, but he also needed to talk to Colin and Finn about him moving, "Ace, I need to get back, I have some things that I need to finish up and I need to talk to Colin and Finn."
"Oh, okay, wow, I didn't realize what time it was," Rory said, "Dad, Grandmother, Grandfather, thank you all for everything. I will see you in a couple days at my party and dad, Logan and I will be in contact with you about the apartment." She said getting up from the table.
"Okay, sweetheart, I will call you in a few days." Chris said to her.
"Lorelai Leigh, your grandfather and I are extremely happy for you. We will see you both in a few days." Francine said as she and Straub gave both Rory and Logan hugs.
"I love you. And I will see you in a few days." Rory said, as Logan helped her put her coat on.
"I love you, too." came from all three of them.
Rory and Logan walked out to the valet and waited on the car to be brought around, "Well, that we way better than I could have ever imagined." Rory said with a huge smile on her face.
"That it did, Ace, that it did." Logan told her as he helped her into the car, he got in the car himself and headed back towards New Haven.
"So what is it that you need to get done?" Rory asked as they were walking back towards her dorm.
"I have a paper to write and I was going to talk to Colin and Finn about moving out of the dorms." Logan told her as he stroked her left ring finger. They had both put their rings back onto their necklaces while they were in the car, not wanting to take any chances of someone finding out and then it getting back to people they didn't want to know yet.
"Oh, yeah, I need to talk to Paris about that as well," Rory said, just as they reached her front door, "I will come over to your dorm tonight. I have a feeling that I don't want to be around Paris, once I tell her that I am moving out of the dorms."
"Okay, Ace, I will see you later tonight. The guys might want to go out after I tell them, so I will call you and let you know for sure," Logan told her and bent to give her a kiss, that left promises of more later, "Coffee and Scotch, Ace."
"Coffee and Scotch, Logan." Rory whispered against his lips. He gave her one last kiss then started off towards his room.
Rory walked into the common room and didn't notice Paris anywhere, she continued on into her bedroom and changed into something more comfortable and she also packed a bag for when she went over to Logan's. After she got dressed, she went back out into the common room and started reading the paper. She heard Paris come out of her room and start pacing, Rory finally said something to her, when Paris leaned over Rory's shoulder, "Paris, please don't compare our reading speeds again. You're fast, I'm slow. Enjoy your trophy."
"I need the exact time of today's sunset." Paris said.
"I'm in the middle of an article." Rory told her.
"Well, if you read faster, you wouldn't be." Paris snapped at her.
Rory huffed and turned the page to where the weather was located and found the time for that day's sunset, "Okay, the time of today's sunset is 4:31."
"Okay. Then I just have to keep my mind occupied until 4:31." Paris said and started pacing again.
"Paris." Rory said, looking over at her.
"What?" Paris barked out, but continued pacing.
"Tell me again why you're fasting for Ramadan." Rory asked.
"Look, Rory, if you want to crib your articles from the A.P. Wire, that's your business. I, on the other hand, actually give a rat's ass about journalistic integrity. When I write about Ramadan, I experience Ramadan. Are you chewing gum?" Paris snapped.
"What? Yes. Why?" Rory asked confused.
"I'd really prefer it if you didn't chew it at me." Paris stated.
"Paris, did you know that not eating can make people kind of snippy?" Rory asked.
"Ramadan is about a lot more than just not eating. It calls for a total abstinence from food particles passing through the mouth or nose. Your bazooka is passing through my nose." Paris said to Rory, who just looked at her crazy roommate. It was then, that Rory realized that she would love to not live in the dorms and with crazy Paris anymore, no matter how good of friends they can be. Rory was brought out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. She couldn't think of who it might be so she just yelled out, "It's unlocked."
Marty walked in holding a paper sack, Rory gave him a smile, "Hey, Marty."
"So, I just bartended this crazy brunch with chocolate fountains and floating ice sculptures, and I snagged us all kinds of hors d'oeuvres." Marty said, as he help up the bags.
"Oh, nice going, bucko." Paris said sarcastically.
"Okay, so, she didn't really mean 'nice going,' right? Cause there's sort of a devil-eye thing going on." Marty asked, looking over at Paris timidly.
"She's fasting." Rory stated as though it was an every day occurrence.
"People came to America to escape religious persecution." Paris stated from where she was sitting.
Before Rory could say anything, her cell phone rang, thinking it might be Logan she hurried to get it before the voicemail did, "Hello."
"Hi. Guess where I am?" Lorelai's cheery voice came through the phone.
"Mom." Rory said.
"Go on, guess." Lorelai asked her.
"Oh, I don't know, Luke's?" Rory said, trying to cut to the chase.
"But not just at Luke's – on the phone at Luke's, and it's all perfectly legal because I'm on the diner's phone." Lorelai said happily.
"A loophole. Nice." Rory said with a small smile.
"You got to love a loophole." Lorelai stated.
"Getting to use Luke's behind-the-counter phone, that's like getting to wear his letterman jacket." Rory said amusement lacing her voice.
"I know. Maybe now he'll ask me to the sock hop." Lorelai said with a laugh.
"I'm glad you guys are all loopholey and sock-hoppy. It's nice." Rory said laughing at her mom.
"Yeah. Well, um, I just called to, you know, uh, brag about my loophole and to check on how your brunch went today." Lorelai stammered out.
Before Rory could answer, she heard Luke yell through the phone, "Hey!"
"Hon, hold on a sec." Lorelai responded.
"What are you doing back here?" Luke asked, loud enough for Rory to hear through the phone.
"You didn't have permission to be behind the counter, did you?" Rory asked with a knowing tone.
"You don't need permission if you're the girlfriend," Lorelai stated, "Plus, I'm talking to Rory, Luke, you like Rory."
Rory laughed, when she heard Luke talk to her mom, "Go. Go. Get."
"Okay, I'm getting." Lorelai said.
"He's kicking you out?" Rory asked.
"No, he is just being protective or something about food falling on my head. So, anyway, what happened at brunch?" Lorelai asked, wanting to find out how things went.
"Hang on. Paris is beating Marty with a newspaper and complaining about food." Rory said as she got up to go to her bedroom.
"Why is Paris complaining about food?" Lorelai asked, perplexed at Paris' behavior.
"She is fasting." Rory stated.
"Um...okay." Lorelai said, not sure what else to really say.
"Brunch was good. I introduced them to Logan, whom they liked, and then we just talked about my birthday and the whole Hayden heiress thing, that I was able to get pushed back about a year, before the world finds out its me." Rory told her mom.
"That's good that you got them to push it back. Your life will never be the same once everyone finds out your the Hayden heiress." Lorelai said purposely not saying anything about Logan. Rory noticed by didn't say anything either.
"Yeah, I told them that I wanted to keep my life private, since Logan and I are still fairly early in our relationship and with school just starting back, I didn't want the added stress. Dad was able to get Straub and Francine to agree to wait until next summer, although I will still have some Hayden obligations between now and then, no one will find out who the Hayden heiress is until next summer at the earliest." Rory explained to her mom.
Lorelai huffed lightly at the mention of Logan again, "That's good, I don't want you to get too stressed and your grades drop or something."
Before Rory could respond to that, Marty came into her bedroom, "She's throwing things at me. Religious sanctuary, please."
"Mom, I gotta go, Paris is throwing things. I will talk to you in a couple days. Bye." Rory said and hung up the phone.
Marty joins Rory on her bed and didn't notice how she stiffened when he did, "Ooh. What's the bacon wrapped around?" Rory asked.
"Something bacon should never be wrapped around." Marty responded.
"Rich people." Rory stated to Marty, knowing by her saying that it would make him feel a little better.
"They live very different lives." Marty said to her, sliding a little closer to her.
Rory was trying to think of a way to get up and away from Marty without it being obvious, when her cell phone beeped with a text message. Instead of just reaching over to get it she got up. She smiled when she saw who it was from.
The stooges are fine with me moving out. How did Paris take it? We are heading to the pub for a few drinks if you want to join. -LH
Haven't told Paris, she is fasting and it's making her snippy. I will tell her tomorrow. I will meet you there soon. Marty is here. Making me uncomfortable. Don't worry. It's nothing really. I love you. -Ace
Yeah I would not tell Paris either if she is already snippy. Marty better watch himself. See you soon. I love you, too. -LH
Rory closed her phone and headed to her closet, "I hate to do this Marty, but I have to meet my dad, before he heads back to Boston." She told him as she got a coat and her shoes.
"That's cool. I will walk out with you." Marty said packing up the left over food.
They walk out into the common room to see Paris sitting on the couch, "Paris, I'm heading out. I will call you later."
"Okay, bye." Paris said and waved them off.
"Well I will talk to you later. Have a nice time with your dad." Marty said nervously.
"Thanks. I will see you later. I don't want to keep my dad waiting. Bye." Rory said.
"Yeah, bye." Marty mumbled and took off in the opposite direction of Rory.
Rory headed off to the pub, she walked in the front door and immediately saw the guys' table. There were a few girls sitting with them, one of them was trying to get Logan attention, but he kept brushing her off. Rory smirked and walked over to the table. Rory walked up behind Logan and leaned down next to his ear, "Hey Logan." Rory breathed into his ear, causing Logan to jump slightly and causing Rory to laugh at him.
"Hey, Ace." Logan said getting up to give her a kiss and to get away from the gold-digger. After the kiss, he gave her a look so that she knew that he didn't like that girl sitting next to him. Rory smiled and gave him a sweet kiss. She went to sit in a chair, but Logan pulled her into his lap.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked him.
"Nothing." Logan said with a smirk.
"Sure." Rory laughed at him.
"Would you like a drink?" Logan asked her. She nodded and he signaled for the waitress to come over to get her order. Rory ordered an Expresso martini and turned her attention to the conversation at the table.
"Hey guys." Rory said to Colin and Finn, once they stopped talking.
"Hey Reporter Girl." Colin said with a nod of his head.
"Hey, Love, how are you this wonderful evening?" Finn asked her as the waitress brought her, her drink.
"I am great Finn, how are you?" Rory asked, laughing at him a little.
"Wonderful, Love, wonderful. I have my friends, my alcohol, and a lovely redhead. Couldn't be better if you ask me." Finn stated.
The four of them, plus Finn's redhead, enjoyed the evening. It was getting late and since Rory had an early class, they all decided to leave. Rory and Logan swung back by her room to pick up her stuff, then headed to his room and called it a night. The last thing on both of their minds was about how well the day went and how they are both looking forward to have an apartment of their own, to finally act like newlyweds.
AN2: I am satisfied with this chapter. Next up will be Rory's birthday. Read and review.
