A Long December

Chapter 3: She Don't Want Nobody Near

Author: Starcrossedsoulmates

Rating: PG-13, possibly R later

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, the characters or the song titles. Rest assured that if I did own the show or the characters, Season 6 and 7 would've gone a whole lot differently.

Summary: Literati. Post Season 6 – slightly AU, future fic. One month, a lifetime of changes. Maybe this year will be better than the last.

A/N: I'm so overwhelmed at all the positive responses, and it's only 20 reviews total so far!! My muse is very happy and therefore brings you the 2nd update in 24 hours
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.I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving,
And the days go by so fast.
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True to her word, Rory stepped out of the bedroom 20 minutes later, looking flawless. She figured if she was going to be forced to socialize with elitists, the least she could do was to contribute to being part of a completely stunning couple. She had chosen one of her favorite formals: a black dress with spaghetti straps, an asymmetrical neck and hem, with small bursts of sapphire sparkles that shone differently, depending on how the light was hitting the dress. She had decided to curl her hair and leave it down, knowing how many compliments she usually received when she wore it that way.

She heard a low whistle as she stepped into the living room and looked up to see that Logan's jaw had dropped. She blushed and smiled innocently, "What?"

Logan came over to take a closer look at his beautiful fiancée. He took both of her hands and looked at her, examining every detail of her and her dress from head to toe.

"I don't know what I did to ever get so lucky, Ace. You're gorgeous, you're intelligent, and you're engaged to be my wife. You're always beautiful, but with this dress especially…everyone is going to be so jealous tonight. The women will be jealous that they probably spent at least twice as long getting ready, and they won't look nearly as stunning as you do. And the men will be jealous that you aren't with them."

Rory blushed even more but still managed to look Logan in the eye. A breath caught in her throat at how much love and admiration she saw in his eyes. She immediately started to feel guilty for wanting to break off their engagement and made a mental note to call her mother during the party tonight for a pep talk.

Luckily, the car arrived a few moments later, so Rory didn't have to figure out how to respond to his emotional affirmation, and Logan didn't think it strange that she stayed silent.

A few hours later, Rory sighed as she all but collapsed into one of the chairs in the hallway just outside the ballroom. She couldn't remember the last time so much of her body had hurt. Her face hurt from having a smile pasted on her face for the entire evening, her feet and legs hurt from walking around and standing after her fall earlier that day and her heart ached remembering some of the comments she had overheard and received right to her face over the course of the evening.

Mitchum and Shira had greeted Logan and Rory as they entered the ballroom that night. Mitchum had whisked Logan away to make a new contact at a new newspaper that the Huntzburger name was interested in acquiring. Shira had taken it upon herself to introduce Rory to some of her "oldest friends" who had made it out for the event.

Unfortunately, Shira's "oldest friends" had turned out to be complete and total battleaxes. They had taken up at least an hour of Rory's time talking about how important it was for a woman to take care of her appearance, especially the wife-to-be of a Huntzburger, the most important role of "arm candy" at any function.

Rory had been indignant that she was only considered "arm candy" for Logan but hadn't been able to get a defensive word in edgewise. Once she finally did, claiming that Logan loved her for her mind and who she was, Shira and her friends gave each other a disbelieving look. Shira, rather than appeasing Rory's defensive words, simply sighed and, as Rory turned to leave to find Logan, said, "Well, she is a Gilmore, after all. What else could you expect to be taught from a girl who got pregnant at the age of 16?"

Not wanting to cause a scene, Rory had searched for Logan to tell him she needed some air. She finally found him, having a scotch with who, she only assumed, was the contact his father had dragged him to meet when they had arrived. Neither Logan nor this other man saw her approaching, and the closer she got, she overheard the other man say, "Well, I'm afraid I have to admit I just don't like change. For example, whose bright idea was it for women to enter the journalism business? Or business, at all? Don't they realize that their main purpose is supposed to be being barefoot and pregnant at home?"

Rory took a deep breath to control her anger, and before Logan could respond, she replied, "I think I do very well in the journalism business, thank you. In fact, did you know that the number of women reporters and writers is almost more than the men? Perhaps you should rethink that 'hating change' thing, especially if you hope to stay in business for much longer with that kind of Neanderthal thinking."

Rory turned to exit the ballroom, and the man who had been talking to Logan looked flabbergasted.

"Who the hell was that broad?" the man exclaimed, watching Rory exit the ballroom.

Logan took a deep breath and gave the man a very pointed look, "That…is my fiancée."

The man began to chuckle, "Oh, man, you need to keep a better reign over her!! She's liable to start thinking that talking back like that and defending herself to a man is okay!!"

Logan finished the rest of his scotch, set the glass down and turned back to the man with clenched fists, barely disguising his anger.

"Let's just say this, friend; you're lucky she got a chance to respond before I did. I don't care if this ruins my father's chances of acquiring that measly little newspaper in Hicksville that you run. You don't talk that way to any woman, especially someone who's as intelligent as the woman who just walked out that door! Do you understand me?"

The man took a step back with a panicked look on his face, "Yeah, sure, man….uh, sorry about that. I'll just go over…here…now…"

He turned and made his way to the bar quickly, to escape the impending wrath of Logan.

Logan, on the other hand, went to find Rory. On his way, Mitchum stopped him.

"Logan, do you mind telling me what the hell that was?"

Logan practiced taking deep breaths. After dealing with that other jerk, the last thing he wanted was to encounter his father when he was still coming down from being angry.

"What are you referring to, Dad?" Logan sarcastically spat the last word at Mitchum.

"First of all, your fiancée's dramatic exit, and second of all, your response to the guy after that. You're supposed to be buttering him up, Logan, not pissing him off. What's the matter with you?"

"With me? What's the matter with me?! You should've heard what he said about women when Rory walked up!! She had every right to do what she did. I don't blame her for being upset. In fact, I think she should've said or done more, like punch the guy in the face, before she walked off!!"

Mitchum gently led Logan to a far corner, "I know, son, I know. I can only imagine what that guy had to say. But you have to understand, that's part of this world. In the world that your mother and I, and you and Honor, were brought up, women are not revered for their intelligence. They are revered for how attractive they are and how much money their husbands have. There are times that I don't like it any more than you do, but you have to learn to pick your battles, Logan. Now, I want you to go apologize to Mr. Hensley for your reaction."

Logan looked as his father disgustedly and shook his head, "No!! I refuse to do that!! If you want his newspaper so badly, you go apologize for me."

With those words, Logan left to find Rory. He didn't have to look too far, as she was standing in the hallway by one of the windows, looking out at the breathtaking New York skyline.

As he approached her, he saw that her shoulders were slightly shaking and knew that she was crying. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Ace…Rory…I'm so sorry for that guy. He's an asshole. Don't worry about him. You know that most everyone else doesn't think like that. You know I don't think like that. Please don't cry. Don't cry over that guy. He's not worth your tears."

Rory turned slightly in his arms, "It's not just him, Logan. I had to listen to your mother's friends talk about how important it was to be 'arm candy', especially for the Huntzburger men, and when I tried to defend myself, your mother wrote it off as me being born to a girl who was 16. I hate when people talk about my mom that way, especially when it's people who have never had to work hard for anything in their entire lives. What would any of those women in there have done if they had gotten pregnant at 16, huh? I would bet everything I have in this world that none of them would've handled it as well as my mom did. I'm tired of it, Logan. I feel like your parents and their friends look down on me at every function we go to. And if your parents' friends don't look down on me, it's only a matter of time before Shira lets it slip that I'm 'the granddaughter of Emily and Richard, yes, that one who was born to Emily and Richard's rebellious daughter when she was only 16'. And then, I become the charity case, and I just…I hate it so much!!"

Rory's tears started anew at her last statement. Logan pulled her close and allowed her to cry into his tux.

"I'm so sorry, Ace. I didn't realize that you were so uncomfortable and unhappy at all these events. And I also didn't know that my mom was doing that. Does it help at all that I don't think like they do? I love you, Ace, and if they can't see you for the wonderful woman you are, it's their loss, okay?"

Rory nodded and cried into his tux for a few more minutes. Gently extricating herself from his embrace, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Logan, I really want to talk to you about the wedding…"

Logan put one finger over her lips, "Just give me 10 minutes to tell everyone 'good-bye', and we'll go home, and you can talk to me all you want about our wedding, okay?"

Rory agreed and had gone off in search of somewhere to sit and wait for Logan. Just as she was getting comfortable in the chair, she overheard 2 women talking, and their voices were gradually getting closer.

"Well, she's right, you know. What do you expect from the bastard child of a Hayden and a Gilmore? I can only imagine how much drama was in her life growing up. It's no wonder she reacts to things like she does. Did you see that scene in the ballroom?"

"Yes, I did!! Can you believe that? Of course, during that scene, I was too busy watching Logan to really see what happened with her. Is it growing up that's made him more gorgeous, or is it that he's 'off the market' now?"

Rory heard the two women giggle like schoolgirls and decided to listen to see what more they had to say.

"I don't know how 'off the market' you could consider Logan, though. Like father like son, and you know that Mitchum still keeps a harem of women. I'm sure if you only tried hard enough with Logan, you could…"

At that point, Rory couldn't take any more, and she jumped up and cut the woman off.

"Hello! Logan's fiancée, sitting right here!! And for your information, Logan is nothing like Mitchum. He's faithful to me, and there's nothing you can do to change that. And, as for my mother, how well do you think you would've dealt with getting pregnant at the age of 16, huh? Huh?!"

Both women were too shocked to formulate a response, and Rory stormed off towards the elevator. She had been waiting for a few moments when Logan came up behind her.

"There you are! I came back out to find you, and you were gone. You weren't going to leave without me, were you?"

Rory was unable to muster a smile after the last straw for that evening, so she just turned and met Logan's eyes.

"Ace…what's the matter? I thought you were okay when I left you to go say 'good-bye'. What happened?"

Rory fought to control her sobs and all her words came out in a flood, "I can't do this anymore, Logan. I don't want to be part of this world!! I'm so sorry! I know, you've been so good to me, but I just can't…I can't continue to be part of this."

The elevator thankfully arrived, and Rory quickly entered and pressed the button for the ground floor. She dared a look at Logan before the doors shut, and he looked too shocked to move. Right before the elevator started moving, she heard him yell, "Wait!! Ace, wait!!" But, it was too late, and the elevator had begun its descent to the ground floor.

Rory concentrated on wiping the tears from her cheeks and checked her reflection in the mirrored walls of the elevator. Seeing that her eyeliner was completely gone and her mascara was only slightly smudged, she took a tissue from her purse and wiped under her eyes.

The elevator arrived at the ground floor, and as Rory was departing the building, she was rummaging through her purse for her cell phone to call Lorelai and collided with someone on the sidewalk.

Rory gathered her belongings and began her apologies before she saw the person she'd hit.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!! I wasn't watching where I was going, I…"

Her voice died in her throat as she looked up into a familiar face with a familiar smirk.

"I don't see you for years, and then it's twice in one day, both times with you falling. One might think you had planned this."

Jess helped her up from the sidewalk and took in her appearance. He was struck silent at how beautiful she looked until he saw her eyes. He led her out of the crowd of people and looked at her, concerned.

"Rory, have you been crying?"

Not trusting herself again to speak, she nodded without meeting his eyes.

"What happened?"

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

"How bad does it look?"

He smiled, a gentle, almost sad smile, and said, "If I didn't know what you look like after you've been crying, I never would've known."

She nodded, and he pressed once again, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

She graced him with a small smile and responded, "Over coffee?"

He smiled and nodded as the two made their way to the nearest coffee shop.
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A/N: Reviews - inspired muse - more chapters - more reviews - vicious cycle…